I am pleased to report that, as occurs from time to time, Bill Maher has again found space on his show, "Real Time With Bill Maher", for making inside-references for my benefit. I will let the videoclip included with today's blog speak for itself.
Additionally, I found that the June 25th "Tonight Show", which was the first "Tonight Show" to have the chance to react to my June 25th blog (which included my reaction to the June 22nd "Tonight Show", which included their reaction to my.... I think I've done enough recapping), contained inside-references to my June 25th blog. These particular inside-references are far from self-apparent to those who haven't carefully followed things. However, once one tunes in on the history of this (which goes back years and years), one accepts that there is a shorthand, and so one doesn't require everything to be spelled out.
Specifically, my June 25th blog, which discussed "The Tonight Show" of June 22nd, featured me on video speaking with some kind of strange New Jersey accent, and then an English accent, breaking character with wild abandon. On that night's "Tonight Show", both Conan and Max did their New Jersey accents. Later, a guest (English) discussed how his daughter starts sentences with an English accent and then breaks out of it, due to exposure to the U.S. and us what talks without English accents. While I am fully aware that discussion of accents is common, nevertheless, owing to the proximity in time to my Jersey and English accents, and "The Tonight Show" being where these particular references to accents occurred, I believe I am recognizing an actual and not an imaginary shorthand. Add to this the idea of an accent strangely fading in mid-sentence - again, something which I recognize comes up here and there, but exactly how often?
This has all led me to an important idea, which you must tell everyone about, yet keep secret, yet tell everyone about, I'm not sure how: Everyone in the U.S. must start speaking with an English accent, in order to can confuse the North Korean President Kim Jong Il. If we are convincing enough, he will wonder where the U.S. has disappeared to, and imagine us to be Great Britain. He will not bomb us if we all disguise ourselves, by which I mean, if we all disguise who we are through how we talk. Furthermore, as the 4th of July approaches, the 233rd anniversary of our victory over England, no American should still be harboring ill feeling towards the English, or at least not their accent. One loose tongue and it may doom us all.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Big Three
Today I have for you Conan and Dave, both of whom have been keeping me "in the game" recently (see my June 4th blog for Dave, my June 17th blog for Conan), something they've done from time to time over the years. Both of these videoclips are from June 22, 2009, the night before Ed McMahon's death, relevant in that he was a major talk show guy. Also possibly relevant is the fact that, between Iran and North Korea, with their potential ousting of what's-his-name and threats of nuclear warfare, respectively, it's quite a time in the history of the planet/universe, whatever, to feel oneself having special access to so many. And yes, I consider these videoclips to imply a special access, that if I had something for Conan or Dave I could leave it here and it might just get scrutinized, stamped with approval, and a few seconds in front of America (after being first filtered by their sensabilities, of course).
Dave:
Conan:
I also have to wonder about those without the cumulative perspective, people who can't quite connect that the cumulative implication contained in these videoclips, when combined with other things done in relation to me, is different from the implication (i.e., lack of an implication) seen without the cumulative perspective. If you don't put a few of things together, I'm looking like, well, a whole different person from the one you'll see when you do. This may not be a good time in the history of the universe to presume I'm not two inches from the American late night crowd, coming up with something to say.
Dave:
Conan:
I also have to wonder about those without the cumulative perspective, people who can't quite connect that the cumulative implication contained in these videoclips, when combined with other things done in relation to me, is different from the implication (i.e., lack of an implication) seen without the cumulative perspective. If you don't put a few of things together, I'm looking like, well, a whole different person from the one you'll see when you do. This may not be a good time in the history of the universe to presume I'm not two inches from the American late night crowd, coming up with something to say.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Simon Sings
With the announcement today that Kodak is discontinuing Kodachrome, I imagine it would be in some way appropriate for me to describe what I created that led to Paul Simon’s song “Kodachrome”. This is not something I can prove, short of Paul Simon admitting it. All you have are the innumerable things I can prove regarding people using my material, in terms of a reference for judging whether I am being truthful in this instance.
Before telling my “Kodachrome Story”, I first offer a description of another one of many instances when Paul Simon made use of my material. I do so in order to provide you with a sense of how solid my basis is for seeing Paul Simon as someone aware of me and the “usefulness” of my material. Though you are not an eyewitness to the truthfulness of each thing I describe, I am - therefore, if you choose to believe these details are true, so you will see how I would have no doubt with regard to the conclusion I reached.
Joel's Baby
In 1976 I met someone named Tom Long (interestingly, I ended up casting him as Peterson in my 1993 video, "A Scene From ‘Mall Man’”, though prior to that I hadn’t spoken with him in years), who worked at an employment agency when I was looking for work during summer break from CalArts Film and Video School. Tom described to me his peripheral involvement in the movie business. He was friends with someone named Bob Sickinger, who was involved with “Lords Of Flatbush”, a 1974 movie that started the careers of Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler. I thought “Flatbush” was terrific, which I expressed (I was not jumping on any bandwagon, as this movie was far from being a success with the critics). Tom Long had the concept for a movie they were throwing around, which he asked me to work on for no money. There was nevertheless a chance to be read and considered, and I liked the concept, so I jumped in: it was the idea of a white high school boy impregnating a black high school girl, but when the child is born he appears white, and doesn’t find out his mother is black until he is older. There were a lot of other ideas in there too, but I dropped them for the most part, it not being my style to even work off of someone else’s initial concept, let alone mold my work closely around someone else’s material.
I created a character named Delores, who worked at the adoption agency. I created a major scene where the father travels across the country to find the son he never met, only to learn that his son has been adopted by racists, and is perceived as white. Instead of awakening his son and telling him the truth about where he came from, he kisses the boy as he lies sleeping and then he turns around and heads back home again. Exactly like the emotionally powerful moment in the Paul Simon 1977 song, “Slip Slidin’ Away”, Simon's first major hit in a long time. While I was working on this screenplay (“Joel’s Baby”), Tom Long also told me that Bob Sickinger’s current project was using the music of a group called Stuff, which I’d never heard of (I believe the movie was something about a Chicago taxi driver, played by one of the authors of "Grease"). Stuff was composed of New York City studio musicians who previously had only worked on other people's records, and because I felt that I was now in proximity to Stuff, I thought, hey, I’ll buy their record, why not.
I knew that Simon had used material from my screenplay - he even winked at me so-to-speak, by including a character named Delores in the song (he could easily have named his character Gertrude, I'm certain of this). It was after I had already developed a firm conviction regarding this song, due to the big emotional moment shared by both our works, that I learned that Paul Simon had formed a new band, composed almost entirely of the members of the group, Stuff. This began their association with Simon, with members of Stuff remaining in Simon's band to this day.
Some of the people who use my material carve out a niche, often going to the same particular work of mine, such as Spielberg and my “Mall Man”, or McCartney's album covers and me/my material. McCartney might also derive album titles from me as well, or parts of songs, but album covers more consistently.
