Christmas Mistake, Where Do You Go?, Unreal Reality

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of November 24, 2013


My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

Unreal Reality                                                                                                        

So let’s start off today with a question.  Pretty simple one really.  If you were signed to appear in a reality show, a reality show that was about the work you do, what would you expect?  Doesn’t really matter what you do, the show is about the line of work you’re in rather than about you.  So we’re talking “Deadliest Catch” (which is about crab fishing in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska) versus say “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” (which is about God only knows what).

Well, if you’re like a lot of the folks on these shows you might forget who, or rather what, is the center of the show.  I probably can’t blame them too much.  There you are on the screen, endlessly re-running, with an introduction that might even include your own little “nickname” (“The Hustler”, “The King”).  Oh and the fans!  You will have fans.  Fans who will argue about if you are the best part of the show or the worst.

It has to go to your head eventually.

Which explains a lot of the hubbub over at “Storage Wars”.  If you don’t know the show it’s about the folks who bid to clear out storage lockers after people default on their rentals.  I was a dedicated viewer for a while but the problem is that it all starts to look alike after a while.  The variety is in the personalities of the “cast”.  

So it was no doubt a huge surprise to a couple of the “stars” of the series when the network gave them the axe.  What choice did the producers have though?  You can’t fire the storage lockers.  So once things started to go stale you have only way to make changes.  You rotate out the cast members and replace them with someone who will bring some new schtick to the program.

Which brings us back to the original question?  What would you expect if it were you?  Just in case let me give you a model to follow.  Check Chumlee on the reality show “Pawn Stars”.  He commonly plays the “village idiot” on the show but reports are that he is stashing away the money he makes from doing personal appearances and has founded his own company to market various Chumlee novelties.  Chumlee seems to have figured out that fame in the reality TV game has a shelf life and is making the best of his time in the spotlight.

Turns out the “village idiot” may the smartest guy on TV.  Not the answer you expected, was it?

Where Do You Go?                                                                                                 

More and more of us spend more and more of our time online.  Whether it’s at a desktop computer, a laptop, tablet or on our smartphone we are spending more time keeping in touch with our world virtually.  That means different things for different people.  For some it’s various social media sites.  For others its some form of old school information sites like news, sports and weather.  Add in e-mail, text messages and more and you get the idea.  We spend a LOT of time in the digital universe.

So where do you spend most of your time?  Our browsers, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, Explorer, whatever, probably tell the story pretty clearly.  Most of us take the chance to make sure we can get to our favorite sites as easily as possible.  You do this by having your browser open to some of those sites in tabs and the rest can be placed on your Favorites bar.  So what would it say us, if we took a look at the stuff we want at easy access?

I offer mine as an example.  My primary browser is Chrome.  When I fire it up it gives my home page at igHome where I can scan news, sports and weather at a glance.  Next it is Facebook, then my blog feeds on Feedly and finally my to do list at Toodledo.  Pretty straight forward stuff.

Under that on the Favorites bar you’ll find links to both Blogger and WordPress for my two blogs (including the one for this program), then a link to MyDrive from Google because that’s where I do things like write these program scripts,  next comes Dropbox where I put the recorded versions of this program so WRFA can download them.  After that is my Netflix link (gotta keep my queue up to date), then MapMyRide to track my workouts (that one doesn’t get used as often as it should).  Finally you’ll my link to HootSuite, the application I use to control my social media posts, Google Play for when I need to have a little music in my life.  Last but not least is PhotoSig, a photo web site that I enjoy and don’t use nearly as much as I’d like.

So what would you learn about me by looking at my browser?  Well, about half of the items are related to the media, and about half of them are related to this program.  Yeah, that worries me a little.  I am both a media consumer and a content provider.

And I probably should work out more.

So where do you go?

Christmas Mistake                                                                                                                   

A couple times over the last few years I’ve taken some time to talk about my favorite Christmas movies.  Now because I’m allegedly very cranky on the subject of when Christmas media like music and movies should first start airing I will not start my annual viewing for another week.  However it’s not too early to start TALKING about the subject.

For this year I offer first some bad news and then some good news.  The bad news is that there are folks out there with no respect and no sense. These are the folks proposing to do a sequel of the Frank Capra classic “It’s A Wonderful Life”.  Worse than that it sounds like they are proposing a really bad sequel.  

My first thought when I read the story was that it was a fake.  But it was reported in “Variety” and several other respected sources seem to indicate that this bad idea is true.  The story says that they are proposing a script where Jimmy Stewart’s character “George Bailey”’s grandson, also named George Bailey, is visited by an angel to show him what the world would be like if Bailey redux had never been born.  That would be bad enough but the latter generation George is an unpleasant person apparently.

