#peter mehlman

[90smovies]

Seinfeld

[relaxedbunny]

A Story A Day - 7 Days Reading Challenge

Take 7

Started: 2022-8-9

Ended: 2022-8-15

DAY 1 “Baker’s Helper” by Cynthia Anderson from Flash Fiction Forward ★★★★★

DAY 2 “Rumors of Myself” by Steve Almond from Flash Fiction Forward ★★☆☆☆

DAY 3 “Mandela Was Late” by Peter Mehlman from Flash Fiction Forward ★★☆☆☆

DAY 4 “Sleeping” by Katharine Weber from Flash Fiction Forward ★★★★★

DAY 5 “How to Set a House on Fire” by Stace Budzko from Flash Fiction Forward ★★★★☆

DAY 6 “Adam, One Afternoon” by Italo Calvino from Last Comes the Raven: And Other Stories ★★★★☆

DAY 7 “A Ship Loaded with Crabs” by Italo Calvino from Last Comes the Raven: And Other Stories ★★★★☆

Take 6

Started: 2022-6-27

Ended: 2022-6-28

DAY 1 “The Building Site” by Marguerite Duras from Whole Days in the Trees ★★★★☆

Take 5

Started: 2022-5-31

Ended: 2022-6-2

DAY 1 “Whole Days in the Trees” by Marguerite Duras from Whole Days in the Trees ★★☆☆☆

DAY 2 “Late” by Judith Pond from Typishily ★★☆☆☆

DAY 3 “The Boa” by Marguerite Duras from Whole Days in the Trees ★★★☆☆

Take 4

Started: 2022-5-21

Ended: 2022-5-25

DAY 1 “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson ★★★☆☆

DAY 2 “Mute” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★★

DAY 3 “Ayana” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★☆☆☆☆

DAY 4 “A very tight place” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

DAY 5 “Man with the Missing Mouth” by Meiko Ko published on Anmly ★★☆☆☆

Take 3

Started: 2022-5-11

Ended: 2022-5-15

DAY 1 “The Conquest of Gola” by Leslie F. Stone from The Big Book of Science Fiction ★★★☆☆

DAY 2 “N” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★☆

DAY 3 “The Oblong Box” by Edgar Allan Poe ★★☆☆☆

DAY 4 “New york times at special bargain rates” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

DAY 5 “The cat from hell“ by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

Take 2

Started: 2022-4-29

Ended: 2022-5-2

DAY 1 “Gingerbread girl” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

DAY 2 “Rest stop” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★☆

DAY 3 “Stationary bike” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★★

DAY 4 “The things they left behind” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

Take 1

Started: 2022-4-19

Ended: 2022-4-21

DAY 1 “The Wedding Present” by Neil Gaiman from Smoke and Mirrors “An Intro” ★★★☆☆

DAY 2 “Willa” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★☆☆

DAY 3 “Harvey’s dream” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★☆

Reflection on the Challenge

Sometimes life gets harder. Something pops up and I can’t maintain my routine even though I was so close to my goal. That’s fine. Keep trying. That happens to everyone.

Be loyal to myself is important to this challenge. I can skip a day or two and read three stories on the third day, but that just takes away the charm of this challenge to help building up a daily reading habit. I think to build a habit is more important than how much I actually read because there are 7 or 8 pages in one story and sometimes up to 60 or 70 pages in another one (for example, “Whole Days in the Trees” by Marguerite Duras is 70 pages on my e-reader). To allow myself to set up a mount of time to read daily is something I should practice here.

Since the stories have different length, I started to pick shorter stories in the second take. That’s not good, but I think it’s acceptable if that’s the way to help me to build up the habit. And I ended up forgetting to do it not because I failed so many times, but because I really enjoyed reading some of the longer stories. “Stationary bike” by Stephen King on the second take is the story which stopped me to pick the shorter ones to read.

Returning from LV, I realized that I got COVID. I stopped doing everything and rested for two weeks. I was very tired and couldn’t focus very much. I gave myself enough time to be myself again. That’s when I tried the last time and accomplished the challenge. It was effortless and joyful.

