"Say yes" to Angie Dickinson, aka Police Woman

It's 1975, and 44 year-old actress Angie Dickinson is enjoying an improbable hot streak. Portraying Los Angeles Police detective Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson, the fortysomething actress won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress - Drama Series". Her hit series ranked 15th in the Nielsen ratings during the 1974-1975 television season. Although finishing behind the All in the Family, Sanford and Son, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Rockford Files, Dickinson's series surpassed S.W.A.T., The Bob Newhart Show, Mannix and The Streets of San Francisco.

Married to prolific composer Burt Bacharach ("I Say A Little Prayer", "The Look of Love", "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"), Dickinson and Bacharach conveyed mellow, So-Cal cool. Angie donning a soft pantsuit bringing a turtlenecked Burt, playing the piano, a glass of Martini and Rossi on the rocks. Say "yes".

Kodachrome captured Dickinson's transformation from a 1950s ingenue to sassy 1960s blonde to 1970s middle-aged feminist. One could make a convincing argument that Dickinson could not only held her ground against the 1970s jiggle actresses (Farrah Fawcett, Suzanne Somers, Lynda Carter), but stood apart by conveying the wisdom and sexuality of a fortysomething woman would could whip some twentysomething ass. Dig Dickinson's little flip of her hair during the opening credits in Police Woman. Is that cool, or what?

Born Angeline Brown, the actress grew up in Southern California. As a teenager, young Angie won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights essay contest. Dickson attended Glendale Community College, and transferred to Immaculate Heart College where she earned a business degree. Dickson left the corporate world to pursue an acting career. In the 1950s, Dickinson became a mainstay of television dramas (Death Valley Days, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, General Electric Theater) and variety shows (The Colgate Comedy Hour).

Dickinson's break-out role occurred in Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo (1959). She played gambler "Feathers" with an eye for John Wayne. The cast included Western staple Walter Brennan, team idol Ricky Nelson and Rat Pack founding member Dean Martin. One year later, Dickinson played the wife of Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) in the Rat Pack classic Ocean's 11. In the movie's cast credits, only Sinatra, Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford received higher billing.

While the testosterone-driven Rat Pack was male-only, Dickson comprised the female auxiliary that included Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Shirley MacLaine and Marilyn Monroe. Dickinson has been romantically linked with Sinatra ("the most important man in my life"), star of the hit-TV drama The Fugitive David Janssen ("a great date and a great love") and President John F. Kennedy (no comment).

In 1965, Dickinson - later characterized in the Atlanta Monthly magazine as "a thinking man's trophy blonde" - married prolific composer Bacharach. One year later, a pregnant Dickinson gave a difficult birth to the couple's daughter Nikki, who was three months premature at birth. Dickinson rejected movie and television roles to care for her daughter, who experienced disabling vision problems and was later diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. (A tragic footnote to the story: Dickinson's only child committed suicide in 2007.)

Portraying Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) police detective Lisa Beaumont, Dickinson appeared in "The Gamble" in the Joseph Wambaugh's critically acclaimed anthology Police Story in 1974. The episode proved so popular that Police Woman spun off with Dickinson and Earl Holliman (who replaced Tattletales game-show host Bert Convy as the supervisor of the detective unit). Police Woman premiered on September 13, 1974, and became a runaway fan favorite. Assigned to the LAPD's Criminal Conspiracy Unit, Dickinson's character went undercover - as a prostitute, exotic dancer, teacher, nurse, prisoner - during her assignments with the LAPD's Criminal Conspiracy Unit. Police Woman became the first successful one-hour drama with a female lead.

NBC cancelled Police Woman in 1978. Bacharach and Dickinson separated the same year. She alleged that her husband cheated during their 13-year marriage. Bacharach married composer Carole Bayer Sager in 1982; together they penned "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)", "The Minute I Saw You" from Three Men and a Baby and "That's What Friends Are For." Bacharach and Sager divorced in 1991.

In 1999, Playboy magazine ranked Dickinson as #42 in its list of the "100 Sexiest Stars of the Decade." interestingly, Playboy inexplicably rated the actress formerly known as Police Woman behind Heather Locklear (#36), Stella Stevens (#27), Jenny McCarthy (#15) and Pamela Anderson (#8). Not surprisingly, #1 was fellow Rat Pack auxiliary member Marilyn Monroe.

