L.A. mayor, reporter end their affair

David Zahniser writes:

Months after revelations about the affair damaged the mayor’s political standing and devastated Salinas’ broadcasting career, the two sources said the relationship disintegrated weeks ago.

"They broke up earlier in the fall. They’ve both moved on. And Antonio is focused on his relationships with his kids," said one person who said he learned about the breakup in October.

The other source — who described himself as a longtime friend of Villaraigosa’s — said the relationship ended two or possibly three months ago.

"I think it was a tough summer. I think it was hard on his family. And I think he’s trying hard to get past everything that was that summer," the friend said.

…Despite all the publicity the relationship garnered, Villaraigosa and Salinas were rarely seen in public once the affair was known. Most prominently, they were caught on video in August shopping for shoes together at a mall — images that were broadcast on the celebrity gossip website TMZ.com.

In the video, the mayor greeted the shopper who taped him using his camera phone. Salinas moved out of the way to avoid being seen.

Posted in Antonio Villaraigosa, Mirthala Salinas | Comments Off on L.A. mayor, reporter end their affair

America, Here Are Your Democratic Presidential Candidates

Dennis Prager writes on Townhall:

If you want to know what the Democratic presidential candidates and the Democratic Party believe, the debates, often derided as intellectually inconsequential, reveal a great deal. The problem is that news media almost never report the most important statements the candidates make. Here then are some of those statements from the most recent debate, followed by a comment on their significance.

Joseph Biden on how he’d handle Russia: "Who among us is going to pick up the phone and immediately interface with Putin and tell him to lay off Georgia because [Georgian President] Saakashvili is in real trouble?"

Sen. Biden says he would pick up the phone and tell Russian President Putin "to lay off" a neighboring country. Hasn’t one of the Democrats’ primary criticisms of the Bush administration been that it engages in "cowboy diplomacy"? And what exactly does Sen. Biden think President Putin’s response would be? "Yes, President Biden, whatever you say." Yet they say that President Bush is disengaged from reality.

John Edwards on Americans going hungry: "Thirty-five million Americans last year went hungry. . . .This [election] is about those 35 million people who are hungry every single year."

There is no truth to this charge against America. The only basis for it is a U.S. Department of Agriculture Report saying that about 35 million Americans experienced "household food insecurity" in 2006. That term does not, the USDA emphasized, mean hunger, but being forced to reduce "variety in their diets" or eat a "few basic foods" at various times of the year. If a country could sue for libel, America would have cause to sue Mr. Edwards.

Barack Obama on giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants: "When I was a state senator in Illinois, I voted to require that illegal aliens get trained, get a license, get insurance to protect public safety. That was my intention."

Obama on not giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants: "I am not proposing that that’s what we do. What I’m saying is that we can’t — [interrupted by laughter]. No, no, no, no, look, I have already said I support the notion that we have to deal with public safety and that driver’s licenses at the state level can make that happen. But what I also know, Wolf [Blitzer], is that if we keep on getting distracted by this problem, then we are not solving it."

What exactly is Sen. Obama’s position on giving licenses to illegal immigrants? Clearly, he is for it and against it. But most importantly, he opposes being distracted by it.

Dennis Kucinich on giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants: "I take issue with your description of people being illegal immigrants. There aren’t any illegal human beings, that’s number one."

Who ever said anything about "illegal human beings"? "Illegal immigrant" describes one’s immigration status, not one’s humanity. Such a statement embarrasses public discourse.

Hillary Clinton (discussing Pakistan) on the link between democracy in an Islamic country and American security: "There’s absolutely a connection between a democratic regime and heightened security for the United States."

Isn’t that precisely what President Bush has been saying for years about Iraq? And isn’t that idea exactly what Democrats have held in contempt?

Bill Richardson on why the surge is not working: "We shouldn’t be talking about body counts. One American death is too much."

In assessing whether a change in military tactics is working, a man who seeks to be commander-in-chief says that "we shouldn’t be talking body counts." And why? Because "one American death is too much." If someone had asked Gov. Richardson if a new traffic policy that greatly reduced traffic fatalities were working, would Gov. Richardson have responded, "We shouldn’t be talking body counts . . . one American death is too much"?

Obama on the surge (Blitzer: "I’ll put the same question to you: Is General Petraeus’ strategy working?): "There is no doubt that because we put American troops in Iraq — more American troops in Iraq, that they are doing a magnificent job, and they are making a difference in certain neighborhoods. But the overall strategy is failed, because we have not seen any change in behavior among Iraq’s political leaders. And that is the essence of what we should be trying to do in Iraq."

The "essence" of what troops do in war is vanquish the enemy. What does a "change in behavior among Iraq’s political leaders" have to do with the question of whether the troop increase is working?

