Highlights

 

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

 

"Iraq and Gaza" -- most requested highlight by readers of this sie.

 

"Kat's Korner: Seasoned entertainers (Dolly Parton,..."  -- Kat reviews new albums from Ann-Margret, Cher and Dolly Parton. 

 "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot." "The continued assault on Gaza," "Tommy Tuberville is the disgrace of America," "Homophobe Mike Johnson just gets worse and worse,"  "Crazy moment in the Senate and Barry Manilow talks coming out," "Tommy Tuberville needs to get off his lazy ass and do his job," "for any 1 wondering, matthew perry? still dead," "the dysfunction," "marjorie taylor greene is just evil" "streaming," "barbra's bad book," "Good for Marlon Wayans and his family," "Idiot of the week," "Doo-Doo DeSantis and other idiots," "Leslie Jones, Doo-Doo DeSantis, BURN IT DOWN WITH KIM BROWN," "Doo-Doo DeSantis and The Crooked Court," "No one wants to donate to Doo-Doo DeSantis,"  "Know election rules before you tell people what to do," "Shameful," "The Crooked Court isn't fooling anyone," "Markywayne, Markywayne, Markywayne, let me rock you let me rock you, MarkyWayne," "The Crooked Court tries to trick us again," "Can Jada Pinkett please retire from public life al...," "Shady Menendez gets more bad news," "When Sean Met Markywayne . . .," "Shady Menendez," "Does the Israeli government grasp how the world se...," "What's it like to be the parents of the village idiot?," "Idiots Mike Johnson and MTG," "Bigoted Mommies attack democracy," "Ramaswamy?," "America's con man," "Gaza." "Freaker of the House Mike Johnson," "How can someone be so stupid?," "Another review of THE MARVELS saying skip it," "This just in! Man-on-Man love on the floor of the Senate!," "The (Homosexual) Passion of the Senator," "THIS JUST IN! SENATOR MULLIN TELLS SEAN O'BRIEN "WE CAN BE 2 CONSENTING ADULTS!" OO!LA!LA!," "Hillary's only got one playbook," "She sees Monica, Paula, Juanita, all of them, everywhere," "She's no diplomat," "The beat of black wings" and "THIS JUST IN! THE VENGEFUL CLINTON!" -- news coverage in the community.

 

"Easy Chicken and Rice with Vegetables in the Kitchen," "Creamy Pumpkin Hummus in the Kitchen," "Easy Slow-Cooker Lasagna in the Kitchen," "No-Bake Pumpkin Pie in the Kitchen" and "Cornbread Dressing in the Kitchen" -- Trina serves up some recipes.

 

 "My Termintor 7 pitch," "Cass Elliot, Fiona Apple," "Dolly Parton "Purple Rain"," "YOUNG SHELDON finally cancelled," "Yo Yo Ma, Pattie Gonia, Christopherson, and The Kinks,"  "Chase Rice," "PRISCILLA," "Explaining why I'm taking a break from THE REMIX MORNING SHOW," "Black Widow, Supergirl," "Some accurate criticism of THE MARVELS" and "Weekend box office" -- entertainment coverage in the community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media: MY NAME IS BARBRA, my game is pity party

MY NAME IS BARBRA was released last week, the autobiography Barbra's spent years writing. It's entertaining, occasionally illuminating and completely dishonest and unfair.

 

As two who think THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES is a solid and entertaining film worthy of praise, we were especially interested in that section of the book and it's filled with trivia and details.  For example, she was looking for "a Pierce Brosnan type" and mentioned that in a conversation with "Dick Guttman, my press rep" who also represented Pierce and took the idea to Pierce who happily agreed. That was interesting as was the fact that designer Donna Karan wanted to play the role Brenda Vaccaro ended up cast in.  Barbra wanted Gena Rowlands to play her mother but Gena turned the role down because she was doing another film.  Lauren Bacall ended up cast in the role instead.

As she continues describing the casting and filming, people may admire her honesty -- or what passes for honesty.  Repeatedly, she tricks Lauren Bacall to get what she wants from her on camera.  She manipulates her and doesn't let her know the camera's rolling.  

Now there are directors who work that way.  They're usually the type who quote Alfred Hitchcock on actors ("All actors should be treated like cattle").  You don't usually get that kind of manipulation from someone who is supposedly committed to art.  They might try something like that with a child but with an actor in their fifth decade of a professional career?

It was underhanded and sneaky.  But Barbra can't be honest -- not on the set and not in the book.  So she uses the anecdote to present herself as wonderful and smart and the best and, of course, the kindest.

She's nothing of the sort.  As a director that was a cheap move and it goes to the fact that she's actually not that good at her job on the set since she's unable to convey what she wants and instead wants to trick the performer.

It's not a minor point.

She writes, "And then George Segal, my old pal from THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT, took over the role of Gregory's best friend when Dudley Moore sadly couldn't continue because of health reasons."

Do people know this story?  If they do, they know she's lying.  Dudley was hired for that role.  And George did play it in the film.

But there's a whole world of information between those two facts.

In 1995, for example, he was fired from THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES. A few years later, he would receive a diagnosis that explained why he was having problems remembering lines.

But there's also the period where he was fired and he was fired by Barbra for being drunk.  That's why he couldn't remember his lines, she insisted.  But he wasn't drunk.  

That didn't stop the word in the industry from being that Dudley was such a drunk he could no longer remember his lines.  Barbra was the star of THE MIRROR HAS TWO and a producer and a director.  Barbra denies spreading the rumor (we don't believe her) but she could have stepped up and stopped the rumor.  She didn't.  And Dudley couldn't get cast in a feature film again.  He played himself in a mockumentary and he did voice work.  But that was it for feature films.  (CRAPAPEDIA wrongly bills the TV movie A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY as a feature film.)

Again, she denies it but most people (including us) believe she did put that negative word out on Dudley.  But even if she didn't, when it became the rumor and made it impossible for him to be cast in feature films, she could have stepped up and clarified.

She didn't.

This is the woman who got the crew of YENTL to sign a letter to the editor of a newspaper over their report that she was difficult on the set.  For that, she demanded the crew sign off on the letter (they did not write the letter, though it was presented as though they had) because she thought the press report made her look bad.  But when Dudley's career was destroyed, she was too busy to do a damn thing.

