Reply to Reed Smith on the Pervert Polanski and Fairness in America

by Pa Rock
Citizen Cynic

There were two comments on my posting yesterday that dealt with pedophile film director Roman Polanski. The first was from my friend, Mike Box, an attorney, who made the point - quite well - that rich criminals often have better outcomes in the American legal system than their poor counterparts. Reed Smith responded to the blog posting and Mike's comment with the following:

"After reading Mr. Box's comment I have to wonder. We all now know your opinion, I want to know your prediction. Will justice be served and Polanski get your fair deal of ten years, or is Mr. Box right and "the rich never swing"

Reed,

Mike Box and I have a great deal in common. We are both old, exceedingly cynical, and are steeped in a knowledge of how things work that comes from a lifetime of experience. Unfortunately for society in general and young children in particular, Mike is right. The rich in America never swing. Oh there may be oddball exceptions, like when a judge in Arkansas found Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton guilty of drunk driving despite her dream team of high priced lawyers, but generally the rule stands.

One big advantage that the rich have over the rest of us is the ability to get their own version of the story out through their influential friends and a fawning media. That was happening in spades this week with the Polanski travesty. I noted yesterday that directors Pedro Almodovar, Martin Scorcese, and Woody Allen had collectively "demanded" that Polanski be released from his Swiss prison cell.

Now the noise from Hollywood is getting even goofier. Whoopi Goldberg has been quoted as saying that the incident that happened thirty-two years ago wasn't really a rape-rape! Seriously! So there are degrees of rape - even when a forty-three-year-old man has intercourse with a thirteen-year-old girl who doesn't want to do it? So that really isn't a rape-rape? What the fuck-fuck is it then?

Debra Winger minimized the sex crime as a "three-decades-old case that is dead but for minor technicalities. "We stand by him and await his release and his next masterpiece." In other words, the washed-up actress is available for any role that Polanksi might throw her way. Harvey Weinstein, a big-time movie maker in Hollywood referred to Polanski as a "humanist" who was a victim of a "miscarriage of justice". Are you listening, Roman? Weinstein is itching to fund one of your future masterpieces.

But, hey, that's how things work in Hollywood, America.

Roman Polanski's second wife, Sharon Tate, and several of her friends were killed by the Manson family in 1969. Today her sister, Debra, described her former brother-in-law as "brilliant" and stated that she feared he could not get a fair trial in the United States. She went on to say that Polanski did not forcibly have sex with the girl, and that it was a "consensual matter".

The girl described it differently back in the day. She said that he invited her into the hot tub of a major Hollywood star, gave her part of a Quaalude and some bubbly champagne, and then had sex with her against her will. But let's say, just for purposes of discussion, that she did not object - in fact, let's say that she eagerly consented. Just how does a thirteen-year-old "consent" to have sex with a forty-three-year-old pervert? Answer: A child cannot consent to have sex with an adult - ever! Say it with me, Debra: "A child cannot consent to have sex with an adult!"

And before we let Hollywood canonize Roman Polanski, let's not forget that he also committed the crime of fleeing the country in order to avoid prosecution. He jumped bail!

Poor Americans who have sex with children and get caught go to jail, often for long periods of time, and when they get out they are placed on sex-offender lists and tracked for the rest of their lives by an outraged society. Polanski, and apparently much of Hollywood, feels that he is better than the rest of us and special rules should apply.

Reed, this is the country that Mike Box and I inherited from our folks. Some things have gotten better during our watch, but much remains to be done. My hope is that you and your generation pick up the torch and lead our descendants on into a bright and glorious future - one in which the rich do swing, just like the rest of us mere mortals.

I am very proud of you.

Uncle Rock

P.S. Now let's hear from Mike!

Tales of the Strip

by Pa Rock
Weary Walker

We have been up the Strip and down the Strip today, putting several miles on my old tennies. The group included myself, my son Nick, my other son, Tim, and his fiance Erin Pater, and my daughter, Molly Files, and her husband Scott. My nephew, Reed Smith, joined us in the mall at Planet Hollywood and spent the rest of his Saturday showing us through the glittering maze that is the Las Vegas Strip.

