Book Review - Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked by Chris Matthews

Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked by Chris Matthews
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 1, 2013)

Hardball host Chris Matthews tells the story of how Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill and President Ronald Reagan, two political opponents, were able to work together for the good of America.  Matthews worked for the speaker at the time before he switched to a career in journalism.  Having worked for O'Neill, Matthews is qualified to tell the history of the two leaders.

One can look to the 1980s leadership of O'Neill and Reagan as a model for effective partisanship, something that clearly lacks between Barack Obama and the current Republican leadership.  When it came to moving the government forward, they proved that convictions were a strength and not a burden.

During the 1980s, these two waged a principled war of political ideals.  They debated the big issues of the day but they were also able to compromise with each other, showing that political opposites can get along together.

In serving as speaker, O'Neill was the visible leader of the Democratic Party in the post-Jimmy Carter years.  This also meant he was the respected challenger to Reagan's agenda.  O'Neill had yet to master the medium of public speaking on television but he learned how to fight Reagan on key issues, relied on legislative craftiness, strong rhetoric, and even guerrilla theater.

This is about the kind of heroism that we lack today.

Book Review - Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life

Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life by Melissa Joan Hart
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (October 29, 2013)

Taking the title from the show she starred on while growing up, the former child star is frank and witty in her memoir.

After starring in the Nickelodeon series, Clarissa Explains It All, Melissa Joan Hart went on to star in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch on ABC.  The latter would not have been a hit had it not been for starring in the earlier series.  After taking a few years off to start and raise a family, Hart starred in an ABC Family movie with Joey Lawrence.  This led to the nostalgic sitcom, Melissa and Joey, on ABC Family.

Hart provides behind-the-scenes tales from her past all the way up to her present in her memoir, which is forthright and funny as she is.  It's a candid glimpse at her unique career and the lessons that she has learned along the way.

Surprisingly, Hart was able to live a grounded, "normal" childhood.  Most child stars are not afforded this opportunity.  Growing up, she had to balance homework with auditions and commuting from Long Island to Manhattan.

Hart had auditioned for Blossom and was very far in the process of the NBC series when she landed the role of Clarissa Darling, a role that would take her to Orlando to shoot 65 episodes of Clarissa.  She would have gone on to fame with either show.

To this day, she balances family with life in Hollywood.

If you want a candid look at a celebrity that grew up with a grounded childhood, be sure to check it out.

Book Review - Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert M. Gates

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert M. Gates
Hardcover: 640 pages
Publisher: Knopf; First Edition/First Printing edition (January 14, 2014)

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote a candid but vivid written account of his experience in serving Presidents Bush and Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before getting a call in 2006 to serve his country once more, Gates was done with politics.  After serving 6 presidents between the CIA and National Security Council, Gates got a job as the president of Texas A&M University, where he was happy.

The U.S. was at war with fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq and he felt that this was the call of duty.  His unsparing memoir is fair in its assessments and he takes us behind the scenes of his five years as Secretary of Defense.  In the book, he depicts his battles with Congress, the military, the Pentagon bureaucracy, and two presidents to name a few.

In working for Obama, Gates's leadership was guiding but he was often the dissenting voice on issues but Hates was devoted to and had a love for American soldiers---his "heroes"--that he helped to develop on the job.

It is while he relates his personal journey as secretary that Gates draws us to those inner sanctums of government and military power.  This is where he offers unvarnished appraisals of the likes of Dick Cheney, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.  In doing so, he exposes the behind-closed-doors politicking of the administrations.


There's the controversies that came up during his tenure, too, such as the surges, Iran, Syria, and others.

At its heart, this is a powerful story that takes an unprecedented look at two White House administrations.

Book Review - Wooden: A Coach's Life by Seth Davis

Wooden: A Coach's Life by Seth Davis
Hardcover: 608 pages
Publisher: Times Books (January 14, 2014)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first of UCLA coach John Wooden's many NCAA men's college basketball championships.  Seth Davis presents a biography that can only be described as unflinching and definitive.

With prose that is both artful and entertaining, there's no doubting the exhaustive research that Davis underwent in the writing of this book--a quintessentially American story, nevertheless.  Davis writes his account year by year as readers are invited to measure the man that became a legend.

Wooden was a person that was not just a gifted player but a BRILLIANT coach, and a master teacher.  He should be appreciated for what he is.  Davis celebrates the mystique that Wooden built but also digs further.  Wooden dealt with issues during his coaching era--be it race, protests, mercurial athletes, overeager boosters, and the heavy expectations.

