How to get on John & Ken.

I have no interest in performing - even on radio! Although I do love talk radio, I don't think I have the best voice, and get very self-conscious if I talk to more than one person at a time.

But last week I did a cartoon for Slate on the swine flu and Mexico that you see here. Slate put it on the front page, and the firestorm started. If you've read me before you know that I am fanatical about copyright. I'm also without sympathy for bloggers who lack writing skill or subject matter, and then use "filler" like Youtube or photos or cartoons, to take up a lot of space and do the work for them.

Well one blogger stole it, another followed, and there were at least 5 blogs - another one today, titled Steal These, that took my © cartoons and used it, without attribution, or links, or permission, or payment, or anything at all. Of course I complained immediately, either in the comments or by email, and eventually to their ISPs, and I haven't stopped. But I wish I had a lawyer!

WHAT. BIG . BABIES. The bloggers were so incensed that I wanted to stop them from using my cartoons that they had stolen, they wrote about me again. And used more cartoons.

Did I mention that all of these blogs are hate liberal blogs? And every single one called me a racist, some of them in the post title? Not just once. 10 or 20 times. And 20 more times in the comments. Got hate mail, a death threat, a threat to find me and hit me (this was on a blog called a "feminist" blog, which described itself as "a safe space." Insane!!) I had 100s and then thousands of hits on my blog and website (I'm nowhere near the size of MS, so that was big for me.)

Anyway, you can read more about what I have to say about the cartoon in my blog, Why I Did It. But I was feeling so so awful about the poison all over me. A friend suggested I send the story to John & Ken. I was sure they wouldn't be interested, but he insisted, so I did on Thursday, and later that night the producer, Ray Lopez, wrote and invited me to be on the show at 4 on Friday!

I was hoping they would mention it, not have me talk about it...I was sick from nervousness, but long story short, they were very sweet, kind of like nice uncles! They described the cartoon very well, and told me to ignore the hate talk and racist label, and not give the hate blogs any power. I told them I wanted to do some about illegal immigration, but that now I felt like my first amendment right was curtailed, and I was afraid to.

Well, I think I said that. It's now up in podcast on their site, so you can listen to it for yourself. I'm too embarrassed to hear myself again. It's on the May 1 page, and you can see my letter to them (which, um, I didn't exactly want for the haters to see) and I mentioned Mayor Sam there!

The best part was finally getting some nice comments in my blog, and supportive emails. They even went to the Gocomics page to comment. Maybe it wasn't the best part: talking to them was pretty great.

I guess some readers here might not like this cartoon, either. That makes me sad. Mayor Sam commenters haven't always been that welcoming or friendly, but after having to spend time on those freaky free-association blogs, whose only purpose is to tear down and destroy, and pride themselves on being cesspools of hate and filth, I'd like to say this is a really great blog, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Cartoon is ©D. Barstow, all rights totally reserved, with no permission at all to use elsewhere. One time use on this blog only.

My other social networking: The TV.

Okay, the last time I recommended a show to Mayor Sam, Life on Mars, that episode was so preachy! I apologize for their bad writing. But things are different now. Life on Mars is dead and buried. Prison Break has been pronounced dead by Fox for 3 months now, with just a few shows left, moved to the always dead Friday.

But Reaper, the rare comedy-drama that works both ways, and is totally, always compelling has just recently been pronounced dead by Hollywood Reporter. I think it's a premature burial, and still very much alive. Do you remember the Bee Gees song? I forget it, but it's something about staying alive.

If you liked The Screwtape Letters, (yes, the same C. S. Lewis who wrote the Narnia books, which are much better books than movies) you'll love Reaper. Basically, it's letters from Uncle Screwtape, a demon, to his demon nephew, on how to do it better: that is, how to tempt man and womankind, and what evil is, and how to make it.

I don't know if the extremely clever writers of Reaper actually read this book, but I read that Ray Wise, the only actor in Reaper I already knew, saw a lot of films with a devil to design his portrayal. And boy, does he knock it out of the park. He is the perfect devil. And Sam is his perfect victim.

