Keanu Reeves wins weird & wacky paternity suit

Did you know that Keanu Reeves is a shape-shifting hypnotist who has the power to make all of the rest of us think he's just a wooden actor with very little talent?  But really he's fathered four kids by a Canadian woman and then left them all destitute?

I didn't know that either (well, I did know the "wooden actor with very little talent" part).  But that's what Karen Sala, a Canadian woman who claimed that she had a long-standing sexual relationship with Reeves and had four kids with him, has claimed.  This lawsuit has just been thrown out by the judge in the case, but not before Reeves took a DNA test to prove he wasn't the father.

But that wasn't good enough for Sala.

Another Hollywood celebrity spouts off

This time, it's Jim Carrey.  In promoting his (at least opening weekend, anyway) box office bomb A Christmas Carol, Carey told the Chicago tribune:

"I was thinking about it this morning, how this story ties into everything we’re going through,” says Carrey, who, thanks to the technology, plays Scrooge as well as the three ghosts haunting him. “Every construct we’ve built in American life is falling apart. Why? Because of personal greed and ambition. Capitalism without regulation can’t protect us against personal greed.. . ."

This would mean more if it wasn't coming from an actor who makes $20 million a film, even though the quality of these films has been dropping drastically from an already low platform.  As Mark Steyn notes, he could have easily stayed up in his native Canada, making films for a lot less money but, some would say, much more "artistic" quality. I haven't seen enough Canadian films to know whether that's true, but it's definitely true that this is the object of them.  You don't see any FX-ridden blockbusters with no plot and less acting ability in Canadian films, I bet.

But no, he headed down south instead, because that's where the big payday was.  And more power to him, if he can convince a studio that he's still worth $20 million.  But when you're taking advantage of the capitalist system, it's kind of sad when you slag off the system that's putting that money in your pocket.  What's that word I'm looking for?  It's on the tip of my tongue.

Oh yes.  Hypocrite.

Daily Beast Injects Race into West-Swift Incident

Why am I not surprised?

Choire Sicha has an article about the Kanye West VMA incident last night, and of course he injects race into it. Somebody had to. Oh, not into the incident itself. But into the reaction to it. Give me a break.

Before I get to that, though, I want to compliment Beyonce for her reaction to this whole thing, which I wasn't aware of until this morning (I wasn't watching the VMAs). She won video of the year (see, Kanye? You were just impatient!) and graciously asked Taylor Swift to come back up and have her unblemished shot in the spotlight. Good for you, Beyonce.


Anyway, back to the idiotic statement by Sicha.

Now, I'm not arguing with Sicha's comments about how badly the MTV people handled the situation, ushering Swift off the stage even though West said he would allow her to finish her speech. Most likely, Swift was too shocked to even remember her acceptance speech and it was a blessing that they led her off the stage. But I didn't see it, so it's also very possible that it was botched on the part of MTV.

But then he says this:

"I won't go so far as to suggest that everyone was flipped out that this angelic little white girl (and she is super-cute) was accosted by a probably drunk (West was, again according to MTVNews.com, “photographed holding a bottle of Hennessey on VMA red carpet.”)—and definitely crazy—older black man. I'll keep that thought to myself, but I'll keep thinking it."

What a load of bull. Kanye West has proven time and time again that he's an asshole. Because he proves it again and people get on his case about it, they're racists? No, Mr. Sicha. We're asshole-ists! We're prejudiced against assholes. White or Black (I'm also anti-Eminem for the most part, to name just one white asshole I'm against).

Sicha makes a few good points in his article, and others that I might very well agree with if I had actually watched the show (he's right that Perez Hilton is an extreme hypocrite to make any kind of comment on this incident, for instance). But seeing a racial element to the reaction to West's boorishness? That goes beyond the pale.

West's an asshole who relishes creating controversy by doing stuff like this. There's nothing racial about that.

Kanye West proves once again that he's an unmentionable

If his comments at the Katrina benefit about George Bush hating black people didn't totally prove it, his actions tonight did.

