LaLaLiving

WFB Jr. February 28, 2008

I was reading the obits for William F. Buckley Jr, who died Wednesday.  I have always found him a fascinating character (I mean, the man produced a son who wrote Thank You For Smoking and a very witty “Republican Guide to New York” in the New York Times for the 2004 Republican convention…oh, and all that business of being one of the most powerful political figures of the modern era, etc., etc.).

The Associated Press obit had some fantastic tidbits, like this quote:

“I am, I fully grant, a phenomenon, but not because of any speed in composition,” he wrote in The New York Times Book Review in 1986. “I asked myself the other day, `Who else, on so many issues, has been so right so much of the time?’ I couldn’t think of anyone.”

It also mentions that when he was 8 years old (already “a precocious controversialist”), he “wrote to the king of England, demanding payment of the British war debt.”

How could you possibly NOT be fascinated with someone like that?  Right?  Even Joan Didion admitted that she was fond of the man!

Didionville February 27, 2008

Drumroll please. Didionville has launched. Billed as a site dedicated to breaking news, opinion, politics, entertainment, sports, and culture, Didionville fills the needs of aunties and grandparents everywhere.

A special note: the banana video is absolute genius. The subtle nuances of the art genre are fully explored in a visually rich manner not seen since Jean-Luc Godard’s masterpiece, Breathless.

Fugly Oscars February 24, 2008

I love that New York Magazine is hosting the Go Fug Yourself girls for a live blogcast of Oscar criticism.  It makes the red carpet SO much more palatable.

Coolest Graph EVER

The New York Times posted the coolest, niftiest interactive graph today, on box office grosses from 1986 to the present. The data is pretty stunning, and basically sums up all the trends we discuss in class: namely that movies used to be able to ride a slowly growing wave for weeks, and now Hollywood focuses on producing movies that create big, blockbuster opening weekends, because films disappear far more quickly. Pretty grim from some angles.

The Goat’s Dance February 23, 2008

My father came down with Sheran and some friends for the recent holiday weekend, and I managed to escape from my work confines a few times to visit.

I met up with them one morning at the Getty Center, where I focused on the new exhibits (I’ve never been a huge fan of their permanent collection, other than the photography, and there’s not much in bloom in February to make the gardens worth a wander). The Goat’s Dance exhibit in particular was spectacular, and well worth a trip.

Photographer Graciela Iturbide’s work was stunning, and the exhibit was incredibly large and provided a nice survey of over thirty years of work. Haunting is an overused art word, I know, but these photos really were just that. From the images of the annual goat slaughter in Oaxaca to the massive body of birds taking flight from a start tree in winter to the portrait of an elderly woman in Juchitán, I found myself thinking about them for days afterwards.

I regret that I didn’t have enough time to explore the André Kertész photography exhibit … next time!

Loretta Hears a Who February 22, 2008

Today I got to interview the co-directors of the upcoming film Horton Hears a Who, Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, for Life After Film School. Amazingly nice and funny guys, especially given the fact that an hour interview was stretched out over three or four hours due to technical glitches with sound … ouch! But lucky us, it meant we actually got to hang out chatting with them, picking their brain and BS’ing. I really hope their personalities come across on the episode, because we had a fantastic time with them.

Their love of the material was obvious, and they told us about their early visits with Dr. Seuss’s widow and doing research at the Seuss archive at UC San Diego. Apparently they were the first filmmakers to actually make the pilgrimage, which seems like such an obvious first step on any Seuss project. Curious.

My favorite quote came from Jimmy, and I think it’s so applicable to any manager in any job, not just filmmaking. He was recounting a lesson he’d learned from John Lasseter (if I remember correctly) at Pixar, who said to surround yourself with smart people and give them the freedom to do good work. He used goalposts as an analogy: as the leader, you set up the basic goalposts, but it doesn’t matter if the team hits it upper right, lower left, or dead center, as long as they get it within the posts. Good words to live by, no? I know several manager types who would be wise to give it a try …

Happy New Year February 11, 2008

My friend Cindy sent out this e-mail last night, and because it made me laugh out loud, I decided to share:

____________________________________

I can’t believe it’s the year of the Rat already.  I’m
still writing Pig on all my checks.

ZING! Heh, heh. Strike over.

Bad United, Bad February 6, 2008

This from yesterday’s New York Times:

UNITED ADDS A CHECKED-BAG FEE Saying that it was offering customers a “new, simplified checked-bag policy,” United Airlines said that it would charge $25 to check a second bag, starting May 5, for customers who travel domestically on advance purchase nonrefundable fares … United said the fee would generate more than $100 million a year “in cost savings and new revenue.”… (The only folks free from the fee are those) with Premier status or higher in United’s Mileage Plus frequent-flier program and those with Silver status or higher in the Star Alliance program will be exempt from the fee.

I’m sure this means the other big airlines won’t be far behind.  Virgin America already has a similar policy, and all the European discount airlines have been doing it for years.

Christmas and Voting February 5, 2008

On my way to my polling place today, I passed by this curbed Christmas tree. Really? It’s February 5th people!

Speaking of polls, the gentleman I turned my ballot into said they were having a great turnout, much higher than expected. Hooray for voter engagement!