So… it turns out I am going on a last minute junket (travel and accommodations paid for by a studio) to a faraway land. And I am training myself on the new Final Cut Pro. And I am trying to process more DP/30s than I know what to do with. And I am working on a project for Ebert Presents At The Movies. And…well… other stuff too trivial to bother you with. All I can say is, I’m soaking in it.
And here’s a fresh new BYOB without any drunk driving attached so you can go in clean…
amit on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
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Christian on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
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Hcat on: Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: I Should Be Doing Box Office
Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
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[twitter-widget username="DavidPoland" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"][twitter-widget username="MCNTweets" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"]
It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Transformers 3 in Moscow?
I saw GREEN LANTERN today and it wasn’t all that awful. I think the trick was, my expectations were non-existent and I just wanted to veg out for 2 hours in a room with air conditioning. It worked for me that way.
Still, I can’t really see how anyone-especially geeks- can complain about the film. It’s kind of a lame character and concept anyway but might work with thousands of comic books bulding up the lore, etc. A dude with a green ring who uses his imagination to get the ring to produce anything he dreams of. Neat. I mean, if Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry or Tim Burton got that thing (or, the movie) it could be compelling. But Hal Jordan’s a pretty standard American dude. I just don’t see what people were expecting that wasn’t delivered.
True story:
Lived in Texas for a couple years as a kid, and some friends and I were going to play SuperFriends. Green Lantern was first picked. I picked Black Vulcan. One friend then said “You want to play the n****r?”
Just caught up with the Jerry Lewis letter to Rex Reed in re: Frank Sinatra.
Did anyone else notice how much it reads like many, many exchanges here on the Hot Blog? Right down to the INEXPLICABLE CAPS, aspersions of mental illness, accusations of being an ENEMY of HUMANITY.
Wow.
If only Terrence Malick had grown up a couple decades later we may have seen that in The Tree of Life.
(that was to Krillian)
To be expected with simultaneous posts, laz.
Jerry Lewis and Rex Reed would have ruined TREE OF LIFE for sure.
I think Tracy Morgan has been raked over the coals enough over his anti-gay tirade. He’s a COMEDIAN. Sometimes they have trouble differentiating between being ‘on’ and not. They try too hard to be funny. So he made a mistake. How many times, to how many people, and in how many cities is he going to have to apologize?? He didn’t commit mass genocide. Good god, our society has gone INSANE. What would have happened to Prior or Murphy had they been at their peaks in today’s instant access twitterverse? He made some bad gay jokes – big deal. He apologized, rightly, and that should be the end of it. What is more over the top here – his comments or the OUTRAGE that everyone has been feeling (and fueling) for WEEKS? We get it – it was offensive. GET OVER IT. Tina Fey making him apologize – give me a break. Tina Fey should realize we all watch 30 Rock for 2 reasons – Baldwin and Morgan. I can go on all night about this. SO sick of this mental level of political correctness. HE’S A COMEDIAN. He’s not a president, or a principal, or a CEO. Lighten the fuck up.
Who elected Tina Fey the Queen Of Taste?
My favorite quote from NYT Michael Bay article:
“The consumer has had a reaction to bad 3-D and subtle 3-D,” said Rob Moore, Paramount’s vice chairman. “They’re tired of sitting in a theater thinking, ‘Wait, is this movie in 3-D or not?’ Well, with ‘Transformers’ people are going to leave saying, ‘You absolutely must see this in 3-D.’ ”
So sayeth the studio head behind LAST AIRBENDER and THOR.
Just saw X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, and while it was fine for what it was, I was gobsmacked by something I don’t think I’ve read anywhere: the almost total failure to make it seem like 1962. The hairstyles, makeup, clothing, bodies, maps, dialogue, behavior–and of course the complete lack of smoking–are all squarely 2010. Joe Dante’s MATINEE is also set in ’62 but is absolutely accurate to that era. Are filmmakers now just too young to remember and too lazy to do the research?
i watched Monogamy .. small movie with like no budget
the one thing that was supposed to happen in the movie
really didn’t .. the ending just sucked ..
Rashida Jones is toally wasted here ..
DP – did you watch this ?
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/monogamy/trailer
The thing that struck me about the Jerry Lewis letter is that it reads exactly the way he talks.
