kidding right? with their boy in the house what do they have to bitch about??? tow the line...
Posted on 03/13/2010 4:57:28 AM PST by Kaslin
For the first time that I can remember, there were no politically charged comments at the Academy Awards ceremony last Sunday. And I was ready. We had left-wing bomb throwers like George Clooney, Sean Penn, Barbra Streisand and co-host Alec Baldwin all lined up in the "let it fly" zone. But the show turned out to be the silence of the lambs.
What's going on?
The answer to that question is money, pure and simple.
The rise of the machines has dislocated entertainment all over the country. Now you can program your life on your computer and endlessly amuse yourself with iPods, DS games and BlackBerry phones. No longer do you have to drive to a movie theater to see something interesting.
Therefore, the pool of movies, recordings, books and other forms of entertainment is becoming shallow. For the most part, companies are not throwing around big dollars to actors and singers anymore. Now you have to earn your bread by selling product. And alienating potential customers is not a good business model.
You may remember Clooney, for example, saying the federal government under President Bush was run like "The Sopranos." That was in 2003. Since that time, Clooney has pulled back from provocative political statements. I am guessing commerce has something to do with it.
Baldwin continues to toss grenades at the right, but even he has tempered his commentary. Back in 2002, old Alec told a Florida audience that George W. Bush's victory in 2000 did as much damage to America as the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Last Sunday night, he was like your hip uncle, a few wisecracks and then off to the bar.
Even Penn, as rabid a left-winger as can be imagined, refrained from blasting anyone. A few days earlier, however, he did say that he hoped his critics died "screaming from rectal cancer." I guess it's comforting to know that some things never change.
Streisand continues her political website, but what used to be bombs-away prose has turned surprisingly mild. Streisand has resumed touring and recording, so again, marketing may be in play.
Mass-market entertainers simply cannot survive by alienating much of the country. Polls show that 40 percent of Americans currently identify themselves as conservative. As Streisand well knows, people need people to buy their records and see their movies. That's the way we were and continue to be -- with apologies to everyone for those lines.
I kind of miss the embarrassing Oscar moments, where some celebrity would bash his or her country or call out a right-wing politician. Yes, those were cringe-worthy experiences, but they broke the tedium of the long-winded Academy Award telecast.
Next year we should have a retrospective of the crazy stuff said during past Academy Award programs. Michael Moore could host it.
The ‘stars’ verbally assaulted the citizen’s of this Country.
That’s movie ‘stars’, athlete ‘stars’, television ‘stars’, hip hop ‘stars’, music Industry ‘stars’, news anchor ‘stars’....
Falling stars are a beautiful sight to see...
Why would we continue to support them? I won’t.
I didn't "hallucinate between the lines". O'reilly chalked it up to money. He's dead wrong.
I can proudly say that I haven’t seen any of the nominated or winning movies in a few years now. I have DVDs, but mostly old movies and televisin. Newer movies and television turn me off for the most part. And don’t ask me about the actor/actress nominees. Most of them I’ve never heard of either.
Hollywood is suffering, perhaps because of the general state of the economy or because of all those political statement turning people off. For me, though, the main reason is that it is producing pure crap. They don’t make movies like they used to. Sure, Hollywood didn’t have the high tech special effects years ago, but what the movies from back then did have was a plot...something that would hold your interest and make you care about the characters. Those old movies had heart and soul, and they have for the most part withstood the test of time. The junk coming out of Hollywood now does not...and in a few years many of them will be forgotten.
If Pres Bush was in office and not odumbo there would of been plenty of politics
How about George C. Scott’s “acceptance”? Heh heh.
I was a Platoon Leader with the 3rd Stryker Brigade during their last deployment. When I came home on R&R leave, my wife wanted to say hi to some of the counter-protestors against LT Watada (remember him?). As we’re talking to the old Vietnam vet who was running it, I notice that none other than Sean Penn is standing about 20 feet off to my left (where else would he be? :0) ). He’s standing there looking solemn and morose while a member of the anti-war Gold Star Families parade their KIA family members’ pictures on posterboard.
Two things went through my head then:
1) How bad is it for these folks (and Watada) that Penn and his ilk will just abandon them all as soon as this news cycle is complete?
2) Man, Sean Penn has a HUGE head!
Anyway, in his particular case it was amusing b/c I personally can’t stand Penn’s acting. Not like Matt Damon who’s very talented, just a complete political moron. Penn’s a cartoon character in his films. So, it’s not like he lost a fan! Heh heh.
ML/NJ
I did watch the Oscars for the first time in years and I think Bill O’Reilly is probably correct. Tina Fey was there and as a presenter. There was not a hint or a whiff of Sarah Palin trashing, one of the left’s favorite hobbies. Tina’s makeup and hair was so different that there was no hint of her “Sarah-ness”.