One of the first attractions that we encountered was the dancing fountains at the Belagio. I have never seen the new version of the movie, Ocean's Eleven, but I understand that those choreographed waters were featured in it. Today the waters were dancing to Frank Sinatra's vocal rendition of Luck Be A Lady Tonight. We also strolled through the Belagio and toured a beautiful indoor spring flower garden with tulips and poppies galore. And then there was the candy shop with its massive chocolate fountain. The Belagio is a "must see" for anyone coming to Vegas.

Our next stop was an outdoor bar at Caesar's Palace where we rested and refreshed. The only alcohol that has slipped past my lips on this trip was a Bailey's Shake yesterday which was delicious - as it should have been for $7.50! But people were walking up and down the street drinking well before noon - it's that kind of place! Big mixed drinks in unique plastic containers are everywhere. A person can buy a yard of daiquiri in what looks to be a three-foot flower vase. There ware also large plastic guitars and replicas of the Eiffel Tower with straws coming out of their tops for classy booze consumption while navigating the Strip.

The Forum Shops in Caesar's are amazing. They are enlcosed in an enormous in-door mall with Roman statuary and fountains around every corner. The ceilings are two stories high domed affairs painted and backlit to resemble the sky. It does give the feeling of walking through ancient Rome on a partly cloudy day with a very international, camera-toting, population.

Caesar's was where we had our only celebrity sighting of the day. Former baseball bad boy, Pete Rose, was holed up in a storefront signing autographs for pay. We stopped and took his picture, in much the same way that one would take a picture of a simian pulling lice off of itself at the zoo. Old Pete looked old, really old, Pa Rock old! Reed commented on the irony of the Hall-of-Famer-Wannabe signing autographs for pay at Caesar's in Las Vegas! (He probably used his breaks to run upstairs and check his bets!)

Our next stop was the Venetian where we watched the gondola's make their way slowly up and down the Grand Canal which flows through the center of the hotel-casino complex. The Venetian, like the Belagio and Caesar's Palace, is elegant to a fault. One of the unique features at the Venetian is a spiral escalator, not something that one is likely to see in stodgy old New York or Chicago.

On the way back toward our hotel, The Tropicana, we passed two long lines of what Tim and I decided to call "clickers." These were men and women who were handing out business cards for the prostitutes. They would slap the cards on their wrists or click them together making a very distincitve rattling sound. Any tourist who made eye contact with a clicker got a couple of cards - and once a person accepted one guy's cards, everybody else gave them theirs as well. Needless to say, the sidewalks and streets are littered with glossy photos of other people's daughters.

The working girls also place advertisements in small throw-away newspapers that some of the clickers hand out. These are commonly referred to as "the sporting pages!" If all of that doesn't free a person of their virtue, there are billboard trucks cruising the Strip with huge photos of "Hot Babes" along with phone numbers. And then there are the more ambitious vixen who walk right up and proposition the rubes. One member of our party was approached in the casino last night by a woman who offered to follow him to his room for three hundred dollars!

I also noted some fine literary efforts during our outing today. There was a vagrant sitting on the overpass outside of our hotel with a box for donations. His sign read simply, "Why lie? I need a beer." A young man passed us wearing a t-shirt that proudly proclaimed "Fuck Milk! Got Pot?" And then there was the old fellow - at least ten years my senior - who made his statement by carrying a ghetto blaster that was pounding out music from the sixties!

It was an exciting day. Tonight I plan to lay around and watch my feet swell!

Jersey Boys: A Shout-Out to the Boomers

by Pa Rock
Theatre Critic

I want to talk about Jersey Boys, the Las Vegas version, but before going there please permit me a few housekeeping (I wish!) chores: First, I am safely back in the Valley of Hell, driving six-hours and two-hundred and seventy-seven miles today pretty much nonstop, but with a brief car-exit to take pictures at Hoover Dam, and a couple of desert-pullovers to snap some shots of Joshua Trees and assorted cacti.