We know Jackson Browne and the singer-songwriter loves to talk about how, as a songwriter, he sometimes has an unfair advantage because he gets to write the story, he gets to record it and say what it is.  Jackson will discuss this and wonder about the fairness of it and reflect on it, even struggle with it.  

Barbra has no such compulsion.  

And she's unfair and not at all about a free press.  Please, Liz Smith would run the most innocuous item on Barbra and the singer-actress would be on the phone insisting Liz tell her where she got the story (Liz would never tell her).

What does that have to do with the book?

A whole hell of a lot.

Howard Zieff.  

He's in the book.  He shouldn't be mentioned in the book.  

Where's Will Smith to slap Barbra and tell her to keep Howard's name out of her damn mouth?

Howard directed a lot of films including THE MAIN EVENT starring Barbra and Ryan O'Neal, PRIVATE BENJAMIN starring Goldie Hawn, MY GIRL, HOUSE CALLS . . . 

In MY NAME IS BARBRA, she writes about THE MAIN EVENT:

So I liked the cast, and I loved the cinematographer, Mario Tosi.  But I never developed much of a rapport with the director, Howard Zieff, who was oddly detached. He didn't get that involved with the script, while I was usually working with the writers, Gail Parent and Andrew Smth, trying to punch up the dialogue, often right up to the moment we filmed it.

More than halfway through the shoot, we still didn't have an ending.  I spoke to my friends on the set and asked them to share any ideas with me.  The first person who responded was the sound man, who gave me an interesting suggestion.  When I mentioned this to Howard, he said, "The sound man?  You want me to listen to the sound man?"

"Yeah," I said.  "Why not?"

I've always felt you shouldn't be dismissive of anyone, because you never know where an idea is going to come from.  Even my driver wrote up a four-page treatment, but I got nothing from Howard.

I guess he and I were not fated to connect.

First off, the supposed work she did on the script?  People laugh at Barbra for saying things like that.  And the ending?

It's the same ending.

That was always in the script?

 

Well, yeah, but we're not talking about that.  We're talking about the same ending that was always in the 1936 film CAIN AND MABEL starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable.

 

Barbra never acknowledges that film despite the fact that THE MAIN EVENT ripped it off.  (Laird Doyle wrote the screenplay for CAIN AND MABEL -- and it's all there including Marion throwing the towel into the ring just like Barbra does at the end of THE MAIN EVENT but let's all pretend it was an original screenplay and that Barbra added new and novel elements to it as they filmed it.)

As for Howard?

 

People who worked with Howard praised him.

Barbra's not bound by any rule to praise him if she didn't like him, we're not arguing that.

We're saying that she was obligated to keep her damn mouth shut.

Why?

Howard couldn't talk about Barbra to the press.  He was legally bound to stay silent.  She demanded an NDA from whomever directed the film.  It was her follow up to 1976's A STAR IS BORN and that director, Frank Pierson, right before the film was released, published a lengthy article detailing what a nightmare working on that film was.  

So Barbra refused to allow Howard to ever speak to the press about the film but now that he's dead, she's talking and it's not kind about him.  Doesn't seem fair.  If she wouldn't let him talk about it while he was alive, she shouldn't be able to write about it now.

Fair really isn't a word that features in the day-to-day life of Barbra Streisand; however, victim must pop up at least every hour.

If the above hasn't made it clear to you, maybe these two sentence will, "And then I got a call from Sue Mengers.  She wanted me to take over Lisa Eichhorn's role in the film Sue's husband, Jean-Claude Tramount was making, ALL NIGHT LONG."  Isn't Babs addicted to the comma, by the way.  We're accused of being addicted to the double-dash -- accused frequently.  And we'll gladly cop to it but does Barbra know any other punctuation than the comma.  Semi-colon even?  It doesn't appear that she does.

ALL THE NIGHT LONG is rarely seen today which is too bad because it's a good movie.  Barbra didn't make a lot of good movies.  THE MAIN EVENT is a good popcorn movie.  It's not a great film and it's not even one of her top ten films.

Her top ten?

1) YENTL

2) FUNNY GIRL

3) WHAT'S UP, DOC?

4) THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES

5) THE WAY WE WERE

6) UP THE SANDBOX

7) ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER

8) ALL NIGHT LONG

9) THE GUILT TRIP

10) THE PRINCE OF TIDES

And here's a little secret, it's not that difficult to come up with the top ten.  The non-stop homophobia of THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT renders it unwatchable.  HELLO DOLLY is a hideous film.  MEET THE FOCKERS and LITTLE FOCKERS?  The woman who constantly insisted she wanted to play Shakespeare and do films about Sarah Bernhardt  is playing a Focker -- granted Barbra's the best thing about both movies but those are pretty awful movies. FUNNY LADY is really lousy.  NUTS needed Debra Winger and not 45-year-old Barbra playing a call girl making $500 an hour.  The aging hooker doesn't get paid more with each year of tricking.  No one's stupid enough to believe that.  And A STAR IS BORN is the worst film of its year and of its decade.  (We've left out FOR PETE'S SAKE which has its pluses and minuses and would require more than a single sentence to analyze.) 

But back to ALL NIGHT LONG.  She writes about it, about turning down ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE years prior but this time she thought she could play an untalented singer-songwriter.  She thought Gene Hackman was a great actor and was attracted to him.  Sue failed her as a friend and agent -- the rewrites she had told would be done never came through and she hated the sexist poster of her sliding down a fire pole as her skirt flew up and the men stood around looking at her.  As her agent, Sue should have protected her but the rewrites weren't done and the studio told her she had no say in the poster for the film.  Sue had made her mad before (she told Peter Bogdanovich that Barbra objected to him giving her line readings) but this time she had failed her.  But she was happy that Sue stood by the promise to get her "a deal that was more lucrative than any actor, male or female, had ever had" -- four million dollars.  We'll tell you it was four million because Barbra never manages to.  Why be coy over the figure when you're the one bringing up money and talking about doing a movie just for the money?

She goes on and on about this and that.  But let's go back to those two sentences we quoted earlier.  "And then I got a call from Sue Mengers.  She wanted me to take over Lisa Eichhorn's role in the film Sue's husband, Jean-Claude Tramount was making, ALL NIGHT LONG."

 

She insists that the money only mattered because she "liked the idea of achieving that milestone for women."  The sisterhood, you understand.  But where was the sisterhood in her taking part in the firing of Lisa Eichhorn?

