Today I discovered that I am two people away from knowing Jodie Foster, which, technically, because of John Hinckley, Jr., puts me ever closer to Ronald Reagan. A friend in Philadelphia studied for a time under John Douglas, the former FBI profiler who was a consultant for Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs. Douglas gave… Continue reading Closer to Reagan
Author: Mark Sample
Synchronicity
Twenty years after the Police's Synchronicity, the word finally seems to have entered everyday language. One of UPS's new slogans, which I just saw on the side of a brown truck in Philadelphia, is now "Synchronizing the World of Commerce." I know what "synchronizing" means, I guess, but what does that slogan mean? Why does… Continue reading Synchronicity
In LA this week
In LA this week I met a former animator for Disney who now designs murals and sculptures for the Disney Stores. Right now he's working on a Goofy sculpture for the Disney Store in Paris. He told me that every detail of the three-dimensional Goofy---the length of the ears, the diameter of the eyeballs, the… Continue reading In LA this week
40 Years ago…
It's been 40 years since JFK's assassination. Still the conspiracies abound. My favorite take on the subject is Libra, Don DeLillo's novel about the life of Lee Harvery Oswald. DeLillo has also recently participated in an online Frontline forum about Kennedy's death. DeLillo calls the assassination "vintage American violence, lonely and rootless" -- the implicit… Continue reading 40 Years ago…
FOIA
Last week the New York Times did a story on Russ Kick's site, the Memory Hole, and it's been quite revealing to go through the documents on his site. Kinda like the Smoking Gun, but it's about the banal conspiracies of everyday bureaucrats instead of the dirty laundry of celebrities. I'm about to do one… Continue reading FOIA
Today in LA
Today in LA I talked to a city engineer. The palm trees here, he says they're infested with rats. Up in the dead fronds the rats build nests and at night you can see silhouettes scurrying up and down the trunks. So there on Rodeo Drive, high up above the shoppers and tourists and stars,… Continue reading Today in LA
The Other Day
The other day: from my hotel in Rosslyn, Virginia, there is a spectacular view of Washington, DC. It's just across the river. Nothing to do in Rosslyn itself though, so I watch some television. The local NBC affiliate closes the 11 o'clock news with a feature on Anthony Edwards, whose last appearance on ER was… Continue reading The Other Day