Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Precious - Odds against salvation in real life

As we exit the economic holocaust the film "Precious" has us intoxicated with its salvation theme.  So much hope is spray-painted on what is supposed to be life at its worst that no one will allow us not to accept the premise that humans can't blossom. 

But come on, in the real mean streets or even in the best neighborhoods, that kind of emotional abuse creates self-hate that will destroy from within.  The Precious kinds I grew up with Jersey City, New Jersey usually died before the hope did.  Drugs, guns, passive forms of suicide did them in.  No teacher or social worker, even if in the wings, would know how to pull any one from that downward trajectory.

Those who found a way out did it through their own cunning, talent or plain ability to shut off and down.  And that's all it was: Out.  I have never met one, including those from my own tribe, who found a way in.

Coppola: "Cinema as we know it is falling apart"

Nothing is increasing the odds that Hollywood as we've known it will survive.  In fact, Francis Ford Coppola opined to interviewer Ladane Nasseri in Bloomberg.com, "The cinema ... is falling apart." 

One factor is the cost of attending newly released films.  I can drop $20, plus transportation costs.  And most of those films, even "The Inglorious Basterds," are not worth that.  In a few months I could take the DVD out of the New Haven Public Library for free and not have to schlep it back for a week.  So, there's deterrent for me to shell out all that money.

Then, as Cappola notes, there's the low quality of most of the films since Hollywood tends to be risk-averse and exhausts formulas which were once winners.   In addition, there is so much else competing for our time.  There's work, of course.  But there is also the Internet.  First thing in the A.M., we're on it and last thing in the P.M., we're on it.  There's also the reality that we pay for Cable TV so why not watch it.

I would add that we are probably outgrowing the old fascination with cinema stars.  The tipping point probably occurred when Tom Cruise lost it.  After that, my view of them was that they were weirdos intoxicated by the many eyeballs on them.  Note how sales of the celebrity publications are down.  And do we really care if Angelina has an eating disorder?

What will replace Hollywood?  As we all know, indies can create new value.  But there are also the amateurs crafting interesting videos for YouTube.  Dave Letterman has done compelling experimental work over the years on his show.  That could be the new model in television: Innovation. 

Poor Little Rich Boy Tony Marshall: Jury Decides GUILTY, after 11 days deliberation

The real-life tale of the insecure rich son, the classic greedy wife and the mommy-dearest mother delighted trial watchers for five months.  Unfortunately, for the defendant Tony Marshall, Brooke Astor's son, it ended badly.  After 11 days of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of two counts: First degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud.  He will be free on bail until December 8th sentencing.  Next, if the 85-year-old man in poor health is still alive, he faces a civil trial.

Everyone agrees this will be made into a movie, probably with Kathy Bates playing Marshall's wife Charlene.  Much younger than her husband and not from the Upper Crust, she irritated her mother-in-law to no end. In court she seemed unduly naive.  For example, she chatted it up with a NEW YORK TIMES reporter, then burst into tears when the article tended toward the negative.   

In THE ASSOCIATE PRESS, Jennifer Pelz reports that Marshall's lawyer Frederick Hafetz said he was "stunned by the verdict."  He will appeal.  However, all trial watchers, and we're pros since O.J. Simpson's criminal one, know that the longer the jury is out the odds build against a negative verdict for the defendant.

A hunch: Given Marshall's age and poor health and his wife's love of melodrama and now that there is no money, there could be a joint suicide pact carried out prior to December 8th sentencing date. 

St. Michael Moore - "Capitalism" might get White House screening

Here's a lesson for us creatives: Choose the right subject to focus on and render it in the right tone.  Not every essay or novel or video is of the same value in the marketplace.  

Not only is Michael Moore going to make a bundle on "Capitalism: A Love Story."  He's likely to be sainted.  His agent Ari Emanuel is the brother of President Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.  And the agent, reports  Kiki Ryan of Politico.com, said there's a good possibility that there might be a White House screening of the film.  In addition, the Inside the Beltway crowd flocked to last night's opening. 

