Art
The Future of Comics and Other Publishing
by James HudnallYou can probably date yourself by remembering how much comic books cost when you were a kid. Was it a dime, a quarter, a dollar? Can you believe they cost $4 now?
As the greenies would say, that’s unsustainable. Comic books used to be common. If you went in any kids house in the 50s or early 60s you would probably find some. Not so much anymore. Comics once sold everywhere magazines were sold. You could buy them in drug stores, supermarkets, seven-elevens, newsstands, even some liquor stores. But the so called “newsstand market” was a hostile place to comics publishers, and a shrinking one.
These days, it’s hard to find comics anywhere outside of the comic book store. That means that comics have become a “destination product.” It’s something you need to know where it’s sold, you have to physically go there and if you’re lucky, they might have what you’re looking for. However, most comics retailers order to sell out. So the odds are, you may be unlucky if you don’t come on “comics day,” the day the books come in from the distributor.
And that’s another problem with comics these days. There is only one distributor. When I got in the business in the mid 80s, there were around ten distributors. But over the years they all went under leaving Diamond Comics as the sole place publishers can distribute through to the “Direct Market,” as we call it. It’s like government run health care, if there’s only one place to go for your needs, you have to like their terms. (more…)
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ObamaVision: Brace Yourselves For the NBC-GE ‘Green Week’ Push
by John NolteJust as political correctness is nothing more than left-wing fascism disguised as tolerance, global warming climate change is nothing more than socialism disguised as nonsense. The tactics change, the goals remain the same, and the arts are as effective a tool as ever.
The Left understands this, which is why the White House pushed to co-opt the National Endowment for the Arts (as though they needed co-opting) and the Entertainment Industry Foundation bent over backwards to push “volunteerism” — which is just another word for funneling the unsuspecting to Internet portals with pro-ObamaCare videos, Planned Parenthood ads and a nifty “glitch” where when you type in “Republican” you’re directed to left-wing groups.
Next week, and for the third year in a row, NBC will inject enviro-friendly messages into its primetime line-up, including a “30 Rock” appearance by former Vice President Al Gore. This push is not about ratings (Al Gore?) and it’s not about an Ed Begley Jr.-style of do-gooderism. And not only will this politically correct environmentalism infect the entertainment division, those left-wing ideological warriors disguised as the NBC News Division have also jumped on board … and not just the Obama-ites at MSNBC.
Starting Monday, a number of Big Hollywood contributors will take an in-depth look at the insidious artistic, business and political maneuverings behind this push, which Bill O’Reilly discusses at length in this Talking Points Memo: (more…)
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NEWLY REVEALED DOCUMENTS Contradict NEA Chairman Landesman
by Patrick Courrielche“The former NEA Director of Communications acted unilaterally and without the approval or authorization of then-Acting Chairman Patrice Walker Powell.” – Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, on September 22, 2009
Chairman Landesman’s claim that Yosi Sergant, the former NEA Communications Director, acted “unilaterally” on the controversial August 10th conference call is not only beginning to erode, but new documents obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act show that another federal employee thought the arts effort was entering murky legal waters.
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In an email dated July 30, 2009, Nellie Abernathy, a representative of the federal program United We Serve, sent an email to Sergant to inquire of his interest in attending a meeting regarding 9/11 events – the culmination day of the United We Serve campaign. In the email Abernathy states (emphasis added):
“Just got off the phone with [redacted]. They’re interested in helping produce some 9/11 events and will be in DC next week. Any chance you could join us for a meeting Tuesday morning? Or does this fall into that sketchy grey we might get arrested area?”
Sergant responded, “I’d love to.” (more…)
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Part 2: The Super-Hero’s American Exceptionalism
by Mort ToddEditor: This is the second part of a two-part series. You can read part one here.
The 1970s showed the once-invincible comic book super-heroes to be losers, in attitude and sales. Watergate had disillusioned the super-patriot Captain America with a storyline implying Nixon was the head of a terrorist group. The Captain trashes his outfit and becomes Nomad, The Man without a Country. My 11-year-old mind thought this was ridiculous, as Cap was originally a Depression-era 98-pound weakling until given a Super Soldier serum to bulk up and fight Nazis. It was unlikely that one of the “Greatest Generation” would bail on his country so readily. Even then I realized that this development merely mirrored a hippie writer’s attitude more than staying true to a character’s origins.
