You might be able to fool the general public about the success of the Palin propaganda film "The Undefeated," but you CAN'T fool the movie critics!

Image courtesy of the amazing Love and Knishes.

From Box Office Mojo:

Normally, a movie with such poor box office would not receive story coverage on Box Office Mojo, but the furor over The Undefeated calls for an injection of truth.

Even before The Undefeated bottomed out in its second weekend, the movie was a bust in its first weekend, but its boosters latched onto two stats: per-theater average and ranking among political documentaries. The classic tactics of movie spin include bragging about per-theater average and declaring a high ranking in a niche category. The funny thing is that Undefeated's opening didn't rate highly on either front, making the spin extra-egregious.

Within the minor political documentary sub-genre, The Undefeated's $6,532 opening weekend per-theater average ranked 33rd out of the 91 limited openings tracked over the past 30 years, normalized for ticket price inflation. Among all documentaries, it was in the middle of the pack. Hardly worthy of hyperbole. Even if it had little to no advertising, Undefeated had far more media coverage than most other political documentaries and independent releases could ever dream of. The awareness was there.

Undefeated boosters ran with the notion that the movie's opening had the "second highest per-theater average of the weekend, behind only Harry Potter," but the movie was actually sixth in that metric. They also latched onto a press release about how The Undefeated averaged "above $11,000 in top markets." But averages are naturally higher in top markets (that's why they're "top markets") and, without context (how it compared to other movies' grosses in those markets), that was a meaningless statistic.

It's extremely myopic to believe that having one of the higher per-theater averages on a given weekend means a movie is a success, and The Undefeated's second weekend bore that out. Indeed, "per-theater average" is one of the most overrated stats. For limited releases, the most receptive locations are cherry-picked with the purpose to impress with a high per-theater average in order to book more markets. The fewer the theaters, the easier it is to have a higher average.

To put these numbers into further perspective: The Undefeated's ten theaters on opening weekend yielded 159 showings. Using the current average ticket price of $7.86, that means the movie played to an estimated 52 people per average showing or at about one-fifth to one-quarter capacity. In the movie's second weekend, which had 211 showings, the per-showing average attendance dropped to 15.

Damn, I like how this guy Brandon Gray left absolutely NO doubt that this movie was an unmitigated disaster. 


Not really much argument left is there?


Which makes THIS, seem just that much more pathetic.



The path to the White House runs through the theaters across America showing this film.

We need to sell those theaters out! No more excuses, no more complaints. Let’s show the world why we support her. Show them this film! We need your help to make this happen. We can’t sit silently anymore. Now we must act.

Special incentives:

Each Youth For Palin's Youth Brigade member will receive special rewards including $$ compensation and/or a donation to our group (your choice). special recognition, and other items.

Game On!

Personally I think that any parent who encourages their child to pimp this move for Snowdrift Snooki should be brought up on charges of child abuse.


It finally dawned on me who the Palin-bots who are refusing to see the writing on the walls about Palin's pathetic propaganda piece remind me of.  They remind me of those Japanese soldiers who stayed at their posts for decades because they did not realize the war was over.

Marcus Bachmann gives interview to explain away allegations made aboutt him, his wife, and their clinic. Oh, and he is "flaming" mad too!

Michele Bachmann's husband Marcus Bachmann, agreed to an interview with the Star Tribune.

Here is Marcus Bachmann's response to the allegations that his clinic engages in reparative therapy:

"This individual came to us under a false pretense,'' Bachmann said. "The truth of the matter is he specifically asked for help.''

And the help he received was to repress who he was and live his life in total denial, for all eternity. Gee now WHY does that remind me of somebody?


 On calling gays "barbarians":

Bachmann said that someone must have doctored the recording of the interview, in which he addressed child discipline as well as homosexuality and sex education.

The recording also became a focus of media attention this week, including ABC's "Nightline."

"I was talking in reference to children. Nothing, nothing to do with homosexuality. That's not my mindset. That's not my belief system. That's not the way I would talk," Bachmann said.

"I think the strongest myth. ... is the myth that I have ever called a homosexual a barbarian," Bachmann said

Unfortunately for Marcus I am not sure that Americans are going to be that much happier with the idea of their children being called "barbarians" by a grown man.

Besides the blogger who first posted the video, states unequivocally that it was NOT doctored in any way.

In response to news that the Bachmann clinics accept federal Medicaid funds, while his wife attacks government funding:

Bachmann said federal and state subsidies flow to his business because it doesn't discriminate against patients in subsidized health-care programs.