Then there’s the stunt casting.  Stunt casting is when you bring in a “name” actor to make an appearance in a movie or TV show.  Think, most of William Shatner’s career.  In this case the actor who played Zuzu Bailey in the original is to play the angel this time.

Feeling nauseated yet?  I could go on but it just makes me crazy.

The good news in all of this is that Paramount still owns the rights to “It’s A Wonderful Life” and all the characters.  They’ve issued a statement that they will block any attempt to make a sequel of any kind.  Let’s hope that they stick to that position.  At the same time it’s called the movie “business” for a reason.

Now if you really want a different take on“It’s A Wonderful Life” I can make a recommendation.  Check out a book called “The Last Temptation of Clarence Odbody” by John “Jughead” Pierson.  Warning, it’s a completely different take on the story.  But it’s pretty interesting.

And that’s all I ask for at Christmas.  Something interesting under the tree.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Movie Review - Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot (1959) - Set in Prohibition two musicians flee Chicago to avoid the threat of the mob after seeing  a St. Valentine's Day Massacre style murder. They flee to Florida dressed as women in an all girl band.  One of the funniest movies of all times ensues.

Where to even start with this one?  Written and directed by one of the greats of all time, Billy Wilder.  A cast that is top flight from top to bottom.  Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon (who would win an Oscar nomination for this role) top the billing with equally fabulous actors in supporting roles (George Raft, Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien, Nehemiah Persoff).  Wilder's writing is sparkling as always and holds up amazingly well.  In it's time it was very controversial because of the cross dressing aspect of the story line. It was condemned by the National League of Decency and banned in Kansas.  Eventually it was one of the reasons that the archaic Production Code was eliminated.

Wilder has his usual fun taking shots at the powerful, Monroe is at her sultry sexiest.  Lemmon and Curtis are perfectly paired and handle the tempo of Wilder's dialogue with amazing skill.  The whole movie is just a text book example of the movie making art.  The sequences that switch from Curtis and Monroe on the yacht to Lemmon and Brown on the tango floor are fabulous.

There's a reason this one is considered a classic.  Actually there's a whole list of reasons.

Rating ***** Gotta Have It

NaNoWriMo Update

The logo for NaNoWriMo

I am trying to keep a little bit of an update going on this.

Here we are so bold and optimistic at the beginning of the month.

And Here is at the end of Week One.  Clearly this is going to be a struggle.

You'll note no update on Week Two.  Yeah, a struggle.

Well now Week Three is in the bag.  And I have to face some grim reality.

I'm not going to make the 50,000 word goal.  Right now getting half way there will be a struggle.

And that's OK.  This has been a tough month.  Tough on the writing front and tough in the real life front as well.  Lots of time on the road.  Which means I'm not anywhere that I can write and I get home wiped out.  Not a good writing place.  So I haven't put up the kind of numbers I'd like.

But what's come out of this has been something else.  I have no intention of quitting.  I will write when I can.  I'll put up as many words as I can.  What I have managed to produce has been pretty good.  I'm filling in holes that need to be filled.  I'm getting closer to finishing this book.

And THAT is the real goal.  The rest is just for fun.

Current word total - 16,093

Day of the Doctor, R.I.P. Blockbuster, Too Much Information

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of November 17, 2013


My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

Too Much Information                                                                                       

There are a lot of us who worry about how much information there is floating around about us out on the internet.  Whether you’re concerned about stalkers or identity thieves or avoiding certain failed romantic entanglements from your past there are a lot of reasons to be watchful over your personal information.  Of course the information that’s floating out there is largely what we’ve put there.  The rest are the public records that become easier and easier to access.

Now some of us will try to hide some of that personal information.  In fact for some people it becomes a bit of a priority.  That’s where those pesky public records come into play.

In this case an actress is very upset with the information that is out there about her.  Specifically, her age.  Like generations of actresses before her Junie Hoang had lied about her age.  Nine years ago she had gone on the website IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) and created a profile for herself.  IMDB has become pretty much the go to website for information about actors in movies and on TV.  Apparently even for folks like casting agents.  So it was important that Ms. Hoang present the version of herself that gave her the best chance of getting work.  So she cut 7 years off her age.  A few years later she decided to just drop the whole birthdate on her profile.  At which point IMDB refused to change the entry unless she could prove it was wrong.  Which she could of course but didn’t want to.  After repeated requests were turned down someone at the website used information from the credit card used to create the account, found out her real name, looked in those troublesome public records and found out her real age.  And then added that information to her profile.

At which point she sued.  The first round went to Amazon owned IMDB but the actress is appealing the verdict.