John-John, we hardly knew ye at 40... or 50

Had it not been for talk show host Oprah Winfrey, this milestone would have otherwise slipped past the unobservant of us: John F. Kennedy, son of the newly elected 35th President of the United States, was born 50 years ago today in Washington, D.C. Fate in the form of a small-plane crash on July 16, 1999 deprived us of a fortysomething and fiftysomething John-John.

Given that her talk show would compete against parade coverage and an onslaught on National Football League (NFL) games on Thanksgiving day, Oprah threw down her best weapon against the competition's programing by broadcasting her interview with Kennedy that aired on September 3, 1996. Oprah embodied the reaction of any red-blooded female seated next to Kennedy: She was starstruck, smitten and careful not to offend People magazine's 1988 selection as "The Sexiest Man Alive." Nobody would dare piss off the young man whom the media dubbed "America's prince" -- and risk future opportunities to schmooze with John-John in Manhattan. Or DC. Or The Cape.

Rich and astonishingly handsome, Kennedy could have gone wrong as a spoiled little rich boy or an aristocratic Charlie Sheen: substance abuse, hookers, criminal arrests, multiple arrests. Credit Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis for raising a daughter and son who neither conveyed a sense of obvious entitlement nor lost their sense of proportion, humanity and humility.

Kennedy attended Brown University where he majored in history. Although he aspired to pursue an acting career, Kennedy reportedly earned a law degree from New York University to appease his mother. He required three attempts to pass the New York state bar exam; one failure generated the headline "Hunk flunks" from one of Gotham's tabloids. Kennedy worked as an assistant district attorney in New York City for four years, and then switched gears like he might the bicycle that he rode through the streets of Manhattan. In October 1995, Kennedy launched political magazine George, which sported the tagline "not just politics as usual." While George allowed Kennedy the luxury of playing on the political stage -- albeit, in the back, back stage -- without running for office, Kennedy was not above taking risks.

In August 1997, Kennedy penned an editor's letter that took two of his cousins -- aspiring Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Joseph P. Kennedy and his brother Michael Kennedy -- to task for sexual indiscretions that ultimately ended their political careers. Kennedy violated the family omerta by publicly admonishing others with whom he shared a sacred bloodline. "Two members of my family chased an idealized alternative to their life," he wrote. "One left behind an embittered wife, and another, in what looked to be a hedge against mortality, fell in love with youth and surrendered his judgment in the process. Both became poster boys for bad behavior."

Kennedy's well-documented personal life included dalliances with actresses Daryl Hannah and Sarah Jessica Parker, model Ashley Richardson, pop diva Madonna. In September 1996, he married Carolyn Bessette, a publicist at Calvin Klein, in a secret ceremony at a wood-frame chapel in the First African Baptist Church in Cumberland Island, GA.

A quintessential New Yorker, Kennedy rooted for the New York Mets and -- like Spike Lee, Woody Allen and the Baldwin brothers -- sat court side at New York Knicks games. Images of Kennedy riding through the Manhattan on a bike with his suit pant leg hiked up or on Rollerblades was as iconic as New York as a taxicab or a "bagel with a schmear". While he had a cameo role on Murphy Brown, Kennedy is probably best known for his non-appearance in the 1992 Seinfeld episode "The Contest" as the object of Elaine's lust and the first intimate partner of Marla the virgin.

We'll never know if Kennedy would pursue a career in politics and would run for the U.S. Senate heat once held by his uncle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- to succeed Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 2000 or Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008. It doesn't take Magic 8-ball to predict that Kennedy would have grown more damned handsome and distinguished in his 40s and 50s.

A shout-out to Oprah for giving us food for thought on The Coolest "Sexiest Man Alive." In the 25 years since People first bestowed the honor upon a misleadingly kinder and gentler Mel Gibson, Kennedy remains the only non-actor upon whom the title has been bestowed.

Turducken: the other white meat... and dark meat and carbs and duck fat

Dietitians estimate that the average American consumes an average 3,000 calories (229 grams of fat) for a Thanksgiving meal that ostensibly includes turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie.

