New poem: NEWT NEWT

I'm reminded of a coach


who taught health class

in my high school.

>

He looked like a cross

between Peter Lorre

and Patton Oswalt.

>

And he never failed

to lecture the class

on "survival of the fittest."

>

There was a disconnect

between his public and private behavior.

But I didn't know it at the time.

>

Back then, gossip didn't spread too fast.

You had to stand still in a selected place

to use a telephone

>

and there was no texting

or personal computers

or any of the stuff that now

>

enables us to know hyperquick

about hypocrites, homilies and

counting on the public to swallow it whole

>

Be careful of how many bodies you bury

and all the skeletons you stack in storage.

There's always someone

>

who will take as much time as necessary

to bring petrified sin to the earth's surface

and hit the switch of a giant fan

>

so everyone can sample the putrid aroma.

New critical trend--judging Steven Spielberg (fairly or not) as passe.

http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/the_completist/2012/01/steven_spielberg_a_ranking_of_all_of_his_movies.html

Haven't seen WAR HORSE, but I'm willing to buck the prevailing tide and say that Steven Spielberg's work as hired-hand director on the Peter Jackson-produced motion-capture-animated THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN is as good as a lot of the Spielberg-in-his-prime entertainments.

A few assessments of random Spielberg films that I've seen:
CLASSICS-E.T., JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (77 version), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, SCHINDLER'S LIST
GOOD-TO-VERY GOOD: MUNICH (first two-thirds), WAR OF THE WORLDS, EMPIRE OF THE SUN, POLTERGEIST (apparently overseen by Spielberg although Tobe Hooper got directorial credit), THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS, JURASSIC PARK, THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
OVERBLOWN: 1941 (theatrical version), HOOK, THE COLOR PURPLE
UNEVEN: ALWAYS, AMISTAD, A.I., MINORITY REPORT
MUCH OVERRATED: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
FLAT-OUT LAZY: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK.

Post-mortem to the 2012 SAG Awards.

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2012/01/tired_blood.php

After last night, I'm prognosticating THE HELP as winner of the Best Picture Academy Award for a simple reason: it's an uplifting (haven't seen it, but taking its fans' viewpoint into consideration) commercial hit, which will be seen by more people than THE ARTIST (which I did see, and it will probably be too strange/esoteric and "why aren't they talking" for non-big-city audiences).

Was also sad for Steve Carell to lose yet another award opportunity for playing Michael Scott on the US version of THE OFFICE.  Guessing that the uneven quality of Season 7 (which has persisted into the current episodes of the show) might have been a big factor.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/labor-law-expert-criticizes-sag-aftra-as-the-merger-that-solves-nothing/
And, as for the SAG/AFTRA merger (a fait accompli partially accomplished by AFTRA underbidding SAG on certain TV projects), it's a bad idea that was a long-ago bad idea when I was more active in SAG in the 90s (working as background actor/stand-in) and the membership-at-large frequently voted it down despite the tireless efforts of people like ex-SAG President Richard Masur to force it into reality.

But a recession economy is doing the unfortunate trick of making SAG actors sign onto the merger of an actors' union with a union that represents a lot of radio/television employees (anchorpeople, etc.) who are not actors.

All I can say is good luck trying to make all the merged actors generally happy with what could result (remembering all too well SAG's acquiring of jurisdiction over background actors in 1992, leading to the demise of the Screen Extras Guild and, temporarily, causing lower per-day rates because SAG wanted to "get the jurisdiction.").

Re multipoet bills: Yes, I'm good enough a poet to be included.

Here is a paraphrase of Facebook posts I wrote yesterday and earlier today: If you are a poet/booker, please consider me for your next multi poet bill that's not a publication reading or marathon. And I ask this of you whether or not you like me personally. I can do ten to fifteen minutes and be as good as most poets on these bills. And I'm certainly not denigrating the caliber of talent booked. Whether it's LA, LBC or OC, I will deliver. All you have to do is ask.

Random reactions to today's Academy Awards nominations.

1. Where's Albert Brooks (DRIVE)?
2. Guessing the animated film winner will probably be one of the two mostly-unknown quantities--
either CHICO AND RITA or A CAT IN PARIS.
3. Why didn't one or both of Werner Herzog's documentaries (INTO THE ABYSS and CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS) make the final Best Documentary list?
4. I haven't seen WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN--but I'm thinking Tilda Swinton's more deserving
of being on the Best Actress list than Rooney Mara (good, but not as good as Noomi Rapace).
5. Haven't seen THE HELP, but I'd almost rather see Kate Winslet (CARNAGE) or Shailene Woodley/Judy Greer (THE DESCENDANTS) on the list rather than Jessica Chastain.
6.  Regardless of its detractors in the film review community, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE deserves the Best Picture nomination it received.
7. Would have preferred the Cliff Martinez score for DRIVE in place of one of the two John Williams
nods.
8. Where's Charlize Theron (YOUNG ADULT)?
9. Hoping Nick Nolte's deserved Supporting Actor nomination brings more sales/rentals to the video release of last year's overlooked-by-audiences WARRIOR.
10. Congratulations in advance to Emmanuel Lubezki for what looks like an inevitable win for his fine cinematography in Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE.