The reality is that Hollywood plays unfair games with actresses as they get older.  Junie Hoang has made a career in smaller roles but she’s made a career.  A career that just might be jeopardized because IMDB decided to play holier than thou.  It’s possible that they did nothing wrong under the law.

But the violated one of the unwritten rules of the Internet.  On the Internet you get to be who you want to be.  I’m rooting for Junie on the appeal.

RIP Blockbuster                                                                                                    

Upon occasion we remember the passing of figures in the world of the media.  More often than not they are folks who were cult stars or lesser known behind the scenes types who don’t get the big front page notices when they make their final exit.

Today I thought we’d take a moment to remember a former giant of the media world that had fallen on hard times in the last couple years.  Heck, let’s be honest this star had started fading years ago.  You have to kind of wonder what took so long to shuffle off this mortal coil.

In this case it’s not an actor or special effects magician but the video store chain Blockbuster.  Be honest, when you heard the announcement last week that Dish Network, who bought the chain back in 2011, was closing the last 300 stores was your first thought “There are still Blockbuster Video stores in the world?”?  Yeah, me too.

My second thought was that I kinda missed the old days.  Walking the racks looking for a movie for the weekend always reminded me of checking the stacks in the library.  You never knew what fascinating discovery might be waiting for you.  Some little gem that you’d heard about but never seen or even better something that was totally new to you.  Movie nerd nirvana.

Then I remembered.  That almost never happened.  Why?  Because places like Blockbuster were always aimed at the great middle of the viewing audience.  This is why you would find a dozen copies of whatever had been popular in the last year.  Didn’t matter if it was an utter piece of drivel.  If there were anything really interesting in the collection you could certain of two things.

First, there would only be one copy.  Second, that copy would be checked out already.

So in the end I am not particularly unhappy with the demise of the classic video store.  I have a much wider selection of movies going back decade after decade through services like Netflix than I would have had at every Blockbuster store combined.

For a brief shining moment places like Blockbuster were a great new entry way into the wider world of the movies.  But that moment has come and gone.

Blockbuster Video was 28 years old.

Day of the Doctor                                                                                                                   

Lots of people get crazy about lots of different things.  I work with teens so I see them getting all hot and bothered about their favorite new band, movie star or teen star.  I have a long time friend who is very clear.  Saturdays are off limits.  If you want to come watch college football with him that’s fine, otherwise, pick another day for a visit.

There’s not a lot I get that excited about.  I love sports but I don’t live or die with my teams (which is a good thing since I’m a Pittsburgh Pirates fan), the only college game I must see every year is the Army/Navy game (Go Navy, Beat Army!).  Twenty plus years in music radio pretty took the shine off of most music stars.  I love their work but I’ve watched too many of them crash and burn to put them up on pedestals.

But this weekend there is something coming that does bring a bit of the fan boy out in me.  I haven’t been this excited about a media event in a very long time.  You see Saturday is the Day of the Doctor.  I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of the long running BBC science fiction series “Doctor Who”.  Saturday November 23rd marks the 50th anniversary of the very first episode of the show.  To borrow from the Grateful Dead “What a long strange trip it’s been”.

The truly amazing part of this is that the series has had as long a run as it has.  The original series was intended as a semi-educational family show.  I’m certain no one expected it to become an media icon and a multi-media smash.  The original episodes were so low budget it’s a little embarrassing to watch today.

So why has the show endured?  Why is now on it’s on to its third or fourth generation of viewers?  I discovered the show on PBS while in college.  My daughter was a teenager when the show returned from the dead and she’s now as big a fan as her old man.

Even these cynical days there’s something appealing about a traveller looking to make the world a little better place.  The Doctor believes in the essential value of the human race even when we don’t.  Through his eyes we see our best qualities amid the trials and tribulations of being human.  We see that his eternal optimism endures even the pain and experience of a lifetime that is measured in centuries.

And I think that’s something worth getting excited about.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Book Review - Case Closed

Case Closed by Gerald Posner - (2013 reissue) - There is probably no more compelling mystery in modern American history than the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  Since that day in November of 1963 trying to find the answer to that mystery has generated books, TV shows, movies and more.  The problem is that with each passing year and each addition to the collection the question seems to recede into the murk rather than grow clearer.

My own fascination with the JFK, Oswald, Ruby, the Warren Commission, the Texas School Book Depository, the Grassy Knoll, the Zapruder film and all the other "characters" in this epic began in high school.  Only a decade after the event it was all still seemingly very fresh.  The questions about what exactly the Warren Commission thought it was doing, the "magic bullet", the autopsy reports, the beginnings of the serious conspiracy theories, it was the ultimate mystery to dive head first into.  Thirty years later it lured my daughter into the murky depths of the question of - was Oswald alone?

