A few years ago one of the most culturally significant cities in the United States ended up under water and millions of Americans rushed to her aid. A lot of conservatives and liberals joined church and civic groups and headed to The Big Easy to help rebuild the city. The Hollywood elites got in front of the cameras and opened their checkbooks, which was great. They also opened their mouths and unloaded on President Bush about his lack of action which I found a bit pompous and hypocritical. Now their hypocrisy has resurfaced. As a friend of mine in Nashville might say, “They have showed their ass.”

Nashville is drowning and Hollywood is nowhere to be found. Country singer Julie Roberts has lost her home and yet Julia Roberts has yet to send help. Julie Roberts wrote my wife’s favorite country song  which goes, ”…men and mascara, always run…” Where are Brad Pitt and the rest of the Hollywood liberal elite who rightfully rushed into New Orleans now that culturally significant sites like The Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame are under water?

When will Bono write a song? (more…)

Pop singer Shakira is boycotting the State of Arizona.  I know, horrible news if you’re an Arizona rancher near the border or a construction worker standing in an unemployment line. Since your state has actually tried to do something about the illegal immigration problem you will not be able to enjoy the sweet sounds of Ms. Ripoll shimmying half naked to “Hips Don’t Lie,” live in concert. Not that I don’t enjoy seeing that sort of thing but not if it includes a lecture on social justice.

For those of you who, like me, are counted among the tragically un-hip, Shakira is a singer from Columbia and huge star in the Latin music world. If one were a cynical racist you might begin to see some economic motive in her opposition to the United States enforcing its immigration laws. However Ms. Ripoll has some serious bone fides in the area of human rights. Her own country, Columbia, is the worldwide beacon for justice and law enforcement. A cynic may also wonder why she isn’t down in Columbia working on their border problem with Venezuela. Maybe she is still angry about that whole thing where we stole Panama from them back in the early part of the last century.

I have to give Shakira credit for her charity work in Columbia. She has a foundation which supports education for poor girls in her native land. In fact she is such a great philanthropist that she has an entire section on her official website detailing her good works and awards. She was recently awarded a medal by the U. N. for her work, the same group which recently elected Iran to its committee on the status of women.  I wonder if she sees any irony in that? (more…)

Last night the premiere episode of the History Channel’s 12 hour, six part series called “America: The Story of Us,” was broadcast. If the rest of the series is anywhere as balanced and well produced as this chapter called “The Rebels,” it is an absolute must for family viewing.

“The Rebels” starts with the landing of John Rolfe at Jamestown and takes the viewer through the Revolution and The Battle of Yorktown. Featuring a mixture of reenactments, CGI and commentary by Americans from politics, media, business and academia the series is compelling and informative. Even the introduction by President Obama was palatable and free from references to himself.

There were several historical facts that took me by surprise and I always thought of myself as a bit of an expert on “Us.” I learned that the first African-Americans came to the future United States as contract workers in Jamestown, not as slaves. I was also unaware of the heroic experiment by George Washington at Valley Forge to inoculate his army against smallpox. (more…)

I did two things Sunday night I usually don’t do: I tuned into CBS and watched an awards program. They were actually the same thing, as I watched the CMA Awards on CBS. While I was told repeatedly the CMAs are a country music awards show, my question is, “Where were the country folks?”

Where was the modern Loretta Lynn? You know, a simple country girl who just loves to sing walking the stage in a homemade dress and an out-of-date hairstyle. Where were George Jones and Dolly Parton? Where were Willie, Hank Jr., and Merle? Why are the Country Music Awards being held in Las Vegas and not Nashville, Austin, or Branson? The problem is that in country music today, the last thing you want to be is “country.” It used to be “I was country when country wasn’t cool.”  But now, to paraphrase the great Mr. Jones, if you are country, that isn’t cool. (more…)

Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’ve become that jaded old comic who has seen everything, heard every joke and loves to complain. Maybe I am the modern Jack Carter.

Here’s the deal. A friend of mine recommended ABC’s sit-com “Modern Family” to me. When he said Ed O’Neill was in the series I figured it was worth a try. The series premiered in September of ’09, so I figured I’d do a little catching up and watch a few episodes online to get to know the characters and story lines.  