The series begins with Sam, a slacker who works at a Home Depot type place because "college made him sleepy" waking up on his 21st birthday, ready for a normal day at his boring job. Then he meets the devil. Turns out his father, an attractive advertising exec, promised Sam's soul to the devil when he turned 21, in exchange for keeping his mother alive during some illness. (I think, the deal isn't quite clear.) Sam has 2 jobs now: his job at The Bench, and his work for the devil to find different souls who have escaped from hell and bring them back. He's allowed to let Sock and Ben, co-workers at The Bench, in on his secret, and they help him out in the chase.

One of the most beautiful things in this show is that even with the setup of a different soul (scary bad people of all types) to send back to hell every week, EACH EPISODE IS ALMOST TOTALLY SURPRISING! This is just not a predictable show. How rare is that! And thank Gah!

Other things I love:

* The casting is impeccable. Give the Casting Director an Emmy!!! Sam, Sock, especially Ben, Andi, of course the Devil, and even the supporting characters, like Ted, the funniest boss ever, Gladys at the DMV (because souls have to be handed back at hell on earth: the DMV. Hee!), Nina, who I'm very sorry to read is leaving - bad, Nina, bad-, Sam's parents, and even Morgan. I also especially liked Andi's ex, Greg - bring him back, brilliant!

* Locations. I know it's filmed in Canada, and I'm a union person - hate runaway production. But I like it when they go to various outdoor lakes, forests, houses, that are NOT LA. And I have to add that since I've been watching this, I've had to go to the DMV twice, and I didn't mind!! And to Home Depot. They weren't as bad or boring after this show.

* The first season, Reaper had a makeout session (and more) between Gladys (who happens to be a demon) and Sock. A twenty-something guy and 50-something woman get it on. On the CW. Is this not scream-worthy? In a good way? The brilliant part is they made it work. Sock was sexier in that scene than when he did his step-sister. (oops, hope I didn't spoil anything.)

* You might imagine that as a cartoonist I laugh a lot. Unfortunately for me, that is not the case. Yes, I often laugh at my own cartoons - at least the first few times - but I don't think a lot of other people are as funny as they think they are. TV hardly ever is. But I laugh a lot, and loudly, at this show. And the writing is so tight that I can watch it again, several times, and find even more cleverness in it.

* It's not just the funny. There are a lot of interesting iffy situations with good and bad, and constant choices. Is Sam really Satan's son? Ray Wise constantly tempts him and goads him. And who hasn't done more bad things than the latest soul, a young man who was a virgin, and coveted a woman? He went to hell for that! That wasn't fair! The Devil pointed up to the sky and said "His rules, not mine." Still not fair!

And just to prove my love, now look what I did. I wrote my latest Slate cartoon, above, to incorporate both Obama, his first 100 days, and Reaper. (You can also see it here on Gocomics, with comments - and add your own.) No, I don't really think Obama signed any deal, but he certainly isn't the angel some people think he is. I particularly disagree with some of his Cabinet appointees, and most of his economic decisions.

You can read more about this in my blog, Why I Did It.

Who isn't terrified of being buried alive? Don't do it to Reaper! It's on tonight at 8 PM on Channel 5.

Caption: About Barack Obama: "I can't believe it's been 100 days and he's still standing. Do you think it's like Reaper, and he made a deal with the Devil?" © D. Barstow 2009, All rights reserved.

I went to the dark side.

The last few years I've gotten very interested in local politics and shenanigans, but it stopped there. I mean, isn't there enough going on to protest and change right in one's own backyard? I always felt I had my hands full with Griffith Park - there's 800 acres, right there - and then Silver Lake, where I live and where I started to run after the big fire in Griffith Park.

I know some people dream big, but that wasn't me. Until last fall, when a big news magazine requested cartoons in a New Yorkery style, but based on news - like the election. Well, I like puzzles, and often I think of cartoons as puzzles, which you have to move around until something clicks. So I did a few roughs every week, but boy was it hard. A New Yorker cartoon is usually very impersonal and vague and abstract (although more concrete the last years, which is why they aren't very funny any more.) Or it's the TEDIOUS dog sitting in a bar. But politics are real people, and it's harder to make them do silly things and still be funny.

To be honest, I never even read editorial cartoons before. They were kind of messy looking, and they weren't funny. Well, my drawings aren't so dark and scratchy, but making current events funny is quite difficult, so I have a little more sympathy for the editorial guys... Oh well, just a harder puzzle to work out!

