tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131559382024-03-07T03:24:49.472-06:00Paul Harris OnlineFrom Paul Harris, radio host turned multi-platform content provider -- this is where you'll find his blog, his columns, podcasts, the Picture Of The Day, and more. Or some days, less.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6908125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-75411339061863471232018-04-01T00:00:00.000-05:002018-04-03T16:26:20.180-05:00Moved To A New SiteIf you're accessing this site via paulharrisonline.blogspot.com, please go to my newly designed site at <a href="http://harrisonline.com/">HarrisOnline.com</a>. That's where you'll find all of my old content as well as new posts I add on a regular basis.<br />
<br />
And don't forget to check out the daily trivia at my other site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>, too!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-71473134942308254582018-03-30T02:05:00.000-05:002018-03-30T02:05:00.360-05:00Have You Been Paying Attention?It's time to look back at the week and see if you were paying attention. The topical trivia questions await you at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>, right now!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-34981198274829437132018-03-30T02:00:00.000-05:002018-03-30T02:00:41.030-05:00Movie Review: "Flower"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21gqNsSff58cZpZjHh3iNH-Ftop1cXoisLr-SiHxUy1H8zgiZCVQds8WoT9OovGL02Krdm6-nPR_2-8rGxtzeIqxDv-UYKfsEgT5BHVMguWFkVDzerv52iJK4m9n8K6jM93de/s1600/flower-movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="600" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21gqNsSff58cZpZjHh3iNH-Ftop1cXoisLr-SiHxUy1H8zgiZCVQds8WoT9OovGL02Krdm6-nPR_2-8rGxtzeIqxDv-UYKfsEgT5BHVMguWFkVDzerv52iJK4m9n8K6jM93de/s320/flower-movie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I first spotted Zoey Deutch in "Why Him," the raunchy 2016 comedy in which she played the college-age daughter of Bryan Cranston and Megan Mulally who was dating tech billionaire James Franco. Unfortunately, Deutch wasn't given much to do in that movie. Now she's the lead character in "Flower," which is also pretty raunchy, but it's not played quite as much for laughs.<br />
<br />
The movie opens with Deutch's character, Erica, orally pleasuring a middle-aged cop in the front seat of his patrol car. Unbeknownst to him, her two best friends sneak up and capture the scene on their cell phones, which the three of them then use to blackmail him for a few bucks. It's obviously not the first time the girls have pulled this scam and then gone to Dairy Queen to celebrate.<br />
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Soon we see Erica at home with her mother Laurie (the always compelling Kathryn Hahn), whose ex-husband is in jail and about to be replaced in the home by her boyfriend Bob along with his son, Luke. Put off by them at first, Erica eventually befriends Luke, who shares with her his story of having been sexually molested by a teacher named Will, (Adam Scott) who she knows as the hot middle-aged guy she's had her eye on at the bowling alley. After hearing Luke's story, Erica decides to help him get retribution on Will, and things get a little crazy from then on.<br />
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Max Winkler (son of Henry) directs all of this with some pretty good timing as he walks a thin line between the darkness of Erica's actions and the relationships between the teens. Unfortunately, several parts of the plot strain credulity too much and, in the end, "Flower" doesn't come out smelling so sweet. However, Deutch does redeem herself quite well as Erica, and it's easy to see that she'll be an actress to watch for the next several years.<br />
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I give "Flower" a 5 out of 10.Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-91099904385791117112018-03-29T09:13:00.002-05:002018-03-29T09:13:41.030-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>Celebrities Who Served.</b> Play right now at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-53532947409475265542018-03-28T02:00:00.000-05:002018-03-28T02:00:30.550-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>20th Century Primetime Puzzlers.</b> Play right now at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-65814566544264383332018-03-27T00:02:00.000-05:002018-03-27T00:02:08.603-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>We're Gonna Party Like It's 1990.</b> Play right now at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-55481586519356766532018-03-26T00:18:00.000-05:002018-03-26T00:18:30.899-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>You Have Won A Major Prize.</b> Actually, you won't win anything -- except that warm feeling you get when you score enough points to earn a bonus category at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-83393701593058717232018-03-26T00:00:00.001-05:002018-03-26T00:21:53.286-05:00Wanted: Quirky Female Lead Characters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://wwwimage-secure.cbsstatic.com/thumbnails/photos/w370/show_page/64692b94b535142d_inst_thm_16.9_1920x1080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="370" height="180" src="https://wwwimage-secure.cbsstatic.com/thumbnails/photos/w370/show_page/64692b94b535142d_inst_thm_16.9_1920x1080.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I just read <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-pilot-season-confidential-6-casting-executives-hiring-paying-talent-times-up-era-1095785" target="_blank">a piece in The Hollywood Reporter</a> about how the Time’s Up movement has impacted the hiring and paying of talent during television pilot season. At least one of the casting executives interviewed says that there are a large number of dramas in the pipeline starring women in their mid-to-late thirties.<br />
