Movie Popcorn Keeps Ticket Prices In Check

So the movie theater owners are reporting that overpriced popcorn helps keep movie ticket prices lower. Hmm...who knew? Mondo wonders if we could bring movie popcorn to the healthcare industry to keep costs down. Just think, next time you need an operation you can say, "I'll have a triple bypass, a large Coke and a jumbo-sized popcorn extra butter."

Tested & Ready

It's certainly no skate in the park getting elected President. Some say you have to learn new tricks while others feel that you should be tested and ready to be the next commander in chief of the United States. Mondo thinks the answer is to begin offering Presidential coursework at University and Colleges around the country.

No Viewers for Oscar Show

Perhaps we, the tv viewer, would have been better off if they had cancelled the Academy Awards as rumored during the writer's strike instead of what can be described as "underwhelming" at best?



Why does the show suck?

The best songs are lame and rarely translate to anything worth watching. Drop it from the show and shave at least a half hour off the broadcast.

Get rid of the technical awards and crafts. Who really cares about makeup and hair, costume design, art design, sound editing, film editing? After all, these are below the line categories and the Oscars is truly about the above the line: Actors, Writers, Directors and Producers. Lump these below the line awards with the special technical geek awards that are held separately.

Give the documentary and short film categories the boot.

How about nominating some blockbuster films that actually make money for a change like Transformers, Harry Potter instead of this art house crap that gets put on the discount rack at Blockbuster?

How about a best action movie category or better still, best comedy?

Finally, the show writing is not funny. There were 30 credited writers on the Oscar show but you would have never known it. Host John Stewart was flying solo and dropping bombs left and right. Mondo thinks next year let's have the show without the writers so we can see if there's any difference.

Say 'hello' to my little friend

In what could be a sign of hope in an uncertain economic future, Speedy Alka-Seltz has returned to bring relief to the upset stomachs of millions. Good news for the recession blues. Way to go, Speedy!

Going Green

It's pouring rain in Los Angeles, deluge city, as Mondo schleps his way back from a pitch meeting in Hollywood and discovers that he's running on empty. Fortunately, there's a BP gas station up ahead at the corner of Olympic and Robertson.



It turns out to be an eco-friendly green station because of its design, materials and its use of water and energy. Yes, they still sell gas, but now you can brag to your friends and co-workers about just how green you are by filling up there.

And does it really matter how green you are?



You bet your ass!

Where's the Beef?

A very disturbing undercover video of cows on their last legs at Westland/Hallmark Meat Company has finally caused a stir: the largest recall of meat in USA history:143 million pounds of beef.

Where's the beef? Most likely in resting our bellies, already been eaten. Talk about the perfect crime. Additional records show that 37 million pounds of beef was sent to school-lunch programs. Kids, it is time to start brown bagging it or have Papa John's Pizza on speed dial.

Mondo thinks it is time for the American public to demand a national food safety program for all meats, fruits and vegetables before there's another incident. Meanwhile, the public won't have to worry about meatpacker Westland/Hallmark compliing with the program, as they have decided to close down.

Best Supporting Category

Now that the bloody awful Writer's Guild Strike has been settled Hollywood is focusing its attention on Sunday's Academy Awards Ceremony. Look for it to be a festive, star-studded extravaganza full of pomp and circumstances and little gold statues. Mondo thinks the real winners of the evening will be the fashion industry and picks Jimmy Choo as the winner in the Best Supporting Category.

Electric Shock Therapy

It is an extremely rare photograph. Incredible. Impossible almost. During violent bad weather which fell down recently on Rio de Janeiro, the statue of Christ redeemer of Corcovado was struck by the lightning. Fortunately, this famous monument, which was selected last year to form part of the seven new wonders of the world, only very slightly suffered. This 38 height meters statue, works of Landowski and Costa, dominates the Brazilian capital since 1931

Money to Burn

Mondo checked out the Obama/Clinton debate last night and was left with the conclusion that both candidates are equally qualified for office and therefore the debate was a tie.

