This blog is a Tip Jar Free Zone... but if you purchase my latest book DIRECTOR'S CUT, you'll help me sleep better (and Simon & Schuster pay off their advance to Hillary)!

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

DEPARTMENT OF UH-OH!

Despite the runaway success of Hillary's memoir, The New York Post is reporting Simon & Schuster is laying off 5% of its employees.

The cutbacks at the company, which publishes about 2,000 new titles under the Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Free Press and Pocketbooks imprints [that's me--ed.], come at a particularly dismal time for the book publishing world.

Now if you guys had gotten together and bought more copies of DIRECTOR'S CUT this wouldn't be happening. Do it now before it's too late and the streets of New York are littered with even more homeless. I'm not being self-serving here [yeah, right--ed.]. The Post warns "Random House insiders worry they'll be next."

Yes, but how many kangaroos?

Using instruments which measure the brightness of galaxies to calculate how many stars they contain, some Australian astronomers are now reporting "there are 10 times more stars in the visible universe than all the grains of sand on the world's beaches and deserts."

Meanwhile down here on that miniscule speck known as Earth, people are fighting over... oh, never mind.

Monday, July 21, 2003

KELLY, THE BBC AND THE NEW YORK TIMES

A number of people (Jeff Jarvis among them) are pointing out the similarity between the scandals at the BBC and the New York Times and they are right. Both organizations are guided by members of my Boomer generation who grew up on the Sixties anthem “Never trust your leaders!” Putting aside the obvious hypocrisy that they are themselves now leaders, there is some value in this approach, whether you learned it from Lord Acton or Bob Dylan.

But there are also problems. Leaders—be they George Bush, Tony Blair or anybody else—are creatures of history, swept along by events like the rest of us. Sometimes they are taken the right way, sometimes not. Overweening distrust of authority can lead to blindness as much as to liberation. And this distrust is easily augmented by envy and schadenfreude, those emotional twins long the special friends of writers and journalists.

I know because I spent most of my life under their sway, still have them deep inside me despite whatever paltry efforts I employed to expunge them. But because I have those emotions in me, I am pretty good in smoking them out in others. I have a kind of built-in Hemingway “shit detector” for jealousy. And that alarm went off a few years ago when Howell Raines started taking off after Clinton on the editorial page of the Times as if Bubba were a cross between Bluebeard and Attila the Hun (when he was an adulterer who paid too much attention to the polls.) That alarm rang again several years later when that same “Southern Liberal” editor lead the parade against intervention in Iraq with absolutely no suggestion in its stead about what to do about Saddam Hussein. To Raines and his ilk it was never about Saddam. It was always about Bush. And the unspoken feeling behind it all was--how dare that right-wing Christer be the one to fight fascism? How could he—the privileged son of a privileged son… a Yale legacy “C” student no less… go down in history when he’s barely even read Will Durant, barely read anything for that matter?

And then there’s Tony Blair. He hardly pays lip service to the search for weapons of mass destruction. For him the confrontation was about mass graves and totalitarian evil—a pure unadulterated moral war. And he speaks eloquently about it. Better than anyone I can think of, even Hitchens. He’s taken the moral high ground despite the accusations of his own political party. No wonder a generation of BBC pen pushers hates him. They all went to university together and this pretty boy ended up Prime Minister with a chance to have his name next to Churchill’s. What could be more infuriating than that in a small country like England? No self-respecting BBC reporter could permit it.

Look, you’re saying, it’s not fair to psychoanalyze people’s actions when you have no real proof of their motives. But we all do it (and not just at cocktail parties) and you all know I’m right. The hatred and enmity in our contemporary internecine political struggles have everything to do with emotion and little to do with the facts. If not, then why is the dialogue for the most part so pinheaded? Why is the discourse so attenuated, so over-laden with name-calling and innuendo? Why has honest reporting virtually vanished from the front pages of our newspapers to be replaced by glorified opinion columns, sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not?

So the New York Times and the BBC have a lot in common. Great as they both are, they are governed as much by the inner lives of their leaders and employees as by the rules of journalism. The suicide of Dr. David Kelly may turn out to be sad evidence of that. If so, let us hope that it is a turning point for our friends in Britain, just as the Jayson Blair scandal seems to have been here. Keep your fingers crossed.

Saturday, July 19, 2003

The New Orwells

Ron Rosenbaum, writing masterfully as usual from his perch at the New York Observer, has a new column entitled The Men Who Would Be Orwell. He's referring, not surprisingly, to Christopher Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan, those two expat Brits who, in his view, have ruled the roost in post-9/11 journalism. (For what it's worth, I agree with Rosenbaum, but I would throw Glenn Reynolds into the mix, not so much for Orwellian passion but for his brilliance as a moderator of the discussion.)

