The Beastie Boys Set To Return With HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt. 2

Sometimes being viewed as The Three Stooges of music, The Beastie Boys will be back again with their first new album in four years in May. After group member Adam Yauch, who goes by the name, MCA, was hit with a bad medical diagnosis of lymph node cancer, the group went into cold storage for an extended time. Now, MCA seems to feel well enough to tour to support this new album. The good buzz here is that the group spent more effort on this album than most previous efforts, so it may serve to act as a major comeback for the act.

HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.1 was delayed indefinitely by the illness of Yauch and other problems, however HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.2 has the promise of some of the outrageousness and new bizarre recording and sampling techniques of the first part. The 16 song album is set to debut in May, and should become a favorite among those who dig their White hip hop sound.

The Beastie Boys no doubt promise to have some outlandish new music videos to back the new album up. Some past videos have sent up James Bond and other topics in their usual strange way, making the group always entertaining to watch. Going from a hard core punk act to a White hip hop act is quite a transition. But, enough fans have followed this act over the years where it all seems to work out by the end of the day. But, so far no advance copies of the album appear to be floating around out there for a listen by music critics like me. That's disappointing. I'd like to give you the same heads up that I can give on other new music or movies. So, I'll just have to wait until an advance preview comes up to report back.

Always fun to watch, The Beastie Boys continue to confound and entertain with their new and controversial musical outings. HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.2 should prove to be a new milestone in their long history as a recording act. And maybe someday, HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.1 will see the light of day as well.

Progressive Values' 2011 Oscar Winner Predictions

Sunday is a huge day for motion pictures with the 83rd Academy Awards, and Progressive Values has made a few predictions on the big winners. See if you agree, and watch for the actual results on Sunday.

Best Picture: There's some pretty strong nominees this year, which include BLACK SWAN, THE FIGHTER, INCEPTION, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE KING'S SPEECH, 127 HOURS, TOY STORY 3, TRUE GRIT AND WINTER'S BONE. SOCIAL NETWORK has done really well in other awards events held in recent weeks, however it seems more than likely that THE KING'S SPEECH wins on Sunday. BLACK SWAN is a little dreadful to watch, despite the strong performance of Natalie Portman. And TOY STORY 3 is one of the greatest animated films ever. TRUE GRIT is my personal favorite among these entries. It is one of the best Westerns ever made. INCEPTION is visually stunning. However, all of this being said, THE KING'S SPEECH just seems like a film tailor made to win the Oscar here, and a real shoo-in.

Prediction: THE KING'S SPEECH

Best Director: David Fincher-THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Tom Hooper-THE KING'S SPEECH, Darren Aronofsky-BLACK SWAN, David O. Russell-THE FIGHTER and Joel and Ethan Coen-TRUE GRIT. While earning Best Picture will likely evade SOCIAL NETWORK here, look for director David Fincher to get some respect from Oscar voters who will give him the metal man statue for his efforts.

Prediction: David Fincher-THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Best Actor: Javier Bardem-BIUTIFUL, Jeff Bridges-TRUE GRIT, Jesse Eisenberg-THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Colin Firth-THE KING'S SPEECH and James Franco-127 HOURS. There's some great performances here. And I personally loved Jeff Bridges in TRUE GRIT. He really nailed down that role as a great Western novel character. It was a true classic. However, Westerns aren't as popular as they used to be these days, including with the younger Oscar voters. This a shame, because Jeff Bridges could have won this award in a previous era. He turned in a performance probably better than John Wayne's 1969 Oscar winning performance. So you can look for Colin Firth to win the day here for THE KING'S SPEECH.

Prediction: Colin Firth-THE KING'S SPEECH

Best Supporting Actor: Jeremy Renner-THE TOWN, Mark Ruffalo-THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, John Hawkes-WINTER"S BONE, Christian Bale-THE FIGHTER and Geoffrey Rush-THE KING'S SPEECH. Once again, we have a difficult decision here. THE TOWN was a great film, and Jeremy Renner had a strong hand in it. Geoffrey Rush is always a top notch actor. However, look for Christian Bale to win for THE FIGHTER here. It would be especially fun to see Christian Bale win here because he's so prone to outbursts. That alone might make this a memorable event and great TV!

