Every time I speak about my experiences with the publishing industry, someone taps me on the shoulder, eager to share a story of their own. It should not surprise me – Big Hollywood is a site dedicated to the biases of the entertainment industry – but I am moved by the instant camaraderie I feel for the individual standing before me. It is as if we carry wounds that only fellow political outcasts could possibly understand, and when one of us emerges from beneath the cone of silence, there is hope that another may do so at any moment.

I thought that perhaps it would be an interesting project to take an informal poll of Big Hollywood readers – conservatives, libertarians, and individuals who subscribe to other improper schools of thought – who work in the entertainment industry and feel out of sorts. We should keep it simple, so let’s start with something like this:

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Industry: Publishing

Position: Author

Status: Just keep my mouth shut

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Industry: Music

Position: Mixer

Status: Out of the closet and out of work (more…)

The hardest person to shop for on your Christmas list can usually be placated with the right book or CD.

Yes, people still buy those shiny silver disks, especially since it’s hard to wrap up a digital file and stuff it in a stocking. With that in mind, here are some recent book and music releases which could be just the right gift this holiday season.

BOOKS

• “Arguably” by Christopher Hitchens – The great writer may be battling cancer, but his rapier wit remains unchanged. “Arguably” assembles some of his thoughtful essays for easy consumption.
• “Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” by Brian Kellow – Conservatives may know Kael best for her infamous quote regarding President Richard Nixon’s re-election vote tally, but for movie buffs Kael’s prose represents a thoughtful, albeit typically left-of-center, voice.

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In recent weeks, I have read a number of Big Hollywood articles concerning Hollywood’s and the media’s treatment of the September 11th attacks in the years since they occurred. In particular, there have been some interesting and provocative articles about the historical treatment of the attacks and the movies created so far. Prior to these articles, there was another questioning the quality of “conservative” films and why/if they should be supported by the conservative community, as though most artists on our side of the aisle shouldn’t be supported.

While I definitely respect all these points of view, I have to question why many of us are questioning Hollywood instead of questioning ourselves. And what we should be asking ourselves is why many of us complain so much about Hollywood’s output but at the same time fail to support the burgeoning artists, musicians, writers and filmmakers in our own community?

For full disclosure:  yes, I am a conservative, and yes, I am a filmmaker trying to get my art out to the greater world. For the life of me, I have never understood why we monetarily and spiritually support artists, studios and media companies while simultaneously berating them for what they offer us. If someone delivers crummy pizza that smells weird, tastes worse and gets me sick, would I still call the same pizza place every time? No. So, why do we do the same when making entertainment or artistic purchase choices? (more…)

Both personally and professionally, I couldn’t be happier to announce that Christian Toto has joined Big Hollywood on a full-time basis as the site’s assistant editor.

I’ve known Christian for a number of years now and as one of about three film reviewers who doesn’t think socialism is a good thing, we became fast friends. It also helps that he’s a genuinely good guy, a terrific writer, and that when it comes to movies we frequently disagree (I love to argue). 

But outside of our friendship, Christian’s impressive resume also makes him a perfect match to join the BH family. He loves films, loves writing about films, has an impressive journalism background and an equally impressive Rolodex. What he’ll bring to the site is more of what he’s already brought over the last few years as one of our iron men contributors … and more!

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Welcome to Big Hollywood’s monthly review of all things notable in the world of music.

