‘The Blind Side’: Predictable Critics, Predictable Criticism

I haven’t seen “The Blind Side” yet, so I won’t say anything about the quality of the film. But based on the trailer and the true story, my wife and I are as excited about this as any film in a long time. It tells the true story of the adoption of Michael Oher by the Tuohy family in Tennessee and how they helped him go from homeless teenager to professional football star. The book was incredible, the story miraculous. We’re especially excited because we’re big adoption advocates, currently in the middle of our first of many planned adoptions. Also, the Tuohys happen to be conservative Christians like we are, and we don’t normally get to see families like that on screen, at least in movies that are watchable.

Apparently, this makes me a racist.

You see, Michael Oher happens to be black, and the Tuohys happen to be white. I actually think that’s pretty cool, especially because they live in Tennessee, and what gets us farther from the evil days of segregation than an increased number of mixed-race families? One would assume that liberals especially would be excited about that, right?

Not so fast. The other day, after we saw the trailer again (we get choked up every single time), I casually mentioned that it wouldn’t shock me if some critics complained that the movie was a “typical white person saves a black person” story. Call it a hunch. I emailed a smart writer friend and mentioned that I’d like to write an article predicting the coming backlash, and he said I might want to reconsider because I could look “strident” if I was wrong. My immediate reaction was one of indignance as I thought angrily to myself, “What does ’strident’ mean?” (more…)

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Tags: christian, conservative, Huffington Post, sandra bullock, Southern
Posted Nov 18th 2009 at 5:04 am in Featured Story, Film, Religion | 264066146 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/djenkins/2009/11/18/blind-side-predictable-critics-and-their-predictable-criticism/%27The+Blind+Side%27%3A+Predictable+Critics%2C+Predictable+Criticism2009-11-18+13%3A04%3A17Dallas+Jenkins

Who You Calling Republican?

I opened TimeOut NY magazine this morning and saw that I was featured in their “Essential New York” issue. Excellent. I’m overjoyed, as most performers are when they get some press. Now among the other nice things in their profile, they said this:

“He’s the only conservative Republican comedian who’s actually funny.”

Now, what do you think was the first thing I did when I saw that in print? Defend the honor of Evan Sayet and Steven Crowder? No.

My act is personal, not political, and those are two different things, unless you believe what it says in that dog-eared copy of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” on your ex-girlfriend’s bookshelf. But since Andrew invited me to “come out” on this site last year and air my (comparatively moderate) center-right views, the word has gotten around to some of my fans and associates that I might be playing for the other team. I’ll be at a showbiz cocktail party and someone will playfully say, “I heard a rumor about you…” They’re not trying to be mean or McCarthyite-they genuinely like the idea that they may have a right-wing acquaintance. It’s fun for them! But then they want to pick my brain. “How did it happen? Was your dad a minister?” They begin to introduce me to their friends as “their favorite Republican.” (more…)

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Tags: conservative, evan sayet, Independent, Left, Republican
Posted Nov 11th 2009 at 8:23 am in Entertainment, Politics | 25953492 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tshillue/2009/11/11/who-you-calling-republican/Who+You+Calling+Republican%3F2009-11-11+16%3A23%3A06Tom+Shillue

On Teabagging and Other Oral Servitudes

This past April 15, as a half-million Tea Partiers hit the streets of America to protest the insane tax-and-spend policies of the Obama administration, a new epithet entered the American lexicon, and it was a beauty: “teabagger.” It was both an epithet and a double entendre you just couldn’t top, given the tea bag’s symbolism of the old Boston Tea Party and the anti-tax movement of today. In one fell swoop, a passionate movement was reduced to a perversion of passion: the dunking of one person’s scrotum into another person’s mouth. They got us. Big Time. And it’s everywhere now. Can’t get away from it. Even ABC’s George Stephanopoulos is using it now.

