Monthly Archives: August 2018

• The NRA says it's facing a "financial crisis." That's what happens when you spend all your money buying frivolous things like senators, judges, members of the house…

Have you seen this? It's had eight million hits so maybe you have. It's about a pony that was neglected for years and years. His hooves grew so much that he could barely walk but he was rescued and nursed back to a normal life at a sanctuary in Belgium that cares for mistreated animals. It's a real nice story…

I haven't run one of these in a while. One of those folks who doesn't want their name mentioned wrote me to ask a question that combines a couple of frequent topics on this blog…

I am seeing a number of posts on the web from actors who claim they are being blacklisted by Hollywood because of their politics. They say Hollywood is run by liberals and since they are conservative, they are not being hired and they compare this to the days when writers and actors were blacklisted as seen in movies like The Front. Do you think they are indeed being blacklisted?

Deep sigh. One of the first things I think you should learn if you seek an acting or writing career — and it applies to other job descriptions in the arts — is that careers are illogical and capricious. They sometimes start for no definable reason and end the same way. It is very, very common that this year, everyone wants to hire Harvey Shmidlap and next year, no one will…and it may not be for any reason that Harvey can discern.

Which might not stop him from trying to come up with one. Some folks just don't like to admit how random and arbitrary their chosen profession can be. And Harvey may well feel that if he can nail down a simple reason for that work stoppage, he can make it go away.

It's possible there's a reason. I know one actor who pretty well nuked his career by showing up for jobs drunk and/or not at all. I was one of those with hiring power who stopped using him and when it got around town, it made him a lot less desirable. I know another actor who became really impossible to deal with, arguing and yelling all the time. No one was surprised when his career hit the skids. I would guess that the number one reason that actors' careers nosedive is that the folks who know their work and used to hire them — I'm talking about producers, directors, casting agents, etc. — aren't producing, directing or casting anything at the moment.

But some outta-work creative types won't accept the uneven nature of their profession and some have a natural bent for paranoia, imagining up plots and conspiracies…so you have these strange "they're out to get me" scenarios. You know people like that. Nothing bad ever happens to them by chance and certainly never because they did something wrong. It always has to be a plot against them. They certainly would never accept that someone somewhere thought their work wasn't very good.

Is it possible that someone isn't getting hired solely because of their politics? If you're talking about not getting hired by one person for one job, sure. I don't think I've ever seen it happen but yeah, sure. It's possible. But "blacklist" kind of denotes a grand conspiracy among supposed competitors. It's not just that I decide I have someone who'd be better than you for a certain part; it's that I somehow get together with others who hire and we all agree, "Let's not hire this guy!" That doesn't happen.

It especially doesn't happen that they say, "Hey, we don't like this guy's politics! Let's punish him by not hiring him!" Show business is not organized that way. It really isn't organized at all.

In the days of real blacklisting, pressure groups published actual lists and scared sponsors into demanding that certain folks not work on the shows for which those sponsors paid. The sponsors had power and the pressure groups exploited it. If you want to draw an analogy between that era and some folks' current unemployment, you need to find a few more parallels. Tell us who's exerting pressure to not hire Harvey Shmidlap and don't say "the Hollywood Elite" because that's a group that you invented to be deliberately vague and undefined. It has no officers. It has no roster of members. It holds no meetings. And on whom are they exerting this pressure?

Simple fact: Rob Reiner only has the power to not cast you in the next Rob Reiner movie. He probably wouldn't hire you for the same reason he also wouldn't bother to try and blacklist you. He's never heard of you. Or if he has, he probably doesn't have a part for you. He never hires his father. Why do you think that is?

I know I've used the term myself but I'm getting tired of the word "hater" in online discussions. There are people who are filled with rage and anger and, yes, hate — but the way I usually see the word used these days is like this: Person A makes a valid criticism of someone or something…and Person B who doesn't like that criticism doesn't acknowledge it or rebut it. He just calls Person A a "hater." He's trying to say that the criticism is not valid. It's just the ranting of someone who's emotionally disturbed or working a sick, hidden agenda or something.

And sometimes, that might be true but too often lately it's just a way of knocking over the chess board because you're losing. It's like "All those people saying Trump lies…they're just haters." Often, they add, "haters gonna hate" or some little slogan like that but it's still just a way to delegitimize what might be a valid point. I think that's fighting dirty and if you don't…well, that could only be because you're a hater.

This is from Saturday Night Live for 2/08/86 and it's the bit that made me really love Penn & Teller. I'd seen them before — in person, in fact — but this routine sealed the deal. It's also, interestingly, a bit they soon retired because they got too old to do it. Not long ago, it was resurrected for their Penn & Teller Fool Us series but with two young women standing (or hanging) in for them.

Make sure you watch it 'til the end…and make sure you realize that it's a perfect routine for Saturday Night Live. It could never have the same impact on any pre-recorded show…

I can't always focus on Trump's daily tap dances for his base, convincing them to believe in an alternate reality where he turned around the dreadful Obama economy and having the Russians pick our leaders isn't that bad an idea so long as they pick Trump and Trump-like candidates.  It's like an ongoing disaster right outside my window where, since I can't do anything about it, it's sometimes easier not to look.

