The New New Old Coke
Thursday, July 12, 2007

Those of us from Georgia monitor changes to the Coke can like Shakespeare scholars rate performances of Hamlet. I'd rate this one as fair, a little flat, and way too two-dimensional. And the "classic" is far too trendy. But the design blog Under Consideration rates it a rave:

They've essentially done absolutely nothing. All the extra bits and doodads and extraneous graphics are gone. Classic coke imagery: the red, the ribbon, and the coke script. "Classic" is even in a simple lowercase sans serif. This is a confident design. Coca-cola is acknowledging that we all know the product, so just drink it. They've given similar treatment to the majority of the Coke line, including Diet and Zero. Simple, back to basics, pure equity. Compared with Pepsi's blow-it-all-out how-many-designs-can-we-produce-in-a-summer strategy, this takes guts. You just don't see that all too often from one of the largest brands in the world and I certainly appreciate it.
The folks at Serious Eats link to this and to a compendium of Coke cans over the years.

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Is My Cable System Broken?
Monday, June 11, 2007

I watched two episodes of the Soprano's in their entirety: The first and the last, catching only intermittent ones in between. But I'm the viewer that Tom Shales describes here:

"It may have been the greatest double-take -- by the audience -- in the history of American television.

"Millions of viewers who might have thought something had gone wrong with their TV sets or cable systems last night were mistaken. When the picture vanished at the end, the very end, of "The Sopranos" and the screen went black, that was producer David Chase's unorthodox and arguably ingenious way of ending the series and dispatching the Soprano family to eternity."
For a roundup of reviews, click here.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:35 AM 0 comments

Thumbs Up!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Wow. And good for him. Really good for him. There was a time when I would vote his ballot on Oscar night. And, invariably, win.

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FEILER FASTER EXCLUSIVE: Backstage at American Idol
Wednesday, March 21, 2007



The tickets are huge - about eight inches long and three inches wide - and are covered in the shiny red foil, sort of like Super Bowl tickets, only without the holograms. I was surprised. And I was even more surprised when someone handed me a set last week and asked if I wanted to go.

My wife has a PhD in American Idol and I started watching in the last few years just to get some family time. That's when I realized there's a reason it's what Jeff Zucker recently called "the most impactful show in television history."

Getting into the CBS studios is not easy, which is demonstrated by the hordes of people wandering around the chainlink fence trying to find a way in. And most of these people were dolled up, wearing high heels and stage makeup that was a combination of Little Whore House in Texas meets Rocky Horror Picture Show. My first impression of the show was that even the people in the audience thought they were on the verge of being discovered. Looking for cleavage in America: You can find it among the 350 people who made it through those gates, gave up their cell phones and Blackberries to security, and piled into the bleachers of the sound stage.

THIS IS A LIVE PERFORMANCE. YOU MUST BE IN YOUR SEAT 30 MINUTES PRIOR TO SHOW TIME. (Children under 8 not admitted.)

That's what's on the front of the ticket, along with the assigned seats; the back contains five paragraphs of disclaimers about how you, in fact, might be discovered, your face might be on television, and you're not allowed to even tell anybody if you get hurt or injured, no less sue one of six delineated companies.

The room itself is not a sound stage, per se, but one area of a sound stage closed off with black curtains. The set itself is enormous, and takes up about 60% of the space, with the audience crammed into the rest. The audience was quiet at first, polite, and surprisingly mixed, with kids and many grandmothers. The couple next to me had gotten tickets from the warm-up act and announced that they were from North Carolina in a voice that gave no doubt. They had never seen the show. They had waited in line that morning for a taping of The Price is Right and were disappointed when the show was canceled, so they had spent most of their day at CBS Studios.

Sitting in the back row, I was eye-level with the stage and was told by no fewer than six people that a boom camera, one of those ones that swoops down and makes TV look so dramatic, would be grazing the top of my head in the opening shot. I should not jump up and down. Also, I was alongside the monitor with the crib sheet of all the songs, so I should not stand in front of it. And I was immediately in front of the close-up camera, so I should not eclipse it. Lots of studious pages in headsets people told me this. Forget American Idol as a model of voter participation; the teacher-pupil ratio is out of this world.

"Welcome to American Idol, the #1 Show in the World!" About 15 minutes before the show, a young, athletic white rapper who looked like he could have been doing tumbling at Disney World began the warm-up act - teaching us all how to clap in unison, squeal with delight when we see the judges, and, most importantly, gasp with horror when one of the candidates was eliminated. He emphasized this a lot. "We wants lots of emotion. Noise is a good thing. Some of you may begin to cry." He then asked us how many people had watched the previous night (nearly everyone), and how many had voted the previous night (less than half). "Let's try that again," he said, "and remember, this is Hollywood, it's okay to lie."

