Water, Water, Every Where ….

Southern California has been inundated these past several weeks with rain storms; it’s something we’re not used: There’s flash floods, mud slides, overflowing storm drains and traffic jams. What’s really scary, though, is an advisory sent out by L.A. County’s environmental health division, advising people to stay out of the ocean because of the possibility [...]

Taylor Swift’s Performance Malfunction

What are we to make of the ongoing controversy over 20-year-old country singer Taylor Swift’s off-key performance at the Grammys last week? The Web world is abuzz with fans and detractors defending or denigrating the singer. MTV News even published an article titled “Why You Shouldn’t Hate On Taylor Swift” in response to the backlash. [...]

Healthcare Costs on the Rise. Why?

OK, everyone leery of government intervention in our health care system. Take a look at what the L.A. Times reported today under the headline: Anthem Blue Cross dramatically raising rates for Californians with individual health policies. Policyholders are incensed over rate hikes of as much as 39%, which they say come on top of similar [...]

The People Speak: Howard Zinn

With the death on January 27 of historian Howard Zinn (author of “A People’s History of the United States,” the first book to present American history through the eyes of working people rather than political and economic elites), we wanted to call to your attention the release of Zinn’s DVD “The People Speak” on February [...]

New Birthday for 2000 Year-Old Man

Shout! Factory on November 14 will team with comedians Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks for the release of “The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History,” compiling the best of the bits featuring Brooks playing the oldest man in the world, answering questions posed by Reiner about historical events and people. The pair started doing [...]

Save the Century Plaza Hotel

On June 23, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson attended a $500-a-plate Democratic Party fundraiser at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City.  A peaceful anti-Vietnam War demonstration assembled outside the hotel; I was one among approximately 10,000  protesters — representing groups ranging from Another Mother for Peace to Students for a Democratic Society to Trotsky [...]

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music

Hey ex-Hippies: It’s time to set your soul free again (“We are stardust, we are golden”). This year marks yet another benchmark for aging hipsters: the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Though I was unable to attend the event ( I did, however, attend a few other benchmark musical events, including the first L.A. concerts of [...]

Return to Peyton Place

On September 15, 1964, ABC began airing a twice-weekly primetime drama based on the then-scandalous best-selling novel “Peyton Place” by Grace Metalious (which had been made into a 1957 theatrical feature by Mark Robson starring Lana Turner, Lloyd Nolan, Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn, Terry Moore, Hope Lange, Diane Varsi and David Nelson). The show catapulted [...]

The End Is Near (For Newspapers)?

It was only a matter of time:  A Pew Research Center survey conducted in early December found that the Internet has now overtaken newspapers as the second-most preferred news source among Americans. According to the study: “The Internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media [...]

More Yearend Tidings

The Falsies This year marks the Center for Media and Democracy’s fifth annual Falsies Awards. The Falsies are the non-partisan group’s attempt to shine an unflattering light on those responsible for polluting the information environment during the past year. According to the group: “Don’t think this is an award in name only. Heavens no! Falsies [...]

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