Kodachrome
When I was in high school in New York City in 1972/1973, I wrote down a movie idea with the surreal premise that everyone had a camera over their face, not unlike women in Arab nations covering their faces. It would be like a form of nudity not to have a camera over your face. I then had the protagonist, a high school boy, go to a party when suddenly his camera falls to the ground, smashing to bits. It is an intense moment, resulting in an hysterical reaction from the character at the humiliation, leading to his becoming deeply traumatized. The irony of this consequence is that at the same time he is the only one who sees the world in color now that he has no camera.
In May 1973 Paul Simon released “Kodachrome”, which contains that intense part, at the end of the song, where the idea of taking away his Kodachrome transcends the emotion one might normally project onto the idea of someone taking away one’s Kodachrome. He's screaming about it. One also hears in that song a specific attack on what is drilled into one in high school (“when I think back on all the crap I learned in high school it’s a wonder I can think at all”). The premise of my film idea similarly relates to the concept that everyone is forced to see things in a distorted way, and must shed this crap that "they" attach to us. But no, the song is not a literal, exact rendering of my film idea.
Fifth Grade
I had previously found things in Paul Simon’s work that could have come from me, but I was not yet ready to see that they did in fact come from me. For example, I had a turn at decorating a wall in my 5th grade class (1965 or 1966), and so used a Snoopy poster my sister got for me (it had formerly decorated the wall of a dance). I was everything Peanuts back then, and even did a Peanuts newspaper using a mimeograph machine belonging to friends of my parents. The Snoopy poster was under the flag, and so one day after we all did the pledge of allegiance, the teacher said, “Okay, let’s do the pledge of allegiance again, only this time to the flag, not to the Snoopy poster on the wall.” In the 1975 Simon and Garfunkel song, “My Little Town”, Simon refers to saying the pledge of allegiance to the wall. I made little of it at the time, to regard something as a coincidence is to not make much of it. This was also the 5th grade class where I wrote the 15-page story (considered an incredible number of pages for a kid to write back then, especially as the assignment was that all we had was a photograph to write a story from) that led to the 1966 Beatle songs “Paperback Writer”, “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine” (which I describe somewhere or another - someday I'll return to this post and add the link, promise), and this was also the grade I was in when I was involved in the incident that led to the 1968 Stones songs “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Street Fighting Man” (which I also describe somewhere or another - someday I'll return to this post and also add this link, promise). Once one accepts the premise that The Beatles saw something going on with me when I was in the 5th grade, it is less difficult to accept the idea that The Rolling Stones and Simon and Garfunkel would revisit that “period” in my life. Once one accepts the idea that a very important part of "Slip Slidin' Away" came from me, it is less difficult to accept the idea that "Kodachrome" is the same story.
Before telling my “Kodachrome Story”, I first offer a description of another one of many instances when Paul Simon made use of my material. I do so in order to provide you with a sense of how solid my basis is for seeing Paul Simon as someone aware of me and the “usefulness” of my material. Though you are not an eyewitness to the truthfulness of each thing I describe, I am - therefore, if you choose to believe these details are true, so you will see how I would have no doubt with regard to the conclusion I reached.
Joel's Baby
In 1976 I met someone named Tom Long (interestingly, I ended up casting him as Peterson in my 1993 video, "A Scene From ‘Mall Man’”, though prior to that I hadn’t spoken with him in years), who worked at an employment agency when I was looking for work during summer break from CalArts Film and Video School. Tom described to me his peripheral involvement in the movie business. He was friends with someone named Bob Sickinger, who was involved with “Lords Of Flatbush”, a 1974 movie that started the careers of Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler. I thought “Flatbush” was terrific, which I expressed (I was not jumping on any bandwagon, as this movie was far from being a success with the critics). Tom Long had the concept for a movie they were throwing around, which he asked me to work on for no money. There was nevertheless a chance to be read and considered, and I liked the concept, so I jumped in: it was the idea of a white high school boy impregnating a black high school girl, but when the child is born he appears white, and doesn’t find out his mother is black until he is older. There were a lot of other ideas in there too, but I dropped them for the most part, it not being my style to even work off of someone else’s initial concept, let alone mold my work closely around someone else’s material.
I created a character named Delores, who worked at the adoption agency. I created a major scene where the father travels across the country to find the son he never met, only to learn that his son has been adopted by racists, and is perceived as white. Instead of awakening his son and telling him the truth about where he came from, he kisses the boy as he lies sleeping and then he turns around and heads back home again. Exactly like the emotionally powerful moment in the Paul Simon 1977 song, “Slip Slidin’ Away”, Simon's first major hit in a long time. While I was working on this screenplay (“Joel’s Baby”), Tom Long also told me that Bob Sickinger’s current project was using the music of a group called Stuff, which I’d never heard of (I believe the movie was something about a Chicago taxi driver, played by one of the authors of "Grease"). Stuff was composed of New York City studio musicians who previously had only worked on other people's records, and because I felt that I was now in proximity to Stuff, I thought, hey, I’ll buy their record, why not.
I knew that Simon had used material from my screenplay - he even winked at me so-to-speak, by including a character named Delores in the song (he could easily have named his character Gertrude, I'm certain of this). It was after I had already developed a firm conviction regarding this song, due to the big emotional moment shared by both our works, that I learned that Paul Simon had formed a new band, composed almost entirely of the members of the group, Stuff. This began their association with Simon, with members of Stuff remaining in Simon's band to this day.
Some of the people who use my material carve out a niche, often going to the same particular work of mine, such as Spielberg and my “Mall Man”, or McCartney's album covers and me/my material. McCartney might also derive album titles from me as well, or parts of songs, but album covers more consistently.
Kodachrome
When I was in high school in New York City in 1972/1973, I wrote down a movie idea with the surreal premise that everyone had a camera over their face, not unlike women in Arab nations covering their faces. It would be like a form of nudity not to have a camera over your face. I then had the protagonist, a high school boy, go to a party when suddenly his camera falls to the ground, smashing to bits. It is an intense moment, resulting in an hysterical reaction from the character at the humiliation, leading to his becoming deeply traumatized. The irony of this consequence is that at the same time he is the only one who sees the world in color now that he has no camera.
In May 1973 Paul Simon released “Kodachrome”, which contains that intense part, at the end of the song, where the idea of taking away his Kodachrome transcends the emotion one might normally project onto the idea of someone taking away one’s Kodachrome. He's screaming about it. One also hears in that song a specific attack on what is drilled into one in high school (“when I think back on all the crap I learned in high school it’s a wonder I can think at all”). The premise of my film idea similarly relates to the concept that everyone is forced to see things in a distorted way, and must shed this crap that "they" attach to us. But no, the song is not a literal, exact rendering of my film idea.
