Fort Hood: Wise Words From Michael Yon

Wise, wise words from Michael Yon: 

Now is not a time to psychoanalyze the attacker by using a media-supplied telescope that already said he was dead, and that there were multiple attackers.  Media: STOP, please.  There will be time to pursue answers and justice after Christmas.  We must remember that family members lost loved ones just before the holidays.  Justice and answers will come with time.

When stories of this kind break, the weatherman becomes the most accurate part of the newscast. We know nothing right now. We know less than nothing because too much of what we’re told is wrong.

All we know is that people are dead and wounded, and families and loved ones are suffering. That’s all that matters right now. The rest is noise.

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Fort Hood, media, Michael Yon, NRO, Tragedy
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 9:38 pm in Featured Story, Military, News | 25905881 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/05/michael-yon-tragedy-at-fort-hood/Fort+Hood%3A+Wise+Words+From+Michael+Yon2009-11-06+05%3A38%3A23Big+Hollywood

Michael Moore: Mainstream Media Boosts Dishonesty

Somewhat fresh off the trail from despicable attempts to distort the events and facts surrounding Columbine, 9/11 and the American health care system, filmmaker Michael Moore is back to perpetuate new mis-truths and to face off with a new “villain” – capitalism. In case of shear irony, in his new film entitled, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” Moore sets out to unravel the very system that gives him notoriety, fame and, no doubt, opulence.

Fortunately for Moore, we live in a free society. Despite the fact that his films are comprised of antics and obnoxious absurdities that only small-minded Americans would believe in their totality, he has every right to continue his idiocy. It is the coverage of Moore and his half-witted films that cause one to question the media’s promotional motives.

Mainstream outlets can’t seem to get enough of Moore, as they offer him positive coverage galore and provide him with valuable air time to push his insidious projects. Meanwhile, conservative film projects receive little to no praise – or even attention, for that matter. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: American media, capitalism, documentary, media, michael moore
Posted Sep 28th 2009 at 8:55 am in Featured Story, Film, Media Criticism | 231138158 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bhallowell/2009/09/28/michael-moore-mainstream-media-boosts-dishonesty/Michael+Moore%3A+Mainstream+Media+Boosts+Dishonesty2009-09-28+15%3A55%3A11Billy+Hallowell

Breitbart Uses Netroots Tricks to Take Down ACORN

From The Washington Independent:

On September 10, Andrew Breitbart launched his new site, BigGovernment, with hidden-video camera footage of two young conservative activists who’d gotten Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) employees to advise them on hiding prostitution profits from the IRS. Within hours, Breitbart was doing interviews with reporters who wanted to know how, exactly, the story had come about, and why Big Government was releasing the videos and the identity of the muckrackers — 25-year-old James O’Keefe III and 20-year-old Hannah Giles — so slowly.

“It was strategized,” Breitbart told TWI this week, so “that they would be deprived of the type of information that a defense attorney would try to gather in order to create a defense.”

Who were “these people?” They were not just the leaders or members of ACORN itself. “They” were the Democratic Party, the White House, the progressive Center for American Progress and its president John Podesta. The “Democrat-media complex” is Breitbart’s name for the whole apparatus. “We deprived them of information,” Breitbart explained, “so that they couldn’t come up with a vile, kill-the-messenger attack with the media doing the groundwork for them.”

The success of Breitbart’s strategy was immediate, stunning, and is still ricocheting around the political world. Five days after the story broke, the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 to prevent ACORN from receiving any federal funding. Two days later, the House of Representatives did the same. Meanwhile, Breitbart was talking to more reporters, amused at how the “kill-the-messenger attack” was playing out. When one report from The Washington Post called him for a story about O’Keefe and Giles, Breitbart compared their tape to the photos of Abu Ghraib prison released in April 2004. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Abu Ghraib, ACORN, breitbart, Hannah Giles, James O'Keefe
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 9:49 am in Media Criticism | 23474615 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/24/breitbart-uses-netroots-tricks-to-take-down-acorn/Breitbart+Uses+Netroots+Tricks+to+Take+Down+ACORN2009-09-24+16%3A49%3A29Big+Hollywood

Burt’s Eye View: Some Townhalls Are Worse Than Others

Recently, I had a very odd experience.  No, I didn’t wake up 30 years younger and with a full head of hair.  That would have been odd but nice, whereas the experience I actually had was merely bizarre.

