Reluctant, equivocating, hesitating Beto O’Rourke is still candy-assing about running for President, but today he promised a final decision later this month. He’d better Gary Cooper up and get on the stick. He needs to sign up the best campaign staffers, raise God knows how many millions, get his drag-ass campaign in gear. America doesn’t want another Adlai Stevenson — it wants a new Bobby Kennedy.

I felt genuine nausea when Republican representatives and senators began chanting “USA! USA! USA!” And when President Trump replied, “That sounded so good.” In fact, to hear it from Aaron Sorkin, “We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories. Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending…”

Six and a half years ago, Business Insider listed 25 other things that the United States isn’t number one in.

At the end of The Grey, Liam Neeson is alone, surrounded, out-fanged. He knows he’s finished. The only thing left is do as much damage as he can to the big black CG wolves before they overwhelm and kill him. In actuality, Neeson doesn’t face career death as much as a likely period of temporary retirement — a Gibson-like shunning. Lasting perhaps a year or two. Probably not longer. The SJWs want Neeson dead, of course, but they’d like to de-employ a lot of people. That’s their ongoing, full-time dream.

This isn’t especially newsworthy or interesting, I’ll admit, but the Santa Barbara Inn (901 East Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara, CA 93103) is about 17 times nicer than the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort (633 E. Cabrillo). Make that 18 times. Being a practiced moocher, I immediately wrote the SBIFF staffers and asked if there was any way I could remain at the SBI rather than return to the much-lower-on-the-totem-pole Hilton. I knew what their answer would be — I had to ask anyway.

Hollywood Elsewhere drove back to Santa Barbara this morning. Left around 11 am, arrived at 12:15 pm. The Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort (formerly Fess Parker) is temporarily booting some of the guests of the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Those affected have to move into the Santa Barbara Inn for a day, and back into the HSBBR tomorrow.

Tonight’s big SBIFF event is the Virtuosos Award. Honorees include Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Sam Elliott (A Star is Born), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Claire Foy (First Man), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace),John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman) and Steven Yeun (Burning).

“Ash Is Purest White, Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke’s most serious foray into the gangster genre since A Touch of Sin, is a winding tale of love, disillusionment and survival that again represents his vision of his country’s spiritual trajectory.

“More expository and down-to-earth than usual, Jia delves deep into the protagonists’ most vulnerable feelings as they pay dearly for both sin and honor.

“At 141 minutes, the work has its intellectually ponderous moments but is ultimately saved by Jia’s muse and wife, Zhao Tao, who surpasses herself in a role of mesmerizing complexity.” — from Maggie Lee‘s 5.11.18 Variety review.

Cohen Media Group will open the film in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco on Friday, 3.15, followed by a national roll-out.

Public candor about private failings is not a wise policy in our current situation. You can’t say “I once succumbed to an urge to practice witchcraft back in the ’70s.” To the Cotton Mather crowd that’s like saying you might put a hex on someone tomorrow.

But actors have emotionally expansive, compulsively honest natures, and so poor, impetuous Liam Neeson is going to have to face suspicions and charges of witchcraft for the rest of his life. Hell, they might come for him today and haul his ass over to the nearest lake and dunk him a few times.

Neeson has admitted that 40 years ago, when he was in his mid to late 20s, he experienced an illogical, enraged, tribal reaction to a friend having been raped by a person of color. He told an interviewer that he would have felt the same gut-level animosity “if she had said an Irish or a Scot or a Brit or a Lithuanian [had raped her]…[it] would have had the same effect. I was trying to show honor, to stand up for my dear friend in this terribly medieval fashion.”

Neeson offered the recollection during an interview that was posted yesterday in The Independent. He was promoting Cold Pursuit (Summit, 2.8), his latest revenge thriller. On a certain level Neeson was brave to admit that he was briefly seized by an ugly and bigoted impulse in his presumably intemperate, immoderate youth, but look at what’s happened.

This morning he attempted some damage control in a chat with ABC’s Robin Roberts. “We all pretend we’re all politically correct in this country…in mine, too,” Neeson said. “You sometimes just scratch the surface and you discover this racism and bigotry, and it’s there.”

I’ve mentioned witch-dunking in a satiric vein, but maybe this is actually the best way to handle the Neeson thing. Put him into a burlap bag, drive him out to Malibu pier, dunk him in the Pacific a few times. If he’s still breathing after the fifth or sixth submersion, he’ll be forgiven and allowed to work again. If he doesn’t make it, then at least the world will have one less suspected witch to deal with.

I’ve finally watched Tatyana Antropova‘s televised acting debut. She appears in a protestors-and-placards scene in The Rookie (season 1, episode 11, titled “Redwood“). She’s observed chanting, holding up a sign, being told to disperse, reacting with disgust when a protestor throws up, etc. Shot in downtown Los Angeles on 11.5.18. No biggie but noteworthy.

She’s also performed in episodes of For All Mankind, Veronica Mars, Lethal Weapon, Criminal Minds, The Affair, Games Divas Play (in an S & M club scene) and This Is Us.

Update: I would have said “HE’s own Tatyana Antropova” but it made the sentence structure feel awkward — i.e., possessive of a possessive.

Passerby to Tatyana: “Whaddaya protestin’, blondie?” Tatyana to passerby: “Whaddaya got?”