47 Comments

1. Yehudit:

I sent you that link two days ago, Roger, and Pamela got it from me. Just FYI.

Aug 22, 2005 - 4:46 pm 2. richard mcenroe:

Roger — I’m still willing to overlook your politics if you’ll just get off your duff and get Zapped! 3 into production… Hmm. Hillary Duff in Zapped! 3…

Aug 22, 2005 - 4:54 pm 3. Connecticut Yankee:

I have a close friend who is a Republican/Conservative Jew teaching sociology at a nearby state university. He’s had similar experiences dealing with stereotypes, combined with the absence of serious reflection on the current political situation. The academy seems to differ from Hollywood only in lacking the presence of the glamour folks.

Aug 22, 2005 - 6:01 pm 4. Bostonian:

Today’s so-called “progressives” are people who identify themselves as “progressive.”

Their actual beliefs matter little.

Similarly, the second you stop identifying yourself as a member of that group, that group considers you a right-winger–no matter what your actual beliefs are.

Aug 22, 2005 - 6:06 pm 5. Kevin P:

Roger:

I recently finished “Red Star Over Hollywood” by the Radosh’s and Avrech’s script conferences sound just like the struggle/self crticism sessions that Albert Maltz was subjected to. He was a committed communist but he wrote a article that did not follow the party line. He was pounced upon like a pack of hyenas upon a doe. He was told he would have to write a second article confessing and repudiating his heterodoxy or be kicked out of the party and thus commit proffesional suicide. His love of the party led him to write the article where he called himself a fool and threw himself at the feet of the party, begging for forgiveness. Even some writers who had called him and told him that the first article was spot on later joined in the nasty attacks that forced him to reconsider. He later performed as the prosecuter in similar sessions on other heritics.

The leftist slant is not as formal as the party of the past was but it performs the same function. Anyone who strays too far or thinks for himself is likely to be banished. Just as a five year old child in a religous home is likely to accept his parents religion the left wing slant of Hollywood artists is a given. Of course there are exceptions but the very fact that so many conservatives feel the need to closet themselves should show the community that they do not allow their orthodoxy to be questioned.

Do some of the artists come to their political beliefs by serious study and honest convictions? Of course. But some of it is so illogical that it hard to argue that it is a sign of group think. Oliver Stone’s support of Castro can not be defended. Castro does not allow any artistic freedom. The censorship of Cuban artists are documented beyond dispute. His suppression of Homosexuals can not be denied.It is brutal.It is documented. Yet the community that howls about the slightest hint of censorship or homophobia from conservatives blindly accepts far greater cases from Castro and burries their head and bows down to their sainted Revolutionary.They hold candlelight vigils for the Dixie Chicks and fly down to Havanna to lick Castro’s boots. Logical, eh?

Kevin Peters

Aug 22, 2005 - 6:47 pm 6. Kevin P:

not

Aug 22, 2005 - 6:50 pm 7. Luther McLeod:

Roger

An interesting letter from Mr. Avrech, he is a brave man for doing such. Thanks to you Roger (and others, of course,) it is not really new news, but it is good to hear from another in the belly of the beast, just how bad it is.

I modestly disagree on one point you make though…

“if Hollywood movies meant anywhere near what they once did to the zeitgeist. Fortunately they don’t.”

I think that may be broadly true, but, though they may not be the movers, shakers and zeitgeist setters of the world quite yet, the 18-24 age group is the group that is keeping H-wood’s head above water. They are also the ones being most influenced by the puerile and seditiousness crap as depicted in Mr. Avrech’s letter. In 10 or 15 years this group will be the one shaping events in the world, and that to me, is worrisome. Yes, I know, the elders always say that about the next generation, and we have done fine (more or less) so far. I just think the world is different now, much less chance for the ‘elders’ to pass on pertinent knowledge to counteract the influence of these asses in Hollywood.

Aug 22, 2005 - 7:27 pm 8. jerry:

Avrech’s experience reinforces my opinion that the Hollywood establishment has become so divorced from reality that it has crossed over to collective insanity.

