For What It's Worth

Twittering the Emmys from the Orchestra Seats

While it's possible this could be a spectacularly bad idea (or just an ignorable one), I thought I would take my new found semi-knowledge of Twitter and try to Tweet from this year's Primetime Emmy telecast.

This will be my 13th straight Primetime Emmy show that I've attended. I got to go for four years as the "Writers" peer group Governor of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, then I got elected Chairman/CEO and actually appeared on three of them. Besides the obvious service aspect of the job, the other great perk of the Academy chairmanship gig (besides sitting with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks one year, and introducing Walter Cronkite another) has turned out to be the lifetime awards show tickets. Jackie and I go every year and we love the going, even when the show is sometimes off.

During the commercial breaks, however, while you're going to the bathroom or fixing a new plate of nachos, we usually sit more or less silently. You don't usually know who you're sitting next to, plus you really don't want to be too vocal in your opinions. Tweeting seems like the perfect pastime to avoid boredom and to occupy the mind.

 

If you're Twitter savvy, I invite you to join me and follow by clicking on the link above. Help me answer the age-old question: "If an ex-Chairman tweets from the Emmy theater and no one receives, did he make a sound?" So, if you're game, follow, re-Tweet and comment as you see fit.

 

 P.S. A few years ago, I put together a photo album from my time as Chairman of ATAS that I'd like to share. It was an eventful time, 2001-2003. As you might recall, the Emmys had to be postponed twice after 9/11, something that happened on my watch, the month after I got elected.

A Rock 'N' Roll Dream Come True

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

Last night, May 3, 2010, my son's dreams came true! He went to see his idol Chris Cornell at a benefit acoustic concert at The Roxy, on Sunset Blve, in Hollywood, California. With his girlfriend Logan, they pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Cornell was playing acoustic guitar with only a cello as back-up.

At a pause between songs, Arnie shouts out, "Hey, Chris, I have a question for you" and gets his attention, to which Chris asks, "Yes, what is it?" Arnie then shouts, "It's been my lifelong dream to jam on one song with you." Cornell says, "Well, what do you play and do you have a song in mind?" Arnie replies, "I've been playing guitar for 6 years and I want to play Fell On Black Days" at which point the crowd is shouting to Chris, "Let him, Let him!" 

Chris smiles, laughs, and says, "Why not? You could probably do it just as good as me." Arnie starts toward the stage, but Chris says "Wait until we get to the song." Arnie is convinced it's not going to happen. When it came time for Arnie's song, however, Cornell did ask Arnie to come on stage. By now, the crowd is getting into it and Logan is screaming her head off and trying to take pictures. 

Even Jay Leno Needs An Insurance Policy

We all know how much NBC has riding on its debut of "The Jay Leno Show" in primetime.  You can read all about it in, like, a billion places.

Now, however, the truth can be told.  In the ultimate conspiracy theory, NBC had Jay cloned years ago to protect its comedy investment in case the unthinkable happened.  And now, as the new show prepares to go on-the-air, that investment gets his big break.  Or break-out, as it were.  You'll see.

It's "The Adventures of Jay Clone," a short video that stars Jonathan Zabel as "Junior" and Don Most as "Doc."  Did we mention there's a rubber chicken and a Leno mask?

The Adventures of Jay Clone - watch more funny videos

The video was directed by USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate Kareem Dimashkie.  Jonathan Zabel played Young Jay and Jay's Son in nearly a dozen "Tonight Show" appearances in the Clinton Years.  Trained in improvisation, Jonathan now lives and works in the heart of Silicon Valley.

"The Adventures of Jay Clone" was just picked by eGuiders as its "Featured Comedy Pick for the week of September 14 to 20."  It's also, as you can see, on "Funny or Die."  We hope, if you like it, that you'll visit that site, vote for it as "Funny" and list it as a "Favorite."  Thanks!

Run, Junior, Run!

READY TO BELIEVE: Free MP3 of Obama Fight Song!

Last January, while we were still on strike as members of the Writers Guild of America, my wife Jackie and I sat down in a Los Angeles coffee shop with our good friend, musician Cherish Alexander.

