People and things I think are overrated. Not necessarily bad, just not as good as everyone seems to think they are.
1. Paul Thomas Anderson
I enjoyed There Will Be Blood as much as the next guy, but I'm pretty sure that was mostly due to Daniel Day Lewis's eccentric performance as Daniel Plainview.
And I had a real problem with the ending. It felt like at some point someone looked at his watch and went "holy fuck, it's been that long? Wrap it up. I dunno, just kill the preacher guy, maybe?'" t's so out of the blue, since plainview clearly seems to relish the idea of keeping the kid around to watch him grovel and squirm. Killing him spoils all his fun.
Magnolia, on the other hand was the worst 7 and a half hours I have ever spent in a theater. (it felt that long) The Tom Cruise character, especially was so ridiculous. This guy is supposed to have built a successful business standing on stage yelling "respect the cock!"?
His seminar is called "Seduce and Destroy." Now, I get that there would be a big market for a guy who could teach ordinary schmucks how to seduce women, but why the destroy? Is there really a big demographic out there thinking, I'd like to be able to have sex with women, but I also want to be able to inflict some sort of emotional damage on them at the same time. If only there were a guy who could teach me. . . say, what about that creepy little guy strutting around screaming about 'respecting cocks' and 'taming c*nts?'"
That's a guy from whom I'd seek guidance!
And the whole 'sins of the fathers" theme, did any one NOT find that incredibly heavy-handed? Geezuz, we got it 2 hours ago, run the fucking credits!
Boogie Nights was, of course, the film that answered the eternal question "is it possible to make a movie slap-full of sex and nakedness and still be kinda boring?" Okay, I'm not saying "boogie Nights" was a BAD movie, it was just sort of okay, but for some reason the critics treated it like the second coming of Citizen Kane, and honest to God, it just wasn't anything to write home about.
Only a gifted director could get Mark Wahlberg to act dumb as a post and Burt Reynolds to play a convincing egomaniac!
I have not seen "The Master," but everything I've heard about it seems to consist of people tying themselves in knots trying to come up with a reason to say that they loved it because it's Paul Thomas Anderson and if you're a film person you're required to love everything he does.
Philippe becomes new Belgian king as Albert II abdicates 21 July 2013Last updated at
08:41 ET
Abdicates? Why would the king of Belgium abdicate? What possible responsibilities could the king of Belgium have that he no longer felt capable of handling? I mean, Belgium is a modern democracy, right? They have a parliament and a Prime Minister or President or whatever, right? What is it about the ceremonial role of figurehead that was just getting to be too much for the king?
(Probably not the actual King of Belgium)
In his final address before signing a legislative act to step down, 79-year-old
King Albert said his country must remain a "source of inspiration" to Europe.
Um "remain?" Remain a source of inspiration? One would think that in order to serve as a source of inspiration to other nations those other nations would have to have noticed that you exist.
I kid, I kid. . .
Actually, Belgium is, as far as I can tell, a hell of a place.
I mean for starters, this is a statue of one of their national heroes:
Yeah, pissing boy! I'm not even being sarcastic, how fucking cool is that?
We owe Belgium a debt of gratitude for quite a few things.
There's a sign you've probably seen if you've ever been to or watched footage of any pro-choice rally or any other pro-progressive demonstration. there are any number of different versions, but they all boil down to some version of this:
Well, guess what? Believe it.
If you believe one thing, believe this. They will never ever EVER quit.
The right wing is like the Terminator. It has no feelings, no emotions, it cannot be reasoned with. And it absolutely will not stop ever until you are dead! (paraphrase)
This is partly because, no matter how insane their ideas sound, there area a lot of true believers on the retrograde right. But also because they have a bottomless supply of money to hire professional wingnuts and build up their alternate-reality infrastructure.
This is what we're up against:
Billboards are NOT cheap. I don't know exactly how much they cost, but some kook came up with the idea to use a fake quote that has been falsely attributed to Hitler to make a phony point about gun control and this kook was able to get the money to do it.
Does it matter that this is total bullshit? That Hitler never said this? That he in fact relaxed the gun laws that had been in place during the Weimar Republic? No. Because someone will believe it. And the amount of money spent to maybe convince one gullible sap that gun control is somehow Hitlerian is worth it because the right has an endless supply of Kochs and Waltons and Coorses and Scaifes to fund as many ridiculous right-wing myth-making projects as they can come up with. Hell, remember the anti-Arab posters Pam Geller got put up in NYC subway stations? You think those were cheap? No. You think she scrimped and saved to pay for 'em? Hell No. I don't know if she got some eccentric billionaire sugar daddy money or a whole bunch of deluded pensioners sending in their social security money, but money will always show up for right-wing nonsense and hatred.
