Hollywood Directors Are a Dime a Dozen

Everyone on Fox News agrees with Stephen on how unimpressive Obama's Inaugural Speech was. According to them, it was all about big government or socialism. Here's the thing and Stephen explained it quite well. There's that show on TV, Downton Abbey. People just love that show about the rich people and how nice the rich people are and how well the rich people treat the poor people. Basically, according to Stephen, the popularity of Downton Abbey proves America loves rich guys just as the popularity of Breaking Bad proves America loves meth dealers. (I have always wondered if Downton Abbey was inspired by Downtown. I don't know, but I have wondered.)

You would have thought Stephen could have gotten Gerald Mander the Third on for the show since he talked about him quite a bit. Mr. Mander's legacy is Gerrymandering and it was the subject of The Word for January 22. Win, Lose, or Redraw. It's how the GOP is figuring to win elections. Doing what voters want just doesn't cut it any more. It is sad because the way it is now, the losing party never gets to pick the president. (Okay, just read that again and think about it.) Stephen had great commentary about all of this. He gets it. To find out more about Elections and  Gerrymandering, here's some links.

Fair Vote about Redistricting

Wikipedia about Gerrymandering

Neat YouTube about Gerrymandering featuring lions, buffaloes, jackalopes and weasels.

What it all boils down to is that instead of voters getting to pick their leaders, the leaders get to pick their voters. Not the way Democracy is supposed to work.

On to the great outdoors. Stephen started talking about our National Parks but he was interrupted. "Excuse me. We need to talk." Surprise - it was Dustin Hoffman, Stephen's guest for the show. Stephen plays a pivotal role in the movie Quintet. (He plays the spoons!) Bad news from Dustin. Stephen's parts were cut from the movie and the name was changed to "Quartet." So then Dustin Hoffman claimed Stephen was not a good actor and Stephen told him that Hollywood Directors are a dime a dozen. "Any Hollywood Directors in the audience????" asked Stephen. As luck would have it, Kathryn Bigelow was in the audience and agreed to be interviewed. So, Dustin was out and Kathryn was in as the replacement guest.

She is the director of a little movie called "Zero Dark Thirty." Stephen and Kathryn Bigelow had a brief discussion about this movie which might be considered controversial. Interestingly enough, the first commercial after the interview was for "Movie 43" which I think is quite a different type of movie. Anyway, when Stephen came back, he urged us to go see "Zero Dark Thirty" AND "Quartet." So even though he was cut from Dustin Hoffman's movie, he harbors no bad feelings. Looks like it's going to be a movie weekend for all of us.