So I have received a couple of emails calling the 1/22/09 post about my TV show idea sexist and demeaning.  I really couldn’t disagree more, but because I am all about freedom of speech and opinion I will let you know what the disgruntled ladies had to say…

“Women have been trivialized and made in to sex objects in almost every form of entertainment and now you want to do it to cooking shows too.  Next thing you are going to want to do is have the women on The View come out topless and in g-strings.  You are just like every other man who keeps his brain in his pants rather than his head.  You want to toss a young woman in a tank of water with no use of her legs?  What kind of a sick man are you?”

-Janet

Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Thank you for your email Janet.  The first thing I can tell you is that the last thing I want to see are any of the women from The View in any way except for completely covered by clothes.  You are correct; the woman in the water tank would have no use of her legs.  She’d be dressed like a mermaid so how could she?  But there would be no lid on the tank or anything; I would just get one of my girls who is a strong enough swimmer to tread water for a half hour with her arms.  She’d be fine.

“Why are men never objectified on television like this?  It’s always the women who are trotted out in front of the camera in skimpy outfits and never the men.  Why don’t you do the show in a thong if you are going to have the women in little bikinis? “

-Lisa

Fairfield, Ohio

You are clearly missing my point and intentions here Lisa, but thank you very much for the email.  Look, you don’t want to see me in a thong.  No one does.  Have you ever seen your grandfather in a thong?  It wouldn’t be all that different.  Now I would have absolutely no problem if you wanted to start a cooking show where you cooked and had some young strapping men shirtless and in some Chip n’ Dale dancer type outfit to assist you.  Feel free and all power to you.  I don’t think there is a man out there that will care or be offended.  Here’s the thing.  Men in general are more perverted than women.  I’m not saying this is always the case, but it is usually the case.  That’s why there are more nudie magazines with women posing than men, more strip clubs with women stripping than men and more television with scantily clad women then scantily clad men.  It’s just the way it is.

In short, this show would be done in a tasteful manner and there is no reason for anyone to be offended by it.  I am still looking for someone to finance this, so if you know anyone please let me know.

***

 

I’m sure by now you have all seen the picture of Michael Phelps taking a hit from the bong.  I feel like this should be the “who cares” story of the year so far, but for whatever reason; people care.  The dude is 23 years old and was visiting a college campus.  I would guess every party that the Gold Medalist walked in to had at least a dozen drunken college kids putting a bong in his face and a drink in his hand.  He has been training his ass off for however long, made the country proud by winning all of those medals and now he wants to blow off some steam.  It’s not like someone took a picture of him with his head buried in a pile of blow or skinny dipping with a few 16 year olds.  Can we please let this go?  Of course you can’t.  I keep reading these high and mighty sports writers talking about him as a role model and this and that.  Here is my message to you.  Your kids are going to smoke weed or they aren’t regardless of what you or Michael Phelps says about it.  I would imagine half of the people bitching and moaning about this were hitting it just as hard when they were in college.  I’m no big Michael Phelps fan.  What he did was great, but watching people swim doesn’t do much for me and they have way too many events and opportunities for medals.  Regardless this should be a non issue.

Unfortunately it may turn in to a legal issue.  Because this picture was taken at the University of South Carolina and not UC Berkley, a sheriff’s department in SC is thinking about brining up charges against Phelps.  Leave it alone, please.  If you want to arrest people that have their picture taken smoking weed, just go to MySpace or Facebook and you could probably put half of the college and high school campuses in this country behind bar outside of Utah.  The only thing he’s guilty of is being famous and being young.  Time to move on.

***   

Has anyone heard of how two time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix has retired from the movies to start a rap career?  I cannot wait to hear his album when it comes out.  I would say the chances of this ranking as pure hilarity on the unintentional comedy meter is at about 97%.  Is he the bizzaro Marky Mark Wahlberg?  Marky Mark started his career as an embarrassment to rap music and turned himself in to a successful and respected actor.  Phoenix is kind of doing the opposite.  His new look is priceless and you have to check out this video of his performance in a Las Vegas nightclub.  There is just nothing about River’s little brother that says rapper to me.  This is the world we live in and this is Hollywood, so I guess anything is possible.

On a related note.  I had no idea that Casey Affleck was married Joaquin’s sister.  This is just an example of how weird Hollywood is in general and how weird it must be for people in the business.  I can just imagine Ben right after Casey told him thinking, “I can’t believe my brother is going to marry River Phoenix’s kid sister”.  Strange.

***  

I saw Slumdog Millionaire last night.  I’m not going to dive too deep in to it, but before I do I will say that it was very good.  I can see why it’s on so many critics top 10 or even top 5 of the year lists.  The thing I don’t quite get is how it’s winning so many awards as the best movie of the year.  I admit that I haven’t been able to get to as many movies I have wanted to this year.  The only other one that is up for awards that I have actually seen is Milk.  Milk was probably better than Slumdog to me.  Its close, but I think it was.  There are four or five movies I still need to get to before I can make an educated choice.  For me Slumdog was very predictable.  There are at least three major moments in the movie that I saw coming a mile away.  Maybe the biggest moment at the end of the movie, I knew was going to happen after the first fifteen minutes.  It didn’t ruin it for me; Slumdog Millionaire is really more about the journey than anything else.  It’s a feel good movie that doesn’t really make you feel good until the end.  I do recommend it, highly in fact.  I just think that it’s not quite as good as everyone is telling you it is.  Or maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt it.

*** 

It sounds like President Obama is trying to cap the salaries for executives at companies who receive tax payer bail out money at $500,000 per year.  This seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?  If your company needs to be bailed out financially by the government, your executive team shouldn’t be making hundreds of thousands more than the President.  Last year executives at companies paid themselves billions of dollars in bonuses while at the same time laying off employees and leaving thousands out of work.  Call me what you want but these people who have been major contributors to our economic condition must be held accountable and make some sacrifices for the good of the people who they’ve been bending over for years and years.  Go get ‘em Mr. President.

*** 

One of my clients called me Chief yesterday.  He said, “Thanks Chief.” 

*** 

What do some people have against flushing the toilet or urinal in public or work bathrooms?  Use your foot or your elbow, that’s what I do.  Or maybe grab a paper towel and do it with that.  It’s not difficult and you should be washing your hand when you’re done anyway.

***  

WHY I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO

If you step in poop, you aren’t sure if it came from a dog or a human.

 

With that I must go.  Thank you all for stopping by and make sure to check back periodically for the Top 100 Movie List countdown.  Also feel free to send me any questions or comments.  Catch ya later Slater.