Several lifetimes ago I was an “entertainment journalist” for a weekly outlet based in Burbank, CA, USA. I went to round tables and press screenings and covered more than my share of Hollywood junkets as a “junketeer,” one of many writers sent to cover the meet and greets with stars and crew for films seeking that all important publicity push in the hopes of scoring big box office. I quickly realized the formula for questions and answers at these things and recognized the rote, pat answers that plugged into the formula. It took a lot to break out of the “what was it like working with…” prompt to get “what a pleasure and joy…” It was more marketing than journalism but now and again you could do something fun or meet somebody nifty.
One of my best opening lines of a review came from “Josie and the Pussycats” wherein I wrote, “It’s like Charles Dickens says: ‘Expectations are great!'” Although I had a copy editor friend who really liked my DVD review of Rodney Dangerfield’s romantic comedy that included me explaining, “There’s nothing quite like seeing Rodney pitch woo….”
But I digress. I was never a very good journalist even in my aspirations. The “buried the lead” point of this post is actually about ANOTHER writer at that weekly rag, a fellow by the name of Michael Levine. He was a public relations guru and had a weekly column, a sort or Andy Rooney meets Hedda Hopper thing that covered a bit of the goings on in Burbank and LA and combined with his “take” on local, um, stuff? Events? What have you? Anyway, part of the column was a weekly “roundup” where he’d deem something as either “tiresome” or “intriguing.” It was kind of the Newsweek Conventional Wisdom Arrow or TV Guide’s Cheers and Jeers or, ya know what, let’s call a spade a spade — it was a binary of something being either “tiresome” or “intriguing.”
My roommates and I at the time loved it… mainly because we’d play a blind item guessing game where we’d list the topic and then vote on whether the writer would deem it “tiresome” or “intriguing.” You often couldn’t tell based on the guy’s intro description before he revealed what he thought of it. Bob’s Big Boy was “intriguing” which we took to mean he got a free meal there versus the “tiresome” Pink’s, where we assume he had to wait in line for a subpar hot dog (even now I think Pink’s is tiresome… for my money Carney’s offers a better dog in the LA area).
Anyway, again, total digression as the point REALLY is that I received this notice from the Bali Marathon:
A new concept to race pack collection?
What could that possibly mean?
There’s only one word to describe this:
“Intriguing.”
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Post Published Post Script – Ya know, it dawned on me during my *uber-slow*, mostly walking, mid-afternoon “run” that the Michael Levine binary might have been “intriguing/tired” and not “intriguing/tiresome.” I have some old copies of Entertainment Today in the archives but they’re all secured in the fire proof warehouses pending final approval of the Kevin S. Hanna Museum location. I’ll put a call into my own personal Jocasta Nu and ask a few of my fellow junketeers from back in the day if they recall. I’m embarrassed by my run and the fact that now I’m not sure how to describe something that isn’t up to snuff in the topsy-turvy world of La-La Land… and beyond. What has two thumbs and is tired and/or tiresome?
This guy.