Given Moore's shrewdness he's savvy enough to remove the baseball cap before greeting the President of the United States.

Let The Basterds Take On Greenwich, CT

Let's not forget that Quentin Tarantino is ethnic.  That makes the odds high that he got his fair share of WASP stings in pre-fame days and, who knows, maybe today.   The Astor trial indicates that those old-line powers are still capable of delivering harsh treatment to the world as well as each other.

So, why didn't it occur to Tarantino to film a revenge fantasy about Getting WASPs?  "The Inglourious Basterds" could have had a crew of eight plus leader marching into Greenwich, Connecticut.

They can mau-mau the 90-pound trophy wives as they select just the right one tomato at an upscale produce store.  After the clerk bags that one perfect tomato, the lady performs due diligence for any bruising.

No, those awful awful women don't deserve to be slaughtered or have a "W" carved on their frown-line-free heads.  But they do merit a public lesson chastising their narcissism, lockjaw, headbands, club memberships, condescension towards working gals, and Ivy League offspring who can't get launched in life.

As for the males of Greenwich, CT?  The Basterds can halt the trains into Manhattan.  Shut off the air-conditioning.  Collect all electronic devices.  Watch WASPs sweat.  

Full Disclosure: I am victim of more than 3400 WASP Stings.

Brad Pitt Makes or Saves "Inglourious Basterds"

It was the first showing of the day and all seats were taken.  The Weinstein publicity worked.  But will word of mouth that "Inglourious Basterds" was just okay and Brad Pitt was wonderful kill off the box office soon enough?

Okay, it was shrewd to present a revenge fantasy.  We all have them.  We wish we could motivate others to join us in ours.  But, the play-out of this revenge fantasy was uneven.  The pacing could have been better.  The action often dragged.  The ironic tone frequently degenerated into caricature of who the heroes were trying to portray.  And too many of the good guys/gals were sacrificed on the altar of rebellion against the Nazi. 

Also, there was the length: About 155 minutes.  This, after all, is an era of ADD.  On the way out some were kvetching that it was "too long." 

The mediocre quality of this film plus the outrageously low quality of the coming attractions tells me Hollywood might not be around next summer.  It simply is not worth the price of admission and the price of the goodies to enjoy the old-fashioned experience on the large screen. 

Revenge Trumps Radical Forgiveness: "Inglourious Basterds"

Maybe we were getting too comfy in all that spiritual pap about forgiveness, moving on and not looking back [remember what happened to Lot's wife.]  We got stopped just in time.

Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" depicts revenge as natural to the human species.  It can also be a source of pleasure.  And, yeah, it seems the right thing to do.

This film might singlehandedly have lifted us out of The Mini Depression flight into platitudes and plopped us into the need to go after and get the basterds.

A Time When VOGUE Weighed 5 Pounds - "The September Issue"

When R.J. Cutler made the documentary about VOGUE, it was another time.  His film "The September Issue" will be in movie theatres August 28th.  It chronicles a time when the all-important September edition, which is equivalent in retail to Black Friday, weighed 5 pounds, most of that pricey ads.  That was the September 2007 issue.  Anna Wintour strategically kept to her helmet hairdo as her trademark.  The fashion industry still dictated what women would wear and how much they would have to pay for wearing that.  VOGUE was in every place related to looking good, ranging from the beauty shop to the gym.

It's a different time.  Those gossips in THE NEW YORK POST et al. speculate if Wintour is on the way out.  Ad pages are down about 30% at VOGUE.  Also, she's no spring chicken in a youth industry. 

Most to the point, the magazine never got it that we women are not willing to pay so much for what the powers-that-be tell us to wear, to feel less-than because our bones aren't great and legs long, and we've become obsessed with consignment shops vs. Sak's.  They didn't get it because they didn't venture out of their brittle bubble of elite whatever.

