Hard for me to imagine, but I am now 41. Amazing. It seems like yesterday my poofy mullet and parachute pants were all the rage, and Prince had a #1 hit on the radio. Now I’m married to the most beautiful woman, raising six children, and living the American dream. Our country has changed so much since my days of fighting with Carol and Ben on TV. America has always been known as “the land of the free” and “the home of the brave.” It’s the richest, freest nation the world has ever seen. Everyone wants to live here. But as I look around, I’m left with a sinking feeling that America is losing her way. Big time. The soul of our country is sick, and history shows me we are headed for disaster if we don’t change course now.

I’ve been looking around for answers, but all I hear is noise. Everyone is pointing fingers at the Left or the Right, blaming Hollywood or Capitol Hill. Time is flying by too quickly for petty arguments. My children’s future won’t wait. I’ve got to do something now.

Here’s my hunch: Could it be that we have simply forgotten what made us such a great nation in the first place? So many people are waiting around for our leaders to come up with a grand plan to save our nation. But is that really how America got started? What if things actually work the other way around? What if real change doesn’t start at the top but at the bottom? What if the best place to begin transforming our country is not the Oval Office but the dinner table?

For the past year and a half, I’ve been making a film called “Monumental,” and I am thrilled to announce that it’s coming to theaters on March 27. We are creating a live, one-night national event in 500 theaters where audiences can experience a monumental moment together. Then we will release the film in theaters in select cities, while providing helpful new resources to families, churches, and schools who want to go further with what they’ve experienced in the film.  (more…)

Something you really appreciate in the gorgeous new Blu-ray transfer of 1961’s Best Picture winner “West Side Story” is the decision co-directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins made to shoot the opening sequence on-location. While a majority of the film looks as though it was shot on large, well-designed sound stages, the opener takes place on the real streets of a real urban city and sets the authentic tone necessary to carry the rest of this racially-charged Romeo and Juliet musical through the full 152 minutes.

And it’s only Romeo and Juliet in the loosest sense. This isn’t the story of warring families; this is the story of warring gangs divided along racial lines (the white Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks) who don’t really understand why they hate each other. But every time a mutual respect begins to develop between the two gangs, a racist cop named Schrank (Simon Oakland) stirs up animosities built on nothing more than hollow notions of pride and turf.

Caught in the middle is Tony (Richard Beymer), the Jets’ one-time leader who’s just started to mature enough to know a better life can be had through hard work, and Maria (a ravishing Natalie Wood), the sister of one of the Sharks’ leaders. Per chance they meet at a dance and as only teenagers can, they immediately fall madly, desperately, passionately in love just as the two gangs prepare to face off to see who will dominate the neighborhood.

Two things make “West Side Story” the timeless classic it is. The first is Leonard Bernstein’s unforgettable score, and the second is how well the story explores some heady themes without ever devolving into a preach-a-thon. A perfect example of this is the film’s highlight (at least for me), the rooftop show-stopper “America” where Anita (a smoldering Rita Moreno) and Bernardo (George Chakins) square off over the pros and cons of immigrant life in America. What you’re watching is both performers win their respective supporting Oscars and more wit, sex, attitude, exuberance, and magic in those six minutes then we’ve seen from Hollywood in the last five years put together. Watch here and tell me it doesn’t make you glad to be alive:

“I think I go back to San Juan.”
“I know a boat you can get on — bye, bye.”
“Everyone there will give big cheer.”
“Everyone there will have moved here.”

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From an article titled “Box Office Shocker” at the Hollywood Reporter:

Early on, there was a debate within Paramount and Marvel as to whether having Captain America in the title would be off-putting to international distributors, and so the studio offered an alternative title, The First Avenger.

Cripps turned out to be correct in his hunch that the Captain America character has such strong brand recognition — the comic books have been published in at least 75 countries — that foreign distributors would happily choose Captain America: The First Avenger.

Only three countries opted for The First Avenger — Russia, Ukraine and South Korea. Everywhere else, it’s being released as Captain America: The First Avenger. …

Defying perception, Paramount and Marvel Studios’ Captain America: The First Avenger has now earned more overseas than in North America

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The world is full of bad people but the good news is that here in America our First Amendment makes it easier to spot them.

Via NBC:

The  festival, “9/11 Reclaiming the Truth, Reclaiming our Future,” is organized by the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, a group that formed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The lineup of films and speakers kicked off at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland this afternoon, and will continue on Sunday at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco after a march from Justin Herman Plaza to the theater.
   
Similar events are being held in Seattle and in Toronto, and a portion of those events will be broadcast live in the Bay Area as part of the film festival.

