This week on #thepete #podcast: the premature passing of @NightlyShow

This week on #thepetepodcast, I delve into the cancelation of one of my favorite shows on TV, #TheNightlyShow with #LarryWilmore. This is a sad sad thing happening to this bunch of really talented #writers and #comedians, some of whom are #PeopleOfColor.

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You can always find more episodes of #thepete #podcast at podcast.thepete.com!

A Note to Hollywood Regarding the Average Trailer

listen to ‘A Note to Hollywood Regarding the Average Trailer’ on Audioboo

Blech... just watched the trailer for the new #GIJoe movie and there's SO much to criticize, but...

...but the thing I thought most worth criticizing is the casting of yet another non-Japanese actor in a role that kinda sorta supposed to be a Japanese character.  To be sure, I am whining here, as the character of the female ninja, Jinx, was not well developed as a character back when I was still reading the GI Joe comic and don't recall her at all in the cartoon (I don't even know if the original Jinx character was Japanese--I just know that ninja, generally are).  So, really, I'm just taking this as a chance to call out Hollywood yet again for its seemingly racist casting of non-Japanese people as Japanese characters.  Here's the comment I left on the article on EW.com that directed me to the trailer:

After cringing and wincing at that trailer I feel like an idiot only mentioning the annoying casting of yet another non-Japanese actor playing a ninja. I know, looking at the trailer that's the least of this film's offenses, but I figure the casting of non-Japanese actors for Japanese roles is always what people miss or ignore. I've got nothing against non-Japanese actors being cast, but when the character is supposed to be Japanese it's just odd that they cast non-Japanese actresses in "Memoirs of a Geisha", a non-Japanese guy as Sulu in the Star Trek redux, another Korean dude as Storm Shadow, and the CLINCHER, casting Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai! Dude doesn't even LOOK Japanese, COME ON, HOLLYWOOD.

But seriously, Keanu Reeves in "47 Ronin" makes me want to vomit in enough stomach acid to dissolve the Hollywood sign.

OK, shutting up now. Sorry to bother you all...

It's true--there is so much wrong with "GI Joe 2" that the casting is the least of my worries as a fan of well-written action movies.  But all of those complaints are going to be what everyone else talks about, so I won't bother except to say: Bruce Willis as the guy who is supposed to be the original "GI Joe"???  What the hell, Hollywood!?!  WtHH!

And I Should Know

And I Should Know

This is an amazing account Roseanne Barr gives of what she went through on here sitcom—couldn’t stop reading it. Here’s a cutting:

It didn’t take long for me to get a taste of the staggering sexism and class bigotry that would make the first season of Roseanne god-awful. It was at the premiere party when I learned that my stories and ideas—and the ideas of my sister and my first husband, Bill—had been stolen. The pilot was screened, and I saw the opening credits for the first time, which included this: CREATED BY MATT WILLIAMS. I was devastated and felt so betrayed that I stood up and left the party. Not one person noticed.

I confronted Marcy under the bleachers on the sound stage when we were shooting the next episode. I asked her how I could continue working for a woman who had let a man take credit for my work—who wouldn’t even share credit with me—after talking to me about sisterhood and all that bullshit. She started crying and said, “I guess I’m going to have to tell Brandon [Stoddard, then president of ABC Entertainment] that I can’t deliver this show.” I said, “Cry all you want to, but you figure out a way to put my name on the show I created, or kiss my ass good-bye.”

I think her comments put an interesting coating over the thought that we’ve made progress.  She says her show is still ahead of its time and that:

Hollywood hates labor, and hates shows about labor worse than any other thing. And that’s why you won’t be seeing another Roseanne anytime soon. Instead, all over the tube, you will find enterprising, overmedicated, painted-up, capitalist whores claiming to be housewives.

This explains a lot to me after giving Hollywood a go, myself.  Seems like I just wasn’t a big enough asshole.

It also suggests to me that for all the progress Hollywood has made culturally, it’s still about fear and money.  Sad stuff.

The world might not really end this Saturday, but it might as well. We sure don’t seem to be going in any good direction.

Move Update, Seesmic WP Plugin Test

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So, can you watch it?

Outside the Kodak for Hillary V. Barack in Hwood

I don't think I managed to post this yet, so I thought I'd do it just to be safe. It's also on my Flickrstream here: http://www.flickr.com/…424774846/

This is footage I shot outside the Kodak Theater in Hollywood the night of the (not so) big Clinton/Obama debate. Protesters were out, I was happy to see. :)
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The 5 Minute Show Episode 20030223 Anti-War Protest pt 2!

And here are the continuing adventures of ThePete at an Anti-Iraq War protest shortly before we went to war in Iraq. :(

TheVlog ThePete Visits the Kodak with Hillary and Barack

Ok, so the visit wasn't with Hillary and Barack, but they were there the same time I was.



See, I just happened to be in Hollywood the same night as Hillary and Barack and so I shot some footage of the moderate madhouse their debate turned one of my favorite places in LA into.

Groundwork Closed Due to Power Outage?

But the lights are on! WTH?
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AND A MERRY MOVIE TO ALL! (Did I really just type that???)

The only thing I actually LIKE about the Christmas holiday is that usually there are some fun films in theaters. This year seems to be no exception. Although I am writing this before the holiday begins (while goofing off at my desk at work) I know that I hope to run out and catch Galaxy Quest. Usually I don't like parodies that are this directed. I hated Space Balls and Robin Hood: Men in Tights they were just too specific and weren't random enough. I usually prefer parodies like Airplane! or Blazing Saddles that address a whole genre, but I think GQ looks to be an exception to my rule. I know I haven't seen it yet, but I watch the trailer and first off, it makes me laugh, and secondly, it looks like the writer(s) actually took the world of Star Trek seriously and just tried to make jokes within that universe. Boy - I wish that the boys over at the Star Trek: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine & Voyager had thought about lightening things up a bit where characters say "oops" and try the old tried and true cliches, only to have them not work. So, I am making a prediction here - this will be a fun film that I will enjoy. So, if you want to see a film that I will enjoy (or possibly prove me wrong - yeah RIGHT!) then go catch Galaxy Quest.

Or would you rather watch "It's a Wonderful Life" - AGAIN?

PS: My girlfriend and I just got back from Galaxy Quest and boy was I RIGHT! It was more fun and fulfilling than the last THREE Trek movies put together!

NEVER A LACK OF MATERIAL WITH CABLE TV

Boy you know, I may run out of time to work on my site, but I never run out of things to bitch about. If I ever think, "gosh, what shall I complain about this week?" all I need to do is turn on the Television and start surfing. Usually I find something pretty offensive on E! Entertainment Television. I do admit that I enjoy Talk Soup and the occasional episode of The E Hollywood True Story. Mostly because both shows point out how truly messed up Hollywood is in one way or another. But the shows that I only see promos for (because that's all I can TAKE) seem to EMBRACE this insane industry. Take E's Fashion Emergency hosted by Emmy (no relation to the Award - as far as I know). Now first off, Emmy is best known, before hosting this show, for being what is called a "full figured model". (Or as I call them, a not-so-fat-hot-chick.) So, there she is, hosting this show that helps people who need help dressing "hip" or "cool". Doesn't that seem a bit hypocritical? I mean, here is this heavy chick who sets a great example for other heavy chicks around the country showing America that one doesn't have to be a freaking TWIG to be a hottie, but THEN she turns around and tells that very same America that they have to dress a certain way to look "hip" and "cool". And that isn't hip or cool - it's just LAME. So, THANKS cable TV for making the sucky things in life easier to make fun of!