Take a look at the video on this site before it gets taken down by Viacom.

Basically, Taylor Swift won Best Female Video award at the Video Music Awards, and West comes up, grabs the mic from her hands, and says that Beyonce should have won.

What the hell?

Kanye, you are truly an asshole.

Andrew Breitbart and the Celebrity "Pledge" Video

Remember that celebrity "I Pledge" video that was going around last fall, or earlier this year? It's starting to make the rounds again, with a school in Utah getting into trouble for trying to indoctrinate (sorry, I mean "inspire") the kids with it.

Now that it's making the news again, Kathryn Jean Lopez over at the Corner reminds us of Andrew Breitbart's beautiful response to it.

Here's the video, just so you know what I'm talking about.


That's funny, but I don't see anything said in this video that these celebrities couldn't have been doing the last eight years. Demi Moore wants to "free one million people from slavery in the next five years." Really, Demi? You couldn't have done that before? No, you were too busy making a bad Charlie's Angels movie. I'm sure those slaves you're being so successful at freeing now are really glad you waited eight years before getting around to it. And what if McCain had won? Would you no longer be interested in freeing them anymore?

Aaron Eckhart wants to "be a better person." What stopped you before? I loved you in Dark Knight, but does it really take having the right person in office to "inspire" you to be a better person? If so, what does that say about you?

Was it the dastardly George Bush that kept Hollywood from making all of those noble anti-war movies? Were they being "repressed" and "experiencing the violence inherent in the system?"



No, I don't think they were. Nobody actually went to see these movies, but nobody kept them from being made.

Did the Hitler-like George Bush keep the Dixie Chicks from shooting their mouths off over in Europe about their politics? No, I don't remember that either. I remember a public backlash over it, but just as they're free to spout their views, so people are also free to express their opinions of the Dixie Chicks' opinions by not listening to them, burning their records, or making any other kind of political statement they want to make about it.

Celebrities kept saying they were being "courageous" by "speaking truth to power." But true courage would have been risking being excluded from their celebrity cocktail parties and circle jerks by actually being for Bush. Nah, can't have that. I may not be invited to the right parties anymore.

Look, I don't really care what celebrities do or think about politics, as long as it doesn't affect me (or society in general). If Jon Voight wants to speak at the American Enterprise Institute or George Clooney wants to post liberal drivel at the Huffington Post, more power to them. I'd probably applaud Voight and laugh at Clooney, depending on what they said.

But if I'm paying $100 to listen to your music, and your music isn't political (if it is, then the audience knows what they're getting going in), then I don't want to hear your politics while you've got me captive in my seat. I didn't pay you $100 to try to convince me of something (and I'd say this about a conservative musician as well). As Laura Ingraham's book title says, "Shut up and sing."

As the joke goes (and this didn't happen, but it's still funny as hell):

Bono is at a U2 concert when he asks the audience for some quiet. Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands. Holding the audience in total silence, he says into the microphone... "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies." A voice from near the front pierces the silence... "Well, f***ing stop it then!"

Don't they understand that nobody really cares what they think? Celebrities came out in droves for Kerry in 2004. Look what that got them. And it resulted in some disparaging comments about Middle America from these same celebrities after that disappointment, if I remember correctly. They came out in droves for Obama in 2008, but given everything else that was involved in that election, I think it's doubtful that the celebrity endorsements had much impact.

As for the video, the whole thing is full of silliness and liberal platitudes. The fact that all of these things they must do just suddenly came to mind either speaks to their dis-ingenuousness or their mindset. Either way, it doesn't reflect well on them.

And Demi? Your vow to be a "servant to the President?" Newsflash: Presidents, congressmen, senators, all of those politicians? They represent us. They serve us. Not the other way around. I seem to remember we fought a war for just that reason, some 200 odd years ago (give or take 30). It's understandable you don't remember that. It didn't happen in the last 20 years.

Note: Iowahawk also has a terrific response to this video. Warning: there is some colourful language in it.