MadProfessah Voting Guide: November 2022

 

Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I  have voted in the November 8 2022 California General Elections. This post will contain  endorsements information from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 

The 2022 General Election Ballot is quite long. Here are my endorsements (how I have voted) along with information about how others are encouraging you to vote. This link will take you to a printable two page version of this voting guide. Names with an asterisk * are openly LGBTQ+ candidates.

The information here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. YMMV.

LAist also has a very helpful voterguide here: https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-game-plan.

CITYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTY JUDGES (Superior Court)

STATEWIDE RACES 
STATEWIDE JUDGES 

MadProfessah Voting Guide: June 2022 Los Angeles and California Primary Elections

Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting have voted in the June 7 2022 California Primary Elections. This post will contain  endorsements information from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 

The 2022 Primary Ballot is quite long. Here are my endorsements (how I am voting) along with information about how others are encouraging you to vote. This link will take you to a printable two page version of this voting guide. Names with an asterisk * are openly LGBTQ+ candidates.

Information about judges of the Superior Court were informed by these two documents by two informed insiders (a former Superior Court judge and Someone who works in the DA's office).

The information here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. YMMV.

LAist also has a very helpful voterguide here: https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-game-plan.

CITYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTY JUDGES (Superior Court)

STATEWIDE RACES 

2021 OSCARS: The Winners

Here are the winners of the 2021 Oscars (93rd annual Academy Awards). I correctly predicted 5 of the Top 8 categories. Like everyone else, I was completely blindsided by Frances McDormand's Best Actress win. I actually thought that Anthony Hopkins should win for Best Actor but like everyone else, expected Chadwick Boseman to do so. Similarly, I thought The Father should win for Adapted Screenplay but expected Nomadland to do so. It was great to see a woman win Best Director (for only the second time ever!) and now two Asians have won this award in consecutive years.

Best Picture
Nomadland

Best Actor
Anthony Hopkins, The Father

Best Actress
Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Best Director
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Supporting Actress
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

Best Supporting Actor
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah

Best International Feature
Another Round

Best Animated Feature 
Soul

Best Documentary Feature
My Octopus Teacher

Best Original Score
Soul

Best Original Song
“Fight for You,” Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Original Screenplay
Promising Young Woman

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Father

Best Cinematography
Mank

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Costume Design
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Film Editing
Sound of Metal

Best Sound
Sound of Metal

Best Live-Action Short
Two Distant Strangers

Best Animated Short
If Anything Happens I Love You

Best Documentary Short
Colette

Best Visual Effects
Tenet

Best Production Design
Mank

EYE CANDY: Simeon Panda (6th Time!)

Simeon Panda is one of my all-time favorite models. His body is ridiculous, but as you can see, he is extremely handsome as well. This is his sixth appearance as Eye Candy. Surprisingly, he has not graced these pages in over 2 years (February 6, 2017)! Most likely it will be his last, since I am planning on ending my blog on January 1, 2020.

EYE CANDY: Adrian Conrad (4th time!)

Adrian Conrad is a new favorite of mine, having appeared as Eye Candy three times before (January 22,2018; December 11 2017; November 27, 2017). He's obviously liked by other as well, with 150,000 followers on Instagram (@adrianconrad_).

You're welcome!

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Openly Gay LA School Board Prez Resigns After Admitting Felonious Behaior

Ref Rodriguez appeared to be a rising political star when he was elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District school board in May 2015. He's openly gay, with a Ph.D. and was elected chair of the 7-member board by his colleagues soon after the 2017 LAUSD elections. He represented a majority that was in support of expanding charter schools in the nation's second largest school district.

That all came crashing down last week when Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a felony and immediately resigned from the school board on Monday July 23rd. The Los Angeles Times reported:

Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count of conspiracy and resigned from office, marking a dramatic fall for a widely admired educator who became the first charter schools executive elected to the Board of Education.

Rodriguez, 47, was once the leader of the charter school-backed majority that took over the board a year ago after the nation’s most expensive school board elections ever.

But two months after becoming school board president, the criminal charges compelled him to step back — giving up his presidency but retaining his seat amid the distractions of defending himself.

Under the deal with prosecutors, Rodriguez will avoid jail time. Instead, he will get three years’ probation and 60 days of community service.

Pretty shocking!

