Will ‘The Stoning Of Soraya M.’ Get An Oscar Nod?

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Returning once again to the land beneath the Big Hollywood sign for a most important poll question. “The Stoning of Soraya M.” has received powerful rave reviews across the political spectrum. The buzz is hot. From the leftie pundits at HuffPo (who only seem to be discovering the true human rights horrorshow nature of that regime now, most curious) to the Righties at Big Hollywood and elsewhere, SORAYA M. is a must-see movie that will linger with you long after you’ve left the theater.

Strangely enough, Amnesty lnternational’s Elise Auerbach doesn’t like it. Because stonings in Iran are so rare, don’t you know. No suspension of disbelief for Ms. Elsie. I’m sorry, what’s her job again? Oh yeah, Iran Specialist for Amnesty International. Go figure. Personally, I happen to think one stoning is one too many. And it wasn’t the only one, not by a country mile! But that’s just me. I’m not an Iran specialist for AI. Like, say, Ms. Auerbach. Nice work if you can get it, huh, Ms. Elsie? (more…)

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Tags: Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Adolf Hitler, Ali Khamenei, Amnesty International, AMPAS
Posted Jun 29th 2009 at 8:18 am in Entertainment, News, Politics | 1692142 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/29/poll-question-will-soraya-m-get-an-oscar-nod/Will+%27The+Stoning+Of+Soraya+M.%27+Get+An+Oscar+Nod%3F+2009-06-29+15%3A18%3A32John+T.+Simpson

The Stoning Of Team Hollywood

The crime is complete. Judgment has been passed. The killing stones are in hand. As per the harsh stoning penal code of Iran’s Islamist thugocracy (for however long that lasts) where the crime took place, my stones are not so big as to kill right away, not so small you can’t call them stones. And I’m winding up like Nolan Ryan. Feel free to pick up a stone of your own. But wait for it!

And let me make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehovah!

Sentence must be read before being carried out. And unlike Soraya M., the board members of the Asylum of Motion Picture Airheads and Stooges will deserve every rock that’s thrown their way. I also believe that, in light of events in Iran today, the following commentary will stand out in much starker prominence than it did when I first started reporting on them in early March, when Team Oscar first set off for the Unfriendly Skies of Islamist Iran. (more…)

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Tags: Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, Al Franken, Alireza Davudnejad, Ambush Bay
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 5:45 pm in Entertainment, News, Politics | 1641062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/19/the-stoning-of-team-hollywood/The+Stoning+Of+Team+Hollywood2009-06-20+00%3A45%3A26John+T.+Simpson

On the Record, Off the QT and Not Very Hush-Hush

Dear Big Hollywood readers, it gives me great satisfaction to report to you that BH has been out on point not only on compelling film industry issues, which will never be covered in promo rags like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter (but then again, AMPAS and the studios aren’t buying us off), but on many controversial issues being played out in America and the greater world at large as well.

I know this to be true. Being a news junkie myself, I have found time after time as I was reading about a supposedly breaking subject, like ABC’s recent coverage of the targeted LGBT murders in Iraq, that it had already been on display for all to see in Big Hollywood posts for months.

Not to toot my own horn, but…well, okay, I’m tooting my own horn. And those of Andy Breitbart and John Nolte, who have given I, and so many other wonderful and insightful Hollywood right-wing fringe types, a magnificent bullhorn we otherwise would not have. We appear to be doing the dirty jobs our media just refuses to do. It’s a labor Hercules would completely sympathize with. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Adrianne Curry, Ali al-Sistani, AMPAS
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 at 5:20 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 1476823 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/03/on-the-record-off-the-qt-and-not-very-hush-hush/On+the+Record%2C+Off+the+QT+and+Not+Very+Hush-Hush2009-06-04+00%3A20%3A57John+T.+Simpson

Obama: The Great Disappointer

There have to be millions of American liberals, gays and left wingers totally disappointed with President Barack Obama today. It would seem that he, like they, were the idealists running headlong into the brick wall of harsh realities, and will now be running headlong into each other.

Even the Mighty KOS can’t hold them at bay.

You won’t find any of that disaffection in the Vein Stream Media, of course. Just as you’ll find none over people eating tree bark in Kim Jong-Il’s PR machine, and for the same Dear Leader reasons. But the press can cheerlead President Obama all it wants. It is the political base that matters, the grassroots networks upon which all fundraising, canvassing and voting is dependent.

And unless I’m completely mistaken, the President’s grassroots political base is, and will be, experiencing a number of earth-shaking political tremors in the days, months and years to come. Pick an issue, any issue. Gitmo? Having trouble there. Military tribunals for detainees? Ran against them, supporting them now. You know. Kinder, gentler violations of international law. (more…)

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Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Daniel Choi, detainees, Don't Ask Don't Tell
Posted May 23rd 2009 at 5:38 pm in Politics | 1400223 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/23/obama-the-great-disappointer/Obama%3A+The+Great+Disappointer2009-05-24+00%3A38%3A55John+T.+Simpson

One Critic’s Review of ‘Roxana: A True Story’

Now that ‘Roxana: A True Story’ has come to a most satisfying and happy conclusion for Roxana Saberi, her parents, myself and millions of others around the globe (a conclusion not always assured, and which looked very grim in some scenes), it is now time for Your Most Humble and Obedient Critic to give you the full skinny on ‘Roxana: A True Story.’

