Big Hollywood

Fort Hood: Wise Words From Michael Yon

by Big Hollywood

Wise, wise words from Michael Yon:

Now is not a time to psychoanalyze the attacker by using a media-supplied telescope that already said he was dead, and that there were multiple attackers. Media: STOP, please. There will be time to pursue answers and justice after Christmas. We must remember that family members lost loved ones just before the holidays. Justice and answers will come with time.

When stories of this kind break, the weatherman becomes the most accurate part of the newscast. We know nothing right now. We know less than nothing because too much of what we’re told is wrong.

All we know is that people are dead and wounded, and families and loved ones are suffering. That’s all that matters right now. The rest is noise.

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Tags: Fort Hood, media, Michael Yon, NRO, Tragedy
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 9:38 pm in Featured Story, Military, News | 25905873 Comments2009-11-06+05%3A38%3A23Big+Hollywood

Interview: ‘The Canyon’ Director Richard Harrah

by Christian Toto

Director Richard Harrah couldn’t believe his good fortune when the forestry service gave him and his crew permission to shoot in the Grand Canyon for his first feature film, “The Canyon.” So Harrah began scouting locations for the film, which follows a pair of newlyweds (Eion Bailey, Yvonne Strahovski) who get lost within the grounds of the national landmark.

canyon

Two weeks before cameras were to roll, the service revoked all their permits. Harrah and crew scrambled for a Plan B, eventually settling on shooting mostly in Moab, Utah to capture the film’s naturalistic setting.

“It was so much better, with a better infrastructure [for filmmakers],” says Harrah, a native of Sun Valley, Idaho.

Harrah ended up shooting a few scenes, guerilla style, in the Grand Canyon.

(more…)

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Tags: "The Canyon", guerilla filmmaking, Richard Harrah, Will Patton
Posted Oct 29th 2009 at 8:37 am in Film, News | 2546546 Comments2009-10-29+15%3A37%3A36Christian+Toto

Bullying Screen Actors Guild Does More Harm Than Good

by Frank DeMartini

A few months ago I wrote a column about the effect IATSE’s wage increase in Michigan would have on future production in Michigan. Just recently, the company I have my first look deal with decided to produce another picture in Michigan and was informed my column made it impossible for IATSE to negotiate or help us in any way. They basically said this is the deal, take it or leave it if you want to shoot here; your employee ruined it for you.

My company then proceeded to disavow any knowledge of my column and said that what I write is of my own doing and not the policy of the company. This is true. It is my own doing. No one tells me what to write or censors my editorial content.

rrrr

I still believe IATSE is harming the burgeoning film industry in Michigan. I believe that if IATSE was doing the right thing in Michigan, the state of Michigan would be putting all of the other tax-incentive states out of business. Producers would be running there in droves.

Unions are supposed to be the mechanism to level the playing field for the working man. Their job is to protect the working man from “the man,” and to keep their members employed fairly. Isn’t employment what unions are really all about: Especially now when unemployment is so rampant all over the United States, particularly in Michigan and California. You would think the unions would be bending over backwards to work with “the man” in a mutually beneficial situation. Let us all do whatever is necessary to keep employment in the United States; not Eastern Europe or Asia. (more…)

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Tags: IATSE, IndependentFilm, Michigan, Nu Image, SAG
Posted Oct 29th 2009 at 5:02 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, News | 25426237 Comments2009-10-29+12%3A02%3A48Frank+DeMartini

To Boost Plummeting Sales Initial DVD Releases Might Become Purchase-Only

by Big Hollywood

The Los Angeles Times:

“For those who like renting movies, Hollywood may soon have a message: Prepare to wait.

“In an effort to push consumers toward buying more movies, some major film studios are considering a new policy that would block DVDs from being offered for rental until several weeks after going on sale.

“Under the plan, new DVD releases would be available on a purchase-only basis for a few weeks, after which time companies such as Blockbuster Inc. and Netflix Inc. would be allowed to rent the DVDs to their customers. The move comes as the studios are grappling with sharply declining DVD revenue, which has long propped up the movie business.

