Failing Upward In Hollywood

Most overpaid celebrities.

Number #1 most overpaid celeb? Nicole Kidman. Whose last four films have tanked. Not just tanked, but miserably, disastrously, lost more money than some countries entire GDP tanked. She still got 15 million for her latest train wreck “The Golden Compass.”

   “I’m worth it!”

If anyone can guarantee box office poison, it’s Nicole Kidman, so why not give her 15 million dollars? Or make 20 anti-war movies that a mongoloid could predict would bomb? Or pay Al Franken for……anything.

Ok,  the Franken thing was kinda unrelated, but like Kidman, I doubt he’s ever generated a single dollar of  profit to anyone. And my use of the word “mongoloid” was meant in the nicest way possible, so no offense Franken fans.

GOP Voters Uninspired By Candidates (NYT)

None of the Republican candidates is viewed favorably by even half of the Republican electorate, the poll found. In a sign of the fluidity of the race, one candidate who had barely registered in early polls several months ago, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is now locked in a tight contest nationally with Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

Yes, we’re uninspired. We’re uninspired because there are no longer any Real Republican candidates to choose from. Republicans have morphed into JFK Democrats. There are no Republicans that reflect my views, or the views of the vast majority of Republicans, at least in my opinion.  A Reagan Republican would fire up the base like you wouldn’t believe, but that animal is extint in Washington. Gone, apparently for good. We have to settle. It’s hard to get excited about settling.

It’s easy for Democrats, they’ll take anything with a D, without complaining.

Democratic voters, on the whole, view their candidates considerably more favorably than Republican voters do, and are much more optimistic about their prospects next November. 

 Republicans actually care about who they’re voting for, but our choices are a matter of how much we’re willing to compromise, and I’m getting tired of compromising, especially when I know a conservative, a real conservative, would be a uniter, and is desperately needed, and contrary to what the beltway thinks, wanted, in this country right now.

At the end of the day, we have to vote against a Democrat, instead of for a Republican, and really, what’s the point of that? It’s still a loss for Republicans, and further dilutes the party until there is no Republican party, just slightly different shades of Democrats.

Here’s the story.

When “Keepin’ It Real” Goes Wrong

Vick Gets 23 months.

What a jackass. Millions down the tube. Millions that could have taken care of his family for a couple generations. At least he’s got “Street Cred.”

Some dogs in heaven got a few extra treats today.

“O” Brother

“O Mentum.” This is worse than “Joe Mentum.” Oprah will be able to raise a ton of money for Osama, but she’ll never be able to deliver a single vote that wasn’t already his.

 

Her Zombie Oprah-Pod followers live to do her bidding, she could be endorsing Dracula, and they’d line up to join the bloodsucking party, without question, in hopes of finding a free self-help book under their chair. I’d bet most Oprah-pods have never voted, in fact, she’ll probably do a show in which she gives away “Voting For Dummies,” which will be met with hysterical shrieking by her rabid clone army of clueless, weak women who didn’t know how to live after Rikki Lake went off the air.

Barbara Walters Redifines “Fascinating” Again

Barbara Walters 10 most fascinating people of 2007:

Justin Timberlake- I think he’s a talented kid, and he won me over with “Dick in a box,” but fascinating? Really?

Bill Clinton- I think she put him on the list on the off chance she may get to blow him.

Imus-For what? Kissing the ring of Al Sharpton? Still being alive? Looking like a scarecrow? 

Hugo Chavez- See Clinton. Oddly enough, during this interview, Barbara admitted socialism has never worked.

Katherine Heigl-I have no idea who this woman is, but apparently, she’s fascinating.

The MySpace Dudes- Yeah, maybe three years ago.

Jennifer Hudson-?????

Posh Spice and David Beckham-Yes, they’re so fascinating they’ve pretty much been run out of America on a rail. Met on these shores with a collective yawn. Maybe the geriatric Babs thinks “the kids” like them.

