On tap this week:
— Spending your hard earned cash at the cinema
— Making fun of the President of the United States
— Back to the 1990s and Cuba Gooding Jr’s attempt at acting credibility
And slightly much more!
I was on the treadmill the other day and watching CNN, which was on the television at the gym I work out at, and saw something that piqued my interest. Rick Sanchez, the talking head, promised something so vile and offensive from conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh that you might not want your kids to watch it. He wouldn’t let his kids watch it, and went on and on and on about how horrible a thing he said.
I was interested, as Rush is always good for something especially when he’s talking about the President of these United States, Barack Hussein Obama. It’s never a dull moment when a conservative pundit talks about a President he didn’t vote for. I LIVE for moments like this.
I’m not a fan of Rush, never have been, but I get why we need him in society. Free speech, in all its beauty, isn’t about what we want to hear. It’s what is markedly offensive; that’s what the First Amendment protects. It’s there to protect the crude, racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and any other type of speech outside the norm. That’s ultimately the point of it, to protect the Howard Sterns of the world from being censored by some yahoo in the Senate who thinks lesbian strippers making out in graphic detail is somehow a bad thing. It NEVER is, I’ll tell you what.
So a loud mouth like Rush, who may only appeal to an established audience, has a place and a purpose. But when Sanchez is going all sorts of nutty, I pay attention. Usually I don’t, as Rush doesn’t usually say anything I bother paying attention to, but when the vapid talking head gets offended then I pay attention. His speech at CPAC, broadcast on CNN as it occured, was fascinating enough to watch just for the reactions. A great orator is always fun to watch.
So I’m thinking what could Rush have said that offended Sanchez so much. My mind starts to wander and think. Several ideas pop up, of course.
The first idea is that Rush decides to use an Obama impersonator on air in a bad segment where he debuts the new Presidential catchphrase, “I’m the President, bitch” ala the semi-funny “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch” YouTube cartoon. That could fly, as making the President of the United States sound like Dave Chapelle could be so offensive to Rick Sanchez and the sheep that follow him that he’d have to report it as such.
I don’t think Rush could be that creative, honestly, so another idea comes up. Scratch that one from the list.
One thing that no one has harped on yet about the President is his reliance on the teleprompter. So Rush could’ve done a series of sketches about President Obama’s reliance on it. Like you would have with it, and then without it, and the second would be a bad attempt at humor. He could go to Burger King and just have a hamburger and fries in the first one, being all nice and normal, and in the second it’d be him getting all foul and nasty demanding hot sauce on his Whopper because “I’m the President and I want it my way, bitch.” Or he could have it when he’s spending some time alone with Mrs. Obama and in the first it’s all nice and normal, second time he’s so incredibly foul-mouthed and wanting to do things that wouldn’t make the cut in an adult film.
That would probably offend Rush’s core audience, so I don’t think that would go through either.
I thought maybe he had “M.C Obama,” the President’s post political career wherein he’d become a hardcore gangster rapper and have songs that glorified all the usual things that hardcore gangster rap would glorify.
I could see that, honestly, but could also be interpreted as quite racist as well. So I think Rush, for all his shenanigans, would not do that as well. It wouldn’t surprise me, but it seems kind of unlikely.
The last one is that he just flat out called him by some sort of racial epithet, which was what I was expecting. It seems the most likely. So when Sanchez played the tape of what he actually did say, I was kind of floored but not in the manner he expects his audience to be.
Rush said something along the lines that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown kissed President Obama’s ass so much if he didn’t watch it he’d die of anal poisoning or something to that affect. Like always, Sanchez just showed a small snippet and didn’t put it in its true context. Not that I’m defending Rush, but usually a line like that has a good couple sentences worth of setup to give it proper context.
But, one thing kept bothering me. The line itself is not as incredibly offensive as Sanchez made it out to be. Heck, it’s something a third rate insult comic from Madison, WI, would say on stage at an Open Mic night to get a rise out of the audience. I realize Sanchez’s self esteem probably is tied to public opinion of the President in the same manner that Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, and I get it. But “anal poisoning” isn’t so patently offensive to cause serious harm. Heck, most people would laugh then go “that’s kind of offensive” and then leave it be. But it’s something I like to call “Phony Outrage” which is dominating society now.
Slightly offensive things get blown all out of proportion and when something completely offensive comes out, like many of my fine comedy sketches involving the President already mentioned, no one is really going to know the context to which to put them in. And it’s a shame, really, because offensive material is usually some of the funniest.
Example: The red band trailer for Bruno made me laugh, especially the part with the adopted child. And it is vile, vulgar, and probably offensive to anyone who watches it as well but there’s a place for it as well.
So ultimately the next time Rick Sanchez reports on something that is so offensive he’d wash his kids’ mouths out with soap, we all know it’s not going to be that incredibly bad. Most likely it’ll be a bad punch line to a joke he doesn’t get or isn’t very good to begin with. When someone comes out with a popular video or website that reeks of the Klan, how can Sanchez top what he’s already said? It’ll turn almost comical in and of itself. When even the slightest of insults become overblown, when the proper insult is given CNN won’t know what to do and it’s markedly sad.
But then again, thoughts like that are probably going to prevent me from holding public office.
Random Thoughts of the Week
I like to cruise the web on a regular basis for different opinions on a variety of subjects. Many times you can get some really wicked one-liners to use, but I came upon one that inspired me for this week’s random thought.
