is it warm in here to you?

I just wanted to use the blogger's privilege of being able to ramble incoherently about a topic that just popped into my head. I may say some regrettable things, but if I do I'll apologize when the sun comes up. A while back, I was listening to the radio on a Sunday night while handling some paperwork. I have no idea how I got to the station I was on. I usually have talk radio going and half the time I'm not even listening. On this particular night, the station was playing religious programming. This would be obvious to some, but in my line of work you rarely know one day of the week from another. As I listened to the preacher spill his sermon and earn his dollar, I picked up on something I had heard before in a different setting somewhere in life. He said , "Are you a thermometer Christian or a thermostat Christian?" I can't remember where I had heard it, but it is an old yarn. I've always heard it applied to religion and morality. Today I wish to apply it to something which is somewhat askew to religion and morality: Hollywood.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I'm the only one out there bashing the beautiful people. With so much negative said about Hollywood and her henchmen, why are we constantly presented with the same wilted flowers and told to savor the aroma? Isn't that what capitalism is for? If folks don't like an actor or the morals of a certain film and they decide not to attend, how does that response illicit repeat offenses by the rich and famous? I honestly wouldn't pay to see Robin Williams in anything. Does anybody have the time line of when he stopped being funny? I know it was a long time ago. If this unfunny man ceased to be entertaining a long time ago, how does he still find work as a comic? There are obviously plenty of people who disagree with my theory about 'Mork' to convince him to keep doing his silly voices and saying the 'F' word. Let the man do his 'drama' pieces, but for the love of heaven don't let him squint his eyes and try to make us laugh. All insults aside, I realize that 'Mork' does entertain some folks and that's what keeps him going. The market does not necessarily agree on a person's talent or opinions all the time. This allows that person to continue with a career as they have at least some people who enjoy what they offer. My question is: what happens when the market does agree on something?

With movies like 'The Passion of the Christ", "Star Wars", "Indiana Jones" and other such offerings we saw evidence of a the majority of the market agreeing on something they liked. There's an extreme amount of power in the majority of a nation's consumers agreeing on something. I typically see the market agreeing in the positive. Why is it that as consumers, we are so easily influenced to watching or listening to pure garbage because it won a Grammy or Oscar? I'm guilty of it. I can think of a few times where I forced myself to watch something because I'd read that it was "an important piece". Sometimes the statements have merit, but I've had plenty that left me thinking, "Did I watch the same thing thy did?" I go along thinking this is just me thinking differently than others. I'm happy to learn through conversation that there are plenty others sharing my opinions on some of these films. Why do we take Hollywood's word for it? Why are we thermometer audiences and not thermostat audiences? Why do we continuously let the folk out in Hollywood tell us what's good and what's not? I always thought they were just supposed to present a product and our reaction would tell them of it's value.

Hollywood is a thermostat type of entity. They control what we receive as blockbuster films. Some actors keep getting referred to as 'A-list' and are constantly allowed to torture us with a seemingly endless stream of poop that a great dane couldn't bury (I'm looking at you Clooney. You think your being Linus, but you're too much like Lucy bro.) I feel like there is some fighting back with downloads and such on the internet with music and movies. I'm not officially advocating breaking the law, but it seems that a lot of folks are tired of paying premium price for sub-par work. The amazing thing is how Hollywood just avoids changing the way they are to fit the consumer and stomps their feet while they whine about how the public is not qualified to come to judge their "talent". Is this total ego and ignorance or is this staunch anti-capitalism? Maybe that's it. There are an awful lot of entertainers who show shades of socialism......




Please feel free to comment if the need strikes you.

“ Hollywood is where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors.”