Super-heroes became bleaker and even homicidal in the 1980s. The Punisher, a murderous vigilante, has become a top Marvel character. The Dark Knight Returns, a re-imagining of Batman, introduced an elderly caped crusader fighting the corrupt U.S. government represented by a stoogish Superman. Watchmen was set in a dystopic alternate reality where Nixon is still president and the super-group is made up of, among other miscreants, a rapist and mass murderer. It was a transmutation of established super-heroes from the 60s with Steve Ditko’s Objectivist hero The Question recast as the psychotic Rorschach. (more…)
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Part 1: The Super-Hero’s American Exceptionalism
by Mort ToddSuper-heroes are uniquely American in origin and reflective of the “Greatest Generation” that created them. Their progenitors can be traced to ancient myths though their direct foundation springs from American legends like Paul Bunyan and John Henry. Pulp literature fermented these heroes from the 1800s with Buffalo Bill, Nick Carter and on to Doc Savage. By the 1930s super-powered and costumed characters showed up in the newspaper comic strips including Popeye and the Phantom.
The characters we now recognize as super-heroes crystallized with the debut of Superman in 1938. Representative of the American experience, Superman was the ultimate immigrant. Not merely from another country, the Man of Steel came from a whole different planet! With his success, publishers released a myriad of titles featuring crime-fighting patriotic adventurers who all fought for “truth, justice and the American way.” That included those who were born on an all-female island (the star-spangled Wonder Woman), from Atlantis (the Sub-Mariner), robots (the Human Torch) or even dead people (the Spectre and Kid Eternity)! Gaining super powers even reformed criminals as in Plastic Man’s case. (more…)
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‘Washington Post’ Endorses Plagiarism to Defend Obama
by Ben ShapiroYesterday, the White House announced that it was removing Alma Thomas’ plagiaristic piece “Watusi (Hard Edge)” from its walls. The White House announced that the painting was moved “because it didn’t fit the space right.” The Washington Post pointed out that posters at FreeRepublic.com had examined the similarity between “Watusi (Hard Edge)” and Henri Matisse’s “The Snail” (1953), ignoring the fact that Big Hollywood actually broke the story. The Washington Post covered for the White House, explaining, “Stephens’s explanation makes sense because it is inconceivable that the White House’s art experts would imagine Thomas’s painting was fraudulent or a copy … Elaborations on earlier artists’ work, even full appropriation, have been common practice in art for hundreds of years.”
Andrew Breitbart immediately emailed the author of the piece, Blake Gopnik, to point out that Big Hollywood had not been properly attributed on criticism of the piece. Here’s Andrew’s email:
“Ben Shapiro at Big Hollywood broke this story with a legitimate report. Not blog opinion. To credit Free Republic or conservative opinion sites is either bad journalism or… bad journalism. Even at Free Republic they cite Shapiro and Big Hollywood. The story was cited properly all over the Internet, why the Washington Post breach? We have been at the forefront of reporting on what the MSM won’t regarding this admin. We had the ACORN story, the NEA propaganda conference call. All hard news stories. And so is this. Shapiro is a Harvard law grad. He is hardly worthy of this kind of brush off. We’d like to see a correction as soon as possible.”
And here is Gopnik’s response: (more…)
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White House Painting: Obama Throws Artist Under the Bus
by Ben ShapiroToday, the Washington Post reported that a painting by artist Alma Thomas entitled “Watusi (Hard Edge)” was being removed from the White House’s East Wing. For those who don’t remember, Thomas’ painting is a plagiaristic copy of Henri Matisse’s “The Snail” rotated 90 degrees – see my piece, and the paintings side by side here. According to Semonti Stephens, Michelle Obama’s deputy press secretary, the painting was moved “because it didn’t fit the space right.”
