tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-138527472011-04-23T11:27:41.939-07:00A compelling melange of popular culture and personal detritus.SPnoreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-11637008495987890472009-04-01T15:54:00.000-07:002009-04-02T13:35:25.877-07:00

We finally had a chance to watch “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and it occurred to me that Oscar seems to favor the women who star in Woody Allen movies that include a woman’s name in the title. In fact, all four of the women who have won Academy Awards for saying Woody’s words did so in films which met this criteria: Diane Keaton for “Annie Hall” in 1977; Dianne Wiest for “Hannah and Her Sisters” in

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-68570052230223087032009-03-30T11:56:00.001-07:002009-04-01T21:50:24.896-07:00

PRESIDENT REAGAN SHOTWoke at about 5, 6, & 7. Mike's bed is always uncomfortable for me, and this last night was no exception. I kept falling asleep, and the next thing I know Tom is shaking the hell out of me sayin' "Get up you f**ker!" at 1o:30 a.m. I don't know how he got into Mike's house.Well I told Tom I'd go with him to Corvallis today, so I got dressed and try to brush me teeth and shave

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-50145136613218656172009-03-26T13:09:00.000-07:002009-03-26T13:19:48.717-07:00

I love mythology and I love card decks, so it was a no-brainer to pick this up at an antique show in Ohio about 10 years ago for a cool 10 bucks. The Cincinnati Game Company was cranking out a lot of themed educational sets around the turn of the century. An ad card inside mentions almost two dozen others, including “Strange People,” “In Castle Land” (famous castles of the Old World), “The

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-69157686377936830192009-03-24T13:20:00.000-07:002009-03-24T13:45:00.009-07:00

Since so much of the tech world is dominated by men, and I am raising a daughter with dreams of a future in which women can not only compete in male-dominated fields but eventually supplant them, I looked forward to participating in Ada Lovelace Day. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that in considering the day’s challenge--to write about a pioneering woman in technology--no names immediately

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-60177696709824102352009-03-17T10:50:00.000-07:002009-03-17T13:58:45.789-07:00

From the Bizarre Habits of the Rich & Famous Department comes a tale of freewheelin' Bob Dylan stinking up the air around his posh Point Dume estates in Malibu. According to a story in today's L.A. Times, Mr. Zimmerman has refused neighbors' requests to take care of an odiferous outhouse that they say has been wafting the smell of waste their way for over six months. A city code enforcement

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-30327749742194159572009-03-11T11:14:00.000-07:002009-03-11T11:18:33.658-07:00

Today was a cool, non-working day. Father B. took many people to Cottontail Ranch in Malibu for a retreat. Paul and Harry were asked to attend this second retreat, but I still wasn’t.In 1st period, we had study hall with Mike M. I worked on a Pre-Cal penance I got yesterday. In Pre-Cal, “Bastard” gave us another quiz for me to fail. Electronics went normal, and in Chemistry we had a film about

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-24162064040387687322009-03-07T14:35:00.001-08:002009-03-07T15:49:59.739-08:00

If I were to write my own metal magazine version of "Almost Famous," Tora Tora would figure large in the main act. They were one of the first "next generation" hard rock bands that I really liked, and when I was sent to Memphis to join them on the set of their first video in 1989 we quickly became friends. They were as excited to have a rock journalist who was into them as I was about being in on

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-64411284438456818242009-03-04T14:36:00.000-08:002009-03-04T15:13:54.465-08:00

So it's come to this. When news surfaced that Comedy Central was in a standoff against "The Sarah Silverman Program" because they wanted to cut the show's budget by over 20%, it gave me a better idea of how dire things are. Budget cuts have already resulted in one friend of mine getting a pay decrease and another having his Blackberry taken away. But trying to cut back on one of your most

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-77739203372776018452009-02-28T15:21:00.000-08:002009-02-28T15:47:57.753-08:00

It was Friday, August 17, 1979, and one of the movie theaters in Westwood had thrown down the gauntlet; the first 100 people who came to see the first showing of "Monty Python's Life of Brian" on its opening day would receive a free T-shirt and bumper sticker. Heck, that alone was worth more than the inflated $5 we had to pay to go see a movie "over the hill."A friend of mine and I were not about

