NPR CEO: I'm Game!

I hear NPR has a vacant CEO slot. I'm happy to take the job as long as I get to harass Peter Sagal with obsolete trivia, and frustrate Garrison Keillor with my attempts to look and sound like a Minnesotan. I'll be the David Brent/Michael Scott of the smart set!

Latest Reading List

Here's what I've been reading lately:

- "And Furthermore" by Judi Dench: Not done with it yet, but it's pure joy reading about the life of one of my favorite actresses, who still is an impressive force in acting.

- "Opera 101" by Fred Plotkin: You can't begin to know what makes you passionate unless you learn all about it. So this is a start. Still reading it.

- "Talk Show" by Dick Cavett: I hope for a paperback edition to make for easier storage in my collection. I really, really, really, really, really want this one. It's like having an endlessly intelligent conversation with Cavett himself. Word usage to admire, sentence structure to mull over in your mind, and thoughts to make you think, "Why aren't there more Dick Cavetts in the world?"

- "Here We Go Again: My Life in Television" by Betty White: This was spurred on by my wishing "Empty Nest" would return, and then getting that wish when Hallmark Channel decided to air a marathon one Saturday, and then put it in its schedule when the demand was so great. It debuts in full form today. We're a Susan Harris household, since my dad loves "The Golden Girls" and watches it every chance he gets. I did the same with "Empty Nest" when it was in reruns in the '90s (I don't remember watching it during its original run), and I will do the same when it airs on Hallmark. I want to memorize it like Dad has every single episode of "The Golden Girls" memorized.

I decided that I wanted to read the autobiographies by Betty White and by Rue McClahanan. White's was a lot of fun, about the advent of television, about how it expanded during her decades in it, and there's a reprint of this book now with an afterword reflecting her resurgence in television. I read the first edition, from 1995, so I haven't read that afterword, but every single chapter has insights that are true marks not only of a television veteran, but of someone who clearly enjoyed every single opportunity afforded her, and it shows in every single paragraph.

I tried reading Rue McClanahan's book after, "My First Five Husbands and The Ones Who Got Away", but McClanahan's prose feels too insular. That might be the word. I don't expect every author to write for readers (though I hope that is the intent), but if it's a world I've not been in, it has to be a little more open. However, with McClanahan's book, I knew exactly why I had checked it out of the library, and flipped to "The Golden Girls" sections. My favorite parts were about the directors of the show, about how veteran Jay Sandrich directed the pilot and then moved on, and then the slot was filled by Paul Bogart, who believed that he should be the go-between for the producers, writers, and actors. But the cast didn't believe that there should be that much difficulty in communicating with those who gave them those jobs, so Bogart was replaced after three episodes.

Then came Terry Hughes, who McClanahan called "the fifth Golden Girl." British, charming, and completely in tune with what the show was, Hughes was the chief director up until the 5th season, when he got an offer to direct a feature film and wanted to do it. McClanahan mentions that there was a revolving door of directors, each coming in for one episode apiece, and then Bea Arthur found a director she liked, who McClanahan called "not inspired, but pliable", and that person, whoever he was (and I intend to find out who it was by the credits in those later seasons), began directing regularly.

- "Fried Chicken: An American Story" and "Apple Pie: An American Story" by John T. Edge: Edge is an outstanding food writer and Southern personality, and I ordered these books off of abebooks.com many months ago, along with "Hamburgers & Fries: An American Story" and "Donuts: An American Passion."

I got to this book by way of the Oxford American food issue from 2005, which Edge guest-edited, and which I read most of while at a roller skating rink, Skating Plus, in Ventura on the day before New Year's Eve. Oh sure, I played lots of pinball while there, but I also flipped through this back issue in awe. There was such a clear passion for all kinds of Southern delicacies and memories galore. Within these various essays, I really felt like I was somewhere else. I circled the names of those writers, too, and looked them up after I was done reading the whole thing, but I knew that because Edge had created this issue, he had to be equally great on his own. And he is. Read the entry I posted a few days ago about his Hunter S. Thompson daydream.

