The Audition

Auditions for film and TV are undergoing a seismic change from the days of crowded waiting rooms packed with guys who all look exactly the same. We put ourselves on tape now. Actually, technology has hyper-warped past the tape, and it’s a digital file that gets emailed, but we still call it, “putting ourselves on tape.” 

Tom Hillman at work

I got the call from my agent to “put myself on tape” for “Battle: Los Angeles” back in August, 2009, and straightaway looked up all I could find on the director, Jonathan Liebesman. 

He likes using a loose, handheld camera technique. 

Perfect. The scene I was auditioning for was the reporter on the beach, so I grabbed a plastic microphone from my kid’s overflowing toy box and my digital camcorder and headed down to the ocean. Many casting directors today are still expecting us to “follow the rules” and stand in front of a blank blue wall and do our thing. 

I like to break the rules. 

I shot the scenes walking up and down the beach not caring what the shell hunters thought as I aimed my camera at myself and surely looked like I’d escaped from the nearby happy house. I came back home to edit on my Mac and because the initial breakdown said they were interested in hiring a  “real reporter” for this role, I grabbed some footage from a job I’d recently done playing a reporter and tagged that on to the end of my audition. I emailed it out on a Tuesday, and by Friday I heard I’d won the role. 

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This isn’t going to surprise anyone, but I’ve taken IQ tests and the results weren’t all that impressive. And yet, I still don’t need Jon Stewart to tell me that Republicans aren’t Nazis. I still don’t need Media Speech Enforcers running around “protecting” me from harsh, partisan political rhetoric. And I certainly don’t need them telling Republicans or Democrats what is and isn’t appropriate speech on my little old behalf. This might surprise our smirky friend, but I am just as capable as he is at seeing through hyperbole.

“What I have a problem with is people using hyperbole to induce an irrational fear of a particular group with the goal of ultimately reducing their numbers.”

You want to know what troubles me more than some hysterical Lefty whipping out tired Nazi references? This equally hysterical crusade currently taking place on the Left to chill political speech and set rules for what we can and cannot say.  Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen hasn’t been doing the media rounds so that Anderson Cooper can press him to defend, on an intellectual and factual basis, his declaration that Republicans are liars and therefore Nazis. No, instead, our Media Overseers have invited Cohen into their own televised kangaroo court to defend his “inappropriate” speech. Even a marginal mind like mine understands how disturbing that is.

Sadly, I don’t even have to make the slippery-slope argument in this case. The absurd is already well underway. “Job-killing” memory-holed. “Crosshairs” disappeared.

This is still America, right?

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In a recent appearance on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Roseanne Barr unintentionally proved the validity of Forrest Gump’s maxim, “stupid is as stupid does.”

She did so initially by accusing Sarah Palin of being “a traitor to this country.” This ridiculous statement caught my attention not because it had any foundation in facts, but because it was being made by Barr: a woman who made headlines in 1990 for mocking America by grabbing her crotch and spitting while singing the National Anthem for a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Cincinnati Reds.

Barr next accused Palin of being “a dupe” and an opportunist who’s capitalizing on the “anti-intellectualism” of Americans. And while there’s something inherently laughable about Barr speaking derisively of “anti-intellectualism,” it’s somewhat offensive that she doesn’t guard against throwing the word “dupe” around so recklessly. After all, she is the dupe who once donned a Nazi uniform and wore it in pictures that showed her taking “burnt Jew cookies” out of an oven.

Yet as stupid as all these things were, perhaps Barr’s most stupid statement was her assertion that Dick Cheney has never “[earned] one damn thing. [The] guy’s never worked an honest day in his life.” Where has she been for the last 10 years? A period of time in which Cheney was relentlessly criticized for his ties to Big Oil, via his past working relationship with Halliburton. To this day, Cheney continues to be vilified for his work with that company. (more…)

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As usual Anderson Cooper outnumbers the Republican, in this case 3 to 1: Ted Nugent vs. Roseanne Barr, Democrat Cornell Bellcher and, uhm, Cooper.