 

The studio wasn't planning on stopping the shoot.  Not until Sue said she could get Barbra to take the role.  So a movie that had already started filming was now losing its leading lady because Barbra wanted four million dollars.  Lisa's career never recovered from that setback. 

She could have written a biography about sisterhood.  If she wanted to, she could have.  She might even have been able to be honest with that as the theme.

GYPSY is not going to happen with Barbra.  She poured years and years into that project but Stephen Sondheim finally told her that she could star in the film or she could direct it but he didn't think she could do both jobs and do justice to them.

 

That's a story to tell.

Not in the way she tells it.  She read the short story "Yentl: The Yeshiva Boy" and got the rights to it in 1969.  It took pushing and working and bartering and bargaining to get the 1983 film made.  In 1972, Jane Fonda purchased the rights to Harriette Arnow's THE DOLLMAKER.  No one wanted to make it.  In 1977, she -- like most of the nation -- watched the TV mini-series ROOTS on ABC and began seeing a TV movie as a possibility for THE DOLLMAKER.  In 1978, the day after she won her second Academy Award for Best Actress (for the film COMING HOME), she met with ABC and they agreed to it.  Script issues and filming commitments added six more years to the clock but it was a critical success, a ratings hit and she won an Emmy for her performance.

 

Sally Field rightly gives -- and has always given -- Jane credit for leading the role for actresses in producing their own films (with IPC and FONDA FILMS, Jane's company made COMING HOME, ON GOLDEN POND, 9 TO 5, ROLLOVER, THE DOLLMAKER, THE MORNING AFTER and OLD GRINGO and IPC also co-produced THE CHINA SYNDROME).   Sally went on to become a producer of her films as well.  In fact, the 70s and 80s saw a revitalized era of women onscreen due to Jane, Sally, Barbra and other women such as Goldie Hawn.  Goldie produced PRIVATE BENJAMIN, SWING SHIFT, PROTOCOL, WILDCATS, OVERBOARD, MY BLUE HEAVEN, DECEIVED, CRISSCROSS, HOPE (she also directed HOPE), WHEN BILLIE MET BOBBY, THE MATTHEW SHEPARD STORY and SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT.  

Did Sally, Goldie, Jane and Barbra make it look too easy? In 1986, the four actress-producers were featured on the cover of LIFE with Jessica Lange who had recently gotten into production as well with COUNTRY.  

Other actresses would decide to become producers as well -- Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Diana Ross, Cher, Demi Moore, Sandra Bullock and Bette Midler are just a few.  But the bulk of them would not produce many films.  To be sure, Meg's continued to produce and also started directing -- and is currently on the screens in WHAT HAPPENS NEXT which she also directed.  But the other women?

 

Michelle left production because it was too much work.  She was spending all this time developing properties and few ever got filmed.  DANGEROUS MINDS, ONE FINE DAY and A THOUSAND ACRES were filmed.  Jessica Lange and Michelle teamed to produce A THOUSAND ACRES.  There are many things wrong with that film -- but Michelle's performance isn't one of them.  Both Jessica and Michelle loathed (and still loathe) the finished film.  But it's a good film and Michelle is amazing in it and probably gave the best performance by any actress that year.  

 

Cher struggled with producing as well.  You have a bad experience with a director and/or you aren't offered scripts you're interested in and you start thinking maybe you should go the producer route.  But Cher really couldn't get any projects going beyond the talking stage.  She and Michelle were supposed to act in a film -- a comedy -- that Cher was developing about a star and a tabloid reporter.  The script wasn't the problem -- and, in fact, there have been two other actress pairings since Cher walked away from it that almost saw the film produced.  Cher had several films that she was trying to develop including the one closest to her heart, a remake of 1945's THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE.  Now during this, Cher also had Epstein-Barr virus which depleted her.  Then came the infomercial and the mockery of it that cooled off her film career.  That makes it much harder to for an actress to get a film produced.

But if anyone thought it was easy to produce and act, they were kidding themselves.  

Diana Ross tried for years to get her dream movie produced (she'd star as Josephine Baker) and when film wasn't working out, she moved to television.  Despite interest from HBO, there wasn't enough  interest to result in filming it.  (And to be sure, Diana being African-American impacted that reluctance for cable or broadcast TV to get behind it.)  So the fact that she produced her TV film OUT OF DARKNESS -- and delivered an amazing performance -- should be considered a success, a very huge success. Bette Midler had plans for so many films that she and her company were going to produce but, in the end, it was just BEACHES and FOR THE BOYS.  That is worthy of applause.

 

Because the odds are always against you.  

 

Goldie Hawn and Barbra Streisand tried to produce and star in SISTERS (with script by Patricia Resnick) and that never got a greenlight.  It later was reworked into BIG BUSINESS starring Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler. Bette tried to develop a film for herself and Barbra based on the play DIARY OF A MAD PLAYWRIGHT: PERILOUS ADVENTURES ON THE ROAD WITH MARY MARTIN AND CAROL CHANNING.  Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand tried for years to interest the studios in a film produced by and starring them about the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.  Jane and Sally Field worked on developing a film about a wife who learns her husband is cheating on her and befriends the mistress.  Jane tried to develop a film about Vaclav Havel.  Jane worked on developing a remake of ALL ABOUT EVE (with her niece Bridget Fonda in the Eve role).  She worked forever on developing A BRIGHT AND SHINING LIE (she later let her former film partner Lois Bonfiglio develop it into an HBO mini-series).  She also worked forever trying to get a film about Karen Silkwood made and the problem there revolved around the rights to portray the various people in the film.  COLUMBIA had given it a green light but as legal issues piled up, they instead asked Jane to merge the production with one Michael Douglas was developing -- the film then became THE CHINA SYNDROME.  And let's talk about the first film Jane ever tried to develop -- it was about a young socialite/heiress, named Jane, who gets kidnapped by an armed activist group and becomes radicalized.  Studios took a pass -- wasn't realistic.  They'd feel differently after Patty Hearst was kidnapped.  

The films she did get produced?  INTRODUCTION TO THE ENEMY was a documentary and no problem.  COMING HOME took a bit longer.  THE CHINA SYNDROME took a long time.  9 TO 5, ON GOLDEN POND, and THE MORNING AFTER were fairly quick to get a greenlight and begin filming. But, as noted, THE DOLLMAKER took 12 years.  Almost as long to get developed and filmed would be OLD GRINGO which Jane became interested in before Carlos Fuentes had even written the novel published in 1985.  In 1980, she became interested in it after a conversation with Fuente and she would be among the first to read it -- in manuscript form, before the book was published.  