At about five minutes before air time, he introduced the band and then the judges, one by one, were called from offstage to assume their seats. Randy came first, snaking through the crowd, giving high-fives to everyone. Simon came next and walked straight to his seat. Paula came last, dancing though the crowd and again giving high-fives. All three were trailed every step by bodyguards, and every time they went to greet an old friend or colleague or stage manager, the bodyguard followed them wherever they went. Before sitting down, Paula removed her belt. I thought for a second she might not stop there.

Ryan Seacrest arrived with very tight pants and very spiky shoes. In person, his dark blue suit and purple tie looked more like a costume than actual clothes people wear, but when I later watched on the monitor, they looked natural. Objects in the mirror are closer to normal than they appear.

About 30 seconds before the show went live, machines filled the stage with artificial smoke and then there was Ryan, standing a few feet in front of us, staring into the boom mike, announcing the "cold open." The boom didn't hit my head, but as soon as Ryan bolted for the stage a cameraman tapped me on the shoulder and asked me not to stand up the rest of the show. This was surprisingly hard to do as the stage managers and warm-up singer kept bouncing around the audience cajoling us all to get to our feet. Luckily I didn't have a sign, like the one in front of me that said, "ROSS IS THE BOSS."

Speaking of which: Ryan worked through the usual results show business of declaring people safe or unsafe, calling the bottom three to the center of the stage, etc. In the middle of this process, they cleared the stage for a commercial and a performance by Diana Ross. The huge TV screen in the center of the stage parted and there was The Diva herself, lit from behind, with huge trailing feather boa, and sparkling red-lipstick red dress. With all the parting, the sea of lights, and the waves of red, I thought Moses himself might step out from the lights. The entrance was masterful, fit for an Empress. (To watch of clip of Ross's biblical performance, click here.) My father, not a watcher of American Idol, recently asked my wife why so many people enjoy it. One answer can be found in this moment. Whatever else you think of the show, it is spectacularly well produced. In just half an hour, they hit every emotional note imaginable - from drama, to tension, to grandeur, to all-American cuddliness, like when DR at the end of her song said that these singers were inspiring young people across America. I used to be in the circus and marveled at how show people know how to string out routines for maximum impact. Barnum could only drool at American Idol, the Greatest Show in Show Business.

And of course it is a business. Producers were everywhere on the set, micro-managing every gesture and step. It was very striking, and impressive. And when Brandon, a cheery background singer who flubbed his words the previous night, got booted off, he didn't even have time to sing his farewell song. (To watch Brandon get booted off while audience "gasps in horror," click here.) But the cameras kept rolling and they took the footage for repurposing later. Everybody hung around for a while after the show ended, not wanting to leave the lights. The stage was full at this point and the audience didn't know what to do. Somehow this expectation lingered in the air that on a show that's all about finding unknown talent next door and having everyone vote was going to invite us all over for the after-party. Then the stage manager came over the loud speaker system and declared, matter of factly, "Audience, go home." So much for all those sweet-nothings about how we were the best audience ever. Our time had passed. We were not American Idols. We were Brandons. We all slumped out of the studio, reclaimed our cell phones, without even a picture to prove we had stood, for a moment, on the other end of the rainbow and "made some noise" in the Kingdom of Oz.

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"It Takes Five Years for People to Notice You"
Monday, March 19, 2007

A little hometown boosterism here: The Savannah Music Festival has kicked off this year (My Mom is intimately involved) and it's grown to a major festival in a short period of time. Come visit!

"It takes five years for people to notice you," said Gibson, who is starting his fifth year in Savannah. " That's what it took for Jazz at Lincoln Center."

Gibson and Wynton Marsalis built JALC. Their relationship remains strong. In fact, Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are performing March 24 at the Johnny Mercer Theater.

Marsalis said in a January telephone interview from New York City that he digs what Gibson is doing and relishes the chance to work the festival. "It's a great festival. I think Rob's doing a terrific job," he said. " That's how he is. He works tirelessly. He's infinitely interested in music." Marsalis said the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will perform the band's " The Songs We Love Tour," which features what he calls the greatest arrangements of some of America's most beloved songs, including "All The Things You Are," "All of Me" "April in Paris," "Over the Rainbow," " Take the ?A' Train" and "Round Midnight." Arrangers include Frank Foster, Benny Carter and Neal Hefti.

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Hollywood (Not Washington) Attacks Iran
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Oh this is awfully good. Drudge has picked up a brilliant piece that captures our time: Iranian officials have lambasted the new blockbuster movie "300" for attacking Persian culture. Don't get me wrong. I love Iran. As I have written, of the 60 countries I have visited, Iran is the one that is most like America. (By the way, turn this statement around, and doesn't it sound like it could come from some American Anti-Defamation League!) But Iran in the wake of the Islamic revolution spent the first decade attacking Persian culture and even considered tearing down Persepolis, the jewel of Ancient Persia, because it was so associated with the Shah and was part of the "silence" before Islam. Now they suddenly want to attack Hollywood for not loving the place!

An Iranian official on Sunday lashed out at the Hollywood movie "300" for insulting the Persian civilization, local Fars News Agency reported.

