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Florida congressman Matt Gaetz is the kind of wise guy who’d get decked on a playground.
Today he caused trouble being stupid with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He’s rude and stupid.
Why is Gaetz so upset? A Florida PAC is running a searing ad against him back home, highlighting his sex, drugs, and money scandals. The people of Florida are not as stupid as he thinks.
See the two videos below:
Very awkward moment- Congressman Matt Gaetz tries to interrupt former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s interviews, taunting him “Hey Kevin, what night are you speaking?” pic.twitter.com/vE1W5FvTqH
If there’s a new John Carney film, things can’t be too bad.
Carney has given us only delightful musical movies including “Once” — a massive hit that became a Tony Award winning Broadway musical, plus “Begin Again,” and “Sing Street.”
Now Lions Gate has picked up his “Power Ballad,” starring Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers and the eternally young Paul Rudd.
There are songs, too, by Carney and UK pop tunesmith Gary Clark.
The film, which recently finished shooting in Dublin, focuses on a talented but past-his-prime wedding singer (Rudd) and a young rock star (Jonas) who uses the wedding singer’s songwriting prowess to revitalize his own career.
I hope Lions Gate will put some effort into this release. Carney’s last movie, “Flora and Son,” was kind of botched by Apple when it was released two years ago.
But Jonas and Rudd should be good selling points.
I loved Carney’s “Begin Again,” with Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley. The songs were by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois of the New Radicals. It should have been a monster hit. But Harvey Weinstein changed the title from “Can A Song Save Your Life?” to its bland successor, and that didn’t help.
By the way, where is Keira Knightley? I miss her!
“Power Ballad” is written by Carney and Peter McDonald. The very talented Anthony Bregman and Peter Cron are producing the film through their Likely Story banner, alongside Robert Walpole and Rebecca O’Flanagan for Treasure Entertainment, and Carney.
Vance first rose to public recognition in 2016 with his book, “Hillbilly Elegy.” The story of his life in Appalachia became a hit after it was picked up by the conservative press.
Then Ron Howard made a movie of it, and Vance was all over the place.
Now the book has zoomed back to number 1 on amazon following his anointment as Trump’s pick for vice president. Until yesterday it was completely off any charts, no one had thought of it or bought it in years.
Amazing.
“Hillbilly Elegy” was a hit some quarters, but reviled by many critics. (The movie was, too.)
Vance is accused by many reviewers — even reviewing the book today — of throwing the people of Appalachia under the bus to promote his agenda. He’s also accused of only spending summers there, and not knowing what he’s talking about.
But the book is back now. Expect to hear the people he wrote about speak up soon, and not in a good way.
In the last election cycle, Claudia Conway emerged on social media as a strong critic of Donald Trump and everything he stands for.
Claudia’s mother, Kellyanne, of course, is the Trump lackey who managed his campaign, spoke for him, and said a lot of stupid things including creating the term “alternative facts” and citing the nonexistent Battle of Bowling Green.
Now Claudia and her mom have returned to social media, with Claudia commenting on Kellyanne’s endorsement of JD Vance as Trump’s VP choice.
Kellyanne started, calling Vance “a new generation of America First warriors.”
Claudia retorted: “Thought he called Trump ‘Hitler’? He did. Thought he said he opposes marriage equality and abortions for r*pe and incest? ..Oh right he did.”
Robert Kennedy Jr. is “mortified” that a call he received from Donald Trump was leaked online.
Trump, on speaker phone, sounds like James Austin Johnson imitating him on “SNL.” (I wouldn’t be surprised if the call is fake.)
Kennedy has since Tweeted: “When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer. I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president.”
Good stuff!
A video of Trump’s call with RFK Jr. was leaked – Trump talks about vaccines, tells RFK Jr. doing something with him would be “big,” mentioned his call with Biden and said the bullet was like “the world’s largest mosquito.” RFK Jr apologized for the leak. pic.twitter.com/Z6DQ955P6W
Ben Stiller produced and stars in “Nutcrackers,” the opening night film for the Toronto Film Festival.
“Nutcrackers” is directed by David Gordon Green, and co-stars Linda Cardellini, Edi Patterson, Tim Heidecker and Toby Huss.
From its description, “Nutcrackers” sounds like a lighthearted family comedy, akin to “Baby Boom” and others in which a jaded city guy is forced to take on country kids and come to love them.
