http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-lacma29-2009jul29,0,1659237.story
Regarding the above story, Mr. Horn and Ms. King's assertion that the availability of classic films on DVD helped to bring about the LACMA weekend film series' demise is a bit too neat--and lets the museum off the hook.
When original series curator/programmer Ron Haver died around 1993, LACMA mostly shifted the focus of the film series from film-as-popular-art to film-as-ART. And museum director Michael Govan and now-part-time-employee Ian Birnie should take some responsibility for the decline in audience and loss in revenue. Ideally, a successful museum film program should find equal room for the works of, say, Alain Resnais (now the closing LACMA retrospective), Kathryn Bigelow, William Wyler, Andrei Tarkovsky and Tsui Hark.
Having said that, I should share some responsibility (as an audience member) for not attending LACMA film programs nearly as often as I did from, say 1988 to the mid-90s. The last time I saw a film at LACMA's Bing Theatre was in late 2004 when there was an advance screening of Martin Scorsese's THE AVIATOR.
[UPDATE 7/30/09: Kenneth Turan offers his opinion--a strong one--regarding LACMA's decision: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-critic-lacma30-2009jul30,0,5900670.story]
[UPDATE 7/31/09: Here's a snobbish pro-Birnie take on LACMA and the film program:
http://filmjourney.weblogger.com/2009/07/30/lacma-jettisons-film-program/]
[UPDATE 8/5/09: A petition to send to Michael Govan re LACMA's film program:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-LACMA-film]
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
NBC's Ben Silverman steps down.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006519.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/07/the-long-wait-is-over-ben-silverman-finally-out-at-nbc.html
Ben Silverman, as NBC exec and Reveille majordomo, will probably be best known for making the American version of THE OFFICE a reality. Otherwise, Silverman's track record is mixed, with a lot of aim-really-low reality-show junk on his watch.
And, with the 10-11 p.m. hour ceded to the low-cost THE JAY LENO SHOW, it will be interesting to watch the results of NBC's prime time schedule for 09/10.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/07/the-long-wait-is-over-ben-silverman-finally-out-at-nbc.html
Ben Silverman, as NBC exec and Reveille majordomo, will probably be best known for making the American version of THE OFFICE a reality. Otherwise, Silverman's track record is mixed, with a lot of aim-really-low reality-show junk on his watch.
And, with the 10-11 p.m. hour ceded to the low-cost THE JAY LENO SHOW, it will be interesting to watch the results of NBC's prime time schedule for 09/10.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Obama backtracks from original press conference statement re treatment of Henry Louis Gates.
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=07&year=2009&base_name=this_is_what_happens_to_a_blac
Here's a link to coverage of Obama's brief press conference statement, which seemed to be geared primarily to the White House press corps--and took too much refuge in formal, rather than plain-spoken language: http://news.aol.com/article/critics-charge-obama-is-anti-police/587294
Unfortunately, some white people still get upset when African Americans speak out on the subject of racial discrminiation/profiling. I'm old enough to remember when then-Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley was criticized in 1992 for expressing anger with the Simi Valley "not guilty" verdicts for the LAPD officers who beat Rodney King the previous year.
[UPDATE 7/27/09: It's now being revealed that the original 911 call from a neighbor made no mention of race: http://news.aol.com/article/henry-louis-gates-jr-911-call/589068.]
Here's a link to coverage of Obama's brief press conference statement, which seemed to be geared primarily to the White House press corps--and took too much refuge in formal, rather than plain-spoken language: http://news.aol.com/article/critics-charge-obama-is-anti-police/587294
Unfortunately, some white people still get upset when African Americans speak out on the subject of racial discrminiation/profiling. I'm old enough to remember when then-Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley was criticized in 1992 for expressing anger with the Simi Valley "not guilty" verdicts for the LAPD officers who beat Rodney King the previous year.
[UPDATE 7/27/09: It's now being revealed that the original 911 call from a neighbor made no mention of race: http://news.aol.com/article/henry-louis-gates-jr-911-call/589068.]
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Eleven lessons I've learned from "the poetry community."
These lessons are a bit like rules of Fight Club (some straight-up, some laced with sarcasm):
1. Don't criticize the poetry community--after all, they're just sensitive-albeit-flawed human beings just like yourself, regardless of how meanspirited their behavior may seem.
2. Don't criticize specific poets in public.
3. Don't criticize specific poets in private--unless you're ultradeferential and are "mature" (i.e. keep comments as neutral as possible).
4. Don't lose your temper at poets and/or venue owners in public. If you do that, you're likely to be banned for years. If you don't care for a certain host or venue, just leave without comment and go home--and stay the hell away from that venue. It's better to make that choice than have it made for you.
