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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

4 Day Estimates by Vehicular Klady

So… Transformers 3 will be either the #2 or #3 best domestic July 4 weekend in history, depending on how it does today. The fly in the ointment, so to speak, would be Spider-Man 2, which is within a million dollars or so of Trannies 3 in the estimates. But either way – it only matters because the media has made simplicity into a primary mode of reporting – it was a very happy weekend. Internationally, Paramount is estimating $217m to AP right now, putting it at just under $400m worldwide at the end of our holiday weekend. Half-Blood Potter was the leader in worldwide openings with $394 million.

Once again, the issue of the 3D bump rises up. Two things. First, the “percentage of venues vs the percentage of revenue” thing remains very misleading because the actually number of showtimes in 3D vs 2D tends to be much lower than the venue percentage. Second, this means fuck all when it comes to the issue of whether 3D is viable for as wide a swath of titles each year as the industry is currently geared up for. This is a massive franchise, it actually offers the possibility of a superior 3D experience, and the must-see is mighty. Same will be true of Potter. But these are the exceptions that mean little to the rule.

As noted last week, Summit just pushed away from 3D for The Three Musketeers as its big selling point. Way away. Others will follow. I would suggest to the studios that they either try to impose a consistent flat rate of $2 for regular 3D and $3 for IMAX 3D and market that… and if that doesn’t work financially, it’s time to stop the 3D experiment en masse. Jim Cameron’s dream and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s passion may be viable in concept, but not when the first things about it that strikes most consumers on most films is the cost, not the benefit.

As for the Cars 2 numbers, I am going to do a halfway-mark piece at some point this week, but I don’t think it’s very complex… too short a DVD window, too much 3D gouging (3D also dissuades under 5s from going to these movies), and too much product generating animated brand blur. Yet, I still see a final worldwide number that is perfectly Pixarian.

And the comic book movies… all three are $100 million domestic films… not one is (or will be) $200 million domestic films. Thor‘s ass was saved by unexpected international strength. X-Men: First Class also benefited from international, though not as much… but didn’t have as much of a budget either. And Green Lantern seems sure to be the weak sister in the end, though they haven’t been nearly as wide overseas yet. Thor was the strongest of the two movies that went for 3D and may have benefited greatly in this regard from being early in the 3D season.

And yes… R-rated comedies. 3 more coming this month. 2 of the first 3 this summer are already over $100m domestic and Bad Teacher has an outside shot at getting there. How much harder does that make it for the next 3?

Larry Crowne, which C. Nikki has made her “Gotta Kill It” movie of the week (does Ron Meyer want to ever be in business with Playtone again?) did fine, really. As noted before, the two stars of the movie are both more than 5 years out of the “major openers” business. This movie out-opened their last joint effort, which was much higher profile, much closer to their career heat, and in the launch of an Oscar race with Mike Nichols behind the camera. To be screeching about this being a bomb opening 3.5 years later is stupid at best, malicious at worst.

Here’s a “did ya know.” Tom Hanks has had NO openings a the male lead of a live-action film, aside from the Da Vinci Code movies (whose pans were worse than this film’s) over $31 million. And Julia Roberts has had ONE. Hanks has a long history of leggy films. Why? Because his audience, since the early days, has been adults.

This is not a mega-hit. But it will make a decent profit.

And by the way… Jim Carrey’s last live-action opening to do better than Popper’s Penguins? 2004.

Can we please try to live in the present, folks?

Trannies 3 will be the 5th film this year to gross more than $500 million worldwide. This includes Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Hangover: Part 2 The record remains 8 in a year (the last two years). I would expect Cars 2 to make it 6 before it runs out of gas.

TR3 also looks to be the second billion dollar ww film this year, matching last year’s record of 2 in a year before the year is 7 months over.

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164 Responses to “4 Day Estimates by Vehicular Klady”

  1. Proman says:

    Very nice opening for Larry Crowne with 50% of its budget already grossed back. This will be a moderst success.

  2. movielocke says:

    if it’s budget was 30 million than only about 55% of that 15 million will return to the studio, the rest will be kept by the exhibitors. That means its earned 25% of its budget back, not 50%, it will need to earn 60+ million to break even in theatrical.

    Maybe some college grad student will someday put in the leg work to see just how much discrimination the media puts into their coverage of different genres. Take every movie of the last twenty or thirty years, classify it by genre, cross reference against reviews, cinemascore, imdb ratings, gross, awards etc and see which genre of movies are most consistently discriminated against by the critics. use a disconnect between audience approval and critical disapproval to point out where critical discrimination is taking place. My guess is that Romantic Comedies, being a primarily female genre would be the niggers of film, the films automatically considered lesser and held to an insanely high standard before equal treatment is considered. Every once in a while you’d have a nigger like When Harry Met Sally that might be described as “one of the good ones” but of course you wouldn’t actually invite ‘good’ niggers like WHMS or Love Actually to the Awards table, because, well, we don’t want to go too far. I don’t know where scifi/fantasy/comic book films would place, but I imagine it would be low, Lord of the Rings and Spiderman would probably skew the results a little bit, I imagine Michael Bay would be in contention as the most discriminated against male filmmaker but he wouldn’t be close to the bottom, considering the widespread critical hatred and resentment of female directors that don’t know their place, like Norah Ephron.

    Horror, I think, would do better just because critics have convinced themselves that gore is more artistic than falling in love, and that a horror film with ‘atmosphere’ is a lot more artistic than a comic book film that successfully creates a believable mileau.

    personally, I’ve never got the attraction to horror films. To me, most of the genre seems as tired and lazy and repetitive as most romantic comedies are accused of being, but rarely, it seems, do you see every entry of the genre explicitly and viciously attacked without regard to what the actual movie is. Perhaps horror fans feel that their movies are so attacked, and its true that some horror films are scathingly reviewed, but I feel like most critics give most horror films a chance, but most critics do not give a Michael Bay film or a romantic comedy a chance, such films are always condemned to be prejudged, no viewing necessary to render a critique.

  3. David Poland says:

    I am a believer is using words like “nigger” in context and not turning the world into a homogenized, safe house build on “the n word.”

    However… maybe that was a little too generous, movielocke.

    As for the idea you are espousing, romantic comedies are not, generally, very serious or really that strong as capital-M Movies. The bias is for weight, not against lightness.

    Nora Ephron is not a very good director. She is a person with very good taste.

    Love Actually is not a very good movie, even if it makes a lot of people feel good.

    Michael Bay’s films are still loaded down with childish jokes, over-ripe visuals, and extended length. He makes beautiful pictures and can do great action. But he doesn’t make movies for people over 50 and that is what the Awards season is.

    Like Super 8, looking like Spielberg is not enough. What has made Spielberg into Spielberg is the heart underneath. He draws you into the personal drama. He’s almost a stereotype, as in, it’s not about the shark… it’s about what’s left when the shark doesn’t work. JJ Abrams would have been way better off without the CG train wreck and with a guy in a monster suit, because he lost touch with those kids while he was trying so hard to dazzle us.

  4. anghus says:

    you know, if someone really wanted to get snarky, they could start posting box office revenue broken down by the split between exhibitor and studio.

  5. JS Partisan says:

    Right the fuck on about the horror genre, ML.

