Palin’s Hong Kong Speech: I Can See Insanity From My Newsroom

You would think at this point it would be impossible for anyone (especially me) to be stunned or outraged by anything the news media tries to pull when it comes to Sarah Palin. After all, once you have been exposed to a year-long brutal beating, one tends to become numb to a simple low blow. However, the news coverage of her Hong Kong speech still managed to spark the senses on several levels. 

First, it must be noted that it is rather incredible that this speech got as much play as it did. Remember, this is a private citizen from Alaska who was a “failed” vice-presidential candidate, who has given no official indication she is ever going to run for anything ever again. The speech was a private affair in a foreign country and contained no real “news” whatsoever. The news media was barred and were forced to cobble together bits and pieces of what was said from the paying customers who attended. And yet, nearly every major publication gave the event heavy play and links to FOUR of those articles were displayed prominently on the Drudge Report all day long.  (more…)

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Tags: AP, Hong Kong, New Tork Times, sarah palin, Time magazine
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 12:52 pm in Media Criticism, Politics | 234282315 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jziegler/2009/09/24/palins-hong-kong-speech-i-can-see-insanity-from-my-newsroom/Palin%27s+Hong+Kong+Speech%3A+I+Can+See+Insanity+From+My+Newsroom2009-09-24+19%3A52%3A42John+Ziegler

The Gulag Archipelago

Like everyone else driving along Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park last year, I couldn’t help but notice the now-iconic Shepard Fairey “Hope” poster of candidate Barack Obama emblazoned 20 feet high on the side of a building near Dodger Stadium.  As a piece of advocacy, it was tremendously effective – Obama the visionary, gazing bravely into the middle distance and the distant future – even if it did turn out to be a shameless rip-off of an Associated Press photograph.

That image is now once again front and center in the wake of the revelations that the National Endowment for the Arts has apparently been colluding with the White House’s Office of Public Engagement and the president’s United We Serve “call to action” to enlist sympathetic artists in the furtherance of the administration’s political goals, in defiance of tradition and perhaps, as George Will has suggested, the law.  Having served myself on both the NEA’s Opera-Music Theater and Oversight panels in 1985, I find this news to be profoundly depressing. (more…)

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Tags: john adams, Khrennikov, Leningrad, nea, Pravda
Posted Sep 21st 2009 at 4:49 pm in Art, Politics | 23085036 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mwalsh/2009/09/21/the-gulag-archipelago/The+Gulag+Archipelago2009-09-21+23%3A49%3A11Michael+Walsh

Jon Stewart’s Brilliant Audience

Are Jon Stewart fans smarter than the rest of us? Is that the reason why many of us do not find him hilarious… that we’re too dumb to get the joke? His audience goes into stitches when he rolls his eyes and puts his hand over his mouth, and I’m left befuddled. Or am I too old? We all know that the people who watch “The Daily Show” are young, intelligent and informed. Or at least that’s what they’ve been trying to tell us. Unfortunately recent polls paint an entirely different picture.

Maybe it is generational. I know that’s how some fans explain the humor gap to me. Stewart is playing to the young kids and I’m just too old to get it. The problem is, while “Daily Show” viewers might still think they’re kids, they aren’t anymore. Rather than holding a Student ID in their wallets, most “Daily Show” viewers are much closer to their AARP cards. In fact, a recent analysis puts the average age of a “Daily Show” viewer at 41.4 years old.

