Monday, October 14, 2019

T


First words

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Sari Kamin wants to be an actress. A lot. This is the story of a man who is possibly a creepy letch, and a woman who is definitely too stupid for Hollywood.


PROLOGUE  |  Sari Kamin has joined countless women to post details about her encounters with Hollywood screenwriter and director James Toback (Bugsy; Two Girls and a Guy). Sari Kamin evidently expects applause for doing so. But what Sari Kamin can’t seem to wrap her mind around is her own foolish, stupid, even dishonest actions that led her to participate in a series of rather lame, disgusting, but harmless encounters with Toback, encounters which she could easily have walked away from at any point. She didn’t walk away, but kept at it until, lo and behold, Toback allegedly followed through on the intentions he had very clearly made to her, after she traipsed up to his hotel room. Shamed and angry, she fled.

It is not as if Sari Kamin was an actress with a career and a reputation and a body of work. She was not an actress at all, but an aspiring actress, and she knew that, and has now admitted it. When the writer/director hit on her in a Kinko’s on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, she let that detail slide and lied. Yes, she was an actress, she told him. And all along her quest, she allowed that lie to stand. She took a good hard look at someone she obviously found disgusting, and globbed up the same food he was glopping up at fancy restaurants while horrifying her with his lecherous stories. She pretended it didn’t offend her, the only acting she has done, for an audience of one.

Now, in the Weinstein debacle, Sari Kamin has bravely jumped on the bandwagon with the rabble of misfits and wannabes who have had brushes with fame, disappointment, and hairy old men.

The Sari Kamins of the world, countless women and men in Hollywood, still can’t seem to come to grips with the reality that it is their own unbridled lust for the fame, money, and glory that causes them to chase dreams and careers in an industry that produces quite a lot of garbage.

I communicated this to Sari Kamin in a lengthy comment at Medium, the site where she self-righteously recounted her foolishness in detail. On Medium, when writers post their stories, not only do they have the ability to give “Applause” to positive comments (Medium’s cheesy equivalent of a Facebook Like button), they also have the ability to block users who criticize them, and even have offending posts deleted. This is the equivalent of an actress applauding back to the audiences who applaud her, while expunging bad reviews from the record.

But Sari Kamin is not an actress, at least not that I can find. After all these years, she has no credits at IMDb.com, and she lists none at her Web site, SariKamin.com.

Does Sari Kamin still have a taste for fame? Does she think she will find relevance or notoriety during the Weinstein scandal by going after an easy target like Toback? Or is she just a bit self-absorbed?

Below is my comment as it appeared beneath her article today at Medium.com, before she blocked me and had it nuked from the site. Since this afternoon, all other comments and threads which criticized her have also been expunged, and only five applauding comments remain.

You can read her article here (“I am one of the countless women that filmmaker James Toback has harassed”). It is the same article I read before I posted the comments below:

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This is beyond the pale.

First, I wish Ms. Kamin the best in all things, and have no animus towards her. Also, I wouldn’t know Mr. Toback if he stood up in my soup, and will, in advance, concede that he may well be a creep, or far worse.

Are we clear? Have I sufficiently virtue-signaled? Good. Now for the ‘beyond the pale’ part:

In 2017, as the entire Hollywood industry is imploding over the consequences of its inhabitants’ long, disgusting quest for sex, money, fame and power, by the men and women alike, Ms. Kamin, writer of things, comes forward and describes some ‘harassment’ she experienced in 2003, fourteen years ago.

This is her story.

Sari really wants to be an actress. She is Xeroxing a script, and is approached by a 60-year-old bearded man with a cane, who she describes in these words: heavy, goateed, beady, dark, slow, creaky, girth, weight, frail, capricious. Quite descriptive. She was obviously extremely observant and paying attention. She never really says whether this man was her type. No “geez, he was disgusting,” or “I held back my vomit,” or “not in a pig’s eye.” 

Sari really wants to be an actress. When asked if she ‘is’ an actress, she lies to this Weak and Weighty Fop, knowing she is only ‘an aspiring actress.’ Her words, her admission.