If you're health conscious, you substitute the meal of gluttony with Tofurky, steamed brussel sprouts and broccoli, whole-cranberry relish and seasonal fruit cocktail.

But if you take the devil-may-care approach (and don't want to burn your pergola down when deep frying your turkey), you can't go wrong with turducken.

Americans trace the history of turducken back to pro-football analyst John Madden, who carved the bird amalgamation -- de-boned chicken, de-boned duck and de-boned turkey wrapped between layers of stuffing -- during an NFL telecast. Food history says otherwise.

Europeans ate roasts of deboned fowls for centuries before the NFL telecast Thanksgiving Day games. Wealth English in the 18th century ate Yorkshire Christmas Pie - layers of de-boned birds baked in a crust. In 1807, French gastronomist Grimond de Reyniere created his piece de resistance: rôti sans pareil ("roast without equal"), a protein-fueled concoction of turkey, goose, pheasant, chicken, duck, guinea fowl, teal, woodcock, partridge, plover, lapwing, quail, trush, ortolan bunting and garden warbler.

Dietitians estimate that a slice of turducken ranges from 900 calories to 1,639 calories.

Skip dessert. And next week's meals.

Start Googling for the names of cardiologists in your locale.

Saluting the first - and thus far only - Cool President

Today marks a dubious and solemn occasion: Forty-seven years ago, a Dallas deranged gunman -- some contend that there was more than one -- assassinated the country's first Cool President, John F. Kennedy.

Thomas Jefferson was an 18th-century Renascence American, Abraham Lincoln was legendary, and Theodore Roosevelt was rugged. Elected to White House in 1960, Kennedy offered a stark and welcome contrast to the older men who occupied the oval office. As Kennedy only served 1,000 days in the White House, historians and political scientists can only speculate as to the long-lasting impact of the New Frontier programs. How influential was Kennedy in the enactment of the Civil Rights bill, Medicare, food-stamp programs?

One issue is indisputable: Kennedy blazed the trail for Presidential Cool. Sure, he sports the conventional curriculum vitae for cool. A World War II Navy officer who skippered patrol torpedo (PT) boats near New Georgia and the Solomon islands, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, Purple Heart Medal, American Defense Service Medal and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three bronze service stars. The World War II veteran -- no doubt with the assistance of his father's financial and political clout -- was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1948 at age 31. Massachusetts voters elected Kenned to the U.S. Senate in 1952. Dubbed by the media as "Washington's Gay Young Bachelor", Kennedy married drop-dead gorgeous debutante Jacqueline Bouvier one year later.

When younger sister Patricia married British actor Peter Lawford, Kennedy gained access to the Rat Pack, the hippest gang in 1960s Hollywood: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Lawford. The Rat Pack actively campaigned for Kennedy, whom Sinatra dubbed "chicky baby", during the 1960 election. Sinatra sang a campaign song to the tune of "High Hopes". Although Kennedy outpolled (303) Richard Nixon (219) the vote in the Electoral College 303, the popular vote was much closer: The elecorate preferred Kennedy (34,200,984 votes, 49.72%) to Nixon (34,108, 157, 49.55 percent) by a much closer margin. Less than 100,000 votes spelled the difference between the New Frontier and Tricky Dick.

One can discuss politics, which is a topic for the New Republic of the Atlantic Monthly. This post is about cool, and JFK had style, baby. No America's Cup captain looked as commanding while skippering a boat as did the commander and chief. Don Draper finishes a pale second to JFK in sporting early 1960s style and chiuc. No American man -- then or now -- looked as fashionable donning a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses.

When Kennedy was elected in 1960, an aide observed, "This administration is going to do for sex what the last one did for golf." This prophecy may have proven the understatement of the decade.

Kennedy enjoyed the luxury of a presidency that predated smartphone cameras, YouTube, blogging, talk radio, instant messaging... and, most importantly, a White House press corps that adhered to a code of silence by declining to investigate and report longstanding rumors of presidential indiscretion. Kennedy's dalliances included trysts with with Marilyn Monroe, Kim Novak, Angie Dickinson, Judith Campbell and Mary Pinchot Meyer.

