the pod bay door

:: I’m still very much enjoying what Boston accomplished last Wednesday. Red Sox Nation will never be the same. It so wonderful that they won the World Series. I’m going to savour this win for a long, long time. Check out these front pages from local and regional newspapers after the Sox WS victory last week.

:: I haven’t exercised now since late August, and I feel like a total slug. I hope to return to the cross-trainer this week. I also need to clean up my diet, an ongoing, never-ending story. I ate some butterscotch ice cream tonight, then tossed the remainder of it into the garbage can in my driveway.

:: The fallout from the Ashlee Simpson fiasco on SNL on Oct 23 continues. Last night’s episode skewed her repeatedly, in sketches, on Weekend Update, and in Kate Winslet’s opening monologue. Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes was onsite the night of her blunder, working on a story about Canadian ex-pat Lorne Michaels, who produces SNL. The story includes a picture of Simpson, walking past Stahl and clutching her throat, in tears after she walked off the stage during rehearsal. The picture almost makes me feel sorry for her. A portion of Stahl’s report, which can be viewed for free from this page. I have to give Simpson credit for this, however. She did tell MTV that she thinks it’s silly that so many are concerned about her snafu given everything else that’s going on in the world. Fair enough, but at the same time, she’s another in a string of bland, manufactured pop stars. If this is what the music industry is offering the public, it doesn’t surprise me that the industry itself is in turmoil. My other question is: whatinhell was Michaels doing booking her in the first place?

:: Saw the movie, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, on DVD this weekend. The movie is based on Peter Biskind’s book of the same name, and is a documentary about 1970s maverick filmmakers, including Coppola, Scorsese, Lucas, Spielberg, Schrader, Bogdanovich, Hopper, Jaglom, and more. Directors are not exclusively featured, actors and actresses, producers, cinematographers, editors, producers, are also included in the discussion. Equally fascinating is the 2nd disc, which includes an addition 100 minutes of interviews, ending with comments, all unflattering, from many who were mentioned in the book, including Peter Bart and Paul Schrader. The clips end with Biskind describing how the book began, examples of how he was able to interview subjects such as William Friedkin and Spielberg, and finally, responding to criticisms from his subjects. A fascinating piece.

Biskind followed this book with another examination of the movie industry: Down and Dirty Pictures : Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. I haven’t read either title yet.

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