Mark Evanier's Blog, page 120

Today's Second Political Post

A couple of correspondents asked to hear more about this story Donald Trump made up about Kamala Harris visiting Vladimir Putin. Here's more about it. I suppose Trump might not have made it up himself. But he seems willing to repeat and spread anything he hears about anyone he considers an enemy and that's just as bad as making it up in the first place. Trump is also making up (or spreading) bogus stats on the impact of Climate Change.

Here's Jonathan V. Last explaining what the Democratic Convention was all about. I think a lot of it was about showing possibly-persuadable folks leaning towards the G.O.P. that the opponents being demonized are not at all demons. I have no idea how many of those possibly-persuadable were persuaded but the Dems sure gave it a try.

Today's First Political Post

If I had to pick the Number One reason to oppose Donald Trump getting a second term…well, it would be tough to pick just one. The fact that he's insane and determined to be accountable to no one would be a strong contender. So would the hatred and divisiveness he loves to spread. But I think if I had to choose just one, it would be his continuing insistence that he is the only thing standing between America and total poverty, disease, annihilation and general doomsday. His campaign is built on creating false panics everywhere.

If you read no other article to which I send you, read Kevin Drum's latest summation of how just about nothing negative that Trump says about non-Trump governance and the state of this country is true. There is so much room to do better but things are nowhere near as bad as the Republican candidate for the most powerful job in the world claims.

And while you're over on Kevin's site, read this about how Trump claims Kamala Harris went to meet with Vladimir Putin, told him not to invade Ukraine and then he did. This part about her meeting with Putin is a completely made-up story.

Koo Koo Komeback

Matthew Ohara sent me this link to an article with more on the effort to resurrect the Koo Koo Roo restaurant chain. I'm not getting my hopes up because this is still in the "too good to be true" category. I'll be a bit less skeptical if/when I hear they've actually made a deal for whatever real estate will hold their first new location.

Thursday Night Wrap-Up

Didn't see any of the Democratic National Convention today…though I was concerned that Kamala Harris migtht not accept the nomination. I had a lot of work to do and the first three days of this political Kaffeeklatsch may have left me conventioned-out.

Fortunately, we now live in a world where it you miss a TV show, it's on your DVR and if it isn't on your DVR, it's on some streaming service and if it isn't on some streaming service, it's on the broadcaster's website and if it isn't on the broadcaster's website, it's on YouTube and if it isn't on YouTube, your friend has it and he can upload it to Dropbox for you. So I'll get around to watching the highlights, probably not tomorrow but soon. Don't anyone tell me how it ends.

Today's Video Link

And here we go with a remembrance of Season 10 of Saturday Night Live. This edition of Everything You Need To Know About Saturday Night Live tells of how producer Dick Ebersol transformed the program into (basically) The Martin Short and Billy Crystal Show. It was not a bad season but it led into a dead end and the only solution seemed to be to bring Lorne Michaels back to helm Season 11. Here's what went right and wrong in Season 10…

Today's Political Post

Okay, so Kamala seems to be three points ahead of That Other Guy and that's by polling that reflects little or none of any "bounce" she's going to get from the Democratic National Convention. Not bad. There are polls that say it's more or less than three but this ain't a bad place to be right now.

I didn't see a lot of Day Three of the D.N.C. I did watch Bill Clinton take half-an-hour to deliver what might have been a great fifteen minute speech. That man was so good at that kind of thing in his day. I saw Tim Walz deliver what seemed to me like the same speech he's been giving for a few weeks now but it still probably makes even some people who won't vote that ticket think, "Kamala made a great choice." I saw Coach Walz's old football team take the stage which was nice.

Some pundit-type people on CNN were discussing what it is that's hurting Trump. I think Trump is hurting Trump by babbling on about crowd sizes and windmills and The Great Hannibal Lecter and his micro-respect for the military and how unfair it is whenever things don't go his way…but in second place, I think it's this: The Abortion Issue. He wants to have it both ways, assuring the "pro-life" crowd he'll give them everything they want while assuring the "pro-choice" folks he won't give the "pro-life" mob everything they want. Mary Ziegler explains why that's not working.

And this last thing for now is not really political: I'm still rewatching that Roll Call segment from Tuesday's convention coverage and marveling at how ingenious it was and how well they pulled it off. I worked with variety show directors who, if you went to them and described what you wanted to do — and you wanted to do that — they'd say, "Are you outta your mind?" Technically to coordinate all those speakers and all those camera shots and all that music and computer graphics on a live telecast (!!!), they'd tell you it was — as one director I worked with would say about any idea more complicated than two people on stage standing still — "im-fucking-possible."

But they pulled it off with only one or two minor glitches. And somehow every shot of every group of delegates was expertly designed with happy, enthusiastic people perfectly positioned with (usually) the name of the state in the shot and a perfect mix of old and young, white and non-white, male and female, etc. It looked like My America, which is highly inclusive and very, very joyful. Even if you don't care for or about the messaging, they took what is usually the most boring part of one of these conventions and made it, for me, the highlight. So far.

Today's Video Link

Here's a Mel-dey — a medley of songs from all the musicals written by Mel Brooks — both of them…

Merrily We Roll Along…

If you're wondering about the songs played during yesterday's disco roll call at the D.N.C., here's the set list. A lot of someones put a lot of time, thought and effort into this.

Wednesday Morning

I was not prepared yesterday to get so interested in the Democratic National Convention. I don't recall watching any of these with any intensity once we passed the stage where the nominees were in doubt before the gathering. Once that variable was eliminated, conventions basically became infomercials and very predictable. Even the speeches by folks I agreed with lacked a certain sincerity and spontaneity. But that roll call really impressed me, in part because I'm the kind of guy who watches television and is often more interested in how they did it than what they did.

That show was live — no edits, no retakes, a thousand possibilities for something to go wrong…and they pulled it off, taking what would ordinarily be a boring ritual and turning it into a moment of genuine television excitement. And then some — not all but some — of the speeches that followed were just plain good, gripping speeches. Betcha next time we have political conventions in this country, both sides study tapes of DNC 2024 and say, "Okay, this is what we have to top."

In case you missed the roll call, here's a link to watch it. It runs an hour-twenty and I couldn't turn away. The sense of happiness and excitement and the mix of career politicians and folks just workin' for a cause was stunning to me. I'm going to try not to watch much today because I have work to do but I'm not going to miss Pete Buttigieg or Bill Clinton…and I think Tim Walz, who's also turning out to be a helluva speaker, are on the schedule. So I'll probably end up watching more than I want.

Chicken Redux

I'm not going to get my hopes up yet but a Southern California real estate firm has announced they're bringing back the Koo Koo Roo chain of fast food restaurants…or maybe we should say they're trying to bring back the Koo Koo Roo chain of fast food restaurants. And maybe I should explain that Koo Koo Roo was "fast food" only in that it usually was served rather quickly. But the food they offered was somewhat healthy, non-fried and very delicious. Most folks loved their skinless but very tasty chicken.

I loved their cuisine and wrote an obit for the chain here when they closed the last one in 2014. From what I've heard over the years, it sounds like the chain was financially sound but there was a lot of financial mismanagement as they attempted to expand their locations and expand into other businesses.

I would very much like the chain to return and I'd like there to be an outlet near me and have it deliver and be just as good as it once was. I'm sure that's too much to ask. Over the years, I've had an awful lot of favorite eateries close and I've sometimes heard they were making a comeback…but I can only recall a few that actually did come back and it usually turned out it was in name only. The new versions never became favorites.

But…gee…maybe this time??? Maybe?