As Bill Clinton demonstrated two-and-a-half decades later, conducting an Oval Office extramarital affair does not personify sex appeal or cool. Wearing sunglasses while playing the saxophone does not make you a hip cat: Zoot, the Muppet Show saxophonist, will dissuade one of this image. Barrack Obama is discovering -- contrary to what Huey Lewis and News once professed -- it's not "hip to be square."

A cynic might conclude that Presidential Cool perished with Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The optimist suspects -- and hopes -- that Presidential Cool takes more than a couple years to cultivate.

Golden Boy's death spelled the beginning of the end of So-Cal cool and Rat Pack hip

Maybe the recent Veterans Day holiday started the confluent of thoughts. The television in the other room blared the audio from the Travel Channel program Ghost Adventures as the Danger Boys investigated the reputedly haunted La Palazza mansion in Las Vegas, NV. Amongst the swirl ideas emerged what seemed an unlikely theme... the life and death of singer and actor Dean Paul Martin.

The son of the Rat Pack's undisputed "King of Cool," Dean Paul "Dino" Martin Jr. was born on November 17, 1951 in Santa Monica, CA. With Desi Arnaz Jr. on drums and Billy Hinsche on Rickenbacker guitar and 13 year-old Dino playing the Hofner bass, the teen-idol group was cannily dubbed "Dino Desi and Billy." Recording for the Reprise record label -- owned by family friend Frank Sinatra -- the trio twice landed on the Billboard pop lists in 1965 with "I'm A Fool" (#17) and "Not The Lovin' Kind" (#25). Dino Desi and Billy made a bevy of television appearances, including the Ed Sullivan Show, Shindig!, Hullabaloo, Mike Douglas Show, Joey Bishop Show, Hollywood Palace, American Bandstand and Dean Martin Show. Although panned by the critics, the trio served as opening acts for the Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Lovin' Spoonful and Mamas and the Papas.

Is anybody surprised that Dino starred in the "Thru Spray Coloured Glasses" video? Dig the Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses, the Sony transistor radio hanging from the rear-view mirror of the Karmann Ghia. Twisting near the beach with rock music blasting in the background... is that Great Society-era, teenage-era California Dreamin'?

The group broke up in 1970. While Desi Arnaz Jr. kissed Marcia Brady's cheek on The Brady Bunch, Dino polished his tennis game and competed in a juniors' competition in Wimbledon. Dino married actress Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet) in 1971; the marriage lasted seven years. Dino pursued an acting career, and portrayed a professional player and the object of a cougar's affections in the 1979 movie Players with Ali McGraw. The role earned Dino a Golden Globe nomination as "Best New Star of the Year - Male."

Dino and Olympic figure skating gold medalist Dorothy Hamill married in 1982. They were divorced two years later, and remained friends until Dino's untimely death. It's hard to imagine anybody -- even an ex-wife -- staying long at Dino for long.

Note that Dino donned military dress blues during the wedding ceremony. Having earned his pilot's license at age 16, Dino was commissioned as an officer in the California Air National Guard in 1981, and earned his aviator wings. Dino's life was unexpectedly cut short on March 25, 1987 during a Guard exercise. The Phantom II F-4 fighter jet that Dino was flying during a snowstorm in California's San Bernardino Mountains. Only 35 years old when he passed, Dino is interned in the United States National Cemetery in Los Angeles.

The death of the popular actor and aviator son devastated Dean Martin. The elder Martin scaled back his performance schedule -- large-venue concerts with Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. -- and retired four years later. Retreating into a life of solitude, the elder Martin passed away on Christmas Day 1995.

What made Dean Paul Martin Jr. über cool? Dino possessed the suave, self assurance of his famous father with the Southern California, golden-boy looks that catapulted him above the other teen idols of his era. Unlike some self-absorbed, self-destructive young stars who perished from drug overdoses, Dino died serving his country. Mind you, this post isn't a red-state rant against blue-state celebrities. This blog is undeniably and unabashedly Blue State. Don't like it... go away and read your Drudge Report. Rather, this post distinguishes between those who took and those who gave back.

Here's to Dino on what would have been his 59th birthday.