The highlight of yesterday's activities was getting to meet Reed's new lady friend, Miss Jamie Carey, a native of Montana who teaches second grade in Nevada. She's a sweetie, Reed!

I managed to set a couple of records in Vegas last night with regard to money. I needed cash (welcome to Las Vegas!), and Reed warned me that the ATM would hit me for a $3.00 fee. I didn't like that, but I've paid that much before in such exotic locales as Phoenix and Neosho, so I manned-up and fed the machine my ATM card. The actual fee was $4.25 - my new record! But the evening soon got better when I won $150 at a penny slot machine - and managed to walk away with $140 of it! "Penny slots" are a misnomer. Yes, you can spin the wheel for one cent, but the winnings on that are minute. There are two rows of buttons where the player can select the number of lines he wants to play - 1-9 - and the magnitude of the prize - 1 through 20. I won the $150 on a nine-line bet that payed out at a force of twenty - or a $1.80 bet. Penny, indeed! Anyway, that was my record for most profit gambling. My Sis also made $55 on the slots, so we were in a good mood to see Jersey Boys!

I was somewhat hesitant about going to see Jersey Boys in Las Vegas because I knew it couldn't live up to Broadway standards, and I didn't want to detract from the experience that I had seeing the show for the first time in New York a few short weeks ago. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about in that regard.

The production was in the sparkling new Palazzo Theatre at the Venetian. The theatre is immense, accommodating at least twice the numbers as the older theatre in New York had seated. And the acoustics were extraordinary, with every note coming through crystal clear and pure to the farthest corners of the venue.

I am troubled to admit this, but this production was at least as good as its Broadway counterpart. The young man who played Frankie Valli, in particular, was mesmerizing, both in acting ability and singing talent. As we were leaving the theatre people around us were making comparisons with other Jersey Boys productions that they had seen. One man was raving that it was so much better than the version that played recently in Chicago, and a lady was going on-and-on telling everyone within earshot that it was so much better than the Minneapolis version. Minneapolis? (I wonder if it starred Garrison Keillor?)

Listening to the audience react during the show by clapping to the music, tapping their feet, and even singing along, I realized that Jersey Boys is fast becoming the musical of the baby boomer generation. Yes, we had Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar, and iconic concerts like Woodstock - and we had anthems like Me and Bobby McGee, Aquarius, and the Jimi Hendrix version of The Star Spangled Banner. But none of those efforts touched young America with the same intensity and pervasiveness as the Four Seasons.

There is a line in the show that I didn't write down - so this is a rough re-statement. Frankie Valli tells the audience that while the fans of the British groups were trying to "levitate the Pentagon," fans of the Four Seasons were waiting America's tables, driving her trucks, and going off to fight in Vietnam.

Those are the people who are going to see this musical - many, like me - for multiple performances. The boomers have found their voice - and its a Jersey falsetto!

A Stroll Around the Mirage

by Pa Rock
Streetwalker

Gail and I got out and determined to see Las Vegas on our own this morning. Just steps outside of our hotel, the Tropicana, we turned the wrong direction and headed away from the Strip. Not being a particularly auspicious beginning, we probably should have just returned to our rooms and napped like proper old people!

Eventually we got turned around and made our way over the Strip (there are now lots of bridges across the Strip to limit the messy slaughter of tourists) to the MGM Grand. And it was Grand - but like every other place of business in this neon infested jungle, you have to navigate a half mile or so of casino in order to get anywhere. In this case we were looking for someplace to have breakfast. We finally found a little food court and had pizza.

After breakfast we decided to find the Monorail and traverse the Strip the easy way. That was probably our smartest move of the day. A twenty-four hour pass is just thirteen dollars. The MGM Grand is on the south end of the Monorail line, and the Sahara is on the north, with six stops in between. Each Monorail "train" is four cars long, and taped humor is played between stops. For instance, the tape informed us that the Monorail got its name from mono which is Latin for one, and rail which means rail.

