Sales of electronic cigarettes are booming, up 600%. This must be terrible news to politicians, who do not receive any taxes for the sale of e-cigs. Since the devices do not produce the stink regular tobacco products do, users are asking to be allowed to indulge in all those places where smoking has been banned. The health effects of the product are still not known, although they are certainly less harmful than real butts. People are endlessly fascinating in the way they adapt.
Last night there were a lot of good options on television. There was the NFL playoff matchup between the 49ers & Packers. I watched about five minutes of it. The biggest change in my life the past 20 years is how little time I spend viewing sports. For many reasons, I no longer have patience for it. I prefer movies and TV dramas. Antenna TV, 114 on Cablevision in NYC, offered different programming than its usual vintage series. Beginning at 8PM, it showed back to back films from the cold war era, the deadly serious Fail Safe (1964), starring Henry Fonda as the President, directed by Sidney Lumet; and Dr. Strangelove, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), a satirical work on the nuclear arms race, starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the President, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Both films feature top-notch casts and terrific writing. The former is rated 8.0 out of ten at IMDb, the later 8.6. I prefer Fail Safe. Dr. S is a little over the top for my taste, but either is well worthwhile. Kudos to ATV. We’re all fortunate that such scenarios never played out in the real world. Unfortunately, we now worry that terrorists will smuggle a dirty bomb into one of our cities. Such is man. At nine PBS ran a film I'd never seen: The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), starring Jimmy Stewart as Charles Lindbergh, and directed by Billy Wilder. I'd expected it to be a saccharine account of Lindbergh's magnificent solo crossing of the Atlantic. Although not a great film, it was very entertaining. I kept expecting to break away from it and resume my usual channel hopping, especially since there were so many good choices available, but I stayed with it all through its two-plus-hours of running time. In 1961, Newton Minnow famously described commercial television as a "vast wasteland." Given the broadcasting of the work of these legendary directors and actors, it certainly wasn't last night.
Speaking of nuclear devastation, my thanks to the gentleman who purchased two huge tomes, Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears and Without Remorse, which I was beginning to think I'd never sell. What a relief not to have to carry them any more.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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