Javad Shamqadri, an art advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, accused the new movie of being "part of a comprehensive U.S. psychological war aimed at Iranian culture", said the report.

Shamqadri was quoted as saying "following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture," adding "certainly, the recent movie is a product of such studies."

The movie's effort wound be fruitless, because "values in Iranian culture and the Islamic Revolution are too strongly seated to be damaged by such plans", said the Iranin official.

Shamqadri, who is also a filmmaker, said that production of more domestic and artistic films which portray Iranian achievements is a proper response to movies like "300".

"300," an ancient epic about the famous Battle of Thermopylae in Greek history, set a new record at the box office in North America this weekend

As if we needed more proof, this is why dictator's don't need "art advisers."

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Yada Yada Yada: Is Jerry Seinfeld Ruining Documentaries?
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

A fascinating scandal has erupted in the world of documentary film, where the director of one of the Oscar-nominated films has written an open letter to the Academy denouncing Jerry Seinfeld's introduction of the category. This may be a fascinating case of don't get what you wish for, after all, isn't it better to have viewer listen to Seinfeld make a few jokes at the films' expense rather than fall asleep or go to the bathroom?

While I appreciate the role of humor in our lives, Jerry Seinfeld’s remarks were made at the expense of thousands of documentary filmmakers and the entire documentary genre. Obviously we make films not for awards or money, although we are glad if we are fortunate enough to receive them. The important thing is to tell stories, whether of people who have been damaged by war, of humankind’s reckless attitude toward nature and the environment, or even of the lives and habits of penguins. With his lengthy, dismissive and digressive introduction, Jerry Seinfeld had no time left for any individual description of the five nominated films. And by labeling the documentaries “incredibly depressing,” he indirectly told millions of viewers not to bother seeing them because they’re nothing but downers. He wasted a wonderful opportunity to excite viewers about the nominated films and about the documentary genre in general.

To have a presenter introduce a category with such disrespect for the nominees and their work is counter to the principles the Academy was founded upon. To be nominated for an Academy Award is one of the highest honors our peers can give us, and to have the films dismissed in such an offhand fashion was deeply insulting. The Academy owes all documentary filmmakers an apology

Sasha Stone at OscarWatch has a great take on this, pointing out that for better or worse, this was the Green Oscars, not the Iraq Oscars, and that's why John Sinno, the director of Iraq in Fragments and the author of this letter, is so upset.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

No Thank You: An Oscar Proposal
Friday, February 23, 2007

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the acceptance speeches should be the best part of the Academy Awards, the one time all evening when the show is spontaneous, raw, and, with luck, emotional. Yet acceptance speeches have become nearly universally maligned – for their repetition (the same winners keep thanking the same people in show after show), for their lack of originality (what do you mean you didn’t expect to win; there are only five choices), and, most of all, for their endless litany of industry thank yous (not just lovers and directors, but managers, lawyers, assistants, hairdressers, “everybody I ever met in my whole life,” and, de rigeur, God).

The web is full of long-winded proposals (like here and here) to shorten acceptance speeches this year. Well-meaning tips include “Drop the ums and ahs;” “Practice, practice, practice;” and, for actors, “Hire writers.”

But what these proposals lack is an awareness that Hollywood is a business. Any proposal must introduce an economic incentive. In fact, the proper inducement is not to implore winners to shorten their speeches, but to offer them a way to lengthen them. The Academy should introduce a rule: If you insist on giving a laundry list of thank yous, we’re going to cut you off after 30 seconds. But if you instead speak from the heart, tell a story, address your inspiration, or even – and how’s this for a sure-fire Hollywood hit – talk about yourself (!), we’ll let you go on for three minutes. Three minutes in front of a billion people to charm, to enamor, to sell, to“build your brand.”

That ought to be enough incentive to leave the thank you list in your cleavage – or better yet, on the web. Which leads us to the ultimate money-maker: The Academy could open a portion of its website for the winners to post their gratitudinalia in the morning, which would have the added benefit of making sure, say, Hillary Swank doesn’t leave off her (future) husband next time around. Think of all the hairdressers who would visit!

Note: I published this piece on Huffington Post yesterday. Click here to read the responses it generated, including word that the Academy already has such a website for thank yous and a hilarious proposal for what Helen Mirren should say when she wins for "The Queen."

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:15 AM 0 comments

"The Only Egyptian To Ever Hit Hollylwood Big Time" Convicted of Hitting in Hollywood
Monday, February 19, 2007

Egyptian-born Omar Sharif, of all people, has been in the news this week, after he was convicted of punching a valet parker in L.A. for not getting his car quick enough. On top of that, he called the attendant a "dirty Mexican."

The Independent offers this summary of his rise to fame: "Back in the 1960s, Sharif wowed Western audiences with his performances in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago and developed a reputation as an international playboy who could reliably play the foreigner - preferably swarthy and sexy, though not necessarily - in any given movie production. In his heyday, Sharif was something truly remarkable - perhaps the only Egyptian, if not the only Arab, ever to hit the Hollywood big time. The job offers flooded in, as did the marriage proposals, as many as 1,000 of them a week, according to legend."

