Saturday, September 1, 2012

Michael Jackson: Bad 25


August 29th would have been Michael The King of Pop Jackson's 54th birthday. As to be expected, there have been multiple scheduled events this weekend to celebrate and honor his legacy.

 Famed director Spike Lee has filmed a Michael Jackson tribute documentary called Bad 25:

“He’s got the perfect balance and soul and science,” producer Quincy Jones said of Michael Jackson, at the conclusion of their work on the album Bad (read TIME’s oral history: The Making of Bad).

Spike Lee’s Bad 25, which has its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival tonight, exactly a quarter-century after its Aug. 31, 1987, release, shows the blend of inspiration and acuity that drove these two perfectionists in creating a worthy successor to their epochal 1982 album Thriller. Jackson said he meant bad “in all good will,” and in that sense the movie isn’t bad, it’s baaad — and great.
Read more:

My tribute to Michael Jackson is the following post of the entire Off The Wall album. This -- as most of his fans know -- is the first in the trilogy of albums he collaborated with superstar producer Quincy Jones. And to me, this is my sentimental favorite of all three.

MJ happy B-day!




Friday, August 31, 2012

The GOP 2012 Looney Tune Convention in Tampa

The Looney Tunes is an animated cartoon series created and produced by Warner Brothers. The WB cartoons introduced a motley crew of cast and characters that have obtained legendary status.

They featured Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales, Yosemite Sam, Pepe Le Pew and many more.

Looney Tune humor is rooted in buffoonery, slapstick, comic irony, wacky antics, self-parody and racial/ethnic stereotypes. In fact, when purchasing the Looney Tune vintage collection series there is a disclaimer that reads:

The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in U.S. society. These depictions were wrong then and wrong today. While the following does not represent Warner Bros. view of today's society, these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be to do the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.

GOP Convention 2012 -- Looney Tunes in Tampa:

To anyone not living in the GOP/Tea Party bubble, it was painfully -- albeit comical at times -- obvious that this collection of rabid worshippers have lost the few marbles they had from the get-go.

First up, Rush Porky Pig Limbaugh:

This iconic Loon had the gall to suggest that President Obama was behind Hurricane Issac.

If you’re been paying much attention to the fairy tales of the far right in the past few years, it should come as no surprise that not everyone thinks it was merely a coincidence that the swirling mass of rain and wind known as Isaac appeared on the radar screen just in time to disrupt the GOP’s nominating party and the news coverage of it.

Rush Limbaugh says Obama may have had something to do with it. source

Batter numero dos - Michele Bachmann, AKA Daffy -- and I mean DAFFY -- Duck in drag:

Michele Bachmann said President Barack Obama can't relate to "the common man" because of his extreme wealth, failing to note that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is worth hundreds of millions more.

"President Obama is extremely wealthy," Bachmann said when USA Today asked how someone with "vast wealth" could connect to the American public. "He and his wife have been wealthy for a number of years, and so I think that's really the issue. President Obama is wealthy -- what does he understand about the common man right now?"

According to financial disclosure reports released by the White House in May, the Obamas hold assets worth between nearly $2.6 million and nearly $8.3 million. Romney's net worth is up to $255 million, according to financial disclosure reports. source


We can't forget the confederates in the peanut gallery -- led by good ol boy Foghorn Leghorn:

A black camerawoman who works for CNN said Thursday that she was not surprised to have two people at the Republican National Convention throw peanuts at her and say “this is what we feed animals.”

The two white people were immediately removed from the Tampa, Fla., convention arena by security officials on Tuesday, and their identities weren’t revealed. The camerawoman, Patricia Carroll, wasn’t able to tell definitively where they were from. source

And to add Hollywood tough guy thunder, who is better than Dirty Harry -- a close associate of Yosemite Sam:

He Made Our Day!


Speaking to Invisible Obama last night, in a performance that seemed to have been written by Timothy Leary and performed by Cheech & Chong, Clint Eastwood was able to drive home to tens of millions of viewers the central message of this year's Republican National Convention: We Are Delusional and Detached from Reality. Vote for Us!


The footage of Eastwood rambling and mumbling to his "Harvey"—President Obama—will be played to audiences a hundred years from now as the Most Bizarre Convention Moment Ever. The people of the future will know nothing about Dirty Harry or Josey Wales or Million Dollar Baby.

They will know about the night a crazy old man hijacked a national party's most important gathering so he could literally tell the president to go do something to himself (i.e. fuck himself). In those few moments (and these days, it only takes a few moments—see Anthony Weiner), he completely upended and redefined how he'll be remembered by younger and future generations. source

The GOP Convention disclaimer:

The convention you saw is product of  our time. The GOP may depict some of the gender, ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in U.S. society. These depictions were wrong then and wrong today. While the following does not represent all American views of today's society, this convention was presented as originally created, because to do otherwise would be to do the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.

In the immortal words of Porky Pig: