Celebs say (and do) the darndest things!

 

If you're still reeling over Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican National Convention, Clint gave an interview to The Carmel Pine Cone, his local paper in CA, after his now infamous stint at the RNC.

Now - I'm a Clint fan. Always have been. And we have similar politics. He's pro-choice and pro-gay rights. And pretty much a righty on most everything else. Oh - and he supports the arts. Forgot about that one. Anyways, I probably wouldn't have used "the empty chair" or made those couple references about President Obama telling Mitt Romney "to screw himself" (which Clint alluded to but didn't actually say), but that's just me. Aside from those two things (which I really didn't get bent outta shape about), I had no problem with what Eastwood said.

In the interview, he touched on the "method to his madness" (my phrase) regarding his speech. Here are some highlights:

A)  "I had three points I wanted to make...That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who's not doing a good job. But I didn't make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it."

B)  "There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down...When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I'll just put the stool out there and I'll talk to Mr. Obama and ask him why he didn't keep all of the promises he made to everybody."

C)  As he wrapped up his remarks, he was aware his presentation was "very unorthodox," but that was his intent from the beginning, even if some weren't on board. "They've got this crazy actor who's 82-years-old up there in a suit...I was a mayor, and they're probably thinking I know how to give a speech, but even when I was mayor I never gave speeches. I gave talks."

I know it was on national television which certainly amplified the entire incident. But I would rather have done what Eastwood did on national television than tweet what actor Jason Biggs (AMERICAN PIE) did...something about taking two pinkies and shoving them into Paul Ryan's wife's asshole - and that her asshole was probably bleached. OR what actress Ellen Barkin (TENDER MERCIES, SEA OF LOVE) tweeted - about how she wished Hurricane Isaac would sweep "every pro-life, anti-education, anti-woman, xenophobic, gay-bashing, racist SOB right into the ocean .

Yep. Most definitely.

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Separated at Birth? Hailee Steinfeld and Sydney Penny.

Steinfeld plays the title role in the True Grit remake, starring along Jeff Bridges (the Coen Brothers said their version was more a retelling of the book and not a remake of the original which starred John Wayne...whatever). Penny starred in one of my favorite Clint Eastwood film, Pale Rider.

"PREACHER?!?!"

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"Where'd ya go Pop Culture Chick #9? Sydney Penny from "Pale Rider".

"Preacher? Preacher? We love you Preacher!I love you! Good-bye!"

Half Cherokee Sydney Penny, 39, was the cutie (Megan Wheeler) who was in love with Clint Eastwood film, "Pale Rider" (1985). It's the only thing I identify her with - probably because the movie's always on TV; I've seen it 50 times; it's a great movie. Penny has remained a busy actress, with recurring roles mostly in the soap operas: All My Children, Sunset Beach, The Bold and the Beautiful, Santa Barbara and All My Children.

Sydney's married with one child, loves cats, knitting and speaks fluent French.

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TGIF! presents..."Burning Bridges" from "Kelly's Heroes"!

Excellent war flick. And a great tune.

Friends all tried to warn me
But I held my head up high
All the time they warned me
But I only passed them by
They all tried to tell me
But I guess I didn't care
I turned my back and
Left them standing there

All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore

Joey tried to help me find a job
A while ago
When I finally got it I didn't want to go
The party Mary gave for me
When I just walked away
Now there's nothing left for me to say

All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore

Years have passed and I keep thinking
What a fool I've been
I look back into the past and
Think of way back then
I know that I lost everything I thought that I could win
I guess I should have listened to my friends

All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore
Burning bridges lost forevermore

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"The Changeling" a NOT-see.

I wanted to like it just because I love Ron Howard (producer) and Clint Eastwood (director), but....no - can't do it.

Angelina Jolie plays a mother whose son has disappeared and the police present her with an "imposter son", trying to pass him off as her own child. Seems some psycho is kidnapping children and murdering them; the police can't catch him and they need to make themselves look good. Enter...imposter child.

The problem with the movie (which is based on fact) is that Jolie and her real son never establish the emotional bond in the beginning of the movie in order to make the audience "feel" the mother's loss for her son. No connection. I mean, I didn't have a shred of empathy for her or the pain she "supposedly" was going through. I never really got it that it was HER boy who was missing - or that she cared. She could've been Mrs. Collins the Pirate for all I knew. Though her son is on-screen maybe the first 15 minutes of the film, this connection between mother-son could have certainly been accomplished in a short time span. But Jolie seems detached from the child from the beginning, so I'm thinking the fault lies with Jolie first and foremost, then with Eastwood as the director. My eyes swelled up more watching Pa Walton decide if he wants to sell Walton's Mountain to a hot springs developer.