“Reed Hastings, chief executive of DVD-by-mail company Netflix, revealed that he had discussed delayed-rental proposals with several of his biggest suppliers. People close to the situation at several studios confirmed that such plans were under consideration and probably would take effect next year. (more…)

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Tags: DVD, DVD sales, hollywood, home video, Netflix
Posted Oct 24th 2009 at 2:02 pm in Entertainment, News | 25223873 Comments2009-10-24+21%3A02%3A46Big+Hollywood

ACORN Scandal Immortalized on ‘South Park’

by Big Hollywood

***VIDEO FIXED!!!***

Watch the full episode here. ACORN segment begins after the last commercial.

Comment at Big Government.

The ACORN scandal was immortalized tonight on “South Park.” The plot of the season 13 episode “Butters’ Bottom Bitch” is that Butters, the adorably naïve fourth grader starts a “kissing company” that grows to the point where he is a pimping out 10+ prostitutes, many of whom are underage. Always the sharp social commentators, the “South Park” crew sent Butters and Co. to ACORN to try to get a housing grant for these prostitutes:

…Butters get TWO housing loans, and tax-exempt status.

This isn’t your typical ACORN office. The employees are sharply dressed and working off of widescreen computer monitors in a lavish building (actually, it looks like the woman is sitting in an Aeron chair… we’re not sure even ACORN gets enough government handouts for those). But that’s beside the point. The joy in this scene is that at long last, ACORN is officially a punch line. Anyone who has followed ACORN throughout the years knows this is long, long, long overdue, but today, ACORN’s calling card is that they are the company that, as Butters puts it, “helps pimps and their bitches.” Not sure it gets more damning than that.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Butters' Bottom Bitch, prostitution
Posted Oct 15th 2009 at 12:16 am in Featured Story, News, Political Humor, Politics | 247286No Comments2009-10-15+07%3A16%3A27Big+Hollywood

Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies Suck

by John Nolte

Everyone seems to have an opinion as to why DVD sales have cratered since hitting their peak in 2006, but no one’s looking at the obvious answer. Plunging sales have been blamed on piracy, competing technologies such as video games and low-priced rental outlets like Redbox … everything but the quality of the actual films.

First and foremost, I’m a movie lover. Nothing competes for my attention in this regard, including dollar rentals and the like. But I’m just not buying anywhere near the number of new releases I did just ten years ago. Obviously, this is anecdotal evidence, so make your own comparisons:

1998 – I purchased 15 of the top 20 money makers…

1999 — 18 of the top 20.

2000 — 16 of the top 20.

2001 — 14 of the top 20. (more…)

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Tags: box office, Box Office Mojo, DVD, DVD sales, Home Video Market
Posted Oct 13th 2009 at 2:31 pm in Entertainment, News | 245754201 Comments2009-10-13+21%3A31%3A34John+Nolte

SNL’s Obligatory Obama Nobel Peace Prize Sketch

by Alexander Marlow

There has been a rumor floating around that Fred Armisen is intentionally, perhaps at the behest of the NBC powers-that-be, making his Obama impersonation as inaccurate and unfunny as possible. With that in mind, consider this phoned-in sketch exhibit number 47 in “The People vs. Saturday Night Live.” (NOTE: The only thing that makes the Big Hollywood editorial staff reluctant to investigate further is that the rest of the show isn’t much funnier.)

Also:
-Why doesn’t SNL ever direct Armisen to look back and forth at two teleprompters like Obama does every time he gives an address? Seems pretty obvious, no?

-Of course, “It looks like the CNN fact-checkers will be busy again this week.” (more…)

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Tags: CNN, Fred Armisen, nbc, Obama, Obama Nobel
Posted Oct 11th 2009 at 9:37 am in Media Criticism, News, Political Humor | 244706101 Comments2009-10-11+16%3A37%3A32Alexander+Marlow

Confessions of a Letterman Intern

by Chris Stigall

David Letterman inspired my broadcasting career. Twenty years ago, he was an awkward, self-deprecating guy who wore tennis shoes with his blazer and tie. He was edgy, silly, and unconventional compared to the traditions of variety television at that time. He resonated with an awkward high school kid watching at home in Missouri. Carson was still the king of late night, and some guy named Leno filled in for him a lot. But Dave was cool because he didn’t seem to fit in. Yet, when Carson announced his retirement, Letterman was said to be the heir apparent to the Tonight Show.