Born in Indiana, Wooden never forgot his roots when he played at Purdue or coached for UCLA.

I'm no fan of UCLA but that doesn't take away from the person that John Wooden was.  Back when I was a college freshman, I wrote off for his autograph and asked him to inscribe his best stat (when I should have asked him to inscribe his HOF year!) but he sent back a short note saying his best stat was the number of players who graduated!

Book Review: Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (November 5, 2013)

From the mind of comedian Rob Delaney comes Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.

Delaney is the author of many jokes on Twitter but by reading the hilarious and heartbreaking true stories in his book, we learn how Rob became the person that he is today.

His memoir is candid and conversational.  It shows that there is more to him than just what he tweets on Twitter.

Book Review: Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (October 15, 2013)

In Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment, author Anita Elberse shows why betting on the mega-hits is the most bankable business strategy today.  Elberse is the resident expert on entertainment at the Harvard Business School.  His knowledge comes off very well in Blockbusters.

The simple, compelling argument brought forth by Elberse is this: The entertainment business does not reward playing it safe.  Just look at what Jeff Zucker and Ben Silverman did while at the helm of NBC.  This was a network that had huge audiences in the 1980s, 1990s, and early part of the 2000s.

But what happened to NBC?  They stopped going after the highest-paid producers and stars and their dismal efforts showed in the ratings.

The case was just the opposite at Warner Brothers Studios, where Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn decided to identify just a few projects that , with major budget-squeezing investments of money and resources, had the potential to be huge. They did just that with the Dark Knight saga, the Harry Potter series, The Hangover, and Million Dollar Baby, to name a few.

It shows that the networks and studios must be willing to take risks if they really want to attract an audience.

Book Review: Hanukkah in America: A History

Hardcover: 350 pages
Publisher: NYU Press; 1St Edition edition (October 14, 2013)

Hanukkah in America: A History was written by Dianne Ashton.

Everyone knows the story.  There was not enough oil left in the Temple after its destruction but miraculously, the oil burned for eight days.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Ashton provides a very thorough cultural history of Chanukah as she traces the holiday's importance to American Jewry.  The main argument is that the holiday is so popular because of when it tends to fall in the Gregorian calendar but also because of the focus on family and the opportunities that the holiday provides when discussing assimilation.

Her book explains just how the minor holiday became one of the most visible holidays.  In doing so, it teaches is about America, religion, and Jews.  It's not a holiday mandated by the Torah.  It was one that came about following the building of the Temple in Jerusalem.  There are no Yom Tovim during Chanukah that require a day off from work unlike the major holidays of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot.

Different people have different customs when it comes to Chanukah and Ashton writes about those, such as in New Orleans, Texas, and Cincinnati.

I won't lie in that Pesach is my favorite holiday--it always falls in the spring and I have it on good authority that one of my ancestors is Aaron, meaning that Moses is a great-uncle to the nth degree.

Book Review: That's Not Funny, That's Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream

Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (June 24, 2013)

That's Not Funny, That's Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream is from journalist Ellin Stein.  What Stein does is give us the definitive portrait of what is, perhaps, the greatest revolution in American comedy.

Stein had exclusive access to firsthand interviews with all the key players to give us this genius of a book.  Several of these interviews were done in the 1980s with the likes of Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Doug Kenney--with memories were fresh and wounds were...raw.  This is what makes Stein's access unparallelled.

It all started back in 1969 when Kenney and Beard assumed the roles of chief editors at a new magazine named The National Lampoon.  Their partnership was complex as Stein writes.

Soon, the Lampoon would have a record deal and later, a theater production.  But just as all was thought to be over, Animal House helped the brand get new life.  Stein writes that the film "scattered box office gold over everyone connected with it."

National Lampoon had a meteoric rise as it shifted from being a popular humor magazine to a cornerstone of American culture.

Stein gives us the eccentric personalities, hard partying, and those moments of sheer comic genius.

Book Review: The New American Zionism

Hardcover: 229 pages
Publisher: NYU Press (November 29, 2013)

The New American Zionism was written by Theodore Sasson.

I have bad news for Israel's critics.  With the American Studies Association boycott in the news of late, the American Jewry relationship with Israel is stronger than ever.