We got off at the Sahara, discovered that it was on the poor end of the tracks, re-boarded heading south, and rode to the Caesar's Palace stop. Caesar's is awesome. One of the attractions are the lions which are encased in glass in their own rugged environment. We found the lions quite accidentally. We then decided to visit the Forum Shops, but, again, we had to march through half-a-mile of casino in order to get there. Eventually we saw an exit and escaped. Unfortunately we were out back in a glorified alley and had no idea which way to go.

After some marching trials and errors, we ended up in view of the Mirage. We were on Frank Sinatra Boulevard which was not that impressive, and there was a four-foot wall between ourselves and the Mirage. We followed Frank Sinatra to Industrial Avenue, turned right, and again were up against that damned wall for a couple of blocks. Finally we found a drive heading to the Mirage, but it said "Authorized Vehicles Only." Not being in a vehicle, I assumed that we could rush past the guard shack and make it to the sanctuary of that big damned hotel and casino. Nope. A very genial young man with a Caribbean accent sent us on down Industrial.

Two blocks and one more turn later we came to another "Authorized Vehicles" entrance. The guard in that shack was extra-courteous, and showed us how to get to an entrance by walking diagonally across a parking lot and a couple of more blocks. We wound up at the "Limousine Entrance" just as Reed caught up with us! I feel safe in assuming that my sister and I have seen more of the outside of the Mirage than any other tourists who have ever been lost in Vegas!

My primary objective at the Mirage was to show Gail the White Tigers that had tried to eat Roy, or was it Sigfried? That used to be a free display, but now you have to pay $15 dollars to enter Sigfried and Roy's Pleasure Garden where the tigers and the dolphins play for the touristas. We passed on that deal. For not much more than that you can get in the San Diego Zoo and see the whole damned zoo!

I visited with one of the employees at the Tropicana this morning and commented that it seemed like there are fewer tourists under foot that when I was here fifteen years ago. She told me, quite dejectedly, that my observation was correct. One of the things that make Casino City seem more sedate is that the slot machines no longer payoff in coins, so the sweet clang up success is gone. Now when you cash out, you receive a ticket that goes in an ATM and your cash comes out - like a bank transaction. None of the slot machines even have coin slots. They take paper currency! It's just not the same as walking around the casino with a bucket or two of nickles trying to find a hot machine!

The Tropicana is one of the older hotels on the Strip. The rooms are circa 1950's and haven't changed that much since the days when Buddy Hackett and Connie Francis were running the halls between shows. The old hotels are disappearing (the Stardust and Desert Inn have both been knocked down and replaced since I was last here), and I suspect that the Tropicana's days are numbered. The Folies Bergere still perform here every night. Miss Susan and I came to the Tropicana and saw their show fifteen years ago - and those girls were old then! But they are professional showgirls, and I am certain that they can still do the high kicks - even if they have to hold onto their walkers to meet the challenge!

Tonight we are going to see the Vegas version of Jersey Boys. I saw it on Broadway, but it is so good that I know I will enjoy a second serving. Gail hasn't seen this wonderful musical yet, so I am anxious to gage her reaction.

I will be leaving early in the morning and heading back to Hellizona.

Desert Vistas

by Pa Rock
Desert Rat

It was a beautiful day for the drive from Luke AFB to Las Vegas. I anticipated that the jaunt would take four hours, but it was closer to six. The big hangup was Hoover Dam! Damn! Damn! Highway 93 North goes right over the dam - an old two-lane roadway that had tourist traffic snarled for about ten miles, or one hour. But, we were traveling so slowly that I was able to get some great pictures from the car! I think that I may stop there and look around on my return trip Sunday.

Things that I learned on the road today include the fact that the roadside cacti between Phoenix and Wickenberg are much healthier, and of a wider variety, than those between Phoenix and Flagstaff. The Giant Saguaro, in particular, are awesome. I learned that the small theatre on the main drag of Wickenberg, AZ, aptly called "The Saguaro," is currently playing Slumdog Millionaire, indicating that Wickenberg may not be as "small town" as it lets on. And I now know what a Joshua Tree is, and even got out of my car at one point and walked among several of them.