What journalist Posner has done here is offer the best look at the question I've ever encountered.  He acknowledges the conspiracy theories and takes most of the major ones on head first.  The story follows Oswald step by step.  Everything that we KNOW, meaning that it can be documented or verified by witnesses who are not easily impeached, is laid out before the reader.  When you begin there many of the conspiracy theories quickly fall away.  In the end he presents a clear and compelling case that as much as we don't want to believe it there is only one answer.  Oswald was alone.

I can't remember if this is in the book or in something else I've read recently about the assassination but someone recently pointed out that we don't want to believe that a great man can be brought down by someone as unimpressive as Lee Harvey Oswald.  Great men must be defeated by other great men or by great conspiracies.  Sometimes it is Occam's Razor that will cut to the truth.  The conspiracies require a level of complexity and numbers of conspirators that simply isn't sustainable.  In the end the only answer is a disturbed man who was once a Marine, a much better than average shot in the right place at the wrong time.

The biggest struggle with the book will be Posner himself.  Unfortunately his track record includes some dubious professional decisions at one point in his career.  The best response he can offer is the careful documentation of each point.  Just the way my old high school Geometry teacher required, Posner shows his work.  The result is simply compelling and complete.

I had two problems with the ebook version I read.  Both of them are the result of the publisher staying too true to the style of traditional books.  Posner breaks his footnotes into categories - documentation notes that are technically end notes and detail notes that are treated as foot notes.  The problem is that the foot notes are bunched at the end of each chapter.  So when you complete reading the chapter you have to flip through multiple pages to get to the next chapter.  While you have to do that in a traditional book there is absolutely no excuse for it in an ebook.  The other problem also involves these innumerable notes.  Often something will both kinds, which requires two links.  I found it very annoying to not be able to get the one I wanted without hitting the other one.  Simply adding a space to give a little room for those of us with thicker fingers would have made the experience significantly better.

Beyond that Gerald Posner has written the book that should bring the long discussion to an end for the vast majority of us.  With careful scholarship and clear story telling he delivers just what the title promises.

After many long years the case is closed.

"Case Closed" is available at bookstores right now.

Rating - **** Recommended 

Zooooommmbbbiiessss!, Media Boycotts and Commercials on Parade

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of November 10, 2013

(Somehow these got skipped.  Correcting that now!)

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

Commercials on Parade                                                                                       

Feels like I haven’t gone all fan boy on TV commercials for a while.  And at the moment there are several out there that I really like.  In case you haven’t grasped it yet, I like well made commercials.  

There are a couple of alcoholic beverage commercials that recently caught my eye.  Alcohol is a product that can’t actually advertise on it’s primary benefit.  They can not even wander into the neighborhood of “use our product and we will make you feel goooooooooood”.  So it inevitably becomes about other things.  For example, and this is not an ad campaign that I much like it just strikes me as odd, the folks at Coors are currently running a campaign that centers on the fact that their beer is really cold.  That’s it, just that it’s cold.  OK.  Meanwhile Budweiser is spending lots of time putting a human face on their corporate beer empire by introducing us to the regional brew masters.

Neither of these are the ads that caught my eye.  There are two tequila companies that have chosen almost the exact same approach.  To the point that I didn’t realize they were for two different products.  1800 brand has been going with a single spokesman for a while but they were going for a snarky, pseudo cool thing.  Now they’ve flipped that and gone with Ray Liotta who basically just challenges the manhood of anyone not drinking tequila.  Matching that are the folks at Jose Cuervo with Keifer Sutherland challenging the world to “Have A Story”.  Suddenly tequila is a sophisticated yet macho part of life.  With, of course, no hint of what else may come with a sample or three.

The other ad that has really jumped out at me is the T-Mobile “Jeremy” campaign.  Seems that Jeremy is an young adult son travelling in Europe.  Problem is that Jeremy insists on using data as if he were in the United States and the bill on his parent’s plan is getting enormous.  We learn all this through videos from Jeremy’s parents as they try to get their sons attention.  What really grabs me is that the spots take a fairly nerdy concept (overseas data use) and turn it into something that we can all understand and a situation that makes perfect sense.   That’s really advertising writing at it’s best.

Like a good TV series I can hardly wait to find out what’s next.

Media Boycotts                                                                                                    

I’ve maintained from the beginning with this commentary that I wasn’t going to get into movie reviews and the like.  Too many other people out there doing it.  I’d rather try and offer a starting point for the discussion about the media and its impact on our lives.

Having said that I will begin by saying this commentary begins with me going to see a movie.  I saw “Ender’s Game” based on the book of the same name by Orson Scott Card.  I thought it did an OK job of translating the book, which is a favorite, to the screen.  That’s the end of the movie review.