Aug 22, 2005 - 7:34 pm 9. Kyda Sylvester:

One could get very upset about this if Hollywood movies meant anywhere near what they once did to the zeitgeist. Fortunately they don’t.

True, but one still gets quite annoyed at times.

I thought of you, Roger, this morning when I read this. I understand how show biz folk like you and Avrech can love the work that you do, but I can’t fathom how you stand the business you’re in or the people with whom you’re in it.

Aug 22, 2005 - 7:40 pm 10. dan cliff:

“One could get very upset about this if Hollywood movies meant anywhere near what they once did to the zeitgeist. Fortunately they don’t.”

Which zeitgeist? To the one outside of America Hollywood movies may mean much more then they ever did in the past. Certainly many more people are watching them. Though I agree to the extent that Hollywood greatly over-estimates its influence, which is not to say it doesn’t entertain.

Anyway, what does zeitgeist mean again?

Aug 22, 2005 - 7:57 pm 11. Patrick Tyson:

This looks like fun…

http://imdb.com/title/tt0092831/

Aug 22, 2005 - 8:01 pm 12. Luther McLeod:

LOL, Yama, it was a dim memory, I had to look it up. But can I trust Webster’s?

Aug 22, 2005 - 8:04 pm 13. dan cliff:

Luther,

Did you find the sentence, “Oh my aching zeitgeist,” or should I switch to that Webster fellas word list instead of my current dictionary?

Yama

Aug 22, 2005 - 8:11 pm 14. Luther McLeod:

Nah, Yama, I missed that sentence, but your dictionary is just fine, a more precise definition, me thinks.

Aug 22, 2005 - 8:22 pm 15. photoncourier.blogspot.com:

It’s probably true that movies don’t affect the Zeitgeist as much as they once did. But the same groupthink that functions in Hollywood also has a major influence on television and on publishing–newspaper, magazine, and book. Ditto the universities. The vast majority of the levers that have potential to move the Zeitgeist are under the control of what is essentially the same set of people.

Aug 22, 2005 - 8:52 pm 16. Kevin P:

Roger:

On the political end I think Hollywood is losing some influence in America, although they still swing a big bat culturally. But they still reinforce the “ugly Amaerican” ideal that vast area’s of the rest of the world still holds. By parroting the myth they allow non-Americans to say “Even america’s artists know that the U.S.A. is the great satan.”Michael Moores international box office stats bears my opinion out. The mindless crap that is apolitical but moronic supports the “dumb cowboy” storyline and the self loathing political material feeds the America as the root of all evil chestnut.

Expect a flood of Iraq war movies that repeat the Vietnam storylines with Abu Ghraib thrown in. Doonesbury is already rehashing the “Born on the Fourth of July” returning war veteran story arc with B.D. as a amputtee who is turning to booze and anger to block out his nightmares about war. I predict the cliched war monger BD to have a born again episode where he learns that his notions of the American military were wrong and turned him into a killer and discarded him when he can no longer perform his murderous duties.No doubt he will meet an American Arab who will show him that he was manipulated by the Bush/Rove propaganda machine.

Depending

on the course of the War these movies will have mixed American box office stats. But they will do boffo box office internationally. And Hollywood knows it. And they do not care.

Aug 22, 2005 - 8:53 pm 17. chuck:

Photoncourier,

The vast majority of the levers that have potential to move the Zeitgeist are under the control of what is essentially the same set of people.

Yep. We can’t just assume victory because we think our opponents are idiots. It is going to be a long hard fight, measured in years and small percentage shifts of opinion. Rosen’s discussion with Bay has been the topic of discussion over at neo-neocon’s. Go to this link and read the last two comments to get the flavor of the exchange.

Aug 22, 2005 - 9:13 pm 18. Kyda Sylvester:

Of course they do not care, Kevin (did you know that if you misplace your right hand one key to the left, your name is Jevub?). Au contraire, they love it. The overseas market is both their profit center and their sounding board. They would be lost without it.

