KC Confidential | Hearne Christopher, Uncensored

Jack Goes Confidential: ‘CHI-RAQ’—Spike Lee’s City of Brotherly Murder

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Jack Poessiger

Never underestimate anything that AMAZON bets on…

For example, the giant company’s latest venture is into theatrical movie production via its new subsidiary AMAZON STUDIOS. And long as they’re getting thing going, why start off with a bang and a touch of controversy.

That’s exactly what they’ve got with their premier attraction CHI-RAQ, director Spike Lee’s satirical approach to solving gang violence in Chicago.

Satire?

I guess that’s what you would call it as CHI-RAQ (Chicago-Iraq, get it?) combines elements of stereotyping with rap music, violence, drama, verse, sex and whatever else ails Chicago’s south side. Confronting Chi-town’s deadly problems.

So what IS the solution to the city of angry brotherly murders?

It’s for women to cut off their guys from having sex with them. Continue reading →

Posted in Jack_Poessiger | Tagged Jack Poessiger, Kevin Willmott | 9 Comments

Hearne: Paul Walker’s Heirs Blame High Speed, Illegal Crash Death on Porsche

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Hearne Christopher Jr.

To blame or not to blame, that is the question…

Whether tis nobler to admit wrongdoing or seek out another to take the fall. Which is exactly what actor Paul Walker‘s father and daughter are trying to do.

Ridiculous as it may sound Walker’s father and daughter are suing Porsche over the the Fast & Furious star’s fiery car crash death. In spite of the fact that Walker and his race car driving buddy were playing out the ridiculously risky, high speed stunt driving from his movies on actual city streets. Walker paid the ultimate price two years back when he died in a fiery crash during a high speed joyride in his 2005 Porsche Carerra GT.

Of course, Walker was but a victim of circumstances, the lawsuits allege.

It was sports car manufacturer Porsche’s fault, they say.

“Shifting the blame is the oldest tactic known to humankind for avoiding taking responsibility for our actions,” writes relationship doctor David Hawkins.

Have we become a society that holds everyone responsible but ourselves?

But here’s the bottom line:

Walker and his race car pal were driving at speeds of up to 100 miles-per-hour when they slammed into a light pole, according to some experts – well above and beyond the legal, posted speed limit of 45. Yet according to his heirs, it wasn’t their fault, it was the cars problem. Seriously?

That’s like blaming a school shooting on the gun. Continue reading →

Posted in Hearne_Christopher | Tagged Paul Walker | 18 Comments

Sutherland: Trump, Sanders? Flip a Coin

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Dwight D. Sutherland, Jr.

The election prospects for this country a year out are appalling in both parties…

Both the Republican and the Democratic races have been dominated, at least in terms of excitement and enthusiasm, by demagogues. We have a Fascist (Donald Trump) and a Marxist (Bernie Sanders).The fact that neither is likely to get their party’s nomination is cold comfort because,even in losing, Trump and Sanders will have forced the eventual nominees to take irresponsible positions out of political expediency.

The politician who the Trumpster most closely resembles is Silvio Berlusconi,the former prime minister of Italy. Both are performers who have mastered the use of television. Both are billionaire business moguls, who boast of their wealth and sexual prowess. Both claim their riches render them immune to corruption. At the same time, both swear their own shady business dealings make them uniquely qualified to purge a rotten system, on the theory that it takes a thief to catch a thief, e.g. FDR appointing notorious Wall Street “operator “Joseph P. Kennedy as the first head of the Securities Exchange Commission. Both delight in making crude and offensive public comments,which their followers find funny and endearing.

In short,both Trump and Berlusconi are totally unqualified by character, temperament, and intellect to be heads of state of major countries, especially in these parlous times. This is true even without considering their positions on major issues, which consist of a grab bag of ridiculous and contradictory pronouncements, consistent only in their crass opportunism and unerring ability to appeal to voters’ worst instincts.

By comparison, Bernie Sanders’s positions reflect a coherent ideology.

A notable example is his stance on immigration, where he has broken with Democratic orthodoxy by questioning whether flooding the U.S. with impoverished immigrants willing to work for low wages really helps American workers.(Most Democrats simply want to increase the number of Latino voters, with little concern what the economic impact that will have on groups they supposedly champion.)

The problem is that Sanders’s consistency means Bernie is consistently wrong. Continue reading →

Posted in Dwight D. Sutherland, Jr. | Tagged Dwight Sutherland | 17 Comments

Lefsetz: Trump is Toast

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Bob Lefsetz

Nate Silver told me Donald Trump can’t win…

You remember Brother Nate, who called the last election which Mitt Romney thought he was gonna win and Karl Rove couldn’t believe he lost. Silver got it exactly right in the New York Times, which unlike a winning sports team didn’t give him what he wanted, so Silver decamped to ESPN, where he’s been marginalized.

