Sexist Garbage

I'm trying to stay hopeful and optimistic about the midterms, given that so many Republicans are retiring. Locally, we have a large number of Democrats running in Texas finally, so I'll try to concentrate my funds there.

I was sad to hear about the earthquake in the Honduras, because that general area was where I went on a cruise last year. There were even tsunami warnings as far away as Puerto Rico, when they still are struggling to recover from the hurricanes.

I read that Mark Wahlberg got paid $1.5 million for those All The Money in the World reshoots while Michelle Williams only got $1,000 (the minimum for scale, I think). It puts a new perspective on the scene in the movie where Wahlberg's character lectures Getty for not loaning the full ransom money, and for making the mother sign away custody of her children. Acting all righteous about the old man's miserly vindictiveness and implying that he'd quit, but in truth the actor is all about getting money. Just goes to show he's not stopped being a jerk, and his fucking talent agency is an example of entrenched sexism. Fucking Hollywood's pay inequality. Apparently Ridley Scott went around for awhile claiming that all the actors did the reshoots for free, then backtracked that Plummer of course was paid, but he should have just kept his mouth shut if he knew the truth. Williams took the low pay because she thought she was doing it for the good of the film, to support the cause. That'll teach her to trust in men who claim to have principles, when in fact all they want is to save face. Fuck him.

I did go to see the movie a while back, but was ambivalent about it. The whole plot around the one kidnapper that tried to make friends with Paul was weird and confusing. I was thinking that he deliberately showed his face to the boy and tried to make friends in order to create some Stockholm Syndrome in him. But as the movie wore on, this kidnapper tried to be friendly and nice, genuinely saving his life. And yet the so-called friend also helped the others cut off Paul's ear. The moment was shown brutally, even though I've read accounts where Paul said it didn't hurt much. So what kind of fucked up messages is Ridley Scott trying to send about allies who nevertheless victimize you? Just weird. Plus the weirdness about Paul's father being barely mentioned in the ransom negotiations, only showing up as a hapless pawn of his father. And the fictionalization about how much the ransom money was and how much Getty loaned to his son. Just a muddled mess of a supposedly true story.

Anyway, fuck Scott, fuck Walberg, and fuck James Franco trying to go on some denial tour lately, using Al Franken's weaselly words about the importance of listening to women. Fuck them all.