There’s a lot of noise about boycotting the movie because of some really outrageous comments starting with a threat to overthrow the Federal government if Marriage Equality becomes the law of the land to claiming that President Obama is creating a private army to insure that Michelle Obama is the next President of the United States.  There are plenty of people that come down on both sides of those issues.  Personally I think he’s nuts on these subjects.

But here’s the problem.  I also think Orson Scott Card is one of the best science fiction writers of the last 30 years.  “Ender’s Game” and its sequel “Speaker for the Dead” are in the top one percent for me.  

The question becomes are we really ready to start making media decisions based on the personal lives and opinions of the creators?  Are we ready to go all the way with that?

What would that mean?  Well, Ernest Hemingway was a drunk and pretty clearly a sexist.  Shall we stop reading the works of T.S. Eliot and Roald Dahl for the anti-semitism?  And of course that means we stop listening to the operas of Richard Wagner.  I’m not much of an opera fan but I’m told his stuff really rocks.  And along the way we should probably stop buying Ford vehicles because Henry Ford was an anti-semite too.

Is the dividing line that all those other people are dead?  I have many friends in the LGBT community and their supporters.  I would never argue with their right NOT to support an author like Orson Scott Card.  I’m just wondering where the line actually gets drawn.  And why.

Day of the Doctor                                                                                                                   

So I have to ask.  What’s with all the zombies right now?  I know it’s not really a new thing any more but it seems like every time I turn around there’s another zombie TV series, movie or book out there.  Sundance Channel just debuted the American version of the French hit “The Returned” which offers a different view of the undead than the hugely successful “The Walking Dead” on AMC.  It’s clear that zombies have turned the corner on popular culture warm fuzzies.  Like vampires before them we’re seeing more zombies that just want to live their lives.  Add in fun books like local author Lia Habel’s “Dearly, Departed” and zombies are a whole new thing.

Zombies aren’t new and it’s not their first change in PR image either.  Go back before the ‘60s and zombies are almost always shown with some connection with Voodoo.  These re-animated corpses got all the creepiness they needed out of being, well, re-animated dead people.  They were the slaves of the person who performed the rituals to bring them back.  Prior to the late ‘60s and that’s the kind of zombie you’ll see.  Check out the undead working for Bela Lugosi in 1932’s “White Zombie”.

All that changes, of course, in 1968.  You’ve been waiting for me to get here, right?  George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” brings us the zombies we know today.  Shuffling, decaying monsters who want braaaaaaaaaaainnss!  Since then we’ve pretty much dropped the old school zombie.  That is until this new batch of warm, cuddly undead.

So what’s with all the zombies?  The learned folk out there who study this kind of thing seem to have come up with a logical sounding explanation.  in the 1950s when the world was a scary and unpredictable place the movies were suddenly filled with aliens from outer space.  Technology was beginning to suddenly take over more and more of our lives.  People found that scary and the movies reflected those feelings.  Today we live in an age when it seems like there are a lot of people out there who don’t like us, where there are a lot of “things” being done by science that might be doing strange things to our bodies that we don’t understand.  In a time like that what better manifestation of our inner fears than an enemy that can not be reasoned with, who desires nothing more than our grim and frightening death?

So maybe this whole thing of making zombies a little more living friendly is a sign that we’re moving out of that phase of our culture again.  Why not?  Klaatu and Gort from “The Day the Earth Stood Still” morphed into “My Favorite Martian” in only a decade.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Movie Review - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) - A thief stumbles into an acting audition and from there stumbles into a murder mystery.

I need to be honest about this.  I remember the following about this movie:

1. What is mentioned in the first line of this review.
2. That the chemistry between stars Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer is great.
3. That I laughed.

That's it.  I watched this movie about a month ago and remember NOTHING about it.  Except that I liked it.  Liked it a lot as I remember.  Until I looked at some research I had forgotten that Kilmer's character is called "Gay Perry".  I have never had a movie that I enjoyed leave such a small mark in my memory.

So what does that say about it?  Probably that there's not much of a story here (high concept?).  But the interaction between the cast is worth enough to watch.

I feel like I should rate it higher.  But I don't remember why.

Rating - *** Worth A Look

Movie Review - Advise and Consent

Advise and Consent (1962) - The nomination for Secretary of State faces an intense investigation in the Senate that raises an issue that may not only ruin the candidates chances but might take down the President as well.  Their opponents will stop at nothing, even blackmail to get their way.

I'll start by noting that Henry Fonda is on my short list of "I'll watch anything he's in" actors.  He had great taste in accepting roles and was even able to take unimpressive scripts and turn them into something worth watching.  Now add Otto Preminger as director and all star cast (Walter Pidgeon, Gene Tierney, Charles Laughton, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith and Betty White) and you're off and running to a fine movie.

