The Occasional Blog of Jonah Weiland

So, Mike got free tickets Thursday night to see “The Producers” at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. I’ve had mild interest in seeing this play which stars Jason Alexander and Martin Short. So, when Mike called and said the wife couldn’t join him, I said, “Sure, I’ll be your woman for the night.”

“The Producers,” while entertaining, wasn’t the papashit. The first 15 minutes were just, sorta, well, boring, and the finale was really not much of a finale. The problem being that the best part of the play takes place right after intermission when “Springtime For Hitler” is played for the audience, and that was good times.

My like or dislike of the production is heavily influenced by two biases: While I very much like the theatre, I’m not a big fan of musicals AND I really dislike Martin Short.

The reasons why I’m not a big musicals fan have to do with all those most obvious reasons people cite. That, and the fact I’m not gay, contribute to my generally staying away from musicals. I’ve seen my share, even been in a production of “The Music Man” and “Oklahoma” while in high school. Just not my thing, though.

As for Martin Short, I’ve never liked the guy. Never found his act all that funny, mostly because I’ve felt when he is acting he’s just waiting for the pay off where you applaud for him. Everything he does seems to be just a journey he’s taking to hear your appreciation. He could be the nicest guy in Hollywood, he might be my kinda people, but there’s an arrogance that slides right off him that bothers me.

Jason Alexander is good. The sets are great. There’s some good stuff. I wouldn’t pay to see it again.

Whereas “The Producers” may not be the papashit, Mike did introduce me to something else tonight that is. I took command of his iPod while he drove over to Hollywood from my abode in NoHo. I flipped around and found songs by “Rare Earth.” WOW! I’ve certainly heard “I Just Want To Celebrate” before, but don’t know that I’ve ever heard anything else by this band of the ’70s. DAMN! “Hey Big Brother” may end up on my list of the greatest songs ever … if I ever make that list. Been downloading a bunch of their stuff tonight and am in love. I’ll be buying one of their Best Of albums this weekend. Bunch a funky ass white men.

Listening to this band is like receiving an education in being excellent. Clearly I have a lot of listening to do. Appreciating the goodness.

Well, it’s definitely official now. From the Hollywood Reporter.

Hot British comedy “The Office” has set up a U.S. branch at NBC. The network has given a put pilot commitment plus a penalty to a U.S. version of the acclaimed BBC show from Ben Silverman’s Universal-based production company Reveille and Universal Network Television. “King of the Hill” co-creator Greg Daniels was tapped in August to adapt the cult sitcom for the American audience (HR 8/5). Like the original series, NBC’s “Office” will chronicle in a mockumentary style the day-to-day goings-on of a group of quirky employees at a paper-supply company terrorized by a boss from hell, played in the British series by Ricky Gervais, co-creator of the series with Stephen Merchant. (Nellie Andreeva)

This will not go well.

Okay, since the California Recall Election was nationwide news, most of you know that the impetus for it was due to the public’s displeasure with how the State budget was handled as well as the “car tax,” a three times increase in motor vehicle registration. Trust me, both annoyed the shit out of me and the timing of the “car tax” was extrememely poor. As most Californians did, I figured the increase was an idea dreamed up by soon-to-be-former Governor Gray Davis as a way of making up budget shortfalls. Absolutely wrong. Charles sent me this article from a Redding, CA newspaper which illustrates where the car tax actually came from, former Governor Pete Wilson, a man who I always disliked and is now a member of Schwarzenegger’s staff. Here’s the most interesting bit of info about the car tax you may not have read before:

Republicans say the Davis administration illegally increased the fee to raise $4.2 billion to help plug a gaping hole in the state budget. Davis countered that state law passed by the Legislature and signed by his predecessor, Gov. Pete Wilson, in 1998 required the fee to return to 2 percent of a vehicle’s value when the budget was in the red.

Four dozen GOP legislators have challenged the increase in court, along with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. They contend the tax increase is illegal because only a two-thirds vote of the Legislature can raise taxes.

Starting today, California car owners will be required to pay 2 percent of each of their vehicles’ value to the Department of Motor Vehicles when they renew registration. Over the past five years, California motorists have seen their fees decline by two-thirds.

When Wilson approved a bill lowering the car tax five years ago, the state treasury was flush with cash, thanks to the dot-com boom. Most vehicle owners received rebate checks in the mail and quickly became accustomed to paying lower fees to register about 30.8 million cars, trucks, trailers and motorcycles each year.

But lawmakers and Wilson envisioned a time when the treasury would run dry and the “temporary rebate” would end.

That end came earlier this year, when a $38 billion shortfall threatened cuts in basic government services unless lawmakers found other funds. Davis’ finance chief, Steve Peace, announced in June that the state would restore the car tax to 1998 levels, citing the so-called trigger in the Wilson administration law.