So, yeah, you're gonna have to fight this shit again. And again. And again. Because right-wing ideology never dies. No matter how many times you rebuff their advances, there they are in the next election cycle, ready to fight the same battle all over again. And they'll be there the next election and the next, just waiting for decency to let its guard down. You think you've destroyed a right-wing idea? It comes back as a zombie. Or a vampire, or Jason Voorhies, or I don't know, the point is they are never really dead.
This guy was off the Sunday talk shows for what, a year?
You think an issue is settled? Think again. You thought maybe Roe v. Wade settled the abortion issue? Guess again! That battle is just beginning to be re-fought.
You thought maybe we no longer lived in an era in which the government had any right to regulate what you do in your bedroom?
In an unusual move, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), his party’s nominee for governor, launched a new campaign website Wednesday highlighting his efforts to reinstate Virginia’s unconstitutional Crimes Against Nature law.
You thought the Lawrence decision was the final word on whether government had a say in your boudoir? Hell, that was ten years ago, the troglodytes are coming out swingin' for round two! (okay, probably not swinging, exactly, but you get the idea)
Did you think that some things were so settled, so widely agreed-upon as to not even merit being the subject of debate? Like maybe the idea that kids should attend school? Wrong again, Pollyanna!
Accountability for Parents + Respect for Teachers A Practical Argument for Ending Compulsory Education in UtahRenewing Accountability for Parents and Respect for Educators By Senator Aaron Osmond
Yep, that's a state senator from Utah proposing that kids no longer be required to get an education!
And, yes, he's one of those Osmonds.
Check out his diatribe here, if you aren't sure whether he's deadly serious. He waxes nostalgic for a time when education was not compulsory and parents decided whether to send their kids to school or into the factories and mines. And he thinks that parents should take it upon themselves to teach their kids the principles of physics and chemistry and biology, because anything that a kid wouldn't have learned pre-1890's probably isn't worth knowing anyway?
And this is the picture he uses to illustrate his argument:
Because, I guess that was the sort of place where future micro-biologists and electronic engineers could be trained up in his fantasy world?
This shit is not going to ever stop. It's only getting worse. For Gods' sake, Christine O'Donnell has just re-surfaced (no, really)
There is no level of disgrace from which these people can not resurrect themselves, and there will always be media outlets to give them platforms.
So, yeah, we have to protest this shit again. And again. And again. But also, we have to take a page from their book
No, the other one
.
No, I mean their playbook.
I mean decent, sane people need to follow the example of the lunatic right and vote. Not just for president. Even if Barack Obama had turned out to be the progressive we had hoped for, there's only so much he could have done (although, something?) We have to turn up for mid-term elections. We have to turn up for primaries, before the decent progressive candidates get weeded out. We have to vote for State Assemblies, because they're the ones who do the re-districting every ten years. (or whenever the hell they feel like it in Texas) We have to vote for mayors and school board members and city councilmembers and goddammned dog-catchers if that's what it takes. They know how important voting is, why do you think they work so hard to restrict it? I mean, everyone thought the voting rights act was settled law, right? Well guess again!
That's the kind of shit we're up against!
I think she's the granddaughter or niece or something of part-time harpy and full-time H.P. Lovecraft character Phyllis Schlafly. When last I was aware of her existence, she was writing about the "War on Men" which frightened me a little until I realized that her extreme depths of self-loathing had simply driven her stark mad and of course there was no such war.
Men are now second-class citizens. And she's got proof!
The most obvious proof is male bashing in the media. It is rampant and irrefutable.
Irrefutable! Odd that something which is obviously a matter of opinion could be considered irrefutable. Also, something which could be easily refuted, but I'm just going to assume that irrefutable is just not a word that she really knows.
What I don't know could fill a dictionary!
It is rampant and irrefutable. From sit-coms and commercials that portray dad as an idiot to biased news reports about the state of American men, males are pounced on left and right. And that’s just the beginning.
Also the end!
You know, I will readily concede that a lot of sit-coms and commercials portray dads as bumbling oafs, and that is kind of annoying, although more annoying as lazy writing than as any kind of actual harm being cause to anyone, but I would submit that for every sit-com husband portrayed as a n incompetent boob there is a sit-com wife portrayed as a bitchy shrew, so I'm not sure that either gender really comes out ahead in that equation.
Never mind, we have a winner!
The war on men actually begins in grade school, where boys are at a distinct disadvantage. Not only are curriculums centered on girls’, rather than boys,’ interests, the emphasis in these grades is on sitting still at a desk.
Okay, first of all, the plural of curriculum is curricula, which I would think you would know had the grade school you attended been so totally focused on the interests of girls. Also, I had no idea that girls were so interested in readin' writin' and 'rithmetic. The girls I knew in grade school were more interested in playing kickball at recess and going home to watch cartoons, same as the boys, but I guess times have changed. Also, are you saying that sitting still at a desk is something that only girls are good at?