Watch how joyless Roseanne Barr is. Man, that woman’s damaged. She’s currently on tour hoping to say as much outrageously stupid stuff as possible in order to resurrect her miserable career like Kathy Griffin and Joyless Behar did. But Nugent owns the whole bunch. He’s heard all the crazy-left’s talking points before and is more than ready for them. The National Anthem shot is our personal favorite. That’s Nugent letting Barr know from the opening bell that he’s come to play and it immediately throws her off her game. He’s like a boxer leading with a straight right instead of a jab. You know he wants to rumble.

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Vince Vaughn on the ‘gay’ trailer non-controversy that so outraged Anderson Cooper and GLAAD:

“Let me add my voice of support to the people outraged by the bullying and persecution of people for their differences, whatever those differences may be. Comedy and joking about our differences breaks tension and brings us together. Drawing dividing lines over what we can and cannot joke about does exactly that; it divides us. Most importantly, where does it stop.”

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Adam Lambert on the disgraceful situation in Malaysia that Anderson Cooper and GLAAD didn’t cause a similar uproar over: (more…)

GLAAD is just one of those organizations like PETA that you can’t help but feel sorry for.  Their stars are waning; their time has passed.  PETA can only grab a headline if they cough up enough money for some D-lister to disrobe for a photoshoot, and GLAAD can’t accomplish much beyond the occasional censorship potshot in Hollywood.  It’s odd that we’ve been highlighting the political divide between Clint Howard and his brother, Ron, for the past week or so, as it’s Ron, the orthodox progressive, who’s catching heat from GLAAD currently.  Howard is the director of a new Vince Vaughn picture titled The Dilemma, and GLAAD has deemed it homophobic, offensive– all that stuff– because Vaughn’s character says “Electric cars are gay.”

The full-fledged ire of GLAAD, straight from the top of the organization, is laughable.  President Jarrett Barrios says, “There has been a rash of bullying, some leading to suicides, much of it because of the widespread belief that it’s somehow OK to say things about gay people that it is not OK to say about other groups. Comments like those in the movie make it seem OK to beat up gay people.”  So, electric cars are gay = it’s okay to commit violence against gay people.  Check.

Make no mistake:  it is an awful tragedy that Tyler Clementi killed himself because of the malicious, despicable humiliation he was subjected to.  To equivocate that with a goofy putdown of electric cars (and GLAAD does not know the context of this line; sounds like something to establish early on in Vaughn’s character arc that he’s insensitive) is not only moronic but as hypocritical as Fred Phelps asking for some peace and quiet at a funeral.  Why, you may say? One word:  teabaggers. (more…)

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is drawing a lot of attention from Americans right now, particularly the residents of the Gulf Coast who will have to absorb the brunt of the spill’s economic and ecological impact. Consequently, every cable news outlet in the country is hosting guest after guest to talk about the spill and how its ramifications might be curtailed.

Earlier this week, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, host of Anderson Cooper 360, had actor Robert Redford on his show to talk about the spill. Not surprisingly, what viewers heard from Redford was how the spill demonstrated that big oil companies are bad, that it was George W. Bush’s fault (more accurately, Dick Cheney’s), and that Obama has done his level best to handle this mess in a Presidential manner.

Cooper began the interview by asking Redford what he thought of BP’s response to the spill thus far, and Redford answered by saying we were seeing the fruits of “a failed energy policy” that was “the consequence of the collusion between government, Congress and big oil companies.” Redford went on to say that it was our “terrible energy policy” had “allowed this [spill] to happen” in the first place. (more…)

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Kudos to CNN’s Anderson Cooper for having someone on who not only knows of what he speaks from first-hand experience, but obviously wasn’t going to say what Cooper would’ve have liked him to say.

Adkins handles himself with the class of a true superstar. He doesn’t get partisan and keeps his informed criticism borne of actual experience focused where it should be: on policies and ideas instead of individuals. (more…)

Add one more soldier to the Left’s war on Fox News:  Oscar the Grouch.

