Also, update on The Donald's "Celebrity Apprentice" which hums along and continues to be, oddly, interesting.
Finally, a book review, "Unfinished Murder" by James Neff. The book title is indicative of a True Crime that is considered by many to be a killing crime not quite complete. He's a serial rapist and this is a story of his life and how he got caught.
TIDBITS
Which is your favorite character?
1) Tazmanian Devil
2) Tweety
3) Marvin the Martian
4) Scooby Doo
5) Daffy Duck
6) Pepe LePew
7) Sylvester
8) Speedy Gonzales
9) Bugs bunny
Scroll down when you decide which one is your favorite. Remember, do not cheat. Pick your character before scrolling down.
If you like .............
1) Tasmanian Devil -> You are wacky and crazy!!! You are the centre of attention at parties. You love Food and are always causing chaos. When you are on a date, you're the one that makes the 1st move. Love comes and goes for you. Can you say "player"?!?
2) Tweety -> aaaaw you're soo CUTE!! Everyone loves you 'cause you're so adorable physically and mentally. Face it, people are jealous of you. Love is always there for you. You're the typical "long-relationship" kinda person. You LOVE cuddling but P.D.A is not your style. If something goes wrong in relationships (family, etc...) you always go to your friends for advice. Tweety-Lovers are great listeners.
3) Marvin the Martian -> You are DEFINITELY in control of your life. People say you're a "Control Freak". You're the kind of person who is ALWAYS paranoid with unimportant issues, but that's ok 'cause there is always someone there to relieve that paranoia. Love is very valuable to you. Relationships have been hardships for you but just remember that you're in control.
4) Scooby Doo -> Let's face it, people around you find you quite annoying sometimes. Whether it would be the whining or nagging, but it's driving your friends crazy. If you have problems in life, just keep them on the "DL". To get on the positive side of things, you are very helpful and you love to solve mysteries and problems. Love is a condition far away from your mind. The best advice for Scooby Doo Lovers is to deal with your problems on your OWN.
5) Daffy Duck -> You are annoying in this cute sorta way. People love being around you because of your utter goofiness. Making people laugh is your speciality. Daffy Lovers think there is a soul mate out there for everyone. Love is something you haven't found deeply yet but your "soul mate" will be there, CLOSER than you think.
6) Pepe Le Pew -> You are the sweetest and most loveable person there is. Guys/Girls love being around your "charmed" personality. When there is something you want, you will TRY to get it, no question about it, Pepe Lovers don't take NO for an answer. It's hard to please you but it is very easy for you to please others with your endearing inner-self. Love is here for you and always will be. Not only talking about boyfriends/girlfriends, but family or friends. If someone lets you down, there is always someone else that loves you and is there. I would have to say that Peppe Lovers are the luckiest.
7) Sylvester -> You are very fun-loving and easy to please. People are always talking behind your back because of their utter jealousy. Laughing is what you do best. Crying comes once in a life time for you. You are very unique in a good way. People wanna be like you and find you as a "cool" person. Love is easy for you to find. Your motto would probably be "smile".
8) Speedy Gonzales -> You are ambitious and always heading for your goal. You are a very "fast" thinker and intelligent. It's often genetic in Speedy Gonzales Lovers. Love comes once in a life-time, unfortunately, but you always have your family supporting you. For you, FAMILY always comes 1st.
”Celebrity Apprentice”-The Dog Challenge
It’s a commercial made in heaven, guaranteed to tug at the heartstrings and sell dog food. For nothing makes Americans take out their wallets like pictures and stories of sad dogs awaiting adoption or much worse, death.
So Pedigree, being a fine capitalistic corporation, adds a nickel to the price of each can of their dog food then shouts to the world that a nickel will be donated to organizations that shelter and protect dogs who have nowhere to live for each can of their dog food purchased.
Thus and thereby we have the challenge of “Celebrity Apprentice” for the episode aired Thursday, 1/10/08. For like the big commercial these apprentice shows tend to be, Pedigree was looking for a nice ad that would feature cute dogs, sad pet stories and somehow mention that bit about a nickel and a contribution. It helps that February is national dog adoption month.
At the beginning of the show Trump trumpeted his celebrity participants as being “the most successful celebrities in the world” which is, ahem, a bit of a stretch.
For the female team Empresario, Nely Galan was named project manager. Galan is some sort of producer/participant/star of Spanish speaking television. It would make sense to put her in charge of producing a commercial.
Gene Simmons, bigger than life, was named project manager of the male team of the most successful male celebrities in the world, Hydra.
The charity of the winning team’s project manager would receive $20K. Well it made sense to me to give that money to dog kennels and private organizations that rescue pets since that was the theme of the show and everything but there you have it.
