November 30, 2007

Acad Awrds: Warner Brothers with cool freebie

In my umpteen years as an Academy Member (in excess of 20, I'm afraid), I have seen the Award freebies change considerably. Used to be we would get boxes of VHS video cassettes (remember them?) configured like treasure chests accompanied with over-priced, useless brochures. Then came the DVDs in fancy boxes. Lately, those have been scaled down some to simple mailing envelopes (an improvement... but maybe they're ashamed of the movies).

They also send me copies of the screenplays up for best script. I almost never read them because I don't have the time. Seeing the movie is more than enough.

But this year Warner Brothers has come up with a clever new approach, which got my attention. They have sent us scripts for The Brave One, The Bucket List, The Assassination of Jesse James and Michael Clayton on a flash drive. Popped right up on my Mac. Will I read the scripts? Doubt it. But I'll remember them fondly when I see the movies. (Now... will the screenplays drag and drop into the trash, yielding a clean flash drive?... Hmmm....)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:51 PM
Comments (4)

The Next Bill Gates?

What will this man do with all his money?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:38 AM
Comments (2)

November 29, 2007

The Presidential Debates are a National Joke

Today's Drudge headline - BOOB TUBE: CNN DUPED BY HILLARY PLANT AT REPUBLICAN DEBATE - is yet another example of the pathetic quality of the endless presidential debates. But it isn't just the dubious provenance of these questions - or even their inanity - that makes these events so pointless. It is their basic construction, actually their very existence, that makes a mockery of our democracy. Has anyone learned a single thing about anybody from these events? They are an embarrassment, a national joke. Amusing as people like Stephen Green are, satirists like him are in the unfortunate position of having to parody a parody.

The danger behind this is that it makes our presidential candidates (all of them) seem like idiots. [Maybe it's true. -ed. How would I know? Not from these "debates."] It also makes the media seem like clowns and reduces everything to spectacle of the sort you wouldn't even get at a third-rate Vegas hotel way off the Strip.

Is there a solution to this? Yes, stop this nonsense and do in-depth interviews with the candidates about subject matter that counts...see what they think... what their policies are. Then, we narrow this sideshow down to some people who might conceivably be president, we can have a debate - with enough time alloted for the candidates to explain their point of view. Simple-minded? Yes. But not nearly as simple-minded as we currently have.

Posted by Roger at 9:48 AM
Comments (25)

November 28, 2007

Annapolis: Saudis without Ear Phones

Maybe it's there somewhere in our dreary mainstream media, but it wasn't until I read Allison Kaplan Sommer's description of Israeli reaction to the Annapolis conference on Pajamas that I noticed what is by far the most telling detail from that event: The Saudi Foreign Minister didn't even bother to put on his ear phones for Olmert's speech.

Well, how despicable is that! Not as despicable as the sick, misogynist Saudi culture itself - very little could be - but a plenty could indication of the values and character of the Saudi leadership. In other words, somewhere south of Attila.

And all I can think of is that we continue to enable this with our addiction to oil. Of course, it's now worse because our leading banks are now becoming hostage to this same culture (with insignificant modifications).

Two words: energy independence.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:10 AM
Comments (45)

November 27, 2007

The Intellectual Roadmap - heading for Kindle Land

It's not just the Palestinians and Israelis who are in need of a "road map" (or some people think they are anyway). The rest of us need one for purposes of understanding the unbelievable amount of information available online, according to Richard Fernandez, writing on Pajamas today. Only evidently we're not going to have one.

Like some vast terra incognita, the undiscovered country of human knowledge expands constantly, defying even attempts to survey it.

Richard is responding to a piece in The New Yorker by Anthony Grafton, which waxes nostalgic for the printed word and his days and nights in the New York Public Library. As an author of books, I certainly sympathize with Grafton, but, like Fernandez, recognize the inevitability of everything digital, even though I haven't bought a Kindle yet. (Well, it's only been a week or so... fast even for an early adopter like me. I just bought my iPhone two days ago.)

What's interesting to me about the Kindle is how it blurs the line of books and digital media even while attempting to imitate the look and feel of a book. Perhaps it is a transitional device. In fact, it has to be a transitional device. Everything is, isn't it?