Actresses producing films was never going to be easy.  Joan Crawford and Katharine Hepburn found that out years before.  And it remains true.  And, it is hard to get any film produced but it is even harder to get a film with a female lead produced.

 

The actresses who produced films in the 70s on through today deserve applause and recognition -- Jane, Sally, Goldie, Barbra, Diana, Bette, Meg, Sandra, Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Lopez, Anne Hathaway,  Whitney Houston and many more.  But it was never going to be easy.

Jane Fonda knew that better than anyone before she ever got a film produced.  While married to director Roger Vadim, she witnesses his  interaction with studios and was there by his side in developing BARBARELLA -- which probably had the easiest path from idea to development to filming (easy because the character was well known internationally and because Jane would be starring in it).  She was also there when he tried to develop THE BLUE GUITAR -- even pursuing Edna O'Brien to write the screenplay.  That film never got made.  (It would have starred Jane and her brother Peter Fonda.)

In her autobiography, Barbra notes the trouble developing GYPSY and also details some of the trouble she had trying to develop THE NORMAL HEART.  But a better book would have been her focusing on producing films -- focusing on what she got to the screen as well as what she didn't and providing a historical context since so many people -- not just actresses, even film historians -- have little idea of the difficulty that this involves -- even when, as these women did, you have a production deal with a studio.

She could have really celebrated sisterhood with that book and maybe she wouldn't have left everyone with the impression that she's lived a miserable life.  She confesses she's never really been happy.  Maybe that's what happens when all you focus on is yourself -- and maybe when all you focus on is yourself, you tend to 'revise' actual events to make you out to be the good person even when you weren't even close to being a kind person.

 

Truest statement of the week

Voters across the U.S. delivered a stinging rebuke to Moms for Liberty, rejecting the majority of the candidates endorsed by the conservative group in school board elections this week.

-- Khaleda Rahman, "Moms for Liberty Annihilated in School Board Elections" (NEWSWEEK).

 

 

 

 

Books (Stan, Ava and C.I.)

 

As we did in 2021, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the community. After a review posts, we try to do a discussion with the reviewer.  This go round, we're talking to Stan about  his "Sam Staggs' FINDING ZZA ZZA: THE GABORS BEHIND THE LEGEND."  And in a nice change from the last few book discussions, you liked this book.

 

Stan: I really did.  Sam Staggs is a talented writer.  It's not just that his research turns up interesting information, its also that he knows how to write and present it so that you care.  He makes it come alive.

 

And this was your first time reading about any Gabor?

 

Stan: Yeah.  Like everyone, I watched GREEN ACRES in syndication growing up so I knew Eva Gabor who played Lisa Douglas on GREEN ACRES.   I think most of us all know her through the DISNEY cartoon movie THE ARISTOCATS.  She was the youngest of three daughters.  Magda was the middle sister.  She was a celebrity in her time.  And the oldest was Zza Zza Gabor who acted on TV and in movies.  Zza Zza?  I know of her from WILL & GRACE.  Jack gets into trouble with the law and needs Will to represent him.  Why?  As Will says, "You Zza Zza-ed a meter maid."  He slapped a meter maid.  At the end of her life, Zza Zza was most famous for slapping a police officer who pulled her over.

So you learned more about Zza Zza and the other Gabors.

Stan: Yes, including about their mother Jolie.  Very interesting lives.  They are Hungarian and all end up in the US.  Zza Zza's married to a Turkish diplomat and that allows her to get to the US but she has to spend a month in Iraq first.  She was married to Conrad Hilton as well.  All of them had very interesting lives.  It's a wonderful  book.  And now I've got a question -- for C.I.  You know Sam Staggs?

I've spoken to him a handful of times.

 

Stan: Is he a nice person?

Yes.  Very smart.  He can debate film for hours.  We disagreed about archival footage.  I think it's historical and useful and he was of the opinion -- at that time -- that the film should be what the film was.  He also felt that Bette Davis or Gloria Swanson should have won for Best Actress and not Judy Holiday.  I think that dismisses comedy and what Judy did in the role.  That said, Bette Davis would have also been a strong choice.  Gloria Swanson was a cartoon in her film and, no, she didn't deserve the award.  She should have been thrilled just to be nominated, my opinion.  And one of his best traits is that he's not afraid to share his opinion or to make the case for it.  I really don't think most of us, when we're talking films, expect or want to hear 'I agree with you 100%' over and over.  Sam's very smart and has a well thought opinion when he offers it.  And he's a great writer.

Stan: He really is.  The book of his I knew before this was ALL ABOUT ALL ABOUT EVE.  If there's time, I might do a review of it this year.  If not, I'll do it next year.  He's a really strong writer. And I recommend this book on the Gabors 100%. 

------------------

Previous book discussions this year.

 

 "Books (Ty, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Elaine, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Marcia, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Isaiah, Ava and C.I.),"  "Books (Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Trina, Isaiah, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Marcia, Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Ann, Mike, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Stan, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Mike, Ava and C.I.),"  "Books (Ann, Elaine, Kat, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Isaiah, Stan, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Trina, Kat, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Marcia, Ann and C.I.)," "Books (Ruth, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Isaiah, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Mike, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Kat, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Marcia, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Trina, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Isaiah, Kat, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Stan, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Kat, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Marcia, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Ann, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Trina, Ava and C.I.)," "Books (Marcia, Ava and C.I.)" and "Books (Ava and C.I.)."

 

 

 

Jim's World

 

This is a brief edition.  C.I. posted the following at THE COMMON ILLS:

3rd note

Putting this up here so everyone knows ahead of time -- community members and Jim who doesn't seem to believe me on this.  THIRD will post tonight.  It may just post Ava and my piece, but it will post tonight.

Rebecca posted this on Friday:

a number of e-mails are aksing if i'm going to review barbra streisand's autobiography?

probably not and surely not this weekend.  it's very long and i'm not a speed reader.  

you know who should review it?

c.i.

we were talking on the phone and she has read it and she offered the best critique and i told her she should review it.  she doesn't want to but i'm going to stay on her.  i think i can sell her on doing it with just one decade.  her remarks on what barbra included from the 70s and what she ignored from the 70s.  

I didn't want to write about it. 

