Popcorn and Jujubes

1. Thus far, the new fall lineup on the telly is a resounding bust. Index finger cramping from hitting the delete button, I channel surfed into the 1966 film, 'The Group.' Whoa. Already 15 minutes into the movie, I sat mesmerized, not by the acting because the acting was marginal, but by the ensemble cast: Shirley Knight, Elizabeth Hartman, Joan Hackett, Hal Holbrook, Jessica Walter, a youthful Larry Hagman (cast as a shit of a husband)pre JR Dallas and the delicious Candace Bergman as Lakey, the role every respectable dyke is familiar with.
We loved CB so much that while living in a household populated by 70's anarchists we named a drink of oj mixed with tonic water and whatever, the CandyBergen. 'The Group' written by Mary McCarthy about the class of '33 at Vassar inadvertently slid into my glitterati hall of quotes when McCarthy said 'live' on the Dick Cavett show, "Every word written by Lillian Hellman is a lie including 'and' and 'the.' Hellman responded by filing a 2.5 million libel suit. They don't make them like those 2 broads anymore.

2. BBCA. Has produced the best shows of the year. If you missed these, stream them. 'The Hour' which I've previously mentioned in this space. One of the finest series to ever cross the Atlantic. Domenic West from The Wire. The absolutely brilliant Ben Whislaw. Romola Garai, a powerful central character, and a heady piece of eye candy.
'Zen' starring Rufus Sewell based on the Aurelio Zen detective series. Filmed in Italy, detailed, beautiful. And finally, the Idris Elba vehicle, 'Luther.' Violent and gritty. Elba reading the dictionary would make for compelling drama.

3. A shameless bit of pub for a book, 'Sound Business: Newpapers, Radio, and the Politics of New Media,' written by Michael Stamm who graduated from UCBerkeley, and worked with me as a student and a young man before he pursued his doctorate at the Univ of Chicago. Mick and I used to spend hours on the mezzanine of level B staring down onto
the gridiron, the Main stacks of the Library, plotting our playbook, hashing over the good, the bad, and the ineptitude while keeping our focus on the future. Well done. Uh, and that's Dr. Stamm, to you.