Monthly Archives: March 2009

A couple of people seem not to have grasped what I was trying to say about this Jim Cramer controversy…and by the way, that skirmish is fast turning from a legitimate debate into a cable TV crossover stunt. I don't think it was premeditated in that sense but that's what it's become.

My point was not that pundits make mistakes or get predictions wrong. Everyone does, self included, and we all understand that. It's that you can achieve a stunning level of wrongness on TV and people don't seem to notice. I saw another version of this in the early eighties when I was working on That's Incredible! We were bombarded with approaches from folks who claimed to be able to predict the future via psychic vision or other paranormal means. Most were making a very good living selling, in one way or another, their prognostications…and of course, an appearance on ABC TV would have boosted that income through the skylight.

I happen to not believe in psychic powers or chatting with the dead or anything of the sort…and if I ever did, exposure to these people would have convinced me not only that it was hokum but that most of them knew that. Some, off-camera, seemed to no more think they could read minds than Penn and Teller think they really catch bullets in their respective teeth…and of course, there was zero guilt about the many (and some had many) out there who believed in the alleged psychic's ability, paid well for counsel and adjusted their lives based on what they heard. Some self-proclaimed clairvoyants, of course, did believe in their own abilities, having not only deluded others but themselves, as well.

You could understand how some got away with it. Through a combination of lucky guesses, careful phrasing and logical deduction, they could cite some "visions" that had come to pass…and that was really all it took: Some. The batting averages seemed to not matter. Five accurate predictions out of ten can be somewhat impressive. It's not proof of psychic ability, especially when two of the five are pretty vaguely worded and two more are occurrences anyone could have foreseen…but it didn't seem that odd that the "5 out of 10" psychics had substantial followings. What amazed me was that the "5 out of 200 (or more)" psychics had clients and devotees, as well.

All that seemed necessary was that you had folks who yearned to believe, that they were being told what they wanted to hear and that every so often, you were right about something. If they could get that, they'd ignore all the misses, no matter how numerous. That's kind of how it works too often with experts and pundits on TV. Being right once in a while is enough.

As you probably know, Frost/Nixon was a stage play and a movie, both starring Michael Sheen as David Frost and Frank Langella as the other guy. I enjoyed the movie (as delineated here) but had a lot of reservations about the way it portrayed certain true events.

The National Touring Company, which features Alan Cox as Frost and Stacy Keach as Nixon, has parked itself down at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles for a few weeks and this evening, Carolyn and I attended the first performance. Sad to say, I didn't much like it. The production is slick and well-assembled but I found it superficial and shallow, reducing its story down to the kind of conflict that gets resolved by one outta-left-field "gotcha" moment. David slays Goliath and snatches victory from defeat wholly because at the last minute, one of his researchers hands him a magic bullet in the form of a previously-unknown tape transcript.

That was one problem I had with it. Another, greater one was that I rarely saw Richard Nixon on that stage. Stacy Keach is a fine actor but you either buy him as Nixon or you don't and I couldn't buy him. Among other problems, he seemed too commanding in a movie star way. Richard M. Nixon was socially awkward (the play even says that a few times) and despite his many triumphs, always had an air about him of trying to prove that he belonged among the elite crowd. Keach's Nixon says that in so many words but Keach's manner is confident, charming and theatrical. There's that famous exchange when Nixon made a desperate stab at male bonding small talk, asking Frost, "Did you do any fornicating this weekend?" Coming from Stacy Keach, it sounds like a deliberate joke.

Maybe I'm too familiar with the material and the real events to warm fully to any shorthand or fictionalization…but it seems to me there's a deeper story there, having to do with Nixon's vulnerabilities. Keach does a great job of wringing audience laughter at the sheer disingenuousness of many real Nixon quotes but I just felt he was too good an actor to play someone who was that bad an actor.

Above is a photo I took in 1975 (I think) of Al Feldstein, who was then the editor of MAD Magazine — a post he held for 26 years. During some of those 26 years, the publication sold in the millions (plural) and did an awful lot to instill a sense of humor and healthy skepticism in a couple of generations. Before that, of course, Al was the editor and main writer for many of the great EC comics like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror and Weird Fantasy and he corrupted America that way.

Al retired from MAD in 1984 and embarked on yet another career as a painter, mostly of western scenes. You can see a lot of them at his website and be very impressed. He's also been very active on the convention circuit, and I'm glad of that because it's given me the chance to interview him many times and to just get to know the guy. He's an amazing and important figure in the history of comics and humor. He was kind of brusque to me that day in the MAD offices when I was up there taking pictures but we've now become good friends.

Sad to say, my good friend is cancelling convention appearances for health reasons. He is awaiting admission to the Mayo Clinic where, if all goes according to plan, he will undergo one of them heart bypass things where they cut you open and reroute your blood. This should happen around mid-April and we're hoping it all goes well not for his sake so much as ours. We want to have Al around for a long time.

I expect it will. Matter of fact, I'm just posting this because I had the photo around and I figure it'll be quite a while before I get to use it on an obit.

I must admit I've been enjoying the spat between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer, partly because it's funny and partly because Stewart is doing something that doesn't happen nearly enough in the media today. He's pointing out when so-called experts were dead wrong. There seems to be no penalty — no recognition, even — when what happens is precisely the opposite of what was predicted. Erroneous punditry is shrugged off, not just by those who make the bad calls but by their peers and even by the viewing public. I believe this is called The William Kristol Syndrome.

