You can do that on TV or I am not watching with you I am watching at you.

We know their names. Snookie, Paulie D, Kim Kardashian, and Honey Boo-boo. We watch their shows. We give more attention to what they do then our politicians. During last years political part conventions Honey Boo-boo’s show got more rating than the Republican Convention and tied the Democratic Convention when Former President Bill Clinton was speaking. The question I will bring up is why? Why do we give them all of our time and entertainment?

Yesterday my roommate was in control of the TV and I was subjected to a taste of MTV’s Buckwild. The show follows the nine young adults in West Virginia.  The show has been criticized for propagating negative stereotypes. MTV calls it their “Redneck Jersey Shore”. I asked him why he liked the show and you’d have thought I asked him an SAT question. As you can probably tell I don’t have a high opinion of the show but then the same goes for most reality TV.  I take that back. I don’t hate reality TV. I watch shows like The Deadliest Catch because it’s about people doing something. They make a living doing something interesting.

I just can’t get behind shows that I categorize as “Kids Behaving Badly”. I use kids to describe them because let’s be honest if you are a grown woman or man fighting and arguing on Television then you are a child. You can’t tell me that the sheer number of catty-bitch women fighting on TV hasn’t affected us. I had a friend who would do stupid things and his back up explanation was “It’s because I am an asshole”. How many young women see the examples of the “Bad Girls Club” and want to act like them? Sure continue to tell yourself TV doesn’t affect young people. Where did we get the idea to wear our pants around our knees then? Why is every young girl walking around showing her stomachs? We are impressionable beings. We build our personalities and mannerisms on our environments. I am willing to bet that there is a correlation between the upswing in bullying and reality TV. Wait what? Where’d you get that from? Oh I will feed you baby birds. Isn’t the real reason people Honey Boo-boo is to laugh at the family? Isn’t the most popular part of American idol is the auditions when people who have no business singing get in front of the judges? They have turned making fun of people into entertainment. Laugh at this person because they are poor or rednecks or ghetto. Laugh at this person because they can’t sing or dance but they think they can. We now bully people through our TV’s. We’ve turned reality TV into a nationwide game of  “Dinner for Smucks”. Be on TV, act stupid and we’ll give you money. Where is the humanity in that?

The other reason I can’t get behind reality TV is it creates false celebrities. It’s simulated celebrity. Example: Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is famous because he starred in a bunch of movies.  What Tom Cruise does generates his celebrity. He doesn’t wake up thinking ‘What can I do to promote me?’ He wakes up and go makes a movie. The movie and his acting generate the celebrity. Now lets take a reality star: Kim Kardashian. Now I am going ask a simple question. What has she done to be famous? Take your time.  If you said the TV show. WRONG! Kim got her fake celebrity because of two jacked up things. O.J. Simpson and Ray J. You may have forgotten that her father was a lawyer in the case.  She also put out a sex tape that made the rounds on the Internet. She parlayed her porn-cred into getting a show on E network. Kim wakes up every day wondering how she can be more famous.  Don’t believe me…look at how close her marriage was to the media onslaught of the Royal Wedding and when the break up was announced. She is a fake celebrity and real Hollywood knows it. Every year a petition to allow reality TV stars to get a star on the Walk of Fame is forwarded to the people who decide who gets a star. Every year it is denied. You are a fake celebrity. This is how fake your celebrity is. They will give a star on the Walk of Fame to Godzilla, Kermit the Frog and Mickey Mouse but not one to Kim Kardashian. Mickey Mouse hasn't done anything since Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hollywood deems him more of a star than you."

Guns and Poses or Everybody shut the Fuck up and Listen

Today I want to discuss my views on the gun problem in America. However before we get into the debate we must objectively look at both sides of the argument. Now I am not going to speak on the most vocal of these groups because they don't tend to speak on what the normal person on their side is thinking. They tend to be the loudest and craziest members and I don't think it is fair to color the Pro-Gun side by the actions of Alex Jones. I don't like Piers Morgan either but the way Alex Jones acted in that video the only thing I thought to myself was "I don't think he should own a gun".

The Pro-Gun Control people do not want to take any one's guns away.