Online I found an interview with Fox news titan Bill O’Reilly, the big Irishman who gets liberals panties in a jumble by speaking his version of the truth of this world. And Bill said something I found fascinating. He’s a big film buff, which I’ve always known, but he mentioned something interesting. He can’t stand Sean Penn as a person, mainly due to his extremist positions, and hence doesn’t go to see any of his films nor will he watch them on any medium. It’s his 10 bucks and he can do with them however he feels like spending them. I have no problem with how he spends them.
But the reactions from all across the board are something else. Some are in favor of his little boycott, others are against because Penn’s artistic work should be separated from his political activities (which include palling around with such humanitarians as Hugo Chavez and Castro).
My thoughts? I can see why we should separate someone’s artistic work from their personal life, as it’s not Sean Penn being a radical leftist on the big screen. He’s being Harvey Milk, or whatever character he picks to add on to his resume. I think he’s one of the handful of the best actors currently working (another topic for another column) and as such I will pay to see him. Do I find his political beliefs a bit repugnant and think his endorsements of dictators a bit of a sham? Yeah, definitely. But he hasn’t really done anything to warrant me to avoid him in theatres.
Who does? Victor Ronald Salva, a pedophile. Not accused, mind you. He was convicted in the late 80s of molesting a kid on his film Clownhouse. Videotaped it, too. You find all the details online and he is a registered sex offender per Megan’s Law.
He hasn’t done much since, but he did do Peaceful Warrior. Liked everything about the trailer and the philosophy behind it, but plunking down money to see it endorses a pedophile. And crimes against kids are the worst possible crimes one can commit and in good conscience I can’t see a film he’s done. Will not watch it on TV, will not watch in theatres, will not rent and will not watch a pirated copy either.
If you think about people who’ve done bad things, or borderline bad things, it’s hard to watch a film in Hollywood. I mean if you take out the stars that cheated on their spouses, you’ve got 90% of Hollywood to avoid.
Brad Pitt cheated with Angelina Jolie while still married to Jennifer Anniston, but you can’t fault him really. He is the only guy in the world who could dump Rachel from Friends and get an upgrade.
Russell Crowe rocked Meg Ryan’s world during Proof of Life while she was married to Dennis Quaid. He also has a bad temper, after throwing phones at people proving it and a South Park episode riffing on it beautifully.
Woody Allen knocked boots with his stepdaughter, divorced the mom and then married the stepdaughter. Think about that when you watch Vicki Christina Barcelona or Annie Hall
Ryan Phillippe cheated on Reese Witherspoon with Abbie Cornish on the set of Stop-Loss.
Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino have spent a lifetime as unrepentant womanizers. George Clooney, too.
And I could go and on, but what’s the point? Actors are human and mess up as much as the rest of us. Probably more because most of them barely graduated high school and well . . . you really can’t call most of Hollywood excessively educated outside of a small group of actors. Like Natalie Portman, when she isn’t being excruciatingly awful on screen, went to Harvard and graduated, et al. Dumb people en masse do lots of dumb things, which is my explanation for the rampant stupidity of Hollywood and why TMZ and the ilk exist.
I dislike Sean Penn, but most of Hollywood has personal views on all manner of subjects that I would disagree with. While I have no problem with people avoiding films of certain people for a variety of reasons, politics seems like the least likely thing for me (at least) to avoid an actor for.
A Movie A Week – The Challenge
This Week’s Film – Boyz N the Hood
Ahhh. . . .the 1990s, when covering black culture was more than ripping off 48 Hours with better explosions.
Boyz ‘n the Hood is John Singleton’s epic masterpiece about life in South Central L.A. Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr), Doughboy (Ice Cube) and Ricky (Morris Chestnut) are friends since childhood who’ve had markedly different lives. We meet them as children and then as young men, but the story mainly focuses on Tre. His mother (Angela Bassett) sends him to live with his disciplinarian father (Lawrence Fishburne) to teach him the ways of being a man.
The boys turn out quite differently from one another. Tre is an honors student, Ricky is an All American running back and Doughboy deals crack. The film deals with their attempt at bettering themselves.
It was John Singleton’s debut opus and you could argue he never really hit those highs again. Nothing he’s done, from independent features like Higher Learning and studio pictures like 2 Fast 2 Furious didn’t approach the power and rawness that Boyz N the Hood achieved. While it is a bit dated, since it isn’t timeless and steeped in the time period (the early 1990s) it was made in, but it’s a timeless story.
The weird thing watching this is young Cuba Gooding Jr. He was an actor to watch then and still really talented. It’s hard watching this and knowing that an insanely brilliant performance in Jerry Maguire basically doomed his career.
Strong recommendation.
What Looks Good This Weekend, and I Don’t Mean the $2 Pints of Bass Ale and Northwestern University Co-Eds with low standards at The Keg
Dragonball Evolution – Chow Yun-Fat assaults the senses of everyone who loves him by appearing in a film based on anime. And he doesn’t even have a gun in it.
Skip It – Is this film really necessary?
Hannah Montana: The Movie – Miley Cirus officially hits her peak as she stars in the cinematic version of the television show that made her famous.
Skip It – Why do I think this is the peak of Miley’s fame? There’s this feeling in my gut that it’s all down hill from here. Next stop she’ll be front and center in One Night in Miley, slapping some guy’s junk around to “Nobody’s Perfect” in a creepy but somehow erotic manner.
Observe and Report – Seth Rogen is a bi-polar mall cop.
See It – This film looks like the sort of film I wanted Paul Blart: Mall Cop to be.
Do you have questions about movies, life, love, or Branigan’s Law? Shoot me an e-mail at Kubryk@Insidepulse.com and you could be featured in the next “Monday Morning Critic.” Include your name and hometown to improve your odds.
