COPS, FLOPS, A MOVIE IDEA AND NOW THERE ARE 4!

Yesterday, I happily told you about a new "hits" record for this blog that began on the morning of the 28th of March. This morning, I can happily...No, make that humbly tell you another new "hits" record was set. Almost 50% more "hits" yesterday than the previous record setting day.
I'm not naive enough to think "hits" records like this will occur on a daily basis, but your interest in what we're trying to do is noted, very much appreciated and like I said yesterday, I hope we can continue to keep you interested. Thoughts and comments can be sent to my personal e-mail address. scottstjames@sbcglobal.net

Speaking of "hits"....Los Angeles police are in the news again because of charges regarding unprofessional behavior at the end of what had been a peaceful immigrants rights demonstration day before yesterday. Television reporters, camera operators and citizens complained that cops lost their cool when they began hitting people with batons and rubber bullets. In an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times, police officials were criticized for dispersal orders not being made in Spanish.

Uh, huh and that's one of the things that bothers a lot of legal citizens. The "mandatory" other than English language thing. From recorded messages we have to wade through on our phones before we can try to get a problem solved to having to answer questions about why an unruly or panicking crowd can't be effectively dispersed unless they're told to do so (in this case) in Spanish. A crowd that was gathered to (primarily) support what is illegal activity. Being in America, illegally. That's a tough word for a lot of people to use, so the word "undocumented" is used. No, the word is "illegal", but....

Well, there are two "buts" to deal with regarding what happened at Tuesday's demonstration, a demonstration that WAS legal, but attended by many who aren't.

A small problem that became a big problem was evidently started by what has been described as 75-100 agitators who were throwing bottles and rocks at cops. Police officers are supposed to be professional peace keepers and what should have happened is that arrests should have been made using whatever force might have been necessary to subdue the troublemakers while other officers should have "kept their cool" while helping everyone else to leave the area. Reporters with a camera crew? I know, in situations like that, they're a monumental pain in the ass and I know because I used to be one of those reporters. Cops have dealt with reporters before and what happened to some reporters and their camera people appears to have been inexcusable and some heads might roll because of this.

Meanwhile, if someone wants to live here legally OR illegally, learning English would and should be a first big step.

Our headline is, "Cops, Flops, A Movie Idea and Now There Are Four!".

We've covered the "Cops" and now, the "Flops".

Face it folks, the Lakers stink! And they've BEEN stinkin'! A stink that began about the time Jerry West left town. Well, he's available and the Lakers need help. I know, what they need is better players, but what they might need most, is better management.

The "Movie Idea".

A friend of mine named Jesse Vint gave me a script a few years ago that I really like. "The Reno Brothers". Jesse is a long time writer and actor who starred in (among other films) "Macon County Line", a film that was recently praised by Quentin Tarantino. "The Reno Brothers" is a story about this country's first armored train robbers. Robberies that exceeded one hundred and that took place (mostly) in Indiana and Missouri. Legendary detective Allen Pinkerton, the same man the Pinkerton Agency is named after and a man who also worked for President Abraham Lincoln, was the man who finally tracked down and violently brought the Reno Brothers to justice.

This is a movie designed for television (TNT, TBS, FX, HBO, Showtime, etc.) and would cost about three and a half million dollars to make. Four million to be safe.

Robert Conrad ("The Wild, Wild, West", "Blacksheep Squadron", etc.) is on board to direct and serve as a consulting producer. In addition to being a friend of mine, Robert Conrad has over a hundred film and television appearances as well as numerous directing credits.

Conrad's son, Shane, is on board to play one of the Reno Brothers and to co-produce this film with me.

David Carradine is a personal friend of Jesse Vint's and I've spoken with Carradine about playing Pinkerton. He has expressed interest as has another friend of Vint's, Robert Forster.
Collectively, these two actors have over two hundred film and television credits to their name.

3.5 to 4 million dollars.

If you have an itch you'd like to scratch and would like to see the script and to speak with Shane Conrad about some "particulars", contact me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I'll make the introductions.

"And Now There Are Four".

Did you see last night's "American Idol"? What we tuned in for was the band Bon Jovi and to find out which two finalists would be eliminated, but in addition to that, what we got, was a lot time filling fluff.

Bon Jovi was good and the four finalists are (alphabetically) Blake, Jordin, Lakisha and Melinda. The sentimental bye-bye's were given to Chris and Phil.

Tomorrow:

I'm deciding on a couple of different things.