The Secret Is Out There

One Man's Poison Is Another Man's Historical TV Show Episode
Now that "24" is in the past, about six minutes in the past, I feel I've let enough time go by to share something that happened on the show 12 minutes before it was over.

You may first want to bear in mind that, unless my eyes deceived me, Kiefer Sutherland drove by me the day they announced the show was over (see my blog of that day); and the star of "House" drove by me a hundred miles from L.A. the day a USA Today article on "24" described one of the reasons given for ending the show was to have a better lead-in for "House" (see my blog of that day). Also, I've occasionally mentioned "24" in my blogs at various other times - to research, go to archive.org and find where I've posted several volumes of my collected blogs ("Jonathan D. Steinhoff's Sometimes Blog, Volume 1", etc.), and do a word search - or just rummage around here at Blogspot for the original blog postings.

It had recently occurred to me that, with this somewhat special "24" attention I was getting, it seemed a little out of the ordinary that so much time had gone by since they had made an inside-reference to my material. This made it seem more likely that they were waiting for the final episode. And sure enough, I have come to the objective conclusion that this is exactly what happened.

Twelve minutes before the end, as they were taking away that woman who was at CTU working on behalf of that former president who reminds me of Nixon, she said something that immediately brought to mind my 1978 CalArts video, "How Did The Future Learn To Play Monopoly," which I've also mentioned here and there in a few blogs. "Take your hands off of me," she shouted as they were leading her away in handcuffs. It was very close to the way the star of my video, Henry Golas (who was once Groucho Marx' right hand), intoned the words, "Take your grubby hands off of me," as they were leading him away to be tortured.

So I started to think. Because this is the exact kind of short-hand used to put my mind on track with something, which then leads me to something else, which they had waiting for me. It would not count as a reference in and of itself, that would be way too thin. Unless there was some other thing that belonged alongside it, so that, cumulatively, they would be revealed as having deliberately brought something in particular to mind.

But what? And then it became obvious, and clearly the point, and clearly one I had discovered through objective thought, rather than by some stretch.

In "How Did The Future Learn To Play Monopoly," we find a future scenario in which only one person alive still knows how to play Monopoly (trademark Parker Bros.). And so they must make him talk, they have to make him talk. They have the Monopoly board, the Monopoly pieces - it must be made to work. But he doesn't want to talk. In his words, "It's a terrible game! A horrible game!" He did not want the seed of the precepts of capitalism to reenter this future world through the gate of knowledge that was the rules of how to play Monopoly (trademark Parker Bros.), - at least, that is one take on the significance of his resolve not to release the secret. So they take him to a room and begin chanting over and over, "We wanna play Monopoly! We wanna play Monopoly!" Until finally, he cracks. "Alright! I'll teach you! Just stop torturing me!" he shouts. This is the one work of mine that contains an unmistakable parallel (semi-parallel) to the thing about "24" that has made that show so controversial.

That's My Story And They're Sticking To Something That's Not Entirely Different, At Least In Terms Of The Idea For The Title
In 1978 I gave a copy of "How Did The Future Learn To Play Monopoly" to then non-producer Sean Daniel, who was the first person who told me of the school I had just graduated from, CalArts. At the time he was Universal's spokesman for the first Robert Zemeckis movie, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". When Zemeckis later made "Back To The Future," wherein the movie title camps up confusion of past and present tenses owing to "future" being in the title, I knew why it reminded me of, "How Did The Future Learn To Play Monopoly." But that's another story.

Did You See That

It was my day off, I'm happily in the middle of nowhere, and there's Hugh Laurie of the TV show, "House", or at least someone who could earn a living looking like Hugh Laurie. Within the past fifteen minutes I've already seen someone who brought to mind a girl I knew named Laurie. So it's quite clear to me someone wants me on that page, whatever page that may be. Being secretly super-important, I am no stranger to people going to certain lengths to get me onto a certain page. I continue along, wondering what this Hugh Laurie stuff is about. I threw around some possible reasons but came up with nothing. I don't even watch the show.