As far as Mondo's concerned, the tie breaker is the candidate's campaign finances. After all, running the country involves managing a budget trillions of dollars so what better indicator of a candidate's ability to lead the nation than the way they handle their $100 million plus budgets because eventually one of them as President will be spending your hard earned tax dollars.

The New York Times is reporting today that "Clinton Donors Worried by Campaign’s Spending." According to the article "Nearly $100,000 went for party platters and groceries before the Iowa caucuses, even though the partying mood evaporated quickly. Rooms at the Bellagio luxury hotel in Las Vegas consumed more than $25,000; the Four Seasons, another $5,000. And top consultants collected about $5 million in January, a month of crucial expenses and tough fund-raising...As part of their get-out-the-vote effort in Iowa, the campaign came up with a plan to have a local supermarket deliver sandwich platters to pre-caucus parties. It spent more than $95,384 on Jan. 1 at Hy-Vee Inc., a local grocery chain in West Des Moines, Iowa, in addition to buying loads of snow shovels to clear the walks for caucusgoers. Mrs. Clinton came in third in the Jan. 3 caucus. It did not snow...Clinton paid $275,000 to Sunrise Communications, a South Carolina firm that was supposed to turn out black voters for her and collected nearly $800,000 in total. She lost...In January: the campaign spent more than $11,000 on pizza and $1,200 on Dunkin’ Donuts runs."

Wow! Hillary's already spending like she's the President.

Mondo's wondering, "Whose Xeroxing Who?"

Not Another Political Ad!

Check out the latest political ad featuring Hillary Clinton from Scott Bateman.  It's funny stuff!

Obama for America!

This email was forwarded to me by a Barack Obama supporter. It reminds Mondo of the bible story of David vs. Goliath. Decide for yourself. Mondo always roots for the underdog!


From: "David Plouffe, BarackObama.com"
Date: February 21, 2008 9:33:53 AM PST
To: MondoMouth
Subject: A hundred versus a million
Reply-To: info@barackobama.com

Mondo --

News broke yesterday that a few wealthy Clinton supporters are gearing up for a massive spending campaign to boost her chances in the big upcoming contests in Texas and Ohio on March 4th.

The so-called "American Leadership Project" will take unlimited contributions from individuals and is organized the same way as the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

ABC News reports that this group is seeking 100 Clinton supporters to each give $100,000 to fund its $10 million effort to promote Senator Clinton and "contrast" her positions with Barack Obama's.

That's the opposite of how politics should work, and the opposite of how Barack Obama has run this campaign.

The same day this group's activity was revealed, we announced that nearly 1 million individual people have donated to this campaign.

Stand up against politics-as-usual. Help reach the goal of 1 million donors calling out for change by encouraging a first-time donor to own a piece of this campaign.

If you give as part of our matching program, you will double the gift of a new donor. You can even choose to exchange a note with them about why you are part of this movement.

Make your matching donation now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

Groups like this are forbidden from working primarily for the purpose of electing or defeating a candidate.

Yet here we have a committee that springs up on the eve of an election, promotes a specific candidate, and has no history or apparent purpose of lobbying specific issues outside the benefit to the candidate of these communications.

This raises a number of legal and ethical issues, but more than anything it reveals an attitude towards politics as a game that is played to win at all costs.

Americans are ready for change. We are tired of Swift Boat-style groups and smear campaigns.

Help reach the unprecedented goal of a million voices calling for a new kind of politics and a new kind of leadership.

Make a matching donation now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

I'll keep you updated as the situation with this group evolves.

Thank you for your support,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Fight Censorship

io9 is a sponsor of this awesome event in San Francisco on Saturday night, benefiting the free speech crusaders at Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Hope to see you there! It's from 8-11 at 111 Minna. 10 bucks at the door goes to CBLDF.