And yet, of the many foreigners who claim to despise our culture, how many actually know anything about it beyond what Hollywood shows them? (Oh yeah sure, everyone knows we’re the imperialistic war-mongering Great Satan lead by a moronic shit-kicking reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, but I’m talking about our culture.) Does Hollywood ever consider that? Heck, if I viewed our culture exclusively through Hollywood’s lens, I’d despise it too.

Aug 22, 2005 - 9:30 pm 19. someone:

I don’t quite agree. Hollywood’s star has dimmed here, but in pushing the rest-of-the-world (read: anti-American) zeitgeist… More and more.

Perhaps we need a domestic film industry somewhere.

Aug 22, 2005 - 10:39 pm 20. dan cliff:

They may think and act as if they have many of the levers but the true Zeitgeist is not moved so easily. All bow before the mysterious Zeitgeist.

Case in point: sure Michael Moore made a lot of money overseas and everywhere he went he was interviewed and fawned over. Thrown softball questions. But the people asking him the questions, demanding everyone go see the movie, and making all the fuss, are the same people a majority of the population (at least in Japan) considers lying, sniveling, sycophantic, dangerous, snobbish, shallow sons and daughters of something lower than a snakes belly. Thus Moore for all his efforts is guilty by association. For whereever the Gramscian school of Zeitgeist fellow travelers is operating there exists a real Zeitgeist countering it. Though some places, like America, Japan, Australia and…, have a bit better ratio than other places, I admit. And eventually the book fisking Moore is finally translated and sells well etc, etc…. Even in France with all the anti-American propaganda, in the end the books that sell the best are those that provide a counter-argument. And let us not forget that Moore was a blessing to the Republicans. Handed Bush the election on a platter in my opinion.

Do I wish Moore wasn’t around or that parts of California would fall into the ocean (life-preservers provided of course) or I hadn’t wasted so much time at University being filled with Lefty pablum, of course, but the real Zeitgeist is mysterious thing, and I doubt for all their efforts Moore and Stone and crowd truly understand it or move it in the end.

Aug 22, 2005 - 11:00 pm 21. Kevin P:

Kyda:

Thank you for the Jevub info. I have to admit I have never considered that before. When Ron Howard’s “Cinderella Man” was reviewed by the L.A. Times Kenneth Turran began the review by stating that Howard had returned to more lighter and hopefull material after finally examining his darker side in a couple of his previous films. And he implied that this was somehow a cop out. Whether a film is positive or more dark(translation-serious) shou;d make no difference. A “dark film can be as cliche and filled with bad writing, directing, and acting as any positive film but the film reviewers are so jaded that unless they are shocked by the potential of human depravity they can not consider a film worthy of their attention. And any positive film, no matter how well made, rubs them the wrong way because of course they know that because they are depressed and lead lives of desperation everyone else must be too. I enjoy a well made film and if it is pollyannish and out of touch with reality I don’t like it. And if a darker film has something to say I can appreciate and be moved by it. But this notion that a examination of the dark side of humanity is somehow automatically more worthy of exploration is a load of crap.

Kevin Peters

Aug 22, 2005 - 11:20 pm 22. Kyda Sylvester:

Not to mention, comedy is hard.

Glad to be of assistence on the name thing–knowledge is power.

One of Hollywood’s finest reports back:

I was anxious to get out into the street, to smell the city and its traffic…

Aug 23, 2005 - 12:11 am 23. Kyda Sylvester:

I challenge anyone to make it all the way to the end (and just think, there are four more parts). In any event, do not miss “A short history of U.S.-Iran relations” at the bottom.

Aug 23, 2005 - 12:32 am 24. David Thomson:

ìWhen Ron Howard’s “Cinderella Man” was reviewed by the L.A. Times Kenneth Turran began the review by stating that Howard had returned to more lighter and hopefull material after finally examining his darker side in a couple of his previous films.î

Many of these somewhat nihilistic critics are also out to damage ìThe Great Raidî at the box office. I was very impressed with this long awaited film and recommend it highly. It is rumored that the Hollywood elite did their best to delay the release of John Dahlís creation so as not to help George W. Bush. This well done movie is about the true life raid behind Japanese enemy lines to save the lives of American POWs. It accurately depicts the brutality of Japanís Bushido culture. Needless to add, the politically correct crowd is not pleased.

