NY Knicks Oust Coach Mike D'Antoni; Jerry Sloan Likely Replacement

As exciting as the "Linsanity" craze was only days ago, it still fell far short to save the career of embattled coach Mike D'Antoni who was asked to leave as part of a "mutual" agreement by the NY Knicks management. Assistant coach Mike Woodson takes over until a new head coach is found. D'Antoni actually replaced former Detroit Pistons great Isiah Thomas as coach, but neither have been able to bring the big city team back to the glory days of old, although the "Linsanity" over surprise player Jeremy Lin has been very good for the team's image.

Two retired coaches are being approached for the job, including Phil Jackson and Jerry Sloan, but sources say that Sloan may be the only one of the two really interested in the job. This means that Jerry Sloan appears to be the best bet to accept the job. Sloan led the Utah Jazz as head coach from 1988 until his 2011 retirement. Sloan started his career as a player with Baltimore Bullets in 1965, later becoming a Chicago Bull from 1966-1976. Sloan then moved to coaching, where he coached the Chicago Bulls from 1979-82, then returned to coach the Utah Jazz as legend for his long stint there.

You know that it's a bad sign for any team when D'antoni's coaching instructions sometimes looked more like the "sign of the beast" than anything. That's a sure sign of your team being caught in game losing hell if ever there was one.

Major League WTF?: Poilice And Retailers Ponder How To Deter Detergent Crime

Believe it or not, the shoplifting theft of tide detergent from grocery retailers is the latest wave of crime. Selling at around $15 a bottle at many discount retailers, some shoplifters also involved in the drug trade are either selling black market bottles of Tide for $5 a bottle or even trading the popular orange bottled liquid laundry detergent for drugs in other cases. It's a baffling new wave of crime that has both police as well as grocery retailers wringing out their hands rather than their laundry.

Some retailers are having problems with thieves who load up shopping carts with the detergent, and then make a rush out the door and make a clean getaway. The huge upswing in Tide detergents thefts is only the latest grime wave to sweep the nation, where crooks have found a new way to play dirty and not come clean. But, all jokes aside, some retailers are considering some sorts of locks or security devices to deter the detergent crime wave.

ABC's GCB Swells Viewership Into #1 in 10PM Sunday Slot

While the debut of ABC's GCB(Good Christian Bitches, some say) wasn't spectacular, this past Sunday the viewership swelled upward, making the controversial new program #1 in it's time slot. This new firepower also presents a real danger to CSI:MIAMI over at CBS, which is seen as on the bubble whether it will be renewed for the Fall 2012 season or not. As DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES gets ready to sing it's swan song this May, GCB gives ABC a new show with a similar market appeal. And by running these two shows together, it gives ABC a powerful following of female viewers for these two shows.

ABC has to be pretty happy that viewership actually increased for GCB in it's second week. Often a show starts out strong, but loses rather than builds an audience. So a second week audience growth is certainly welcome news to those execs over at ABC.

It was also heartening to see viewership better for any show this past Sunday, because the switch to daylight saving time cost most of the Sunday programs about 10% or better of their viewers. So even in a smaller viewership market, GCB was able to swim uphill.

TV Ad Wars: Romney Near Broke? Obama With $96 Million To Spend To Carpet Bomb The Airwaves.

TV networks are expected to reap a huge financial harvest from 2012 campaign spending ads. And these ad wars will decide the 2012 election. And a few important advertising spending dominoes are starting to fall into place right now. Mitt Romney is slowly limping to a narrow Republican nomination in the bruising GOP primary grueling road, while the Obama 2012 Campaign dramatically increased their On-line ad spending during January to $4.26 million, which is nearly as much as all of the 2011 $5.07 million total campaign spending. One advertising agency, Bully Pulpit Interactive appears to be the clearinghouse for most of the ads right now. It was founded by some members of the successful 2008 Obama campaign. A lot of the On-line advertising is for the Obama 2012 Campaign to raise up a giant warchest, now rumored to be around $96 million, to carpet bomb Mitt Romney's campaign with Fall TV season ads promoting the president and citing the shortcomings of Romney. And this is especially bad news for Romney right now.