Sari really wants to be an actress. She continues talking to the frail and becaned Mr. Slow & Creaky. When he pulls out a DVD with his name on it, and — wait for it — his Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership card (impressive, right?), she doesn’t see this as a red flag or a ham-handed gesture of desperation. No, quite to the contrary, she has just examined his bona fides, concludes he is The Big Deal he says he is, and continues talking to him.

Sari really wants to be an actress. Mr. Creaky says he felt instantly connected to her. He only casts women he feels instantly connected to. So, wow, what a break! She wants to be cast, he casts women, but only women he’s connected with — and he’s connected with her! And she’s a woman! She’s hooked. This is her big break, her Schwab’s Pharmacy moment, but at Kinko’s.

Sari really wants to be an actress. A few days later, she’s dining with Toback at Elaine’s. No word about how they connected since they met. Did they exchange phone numbers? Did he ask her out, or did she ask him out? Did they go Dutch, or did he pick up the check? No details. I guess was just have to assume, then, don’t we, that Toback called Sari, she remembered him in vivid, beady detail, he asked her out, she said yes, and he picked up the check. I mean, I don’t wish to appear sexist, but that’s the way it works, doesn’t it, at least way back in the caveman days of 2003. I think if Sari had paid her share or treated the creaky old codger to a plate of pasta, she would have included that detail.

Sari really wants to be an actress. It’s Sari and James’s Big Night! Mr. Big is hungry. Mr. Big has sauce on his face. Mr. Big has pasta in his beard. Mr. Big has no napkin, and Sari never offers him one. Mr. Big has been talking big about all the big stars he’s worked with and his Big Career, evidently with his mouth full. Disgusting, but not disgusting enough to walk away from. The evening continues…

[Let’s pause for a moment: Are you seeing a pattern here? No? Not seeing anything just a bit weird? Keep reading.]

He talks about [his] career, his films, and his hobbies, like masturbating seven times a day to tune his equilibrium. So he’s energetic and balanced, not so frail after all. He asks her what she’s afraid of. Sari tells him she was “nervous” that he wanted to sleep with her and never intended to cast her in his film. Think about that. Not nervous that he wanted to sleep with her, full stop. Just nervous that she may later discover she was never really up for a part, that it was all a ruse. That would be a bummer, you see. Sleeping with someone and not getting a film role. No wonder she was nervous.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us pause for a reverie, a moment of Clarity, Wisdom and Truth from Ms. Sari Kamin about The Way Things Are in Hollywood:
“There is an unspoken understanding in the entertainment industry that if you are truly committed to finding success you will do whatever what it takes. When you’re a woman, this means making sacrifices.”
Sari really wants to be an actress. She is truly committed. She is ready to make sacrifices. After all that talk of masturbation coming out of Toback’s cavernous spaghetti hole, she didn’t walk away from the table. She stayed. And she went out for dinner again, and again, and again, all the while knowing exactly what Toback wanted (sex with her), what she wanted (a role from him), nervous it might not turn out that way (he wouldn’t hold up his part of the bargain, but she would hold up his part for him). She wanted to keep trying and give it a shot anyway. 

Sari really wants to be an actress. She plods on and on about her ordeal. She kept going out to dinner with The Cavernous, Spaghetti-Faced, Masturbating Bear. She felt sick. She hated being with him. She pretended to enjoy it… because (wait for it): “I was an aspiring actress and I wanted to be a real actress.” (It sounds like she never did come clean about that lie, doesn’t it?) He asks her to a hotel. She agrees. He paid $600 in cash at the desk. We’ll be charitable and assume it was to the hotel, not to her. They go upstairs. They go into the room. They close the door. The door to the room. The hotel room. The room with the bed in it. He asked her to take her clothes off. She doesn’t want to. She protests. He looks at her with scorn and says it’s what you have to do to be in the movies. 

Sari really wants to be an actress. So she takes off her clothes. Plush upholstery. Half-open window. Chilly air. She’s scared. He’s commodious. He talks of orgies. She was 23. But hey, this is the guy who wrote “Bugsy.”

