The following contains spoilers. You’ve been warned.

“Glee” was back last night after a month-long hiatus, which means that I’m back now – the morning after. Didja miss me? I missed you. And I missed “Glee” too. On what other show can I get my musical numbers and teenaged drama all wrapped in a giant bow of glorious propaganda?

There is no other.

This week, “Glee” was high on love, down on the military, and big on acceptance. Unless, of course, you actually want to join the military, in which case it’s all doom on you, and the military turns you into a drug addict and therefore your widowed mother into a liar.

Hmm… let me back up a moment.

Toward the beginning of the episode, Finn confesses to Mr. Schuester that he met with a recruiter… an army recruiter. The Glee Club coach appears troubled by the news, because you know, who joins the military unless they have to? (more…)

Thank you, Veterans, for … everything.

And now a look back at a time when Hollywood fought for America and liberty, not against it. There are notable exceptions today, but sadly the word “exception” does apply.

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Much more below the fold…

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Whenever we meet folks who take the time to show their appreciation to our brothers and sisters in uniform for all the sacrifices they have made and continue to make for freedom’s sake, we take an instant liking to them… especially when they turn out to be extraordinarily talented and are using that talent to support our troops.

That is exactly what singer-songwriter-musician and owner of Guilty Dog Studios Joe Merrick is doing.

Fellow BigDawg’er Chris Ross, who we spotlighted a few months back, first introduced us to Joe’s music when he shared the video “Just In Case” at our site.  We insisted Chris talk his friend into joining us, and we’re so glad that he did!

When I approached Joe about spotlighting him, I learned that he had donated his great song, “Just In Case,” to Soldiers’ Angels, a nonprofit organization that provides aid and comfort to our military members and their families, for their Pocket Angel initiative.  How very cool.

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The Gary Sinise Foundation is bringing the award-winning GI Film Festival to Los Angeles on November 5 for one day of great independent military films.  These films highlight current and former veterans in and out of the arena of war.  Beginning at noon at the Raleigh Studio Theater on 5300 Melrose  Ave in  Hollywood, fans from the west coast who missed this year’s DC festival will have an opportunity to view the best of the festival’s films.

vimeo Winner Best Feature Documentary

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“We are proud to partner with the Gary Sinise Foundation,” said GI Film Festival’s executive director and co-founder, former Army Major Laura Law-Millett. “They do amazing work.  It’s so important that people understand the important role film and the media play in the minds of every American when it comes to supporting our brave men and women in uniform.”

The one day event will screen 9 films and play host to an evening reception where you can meet and greet the filmmakers.  To see the line-up, view the trailers, and purchase tickets to attend the event, please click here.

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***Update: Rapper apologizes…

“In no way would I ever want to offend those who are protecting our freedoms…I am deeply sorry[.]“

End update…

NSFW video:

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THR:

The rapper is under fire after his latest clip went viral, in which he appears to deliver the line “F*** the Troops.”

Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, who is perhaps best known for his 2007 smash hit “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” faces extreme public scrutiny after allegedly delivering a blow to the U.S. military in his latest video.

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FADE IN:

INT.   HOLLYWOOD STUDIO CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY

“Hurt Locker” scribe MARK BOAL slams his mighty fist down hard on the conference room table, making the HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVES surrounding him jump in their leather seats.

MARK BOAL

Now listen up.  I don’t care about your liberal preconceptions and your smug certainty that you’re somehow better than those men and women out there in Afghanistan and Iraq just because you work in the movie industry and they actually work!

EXECUTIVE NO. 1

But, but…

MARK BOAL (pointing an accusing finger)

Put a sock in it, meat puppet!  You want to use those American heroes as a backdrop for some politician’s reelection campaign?  Well, you can take my Oscar and stick it in your Fonda-hole!  I’m not having any part of it!

Ed. Note:  We now pause for a photo of sensitive, introspective hipster Boal:

Big Hollywood has been all over the story of screenwriter Mark Boal’s collaboration with the Obama campaign’s usurpation of the work of our SEALs and other covert warriors in hunting down Osama bin Laden.  It’s outrageous – you know you’ve crossed a line in the sand of decency when even Jurassic liberal-saur Maureen Dowd seems creeped out by your shameless SEALS-ploitation.

As Big Hollywood has pointed out before, Boal is Hollywood’s go-to guy for sending the leftist message du jour about our troops.  When President Bush was in office and the party line was that fighting terrorists was a bad thing, Boal was there with In the Valley of Elah (2007).  That one painted our soldiers as hideous psychopaths driven crazy by the war, so nuts and evil they murdered one of their own because of, well, Bush or something.

