Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’—Fulfilling Fanboy Dreams

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Jack Poessiger

hr_Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_46Just another space adventure?

Think again. It’s the start of a new major Marvel Studios franchise! Comic fans have been stoked out about this 10th installment in Marvel’s cinematic universe for ages.

(Well, that’s maybe overstating it a bit.)

But the wait has definitely been worth it as GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY delivers on ALL counts.

Matter of fact its star Chris Pratt’s fortunes should skyrocket with his cool lead as Peter Quill/Star-Lord.

Abducted by aliens at a very young age, later in life he’s hired to retrieve a mysterious orb that happens to control the fate of the galaxies. Continue reading →

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Leftridge: Royals’ Unremarkable Season Continues with Unremarkable Trade Deadline

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Brandon Leftridge

a'sThe Oakland Athletics have the best record in baseball. As of tonight, they are 66-41 with an unearthly run differential of +162. They are a team composed of mostly unknown individuals, an unbelievable testament to their scouting and development. They have an organizational philosophy that revolves around guys getting on base and then the guys who come up after that knowing how to get them in. Their payroll to begin 2014 was 25th out of 30 teams, at roughly $83,400,000.

The Kansas City Royals are 55-52 with a run differential of +2, and they are four games back of the division leading Detroit Tigers. They are a team of prospects who haven’t quite made it, old castoffs who washed their way back into town, and enough broken dreams to fill a Tom Waits song. They do not appear to possess ANY organizational philosophy other than, “you should see these guys in batting practice—they can really put it over the wall,” and their payroll to begin 2014 was $92,000,000. That was good for 19th in all of baseball and the largest amount in club history

In case you missed it, today was the 295th Annual Major League Baseball trade deadline. Continue reading →

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Hearne: Whitlock Riles Canucks with Bigoted ESPN Diss

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Hearne Christopher Jr.

Screen Shot 2014-08-01 at 10.04.11 AMHypocrisy thy name is Jason…

For a dude who made something of a name combating African American stereotypes, former KC Star scribe Jason Whitlock sure plays fast and lose when it comes to other ethnicities.

Anybody remember Whitlock’s failed attempt at humor two years ago when he tweeted about New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin after he scored 38 points against the LA Lakers?

“Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight.”

The joke being that Lin – of Chinese or Taiwanese descent – had a small penis.

“There are funny jokes, and then there are unfunny jokes that mix with needless racial stereotyping and the laziness that comes from not even bothering to look up the fact that the Knicks would be flying to Minneapolis directly after Friday’s game,” wrote Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo Sports, referring to Whitlock’s tweet after calling him “an unfunny boor with a massive ego.”

After taking considerable heat in the national media Whitlock half ass apologized.

The latest:  Whitlock stepped in it again recently. Continue reading →

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Starbeams: ‘Slawgate’ @ The Uptown & Timberlake Upstages Prez

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Kelly Urich
A heckler @ The Uptown that was thanked by President Obama for her interruption about Jesus being the God of Israel

A heckler @ The Uptown that was “thanked” by President Obama for her interruption about Jesus being the God of Israel

I think we all learned about one pressing issue facing the nation from President Obama during his visit to Kansas City:  If you want slaw, never show up late to Arthur Bryant’s.

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The President urged Republicans to “stop hatin’ ” during his speech at the Uptown.  Then he took another selfie and proclaimed he is becoming a 13-year-old girl.

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Jack Goes Confidential: Chadwick Boseman Scores As ‘Godfather Of Soul’

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Jack Poessiger

53aae6011536723967b33eb2_james-brown-chadwick-boseman-get-on-upTwo musical biopics in one season, who would’ve thunk it?

However that’s just what the summer of 2014 has bestowed on moviegoers.

The first of course was Clint Eastwood’s screen adaptation of the Broadway hit JERSEY BOYS, which pretty well filled its cast with unknown box office names—relying primarily on actors who had previously graced the roles of The Four Seasons on stage. The lone exception being Christopher Walken.

Now with GET ON UP, director Tate Taylor of THE HELP and WINTER’S BONE fame went in the opposite direction.

The only things the two films have in common is that they’re both based on 60’s musical acts and each breaks the so-called fourth wall—as in with the key character periodically speaking directly to the camera.

For GET ON UP Taylor wisely chose Chadwick Boseman for the lead as James Brown. You’ll recall that Boseman had achieved acclaim for his performance as Jackie Robinson in last year’s “42.” Continue reading →

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New Jack City: Obama Disappoints with Paint-By-Numbers Approach

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Jack Poessiger

Was8854670Am I missing something here?

With the world situation in total turmoil the President heads to Kansas City to give a – what – rah-rah speech? Not about sanctions against Russia, Israel, the Gaza Strip, the shot down Malaysian aircraft—just fluff.

