A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, Eitan Krokowski asks: Why weren’t Auschwitz and the other concentration camps bombed by the Allies during WWII? My reply: There are several reasons why the Anglo-American Allies did not use the Eighth Army Air Force or British Bomber Command to bomb German extermination camps such as Auschwitz or Treblinka during World War II. First, there was a great deal of skepticism among military and political leaders in Washington and London when European Jews began reporting on what the Germans were doing in Poland and the Soviet Union. A few American publications, including LIFE magazine, had published several illustrated articles about the plight of Poland’s Jewish population under Nazi occupation, but most newspapers of the day (the  New York Times  included) tended to publish “atrocity” stories in the back pages. (Editors, reporters, and publishers of the day still remembered the often-false or wildly exaggerated stories of German atrocities in France and Belgium durin

© 1996, 2019 New Fox How will the Disney/Fox merger affect Fox News? The Walt Disney Company/21st Century Fox merger has not affected Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News Channel or the over-the-air Fox Broadcasting Company. Before Murdoch and 21st Century Fox’s shareholders agreed to the deal, both of these assets were spun-off into a newly-created entity called “New Fox.” The Walt Disney Company already owns ABC, so it had no need to purchase the Fox TV network. Murdoch, on his part, is more interested in keeping Fox News Channel in his media empire, since being a mover and shaker in the conservative movement is far more important to him than being a provider of entertainment to the masses. (And considering how unpopular Fox News Channel is outside its conservative fanbase, I don’t think Disney's Alan Horn and Bob Iger wanted  that  hot potato anyway.) So, if you’re a regular watcher of Fox News Channel and were worried that its programming would morph into something that is no

Cover art: Early concept painting of Darth Vader facing off against "Deak Starkiller" by Ralph McQuarrie. © 2013 Henry N. Abrams (Abrams Books) and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On October 15, 2013, New York City-based Abrams Books (a subsidiary of France's La Martinière Groupe) published Star Wars Art: Concept, a 176-page hardcover volume dedicated to concept paintings created by Lucasfilm's artists for various Star Wars projects, including films, TV shows, and video games such as The Force Unleashed and the canceled Star Wars 1313.  In the tradition of Star Wars Art: Posters and Abrams ComicArts' Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series – Volume One, this coffee table art book is heavy on art (125 illustrations) that was used in the pre-production stage of many Lucasfilm Star Wars presentations, including the first six films, the animated segment of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special,  and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Art for the Nelvana/Lucasf

Harrison Ford starred in two Jack Ryan films. © 1992 Paramount Pictures On Quora, member Maya Lachman asks: Was Jack Ryan a Republican or a Democrat? My reply: If you’re talking about Tom Clancy’s iconic character John Patrick Ryan, Sr., he is depicted in the novels as being Republican, especially in most of the books that follow 1991’s  The Sum of All Fears. In the early Jack Ryan novels ( The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, The Cardinal of the Cardinal, Clear and Present Danger,  and  The Sum of All Fears ), Ryan works his way up the ranks in the Central Intelligence Agency, starting out as a recently-recruited analyst and rising all the way to Deputy Director (Intelligence), or DDI. During his time at CIA, Ryan doesn’t have much to say about politics (except in the context of U.S.-Soviet relations, in which case he is obviously a Cold War Republican), but his pre-CIA resume includes a stint as a Marine Corps lieutenant, a successful stockbroker who, despite

Cover Photo Credit: © Kristian Schuller (Mutter), Kristin Pulito (Williams) ℗ 2019 Deutsche Grammophon (a division of Universal Music Group)  On Friday, August 30, Deutsche Grammophon, a Berlin-based division of Universal Music Group, released Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams, a collection of a dozen film themes composed by John Williams and performed by German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles.  Although at first glance this offering from the famed classical music label Deutsche Grammophon is simply another collection of "John Williams covers," it marks the first professional collaboration between the dean of contemporary film music and Germany's violin superstar, even though they've been friends for years. (Mutter was once married to the late composer and conductor Andre Previn, a colleague and friend of Maestro Williams from the days when Previn worked in Hollywood as a composer of fi

