Monthly Archives: March 2007

Any time you hear anyone in government say, "Mistakes were made," it's someone who's afraid of a discussion over who made those mistakes.

The CompUSA chain is closing down an awful lot of its stores. Here's a list of the ones that are shutting down, and it isn't even complete. The one on La Cienega at the Beverly Connection closed about a year ago and I noticed yesterday that the one at Pico and Westwood in West L.A. is already vacant. Neither is on this list, which I guess is of imminent closures. I used to shop at all three. As one who has purchased an awful lot of software and hardware from them, I'd like to suggest the reason those stores failed.

It's not because there's no demand for their product, that's for sure. Computers…cell phones…PDAs…plasma-screen televisions…My God, if there was ever stuff that people are buying left and right, it's new, high-tech stuff these days. Even people who own those things are in a constant state of upgrading to the next model. You'd think this would be the time that many chains of that sort would be blossoming like Starbucks on every corner.

But there was a problem with CompUSA: Finding anyone worked in one who knew anything about the equipment they were selling. I think you could have walked into the one in Culver City and yelled, "What's a spreadsheet?" and not gotten an answer. It seemed to me like in every store, they had one or two people who knew everything and those people were always too busy to wait on anyone, leaving customers at the mercy of the Amish.

You ever try asking a question in one of these places? Anything more technical than "Where's the men's room?" and you'd get back these blank Orphan Annie eyeballs. Inevitably, they'd start looking around for the one person in the building who might know…and that guy was always occupied and unavailable. I have been in CompUSAs where I wound up taking pity on bewildered customers and helping them with questions. I was also once in one where I had to explain the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R to a salesperson.

There's a place for a chain of computer stores where the people know their merchandise and know their technology. A lot of people would be willing to pay a little more for their technology bling to shop at that store…but it wasn't CompUSA. If I want to buy where they don't know anything about computers, I can go to Walmart or Costco or Best Buy…or better still, order over the Internet. It's cheaper and you get the same amount of personal attention: None.

In the meantime though, the buzz is that the CompUSA stores that are closing are offering substantial discounts. So if the one near you is on the list, you might want to check and see if it's still there and if so, drop by. Just don't try asking anyone anything. If one assumes the smarter employees are already gone to get other employment, you may not even be able to find out where the men's room is.

Lincoln Caplan explains what the scandal is all about regarding the fired U.S. attorneys.

Senator Alan Simpson once supported "Don't ask, don't tell" in the military. He has come around to the viewpoint that gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military. His two main arguments seem to be that (a) we need everyone competent we can get and (b) it doesn't bother some people as much as it once did. These are good reasons…and I suspect they were good reasons back when Simpson was on the other side of this issue. But back then, he was running for office now and then so he had a good reason not to come to this point of view.

Thousands and thousands of photos from 9/11. So we don't forget…not that there's much chance of that.

This article in The Washington Post is about how game shows are getting dumber; how shows like Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? come from the viewpoint that the viewers are low in I.Q. points and therefore enjoy watching idiot contestants. Here's one section of the piece…

Some of the program's questions are difficult, but it's unusual to get more than two real tough ones in a row. Among the questions in the debut episode: Name the ship the Pilgrims sailed on from Plymouth, England, to the Plymouth colony in America in 1620. Name the closest star to the Earth. What country has the longest shared border with the United States? What is the suffix in the word "undoubtedly"? TV executives call those kinds of questions "relate-able," by which they mean "unlikely to challenge viewers too much and thus make them feel bad about themselves."

More than a few viewers apparently appreciate the approach. Are You Smarter's elevation of familiar, simple facts to brain-twisting stumpers has proved to be monstrously popular, attracting a larger audience than any new show in the Fox network's history, some 26.5 million (although it admittedly was helped by following the even more popular American Idol). The quiz show's second episode drew 23.4 million.

