I am not now, nor have I ever been, a huge fan of New Year's resolutions. One reason for this is that they almost never are sustained, the second is that the turning of a calendar is a silly reason to think that you're going to start anew and suddenly live a new life that you haven't for how ever many prior years you've schlepped along the surface of Gaia.
That said, I think, collectively, that the New Year CAN provide us with new opportunities to look at some things since we feel that we are "closing" one chapter and "starting" another on Jan 1. With that in mind, it's high time that, as a society, we come to an agreement that being "famous" for whatever the reason, is no reason for a person to be allowed an outsized influence where their opinion is concerned.
In short: No, to Kanye West for President. Just no.
Nor should we care what Leonardo "grunts" DiCaprio thinks about climate change, or that Katy Perry cried on election night, or that Lena Dunham has a deep desire to kill unborn babies to increase her activist cred. This also means that the political rantings of Amy Schumer, Harry Belafonte (who?), Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Samuel L. Jackson should be roundly ignored.
When you consider that the bar for fame has been lowered to "willing to strip bare for Instagram" you start to see just how silly our infatuation with fame really is. Now, granted, I'm not a fan of fame, I've never watched a "reality TV" show, I couldn't pick many of the Kardashians out of a police line-up. Given that I'm probably akin to an old man sitting on my e-porch screaming about "those damn kids". But, and this is important, those kids are just doing what the media tells them they should do.
On the one hand, we obsess over STEM classes and knowledge while, on the other hand, we glorify a bird who thinks STEM is short-hand for people's reaction to her legs and who believes that nude selfies are the epitome of high art. Then we all sit around and wonder why Donald Trump becomes President?
Now, I don't have any problems with actors, artists, musicians, dancers, models doing their thing. I laugh at comedians, watch films with liberal actors enjoy watching dance and like a wide variety of music. But long ago I quit worrying about the political opinions of those whose songs/shows/movies/art I enjoyed because it really doesn't matter.
If I stuck a political filter on my entertainment choices then I'd be stuck watching Kirk Cameron "Left Behind" movies and listening to the worst song ever recorded (Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American") on an endless loop. And that would be awful.
The fact is that I don't care whether or not Samuel L. Jackson declared he would move to Canada if Trump won and then didn't because it's not going to affect the movies he's in. It doesn't matter to me that Mark Ruffalo is a left-wing bigot/idiot of massive proportions because he was entertaining as hell in Avengers movies and in the "Now You See Me" duo. Niki Manaj is a political dunderhead, but I enjoy her songs so I really don't care.
Granted, I don't find Amy Schumer funny or Lena Dunham all that entertaining, but that has nothing to do with their politics and more to do with their lack of talent. I'm not a Leonardo DiCaprio fan either but I did enjoy "Catch Me If You Can". (I did, however, find The Revenant to be an over-indulgent, boring piece of crap movie that had little going for it other than moaning and grunting interspread between gore. To each their own)
When it comes to movies I just want to be entertained. If I'm watching a move about monsters/robots/aliens attacking then I just want to see stuff get blown up. If I'm watching an action movie I want good fight scenes. If I'm watching a drama I want a compelling plot and characters I can get behind, a comedy, I want to laugh, etc. When I listen to music I want the hook to be catchy. When I watch dance I want the choreography to be innovative and make sense with the narrative of the dance. I want art to be beautiful.
If the people that make it are turds? I honestly don't care.
Nor do I care that Leo is now grunting his way across the globe in a carbon-spewing airplane lecturing the world on our wasteful ways, or that Amy Schumer based her career on telling "I'm a slut" jokes and then dumped on a fan for joking that she's a 'slut'.
I don't care about any of these things, and neither should you.
Alec Baldwin plays Presidents on TV, he would make an awful one.
Don't confuse play-acting with real-life ability, and stop giving these walking bags of ego undue influence on things you care about and important issues. They are usually no more qualified to weigh in than your pet. But they're famous, so society has decided we need to care.