    David, sorry, but the surcharge should be one buck and two for Imax. Anything more for that is just asking for problems but I love that the greed that Cameron wrought has killed off his 3D dream.

  6. Jason says:

    Anghus, that would actually prove to be valuable information.Isn’t one of the issues that thepercentage changes based on week and what the studio negotiated? Alas, I think it is like budget info in that we are to forever guess.

  7. anghus says:

    the percentage changes, but in a way that could easily be factored into the metric.

  8. LexG says:

    Horror and romcoms are the two greatest genres in all of movies. Romcoms are CUTE! CUTE! and always have some hot chick in little outfits. Plus they are PLEASANT, EASY TO UNDERSTAND, and don’t require a fucking ENTRANCE EXAM for the STUPID PLOT POINTS.

    I’ve said this before, but I almost never like following movie plots. Yes, there are some guys who can do A-B-C procedural plotting well (M. Mann for example, though much less so lately), but damn… doesn’t it give you a HEADACHE having to follow “who did what when and to whom” in a movie? I’ll give Tarantino ENDLESS credit for realizing that we only need the GOOD SCENES in movies, and all the connecting stuff is BORING.

    More on topic: 3D really, really has to go. It’s used beautifully in the first reel and last hour of TF3, but it is a DISTRACTION. It’s kinda cool for the action bits, but in the everyday scenes of EVERY 3d movie, my mind can’t focus on dialogue or character or comedy or ANYTHING, because the stupid focal plane effect is SO weird and overrides everything else.

    I just genuinely want to know WHAT IT IS about seeing movies with that distorted depth perception that makes a smart guy like Cameron think it’s somehow MORE immersive, rather than just a headache-inducing distraction.

  9. JS Partisan says:

    Lex, you don’t like exposition? What the hell?

  10. movielocke says:

    All good points Dave, but I would ask are Romantic Comedies really “not very serious or really that strong as capital-M Movies” or are we as audiences, within this culture, conditioned to believe automatically that they are not to be taken seriously or ever considered capital M Movies?

    Is it more that the cultural and aesthetic bias–particularly for males–is to automatically assume that romantic comedies have less weight and have to do more to get to the capital-M status?

    Are they held to a higher standard? If so, why? Should Out of Africa get more of a free-pass to be automatically considered Weighty because it’s a serious melodrama but Love Actually is automatically considered not Weighty because it creates dialectics between the comic and the tragic, between the high and the low, when examining the many different modern experiences of love?

    I would say that Love Actually, because of what it accomplishes with it’s thematic contrasts is much more Weighty in how it examines what it means to be Us than many films that are automatically taken seriously because of their preferential genre. But if we are willfully blind to believing that there is more to a film like Love Actually because the genre is “not very serious, with no capital-M Movies” we’ll never actually realize how much to value there is in a film like Love Actually.

  11. LexG says:

    Keira = CUTE. CUTE!

    That said, I don’t like interracial relationships, so that part of the movie bothered me.

  12. christian says:

    “That said, I don’t like interracial relationships”

    Happy Independence Day!

  13. leahnz says:

    holy shit

    “Love Actually is not a very good movie”

    according to whom? i think what you meant is, “i don’t care for ‘love actually'”, because the way you put it makes you sound a tad full of yourself.

  14. jesse says:

    Leah, if we start qualifying all opinions with “I think” or “in my opinion,” reviews and even silly comments on movie blogs start to sound a lot less adults and a lot more like seven-year-olds giving a book report. How about just knowing that when someone says “is” about the quality of a movie, they are intrinsically referring to their opinion and don’t need to make that clear?

    I understand it’s kind of annoying when someone says something more like “objectively, such-and-such is not very good” (which I know Poland has said at times), because that’s a specific term almost meant to say “this ISN’T just my opinion”… but there is NOTHING wrong with saying “Love Actually is not a very good movie.” It’s certainly not worth a holy shit. Maybe “The Godfather is not a very good movie” would be. I mean, Love Actually? This offends you to its very core, that someone would state that it’s not good?

  15. jesse says:

    Thinking about it more, that’s what bugs me about McWeeny’s writing even when he’s making interesting points. He says “I think” about a dozen times per review, and you ought to know, if you’re a movie critic, you don’t need to explain “this is what I think.” That’s what a movie review is.

  16. leahnz says:

    first, ‘holy shit’ was re: lex’s repugnant racist comment, i guess that wasn’t clear

    re: the rest, there’s no need to say ‘i think’ or ‘in my opinion’ if one is writing, for example, a critique/review of a specific movie, it’s a given. it’s clearly one’s own opinion written in a singular voice, NOT part of a conversation with other people with differing viewpoints.

    it’s a very different beast being on a blog discussing movies wherein a subject is raised and a movie trotted out as an example of a genre, one can VERY easily say, ‘i don’t like love actually, it’s sloppily directed, blah blah blah”, stating your opinion and why you feel that way, instead of choosing to say ‘love actually is not a good movie’, which is dismissive, stating your subjective opinion as fact and self-aggrandising of said subjection without explanation or elaboration. there are many people who think love, actually is a good example of the genre. do we compare all movies to ‘the godfather’ to be ‘good’ or ‘not good’? in a way, you are proving movielocke’s point.

    (eta: ftr, i’m not a fan of ‘love, actually’ but i can see how others could argue it’s a very good movie for what it is, i certainly wouldn’t say because it’s not my cup of tea that it’s “not a good movie”, it’s very well-executed)

  17. yancyskancy says:

    Only negative assessments seem to rate objections such as leah’s. If someone had said “LOVE ACTUALLY” is a very good movie,” the only responses would likely have been, “I agree” or “I disagree.”

    It’s funny, in another thread here today I wrote “DEATH PROOF is awesome” and “SMOKIN’ ACES is pretty bad,” and I almost added IMO — but then I thought, well of course it’s IMO. I’m the one writing here.

    That said, I do get bent out of shape when someone writes something like, “Such-and-such movie is simply not funny.” It’s that “simply” that gets me, because it takes away the implied “IMO.”

    ETA: FWIW, I wrote and posted this before seeing leah’s post above.

  18. JS Partisan says:

    What Leah wrote… word.

    Lex, LET PENNSYLVANIA GO!

  19. jesse says:

    yancy, I think that’s an excellent distinction: I don’t like “simply” and I don’t like “just can’t” as in “Julia Roberts just can’t act.” I actively dislike Roberts as an actress but I would never say she “just can’t” act. That’s reductive and silly. People say that all the time and it drives me crazy. Leah, if that’s what you’re getting at it, I guess I’m with you… but honestly, even on a discussion board, I don’t see the harm in saying, as yancy mentioned, “Death Proof is awesome” and “Smokin’ Aces is pretty bad.” I mean, obviously it’s more interesting when someone backs it up, but Dave’s post was pretty clearly not about re-reviewing Love Actually. It’s just an example. (Just as The Godfather was — probably a bad one. I just meant that I could understand your “holy shit,” which I misinterpreted entirely, was in response to that opinion.) I don’t think it’s all that dismissive; in fact, I think it would be more dismissive in a formal review (assuming said review is of another movie entirely), where it would seem like a pointless jab (Armond White style! “By the way, I never got the chance to review this movie, so can I just say that it fucking sucked?”). In a blog comment, it’s just offhand. Maybe not that insightful, but certainly not offensive.

