Why don't blacks consider the "NAACP" name offensive?

The historical election of our first black President has people - black and white - talking about "change" and "hope". So let's talk about change - for the black man. If I were a black man (which I'm not), I might take offense at the phrase, "colored people", which is considered politically incorrect today by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). So why does the NAACP continue to use "colored people" in the title of its organization?

Carla Sims, communications director for the NAACP in Washington, D.C., said, "The term 'colored' is not derogatory, [the NAACP] chose the word 'colored' because it was the most positive description commonly used at that time (1909). It's outdated and antiquated but not offensive."

I disagree. I bet if I walked up to a black man and referred to him as "colored" his reaction would be something less than "not offensive".

It's your turn, NAACP. According to the rhetoric of President Obama's own election campaign, it's "Time for Change"; there's HOPE in the world now that the first black president has been elected. Hope and Change for all of us. So don't you think the NAACP's name should be changed to reflect your culture as it stands today? Something like NAAAA (National Association for the Advancement of African Americans)?

Naaaa. I bet that never happens.

"Burn After Reading". Burn before watching, how 'bout?

You'd think 12 Oscar wins/nominations between both the Coen brothers (winners), George Clooney (winner), Frances McDormand (winner), John Malkovich (nominated), Tilda Swinton (winner), Brad Pitt (nominated), Richard Jenkins (nominated) and Emmanuel Lubecki (nominated - cinematographer) would up the odds that a movie is successful. I'm not talking box office success - but the plot, story, writing, etc. Critical success.

Not in this case. Here I'm all ready for a funny, Coen brothers flick (lured by the trailers which truly were the best parts of the film) and...ended up like some poor sonofabitch who shoots blanks. Like I was listening to a funny joke, and the joke ends 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through and I never hear the punchline.

"My sentiments exactly, Brad."

Malkovich clearly was consistently the most entertaining. Clooney and Pitt had moments (Clooney, the "I-gotta-run" bit and his homemade "toy"; Pitt, his scene with Malkovich). Jenkins was good - everyone played their part well. Pitt's character was a stretch. He's supposed to be a dolt - and funny. He wasn't funny. So this lends me to think the issue was with the script and the directing.

Oddly enough, the movie was nominated at the 2009 Golden Globe awards for Best Comedy or Musical and for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy or Musical. The National Board of Review named the movie to their list of the Top 10 Movies of 2008. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club named it the 2nd best film of 2008, Empire magazine named it the 3rd best film of 2008, and Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly named it the 7th best film of 2008.

(scratching my head). Glad I didn't pay to see this. Perhaps the commentary in the movie on the "idiocy of America" was also a reference to "how many suckers we can pull in at the box office, on this one, eh, Joel?". OK - gonna go watch reruns of Small Wonder now.

Brett Favre didn't return Aaron Rodgers' phone calls??? Oh, my!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Are you kidding me? New York Jets and former 16-year Green Bay QB Brett Favre hasn't returned current Packer QB Aaron Rodgers' phone calls. This - one of the many stories floating around Tampa during Super Bowl week.

While Rodgers has been making the rounds in Tampa for the Super Bowl, he said that after the Packers lost to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship in January 2008, he and Favre left as friends. But, there's been no communication since.Must be a slow last couple of days in the world of sports.

Guess one wouldn't think there's a Super Bowl being played this Sunday, eh? The media - gotta hate them. GOTTA!


(And to all you idiots claiming Brett never offered to help Aaron while at Green Bay, what the hell is THIS? Now SHUT UP!)

Why is the costume designer from "Milk" nominated for an Oscar??

Australia, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Duchess, Revolutionary Road - and Milk. You're kidding me, right? It's 70's-style clothing, spritzed with gay fashion from the time. How much of a stretch is that?

"Where'd ya go Pop Culture Chick #4, Cindy Morgan aka Lacie Underall from 'Caddyshack' "?

Who wasn't born to love her? Anyone who has seen Caddyshack knows Lacie Underall. Every man's (and boy's as I was 16 when the movie came out in 1980) wet dream. She also played one of the leads in Tron - that ahead-of-its-time sci-fi Disney movie (I know the writer, by the way, for all you Tron heads).