I never got beyond the difficult editor there (and dishonest, I think - and that's why I'm writing this here rather than in my cartoon blog!) So I had a handful of editorial cartoons I really liked, but where to sell them? It was all new to me! So, in short, Slate liked me, and I had to get syndicated to get in Slate, and so I got picked up by Uclick.

I'm in usually 3 times a week - and these deadlines are killers. New subjects, research needed, etc. And there were also the technical issues: I had to scramble to learn Photoshop better, and also to figure out what size lettering I needed to be legible that small. You can see the new cartoons as they appear in Slate here, (new ones show just after 10 PM our time) or in Gocomics here, where you can also comment, or sign up (for free) for 200 other cartoonists.

Anyway, the cartoon above is one of my favorites! The drawing turned out just how I wanted. I knew I wanted to protest the nerve of Mexico blaming us for their drug problems...and then Clinton throwing money at them, as if they didn't get all our drug money anyway, but I went through several drafts before deciding on this attitude at the very last minute. Of course, not everyone will agree with this cartoon, and that's the fun of opinion cartoons!

If you're interested in hearing more about editorial cartoons on Mayor Sam, let me know.
As always, cartoon ©Donna Barstow!

My computer was on life support.

No one wants to hear the story of how my computer crashed so badly that I had to use my old Windows 98 dinosaur, that wouldn't sync with my lcd monitor, and thus couldn't see images properly, like my cartoons that were due. I was literally locked out by the evil Kaspersky, the anti-virus I was using. (I write a little more about this on my blog, and there are a couple of visitors every week with the same problem, so it wasn't just me.)

Oh, I'll tell you anyway: after weeks of trying and buying and waiting for parts and courage, I had to buy a new hard drive, format that w/Windows XP and pretend it was my new C drive, and then circumvent the lock on my original drive C by peeking in at it as drive E, and then copying all my old files over, tediously, because I was kind of sloppy at filing, and also terrified the original spyware would take a ride back over to my new drive. (Warning: you have to disconnect the original HD from the motherboard while you format the new one, or it will wipe it, so be very careful - I had Fry's do the wires the first time. I was SO scared about losing all the images I hadn't backed up in oh, about a year.)

Well, I'll save the real news of what I was going to post for my next post, because this is already too long. I will have a cartoon up you might like.

Robberies or hate crimes in Silver Lake?

My neighbor just called me to tell me what her neighbor told her - a link from another neighbor, from LA Metblogs:

This past Friday January 30, a friend of mine was brutally assaulted walking from Blair’s near Hyperion to Edendale Bar and Grill on Rowena. It was maybe between 11:30 PM or 12:30 AM near the West Silver Lake Street entrance on Rowena. He was pulled into the back of a dark driveway, had a gun pressed against his temple and then savagely thrown to the ground and beaten, crushing his left cheek; he blacked out and doesn’t remember what happened next. He couldn’t see both suspects but got a look at one who he describes as a tall, young Hispanic male.

I guess this is how you find out about crimes in LA now - by word of mouth, as the LAPD just suggested to me, or through a phone tree. That's the modern way, is it? This may be because the LAPD DOES NOT HAVE any kind of blog or announcement page about crimes. This is definitely a wave of crimes: 10 scary robberies within 2 weeks is a wave! Maybe they were waiting for a tsunami or something, to actually make this public. They have this site here, http://lapdcrimemaps.org/, but it only records crimes for 7 days, and doesn't seem to have these robberies on it.

I talked with the Northeast Watch Commander, Sargent Milewski about this just now. She was very pleasant and forthcoming, and said there was supposed to be a press conference about this string of crimes tonight, but she wasn't sure when. So you guys got me, instead.

If you know this area at all, I would consider Rowena EXTREMELY safe, and I walk on it nearly every night. And it's only maybe one long block between these 2 restaurants, quite well lit, with foot and street traffic.

From Sargent Milewski:

There have been 10 robberies in the last 2 weeks, 6 near Glendale and Sunset, and 4 near Hyperion and Rowena (like the one above.) They have all been at gun or knifepoint, by 2 young (15?) Hispanic males. Sometimes just a cell phone is taken, sometimes a wallet, and they happen from evening to early morning - last one was 3:35 last night. (I was there at 3 AM.)