Slowhand's Life In The Fast Lane

Guitar Hero Eric Clapton's autobiography is a muddled affair of self-doubt, self-destruction and self-loathing - all of which means that we can expect Hollywood suits to be creaming all over themselves to make this opus into another rock-star bio pic. Paging Marty Scorsese.

Clapton, who seems to have be blessed with Rasputiin's indestructible constitution, survives drugs, alcohol and a suicide attempt while his rock peers drop like flies. During the Sixites, Clapton who was a member of the supergroups, Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and Dereck and the Dominos, and yet in each instance he grew tired of the band's music. The irony is that he is best known for the music from this period. Subsequently, Clapton's later work seems to be channeling the ghost of blues legend Robert Johnson.

Mondo says save yourself the eyestrain and wait for the movie unless you're in dire need of a survivor's guide to rock-n-roll.

Swimming with the Sharks

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London graffiti artist Banksy is indeed laughing all the way to the bank these days having recently sold a piece at auction thru Sotheby's in New York for more than $1.8m. If you never heard of Banksy before then here's your chance to see what all the fuss is all about during a month-long exhibit of Banksy's work 29 February to 29 March 2008, will hosted at the Andipa Gallery in London. Mondo's going. Hope to see you there. Cheers.

Castro Quits Cuba!

Fidel Castro stunned the world by quitting the presidency of Cuba after learning that 49 years of service to the communist regime still did not entitle him to a retirement gold watch, "I know we are a poor communist island country but this is rediculous!" exclaimed Castro.

A government spokesman at the Office of Retired Workers said that after 10 years of unsuccessful bidding on Ebay for a gold watch, the Office had no choice but to break the news to El Presidente who promptly told them to take their watch and shove it.

Castro's immediate plans are still up in the air but sources have indicated that he is contemplating a trip to Miami to apologize to all the Cuban exhiles and then a vacation at Disney World.

Hot Celebrity Rehab Brands!

Amy Winehouse sings about rehab, "Tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no". Yet, it seems with every passing day more and more celebrities are saying "Yes, yes, yes" to rehab including Amy herself. Why? How would I know? Mondo's not a celebrity, but I suspect that this could be the next, big thing in celebrity endorsement branding.



After all, you wear their clothes, illegally download their songs and watch them being hunted down by the paparazzi, so why not go to rehab where your favorite Hollywood celebrity stays? Why not make your next rehab special and pamper yourself at the Paris Hilton Hideaway, Lindsay Lohan Retreat or the Britney Spears Sanitarium?



Be sure to check out the innovative celebrity timeshare rehab plans which allow you to rehab around the world at reduced prices. And remember, just say "No, no, no," to ordinary rehab and "Yes, yes, yes," to your favorite star's celebrity rehab retreat. Franchise opportunities are available.

Jackie Moon's Model Behavior

ABA Basketball star Jackie Moon busts his moves with Supermodel Heidi Klum on and off the court in a stunning pictorial in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2008 . Nice trunks, Moon!

Nike Ghost

Nothing's more haunting than an empty, unused basketball court in this Mondomouth Nike "Hoops" spot.

Speeding in a Speedo

Swimmers, got the need for speed? Well then better get your hands on Speedo's Lazer Racer swimsuit which is built for speed and designed to shave milliseconds off the fastest swimmers pool time so don't be surprised when you see smoke on the water. Of course, Mondo's got some thoughts on the mash-up of fashionistas and rocket scientists teaming up for the greater good. Does this milestone mean that the geeks will no longer be herded behind a hot club's velvet ropes? Click here to listen to MondoMouth or Click iTunes to listen to MondoMouth.

Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap performs at Concert For A Cause for International Myeloma Foundation. Starring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer. Mondo attended the gala event and says check out the charity's website at www.myeloma.org . Also, check out Harry on the bass guitar - nice recovery.

Baseball Spring Training Arrives

Mondo's excited about the 2008 Major League Baseball season. Here's my clip of what I'm looking forward to: