Books (Dona, Ava and C.I.)

 

As we did in 2021 and 2023, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the community. This go round, we're talking to Dona about her review of Michael Gregg Mchaud's SAL MINEO: A BIOGRAPHY.  So you were watching an old episode of COLUMBO and you found yourself introduced to Sal for the first time.

Dona: Right.  He was talented, had charisma and was cute.  So I looked him up to see who he was and turned out he was a famous actor with a brief career that did include a Golden Globe win and two Academy Award nominations.  It was a sad tale and a glorious one.  He was this cute little boy and his looks led to Broadway.  Then they led to the movies.  And he worked hard to be a real actor and not just coast his way through.   He had some interesting friends throughout his career.  James Dean, Natalie Wood, Yul Brenner, David Cassidy, and many more.

And you recommend the book?

Dona: I do.  If I'm hesitant, it's because the author knows more than he puts on the page.  I don't know.  I applaud the book and I applaud the writer.  But it's fairly well known that Sal and Paul Newman slept together.  A detail not in the book but when friends of both of yours would be over and see what I was reading, they would bring up Paul -- among others.  And it's appalling that losers like Ethan Hawke are making so-called documentaries about Paul Newman that don't acknowledge his decades of same-sex affairs while married to Joanne Woodward.  He was bisexual.  Why make a so-called documentary pretending otherwise?  Or Dyan Cannon and her daughter and their embarrassing pretense that Cary Grant didn't sleep with men?  It's like grow the hell up.

 

It is very sad, yes.  

Dona: And the efforts to deny the truth about your own father?  What is Cary Grant's daughter so afraid of?  Cary Grant was an asshole, he was cheap, he was rude to women and his politics I'll leave alone.  One of the best things about him was the fact that he slept with men.  He's one of the great film stars of the 20th century and noting that he was bi or gay?  That doesn't take anything away from him.  It actually makes me more sympathetic to him because hiding in the closet might account for some of his issues.  He might have been so cheap because he was afraid he'd be outed and lose everything.  He might have been rude to women -- to put it mildly -- because he was angry that he couldn't be open about his affair with Randolph Scott.  They lived together and they got slammed for it.  But the photos make it look like that was one of the rare times in his life when he was actually happy.  I think we need more truth and there's a lot of truth in this book on Sal Mineo.

 -------------------

 

Previous book discussions: 

 

"Book Talk (Ty, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Stan, Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Trina, Ava and C.I.)"

"Books (Kat, Ava and C.I.)"

"Books (Ruth, Jim, Ava and C.I.)"

"Books (Ty, Ava and C.I.)" 

 "Books (Kat, Ava and C.I.)"

"Books (Ann, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Stan, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Dona, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Ty, Ava and C.I.)" 

 "Book Talk (Mike, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Stan, Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Mike, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Ann, Marcia, Trina, Ava and C.I.)"

"Book Talk (Elaine, Ava and C.I.)" 

"Books (Marcia, Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)"

 "Book Talk (Kat, Ava and C.I.)"

 

 

 

 

SAL MINEO: A BIOGRAPHY (Dona)

Sal Mineo was an actor who died before he turned forty.  He was a film actor that I didn't know of through films.  I was watching an old COLUMBO episode on PLUTO.  You get a lot of famous guest stars in that detective show: Ruth Gordon, Jeanne Berlin, Robert Conrad, Leonard Nimoy, Lesley Ann Warren, Lee Grant, Roddy McDowell, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, Anne Baxter, Johnny Cash, Ida Lupino etc.  And then one episode has PRETTY WOMAN's Hector Elizondo who's the crook and killer and tries to cover another murder by having the (already) dead man's car crash and puts glasses on the corpse not realizing the man alternated glasses and contacts and was already wearing contacts when he died.  That man was Sal Mineo.

 

Don't know about you, but I do that.  When I watched THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE's second to last episode and the cop Old Christine thinks is a stripper stood out to me, I went to IMDB to find out who it was (Josh Randall).

Sal Mineo had great presence and I made a point to look up who he was.

Michael Gregg Mchaud's SAL MINEO: A BIOGRAPHY is a wonderful introduction to the actor.  His writing about the filming of the classic REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE was enough to make me see it.  It's not just a bad commercial on TCM where Ben Mankiewicz pretends he's James Dean.  The film itself is vital and Sal holds his own alongside Natalie Wood and James Dean.  