But he’s still right.

It’s weird to see the old guard bumping up against the new, the Baby Boomers and aged Gen-X’ers being flummoxed by the digitally-savvy youngsters. MP3s were not embraced by oldsters until the iTunes store. Hell, Adele just sold a boatload of CDs to the aged, and you’ve got an oldster-controlled media which believes what they say matters, when the truth is the data doesn’t lie.

Oh yes it does, you say! Numbers can be manipulated to say whatever you want them too, you can’t trust polls!

Which is why Silver aggregates them, and we can argue with interpretation, but raw data counts. And what the data says is Donald Trump has high unfavorables. He might have 20+% of the electorate today, but when the losers drop out are their followers going to decamp to Trump? Not according to the data. Which also tells us this far out the polls are nearly meaningless.

So you can ignore the Trump show. It’s gonna get canceled.

But you’ve got the aged media reporting on what he says like it counts, which it doesn’t. Why does the sideshow always become the main show in America? Continue reading →

Posted in Bob Lefsetz | Tagged Bob Lefsetz, Donald Trump, Nate Silver | 16 Comments

Glazer: Scribe Hatches Plan to End Terrorism

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Craig Glazer

It’s been several weeks since the terrorist attack on Paris…

Since then United States, France and other allies have done hit job after hit job on people we believe to be terrorists in Europe and in the Middle East. It seems the United States and our allies have acted quickly and with strength to slow down the attacks. But is it enough?

The problem with our enemies is vast.

We know they recruit on the Internet and all over the world. And that they’re willing to die to make us suffer. Suicide is part of their insanity. This makes them a very new and desperate enemy. Maybe the biggest problem besides finding them all over the world is they don’t really seem to know exactly what they want from us.

Making it hard to negotiate any peace with all these groups whose leaders are really only in charge of death and terror, not a nation or even an ideology. Well, their idea is kill anyone who doesn’t believe in what they believe, which apparently i includes their own people of course. Continue reading →

Posted in Craig_Glazer | Tagged Craig Glazer | 30 Comments

New Jack City: Tarantino Forces Film–And Then Some

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Jack Poessiger

Say what you will about Quentin Tarantino, he’s become one of America’s hardest hitting directors and filmmakers…

Many of Tarantino’s cinematic achievements have reached cult status!

From DJANGO UNCHAINED to INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS, RESERVOIR DOGS to KILL BILL: VOLUMES I & II and PULP FICTION.

All are mini-classics in their own right.

Well, Tarantino is about to make history again. And not just with moviegoers but in the movie industry itself!

His latest motion picture is called THE HATEFUL EIGHT. It’s a post-Civil War drama of betrayal and deception.

It is being released by The Weinstein Company on Christmas Day, Dec. 25.

But it’s HOW it is being released that’s shaking the status quo! Continue reading →

Posted in Jack Poessiger | Tagged Jack Poessiger, Quinton Tarantino | 12 Comments

Glazer: Hanging With The Stallone Brothers

Posted on December 1, 2015 by admin

It’s hard to deny Sly…

He’s one of the most successful and brilliant Hollywood stars ever. His new movie Creed is doing well and has been considered a major comeback for the Rocky franchise. I hope he gets a much deserved academy award nomination for best supporting actor.

Like most people in the film industry I always hoped to meet all of my film heros.

Sly was one of them. So a walk down memory lane is called for here. One of my best friends, actor Sonny Landham (48 Hrs. Predator, Lockup) made it possible for me to hook up with Stallone.

Sonny was hired to play – what else? – a bad guy in Lockup starring Stallone. So Sonny took me to Stallone’s gym to work out with the two of them. I’d just gotten out of the joint so I was in pretty good shape to lift with them. I was on the set of Lockup and watched Sly and Sonny work together for a couple weeks. John Flynn the director and I had a project together at the time and Sly couldn’t have been nicer. He did hit on my then girlfriend Christine Dupree of Penthouse fame (she was the centerfold in Madonna issue).

Maybe a bigger irony, just after that movie finished, Sonny was financed for a small budget action picture called Billy Lone Bear. And he offered me a co starring role as an attorney in the picture. We shot it in Calgary Canada in the mid 1990’s.

The film had a couple names including Brian James (The Player, Blade Runner) and Chuck Nappier (Silence of The Lambs). Most of my scenes were with Frank Stallone, the bad guy in the movie. In fact Frank killed my real life girlfriend Laurie King of Kansas City in the first few scenes of the picture.