The White House explicitly denied that the painting was being removed because of its obvious similarity to the Matisse piece. And the Washington Post writers cover for the White House in typical press lackey fashion:
Stephens’s explanation makes sense because it is inconceivable that the White House’s art experts would imagine Thomas’s painting was fraudulent or a copy … Elaborations on earlier artists’ work, even full appropriation, have been common practice in art for hundreds of years.
Right. And Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services because Obama didn’t like his red glasses. It had nothing to do with his tax cheating. (more…)
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INTRODUCING: ‘Yosi Needs a Hug’ by Gary Eaton
by Stage RightFellow Big Hollywood contributor Moxie and I have been in the process of developing a radio show over the past couple of months. Over the course of the development and rehearsal process, we’ve been focusing much attention on the NEA Conference Call story and the fall-out associated with it.
One of our ongoing segments has been to read aloud (in suitably dramatic fashion) Yosi Sergant’s twitter feed. (It really is quite entertaining). It became such a popular segment with the handful of friends who listen to our practice shows that Moxie decided we needed a “Yosi Update” theme song. She “Volun-Told” our friend and musician, Gary Eaton to write the diddy and within twenty four hours he had completed his masterpiece.
We hope that you, our the loyal readers of Big Hollywood, who are well-versed with the players involved in this story, will appreciate our “Yosi Update” song: (more…)
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ELEMENTARY EPIDEMIC: 11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama
by John NolteBig Hollywood has already posted a couple disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern.
Maybe “epidemic” is a better word.
Each one of the videos below is creepier than the last because the further down you go, the younger the children — brace yourself for kindergartners – except for the last and most disturbing video, which you have to see to believe.
Young captive minds, easily influenced, eager for direction, enlisted into a cult of personality focused on an individual who, other than being the first black president, has yet to accomplish anything of significance.
But Obama’s skin color has nothing to do with this. Does anyone interested in retaining their merit badge for intellectual honesty really want to argue that Condi Rice or J.C. Watts would’ve spawned a dozen-and-counting tribute videos?
This is about brainwashing our children into Leftist identity politics. Sure, the schools can argue that they had some kind of parental permission — which, if true, is somehow even more disturbing — but who even considers doing something like this with young minds? That’s a rhetorical question. (more…)
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‘Sesame Street’: All Monsters Are Equal?
by Adam BaldwinThe Public Broadcasting System’s taxpayer-funded ‘Sesame Street’ has, at cursory glance, presented young American children with what colorfully appears to be one of television’s few safe havens of educational fun.
Yet, embedded in its visually intoxicating muppetry and otherwise innocently entertaining educational content there lurks highly controversial political messages designed to promote multiculturalism and global citizenship:
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”We all sing with the same voice, the same song, the same voice. We all sing with the same voice and we sing in harmony…
I live in southern France, I’m from a Texas ranch, I come from Mecca and Peru… I come from everywhere, and my name is you…”
That’s right kids! We’re ‘All’ the ‘same’… um, except that we’re all different. (more…)
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Judicial Watch: ‘NEA Propaganda Effort Grew Out of Obama Campaign’
by Big Hollywood
President Obama with Yosi Sergant
Press release from Judicial Watch:
“(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it obtained more documents from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to the NEA’s controversial August 10 conference call encouraging artists to create work that promotes the Obama agenda. The documents consist of internal NEA emails indicating the idea for the NEA propaganda effort grew out the Obama campaign while also providing new details regarding White House involvement. The Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs the AmeriCorps program, was represented during the call. The agencies and the White House were supposedly promoting the administration’s United We Serve political initiative. The emails include the actual conference call invitation, which details the controversial policy agenda that was being promoted. (The controversial call was first uncovered by www.BigGovernment.com. Other documents about the call were first released last week by Judicial Watch.)
“The following are email excerpts: (more…)
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Big Hollywood Report Card: NEA Chairman Landesman’s First 12 Weeks
by Stage Right
When Broadway Producer/Theatre Owner Rocco Landesman took the reins of the National Endowment of the Arts last August, he told the NY Times:
“I wouldn’t have come to the N.E.A. if it was just about padding around in the agency,” he said, and worrying about which nonprofits deserve more funds. “We need to have a seat at the big table with the grown-ups. Art should be part of the plans to come out of this recession. If we’re going to have any traction at all, there has to be a place for us in domestic policy.”
