No disrespect to Jesse Helms (well, a little), who passed away today at the age of 86, but with him and Jerry Falwell both gone within slightly more than a year of each other, a whole generation of bigots seem to be exiting the building. And, those budding youth from Jesus Camp aside, I haven't heard of anyone quite as terrifying taking their reign.

Just a brief example of Helms' work, which isn't so much a stab at him as it is a truth I'm sure he's in the grave smiling about: He introduced and supported anti-gay legislation, blamed gays for AIDS, saying, "I've never heard once in this chamber anybody say to the homosexuals, 'stop what you're doing.' If they would stop what they're doing there would not be one additional case of AIDS in the United States." He even fought against establishing Martin Luther King Day, saying Congress "couldn't possibly idolize a man who had ties to socialist activists."

I'm sure there are many nice things one can conjure up in regard to Helms' very productive life, as well as many more not-so-nice things. I'll do neither... On one end the man died today so the wuss in me feels its not the best time to bitch about him, and on the other, he DID blame my sexual orientation for the most destructive disease in modern times, even though it was really his buddy Reagan and his administration's extraordinary mishandling of AIDS that deserve blame if there so be some. Instead, I'll let Daily Kos do the talking. Blogger Al Obama went farther than I could ever go about in the wake of someone's death (save maybe Fred Phelps, a thousand times the bastard Helms was. Wait.. did I just say a nice thing?)... See the quotes below or check out the full obituary at the link.

Please dear God, let there really be a hell. Because if there really IS a hell then Jesse Helms is already consumed by it's lowest depths. He's wailing for eternity with his blood brothers; Adolf, Mao, Stalin and the rest of the worst of the subset of human beings who have crossed from mere mortal to eternal evil. Satanic. Jesse joins his kin, Strom Thurmond, Bull Connor and a host of other vicious racist fucks who have taken it upon themselves to very nearly ruin the core principle that this country was founded upon: equality.

I post this clip with sincere appreciation for what he's saying. Crude, he definitely could be. But George Carlin spoke many an unspoken truth in his comedy. He was an anti-hero in the best possible way, and one can only hope his influence will continue to resonate for many years to come.

Remember George with this wonderful collection of videos.

On the opposite site of the race/class representation spectrum, I had odd experience of witnessing the Sex movie and The Wire series finale within 24 hours of each other (which made me briefly imagine a David Simon-Ed Burns written Sex and the City movie and how awesome that could be). Equally thesis-worthy, but in an entirely different way, I'm not going to get into the mass amount of possible commentary that comes with the end of a show this intricate. But as I look for a new series to fill the big void left in my lay-on-the-couch time, I thought I'd at least pay my respects to its two-months late end from my own life (dont watch the clip if you haven't seen the show, and go watch the show if that's the case).

Making note of this is not to disrespect the very sad event of today, the passing of Sydney Pollack. I was a very big fan, as I'm sure pretty much anyone who loved film was, considering Pollack was a man who could pretty much do anything, as he has directed (Tootsie, The Firm, The Way We Were), produced (The Fabulous Baker Boys, Forty Shades of Blue, Sense and Sensibility), and acted in (Eyes Wide Shut, Michael Clayton, "The Sopranos") such a stunningly wide array of works.

But one thing I thought of when I heard about Pollack's death is that one film he produced that is yet to be released, this fall's Stephen Daldry directed, Ralph Fiennes-Kate Winslet starring The Reader has already given itself a tragic legacy. Pollack joins the sad passing Anthony Minghella, one of the the other two producers (the other is Scott Rudin) of the film. Both died prematurely, and within months of each other.

Thats quite the external narrative for a film thats actual narrative is quite horrible in itself (read a summary of the book by Bernhard Schlink its based on), and I can't imagine what it must be like on that set (it continues filming through July according to imdb, and has been in production during the deaths of both men). Its December release promises to be a mournful event for the people involved and the many filmgoers who loved Pollack and Minghella's work.

...her wasn't-meant-to-be sitcom, The Return of Jezebel James has been cancelled after three episodes. I love Posey, I love her co-star Lauren Ambrose. And I thought I loved Amy Sherman-Palladino, the voice behind five amazing and one decent season of my once beloved Gilmore Girls. But I did not love Jezebel James. And am, sadly, not surprised or displeased it was cancelled. Bad show+Friday night timeslot? Unless your two big breasts whispering to ghosts, this combination will not win.

I just really wonder what the hell happened here? So much pedigree! Did Lauren & Parker read the script? And if so, did they ask Amy what the fuck she was doing? The show had weak dialogue, a horribly cliched premise and, gasp, not much chemistry. Gilmore Girls was some of the best TV writing of the past decade... And I liked to think its tragically bad seventh season was simply due to the fact Amy left the show... And this is what she came up with??

I'd like to say I wished FOX gave it room to grow, but I'm afraid this one was too dead to grow and maybe its best all three women cut their loses and move on to something that suits all of their abilities.

The BBC is reporting the rather shocking news that Academy Award winning director Anthony Minghella has died at the age of 54. His directorial efforts No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and a segment of New York, I Love You are still unreleased (or unfinished?), and he is also producing the upcoming Kate Winslet-Ralph Fiennes Holocaust drama The Reader. There is no cause of death.

