, who passed away at the age of 63 after a long battle with cancer.
IDIOT!
Not since Ronald Reagan tried to align himself with Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." (Reagan, or perhaps his advisers, seemed to think the song was a positve look at the country) has a US President "misspoke" as much as George W. Bush. This week, after months of repeating that his immigration bill was not an offer of amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens in the country, Bush described the bill as such. "Amnesty means that you've got to pay a price for having been here illegally , and this bill does that," Bush told reporters. Later in the day, presidential spokesman Tony Snow released a statement saying that the president had "misspoke." Wow, in another 18 months he'll be out of office. Whatever shall I do?
TRANSFORMERS
OK, I may have to eat a lot of crow because of my summer movie preview in which I spoke negatively about Michael Bay, but I caught this movie earlier this week and it was INCREDIBLE! Look for my review next week.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...? CHAPTER 23: CHARLES MARTIN SMITH
WHERE YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM FROM: "American Graffiti," "The Untouchables"
The son of early animator Ray Smith ("Gerald McBoingBoing," various "Peanuts" specials), Charles Martin Smith got his start in an early episode of "The Brady Bunch," as the boy who sells Greg his first car. In 1973 he was cast as George Lucas' alter ego in the nostalgic film, "American Graffiti." As Terry "The Toad" Fields, Smith proved to teenagers every where that you can be cool AND get the girl if you have a bitchin' car! He reprised the role in "More American Graffiti," showing Toad's experiences during the Vietnam war. In 1978 he was cast as Ray Bob (in real life, bassist Joe B. Maudlin) alongside Gary Busey in "The Buddy Holly Story." For the film, he, Busey and Don Stroud had to learn to play their various instruments and sing, as the musical numbers were recorded live In 1983 he earned great praise from fans and critics for his roll in "Never Cry Wolf." Smith is probably best known to PCR readers as one of Elliot Men's left, in "The Untouchables." In the mid 1980s, Smith began working behind the camera, directing episodic television including what turned out to be the pilot episode turn up for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." After almost 40 years, Smith continues to work both in front of and behind the camera and even added "writer" to his list of credits with 2003's "The Snow Walker," which he also starred in and directed.
Well, that's all for now. Have a great week. See ya!
"Mike's Rant" is ©2007 by Michael A. Smith. Webpage design and all graphics herein are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2007 by Nolan B. Canova.
