Andrew Breitbart celebrates the launch of his Big Hollywood blog by giving himself a congratulatory blow job:
What an exhilarating week. Big Hollywood is finally up. Traffic is way better than expected.
Greg Gutfeld is posting his wondrous inanities and many pointed yet not vitriolic salvos have been launched against the intransigent Hollywood left and vital ones aimed at the right — for forfeiting culture to the opposition.
Leading off with the accomplishments of Greg Gutfeld is like introducing your fleshlight* at your cousin’s wedding as your date. People might not be quite as impressed as you think.
Nonetheless, Andrew goes forth:
Bill Whittle showed off his effortless brilliant writing skills. (I’ll challenge anyone at the Huffington Post to a writer’s duel: Bill versus the best you got. The winner gets $1000 in carbon credits.)
Oh dear.
Instead of sampling Whittle’s wares from his old blog (Tribes makes Kim duToit’s Pussification of the Western Male seem almost…. pussified) we’ll stick with Whittle’s Big Hollywood debut:
And from your perch on the frozen, bone-dry lunar sand you would see the same pattern, the same pulse, the same heartbeat: a slow, steady rise, followed by a precipitous, shockingly quick fall… and then centuries, or even millennia of darkness, fear, superstition, disease and ignorance before the spark took hold again elsewhere.
One thing in common these patterns bear: the rise slow, the fall seemingly precipitous, and in every case we find the loss of nerve and strength and will comes not from the bottom, not from the common people at all, but from the rulers, the philosophers, the most affluent and educated who, in their comfort and Narcissism, abandon duty for self-absorption and self-gratification and who in boredom or self-loathing decide to fling open the gates of the city to the barbarians beyond, while the common man still stands at the walls prepared to die for the people in his charge.
[...]
There was a time when America broadcast its virtues to the world. Films like It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, even Star Wars and Spider-man, were films about common, decent people – Americans, obviously, for we all know that even Luke Skywalker was an Iowa farm boy – who find themselves in dangerous and evil places and whose fundamental decency corrected this wrong in the world and restored a sense of hope and optimism, a sense that we are masters of our own destiny. It is an idea so powerful that even French intellectuals, who seemed then and seem today to be incapable of a single positive or upbeat thought, could watch in wonder and contempt as legions of their countrymen flocked to see them.
Those days have gone. No longer does Hollywood broadcast America’s mythic virtues to the world. No, the flow is reversed now. Now the great creative driving force of Hollywood is to present to America the anti-American hatred of the intellectuals watching in impotent fury out in the rest of the world.
Of the six or seven war movies made during the last few years, all – save one – were spectacular failures. Many were the reasons given for this, but perhaps, someday, while sitting in a hammock in the Cayman Islands, even a studio executive might be just intellectually aware enough to catch a flash of what is obvious to a pharmacist in Des Moines: that maybe, just perhaps, these films failed not because of war weariness or denial or rank stupidity on the part of the American people, but rather – are you sitting down? – that most of the country, unlike Hollywood, has sons and daughters and fathers and brothers in the military and know for first-hand fact that they are not rapists or murderers, hicks, dullards, losers, or broken and victimized children but rather the bravest, the most capable, the most decent and honorable and just plain competent people we have.
And perhaps, just perhaps, it might enter that navel-gazing, self-centered, dim little brain to reflect that the one war movie that did out-of-the-park business was the one that showed the Marines as the good guys, winning on the battlefield, defending their people and their culture against long odds and full of the heroism and sacrifice that used to be so commonplace in this city… even if the Marines in question wore loincloths and funny helmets and advanced with spears and round shields.
Rollover Bulwer-Lytton and tell Tom Clancy the news.
Until this moment I never knew that it was possible to write in ham. Slabs and slabs of awful word-ham slathered in the mustard of pomposity with a side of crap chips. And a Mr. Pibb.
Beyond that, I assume that the movie Whittle is referring to is (speaking of ham) 300 , and, if I remember correctly… they all die, which is a funny way to go about "winning on the battlefield".