Letterman

As a fan, I didn’t want Letterman to move into Carson’s chair. Not because Letterman couldn’t handle it. It just seemed too refined for someone as eccentric and edgy as Letterman. Turned out NBC saw it that way too when they awarded “Tonight” to Leno. It pained Letterman. But it helped to foster that continued edgy, underdog status that led fans like me to follow him to CBS. (more…)

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Tags: Carson, cbs, Late Night, letterman, Midwesterner
Posted Oct 8th 2009 at 6:41 am in Entertainment, News, Uncategorized | 242486104 CommentsConfessions+of+a+Letterman+Intern2009-10-08+13%3A41%3A34Chris+Stigall

Stand Up Notes From Flyover Country: Janeane Is Off Her Meds and Other Stories

by Jeffrey Jena

I happened to see some clips of alleged Janeane Garofalo on the Bill Maher show the other night. I have a warning for anyone who sees her in person or is near her: Janeane is off her meds again and the voices in her head have taken control.

She is already on record as believing that anyone who does not worship at the Church of Radical Leftism is a “straight up racist.” Beside not understanding the English translation of her argot “straight up,” I am sure that anyone who is even a little bit clear headed can imagine a world where people who thought Condi was dandy and helped Michael Steele get to the helm of the GOP might not take race as the deciding factor with Obama. Be that as it may, Ms. Garofalo assured us that not only were right-wingers racists, but the GOP has been the bastion of White Supremacy since the 1950’s.

janeane_garofalo_3

Keeping in mind one of the favorite saying of my friend Larry Elder, “Facts are like kryptonite to toe-tag liberals.” (Mr. Elder defines liberals as “toe-tag” if they believe in government intrusion in our lives from birth until they put the tag on your toe in the morgue.) I will present a few facts to try to bring Janeane back into the real world. (more…)

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Tags: Bill Clinton, Bill Maher, cbs, Condi Rice, David Letterman
Posted Oct 7th 2009 at 9:55 am in Featured Story, News, Political Humor | 240386118 Comments2009-10-07+16%3A55%3A52Jeffrey+Jena

Let’s Free Other Child Rapists While We’re At It…

by Joseph Lindsey

weinstein072408_0
Harvey Weinstein

Members of the Hollywood community have signed a petition to have Roman Polanski released from jail. When is the Hollywood community also going to demand the release of 58 year old rapist Bruno Vece?

On January 31st 2009 the past finally came back to haunt Bruno Vece who has been jailed for 20 years for sexual crimes he committed decades ago. Bruno Vece, of Loram Way, Alphington, had been found guilty of raping an underage girl in the late 1970s.

What Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, David Lynch and other Hollywood elites need to know about Bruno Vece is that he has built a new life since he committed these crimes over 20 years ago; he’s a new man with a new family and now it has been destroyed. (more…)

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Tags: Bruno Vece, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, roman polanski, woody allen
Posted Oct 6th 2009 at 10:00 am in Celebrity News, News | 23755072 Comments2009-10-06+17%3A00%3A17Joseph+Lindsey

Daily Gut: An Olympic Fail

by Greg Gutfeld

So while chuckleheads like Jesse Jackson and Senator Roland Burris hilariously blame George Bush for Chicago losing the 2016 Olympics, whiny columnists like Mike Lupica are up in arms that conservatives might be gloating over President Obama’s big screw-up. Apparently laughing at all this is somehow anti-American, because Obama is our President, and he was doing this for all of us.

olympic fail

You know… kind of like when Bush was trying win a war in Iraq – and all those left wingers stood behind him.

