after I see the films in question. I like to go in as "blind" as the trailers will let me (which isn't very blind, but that's really a whole different subject).

Then I go to Pajiba and Libertas, and see what they have to say.

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Govindini Murty has a nice little summary of how successful this year's Liberty Film Festival was. There are also a few nice details about the lame attempts of left-wingers to protest the event.

And, of course, she points out that there's irony to spare when David Horowitz gets up to talk about the need for diverse viewpoints in academia and is shouted down by people who yell that he has "no right to speak." This is what it means to be a "tolerant" progressive these days.

One of my proudest achievements this year—along with getting to talk to Larry Elder—was learning how to pronounce Govindini's and Jason's names properly. For Govindini's first name, you take the word "divinity," and merely replace the first syllable with "go." The trick is to place the greatest accent on the second syllable (like everyone else, I kept trying to pronounce it as if it were an Italian name; silly). And in Jason's last name, Apuzzo, the "u" is an "uh" rather than an "ooh" sound.

Seriously, this was a very successful event, with all of those "first time glitches" ironed out since the premier festival. One of the best things about it was that the panels—most notably, the discussion on Hollywood's blacklist in the 1950s—contained a broad spectrum of political opinion, including mainstream liberal and far left. Though the impetus behind this enterprise was the bald fact that a lot of libertarian and conservative ideas are shut out of the "respectable" entertainment industry, the conduct of the organizers was to keep their intellectual integrity by getting as many voices as possible represented when it's time to debate.

I'll have more write-ups of the films and discussions throughout the week, but Murty and Apuzzo truly hit it out of the park.

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I didn't pin Roger Simon down when I saw him on a panel at the last UCLA/LA Times "Festival of Books" six months ago. But I did today, at the film festival. He does not, as you might imagine, walk around in a fedora. In real life, it's a baseball cap.

RLS: [eye contact]

LMA: I'm just a stalker. Actually, I have a blog, and I'm a big admirer [hands over a "Little Miss Attila" business card]. I'm also working on a mystery, of all things.

RLS: I think I've heard of your blog.

LMA: Now that's flattering. Can you answer a few questions about Pajamas Media?

RLS: Okay, but we'll have to make it quick. [Nods to another would-be interviewer, who clearly outranks me because he got to Simon first, and because he has more technological do-dads with him.]

LMA: A lot of people are excited at the idea that Pajamas Media might actually bring money into the blogging community. What foundation does your business model rest on?

RLS: Two Things. First of all, of course, we're going to sell advertising. Secondly, we'll have affilitates like the BBC does—though we might not be quite at their level just yet.

Right now, we're really looking for affiliates, especially overseas. We intend to cover the world with our affiliates.

LMA: [leaning forward, whispering into his ear] What's the new name going to be for Pajamas Media? You can tell me.

RLS: No, I can't. I really can't. But it won't be a fun name like Pajamas Media. It'll be a boring name—like "the BBC."

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