"I CLEARLY see that Paul Ryan has a whole lotta "rage"in him. A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically, the only thing he is not raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions."
That's guitarist Tom Morello in the current issue of Rolling Stone. (The one with a cartoon of Mitt Romney on the cover, holding fistfuls of cash, while kicking a guy wearing a hard hat in the backside.) If you'd rather not read political rants and musings, RS also offers sexy swimmer Ryan Lochte. He confides to writer Brian Hiatt that he was a better basketball player than swimmer growing up, and doesn't dismiss the idea of returning to the hoops: "I know how to push my body to limits where other people don't want to go, so I could become good at basketball."
Lochte loves action movies (his favorite film-watching companion is his dog) and he wouldn't be averse to starring in an action flick. Maybe even "Aquaman?" Writer Hiatt suggests that most people think Aquaman is the "worst" superhero. Lochte disgrees. "I don't think he's the worst. I mean, he's in the water! That's my kinda thing!" Hollywood has been tinkering with the idea of an Aquaman movie for years. Okay, you LA honchos and execs--you've got your star, if nothing else.
Oh, check out the picture of Lochte on page 38, in Las Vegas recently, brandishing a tiny water gun and wearing the teeniest, tightest white Speedo. All good for the big screen.
- I MISSED the pilot debut of Matthew Perry's new sitcom "Go On" after the Olympics. (It airs officially on the 11th.) But I have to say, judging by the ads, Mr. Perry looks just terrific. Healthy, handsome, a perfect weight. During the run of "Friends" Matthew suffered some issues and his appearance altered drastically season to season-- from just right to plumpish to nearly skeletal. But Perry, an extremely talented comic actor (I'd put him near thelate, great John Ritter) seems to have sorted everything out, and it sure shows. Good luck to you, Matthew. I must say the creators of this show have ahero looking down on everybody. I hope this doesn't last!
- SPEAKING OF former "Friends," Lisa Kudrow's Showtime offering "Web Therapy," is a scream. Kudrow plays a therapist who offers "help" via the Internet, "Skyping" her patients. (Among them have been Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Alan Cumming, Rosie O'Donnell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Molly Shannon, Conan O'Brien and several of her old "Friends"--Courteney Coxand David Schwimmer.) The best part of this is that a good deal of the show appears to be totally adlibbed. Both Kudrow and her "patients" just make it up as they go along, so thesessions take bizarre turns. Kudrow has always been the mistress of the withering retort, as far back as her days as Phoebe on "Friends." (That character was supposed to be loveably goofy, but she always had a snarky, don't-mess-with-me edge.) This talent came to full flower in 1998's "The Opposite of Sex." She takes it to an even higher level in her latest endeavor. The joy of "Web Therapy" is seeing how adeptly Kudrow handles anything her guests throw at her, and vice versa. Fun, and a fascinating look at actors improvising.
- WHILE I still don't think Tom Cruise's career will be damaged by his quick divorce from Katie Holmes, or the current, compulsively readable expose on Cruise's "spouseauditioning" process in Vanity Fair, I'll admit he's got a bit of an uphill battle on his hands, especially now that he is 50. He looks a good decade younger. Can't he just find a beautiful young, aspiring actress who is also a Scientologist? Surely, in all the world there must be at least one. Then, they could be devoted to their religion without stress and Tom, if he chooses, could help build her career.
- WE SAID it would happen, and now it looks like it will. I do mean a reunion of the three surviving members of The Monkees-- Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and the usuallyelusive, irascible, Michael Nesmith. They will play 12 U.S. dates and all the shows will honor the recently departed Davy Jones, who was the baby-faced sex-symbol of the group that briefly supplanted the Beatles in popularity, back in the mid-1960s.
- EVEN THOUGH I thought "The Green Mile" was one of the most overwrought, overrated movies ever, there was no denying the power and vulnerability of Michael Clarke Duncan as the falsely accused prisoner with magical powers. Michael's death, at the tragically young age of 54, is so shocking. He was such a sweet guy, and his presence in any film was always reassuring; even he when he played bad--which wasn't often. He couldn't conceal his essential gentle nature. What a terrible year this continues to be for the famous, who are dropping like flies.
- NOW, WITH the Democratic Convention under way, a word to those "disappointed" in Barack Obama ("maybe I won't vote at all") and the unbearably smug ("of course Obama will win") from Michael Moore: "Don't get too cocky about Obama winning...the bad guys are very good at winning." As for those out there who are disappointed and vacillating, I have one thought for you--a Republican president, a Republican congress, a republican platform. Think about it, and get over yourselves. And get out and vote.