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I wonder if that means more procedurals like “Rizzoli and Isles” and its generational predecessor “Cagney and Lacey,” with two women as co-leads, or if there will finally be a show with a female star as a quirky lead character whose sidekick is a man. This occured to me as my wife and I were watching the first episode of a new CBS Sunday night drama. Here’s how the network describes the show:
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<blockquote>
<i>“Instinct” stars Alan Cumming as a former CIA operative who is lured back to his old life when the NYPD needs his help to stop a serial killer. Dr. Dylan Reinhart is a gifted author and university professor living a quiet life teaching psychopathic behavior to packed classes of adoring students. But when tenacious top NYPD detective Lizzie Needham appeals to him to help her catch a serial murderer who is using Dylan's first book as a tutorial, Dylan is compelled by the case and comes out of retirement.</i></blockquote>
From there on, it’s his odd genius that solves the cases, while she tags along, mostly in disbelief and to fill in the narrative and various plot devices. It’s the exact same paradigm as “Monk,” “Castle,” “Elementary,” and “Lie To Me” (not to mention the British series “Death In Paradise”), to name just a few.<br />
<br />
It’s not like TV producers don’t know how to cast women in procedural shows. Mariska Hargitay, Marg Helgernberger, Emily Procter, and Julianna Margulies have all had long runs in hour-long dramas, but they weren’t playing roles with the same oddball qualities as their male counterparts, with a straight-laced man alongside who’s reticent to bend the rules or rely on hunches and in awe of the lead’s analytical genius.<br />
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Perhaps that will begin to change now.Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-6140025121336825122018-03-25T00:00:00.000-05:002018-03-25T00:00:41.654-05:00Best Thing I’ve Read Today<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/1000_1x_/public/images/2018/03/platypus_diving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="800" height="214" src="https://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/1000_1x_/public/images/2018/03/platypus_diving.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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From <a href="https://www.popsci.com/platypus-milk-bacterial-infections" target="_blank">Popular Science</a>, a story about one weird animal...<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Really, almost everything about platypuses defies how we think about most mammals.<br /><br />
They do give milk to their babies, but unlike almost all other mammals they don’t have nipples. Instead, they essentially sweat out their milk from pores along their stomachs. The platypus has a bill kind of like a duck, but it’s really more of a hard snout. Their nostrils are on top of the snout, the mouth on the bottom, and oh yeah, they also sense their prey by detecting electrical fields. They literally close their eyes, ears, and nose when they dive underwater and go mainly on electroreception.<br /><br />
It also has some bonus bones in its shoulder not found in any other mammals, and rather than having its legs mounted beneath the body, its appendages spring out from the sides like a reptile. That means they also don’t swim like other mammals, who tend to use all four limbs. Platypuses let their back legs dangle—even though they, too, are webbed—and propel themselves entirely with the front feet, steering with the tail.</i></blockquote>
<a href="https://www.popsci.com/platypus-milk-bacterial-infections" target="_blank">Read the full piece here.</a>Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-59520803576196210862018-03-23T05:02:00.000-05:002018-03-23T05:02:16.768-05:00Today's Harris Challenge<b>Have You Been Paying Attention?</b> That's the question I ask every Friday as the week-ending category for my topical trivia game. Test yourself right now at <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-28361528183922719332018-03-23T00:00:00.000-05:002018-03-23T00:00:16.832-05:00Movie Review: "The Death Of Stalin"<center>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B867P5P/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07B867P5P&linkCode=as2&tag=phmedia-20&linkId=9d0c34f71cce0d43495c0927c94f257b" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B07B867P5P&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=phmedia-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=phmedia-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B07B867P5P" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></center>