Sonny, who directed the movie, let her fly up and have a small part. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Valentine: Local Chef Renee Kelly Debuts on Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Mark Valentine

Original art by Mark Valentine

Kansas City has really good taste…

It surprises people when Kansas City comes out on top. Frankly, it even surprises us.

So this is fair warning, Kansas City is going to have a Top Chef on The Bravo Network.

“Top Chef” is a very popular cooking show. In fact, this will be its 13^th season. The December 2 aunch will be a two-night edition to kick off the national competition. The Bravo Network has selected 17 contenders this season. All of them are from California except for Renee Kelly.

She’s from Kansas City.

She is the tasty choice. Continue reading →

Posted in Mark Valentine | Tagged Mark Valentine, Renee Kelly | 12 Comments

Glazer: Bills Could Pave Way to Chiefs Wild Card & NFL Picks

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Craig Glazer

The Chiefs play a wounded Buffalo Bills team at home and are a 5.5 point favorite..,

Bill QB Tyrod Taylor is hurt with a collar bone injury and may not even last the entire game. And the Chiefs’ defense can prove it’s a for real elite defense today. We’ll see.

The Bills should be ready to take a fall.

They played Monday night, lost, didn’t look very good and their playoff hopes could die at Arrowhead today. That would move the Chiefs to 6-5 and need they would need just four more wins to lock up a wild card berth. Maybe only three more.

Strange year.

So who’s the top dog out there? Continue reading →

Posted in Craig_Glazer | Tagged Craig Glazer | 14 Comments

Glazer: Talking Turkey NFL Sunday

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Craig Glazer

Las Vegas Insider power rankings have the Kansas City Chiefs ranked No. 5…

WTF! Y

That’s right, ahead of Denver, Green Bay and the Steelers. So the Chiefs are the best .500 team in the NFL? In a more believable review, CBS POWER RANKINGS have KC ranked No. 11 – that sounds more like it.

Las Vegas (and the public) think Dallas’ Tony Romo is a monster quarterback. Some even think Dallas will run the table and win its division. Right now they’re 3-7.

I say NO WAY.

But Vegas has the Panthers tomorrow losing to Dallas in Dallas.

The undefeated Panthers are a 1 1/2 point dog at Jerry’s World/Dallas. Green Bay is an 8 point fav over the Bears and the Eagles are – oh, who cares – they’re about a 2 1/2 point underdog to the Lions. Continue reading →

Posted in Craig_Glazer | Tagged Craig Glazer | 10 Comments

Valentine: The Trouble With Judging Historical Figures Out of Context

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Mark Valentine

Ivy League students at Princeton University are protesting…

They want Woodrow Wilson’s name removed from university’s buildings. Because the attitudes he had 100 years ago are clearly racist by today’s standards. He was president of Princeton in 1903 and a two term president of the United States in 1913. Every university associated with a U.S. president has a building with their name on it.

However, let’s let that pass. Judging historic figures out of their historical context must be our new standard.

Next in line should be Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

FDR defined 20^th century Liberalism, yet he ordered Japanese-Americans to be held in prison camps. Any president who would arrest and jail US citizens based on their ethnicity should be pilloried in the public square. Harvard students should rise up against him or be condemned themselves.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy will be a painful addition to the hit list. Continue reading →

Posted in Mark Valentine | Tagged Mark Valentine | 14 Comments

Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Creed’ Scores Big for Stallone & Jordan

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Jack Poessiger

I’m going to be honest…

I almost skipped the critic’s screening of CREED a couple of weeks back.

Did I really need to see another ROCKY?

But I am here to tell you that missing that movie would have been a huge mistake.

CREED is definitely NOT the seventh installment in the Rocky series.

Instead it’s a smart spin-off, action-melodrama with twists and turns that take the storyline in an entirely new direction.

Here Adonis Johnson, illegitimate son of Rocky Balboa‘s former rival Apollo Creed, is pursuing the fight game in a small way on the west coast and south of the border.

It’s not enough for him to follow in the footsteps of his famous father.

But then again he wants to make it on his own—out of dad’s shadow.

That’s why Adonis heads to Philadelphia and searches out the aging Rocky who spends his days and evenings running his Italian restaurant.

Adonis seeks Rocky’s help. He wants him to become his trainer and mentor. But Rocky is not interested, spending any free time he has visiting Adrian’s grave.

Well, you guessed it, young Adonis finally convinces Rocky to be in his corner. But not before the story takes some unexpected turns.

