Politically active celebrities

[Flangepart]

Mofo Riseing reminded me of something. My friend Barbra is blind, and some times gets to "See" movies by the audio description service. Good deal.
....Anyway, she watched "An American President" Did not like it. Not that it was badly put together, but that she does not like movies that try to push an agenda.
....Barb's less conservtive then me, but she has a low tolerance for people who try to bulls**t. Why we're close friends confuses me too. Seriously, she did not like the simple way it presented the opponents of M. Douglas's character.
....She reconised the "Straw man" at work. She's too smart to be taken in by slick ad work. When your blind, you have to know who you can trust, and she pays attention to what people say. She's very perceptive. I trust her.
....Hummm...theres a thought. Try listening to a movie. I've a tape of the soundtrack of Plan 9. Its even funnier then watching it,for me. the line "Well, inspector grey is dead...murdered...and someone's responsable!" makes an impression with out the visual destraction., in a way we sighted people don't often realise. Give it a try, and see what you make of it.

[Chadzilla]

Barbra 'Babs' Streisand sent off a memo to Dick Gephardt about how to best handle the Saddam Hussein issue.  But the letter spelled both Gephardt's and Saddam's names incorrectly, thus shooting the credibility of her stance full of holes.  Whoever wrote that for her is probably looking for a different job right about now.

Sheesh.

[Dano]

Gore's speech blasting Bush's handling of the war from last week was co-written by Rob Reiner.  One Washington Post editorial remarked:  "America's prosecution of the war is the combined effort of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Chency, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and the President.  Meanwhile Gore is huddling with Meathead."

Priceless.

[J.R.]

Good God. Reiner?! He made The Story Of Us! I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Hanks, Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg were allowed into Clinton's cabinet meetings. I remeber a statment Babs made just after the 2000 election that sounded too much like a call for Bush's assassination. She needs a gun-butt to the kidney for thinking anyone would care what she had to say about politics.

[AndyC]

Jeez, what an ego! Barbara Streisand giving advice on handling Saddam Hussein to someone who understands the issue far better than she does. It's laughable. People certainly have a right to write to their government officials, but why should her letter carry any more weight than a letter from any other citizen?

I've never quite understood the appeal of Streisand anyway. Don't like her singing or her acting, and she looks like Mel Brooks in drag. I can't say she's done anything worth noting in the entertainment business lately. She has been pretty obnoxious in the media. Why do so many people flip over her? Why does any of this qualify her to advise government officials?

I think the biggest problem with celebrities is that they reach a point where people idolize them for who they are, rather than admire what they do. Their names carry more weight than their work.

[Dano]

AndyC wrote:  Don't like her singing or her acting, and she looks like Mel Brooks in drag.
*****  Priceless.  Andy, I'm gonna use that.

[Cullen]

"I've never quite understood the appeal of Streisand anyway. Don't like her singing or her acting, and she looks like Mel Brooks in drag."

Man, that's just MEAN!  What did Mel Brooks ever do to you?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Susan]

How come only the "reputable" stars ever come out with their politics? Spielberg, streisand, tom cruise. I don't care to hear their endorsements either way. But....when it comes to war in Iraq, right wing conspiracy, the budget...where are all the Pauly Shores and carrot tops? Now that would almost be worth watching CNN for. ;-)

[Dano]

Latest poll from Hollywood:

Spielberg, Tom Cruise: pro-war with Iraq.

Jessica Lange, Streisand, Alec Baldwin: against war with Iraq.

Alec Baldwin?  Didn't he say he was leaving the country if Bush was ever president?  Man, doesn't a person's word mean ANYTHING anymore?

[Chadzilla]

Dano wrote:
>
> Alec Baldwin?  Didn't he say he was leaving the country if
> Bush was ever president?  Man, doesn't a person's word mean
> ANYTHING anymore?
>

So did Babs, I believe.  And Robert Altman, as well.  Oh well, I don't watch their stuff anyway...although I do check out Mr. Streisand (aka James Brolin) regularly in The Car and The Amityville Horror.

[AndyC]

Robert Altman, director of the long, boring, pretentious and pointless Gosford Park. God, I hated that movie. I was willing to give it a chance, but it was over an hour into the thing before I saw any sign of a plot. I can think of very few movies during which I dozed off (without being especially tired or drunk), and this is one of them.

Remember last year, when Altman was shamelessly promoting this piece of crap by spouting some BS about action movies being responsible for 9/11, and how we all needed a return to character-driven movies? That was in very poor taste.

[raj]

Hmm, could we threaten Iraq with Pauly Shore & Carrot Top?  "We will broadcast their movies/tv shows/commercials until you remove Saddam."  

Nah, that's gotta be against the Geneva Convention.

[Dano]

AndyC wrote:  Robert Altman, director of the long, boring, pretentious and pointless Gosford Park. God, I hated that movie. I was willing to give it a chance, but it was over an hour into the thing before I saw any sign of a plot. I can think of very few movies during which I dozed off (without being especially tired or drunk), and this is one of them.

*****  I'm in the habit of leaving movies I'm not enjoying on any level.  Gosford Park was one of them.  I never saw the conclusion of the movie, but even I can tell you it was the young dark haired valet who was no doubt the old man's bastard son who grew up in abject poverty because the guy wouldn't acknowledge him (or some variation of that).  It was the most sub-par mystery of the last ten years, and keep in mind, that means it was a worse mystery than Live Action Scooby Doo.

As for it's biting (heavy-handed) commentary on Britain's rigid social structure (as it existed almost a century ago)... yawn.  That's kind of like saterizing the wrongness of divine right monarchy - kind of a hard target to miss and not very relevent today... but at least Hollywood will applaud your "courageous" effort.

[Squishy]

Actually, the Pauly Shore-Carrot Top plan is the real Win-Win strategy! There are many outcomes:

(1) Saddam declares that he is a Carrot Top fan, and is promptly assassinated by his own people to prevent the country from becoming a laughingstock.
(2) Saddam becomes so confused, trying to determine what's supposed to be so funny about this American "comedian" Shore, that his head bursts into flames.
(3) Saddam kills Pauly Shore and Carrot Top by first lowering them slowly into a pit of man-eating pigs...and then shooting them when the pigs flee in disgust.  

No, wait...there's one horrifying possibility:
(4) Saddam clones Pauly Shore and Carrot Top by the hundreds and parachutes them all over every major western city. The ensuing panic brings the nations to their knees.

No...the danger is too great.

[J.R.]

We should have an open Top/Shore/Saddam/Bush debate.

Shore- "Like, I think we should use inspectors, buh-deee. It's like, inspect-age, nyuh-huh-huh."

Top- "Know what? Saddam's got missiles! Just look at this nuclear detector I made out of a rake and a Game Boy! Whoa! Whoa, magod! It's goin' crazy! Wha!!!"

Saddam- "Now do you see why I hate America?"

Bush- "If I have these guys deported to a country where they stone people like that..."

Saddam- "All-encompassing peace treaty,"