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The death of a world leader is an odd subject for a comedy, particularly when the man in question was a brutal dictator who ran his country with an iron fist. But that's what Armando Iannucci, who also created the HBO series "Veep," gives us with "The Death Of Stalin."<br />
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The movie is a satire about the scramble for power by the higher-ups who wanted to replace Josef Stalin after he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1953. The two main rivals were Nikita Khrushchev, played by Steve Buscemi, and Lavrenti Beria, played by Simon Russell Beale. They are supported by Jeffrey Tambor (as the dopey second-in-command who rises to the top temporarily) and Michael Palin (a member of the committee who had been marked for assassination by Stalin but gets a reprieve), among others. The mostly British cast makes no effort to speak Russian or even a bad Russian accent a la Jennifer Lawrence in "Red Sparrow," so there's very little need for subtitles.<br />
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Buscemi is simply great as then-minister-of-agriculture Khrushchev, and has real chemistry with Beale as his adversary, the head of the secret police. The rest of the committee comes off like a Keystone Kops version of a Greek chorus.<br />
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There's some sharp satire in "The Death of Stalin," as well as some silliness. There's a very funny sequence with Paddy Considine (star of the wonderful but under-seen 2002 Jim Sheridan movie "<a href="http://amzn.to/2pqP6qr" target="_blank">In America</a>") as the director of a broadcast of a live classical music concert that goes fairly smoothly until Stalin himself calls and asks for a recording of the show -- which doesn't exist. And you wouldn't want to be one of the doctors called in to examine Stalin's corpse because to declare him dead might be akin to signing your own suicide note. Much of the comedy is very dark, indeed, with slapstick scenes played out in the foreground while people are brutally shot or tortured in the background.<br />
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I have mixed feelings about the movie. While I loved the cast and Iannucci's sometimes-breathless pacing, I felt like I'd fallen into a British farce that was missing a few slamming doors and curious butlers. I can't quite recommend that you spend money to see "The Death Of Stalin" in its arthouse run, but you might want to add it to your Netflix queue or find it on DVD, where it should be available in a few months.<br />
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I give "The Death Of Stalin" a 5 out of 10.Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-6499395983950307052018-03-22T09:45:00.000-05:002018-03-22T09:45:11.842-05:00As I Tweeted<ul>
<li>Questions I haven't heard anyone ask in the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica story: if Trump is so concerned about saving and creating American jobs, why did his campaign hire a British firm to help with his election campaign? Aren't there companies in the US that can unethically access user data?</li>
</ul>
Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-75327394318639474792018-03-22T05:02:00.000-05:002018-03-22T05:02:20.598-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>A Bullet Took Them Down.</b> See if you score enough points to earn a bonus category at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-37891143197413247232018-03-22T00:00:00.000-05:002018-03-22T00:00:17.877-05:00I'm Lying, But Please Sign Here<center>
<img src="http://www.harrisonline.com/GRAPHICS/bullshit-petition.png" height="200" width="151" /></center>
<br />
I was headed into the public library when a guy outside asked, "Sir, are you a registered voter?" I knew where this was going. He had a petition or two he'd like me to sign.<br />
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I had recently added my name to the list of Missourians who want to legalize both recreational and medical marijuana, and to another that would raise the minimum wage. Getting enough signatures on any petition wouldn't be enough to turn it into law, but would get it on the ballot for a public referendum later this year.<br />
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The library is a common place for these petition requests. I told the guy that yes, I am a registered voter, and asked what the petitions were for. He replied that one of his petitions was "to preserve historical monuments" and the other was "to protect freedom of speech at work."<br />
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Those one sentence summaries sounded like pure right-wing bullshit, but I wanted to take a look at the wording on the clipboards, just to be sure.<br />
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The petition "to preserve historical monuments" reads:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to require that certain historic memorials of any age on public property, such as statues, names of schools, streets, bridges and buildings named or dedicated in honor of any historic conflict, entity, event, or figure, may not be removed, renamed, or otherwise changed in certain ways unless provided by law?</i></blockquote>
