Dareland - Michael Dare
Save The Portfolio
Putting together a full color portfolio in the 80s was a very different
thing from now. I had to shoot 4x5 inter-negatives to make each 8x10 blowup
of a Polaroid, so my portfolio originally cost several hundred dollars to
create, zip-up, checkered black-and-white cloth binding, too cool for
school. I only had one.
An editor at Spy Magazine had my portfolio and expressed interest in either
doing a story about me or hiring me to do a story on someone else. I didn't
hear from him for more than a year when I got a call from a janitor who was
cleaning out the abandoned offices of Spy Magazine. They had ceased
publishing and closed down. Someone had left my portfolio behind in a pile
of rubble. Since there was no more mailroom for him to mail it back to me,
and since the offices were being closed THAT VERY DAY, the janitor gave me
till 6PM to get down there to pick up my portfolio, a bit difficult since
Spy was in New York and I was in Los Angeles. Luckily I had a friend in New
York, Garry Goodrow, who got to the offices just in time to salvage the
portfolio and mail it back to me.
I met Hugh Hefner at a press conference at the mansion. He loved my shot of
him and asked for a blow-up for the mansion. I personally gave him the
portfolio and he said we'd do something for Playboy, which he was only
publishing at the time. One year later I got my portfolio back from the
editor of Playboy with a note saying Sorry, my work wasn't right for
Playboy.
One day Timothy Leary showed up at my door. He was a birthday present and he
spent a couple hours with me. He loved my work, and when he left, he took
the portfolio with him, promising to show it around to help me get published
or find a gallery. I kept running into him at openings and premieres and he
kept promising. Then he died. Then Cristie's auctioned off all his stuff and
my portfolio wasn't among them. A year later, I got an e-mail from the woman
in charge of keeping the inventory of Leary's stuff. She had my portfolio
and wanted to know what I wanted done with it. She gave it to a friend who
brought it back to me 10 years after I gave it to Leary.
Doug Edwards, curator for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
took the portfolio and decided to produce a show for the lobby of the Samuel
Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. When Karl Malden was voted in as
president, he cancelled the show, so we waited two years for him to be voted
out of office. The show was back on when Doug suddenly died of AIDS. One
year later, three years after Doug had taken it from me, I got it back from
the Academy with an apology for not having my show.
The portfolio now sits in a storage locker in Desert Hot Springs waiting for
crowdfunding to save it from the dumpster.
http://rockethub.com/projects/705-save-the-polaroids-from-the-dumpster
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Why are you always walking in circles? (San Francisco Gate)
Come here, darling, and let me blindfold you. No, not for that. We'll save that for later, with the rum and the oils and the fur-lined blankets, the soft hum of the night.
Emily Bazelon: Gay Marriage Has a Good Day in Court (Slate)
California's Proposition 8, not so much.
Froma Harrop: Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Care (Creators Syndicate)
Don't ask, don't tell - don't know why we're still talking about this. "Don't ask, don't tell" is the rule barring openly gay soldiers from serving in the U.S. military. This relic of the culture wars is so past its prime that even Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh don't spend much time whipping it up.
Andrew Tobias: THE COMPROMISE
It's a sad day if this compromise has to stand. (Let's stay tuned on that one.) What we need is a massive infrastructure program to become more efficient and competitive, not more record-breaking tax cuts for the best off.
Jim Hightower: "THE HAMMER" GETS NAILED
For once, I actually agree with something that with Tom DeLay said. The former Republican leader of Congress recently declared in his most somber tone, "The criminalization of politics undermines our very system."
Annie Lowrey: How Much Is That Doggie in the Browser Window? (Slate)
Consumers go online to get better prices, but Web merchants have their own tricks.
The Lies of Science Writing (Wall Street Journal)
Writing about science poses a fundamental problem right at the outset, says Lawrence Krauss: You have to lie.
ARDEN DALE And MARY PILON: Jane Austen 2.0 (Wall Street Journal)
The English novelist best known for "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" has been dead since 1817, yet she is drawing a cultish pack of young people known as "Janeites" with the help of the Internet.
"Lost Lustre" By JOSH KARLEN: Reviewed by Brooke Allen
A rock'n'roll youth on the mean streets of 1970s New York.
Alistair McGowan: Mad about the Master (Guardian)
Alistair McGowan used to think Noël Coward wrote nothing but irritating songs and plays about posh people taking tea. Then he fell in love . . .
Susan King: A step in time with Dick Van Dyke (Los Angeles Times)
The beloved performer will be singing some of his numbers from 'Bye Bye Birdie,' 'Mary Poppins' and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' in a new musical memoir.
Susan King: Dick Cavett still has a lot to say (Los Angeles Times)
The Emmy Award-winning talk show host will appear in conversation with Mel Brooks, presented by the Writers Bloc at the Saban Theatre.
