What did the Los Angeles Film Critics Association name the Best Picture of the year? You guessed right:  “The Descendants.” (Had there been no other movies released this year, I still wouldn’t have voted for it.)

By the way, the association also placed a lot of praise on  “Tree of Life.” Those friends I trust didn’t like that one either.

I just checked — and three of the association’s member critics are friends, and two more are former students of mine.

Well, maybe it’s not so important.

Laurie Winer, on the demolition of the Los Angeles Times by Sam Zell. It’s a tragedy, writ daily.

It’s impossible to tell! (My score:  6 out of 10.) Try for yourself!

You’d have something like this.

Shark Song from Whitehouse Content on Vimeo.

Sad to see that legendary comics creator Jerry Robinson died last night. Robinson was the creator of The Joker, and was a fixture at the San Diego Comic-Con. The ranks of Golden Age creators continue to shrink; last year, for the first time in the Con’s history, Mark Evanier didn’t put together a Golden Age panel because he wasn’t able to round up enough panelists. Jerry Robinson had been in comics almost from the beginning. I’m sure there are others, but the only remaining elders I can think of are Joe Simon and Stan Lee.

Patrick Meighan, a writer I know, and the husband of one of the most talented actresses I’ve ever worked with, describes what it was like to get arrested, and how it felt to stew in jail while a real menace to society goes unprosecuted. Now, more than ever, I regret having co-chaired a large fundraiser for Antonio Villaraigosa back in 2004.

My friend Larry Eisenberg writes about trying to put a live hen into his new production. Ultimately, he was too chicken (and so was she).