On the positive side, the show looks terrific; a one-camera shoot that looks like HD video but could be film. The acting ranges from good to excellent and the dialogue on the episodes I watched was a notch above the standard sit-com repartee.   

On the negative side is just about everything else. The show is shot without a laugh track and with annoying “documentary” scenes. I know shooting without a laugh track is supposed to show us rubes that the producers are sophisticated and edgy but if I want sophisticated and edgy I’ll go to my local Equity waiver theater. (more…)

You can say a lot of things about the modern Hollywood “Celebrity Class,” but no one has ever accused them of being short on a sense of self worth or ego. Case in point the recent publicity shenanigans by one Ms. Lindsay Lohan.

In case you haven’t heard Ms. Lohan, former teen movie star, is suing E*Trade for $100 million. Why? In a recent commercial, part of the  E*Trade series of talking baby ads unveiled at the Super Bowl, one baby refers to another baby named “Lindsey” as a “milkaholic.” Ms. Lohan’s claim is that the American public thinks of only one person when it hears the name “Lindsay” and that she is that person. Furthermore, that this funny little ad has so damaged her career and her reputation that she should be compensated to the tune of $100 million.

My response: wow! I never thought of Ms. Lohan in reference to this ad until she grabbed some tabloid headlines by filing this suit. This redefines the concept of hubris. Oedipus, the old standard for hubris, pales in comparison to the monumental assessment of self on two levels. (more…)

A few weeks ago writer/director Kevin Smith was thrown off of a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat to fit into a single seat easily. He was on his way home from Northern California and had paid for two seats on his outbound flight but according to reports there weren’t two seats available on the return. This brings up a lot of questions, like why is Kevin Smith flying coach on Southwest. Doesn’t he have someone to book his flights for him?

I am ignorant of a lot of things but I try to hide that when I can. My dad told me that a lot of people might think you’re stupid but only you can open your mouth and show them they are right. Ms. Laura Washington, who writes for the Chicago Sun Times, a daily tabloid, might want to write that down. In a recent attack piece on writer/director Kevin Smith she starts by confessing that she has never heard of Mr. Smith. Now, that would be alright if she were a seventy year-old nun from Evanston but this woman is a writer for a major daily newspaper in a major American city! She should have asked her equally angry progressive colleague at the Sun Times, Roger Ebert.  We all laugh when Jay Leno or Sean Hannity do man-on-the-street interviews and someone doesn’t know Joe Biden or Lady Gaga, but how can a reporter on a major daily newspaper not know a major Hollywood figure? (more…)

As we move towards tonight’s granddaddy of all awards shows, I am starting to wonder several things: First, after seeing an editorial in the New York Times and a very drab and unhappy looking professor of women’s studies on Fox News call for just one best actor and best supporting actor award to end sex discrimination in Hollywood, I am starting to think lots of people are reading my blogs. Over a year ago I poked a little fun at the politically correct Screen Actors Guild for not using the word “actress” but still give and award for a “female actor.” The left has now jumped on my bandwagon so maybe there is hope for America and Hollywood!

The second thing that has been on my mind is which brand of political correctness will prevail this year’s Oscars. Will the “I’m voting for ‘Avatar’ because it ridicules America and its military” faction be stronger than the “It’s time a woman won best director” faction?

There are other political considerations in this year’s voting but this got me to thinking about past years and whether or not the nominations and awards really are all about the art. It seems that all sorts of considerations, political, social, personalities and career get mixed in and often the storytelling gets left on the cutting room floor. In the interest of brevity I will limit my comments to the years I can actually remember, which, if I am honest, would rule out several years in the early seventies and mid-eighties. (more…)

Back in 1985 a group of really wealthy show-business types got together to make a video and record a song for charity. The song, we all remember, was “We Are the World” and it has sold over 20 million copies, raised $63 million and raised worldwide awareness for… anybody?  What horrible tragedy did these superstars bring to the forefront of our collective consciousness? Seriously, don’t Google it, does anyone remember what the charity was? I got to be honest, neither did I. Now, can you name any of the superstars involved? Of course you can…

USA for Africa was formed by singer/actor Harry Belafonte and agent/manager Ken Kragen to aid starving children in Africa. A noble idea if ever there was one!  So they got Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, yes he was a big star before he was just Nicole’s daddy, and they got a bunch of their friends and fellow big shots to record a song for charity.

