–REPUBLICAN PARTY ANIMAL 2011 HOLLYWOOD BASH!

Suddenly I’m almost sorry I left Los Angeles. Almost. But this looks like a blast and you won’t believe what a mere $15 buys you food and drink-wise — not to mention the opportunity the hear The Gary Graham Garage Band. Also attending are some familiar names to Big Hollywood readers such as Ben Shapiro (stand back when he lets his hair down — no really, pure wild man), Alfonzo Rachel, Bill Whittle, Stephen Kruiser, Evan Sayet, Ann McElhinney, and Tony Katz.

It all happens July 30th. More here.

–NETFLIX PRICE INCREASE A DISASTER OR NECESSARY?

Jimmie at the Sundries Shack is mostly on Netflix’ side:

Netflix doesn’t have much of a choice. They’re looking at some very large expenses over the next three years for which they’ll need to pony up far more money than they’ve had to spend so far. These expenses are not the fault of Netflix but the movie studios.

DaTechGuy is less forgiving:

So can anyone explain to me why I would accept the price increase when I can do better by going to Amazon? And without the streaming as a value added, can anyone explain why I shouldn’t just go to cheaper sources of movies and drop Netfilx altogether?

Currently I’m on the unlimited streaming plan where I also receive one disc at a time by mail. The current price is an incredibly low $7.99 a month. In September this same plan will cost $15.98. Am I happy about the increase? No. But I would be lying if I said that $7.99 hasn’t always felt like a ridiculously low price for what I was getting in return. A steal, really.

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A friend of mine asked me if I had seen” CSI: Miami” last week. I had not, but he suggested I take a look. He thought I might find something interesting. Warning: Spoiler Alert.

Not all television shows have blatant straw men capitalists cast as Beelzebub incarnate. In fact, many stay away from this topic. Although I have not done a count, there are still too many of these shows. One of the more bizarre depictions of a CEO as a “murder for profit” Satanic imp was presented in the “CSI: Miami” episode “Bad Seed” last Monday.  If capitalists were really this evil, mankind would not have made it out of the stone ages, as all their customers would have been killed soon after each new advancement in technology. Of course, in these shows it is only the capitalists who are evil. Not government employees, local farmers, truck drivers, police officers, medical professionals, illegal migrant workers, distributors or really any other human being. Just owners of businesses are evil, because they care about profits. These characters are people who willfully engage in conspiratorial confiscatory practices and also play “God” by determining how many people it is okay to kill in order to sell a product and make a profit. (more…)