Given the gridlock that we have seen over Presidential appointments for a while now the movie feels very contemporary. If you think the level of arrogance, ideological posturing and political maneuvering we see today is somehow new this movie may come as a great surprise.  The issue at the time was still Communism and the evil of "appeasement".  Interesting that the phrase "Don't Tread On Me" which is much in vogue today comes up here as well.  America's long standing anti-intellectual streak is on display as well.

Along the way you get some quality performances from the great cast.  Not a lot of action but really good stuff.  Add in the Communist story line and the fact that both Meredith and Geer were blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the '50s.  The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Allen Drury.  Drury had been a journalist on Capitol Hill during the '50s and the characters are reportedly based on actual people (including John F. Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy and others).  Much of the action is based on actual events including the blackmail attempt.  It makes the movie even more compelling.

This is a powerful political thriller and well worth the time to watch.

Rating - **** Recommended

NaNoWriMo Update, Oxford Commas and Double Spaces, and The Christmas Music Rant

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of November 3, 2013


My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

Christmas Music Rant                                                                                        

Every year I have a private little rant about Christmas music.  It goes back to the days when I was the Music Director at a certain radio station across town.  Normally this rant takes place, like clockwork, right around Thanksgiving.  

But not this year.  Oh no, I’m going public with it and I’m going public with it right now.  While I was driving in Buffalo this weekend I heard a promo for a radio station that announced they were going all Christmas music beginning November first right through Christmas.  (I am not mentioning their call letters because I don’t want you to encourage them by listening to this abomination)

Remember I said that this silliness usually begins on Thanksgiving weekend.  Well these folks decided to get started on HALLOWEEN weekend!  And that’s just too much for me to bear.

Back when I was Music Director I refused to play Christmas music before December 1.  Let me tell you I got some very angry phone calls and more than a few glares from some of the air staff.  I didn’t apologize for it at the time and I make no apologies for it today.  It’s stupid.  It’s vile.  It’s abominable.  It trivializes both Thanksgiving and Christmas and is an utter sell out to everything wrong with the “holiday season” by giving into the complete commercialization of Christmas.

First, that offends me as a person of faith.  Different story for a different day.  Second, it offends me as a radio person.  It’s stupid, lazy programming.  The reality is that there are only about 37 Christmas songs all told.  There are 100 versions of each one.  Out of all those versions there might be 20 that you want to hear over and over.  For a couple weeks tops.  Instead you are going to hear every awful, idiotic, low rent version of “Blue Christmas” because they have 24 hours a day to fill.  Pop stars singing awful, maudlin arrangements of songs that more often than not are even less musically complex and compelling than the pop drivel they normally record.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love Christmas.  I love Christmas music.  Part of what makes the holidays special is that they’re, well, special.  As the saying goes “Christmas comes but once a year”.  Seems like we’re headed towards Christmas all year long.

That’s just stupid and wrong.  And this is my line in the sand.

Oxford Commas and Double Spaces                                                                   

I need to acknowledge up front this week that I’m going to offend some people.  Not many, mind you.  But some people take what I’m about to discuss very seriously.  And I think it’s utter rubbish.  But it gets a fair amount of discussion around the Interwebs.

You will probably not be surprised to find out that I have a lot of friends who are into words and writing.  Birds of a feather and stuff like that.  Some of these people take the whole language thing quite seriously.  By and large they are people of good humor who can discuss the issues of today’s commentary jokingly.  OK, mostly jokingly.

The center of this great debate are two.  They are the Oxford comma and double spaces following periods.  Yes, I’m serious.  People argue about these things.

I am also aware that more than a few of you have no idea what I’m talking about.  So let’s review.

First, the Oxford comma.  Also known as the serial comma, this is the punctuation which you may insert at the end of a list of items and just before the word “and”.  So you would say “item 1 comma, item 2 comma and item 3.  Except that many of us would omit the comma before the “and”.  Which is perfectly acceptable.  Unless you are a fan of the Oxford comma at which point you enter into long debates about its use.  I will note that there are times when that comma makes a difference in clarity.  At those points it should definitely be used.

The other argument I see my word loving friends having these days (yes, the people need to get lives.  What can I say?) is about the number of spaces following a period at the end of a sentence.  Back in the day when I was learning to type (on an actual typewriter, children!  Can you imagine!) we were taught to use two.  Today the conventional wisdom is that one is sufficient.  The argument seems to center on the difference between proportional and monospaced type fonts.  What does that mean?  Do you really care?  I didn’t think so.  And I doubt you much care about how many spaces are placed after the period.  I do it automatically, without thinking because I’ve been doing it that way for decades.  If for some reason it absolutely must be changed it’s simple with the “Find and Replace” function available on any word processor.