Finally, THE most fascinating person of 2007, Drumroll…… 

 J.K. Rowling-Is this a repeat of the most fascinating people of 1997?

What planet is Barbara Walters living on that these people can be considered remotely fascinating? I got bored trying to find stupid stuff to even say about them.

NBC, Omaha Thanks You

Reports are still sketchy about the kid who shot up the mall in Omaha, but a picture is beginning to emerge:

Maruca said she found a suicide note left by Hawkins that said he would not be a burden on his family any more, and “now I’ll be famous.”

Last spring after the VT shootings, when NBC decided to air the “Promo Pack” they got from the shooter, it was obvious they were probably going to inspire copycats, and now it seems, we may have our first one.

The Omaha World-Herald reported that the gunman had a military-style haircut and a black backpack, and wore a camouflage vest.

A little different than the picture on Drudge. It seems this kid got his “look” together before he tried his hand at celebrity, possibly inspired by the VT shooter. I wonder if he mailed a promo pack to a media outlet? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Had NBC left it alone, and not aired what the VT shooter wanted them to, the image we have of him would be the dorky loser he was, instead of the image that it seems the kid in Omaha was going for.

Thanks to NBC’s decision to whore for ratings, I’d bet there’s quite a few angry, angst ridden, mentally unstable kids that want to “go out in style.”

I hope those ratings were worth it NBC.

Sean Penn & Alexander Supertramp

Yesterday I was flicking through channels on TV, and came across an episode of “Iconoclasts” on the Sundance channel, featuring Sean Penn and John Krakauer. Normally I would move on, but I thought I’d see what lunacy Penn had to spew for possible blog fodder, and the Krakauer guy (an adventurer and writer)  seemed kind of interesting. These two were brought together by the subject of a book written by Krakauer, and now a film by Penn, Chris McCandless, AKA “Alexander Supertramp.”

The story of McCandless is a faint blip on my radar, as he died in 1992 on an ill-fated journey into the Alaskan wilderness, and I had forgotten completely about it, till I saw this show, and found myself fascinated by this kid’s story. The short version:

McCandless, from a wealthy family, graduated college, cut up his credit cards, burned his social security card, donated his savings of 24,000 dollars to charity, cut ties with his family, and hit the road for two years, and ultimately ended up in the wild of Alaska, where he starved to death in an abandoned bus that was his makeshift home for 112 days. He documented his travels with pictures and a journal. Excerpts from his journal appear in Krakauers book, but only a few of his photo’s have been released by his family, including this one, self taken in front of the bus he died in, before things went south for him.

You can read the full story here.    

Unbeknownst to me, this kid has become a cult hero of sorts, due to Krakauer’s bestselling book “Into The Wild,” and now the film by Penn will further add to his mythic status among young idealists. I’m not sure why I’m fascinated by this story, because the kid was a bit of an idiot, and at the end of the day, basically committed suicide, but I’m fascinated nonetheless.

The bus McCandless died in, originally put there as a shelter for hunters, has become a destination for like minded idealists, and surprisingly, remains virtually as he left it, with his belongings still inside after 15 years. I say surprisingly because hippie worshipers usually grotesquely deface the shrines of their heroes, ala Jim Morrison’s grave, but maybe the remote location makes it hard for any but the most zealous seekers to get to.

When McCandless failed to get out of the wild, due to an uncrossable river, (because of melting glaciers), he began to starve, and finally, realizing he was about to die, took one last picture of himself, rail thin, smiling, and holding a sign that read:

“I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all.”

Tragic. This picture is heartbreaking to me, and even though it’s his own fault, I feel sorry for this kid. I don’t find anything heroic about dying alone of starvation in an old bus deep in the Alaskan wild. On the other hand, I have some level of respect for people that take chances in life, and accept the consequences as McCandless clearly did. He wasn’t looking to be a hero, but the likes of Sean Penn are gonna try and turn this tragic story into something it wasn’t.

