So Embarrassing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In all fairness, I am proud of the movie making industry in this country. It is probably our biggest cultural export after music. It is something to admire in our past, since artists had such freedom (mostly) to do what they wanted. It is American, as much as apple pie and baseball.

You are kidding, right? Most of the content in American movies is juvenile and stereotypical with gratuitous violence and bad humor thrown in. Most people I know lament the poor quality of movies made today. How sad if you feel the movie industry in the US is a cultural triumph. You were kidding, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all fairness, I am proud of the movie making industry in this country. It is probably our biggest cultural export after music. It is something to admire in our past, since artists had such freedom (mostly) to do what they wanted. It is American, as much as apple pie and baseball.

You are kidding, right? Most of the content in American movies is juvenile and stereotypical with gratuitous violence and bad humor thrown in. Most people I know lament the poor quality of movies made today. How sad if you feel the movie industry in the US is a cultural triumph. You were kidding, right?

I am not kidding.
I am a fan of foriegn films, that is all I watch from Netflix.
The problem with US movies, is too much volume. Too many poor quality movies being made. But when I look at the best movies ever made, many are American.
Also, from a numbers standpoint, Hollywood has an industry that just about dominates sales overseas. If you take the top 50, yes, there will be many great and famous American films. BTW, there are TONS of Italian, British, Chinese, Indian,...movies that are rubbish, we just see little of them here. We seem to get the better ones from other countries.

[Anonymous]

On the topic of silly diplomatic gifts, I have to share this story. At the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center at the Basilica here in Washington, DC, there is (or was a few years ago) a display of some gifts the pope received from various heads of state from around the world. I almost died laughing when I saw the gift that George and Laura Bush had given him: one of those tacky paintings of Jesus with long hair and white robes of the type that hang in Sunday School classrooms. It may not have been on black velvet, but it was close. And this is a gift to a guy who lives in the Vatican, surrounded by paintings by Michelangelo and such. After I stopped laughing at the Bushes' idiocy, I was pretty embarrassed that they were representing me as an American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the topic of silly diplomatic gifts, I have to share this story. At the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center at the Basilica here in Washington, DC, there is (or was a few years ago) a display of some gifts the pope received from various heads of state from around the world. I almost died laughing when I saw the gift that George and Laura Bush had given him: one of those tacky paintings of Jesus with long hair and white robes of the type that hang in Sunday School classrooms. It may not have been on black velvet, but it was close. And this is a gift to a guy who lives in the Vatican, surrounded by paintings by Michelangelo and such. After I stopped laughing at the Bushes' idiocy, I was pretty embarrassed that they were representing me as an American.

Then again, when I was at Vatican, I saw someone selling JP II bottle openers. And that stuff has to be approved in Vatican City. Yikes!

[Anonymous]

Then again, when I was at Vatican, I saw someone selling JP II bottle openers. And that stuff has to be approved in Vatican City. Yikes!

We actually own one of these. We fondly call it our "Popener".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Then again, when I was at Vatican, I saw someone selling JP II bottle openers. And that stuff has to be approved in Vatican City. Yikes!

We actually own one of these. We fondly call it our "Popener".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Then again, when I was at Vatican, I saw someone selling JP II bottle openers. And that stuff has to be approved in Vatican City. Yikes!

We actually own one of these. We fondly call it our "Popener".

A family member gave me one. I can't use it because I don't want to go to hell for opening a beer. Twelve, maybe. If it's a hot day and they are really cold.

[Anonymous]

These are nothing compared to GWB's gaffes.

Obama is a real person, a new president. He's not an idiot like Bush, but he's not perfect either.

I have a severely handicapped brother and I am not offended by the Special Olympics remark. That said, I'm sure Obama learned a lesson about being more PC nowadays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are nothing compared to GWB's gaffes.

Obama is a real person, a new president. He's not an idiot like Bush, but he's not perfect either.

I have a severely handicapped brother and I am not offended by the Special Olympics remark. That said, I'm sure Obama learned a lesson about being more PC nowadays.

So Obama is a real person but Bush isn't...uh ok. Only Obama can make mistakes...ok.

[Anonymous]

The point is you are talking about idiocy on the part of GWB that is an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE worse than a couple of silly jokes on the part of a 100-day President who perhaps hasn't learned to be stridently PC yet.

Have none of you ever made a joke about being on the "short bus". Never called anybody a "retard" or said "that's retarded"? Didn't laugh at the Seinfeld episode where everybody thinks Kramer is "special"?

Don't think this is even remotely funny?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IFUNIa2NU8

Even if you can answer "no" to all of the above, I bet you never discussed "strategery" or "misunderestimation" at work. Or had a shoe thrown at your head. Or started a pointless, bloody, endless war.....

[Anonymous]

Actually no...I don't make "short bus" jokes and am offended by people who do. Oval Office or no Oval Office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The point is you are talking about idiocy on the part of GWB that is an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE worse than a couple of silly jokes on the part of a 100-day President who perhaps hasn't learned to be stridently PC yet.

Have none of you ever made a joke about being on the "short bus". Never called anybody a "retard" or said "that's retarded"? Didn't laugh at the Seinfeld episode where everybody thinks Kramer is "special"?

Don't think this is even remotely funny?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IFUNIa2NU8

Even if you can answer "no" to all of the above, I bet you never discussed "strategery" or "misunderestimation" at work. Or had a shoe thrown at your head. Or started a pointless, bloody, endless war.....

I don't find any of the above funny and I think it's sad that you use the word retarded as an insult to others. There's a difference between insensitive statements and malapropisms. I question whether you are in a position to judge anybody, given your own history.