GRAPHIC: The racial/ethnic demographics of U.S. Top 10 metro areas

Information on race in America, especially in metropolitan areas in the United States. This is from a recent deep dive into race, politics and demographics by the Boston Globe's award-winning Spotlight team as the paper tried to examine why Boston is perceived as "more racist" than other big cities.

#AD51: Carrillo Wins Assembly Seat Over Lopez 53-47 (900+ votes)

The special election in my Assembly District was held yesterday and the results are in: Wendy Carrillo, received approximately 1000 votes more than Luis Lopez in a very low turnout election (estimated to be 7.6%). Carrillo took an early large lead when absentee ballots were tallied.

This means that Carrillo will be the newest member of the Assembly.

SATURDAY POLITICS: #AD51 California Assembly District Race Heats Up!

I am a homeowner and voter in Northeast Los Angeles and thus the last year has involved participating in numerous elections (five lat last count). Due to the 2016 election which resulted in then-Attorney General Kamala Harris going to the U.S. Senate, my congressperson Xavier Becerra was appointed to replace her and then my Assemblyperson Jimmy Gomez won a special election to replace Becerra in the 34th Congressional District. Now we are just a few weeks away from the Tuesday December 5th election to replace Gomez in the Assembly.

The two candidates for the 51st Assembly district are Luis Lopez and Wendy Carrillo. Lopez has run for this seat before (losing to Gomez in 2012) and lived in the District for decades while Carrillo moved into the district when she ran unsuccessfully in the #CA34 special election.

Interestingly, despite the carpet-bagger concerns Carrillo has been endorsed by several Democratic Party establishment figures, including now-U.S. Rep. Gomez, California Senate Majority leader Kevin De Leon (who represents the area in the California Senate) and Jose Huizar who represents sections of the assembly district in the Los Angeles City Council.

As an openly gay man running for a state legislative seat, Lopez has been endorsed by several LGBT organizations (Equality California, HONOR Pac, the Victory Fund and the California LGBT Legislative Caucus).

Lopez and Carillo have faced off in multiple debates around the district. There doesn't appear to be any public polling in the race. I have already voted for my preferred candidate by mail. The election is Tuesday December 5th.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Kevin de León Announces Challenge to Dianne Feinstein's Re-election Bid

Whoa! Kevin de León is my State Senator and is the head of the California State Senate. The 50-year-old Latino politician from Los Angeles is termed out of the legislature next year and many people have been wondering what higher office he would seek next. This week he announced that he is running to become a U.S. Senator from California. Currently, California's Senators are Dianne Feinstein (who was elected in 1992) and Kamala Harris, who was elected in 2016. Feinstein recently announced that she would be trying to win a 6th 6-year term in 2018.

de León has announced that he will try to stop that from happening.

Since both are Democrats and California has a top 2 primary it is very likely this race will not e decided in the primary, but almost certainly go the distance to November 2018.

2017 EMMYS: My Predictions in Major Categories

The Primetime Emmy awards will be given out tonight in Los Angeles. The show will be aired live on CBS at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT. This is the post where I discuss my predictions in the most prestigious categories. The one that I would vote for is in blue and the one I think will win is in red.

Outstanding drama series

• “The Crown” (Netflix)
• “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu)
• “Westworld” (HBO)
• “Stranger Things” (Netflix)
• “This Is Us” (NBC)
• “Better Call Saul” (AMC)
• “House of Cards” (Netflix)

This is the first season of Westworld, The Crown, This Is Us, Stranger Things and The Handmaid's Tale.  I have watched all of these shows but I am a season behind  Better Call Saul and House of Cards. To me, the show that had the most impact on my emotionally was The Handmaid's Tale, despite the fact that it is almost impossible to get through an episode of This Is Us without weeping. The most creative of the shows on this list is Stranger Things while The Crown is the guiltiest pleasure. The show I am most looking forward to seeing the next season of is Westworld. What I'm trying to say is that basically every show on this list has a good reason to win.

SHOULD WIN: The Handmaid's Tale.
WILL WIN: This Is Us.