(Richard's article, btw, is definitely worth a look.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:52 AM
Comments (7)

November 26, 2007

Why I Heart Huckabee on Annapolis

Ever hopeful and credulous, I would support the current Middle East peace discussions at Annapolis, but the fact that it is all a dance to get the Saudis to give their imprimatur to the process makes me want to throw up. Like Mike Huckabee, I am disgusted with our leadership and our country (yes, all of us) that we have not moved faster for energy independence to wean ourselves from these Neanderthal misogynists. [But how do you really feel?-ed. You just heard it.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:43 AM
Comments (6)

November 25, 2007

Thompson vs. Fox

When it comes to covering presidential campaigns, I'm a distinct amateur (just some guy in "pajamas", as they say), but having just interviewed Fred Thompson, I can't resist putting in my one and a half cents on this morning's dustup between Fox's Chris Wallace and Thompson.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) suggested on Sunday that Fox News is biased against his campaign, charging that the network highlights commentators who have been critical of his run for the presidency.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace pressed Thompson on how some conservatives have lambasted Thompson's campaign and showed clips of Fox conservative commentators Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes criticizing the former senator.

Thompson said, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth."

Etc. ... Well, Thompson has a point. Not just Fox but all the networks have a pretty set way of covering the campaign that is based on fairly shallow conventional wisdom. The coverage of the candidates' views on the issues is similarly shallow - and not just on Fox, obviously. This is a universal problem. No wonder Thompson was grateful for the opportunity to explain his view on the War on Terror, at least, in our interview linked above.

Of course, the networks' methods are just a product of a presidential election system, which is itself decades out of date. The kind of retail politics being practiced in Iowa and New Hampshire is almost comically out of step with needs of the modern presidency. We act as it we want to elect someone who is good at hanging out in coffee shops and schmoozing, when nothing could be further from the President's actual job when in office. A business would find this method of choosing its employees - or executives - ridiculous.

I know I'm tooting my own company's horn here, but I think if people watched the PJM interview with Thompson they would learn more about the candidate than a month of state fair photo ops. We're in the 21st Century, folks. Enough of that cutesy nonsense - it's wasting our time.

And I will say one thing more about Messrs. Krauthammer and Barnes, referred to above. As I noted, I have little personal experience of political campaigns, but I have worked in Hollywood for thirty years, a very similar town to Washington, as I am far from the first to say. ("Washington is Hollywood for ugly people, etc.") Both towns run on that most deadly of sins - envy. The common scuttlebutt about Thompson (or anybody) is often motivated and distorted by that envy. Let's try to find out what the people (candidates) really think.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:54 PM
Comments (7)

November 24, 2007

Proof that Hitchens was right on religion...

... comes from the smarmy opinions of this self-righteous cleric. I wonder what he makes of this.

Posted by Roger at 10:08 PM
Comments (5)

November 23, 2007

Mirror, Mirror on the wall... who's the best-looking dodo head of all?

This woman is pretty good looking, but I have to say she sounds like an eco-nitwit. If she wants a world with no (or few) children, how does she expect her cherished English social system to work? Who is going to pay for her national health health and state pension when she is old and gray? [She's probably rich and doesn't care. -ed. But what about everybody else?... Oh, never mind.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:41 PM
Comments (15)

November 22, 2007

Watched or Ejected - Another one word movie review

La Vie En Rose - Watched (actually I would have Ejected but I love Piaf's music... the movie was interminable... but, hey, it's Thanksgiving and it aided digestion.)

As you will recall, these are supposed to be one word movie reviews - watched or ejected - to indicate what I did with my Academy DVDs. But, as you can see, I haven't been able to live up to my goal. I will try harder.

Posted by Roger at 10:12 PM
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING

To all readers of this site. This is also my birthday and the anniversary of JFK's assassination, not necessarily in that order.

Let's eat.

(just got my presents ... best one - Lakers tickets for Sunday... Yes, they're pretty good this year... so far)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:00 AM
Comments (9)

November 21, 2007

Elect me! I've lived in more foreign countries than Obama

In what has to be one of the dopier assertions in a dopey election year, Barack Obama tells us he's an expert in foreign policy because he lived in Indonesia as a kid.

Great. I'll raise him. I lived in England, Spain and the Czech Republic - and as an adult. That makes me more qualified than Obama, in his bland and fallacious reasoning. As I have said before, this man reminds me of slick infomercial salesman on late night tv.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:32 AM
Comments (7)

November 20, 2007

Winning and Losing in Iraq and Iowa

By now we all know the surge is working to some degree - even the New York Times is admitting it. But we also know, if we have learned anything in the last few years, that no victories hold and that the beat of the global war on terror is likely to go on for a long time.