Or, by its Hollywood acronym, RATS. Funny. I actually found that startling contraction fitting, not for Roxana (not hardly), but for all of the major black hats and clueless morons who populated this nerve-wracking Thugocracy Studios production, which had civilized people everywhere both riveted and outraged in its most grueling and suspenseful moments.

Not to mention for Roxana and her parents. But before we get to heroes and villains, let us look at the story to date with all its dramatic twists and underpinnings, many with significant international implications. Just like a good Hitchcock drama should. And I caught ‘em all!

By pure happenstance, Your Most Humble Critic and Boy Reporter was already hot on the job covering Iran (unlike some people) and hammering AMPAS for their tea and finger-cookie soirees with these guys, when I saw what Iran was pulling with Roxana and called it for what it was: a hostage crisis. And on the same day HRW called it the same in a press release on March 13th, which I didn’t find out until the 19th thanks to our on-the-ball Vein Stream Media. (more…)

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Tags: -1, abc, Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, al qaeda
Posted May 13th 2009 at 8:13 am in Entertainment, Politics | 132142One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/13/one-critics-review-of-roxana-a-true-story/One+Critic%27s+Review+of+%27Roxana%3A+A+True+Story%272009-05-13+15%3A13%3A00John+T.+Simpson

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

Political Correctness is Torture

This week’s Washington Times column:

Here we go again. The latest poster conservative for political-correctness-run-amok in a country careening downhill on left-wing, Democratic cruise control is Republican congresswoman Virginia Foxx.

Mrs. Foxx’s impropriety: The thought crime of arguing against “hate crime” laws by pointing out that Matthew Shepard – the tragic icon attached to the legislation – represents a salient argument against enacting them.

Mr. Shepard, the gay Wyoming teenager robbed and savagely beaten to death by drug-addled thugs in 1998, is the emotionally charged posthumous force behind the movement to pass hate crime laws. He got that way after a relentless, decade long mainstream media, Madison Avenue and Hollywood propaganda campaign to make his death a symbol of just-beneath-the-surface sadistic intolerance toward homosexuals. (more…)

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Tags: "Boys Don't Cry", brokeback mountain, Cindy Sheehan, Elton JOhn, gay rights
Posted May 3rd 2009 at 9:30 pm in Featured Story, News, Politics | 125486No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/05/03/political-correctness-is-torture/Political+Correctness+is+Torture2009-05-04+04%3A30%3A08Andrew+Breitbart

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

Adventures in the Scream Trade, Take One

If you’re wondering if I was about to opine on the craft of gut-twisting horror stories, you’d only be half right. I’m actually talking about real life here. As many of you may know from my earlier posts, I first flame-throwered onto the scene here at Big Hollywood about a month ago, on the occasion of Team Oscar’s could-not-be-more-ill-advised taking off for the unfriendly skies of Islamist Iran.

I knew they were going to get punked! They were going to Punkedville! In fact, I was so sure of it, I was the one who broke the story in the US off the French wires to Drudge and Nikki Finke.  One Hollywood Jihadi PR roadside bomb detonated. War Is Hell.

Look at their trip from my POV. I remember the whole balls-to-the-wall anti-Apartheid campaign from the mid-eighties. ‘I Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City,’ remember? By the way, wasn’t Little Stevie great in that video? Love him! Point being, if the racist South African apartheid regime was unworthy of cultural exchange, why was the gay-hanging, women-stoning, child-executing, blogger-killing, hostage-taking fascist regime in Iran worthy of a gold-plated Academy PR kiss? (more…)

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Tags: AMPAS, Andrew Breitbart, angelina jolie, Annette Bening, ben stiller
Posted Apr 6th 2009 at 5:58 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, News, Politics | 9749410 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/06/adventures-in-the-scream-trade-take-one/Adventures+in+the+Scream+Trade%2C+Take+One2009-04-06+12%3A58%3A54John+T.+Simpson

Play That Funky Gay Card, White Boy

I’ll never forget a dinner party I attended in the early ’80s, where I first heard the term “African-American.”  I got a big laugh at the table when I declared, “Oh, that’ll never catch on.”  It was way too much of a tongue-twister for everyday use.

Today, “African-American” is as ubiquitous as “the” (and used to describe all US blacks, no matter where they come from).