This is Vintage Now, released a few weeks ago, is a retro music compilation that isn’t designed to cash in on nostalgia– rather, it’s a harbinger of a growing movement to revive not only the style but the values of classic culture. Featuring 10 songs from artists of all ages and nations, This is Vintage Now embodies the sound of classic jazz, rock, and pop music but doesn’t come off as pure nostalgia. Producer David Gasten, who appears on the record with his band The City Kids, explains the reason the disc doesn’t sound like a cynical ploy preying on older generations’ memories:

The Vintage Movement is a new social movement of people who are essentially trying to escape back to the 1940’s, 1950’s, and early-to mid-1960’s. Many times attempts at bringing a period back have been short-lived (e.g. the Nineties Swing Revival) because they were not rooted in a inside-out, values-based way of doing things. People come to these older styles because they want to escape. They want to visit an alternate world where class and quality are the rule, not the exception. They want to be excited about life and culture instead of slimed by the same old garbage over and over again. And they want to get along with others, have good conversations, flirt, dance, enjoy great music and movies, etc. The ladies want to be treated like ladies, and the gentlemen want to be able to be gentlemen.

Spanning a wide range of styles, from Beverley Kenney’s whimsical ’40s-era piano ballad to Big Jay McNeely’s raucous boogie-woogie to The Necro Tonz’s edgy jazz to Caro Emerald’s catchy neo-swing tune “Just One Dance” (see the YouTube Video below), This is Vintage Now is a well-paced, engaging listen, and its intent is exactly the type of culture-changing  media we need to combat the values-destroying narcissism and nihilism of the world’s currently dominant “artists.” TIVN is available from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, and other online retailers, or you can order it directly from the compilation’s home website to get extra tracks from a special Release Party edition.

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Over the course of 53 films in just over a quarter-century, John C. Reilly has established himself as one of Hollywood’s greatest Everyman actors. Whether playing lovable shlubs in films like “Cyrus” and “Magnolia,” portraying wacky characters in “Talladega Nights” and “Stepbrothers,” or showing his musical side in his Oscar-nominated role in Chicago” or his starring turn in “Walk Hard,” Reilly is always ready to please.

In his latest film, “Terri,” Reilly steps into a micro-budget indie flick that has him playing the juicy role of Mr. Fizgerald, a vice principal and guidance counselor who takes a troubled, obese teenage boy named Terri under his wing and helps draw him out of his shell. The film itself is slow in a lot of places and drifts helplessly in its final half-hour, but Reilly makes his moments shine and takes the film to another level.

—–

Speaking by phone recently, Reilly discussed the appeal of the film for him, as well as the ways in which he manages to have a great career as well as a healthy personal life.

BH: You worked with your wife, producer Alison Dickey, on this film. How was that different than your other collaborations?

JCR: Alison and I worked together before, but not to this degree. It was pretty great working with her, I felt really taken care of, and it’s just simpler rather than having to get to know somebody as things need to be worked out.

I think about 70 percent of it was shot in Altadena, and some in Monrovia and Sierra Madre. I’ve shot a couple times up there, and I like that when you shoot up here, you’re left alone. I’ve shot a lot around Los Angeles and a lot of neighborhoods are burnt out on movies and see you as an annoyance, but people in Altadena are super friendly and curious about what you’re doing. I like the pace of life up here more than in LA in general because there’s less traffic and it’s so beautiful.

BH: This film has a very small budget, so how did it come to you and your wife’s attention?

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First off, thank you to all the Big Hollywood readers who had so many nice things to say the past few months about our new documentary film, “Fear of a Black Republican.”  Your comments were so inspiring and so many folks wanted to know where they could see our film – that we took a step back to think about how (with limited means) we could get our little movie “out there.”

Our first Theater-Size (27x41) poster - "hot off the presses." (Actually - hot off Kinko's large-format printer.)

Well, in the spirit of “Colonel” Tom Parker and THE POLICE – ’78 Tour of America (in a cargo van), we have gone ahead and put together our own “Southern Tour – 2011″ for FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN.  After driving twelve hours or so, we will be having our World Premiere in Atlanta GA tomorrow at 7 PM at the Landmark Theatre – Midtown Arts Cinema.  Two days later and four hours up I-85, we’ll be screening in Charlotte NC on June 25th (Blumenthal Performing Arts Center) and then in Greensboro NC on June 26th(Carousel Cinemas at Battleground) .   These will be the first public screenings ever for our little film.  We did hope to add another city or two, but as this is our first foray into “Movie Touring”… we figured short and sweet would be smarter and safer.  

