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FEEDBACK

Everything’s ‘Fair Game’

Once again, Hollywood has invested in incompetence by handing a priceless story like “Fair Game” to Doug Liman [“Spies, Lies and Personal Ties,” May 16].

Liman was lucky with “The Bourne Identity,” where he had Robert Ludlum’s familiar spy-with-amnesia story that was saved by his stunt team. More typical is his uneven and unsatisfying waste of two big stars in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

Again he wastes the talents of two big stars with his pretentious take on the Plame incident. To gloss over the treasonous criminality of the Bush administration and Republican water carrier Robert Novak in this career-shattering conspiracy is to disappoint 100% of any audience he might have entertained. After the box office flops on this turgid turkey, perhaps the next time Hollywood has a hot true story of political intrigue, it will have the good sense to hire Michael Moore.

Tedd Anasti

Burbank

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FOR THE RECORD:
Rolling Stones: A letter about the Rolling Stones in Sunday’s Calendar section said Nicky Hopkins played piano on the band’s song “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” It was Jack Nitzsche at the keys. —

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Rachel Abramowitz’s article is little more than a liberal sendup for her subject — once again demonstrating The Times’, and her, juvenile bias.

The records show that Valerie Plame was not “outed” in violation of any U.S. law by anyone at the White House ( Scooter Libby’s prosecution was about something entirely different), and Joe Wilson’s assertions were later entirely discredited by a bipartisan congressional investigation.

Moreover, Abramowitz asserts that Doug Liman’s father, Arthur Liman, “grilled” Oliver North during the Iran-Contra investigation of the Reagan administration. That he did,and Arthur Liman came up on the short end of the stick on that one, famed litigator or not.

Abramowitz, however, maintains her slavish devotion to advancing the liberal view of the world. But then, what’s new at The Times?

Kip Dellinger

Santa Monica

Tone down

that ‘Ring’

The current staging of the Wagner Ring Cycle is a theatrical, musical and cultural travesty [“Three Ring Circus,” May 16]. The operas extol the virtues of Nordic bravery and myth, and often feature an “Aryan” hero. Why is it needed to costume them in clown

suits with giant doll heads, use laser weapons, feature

a stickfigure airplane,

slant the stage and use garish circus colors and lighting?

Sterling R. Johnson

Palm Springs

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The final scene of “Götterdämmerung” is almost as complicated as it is disappointing [“Counting Down to the Apocalypse,” May 16]. I was ready and waiting to boo Achim Freyer, but he did not even bother to attempt a curtain call at the dress rehearsal.

As many others have said, “L.A. Opera spent $32 million on THIS?”

Posted by:freedml

From: latimes.com

By ‘Exile,’ Stones gathered moss

Regarding the piece on the Stones’ “Exile” album [“Shining a Light on ‘Exile,’” May 16]: With the passing of the Beatles (1969), the Stones truly seemed to lose their footing in manning up to produce truly great tunes. “Exile” has some decent tunes, as did “Let It Bleed,” but I don’t see how “Exile” is the best of what the band produced; in fact, the past 36 years have been a wasteland (save for “It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll” — a great tune!).

Listen to “Between the Buttons”’ and note the true synchronicity of that album — the frenetic piano pounding of Nicky Hopkins on “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” the percussion Charlie [Watts] displays as the group sings that guttural intro to “Complicated,” the tight and taut sway of “Connection.” “Exile” is more of a throwaway mess with the use of foul language to a sweet sad pretty tune, “Sweet Virginia.”

No, the “music died” with the Beatles taking away the Stones’ need to compete.

Neil McCarthy

Torrance