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Ed. Note: This is the second part of two of excerpts. You can read part one here.

 During his Navy service, Dan Martin bought gold coins to be his life savings, and while working under the table in Sacramento for Developer and fellow gold bug, Bill Murphy, he was paid in more gold coins, but IRS gunsels (Tweedledum and Tweedledee) visit and put pressure on Dan to inform on his boss; thus, he soliloquizes about his situation.

It’s funny, sometimes I’ll read about a politician giving a speech at a Memorial Day event honoring the extraordinary combat heroism of some man, and he’ll often conclude by asking, “where do we get such men?”

He means men like me. A swab jockey who just might, in the right time and place, act bravely, and do something great.

I haven’t done something great, of course, but he means that guy who decided to up and join the armed forces from Podunkville, USA, and ended up with a Congressional Medal of Honor.

“Where do we get such men?” Indeed.

Because I’m also wondering where do we get such men as just left my house? Men who are drawn to authority, to policing, to hunting and punishing fellow citizens. Men who adopt an attitude, a personality, a culture of contempt for everyone outside their circle, who find it easy to abuse reason, common sense, common decency, common rights, and common morals.

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Retired Navy Warrant Officer, Dan Martin, has adopted three different, female German shepherds; Lucy, a black and tan; Zoe, an all black one; and Ella, an all white one. He reflects upon their nature and observes Ella’s surprising transition from docile to wild.

I don’t know about all dogs, but German Shepherds are bred to be highly focused, which helps explain some of their neurotic, obsessive/compulsive behavior such as digging, chewing, tail chasing, scratching, fixating on red laser points.

If they’re not working, they need to be doing “something”. It’s their ability to focus that keeps them on guard over a flock of sheep, maintaining the perimeter, preventing sheep from straying.

But they also like to focus on their master. They scrutinize every move and gesture I make. What am I doing? What next? Is he getting food? Can I have some? Does he look like he’s about to take us for a walk? He’s getting his car keys. Does that mean we go to the dog park or is he going away to the place where he brings back bags of food? Is he wanting to rub my belly? Huh? Please, can’t you see I’m asking you to with my eyes? Why’s he petting the other dog? What about me? My turn? Can I have some of your food?

The genius of dogs is their ability to read people.

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When we find ourselves in difficult times, it is easy for us to lose hope…to wonder “why?”…to want to give up the fight.  But every now and then, when we least expect it, God shows up in a big way to let us know He is with us and is in control…always…and I am reminded of these lyrics from the song “Praise You In This Storm” by Casting Crowns:  “…as the thunder rolls, I barely hear You whisper through the rain, ‘I’m with you’…”

On the morning of 1 July 2011…that “whisper became a shout.”

What started out as a regular weekly spotlight on one of our great culture warriors at BigDawg Music Mafia – this time on the amazing music of our good friend Chip Murray, a truly gifted singer/songwriter who also happens to be a delightful, down-to-earth blogger – has turned out to be so much more.   We are reminded not only of God’s incredible Grace, but we are also reminded of the sacrifices of our fallen brothers and sisters that enable us to celebrate our freedom.   May this story–Chip’s story–lift your spirits and give you hope.

It is a pleasure and an honor to introduce our friend, Chip Murray.

Chip’s Biography:

Chip got his first guitar (a Stella) at the tender age of 13.  It may have been a cheap guitar, but he quickly found it to be a great tool of expression and a very cool way to connect with people.  Growing up in the turbulent 60’s, the guitar became his life raft and steady friend through the whitewaters of adolescence…. And while the rest of the world seemed to be finding themselves, making their marks and staking their claims, he was tasting the silent sweetness of nowhere.  And yet, by 35 he had lived everywhere from Boulder to Reseda, to Morgan City and the Houston suburb of Bacliff.  He lived, worked, loved, fought, and danced with “the people” on every coast of this great land.  He became one of them, assimilating their culture by inhaling their music and stories into his heart and soul… “Gone Wishin‘,” the debut CD from his band Cavern was his first public “exhale” and but a glimpse of what’s inside.  From “Devil in Me” to “Deja Vu Blues,” Gone Wishin’ is a metaphor for our journey from the darkness to the light….and after “we rest on the wind, we’ll come right back to our mothers again.”- Gibran. (more…)

It’s hard to come out of Lt. Dan Band: For the Common Good without a healthy feeling of irony. You’ve just witnessed a prime example of man’s inhumanity and cruelty inspiring a display of man’s greatest virtues–honor, sacrifice, compassion, and unity.  It’s not just a concert film; it’s another illustration of the central thesis of Andrew Breitbart’s Righteous Indignation: that pop culture trumps politics without fail. In the midst of a hopelessly contentious and divisive foreign war, our politicians and pundits have nowhere near the profound effect on troop morale as a simple cover band led by a TV actor. The study of the relationship between civilian and soldier in wartime provides a compelling subject for this expansive documentary.