The book takes you through Sal's early beginnings as a child actor on through stardom with REBEL and other films including GIANT and EXODUS -- he was nominated for an Academy Award for the latter and won a Golden Globe for it.  In addition, he was nominated for an Academy Award for REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE as well.  But film fame ran out and he increased his appearances on TV while trying to land a good film role and while exploring directing.  

He ends up stabbed to death at 37.  Along the way, he makes friends (such as Yul Brenner -- they worked together on Broadway when Sal was a kid and he's one of the few who really remains a friend) and has many lovers including sixties teen idol Bobby Sherman. 

Would Sal's career have been any different if he was born 30 years later?  I have no idea.  James Caan's homophobia kept Sal from being cast in THE GODFATHER.  I would think that a real artist in this century wouldn't care about the whining and bitchiness of a James Caan and would cast an actor like Sal but who knows?

 

The book's a testament to real artist who threw himself into his career -- often at the expense of his life.

Isaiah covers the 2024 presidential election

In case you missed it, 2024 is a presidential election year.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS comics have been covering the race for president this year.

That's his THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The GOP Debate" noting how even Nikki Haley outperformed Ron DeSantis in the GOP primaries.  When his campaign failed, the world felt a little better.

For the bulk of 2024, no presidential candidate was as embarrassing and laughable as Robert Kennedy Jr.

"He Eats Dog" addressed the rumors that Junior did just that -- poor Snoopy!

For most of 2024, President Joe Biden was the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

"He Sees The Death Angels" came right before Joe stepped aside and noted how his voice was unsure and hesitant.

No presidential nominee was as awful as Donald Trump.  

"Donald Trump On The Wings Of A Maxi" addressed how stupid Donald looked while trying to milk the shooting by wearing a large, unneeded 'bandage' that looked like a Maxi-Pad over his ear.  He did that at the GOP convention.  Many years into the future, people will still be laughing about it.

As bad as Donald is, it came as a surprise that he could pick a running mate who was equally awful.

But JD Vance was as creepy and as evil and, most of all, as stupid as Donald. That's "JD Vance Doesn't Understand The Church."

 

Poor cry baby JD. 

 

 

"Crowd Envy" dealt with JD and Donald's dwindling audience which came as crows were turning out for Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz.

JD ended up with a new name -- Miss Sassy. Miss Sassy emerged when the country learned that 29-year-old JD Vance put on a blond wig and dressed like a woman when in law school. Not college, law school. He was 29-years-old. And this from a man who has called out drag queens for political gain.

"He Wants To Be Your Queen."

Miss Sassy has proven to be very popular with community members and Isaiah admits he has a blast drawing Miss Sassy. It's JD's id exposed. So when Robert Kennedy Jr. was flirting with endorsing Donald, we got "Miss Sassy Puts Junior On Blast."

And then spineless, cowardly whore Junior endorsed Donald leading to "Junior Explains His Trump Endorsement."

As summer was winding down, the Green Party made the hideous Jill Stein their presidential nominee for the third time. She is a monster, she is "Jill FrankenStein."

 

Having endorsed Convicted Felon Donald Trump, Junior raced to campaign for him as did Trashy Garbage (Tulsi Gabbard). Don't worry, Donald's running mate set them straight in ""Miss Sassy Will Not Be Denied Or Upstaged." "

And then tonight came "The Convicted Felon and Miss Sassy Variety Hour" allowing Miss Sassy to celebrate the grifter that is Donald.

Book list

 

Books reviewed in the community this year.

1) "J Randy Taraborrelli's awful Beyonce book" -- Ann reviews a book on Beyonce.

 

2)  "Sheila Weller's Carrie Fisher: A Life On The Edge" -- Marcia reviews a puff piece bio.

 

3)   "Sheet Pan Fajita Shrimp in the Kitchen" -- Trina reviews a cookbook.

 

4) "Container Gardening (book review), Idiot of the Week, and Kylie Minogue performed at the Brit Awards" -- Mike covers a book on container gardening. 

5) "Type II Diabetes (books)" -- Stan reviews four books on diabetes.

6) "faye dunaway" -- Rebecca reviews a biography of Faye Dunaway.  

 

7)  "THE FIVE-INGREDIENT COOKBOOK FOR MEN" -- Mike reviews a cookbook. 