[youtwitinmyface]

Best TV Shows You've Never Watched: IT'S LIKE, YOU KNOW

Best TV Shows You’ve Never Watched: IT’S LIKE, YOU KNOW

With this entry I’m breaking one of own little self-imposed rules. When I started this category, my intent was to feature TV shows that didn’t last past one season. Well this show technically made it to a second season before it was canceled, but the first season was just 7 episodes, and the 2nd season was canceled after its 12th episode, so altogether 19 episodes of the series aired on TV, which…

[funsimplethings]

Terps! Terps in comedy!

[mrmedia]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKwYR8DZ0pM)

Happy Birthday to Seinfeld​ writer Peter Mehlman​! 2012 VIDEO INTERVIEW

PETER MEHLMAN audio excerpt: "I was in New York after the 'Spongeworthy' episode. I was at dinner with my parents. The next table was talking about The Sponge. They had some of their facts wrong... and I corrected them as if I some fanatical fan of the show.”

https://youtu.be/EKwYR8DZ0pM

[anarchy-in-the-pre-k]

will someone please critique the beginning of my fake seinfeld script

Seinfeld- “The Laundromat”

Written by Larry David

Peter Mehlman

& Leonard MacAfee

SCENE 1- JERRY and GEORGE are sitting at MONK’S CAFE. JERRY is holding a newspaper as GEORGE sips his coffee.

GEORGE

Oh, would ya look at this-

JERRY

I’m tellin’ ya, you got to leave it alone.

GEORGE

Well I’ve got thirty bucks riding on the Mets against the other guys at the laundromat and if I’m out again this week then that’s the last of my severance money. Who knows what I’ll have to do to survive then. Probably sell a kidney or something.

JERRY

Or you could find a job.

GEORGE

Ah forget it, it’s pointless.

JERRY

I still don’t understand this. You’re telling me there’s a bookie at the laundromat?

GEORGE

There’s a bookie at the laundromat.

JERRY

And there are people who bet at the laundromat like it’s Atlantic City or something?

GEORGE

*exasperated* Jerry yes, I told you it’s big business there. The way they run that place on 37th and 151st it’s like the backroom of Caesar’s Palace. Laundry is probably their second mode of income. And they’re real cutthroat too, you don’t want to be caught owing money to the laundry boys.

JERRY

I’ll try to remember that.

GEORGE

Anyway, what was I saying?

JERRY

Selling your kidney.

GEORGE

*snaps* That’s right. How much do you think it’s worth?

JERRY

How much do I think your kidney is worth?

GEORGE

Quit playing games with me funnyboy, how much would you pay for my kidney?

JERRY

I don’t know, I have no frame of reference for this kind of thing. If I lowball you, you’ll be insulted. If I guess too high you’ll get your hopes up. Let’s say a thousand.

GEORGE

You don’t think a kidney is worth more than a thousand dollars?

JERRY

I don’t think your kidney is worth more than a thousand dollars.

GEORGE

There must be thousands of people who sell their kidneys every day. They must be making more than a thousand for it.

*awkward pause*

GEORGE

Maybe I have something more valuable that I can sell.

[ELAINE walks in and sets her back and coat down on the seat next to GEORGE]

ELAINE

Hey.

JERRY

*mumbling* Hey.

GEORGE

Elaine, how much would you pay for one of my kidneys?

ELAINE

For one of yours? *beat* Maybe like a thousand. Why?

GEORGE

Ah, forget it.

JERRY

J.D. Rockefeller here bet the last of his severance money down at the laundromat.

ELAINE

The one on 37th and 151st?

GEORGE

You’ve been there?

ELAINE

No, I’ve just heard about it.

JERRY

From who?

ELAINE

Kramer.

GEORGE

*in shock* Kramer bets at the laundromat?

ELAINE

Why not, everyone else does.

GEORGE

*pitying self and looking down* Oh god, I’m going to have to sell one of my kidneys for this.

[JERRY and ELAINE stare at GEORGE in contempt and boredom for a second before turning back to their own conversation]

JERRY

So, what’s new with you?

ELAINE

Well, you remember that guy I met last week at that used bookstore that just opened across my apartment?

JERRY

Oh yeah, the Baudelaire fanatic.

ELAINE

I know, isn’t that great? I’ve never met a guy who cared about reading stuff like that that much.

JERRY

You don’t even care about reading stuff like that that much.