The rest of this episode was fairly interesting. The girls came up with what I thought was a fine commercial of sad dogs in cages although what the hell, the superimposed dog thoughts as they waited hopefully behind the bars that confined them, in one instance, were concerns about over-eating! Dogs, ladies and gems, do not worry about their girlish figures. Although I’ll allow that there might have been a deeper message as the commercial was done by the females and females are notorious for worry about their appearance. Perhaps the concept was, hey, how would you like it if society locked you away for some “crime” that you couldn’t control?
Now I often chide my female Belgian Shepherd about the need for exercise and food intake control but she just throws caution out the window and gulps down everything that even remotely looks like food. One day I found her eating, I’m not making this up, CHALK.
But hey, these celebrities might be the most successful in the world but they are not known far and wide for their intellectual prowess, go with me here.
Whatever the case, I liked Empresario’s commercial much better than Hydra’s but The Donald evidently decides EVERYTHING and The Donald made his choice.
Not that Hydra’s commercial was a bad one. Their commercial featured Lennox Lewis playing around with an English Bull Dog that the commercial voiceover informs the viewer was just obtained from a shelter. Scenes of happiness between Lennox and the dog make the viewer smile and plan too an adoption from the nearest animal shelter.
The Pedigree fellow worried that not enough folks would recognize Lennox Lewis and by me he was right. I, a female, have never heard or seen Lennox Lewis before this year’s “Celebrity Apprentice”.
Empresario, even with the presence of the very unpleasant Omarosa, functioned very well as a team. So well, in fact, that come the time to nominate those who would be fired, it was lamer than hell who finally got the axe. More on this later.
Hydra was dominated totally by the air-sucking Gene Simmons, bigger than life and guaranteed to take the focus off everything in the room but him.
Simmons eschewed meeting with the Pedigree people for an overview of their expectations for the ad. By me this was a very dumb move but still Hydra won the challenge.
If this series isn’t staged than I’ve got a bridge to sell The Donald in Brooklyn, real cheap. Because Hydra should have lost that challenge but hey, gotta have drama, gotta have nail-biting suspense, gotta get the audience gripping the edges of their seat. For the female team of Empresario has now lost the first two challenges and we should all sit and squirm at the edges of our seats for the next episode that the female team will FINALLY win one.
Nadia Comaneci was fired on this episode and how sad is this? I remember Nadia as the diminutive gymnast in some Olympic competition of my youth. For the Pedigree challenge on this “Celebrity Apprentice” episode, Nadia’s only “crime” was a delay in delivering food for the actors and stagehands setting up Empresario’s commercial. The reality was that The Donald deemed Nadia as too shy and retiring to be truly successful on the series, which could be true. But she had absolutely nothing to do with the failure of her team to win this challenge and, silly me, I thought this was how this reality series functioned.
Some other idle thoughts: The Donald has a Blog? Oh dear lord grant me sanity. Donald Trump is one of the most shallow, vapid and unintellectual of name-droppers on the planet. Hey, I still like the guy cause anybody who walks around with that hair as if a dead cat sleeping on one’s scalp is perfectly normal deserves admiration.
Omarosa has the hots for Lennox Lewis? Who knew?
What’s the deal with all the females wearing the same color? These are pretty women, a selling point that would attract viewers! Instead they look like waitresses at the local Pancake house.
I know Stephen Baldwin is supposed to be a conservative and Republican of sorts. I don’t like him as hey, I saw him being interviewed by Laura Ingraham and he likes Mike Huckabee, lover and freedom-granter of rapists that they may rape and kill again. Besides, Baldwin’t slanty eyes look just plain evil.
I like Gene Simmons but he does tend to suck all the oxygen out of the room. Still, he’s a presence and will be instrumental in contributing to the success of this form of “The Apprentice”. Simmons did cut off the very pretty Ivanka with no hesitation and, in fact, Simmons, Ivanka and The Donald had a bit of a boardroom brawl over the incident.
In summary, yes the series has captured my imagination. I will continue to monitor and inform yon three or four readers every damn day with my fine conclusions, brickbats and commentary.
Heh.
"Celebrity Apprentice" 2008 Contenders
======================
Carol Alt-model/actress
Jennie Finch-olympic medalist softball
Gene Simmons from Kiss
Lennox Lewis-boxer
Marilu Henner-actress
Nadia Comaneci-olympic star gymnast-SENT HOME 1/10/08
Nely Galen- producer Spanish speaking TV
Omaroasa-former apprentice
Piers Morgan-Americas Got Talent
Stephen Baldwin-actor of Baldwin family
Tiffany Fallon-playmate of year-SENT HOME PREMIERE NIGHT 1/3/08
Tito Ortez-pugilist
Trace Adkins-country star
Vincent Pastore-star of sopranos
Prior Links to Posts for "Celebrity Apprentice" 2008
======================
Premiere Show
The Dog Challenge; Nadia Gets Fired
The Peoples’ Choice Awards 2008
I arranged for my DVR to tape this annual awards show even though, once I sat down for the viewing, I wondered if I wasn’t in an alternate universe.
But of course, the writers’ strike!