Then in capitulates his sad demise:
Omar Sharif hasn't had a hit in years. Unless, of course, you count the time he headbutted a police officer in a casino in the Parisian suburbs in 2003, for which he received a £1,000 fine and a suspended sentence. "It made me the hero of the whole of France," he later said, less than apologetically. "To headbutt a cop is the dream of every Frenchman."

Or the time, a year later, he whacked his fellow actor John Noble with a lamp while on location in India for a barely noticed biblical movie called One Night with the King. ("We were drunk," Sharif later explained.)

Or, going back a bit further to 1985, the time he knocked Ian Dury out cold on the floor of Le Caprice in London. (Both men were still furious about the fight when, four years later, they wound up in the cast of the same film, an obscure Polish production called The Rainbow Thief.)

Most recently, the Omar Sharif hit most in the news has been a punch to the nose he allegedly delivered to a parking valet outside a Beverly Hills restaurant in 2005. According to the prosecution in this week's quick-fire trial, Sharif - accompanied by an unidentified female - was intoxicated and became enraged after the valet at Mastro's Steakhouse, one Juan Anderson, refused to accept a €20 note as payment for parking the actor's four-wheel-drive Porsche.

In retaliation, the prosecution alleged, Sharif called Anderson a "stupid Mexican" (he is in fact of Guatemalan descent) and broke his nose. Sharif chose not to fly to Los Angeles to defend himself - he has been in his native Egypt of late - preferring to plead no contest and accept a sentence of probation plus mandatory anger management therapy. He is also likely to have to pay restitution to the valet for the broken nose, something the judge will decide at a sentencing hearing scheduled for April.

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Why Nashville (Hearts) American Idol
Tuesday, February 13, 2007

When I lived in Nashville in the mid-1990's, the dominant question about the future viability of country music was whether labels could find a way to introduce music to fans without going through country radio. As it happens, this same notion was precisely the reason Simon Fuller began "American Idol." Idol has had mixed results when it comes to selling music to pop fans -- for every success (Kelly Clarkson) there are fare more duds (Reuben, Fantasia, and now Clay).

As anyone who watches the show knows (and I admit I got drawn into it a few years ago as a way to spend time with Mrs. Feiler Faster, who was simply ditching me for half a week), Southerners have dominated, with the majority of the top finalists for the show's six-year run. It's not surprising, then, as the great Ken Tucker points out in Billboard, that Idol finalists have had more success in Nashville than anyplace else.

The story of country's most famous "Idol" alum, Carrie Underwood, has been well documented. The winner of season five, Underwood has made her mark with two No. 1 records (as well as a No. 2) and numerous industry awards. Her latest single, "Wasted" (Arista/Arista Nashville) is climbing Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, where it is No. 14 this week.

Kellie Pickler, now signed to Sony BMG's BNA Records, finished sixth in season five. Her debut single, "Red High Heels," peaked at No. 15, and her 2006 album, "Small Town Girl," has sold extraordinarily well -- 400,000 units, according to SoundScan -- for a new artist with a top 15 hit.

Josh Gracin is the granddaddy of Nashville's "Idol" group, having finished fourth in season two. The former U.S. Marine's self-titled Lyric Street debut has sold 684,000 copies and spawned three top five singles, including the No. 1 "Nothin' to Lose." "I Keep Coming Back," the second single from his upcoming sophomore album, is No. 30 and climbing.

Like Pickler, Covington is a North Carolina native and, like Gracin, he's signed to Lyric Street. His debut single, "A Different World," is No. 41, and he's in the studio finishing his album, due April 17, with Sawyer Brown frontman Mark Miller producing.
Beyond the obvious affinities between country fans and TV viewing, the real reason Idols have been more successful in Nashville than in pop music is that Nashville still accepts artists interpreting songs that others have written, which is the only thing Idol finalists are required to do. Success in Nashville has always been based more on personality (and savvy) than musicianship, which makes the genre particular open to the American Idol popularity contest.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 0 comments

Will Harry Die?

The NYT chimes in on my prediction. (If you're new to Feiler Faster, we're keeping track of my annual prediction game with my brother. So far, I've got a point for Nifong being out as Duke rape D.A., but my brother has two points for picking Indy win the Super Bowl.)

Who wants Harry Potter dead? No, not just his evil nemesis Voldemort. The latest death wish comes from none other than Daniel Radcliffe, who portrays the boy wizard on screen. Discussing J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the saga’s seventh and concluding volume, scheduled for publication on July 21, two days before Mr. Radcliffe turns 18 and has access to an estimated $35 million fortune, he told The Observer magazine in London what he thought would happen to the character he plays. Will he die? “I think I will,” said Mr. Radcliffe. “I sort of hope I will, really. I think that’s really the only way Jo can end it,” he said, referring to Ms. Rowling, “if Harry and Voldemort . . . Maybe one can only die if the other one dies. I don’t know that for sure. But I’m quite looking forward to doing a death scene, if I get that opportunity.”