A newspaper vending machine shows that day's USA Today contains an article on "24", and naturally I've already decided to purchase a copy before the day is over. The show's just been canceled, and I blogged (March 28th) about Kiefer Sutherland, that show's star, deliberately choosing to drive by me on the day that important announcement was made (March 26th), it being that I'm secretly super-important. Of course I would be buying USA Today, anyone could see that.

And so the inevitable happens - I get around to buying USA Today, and read the article. And that's when I find out why Hugh Laurie or someone who could earn a living looking like Hugh Laurie drove by me (slowly making a turn in front of me with his window rolled down so I was provided a good look). The article about "24" states several reasons for the cancellation:

"....and the network wants to build new shows in the key Monday time slot behind hit medical drama House."

House = Hugh Laurie.

Notwithstanding the fact that "24" is actually on immediately following "House", making this statement a minor head-scratcher, it seems that they've made Hugh Laurie the new man of the hour (or minute), the person momentarily assigned the task of absorbing some of the blame.

I myself do not believe for a moment that decisions of that nature are made the way the article described. What I do believe is that it helps the public to be provided with a set of different explanations for the decision, any or all of which may or may not be partly true. It diffuses the responsibility of the decision, a rather large decision if you see things of this type as affecting an important part of our collective spirit. I've already gone on about the importance I attach to "24" in my March 28th blog - I don't happen to have the strength just now to go there all over again. I'm sure you know what I mean, and you don't, and you think I'm making all this up about who I am and what I see and when. And you don't. [Different font colors used for different uses of the word "you" to denote different types of people. The French have two words for "you", but we're in mixed company, so let's just leave it there.]

Simmer, Cool, Simmer Again, Whatever

Julie, Julia, Clerp, Jerp, and Amy
The following videoclip, which includes our first introduction to Amy Adams' Julie character in the 2009 movie, "Julie and Julia" (now available on TV for the first time on "Starz On Demand-Early Premieres"), should be filed under my March 21st blog (two blogs ago), in the section, "Pavlov's Chef":




Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Fire
A person I've referred to here and there in previous blogs, Kiefer Sutherland, again drove past me. It was while I was on my way to work Friday, March 26th. I am nearly certain it was he, despite the sunglasses and semi-upbeat expression.

His face divulged nothing about a bombshell that was about to be dropped on the world later that day, not that the explosion would have been preventable even if I had foreknowledge: "24" has been canceled. Jack Bauer will not live forever - at least in terms of new episodes of "24" (after this season). I also read that there may be a movie. I think back to the expression on his face for some indication of exactly how dead Bauer might be for Sutherland, but as I find myself unable to visualize ketchup splattered about, it is difficult for me to envision death and Jack Bauer next to each other to the extent that it is now so.

We have been left with a serious void on the landscape of our shared, common focus on matters related to terrorism against the U.S. Do not underestimate the value of a singularly iconic fictitious character of this variety at this point in the history of the world, particularly when one considers the degree to which we as a society have come to use the medium of theater to digest events that would otherwise be too difficult, perhaps even impossible to wrap our hearts and minds around.

We can come together over nobody in particular when we say here comes the sun, we may never need a sun king to say "here comes the" about, but we are not so good at not having a human to focus on when real events turn us towards this side of reality, and occurrences that could conceivably lead to the end of reality itself. I don't see anyone coming close to a Jack Bauer, just a whole lot of James Bonds, Sherlock Holmeses and what not.

On the bright side, Sutherland is now free to do a sequel to "Dark City" - though I have the feeling I'm alone in thinking along those lines.