Damn…I’ll go write the damn shows and probably do a better job of it.
So we had Queen Latifah hostessing this show all by her own self. There was no background music, no audience cheering, none of the normal activities associated with an award show. Oh, and no fashion. That right there ruins everything.
Although hey, the show was interesting in that there were plenty of background clips and a walk down memory lane is always fun.
I had some real issues with some of the awards. “Dancing With the Stars” is the fave reality show? Over “American Idol”? Come on.
Oh, and Ellen DeGeneres beat out Oprah for the favorite daytime talk show?
I know it’s the PEOPLES’ choice awards and assuming there was no cheating, the people voted on these winners. The way I figure, “American Idol” and “Oprah” are veritable icons so the people who bothered to vote are those who specifically DIDN’t want the most popular to win.
Some other idle thoughts:
Queen Latifah is to be admired for how she’s marketed herself and held on to a star status her rather ordinary self might not get without constant attention. “Daughtry” won the best single award. Chris Daughtry was a finalist in “American Idol” but he’s gone on to bigger and better things, eh?
“Deal or No Deal” is the fave in new category “best game show”? It beat “Jeopardy”? Jeopardy’s been around forever and is beloved by trivia fans across the fruited plains. “Deal or No Deal” is a flash in the pan wonder and the host is awful.
Now I know this show is rigged. “Samantha Who?” won best new comedy series? We shall see how long this vapid show lasts for its treasured award by the people.
The acceptance speeches were much longer than normal what without the need to watch the winners march to the stage from the audience and all the hoopla. I guess they had to write their own speeches.
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Focus on TV Posts of Fame
Those Wacky TV Chefs. Includes Rachel Ray and the sexiest chef of them all.
TV News Pundits including Russert, spitting Matthews and the one I adore.
"Dancing with the Stars" of 2007, reviews, pics and videos.
American Idol 2007 and The Bachelor. One night's review with links to all the others.
===============
”Unfinished Murder-the Capture of a Serial Rapist” by James Neff
Ronnie Shelton is a handsome fellow who is locked away, if God is in His heaven, in a jail cell for the rest of his life.
Shelton is a serial rapist who raped an unknown number of women from 1983 through 1988 in the Cleveland area. Thirty women testified in his trial against him and common sense indicates there are many more.
This was an interesting book both in terms of the details of the perp’s perversion, the Keystone Kop attempts to catch the guy and the surprising end to his trial. The book’s title is how rape is often characterized, ie as “unfinished murder” as the crime kills the psyche of the victim in so many manners.
First note here, True Crime books almost always have a montage of pics in the middle, pics of the perp, pics of the victim(s), pics of prosecutors, and so forth. There was NO picture of Ronnie Shelton in this book about him. That’s odd as all get out. For Shelton was described throughout the book as handsome and all-American looking, this in direct contradiction to his horrifying behavior. A picture was desperately needed. However, I did a search of the Internet and found no images of anybody with this name. Why keep the pics of a RAPIST from the public eye? Are we trying to protect the guy?
Next, like so many parents of horrible criminals, Ronnie’s parents stood by him. I could never defend in any way a son of mine who so brutalized women like this handsome All-American guy did. Some might say that his parents believed him innocent but come on…thirty women testified against the guy. Further, when they finally got this pervert behind bars the rapes stopped! Imagine that!
The most intriguing of this story is the prosecutor’s tactics in trying this guy.
Shelton did not kill any of his rape victims and for that, well hey he didn’t get the death penalty. But you’ve got a young fellow here who somehow managed to sneak into 30 women’s homes and rape them. Shelton’s modus operandi was to watch the activities of a potential victim, note her comings and goings, how she locked the house, when the males in their lives left them alone. He would plot how to get at the woman and most times he managed to do it.
What, you think after he got out of jail for the 30 rapes for which he was charged he’d stop? His fine parents supported the guy so all he had to do with his life is plot how to brutalize women.
The prosecutor took a different but very effective tact. Instead of choosing the best and most evidence-filled rape case, or even just a few, prosecutor McGinty had over 30 women testify against the guy. Woman after woman after woman got on that stand and told her story. It wasn’t easy for the prosecutor to get all these women together and agree to testify and indeed, the defense, even the judge, complained about all the victims.
Shelton got over 3000 years in jail as a result of this prosecutorial tactic. Even with parole he’ll be in jail over a thousand years.
This guy is a bad apple. He’s the type who should be locked behind bars, FOREVER. His mental disease is simply too great, he is too consumed with his crimes, he’ll never stop. To give this guy another chance to walk the planet is to put more innocent women in jeopardy for his pleasure.
His parents must be so proud of their boy.
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Focus on Book Reviews-2
"Fatal Analysis" by Dr. Martin Obler and Thomas Clavin
Shattered" by Debra Puglisi Sharp
Ann Rule's "No Regrets"
"Unspeakable Acts" by Jan Worthington
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