  20. David Poland says:

    If I wrote “The Sky is blue today,” Leah would think I was an arrogant ass for not acknowledging that the sky might look different in Colorado and that it’s night in half the world.

    Of course, the joke is that she then qualifies Love, Actually in her own terms… because those are right and mine are wrong.

    Maybe she is one of those people who would need to be called “Dame” every time her friends referred to her after she’d been knighted… because it would be accurate.

  21. leahnz says:

    “Of course, the joke is that she then qualifies Love, Actually in her own terms… because those are right and mine are wrong.”

    how exactly did i qualify ‘love actaully’ in my own terms, because mine are right? i gave my OPINION of the movie and said i can see how others could easily disagree and argue ‘love actually’s worth, the EXACT OPPOSITE of what you did. possibly the most ABSURD defense of your arrogance you’ve ever written, DP. you are ON A ROLL

    “Maybe not that insightful, but certainly not offensive.”

    jesse, not offensive to whom?

    the problem is, you don’t get to decide what is offensive and what isn’t offensive to other people, you can merely state that YOU don’t find something offensive. it’s like in pulp fic when in response to vincent, who says at the diner (paraphrasing), “promise you won’t be offended” and mia replies, “i can’t do that, because i might find what you say offensive, and then i’ll have broken a promise”

  22. JS Partisan says:

    Poland, follow him on twitter. Seriously. That comment is his past that still… haunts him.

    That aside, there’s a way to not be a dick about it, and you were just a dick about it. My main problem with this blog has always been, people being dicks about what they dislike. You get rid of that sheer dickishness, this place would be fine, but when even the dude who runs this place does it. Ma, what are they giving me?

  23. Foamy Squirrel says:

    You can take my life, but you can never take… MY DICKISHNESS!

  24. David Poland says:

    Jsp… wtf?

    When people simply write about ideas and don’t make it personal, it’s quite pleasant in here.

    Leah has an irritating habit of looking for any grain of a notion that she can turn into some attack about my arrogance. She isn’t dumb. She can’t really believe that my passing comment on Love, Actually was meant to be the etched-in-stone last and only important word about the film. It’s ridiculous.

    She doesn’t even disagree with me! She just needs to teach me how to write because she’s so very right and and I am so very wrong.

    I don’t need to follow Lex’s tweets, thanks. I am not his daddy.

    Like I wrote a while ago, I need to keep score about whom Is saying what about whom in here like I need a hole in the head. (Though I may need a who/whom tutorial)

  25. David Poland says:

    Oh, Leah. You know best. Please send those instructions how to wipe my ass and eat soup. I have a big evening planned.

    In the meanwhile, let’s play, “Spot The Arrogant Ass!!!”

    Please tell us, which statement is arrogant crap and which is the precious petals of fair insight?! It should be easy, as they are the “exact opposite” of one another.

    “i’m not a fan of ‘love, actually’ but i can see how others could argue it’s a very good movie for what it is”

    “Love Actually is not a very good movie, even if it makes a lot of people feel good.”

  26. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    I’m not sure which study it was but I read something about people who can’t stop arguing over the most ridiculous and petty of points and it all down to sexual frustration. They just needed to have sex.

  27. JS Partisan says:

    Wow, it’s the whole “LEAH NEEDS TO HAVE SEX TO SHUT UP” thing again. Wow.

    David, again, dickishness. It all starts from you and trickles down. Your responses to me are never ever not dicky, and you’ve started to treat Leah the same way. It’s your thing, we deal, but that does not make it any less frustrating.

    Oh yeah, if you followed Lex on twitter, you would get insight into the guy. That’s the point I made but you know, get all offend and huffy. Oh I forgot, YOU DON’T GET ANGRY THERE DAVID! YOU DON’T GET ANGRY!

  28. Foamy Squirrel says:

    I hereby offer my services to disperse any unresolved sexual tension on The Hot Blog…

    …Lex, call me. 😉

  29. David Poland says:

    I think you read that on every Internet comment section since the birth of online chat… and before that, in Broadway shows… And before that, in the dead sea scrolls… And before that, on the wall of a cave.

    Still, it’s silly and dismissive.

    I think Leah nitpicks this way because she is a grudge holder. And once she has you pegged, everything is through the same prism. The frustrating part is that she is often right, but her ire overwhelms the original issue.

    And then she tells you she isn’t angry and that she doesn’t really care.

    Not sexual frustration… Abbott & Costello and Niagara Falls… Michigan J Frog.

  30. Steven Kaye says:

    Klady’s numbers are wrong re Midnight in Paris. Its 4 day take was actually a 3.5% GAIN over the previous weekend (the only film in the top 10 to record an increase even though it lost 93 screens).

    Amazing.

  31. David Poland says:

    JSP… If there is an authority on dickishness on The Hot Blog, you are the one.

    The comments on this blog were a lot healthier without you and Lex commenting. Of course, that sent Leah into double-JMc mode, Blog Sheriff. Bur with only one person schticking it up – and she spends a higher percentage of time than either of you not doing her schtick – it was okay. Some who get into these personal grudge matches were just letting them go and sticking to impersonal topics.

    Leah already “won” her war with Lex, but she is such a bad winner that she makes him seem relatively passive.

    I am a lot of things, many of which can be fairly criticized, But the “dickishness” in here, sadly, doesn’t start from the top, but from a few people who really love to make things that are not personal into personal fights.

  32. Krillian says:

    Love Actually is a good movie.

    “Hello my honey, hello my baby, hello my ragtime gaaaal!…”

  33. David Poland says:

    Steven, please note, it says at the bottom of the chat that the %s are 3-day vs 3-day.

  34. David Poland says:

    How DARE you disagree with me, Krillian!!

    The Mighty Oz has spoken!

  35. anghus says:

    i would agree that Love, Actually is not a good movie based solely on how the story is structured and so many plots go unresolved.

    If you were a fan of Laura Linney’s character or the Keira Knightly storyline, you were kind of left thinking ‘huh’?

    So at the end of the movie, Laura Linney basically ends up alone because she has to take care of her brother. And the guy basically fucks up his best friend’s life by telling his wife he’s in complete and total love with her….

    AND SCENE……

    You know, couldn’t you have jetisoned the entire “British Guy goes to the USA” plot in order to give a little depth on 2 plots that deserved some level of consideration.

    Or are we to believe that ‘unrequited love’ was addressed when the 7 year old kid runs through the airport and gets the girl…

    They resolve all the dreck, syrupy plots and leave the difficult ones dangling like a limp dick.

    I know who tell me they enjoy Love, Actually. And who am i to tell them what to like. But i will be happy to tell them that the writing is shit and introducting characters without giving them the benefit of any real resolution is like telling kids there’s a Santa Claus and then informing them 5 minutes later that you shot him in the head because he was trying to kiss Mommy.

    Sprinkling “happy ending dust” all over the characters, except for the ones with problems too difficult to resolve in the timespan of an anthology segment is shit writing and/or shit filmmaking.