Credit where credit is due, and let’s face it. We Americans, right, left or center, take a churlish pride in a good slam dunk epithet. Not the hardcore racial third rail stuff, mind you. Just the playful sort. You know. Moonbat. Libtard. Tinfoil hat. In fact, tinfoil hat kind of backfired on Righties. Originally used to denigrate Lefties who adhered to psychotic conspiracy theories like 9/11 Truth, the term was embraced in full by the far Left as demonstrated by Markos Moulitsas’ Tinfoil Hat KOS conventions, smashing successes which attracted major left-leaning LibDem politicians over the past few years. (more…)

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Tags: "teabagging", amnesty, Arlen Specter, Chris Matthews, conservative
Posted Oct 29th 2009 at 6:51 am in Politics | 251926149 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/10/29/on-teabagging-and-other-oral-servitudes/On+Teabagging+and+Other+Oral+Servitudes2009-10-29+13%3A51%3A14John+T.+Simpson

9/12 Tea Party: Talking With the ‘Turf’

On September 12, 2009, I grabbed my MiniDV camera and moseyed on over to the Tea Party protest in West Los Angeles to chat with some super-charged “Astroturf.”  I spoke with numerous varieties from a vast spectrum of turfdom including the ever-vivacious, Evan Sayet polypropylene turf with advanced Anti-Intellectual Dishonesty Guard™, and the high-performance, all-weather Sonja Schmidt turf. 

(more…)

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Tags: 9/12, AstroTurf, communism, Congress, conservative
Posted Sep 20th 2009 at 2:42 pm in Featured Story, Politics, Video | 22776637 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/vdipippo/2009/09/20/912-tea-party-talking-with-the-turf/9%2F12+Tea+Party%3A+Talking+With+the+%27Turf%272009-09-20+21%3A42%3A38Veronica+DiPippo

Lonewolf Diaries: The Obama Era is Over

Rejoice! While yes, Barack Hussein Obama is still our president, the era of radical liberalism running amuck, unchecked by mainstream America is over. As the Oval office becomes more and more tainted, Americans are slowly coming back to their roots, embracing conservative values and finding their inner anti-hippie. Are you guys as stoked as I am?

It’s no secret that Obama’s approval ratings  look terrible. Considering how early it is in his presidency and just how much the media loves to cuddle up to the ol’ guy, the numbers make a bolder statement than we’ve seen in years. People aren’t buying the leftist parlor tricks anymore. The days of selling America as an evil empire and the Republican party as the power-hungry, war-mongering oil-men are over. (more…)

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Tags: conservative, liberal, Obama, ObamaCare, Van Jones
Posted Sep 8th 2009 at 6:03 pm in Politics | 220370180 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/scrowder/2009/09/08/lonewolf-diaries-the-obama-era-is-over/Lonewolf+Diaries%3A+The+Obama+Era+is+Over2009-09-09+01%3A03%3A23Steven+Crowder

Story and the Power of Conservative Themes in Film

Boy, did I ever kick a hornet’s nest with my tongue-in-cheek Archie Bunker-on-steroids BH post, “My Secret Life as a Conservative Republican.” Lefties called it Reaffirmation With Senator Smalley, which I expected. But Righties nearly wet their pants in fear, which I did not expect in the least. Where’s the pioneering spirit, self-confidence and gutter-level humor that founded this country?

People, this is OUR Fortress Hollywood! This is OUR sanctuary! Since when the hell do we care about what demagogues like Keith Olbermann think or say? Or any other mental tinfoil hat Lefties like Garofalo for that matter? It’s like Churchill worrying about Hitler calling him a fat cigar-chomping drunk! Who won that fight, and why? And who was in the right, despite all the insipid name-calling?

Time to grow a pair, people. It’s also time to raise the stakes. Now, I’ve heard from some contributors here at BH that it is really bad in Hollywood in places. That people might even lose their jobs if they spoke up like I do here. If true, that’s McCarthyism at its worst. Fortunately, that’s not my experience. I still have great relationships with people in the biz who could care less about politics. All they care about is finding great scripts or literary works to adapt, and telling great stories on film.

And that is where the battle really needs to be fought: on their playing ground. An insurgency of ideas, if you will. Example. Just under the Big Hollywood sign today, I saw the banner “TNT’s ‘The Closer’ Thrives on Strong Moral Foundation.” That PJM-linked article describes how The Closer, a show that portrays the border, the illegals situation, and even the cops themselves in very gritty and realistic fashion, is the top-rated scripted show on ad-supported cable since its inception. (more…)

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Tags: Academy, Afghanistan, al qaeda, American Gangster, AMPAS
Posted Jul 21st 2009 at 10:22 am in Classic Hollywood, Film, Politics, Religion | 184986103 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/07/21/taking-the-fight-to-the-left/Story+and+the+Power+of+Conservative+Themes+in+Film2009-07-21+17%3A22%3A45John+T.+Simpson

My Secret Life as a Conservative Republican

I’m tired of hiding it. Everybody knows anyway. So it’s time to come clean, just like the Klan hoods I’ve got spinning in the dryer as we speak. It’s time for the Neanderthal knuckle-dragging, open mouth-breathing, racist, sexist, Klan and Timothy McVeigh-loving Montana militia member gun nut conservative Republican religious zealot in me to be set free. Repression is a bitch, and so am I.