It's Just Another Vote
Several days ago on my way home from work, at about 5:30pm, about 30 minutes before the final reconciliation vote on healthcare reform (after the House passed the healthcare legislation and after the Senate then passed the agreed-to reconciliation amendments and then the amendments went back to the House - I believe this was Thursday, March 25th), "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart may or may not have driven past me. The show has been on vacation this past week, so it was definitely possible for him to be in Southern California. Also, as occasionally referred to in previous blogs, over the years I have occasionally been an influence on his and Colbert's show, sometimes to no small degree. He appeared very serious. And his hair was not slicked down as one normally expects when looking at Jon Stewart. I don't think his was searching his mind for a punchline just then. Then again, it could have just been someone whose job it is to bring Jon Stewart to someone's mind at the precise right moment. I get a lot of that.

One On One
Ben Stiller, whose appearance at the recent Oscars was largely in relation to my "Gosk 2" video (see my March 13th blog), drove by me yesterday (March 27th), while his two recent late-night talk show appearances made no inside-references for my benefit (of which I am aware). I think that puts things where I'm supposed to.... no, can't say I know exactly.

The late-night talk show appearance in February by Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton's wife, on Craig Ferguson's show did make inside "Gosk" references for my benefit. These references to "Gosk" were not even close to being as clearly delineated as Burton's "Gosk" references in "Alice In Wonderland" (see my my March 16th and March 21st blogs). I do not feel that husbands and wives should be considered contractually obligated to be identical in the degree to which they make references to "Gosk", nevertheless, I will not permit Carter's references to dilute the intensity of Burton's references, and will therefore confine myself here to this general a description of her action.

Regis Philbin's recent late-night talk show appearance on Ferguson made absolutely no inside-reference for my benefit of the variety I have come to expect, though Ferguson isn't Letterman, which is where/who this normally can be relied upon. Is this non-relationship over? If so, I do not yet feel the void, and for now will make no assumptions.

Face To Face
Immediately after I emailed someone (a fellow CalArts alumni, aka a "CalArtian") asking what gives with Tim Burton and his Steinhoff references in "Alice In Wonderland", where's my $11.23 (I did the math and decided I was at least entitled to enough money to purchase 9.2 chocolate bars), I received an invitation to be the Facebook friend of someone else, someone I hadn't spoken with in about 30 or more years, and a non-CalArtian. Adding this person as a Facebook friend required that I logon to my Facebook page for the first time in about half-a-year. This caused me to see that another CalArtian I knew (different CalArtian) had visited my Facebook page, indicated to me by way of that privacy-violating way Facebook has of showing Facebook users this like it or not. This led me to feeling inclined to look up that particular CalArtian on Facebook and the listing of her Facebook friends - which included Tim Burton. I suppose it is a given that when Tim Burton uses your material in a big way in "Alice In Wonderland", trails of breadcrumbs are headed your way. Now send me a trail of breadcrumbs I would want to follow more directly, please.

People Keep Entering The Theatre In The Middle Of The Movie That Is Our Life And Then Think They Know What's Going On As If It's A Movie

So I'm watching a "Matlock" from way back in time and blueberry stains under the mat of some guy's car mean the Black guy didn't do it. Isn't that exactly it? Those of us in bad need of a person who can spend the time finding the blueberry stains under the mat and then showing the significance of this so that we can be set free know what I'm talking about. And what about if the guy had thrown away the mat so that no one could ever find it? It boggles the mind - the very thought should send some form of fear into the hearts of all decent people. It HAPPENS.

I don't expect anyone to do the real due diligence needed to find out what entitles my following conjecture. Many would think it pointless for me to even express this conjecture. So what if it might actually be true, what's the point, if it might not be? Where does it leave me, if those a million miles from ever researching me, or ever knowing the true upshots of such research, are left with a poor impression of my grasp of reality? Well, for one thing, it might be true, I do not know, but what I do know is that it is considerably more likely than it would seem to many. And it might regard The Beatles. And if I don't say it, who will?

I know that a story I wrote in 1965, "Endless Voyage," had a major influence on certain Beatles songs, and led to a continuing interest in me by the ex-Beatles over the years, not dying in the past, but instead including even very recent actions by Paul McCartney. And if the following conjecture should prove to be true, should it be that Mr. McCartney must never see the day that it all became apparent enough to me to actually put it down on paper?