In order to make this tour happen, we are “four-walling” (renting out) two movie theaters and are renting and sharing space in a “black box” theater running a stage play.  Luckily, the space can project films and do stage plays in the same venue.  Pretty convenient, but if you ever want to do something like this, here are a few things to think about ahead of time:  Insurance and advertising.  In booking our theaters, we learned that you now have to have some type of “Event Insurance” to screen your film as an Independent filmmaker.  Ouch.  Enough said.

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Bigs contributor Ben Shaprio’s new book, Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV is out today (head over to Big Hollywood for continuing coverage of this important work), and the media is already on the case trying to take it down a peg.

From Newser:

The writer interviewed dozens of leading industry figures, some of whom “admitted” to presenting a left-wing bias in programing, Shapiro writes, as they seek to “shape America in their own leftist image.” Not very successfully, apparently.

How not very successfully, exactly? We have abortion virtually on demand, same-sex marriage in an increasing number of states, ObamaCare, massive entitlements, the “hook-up” culture, obsessive environmentalism, Judeo-Christian values are under constant assault, etc. etc. etc. Hollywood has without a doubt pushed America further left, and Shapiro proves that theory to be fact in his new book.

With media filter’s like Newser running interference for Hollywood, it’s easy to understand why Hollywood has gotten away with so much for so long. (more…)

An e-mail exchange with John Lennon’s ex-lover May Pang set Seth Swirsky on a crash course in documentary filmmaking.

The singer-songwriter with both a bevy of chart toppers and a respected solo career to his credit, met Pang about six years ago following an email introduction. Swirsky asked Pang if they could take an impromptu tour of Lennon’s infamous “lost weekend” hot spots circa the early 1970s.

Camera in hand, Swirsky captured some of Pang’s memories on film as merely a video scrapbook, nothing more. He figured he might make a short film from the experience – “A Day with May in LA” sounded about right.

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But when he started quizzing other rock luminaries on their favorite Beatles anecdotes, like Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues and Denny Laine from Wings, he realized he had the makings of a documentary.

“I’m an artistic person,” Swirsky tells Big Hollywood. “I never know exactly what I’m doing at any moment. I allow that process to occur.”

“Beatles Stories,” the culmination of six years of guerilla interviews, recently had its world premiere April 3 at the European Independent Film Festival in Paris. The film, dubbed an “epic and timeless masterwork” by director Cameron Crowe, lets the famous and not so famous share their connections with the Fab Four.

Swirsky didn’t want to hear people talk about a Beatles song playing during their high school prom. He wanted more personal stories, tales that illuminated the band’s influence as well as the speakers’ hearts. (more…)

If you had told me when Big Hollywood launched in January of 2009 that one of the individuals we would end up covering the most over the upcoming 2.5 years would be the Vice Presidential candidate on the losing ticket, I wouldn’t have believed you. But even more than the media, our artistic community is obsessed by a former governor living way up there in Alaska who pops up on Fox News now and again, gives a speech here and there, and dabbles a little in social media. It’s really quite extraordinary if you think about it. And here we go again….

This couldn’t have come at a better time. Tomorrow morning we’re publishing a terrific and insightful piece written by Yervand Kochar that looks at the juvenile quality of this kind of art in a way I don’t want to spoil but urge you to take a look at. But I’m not stealing anyone’s thunder by saying how silly this has all gotten. What was once brave is now proof of your conformist bona fides. What was once provocative is now expected. What once ginned up outrage is now hardly worth the rolling of one’s eyes. Where once talent was required smug will now do.

Case in point? Via Gateway Pundit, this was one of the paintings used to advertise the opening of a new art gallery right here in Los Angeles. I say “was” because  the opening was way back in January. How pathetic is it that a double shot of blasphemy and Palin-hate took over two months to bubble its way into these here Internets. Where was the outrage, America?