Still the electorate is fickle, all politics local, and parochial interests are rising in this election, which should be focussed on larger concerns. Yet we are back to the familiar world of Iowa and retail politics. I share Ron Rosenbaum's frustration. Why them? Why are the Iowans so important in electing the leader of the Western World? Who gave them that right and permission?

Years ago, perhaps, this retail politics thing had its reasons but we are living in a very different society now, interconnected by cable television, satellites and the Internet. The globe is on the edge of exploding. How a potential President does pressing flesh in some barber shop in Wapello IA (population 2014) doesn't seem relevant to the world of 2007. It is an old game and, I think, an outmoded one.

And it gives too much power to a small group of people. Watching the Iowans and New Hampshire-ites, you get the impression that what these people care most about in a Presidential candidate is how much time that person spends in their state. What a limited, self-centered view, when you think about it. Wouldn't a better criterion be how much that person spends, say, studying what's going in Pakistan? But no, the great game goes on - played just as it always has been. What's that saying about a country getting the leaders it deserves?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:06 PM
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November 19, 2007

The Fred Thomspon interview is up

We're pretty proud of it, but since this is the first of a series, we would love feedback. You can put it here or on Pajamas. Thanks, Roger

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:33 AM
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November 18, 2007

Phony Obama Swift Boats the Swift Boaters

It's interesting to watch the escalating food fight between the Clinton and Obama camps over a hemi-semi-demi rumor published in Bob Novak's column that the Clintonistas have "scandalous" info about Barack.

Now Obama accuses the Clinton crowd of playing "Swift Boat politics."

Baloney. This has nothing to do with the Swift Boat veterans, who, agree with them or not, were completely public in their allegations. Those Vietnam vets, saying quite specifically who they were, even making a film and writing a book about it naming literally dozens of names, accused John Kerry of misrepresenting (to put it mildly) his activities during the Vietnam War. Other than issuing a denial and stamping his feet, Kerry never refuted them formally or, though he promised he would, published his official war record.

This is the opposite of what is going on here, which is a hidden war of innuendo with no specifics mentioned at all, let alone any attribution. But Obama - the supposed "new politician" - is using it to play the oldest of political games, "guilt by association," and, as is usual in these cases, basing it on a phony standard with no facts. He's just preaching to the choir and stamping his feet - like Kerry.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I increasingly find Obama to be like a late night infomercial host - slightly charming, slightly unctuous, factually meaningless. Ready for the Presidency? Don't be silly.

As for the reputed scandal or scandals and should they be reported, Mickey Kaus has an amusing and, I think, accurate post.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:33 AM
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Meeting Fred

The preview from our interview/discussion with Fred Thompson is up. The whole unexpurgated video (except for the part where the camera catches me picking my nose - only half kidding) will be on PJ on Monday. I think it came out pretty well, but you'll make your own decision.

As for Fred, I really liked him personally in the very short time we spent together. (After the interview, before I could turn around, he was whisked away by his handlers to a NASCAR coffee shop in Myrtle Beach. I assume he took his tie off.) He actually had a twinkle in his eye, which is admirable, even amazing, under the circumstances. I had the suspicion that he is more of a normal person, despite being a movie actor, than other intensely-driven personalities (Hillary and Rudy) running for the office. This good and bad, of course. But on the substance of the "War on Terror Conversations," I liked his answers. I hope you all will comment tomorrow.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:50 AM
Comments (1)

November 17, 2007

Scandal Time, Global Warming and the Silver Bullet

Or should I call it Scoundrel Time, as Hellman did? It seems, a/c Robert Novak, the Hillary Campaign is holding devastating information about Obama. If the other news du jour - that global warming is worse than we thought - turns out to be true, such minor contretemps (including our election) will, of course, be irrelevant.

I wish I had more understanding of climate change myself. Unfortunately, I have a problem separating information from the messenger - in this case the United Nations. The UN track record for dishonesty and corruption is almost a given. That doesn't mean their scientists are wrong in this instance, however, anymore than it means that they are right. Just because Al Gore is pompous and self-serving and is well-known to have been a poor student (let alone capable of understanding the finer points of climatology) doesn't mean that anthropogenic global warming does not exist. In the final analysis, it has nothing to do with it.

The new UN climate report evidently begins with an attack on global warming skeptics. I haven't read it. But even if I had, unfortunately I wouldn't know what to say. Like Al Gore, I am unqualified.