I'll quote Rosenbaum's conclusion because it amused me and you can follow the link above to the rest:

It's true that the candor of Mr. Sullivan's online diary can sometimes approach the verge of "too much information." As when he graphically documented his exploding-toilet situation this past New Year's Eve, telling us that "as I plopped myself innocently down on the porcelain, a fizzing sound behind me became a gushing sound and water was suddenly pouring into my apartment."

There's a kind of funny, rather endearing conclusion to the story: "After about half an hour of my acting like Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure," Mr. Sullivan called "a friend in construction" who "showed up like a Guardian Angel. Old Faithful subsided [and] I gave my savior some Moët and took him out to a dance club for the night. I got back at 6 a.m..."

But soon he's up and surveilling the Web for Error again: Nicholas Kristof of The Times' Op-Ed page must be refuted about Somalia! Mr. Hitchens spares us the gush and fizz of the exploding toilet, the Shelley Winters moments, and Orwell probably wouldn't have posted them on his Web site. But perhaps that's what makes Andrew Sullivan more of an Orwell for our age.

(PS: Some readers may recall I have criticized Sullivan for not crediting other writers on his blog. That criticism stands, but I was never referring to his own writing which is superb.)

The Rebel Goes Mainstream (Semi)

I take some (small) pride that I was one of the first to link to the Hasidic Rebel, the pseudonymous blogger posting from inside the Hasidic community. He is now the subject of a profile by William O'Shea in the Village Voice. In his otherwise interesting piece, O'Shea misses one key point about the Rebel, which I emphasized and will again -- This Hasid writes well. That, above all, is what makes his revelations from inside an insular world so resonant.

Friday, July 18, 2003

ROLE MODELS -- LOVE 'EM OR LEAVE 'EM

I remember reading in the media morass surrounding the current Kobe Bryant awfulness that the Kobester was the third greatest role model to American high school kids after their parents and teachers. Sad, huh? Kobe was a hero to me and I'm old enough, by a good stretch, to be his father. Even if the young woman who is accusing him is a nutcase... and I'm embarrassed to admit I hope she is... he will never be the same to any of us. But maybe this is a good thing for us, if not for him. We don't need to make athletes, even ones who can speak Italian in the middle of a three-sixty dunk, into heroes. In fact we don't need to make anyone into heroes. We're all just human and that's it. The whole idea of role models is, well, kind of pathetic. No one can live up to it.... Still, I have to admit I am hugely depressed by the whole thing. Watching Kobe was always a joy, a pleasure to see what the human body could do. The Greeks had it better. They knew we were all fallible and they made their gods that way.

UPDATE: As of two p. m. July 20, there is another wrinkle in the case. The Orange County Register--a paper with a good nose for Lakerology--is reporting Kobe's Colorado accuser was one troubled young woman who, only two months ago, had over-dosed in an apparent suicide attempt. The police may even have known this before the case was filed. If this is true, the local D. A. has work cut out for him, not only to win the case but to hold on to his job.

Robert Pugsley, the Southern California who was ubiquitous during the O. J. Trial, had this to say: "This is literally dynamite evidence, a bonanza for the defense and a landmine for prosecution."

Going out on a limb as a crime writer before we know the facts, I think this has some weid parallels to the Paula Jones case (on which we don't really know the facts either), not to O. J. (which was about murder, after all). Here's what I think happened in Paua Jones: Our Bill--a womanizer, as we all know, who couldn't keep it in his pants--spotted Paula Jones at a distance, got one of his minions to bring her up to his room. Paula then bragged she was going to be the then Governor's girlfriend. But when she got to his room, Bill saw her close up and immediately knew--through some combination of good sense and realizing Ms. Jones was not worth the effort or the lying--he had made a big mistake. Whether playing slightly or not, he quickly rejected Ms. Jones who, humiliated, then proceeds to act out. The rest is history.

The Kobe scenario is a little different. He obviously did the deed. And whether he is a womanizer is debatable, although as an NBA player (indeed a superstar) his opportunities in that regard are near the Mick Jagger level. But still he is a young man with high testosterone and, as a famous Yiddish expression goes... "An erect cock has no conscience!" Who knows what he told this young woman en flagrante delicto? And who knows what strange fantasties she constructed for herself only to have them dashed momentarily (and probably inevitably in her own unstable mind). Too bad for Kobe he didn't realize he had, sadly for him and her, a nutcase on his hands.

Fatal Attraction... but not as amusing as the movie.

UP DATE FROM THE SCHOOLMISTRESS: Now, boys and girls, I notice ad hominems again creeping into the rhetoric on Mr. Simon's high-toned weblog. I realize this matter is highly controversial and that rumors are flying around the Internet like bats in the Texas School Book Depository, but we should all calm down until the facts are in... or I will have to once more recommend strong measures to Mr. Simon. And you know censorship gives the poor fellow migraines.