Here's Cindy today. She's still in the "business" - spends a good deal of time doing the autograph/picture thing circuit for Caddyshack/Tron events. There's a couple recent videos of her floating around on YouTube.

And if you've never seen Caddyshack, for shame. One of the all-time classic comedies. Here's the trailer.

TGIF! presents...Lowen & Navarro's "Just To See You".

Just To See You - Lowen And Navarro

To Eric Lowen (right). And to Justyna. I'll be seeing these guys at The Mint this evening in Los Angeles. YouTube wouldn't post any of L&N's videos. Thought the audio and picture was better than nothing.

Geno the Propman...Salute!

There's a short post over at Monsterama on my friend, Geno Mattos - illustrator, artist, screenwriter and all-around good guy. He's the prop illustrator for my company's animated show, SECRET SATURDAYS (Cartoon Network).

I was in a reading at Geno's pad in Van Nuys last Saturday - I read the part of ANTON (the lead bad guy) in Geno's screenplay, PSYGNATURE (a sci-fi, psychological thriller with one bad-ass monster).

Good script. He got some tremendous feedback from the reading, actors and other guest, which is the purpose of any reading.

Jenny's dead.

The last season of Showtime's The L Word started off with a bang (or I should say, a "gurgle, gurgle") - specifically, Jenny's death by drowning. The remainder of the season is a flash-back leading up to her demise. Someone wanted her dead - but who? WHO I SAY???!!!

Good. Jenny turned into a raving bitch and she deserved to die. I wrote on an L Word message board last season that I was a bit confused and taken aback by Jenny's personality turn and that it leaned more toward a caricature or a stereotypical "raving bitch" - and thus, not believable to me.

Jenny's dead. That's a good thing. But the actress who plays her, Mia Kirshner, is very much alive. That's a good thing too.

I'm keeping my eyes on NY Times/Village Voice columnist Alex Barra. He's a known douche bag.

I've blogged about Alex Bare-ass before. Search the topics list on the right panel, bottom. His latest is here - on why it's Brett Favre's fault - and only Brett's fault - that the New York Jets went downhill the last 5 games of the season.

Read it. It's as if Brett was (were?) the only guy playing for the Jets those last 5 games. But boy, oh, boy...don't say that Brett was the only one who helped get the Jets to 8-3. Nope. THAT was a team effort. Winning is (ask RB Thomas Jones). Losing is all Brett's fault.

So I comment on douche bag's article (hit the "publish" button one too many times and it printed 4x). Here's an excerpt, go to the article and read everyone's comments (most disagree with the lunatic).

So, lo and behold, Bare-ass actually makes a comment on his own article - and mentions me (like I care).

Listen you arrogant prick...Jeffrey Ircink is my real name, asshole! You couldn't make up that last name if you tried. And if I wanted to use a "handle" I would've used "belairjeff" or a nickname like "monkeyboy" or "bareassisadouche"...you know, something that sounds made up. Bare-ass easily dismisses stats and facts that don't back up his argument, and he doesn't pay attention to what others write because he doesn't even see that my name IS at the end of my posts - all 5 of them!

So then I respond back:

I have yet to hear back. He's a busy man - being a douche-pig and all. If we were living in 14th century Scotland right now, I would get my 4-foot Scottish claymore and cleave Bare-ass' head from his fat body so fast...well, I would just do it really fast. Then I'd eat some haggis (using Bare-ass' stomach, of course), play the pipes and have sex with a Scottish lass while singing tunes from "Brigadoon".

Mickey and Domino's bowl.

My Jackson Pollock.

"Ecstasy", © Copyright 2009 Jeffrey James Ircink

(I posted this earlier today but I changed my "Pollack" masterpiece to the above - I was too rushed in the morning. I feel better now. There are newer posts after this one from today.)

It's the artist Jackson Pollock's birthday today. Make your own Pollock - like mine. Just don't make a "polack". Unless, of course, you're Polish.

Women Celebs I Love #6 - Linda Hardy.

Never heard of her before last night. Know nothing about her, but after seeing her in the very strange French sci-flick, Immortal, I'm hooked.

What do I know? She's extremely attractive and my gut tells me she's a together, nice person - subtle, understated acting approach. She's French and the former 1992 Miss France. Most of her films are in French. That's about it. Married? Single? Who knows - there's very little information about her on the Internet.