Plus, many schools have eliminated recess.
Which I thought was a result of budget cuts, but I guess it could be part of the vast anti-boy conspiracy?
many schools have eliminated recess. Such an environment is unhealthy for boys, for they are active by nature and need to run around.
Um, have you ever met any girls? they run around all the time. I know my nieces sure as hell did when they were little. You know, it's not usually girls that have to be pried away from World of Warcraft and Cool Ranch Doritos to be forced to spend one goddamm minute out in the fresh air and sunshine.
So active by nature!
they are active by nature and need to run around. And when they can’t sit still teachers and administrators often wrongly attribute their restlessness to ADD or ADHD. The message is clear: boys are just unruly girls.
Um, that may be the least clear message I have ever heard. How are boys unruly girls? If girls become unruly enough, do they become boys? Do ADHD medications turn boys into girls?
Things are no better in college. There, young men face the perils of Title IX, the 1972 law designed to ban sex discrimination in all educational programs.
Um, I went to college in the late '80's. And most of the '90's. (I wasn't the best student), and I don't remember facing any peril of any kind, certainly not from Title IX. I somehow managed to get through my entire college career on several campuses without ever being put in peril by the women's basketball team.
Under Title IX, the ratio of female athletes is supposed to match the ratio of female students. So if not enough women sign up for, say, wrestling and ice hockey, well then: no more wrestling and ice hockey.
Okay, let's pretend that that's how Title IX works, since you clearly have no idea how it does work, is that really what you consider "peril?" Really? 'Peril?" The University cancels ice hockey? Oh, no! How will men survive? I mean, you do know what peril means, right?
Definition of PERIL
1 : exposure to the risk of being injured, destroyed, or lost :dangerperil
Anyway, up to this point, Venker's article is really just silly. But fasten your safety belts, it's about to get horrifying:
Title IX is also abused when it comes to sex. In 1977, a group of women at Yale used Title IX to claim sexual harassment and violence constitute discrimination against women
.
Wait. Sexual harassment and violence DON"T constitute discrimination? I mean, I guess you could say that discrimination is not strong enough a word to describe sexual harassment and violence, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that that's not what you mean.
Genuine harassment and violence should be punishable offenses, obviously.
Whoa! Whoa! What are you trying to do, get fired by FOX?
Genuine harassment and violence should be punishable offenses, obviously. But the college campus is a breeding ground for sexual activity, which makes determining wrongdoing (and using Title IX to prove it) extremely difficult.
Actually, it's pretty easy to determine wrongdoing. In the real world where the rest of us live, it's incredibly easy to distinguish between, say, consensual and non-consensual sexual contact. If you're having difficulty, just find a normal person and ask her.
Sexual misconduct does not necessarily constitute harassment—and women have as much of a role to play as men do.
Oh, wait. I get it now. You're one of those people. Those people who consider any non-,marital, non-procreative sexy funtimes "sexual misconduct." So for you, I guess it would be difficult to assess who is to blame for a consensual hook-up. It's just that the rest of us don't see a need to assign any "blame" for a consensual encounter. For non-consensual sex, assigning blame is really really easy.
Here again men are in an impossible situation, for there’s an unspoken commandment when it comes to sex in America: thou shalt never blame the woman. If you’re a man who’s sexually involved with a woman and something goes wrong, it’s your fault. Simple as that.
Um, are you at all familiar with the internet? Because if you are, may IO recommend that you go to any news story that concerns abortion, contraception, or sex at all and scroll through the comments. See how long it takes you to find the "stupid slut should have kept her legs shut" section. Should take about 7 seconds, especially at your employers' site.
Also, what kind of a sick fuck refers to rape or sexual assault as "something goes wrong?"
Now I'm sure you're probably all thinking at this point that Venker has hit rock bottom. Keep digging!
When men become husbands and fathers, things get really bad. In family courts throughout America, men are routinely stripped of their rights and due process. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is easily used against them since its definition of violence is so broad that virtually any conflict between partners can be considered abuse.
You just. . . You think you've heard everything. . .and then. . . Oh my God!
If a woman gets angry for any reason, she can simply accuse a man and men are just assumed guilty in our society,” notes Dr. Helen Smith, author of the new book, "Men on Strike." This is particularly heinous since, as Smith adds, violence in domestic relations “is almost 50% from men and 50% from women.”
Who the fuck is Helen Smith? How are there two of these women? I would have thought you'd be hard pressed to find ONE woman to be an apologist for domestic violence. There are TWO? I am shocked!
Shocked? If so, that’s in part because the media don’t believe men can be victims of domestic violence—so they don’t report it. They would rather feed off stories that paint women as victims. And in so doing, they’ve convinced America there’s a war on women.
Oh my God!
