remember these words

 American Manhunt:  O.J. Simpson is a documentary currently on Netflix.

Listening to it again - Mr. Simpson had a lot of lawyers.  Their photographs are down below on this post, and that's not even all of them.  There were more.

        In 1994 - 1995, during the investigation and trial of the Simpson case, I had not before heard of any of the Simpson defense lawyers except for F. Lee Bailey.  Somehow, I had heard his name - probably because he represented Patty Hearst.  And - I think maybe F. Lee Bailey was from Boston, and he was famous there, when I was in school there, so his name was just - around. ...

Robert Kardashian, we hear about later, because his ex-wife and grown-up children have a reality show.

Robert Shapiro - I remember that name from 1994 and 1995, I had never heard of him before, I wouldn't have reason to - and then watching this documentary on Netflix, they said after the verdict, Mr. Shapiro went on TV with Barbara Walters, in an interview, to say he disagreed with "playing the race card, and - dealing it from the bottom of the deck," and that was what the team of lawyers he was on, did.

        Like, what??  He was complaining about - who?  Himself?  

        That was a little bit surprising.

And Johnnie Cochran - he was famous for saying to the jury, after O.J. Simpson tried on the glove:  "Remember these words:  if it doesn't fit, you must acquit!"

F. Lee Bailey

Robert Shapiro; O.J. Simpson

Robert Kardashian

Johnnie Cochran

-30-

unbeknownced

 Currently on Netflix, there's a very interesting documentary titled, American Manhunt:  O.J. Simpson.

        LAPD Detective Tom Lange says, when O.J. was supposed to come and turn himself in, he didn't show, and then - "Unbeknownced to us, he - took off."

That was the start of the infamous Bronco chase.

------------------------- [excerpt from online dictionary] - Unbeknownced originates from the obsolete word beknown (meaning "known") combined with the negative prefix un-.  It emerged in the 19th Century as a variant of the older unbeknown, adding an extra "-st" (like in whilst, amongst) which became dominant in American English, though often criticized as redundant or dialectal, appearing in literature from Dickens to E.B. White and now considered standard. -----------------------------

        There are things in the documentary that I remember from the time, and things I don't remember, or didn't know.

I never "followed" the story that closely.  But it was on TV so much, in different forms - interviews, new reports, reviews of the timeline, etc. - some knowledge or awareness of components of the case would just seep into your mind, whether you were seeking them or not.

My job at the time was working as a lobbyist for a statewide organization - during the legislative session at the state capital, during lunch in the cafeteria in the basement, I would hear lawyers discussing the O.J. case - I remember one conversation where the state's attorney general at the time said he had come to the conclusion when someone batters their wife, they are leading up to killing her.  

        Like - "escalating" behavior, as they term it.

        That attorney general was a nice person, and had so much knowledge, and on one or two occasions when I needed to ask him something, as I sat in his office, across the desk from him, he would tell me so much information that I was just pleased and honored - and a little overwhelmed (in a good way) - to receive so much enlightenment that I couldn't even get it all, but I did my best.

He was really very cool.  And filled with knowledge - that he was evidently pleased to share.

That was a nice experience.

-30-

sleepless in Brentwood

 I think in a recent post here I listed Sleepless In Seattle as one of the movies Rob Reiner directed - I got that wrong.

Correction:  Nora Ephron directed Sleepless.

Rob Reiner appeared in it.

When Harry Met Sally... - directed by Rob Reiner and written by Nora Ephron.

Meg Ryan starred in both films.

--------------------------------------------------

        The Rob Reiner murders just so remind me of the Nicole Brown Simpson / Ron Goldman murders in 1994.

They were killed in June 1994; O.J. Simpson was acquitted in October 1995.

        It's like - you forget about it, but then, years later, it's still in your brain.

Both of these double murders occurred in Brentwood, a Los Angeles, California, suburb.

Starbucks Coffee in Brentwood

-30-

a marvelous conversation

 

Rob Reiner in his role as Michael Stivic in "All In The Family"

Under a New York Times article about the late Rob Reiner, was this Comment, among others --

Glenn 

Brentwood, CA

I ran into him once when I lived in Sacramento.  He was headed into a hotel to have a meeting about Prop 10, which was about using tobacco money to fund children's initiatives.  My wife at the time worked for California Tobacco Control.