I had promised myself that the first hint of Repub bashing would cause me to turn off the Oscars, but there was no need. Also, going the other direction,there was no Obama praise either. I don’t recall a mention.
As for the rude audiences, I had a solution that worked perfectly. I chose a small, old-fashioned, one-screen theater in a small town, and I went to a 4pm showing on Super Bowl Sunday! The place had about 5 people in it. It was great, and I enjoyed the movie!
Worse. Tom Hanks thinks our grandfathers were RACISTS for wanted to win the war the the Pacific, and agains the terrorists. Think about it: we are racists because we want to survive. The man is an idiot. Movie stars used to be good looking, and they used to be patriots. Now they are insufferable buffoons.
The Dems are in power now so we can't be dissin' da Dems.........
yeah I noticed Tina Fey, too.
Wilma Flintstone called and asked for HER dress back!
I am 50/50, with OReilly and everyone else. I do think $$$ has to do with it. But I also think that the libs don’t want to draw attn. to the mistakes of the administration.
Last time I posted “what I think” I was told I was irrelevent(sorry can’t spell) so if anyone gets mad today, please spare me. Thanks.
kidding right? with their boy in the house what do they have to bitch about??? tow the line...
yeah I noticed Tina Fey, too.
Wilma Flintstone called and asked for HER dress back!
I am 50/50, with OReilly and everyone else. I do think $$$ has to do with it. But I also think that the libs don’t want to draw attn. to the mistakes of the administration.
Last time I posted “what I think” I was told I was irrelevent(sorry can’t spell) so if anyone gets mad today, please spare me. Thanks.
Your thoughts are not irrelevant and I loved the Wilma Flintstone comment! Good point on one of the reasons that the Oscars might not have mentioned politics, for fear of drawing attention to the nakedness of their emperor. Perhaps they are disappointed in him, too, but for reasons very different from our own.
I thought the idea of having an “advocate” for each of the nominees in the best actor/actress categories was innovative. Not sure how it went over.
“Oh how I miss the days of riding the bus downtown with my cousins as young teens (it was safe then) and going to a huge movie theatre that had only one screen!!!!!!.......”
My downtown was in St Louis - Fox and Lowes ... One screen and one movie and Intermission was real sound, (pipe-organ heaven) that our children and grandchildren will never hear.
Hanks has nothing to worry about where he lives. $26,000,000.00 for a house in Pacific Palisades, Ca. No blacks or illegal immigrants living there. ;-)
BINGO! If tom hanks thinks we’re all so racist and evil then why doesn’t he put his MONEY where his MOUTH is and give away all his money to the honorable, poor people of this country.
As long as he lives in luxury, a luxury attained only because he lives in a CAPITALISTIC country, then he can keep his sagging, aging mouth shut.
It just frosts me that all these hollywood freaks are dissing regular, hard-working American and then expecting us to pay to go see their anti-American CRAP.
Why would I pay money to see a movie in which the main actor has publicly called me (because of my political beliefs) an “effing idiot?” Really??!!! They think they
can insult me and that I’m then going to just meekly hand
over my money to them? Actors are only successful because
we, the audience, are willing to suspend belief and pretend
along with them that they are someone they aren’t.
But when I see clooney, damon, hanks, sarandon, streisand, baldwin, robbins et al.....the only thing I see and hear is
their strident comments against everything I believe in!!!
So no thanks Hollyweird....let your fellow liberals pay your salaries from now on.
Obama has been a favorite of certain actors/directors like Hanks but by and large you didn’t see a lot of the usual suspects out for Obama like you did Clinton and against Bush. Clooney has not be outspoken for Obama even when ZERO was running. It was totally different then the years of Clinton or Bush.
Noticed back during the election that Hollywood for the most part was pretty quiet.
The director of the winning picture kept praising our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a different Oscar this year from start to finish. For years no matter the President they have told jokes but nothing that I remember from this year.
Exactly. It’s like the fact that the homeless “advocates” only come out during Republican administrations.
That Green Zone movie is making me boycott everything from Universal and GE. I will never buy even a light bulb from GE, let alone an appliance.
I think O’Reilly might be missing the point by a mile or two, which wouldn’t be unusual for him.
First, the anointed one is now president, and the criticism can’t go too far without unavoidably reflecting on Obama.
And the Oscar show has seen some dips in ratings, so the organizers of that self-indulgent, Hollywood publicity orgy realize that the Bush bashing and conservative bashing of the past wasn’t helping ratings.
Not sure all the new machines have that much to do with whether or not consumers of entertainment offerings are offended by one-sided political harangues from pompous celebrities.
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