Clinton on whether she exploits her gender for votes: (Campbell Brown: "Senator Clinton, you went to your alma mater recently, Wellesley College, and you said there that your tenure had prepared you to compete in the all boys club of presidential politics. At the same time, your campaign has accused this all boys club surrounding you on stage of piling on with their attacks against you. And then your husband recently came to your defense by saying that these, quote, ‘boys,’ had been getting rough with you and some have suggested that you, that your campaign, that your husband are exploiting gender as a political issue during this campaign. What’s really going on here?"): "Well, I’m not exploiting anything at all. I’m not playing, as some people say, the gender card . . . . "

In light of the question, I will leave it to the reader to determine the credibility of the denial.

Richardson on whether he would pull out all contractors from Iraq ("You know that Senator Obama has said he would pull out all of the private contractors if in fact he was president. But in light of how stretched our military is, do you think that’s a practical solution?"): "Yes. I would pull out all the contractors."

Who then would Sen. Obama and Gov. Richardson have do the work of reconstructing Iraq?

Posted in Politics | Comments Off on America, Here Are Your Democratic Presidential Candidates

Jew Or Christian?

Monica Osborne blogs:

Last week, one young woman, a great student, asked me earnestly if the confusing reference to both God and God’s messenger in the story of Moses’s encounter with the burning bush was a reference to “the trinity.”

In a way, I didn’t mind, because it revealed that she was reading closely and interpreting the text from her own perspective and position. And it was a question—an attempt to understand—rather than an authoritative statement. She was searching for a way to make it mean something to her, and I think I can respect that. I wonder if we might even call it midrash.

A midrashic impulse is what keeps Torah alive. I myself have a slightly unnatural obsession with midrash and anything that feels midrashic, and so I’m happy when I see my students starting to think along these lines. I derive curious pleasure from listening to them during class discussions, as they “turn it and turn it,” much like the rabbinic admonition.

Do they know they are being Talmudic?

Posted in Monica Osborne | Comments Off on Jew Or Christian?

Democrats Conflicted About W

Jonathan V. Last writes in the Weekly Standard:

The Hollywood writers’ strike has placed the Democratic frontrunners in something of a bind, forcing them to choose between unions and the entertainment industry executives who are some of their most important big-money contributors. The responses of Senators Clinton, Obama, and Edwards have been revealing.

A strike has long been in the offing. The two unions that make up the Writers Guild of America voted overwhelmingly (by over 90 percent of their 12,000 members) to authorize a walkout on October 18. Their main point of conflict with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (which bargains on behalf of the movie and TV studios) was the royalties associated with downstream revenue.

Profits from computer downloads of movies and TV shows are the most contentious issue. Currently, content is distributed on the Internet in two ways: Some movies and TV shows are purchased and downloaded through services such as iTunes or Amazon Unbox; in these cases the writers get a negligible portion of the take (a third of a cent for every dollar of profit). Alternatively, studios allow viewers to stream TV shows (not movies, yet) from their websites. The studios sell advertising within these streams, but have wiggled around having to share this revenue with writers by labeling the streams "promotions" rather than "broadcasts." This prevents writers from getting any share at all of the profits. The Writers Guild strike is, at heart, an attempt by writers to claim a small sliver of these two pies. Their position is not unreasonable.

Posted in Hollywood | Comments Off on Democrats Conflicted About W

All

Holly Randall writes:

I don’t normally frequent porn parties, so when I was invited to the Wicked charity barbeque, celebrating Brad Armstrong’s Coming Home movie, I was inclined to pass. Until their vice president Joy King dangled the irresistible carrot before me: there was to be a dunk tank, and Luke Ford was going to be in it.

Now before anyone can understand my gleeful anticipation of dropping this man into a tank of water before a crowd, one must know my history with the adult industry’s most controversial, yet most famous, blogger. Those who hate him tend to be his most dedicated readers, and those fascinated by him must relate in some way to his love/hate relationship with porn.

I spent quite a few years in the industry before I even knew who Luke Ford was. When I finally got a publicist, I was warned against this snake of a man, a truly sociopathic beast, I was told. He was one who twisted your words to suit his own agenda, which of course, was never in your favor. Since I’m the kind of girl who likes to do exactly the opposite of what she’s told, when I met Luke in Tampa at the Nightmoves Awards Show, I instantly latched onto him, curious to know this person I’d heard such horrible things about.

What initially attracted me to Luke was that he was an outsider. He always carried a very serious book in his back pocket at parties, so that when he didn’t have an innocent young starlet to corner and pose disarming and uncomfortable questions to, he could retreat to a dark corner and immerse himself tedious literature. Though I would never pull a book out at a party, I could relate, and often wished I had one when I was stuck somewhere I didn’t feel I belonged. And that was often. In fact, I felt it then, at that Florida show. I felt it almost all the time when I attended industry functions: I’m not with the "in" crowd, and nobody really wants to talk to me. Except for the bartender of course, because I’m going to be his biggest customer that night.