As much as I wanted to ask him about "When Harry Met Sally," probably my favorite movie, I instead asked him about tobacco control....

We had a marvelous conversation and I realized what a nice thoughtful and involved man he was...a real mensch as we say.

-----------------------------------------------

mensch - Yiddish term meaning a person of integrity and honor

Rob Reiner in an episode of "The Partridge Family"

-30-

...as the sparks fly upward

 

Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Job 5:7

______________________________________

The images above are photos of the Pierside Hotel in Santa Monica, California.  It's the hotel where Rob Reiner's son, Nick Reiner, booked a room on Sunday, December 14, 2025, at 4:00 a.m., according to reports.

The timeline of Nick Reiner's travels from Saturday night, December 13, 2025 to Sunday, December 14, from reports, appears to be:

Conan O'Brien's Christmas party on Saturday night, with his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, who were afraid to leave him home alone and asked Conan if they could bring him with them to the party.

       At 4:00 a.m. Sunday, December 14th, Nick checked into the Pierside.

        At some point after that he went into the hotel room he had reserved and took a shower and changed clothes, leaving large amounts of blood in the bathroom, which Housekeeping found and reported later.

So - what it looks like is, Nick first got a hotel room for himself, then went home to his parents' house and murdered them, then went back to the hotel and cleaned up.  A little later he appears on a camera at a convenience store, buying a refreshment - Gatorade, or Snapple, or something.

One thing was reported in various videos on the Internet, and I didn't understand it - that Nick Reiner's room had bed-sheets somehow put up over the windows so no one could see in. 

        I wondered, don't hotels pretty much always have curtains at the windows, which you can close?  You don't need to string up bed-sheets on the windows, I don't think....

Another video said people who are using methamphetamine or some other similar drug get really paranoid - so maybe he thought the curtains weren't enough, he figured he needed to put the bed-sheets up there, too, to obstruct any "prying eyes."

-------------------------------------------------------------

        Something else I wondered about:  one of the videos on You Tube said Nick Reiner did not drive - so all that back-and-forthing between the Pierside Hotel in Santa Monica, and his parents' house in Brentwood - how was he traveling?

Taxi?

Uber?

Walking?

        I Googled and found the Reiners' home in Brentwood is near the intersection of Chadbourne Avenue and Marlboro Street.  

        The Pierside Hotel in Santa Monica is on Colorado Avenue, there.

        The distance between those two locations is three-to-four miles.  According to Google, "a 10-20 minute drive, depending on LA traffic," or a walk of an hour to an hour-and-a-half.

---------------------------------------------------

When I first heard this news story, a week ago, it occurred to me there might be some kind of "incompetency to stand trial" thing in court, or "not guilty by reason of insanity."  The latter is being mentioned in some news reports.

That family was apparently in crisis for a couple of decades because of behavior issues of their second son.

I don't know how you cope with that.

-30-

"if it's out of a can, then nothing"

 If you want to see the scene in When Harry Met Sally... that we talked about here yesterday, go on You Tube and type in:  When Harry Met Sally, ordering food.

        A commentator said the trial of Rob Reiner's son Nick Reiner is going to be as big as the O.J. Simpson one.

Then, on a couple of podcasts discussing the Reiner murder topic, these two people showed up:  Mark Geragos, and Nancy Grace.

My God.

I hadn't seen these people in 30 years.

It's as if we're back in the early-to-mid-90s. -  "Deja-vu all over again," as Yogi Berra said....  Bill Clinton is President of the U.S.; there's trouble in Serbia and Croatia; it's the O.J. Simpson debacle; and Nancy Grace and Mark Geragos are all over the cable-TV shows deconstructing the debacle.

-30-

can we HANDLE the truth?!

 Most of the news reports about the recent murder of Rob Reiner and his wife talk about the movies he directed.

        A Few Good Men is one of them.  Many people know that famous line that Jack Nicholson says, loudly and intensely:  "You can't handle the truth!"

        (I didn't even see that movie yet, but I know that line.)

I started thinking, can we (society; humanity) "handle the truth" about a tragedy such as the Reiner family has experienced?