These are things that word nerds argue about.  Pity us and please, go live your lives.  Maybe we’ll follow.

NaNoWriMo Update                                                                                                                   

Week One was not a great week but it wasn't a total disaster.  My total word count for the first week was just over 8,000 words.  That was several thousand behind the curve (to make the 50,000 target you need to average over 1,600 words a day).  My best day was 2,800 but my worst was one day when I wrote nothing at all.  The good news is that I'm still just a couple really good writing days away from catching up.  But Week Two is always the worst.  So we'll see.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Why Write Reviews?

The primary function of this blog is to support and promote my radio program of the same name.  A radio program where I virtually NEVER review books, movies, music, et cetera.  So why write reviews here?

There are two primary reasons:

• The first is purely functional.  I had originally tried publishing the scripts individually to fill out the posting schedule.  It felt artificial to me and was something of a pain in the butt.  So the reviews are added content for the blog.  Unromantic, I know.
• The second is because I love exploring media.  I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books plus deal with all kinds of other media along the way.  It seemed like an interesting way to share with my readers and perhaps point them towards things they had never seen or read.

You'll note that I rarely if ever do reviews of current movies or music.  There are plenty of people out there doing that (like this guy - Stewart Smith)  so I didn't feel the need to compete.  But what about this, there are thousands of movies still available going back to the 1920s.  If you're looking for a good movie to watch how likely are you to explore titles you know little or nothing about?  My goal is to point people towards movies that are worth viewing but that may not be as well known to them.  Movie fans no doubt look at my reviews and say "Well everybody knows that movie".  I'm pretty sure they're wrong.  So I'm trying to offer a service for those other movies.

Yes I still review more current ones.  In part that's because these are movies that I want to see.  Coming up shortly is my review of "Argo" the Academy Award winning movie from just last year.  Never got to see it in the theaters.  So I offer up my review for it.  Maybe you're in the same boat and would like an opinion that's not caught up in the promotional furor.  Other movies coming up include "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (which will be the oddest review I've ever penned) and "Advise and Consent" an amazingly current movie given that it came out in 1962.

I do offer reviews of books that are coming out soon.  I stumbled onto a partnership that allows me to do that and it's kind of fun.  But I'm really more focused on the other books, the older books I read.  Along the way maybe I can help you find something that you might never have tried otherwise.  I was caught short by how much I enjoyed Dumas' "The Three Musketeers" from 1844 and James Hilton's "Goodbye Mr. Chips" from 1934.  These may be titles that you might never consider but with me leading the way and doing some filtering you might (and dare I say, you should!).

There is a certain egotism inherent in setting yourself up as a critic.  Why should you listen to what I say?  Good question.  I can only offer that I love the media that I review as general categories and I want people to succeed.  Long ago I gave up on trying to make people think I'm clever.  You'll either like my point of view or not.  Although I would note that for years one of my go to movie critics was someone with whom I virtually always disagreed.  He was consistent and therefore an excellent bell weather for me.  

I hope that I can offer something worth reading for you as well.

Besides I have fun doing it.

The Writer Prepares

One must make sure that the scene is set to tempt the muse.  NaNoWriMo 2013 is underway!

(For those who are wondering it is the Marquis white from 21 Brix Winery just up the road.  The numbers are a challenge and a reminder.  You can figure those out for yourselves)

Mea Culpa, NaNoWriMo13, and War of the Worlds

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of October 28, 2013


My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

NaNoWriMo13                                                                                        

Much to my surprise I note that I have not talked about National Novel Writing Month, known as NaNoWriMo, in almost three years.  With November knocking on the door, that is the month in question, I thought this would be a great time to mention it again.

If the name rings no bells for you let me review.  NaNoWriMo is an annual opportunity to live the dream.  The dream of writing your own novel.  The goal is 50,000 words in 30 days.  The core idea is to worry less (in fact, not at all) about the quality of your writing.  The goal is to get you to create a habit of writing, to try something you’ve never tried before.  Or even better to help you finish what you have tried and failed at before.  Last year 341,375 people started the challenge, 178,211 completed the challenge.  The great thing is that you don’t have to do it alone.  There are online forums where you can compare notes, ask for help, look for or offer encouragement and find a shoulder to cry on when you hit one of the tough spots.  Many regions of the country even have write-ins, opportunities for folks taking the challenge to get together, hang out and write.  It is one of the more amazing events I’ve ever done.

And yes, I’ve done it.  In 2009, at my daughter’s urging, I gave it a shot.  My certificate from the Office of Letters and Light proclaiming that I had achieved the 50,000 word target in the month hangs proudly near my desk.  The goal had been to do it again the following year but my stroke intervened.  I’ve never managed to get it together again since then.