 

 

8)  "SILENT SISTERS: PROFILES OF THE SHORT LIVES OF KAREN CARPENTER, PATSY CLINE, CASS ELLIOT, RUBY ELZY, JANIS JOPLIN AND SELENA" -- Ty reviews a sketch book.

 

9) "THE LESSONS OF MAMA TEMBO (Dona)" -- Dona reviews a children's book.

 

10) "Michael Schulman's OSCAR WARS: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD IN GOLD, SWEAT AND TEARS" -- Stan's book review. 

 

11) "Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life ..." -- Ann reviews a bad book about an early film star. 

12) "MY MAMA, CASS" -- Kat reviews a book by the daughter of Cass Elliot.  

13) "Media: The stupid return to target Target and a man writes a really dull, boring book" -- Ava and C.I. review A. Ashley Hoff's  WITH LOVE, MOMMIE DEAREST: THE MAKING OF AN UNINTENTIONAL CAMP CLASSIC.

 

14)  "THE DARK SIDE OF HOLLYWOOD (Ty)" -- Ty reviews a book about Charlie Chaplin, Lupe Velez and Jean Harlow.

 

15) "LADIES WHO PUNCH: THE EXPLOSIVE INSIDE STORY OF THE VIEW" -- Ruth reviews a book about ABC's long running gasbaggery. 

 

16)  "HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (Jim)" -- Jim covers a book that fails to deliver. 

 

17) "Andrew McCarthy's BRAT" -- Kat reviews Andrew's bio.

 

18) "A really bad book gets reviewed -- plus Paul Rudnick, Diana Ross, Chase Rice, Sam Smith " -- Elaine reviews Tina Brown's  THE VANITY FAIR DIARIES.

 

19)  "Boze Hadleigh's Hollywood Lesbians: from Garbo to Foster" and "'hollywood lesbians: from garbo to foster' by boze hadleigh" -- Marcia and Rebecca do their annual summer read.

 

20) "C'MON, GET HAPPY is the worst book of 2024 " -- Kat reviews a book supposedly covering the film SUMMER STOCK.

 

21) "Diet Clam Chowder in the Kitchen"  -- Trina reviews a book on the history of chowder. 

 

22) "CINEMA SPECULATION" -- Stan reviews Quentin Tarantino's book. 

 

23) "carrie courogen's elaine may book" -- Rebecca reviews MISS MAY DOES NOT EXIST.

 

24) CARRIE FISHER & DEBBIE REYNOLDS: PRINCESS LEIA & UNSINKABLE TAMMY IN HELL (Ty) -- Ty reviews a book about Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.  

 

25) "SAL MINEO: A BIOGRAPHY (Dona)"  -- Donna reviews a biography about Sal Mineo. 

 

 

 

Mailbag

Easiest way to reach us?  That would be common_ills@yahoo.com.  Dipping into the mail bag.

Jatin e-mails that "In the 2010s I used to read a lot of blogs and I need help with something now.  My girlfriend doesn't believe that there is or was such a thing as Mac and Cheese pizza.  But I was in college and I remember it.  I've left comments the last weeks at sites that are still around or e-mailed them.  No one seems to know anything.  Can you help?"

Sure can.  Check out our 2012 "From the TESR Test Kitchen" and you'll find us reviewing Tony's Mac & Cheese pizza.

In addition to that piece, Wally remembers Cici's having a mac & cheese pizza on their buffet at several of their Florida locations back in the day.

Callie had a related e-mail asking if we remembered Special K chips?  We mentioned them in a 2012 "From the TESR Test Kitchen" and, like you, we miss them.  

George e-mailed to say he misses illustrations "and you used to do good ones.  Photographs, drawings, paintings, album covers, sheet music -- I'm remembering a Sonny & Cher one -- and I miss them.  You don't even really note Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS comics.  I miss them."

That's the sheet music cover George is e-mailing about.  Sheet music covers?  That one's from C.I.'s music library and we could do several every week.  However, it's really an issue of time.  We just don't have it.  It's harder and harder to pull together an edition which is why, so often of late, it's just Ava and C.I. doing their media feature.  In terms of Isaiah?  We're trying to do something here for this edition.  

Kendrick e-mailed to ask for more music coverage -- "and at the very least, you could repost Kat's music reviews."  Yes, we could do that and we are doing that this issue.