ELAINE

This isn’t about me. Maybe I’m trying to broaden my horizons and meet people who’ll bring a little enrichment to the table. Maybe you just can’t appreciate that I’m trying to date someone who’s cultured.

JERRY

Are you saying that I wasn’t cultured?

ELAINE

I don’t know, do you count knowing all the lines in The Last Starfighter as “being cultured”?

JERRY

Hey, he was their planet’s last hope. It was a very touching film. I mean what else do you even know about this Baudelaire guy? Are you seriously going out with him just because he reads some old french poetry?

ELAINE

It’s not something I’d expect you to understand.

GEORGE

*Head pops up* Sperm! I could donate my sperm, Jerry. I heard you can get good money for donating that.

JERRY

Ah sure, for a little while, but do you really want to take your work home with you?

ELAINE

And besides, don’t they only want donations from, you know…

GEORGE

What?

ELAINE

Well I’ve always heard that sperm banks really look for a certain type when they’re sifting through applications.

GEORGE

Type? What type of type? I can be a type if they need me to be.

ELAINE

You know… *raises her level hand a few feet above her head to signify a tall man*

GEORGE

*beat* Never in my life did I think I would’ve been called a manlet just for wanting to relieve myself. *gets up to leave the table*

JERRY

What’s the matter, where are you going?

GEORGE

I’ve gotta go figure something out. Maybe I can find something I own that’s outside of my body I can sell. *pointing at JERRY* see you tonight at 8?

JERRY

For the game?

GEORGE

Jerry, you know they cut my cable in my apartment. If I don’t watch the game at your place then I won’t know whether or not I’m going to owe the laundry boys.

JERRY

So why don’t you listen to it on the radio?

GEORGE

What, like it’s the great depression? Are you trying to tell me that you’re not going to be watching the game anyway?

JERRY

Yeah but it’s this nervous gambler energy you exude it makes it hard to enjoy. Look, you can come over but just try to relax when the Mets are up, I’m just trying to enjoy the game.

GEORGE

Sure, sure. You got it, whatever you say. Okay, Later Jerry, Elaine.

JERRY & ELAINE

Bye.

JERRY

So, when are you meeting this guy again?

ELAINE

Tonight. He’s taking me to this little french place he knows in Chelsea. Very chic, he says. They serve their entrees on wooden cutting boards.

JERRY

I’ve never appreciated places that don’t just give you plates.

ELAINE

Well that’s where we’re going.

JERRY

And what are you going to talk about?

ELAINE

Oh, I’m sure he’ll have something interesting to say.

JERRY

Based on?

ELAINE

He reads, Jerry.

JERRY

Alright alright, I’m only teasing ya.

ELAINE

Seems better than what you have planned.

JERRY

Ah, I’m sure it’ll be fine. George only has so much further to fall before he hits the bottom, what could one game be?

SCENE 2-

[isfeed]

How Can the Oscars Be More Entertaining? Here Are Five Ways

How Can the Oscars Be More Entertaining? Here Are Five Ways

We asked the industry insiders Ricky Gervais, Nell Scovell, Bruce Vilanch, Jordan Horowitz and Peter Mehlman what they would change. Their ideas ranged from charming to totally unlikely. Source: New York Times

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Resurrecting Rocket From The Tombs (2004)

Here’s a Sunday interview with both Richard Lloyd and Cheetah Chrome, back when they were rocketing from the tombs. Still need to read Lloyd’s memoir. In the meantime, you can check out Jason’s interview with the guitarist. 

Rocket From the Tombs formed 30 years ago, but the legendary Cleveland band has only just got around to releasing its debut album, Rocket Redux (Smog Veil). Of course, a lot has transpired in between the group's initial breakup in 1975 and its subsequent, entirely unexpected reformation in early 2003 to play an L.A. festival. "There was a total standing ovation," said RFTT guitarist Richard Lloyd, on the phone from New York. "It was as if it was some sort of opera, with the whole theater exploding at the end." 

