On 3.11 (Friday) HE noted that feminist Asian-Canadian wokesters had called for the decapitation of Cinemablend critic Sean O’Connell, partly because he panned Domee Shi‘s animated feature and partly because he seemed to dismiss it along “racist” and “sexist” lines. (I don’t agree with that assessment, but what do I know?) Now, however, Joe and Jane Popcorn have pretty much sided with McConnell, giving the Disney+ release a 65% rating — a significant difference from the obsequious 95% rating bestowed by critics.

Yesterday Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke became the first major Democratic Party figurehead to explicitly come out against the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in schools. He said it in so many words during a town-hall-styled meeting in Victoria, Texas, a small town northeast of Corpus Christi.

I’ve listened to the video six or seven times — Beto definitely said this.

Until yesterday no big-name Democrat had stood up and said “ixnay” to the wokesters on CRT and equity in schools, which were (a) huge losing issues for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe last November and (b) vaguely contributed to the ejection of three woke Democratic school board members in San Francisco a few weeks ago. This is a very significant thing. Everyone has been saying that Democrats need to step away from CRT or face defeat in next November’s mid-terms — this is the first leak in the dyke.

I’m surprised….well, not that surprised that Beto’s statement hasn’t been reported by CNN or MSNBC or The New York Times.

Reported on 3.12.22: “O’Rourke spoke to a crowd of Texas in Victoria on Friday, where he was asked about critical race theory’s appropriateness for being taught in grade schools. O’Rourke at first dodged the issue, telling a crowd member that the concepts of CRT are not being taught in schools at present.

“‘And I think you and I are probably on the same page as well. We don’t see CRT being taught in our schools right now. It is a course that is taught in law schools,’ O’Rourke said.

“Immediately after his comment, a member of the audience asked if O’Rourke supported CRT in schools, to which the gubernatorial candidate said, ‘No, I don’t think [CRT] should be taught in our schools.’

Posted on 2.16.22: Remember those woke nutcase San Francisco school supervisors who made headlines in early ’21 by announcing plans to remove the names of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from local schools (among others), and who were also big equity supporters (i.e., make the grading system easier for BIPOC students in order to address allegedly unfair advantages enjoyed by smarter kids who get better grades)?

And remember how Glenn Youngkin beat Terry McAuliffe in last November’s Virginia Governors race because McAuliffe endorsed the teaching of critical race theory in Virginia schools, and particularly because he implied parents who shared concerns along these lines were racist?

Well, the same thing has happened in ultra-liberal San Francisco, of all places. Those woke school board members — school board President Gabriela López, members Alison Collins and Faauuga Moliga — have been removed from their positions “over a failure to reopen schools last year” due to virus restrictions and particularly due to “unpopular actions aimed at advancing racial justice.”

Its not just that I associate this political Newsweek cartoon with the early ‘90s. (Obviously.). It’s been pasted to an office door for 30+ years, and there’s something about chuckling at the predatory jungle atmosphere of Washington, D.C….it’s hard to put into words but this image somehow makes me feel all mushy inside. I love the Quayle hair between the deer ears.

HE is about to drive back Los Angeles. I had a smooth and enjoyable time here, and I hope my reporting about the various SBIFF events helped to some extent. Thanks to Roger Durling, managing director Sean Pratt and hospitality director Sherry Stimatz. Cheers and farewell. I promise to drive carefully.

Last night the Santa Barbara Film Festival had a special 10-years-after screening of Silver Linings Playbook, the greatest, funniest and edgiest feel-good romcom of the 21st Century. And then SBIFF honcho Roger Durling interviewed director David O. Russell and editor Jay Cassidy.

And the whole night was beautiful — re-watching it, listening to David and Jay’s recollections, recalling that big Toronto Film Festival debut and the Soho House after-party, and what a truly happy time 2012 was for Hollywood Elsewhere (and perhaps for millions of others)…a glorious feeling of engagement, flush wellness, reasonably high spirits and casual bon ami with everyone…Barack Obama was running for re-election and it was five or six years before woke horror…the terror!…descended and turned Hollywood life into a kind of early 1950s Commie-purge nightmare.

I wanted to speak with DOR at the after-party and share and radiate the usual usual, but somehow I sensed that strolling over and saying “hey, David” might not be a great idea. Tiny little needles were telling me that. Russell was friendly ten years ago, but he sure wasn’t last night. But it was mostly me. I’m funny that way. There’s a part of me that doesn’t feel all that good about social engagement…a part that would prefer to just go home and write about stuff and shine the face-time.