Like most bloggers, I write for more than one website.  It’s rather like being a syndicated columnist, except that little or no money changes hands.  But, as a writer who hopes to influence public opinion, you want to have as many readers as possible.

The strange event took place on a Tuesday.  It came in the form of an e-mail from Jonathan Garthwaite, who runs Townhall, a website I’ve contributed to for nearly four years.

The message read: “Dear Burt: As everyone is painfully aware, the economy is forcing companies to make difficult decisions.  Townhall.com is no different.  We take our commitment to our readers and our bottom line very seriously.  Similarly, we are constantly reassessing our editorial lineup.  We end up making tough decisions that aren’t always fun. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: bias, CAIR, media, Terror, terrorists
Posted Sep 17th 2009 at 11:38 am in Media Criticism | 224606134 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/09/17/burts-eye-view-some-townhalls-are-worse-than-others/Burt%27s+Eye+View%3A+Some+Townhalls+Are+Worse+Than+Others2009-09-17+18%3A38%3A39Burt+Prelutsky

Daily Gut: Signs

So if there was one thing I learned from the coverage of those big protests last weekend, it’s that signs matter.

See, when the media covers an event they don’t really want to understand, they will focus on the protester’s placards. But as a regular, long-term consumer of all things media (and fiber), I cannot recall this ever happening with the media coverage of the WTO protests, the NOW marches, the no-nuke concerts, the anti-war demonstrations. If I remember correctly (and regular use of Ambien has made it a challenge), the media instead chose to focus on the heroic faces of the protesters. Often, these folks would be huddled together, holding a candle, singing “Give Peace A Chance,” or something equally annoying. Fact is, they were young, heroic, speaking truth to power – so who cares if the signs were offensive: that reality would only undermine the ideal. That’s why you never saw them. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: media, Media bias, NOW, Tea Party, WTO
Posted Sep 15th 2009 at 1:33 pm in Daily Gut, Media Criticism, Politics | 22563870 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/09/15/daily-gut-signs/Daily+Gut%3A+Signs2009-09-15+20%3A33%3A39Greg+Gutfeld

Latin America: The Invisible War on the Press

A couple of weeks ago I was in New York, meeting with network television producers about a series they wanted to run about a story my production team and I have been reporting for more than five years: the narco-insurgency currently wreaking havoc on the U.S. and Mexico.

Just as we all sat down around the conference table, my cell phone rang. Given the importance of the meeting, I normally would have let the call go to voice mail, but when I looked at the number I knew I had to pick it up. This person would not be calling unless it was an absolute emergency. I opened the phone and didn’t even get the “Hello” out of my mouth before a shaken and somewhat scared voice said, “Rusty when can you be here?”

The caller was my most trusted source in Mexico. Slightly stunned by the abrupt nature of the call, I responded inquisitively, “Pretty soon, I should wrap up here in New York in a couple of days, why?”

“We have to talk right away, we have a huge problem down here and you’re in the middle of it,” he exclaimed. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: drug cartel, drug war, journalism, kidnap, media
Posted Sep 12th 2009 at 6:47 am in Featured Story, Politics | 21815832 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/09/12/latin-america-the-invisible-war-on-the-press/Latin+America%3A+The+Invisible+War+on+the+Press2009-09-12+13%3A47%3A56Rusty+Fleming

Honoring September 11th: He Kept Us Safe

My sense that the September 11th attacks would transcend partisan politics lasted less than a few days. That may sound cynical, but after counting myself as one of them for over a decade, I know how the Left thinks and I knew what was coming.

Within days of the attacks, it began. Without a word, those who had endlessly looped the video of the beating of Rodney King stopped airing footage of Americans jumping to their deaths from the burning World Trade Center. Not long after, those who would later sear the images of a few misfits at Abu Ghraib into the hearts and minds of the enemy, began the inevitable murmurs of “being responsible” when it came to airing footage of passenger planes exploding into the towers.

Soon, and predictably, the footage all but disappeared. 

Step one at chipping away at our resolve was complete, and all in the name of a few sophisticates doing what was best for us.