The slate of films includes “Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup,” “9/11: Explosive Evidence — Experts Speak Out,” and “We Were Also Killed on 9/11: First Responders.”

“We’ve had rallies every year,” said Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance co-founder Carol Brouillet. She said the group organized its first film festival in 2004 and has had similar events every year since.

She said the main goal of the festival is to inform attendees about “the disparity between the official version and the actual events.” …

The rub below the fold:

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 Thanks to Big Hollywood’s Alfonzo Rachel, I witnessed an entertainment miracle going off in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is my third time through the Katt Williams, flame-throwing, soul-burning comic meltdown! 

This is so far beyond having an audience in the palm of your hand, it is an entire American Counter-Revolution!

This must be not only the worst night and foulest nightmare of this heckler’s life, I don’t see how this fool could walk after the justified incineration he waltzed into.

The almost 8 minutes of deliriously savage brilliance rises like a great symphony to culminate in the only possible ecstatic climax: The Star Spangled Banner!!!

This fifth time through for me brings tears to my eyes! Shouts of gratitude!! America is in a major foxhole right now and a pathetic heckler has, indeed, UNITED THE TROOPS!!!!

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Like you, I’m pretty happy about Katt Williams bushin’ up his tail on a heckler who tried to dis’ America. By telling a Mexican patriot “to go live in Mexico if he thinks it’s better than living in America,” Williams ran the risk of being labeled a sell-out by displaying his patriotism in this PC culture. Yep, Williams pretty much used his microphone as a club, and went to work on this heckler like he was a piñata:

Video is NSFW:

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What Katt Williams said to the heckler wasn’t racist, it was long overdue. Sure I’ve been saying the same and I’m sure you have, as well. But it’s nice to hear it coming from someone who has a platform like Williams does. Usually people in his position would rather patronize people like that heckler and try to win them over by acknowledging they’re “disenfranchised.” This allows them to look compassionate and morally superior. But that’s the behavior of a true sellout — selling out the country that allows people to achieve their dreams in exchange for glorifying yourself by soliciting laughter and applause for cursing it.

Katt Williams breathed fire all over that narrative, and God bless him for it.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve heard the racist statement, “Why don’t you go back to Africa”, and I’d have to remind these jackasses, “I can’t go back to a place I’ve never been.”

Furthermore, I’ve never flexed African national pride on people. I’ve never given people a reason to believe I love Africa more than America, so I never deserved the remark.

I love being black, and I love being black in America. Enjoy whatever ethnicity you are! But if you enjoy it to a point where you think your ethnicity makes you superior, then you’re a jackass.

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Definitely not safe for work but very refreshing….

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In this insufferably PC era, defending America and this kind of openly proud patriotism is the very definition of edgy.  Via HuffPo, here’s a portion of the transcript. The audio is pretty garbled in spots:

“… it appears to me, y’all like it over here a lot… If y’all had California and you loved it, then you shouldn’t have given that mothaf*cka up. You should have fought for California, goddamnit, since you love it… Are you Mexican? Do you know where Mexico is? No this ain’t Mexico, it used to be Mexico, motherf*cker, and now it’s Phoenix, goddammit. USA! USA!… No n*gga, do you know where you at? USA! USA!… No n*gga, this is my hood… [security comes] F*ck him! Mothaf*ckas think they can live in this country and pledge allegiance to another country… Do you remember when white people used to say go back to Africa? And we’d have to tell them we don’t want to? So if you love Mexico, bitch, get the f*ck over there! [breaks into the National Anthem]… We were slaves bitch, you just all work like that at the landscapers…”

Naurally, the Huffington Post is all bothered, bewildered and offended by this:

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One of the most dishonest theories anti-American Hollywood asks Americans to swallow is that the reason there are so few pro-American films produced is due to profits not politics. That is the biggest, fattest, provable lie to come out of this industry ever, especially when you consider that just the opposite is true. What flops stateside and overseas are anti-American films. We’ve documented this again and again and again and again.