Fifth Grade
I had previously found things in Paul Simon’s work that could have come from me, but I was not yet ready to see that they did in fact come from me. For example, I had a turn at decorating a wall in my 5th grade class (1965 or 1966), and so used a Snoopy poster my sister got for me (it had formerly decorated the wall of a dance). I was everything Peanuts back then, and even did a Peanuts newspaper using a mimeograph machine belonging to friends of my parents. The Snoopy poster was under the flag, and so one day after we all did the pledge of allegiance, the teacher said, “Okay, let’s do the pledge of allegiance again, only this time to the flag, not to the Snoopy poster on the wall.” In the 1975 Simon and Garfunkel song, “My Little Town”, Simon refers to saying the pledge of allegiance to the wall. I made little of it at the time, to regard something as a coincidence is to not make much of it. This was also the 5th grade class where I wrote the 15-page story (considered an incredible number of pages for a kid to write back then, especially as the assignment was that all we had was a photograph to write a story from) that led to the 1966 Beatle songs “Paperback Writer”, “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine” (which I describe somewhere or another - someday I'll return to this post and add the link, promise), and this was also the grade I was in when I was involved in the incident that led to the 1968 Stones songs “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Street Fighting Man” (which I also describe somewhere or another - someday I'll return to this post and also add this link, promise). Once one accepts the premise that The Beatles saw something going on with me when I was in the 5th grade, it is less difficult to accept the idea that The Rolling Stones and Simon and Garfunkel would revisit that “period” in my life. Once one accepts the idea that a very important part of "Slip Slidin' Away" came from me, it is less difficult to accept the idea that "Kodachrome" is the same story.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
No Longer Past Your Bedtime
Let’s attach something to a news story of June 19th, 2009, wherein Sean Ono Lennon is shocked that Bruce Springsteen should be chosen to headline at the Glastonbury Music Festival. In my blogs of June 14th and June 17th I bring up May Pang, the girlfriend John Lennon left when he returned to Yoko Ono in 1974 (Sean Ono Lennon was born the following year, 1975. Lennon and Ono reunited at an Elton John concert Thanksgiving 1974, a concert in which Lennon made his last onstage appearance - unadvertised, with me in the audience, this being one month after I worked for close Lennon friend Howard Smith). In both instances, Conan O’Brien, the new host of “The Tonight Show”, is included with my reference to May Pang. Now I know that some may think of it as six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but it so happens that the person who plays drums for Bruce Springsteen, Max Weinberg, is also one of Conan O’Brien’s two primary sidekicks (Andy Richter being the other, and before Andy Richter’s return, Weinberg was O’Brien’s main sidekick). If connecting Conan O’Brien to Bruce Springsteen through Max Weinberg is six degrees of Kevin Bacon, then so is the connection between you and your grandparents. Important artistic collaborations are not like two people sitting next to each other on a subway.
I began this blog with the words, “let’s attach something”. There are circumstances when those words are not unlike a person lifting weights, the person being the barbell, the things that can legitimately be attached to the person being weight plates. The analogy breaks down easily however, such as when one considers that how you attach something is a factor, it can lift the person up, weigh them down, be neutral, even vary in effect depending on what day it is, whatever. There are numerous other effects attaching something to a person can have. Attaching something to someone oftentimes is limited to affecting perception of the person. Attaching something to a person can be as variable as a moldable, unsculpted piece of clay added to a sculpted piece of clay.
The father of Sean Lennon, John Lennon, being high profile to say the least, was no stranger to the experience of having many, many things attached to oneself, and it naturally continues. Many would like to freeze the image they have of John Lennon, nothing further to be attached or subtracted, which may be a somewhat inappropriate thing to do with regard to so explosive an entity. I for one am glad that even in death the book does not close so completely regarding certain people.
Much has been channeled by people towards John Lennon, during his life and afterward, and I believe there are many ways in which such channeling has shown wisdom, as it was his special handling of the tidal waves of energy that were channeled towards him that seems to have been among the things that made him so special, so great an artist. So much so, that the channeling/special handling continues to this day, and will perhaps always continue.
It is clear to see in many ways how the biological offspring of John Lennon are “recipients” of much that was John Lennon. This is colloquially known as simple biology, DNA, or whatever words they use to describe it in grade school these days (it all has something to do with sex, or so I’ve heard, although there are also other ways that two people make a baby, storks are involved I think – but perhaps I digress). John Lennon’s offspring have also benefitted monetarily from John Lennon, though from here one could get into a more complicated area: Among other ideas, there’s the belief that our parent’s DNA can include things that have an impact upon certain (money-making) endeavors (musical genius), or the idea that people remembering their love of Lennon and/or their appreciation of Lennon the artist may have contributed, directly or indirectly, to the (money-making) endeavors of Lennon’s offspring.
I believe there exists the standpoint from which one can formulate the theory that John Lennon deliberately chose me as a major recipient of a “certain chunk” of the things that had been channeled towards him, that he saw that I possessed “special handling” abilities to be applied towards things he "sent" to me. To come up with a precise definition for this “certain chunk” one might need to call upon the abilities of a genius, but this complication of having difficulty finding a definition should not in itself obstruct the ability to recognize its existence. I have elsewhere described what I regard as conscious actions by John Lennon in relation to me. Yet it requires imagination to appreciate the idea that a complex artist, the recipient of tidal waves of energy from people all around the world who were outside of his social world, a man whose childhood included living in proximity to but not with his own mother, might develop a complex way of channeling that transcended those immediately in contact with him. I believe Lennon recognized the idea that one in some kind of nearly direct proximity was close enough to throw a football to, or one’s section of a physics equation.
I also believe in the movie, “Hellboy 2”, which I just saw on TV yesterday – just kidding. However, this movie did include a concept that one sees over and over again, the idea that a power can be broken into pieces, and that the unification of the pieces activates the power. This can be true of smaller amounts of money being brought together to make a greater sum, or pieces of ideas that are only powerful when brought together. It is a common concept found in many different areas, not just mythologies. It is a concept that can inspire a person to be an artist, it is the idea that the whole might not always be greater than the sum of its parts, but the whole is almost invariably different from the sum of its parts.
Is there something bigger than a breadbox waiting to come into being from some kind of a coming together between myself and Sean Ono Lennon? Should the proximity between myself and Sean Lennon remain locked in the moment he raised the question of whether Bruce Springsteen should headline Glastonbury? Is Springsteen at Glastonbury really something to complain about? Or is Lennon's statement transparently, for those who read my blogs, apropos of my having, immediately previous to it, repeatedly referred to Conan O'Brien in relation to May Pang in relation to myself?
I began this blog with the words, “let’s attach something”. There are circumstances when those words are not unlike a person lifting weights, the person being the barbell, the things that can legitimately be attached to the person being weight plates. The analogy breaks down easily however, such as when one considers that how you attach something is a factor, it can lift the person up, weigh them down, be neutral, even vary in effect depending on what day it is, whatever. There are numerous other effects attaching something to a person can have. Attaching something to someone oftentimes is limited to affecting perception of the person. Attaching something to a person can be as variable as a moldable, unsculpted piece of clay added to a sculpted piece of clay.
The father of Sean Lennon, John Lennon, being high profile to say the least, was no stranger to the experience of having many, many things attached to oneself, and it naturally continues. Many would like to freeze the image they have of John Lennon, nothing further to be attached or subtracted, which may be a somewhat inappropriate thing to do with regard to so explosive an entity. I for one am glad that even in death the book does not close so completely regarding certain people.
Much has been channeled by people towards John Lennon, during his life and afterward, and I believe there are many ways in which such channeling has shown wisdom, as it was his special handling of the tidal waves of energy that were channeled towards him that seems to have been among the things that made him so special, so great an artist. So much so, that the channeling/special handling continues to this day, and will perhaps always continue.
