What Did Kumar Know, and When Did He Know It?

Meet the face of Obama’s Ministry of Propaganda: Kal Penn.  Best known for being one of the hapless stoners in the sex-bong-fart franchise “Harold & Kumar,” Penn was brought on to the Obama Administration to be the President’s Associate Director of Public Engagement.  After failing to grab more than a headline or two in the five months since his hiring, he has entered the fray in a big way as the White House representative to a National Endowment for the Arts conference call promoting the Obama administration’s political agenda.

Patrick Courrielche reported on the call this morning:

Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, was to represent the White House and key representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts were also to participate.

Did you catch that? Kalpen Modi is the given name of the actor known as Kal Penn. (more…)

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Tags: "I Pledge" Video, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, Art, ashton kutcher, George Will
Posted Sep 8th 2009 at 5:39 pm in Art, Celebrity News, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 22029089 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/amarlow/2009/09/08/what-did-kumar-know-and-when-did-he-know-it/What+Did+Kumar+Know%2C+and+When+Did+He+Know+It%3F2009-09-09+00%3A39%3A17Alexander+Marlow

USO: How Hollywood Serves

The last guy you want to meet in the entertainment industry is a writer.  We just aren’t very interesting.  Sure, guys like Joss Whedon seem cool, but that’s only when compared to other writers.  Put him in a room with any actor, musician, or even Key Grip, and Whedon is the pasty guy in the corner having a conversation about the vagaries of the flux capacitor with himself.  So when I had the opportunity last week to travel with a small group of actors (Zachary Levi, Joel David Moore, Kal Penn, and Christian Slater) to the Middle East and Africa with the USO, I jumped at the chance.  Finally.  A perk.

For my actor friends, though, there was a bit more trepidation.  After all, they were the actual celebrities on this celebrity tour, the ones people would want to meet.  I doubt they are alone.  In fact, I suspect that a big reason why more actors in Hollywood don’t volunteer their time with the USO is that they simply don’t know what the experience will be like.  Sure they’ve seen video of Bob Hope out entertaining crowds of troops, but as an actor, you don’t carry your show on the road.  Will the troops even care that you are there?  What will you have to offer them?  Is it uncomfortable?  Is it political?  Fortunately for me, the actors in my party decided to give it a try in spite of these questions.  Here is what we learned. (more…)

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Tags: armed forces, bob hope, Christian Slater, gary sinise, Joel David Moore
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 5:03 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story, Military | 14921010 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jdboreing/2009/06/02/uso-calling-hollywood-to-serve/USO%3A+How+Hollywood+Serves+2009-06-02+12%3A03%3A11Jeremy+D.+Boreing

Web ‘Superbrain’ Predicts ‘House’ Plot Surprise

Last week’s episode of the Fox Network medical-mystery series House included a Big Event meant to shock the show’s viewers and send the story line in an interesting new direction, as one of the main characters of the series was killed. As it happens, the show’s fans figured out exactly who it would be, several days in advance of the program’s airing, as the kind of public conversation the Internet makes so easy enabled a mass pooling of information and instant critiquing of same. (more…)

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Tags: Entertainment Weekly, house, internet, Kal Penn, spoliers
Posted Apr 13th 2009 at 12:27 pm in Entertainment | 104882No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/04/13/web-superbrain-predicted-house-plot-surprise/Web+%27Superbrain%27+Predicts+%27House%27+Plot+Surprise2009-04-13+19%3A27%3A02S.T.+Karnick

Television’s Lame Attack on Guns

When script writers run out of something else to say (e.g., there are only so many times they can say everyone is uninsured and miserable about it), guns and gun makers are easily available to demonize. “Life” and “House” have both gone after guns in recent episodes.

Life’s episode “Initiative 38″ has a fairly unbelievable plot: a woman working on an initiative to ban handguns is murdered and there is one major suspect, P&K, a gun company. Here is some of the dialogue:

Detective Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis): We are saying that someone came here to kill your wife. Can you think of who that might be?

Harold Amis: Yes, I can. Initiative 38.

Woman who works for Initiative 38: Initiative 38 is a comprehensive ban on handguns. Lisa was working to get it passed. (more…)

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Tags: Damian Lewis, guns, house, hugh laurie, Kal Penn
Posted Apr 13th 2009 at 7:25 am in Entertainment, Media Criticism, News | 103078No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jlott/2009/04/13/cant-these-guys-think-of-better-material-some-lame-attacks-on-guns/Television%27s+Lame+Attack+on+Guns2009-04-13+14%3A25%3A33John+Lott

Kumar Goes to the White House II

Kal Penn’s character killed himself on “House.” Kal Penn didn’t commit career suicide by accepting a job in the Obama administration. Penn is merely taking Tinseltown’s love of politics to another level. While it’s not unprecedented for the stars of B-movies to find themselves in the White House, it certainly is unusual. Political activism didn’t hurt the careers of Oscar winners Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, and George Clooney. Their Oscars might be seen as recognition of that activism. After all, their awards came as a result of performances in rather politicized films. If Kal Penn felt typecast as a player in raunchy college comedies, he should have no such worries after his sojourn in Washington, DC. He will be a celebrity among celebrities. Roles will be there for the taking. Just watch: the critical acclaim that escaped him in ”Van Wilder” will have no trouble finding him, and Harold will be wishing that he had followed Kumar to the White House.

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Tags: harold and kumar, house, Kal Penn, Obama, White House
Posted Apr 8th 2009 at 7:08 am in Celebrity News, Politics | 10027016 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dflynn/2009/04/08/kumar-goes-to-the-white-house/Kumar+Goes+to+the+White+House+II2009-04-08+14%3A08%3A19Daniel+J.+Flynn

Kumar Goes to the White House

According to the Wall Street Journal (and linked in the headlines), actor Kal Penn–known best as Kumar, a pot-smoking, fun-loving, trouble-seeking character in the profoundly stupid Harold and Kumar series–is leaving Hollywood to work in the Obama administration:

Penn, best known for his roles as Kumar Patel in the “Harold & Kumar” movies and most recently as Dr. Lawrence Kutner on the television series “House” told EW.com that he will be associate director in the White House office of public liaison.

“They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They’re basically the front door of the White House,” Penn said. “They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It’s similar to what I was doing on the campaign.” (more…)

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Tags: harold and kumar, house, Kal Penn, Malia, Obama
Posted Apr 7th 2009 at 11:51 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 9949447 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/gbenson/2009/04/07/harold-and-kumar-go-to-white-castle/Kumar+Goes+to+the+White+House2009-04-07+18%3A51%3A49Guy+Benson