And that’s my first point: The right has every right to gloat over Obama’s humiliation, because, thankfully, NO ONE DIED. Unlike, say during the Iraq war, where, whenever there was a roadside bombing, the progressives did their own special victory dance – using the consequences of war to gloat over an embattled president and an unpopular country. I didn’t hear much of the smarmy press calling them out. (more…)

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Tags: 2016 Olympics, chicago, Cuba, george bush, iran
Posted Oct 5th 2009 at 2:38 pm in Daily Gut, News, Politics | 241042114 CommentsDaily+Gut%3A+An+Olympic+Fail2009-10-05+21%3A38%3A34Greg+Gutfeld

Socialism and Christian-Bashing Crash at Box Office

by John Nolte

michael_moore_loser

Tough times for leftie Hollywood. Nothing’s gone right this week. None of this is their fault, of course. In order to understand that it might not be a good idea to rally around a child rapist, bash religion in a religious country or trash capitalism in a capitalist country you have to live in the real world…

Steve Mason:

Michael Moore’s CAPITALISM tanks!

Ricky Gervais has launched his second consecutive box office bomb as The Invention of Lying (Warner Bros) only mustered $2.2M or so to start the 3-day. The comedy should finish #5 with approximately $6.5M for the weekend. … (more…)

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Tags: "Invention of Lying", box office, Capitalism: A Love Story., michael moore, Polanski
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 8:32 am in Film, News | 239942265 Comments2009-10-03+15%3A32%3A59John+Nolte

Daily Gut: Letterman’s Jokebag Has Gotten Smaller

by Greg Gutfeld

So David Letterman just admitted on his Thursday show that someone had been blackmailing him for $2 million. That someone apparently claimed he had information on the comic doing “creepy things.” Instead of paying up, however, Letterman set him up – and the blackmailer, a CBS producer, was promptly arrested.

David Letterman

Now, a lot of people are laughing at the sweet irony of it all: a comedian who makes millions poking fun at the predilections of politicians gets nailed for a few of his own (I`m dying to know why he won`t dismiss the adjective “creepy;” whatever he was doing must make Marv Albert blush).

But I`m not one of those people. (more…)

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Tags: affairs, David Letterman, Marv Albert, staffers
Posted Oct 2nd 2009 at 11:35 am in Entertainment, News | 239478134 Comments2009-10-02+18%3A35%3A23Greg+Gutfeld

‘NewsBusted’ 9/29/09 — Comedy News from the Right

by NewsBusters

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Apple iPod, Chris Matthews, David Hasselhoff, Jimmy Carter
Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 6:06 pm in Media Criticism, News | 23741016 Comments2009-09-30+01%3A06%3A47NewsBusters

Podesta Spends Soros’ Money Stupidly

by Andrew Breitbart

This week’s Washington Times column:

A telling event occurred on Sept. 15, Day 6 of the drip, drip, drip ACORN video rollout. President Obama met for lunch with former President Bill Clinton at trendy Il Mulino in New York City.

For the second consecutive day, the New York Post featured the ACORN scandal on its cover – complete with James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles in their outrageous “pimp and ho” costumes.

Does anyone think the president and the former president were unaware that the city in which they were dining was mesmerized by the ACORN scandal – especially since ACORN had bragged that its employees had kicked Mr. O’Keefe and Ms. Giles out of their New York office?

The Sept. 15 edition of the New York Post explored the political angles and directed attention to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s investigation into why an ACORN office in its jurisdiction helped instruct a prospective brothel owner how to hide his prostitution proceeds in a tin in his backyard.

No one in the morally superior media world has asked, why did Mr. Obama have lunch with Mr. Clinton that day? So let me take a guess, and it seems like an obvious answer. Mr. Obama, under siege by a video-a-day expose that was exposing the Democratic Party to an avalanche of consequences (ACORN defunded in the House and Senate, ACORN delinked from the census, etc.), needed advice from the last president to navigate through a major political scandal.

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Bill Clinton, Brooklyn District Attorney
Posted Sep 27th 2009 at 5:47 pm in News, Politics | 236686No CommentsPodesta+Spends+Soros%27+Money+Stupidly2009-09-28+00%3A47%3A37Andrew+Breitbart

BIG HOLLYWOOD INTERVIEW: Quentin Tarantino, a Glorious ‘Basterd’

by Carl Kozlowski

Editor’s Note: After the publication of this piece we made an internal discovery that this interview was not a one-on-one interview between our writer and Quentin Tarantino, and that some of the questions attributed to “Big Hollywood” were asked by other journalists in what was a roundtable interview.

