GOP Vixen

Speaking of blacklisting...

From the Daily News' Washington reporter, Lisa Friedman, in Sunday's paper:

"Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, who said one of the earliest causes he embraced while in college at UCLA was the abolishment of the House Un-American Activities Committee, said the era underscores the importance of being vigilant against curtailing civil liberties in the name of national security.

Berman said he finds some parallels in what he described as today's 'very radical concerns about radical jihadists.' That, he argued, has led to 'overreaches' in the Patriot Act and other tools Congress passed as part of the War on Terror.

...Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation magazine, said he thinks a similar blacklisting would be unlikely today, both because the media would not keep the story silent as they did in the 1950s and because of the new strength of independent filmmakers and the Internet.

'There's such a profusion of ways to distribute ideas,' agreed Berman, whose district includes most of the major studios. 'The days when four or five top executives could get together and stop people from working because of their political views are over, hopefully.'"

Well, congressman, these are the days when four or five top executives can get together and stop people from working because of their political views -- if those views are conservative. I can't tell you how many people I've met in the industry who've a) lost out on work because of their right-of-center politics, b) have had to put up with workplace harassment because of their right-of-center politics, or c) are scared stiff that any of their Hollywood co-workers or bosses will learn that they vote right-of-center, because they fear the repercussions it will have on their careers.

I once heard director/producer David Zucker -- who became Republican after 9/11, is right on national security issues and a big environmentalist -- speaking at a wrap party for an anti-John Kerry commercial he shot. He hailed all the friends he'd made in the local GOP community -- "especially since I've lost all my old friends," he deadpanned. Let's just say you have to be a star that big to survive a political outing to the elephant side in Tinseltown.

And that yarn about the blacklisting compared to the War on Terror? Blah, blah blah blah, blah... talk about making one's head hurt...

Slash on the Valley, Axl tantrums, etc.

As promised, I'm checking back with my initial review on what I've read so far of Slash's autobiography -- which I thought I'd read on Vicodin after wisdom teeth removal, but I kept falling asleep after a couple of pages. No disrespect to Slash (aka Saul Hudson), because the book is nothing short of intriguing. It's also so detailed that you could use it as a handbook to do a Guns N' Roses tour of L.A. -- the houses where they grew up, the pittance-wage jobs they held (which, for Slash, included a paper route that covered Wilshire and La Brea down to Fairfax and Beverly), the apartments where they crashed, the studios they jammed (and, er, partied) at.

On page 50, though, Slash disses da Valley when he talks about entering Fairfax High in 1979:

"My best friend, Steven Adler (later Guns N' Roses drummer), was shipped back to the Valley for high school, which was as far off as Spain in my mind. I did visit him out there a few times and it never failed to disappoint: it was flat, dry, hotter than it was at home, and exactly like a sitcom neighborhood. Everyone there seemed to cherish their identical lawns and identical lives. Even at a young age, I knew something was wrong with that place; beneath the normalcy, I could sense that these people were more f'd up than anyone in Hollywood."

Slash also doesn't set out to trash Axl Rose, but from the very start of GNR you can see what a self-centered, arrogant, disturbed problem he is. Slash relates an early story when Axl was asleep on Slash's grandmother's couch, and she gently asked Axl to go sleep in Slash's room so she could watch her afternoon TV shows, and Axl told Slash's grandmother to F-off. Then when Slash nicely tried to talk to Axl later about why that wasn't appropriate and why he should apologize:

"Axl stared out the window as I spoke, then he started rocking back and forth in the passenger seat. We were driving on Santa Monica Boulevard, doing about forty miles an hour, when suddenly, he opened the car door and jumped out without a word...He didn't show up back at my house that night and he didn't come to rehearsal for four days."

Pimp my camel!

MTV Arabia launched over the weekend, bringing Ludacris into Middle Eastern homes to share the finest of Western culture.

"MTV is hoping hip-hop and reality television tailored and sanitized for a more conservative Middle East will draw young Arabs away from dozens of locally produced music video channels that already dominate the market.

MTV Arabia, which launched over the weekend, will feature 60 percent international music and 40 percent Arabic music, along with local adaptations of the channel's popular non-music shows."

And how exactly are they going to adapt "A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila" for that audience? As long as they have "The Real World: Turkish Prison."

