I didn’t know this, but the “24″ hero is undergoing some revision – and I’ve been put up against him. Problem is, I’m nowhere near as good a shot as Jack. I tried a few years back in Russia, when they took me out for a Siberian biathlon shoot, but I couldn’t hit the broad side of a troika. So what do I do? Challenge him to a writing contest? I wouldn’t even want to judge that myself. Anyway… it’s all good publicity for the book. (No, I don’t know Tim Shipman or anybody at the UK Telegraph, but they all get great complimentary martinis… or something.)
Roger L. Simon
Blacklisting Myself Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror
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The blog of the mystery writer, screenwriter and CEO of Pajamas Media
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 With gratitude to the readers of this blog without whom my new -- and first non-fiction -- book would likely never have been written.
Simon's first non-fiction book - Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror - Pub. date: February 5, 2009 |
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8 Comments
1. Minerva:You have to respect the UK Telegraph. Its Ambrose Evans-Pritchard a year ago predicted all that is happening now regarding the global economy — and even gives us hope in writing this week that since the USA was the first into the depression, it will be the first out.
Jan 10, 2009 - 6:22 pm 2. Scott:Great piece,Roger..your book is going to be a huge success,I expect.As for “24″,I’ve watched from Day 1,and tonight I will wait and see.
Jan 11, 2009 - 8:17 am 3. Nate Anderson:I’m certainly thankful for your voice there, Roger. It takes some “Jack Bauer” guts to take such a stand. And you know what they say about the road less traveled…
Jan 11, 2009 - 3:00 pm 4. California Dreamer:Jack is back! The long wait evaporated in high fives with my teenager as Jack gave some stuffed-shirt Senator (yes, I know, that is redundant) the kinds of answers one can only dream of on C-SPAN. Only 22 more hours to save the nation.
Jan 12, 2009 - 12:56 am 5. Jamie Irons:Roger,
I feel I should warn you: Jack is quite dangerous armed just with a pen!
(See last night’s episode, where he threatens a strange character with a thick Irish brogue and Joker-like facial scars…)
Jamie Irons
Jan 12, 2009 - 9:06 am 6. KenB:I am a long-time fan of “24,” and after seeing the first two hours of the 2009 season, I am guardedly optimistic that the series has not been ruined.
It only makes sense that the series would deal with shifting attitudes. I tend to agree the American people should know generally what is being done on their behalf and endorse it or suffer the consequences. Bauer’s responses to the senator-inquisitor were encouraging to me.
Jan 12, 2009 - 12:13 pm 7. Janie:I love 24 and am also cautiously optimistic. But….was that brunette with black glasses that grafalo (sp) woman? Please say it ain’t so!
Jan 12, 2009 - 2:07 pm 8. Darren:Jack has yet to get a kill in his first four hours, he has 0.5 with a split between him and FBI Agent Renee Walker, who admires Jack and certainly seems to be on a path to emulate him. Jack will at some point wave her off, pointing to the wreck his life has become. His act of redemption will be to save her from following him — just a prediction.
Nice that Jack is unwilling to recant, I get the feeling that he’s also tired of being second-guessed after the fact. He’s been making things up as he went along to achieve goals that were set for him without the means being legally provided to meet those goals. I think he’s tired of carrying that burden himself and wants the conversation so he’s no longer by himself between the Scylla of morally-questionable events and the Charibdes of preventable deaths and his own failure. Give the man some lines, and if you draw them too narrowly accept the outcome.
Interesting as well that were are so often told that “torture doesn’t work”, yet so far the threat of torture has worked once for Jack, and pain followed by asphyxiation has worked for Renee Walker. Granted, the torture “has” to work in ‘24′, and reality doesn’t have a plot that has to be followed on a given time line. For all the hand wringing of past seasons it appears that torture still works plenty well in the ‘24′ milieu.
Jan 13, 2009 - 1:09 pm