Well, now we have another “again” to add to our growing list of “agains,” this time courtesy — of all film sites! — our regular left-wing antagonists over at Movie Line:

Before Captain America: First Avenger was released in July, much was made about how the title — and title character in his red, white and blue — would play in foreign markets. In fact, three countries (Russia, Ukraine and South Korea) even decided to release the film with the Marvel-approved shortened title The First Avenger. Following a successful showing stateside, good ol’ Cap made his worldwide debut in many big foreign markets over the weekend; as the numbers trickle in, it looks he’s got some pretty enthusiastic allies. …

Overall, Captain America: The First Avenger has earned a reported $65,863,605 internationally thru Aug. 2 (Paramount has CA at $53.9 million thru Aug. 1), with tallies from openings in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Greece, Egypt and Austria yet to come. As for Russia, Ukraine and South Korea: Captain America The First Avenger has yet to debut in those countries, but Movieline will update its progress there when numbers become available. UPDATE: Per Paramount, Captain America actually did premiere in Russia and South Korea, where it grossed $4.2 million and $2.5 million, respectively. Score one for the non-American title!

Below, the top 10 foreign markets for Captain America:

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Barack Obama’s reelection is of primary importance to the Hollywood Left , therefore things of major Leftist import are on a bit of a hold.

Firey visionaries of The Progressive New World Order are scheduled for casting their Hollywood scripts post-election lest the unthinkable happen and Sarah Palin become the 45th President of the United States.

It is actually an infuriating time for Hollywood because of the “Wait” and “The Hold”.

Since massive amounts of money are involved, the second stage of the Obama Nation really can’t explode until The Man is back in office.

Educating Americans can be so laborious at times.

Why?

Because, as that Marxist Point Man, Bill Maher, says, “They’re stupid!”

These obstacles to Obamacare and our President’s even more revolutionary plans for American energy?

They’re stalled under Congressional challenges and the slim but terrifying possibility that The Man might not be reelected after all.

There is talk of a Hillary-Clinton-Challenge to Obama’s certain candidacy.

Another 1968?

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Part three of an essay inspired by George Washington’s Farewell Address:

Faction… they are likely in the course of time and things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of the government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

We are at a crossroads in America. This is a choosing time. Are we going to choose Republicanism or Marxism? Free Enterprise or Socialism? Are we going to choose ignorance or reason, reality or denial? Are we going to be a nation divided or a nation united? Are we going to crumble or crawl through the fire? Do we have enough knowledge as a nation to know the demons that we face? Do we care?

I know one thing. We will care. We will care, when we see the ashes of America carried on the winds of CHANGE.

The political agenda of the cultural elite has slyly and insidiously captured the essence of America and shaped it into their vision and their desires. All of which are built on sand. They are not built on reason. It is built on an ideology that sells a mirage to the people and leaves the architect a hypocrite. Ignorance has let this happen.

One of the greatest mysteries of all times is how so many Americans could not see the change Barrack Hussein Obama sought to bring to America. Like all great leaders who manage to seduce a majority, he mastered the slick and slippery ways of doublespeak. Obama voters deliberately chose not to peer inside the looking glass that yielded focus on his true intentions. They chose denial instead. They chose to believe, mistakenly, that America could sustain herself on change. Others knowing exactly what Obama’s mission was, believed in the seduction of big government with feel good economics.

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Foreign Policy:

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker will join the flotilla of ships next week that will try to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip. She says the goal is to bring supplies and raise awareness of the situation there. Last May, during a similar attempt by activists, Israel raided six ships. On one, clashes broke out and Israeli commandos killed nine people.

Foreign Policy reached the author of The Color Purple in Greece, where she is preparing for her departure.

Foreign Policy: Why are you taking part in the flotilla mission?

Alice Walker: In 2009, I was in Gaza, just after Operation Cast Lead, and I saw the incredible damage and devastation. I have a good understanding of what’s on the ground there and how the water system was destroyed and the sewage system. I saw that the ministries had been bombed, and the hospitals had been bombed, and the schools. I sat for a good part of a morning in the rubble of the American school, and it just was so painful because we as Americans pay so much of our taxes for this kind of weaponry that was used. On a more sort of mature grandmotherly level I feel that as an elder it is up to me and others like me — other elders, other mature adults — to look at situations like this and bring to them whatever understanding and wisdom we might have gained in our fairly long lifetimes, witnessing and being a part of struggles against oppression. …

FP: Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said the stated goal of “humanitarian assistance” was a false pretext for your mission — and it’s actually designed to serve an extremist political agenda, and that many of the groups participating in the mission maintain ties with extremist and terrorist organizations, including Hamas. Your reaction?

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So Republicans are desperately trying to figure out how to beat Obama.

You’d think it’d be easy:

Look at the economy.

It’s scarier than Kathy Griffin’s discarded spanx: Dreadful unemployment, a dying housing market, a crappy dollar, rising inflation.

It’s all bad news.

But the problem with bad news – people hate it.

I’m reminded of that good friend who wants to tell you that whoever you’re dating – is bad for you.

You don’t want to hear it.