UPDATE JULY 22: How to get attention in the blogosphere? This morning I have been linked by Instapundit and by Buzz Machine with reference to my serious post on the BBC and the New York Times above. But where are the... relatively... large number of hits today coming from? Google searchs on "Kobe" and "accuser." Why should the Internet be any different?

ALTERMAN ALTERCATION!

Michael J. Totten and Jeff Jarvis -- two card-carrying members of the smart squad -- are taking Eric Alterman to the woodshed for making what Jarvis calls "the moral mistake of the age: trying to rationalize hate crimes" (in this case the anti-Semitic attacks in France).

I don't read Alterman often, because he's... to be kind... not exactly a Hitchens when it comes to prose style, but the brouhaha sent me over there. Unfortunately, this confirmed my opinion. His responses to his critics (go read them if you have a lot of time on your hands) are so cliché-ridden and off target I wonder if he even believes them himself.

UPDATE: Alterman is analyzed (and well) on American Digest.

Thursday, July 17, 2003

BACK IN TOWN, LULU!

I just arrived back in LA to find a lenghty profile of my new blogging life (and new Moses Wine) by the estimable Ross Johnson on the Writers Guild Website. Ross is the WGA'S online editor and looks to be making the Guild's site a "must surf" for professional and wannabe screenwriters everywhere. (They may have to get a new server!)

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

IDENTITY CRISIS

Some old friends of mine, not that many but a few, didn’t show up at the Moses Wine Tasting Party in L.A… and I know why—politics. They think I have deserted la causa. I am not the radical-liberal I used to be. Perhaps they are right to some extent. I could make my explanations, but they are entitled to their opinion. Still, it hurts.

And if they want fuel for their point of view, they need look no further than the two most recent reviews of “Director’s Cut.” One, in the liberal San Francisco Chronicle, is a slam which even suggests I should “consider killing off” Moses Wine (and this by someone I know, David Kipen). On the other hand, the current version of William Kristol’s ultra-hot Neocon Bible “The Weekly Standard” has a rave. This one is by someone I don’t know— mystery writer and critic Jon L. Breen.

No fool I, I will quote at greater length from Mr. Breen’s review:

“The initial boos from the left—for whom Wine has been a hero since his first appearance as the one radical detective in the 1973 The Big Fix—and tentative cheers from the right will have faded by the end of the book, when both are laughing too hard to care.”

New times, new friends, as the saying goes. I should just be happy that the good review was in what is, at this moment, by far the more influential publication. But it’s not that simple. This has not been a normal time of publication for me. Indeed, it is not a normal time for any of us. Since those buildings went down, we have lived in an era of extraordinary emotional dislocation amongst ruptured friendships and alliances. I don’t think it’s easy for anyone.

Monday, July 14, 2003

"TIMES WATCH" WATCHES WHAT THEY WANT

Full disclosure—Bill Keller, the new editor of The New York Times--is a friend on mine.

Even so (I’ll do anything to avoid the new cliché “That said”), I think the folks over at Times Watch (linked by Instapundit) have gone off the deep end (and betrayed their own knee-jerk paleo-conservatism) in implying Keller is just Howell Raines in new clothes. Besides quoting selectively (with a suspiciously liberal use of diereses) from Bill’s op-ed pieces, they don’t seem to have a clear idea what editor of the NYT entails.

One of the most important tasks of the editor—no matter his biases—is to separate news reporting from opinion. Raines was often unable to do this, pursuing hobbyhorses like the supposed Augusta Golf Club scandal and generally emphasizing reporting that followed his specific pseudo-liberal line (not particularly well thought through, in my view). Keller, a consummate newsman and diplomat, is unlikely to do that. He will work hard to return a note of impartiality to the front page.

Of course, this will be a matter of degree that will probably never satisfy Times Watch. The NYT is a liberal newspaper and has a perfect right to be one, just as the NY Post has a perfect right to be conservative. That is our system. Also, anyone who believes there is such a thing as complete impartiality in news reporting (or any form of writing) is smoking some pretty strong opium.

Now it is true that the NYT has an excessive amount of influence throughout the media, but part of the reason for this has been their historical competence, despite recent fiascos like the Jayson Blair affair. No paper in any country that I have ever read covers the world with the thoroughness of the Times. They have their position because they are the best, like it or not. Right-wingers who like to complain about that should get their act together and create their own newspaper of equal quality. The Wall Street Journal is good, but limited. The Telegraph in London has its moments, particularly during the Iraq War. But let’s face it, neither holds a candle to the Times.

IMMIGRATION - THE BIG QUESTION

Gary Younge's banal article on Muslim immigration to America in The Guardian -- "Wish You Weren't Here" -- (via Michael J. Totten) rehearses the same tired homilies about the integration of immigrants to the USA we have been reading for years. Guess what--it's not all it's cracked up to be! (What is?) Some ethnic and religious groups, "amazingly," even have a tough time.