Well, Labor Day 2019 is upon us, and as much of America prepares for this last day of a long holiday weekend, I'm keeping an eye on Hurricane Dorian. Not that I think that the monster-sized Category 4 storm is going to come ashore anywhere near me and wreak havoc in my neighborhood; the atmospheric conditions, the steering currents, and the Coriolis effect are all working so that Dorian will skirt along Florida's east coast and either go north to the Carolinas or veer northeast and go out to sea while the outer bands nick the East Coast. Me...I'm hoping for the latter; I've been through several hurricanes already and I would not wish them on anyone. Right now, the chances that Dorian will barrel westward into Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie Counties and then batter its way to the Gulf Coast are next to nil. According to my Weather app, Dorian's eye is almost due east of West Palm Beach, but it's moving so slowly (1 mph) that almost anyone could outwalk

Today is Sunday, September 1, 2019. As I write this, it's hot, muggy, and cloudy in my corner of the world. And as Hurricane Dorian churns toward the northern Bahamas as a monster Category Five storm, we Floridians are keeping a wary watch. Most of the forecast tracks are predicting that Dorian will head west for a bit, then turn north and stay just off Florida's East Coast as it makes its destructive way toward Georgia and the Carolinas. I wish I could say for sure that my area is totally out of the woods; I know that my former hometown of Miami is probably not going to be affected because Dorian's eye is already almost parallel to northern Broward/southern Palm Beach Counties. But if the storm doesn't turn to the north within the next 24-36 hours, its outer bands will affect Central Florida and maybe even the Tampa Bay area in some way. Per the National Hurricane Center's 11 AM advisory: SUMMARY OF 1100 AM EDT...1500 UTC...INFORMATION ------------------

On Quora, Mike Austin asks: Where in the Star Wars timeline does The Mandalorian TV show take place? My reply: Jon Favreau’s  The Mandalorian  is set between the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of the First Order, during the New Republic era. Or, in franchise terms, it takes place between  Return of the Jedi  and  Resistance/Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Per the show's official description:  After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.. It’s not set at any time where we can see a young Han Solo, Chewbacca, or any of the major characters seen in the feature films.

Today is Saturday, August 31, 2019, and this is what's on my mind today: First, I'm keeping an eye on the progress of Hurricane Dorian, the fourth named storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season and the first truly major threat to the East Coast of the U.S. As of this afternoon, Dorian is a Category Four hurricane and on its way to becoming a Category Five storm. Per the National Hurricane Center in Miami: ZCZC MIATCPAT5 ALL TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM Hurricane Dorian Intermediate Advisory Number 29A BULLETIN NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL       AL052019 200 PM EDT Sat Aug 31 2019 ...SEVERE HURRICANE DORIAN CONTINUES HEADING FOR THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS WITH LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE AND DEVASTATING WINDS... LOCATION...26.1N 73.9W SUMMARY OF 200 PM EDT...1800 UTC...INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------- MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...150 MPH...240 KM/H ABOUT 205 MI...325 KM E OF GREAT ABACO IN THE BAHAMAS ABOUT 385 MI...625 KM E OF

On Quora, Mike Austin asks: Why has Disney-owned Lucasfilm focused so much attention towards the time before Star Wars: Episode IV with all of their spin-off material? And here's my reply:  That’s not entirely accurate. But we’ll get to that in a bit. I’m not an employee at Lucasfilm Ltd., the folks at the creative end, nor am I privy to the corporate doings at The Walt Disney Company (other than those that we know about from reports in the media). Thus, any answer I give is purely speculative, though it’s based on observation of how the franchise has evolved since 1977. I think that Lucasfilm has chosen to focus on the period that leads up to the Galactic Civil War and the Battle of Yavin because, for many fans, that is  Star Wars.  The Rebel Alliance’s conflict against Emperor Palpatine’s New Order is what the Generation of 1977 grew up/grew old with, and even though the non-canonical Expanded Universe told one possible version of the aftermath of the Empire’s de