Last Evening Television

So many of us now have better image and audio in our homes than what you can experience in a theatre. This has pushed the envelope for better set & sound design as well as image quality. Clearly each of us has our own opinion on what we find interesting or entertaining.

Lets review last nights Oscars. What did you like about the show?

Did the issues about diversity get addressed, or is this an attempt by the pampered elite to stay culturally relevant? How do they make sure the right films or people get recognized based on a proportional contribution?

How do you think Chris Rock did in hosting the Oscars? Did he also fall into the stereotype of racial slur?

Highest paid actors of 2105.

What did you think about the environmental message Leonardo DiCaprio gave in his acceptance speech?

Actor Mark Ruffalo has declared certain questions off limits to the media, regarding the sincerity of the actors who advocate a low carbon footprint. Ruffalo was asked in a one-on-one interview with Climate Depot if celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, who boasts that he will fly around the world to fight global warming and former VP Al Gore, are the best spokesmen for global warming, given their huge carbon footprints.

Last nights Oscars amassed a 15-block-radius of limos; “.. chauffers are captains of a sleek, passing fleet of more than 1,200 cars and SUVs that will navigate police perimeters, barricades, bomb squads, helicopter searchlights, hundreds, maybe thousands of fans and probably a few stalkers lingering beyond the paparazzi flash.”

Many attendees were moved by Lady Gagas song from Spotlight. After her musical presentation, many former victims stood hand in hand with the entertainers, but in light of all the revelations about actors, producers, directors and agents who have been accused of numerous sexual abuse crimes, do you think this was another of Hollywood’s attempt to be perceived on the right side of this issue?

High profile Hollywood power players accused of being paedophiles, include Bryan Singer.

Stephen Collins’ Wife Calls Him a ‘Pedophile’.

Molestation Scandal: Hollywood’s Child Sex Abuse Coverup.

Bill Cosby’s accusers tell their stories.

In a recent (2016) movie role, “Dirty Grandpa“, Robert De Niro plays a lecherous former Army Lieutenant-Colonel, a despicable grandfather, for comedic effect. Quite a different message than that of the Academy award winner, Spotlight.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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I Am Not What Happened to Me. I Am What I Choose to Become ~ Carl Jung

 

 

Addicted to Malice

I’ve read a few articles concerning Phillip Hoffman who died of a heroin overdose. He reminded me of some of my relatives who struggled with their addictions. As I’ve gotten older my tolerance for understanding has increased markedly.  It was difficult for me to understand alcoholism because it was my own fathers problem. He was essentially taken out of the equation of life through this addiction. I too saw alcoholics in the worst possible light and drug addicts no better. If nothing else, I can use my prior intolerance, which I believe typifies society. That is to say, anyone that has a drug or alcohol addiction is someone who is considered defective and deserving of scorn. Perhaps that’s too harsh, but our laws reflect this thinking.

Rather than figure out ways to assist the individual addict, we expect somehow they will manage on their own to seek and find help. Even if they find it, possession of an unlawful substance means you’re likely to end as a criminal and tossed aside in a prison where there’s even less hope for you.

When you think about it, the reality for most addicts are a life of hell and then death. Of course it also affects friends and family. I know this painful truth first hand. I examined my own life’s course at an early age and designed my own intervention, I enlisted in the Marines. Of course that was no guarantee of a release from habitual drinking, but it did serve it’s purpose. 13 weeks of boot camp were enough to get my head on straight and find an alternative. Other people can’t solve it so readily.

What are we going to do about addicts? Do we let this reminder of the personal tragedy which so many of us either have or find in close family or friends, slip away into another faceless statistic? Is it appropriate or sensible in the 21st century to continue to look at people with addictions as if we still live in the middle ages? Maybe we think we’ve advanced ourselves from witch trials and stockades, but in effect we are still public shaming people who need our help. Instead of finding new slogans to say no, or another cruel punishment, can we insist our legislators review how ineffective our present laws are and abolish the current methods of substance and addict control.

Believe me, the addiction is enough punishment. Let’s find another way.

Related Articles

• Addiction, Mental Health – A Society that fails both (DeBie Hive blog)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman is another victim of bad drug laws (Russell Brand – Guardian UK)
• Russell Brand: my life without drugs (Guardian UK)
• The Shape I’M In – The Band

 

What Was That . . ?

Have you ever watched a movie and asked yourself, why did I watch that or what was that all about? I know I have and yet other people find it appealing, such is the nature of personal taste. As for me, when it crosses the threshold of eye-stain, brain-pain, won’t watch again, here’s a few criteria.

• Gratuitous violence
• Gratuitous sex
• Rambling plot
• Inane language
• Comedy that tries to be funny (and isn’t)
• Characters which I would want dead myself..

I’ve seen a few films where I just want to get up and leave. Two of them I did, and three I wish I had.

Here’s an example of a film that I chose to walk out on and one that I wish I had. I went with my wife while we were out-of-town and attended a movie called “Grizzly”. I think we made it through the first 30 minutes, maybe less, but it was a lot longer than we cared to watch. Now here’s another movie, which may come as a surprise to some. Let’s see if you can guess the movie title.

