Other Random Posts

I’m a big BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fan and I was eager to catch-up on the season premiere…but I have to say, it left me underwhelmed. The stuff with Baltar was fun, but I found the rest of the episode plodding. Plus, I was nagged by some big issues that went unaddressed. For one thing, 600 people are killed in the opening moments of the show…and are never referred to again. This is a massive loss of life and yet it isn’t discussed…the characters are too busy whining about their feelings about Starbuck’s return or, in the case of a handful of characters, the realization that they are Cylons. Which brings up another issue…in the first couple of seasons, a lot of time and angst were devoted to Boomer’s "human-Cylon" baby. Well, now that we know the Chief is a Cylon, too, that means his baby is also a cross between a  human and a Cylon.  Doesn’t that make his child every bit as important to the humans and the Cylon’s as Boomer’s child is/was? And if Six can "feel" the presence of the other Cylons in the fleet, why can’t Boomer?

Sorry I haven’t been posting — I’ve taken my family on a road trip for Spring Break. So far we’ve been through the California Gold country (which is like taking a time machine to the 1800s), Yosemite, and Lake Tahoe. Tonight we are in Sacramento…and tomorrow we head out to Napa. It’s great to be rediscovering my home state…and for my wife and daughter to discover it anew.

I have only been a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America for a short time, but it’s clear to me that only one of the two candidates for President is actually qualified for the post — and that’s Russell Davis. So I won’t even bother talking about the other guy.

Russell isn’t only an experienced writer, he is also an experienced editor. He knows the business from both sides of the table. He’s also been an active member of the SFWA, and knows how the organization works…and doesn’t work. On top of that, he’s smart, affable, and enthusiastic — he can make the kind of changes that are necessary to stream-line the SFWA  and make it a more professional, and respected, organization. As he says:

SFWA is an organization at a crossroads and the path we choose now will have significant consequences in the future. Continuing on our present course may lead to the fracturing of our organization, while using the past as our only guide may lead us into permanent irrelevance in the much-changed world of publishing.

I know Russell and I’ve talked with him about his vision for the SFWA. He also knows how important it is to network with the other major writing organizations on issues of common interest to ALL writers, regardless of whatever genre they toil in.

The other guy running for President is a step backwards and a vote for mediocrity and irrelevance. You’d  be putting someone in charge who has no significant writing or publishing experience on either side of the table. It would be like hiring your gardener to remove your brain tumor.

Vote for Russell Davis. He’s the right guy at the right time.

An author of a holocaust memoir admits she made the whole thing up…

"This story is mine. It is not actually reality but my reality, my way
of surviving," Defonseca said in a statement released by the lawyers.
"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed."

An author of a highly-praised memoir of her struggles as a gangbanger on the streets of South Central Los Angeles turns out to have been raised in an upper-class suburban home in Sherman Oaks and educated in elite private schools…

“For whatever reason, I was really torn and I thought it was my
opportunity to put a voice to people who people don’t listen to,” Ms.
Seltzer said. “I was in a position where at one point people said you
should speak for us because nobody else is going to let us in to talk.
Maybe it’s an ego thing — I don’t know. I just felt that there was good
that I could do and there was no other way that someone would listen to
it.”

[…]“I’m not saying like I did it right,” Ms. Seltzer said. “I did not do
it right. I thought I had an opportunity to make people understand the
conditions that people live in and the reasons people make the choices
from the choices they don’t have.”

A celebrity chef on the Food Network admits that he didn’t actually cook for the Royal Family or U.S. Presidents…

"I was wrong to exaggerate in statements related to my
experiences in the White House and the Royal Family," Irvine said
in a written statement. "I am truly sorry for misleading people
and misstating the facts."

And an elected official on the Three Valleys Water Board in Pomona, California admits he didn’t win the Medal of Honor or serve in the military as he claimed…

[Xavier Alvarez] didn’t deny claiming to have received the Medal of Honor. People
routinely say things at board meetings “just to entertain the public,”
he said.

The federal charges are the work of his political opponents, Alvarez
contends. When asked to specifically address the charges, his response
was disjointed.

“There’s people who go up there and say, ‘Oh, I’m homosexual. And I
belong to the homosexual community.’ I don’t say anything about that. .
. . I’m a rookie at this. You get nervous.”

But not one of these brazen liars, just four among many outed in recent weeks, actually admits to lying, merely living a different truth, or miss-stating facts, or "exaggerating," or being nervous, or speaking for the downtrodden, or being "directionally correct" but factually wrong (whatever the hell that means). 

Apparently, in today’s society, it’s okay to tell lies as long as you don’t get caught doing it…but, if you do, it’s imperative that you apologize without actually admitting to being a liar. Some are even saying that lying is a constitutional right. Take the Medal of Honor liar, Xavier Alvarez, or example. He is being prosecuted for violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2005:

In a motion
filed last month, Alvarez’s court-appointed attorney stated that his
false claim is protected under the First Amendment.

"Falsehoods
are not outside the realm of First Amendment protection, and therefore
restrictions on false statements must be supported by a strong
government interest and must be directly related to that interest,"
says the motion.

Is it just me, or are we seeing more and more of these outrageous cases of lying in the last couple of years? It’s even more amazing that this is happening during a time when it’s getting easier and easier to check up on people’s claims using simple search engines. But even the people who should be checking facts aren’t doing it, like Riverhead, the publisher of Margaret Seltzer’s memoir:

Ms. Seltzer’s sister, Ms. Hoffman, 47, said:
“It could have and should have been stopped before now.” Referring to
the publisher, she added: “I don’t know how they do business, but I
would think that protocol would have them doing fact-checking.”

What is it that drives these people to lie very publicly about their lives — medals of honor they didn’t win, diplomas they never received, presidents they didn’t cook for, etc. — and not expect to get caught doing it? Is it simply brazen arrogance? Rampaging stupidity? Or is it a profound laziness, a desperate desire to have accomplishments without putting in the actual work to achieve them?

Yesterday, I was having coffee with a writer friend of mine at the Starbucks in Pacific Palisades. My friend was telling me some of the pilot ideas that he’s going to pitch this week and wanted my opinion of them. But that’s not all he got.

A stranger spoke up from the next table. "I have to disagree. I couldn’t help over-hearing. I think the guy should be more working class, a plumber or something."

"I don’t think so," said a stranger at another table. "Working class works for me."

Neither stranger was in the TV business, but they wanted to give my friend their input, since they were eavesdropping anyway…

Only in L.A.

I wonder if "The Insider" will take the same glee in their host Pat O’Brien checking into rehab (again) that they enjoy when Kirsten Dunst, Eva Mendes, Lindsay Lohan, or any other Hollywood star does the same thing. I don’t like to see people suffer, but I have to admit I feel a certain poetic justice when evangelists (like Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart etc.) political commentators (like Rush Limbaugh), politicians (like Larry Craig, Tom DeLay, etc.), and tabloid reporters (like O’Brien) are caught doing exactly the same things they rail against….adultery, drug abuse, tax evasion, corruption, gay sex, etc.