My Blog

Recent Flicks

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I’ve been remiss in commenting on the movies I’ve seen lately, so here goes:

PRIME. Insanely dull. Not funny. Closest I’ve coming to falling asleep in a movie theatre in decades. Oddly, my wife felt the same way.

THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. Jeff Daniels is terrific. Some great scenes. Film doesn’t so much end as it simply stops. Still, worth seeing.

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK.  Based on the reviews, I was expecting a lot. My expectations weren’t met. David Strathairn’s performance as Murrow is great, but the film still skates on the surface. It doesn’t reveal anything you didn’t already know and offers no fresh insights.

IN HER SHOES. I’m embarrassed to admit how much I enjoyed this movie. My wife took me to it against my will and I found it funny, moving, and a well-acted. Sure, it’s a formula movie…but the formula works.

And there was some French movie we saw in the last month or so that was so forgettable that neither my wife nor I can remember what it was about, who was in it, or even what the title was.

Montgomery Simplifies

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David Montgomery reviews my brother Tod’s book SIMPLIFY on his site today. And he likes it.

Short story collections are nearly impossible to review, especially in
anything under several hundred words. (How do you comment generally on a book
that contains twelve different stories that vary in plot, theme, quality, etc.?)
Still, there are a few observations that one can make about Tod Goldberg’s
Simplify. The stories are sharp and insightful, many of them dealing
with issues emerging from childhood. The writing is often funny, even when it’s
painful, and always to the point, with keen dialogue and a strong voice.
Finally, the stories on the whole are powerful, provocative and a pleasure to
read. The title entry, in particular, is a minor masterpiece.

Reese Reckons

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The Book Standard reports that Reese Witherspoon will star in a movie adaptation of Jeff Long’s novel THE RECKONING.

The story centers on a photojournalist who arrives in Cambodia to cover the U.S.
military search for the remains of an American pilot shot down during the
Vietnam War.  Ted Tally (Red Dragon, The
Silence of the Lambs) penned the screenplay, which is out to directors.  Witherspoon will produce the project along with Type
A’s Jennifer Simpson.  Long’s
book was published by Atria in July 2004.

Where Has He Been?

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Sorry I’ve been a little scarce around here the last few days. I’m on the board of my HOA and I’ve been preoccupied with a small community crisis, talking to my neighbors, organizing meetings, and firing off letters to our City Council and Planning Commission… and I’ve been working on my book  and preparing for a studio meeting today. And tomorrow, I’m gone all day doing booksignings with my brother Tod:

The month of The Goldbergs begins in earnest on Saturday as Lee and I barnstorm
Southern California with just two turntables, a microphone, a fair amount of
Polo shirts and a scorched path filled with dead hookers and coke deals gone
wrong behind us. That’s just how the Goldbergs roll, y’all. Strictly gangsta and Polo. Check out
the road show at the Barnes
& Noble in Aliso Viejo on Saturday night at 5pm (you’ll be able to spot
us pretty easily — we’ll be the two liberal Democrat Jews standing in the
middle of the OC) or swing by the Marriott in Irvine for Men of Mystery Saturday
morning at 9am. (Tickets may well be sold out already, but that doesn’t mean you
can’t just loiter in the parking lot waiting for an autograph.)

Sadly, the blog has kind of fallen through the cracks with all that activity. I hope to be back in my usual form very soon.

The NBC Mystery Movie Channel

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The Futon Critic reports that NBC/Universal is launching a digital/high-def cable channel called Sleuth that will air "classic" Universal detective shows and movies 24 hours a day. We’re talking shows like COLUMBO, BANACEK, KNIGHTRIDER, IT TAKES A THIEF, HEC RAMSEY, DRAGNET,  ADAM-12, McMILLAN AND WIFE, NAME OF THE GAME, MIAMI VICE and GRIFF, to name a few. The channel will launch in January on the Time Warner cable system.

Mid-Season Replacements

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I got this email today:

I was hoping you could answer a few really quick questions about mid-season
replacements for me…

How do the networks regard these shows? Are they
second string that didn’t make the first cut? Or pinch hitters that the network
has been waiting to air? If the latter, why do they hold onto them until
mid-season? What is the strategy behind this?

The fact is, most shows fail. The networks go into the fall season
knowing that it’s very likely that virtually all their new series will not
survive. They need replacements to immediately fill the slots vacated by
low-performing shows that they are forced to cancel. That doesn’t mean
mid-season shows are lesser, second string programming… but, in some cases,
they are riskier/specialized/quirky fare that need special promotional and
scheduling attention that isn’t possible while launching & advertising an
entire fall schedule.  Remember, many hit shows began as midseason programs…
SEINFELD and GREY’S ANATOMY, for example.

Beware of Russian Mail Order Brides

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I got this email today:

Lee,       11-2-05
I have a ‘must’ write book for you of my life.I am going through  CONSTANT TERRORISM with the following:
Burglary of my home, office, apartment, storage units.
ID theft of my personal identity, business- hostile take over.
I think I know the people doing this.
I have had to move approximately 10 times this year due to stalking, theft
and invasion of home while I was locked in a bathroom for 2-3 hours.
My office has been like a revolving door for these thieves where they have
made my medical business their own office.  They have taken over the patient
accounts, ID"s, prepared records for billing, forged Dr’s signatures by using a
stamp, bank embezzlement, entered into contracts with vendors using my
signature, opened up a bank account using my forged signature without
authorization, credit card fraud,  inventory theft and personal item
theft, stolen my web business,  followed me and now attempting to enter my
friend’s home( where I have been sleeping at night for the last couple of
weeks).  My former employees would not drink or eat anything left in my office
due to possible poisoning.  They have also constantly been in and out of my car
looking for things.  Last night they left in a cup holder  a 357 magnum bullet
for me to find.
I am very serious about all of this.  The police have done nothing.  I am
in fear of my life.
Hopefully, if you are interested you can write a book to show how
vulnerable we are.  Maybe this will help someone else.
I am not trying to be dramatic but I hope I will be around for a while. 
Let me know if you wish to talk.
Every form of communication is compromised including my living space.
E mail from someone else’s computer is my only secure way of communication
at this point.

Within minutes of receiving that message, I got this follow-up:

Lee,

I need money and that is why I need this book
written besides trying to help someone else.
I am very sincere.  This is urgent.  If you
can’t or find you are not interested, please give me another name to
contact.

If you have ever lived in Virginia Beach since you
were in the Navy, you know the incompetent police we have here.  They are living
in the 19th century rather than the 21st.  They have not realized that high tech
crime in here to stay. 

I am a test victim for the theives that I am having to
deal with now.  I am not sure why I was picked other than a 100 percent female
owned web medical business and a Durable Medical Equipment  Medical business
with no family here. Also,  I was a millionaire last year and now trying to
figure out how to pay my bills now.

The people that have targeted me are professionals.  I believe the woman of the team was trained.  She was a Russian mail order bride.

Why do people like this write to me? And what make her think I was in the Navy? If you would like to write a book on this woman’s life, let me know and I will be glad to pass along her email address.