Oliver Stone

FROM last year's diary, a few ideas that meant to becom columns but didn't know how:A book title: "Why Does 1940 Now Seem Like Only Yesterday While 1890 Seemed Like the Dark Ages in 1940?"Or maybe, "Fifty Years Isn't What It Used to Be."Of course, nothing's what it used to be. If everything were what it used to be, I'd still be in high school. On the other hand, gourmet ice cream would still be uninvented and the other kind would still taste as wonderful as fried chicken still would because factory-made chicken would still be uninvented too.It would be terrible if things were still what they used to be, but it would be nice if a lot of things had stayed uninvented.

"Through ear and eye, we are both defined and manipulated fictions of such potency that they are able to replace our own experience, often becoming our sole experience of a reality.".$--Gore Vidal in "Screening History"Marie Antoinette was a kind and gracious lady who, under certain circumstances, could become a real party animal. Jim Garrison was a salt-of-the-earth guy whose instincts about a far-reaching conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy were largely accurate. And Christopher Columbus was stout-hearted visionary who didn't mean to cause anybody harm.

Los Angeles. -- As I scanned the channels trying to get away from the twang und drang of Ross Perot, I toted up the reasons I would not vote for the man even if he brought the money to my door.1. I love my country.2. He reminds me of Napoleon.3. I don't like self-financed politics, which means, to me, government of the super-rich, by the super-rich -- and, soon enough, for only the super-rich.4. I don't like the fact that buying public office is no longer a problem of the American system -- now it is the system.

The message of the fall movie season seems to be: You can run, but you can't hide.In an industry obsessed with running away from reality with lurid escapist fantasies, the hallmark of the fall appears to be a gritty realism, a confrontation with those urban complexities from which the movies, for all too long, have been a retreat.Certainly, there's the usual amount of escapist fare, but two strong and controversial films from America's two most gifted producers and directors, Oliver Stone and Spike Lee, will in all likelihood set the tone for what follows, and tower over the mere "product," as the industry likes to call its own issue.

"How did you end up going to the convention?" I asked."We took the train. We got off in New York City," answered the young wag, one Scott Markle, late of Harney, Carroll County, Maryland, but now, clearly, a Citizen of the World.Actually, the route for Scott and Westminster's Corynne Courpas was perhaps a bit more circuitous than that.Both Scott and Corynne are involved in a variety of community concerns, and had run as delegates to the Democratic National Convention supporting Sen. Tom Harkin's late lamented campaign.

Half a year after his "JFK" opened in theaters, Oliver Stone still feels the heat.The director behind "Platoon," "The Doors," "Wall Street" and "Born on the Fourth of July" was in Florida to receive the John M. Tiedtke Award for artistic achievement at last week's Florida Film Festival-Orlando, and to take his mother and 7-year-old son to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Florida.In his red-and-white flowered shirt, the 46-year-old Purple Heart recipient looked a lot like any dad with a binge of theme parking ahead of him. Mr. Stone's wife of 11 years, Elizabeth, who was supposed to come along on the trip, became sick at the last minute.

HOLLYWOOD -- In the tile game mah-jongg, the Mandarin expression "hu le" -- meaning "I have the arrangement" -- is said when the winning hand is about to be played.The same also might be said for Disney's Hollywood Pictures, which sources say is about to play its own hand in adapting Amy Tan's best-selling book "The Joy Luck Club" to the screen. The book is a tale of interlocking stories about four elderly Chinese women -- told while sitting around playing mah-jongg -- and their American-born daughters.

HOLLYWOOD -- Denzel Washington remarked the other day that his newest film, "Malcolm X," would not be the most controversial film of the year. "It's going to be the most controversial film of the decade," he said.It's probably just Hollywood hyperbole, but the actor's comment underlines the anticipation here for the forthcoming Spike Lee film, which is stirring even more talk, if that's possible, than that other controversial Warner Brothers film, Oliver Stone's "JFK." And "Malcolm X," which is being edited, doesn't even open until Thanksgiving.

Jonathan Demme is the clear choice of SUNDIAL callers for best director in this year's Academy Awards. The director of the popular thriller ''The Silence of the Lambs'' received 71 votes, well ahead of Oliver Stone, who got 46 votes for his direction of ''JFK.''John Singleton, the youngest director ever nominated for best director, got 37 votes for his ''Boyz N the Hood," Barry Levinson got 33 for ''Bugsy'' and Ridley Scott was last with 17 votes for ''Thelma & Louise." The Academy Awards ceremony will be broadcast Monday night on ABC (Channel 13)

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Randy Milligan is desperately trying to stay upbeat, but it's not holding.Sometimes, he's bitter. Sometimes, he's disappointed. But what he is mostly is sad.He's a sad Moose."