Some web comments are making a big deal about Cramer's support (or lack thereof, in some ways) to Barack Obama, saying that this is "The Left's" way of punishing him for straying a bit from the reservation. I don't think everything in this country has to be viewed through the prism of being for or against Obama. Certainly, folks on either side of that divide are quite capable of saying foolish things. Mr. Stewart and his crew may be Liberal on most issues but those like Joe Scarborough who think he doesn't ridicule Democrats and the new White House occupant haven't been watching the show. (I think some of them are foolishly expecting or hoping to encourage that Obama in his first fifty days be mocked as much as Bush was in his last fifty days.)

Cramer is scheduled to appear tomorrow night on The Daily Show. I imagine he'll cop to giving out some advice but insist that in later broadcasts, which Stewart did not cite, he course-corrected some or all of that. That may be so but it will affirm Stewart's point, which is that if one listens to CNBC, one hears a certain amount of financial advice which later proves to be inoperative. I hope he doesn't take to arguing, as he has in some recent responses, that Jon Stewart is not a financial expert. We already all know that. Stewart was just trying to point out that some of the folks on TV who are sold as financial experts aren't, either.

If you're interested in Raymond Chandler, you'll want to read this and this.

What's the worst gamble in Vegas? No, it's not Keno and it's not the Big Six Wheel. (The Big Six Wheel, which you don't see much of in the high-end casinos, is that gaming station where a lady spins a wheel, usually decorated with currency, and you lose whatever bet you were dumb enough to lay down. They put these on the floor in a location you must pass when you've won big and are on your way to the cashier to turn your chips into cash. Every so often, someone's so intoxicated by the "win" and/or alcohol that they decide to take a flyer on the wheel and in so doing, give back whatever they won. The odds on the Big Six Wheel are about the same as just throwing your money into an incinerator, though at least it's environmentally safer.)

Sorry…I got off subject. That happens around here.

Now then. The worst gamble in Vegas is a new deal they have for the buffet at the Excalibur Hotel. The buffet there is open from 7 AM until they feel like closing it (usually around 10 PM) and it costs $11.99 for breakfast, $14.99 for lunch, and $17.99 for dinner. But they're now offering something new, which is an "all-day buffet pass." You get to come and go, eating as much as you like each time for $25 a day. What's more, they give you a special ticket so you don't have to wait in line when there's a line. You can walk right in and start filling your plate, whenever you like, as many times as you like.

Even before I had Gastric Bypass Surgery, I never buffeted more than once a day in Vegas. No one needs or can tolerate that much mashed potato. Still, if you could buffet two or more times in a day, you can see where this might save you some bucks…though maybe not all that much. If one flips through the many magazines and coupon books one encounters in Vegas, one can usually find a "2 for 1" coupon for that buffet, good during off-hours…like 2 PM to 6 PM. So you and a companion could stuff yourselves for $7.50 each. Depending on when you want to eat, that might be a much better deal.

But of course, the problem with all these plays is that you'd be dining, if you can call it that, at the Excalibur Buffet. This is always a gamble of another variety…kind of like Russian Roulette with cubed Jell-O for dessert. Remember your high school cafeteria? Remember your high school cafeteria on a particularly bad day for your high school cafeteria? That's the Excalibur Roundtable Buffet on a good day. It's not quite as dreadful as the legendary Surf Buffet at the now-imploded and forgotten Boardwalk Casino, where you could look at and even sample an item without knowing whether it was beef, vegetable or tapioca pudding. There were people who eagerly chowed down on scorpion scrotums on Fear Factor but wouldn't go near the Surf Buffet.

The Excalibur spread isn't that bad but it's not somewhere you'd want to eat three meals in one day or one lifetime. Not unless your luck at the slots was running so terrible that you felt a powerful urge to do away with yourself. I did it once, back in my young and foolish days and they had a meat loaf that somehow contained neither meat nor loaf, as well as a gravy that could have served as a darned good transmission fluid. I ate what I could eat and as I was sitting there, wondering if I shouldn't stop somewhere for lunch on my way back to my room, a bus boy came by and snatched my plate. "Going back for more?" he asked.

"I think I've had enough," I said.

And then, so help me, he half-whispered, "Hey, you think this is bad, you should see the employee cafeteria."

March, as you no doubt have tattooed somewhere on your anatomy, is Creamy Tomato Soup Month at the chain of eateries known variously as Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes. So busy have I been lately that I let the first eight days of the month slip by without tasting my favorite soup. Earlier this evening, I shrugged off all other concerns and hiked to my friendly neighborhood Souplantation where I was…a little disappointed. I hope we just got a bad batch because the Creamy Tomato Soup was not up to its usual standard. My former cleaning lady was eating there, too. She didn't seem particularly thrilled with the soup, either.

I'm going back for lunch on Thursday. I'm giving them one more chance…and probably one more after that.

This year's Comic-Con International takes place July 23-26. If you intend to buy a four-day membership, buy it now. They will all be gone long before July. They may even be gone by April Fool's Day.

The hotel reservation system opens March 19 at 9 AM Pacific Daylight Time.

Jon Stewart makes CNBC's Jim Cramer look like the biggest jerk in the history of financial news channels. And it's not like there haven't been plenty of other contenders for that honor lately. Video clip to follow.