Sasson's analysis of the modern-day American Zionism is thoughtful, subtle, and compelling.  It's deeply researched and well-written.

Going into this book, one obviously wonders if American Jewish support for Israel is waning.  The answer?  It's not.  Look at the scores of college students and young adults that make the trek to Israel through Birthright Israel.

The early days of Zionism saw American Jewry playing a key role in establishing the Jewish state.  Albert Einstein was offered the job of being the first Israeli Prime Minister but he turned it down.  They created the framework that paved the way to raise funds and there's no denial of what it means in Washington to go against AIPAC as Israel is one of America's strongest allies abroad.

True, Jewish Federation funding is declining but what isn't during this age of tough economic times?  Yes, there are some differences in the two-state solution and it can be devisive at times but Jews support Israel's right to exist even if they may disagree with the government policies at times.  Some might fear that support is waning but it isn't.

Sasson's argument is that we are misunderstanding the new relationship between American Jews and Israel.  He shows that the approach is shifting from a "mobilization" approach to an "engagement approach."  This latter approach is done through direct and personal relations with Israel.  Many Jews are traveling via Birthright, the March, or other organized trips.  A growing number consumes Israeli news and culture, not to mention connecting online with Israelis.

The support has not been abandoned.  Philanthropy and lobbying may have changed over the years but Israel is more meaningful than ever before.  However, its the ability to impact policy that will diminish as there is no longer a unified voice.

Book Review - Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Books; 1 edition (October 22, 2013)

Alisa Solomon gives us Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof.  This is a book that fans of the stage and film musical will certainly enjoy.  It goes hand in hand with the recently published biography of Sholem Aleichem.

The drama critic traces Fiddler back to its days as a 1905 Yiddish story through the days of its inception as a Broadway musical and a Hollywood blockbuster hit.

Fiddler is a cultural landmark.  It's frequently performed in high schools and rented by many today.

The songs are familiar to many, whether it's the opening to "Tradition" or the chorus of "If I Were a Rich Man."  People identify with Tevye's desire to maintain his faith and family in a changing world.

Solomon's book is the first such critical analysis of the iconic cultural status.  She explores how and why Fiddler was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a culture touchstone--not only for Jews and Americans.

It's expansive, delightful, original as it reveals the surprising and enduring legacy.

Book Review: The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem

Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Schocken (October 8, 2013)

Written by Jeremy Dauber, The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem: The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of the Man Who Created Tevye is the first comprehensive biography on the Jewish version of Mark Twain.  If not for Sholem Aleichem, we'd never have Fiddler on the Roof.

Aleichem was one of the founding giants in modern Yiddish literature.  He was a novelist, playwright, journalist, essayist, and editor.  He created a pantheon of characters that have been immortalized in either books or plays.  Through his short stories and other writings, he provided a window into the world of Eastern European Jewry at a time of changes during the close of the 19th century.

His own story is just as compelling as the fictional lives that he wrote about.  Aleichem was born into poverty, married into wealth but would lose it all during bad luck and a horrible business sense.  It was his decision to start writing in Yiddish that would forever change history.

When he died in 1916, it was news all across the world.  But his fame would grow as the English-speaking world began to discover his work.

Book Review: Red Sparrow

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Scribner (June 4, 2013)

Red Sparrow: A Novel is from Jason Matthews.  Matthews joins the ranks of Ian Fleming and John Le Carre in going from intelligence agent to novelist.  Because of his 33 years working as a CIA field operative, it gives a sense of authenticity, vivid characters, detail of the trade, and a plot that deals with spy versus spy.

For a first-time novelist, this is an excellent debut.  He uses his real-life field experience and turns it into a remarkably vivid, rip-roaring read.

The setting is Russia.  Two spies are targeting each other.  Nate, the young and ambitious CIA office, goes up against Dominika, the beautiful and brave Russian spy.  One more thing:  the two spies have fallen in love.

The novel has already been optioned by 20th Century Fox.

Book Review: The Town

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Blue Rider Press (July 16, 2013)

This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral—Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!—in America's Gilded Capital was written by Mark Leibovich.  Leibovich's book is a stunningly frank, witty, and perceptive account of the DC establishment and shows how it's become more self-serving than any other time in history.

The author calls out a score of names for their hypocrisy.  These people include politicians, journalists, and lobbyists.  Unfortunately for those people, there is no index.  The only way for thm to find out if they are in the book is if they read it themselves.