I do know what to say about my friend Ron Silver's latest post on his PajamasXpress blog Silver Bullet - magnificent. Considering the staggering number of comments, others seem to agree.

Posted by Roger at 7:19 AM
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November 15, 2007

Democratic Debate: Obama doesn't want the job

I caught most of the Democratic debate tonight and I was astonished by how unprepared Obama seemed to be on the most obvious question of the evening - how he stood on illegal aliens having driver's licenses. This is the very subject he had used to nail Hillary Clinton at the previous debate, yet his answer to this same question this time was, if anything, more evasive than Hillary's at the other debate. [Video here.]

Surely his handlers must have prepared him for this question. Otherwise they are rank incompetents. So there can only be one conclusion: Barack Obama does not really want to be President.

At least that was what was going through my head while watching the rest of the desultory performance by all concerned. (Only Biden is able to really answer things directly, agree with him of not.)

Now I can't say I totally blame Obama, because he must know what we all do - that he is way too inexperienced for the job at a time like this. During the last week, when the press was making a big deal out of Hillary stumbling, he must have been wrestling in his unconscious with the possibility that he actually could win - a surprising development under the circumstances. The result: he sabotaged himself at the most obvious moment. You don't need to be Dr. Freud to figure that one out.

Meanwhile, the real news was coming from Iran. Somehow the Democrats overlooked it.

Other takeaway from the debate. If John Edwards wins the Presidency, maybe I'll leave the country. (France, anyone?)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:30 PM
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Vegas Showdown: Democrats at the Hold 'Em table

No, I'm not going back to LV - once a year is plenty for me - but I probably will watch the Dems debate tonight, not because I expect anything substantive (never is in these things) but because I want to see how much mud gets thrown. It's kind of like bear-baiting. How much will Barack and John slam Hillary? I think it's all kind of irrelevant - they don't even have a chance in Sodom of resting the nomination from her - but it's still fun. And I suspect the next month or two is Edwards' last hurrah, so he may go for broke. Could be interesting.

Meanwhile, Hillary is assembling the troops. My old buddy Sid has ankled Salon (as they say in Variety) and joined the campaign. I'm not sure that she really wants him but I'm not sure she actually has a choice. If there's anyone who knows where the proverbial bodies are buried, it's our boy Sid.

By the way, speaking of Lost Wages (yuk yuk), the light show at the Boulud Brasserie.. actually at the Wynn... is the best thing this side of a Who concert. Actually, it's better. They have amazing computer graphics, including one of a frog that is quite spectacular, that are projected or lasered or whatever it is every half hour while you sit at the faux water's edge at Boulud's place (which is not as good as the original in New York - but you knew that - it's Vegas). Still, the famous DB burger is vaut le detour, but be sure to take your heartburn medicine during and in advance. Foie gras inside rare hamburger meet is more than most humans over twenty can handle.

Posted by Roger at 4:24 PM
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November 13, 2007

Thompson: On the Fred Trail

When I get up close to a presidential campaign - something I haven't done much, but did today with the Fred Thompson campaign here in South Carolina - one thing it doesn't nurture in me is political ambitions... not that anyone ever asked me.

And not that I don't think Thompson did a good job today, both in his speech at The Citadel and in the lengthy interview/conversation Bob Owens and I had with him, which will be up on PJM Thursday. He was excellent, in fact.

It's just that who in the world would want to run for POTUS and be POTUS? Spend months without a life, trekking from interview to event to speech in order to win a job that is more of the same with the responsibility for nuclear annihilation on your head every morning when you wake up.

But I whine. Perhaps I am just exhausted. First Blog World, now this. Time for a little shut eye. (See picture at right)

Posted by Roger at 4:16 PM
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Hicks Nix Peacenick Pix

... or is it Hix Nix Peacenix Pix...? Or how bout Hix Nix P(a)ix Pix?

Oh, never mind. It's all over on Pajamas. [You'll never work in this town again.-ed. You're telling me... but neither will anybody else.]

Posted by Roger at 6:04 AM
Comments (7)

November 12, 2007

Fred Does the Charleston with PJM

Maybe I should join a campaign, because these days I seem to live on planes. This evening I am in Charleston SC. Tomorrow around noon heure locale Bob Owens (Confederate Yankee) and I will be interviewing Fred Thompson under the video cameras of Andrew Marcus. Thompson is in Charleston to give a speech at The Citadel, where we will be recording him immediately afterwards.