Best films of 2011--third and final draft

In no specific order: MONEYBALL DRIVE GAINSBOURG YOUNG ADULT TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY INTO THE ABYSS BUCK THE DESCENDANTS THE GUARD MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE JANE EYRE THE TRIP HUGO RANGO SUPER 8 EXTREMELY LOUD AND
INCREDIBLY CLOSE




SORT-OF GUILTY PLEASURES: IRONCLAD TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN DRIVE ANGRY CARS 2



HONORABLE MENTION: BRIDESMAIDS CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS PROJECT NIM RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES RESTLESS RAMPART CONTAGION SARAH'S KEY MY WEEK WITH MARILYN THE IDES OF MARCH CRAZY STUPID LOVE CARNAGE THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN THE SKIN I LIVE IN WARRIOR ATTACK THE BLOCK
OUR IDIOT BROTHER

New poem: SELF DEPORTATION

(thanks to Mitt for the title)

gonna leave the nation of hate




before it sends a 30-day notice



in the mail asking me



WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?



ARE YOU WITH US OR THEM?



>



to be honest,



I'm with THEM



because they see



stars and rainbows



and cats and dogs



and men and men



and women and women



and men and women



all living together



not caring about what US say



>



gonna leave the nation of conditional love



(which isn't real love at all)



before the demagnetizer



enters my brain



and erases memories



of all those times



I didn't have to guess



what other people felt and thought--



I just knew



and they knew



I cared



no matter what



>



you can reach me on the other side



anytime you want



I'll throw you a tin can



with a long string



over the fence



so we can listen to each other speak



and be certain that



no one else is listening



to us



but us alone



.

Newt Gingrich: South Carolina gives an angry old man a further 15 minutes.

Probably the lowpoints of the political coverage I sat through last night:
1. On CNN, Erin Burnett trotted out her superfabulous CEO poll that showed that 11 out of 15 CEOs prefer Mitt Romney to Barack Obama.
2. On MSNBC, Chris Matthews was practically drooling over the Gingrich victory because it extends
the horserace (which Matthews seems to like covering more than the issues beneath it) a few more months.

As far as the Republican scrapfest of back-to-the-past ideological/economic titans is concerned, this primary cycle could climax in the GOP's first down-to-the-convention-floor nomination fight since the Gerald Ford vs. Ronald Reagan duel of 1976.

Let's leave Ron Paul and his scary no-government minimalism off the table.  Consider the Big Three candidates carefully.

If you're not at least a millionaire (either through inheritance or actual work), Mitt Romney doesn't give a damn about you.

If you're not a heterosexual/literal-minded (aka Fundamentalist) Christian, Rick Santorum doesn't
give a darn about you.

And then there's Newt Gingrich, who, in essence, is every scowling, snarling, point-at-the-clock, fake-pious, never-ever-wrong boss (who keeps at least two sets of books) you've ever had the misfortune to work for.

Thanks to John King's Bernard Shaw-esque "gotcha" question (which should have been phrased as a more subtle query on the financial/sexual morality Gingrich asks of people that aren't named Newt Gingrich) and the angry voters of South Carolina (guessing a mix of anger/resentment/overdoses of Fox News/fierce dislike of being told to fall into line behind Mitt Romney), we're stuck with the frightening, monstrous blowhard behavior of ultimate nonwinner Newt into at least the late spring.

As a poet, I live with a symbolic asterisk by my name in SoCal.

Keeping this brief--whenever I receive a compliment from a fellow poet, it's usually in private (on rare occasions, public) and it is accompanied by a statement that, in essence, goes like this:
"I like you even though a lot of the poetry community doesn't."

There are times when I feel the heavy-blanket temptation to agree with my detractors that everything's my fault and I'm solely responsible for closing doors and turning away people supportive of my poetry (which may not be the case since the current scene has a somewhat-narrow definition of what's "good").

The reality is a bit more complicated.  I behaved badly in public a few times years ago and apologized--and, with one glaring exception, was forgiven.  Otherwise, I've been hazed (sometimes anonymously) for speaking up about things I didn't like in the scene and mentioning some poetic leaders by name; the latter has provoked supersonic freakouts of the "he/she's the Emperor, you can't say those things about him/her" variety.