Anti-hero cool dead for more than three decades

Watching Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid on Turner Classic Movies Sunday, I didn't recognize the significance of the date. Thirty years ago, McQueen -- the actor who best personified the American anti-hero -- died at age 50 in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Receiving treatment for lung cancer, McQueen died of a heart attack.

The passing of the great American anti-hero seems much longer than 30 years. Many would assert that no actor has assumed the role -- largely because no actor can fill McQueen's proverbial shoes. Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis were celluloid action heroes who fit the comfortable mode of convention. Tom Hanks, Will Smith and Denzel Washington (with the exception of his Oscar-winning role in Training Day) generally portrayed characters who operated within the establishment. The three also moonlight as as producers and directors. Today's most bankable and critically acclaimed film stars are too angry (Sean Penn), ironic (Robert Downey Jr.), and quirky (Johnny Depp). Brad Pitt or Matt Damon... don't make me laugh. James Franco spent a summer vacation playing a villain on General Hospital. Leonardo DiCaprio? Probably as close as you'll get in this red state/blue state world.

A real-life rebel, McQueen endured a childhood with a physically abusive stepfather who remanded the teenager to a reform school, the California Junior Boys Republic in Chino, CA. Prior to entering the military, McQueen worked odd jobs ranging from a lumberjack to a janitor in a brothel. McQueen served in the United States Marine Corps, and used funds from the GI Bill to study acting.

Chart McQueen's career, and you'll see the making of anti-hero. McQueen's Vin was the most personable and likable of the hired guns in 1960's The Magnificent Seven. Three years later in The Great Escape, McQueen's "Cooler King" defied both Allied officers and the Nazi authorities in the Prisoner of War (POW) camp. At the end of the movie, you believed that the Cooler King - riding a replica of a TR6 Trophy motorcycle - could evade the inevitable pursuit of German soldiers. McQueen's Eric Stoner in The Cincinnati Kid (1965) was cynical and aloof -- the antithesis of the mugging, goofball poker players you see on so-called sports and game-show networks. As Machinist 1st Mate Jake Holman in the Sand Pebbles (1966), McQueen personified alienation.

By 1968, McQueen's Frank Bullitt was disconnected from the violence he witnesses as a San Francisco Police detective. Dressed in a turtleneck sweater and driving a 1968 Mustang GT, McQueen screamed "too cool." Insubordination came naturally for Bullitt, who flaunted direct orders from his superior officers. When an unctuous politician threatened him with a writ of habeas corpus, Bullitt nonverbally communicates that the slime ball isn't worth a "bring it on."

The famous car chase in San Francisco puts The Fast and the Furious and The Matrix Reloaded to shame. Special effects don't replace cool.

Funny thing, while the public embraced him as a rebel McQueen was tended to political conservatism. Actor Paul Newman celebrated making President Richard M. Nixon's "Enemies' List." McQueen -- who ironically voted for Nixon -- seemed perplexed when his name inexplicably appeared on the fabled list and flew a large American flag in front of his house in response.

With friends like Dick Nixon, who needed enemies?

Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, top with fried egg

If Americans can't satiate their fat-laden appetites with bacon double cheeseburgers, they might find satisfaction with the newest fatty food fad: burgers with fried eggs.

Burgers with fried eggs mark what foodies label as the "gross food diet": "a grassroots movement of all things deep-fried, bacon-wrapped and cheese-slathered," Robert Ashley of Gourmet wrote last year. Ashley attributed the popularity of the "gross food movement" to an online audience that attempts to "create food concoctions that violate all the rules of healthy living and gustatory sophistication."

So, a Wagyu burger with foie gras, truffles and Gruyere cheese on a briosch bun is superior to the fabled "Luther burger" -- Angus beef, bacon slices, cheddar atop a grilled Krispy Kreme doughnut? Are you siding with "gross food movement" opponent John Tesh, the former Entertainment Tonight host and composer of New Age, smooth jazz and contemporary Christian music? Or you are aligned with Travel Channel's Man v. Food host Adam Richman?