David Bruce has 39 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $39 you can buy 9,750 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"Christmas at Blue River"
Changing yet remaining the same?
The Weekly Poll
Poll Continued until 12/14
With Assange's arrest in England, denial of bail and extradition request from Sweden, the ante has been raised. Supporters have countered with hacker attacks on sites refusing to process donations to Wikileaks, the Swiss bank that holds Assange's funds and the Swedish prosecutor's office. It appears that the White House is angling to get its hands on him for possible legal charges... The battle lines are firming up... The saga continues... with an addendum question:
At this point, do you support Julian Assange and Wikileaks?
a.) Yes, Hooray!
b.) No frickin' way!
c.) I wish whole damn'd thing would just go away...
I
f you've already responded to the previous question, feel free to resubmit. All will be posted...
The 'Wiki-Humpty Dumpty' Edition...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday the leak of hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic documents is an attack not only on the United States but also the international community...
"This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests," Clinton said. "It is an attack on the international community: the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity." ..."It puts people's lives in danger, threatens our national security and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems," she told reporters at the State Department...
Clinton calls leaked documents attack on world | detnews.com | The Detroit News
(I watched her statement live and she looked to be NOT a happy camper... Woe be unto PFC Manning)
Do you feel the release of these diplomatic documents are:
1.) A good thing...
2.) A bad thing...
3.) Sorta good - Kinda bad...
4.) Hey! What happened to the Holiday Season theme - thingy?
Send your response to
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Reader Writes...
Annual Observation
The annual observation of Pearl Harborday, followed by John Lennon's Yarzeit
always is a very heavy time for me.
At about 10:45 PM EST almost every December 8 for the last 30 years I light a
candle and put on 3 tracks from a John Lennon CD - Imagine, #9 Dream,
and Happy
Xmas (War is Over). The combination is almost emotionally overpowering.
As I watch Happy Xmas (War is Over)
I ponder a couple of quotes from my Grandfather:
"I wonder if we are not too quick to judge a people by their leaders. We
look
at the tribulations which they visited on some of our prisoners as coming
only
from barbarians. I wonder if the thing we perpetrated on them at
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki removes us very far from barbaric implications."
- Lt. Gen. Raymond S. McLain
He died Dec 14, 1954.
A quote that really gets me as I watch The Lennon video, though is:
'His desk at the trust company was piled with Christmas cards and thank you
notes from police and firemen's families to express their appreciation
for his
help. On a table near his desk he had a magazine opened to photographs of
children caught in war and a note he had written:
"I have seen the wan and terrorized faces of men and women, victims of the
horrors of war, driven from their homes, living as wild beasts in the
woods and
fields. I have seen the mangled forms of the dead on many
battlefields. In the
hospitals I have seen the suffering of the wounded. I have seen the
blank stare
and the weary plodding steps of the almost hopeless soldier, and I have
thought,
'How grim!' But more tragic than all these were the faces of
millions of little
children looking through the grim circumstances of war toward hope for the
future, and I wondered if hope would be there."'
- from Betty Belvin's book
Ray McLain and the National Guard
It's been 30 years since we lost John Lennon, and 66 years since our
fathers
came home from war … and I wonder if the world has learned a thing.
The late Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary said she is optimistic when she
looks at how far we have come.
Perhaps the greatest spirit uplift I have found for this December 8 (8th
night
of Hanukkah) is in PP&M's song "Light One Candle (Don't Let the Light Go Out)":
Peace,
Ray
Thanks, Ray!
Reader Suggestion
Zappadan
Hi:
The Facebook Page celebrating Zappadan.
Merry Zappadan,
Steve
Thanks, Steve!
And a Merry Zappadan to you, too!
BadtotheboneBob
Westboro
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunnier and warmer.
Posthumous Pardon
Jim Morrison
The Doors' Jim Morrison will get a posthumous pardon Thursday for an indecent exposure conviction in Florida that resulted when the late singer pulled what a bandmate called "a mind trip on the audience, and they totally fell for it."
Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday got a commitment for the second of two votes needed from other members of the state's Board of Executive Clemency to approve the pardon.
Crist can't issue a pardon on his own. He and the three-member Cabinet serve as the Clemency Board. Approval is required by the governor and at least two other members.
Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, who was previously undecided, said Wednesday that she would vote for the pardon, said Sink spokesman Kevin Cate. She joined Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson who previously declared his support for the idea. Only Attorney General Bill McCollum remains uncommitted. All are leaving office Jan. 4.
Jim Morrison
White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
Seth Meyers
"Saturday Night Live" head writer Seth Meyers has been tapped as the key speaker at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April, organizers said on Wednesday.