The original quintet — vocalist David Thomas (AKA Crocus Behemoth), guitarist Cheetah Chrome (AKA Gene O'Connor), guitarist Peter Laughner, drummer Johnny Mandansky, and bassist Craig Bell — played a ferocious brand of proto-punk that drew equally from The Stooges, the MC5, and the Velvet Underground. In the group's repertoire were three songs that would become punk classics: "Sonic Reducer" (as recorded by Chrome's next band, the Dead Boys), "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," and "Final Solution" (as recorded by Thomas' next band, Pere Ubu). So volatile were the personalities of RFTT's principal players that after a handful of earthshakingly loud gigs in and around Cleveland, the band split acrimoniously without ever recording a studio album. In late 1975 Thomas formed Pere Ubu, the acclaimed art-rock combo that he continues to lead to this day, while Cheetah Chrome hooked up with vocalist Stiv Bators to found the nihilistic mid-'70s punk group the Dead Boys. Laughner fronted a succession of short-lived bands before drinking and drugging himself to an early grave in 1977. Mandansky and Bell simply dropped out of sight. Rocket From the Tombs' story did not end there, however. Over the years, the band attained what can only be described as a mythic aura, thanks to the cover versions by Thomas and Chrome's respective bands, as well as a handful of lo-fidelity bootlegs. By the early '90s, RFTT had become the ultimate "cult" act — a band more people had heard of than actually heard. That all changed in 2002, when an official Rocket From the Tombs document was finally released. Made up of rehearsals and live recordings, The Day the Earth Met Rocket From the Tombs showed the band to be a powerful creative force, mixing an adventurous, experimental spirit with bone-crunching riffs and an aggressive performance style. The CD was met with almost universal acclaim in both the underground and mainstream press. At least one person wasn't surprised by Rocket From the Tombs' belated success: "The songs are good songs, the performances are good performances," Cheetah Chrome stated during a recent interview. Had he given the band much thought over the past 30 years? "It was something I had always been proud of," he said, "but as I had no tapes of the band, I did forget exactly how good we had been." In the late '90s, Chrome found himself in the unlikely position of having to buy bootlegs of his former band on eBay. Listening to them was a revelation: "It hit me like a ton of bricks how important the band was to my musical history, how much it had shaped me in my formative years," he said. Following the success of The Day the Earth Met Rocket From the Tombs, Chrome and Thomas re-connected and decided to reform the band for a one-off gig opening for Pere Ubu at 2003's Thomas-curated Disastodrome Festival in Los Angeles. Chrome had kept up with Craig Bell over the years, and he was up for the reunion. With Mandansky missing in action, Thomas recruited Pere Ubu's Steve Mehlman to fill the drummer's chair. Finding a replacement for the long-dead Laughner was trickier. Fortunately, Chrome had a ringer in mind. "When we needed a guitarist to do the UCLA gig, we wracked our brains to think of who could fit," he said. "Richard's name came up pretty quick, and once it did, there was no other choice." "Richard" was Richard Lloyd, guitarist extraordinaire of NYC punk legends Television. "Cheetah Chrome e-mailed me about two years ago, and said they were having — as he put it — 'an RFTT reunion,'" Lloyd recalled during a separate interview. "When I got the e-mail, I didn't know what RFTT meant! But I think Cheetah's very talented, so I wrote back to him and said 'Yes, I'd love to do it — what's RFTT?'" Once the acronym was explained, Lloyd recalled a few summer nights in 1975, when Rocket From the Tombs opened for Television. "Those were our first out-of-town shows, in Cleveland," Lloyd said. "Peter Laughner had seen us in New York, and he was the one who talked us into going out there, and he said his band could open up for us." Laughner's band was clearly on the verge of falling apart, according to Lloyd. "At the sound check, they got in a huge fight. I don't know just how physical it got, but there was shouting and shoving. And then they broke up right after those shows, I think." Still, Lloyd remembers being impressed with Rocket From the Tombs' intense commitment to their music, and followed the subsequent work of the band's trailblazing offshoots, the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu. The 21st century version of Rocket From the Tombs that Lloyd completed turned out to be no less combustible than the original. "We were playing [The Disastodrome Festival] on Sunday, so we had Friday and Saturday available to rehearse in the afternoon," Lloyd said. "I arrived and met everybody at the theater. We were on the stage and we began to play and the band got in another big fight! Cheetah, David, and Craig all walked off. And then Steve walked off. And I just thought, 'Wow, nothing's changed!'" Chrome admits that relations among the band's founding members can sometimes be less than cozy. "We get along very well by e-mail, or on the phone. We get together in the same room and KABOOM, it gets tricky!" he said. "It's only because we all want it to be right, but it can be stressful, sorta like Rush Limbaugh and Abbie Hoffman working together on a project. The working relationships in this outfit would probably seem very strange to an outsider!" Despite this, the reformed band's first gig was a powerful experience for both the musicians and the audience. Rocket From the Tombs MK II charged through a set including "Sonic Reducer," "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," and "Final Solution" as though the past 30 years were the blink of an eye. Lloyd said the crowd went crazy, exploding into a standing ovation at the end. All involved agreed that the band was too potent a force to let fade. So Rocket From the Tombs embarked on a brief summer U.S. tour and followed it with a longer one this past winter. In between, the band assembled at Lloyd's New York studio to record what would become Rocket Redux. "People would keep bugging us after the shows, asking if there were any recordings of this band," said Lloyd, who produced and engineered the album. "So we thought we ought to get something down on tape. It's designed to be the live set done exactly in the sequence that the setlist was. It's just like a written, one-act play. You don't change the dialogue, you don't introduce a new scene. If in every place you play you're getting this great reaction, then that's the way it ought to be." Chrome is especially pleased with the hi-fidelity nature of Rocket Redux. "We wanted it to be a clearer version of the songs, where you would be able to hear the lyrics and tell the difference between guitars," he says. "Much as I love the originals, some of the guitars are so far in the red it's painful. It makes a good document, and the intensity is great, but whew! Not for the squeamish." With Rocket Redux now in stores, the band finds itself at a crossroads. Will they forge ahead and attempt to develop new material? "I think individually we all hope so," said Lloyd, who has written a new song, "Amnesia," for the band. "We're all cautious, because it's so volatile a situation. And it's all so long-distance — if it weren't for the Internet, this band wouldn't have gotten back together at all. I'm in New York, Cheetah's in Nashville, David lives in England, Craig is in Indianapolis, and Steve is in Cleveland! So it's not close quarters. There has been some talk of us playing some shows in Europe later this year, but nothing's final."

