Tired of CNN anchors endless repetition of the claim that they want to focus on the victims not the shooter?
When it’s blatantly obvious they’ll spend the next however many weeks or months doing just the opposite? Unearthing each and every detail about the dude who knocked off a dozen moviegoers and wounded scores more in Colorado. Continue reading
With a little more than a week left in July and the non-waiver trade deadline fast approaching, Royals’ General Manager Dayton Moore is undoubtedly locked in his office, deep within the cavernous confines of a hidden spot well within the bowels of Kauffman Stadium, a phone glued to his ear, shouting with the manic intensity of a coked-up day trader. He’s probably emailing files and video clips, screaming about WAR and ERA and other three letter phrases that mean nothing to his mother, in a valiant effort to prove that his pile of shit is better than YOUR pile a shit, so you’d do well to listen. Continue reading
“We prohibit under anathema that murderous art of crossbowmen, which is hated by God, to be employed against Christians and Catholics from now on.”
So it was, that in April of 1139, at the 2nd Lateran Council, Pope Innocent the II banned the Crossbow. The armor piercing effects of this weapon gave way to the more devastating Longbow, which in turn was banned as a battlefield weapon by the Magna Carta in 1215. Continue reading
Check out the story about me in today’s Stargazing by Lisa Gutierrez…
It’s headlined “Glazers in your midst.” Lisa did a nice piece about the STANFORD AND SONS cartoon pilot being selected from hundreds around the world to be screened at the Montreal Comedy Festival‘s Just For Laughs next week.
There was more than enough sadness and despair stemming from yesterday’s tragic shootings in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater…
But maybe – just maybe – there were a few less obvious lessons to be learned too. Subtler things than doing away with midnight screenings or not allowing movie geeks to wear makeup, Star Wars suits and the like. Continue reading
What happened this morning at the midnight premiere of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES at Cinemark’s Century 16 Theatres complex in suburban Aurora, Colorado could happen anywhere.
And it has!
At shopping centers, churches, schools, airports, aboard aircraft, at supermarkets, in hospitals—and now again at a theater.
The big question is how will it effect the movie experience in the short term?
“Sometimes they sound like they’re playing two different songs at the same time.”
That’s how one concert-goer explained to me her experience with Dirty Projectors Wednesday night at the Granada in Lawrence.
And it’s kind of true.
The Brooklyn-based, experimental indie rock band has certainly never taken a page out of the songwriter’s handbook in crafting their intricate, and at times, off-putting tunes. And I’m guessing they wouldn’t be caught dead rhyming a lyric or doing the typical verse-verse-chorus-bridge thing, either. Continue reading
More good news…
I’ve done nothing but put the Chiefs down for several years, but can you blame me?
I had them under 7 1/2 wins on a bet last year and barely made it. Why? THE CHIEFS DEFENSE.
But this season – lord help me – I might just might buy into this football team. Continue reading
Fifteen year-old Roy Christiansen had quite a surprise while walking down a sidewalk in Lenexa when a rattlesnake bit his leg! He received 11 vials of anti-venom and spent two days at Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Experts say snakes are attracted to rodents being attracted to our lawn sprinklers during this hot, dry summer.
The Top 5 Ways To Spot a Johnson County Rattlesnake:
#5. It hibernates in Fiji. Continue reading
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I’ve got good news, the Royals season is over!
Okay, they’re still playing, but now that they are 900 games under .500 – I’m kidding, OK? – and we are getting into August, it’s over.
The Royals season this year ended in April, as usual.
This time out with a 12 game home losing streak. Nice. The Royals never battled back, they have nothing to battle with!
There is no starting pitching and the hitting was a huge let down. As usual, the team is promising to be a contender…by 2014.
“You’ll see a big difference next season, just you wait.”
Don’t we hear all that every year? Continue reading
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It’s hard to describe the final chapter in Christopher Nolan‘s three part saga of Batman without giving away the juice—which I won’t do…
So consider this more of an impression than a review of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.
The story picks up eight years after the menacing actions of 2008’s THE DARK KNIGHT. Bruce Wayne/Batman has been out of sight in a self imposed exile, vilified as an enemy of Gotham City and still bearing the blame for the death of Harvey Dent. Continue reading
We’re about a 110 days out from the most important Presidential Election this Country has ever seen…
Against the dynamic personality of President Obama, the Republicans have settled for Mitt Romney as their nominee. Unfortunately, Romney’s not the most charismatic fellow. Which is why his choice of Vice-President is of utmost importance.
Here’s what I’m afraid of… Continue reading
Have you tried booking a non-stop flight to Minneapolis lately?
