Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Courtesy of Syracuse.com: Newsflash, America: Bradley Cooper is not Chris Kyle. He just plays him on television in a movie. The "American Sniper" actor came under fire Wednesday when he was spotted in the audience at the 2016 Democratic National Convention with his girlfriend, Russian model Irina Shayk. Cooper was a trending topic on Twitter as social media users were apparently surprised to discover he's not really a Republican after playing Kyle, a conservative hero, in Clint Eastwood's movie about the late Navy SEAL sniper.
I love this one.
People are upset that Bradley Cooper who played Sniper Chris Kyle is a democrat 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/brxNyaZOPP
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Sunday applauded Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's response to the water contamination crisis in Flint -- even though the situation was caused by Snyder's own administration.
"I admire Rick Snyder for stepping up right now," Bush said on CNN's "State of the Union." "He's going to the challenge. He's fired people and accepted responsibility to fix this."
This comes amid calls for Snyder's resignation for hiring the city manger who created the water disaster in the first place, ignoring the initial reports that there was a problem, and responding only when the media attention left him no choice.
Here is what Jeb! finds so admirable: "Instead of saying, 'The dog ate my homework, it's someone else's fault,' once it became clear, he's taking the lead now," Bush said. "That's exactly what I think leaders have to do."
Once again HE HAD NO CHOICE but to respond.
Just how many lead paint chips did the Bush boys eat while growing up?
Of course if this whole running for president thing doesn't work out Jeb! has a fall back career choice.
In a new Independent Journal video for "31 Rock," Palin stands in for Fey's Liz Lemon character, a stressed-out New York City transplant who manages a cast and team of writers for a television comedy show.
Palin wears an oversized hoodie reminiscent of Fey's character with her own twists on the show, such as complaining about a character being in her "safe space" and demanding a big gulp.
Actor Kevin Brown, who plays the character Dot Com in the actual "30 Rock" show, is featured in the spoof where he touts "Sarah Palin's new book" that he calls a "great reminder of the pressures of PC culture."
"The only PC I need is right here," Palin's character responds, stroking her laptop.
What in the hell did I just watch?
I have not seen such terrible acting since...since...well since this:
So is this the next step for the Palin family? Acting?
Well it can't be any worse than their writing. Of course as far as I know there are no "ghostactors" to handle the hard parts for them.
It turns out HBO really did try to wrangle Sarah Palin into a cameo role on the vampire drama "True Blood."
"Sarah Palin was one of several Republican figures brought up in discussions regarding episode 5 of 'True Blood,'" HBO spokeswoman Kelley Carville said Thursday in a statement to TPM. "Casting directors for the show reached out to Ms. Palin's representative but did not receive a response."
Of course as we know Palin recently freaked out over a recent episode in which Republicans were shown in a less than positive light. You know essentially as they actually are in real life.
She also expressed confidence that when the producers invited her to participate in the show they did so to ridicule her or make fun of conservative women.
However the spokesperson for the show says that was never the intention at all:
"Had Sarah Palin come on the show she would have been treated with the same level of dignity and respect all of the show’s actors are and would have been privy to the script in advance of filming," HBO's Carville said.
Now it is perfectly understandable that Palin would assume that the show wanted her on in order to make fun of her, after all she is a national punchline these days.
However episode five, the one that she was offered, was broadcast way back in October of 2008, well before most of the world realized just what a disgrace she was. (I mean yeah, WE were making fun of her, but we were ahead of the curve all along.)
So Palin might have actually had an enjoyable time on the show, and after her humiliating defeat in November of 2008, could have possibly pursued a career as a mediocre actor. Instead of ending up as a failed reality show, and the coauthor of some very poorly written books.