Before the coffee was cold, we decided, improbably given the time frame -- as a couple of striking screenwriters and a singer-composer -- to write, produce and distribute the song you'll soon hear.  It happened over a five day period and we released it immediately before the California primary.

So far, "Ready to Believe" has cumulatively had its video versions viewed close to 100,000 times on YouTube.  Plus, it's available on iTunes.  You, however, don't have to buy it in the closing days of the 2008 campaign.  We want you to download it for free and to send it to your friends.

It was written to stand-up for Barack to the Clinton campaign's charges claiming he wasn't ready for the presidency.  We find that the need for this song is as solidly right-on today as it was last February (only Clinton is on the team now and the argument's being made by John McCain).  It needed rebuttal then, and it needs rebuttal now. 

Please give it a listen.  Click the link below to just hear it.  Otherwise,right-click to actually... we'll say it again... download "Ready to Believe" for free.  Again, you have our express permission to download it and to give it away. 

Download_Ready_to_Believe_Song.mp3

Some have asked for a PDF of the actual lyrics.  Here you are:

Download_Ready_to_Believe_Lyrics.pdf

Here's the You Tube version:

Please also visit the web-page of singer-composer Cherish Alexander (http://www.cherishalexander.com/ready_to_believe/) where all the goodies are also available.  She and fellow producer Damian Valentine did an awesome job with this project as you can hear for yourself.

We know the hour is late but if you support Barack Obama, we'd urge you to join us and expose as many people as you can to this song.  Especially Obama volunteers.  We've received a good deal of email from campaign workers who thought it was like an anthemic "fight song" for the cause.  That's certainly what we intended it to be.

Remember to vote.  Even if the polls say he's ahead, you have to vote.  Take nothing for granted. 

Still fired up and ready-to-go for Obama!

Cherish Alexander, Jackie Zabel, Bryce Zabel

Get That Blimp Out of My Airspace!

My director pal, Lev Spiro, just sent me an email exchange that has to rank as one of the funniest pieces of unintentionally hilarious writing by a bureaucrat that I've ever seen. Apparently, Lev had written Goodyear yesterday complaining that their blimp was noisily circling his house for four hours.  Here's the response he got today:

Dear Lev,
I do apologize for the recent fly over of your neighborhood last evening. While flying at a safe and legal altitude, it is not our intention to upset anyone whose residential area we are flying over.  We  were working on a television show and I do not expect that we will be flying again in that area for some time, and certainly not for a prolonged period. Again, please except (sic) my apology for any incontinence (sic).
Sincerely,
Bob Urhausen
Airship P.R. Manager

Here is the reply Lev sent back:

Dear Mr. Urhausen,
Since I make my living as a television director, I can only conclude that karma is a bitch.  It hadn't occured to me that the blimp was for a production, but that makes sense. Rest assured, the blimp may have been inconvenient, but it did not cause me any incontinence.
Cheers,
Lev L. Spiro

Thank God for Goodyear that they've got the able Bob Urhausen on the public relations front.  He'll make sure the company looks good!

Snakes in the Grass (and Other Locations)

I've just spent a couple of hours in my backyard with the "Hollywood Rattlesnake Wrangler" -- a great guy, Bo Slypapich. Bo is a one-of-a-kind who has hunted down rattlers for everybody from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Brad Garrett and today he came to my house after working for Sally Field.

We had started our morning with what we thought was the discovery by our gardener of two baby rattlesnakes in the back yard. We were referred to Bo and he showed up looking like a cross between Indiana Jones and the male version of Tomb Raider Lara Croft. He had gizmos, belts slung around his waist to hold the gizmos and an enthusiasm for his business that was, honestly, very re-assuring.

Bo started catching snakes over forty years ago with his neighborhood friends in Malibu Canyon. He kept his passion for snakes and built a business in the entertainment industry by clearing locations prior to the arrival of the crew, and securing locations while filming.

"One day I got a call from a local doctor who knew me, and was aware of my business. He asked if he could recommend me to another doctor whose daughter was bit while playing in their backyard by a rattlesnake, and then had crawled under the house. They had been unable to find anyone willing to search their property to find the snake or any possible dens."

