The Single Best Political Ad This Year

Jerry Brown's team put out this tough (and good) ad. It's proof that all attack ads are not necessarily made equal, and neither are they necessarily bad. This goes right to the heart of Whitman's reasons for seeking office, and it obliterates them.

President Obama Releases "It Gets Better" Video – I Assume He Means, His Gay Rights Policies

Smart-aleck remarks aside, he deserves credit for finally making a video.

Penthouse, Omni Publisher Bob Guccione Dies

Bob Guccione, creator and publisher of Penthouse and many other magazines, has died, notes MSNBC.

Out of the public eye for a number of years since losing control of his media empire (following a series of bad business decisions compounded by a changing media market – especially in the adult niche where he made most of his money – and government harassment), Guccione died in Plano, Texas, at the age of 79.

Guccione was a very controversial figure in society in general and publishing in particular. He started Penthouse magazine as a way to supplement his art career in England. The early years of the publication (as noted in this blog post of mine from a while back that continues to be one of my most-read posts – probably because a lot of people do searches on the magazine's name) were almost a comic affair, with the editor and a small handful of staffers trying to make the magazine and its impact look bigger than it was, working out of a small office and doing all the work themselves.


Of course, Penthouse grew dramatically, eventually reaching millions of copies in monthly sales and spawning a publishing empire that included everything from Omni and Longevity to Viva. The company also produced television programs, books, videos, web sites, comics, and more.


Viva was a 1970s attempt to do a magazine aimed at women, featuring somewhat nude men (less explicitly than Penthouse showed the women) along with health and political articles. It was a rather odd attempt; if you like Mickey Rourke and want to see him naked, then maybe you'll like the men in Viva. But Viva did bring to the publishing world something of greater value: its fashion editor, Anna Wintour, who would go on to great success at Vogue.

Throughout his career, Guccione careened from successes (such as Penthouse, or the early years of the science/science-fiction magazine Omni, which topped a million copies in monthly sales in the early 1980s before beginning a long decline) to failures (such as failed investments in casinos that were never built or in energy schemes that went nowhere). Along the way, he had the expected battles with feminists and the religious Right, winning some battles and losing others.

Though his core product, Penthouse, was not aimed at my demographic, that doesn't mean I'm unaware of his impact on the media world. I do not think Guccione is an icon in the way that Hugh Hefner is; Hefner changed the society instead of just riding a wave, and I think he set (and continues to set) a higher bar for thought and publishing. But Guccione made an impact by being willing to be brave and bold in his moves. Though far too many of Penthouse's articles were conspiracy-mucking, they could also be brave, such as when they took on Scientology. He also championed some of the top writers and editors in the country, such as Wintour, Ben Bova, Harlan Ellison, Carl Sagan, James A. Michener, Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, Philip K. Dick, and so many more.

Whether one liked or disliked his publications, I think it's worth noting that it was possible for one man to conceive of and then build a media empire the way he wanted to do it, to publish the ideas and artists that he wanted to showcase, and even to make the mistakes that he wanted to do. Far from being a bean-counting MBA heading up a soul-less corporate publishing company, Guccione ran his empire from his heart. Again, Penthouse wasn't my cup of tea (though Omni was), but I hope we haven't lost the ability for someone to do the same thing.

Sulu Gets a Promotion: The Starlog Project: Starlog #174, January 1992

Though Steven Spielberg’s overblown Hook film is the cover feature this month, the real news is contained in that “roof text” above the logo: “Gene Roddenberry 1921-1991.” Obviously the news arrived too late to do much to note it this month, so other than the cover text and a brief sidebar in the Medialog page, you’ll have to wait until #175, when the editors produce a 100-page issue with a large memorial to the Star Trek creator.

None of this should detract from the fact that Hook was typical Hollywood schtick, where you know beat-for-beat what emotional changes are going to happen before they happen, where you know what action has to take place and in what order (always save the big baddie for last!), where you know Robin Williams was miscast. Just because it’s aimed toward young people doesn’t mean it has to be lazy screenwriting and directing, Steve.

Not that I have an opinion.

Starlog #174
80 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $4.50

BTW: This is (unless my memory is rusty) the last $4.50 Starlog we’ll ever see. Next issue is a special extra-pages salute to Gene Roddenberry, and after that the magazine settles into a higher cover price, with a few added pages.