It shouldn't. And neither should you.
Showing posts with label BadEntertainment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BadEntertainment. Show all posts
Monday, January 02, 2017
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Election 2016: What we're seeing now is the new normal.
It is quite possible that we've become a nation of spoiled brats.
Where political wins and losses used to be something absorbed with resolve they are now flayed open in a wave of National spleen venting. "Not My President" has become the new, less poetic "Hell no, We won't go" as thousands of young Americans get slapped in the face with the ugly realization that they do not, in fact, get a participation trophy as adults when their side loses.
The media, when they're not suffering from apparent nervous breakdowns (in an honest moment, I hope Ms. Grieder is OK) choose to fan the flame in the name of ratings and page-clicks because someone, somewhere, decided there's piles of money to be made off of the "two Americas" meme.
That's simplistic, of course, and wildly inaccurate which, given the performance of the media during this election cycle, should hardly be a surprise. In fact, we still have ONE America which has residing in its borders Millions of little ideological bubbles, some larger than others, some very small.
For over two centuries now these little bubbles have become more diverse, have expanded in their difference from one another, and are losing that sense of community that once bound them together as tightly as any non-forced unity can be bound. And it's not just our politics that are playing a role in separating us, but our culture and entertainment as well.
Yes, politicians, and political "activists" hold a large part of the blame. The American people have elected (on both sides) a steady procession of snake-oil hustlers, miscreants and just plain awful people into elected office, at all levels of public "service". We gave Anthony Weiner a microphone for goodness' sake.
Harry Reid, possibly one of the worst people to ever be elected to the Senate, did not get there by accident. He was elected by Millions of Nevadans, and then re-elected several times, even after they understood what a dishonest, spiteful individual he was. The US Senate is now possibly the worst collection of characters since Tammany Hall. That is not an exaggeration.
In Texas we've elected Dan Patrick, a man who's ego is so big he titled his book "the Second Most Important Book You'll Ever Read" and he wasn't saying this tongue in cheek. This is a man who thinks he not only communicates with God, but whose thoughts are God's divine word here on Earth.
With these people in charge is there any wonder that the campaigns are horrible, and people are starting to believe that The Anointed One was somehow cheated out of her divine inheritance. We don't view the Presidency as a job any more, we view it as a throne.
And that's the problem.
More than bad politicians, more than the bad media, more than a bad citizenry, the problem is that we've allowed politicians to elevate their roles and importance to us to levels which are improbable considering the level of skill they all possess, and the stubborn little fact called the Constitution.
President Obama was never "our daddy" as Chris Rock famously intoned. Nor did he possess the moral authority to make that claim. Because the President is NOT, as believed, the supreme, unchallenged, ruler of America.
Instead the office of the President is the head of the executive branch of Government. He is also the commander and chief of the military. His job is to ensure that the machinery of the executive branch functions, that the military stands ready to protect the country, and to sign laws and greet visiting dignitaries.
The President is a Store Manager, who often doubles as a Wal-Mart greeter.
Maybe if we visualized Trump in that role, instead of the all-powerful boogey-man we've imagined the Presidency to be, we wouldn't need to freak out like we're currently doing and we could get on with more important things?
Like teaching our children how to be good losers for instance.
Where political wins and losses used to be something absorbed with resolve they are now flayed open in a wave of National spleen venting. "Not My President" has become the new, less poetic "Hell no, We won't go" as thousands of young Americans get slapped in the face with the ugly realization that they do not, in fact, get a participation trophy as adults when their side loses.
The media, when they're not suffering from apparent nervous breakdowns (in an honest moment, I hope Ms. Grieder is OK) choose to fan the flame in the name of ratings and page-clicks because someone, somewhere, decided there's piles of money to be made off of the "two Americas" meme.
That's simplistic, of course, and wildly inaccurate which, given the performance of the media during this election cycle, should hardly be a surprise. In fact, we still have ONE America which has residing in its borders Millions of little ideological bubbles, some larger than others, some very small.