What, Cadavra, you’re telling me Zoe Kravitz’s cadence, demeanor, attitude and certain months of period research to immerse herself in the ’60s didn’t come off as period-appropriate?
Or that mop-topped kid with the bad teeth who flew by screaming? Even Jennifer Lawrence, who qualifies as one of the good actors in it (as opposed to the all-TERRIBLE younger set) was about as 1962 as Robert LaSardo.
“He’s a COMEDIAN. Sometimes they have trouble differentiating between being ‘on’ and not. They try too hard to be funny. So he made a mistake. How many times, to how many people, and in how many cities is he going to have to apologize?? He didn’t commit mass genocide. Good god, our society has gone INSANE.”
We’re talking about Michael Richards, right?
Just caught Eureka for the first time over the weekend, and when they wanted to convince us it was the ’40s they made sure all the men were wearing hats and EVERYONE was smoking.
HEY LADEEEEE!!!
@arisp:
Tracy Morgan “joked” that he would stab his own son to death if he were gay.
Faggot jokes are one thing, but that? Society has gone insane to condemn that?
And what’s the deal with this tweet on the front page: “Remember when everyone was saying Quora was going to rule the internet? Yeah, good times.”
Talk to some kids, smaller kids, kids who don’t have their own movie review blogs, and you’ll hear a different story.
My daughter and her female friends are nuts about Quora. Added to that, we must’ve watched Tron Legacy at my daughter’s insistence more than fifteen times in the eight weeks after the DVD came out (and take into consideration that I usually get to see my kids only on the weekends). And when we caught a trailer for “Cowboys and Aliens” she shouted “It’s Quora!”
The problem with what Tracy said was that it rung too close to home for many families, particularly the patriarch black father who would have no problem saying these exact same words directly to his son, in a crowded room, at a family gathering. Is it wrong? Sure. But if this was in some Madea movie and delivered in a Stepin Fetchitesque tone, would the same public have been laughing their ass off?
SamLowry, nice insight… that’s a RT-without-endorsement of something Mike Monello observed earlier tonight. Fodder for further, which you’ve supplied, thanks.
a rant about tv logos that pop up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mTOI0x3hzs
Hey Poland, you know that thing where you email me to knock it off?
Will you do that if I post an epic screed about how I saw multiple young, skinny white women in Burbank today and it made me super-depressed and considering suicide knowing that I’ll never have sex with them? Or ever again in my life? Or that I have nothing to look forward to in life, and absolutely no creative avenue save for dicking around in comments sections of the Internet?
Okay, thought so. Life SUCKS. I can’t understand the concept of anyone being happy, ever. I’ve never felt fulfilled or happy one day of my entire life. I’m still waiting for my life to begin, but that can never happen when I’m stuck in a subtitling job.
At the risk of sounding cruel and taunting: LexG, seriously, have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, your suicidal tendencies go a long way toward explaining your repeated insistence that you should be allowed to drink as much as you want before driving?
lex has just taught us a very important lesson.
it’s not what you say, but how you say it.
if all of your suicidal, alcohol, fueled rants were presented like that, no one would care.
and the tracy morgan argument is just stupid. saying ‘he’s an entertainer’ is not a defense to saying he’d stab his son to death if he told him he was gay.
and i would LOVE to see the Tyler Perry movie where Madea exclaims “IM GONNA STAB MY GAY SON TO DEATH”…
you could call it TYLER PERRY PRESENTS CAREER SUICIDE
If memory serves, Morgan said, “I’d stab that n—– to death.” Thus using the n-word as well as the f-word. Witnesses say he did NOT sound as if he were joking.
But I do agree it’s time to let it go and move on. I mean, it’s not like he did something really bad, like tweeting pictures of his dick.
If we had footage of the actual routine, Tracy might go the way of Michael Richards. Fortunately for him, we don’t, and 30 Rock has another season. And the reason Morgan and Richards are so close in this is because they had no punchlines.
I go back to Louis CK. That guy can joke about ANYTHING because of his punchlines. And more power to him.
I’m kinda glad Tracy Morgan isn’t off the hook for what he said. I thought he would be as he’s a big star. When people like Michael Richards or Gallagher go off the rails like that, they’re DONE in showbizz. I wonder if Marc Maron in his WTF podcast will chastise Morgan like he did to Gallagher- and Gallaghers gay jokes were pretty entry level. Like his talent.
