Blog on Blogs and Other Missives
Counting the Votes: With so many people
wondering why it’s taking so long to figure out the third-place
winner in the Goleta City Council race and
completing the sheriff’s race tally,
Cookie Jill offers an answer on Blogabarbara: “Well, with thousands of people turning
in their ballots with coffee stains, water stains, crayon marks,
lewd comments, improperly bubbled, multiple bubbled, write-ins with
illegible handwriting, etc., the machines won’t read them. That’s
where humans step in. And it’s a slow, methodical process to make
sure everything is done correctly. Time to educate people on how to
actually vote properly.”
While Craig Smith signs off on his blog, the
identity of the person behind Blogabarbara is a carefully kept
secret. He (I’m told it’s a man) calls himself Sara de la
Guerra. And no, I have no idea who he is.
Sound and the Fury: No, not a movie about the
News-Press mess but reports that
Oprah Winfrey is interested in making an
adaptation of the William Faulkner novel The
Sound and the Fury. It’s a dense novel, with Faulkner’s long
sentences, but considered by some as his best. I dug out my college
edition of it then came up with this on the Internet: “First
published in 1929, Faulkner created his ‘heart’s darling,’ the
beautiful and tragic Caddy Compson, whose story
Faulkner told through separate monologues by her three brothers:
the idiot Benjy, the neurotic, suicidal
Quentin, and the monstrous Jason.”
Incidentally, Faulkner’s family name was Falkner. He just added a
“u.”
No Thriller: Blogger Craig
Smith attended the retirement party for his former boss,
DA Tom Sneddon, and reports that virtually the entire
law enforcement cast of the Michael Jackson trial
was there at the Doubletree, 
as well as Judge Rodney Melville, who presided over the
trial. Missing, of course, was the other side of the legal
equation: Jackson himself — the megastar is now living in Europe
and Dubai — and his defense team (except for Santa Barbaran
Bob Sanger, part of the Jackson team). Dancing
went on and on, but, Smith reports, the Gloved One’s
“Thriller” was not one of the numbers. Making a
heartfelt speech, I was told, was former Court TV reporter
Diane Dimond, who covered the Jackson case relentlessly
over the years.
Sound and the Not-So-Fury: Just suppose
Hollywood decides to make a movie of the News-Press mess
(I think a TV series is more likely). Well, Santa Barbara
Daily Sound columnist Leslie Westbrook
penned a column Monday about who’d be cast in the principal roles.
For Wendy: Glenn Close.
Journo Film Fest: All the President’s
Men, the 1976 movie about reporters who exposed the
Watergate scandal, will be screened free on
December 9 as a fundraiser for beleaguered News-Press
journalists. Beforehand, the public is invited to a reception at
Arnoldi’s Café to meet the News-Press
journalists, past and present ($50). The events are hosted by the
organizers of the Journalists Loan Fund and
sponsored by Sara Miller McCune, Dave
Peri, Arnoldi’s Café, and The Fund for
Santa Barbara.
Donate a Turkey: It’s not too late to donate a
turkey to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.
Secret Filming: Filmmakers kept it a secret to
avoid being swamped by lookie-loos, but scenes for Pirates of
the Caribbean III: At World’s End were filmed recently at the
Guadalupe Dunes. In this, the third of the
trilogy, “Captain Barbossa, Will Turner, and
Elizabeth Swann must sail off the edge of the map,
navigate treachery and betrayal,” according to Martine
White, county film commissioner. The cast includes
Johnny Depp. The movie will be released in
May.
Fiesta Poster: Ralph
Waterhouse, owner of the Waterhouse Gallery in downtown
Santa Barbara, has been chosen to design the 2007 Fiesta
poster.
Cottage Coddling: A neighbor, back on his feet
a day after surgery and normally critical about things hereabouts,
is full of praise for the folks at Cottage
Hospital, from the clerk who checked him in to the
sawbones who did the surgery. Echoes my experiences
there and those of relatives.
Calling All Docents: Win friends and influence
children by becoming a docent at the Santa Barbara Museum of
Natural History. You can share your enthusiasm for nature with
school children and learn from experts at the museum and in the
community. Start any time. Contact Elaine Gibson
at 682-4711, Ext. 165 or at egibson@sbnature2.org.
Cultural Feast: For the second year in a row,
Santa Barbara Channels will serve up a
Thanksgiving cultural feast, Thanksgiving Day on
Channel 21, Hap Freund tells me. For 48 hours, there’ll be
interviews with local artists, actors, playwrights, filmmakers,
poets, directors, actors, and others. The Creative
Community starts on the stroke of midnight Thursday and
continues for 48 hours.