For over two centuries now these little bubbles have become more diverse, have expanded in their difference from one another, and are losing that sense of community that once bound them together as tightly as any non-forced unity can be bound. And it's not just our politics that are playing a role in separating us, but our culture and entertainment as well.
Yes, politicians, and political "activists" hold a large part of the blame. The American people have elected (on both sides) a steady procession of snake-oil hustlers, miscreants and just plain awful people into elected office, at all levels of public "service". We gave Anthony Weiner a microphone for goodness' sake.
Harry Reid, possibly one of the worst people to ever be elected to the Senate, did not get there by accident. He was elected by Millions of Nevadans, and then re-elected several times, even after they understood what a dishonest, spiteful individual he was. The US Senate is now possibly the worst collection of characters since Tammany Hall. That is not an exaggeration.
In Texas we've elected Dan Patrick, a man who's ego is so big he titled his book "the Second Most Important Book You'll Ever Read" and he wasn't saying this tongue in cheek. This is a man who thinks he not only communicates with God, but whose thoughts are God's divine word here on Earth.
With these people in charge is there any wonder that the campaigns are horrible, and people are starting to believe that The Anointed One was somehow cheated out of her divine inheritance. We don't view the Presidency as a job any more, we view it as a throne.
And that's the problem.
More than bad politicians, more than the bad media, more than a bad citizenry, the problem is that we've allowed politicians to elevate their roles and importance to us to levels which are improbable considering the level of skill they all possess, and the stubborn little fact called the Constitution.
President Obama was never "our daddy" as Chris Rock famously intoned. Nor did he possess the moral authority to make that claim. Because the President is NOT, as believed, the supreme, unchallenged, ruler of America.
Instead the office of the President is the head of the executive branch of Government. He is also the commander and chief of the military. His job is to ensure that the machinery of the executive branch functions, that the military stands ready to protect the country, and to sign laws and greet visiting dignitaries.
The President is a Store Manager, who often doubles as a Wal-Mart greeter.
Maybe if we visualized Trump in that role, instead of the all-powerful boogey-man we've imagined the Presidency to be, we wouldn't need to freak out like we're currently doing and we could get on with more important things?
Like teaching our children how to be good losers for instance.
Monday, February 29, 2016
The Oscars: Here we are now, entertain us.
Last night, the denizens of Hollywood met and threw their annual homage to themselves. From starlets in $20,000 custom gowns to leading men sporting various stages of beard-growth the annual brouhaha to determine just who suffered the most for their craft was wrapped up in it's usual bow of glitz, glamour and insufferableness.
Whether it was Best Actor winner Leonardo DiCaprio reminding us that our refusal to limit our energy consumption is hampering his ability to fly in his private jet guilt-free, or brilliant actor (but slug of a human being) Mark Ruffalo chastising the Pope for......well, I'm not sure what really, as Ruffalo doesn't really seem to know what he's calling for either, except that the solution should be 'liberal; or some-such, the night was full of glitz, glamour, preaching and a decent dallop of full-on self unawareness. In fact, the only group that is more self-unaware than Hollywood is professional athletics. Increasingly common in any award show is the idea that you, not them, are responsible for their short-comings.
When Cheryl Boone-Isaacs (President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) stands up and tells you that racism is "all of our problem" she is, to a certain extent, correct. But what she, and others in Hollywood are really trying to say is that you need to fix your racism, but they're OK with theirs because....advocacy, or something. We had to destroy the village to save it right?
So actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio (who finally got his Oscar last night, for one of his lesser roles) stands up and says that you need to "act" on Climate Change and defy the will of the big corporations (ignoring, for a minute, that both his film, and the award he just won, wouldn't be possible without big corporations) what he's really saying is that you should change so he and his can continue jet-setting at their leisure.
Then, there's the iron-clad fact that these are actors. Not doctors or scientists or particle physicists or firefighters or policemen or engineers or anything else that would imply expertise in the field. These are people who can do a good job pretending to be someone they are not. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a voice, only that we as a society need to stop paying so much attention to it, and granting it a weight that it does not deserve.