Ava and I went over topics late last night for our piece at THIRD.  That book wasn't one of them.  But Jim begged us to write it.  So we agreed.  And we've finished it.  It took a little over six hours and that includes editing.  We didn't edit out A STAR IS BORN but we may go back in and link to Frank Pierson's article about directing Barbra in that film -- that awful film.  I've shared that before here, my opinion that it's an awful film. It was a popular film in its day but that doesn't mean it was worth anything.  TITANIC starring Barbara Stanwyck was a popular film of its day and today most people don't even know the film.  

Ava and I focused on the lack of honesty and the lack of fairness.  

If we were going to add anything to the piece -- and we're not other than link to Frank's article -- we'd address Barbra's portrayal of her mother.  Oh, no, she didn't want to spend New Year's Eve watching you perform in Las Vegas!!!  Oh, the horror!!!  Get over your damn self.  Diana Ross is doing the farewell performance with the Supremes in Las Vegas and they're introducing everyone's mother and Ernestine  Ross was not present.  Diana has never turned that into a sob story or tried to use it to create sympathy for her and turn herself into 'poor Diana.'  But Barbra can't stop trying to be 'poor Barbra.'  It's really too damn much for a whole book but that is her theme. 

You're elderly mother, in a motorized wheelchair, with bladder problems didn't want to sit through a concert.  Stop being surprised and stop acting like it was a tragedy -- and, honestly, shame on the person who told you while you were working on the book.  There was no reason to share that with you.

Did Barbra's mother do bad things as a mother?  Absolutely.  But that whine, which opens her chapter on her mother, is just beyond stupid.  Her mother was needing a bathroom every thirty or forty minutes at that point in her life.  No, spending New Years at your concert -- when she knew you wouldn't know she wasn't there (and you wouldn't have if the busybody bitch 'friend' hadn't told you) -- and having to go to the ladies' room in a wheel chair repeatedly during the concert was asking too much of her and it was not her trying to be mean.  If she wanted to be mean, she would've told you, "I'm not going to your concert."

There are real injuries and real hurts in Barbra's life.  She doesn't need to go looking for more.

And what a sad and pathetic life it is.

We focus on that and we focus on the book that should have been written instead.

It's 3,610 words.

We've written it, we've edited it.  It's way too much for my eyes, I'm going to take nap because everything's so blurry.  (I've already put videos in the queue to go up regularly over the next few hours.)  

So, to recap, I didn't want to write about the book (I do know Barbra and we do greet each other -- in fact, I once greeted her when it was Sally Kellerman -- Sally dropped by unexpectedly one night and it was really dark and I was convinced she was Barbra before she spoke).  Ava and I didn't want to write about the book.  But we did and we worked forever on it -- and called a number of people to verify a few things (these are not things about Barbra, when it posts, you'll see we were trying to clarify credits on film producing -- I'll leave it at that).  It is done.  It took way too much time.  It should be posted now.  I'm not regrouping for any more on THIRD again this week.  Not tonight, not Monday, not Tuesday.

Maybe Jim [will] believe it since I'm posting this note here.

I read the note and I do see the point -- Ava and C.I. didn't want to write it but did do it and now there's a lag between when it goes up?

I could round out the edition but I'm just posting what we've got done that's ready to go up.  So it's a short edition.

I could pad it out with C.I. scraps.  We do that sometimes when certain pieces aren't working.

C.I.. dictates the Iraq snapshots that run Monday through Friday at THE COMMON ILLS.  And there are always some things that get edited out -- C.I. thinks they distract or that the snapshot is too long or whatever.  

And we'll go through and pick up the scraps sometimes.  We might add to it or we might just grab the idea.  There's a thing about one person on a college campus (a professor) that we might swipe in the next edition and there's also a thing about reading and libraries that we might swipe as well.

But I wanted to note that this is a short edition and why.

2023 passings

 

 

These are the deaths community members found worth noting this year.

 

Lisa Presley -- Elaine noted her passing.

Christine McVie -- Kat covered her passing.

 

Adam Rich -- Marcia noted his passing.

 

Jeff Beck -- Kat noted his passing.

 

Lance Kerwin -- Rebecca noted his passing.

Barrett Strong -- Ruth noted his passing.

 

Lisa Loring -- Rebecca noted her passing.

 

Burt Bacharach -- Rebecca noted his passing.

 

Raquel Welch -- Elaine noted her passing.

 

Stella Stevens  -- Rebecca noted her passing.

 

Richard Belzer -- Ruth noted his passing.  

 

Kevin Alexander Gray -- C.I. notes his passing.

 

Pat Schroeder -- Kat noted her passing.

 

Lance Reddick -- Mike notes his passing.  

 

Darcelle XV -- Elaine notes his passing.

 

"Mark Russell" -- Ruth notes his passing 

 

"Elizabeth Hubbard" -- Trina notes her passing.

 

"Mary Quant and more Peabody nominations" -- Elaine notes a passing.

 

"Harry Belafonte" -- Kat notes a passing.

"Gordon Lightfoot" -- Kat notes a passing.

 

"jacklyn zeman, rose schlossberg, john travolta and..." -- Rebecca notes the passing of Jacklyn Zeman.

 

"Iraq snapshot," "Tina Turner (1939 to 2023)," "The groundbreaker Tina Turner," "Tina Turner," "Lauren Boebert gets burned by AOC," "MAX and NETFLIX, Eva Longoria," "Tina Turner, Eric Swalwell, John Roberts," "They've ruined their reputation," "Hate merchant Tulsi Gabbard," "tina turner passed but the hideous gop lingers," "Tina " and "The wrong people are dying" -- The community notes the passing of Tina Turner.

 

 "Gay actor George Maharis has died" -- Stan notes the passing. 

"10 great songs that Cynthia Weil co-wrote" and "Cynthia Weil" -- Marcia and Kat note Cynthia Weil's passing.

"Hate merchant Pat Robertson has passed away" -- Kat notes the end of Pat Robertson.

"Glenda Jackson" -- Ruth notes the actress's passing.

 

 

"Iraq snapshot" -- C.I. notes the passing of Daniel Ellsberg.

 

"Andrea Evans" -- Kat notes the passing of a soap opera icon. 

 

"Tony Bennett" -- Kat notes the passing of a great singer.

 

"Paul Reubens," "Pee-Wee's Big Holiday" and "One more time on Pee-Wee Herman" -- Betty and Marcia note the passing of Paul Reubens.

"Robbie Robertson" -- Kat covers the passing.

 "David Jacobs" -- Kat notes the passing of a TV creator. 

