Thursday, October 30, 2008

Arggg.

OK, it appears that Hollywood thinks you and I have the intelligence of rocks.
They think that at the end of October, with less than a week before the Presidential election that either we don't know there is an election or we don't care, AND that because THEY are telling us about it, we are now going to care enough to go out and vote.



I personally believe if you haven't noticed that there is an election coming, then you are avoiding it on purpose. Because that's the ONLY way you would be able to avoid what's been going on.

It's all very cute. First they want you to think they are trying to tell you NOT to vote, and we get to see all of the stars being very confused (not hard, just don't give them cue cards).
Next, behind the lead of Harrison Ford, we see that they don't really believe that at all (some need convincing it seems), they tell us the 2000 election was decided by 537 people (I thought Bush was "selected not elected" in 2000. Hmmm...) so one vote does count (apparently only if you live in Florida, I doubt it will be that close in California).
Then, we get to hear from everyday people (probably just less known actors) tell us why they are going to vote. It is all very touching and well put together. It better be since it is a Spielberg Production.

I hire these people to act, or sing, or write, or Produce for me when I purchase the fruits of their labor. I don't care what the girl at the check out stand thinks about how or if I vote. I don't want to listen to my mechanic go on about how one vote counts. I don't want my dentist to start preaching to me about how I need to go and vote because he thinks I should. This is the same thing. I don't care that Indiana Jones appears genuine in his beliefs (he is an actor, if he can't pull that off he needs to get another job).

I don't know how long this video has been out. But if you are just figuring out there is an election, I DON'T WANT YOU TO VOTE. Because you don't care enough about the process to make an educated decision about anything that is going to be on your ballot. If you haven't been thinking about it for at least a month now, then just stay at home on election day and watch the Daily Show to see who won.

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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Putting My Blog Where My Mouth Is

Thanks to Buzzfeed.com I found an ad made by Conservative celebrities.



Sure its a bunch of "B" (or lower) stars. The most famous person in it, depending on how old you are, is either John Ratzenberger (from Cheers and a few Pixar movies), or Pat Boone. And sure the ad is only for Minnesota, where they are trying to keep Al Franken from being elected.

But really, what are they trying to accomplish with this ad? Maybe if Victoria Jackson was as hot has she was when she was on SNL, they could have caught some good attention with the ad. As it is, I thought it just showed how little star power the Republicans really have.

Please. Stick to whatever you've been doing with your lives before the NRSC came to you with the lame idea of making this video. In this case, it would have been better for your careers.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Ron Howard. Please Stay Behind The Camera

Ya know this is a hard one. I am a big fan of Ron Howard. I really liked him in Happy Days but I'm glad he stopped acting and moved behind the camera. I've loved a lot of what he's done as a director and producer. Arrested Development is classic Television and many of his movies are masterpieces.
So when I saw this video,I was torn.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Forgive me if this video does not work for you here. I blame Funny Or Die. You can find the video on their site at:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

I loved seeing the old characters again. Henry Winkler was great and didn't look all that different from "The Fonz" I remember, and personally, I thought Andy had already died, so to see him was a big surprise to me.

Now since Ron made the effort to let everyone know that just like him, Henry and Andy were doing this because they wanted to tell everyone how to vote, (instead of just helping out an old friend) I have to put them on my list too. Fortunately I'm not a big Matlock fan, and since Henry is pretty much only in Ron Howard projects, this is not going to be a big issue.

OK Ron, your whole premise seems to be that we need change and that we are fools if we don't think that Barak Obama is the only way to get that change. So you made this video because you think the people that aren't voting for Obama are stupid and this video will show them how silly they are and get them to change their minds.