My view? I think the whole premise of the article is wrong on two fronts. First off, there have always been game shows that required no intelligence or knowledge to get to the big prizes. Anyone ever see Beat the Clock, which was one of the most successful of the genre? How about Let's Make a Deal? To win on Newlywed Game, you only had to be on roughly the same mental wavelength as your spouse. To win on Match Game, you only had to fill in the blank with a word like "boobs" or "buns." Those were all pretty popular shows and on most, you could have the brains of a refrigerator and still win a refrigerator.

So this is not a new trend at all. Secondly, the point of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? seems to have eluded the author of the article so I'll explain it: The point of the show is to laugh at the stupid people. It comes from the same place as those jerk-on-the-street interviews that Jay Leno does where we're supposed to howl with laughter that some people think Ben Franklin was our first president. With some of the other shows, it's just mindless or near-mindless fun, which is not always a bad thing.

I'm surprised the reporter came to his conclusions. He interviewed two of the most knowledgeable people I know on the subject of game shows, Fred Wostbrock and Steve Beverly. On the other hand, I've seen very few articles lately in The Washington Post that I thought knew what they were talking about. What has happened to that paper? I think they're the ones trying to cater to stupid people.

Speaking of blowing up hotels in Las Vegas: Here's the last six minutes of the Hacienda Hotel, which was imploded on New Year's Eve ten years ago. As I wrote about here, I was present for this event. If you look hard, you may be able to see me in the crowd. I'm the one standing next to the really drunk guy.

Just to remind you all: Turner Classic Movies is running the oft-discussed (on this website) and ultra-cynical Billy Wilder movie, Ace in the Hole this Saturday. I think it's on at Noon on the West Coast but you'd better look it up to make certain. It may be listed by its other name, The Big Carnival.

As you may recall, we made a fuss over this film in part because it's never had a real home video release in the United States. Several folks have now informed me though that a DVD is coming this summer from the folks at Criterion. So if you don't remember to set your TiVo, it may not matter.

Rolling Stone convenes a panel of Iraq War pessimists to discuss how bad things are there and how much worse they can get. I almost didn't link to this because it seemed too negative and gloomy…but I do think even the optimists need to brace themselves for the possibility of some "worst case" scenarios. This piece will give you several.

The last big building that comprised the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas was imploded very early this morning and I thought you might enjoy seeing that. Originally, the company behind it all told reporters that they weren't going to make a fuss; that they even preferred for safety reasons to not draw a huge audience for the event. Obviously, they changed their mind because they put on a huge fireworks show before making the shell of the hotel go bye-bye. It doesn't look like their fireworks display was as spectacular as the one I saw when the Hacienda Hotel was blown up but it looks pretty good.

It's charming in a way that they added the fireworks. I mean, why? It's not like you need that to attract interest when you're blowing up a building. And for what purpose? They don't have to drum up business for the Stardust, after all, and I fail to see how this will translate into any value to the new mega-resort they'll be opening on that parcel of land in a few years. They just did it to show off, which I think is great. It's Vegas, baby.

We have team coverage for you of the demolition. First, here's footage from a British newscast…

Then since that clip ends a little abruptly, here's the CBS News footage of the implosion…

I'm not going to miss the Stardust for reasons I explained here. Or at least, I thought I wasn't going to miss it. I kinda wish I'd gotten there one last time before they made it go away, not because it was a great hotel. It hadn't been that for decades. But it was fun to look at the coffee shop and imagine Frank and Dean and Peter Lawford sitting there, talking about stuff.

A message from the family of Richard Jeni.

My man, Fred Kaplan, on George W. Bush's obsession with other nations saying "thank you" to the United States.

This post is mainly for folks who live in Los Angeles but the rest of you can listen in.

One of the things I've learned to never discuss with friends is pizza. I have friends who wouldn't react if you told them their mother was a crack whore but if you disparaged their favorite pizza, it would be pistols at twenty paces. Actually, the possessive quality of one's pizza fave often goes in two stages, the first being the locale of the best pizza. Some stand ready to fight to the death should anyone suggest that the best pizza outside of New York is not inferior to the worst pizza in New York. I have learned not to tell these people about some of the real lousy slices I've had in Manhattan.

Others are the same way about Chicago, Boston or certain parts of New Jersey, and I even have a friend who stands ready to argue that there's no better pizza than one can find in Reno, Nevada.