Speaking of, if you haven’t checked out Marons WTF podcast, you’re really missing out. The recent Andy Dick interview should win a podcast emmy if they have one. Maron has a way of really getting people to open up on his podcasts and since comedians are generally insane, it’s a pretty amazing podcast.
I couldn’t stand Morgan before.
I highly suggest that Lex never consider working retail in a college town. Not only are you surrounded by beautiful young women from the beginning of your shift to the end, but they take so little notice of you that they see nothing wrong with rubbing up against you while you’re trying to stock product.
‘True Blood’ Star Stephen Moyer: Anna Paquin Lets Me Bite Fans’ Boobs
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/true-blood-star-stephen-moyer-_n_882015.html#s296103
What’s old is new, and it’s all going away.
I have a legit question about the Tracy Morgan thing:
I notice that “you guys”– not just here, but let’s say intelligent LA/NYC types or movie geeks or the kinda guys who post on movie sets and really, really know pop culture, the majority of whom I would safely generalize as having at least a mildly left-of-center worldview:
Every time there’s a meltdown like Morgan’s, or Richards’s, or Gibson, or some other form of celebrity bad behavior (throw in Polanski, Lohan, Sheen, etc), there’s this kind of faux-shocked, “Why I never!” kind of reaction. Which would seem to be at least somewhat at odds with your libertine, anything-goes persona where you like rowdy movies and freedom of speech and raunchy humor, etc. Isn’t there kind of a strange Puritan streak in all this “Gotcha-ing” where the most liberal people in America– showbiz types and those who aspire to it– have this instinctual need to BAN someone when they express an un-PC behavior? Even though “you’re” exactly the same people who’d blanch at Palin trying to ban books or Senators trying to censor TV or movies? But then Michael Richards drops a terrible rage-fueled rant, and the shame of being a white asshole who dropped an N-bomb or a comic who got called on homophobia isn’t enough… no, they have to be SHAMED out of the biz. Isn’t there a certain level of petty schadenfreude at play there, where mostly it’s just fun to see a celebrity fall?
Which brings me to the main thrust: You guys who ARE saying YOU CAN’T BELIEVE someone would make a joke about an old-school dad not being DELIGHTED his son is flamboyantly gay: Have you really never heard these comedic tropes before, especially in African-American or Latino comedy, which is built in some not small part around machismo, and is often sort of ironic about said?
And what I most wanna know is: Have you guys really, truly never heard opinions or riffs like that before? Or Gibson’s bullshit, or Sheen’s, or Richards’? Do most “movie guys” have super-progressive, ponytailed Michal Gross uber-lib parents who were fighting for gay marriage and and progressive causes from your earliest memories?
Like, really, none of you guys go home to see “the fam” and like Uncle Lou drops an N-bomb, or Aunt Mildred doesn’t say something like “Boy that Anthony Weiner really looks Jewish,” or anything like that? Nowhere in your family, ever? And not even in truly racist or hateful way, just… OLD SCHOOL. Just like my parents are OLD SCHOOL. I don’t think my old man would’ve slit my throat like in the Morgan routine, but I can TOTALLY imagine doing a riff about any male authority figure in my Friday Night Lights hometown disowning his kid for coming out. Sure, these kind of old-school parents are edging out with age and time as people are less stupidly prejudiced today, but the macho dad aghast as his son’s coming out is hardly some ENTIRELY FOREIGN CONCEPT TO HUMANITY; Fuck, even “Glee” has a whole storyline about it.
But to take it back, just the way movie blog types and bloggers react to ANY un-PC riff, it’s truly like they’ve never heard these words before. Is it just being sheltered, or being in coastal cities for too long? Morgan’s rant wouldn’t have raised so much as an eyebrow where I grew up.
“When you tell somebody something, it depends on what part of the United States you’re standing in as to just how dumb you are.” – Bo “Bandit” Darville
The only relation of mine (through marriage, even) who ever dropped the n-bomb is currently sitting in jail. Am I suggesting there’s a connection between the mentality and the criminality? Possibly.