Theoretically, we know in our minds that terrible things like that happen sometimes - anyone who has ever watched a Dateline episode, or listened to any "true crime" channels on You Tube, or even just lived on planet Earth for any length of time ... we are aware that sad, inexplicable things do occur, in life.

        But we still get shocked by them, especially if they happen to someone we know personally, or even someone we don't know personally, like Rob Reiner, but we "know" him in a different way, through his work, his art.

An artist - whether they are a painter of pictures, or a sculptor, or an actor, a director, an author, a singer, dancer - whatever ... the artist has a conversation with the world, when he or she offers their work. 

        Louisa May Alcott, with her novel Little Women; Rob Reiner with his performance as Mike Stivic on the TV show All In the Family; Johann Sebastian Bach with his piano concertos; Barbara Eden with her performance in "I Dream Of Jeannie" ... these and all artistic works are conversations with the audience, about human life and our enthusiasms, fears, and aspirations.

So, even though most of us are not personally acquainted with Rob Reiner, we "know" him through his work - All In The Family, and the movies he directed:

Sleepless In Seattle

When Harry Met Sally...

The Princess Bride

This Is Spinal Tap

Stand By Me

Misery,

        and others.

------------------------------------------------------

___________________________________

[When Harry Met Sally - scene in a restaurant]

waitress:

What can I get you?

Harry:

I'll have the Number 3.

Sally:

I'd like the chef salad, please, with the oil and vinegar on the side, and the apple pie a la mode.

waitress:

Chef and apple, a la mode.

Sally:

But I'd like the pie heated, and I don't want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side, and I'd like strawberry, instead of vanilla, if you have it, if not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream, but only if it's real, if it's out of a can, then nothing.

waitress:

Not even the pie?

Sally:

No, just the pie, but then not heated.

waitress:

Uh-huh.

[Harry stares at Sally, somewhat perplexed.]

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally...

-30-

here in Brentwood

 This past Sunday night, as I was winding up weekend occupations - taking care of business at home, writing, checking You Tube here and there - getting ready to go back to work on Monday - this headline about Rob Reiner caught my attention.

(They're all intended to catch our attention, right?)

        It said he was dead - I at first thought it's some kind of tasteless click-bait, to make you click.  A while ago, when I had not had Internet for very long and I was still learning, a series of videos appeared to me announcing the "deaths" of various famous people. - And they were all still alive!

        I thought that was in such bad taste, to assert in a public forum that someone who is alive, is "dead."  Really - no class.

(Some people who are more cynical than I am might comment, "Something that was in bad taste appeared on the Internet?? - NO!!!")  Ha

-----------------------------------------------------

So, Sunday night I read a couple of items on Google and You Tube and realized, Rob Reiner is dead.

And so is his wife.

They were found stabbed to death in their own home, in Brentwood (which is a community, or suburb, of Los Angeles, California).

        So that was shocking enough - thinking, What??!!

The news stories said Rob Reiner was 78 years old; his wife was 68.

And then, to add to this series of dominoes falling, one after the other, some of the stories said it's believed / alleged their own son did it.

I was just astounded.

What the actual - ........... ??

        We kind of know these things sometimes happen - they get in the news, because they're horrifying and not usual.

But I was still astounded, couldn't believe it.

So shocking.

        One of the videos on You Tube the next day showed a reporter talking to the camera, telling us what is known so far, and he finished with the phrase "here in Brentwood."

And when I heard that, I remembered the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman - that was in Brentwood, as well.

actors Rob Reiner and Carroll O'Connor on  All In The Family - early 1970s

-30-

checked...

 Oh, I checked on Amazon:  one can, indeed, buy All About Eve on DVD, but the only opportunity to stream it is attached to a 7-day free trial of another streaming service.  

        I never click on those because I'm afraid they'll sign me up to pay for that extra streaming service and take money out of my bank account every month, and I won't be able to find how to cancel it.

        I'm not recommending that everyone should be "afraid" of "7-day free trials" - just letting you know of the potential complication....  Good to just catch the movie now on You Tube, while it's still there.  Right now, the video has been up for 6 days.

-30-

currently available to view

 

I'm flying to put up an extra blog post today, in order to let everyone know, the film All About Eve is on You Tube!