It is clear to see in many ways how the biological offspring of John Lennon are “recipients” of much that was John Lennon. This is colloquially known as simple biology, DNA, or whatever words they use to describe it in grade school these days (it all has something to do with sex, or so I’ve heard, although there are also other ways that two people make a baby, storks are involved I think – but perhaps I digress). John Lennon’s offspring have also benefitted monetarily from John Lennon, though from here one could get into a more complicated area: Among other ideas, there’s the belief that our parent’s DNA can include things that have an impact upon certain (money-making) endeavors (musical genius), or the idea that people remembering their love of Lennon and/or their appreciation of Lennon the artist may have contributed, directly or indirectly, to the (money-making) endeavors of Lennon’s offspring.
I believe there exists the standpoint from which one can formulate the theory that John Lennon deliberately chose me as a major recipient of a “certain chunk” of the things that had been channeled towards him, that he saw that I possessed “special handling” abilities to be applied towards things he "sent" to me. To come up with a precise definition for this “certain chunk” one might need to call upon the abilities of a genius, but this complication of having difficulty finding a definition should not in itself obstruct the ability to recognize its existence. I have elsewhere described what I regard as conscious actions by John Lennon in relation to me. Yet it requires imagination to appreciate the idea that a complex artist, the recipient of tidal waves of energy from people all around the world who were outside of his social world, a man whose childhood included living in proximity to but not with his own mother, might develop a complex way of channeling that transcended those immediately in contact with him. I believe Lennon recognized the idea that one in some kind of nearly direct proximity was close enough to throw a football to, or one’s section of a physics equation.
I also believe in the movie, “Hellboy 2”, which I just saw on TV yesterday – just kidding. However, this movie did include a concept that one sees over and over again, the idea that a power can be broken into pieces, and that the unification of the pieces activates the power. This can be true of smaller amounts of money being brought together to make a greater sum, or pieces of ideas that are only powerful when brought together. It is a common concept found in many different areas, not just mythologies. It is a concept that can inspire a person to be an artist, it is the idea that the whole might not always be greater than the sum of its parts, but the whole is almost invariably different from the sum of its parts.
Is there something bigger than a breadbox waiting to come into being from some kind of a coming together between myself and Sean Ono Lennon? Should the proximity between myself and Sean Lennon remain locked in the moment he raised the question of whether Bruce Springsteen should headline Glastonbury? Is Springsteen at Glastonbury really something to complain about? Or is Lennon's statement transparently, for those who read my blogs, apropos of my having, immediately previous to it, repeatedly referred to Conan O'Brien in relation to May Pang in relation to myself?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Happy Yesterday
I notice I was a little confused in my recent references to the airing date of Conan O'Brien's "Tonight Show", having referred to it in the last two blogs as airing each night in its old time slot, beginning after midnight. I have been correct in terms of the date of the show as it related to what was discussed, just wrong when I said it was taped on X day but aired on Y day, if you follow. I know you will sort this out for me because you know simple arithmetic and like these mental challenges.
In celebration of this being Paul McCartney's birthday (here in California for the next few minutes anyway), I thought I would bring to this blog my video, "Adventure at the Pasadena Batman Estate", initially made as my Burbankian "Welcome to Pasadena" for Paul McCartney when it was thought that he had bought the Pasadena Batman Estate (from the Batman TV show). This little video has subsequently led to various things, including a line in a McCartney song, "I gave my promise to you girl, I don't wanna take it back"; things in the movie, "Hancock" (referred to in one of my recent blogs); the opening sketch of a Tony Awards ceremony one year; and other stuff. It can also be viewed at archive.org and YouTube:
I think it has gathered a little moss, or something, which makes it perfect for this re-gifting.
In celebration of this being Paul McCartney's birthday (here in California for the next few minutes anyway), I thought I would bring to this blog my video, "Adventure at the Pasadena Batman Estate", initially made as my Burbankian "Welcome to Pasadena" for Paul McCartney when it was thought that he had bought the Pasadena Batman Estate (from the Batman TV show). This little video has subsequently led to various things, including a line in a McCartney song, "I gave my promise to you girl, I don't wanna take it back"; things in the movie, "Hancock" (referred to in one of my recent blogs); the opening sketch of a Tony Awards ceremony one year; and other stuff. It can also be viewed at archive.org and YouTube:
I think it has gathered a little moss, or something, which makes it perfect for this re-gifting.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Nicely Done
For those who saw my previous blog of June 14th, I believe there has been a further development with regard to one of the items described. Specifically, I refer to the item about May Pang, the one which I accompanied with a videoclip from "The Tonight Show" with Conan O'Brien.
In regard to that item I stated, "It occurred to me that perhaps John Lennon would never have chosen to be close to May Pang had she not been a particularly nice, reasonable person (this is not always a good system for making logical deductions), and I emailed May Pang asking...." Though it is not totally uncommon for people to focus on the consequences of their process for deciding someone is "nice", my experience, combined with the facts, tell me that the following videoclip from "The Tonight Show", taped June 16th and aired June 17th, is apropos of my blog and its Conan O'Brien mention just two days earlier:
Not too long ago I met a woman (a friend of a friend) whose husband played Captain Nice on television during the '60s. I feel quite certain there is absolutely no connection whatsoever to be made between these things, however.
In regard to that item I stated, "It occurred to me that perhaps John Lennon would never have chosen to be close to May Pang had she not been a particularly nice, reasonable person (this is not always a good system for making logical deductions), and I emailed May Pang asking...." Though it is not totally uncommon for people to focus on the consequences of their process for deciding someone is "nice", my experience, combined with the facts, tell me that the following videoclip from "The Tonight Show", taped June 16th and aired June 17th, is apropos of my blog and its Conan O'Brien mention just two days earlier:
Not too long ago I met a woman (a friend of a friend) whose husband played Captain Nice on television during the '60s. I feel quite certain there is absolutely no connection whatsoever to be made between these things, however.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Speaking When Spoken To
If one picture is worth a thousand words, the number of illustrations I plan for this edition of my blog ought to leave me speechless (by the way, "ought to leave me speechless" is the kind of phrase one shouldn't expect to be too literal, the word "ought" being your secret clue).
I begin with a videoclip that follows-up on one contained in an earlier blog (Dec. 9, 2008), and should put the lie to those who claim I lack hard evidence of what I say:
I thank Will Smith for being involved in "Hancock", which allows proof of my veracity to manifest as something easy to follow, at least when seen in conjunction with Smith's "Tonight Show" appearance (as contained in the videoclip). I also have a few points to give out for "Hancock" being so incredible a movie as well. This is not the first time Will Smith has been influenced by me. From the fact that the movie, "Independence Day", featured a character (played by Randy Quaid) who gained his knowledge of aliens from "The National Enquirer", a concept I originated in my "Gosk" screenplay, I gleaned that another similarity to "Gosk" found in that movie shared the same origin: a character making his way alone in an alien-invaded world, comically muttering to himself about his situation. In the case of "Independence Day", this character was Smith as he dragged an alien's body across the desert. I thereby made particular note of this, and consequently was particularly aware when the character Smith later played in "I Am Legend" seemed born of this same "Independence Day" character (which, as I've stated, I see as having been born of my "Gosk" character). Given all of this, it may seem more likely to appreciate my implied conclusion regarding origin of an idea that one finds in this next videoclip:
Without knowledge of the aforesaid regarding my influence on Will Smith, the context of the immediately preceding videoclip vanishes, my point obviously losing a degree of its acceptability.