Aug 23, 2005 - 4:13 am 25. Rick Ballard:

Kyda,

Not even for $10 a word.

Aug 23, 2005 - 6:40 am 26. Patrick Tyson:

Turan did give Cinderella Man a bad review, but he didn’t start in on Ron Howard until paragraph 5.

http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/turan/cl-et-cinderella3jun03,0,2061689.story

Given his review of Howard’s previous film, The Missing,

http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-turan26nov26,2,5443091.story?coll=cl-mreview

in which he does begin with Ron Howard, it’s hardly surprising that he writes negatively about Howard’s choice of subject matter.

I hold no brief for any movie reviewer, but Turan is, at least, consistant and reasonable in his opinions regarding these movies directed by Ron Howard. For the record, I liked Cinderella Man and disliked The Missing.

The Missing got a Thanksgiving release in 2003 and Cinderella Man got a post-Memorial Day release this year. In both cases, my question was why?

Speaking of release dates, but not of why, The Great Raid was released, as required, to facilitate the end to the Weinstein Brothers long tenure at Miramax. This weeks release of The Brothers Grimm moves that process along. Let that be a warning. The only surprise to me regarding The Great Raid is that Nicholas Cage wasn’t involved. Box office dropped 46.1% last weekend even with the addition of 101 theaters.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-miramax16aug16,1,7522858.story?coll=la-headlines-business

As to the zeitgeist, is it too much to hope that it’s with HBO? Rome premieres on Sunday. Entourage moves toward the conclusion of its second season and The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm will all be back.

Aug 23, 2005 - 7:41 am 27. chuck:

OT:

Norman Geras has some interesting coverage of the Iraqi constitution.

Aug 23, 2005 - 8:17 am 28. Steven Mitchell:

I know it is rough on Roger and others (same as in academics), but I for one am grateful that the situation is as bad as it is. If it were slightly better, it would cause just as much trouble, but wouldn’t so readily discredit itself. If a crowd is going to think like lemmings, it helps that they look like lemmings.

I’m also convinced that this is the true genius of the first admendment. We need free speech not so much that we get to hear the good ideas but rather that we get to hear the really bad ones expounded on at length.

Aug 23, 2005 - 8:28 am 29. Studebaker Hawk:

“It accurately depicts the brutality of Japanís Bushido culture.”

David,

At the risk of sounding politically correct (which I’m not), the anti-ethical behavior of the Japanese military during WWII was definitely not Bushido, rather a crude facsimile. Bushido was the code of ethics of a samurai (also called bushi), very few of the Japanese military were from samurai background (samurai class being abolished 50 years earlier). Bushido shaped a samurai from cradle to manhood and is not something that can be reduced to mere indoctrination or training.

No respectable samurai would commit the kinds of senseless brutality seen in WWII. When Takeda Shingen, a powerful daimyo, learned that his arch enemy, Uesugi Kenshin, was short of salt, he allowed a shipment through his lines, as he didn’t think it proper to gain victory except through the valor of his samurai on the battlefield.

Aug 23, 2005 - 9:27 am 30. thibaud:

I can’t say I’m terribly worried about the political views of Messers. Ovitz, Geffen, Eisner et al, any more than I care about the bloviations of Jonathan Klein of CNN or Dan Rather.

Hollywood simply isn’t still relevant to today’s young (ie under 40, not under 18)– at least that majority of young males in western nations who spend much of their leisure time and $$ playing online games. Robert Clayton Dean of Samizdata has in interesting observation:

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/007898.html

To the younger set, gaming refers to video and computer games, …which are likely to drive a larger market than the movie industry, real soon now. Numbers are notoriously hard to come by, given Hollywood’s penchant for lying, cheating and stealing, but already the gaming industry is probably roughly on par with the movie industry, in terms of revenue.