However, there’s a big difference between a riff and a rant. Saying something to a group of cops who are trying to arrest you is not quite the same as saying it to a club full of hipsters who might actually think you’re doing performance art.
On a related note, even if you cut out the whole blowing up the school ending, do you think “Heathers” could be released today?
Saying that Tracy Morgan is not “a president, or a principal, or a CEO,” is not the same as saying he has NO power. The guy has a massive audience by any account. He does have the power to influence people, even if he’s not an elected official or financial leader.
However, I do agree that he’s not the “enemy.” Perhaps his greatest sin was just not being funny.
My wife and I have numerous family members who drop N-words and express xenophobic, bigoted statements on a regular basis. My wife’s uncle sent her a picture of a scene he created in his refrigerator: a beer bottle with Obama written on it was hanging from a noose surrounded by a bunch of beer bottles wearing white hoods. Since Obama was elected I can’t count the number of black jokes I’ve heard from family members, some of whom gladly accept monthly welfare checks while decrying lazy black people. Another of my wife’s uncles, who lives in Alabama, has a kid with his cousin and is covered in Nazi tattoos, most of which he got in prison for dealing coke. I’ve also heard plenty of homophobic remarks from African-Americans and Latinos from my time teaching in urban schools.
Lex, there’s a difference between being disappointed that your kid’s gay, and threating to stab them if they talk like a ‘sissy.’ Completely different to have some rural aunt say something stupid about Black people and have Richard’s screaming the N’word at an audience member.
It is because of the community they work in that this is suprising. Morgan is not some hillbilly that never left his farm community outside Cheyenne, he is a guy who works everyday with gay people, some of whom may have felt like they faced violence with coming out. Its not that people in the entertainment community have never heard these words or think they live in some sort of utopia. Its just suprising when shit like this resurfaces.
Often it seem society is quicker to condemn words than actions.
“I’ve also heard plenty of homophobic remarks from African-Americans and Latinos from my time teaching in urban schools.”
I was amused to see the anger of the African-American community in California whenever anyone asked them how Prop 8 is different from miscegenation laws. They absolutely hate gays yet refuse to admit they’re fighting the same fight.
Good points above, but:
BUT why do we hold celebrities to a HIGHER LEVEL than our own families???? If any of you had a dad in jail for a violent crime– your DAD, your brother, your uncle– you’d 99% damn sure go to visit with him and correspond with the guy and probably even defend him, even though you’d know damn well he’s guilty. How many violent offenders who’ve ever faced trial in America have still had ol’ Grandma or Aunt June there in the courthouse refusing to believe it? Fucking *O.J.* went to trial, and you never saw his kids or immediate family going, “Dad REALLY FUCKED UP, can’t believe he’s a murderer, I don’t want anything to do with the son of a bitch.” NOPE, they sat there month after month IN SUPPORT of someone they all but sure as shit thought was guilty, because they loved him.
So if humans can go to the mattresses like THAT for actual loved ones, why do they REMOTELY have this fire-and-brimstone need to PUNISH celebrities who they’ll never meet in a THOUSAND YEARS. Your Uncle Lou kills a guy in a knife fight, you’ll stand with him at his trial every step of the way, but Tracy Morgan does a comedy routine and HE MUST BE PUNISHED! HE MUST BE DRIVEN FROM THIS BUSINESS! Why?
I don’t think everyone holds celebrities to a higher standard than family members. I also don’t think everyone goes to the mat for crazy relatives. Maybe a lot of it has to do with society’s obsession with famous people. If your crazy uncle says some nutty shit, it’s par for the course. You can’t pick your family right. But holy shit can you believe what that guy from Seinfeld or Mel Gibson said?
Here’s your answer, Lex: http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html
“But if this was in some Madea movie and delivered in a Stepin Fetchitesque tone, would the same public have been laughing their ass off?”
Yes, given what people have long suspected about Tyler Perry. A man dressed as a woman being homophobic would arguably get an even bigger pass than someone like Tracy Morgan, who has a hair-trigger reputation.
I give comedians much more leeway to go dark places than I do, say, political pundits. Ann Coulter likes to write off all her shtick as “jokes” but I bet she’s NEVER tried to work a comedy club.