The book stretches from June 2008 at Tim Russert's funeral and goes until January 2013.  It's a critical profile of "This Town" during a time of turbulence and decadence.

Remember how President Obama campaigned to change Washington?  Didn't happen.  It's still politics as usual.  Lobbyists had their most prosperous year in 2009, Obama's first year in office.

Leibovich writes how punditry has replaced the idea of reporting.

Characters include Mike Allen, Tammy Haddad, Terry McAullife, Harry Reid, Trent Lott, Tom Daschle, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, Richard Gephardt, Chris Christie, Kurt Bardella, Richard Holbrooke, Hilary Rosen, Andrea Mitchell, Alan Greenspan, Tim Russert, and the Clintons.  That's not all the names but only a handful.

This account is dazzling, insightful, but also very entertaining.

2013 Solzy Awards

I started tweeting these the other day but here are the 2012 Solzy Awards.

Best Movie-Related Book (tie): Steven Spielberg: A Retrospective by Richard Schickel, Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business by Lynda Obst

Best TV-Related Book: Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And all the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic by Jennifer K. Armstrong

Best Baseball Book (tie): Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes by John Rosengren, The Summer of Beer and Whiskey: How Brewers, Barkeeps, Rowdies, Immigrants, and a Wild Pennant Fight Made Baseball America's Game by Edward Achorn

Best Comedic Book: Let Me Off at the Top!: My Classy Life and Other Musings by Ron Burgundy


Best Fiction Novel: The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer

Most Anticipated Book of 2014: Fightin' Words: Kentucky vs. Louisville by Ryan Clark and Joe Cox

Best Album (tie): My Mother's Brisket and Other Love Songs by Rick Moranis, Frozen (soundtrack)

Best Kentucky Sportswriter: Larry Vaught

Best National Basketball Writer: Mike DeCourcy

Best Baseball Writer (Tie): Derrick Goold, Rick Hummel

Best Group of Sports Bloggers: United Cardinal Bloggers

Best Kentucky Broadcaster (Tie): Tom Leach, Bob Valvano

Best New Television Comedy:Brooklyn 99

Best New Television Drama: Agents of SHIELD

Most Annoying Person on Television...Period: Skip Bayless (ESPN)

Highlights from 2013

Some of my highlights from 2013 include meeting some Hall of Famers, basketball coaches, and notable Kentucky sports figures in general.

Wade Boggs:

Dick Vitale:

Joe Morgan:

John Calipari:

Joe B. Hall:

Matthew Mitchell:

Larry Vaught:

Oscar Combs:

 

Paging Landmark Theatres...Louisville needs a REAL art house theater

I've reached the point of utter discontent with the Baxter Avenue Filmworks movie theater.  On it's website, it states that they offer first-run, foreign, and independent films.  However, I depend on them to be playing indie movies as they are the closest thing to an art house theater that can be found in Louisville, Kentucky.

Unfortunately for the city of Louisville, an art house they are not.  This is where I appreciate a theater chain like Landmark Theatres.  They actually give a damn about the movie-going public.  I prefer to see indie films in theaters, not at home on DVD.  But I don't have a choice.  I live in the East End and it's not as easy to get to Baxter as it is to get to Cinemark Tinseltown, just two lights away from my house.

If you look at Landmark's offerings in a market like Indianapolis (NFL, NBA), they still have movies like Nebraska playing.  But in Louisville, Nebraska opened on December 13th at the Baxter and on December 25th, it was no longer playing in town.  I had planned to see it on December 26th, only to be disappointed that the movie, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Bruce Dern, was no longer playing.

It's sad that a film, likely to be nominated for Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, and maybe Supporting Actor, is only playing in Louisville for 11 days.  It makes zero sense.

Of the five nominees in the Independent Spirit Awards, you could only catch four of the five in Louisville because Short Term 12 never opened here.  Amongst other notables, the city of Louisville is not a large enough market to have a film like Inside Llewyn Davis yet.

The city of Louisville deserves a real art house theater because Baxter just isn't up to being the art house theater that the city of Louisville needs and that, my friends, is a damn shame.

Book Review: Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Dutton Adult (October 1, 2013)

This fall, Nick Offerman released his memoir in the form of Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living.  You know Offerman best as Ron Swanson from the NBC sitcom, Parks and Recreation.