  36. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Laura Linney doesn’t end up alone – it’s the partner to Emma Thompson’s story, the love is for family rather than romance. Despite all the hardships they endure through circumstance or infidelity, there is a real depth to the feeling they have.

    And the Keira Knightly one, there’s no connection from the Keira end to the dude – she even thinks he hates her – so he doesn’t fuck up his best friend’s life. That’s the unrequited love, since it’s purely one directional.

  37. Hallick says:

    I adore “Love Actually”, and it might very well be the movie I’d pick to watch if I knew I could see one more film before I die, but I still know that the statement “Love Actually is not a very good movie, even if it makes a lot of people feel good” is just one guy’s opinion. I don’t get the outrage unless you also take people to task for saying “(whatever movie) is the best film of the year so far!” or “You won’t see a better performance this summer, period”.

  38. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    JSP you jumped to the conclusion I was directly referring to Leah. projecting again I see. As anyone who has just had a kid would know, sex doesn’t come as regularly as it used to! That’s some grown up talk lil fella. Now off to bed with you and yes you can read the latest Green Lantern until you fall asleep my sweet prince.

  39. JS Partisan says:

    David, if you really believe that about yourself and this blog. You are so fucking out of sorts in every way that’s there’s no reason to visit this blog. What an absolutely despicable response from you.

  40. nikki whisperer says:

    I would say that Lex has something constructive to add to this blog about 75% of the time, unless he’s attacked, in which case he goes scorched earth. IO basically just pipes in with his comic book propaganda most of the time and stirs up shit the rest. Leah gets off on being a humorless prig windbag. Of course, that’s just MY opinion, none of these statements should be interpreted as empirical fact.

  41. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Sorry Hallick was writing this before I saw your post about the one film before you die. Apologies in advance.

    Love Actually is as close to a cinematic root canal you can get. The most contrived, annoying, unbelievable bunch of twaddle ever assembled into a rom-com. And to top it off, it appears to think it actually has something of great merit to offer the masses. Like amongst the chortles there is some profund insight. Forget the root canal. It is actually closer to a cinematic cancer. Awful, awful film. When people tell me they like it, I move away as if they had just revealed they’re a child molester.

  42. David Poland says:

    The door is open, JSP. Feel free to abandon the blog. I forgive you.

    You are very entertaining at times. But you have flipped between troll and offerer of valuable insights for over a decade already. Not buying into your victimization or Leah’s or Lex’s. Sorry.

  43. nikki whisperer says:

    That’s just YOUR opinion JBD. How arrogant of you not to qualify it as such. Other movies that are closer to cinematic root canals or cinematic cancer might beg to differ! Who made YOU the authority on cinematic root canals and cancer, anyway?

  44. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Well, JBD IS a doctor…

  45. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    My apologies to every human being who has seen Love Actually. I forgot all the me, myself and irene’s in that particularly offensive personal blanket statement about Love Actually. I wish to sincerely apologize to anyone with a beating heart who has ever felt love in any similar circumstances as highlighted in the film known as Love Actually.

  46. christian says:

    “I would say that Lex has something constructive to add to this blog about 75% of the time, unless he’s attacked, in which case he goes scorched earth.”

    The casual racism is just icing on the cake.

    Happy 4th! Fireworks!

  47. LexG says:

    Sorry, I was about being DELIGHTED by Monte Carlo after a weekend-long wait. CUUUUUUUUUTE!

    So, uh, yeah, for the cheap seats, that “interracial couples” line wasn’t serious. Though I stand behind my oft-repeated joke that there needs to be a RICH HALL SNIGLET for the half-second, subconscious, uncontrollable twinge every white guy EVER feels when he sees a beautiful white woman with a black guy.

    Christ, James Toback has built an entire career on whatever that Sniglet would be.

  48. David Poland says:

    Christian, I won’t defend that remark by Lex or any of his YEP YEP stuff. I don’t know him, in real life, anywhere close to well enough to determine where the character of LexG ends at times and the real guy, who is very shy and not nearly confident enough, begins.

    But I do know that LexG is, in great part, a character. I take most of what he writes with box of kosher salt.

    I mean, he writes a lot about girls with mixed ethnic backgrounds, YEP, YEP-ing them… so what does this comment he made really mean? Not sure.

    Maybe that’s wrong of me. And maybe I am not in here checking every comment closely enough to be the authority that some seem to be on what everyone else has said.

    But I don’t believe in censoring anyone unless they are making the neighborhood, in general, a bad place to be. Lex may rub you and Leah the wrong way in extreme. But basically, I think most people would agree that he’s unpredictable, a bit gross at times, and often adds something interesting, even if many people disagree with it.

    I don’t think what you just wrote is unfair. You are pointing out something recent. And you didn’t write anything nasty, really. So well done.

  49. LexG says:

    David, it’s the FOURTH OF JULY. Go have a cold one and a hot dog and shoot off some fireworks, you don’t need this headache on a holiday. Just business as usual, unworthy of your time.

  50. Hallick says:

    “My apologies to every human being who has seen Love Actually. I forgot all the me, myself and irene’s in that particularly offensive personal blanket statement about Love Actually.”

    For the record, in addition to “Love Actually”, I also love “Me, Myself & Irene”, which has quite a lot of hate out there too. It has my favorite Jim Carrey character by far.

  51. David Poland says:

    Me, Myself & Irene is one of the great underrated comedies. Somehow, Kingpin has become acceptable while Irene has become lost to the dustbin.

    At least, that’s what I think I think. Waiting to get the all clear from you know who…

  52. LexG says:

    Kingpin is acceptable because of the LexG cameo when V. Angel’s name comes up.

  53. Hallick says:

    “Though I stand behind my oft-repeated joke that there needs to be a RICH HALL SNIGLET for the half-second, subconscious, uncontrollable twinge every white guy EVER feels when he sees a beautiful white woman with a black guy.”

    Plantation panic?

    Nope, that’s a phrase…

    Oreogasm?

    No…that’s the opposite…

    Lynchflinch!

  54. hcat says:

    Love Actually suffers from the opposite problem of most movies in that there were not enough cooks in the kitchen. For all the charm and wistfullness in it, all the goopy Richard Curtis frosting just piles on top of itself until it implodes. Same thing happens with Boat that Rocked. With his earlier successes he had a decent director (and not someone with a history of romantic comedies) to cut most of the treacle out, left to his own devices the happiness slowly chokes you like a gas leak.

    I had the same feeling though with different emotions over Kaufman’s Synedochie, New York. Perhaps he was too determined to put every idea he had onscreen, where a more experienced director may have thought to parse it back a bit. While still a great film while watching I couldn’t help but think this was the exact experience he depicted in Adaptation where he disappeared into his own text.

  55. Joe Leydon says:

    David: If I were to make a nasty remark about your wife, or her nationality, I would expect you to make an attempt to hit me. Lex has repeatedly made ugly remarks about Filipinas. My wife is Jewish/Filipina. You have allowed his remarks on line without any criticism on your part. Should I assume you accept this?

  56. yancyskancy says:

    “Negret”?

  57. LexG says:

    Oh, JESUS, Joe, it’s a shtick. I live in Los Angeles. Everyone I know is Filipino. I live/work in what are almost essentially Filipino neighborhoods, all I see are Filipinas, and I’m being silly. Because, like, who would randomly seize on Filipinos to make fun of with any real malice? Jesus CHRIST.