5. Don't criticize the poetry community for wanting to exclude poets who don't meet certain quality-control standards. Corollary: Don't criticize poetry venues for deciding to raise standards by de-emphasizing giving first features to developing voices.
6. Don't criticize poetry community critics by poking fun at those who make pronouncements regarding what poetry should "survive"--and don't criticize the poems of poetry critics who have criticized your poetry.
7. Don't criticize poets who think they're community leaders. You're likely to be told that your criticisms aren't valid because you're not a "leader" like they are. Or you're likely to be compared to Joseph McCarthy.
8. Don't criticize poets who stage poetry festivals where the poets invited are limited to close-personal-friends of the host/organizer.
9. Don't get so angry with poets that you waste valuable time criticizing them on their listserves.
10. Don't complain to the poets in the admonition above (or to poet friends of yours or theirs) if you're banned from the poet's listserve and/or reading. Remember, you're on your own. Either mend fences or move on.
11. Remember when you're critical of poets and/or community, you're likely to hear variations of this phrase: IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH US, THEN IT MUST BE BECAUSE OF YOUR ATTITUDE!
Class dismissed.
1. Don't criticize the poetry community--after all, they're just sensitive-albeit-flawed human beings just like yourself, regardless of how meanspirited their behavior may seem.
2. Don't criticize specific poets in public.
3. Don't criticize specific poets in private--unless you're ultradeferential and are "mature" (i.e. keep comments as neutral as possible).
4. Don't lose your temper at poets and/or venue owners in public. If you do that, you're likely to be banned for years. If you don't care for a certain host or venue, just leave without comment and go home--and stay the hell away from that venue. It's better to make that choice than have it made for you.
5. Don't criticize the poetry community for wanting to exclude poets who don't meet certain quality-control standards. Corollary: Don't criticize poetry venues for deciding to raise standards by de-emphasizing giving first features to developing voices.
6. Don't criticize poetry community critics by poking fun at those who make pronouncements regarding what poetry should "survive"--and don't criticize the poems of poetry critics who have criticized your poetry.
7. Don't criticize poets who think they're community leaders. You're likely to be told that your criticisms aren't valid because you're not a "leader" like they are. Or you're likely to be compared to Joseph McCarthy.
8. Don't criticize poets who stage poetry festivals where the poets invited are limited to close-personal-friends of the host/organizer.
9. Don't get so angry with poets that you waste valuable time criticizing them on their listserves.
10. Don't complain to the poets in the admonition above (or to poet friends of yours or theirs) if you're banned from the poet's listserve and/or reading. Remember, you're on your own. Either mend fences or move on.
11. Remember when you're critical of poets and/or community, you're likely to hear variations of this phrase: IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH US, THEN IT MUST BE BECAUSE OF YOUR ATTITUDE!
Class dismissed.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Disney's Robert Iger eyes pay-for-content Disney website.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i04ac5aa7296d367cffd8e86975292260
Probably the most unsettling passage (highlighting by me) in Paul Bond's article:
"The Disney chief also said he is bullish on behavioral tracking, claiming that privacy concerns are overblown and usually shared only by older consumers. He joked that he has learned more about his two adult daughters from their Facebook pages than from raising them. "
Yes, folks, that's what the head of Disney thinks of its potential consumers.
Probably the most unsettling passage (highlighting by me) in Paul Bond's article:
"The Disney chief also said he is bullish on behavioral tracking, claiming that privacy concerns are overblown and usually shared only by older consumers. He joked that he has learned more about his two adult daughters from their Facebook pages than from raising them. "
Yes, folks, that's what the head of Disney thinks of its potential consumers.
I don't know Steven Soderbergh personally, but I can feel his pain.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jul/14/steven-soderbergh
Key passage for me from the article:
"I'm looking at the landscape and I'm thinking, 'Hmmm, I don't know. A few more years maybe,'" says Soderbergh. "And then the stuff that I'm interested in is only going to be of interest to me."
It would all sound depressing if Soderbergh didn't pepper his speech with fits of incredulous laughter. Perhaps the last few years – capped by his recent run-in with Sony over his revised script for Moneyball, a baseball movie starring Brad Pitt, that saw him elbowed off the project – have left him punch-drunk.
"In terms of my career, I can see the end of it," he says. "I've had that sensation for a few years now. And so I've got a list of stuff that I want to do – that I hope I can do – and once that's all finished I may just disappear."
I feel the same way. The kind of poetry I write isn't what the literary world wants. And the LA/OC scenes tend to want to play a Rotisserie Baseball version of Great Literature--where they think they're part of something like the Algonquin Roundtable, but it's actually another chapter of Rotarians or Toastmasters.
Key passage for me from the article:
"I'm looking at the landscape and I'm thinking, 'Hmmm, I don't know. A few more years maybe,'" says Soderbergh. "And then the stuff that I'm interested in is only going to be of interest to me."