Last week, in a re-broadcast of an episode that originally aired two years ago, Oscar starts his own news network, GNN (Grouchy News Network).  An irate viewer calls in to berate him that the news is not grouchy enough:

“I am changing the channel. From now on I am watching ‘Pox’ News. Now there is a trashy news show.”

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Later in the episode, Anderson Cooper from 4th place CNN, guest stars as a reporter for GNN.  He interacts with “Walter Cranky” and “Dan Rather-Not” —  Muppets representing real-life liberal news personalities — and they talk about “Meredith Beware-a” and “Diane Spoiler.” But no affectionate nicknames for Fox News personalities; no Spill O’Reilly or Brittle Hume — nope, and the only disparaging characterization of real-world news is reserved for Fox:  Fox is a POX.  It is trashy.  They didn’t even attempt to try “MessyNBC.”

If Mom and Dad watch cable news, it’s better than 50/50 they watch “POX News.”  So what gives? PBS — a network partially funded with my tax dollars — has the right to tell my kids that their parents watch “trashy” news?  The message is clear, I can’t even sit my kids in front of “Sesame Street” without having to worry about the Left attempting to undermine my authority. And don’t tell me, “If you don’t like it change the channel.”  There are no channels left! It’s everywhere. Just last week I had Obama’s service and volunteerism promoted on every single major network, including Disney and Nickelodeon. (more…)

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This week’s Washington Times column:

The first round of protests against the Obama administration’s chaotic and rapid-fire expansion of government came in the form of grass-roots “tea parties,” which were predictably met with scorn by the Democrat-Media Complex (the natural coalition of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media.)

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow led the charge, declaring concerned Americans “tea baggers,” an allusion to an absurd sexual fetish beneath describing in a family newspaper. This attack on hundreds of thousands of people practicing their constitutional right to protest speaks volumes not just about the hardened sociopolitical leanings of America’s journalistic elite, but about the brazenness with which they are now wielding their unprofessionalism.

Last week on the grounds of the once-venerated White House, Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, taking his cues from his allies in the media, referred to last week’s health care town-hall protesters as “tea baggers.”

How far we have fallen.

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Whatever happened to good old-fashioned American know-how, pulling yourself up from the bootstraps, proving to the world you have the mettle to succeed on your own raw talent? If you’re Paris Hilton or, say, the Huffington Post — none of those good ol’ values amount to a hill of beans! The Huffington Post, the website famous for slapping left-wing bias on mainstream news, recently hired Ethan Axelrod — you may have heard of his dad, David Axelrod: the celebrated image-maker of the Obama campaign. Given the Huffington Post is all snuggles with the Obama Administration, the news might come as no surprise.

Lefty-types are always making room for their own, so long as you have a famous last name or a privileged pedigree. For a bunch that loves to push for “universalizing” and “leveling the playing field,” they sure are elitist! This is the world where Anderson Cooper, scion of Gloria Vanderbilt, is handed the keys to CNN. Al Gore’s daughter Kristin nabs a dream job writing for Matt Groening’s “Futurama” straight out of college. Oh sure, it helped that Poppa Gore agreed to guest star twice (but only if his young daughter could direct). Gore went on to appear as a disembodied head (yes, the show ‘jumped the shark’). Is Huffington Post banking on access to daddy Axelrod’s head, too? ‘Wink, wink,’ welcome aboard Ethan… (more…)

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: Obama’s Egypt speech, Massachussetts welfare, conservatives, Republicans, GOP, Michelle Obama, Sesame Street, Barbara Walters, Anderson Cooper, Rosie O’Donnell, Kelly McGillis, and Simon Cowell.

You all know the drill. The recent vague and controversial DHS report on right-wing extremism, the cover of which DHS might just as well have put on the Republican Party platform. The endless puerile teabagging jokes from the fourth estate’s finest, giggling into their microphones like ten-year-olds who just found a tittie mag.

CNN reporter Susan Roesgen even called a Tea Party “anti-government and anti-CNN” when her pro-government handout rant to a Tea Partier was rudely interrupted. Ms. Roesgen took particular offense at a sign of Obama with a Hitler moustache. “Why be so hard on the President of the United States though with such an offensive message?” the offended Ms. Roesgen asked.