    Also my ex of a DECADE is a Pacific Islander, as is half my extended family. My family that’s from Hawaii, all they EVER do is racial jokes about Asians. It’s funny and fun.

    Plus Asians aren’t as scary as other minorities so you can get away with it better.

    Also Vanessa Hudgens is Filipina, and one of my absolute favorite human beings.

  58. Joe Leydon says:

    Lex: If you ever make a disparaging remark about Filipinos again, I will turn it over to my machete-wielding in-laws. And if you ever make a disparaging remark about Koreans, my son and his buddies will come after you.

  59. LexG says:

    I have no idea where this is coming from, especially after years of delightful banter with Joe, who’s never so much as suggested I was saying anything to offend him.

    I give up.

  60. David Poland says:

    Again, Joe, wasn’t aware that this was an issue.

    And if Lex made a comment about girls who had gone to catholic girls schools, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t see it as an assault against my wife. Same with any of the other myriad generalities that might be foisted around in here but are not personal.

    The accusation that Lex has, at whatever point, used specific racial, sexual, or gender issues to attack specific people in here does concern me. But as many times as the accusation has been repeated, I have missed the events.

    Am I sympathetic to Leah or anyone else who finds YEP YEPs for young girls creepy? Yes. Do I think that whatever flames about being a potential child molester in that context hit Lex at that time are pretty fair (even though we all should know it’s a schtick)? Yes.

    You don’t see me taking shots at Leah for taking shots at Lex.

    The problem is, it gets personal and it gets out of hand. But when it gets into a flame war, I don’t see it in black & white terms.

    Lex has been banned in the past for vomiting up his stuff all over the blog in late night rants. But if someone is looking to fight with the guy and pushes his buttons, the whole victim game gets a bit much.

    Had you, Joe, privately e-mailed me and asked that something be done about Lex because what he was writing was offensive to you and your wife, I would have done something to deal with it. But your mention here and Lex’s response pretty much seems to have the same effect… no?

  61. Joe Leydon says:

    Good. Trust me: After years of dealing with badass Asians, Lex, I can tell you: You don’t want to be messing with those folks.

  62. LexG says:

    Is anyone else seeing the (intentional/comedic?) irony in Joe taking issue with my WHOLLY ABSURDIST AND SILLY Asian material by coming back with a barrage of stereotypes depicting Asians as machete-wielding kung-fu bad-asses?

    I half expected him to say his son’s Korean buddies were gonna come and eat my dog.

    Also, FTR, I do ALL my Filipino jokes at Hollywood Elsewhere, not on MCN, so basically Joe’s blaming DP for not intervening on something that’s never been posted on his site.

  63. Joe Leydon says:

    Nah, they don’t like dog. On the other hand: My son does seem to prefer having pet cats, LOL.

  64. leahnz says:

    christ you scamps sure like to talk about me in your little sewing circle

    (how odd, lex has repeated AD NAUSEUM that his ex is asian, now she’s a pacific islander from hawaii who makes fun of asians? oooh, someone’s pants are on fire. where’s she from, lex? i know the place well. oh wait, your lies are ‘shtick’)

  65. scooterzz says:

    “I would say that Lex has something constructive to add to this blog about 75% of the time, unless he’s attacked, in which case he goes scorched earth.”

    “The casual racism is just icing on the cake”

    wouldn’t it be nice if it just stopped at racism…

  66. LexG says:

    She’s from None of Your Fucking Business, Leahnz.

    Also if you can tell me the difference between an Asian and a Pacific Islander, you’re smarter than me.

  67. scooterzz says:

    i believe his ex is from ‘canada’…..

  68. Martin S says:

    …and for 75% of this thread I was thinking “Down With Love” and wondering why I don’t remember the interracial subplot.

    Lex, I do like your overall style, but you’re full o’ shit that your icky line was a joke and not of-the-moment. You’ve got waaay too many previously mentioned hangups about how few white chicks are in Cali and white dudes dating asian girls. But you’re not a racist either. The only value that term has is for reactionary group-thinkers.

    And Dave, when it comes to the flotsam and jetsam, you are a much bigger man than me, Gunga Din.

  69. leahnz says:

    lex, you’ve just been seriously caught in yet another lie. kudos

    (and me being smarter than you isn’t exactly a newsflash)

  70. LexG says:

    Look, DUMB-ASS FUCKING KIWI, I’m not gonna sit here and give you my ex’s FUCKING CREDENTIALS, you mentally scattered FUCKING LUNATIC. If you believe me or not, I DON’T GIVE A FUCKING SHIT, you BITCH, but you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

    But here’s a tip, DUMB-ASS, when someone in AMERICA, A REAL COUNTRY says their girlfriend is ASIAN, they don’t necessarily mean they’re straight off the boat from fucking Taiwan or some shit. Usually it means they’re ASIAN-AMERICAN from California or Hawaii, GET IT? GET IT? A half-Japanese, one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter white woman from Hawaii would self identify as EITHER ASIAN or PACIFIC ISLANDER, YOU FUCKING NIMROD.

    Do you want a FUCKING DIAGRAM TOO, you HATEFUL FUCKING COOZE? FUCK YOU.

  71. nikki whisperer says:

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t most Pacific Islanders consider themselves of Asian descent? I don’t see where there’s a contradiction on Lex’s part. Is this another case of classic Leah “Minutae Gotcha?”

  72. LexG says:

    ^^^ THAT. THAT.

    She’s HAPA. As in HALF. As in Japanese/Chinese/white growing up between LA and HAWAII, thus PACIFIC ISLANDER, thus ASIAN, thus Leah is a race-baiting fucking HORRIBLE CUNT and PIECE OF HUMAN GARBAGE.

  73. leahnz says:

    lol, lex you charmer

    oh my god, how can you BREATHE with your nose that far up lex’s ass, nikki?

    and pacific islanders most certainly don’t consider themselves asian. ask a maori/hawaiian/tahitian if they’re asian. quite a briantrust here.

    so lex, your ex is, in fact, ASIAN. if she’s has no pacific islander blood, she’s NOT a pacific islander.

  74. LexG says:

    LEAH YOU FUCKING IDIOT, I THINK MY EX OUGHT TO KNOW MORE THAN YOUR DUMB WHITE RACIST ASS HOW SHE IDENTIFIES HERSELF.

    FUCKING INSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE. I HATE YOU. I DESPISE YOU. I HOPE YOUR GAY SON GROWS UP TO HATE YOU TOO, AS HE HAS A HARRIDAN FOR A MOTHER.

  75. LexG says:

    UN-FUCKING-REAL that since the late 90s I’ve been going to Honolulu and hanging with with the fucking KUMU or whatever with a boisterous family of ASIANS who don’t know that they’re not Asian.

    Leah, you’re a FUCKING IDIOT. Your son should SUE you for being a piece of shit.

  76. LexG says:

    HAWAII IS A PACIFIC ISLAND, CUNT.

    Scooterzz? FUCK YOU TOO, Rhona BARRETT.

  77. LexG says:

    Hey, Leydon, happy now?