All attacks have been on single males. At this point, the Sargent said that after thorough investigations, they are sure they aren't hate crimes, but robberies. Well, I don't think so (said in a sing-songy voice.) They sound like attacks on gays to me, when they don't always rob. (Could have been helpful if the writer to Metblogs mentioned if that man was gay.)

In any case, I hope they get these creeps very very soon. You can believe that I will be on the alert, myself, now that I finally know about this. Get out of my 'hood.

Why your car insurance rates just went up.

And why you should pray a truck never touches you. Case in point: the Interstate 5 pileup in a tunnel near Santa Clarita in October 2007, which killed 3 people and 33 trucks and a car. (33 trucks in a row? Remind me never to drive there.) The crashes turned the nearby tunnel into a fiery inferno, melting cars and people. Fatalities included a little boy who was burned alive in his father’s truck.

The Times article says:

CHP investigators determined that Jose Reyes, 29, was driving at least 65 mph along the rain-slicked freeway when his truck veered left and crashed into a concrete median wall after driving through the tunnel, according to the prosecutor’s memo obtained by The Times…

But as traffic slowed, other trucks collided near the tunnel exit, leading to the fatal accidents about four to five minutes after Reyes’ crash. Flames shot through the 550-foot tunnel, trapping motorists and melting vehicles as temperatures inside soared to about 1,500 degrees.

A spokeswoman for Georgia-based Saia Motor Freight Line Inc., issued a statement Tuesday saying that the company’s vehicle had been regularly maintained and met state and federal safety requirements. The fatalities in the tunnel, she said, were unrelated to Reyes’ accident.

The company went on to say that there really was no tunnel, it was just a big barbeque pit, and the driver, Reyes, enjoyed a fine cup of coffee afterwards, on their dime.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Courtney Armendariz wrote up the investigation and report. Courtney seems to be a very intuitive attorney: she argued both sides of the case, just guessing what Reyes and Saia would say in court, without, actually, you know, going to court.

She said the driver would say it’s the truck’s fault, and the lawyers would do tests to show he was driving much slower, and the company would say their trucks were in perfect condition and it’s the tunnel’s fault. Oh, and the drivers behind him, damn them. (Oh, did I mention that CHP had to shut down that tunnel and route for an entire month? Everyone loves a good road closure, and time and gas lost.)

Courtney’s conclusion was: why bother, if we might not win? NO CHARGES AT ALL WILL BE FILED. The dead people, drivers, city, county, and state can just suck it. Saved the county some work, I guess. And saved both Reyes and Saia millions of dollars in legal fees. Los Angeles liberal? Nah.

I looked up Saia Truckers. They bring in over $976 million (MILLION) annually, with over 11,000 trucks. Yeah, they’re on top of every detail. They’re intrastate and go everywhere. I’ve investigated intrastate trucking before, and the FMCA has almost no power over them. And the state only has jurisdiction when the company is located in that state. This is how and why moving companies are able to literally HIJACK their customers’ goods, quite often, as it happens. (Happened to me with my car.)

I just got my new car insurance bill yesterday. Car is older, but insurance is up. Now we know why, and what I’m paying for: scuzzy truckers and evil truck insurance companies.

It’s obvious Saia isn’t interested in what happens in California. They will probably blame every accident they have here, or have had here, on our deserts, or mountains, or tunnels, or those damn lemon trees. Death and destruction? Not their problem. I suggest that the State of California ban Saia Truckers from ever doing business here again. That way, they don’t have to be concerned with our people or topography. And they can go make barbeques elsewhere. Win-win.

Hat tip to LA Observed. He scans the news so I don’t have to.

Photo by the AP via Popular Mechanics.

The little red hen says thank you

I'm the kind of activist you really don't want to mess with. For instance, everyone has gone a teensy-tiny bit crazy after the election, and the social sites are no exception. But do you really think I want to read your gloating manic frenzy, MySpace friends, and Twitter friends?

Stuff like, "We did it, we won!" "Finally, we're on top!" "I'm proud to be an American!" Well, if it took you this long, you're a friggin loser. Buh-bye, FRIENDS. Delete, delete, delete!

