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…9 and/or 1986 are already fading fast. To put it frankly, the Mets this year stink! As I am writing this, they are about to lose their fifth straight. However, there have already been two events involving baseball since the start of the season which show the current moral underpinings of this great country. One involves the disgraced slugger Barry Bonds and the other involves the disgraced slugger Manny Ramirez. And, both involve the hubris o…
This is a new article by my friend Chuck Devore who is another of the transplanted Californians that has moved to Texas: It appears I struck a nerve a couple of weeks ago with “Texas vs. California: Why so many people are moving from the Golden State to the Lone Star State.” My point was simple: California is often a trendsetter in the realm of left-wing policymaking, while Texas legislators keep their government small. The results speak …
…s, etc — but to also bring in the kind of licensing, cross-promotional tie-ins, and merchandise that are needed to “feed the beast” of a tent-pole theatrical film at the highest budget level? To understand, it is necessary to start with the production of the film itself. The Production of John Carter — A $250M Experiment? There are two vastly different versions of what happened during the production of John Carter. The version that dominated pre-…
…y flight back to Los Angeles. I went to a movie theater near my hotel thinking I would see “The Three Stooges” or something else and was surprised to see that “October Baby” was playing there. It was starting at just the right time so that I could make my flight right after the movie, so I decided to give it a try. “October Baby” is a very powerful movie and extremely well made considering that its reported b…
…e nominees. Ironically, the opening video promised “the youngest, hippest writers in town,” only to reveal several old men sitting around a table from the film Moneyball. This was followed by a cameo by teen pop star Justin Bieber, who sat on screen doing nothing for a few brief moments in an effort to get Billy Crystal “the 18 to 24 demographic.” These were precursors, foreshadowing an event that could only be fully ap…
…m at the pinnacle of their profession. For anyone who disputes this, two words: Brian Griese. Moreover, the NFL is notoriously unsentimental in its treatment of players who can no longer perform up to league standards. When a star fades, another rises to take his place. This may offend Liberal hearts, but what better way is there to “spread the wealth around,” that to spread the opportunity around? Let the guy who can do the job have the job. Fin…
…d by television, radio and the Internet. Perhaps my lack of interest since summer is simply due to burnout. Or perhaps it’s the change in lifestyle after moving to Texas while traveling back and forth between the Lone Star State and California for business. More than likely, however, my lack of motivation may be symptomatic of seeing so much of the same recurring themes, a.k.a. progressive lunacy, that occurs in the news cycle each day. …
It always amazes me how a particular image or phrase can always stir up such strong emotions in people: “Remember the Alamo”; the songs “God Bless America” and “The Star Spangled Banner”; or the images of the Marines hoisting the American flag over Mt. Suribachi and the NYC firefighters raising the flag above the debris of the World Trade Center. Imagery is everything to us humans and often evokes some of the strongest emotional responses. One…
…conform to the SAG collective bargaining agreement which, as you know from a prior article written by me, is a nightmare to an independent producer. The stature of the actor was not an issue. You could hire an “A” list movie star or a scale character actor and hire them for whatever rate the actor was willing to work for. Plus, you could fly an actor coach, pay them a smaller per diem and not be forced to conform to SAG’s rules regarding turnar…
Faithful readers may be nonplussed to learn that I am now verging on political optimism. An event as close in clarifying effect to a Damascene bolt of lightning as is able to penetrate the regimental philistinism of my current surroundings alit on me last week, as silently as a bat. It happened unhoped, and, as miracles do, as (political) despair beckoned, as I read the latest installment of the nasty turkey shoot of New York Times editors and c…
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