The rundown: None other than Dustin Hoffman is featured on this issue’s cover, in his guise as Captain Hook; but Starlog reaches back in time about a decade for a shot from John Carpenter’s The Thing to illustrate its contents page. Is it just me, or are the letters in Starlog’s Communications section getting longer? Across four pages, there are a grand total of five letters in small type, and they cover everything from recent Time Tunnel articles to Terminator 2-inspired political ruminations to more time-travel ideas, plus Mike Fisher’s Creature Feature is the War of the Worlds alien.

David McDonnell’s Medialog dispels some rumors about a revived Doctor Who, plus there's a four-paragraph sidebar noting the passing of Star Trek’s “Great Bird of the Galaxy,” Gene Roddenberry; Booklog reviews Ecce and Old Earth, The Dragon Reborn, Black Sun, Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede, Winds of Fate, Alien Tongue, and The Jungle; David Hutchison’s Videolog notes the release of the short-lived Dinosaurs sitcom on video; Fan Network includes Lia Pelosi’s fan club directory and a convention calendar; in his From the Bridge column, Kerry O’Quinn unearths The Best of Frederic Brown; and in the Tribute section, Tom Weaver remembers the late Frank Capra and Don Siegel, Anthony Timpone says good-bye to John Hoyt, and Ian Spelling does the honors for Wilfrid Hyde-White.

Starlog uses Patrick Stewart’s one-man Christmas Carol stage play as the foundation for Lynne Stephens’ interview with the Star Trek: The Next Generation star; meanwhile, Leonard Nimoy gives his possible-maybe Star Trek exit interview to Marc Shapiro; Tom Weaver reports on Dark Horse Comics’ new The Thing comic book; Ian Spelling writes the cover story, an interview with Hook screenwriter Jim Hart; and Ian Spelling interviews “Captain Sulu,” George Takei, whose character has finally been promoted to captain and given his own ship (but we never would get a Sulu-led TV series, as was occasionally rumored).

Christopher Lambert tells Marc Shapiro about his co-starring role in the largely unloved sequel Highlander II: The Quickening; don’t call it a RoboCop ripoff: Bill Wilson goes behind the scenes of Super Force (previously known as Super Cop), a television program that allegedly “proved popular in syndication, ranking in the top 15 first-run shows" (then why don’t I remember ever hearing about it?); interplanetary correspondent Michael Wolff and illustrator George Kochell look at Santa-themed fantasy films; Bill Warren checks in with writer George Clayton Johnson, who discusses his work on The Twilight Zone, Logan’s Run, and other productions, including his brief stint as an actor; Mark Phillips talks to actor Michael Dante, who guest-starred in the classic Star Trek episode “Friday’s Child”; and David McDonnell’s Liner Notes is a bit of a hodgepodge, ranging from asking for more subscribers to comments on fiction magazines to announcing “that inevitable, all-color Star Trtek VI: The Undiscovered Country Official Movie Magazine."

“In the mid-60s, [writer George Clayton] Johnson also made his movie debut as an actor – in fact, he made his only movie as an actor. Roger Corman had bought Charles Beaumont’s novel The Intruder, intending to make his first truly serious film out of the novel of Southern racial unrest. ‘Chuck [Beaumont] ... having sold this thing, was advised that he could come and watch it being shot, and he could even play a part. And the next thing we knew, Roger Corman is saying, “Why don’t you bring along a couple of your friends?”’ Beaumont, Johnson and William F. Nolan found themselves in steamy-hot Missouri playing supporting roles to William Shatner in The Intruder. (Many regard this as Shatner’s best performance.) Johnson and Nolan were a couple of nasty, racist rednecks who try to stop the arrival of civil rights in their Southern city; they’re actually both quite good in their roles, particularly Johnson as a giggling psychopath who seems just this side of a moron. ‘I practiced slouching around like the lout I grew up to be as a child in Cheyenne, and trying to play the Fonz in my own slovenly way.’”

–George Clayton Johnson, writer, interviewed by Bill Warren: “His Own Man”

For more, click on Starlog Internet Archive Project below or visit the Starlog Project's permanent site.