"It's low income. It's people who are on limited income," Bachmann said. "It is a lower-paying insurance. It's not a money maker. ... So, gee, we get criticized because we take it. And somehow they tie it all in, into my wife because she's the big proponent of less taxes and less programs and so forth.

"So, over and over the bell rings about how we take this federal money," he continued. "Oooh, how evil that is. And I say to you: 'No. It would be evil not to.'"

"There are many grants that are just not that wise. This one actually made a lot of sense," Bachmann said. He said his business lost money by accepting the grant because the training kept employees from seeing clients.

"It had to go and rightfully so, totally to the employees. It didn't go into the pot where Bachmann & Associates could collect, receive, so that we could go on a little vacation or go to wherever," he said.

So it is okay to take government funds for providing widely discredited counseling, while your wife stands on a soapbox decrying government waste, because it "actually made a lot of sense?"


Well I guess it is not technically fraud unless Dr. Bachmann is not really a doctor of Psychology, but that would be crazy tal...wait what is that you say?

On his website Dr. Bachmann states he’s had 23 years experience. Simple math brings us to the year 1988. If Dr. Bachmann’s Ph.D. was completed prior to this date, he might have graduated from The Union Graduate School which offered ONLY a Ph.D. in Arts and Sciences. If he graduated later than 1986, then he would have graduated from The Union Institute (1986), or The Union Institute and University (2001) and his Ph.D. would have been in Interdisciplinary Studies.

Ohhh!  Well that is not good.  But I guess as long as he is a licensed clinician he should be fin...what...seriously?

Bachmann is not a licensed psychologist in Minnesota, but state law has allowed unlicensed therapists to see patients. According to the Bachmann & Associates website, he has been a clinical therapist in the Twin Cities for more than 20 years.

Unbelievable. These people may in fact be grifters ALMOST on the same level as the Palin Traveling Circus, and Baby Factory.


By the way, for any of you who might be interested, the Bachmann's just came out with a video to explain their views on marriage.

Arrogance

Hola! Everybody...
We watched the inauguration at work yesterday as a community in what we call the “community conference room.” I work for a non-profit, community-based organization (CBO) whose mission so to fight for “economic and social justice.” I work around progressive-minded people, but even within that environment, I find resistance to any substantive discussion of racism...

* * *

-=[ Privilege and Resistance ]=-

Yesterday, at least two white people called me a racist outright or implied it. One took issue with my use of the term “white racism,” the other informed me that pointing out racism is itself racist.

I love all people regardless of skin color, but it never stops to amaze me the extent of ignorance some whites possess when it comes to race. For example, for some whites, yesterday had nothing to do with Obama being an African American. Either it wasn’t important, or emphasizing Obama’s race was proof positive that I suffer from some form of pathology. In psychology, this is called projection.

I am also aware that many whites still entertain racist notions of what it means to be a person of color. I know this because my subjective experience has been borne out through the systematic study of the issue. I call it the “black holes of ignorance.”

Someone suggested that we should perhaps forget about skin color. My response to that was to question if a person of color really has that luxury. It was pointed out to me that saying something like that is itself racist.

SMDH

Allow me to clarify: I conceptualize racism in structural and institutional as well as individual terms. My definition of racism describes a system of oppression of African Americans and other people of color by white Europeans and white Americans. There is no black racism because there is no centuries-old system of racial domination designed by African Americans that excludes white Americans from full participation in the rights, privileges, and benefits of this society. Racism requires not only a widely accepted racist ideology but also the systematic power to exclude people of color from opportunities and major economic rewards.

I could sing kumbaya till the cows come home, but when we go our separate ways, a person of color suffers, while a white person benefits from racism. I find it the height of arrogance and condescension that a white person would exhort me to be less conscious of race.

It is a well-worn cliché that the last thing a fish notices is the water. Similarly, we take the air we breathe for granted, just as European Americans take their race as a given -- as normal. While it is true that white Americans may face difficulties in their lives -- with finances and family, for example -- race is not one of them. Whites can afford to be nonchalant about race because they cannot see how this society produces advantages for them because these benefits appear so natural they are taken for granted. They literally do not see how race permeates America’s institutions and how it affects the distribution of opportunity and wealth.

For blacks, Latino/as, and other people of color in the U.S., the same culture, laws, economy, institutions, and rules of the game are not as automatically comfortable and legitimate. In a white-dominated society, with color come problems...