Director Jonathan Flora frames the film around Gary Sinise, an actor and director with a long, intimate history with soldiers and veterans, though he himself has never served. From his brother-in-law, who was killed in Vietnam, to current bandmate Kimo Williams,  a ‘Nam veteran who started jamming with Sinise after they met on a production of A Streetcar Named Desire in the mid-90s, his career has always seemed to providentially intertwine with the military. Following the jihadist attacks of 9/11, Sinise felt compelled to help those directly affected by the Twin Towers’ destruction, volunteering in campaigns to benefit the FDNY. This spirit of volunteerism, in concert with his ever more frequent band practices with Williams,  materialized into a USO tour in 2003. Despite his diverse résumé, Sinise was universally associated with his Oscar-nominated performance as “Lieutenant Dan” from Forrest Gump, so as the group expanded, Sinise named it the “Lieutenant Dan Band,” and the rest is history. (more…)

You’ve certainly heard of the new film Super 8.  Not the self-serving Anthony Weiner autobiography– the new summer flick about a small town in 1979 invaded by a strange alien creature that was written and directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg.  With that pedigree in mind, I took off work early to take the little monsters to see it in the hopes that it would do what the trailers seemed to promise – capture the feeling of those uniquely American summer movies of the 70’s and 80’s like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and The Goonies that mixed action, laughs, and special effects together in a way we see all too rarely in the Michael Bay world of today.

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Yeah, it kind of did that, I suppose.  Except I was too busy wondering why the central premise somehow had to be that American military personnel are sadistic, bloodthirsty, cold-blooded murderers.  Then I remembered that this is Hollywood.

Now, to talk about Super 8, I will have to reveal what some might call “spoilers.”  Except, they aren’t really “spoilers” because to be that the plot points I reveal would have to be unexpected and surprising.  Sadly, Super 8 adopts the same tiresome clichés that have been wrecking Hollywood films for the last 40 years.  The only surprise was the total lack of any surprise.

What do we have? Crazy, evil military officer as the baddie?  Check!  Kid with daddy issues?  Check!  Climax where the hero rescues the girl from monster’s lair?  Check!  Monster that is the real victim even though he’s freaking killing US military people and eating civilians left and right?  Check?

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In honor of Memorial Day, I thought we’d to try something a little different for this week’s spotlight.  I wanted to feature an artist who has written some great songs that pay tribute to our fallen heroes.  As luck would have it, one of our site members, Sibella Giorello, an accomplished author who has published several books (and whose first-rate journalism has garnered national awards, including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize), contacted me a few weeks back telling me she had recently conducted an interview with this week’s featured artist.  I read her wonderful write-up, thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the man behind the music, and wanted to share of few highlights from her interview.  You can read the full version at BigDawg Music Mafia.  It is my great honor and privilege to introduce Mr. James Hooker…

By Sibella Giorello

vimeo

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Listen to this song.  Listen to it.  If this song doesn’t crack your heart wide open — especially on Memorial Day weekend — don’t worry about Obamacare; you’re already dead.

I first caught James Hooker’s “Hanging Out With the Boys” on Big Dawg Music Mafia when the tune was on the BigDawg Jukebox.  But by the final chorus I’d downloaded the entire album and felt like some IED had  just gone off. An Incendiary Ear Device that blew my mind.

“Hanging Out With the Boys” album had everything from blues to ballads to bagpipes. A soulful heart, yet not sad. Patriotic but not corny. And beyond all that, it managed to be absolutely unabashed in its support for our men and women in uniform.

After days of listening to it, I wrote singer/songwriter James Hooker a thank-you note.

But musicians are a funny breed.  That innate sense of timing that makes them hit the right riffs on stage also shows up in conversations.  For instance, Hooker’s reply to my letter.  I told him my blues-musician husband thought his voice sounded like a cross between Leon Redbone and Leon Russell.

Hooker’s reply?

“Just so long as he doesn’t say Leon Panetta.”

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As Memorial Day weekend approaches and we make plans to celebrate with family and friends, there are so many who will not be celebrating.  They will, instead, be visiting Arlington Cemetery and hundreds of other cemeteries across the country where their loved ones, who paid the ultimate price for our freedom, have been laid to rest.

And then there are the “lucky ones” who made it home.