I don’t know how much of the $63 million raised was actually turned into food on the plate for a kid in Africa but let’s say it was 100%. That’s a little less than Michael Jackson spent on lawyer fees and llama feed over the same period of time. My point is that if the forty-plus millionaires had really wanted to do something selfless they could have each kicked in a million or two into an endowment and at an average return of 6.5% on an fund of 50 million they could have donated more money to poor nations and still have the fifty million sitting there working for the starving kids. (more…)

My most recent piece on child rapist Roman Polanski and the Hollywood toadies who adore him has been taken to task in a recent blog by L.A. Times writer Patrick Goldstein.

Count Mr. Goldstein as one of the Polanski toadies. Let me begin by giving you a little insight into Mr. Goldstein’s personal morality. He’s views the drugging and rape of a 13 year old as a “personal transgression.” As my regular readers know, I am a self proclaimed “rube” who lives out in the culturally barren wasteland know as the Midwest. Out here where we lack the gravitas of those Hollywood newspaper types, a “personal transgression” is when you bump into some coming out of church on Sunday. You say “excuse me” and go home and not to the south of France for thirty years to avoid the consequences of your actions.   

Here, the drugging and raping of a child is the kind of thing that gets you shot by an angry father and gets him exonerated for justifiable homicide whether the rapist made great films or worked at the feed and grain.

Goldstein also criticizes me when he says I “barely bother[ed] to take umbrage with Polanski.”  He could be right on that. I only directly called him a pedophile and a cockroach by inference. Maybe in Hollywood those are seen as accolades, but again where I live that kind of talk might get you an ashtray in the eye at the local bar. (more…)

[Ed. Note: Since this article was written but before it was published, actor Alec Baldwin has come out against nuclear power at the Huffpo, though the name "Obama" is noticably never used.]

I don’t want to start a new conspiracy theory but a small and dedicated group of Americans has gone missing. Vanished without a trace! Where are the American anti-nuclear people? What has happened to the “No Nukes” crowd? Since President Obama announced his support for new nuclear power plants in his State of the Union Address I have been patiently waiting for the leftist/environmental/green/anti-nuclear power movement to resurface.  

Here we are a full month after Mr. Obama has pledged billions to utilities like Southern Company to kick start a “new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country” and as of yet not a peep from them. No rally at the Capital, no rock concert extravaganza, not even some of those cool death mask costumes worn by a guy on stilts. At least I think he was on stilts. Maybe his growth hormones were horribly affected by his growing up near Three Mile Island! It makes me think something awful has happened to this band of aging hippies!

Back in 1979 there were over 200,000 demonstrators at an anti-nuclear power rally in New York City. That was followed by a five day series of concerts at Madison Square Garden and a multi-million selling album featuring James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Tom Petty and Bonnie Raitt. If our younger readers are unsure of whom these folks are, ask your parents or grandparents they’ll fill you in. They will also be able to tell you what an “album” was. They were difficult to “illegally download” because you had to “upload” them under your sweatshirt in the aisle of the “record” store. Of course that was back when stealing music was still frowned upon. (more…)

When Franz Kafka wrote “The Metamorphosis” he may have had someone like Roman Polanski in mind. I don’t know much about Swiss justice but why does it take more than twenty minutes to decide that they should send a fugitive from justice back to face the music. He’s not a political prisoner or a dissident, he’s a rapist.

What is even more puzzling to me is why Hollywood liberals would stand behind a pedophile. Maybe they’re afraid to upset the applecart lest other famous deviant directors and producers would not hire them for future projects.