Upon discovering this, we temporarily removed the piece from the site until all the facts were known and a proper correction could be added.

Quentin Tarantino exploded on the world film scene in 1992 with “Reservoir Dogs,” a brutally profane yet ingeniously plotted and often funny deconstruction of the heist-film genre. He took things to a whole other level in 1994 with “Pulp Fiction,” reviving the foundering careers of superstars John Travolta and Bruce Willis while launching the star careers of Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman while winning a Best Screenplay Oscar himself.

Yet in the 15 years since that classic, Tarantino hasn’t been able to score quite as big an impact. 1997’s “Jackie Brown” made just $39 million, while the two “Kill Bill” films scored $70 million each yet were considered hyper-violent trifles compared to what he was really capable of. And he really bottomed out with 2007’s “Death Proof,” which made up half of “Grindhouse,” a three-hour homage to the trashy drive-in films of America’s past. Its 21st-century audience didn’t get the joke and largely ignored it, earning just $27 million at the US box office. (more…)

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Tags: "Jackie Brown", "Reservoir Dogs", ("True Romance, DePalma, Diane Kruger
Posted Sep 27th 2009 at 6:54 am in Featured Story, Film, News | 22927868 Comments2009-09-27+13%3A54%3A36Carl+Kozlowski

VIDEO: Limbaugh and Leno Enjoy Spirited Political Talk

by Big Hollywood

*Below the fold: Watch Rush run over Al Gore … twice!*

–

Rush Limbaugh: Always on message, articulate, charming, convincing…

Jay Leno: Always a gentleman.

Great ten minutes.

Now close your eyes and imagine what a smarmy, self-satisfied, adolescent punk Letterman would’ve been. Oh, wait… (more…)

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Tags: jay leno, Jay Leno SHow, Rush Limbaugh
Posted Sep 25th 2009 at 5:38 pm in Celebrity News, News, Politics | 236038101 Comments2009-09-26+00%3A38%3A00Big+Hollywood

Racial Schizophrenia

by Joseph C. Phillips

Speaking to NBC News Anchor Brian Williams, former president Jimmy Carter (who was taking a breather between having tea with dictators and lunatics) proffered that not only was South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson’s inappropriate outburst during President Obama’s speech before a joint session of congress fueled by racism, but the wider opposition to Obama is also based on the fact that Obama is black. Said Carter: “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American.”

During Obama’s 400th speech defending his plans to reform healthcare the president responded to charges that the proposals before congress would provide healthcare for illegal immigrants. The President called the charges false whereupon Wilson forgot his home training (or lost his mind) and called the President a liar.

As it happens, similar words were falling from my own lips at that very same moment. I think most people recognize that a private citizen calling the President a liar in the privacy of their living rooms is rather a different animal from elected officials doing so during a Presidential address. I would also like to believe that most thinking people recognize that boorish is not the same thing as racist. (more…)

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Tags: associated press, healthcare, Jimmy Carter, Joe Wilson, Obama
Posted Sep 21st 2009 at 8:33 pm in News, Politics | 23227043 CommentsRacial+Schizophrenia2009-09-22+03%3A33%3A45Joseph+C.+Phillips

Serve.gov Somebody: NEA’s ‘Onramp for Agents of Change’

by Adam Baldwin

“It may be the Devil, or it may be the Lord. But, you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” – Bob Dylan

“Rule #7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” – Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals

For a presidential candidate to dispatch his agents of Change® to recruit artists & entertainers into his campaign is one thing. He understandably wished to avoid becoming old news. Heck, even radical activists get bored. So, to maintain their excitement and involvement, professional community organizers must constantly devise new tactics. And, as so many enjoy smugly reminding us all, “the ‘One’ won!”