So, I live with the qualifier of a "bad person" asterisk by my name which will remain for years with those people in SoCal poetry interested in gossip as a tool of behavior/poetry booking control.

And anything good I do (or try to do) will mainly be acknowledged by others in one-to-one privacy.

Female comic Jen Kirkman on ex-LATE SHOW talent booker and sexism in stand-up biz.

Ms. Kirkman's blog post is well worth reading; kudos to her for jumping hurdles and making a living in a culture where funny women often get told they're "not funny" and/or have to deal with male biases and hangups (presuming a lot of talent bookers/TV execs prefer their female comics "fuckable" and nonscary/nonconfrontational to men). 
http://jenkirkman.tumblr.com/post/16136734211/what-i-would-have-said-about-eddie-brill-on-npr

Just how should a poetry publication rejection letter be written?

Excerpted from a rejection e-mail I received a few days ago (name of publication and editor omitted):
"We have read your submission with interest, but have decided not to publish these particular poems. We appreciate your efforts and wish you all the best in your writing and publishing endeavors."

For the most part, fair enough.  The poems I submitted were judged as not compatible with the poems accepted by the editor's poetry review.

I take a mild exception to the passage "we appreciate your efforts."

To me, it sounds a bit too academic--reducing the poems written and submitted to mere inadequate  scrawlings.

Anyway, onwards and upwards.  And I hope to have a few acceptances among the rejections this year.

Democratic Party e-mail re this year's convention reveals moral tone-deafness.

This e-mail from the Democratic Party came the other day to my inbox.

Here's a portion (highlighting by me):
Terry --




We're making some big changes to this year's Democratic National Convention.



Just like we broke with conventions of the past in 2008, we're moving the final night of this year's convention to Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers. There will be room for 70,000 people, so more folks will be able to come out and celebrate as President Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for re-election.



It should be a wonderful night -- and it's not the only way we're doing things differently this year. In the upcoming months, we'll be asking folks for their ideas on how to make this convention more open and accessible than ever before.

Paula Deen is merely the tip of the Food Network high-fat iceberg.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/paula-deen-diabetes_n_1212614.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl7%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D128537

Yes, it's just like eating a bag full of Lays Potato Chips (either regular or baked) to call Paula Deen out on her mixture of hypocrisy, sanctimoniousness, naked greed and a willingness to split the morality atom by balancing sales of a diabetes drug with maintenance of her popular down-home cooking "brand."

Granted, there's a mitigating factor--Paula's son Bobby now has a healthier version of his mother's schtick on sister station The Cooking Channel: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/not-my-mamas-meals/index.html

But The Food Network has other programming of the eat-the-high-fat-delicacies-they-taste-so-good genre.

There's frosted-hair good-old-boy Guy Fieri's DINERS, DRIVE-INS AND DIVES:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/diners-drive-ins-and-dives/index.html.

And the upscale-cast-of-food-stars variant of Paula Deen--THE BEST THING I EVER ATE:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-best-thing-i-ever-ate/index.html.

At this juncture, I'm guessing The Food Network will do their very best to ride out Paula Deen's Type 2 Diabetes revelation (which some network execs or perhaps Paula's entourage will likely blame on either foodie snobbery or condescension towards Southerners) and do very little to change their winning eat-at-your-own-risk-and-don't-blame-us-if-you-get-sick-and-die formula--which should now be viewed with caution and (excuse the expression) taken with a grain of salt.

Re end of ONE LIFE TO LIVE: Disney/ABC has only one more soap to cancel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Life_to_Live
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120113/ENTERTAINMENT/201140309/-One-Life-Live-takes-its-last-breath-today?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/television/9933537-421/one-life-to-live-airs-final-episode.html

Best films of 2011--second draft.

In no specific order: MONEYBALL DRIVE GAINSBOURG YOUNG ADULT TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY INTO THE ABYSS BUCK THE DESCENDANTS THE GUARD MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE JANE EYRE THE TRIP HUGO RANGO SUPER 8

SORT-OF GUILTY PLEASURES: IRONCLAD TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN DRIVE ANGRY

HONORABLE MENTION: BRIDESMAIDS CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS PROJECT NIM RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES RESTLESS RAMPART CONTAGION SARAH'S KEY MY WEEK WITH MARILYN THE IDES OF MARCH CRAZY STUPID LOVE CARNAGE THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN THE SKIN I LIVE IN

THE ARTIST really doesn't live up to its hype.

Before filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius crafted THE ARTIST, he made a couple of comedies inspired by the French O.S.S. spy series of the 60s.  These films (one of which I saw) are essentially AUSTIN POWERS-meets-BORAT satires of racism/colonialism/sexism; they got some art-theater showings and are available on video.