Las Vegas has changed a great deal since I was last here fifteen years ago. Gail and I are staying at the Tropicana, one of the older hotels on the strip. Tonight we went out with her son, Reed, who lives here, and had a nice meal and saw some of the sights. We caught the volcano erupting at the Mirage, went into the Venetia and watched as the gondoliers languidly transported tourists up and down the Grand Canal, and capped the evening off with a breath-taking view of all of Las Vegas from the top of the Mandalay Bay Resort.

Las Vegas is much quieter than the last time I was here. We heard that tourism is off as much as 40 percent. Many of the slot machines looked forlorn.

Pa Rock's Oscar Picks: 2009

by Pa Rock
Movie Fan(atic)

I am heading out for a drive across the desert tomorrow afternoon to meet up with my Sis, Gail, who will be visiting her son, Reed Smith, in Las Vegas. Reed has been working in Vegas for about a year now, and I am suitably ashamed that I haven't been up to see him yet.

Considering that I will be out of town for the next couple of evenings, I thought that it would be expedient if I made my oh-so-prescient Oscar predictions tonight. Who knows, I might even back them up with a few bucks while I am in Lost Wages, Nevada!

I have seen three of the five or six most talked about movies this year, and I have also done enough reading on the subject to know who the favorites are. I agree with some of those favorites, but not all.

Best Supporting Actress: The two favorites appear to be Taraji P. Henson of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Penelope Cruz of Vicki Christina Barcelona. I've not had the pleasure of seeing either of those, but I will eventually rent Vickie Christina Barcelona or watch it on cable because Woody Allen is a genius and everything that he puts together is golden. The other three nominees are Amy Adams and Viola Davis in Doubt, and Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler.

And the Oscar will go to: Viola Davis.

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger seems to be everyone's favorite in this category, and the recently dead Mr. Ledger won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for this same performance. I saw The Dark Knight, and although I didn't especially care for the movie, I regarded Ledger's performance as amazing - he played a very compelling and chilling version of The Joker. Josh Brolin was also exceptional as Dan White, the killer of San Franscisco's Mayor George Moscone and gay City Supervisor Harvey Milk in the movie Milk. He played the deeply troubled White as...well...deeply troubled. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was also very formidable as the Catholic priest who had to face down Meryl Streep,in Doubt - not an easy task for anyone! I didn't see Robert Downey, Jr.'s portrayal of a white method actor playing a black soldier in Tropic Thunder, but I have heard raves about it from different quarters, and I have never seen him in any film that I didn't enjoy. The fifth nominee was Michael Shannon of Revolutionary Road - another film that I missed and have heard very little about.

And the Oscar will go to: Heath Ledger

Best Actress: Kate Winslet (The Reader) appears to be a strong favorite in this category, followed by Meryl Streep (Doubt), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), and Melissa Leo (Frozen River). I haven't seen Angelina Jolie (Changeling) on anybody's list of likely winners. I have personally seen The Reader and Doubt.

And the Oscar will go to: Kate Winslet

Best Actor: This is the toughest category for me to choose from, because I have only seen one of the nominees in the role for which he was nominated: Sean Penn in Milk. Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) is clearly the odds-on favorite having won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for the same role. He is being commonly referred to as the "comeback kid." Rourke's star has risen so high that he even made the national news earlier this week when his little dog, Loki, died. The other three nominees are Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), and Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

And the Oscar will go to: Sean Penn

Best Director: The favorite is Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. He has already won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Director. The other nominees are Stephen Daldry (The Reader), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), and Gus Van Sant (Milk).

And the Oscar will go to: Danny Boyle

Best Movie: The five best movie nominees are the same as in the preceding category. Again, the favorite is Slumdog Millionaire, a tale of poverty and hope in modern India. I have seen Slumdog, The Reader, and Milk - and any of those three would be worthy of the honor of being named Best Picture of the Year at the Academy Awards.

And the Oscar will go to: The Reader

Those are my best guesses based on a limited amount of first-hand knowledge and a whole lot of personal bias. If you have some strong opinion on the subject, send in your selections as a reply to this post - and we'll compare notes and "smarts" on Monday! (That is, if I manage to make it out of Vegas with the clothes on my back and my car title!)