Poli-end-zone-dances notwithstanding, for the President of the United States of America to use the power of his Office and the lure of his NEA’s favor, potential grant funds and the ideological “yes, we-can-change-the-world” Hope® & prestige for artists to create promotional propaganda for his Serve.gov & Corporation for National & Community Service partisan political agenda, produces an entirely different pattern and data set. (more…)

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Tags: Buffy Wicks, Corporation for National & Community Service, healthcare, healthcare reform, National Endowment for the Arts (NEW)
Posted Sep 21st 2009 at 5:58 pm in Culture, Law, News, Politics | 23191432 Comments2009-09-22+00%3A58%3A36Adam+Baldwin

Limbaugh: White House Using Fed Arts Agency to Push Obama Agenda

by Sullivan

From El Rushbo:

rush_limbaugh

Do you remember that NEA phone call? I think it was back in August, the 21st or the 25th, and it featured basically a coordination from the White House to the National Endowment for the Arts to promote Obama’s health care and parts of his domestic agenda. One of the artists on that call got hold of Breitbart and said they’re turning the National Endowment for the Arts and www.Serve.gov, the latest website out of the White House, into political instruments, and there are four pieces written on this at BigGovernment.com. But all it really exposes up ’til now is that the NEA was lying about their coordination with the Obama White House on spreading propaganda. This is the thing that George Will had a comment on This Week, said some laws were broken in this call. Then after some attention was focused on this they announced that the National Endowment for the Arts director of communications Yosi Sargent had been reassigned. They said he was fired but he was actually just reassigned. (more…)

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Tags: Andrew Breitbart, big government, Buffy Wicks, George Will, national endowment for the arts
Posted Sep 21st 2009 at 4:00 pm in Art, Culture, News, Politics | 231842No Comments2009-09-21+23%3A00%3A35Sullivan

The NEA, The White House, The Lies and The Cover-Up

by Patterico

Big Hollywood today reveals the extensive proof that shows the White House used the National Endowment for the Arts to push a political agenda favorable to President Obama. But it gets worse: the Administration lied about it, and tried to cover it up.

You already know the background: an NEA spokesman participated in a conference call designed to encourage artists to further Obama’s legislative agenda. This was revealed back in August at Big Hollywood. What is new today is the full transcript of the call — and how clearly the NEA was involved in urging artists to propagandize for Obama.

Naturally, the NEA and the Obama administration denied this. According to the Los Angeles Times (in a blog post, of course, and not an actual newsprint story), the NEA denied any purpose to further a legislative agenda:

The NEA issued a statement saying that it took part in the conference to help inform arts organizations about opportunities to sponsor volunteer service projects themselves, or have their members take part in other volunteer efforts. “This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda, and any suggestions to that end are simply false,” the statement said. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Buffy Wicks, Def-Jam, health care, Michael Skolnik
Posted Sep 21st 2009 at 1:00 pm in Art, Law, News, Politics | 23093873 Comments2009-09-21+20%3A00%3A32Patterico

Demand Congressional Investigation: NEA Conference Call Broke Laws

by Ben Shapiro

In the aftermath of the Andrew Breitbart/James O’Keefe/Hannah Giles-broken ACORN scandal, President Obama and his allies in Congress have distanced themselves from the community organizing goliath. Congress has cut off funds, and Obama has refused to speak about the matter. End of story, right?

Wrong.

There’s only one problem: the ACORN mentality – pinpointing and mobilizing particular groups in support of a radical-left agenda – is no longer restricted to government-funded private non-profits like ACORN. The ACORN mentality now dominates the government itself. Taxpayer dollars are being used by elected officials to encourage the deification of President Obama and his agenda. And one of the chief organs of the government propaganda machine is the National Endowment for the Arts.

