War

		Plus... •  Nolan's Pop Culture Review turns 3! •  A thought on The VH-1 Hall of Fame Awards

As I write these words, Wednesday, March 19, 2003, we are less than a day away from a war with Iraq.

I am as confused today as I have been over the changing targets. Since 9/11, I thought we were supposed to be at war with Osama Bin Laden. Somehow, through clever re-direction, the chief architect of the Twin Towers disaster has been demoted to a lesser threat than the one man Big Daddy Bush decided not to dethrone ten years ago: Saddam Hussein.

It's almost like "unfinished business" in the Bush household as Dubya gets elected, Daddy-o says, "Ya know, kiddo, if you wanna do your old man a real favor, take out that son-of-a-bitch who darkened the final chapters of my presidency. I don't care who gets in the way, or what other world catastrophes raise their heads first, do this for me. We can't let that loose cannon control our oil!" And so here we are. Repeated threats from the US Administration to disarm "weapons of mass destruction or else" have been summarily dismissed by Hussein & Sons. Likewise an ultimatum to vacate Iraq. ("Hey, you guys have bombs, why can't we have 'em too? What? Who's a loose cannon? Moi? Well, I ain't movin'!") Of course, I am not a statesman nor a bureaucrat nor a Senator nor a Congressan, nor a man of letters, nor particularly well-educated in the formal sense, and the jobs of running the state are appropriated to those chosen few "wiser" heads. I just wish something like this could be explained to me in a way I understand why the world must be kept in such danger to "preserve peace". Nolan's PCR turns 3 years old! In all the chaos of the world and my hectic production schedule, I almost missed an important anniversary....MINE! Or, more appropriately, ours, gentle readers. As I write these words today, March 19, 2003, The PCR is officially three years old. The top of all the contributor's columns say "fourth calendar year", which is also true: 2000 -- 2003 is four calendar years. But we didn't start January 1, the official start of my first humble AOL newsletter was March 19 (as evidenced in the banner that adorns all my PCR homepages). A hitcounter was added the 27th as it became clear this magazine wasn't going anywhere. I continue to thank you all for your kind support over the years for this and my other nutty ventures over at Crazed Fanboy dotcom. What a strange trip it's been..... Thanks to William Moriaty for coming over and waking me out of a sound sleep to remind me this day was already here! AC/DC and The Police on VH-1 It's ridiculous to review a show I caught maybe a total of 15 minutes of. But the recent "VH-1 Hall of Fame Music Awards" had me alternately laughing and in tears over two acts performing near the show's end: AC/DC and The Police, the latter band performing together for the frst time in 18 years. AC/DC came on to accept the award and singer Brian Johnson gave a wondeful speech (it's the first time I've ever heard him talk) where he acknowledged the contributions of the late Bon Scott. They then took the stage for "All Night Long" and were joined onstage by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. OK, that was a bad idea. Then the climax of the show was a reuniting of the Police. After all three members spoke at the podium, they went onstage to perform "Roxanne" and "Every Breath You Take". It was magical, especially their musicianship which hasn't changed, it's gotten better (particularly the drummer, Stewart Copeland, who left me slackjawed--kept his roadies busy too, he demolished his snare head toward the end of "Breath"!). Then they were joined onstage by Steven Tyler of Aerosith--OK that was another bad idea, but The Police definitely showed everyone that after 20 years of ego clashes and band break-ups, they're still a class act of supremely talented guys. I'd like to draw your attention to a special insider challenge. Terence Nuzum recently challenged William Moriaty and myself to co-review the latest from ex-Smashing Pumpkin frontman Billy Corgan, ZWAN. The theory being Terence wanted to see if casual fans could react to the album as positively as he did. The fact that we're all very different ages and backgrounds contributed to the allure. Please see this issue's Digital Divide for the result. Due to an editorial snafu, Mike Smith's late update of "The TV Land Awards" did not get uploaded to last week's Rant until very late over the weekend (i.e., my fault). I encourage everybody to go back and check out that section of last week's Mike's Rant, ASAP. I myself have managed to miss that show every time it's been on and am glad Mike was there to observe. I will also be running the missing section in this week's Rant. --Nolan Talk about your double-whammys. Due to a scheduling snafu, the photos that were supposed to accompany last week's Digital Divde review of the Interpol concert by Terence Nuzum did not arrive until this week (breaking in a new photog). They are up now and I encourage everyone to go back and take a look at last week's Digital Divide and see the cool pictures taken by drafted staff photog Angela Campisi! I apologize to everyone for any inconvenience this has caused. These are extremely rare glitches in an otherwise well-oiled editorial system and are not likely to happen again. ---Nolan

This week's issue La Floridiana by William Moriaty Florida's Mysterious Big Cats........The Big Pay Off......The Sad But Incontrovertible Evidence........ US Representative Declares "War" on France/More On The Congresswoman........Governor's Attempts to Dismantle State Library a Violation of State Law..... .................Click here for more. This week's issue Matt's Rail by Matt Drinnenberg BIRTHDAY FOR THE BIG GUY........On the anniversary of "King Kong..... EXTREMELY LATE UPDATE: OSCAR PICKS! .................Click here for more.

This Week's Movie Review: The Hunted  review by Michael Smith This week's issue The Digital Divide by Terence Nuzum Terence's challenge: Three of us review ZWAN (And a "debt" to Billy Corgan could be paid...) This week's issue OFF TO WAR........NOW REALITY T.V. REALLY SUCKS!........ OSCAR NIGHT IS UPON US........ OSCAR PICKS ........TV LAND STORIES (redux)........ .................Click here for more.

		We welcome your feedback. To send an email to Letters to the Editor write to: Crazedfanboy1@aol.com.  Any emails sent to this address will be assumed intended for publication unless you specifically instruct me not to. I can and do respond privately, if that is your preference. Frequently, it's both ways.---Nolan

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"Mike's Rant" is ©2003 by Michael A. Smith    "La Floridiana" is ©2003 by William Moriaty    "Matt's Rail" is ©2003 by Mathew Drinnenberg    This issue's "The Digital Divide" is ©2003 by Terence Nuzum, William Moriaty, and Nolan B. Canova for their respective contributions    This week's movie review of "The Hunted" is ©2003 by Michael A. Smith      All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2003 by Nolan B. Canova

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