Usually when one of the highest quality pictures shows up on YT, it gets taken down after a few days or weeks.  So catch it now.

        (It's such a good movie, it is very much worth the small amount of money to buy the DVD, or buy it to stream on Amazon or even just rent it on that site.  

But for those who haven't seen it and don't know whether they want to spend money - even a small amount, on principle - to rent or own it, this is an excellent opportunity to experience the movie.)

The title of the YT video:

Bette Davis | Watch the Drama Movie All About Eve

uploader / channel:  Classic Hollywood Tv Series

        "Fasten your seatbelts.  It's going to be a bumpy night!"

-30-

"nice going"

Double Indemnity - 1944

Body Heat - 1981

These two 20th-century Hollywood movies have similar plot-lines - both excellently atmospheric, with great background music.

Music for Body Heat was by UK composer John Barry.  

The music in Double Indemnity was created by Miklos Rozsa.

        During World War II, in the years when the Nazis occupied France, no Hollywood films were allowed to be shown there.

        In 1946 Nino Frank, an Italian-French film critic and writer, began to see American movies for the first time in several years, since Germany had been defeated and France was again a free nation.

        Mr. Frank coined the phrase, "film noir" to describe movies like Double Indemnity.  And it would go for Body Heat, too.

        Double Indemnity is currently available to view with Amazon Prime.

-30-

"living is easy with eyes closed"...

In memory of John Lennon, I listened to the song "Strawberry Fields Forever."  It's unique, like all of the Beatles' songs.

        The whole song is in my head - I can remember it, and hear it in my mind while I'm at work, or anytime.

And I never even had the album it was on.

I'm not sure where I heard it.

On WBCN radio station in Boston, probably, when I was there, going to school.

        In the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at Boston University, I lived with a roommate in an apartment we sublet in Cambridge, a few blocks away from Central Square.

        The apartment was rented during the school year by two guys, and their stereo and a big collection of record albums were there, available for our use.

        My roommate, a friend from the Boston U. dorm where I lived freshman year, was very snobbish about stereos.  None was good enough.  

        I thought the stereo in our sublet apartment was fine, I could hear the music, and boy, did those guys have albums!  A whole wall-full of them, lined up on the floor.  The Beatles, Canned Heat, Hot Tuna, Country Joe and the Fish ... This location might also have been a source for me to hear "Strawberry Fields Forever"....

-30-

"strawberry fields - nothing is real..."

 Playing Three Dog Night's "Joy To The World" yesterday caused me to remember a moment in junior high - seventh grade, I think.  The teacher asked what we wanted to do and someone said, "Sing."

And then no one was going to sing.  Too shy and self-conscious.  And it wasn't Music class, it was just a down-time in some other class - Ohio History, maybe.

        Then a girl named Linda Taylor suggested we sing "Joy To The World," and she began:  "Jeremiah was a bullfrog - A very good friend of mine..."

But then no one joined in, and then she got shy, and stopped.

They used that song in the movie The Big Chill.  It's such a happy moment in the film, when the music bursts out.

-------------------------------------------------

        Yesterday it was 45 years since John Lennon was shot and killed in New York City, outside his apartment building.

(That was a "big chill"....)

Years ago, when I was first using the Internet and You Tube, I read a comment that said John Lennon was "another guy who was murdered because he wanted peace."

Existentially depressing.

-30-

the fishes in the deep blue sea

         The day before yesterday, when I wrote here about State Representative Gordon Pederson (1927 - 2011), I said a few of the lobbyists in the lobby seemed a little "disdainful" of him - reviewing those scenes in my memory, I'm thinking maybe the surface "disdain" was a cover for frustrated resentment because they might not have got the results, or progress, that they wanted on issues or pieces of legislation they were working on, due to Pederson's influence.

(And - who knows what "Interests" some of these people might have been working for...?)

Rep. Pederson was in the legislature for decades:  he was chairman of the House Transportation Committee for more than 20 years, and he was a force in the Republican caucus.  

        He had some sway here, and some clout there - well earned. 

        So - that's the flip side to power.  You don't always make everybody happy.

(I'm a person who has, every now and then, been described as "sensitive" - and Rep. Pederson never hurt my feelings, so - how bad could he be, right?)  

