$350 each or two for $666

i'm shocked by madonna's staged crucifixion. more precisely, i'm shocked that ms. ciccone can still assemble a vast audience -- and that said audience finds her relentless and hackneyed appropriation of iconic religious imagery to be shocking in any way whatsoever. hasn't she gone to this particular well about three hundred times before?

why, alice cooper, marilyn manson, cradle of filth, and gwar can't even get arrested these days. you'd think that for her $350 ticket prices, madonna could at least enliven her act with cool stigmata and buckets of blood. i know, i know, this tour is all about peace and love and that ms. ciccone has no intention what-so-ever to use the cross as a "bad-taste publicity stunt." how could we even think such a thing?

This is not a mocking of the church," she said. "It is no different than a person wearing a cross or `taking up the cross' as it says in the Bible. My performance is neither anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous. Rather, it is my plea to the audience to encourage mankind to help one another and to see the world as a unified whole. I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."

i trust that when ms. ciccone says that Jesus would do "the same thing" she is referring to the whole "help one another/unified whole" christian worldview rather than the actual crucifixion thing.

meanwhile, the punk sends word that another superstar long past his prime is literally selling his confessions.

for the same princely sum of $350 you (yes, you!) can own a piece of baseball history. just click on the baseball and you're off and running. i'm tempted to plunk down my cash, especially if ol' pete would make mine out to shoeless joe. i bet he'd even nick me for another $350, since that counts as two names rather than one.

like madonna, mr. rose has only the noblest intentions:

As many of you know, I regularly appear at the Field of Dreams® store located in the world famous Caesars Forum Shops in Las Vegas. I urge all visitors to this great city to come by and say hello. While I am so fortunate to have numerous opportunities to communicate with many of my wonderful fans, I begrudgingly do not have any positive new updates as it relates to my quest for official re-instatement back into Major League Baseball. Nevertheless, I remain upbeat and continue to find ways in which we can stay in touch, whether it is through corporate appearances, my Las Vegas project or my website.

oh yeah, i'm sure the vegas gig and the signed spheroid confessions will squelch all those ugly rumors about gambling on baseball. everybody's gotta make a living, but i wish these talented grifters could have found an honest trade. say it ain't so, indeed.