Mr. Meaty-Hands kneels, stares, rubs, grunts. She’s confused. She wonders if he’s trying to “get off.” She asks him so. He says “absolutely.” She’s shocked! 

So this is what he had been talking about all this time? This is the connection he had been after? Holy crap! She’d been had, without actually having been had! 

“I bolted upright, threw on my clothes, and hurried out the door.”

Hooray! She managed to get away without rape, just rubbing, and a few free dinners.

She warned her dancer friend Lauren about Toback years later. Lauren is saved! Sari never saw Toback again. But damn it, she saw his name plastered all over concrete buildings. Those damn buildings. All concrete and stuff, with Toback’s name plastered all over them. And she had to see it. The shame.

But hey, she walked away with her dignity.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

#LettersToRocketMan: A Citizen’s Guide to mailing correspondence to N. Korean President Kim Jong-un


I’d like to send Rocket Man a letter. Several, actually. After researching where and how to mail them, I’m sharing what I’ve found and inviting you to mail letters, too. (Hit me up if you find better information.)

Use hashtag #LettersToRocketMan to Tweet photos of your letters. Here’s where you can start:

His Excellency Kim Jong-un
Chairman, Chosun Communist Party
c/o The Permanent Representative of the DPR of Korea to the United Nations
820 2nd Ave, Rm 13A
New York NY 10031-5421

I’ll place my personal letter in a size 6 3/4 envelope (unsealed, with the flap tucked in), and place that inside a larger size 10 envelope addressed to their office, with a request that it be delivered to Rocket Man in Pyongyang.

I would love to get a letter directly into the hands of Rocket Man, or at least the people who read his mail. (And I would really love to get a letter back!) But the U.S. Postal Service does not deliver mail to North Korea.

However, NoKo has an embassy in Beijing, China. I can mail a letter there and ask the diplomats to forward it to Rocket Man in Pyongyang. Surely getting a letter that deep inside Rocket Man’s official administration will increase my chances. Here’s the mailing address:

His Excellency Kim Jong-un
Chairman, Chosun Communist Party
c/o His Excellency Mr. Ji Jae-ryong
Embassy of the DPR of Korea
11, Ri Tan Bei Lu, Jian Guo Men Wai
Chaoyang District
100600 Beijing
CHINA

I wonder how people in NoKo mail letters to him. There doesn’t seem to be a North Korean street or mailing address for KJU on the Internet. We know he lives in the Ryongsong Residence (also known as Residence No. 55) in Pyongyang. You can view the compound on Google Maps in detail. Streets are visible but not labeled.

If we could send mail directly to North Korea from the U.S., this is how we would address the envelope:

His Excellency Kim Jong-un
Chairman, Chosun Communist Party
Kumsoosan, MiAm-dong, DaeSung district
Pyong Yang
DPR KOREA

Meanwhile, I’ll aim as close as I can. Who knows, maybe Rocket Man will write back.

SOURCES: WhitePages.com; USPS.com; Quora.com.
CORRECTIONS: The DPR Korea’s current ambassador to China is His Excellency Ji Jae-ryong, not Mr. Choe Jin-su. Jin-su was replaced by Mr. Choe Pyong Gwan, who served for six months until Jae-ryong was installed in October 2010.

Monday, September 04, 2017

A web visit from an IP address in a Google facility
more disturbing than a White House visit in 2010


This morning, someone in Googleplex, Google’s sprawling facility in Mountain View, California, visited this Web site. I know because their company name and IP address, originating from 1600 Ampitheatre Parkway, appeared in my visitor log tracked by my statistics analytics service. (See graphic below.)

Perhaps I should be pleased to see that LoudCitizen.org has attracted their interest. But the increasing suppression of free speech from tech giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter only makes me wonder if I am on their radar like so many others.

I haven’t been this concerned since 2010, when I reported on Ray Kelly’s speech about Barack Obama’s and Eric Holder’s decision the host to terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s “criminal” trial in lower Manhattan.