I go to bed full of hate and wake up the same.  I hate blacks, Hispanics, gays, women, abortion doctors, liberals, Lefties, Democrats, you name ‘em, I hate ‘em if they’re not like me. I especially hate President Obama for being black. Just ask Janeane Garofalo, although being a Stalinist Socialist doesn’t help Obama’s cause any with me. Fact is, Obama could be a GOP Michael Steele Uncle Tom, and I’d still hate him even more than liberals hate Steele. Skin color trumps all. Thank God I was born the right color, or I’d probably kill myself. Wait, the hoods are dry! Be right back. (more…)

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Tags: "teabagging", 9/11, abortion, Adolf Hitler, AIPAC
Posted Jul 15th 2009 at 2:36 pm in Politics | 182706188 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/07/15/my-secret-life-as-a-conservative-republican/My+Secret+Life+as+a+Conservative+Republican2009-07-15+21%3A36%3A48John+T.+Simpson

The ‘Net’ Generation: Dumbing Down What Matters Most

Because televised news has been rendered obsolete by technology (who needs Christine Amanpour when every citizen has an HD camera, YouTube, and Twitter?), I turned to the Internet to keep up with the events transpiring in Iran.  I logged into Twitter and found this massive “Twitter-grid” of people in Iran and people around the world communicating.  It went something like this….

#iranstudent:please help.they are attacking the dorms.

#crzygrl:EVERYONE WEAR GREEN TOMORROW TO WORK AND SCHOOL

#iranstudent:my god.  where is help?  they will kill us.

#Evlhaliburton:this is just like US in 2000.

#iranstudent: please send troops.  they shot my friend. (more…)

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Tags: Al Gore, computer, conservative, CurrentTV, internet
Posted Jun 20th 2009 at 7:03 am in Politics | 1634908 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lscott/2009/06/20/children-put-the-internet-down-and-go-take-a-nap/The+%27Net%27+Generation%3A+Dumbing+Down+What+Matters+Most2009-06-20+14%3A03%3A09Leigh+Scott

The Right-Wing Tango

Quiet as its kept Hollywood is filled with conservatives. I am not speaking of republicans. You can turn over any rock and find an Arlen Specter waiting to crawl out. I am talking about real dyed in the wool constitution loving, God-fearing conservatives.

I meet them all the time: at auditions, on film sets, at parties. Generally speaking they are rather reserved. We engage in what I call the right-wing tango for a bit, dancing around each other giving vague answers to questions until one of us finally gives the secret password. Following the discovery of shared ideology there is usually a great deal of back slapping and genuine excitement at finding a brother in arms.

Part of this reserve is innate. By nature conservatives are generally not given to loud talking and frenetic displays. After all one of the hallmarks of conservatism is a desire to live ones life the best way one can without interference or hindrance from our neighbors or the state. Miki Grant may not have intended to, but in her 1972 Broadway musical “Don’t Bother Me I Can’t cope” she gave voice to the conservative mantra when she wrote, “all I need is less fat back, more greenback and YOU [government] off my back!” (more…)

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Tags: Arlen Specter, Christianity, conservative, hollywood, Joseph C. Phillips
Posted May 26th 2009 at 11:03 am in Politics | 144014One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jphillips/2009/05/26/the-right-wing-tango/The+Right-Wing+Tango2009-05-26+18%3A03%3A07Joseph+C.+Phillips

Why Reagan Was a Better Friend to Gays Than Obama

I really thought my Republican platform piece here at BH would have been my last for awhile. Plenty for readers of all stripes to chew on. And I got too many other things to do. The reason for my reluctant return is yet another critical issue the Obamamedia and our LibDem government are completely flat-lining on: the officially sanctioned exterminations of LGBTs in Iraq, and on our dime. Not to mention State’s cold and lame response. More on that later. Too much more, actually.

First, the one of the main points of this fact-based opinion piece. And I know I’m going to catch hell from the Streisand and Brolin crowd on this one! Ronald Reagan was a hero to gays, and Obama has not been to date. I know, I know. The Evil Ronald Reagan, who practically invented AIDS? Reagan, the Adolf Eichmann of the Gay World? Not true. Not by a country mile!