Make no m mistake, this is good, entertaining filmmaking by BOTH Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan as Adonis. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Creed, Jack Poessiger | 2 Comments

Lefsetz: Adele Flexes Muscles @ End of an Era

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Bob Lefsetz

This is not a victory for the rank and file…

The artists railing against streaming applaud Adele’s success after keeping “25” from Spotify, et al. They just don’t know it’s the last gasp of a dying paradigm and the birth of a new one. That’s right, you won’t see albums released in the fourth quarter for sales impact anymore, but we will see the most popular acts dominate the chart.

Hope. That’s what people want.

And if Adele can play by the old rules and win, by golly, so can I! But this is untrue. Not only is Adele a phenomenon, she and her superstar brethren are hoovering up all the profits in music. It’s no different from Apple winning in mobile handsets, she’s an iPhone and you’re HTC or Microsoft or Sony or one of the manufacturers who’ve left the business.

How did it come to this?

First and foremost, mindshare. It’s nearly impossible to get in today’s cluttered, cacophonous society. Used to be you got on radio and then MTV and you reached everybody. Now, except for Adele herself, no one can do this.

Quick, sing a 1D song! You can’t, but they just won big on the AMAs. And you can pooh-pooh that awards show, or you can just admit that music has changed. It’s not that you’re old, it’s just that the biggest acts are niche and if you’re not one of them, god help you in making a living.

Even radio… there’s pop and everything else. Quick, what’s number one on the Active Rock chart? You probably can’t even name one of the tracks in the top ten!

And the popular squeezes out the less popular and you end up holding the bag, and there’s nothing in it, only shattered dreams.

Same deal in touring, where the real money is.

You can’t get a good seat at the arena to see the star and you can’t get anybody to come see the barely known in the club. Continue reading →

Posted in Bob Lefsetz | Tagged Adele, Bob Lefsetz | 3 Comments

Glazer: Believe It or Don’t, .500 Chiefs Electrify KC

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Craig Glazer

They did it!

So now the Chiefs are the best bet to land the final wild card in the AFC, according to ESPN’s Mike and Mike! And it could happen – based on their improved defense, easy remaining games and that they’re on a roll. Yep, four wins in a row and two back to back road wins against division rivals.

Shades of head coach Andy Reid‘s first year here when we played team after team that was injured or weak or using back up quarterbacks. However, we did just beat San Diego and Philip Rivers on the road. Nice. However they were 2-7 and now they’re done for the year with 8 loses.

So who’s left?

The Bills who play here following a Monday night game at New England. The Pats should win that one and Bills will be tired that Sunday. Then on the road KC plays a sudden struggling Oakland. However, they’re dangerous and will probably be favored. At home with Chargers, the Chiefs should win that one. At the Ravens – a pick’em game – the Ravens will be favored at home. The Browns here and Raiders here both should be wins if KC plays as well as they have lately.

So Chiefs finish 9-7 or maybe, just maybe 10-6. Either likely gets you a wild card. Continue reading →

Posted in Craig_Glazer | Tagged Craig Glazer, Kansas City Chiefs | 20 Comments

Mancow: ‘Feminist Men’ Alert

Posted on November 23, 2015 by admin

Syndicated columnist Maureen (pronounced Moron) Dowd said,”Hollywood is filled with feminist men who somehow got warped”

And that “it’s as bad as the Catholic Church or Saudi Arabia” (ahem) and that “less than 1.9% of the last 100 blockbuster movies were helmed by women”…

Here’s the thing:

Hollywood isn’t filled with feminist men. It’s filled with business men.

All the rest is pandering.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Leftridge: Things to Avoid This Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Brandon Leftridge

Thanksgiving is approaching this Thursday and there’s nothing we can do about it…

Like a particularly virulent strain of the Asian flu, it thrusts itself upon us annually whether we’re cool with it or not. No one is immune. And since it cannot be defeated, we can only hope to survive.

Submitted for your approval, here are my thoughts on things to stay away from, should you too wish to avoid the pestilence.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

This used to be cool when it was all just giant, inflatable cartoon characters you knew like Beetle Bailey and Mary Worth, but now every other float is a 14-year-old Disney star you’ve never heard of singing something sugary and shitty about texting at the mall, and the helium-filled demigods are “beloved” characters like “Powerpuff Girls” and “Some Japanese Character Your Creepy Nephew Knows.” Unless you’re a pedophile, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade should be avoided at all cost. Continue reading →

Posted in Brandon Leftridge | Tagged Aunt Shirley, Beetle Bailey, Brandon Leftridge, holidays, Thanksgiving | 33 Comments

Glazer: Chiefs & Chopper Plus This Week’s Picks

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Craig Glazer

Charcandrick West

Here comes Kansas City…

Our Chiefs are a 3 point favorite at hapless San Diego Sunday. A win moves them to 5-5 with six games to go. What’s more, a win makes them a for real wild card contender. A big surprise after a 1-5 start. As we’ve discussed KC has no real offense even though QB Alex Smith has at least two, if not three, solid or better receivers. Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce both look very good if Smith can get them the ball.

