Andrew Breitbart, author and commentator, has started a blog to combat the one-sided, elite, anti-American views of so much of the Hollywood culture.

Big Hollywood, his blog, is being launched today. Big Hollywood is not a "celebrity" gabfest or fan gossip outpost. Its topics will consist of politics and culture, a site for those who believe something has gone drastically wrong in Hollywood. Its objective is to change the entertainment industry. Wow - who would have thought that maybe, just maybe, there's something very ill in the mindset of the Hollywood establishment?

Hollywood used to produce the best films ever, stateside. Their product gave people hope, told positive, uplifting stories. But the drift left by the power brokers has gotten worse over the past few decades. Today, American corporations, the FBI, the CIA and elected U.S. officials (usually conservatives) are the bad guys. Real bad guys, those who want all of us, including Hollywood elites eliminated, are ignored.

This last election showed how much the influence of pop culture has on the American electorate. For 37+ years our education system and social construct has made us the bad guys and raised kids (now adults) to believe that they are perfect yet America is bad; passiveness is good but military is bad, etc. This view is destroying the very essence of America, the spirit that made us who and what we are. The right has needed a place to combat this negative, distorted, pop-culture view of America.

Big Hollywood just may be the vehicle that unites Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians - a place with a recognizable name that will challenge the singular, leftist Hollywood meme and the way we look at the world and ourselves.

Read more here.

Labels: entertainment, Freedom

Last Wednesday, my husband and I went to Chanhassen Dinner Theatres to see "Swing," a jazz musical. It was terrific with its great singing and superb dancing. We'd not been there for awhile but the 10,000,000 guests who have keep the place going strong.

Why does Chanhassen thrive when so many theater operations fail? Being in business for 40+ years is quite an achievement, so how does Chanhassen do it? I looked through the program which listed all the shows performed there since its opening in 1968. The answer becomes obvious: At all times, regardless of theatre, there is an offering that is upbeat and positive and often, comical. This overall positive theme is a key component of each production on the main stage or in one of the smaller theatres.

We're tired of the doom and gloomers, the "nothing is ever right" and "America is all wrong" crowds. This negative attitude of far too many people who claim to be our artists and show-biz personalities results in a negative mindset. For entertainment, most of us want escape, fun, laughter, and the ability to watch extremely talented people do their thing in a very positive way.

Chanhassen understands this desire and they deliver.

Labels: entertainment

A must-see movie this weekend! The movie, An American Carol, is a courageous conservative comedy from David Zucker. It opens in theaters nationwide this weekend. It's funny yet teaches the history lessons not taught to so many of our people under 40. You will laugh and some will cry but Zucher is an award-winning film maker and the cast is excellent.

Everyone is watching to see what happens. Hollywood. The media. The Left. Yes, even Michael Moore.

Will the pro-American, pro-military, and pro-faith movie AN AMERICAN CAROL beat Bill Maher's anti-Christian movie RELIGULOUS or Oliver Stone's anti-conservative movie W.?

Only you can make sure this is a success - find a theater near you and GO SEE IT! (Thanks.)

Labels: entertainment

There are people who make an impact on the world. They can be soldiers freeing a country from a tyrannical ruler, an individual saving a life after an accident, an author who writes in a manner that causes people to think, (versus emotionally react), a teacher or parent or relative who positively influences a youth's life.

Then there are the athletes. Many are glory hounds after fame, prestige and money but there are others who truly love their sport and through their talent live life to its fullest. One such athlete was Agata Mroz, a world class volleyball player from Poland, profiled in this link from National Review. She stood over six foot and had the ability to block like very few. She led the Polish national volleyball team to European championships in 2003 and 2005 and continued in international competition for a few more years.

Unfortunately in 1999, when she was 17, she developed MDS, a collection of disorders that prevent the bone marrow from producing enough blood cells. Her MDS progressed to leukemia over the years but she always kept her zest for life.

In June of 2007, she married and despite the risk, decided to try to get pregnant. Why? She said in a February news interview, �I felt happy that I would know what it is to be a mother and that I would give my husband something good of myself.�

Her daughter was born prematurely but is now healthy. In the meantime, Agata's condition worsened. She delayed a needed bone marrow transplant because she feared it might impact her then unborn child. Seven weeks after the birth of her daughter, Lilliana, Agata underwent bone marrow transplant surgery, she didn't make it. At her funeral Mass, the bishop paid high tribute to Agata when he said her life was a witness of �love of life, motherhood, the desire to give life and the heroic love of an unborn child."

