He looks a lot better now than he did when he wrote “Watchin’ Scotty Grow.”

Wait. I am reliably informed that Mac Davis and Mackenzie Davis are two different people. Go figure. They do have about the same hair style.

Kidding aside, it’s Mackenzie Davis in Freaks of Nature (2015). This may have been blown up too much, but the guy who created it has gone to great trouble to entertain us.

SIDEBAR: “Scotty” was Mac’s real son. He’s “Scot” now, and he’s 56.

For many guys, this was their glorious coming-of-age moment – ala Katie Holmes in The Gift, Jennifer Connelly in The Hot Spot, or Phoebe Cates in Fast Times.

When I was that age, there essentially was no nudity in films, so I don’t really have such a moment. The first naked woman I ever saw in a film was Romy Schneider in Boccaccio ’70 (1962). That was a very brief peek at one breast, and I needed a tremendous amount of chicanery to get that evanescent glimpse, as I have recounted many times over the years. The first naked woman I ever saw in an American movie was Thelma Oliver in The Pawnbroker (1964). Thelma was not a famous person, but at least that was a clear, unobstructed look in good light.

Shortcut to the full report for Saturday:

The USA’s national indicators are still looking much better than they were before this week:

  • New cases are down about 8% from last Saturday. That is the fourteenth consecutive day of declines, and the 17th decline in the past 20 days.
  • Fatalities are also down, about 13% less than last Saturday. That’s the fifth decline in the past six days.
  • The first decline in new cases began twenty days ago, and the first decline in new deaths began six days ago, precisely 14 days later.
  • Hospitalizations dropped again, and are at the lowest point since July 9.

It is important to note that these current declines are not happening because we ARE doing so well, but because we WERE doing do poorly. Even after that short-term improvement, the USA is still one of only four countries in the world in the red zone for both its new case rate and its new death rate. The four countries are Peru, Colombia, Brazil and the USA. This is not a list we want to be on. We have to do better.

There is also a major negative to consider, America’s testing rate. Positive tests are now more than 8% of all results. Ten states in the USA were above 12% on Saturday.

Note further than five states in the USA are in deep trouble because ALL of the following are true: (1) their new cases rate is higher than any country in the world; (2) their new fatality rate is higher than any country in the world; (3) their rate of positive tests is above 12%. Those states are Mississippi, Florida, Nevada, Georgia and South Carolina.

Because that’s how they roll:

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said in a televised address that Iran will expand its nuclear program and will not negotiate with the United States. Ayatollah Khamenei also said that Iran would maintain its close alliances with militia groups in the region that it uses as proxies.

They say they will manage to evade the sanctions by signing a deal with China, which can fill all its international trade requirements.

(NOTE: The sanctions have done what they were intended to do. Iran’s economy is in shambles.)