A cab driver works the nightshift driving through a decaying major metropolis. He fantasizes about a hard rain to wash the lowlife’s off the streets. A loner who attempts without success to connect with anyone, even other cabby’s. He becomes infatuated with a pretty woman running a local political campaign and after several attempts to date her, succeeds in one night out but she soon loses interest when he takes her to a porn film.

Now dejected and after an encounter with a malevolent fare this pitiable loner turns his attention to physical fitness and arming himself for an imaginary encounter in an iconic moment of all the bad people he sees and wants to liberate the city from. This culminates in a massive display of violence after his new-found attention on a minor working the streets of the city. He acts out in his Don Quixote fixation by “saving” this teen hooker from her pimp when he breaks in and shoots people who block his quest inside a brothel. I only walked just before the credits rolled because I kept hoping this movie could redeem itself. It didn’t in my humble opinion.

The irony I see in a film such as this is in the end, the protagonist is lauded as a hero in rescuing an underage girl from a life of indignity. Audience reviews and critics honor it as well as one of the greatest films of all time. Wow! That’s not going to happen for me.

How about you? Do you have a film which you might cite as a golden turkey?

Related Links

• Should heroes have a license to kill?
• Taxi Driver (1976 IMDb)
• Grizzly (1976 IMDb)
• Murderer’s and Hero’s are the Same (WordPress Blog)
• Benedict Cumberbatch and the Sign of Four (or is it Three? A little humor)

 

The many faces of comedy

Do you know the one about . . . ? Well, of course not and that’s what I’m about to tell you. So begins the humorous banter of many comedians.

Comedians are known for deceiving an audience. It’s part of their trade to find ways to misinform and pull a fast one on those listening or watching. It’s even more of a send up if a supposedly serious actor manages to sneak one by us….

If fooling an audience works, why not use this device to have us all laugh at a person within the skit? Here’s a little mischief to provide us all a laugh. (a very young Rowan Atkinson)

Nicolas Cage – 2011 San Diego Comic-Con (Photo: Wikipedia)

Most of the time, an audience loves to be beguiled, but sometimes this backfires. Some entertainers are unable to understand how much the joke is about them.  “For a while there, it was the three Cs; castles, comic books and cars.” He gives me a doleful look. “I just can’t get that stuff off of me,” says Nicolas Cage: ‘People think I’m not in on the joke’. I don’t know many actors who can make the statements he does and get away with them.  (Emma Brockes – The Guardian, 19 July 2013)

His behavior hasn’t gone unnoticed and has generated numerous jokes.

Q: What does Nicolas Cage have to do in exchange for the IRS forgiving his tax debt?
A: Apologize for “Bangkok Dangerous”, “Season of the Witch”, & “Knowing”!
Q: What’s the difference between Nicolas Cage and a jug of water?
A: Water spills, Nicolas Cage takes pills.

After a difficult day on the set Nicolas Cage returns to his neighborhood and is shocked to find police and fire trucks surrounding the smoldering remains of his house. After explaining who he was he asks; “What happened?” “Well,” one of the officer’s says, “It seems that your agent came by your house earlier today and while he was here he attacked your wife, assaulted your children, beat your dog and burned your house to the ground.” The actor is struck speechless, his jaw hanging open in disbelief, “My agent came to my house?“ (Jokes4us.com)

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders sketch artists (photo: The Telegraph UK)

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, the queens of comedy. BBC Radio 2

It’s clever when the audience is fooled by the joke, good the audience enjoys a joke with us, seldom acceptable if the joke is about us.

Related articles

• 7 Rules of Comedy (BBC New Talent)
• How Mel Smith and ‘Not The Nine O’Clock News’ changed the face of British TV comedy (Mirror UK)

 

 

Moving Forward

Learning the ancient art of Slackitude?

slack tide: Before any turn of the tide, there is a time of slack water or slack tide.

slackitude: When slackers give you attitude because they actually have to do some work they ask you for information, then when you give it to them, act put out because they have to write something down and give you slackitude.

Lethargy can be a force of resistance to “right action”. If there is a presence of lethargy, it’s difficult to follow the inspirations, within you. It’s as if your body is not being co-operative with your mind.

Set yourself free of the mindset of high anxiety living. Move from a place of fear or the lack of something in your mind. Lethargy can lead to a soul-less disconnection, misaligning your actions from your thought. It does not mean that you choose a life of detached inaction. Return to your true inner productive self by taking risks and allowing failure. Each step toward your desire to design or create means you leave the disconnected mind behind and achieve your dreams.

Some people keep busy out of a fear of inaction. In this situation the activity suggests fear of being inactive or a fear of feeling unproductive, rather than from a place of inner freedom to live your expression.

Connel Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans Loch Etive at Connel in Scotland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Further Reading

• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey)
• 7 Ways To Conquer The Fear Of Asking (habitline.org)
• Fear Tsar (tarlife.com)