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-85118536954371673282009-02-21T17:23:00.000-08:002009-02-21T18:19:10.160-08:00

I have to admit that I’ve kind of been on the fence about the sophomore season of “Flight of the Conchords,” in part because founders Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie seem to be taking quite a back seat to guest vocals by the rest of the cast this year.But that changed in an instant when my 20-month-old daughter became enthralled with the song “Like in My Dreams” by Mel, the cute ’n’ creepy

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-75619921487924963032009-02-12T12:09:00.000-08:002009-02-12T12:58:49.226-08:00

It took the Byrds to make me realize there was more to 1960s rock than the Beatles, and their folk roots have continued to inform countless bands with each generation of new musicians. So I was happily surprised to learn that former lead Byrd Roger McGuinn, whom I was lucky enough to interview with the release of his vastly underrated (and only) solo album "Back to Rio" in 1991, has been keeping

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-58677412240246263602009-02-07T09:40:00.000-08:002009-02-07T09:42:34.634-08:00

Today Mike and I decided to do something since he didn’t have to work. We decided to go to the Movies of Woodland Hills, UA Theater. First we went to see “Scanners,” which was a real mind blower (ha)! Then it was easy as hell to sneak. That whole place is so small! We saw “Altered States,” a movie which would be gratifying to anyone under an influence. It was really a surreal movie. After that we

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-15796010734010823332009-02-05T13:13:00.000-08:002009-02-05T14:05:59.707-08:00

Kicking off some entries on random things I've accumulated over the last 44 years, this is an original set of "Lancelot Link Secret Chimp" View-Master reels. Under the aegis of Commander Darwin, Lance and the agents of APE (Agency to Prevent Evil) battled the evil-doers of CHUMP (Criminal Headquarters for an Underworld Master Plan) from 1970 to 1972 from a building that looked suspiciously like

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-75547166330451197102009-01-30T13:50:00.000-08:002009-02-07T09:41:59.479-08:00

Today I figger'd, "What the hell, I'll go to school." No but seriously, the button business is doing fine. Mike Walsh ordered four and a few other people ordered a couple. It rained today, but it wasn't bad. In Pre-Cal, we started trigonometry. It scares the hell out of me (It looks hard). In Chemistry, some lady from Bell Labs came in and rapped the crap about job options (in electronics, I mean

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-53768359189557130482009-01-27T11:11:00.000-08:002009-01-27T11:24:44.337-08:00

Mr. Starkey reached into the pocket of his grayish 1968 bell-bottoms with the red and yellow stripes and grimaced."I've got a rabbit hole in me pocket!""Sod off," the Walrus retorted. "Carroll's mine. Yellow matter Cheshire Hatter. Goo goo goo joob.""What about the space between us all?" cried the Dark Horse. "And what is Wonderland without a Wonderwall?""Tweedledum, Ob-la-di, Tweedledee,

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-3894096115547625042008-12-21T13:24:00.001-08:002008-12-21T13:40:18.525-08:00

From the archives, taken in 1984 or so. I used to love to sit in one of those wood chairs and breathe and think and watch people coming and going. Union Station has appeared in many movies, including "Blade Runner" and 1950's "Union Station," which was set in Chicago but shot interiors in L.A.

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-25424047751294683372008-12-19T16:44:00.000-08:002009-01-27T11:35:05.332-08:00

A friend of mine has become obsessed with Winnetka, the name of a main street and town in our corner of the county, since he heard it was a Native American word meaning “beautiful land” and after it became the freeway exit to his home. Since the same freeway used to be a passageway for the Chumash Indians, he also wondered if “winnetka” might be Chumash. Being a fan of place names and etymology

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-21748532998202019012008-12-17T12:06:00.000-08:002008-12-17T16:29:39.564-08:00

From the archives, an unpublished photo of R.E.M. at a record signing taken in 1985. "Fables" was out and Wendell Gee was reared to give respect so I went and waited. I had recently tapped into Mel Torme because Stipe had mentioned him in an article. I also had a live bootleg tape my friend Craig had given me of an Atlanta show where the band had played “California Dreamin'.” So when I got to