It is now rumored that the Romney campaign is short on cash, having spent massive amounts of money in a failed attempted to ward off his pesky challengers, chiefly Santorum and Gingrich. On Tuesday, Gingrich likely either wins or comes very close in both Alabama and Mississippi, which should only further stall the Romney drive for the Republican nomination. Further, the attacks by Gingrich have now raised Romney's negatives to higher levels than his positives, making him seem less likely to be elected president. The GOP's last candidate with higher negatives than positives was former Republican Senate leader Robert Dole, who fared poorly against the successful 1996 Bill Clinton re-election effort.

Although his record as president is certainly less than stellar, Obama still holds some huge advantages here. A nearly broke Romney Campaign will limp to the nomination and will likely be crushed in the general election by a massive advertising onslaught by the Obama 2012 Campaign, where even narrow wins in some key swing states such as Ohio or Florida will result in a large electoral college majority for the president, far in excess of the 270 electoral votes required to win.

Money will be the key to winning the White House in 2012. And Romney has spent way too much money way too soon. In some small states such as Iowa, Romney might have spent as much as $200 per vote just to lose the state by just 34 votes to a poorly financed Santorum Campaign, , and far worse, Romney is nearly certain to lose this state to Obama in the general election as well. The Romney Campaign hoped for a quick knock out blow to his opponents so that he could concentrate on the general election, instead opponents like Santorum and Gingrich are probably costing Romney the general election by draining his campaign of cash and raising new doubts about Romney, when neither Santorum or Gingrich have any clear path to win either the GOP nomination, let alone the general election.

If you don't like political ads on TV, then this won't be a very pleasant new Fall season coming up. Expect to see more political ads than ever as both the official and unofficial campaigns spend massive amounts of money on TV political ads like never before, just to have the same likely political outcome as we already have, President Obama.

But, Mitt Romney may hold a few aces of his own. If gas prices only continue to rise, and President Obama cannot offer a satisfactory explanation to Americans or relief at the pump by election day, Romney might be able to craft this key issue to his benefit. Further, while foreign policy has likely been President Obama's strongest area of policy, the mission in Afghanistan has been going badly in the last few days due to the accidental burning of a Koran as well as the civilian massacre incident, both of which seriously threaten to undermine the mission in that country to weaken the Taliban or prevent al Qaeda from establishing strength to promote worldwide terrorism.

Pink Floyd Releases 7 Disc Expanded Version of THE WALL

Two of Pink Floyd's greatest releases include THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and THE WALL. Now Pink Floyd is launching a hugely expanded and remastered edition of THE WALL that reportedly includes 7 discs, 6 audio cds and one DVD, plus a beautiful booklet as well. This special "Immersion" edition of THE WALL is available at Cd Universe for a discount price of $131.95, and includes tons of rare demo material from both Roger Walters, David Gilmour and the entire band. If you're really into this great album, then this appears to be the definitive boxed set.

But, all of this sure doesn't mean that this box set isn't very disappointing to some fans of the album and Pink Floyd. Some fans were miffed that a lossless Bluray disc of the audio wasn't included in this package after it was rumored to be added to the set before the official release was made. The included DVD only includes some excerpts from THE WALL, when a wonderful 5.1 dolby surround sound Bluray audio of the album would have been so much better. And what's up with the cheaply made scarf included as a bonus? What's the deal with that? it looks much like some cheap dollar store item.

EMI was also in a real hurry to rush this box set out to stores as a moneymaker for the company. That simply meant that some wonderful quad mixes of the album were neglected because they would have required a lot of cleanup time to add this album. That's not to say that the remastered stereo sound isn't an improvement over previous versions of THE WALL. It is. But, when better audio quality was available, EMI apparently didn't want to invest the effort or time here.

So essentially you have discs 1 and 2, a newly remastered version of the previously released THE WALL album. Discs 3 & 4 are rare demo tracks, and disc 5 is a remastered version of IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? and disc six THE WALL LIVE.

So you have to decide if shelling out $130 or more dollars for this latest high priced box set is really what you what to do. It's pretty worthwhile on some levels, but pretty much a letdown in many other ways. Probably, this isn't the final re-release of THE WALL. No, not by a long-shot. The album no doubt has a few more high priced re-releases in it. And maybe those might be a little bit better than this. But, for now this box set isn't particularly bad or anything. Just a little disappointing.

to paraphrase Bob Dylan here, "I shall be re-released".