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

When Sorry Isn't Enough
Tuesday, February 6, 2007

First came word a few weeks ago that Isaiah Washington, one of the stars of "Grey's Anatomy" who was caught using a slur against a gay cast mate, went into rehab for his offense. Now comes word that Gavin Newsom, the mayor of S.F. (who impressed Mrs. Feiler Faster at Davos the last few years), has also entered rehab. His problem: He was caught having an affair with his closest aide's wife, who happens to have alcohol and drug problems herself.

Since when is rehab the new standard of apology? Or is it, as I suspect, just a chance to duck the papparazzi. On second thought, maybe this is the answer to many of our societal problems: If everyone who uses an insulting phrase goes into rehab imagine how much less crowded the world would be. And if, on top of that, everyone who has an affair goes into rehab with them, even better! Our teacher-pupil ration will soar (think of all the kids who toss around insults), everyone can get a seat on the subway (or at Babbo), and global warming will disappear because the number of cars on the road will plummet. Rehabtopia!

Update: It works!

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Posted by B Feiler at 9:58 AM 0 comments

U2-charist
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

That's hip hop for the new age of Christianity: U2-charist replaces the Eucharist.

Rock stars with the messiah complex are nothing new. During my time in Nashville, I watched Garth Brooks transform himself from a humble country singer into his vision of a sacrificial lamb. Dreaming Out Loud, my book about the two years I spent with him and other stars, ends with Garth having himself photographed in the shape of the crucifixion. He sacrificed himself and was reborn as Chris Gaines, a weird, rock singer with a full head of dyed hair. That persona bombed.

Bono doesn't have to perform such a transfiguration: The Church has done it for him! U2's music is suddenly all the rage in churches in a vain attempt to draw in younger worshipers. (Is this a good idea?! Don't U2 fans know how to illegally download their music and don't need to go to church to hear it!) Here's a report:

BEFORE he became the pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI once said that rock music was an 'instrument of the Devil'.

But chances are, he might give Irish supergroup U2 the benefit of the doubt.

That's because traditional churches all over the world are starting to replace hymns with the songs by the rock band in a bid to attract younger worshippers.

Informally dubbed the 'U2-charist', after the rite of eucharist, it is an adapted version of the Holy Communion service where worshippers sing along to U2 hits like Beautiful Day and Mysterious Ways instead of traditional hymns.

The idea for U2-charists was started by Reverend Paige Blair, an Episcopal priest in York Harbor, Maine, in 2005.

Since then, she has advised about 150 churches on U2-charists in 15 states and seven countries, with churches even in New Zealand and Hong Kong embracing U2's songs.

The Church of England is the latest church to join the trend. It will be staging its first U2-charist in the town of Lincoln in May. 'Rock music can be a vehicle of immense spirituality,' Bishop of Grantham Timothy Ellis told Reuters.

This seems like a pretty silly idea to me. After all, don't U2 fans know how to illegally download their music and don't need to go to church to hear it?

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:15 AM 0 comments

No Wonder

Nothing stirs up controversy like the seven wonders.

A few months ago I participated in picking the "New Seven Wonders of the World" for "Good Morning America" and USA Today. Six of us were locked in a room for seven hours and not allowed to leave until we had come up with a list, made all the more challenging because the organizers insisted we mix natural and human-made wonders. To see our final list, click here; to read an essay I wrote about one of the seven, click here. Hint: It's holy for half the world's believers. Not surprisingly, few people loved our list.

Now another effort to unveil the "New Seven Wonders" by online vote has come under attack: Not for something off the list, but for something on the list. Zahi Hawass, the prince of Egypt's antiquities, has criticized the effort, the winnders of which will be unveiled on 07/07/07, for making the pyramids compete alongside the other nominees.

The pyramids are "living in the hearts of people around the globe, and don't need a vote to be among the world wonders," said the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, according to the state-run Middle East News Agency.

Egyptian officials refused to meet with the organizer of the "New 7 Wonders of the World" contest, the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, when he visited Egypt earlier this month, said the contest's spokeswoman Tia B. Viering. When Weber tried to hold a press conference near the pyramids, she said, police shut it down.

I met Hawass in a similar-sounding meeting that's described in WALKING THE BIBLE, and certainly anyone who has ever filmed at the pyramids, as we did for WALKING THE BIBLE on PBS (see the image on the upper right hand corner of this page) has had similar encounters.

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It Worked So Well for Mike Tyson
Tuesday, January 30, 2007

How's this for a rehabilitation program likely to win Michael Jackson a comeback in America's hearts: Convert to Islam! His brother says the singer, in self-imposed exile in Arabia, is seriously considering it.

"Michael, I feel, needs to become a Muslim because I think it's a great protection for him from all the things that he's been attacked with, which are false," said the former Jackson Five singer who now lives in Bahrain.

"There's a strength and protection there," Jackson told BBC Asian Newtwork.