The problem is, America loves itself some fame. We worship it, adore it. We put fame on a pedestal so high it causes us to lose sight of the fact that, quite often, those who are famous are pretty awful people. The same room of people who gave a standing ovation to Joe Biden after he made a call to bring and end to rape culture famously gave a standing ovation to Roman Polanski. In Hollywood, after all, you're not judged by the crimes you commit, but by whether or not actors enjoy working with you and consider your work to be brilliant.
Last year, a record-low audience tuned in to watch Hollywood's warm self-embrace, something that I think will not happen this year. By embracing #OscarsSoWhite (they had pre-scripted bits about it woven into the show for Chrissakes) and hiring a black comedian to host the Oscars have ensured that they would at least get a curiosity bump.
What they haven't done is given us any indication that they really give a shit about affecting the kind of change that they demand of society.
Oh sure, next year (and for a few years following) there will be a token number of black actors, directors and producers nominated in each category. The Oscars won't admit to a quota system but one will exist. Some of them might even be given a win from time to time. If anything next year's nominee list is sure to be overwhelmingly of color, a classic case of overcorrecting after this year's snafu.
But long-term, in society, where sorority racism (one of Chris Rock's better lines of the evening) really exists is this going to have any effect?
No, because Hollywood is not real life and the people that you saw on television were not real people. They were mannequin peacocks dressed up in finery parading themselves in front of the camera. Everything they said and did was either scripted or pre-planned. The only thing authentic was the statue itself.
And I didn't watch, after the monologue that is. Because I don't care.
I will watch your movies Hollywood because you entertain me (at times). Beyond that?
You have nothing for me. (And I hope they have nothing for you)
Whether it was Best Actor winner Leonardo DiCaprio reminding us that our refusal to limit our energy consumption is hampering his ability to fly in his private jet guilt-free, or brilliant actor (but slug of a human being) Mark Ruffalo chastising the Pope for......well, I'm not sure what really, as Ruffalo doesn't really seem to know what he's calling for either, except that the solution should be 'liberal; or some-such, the night was full of glitz, glamour, preaching and a decent dallop of full-on self unawareness. In fact, the only group that is more self-unaware than Hollywood is professional athletics. Increasingly common in any award show is the idea that you, not them, are responsible for their short-comings.
When Cheryl Boone-Isaacs (President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) stands up and tells you that racism is "all of our problem" she is, to a certain extent, correct. But what she, and others in Hollywood are really trying to say is that you need to fix your racism, but they're OK with theirs because....advocacy, or something. We had to destroy the village to save it right?
So actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio (who finally got his Oscar last night, for one of his lesser roles) stands up and says that you need to "act" on Climate Change and defy the will of the big corporations (ignoring, for a minute, that both his film, and the award he just won, wouldn't be possible without big corporations) what he's really saying is that you should change so he and his can continue jet-setting at their leisure.
Then, there's the iron-clad fact that these are actors. Not doctors or scientists or particle physicists or firefighters or policemen or engineers or anything else that would imply expertise in the field. These are people who can do a good job pretending to be someone they are not. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a voice, only that we as a society need to stop paying so much attention to it, and granting it a weight that it does not deserve.
The problem is, America loves itself some fame. We worship it, adore it. We put fame on a pedestal so high it causes us to lose sight of the fact that, quite often, those who are famous are pretty awful people. The same room of people who gave a standing ovation to Joe Biden after he made a call to bring and end to rape culture famously gave a standing ovation to Roman Polanski. In Hollywood, after all, you're not judged by the crimes you commit, but by whether or not actors enjoy working with you and consider your work to be brilliant.
Last year, a record-low audience tuned in to watch Hollywood's warm self-embrace, something that I think will not happen this year. By embracing #OscarsSoWhite (they had pre-scripted bits about it woven into the show for Chrissakes) and hiring a black comedian to host the Oscars have ensured that they would at least get a curiosity bump.
