Proposition 8: The Musical Lightens Up the Gay Marriage Issue
Funny or Die has done it again with this one, proving once more that any conflict can (and should) be converted into cheap show tunes. This whole mess was just begging to be lampooned. John C. Reilly as a Mormon, Jack Black as Jesus, and a finale starring Neil Patrick Harris…what more could you ask for? There’s some great cameos by other funny actors as well, if you watch closely.
And to those who can’t laugh about it? Lighten the fuck up. The blogging community has become much too serious for my taste as of late. And while the Mormons have certainly been taking the majority of heat over this issue, even though other Christian groups, blacks, and Republicans and Democrats alike supported Prop 8 or other legislation just like it, have conservatives become so jaded over the gay issue that they’re actually defending the Mormons now? I didn’t hear you guys jumping to their defense when South Park dedicated an episode to them back in 2003. (When they came for the Catholics, however, the outrage was palpable.) In fact, I’d venture to say that the story of Joseph Smith makes you laugh pretty hard when you try to wrap your mind around it, despite the fact that you still believe in talking snakes and hippies who walk on water. I’d like to see that same sense of tolerance and brotherhood when they’re banging on your door on a Saturday morning looking to convert you to the religion of magic underpants and angelic golden plates. But when there’s a common cause, it’s good to see that you self-righteous dickheads can put your petty differences in dogma aside to bitch and moan about being the oppressed majority. Really, my black little heart goes out to you guys every time someone makes you look like stereotyped “cartoons” for centering your lives around fictional characters that sound like they belong in…fucking cartoons. Then again, it’s only offensive when you get parodied, right?
Bill O’Reilly on The Daily Show, Uncut, 11/13/08
Bill O’Reilly appeared on The Daily Show again on Thursday, and Comedy Central was kind enough to post the entire interview, uncut, last night. As you can expect, hilarity ensues. Take a look…
I love the snide sarcasm these guys give each other every time they meet – it’s absolutely priceless. While O’Reilly sees Jon Stewart as a whiny liberal pansy and Stewart clearly thinks O’Reilly is an egotistical gasbag, it’s great how, after several interviews on each other’s shows, they’ve abandoned the obvious vitriol and instead resort to quick-witted one-liners and rapid-fire jabs. I wouldn’t call it a mutual respect necessarily, but I think they’ve both find humor in one another’s shtick and are just leaving it at that. Stewart always seems to come out the comedy victor in these “confrontations,” but Bill seems to be taking it much more lightly nowadays…although he’s still an egotistical gasbag.
Budget Deficit? Screw That - Dubya’s Going to Hollywood!
With all the focus on McCain and Obama these days, Bush has been getting a free ride when it comes to his well-deserved daily criticism. But we here at Muckmakers haven’t forgotten you, ol’ buddy – today is certainly as an appropriate day as any to celebrate your pure greed and ineptitude, seeing as your administration has just set a new historical benchmark. Those pesky Democrats had to go and set the record for the largest budget surplus in U.S. history, but you one-upped them this time, sir. We are now a record $482 billion in debt, ladies and gentlemen – a record that I’m sure Mr. McCain can’t wait to put on “repeat.” The best news is that this number could climb even higher if the administration’s prediction is a tad low, and considering that this is the same White House who claimed we’d be in and out of Iraq in a few months to a year, I’d venture to say that they might end up being a few billion short here or there. He does have a little less than six months left, and it only took him eight years to go through a $230 billion surplus, after all. Sure, the Democratic Congress has to approve your spending, so they deserve some credit, but you’re the one who had to dream big in the first place, Lil’ Shrub, and boy did you do a lot of dreaming your past two terms.
Speaking of dreams involving Mr. Bush, Oliver Stone has been working on a liberal dream project the past few months, a biopic of our beloved 43rd president, and a new trailer recently leaked on YouTube. Sure, it’s no “Wolverine” or “Watchmen,” but “W.” stars more evil supervillains than any superhero could possibly handle, although none that I’d ever like to see in tights. The backlash was pretty harsh when this project was announced a few months back, but now that it’s taking shape, both major sides of the political spectrum are taking swings at Stone, who I think owes us an apology for “World Trade Center,” not this film. Conservatives are pissed because it’s clearly going to cover some history that any Bush apologist would like struck from the record, and liberals are pissed because Oliver has been known to “take some liberties” (to put it kindly) when it comes to adapting famous personalities for the screen; a guy like George needs no elaboration to make him look bad. Whether it’s John F. Kennedy or Jim Morrison, Stone has a tendency to put his art first and reality second, and to be honest, you’ve got to for the sake of a cohesive plot. It would be nice if everyone’s life had a rising action, climax, and falling action, but it doesn’t – that’s why the most accurate historical movies are documentaries. He likes to craft a story using pieces of a person’s life and dramatize the more interesting parts to fit the standard elements that make critically-appealing film, and because of this, he’s either loved or loathed by audiences, critics, and film buffs alike. Take a look at the clip for yourself…
I have to jump to Oliver’s defense on this one, as I only have his past work to base my opinion on, and the guy has made some of my favorite films to date (“Natural Born Killers,” “Platoon”). He’s written this one with Stanly Weiser, who also wrote “Wall Street,” and if there’s anyone who can write about big business corruption based on that gem alone, it’s definitely him. The cast is pretty incredible, with Josh Brolin as Fearless Leader, Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush, James Cromwell as Daddy Bush, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, and too many more to even mention. And last but not least, THE MOVIE ISN’T FUCKING OUT YET. Just do a quick search for buzz about this movie and you’ll see some outrageously opinionated horseshit out there, and I think that says more about W. than this film ever could. The man is just too controversial to sum up in two hours, and led a life too big to fit on the silver screen. Stone has told the press that he based the film around three acts – his drunken partying days, his “reawakening” as a conservative Christian nutbag, and his first term as president. But no matter what he does, it’ll never be enough. Writers and directors struggle relentlessly to adapt over 60 years worth of comic books into a single story, yet no amount of filmmaking talent will ever please every whiny fanboy and simultaneously impress every dumbass average movie-goer, just as this movie will never please historians, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, entertainment seekers, Roger Ebert, Bill O’Reilly, Condoleezza Rice, your mom, and whoever else decides that “their version” would clearly be the crowd-pleaser everyone’s looking for. And that’s the power of entertainment, folks. No matter how high the deficit climbs or the economy sinks, a simple 1:35 trailer for a fictional adaptation of reality will have people talking more about Josh Brolin as W. than George Jr. as W.
Don’t worry, Dubya – I’m still watching you. And I still think you’re an asshole.