Jackson said he believed his brother had given conversion "serious thought" during long spells in Bahrain.

"I was the reason why he had gone there because I wanted him to get out of America and just go somewhere it's peaceful and quiet and people pray five times a day which is beautiful."

If nothing else, this would surely clear the way for his grandchildren to be president of the United States. Just ask Barack Obama.

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Posted by B Feiler at 9:04 AM 0 comments

Thank God, The NYT Reads Feiler Faster

First it was EW, now it's the NYT. It seems everyone is reading Feiler Faster these days! And just in time. Our plan to scrap the standard-issue, laundry-list, thank-everybody-who-takes-ten-percent-of-your-paycheck thank you speech from the award show podium, first lambasted here after the Golden Globes, is coming under attack again, this time from Caryn James is the New York Times:

As the awards season lumbers toward the Oscars, you can almost envision what might happen when the Academy Awards are finally given out on Feb. 25. Forest Whitaker will fumble for words and mumble; Eddie Murphy will robotically deliver his list of industry thanks; Jennifer Hudson will work in a hokey use of the word “dream”; and Helen Mirren will pay tribute to the actual queen. Because this season has already brought three televised awards shows without a single surprise in the acting categories, the winners’ acceptance speeches have been hemmed in by an unusual problem: The same old people to thank and too many opportunities to do it.

This year’s predictability adds a feeling of déjà vu to what was already a dismal situation. The acceptance speech is a weird hybrid, part private thanks to Mom, Dad and spouses, part professional thanks so agents and managers don’t get mad, and part performance. But even as the shows have become more polished and star-laden, most winners maintain the silly illusion that they are addressing a room full of people and not a huge, fidgety television audience. The speeches have been especially repetitious at this year, as the same lines have ricocheted from the live Golden Globes on NBC two weeks ago to the Broadcast Film Critics Awards, and most recently the Screen Actors Guild Awards shown live on Sunday.
A few more tirades like this and we might actually get to hear some real "ums" from the stage of the Academy Awards.

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Posted by B Feiler at 4:52 AM 0 comments

Abraham on Anti-Semitism
Monday, January 29, 2007

F. Murray Abraham, who won the Oscar for Amadeus, is playing Shylock in the Merchant of Venice and Barabas in The Jew of Malta, which New York Magazine calls "two of the biggest Jewish sterotypes in history." Why?

Was there something about anti-Semitism that you wanted to address?
It’s all around us—any kind of prejudice, not just anti-Semitism. Who is that guy, Kramer, who said those terrible things?

Michael Richards.
Where is that coming from? I don’t know that Kramer really knew that about himself. Stirring it up and exposing it is a good thing. Maybe he’ll fix it.

You know, for the longest time I thought you were Jewish. But your father was a Syrian Christian.
Isn’t that interesting? I must have a Jewish soul. And Syria is not Arab—Syria is Semites. We’re all cousins. I wonder why we don’t get along together better. God help us.

Do you worry people will wonder about a man of Syrian descent playing these vicious anti-Semitic stereotypes?
Anybody who says that is the thing they object to. Awful. I think if it’s a decent performance, they’ll see a human being instead of all these stereotypes.

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Posted by B Feiler at 12:21 AM 0 comments

Israel Storms Sundance
Sunday, January 28, 2007

Israel won a surprising two awards at Sundance this weekend:

The World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic was given to SWEET MUD (ADAMA MESHUGAAT) /Israel, directed by Dror Shaul. On a kibbutz in southern Israel in the 1970's, Dvir Avni realizes that his mother is mentally ill. In this closed community, bound by rigid rules, Dvir must navigate between the kibbutz motto of equality and the stinging reality that his mother has, in effect, been abandoned by the community. To read a review, click here.

The World Cinema Documentary Competition Jury presented a Special Jury Prize to HOT HOUSE/Israel, directed by Shimon Dotan. Here's a description: Veteran Romanian/Israeli director Shimon Dotan's doc "Hot House" is described by Sundance as a "brilliantly constructed, disturbingly provocative film [that] is both a humanizing force and an alarming wake-up call." The doc spotlights Israeli prisons and how they have become a breeding ground for the next generation of Palestinian leaders as well as a hive for future terrorists. Granted unique access to the prisons, Dotan interviews inmates who are committed to engaging Israel in negotiations as well as others who feel no remorse for their participation in suicide bombings.

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Posted by B Feiler at 11:12 AM 0 comments

Red Hot Garth Brooks Chili Peppers?

A decade ago, while living in Nashville, I wrote a big piece in the NYT about why blacks don't listen to country music. Looks like I need to update that piece: Why Hispanics don't listen to country music! A fascinating piece looks at how Music Row in Nashville is scrambling to appeal to Hispanics as their percentage of the population in country's traditional base across the South, Southwest, and West explodes. A key reason has been the loss of a country station in L.A.:

The nation's No. 2 market joined New York, which has lacked a country station since 2002, and San Francisco, which bowed out of the country game in early 2005, as the third among the top five markets with no FM country outlet. (Two Los Angeles-area AM stations recently switched to country.)