It would all sound depressing if Soderbergh didn't pepper his speech with fits of incredulous laughter. Perhaps the last few years – capped by his recent run-in with Sony over his revised script for Moneyball, a baseball movie starring Brad Pitt, that saw him elbowed off the project – have left him punch-drunk.
"In terms of my career, I can see the end of it," he says. "I've had that sensation for a few years now. And so I've got a list of stuff that I want to do – that I hope I can do – and once that's all finished I may just disappear."
I feel the same way. The kind of poetry I write isn't what the literary world wants. And the LA/OC scenes tend to want to play a Rotisserie Baseball version of Great Literature--where they think they're part of something like the Algonquin Roundtable, but it's actually another chapter of Rotarians or Toastmasters.
"Waiter, there's a condom in my soup!"
Kind of sad to read this story, since I like to eat at Claim Jumper's restaurants (but not from the soup and salad bar) from time to time: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-condom-soup-lawsuit,0,2141221.story?track=rss
The closest thing I can compare it to in terms of gross eating-out experiences was finding a cockroach in a teriyaki chicken bowl at a small restaurant in a strip mall at Sunset and Crescent Heights (where, in a past era of Hollywood, the legendary Garden of Allah apartment building once stood) in the mid-90s.
The closest thing I can compare it to in terms of gross eating-out experiences was finding a cockroach in a teriyaki chicken bowl at a small restaurant in a strip mall at Sunset and Crescent Heights (where, in a past era of Hollywood, the legendary Garden of Allah apartment building once stood) in the mid-90s.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
L. A. poet Richard Beban and the Ballona Wetlands--with a little I HEART HUCKABEES on the side.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CobaltPoets/message/14244
[Relevant passages of the above message from Mr. Beban:
I am delighted to tell you that I have been hired as the co-Executive Directorof the non-profit Friends of Ballona Wetlands <http://www.ballonafriends.org/>,L.A.'s preeminent wetlands education and preservation group. The Friends havebeen working for thirty-one years to save and restore the last remaining coastal wetlands acreage in L.A. County, and educate the public about the importance of wetlands in our world ecosystem.
Other groups have Ballona in their name (in fact, one of them, definitely trying to sow confusion,is run by the same people who tried unsuccessfully to SHUT DOWN a marvelous wetlands poetry event Kaaren Kitchell and I ran in 2003 because it didn't toe their political party line), but we're the Friends of Ballona Wetlands.
Why tell poets all this? Because the Friends will be offering poetry reading and publication opportunities in the very near future (mostly at the usual non-profit rates, of course), so e-mail me [address deleted] if you have environmentally themed work.]
http://www.ballonafriends.org/
http://www.socal.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=5632
http://www.metro.net/news_info/archives/2003/04_April/mta_051.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballona_Wetlands
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-last-stand-the-struggle-for-the-ballona-wetlands-216293
http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/articles/2008/08/07/news_-_features/top_stories/2bal.txt
http://www.ballona.org/Content.aspx?page=3&sub=5
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2003/2003-04-21-03.asp
http://www.calcoast.org/news/wetlands091803.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heart_Huckabees
http://www.alternet.org/environment/16006/greenwashing_coastal_development/
Pay special attention to the final link above.
[Relevant passages of the above message from Mr. Beban:
I am delighted to tell you that I have been hired as the co-Executive Directorof the non-profit Friends of Ballona Wetlands <http://www.ballonafriends.org/>,L.A.'s preeminent wetlands education and preservation group. The Friends havebeen working for thirty-one years to save and restore the last remaining coastal wetlands acreage in L.A. County, and educate the public about the importance of wetlands in our world ecosystem.
Other groups have Ballona in their name (in fact, one of them, definitely trying to sow confusion,is run by the same people who tried unsuccessfully to SHUT DOWN a marvelous wetlands poetry event Kaaren Kitchell and I ran in 2003 because it didn't toe their political party line), but we're the Friends of Ballona Wetlands.
Why tell poets all this? Because the Friends will be offering poetry reading and publication opportunities in the very near future (mostly at the usual non-profit rates, of course), so e-mail me [address deleted] if you have environmentally themed work.]
http://www.ballonafriends.org/
http://www.socal.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=5632
http://www.metro.net/news_info/archives/2003/04_April/mta_051.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballona_Wetlands
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-last-stand-the-struggle-for-the-ballona-wetlands-216293
http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/articles/2008/08/07/news_-_features/top_stories/2bal.txt
http://www.ballona.org/Content.aspx?page=3&sub=5
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2003/2003-04-21-03.asp
http://www.calcoast.org/news/wetlands091803.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heart_Huckabees
http://www.alternet.org/environment/16006/greenwashing_coastal_development/
Pay special attention to the final link above.
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