Thanks Gov. Wilson for fucking our shit up!

While I’m not saying I support the car tax as a means to help fix the budget problems the state has, it’s just another example of how poorly the Davis administration dealt with the media. I’ve done some research and found a hand full of other instances where the history of this is mentioned, but clearly the Republican’s did a far better job of spinning the story, especially Tom McClintock.

The State Democratic Party of California has had it’s head up it’s ass for years. They better fucking wake up.

There’s actually something pretty serious going on in Southern California and it’s not all related to the ridiculous recall of a few weeks back. This past Sunday the union that represents some 70,000 Supermarket workers decided to go on strike, protesting the suggestions made by markets Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons to lower wages for new employees and to dramatically change their health benefits. So, outside those three markets throughout SoCal can be found a line of workers on strike, some locations louder than others.

For the moment most people in SoCal appear not to want to cross that picket line. Amongst the friends I’ve spoken to they’ve all gone to alternate places to shop, preferring to show their support for the striking workers. The strikers are urging people to go to Gelsons (an upscale supermarket chain in Los Angeles) or Food4Less, stores where the company signed new contracts with the unions months ago. People are also making their way to alternate markets like Trader Joes or Whole Foods. People are listening to the pleas of the striking workers and I’ve seen proof of it myself.

I generally do most of my shopping at Trader Joes, a chain of neighborhood style grocery stores known for their health and international foods. It’s really unfair to just label this store as a health food store, that should be reserved for a chain like Whole Foods. Trader Joes is just a cool, small market that has foods no one else has. They also have household products, but nothing in bulk. Well, last night I went to Trader Joes on Riverside in Toluca Lake around 8:30 and found the store had been cleaned out! I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s a large wall usually filled with various breads, but last night there were two, count ‘em, two loaves of bread. The vegetables/fruits area was even more barren! I kid you not when I say the ONLY thing available was fresh Ginger root, and only one package of it. The frozen foods section was at about 1/3 of it’s normal stock. The pre-prepared foods section had maybe 6 things left! What the hell? Was I suddenly transported to Communist Russia where a line for fresh bread could be three hours long? Was a hurricane on its way to devastate the SoCal region?

Now, this Trader Joes is currently going under a remodeling, so the place is somewhat a mess right now. But was the lack of food caused by shoppers coming to Trader Joes as opposed to the major super markets, or was it because of the remodel? I asked my checker and he told me the store has been overwhelmed by shoppers since Monday, the first full weekday of the strike. They were prepared for a small increase in business, but nothing like they’ve seen. Indeed, at 8:30 on a Tuesday night Trader Joes was far busier than usual. He did assure me that by Friday they’d be back to full stock levels, having made major increases in orders, but it took time for these things to go through the system.

I came away with about $30 worth of groceries and house hold items, but I still needed stuff! What to do?

So, I had a car filled with some groceries, which included frozen foods. Did I drive 15 - 20 minutes to Gelson’s? I couldn’t! My stuff would melt. So, I decided let’s go to the local Ralphs and see what’s up. The Ralphs I go to is in Studio City on Ventura Blvd. … it’s a great store, actually. They’ve got underground parking there. I opted to park underground to avoid the striking workers, who were being honked at in a show of solidarity by drivers in their car speeding by on Ventura. I went up and outside to pick up a shopping cart and talked to one of the strikers for a bit. I asked the lady if she got pissed when people crossed the picket lines and she said, no, she understands, but she urges people to just get those items they have to get and try to support other markets which aren’t affected by the strike. We spoke for a bit, then I went inside and bought some bread and produce, things sold out at Trader Joes. BTW, there was more than enough food at Ralphs and as I understand it lots of fresh product is going to waste.

I’ll throw my support behind the striking workers for as long as I can. I’ll plan a bit better when it comes to my shopping until the strike is over. I’m hoping for everyone’s sake both sides can come to an agreement soon.

Tomorrow evening, that’s Tuesday, I’ll be testing for my Yellow Belt. This is my first test. I didn’t have enough time spent in the Dojang for the last round of tests in September, so I had to wait until now, but that’s fine. It allowed me to get a bit more fit and to concentrate on my strength training, crucial when holding various forms.

I’m a bit nervous, but tonight in class we went over everything we’d need for the test and it all went fine. The hardest for me are the front fall and the front roll. These really are two of the easiest things to do when you break it down, but the execution is not easy. The front fall I’m comfortable with finally, but it is a bit gruesome. With the front roll, sometimes it’s on and other times it’s like I’ve broken down on the side of a highway on a hot, sunny day in Mexico with no one around to help and no H20. When it doesn’t go right, it looks bad.