Let’s start from the beginning. On August 25, artist Patrick Courrielche told the story of a conference call he attended on August 10. That conference call was hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The goal of the conference call: “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda – health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.” The call would push “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how the arts can be used for a positive change!” (more…)

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Tags: "Scrubs", ACORN, Americans for the Arts, Americans for the Arts Artists Committee, Anti-Lobbying Act
Posted Sep 21st 2009 at 11:11 am in Art, Law, News, Politics | 231114116 Comments2009-09-21+18%3A11%3A00Ben+Shapiro

Planting the Seeds: The Politicized Art Behind the ACORN Plan

by Andrew Breitbart

Everything you needed to know about the unorthodox roll out of the now-notorious ACORN sting videos was hidden in plain sight in my Sept. 7 column, “Katie Couric, Look in the Mirror.” ACORN was not the only target of those videos; so were Katie, Brian, Charlie and every other mainstream media pooh-bah.

They were not going to report this blockbuster unless they were forced to. And they were. What’s more, it ain’t over yet. Not every hint I dropped in that piece about what was to come has played itself out yet.Stay tuned.

When filmmaker and provocateur James O’Keefe came to my office to show me the video of him and his friend, Hannah Giles, going to the Baltimore offices of ACORN – the nation’s foremost “community organizers” – dressed as a pimp and a prostitute and asking for – and getting – help for various illegal activities, he sought my advice. In the past, Mr. O’Keefe created brilliant social satire that rocked his college campus and even made its way on to the talk-radio and cable-news shows, but the magnitude of his latest adventure had the potential to rock the political establishment.

I was awed by Mr. O’Keefe’s guts and amazed by the footage, but explained that the mainstream media would try to kill this important and illuminating expose about a corrupt and criminal political racket, and that the well-funded political left would go into “war room” mode, with 25-year-old Mr. O’Keefe and 20-year-old cohort Miss Giles in the cross hairs. I felt I had a moral obligation to protect these young muckrakers from the left and from the media, and to devise a strategy that would force the media’s hand. (more…)

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Tags: abc, ACORN, acorn scandal, Bertha Lewis, Brian Williams
Posted Sep 20th 2009 at 6:40 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 230558No Comments2009-09-21+01%3A40%3A55Andrew+Breitbart

Let the Market Speak

by Chris Muir

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Tags: ACORN, community organizing, healtchare, Obama, stimulus
Posted Sep 20th 2009 at 11:23 am in Art, News, Political Humor | 22974219 CommentsLet+the+Market+Speak2009-09-20+18%3A23%3A45Chris+Muir

John Podhoretz: Movie Stars Strut Towards Extinction

by Big Hollywood

John Podhoretz in the Weekly Standard:

“[T]he system around which the motion-picture business has oriented itself almost since its creation in the early years of the last century–the star system, which it largely invented–has finally reached its end.”

“The eight most successful movies over the course of the year’s first eight months have collectively grossed $2.7 billion, up from $2.3 billion for the entirety of 2008. And what is most striking about these eight films is that not a single one of them, not a single one, features an unmistakable star. Three of them are cartoons (Up, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Monsters vs. Aliens). Three are sequels whose top-line talents are incidental to their success (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the sixth Harry Potter, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Two feature relative nobodies (Star Trek and The Hangover). The first traditional star appears in the ninth-place film, which is itself a high-concept sequel in which the star mostly stands around (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with Ben Stiller). It’s not until tenth place that a classic vehicle hits the list, Sandra Bullock’s The Proposal. And after that you have to jump down to 15th place to find Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons. Will Ferrell’s movie tanked. Julia Roberts laid an egg. Adam Sandler couldn’t sell a ticket. Johnny Depp disappointed. Denzel Washington and John Travolta bombed together. Instead, the movies whose successes depended on their strong leading performances were the ones featuring the 57-year-old Irishman Liam Neeson (Taken, $145 million) and the out-of-work TV comedian Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, $146 million).
(more…)

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Tags: 2009, adam sandler, ben stiller, Denzel Washington, Harry Potter
Posted Sep 18th 2009 at 1:55 pm in Celebrity News, News | 229038108 Comments2009-09-18+20%3A55%3A45Big+Hollywood

Jay Leno Monologue: ‘ACORN: We’ll Help You Get Away With Stuff’

by Big Hollywood

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, jay leno, tax fraud, voter fraud
Posted Sep 17th 2009 at 10:05 pm in Entertainment, News, Political Humor, Video | 22833833 Comments2009-09-18+05%3A05%3A14Big+Hollywood