Lex, you are suggesting that celebrities are as important to us as family members. That we should have the same level of support for family as some random comedian. I don’t plunk down money to listen to Aunt Ida wonder the descendency of our neighbors based on the cars they drive, so when she mentions it we contradict politely and try to change the subject. And I guarentee you anyone who announces at Thanksgiving that they are going to stab their kid for being gay is not getting invited back next year. We hold celebrities to a lower level than our own family which is why it is easier to dispose of them when they act in ways we don’t like.
And has anyone been run out the industry for these things? Morgan hasn’t been fired from 30 Rock. Richard’s career was already over when he did his schtick, Gibson’s career was already in decline and after the arrest had a dead language movie released by Touchstone reach $50 million, and made Edge of Darkness. Sheen got fired because his co-workers didn’t want him around anymore. Even Imus is still on the radio and has his program broadcast on cable.
Hey, Mike Tyson raped a girl and is now comedy gold.
Dumb-ass, watch the documentary. Read up on the evidence, and the FACTS. Tyson didn’t “rape” that girl. He was railroaded, and that was one of the most repulsive miscarriages of justice in U.S. history. TOTAL bullshit.
TYSON POWER BOW
Lex defending rapists. Shocking. Yes, a guy who bit another’s guy ear off and threatened to eat children, who beat his wife and had serious rage issues could no way rape a young woman who even Tyson’s chauffer said was traumatized.
Also to belatedly respond to Joe Leydon’s 5am’er:
I NEVER drink and drive; Why do you think I have no social life? The laws make it such that I’m terrified to drive home from a bar, plus not like I have any BRO friends to give me a ride.
Besides, I quit drinking: Two weeks of sobriety. Already lost 22 pounds just from not consuming 1500 calories of alcohol between midnight and 6am every night of my life.
Does the weight loss and non-drinking make you feel any better?
i got an idea for DP – get actors to sign autographed dvd’s and sell them right after they do a dp/30
just get Natalie Portman to sign like 200 dvd’s of Star Wars and like 100 Black Swans ..
then just put them up for sale on ebay and watch them get sold out in like 1 day
and if DP gets Kristen Stewart again – just do a the interview while getting her to sign like 500 copies of
the twilight movies .. i checked ebay and just her autographed photos go for 50 bucks or more ..
it’s time to cash in on all these celebrities – just
don’t get too greedy with the pricing .
By now I’m sure others have read about the Chris Evans article in the new GQ. Regarding this nugget from writer Edith Zimmerman: “Since we’re both single and roughly the same age, it was hard for me not to treat our interview as a sort of date.”
Is that the reporter’s version of “that stripper was totally into me, for real.”
I don’t have a problem– at all– with the Zimmerman piece. Why not? I cannot, CANNOT stand the concept of “jounalistic remove.” It’s what I do and say even in my stupid blog comments– the writer AS the story. Gonzo. Thompson. That’s what the best writing aspires to; The days of just-the-facts-ma’am reportage are a RELIC in the Internet era, but more than especially when we’re talking about CELEBRITY COVERAGE.
Jesus. If somebody hired me to spend a day with Kristen Stewart or Dakota Fanning or Jessica Alba, do you think that shit would be written as some scholarly thesis OR some incisive character portrait of the REAL THEM? Absolutely not. So I’d expect nothing different from some dingy party girl getting to spend an adventure with a cool movie star. Good for her, whatever.
I haven’t read the piece so I wasn’t criticizing her writing. She seems to think he’s really into her, though, even though it’s likely that as an actor with a very high-profile film coming out, for him it’s all business. Reminded me of guys who swear that the stripper is really into them.
I know what you mean, sure. As someone with the lowest self-esteem of any human who’s ever lived, I can’t relate to ever thinking ANYONE is into me. Why would they be? I’m a fat loser with no money and nothing to offer, and my face is fucking ugly and I’m human garbage. Even when I put stupid YOUTUBE videos up that 28 people watch, I get comments just insulting my appearance, like a bloated Leo Rossi lookalike is somehow on par with Rocky Dennis.
I can’t even get a semi at a strip club because I know even in a club full of fat guys and slobbering Eastern Europeans, I’m still the most depressing guy she’ll grind on all day.
I want to kill myself.
Aren’t there people who spend all day doing nothing but posting negative comments to YouTube videos? That’s got to be worse.