In a way, though, I'm sort of jealous. The story notes that audiences will actually get to see music videos. I remember the days when MTV played music. Big, huge blocks of music videos. And back then, VH-1 was uncool. Now VH-1 is da bomb. But neither, come to think of it, really play music videos, except at 3 a.m...

Anything to pad your wallet on 'Redacted,' eh, De Palma?

Brian De Palma's one-man anti-war mission and big-screen gang-rape epic "Redacted" opens in theaters today, and will be met with protesters tonight, 6 p.m. at Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theater at Sunset and Crescent Heights in Hollywood.

But did you know that it's already on the small screen -- for a price? They’re simultaneously offering this movie on Charter On Demand cable in the L.A. area right now. I stumbled across it while looking for “Knocked Up” earlier. “Redacted” has its own special little category called “Pre-Theatrical Run,” and costs a whopping $9.99 to rent for 24 hours (new releases run $3.99).

Being as in love with On Demand stations as I am, this is the first time I've seen a simultaneous release there. Not to mention for more than a matinee ticket. Does this mean Charter's going to offer other advance screenings besides De Palma propaganda? I missed the After Dark Horror Fest this past week -- will they offer those films right now on On Demand? Or do the ghouls and vampires need to protest the Iraq war first?
 

The best part of Halloween

Totally badass Donald Pleasence battling Michael Myers (and battling him, and battling him...)

Paris Hilton thinks Rwanda is hot

Paris Hilton has caught up on a few months of partying after her harrowing jail experience, and is ready to do good for humanity as promised. So she's going to Rwanda. "There’s so much need in that area and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help," she told E! online.

Right... because we just realized that Rwanda has problems and need Paris, who probably envisions sweet children waiting to flock to her side like in a Sally Struthers commercial, to tell us that. Paris, who probably thinks the Hutus cut a hit single with Justin Timberlake, and Tutsi is the hottest jeans designer since 7 For All Mankind. I'm not so sure this photo op -- expect Paris in the Banana Republic chic, safari cliche khakis and white shirt -- is good for people who have already suffered enough. Paris should take a cue from "South Park" and send a fat check to get her free Teiko sports watch -- or she should volunteer as a peacekeeper in Darfur.

Paris Hilton has caught up on a few months of partying after her harrowing jail experience, and is ready to do good for humanity as promised. So she's going to Rwanda. "There’s so much need in that area and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help," she told E! online.

Right... because we just realized that Rwanda has problems and need Paris, who probably envisions sweet children waiting to flock to her side like in a Sally Struthers commercial, to tell us that. Paris, who probably thinks the Hutus cut a hit single with Justin Timberlake, and Tutsi is the hottest jeans designer since 7 For All Mankind. I'm not so sure this photo op -- expect Paris in the Banana Republic chic, safari cliche khakis and white shirt -- is good for people who have already suffered enough. Paris should take a cue from "South Park" and send a fat check to get her free Teiko sports watch -- or she should volunteer as a peacekeeper in Darfur.

He writes the songs, then pitches them to O'Reilly viewers

Barry Manilow refused to appear on "The View" because they refused to kick conservachick Elizabeth Hasselback off stage while he chatted with the kranky kaffeklatch, reviving the age-old question, "Why do we care about Barry Manilow's politics in the first place?"

Then last night, during "The O'Reilly Factor," a long commercial came on, promoting Manilow's new album of '70s schlock. So he didn't want to be in the same room with Hasselback, but had no problem advertising on O'Reilly? Guess that almighty dollar trumps his "convictions" after all!

And now comes word that Manilow got over his Republiphobia and will appear "in the future" on "The View." When? When his album sales sag, of course!

Moms do wage war

In her bleeped Emmy acceptance speech Sunday night, Sally Field said, "And, let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no (bleepy bleep) wars in the first place."

Blogger The Stiletto, though, reminds Norma Rae that in her lifetime alone there have been three female heads of state -- all moms -- who have waged war: Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher.

The Stiletto further suggests that Field switch from hawking osteoporosis drugs to pitching Aricept.

A great day in entertainment history...

... as this classic (festive) Justin Timberlake number wins a Creative Arts Emmy!

Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll

All more likely to make one die early, according to a bunch of researchers in Liverpool. Now, I understand the standard examples of Hendrix, Elvis, Jim Morisson, etc., but...

... have they taken into account the amazing preservation of Keith Richards, who has looked like death forever but will probably still be performing when the Today show announces his hundredth?