My issue is not necessarily with the message you want to convey. I really think if I see a crazy Conservative actor, singer, filmmaker, etc. opening their yap to tell me what I should be doing I'll be calling them out as well. So if you see someone like that, send me a note.
I do take exception with your premises. Like your opinion that we need change in the first place. This is not a unarguable fact. There is no "consensus of scientists" who agree to this like man-made global warming. There are plenty of people that think that we, as a country, are not all that far off course (more than you would believe if you would get off your small little isolated planet). Some think we are doing pretty good in a "Grand Scheme" way of looking at things. Others think that the current ideas are correct, but the execution of the ideas needs some adjustments.
To think that we should just chuck the whole system and start making wholesale changes for the sake of change, and that this is the ONLY choice a smart person would make, is more than a little arrogant.

My ultimate point is, there are plenty of ways for people to figure out what they believe and who they are going to vote for. I don't even want to think that someone is voting for anyone based on a cute little video with characters in it from decades old TV shows. Those type of people should be banned from voting. Now that would be a change I could live with.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Hayden Panettiere is no Hero.

So you may have guessed from the title, my next target is Hayden Panettiere. The cheerleader, Claire, from Heroes. She has decided that she is popular enough to start telling us how she expects us to live our lives. She doesn't tell us information then ask us to make up our own mind. Instead she comes up with this cute little video.


Wow. That's great. Now this little tart is getting all smart ass with us. She has other videos posted. Apparently she is trying to be another Britney or Hannah Montana. Ya know Hayden dear, if you want to act or sing, that's great. Just shut the "F" up about how I should live my life.

The people I list in this blog, are going on my list. This is a personal list that I am using to tell me what TV, Music, Movies, etc to avoid. This one is hard because I really like Heroes.
So, as long as we only are dealing with this one video, I'm going to offset her being an AssTart with the fact that one of my favorite people is currently in Heroes as one of the Villains this season. David Lawrence is currently playing Eric Doyle in the show, and he is great. Both in acting and in the way he lives his life.
Now if Ms Panettiere decides to strut her stuff again, I'll have to revisit whether I will be boycotting Heroes until they decide to finally kill off her whiny character. For now, I'm safe.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

For Starters

For the longest time it has been getting to me.
The fact that a person with any kind of celebrity, be it an actor, singer, comedian or anything that allows them a way to express what they think to the masses, feels it is their duty to tell me what they think about all things political.

There are a lot of famous people who know better. I'm sure there are a lot of (or at least a few) people I pay good money to (for them to entertain me) who would just piss me off if I knew that they think the Constitution of the U.S. should be used as toilet paper. The difference between them and say, Ben Affleck or Tina Fey is they know better then to piss where they eat.

Then there are the people like Al Frankin or Michael Moore who's job (for lack of a better word) it is to tell us what they think. They, at least, are not pulling the bait and switch by making a very funny comedy show (like Family Guy) but slipping in jabs here and there (all in the name of comedy) to tell us that the way we think is crap and we need to think like them.

So I wanted to start a blog. I mean everyone has a blog. It's kind of like an open letter to the world. This one is going to be mainly my own personal list of people and organizations that are, in my opinion, stepping out of bounds.

I'm going to start with Tina Fey.
I love her work. She is very talented. I just wish she would stop telling me how much she disdains Sarah Palin. She thinks that since Governor Palin doesn't talk like her or any of her friends, that it is funny. To some degree she's right. It is a little humorous. I mean even I have made fun of the way people from other parts of the country/world talk, just as I have been poked fun of for the way I talk. When I was in the Navy, I was surprised to find out that I have an accent. I never thought of it before, but I guess I do.
The first time I saw Ms. Fey's impersonation of Gov. Palin, I loved it. It was spot on and funny. However, Tina made the mistake of being interviewed about what she thinks. So now when I see her do Gov. Palin, all I see is an elitist making fun of a country bumpkin.

To keep things short, I'm going to stop this post here. I just want to add some other names of people that I am going to boycott. I may get to specifics in the future, but for now here are just some names.

Tina Fey
Ben Affleck
Seth McFarland
Charlie Sheen (his dad too but I don't think he does anything anymore)