The cost is ridiculous. Around $748 round trip. But then the Twin Cities have always been an expensive destination for air travelers from Kansas City. NORTHWEST AIRLINES pretty well owned the market and had the only non-stops between the the two cities.
Then along came K.C.’s short lived VANGUARD AIRLINES.
Oh how the prices dropped when Vanguard start offering non-stop service to Minneapolism but that didn’t last long. Once Vanguard was gone prices spiked again almost immediately. Then NORTHWEST was bought out by DELTA AIR LINES which continued to offer non-stop service—but at those same high rates. Continue reading
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So Chiefs star Dwayne Bowe is still not signed…
He wears the franchise tag which means he must stay a Chief at least through this season. D-Bowe will make just north of 9 million buckos this year with KC, which is not too shabby. But he wants a long term deal, likely a five-year $40 plus million agreement with about $25 or more million of that guaranteed. Continue reading
People camped out for the opening of Freebirds World Burrito in Mission. Folks were in line Tuesday night for the Thursday morning opening. Most of the people in line thought they were camping out for a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.
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Steven Tyler is exiting as judge of American Idol. He says he finally ran out of rhymes that were cool in 1970. Continue reading
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Lately, here in the lavish music wing of KC Confidential, we’ve been getting hit up with tons of concert ticket giveaways…
And winning them is way easier than being the 96th caller, or whatever. Which is great for you guys, if you’re paying attention. Who doesn’t like free stuff?
This go around we’re giving away a handful of tickets for the Josh Ritter show at Crossroads on Thursday.
We’ll choose several winnerswho each will get two tickets to the show. Continue reading
The music scene here – like the weather – is on fire, so let’s get on to this week’s picks, of which there are many…
Tuesday, July 17th
mewithoutYou at the Granada in Lawrence
Damn, the Granada’s been killing it lately, bringing in a wide variety of interesting acts. And this one’s no different.
mewithoutYou plays indie rock and all its members have beards. Their latest release, Ten Stories, is a throwback to the band’s truer sound, after it ventured into more commercially accessible territory with its prior album. Continue reading
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OK gang, here’s part two of my phony domestic violence charges story…
First I’d like to make a couple things clear for some of the comment section folks. THIS IS NOT ABOUT HOW COOL I AM, IT’S ABOUT HOW INSANE THESE CASES AND ARRESTS HAVE BECOME.
This is just an example of my personal experience where if a woman accuses you, even if there is absolutely no evidence, you still get arrested. Then you have to hire a lawyer, be on pre-probation, pay thousands of dollars and, oh yeah, nothing ever really happened. This is a favorite in Johnson County.
These cases and DUI are the corner stone of law enforcement in our county and we don’t do anything about it. Continue reading
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First HEARST CORPORATION plays hardball with TIME WARNER CABLE over cable fees in 11 markets…
In Kansas City the cord was cut last with KMBC-TV, KCWE-TV and ME-TV.
Next Viacom shut out DIRECT TV customers for channels that include Comedy Central, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, The Daily Show and Dora The Explorer.
Even DISH NETWORK got into the fray when AMC‘S popular Breaking Bad among other shows became no-shows.
Here’s my take on the standoff.
I don’t have a problem with cable networks taking hard stands over fees they charge to cable or dish systems if those networks only outlets are pay providers.
Let’s face it, programming for those networks probably doesn’t come cheap.
However when it comes to the re-transmission of FREE commercial TV, I believe it to be an entirely different story.
Take Channel 9.
It’s an over-the-air station that provides programming free of charge to viewers. Its income depends primarily on the sale of local, regional and national advertising and the rates charged for those commercials are based on the size of the audience delivered by KMBC.
The station may also be compensated to a lesser extent by the ABC network.
So by carrying KMBC-TV, doesn’t Time Warner help Channel 9 deliver as large an audience as possible?
And if nothing else, provide perhaps a better picture than its over the air signal may provide depending on where it’s being received.
So why then is Channel 9 charging the cable system?
Shouldn’t the cable operator be charging the station? After all Time Warner is prohibited from selling its own commercials within the KMBC re-transmission.
Obviously that’s never going to happen.
But the practice of commercial TV stations charging cable and/or satellite systems is relatively new. Re-transmission was originally provided free—until broadcasters got greedy.
It’s high time for the FCC to step in here in a major way and put an end to these standoffs that eventually end up in your and my pockets.
The 3 p.m. deadline for Dwayne Bowe to sign with the Chiefs NFL passed with no word on whether or not a long-term deal had been reached. Dwayne tried to reach a deal, but it slipped through his hands.
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Triple digit heat returns to Kansas City this week. The weather has made me hot, sticky and out of breath – and that’s just from watching Karli Ritter on Fox 4.