How's this for an obituary:

He once had a war of words with Gore Vidal (whom he addressed as "you queer" after Vidal called him a "pro-war-crypto-Nazi") and he made such condescending remarks about gay rights as, "A homosexual has a right not to get hit by a truck." Yes, William F. Buckley Jr., that great charmer of men and founder of conservative soapbox The National Review, is finally dead. After graduating Yale in 1950, Buckley rose to right-wing fame after penning the book God and Man at Yale, in which he went after the growing threat of "liberal professors" who were forcing their heathen views on unsuspecting students. He may be responsible, in fact, for popularizing the term "liberal professor" and for turning the American Right into a bunch of anti-intellectual, academia-hating Texans. More recently he has weighed in on the illogic of the Episcopal Church in trying to canonize homosexuals and spoken in support of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. He leaves a great legacy of tight-assed stubbornness behind him, and his influence will probably still be felt for years to come.

Call it tasteless, but its all very true. And in light of William F. Buckley's death, The Sword also offers a wishlist of conservative commentator be-gones to come (Dick Cheney's presence along side Fred Phelps, Sr is a bit over the top, but otherwise its an agreeable list). They even include an expected death date (Jesse Helms is next, though personally I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Fred Phelps). Check it out and place your own bets!

Ain't It Cool News had a very interesting tidbit regarding the ongoing production dilemma regarding Heath Ledger's final project, Terry Gilliam's Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

Almost in the vein of Ledger's last released film, I'm Not There, three actors have been hired to play the rest of Ledger's role, as an interpretation of the actor himself. The actors? Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell. Whether this works or not (apparently the script allows for it with its time-travel plot, but I question Gilliam's abilities as of late) doesn't matter, because its really the only fitting way to conclude this project, and gives Ledger's acting career as much closure as is possible given the circumstances..

My last night in Park City's quiet viewing of Family Guy was interrupted by the news that Gordon Hinkley, current president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had died. Within half an hour, nearly every single station was covering it.

Briefly, care of Wikipedia:

He was the oldest person to preside over the LDS Church in its history. As president of the LDS Church, he was considered by its members to be a prophet, seer, and revelator. His presidency was noted for the building of new temples and the creation of the Perpetual Education Fund. Hinckley holds the record for dedicating the most LDS Church temples and has dedicated more than half of the current LDS Church temples.

He was 97 when he died in Salt Lake City today. Glancing at his wikipedia page, Hinkley didn't do anything particularly immoral, scandalous, etc.. and actually was praised for the emphasis he placed on tolerance of other faiths and beliefs. The TV aired scores of bawling mormons (including one that looked like a more alt-version of Zac Efron with a super queer voice). A car's coming to pick me up to bring me to Salt Lake airport in about 7 hours (I'm not sure if I'll bother sleeping), so I'll get to experience the mormon madness.

This is slightly old news, but its horribly enraging so I'm posting anyway: Douchebag Fox News host
John Gibson made a complete ass of himself yesterday by poking fun at Heath Ledger's death.

The Huffington Post sums it up:

ThinkProgress reports that, on his radio show yesterday (which opened with funeral music), Gibson called Ledger a "weirdo" with a "serious drug problem." Making fun of the famous "I wish I knew how to quit you" line from "Brokeback Mountain," Gibson said of his death, "Well, he found out how to quit you."

You can listen to the whole disgusting rant here and you can send e-mails along the lines of "fire John Gibson" to any or all of these addresses:

Gibson's email: john.gibson@foxnews.com
Show's email: myword@foxnews.com
Network's email: yourcomments@foxnews.com
CEO of Fox News: roger.ailes@foxnews.com

He managed to take the crown for rudest Heath Ledger comment from that little skank over at MSNBC, Courtney Hazlett, who remarked, "In a lot of ways, this reminds me - we've almost had a dress rehearsal for this with Owen Wilson."

Gibson responded to critims by saying that it was just "a little Brokeback Mountain joke" and there is "no point in passing up a good joke."

Not that it surprises me, but the most vile man alive, Fred Phelps, has announced he and his gang of fucktards will picket Heath Ledger's funeral because :

Heath Ledger thought it was great fun defying God Almighty and his plain word; to wit: God Hates Fags! & Fag Enablers! Ergo, God hates the sordid tacky, bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as 'Brokeback Mountain' - and He hates all persons having anything whatsoever to do with it.

Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there - beside which, nothing else about Heath Ledger is relevant or consequential.

Could somebody seriously go stab, maim or dismember Mr. Phelps? I promise you God won't mind.

Truly tragic and perplexing.

And bizarre to discover this news in a massive film environment and watch it spread like wildfire in the lobby I was in at the time. I was alerted via a phone call, and watched quietly as people checked their texts and within 15 minutes everyone was going up to complete strangers and informing them of what happened.

I'll never forget her performance in The Birds, and awardsdaily had this great scene posted and I figured I'd share. Rest in peace.

It was announced today that Rent, now the seventh longest running show in broadway history, will close June 1, 2008 after 5,012 performances. The show is championed for reviving musical interests in a younger generation and for giving paychecks to a few that needed it at the time: Scary Spice, Joey Fatone, Frenchie Davis, Drew Lachey, Neil Patrick Harris, Jai Rodriguez and Caprice. For me, it was the first musical I ever saw on Broadway (in Spring 2002), and since that happened to be an overdramatic teen-angsty gayfest time for me, you can bet I was all over it. "One Song Glory"'s repeated playings while I belted it out in my room must have been one of the final nails in the "yep, he's gay" coffin of my mother's mind. Either way, I'm not particularly sad to see it go. Its made its mark, its grown very outdated, and I'm sure a 2030 revival will fill my lifetime "Rent" needs. But either way, I'll leave it with this clip I can't even watch fully due to really gross nostalgia:

My childhood home, which has been in my family since 1967, is officially in the ownership of someone I'm not related to for the first time in 40 years. For myself, my siblings, my mother and her siblings, this marks a very significant end.