Two years ago when Tina Brown and Diane von Furstenberg first envisioned this conference, they asked me to do a play, a reading, called – the name of the play was called Seven. It was taken from transcripts, real testimony from real women activists around the world. I was the Irish one, and I had no idea that the real women would be sitting in the audience while we portrayed them. So I was doing a pretty ghastly Belfast accent. I was just – I was imitating my friend Liam Neeson, really, and I sounded like a fellow. (Laughter). It was really bad.
So I was so mortified when Tina, at the end of the play, invited the real women to come up on stage and I found myself standing next to the great Inez McCormack. (Applause.) And I felt slight next to her, because I’m an actress and she is the real deal. She has put her life on the line. Six of those seven women were with us in the theater that night. The seventh, Mukhtaran Bibi, couldn’t come because she couldn’t get out of Pakistan. You probably remember who she is. She’s the young woman who went to court because she was gang-raped by men in her village as punishment for a perceived slight to their honor by her little brother. All but one of the 14 men accused were acquitted, but Mukhtaran won the small settlement. She won $8,200, which she then used to start schools in her village. More money poured in from international donations when the men were set free. And as a result of her trial, the then president of Pakistan, General Musharraf, went on TV and said, “If you want to be a millionaire, just get yourself raped.”
But that night in the theater two years ago, the other six brave women came up on the stage. Anabella De Leon of Guatemala pointed to Hillary Clinton, who was sitting right in the front row, and said, “I met her and my life changed.” And all weekend long, women from all over the world said the same thing:
"I’m alive because she came to my village, put her arm around me, and had a photograph taken together."
"I’m alive because she went on our local TV and talked about my work, and now they’re afraid to kill me."
"I’m alive because she came to my country and she talked to our leaders, because I heard her speak, because I read about her."
I’m here today because of that, because of those stores. I didn’t know about this. I never knew any of it. And I think everybody should know. This hidden history Hillary has, the story of her parallel agenda, the shadow diplomacy unheralded, uncelebrated — careful, constant work on behalf of women and girls that she has always conducted alongside everything else a First Lady, a Senator, and now Secretary of State is obliged to do.
And it deserves to be amplified. This willingness to take it, to lead a revolution – and revelation, beginning in Beijing in 1995, when she first raised her voice to say the words you’ve heard many times throughout this conference: “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights.”
When Hillary Clinton stood up in Beijing to speak that truth, her hosts were not the only ones who didn’t necessarily want to hear it. Some of her husband’s advisors also were nervous about the speech, fearful of upsetting relations with China. But she faced down the opposition at home and abroad, and her words continue to hearten women around the world and have reverberated down the decades.
I am almost embarrassed to admit that though this is over a year old I had never heard anything about it.
But now that I have my very first thought is, "This was the woman that the Republican party thought Sarah Palin would remind voters of? And that making her their VP candidate would attract those upset that she had lost the nomination to Barack Obama? Seriously?"
And then my next thought is that when Hillary becomes the candidate for the Democrats in 2016 the Right is going to come after her with her husband's affair, his impeachment, and Benghazi, and do you know what? It will be as nothing in the face of this woman's incredible achievements, her intelligence, and her strength.
If simply having a photograph taken with her can stop an assassin's bullet, and inspire female leaders around the world, imagine what having her as the leader of your country could accomplish
Now if you are confused by that clip, Sloan, played by Olivia Munn, has just learned that intimate pictures that she took with her boyfriend have now found their way to the internet after she broke up with him.
What many viewers may not have known is that in this case art reflected life. Olivia Munn's life.
Last year intimate pictures of Munn were also distributed all over the internet. Only in her case they were not from a disgruntled ex-boyfriend, but the result of her phone being hacked, along with Christian Hendricks, Scarlett Johansson and others.
The pictures were scrawled with very explicit notes to her boyfriend and were very intimate, and undoubtedly she was horribly embarrassed to have them showing up in teenage inbox's all over the world. (Munn was a host of the video game program G4 and the subject of numerous teenage masturbatory fantasies.)