An odd assertion considering the job description of the role he’s filling at this non-partisan, independent, government agency is, basically to “Worry about which nonprofits deserve more funds“. Seriously, that’s the job, always has been. And when one reads the original legislation creating the agency Landesman now runs, there is nothing to be found about being a part of domestic policy. But, the same party who can read “Promote the General Welfare” in our Constitution and re-interpret it to mean that Barbara Boxer can decide which doctor I can visit, can easily over-reach with the NEA legislation too, I suppose. (more…)
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NEA Chair Rocco Landesman Mocks Critics
by John Nolte
About ten days ago, in a widely ridiculed address to the 2009 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference – so widely ridiculed he had to walk his Obama-Caesar gushing back some – embattled NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman took a moment to launch a shot at his critics:
Am I starting to sound like an advocate? Well, that seems to be a touchy subject. Some quote-unquote “journalists” have recently accused this agency of losing its independence and becoming a propaganda machine.
Ooh, ouch, that stings: “quote-unquote journalists.” I would have responded sooner but the insult went over my head. You see, in the world where I reside — the land of Where Decent People Try To Do The Right Thing – accusing someone of “not being a real journalist” is like accusing them of “not being a dishonest left-wing poseur with more affectations than a washed-up Shakespearean stage actor.”
But what a punk thing for Landesman to do; acting like the big mouth kid who after a well-deserved playground thumping runs home to talk big in front his fat, fawning Aunts. Gee, Rocco, if you and yours hold so much contempt for your critics, why respond to their criticisms in such dramatic ways: (more…)
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NEWLY UNCOVERED EMAILS REVEAL: Federal Volunteer Agency Misrepresented Involvement in White House, NEA Conference Call
by Patrick CourrielcheRecently revealed documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show a few interesting facts and supports the claims made in my earlier articles– namely, Yosi Sergant, the former NEA Communications Director, did not work alone in organizing the controversial August 10th conference call; that the White House Office of Public Engagement was fully aware of his efforts; and most importantly, that The Corporation for National and Community Service misrepresented who actually initiated the meeting.
On August 28th, Josh Miller of Foxnews.com reported “Siobhan Dugan, a spokeswoman for [The Corporation for National and Community Service], said the call was organized by an ‘individual interested’ in the group…”
This statement does not correspond with the facts.
The FOIA documents clearly show that on July 29th at 3:39pm, Nell Abernathy, a representative of The Corporation, emailed Yosi Sergant, former Communications Director of the National Endowment for the Arts, indicating that she was the person behind the content of the meeting when she stated (emphasis added):
Thanks for chatting yesterday – I’m attaching a few docs and running through what I think are my next steps.
She goes on to discuss the “Art event coordination” and provides an invite and draft of the meeting agenda to Sergant. Abernathy also states, “What is a reasonable time frame for getting together a list and recruiting some of your friends to lead?” This is in direct contradiction to the above claim by Siobhan Dugan of The Corporation. (more…)
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Jonah Goldberg: NEA Chair Kowtows to His Caesar
by Big HollywoodBy demonstrating with brazenly self-abasing ignorance that he is wholly Obama’s man, Landesman is making it clear that the NEA is completely committed to Obamaism.
NEA Chair Rocco Landesman
Jonah Goldberg in today’s National Review:
“Last week, Landesman gave the keynote address to the 2009 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference. In fairness, Landesman did not reaffirm the White House and NEA’s obvious initial intent to turn the allegedly independent government agency into an adjunct of Obama’s “Organizing for America” operation. He was more subtle than that.
“Instead, Landesman embraced a timeless tactic of power politics. He debased himself with incandescently vulgar obsequiousness to his supreme leader. “There is a new president and a new NEA,” he proclaimed. “This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln. If you accept the premise, and I do, that the United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. That has to be good for American artists.” (more…)
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ObamaVision: What (4th Place) CNN Chose Not to Report
by Patrick CourrielcheWhich network was it that was accused of broadcasting opinion journalism masquerading as news?
On Friday, during the “CNN Newsroom” hour, the network broadcast a story of the White House’s use of Hollywood to promote national service. Your humble Big Hollywood contributor was interviewed for this “news” segment.