Polanski’s latest film “The Ghost Writer” is having its premier at the Berlin Film Festival and writer Robert Harris would like us to believe that in reference to Polanski legal troubles that, “I never discussed it with him. It was never relevant.” In Mr. Harris’ world the fact that a man has been avoiding justice for thirty years isn’t relevant. In Mr. Harris world the art justifies the means. As long as Polanski keeps grinding out “artistic” films his personal life is of no consequence. Perhaps Mr. Harris is a member of the Leni Riefenstahl Fan Club as well as the Polanski Admiration Society. (more…)

Super Bowl ads have become a competition themselves and are often better than the game. At a reported cost of over $3 million for a thirty-second spot it would be hard for me to imagine that any of the ads are cost effective but it’s not my money, so roll the tape!  Judging from some ads there are either a lot of advertisers who don’t want conservatives to buy their products or a there are a lot of liberals making television advertisements.

Qualcomm’s combined leftist ideology and male bashing in its two ads featuring a guy who is “spineless” and a heavy political video montage by Obama idolater Will.i.am. I guess his stage name is supposed to be clever but it makes me think he was just raised on a little too much Dr. Seuss. Can you imagine the flack a company would get if it let Ann Coulter or Glenn Beck produce a video montage for its Super Bowl commercial? Watch the above clip for visuals of everything from Castro to Al Gore “winning” Florida.

(more…)

When I heard that Jon Stewart was going to sit down for an interview with Bill O’Reilly, I had to tune in. As a comic I have a great respect for Stewart. We couldn’t be further apart on a number of political issues but along with Lewis Black and Will Durst he is a left-wing comic who isn’t afraid to skewer his own side when it needs it. He’s not exactly an equal opportunity mocker but at least he’s willing to admit his side has a few dunderheads too. He cut his comedy teeth on the club circuit and has great writing and performance chops.

Bill O’Reilly is a sharp interviewer and most of the times willing to ask the tough questions and not worry if the guest will be coming back. I think it will be a long time before President Obama grows the cajones for a round two with Mr. O’Reilly. John McCain didn’t even have the spine for round one.

It’s also obvious that Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Stewart have a mutual respect and a good relationship. I think a few times during the interview it kept Mr. O’Reilly from following up with Stewart and let his lay down a few years of liberal rubber in the “no spin zone.”  At times it seemed more Leno Show than a news interview. When Stewart accused Fox News of  being a “cyclonic perpetual emotional machine that is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…” it didn’t seem that O’Reilly had his new buddy, Glenn Beck’s back as much as I would have liked him to, but hey that’s just me. That is my only criticism of this otherwise funny and enjoyable two-day interview. It was excellent television. (more…)

I just finished voting for the Screen Actors Guild awards and after wading through the five “screeners” they sent me I started wondering about the leading men of today.In this day of confused metro-sexual male stars one might wonder where all the real men have gone. 

Look at the leading men of today. When I saw Leonardo DiCaprio as a tough guy in Gangs of New York I wasn’t sure if it was a drama or a comedy. Matt Damon isn’t too bad but I‘m not convinced he could take a punch. I like Bill Pullman but he looks like he is always on the verge of breaking into tears. George Clooney, please my sister could throw him down and twist him up like a pretzel.

Here are my top five unrecognized real men of filmdom. I skipped the obvious choices like The Duke and Clint and went for some guys who are well known but not often looked at as Alpha dogs. Can you imagine any of these guys sitting in anything but a leather barber chair? Can you see any of them wondering if they should get frosted tips or a mani-pedi? Just being a tough guy wasn’t enough for my list they also had to have the craft of acting down too! (more…)

Imagine there was a bank — you know, one of those evil fat cat banks the Obama Administration loves to hold up as Economic Bogeyman — that had taken a large piece of financial backing from The Federal Government. Now imagine there was a guy working at that bank for 17 years who was a rising star in the financial world and who landed a big promotion after the bailout of this bank. Then suddenly this rising star isn’t performing so well. The profits in his division are down. He has a contract, but because times are tough and the guy’s falling performance the bank gives him the ax.

So the guy makes a big stink and demands that if he is going to be replaced the bank has to buy out his contract.

The bank offers him 30 million dollars to take a hike.

“That isn’t good enough,” the guy says. Not only does he want his money but since he is being let go a lot of his staff will also lose their jobs. So he demands another 12 million so they all enjoy a soft landing.