Lauren asks why we don't link to all the artists on our "This edition's playlist" feature?  She wonders, "Is it because you don't like them?"  The albums are listed are what we listened to.  If we didn't like the artist, we wouldn't be listening to them.  Unless we make an error, we link to all living artists although there was a group we did not link to because they did not have a website.  But when you see, for example, Aretha Franklin or Laura Nyro, there's no link.  They have passed away so we don't link to them.

Lastly, Brianna e-mailed to say she wished we do more "Film Classics of the 20th Century" and that she really enjoyed the mural we created for that regular feature. 

That's the mural she's referring to.

This was an ongoing feature that covered classics from the previous century including FOUL PLAY,  THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE,  MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE,  THE DUCHESS AND THE DIRT WATER FOX,  NEVER BEEN KISSED, BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER, TEA WITH MUSSOLINI, THE LATE SHOW, SUMMER STOCK, THE FULLER BRUSH GIRL,  The Net,  Your Friends & Neighbors,  Shampoo,  The Player,  Dick Tracy,  How To Marry A Millionaire,  Blow Out, You Only Live Twice, Sleeper,  Diamonds Are Forever,  Sleepless In Seattle,  My Little Chickadee,  Tootsie,  After Hours,  Edward Scissorhands, Christmas in Connecticut, Desk Set,  When Harry Met Sally . . .,  Who Done It?,  That Darn Cat!,  Cactus Flower,  Family Plot, House Sitter,  and Outrageous Fortune.   

Was.  Will we do it again? Maybe.  We did 35 articles in that series.  Are there more we could do?  Absolutely.  DEATH BECOMES HER, SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY, A NEW LEAF -- look at some of the films that make up the collage we did.  But there are other things we focus on so who knows.  In the meantime, you could refer to 2023's "The funniest movies from the last 100 years."

Kat reviews Vanessa Williams new album SURVIVOR

 

 Kat's Korner: After a dull musical summer, Vanessa Williams emerges as much more than a SURVIVOR

Kat: Summer 2024 -- June, July and August --  has been about a lot of garbage and a lot of crap.   Trash like, for instance, FOREVER.

Jon Bon Jovi is not a major talent and never was.  But with Richie Sambora co-writing songs, the group Bon Jovi seemed to have an anthem or two to shout.  And with Sambora on lead guitar, there was a reason to listen.  Ahead of the forgettable FOREVER being released this summer, the usual false rumors circulated that Richie might be back with the band -- or with whatever passes for a band.  Instead, there was no Richie Sambora and twelve tracks that stood as twelve arguments for Jon Bon Jovi to retire.

 

Speaking of musty, Moby showed up with one of the worst albums of all time.  The music itself was quickly forgotten as we marveled instead over the fact that ALWAYS CENTERED AT NIGHT didn't  make it onto BILLBOARD's TOP 200 selling albums -- not even for one week -- his eleventh album since 2013 that's failed to chart in the US.  Eminem called it a little too soon (2002's "Without Me"), but, yes, when it comes to Moby, "It's over."  The same news should be broken to Neil Young.  He's released over 20 albums since 2018.  Albums of new stuff?  No, this is Neil desperate for money and raiding the archives.  Someone break it down to him, he was never Stevie Wonder and he's certainly not Prince.  Meaning?  It all sounds like the  same f**king song and no one needs his archival releases -- although, in fairness, EARLY DAZE did manage to chart this summer and even make it into the top 100 on BILLBOARD's album chart -- something only one of the previous 20 managed. And, speaking of bad, don't forget Ice Spice's Y2K! -- an album so simplistic that it made her Dunkin Donuts commercial seem layered and meaningful by contrast. 

This summer brought the news that we're still done with Ani DiFranco.  Her embarrassing and racist plantation retreat did get purged from her WIKIPEDIA page but not from our memories.  The 'lesbian' sunk a little lower on the honesty scale as she began performing old songs with newly censored lyrics that the twice-married-to-a-man wrote back when she pretended she was into women.  Even so, UNPRECEDENTED SH*T brought no one to the yard and that awful title track sounds like a wounded cat needing to be put down.  "I've got a lot of heart,"  Ani insisted over some 'musical' notes far creakier than the ones coming out of her throat before telling us she had "a lot of balls."  If you hadn't bailed on her by then, you did when the second verse featured a 'whistle' that was about as musical as a car alarm.  The album failed to chart and the official video of the title track couldn't even crack 3,000 views in three months of release.  Like OneRepublic's ARTIFICIAL PARADISE, UNPRECEDENTED SH*T  begged the question who wanted to toss money into the sinkhole?  In Ani's case, it's Ani.  She's the head of her own label which makes you wonder will she keep releasing crap albums until all her money is gone or will she be her own best A&R, take herself to a bar and explain, "The career's over.  You're dropping yourself from your own label"? 