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Their conclusion: 1) promoting volunteerism is a pretty benign message, and 2) Presidents throughout history have also promoted volunteerism so this White House Hollywood effort is nothing new.
After coming to these two conclusions, the host Rick Sanchez asked the reporter Brooke Anderson, “What is the threshold then…at what point do we get past that slippery slope when now we’re going to be taking orders from the Commander-in-Chief and we in Hollywood have to be the ones that deliver that order?” (more…)
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Burnt Offering: Artists Must Unite to Protect Free Speech
by Robert DaviSo I wake up groggy and after getting my morning green tea –- yeah, I seem to be going through that phase — coffee doesn’t go well with global warming. Anyway, I start the computer and begin my ritual of clearing out emails; a daunting but necessary task where depending on my time and interest I sometimes randomly open something to read.
If your mailbox is like mine you receive an overwhelming amount of political stuff and reading it all can be a time-suck of enormous proportions. Let’s face it, if you don’t derive your living from this stuff, no matter how much of a concerned citizen you may be, there comes a point where you have to say, “Ah, is this paying my mortgage?” That’s reality biting you in the ass and so the knee-jerk reaction is to press delete and move on to something that may add a few more dollars to your already crumbling retirement fund. But, and I stress BUT, like the” pusher man” (remember that song, G** D**** the Pusher Man?) who you cannot seem to get away from, the sheer volume of political noise coming at you can’t be ignored and after just one peek … aaahhh your fix takes hold. (more…)
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Comics In Servitude to Obama
by James Hudnall“Last Week the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) posted a press release informing the world that ‘from October 19-25, more than 60 network TV shows [will] spotlight the power and personal benefits of service,’” so wrote John Nolte last week. The EIF later denied Obama had anything to do with this even though the Administration has been pushing service as one of their agendas, even enlisting Michelle Obama as a spokesperson.
At the end of these shows there are links to websites promoting the administration and many of them happen to be left wing. Big surprise.
Only a day after the service pitch, comics strips such as Luann and Pickles did little strips promoting service with a mild joke.
Well, I think I should do my patriotic duty, too. Why not? I want to do a service for the people on the Internets. So I’m going to do a strip of my own to talk about the Obama Administration. I’m calling it Obama Nation. And I’m doing it with Batton Lash who does the great strip Supernatural Law. (more…)
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Serve.gov: Buffy Wicks Wasn’t Joking About ‘Being Part of This Administration’
by Patrick CourrielcheService to our nation is a noble effort, which is why some may view Serve.gov in a good light. How could anyone think that promoting national service is a bad thing?
Well, when our government uses “service” as a mechanism to keep their volunteers active in government, it is not so noble.
I claimed last week that the White House Office of Public Engagement’s rationale for promoting service was to keep Obama’s campaign volunteers active. I also claimed that the White House was using Serve.gov to manage those volunteers and as a mechanism to acquire new volunteers for their use. To support that claim I referenced a statement from Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, on the now infamous August 10th conference call. Wicks explained to the call participants, an arts group that worked on Obama’s 2008 election campaign, the White House’s rationale for using service: (more…)
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Shepard Fairey’s Piracy: Rank Hypocrisy in the Art Community
by Stage RightEver wonder why ushers on Broadway become “Camera Nazis” whenever they spot a still camera or video camera in the house?
Ever wonder why you can’t just skip over those FBI warnings at the start of every DVD?
Ever wonder why “piracy” is always such a big issue for Hollywood when discussing our economic relationship with China?
It’s because writers, actors, directors and producers all live and die from royalties and residuals (payments for the repeated use of a copyright protected piece of intellectual property). I know most people don’t want to hear this, but being a writer, director or actor is usually not a great life. Until (or unless) you are lucky enough to make it big, it is fiscally challenging to say the least. So many actors who are not stars are lucky if they get one or two weeks’ worth of work in Hollywood per year. How does an actor survive on only two weeks’ pay? They don’t. But, one thing that helps them is they get paid for every subsequent use of the show they were on. Same with the writer and the other creative folks working on the show. (more…)
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