What it doesn't say but really means:
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<blockquote>
<i>We have statues and stuff named after leaders of the Confederacy, and we don't want anyone to take them down or rename them, as they have in many other cities and states, regardless of how offensive they are. We're proud of our racist past -- and present.</i></blockquote>
The other one, "to protect freedom of speech at work," has nothing to do with your First Amendment rights and everything to do with yet another attempt to hurt unions. It reads:
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<blockquote>
<i>Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to provide that the freedom of speech protects every worker from being forced to join a union (labor organization) or pay a fee to a union in order to gain or keep a job?</i></blockquote>
This is part of the conservative Right To Work agenda that has set unions back tremendously in this state and others. It seeks to allow workers to reap the rewards of collective bargaining without having to contribute to the organizations that negotiate them. Those pushing this as a "freedom of speech" issue are deflecting from the true agenda -- corporate America and billionaires trying to gain even more of the power in the workplace by conning working women and men into believing it's in their best interests, when it clearly isn't.<br />
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I wasn't in the mood to argue with the guy, so I told him I'd pass and handed the clipboards back to him. Then I made a mental note to write about this as a heads-up to others who might blindly sign the petitions because they are fooled by the language, which is right out of the Frank Luntz playbook.Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-42823094074814368792018-03-21T16:28:00.003-05:002018-03-21T16:39:42.365-05:00Best Thing I've Read Today<center>
<img src="https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/ab/7abc2905-fc00-57ba-95f0-a50ea6aa51f0/5a90ba6402ea3.image.jpg?resize=266%2C200" /></center>
<br />
Remember those geniuses who said having two outlet malls in the valley wouldn't sign a death warrant for Chesterfield Mall? The place is almost a ghost town, and is now up for sale -- at a discount. This single paragraph in Brian Feldts piece in <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/if-you-want-to-buy-a-mall-chesterfield-mall-is/article_9cf03549-99ff-55a4-be3d-d802eabaf763.html" target="_blank">the St. Louis Post-Dispatch piece</a> says it all:
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<blockquote>
<i>Chesterfield Mall has an appraised value of $12.4 million, according to research from Trepp, a provider of data to the securities and investment industries. The appraisal is down drastically from $286 million in 2006. The mall has an appraised value on file with St. Louis County of $36 million.</i></blockquote>
Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-76628656610256582182018-03-21T00:01:00.000-05:002018-03-21T00:01:14.098-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>Food Fight. </b>See if you score enough points to earn a bonus category at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-16193504391217399662018-03-21T00:00:00.001-05:002018-03-21T00:00:00.408-05:00Facebook Tarnished<center>
<img src="http://www.harrisonline.com/GRAPHICS/facebook.jpg" /></center>
<br />
Facebook has been in the crosshairs of critics for quite a while, and the news this week of a Trump-connected behavior-modification firm getting its hands on private details of fifty million users hasn't helped. Mark Zuckerberg and his team have a lot to answer for, including how Facebook was used by Russian organizations to manipulate public opinion before -- and after -- the 2016 election. Aside from the political outcries, there is probably some shareholder scrutiny for the company to endure.<br />
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I'm not what you'd call a power user of Facebook, but I've noticed other problems with the service.<br />
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In the last few months, I've received more Friend Requests than ever, and many of them are obviously bogus. FB seemingly makes no effort to verify that its accounts belong to real people (or companies), which is why you should always dismiss its claims to have two billion users, or whatever the latest number is. I have no objection to it counting product marketing accounts, like those for Oreo, or Lowe's, or Greetabl. The problem comes in when the accounts some Friend Requests come from are clearly not what or who they purport to be.<br />
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I know a middle-aged guy who is single, good-looking, and dates younger women. His Facebook friends list is littered with dozens of very attractive females. I was impressed that he knew them, even casually -- until I started getting Friend Requests from many of them, too. There's always a photo or two of a woman, always showing cleavage, often in a bikini or other skimpy wear. Sometimes her picture is accompanied by a photo of an iconic place like the Taj Mahal (she's never in the picture, of course). I've even gotten Friend Requests from different accounts that had a picture of the same young woman! That's because these aren't real Facebook account holders. The photos come from free stock image companies -- their credits are in the file tags of the photos.<br />