Where on planet Earth is this not true and what country in the history of the world would look the other way when an organized group from another culture wantonly murdered a large number of its citizens and destroyed billions of dollars worth of property? Mr. Younge does not answer this because, of course, he couldn't. He is writing propaganda masquearading as a highbrow think piece. But he does raise inadvertently an interesting question.

What is the responsibility of any country in integrating a group that calls for that country's destruction or the destruction of its system? We had to deal with this question with radicals who wanted to revolutionize America and turn it into a communist society. The results weren't always pretty. Frequently they were worse than that (McCarthy). But what about Islam? This is a religion and we offer freedom of religion here. The separation of church and state is one of our core beliefs. Unfortunately, a great many Muslims do not ascribe to this. They assert the primacy of sharia over state law, indeed the notion of the nation-state is anathema to much of Islamic thinking. Do we allow our own society, a child of Europe's "Enlightenment," to be subverted by this?

Not by my lights. I support vigilance against all those who wish to overthrow democratic state law with religious law (no matter what religion!). I don't think this is a matter to be taken lightly. There is something societally masochistic in the culturally relativist theory that doctrinaire religious views are just "another equal idea." Sorry, but in this era of the Hubble Telescope, I don't want to see the return to some new version of the Salem Witch Trials. I think those "equal ideas" are actually dangerous refugees from an epoch when people thought the world was flat. They encourage their adherents to perform acts of insanity... and I am not just talking about 9/11.

(And, please understand me, I am not talking about moderate Muslims here. Those who recognize the necessity of the separation of church and state have as much right to be here as any of us. Welcome to them!)

JUST PUBLISHED!
June 2003 from Atria Books:

DIRECTOR'S CUT:
A Moses Wine Novel

Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at Barnes & Noble

Some kind words about
DIRECTOR'S CUT:

Moses Wine is back with all his wit and wisdom exposing crime and the movie industry to the respect it deserves and proving that Roger Simon is better than ever.”
-- Tony Hillerman

"A terrific read! What a pleasure to have Moses Wine walking down these mean streets again."
-- Sue Grafton, author of Q is for Quarry

"As irresistible as movie popcorn. Moses Wine is the slyest, most entertaining gumshoe anywhere."
-- Martin Cruz Smith

"Where was Moses when the lights went out? Up to his schnoz in an anthrax bath--but as might be expected from Roger Simon, the tawdry Tinseltown toxins pour like vintage Wine."
-- Tom Robbins

"Mordantly funny... Simon's satiric humor thrives on absurdity; and once Moses is in the director's chair, trying to salvage a project that will eventually (by hook and by crook) make it to Sundance, this sendup of Hollywood greed and bad taste wins the jury prize."
-- Marilyn Stasio, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"…realistic and amusing. I read the whole thing in two sittings and enjoyed it very much. He offers insight into the world of filmmaking that readers will find hilarious."
-- Glenn Reynolds, MSNBC.com

"The initial boos from the left—for whom Wine has been a hero since his first appearance as the one radical detective in the 1973 The Big Fix—and tentative cheers from the right will have faded by the end of the book, when both are laughing too hard to care. Moses hasn't changed his political stripes all that much, and the main target of his creator's satire is one everybody enjoys ridiculing: the moition picture industry."
-- Jon L. Breen, THE WEEKLY STANDARD

"A particularly relevant plot, then, filled with action and suspense and set against arresting Czech backgrounds. Recommended."
-- Library Journal

"Simon's savvy Hollywood satire raises troubling questions about our B-grade domestic preparedness efforts."
-- Booklist

"Director's Cut is a timely thriller, loaded with absorbing insider snippets about the film industry, humorous jabs at governmental bureaucracy and a general disregard for icons of any sort. If you can remember tie-dye and VW Microbuses (or, more to the point, if you wore tie-dye and drove a VW Microbus), this is a must read."
-- Bruce Tierney, BookPage

"Roger L. Simon is a talented writer who can always be counted on to deliver a chilling thriller."
-- Harriet Klausner, Allreaders.com

"Like a fine wine, Moses just keeps getting better and better. It's one heck of a surreal roller coaster ride full of the sophisticated satire and wry wit Roger L. Simon is famous for. With characters guaranteed to take home Oscars for best performance in every category, and an insightful peek into just what makes the movie industry tick, readers are sure to enjoy this latest installment of the detective with an urge to make the final cut."
-- Anne Barringer, Old Book Barn Gazette

"A quarter of a century after he first appeared in the now-classic The Big Fix, Moses Wine remains a private investigator par excellence."
-- In Other Words, Mystery

First mass market reprint from iBooks, May 2003:

The Lost Coast:
a Moses Wine Mystery

Purchase at Amazon
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Click here to view/purchase all Roger L. Simon novels.

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