When the pictures came out she, just like her Newsroom character, also tried to play them off as fake at first. But that only made the internet detectives snoop harder, and eventually there was no question.
Now Munn only addressed the photos once that I know of, but after awhile people stopped asking her about it and she went on with her life.
Which brings me to the brilliance of Aaron Sorkin and the incredible courage of Olivia Munn.
Last night Munn's character Sloan went through all of the emotions, anger, frustration, shame, that she MUST have felt when those pictures of her came out last year. She got the chance to let the viewers see up close how painful it must be to have your privacy so callously invaded, and to have your personal sex life shared, judged, and mocked by people who have no right to even know about it.
Munn MUST have known that by revisiting the issue viewers would flock to the internet to once again find her pictures and gawk at them all over again. But she did it anyway.
But at least this time it was HER choice. SHE was in charge.
And what's more, in the show her character got to exact revenge on the person who victimized her. Something that she was never able to do in the real world.
I have long been a fan of Olivia Munn who I think is not only beautiful, but extremely talented. But now I more than admire her, I am in awe of her.
Now that you have read this, play that clip up top again, and you will be in awe as well.
"I believe in science. I believe in evolution. I believe in Nate Silver, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and Christopher Hitchens. Although I do admit he can be kind of an asshole. I can't get behind a supreme being that weighs in on the Tony awards while a million people get whacked by machetes. I don't believe a billion Indians are going to hell. I don't think that we get cancer to learn life lessons, and I don't believe people die young because God needs another angel. I think it's just bullshit."
-Piper Chapman
Orange is the new black
You know I kept hearing about this series so I decided to watch the first episode just to see what all of the fuss was about. Once I started I could not stop until I had watched the entire series.
On Sunday night's episode of the incredibly riveting HBO program "Newsroom" had character Jim Harper embedding himself on the Mitt Romney campaign bus and becoming so frustrated by his lack of access to the candidate and that all of his reporting was simply reading off a list of talking points provided by the campaign that he raises a stink and gets himself, and a few of his fellow reporters, kicked off of the bus.
A former 2012 Romney spokesman says that obviously pure fiction.
"You all would have heard about that if it had happened" in the real campaign, says Ryan Williams, a Romney campaign spokesman who traveled with the former Massachusetts governor. The show "doesn't seem to be very close to the truth," he adds.
Well thank goodness they cleared up the fact that a fictional character's experiences as depicted on a fictional show were in fact fictional.
Gee I simply cannot understand how the Romney campaign managed to lose that election.
However on a more serious note, the Harper character's frustration about the talking points and limited access to the candidate were well documented by reporters during the actual campaign. So THAT part, you know the part that was the point of the fictional interpretation, WAS based in fact.
Rolling stone has this great article about the last days of 30 Rock. In it they document Tina Fey having a rather unfortunate, and apparently all too common, run in with a "fan."
So yeah, sure, call her Liz (Character Liz Lemon from 30 Rock), if you must. But don't get too cute. As the late-middle-aged couple at the table next to us get up, the male half approaches, grinning: "Excuse me, aren't you Governor Sarah Palin?" It's so lame that Fey can barely manage a quarter of a fake smile. "Not for, like, three years now," she says, looking as if she'd like to dive under the table.
The guy has his gag, though, and he's going to run with it. "I so enjoy watching you on Fox," he says.
"Thank you, have a nice day," she replies. As he walks away, she murmurs, "Until the day I die. Until the day I die."
I really do feel very sorry for those like Tin Fey and Julianne Moore who may forever be cursed by their connection to the Swamp Creature from Lake Lucille, but to me they will always be heroes who sacrificed much in order to show the world just what kind of a nutty, idiotic, and hateful bitch was almost given the opportunity to be one 72 year old cancer survivor's heartbeat from the White House.
After Tina used Palin's actual word salad to ridicule her, and Moore showed the psychotic side of her personality, it removed forever the threat that she will EVER become a viable threat to our country or our democracy again.