Unfortunately, a good portion of what I have to report relies on context.
This past week I identified Paul McCartney making an important shout-out to me, though I do not feel inclined to go into specifics here. If you are interested in some of the McCartney/Steinhoff context, I invite you to visit:
http://www.archive.org/details/JonathanDSteinhoff_7
In other "Beatles News", I would like to publicly thank May Pang (John Lennon's girlfriend during his estrangement from Yoko Ono) for responding to my email. For a considerable amount of time I had been aware that someone I knew growing up as an occasional houseguest, my mother's close friend Geraldine Lust, was responsible for bringing the Jean Genet play, "Blacks", to off-Broadway during the early '60s. This play launched the careers of people such as James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Godfrey Cambridge, and many others. When I learned that a Sid Bernstein was the play's off-Broadway producer, I had to wonder whether this was the same Sid Bernstein who brought The Beatles to Shea Stadium and Carnegie Hall during this same period. Geraldine Lust knew many well known people, in fact it was she who started the Stella Adler Acting Studio (along with Stella Adler, of course), the acting studio credited with being a starting ground for many people. I had tried contacting Sid Bernstein (The Beatles' Sid Bernstein) to learn whether he had any involvement with "Blacks", but was unsuccessful. And then this week I learned that Thursday night (June 11th) there would be an event celebrating a Beatles artist named Shannon, which was to be attended by both Sid Bernstein and May Pang. It occurred to me that perhaps John Lennon would never have chosen to be close to May Pang had she not been a particularly nice, reasonable person (this is not always a good system for making logical deductions), and I emailed May Pang asking if she would consider my request to get an answer for me from Sid Bernstein. This is exactly what she did, though it turns out that it must have been a different show bizzy Sid Bernstein. I also believe something else occurred on June 11th pertaining to both May Pang and myself. Were one to visit something I posted in August 2007, Lennon and Steinhoff, An Introduction, one would read how I came to conclude that a line found in a Lennon song from his "Walls and Bridges" album, "Sweet as the smell of success" (from a song reportedly about May Pang, "Surprise Surprise"), was there for my benefit. "Sweet as the smell of success" being a phrase I look upon as significantly in common to both myself and May Pang, it becomes most interesting that one heard the following coming from the mouth of Conan O'Brien on the June 11th/June 12th show (technically June 12th, his show airing past midnight, though taped on June 11th):
I have come to believe that, when one exists more directly in the realm of McCartney, Spielberg, etc. (as I believe I do), one should not be surprised when there seems to be an information network about one's activities that makes its way to other high profile show biz folk at the speed of buzz (and with my special power to come up with amazingly hip, useful phrases like "speed of buzz", you can easily see why!).
Ever since the former assistant to directors Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, Terrance Williams, had an important role in a video of mine, "Gosk, Part 2", the Scott brothers have been significantly influenced by me/my material, Denzel Washington movies directed by Tony and Ridley included. Therefore, because one of my major works, "Mall Man" (video made 1993, posted September 2005) uses the character's socklessness as an important element, I paid particular attention when I saw the following:
As the new Tony Scott/Denzel Washington movie is "The Taking of Pelham 123", I thought to myself, "Why don't I go see that movie? The worst that can happen is that I'll just see a movie." As it happened, I did not just see a movie - I saw a movie that appeared related to the Terrance Williams scene in "Gosk, Part 2":
My problem in expecting others to see eye to eye with my correlating of these two is that it is generally a somewhat enormous idea that Tony Scott would involve me to such an extent. Were one ignorant of my importance in relation to people such as Spielberg, Lennon and McCartney, I could easily appreciate why even an intelligent person would have great difficulty with this idea. Over time I have offered quite a lot of proof that I am not imagining things, therefore, I consider this correlation worth presenting, if only for the intelligent and/or those who know the truth.
Perhaps some would expect me to limit myself to non-lightning bolt-like revelations, such as the idea that recently Kelly Ripa on Jimmy Fallon did something regarding me/my material. If I saw no value to preserving the truth, I very well might set up such perimeters around what I find worth reporting.
I begin with a videoclip that follows-up on one contained in an earlier blog (Dec. 9, 2008), and should put the lie to those who claim I lack hard evidence of what I say:
I thank Will Smith for being involved in "Hancock", which allows proof of my veracity to manifest as something easy to follow, at least when seen in conjunction with Smith's "Tonight Show" appearance (as contained in the videoclip). I also have a few points to give out for "Hancock" being so incredible a movie as well. This is not the first time Will Smith has been influenced by me. From the fact that the movie, "Independence Day", featured a character (played by Randy Quaid) who gained his knowledge of aliens from "The National Enquirer", a concept I originated in my "Gosk" screenplay, I gleaned that another similarity to "Gosk" found in that movie shared the same origin: a character making his way alone in an alien-invaded world, comically muttering to himself about his situation. In the case of "Independence Day", this character was Smith as he dragged an alien's body across the desert. I thereby made particular note of this, and consequently was particularly aware when the character Smith later played in "I Am Legend" seemed born of this same "Independence Day" character (which, as I've stated, I see as having been born of my "Gosk" character). Given all of this, it may seem more likely to appreciate my implied conclusion regarding origin of an idea that one finds in this next videoclip:
Without knowledge of the aforesaid regarding my influence on Will Smith, the context of the immediately preceding videoclip vanishes, my point obviously losing a degree of its acceptability.
Unfortunately, a good portion of what I have to report relies on context.
This past week I identified Paul McCartney making an important shout-out to me, though I do not feel inclined to go into specifics here. If you are interested in some of the McCartney/Steinhoff context, I invite you to visit:
http://www.archive.org/details/JonathanDSteinhoff_7
In other "Beatles News", I would like to publicly thank May Pang (John Lennon's girlfriend during his estrangement from Yoko Ono) for responding to my email. For a considerable amount of time I had been aware that someone I knew growing up as an occasional houseguest, my mother's close friend Geraldine Lust, was responsible for bringing the Jean Genet play, "Blacks", to off-Broadway during the early '60s. This play launched the careers of people such as James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Godfrey Cambridge, and many others. When I learned that a Sid Bernstein was the play's off-Broadway producer, I had to wonder whether this was the same Sid Bernstein who brought The Beatles to Shea Stadium and Carnegie Hall during this same period. Geraldine Lust knew many well known people, in fact it was she who started the Stella Adler Acting Studio (along with Stella Adler, of course), the acting studio credited with being a starting ground for many people. I had tried contacting Sid Bernstein (The Beatles' Sid Bernstein) to learn whether he had any involvement with "Blacks", but was unsuccessful. And then this week I learned that Thursday night (June 11th) there would be an event celebrating a Beatles artist named Shannon, which was to be attended by both Sid Bernstein and May Pang. It occurred to me that perhaps John Lennon would never have chosen to be close to May Pang had she not been a particularly nice, reasonable person (this is not always a good system for making logical deductions), and I emailed May Pang asking if she would consider my request to get an answer for me from Sid Bernstein. This is exactly what she did, though it turns out that it must have been a different show bizzy Sid Bernstein. I also believe something else occurred on June 11th pertaining to both May Pang and myself. Were one to visit something I posted in August 2007, Lennon and Steinhoff, An Introduction, one would read how I came to conclude that a line found in a Lennon song from his "Walls and Bridges" album, "Sweet as the smell of success" (from a song reportedly about May Pang, "Surprise Surprise"), was there for my benefit. "Sweet as the smell of success" being a phrase I look upon as significantly in common to both myself and May Pang, it becomes most interesting that one heard the following coming from the mouth of Conan O'Brien on the June 11th/June 12th show (technically June 12th, his show airing past midnight, though taped on June 11th):
I have come to believe that, when one exists more directly in the realm of McCartney, Spielberg, etc. (as I believe I do), one should not be surprised when there seems to be an information network about one's activities that makes its way to other high profile show biz folk at the speed of buzz (and with my special power to come up with amazingly hip, useful phrases like "speed of buzz", you can easily see why!).