Prediction: Christian Bale-The Fighter

Best Actress: Natalie Portman-BLACK SWAN, Annette Bening-THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, Nicole Kidman-RABBIT HOLE, Jennifer Lawrence-WINTER'S BONE and Michelle Williams-BLUE VALENTINE. Here's a group of very fine performances. WINTER'S BONE and BLUE VALENTINE were very good films, with strong acting. On the other side, BLACK SWAN is a little bit dreadful to watch in some ways. Yet, my hunch here is that Natalie Portman is rewarded with winning the Oscar.

Prediction: Natalie Portman-BLACK SWAN

Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver-ANIMAL KINGDOM, Hailee Steinfeld, Melissa Leo-THE FIGHTER, Amy Adams-THE FIGHTER and Helena Bonham Carter-THE KING'S SPEECH. My overwhelming personal choice here is young Hailee Steinfield. She turned in such a wonderful and strong performance in TRUE GRIT. It was a great role. What a fine young performer. Helena Bonham Carter remains a favorite of many Oscar voters though. She's an awesome actress who turns in classic performance after performance. I could be dead wrong here, but my personal hunch is Hailee Steinfeld just might get the credit she is due here for her wonderful performance from the Oscar voters. But, Helena Bonham Carter and possibly Melissa Leo might just make things interesting here. This could be a very close three way race here, with only a few votes separating a winner from the losers.

Prediction: Hailee Steinfeld-TRUE GRIT

Let's hear your thoughts here. Am I all wet, or right on the money here. What do you think? At any rate, I may be vindicated tomorrow, or else have to enter the witness protection program due to extreme embarrassment. We'll see how much egg I'll be wearing on my face. Hey, here I am with the cast of RESTLESS, that new Gus Van Sant movie that I predicted would land Mia Wiasikowska an Oscar nomination this year, and the film has yet to be released by Sony for some odd reason. So I've been as wrong as they come before.

The Lara Logan Assault: U.S. State Department Travel Advisory To Egypt Minimized Rape Danger From 2007 Study

A 2007 study by the Columbia Journalism Review found that rape threats against female reporters have been common in Egypt as a way to silence the media and to keep the Mubarak regime in power. Both supporters and opponents of Mubarak have apparently both used rape threats against female reporters to limit media access in the nation. Meanwhile, the country sought to spur tourists to spend money in the country, although the threat of rape to female Westerners was very serious.

Strangely, an official U.S. State Department travel information page about Egypt mentions some crime or danger issues for American tourists to be aware of, but claims that crime rates are "low" in the country, although rape threats to female journalists were well known to the staff of the Columbia Journalism Review three years earlier. The U.S. State Department really failed to fully make American journalists aware of the true danger levels they face covering news in Egypt. This raises the questions whether for the sake of good relations with foreign countries, serious travel dangers are deliberately minimized by the U.S. State Department.

In Egypt, at least 140 reporters faced some violence or death just since January 25. Reporters Without Borders reports five deaths of journalists and 152 jailed so far in 2011, some of these in Egypt. Lara Logan was held blindfolded by Egyptian police only days before her brutal assault by a mob which stripped her of her clothes, brutally whipped her with thin flag poles raising red welts all over her body, punched and pinched her, pulled some of her hair out, sexually assaulted her, and would have raped or killed her if the violent 30 minute assault wasn't stopped by some women rescuers and police. Lara Logan narrowly escaped becoming one of the estimated 850 reporters killed covering news since just 1992 around the world.

Journalism can be a very dangerous business.

TWO AND A HALF MEN Production Canceled - Charlie Sheen Reportedly Out For Good

This is huge news for the #1 comedy on TV. But, apparently CBS has had enough of Charlie Sheen and his antics and has ordered the rest of the season of TWO AND A HALF MEN canceled. It is likely that the show may return next year, but Sheen will be permanently replaced. Sheen is so angry that he promises to refuse to return to the show, even if CBS begs.

The final straw for CBS was a tirade by Charlie Sheen about producer Chuck Lorre to TMZ, claiming, "That piece of shit took money out of my pocket, my family's pocket, and, most importantly, my second family---my crew's pocket. You can tell him one thing: I own him". Sheen also attacked Lorre by calling him a "stupid, stupid little man and a pussy punk". Unfortunately, Sheen failed to note that his own problems with booze, drugs and frightening porn stars out of their very wits by acting out of control all helped to create the problems that led to him entering rehab therapy and helped to suspend the show. It was Charlie Sheen that's been all at fault here, and it was difficult for production to continue around his growing personal problems.

