Thankee there, McChaw

I truly love when "enlightened" entertainers continue to do my work for me. Fresh off of Mr. Clooney's attempt at intellectualism, good ol' pop country craptastic Tim McChaw (who was actually pretty damn good in Friday Night Lights) tells his fans to vote in order to thwart what he erroneously sees as inaction on the part of President Bush in the post-Katrina Gulf:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/10/122840.shtml?s=ic

Well, I really don't hate to break it to Tim and his ultra-thin wife (at least she'd theoretically have no problem depriving anyone anywhere of a meal...and, no, I'm not jealous as, much like Pam Anderson, I thought Faith Hill looked infinitely more attractive when she had some meat on her bone...but I digress), but their fans vote overwhelmingly Republican. So, in a phrase, Timbo: thank you.

Yet another day filled with smiles, many courtesy the loony left and its entertainment posse. Maybe I should buy some of McChaw's albums... Nah, I know plenty of people who probably own two or three copies...

What happened to my rock and roll genes???

Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but I really have to wonder about this getting older thing. Seems my tastes have been inching closer and closer towards the country spectrum as the years have passed. None of that pop country, Tim McChaw crap though, mind you (more on that later). Rather, just some outlaw country (new and old), along with some twangy rock. With the full reviews to come once they're more fully digested...

New outlaw: Hank Williams III's Straight to Hell - just bad-ass hillbilly fun. Booze and women, tributes to country legends old and slams on wannabe 21st century cowboys (including daddy Jr.). The only thing missing is...aw, hell, I'm not gonna gripe one bit on this.

Old outlaw re-done: Jessi Colter's Out of the Ashes - to simply say Waylon'd be proud would be too easy (not to mention cliche). Don Was works the same magic he did with Iggy Pop, Paul Westerberg and the Stones with Colter, who rips into every song like she's been waiting the literal 20+ years since she last recorded. This one still hasn't had enough spins to say much more than that, but first impressions are pretty impressive.

New school (kinda country): Drive-By Truckers' A Blessing and a Curse - not really supposed to have this one yet, but suffice to semi-secretly say that this band keeps getting better and better. My life's in a much better olace than it was when they released the connected-with-far-too-easily Decoration Day a few years back and so are theirs, apparently. Lessons learned and triple-pronged songwriting from one of America's finest musical representatives.

Guess it all goes back to the following words I saw many moons ago on the Slobberbone list:

"There is a general place in your brain, I think, reserved for
'melancholy of relationships past.'  It grows and prospers as
life progresses, forcing you finally, against your better judgment,
to listen to country music." Kary Mullis - Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry

Thank you, George (Hollyweird, Part 2)

Just when I think George Clooney can't make my job as one of the few conservatives in the entertainment industry, he goes and gives an Oscar acceptance speech.

Yes, indeed, Georgie-boy, Hollywood was ahead of the curve when it came to granting Hattie McDaniel an Academy Award for Gone with the Wind... Yes, again, when saying Hollywood was progressive regarding the civil rights movement. Here's where it gets tricky, though, George.

Who ran the studios at these points in time and what kind of political fence did they walk? Yup, that's right...conservatives/Republicans. Suppose he also missed that part of class that explained that 92% of Republicans supported the Civil Rights Act, compared to 62% of Democrats. One more time: facts, such pesky things...

Don't worry, Mistah Clooney, I'm sure you can re-define, distort and obfuscate this "whoops" just like you almost did with Good Night, and Good Luck. With little exception, it's about the only thing lefty "thinkers" are good for these days.

Hollyweird, Part 1

First, as I dust off this ol' space, something I wrote last Friday...

I had the pleasure of hearing a co-worker pontificate on the merits of Good Night and Good Luck this afternoon. Sure, sure...same ol’ same ol’ from within the walls of liberal-dom known as the entertainment industry, but this time it was especially entertaining. Yeah, I’m certain I’ll hear about it later from my bosses who have asked me not to discuss politics in the office, but since I wasn’t the one who initiated this topic, I had to go for it. Also couldn’t resist the history lesson on the former hippie who still apparently has his mind and mentality in the 60s.

Soooo, upon stating his opinion on Good Night’s issues as still relevant today, I asked him, “Is that because the threat of terrorism is just as real and dangerous to the existence of the US republic as communism comparatively was in McCarthy’s era?” I added that it was known in the years following WWII that Soviet operatives, some US-born, were functioning within our borders, sowing the seeds to supplant capitalism with communism and even attempting to steal US military secrets for the USSR. All of this, of course, easily proven due to the declassification of Soviet-era KGB records following the fall of their doomed communist/socialist experiement. “Sounds eerily familiar to what the US now faces with sleeper terrorist cells scattered all across our usually great country and the members of media, congress and entertainment industry that aid and make excuses for them, doesn’t it?”

Needless to say, he didn’t have much of a retort beyond the additionally industry/liberal-usual twisting and turning of history to suit his needs. Facts are goofy like that, eh?

Oh, well. Another day in the life in an ACLU-infected Los Angeles. Wherefore art thou, Arizona Bay?

A night at the movies

Caught "Crash" and "Batman Begins" last night and my faith in Hollywood movies feels a little better as a result. Smart indy filmmaking with the first one (you know something bizarre is afoot when even Tony Danza's brief appearance wows ya) and amazing big budget with the latter.

In both cases, beyond incredible ensemble acting (and somehow even Sandra Bullock fit into the equation), even if I was waiting for Michael Caine to trick Katie Holmes out of what little money her character had. All those performances from Caine (what an understatement), and I'm eternally stuck on the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" one.

Highly recommended and not just saying that because I'm back in the Warner Bros. fold in a couple days.