Yet in 2006, Ms. Roesgen was perfectly comfortable with this Satan/Hitler Bush mask, jokingly calling it a Bush ‘look-alike.’ I guess it all depends on which POTUS you’re hard on. Right, Suzie?

And therein lies the rub. Dissent was SO patriotic not so long ago, wasn’t it? Dissent against war, dissent against torture, dissent against wiretapping, dissent against Gitmo, dissent against rendition, dissent against government abuse of power. In fact, now-Secretary of State Clinton was quite vocal on the matter back in the day: (more…)

On March 2nd there was a demonstration in Washington D.C. It was billed as the largest demonstration for green power/global warming awareness/stop dirty coal/ let’s all go live in a tepee, ever held. It was attended by, (are you ready for the number?), 2,500 people. That was the largest one ever! This demonstration was covered by every major television and news service. No station or alleged newspaper gave any coverage to opposing opinions. Ironically there was a blizzard that day another fact which, to the best of my knowledge, was not noted by any major news outlet.

Thirteen days later one of the first of the grassroots “Tea Parties” was held in Cincinnati Ohio. Over five thousand average middle-class folks showed up on Fountain Square in the center of the city. Their message was simple, we can’t afford our government! Did you see it on CNN? Maybe you caught it on ABC or MSNBC? If you did you need to check the strength of your prescriptions, it wasn’t on any of them. In fact, the overwhelming success of this protest against rampant, run away big government was one of the inspirations for yesterday’s national day of protest. But unless you live in Cincinnati you probably never heard about it. (more…)

FILM PROJECTOR

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ROLL TITLES

“It Could Happen Here!”

A PRESENTATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

JANET NAPOLITANO, DIRECTOR

IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
AND THE HOUSE ANTI-TAX ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE

AN IOWAHAWK EDUCATIONAL FILMS PRODUCTION

SCROLL

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So if there`s one great thing we learned from today`s Tea parties, it`s how Anderson Cooper spends his nights off. It had happened during a conversation with talking thumb, David Gergen, who had just noted that the tea party protestors had yet to find their voice. Cooper`s response: “It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging.”

Now, if you`re too old or too high to get what`s going on, here`s the joke: The liberal-leaning media are goofing on the tea parties by invoking the term teabagging, a phrased used to describe an act of oral sex performed by a man – either on another man, woman, or in Alec Baldwin’s case – a cheeseburger.

And so you have Cooper`s joke – it`s just a shame he ripped off the shtick from David Shuster, who apparently has never met a joke he hasn`t beat to death like a hunter on a harp seal. On MSNBC, Shuster repeats testicle-based puns with a fervent relish not unlike an eight-year old boy who just can`t stop sniffing his fingers. And, this, coming from me. I`m mean – I always thought I was the king of obvious jokes, but I relinquish that crown – because the real obvious joke is Shuster. (more…)

First, President Obama jettisoned the admittedly empty and useless phrase “war on terror,” a label which pleased pretty much no one, primarily because it didn’t specify an enemy; it’s often been pointed out that the phrase was like calling World War II a “war on blitzkrieg.” Next, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano avoided even mentioning the word “terrorism” in her first congressional testimony. Now the Department of Justice has announced it is dropping the legal designation “enemy combatants,” which referred to suspected terrorist detainees. The aim of all this muting of the language in the War with No Name is twofold: for the Obama administration to distance itself from George W. Bush’s “politics of fear,” and to whitewash a plain fact that liberals are suicidally reluctant to acknowledge - that we are at war with radical Islam.

Earlier this year the members of MoveOn.org identified liberals’ top ten priorities for 2009 in a poll. Their agenda is very revealing: nowhere among the list of usual suspects – stopping climate change, ending the war in Iraq, “restoring” civil liberties, holding the Bush administration “accountable” – is there any mention of national security or any acknowledgement that the United States even has an enemy – unless, of course, you count climate change and the Bush administration, two threats that the left has no problem confronting fiercely.  (more…)