The first two books in that series are wonderful travel for the mind. Not just the foods involved, but the people who make them. Try his words on the hottest fried chicken he could find, and the apple pie with green chiles in it. Very few writers would think to explore like this, to dig this deep, to think about fried chicken and apple pie in this manner. Edge knows both so intimately, and I think the same will probably be found in his books on hamburgers and fries, and donuts, once I get to them.

I'm not sure about upcoming books. Lately, I've just picked up what I've checked out that sounds interesting. Ok, yes, there is that book with Gore Vidal's writings about sex, and the one called "Burning Desires: Sex in America", and "Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex" by Mary Roach. I'm not going to apologize for having a penis.

There's also "A Cup of Friendship" by Deborah Rodriguez, and a book about Lyndon Johnson's first 24 hours as president after the assassination of Kennedy. And I think it would also be best to finally get serious about the research for the two books I have in mind. I have many of the books in stacks right now, and I should take advantage before March 14 hits and I lose big. I know I can keep renewing the books I have from those other libraries in the County of Los Angeles system, but I can't put any books on hold that could come from those branches. If they come from one of the three Santa Clarita branches, fine, but I'm screwed otherwise. So I should work on that as well.

I'm happy. How about you?

An Accurate Bookmark

I wasn't thinking about it at the end of a long, satisfying day at the Richard Nixon Library and Museum. All I wanted were bookmarks and whatever else I could find in the souvenir store. In fact, the only reasons I had wanted to go, besides the major one of wanting to visit every single presidential library in my lifetime, was to see all the exhibits and to get bookmarks.

I found the bookmarks. I found the blue leather ones with Nixon on it and a quote from him, and another with a panoramic photo of the entrance to the library. I bought two of each.

Now it's weeks since I went there, and enough time has passed, but reflection only came this morning when I finished reading "Apple Pie: An American Story" by John T. Edge, and decided to start reading "Here We Go Again: My Life in Television" by Betty White.

For the books by John T. Edge (I started with "Fried Chicken", and there's still the books to read on hamburgers and fries, and donuts), I decided to go with a metal bookmark I bought at Barnes & Noble in Burbank, listing "50 books to read before you die." I bought it not because it was another list and I like lists of all kinds, especially with books in them, but because I just liked having all those titles there. If I get to those books, then fine, but if not, well, it makes a great bookmark.

In my room, on my nightstand, I have a coffee mug from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (back when I was thinking of taking classes online there, back when I thought I might go into a career at an airport, especially McCarran International in Las Vegas) that's filled with bookmarks. I have bookmarks from my local library, many favorites, including animals such as moose reading. Also in that coffee mug are the bookmarks from the Nixon Library. I haven't used the blue leather ones that much lately, but for the Betty White book, I decided to go with the one with that photo of the entrance.

I started reading "Here We Go Again", and I stopped after three pages to look at the bookmark. I wish I knew who took that photograph. I may e-mail the Library and ask. They should know, because there's no name credited on the bookmark. I would like to know what the photographer was thinking, when he or she thought would be the perfect moment to take it, what the intent was, what the higher-ups may have told the photographer what they expected from the photo to grace this bookmark. It fits so well. It captures exactly what I felt in entering this library.

It looks like a mid-afternoon shot. 3 p.m. or so, just about that time when the sun decides that it's probably time to go soon, so it begins to do less in preparation for going home. It's of the main building, which contains a vast tile floor, the entrance to the museum and to the East Room replica, and the souvenir store. You buy your tickets at a register at the souvenir store. Also in the photo on this bookmark is part of the fountain in the parking lot. That's about all that needs to be seen of it. It distinguishes the library somewhat, but it's not as notable as the one at the Reagan Library, and that's as it should be. It shows that the really notable stuff is inside.

On the back of the bookmark are photos of Nixon's birthplace, which is on the property, and of Nixon's Marine One, just a photo of it taking off from the White House (probably not on that historical day, since the grounds below don't look that crowded). The photo of the birthplace captures the feeling of it, too, history sitting right there, carefully maintained so that all that come to see it can know it authentically.