So I hope this doesn't sound like crowing to say I'm humbly, quietly happy that Proposition 2 passed. And Michael, it's not just a chicken bill. Okay, it is a chicken bill, but it affects 19 million small lives a year.

My concern now is how the LA Times covered this. I did the usual research right before the election on my Griffith Park blog, and quoted from several articles in the Times. (Gah, what a mess their search engine is. I got over 5000 results searching for Prop 2, but the actual pieces are a handful of articles and opinions. )

I also read their post-election piece in the Business section, after the people had already voted 2 to 1 for it. Title: Prop 2 probably won't hike egg prices. [my bold]

For months farmers had contended that the measure would drive up egg prices or even put them out of business because of the high cost of retrofitting their farms with cage-free facilities.

But the measure's proponents and a respected state agriculture expert stressed Wednesday that such results were unlikely, especially in the short term.

Also, California imports a third of the shelled eggs it consumes from out-of-state producers, which are not subject to the new regulations.

So, no eggs from Mexico or China!

[and] after Arizona voters passed the initiative, no pork producers left the state.

This is quite a different story than the Times had before the election, strongly urging voters to vote No on 2! If they had these facts then, why not tell the public??

It's not only this article that did an about-face; I found an opinion by Patt Morrison, she of the hats, in favor of Prop 2. But there was something strange: right in the middle of her very emotionally charged piece, there was a disclaimer by the Times, saying they did not agree with her opinion, and to please read the Times own opinion piece AGAINST Prop 2!

Does anyone else think this is weird, not to mention inappropriate?! The point of an Opinion piece is to, um, state an opinion. Which is rather diluted when the Times sticks its big fat nose in the middle of it and says, don't listen to her, listen to us!!

I'm now totally suspicious of how the LA Times approached Proposition 2, and maybe other issues, too. I want to be able to trust the 3rd biggest paper in the country when it tells me things, especially when giving me its learned opinions on bills we are going to vote on. This is uneven reporting, to say the least.

Btw, I had a chance to talk with Gene Baur, the President of Farm Sanctuary today, which co-sponsored this bill. I will follow up with our conversation in my own park blog, but one thing surprised me: he grew up in The Oaks in Los Feliz! He worked in commercials before he wrote a book and started FS.

Is this not yet another local connection the Times could have made while writing about this issue? Since I know the Times reads this blog, no doubt there will be an article now. Let's see who gets the credit for this tidbit!

PS I'm still royally p!ssed that this doesn't go into effect until 2015. But I'm working on it.
Wonderful watercolor of the chicken by Carol Prentiss.

California egg farmers are prejudiced against Mexican and Chinese eggs.

This is certainly not to take away from Antonio's excellent post below on this topic, but to add to it.

I wrote about Proposition 2 a couple of months ago in my Griffith Park blog, and again today. Here's an excerpt:

I wrote in my cartoon blog about how I take my canary for a walk these days. He’s near enough to a window to get fresh air, but for him to go outside is nirvana. Can you imagine how the breeze feels against his feathers, ruffling them, tickling his skin?

I’ve had him for 4 years, and now, for the first time ever, he is trying to sing!!

Most farm animals will never feel fresh air on their skin, let alone a breeze. That’s farming for you! Yes on Prop 2 would fix this, at least for a few animals....

The Times doesn’t like this - says it would outsource egg farmers. Well, yeah, if they were little helpless children, and don’t know how to run a business or change the simplest thing, like move one side of a cage...

Oprah had a whole program devoted to this, and my favorite part was when a chicken farmer said that if this law passes, all chicken farmers will go out of business, and California will have to import its eggs from Mexico and China! Boat or plane? I can’t wait to see the packaging on them. I can feel some new cartoons coming on…

The part that I hate the most: this won’t go into effect until 2015. This is TOTAL pandering to those wimpy farmers.

Photo from East Bay Animal Advocates.

Los Angeles has low self-esteem.

I would like to know how the LA City Council got to have SO MUCH power in LA. It's really scary.