Flash forward to 2002: Halle Berry pulls out all the stops, dedicating her Oscar win to “every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance” (as the camera cuts to her white mom sitting in the audience).  The next morning, I’m in the office of a TV honcho when I overhear a curious voice mail on his speakerphone. (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, AA, AIDS, Barack Obama, cultural marxism
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 at 5:05 am in Featured Story, Politics, Religion | 8849895 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/04/02/play-that-funky-gay-card-white-boy/Play+That+Funky+Gay+Card%2C+White+Boy2009-04-02+12%3A05%3A44Charles+Winecoff

Love, War – and Gay Marriage

Late last year, when the gay community was working itself into a frenzy over the passage of Proposition 8 -the measure to amend the California State Constitution to define marriage specifically as a union between one man and one woman – I realized I didn’t trust the community anymore.  And I’m gay. 

The realization didn’t come overnight; it had been forming for some time.  But the Gestapo tactics over Prop 8 – McCarthy-style blacklists, boycotting of otherwise gay-friendly businesses, apologies coerced out of individual supporters who made the “wrong” choice, enforced politically-correct donations to the Human Rights Campaign - clarified it for me.

I hadn’t left the community, it had left me.  When did the gays get so mean, anyway? 

Well, isn’t it “mean” for California voters to deny us our basic civil rights?  I can hear the retort.  And I understand the anger, believe me, to a degree.  Feelings have been hurt.  I also agree that changing any Constitution over this issue is a bad idea. (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, Al Pacino, Anita Bryant, Berlin Stories, Christopher Isherwood
Posted Mar 19th 2009 at 5:05 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 76946129 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/03/19/love-war-and-gay-marriage/Love%2C+War+-+and+Gay+Marriage2009-03-19+12%3A05%3A05Charles+Winecoff

Hollywood Goes to Iran

Inspired perhaps by President Obama’s “unclenched hand” approach to reaching out to “countries that don’t like us very much,” as his former opponent John McCain tepidly used to put it, an unofficial delegation from Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (including current and former AMPAS presidents and Annette Bening, among others), has set out to visit Iran as part of a “cultural exchange.”  

Bening, Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed Aria and Alfre Woodard in Iran

Exactly what is being exchanged is unclear.  Maybe Ms. Bening et al are lecturing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahs about “the shame they will see in their grandchildren’s eyes” over their denial of equal rights to gays in Iran.  Ahmadinejad memorably told a howling audience at Columbia University in late 2007 that, “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”  That’s because they are hanged there, which certainly marks the Mormon Church as lightweights when it comes to intolerance of gays.  But for their part, Iranian cultural advisor Javad Shamaghdari laid out for the Hollywood representatives exactly what Iran wants in return: “We will believe Obama’s policy of change when we see change in Hollywood too.”  (more…)

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Tags: Annette Bening, aplogize for "300", gay rights, Hollywood delegation to Iran, Nuclear program
Posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 8:27 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Politics | 70006165 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtapson/2009/03/02/submission-well-thats-a-bit-of-a-problem/Hollywood+Goes+to+Iran2009-03-02+16%3A27%3A25Mark+Tapson

Eat Yer Peas, Drink Yer Milk

Surely many gay Americans have seen Gus Van Sant’s Milk through tears of joy because it marks a long-hoped-for arrival. For the first time in mainstream entertainment (at least, this is the picture that got all the fanfare), the history of the gay rights movement is presented as an elemental and welcome part of the story of the U.S., and not as a sidebar or novel supplement to the Great Historical Narrative.

Gays deserve equal rights. As a human being, that’s the only position I can possibly hold. However, you can be in complete solidarity with the cause of gay rights and not care much for Milk. (Whether you will be allowed to claim that distinction sincerely is yet another question. During the last election, Slate’s Jacob Weisberg wrote that the only reason you might oppose Obama is that you are a bigot. Is that the only reason one might dislike the similarly politically correct Milk?) (more…)

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Tags: dustin lance black, Gay, gay rights, Gus Van Sant, Harvey Milk
Posted Feb 19th 2009 at 5:19 pm in Reviews | 55370177 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mlong/2009/02/19/eat-yer-peas-drink-yer-milk/Eat+Yer+Peas%2C+Drink+Yer+Milk2009-02-20+01%3A19%3A47Mike+Long

Wanda Sykes: ‘Hope’ he doesn’t mean what he says

Actress and stand-up comic Wanda Sykes hopes President Obama is smart enough to change his mind about his own policies.

Sykes, who recently announced she is a lesbian, talked to Newsweek for its Commemorative Inaugural Edition — one way the magazine can put the new president on the cover again — about her hopes for his administration.

She applauds the president’s ascension as a sign “The United States of America” now rings true to its words. But she still feels like a second-class citizen because gays cannot marry under U.S. law. (more…)

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Tags: gay rights, President Obama
Posted Feb 2nd 2009 at 1:45 pm in Entertainment | 3902299 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/02/02/hope-he-doesnt-mean-what-he-says/Wanda+Sykes%3A+%27Hope%27+he+doesn%27t+mean+what+he+says2009-02-02+21%3A45%3A37Christian+Toto