He’s almost certainly correct. If you include revenue from hardware as well as software, the online video and gaming market is now probably about $15 billion– which would exceed revenues from either first-run Hollywood films or from the music industry.

This is not least because, contrary to myth, about two-thirds of the game-playing audience are over 18. It’s not “future generations” that will pass Hollywood by; the current generation of young adults long ago passed over Hollywood in favor of online and video games.

Games are to hollywood movies as blogs are to the legacy newsmedia: an interactive, dynamic, fresh alternative product that offers a far more compelling experience than the legacy medium possibly can.

Aug 23, 2005 - 11:20 am 31. thibaud:

I can’t say I’m terribly worried about the political views of Messers. Ovitz, Geffen, Eisner et al, any more than I care about the bloviations of Jonathan Klein of CNN or Dan Rather.

Hollywood simply isn’t still relevant to today’s young (ie under 40, not under 18)– at least that majority of young males in western nations who spend much of their leisure time and $$ playing online games. Robert Clayton Dean of Samizdata has in interesting observation:

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/007898.html

To the younger set, gaming refers to video and computer games, …which are likely to drive a larger market than the movie industry, real soon now. Numbers are notoriously hard to come by, given Hollywood’s penchant for lying, cheating and stealing, but already the gaming industry is probably roughly on par with the movie industry, in terms of revenue.

He’s almost certainly correct. If you include revenue from hardware as well as software, the online video and gaming market is now probably about $15 billion– which would exceed revenues from either first-run Hollywood films or from the music industry.

This is not least because, contrary to myth, about two-thirds of the game-playing audience are over 18. It’s not “future generations” that will pass Hollywood by; the current generation of young adults long ago passed over Hollywood in favor of online and video games.

Games are to hollywood movies as blogs are to the legacy newsmedia: an interactive, dynamic, fresh alternative product that offers a far more compelling experience than the legacy medium possibly can.

Aug 23, 2005 - 11:21 am 32. Kevin P:

Patrick:

Thank you for the correction. This was a fine example of my memory and my bias perverting the facts. I like movies and Turran can write well. But the Calendar section of the Times and their coverage of the arts has a habit of transfering the desires of the reviewer and the movies that they wish were being made onto the films they review and if the film, bad or good, doesn’t fit their desires they slag it.

I think a film reviewer should be able to write about a film that isn’t a style that they enjoy and review it on it’s merits, not on what they want made. Turran knows more about film then I do so I do not write this pretending that I have more knowledge then he does. In the pop music field Robert Hilburn will have a favorite new band(or one of his old favorites) and he reviews them through the prism that since they don’t live up to or tackle the same subject or music style that his favorites do they are somehow lacking. When the White Stripes,a band Ifind interesting, came up in many of his reviews of other bands in the vein of” they are not exploring the same boundries that WS are”. Some artists are not trying to break new ground or follow the latest trend.Of course the reviewers likes and dislikes are going to come into the picture but if Turran likes movies that dwell on the underbelly of society that should’nt preclude him looking at a more positive film in a fair light. Now if Howard or any otherartist is just making a rehash of the same film and not adding anything to it then he is fair game for attack.But to go after a director because he makes a positive film and it is somehow bad from the start is silly.Should “Ran” be ripped as just another historical drama. Many directors have themes and styles that thet visit time and time again. It’s not the stlye or topic, it’s how they perform.

Aug 23, 2005 - 11:29 am 33. Knucklehead:

At the finish of some advertisement for yet another lame offering from Hollywood I made some comment lamenting the crap the motion picture industry puts out these days.

My 21-year old daughter summarized the situation rather succinctly, “It’s pretty obvious that Hollywood has run out of ideas.”

Aug 23, 2005 - 12:25 pm 34. Loki the Dog:

I was recently explaining the “Lake Wobegon effect” to a young colleague. Garrison Keillor wrote, “Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.”

The “Lake Wobegon effect” is that any group of people consider themselves above average–but, mathematical logic dictates that overall half of us must be below average.