Anyway, once you decide what city defines your ultimate pizza, you can get down to the second stage of the argument, which is where — outside of that town — someone makes a reasonable facsimile of it. In Los Angeles, I have heard people swear that the closest thing to "New York Pizza" is to be found at Mulberry Street Pizza (in Beverly Hills and Encino), at Frankie & Johnnie's (in Beverly Hills, Brentwood and Hollywood), at Damiano's (on Fairfax, across from Canter's), at Rocco's (in the Miracle Mile and on Vermont, across from L.A. City College) and at Johnnie's (many locations). I like all of these places and wouldn't argue for or against any of them.

Two or three years ago, there seemed to be a consensus winner among my acquaintances. That was Vito's Pizza, over on Vermont in the building that is now a Rocco's. I know people who'd drive clear across town, passing all those other places, to get pizza from Vito's…and I admit, it was pretty good. Many went into mourning when Vito and his brother closed down, reportedly moving back home to Chicago.

Well, they're back. I haven't been there yet but I received an ecstatic e-mail from one buddy that Vito has reopened on La Cienega Boulevard. He's in a strip mall somewhere between Melrose and Santa Monica Boulevard…and it's all so new that Directory Assistance doesn't even have a listing for them yet. This is exciting news, especially if it turns out that I'm in their delivery area, as I may well be. I'll give them a try just as soon as Creamy Tomato Soup Month is over at the Souplantation. That's all I'm eating until April 1. If anyone gets there before me, let me know if the new Vito's is as fine as the old Vito's.

Ever since Deal or No Deal debuted, I've been TiVoing the show and watching it with increasing speed. Thanks to my remote control, I now make it through an hour episode in about seven minutes. When I pause, I can see that the program has gotten a bit more condescending and a lot more repetitive. There have been many games that were simply not interesting because the contestant knocked out the big amounts near the beginning so the whole hour was to see if they'd go home with $10,000 or $20,000.

Last night, they had on a two-hour episode and I guess I should insert the SPOILER ALERT right about here in case you recorded it and haven't watched yet.

Still with me? Fine. Last night, they had the second half on a game from the previous episode plus two complete games. No one won huge amounts. All three players went home with amounts under $100,000 — but what was interesting was that two of them picked the case with the million dollars in it. One sold it for $99,000 and the other — who obviously got out way before the producers and audience were expecting him to — took $81,000.

Now, neither one of those folks were likely to take home the million. They play out the game after the deal is accepted and the last guy, the one who settled for $81 grand, would have reached the point where he had either $75,000 or the million and he had a bank offer of, I believe, $561,000. If someone got that far, they almost certainly would have grabbed the dough. I doubt anyone would go down to the last case unless their last two choices were both six figure amounts.

Still, it's fascinating that the million was picked in two of three consecutive games. I guess that's why I still TiVo the thing…to see those odd moments. This one was pretty odd.

You may not want to sit through this entire clip but it's kinda interesting in a way. In 1972, the Goodson-Todman game show company revived their old game show, The Price is Right, in a new, more energetic format. In addition to the daytime version hosted by Bob Barker, there was a syndicated nighttime version hosted by Dennis James, and this is a sales film for the syndicated version. It was sent to stations to try and get them to buy the show…which, at this point, apparently had not taped any episodes. One presumes that if they had done some, they would have included scenes. Instead, Mark Goodson and Dennis James have to sell the show by explaining what it is, how it works, etc. There is a clip but it's of James filling in for Monty Hall as the host of Let's Make a Deal.

This runs close to fifteen minutes and it's amazing that the show sold. It sounds complex and boring, whereas the TV show they were hawking was pretty simple and fast-paced. You have to wonder what they thought the station managers would think they were buying — the idea of pricing games? The charisma of Dennis James? It may have just been the past track record of Goodson-Todman but for some reason, Goodson doesn't itemize their many past hits. If I were running a TV station and they sent this to me, I think I'd have wondered why they were so sure they had a great show when they obviously hadn't done one episode yet. But it worked.