If Nikki Finke hadn’t invented it and wasn’t so fond of litigation, I would’ve thrown a big TOLDJA! in the headline. Years ago I was writing about this inevitability and being laughed at. And at the end of this snippet, I’m going to go even further out on a limb and touch the third rail neither Hollywood nor the entertainment media that loves them dares touch (hint: movies suck today).

Also, I’m well aware that I frequently touch on this subject, but from the moment I realized video distribution was inevitably headed online, I also realized that this was as seismic a change in the industry as the invention of home video itself. You see, this is where the power of a very few ends — this is where the revolution really begins. Anyone can make a film nowadays, but the bottleneck is still distribution. You have a handful of distribution forces — all of whom are hostile to our beliefs and values, and I’m convinced that what we’re seeing unfold on an almost daily basis is going to change all of that. Not today and not even tomorrow. But  online video streaming (like the ability to self-publish a novel)  means that the prohibitive costs of distribution are about to be a thing of the past. The very few with the power are about to lose that power. The Man is going down.

We live in an amazing era where the ideal of democracy is becoming more of a reality. Music and the news media have already been splintered by the ability of the Internet to undermine the corrupt guardians of those institutions. And now it’s happening in the Left’s most lavish and cherished stronghold: The sound and fury of the motion picture.

This isn’t a technological revolution, it’s a freedom revolution powered by technology, where every twist and turn fascinates and must be encouraged.

L.A. Times:

Across Hollywood, a quiet revolution is brewing that’s about to transform living rooms around the world.

After desperate attempts to prop up the industry’s once-thriving DVD business, studio executives now believe the only hope of turning around a 40% decline in home entertainment revenue lies in rapidly accelerating the delivery of movies over the Internet.

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So as rioting in London spreads like plaque on rotted teeth, there’s something more toxic than the violence going on.

It’s some of the reaction to it – which stinks of justification.

Says one anarchist, while punks steal chocolate: “This is the uprising of the working class. We’re redistributing the wealth.”

Yep – free sweets – that’s a revolution.

I’m sure those folks in Syria are inspired.

I tell you – I’d hate to be a shopkeeper, knowing that the man looting the store is viewed more romantically than the man stocking the shelves.

But you can find this idiocy anywhere: academia, TV, movies, music… the belief that despicable behavior is okay if you dress it up as a response to “the man.”

But what’s worse is the way we now respond to this crap.

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So a while back the Washington Post asked cartoonists what they thought of the “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” campaign, which was a protest against radical Muslims who threaten to kill anyone they believe has offended their prophet. One scribbler, Ted Rall, moaned:

“While most [cartoonists] vigorously support free speech, many are uncomfortable with the idea of provoking the anger of devout Muslims with no other intent than to provoke anger.”

See how he made it about provoking anger, instead of free speech?

Anyway, I bring this up because this is the same Ted Rall who now appeared on Dylan Ratigan’s show, to make a case for violent revolution in the United States. Yes, the guy who cowers in the face of intolerant extremists, is now egging on violent attacks against pudgy retirees in tricorn hats.

In the show, Ratigan asks, “Are things in our country so bad that it might actually be time for revolution?”

Of course, the answer is yes, and it requires “violence or at least the threat thereof.” Then Rall comes in – saying violence is a last resort. But – one he really, really likes!

An excerpt from his book: (more…)

Children are uniquely malleable beings, readily convinced of magically colorful tales – Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are the first that come to mind. This innocence is beautiful, but it is a quality that can easily fall victim to radically foreign ideas if taught consistently and pervasively at an early age. One need only look at the birth of fascism or socialism to see a recipe for how radical ideas become ubiquitous among a nation’s youth.

Enter Howard Zinn – an author, professor and American historian – who, with the help of Hollywood and the History Channel, intends to change the way our pre-K through high school children learn American history. His current curriculum suggestions, like introducing three-year-olds to the lynching of African-Americans, or quizzing seven-year-olds on which Presidents owned slaves, should be a red flag to parents.

Zinn has spent a lifetime teaching college students about the evils of capitalism, the promise of Marxism, and his version of American history – a history that has, in his view, been kept from students. His controversial 1980-book The People’s History of the United States paints traditional American history as a façade – one that has grotesquely immortalized flawed leaders and is based on principles that victimize the common man. In 2004, Zinn wrote a companion book entitled Voices Of A People’s History Of The United States, which includes speeches and writings from many of the people featured in The People’s History.

These two books have now become the basis for a new documentary, entitled The People Speak, to be aired December 13th at 8pm on the History Channel. The trailer portrays the documentary as a collage of compelling one-person readings, told through the words of “ordinary” people who have struggled throughout American history against oppression. Produced by Zinn, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Chris Moore, the documentary appears to be cloaked, ironically (given Zinn’s admitted socialist agenda), in many of the traditional ideas that were behind our founding. The verdict is still out on the doc, but it is not for the books that inspired the film as well as the educational initiative associated with it. (more…)

Remember the leftist protest group “Not in Our Name” active during the Bush administration?  They believed that the United States over reacted to 9/11 that resulted in the murder of 3000 Americans, by going to war in Afghanistan.  ”Not in Our Name” also opposed the war in Iraq. In fact they opposed all war. They also protested the arrest of suspected terrorists, the Patriot Act, wire-taps, you know the whole ‘War on Terror’ thing.

The protestors of “Not in Our Name” believed that President Bush was not speaking for them when he took actions that they did not approve. According to their website they wanted to create a ‘culture of resistance.’ “Not in Our Name”, along with other leftist protest groups were very successful in demonizing President Bush and the war effort both in Afghanistan and Iraq. Barack Obama was elected largely as an anti-war President. “Not in Our Name” disbanded in 2008. On their website  they encourage their followers to join similar groups like “Code Pink” and “United for Peace and Justice.” Whether they will re-emerge to protest the widening war in Afghanistan will be an interesting family food fight for the left.  (more…)

The American Revolution was fired up in earnest with the Tax Stamp Act, imposed by the British Parliament on the American Colonies. This Act required that a Stamp be affixed to any paper or document such as bills, newspapers, correspondence, leases, bills of sale, etc. It was invasive, arbitrary and onerous.

The Federal and State governments are continuing this tradition of oppression with Stimulus Bills which our representatives neither understand nor read. Yet these bills are passed without any mind to the financial indentured servitude for future generations. I believe that this debt will be a ‘fiscal press gang’ against generations’ optimism, opportunity and Freedom. (more…)

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…)

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No comment is really necessary. Just a reminder of the power of art. Reports say this was recorded last night. The transcript is below: (more…)

After Friday’s Iranian Presidential election, Mohammad Asgari allegedly released results showing that the Iranian government used new software to rig the results in favor of Ahmadinejad.  After a mysterious car accident, Mr. Asgari is now dead.

Mohammad Asgari worked for the Iranian Interior Ministry to protect the security of their IT network. Officially President Ahmadinejad received two thirds of the vote with around 24.5 million votes, while his closest rival, Mir Hassein Mousavi, received over 13 million votes. According to figures leaked by Asgari, President Ahmadinejad came in third. 

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians are in the streets demanding liberty. Officially 37 have been killed: shot in the streets and in their dorm rooms. Iranians are standing up to the Mullahs. They are standing up for freedom and they are being killed.

These are not people who were promised a day in the park for a free rock concert, sausages and beer. These are people who are risking everything to go against an evil theocracy. It is no longer simply a matter of candidates, the Mullahs are in real danger of losing their power, and they know it. (more…)