In fact, Ronald Reagan was a better friend to gays and lesbians in his age than Barack Obama has been to gays in his. But don’t even go by what I say. I’m a right wing extremist, and very biased to what I believe. I admit it. Who isn’t these days? The press? LOL! But here are some irrefutable facts on The One and The Gipper I thought I’d throw out there. A gay buffet for thought, if you will. With swimming pools. And movie stars. (more…)

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Tags: academy award, Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, al qaeda, Ali al-Sistani, AMPAS
Posted May 8th 2009 at 6:39 am in Politics | 12720213 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/08/why-reagan-was-a-better-friend-to-gays-than-obama/Why+Reagan+Was+a+Better+Friend+to+Gays+Than+Obama2009-05-08+13%3A39%3A47John+T.+Simpson

A Republican Platform For The 21st Century

I have been a proud conservative Republican my entire life. My father and Jimmy Carter saw to that. My first vote ever was for Ronald Reagan in 1980, and I have never voted for a Democrat. Ever. Even today, the reasons for my being so have not changed, despite the media’s and liberal Democrats’ tireless efforts to discredit my belief system. Though the times may change, core principles never do. I have also served this nation proudly in uniform for six years, and don’t regret a minute of it.

In the early 1980s, my military service brought me to some of the darker corners of the world. I spent time in South Korea and Marcos’ Philippines when both countries were under martial law. Knowing I could be shot just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time really woke me up to what exactly it is we have here in America. Seeing a thousand Vietnamese Boat People pulled out of the South China Sea in one day only reinforced my belief in America, Sweet Land of Liberty.

Today, the Party of Lincoln and Reagan appears to be in political disarray, which is why I am writing this OpEd now. Yet many promising developments, along with some huge mistakes by Congress and the Obama Administration, have opened many new doors for us. If only we will enter. (more…)

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Tags: abortion, Africa, Al Franken, amnesty, apology tour
Posted May 2nd 2009 at 3:13 pm in Featured Story, Politics | 12196215 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/02/a-republican-platform-for-the-21st-century/A+Republican+Platform+For+The+21st+Century2009-05-02+22%3A13%3A08John+T.+Simpson

Conservative Talk Ratings Skyrocket

Shortly after last fall’s election, some pundits declared that conservative talk radio was dying.  After all, we lost the election and had no impact on voters.  In November, an op-ed written by Steve Elman and Alan Tolz for the Boston Globe said, “overall use of their medium is in decline.”  The authors also stated, “Alternatives to broadcast radio have proliferated – satellite, net-casts, downloads, blogalogue, iPod entertainment, cellphone updates.  As a result, younger listeners largely ignore talk radio, and its existing audience is calcifying.”

Not a rosy picture for conservative talk, right?  Let’s check the facts.  For decades my job was to produce ratings as a National Talk Radio programmer.  We check those ratings constantly.  Apparently, the authors of this Boston Globe commentary don’t keep the same scorecard radio keeps.  While it is true there are many sources of information today, talk radio listening has increased dramatically during the past year.  The 2008 election provided us with daily drama that translated into ratings.  In keeping my scorecard which included ratings for over 40 radio stations nationwide, we registered one of the highest fall ratings reports ever.  KKOH in Reno, which has always been the market leader, registered the highest ratings in 14 years.  KKOB in Albuquerque, which has been the market leader for over eight years, increased its ratings stranglehold on that market.  In almost every market, conservative talk radio increased its ratings.  And, it hasn’t slowed down.  (more…)

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Tags: conservative, Conservative talk radio, major markets, Obama, ratings
Posted Mar 30th 2009 at 7:21 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 913262 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bjennings/2009/03/30/conservative-talk-ratings-skyrocket/Conservative+Talk+Ratings+Skyrocket2009-03-30+14%3A21%3A37Brian+Jennings

Card Checkin’

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Tags: Barack Obama, conservative, Democrats, liberal, republicans
Posted Mar 28th 2009 at 1:29 pm in Politics, Video | 911582 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/arachel/2009/03/28/card-checkin/Card+Checkin%272009-03-28+20%3A29%3A56Alfonzo+Rachel

Og, The Original Forgotten Man

Perhaps it went something like this…

Og, Bog, and Grog were out hunting mammoth one day somewhere in the mountains of Prehistoric Europe.  Grog’s job was to select the most succulent, Grade A Prime Mammuthus primigenius available in the Mesolithic grocer’s aisle and herd it towards his spear-bearing buddies who were hidden in the brush.  Grog made his choice and, using his trusty, flaming torch, chased the big woolly one brush-ward.  Unfortunately, in the midst of all the excitement, Grog forgot the cardinal rule of torch-bearing hunters everywhere: always stay at least ten stone lengths away from the back end of a mammoth after it’s eaten a fir tree for lunch.

