Memo to Hollywood: Guard Your Traditions
OK, we know that the business of moviemaking has always skewed more to the business side than to the movie side when big money is involved — the history of cinema has always revolved around a balancing act between art and commerce — but the folks over at The Grauman Chinese Theatre in Hollywood seem [...]
Father’s Day
Father’s Day Sunday was so very nice in Beverly Hills. The sun was warm, its rays sparkling through the swaying of the elm and eucalyptus trees. It smelled fresh and clean. Early in the evening I decided to ride my bike up to the post office — about a mile away — and maybe cruise [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
2008 Toppers
As 2008 drew to a close and 2009 began, we were inundated with Top 10 lists (movies, TV shows, books, etc.) and while we get tired of all the ballyhooing of the “tops” in the entertainment world, there are some lists we thoroughly enjoy. Below is a sample. Let’s kick things off with: The 10 [...]
The Smothers Are Back
One of the offbeat highlights of the late-1960s was “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” an hourly variety show that debuted in February 1967 on CBS. Showcasing the talents of irreverent folk-singer/comedians the Smothers Brothers (who had a bevy of folk-tinged musical/comedy album hits in the 60s), the show quickly morphed from a “hip” version of [...]
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