If I had manned up and managed to speak with Russell, you know what I might have asked him? Danny Elfman‘s Silver Linings score is one of the greatest ever composed, and I’m sure Russell agreeds with me. But you know what I might have asked about? His reaction to those recent photos of Mrs. Danny Elfman.

I know — stupid idea. It goes without saying that his response would have been totally private, but he wouldn’t have responded anyway because questions like that are out of bounds when it comes to chatting with someone like myself. I understand that, of course. But everyone was talking about it, and you know that Russell and his colleagues had reactions. This is why I don’t like going up to famous guys. Because certain things I might want to discuss would be “off-limits” (i.e., the famous guy would be afraid to share an honest opinion) and it’s like this weird dance…mention this but don’t mention that, and keep in mind which subjects are okay to mention and blah-dee-blah. It’s exhausting.

I still seethe, by the way, when I think back to the HE hate chorus that went after SLP, and the many hours I spent arguing with them and telling them how completely full-of-shit they were.

During the screening I was thinking back to that ridiculous Claude Brodesser-Akner Vulture piece that asked “Can the Romantic Comedy Be Saved?“.

HE response: “I’ve never called Silver Linings Playbook a romantic comedy, although it is comedic and unmistakably romantic at the end, and it does, to its detractors’ discomfort, use a familiar and formulaic romcom-type ending (although David O. Russell shapes and renders it in a novel, engaging, live-wire way). It’s a much smarter and deeper thing than your typical Kate Hudson or Katherine Heigel film, for sure, and much more skillfully made. But you wouldn’t be wildly off if you called it a ‘romantic comedy.’

“I would call Silver Linings a manic romantic dramedy about anxiety, obsession, family and sports-betting superstition. It obviously doesn’t walk or talk and go for the easy-lay emotion like the other romcoms, but it’s certainly an oddball cousin in the family.

“Which is why I find it staggering that Vulture‘s Claude Brodesser-Akner posted a piece today called ‘Can the Romantic Comedy Be Saved?,’ and he didn’t even MENTION Silver Linings Playbook.

“My first thought after I caught SLP in Toronto was ‘finally, a romantic comedy that I can not only stand but I actually like…this is how they should be made!” Brodesser-Akner could have disagreed and written that SLP actually isn’t a romcom and explained why, or mentioned it as a genre outlier or whatnot. But he doesn’t even acknowledge its EXISTENCE.

“To Brodesser-Akner SLP is so far outside the bounds of what a romantic comedy is that he doesn’t even acknowledge that Russell’s film at least vaguely qualifies for the reasons I mentioned above. He doesn’t even bring it up for the purpose of dismissing it. Amazing! Because he’s dead blind.”

We know it’s fake, but it’s pretty good. And chilling — we all get the point. It’s fairly amazing to consider the Roland Emmerich– or Michael Bay-level CG fakery that’s available these days to almost any enterprising online hoodwinker.

“The same thing with the race…with the CRT [critical race theory] thing. I feel like it’s disingenuous when the liberals say, you know, ‘We just want to teach history.’ And like, no one’s against…well, I’m sure there some fuckin’ rednecks who are against [this] but most reasonable people are not against realistically teaching history. It’s not like you can’t mention slavery. They’re telling you about something else that is going on.

“I’ve read too many reports, too many first-person reports from teachers who say, ‘I can’t go on teaching like this because this is insanity what I’m doing in this classroom, separating kids by race and oppressors and non-oppressors. And they’re little kids.”

The fabled “Summer of Love” happened from May to September of ‘67…okay?

…if you happen to be on domestic terms with an admirer of Vladimir Putin as well as one who repeats his bullshit about the Ukrainian government being run by Nazis and whatnot…well, that’s kinda like living with Madison Cawthorn.

…and do you care that three big awards ceremonies are happening this weekend? The Directors Guild Awards are happening Saturday, and we all know that’s a lock for The Power of the Dog‘s Jane Campion along with The Lost Daughter‘s Maggie Gyllenhaal for First-Time Feature. Then comes the BAFTA awards on Sunday afternoon (12 noon Pacific) but that organization has been more or less woked and Stalinized to death so nobody cares. Then comes the Critics Choice awards on Sunday evening, but they’re also on their own little orbit. Not even nominating Parallel Wives‘ Penelope Cruz for Best Actress constitutes some kind of aesthetic blockage, no?