This will be the first of PJM's War on Terror Conversations with the leading candidates - the ones we can get to do it with us anyway. The idea is to focus on the WoT, the subject of subjects, one on one for about a half an hour.

If any of you have any questions in the area for Thompson, please put it in the comments and I will see if I can fit them in.

At this moment I am feeling pretty woozy, however. Deranged foodie that I am, I couldn't resist the opportunity to get some southern cooking at Magnolia - their signature ham chowder, fried chicken and pecan pie. Don't even ask about the booze. I hope I'm up for the interview tomorrow.

Posted by Roger at 8:00 PM
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November 11, 2007

The New and (Not Necessarily Improved) Super Short Academy Reviews

Every year at this time my mailbox (and Fedex delivery) fills up with DVDs of the year's movies "For My Consideration," e. g. my Academy Award vote. Therefore, I usually save my movie-going for Nov-Dec since I can see the films in the comfort of my own home - this time around on a spiffy new projection system. That hasn't helped the movies, needless to say. Also, almost none of them are worthy of lengthy comment. (Yes, I admit I would have made a lousy movie reviewer because I have seen way too many films and "the movie pleasure joints" have long ago begun to wind or grind down. So factor that in. I don't like a lot of movies and I rarely watch them through if I'm not entertained or interested.)

So this year I am going to keep it short (unless I don't) with the ultimate one-word DVD movie reviews: WATCHED/EJECTED. It comes down to that end anyway. I'll provide a link to Rotten Tomatoes so you can see how others felt.

By the way, there's nothing special about anybody's movie review. It's just an opinion.

Spiderman 3 - WATCHED
Across the Universe - EJECTED
The Namesake - WATCHED, but considered ejecting. (Oops, I already broke my rule.)

Posted by Roger at 7:59 AM
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November 10, 2007

Norman Mailer: speaking ill of the (naked and the) dead

Norman Mailer was something of a hero to me at some point, although looking back it's hard to imagine why. He seems to embody the "writer as blowhard," a kind of high-lit Michael Moore with logorrhea. Roger Kimball quotes an old Elizabeth Hardwick parody, which just about says it all about Norman:

This 6th note was ignored by LBJ, but attacked by the Black Negroes and the FBI. One admits that a lot of it is lousy--I was having personal troubles at the time--but I still think it lousy but good. The Bitch Goddess didn't quite get into bed with me this round, but at least she didn't get into bed with Bill Styron either, up in his plush Connecticut retreat. All the Bitch did was blow into my ear--one of those mysterious pre-psychotic Jackie Kennedy whispers. My answer to the FBI would run this way: The existential orgasm would make atomic war and even atomic testing impossible ...

Real or fake?

It's rather amazing that many people, including me, were at one point considering Mailer deserving of the Nobel Prize for literature. The sad truth about Norman was that he was a bore. Maybe we were all bores.

On further reflection, he was just nice-jewish-boy trying oh-so-desperately to be cool. Doesn't work.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:12 PM
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November 9, 2007

Blog World: Doing the trade show shuffle

The first Blog World has been fun meeting some highly-influential people and doing the glad-hand thing - although I wouldn't want to do it forever. Two days are just fine. Rick Moran has it right when he says that thisevent is a sign that blogging has grown up - arrivederci Wild, Wild West, hello marketing men. That's good and bad, of course. But I'm not overly worried, as I indicated on a panel: There will always be plenty of wild and crazy new blood pumping through the Internet.

I suspected in advance the smartest thing I could do for myself at Blog World was wear a good pair of walking shoes and I did (Ecco's). The second smartest thing I could do was make a reservation at some good restaurants. These days for me, Vegas is eating, not gambling. I can't stand losing, so it keeps me away from the gambling tables and headed for those other tables (restaurants). Don't know which are better long range for my health but Wednesday night Sheryl, Madeleine and I ate at Rao's, the Caesar's Palace branch of the New York Italian with eleven tables (allegedly impossible to get in - I never tried). Here it seems to have a hundred. The food was great. I had a bone-in veal parmagiana. Recommended. Tonight: Boulud Brasserie before we lumber onto the plane.

Posted by Roger at 8:11 AM
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November 7, 2007

Sarkozy: Who Edits the New York Times

The rap on blogs is they don't have editors - and now that I'm involved at Pajamas Media (no longer a blog really, but some kind of hybrid), I have some sympathy for the difficulties involved. But it's amazing the NYT let this statement slip through in their coverage of Sarko's speech to Congress: "The warm welcome came as a surprise."