All those years in the military, and then the Statehouse... His life was clearly about service.

-------------------------------------------------------------

        A lobbyist I used to see every year during the '90s was a cute guy whose father was in the state legislature - in the Senate, if I remember correctly.

        But unlike his father, politics was not his thing.  We were talking, once, and he said January and February, when the legislature meets, was his least favorite part of his job.  (Like me, he worked for an association year-round, and going to the legislature was one component of the job.)

        I was the opposite - going to the legislative session in the winter was my favorite part of the job, although I enjoyed it all year around.

------------------------------------------------------------

And speaking of enjoyment, go on You Tube and find the video titled

Three Dog Night - Joy To The World (1971)

uploader / channel:  Polydor 1000

        ...and play it loud and have a dance.

Three Dog Night

-30-

"reading will make you free"

 

When I listen to these podcasts about the British Royal Family, the journalists usually are sitting in a room with a lot of books on the wall.

   The countries of the United Kingdom have a rich literary tradition that goes back 1500 years:  the novel, drama, poetry.

        I read, or heard, someplace that Winston Churchill (English Prime Minister in the 20th Century) had copies of Jane Austen's six novels, 

Pride And Prejudice

Emma

Northanger Abbey     

Mansfield Park

Sense And Sensibility, and

Persuasion,

        in each of his residences.

In one of the podcast conversations about members of the royal family, someone noted that Prince William doesn't read the background information he needs before going out to an event - instead, he prefers to have someone brief him on the information - just tell it to him....

This went over like a lead balloon with the other guys in the room.  (lol) - They were polite about it, they didn't want to criticize William, but you could tell they were disappointed, and they thought it would be much better if he read the information.

        Reading and studying are powerful core values with these people.

-30-

well, your railroad gate, you know I just can't jump it

 

The campaign poster above is from 1979 - during the '90s I worked with this guy every year at the meeting of the state legislature.

        I thought about him recently when I was typing about England's Sarah Ferguson - recounting one commentator saying that the sentiment of Sarah being a wonderful "breath of fresh air" in the Royal Family was popular at first, but then once she was in the Royal Family, attitudes changed to "Oh no!  She's ghastly!"

        (The word 'ghastly' is used more commonly in the United Kingdom than it is in America.)

That little story reminded me of one time when I ran an idea about economic development for small towns by Representative Pederson.  Shaking his head 'no,' he said, "Naahh - people say they want economic development, but then they don't like the changes that come with it, and they get mad and raise hell."

        (I could imagine:  "Oh no!  This economic development is ghastly!  What are they doing to us??!")

        Representative Pederson served in the military during World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam.

        Some of the lobbyists were a little disdainful of him.  

        Some of those guys were from our state's largest city, and I wondered if maybe, for 10 months out of the year, they mostly just associate with people who are like them in social class and personal style.  Then they come out to the legislature in the winter, and there's a wider variety of personalities, backgrounds, and styles - and maybe it freaks them out a little....

        I've noticed, in life, that some people don't do well, or feel comfortable, outside of their usual daily milieu.  

        I remember one year when the legislative session was almost over - only a few days left, everything's winding up - and I was walking on the House floor to speak to a few people and give them information - I said Hi to Rep. Pederson as I approached his desk where he was standing, with some papers, looking through them.  He said, in his usual gruff tone, "Oh, we're gonna kill bills today!"

        

-30-

euphemisms in our time

         In 1992 when the secret love affair between Sarah Ferguson, wife of Prince Andrew, and an American man named John Bryan slipped into the popular media and tabloids, one news story said that Sarah was "cavorting topless in the south of France."

There's a phrase.

        "John Bryan was described as Fergie's financal advisor," stated one commentator.  With a droll hint of a smile playing about his lips, he added, "Now, I've heard some euphemisms in my time, but - financial advisor, that was a new one."

Dickie Arbiter, journalist and commentator on the British Royal Family, says the photographs from the south of France sojourn and the public reaction effectively pushed Andrew and Sarah to divorce.  

        He went on:  "I don't think anybody was particularly sorry when she went, but she didn't go quietly, and she hasn't been quiet ever since!" - with a slight twitch as his face wants to smile.