I SEEM TO REMEMBER
On my way to work today, Kiefer Sutherland, whom I've occasionally seen and whose work (and whose father's work) has occasionally been influenced by me, drove by me. Reasonably certain it was he.

Later today, when I saw last night's Letterman, which I had recorded, I started to have a Kiefer - Sutherland - in - the - movie -"Dark City" moment. I am referring to how, in "Dark City", the character he plays enters the memory of another character, so that the other character sees his own entire life from early childhood on as one in which Sutherland made recurring appearances, moments that connect to each other, for the purpose of mentoring him, all towards preparation for the single moment when he would need to be equal to defeating the bad guys in the present.

Way back in the last paragraph I told you that something might have happened on Letterman last night. It was when Letterman said, "Pretty boy Clooney", in reference to George Clooney. I once owned a parakeet named "Pretty Boy". And when Bruce Willis was on Letterman two days earlier (Monday's show), between commercials the Letterman announcer said something about parrots. This was a moment that stood out for me, as I saw it as possibly being in relation to something I describe in my March 13, 2009 blog (see page 92 of Vol. 1 of my blogs, posted at Archive.Org). There I connect something regarding Bruce Willis to something regarding a cockateel (a bird very similar to parrots and parakeets, as they are domesticated pet birds that sometimes perch on people's shoulders). Given the gravity of what I was connecting way back on March 13th, and given that Letterman and Willis sometimes do things in relation to me, together and individually, and given etc., looking at this as a possible inside-reference made for my benefit, by mentioning parrots on this particular night, did not strike me as out of the question. Add to that my "Pavlovian" response (has to do with dogs salivating, look it up) to "Pretty Boy" two days later.

PRETTY BOY AND STAYING CLOSE TO HOME
In 1965, when I was nine, I owned a green parakeet named Pretty Boy, as well as a blue parakeet named Polly. One day when Pretty Boy was out of the cage, he managed to escape from our house. He flew way, way high up above the trees, circling wildly, and it didn't seem that I would ever see Pretty Boy again. As I recall, though it is not a totally vivid recollection in every respect, we took the cage with Polly in it and brought it outside. Somehow, over about an hour that seemed like ten, we managed to get Pretty Boy back into the cage.

A fairly short time after this incident, a Beatles song came out called, "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". Obviously "bird" was meant to be seen as a reference to a girl, and obviously people are generally familiar with the idea of birds flying away. However, there certainly have been times when people, especially people such as John Lennon, are known to have said things for more than one, two or three reasons.

A fairly short time after this, a Beatles song came out entitled, "And Your Bird Can Sing," about a green bird, a pet, the song including the idea of being brought down and awoken by the bird being broken.

The cover of the Beatles album containing "And Your Bird Can Sing," which was entitled "Yesterday And Today," depicted Paul McCartney inside an open steamer trunk. Not entirely unlike the idea of a person being caged/imprisoned, yet not sealed inside this "cage".

Many, many, many years later, on the album, "Double Fantasy," John Lennon does a song entitled, "Beautiful Boy," sure to cause a Pavlovian response in a person who once knew Pretty Boy. No Pretty Boy Floyd jokes, please, I already get that Pretty Boy is not a totally one-of-a-kind name - however, it is nevertheless relatively rare.

In the song, "Beautiful Boy," Lennon sings, "Out on the ocean, sailing away," with an intonation that lends itself to an emotion not dissimilar from someone whose bird is flying away.

Pretty Boy flying away, Beautiful Boy sailing away.

Among the million different levels to everything on "Double Fantasy," among the things that can be said about the album cover would be that it has John and Yoko outside their home, about to travel further from their home (waiting for a traffic light), yet still not too far from their home.

During the '90s, the three then-living Beatles took a work-in-progress song left behind by Lennon, "Free As A Bird", and created the first "Beatles" song in over 20 years.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to Kiefer Sutherland for driving by.