McCandless was a hard core lefty, and the fact he burned his social security card, and gave his life savings to charity and “dropped out” is what has fueled the interest in him, especially from Penn. From what I can tell, Krakauers book doesn’t necessarily glamorize McCandless, because it points out all the bad decisions McCandless made that eventually took his life. Penn on the other hand, is trying to make McCandless a hero to his core audience, the Looney Left, and environmentalist types, many of whom will undoubtedly set out on their own journeys trying to ape McCandless, and some will surely end badly. I’ve seen the trailer, (which I won’t post here) and Penn clearly glamorizes McCandless as a kind of modern day Kerouac, instead of the somewhat hapless dreamer that McCandless was.

Watching Penn during this one hour show, in which he and Krakauer re-trace McCandless’ Alaskan journey, it was obvious what an angry, miserable prick Sean Penn really is. At one point while they’re in a tiny town in Alaska, a girl who is having her Bachelorette party recognizes Penn, and asks for a picture. Penn responds by being totally put out, as if in this tiny little town in Alaska, he’s gonna be over run by fans. Which is laughable, because earlier in the show, he was carded trying to buy liquor. I feel sorry for Penn’s family, he must be a million laughs to be around.

As much as I don’t think McCandless was or should be any kind of hero, at least he had the balls a Sean Penn will never have. It’s easy to sit back on millions of dollars, and make a movie about a kid who willingly walked away from civilization to his own death, and act like he’s some kind of role model. I wonder if Penn would encourage his own kids to do it, because his movie is gonna encourage other people’s kids to go on a trip that some may not come back from. Will you take responsibilty for that Sean?

Nanny State Goodness

The Government can fix everything!

Federal lawmakers are considering the broadest effort ever to limit what children eat: a national ban on selling candy, sugary soda and salty, fatty food in school snack bars, vending machines and à la carte cafeteria lines.

Kids are fat today because playing an X-Box and texting each other 10 hours a day tends not to burn many calories. Parents that allow their kids to be couch slugs are to blame, not fatty foods or soda, or candy.

I hate to sound like an old coot, but when I was a kid, we were outside playing from sun-up to sun-down. Only came in to eat fatty food, and back out. The last place we wanted to be was inside. Walked to school. I can count on one hand how many times my parents drove me to school in 12 years. Today, every kid is chauffeured to school in an SUV with a T.V. in it. I rode with my family from Alaska to New York with a comic book. One comic book. Fantastic Four.

Instead of taking away the video games and cell phones and omnipresent TV’s, because you know, we wouldn’t want to upset a precious, precious child, just let the Government step in and limit their food.

That’ll fix everything won’t it? That’ll make your gaming zombie pod creature healthy! With less fatty food, candy and soda supplied by the school, your kid will probably clean their room and get better grades! After a while, they may actually venture outdoors (make sure they wear a helmet and full body armor, as your street may have a curb. Also, a back brace, to support the 50 lb back pack containing a mobile version of their room). Actually, maybe you should go with them in case they run across a stray Twinkie that torpedoes all the hard work you didn’t do.

Something We All Would Like To Do

 A relative of the bmac family’s world travelling blog.

Tony Swarthout is a relative of the clan bmac, and he’s doing something a lot of us wish we could do, spending an entire year travelling the globe. He’s doing it alone for the most part, staying in hostels, travelling cheap, and blogging the entire trip. He started in March, and will finish in February.

He’s a really good kid who gave up a great job to go on the adventure of a lifetime, and I envy him. You can read all about his adventures, and if you’re so inclined, can even donate a meal, via paypal. He usually thanks the donator on the blog, with a picture or a Youtube of the meal you bought for him.

He won’t recognize my blog handle if you reference me, (he left the country before I started blogging) but if you want to comment or donate a meal, you can email me, and I’ll give you my name so he’ll know who you’re talking about, or you can do it anonymously. Either way, it’s a good read.