While Offerman has played comedic roles in the past several years, this is not a straight-out laugh-out-loud book.  Far from it, actually, even though he tells it in his trademark comic wit.  Offerman does mix in some amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants but he would tell you that he is "your average meat, potatoes, and corn-fed human male, with a propensity for smart-assery, who has managed to make a rewarding vocation out of, essentially, making funny faces and falling down."

The character of Swanson, we learn, is loosely based on himself.  Offerman goes into details on what it takes to grow the Swanson mustache.

Offerman didn't become a hit overnight.  He grew up in Minooka, Illinois, on a farm and made his way to the University of Illinois, where his acting education became the foundation for the guy we know today.

From his days in Chicago, he tells us what it means to pull a "Schwimmer."  What is pulling a Schwimmer?  It's going west to Los Angeles for the TV and Film roles.  Had he not pulled a Schwimmer, he never would have met his wife, Megan Mullally.

Each chapter of the book tells a story of his life while being accompanied by his opinions and fundamental advice.

Readers will most certainly be delighted by the book and maybe stay away from their phones for a while.

Put THANKS back in Thanksgiving!

Maybe it's time to put the THANKS back in Thankgiving and be grateful to spend time with family eating a meal and watching TV/movies rather than trample/shoot/stab people while shopping and fighting over a parking spot.

Be thankful for what you have and hug your loved ones. There should be no reason at all to spend the bulk of Thanksgiving in cold weather by camping outside of stores. That's not the right way to spend the holiday.

There's no reason for camping out on Wednesday night and skip Thursday's holiday at all.  And for what?  A doorbuster deal?!?  Insane.

I spent my Thursday with family.  On our way to what has become a Thanksgiving Day movie, I glanced over at the Best Buy across from Mall St. Matthews.  There were tents set up before 12:30 PM.  It was not warm outside either.  After the movie ended and we drove by around 3:30 PM, the line was even longer and stretching around the corner.

Listen, I love a good bargain and all but it's not worth it to wait in line on a holiday that was meant for giving thanks.

To those idiots that call for Thanksgiving to be moved into October so that the holiday season could be extended, I say no.  The Jewish holidays are reserved for September and October.  Sometime, like in 2011, they spend most of it in October.  Game 162 of the 2011 season coincided with Erev Rosh HaShanah so most of my October was spent observing the Jewish holidays and not watching my beloved St. Louis Cardinals play in the postseason.

Mr. Sulu on Thanksgiving Shopping

George Takei posted this on Facebook:

When stores like Wal-Mart move their Black Friday sales to Thanksgiving Day, they have truly forgotten the purpose of the holiday--and cynically ask their employees to leave their loved ones, too. 

Stay with your families on Thursday, friends.  Cook and eat together.  Watch a football game or a family movie.  Call your relatives.  Don't waste your precious day off standing in lines or fighting crowds in malls.

I could not agree more with the Star Trek actor.  If you are going to shop on Thursday, shop online!

Book Review: Difficult Men

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (June 27, 2013)

Released this summer,  Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad comes from the genius mind of Brett Martin.

What this book really looks at are all the antiheroes that have appeared on television over the last decade or so.  All the hit dramas of the 2000s and 2010s can trace their way back to Hill Street Blues, a series that aired on a broadcast network.

Known for airing movies or syndicated reruns, networks like Showtime, HBO, and FX all decided that they wanted original programming.  Soon, AMC joined them.

Executives were not focuses on creating likeable characters or content that was considered to be safe and appropriate.  Because of this, the path for the third Golden Age of Television was soon paved.  Series focused on issues such as life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race, violence, and existential boredom in such a way that reflected on the American Dream during the start of the 21st century.

This kind of television was not a substitute for film--although many film actors and actresses started taking TV roles rather than film roles--but rather a new kind of art form, especially with the serialized episodes that stretched out over 10-13 episodes rather than 22 episodes.

What Martin does here is combine deep reporting with cultural analysis and historical context as he recounts the dramatic rise of an art form that is on par with the "auteur" films released in the 1970s.  In doing so, he interviews David Chase, James Gandolfini, Matthew Weiner, Jon Hamm, David Milch, and Alan Ball.  This is in addition to so many other writers, directors, etc. as he takes us behind the scenes of our favorite programs and delivers never-before-heard stories--both good and bad--as he tells us how these shows were made what they are.

A fun fact: FX originally ordered a pilot of Breaking Bad but things fell through.  In addition, HBO, Showtime, and TNT all passed on the show that became a hit series starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.