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The 11th annual DTLA Film Festival took place Oct. 23-27. According to the Festival’s website: “Our programming reflects downtown L.A.’s vibrant new urbanism, the unique ethnic and cultural diversity of its neighborhoods, its burgeoning independent film community, its singular blend of late 19th and 20th century architecture, and the seminal role it played in the early days of American cinema (epitomized by the world’s largest group of vintage movie palaces located in the Broadway Theater District).”

DTLAFF screened features, shorts, documentaries etc., at two primary locations: Regal L.A. LIVE1000 West Olympic Blvd., L.A., CA 90015 while the Dome Series is at the Wisdome Immersive Art Park in DTLA’s Arts District, 1147 Palmetto St., L.A. or the Vortex Dome Theater at L.A. Center Studios.Panels, parties, etc., were presented at various Downtown L.A. locations. For info on the DTLA Film Festival see: https://www.dtlaff.com/.

KATHY GRIFFIN: A HELL OF A STORY

The Head of Her Comic Class: Doc Mocks Trump

One of my big bugaboos as a cultural historian and critic is originality, and today’s spate of sequels, remakes and copycatting of content from one medium to another usually rubs me the wrong way. But as soon as the proverbial curtain lifts at the Skylight Theatre The 7 Stages of Grieving kicks off with something most American audiences are likely to have never seen before in all of their theatergoing. Phosphorescent rocks glowing in the dark are poured onstage, the only thing visible onstage in the gloom, forming a circle around a mound of dirt which we glimpse, once the lights are turned on.

We also see our storyteller, Chenoa Deemal, a full-figured, pretty, youthful brown-skinned woman with long straight hair in a colorful dress. A sort of Down Under counterpart to African griots, Ms. Deemal proceeds to lead us through seven vignettes that shed light on the Aboriginal experience, after she has recognized the Traditional Custodians of the land here in Los Angeles - the Gabrielina, Tongva and Kich tribal peoples.

In spite of the fact that Israeli snipers continue to shoot scores of unarmed protesting Gazans every Friday with virtually no coverage from the media, there are some signs that the ability of Israel and its friends to control the narrative regarding the Jewish state’s appalling human rights violations is beginning to weaken. To be sure, The Lobby still has sharp teeth and is prepared to use them as in last week’s report of a Florida high school principal with 26 years of experience and an otherwise impeccable record who was fired because he said that “Not everyone believes in the holocaust.”

The 11th annual DTLA Film Festival took place Oct. 23-27. According to the Festival’s website: “Our programming reflects downtown L.A.’s vibrant new urbanism, the unique ethnic and cultural diversity of its neighborhoods, its burgeoning independent film community, its singular blend of late 19th and 20th century architecture, and the seminal role it played in the early days of American cinema (epitomized by the world’s largest group of vintage movie palaces located in the Broadway Theater District).”

DTLAFF screened features, shorts, documentaries etc., at two primary locations: Regal L.A. LIVE 1000 West Olympic Blvd., L.A., CA 90015 while the Dome Series is at the Wisdome Immersive Art Park in DTLA’s Arts District, 1147 Palmetto St., L.A. or the Vortex Dome Theater at L.A. Center Studios. Panels, parties, etc., were being presented at various Downtown L.A. locations. For info on the DTLA Film Festival see: https://www.dtlaff.com/.

POISONING PARADISE

007 Fights the Ultimate Bond Villain: The Agrichemical Industry

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There is a certain irony in President Donald Trump’s frequently expressed desire to withdraw from the endless wars that have characterized the so-called “global war on terror” initiated by George W. Bush in 2001. The problem is that Trump has expressed such sentiments both when he was running for office and also as recently as last week without actually doing anything to bring about change. In fact, the greatly ballyhooed “withdrawal” from Syria turned out to be more like a relocation of existing military assets, with soldiers moving from Syria’s northern border to take up new positions to continue control of the Iraqi oil fields in the country’s southeast. Indeed, the number of American soldiers in Syria may have actually been increased with armor units being transferred from their base in Iraq.

Let me just start by clarifying that this review of Psycho should not be confused with a biopic somebody’s bound to make about Trump called Psychopath. Rather, this is a review of an exceptional Halloween screening of the 1960 classic movie Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock, accompanied by LA Opera Orchestra performing composer Bernard Herrmann’s eerie, sometimes screeching score.

Psycho is widely considered to be a movie masterpiece, largely because of its striking visuals organically linked to Herrmann’s music which brilliantly (and terrifyingly!) expresses the story of psychotic mama’s boy Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) running amok at a moody motel and California Gothic house of horrors (which you can actually see at the Universal Studios tour). According to LA Opera’s publicist Vanessa Flores Waite, the Orchestra (which has up to 61 core members) performed Herrmann’s chilling score live as a “special version of the film that doesn’t include the soundtrack” was projected onto the screen above the dimly lit stage of the Theatre at Ace Hotel where Louis Lohraseb conducted his “macabre” musicians.

He has shown himself to be a malignant narcissist and a habitual liar. The Washington Post’s ongoing tally of Trump lies is now at almost 14,000. 

These are not “misstatements” or “gaffes” or the semi-harmful utterances of a fabulist: Donald Trump behaves like a pathological liar.

Republican leaders and others in Trump’s inner circle know that he is mentally unwell. They speak of that fact in hushed tones and in “off the record” conversations with reporters. This is but another example of how Trump’s Republicans are more loyal to power, and to him, than they are the country’s well-being.

Trump’s voters and other followers are members of his political cult. They share his collective narcissism and other pathologies. To abandon or criticize their leader would require them to engage in a level of critical self-reflection they may no longer be capable of. 

After a recent meeting in which Trump raged at Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats for criticizing his abrupt abandonment of the Syrian Kurds, the House speaker said the president had had a “meltdown”. 

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 25, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A huge national spotlight is now on Adam Schiff, the member of Congress leading the impeachment inquiry. In his tenth term, Schiff is really going places. But where is he coming from?

This year, as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he has relentlessly built a case against a horrendous president. For progressives eager to see Donald Trump impeached, Schiff is an enemy of their enemy. But whether he’s a friend is another matter.