The Pro-Gun Control people do not want to take any one's guns away.

Do I need to say it again?

The Pro-Gun Control people do not want to take any one's guns away.

They feel that something must be done to prevent this epidemic of mass shootings. They are not sheep. They are not weaklings.

The Pro-Gun People have the constitutional right to own guns. They also feel something must be done to combat this epidemic of mass shootings. They feel however that we should address the cause of these shootings and not focus on the guns. They are not war-hawks nor are they people who walk around with their guns as if this is the Wild West.

These two groups are not that different which is why I named them very closely. They want the same thing but are unwilling to come to a compromise. We laugh and deride our politicians for not being able to compromise on the budget yet act like three year old when it comes to this topic.

Why are the only choices either no gun control or "They'll take all our guns"? Why not come together to make it harder for people who should not have guns get them? Shouldn't we do something or anything to prevent the violent death of at least one child?

If I was in charge and it was up to me I would put in place tougher background checks and a mandatory psychological evaluation. Then just like having to renew your driver's license every few years a person would be required to keep a current psychological evaluation on record. This would prevent a sane person from going crazy while owning a fire arm. Sounds like a lot of work doesn't it?

To prevent it taking forever for a law abiding citizen getting a fire arm I would create a DMV-type organization to centralize gun permits and psychological evaluations. This would prevent someone from being denied in one state to obtain one in another. I know someone people freaked out when I said a DMV type place but I think it's the only organization that is close to the idea I have. However look at what else we did. Not only did we make a real answer to both sides but we just created jobs. I am a job creator and I didn't even know it. The California DMV employs 9,000 people. All things being equal we are about to drop 450,000 jobs on the economy. That's if we don't up the amount of people we'd need to do all the work (and we'd probably have to). On top of that we are helping the Mental Health community identify people who potentially need help. Did I just solve three problems at once? More people would be needed in the Mental Health community which means more jobs.

Now this is just me throwing things out there and brainstorming but I think on the surface both sides could get behind this. I didn't bring this up to toot my own horn or start myself down the long road to government (Alfred Green 2016) but to illustrate that a reasonable answer can be reached if we drop our animosity and work together. If we don't do something now the next one is going to be worst than Sandy Hook. No one wants that. 

My Oscar Picks or Nobody Does it Better

Its award season where the celebrities get dressed up and give each other handies while we watch. Of course I am being super hipster in that I am talking down the Oscars while aspiring to get my grubby little hands on one of those golden statues. So now that I have done the required celeb-loathing its time to get on with it.

Best Actor:
Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook"
Daniel Day Lewis for "Lincoln"
Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables"
Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master"
Denzel Washington for "Flight"

I believe this category comes down to Daniel Day Lewis and Denzel Washington. Sorry Bradley you were in the Hangover II and Hugh Jackman will always be Wolverine to me. I will never vote for Joaquin for what he did to Maximus in "Gladiator". In all seriousness I think this will go to Daniel Day Lewis. He wasn't playing Lincoln he was Lincoln. I loved Denzel in "Flight" and will probably pull a John Madden and take a bus where ever I go from now on but I think DDL did a better job.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

*   Alan Arkin in "Argo"
*   Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
*   Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
*   Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
*   Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"

I was supremely disappointed that John Goodman didn't get a nomination for his role in Argo or Flight. That being said I think this Oscar comes down to Alan Arkin and Robert De Niro. My money is on De Niro because he was in the Godfather and you do not go against the family.

Performance by an actress in a leading role

*   Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
*   Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
*   Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
*   Quvenzhane Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
*   Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"

I have no dog in this race having only seen "Zero Dark Thirty". However I am rooting for nine year old Quvenzhane Wallis. I think this will be one of those wins where the Academy tries to prove they are advanced and enlighten by giving the Oscar to a young black girl...but thats just me.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

*   Amy Adams in "The Master"
*   Sally Field in "Lincoln"
*   Anne Hathaway in "Les Miserables"
*   Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
*   Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

I really liked Sally Field for this and thought she did an amazing job in Lincoln so she is my pick for the Oscar.