Among the reasons for the KZLA switch: It's increasingly difficult to succeed with country radio in a market where Caucasians carry less and less sway. A 2006 Arbitron report estimated that only 5.4% of country radio's nationwide audience is Hispanic and 2.3% is black, while 92.3% of country listeners fall into Arbitron's "other" category (which includes Caucasians and
Pacific Islanders).

But in recent years, U.S. Census figures show, the Hispanic portion of Los Angeles County's population (which grew to 44.6% in 2000 from 37.8% in 1990) has passed up the county's non-Hispanic white population (which slipped to 31.1% of the total in 2000 from 40.8% in 1990).

A station in Miami has become a pioneer in this effort, but the core white audience of country has been pushing back: "There appears to be a very vocal bias (and/or) prejudice that exists in South Florida among whites who feel that the Hispanics have 'pushed' their culture and language on everyone else," explains [the station manager]. That bias makes it difficult to reach Hispanics using the WKIS airwaves, he says. "For example, we can't even do bilingual IDs without significant listener backlash."

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:56 AM 0 comments

No Thank You, Oscar
Saturday, January 27, 2007

Are the folks at the Academy reading Feiler Faster?! After my post-Golden-Globe-rant about how recipients at award shows should throw out their thank yous and be rewarded with more time to give their acceptance speeches, Ellen Degeneres announces in EW that the Oscar broadcast is planning something similar, even adopting another idea I've been advocating for some time now, letting winners post their thank yous, even ones they might forget in the moment (Hillary Swank), on the Internet:

I thought I wrote the monologue about a month ago and I was really excited that it was done. It just came to me and it was just brilliant and since then I've thrown that away. I'm sure I'll do that five times before the actual night. We don't want to play anybody off [during his/her acceptance speech]. We think people should be able to talk as long as they want. Hopefully, people throw their lists away and speak from the heart. We're going to have a thank-you Oscar website where people can go backstage and thank whoever they want instead of doing it on the show. The more impulsive and spontaneous people are, the more comedy there's going to be.... I don't look at it as there are rules for anything. That's why I'm not wearing a dress. I'm wearing a tux. I don't care what I'm supposed to look like. And I want to do the same thing that I've done with other awards shows — I want to be in the audience a lot. I want to be in different places and show what really happens there.

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Posted by B Feiler at 10:43 PM 0 comments

No Sneezing on Delta: No "God Bless You"
Friday, January 26, 2007

My daughters are 21-months and they can say, "God Bless You." Now I must be careful not to sneeze on Delta, apparently. An overzealous editor snipped all the reference to "God" in "God Bless You" in the film "The Queen:"

The word God was removed seven times in all after an inexperienced employee of a California company that edits movies for in-flight entertainment was told to take out all profanities - including any blasphemy.

By mistake a bleep was inserted each time a character said God, instead of just when used as part of a profanity, according to Jeff Klein, president of Jaguar Distribution, which distributed the movie to Air New Zealand, Delta and other carriers this month.

"A reference to God is not taboo in any culture that I know of," Mr Klein said. "We excise foul language, excessive violence and nudity."

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Posted by B Feiler at 3:22 PM 0 comments

Color Blind
Sunday, January 21, 2007

Feiler Faster gives you tomorrow's commentary today. The last week was a remarkable week in American history/pop culture/politics/sports: In a first, three of the top four acting awards at the Golden Globes went to African-Americans: Forrest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson. Barack Obama instantly became (with all due respect to Shirley Chisolm, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton) one of the leading contenders to win his party's nomination for president. And Sunday, Lovie Smith became the first African-American coach to lead his team to the Super Bowl, followed three hours later by Tony Dungy, another African-American (there are five in the league). All this in a week when Tiger Woods chose to sit out the PGA tour and forego the chance to become the first player to win seven tour events in a row. That happens this coming weekend.

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Posted by B Feiler at 11:57 PM 0 comments

Borat the Break-Dancing, Bar Mitzvah Bum

I didn't see Borat, and I can't say I cared much for Sasha Baron Cohen's ode to his colleagues rear end at The Golden Globes, but I have been interested in how Cohen, a Jewish Brit, created all this outlandish characters. Here's part of his history, as told to the Times:

Baron Cohen was born in 1971 into a middle-class Jewish family, one of three sons (one of his brothers wrote the music for Borat). His father runs a menswear shop and his maternal grandmother trained as a ballet dancer in Nazi Germany. She fled in 1936 to Israel, where she set up a fitness centre. “She was the last Jewish girl to be taught ballet in Germany,” says her grandson.

Religion is observed in the Baron Cohen family but does not dominate. “I wouldn’t say I am a religious Jew,” he told NPR. “I am proud of my Jewish identity and there are certain things I do and customs I keep.”

