Harlan Ellison: The Original Hollywood Rebel

“My role in life is to be a burr under the saddle. I didn’t pick that for myself, it just happens that’s the way I am. I wish I could be one of the really sweet guys, but for me nobody has a good word. That’s because my allegiance is to art, to the work. I have no allegiance to magazines, producers, studios, networks or anything. The work is what counts.” – Harlan Ellison, on writing in Hollywood.

For those of you here at Big Hollywood who think you are playing a whole new game in taking on the Tinseltown establishment in force, I have news for you. Scribe Extraordinaire and futurist iconoclast Harlan Ellison beat you all to the punch by about forty-five years. And if you don’t know who Harlan Ellison is, shame on you! He is a living legend with more Hugos and Nebulas than I care to count, as well as four WGA Awards and an Emmy nod. And all that’s just for starters. (more…)

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Tags: City on the Edge of Forever, Demon With a Glass Hand, Gene Roddenbery, Global warming, green
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 8:30 am in Books and Literature, Politics, Television | 26487051 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/11/23/harlan-ellison-the-original-hollywood-rebel/Harlan+Ellison%3A+The+Original+Hollywood+Rebel2009-11-23+16%3A30%3A05John+T.+Simpson

The Bland Leading the Blind

Before the election, at a comfortable film festival in Spain, filmmaker Woody Allen told journalists abroad that it would be “a disgrace and a humiliation if Barack Obama does not win.”

“It would be a very, very terrible thing for the United States in many, many ways,” he said. Adding that Mr. Obama, “represents a huge step upward from (the) incompetence and misjudgment” of the Bush administration.”

You know, it’s a hard thing to watch your heroes fall. To see them as they really are, not as you thought they were, not as you wish they were.

I grew up loving Woody Allen movies, ranking “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” as three of my favorite all-time films. With “Radio Days” and “Sleeper” not too far behind.  (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, actor, airmen, anchor, ben affleck
Posted Mar 30th 2009 at 5:21 pm in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News | 915304 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smann/2009/03/30/the-bland-leading-the-blind/The+Bland+Leading+the+Blind2009-03-31+00%3A21%3A59Schizoid+Mann

HBO Captures a Marine’s Final Journey Home

Did you know that every fallen soldier travels from Dover to their final resting place with an escort every step of the way? HBO captures this touching journey in a new drama starring Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance, premiering February 21. Bacon portrays the real-life journey of Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, USMC, who was tasked with escorting home a stranger, Chance Phelps. Phelps, a 19 year old Lance Corporal, had been killed in action in Iraq.

At a press event for the drama today, Strobl described how, as he escorted the body to Dubois, Wyoming, construction workers paused and put their hard hats over their hearts, a flight attendant handed him a crucifix, and ordinary Americans responded with emotion. “All of these people who you could presume had varying political views,” said Strobl, “exhibited a profound sense of gratitude and sorrow at Chance’s loss.”

“It’s an extremely profound comment on the casualties of war,” said Bacon. It’s also a profound comment on the great debt we owe our service men and women.

Have you been moved or touched by a fallen soldier finally coming home?

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Tags: hbo, Iraq, soldier
Posted Jan 9th 2009 at 5:23 pm in Entertainment, Reviews | 1364152 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rcusey/2009/01/09/hbo-captures-a-marines-final-journey-home/HBO+Captures+a+Marine%27s+Final+Journey+Home2009-01-10+01%3A23%3A50Rebecca+Cusey