 

"Arleen Sorkin" -- Marcia notes the passing of a voice, sitcom and daytime TV actress.

 

"billy miller has passed away" -- Rebecca notes a passing. 

"DiFi dies" -- Betty notes the passing of an elderly fool.

"David McCallum led a long life" -- Stan notes the passing of an actor who starred in two huge TV shows. 

 

"rudolph isley " -- Rebecca notes the passing of a music legend.

 

"Phyllis Coats -- TV's original Lois Lane" -- TV's first Lois Lane remembered by Kat.

 

"Piper Laurie" -- Marcia remembers the late actress.

"Suzanne Somers" -- Isaiah notes the significance of Suzanne Somers.

 

 "Mailbag" -- noting the passing of Mark Goddard.

 "lara parker" -- Rebecca covers the passing of Lara Parker.

 

"Carla Bley" -- Marcia notes the passing of a jazz pioneer.

 

"Gregg Sutton" -- Kat notes the passing of a musician.

 

 "Matthew Perrry" -- Ruth notes the passing of a sitcom star.

 

 "Tyler Christopher" -- Betty notes the passing of a popular soap opera actor.

 

 "Peter White has passed" -- Ruth notes the passing of a soap opera icon.

 

 

 

 

Books

 

"Mafia Wives (Susan Williams' WHITE MALICE)" -- C.I. reviews this book.

 

 "The Sewing Circle" -- Marcia reads Axel Madsen's THE SEWING CIRCLE.

 

 "Ellen Sander's The Lifestyle That Classic Rock Unleashed" -- Trina reviews this book.

"Phyllis Diller 1917 – 2012: News, Quotes, Interview" -- Ann reviews this book.

"Call Her Heroic (Ava and C.I.)" -- Ava and C.I. review this book.

"Boze Hadleigh's Hollywood Gays" -- Marcia reviews this book.

 

"Robert Sellers wrote a book of garbage" -- Kat reviews HOLLYWOOD HELLRAISERS.   

 

 

"SCREAM VI and THE BOYS" -- Stan reviews Ron and Clint Howard's THE BOYS.

 

 

"the world according to joan" -- Rebecca reviews this book.

 

 "Elton John and Whitney Houston" -- Kat reviews Elton John's autobiography and a biography on Whitney Houston.

"DON RICKLES: THE MERCHANT OF VENOM" -- Isaiah reviews this book.

 

"Crispy Calamari in the Kitchen" -- Trina reviews  AIR FRYER COOKBOOK FOR BEGINNERS: EFFORTLESSLY GRILL, ROAST AND BAKE HOMEMADE MEALS: YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS WITH QUICK, TASTY & HEALTHY RECIPES.

 

 "Vincent Price and Universal" -- Marcia reviews John L. Flynn's 75 YEARS OF UNIVERSAL MONSTERS and Vincent Price's I LIKE WHAT I KNOW: A VISUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

 

"3 books to skip" -- Kat reviews  Bertill Nordahl's CAT SEVENS, CARLY SIMON AND LEONARD COHEN AND ALL THE OTHERS, David Redford's NEIL& JONI: 2 LIVES, 21 ALBUMS and Ellen Sanders' ROCK AND ROLL WOMENHOOD: CASS ELLIOT, GRACE SLICK, LINDA RONSTADT, FANNY AND MORE.

 

"THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY" -- Mike reviews Elizabeth Kolbert's THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY.

"Paul Kupperberg's DIRECT CONVERSTIONS: TALKS WITH FELLOW DC COMICS BRONZE AGE CREATORS" -- Isaiah reviews this book.

 

"JOAN BAEZ: THE LAST LEAF" -- Ruth reviews  this book by Elizabeth Thomas.

 

 "A JOYOUS TRANSFORMATION: THE UNEXPURZGATED DIARY OF ANAIS NIN, 1966 -1977" -- Ruth reviews a book by Anais Nin.

 

"An aging queen writes a bitter book about The Way We Were" -- Marcia reviews a bad book about THE WAY WE WERE.

 

 

"Travis Stewart's bad book supposedly on Stevie Nicks" -- Kat reviews a bad book supposedly about Stevie Nicks.

 

"Austin Breakfast Tacos: The Story of the Most Important Taco of the Day"-- Trina strongly recommends this cookbook.

"GET LOST" -- Isaiah looks at this comic magazine

"Lucille Ball and HERE'S LUCY" -- Stan reads up on the second half of Lucille Ball's life.

"Melody Thomas Scott's Always Young and Restless: M..." -- Ann reviews this autobiography.

"ROCK AND ROLL NIGHTMARES" -- Elaine reviews this book about crime in the music world. 

"ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN" -- Kat reviews this book about the Mamas & the Papas.

"SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND" -- Mike reviews a science book.

"Stephen Rebello's DOLLS! DOLLS! DOLLS: DEEP INSIDE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, THE MOST BELOVED BAD BOOK AND MOVIE OF ALL TIME" -- Stan reviews a book about the making of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.

 "Elizabeth Taylor -- two books" -- Ruth covers Katy Holborn's ELIZABETH TAYLOR: AN ELIZABETH TAYLOR BIOGRAPHY and Gian-Luca di Rocco's WOMEN IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT: CHARTING SOCIETAL PROGRESS THROUGH THE FILMS OF ELIZABETH TAYLOR AND JANE FONDA 1944-1981.

 

"Split Image: The Life of Anthony Perkins" -- Ann reviews a biography about Anthony Perkins.

 

 "Andrea Warner's BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY" -- Mike wonders why he bothered to read this book?

"Worst summer read ever is by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince" and "'the fondas: henry, jane and peter' is a very bad book" -- Marcia and Rebecca review Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince's THE FONDAS: HENRY, JANE AND PETER.

 

"Cookbooks and Air Fryer Cauliflower in the Kitchen" -- Trina reviews two cookbooks.

 

"Do not read ENDLESS HIGHWAY at AMAZON" -- Isaiah lays it out for AMAZON's KINDLE. 

 

 "Naomi Klein's DOPPELGANGER" -- C.I. reviews Naomi Klein's latest book.

 

 "Demetrius Sherman's BLACK COMIC BOOK HISTORY" -- Isaiah reviews a book about the history of comic books.

"Stefan Kanfer's Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball" -- Marcia reads up on one of her favorite entertainers. 

