Merrill Markoe's Blog, page 14

New worst word ever: This time from the 1950's.

As if show business in general and television in particular wasn't hard enough on women. there is an  obituary today in the NY Times about  the first woman  ever to direct a TV show. She looks like a lovely woman. She had a nice long life. But wasn't it punishment enough for Frances that it had to come to an end? Did she really need to be further punished by having the word FEMCEE disinterred, even momentarily,  in her obituary?  SHEESH!

FRANCES BUSS. PIONEER OF EARLY TELEVISION, DIES AT 92.

RE: The Super Bowl: How I tried to win a million dollars last year

Okay, I know it is The Superbowl on Sunday but I don't watch any sports. There. I said it.  None. Nothing. And I am fortunate enough to now live with a man who shares my lack of interest. (In fact, just last night he said to me "Who is playing this year? The Monkeys versus The Coconuts?")I also never enter contests. Never ever.  But for some insane reason last year, when I saw that there was a contest that was about winning a million dollars by making a Dorito commercial, I was moved to  try ...

"Something Extremely Important": my new video

I just turned a draft of my newest book in to a new editor. That means it is a very tense time for me. Therefore I have been doing what I always do when I am tense: edit my little films.  This is a video I have been working  a while. I was trying to make it as a stand alone film, but now I have decided to combine it with footage I was given of me reading the piece at a benefit for Tails of Joy, a great dog rescue run by my friend Elayne Boosler.  SO….here it is:

Better intended games to entertain prisoners

Hopefully this ruling will encourage prisoners to play more Monopoly, which will help  foster an inmate's obsession with remaining in the real life correctional environment,  buying it,  and eventually turning it in to apartments and  hotels.

Dungeons and Dragons Prison Ban Upheld

Robert Caplin for The New York Times Published: January 26, 2010

Cleaning out my office: A potpourri of stuff I saved

Because I am a writer, I am always at work. What I mean is that I regard everything that comes toward me as potential subject matter.  And although I am not a hoarder, my fascination for the show "Hoarders" on A&E probably comes from my own tendency to save stuff in case I ever need it as a detail , if not a topic, for something I am going to write. I guess its kind of a relief to see how far I am from a worst case scenario. Nevertheless, my office is always a mess.  And not only because I...

This new supreme court corporate donations ruling: here's the sane solution

Now that this new Supreme Court ruling has opened the door officially to unlimited campaign control on the part of giant corporations,  it seems like it will no longer make  sense  to pretend that the "people" holding our nation's highest political offices are actually not just figure heads for consortiums of international corporations. It's easy for us to get confused and think of them as "people" (as in individuals, human beings) because they do peopley kinds of things like get haircuts...

This new supreme court ruling: here's the sane solution

Now that this new Supreme Court ruling has opened the door officially to unlimited campaign control on the part of giant corporations,  it seems like it will no longer make  sense  to pretend that the "people" holding our nation's highest political offices are actually not just figure heads for consortiums of international corporations. It's easy for us to get confused and think of them as "people" (as in individuals, human beings) because they do peopley kinds of things like get haircuts...

Stupid Pet Songs: New improved Jimmy song

Obviously, I've had this "Stupid Pet Songs" idea for a long time. But since I began living with a singer/songwriter  I've been thinking about it again because he has taken the idea up a notch. Even his stupid pet songs have a verse, a chorus and a verse. My old songs used to be existing tunes made borderline grating by the inclusion of the constant repetitive use of the name of the dog in question.  Here is one of the several current songs for Jimmy.

Stupid Pet songs #1

Jimmy's song.

He had every last attribute. He Was Perfect.

Damn. Just my luck to find out about this after enrollment is closed.

But since I can't join, I still wish I could have been there when he explained what he meant by "nonsense' to seventeen Jewish women.

Goel Razon, a 60-year-old Israeli, was brought to court in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is accused of sexual enslavement, rape, extortion and sexual assault.The police said that the suspect, Goel Ratzon, was either 59 or 60, and maintained his cultlike community in several apartments in a neighborhood...