What followed was also expected. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: 9/11, george w. bush, hollywood, media, September 11th
Posted Sep 11th 2009 at 1:10 pm in Culture, Featured Story, Military, Politics | 222918195 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/09/11/honoring-september-11th-he-kept-us-safe/Honoring+September+11th%3A+He+Kept+Us+Safe2009-09-11+20%3A10%3A59John+Nolte

San Diego Comic-Con: These Are My People

For many years, the press would come down to San Diego Comic-Con International to take pictures and interview attendees. The results were always the same. They would look for those with the most outlandish costumes and the report would be: “San Diego Comic Con International has arrived again. Look at all the freaks that showed up. Aren’t these people crazy? Back you you, Dan.”

Ah, the press. They just never get it right. Most people at the con dress like anyone else. It’ a small percent that wear costumes, but they stick out. Most of those people are there to have fun. They’re letting their hair down for the weekend. It’s like Halloween for geeks.

Imagine if the press were actually fair minded (ROFL!), then you might see something like this: (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Film, hollywood, media, San Diego, San Diego Comic Con International
Posted Jul 27th 2009 at 5:34 pm in Culture, Entertainment | 19211849 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhudnall/2009/07/27/san-diego-con-these-are-my-people/San+Diego+Comic-Con%3A+These+Are+My+People2009-07-28+00%3A34%3A38James+Hudnall

Do The Warhol—Part 4: The Manhattan Project of the Culture War

When preaching to the choir, one directs one’s lessons to those who already agree.  Conversely, those who otherwise might listen and gain something useful get nothing.  More on that as this inter-connected series of observations comes to an end.

American Icon: “If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it.”

Vast, determined, highly successful forces and superior technologies dominated the theaters of WWII prior to America’s entry into the conflict after Pearl Harbor in 1941.  The Manhattan Project began in August of 1942, a couple of months before General George Patton invaded North Africa.  Character, strategy, and tactics played as large a role in dealing with Panzer and Tiger tanks as did Patton’s Shermans, of course, because firepower alone was insufficient in itself.  But the defeat of one totalitarian threat by 1945 was not apt to make much difference in taking down another in a place where school children were being trained to fight to the death for the Empire— with sharpened sticks.  The Manhattan Project, through funding, research, experimentation, design, development and production, met the challenge and made the difference. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Art, breitbart, capitalism, consumer culture, Culture
Posted Jul 26th 2009 at 6:55 am in Art, Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, Politics | 18482232 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/07/26/do-the-warhol-conclusions-the-manhattan-project-of-the-culture-war/Do+The+Warhol%E2%80%94Part+4%3A+The+Manhattan+Project+of+the+Culture+War2009-07-26+13%3A55%3A12Scott+Graves

Do The Warhol— Part 2: The Cult(ure) of Personality

“In fifteen minutes, everyone will be famous.” —Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol also spoke that jewel of wisdom, presumably demonstrating a sense of humor in referring to his most famous quote.  Or was it, perhaps, prescient, albeit unintended foreknowledge?  Pity he’s not around to toy with Twitter.

Bridge as visual metaphor, Media as bridge, Pittsburgh.

Looking back at Part 1, we considered a couple of insights into Andy’s Pop Life with the aim of solving some problems surrounding Mr. Breitbart’s incisive assertion that conservatives must come to terms with popular culture, and more, use it to advantage, or fail catastrophically in countering the negative effects of said culture and restoring public confidence in fundamental ideals.  Narcissism, amorality, and an attitude of entitlement, as examples, speak poorly to the future of democracy, while the virtues of valuing others, the practice of ethical discernment and choice, and the elevating ideas of individual liberty and self-reliance are greatly to be desired in the body politic, and traditionally set America apart from typical “statist” governments around the world.  Evidence abounds of the former set of attitudes in common currency as reflected in pop culture; the latter set, highly prized by conservatives, goes sorely wanting for attention in movies, TV, music, etc. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "The Good", American Exceptionalism, Blair Witch, celebrity, Culture
Posted Jul 24th 2009 at 6:56 am in Art, Classic Hollywood, Politics | 18009821 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/07/24/do-the-warhol%e2%80%94-part-2-the-culture-of-personality/Do+The+Warhol%E2%80%94+Part+2%3A+The+Cult%28ure%29+of+Personality2009-07-24+13%3A56%3A06Scott+Graves

One Giant Leap: Come on America, Let’s Put a Congress on the Moon

An Iowahawk Techno-pinion
by David Burge

It hardly seems possible that 40 years have now passed since Neil Armstrong put that puffy moon boot in the dusty surface of the Sea of Tranquility and uttered those immortal words — “joke’s over Aldrin, unlock the friggin’ door.” I was only 8 at the time but I remember it as if it were yesterday. My parents let my brother and me stay up late into the night to witness that historic Moon walk on our new Quasar console TV, and we watched in bleary eyed wonder at the sight of those brave astronauts and our parents passed out on the floor after one too many “Apollo 11 cocktails.” It was also the summer we discovered where Dad hid the liquor cabinet key and his Playboys.