That story not only attracted multiple visits from White House servers, but just about every branch of government and major media (see my Lucky Lotto page, where I have documented notable site visits). The morning I noticed the White House was reading my piece, I was thrilled, but also a bit nervous that someone was accessing my story from servers originating from the IP address of The Executive Office of the President, www.eop.gov.

This morning I am just as concerned, but not the least bit thrilled.



Enlarged views:



Sunday, September 03, 2017

Staking out identities on major social media
to break out a complete Loud Citizen brand


This week I began in earnest building a comprehensive and integrated social media platform for my LoudCitizen brand. The GAB handle @LoudCitizen is now my emergency free-speech backup for my account at Twitter, and Facebook and YouTube are now joined by many new URL identity accounts, starting, of course, with:
My new project and patron funding channels are:
The highly popular Pinterest, Reddit, and Instagram are now reserved with URL-branded accounts. I am giving myself a crash course in their purposes, how they function, and how to thread them strategically into other social media (I may not use Reddit, but the handle is mine). Even my old Skype username LoudCitizen can let me make free international audio and video calls (and maybe WhatsApp can, too). As I identify additional emerging sites that are essential, valuable, or have potential, I will secure my branded accounts on them and build them into the platform.

Revised September 3, 2017

Saturday, September 02, 2017

Paul Ryan’s four-page letter proves him a madman;
rant is “one of the most alarming signs of insanity”


It’s official. Speaker Paul Ryan is insane.

I received a letter in the mail from him today on the letterhead of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The letter is dated “Monday Morning” (?) and came in a large envelope bearing a 3¢ stamp and two 1¢ stamps (depicting strawberries and peaches) but no date on the postmark — in fact, no date of any kind, anywhere in the materials.

The first page of Speaker Ryan’s letter contained a long code [000AG002392] and an urgent warning: “If for any reason the number on your State of the Nation Survey...” (which he also enclosed) “...does not match this Registration Number, contact the NRCC immediately.” Ryan is mailing us letters with codes and asking us to verify them back to his Committee. Think about that.

What was really alarming is that he ranted for four full pages. Honestly, does he think anyone reads these things? I guess he never read Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s observation, “Persons without a sense of humour always write long letters; and I have noticed, too, that all madmen write letters of more than four pages.” (Nothing matters, and other stories, Houghton Mifflin, 1916)

Sir Herbert called such writing “One of the most alarming signs of insanity.”

Paul Ryan really is a lunatic.

Paul Klenk

A request to stop using polite weasel words and
speak the cold truth for New York’s @RepPeteKing


A invitation from New York Congressman Peter T. King (R) was waiting in my mailbox today. It was for a fundraiser, and included a list of things he is fighting for.

I respect Congressman King, but noticed how weak his language was when talking about North Korea and Iran, MS-13, taxes, and the treatment of police.

We need to call things what they are. It is time to stop describing the deadliest people and worst injustices in muted, inoffensive language. People will not viscerally connect with these real threats, and they certainly will not connect with the leader claiming to fight against them.

(He also never mentioned President Trump and how he plans to partner with him on these issues.)

Below are a series of Tweets I sent Congressman King, with a photo of his letter from my Pinterest GOP pinboard, and some final thoughts below the Tweets.






I will not be at his fundraiser on September 16 (his Web site press release has the date wrong), but I wish him well, encourage those who can to support him, and will make sure I send his office my thoughts.

Friday, September 01, 2017

LoudCitizen’s debut Periscope broadcast
on Twitter page @LoudCitizen (VIDEO)


August 31, 2017Today LoudCitizen debuted on Periscope with a live broadcast via my eponymous Twitter page. The episode, broadcast live from Harlem in NYC, includes features commentary about my recent free-speech film project for Milo Yiannopoulos’ #ReadingDangerously contest (to promote his new best-seller Dangerous). From my tiny Twitter following of 308, this unannounced, unplanned, and untitled event attracted 10 viewers, including one new Follow, and even some comments.

Enthusiastic thanks to my audience. I hope to see you online again soon.

Revised September 3, 2017