Agata Mroz learned the lessons of sports and applied them in life. Accustomed to giving all she had on the court, Agata indeed gave the best of herself to her husband and every last ounce of herself to her daughter. She learned and believed it was more important for her to bring a new life into the world than to extend her own.

Labels: entertainment, life, sports

I suspect the under-40 American does not remember much of the days of the comedy album (or cassette, or 8-track), but for those of us who were early teens around 1972, George Carlin was the guy that gave you the "seven words you can never say on television", which when played on your crappy stereo in your bedroom caused howls of laughter and a furtive look out the door to see if Mom had heard those words. I had lots of music then, but this and Big Bambu were probably the two records I played most. When #1 son was a teen, we listened to some of Carlin's newer material and I was able to dig out the older stuff (I still have many of my albums) and we howled to Al Sleet the Hippy Dippy Weatherman. Did he become an angry liberal in the 1980s? Yeah, and so what? Even then, his routine on airplanes was sidesplittingly funny. (It's interesting how it evolved before and after 9-11; such was his humor.)

Gone now, a reminder of how time marches past as much as my teen now being in his twenties, and my Littlest starting high school in a few months. What humor will she hear that makes her giggle as much as Al Sleet? (She went camping this weekend with her youth group, came back with a picture of her friend playing "chubby bunny" which is a measure of how many marshmallows you can have in your mouth. Her friend got eight and a photo on MySpace. Good stuff.)

Labels: entertainment

King was pulling for the NY Giants against the Packers. I was hoping Favre would pull out another one. Was not to be. It did look like the Giants were the better team today. February 3 will be another story. If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on New England but in reality, I don't care who wins the Super Bowl - just plan to have a good time.

Congrats, King. Your team MAY pull an upset, then again.....

KING ADDS: Thank you, Janet. I thought the miss at the end of regulation was going to be the killer, but then the fantastic interception. I did NOT want them kicking the FG there, but Tynes could not wait to get on to the field and I thought "you know, that's the kind of kicker I want, the one who forgets the last miss within ten minutes." But I still thought it was too far in Lambeau.

Apparently a three-point difference in Week 17 made no difference, as the Patriots are favored by anywhere from 12.5 to 14 points. I'm hoping the Nihilist picks New England.

Labels: entertainment

A few weeks ago, we went to to see the Pompeii Exhibit and the current film at the Omni Theater, Greece: Secrets of the Past at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The Pompeii Exhibit was excellent. The artifacts and display of living quarters were informative and interesting. The formed casts showing people caught as the mountain exploded were eerie, very eerie. The film, however, left much to be desired.

The movie's photography was breathtaking. It recreated the Parthenon in all its glory, a tribute to the wonders of modern technology. However, the film also made too many statements in support of the current politically correct philosophy. The female narrator, one of the stars of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, made sure she covered her agenda. While it is true that the Greeks had slaves, as did all cultures at one time or another, the Greeks also laid the foundations for western ideas about man ruling himself, republican government and democracy.

The narrator had to make sure we knew Greek women were not allowed to vote. She pushed the "everyone is equal" agenda. First, the Greeks never thought everyone was equal. Second, it was the west that gave women the right to vote. You can argue it took the west too long but the concept and implementation of women's rights occurred in the west; not Africa, not Asia, not the Middle East, not Latin America, only in the northern hemisphere western cultures. Third, one of the main reasons the arts were able to flourish in the Greek world was because they had a strong military that protected them from outside invasions. Yes, they had wars but they also provided a stable enough environment that allowed arts to thrive.

It would be nice if the west's entertainment industry recognized this fact: They could not produce the quantity and quality of film, books, theater, music, etc. without a safe nation state. By having a strong military to protect all of us, these artistic endeavors can flourish. It would be especially heartwarming if the members of these communities recognized this.

Labels: entertainment, Media

ABC's Award-winning journalist John Stossel is coming to MN for two appearances:

Monday, April 23 - 7:30 PM - Pellegrene Theatre, St. John's campus, Collegeville, MN.

Tuesday, April 24, 7:00 PM - Northrop Auditorium, U of MN main campus.

Admission is free. See you there!

Labels: education, entertainment