On a personal level, it's sad (to use one of Trump's favorite words) to see people I know — including some I like and otherwise respect — giving him a pass on things that outraged them when done by Democrats. One friend of mine has never shut up about the time Obama once misspoke and said in a speech there were 57 states. That, my friend insisted, told us something about the man and his honesty or stupidity or something. Apparently, there was a good chance he could fool all of America into thinking there were 57 states.

But every day, Trump serves up a half-dozen of those. His poll numbers are higher than Lincoln's, you need an I.D. to buy groceries, America is more respected than ever in the world, etc. And it's dismaying to see people buy into it because, you know, staying in power is all that matters. If you haven't visited it lately, here's a link to the database of (currently) 4,229 lies and distortions of the Trump presidency as compiled by the Washington Post. The only response to it from the Trump fans seems to be, "Oh, that's the Washington Post. You can't believe anything they say including what day of the week it is."

That's the same defense mechanism Nixon used. You saw how well it worked there. Here are some other links that might be worth your time…

Kevin Drum points out that despite Trump's insistence that Obamacare is a disaster, defunct, long gone, dying any second now, a failure for 17 years (!) and anything else bad he can find to say about it, it's doing rather well.

Matthew Rozsa attacks the new G.O.P. line that collusion isn't a crime. Uh, doesn't it depend to a great extent on who colludes and for what purpose? There's nothing in the statutes about it being illegal to form a partnership but if you and I form a partnership to bust into houses and steal everything, we just might be breaking the law.

As Jonathan Chait notes, Trump has been bragging about making a deal with North Korea to stop with the missiles and to return the remains of American soldiers. And neither brag stands up to any scrutiny.

Ed Kilgore notes that the Trump Administration is trying hard to undo all the progress that's been made about auto fuel-efficiency standards, especially in California (i.e., the state that Trump hates most and vice-versa). If I had to single out one principle that today's Republican leadership values more than anything, it would not be abortion or guns or immigration. It would be the concept that government must never get in the way of a big company missing out on any opportunity to increase profits. And if that means fouling the environment, fine.

Trump will be real happy one of these days when one or more of his supporters beats the crap out of some reporter. And it won't matter which reporter or what they said or did. Just so long as his team feels like they dominate the press and have power to intimidate it.

And I assume you've heard how a Conservative think-tanker set out to prove that Single Payer would be a financial disaster for this county and wound up proving the opposite. It's changing no minds because in this country, studies are just things to put supposed facts behind our prejudices and we never look at those reports and think, "Hey, maybe I was wrong."

Lastly: Is it my imagination or is Trump now beginning to do an impression of Alec Baldwin's impression of him?  I can remember when Nixon began acting like he'd learned how to "do" Nixon by studying David Frye.  And whenever Bill Clinton was in trouble, he sounded just like Phil Hartman doing Bill Clinton in trouble.  It may be significant that no one ever became noteworthy for doing an imitation of Barack Obama.  Even Obama wasn't that good at it sometimes.

Rummaging through Michael Palin's notes for the screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. So what didn't make it into the final film?  Find out here.

Andre's Restaurant, which I wrote about here, is a small Italian cafeteria in the Town and County Shopping Center, located at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax.  That puts it directly opposite the world-famous Farmers Market.

Andre's has been there since around 1963 and I have memories of my parents taking me there not long after it opened. I still go there often (or send my assistant over for take-out) and the reason I haven't mentioned it here until recently is that it usually has a line out the door and nothing personal but I don't need to have you ahead of me in that line.

They offer inexpensive Italian fare that is always fresh because they sell so much of it during the day. The plate you see above is the large spaghetti which comes with your choice of sauce (meat, marinara or mushroom) and a hunk of garlic bread, all for $10.50.  The meatball is another buck.  I usually get it "to go" with three meatballs then carve it up into three portions so I get three meals for four and half bucks each.  They're each plenty large and very good.  The small spaghetti, which is about half that size and fine for one person is $7.00.

The place is friendly and busy and most of the staff's been there long enough that they can recognize us regulars and start prepping our meals before we order them.  I love it and so do the folks who come from miles around to dine there. When Andre's first opened, it was in a courtyard full of other cheap eateries.  My sense was that the only reason anyone ever went to the other ones was because the line for Andre's was just too long.  Still, one by one they all closed — and in some cases, walls were then removed and Andre's expanded into their spaces.

But recently, we heard that Andre's might be going away. As I wrote in the earlier piece, the folks who run that shopping center have big expansion plans.  They involve erecting a massive building, variously described as between 19 and 26 floors, to create space for new retailers and for 380 housing units.  For a long time, the obstacle to their dreams has been the long-term lease of a pretty pathetic Kmart which has anchored the eastern side of the shopping center for years.