For weeks after, we reenacted that “one small step for man” from our backyard tree house, descending the steps in Super-Slo-Mo onto the lunar crabgrass. Then we bounded out in search of our dog Buster’s steaming “moon rocks” for “moon rock fights.” Eventually Dad would yell at us to get out the moon-mower, but it did little to dent our enthusiasm for space exploration. Maybe it was just the model airplane glue talking, but for that brief moment we actually believed we were Armstrong and Aldrin and Collins. But did I ever get to be Armstrong? No-o-o-o, Dave, you stupid baby, you have to be Collins. Shut up and orbit in the tree house while we drive around in the moon buggy. Sometimes if my brother had his stupid 5th grade friends over they would make me be Walter Cronkite or Jules Bergman and do the news report with Mom’s hairbrush. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: 1969, astronaut, Congress, media, Moon
Posted Jul 21st 2009 at 1:36 pm in Featured Story, Political Humor | 18881055 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dburge/2009/07/21/one-giant-leap-come-on-america-lets-put-a-congress-on-the-moon/One+Giant+Leap%3A+Come+on+America%2C+Let%27s+Put+a+Congress+on+the+Moon2009-07-21+20%3A36%3A25Iowahawk

Cronkite’s Legacy Includes the Killing Fields of Cambodia

Walter Cronkite passed away a few days ago and pardon me for not joining the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the professional media mandarins.  The fact is that Cronkite was an over-praised meat puppet, a doctrinaire liberal-left talking head who never once uttered a word that would have caused so much as a sigh of consternation in the Manhattan media environs he dwelled in. 

Except among his loved ones, the hoopla that has accompanied his passing has nothing to do with Walter Cronkite the man and everything to do with Walter Cronkite the symbol.  He symbolized a time – “The Golden Age” to hear the wistful liberals tell it – of a solid, unconquerable media monolith that passed judgment on What Is The News and defined Socially Accepted Opinion. 

–

Oh, those glorious days of yesteryear, when those drooling slobs without the education or breeding to live in New York and work at the Times or at one of the three networks would genuflect before their black and white TV sets every evening and await Mr. Cronkite to bestow upon them The Truth!  Now (sigh), it’s chaos, with too many different media outlets and too many different opinions.  It’s gotten out of (our) control! 

Come back, Walter, and save us from Fox News! (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Dan rather, Edward R. Murrow, Fairness Doctrine, Fox News, JFK
Posted Jul 20th 2009 at 5:27 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 187410177 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/07/20/and-that%e2%80%99s-the-way-it-isn%e2%80%99t/Cronkite%27s+Legacy+Includes+the+Killing+Fields+of+Cambodia2009-07-21+00%3A27%3A34Kurt+Schlichter

Garofalo Complains: American Media Too Conservative, Walks Off Stage

Via Newsbusters:

GAROFALO: The, mostly the media in the States is much more to the right. I mean there is almost no liberal outlet for news commentary or editorializing. … (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: American media, Britain, janeane garofalo, media, UK
Posted Jul 19th 2009 at 8:43 am in Celebrity News, Politics | 186646250 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/07/19/garofalo-american-media-too-conservative/Garofalo+Complains%3A+American+Media+Too+Conservative%2C+Walks+Off+Stage2009-07-19+15%3A43%3A04Big+Hollywood

Power of Pop Culture: Michael Jackson’s Final Makeover

To anyone paying attention, Michael Jackson died sometime before 1989. Tragically, in just a few years following 1982’s “Thriller,” this unbelievably attractive and talented young man had switched races, started down a grotesque road of self-loathing, disfigurement and, through a series of increasingly bizarre antics, lost his status as a star by perfectly meeting my definition of celebrity: One who doesn’t let dignity get in the way of fame. Everything that happened after 1989 was so increasingly off-the-charts those of us who made fun of Elvis probably owe him an apology.