As I predicted, the Cultural Heritage Commission resolved in favor of recommending to City Council that it designate all of Griffith Park as an L.A. Historic Cultural Monument. Historic Resources said yes! And thank you so much to all of you who called or wrote, or registered your support for this, Mayor Sam people!

I thought it went straight to the City Council next, but no, there's another group, still part of the Council, that wants their day of power: the Planning and Land Use Management Committee(PLUM) which is composed of Councilmembers Reyes, Huizar and Weiss. (What their background is in landscape architecture, historic monuments, urban parks, etc, Lord only knows.) Then, if it passes them, on to the full Council (because you can never have too many Councilmembers in the pot.) More from LA Now.

(Okay, I just looked these 3 Councilmembers up. Reyes works to clean up the LA River. Weiss likes environmental issues. I don't know where Huizar is at. None of them have the proper background to MAKE this decision, from what I can find, but I predict they will allow this proposal and pass it on to the general Council. Even without creds.)

Back east, cities have respect for themselves. They honor history and provenance. They work to save what is valuable. Even when it's annoying to have every school field trip be to visit a monument or place that's OLD, which is the worst category that kids have, you feel proud of your country and your city at the end of it.

Not LA, oh no. But we do have the Office of Historic Resources, right? Well, as it turns out, the Office has only been in existence for two years. TWO YEARS. Cultural Affairs, which was it's earlier form, oversaw some landmarks, but they themselves didn't start until 1962!! A truly forward looking city, like people call Los Angeles, would pay more attention to its past.

And now we see that the OHR is toothless, anyway. They can only recommend. The City Council, with no training or education in architectural history or planning, can do whatever they feel like with that recommendation.

Photo ©Omar Omar of the old zoo site in Griffith Park, from Flickr Creative Commons.

Be original! No one else will go as Sarah Palin this Halloween.

While I was looking for Halloween events to report on for Griffith Park, I came across this juicy description of how to make a Sarah Palin outfit, from CreepyLA.com, David Markland's other blog.

Whether you love Sarah Palin or love to hate her, one thing is certain: she is definitely adding some much needed glamour to the Republican Party! Those glossy lips, that frosted, tousled hair...

Bronzer, bronzer, bronzer! Wear an orangey-tan base, heavy on the bronzer. Palin loves her blush, people...

Last but not least, I found a baby doll ($3.00) at a thriftstore that I wrapped in a yellow towel. That’s right, my little Baby Trig.
Learn from my mistakes: I chose a Russ brand “Troll” doll and seriously offended some bystanders.

Am I a bad person because I laughed at this? Hee.

To be fair, I'm also including an Obama mask. This is for sale on ebay.

An original Sarah Palin cartoon.

Caption reads: "What's a five-letter word for a woman who's both a barracuda and a pitbull?"

This cartoon isn't published in print. Maybe it's too ambiguous? I like ambiguous! And I can think of several 5 letter words that are amusing. But I hope it's obvious it's Sarah Palin without the title of this post...

I talk more about this cartoon at my cartoon blog here.

Cartoon is © Donna Barstow.
Btw, for other bloggers/writers, the way to make a copyright symbol is kind of annoying, but important, and also magical, since it isn't on your keyboard: Hold down alt, then 0169.

I went to the Bloggers Party at the LA Times, and all I got ...

was this lousy photo. But it's my fault, because I forgot my battery was so low, and it died on me after only 2 shots.

This is one of the LA Times newsrooms, empty because it's night. Or is it the layoffs?

Actually, I had a good time. Met some new people, some interesting conversations, just okay pizza. Each of the guest speakers talked for a few minutes, and had their own table, which was a good way of talking further. Top of the Ticket's Andrew Malcolm was at my table, but since I didn't see his name, and thought Top of the Ticket meant movies or theater (!) (Sorry, don't read too many LA Times blogs!) I didn't get to talk with him as I wanted to. He was an amusing speaker. He loves technology. He's the biggest blog at the Times.

I was also interested in hearing Eric Richardson speak from blogdowntown.com. They just filed for non-profit status to make some money a different way! Impressive, but when I talked with him afterwards, chasing grants and foundations isn't what I want to do (even though I think my Griffith Park blog needs to be funded for me to give it the time it deserves.)

Luke Ford has his own angsty version of the evening here. William Yelles has the details here.