The way that Republicans attack women is so offensive to me. And the way they talk about religion is offensive. I may not be a practicing Jew, but why we gotta talk about Jesus all the time? And it's baffling to me how a poor person in Georgia can say, "I'm a Republican." Why?
Good question.
You know one of my guilty pleasures was to watch a certain TV program called the "70's Show."
At first it was just because I of course am a product of the seventies, and it was fun to relive those years and remember how ridiculous we all were. (They actually did a pretty good job of using popular catchphrases, like "What a burn," and demonstrating how he dressed and acted.)
But then I started to really like the main actor Topher Grace, and his character's relationship with the other actor's on the show. (Especially the dad, Red Forman. I LOVE that guy!)
To honest at first I found Mila's character, Jackie, to be completely annoying, but after awhile she grew on me.
However since Kunis has left the show she has demonstrated herself to be an incredibly gifted actress and I will now choose to see movies solely on the fact that she is in them. (She has also voiced the character of "Meg" in the Family Guy which has cemented her nerd goddess credentials.)
I have also listened to her voice her political points of view a few times and find her intelligent and well read on a variety of issues. (In other words somebody the complete opposite of her character on the 70's Show.)
Part of why I am posting this is that a years back there were several YouTube videos created comparing conservative women to liberal women, using Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter as examples of the "Sexy" conservative gals, and of course making the case that liberal women were unattractive and stupid.
Well apparently Mila Kunis is VERY liberal and is now considered the sexiest woman in the world.
And HERE was the woman that inspired that conservative vs liberal comparison four years ago today.
I believe the word here is "checkmate."
And by the way let me just say that, as a rule, liberals appreciate women for more than their looks and ability to shut up and make babies for us.
We also appreciate them for their intellect, and gladly join the fight to help protect their equal rights and control over their own bodies.
For any of you who believe that nobody who looks like Mila Kunis could possibly be intelligent as well, I urge you to read her full Esquire interview at the link, or if you don't have the time perhaps you can watch this video of her scolding a reporter for asking why her co-star in "Friends with Benefits," Justin Timberlake, is not focusing on his music career rather than trying his hand at acting. (Oh and did I mention that she answered that reporter's somewhat rude question in Russian?)
Beautiful, intelligent, feisty, and oh so liberal.
If Sarah Palin was watching the 64th annual Emmy Awards on ABC, she probably wasn’t clapping. HBO’s “Game Change,” about then-Alaska Gov. turned Republican vice presidential nominee, won for best miniseries or movie, director, writing and best actress for Julianne Moore, who played Palin.
I have to say that was AMAZING considering the competition.
By the way doesn't Ms. Moore clean up well despite having to crawl inside the skin of that lunatic?
Update: Here is a little more about last night from USA Today:
Moore went on to thank the hair and makeup artists "who transformed me physically every day for two hours" and the dialect coach "who was so patient with me."
Backstage, reports USA TODAY's Marco della Cava, Moore was asked whether she was anticipating any response from Palin for her Emmy win.
"I really don't know," said Moore. "It's not about Sarah but about our political process. In an election year it's all about how we pick our leaders, which is what made it interesting to do this movie."
She also said she regrets not mentioning two other people in her acceptance speech.
"I wanted to give a shout out to Tina Fey and Katie Couric, they were really influential in the 2008 election, and I'm sorry I didn't say anything."
You know I think it's safe to say that Ms. Moore is NO Sarah Palin fan. And considering what she learned about the Tundra Turd to play this role who can blame her?
Fey returned from 30 Rock to SNL to give a much-celebrated impression of Sarah Palin during the 2008 election, which had been the defining interpretation of the politico until Julianne Moore took on the part in HBO's much more serious TV movie, Game Change.
"Oh my gosh, I just saw it. It was fantastic! She was so good. I thought she was good," Fey exclaimed. "I hope I get invited out to hand her an Emmy. I would like to volunteer to be a presenter in that category."