However, once again at the urging of my daughter, no let’s be honest, at the outright command of my daughter, now a Masters of Fine Arts Candidate in Creative Writing at Carlow University, I am trying it again this year.

It’s really NOT about whether or not you are the next Ernest Hemingway, Anne Rice or Dan Brown.  It’s about pushing yourself to try something new.  It’s about finding a new way to express your creativity.  NaNoWriMo says of itself that it is about “...Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline...”. 

So what about you?  Are you up for a challenge?  Have you ever thought that you might have an idea for a book in you?  There is still time to get ready.  Who knows you may start November as an auto mechanic, a store clerk, a middle school English teacher or a talking head on the radio.  But you could end it as a novelist.

(It's not too late to start!  Check out NaNoWriMo.org)

War of the Worlds                                                                                                 

75 years ago this week an event took place that dramatically changed my life.  Now that’s several decades before I was even born but the lingering legend of it thrilled me, inspired me and as much as anything brought me to where I am today.

October 30th, 1938 the radio series “The Mercury Theater on the Air” offered up a dramatization of H.G. Wells novel “The War of the Worlds”.  The production was the work of a then up and coming star Orson Welles.  He had made his mark already as a stage director and his career in films was still in front of him.  This was the event that made him a star.

That Halloween broadcast, with its use of fictional news reports “breaking into” the programming, was a sensation.  It’s hard for some to remember what radio was like in those days.  Where we watch TV or the Internet for amusement these days radio held the stage then.  But there was no way to know what exactly you were listening to as you scanned up or down the dial.  Since “Mercury Theater” ran commercial free there were no breaks in the action which probably added to the confusion between fact and fancy.

Beyond the fascinating work in the original broadcast (I own a copy of it and have listened to it multiple times) it was the stories of panic associated with it that first drew my attention.  For any art form to create that kind of reaction was thrilling to me.  Today we know that much of the legend around the panic is exactly that, legend.  While many people did call the radio stations, the police and the newspapers, very few barricaded themselves into the house or ran panic stricken into the streets.  Psychologists have noted that the world was in a stressful place that week, with fear of the war in Europe spreading to our country.

For me the radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds” remains a touchstone for all that media can be when it puts some effort into it.  “Mercury Theater on the Air” was a relatively small player in the media world at the time.  It was Welle’s attention to detail, careful planning of when certain events appeared in the broadcast and his commitment to making it as realistic as possible that took just another radio drama on an October evening to the status of legend.

I still believe the media can be that good.  Take the time this week and spend an hour with a classic.  75 years ago we were shown just how incredible imagination can be.

Mea Culpa                                                                                                                         

This week I need to offer a confession.  A mea culpa to try and make up for contributing to some stupidity earlier in my career.  It would be easy to make excuses but in the end what I can try to do it is make a change.

Do you remember the story from 1994 about the woman who spilled coffee on herself then sued the fast food restaurant that sold it to her and was awarded 2.9 million dollars?  Most of us do because it was a big story back then.  People were outraged and media folk like me had a field day with it.  There was much mocking of a person dumb enough to put hot coffee between their legs while driving and much outrage over the “ridiculous” amount of money this foolish person received.  It made us feel all smug and righteous and clever.

There’s only one problem.  Most of what I just told you isn’t true.

Stella Liebeck, the 79 year old woman at the center of this story, wasn’t driving the car.  She was a passenger and the car was parked at the time.  The coffee was between her knees because the car didn’t have a flat place to put it while she put in her cream and sugar.  When the top popped off the coffee splashed on her causing the burns.  The injuries put her in the hospital for 8 days, required skin grafts and two years of treatment.  She tried to settle out of court for medical costs, was refused and went to court.  The initial judgement from the jury (which actually reduced their award because they noted that Mrs. Liebeck did bear some responsibility for the event) was 2.8 million.  The judge reduced that to just over 600 thousand and the final settlement was reportedly below 500 thousand dollars.

That’s a different story, isn’t it?
What happened was that the story got edited down and edited down for space till the version most of us saw had only the minimal details.  Sadly the rest was filled in by people trying to fluff out the story.  In an age when more journalism seems to be aimed at reducing the footprint of the stories we see it strikes me as a cautionary tale.

Too often I see folks passing along stories that can quickly be shown to be incomplete or outright fabrications.  Our laziness in this regard allows falsehood to masquerade in the clothing of truth.  That’s something none of us should support.

Stella Liebeck deserved for the true story to be told.  It’s taken me 20 years but now I’ve done it.

Call that the View From the Phlipside