I have a small talent of being in the right bathroom, at the right time. Once I met an important book editor this way. So after the Times event, I was in a very nice clean bathroom with a pebbly floor, and one woman told another woman to hurry up for the tour. I asked, what tour? Can I come?

Well, what's she going to say?!

So I rushed out and there was Tony Pierce, Blog Editor of the Times, with a small group of his close personal friends. He looked surprised, but was gracious enough not to make a face at me. We walked all over. Someone had taken me on a Times tour before, but this time was cooler, at night. I particularly liked the 3' tall Lego structure of the Statue of Liberty at Tony's desk. (but my battery died, remember?) I wanted to touch it, but I didn't.

I mentioned I was contributing to Mayor Sam now and Tony said group blogs are the way to go.

Afterwards, we all headed towards the Redwood Bar down the street. It was decorated for Halloween, and I would definitely like to check it out when I have more time and there's an empty seat in the room. It has a red phone on the wall that connects directly to the Times for the newspeople there!

But I can't stop thinking about a woman I met who teaches blogging at one of the universities. She said her classes are jam-packed. But when I asked her what her blog was, no, she doesn't have a blog of her own. Nor has she ever, nor does she write for any!

No word on whether she reads them.

Life after hours.

Remember when you were little, and your parents got ready to go out to a glamourous party, and you suspected (rightly) that they were just excited to not think about you for a few hours? The smell of your mother's good perfume was everywhere, and you hated the new babysitter because she was a nobody. So your parents learned to try to distract you with other fun things for the evening.

That has nothing at all to do with tonight, of course, but just in case you have decided to skip the Bloggers Party, because you don't like pizza or the LA Times, or both, and you think a bevy of bloggers sounds like it might be on somebody's hit list anyway, you might want to check out Life on Mars on ABC at 10 tonight.

I love this show so much I've watched each episode at least twice (this will be the 3rd episode.) Sam Tyler is a NYC policeman, and got hit by a car a few minutes into the first episode. He woke up a few minutes late in 1973. Still NYC, but different, in a warm glow, with less cars and more dirt. Not the Twin Towers, however; they are newly built, still gleaming in the sun.

Of course he immediately tries to find out what's going on. Every once in a while he can hear voices or see a faint image from the present, where people talk to him, and about him, as if he's in a hospital bed. He can't figure it out: is he in a coma, a time traveler, dead? All the people around him in 1973 think he has a concussion, and assure him it IS real. As he says, if his own mind is making this up, "there are SO MANY details!"

The production designer must have had a blast with this. His old precinct station is still there, but no more cell phones, computers, etc. You talk with an operator on the phone. Lots of mod and hippie clothes. And I don't like music, but there is plenty of 1970's songs, and it does set the mood. (On the tv boards, people keep saying the DVDs won't have all this music, because it's too expensive. So is it cheaper to buy music rights for tv than for a DVD?)

Jason O'Mara is a pretty hunky Irishman, almost-40 years old, so none of that 20's baby stuff here. He has a girl in 2008 he loves, but the hippie girl in his apartment building who prefers no-clothes with her pot, may distract him soon.

Some of this back to the past is overdone, and I don't think throwing in so much news from back then, so people will get it, is doing the show any favors. But I love the mystery of what he's going through, his fish out of water adventures in the 70's, and the New York City vibe. Harvey Keitel as his police boss is too physically weak for the role; he should buff up, like John Locke in Lost.

But so far, 4 stars!

Be good! And see you in the morning!

LA Times holds a secret meeting with pizza

Or, nomination for worst publicity effort of the month. It took a guy emailing me from Chicago for me to find out that there is a free "Meet the Bloggers" party on Thursday at the L.A. Times building downtown.

So if you're a blogger - and who isn't?! - you might want to check this out. Even includes free parking under the Times building, and the first panelist they're offering up for your delectation is the surprising Luke Ford.

Hat tip to Fishbowl LA for getting the details here, and if you're as nosy as me, you'll also want to check out Facebook for pictures of many of the attendees.

Join local Southern California bloggers in what is sure to be a lively round table discussion. Participants will get a chance to question the speakers as well as share their own opinions and ideas. It will be an insightful night into the life of a blogger (and we might even find out the answer to the big question: are they making any money?)

