I could’ve written thousands upon thousands words on the subject, but the creative studio Gentleman Scholar commissioned by the Gates Foundation managed to compact the organization’s message on family planning as a crucial necessity for the world’s well-being into a 1 minute and 44 second gem with a self-spoken title Where’s the Controversy in Saving Lives?
Thank you, Bill and Melinda Gates!
Click the video’s title above to watch it on YouTube.
Suffering from the recent loss of my dear kitty, nowadays I frequently find myself opting for a lighter than usual entertainment fare. I guess, at the moment, my ability to absorb sorrow and turmoil is at its limit. This is not a good time for Lars von Trier. So, at midnight on Saturday I idly let my remote to surf me to a sterilized version of Bridget Jones's Diary on some random non-premium cable channel.
I must say that, when it comes to art, I strongly oppose any form of censorship. This Film Is Not Yet Rated disturbed the hell out of me. And I am offended by YouTube's barring the viewing of Marina Abramovic's art for users under a certain age. For me, this is an equivalent to preventing teenagers from entering the Met.
Someone like me couldn't possibly imagine that a benign movie like Bridget Jones's Diary would require alterations for a late-night showing on a "digital value" channel. Of course, there is some sparse cursing (which, by the way, sounds much milder with the British accent), but other than that…
Well, the false morality defenders found a way to shuck the most whimsical parts out of the movie, leaving only soppy husks. Let me give you a little taste. In the original, when Bridget quits her publishing job, she tells Cleaver, "If staying here means working within 30 yards of you, frankly, I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's ass." Snap! The neutered version offers, "washing Saddam Hussein's car" instead. And that "home movie" of 4-year-old Bridget and 8-year-old Mark at the end – it completely disappears.
The problem isn't only in the censorship as a principle. The whole point of Helen Fielding's character, the innovativeness of her novel (which gave rise to the whole slew of books, movies, and TV shows – from Sex and the City to Girls) is in these feisty details. So, when somebody butchers it like that – it's nothing less than a desecration of artistic prerogatives.
Moreover, Miramax and Working Title Films, the production companies that brought the novel to the silver screen, are famous for the edgy, breakthrough movies. The former, for example, is responsible for bringing Pulp Fiction into our lives. Go on IMdB and see the complete rosters of these companies' impressive achievements.
But here is how the money-making in movies works. The production companies facilitate the creation of the product and in this case Miramax was even responsible for the US theatrical release. But after the big-screen runs are over, most movies get pushed through other distribution channels, usually handled by home entertainment divisions of big studios, far removed from the creators and the ideas of artistic integrity. These companies cover DVD and Blu-ray releases as well as the television circulation. While the alteration of DVDs has been ruled by the courts in 2006 as an "illegitimate business" and a violation of federal copyright laws, the decision doesn't apply to television versions. Those can be mutilated.
The question is, whether the moviemakers, who sign contracts, which give distributors rights to rape their artistic creations any way they like, do it knowingly. Are they such whores that they would sacrifice their creative integrity and sell their children to bordellos of family-friendly television for an extra buck?
Well, call me a hopeless idealist, but I don't believe that all of them are. At least some of them do care. (Hey, counting money is my profession, but I know that there are more important things in life than raking the dough.) But what I can absolutely guarantee is that 99.99% of them don't have any understanding of business and legal matters. They rely on their agents, managers, and attorneys to defend their interests. Well, that's just silly.
At the end of the day, the only people who have an incentive to protect the art are the artists themselves. The elementary business education and rudimentary understanding of how their industry works would do them tons of good. At the very least they should be able to ask the right questions and request the correct clauses to be included into the contracts before they ink their famous names on the signature lines.
Charlie Skinner: I am too old to be governed by fear of dumb people.
Will McAvoy: I am not.
Charlie Skinner: You are older than you think. Don't learn that the hard way.
Season 1, Episode 1
Created and Written by Aaron Sorkin
It’s hard to believe that the witty romanticist of Upper West Side, Nora Ephron, is gone. It seems that it was only yesterday (actually more than four years have gone) that she was concerned about the condition of her neck. And what a classy dame – managed to hide her leukemia from nosy parkers of the media variety; wrote a script (Lost in Austen) and committed to direct it in 2013, as if nothing was going on!
Here is someone who didn’t ride to her fame on the back of the nepotism (both her parents were Hollywood screenwriters). She was in her late 30s when she started transferring her writing skills from journalism to TV and 41 when she penned her first movie script (together with Alice Arlen) for Silkwood directed by Michael Nichols.
At her best, she was able to reach a remarkably broad audience. Her female characters were tested by circumstances, connections and emotions familiar to anyone. In her greatest hits (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) she managed to make her writing both highbrow and accessible at the same time – a rare feat in contemporary cinema. Her writing skillfully combined sharp humor and intelligence with uplifting, almost fairy-tale, aspirations to achieve human happiness. As the result, these movies have become undeniable critical and commercial successes. Together they grossed $572 million to date, returning 5.6 times of their total budgets.
Most importantly, Nora Ephron left us with fond recollections of funny moments and snappy quotes that will be affectionately cited by fans and shamelessly imitated by other writers for generations to come. And for that we are grateful to you, Nora Ephron.
"You could be a good singer from now ’til hell and back and if you haven’t got material, you’re just standing there with your mouth open. You’ll be singing commercial jingles for the rest of your life."
The Frustrated CFO's comment:
When I first heard this long-ago interview on The Best of The Mamas & the Papas compilation, I thought right away that Mama Cass stumbled on something very fundamental and universal here. It's not just music. Without writers, actors wouldn't have roles to perform. Without choreographers, dancers would be standing there motionless.
In fact, I frequently use this quote as an analogy in business situations. It works wonders, for example, in shrinking heads of "star" traders and salesmen, who think themselves to be the only important people in an organization. They forget that the music they are singing to clients and customers is a combination of the company's goodwill created by executives, the finances that buy the products, the infrastructure that delivers and supports the commerce. Without all of these efforts together, they would be standing there with their mouths opened selling… nothing.
The Frustrated CFO 