I’ve had up to...

::here::

... with people getting testy around the “race issue.” If you don’t like it, don’t befriend me -- leave -- and don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. If discussing race in a frank and intelligent way offends you, then get off my friends’ list. Fuck you and the white horse you rode in on.

That’s the way I feel about it.

I am light-skinned with blue eyes and the easiest thing for me would be to deny racism and just enjoy the benefits that my European features afford me, but I can’t. I have this thing with truth and being true to myself, I just can’t keep quiet, and I pay a personal and professional price for my outspokenness. So fuck you and your hurt feelings, there are lives at stake here.

I am also sick and tired of the fact that if I call attention to the way we are treated or to racial inequality, if I try to change the way advantage is distributed, if I try to adjust the rules of the game, white Americans see me as a troublemaker asking for special privileges.

Black holes of ignorance...

Eddie

Sunday Sermon [Defensiveness]

¡Hola! Everybody…
I liked the way it was in high school when you just simply asked someone to be yours. It was either a “yes” or a “no,” and that was that. No ambiguity, there it was in stark black and white:

Boyfriend/ Girlfriend

“She’s my girlfriend.”

“He’s my boyfriend.”

LOL!

She called to tell me she was coming and that was that. I have to love her tenacity. As I begin to write this, she’s sleeping, but I’m up, so, like, who’s yo daddy, now?!! LOL

I thought it was Monday…

* * *

-=[ Defensiveness ]=-

I learned a valuable lesson when I took to heart (and integrated) the following advice:

If it bothers you that much, then there’s something there you need to look at more honestly.

I wanted to defend against that advice because (goddammit!) there are exceptions to the rule!

I have since learned that even when you feel justified, it is always best to look honestly at whatever issue is renting space in your head. It could be that there’s nothing there. On the other hand, it could be that perhaps you’re annoyed because there’s an element of truth.

Sometimes…

U believe what’s important is that energy that raises the need to be defensive about anything. As soon as we go there, we’ve aligned ourselves with delusion. We’re grasping at castles in the air. In Buddhism, attachment to this notion of “me” is considered the most profound of all suffering. And it is this attachment that often causes us to defend. We will fight to the bitter end to defend who “we” are.

But who are you, really?

::blank stare::

Fear compels us to put up our defenses. It gives us the illusion that we are safe, hidden here behind all the armor. But genuine safety occurs only when you lay your defenses down. Living openly is to know true peace and safety. This is joy… Christians call this state of mind grace, and spiritual traditions from many cultures throughout history have called this by many names.

To defend your self must be frightening, isn’t it? I mean, what if you’re… wrong!

OMIGAWD!

Defense comes from fear, and every time you increase your defenses, you increase your fear. You walk around thinking it offers safety and all it does is it makes you more anxious, and more depressed. It’s like Microsoft always having to pull out patches because it refuses to open up its source language. Yet, all open-source software is light years ahead of Microsoft in terms of security!

I just thought of that analogy! Dang! LOL

Defenses are the fool’s gold of those mad with the need to defend themselves. In actuality, if you want safety, peace of mind, and boundless joy, all you have to do is drop the bullshit defenses. Think of how much more energy you will be able to spend on creative shit when you stop defending your bullshit.

Moreover, believe me: most of the shit you’re defending is bullshit, but you will defend it to the very end. Or maybe not. Perhaps when you’re old and wrinkly, you’ll finally get it. I hope you get it before then.

If you want truth and certainty, as well as a sense of purpose al that is required is that you drop the defenses. Perhaps there is some truth that you’re spoiled, self-centered, and a terrible and inconsiderate lover!

So what?!! Welcome to the real world, Brainiac, we’re all imperfect up in here, though we spend a lot of time and energy denying it.

I like the way put it down south: you can put lipstick on a pig but… LOL!

You create the world you live in through your mental grasping. We create all these stories to defend our sense of self, but that’s all a lie, and you must know this somewhere deep inside. Want to know why people create fantasy lives on the internet? One of the major reasons is that their defending themselves from some irrational fear. They are mad with fear.

The good thing is that your defenses will not work… ever. You will be exposed… always. But you’re not in danger, sweetie, you never were. You have need for the defenses. When you truly recognize that you are safe, the obstacles to your happiness – your defenses – will disappear.

Now, I have to pay attention to the Kitten and go to the beach…

Love,

Eddie