But are they brighter? Well, according to a recent online poll by Time magazine, 44% of respondents claim that Jon Stewart is America’s most trusted “Newsman.” You cannot convince me that bright people would trust a comedian to be a “Newsman.” (Or maybe it’s just normal for the kids today, since comedy is now considered ample experience to be a United States Senator.) (more…)

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Tags: AARP, Daily Show, Dittoheads, Fair and Balanced, Faux News
Posted Jul 24th 2009 at 3:42 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Political Humor | 190774161 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/07/24/john-stewart-poll/Jon+Stewart%27s+Brilliant+Audience2009-07-24+22%3A42%3A03Tim+Slagle

‘NewsBusted’ 6/26/09 — Fake News from the Right

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Tags: Cap and Trade Plan, CNN, David Archuleta, Fox News, Global warming
Posted Jun 26th 2009 at 6:49 pm in Political Humor, Video | 171454No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/newsbusters/2009/06/26/%e2%80%98newsbusted%e2%80%99-62609-%e2%80%94-fake-news-from-the-right/%E2%80%98NewsBusted%E2%80%99+6%2F26%2F09+%E2%80%94+Fake+News+from+the+Right2009-06-27+01%3A49%3A10NewsBusters

U2 & Me

I anticipated the new U2 album, “No Line on the Horizon,” with something approaching dread – the kind of dread only a longtime fan can muster.  

I stuck with U2 virtually my whole life – from their sophomore album October (the first record I ever bought with my own money), through the ambient experiments of “The Unforgettable Fire,” to their earthy and earnest “Joshua Tree” phase, all the way through the avant-garde “Zooropa” wackiness.  God help me, I even loved “Pop.”

Through it all, it had been easy for me to tune out the political pontificating for which the band was known, drowned out as at was by so much wonderful music.  But by the time of 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” that ratio had begun to shift.  The band’s musical output declined in both quantity and consistency, while at the same time Bono’s political activism went into overdrive.   (more…)

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Tags: "Can Bono Save The World", Bono, No Line on The Horizon, Time magazine, U2
Posted Mar 18th 2009 at 3:47 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Political Humor, Reviews | 8133463 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/03/18/u2-and-me-matt-patterson/U2+%26amp%3B+Me+2009-03-18+22%3A47%3A14Matt+Patterson

Guess Who’s the Third Most Popular Movie Star in America Today?

No, it’s not any of those celebrities we’re told are stars. DiCaprio and George Clooney didn’t even make the top 10. Neither did Ashton Kutcher, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Seth Rogen, Matt Damon, Will Farrell, or Tom Cruise.

Every year for about 15 years now, Harris Interactive has conducted a nationwide poll and asked a very simple question: “Who is your favorite movie star?” And every year since the taking of the poll one particular individual has placed in the top ten — 13 of those years in the top 3.

This year, 2,388 U.S. adults were surveyed and this star rose three places to tie Will Smith for third. Only Denzel Washington and Clint Eastwood rank as more popular.

One last hint before the reveal: This star is the only actor in the history of the poll to rank posthumously: (more…)

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Tags: Harris Interactive, Harris Movie Star Poll, Harris Poll, Harris Poll John Wayne, john wayne
Posted Mar 18th 2009 at 2:16 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 83554180 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/03/18/guess-whos-the-third-most-popular-movie-star-in-america-today/Guess+Who%27s+the+Third+Most+Popular+Movie+Star+in+America+Today%3F2009-03-18+21%3A16%3A50John+Nolte

The True Face of Hollywood

This week’s Washington Times column:

Sometimes I just don’t get the Republican Party.

Back in 2004, a smart, good-looking moderate Republican Hispanic ran for Congress. At the time Victor Elizalde was just under 40 years old and working as an executive at a big-time Hollywood studio. As an ethnic minority, a family man and a rare open conservative in an industry dominated by liberals, Mr. Elizalde represented hope and change for the Republican Party.

Yet because he was running for Henry A. Waxman´s safe seat, Mr. Elizalde got no support from the Republican Party . In fact, no one in the party´s leadership took notice of him. As a result Mr. Waxman trounced Mr. Elizalde with 71 percent of the vote. (more…)

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Tags: australia, Bush administration, California, Canada, Center For Entertainment Industry Data and Research
Posted Feb 1st 2009 at 6:39 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 3840673 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/02/01/the-true-face-of-hollywood/The+True+Face+of+Hollywood2009-02-02+02%3A39%3A25Andrew+Breitbart