Lewinsky’s last laugh

Guess what America’s most notorious high profile troublemaking bimbo, Monica L., has been up to? A. A roller-skating waitress at a Sonic in Orlando B. A grossly overweight housefrau in Spokane C. A new graduate from the London School of Economics, with a masters degree in social psychology.

The correct response, interestingly enough, is C.

Say what you will about the controversial Mel Gibson, but his new movie, Apocalypto, is quite the stunner. The main reason for this is simply that Gibson was smart enough to realize that putting the Mayan civilization up on the screen, and doing so with even a middling degree of historical accuracy, would be, in and of itself, fascinating and refreshing. Usually, I could care less about the “action-adventure” genre, but Apocalypto flat out rocks. The make-up and costuming is outrageously bodacious, worthy of an instant Oscar. I predict this flick will influence a lot of Burners on the playa in ‘07. The sacrificial scene at the pyramid is absolutely brain-bending. Don’t stop yourself from seeing it just because you’re worried that all of the reported “ultra-violence” is completely over the top. These people were tough, mean and mercilessly nasty. When a poor slob takes a full tilt shot to the head from a rock/club, well, that makes a bit of a mess. Mel gives it to you straight up, no chaser. That said, the shots of guys getting their hearts pulled out is actually done with some subtlety—as subtle as an “in this scene, you pull the guy’s heart out” segment can be done, anyway. Honest! It’s downright tasteful!

I’m way overdue to use the print medium to plug my new foray into the air medium, so here goes. I’m back on the X every Sunday night, doing a two-hour, old school, free-form, anything-goes radio show called “Real Gone.” This is the time slot that the late, great Baba O’Lear made his own from ‘97 to ‘05, and I’m honored and tickled to get the call to carry on.

Something that we in the radio biz have to accept, begrudgingly enough, is that most of the time, people listen to us while they’re doing other things. That’s just the way it is, although I’m always ready to remind folks that sometimes it can be kinda fun and even illuminating to focus on the radio with no other stimuli in the room, the way people did in the ‘40s, or the way us baby boomer hippie-types did in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. In that vein, I just want to give a nod to a restaurant that reminded me of that principle recently. I was having lunch at a new little bistro in downtown Sparks called P.R. Picasso’s. As usual, I was reading a magazine while eating. As I got deeper into the meal (a salmon Napoleon!), I realized I should stop reading and give my full attention to this most excellent food experience. If you’re looking for a new restaurant to try, by all means put this place on your list. You’ll find it on Victorian Avenue between the Great Basin and Pyramid Way.