So Luke and I got to know each other, and though we didn’t become intimate at that show, it did happen later. I’m asked often why I became involved with Luke, and all I can say is that I was like the dumb kid in the sandbox who plays with the scorpion because I don’t think it will sting me. And he didn’t, until I did what I usually do: end the relationship, and badly.

Of course, it was then I felt the sting. He wrote extensively on my poor behavior, and it wasn’t very nice, to say the least. Deep down though, I knew I deserved it, but my ego was bruised: as much as I imagine his was as well. After some time though, we reconciled and I thought things were pretty good between us. That is, until I sent myself to rehab, for the second time.

In my depressed and half-drunk state right before my departure, I let it slip to some industry people that I would be going away to treatment, and would be unable to fulfill some obligations I had coming up in the near future. I had been away for almost a week when I logged into his site and read the introductory title to his little introspective on my sudden departure: "Rehab – What Better Time To Mock Someone?" That was it: I called him up, and blew up when he picked up the phone. And of course, he recorded it all.

In that recording, I swore I would never be his friend again. I swore I would never feel anything but disgust and apathy towards him. And at the time, I really meant it. But I couldn’t keep it up: I cannot stay angry at someone, and I do not have the energy to hate anyone. In this respect, I suppose my laziness actually does me some good.

Luke and I made up (sort-of) months after this final dispute, but we were never close again. I’d never completely forgiven him for calling me out, and bashing me for attending rehab. But I will admit it did open the door for me to speak openly about the subject, which in turn made me receptive to the topic and anyone who wished to discuss it with me.

Yet I still harbored some resentment against Luke, which brings us back to the party, and his participation in the dunk tank. Suddenly I saw a harmless and even comical way of exacting my revenge upon him, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to take it.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am almost incapable of being on time for anything, but the day of the party, I was actually early. There was no way I was missing my opportunity, or allowing someone to get to Luke before I could. I wanted him dry and jubilant before I plunged him into the dark waters of my bitterness. People joked with me about my anticipation for the event, and I laughed along with them. There was merriment in my laugh and an easy lightness in my step, but there was murder in my eyes. I’d been practicing my throw all week. Luke was going down.

Finally my moment came. I’d bought 20 raffle tickets in case I missed, but Joy promised me that I could throw the ball as many times as needed to hit my target. My first throw was such a girly throw, it was embarrassing: I threw it straight at the floor. My next two were just as bad, going nowhere near the white disc that would drop the plank out from under Luke’s seat. Luke was growing confident that I would never hit my mark, he began to viciously taunt me. I laughed along with the crowd, but my blood boiled. He was not going to humiliate me again.

Just as my frustration was mounting, my ball met it’s mark, and Luke was dropped into the tank. In fact, as the words: "Holly you suck" escaped his lips, he plummeted to his soggy demise in such a way that his last word "suck" was drawn out into a long wail, much like someone who was falling down into a bottomless abyss.

After my triumph, I held out the olive branch and helped Luke get dried off and dressed. We were friends again. He took some photos of me, and taking pity on my delicate ego, edited out the bad ones. And being the newly baptized gentleman he was, he even walked me to my car.

Khunrum writes: "Let’s face it gang. Luke only turned away from Holly when the Viagra expenses began to add up. She got to be too expensive."

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on All

Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!)

Dennis Prager interviews author Carol Platt Liebau, a political analyst and commentator.

Here’s a link to her new book.

Isn’t there something immodest about all these people writing books on modesty? I thought Wendy Shalit and Rabbi Eliyahu Safran summed it all up?

Seriously, if you are going to go to the enormous effort of publishing a book, why not insure that you’re breaking new ground? If you’re not making an original contribution, then why publish?

It’s not necessarily good to say good things and write good things. You have to do good by your saying and writing good, and if you are only parroting others, then what’s the point?

I have not read Liebau’s new book. It could be original.

Posted in Author Interviews, Sex | Comments Off on Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!)

Lewis Fein’s Thanksgiving

Lewisafein: yams and apple pie are fighting in my belly, worse than modern orthodox and frum
Luzdedos1: i am reading bob novak’s autobiography
Lewisafein: the stuff about his bar mitzvah is good
Lewisafein: when he became really jewish
Lewisafein: i’m the least thing from religious but it hurts to see him abandon the tribe
Lewisafein: it’s like he went to the yankees, and in the trade we picked up an aging relief pitcher named luke ford
Lewisafein: how’s your fast ball
Luzdedos1: weak
Luzdedos1: did you have thanksgiving with the rabbi?
Lewisafein: i did. his wife’s wig fell off while serving me schlag
Lewisafein: she’s yul brenner under that thing
Lewisafein: as she was straightening it i hear the "magnificent seven"
Lewisafein: dun dun dah dah

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Lewis Fein’s Thanksgiving

Burlesque In Santa Monica

Cosmopolitan18 blogs:

A late night decision yesterday to hear some live music at a Jazz Club brought us to one of my old stapes, Harvelle’s in Santa Monica, on 4th street near the Promenade. It was Tuesday night, and it turns out that Tuesday is burlesque night at Harvelle’s.

