And Here's Another Dope

His name is Glenn Lovell and he writes about film under some column called "CinemaDope."   Well, he's got it half right.  Frankly, I've never heard of the guy until I wandered into his op ed piece published in the LA Times.   A little research tells me he has a couple of books, a lot of articles, and what not dedicated to film.  He also teaches at a couple of small colleges with names that are a mystery to me.

It's fitting that he's a member of academia because that rhymes with macadamia and he's nuts.

In the aforementioned op ed article that got my attention, Lovell was writing about the upcoming Oscars.   His theory was that the front runner "La La Land" is too lightweight to be Best Picture.   He contends that the movie has no message.   Okay, at its heart, I think the film does have something to say that is quite universal across all people, regardless of race, gender, or religion.  Okay, Glenn, we agree to disagree.

But it's how Lovell arrives at his theory which astounds me.  You see, he argues that, since the Academy made a major membership push toward diversity last year, there are a bunch more members who are wanting the Best Picture of the year to be something of substance.   LIke "Moonlight" or "Fences."   Okay, while I wouldn't debate the former's worthiness, the latter was, to me, a misguided mess that took a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and turned it into a Denzel Washington vanity project.   Of course, Lovell's background suggests that his argument is pretty standard.   Carefully, Glenn, your bleeding heart is getting all over the carpet.

Lovell's conclusion is that "La La Land" will suffer from a backlash against Donald Trump.  WTF.   One more time, nobody is allowed to have nice things anymore.   It's like a couple of my Facebook friends who, when commenting on the recent passing of Mary Tyler Moore, could not resist tying some anti-Trump venom into their tributes.

This is how far we have come unglued.   And Glenn Lovell is the perfect example of that.   What makes it worse is that there are students being subjected to such one-sided debates.   If you're a parent and your kid is going to Fred's University and Hardware Store or wherever it is this lummox is on the faculty, you might want to suggest that your child take a Math or English class instead.

One more example of how the idiots are now running the asylum.

Dinner last night:  Marinated steak sandwich at Cafe D'Etoile.