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In each instance, her "friends" are all male, and there is no information about the woman -- no hometown, no occupation, no job -- or if there is, it's always from someplace I've never heard of that likely doesn't exist. Sometimes, the woman's name also has a man's name under it, or a different woman's name in parentheses. No real human does that.<br />
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It's nearly impossible for this person-likely-to-be-a-bot to have any interest in me, so I always deny the request and report it to FB as spam. Even if I accidentally accept their Friend Request, I'll never see anything they post, because I don't follow them (or pretty much anyone, except close friends I know in real life). But that doesn't stop them from coming, every single day.<br />
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The other bot problem I've encountered is the automatic posting of comments that lead you to spam sites. For instance, last week, I casually mentioned the movie "Black Panther." As soon as I hit the Post button -- and I mean immediately! -- there were comments from bots offering links to sites where you can illegally download or watch the movie for free. I didn't click on any of them, but tried deleting several, only to have new ones pop up instantly, like a game of Whack-A-Bot.<br />
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Facebook got its original boost from college students and other young people freely posting about their lives online. It was a brilliant idea that inverted the idea of using websites to gather information. Instead, Facebook users are the ones providing the content, which the site then re-purposes to its other users, whose data it gathers and sells to third-parties including advertisers.<br />
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That's all well and good, but in doing so, Facebook should have taken more responsibility for monitoring who was using its resources, and how. And don't hand me the excuse that it can't possibly manage the content and usage habits of hundreds of millions of accounts. That's the whole Facebook business model.<br />
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Oh, and the younger demos that kick-started Facebook's early success? They're long gone, ceding the site to their parents' and grandparents' generations. Millennials have moved on to Instagram and Snapchat (though the latter has lost a lot of luster after Rihanna and Kylie Jenner, both major influencers, dissed it publicly and suggested their followers stop using the app entirely)<br />
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Facebook is going to have to get control of how its vast reach is being abused, and soon. I can't be the only Facebook user who runs into these problems, and yet the company doesn't seem to be making any effort to deal with the persistent infestation of bots. Or if it is trying, it is failing miserably.Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-25776791382533614212018-03-20T00:05:00.000-05:002018-03-20T00:05:07.598-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>They Died In March.</b> See if you score enough points to earn a bonus category at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-17602653655172530652018-03-20T00:00:00.000-05:002018-03-20T00:00:27.596-05:00Concert Review: Graham Nash<center>
<img src="http://www.harrisonline.com/GRAPHICS/grahamnash-pageant031818.jpg" height="250" width="252" /></center>
<br />
Graham Nash may be 76 years old, but he still looks great (with a silver mane of hair) and sounds great, too. He's able to hit the high notes that a lot of other rockers can't at his age. When he brought his Intimate Evening Of Songs and Stories to the Pageant on Sunday night, my wife and I were both glad we went.<br />
<br />
One of the best things about a Graham Nash show, other than his voice, is that you can understand all the lyrics, even in the songs you've never heard before. He played a few of those, sprinkled among classics from various stages of his career. From his partnership with Crosby and Stills, he opened with "Wasted On The Way" and "Marrakesh Express," then went back to that songbook later for the beautiful and haunting "To The Last Whale,” “Cathedral,” and "Lady Of The Island" (from their first album). He also touched on his years with the Hollies, singing "Bus Stop" and a medley of "On A Carousel" and "Carrie Anne." From other songwriters, he threw in The Beatles' "A Day In The Life" and, in the encore, Buddy Holly's "Everyday," sung in perfect three-part harmony with guitarist Shane Fontayne and keyboardist Todd Caldwell. Those were the only two musicians on stage with Graham (no drummer), which helped give the concert a more intimate feel, particularly in a 2,000-seat venue like The Pageant.<br />