Ever since the former assistant to directors Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, Terrance Williams, had an important role in a video of mine, "Gosk, Part 2", the Scott brothers have been significantly influenced by me/my material, Denzel Washington movies directed by Tony and Ridley included. Therefore, because one of my major works, "Mall Man" (video made 1993, posted September 2005) uses the character's socklessness as an important element, I paid particular attention when I saw the following:
As the new Tony Scott/Denzel Washington movie is "The Taking of Pelham 123", I thought to myself, "Why don't I go see that movie? The worst that can happen is that I'll just see a movie." As it happened, I did not just see a movie - I saw a movie that appeared related to the Terrance Williams scene in "Gosk, Part 2":
My problem in expecting others to see eye to eye with my correlating of these two is that it is generally a somewhat enormous idea that Tony Scott would involve me to such an extent. Were one ignorant of my importance in relation to people such as Spielberg, Lennon and McCartney, I could easily appreciate why even an intelligent person would have great difficulty with this idea. Over time I have offered quite a lot of proof that I am not imagining things, therefore, I consider this correlation worth presenting, if only for the intelligent and/or those who know the truth.
Perhaps some would expect me to limit myself to non-lightning bolt-like revelations, such as the idea that recently Kelly Ripa on Jimmy Fallon did something regarding me/my material. If I saw no value to preserving the truth, I very well might set up such perimeters around what I find worth reporting.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Imminent Thread
No small number of things to put together this time around:
Raindrops Threaded Together
First and most important, I've brought my work-in-progress song to a stage where it is now an actual song (sez me). "Raindrops Threaded Together (June 5, 2009 version)" was completed June 5th (Pacific Time - archive.org, the site at which I posted it, counts it by EST time, and so the June 6th "timestamp"). Interestingly, I discovered after the posting that June 5th is the anniversary of George Harrison's "Somewhere In England", an album on which I had a degree of (as usual, unacknowledged) influence, including influence on the song, "All Those Years Ago". You would actually have to hear both songs to know why I count it as interesting.
Delano And Friends
Some of us will always remember the unforgettable (and I know I'm not out on a limb by considering something unforgettable worth always remembering.... but I digress) live album from way back, "On Tour - Delano And Bonnie And Friends With Eric Clapton", which, according to music history, brought together most of the people who played on George Harrison's historic, "All Things Must Pass".
So I'm driving around in the farm country of Delano, California yesterday (Saturday, June 6th), when I see a sheriff's car (or some other kind of police car) being driven by Eric Clapton, or someone who had a 65% chance of being Eric Clapton (under certain driving conditions one must assign a percentage of likelihood to such occurrences, instead of being absolute about what one sees). Later I looked up where in the world Clapton was supposed to be, and "coincidentally" June 5th was his last concert until June 20th, i.e., a break in his schedule had just begun. I should add that I have had a certain degree of influence on certain Clapton product at various times over the years.
To see Clapton driving a sheriff's car, this of course brings to mind the song Clapton had a huge hit with, "I Shot The Sheriff". It being that a somewhat major current news story is whether or not David Carradine killed himself, one might conjecture how Mr. I Shot The Sheriff driving a sheriff's car might feed that discussion. One might also wonder how that night's TV premium channel Saturday Night premiere of producer Stuart Cornfeld's "Tropic Thunder" might fit in with that - but more on that particular TV premiere later in this blog.
Delano And Earlimart
So I'm driving around in the farm country of Delano (as previously mentioned), and suddenly I see someone who looks like Jason "Earl" Lee (72% likelihood), star of the sitcom I created, "My Name Is Earl" (recently cancelled by NBC, though it is conjectured that another company will save it) driving a truck. Sure enough, I soon see a sign directing me to the town of Earlimart. And while I know there was no "power of suggestion" involved, as I saw "Earl" prior to the sign, I appreciate that you do not have the vantage point of knowing this. In fact, as far as you're concerned, I could have spent the day in London and made up the whole thing. However, there are also those who have gone over those things which I can prove, and so might therefore be less inclined to question every word I say (please permit me to just take one brief moment to say to those people who have put together the truth: am I not totally amazing?).
Delano And Friends Again
So I'm driving around in the farm country of Delano (as you may recall), when for a moment I see driving by someone who looks a titch like Stuart Cornfeld (14% likelihood), which reminds me of something I consider important, the fact that a movie he produced, "Tropic Thunder", has its Saturday night TV premium channel premiere later that day. Also related to this, a little bit later in Delano I see two motorcyclists riding alongside each other. This has the effect of bringing back to me the time, approximately one week after I moved to Southern California in the early 90s, when I was driving in Van Nuys when suddenly I found myself driving alongside Steven Spielberg, with two motorcycle police riding alongside each other in front of us. "Tropic Thunder" is in fact connected to Spielberg, in that, though produced by Stuart Cornfeld and made by Red Hour, the film company Stuart runs with Ben Stiller, it is also a presentation of Spielberg's film company, "Dreamworks". However, at this point I do not yet know whether I should presume that there have been any clear manifestations that my presence in Delano has been identified by Hollywood. In fact, Eric Clapton (or his double) had not yet driven by in the police car.
This is when Jennifer Aniston drives by (90% likelihood), which brings to mind various things, including the fact that she, and people with whom she has been associated, have worked a number of times with Ben Stiller and people he has been associated with. This caused me to say out loud to myself, "That is Jennifer Aniston". When I am speaking out loud to myself, depending on my mood, I apply different standards with regard to what is valid to say out loud. Though my standards were quite high at that moment, I said something out loud to myself for which admittedly I felt there only to be a 90% likelihood (perhaps 96%). A few cars later, a bald woman drove by, which immediately made it a certainty that I was meant to perceive the 90% likelihood of Jennifer Aniston as a 100% likelihood. Because a bald woman makes one such as myself immediately think of a "Friends" episode and few other things, specifically, the one wherein the Jennifer Aniston character convinces the date of the David Schwimmer character to render herself bald (naturally it also brings to mind women going through chemo, but this does not knock the "Friends" episode out of the small set of immediate associations produced). This caused me to wonder why that episode was being brought to mind, as it is normally the pattern in these matters (I speak from great experience) for there to be a specific reason. It was then (and once again, not as the result of the power of suggestion) that I remembered that it was Ben "Tropic Thunder" Stiller's wife, Christine Taylor, who played that bald woman.