I like how Fey just ASSUMES that Moore will get the Emmy. Not even really a question in her mind.
And I have to agree! I have now seen Game Change about four times altogether and Moore's performance never stops being remarkable. And seeing Tina Fey hand Julianne Moore that trophy would be amazing!
I swear I would embed the video of that presentation on this blog and have it play in a continuous loop, knowing that every time it did there would be yet another can ricocheting off of a refrigerator by dead lake in Wasilla.
Here is a portion of an interview with Melissa Farman, who plays Bristol in the HBO movie Game Change, courtesy of Black Book:
BB: It’s nearly impossible to not know the story of Game Change already, but had you read the book before you started shooting?
I did!
Melissa Farman: I’m actually a senior at University of Southern California where I’m a double-major in political science and English lit. I was actually reading the book for class a few months before I auditioned. So it’s funny, having studied the book and kind of seeing the script come to life just a few months later.
BB: It’s interesting that it’s focusing primarily on the McCain/Palin campaign, which I think is the more juicy part of the story. Was it kind of a challenge to portray someone is who still alive and still making news? Were you hesitant about that?
MF: I think it’s daunting. You have a responsibility toward that person that is very much alive, not only just alive but alive in the media. There’s definitely going to be a lot more scrutiny, and there’s a sense of wanting not to just mimic the person and wanting to be free to create a character. At the same time, having that responsibility is what makes it all the more exciting. It’s also helpful to have someone who’s so much in the public’s conscience right now, in the sense that there was so much media around Bristol. The film focalizes on the campaign trail and how all of a sudden she was thrown into the limelight. I could really watch so much footage of her really getting used to the camera and kind of developing her personality once she was on the public stage. There was a lot of material for me to study, which was great.
BB: I saw the Palin people have already attacked the film.
MF: My cousin just sent me a YouTube video where some Palin supporter re-cut the trailer to show that the film was full of lies. There’s concern for sure, but, you know, if a movie’s being made about you, you’re going to wonder if it’s going to be what you want it to be. I think the film is a very balanced portrayal of Sarah Palin. In politics there’s always bound to be controversy, but I think this is storytelling, and it shows the behind-the-scenes of a campaign -- both positive and negative. I think the film really empathizes on a personal level with Sarah Palin the woman. I think that’s something that maybe the Sarah Palin team is scared is not going to happen, but it does.
BB: Has Bristol said anything?
MF: No, she has not come out with anything publicly. I know Megan McCain has, but Bristol hasn’t.
This young woman has a DOUBLE major in Political Science, and she was asked to portray Bristol "I wanna be a reality star" Palin? And here I thought that Julianne Moore had the hardest acting job in the film!
Of course it really could have been even more challenging if HBO had truly understood the relationship between Sarah and Bristol.
While I certainly understand the reticence to appear to be attacking, or being too intrusive while depicting, the Palin children, I am also a little disappointed that it does not appear that HBO really understood the complex dynamic that was taking place within the Palin family.
They seem to have whitewashed Palin's relationship with Track almost completely, and failed to recognize how bizarre Sarah's codependency with Bristol was, and how that helped dictate her all encompassing desire to create a more palatable family mythology that would garner her support among the Fundamentalists, the military families, and women.
While I understand that the pregnancy will (briefly) be addressed in the movie it is abundantly clear that HBO chose not to depict, or failed to recognize, how the new born Down syndrome child and the teenage daughter's pregnancy were connected.
Of course if they had, I imagine that they would probably have had a MUCH harder time getting this movie made, and I can only imagine how much MORE intense the backlash would have been from the Palin supporters.
Though speaking for myself that is a movie that I personally would be much more interested in watching. Maybe someday.
