Popular
Culture |
October
2002 |
The Rise of Vin Diesel
"The name is
Diesel, Vin Diesel." That was the only James Bond ploy that the new Action Hero,
Vin Diesel, did not pull in his latest film. Triple X, or "XXX" to be thoroughly
misleading as to content, was the box office winner my son dragged me to
recently. And while the film was a 007 flick for the tractor-pull set, its style
and reverence for the original kept it from being a rip-off, and Mr. Diesel was
just engaging enough not to be the next Stallone -- Mr. Diesel can enunciate.
For more, click
here.
Punk Rock Commercials
The hippies always claimed that when a musician started writing
jingles or letting his music flog a product, he was a sell-out. The punk of the
1970s was so much more honest and refreshing because the bands agreed that the
idea was to take as much money off the dinosaur record companies as possible in
a hurry. Cash from Chaos was the way the Sex Pistols put it -- and they took
thousands of pounds for NOT playing or recording. But the nihilism of the
movement prevented the boys and girls from really cashing in, until recently. Click here to read on.
The Return of Tony Soprano
After 16 long and eventful months, America's favorite soap opera
returned to the air on September 15 as Tony Soprano and his family, and his
other family, started a fourth season on HBO. To call The Sopranos a soap
opera is not to insult it, but rather to compliment the normally slow-paced,
dim-witted TV drama, to point out that the form can be better than it usually
is. Click here
to read why.