Sheen also claimed that he plans to go to HBO for a new show. But, HBO released some comments today proving that they have on interest in Sheen at this time.

Charlie Sheen has apparently brought down his own career here. He had the biggest comedy show on TV, but just couldn't behave himself half well enough.

I guess some guys just aren't hooked up right or something.

CBS isn't exactly hurting for a hit comedy right now. THE BIG BANG THEORY, also produced by Chuck Lorre is nearly as big as a hit for CBS as TWO AND A HALF MEN, and helps to cement down Thursday night as a major night for CBS that they took away from NBC several years ago. CBS has enough good shows around they should be able to fill up the schedule without much of a ratings loss for the time being.

Spiritual Songs Largely Missing From Today's Pop Charts

Although many Americans tend to be strongly religious these days, it seems that pop hits with spiritual themes are more scarce on the radio than ever before. At one time, even former Beatle George Harrison, who became interested in Indian religion, was able to send "My Sweet Lord" all the way up the charts to #1. That was in the early 70's. Since the 1970's songs with religious themes have all but disappeared from the mainstream pop charts.

Here are some notable highlights of pop chart successes of songs with spiritual themes:

*Back in 1961, The Highwaymen, a folk oriented vocal group, sent the very soothing and peaceful song, "Michael" sailing up the pop charts as a favorite. It was a beautiful song that really seemed to give the soul peace and tranquility every time it was played. The song was thought to have roots as a song written by slaves around the era of the Civil War as a spiritual, however the beautiful 1961 adaption of the song was indeed a memorable hit.

*Actor Sidney Poitier was simply phenomenal in LILLIES OF THE FIELD (1963), where he starred as unemployed construction worker Homer Smith who accidentally up with some Catholic nuns from Europe, and answers their prayers by building a church for them. Smith brings some of his Black Baptist church gospel music to the nuns, with a rousing version of the gospel song, "Amen". In 1964, the song became a big hit on the pop charts by The Impressions.

*While The Byrds were often viewed as part of the psychedelic rock movement of the 1960's, even contributing music to the EASY RIDER movie along with Steppenwolf and Smith, their 1965 version of folk singer Pete Seeger's song "Turn! Turn!Turn!(To Everything There Is A Season)" was entirely based on the Book Of Ecclesiastes except for one line in the song.

*The rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR contributed some early 70's pop hits to the charts including the main theme song sung by cast member Murray Head. Yvonne Elliman, also a cast member of the rock opera, had a big hit singing "I Don't Know How To Love Him".

*The group Ocean had a big hit in 1971 with the light spiritual number, "Put Your Hand In The Hand", a song about trusting in Jesus. It was a soft pop classic for sure compared to so many songs with a harder sound on the charts.

*An Australian nun, Sister Janet Mead, peaked at #4 on the charts by setting "The Lord's Prayer" to rock music. In her native country, she was helping revolutionize the Roman Catholic Mass with rock music as well as hosting a weekly radio program. She was only the second Roman Catholic nun in the history of the American pop charts to have a top ten hit. In 1961, Sister Jeanine Deckers who was performing as The Singing Nun brought her international hit, "Dominique" all the way up to #1 on the charts.

*Jewish musician Norman Greenbaum, was known mostly for novelty songs he penned, but was so amused by Porter Wagoner performing a "Jesus song" on a religious show, that he thought he'd make a satirical poke at Southern gospel music culture, and wrote and performed "Spirit In The Sky". However, rather than being taken as a swipe at the Jesus culture of the time, the song was embraced as one of the greatest spiritual rock hits ever. With it's searing guitar production and hand clapping contagious sound, it had a massive production sound that sounded like it extended into heaven itself. To this day, the song remains one of the greatest spiritual rock hits ever performed.

Beyond being considered one of the 500 greatest rock songs ever according to ROLLING STONE, the song also helped to spur the British glam rock movement in many ways because of the production work. The backing vocal style influenced the sound of T.Rex and other glam rock acts. And Gary Glitter and Alvin Stardust both seemed greatly influenced by the song's style as well, where "My Coo Ca Choo" seems to borrow heavily from "Spirit In The Sky".

Will the pop charts ever see a return to spiritual music?, probably not likely, unless some song is so catchy with enough good hooks that it gets programmed. Music has become more complex these days where the simple spiritual seems to have a difficult time getting adapted to pop music. There's always the gospel charts or Christian music channels. But, spiritual music on the mainstream charts seems to be a trend that started in the late 50's and extended to about 1974. It seems to be a trend that has come and gone, which is surprising for a society where claim to be more religious than in the past. Music isn't reflecting that. It's become the most secular ever.