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Along the way, Graham told the stories behind some of the songs, including how a stop at the US-Canada border at the end of a CSNY tour had led him to write "Immigration Man," and how his dope dealer in Hawaii had once bet him $500 that he couldn't write a song before heading to the airport for a flight to Los Angeles, where Graham was due for a recording session. The dealer lost the bet when Graham quickly penned "Just A Song Before I Go." Considering that two-minute tune became the highest charting song in CSN history, Graham explained that if he knew it was going to be that popular, he would have written a better song.<br />
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He has written plenty of great songs, including the simple tune he came up with while living with Joni Mitchell, "Our House," as well as the closer, "Teach Your Children," which he dedicated to all teachers, everywhere.<br />
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One last note. On the way in, there were a couple of people going down the line asking people to sign petitions to make medical marijuana legal in Missouri. This is an issue that, if they get enough signatures, may become a referendum on the ballot this fall. I hope these activists are doing this before every show at The Pageant, but this one seemed like an easy sell, considering the average age of Graham Nash fans. Most of us were smoking weed recreationally 40 years ago, but now that we've grown up, we need medical marijuana for all our Medicare aches and pains!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-1428620290248288792018-03-19T00:04:00.000-05:002018-03-19T00:04:14.819-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeThe trivia category is <b>Movies Based On Movies.</b> See if you score enough points to earn a bonus category at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-16542746906727844712018-03-19T00:00:00.000-05:002018-03-19T00:00:02.322-05:00Theater Review: "Born Yesterday"<center>
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Stepping into an iconic role is always risky. When the audience knows the original, there are bound to be comparisons. Judy Holliday became a star in 1946 with her powerhouse performance as Billie Dawn in Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday." She reprised the role in the 1950 movie version, for which she won an Oscar, and woe unto any actress who has had to follow in her footsteps.<br />
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The good news is that the actress who plays Billie in the St. Louis Rep's production of the play pulls it off. Her name is Ruth Pferdehirt (I joked to my wife that it's a stage name -- her real name is Debbie Pferdehirt), and she ably fills Holliday's shoes as the character evolves over the course of two hours.<br />
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Billie is the girlfriend of Harry Brock, played by Andy Prosky, son of one of our favorite character actors of the last generation, Robert Prosky. Harry is a junk dealer who has built his business and become a self-made multi-millionaire, mostly by muscling aside the competition and steamrolling anyone and anything that gets in his way. Now he's in DC to bribe a senator and get legislation passed that will make it easier for him to continue amassing more wealth.<br />
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Harry has brought Billie along, but he's worried she'll say or do something wrong, so he hires a local journalist, Paul Verral (Aaron Bartz), to give her a little bit of culture. That turns out to be a big mistake. As Billie wisens up about the ways of Washington, she also falls for Paul, and that can't be good for Harry.<br />
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As played by Pferdehirt, Billie isn't stupid, she's ignorant -- she doesn't know what she doesn't know -- but she has a thirst for knowledge. Much of Pferdehirt's performance is lifted directly from Holliday's, including all the business during the classic gin rummy scene, when you can't take your eyes off her. Prosky is just as full of bluster as Broderick Crawford was in the movie, but Bartz isn't quite the stud that William Holden was as Verrall.<br />
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Still, the cast is solid, the laughs come regularly, and "Born Yesterday" still resonates with its talk of corruption and the power of the rich to run our government at the expense of the people.<br />
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By the way, if you haven't seen the 1950 movie, rent it and watch it with your daughter. I'm proud that mine enjoyed it so much she can quote from the script. For instance, when Harry yells, "Shut up! You ain't gonna be tellin' nobody nothin' pretty soon!" and Billie replies, just as loudly, "DOUBLE NEGATIVE!"Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-26204931343062488732018-03-18T10:40:00.000-05:002018-03-18T10:40:16.036-05:00Best Thing I've Read TodayTalk about a mic drop.<br />
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In the final four paragraphs of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/us/illinois-governor-election.html" target="_blank">Julie Bosman's piece</a> in the NY Times about the candidates for governor in Illinois, she writes about this interaction between Republican Jeanne Ives and Democrat Chris Kenney...