Did we mention we will have free pizza and head over to a cool bar afterwards?

See ya.

If LA can't protect Felix the Cat, what chance does Griffith Park have?

UPDATE: The Historic Resource Staff (which is not the 5 Commissioners, but has influence over them, DID vote yes!) Also, contact emails to let your voice be heard are added at end.

Only a few more days left! No, not for Knotts Scary Farm, as fun as that is. 9 days until we find out if Griffith Park will pass the next stage as an Historic Cultural Landmark - ie, be saved and protected from the developers.

Under this status, significant future changes in the park would require approval from the commission. (particularly building permits, which always go to Historic Resources. Unlike black bird balls, which DWP gaily throws all over Ivanhoe Reservoir without permission or even informing Historic Resources of their foolish action.) More details about the Disney-fied future of the Park WITHOUT protection are in my blog here.

The Cultural Heritage Commission and the public apparently had a very dramatic meeting in August, which I missed, damn. There, Councilman Tom LaBonge's assistant (he didn't show) said,

"he supports the historic-cultural designation for the park's buildings "but not an entire park."

Tom has appointed himself Mayor of Griffith Park, but I realize now that he probably just means he's Mayor of the Ranger Station, the stables, and the bathrooms.

Rec & Parks (Jon Kirk Mukri) remained neutral. The Gene Autry Museum said they wanted to stay out of the Landmark designation. (probably worried that the $1 a year rent they pay to Griffith Park might double, or even triple. Plus, this way, they can keep building.) The LADWP also excused themselves from the designation. (LaBonge's main reason for disagreeing with the application: the Landmark status might adversely affect the rights of this utility to put in pipes. Good one, Tom!)

According to the Times and other witnesses I talked with, the Commissioner who almost stopped the whole application in the packed August meeting was Glen C. Dake. Dake followed LaBonge's thinking: what about the poor DWP? Would Landmark status mean no more water or water pipes in the Park? (This isn't Dake's first big conflict: he voted no to giving Felix the Cat on the Chevrolet dealership, Historic Cultural status, too!) But Dake was persuaded by the other 2 Commisioners to change his mind for Griffith Park, and say yes for the next Commission meeting.

I called Ken Bernstein at Historic Resources today to find out what the holdup is! This application was supposed to go through a couple of months ago, and the meeting with the Cultural Heritage Commissioners has been postponed twice.

The Commissioners are all volunteers. He explained that any application has to pass 3 out of the 5 Commissioners. In this case, one of the women had already been hired by Rec & Parks for something, and had to recuse herself. But last time only 3 Commissioners were there, and only 2 said yes. Ken said one of the Commissioners, Oz Scott, is a "well-known TV and film producer, so he's always going on location." (Oh, WELL then, that's ok, if he works in the industry!)

But the meeting for October 30 is still scheduled to happen, with 4 Commissioners. The HR staff itself will also weigh in with a verdict of yea or nay. The Commission does take the majority of the staff's recommendations (since those busy Commissioners are off doing their own thing, that's a good plan.) The staff's answer will be made public on Tuesday.

Ken wasn't able to tell me their secret verdict, of course, but I heard that smile in your voice, Ken! He did say this application was bigger than any they've ever gotten (350 pages, and a cost of $75,000.) He also said they got a couple hundred letters asking for Griffith Park to be given this Landmark status. This all sounds very positive, doesn't it?

But here's the kicker: remember my mention of Felix the Cat? Felix is NOT a Cultural Landmark. It did pass the Historic Resources Commission - in spite of Dake's no. But as you may know, the City of Los Angeles has some unholy alliance with the City Council. So of course after the Commission rules on a status application, it goes to the LA City Council. [Please cue the scary music.] And the Councilman for Felix the Cat voted no. And the whole application failed.

What do you think will happen if the Griffith Park proposal passes the Commission, and goes to Council? And Tom LaBonge gives his negative opinion? [Loud scream.]

To make a fuss (and I asked specifically - Resources Board considers emails to be the same as letters):
Historic Resources: ken.bernstein@lacity.org
Tom LaBonge: rory.fitzpatrick@lacity.org




Photo by Christine Cotter of the LA Times.