- Just returned from Palm Springs (okay, Indian Wells) where I co-hosted (with Hal Linden of "Barney Miller" fame) the "Gold and Silver Circle Awards" for television greats who'd been in the business 25 and 50 years. I inducted all the Gold Circle folks and that included Bill Asher, Sidney Sheldon (posthumously), Kaye Ballard and Velma Dawson (who brought along her Howdy Doody puppet). The clip reels alone were worth the trip. I originally signed on, however, out of support for my friend and mentor Bill Asher. Among his credits: directing JFK's inaugural and that birthday party where Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President."
- So, as a personal friend of JFK's, Bill has told me he'd rather not know about my Winter of Our Discontent: The Impeachment & Trial of John F. Kennedy book project. For the rest of you, though, remember that every Monday brings a new installment in the novel-in-progress being written with alt-history author Harry Turtledove. Today wraps up Chapter 2: Duck & Cover where Lee Harvey Oswald hires attorney William Kunstler to defend him, President Kennedy holds his first news conference and Jackie starts to wonder why people want to kill her husband.
- Over at Movie Smackdown!, we're entering a new phase. I want to increase the overall content on the site which means I can't do it all myself. So I'll be adding some new Movie Smackdown! "referees" (critics) in the next months. You've probably already noticed Jonathan Zabel weighing in with "Meet the Robinsons -vs- The Incredibles" and "Grindhouse -vs- Pulp Fiction." I will continue to edit their material for consistency of form and style, but the opinions will be their own. It's part of my overall plan to take the larger Movie Smackdown! concept of reviewing a film in theaters against a film available on DVD to an ever increasing audience because, based on response, it seems to be catching on. Today we add Jay Amicarella who reviews "Disturbia -vs- Rear Window."
