LeeWochner

Last year, I bought my wife a gift and a card on Valentine’s Day. When I brought them home, she said, “Oh. I thought we weren’t celebrating it.” I spent days pondering what that meant. Especially since I thought everything was fine. Today was Valentine’s Day again. As we know, I was busy out of town for four days, then utterly jammed the past two. And I had to pick up not just my son, but also two of his friends after school for a sleepover so their mother could have her first date in... Read Full Story

Read Full Story

Last night, Paul McCartney closed the Grammy Awards. (An event that I actually watched part of, for once, because it featured the reunion of “The Beach Boys.” Please note the quotation marks, being of the opinion as I am that The Beach Boys died with Carl Wilson.) During his performance, lots of people jumped on Twitter to ask this question: “Who is Paul McCartney?” I want to be charitable and assume that most of the people who asked this are children. I like to think that adults... Read Full Story

So I was in San Diego for four days, staying at a very nice hotel, enjoying cigars in the jacuzzi, dancing in trendy nightclubs with largely unclad women ’til 2 a.m., drinking good drinks and savoring fine meals , and between all that, I had to do delegate-things at the California Democratic state convention. So, yes, while there’s internet access in San Diego, somehow or other I didn’t post for four days. That damn convention just didn’t allow time for it. Read Full Story

I’m a partner in a digital marketing firm, Counterintuity . How did I get into this line of work? People asked me to. Specifically, starting about 20 years ago, they started asking me if I could bring to bear for their organizations those writing / directing / producing / acting skills learned from all those years in theatre. And the banks and the municipalities and the ad agencies paid a lot better than the theatre. So I started doing that. As Tom Vander Well’s story shows , it looks... Read Full Story

I’ve got to admit, I’m a sucker for the Shat, whose one-man show comes to Los Angeles in one mere month. Will the show be tongue-in-cheek? Will it be straight-up? Campy? Vainglorious? Exhilarating and a complete bomb? All of the above and at the same time, of course, just like everything about him. I’m checking out tickets now. Read Full Story

Cartoonist and writer James Sturm on why he’s going to boycott the Avengers movie . I respect Sturm’s opinion — especially because he’s a lifelong comics fan who also wrote a Fantastic Four miniseries (and a good one!) — but I’m not sure what he’s asking for. I wish he were more specific. If it’s a cash settlement:  Jack Kirby, indisputably the most important creator in the history of Marvel comics, is deceased, meaning that a settlement would benefit his heirs — who, like every one else at... Read Full Story

One of our elected “leaders” thought this piece in the Onion was for real — and posted about it on Facebook , as part of his campaign against Planned Parenthood. He seemed to believe that the agency actually is opening an $8 billion “abortionplex.” I wonder what this guy is voting on today. (And shudder.) Read Full Story

I’m waiting for the little fat one to scream “Obaammmmaaaaaaaaa!” Read Full Story

I was in Hollywood last night at the Hollywood & Highland complex for the 125th anniversary of Hollywood. (And if you think that’s a lot of ways to say “Hollywood,” well, welcome to Hollywood.) While I was there, I noted yet again the scores of amateur costumed characters pestering tourists to get their picture taken with them — and then insisting on a “tip.” One guy couldn’t even bother with a costume; a semi-fit black guy wearing a black muscle shirt emblazoned with the sobriquet “Mr... Read Full Story