"It was hard, really, really hard," she admitted. "I had a great director, Jay Roach who was incredible. I adored him, [he was] so supportive, so smart. I did a lot of research, I worked really hard. It's hard to play someone who is very present in people's minds, who's on television, very idiosyncratic, I did my best. We'll see, I hope we pulled it off."
And how about mastering that accent, eh?
"Practice, an incredible amount of practice," Moore said about getting Palin's northern-inflected speech just right. "I had to listen to it over and over again. My son was embarrassed because [Palin's speeches were] all that was on my iPod. He said, 'Where's your music?' [I told him] I erased all my music."
It kind of sounds to me like Moore did more preparation for her role as Sarah Palin, than Sarah Palin did for her role as John McCain's running mate. I'm just saying.
Lucy Punch had some interesting things to say about the inspiration for her character, the neurotic and perpetually chipper teacher Ms. Squirrel. “It was pretty much that character on the page but when I read it, just because of the way she talks, because she’s rather twee and perky. The first person I thought was she seems if Sarah Palin had a little cousin who’s an elementary school teacher. I mentioned it to Jake [Kasdan] and he said, ‘You know, I don’t think that was the intention.’ I don’t know if they’re in there but I threw in a few winks and “you betchas”. That’s just who I had in my head, that energy. Not to say that Sarah Palin is deranged or unhinged,” Punch said.
Thomas Lennon then clarified: “That’s almost exactly what you’re saying.” To which Punch shot back: “I’m talking about her perky energy!”
Yeah I have news for Ms. Punch. Sarah Palin IS deranged and unhinged, it only SEEMS like "perky energy" to the uniitiated.
See? How is that NOT deranged and unhinged?
By the way, I happened to see "Bad Teacher" last Friday, and I loved it.
Do you know how you see something that makes you laugh, and you think "I am going to hell for this?" Well this whole movie is like that.
But if you have a truly demented sense of humor, like me, then you will LOVE it!
Here is the trailer.
P.S. This movie has the least sexy fully clothed dry humping scene of all time. Just so you know.
I think we can all agree that it is always best for Levi to be seen and not heard, but you would at least think he knew how to make out with a woman better than that!
And please tell me that is the sound of two cats fighting and NOT this woman's voice.
So Bristol, I wanted to ask, are you playing yourself, or a fictionalized version of yourself?
Palin: Yeah, a fictionalized version of myself is probably the best description.
What did you do to prepare? Did you talk to any acting coaches?
Palin: [Laughs] No, no acting coaches. I went over the lines that was on the drive over here a few months ago, so it was kind of thrown out there, but it was an awesome experience.
No acting coaches? You know I may have picked up on that.
Do you have any longer term plans for acting? And is this something you'd want to do more of in the future?
Palin: I don't know if I want to do more of it. I guess I'll leave it up to the experts but I had a great time shooting this and hopefully I don't look like too much of an idiot.
.....uh....hmm....never mind.
I read in Harper's Bazaar that you said your parents just assumed you weren't doing anything rather than talk to you about the realities of pre-marital sex, and it was pretty similar with the main character on 'Secret Life.' Have you given any thought to what you might say to your son about it when the time comes?
Palin: Well, I definitely hope Tripp will wait to have sex until either he's married or what not but I just hope that he doesn't have to go through what I went through with my teen pregnancy. Hopefully, I'll do a good job explaining that to him.
And hopefully he will not make the mistake of impregnating somebody who belongs to a family who uses their children as props. I'm just saying.
Bristol, do you have any plans to watch it with your family, to throw a little party or something?
Palin: No, definitely not a party or anything. I'll definitely be too embarrassed to see myself on TV, so I'll probably just watch it by myself with my baby.
Poor Tripp. I wonder if this will be used as a disciplinary tool. "If you don't eat your mashed carrots you will have to watch Mommy act again!"
In case you missed it the first time, here is your chance to watch this future Emmy winner in action.
Update: Here is a little video of part of this interview. Watch the BS answer she gives when asked about how she and Levi are doing.