What they haven't done is given us any indication that they really give a shit about affecting the kind of change that they demand of society.
Oh sure, next year (and for a few years following) there will be a token number of black actors, directors and producers nominated in each category. The Oscars won't admit to a quota system but one will exist. Some of them might even be given a win from time to time. If anything next year's nominee list is sure to be overwhelmingly of color, a classic case of overcorrecting after this year's snafu.
But long-term, in society, where sorority racism (one of Chris Rock's better lines of the evening) really exists is this going to have any effect?
No, because Hollywood is not real life and the people that you saw on television were not real people. They were mannequin peacocks dressed up in finery parading themselves in front of the camera. Everything they said and did was either scripted or pre-planned. The only thing authentic was the statue itself.
And I didn't watch, after the monologue that is. Because I don't care.
I will watch your movies Hollywood because you entertain me (at times). Beyond that?
You have nothing for me. (And I hope they have nothing for you)
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The Oscars: Some of Us Have Been Boycotting them for Years.
I make it a point to be otherwise occupied on Oscar Night. It's the same for the Grammy's, and the American Music Awards and the Golden Globes. I have, on rare occasions, watched the People's Choice awards however.
I have lived quite the happy life despite never watching the rather silly Men's Choice awards or anything that might have ever been awarded to Ben Affleck. I do, every year, make it a point to tune in to the Tony Awards. This is primarily due to the fact that, living in Houston, it is typically a few years before any new shows come to town.
I'm not a fan of award shows, especially in the entertainment industry. Typically all these become are chances for people to politely clap for winners that, in other circumstances, they would gladly shank, or an opportunity for someone with a Dramatic Arts degree to lecture us on International politics.
So I usually pass.
Because of that I can't really work up a can of care over this.....
Calls for boycott of Oscars grow over diversity of nominees. Jake Coyle, AP via Chron.com
Not the institutional racism, Of course that's a bother. I'm referring to the entirety of the Oscars themselves. The annual beauty pageant that the movie world throws itself in a vain attempt to assuage their raging Narcissism.
I can say that it would be nice if everyone learned to ignore them, if we didn't give two-shits what the actor just out of drug-rehab was wearing, whether or not Actor X showed up with Actor Y and if the wedding is back on or even if Penelope Cruz had a wardrobe malfunction exposing herself to the pathetic people over at TMZ for two seconds.
My idea is this.
Just keep making movies where things blow up, battles are fought and the CGI is good. You can also make dramas that tell good stories, and comedies that make me laugh. Just make sure that the drama doesn't get too much in the way of an action movie and, for the love of it all, please stop trying to lecture me on my morality in your movies. (I'm looking at you Matt Damon)
That the Oscars is a good-ol'-boys network staffed, predominantly, by wealthy Caucasian progressives should not surprise you, after all, many of those people are the same people who make up the ideological leadership of the increasingly (at the top) Caucasian Democratic Party.
So, yes, it was silly that Straight Outta Compton didn't get a nod, or that Idris Elba (who I would like to see be the next James Bond FWIW) didn't score a nomination and, in a perfect world, that kind of thing would change. I will also admit that it's telling, after last year's debacle, they were so tone deaf that they didn't even make a nod towards tokenism, which is what I thought they would do. Turns out, they couldn't even go that far.
But in many ways this is better, because now we have the opportunity to drop the charade that any of this crap matters. To stop pretending that the proclivities of some crusty old Hollywood insiders somehow tells us whether or not a movie is any good. To admit that, for the most part, their judgment on what's good or not really, and I mean REALLY, sucks. Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for Chrissakes and Peter Lorre never did. Neither did Edward G. Robinson which is criminal. American Sniper didn't even garner a nomination for Best Picture. While you're at it, go look at the winners of best picture over the last 20 years and the runners up. Then go look at the highest grossing movies of those years. The entire Oscar process is a long-running inside joke.
