Tom Teicholz is a film producer in LA. Everywhere else he's a journalist and author. "Tommywood," his column and blog on arts and culture can be read at www.tommywood.com

Blog Entries by Tom Teicholz

Germany Charging Demjanjuk with 29,000 counts

Posted March 11, 2009 | 03:09 PM (EST)


As reported by the Associated Press, Germany has charged John Demjanjuk in 29,000 counts of accessory to murder for the time he served at the Sobibor extermination camp in then Nazi-occupied Poland between March and September 1943.

Last Summer, the US rejected Demjanjuk's final appeals of his deportation from the...

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"DOC" on PBS: The life and fictions of Harold Humes

Posted December 9, 2008 | 08:55 AM (EST)


Watching wasted genius, a life gone wrong, is compelling and poignant, but with "Doc", airing December 9, at 10PM on PBS' Independent Lens, we feel much more like guests doing a post-mortem on a private party where the drinks may have been dosed.

"Doc" is a documentary by...

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Sun Sets for Lipsky

Posted September 26, 2008 | 03:19 PM (EST)


It looks as though Seth Lipsky's "New York Sun" will fold on Monday -- barring a last minute cash infusion. Lipsky founded the daily in the shadow of 9-11 with the grand ambition of being a niche paper -- a non-tabloid high end New York daily.

Prior...

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Red and Blue Newspapers

Posted September 3, 2008 | 01:05 PM (EST)


Stepping outside my home this morning to gather the morning newspapers, I noticed something that perhaps I had not been paying attention to: the Wall Street Journal, which used to be delivered in a clear wrapper, now comes in a red wrapper.

It then struck me that the...

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The Pariah Loophole

Posted June 14, 2008 | 12:02 PM (EST)


John Demjanjuk's last appeal to avoid deportation was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 19. The 88-year-old accused Nazi concentration camp guard was stripped of his citizenship and ordered sent to Ukraine, his birthplace; Poland, the locus of the crimes; or Germany, the heir to the Nazi regime...

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Obama and Israel: Goldberg Asks the Tough Questions

Posted May 14, 2008 | 03:12 PM (EST)


I've been hearing that Obama wants to put an end to all the rumor mongering and internet chatter suggesting that he will not be an advocate for Israel's security.

My reaction to this info was that Obama should stop pussyfooting around -- no more nuanced conversation and put himself...

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Dutton's Bookstore Closing: Where Will Booklovers Go?

Posted April 29, 2008 | 02:49 PM (EST)


Dutton's Brentwood Books, among the best-known and best-loved of Los Angeles' independent bookstores, will close on April 30.

It is hard not to take this as a sign of the times.

Over the past few years many local independent bookstores have gone the way of the local movie theater, the...

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Murdoch & Zell: Why are These Men Smiling?

Posted April 24, 2008 | 06:07 PM (EST)


News that the current managing editor of the Wall Street Journal is leaving and that new owner Rupert Murdoch will shortly put his own person in situ, combined with a recent study of the WSJ in the weeks since Murdoch's purchase all point to the same conclusion: Murdoch's got his...

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Anita Busch: Not Crazy After All These Years

Posted April 10, 2008 | 02:30 PM (EST)


One of the most unsettling aspects of the Pellicano trial is the way in which Anita Busch, the reporter who is at the center of the case, has suffered professionally.

As detailed in March 24 New York Times article and as repeated in court yesterday, Busch had her phones bugged,...

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Is Running a Country, State, City a Part-Time Job?

Posted April 9, 2008 | 02:07 PM (EST)


News that Czech President Vaclav Klaus has confessed to an affair with a flight attendant less than half his age has garnered little attention. But it did make me wonder: where do all these politicians find the time?

At every level of government, from mayors to governors to heads of...

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The Mad Adventures of Gerard Oury

Posted August 7, 2006 | 11:46 PM (EST)


"The King of popular comedy is dead," proclaimed Le Figaro after Gerard Oury, one of France's most successful directors (if not its most successful) died on Thursday, July 20, at his home in St. Tropez.

I know Oury's work because as a teenager I went with...

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A Little Respect (for Jewish Journalism)

Posted July 3, 2006 | 01:48 PM (EST)


For the 20th anniversary issue of The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, it was suggested that I write a column about Jewish journalism. Herewith the result:

Jewish journalism is a much-maligned enterprise -- it cries out like the late Rodney Dangerfield for respect.

No one really admits to reading a...

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Remembering Rudolf Vrba's 5 Per Cent

Posted April 22, 2006 | 01:27 AM (EST)


On April 7, 1944, Rudolf Vrba escaped from Auschwitz, one of very few to do so; he died recently at age 81, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Vancouver, British Columbia. Vrba once said that he spent 95 percent of his life on science and 5 percent on...

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The Getty Villa: The 'Wow' Factor

Posted February 8, 2006 | 08:23 PM (EST)


Before me sat a poet, flanked on each side by his muses. Was this Orpheus himself? His lyre was missing, and he looked off in the distance. Were the muses there to inspire him, or perhaps, to inspire me?

No, this was not just another late night of hanging out...

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Nanny McPhee vs. Nanny Rosa

Posted February 2, 2006 | 12:46 AM (EST)


While I enjoyed "Nanny McPhee" as a movie (Emma Thompson can do no wrong), I was disappointed to see that it followed the tried and true message of movies about nannies - i.e., that parents don't really need nannies; they are just too busy with their own lives and own...

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New World Music from the Old World - a rave for "Les Yeux Noirs"

Posted January 31, 2006 | 03:02 PM (EST)


Here's my rave: "Les Yeux Noirs," a Paris-based world music band who have a new recording, "Tchorba" on the World Village label and who performed last Thursday night at UCLA's Royce Hall as part of UCLA LIVE.

"Les Yeux Noir" are a six person band led by brothers Olivier...

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Ad Is Offensive to Journos Risking Their Lives

Posted January 23, 2006 | 07:40 PM (EST)


With the fate of journalist Jill Carroll still in limbo, it was upsetting to see the juxtaposition offered in today's national print edition of the New York Times. On page A8 there was an article, "Abduction of U.S. Reporter Underscores Risks in Iraq," by Sabrina Tavernise, that detailed the...

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How Should We Celebrate Martin Luther King Day?

Posted January 17, 2006 | 01:07 AM (EST)


Although Martin Luther King Day is a recent addition to our national roster of days off -- it has already devolved into uncertainty: Should we work or shouldn't we? Are banks open or not? (It's optional.) How about the post office? (Closed.) Unions? (Depends.) And on a personal level: Should...

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Brokedown Breakthrough

Posted January 13, 2006 | 09:33 PM (EST)


Brokeback Mountain was hailed this week as a "breakthrough film" by the LA Times. I don't get it. Where's the breakthrough in a story about "the love that cannot speak its name" between two men, based on a short story by a woman (Annie Proulx), adapted into a screenplay by...

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