Which, again, surprises me coming from Eastwood and Howard. Jolie was, in my opinion, terribly miscast in this role and was unimpressive, to say the least. I was gonna say that if she gets any acting nominations for this role I would forcibly choke on my own vomit (I said choke, not die). To my dismay, she's already received a Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nomination. So, I'll have to change my wager - if she wins either one I'll choke on my own vomit (but just choke).

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Spike Lee: "Now I'M telling you to shut your face."

If you read a few posts down, Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood have had some words as of late. Clint told Spike to "shut his face" , then Lee said something about, "we're not on a plantation - he's (Clint) not my father". While the initial topic had to do with Clint's lack of representation of blacks in two of his films, Lee was the one who brought race into their specific comments when he used the word, "plantation". Low blow, Spike. Your stock - in my head (and it wasn't that high to begin with) - has dropped.

Wait. Now it's dropped even lower. Not because I don't like Spike as a director - I've enjoyed several of his movies and I respect him as a director. It's his attitude and whacky sense of entitlement that I have a problem with.

Lee Complains About Lack Of Interest For James Brown Biopic

9 June 2008 12:00 PM, PDT Director Spike Lee is struggling to win financial backing for a planned movie about late soul legend James Brown, insisting there's simply not enough interest in the star's life for the film. The outspoken filmmaker admits he has been trying to set plans into action for a biopic about the Godfather of Soul for some time - but has failed to get a studio to back his project. He tells MTV.com, "I have a black-biopic, no-money trilogy: Jackie Robinson. Joe Louis and James Brown. Those are three films I have scripts for and am trying to get done but have been unsuccessful so far. They (studio bosses) don't think there's a market for it, they're not interested. Or they think it costs too much. So that's one of those reasons why studios don't make anything."

I have no desire to see a movie on James Brown...I think he was over-rated. What did he have - 4 or 5 songs that I recognize (and I know music)? Hell, I thought there were two James Brown's - the singer and the-one-who's-always-in-trouble-with-the-law James Brown. Or I'm thinking of Bobby Brown?

A "black biopic". Spike said that. Not just a "biopic". Interesting. Yesterday I was on my 5-mile walk and I saw two black people (m/f) pulled over, driving a newer Mercedes. I overhead the words, "Ecstasy in the car" and the car was being towed. The man and woman were in handcuffs. Had I blogged about this and said, "a black man and woman", I would've been chastised (probably) for not just saying, "man and woman". 'Why did you have to add "black" in there, Jeff? Are you suggesting that only black people are criminals in LA?" I myself would have asked me, "Isn't 'man and woman' sufficient?"

Getting back to Mr. Spike. I said this in my previous post, and I repeat: Spike, why do you persist in being a whiny little bitch?? I'm a published playwright and have several plays I'm confident are good enough to be produced. I've had them read and produced (some - OK...one short play produced) in Ireland, Manhattan, Los Angeles, Cedar Rapids and Dayton. I'm certainly not famous like you, nor do I have the resume you do, but from one creative, artsy person to another - you don't hear me whining to my family and friends about "a lack of interest" in them. I don't whine to my family and theater colleagues about the theaters that turned down productions of my plays or the playwriting contests that I didn't win. Not every film that has the Spike Lee name attached to it is gonna be a hit - or garner interest by Hollywood executives. So - again...shut your face.

And while you're at it, the name of your film production company - 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. Observation: I don't understand why some black people bitch about the trials and tribulations of slavery (which was wrong), then embrace a term like, "40 Acres and a Mule" as the name of their production company (look it up, people). You would think you'd want to forget that part of your race's history. Is it similar to the reason black men are allowed to call each other "nigger" but a non-black man can't use the word? Many black people agree that blacks calling blacks "nigger" because "they can" does nothing but encourage the use of that word by others and the problem festers.

I'm just asking, Spike. Since you got all the answers.

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"Hey Spike Lee: Are you deaf? Clint told you to 'shut your face' ".

(from the Internet Movie Database)
Outspoken moviemaker Spike Lee has fueled the war of words between himself and Clint Eastwood by calling the Hollywood icon "an angry old man." Lee was upset when the Dirty Harry star used an interview in a British newspaper to attack the Malcolm X director over remarks he made about the lack of black actors in Eastwood's 2006 war films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. The veteran suggested Lee should "shut his face," adding the younger director should get his facts right before lecturing him about African-American soldiers.

Eastwood told Britain's The Guardian newspaper, "The story is Flags of our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they (black soldiers) didn't do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people go: `This guy's lost his mind'. I mean, it's not accurate." But Lee isn't happy with Eastwood's comeback to comments he made at the Cannes Film Festival last month. Lee said, "First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either (Lee brought up the plantation reference - not Clint; that's Lee playing another race card.) ... I didn't personally attack him, and a comment like `a guy like that should shut his face...' come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man. If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist."I'm not making this up. I know history. I'm a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II."

I don't like Spike Lee - never have. He's a whiney little bitch. I echo Clint in saying, "Spike, shut your face!"

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