Bo has been called to hunt for, track down, and remove snakes who have bitten children, dogs, and adults. Unlike others, Bo will crawl under houses, bushes and porches to find and relocate the snake or snakes.

What's great about Bo, however, is his passion to educate. Rather than a standard service call, he asked me to join him (at a safe distance) as we went throughout the backyard and he did a show-and-tell about what we were doing right and what could use some improvement. He also spoke to my gardener and my wife.

Bo had about ten snakes in the back of his pick-up truck in sealed plastic containers and, for the first time in my life, I got a truly authentic close-up look at rattlers of all sizes. He also had the harmless snakes for comparison. Now, I can actually tell them apart. Rattlesnakes have larger heads and thin necks and, well, rattles for tails. Every other snake you find in southern California has necks the size of their bodies and tails that end in a point.

As it turned out, ours were not baby rattlers which was good because it means there's probably not a nest with mom and other kids. We have, however, been tasked with some garden reconstruction and our rattlesnake fence appears to have been breached by the elements in a few key places that needs repair.

By the way, Bo has never been bitten in all his years. He does not kill rattlesnakes unless he has to. When he goes underneath houses, he has a full body armor outfit.

My friend, Michael Nadlman, also had a Bo and rattlesnake encounter only his was written up in the local paper and you can read that article here. That article, by the way, got linked to by the Drudge Report which gave it a global warming related headline and, as a result, the article got 40,000+ hits in just three hours.

Read all about Bo at his website, www.rattlesnakewrangler.com and, yes, somebody is actually developing a reality TV show for him. I'd definitely watch.

Morning Wake-Up Call

Last night, about an hour after I got to sleep, a magnitude 4.5 temblor hit. I know people think we're all matter-of-fact about these things out here in Los Angeles, but I don't think it's true.

This one struck just before 1 a.m. about 4 miles northwest of Chatsworth, which isn't all that far from where I live. It hit with a real jolt and it went on long enough that I was wide-awake and planning where to hide when it subsided.

The thing is that you never know if it's going to be a little shaking or whether it's just the beginning of the "Big One." I was living in this same house back in 1994 for the Northridge quake and it was pretty insane. It literally turned on my stereo (which was turned off) at extremely loud volume for about four seconds. So I woke up then shaking to loud rock-and-roll. We all went outside into the cul-de-sac and worried with the neighbors, got out the flashlights and went looking to make sure everybody was accounted for. It was pretty scary, not something you'll ever take lightly.

Anyway, this recent one went away before it got serious. I checked my son's room and found out he slept through it. My daughter was out, we tried calling but it didn't immediately go through. But she was back home in a few minutes to check on us.

Then we all went back to sleep.

Global Warming? Talk About Cognitive Dissonance!

To all the people around the United States and the rest of the world who are freezing, stuck in fifty-mile long traffic jams, sitting for half a day on an airport tarmac waiting to take off, shoveling snow and all the other things I've been seeing and hearing on the news...you can be forgiven if you're feeling a little skeptical about the whole global warming thing.

It feels so unreal watching what hardships you're enduring. Because here, where I live, this is our weather report.

Today...Mostly sunny. Highs from the lower to mid 70s at the beaches to the lower to mid 80s inland. Local north winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph below passes and canyons from Malibu to Hollywood.

Tonight...Mostly clear. Lows in the 50s...except in the lower 60s in breezy locations. Areas of north to northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts over 45 mph below passes and canyons from Malibu to Hollywood.

Saturday...Mostly sunny. Highs from the lower to mid 70s at the beaches to the lower to mid 80s inland. Areas of north to northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts over 45 mph below passes and canyons from Malibu to Hollywood in the morning...diminishing during the afternoon.

That's right. I expect the temperature to get over 80 degrees today out by my house. It's shirt-sleeves and shorts weather. Margueritas at the outdoor cantina. That kind of thing.

I'm sorry to have to report that dismal news for you cold-weather types, but facts are facts!

The Hollywood Cookbook: A Holiday Win-Win for Charity

The first copies are back from the publishers and it will be in the major bookstores and Amazon.com will start shipping within the next week. I'm  talking about "The Hollywood Cookbook." It's the best win-win I've seen in a long-time. Really... think of it as Good Cooking, Great Causes...