But then I ‘m not a pharmacist in Des Moines, so what the hell do I know?
* You really don’t want to know. Trust me.
Login Here





41 Comments
Spotlight


Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About TBogg
Advanced search
RSS/XML Feed
This actually qualifies as a Bulwar-Lytton reject (which I had not previously thought possible). I think there may be a legitimate reason why Hollywood is not clamoring for conservative scripts (unlike say the entire oeuvre of Steven Seigel, Silvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Conan the Governator).
Beyond that, I assume that the movie Whittle is referring to is (speaking of ham) 300 , and, if I remember correctly… they all die, which is a funny way to go about “winning on the battlefield”.
True enough. Aren’t they also all killed by a bunch of gay Persians? Who today would be (gay) Iranians? At least, it sure looked that way on the IMAX screen.
DrDick, don’t forget Chuck Norris!
Please, I beg of you, deposit your last three paragraphs in the comment thread of the blog that, any day now, will be extolling the realism of 24.
The irony of a film and comic book depicting the allegedly hyper-butch hetero Spartans facing off against the evil metrosexual Persian nancies is dispatched rather neatly here:
I’m not sure this is the compliment that it’s meant to be.
That’s funny; a good friend of mine was a lt. in the army, and several of her ssoldiers were small town southern hicks who had never seen a dentist in their lives, with predictable results. They were nice kids from an extremely limited background (which really wasn’t their fault), but to call them the “most competent people we have” is pushing that definition awfully hard. But I guess as long as they can hit something with an automatic weapon these armchair warriors/masturbators are going to be satisfied and at the same time have their “finest humans ever born” strawman to sing Spartan praises about.
Phoenix Woman dispatched with one strain of mendacity, I’ll try for a couple of the others:
I know that for most of the 101st Keyboarders, “French intellectuals” are some far off thing of myth, but anyone with even a basic, nodding familiarity with French film criticism of the New Wave era and later knows that it was effusive in it’s praise of, and love for, John Ford and John Wayne and a lot of other shit that they should have probably known better than to have elevated to the degree that they did.
Lastly, does that dope actually blame the Dark Ages on Liberal elitism? I know the real history of the period (overwhelming and deeply repressive anti-intellectual influence over all of western Europe, to the exclusion of all other cultural currents, by the Roman Catholic church…Aristotle and much of the Classical canon being kept alive mainly by Islamic scholars) is impossible for them to really recognize but if you’re going to construct some sort of counter narrative, that’s about as bizarre and ahistorical an attempt as you could possibly make.
Because I am all too aware of my own deficiencies, I am very reluctant to use the term “idiot” with reckless abandon. However, in this case I just can’t contain myself. Only an idiot would say:
.
Last time I checked there were over 300,000,000 million people in this country and somewhere around 2,200,000 folks in the armed forces (active duty and reserves). Clearly math is not Whittle’s strong suit.
Then, in an attempt elevate the status of all other idiots, he goes on to state that these service members are:
I’m sorry, but anyone who has served knows this is not true. Yes, there are members of the armed forces who are among America’s finest. And there are probably around 2,198,000 members who are more decent, honorable, and competent than Whittle. And then there are the remaining 2000 members who are in Leavenworth serving time.
A fleshlight?
Damnnnnn.
Sorry, but I HAD to know, and once I did, I HAD to share…
Until this moment I never knew that it was possible to write in ham.
That’ll be honey-baked ham, because it comes spiral cut. That way you get so many more servings for your hard-earned $$$$$$$. Just keep peeling the crap off, just like Whittle’s “writing.”
“Soft bigotry of low expectations”, anyone?
That would make Dubuque a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Unless he’s confusing Luke Skywalker with Captain Kirk–in pop culture terms, equivalent to confusing Washington with Lincoln–but see above.
“No longer does Hollywood broadcast America’s mythic virtues… ” Here is has spoken some truth, although I suspect it was inadvertant.
From Oxford American Distionaries:
Mythic: of, related to or resembling myth; exaggerated or idealized; fictitious.
