Some people get it, some people don't.

Over the last week or so, I've seen some stories in major news media about the things I've been ranting about here.  First out of the gate was the "Summer of Blah Blockbusters" over at CNN.com that actually repeated what I had written about in my posts called "Prequels" and "The 80's Reboot".  I'm just grateful that someone else feels like I do!

Then the cherry was placed on the cake when the LA Times went to town on how pathetic our movie-going experience has become with Variety's supposed list of Oscar Nominees...

Ah yes, as you can guess, I've been spending quite the bit of time over on the LATimes.com entertainment section.  I like their staff, it's filled with really good writers.  Most of all, they really share my point of view, which is even better!  After most of the articles I read, I keep sitting here going, "No shit, ya think?" Yeah, and like the writers at the L.A. Times,  I'm becoming less and less impressed with the movie going choices that we're being given.  As my friend Larry said, "Who can afford to go?"  Amen Larry, amen.

Now, I'll be the first to say, there are some actors I like (reference my top 5 list), and for my friend Martie's sake, I'll add in Gerald Butler because I agree with Martie, he is good eye candy.  Those guys can fairly efficiently get me into a theater seat. 

But there are actors I just don't like.  Please don't ask me to, because they're guys I just look at and give a resounding UGH.  It's guys like Leonardo DiCaprio (takes himself far too seriously), Edward Norton (he just seems slimy to me), Tom Cruise (for the 15 million ways he's so f-'ed up), Jude Law (don't gasp, he's cute but way too overplayed) and Shia LeBouf (how many ways can you play a neurotic teenager?  And let's not forget the bomb of "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" where he was hoping to get passed the iconic fedora.  Don't even think it boy, hands off the hat.)

But then there's Mel.  Oy veh.  That guy is one I used to easily slap down my $7.75 to go see, but now, it doesn't look like he'll be seeing the light of day, much less the illumination of a film projector, any time soon.

As of late, the LA Times has been all over Mel Gibson.  The guy made a mess, and I don't think there is any human way possible that he can dig himself out this time.  Common sense dictates that there are just some words you just don't say and well, Mel has said them all.  Even his agency has dropped him.  It's the phrase, and you know it, so say it with me...

"Make your words kind, gentle and tasteful, for one day, you may be forced to eat them."

And oh, is Mel having to step up to the table.  Part of me feels really sorry for the guy, but only to a point.  I really do like him as an actor.  My favorite role he ever did was as Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon movies.  They're funny and he portrayed Martin as a really fragile hearted guy who just wanted to be loved, but beware if you piss him off.  I'm like that!  I resonated with it!  I know plenty of girls who wanted to be swept away in all of Riggs' passion.  I cheered when they paired Lorna (Rene Russo) with Martin.  It was a great paring that the studios brought back for "Ransom".  And for a while, everyone loved the guy.  But with the utterance of the very VERY naughty word, I'm wondering what Danny Glover might be thinking right around now.  How could any of us have known that Riggs was so close to the real Mel?

But, as the Sophomore in all of us knows, all good things must come to an end and let's face it, Mel's not aging well.  You know, I really do want to like him, but his mouth is making it VERY hard for me to do so!  With his latest rants so publicly displayed, I can't really respect him anymore because his mouth has uttered the phrases that go directly against what I stand for, which is tolerance, kindness and a whole lot of patience.  When it comes to those three things, Mel just doesn't have it.  That any guy thinks it's ok to hit a girl?  Ok, that just puts Mel on the unspeakables list and Hollywood sure hasn't missed a beat on that one.

Now, I'm one to argue that his personal life and views have really nothing to do with the characters he creates on screen or behind the camera.  It's just like you or me, we have things we like, we have things we dislike, but when we talk about things we don't like or have not so tasteful words for things we disdain, we all have the common sense to not get them overheard or plastered all over mainstream media.  But, that's the catch.  We're not famous, we're just ordinary Joe's; what we say behind the scenes effectively stays there until someone opens their trap and violates our trust.  More importantly, most of us rational humans won't succumb to our primal urge to hit people, even if they *do* deserve it.  It's called walking away.  Sad thing is, some people just can't.

But being tabloid fodder should be nothing new to someone famous.  After all, there are people like Paris Hilton *shudder* who do things to purposefully BE tabloid fodder and use it for the purpose of BECOMING famous.  Now, the Paris Hilton's, the Jersey Shore crew and the like, all get placed in the mental trash can as soon as I see it.  I've got no room and no use for it.  There's really no nutritional value in it, junk food or not.  I don't eat the wrappers off my junk food, why should we be forced to in the media?

But back to Mel.  I really want to shake my fists at him and go "MEL!  You're making it impossible for us to like you!  Shut UP!  Don't speak!  Maybe never again in a public venue!  Do your talking via the screen, pal! You're divorced.  Do what the rest of us divorceés do and lay low for a while!"  Oh no, what did he do?  As soon as he got divorced, he got a hold of a supermodel.  *facepalm* Not a genius thing to do when you're die-hard Catholic and under the very scrutinizing eye of the media!  If ya wanted a nun Mel, you should have gone into the priesthood and given your life to God and his strict "no touching" policy.  Mel's girlfriend was pretty AND she was going to red carpet events with him, in which it kind of goes without saying that you need to look your very best and very fashionable. It's a part of the territory.  Jeez!  No, Mel didn't think about how his first wife was feeling back when he was young and dashing, where even films like "L.A. Story" with Steve Martin had people imagining that they were in bed with Mel Gibson.  Did he not, for a moment, go out onto a limb and think that his wife might think HE was whoring himself out way back when, even going so far as to think that HE was the one who needed a punch in the mouth?  Dunno...I'll leave you to speculate on that for a moment.  But ooh, it does hurt when the shoe goes on the other foot, doesn't it?

We all get mad at our ex's.  I'll be the first one to raise my hand and say I've had no kind words at one point or another about my ex.  Yes, we all rant and tirade, but we calm down and accept it and it stops after a while.  Mel, however, doesn't seem like a guy who can just let it go.  I think he may need to sit for a counselling session with KP and learn how to build a bridge and get over it.  We've all had messy breakups.  No one is immune from them.  What we do to clean up the mess in the aftermath is what counts.

Well, at least, we can take the nutritional value out of all of this by saying that some people get it, some people don't; common sense isn't all that common and well, people are waking up and realizing that the movie factories need to be placing their money on something that will inspire us to go to a theater!

One more note and I'll wrap it up for the day:  Good luck to those going to Comic-Con. Have a great time, use public transportation when you can and I hope you got a room in the Gas Light District of San Diego.