Delano's Speed And Tinted Car Window Limit
I might or might not be remiss were I to neglect mentioning the possible citing of Aniston ex, Vince Vaughn (18% likelihood), as wel as the possible citing of Aniston's TV ex, David Schwimmer (30%). I should mention here that years ago I thought I saw Eric Clapton driving a distinctive, expensive black sports car, and that on a separate occasion years ago I thought I saw David Schwimmer also driving such a car. Furthermore, it was not unlike a vehicle I once thought I saw Paul Newman driving. And yet another time, it even seemed possible that I saw this car being driven in California by someone who I worked with in New York City, someone who Regis Philbin had once introduced himself to, which led to other things.
A Break From Delano
I cannot say that these occurrences worked up an appetite, nevertheless at some point I went to a restaurant. I had to wait a while for a table, and found, among the collection of people waiting for tables, a group of mentally challenged people. I had to see this in relation to the aforementioned "Tropic Thunder" TV premiere coming up later that day.
I also bring this restaurant into things because of something that happened to me there which, though perhaps common practice, is not something I have encountered before: my waiter told me he was going on a ten-minute break, and so someone else would temporarily be my waiter. Those familiar with the TV show "Friends" will know why this word, "break", on this day, if from out of left-field when used, might lead one's mind to a particular place. Nevertheless, I do not believe my waiter was cheating on Jennifer Aniston during that ten minutes, nor do I believe he would have been even if he.... but perhaps I digress.
War and Pieces
I made a videoclip that I posted with my August 13, 2008 blog showing how a producer I met in 1975 when he was attending AFI, Stuart Cornfeld, like many in Hollywood, makes significant references in his work to me/my material. Unfortunately, when my external hard drive turned into a piece of garbage I lost my copy of that videclip, and so I cannot edit onto that videoclip, i.e., create a single, larger picture. What I can also do is provide a link to the blog where that videoclip is posted (as I have done previously, including earlier in today's blog), and ask you to put new clips together with that videoclip - in your mind (I believe this will someday replace all forms of editing):
That one goes precisely at the end of the other videoclip, as I instruct. This next one also belongs in a precise spot in the other videoclip, immediately after the Droog section:
There may have been other things in "Tropic Thunder" that I am not focusing on. For example, Cornfeld generally relates to the CalArts 1973-74 film class movie I was involved in, "Limbo", including a moment when a character has a gorilla mask that he cannot remove. This has something in common with Thunder's Simple Jack. The panda head on Stiller's head similarly connects to this. And so I write of these without incorporating them into videoclips, as a way to sort-of include that which I would not totally include (this is my subtle hint that instead of including me by people driving by so that I can thread them together into a larger thing, perhaps we can give me a big box with 25 million dollars and credit me while featuring my creative work and stuff like that, not that officially being an administrative specialist is too degrading a thing to make out of someone as vital and great and important as me).
Raindrops Threaded Together
First and most important, I've brought my work-in-progress song to a stage where it is now an actual song (sez me). "Raindrops Threaded Together (June 5, 2009 version)" was completed June 5th (Pacific Time - archive.org, the site at which I posted it, counts it by EST time, and so the June 6th "timestamp"). Interestingly, I discovered after the posting that June 5th is the anniversary of George Harrison's "Somewhere In England", an album on which I had a degree of (as usual, unacknowledged) influence, including influence on the song, "All Those Years Ago". You would actually have to hear both songs to know why I count it as interesting.
Delano And Friends
Some of us will always remember the unforgettable (and I know I'm not out on a limb by considering something unforgettable worth always remembering.... but I digress) live album from way back, "On Tour - Delano And Bonnie And Friends With Eric Clapton", which, according to music history, brought together most of the people who played on George Harrison's historic, "All Things Must Pass".
So I'm driving around in the farm country of Delano, California yesterday (Saturday, June 6th), when I see a sheriff's car (or some other kind of police car) being driven by Eric Clapton, or someone who had a 65% chance of being Eric Clapton (under certain driving conditions one must assign a percentage of likelihood to such occurrences, instead of being absolute about what one sees). Later I looked up where in the world Clapton was supposed to be, and "coincidentally" June 5th was his last concert until June 20th, i.e., a break in his schedule had just begun. I should add that I have had a certain degree of influence on certain Clapton product at various times over the years.
To see Clapton driving a sheriff's car, this of course brings to mind the song Clapton had a huge hit with, "I Shot The Sheriff". It being that a somewhat major current news story is whether or not David Carradine killed himself, one might conjecture how Mr. I Shot The Sheriff driving a sheriff's car might feed that discussion. One might also wonder how that night's TV premium channel Saturday Night premiere of producer Stuart Cornfeld's "Tropic Thunder" might fit in with that - but more on that particular TV premiere later in this blog.
Delano And Earlimart
So I'm driving around in the farm country of Delano (as previously mentioned), and suddenly I see someone who looks like Jason "Earl" Lee (72% likelihood), star of the sitcom I created, "My Name Is Earl" (recently cancelled by NBC, though it is conjectured that another company will save it) driving a truck. Sure enough, I soon see a sign directing me to the town of Earlimart. And while I know there was no "power of suggestion" involved, as I saw "Earl" prior to the sign, I appreciate that you do not have the vantage point of knowing this. In fact, as far as you're concerned, I could have spent the day in London and made up the whole thing. However, there are also those who have gone over those things which I can prove, and so might therefore be less inclined to question every word I say (please permit me to just take one brief moment to say to those people who have put together the truth: am I not totally amazing?).
Delano And Friends Again
So I'm driving around in the farm country of Delano (as you may recall), when for a moment I see driving by someone who looks a titch like Stuart Cornfeld (14% likelihood), which reminds me of something I consider important, the fact that a movie he produced, "Tropic Thunder", has its Saturday night TV premium channel premiere later that day. Also related to this, a little bit later in Delano I see two motorcyclists riding alongside each other. This has the effect of bringing back to me the time, approximately one week after I moved to Southern California in the early 90s, when I was driving in Van Nuys when suddenly I found myself driving alongside Steven Spielberg, with two motorcycle police riding alongside each other in front of us. "Tropic Thunder" is in fact connected to Spielberg, in that, though produced by Stuart Cornfeld and made by Red Hour, the film company Stuart runs with Ben Stiller, it is also a presentation of Spielberg's film company, "Dreamworks". However, at this point I do not yet know whether I should presume that there have been any clear manifestations that my presence in Delano has been identified by Hollywood. In fact, Eric Clapton (or his double) had not yet driven by in the police car.