Translation: a cheerleader speech that added nothing to what we haven’t heard over and over before. Really, one of his most generic stump speeches ever.

Not that it was a bad presentation.

After all, Obama’s a very gifted speaker. But the content of his speech was totally predictable from start to finish. Come to think of it the President’s speech at the Uptown yesterday reminded me of one of those fiery movie sermons delivered by Elmer Gantry.  Continue reading →

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Hearne: Westport “Kid” Problem Pulls Disappearing Act

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Hearne Christopher Jr.

do-not-enterYou got ’em, you card ’em, you don’t got ’em… 

It’s looking like Westport’s effort to nip its “urban” issues in the bud may be working. As reported first on KCC this past April, the youthful crowds of African American youth that have plagued the Country Club Plaza in recent years were beginning to find their way back to Westport earlier this spring.

Enough so that bars like the Gusto Bar & Lounge (and even white bread, midtown party capital, Kelly’s) were posting signs outside their businesses cautioning patrons not to pack firearms or wear “excessively baggy clothing” or “sunglasses at night.”

And sone Westport businessmen encouraged Gusto to modify its music mix to something with a less ethnic appeal. Continue reading →

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Sounds Good: Survivorman @ Czar, Turnpike Troubadours @ Crossroads KC

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Matthew Donnelly

Holy shit, Motley Crue is at the Sprint Center this weekend?  Sorry, I’m too lazy to find the umlauts.

Anyway, the only silver lining is that after this tour, they have promised to stop.  That’s right, this is a “farewell tour.”  We can only hope.  I mean, are there really 20 some-odd-thousand people lining up to see a 55 year old dude in leather pants croak out Kickstart my Heart?

Denis Leary was right all along:

“Motley Crue would never fucking overdose man, never! You could put them in a room with two tons of crack. They come out a half an hour later, “Rock on man! ” Fuck, they’re still alive. Fuck! They’re probably gonna make another double-live album now, God dammit!”

See these shows instead, people… Continue reading →

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Hearne: Lezak Calls Royals Game, Weather & Forecasts Chiefs Season

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Hearne Christopher Jr.

gary lezak royalsgame_1405135406153_6780569_ver1-1.0_640_480In another life KSHB TV weather wonk Gary Lezak might be knee deep in a sports media career…

As evidenced earlier this month by his play-by-play radio cameo during a Kansas City Royals – Detroit Tigers baseball game at Kauffman Stadium.

“It was an incredible experience,” Lezak says. “They knew I wanted to do it but they didn’t know I was going to do it until I just broke into it. They were asking me some questions about the weather and then I just started doing the play-by-play. So I satisfied one of my lifelong dreams. I used to practice doing it all the time when I was a little kid. It’s something I would have loved to do. It’s almost like weather.”

Speaking of the weather, July has gone down as a much cooler month, as Lezak predicted sealer this year. However despite a couple of pretty good storms, KC remains about three inches short of its usual 4 1/2 inches of rainfall.

“We get about 12 inches of rain during the summer,” Lezak says. “And we’ve had about 81/2 inches already, so we should make it.”

As for this year’s Royals… Continue reading →

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Hearne: Stanford’s Hire Chef, Books Opening Headliner

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Hearne Christopher Jr.

f pot craigThis just in from the coming-soon Stanford’s comedy club at 119th & Metcalf…

All systems are go, but construction delays have pushed back the grand opening of the new restaurant and comedy club at Rosana Square in Overland Park to the second weekend of September.

“The first official comic we have scheduled is Michael Winslow of Police Academy fame, September 11-13,” says Stanford’s main man Craig Glazer. “But we’d love to have a pre-grand opening walk through with local comics prior to that.”

In the meantime, Stanford’s has hired Hope Dillon – formerly of the Grill on Broadway – as its chef, to run the new kitchen with an expanded food service. Continue reading →

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Starbeams: Obama @ The Uptown Wednesday, Fox 4 Fox Kerri Stowell Takes a Fall

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Kelly Urich

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President Obama will be at the Uptown in Kansas City this Wednesday. His staff has yet to inform him the Uptown is not a golf course.

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Police fogged teenagers after problems broke out on the Country Club Plaza Saturday night.  When I was a teenager, the thing that kept me away from the Plaza was the price of food.

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Stomper: Blame it on Mom – Keeping the Rock Em, Sock Em Out of Youth Sports

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Stomper

o-BASEBALL-BAT-facebookOur esteemed administrator has been on me to offer another piece and I fear that my obsession with politics is painting me into a corner so…

Time to branch out. And while I’m confident Chuck will take issue with this, I try to limit my writing to topics I feel somewhat competent  to offer opinions on.  This is why you never – or at least rarely – see me comment on the Royals, Chiefs, Sporting, radio station ratings, concerts or Dwight Sutherland‘s movie and book review pieces and the numerous other topics that KCC brings to the forefront.