DVD Review: THE SKIN I LIVE IN(2011 Spain)

LA PIEL QUE HABITO(THE SKIN I LIVE IN) is a highly unusual arthouse medical thriller staring Antonio Banderas as a brilliant plastic surgeon who was so frustrated that he could not save his beloved wife from horrific burns caused in an automobile accident that he keeps a new lover under lock and key in his own home as he slowly replaces all of her skin with a new synthetic skin that won't burn or injure based on unethical illegal human/animal genetic research. This is a very macabre and strange tale, that involves some very strange images and characters as well as a very bizarre storyline. It's not for everyone, but it's nonetheless one of the better arthouse films I've seen recently.

The movie takes yet another macabre twist when an accused rapist is tortured and becomes the subject of forced sexual reassignment surgery, only making the story even more bizarre.

If you enjoy deeply bizarre arthpouse films, LA PIEL QUE HABITO is a whole new adventure. Done entirely in Spanish, this film is subtitled for English speakers.

The Bottom Line: A high unusual movie experience worth a look. This film got 80% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics, and slightly higher positive reviews from audiences. **1/2(Two and a half stars, or better than fair. A worthy foreign film that's nearly a gem. Find it if you can. It's worthwhile).

Robert Schuller Resigns From Crystal Cathedral Board After Sale To Catholic Church

Rev. Robert Schuller, the founder of the Crystal Cathedral and also the iconic minister who was the leader of THE HOUR OF POWER religious program for decades has resigned from the board of the church after it was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange last month due to the bankruptcy of the church. Robert Schuller is unclear about what future he will have with the once powerful mega-church, which often was accused of detractors of preaching a "Prosperity Gospel" of financial success. Many top business leaders such as Herman Cain, the founder of Godfathers Pizza, as well South Korean business tycoons once presented testimony at this church about their faith in God and success in business. Today, it seems as if Joel Osteen from Houston has become the top "Prosperity Gospel" television preacher. Joel Osteen was a former cameraman and producer for his father, John Osteen, who suffered a sudden heart attack and died. The younger Osteen had only preached on camera once before, but he was suddenly thrust into the lead pastor role of his father's church. Joel Osteen quickly became a success far greater than his father. His boyish looks, kindly and friendly, nonconfrontive nature, gave him a broad appeal and widespread positive reception, even among those with no faith at all.

But, the latest news for Robert Schuller's church isn't near as rosy. Robert Schuller was for years one of the greatest religious speakers on television, offering a top notch religious program, with big name entertainers and guests, making it almost like a religious variety show of sorts. For many Christians, attending services at the Crystal Cathedral, which is right near Disneyland, was an important vacation event. And unlike many of the TV preachers who are some form of a fundamentalist, Robert Schuller was a ordained preacher in the Dutch Reformed Church, making him one of only a few mainline Protestant ministers to preach on television that had a large audience. As a whole, mainline Protestants as well as Catholics have largely ignored the importance of using TV to convey their religious message, only allowing the huge growth of Christian fundamentalism in American Christianity. This has also resulted in widespread social and political consequences for the nation as well.

For now, THE HOUR OF POWER program continues to air in syndication across the nation and the world on satellite, led by Robert Schuller's daughter. Sheila Schuller Coleman, but she unfortunately lacks the real charisma of either the elder Robert Schuller, or his son, which became the lead pastor of the church for a few years until he was forced to step aside, really leaving the church without any strong charismatic figurehead.

The decline of THE HOUR OF POWER really came about in 2008, when the younger Robert Schuller was removed from the TV program and later resigned from the church. The elder Robert Schuller's messages were largely based in psychology and much more secular messages, while the younger Schuller's religious views were much more in-line with the popular Evangelism movement popular in Christianity, and far more scripturally based. The son managed to keep THE HOUR OF POWER as the #1 religious program in the world with 25 million viewers, but a lack of a shared vision of the two Schullers really helped to create a serious split in the church despite the widespread success of the ministry. It was a sad case of a family working against each other, only creating a failure for everyone.

All of the sermons and books dealing with the importance of a positive attitude, just didn't seemed to help a family with serious strains and differences of opinion, tearing at itself, only to create this failure. What a great treasure THE HOUR OF POWER was once was as a religious program. It seemed perfect under the leadership of either Robert Schuller, but that wasn't enough to heal differences in this family. Now, the church property has been sold under bankruptcy. All of this only illustrating the very high cost of not getting along with your family.

My own father knew that I was a real fan of this TV show, watching it each and every week for a good 20 years. My father was very impressed what a good speaker Robert Schuller was and even found himself occasionally watching at least the sermon portion of this once very popular TV religious program.