GlennDamato

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23 weeks ago @ Big Journalism - Politico's 'Is Rick Pe... · 0 replies · +3 points

John's message is EXACTLY what I have been telling fellow conservatives for the last few months. Without exception, each of my fellow conservatives rejected the hypothesis as absurd and shot back to me the EXACT same words I heard over and over again in 2008: "There is no possible way Obama can win, no possible way."

History repeating itself?

25 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - Christian Toto: Why Do... · 2 replies · +11 points

There's a good reason why so many conservative films fail commercially: they fail artistically, they're boring, they lack dramatic impetus, and they're just plain lame.

I did not pull this conclusion out of thin air - I'm basing it on countless conversations over many years. Conservatives do not like, or they do not understand, irony. Irony - particularly a strong character development arc - it what makes many lefty films so good. But conservatives do not want a character to develop - they want to START with bigger-than-life John Wayne types who chicken-choke terrorists with one hand while writing a letter to their seven-year-old daughter with the other hand. That imagery may cause conservatives to giggle in anticipation, but it would make a really bad movie.

I have a story premise where my main character begins as a die-hard hate-America lefty, and after he arcs he loves his country and risks his life for America and for liberty. When I pitched the story to LIBERALS, they invariably love it. They get it. When I pitch the story to conservatives, the most common response (outside of a frown and silence) is, "STOP! I do not want to hear any more. I do not want to ever see a movie about such a person!"

36 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - You all are correct - the letter is a good thing, a battle cry as ISITC put it. I only wish this event would serve as a catalyst toward the formation of a bona-fide, open conservative film movement . . . one that actually produces films and TV/cable shows "for the other half." I live in LA and I've joined two different "conservative fellowships" within the entertainment industry, and the results have been disapointing. The people attending the meetings, lunches and dinners are great, don't get me wrong, but no one seems interested in creating a venue dedicated to actual projects . . . a pitch fest, for example. This seems to be a taboo topic. Instead, people seem interested in networking to set up the next gig, and they don't care if it's on a movie set or TV studion run by liberals. They just need to get the groceries on the table.

36 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - Everyone is wasting their breath if they're trying to make the lefties feel bad. They won't. They see this stuff completely differently than we do. To us, it's about political opinions. To them, it's about good people versus bad people. And we're the bad people.

In their eyes, anyone who is thoughtful, considerate, and has any feeling or compassion at all for their fellow human beings must, by necessity, be liberals and support left-wing causes. To be a conservative is to be stupid, mean-spirited, selfish, violent and bigoted.

To a lefty, conservatives are the people who threw rocks at the faces of 1950's civil rights marchers.

The question as they see it: "Why the hell should we offer jobs to despicable people?"

If you believe for a minute that Chetwyn's letter will make them feel guilty (or feel anything at all) you've overestimated their capacity for self examination.

38 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - Kirk Cameron to Stephe... · 0 replies · +6 points

A hundred years ago scientists ducked the "where did the universe come from" question by positing the Steady State theory: the universe didn't have to be created because it has always been here! Steady State "theory" was the leading cosmological theory right through the 1960's. Unfortunately for the many atheists promoting Steady State, the evidence favoring "sudden creation" kept piling up through the 20th century. Atheist and Steady State advocate Fred Hoyle even coined the term Big Bang to mock the notion that the universe was suddenly created. But that's where all the evidence points: sudden creation from nothing. Current science tell us that before the Big Bang, there was not even time or space.

45 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - Watch: Interview with ... · 0 replies · +2 points

That's a good question, Jack, but if you really want an answer, the answer is there are much safer investments. It's almost impossible to make a profit on any type of passenger rail (or public transportation) system in the US - that includes city-wide, local, and long distance. A high-speed rail from LA to Vegas would not be able to benefit from all the tourists flying in from out of state or the Bay area, so it would have to divert existing air passengers. The airlines would respond by lowering the fare to $10 until the rail company is ruined (they can make it up on other routes). This is why the only way someone could build a high-speed rail system in the US is to rely on the government, which doesn't care about profit (they can milk the taxpayer).

45 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - Watch: Interview with ... · 0 replies · +3 points

Don't be surprised if the Blu-Ray/DVD release is mysteriously "delayed," either indefinitely (like "The Road to 9/11") or until, oh, mid-November 2012.

45 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - Is There a Better Film... · 1 reply · +2 points

Members of your generation are called millennials.

Millennials were raised in an age of GROSS over-protection and what strikes me as “child worship.” During the 80’s and 90’s it was very much “in style” to be a kid. Contrast that to the 60’s and 70’s, when children (I’m talking preteens) were considered the spawn of Satan (look at all the “demon child” movies so popular in that era).

When I was eleven, I would ride by bike literally ten or more miles (no exaggeration) and back in URBAN New Jersey, and no one thought anything of it (and my parents were not strung out on drugs or alcohol). When I was in high school, my father’s “plans” for me were described thusly: “When you turn eighteen, you get your ass out of the house.” That’s it – no “college fund,” nothing. For a lot of us Gen X, that was our world.

That’s a large part of the reason my out-of-state tuition plus room and board at the University of Iowa was only about $440 a month!

45 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - Is There a Better Film... · 3 replies · +4 points

Great comments, Matt. I guess Easy Rider is the "Catcher in the Rye" of movies - all the Boomers say you gotta see it, it's awesome, but when they see it people say, "WTF is all the fuss about? This is kinda lame."

I was born in 1960, so my cohort were the "prototypes" for Gen-X - too young to have experienced the counterculture rage as teenagers, but old enough to remember when there were Real Heroes and Positive Role Models in the world (astronauts, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan through much of his term, etc).

46 weeks ago @ Big Hollywood - First Look: 'Atlas Shr... · 5 replies · +8 points

To we Atlas fans, and to die-hard conservatives, this is mana from heaven. But I question how this film will come across to the average person (assume a political moderate) who has no prior exposure to Atlas or Rand. I believe it will be unintelligible.

Look at the line, "I would never force a man to do anything." To we Atlas affectionados, that one line has a tremendous backstory to it. We know what it means. What will it mean to the average moviegoer? Nothing. I predict we're going to have a lot of moviegoers baffled over what the fuss is all about. Our only hope is if every Atlas fan goes to see it ten times - otherwise, there will be no part two.

They blew it by 1. Breaking it into three movies, 2. Sticking with the railroad when they should have updated it to an airline, and 3. Being true to Rand's dialog style, which is just not going to work for today's audiences.

My sincere hope is that I am totally wrong.

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