Then it hit me.

Why not share some of my experiences with my life apart from work? My kids are now well into their 20s, so it’s been a while since they were involved in youth sports.

But being a hands on dad, and living with the misconception that I was qualified and had something to offer, I got them involved in youth sports when they hit kindergarten or first grade and became their coach in most of those sports.

I coached them in baseball, basketball, and football.  They participated in wrestling and soccer as well, but I let others more competent than myself (even though I wrestled in college) take the lead there.  Youth sports very quickly became a passion with me.

And when it’s handled correctly – and adults don’t screw it up – youth sports really can do a lot for a young person.  It all revolves around the head coach that has his or her head screwed on correctly.  Continue reading →

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New Jack City: Star Adds Insult To Delivery Injury with Phony Cruise Scam

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Jack Poessiger

cruisingSomething for nothing, anybody?

To say my newspaper delivery has been irregular at best would be charitable.

I’ve been keeping the phone numbers to the customer service departments of both the Kansas City Star and USA Today handy because I know I’ll be needing them again and again and again in coming days and weeks.

And no, I don’t live in the boonies, I live in mainstream Overland Park.

However a recent policy by the Star to no longer give a credit for newspapers not delivered during a vacation hold really ticked me off. I was told that all papers held while on vacation would be delivered in one large bundle upon my return.

But I didn’t want those old papers and truth be told, I wasn’t shopping for another vacation either. Continue reading →

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Leftridge: Quick, Cheap Family Vacation Ideas

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Brandon Leftridge

Screen Shot 2014-07-27 at 9.13.18 PMWe’re approaching August which means a few things. It means that everyone’s attention is quickly being directed to the Chiefs and their pre-preseason activities and the Royals are once again becoming a sad footnote. It means that the heat is becoming oppressive and the lawns are quickly yellowing and dying. It means that kids are getting ready to head back to school, which, bringing me to the point of this piece, means the following: families everywhere are ready for their final summer vacation.

But what to do?

Times are tough. Despite Obumbler’s suggestion of an economic recovery and the DOW being in historic places, we’re still all broke and haggard.

We need to conserve, economically. Gone are the Salad Days of steak stuffed with caviar that just got done fucking a veal-lobster. We are a nation of Dollar Menu Minions, and our vacations must be adjusted accordingly. So before you pack your money-sucking shitbag children into the fam-wagon and head out to Six Flags Over Paris, take heed; you probably can’t afford it.

Therefore, I present you with some very easy, very cheap options for the final summer shindig. Give it a shot, won’t you? Continue reading →

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Hearne: Layoffs Fever Sweeps Kansas City Star…Again

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Hearne Christopher Jr.
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Miriam Pepper

So much for a nice, calm, body bag free year at the Kansas City Star…

Return with me now for a moment to my July 8, 2014 column about the somber state of affairs at 18th and Grand.

“There have been no layoffs this year, but there’s been lots of meetings lately, so we don’t know if there’s going to be anymore cuts. They say there won’t be anymore furloughs this year, but they’re still not filling any jobs and they’re not giving any cost-of-living increases. Did you see how thin today’s paper was?”

That was one Star staffer’s assessment heading into the heart of the summer after six months of relative calm.

Fortunately for the denizens of the newsroom, a number of unforced exits by heavy hitters such as Mike McGraw, Kevin Collison and Richard Espinoza had lessened the need for layoffs.

However that uneasy calm went away rather abruptly late last week.

That’s when the Reaper revisited the Star to the tune of an estimated 8 to 12 layoffs. Continue reading →

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Paul Wilson: Fifty Shades of Dysfunction, Coming to a Screen Near You

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Paul Wilson

fiftyshades14f-1-webFifty Shades of Grey, the huge best seller by author E.L James is coming to the big screen and I wanted to get ahead of Jack on this one before he does his review…

The trailer is out; I just watched it and it’s nothing short of disturbing.

Often referred to as “mommy porn,” Fifty Shades has been compared to “9 ½ Weeks” and “The Story of O” – all three examples of female characters being sexually manipulated or abused by the men.

What could possibly be more entertaining for your $12 ticket than that?

In the trailer a voice utters the words, “I don’t do romance, my interests are very singular,” whereupon it goes into rapid fire scenes, clearly depicting a BDSM playroom.

For those of you, including me, who haven’t read the book, Ana is a 21 year old, introverted virgin, covering an interview for her college paper featuring Grey, a benefactor. Ana’s father died when she was young, mom had a revolving door of husbands and her childhood years a mess. Grey is 27, devastatingly handsome and was found at age four next to his dead, crack whore mother’s body; his chest covered in cigarette burns. Grey’s sex life started at 15 at the hands of his mother’s friend who seduced and regularly “beat the shit out of him.” That loving relationship lasted for 10 years. Continue reading →

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