Hello?

Anyone?

Yawn.

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One of the most frustrating things about writing blogs or trying to win over hearts and minds is the slow realization that the opposition actually possesses a different thought process.  It’s not just about laying out the facts, pointing out data, and drawing reasonable conclusions, it really comes down to the way the left looks at the world and parses data.

The other day, I clicked the link at the top of Big Hollywood that led me to a commentary by Michael Lee at “The Wrap.” Mr. Lee takes aim at John Nolte’s commentary about the Ricky Gervais performance at the Golden Globes.  As I waded  through the piece I quickly realized that Mr. Lee didn’t understand the basic points that John made.

And this, unfortunately, is typical.

John Nolte made the astute observation that Gervais‘ performance was awesome because he took the witty, acidic, and mean spirited humor that is usually aimed by Hollywood at the American populace and turned it on the sanctimonious, self-righteous entertainment community.   Had Gervais been ten times more vulgar but aimed it all at Sarah Palin, George Bush, and people who believed in God, there would be no discussion.  There would be no outrage.  There would be absolutely zero press.  Gervais would probably be paid double to return next year. (more…)

Every year we regular folk are blessed with wisdom from Hollywood’s elite: how to vote, worship, eat, what to drive, raise our kids, who in corporate America is making too much money, and who we should love and who we should hate. All while stars gorge themselves on private jets, third homes, and shaped tofu holiday dinners at 5-star resorts.

While we at Big Hollywood are quick to point out that celebrities can use their soapbox to do some good, but each time they open their mouth to tell us how to behave, they run the risk of losing the magic of their screen persona.  So to help remind you who spoke up on behalf of “all people” this year, here is a rundown of the 10 most asshat celebrity comments of 2010:

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10.  When Whoopi Goldberg went on O’Reilly to discuss her reason for walking off The View (i.e. plug her new book Is It Just Me?: Or is it nuts out there?”) rather than defend her position about the world having a “Muslim problem,” the two also touched on the issue of whether a Jewish kid or a Muslim kid is more likely to be bullied in the US because of his religion.  O’Reilly had the facts but like most good, Hollywood liberals, Whoopi just said, “I don’t believe it.”

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9. Mel Gibson finds himself on the list for having a long history of racist rants, drunk or not. He gets an extra asshat mention for not checking for a wire when being honest in the face of a Russian. (more…)

According to Nikki Finke, Universal sent a trailer of the upcoming film The Dilemma, directed by Ron Howard and starring Vince Vaughn, to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in order to get their blessing. Universal claims that GLAAD had no problem with the trailer, but a press release issued by GLAAD says they did:

After reviewing, GLAAD called on Universal to remove the scene where the word ‘gay’ was used as a pejorative from the trailer. Today, after Anderson Cooper also spoke out against the scene, Universal confirmed to GLAAD that the offensive joke will be removed from promotional campaigns from this point forward, including in the trailer currently playing in movie theatres.

Kind of hilarious, isn’t it, that Anderson Cooper, who made plenty of jokes on television about “teabagging” at the expense of Tea Partiers, would complain about the word “gay” being used as a pejorative? But that’s neither here nor there. And the point of this post is not to debate whether saying “that’s so gay” or whatever is offensive enough to be scrubbed from the American lexicon, and whether one group should have the power to make that decision.

No, the point of this post is to ask some very serious questions: Why did Universal feel the need to send its trailer to GLAAD for their PC benediction in the first place? Does Universal send their trailers to other special interest groups for vetting too? What about other studios? Do they make it a regular practice to send trailers to GLAAD, the NAACP, PETA, NOW, CAIR, and others? And does it stop at trailers? What about scripts? Previews? Merchandising ideas? (more…)

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Andrew Breitbart strips off his blazer, windmills it over his head and lets it fly to the stage with a matador’s flourish. He booms into a microphone, sneering, taunting. Breath sprints to keep up with words.
A Breitbart boil is under way, before a cheering throng of tea partiers on a moonlike strip of Nevada desert back in March.

