Dick Gregory On Bill Cosby Scandal~12/18/2014

Gee, with Howard Stern playing a clip from 2006 that established an unspecified issue about Cosby (did he exploit women coming out of rehab? Are any of the 20-30 accusers from rehabs?) and the re-circulated Tina Fey clip where she mentioned an accusation, as well as Bill Maher relaying a female friend's anecdote about the Cos hitting on her relentlessly and reacting to rejection by making a movie shoot hellish for her. . . we can get the idea that at the very least Cosby seems to have been not such a nice guy and maybe we develop a distaste for trying to defend him against the onslaught of allegations. That's where I was at until I listened to this 32 minute interview of Dick Gregory. Mr. Gregory mentions a few things that are excellent points and creepy on a grand scale. It has not been revealed in the media - despite all of the Cosby talk - that NBC still is obligated to pay him $50 million for the cancelled sit-com. IS THAT A FACT ? It is mentioned like insider information. And that Netflix will have to pay Cosby $60 million for the star-up show to being aired. WF ?? And he makes an excellent point about the financial hit the cast of the Cosby Show will take by losing the income they get from airings of episodes i syndication. But if you had the patience to sit through this whole thing Mr. Gregory's own experiences and the point-for-point about Cosby's history makes for a nasty conspiracy that perhaps should get more exposure. Before the gun death of his son Ennis, under those bizarre circumstances on the roadside, WAS Mr. Cosby poised to buy NBC ? And why indeed was he "not allowed" to advertise Jello after the tragedy? How does it reflect on him? Was Ennis getting help to change a tire from a woman in a fur coat? And is that model of car capable of repairing itself? At the 21:30 mark in this video below, Damon Wayans takes a more broad (and potentially insensitive in its frankness) view of the Cosby scandal(s) when asked about it: Ultimately, of course, on a ground-level there is the conflation of this high-profile case where rape is alleged and where it is under reported and under-convicted. Society is at least talking about those issues, but perhaps unwilling to examine the source. We say "consider the source" at any other time, except when to do so will be called "blaming the victim." Cosby may have made some enemies over the years. At least some people are asking questions. An affair can go sour and someone might want more of a leg up from a celebrity and resent expectations not being met. I'd argue against Maher's idea that there is nothing glamorous about stepping up as a victim of the demonized figure. It can mean either inspiration to some or fulfill a need for attention and importance. None of which would ever excuse an actual rape, let alone serial rape, which is one of the most loathed crimes. People are piggy-backing on celebrity scandals to such an extent that it can have the opposite of its intended impact. It might just remind us of the basics - these things have to be addressed in a timely fashion a) to limit the possibility of someone else being attacked, b) to gather evidence while it exists c) to establish a credible narrative. Right now, jumping onto a band wagon or joining a mob against a 77 year old man is an empty gesture, and if what Gregory says about financial compensation for cancelled shows is true then Cosby won't suffer at all. Canadian venues that drove Judd Apatow into a tweeting frenzy have established that it would be an expensive mistake to be the ones to cancel the space rental booking for Cosby's live performances in Ontario. I expect a security nightmare as Cosby shows up and either addresses the elephant in the room or does not. I'm not really interested in alienating people with a firm stand, but I think even coming in with a dissenting opinion on this may have caused annoyance on a par with that which I feel watching something complex be sold as something simple.