THE ARTIST is a straight-up attempt at remaking the kind of silent film with intertitles plus a musical track that Charlie Chaplin did twice in the 1930s (CITY LIGHTS and MODERN TIMES).  It's technically brilliant (looking spot-on like a shot-in-the-20s actual silent) and will undoubtedly make an American star of Berenice Bejo (who will probably be inundated with offers to play wild-and-crazy girlfriends of Jason Segel and/or Paul Rudd).  And it has Harvey Weinstein pulling out the promotional stops to make it a left-field Oscar winner in the tradition of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.

Unfortunately, the film is overlong, overthin, a bit too one-dimensional--and, as with the somewhat superior HUGO, unlikely to find a supportive mass audience in an era where silent cinema is as much a thing of the past as books, print newspapers, VCRs, DVD players and reviews by people who were once paid a lot of money just to write film criticism.

Criticism--and the supersensitive/vindictive reaction to it--in rock and roll.

Recently, I read the late Paul Nelson's book of interviews with Clint Eastwood--CONVERSATIONS WITH CLINT.

Now, I'm onto EVERYTHING IS AN AFTERTHOUGHT: THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL NELSON (edited by Kevin Avery).

Some choice tidbits from the book:
Stephen Holden on artists who Jann Wenner considered sacred cows in ROLLING STONE:
"Jann would insist on positive reviews for his personal friends, including Boz Scaggs and Art Garfunkel, in particular, and Jimmy Webb.  They got lots of coverage and they always got positive reviews."

Paul Nelson's personal friendship with Jackson Browne (Browne's album THE PRETENDER was a Nelson favorite) came to an end when Nelson panned J.D. Souther's (Souther is now probably best known for songwriting--with hits for the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt--rather than his singing/recording career) album YOU'RE ONLY LONELY.

From the review:
"These days, J.D. Souther is mostly a parody of the sensitive California singer/songwriter.  He's calendar art, the aural equivalent of a Kodak color slide: leaves turning in the autumn as photographed by Felicia Filigree of Vassar.  He's so lazy that too often his songs have trouble holding even the most cliched poses, because their creator can't be bothered to supply the necessary conviction, much less any at all. 'If you don't want my love/Well, there's nothing I can do.' he mewls, sounding like he's mildly annoyed because his Perrier is getting warm."

Don Henley wrote an angry letter to ROLLING STONE (keep in mind that ROLLING STONE was then considered THE major rock magazine) that began:
"Paul Nelson's blade seems to be getting too big for him to carry.  He's so busy being cute and is such an obviously biased little prick, he invalidates his own reviews."

Then the book goes on to recount a conversation Nelson had with Jackson Browne concerning the Souther album:
Jackson Browne: "It was if he had wasted his time [two years] making this record.  It was as if his first record, which you liked, was made last week, and this week he didn't do so well.  Now, I don't think that's the job of the reviewer--if you don't mind my telling you your job this once.  I think often reviewers are given assignments and they write about something and they might not care for the thing.  They may be actually pissed off that they have to write about it, and that anger gets handed over to the artist."
Paul Nelson: "If I don't like John David's album, I dont see anything wrong with my saying that I don't like it."
Browne: "By the end of the review, I still didn't know why you didn't like it."
Nelson: "Because I thought it was real narcissistic."
"You know," Browne snapped his fingers, "that can be said just like that.  I disagree.  But I think it could be said without cultural references like Perrier and the amount of money one might have made."
"I wanted to shake him up," Paul shot back, "Which I told you in advance when we talked, that I thought--"
Browne: "No, you didn't tell me in advance.  You told me after you'd written it and before I had read it."

The punchline to this SoCal rock story:
Jackson Browne read the review of the Souther album and called Nelson "and demanded to know how he could've written such a thing."

Nelson was planning on writing a Jackson Browne biography before the Souther review blowup and Browne killed the project, saying "Well, I don't see how we can do a book now.  I couldn't go and do a book with the journalist that had savaged my friend."

And that's how people behave when they have money and the stakes are higher than, say, the poetry community (where similar behavior occurs too).

Victor Infante, Christopher Hitchens and me.

"...I'm afraid I just don't share the belief that those who think differently than I do are in some way mentally deficient or evil. (Alas, yet another thing I probably differed with him on.)"--from a December blog post of Victor Infante's on the passing of Christopher Hitchens.
Link to the post: http://ocvictor.livejournal.com/920257.html

"You bring your misery on yourself, and whether you realize it or not, you do it on purpose. You need therapy, but I really don't care."--Victor Infante to me, March 2011

RIP Katy Perry and Russell Brand's marriage.

Whether true love or merely a match made in celeb-publicity Heaven, it's
always a bittersweet thing to see a marriage end too soon.