"The old Southern Democrats maintained the allegiance of poor whites by making sure those poor whites felt they could look down on blacks."

"The modern Democratic Party maintains the allegiance of ­upper-middle-class whites by making sure they can look down on lower-class whites. By ­humanizing those lower-class whites, Netflix’s 'Hillbilly Elegy' calls the whole enterprise into question. Humanizing the working class was once what Democrats were about. But no longer.... In America, class war is disguised as cultural war, and cultural war is often waged under the guise of fighting racism. Thus, the Deplorables had to be cast as racists...."

Writes Glenn Reynolds at "‘Hillbilly Elegy’ critics show they still despise ‘deplorables’" (NY Post).

"In what was already a very male year, the Globes handed all the major nominations to a bunch of boys..."

I'm trying to read "The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2020 Golden Globe Nominations" (in NY Magazine's Vulture).

You might think that sounds like it was written by a woman — don't call them "girls"! — but no, it's by 2 men, Nate Jones and Hunter Harris. Should I call them "boys"? Are they trying to say what they're supposed to say, trying to get on the good side of Natalie Portman?

The Globes’ regrettable tendency to overlook female directors was pointedly addressed by Natalie Portman onstage at the 2018 ceremony,* but while the [Hollywood Foreign Press Association] may have been momentarily embarrassed, it apparently did not see any need to change its behavior. In what was already a very male year, the Globes handed all the major nominations to a bunch of boys: another all-male directing lineup, the same in Screenplay, and as a further insult, zero films directed by women in the Drama or Musical/Comedy best-feature lineups. Little Women, Hustlers, Booksmart, and Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood were essentially confined only to the acting races.

Was there any reason to feel sure that Little Women, Hustlers, Booksmart, or Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was one of the very best films of the year? I don't know. I haven't seen any of these or any of the other movies of this past year (aside from "Rocketman," streamed on TV). Like (I bet) you, I don't care about The Golden Globes. I am only standing back and watching Hollywood writhe. It has problems that cannot be solved by throwing a woman's name into the mix when award time rolls around or a beautiful woman murmuring one hyphenated word over her plunging neckline.
___________________

* Here's Natalie (and watch the little Opie giggle nervously, thinking perhaps, But of course, I am America's sweet, good little boy)):

The 1962 movie in my "imaginary movie project" is the film version of a great Broadway play, "The Music Man."

The #1 thing I remember about my reaction to this movie when I saw it in the theater at the age of 11 is that I was horrified by the talk of tarring and feathering the main character, the con man, Harold Hill (Robert Preston). I did not know exactly what tarring and feathering was, and back then, there was no way to pause the movie and research the question on a smart phone. I should have understood entertainment well enough to know that in a peppy, chirpy movie about the foibles of small-town Iowa folk, things would not take such a dark turn that the protagonist would be tortured to death before our eyes. But I wasn't sure enough not to feel horrible.

And did Hill deserve to die for what he'd done? I felt very intense empathy for this character, who I thought might be facing the death penalty. He's hunted down by a mob — these nice people are stirred up into a mob. They're even carrying torches at night as they track him down. We see a makeshift trial. It's so unfair... as a legal matter. But narratively, it is fair, because he came to town, where the people had no problems other than their own dullness and conventionality, and he stirred them all up (just to trick them into giving him money for musical instruments and uniforms for the boy's band that was supposed to solve the problems they didn't have):



That's the best thing in the movie. "Ya Got Trouble." Ha ha. I couldn't help thinking of Donald Trump. The charisma, the effect on the crowd. He made them think he was putting into words problems that they knew they had.

What actor did JFK want to play the role of JFK in "PT 109" — the movie about JFK's WWII heroics?

Hint: It was the same actor who was also asked — by Oliver Stone and later by Ron Howard —  to play the role of Richard Nixon. He didn't play Nixon because he "was not treated compassionately" — even though "I think I was on his enemies list, but I grew to feel sad for him." He didn't play JFK because he thought the script was bad, which it was...



The actor is Warren Beatty, who considered running for President himself.

In 1976 he declined to enter the New Hampshire primary against Jimmy Carter. “There has to be someone better” is what he says to those who have urged him to run.... [D]espite being a lifelong Democrat, Beatty liked the Reagans, especially Nancy. When he screened Reds for Ronald and Nancy, he remembers, the former-movie-star president told him, “It’s beginning to look like there’s no business but show business.”

Lots more great stuff at the link, which goes to Vanity Fair.

"I had a sense that it was this intense adventure story. I equated it to Apollo 13 or even Das Boot."

"They lived through this incredibly intense period, where they’re under all this scrutiny, all this pressure. The logistics are wild and, in some instances, a little threatening to their health and well-being. Out of necessity, they’re inventing the stadium concert tour. It was because the police kept saying, 'If you play a place that holds 8,000 people, it means we’re going to have 38,000 people outside. You’ve got to play in bigger places.' So they sort of invented the arena tour before technology could support it, really."

Said the movie director Ron Howard, who has a new documentary, "8 Days a Week," about The Beatles in their years of touring and performing live. 

It was 50 years ago Monday that The Beatles played their last live concert — last official concert — a mere 30 minutes, crammed with 11 songs and constant fan screaming. It was in San Francisco, in Candlestick Park. The last song was a cover song, Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.”

They did play an additional concert, on a rooftop in 1969, as seen in the movie "Let It Be," which isn't available on DVD, not officially.

When the action was real — 100 years ago.

Beautiful, perfect...



... and funny/frightening in a way that can never be in today's CGI movies, where you don't need bother to ask yourself — a question asked at 3:27 — "What are the rules of this particular world?"

That made me think of this, from a review of the new movie"In the Heart of the Sea"

The pacing here is certainly forceful, as it is during the harrying and the slaughter of a sperm whale, and yet the force lacks clarity. This is partly because computer-generated waves never quite buffet us with the slap of the real thing, and also because, in the twenty years since [Ron] Howard made his finest film, “Apollo 13,” something has happened to the editing of action sequences. No longer, it seems, are we required to know who is doing what, and where, at any given point. What matters is that the frenzy of the occasion should be matched by the drubbing of the images, which must pelt us without pity or interruption. Just to crank up the turmoil, “In the Heart of the Sea” can be seen in 3-D, so that masts and braces keep poking you in the nose....

Ron Howard does a really cool pro-Obama thing.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die