Why don't we take this opportunity not to call for separate but equal (as is Jada Pinkett Smith) but to call for and end to the silliness that is award season all together. We know what good acting is, and that Will Smith accomplished it in Concussion, that Denzel Washington should have been nominated many more times than he was and Mykelti Williamson should have won for Bubba Blue. We know all of this so having these awards shows take up television time is really a waste. Then we can take up the vacant space with more shows such as Galavant.
Well, except for the Tony Awards. Because without them those of us who don't live in New York might never get to see anything from Broadway other than Wicked and the Disney musicals.
As such, this is the last Oscar-related blog post that I hope to ever write.
I have lived quite the happy life despite never watching the rather silly Men's Choice awards or anything that might have ever been awarded to Ben Affleck. I do, every year, make it a point to tune in to the Tony Awards. This is primarily due to the fact that, living in Houston, it is typically a few years before any new shows come to town.
I'm not a fan of award shows, especially in the entertainment industry. Typically all these become are chances for people to politely clap for winners that, in other circumstances, they would gladly shank, or an opportunity for someone with a Dramatic Arts degree to lecture us on International politics.
So I usually pass.
Because of that I can't really work up a can of care over this.....
Calls for boycott of Oscars grow over diversity of nominees. Jake Coyle, AP via Chron.com
Not the institutional racism, Of course that's a bother. I'm referring to the entirety of the Oscars themselves. The annual beauty pageant that the movie world throws itself in a vain attempt to assuage their raging Narcissism.
I can say that it would be nice if everyone learned to ignore them, if we didn't give two-shits what the actor just out of drug-rehab was wearing, whether or not Actor X showed up with Actor Y and if the wedding is back on or even if Penelope Cruz had a wardrobe malfunction exposing herself to the pathetic people over at TMZ for two seconds.
My idea is this.
Just keep making movies where things blow up, battles are fought and the CGI is good. You can also make dramas that tell good stories, and comedies that make me laugh. Just make sure that the drama doesn't get too much in the way of an action movie and, for the love of it all, please stop trying to lecture me on my morality in your movies. (I'm looking at you Matt Damon)
That the Oscars is a good-ol'-boys network staffed, predominantly, by wealthy Caucasian progressives should not surprise you, after all, many of those people are the same people who make up the ideological leadership of the increasingly (at the top) Caucasian Democratic Party.
So, yes, it was silly that Straight Outta Compton didn't get a nod, or that Idris Elba (who I would like to see be the next James Bond FWIW) didn't score a nomination and, in a perfect world, that kind of thing would change. I will also admit that it's telling, after last year's debacle, they were so tone deaf that they didn't even make a nod towards tokenism, which is what I thought they would do. Turns out, they couldn't even go that far.
But in many ways this is better, because now we have the opportunity to drop the charade that any of this crap matters. To stop pretending that the proclivities of some crusty old Hollywood insiders somehow tells us whether or not a movie is any good. To admit that, for the most part, their judgment on what's good or not really, and I mean REALLY, sucks. Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for Chrissakes and Peter Lorre never did. Neither did Edward G. Robinson which is criminal. American Sniper didn't even garner a nomination for Best Picture. While you're at it, go look at the winners of best picture over the last 20 years and the runners up. Then go look at the highest grossing movies of those years. The entire Oscar process is a long-running inside joke.
Why don't we take this opportunity not to call for separate but equal (as is Jada Pinkett Smith) but to call for and end to the silliness that is award season all together. We know what good acting is, and that Will Smith accomplished it in Concussion, that Denzel Washington should have been nominated many more times than he was and Mykelti Williamson should have won for Bubba Blue. We know all of this so having these awards shows take up television time is really a waste. Then we can take up the vacant space with more shows such as Galavant.
Well, except for the Tony Awards. Because without them those of us who don't live in New York might never get to see anything from Broadway other than Wicked and the Disney musicals.
As such, this is the last Oscar-related blog post that I hope to ever write.
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