Now this movie I saw last night - Immortal (2004, English spelling)...strange one. It's not hard to follow but just hard to see the director's vision in how all the components fit together. Directed by artist Enki Bilal and based upon his graphic novel, "La Foire aux immortels" (The Carnival of Immortals), the film combines live action footage with computer animation, and received mixed reviews. It is notable as being one of the first major films to be shot entirely on a "digital backlot", blending live actors with computer generated surroundings. Immortal goes one step further than those films, however, in also having live actors interacting with semi photo-realistic CGI "humans".

(Jake or Tony - must I place a movie title in quotations marks? I'm tiring of this and think I'll opt not to.)

Take a gander at the Immortal trailer.

Hardy sort of evokes, for me, the look of 60's sex starlet, actress Claudia Cardinale. If you're a film buff you know Claudia. North African by birth, Italian by nationality, most of her films were in Italian or French, but she's known in the U.S. for such flicks as Once Upon A Time in the West and The Pink Panther.

Wanna see more of the lovely, Miss Hardy? Click on READ MORE!

Hardy as "Jill Bioskop" in Immortal.

Playing now at Tanner's Coffee...2 sweets back-to-back!

Misirlou - Dick Dale

I saw Dick Dale perform this song at a benefit in October. The Roxy on the Strip in Hollywood. The man is 72 and runs around and performs the guitar like he's 18. More on him later. And...

Bristol Stomp - The Dovells

You too can be investigated by the government and STILL receive billions in funds.

"Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that ACORN, the low-income advocacy group under investigation for voter registration fraud, could be eligible for billions in aid from the economic stimulus proposal working its way through the House.

House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement over the weekend noting that the stimulus bill wending its way through Congress provides $4.19 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities."

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families. It's been tied to voter registration fraud in at least 14 states. Whether these allegations have been proven true or false - I don't know. What I do know is that ACORN is TIED to allegations and is being investigated regarding numerous counts. Coincidence? Hmmm.

What a laugh-riot. Come on...someone investigate me. I could use the money...I just wanna put up one of my plays in someone's barn, for Christ sakes. Tell me no one - Republican or Democrat - saw this little billion dollar gift coming ACORN's way? (This picture of an acorn was better than ACORN's logo.)

President O'Bama. The unluck of the Irish.

Funny how an apostrophe could possibly change someone's mindset.

"Elvis". Oil on canvas, by Jeff Koons (2003).

Saw this in a 2007 issue of the New Yorker, along with an article on Koons.

"Elvis", oil on canvas, 108 x 93 inches, 274.3 x 236.2 cm, 2003. If you didn't notice, that's Heather Kozar, Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1999. Apparently, Koons felt her eyes and stare matched those of The King. Thus, the title of the piece. I apologize for the nudity. Usually don't have it on this site, but it is, after all, art.

Jeff Koons is an American artist whose work incorporates kitsch imagery using painting, sculpture, and other forms, often in large scale. He was married to Hungarian-born, naturalized-Italian porn star Cicciolina, who for five years (1987–1992) pursued an alternate career as a member of the Italian parliament. His "Made in Heaven" series of paintings, photos and sculptures portrayed the couple in explicit sexual positions and created even more controversy.

Koons has received extreme reactions to his work. Critic Amy Dempsey described his BalloonDog as "an awesome presence... a massive durable monument." Jerry Saltz at artnet.com enthused that it was possible to be "wowed by the technical virtuosity and eye-popping visual blast" of Koons's art.

Mark Stevens of The New Republic dismissed him as a "decadent artist [who] lacks the imaginative will to do more than trivialize and italicise his themes and the tradition in which he works... He is another of those who serve the tacky rich." Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times saw "one last, pathetic gasp of the sort of self-promoting hype and sensationalism that characterized the worst of the 1980s" and called Koons' work "artificial," "cheap" and "unabashedly cynical."

In an article comparing the contemporary art scene with show business, renowned critic Robert Hughes wrote that Koons is “an extreme and self-satisfied manifestation of the sanctimony that attaches to big bucks. Koons really does think he's Michelangelo and is not shy to say so. The significant thing is that there are collectors, especially in America, who believe it. He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can't imagine America's singularly depraved culture without him.”