Both my friend and I were were astounded. It wasn’t quite striptease, but it was girls with G-strings doing splits, walking on the bar, hanging upside down over the young patrons who stiffened in their seats, not knowing where to look and what to do…

We felt like we had an out of world (or at least out of Santa Monica) experience. And you can have it too. Every Tuesday evenings, from 10pm, at Harvelle’s.

Posted in Los Angeles | Comments Off on Burlesque In Santa Monica

Conference Travel Tips

RKelley writes:

Limit yourself to carry-on luggage

Bring Visine

Dump the conference tote

Pack some Airborne or cold-blasting packets

Have cash on you 

You don’t want to be the one dick in the dinner crowd who doesn’t treat and take care of the cab ride or pitch in on the dinner tab. Don’t be That Guy. That guy is an asshole.

Wear comfortable shoes

Open up a crapload of tabs in your browser before boarding the plane 

You can get some work done that way, or you’ll just have more stuff to read.

If you room with someone, make sure he or she’s not an asshole

You never really know someone until you’ve lived with him/her.

Posted in Travel | Comments Off on Conference Travel Tips

My Experience With Debbie Durkin’s On-Camera LA

Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Video Video

Looking at myself in these videos, I understand why I slept with more women in my first year in LA (about 20) than in my last 12.

In June of 1994, three months after coming to Los Angeles (I was just coming out of six years of bedridden illness and I was only at two-thirds strength, about where I remain today after 20 years of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), I answered an ad for models in the LA Weekly. I had a couple of Polaroids taken by photographer Stefan Valero who gave them to agent Debbie Durkin.

Durkin called me and asked to represent me. She wanted to send me to Japan for modeling work (this never happened). She insisted that I take her  two-day acting seminar On-Camera L.A. (cost was about $2000).

This, I later found out, was unethical and Durkin quit being an agent in 1999. She’s resurrected herself here.

I’m not bitter. Durkin got me more than a dozen auditions. I didn’t win any jobs. That was my fault. If I hadn’t taken her seminar, it would not have been profitable for her to represent me. Her initial interest gave me a reason to pursue acting seriously. Though I failed, it was a good journey. And I’ve got some video of myself from 1994.

I lost close to $10,000 in various acting scams in 1994. To pay for this, I lived out of my car for eight months.

I have a weakness for con artists because I have such a shaky sense of myself, I’m grateful to them for giving me a vision.

I also got scammed in December of 1995 by the book agent Lee Shore in Pittsburgh who got me a deal with Barclay House to publish my first book (a history of sex in film). This agent charged me for photocopying and other miscellaneous expenses (I think this ran to about $300).

Barclay House dropped me in July 1997 and I eventually landed through my own efforts at Prometheus Books (the book came out in June 1999 as A History of X).

What this literary agent did was unethical but I’m not upset because if she didn’t do things like this, she wouldn’t be able to represent so many wanna-be authors. Her initial patronage gave me the encouragement to pursue my dreams.

It’s a vulnerable feeling to want to be an actor or writer. Few people accord you any respect until you make a living from your art.

Yes, there are a ton of sharks out there to take advantage of you but that’s not the only way to look at the situation. Yes, the Debbie Durkins and Lee Shores of the world take your money, but in exchange they prop up your fragile image of yourself as an artist. Most of the time, this is probably bad, and causes people to waste time and money in pursuit of something that will never work out for them. But in a minority of cases such as mine, these folks are merely speed bumps on the road to, if not success, then to making a living as an artist (which is the main thing most wanna-be artists seek, I know it’s what I was primarily dreaming of (aside from sex) between 1994-1997, when it became a reality for me).

In late 1994, I started work (eventually moving in with the director and producer for a few weeks, no sex was exchanged) in the unpaid shot-on-video unreleased independent film Apricot Sky. I got second billing behind Rachel Neuwirth. Is it this naked Rachel Neuwirth?

The movie also featured Donna Neuwirth, Jim Gridly, Daniela Devore, Bruce Burns, Melissa Ashley, Kelly Sands, Jessica Rowan, Richard Bulick, and Gilbert Luna.

None of them became working actors let alone famous.

Apricot Sky Apricot Sky II Apricot Sky III Apricot Sky IV

Posted in Hollywood, Personal | Comments Off on My Experience With Debbie Durkin’s On-Camera LA