Well, this certainly is a timely press release:
Los Angeles (June 21, 2011) — Los Angeles-based RoadAngels.com, today kicks off its on-line/off-line social networking platform dedicated to solving the DUI trap while providing party-goers a way to match up with committed and rated designated drivers, company founder and on-line insurance entrepreneur Eric Oster announced, adding that a July 4, 2011 fireworks party cruise is planned in celebration of this company milestone.
“Alcohol and substance use are part of our society. They are not the enemy, driving under the influence is. There’s nothing wrong in people wanting to let go and have fun, as long as everyone gets home safely,” Oster said. A drunk driver hit him over 10 years ago and when he awoke from his coma, Oster realized that it could have just as easily been him behind the wheel and RoadAngels.com concept was born.
hcat: “Its just surprising when shit like this resurfaces”.
As opposed to seeing standup anywhere, any night of the week?
What he said isn’t any worse than what I’ve heard from a dozen other comedians over the years.
Ever hear Louis CK’s bits about his kids? They’re worse.
I think the problem with the Morgan and Richards riffs aren’t that they’re not PC and that they’re offensive (although it’s true on both counts), but that they’re simply not funny and can’t be justified in any context. As others have said, Louis C.K. has done bits that use similar language and are incredibly funny but also redeemable because, if you wanted to, you could intellectully explain the place he was coming from. Morgan and Richards, who I think are both funny, are coming off like bullies, which is the antithesis of comedy.
But actually I can’t be the only person who when they heard what Morgan apparently said didn’t have a flash back to Eddie Murphy’s (mostly classic) DELIRIOUS, which features some material that would never fly today at all, particularly involving sexual orientation. Actually Kevin Hart has a bit on one of his stand-up specials where he talks about the EXACT SAME THING as Morgan, but his demeanor/word choice/set-up to punch line is much better thought out, so even though the sentiment is the same, and I frankly do not like it, it isn’t what I’d call bigoted, so much as personally honest, if stupid. During his routine the comedy falls back upon him, which makes it work.
i’ve heard murphy’s ‘faggot mockery’ content trotted out as being comparable to morgan’s in this context, and i must beg to differ as someone who grew up with murphy’s stand-up videos such as ‘delirious’ and ‘raw’. i ask you to find anything in murphy’s oeuvre wherein he says something even remotely comparable to ‘if my son were gay i’d stab that little nigger to death’ (paraphrasing). murphy’s imagery/routines were certainly intentionally offensive (and also rather unimaginative, broad and obvious in their construction), whereas morgan’s imagery/routine was simply vicious, violent and disturbingly personal. i don’t see the parallel.
a few of murphy’s more famous ‘faggot mockery’ segments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhgrgyMmPVY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WweWwVqPqks&feature=related
(and jkill: re: hart, it isn’t what you’d call bigoted so much as personally honest, if stupid? what exactly do you consider bigotry then? bigotry has been a mainstay of comedy since year dot, bigotry and personal honesty aren’t exactly mutually exclusive)
Leah, I don’t consider Hart’s routine bigotry because he states that he is supportive of gay rights but that he personally would not know how to deal with his son being gay. The comedy of this bit comes from the foolishness of Hart, not with him demeaning gays and lesbians. He is portraying himself as ridiculous, not others. I consider stupidity to be a part of bigotry and think the routine has definite traces of ignorance and even homophobia, but it doesn’t have the vicious anger that, correctly, you attribute to the Morgan routine. Hart is airing his own dirty laundry, not denigrating an entire group of people. The impression I get from the Morgan quotes is that straights are superior to gays/bisexuals (“God Don’t Make Mistakes”), which is basically the definition of bigotry.
While I don’t think Murphy has the disturbing violence of the Mogan “jokes” (or the frightening anger of Richards) or that they are equal in their offensiveness, from a modern day perspective it’s tough to listen to a (utterly brilliant, rightfully beloved) comedian like Murphy use the word “faggot” over and over. He may not be using violence but that word has strong connotations of ugly hatered. I agree that there is a silliness and lightness that allows Eddie to get away with it, to an extent, but if that routine was given today, it would certainly not be considered kosher, which was one of my main points.