Meyers, who anchors the sketch comedy show's popular "Weekend Update" news segment, joins a long list of comedians who have spoken at the annual dinner that is a top event for journalists in Washington D.C. and is attended by the U.S. president as well as politicians and Hollywood celebrities.
The speaker at the WHCA dinner is widely-watched as a gauge for hot stars among comedians. Meyers joined "Saturday Night" in 2001 and became head writer in 2006, ascending to solo anchor of "Weekend Update" in 2008.
A graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago, Meyers has also performed with improvisational comedy groups, hosted awards shows and appeared in Hollywood movies such as "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist."
Seth Meyers
Palin-Vick Connection
Aaron Sorkin
Hollywood screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is calling former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Quitter) a "witless bully" after her cable television travelogue series featured the killing of a caribou.
In Sunday's episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate hunted north of the Arctic Circle. In a Facebook posting, she wrote that unless people have never eaten meat, they shouldn't condemn the episode.
Sorkin, who wrote the script for "The Social Network," said in an article for The Huffington Post that Palin didn't kill the caribou for food, just for fun.
He said he couldn't distinguish between that and Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Michael Vick's role in a dogfighting ring.
Aaron Sorkin
Blasts Hollywood Penis Worship
Helen Mirren
British actress Helen Mirren blasted Hollywood for worshipping "at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-old male and his penis," as she received an award for women in entertainment.
The star, famous for films including "The Queen," "Calendar Girls" and most recently "Red," also lashed out at those who praise her for being sexy at the age of 65, saying it was "bloody irrelevant."
"I resent in my life the survival of some very mediocre male actors and the professional demise of some very brilliant female ones," Mirren told an audience including some of the most powerful women in Hollywood.
"However, with all due respect to you many brilliant and successful women in this room, really not too much has changed in... Hollywood filmmaking that continues to worship at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-old male and his penis.
"Quite small, I always think," she added, to gales of laughter.
Helen Mirren
Judges Announced
Miss America
"The View" co-host Joy Behar and actress Marilu Henner are among seven judges who will decide the next Miss America in January.
Judges for the beauty pageant in its 90th year also include country singer Mark Wills, "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry and Miss America 1990 Debbye Turner Bell.
"Dancing With the Stars" choreographer Tony Dovolani and shoe designer Taryn Rose are also on the panel.
The selections include plenty of ties to ABC, the network airing the pageant live Jan. 15 at the start of a three-year deal. The pageant hasn't aired on network television since 2004, when ABC dropped it after record-low ratings.
Miss America
Texas Denies Film Incentive
Robert Rodriguez
The Texas Film Commission has denied state incentives to motion picture director Robert Rodriguez's film satire "Machete."
The commission, which is based in Gov. Rick Perry's office, said in a letter last week that it was denying funding based on a state law provision that allows for denial of incentives if the film "portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion."
Conservatives blasted the film, which stars Robert De Niro. The conservatives contend the film endorses Mexican immigrant revenge killing and would spark racial violence, even though the story of a Mexican assassin out for revenge was widely considered to be satire.
The film was released in September. The Texas law allowing for film incentives was passed to encourage movie makers to film in Texas.
Robert Rodriguez
Director Fights Lawsuit
'The Cove'
A scientist says his reputation has been tarnished by the U.S. documentary "The Cove," a graphic account of Japanese dolphin-hunting, and is demanding that footage of his interview be removed from the movie.
Film director Louie Psihoyos said Wednesday he stood behind his movie, that University of Hokkaido toxicologist Tetsuya Endo had agreed to be interviewed and that the footage of him was not taken out of order or otherwise doctored.
The movie, starring Ric O'Barry, the former dolphin trainer for the "Flipper" 1960s TV show, has intensified international opposition to the slaughter.
The lawsuit, which targets the Japanese distributor, Unplugged Inc., demands the footage be deleted and 11 million yen ($131,000) in damages for tarnishing Endo's reputation.
'The Cove'
When Hackers Strike
"Operation Payback"
Hackers rushed to the defense of WikiLeaks on Wednesday, launching attacks on MasterCard, Swedish prosecutors, a Swiss bank and others who have acted against the site and its jailed founder Julian Assange.
Internet "hacktivists" operating under the label "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility in a Twitter message for causing severe technological problems at the website for MasterCard, which pulled the plug on its relationship with WikiLeaks a day ago.
MasterCard acknowledged "a service disruption" involving its Secure Code system for verifying online payments, but spokesman James Issokson said consumers could still use their credit cards for secure transactions.
MasterCard is the latest in a string of U.S.-based Internet companies - including Visa, Amazon.com, PayPal Inc. and EveryDNS - to cut ties to WikiLeaks in recent days amid intense U.S. government pressure. Visa or PayPal were not having problems Wednesday but PayPal said it faced "a dedicated denial-of-service attack" on Monday.