        This is typical of the idiosyncratic relationship these "royal experts" or "royal commentators" seem to have with the royal family and the public.  The audience perceives the commenter to be criticizing, even shaming, the person they're talking about (Sarah, in this case) and yet there's an attitude of bemusement at the actions, and lingering affection for the perpetrator of said actions.

        "...She didn't go quietly, and she hasn't been quiet ever since!"

In one podcast, a participant stated that "Fergie" (Sarah's nickname) is his favorite royal, and he will "stand by that."

        It's like, they pretend to be shocked or scandalized, but really they are mightily entertained, and helping to provide these reports for the "entertainment" of the public - the "subjects" of the Queen.

---------------------------------------------------------

And a "cherry-on-top" of the Andrew-Sarah story is, that after their 1996 divorce was finalized, they continued to live together!  

        They had two daughters to bring up, and Sarah has said "we're a happy divorced couple."

royal commentator Dickie Arbiter

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson    (1986)

-30-

19th Nervous Breakdown

 People in England talk about, and read about, their Royal Family quite a lot.

Not all the people, of course.

But it is a phenomenon.

There's a lot of talkin' about the Royal Family, and its members.

Talking, and writing.  Articles, and books.  On and on and on.

The podcasts, the podcasts, the videos, Oh My!

        TIna Brown wrote, in her biography of Diana, that most English people have dreamed about Queen Elizabeth II sometime during their lives.

        (Some people might think that to be a little weird.)

The Royal Family is an ancient institution, meant to give continuity, and thereby stability, to the nation by providing "a focal point" for the population.  The people can have the members of the Royal Family as a focal point, a symbol of an "ideal family" that is meant to be relatable for most people.

        Great Britain's royal family is - an idea.

        Its members are supposed to be dignified, and steadfast, and never get divorced.

Being human, and never supposed to have any scandals, there are, of course, scandals.  Or - maybe you could say ... surprises.

In the documentary about 1992, the "Annus horribilis," they talk about when news broke that Sarah, the Duchess of York, wife of Prince Andrew, had been seeing an American man named Steve Wyatt.

        I remember that.  And I wasn't even particularly looking for news about Sarah - my only slight interest in her would have been because she was "Diana-adjacent"... But I remember that name - Steve Wyatt, an oil millionaire from Texas.  And then months later it was in the magazines that Sarah was now going out with another American, John Bryan.

        All this dating around while she was married....  (Her husband was often away from home with the Navy.)

Discussing the Steve Wyatt relationship, author Andrew Morton said Wyatt referred to the Duchess as "mah woman."

        It's hilarious to hear him say this, because he has a typical upper-middle-class English accent, but when he says "mah woman" he tries to do what he thinks is a Texas accent, but it is overlaid by the English... it's like when you listen to Mick Jagger sing, and you ask yourself, "Is he singing with a Southern accent or an English accent?"

(answer:  Yes.)

   

Andrew Morton, author of Diana, Her True Story

-30-

heckled

England's King Charles was heckled by a guy in a crowd near a Cathedral he was visiting, in late October of this year.

        "How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?" the heckler called out.  "Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew, Charles?"

Some of the other people there started yelling at the guy.  They were just there to see the king....

        Heckling is sort of an unofficial form of "lobbying," you could say.  Noisy lobbying.  The guy was requesting answers, and clarification - transparency.

There's an interview on You Tube with Melinda Gates (ex-wife of Bill Gates) where she says the fact that her then-husband had gone to meetings with Jeffrey Epstein was one contributing factor in their divorce.

She says, "I wanted to see who this man [Epstein] was.  And - I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door.  He was abhorrent, he was evil personified.  I had nightmares about it, afterwards."

        A pretty strong statement.

-30-

...so many royal experts...

 Listening to a conversation about Britain's royals in a You Tube video, I heard the same commentator, Tom Bower, call scoldingly for Meghan Markle to forgive her father, and later declare triumphantly that Prince William "will never forgive!" his brother Harry.

Okay.  

Must sprinkle that forgiveness sparingly.

(No pun intended with the word "spare" since Harry's own memoir was titled Spare.)

Robert Jobson, biographer and commentator on the British Royal Family

-30-