The bank says “ok” and pays out the money. (more…)

The left has a long tradition of bowing down to dictators and others they fear. No, I am not talking about President Obama stooping to kings and other foreign leaders. That is just another example of a long tradition of silliness that is often seen from liberals. What I am talking about is how many on the left live in fear. They try to mask it as respect or cultural reverence but it is fear.

The latest example comes from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  It seems that these liberal defenders of the freedom of artistic expression, who would never listen to a conservative complaint about a display, have removed a number of depictions of Mohammad from the collection formerly known as the Islamic Galleries. The name “Islamic Galleries” has been changed “Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran Central Asia and Later South Asia.”

Man, that is a mouthful! (more…)

I’ve been a member of The Screen Actors Guild for almost thirty years. They spend my dues on politically correct crap I don’t agree with and to my knowledge have never supported a political candidate for whom I would vote. A lot of the better known members scream for a government takeover of health care but do not pressure the union to adopt a policy which would allow actors who work less to still have access to the union plan. At the same time, thousands of paid-up members continue to chip in with their dues to support richer members’ benefits. Exactly the opposite of what they would like the government to do.

A lot of my slack jawed knuckle-dragging conservative friends ask me why I remain a member. If I ever want to work in film or television again I have to be a member. The “art” of  television and film-making is a closed shop. I do get a really cool card to carry around in my wallet and I get to vote on the SAG Awards every year. Getting to vote on the SAG Awards has a great perk; I get screener copies of a number of the nominated movies. I got “Up in the Air” and “Precious” today. Most of them are films I would never pay $12 to see in a theater. I usually see a lot of  the nominated films during downtime on ships or airplanes.  For example, I recently saw “Inglourious Basterds” on a plane. I thought the first scene was compelling and then the movie disintegrated into mess which couldn’t decide if it was a farce or a Sam Peckinpah homage. (more…)

I first met Jay Leno back in the early 80’s. I had gotten my first television gig as a reporter on WJBK in Detroit working for the local version of PM Magazine.  At that time Jay was the hottest comic on the booming comedy club circuit and he was coming to the Comedy Castle. I called his publicist and asked if Jay would be interested in doing an interview with me. He graciously consented and we did a few funny bits and a short interview. My cameraman went nuts with the taping that night, I needed thirty seconds of Jay on stage and he taped almost the entire set. Jay was a little miffed but he never held it against me. A few years later we met again in Hollywood and he invited me over to “the house.” I got to go to Jay’s a few times and got a personal tour of the cars and bikes he was keeping there. Through the years whenever we ran into one another, usually at the Comedy Magic Club in Hermosa Beach when we were working together, he was always quick with a comment to let you know he remembered the last time you had talked.

The recent war of time slots and words between Jay Leno and NBC brings two thoughts to mind. First is that Jay should adopt the old hook of Rodney Dangerfield because he isn’t getting any respect. Second it reminds me of one of the most brilliant and simplest things ever written about show business. One of my favorite books about show business is “Adventures in the Screen Trade” by the great screenwriter William Goldman. Perhaps the most significant insight he gives about show business and especially those who try to run things is that, “Nobody knows anything.”

This has never been a more perfect example of this than in the recent actions by the geniuses running NBC Television. Starting about two years ago the top brass at the peacock network made a decision that the smug hipness of Conan O’Brien was more important than the steady high ratings and common man touch of Jay Leno. Jay’s real sin was that he was getting older. His shock of black Elvis-like hair had gone salt and pepper and then gray. He wasn’t the young hip motorcycle guy with a beef, he was a late middle aged guy who told great jokes and had great numbers. Not good enough! (more…)

Here it is 2010 and I still don’t have a jet-pack or flying car. Those were the kind of things that I was led to believe would be here by now when I was a little kid. The real problem is that there isn’t one on the horizon either. You know what is in the near future for us? A remake of the Yugo or some other Euro-crap car that doesn’t burn up much dinosaur remains and tops out at a heart stopping 50 or 60 miles per hour.

It is that time of year for me to let my psychic self loose and gaze into the future. Yeah, I know I’m a little late but I promise not to predict anything that has already happened like a lot of your mainstream psychics tend to do. Last year Kevin Costner didn’t even have the decency to make a bad film, so I was o-fer-09. The only way for my psychic score to go is up! (more…)