Best animated feature film of the year

*   "Brave," Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
*   "Frankenweenie," Tim Burton
*   "ParaNorman," Sam Fell and Chris Butler
*   "The Pirates! Band of Misfits," Peter Lord
*   "Wreck-It Ralph," Rich Moore

I like Wreck-It-Ralph in this race. I think this was the first non-Pixar film that captured the magic of Pixar, which I think they lost on Brave. I liked Brave but it didn't seem like a Pixar film. It makes sense that Wreck-It would feel like a Pixar film since the Pixar guys aided in the making of the film.

Achievement in cinematography

*   "Anna Karenina," Seamus McGarvey
*   "Django Unchained," Robert Richardson
*   "Life of Pi," Claudio Miranda
*   "Lincoln," Janusz Kaminski
*   "Skyfall," Roger Deakins

I believe this Oscar comes down to Lincoln and Skyfall. Roger Deakins did an amazing job on Skyfall. I give this Oscar to Skyfall.

Achievement in directing

*   "Amour," Michael Haneke
*   "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Benh Zeitlin
*   "Life of Pi," Ang Lee
*   "Lincoln," Steven Spielberg
*   "Silver Linings Playbook," David O. Russell

No competition this is Mr. Spielberg's to win. He took a movie about a political debate and made it exciting. It is a testament to Spielberg's skill that I was able to sit in a movie theater in 2012 and wonder if the slaves were going to be freed...or a failure of the American school system. Had they nominated Ben Affleck or Kathryn Bigelow I would say he has some competition. 

Best motion picture of the year

*   "Amour" (nominees to be determined)
*   "Argo," Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, producers
*   "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, producers
*   "Django Unchained," Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, producers
*   "Les Miserables," Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, producers
*   "Life of Pi," Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, producers
*   "Lincoln," Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, producers
*   "Silver Linings Playbook," Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, producers
*   "Zero Dark Thirty," Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, producers

Ah this is the big daddy of the awards. I really liked Argo, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty. I enjoyed Django but I didn't see anything that was Best Picture worthy in it. I think this is Lincoln's movie to win. 

Hypocrisy of the N-Word or What did you call me?

Hypocrisy of the N-word

Or

What did you call me?

A few weeks ago Spike Lee mentioned in an interview that he would not see Django Unchained, the latest movie from director Quentin Tarantino.  "I cant speak on it 'cause I'm not gonna see it. All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors. That's just me...I'm not speaking on behalf of anybody else”. Spike attributes his views on the films subject matter. That slavery era films shouldn’t be boiled down to an action/revenge flick.  The most damning thing detractors point to is the over 100+ uses of the N-Word in the film.

And it is all bullshit.

How dare we get mad because this movie uses the N-word over 100 times yet we remain silent on the fact that our music is drenched in the word? 100 times is mild for a rap song. Maybe if QT put a rhythm track behind the N-words no one would blink twice. Or maybe Spike Lee should shut the hell up since no one was counting the N-words in “School Daze”. Therein lies the problem. We have this “I can do it but you can’t mentality”.  It’s offensive if QT tries to say something about race but no one bats an eye when Dave Chappelle does it.

I hate the N-word. I don’ use it. It doesn’t come up in my usual speech patterns. The only way Dr. King’s dream of an equal world is by making it true in our hearts. The government can’t make equality happen. Only through our actions can ‘little black boys and girls hold hands with little white boys and girls as brothers and sisters’. As such I don’t see a person by their race. I see the individual.  I am a firm believer that a lot of our social problems can be solved by the golden rule: “Treat other how you want to be treated”. This belief I have does not coexist with using the N-word.

The only real solution to this is to drop the N-Word altogether. No one use it. It doesn’t take the power of the word away as we can see. The only way to take the power of the N-word away is by stop using the word and letting it die away.  Think about the other euphemisms that no longer are used. They lost their power because people stopped using them. 

Richard Pryor used the N-Word in his stand up acts like fish drink water. After a trip to Africa Pryor vowed to stop using the word. 

The black community has a lot of problems and one of the first things we can do is to start respecting each other. Lets drop the N-word and move into the 21st century.

Oh and Spike Lee. He isn’t angry about the N-word. There’s another word he is angry about and it’s the R-word: Relevance.