Say what? Surprise to whom? The drumbeat for the arrival of "Sarko the American" has been going non-stop for three days. This is bad reporting and bad writing.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:50 AM
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I've applied for a job at the UN

I'm not kidding... completely. I mean I would if I could. (I have a strange feeling they might Google my name and "United Nations" and come out with some unfortunate results.) But the Hell with Blog World, the perks of working for the UN beat just about anything I could think of... short of being a Hollywood movie star with a private plane, private island and a jet-propelled Prius water skis. (Check out Claudia's other post on the UN in Bali here.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:13 AM
Comments (1)

What Happens at Blog World Stays in Blog World

... most especially any gambling losses incurred by yours truly. Yes, I'm headed for Vegas today with the logorrheic hordes attending the first Blog World Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center. If by chance you're in Gomorrah on Thursday and/or Friday, stop by the Pajamas Media Booth and introduce yourself. You can schmooze your head off and maybe even win a prize!

My personal plan - to meet Mark Cuban (another speaker) and tell him what I really think of those Mavericks. [What about those movies he's been producing?-ed. That too.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:16 AM
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November 6, 2007

Lifestyles of the Rich and Environmental (continued)

The recent report of a model environmental home in Los Angeles sponsored by Wired Magazine and LivingHome contains this kicker:

But while the home is green, the price tag is hardly lean - the Wired LivingHome comes in at a bank-busting $4.3 million, a not-so-subtle reminder that conservation wrapped in luxury is not without its price.

Indeed it is... but your average new five-bedroom, four bath, architect-designed home in that part of LA is no cheap commodity green or not. But it raises the question again of whether the whole environmental craze is hypocritical, a ruse to get rich people to feel good about themselves. [Is that the John Edwards house?-ed. No, not nearly as large. It's his California vacation home then? There's a thought.]

What's interesting is that Wired and LivingHome are focusing on the mega-rich first. For the "new age progressive," class consciousness has flipped on its head, fancy environmental homes turned into status symbol.

Posted by Roger at 5:00 PM
Comments (4)

Space Aliens Take Over House of Representatives!

A Roger L. Simon Internet Exclusive!

Posted by Roger at 1:44 PM
Comments (5)

November 5, 2007

I'm on Strike! (Thak God, I've Got a Day Job)

Close up your laptops, ladies and gentlemen, and get out those walking shoes. The writers are on strike again in company town Los Angeles (and New York) with fourteen studio sites scheduled for picketing Monday at 8AM from Culver City to Burbank.

Entertainment journos like Nikki Finke - who is doing a great job covering the Writers’ Strike, by the way - love to call Los Angeles a "company town" for show biz the way Washington is for politics. It's not, really. Vastly bigger than the DC metro area, LA, city and county, is a sprawling megalopolis of nearly ten million (not counting illegals) with more Koreans than any city but Seoul and more Iranians than anywhere but Tehran. Almost half that population is of Hispanic or Latino origin. Few of these people have anything even remotely to do with Hollywood. (Well, some of the Iranians do.)

Still, the last time there was a writers’'strike (1988, 22 weeks) lots of folks lost their jobs who weren’t writers - dry cleaners, restaurant workers, you name it - all the people who service the supposedly privileged of the entertainment industry. Businesses closed down that never opened again. A strike by the 12,000-member Writers' Guild has its consequences, especially if it runs as long as the 1988 one did.

Read the rest at PJM....

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:55 AM
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November 4, 2007

Child's Play at The Washington Monthly

Next Thursday at Blog World, I am going to be on a panel entitled rather portentously: Raising the Level of Discourse in the Political Blogosphere. Others on the panel with me will be Michael Medved, Jeralyn Meritt, Sean-Paul (The Agonist), Jim Hoft and Ed Morrissey.

Suffice it to say, Kevin Drum will not be among them. He was too busy lowering the level yesterday with a post ALL-TIME WINGNUTTIEST BLOG POST CONTEST.

Kevin's explanation for why is doing this is:

But why focus on the all-time worst in the wingnut blogosphere anyway? Isn't that mean? What's driving this besides sheer bloody-mindedness?

History, that's what. A century from now, even the very best blog posts will be long forgotten. Let's face it: they aren't that good. But bad blog posts will still be every bit as bad as they were on the day they were spawned. They'll endure. So really, we're doing this for the children. And the grandchildren.