A finger stabs overhead as the conservative online publisher declares Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a racist. An arm lances outward as he decries Republican leaders as apologists. Voice rising, Breitbart pledges $10,000, then $20,000, then $100,000 for the United Negro College Fund if proof is found to corroborate claims of racial name-calling during tea party protests on Capitol Hill.

“They decided to play lowball, hardball tactics,” Breitbart seethes. “Well, we’re going to have to play it right back at them.”

You could argue he has done just that.

Two weeks ago, Breitbart posted an edited video that left the impression that Shirley Sherrod, then a little-known black federal employee, was racist. Within days she was out of a job, the doctored tape (whose source Breitbart will not name) proved wildly misleading, and President Barack Obama was on the phone with her trying to make things right. (more…)

When Andrew Breitbart takes on a left-wing news meme, you’ve gotta give him credit:  he comes prepared.  After drawing the ire of the NAACP for challenging their resolution against alleged Tea Party racism, Breitbart’s Big Government set off the blogosphere with video of Shirley Sherrod, a government official speaking at an NAACP-sponsored event, drawing cheers and laughter from her audience while recounting a time when she denied help to a white farmer solely because of his race.  While Ms. Sherrod went on to make a point about looking past racial differences, these questions remain: why did no one speak up?  Why was there only positive feedback from the audience at this point in the story? 

For which group is there more evidence of members assenting to racist comments:  the Tea Party or the NAACP?  

While the national leftist media outlets continue to fall over themselves trying to figure out a spin on the story that sticks, we at Big Hollywood thought we’d double down with some analysis of the NAACP’s treatment of racism in the entertainment industry.

For 41 years, the NAACP has awarded “Image” awards to black entertainers who achieve excellence in the arts.  Despite its rightful role in celebrating the accomplishments of people of color in the arts, the awards show has also been beset by controversy.  Several nominees and winners of awards have engaged in openly racist behavior.  For example, Jamie Foxx, a winner of multiple NAACP Image awards, called Miley Cyrus a “little white bitch” who should “catch chlamydia on a bicycle seat.”  The NAACP has yet to comment on Foxx’s remarks.  Going beyond hatred for one white person, rapper Ice Cube released a song in 1993 titled “Enemy,” with lyrics that state: (more…)

After S.T. VanAirsdale of the hard-left film site Movieline wondered aloud who Big Hollywood would choose to “smear” with respect to the upcoming documentary “The Tillman Story,” I responded that when a leftist propagandist launches that kind of near-hysterical preemptive tactical strike, it can only make you wonder what all the defensiveness is about. 

Then, as if to thicken the plot, that same day, Jeff –The Latino Lover– Wells was so righteously piqued by my response to VanAirsdale that in a post titled “Lock and Load” he found it so necessary to rush to the film’s defense he reran his entire review. (Which gave Glenn – The Lawyer Callerer – Kenny an opportunity to slam us…again — which I’d be happy to respond to if not for fear of lawyer-callering.)

Obviously all this interest only increased my curiosity, so over the weekend I took a look around the Web and read everything I could find written by those who (unlike us) have seen the film. Interestingly enough, every review and/or write up I came across shared two common characteristics: The first is glowing, effusive praise; the second is that not a single write up questions the validity of even a single frame of the film.  (more…)

Gee, we Hollywood conservatives can’t get a break. Over at IFC’s The Independent Eye, in a short piece titled “The disingenuousness of Jafar Panahi’s right-wing advocates,” contributing writer Vadim Rizov takes Big Hollywood to task for our support of courageous Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, only recently released on bail from captivity in Iran. In a tortured phrasing, Rizov criticizes (I think) Big Hollywood as “a website that doesn’t hesitate to basically label everyone ‘leftist propaganda’ doing something constructive.” He grudgingly finds our support “unlikely but welcome,” saying we have nonetheless “done it for the wrong reasons.”