Those of us with slowing metabolisms probably can't make regular meals out of the Memphis Mafia (banana fritter with a chocolate-and-peanut-butter glaze) from Portland's Voodoo Doughnut, Fat Darrell (a sandwich that includes chicken fingers with fried mozzarella sticks, french fries and marinara sauce) from the R.U. Hungry? "grease truck" in New Brunswick, NJ or Iguana's Burritozilla (five-pound, 17-inch burrito) in San José, CA. Richman, who tackles improbable food challenges, is our "food double", the man with whom we can vicariously enjoy the high-caloric, high-cholesterol grub. The Man v. Food host takes the proverbial bullet in the gut for us when he tackles the:

• The Texas King challenge (72-ounce steak, baked potato, salad, shrimp cocktail, dinner roll eaten within one hour) at the Big Texan in Amarillo, TX;
• The Mac Daddy challenge (three 14-inch pancakes covered in one-pound of toppings such as blueberries, macadamia nuts or pineapple eaten within 90 minutes) at Mac 24/7 in Honolulu, HI;
• The Fifth Third Burger challenge (burger consisting of five one-third pound beef patties, five cheese slices, chili, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, corn chips and sour cream eaten within 2½ innings) at West Michigan White Caps' Comstock Park, Michigan.

John Tesh, indeed.

Heart like a wheel keeps turning with destination Sacramento

Step inside the Wayback Machine and journey back to November 5, 1974. Americans were bitterly divided over President Gerald Ford's decision to pardon Richard M. Nixon for any crimes that he may have been committed in the White House reflected the political divide among Americans. Sports scribes still buzzed over Muhammad Ali's eighth-round knockout of heavyweight champion George Foreman during the fabled "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire. Moviegoers eagerly awaited the release of Godfather II with Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and newcomer Robert DeNiro.

In California, voters elected 36 year-old Jerry Brown to succeed Ronald Reagan in the governor's mansion. Brown would achieve rock-star status no doubt in part to his liaison with 1970s pop diva Linda Ronstadt. Chicago columnist Mike Royko suggested that Brown attracted to "moonbeam vote" - a constituency of young, idealistic and unconventional types. The moniker "Governor Moonbeam" followed.

After his 1978 reelection Brown embarked upon a run at the White House and challenged standing President Jimmy Carter. Brown touted solar power, mandatory national service for American youth and universal health care. Brown's bid for the Presidency proved a footnote to the slug fest in the Democratic primary between Carter and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. Ironically, Reagan -- the man who defeated Brown's father Pat in the 1966 California gubernatorial race -- was elected President. Brown sat out the 1982 gubernatorial election to run for the United States Senate. He lost to former San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson.

What does an ex-politico do when away turned away from the spotlight? Brown traveled to Japan to study Buddhism. A former seminarian, Brown journeyed to Calcutta, India where he ministered to patients treated at Mother Teresa's hospice. Unable to stay away from politics, Brown made another run for the White House in 1992. Touting both a flat, 13-percent income tax and closing loopholes for corporations, Brown received endorsements from the New York Times, The New Republic and Forbes. However, the former California governor could not overcome the buzz saw of Bill Clinton's political machine.

Pundits stuck the proverbial fork in Brown's political career. Brown hosted a radio program, and served two terms as Oakland mayor. Brown was elected Attorney General of California in 2006. Then in March of this year Brown announced his improbable candidacy for governor. The man once dubbed "Governor Moonbeam" defeated former eBay Chief Executive Board (CEO) Meg Whitman and her grotesquely funded campaign that included $141.5 million of Whitman's own money. Brown became the oldest individual to win a gubernatorial contest in California.

Is Jerry Brown "Joe Namath Cool"? Beyond the Newsweek and People magazine covers, Linda Ronstadt, and being an early proponent of alternative energy sources? you ask. Brown commissioned Santa Monica artist Don Bachardy to paint the official gubernatorial portrait. Bachardy created what the Los Angeles Times characterized as a "quasi-abstract visual interpretation" so reviled that the portrait was "banished to a third floor landing of the state Capitol building."

It's 2010. The nation is bitterly divided into "blue" and "red" states after the November election. Movie veteran DeNiro will star in the December release of Little Fockers - the much-anticipated sequel to 2004's Meet the Fockers. The San Francisco Giants captured their first Bay-Area, World Series title. How times have changed... or have they?

Welcome back, Governor.