The person I was talking to responded, “I know where the below average people are–in the middle of the country.” I said, “hey, I like the people in the middle of the country.”

He responded, “what are you, a Republican?”

In the big city, there is no middle ground. Religion is generally scorned. Bush supporters lay low.

I don’t know if Hollywood is cause, effect, or part both, but it is dangerous and troublesome. And, the ad industry shares the same insular attitude–and has even more opportunities than Hollywood to influence how people think.

I recently returned from an advertising industry conference. . .my thoughts on it are here if anyone is interested:

http://www.houseofthedog.com/2005/08/advertising_ame.html

Aug 23, 2005 - 1:01 pm 35. chuck:

Loki,

It’s disheartening, isn’t it? But nothing new. I saw the same thing back in the sixties, folks walking in lockstep, chanting slogans, speaking nonsense, and utterly convinced that they were virtuous and deep, original thinkers. It seems to be the human condition. When have the “elite” ever had anything but scorn for their inferiors? Same old same old. Thank God we can all vote.

Aug 23, 2005 - 1:31 pm 36. Loki the Dog:

Same old, thing, but is the tide turning? I used to laugh at moral and cultural relativism when I was in college. It didn’t take long to go from the campus to the general public.

I’m all for an elite that gets to live by different rules. The problem is when they cease to be the decadence of the elite and become the mores of sociey at large.

Let’s hope their remains a silent majority and the tide will return. . .

Aug 23, 2005 - 2:10 pm 37. chuck:

I’m all for an elite that gets to live by different rules.

Reminds me, I once rented a room in NYC from a older French lady, raised in an Algerian vineyard, married at one point to the court physician of Belgium, who used to beat her, and later a secretary to one of the Vanderbilts. And… where was I? Anyway, she told me how the Vanderbilts would have a party and tell her to stay away, that she would be happier not to see the goings on… Guess that behaviour has spread out to the US at large, also, although I suspect WWII and the literature that followed had more to do with it.

Aug 23, 2005 - 3:42 pm 38. chuck:

Meanwhile, Iowahawk has some good stuff on Michael Moore’s current investigation.

Aug 23, 2005 - 4:22 pm 39. richard mcenroe:

Studebaker Hawk — remember, the samurai caste had been largely suppressed in the 19th century during the Meiji restoration. The people calling themselves “samurai” in Japan in the 30’s and 40’s were their bitter shopkeeper descendants embracing a make-believe philosophy that gave them a license to escape their social frustrations…

Aug 23, 2005 - 4:41 pm 40. Dmac:

Patrick -

Agree with you wholeheartedly regarding HBO’s influence in this country, but wondering if you (or anyone out there) can provide foreign subscribership for same.

I realize that while they may have some reach outside of our borders, the majority of markets outside of the US are still probably in their early stages regarding HBO (unless SkyTv carries it on their systems, which of course could make a big impact worldwide).

The French would most likely think Six Feet Under a brilliant depiction of the modern American Nuclear Family, but then we discussed a similar theme earlier regarding Alan Ball’s American Beauty.

Aug 23, 2005 - 7:12 pm 41. asher:

It’s really sad that the best defense offered to Robert Avrech – who is clearly passionate about the cinema – was to keep telling himself, “It’s only a movie.”

On a ligher note, there’s this

http://www.brutallyhonest.org/brutally_honest/2005/08/greatest_movie_.html

Aug 23, 2005 - 7:18 pm 42. Bruce Wechsler:

Asher….that clip is a gem! I have a feeling it will get forwarded in amazing speed and volume.

Aug 24, 2005 - 9:46 am 43. photoncourier.blogspot.com:

Studebaker Hawk…You say that Japan’s brutality during WWII was not in the true spirit of bushido. I don’t know enough about Japanese history to say yea or nay, but have one anecdotal data point which supports your position.

There’s a book titled “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by a guy who was one during WWII. In childhood, he was greatly inflenced by his grandfather, a retired samurai.