Outstanding lead actor in a drama series

• Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us” (NBC)
• Matthew Rhys, “The Americans” (FX)
• Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards” (Netflix)
• Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan” (Showtime)
• Anthony Hopkins, “Westworld” (HBO)
• Milo Ventimiglia, “This Is Us” (NBC)
• Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul” (AMC)

Milo Ventimiglia has garnered most of the attention of the actors on This Is Us but Sterling Brown is the character that I most identify with (he plays a nerdy Black guy adopted by white parents whose primary story arc on the show involves his connection with his birth father.

SHOULD WIN: Sterling K. Brown.
WILL WIN: Sterling K. Brown.

Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

• Claire Foy, “The Crown” (Netflix)
• Keri Russell, “The Americans” (FX)
• Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu)
• Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder” (ABC)
• Robin Wright, “House of Cards” (Netflix)
• Evan Rachel Wood, “Westworld” (HBO)

Last year, Tatiana Masliany won for her amazing portrayal of multiple clones on Orphan Black. This year Claire Foy has been getting plaudits for playing Queen Elizabeth. Oscar winner Viola Davis won this category 2 years ago.  Robin Wright has been nominated for every season of House of Cards and has never won.

SHOULD WIN: Elisabeth Moss.
WILL WIN: Viola Davis.

Outstanding comedy series

• “Black-ish” (ABC)
• “Atlanta” (FX)
• “Veep” (HBO)
• “Master of None” (Netflix)
• “Silicon Valley” (HBO)
• “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix)
• “Modern Family” (ABC)

The nominees in this category are Atlanta and Master of None, two comedies helmed by two comedians of color, Donald Glover and Aziz Ansari. I have never seen an episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt but I know that Tina Fey is an executive producer and people rave about it. I have seen Veep, Silicon Valley, Black-ish and Modern Family but have not seen all of the latest season of each of these shows. Veep ended the dominance of Modern Family last year and  is expected to do so again. I have been watching episodes of Black-ish on flights and have gained grudging respect for the show.

SHOULD WIN: Black-ish.

WILL WIN: Veep.

Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series  

• Donald Glover, “Atlanta” (FX)
• Anthony Anderson, “Blackish” (ABC)
• Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent” (Amazon)
• Aziz Ansari, “Master of None” (Netflix)
• William H. Macy, “Shameless” (Showtime)
• Zach Galifianakis, “Baskets” (FX)

SHOULD WIN: Donald Glover.

WILL WIN: Jeffrey Tambor.

Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep” (HBO)
• Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish” (ABC)
• Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie” (Netflix)
• Jane Fonda, “Grace and Frankie” (Netflix)
• Ellie Kemper, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix)
• Allison Janney, “Mom” (CBS)
• Pamela Adlon, “Better Things” (FX)

SHOULD WIN: Tracee Ellis Ross.

WILL WIN: Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Outstanding limited series

• “The Night Of” (HBO)
• “Big Little Lies” (HBO)
• “Fargo” (FX)
• “Feud: Bette and Joan” (FX)
• “Genius” (National Geographic)

I quite enjoyed watching The Night Of  last fall and Riz Ahmed and John Turturro were riveting. But Big Little Lies was quite compelling and fascinating to watch Oscar-calibre performances from Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley. Fargo's 3rd season was well below the extremely high level set by the first two seasons.

SHOULD WIN: The Night Of.

WILL WIN: Big Little Lies.

SATURDAY POLITICS: Analyzing the #CA34 Special Election for Becerra's Replacement

Jimmy Gomez is my representative in the California Assembly (51st District). Xavier Becerra used to be my representative in the United States Congress (until he became Attorney General of California). I live in the 34th Congressional District of California, so now this is a rare open congressional seat.

The race to replace Becerra has become as crowded as I expected. This is what the actual ballot looks like for the April 4, 2017 special election:

The Top 2 vote getters (as long as no one gets a majority of votes) will face off June 6, 2017. The Los Angeles Times editorial board has endorsed Maria Cabildo but the dozens of mailers I have piling up around the house show that Gomez has garnered the most impressive endorsements:  the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, Xavier Becerra, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. However, the person who has raised the most money is Robert Lee Ahn, the only Korean American in a race for a congressional seat which contains Koreatown.

I have already voted (by absentee ballot) but watch this space for the official results in just about 11 days from now!

