Random Comments on the News

1. It was reported that songwriter Jerry Leiber died on Monday, August 22. Leiber, one-half of the famous pop songwriting duo of "Leiber & (Mike) Stoller", was the composer of "Hound Dog", "Under the Boardwalk", "Stand by Me" and many, many other popular songs from the 50's all the way to the '80s. The funeral is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 26 and the service will be exactly three minutes long.

2. The old economics rule that bad money drives out good money is known as "Gresham's Law". The corresponding rule in literature that bad fiction drives out good fiction is known as "Grisham's Law." Just kidding of course! I just read "The Testament" and it was every bit as good as everyone said it was.

3. Speaking of the downfall of Qaddafi, I remember the late great Lewis Grizzard making fun of the Libyan dictator's name, "Moammar", on one of his tapes. Grizzard said that the name was Arabic for "sand in my underdrawers." Grizzard also maligned the perceived need (then, in 1986) for enlistment of NATO support for our attack on Qaddafi's compound by stating that "nobody cared what France thought and as for Spain, well Spain may have been tough back in the 1500's but nowadays, Spain couldn't even beat Vanderbilt!"

Ed. note: the definitive guide to U.S./Middle Eastern foreign policy is Lewis Grizzard's "Rules of Engagement", published in the early 1990's.

4. CAN (formerly CNN Headline News) is now officially known as the "Casey Anthony Network". It will not be included in the basic tier of Comcast cable as of October 1.

5. I remember Louis L'Amour saying in his autobiography, "Education of a Wandering Man", that Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" was overrated (in his opinion) and basically about (paraphrasing) "a lot of people doing nothing and going nowhere." I read about half of "The Sun Also Rises" several years ago and never finished it. I'd have to concur with L'Amour on this one, although many of Hemingway's other works are very good.

6. Speaking of Hemingway, I wonder what he would have thought about his beautiful granddaughter being mixed up with a B grade film such as this:

Margaux Hemingway is also pictured at the head of this posting, of course. Both grandfather and granddaughter committed suicide tragically. The British historian Paul Johnson has a fascinating portrait of Ernest H. in his "Intellectuals" where he labels the chapter on Hemingway as "The Deep Waters of Ernest Hemingway" and comments at the end that "art is not enough."

7. Although many people are criticizing Pres. Obama for taking a vacation on Martha's Vineyard right now, I don't begrudge him for this even though I certainly disagree with all of his policies. Many former presidents needed a well-deserved rest. Remember Nixon fishing off of the Florida Keys with his good friend Bebe Redozo, Truman driving cross-country and getting into fistfights along the way, Taft's three day benders at O'Rourke's Saloon in south D.C., and Garfield's frequent trips to Six Flags over Cuyahoga.

8. Speaking of the poor state of the economy, the 2011 edition of "Best Jobs, Worst Jobs" is out and once again, the best job is still "Executive Wine and Food Tester" for Gourmet magazine. The worst job (also once again) is "Barehanded Cesspool Dredger". I think I'll take my chances at the local job fair.

9. The screenplay taken from Jackson, Miss. native Kathryn Stockett's bestselling book "The Help" has scored very well at the box office and is being deemed already as the "feel-good movie of the year." Yeah right....feel-good....that is, if you're not a Native American. You see, Native Americans such as Choctaws, Cherokees, Navajo, were left out in the cold in this movie, and that's why they are not 'feeling good'......

10. Speaking of "The Help", Kathryn Stockett and John Grisham are planning to team up to write a new blockbuster novel about a woman coming of age in Mississippi in the1960's at a quaint little law firm in Jackson who has to battle racism and a nasty defense firm from Memphis. It is tentatively called "The The." The 1980's new wave UK group The The will also do the soundtrack.

Th..tha...the..the....that's all folks!