Better Dead Than Alive: Michael Jackson Estate Rakes In The Dough

In his final years, Michael Jackson only managed to run himself into huge debt, at one point running more than $400 million in the red. His lavish spending as well as legal problems, as well as poor money management skills only helped to turn him into the king of debt. Then he turned that all around by dying, and his estate has made a hefty profit that ranges from $310 million up to $1 billion, depending on the source cited since his death. That's quite a turnaround. Who knew that death could be so darn profitable?

It also looks likely that his estate will manage to release new Cds of unreleased songs as well as DVDs and other items into the next seven years or so, guaranteeing a pretty long run of financial windfalls for the once troubled Michael Jackson empire. After so much money problems among Jackson family members, where Janet was the sole profitable entertainer in the past few years, Michael Jackson's new fortunes should help lift his family back into solvency once again. There can be no better gift than that.

Michael Jackson's big financial turnaround has also made him the current leader of the biggest grossing dead celebrities on Forbes list as well, leaving dead Elvis and others well in the dust at just $55 million. Michael Jackson unfortunately might look a little bit like his zombie video character these days. But, that sure isn't stopping him from making lots of money in death.

Spy Anna Chapman Mulls Run For Russian Parliament

Beautiful Russian spy, Anna Chapman, who was deported from the United States for espionage, is mulling a run for the Russian parliament. If she follows through with these plans, she is virtually assured a win since she would be running under the United Russia Party banner. Vladamir Putin's party has a virtual monopoly of power on many seats in the Russian Parliament, where the Communists and other parties would be hard pressed to win in many areas, despite some public consternation about Putin's leadership style. Democracy is something of an illusion in Russia, where Putin's party not only controls the dominant political party majority that rules the nation but much of the media is little more than a mouthpiece for the policies of Putin as well. Propaganda News stories featuring Putin as some heroic figure, racing cars or doing other athletic feats are common place on the Russian airwaves.

Chapman has successfully marketed herself in her homeland. She hosts a TV show, as well as markets at least eight products using her name or image. She also models as well. Who knew that being a spy was such a lucrative business?

Big Time sissyass Stuff: Harry Reid Wants Nevada To Outlaw Prostitution

Nevada may be like one big sin city in some ways, gambling, alcohol that flows like water, half naked showgirls, and even prostitution in some smaller remote county areas. But Harry Reid, the Democratic Party leader in the U.S. Senate would like Nevada to outlaw prostitution claiming that it's bad for business in the state. Taking a page directly from his Mormon faith book, Reid somehow believes that the economy of Nevada is somehow being harmed because of legal prostitution. Yet, there's no real proof that any casino or other business skipped out on the state because of a relative handful of legal brothels. Yet, Harry Reid is a true believer here, and can't be told any differently.

Oh sure, usually Republicans want to be known as the guardians of public morality, keeping the public safe from such dreaded things as gay marriage or smutty TV and books, but here even fellow Republicans such as John Ensign(R-NV) don't see eye to eye with Reid's line of crap thinking. Ensign believes this to a "county by county" issue for Nevada counties to decide, and opposes Reid's notion that some state or federal law is needed.

Reid claims that "Parents don't want their children to look out of a school bus and see a brothel, or live in a state with the wrong sort of red lights". Bullshit. Brothels are located in less populous communities, usually far from other civilization. If any school bus would travel past a brothel in Nevada, then you know that it's really, really lost.

Normal senators, especially Democratic Majority Leader Reid, should be more concerned to prevent a possible looming government shutdown. Instead, he's currently expending his energy on this anti-prostitution campaign nonsense. That seems so wise, heh? When a potential crisis is looming, spend your time on wacky social legislation and make up stories about lost school buses of kids that might be traumatized because they passed by some house of prostitution out in the middle of the desert in Nevada.

The real issue here isn't whether legal prostitution in a few remote counties in Nevada is such a good thing or not. The issue is why does the top senate Democrat consider this such a pressing issue to warrant his attention. Further, Senator Ensign is correct. This is a local county issue.

In the hallowed halls of big time sissyass stuff, this latest nonsense by Harry Reid sure takes it's rightful place. By the way Harry, about that thing with your hands.....