The "Big Sur" movie portrays a writer who had to retreat to a friend's cabin in the woods to escape the fans who were making live miserable for the newly famous author of "On the Road." The film "Kill Your Darlings" made the subtle point that at a certain level fame could be quantified and shared in a way reminiscent of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
Last week, we went to the de Young Museum to see the Hockney exhibit. That sparked a debate with a fellow who had been an art critic columnist in the Denver area about which of the two exhibits we have seen there this year was the best: Diebenkorn or Hockney?
The debate devolved into an assertion that since the other fellow had a degree in art, he knew what he was talking about and that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Diebenkorn exhibit featured the most talented artist.
That, in turn, reminded us that a continuing debate about the relative merits of writer Ayn Rand. The World's Laziest Journalist contends that since she is not featured in any of the comprehensive guidebooks of the "Philosophy fur Dummkopfs" style of overviews that proves she is a wannabe. Our debate opponent says he used to be a newspaper editor and since it is his opinion that she was an inspiration and an insightful author that is conclusive proof that this columnist is wrong.
Bryson asserts that almost all sports enthusiasts agree that the 1927 Yankees team was the greatest baseball team ever. (Brothers and sisters, can we get an "Amen," on that?)
Three years from today, the results of America's 2016 Presidential Election will be the top item on the weekend shouting match style TV analysis shows. The folks in the mainstream media will expend a lot of time and energy promoting the run-up to that election.
Will the mainstream media devote a tsunami of material on the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang? That seems quite likely. What else will qualify to get the attention of the mainstream media between now and the Presidential Election?
Bryson makes a casual mention in his look at 1927 about a Wisconsin congressman (weren't they all men back then?) who was a socialist. If Americans like novelty and if talk radio becomes all conservative talking points all the time could it be that if people grow tired of it, the back lash would arrive in the form of an event that would cause talk radio host to have apoplexy. Just think how the media would react if a member of the Socialist Party did get elected to Congress in the next three years.
Wouldn't that be as noteworthy as a young lady in a bridal gown taking a tour of Alcatraz Prison National Park? Didn't that actually happen on Election Day earlier this week?
[Note from the Photo Editor: A distorted image of a skyscraper in San Francisco can serve as a metaphor for reality in the age of talk radio and messages with a 140 word limit.]
In the 1927 movie "The Jazz Singer," actor Al Jolson said: "You ain't heard nothin' yet!"
Now the disk jockey will play the Zombies' "Care of Cell 44," the Kinks' "Holloway Jail," and AC/DC's "Jailbreak." We have to go protest the jailing of the p*ssy Riot band. Have a "no trace of them was ever found" type week.
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