This is when Jennifer Aniston drives by (90% likelihood), which brings to mind various things, including the fact that she, and people with whom she has been associated, have worked a number of times with Ben Stiller and people he has been associated with. This caused me to say out loud to myself, "That is Jennifer Aniston". When I am speaking out loud to myself, depending on my mood, I apply different standards with regard to what is valid to say out loud. Though my standards were quite high at that moment, I said something out loud to myself for which admittedly I felt there only to be a 90% likelihood (perhaps 96%). A few cars later, a bald woman drove by, which immediately made it a certainty that I was meant to perceive the 90% likelihood of Jennifer Aniston as a 100% likelihood. Because a bald woman makes one such as myself immediately think of a "Friends" episode and few other things, specifically, the one wherein the Jennifer Aniston character convinces the date of the David Schwimmer character to render herself bald (naturally it also brings to mind women going through chemo, but this does not knock the "Friends" episode out of the small set of immediate associations produced). This caused me to wonder why that episode was being brought to mind, as it is normally the pattern in these matters (I speak from great experience) for there to be a specific reason. It was then (and once again, not as the result of the power of suggestion) that I remembered that it was Ben "Tropic Thunder" Stiller's wife, Christine Taylor, who played that bald woman.
Delano's Speed And Tinted Car Window Limit
I might or might not be remiss were I to neglect mentioning the possible citing of Aniston ex, Vince Vaughn (18% likelihood), as wel as the possible citing of Aniston's TV ex, David Schwimmer (30%). I should mention here that years ago I thought I saw Eric Clapton driving a distinctive, expensive black sports car, and that on a separate occasion years ago I thought I saw David Schwimmer also driving such a car. Furthermore, it was not unlike a vehicle I once thought I saw Paul Newman driving. And yet another time, it even seemed possible that I saw this car being driven in California by someone who I worked with in New York City, someone who Regis Philbin had once introduced himself to, which led to other things.
A Break From Delano
I cannot say that these occurrences worked up an appetite, nevertheless at some point I went to a restaurant. I had to wait a while for a table, and found, among the collection of people waiting for tables, a group of mentally challenged people. I had to see this in relation to the aforementioned "Tropic Thunder" TV premiere coming up later that day.
I also bring this restaurant into things because of something that happened to me there which, though perhaps common practice, is not something I have encountered before: my waiter told me he was going on a ten-minute break, and so someone else would temporarily be my waiter. Those familiar with the TV show "Friends" will know why this word, "break", on this day, if from out of left-field when used, might lead one's mind to a particular place. Nevertheless, I do not believe my waiter was cheating on Jennifer Aniston during that ten minutes, nor do I believe he would have been even if he.... but perhaps I digress.
War and Pieces
I made a videoclip that I posted with my August 13, 2008 blog showing how a producer I met in 1975 when he was attending AFI, Stuart Cornfeld, like many in Hollywood, makes significant references in his work to me/my material. Unfortunately, when my external hard drive turned into a piece of garbage I lost my copy of that videclip, and so I cannot edit onto that videoclip, i.e., create a single, larger picture. What I can also do is provide a link to the blog where that videoclip is posted (as I have done previously, including earlier in today's blog), and ask you to put new clips together with that videoclip - in your mind (I believe this will someday replace all forms of editing):
That one goes precisely at the end of the other videoclip, as I instruct. This next one also belongs in a precise spot in the other videoclip, immediately after the Droog section:
There may have been other things in "Tropic Thunder" that I am not focusing on. For example, Cornfeld generally relates to the CalArts 1973-74 film class movie I was involved in, "Limbo", including a moment when a character has a gorilla mask that he cannot remove. This has something in common with Thunder's Simple Jack. The panda head on Stiller's head similarly connects to this. And so I write of these without incorporating them into videoclips, as a way to sort-of include that which I would not totally include (this is my subtle hint that instead of including me by people driving by so that I can thread them together into a larger thing, perhaps we can give me a big box with 25 million dollars and credit me while featuring my creative work and stuff like that, not that officially being an administrative specialist is too degrading a thing to make out of someone as vital and great and important as me).
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Stay Tuned To Something
All those who, in search of a reference to the idea for Conan O'Brien that I presented in my May 30th blog, turned their eyes June 1st to Conan O'Brien's first night hosting "The Tonight Show" - you may have been on the wrong channel:
I do not know whether Tom Hanks was making an inside-reference for my benefit on Conan's second "Tonight Show". I do know a conversation I had in 1978 with someone I knew from CalArts led to the premise of his 1980 weekly sitcom, "Bosom Buddies". In fact, well before that conversation, the woman with whom I had the conversation went through a period of designating everyone her buddy - she had her "pool buddy", her "clothes buddy" - I once gave her a Sudafed sinus tablet, for which I received the short-lived designation of being her "Sudafed Buddy". I could provide more details about that conversation's proximity to people connected with Hanks' show, but - some other time. As for Hanks' potential reference on Conan for my benefit: well, firstly he talked a lot about giving Conan a nickname that might stick. This made me think of the Marx Bros., because a right-hand assistant to Groucho Marx whom I knew at CalArts, Henry Golas (star of my video, "How Did The Future Learn To Play Monopoly?"), once gave me the nickname, "Stingray", because it was my answer to the question, "What do you think of as the ideal car to drive?" (the night before Conan did a segment on his super-cool car that makes him super-cool, a 1992 Ford Taurus). And who epitomizes nicknames more than the Marx Bros. (I reject the theory that their mother named them Chico, Harpo, Groucho and Zeppo)? Sure enough, Hanks later got in the name Chico Marx somewhere along the way. This also related to the titles of my previous two blogs, "Swordfish" and "Haddock". Then again, couldn't it easily be said that I was looking too hard for an inside-reference from Hanks, owing to his having provided me a few on the season finale of SNL? So, T. Hanks but no T. Hanks.
I do not know whether Tom Hanks was making an inside-reference for my benefit on Conan's second "Tonight Show". I do know a conversation I had in 1978 with someone I knew from CalArts led to the premise of his 1980 weekly sitcom, "Bosom Buddies". In fact, well before that conversation, the woman with whom I had the conversation went through a period of designating everyone her buddy - she had her "pool buddy", her "clothes buddy" - I once gave her a Sudafed sinus tablet, for which I received the short-lived designation of being her "Sudafed Buddy". I could provide more details about that conversation's proximity to people connected with Hanks' show, but - some other time. As for Hanks' potential reference on Conan for my benefit: well, firstly he talked a lot about giving Conan a nickname that might stick. This made me think of the Marx Bros., because a right-hand assistant to Groucho Marx whom I knew at CalArts, Henry Golas (star of my video, "How Did The Future Learn To Play Monopoly?"), once gave me the nickname, "Stingray", because it was my answer to the question, "What do you think of as the ideal car to drive?" (the night before Conan did a segment on his super-cool car that makes him super-cool, a 1992 Ford Taurus). And who epitomizes nicknames more than the Marx Bros. (I reject the theory that their mother named them Chico, Harpo, Groucho and Zeppo)? Sure enough, Hanks later got in the name Chico Marx somewhere along the way. This also related to the titles of my previous two blogs, "Swordfish" and "Haddock". Then again, couldn't it easily be said that I was looking too hard for an inside-reference from Hanks, owing to his having provided me a few on the season finale of SNL? So, T. Hanks but no T. Hanks.
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