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<i>At a bipartisan candidate forum in Chicago in January, Ms. Ives addressed the issue of gun violence.<br /><br />
“And you know how you’re going to solve it? Fathers in the home,” she said, as the audience booed.<br /><br />
Perhaps most offended was Mr. Kennedy, who was 4 years old in 1968 when his father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated.<br /><br />
“Well, I wish I could agree with you. I didn’t have a father in my life. Somebody shot him,” he said, as audience members clapped and rose to their feet. Mr. Kennedy then walked off the stage and left the building.</i></blockquote>
Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-22956596988523058222018-03-16T00:02:00.000-05:002018-03-16T00:02:05.423-05:00Today's Harris ChallengeIt's the end of the week, so the topical trivia category is <b>Have You Been Paying Attention?</b> Test yourself, then share your score and challenge your friends at my new site, <a href="http://harrischallenge.com/" target="_blank">HarrisChallenge.com</a>!Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-9715960826611300622018-03-16T00:00:00.000-05:002018-03-16T00:00:21.060-05:00I See Red TapeI have spent far too much of this week dealing with paperwork on behalf of my mother. She's 93 years old and suffers from dementia, so doing her taxes and paying her bills and managing most of life outside her assisted living facility is simply impossible.<br />
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While my brother deals with the medical side of her situation -- a not insubstantial matter in and of itself -- I'm handling the financial stuff, including gathering information for our accountant to work up her tax returns, as well as handling the influx of invoices from medical providers and explanation-of-benefits forms from insurance companies.<br />
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I'm not surprised when there have been mistakes made, mostly with inputting her various account numbers. Those I can correct relatively easily with just a phone call. But then there's the monster that is Medicare. It is a wonderful program that alleviates the financial distress most seniors would find themselves in without it. I'm impressed by how they seem to smoothy handle all the claims, pay the providers, and pass on the rest to third-party insurers who cover much of the rest of her costs.<br />
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But it only works if you have the required information. If you don't, you're going to bang your head against the wall trying to get it.<br />
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Yesterday, I needed to know something about my mother's Medicare account so I could fix a problem with one of her providers. The woman I spoke to at Medicare informed me that, because I haven't been authorized to access Mom's account, the HIPAA law bars her from sharing any of its details with me. I asked, "How do I get authorized?" She replied that if I could put my mother on the phone for 5-6 minutes and ask her some questions, that would do it. I explained that my mother can't concentrate on the same thought for more than 5-6 <i>seconds,</i> let alone minutes, because of the effects of this dreadful disease. I asked if there was an alternate route I could take.<br />
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The woman told me to look at a specific page on the Medicare.gov website via Mom's online account, where I could request the authorization form. I told her my mother had never set up an online account, and when I had tried to do it for her, it needed a piece of information I did not have -- the month and year her Plan A coverage began. So, could this woman please provide me with that date? No, I was told, because I'm not authorized.<br />
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I knew that would be the answer, but I continued, asking if there is a third option. She said yes, we can send it to the address we have on file for Mom. Since I wasn't sure they had her current address (she's only lived there for a few months), I asked, and of course I was told I'm not authorized to be given that information.<br />
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Trying to remain calm, I appealed to this woman's better nature. I told her I understand that the system is set up to protect the privacy of people like Mom (and me and you), but she can't be the only American suffering from dementia who needs help from a family member like me. How does Medicare handle this situation for everyone else? The woman replied that she was sympathetic, but this was the only available procedure.<br />
