Begging The Choosers

I suppose all candidates for public office pitch for pennies one way or another.  It's just that I find the continuing stream of Send Money Right Now! emails from Ron Paul particularly annoying.  You want me to vote for you--and for some undefined reason I'm also supposed to give you money?  Mr. Paul is a particularly erudite man on constitutional matters, has America's interests at heart, and is doing better than he's ever done before.  But it would be foolish to send him money, for he is not going to get the Republican nomination to run for President, and he can blame no one but himself.  It's his personality, you see, or rather, his lack of it.  Ron Paul has an eerie resemblance to William H. Macy in The Cooler.  All he has to do is open his mouth and he sucks enthusiasm out of the room.  And he doesn't stop talking until you've forgotten the question.  With the sheer force of his non-personality, he overpowers you to change the channel.or head out into the parking lot to find your car.  The Grand Old Party wouldn't dare put Mr. Paul in a Presidential Debate with President Obama; it would be like throwing some noble stag in tight quarters with a hungry wolf.  Hey, give Obama that--he may not have any real ideas and certainly doesn't have your back, your front or your sides, but the fellow sounds his big, empty drum with all the smug confidence of  a black Alex Baldwin, if you can imagine.  Why do I blather on about my petty annoyance?  Time is short and you already know these things.

Progressive or regressive thinking?.

Talking politics with a liberal is like trying to discuss religion with a bull-headed Baptist or a rabid Muslim.  Believe me, working in show biz, one tires of it.  I've come to realize nobody can make a true believer think logically or clearly.  Emotional thinkers argue from feelings, not reality. They will insist their feelings are the reality.  Since there is no evidence to back such claims, their voices rise, their comments become personal and belittling, and eventually they wander off to find someone of like mind to bind their wounds.  Sometimes the need for survival will provide them a clarifying knock on the head, and occasionally a wandering progressive or religious follower may make it out of the swamp of pure blind empathy, recognize how badly they have been duped, and wander off, completely insane, to howl at the moon.  This new state of mind is an improvement, for it allows hope back in the equation.  

Social Networking

Connectivity is like brackish backwash, a current moving
entire generations toward tribalism.  To my own shame, I have
personally found it easier to be foolish or cruel in a mob.

VIDMAKER 101

That's the name of my new How To manual.  I'm writing it, about 2/3 finished.  It gives away many secrets and tips on how to create professional, award winning, low budget films and videos.

The Friends of Steve McQueen Charity Event JUNE 3-4, 2011

I'm back home  from the Friends of Steve McQueen charity event in Chino Hills.  On Friday night they ran a 15 minute documentary I wrote and produced a long time ago on 'the making of Le Mans', Steve's racing picture.  I gave a brief intro speech talking about Steve's vision of what his film was intended to be, and met Steve's son Chad for the first time since 1970 when he was a young kid on the set in France.  Jonathon Williams, Ferrari racing car driver was there and we renewed our friendship.  (You will hear about him in my book on survival in Hollywood, TINSEL WILDERNESS, in the story Jonathon Williams' Lucky Walnut)  Also, there was a car show and book signing the next morning.   Biographer Marshall Terrill (has written 3 books on Steve) was sitting on my right and automotive historian Michael Keyser on my left.  As I'd contributed slightly to both their works, I was signing their covers right and left.  Down the line Jonathon and Hal Hamilton (actor in the Le Mans movie) and Victor "Quick Vic" Elford, winning race car driver. 

New First TP Article: Come Out Of The Closet!

http://1stturningpoint.com/?p=6431

Crashing Hollywood

You not properly appreciated in Hollywood?  How dare they?  

Here's a few thoughts on what to do about that:

http://1stturningpoint.com/?p=6159&cpage=1#comment-58645

best,

John K.