Random ponderings while resting on a rare day off
This clip is from 2011
Donald Trump making "birther" claims. Now over five years later, he has finally stated that President Barrack Obama was born in the United States. No apology for all of the attacks. And better still, he is now blaming Hillary Clinton for starting the birther controversy.
This is not a new claim, Trump tweeted in 2015 that Hillary had started the birther controversy. This claim has been thoroughly debunked already, but Trump repeats it anyway.
Why am I not surprised?
* * *
Mark Wahlberg has dropped his application for a pardon for his conviction back when he was 16. He assaulted two men and spent time in jail. The claim in news stories that he had caused one of his victims to lose an eye turned out to be false.
“It was one of those things where it was just kind of presented to me, and if I could’ve done it over again I would never have focused on that or applied,” Wahlberg said of the pardon application, which was met with protests from an Asian American activist group when it was announced in 2014.
Funny thing is when this story broke in 2014 Wahlberg said the reason he was seeking the pardon was that his felony conviction prevented him from being a "concessionaire" in California, a problem since he owns a share of the family business, Wahlburgers.
I don't know that I believe he wouldn't do it again if he had it to do over, since he had a sound business reason for making the request.
* * *
The wife of writer/director Derek Cianfrance wrote an essay taking film critics to task. I agree with her criticisms of those outlets who violated the embargo and released their reviews of the film before it was shown at the Venice Film Festival.
But when she writes "The critics are not a voice for the people, yet they can affect the reputation and success of the movie. By writing early and with vehemence against The Light Between Oceans, it probably lost a couple million dollars in its first weekend. The first weekend is still the most important weekend for the movie. It determines the life a movie will have in theaters."
How is it that we (and if I'm taking this a little personally it might have to do with the fact that I was finishing up my review of her husband's movie when I read her essay) are not at least voices that people pay attention to if we can have such a major impact on a film's opening weekend box office? And just which of the five reviews that violated the embargo contained "vehemence" against the film?
She goes on to point out "of the reviews that came out that first weekend, 78 percent were by men. Many of these were giving Derek the slapdown,” she continued. “Women who see the film love it."
So why is it that when I did an analysis of the 125 critic reviews currently posted at the Rotten Tomatoes website, it appears that a higher percentage of male critics liked the film versus female critics? Of the 98 reviews by men, 60% of those rated the film as fresh. Of the 29 reviews by women, only 55% rated the film as fresh.
The tomato-meter shows a 58% rating from critics. Normally if audiences like a movie, their ratings are much higher than the critic ratings. The audience rating is 68%.
Again, her complaint about the violations of the embargo is valid.
* * *
Abby Wambach, who has been open about her own struggles with substance abuse, was very critical of the comments of Hope Solo where she called the Swedish team that beat the U.S. at the 2016 Olympic Gamea, "cowards."
Solo got a six months suspension from the U.S. Women's Soccer team for those comments. She deserved that and more.
* * *
Donald Trump making "birther" claims. Now over five years later, he has finally stated that President Barrack Obama was born in the United States. No apology for all of the attacks. And better still, he is now blaming Hillary Clinton for starting the birther controversy.
This is not a new claim, Trump tweeted in 2015 that Hillary had started the birther controversy. This claim has been thoroughly debunked already, but Trump repeats it anyway.
Why am I not surprised?
* * *
Mark Wahlberg has dropped his application for a pardon for his conviction back when he was 16. He assaulted two men and spent time in jail. The claim in news stories that he had caused one of his victims to lose an eye turned out to be false.
“It was one of those things where it was just kind of presented to me, and if I could’ve done it over again I would never have focused on that or applied,” Wahlberg said of the pardon application, which was met with protests from an Asian American activist group when it was announced in 2014.
Funny thing is when this story broke in 2014 Wahlberg said the reason he was seeking the pardon was that his felony conviction prevented him from being a "concessionaire" in California, a problem since he owns a share of the family business, Wahlburgers.
I don't know that I believe he wouldn't do it again if he had it to do over, since he had a sound business reason for making the request.
* * *
The wife of writer/director Derek Cianfrance wrote an essay taking film critics to task. I agree with her criticisms of those outlets who violated the embargo and released their reviews of the film before it was shown at the Venice Film Festival.
But when she writes "The critics are not a voice for the people, yet they can affect the reputation and success of the movie. By writing early and with vehemence against The Light Between Oceans, it probably lost a couple million dollars in its first weekend. The first weekend is still the most important weekend for the movie. It determines the life a movie will have in theaters."
How is it that we (and if I'm taking this a little personally it might have to do with the fact that I was finishing up my review of her husband's movie when I read her essay) are not at least voices that people pay attention to if we can have such a major impact on a film's opening weekend box office? And just which of the five reviews that violated the embargo contained "vehemence" against the film?
She goes on to point out "of the reviews that came out that first weekend, 78 percent were by men. Many of these were giving Derek the slapdown,” she continued. “Women who see the film love it."
So why is it that when I did an analysis of the 125 critic reviews currently posted at the Rotten Tomatoes website, it appears that a higher percentage of male critics liked the film versus female critics? Of the 98 reviews by men, 60% of those rated the film as fresh. Of the 29 reviews by women, only 55% rated the film as fresh.
The tomato-meter shows a 58% rating from critics. Normally if audiences like a movie, their ratings are much higher than the critic ratings. The audience rating is 68%.
Again, her complaint about the violations of the embargo is valid.
* * *
Abby Wambach, who has been open about her own struggles with substance abuse, was very critical of the comments of Hope Solo where she called the Swedish team that beat the U.S. at the 2016 Olympic Gamea, "cowards."
Solo got a six months suspension from the U.S. Women's Soccer team for those comments. She deserved that and more.
* * *
posted by me at 9:18 PM
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