"Operation Payback"
NC-17 Rating Overturned
'Blue Valentine'
Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling's marital drama "Blue Valentine" on Wednesday won a rare appeal of its adults-only NC-17 rating and will go into theaters with an R rating instead.
Motion Picture Association of American spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman said the rating was lowered after the group's appeals board viewed the film and heard arguments from Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Co. is releasing it.
The drama initially drew the NC-17 rating for a "scene of explicit sexual content." The film now carries an R rating for "strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating."
An NC-17 rating would have prohibited those under 17 from attending and could have been a kiss of death for the film, as that rating is equated with pornography in many theater owners' and movie-goers' minds.
'Blue Valentine'
Exploring Role
FCC
Federal regulators will explore whether they can do more to protect consumers from losing their television signals because of disputes over the fees that subscription-video providers pay broadcasters for their programming.
Wednesday's announcement by the Federal Communications Commission comes on the heels of a high-profile spat between Cablevision Systems Corp. and News Corp.'s Fox network. That impasse left 3 million Cablevision subscribers in the New York area without Fox programming for 15 days - including through two World Series games - after the broadcaster pulled its signal in October.
Cablevision had called on the FCC to prohibit Fox from withholding its signal and to require binding arbitration. But the agency remained on the sidelines during the dispute. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski argued that under existing law, the commission had very limited authority to get involved in what were essentially private business negotiations. Genachowski said Congress should consider changing that.
In the meantime, the agency will examine what role it can nevertheless play in allowing fees "to be set by market forces while protecting the interests of consumers customer gouging," William Lake, head of the FCC's media bureau, said in a speech Wednesday.
FCC
Falls To Average In Education
US
The United States has fallen from top of the class to average in world education rankings, said a report Tuesday that warned of US economic losses from the trend.
The three-yearly OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics.
In Canada, 15-year-olds are more than one school year ahead of their US peers in math and more than half a school year ahead in reading and science, said the report released hours after President Barack Obama urged Americans not to rein in education spending, even in a tough economy.
The OECD report also noted that investment in education is paid back many times over.
The first step towards helping the United States climb back up the education rankings to the top of the class would be to convince Americans "to make the choices needed to show that (they) value education more than other areas of national interest," the report said.
US
Carnegie Hall
Toledo Symphony
The Toledo Symphony has found it takes more than practice to get to Carnegie Hall.
City officials voted against a proposal to give the musicians $10,000 to help cover the cost of a trip to perform in New York City.
Despite the setback, Kathy Carroll, the symphony's president, said they'll still make the trip and find the money from another source.
City leaders proposed chipping in to help with the costs, saying that the trip would be a good way to showcase the city and generate a positive opinion about the area. But City Council members rejected the idea by a 6-5 vote Tuesday.
Toledo Symphony
Naples Nativity Creches
Julian Assange
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may be alone in jail in London, but in the traditional Neapolitan Christmas creches he is in good company -- with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Assange, who is depicted holding his trusty lap top, was created by Gennaro Di Virgilio, who each year chooses at least one contemporary character to sculpt and place near the scenes of the traditional story of Jesus' birth in a manger.
"I included him to poke a little fun at the world and have a good time," said Di Virgilio, 29, whose family has been making nativity statuettes and ornate creches since 1830.
There is only one copy of the Assange statuette, which costs 130 euros. Di Virgilio says he will make others on request.
Julian Assange
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: San Francisco vs. Arizona (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 8.09 million homes, 11.2 million viewers.
2. "NBA Pre-Game Show" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), TNT, 5.32 million homes, 7.6 million viewers.
3. NBA Basketball: Miami vs. Cleveland (Thursday, 8:11 p.m.), TNT, 4.89 million homes, 7.09 million viewers.
4. "The Walking Dead" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), AMC, 3.92 million homes, 5.97 million viewers.
5. NFL Football: Houston vs. Philadelphia (Thursday, 8:30 p.m.), NFL Network, 3.81 million homes, 5.4 million viewers.
6. "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.4 million homes, 5.06 million viewers.
7. "Hannah Montana Forever" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 3.37 million homes, 4.91 million viewers.
8. "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.34 million homes, 5.18 million viewers.
9. "Big Time Rush Christmas Special" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.99 million homes, 4.96 million viewers.
10. "Shake It Up" (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), Disney, 2.92 million homes, 4.26 million viewers.
11. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.907 million homes, 3.71 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.906 million homes, 3.99 million viewers.
13. "Sonny With a Chance" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), Disney, 2.84 million homes, 4.08 million viewers.
14. Movie: "SpongeBob the Movie" (Monday, 6 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.83 million homes, 4.07 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.82 million homes, 3.84 million viewers.
Ratings
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