Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Update

They're now saying the 10-2 vote in the Spector trial was for conviction with two people believing...well, I can't quite understand what they believed. Something about not being sure Spector had his hand on the gun when it was fired. In any event, a 10-2 vote to lock the guy up makes it more likely there'll be a retrial than if the vote had gone the other way. Or so they're saying.

• Posted at 4:16 PM · LINK

In Other News...

The judge in the Phil Spector case has declared a mistrial. The jury was reportedly deadlocked 10-2 but so far, there's no information as to which way. I'm guessing ten for guilty and two who thought he was guilty but that it would just be fun to watch Nancy Grace's head explode.

A date has been set to discuss if there should be a retrial. Given the evidence and the defendant's history of threatening people with guns, it's obvious that he should be retried. Then again, it was also obvious he should be found guilty on the first ballot. So I think maybe I should get serious about that killing spree I've been planning in case he gets away with this.

In fact, I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't wait until he actually goes free. I mean, if a guy with a long track record for unstable, violent behavior can murder and only wind up with a hung jury then a decent, non-drinking, non-violent fellow like myself should be able to slay without even getting arrested. I should be able to murder someone and then if the police come, they'll check and see that I'm in show business and they'll say, "No point in taking him downtown."

Yeah, this might be the time. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way.

By the way: I hope that if Spector does get off, he will at least have the decency to announce that he will not rest until he finds the real killers.

• Posted at 3:13 PM · LINK

Wednesday Afternoon

The House of Representatives just voted 341-79 to condemn the ad in which MoveOn.org questioned the honesty and patriotism of General Petraeus.

Good for them...because we can't have people going around saying whatever they want about our leaders. I look forward to a similar condemnation of those Swift Boats Veterans ads.

• Posted at 2:44 PM · LINK

Michael Evans, R.I.P.

As I've mentioned here a few times, my first memory of liking something I saw performed on the live stage is of a touring production of My Fair Lady that my mother took me in downtown L.A. to when I was a wee lad. It starred a gentleman named Michael Evans who, I see this morning, has just left us. I don't particularly recall anything about his performance other than that he performed...but that was for me a magical road marker in my life. So I wanted to take note of his passing.

The Los Angeles Times obit mentions two things I found interesting. One is that it quotes a 1961 Times review of his performance. In previous mentions here (like this one), I said that I saw the show in 1959 or 1960. Well, maybe it was 1961, when I would have been nine years old. That sounds right to me.

The second thing is the mention of him appearing in the movie of Bye Bye Birdie, a film I've seen dozens of times. Evans played the classy gent who's competing with Dick Van Dyke for the affections of Janet Leigh...and I guess I knew that the actor who played that role was named Michael Evans. But I somehow never made the connection between that Michael Evans and the guy I saw playing Henry Higgins. I'm not sure why that should matter to a person at all but if I'd made that connection in 1963, it would have meant a lot to me. That was also the first movie musical I can recall ever liking.

• Posted at 10:12 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Here's a link you won't want to watch all of right now. It's the entirety of the original, black-and-white Little Shop of Horrors starring Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles and a small but famous appearance by Jack Nicholson. I remember a time in the late sixties when this movie was practically unknown. It turned up every now and then on Channel 9, usually commencing at Midnight or later and my friends and I thought we were the only people on the planet who had ever seen it.

It was, of course, infamous not only for its bizarre humor but for the fact that director Roger Corman shot the whole thing in two days of interior shooting and one long night of exteriors. For some reason, that's not impressive enough and I've seen people claim it was shot in two days or even one.

Mr. Corman usually says he decided to shoot a movie in two and a half days as a lark. He'd previously made Bucket of Blood (with many of the same people) in five days and wanted to see if he could halve that time. Others who were involved have suggested that it was just a matter of Roger being cheap. A lot of the films he directed or produced are nice triumphs of creativity over budget.

You don't want to click on it now because it's an hour and thirteen minutes long and you have better things to do at the moment. But it's here if you want to watch it and if you know how to capture Google Video, you might want to grab a copy to your hard disk. If you click on over to the Google Video page, you can download an mp4 version of it which should be playable on an iPod. Don't say I never gave you anything.

• Posted at 3:25 AM · LINK

Talk Show

Now that the New York Times has done away with its subscription-only section (assuring us that it was a great success even as they doled out pro-rated refunds to subscribers), it's possible to go back and read stuff you missed. Most of us missed Dick Cavett's column/blog. They call it a blog but it's really a column. Here's the link and if you go there now, you can read Cavett telling how everyone's favorite disgraced president Richard Nixon didn't like Cavett's shows of the time.

• Posted at 3:23 AM · LINK

Happy Jerry Juhl Day!

See that guy's picture up above? That's the late Jerry Juhl, one of the grand geniuses behind The Muppets. Today is the first anniversary of his passing and the reason I put his photo upside-down is because it's silly. Today is Jerry Juhl Day, a day that his friends have designated to remember the man...and the way they suggest to best honor him is to do something silly. I didn't know Jerry but I loved his work and if his friends say that's the way to honor his memory, I'm there. You can learn a little more about Jerry Juhl Day by clicking on the banner below. And use your feet when you do. It's sillier that way.

• Posted at 3:09 AM · LINK

September 27, 2007 • Current • September 25, 2007