Yesterday’s clampdown of the news media and worldwide outpouring of grief for a man whose narcissism was so complete he had himself buried in a 14-karat gold coffin like some demented, disfigured, predatory pharaoh was nauseating. Sure, celebrate the music, but defying explanation is the lamenting and hushed, effusive praise for the man, a man so indulgent he reportedly left behind $400 million in debt, a man who admitted sharing his bed with young boys, hired a gay porn producer as his personal videographer, dangled a newborn baby over a third-floor balcony and laid out millions for a settlement rather than clear his name of child molestation charges. But there you go. Such is life in Celebrityville where all is forgiven except attempting to hold yourself to a higher moral standing. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Jackson Memorial, media, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson Death, pop culture
Posted Jul 8th 2009 at 10:44 am in Celebrity News, Media Criticism | 178754184 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/07/08/power-of-pop-culture-michael-jacksons-coverage-more-favorable-than-self-made-governor-of-alaska/Power+of+Pop+Culture%3A+Michael+Jackson%27s+Final+Makeover+2009-07-08+17%3A44%3A00John+Nolte

Iran Is Not Film School

Okay Class, stop sniffing your Sharpies in a futile attempt to reach a state of intoxication and try to take notes using that writing instrument and what brain cells you have left. Remember, if you can, that information you believe to be useless is, indeed, of no value whatsoever if you are unable to apply it in real-life situations, or at the very least for pc gaming “cheats.” Otherwise your very existence is no better than a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any human being, past or present, living or dead. (Or in your cases, “living dead” or zombie, if you prefer, or the more inclusive term “differently animated.”)

Aristotle, in Poetics, slops the pearl that “art” is a “representation of reality.” By this definition, presentations of the creative sort contain something, if only a je ne sais quois, that can be recognized as a reflection of the human condition and the historical present. Reach back in time to The Epic of Gilgamesh, and out of the cuneiform pressed in clay comes the tale of a king’s hubris, lust for immortality, and ultimate understanding of his place in the world. Fast forward and select at random. “The Counsels of the Bird” by Rumi, Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest,  Eliot’s “Quartets,” “The Short Happy Life Of Francis MacComber” by Hemingway.  Consider Andy Warhol’s body of work as a commentary on the superficiality of modern culture; look at the content of  films, popular songs and television programs, comic strips and “illustrated novels,” with their wide diversity of theme and thought.  All these arts, of varying degrees of cultural significance, may be seen to generally adhere to Aristotle’s commentary. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Art, Film, iran, journalism, media
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 at 5:41 pm in Entertainment, News | 1425262 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/06/23/iran-is-not-film-school/Iran+Is+Not+Film+School2009-06-24+00%3A41%3A20Scott+Graves

Has the Left Tired of Michael Moore’s Shtick?

Whenever Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore releases a new documentary the reaction in the press is typically jubilant. Rave reviews. Fawning interviews which rarely ask tough questions. Oscar buzz aplenty.

But this time could be different.

Moore’s last film, “Slacker Uprising,” didn’t go straight to DVD. It went straight to download. Now, Moore’s catching heat from Movieline.com, the online film magazine which routinely taunts conservative targets like Gov. Sarah Palin. The site’s new Moore-related post swats the filmmaker for a less than sharp attempt at marketing his upcoming film about the country’s economic collapse. The movie blogger sets up his critique here: (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "Slacker Uprising", Governor Sarah Palin, Liberal Media, media, michael moore
Posted Jun 17th 2009 at 10:40 am in Entertainment, Politics | 1629986 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/06/17/is-the-left-tired-of-michael-moores-shtick/Has+the+Left+Tired+of+Michael+Moore%27s+Shtick%3F2009-06-17+17%3A40%3A09Christian+Toto

Daily Gut: It’s the Media Ginning Up Racial Hatred

Krugman

Paul Krugman is so adorable when he’s delusional.

Today the bearded boob lays the blame for the Holocaust shooting and the Tiller murder on the conservative media and Republicans in general. Meanwhile, the AP broadens the scope to basically anyone who doesn’t light a candle before a handpainted portrait of Barack Obama. The writer Jesse Washington’s conclusion: “The potential for an increase in violence from whites who feel they are slipping from power is high, people from across the ideological spectrum say.”