FILM REVIEW: La La Land

La La Land is the latest picture directed by Damien Chazelle, the 32-year-old wunderkind whose debut film Whiplash was nominated for Best Picture, won 3 Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons (Oz). La La Land stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as two star-crossed lovers who are trying to further their artistic pursuits (his as a jazz pianist, her as an actress) in primary-colored, sun-dappled Los Angeles. This year La La Land received an astonishing 14 Oscar nominations, tying the record set by All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997).  All About Eve only won 6 Oscars but Titanic basically swept the Oscars its year, winning 11. That record was tied by The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2004.

La La Land is the frontrunner to win the Best Picture Oscar this year (and perhaps win a lot of other categories as well) because of many reasons, but I would say primarily because it is about Hollywood, struggling artists and "the dream factory." The city of Los Angeles (i.e. the eponymous "La La Land") is almost another main character in the movie. The movie begins with a traffic jam (which turns into a frenetic, strangely uninteresting song-and-dance number) at one of the key freeway interchanges in the city and continues by showing iconic images of Los Angeles, from the Hollywood sign, the view from Griffith Observatory, Watts Towers, the Colorado Street Bridge (in Pasadena), the Rialto Theater (in South Pasadena) and many more. As an Angeleno (as most Oscar voters are), La La Land is a delight.

La La Land attempts to upend and subvert movie tropes while it simultaneously reinscribes them. It is a movie musical about a boy and a girl who fall in love while trying to hold on to their dreams of artistic success and fulfillment. There are numerous points in the film where characters break into song and start dancing (like we would expect them to do in a classic 1950s Hollywood musical). But there are also numerous roadblocks to success and happiness for our couple, Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling). John Legend has a teensy role as the source of evil temptation for Sebastian to sell out and make money playing back up music in a band he doesn't believe in instead of following his dream of opening up a jazz club where he can preserve the authentic traditions of the music for fellow aficionados like himself.

In the end (which is surprisingly unpredictable) La La Land is a heart-warming story with some catchy tunes that any Angeleno will be hard to resist calling the best movie of the year.

Title: La La Land.
Director: Damien Chazelle.
Running Time: 2 hours, 8 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some language.
Release Date: December 9, 2016.
Viewing Date: December 19, 2016.

Writing: B.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A+.
Impact: A-.

Overall Grade: A/A- (3.75/4.0).

WATCH: Trailer for Bladerunner 2049

The trailer for the long-awaited sequel to Bladerunner, called Bladerunner 2049 and directed by (one of my favorites) director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Incendies, Sicario).

Celebrity Friday: Paul Beatty Becomes First American To Win Man Booker Prize

This week Paul Beatty became the first American writer to win the Man Booker prize, one of the most prestigious prizes in fiction for his novel, The Sellout. Amazingly, this is the second year in a row the award has been won by a Black man. Last year, Marlon James, a writer born in Jamaica won the prize for his A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Beatty, 54, is a Los Angeles resident and the Los Angeles Times reported on his win:

Paul Beatty won the 2016 Man Booker Prize for fiction for his novel “The Sellout,” a dazzling written, wickedly funny satire of race set in South Los Angeles. Beatty is the first American to win the prize, which was awarded at a black-tie ceremony in London on Tuesday. 

“I’m not going to get all dramatic, writing saved my life or anything like that,” he said from the stage, searching for words. “But writing’s given me a life.” 

The Man Booker Prize, which comes with an award of about $61,000, is one of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes. It was first presented in 1969, but Americans were not eligible until 2014. 

Last year, Jamaican-born Marlon James, who lives and teaches in Minnesota, won the prize for his novel “A Brief History of Seven Killings.”

Beatty's  The Sellout also won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle award. It's interesting that it only took a few years for an American to win the Man Booker after becoming eligible in  2014. I'm curious to hear from readers of the blog if they have read The Sellout and how good it is.

MAP: New Data Show Same-Sex Marriage Geographic Distribution In The USA

The New York Times Upshot blog has a post today on a Working Paper (pdf) by researchers at  the U.S. Treasury department about same-sex joint married tax filers in 2013 and 2014, after the United States v. Windsor decision ended discrimination by the federal government against legally married same-sex couples (like yours truly).

By linking the tax returns of same-sex couples who filed jointly in 2014 with their Social Security records, researchers are able to give us the most accurate picture of same-sex marriages to date. And their estimate is this: In 2014 there were 183,280. same-sex marriages in America, roughly a third of 1 percent of all marriages.