The Toronto Fest will close with Rebel Wilson’s “Deb,” which has a similar theme: jaded city high school girl must move to a small Australian town where she befriends a farm and learns o enjoy the simple pleasures of a debutante ball.
(I want to know where the movie is where a city person goes to the country for a weekend and leaves, vowing never to return?)
TIFF will be full of stars this September, with latest additions including Ron Howard’s “Eden,” a survival thriller directed by Ron Howard, starring Jude Law, Ana de Armas and Sydney Sweeney; and “K-POPS,” a dramatic comedy that takes inspiration from eight-time Grammy Award winner Anderson.Paak’s own life, bridging family lineages and cultures.
There will also be tributes to Cate Blanchett, Amy Adams, David Cronenberg. Sandra Oh is the chair of the TIFF fundraising gala.
J.D. Vance rose to fame as the author of the much maligned “Hillbilly Elegy.”
First it was a book in 2016, then “Hillbilly” became a Ron Howard movie for Netflix.
Now Vance, who successfully ran for the US Senate off the book and movie’s successes, to be his vice presidential running mate.
If Vance became president of the United States somehow, even the people who like him now will regret it.
When the movie came out, Vance was assailed as a fraud who turned his family and friends into stereotypes. The movie was panned on Rotten Tomatoes, and has a 25% rotten rating.
The book, despite Vance’s nonstop publicity, is low on the Amazon lists in both paperback and hardcover. The paperback is number 743,587. So far no one’s rushed to buy it now that Vance could be eligible to destroy the country. Let’s see what happens.
Here’s an excellent review of “Hillbilly Elegy” from a Kentucky website. Vance is portrayed in all the criticism of his book as an opportunist who threw everyone he knew under the bus. Now he’s got a chance to back the bus back over us.
More to come…
I’m the guy JD Vance sent the “America’s Hitler” text to in 2016. He was my roommate in law school.
Obviously he’s a sellout, but the bigger deal is he’s angry and vindictive. The perfect fit for Trump’s revenge.
JD’s rise is a triumph for angry jerks everywhere.
UPDATE 1:06pm– I’m told the schedule at MSNBC is “fluid.” Even though the regular shows beginning at 8pm won’t be on, we should be seeing Rachel Maddow as part of a group. It won’t be her commentary, as usual. Nicholle Wallace and Ari Melber are supposed to be on this afternoon. But it’s unclear. Everyone, by the way, is in New York. No one is in Milwaukee, so far.
keep refreshing…
EARLIER Fans of MSNBC are pretty angry today.
There was no “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
Later today, there’ll be no regular hosts like Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Ari Melber, et al.
Instead, MSNBC has chucked its popular hosts and shows for NBC coverage of the Republican National Convention.
A source tells me: “The standard convention week plan was for convention coverage all week so prime time shows were already preempted by convention coverage. Same with Dem convention week. that’s the way it has always been for every convention week.”
Meanwhile, Fox News and CNN stars are certain to be featured on all their convention programming.
MSNBC holds on by a thread courtesy of its show hosts. But they are a peculiar network, frightened to say the wrong thing in light of the Trump shooting over the weekend. Look for their numbers to plummet.
In a new photo shoot on Instagram, the Queen Bee is seen in front of record store bins. She’s stuck her “Cowboy Carter” album in front of copies of a lot of other rock stars’ albums. Including Madonna!
This seems to be Beyonce doing a little Grammy Award campaigning. Her album, “Cowboy Carter,” has been overshadowed since its release last spring by Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and others.
This might not be a good way to go. Sticking “Cowboy Carter” in front of the Madonna section of the record store seems a little provocative. Madonna fans may not be so thrilled.
Beyonce has an uphill battle getting to Album of the Year at next winter’s Grammys. She didn’t tour or do interviews to support the album when it was released. She didn’t sing a single note on a TV show.
In the end “Cowboy Carter” sold just 284,000 CDs, LPs, and downloads. Streaming bulked it up to 1.1 million.
The fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” is filming now.
They’re still in the middle of their work, so it will be some time before the Duffer Brothers, et al show us how they wrapped up their supernatural hit.
But Netflix sent along this behind the scenes clip for our enjoyment. Better to watch than TV coverage of the RNC!