Hillary Clinton's "It Gets Better" Video

Reason #4536789 to love Hillary Clinton:



Well said.

Video: Timothy Geithner on the Dollar, Deficit Spending, and Business

Here are some short video excerpts from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's October 18, 2010, program at The Commonwealth Club of California, in Palo Alto, Calif.

On the dollar:



On reforming federal spending:



On deficits:



On perception that Obama is anti-business:

Timothy Geithner: American vs. Japanese Responses to Economic Crisis

From The Commonwealth Club of California in Palo Alto today, oct. 18, 2010.

Timothy Geithner in Silicon Valley

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner came to Silicon Valley today to address The Commonwealth Club of California. Though I've worked at The Commonwealth Club for more than four years, this was the first time I traveled down to the Valley to catch one of our programs down there.

Today's event, which began at 1:00 pm Pacific time (probably not coincidentally, that's when the New York stock markets close) took place before a sold-out audience and about 40 members of the press.

In the photos below, Geithner (top) is viewed entering the Oshman Family JCC auditorium, where the event was held. Below, Geithner in discussion on stage with the moderator, Sequoia Capital's Michael Mortiz.

Photos by John Zipperer.

Carl Paladino Gets the Taiwan CGI Treatment

Honestly, every time I see one of these, I love Taiwan more and more. If the People's Republic of China ever succeeds in taking over Taiwan, they'll probably destroy this great video tradition. But until then, this is some of the best take-no-prisoners political slapstick around.

The 10 Best Reasons that Magazine Lists Are Worthless

A couple days ago, film critic Roger Ebert noted on his Twitter account that "Guardian picks #1 romantic film of all time. All such lists are bullshit."

He is, of course, correct. It being Twitter with a 140-character limit, we're left to fill in our own reasons for why he believes them to be BS. However, selecting the best of anything is likely a subjective exercise; it's also a waste of the reader's time, unless she just wants to get suggestions for possible romantic films to rent. (When it comes to reviewing films, I'm always reminded of writer Harlan Ellison's comment about film quality. Ellison is both knowledgable about film and unafraid of telling it like he sees it. But even someone as expert and opinionated as he admitted – and I'm paraphrasing here – that at some point, for many films, he simply either likes it or doesn't.

That said, I happen to agree with Ebert (and, of course, Ellison). And I want to expand upon his comment to fit in one of the themes of this blog: magazines. How often do you see a magazine with a special cover story shouting "10 Best Rock Songs of All Time" or "Readers Pick Top Senators" or whateverthehell? And did you buy the issue? Read the "article"? Were you impressed that somehow, this one magazine – out of the thousands published regularly – managed to find the absolutely best dive bars in Chicago or toughest bosses in the world or the sexiest chefs?

Here's the deal. Big list features are, to borrow an artful word from Mr. Roger Ebert, bullshit. With the arguable exception of consumer research publications (Consumer Reports, for example) or car magazines – which perform real tests on products and produce a hierarchy of quality – these lists are almost complete silliness, often the result less of editorial inspiration and more of budget cuts. So instead of doing an investigative piece of journalism (which would cost money, might anger advertisers and readers, and could be a legal liability), or instead of sending a good writer to report on some distant event, the editors either compile a list from talking to other editors, or they corral feedback from some of the magazine's friends, or they assign it to a junior staffer (who maybe conducts a readers' survey), and the result is a "best of" list that is trumped up as if it's got some actual claim to legitimacy.

So, my Top 10 List of Reasons that Magazine Lists Are Worthless:

1) They're lazy.
2) They're cowardly.
3) They're cheap.
4) They're meaningless.
5) They give a false sense of information.
6) Just like the magazines, I have to pad the rest of my top-10 list so that it is complete.
7) Again.
8) Still with me?
9) Almost complete.
10) They're unimaginative.

So the next time some publisher is trying to dupe you into appreciating a "Top 20 Best..." of anything, ask yourself: Do you really care what a bunch of editors cobbled together from a bull session in the lunch room, asking each other what they think were the all-time greatest science-fiction films? Does that really mean anything to you? Or would you rather read a collection of articles, perhaps by people like Harlan Ellison and Roger Ebert, explaining why they think a particular film is noteworthy? Or does your money mean nothing to you?