“People from across the ideological spectrum?” You mean you, Jesse, you scamp! (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: AP, Keith Olbermann, media, Obama, Paul Krugman
Posted Jun 12th 2009 at 11:27 am in Daily Gut | 1589948 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/06/12/daily-gut-its-the-media-ginning-up-racial-hatred/Daily+Gut%3A+It%27s+the+Media+Ginning+Up+Racial+Hatred2009-06-12+18%3A27%3A31Greg+Gutfeld

News Media: Stop Digging

The first rule of getting out of a hole you have dug yourself into is to stop digging.  But at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday, they handed out shovels at the door.

Let’s review the state of American journalism.  Newspapers are teetering on the edge of collapse, with a savvy investor sooner scooping up a handful of Chrysler common stock then pumping cash into the Boston Globe.  The New York Times’ stock is so toxic it can only be stored inside the Yucca Mountain repository, and I can’t drive by the Los Angeles Times building without some laid-off lifestyle columnist offering to wash my windshield for a buck.  Some newspapers have gone entirely on-line, making them not even newspapers at all.  (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Boston Globe, CBS News, Dan rather, Los Angeles Times, media
Posted May 18th 2009 at 6:39 am in Media Criticism, News | 1315103 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/05/18/news-media-stop-digging/News+Media%3A+Stop+Digging2009-05-18+13%3A39%3A26Kurt+Schlichter

Seeing Voices, Hearing Faces

Okay Class, today’s Lecture is on “Text and Subtext”, that is to say, for those of you who managed to make “A”s in all your Language Arts classes without actually learning anything of value, the lecture is about Stated and Implied Themes and the ways and means by which a reader or audience is involved in what is expected to be one message while actually being inculcated in another, or various other, messages.  Be sure to take notes as otherwise your lives will be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, and most especially in the likely event that, having taken said notes, you never look at them or think about the points therein again.  Take it from a Doctor of Separate Reality.

We begin, as we often do, with “things we fail to realize”.  First, regardless of the extent to which we have absorbed a kind of reflexive, “hip” atheism in our lives without giving it any thought whatsoever, we have still grown accustomed to the idea of Vox Pop. The meaning of this term has undergone various insidious transformations over time, and especially in contemporary culture, which, yes, we fail to realize.  Vox Pop is short for the Latin, “vox populi” and originates in the phrase, “vox populi, vox dei“, or, “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.  Stop groaning and considering the threat of lawsuits as we are not talking about a Supreme Deity, except as metaphor for the ceaseless demands of particular populations to be given anything and everything they want at any time, preferably at the expense of others.  When the group wearing “Che” t-shirts stops cheering and stomping their feet to the tune of “We Will Rock You” we will continue.  (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: bias, cape fear, cheney, Culture, journalism
Posted May 17th 2009 at 11:33 am in Entertainment, Politics | 132746No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/05/17/seeing-voices-hearing-faces/Seeing+Voices%2C+Hearing+Faces2009-05-17+18%3A33%3A25Scott+Graves

Warning: This Post is Not Funny

A lot has been written lately about how comedy writers are having a hard time finding humor in President Obama. “He’s just too competent,” they say.

The answer is obvious. They, on the left, are having trouble making fun of the left.

But what about us? We have a bigger problem. How are we supposed to make fun of the left?

When I get together for coffee with my fellow pragmatic, reality based, sort-of-right-wing comedy writers (many of whom still speak in hushed tones here in Manhattan, as they are still in the closet), I find I have nothing to poke fun at as I scan the morning papers. I used to relish tearing apart an op-ed from the Times or a column from Slate in front of my buddies, but lately I am left wanting. There is nothing funny anymore. One cannot parody a parody.

Here, let’s try. Take a look at this Sally Quinn article in The Washington Post, in which she “defends” Michelle Obama, after saying that “She has come under attack for exposing her arms.” (Has she? Did Sally Quinn just make that up? Could you find me someone who has done that?)

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: comedy writing, media, michelle obama, Michelle Obama's arms, Obama
Posted May 13th 2009 at 11:53 am in Entertainment, Media Criticism, Political Humor | 1321502 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tshillue/2009/05/13/warning-this-post-is-not-funny/Warning%3A+This+Post+is+Not+Funny2009-05-13+18%3A53%3A47Tom+Shillue

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…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

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

Mainstream Media: Only Conservatives Are Sore Losers

The popular meme circulating throughout the “unbiased” media yesterday was: The original Tea Party was about taxation without representation but Americans HAVE representation and Republicans are just mad because they lost. The more I twist that in my head, the more absurd it sounds. What they’re really saying is: you are only allowed representation in government if you’re the majority.