"Anne Edwards is a waste of time and a killer of trees" -- Elaine reviews Anne Edwards' A REMARKABLE WOMAN: A BIOGRAPHY OF KATHARINE HEPBURN.  

"Howard Zinn's A PEOPLE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES" -- Elaine reviews Howard Zinn's book.

" robert dance - a lousy writer - knows damn little about joan crawford" -- Rebecca reviews a really lousy book about Joan Crawford. 

 

"REBELS ON THE BACKLOT (Ty)" -- Ty reviews a book by a lousy writer.

 

"Sam Staggs' FINDING ZZA ZZA: THE GABORS BEHIND THE LEGEND" -- Stan's review of a book on the Gabor sisters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media: A Lot Of Red Faces To Go Around

Tragedy plus time, the saying goes, equals comedy.  But last week, it just took tragedy.  Tragedy took someone who had struggled all of her life to be funny and left the world laughing.  More at her than with her, granted, but still who would have ever thought Amy Schumer would finally get belly laughs?

For those not familiar with the failed comic, her entire career has been one participation trophy after another.  It didn't have to be the way.  For example, coming in fourth on LAST COMIC STANDING could have left her with some semblance of dignity if she'd simply bowed out but like another fourth place winner, AMERICAN IDOL's Josh Gracin, she kept hanging in there, hoping something would stick.  It really didn't and by the time of her 2017 NETFLIX stand up concert (AMY SCHUMER: THE LEATHER SPECIAL), her over-inflated ego was so great she couldn't accept the reality that most people just didn't think she was that funny.  This resulted in a public tantrum which forced NETFLIX to switch from their five star viewer rating to a simple thumbs up or thumbs down method.  

Feeding her ego and safety-proofing her world didn't make her funnier.

And then came the ongoing assault on Gaza.  She was happy before that.  She's filmed yet another White 'comedy' -- this one from Jerry Seinfeld the Grand Dragon of Comedy who has 20 roles in his film about pop tarts and handed out one to an African-American male -- only one and currently the fifteenth billed performer in the film.  That's the sort of project that racists like Amy glom on.  Jerry's the type of person, in fact, that really reinforces Frances McDormand's call for an inclusion rider and maybe NETFLIX can explain why they're backing this project to begin with?

But all her happy went down the drain in the last weeks and she was left with nothing to sport but her zeal to murder Palestinians.  

 As last week was winding down, Wajahat Ali (THE DAILY BEAST) reviewed the hate Amy Schumer had been sewing online:

 

In a since-deleted Instagram post from Oct. 24, Schumer shared a single-panel comic that portrayed American pro-Palestinian supporters holding posters and signs that read “Gazans rape Jewish girls only in self-defense,” and “Proud of our rapist martyrs.” In addition to her outrageous and inflammatory claims, Schumer felt perfectly fine posting a cartoon that blamed all Gazans instead of Hamas, the militant organization that controls Gaza and was responsible for committing war crimes and killing 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7. Ever since the 9/11 terror attacks, Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs have become interchangeable with Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, chocolate hummus, and every other extremist abomination. As such we must condemn violent acts done by violent people we’ve never met. Our stories, and our humanity, are flattened, and otherwise decent individuals—and not-so-decent individuals—become comfortable unleashing violence and genocidal policies against our “barbaric” communities.

These double standards weren’t lost on actress Asia Jackson, who tweeted, “It’s so crazy to me how Bella & Gigi (Hadid) had to tiptoe around their statements, then Amy Schumer is like ‘Gazans are rapists’ and will still have a career.”

Speaking about careers, Schumer also posted that editors and journalists from prestigious outlets should be fired for allegedly “stoking anti-Jewish hatred worldwide” after initially publishing an incorrect story about an Israeli rocket destroying a hospital in Gaza. Well, she will be pleased to learn that many writers are now losing their jobs for the crime of simply advocating for Palestinian rights. This includes Michael Eisen, who is Jewish and lost his job as editor-in-chief of the scientific journal eLife for simply retweeting a satirical Onion article with the title, “Dying Gazans Criticized For Not Using Last Words to Condemn Hamas,” and David Velasco, the editor-in-chief of Artforum, who was fired for signing an open letter that called for Palestinian liberation and “an end to the killing and harming of all civilians.”

Student groups are also being targeted and doxxed. Authors are having their events canceled, and there’s a chilling effect where people are worried that anything advocating for Palestinians might become a career-ending offense. This even affects superstar celebrities, such as the aforementioned Hadid sisters. The models are proud Palestinians, whose father’s family became refugees after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. After Gigi’s post was called out by the State of Israel, the Hadids were subjected to daily death threats and doxxing, prompting the typically outspoken Bella Hadid to remain silent online for two weeks.

Meanwhile, comedian Sarah Silverman felt no such need to be silent. She shared a post by user @elianaeatz that supported Israel cutting off water and electricity to Gaza until Hamas releases all the hostages.

Denying basic human necessities to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, half of whom are children living in an “open-air prison” according to human rights organizations, was apparently a perfectly acceptable trade-off for Silverman, who is allegedly progressive on everything except Palestine. She took down the post after shocked reactions from her fans and chalked up the “mistake” to “stoned fury.” She’ll be suiting up to guest host The Daily Show next week, which makes me wonder if other celebrities can use being stoned as an excuse if they temporarily advocate for war crimes against innocent Israeli citizens.

Asia Jackson, who is a young Black actress with nowhere near the platform or star status of Hadids, might have to try out the “stoned” defense if she gets backlash for calling out Schumer. After Jackson’s tweet went viral, Schumer messaged her and proceeded to call her antisemitic and claimed she was not educated about the history of the Jewish people. “Did something I posted about my people being massacred offend you?” Schumer asked in screenshots from their conversations shared by Jackson on Twitter.

“The Islamophobia and generalization of Gazan people did,” Jackson replied, who also mentioned Schumer’s alleged history of racist material going back to 2015.

 

 Wajahat was working up to what should be Schumer's iconic moment that she's forever remembered for -- when she tried to hijack Dr Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and repurpose it to justify her own celebration of violence and murder.  Meredith Clark (INDEPENDENT) explains:

 

[. . .] Dr Bernice King, the daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, also responded to Schumer after she posted a video of the late civil rights activist speaking out against antisemitism.

Schumer posted a clip from one of MLK’s impassioned speeches, in which he called on people to “take a stand against antisemitism because it’s wrong, it’s unjust, and it’s evil.”

On 31 October, Dr King said that Schumer’s clip failed to acknowledge MLK’s history of challenging white supremacy and advocating for peace.