You think, “Wait – I thought you were my friend.”

But he’s like, “Dude, I’m your friend, she’s using you – which is why I’m telling you this. I’m trying to do you a favor.”

The Republican party has to be that close pal, and it needs to tell America it’s time to cut him loose.

But they need to be smart.

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Via Bleeding Cool:

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If you remember, in David Goyer’s most recent issue of DC comics’ Action Comics, Superman got all sanctimonious and Leftist about being an American citizen and huffed his intention to renounce his citizenship: “‘Truth, justice and the American way’ — It’s not enough anymore.”

Whatever.

According to Bleeding Cool, though, Superman is something of a schizophrenic and maybe even a super-secret neocon because in today’s edition of DC Comics’ Superman he’s all about The America again.

Above is the first frame of the comic’s closing page, below the fold you can read the rest…  (more…)

For those who wish, please watch this quick clip then read the article:

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Superman was created by the sons of Jewish immigrants – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and they had a love for America.

When I was growing up as a kid on Long Island, we couldn’t wait to see
the next episode of Superman on TV or get the latest comic. I wanted a Superman costume for Halloween. I proudly wore my red cape and believed I was fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. So did most of my friends. Years later, my two sons – years apart – alsowanted to be the Man of Steel for Halloween.

This may no longer appeal to the bright eyed youth of America. Never will Superman be part of the lexicon for American pop culture. DC Comics, for whatever reason, turned its back on America. Will Superman now fight for Sharia Law to be adopted into England, France, and Germany? This act shows more than anything else the depth that a socialistic based education system has indoctrinated minds and created a cultural battleground for the soul of America.

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DC Comics is owned by Warner Brothers. In what is either a move to make Superman more globally appealing leading up to his upcoming film, or a reflection of the globalist mentality in the DC corporate offices, it was revealed yesterday in Action Comics 900 that Superman is renouncing his American Citizenship.

Which is a huge mistake in many ways, but a sad reflection of our times.

What wannabe-elitists fail to understand is what the “American Way” Superman stood for is all about. Superman was created in the late 1930s by two Jewish teenagers, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They created Superman at a time when Nazis were rising to power and taking over Europe. When communists had taken over Russia. Superman stood for freedom and justice and fought for the allies during the war because, not only were his two creators patriotic, they understood the threat to freedom that existed out there. Superman, like America, was fighting for the people of the world. He was a bringer of justice and peace at a time when organized crime was rampant in America, when fascists where threatening executing innocents in death camps and conquering the globe.

Superman was unique, the last survivor of the planet Krypton, just as America was unique in the world, a nation founded on the principal of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, a constitution with limited government that guarantees the rights of the individual. It stood in stark contrast to the rest of the world, which was mired in despotic regimes, kleptocratic states, not unlike today.

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Wired:

Superman renounces his U.S. citizenship in Action Comics‘ record-breaking 900th issue. But that’s not all the benevolent alien refugee does in the sprawling special issue, which hits stores Wednesday.

The Man of Steel throws down in outer space against a continually misguided Lex Luthor, who’s finally rewarded for his boundless ambition by becoming a petulant god. Supes also throws a pizza party with Lois Lane for his Kryptonian pals, who crowd his couch while chowing grub and chewing scenery. He talks cosmology and philosophy with an interstellar deity beset by guilt over civilizations he was perhaps too selfish to save, and goes head-to-head with a one-time pro athlete who’s become a superheroic show-off. 

It’s just another day in the life of Earth’s most recognizable comics immortal, in a landmark issue penned by all-stars from film, television and comics. Previewed in the gallery above, Action Comics No. 900 features stories penned by Doctor Who’s Paul Cornell, Lost’s Damon Lindelof, Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner, The Dark Knight screenwriter David S. Goyer and DC Comics’ chief creative officer, Geoff Johns. …

It’s a sobering moment, as obvious as it is revolutionary. Superman’s conscientious creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who dreamed up Superman for Action Comics‘ 1938 debut, positioned their deathless hero as an American heartland warrior battling tyranny and evil.

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This is really just a promo for what promises to be more footage released on “Entertainment Tonight” tomorrow, but since “Entertainment Tonight” is really just a show about promoting what it will broadcast tomorrow….

The entire leftist, elitist entertainment media agrees: “Battle: Los Angeles,” the new alien invasion flick from director Jonathan Liebesman, is not worth your time.

So clearly, you have got to go see this movie!

On the most recent addition of Take A Movie to Work over at Declaration Entertainment, Bill Whittle discusses the importance of this terrific action movie, which – MOST SHOCKING, EXHILARATING SPOILER ALERT OF ALL TIME – makes American soldiers, the best people our society has to offer, look like THE BEST PEOPLE OUR SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER!