After sinking an American ship, he informed his crew that it was proper to show respect for the Americans they had just killed, since “they died for their country.”

Aug 24, 2005 - 10:29 am 44. Studebaker Hawk:

photoncourier,

Your story does capture some lingering essence of Bushido. Bushido was not a specific codified set of commandments. It didn’t reside in a single tome or scripture. It was a way of life, an unwrittten, yet clearly undertood, set of social rules and expectations that developed over centuries. It’s references were in thousands of books, poems, but mostly by the examples set by the previous generations of ethical samurai. It could not be conveyed by any classroom instruction, rather it was emparted by the day to day living and training of the samurai class. It was ephemeral and real at the same time. It had roots in Buddhism, Confuscism (both imported to Japan and modified for the Japanese sensitivities)and developed into a set of aesthetics and ethics that guided right behavior. With the abolition of the feudal system, the samurai as a class was ended along with its lifestyle. Without this total cultural environment to sustain it, Bushido withered away.

This is not to say that the samurai were pacifists, far from it – they were hard men, warriors and did many things that would seem cruel to modern eyes. But they were also men of refinement and self discipline who would not condone the wanton slaughter of innocents. They held their honor dear and would never shame themselves or their families.

The so-called Bushido of WWII was more of a propaganda and indoctrination of conscripts mostly of peasant ancestry (samurai never amounted to more than 5% of Japanese population at any period.)

Aug 24, 2005 - 1:34 pm 45. dtlc:

Out of the closet in Hollywood? That’s no big deal.

Imagine being out of the closet in the Middle East? Who would have thought? But there it is -

“THE FIRST HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, CAIRO, EGYPT”

This is not a joke. I kid you not. Check it out yourself. The Arabic TV station that carried the news also has a website with comments, and some are in English.

Aug 24, 2005 - 1:55 pm 46. Patrick Tyson:

Kevin—

Memory sort of serves so I know that I attended some sort of large high school journalism conference in 1975 and that each of the lead Los Angeles Times arts critics talked to large groups about their job and then took questions. Hillburn was already the lead music critic at the Times. I got a look at him, but I did not attend his talk. My best guess is that it was because Charles Champlin (then the lead movie critic) talked during the same time period and I definitely saw and heard him. He talked about how few good movies were being released and suggested he might move over to reviewing books because there were a lot more of them released during any given year and, presumably, a lot more that were worth reccommending to readers as worthy of the expense in cash and time. Hillburn liked Springsteen and The Clash early so he’s all right by me. I did not live in Southern Califorina from 1976 to 2000, but I was often here for holidays and I generally found the year-end polling in which all the numerous music critics participated very informative.

As to film reviews, the last of the few lengthy reviews I committed to paper dealt with the first film in The Trilogy. A great deal of it was given over to complaints about the screenplay adaptation. I also included a lengthy explanation of what I would have done differently had it been my film to write and direct. After listening to the DVD commentaries for Fellowship and seeing the other two movies, I’m even more confirmed in my view that, as good as they are, the three Lord of the Rings movies aren’t all they could and probably should have been and that is primarily because of “safe” (in movie terms) adaptation choices.

Anyway, I mostly read reviewers to see if we saw the same film and sometimes to see how much they know. We would probably never have known that Roger Ebert hadn’t seen The Sons of Katie Elder if there hadn’t been a Four Brothers.

Dmac—

I had no idea…

http://www.hbo.com/corpinfo/international.shtml

…but then I usually don’t.

tibald—

I might agree, but then the two biggest game players I know are also the two biggest moviegoers I know.

…

The Seven Bushido Virtues…

http://www.takase.com/MartialArts/Bushido/Bushido.htm

There is a link there to an online edition of Inazo Nitobe’s Bushido, The Soul of Japan. I last read it while in college (it was assigned) so I think I’ll read it again while I know where it is.

Best.

Aug 24, 2005 - 11:51 pm 47. john:

Nice blog.I read some of you’re articles and they are really good.

John

Aug 25, 2005 - 4:00 am

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