“Amy: Certainly, my father was against antisemitism, as am I,” the CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr Center for Nonviolent Social Change began her response.

“He also believed militarism (along with racism and poverty) to be among the interconnected Triple Evils. I am certain he would call for Israel’s bombing of Palestinians to cease, for hostages to be released and for us to work for true peace, which includes justice.”

 

Grab the Elmer's cause somebody's face just got cracked.

And throughout the land, throughout the world, the people laughed Amy Schumer, exposed in all her Karen-ness.  It was the biggest laugh she'd ever gotten -- the only true belly laugh of entire comic career.

As the world laughed and as Amy shut down comments on her INSTAGRAM account, BING NEWS was republishing old news.  BING NEWS is an aggregator that is forever behind the times.  They're constantly publishing about a movie being about to open, for example, weeks after it's opened. At this rate, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see them republish a story declaring Pearl Harbor had just been bombed.

Instead, yesterday, they republished a story from MOVIE MAKER magazine, a July 13th Tim Molloy article for MOVIEMAKER on the documentary film 1946:

 

It’s a rather shocking notion for anyone familiar with modern-day Christian fundamentalism, and especially for anyone who grew up gay and scared in a “devout” household with no tolerance for homosexuality. But the film, which recently played the Salem Film Festival as part of a long festival run, has facts on its side.

1946, directed by Sharon “Rocky” Roggio, makes a compelling case that until that year, the Bible never mentioned homosexuality -- and that references to it were added out of ignorance, and a poor grasp of some obscure Greek terms.

She profiles Christian scholars who dig through forgotten Yale University archives to show how the mistranslation came about, and to make the case that conservative Christians began to spread the mistranslation in earnest in the 1970s, in order to scapegoat gays and combat their burgeoning liberation movement.

[. . .]

She and a gay Christian theologian — Ed Oxford, who has been so ostracized by his fellow Christians that he feels like an outsider everywhere — begin doing a deep dive into a 1946 translation of the Bible that became widely influential — despite what they believe is a mistranslation.

Oxford, a collector of Bibles going back hundreds of years, lays out the argument that none of them contain the word “homosexual.” 

What the Bible actually condemns, he argues, are people who are lazy, weak, slothful, and predatory. To the 1946 translators, that meant “homosexuality.” But Baldock and Oxford contend that that was their spin, not God’s.

 

And they are most likely right. 

As two who are not vested in the book, we can stand back and be objective.  And have been.  For example, from our "Media: The guessing game passed off as reporting" earlier this year:

Is that what will pass for compassion as climate change gets worse?  

 

We can play the guessing game as well.

 

Let's note that refusing the family because it was two fathers and a child?  For those who want to try to hide behind the Bible on sodomy?  Two things.  First, Ezekiel 16:49,  "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy."  Did not aid the poor and needy?  That kind of describes what just happened.  And second, are you kidding us?  

We've never seen Robert Aldrich's SODOM AND GOMORRAH nor had we perused the story in THE BIBLE.  But in our crash course for this piece, we're trying to figure out where the gay is in the story.  Are we understanding correctly: God sends two of his angels to Sodom as Abraham's request and Abraham's son Lot takes them in but the male villagers, having seen the angels arrival, demand that they be allowed to "know" the angels?  Is that what we're basing condemnation gays on from the story of Sodom?

 

If it is, our first thought wasn't about man on man sex because that's not what it is.  It would be man on angel sex.  God sending two angels on a mission to Sodom and village males wanting to have sex with them is not same-sex sex.  God would be equivalent of a general or a leader of a country sending service members in and the issue would be the harm to God's representatives, not males having sex.  And if angels existed, would they even have a gender?   

 

See we can play the guessing game too.  Only our guesses don't depend upon or amplify hate.

So let's turn a fresh eye to what is said in the book.  

We were already in DC for last Saturday's march and rally outside the White House calling for an end to the assault on Gaza. So Sunday afternoon, we to the showing of 1946 at the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and Symposium.  The film makes many solid points.  Here's one it misses: Man.

Man.  Mankind.  

As feminists, we say humans and we say humankind.  We do not mistake THE BIBLE for a feminist document. Point?  Many times in the book, "man" is used for both men and women.  If "man" is used for both in passages supposedly condemning gay sex then it's not a passage condemning gay sex.

And the interpretation of the passages the documentary makes the case for fits more with the teachings of Jesus.  

It's also not new although some alarmist fundamentalists are acting as though it is.  

In 1994, for example, Daniel A. Helminiak's WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY was first published.  It's a book as important to historical understanding as Merlin Stone's WHEN GOD WAS A WOMAN.  From the 2000 edition of WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY:

There are four important changes in this new edition.  First, there is a new section on Jesus and what seems to be his encounter with a gay man.  There is also new material on King Saul's possible sexual relationship with David.  Second, there is a new presentation on the ''abomination" of Leviticus 18 and 20.  The latest research shows that this prohibition is very limited, indeed, and that ancient Jewish religion was tolerant of a range of sexual practices.  In fact, a notion of homo- or hetero-sexuality was not even a consideration; it is a foreign concept in ancient Israel.  Third, the milestone work of Bernadette Brooten influences this edition in many places.  Brooten's book, LOVE BETWEEN WOMEN, stands with John Boswell's and L. William Countryman's as turning points in the scholarly discussion.  She researched lesbianism in the ancient world and showed, among other things, that contrary to the standard line, there is much to be known on this subject.  This book includes explicit treatment of Brooten in the discussion of Romans, on which she focused her biblical research.  She presented a new and challenging interpretation of Paul's teaching about the "unnatural," which I have taken into account.  Fourth, I refocused the chapter on 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy as I became more and more uncertain that arsenokoital refers specifically to male-male sex at all.  Reversing my earlier and perhaps overly careful opinion, I begin to believe that in their general conclusion Boswell and Countryman were right about arsenokoital.

 

The author builds on work that has come before.  Just as the documentary 1946 is doing. FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO is a 2007 documentary exploring this terrain -- a documentary by Daniel Karslake who is producer of 1946.  The point being there is a long history of scholarship on this issue.  

Today, Amy Schumer is embarrassed on the world stage due to her desire to sport her ignorance and hatred.  In a little while we believe she'll be joined by 'believers' who've looked at THE BIBLE and just seen their own ignorance hatred reflected back.  There will be a lot of red faces on display.