Posted on 01/25/2005 6:03:59 PM PST by wagglebee
I have the Deluxe Extended version on order. I also ordered the 50th anniversary edition of LOTR. What is funny about this is that I had LOTR when I was a kid and the book looked so massive and complicated that I decided not to to read it. I had read Moby Dick that year so I thought "forget it." Now when it arrives, I know I will appreciate it. Have you checked out the LOTR online store? I have to be disciplined about this. I did buy a copy of Arwen's sword at a store in Giddings Texas. It was so cheap I couldn't resist.
As for Howard Shore's score, I listen to it all the time. It is one of the major draws for me and what makes LOTR so memorable.
Oops! You're right. I guess a better example of irony would be "I suppose the next thing you'll tell me is the Red Sox won the World Series!" ;^)
A couple of things:
The Academy Awards are basically a marketing tool. The nomination or winning of an award have nothing to do with the quality of the movie. The awards started out as a publicity tool for the Academy that was set up by the studios to counter what back then was SAG. The Awards were intended to garner support for the Academy against SAG (or whatever it was called back then).
Today the Awards exist because people watch them and television can sell advertising for the show and because a "winner" gets new life at the box office.
Hollywood, such as it is, is mostly a business. I've spent some time there, and I've never met an actor or movie executive with a social agenda. Mostly they just want to keep their jobs and continue eating in nice restaurants.
So I guess all the Dim presidential candidates go to Hollywood to do obeisance before an election is just b/c of what?
I guess all the Hollywood types making huge campaign contributions to politicans is done out of the goodnes of their (gag) hearts....not to promote a political social agenda.
And I guess yesterday's full-page ad by Diane Keaton and other stars asking Arnie to give licenses to illegals was not a political social agenda.
BTW, I agreee wholeheartedly that the Academy Awards are PR for films and filmakers and the industry in general. However, I think the awards began way before SAG was roiling the waters with the HUAC thing.
A) The democratic candidates go to Hollywood to plug, temporarily, into the publicity machine. Actors welcome them because it makes them, temporarily, look more thoughtful than they actually are. That's not to say that all actors are democrats. Clint Eastwood is a noted conservative. In any event, the arts has always had the reputation of being a democratic stronghold just as business has the reputation of being republican. In truth, neither is 100% -- or even close to 100%
But as I said before, from personal experience, I can't say that I've ever met a committed liberal or conservative in hollywood. I'm sure they're out there, somewhere, but in far fewer numbers than imagined.
And this is a good thing. I believe that I speak for many people when I say that actors shouldn't speak out on political issues. Their voices tend to be too loud and their brains too small.
From the SAG website...
1927: anti-union Los Angeles Times prints scathing article blaming theatrical labor unions, particularly Actors' Equity for disastrous decline in legitimate theatre & box office receipts. Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences founded May 10. June 23 "16 prominent producing corporations" announce intent to reduce salaries for motion picture workers by 10 to 25%, resulting in renewed enthusiasm by actors for Equity. Equity derailed when salary cuts withdrawn upon recommendation of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. October 6, Warner Bros. premieres The Jazz Singer, a silent film with talking and singing segments, whetting audiences' appetite for films with sound. Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences issues first-ever uniform contract for freelance film actors in December, to become known as the Academy Contract. Equity discovers much of the contract's wording originally proposed by Equity, and dubs the Academy "The Motion Pictures' Company Union."
1928: Actors' Equity moves to establish regulation of theatrical Talent Agents. More "talking pictures" produced, luring stage actors to Hollywood where most are filmed. "Talkies" require significantly longer working hours than silent pictures and the stage, and reports of abuses flow into the Equity office.
1929: Equity polls California members as to whether they support "Equity Shop" for motion pictures. Results in April: 1120 in favor versus 98 against. June 5: Actors' Equity declares strike for recognition in Hollywood, but insists its contract players must not break their contracts to join the strike. Equity thanks Eddie Cantor for offering "to address a public statement to the motion picture producers, urging them to accept Equity and its contract." August 17: Equity strike ends in failure, Frank Gillmore returns to New York. October: stock market crashes, soon resulting in Great Depression
LOL!
I guess Whoppi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Alec Baldwin, Barbra Streisand, ....and the rest who promoted Clinton and Kerry's candidacy didn't get the memo.
The stuff really hit the SAG fan when Reagan was president and the HUAC started calling stars to answer about Hollywood's communist sympathies. Before that, SAG's activities were what unions are expected to do.
...or at least they didn't read the memo. The actors you listed aren't untalented people, but their talent isn't in politics. No good ever comes from an actor stating political beliefs.
Actors are emotionally and intellectually teenagers, which is a good thing when it comes to acting. It's one of the things that makes them interesting to watch.
But that would also make them naturally susceptible to communist crap. That said, the much more interesting thing is that actors and most artists spend their entire lives working counter to even the vaguest notions of communism. They do everything but carry around signs proclaiming, "I'm special, I'm special, I'm special!" So, that's pretty interesting.
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Oh, I think people will be watching F911 years from now. It will occupy the same hallowed ground as "Reefer Madness" and "Plan 9 from Outer Space."
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Michael Moore couldn't carry Ed Wood's jock strap. Although he might like to. Was out your mouth with soap.
Yeah, on reflection, you're probably right. Ed Wood did some unintentionally, hysterically funny stuff. F911 is somewhere below "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot". It's not funny, it's inaccurate, and Micheal Moore as narrator has all the appeal of a yeast infection.
Haven't seen the Aviator yet.
Kudos on a great summary trip down memory lane! I wish you would formulate that post into a "letter to the editor" and copy it off to Fox News as well.
Says it all.
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