    You get the assist on that, COLONEL SANDERS.

    SHOWTUNE POLAND’ll ban my ass tonight, thanks to you, old man.

  78. scooterzz says:

    and, scene……

  79. leahnz says:

    sorry, i can’t stop laughing. uh, i was born in hawaii and grew up on another pacific island. and i’m most certainly not a pacific islander. your ex-wife (japanise/chinese + white) is ASIAN

  80. LexG says:

    Good for you. Too bad they didn’t blow you up at Pearl Harbor when you were 21.

  81. LexG says:

    People from Hawaii are mixed to such a THOUSAND DIFFERENT DEGREES there’s a near CERTAINTY they have some Samoan or native Hawaiian in heir bloodline somewhere. Thus they usually self identify as PACIFIC ISLANDER on US census forms.

    As with EVERYTHING EVER ON THE HOT BLOG, Leah, you are from a DOGSHIT COUNTRY on the ASS END OF THE GLOBE, and you pretend like you know a FUCKING THING about Hollywood or America or race issues in the United States.

    Can you EVER just back down and admit you got OWNED, that you JUST MIGHT BE WRONG ABOUT SOMETHING, EVER?

    God you are a fucking PIECE OF SHIT.

  82. Joe Leydon says:

    OK, on this day of all days, I guess all of us (including me) are sensitive to any remarks that appear to be divisive. I want to apologize, seriously, to Lex and David and anyone else to whom I may have over-reacted. I will openly admit: Because of my background, because of what I have seen during my travels, I am sensitive to certain things.

  83. leahnz says:

    wait, you ‘OWNED’ me just now? your ex-wife is NOT a pacific islander because she’s japanese/chinese/white and happened to live at some point on a pacific island. i know EXACTLY what i’m talking about, because i’ve lived/am living it

  84. chris says:

    Leah, do you seriously not think you’ve made your point on that?
    So, um, movies. Kristen Wiig has to be the most sought-after woman in Hollywood now. I know the announcements usually don’t happen until late summer, but, even with the prospect of months of juicy Michele Bachmann sketches, is there any way she stays on “SNL” when every studio probably wants to pay big money for her talents?

  85. LexG says:

    You guys gotta admit, that Pearl Harbor line was a TOP NOTCH JOKE.

    Leah, I do not OWE YOU a pie chart of my ex’s ethnic background. I do not. Stop fucking with me just to be annoying.

  86. LexG says:

    Another GREAT JOKE is when I used to ask my ex if she wouldn’t mind wearing white-face and donning a blonde wig so I could get more aroused.

  87. leahnz says:

    wait, after what lex has just said to/about me and chris comes in to chastise ME? another hotblog classic

    (and i don’t give a shit about your ex-wife or her rellies, dear lex, my point was you’re a liar, proven yet again)

  88. scooterzz says:

    for the life of me, i can’t understand why your stand-up career went south….

  89. Joe Leydon says:

    Lex: My Korean son likes to tell me: You white folks just don’t understand… LOL.

  90. JS Partisan says:

    David, it’s not victimization. It’s what happens but you always treat me like shit so what the fuck more do you want from me? I get attacked for defending movies the rest of the blog hates because they are a bunch of horror fans, but that has happened… repeatedly, and you piss all fucking over me as if I ever stated someone was an ignorant piece of shit for liking PAUL.

    Seriously, if you are too fucking vain or too fucking oblivious to ever get that some times you are just plain wrong, then what the fuck is the point of this place? So you can post videos that you don’t put on blip so you don’t get any ad revenue? BRILLIANT! So you can have a fucking echo chamber? What the fuck ever, man.

    ETA: Yay, it’s Scooter making a fucking joke. Which scooter is it though? Is it THE MAN OR THE WOMAN? Seriously, it’s bad enough that multiple accounts have happened her all the time, but when someone post as a MAN and then as WOMAN, and then denies it. Well that’s some serious bullshit.

  91. LexG says:

    “my point was you’re a liar…”

    I like how you think you can PROVE these things about me, about whom you know NOTHING, from your retarded psychic powers from half a globe away. Like you telling me I didn’t commandeer a birthday party TV set when I was a kid to watch 2001. What, do you need like my fucking SOURCES every time I post a riff? Want a bibliography and photo credits, too?

    You have NO HUMOR, you’re an IDIOT, and you’re INSANE. INSANE. Everyone here HATES YOU, except for Christian, and it’s more than obvious that Poland is sicker of your bullshit than he is of mine, yet I get banned every couple months and you get to steamroll over everybody.

    I don’t know what form of abuse you suffered in life, but your postings on a MOVIE BLOG couldn’t be any more transparent if they were written in scotch tape.

  92. LexG says:

    I like when Scooterzz gets high off his sip of Pink Squirrel and gets all combative from afar, never giving up anything about himself, other than he’s AT LEAST seventy years old, male, gay, and a veteran junket guy.

    IE, Skip E Lowe or Kevin Thomas.

  93. leahnz says:

    i am…

    dun dun dun

    …the villain

    lol, kisses. but lex, you commenting on my mental health is an excellent example of irony, so props.

  94. LexG says:

    No, you’re just boring. And stupid. And LAME.

  95. scooterzz says:

    hey, lex…putting aside all the nonsense, are you really good with calling leah’s underage son (who’s never done a thing to you) ‘gay’ as a pejorative?…really?
    to a certain degree, EVERYBODY is ‘racist’…it’s a part of life and isn’t helped by the ongoing p.c. semantics wars… but, in the interest of ‘admitting you were wrong’, you might want to consider the remarks made about her kid….

  96. chris says:

    I find much of what Lex writes in here reprehensible and off-point (Is that an OK way for me to phrase that, Leah? I know you’re very particular about the way others of us should conduct our discourse.). But, yeah, Leah, you do strike this disinterested observer who wishes he could be reading about movies as the villain here. Because you are baiting him and because I find your smug, humorless insistence that everyone agree that you are right reprehensible and just plain nasty.

  97. scooterzz says:

    oh, and may we add ‘ageist’ to the already existing charges of racist, misogynistic and homophobic?…i think we can…

  98. LexG says:

    I didn’t use it as a pejorative, but I’m sorry and it’s not my proudest moment, no. Obviously I don’t know if her kid’s gay, but with Leah as a mom setting the “female ideal,” I’m putting the odds at even money.

    But there’s NO SENSE in apologizing to Leahnz about ANYTHING, EVER, as she won’t and wouldn’t hear it, she’s convinced I’m the most horrible person alive and takes my every absurdist word like I’m Krug Stillo or something.

    But since I don’t know her kid, it means nothing to me to insult him, since it’s an empty cartoon taunt. And as an aside, when people fall back on “Kids are off limits,” to me it’s like, why? If I hate somebody, I’m gonna call out their stupid fucking kid, too, no qualms about it. I hate children and have no reverence for them.

  99. nikki whisperer says:

    Leah, you are a smug know-it-all bore and you clearly get off on being able to wag your finger and correct people. Asking a legitimate question does not mean I have my “nose up Lex’s ass” and it’s funny and quite telling that you have to go that knee-jerk position any time someone might deign to question you. You’re splitting hairs for the sake of splitting hairs because you enjoy tormenting people and getting a rise out of them.

    FYI, for purposes of the U.S. Census, until very recently, the Government lumped Asian and Pacific Islander together for purposes of determining demographics (they now have sub-categories beneath that general heading). So, yes, while TECHNICALLY you are correct and Pacific Islanders and Asians are distinct heritages, if you showed 99% of Americans a picture of a Fillipina or a Hawaiian and asked what the person’s general racial categorization was, they would probably answer “Asian.” Southern California is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the world. There are tons of different pockets here that are predominately Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Indian, not to mention the patchwork of different Latin, Central and South American nationalities. And as most of the people in these communities have now been here for more than a generation, they can now be summed up with one word: AMERICAN. Get over yourself….

  100. scooterzz says:

    i’m pretty sure i dislike children as much as you, i just think using them as a default is cheap and lazy….

  101. leahnz says:

    right back atcha, chris. so i’m baiting lex, but he’s not baiting me? did you actually read the above? is he helpless? so he can call me some pretty foul shit, but i’m the nasty one here. i see your logic.

    (also, i’d love for you to point out where i insist in this thread – or another one if you fancy doing that – that i insist everyone agree that i’m right. ONE example, please. i’m open to it. i stick to my guns, i maintain my position, but i never insist that someone has agree that i’m right, not the same thing at all)

    oh and nikki, EVERY single thread, every topic, you come to lex’s defense when he’s being an ass. and you wonder how you might be perceived as having your nose up his bum. it is a mystery. take your own advice and get over your own persnickety self.

  102. chris says:

    I’m certainly not surprised to learn that you are not aware how you come off, Leah. My sympathies.

  103. christian says:

    “you enjoy tormenting people and getting a rise out of them. ”

    nikki whisperer is lex.

    And thank you, David.

    Fireworks! Boom Boom!

  104. LexG says:

    Christian is a virgin who doesn’t drive a car because it would hurt the planet. He’s also pushing 50.

    Some legacy, kiddo.

  105. nikki whisperer says:

    Leah: Let’s look at the situation objectively, shall we? Lex has all but given you a DNA chart of his ex, which is most likely a sore spot (since it’s his EX, after all) and truly nobody’s business but his, and yet you’re still frothing at the mouth to say “NO, YOU’RE WRONG ABOUT HER HERITAGE! I KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!” and then you take delight in extrapolating this into some sort of “Gotcha!” moment and straight-out call him a bold-faced liar. And yet you say he’s baiting YOU? What, in your mind, is he lying about? The existence of the girlfriend? Her heritage? It would seem, from his detailed explanation, that he’s lying about neither. What is your goal here? What point are you trying to make? Or are you just stirring up shit for its own sake?

    Yes, he busted out the “C” word and other perjoratives, but you haven’t backed down from calling him a liar yet, either.

    And Christian: I’m not Lex. David can confirm that for you with IPs if necessary.

  106. leahnz says:

    so, you’re abandoning the ‘you insist everyone agrees with you’ crusade for vague condescension, chris? the thing is, i don’t CARE how i come off to you – anyone who reads the above and has words for me but none for lex directly isn’t worth a second thought – so my sympathies to you for your fucked-up POV (hardly surprising, tho, given your snark about me in the past). that’s my POV.

    and nikki, facepalm. can’t be bothered explaining it to you. you could always read the thread, it’s patently clear. or don’t, either way.

  107. LexG says:

    Leah, stop sexting me.

  108. christian says:

    “HAWAII IS A PACIFIC ISLAND, CUNT.”

    Lex, your legacy is now.

  109. LexG says:

    Guess it’s time to go liven up Technicolor Dreams with some iCarly clips and Selena Gomez videos. If someone registers as “ElleFanningFan,” don’t worry, it’s not me at all.

  110. christian says:

    AMBER ALERT POWER.

  111. LexG says:

    I’m done with this. Leahnz, I’m sorry. I’d still totally bang you, so let’s do this thing. Poland, sorry for fucking up your blog tonight; I’m sure Steven K. was gonna trumpet individual per-screen figures about Midnight and Paris and it was going to be R-I-V-E-T-I-N-G.

    So the tally stands, in the words of Jonathan Antin:

    Leahnz zero, Lex one million.

  112. scooterzz says:

    so, the ball’s in dp’s court…can there be a ‘once-and-for-all’ on this offensive moron? probably noy….

  113. nikki whisperer says:

    ^^ So I guess THAT was the endgame of taunting Lex about his ex and calling him a liar after all. (Not sure which commenter whose handle ends with “z” is a bigger “c”).

  114. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Man, this calling of names is really bringing in the crowds…

    Do me next, please! 😀

  115. scooterzz says:

    the last time i ‘did’ someone named ‘foamy’ it cost me two grand and a weekend in indio jail…

  116. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Man, they have really lax laws about murder over there…

  117. scooterzz says:

    it wasn’t ‘murder’ but i did ‘kill’…jus’ sayin’

  118. leahnz says:

    huh? oops, how on earth did that happen

  119. leahnz says:

    don’t worry, nikki, it’s spelled phonetically with a K in your moniker so you’re the double C. i think that might make you the winner.

    (foamy i’m trying to work up something truly epic for you but i think the last soul just left my sarcasm guf doing the above)

    and ftr, i have NEVER called for or advocated banning lexGump

  120. scooterzz says:

    leah…simma’ down…they’re doing all the heavy lifting…(jus’ sayin’)….

  121. cadavra says:

    Wow. Way to celebrate Independence Day, everyone!

    Now you should all go watch THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA and calm the fuck down. Cadavra has spoken.

  122. scooterzz says:

    it just wouldn’t have been the 4th w/o fireworks….

  123. leahnz says:

    i’m just giggling here scoot, what a hilarious fuckarow (what would i do without my ‘fans’)

    (i happen to have watched ‘the lost skeleton of cadavra’ the other day so i’ll just picture it in my head if that’s ok)

  124. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Hey, if you’re offering to fly me over there for a personal screening I’m down with that.

    Otherwise I’m going to be over here playing with Manny Calavera. Got an hour to kill until my next flight.

  125. Joe Leydon says:

    The important thing is to pull yourself up by your own hair, to turn yourself inside out, and see the whole world with fresh eyes. Good night, all.

  126. leahnz says:

    where are you, you rabid little flea-bitten rodent? (that’s you foamy, sorry, not my best work i know)

  127. David Poland says:

    Oy.

    I don’t even know where to start. And I need to be on a TV set in 4 hours for an east coast slot on CNBC.

    “so, the ball’s in dp’s court…can there be a ‘once-and-for-all’ on this offensive moron? probably not…”

    That was about Leah, Scoot?

    HA!

    But hard to blame Lex completely for his outburst after, “how odd, lex has repeated AD NAUSEUM that his ex is asian, now she’s a pacific islander from hawaii who makes fun of asians? oooh, someone’s pants are on fire. where’s she from, lex?”

    Seriously. Was there any point at all to going there other than to light a fuse?

    Didn’t take long to go off. That’s on Lex.

    I hate that Lex said something meant to hurt about her kid. He shouldn’t. And it is offensive in many ways. But why is she trolling around about the guy’s ex-wife?

