Here's something you might be interested in.
I saw in the newspaper that "tar balls" were washing up in Coronado. I realized I didn't have much to say on the subject, I just wanted to do a blog on it so I could type the phrase "tar balls".
I had the TV on, and as I went thru the channels while at the computer, I thought of the Bruce Springsteen song that came out in the early 90s. He sang about "57 channels/and nothing on."
Well, I totally disagree. There's lots of stuff on. I just can't figure out why three of the channels have poker, and two others have ultimate/cage fighting. It seems one channel on each of those would be enough to satisfy. I'm wondering if there's some poker nut out there going back and forth from one channel to the next, as he screams "Show the flop, show the flop! Oh wow, he caught a flush on the river!" before quickly going back to the other channel and yelling "Why did he fold? The guy was bluffing!"
On a few of the news type programs, they're discussing this controversy about an anti-smoking ad, that shows a kid lost in the airport. The ad says that if you smoke, your kid is going to "lose you". But the commentators all thought it wasn't cool to scare a child like that, just to make a point.
One woman said that the kid was briefed on what was going to happen.
And, I wondered why we don't see controversy like this when they make a movie with children that isn't appropriate. I remember Nicole Kidman did a film a few years back where she had to sit in a bathtub with a child (he was supposed to be her dead husband reincarnated or some such thing). Dakota Fanning recently played a victim of rape (she was around 12).
The recent movie The Reader had to hold off on the sex scenes, until the boy turned 18 and was able to film them with Kate Winslet (side note: I remember on my 18th birthday someone gave me a remote control helicopter; he gets to have a nude Kate Winslet in front of him...and Leo thought he was "king of the world").
And on the subject of children and sex, there was this bizarre story the other day out of Prescott. A sex offender posed as a 12-year-old boy, and tried to enroll in several Arizona schools.
He was promptly enrolled in prison for 70 years.
You wonder how this 31-year-old thought he could pull that off. Apparently, he's "youthful looking". He also wore a bit of make-up. And, we always think of our sex offenders as creepy old dudes, like that character in Family Guy.
Anyway, this guy was caught because his birth certificate and other documents looked forged. At least that's what the story said. I have trouble believing that. I doubt the school really checks out those documents carefully.
I like to think the school became suspicious because a "12-year-old" kid showed up at the office with all these documents, but with no parents in tow. I have to think 12-year-olds don't just walk into places and say "Yeah, I'm here for school. Here's all my paperwork. Where's first period? I'm hoping it's gym class, I brought my shorts and Nikes."
All this made my thoughts jump back to film.
Former San Diegan Cameron Crowe (Vanilla Sky, Singles, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire); when he wrote "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", the story goes that he went to Clairemont High and registered as a student, so he could write the screenplay/book. I've always found this odd.
Is it really necessary for a writer to "pretend" to be a kid, to gather material? Didn't he have high school experiences he could pull from?
And, one character (played by Phoebe Cates), was sleeping with older men. What would an older guy in his position do if she came on to him?
It just opens a lot of weird questions. Yet, everyone just seems to go on about what a genius Crowe was for doing this.
He did make one of the best teen comedies of all-time, so who am I to complain.
I saw in the newspaper that "tar balls" were washing up in Coronado. I realized I didn't have much to say on the subject, I just wanted to do a blog on it so I could type the phrase "tar balls".
I had the TV on, and as I went thru the channels while at the computer, I thought of the Bruce Springsteen song that came out in the early 90s. He sang about "57 channels/and nothing on."
Well, I totally disagree. There's lots of stuff on. I just can't figure out why three of the channels have poker, and two others have ultimate/cage fighting. It seems one channel on each of those would be enough to satisfy. I'm wondering if there's some poker nut out there going back and forth from one channel to the next, as he screams "Show the flop, show the flop! Oh wow, he caught a flush on the river!" before quickly going back to the other channel and yelling "Why did he fold? The guy was bluffing!"
On a few of the news type programs, they're discussing this controversy about an anti-smoking ad, that shows a kid lost in the airport. The ad says that if you smoke, your kid is going to "lose you". But the commentators all thought it wasn't cool to scare a child like that, just to make a point.
One woman said that the kid was briefed on what was going to happen.
And, I wondered why we don't see controversy like this when they make a movie with children that isn't appropriate. I remember Nicole Kidman did a film a few years back where she had to sit in a bathtub with a child (he was supposed to be her dead husband reincarnated or some such thing). Dakota Fanning recently played a victim of rape (she was around 12).
The recent movie The Reader had to hold off on the sex scenes, until the boy turned 18 and was able to film them with Kate Winslet (side note: I remember on my 18th birthday someone gave me a remote control helicopter; he gets to have a nude Kate Winslet in front of him...and Leo thought he was "king of the world").
And on the subject of children and sex, there was this bizarre story the other day out of Prescott. A sex offender posed as a 12-year-old boy, and tried to enroll in several Arizona schools.
He was promptly enrolled in prison for 70 years.
You wonder how this 31-year-old thought he could pull that off. Apparently, he's "youthful looking". He also wore a bit of make-up. And, we always think of our sex offenders as creepy old dudes, like that character in Family Guy.
Anyway, this guy was caught because his birth certificate and other documents looked forged. At least that's what the story said. I have trouble believing that. I doubt the school really checks out those documents carefully.
I like to think the school became suspicious because a "12-year-old" kid showed up at the office with all these documents, but with no parents in tow. I have to think 12-year-olds don't just walk into places and say "Yeah, I'm here for school. Here's all my paperwork. Where's first period? I'm hoping it's gym class, I brought my shorts and Nikes."
All this made my thoughts jump back to film.
Former San Diegan Cameron Crowe (Vanilla Sky, Singles, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire); when he wrote "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", the story goes that he went to Clairemont High and registered as a student, so he could write the screenplay/book. I've always found this odd.
Is it really necessary for a writer to "pretend" to be a kid, to gather material? Didn't he have high school experiences he could pull from?
And, one character (played by Phoebe Cates), was sleeping with older men. What would an older guy in his position do if she came on to him?
It just opens a lot of weird questions. Yet, everyone just seems to go on about what a genius Crowe was for doing this.
He did make one of the best teen comedies of all-time, so who am I to complain.