Pre-Order Now for 2006 Holidays
Available Mid-November
$5 Per Book to Charity

To paraphrase Martin Landau's Bob Evans character from HBO's "Entourage" -- "If I told you there was a way to give somebody a modest gift for the holidays that they might actually like and, at the same time, give money to charities that help make the world a better place, would that be of interest to you?"

Regular readers of "For What It's Worth" know that I've never asked you to buy anything in all the time this blog has existed. This one just seems like such a great idea that I want to help.

The whole concept started a couple of years ago when my wife, Jackie, got this idea. She would find twenty celebrities, each one with a favorite charity, then ask them to supply their favorite recipes for a cookbook. Five bucks from each book would go into a pot to be distributed to the charities. She'd get the Entertainment Industry Foundation -- a group that has an outstanding reputation -- to divvy up the money. She'd sell the book, starting at the holidays, so that people could give it instead of a card saying "A donation has been made in your name." I mean, let's be honest, I'm always glad that a charity has gotten money in my name but it's a little disappointing. We'd like something tangible to go with it. Well, now you have the perfect compromise!

It's been a snowball effect of support. She's partnered with her good friend, Morgan Most, and together the two of them have practically willed this into existence. Celebrities like Ron Howard, Michael J. Fox, Jane Kaczmarek and Bradley Whitford immediately wanted to help. Charities were supportive and appreciative and put some of their key supporters in touch with the women of "Good Looking Cooking" (that's the name they came up with in order to publish the book). Later, as an added bonus, some very, very famous celebrity chefs also came aboard to offer some of their own special recipes. People like Wolfgang Puck and Mario Batali (plus Mark Dacascos from "Iron Chef.")

The book is literally at the printer now, pre-orders are being taken, and it can end up in your hands before Thanksgiving, in plenty of time to wrap it, mail it and give it to friends and co-workers for the holidays.

Listen, I could go on and on about this idea. I work in Hollywood where so often everything is a problem and it's great to salute an idea where everything is a solution. You want to know what was the most significant problem to overcome? Figuring out how to get $5 guaranteed to charity, given all the costs that go into books these days. But Jackie and Morgan have been unyielding. $5 to charity. Not a penny less.

They have a superior web-site that explains the whole thing better than I can do in this blog. Check it out. Feel good this year about at least one of the gifts you give. Make a difference. You can see all the charities there and check out the links to their sites for yourself.

Let me put one other thought out there. After you've checked out http://www.thehollywoodcookbook.com, you'll probably agree it's a great idea, too. Now, let's do some math...

Say they sell 10-thousand books before Christmas. That means charities will get $50,000 to split. But if we can push that number up to 100-thousand books that would mean a $500,000 check going to charity in early 2007.

So, check out the site and if you catch "The Hollywood Cookbook" fever like I have, stick a link to it on your blog or website, write about it in your own words, send the URL to your local newspapers with a personal note of endorsement and send one of those e-mails to all your friends asking them to send it to all their friends. Even better, buy a book for everybody on your shopping list and be a force multiplier. Think of it this way: buy 10 books; give $50 to charity.

Let's go viral in support of a great cause! We're the Internet, dammit, this is easy!

The Hottest Election EVER in California

I just voted today around 7:30am, and it was already hot. Like shorts and tee-shirt hot, like go to the beach hot.

The heat was on Monday in Southern California, too, with temperatures in downtown Los Angeles reaching 95 degrees in the early afternoon — making it the hottest Nov. 6 since authorities started keeping records 129 years ago.

And while I was driving home from doing my part to send Arnold Schwarzenegger back for a second term, they said on the radio that out where I live, it may even hit 100 degrees today! I know this isn't going to get me a lot of sympathy from my friends around the world who are already into rain and snow and cold territory but, really, 100 degrees seems a little extreme for early November. The only place where this kind of weather wouldn't be a harbinger of global warming would be, say, Venus.

Maybe it's just the heat but I also voted to send former-Governor Jerry Brown back to Sacramento as our Attorney General.