13 Comments

If your raison d’être is fame, it will destroy you. Look at what’s happened to Blake Lively.

I like the attitude of Ricky Gervais towards Hollywood actors and the elite. He is irreverent, has little respect for any of them because they never earned any.

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Gervais is also incredibly industrious and built his own career, so he enjoys autonomy that most actors don’t have. Wish there were more like him.

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Yes, he has a lot of artistic license because he doesn’t need the money. But I’m not so sure money was ever a driver for him, which probably helped a lot.

He lives in one of my favorite parts of London though, obscenely expensive, so it has its perks.

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Gervais and Chappelle are very funny, but at some point they always take a knee. Adam Carolla never takes a knee.

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Here’s a poem I discovered just this morning along with its author Saxon White Kessinger. Hollywood may benefit from what some may say is depressing, but what I feel is freeing:

“Indispensable Man”

Saxon White Kessinger

Sometime when you’re feeling important;

Sometime when your ego’s in bloom

Sometime when you take it for granted

You’re the best qualified in the room,

Sometime when you feel that your going

Would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow these simple instructions

And see how they humble your soul;

Take a bucket and fill it with water,

Put your hand in it up to the wrist,

Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining

Is a measure of how you’ll be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter,

You may stir up the water galore,

But stop and you’ll find that in no time

It looks quite the same as before.

The moral of this quaint example

Is do just the best that you can,

Be proud of yourself but remember,

There’s no indispensable man.

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They knew Trump wasn't Hitler, but in Hollywood (as in other elite precincts), Godwin's Law prevails. Groupthink über alles.

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Many people are pretending, they are completely drowned out by the True Believers.

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Excellent!

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Thank you!

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🎯

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Succinctly put.

Nothing is more mind boggling than the scolding.

I knew there was a cultural shift coming in the entertainment industry when the cast of Hamilton called out the duly elected VP, days after the 2016 election.

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Well said….

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Well said, Clifton! I echo many of your sentiments.

Another facet of the modern Star is the steady march toward their performing likenesses being harnessed through CGI and AI technologies. Dead or alive—they could perform ad infinitum.

Producer types: "Create a 95-minute buddy comedy starring John Belushi and Ryan Reynolds as imposter priests in a South American fishing village. Alan Rickman is their nemesis. Salma Hayek is the love interest of Reynolds and Rickman whom they battle over."

That's an oversimplification, but I'm sure you get my point. If you haven't seen "The Congress" yet, I recommend you check it out.

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