Stand Up Notes from Flyover Country: How Did Russell Brand Get a Green Card?

by Jeffrey Jena

I am sure that Congress has a lot more important things to do right now but when we get around to looking at immigration can we get an investigation into how an alleged comic named Russell Brand got a green card.

russell_brand

I’m no expert on immigration law but I think in order to come here to work you have to demonstrate you have some special skills or talent that no American has. This rule prevents big multi-national companies from bringing in a bunch of cheap unskilled labor to take American jobs. For example, let’s say you are a bricklayer and you live in Poland. You may be a good bricklayer but if you want to come to the United States to live you need to go through a long process and show you have some skill that no American bricklayer possesses — unless you are a person who can sneak across the southern border, in which case you are welcome to come and take an American’s job and pick up some free health care and education. That’s another issue and I have been ADD-ing pretty badly recently so I need to get back to the topic at hand: (more…)

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Tags: illegal immigration, Immigration, Kanye West, MTV, Russell Brand
Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 10:19 am in Celebrity News, Music, News, Politics | 224482144 Comments2009-09-16+17%3A19%3A58Jeffrey+Jena

Patrick Swayze Died Today

by John Nolte

Terrible news. Fox News just reported that actor Patrick Swayze lost his fight with pancreatic cancer today at the age of 57.

Swayze arrived on the scene in a big way in 1983, with a starring role in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders.” Distinguishing yourself among the likes of Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Matt Dillon in that film was no small feat. And while all would go on to enjoy very successful careers, none would star in “Road House” and “Red Dawn.”

My definition of a great actor is one who convinces in the role; one who doesn’t take you out of the story with all the tics and technique. By that standard Swayze never disappointed. A trained dancer, his physical abilities sold the action, his sincerity brought heart to the romance and a complete lack of pretension made him accessible — made him something that is all but extinct today: a real-live movie star.

Time is what creates the classic film, not critics or box office, and time has made clear that Swayze made a mark on cinema few might have expected twenty years ago. “Road House,” “Point Break,” “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” live endlessly on cable television and DVD players everywhere. They are a immortal part of our culture and … they are Patrick Swayze movies. (more…)

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Tags: "Black Dog", "Dirty Dancing", "Grandview U.S.A.", "Next of Kin", "Point Break"
Posted Sep 14th 2009 at 6:21 pm in Entertainment, News | 225050143 CommentsPatrick+Swayze+Died+Today2009-09-15+01%3A21%3A02John+Nolte

Who Called in the DC Tea Party Bomb Threat?

by Chris Muir

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Tags: associated press, Bil Ayers, DC Tea Party, Obama, Photoshop
Posted Sep 13th 2009 at 3:35 pm in Art, News, Political Humor, Politics | 22423050 Comments2009-09-13+22%3A35%3A12Chris+Muir

Larry Gelbart: An Appreciation

by Burt Prelutsky

It was a little over 30 years ago that I first laid eyes on the remarkable Larry Gelbart. The occasion was our high school’s 50th anniversary. I had been selected to host the celebration in the auditorium. It was also my duty to talk about what Fairfax High had been like when I was there during the 1950s. It was Larry’s job to report on the 1940s. As I recall, producer Mike Frankovich handled the 30s and singer Martha Tilton recalled the 1920s. Although I got to introduce Gelbart to the audience, we didn’t actually meet.

Several months later, in a weekly column I was then writing for the L.A. Times, I took exception to the constant trashing of TV. For all its obvious faults, I pointed out that over the years TV, not Broadway, books or the movies, was the place to find the best comedy in America. I went on to mention ten or twelve of the anonymous men most responsible for writing the funniest lines. Naturally, Larry Gelbart was one of the names on my list. (more…)

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Tags: "Rough Cut", Larry Gelbart, MASH, mensch, obituary
Posted Sep 12th 2009 at 1:58 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, News | 22377029 CommentsLarry+Gelbart%3A+An+Appreciation2009-09-12+20%3A58%3A06Burt+Prelutsky

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