YouTube Healing Waters by Lisa Mei and BigDawg

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Some homecoming.  They returned to a country that is struggling with sky-rocketing fuel and food prices, out-of-control government spending, record deficits, high unemployment rates, record home foreclosures, businesses going under, and the ever-increasing government intrusion into our private lives.  These heroes, our wounded active duty military members and veterans, have the added struggle of trying to muster the will and courage to press on with their lives as they suffer in silence not only from their physical impairments but from the never-ending nightmares, anger, loneliness, guilt, depression, and a number of other gut-wrenching emotions — all of which are triggered by and attributed to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Thankfully, there are caring organizations that understand what our battle-scarred warriors are going through and are actively engaged in helping them begin the healing process.  One such organization is Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc (PHWFFI).

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In the aftermath of the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group’s successful raid to take out Osama Bin Laden last week, I feel privileged to be covering the only film festival in the world to feature films about the military. The Washington D.C. based G. I. Film Festival runs from today through Sunday, May 16 at both the U.S. Navy Memorial at 701 Pennsylvania Ave and the nearby Canadian Embassy. In five short years this outstanding collection of films about the American military experience has became the quality venue for films portraying our troops in a positive light. The festival features everything from combat intense dramas, to personal stories of military families, feature documentaries and shorts to historical epics. This year’s Wounded Warrior night film is the exciting medieval themed epic Ironclad about the brutal aftermath of the signing of the Magna Carta. Through the generosity of corporate sponsors, wounded service men from Walter Reed Army Hospital and Bethesda Naval Hospital will be hosted by the festival for that evening.

Various Hollywood professionals who support the military like actors Robert Duvall Jeremy Renner, Kelsey Grammer, Rick Schroeder, Glenn Close and JAG’s Karri Turner, as well as directors and producers like Ron Maxwell and Lou Reda, are often in attendance. CSI: New York and Forrest Gump’s Lieutenant Dan,  Academy Award-nominated Gary Sinise, will host a reception for Congressional members who have served, or who are currently serving in the U.S. Military. With veterans on both he and his wife’s side of their families, Sinise has been an active supporter of the festival since its inception, as he has of so many other pro-military causes. This year actor William Devane will premiere the drama Flag of My Father at the festival’s Hollywood Patriots Night and a salute to International Warriors will host military films from several other countries.

Last year at I wrote a piece for Big Hollywood highly critical of box-office and morale-killing Hollywood military films like The Green Zone that have dominated movie screens. Well, the G.I. Film Festival has been out front in the battle for positive depictions of the military since it started back in 2007. Festival creators, husband and wife Brandon Millett and Major Laura Law-Millett, first created the festival to combat the continuing inaccurate and negative stereotypes that Hollywood has so often fostered about the United States Armed Forces. In an interview with the Washington Post during the launch of the first G.I. Film Festival, Major Law offered up that, “In movie after movie all you see then was soldiers raping and killing. We want to show something more positive.”

Her husband Brandon emphasized that, “We wanted to do something to focus public attention on the courage and selflessness of the American soldiers.”

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Knowing the “Captain America” trailer had been released last night, I headed over to YouTube to look for it, found this, and thought “Wow, this looks fantastic.” Then I thought, “Wait, isn’t that the guy from ‘Dances With Smurfs?’” — which saved me from looking like a total idiot.

As far as the actual trailer, sorry but when one of the first statements out of a director’s mouth on any project, much less a project titled “Captain America,” is…

“He wants to serve his country, but he’s not this sort of jingoistic American flag-waver,” [director Joe]Johnston said. “He’s just a good person. … “Yeah and it’s also the idea that this is not about America so much as it is about the spirit of doing the right thing,” the director said. “It’s an international cast and an international story. It’s about what makes America great and what make the rest of the world great too.”

…it has something of a dampening effect on my enthusiasm. The goodwill necessary to boost my excitement just ain’t what it was when the project was announced. Could be worse, though. Johnston could’ve made the Tea Party the villain.

Anyway…

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If you read Moore’s tweets you’ll see that the Oscar-winner’s actually taking shots at George W. Bush. There is a joke I didn’t screen-grab about President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, but the bizarre shots at Bush might be today’s best example of the Left’s incredible ability to use what Orwell described as ”doublethink” –  ”the power to hold two completely contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accept both of them.”

The Other McCain wonders if Moore’s criticism of Obama’s makes him a racist.

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According to Nikki Finke the big-budget sci-fi comedy “Paul” will come in third place this weekend with a pretty weak debut take of just $12.5 million. Compare that to the second weekend take of the pro-military “Battle: Los Angeles,” which will land in second place with a predicted haul of $15.5 million —  this, despite a cabal of left-wing critics doing everything in their powers to kill it off.