Funny how that didn’t seem to be the case in California when Prop. 8 passed. I don’t remember any snide reporter telling a disappointed same-sex couple “Hey, you lost, get over it.” In fact, their protests have been covered by teary-eyed reporterettes (too young to remember Selma) as a modern civil rights struggle. (How is the right to keep your income and raise children free from debt not a civil right?) And the justification of majority Democracy gave no comfort to Prop. 8 opponents who went to court to overturn the majority. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: media, Media bias, prop 8, Tea Parties, Thomas Jefferson
Posted Apr 16th 2009 at 4:22 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 10798615 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/04/16/tea-for-tat/Mainstream+Media%3A+Only+Conservatives+Are+Sore+Losers2009-04-16+23%3A22%3A17Tim+Slagle

All the News That’s Fit to Ridicule

So many absurd things are taking place around the world on a weekly, daily and even hourly basis that there’s simply no way to stay on top of it all.  If one man can barely keep up with the lunacy occurring in America, you can imagine what a Herculean task it is to also keep abreast of foreign follies.  But I am not one to shirk my responsibility.

For instance, in Afghanistan, the farmers recently called for a meeting with U.S. Marines in order to alert them to the fact that they will be in their fields at night harvesting opium poppies.  They wanted to make sure that the Marines didn’t take them for members of the Taliban and shoot them by mistake.  Like the farmers, I also don’t want our Marines to shoot them by mistake. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: abortion, ACORN, Afghanistan, Americorps, bias
Posted Apr 11th 2009 at 10:51 am in Media Criticism | 1026502 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/04/11/all-the-news-thats-fit-to-ridicule/All+the+News+That%27s+Fit+to+Ridicule2009-04-11+17%3A51%3A34Burt+Prelutsky

The Reality of Reality

It’s always fascinated me how people can believe something that’s not true, and then get angry if you challenge them on it. After all, we’re all deluded. Each and every one of us. Don’t believe me? OK, check this out. You are more than likely sitting down right now. On a chair, stool, couch, whatever. It’s resting on a floor. The floor is part of a building. The building is on the ground which is part of your city. None of those things, except you, are moving, correct?

Wrong.

The city is in a country, which is on a land mass which is moving. The land mass is on a planet which is spinning. At the equator the spin is 1,038 miles per hour. At the poles it’s barely spinning at all. And the planet on which we rest is circling the sun at 67,000 miles per hour (30 kilometers a second). Our solar system is moving in our galaxy at 490,000 miles per hour or 220 kilometers per second. So what we perceive as stillness isn’t anything of the kind. If you think you are sitting still, you are deluded. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: media, perception, POV, reality, truth
Posted Feb 23rd 2009 at 2:42 pm in Media Criticism | 5752696 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhudnall/2009/02/23/the-reality-of-reality/The+Reality+of+Reality2009-02-23+22%3A42%3A32James+Hudnall

Television: The Vast Wasteland

In 1961, John F Kennedy’s FCC chairman Newton N. Minow gave a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters which is still cited today. You’ll understand why when you read the money quote:

When television is good, nothing–not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers–nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you–and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials–many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it.

Sound familiar? Aside from the dated reference of station sign offs, this is pretty much what you see today. Except now we have over 200 channels.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: advertising, Culture, media, Television
Posted Jan 14th 2009 at 6:00 am in Entertainment, Media Criticism | 1676138 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhudnall/2009/01/14/the-vast-wasteland/Television%3A+The+Vast+Wasteland++2009-01-14+14%3A00%3A06James+Hudnall

First Name in News You Can Use

This CNN video shows us that in these tough economic times, there is only one place to turn for tips on how to live well–Communism.

Watching this report from Havana, it almost seems fun living under totalitarian rule–Cubans are certainly “free” to work long hours on their cars. Communism also teaches you to make do with less, helping you to be more creative and resourceful, and affording you the opportunity to tool around in a classic Chevy or Caddy. Just look at that grill–living in Cuba is like being in the movie “Grease!”

CNN forgot to mention the other way that Cubans love to tinker with their vehicles.

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: cars, CNN, communism, Cuba, humor
Posted Jan 5th 2009 at 9:20 pm in Media Criticism | 632521 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tshillue/2009/01/05/first-name-in-news-you-can-use/First+Name+in+News+You+Can+Use2009-01-06+04%3A20%3A43Tom+Shillue