[hulusan]

Prominent Republicans File Brief to Support L.G.B.T. Rights in Legal Case

By JEREMY W. PETERS The group, including Meg Whitman, Mark McKinnon and Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, says the Civil Rights Act bars such discrimination. Published: July 2, 2019 at 04:30AM from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Lwu7hP

[topnewsfromtheworld]

Prominent Republicans File Brief to Support L.G.B.T. Rights in Legal Case

By JEREMY W. PETERS The group, including Meg Whitman, Mark McKinnon and Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, says the Civil Rights Act bars such discrimination. Published: July 2, 2019 at 01:00AM from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Lwu7hP

[izayoi1242]

Prominent Republicans File Brief to Support L.G.B.T. Rights in Legal Case

By JEREMY W. PETERS The group, including Meg Whitman, Mark McKinnon and Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, says the Civil Rights Act bars such discrimination. Published: July 2, 2019 at 09:00AM from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Lwu7hP via IFTTT

[freelyfreewhispers]

By PETER MEHLMAN from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/2EoDxIB

[agcnews69]

By PETER MEHLMAN from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/2EoDxIB

[mrmedia]

Happy Birthday to comedian Jerry Seinfeld​! 2007 VIDEO INTERVIEW with “Spongeworthy” writer Peter Mehlman​

PETER MEHLMAN audio excerpt: “I was in New York after the ‘Spongeworthy’ episode of Seinfeld​ aired. I was at dinner with my parents. The next table was talking about The Sponge. They had some of their facts wrong… and I corrected them as if I some fanatical fan of the show.”

http://mrmedia.com/2012/11/seinfeld-writer-peter-mehlman-knew-when-mandela-was-late-2012-video-interview/#.WQToYVKZOV4

[cvtreasures]

No Thanks. Really, Oscar Winners, Skip That Part. by PETER MEHLMAN

By PETER MEHLMAN

If the Academy Awards can proceed without a host, it’s time to rethink those acceptance speeches. Please.

Published: February 20, 2019 at 07:00PM

from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/2EoDxIB via IFTTT

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2IswHpm via IFTTT

[javierpenadea]

"No Thanks. Really, Oscar Winners, Skip That Part." by PETER MEHLMAN via NYT Movies https://ift.tt/2EoDxIB