Why two actors, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who bought an enormous amount of audience goodwill with “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” would choose to go out of their way to antagonize Christians with a $40 million investment on the line is beyond me. I guess their bigotry just got the best of them. Once you add advertising costs to that budget, you’re probably looking at another $25 million, which means the sci-fi comedy will probably have to clear somewhere in the area of $120 million just to break even. Good luck with that.

Word got out fairly early that “Paul” intended to sucker punch we Jesus freaks and it was a controversy that dogged the film in almost every interview I came across with the film’s two stars. Obviously, they tried to downplay the religious bigotry, which is odd. After all, if the entertainment industry is driven only by profit and greed, the Christian-bashing must have been a financial decision, not a political one — so why try to spin it away if it’s going to put more butts in seats?

When sympathetic, left-wing critics wondered if ”Paul’s” Christian bashing would be too much, you had to assume it was even worse than advertised. Well, according to our friends at Screen Rant, from both a decency  and artistic standpoint, it’s even worse than I thought it would be:

 Screen Rant’s Vic Holtreman:

While on the lam our trio runs into Kristin Wigg as Ruth Buggs, a fundamentalist Christian living in a trailer park, and oppressed by her drinking, redneck father. She’s a creationist and “young-Earther,” painted as about as naive and ignorant a person as you’re likely to ever meet. Once she meets Paul, her worldview is completely shattered and she immediately loses her faith. The scene in which it happens is actually pretty funny – she decides that she can now drink, cuss and “fornicate” (that’s a quote). She starts using her newfound permission to spout foul language, but she doesn’t quite have the hang of how to combine the proper words, and it’s funny for the first couple of times she does it (until the joke becomes overused, as the gag is revisited a LOT throughout the film). …

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The entire leftist, elitist entertainment media agrees: “Battle: Los Angeles,” the new alien invasion flick from director Jonathan Liebesman, is not worth your time.

So clearly, you have got to go see this movie!

On the most recent addition of Take A Movie to Work over at Declaration Entertainment, Bill Whittle discusses the importance of this terrific action movie, which – MOST SHOCKING, EXHILARATING SPOILER ALERT OF ALL TIME – makes American soldiers, the best people our society has to offer, look like THE BEST PEOPLE OUR SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER!

Missing are all of the clichés we have come to expect from movies that depict our fighting men and women. There are no brooding loaners bemoaning the futility of war, no racist loud-mouth adrenaline junkies itching to kill anything they don’t understand, the troops aren’t victims of nefarious political posturing or trying to steal from the third-world…

Even the relationship between Aaron Eckhart’s battle-hardened Staff Sergeant Nash and the fresh-faced, just-out-of-school, naive Lieutenant is respectful and authentic. When the Lieutenant breaks down from his first exposure to the chaos of battle, there is no condescending moment of the wise-old enlisted man rising up to take command. Instead, Eckhart reminds the younger man of his responsibility, pulls him out of his own head, prompts him to make a decision, and then says “Yes sir.”

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I first heard about Battle: Los Angeles last year while attending Comic Con in San Diego.  As you can imagine, there were quite a few projects being hyped that weekend and, honestly, I didn’t pay too much attention to this particular film.  Why?  Because, when it comes to projects that feature our military, I’ve been let down too many times before.  My first reaction is typically, “Here we go again.”

As the trailers started to circulate the web, I begrudgingly admitted they looked pretty cool.  My geek streak is certainly wide enough to get down with some old-fashioned alien invasion stuff and I realized that the movie would feature my beloved Marine Corps, OSR (Ooh-Stinkin’-Rah). However, my distrust still prevented me from getting excited about it.

As the release date neared, I was torn.  Do I go see the movie, take my licks and try to enjoy the action aspect of it or do I give it a pass?  I decided on the latter.  I was not going to pay good money to go watch my brothers and sisters get crapped on again.

Then, last week I read an article in which Aaron Eckhart talked about the film:

“This movie, in my opinion, is meant to be a love letter to the Marines. We had their full cooperation. They had my full cooperation. I tried to get it right. I think this movie is very reverent towards the military and reverent towards the ranks, both the officers and the Marines and the grunts. I don’t see how any Marine can see this movie and feel like they’ve been at all taken advantage of. I think this is going to be an oo-rah moment for them.”

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Over the next few days Big Hollywood will publish “Battle: Los Angeles” reviews from two U.S. Servicemen — Michael Broderick and Kurt Schlichter. Let’s see if the snob Roger Ebert wants to mock them in this way. You see, Ebert can’t just not like a pro-military movie, he has to insult anyone who disagrees with him as dumb.

The Left’s totalitarian streak does not end with politics. It extends to everything, including alien invasion flicks.

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