30 Years a "Director"

2014 marked 30 years since directing the first video short I had aired back in 1984. I may be repeating myself, but since it is unlikely that the reader has combed through all my blogs, this won't likely seem redundant. It cycles around in my head anyway, so it all remains current. Ten years in, it was 1994 when I graduated the Humber College three-year program in Film and Television Production. Ten Years after that was kid of a pivotal year, 2004. By then I had started over somewhat and I had a Bravo!Fact short Klepto the Clown and an Ontario Arts Council Emerging Artists grant for my 22-minute short musical satire Big Babies. I had joined the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) in 2003 and had taken over that year as instructor for LIFT's Directing Actors For the Camera course, which was an interesting experience I embraced; I ended up calling some of the students back for a free additional class once the camera actually became available. Would have been handy in the actual two-day class. 2004 also involved some fallout from taking someone at her word and not yet understanding the pitfalls of collaboration that may be unique to one unfortunate case. I took a workshop in Legal and Business Affairs for Filmmakers and Producers, but it would have been more handy a year previous. Everything must be in writing in terms of what is expected and what volunteers are agreeing to. It's not enough to say here is the square peg of a movie I plan to make and here is the round hole of money I plan to spend. I can pat myself on the head for being right in the abstract, but I would have preferred to anticipate and protect myself better. Sometimes people avoid bidding on a job offering to volunteer for work that a production can't afford to properly reward anyway. I also that year spoke out and let myself be the lightning rod for criticism when I questioned the founders of a film troop raising money ostensibly for the group and then deciding to spend it all on one of their own personal projects without subjecting it to vote. Money can be a real monster. Those funds were earmarked for at least four unspecified shorts to be voted on by the collective. Time has healed most of those wounds, but I'm sure at least one ally of my adversaries then went on to actively badmouth me and continues to be a dreadful person. 2004 is also the most recent date for a directing credit I have on imdb.com. I finished out that year with a barium enema and colonoscopy, appropriately enough, the results of which were apparently mishandled and lost -- which I did not discover until a year of inquiries passed and 2006 began. 2006 brought the passing of my dad from cancer and a loss of interest in a screenwriter's circle at LIFT and also the drowning death of Roberto Arigenello at LIFT who had been such a community-binding figure there. A couple of years passed where I continued renewing my membership, but I was not as active with the group. It also changed locations, which seemed to mark the new era even more firmly. Flashback to 2005 which contained one dialogue-heavy script that I let someone else direct, which turned out okay once the chore of editing finally fell to me, and a mind-reading adventure feature that I tried a few times to shoot with Super 8mm film and which I recast and re-started at least 3 times. Having our own cameras and editing software can be the difference between one or two years. 2005 also brought my diagnosis of type-two diabetes, which explained bouts of sleepiness. I continued to get short films and videos accomplished over the next few years and used some night shifts to evolve my screenplays and other writing and storyboard sketches. Without that. I might have been in limbo. 2014 has meant some progress and closure to writing projects and a sense of new energy and focus. An aneurism from late 2011 did not put me down for good; instead, it might have goosed me into improving projects that had stalled. It put off some work that might have gone into improving a 2010 short The Fashion of the Christ, which is currently still having its audio replaced due to my mistake of using the built-in mic of my Canon XH-A1. At this point, I need to get momentum and a sense of mission again. Movie writing and directing are not a "hobby" for me. They are my vocation. I still have a job insecurity, but if that erodes my identity then I'll be dead in the most significant sense. Life in 2015 as I enter the forth decade of my relationship with movie-making it has to be more than an unrequited obsession. In October of 2013, a directing workshop I paid to attend frankly stated that "people get hired to direct if they are the sort of person the producer wants to have a beer with after a shoot." That seems evident by much of the TV we see, and by the apparent new normal where storyboarding is rare and the cinematographer may be coming up with the shots (or calling them). If this is the case, I'll continue to be the odd man out. I like and respect storyboarding and I say it's okay that the "cut" is implied or forced by it. The frame and the cut are critical tools of the director, and merely to "cover" a scene in "real time" is just not interesting or cinematic. Hypocritically, I will end up doing a feature this year -- which will indulge in what Hitchcock called, "Pictures of people talking." But even that will contain a few careful cuts or moves that might make it more than the close-ups, overs, and establishing shot that will carry the bulk of it. I've transferred some updated copies of my footage from Klepto the Clown, Big Babies, and a film short from 1994 this past year for the internet and posterity in general. There was a 2014 20-year reunion of some of my Humber classmates. They seem to be doing well and most of them still keeping a foot or more in the movie industry. I feel like I have a toe in it. Another issues that caused reflection was that a screenplay I wrote for during my time at Humber for an independent filmmaker (around 1991-1993) was produced in 2011 and released in 2014 without giving me proper credit for co-writing nor any money. I still have to sit down and air my grievances about that, which I should have done during Festivus. Meanwhile, I have tried stand-up comedy for the first time, and though I don't know if it will be a lifestyle or craft that I cultivate, I can if it helps position me or goose me with my movie-making. But even visiting home for the holidays I am reminded how it can be an effort to even coral family members to co-operate with a short. Even reaching back to original resources can be a stretch. It is just so easy to put things off that maybe there is nothing wrong with being a nag and beig willing to inconvenience people. There are qualities I took for granted in my youth which can be replaced all to easy with neurotic second-guessing and self-negating faux etiquette. There will be people who accommodate an idea or a prank or a project. The point is to keep looking and maybe cast the net wide.

Tina Fey jokes about Bill Cosby allegations NINE years ago

christmas dance

First Stand Up

Although I have performed written monologues and acted on stage or in shorts over the years, I chose to end this first attempt at stand-up with the somewhat false statement that I haven't done anything like this. The new aspect is talking mostly off the top of my head, which is not something that I embrace. But whether I choose to pursue this or not, at least I have gotten around to trying Stand-up. It was done at a relatively new small venue called The Barber Shop. There were a scattering of people, but it still counts. I have trimmed out a couple of beats that were outside if my control, bringing the set fro 7 minutes to just under 5, with images added later to support whatever flash-in-the-pan pop culture issue I might be talking about. When talking about Christmas blues I used an image from Mixed Nuts by Norah Ephron, a remake of a French film which has a title that translates to "Santa Clause is a Motherf**ker." All things considered, in the future I may just write and memorize something. And maybe stay away from current issues. But for now, whether it represents my opinions or an inversion of them, at least this is a stab at stand-up of some kind. It was last minute enough that the only recording device I could set up was my laptop camera so I just put it on a chair. Also recorded some dancing which I hope to post elsewhere. (Not my dancing, don't worry.)

Dr Evil SNl. Dr Evil On Sony & North Korea Saturday Night Live

Ferguson: What Value Do Our Laws Have? Russell Brand The Trews (E197)