Missing are all of the clichés we have come to expect from movies that depict our fighting men and women. There are no brooding loaners bemoaning the futility of war, no racist loud-mouth adrenaline junkies itching to kill anything they don’t understand, the troops aren’t victims of nefarious political posturing or trying to steal from the third-world…

Even the relationship between Aaron Eckhart’s battle-hardened Staff Sergeant Nash and the fresh-faced, just-out-of-school, naive Lieutenant is respectful and authentic. When the Lieutenant breaks down from his first exposure to the chaos of battle, there is no condescending moment of the wise-old enlisted man rising up to take command. Instead, Eckhart reminds the younger man of his responsibility, pulls him out of his own head, prompts him to make a decision, and then says “Yes sir.”

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For some strange reason the left-wing Internet site Slate.com thinks that the City of Detroit needs a statue erected to an anti-Christian, anti-American pop icon. That’s right, Slate thinks that Detroit needs to diss Jesus, slam capitalism, and attack the United States of America as an evil, violent nation. Strange recommendation for a city that literally drove America’s capitalist success story, isn’t it?

Well that is precisely what Slate is suggesting in an entertainment feature about raising a Motor City statue to the Hollywood sci fi movie character Robocop. After all, the Robocop movie was a purposeful slam on the United States and Christianity, not some celebration of her genius. This is exactly what the film’s director has said numerous times. Strange that Slate wants to use a character that presents what it claims is bad about America as something worthy enough to which to build a memorial.

For Slate Patrick Cassels, a 20-something actor, “Internet enthusiast,” and entertainment writer, announced his support of the statue to the violence-soaked movie icon mostly because it is an attack on “Reaganomicss” and corporations. But, as if supporting a paean to Marxism isn’t grating enough for building a statue in an American city, he spends no time at all on the anti-Christian theme of the movie.

Regardless a statue to Robocop is a great idea, Cassels asserts. “Robocop,” Cassels claims, “is a great ambassador for Detroit.” He thinks that a Robocop statue has “something important to say about the place and its plight.”

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First, some background.

Two years ago, on a cloudy and cold Saturday morning, I met a guy in a K-Mart parking lot to hand him the cash in exchange for the goods. We nervously approached each other, after he arrived in his beat up ’89 Grand Am. I gave him the money and he gave me my fix… enough to keep my girlfriend Jamie and me happy for a few weeks. After I checked each “Smallville: Season 4” DVD for scratches, the deal was done. I headed home and we watched five episodes that day.

For me, the show has always been about young Clark Kent’s ascension to greatness. He knows, and the show explores, that he was delivered to Earth to rescue mankind from its own frailties. In fact, “Smallville” added a piece of mythology to the story: that his father Jor-El of Krypton specifically chose the town of Smallville, Kansas, right in the heart of the United States of America because his dense molecular structure could help the world (via Clark’s learned perspective as the adopted son of middle-Americans who would teach him morality) to regain moral balance.

Painting by Michael Wilson

Deeper “Superman” mythology aside, the narrative of “Smallville” is light and airy. It deals with the very-heavy-at-the-time-but-not-really-consequential stuff we all dealt with as teenagers. My favorite shot from all 10 seasons is from Season 2 – a solitary shot of Clark, alone in his barn-loft hangout. He had just been watching through his telescope as Lana Lang reconciles with her boyfriend (who Clark used his superpowers to save, denying himself the chance to win the girl). He is alone and sad in his power, and hangs his head… cut to black. That inner struggle makes the show worthwhile. It has also, at times, been a bit like the teeny-bopper-rock-pop my daughter listens to, and that I genuinely, genuinely enjoy.

Go to hell. So what if I like autotuned vocals and melodic guitar riffs over manufactured drum tracks that have been Focus-Group tested by Nickelodeon and Disney and that tie into their programming?

The show spent its nine seasons arcing through both Clark’s internal struggle and Superman mythology. It’s done a better job than not of both adding to and borrowing from the existing canon. Tom Welling has proven to be a perfect casting choice from Day 1, bringing a beautiful humanity to the Kryptonian savior (I’d rather he play Supes in the upcoming WB/Zack Snyder reboot, but since Snyder is the most badassed director of comics-turned-flicks on earth, I trust his judgment). It has also inspired a devout following of people who know right from wrong, and who believe you should do whatever you can to help people remain free to pursue their own happiness. After nine seasons, it was time to wind down the show.

And now, the point.

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