    Of course, Lex knows when he’s doing wrong and often points it out. Leah has never failed to be more moral than any of us, much less having been wrong about anything.

    Sounds like some people writing about me. Funny. But as strongly as I hold many of my positions on morality, especially in media, I am not saint, I am not a perfect journalist by a long stroke, and I have never argued that I am. I do hold major outlets and individuals that claim that they are those things to a high standard.

    Night, kids. I’ll check in on my way back to bed and start unapproving comments as needed…

  128. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Sydney, off to Auckland to see Vincent Ward tomorrow so getting in about midnight.

  129. leahnz says:

    safe journey man (two words: K S, if you can w/out pumping of course, hah)

    i’ve admitted/apologised here many a time over the years for being wrong about all kinds of stuff, and further, i’ll suck it up and be responsible for what i say, i don’t rely on censorship. i’m a sincere apologist, see, i don’t do wrote, half-assed butt-smooching apologies out of necessity after going PSYCHOVILLE because i know i’ve just screwed the pooch and i’ve learned from past experience an ‘apology’ will make it better (unlike some people), and then repeat the same behaviour again, and then apologise as expected, then freak out, apologise, rinse, repeat. a very convenient cycle

  130. scooterzz says:

    do your show…no reason to think about this now…but, when you do, stop making excuses for lex…he knows exactly what he’s doing and loves running your website…jus’ sayin’….

  131. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Will see if I have some gossip by the weekend. I promise I wont pee on the flight like Ruth Aitken’s son! 😉

  132. leahnz says:

    i can’t stop laughing at that, foamy, oh dear (i think i just peed a little, gross)

  133. LexG says:

    Yeah, scoot, THAT wasn’t a transparent way of getting under DP’s skin with that “he’s running your website” plea to ego. Come on. I post here MUCH less than two, three years ago, mostly to wholesale indifference– most people here are here to talk movies and have effectively zoned me out. I’m “running” this place about as much as anghus or EthanG or anyone else who posts here about box-office numbers or whatever. If this was the McDouche era when I was on here day and night at fevered pitch, you might have a point in telling DP my ‘voice’ is too pervasive on the Hot Blog. As it is, I’ve been neutered into irrelevance and am on the shortest least imaginable, a scrutiny that NO ONE ELSE is subjected to.

    Not my fault I’m so fucking funny and entertaining.

  134. scooterzz says:

    understood…it must be a horrible chore to be so ‘fucking funny and entertaining’ (and so humble and offensive at the same time)…it’s a veritable ‘milkshake’ of humor…

  135. LexG says:

    Dude, you and the other haters can have the last laugh: Since I’m pretty much an open book, you’re all aware of how INCREDIBLY DEPRESSING AND TERRIBLE my life is, something I describe in exacting and honest detail (unlike the mysterious “scooterzz”) so it’s not like I’m the school jock spiking a football into your head or stealing your lunch money.

  136. scooterzz says:

    then why persist in being such a dick?

  137. Joe Leydon says:

    LexG: It’s late and I need to hit the sack. Next weekend, though, I hope David gives us an open thread so we can talk about what we talk about best: 70’s movies. To give you fair warning: I want to discuss how Jan Michael Vincent ever was considered a box-office draw.

  138. scooterzz says:

    jane to blanche hudson: ‘you mean…all this time we could’a been friends ?”

  139. leahnz says:

    wow, you truly are putrid pond scum NIKKI, bravo, how long did it take you to find that? your affinity with lex is ALL TOO CLEAR NOW. L to the forhead. how proud your mother must be.

  140. scooterzz says:

    um, yes…my friend owns this site…do you have an issue with that? his committment to comics is as great as his committment to porn (maybe greater)….
    i said ‘congrats’ on the new site… but, thanks for trying ‘nikki’…

  141. leahnz says:

    thinking he’s somehow ‘degrading’ you when what he’s really doing is exposing his nasty-ass true colours. priceless. best window into a black soul ever.

  142. scooterzz says:

    but, let’s go further….i’m a gay guy with connections to several gay sites…some ‘pornish’, some not….i’m more than willing to share my connections…probably more than our dear lexg…

  143. Joe Leydon says:

    God, if only I had a cock that big. Looking at that makes me feel so… inadequate.

  144. christian says:

    Who Is Nikki Whisperer And Why Is He Saying All Those Terrible Things About Everybody?

  145. leahnz says:

    those are some big cocks

  146. Joe Leydon says:

    Gee, thanks, Leah. Make me feel even worse, why don’t you?

  147. scooterzz says:

    but, leydon…you can WRITE… so much better than a big….oh, wait…no…sorry…oh, well…’inadequate’ seems harsh…

  148. leahnz says:

    sorry joe, chalk it up to me being temporarily blinded by cocks, i’m not a sizist as a general rule

  149. scooterzz says:

    so, i guess i’ve been ‘disgraced’…gosh, i hope my life will recover….

  150. yancyskancy says:

    Just dropped in to sing a chorus of “Kumbaya” —

    Kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya…

  151. Steven Kaye says:

    Lex, consider yourself lucky that I’ve forgotten my Hollywood Elsewhere password.

  152. Merkin Muffley says:

    You guys are all “Poopie” heads and “Doo Doo” brains! That is all.

  153. christian says:

    Could be worse. If we were all over at HE, we’d learn that Terence Malick is retarded but Uwe Boll is AWESOME.

    The internets are really making us dumber.

  154. chris says:

    No, Leah. You make me sad. So I’m attempting to put you on “ignore.”

  155. Joe Leydon says:

    Leah: “Blinded by Cocks,” eh? Wasn’t that the title of a Pasolini movie?

  156. David Poland says:

    When did this become The Real World?

    Nikki Whisperer is NOT Lex.

    I haven’t done a check lately, but it seems that most everyone is who they say they are or say they avatar these days.

  157. The Big Perm says:

    THIS is what you guys spent time on on the 4th of July??

  158. christian says:

    I should have said nikki whisperer WANTS to be lex.

    To atone, a Michael Caine story:

    “There used to be a hardware store right on Beverly Hills Drive where you could buy mundane things like nails and string, but where you could see the most extraordinary people buying them. I once saw Fred Astaire buying sandpaper and Danny Kaye buying one light bulb. The most frightening sight I ever saw during my whole stay in America was in that hardware store. I hid behind a shelf of tools and watched Klaus Kinski buying an axe. It cleared the store.”

  159. Steven Kaye says:

    The 4-day actuals are in, and Midnight in Paris actually improved on the estimates. It came in at 9th place, beating garbage like Panda, Pirates, Hangover, X-Men and Bridesmaids.

    From just 858 theatres!

    All in all, its 4-day gross was up 5.1%(!!) over the previous weekend, not 3% as the estimates suggested. The next best performer, Bridesmaids, was down 17.2%.

    Amazing!

  160. SamLowry says:

    Monte Carlo trivia ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067774/trivia ): “Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts were originally the stars of the movie”

    So would Lex still have been in the front row?

    As for Kinski: “He turned down a role in Raiders of the Lost Ark, describing the script as ‘moronically shitty’.” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Kinski#cite_note-14 )

    Must’ve been Lucas’ draft.

Quote Unquotesee all »

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