Over Grog’s ashes, Og ponders the lesson of his friend’s untimely incineration and thinks: “I’m gonna recommend the Chief hold a hunter’s refresher course and change it to twenty stone lengths.”  Meanwhile, Bog, though he has access to the same information, processes it differently.  He ends up dismissing the whole episode as a fluke and decides that, even if the conditions were similar, the same result could never happen to him.  As Og is busy absorbing the cause and effect of Grog’s sudden demise, Bog thinks: “Let’s see, I had half a bison for breakfast, eighteen crow eggs, hand full of pine cones, pig fat smoothie with a scoop of roe deer hoof powder…which means, if I jog back to the cave reallyreally fast I can eat that entire pit of flame-broiled grubs.” (more…)

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Tags: 111th Congress, capitalism, change, communism, Communist China
Posted Mar 22nd 2009 at 7:03 am in Political Humor, Politics | 85586106 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/vdipippo/2009/03/22/og-the-original-forgotten-man/Og%2C+The+Original+Forgotten+Man2009-03-22+14%3A03%3A25Veronica+DiPippo

We Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident

What most people in media say about Republican Conservatives is stupid and wrong. They don’t know what we believe, what we stand for and why.

In 2005 DNC Chair Howard Dean went on “Meet the Press” and said, “Our moral values, in contradiction to the Republicans’, is we don’t think kids ought to go to bed hungry at night. Our moral values say that people who work hard all their lives ought to be able to retire with dignity.”

That was the first time I heard that Republicans thought kids ought to go to bed hungry at night when we all know that Republicans think they should go to bed hungry in the morning after a night shift in the textile mill because we won’t let them unionize.

I’m told that we’re for defining marriage between a man and a woman because we either hate gays, are afraid of gays or are secretly gay and project our self-loathing on the West Hollywood set. I also understand that we are against abortion because we want the government in women’s wombs, we want to lower taxes because we’re greedy and we defend Israel because we believe it will hurry some apocalypse along that will hasten the return of Jesus who will wipe out the Jews. (more…)

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Tags: conservative, Essential, Howard Dean, platform, Republican
Posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 8:00 am in Politics, Uncategorized | 2312988 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/01/22/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident/We+Hold+These+Truths+To+Be+Self+Evident2009-01-22+16%3A00%3A34Doug+TenNapel

Lincoln. King. Obama?

YouTube

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Tags: abortion, abraham lincoln, Barack Obama, civil rights act, conservative
Posted Jan 20th 2009 at 3:35 pm in Video | 2535762 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/arachel/2009/01/20/lincoln-king-obama/Lincoln.+King.+Obama%3F2009-01-20+23%3A35%3A08Alfonzo+Rachel

A Muslim’s Take on ‘Traitor’

As a devout and convinced Muslim, who hates Islamic extremism for the twisted and sick ideology it is, I thought ”Traitor” would be one movie I’d enjoy watching. Let me explain why.

Firstly, real people act in it, which is, as I explained in my post on “Kung Fu Panda,” a definite pro for me. Secondly, “Traitor” deals with an incredibly hotly debated subject; the war on terrorism. Thirdly, the main character is a Muslim American who helps fight extremist Muslims; it is a subject seldom explored in books or movies. It is a grand, novel and innovative idea, especially from my perspective.

And it was. The actors perform sublime. They draw you into the movie immediately and convince you that they are the characters rather than pretending to be them. The special effects are great and the movie was exciting; it keeps you off-balance. It is not until the very last moment that you understand the plan and the way in which it was executed.

But there is more to the movie than the superficial aspects described above. What made this movie so interesting – and from my perspective resulting in a mixed review nonetheless – are its major themes. (more…)

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Tags: "Traitor", Cheadle, conservative, Guy Pearce, Muslim reviews "Traitor"
Posted Jan 20th 2009 at 10:17 am in Politics, Reviews | 2002928 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mvandergalien/2009/01/20/a-muslims-take-on-traitor/A+Muslim%27s+Take+on+%27Traitor%272009-01-20+18%3A17%3A23Michael+van+der+Galien