Actually, most Kmarts these days are pretty pathetic, as are the lingering vestiges of their sister chain, Sears. In 2008, Sears/Kmart CEO Eddie Lampert announced he was restructuring the company to apply the principles of his idol, Ayn Rand, and that the wild success that would result.  This, he said, would prove to the world that her philosophy should not only rule the business world but the real one, as well.

It is probably unfair to Ms. Rand to blame her for what has happened.  After all, she never provided detailed instructions on how to run budget department stores in the era of Amazon — though she doubtlessly would have gotten much of the credit had Mr. Lampert's plans succeeded.  They did not and his Randian approach has been an utter disaster.  It's hard to imagine how you could do more damage to the American institution that is Sears unless maybe you went around and set them all on fire.

Every month now, a few dozen more Sears and Kmart outlets go outta business. (Here's the list of the ones going bye-bye in September.) The Kmart in the mall that also houses Andre's has probably only lasted this long because it's been on a lease…but that lease expires this December and we're now hearing it will not be renewed.  The building would then be razed and the shopping center expansion could commence.

Unfortunately, Andre's lease expires at the same time, the difference of course being that Andre's is a successful, thriving business that many would miss. In the earlier posting, I was pessimistic about its future. I'm a fraction more optimistic after last night…but only a fraction.

Last night, I attended a meeting of the Mid City West Community Council, which has some sort of supervisory role on development in the area.  Interested parties are invited to address the board for three-minute speeches on matters that matter to them.  I decided to go in and speak against allowing the redevelopment and for finding some way to keep Andre's open for business there.  I was one of many speakers and most were better-prepared than I was…which was not a shock since having never done anything like this before, I wasn't prepared at all.

The principal of an elementary school that's adjacent to the real estate in question delivered a long PowerPoint presentation on the problems that the expansion would create for her and the students.  Her argument alone seemed like a slam-dunk reason not to allow the developers to proceed.  Another gent spoke with far more facts than I possess about what the increase in traffic will do to the area.  But I, speaking about how Andre's is unique and beloved, got a few laughs and some applause and back-pats.

The biggest laugh came when I stated that I have no financial interest in Andre's but that given how much money I've spent there in the last 40+ years, I should be co-owner by now.  And I think I scored some points when I talked about how sad it is that privately-owned, non-franchise restaurants keep being displaced by Burger Kings and Wendy's.  My time ran out before I got to use my line about how one Andre's is worth a thousand Sbarro's and added, "I prefer my pizza be fresh, made with care and, most of all, edible."

Will the new development be stopped?  The consensus I got from those who attended the meeting to argue against it was that it will almost certainly be scaled back.  They all assumed what I've assumed; that the full proposal, which is a monstrosity, is not what the developers even want.  It's a deliberate overreach: You say you're doing 26 stories so the commission can scale it back and you can settle for the 12 or 15 stories you really plan.  But no one seemed confident that a downsized blueprint would still not create massive problems or have a place for Andre's.

I started my little speech by saying, "I read online that I could come here and state what I'd like the new Town and Country Shopping Center to be like.  I'd like it to be exactly like the old Town and Country Shopping Center but with better parking and regardless of what happens, someone's got to do something about the dreadful traffic that we already have at that intersection."  I doubt that there won't be a new Town and Country Shopping Center there.  I just pray it won't be anywhere near the size of the proposed Godzilla, stepping on and crushing a lot of things that deserve to remain.  Maybe it could be more like Godzilla's little, harmless friend Godzooky.  And maybe we can take Godzooky down and feed him the great lasagna they serve at Andre's.

If that doesn't happen…hey, it was worth a shot.  I'm glad I took the time.

My food allergies do not seem to apply to foods that are served around me but which I do not actually consume. I do have a bad reaction to smoke but unless the amounts are excessive, that's a matter of unpleasant feelings as opposed to actual illness. But it's nothing like, for example, how some people react to the proximity of peanuts.

As you can read here, Southwest Airlines has become the latest carrier to give up completely on offering peanuts to its passengers. Good idea. I'm for anything that recognizes that some people just plain have bad reactions to foods that others can eat with nary a care.

Recently, Alan Alda revealed to the world that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. The diagnosis was a few years ago but he "came out" to encourage others not to surrender to it and to spread the word that a person with this condition can still function and accomplish much. Good for Alan Alda.

The other day, a reporter called my pal Leonard Maltin to get a comment from him on Alda's announcement. Leonard decided that was a good time to reveal a secret which some of us have known about for some time: Leonard has also been diagnosed with Parkinson's. Good for Leonard…and I can attest that it hasn't slowed him down one bit. (The panel he and his daughter Jessie did at Comic-Con was packed and very informative and funny.) He's one of the nicest, smartest people I know and telling the world about his condition was a nice, smart thing to do. More on it here.

• When Trump tweets (as he just did) that Sessions should shut down the "rigged witch hunt" that is the Mueller probe, don't we all think, "Oh, something very bad for Trump is about to come out!"?