links for 2008-06-15
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It feels downright regressive to have to point out that minorities can be stars too, at a time when Will Smith continues to dominate box offices, Oprah is the most powerful woman on television, and Barack Obama is running for the ultimate leading role (yo
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“Diversity in Entertainment: Why Is TV So White?”
Oh, come on! What about Urkle?
He, regarding the “knife/gun” line, I caught Hairspray last night, and Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah) had a great line of advice for the interracial couple:
“Well, love is a gift, a lot of people don’t remember that. So, you two better brace yourselves for a whole lotta ugly comin’ at you from a never-ending parade of stupid.”
Never-ending parade of stupidity, indeed.
“Obama: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’”
One of the reasons I supported Hillary Clinton after John Edwards dropped out was because I knew she would fight whatever slime the GOP threw at here. It’s nice to see Obama will do the same.
(On a side note, there are only a couple minor points in policy difference between the top three choices. All of whom are miles ahead of McCain.)
There would be even more minority faces in the media if people didn’t have to stumble over people like you as a constant reminder of the limitations using ethnic background brings.
“(On a side note, there are only a couple minor points in policy difference between the top three choices. All of whom are miles ahead of McCain.)”
I believe Sen. Obama agrees with you, according to a Q&A I saw months ago and would have no idea where to find now.
“Obama: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’”
I have yet to hear anybody bring up the next part of the quote, which puts it in context, given Obama’s home city. If I remember correctly – “That’s the Chicago way; that’s how ya get Capone.”
He will of course be derided as a naive wimp until he talks tough, after which he will be derided as a naive wimp trying to sound tough. What a ridiculous non-issue. They’re really grasping at straws.
Cool. Which guns would an Obama administration allow people to bring to a fight?
“Diversity in Entertainment: Why Is TV So White?”
Good, good question. Shows seem to have(at least, the last time I regularly watched TV) either all-minority casts or no minorities at all. Nearly all Asian actors seem to have been cast for their martial arts skills.
Working actors ought to reflect the rough demographics of those trying to enter the entertainment industry. This doesn’t appear to be the case, by a long shot.
After Rev. Wright, flag pins, the Weathermen, and all the other mud that was thrown at Obama, and having survived that barrage, I think of the character Omar from The Wire, who had one of the best lines, “You come after The King, you best not miss!”
He’s clearly pandering for Sean Connery fans. Next I hope we hearing saying really nasty stuff about Alex Trebek.
As great as it is to hear Obama quoting The Untouchables, I’m going to get in a pre-emptive eye roll for the pundits who are going to try and use the line to make peripheral comments about how he’s just straight thuggin’ it, or running images of Obama with gangsta rap songs playing underneath.
What? Did you expect pundits to talk about issues? That gets boring fast. Now – fist bumps, that’s what Americans are talking about.
The producers of Friends, Sex in the City and every damn Woody Allen movie ever made try to make New York look like an all-white or damn-near all-white city. It’s not, and it’s not close. In particular, Queens is probably the most ethnically diverse county in the U.S., with Brooklyn quite close behind.
While the U.S. ethnic/racial caste lines are both arbitrary and unjust in both theory and practice, no re-definition of “race” will change the fact that New York looks a whole lot more like the United Nationa than it does like Ross, Rachel, Samantha, Charlotte and every cameo/auto-bioscope of Woody Allen and Diane Keaton eating at some posh overpriced hellhole.
You want to see real diversity? Open it up not only by race but by class and region. I have no love for some retrograde aspects of some Appalachian culture but a) I am not a TV producer and b) it’s still pretty severely under-represented. Southern culture likewise; again, I don’t care for it, but 8 million New Yorkers – meaning in reality perhaps 100,000 of the whitest and richest New Yorkers – get a whole lot more coverage/portrayal than the entire population of the former Confederate states. Of course, it would require what good newspaper writing also requires: a writer who a) knows more than New York City and b) is not a committed moron.
The movie Obama more-or-less quoted was “The New Centurions,” NOT “The Untouchables.” “Centurions” starred George C. Scott as a sergeant in a police academy; the knife/gun quote was one of Kilvinsky’s Laws.