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-19166821644548945682008-12-15T14:33:00.000-08:002008-12-15T14:56:55.797-08:00

When I was growing up in the Valley there was a gas station off the freeway called Terrible Herbst. This was a source of great amusement for me as a teen, the idea that any company would call themselves terrible anything, and I avoided the place just for the sheer stupidity of it.A few years later during a trip to Northern California I came across another gas station called Rotten Robbie. Again I

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-76780586237769065152008-12-04T17:33:00.000-08:002008-12-17T13:46:21.252-08:00

“Bedtime Stories”: Adam Sandler, CGI, and so manycrazy effects you won’t even notice the plot holes.“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”: Everythingold is young again—even F. Scott Fitzgerald stories.“The Day the Earth Stood Still”: Calling occupantsof interplanetary craft. Klaatu, right?“Four Christmases”: Sly holiday familydysfunction? Eh. Steenburgen as cougar? Pass.“Frost/Nixon”: Sock it to

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-57810051450576008402008-10-06T13:27:00.000-07:002008-12-17T13:38:14.330-08:00

From the archives, taken in 1983. The movie is "Vacation." The drive-in was demolished in the late 1990s.

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-52096578790613267682008-10-04T15:15:00.000-07:002008-10-04T22:34:12.165-07:00

Hmmm. This makes me wonder what they write about the other 11 months of the year. It's like Narcolepsy Magazine doing a special issue on sleep.

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-15363990724158360462008-09-28T16:17:00.000-07:002008-09-28T16:37:12.526-07:00

Toby Keith has a song called "Get Drunk and Be Somebody." Toby Keith sings about how justice meant lynching in his Grandpappy's day, then calls for putting more street gangsters "in the ground" in his song "Beer For My Horses." Toby Keith was honored in the House of Representatives this month under H.RES.1255. God bless America!

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-1166564349479725772006-12-19T13:32:00.000-08:002006-12-19T13:44:31.633-08:00

Legendary cartoonist Joe Barbera died today, and if I had my soot together I'd be posting an extract here from an interview I did with him about 10 years ago. Unfortunately (and, alas, typically) I have no idea where that tape might be right now, so instead I'm considering this sad day as another reminder that I must increase my efforts to get things together, so that someday I can blog like a

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-1149185152693103882006-06-01T10:48:00.000-07:002006-06-01T11:10:41.960-07:00

Minutes after meeting each other for the first time on the set of "Live with Regis and Kelly," comic actors Denis Leary and Vince Vaughn were hatching a plan for Vaughn to appear on an upcoming episode of Leary's hit FX series "Rescue Me.""I'll come and do a show," Vaughn said. "I definitely would.""As a big, giant, funny fireman?" Leary joked."We'll figure something out," Vaughn said.Realizing

SPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-1119659452172875862005-06-24T17:19:00.000-07:002005-06-24T17:30:52.176-07:00

Ventura looking outwardOh, sunshinyNot hot like le ValleyYippee

SPnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-1119550204287032342005-06-23T11:06:00.000-07:002005-06-23T11:10:04.290-07:00

Today I got up at 10:30, when John called me. He wanted to talk about the road trip to Lake Isabella (just him, Tom and I). The dates are now set, July 6 to 10. We are planning to take a few cases of beer, et. al., and have a good time hunting and fishing and stuff like that. I got up and went to type on my Olivetti for the first time since its return. It was busted (a little, little part was

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-1119405795790911282005-06-22T14:31:00.000-07:002005-06-22T14:30:38.053-07:00

You buy a bar of Hershey's milk chocolate with almonds because you like almonds, right? So it only makes sense to do a quick, tactile almond check through the back of the package first to insure that you get maximum almond satisfaction. Here's a general rule of thumb for newbies: If you get eight almonds, you've been taken. If you get 11, you're pretty much at the top of the bell. I got 12 once,

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-1119401709309476202005-06-21T17:55:00.000-07:002008-10-04T21:56:27.621-07:00

SPnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13852747.post-1119389360697459982005-06-21T14:28:00.000-07:002005-06-21T14:29:20.696-07:00

In the beginning, there was this.

SPnoreply@blogger.com0