Letters for February 7, 2002

Gee, H. Sande: If your reference to the “Passive Smokers Inhale Six Cigarettes a Year” story is accurate, that still makes six cigarettes a year (only?) that I did not choose to smoke! And, that’s OK because you picked up something that struck your fancy from a Web site? I, like many others, quit smoking years ago. Why would I want to inhale even one cigarette a year, just because it’s apparently OK with you?

T. Yearnshaw
via e-mail

A fan in the sea of Grimm bashers
Re “Totally Brain-dead” [RN&R Film, Jan. 31]:

I’ve been a loyal fan of [Bob Grimm] for about six months now. I started reading your reviews after I saw a movie and garnered my own opinion of it. I found that I agree with you on most every movie.

That said, I have been waiting and waiting for your review of I Am Sam so that I would know if it was a waste of money or not. I am so disappointed to see that you gave it a bad rating. So, I’m going to completely ignore my inner voice and your advice and go waste my money anyway.

I just wanted to let you know that in a sea of Grimm bashers, you do have a few on your side!

Patti Gingras
via e-mail

Those liberal hypocrites
Re “Why Publish Bigot’s Words?” [RN&R Letters, Jan. 24]:

So “name withheld” thinks that you shouldn’t have published the letter from S. Wright on Jan. 17 because he or she didn’t like it! “Name withheld” must be a typical liberal. Great believers in tolerance and dissent, those liberals, until somebody has the gall to disagree with them.

Bill Hamma
Reno

Speaking of non sequitur
Re “Why Publish Bigot’s Words?” [RN&R Letters, Jan. 24]:

I would like to ask the person who called me a bigot: Is it discriminatory to tell the truth? Bill O’Reilly reported that he was once called a racist for pointing out that hardly any of the money donated to Jesse Jackson for charity actually reaches its destination. I did not say that generalizations are always true, only that they usually are. If the Jewish people in this country, less than 2.5 percent of the population, do not tend to be affluent and selfish, then why have half of the syndicate men who took over Las Vegas and thence our nation been estimated to be Jewish? Until the recent death of Arthur Goldberg, two out of five of the most prominent and powerful men in Vegas were Jewish.

S. Wright
Reno

Grimm doesn’t get it
Re “2001: The Year in Film” [[RN&R, Jan. 17]:

Reno labors under a vexing problem. It considers itself a second-class city. In reality, it is no such thing. Reno is a dichotomous, vibrant city not unlike other cities in our country and has much to offer.

It was with a need to enjoy some good food and a big little city life that my wife and I ventured to Reno last Saturday afternoon. We started off with a couple of great noodle bowls at Pho 777, then proceeded with a brisk winter walk by the river. We then entered the Century complex for a late afternoon movie.

At this point, I’d like to get back to the problem Reno has of its second-class perception. Do you realize that it is being perpetuated by the RN&R in the person of Bob Grimm? After reading many of his muddle-headed reviews—A.I. Artificial Intelligence is his third best movie of the year? Ha, ha, ha!—I have decided to respond. The movie we went to see was Gosford Park, an intelligent, entertaining and tidy murder mystery that we enjoyed immensely. Yet he didn’t get it at all! No, there wasn’t any sex, violence or action to entertain Mr. Grimm. The whole movie must have glanced off his forehead. Did he pay attention to the dialogue?

In the end, with reviewers such as this, Reno will never overcome its inferiority complex. Indeed, it is the reason why the original Keystone Cinema closed and some very good out-of-the-mainstream movies don’t even bother to come to Reno. And that’s sad.

Jay Aldrich
Minden