You'll have to check him out on the Web yourself. Not sure about the lobster meaning though...

Separated at Birth? Comedian Gilbert Gottfried and Artist Jeff Koons.

Gilbert Gottfried's on the right. These two look so similar in these photos that you may not have known Gottfried was on the right had he not that "comedic expression" on his face. Come on, you think Gottfried reads "La Gazette"?

Obama reads PASSION = TRUTH, Pulls contraception provision from stimulus package.

What? You think it's totally unimaginable that President Obama occasionally glances at PASSION = TRUTH? From MSNBC, read this.

My original post on the global gag rule Obama rescinded last week. Obama's stock just went up with me. He listened to his fellow politicians and the American people. He did the right thing.

And thank you, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D) California, for opening your big mouth.

Miso good.

Not moi - the soup. Miso soup. Had some on Friday and it was awesome. Don't think I've ever had it before. Sushi Mon in the West Hollywood area. And the sake - superb. Had sake once or twice and hated it. This stuff tasted like port. Port wine - which I love.

Tim Meadows is the antithesis of funny. He is anti-funny. And he's not from Wisconsin.

I watched "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" last night. Great flick. I laughed a ton. John C. Reiley's funny. But I stopped laughing whenever Tim Meadows was on the screen. I always do. I thought he sucked on SNL and couldn't figure out why he lasted 10 years on the show (he wrote as well - and that even sucked).

Seriously...I have feces funnier than this guy. Inappropriate comment? Possibly. But so is Tim Meadows practicing comedy and charging people to see him be funny.

I know - it's a picture of the late Chris Farley, who was a contemporary of Meadow's. He was funny. His left testicle was funnier than Meadows. But whose isn't? I just couldn't rationalize putting a picture of Meadows on my blog. He makes me cry and get angry. Farley makes me laugh. And Farley's from Wisconsin. So is Gene Wilder. Funny guys. Spencer Tracy was from Wisconsin and he wasn't even a comedian and he was funnier than Meadows.

Perhaps if Tim had been born in Wisconsin....no, can't do anything about that now. He could move there - I mean, if he wanted to be funnier, right?

An email response back to my brother, Jason...

"...thinking about it. don't push me. i miss you."

Giamatti, Linney Take Home the Naked Actor.

The Screen Actors Guild Award - they both won. Boy, ya just can't keep that "John Adams" mini-series down, can ya? Let's see...that's an Emmy, Golden Globe and now a SAG Award for both actors. Hard to believe some television critics thought that mini-series dull and boring.

By the way, someone tell me why the television show "24" is included in the category of "motion picture/mini-series"? Had Kiefer Sutherland won over anyone else in that category I would have had a shit fit. I understand the premise behind the show "24" but it is neither a motion picture nor is it a mini-series in the way you typically think of a TV mini-series. How long has this been going on? Did they remove "made-for-television" so a show like "24" could be included in this category? And, if shows episodic television shows in the vain of "24" are considered "mini-series", doesn't that detract from the real mini-series programs?

Nothing against Sutherland or the show. It's just that it should be listed under TV drama, that's all.

Had the cast of "Milk" won the SAG Award...

...for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, I would've contacted Diego Luna's agent tomorrow morning and kindly asked that Mr. Luna return his statuette. He was horrific.

Backbone Trail Hike.

Went on a hike up through Will Rogers State Park - it's off Sunset in Pacific Palisades - and into Topanga State Park a week ago. The total length of the trail from Will Rogers to Malibu is - ohhhh, maybe 43 miles or so. My friend Monica and I trekked in 3 or 4 miles than turned back. Gorgeous day. Ocean views. Good workout.

Click on READ MORE! for just a few more pictures.

Monica checking out the scenery.

Bottom right corner is Will Rogers State Park. You hike a bit through there and then connect to the Backbone Trail in Topanga Canyon Park. The map above is the eastern side - there's another map this size for the western side and the trail contains out to Point Mugu in Malibu. As I mentioned before, we hiked 3 or 4 miles in, as designated by that red mark.

Found this button on the Backbone. Wonder if it's one of Benjamin's buttons? Ha. Ha, ha. HaahahahHAhHHAhHahHAHhAH! Yeh.

Clear day for a view of the Pacific.