And sure, the media would NEEEEEVER report on men being victims of domestic violence! You know how they hate a man bites dog story like that!
Actress Tawny Kitaen Finley was charged Wednesday with injuring her husband, former Anaheim Angels pitcher Chuck Finley, during an argument.
Lionel Richie's Wife Beat Him Up After Catching Him Cheating
Yet it is males who suffer in our society. From boyhood through adulthood, the White American Male must fight his way through a litany of taunts, assumptions and grievances about his very existence. His oppression is unlike anything American women have faced
You know, I gotta think Mr. Venker's got it pretttty sweet.
Hon, what time are you going to be home?
Goddammit, Suzanne, stop oppressing me!
Oh, I'm sorry you're right. I'm so darn insensitive to your plight!
Um, Honey, whose undies are these I found in your car?
Oh, here we go! I guess I'm just a second-class citizen around here, right? Society just automatically assumes I'm guilty!
Oh, I'm sorry, dear. You've obviously suffered enough. You go ahead and bang whomever you like if it will help make up for the hurt that womankind has heaped upon your people lo these many years.
After the absolute horror of the Zimmerman verdict and the even more sickening spectacle of scumbags celebrating it, I know I could use some little bit of news that might make me feel a bit less hopeless about this human race.
Yes, due to the extremely real threat of "anti-ex-gay" bullying, and not at all due to the fact that no one was going to show up, and also totally not due to the concern that the event might turn into a big gay orgy, the "Ex-Gay Pride" Event has been cancelled.
Well, not exactly cancelled, just moved to an "undisclosed location" where no prying eyes will be able to see whether or not anyone has shown up or whether it has in fact become a big gay orgy which it most certainly will not have. But let "Voice of the Non-Existent Voiceless" spokesman Christopher "I love boobies" Doyle explain:
(VIA: http://www.voiceofthevoiceless.info/ex-gay-pride-still-alive-despite-anti-ex-gay-extremism/)
Due to some anti-ex-gay extremism that has occurred since we first announced Ex-Gay Pride 2013, the July 31 Lobbying Day on Capitol Hill and Evening Dinner/Reception at the Family Research Council has had to be moved and postponed to an undisclosed location in September.
Truth Wins Out director Wayne "I have no problem admitting that I don't much care for boobies" Bessen has issued a statement challenging "VOV" to name any or all of the supposed persons or organizations that have been intimidating or bullying or threatening the Ex-Gay community. Shockingly, VOV has yet to respond in any way, probably because they fear even more retaliation from "that guy I made up," and "that group that that my friend's cousin said he had heard about from some guy he made up."
And here is my favorite part from the statement issued by Voice of the Voiceless Who Have No Voice Because They Don't Actually Exist:
The closing paragraph states:
July’s First Annual Ex-Gay Pride Month is only the beginning. September’s Ex-Gay Awareness Month in schools across the country is only a start. Our voices will be heard. We will no longer be shut out. We will no longer hide in the shadows.
Which is only funny if one hearkens back to the first paragraph of the press release which states that the "ex-Gay" event "has had to be moved and postponed to an undisclosed location in September." Which kinda sorta feels like hiding in the shadows, but hey, what do I know?
Cheered up yet? Only a little? Well, how about this headline?
Athens tea party group to hold fundraisers to get $65,000 owed to event speakers
By Jim Thompsonupdated Saturday, July 13, 2013 - 11:15pm
Yes, the Athens, GA Tea Party (and apparently, even the home of Micheal Stipe, Fred Schneider, and Kim Basinger has a fucking tea party) found out the answer to the age-old question "what if they gave a douchenozzle rally and no one came?" Or more accurately, no one came except for people who were getting paid to be there. Or to be even more accurate, people who thought that they were going to be paid to be there but then there was no money to pay them because no one bought any tickets because this may be Georgia, but this is Athens!
Keyantwon Stephens, the 17-year-old chair and founder the Athens-Clarke County Tea Party Patriots, said a press conference is planned for today to address the matter in more detail.
The 17-year-old chair!
17-year-old chair and founder. . . who could possibly have foreseen this not going well?
After the Classic Center canceled the event, organizers moved it to the Comfort Inn and Suites, where they paid in cash, Stephens said. He said the final tally for the event was 92 people
hahahahaha Ninety-Two!
Wright told Athens-Clarke police that the crowd was supposed to be about 2,500, a size others working with the convention said they expected.
O my God. . .they thought. . .A-ha-ha-ha-ha. . .they thought 2,500. . .Ba-ha-ha-ha-ha! 2,500 people!
A-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!
The Athens-Clarke County Tea Party Patriots formed in April 2012 and has 127 member, Stephens said.
A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!! They have 127 Members! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! 127 Memebers and they still only sold 92 tickets!!! They couldn't even get half their own members to show up!!!!
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