When I was at the souvenir store at the Library, I asked the guy at the register why the bookmarks were not listed on the website (I had bought bookmarks from the LBJ and Clinton libraries, first to fulfill my love of bookmarks, and as a kind of anticipation for the future). He told me that he had not taken photos of them yet so they could be listed on the website. I looked just now and they're still not on the website. Admittedly, there are parts of the Nixon Library that aren't well-managed, but they do what they can with what they have, and that's good enough for me. But I do want to buy at least two more bookmarks to keep being reminded of the time I spent at the Library, the fascination I felt that confirms the nut I am for presidential history, the book that's to come from all of this, and maybe more than one book.

If you've been in a place you've loved, why not gather together everything that could remind you of that pleasant time? That's how I do it.

Be a Rock Star on Mars

I hope Charlie Sheen makes people realize in some way that we can't put more quarters into this thing.

Live right now.

Live loud.

Live proud.

Hunter S. Thompson on Disney Property

Eminent Southern foodie and writer John T. Edge came up with a great image in his book "Apple Pie: An American Story." He experiences immediate disappointment at a pie festival held at Disney's Celebration development after a slice of pie turns out to be frozen, and pushed by one of many corporate pie types there, including Entenmann's, Mrs. Smith's, Sara Lee, and Edward's. I'll quote him now:

"I toss my slice in the trash and cast about for a diversion. It's time for a drink. I take refuge in what passes for the local den of iniquity, Sherlock's of Celebration. After drowning my disappointment with a couple of beers, I return to the festival. Turns out that Main Street USA looks better with a buzz on. I look for coconspirators, for fellow travelers inclined to poke sharp sticks at this false pageant. I even concoct a daydream wherein I'm joined by Hunter S. Thompson, whom I find leaning against a lamppost, a flask of Wild Turkey jutting from his back pocket."

I love that! And I love imagining Thompson wandering around Walt Disney World, horror in his eyes.

Oscar Review

*Feeling the need to ride the fast-fading trend, review of the Oscars here. Complaints about the hosts, the show running way too long (I think I saw into the 22nd century while watching it), nominees robbed, winners deserving of it, Kirk Douglas better than the somnambulistic James Franco (Maybe Kirk Douglas should host next year), comments on fashions, wishing Anne Hathaway had done a striptease, thanking Yahweh it all ended.*

There. Done. Now we can get back to far more important things, like marveling at the new, much more surreal Charlie Sheen.

From Tape to Tivo: Empty Nest Returns

I was 16 the last time "Empty Nest" aired in syndication in the United States. You want to know how far back that was? It was 2000. I lived in South Florida. I used VCR Plus to set up those 5 and 5:30 a.m. syndicated recordings. As big a fan of "The Golden Girls" that my dad is, that's how much I love "Empty Nest." In fact, as often as he watches "The Golden Girls" is as often as I would have watched "Empty Nest" if it had been released on DVD.

Now I found out just this morning that "Empty Nest" was acquired by Hallmark Channel and is airing right now in a 24-hour marathon. As soon as I read that, I turned on the Tivo, deleted most of the movies I had recorded (and added them to my Netflix queue), and set up for recording nearly all the episodes airing, save for the ones that repeat later into the evening. It's said that "Empty Nest" will join the regular schedule on Hallmark Channel some time in March, but no specific start date has been decided upon yet. Even so, I'm hoping that this somehow leads to a DVD release. My dad has all 7 seasons of "The Golden Girls" on DVD. I'd like to do the same for "Empty Nest."

Also, I just got home from a long day of errands (and wings at Wing Stop), and found that my share of the "Empty Nest" marathon (every episode from 10-something this morning when I first found out, to 8:30 p.m.) was 20 episodes. Bliss! Pure bliss! When it begins airing regularly on the Hallmark Channel, you bet I'll have it on as often as my dad has on "The Golden Girls." And I'll memorize the entire series just as well as he has that.