The thing is, All in the Family would not even be put on the air in today’s climate. Mr. Jefferson could never ‘move on up’ in 2011. Does anyone even doubt that shows like Family Guy, Simpsons and South Park can only exist as cartoons because having living actors saying those things would amount to mass calls for station boycotts. We live in the age where a nanosecond glimpse of a black woman’s nipple changed the landscape of television forever.
It seems that everything is dissected and given the full CSI treatment to discover what is offensive, what group is disenfranchised. It seems that political correctness is making things worse and not better and almost everyday, we have to update our lexicon with what is now the new offensive word to omit. While the n word was always viewed as offensive, even saying negro or coloured seems uncomfortable to some, and as being black, but not african american, I wonder if soon the NAACP will change their name.
I remember a time when gay people called themselves queer and the proud line was `We`re here, we`re queer, get used to it.`Now queer is offensive. And then there was that whole Vince Vaughn thing.
So now we have to face the facts that there will be no new Pryors or Murphys or Rickleses.
Pryor said the following: White people can’t dance. I’m not being racist; it’s true. Just like when white people say black people have big lips, it’s not racist; it’s true. Black people have big lips, white people can’t dance. Some brothers will be in the club and white people are like, “What are those niggers doing in here?” They watchin’ y’all dance. And they’re like, “Look at these crazy muthafuckas.” Y’all be stepping on people’s feet and hitting one another.
As recent as just after Obama won, Don Rickles had this gem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWg8kDt7hiQ
I don`t remember reading or hearing anyone demanding an apology.
eta: this reply was to jkill, bulldog’s comment wasn’t there when i wrote. for me, it’s specifically the vicious and violent nature of morgan’s ‘comedy’ that’s at issue, not bigoted comedy in general.
also: rickles is like 85, i think the elderly dinosaurs get to just say what they want and people just roll their eyes, asking for an apology is like telling them not to back out of the driveway into the street w/out looking, an exercise in futility.
ok i see where you’re coming from re: hart (i don’t ‘know’ him as a comedian, i’ve seen him here and there and in clips, i didn’t have time to search for his specific ‘gay’ bits on the tube but perhaps i’ll do that later on to get a better handle on his vibe)
re: eddie, he’s quite a fascinating time capsule; his use of ‘faggot’ is so flagrant and ott and outrageous (and juvenile, really, he just sounds like a silly 15yr old ignoramus with a big blabber mouth and rampant sphincter fear), but he confines himself to mockery with his own at times rather effeminate personality/delivery so as to take some of the sting out of the tail — there’s no undercurrent of hate to take the humour from cringe-inducingly offensive to truly disturbing (at least to my ear), whereas reading the transcript of morgan’s routine – i’d love to actually see it to get the full context – there’s a cruel, hateful streak that i find troubling. i do get what you’re saying, just wanted to try to temper the comparisons of morgan to murphy i keep seeing with a bit of context.
I think we’d be a far worse society than we are if not for Blazing Saddles.
EOM.
On a different topic: first positive review of me as an actor (DVD out now on Amazon):
http://www.horrorphilia.com/2011/06/22/ding-dong-dead-2011-movie-review/
Look out, Luke’s starting Oscar campaigning season early…
Have gay people completely disavowed the word queer? Sometimes I feel like political correctness is one of those terms that people throw around casually and carelessly as a political tool (“lamestream media,” “elitist,” “Socialist/Communist/Fascist,” etc.) without a clear understanding of what it means. And there’s also so much hypocrisy surrounding it, like when someone bemoans a society where political correctness has run amok and then demands that a public figure lose their job over saying “retard.” Is there a concrete, universally accepted definition of politically correct? Are we drastically more politically correct now than 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago? Is it a serious problem ruining this country? Or is it just a nice, easy label for people to employ when looking to score political points?
Oh, and congrats Luke.
since everybody liked the social network
the fall of myspace story
http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm
where’s the oscar for this ? where’s the dp/30 for this ?
Remember the brouhaha over “niggardly” a couple of years back? That was almost surreal.
Paul, this is anecdotal, but I often see gay film critics in other forums refer to themselves as “queer” and they talk about “queer theory.” So I’m guessing they’ve “taken back” the word to some extent.
SO MUCH HOSTILITY
Looking for good asphalt in northern New Jersey.
Well you came to the right place.