New running back Charcandrick West has been a pleasant surprise replacing the injured Jamaal Charles. The Chiefs defense has improved as well, setting up their offense in good field position by grabbing interceptions. However Smith has not been up to the task And as we all know, with Alex Smith there is no real future or any talk of a Super Bowl down the road.

The NFL has several under .500 teams or just a game better in the hunt.

So far the only one who looks dangerous are the Steelers with Big Ben if he stays healthy. Everyone else is just whistling Dixie and wanting at least a post season game or two, even if going deep is unlikely.

We have no area college teams doing anything. And it seems Alabama is back as the big bad wolf of the NCAA again. Continue reading →

Posted in Craig_Glazer | Tagged Craig Glazer | 7 Comments

Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Spotlight’ Shakes Catholic Church to the Core

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Jack Poessiger

This may be a bit premature but I am declaring SPOTLIGHT the best motion picture I’ve seen all year…

Of course, that can change with some yet to be screened Christmas releases, but I seriously doubt it.

SPOTLIGHT is the sensational true and shocking story of a tough subject matter.

It’s title stands for the investigative unit within The Boston Globe newspaper which in 2001 shocked the city by proving the on-going sexual abuse of kids by priests within the Roman Catholic Church.

There was the shuffling of suspected priests–i.e. parking them out of sight and possible legal reach.

And the incredible cover-up by church officials that shook the institution—and for that matter—Boston to the core.

The expose earned the Pulitzer Prize for The Boston Globe and ultimately forced the Archbishop to resign.

But while we’re talking extremely sensitive subject matter here, the film approaches it from a journalistic point of view.

Think ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. Continue reading →

Posted in Jack Poessiger | Tagged Jack Poessiger | 5 Comments

Lefsetz: Screw You, Adele

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Bob Lefsetz

How the hell can we solve the world’s problems if the music business itself can’t do what’s right for the populace?

Sixteen years after Napster, after living through P2P, track sales and now streaming, blind greed continues to reign in the music business. People do what’s right for themselves, never mind what’s good for the customer – never mind what’s good for the business.

Adele?

You’re not that fucking good.

You’re not the Beatles. We can live without your music. We just focus on you because everybody else is so bad, everybody else is whored out to the corporation and bitching they can’t make the money people do in the tech sphere.

Even Bono’s off the rails, forcing an LP upon those who don’t care and then going on the road and not even going clean in arenas. That’s right, after selling out stadia, U2 can’t sell every ticket indoors. Because the music just ain’t that good. And it’s all driven by the music. And we’ll find out what the people think, a year from now, when we see if they’re still listening, on streaming services, which is where “25” will be after this dash for cash is done.

Hell, we’re not even going to have this fourth quarter madness a year from now.

Because physical will be dead and track sales de minimis. I’d say this is the last gasp of a dying industry but the truth is music will survive, as it has the past 16 years, because people love to play it and the public loves to hear it.

Who needs this money?

Adele, you played small venues last time around – you didn’t take all the money from the corporations. Why this turnaround? Are you that ignorant?

Even car companies are hipper than you, they’re leaving CD drives out of their vehicles. Continue reading →

Posted in Bob Lefsetz | Tagged Bob Lefsetz | 6 Comments

Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2’ Arcs Out the Future

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Jack Poessiger

How sad it is to see Katniss Everdeen bid this power franchise adieu…

Maybe that’s overstating matters a bit as MOCKINGJAY-PART 2 brings the highly successful ‘Hunger Games’ storyline to a worthy conclusion.

The good news is that its millions of young fans will be pleased as director Francis Lawrence pretty well sticks to the printed pages in winding things up.

But make no mistake, this final outing takes on a deviously darker tone. Gone are many of the previous and ever so popular futuristic action sequences. They’ve been replaced by darker underground scenes and more philosophical story aspects leading to the ultimate confrontation and showdown between Katniss and evil president Snow.

Because Katniss now realizes the stakes are no longer just for survival—they’re for the future! Continue reading →

Posted in Jack Poessiger | Tagged Hunger Games \, Jack Poessigter | Leave a comment

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