No spoiler here, I promise—but I’ll have to admit I smiled pretty widely when only a few minutes into the superhero film Hancock, there was a Bono reference.
You’ll have to see the movie to catch the joke, but I can give you a hint: Jason Bateman’s character “Ray” delivers it.
In that brilliant Arrested Development sort of way.
They may want their BonoTV in Germany, but Bono isn’t gonna let them have it. Yer man has put the kibosh on the launch of “BonoTV,” a German TV channel for viewers over 50 years old.
RapidTVNews quotes the German newspaper, Express, which reported that Bono wasn’t agreeable to the channel’s name because “he is concerned about the protection of his own pseudonym.” The channel will still launch later this year, but they’ll have to use a lesser name … like maybe ChrisMartinTV or LiamGallagherTV, perhaps? 
Is Bono so connected that he’s the go-to guy when someone famous dies? Is he likely to show up at the funerals of famous people the world over … like this photo of him and Ali at Luciano Pavarotti’s funeral?
Over on the Boundless Line blog, Steve Watters says Bono is the Forrest Gump of Eulogies, and lays out a list of old news stories where Bono was one of the main quotees when Big Names pass on.
When you think about it … he’s got a point.
Looking at this Showbiz Ireland blog post, it appears that folks are not only watching who Bono hangs out with, what he’s wearing and what he’s drinking–they’re also apparently sure he’s sending calculated subliminal messages based on what poster he’s posing in front of during photo ops.
It could me nothing or it could be something: you be the judge!
This article indicates that Bono will be among the featured A-listers to appear on the finale of the Late Late Show, which will also feature dancers competing for Ireland’s spot in the Eurovision Dance Contest. Let’s hope they don’t ask the celebs to dance along…
We had a fun time reviewing the new Bono biography. This one, though, is the first for kids. My 8-year -old daughter, Madeline, writes book responses as school assignments in which she has to tell something she learned from the beginning, middle and end of the book. So she wrote down the facts she learned and then typed out some sentences to get us started.
I prompted her with some more questions to get her to explain or clarify some things and then she dictated her new sentences to me and I typed them in. (She was impressed with how fast I could type, and I was impressed by how well she understood the book!) We worked on the introduction together and then she came up with the author questions on her own. (Well done, Maddie! What’s our next assignment?)
The book is a great introduction to this “rock start with a conscience.” It’s the result of careful research on the part of the author, and it says a little about each stage of Bono’s life. There are some good pictures, too. (Gotta have lots of those for the kiddies.)
Shout-out to @U2 staffer/photographer Phil Romans for having one of his photos in the book. Hint: it’s of a famous Dublin hearing aid store.
And tell me, if you were a kid, what would you think about the man you’re seeing on the book cover?