July brought one album that did actually sell: Eminem's THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRACE) which didn't have the strong humor of his first two albums but was his best release since 2002's THE EMINEM SHOW and was also one of the few bright spots of the summer.  And while it didn't sell, July also brought Jack White's NO NAME.  It was solid if a little light weight.  But it wasn't enough to resurrect the career.  I think by now, we've all gotten over Jack's lie that his former White Stripes partner was his sister.  No, she was his wife.  And although we've gotten over the long ago lie, I think we're all still grossed out that for years a then-married couple pretended they were brother-and-sister.  The bad taste still lingers.

August brought about Khalid's SINCERE which was frothy enough to make you hope for more but there was no more there.  (Khalid is one to watch, however.  He needs stronger material than this, but he's got real talent.)   Any positive vibes Khalid managed to send out quickly went scurrying with the release of AGHORI MHORI MEI.  The what?  The latest garbage from Billy Corgan.  Whenever he needs money, it's back to what he tries to pass off as the Smashing Pumpkins.  The Pumpkins, a grunge era band, has two classics: SIAMESE DREAM and MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS.  The first remains a sonic landscape, the second finds Billy at his most heavily Anne Sexton-influenced.  Nothing since has ever mattered in the slightest.  Maybe that's because even Billy's huge ego hasn't been enough to fill the holes left by the departure of original bassist Darcy or the death of Jonathan Melvoin.  

At any rate, I was willing to toss in the towel and be done with the dreadful summer of 2024 when I learned Vanessa Williams' SURVIVOR was out.

The title track crackles with life and makes you want to swing your hips on the dance floor.  "I really love that and am looking forward to the new album" -- I wrote that sentence August 24th.  Didn't realize that the album had been released the day before until e-mails started coming in.  There's been a lot of interest in this album because SURVIVOR has already produced two dance classics. 

"The Legs (Keep Dancing)."

Vanessa Williams, Trixie Mattel and LION BABE doing "BOP!"

 

She does a great job covering Natalie Cole and Linda Williams "La Costa" from Natalie's 1977 release THANKFUL. Even more on the money is her cover of 1934's "Junk Man."

The life she breathes into that Frank Loesser and Joseph Meyer classic is amazing.  As is what she does with Cab Calloway's "Zaz Zuh Zaz."  Those songs and their dynamic vocals are probably supposed to remind you that Vanessa's triumphed on Broadway with the musicals KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, INTO THE WOODS, SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, AFTER MIDNIGHT and next month starts wowing British audiences in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA -- London's first ten shows are already sold out.

SURVIVOR celebrates Vanessa's voice by providing her with dance numbers, jazz and Broadway staples and ballads.  This is the artist whose chart hits include "Save The Best For Last," "The Right Stuff," "Dreamin'," "(He's Got) The Look," "Work To Do," "Running Back To You" and "Colors Of The Wind."  That's a wide range and SURVIVOR honors it.    Make a point to check it out.

Tweet of the week

 

Did you know: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who legalized child labor in Arkansas, based her entire personality on this Nellie Oleson doll, which remains her only friend: pic.twitter.com/NSKvMRflom

— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) September 1, 2024

This edition's playlist

1) Diana Ross' SWEPT AWAY.

 

2) Beyonce's COWBOY CARTER.

 

3) Vanessa Williams' SURVIVOR. 

 

4) Ben Harper's BOTH SIDES OF THE GUN.  

 

5) The Rolling Stones's HACKNEY DIAMONDS.

 

6) Diana Ross' THANK YOU.

 

7) Aretha Franklin's SPARKLE.

 

8) Joni Mitchell's JONI MITCHELL ARCHIVES -- VOL. 3: THE ASYLUM YEARS (1972 - 1975).

 

9)  Green Day's  'SAVIORS'

 

10) Sonny & Cher's LOOK AT US.