Of course, implicit in this estimate is the assumption that all married couples file their returns jointly. But as a proxy for that, it’s pretty good. The Treasury Department estimates that 97.5 percent of married couples file joint returns.

One highlight of the study: Pretax household income of same-sex married couples is higher than that of heterosexual married couples. Most of that is driven by the average earnings of male same-sex couples: $176,000. On average, they make $52,000 more than married lesbian couples and $63,000 more than married straight couples.

A key factor in the reason why same-sex male couples make more than their married counterparts is where they tend to live, which is urban centers. Here's the list of locations for the top 10 places same-sex couples reside:

No surprise that San Francisco is #1 on the list (for gay couples and #3 for lesbians), but it is also interesting to note that Washington is #2 and #6 respectively. Los Angeles and Long Beach are represented well.

VIDEO: EQCA Encourages LGBT Community To Vote In June 7 California Primary

It's exactly two weeks until California's 2016 Statewide Primary Election on June 7th. Equality California, the state's largest LGBT political advocacy organization, is urging the LGBT community to vote, and will be running PSA on television in important markets like Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Bill Rosendahl, Openly Gay LA City Councilman, Dead At Age 70

Bill Rosendahl, the first openly gay man elected to the Los Angeles City Council, died this week (Wednesday March 30th) at age 70 after a long battle with cancer. Rosendahl was a host of a local public affairs cable television show before entering politics, and was succeeded by his chief of staff Mike Bonin, who wrote the following obituary for his former boss:

Widely known for his beaming smile and a booming voice, Rosendahl befriended both the powerful and the downtrodden throughout his lifetime and during his eight-year stint representing the Westside on the City Council. 

Often called the “Conscience of the City Council,” Rosendahl focused on seeking solutions to the problem of homelessness, promoting mass transit, curbing overdevelopment, and giving neighborhoods a greater voice in city decision-making. He was the first openly gay man elected to the Los Angeles City Council, and served from 2005 to 2013, when he retired to battle a stage four cancer that was diagnosed in the summer of 2012. Toward the end of his tenure in office, he became an outspoken advocate for medical marijuana, which he used to combat the side effects of cancer treatments. 

He will be missed!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Sharapova Stuns Tennis World With Admission Of Failed WADA Test

5-time major champion Maria Sharapova piqued the attention of the world press when she announced over the weekend that she would be giving a press conference in Los Angeles on Monday, just hours after football legend Peyton Manning was scheduled to confirm his retirement from the world's most lucrative sport. This led to speculation that perhaps the 28-year-old Russian would announce her own retirement from tennis on Monday.

Instead, the highest paid female athlete in the world announced that she had recently received a letter from the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) that she had failed a drug test at the 2016 Australian Open. Apparently she had tested positive for the substance meldonium from a sample provided to WADA on January 26 (during the Australian Open), which had been added to list of banned substances on January 1, 2016.

Sharapova gave a press conference where she took full responsibility for the failed drug test and said that she had been taking meldonium since 2006 and that although she had received an email with a link to the new list of unapproved substances she did not personally look at the new list. Meldonium is not a drug that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (it is manufactured in Latvia).

There are many more questions raised by Sharapova's press conference. Here are just a few:

1. How long will she be banned from tennis for this infraction? (She has already been officially banned from professional tennis starting March 12, 2016.)
2. How did the most highly paid female athlete in tennis not have someone on her staff who regularly checks the list of substances the athlete takes and compares it to the current list of banned substances maintained by WADA?
3. Does Sharapova take the drug every day? What is the half-life of meldonium? Depending on how long meldonium remains in the system, perhaps 25 days after she stopped taking it, she tested positive for it. After all, if she had smoked marijuana on December 31st, it's very possible she could have tested positive for THC 3-4 weeks later.
4. Why has Sharapova been taking this drug for the last 10 years, and what effect does this have on her legacy as a player if she used a now-banned substance to (presumably enjoy an) advantage in tennis competitions for the vast majority of her professional career?
5. Will she be able to play in the Rio Olympics?

Sharapova is 28 (turns 29 next month) and an extensive ban at this time could push her into announcing her retirement for real this time, a reality she herself acknowledged when she said "I don't want to end my career this way, and I really hope I will be given another chance to play this game."