Saturday afternoon I went to see the new play, For Piano and Harpo, written by and starring Dan Castellaneta (who as you may likely know does, among many things, the voice of Homer Simpson). It focuses on troubled musician/actor and bitterly-sarcastic wit Oscar Levant who spent a year living at Harpo Marx's house. The show is very well written and acted, and has an interestingly-staged, fast-paced production which, though a drama, is often quite funny. The show is at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, and still has one more week to run, so if you're in the area, it's worth looking into.
I'll leave it at that because Mark Evanier does a far-better job telling about it all, and how enjoyable it is, and you can read that here because I agree with pretty much all he says, except for the part about knowing many of the people involved...
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This week's contestant is Lauren Cason from Greer, South Carolina. You're on your own with this one. It's not a style of music most people are terribly familiar with, I think. I took a stab, but was wrong. But the contestant and even Fred Child were stumped, too, until a barrel of clues came in. And even at that, Ms. Cason -- a piano teacher -- only threw out a guess and was right. As for the hidden song, I heard about four that I thought it might be. I picked one without the greatest confidence, but actually got it. (For as difficult as it was, there is an amusing method to composer Bruce Adolphe's madness on this one.) But even Fred said that this was "this is one of the hardest Piano Puzzlers we've had in a while."
Still waiting for a comment from Trump about how a report written by his own DHS, which is headed by his own appointee Gen. Kelly, says that his travel ban based on citizenship has NO MERIT. Mind you, I'm not foolish enough to wait very long, but will just add it to the list of things promised but still waiting for, like the release of tax returns, and Melania Trump's press confernce.
That aside, I have no doubt that it was just a red tape glitch that the White House buried this report, but it only got out when leaked to the press. Government by leak. What a terrible way for a country to run. But get used to it. On this week's 3rd and Fairfax podcast from the Writers Guild of America, the guest is Noah Oppenheim, screenwriter of the film Jackie, as well as The Maze Runner and Allegiant. The episode also includes a discussion of the 2017 Writers Guild Award winners from television and feature films.
As you listen along, you can also following your scorecard by clicking here to see all the WGA nominees and winners.which were announced last Sunday. I love Bob and Ray. Just love them. There isn't all that much video of them, though a bit of audio, mostly from their Broadway show, The Two and Only. This, though, happily is some video, from an appearance on The Tonight Show, one of my favorite of their sketches, "The Slow Talkers of America." Hat's off to the Associated Press and Time magazine for boycotting White House press briefing that blocked four media outlets -- the New York Times, CNN, Politico and the Huffington Post. More media organization should boycott, as well. Because they should know that they could be next.
Rule #1 of news coverage is "Never get into a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel." This will NOT keep these "blocked" outlets from covering the news. They'll not only continue to cover the exact same stories as everyone, they'll a) cover them even more aggressively, and b) they'll cover them using your opponents as sources without you being able to comment, since you've blocked from from you. Furthermore, the White House Correspondents Association just released a statement that they encourage media outlets to share whatever information they get from a White House briefing to outlets that were blocked. That aside, blocking any news outlets, but especially some of the most respected ones makes you look like you're an idiot, like you're scared and have something to hide, and like you're willing to shred the First Amendment, and if so, then the rest of the Constitution. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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