Perhaps unwittingly, idiot arsonists probably started the Pacific Palisades fire. I know nothing, but a voice in the back of my mind is whispering that the new Hughes fire was almost certainly ignited by one or more sociopaths. The only way this really stops is a decent rain, but are the odds? Let’s not even think about the possibility of more Ventura County fires causing havoc in Fillmore, Santa Paula, Camarillo, etc.

President Trump having pardoned all of the 1.6.21 animal hooligans..the low-life assaulters, window-smashers and defecating slimeballs who invaded the U.S. Capitol a little more than four years ago…it doesn’t get much more reprehensible than this. Ditto the righty legislators and commentators who’ve stated their approval of same. Mad militias, political goon squads, vigilante mob rule…go for it, guys!

In a 1.16.25 Protect Democracy poll, it was reported that (a) 73% of Americans oppose pardons for those convicted of assaulting Capitol Police officers, including 54% of Republicans, (b) 56% of Americans oppose pardons for those convicted of organizing and directing violence on January 6th; and (c) 55% of Americans oppose pardons for those convicted of crimes by a federal court. And Trump has decided to let them all skate.

In the wake of Sebastian Stan being Best Actor-nominated for his Donald Trump performance in The Apprentice, new critical light is being sher on “those small-minded, quarter-inch-deep publicists who forbade their clients from participating in a Variety ‘Actors on Actors’ segment with Stan” last November.

Stan: “I had an offer to do Variety‘s Actors on Actors, [but] I couldn’t find another actor to do it with me. [I’m] not pointing at anyone specific, but we couldn’t get past the publicists or the people representing them because they were too afraid to talk about this movie.”

Paul Schrader once told me in an interview that “cowardice doesn’t require a conspiracy“…meaning that cowardice springs up naturally on its own…it’s a trait that’s built into people or certainly built into the less secure.

It goes without saying that none of the twitchy reps who kept their clients from chatting with Stan for the proposed ‘Actors on Actors’ segment will ever admit to having done so, and even if exposed they sure as hell won’t explain what exactly their thinking may have been at the time.

But if just one of these publicists were to come forward and make a clean breast of things by admitting to having wimped out, I would take my hat off in respect. What are the odds of this happening? Zilch.

From HE’s “Apprentice Is Pure Pleasure,” posted from Cannes on 5.20.24:

“‘All hail Sebastian Stan‘s Trump, a note-perfect capturing of this amiable, malevolent psychopath, who apparently exuded a certain naivete and behaved in a semi-understandable fashion and may have been half-human when he was working in a senior capacity for his father’s real-estate company in the ’70s.’

“Last May Variety‘s Tatiana Siegel quoted an ‘insider’ saying that ‘audiences may find The Apprentice to be an oddly humanizing portrait’ of Trump. Excuse me? Young Trump seems like a semi-tolerable fellow at first, but he gradually morphs into a fuckhead…a killer. The truth is that Abassi’s film is an oddly humanizing portrait of Cohn as it invites the audience to share Cohn’s sense of betrayal…you actually feel sorry for this icon of evil when Trump gives him the cold shoulder.

“Strong’s Cohn is magnificent — he should definitely win the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor prize, the size of the role be damned. Cohn to Trump at film’s halfway point: ‘You’ve got a fat ass. You should do something about that.’ Strong is wonderful!”

8:48 am: Sebastian Stan‘s Donald Trump performance has also been nominated for Best Actor! A triumphant Apprentice moment, and shame on those small-minded, quarter-inch-deep publicists who forbade their clients from participating in a Variety “Actors on Actors” segment with Stan.

Stop Emilia Perez and Karla Sofia Gascon, stop Emilia Perez and Karla Sofia Gascon, Stop Emilia Perez and Karla Sofia Gascon, etc.

HE strongly approves of Conclave‘s Isabella Rossellini being nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

What happened to Hard Truths’ Marianne Jean-Baptiste snagging a Best Actress nom? I’ll tell ya what happened. One, nobody saw it. Two, Jean-Baptiste’s character was too pissed off, too hardcore, too Donna Downer.

HE strongly disapproves of Queer‘s Daniel Craig having been elbowed aside by Sing Sing‘s Colman Domingo in the Best Actor category. Nobody saw or much liked Sing Sing (be honest), and Domingo was nominated mainly because of (a) the widely-agreed-upon necessity of nominating at least one person of color in major categories, if at all viable, and (b) that sensitive-watery-eyes thing that Domingo uses all the time.

Stan and Strong aside, the morning’s big wow is Walter Salles‘ I’m Still Here being nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best International Film.

The Best Director nomination that went to The Substance‘s Coralie Fergeat (gender tokenism) apparently bumped the entirely deserved and 100% necessary Best Director nomination for Conclave‘s Edward Berger. Stern disapproval. Gender tokenism would not have been a factor if Babygirl‘s Halina Reijn has been Best Director nominated — it would have simply been deserved.

A Real Pain obviously should have been among the ten Best Picture nominees. Yes, Pain‘s Kieran Culkin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but this was locked in several months ago.

We all knew Angelina Jolie‘s bad personal karma (i.e., encouraging court-mandated hostility against Brad Pitt) had eliminated any chance of her Maria Callas performance landing a Best Oscar nom, but now, glory be to God, this is an official, AMPAS-certified reality.