What we do know is the umbrella organization which owns VOGUE - Conde Nast - knows it has to do a reset.  For that it has brought in management consulting firm McKinsey and Company.  Some publications are likely to go the way of PORTFOLIO.  Many employees will be banished from Paradise.  They will get back the word to their younger sisters and brothers at Ivy League schools: "Don't come to New York.  It's not here, not now."

What will the future look like for the fashion media? My hunch is that it will adopt the inclusiveness of the Our Bodies Ourselves movement and Dove commercials.   It will help us make the best of what genes gave us and mitigate what life's blows might have done to us.  Those diseases of self-hate, ranging from overeating/not eating to trying too hard/not investing enough in ourselves could go the way of polio. 

Nothing Heartwarming about Mental Illness - "Soloist"

There are plenty of warm and fuzzies in the depiction of mental illness in the "Soloist."  And, thanks to Hollywood with films such as "A Beautiful Mind," we know that often great talent comes bundled with a strong predisposition to mental illness. 

Way back in 1998, D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb, M.D. published "Manic Depression and Creativity."  And Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., who herself suffers from mental illness, keeps us up-to-date with riveting research on the possible link between the bipolar condition and significant contributions in art, science, and politics.  Biographies coming out on outsized talent such as Marlon Brando and Bill Clinton argue that there was some kind of mental aberration in there. 

So awesome can the gift be that John Nash, who had that beautiful mind, noted he'd rather suffer his madness than be "only another of the faceless multitudes who have lived and died on the planet without leaving any trace of their existence behind."  Ken Binmore discusses this in his 2007 book "Game Theory."

Nevertheless, there is nothing in mental illness that is heartwarming or to be romanticized.  I know.  I have paid through the nose for my talent in writing. 

Since the age of 11 I struggled as a result of some peculiar neuro-wiring mixed with plain-vanilla abuse by a perhaps even more badly wired family.  It wasn't until I was 58 that the right-for-me medication, the cognitive behavioral therapy approach, and my own willingness catapulted me from daily suffering to almost-normal.  Here is that tale of a not-so-beautiful life Download Geezerguts.

How could it have been a little bit better? 

Well, what about if American society was more open to accept differences?  I was and am different.  I will never be and behave like what they now call neurotypical.  Yet, I do my best and manage relatively well.  I make a good living, pay my taxes, do volunteer work, and bring joy to certain circles with my quirky sense of humor.  My sin was not fitting in on the grid of normal.  Had they been been able to accept me, at least before I could accept myself, the struggle might have been less.

Also, the value system of America might shift more to respecting all kinds of talent, not only the one that results in creating huge wealth.  I re-located from affluent Fairfield County, Connecticut to more diverse New Haven, Connecticut to have access to that kind of respect.  Here, where Yale's part of the community, there are enough of us creative types to throw the curve against only taking into account size of base annual earnings along with other forms of compensation, e.g. bonus, stock options.  Rather than hurting those who resist maxing their income, we celebrate that attempt to de-clutter one's life from the excessively material.

One more thing: There can be more career guidance.  It wasn't until I was almost 50 that a psychiatrist informed me that bipolars tend to thrive in self-employment and wither toiling as an employee.  One size never did fit all.  Why aren't the many professional roads we can travel explained to us by our schools, families, therapists, and the pharmaceutical companies which research and produce our medications?

My life will never be beautiful.  But it's been easier.  I intend to keep it that.  And I pass on what I have learned about pushing back on being tormented for being different.  Today, that's what a lot of my writing is about.

Natasha Richardson - Both sides of the ocean mourn

In both the UK and here in the US our mourning started many hours before Natasha Richardson's death was announced.  Media-savvy we sensed the family was holding on to its privacy as they coped with the worst.  We left them alone until they were ready to go public.  They were ready this evening.

Talent has a difficult time surviving.  Paul Newman made it through to a ripe old age.  Natasha Richardson only made it to age 45.