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Finally, I agreed to option three -- send the form to whatever address Medicare has on file for Mom, and I'll somehow get my hands on it, fill it out, and then figure out a way to have her sign it so I can send it back. Presumably, at that point (it may take as long as four weeks), I'll have the authority to talk to other human beings on her behalf.<br />
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Meanwhile, don't even get me started on the Social Security Administration, the IRS, the banks, and other institutions whose mud I've been stuck in for days. I spent dozens of hours just going through Mom's filing cabinets to uncover the secrets of her paperwork -- and that was when she was lucid, last summer. I can't imagine how much worse all of this would be if we had procrastinated.<br />
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I'm sharing all of this with you not merely as a way to vent my frustration. I hope you'll take it as a warning not to leave such matters until it's too late.<br />
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If you have a parent or any family member who is getting up there in years, sit down with them and go over their financial life. Fill out Power Of Attorney forms, write down all the information for their credit cards and bank accounts, plus their utilities, cable company, cell phone provider, pharmacy, doctors, medical equipment suppliers, insurance companies, accountant, lawyer, and anything else you can think of.<br />
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From my experience, there will inevitably be one or two that slip under your radar, leaving you to ask months later about some bill from someone you've never heard of. I found things like a medical service that charged her a hundred bucks every quarter (for over two years) because she had not opted out of their subscription plan. She knew nothing about it and drew no benefit for it, but they kept debiting it from her bank account.<br />
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Don't wait until your loved one is in such a bad mental state that they can't remember any of this. Do it <i>now.</i>Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13155938.post-15256132174945689902018-03-15T12:02:00.000-05:002018-03-16T08:33:55.080-05:00Random ThoughtsUsing our voices instead of our fingers to get information from search providers and elsewhere is becoming more and more common. I recently bought an Amazon Alexa and am amazed at how good it is at voice recognition. I rarely have to repeat myself, and the response is nearly instantaneous. Google's voice search is also excellent. But Apple is way behind. Too often, when I ask Siri a question (on any platform), she either doesn't understand me or can't return relevant data. Even if I asked her to explain Apple's lag in voice recognition with the question, "Why, Siri?" she'd probably respond with a link to the local Y.<br />
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Speaking of tech companies, I see that Melania Trump will meet with Facebook and Google to talk about cyberbullying. I notice she isn't going to meet with Twitter, the social media outlet used exclusively by her husband, the man who put the bully in bully pulpit.<br />
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My wife and I laughed out loud several times while watching the new Ricky Gervais standup special, "Humanity," on Netflix. It is not for the easily offended, but contains a lengthy chunk on how he has dealt with people offended by his comments in the past. Yes, he's arrogant and condescending, but I'm glad he's gone back to standup, because most of his recent projects ("Derek," "David Brent: Life On The Road," "Life's Too Short") have been remarkably unfunny. I prefer his HBO series "Extras," his 2009 movie "The Invention of Lying," and his two "Out Of England" standup specials.<br />
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I've watched every episode of every season of "Survivor," which means I've seen Jeff Probst impose his will on the show more and more each year. I can't think of another reality show host who yells at contestants during challenges as much as he does. Also, each season, I'm surprised when, after four or five episodes, the camera somehow lands on someone I didn't even know was playing the game. She or he has been left out of the edit completely up until that point, while the dominant players got all the attention. I wonder what it's like for those leftovers to watch the show at home with their families and have to remind them, "No, really, I was there, too!"
Paul Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071950384152557840noreply@blogger.com