Damn those film makers for telling the truth!
…side of crap chips. And a Mr. Pibb.
Why Mr. Pibb? Because Dr. Pepper is a god-damned, over-educated elitist.
Man, his writing sucks for both style and content. It’s a Wonderful Life was not a success on release. The best post war movies were Film Noir, hardly showing Americans in a good light. The French of course loved Film Noir, and yes, Godard said that he loved John Wayne when he lifted Natalie Wood and said, “Let’s go home, Debbie”, despite their rather obvious political differences. And what Hollywood “broadcast to the world” was glamor, not the “films about common decent people”, which would be, you know, boring. Let’s count all the common decent people in The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Psycho, North by Northwest, The Godfather…I could go on and so could all of us.
This guy writes for a movie blog?
Man, great history lesson!
His superfluous perfidious semantics are pure drivel. Plus it makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth.
He describes things at the expense of making a point maybe he should write tour guides?
“Until this moment I never knew that it was possible to write in ham. Slabs and slabs of awful word-ham slathered in the mustard of pomposity with a side of crap chips. And a Mr. Pibb.”
There we have it. Funniest thing written I’ve seen in years. That about sums the whole shebang.
I feel a little bad for these guys.
Yeah “300″ was a mile off on historical accuracy. And remember it was a fundamental error in strategic planning that led to their downfall. They blamed it on an informer, of course. But then you are supposed to have back-ups to protect your defensive situation. And there was a reason that the Spartans only had “300″…those were the only “citizens” they had. Everyone else was a “slave” at that time.
It’ll be interesting to see the utter misinterpretation this guys site gives films…he’ll likely think that “Starship Troopers” would be a great idea, and that the “1/2 Hour Comedy Show” was inspired comedy crushed by Hollywood liberals.
Digg it
PW has the Franken-Coleman update upstairs at the Mothership!
Franken-Coleman Update, 01/10/09: Annals of WTF!?
Why are the Comments on “Franken-Coleman Update, 01/10/09: Annals of WTF!?”
(see Lurking Mod @ 23), now the top story on FDL, closed?
Was going to post the same thing……
Hi katymine, how are you doing?
Finally got my chemo drug approved and supplied…. what a hassle….. bunch of phone calls both from me and the MD office to find it was filled and waiting for me at Walgreens……
Getting stronger everyday…….
sorry about the hassle, glad you have your drug and are feeling stronger
HELLO TheLurkingMod the next post has the comments off…… that’s NO FUN…..
*tap tap tap* SQUEEEELLLL Is this thing on?
are we alone here? wow where did everyone misappear to?
where is everybody? apparently they aren’t here, and they sure aren’t at the Franken-Coleman post…
It’s beginning to look like technical difficulties at FDL Central…
I’m still here katymine, are you?
The comments are working on PW’s post
Funny, your footnote saying “You really don’t want to know.” Unfortunately, I already knew. Have never met anyone else who did, but figured it just wasn’t discussed “in polite company.”
Backward run the sentences, till reels the mind.
You wouldn’t think someone would take the time to construct a literary style out of what they took away from Ender’s Game and the Fountainhead, but wrong I guess you would be.
The real story of the Battle of Thermopylae is amazing… the Spartans who held the pass for nearly a week while outnumbered by more than a thousand to one were pretty damn heroic. Their stand gave the Athenian fleet time to obliterate the Persian fleet at Salamis (also against very long odds). That said, the movie 300 is painfully lame in the ways only Frank Miller can manage.
I had to go to urban dictionary… and I wish I hadn’t.
Your history is off, too. The reasons the Spartans and Thebans ended up alone at Thermopylae was because the rest of the city-states either fucked around too much to make it to the party or their armies beat feet as soon as they saw how big the Persian army really was. The drama at Thermopylae gave the Athenian fleet time to muster and defeat the Persians at Salamis, ending the invasion.
Shorter (O please god let it be so) Bill Whittle. And everyone else at Big Hollywood:
Movies showing myths I like are way better than movies showing reality that I hate.