It’s what you might call Church of England Jewish: he tries to keep kosher and attends synagogue about twice a year. Where possible he goes home on Fridays to observe the Sabbath with his family. Not that he gets home very often. He lives in Los Angeles with his fiancée, the Australian actress Isla Fisher (perhaps best known as Shannon from Home and Away).

It was thanks to one Jewish tradition that he got his first taste of showbiz: his breakdancing group provided the entertainment at his bar mitzvah. “As a kid I was very into rap,” he told
Rolling Stone. “I used to breakdance. Starting at the age of 12 my mother would take me and my crew in the back of her Volvo. We had the linoleum in the back, and she’d drive us to Covent Garden in the dead middle of winter. We’d pull out the lino and start breaking.

“Essentially we were middle-class Jewish boys who were adopting this culture, which we thought was very cool. That was sort of the origins of Ali G.”

As an undergraduate at Cambridge, he wrote his dissertation on Jews in the American Civil Rights movement. Maybe I should interview him for my new book.

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Posted by B Feiler at 3:53 PM 0 comments

No Thank You
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

I watched The Golden Globes on Monday night at the home of some friends in the film and television industry. During the telecast, I was complaining about the endless litanies of Thank Yous -- not just those who voted, as well as parents, lovers, and children, but agents, lawyers, stylists, assistants, drivers, neighbors, spammers, emailers, gaffers. STOP! My hosts disagreed. Strongly. This is not a television show, they said. It's an industry award dinner, and the primary audience is people in the industry, and they like to hear the thank yous. If I were in the industry, worked on a project, and wasn't thanked, I'd be upset, too. My friend, in fact, was specifically told some time ago that she wasn't going to be thanked on a project she worked on and she was quite upset. We're lucky to be watching such an inside experience, she suggested.

I wasn't persuaded. The air time alone is incredibly valuable -- hundreds of thousands of dollars a minute -- and could be better used to promote the shows themselves, I said. In fact, I advocated a proposal I read about a few years ago: A winnter gets 30 seconds if they insist on only giving thank yous, but if they agree to forego the thanks yous and talk about something more interesting, they get 3 minutes. Brilliant! We'd all watch, rather than tuning out during the speeches.

Needless to say, I was the only one supporting this proposal. Any takers??

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Posted by B Feiler at 6:48 PM 1 comments

"Moses Was Once a Basket Case"
Friday, December 29, 2006

I'm often asked where the idea for Walking the Bible came from. Sometimes I joke: Living across the street from three churches in Nashville for two years. Here's why! The AP profiles Donald Seitz who spent three years driving 20,000 miles across 40 states to photograph 100 church signs for a new self-published book, which features other catchy lines like "Life is fragile. Handle with prayer" and "Don't Give Up. Moses Was Once A Basket Case."

Some of the highlights: "Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death," from Church of Christ at Brookhill in Killen, Ala.; "Love God with all your heart, then do whatever you want," from Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City; and "Tithe if you love Jesus. Anyone can honk," from Southern Heights Baptist Church in Russellville, Ky.

The book is featured at www.thisisyoursign.com. (Hat tip: GalleyCat.)

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Posted by B Feiler at 1:52 PM 0 comments

The Pope, Yiddish-Speaking Alaskans, and Tiger Down?

The Wall Street Journal (via the Post-Gazette) looks at the year ahead in sports, music, television, and film. Interesting nuggets for me: The Pope is publishing a book on Jesus around Easter, which should be a good way of guaging his popularity vis a vis JPII, who sold 500,000 copies of Crossing the Threshold of Hope in its first week; Norman Mailer has a new novel about Hitler; and Michael Chabon's new book is described as a "alternate-history thriller set amongst Yiddish-speaking Alaskans."

Their take on sports includes the following:

The World Series will come three days later this year, starting on a Tuesday. It is a change Fox, which broadcasts the games, sought so that games 6 and 7 wouldn't fall on low-rated weekend nights. Golf, meanwhile, is moving to a Nascar-inspired schedule that will culminate in a series of playoff tournaments designed to goose ratings.

One potential result: stiffer competition for Tiger Woods, who has come to dominate the world golf rankings and the race for the most earnings. The new system will reset the points awarded to the top players before the four final tournaments, eliminating the possibility of a runaway leader in the competition for a new $10 million purse.

As I'm married to a Tiger fanatic, I've followed this golf story somewhat closely, and I disagree with this take. Golf's problem is that it has four major tournaments, and the season is over in August, ceding the fall to other sports. Tiger is OFF TV entirely from mid-August until January, except when there is the Ryder Cup or Presidents' Cup, where he, um, underperforms, and that's only three days. Golf was looking for a way to continue its season into the fall, which this new system does, thereby guaranteeing Tiger more air time and much more money, both from the games (where it's not guaranteed) and from sponsors. I'm prepared to wager that he approved the new system anyway. This is a big win for him.

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Posted by B Feiler at 12:37 PM 0 comments

Marley and You
Thursday, December 21, 2006

The real Top Tens of 2006.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:02 PM 0 comments

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