Vadim Rizov’s Trash Big Hollywood Pawn: AKA: Jafar Panahi

In the most hilarious, whopping understatement of the new millennium, Rizov sets the stage for his vaporous assault by noting, “Everyone’s aware that lately Islam is more of a hot-button issue than usual.” I’m unsure what he means by “lately” – since 9/11/2001? Since the ongoing parade of Islamist assaults and thwarted or botched attempts in the last year? Since the “South Park” Muhammad cartoon controversy? Since the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy? In any case, that’s like saying the BP oil spill is more of a hot-button environmental issue than usual.

Apparently Big Hollywood’s collective motivation, as insinuated by Rizov, who moonlights as a mind reader, was not to defend a fellow filmmaker imprisoned by a repressive, fundamentalist regime, but to reduce Panahi to a symbol with which we could bludgeon Islam as a whole. Because as everyone among the self-congratulating leftist intelligentsia knows, we conservatives are an Islamophobic, bigoted bunch who get our kicks from bombing innocent brown people, and the Left is tolerant and inclusive and wouldn’t think of smearing and demonizing an entire group. (more…)

Hello, I am Auntie Hollywood. Check out my bio.  I’ll be tweeting (@auntiehollywood) my brutally honest television, movie, and general pop culture jags right here on the BIG HOLLYWOOD web site. This town is a seething cauldron of contemptible half-wits, numb-nuts, and douche-nozzles, barfing out nothing but mediocre tripe. I’ll be taking on all of it. Let me know what you think.  My juicy little nuggets will be posted on my very own Twitter “widget” in the right-hand side bar of the site.

Here are some examples of what you’ll be seeing, already in the widget to the right.  Hope you likey: (more…)

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  Fool me three times, and I’m probably in on the scam with you – or I am a fool.

James Cameron’s next project may well be a film about Hiroshima.  Sure, after the powerful show of solidarity he gave to our troops in the largely Oscar-free Avatar, you are probably thinking, “Hey, this will be a fair-minded project that shows that dropping the A-Bomb on Japan was a tough but necessary decision which ended up saving hundreds of thousands of American lives – and probably millions of Japanese.”

Pellegrino and Cameron

Surprise!  Instead, it promises to not only be another round of America-bashing but, moreover, one based on the work of a gentleman with a demonstrated track record of fraud and distortion.  Cameron’s long-time pal, Dr. Charles Pellegrino, wrote The Last Train from Hiroshima, the book that Cameron wants to turn into a movie.  It’s a shattering tale of horror told in part from the point of view of an American flyer who deeply regrets his participation.  There’s just one little problem with this important new addition to the historical canon – it seems to have been largely made up by the good doctor.  But, of course, Cameron would not be the King of the World if he let a little thing like rampant fraud get in the way of some gratuitous America-bashing.

So who is Charles Pellegrino - and I use the title “Doctor” here loosely, since this clown’s academic credentials are on par with Dr. Dre’s?   Well, for one thing he does not appear to be a PhD holder from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, as he has claimed.  At least, that was the finding of a reporter from The Telegraph.  Those wacky Brit newspapers and their reporters – going out and actually investigating and reporting instead of acting as unofficial stenographers for their favorite leftist subjects can turn up the darndest things!   (more…)

What is it with Roger Ebert and trashing everyday Americans? After spending a few days childishly attacking the truck drivers, waitresses, school teachers and mechanics who make up the Tea Party movement as “teabaggers,” he now uses his Twitter Olympus to go after the Big Hollywood community with this:

Ebert links to this post of mine from yesterday.

This is the inter-web-nets and individual comments get through all the time that are inappropriate. But Ebert’s not pointing to one specific comment. He’s talking about everyone. All of you. The rabble who dare object to being smeared with an obscene sexual slur from one of your betters.

Dear Mr. Ebert, (more…)