Uhuh, Kevin, I see... it's for your grandchildren... not to fan dissension and create attention for yourself. With all due respect, you are either a liar or your lack of self-knowledge is extraordinary. I hope it's the latter.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:01 PM
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November 3, 2007

Writers Strike: Look out for "Reality Talk Shows"

It is being widely reported that the first casualty of the new WGA strike will be the late night talk shows. The Tonight Show, etc. are headed for reruns. But Letterman, Leno, et al, better watch out. The last writers' strike helped give rise to the "reality shows" that now proliferate on television, many of them far more interesting than most fictional dramas and comedies. "Reality Talk" may be next.

It's got to be easier for someone to run a talk show without writers,. That's what we do weekly on PJM Political. We just call up some people and talk. No written scripts in sight.

We could just as well have those same people walk into a television studio and start talking. But then, of course, we'd miss all those "great written jokes." As one who has, in the past, written a line or two for some pretty famous comics, I'm loathe to admit it, but those comics weren't that much better (if any) when they read my lines. They were just funny people. Of course, there's no way Letterman and Leno are anywhere near as talented as Richard Pryor (by far the best that I ever worked with), but this could be the time for new talk talents to emerge. [I can't believe you're saying that. You're a member of the Writers Guild.-ed. In for dime, in for a dollar.)

Writer free talk shows anybody? And while we're at it, how about a replacement for Charlie Rose?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:20 PM
Comments (11)

November 2, 2007

Alert the media: the whole world does NOT watch Hannity & Colmes

From today's Rasmussen Poll: Just 38% could pick immigration from a list of four issues as the topic that caused Clinton to stumble near the end of the debate. Eleven percent (11%) picked the War in Iraq, 5% health care, 4% the economy, 6% "some other topic", and 36% admitted they didn't know.

Overall, just 28% of Likely Voters correctly identified the Democrats as the party having a debate and immigration as the issue.

Well, it could be worse, I suppose. Nobody could be listening.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:18 AM
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November 1, 2007

Ilan Goldenberg has it all figured out

I wish I did. Anyway, Goldenberg writes the following on Democracy Arsenal of a Norman Podhoretz - Fareed Zakaria mini-debate on CNN:

In six minutes of News Hour footage you can boil down the entire argument over Iran between the crazies (Podhoretz) and the sane people (Zakaria). Notice especially, Podhoretz's repeated references to Hitler. The "what would Hitler do" argument, which is often accompanied by the classic "You are worse than Chamberlin argument" is the oldest rhetorical trick in the book. Fortunately, I just don't think that a country with a GDP the size of Florida's represents the same threat as the industrial behemoth that was Germany.

Hmmm... Yes, I heard Podhoretz say some of that, but I also heard him questioning the policy of deterrence in the case of Iran by differentiating between Stalinist/Maoist regimes and the Mullahs on religious grounds. The Mullahs have a specific apocalyptic theology, which Goldenberg chooses to ignore. Do the Mullahs believe all this themselves? Khomeini himself most likely did. But now? Goldenberg must be betting they're just kidding - or just weekend believers. He could be right, for all I know. But he could be wrong too. Then his attack on Podhoretz as "crazy" would seem itself crazy, wouldn't it?

(The original video is on Goldenberg's site, though it seems have been redacted.)

Posted by Roger at 4:12 PM
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Why Hillary Made Her Mistake

Evidently there was some minor consternation in the otherwise seemingly-unflappable Hillary Campaign Camp over her gaffe the other day over illegal alien drivers' licenses. She obviously fumbled out of fear of coming out on the unpopular side of a contentious issue, but in the process demonstrated what we already knew - that she isn't as good as her husband under fire. Bill was one of the best in difficult situations. Sure, he bordered on the ludicrous when he made his famous statement about the "definition of is," but he was under a lot more pressure at the time. Hillary could have slid through this one a lot more gracefully, which should worry her handlers. She may still be a slam-dunk (or nearly) for the nomination, but she will have a bit more of a problem in The Big Show. Giuliani, especially, may prove extremely difficult for her. So far he seems much better on his feet than Hillary is - and he has plenty of experience. The other leading Republican possibilities - Thompson and Romney, even McCain - may also give Clinton more than she bargained for. If I were a Democratic strategist, I'd be worried, especially with the news from Iraq improving to the degree that even the LATimes can't hide it.

Posted by Roger at 1:56 PM
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