No Labels isn’t alone pressing for immediate congressional reform.
“Fools on the Hill” is a new documentary that makes the case that Congress needs to pass some stringent laws to keep themselves in check. Things like no more adding hundreds of pages to a bill in the middle of the night and passing it the next morning.
The documentarians are organizing a march and rally on Congress July 17, and are asking people to sign a petition and join them as they converge on DC to demand Congressional reform.
Former RNC Chairman and MSNBC contributor Michael Steele didn’t mean to intrude, but when he saw “Glee’s” Darren Criss and Matthew Morrison at Saturday night’s MSNBC after-party at the Italian Embassy, he needed to get a picture.
“I love ‘Glee’ because it takes me back to a time when I was in Glee club,” Steele explained to Yeas & Nays after the quick photo session and chat had wrapped up. “And it opened a lot of doors for me and introduced me to musical theater, which I love.” Steele played Harold Hill in “The Music Man” in college. He was also in “Anything Goes,” and performed Shakespeare’s Macbeth “cowboy style.” “With boots and everything,” he laughed.
These days he identifies himself as a “Gleek.” “Yeah, I do, I do, I’ll admit it, I’ll admit it and, of course, seeing a lot of the stars here tonight from the show is kind of cool,” he said. “I record it every it every Tuesday cause usually I’m out doing stuff so I usually get to watch it over the weekend — I love it.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri May 4, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
I was remembering today when Al Gore explained that he and Tipper were whom the author of the novel and later hit movie Love Story was based on.
The movie starred a young, dashing and quite handsome Ryan O’Neal and the lovely and endearing Ali McGraw. Gore claimed he was played by Ryan O’Neal.
Not Ali McGraw.
The author later disputed that claim… but that’s beside the point. It’s fun to think that a celluloid couple remind you of you and your spouse.
Anyway, it made me wonder if there was a movie that had characters that reminded my wife and me of each other. Both individually and even the way they related to one another.
I wanted to suggest Love Story but knew it wouldn’t pass muster.
We agreed, however, that the couple in Albert Brooks Lost in America was a pretty close parallel to us.
Albert Brooks is no Ryan O’Neal in the looks department but seems to think more like I do. An advertising exec who wants to drop out of society and repeat a motor home version of Easy Rider. And fails miserably at it.
As for the female lead, Ali McGraw is lovely but Julie Haggerty is lovely, too, and is probably a lot sweeter. And even better, Julie Haggerty’s character doesn’t die at the end of the movie.
Washington is a city that loves to see itself on the television screen. Unlike New York or Los Angeles, neither of which is parochial or insecure enough to revel in the attention, the capital loves any affirmation of its glamour; it still takes quiet offense at the barb that it is Hollywood for powerful people who are simultaneously ugly and dull. So, it is no surprise that ABC’s late season series “Scandal”, which tries hard to inject some wit and sexiness into the conventional account of political tawdriness and cover-up, is buzz-worthy in certain sectors of the District. It helps that the show breaks genuine historic ground at the same time.
Most descriptions of “Scandal” have rightly accentuated the ground-breaking part: the casting of an African American woman (Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope) in the starring role in a drama is a development that has not happened either since Diahann Carroll appeared in “Julia”, or, perhaps, since Regina Taylor shared the lead role in the underrated and elegant “I’ll Fly Away”. (At this rate, a ten year old black girl will have her moment by the time I turn 65). It’s a weird—make it maddening, inexcusable thing—that there is still history to be made in the choice to cast a black woman in the lead, but it is unmistakable boldness on ABC’s part. Only three times in the life of our culture has a “big 4” television network trusted a black woman in an up-front role without a laugh track, and ABC to its credit ups the ante by rendering a narrative that has next to nothing to do with race or reimagining the culture of discrimination: no small thing in an industry that still makes movies about maids.
Olivia Pope is no sacrificing, modest victim of limitations. She is a stylish, equally lionized and feared practitioner of crisis management, which in the mythology of “Scandal”, is the business of burying the secrets of the high and mighty. (as to the impressionable among you, be advised that the real-life version of the profession has more to do with debunking corporate whistleblowers, spinning CEO demotions, and messaging sudden stock deflation). If you are the kind of viewer who catches the stray details in dialogue, it seems that Pope is a Republican—albeit, the moderate, feminist, non Tea Party loving kind. She was an instrumental member of the campaign team that elected the incumbent president, with whom she also shared a bed in between strategy sessions (a disclosure that was only slyly alluded to in the series trailer and which in a more intricate plot might have been late season cliff-hanger material, but which was offered up much too promptly within the opening hour).
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: ABC’s “Scandal”: The Bland & The Beautiful
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
10 hard facts about late night infomercials (Brace yourself):
1) No book, program or technology will “transform your life” in 14 days. Or even 30 days.
2) Operators are always “standing by” –even if they act like it’s only for a few more minutes.
3) Remember, you don’t really want to be like Anthony
Robbins. Just look like him. But he’s not telling you how to do that.
4) Ronco knives work well but you never use them as much as you think you will.
5) If you are over 40 what it takes to get “Six pack abs” isn’t worth all the effort required.
6) The 1-900 Psychic lines where a stranger predicts your future, is a pretty good deal. They are right about 50% of the time with predictions that you will have something good or bad happen in the near future.
7) It’s hard to “re-gift” products purchased through Infomercials because people know that’s where they came from.
8) There’s nothing you need at 2:30am that you couldn’t get by without at 1am. You are just tireder and more vulnerable to persuasion.
9) I have never heard any male brag that they grew a new head of hair after purchasing a late night infomercial spray.
10) Nothing changes until you are ready and willing to change.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Mar 23, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
At movies and ordered a medium Sprite and was asked “Would you like a large drink and popcorn?”
I then said, “No, I’ll take a cookie and no drink” To wich I was asked, “Would you like a large popcorn and drink?”
I chuckled, smiled empathetically and said, “Let me ask you something. If I ordered 10 of everyting, 10 large everythings, would you still have to ask me if I would like an extra popcorn and drink with that?”
The clerk smiled apologetically and answered. “Afraid so.”
Willem Dafoe was on to discuss some new movie of his about the end of the world.
And The RP talked about a different kind of apocalypse — the collapse of the American democracy, and what No Labels is doing about it. The RP reported on yesterday’s historic hearings on their “No Budget, No Pay” legislation.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Feb 29, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
“Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good!”
Remember the old saying, “I feel like a million bucks!”?
That was very popular a few decades ago and meant you felt good physically and were on top of the world.
I have done an economic analysis based on when that saying was at the height of popular usage and have adjusted for inflation.
In today’s monetary terms, the proper saying should be “I feel like $2,435, 721.32”
However after adjusting for what each individual on average owes over their lifetime based on our national debt, the new adjusted number is roughly “$6.48.”
So, if you are feeling especially good today…and especially positive about the future, cock your head, put back that gleam in our eye and say, “Hey there, pal! I’m feeling like roughly $6.48 today, adjusting for inflation and my portion of the debt!”
It’s not quite as catchy as the original line, but spirit of that expression is still in there somewhere.
On the other hand, if you aren’t feeling especially good today physically or about your personal future, you will need to adjust further downward if someone asks you to estimate your dollar value based on your frame of mind today.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of wiggle room. I guess what I’m saying is I hope everyone is feeling, as Larry David likes to say, “Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good” about things. Figuratively speaking. ; )
