Apologies to all those who found the site down today.
As it happens, I was working on something unrelated, so didn’t discover it for hours.
To be exact, I didn’t see the problem….until I was on the phone with a deputy district attorney and HE tried to log on and got an error message….. and then I got an ACCOUNT SUSPENDED MESSAGE. (That was cheering.)
After an hour’s worth of mildly hysterical shrieking on my part, plus my son’s calming and far more knowledgeable intervention (and the help of a very nice Blue Host tech named Jacob), all is well.
While I’d like to attribute, this to nefarious political plots. I think it’s more likely the perils of a technocracy together with ghosts in the machine.
Although my own kid is 22, I still force, wheedle, cajole him into an Easter hunt every year in which he follows a dozen badly rhymed clues (many of them with references to the dog, the cat and, if at all possible, Bruce Springsteen). The clues eventually lead him to a festive basket filled with wonderfully unhealthy candy and a few other age-appropriate items. But this year my intrepid son is up near Lee Vining “ice” climbing with friends, and won’t be back until quite late tonight.
“So, I guess that means you want to skip the Easter hunt this one year?” I inquired cautiously on Friday when we spoke on the phone as he was packing his equipment. There was a pause before he replied.
“Oh, I don’t think we need to be rash,” he said finally.
Evidently even the frivolous sides of parenting have no sell-by date. And I am immeasurably thankful for that particular fact on this blue-white and beautiful Easter afternoon.
UPDATE: And, voila! Here’s one of Mr. kid’s ice climbing photos.
UPDATE: NOW THAT THE Oscars are over, and in honor of the…um…spirited discussion that’s taken place on this thread, it seemed only right to make sure you all have had a chance to see the following post-Oscar video. (My favorite moment was at 4:45 minutes. J.G., all is forgiven.)
An extremely intellectual friend of mine who lives in DC and is not overly given to popular culture, told me he might break down and watch the Academy awards this year. I was stunned that Academy viewing was a new thing for him and told him so. (I think I also might have mentioned that NOT watching the Oscars means that you hate America.)
I tried to explain that that one could skip the Super Bowl, and still be a good citizen. But not the Oscar broadcast. “And TiVo-ing doesn’t count,” I said. “You have to watch it in real time. And you have to comment on the dresses.”
The dress thing unnerved my friend and he attempted to change the subject by mentioning the new article about China by James Fallows that’s in the most recent Atlantic Monthly. I sensed some dark implication about the Chinese pulling ahead of us economically because we watch stupid awards broadcasts instead of keeping our eyes on the economic ball.
“The Chinese watch the Oscars,” I said. “Hell, they’ve probably found a way to trade Oscar film futures on the Shanghai stock market.” And speaking of futures, I mentioned that this years awards show featured the added frisson of wondering if Jon Stewart’s going to do or say anything unscripted and extremely political that will freak out the conservative members of the audience. “Oscar audiences like funny but they don’t like edgy funny,” I said. “Plus, because of the writer’s strike, Stewart’s had only three days (or may 10 days, but not long) to prepare for his host gig, whereas when Billy Crystal hosts, he prepares for nearly six months.” (No, I’m not kidding. Crystal once told me this in an interview.) “So anything could happen.”
“But I haven’t seen most of the movies,” my friend wailed. “Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Picking winners when you have no solid basis for your opinions is a time honored Hollywood tradition. It’s how studio heads decide which pictures to green light.”
Which brings us to…..
WITNESSLA’S 1ST ANNUAL KNOWLEDGE-FREE OSCAR PROGNOSTICATIONS:
(I’ll show you mine, then you have to show me yours.)
My friend, the hot shot progressive publicist and an all ’round terrific woman, Karen Pomer, was abducted and raped at gunpoint in 1995 by a serial rapist. As she wended her way through the added trauma of identifying the man in a police line up and the subsequent court appearances, she met another of the rapist’s victims, a woman in her 80’s named Helen Finch.
Over time the two talked and found that they were able to understand each other in a way no one else could. Eventually the older and the younger woman became close friends.
Yesterday, Karen wrote the rest of her friends—me among them—to say that Helen had died on Sunday at the age of 94.
Here’s a link to a mini-account of their friendship. It is very much worth reading.
Sometimes one finds family in the unlikeliest of places
Theoretically, I’m flying out of Vermont today via the Albany airport, and keeping my fingers (and UGGs) crossed that the fast descending storm doesn’t snow me in (as I’m quite ready to get home to El Lay).
I’ll be back to regular posting tomorrow AM—or sooner, depending upon the weather and the available WiFi.
Blogger Andrew Olmsted, an army major who for years blogged eloquently from Iraq, was killed on January 3 in the course of combat. This past summer Olmsted gave fellow blogger “hilzoy” a letter to be posted at Obsidian Wings in the event of his death. He was 37 when he died.
He asked that his letter—and his death, if it should come—not be used as political fodder, either for or against the war. Out of respect for his wishes, I’m posting this notice with sadness but without comment.
You’ll find the link to the letter here.
(NOTE: It was WLA commenter Woody who first alerted me to this distressing news.)
Happy New Year everybody! Tomorrow I’ll have a great list of New Year’s wishes for the city of Los Angeles from ten interesting LA people. But today is the day for resolutions.
Right now, I admit I’m mostly resolving not to miss my flight later this morning, which will take me first to D.C. for a day and then on to Bennington, VT. But while I’m contemplating more meaningful resolutions of my own, what do y’all resolve for 2008?
Still in a Christmas-y frame of mind. But will post later today, so check back.
In the meantime, a quick film-going note. After the family festivities yesterday, I went and saw a couple of movies–-Juno and The Savages. One was wonderful; the other less so.
I loved The Savages, the story of a commitment-shy, underachieving brother and sister (the uniformly pitch-perfect Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney) who must deal with their estranged father’s encroaching dementia. It’s smart,painful, heartbreaking and, at times, hysterically funny.
By the same token, Juno—about a smart, quirky, off-beat sixteen-year old who unexpectedly gets pregnant—is entertaining enough and filled with winning actors, but seemed terribly contrived and a bit too entranced with its own cleverness to be as good as it thinks it is.
Have any of you see either? If so, what did you think?
FishbowlLA has a regular feature called “20 Questions,“ and today the person answering is….um…me. So if you’re dying for deep info about my choice of ring tone, my most memorable brushes with the law, and my secret desire to be a torch singer…. CLICK HERE IMMEDIATELY!
If you don’t care what I think my TiVO thinks about me, then avoid clicking and keep on with our regularly scheduled programming. (But where’s the fun in that???)
May 7th, 2008 by 
Celeste Fremon
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