Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) created a post in Dear Smashbomb....

Jan 18, 2019 (Updated Jan 18, 2019)  
How do you feel about watching tv and movies, or listening to music or podcasts after learning unsavory details about an actor, director, producer, podcaster, or others involved in them? Can you compartmentalize their behavior and enjoy art as art or does it forever ruin it for you? How can we reconcile our love of certain performers and their onscreen personas with their monstrous behavior offscreen?

I find it so frustrating and disappointing when I learn that someone I have admired for decades is a perverted sex monster. I want to be politically-correct and denounce their behavior but it's difficult when they have created art that speaks to me and moves me and that I have loved for years. Some truly talented people have turned out to be terrible people. It's one thing when you've known for years about someone's exploits and abuse, such as in the case of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski. Those were things I knew about for ages and I avoided their movies. But another thing when it's someone whose work you've admired and respected for years. I don't know how to feel.
  
40x40

Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) created a post

Jan 18, 2019  
How do you feel about watching tv and movies, or listening to music or podcasts after learning unsavory details about an actor, director, producer, podcaster, or others involved in them? Can you compartmentalize their behavior and enjoy art as art or does it forever ruin it for you? How can we reconcile our love of certain performers and their onscreen personas with their monstrous behavior offscreen?

I find it so frustrating and disappointing when I learn that someone I have admired for decades is a perverted sex monster. I want to be politically-correct and denounce their behavior but it's difficult when they have created art that speaks to me and moves me and that I have loved for years. Some truly talented people have turned out to be terrible people. It's one thing when you've known for years about someone's exploits and abuse, such as in the case of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski. Those were things I knew about for ages and I avoided their movies. But another thing when it's someone whose work you've admired and respected for years. I don't know how to feel.
     
Show all 15 comments.
40x40

Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) Jan 21, 2019

In my opinion, they are two totally different aspects of a person's life that should not affect one another in any way.
There are so many creators that I love watching or listening to that I totally disagree with politically, but I am able to separate those things. Just because I disagree with one aspects of a person's opinions or actions, doesn't mean it tarnishes everything that that person has ever done.
George Washington was an incredible man who was fundamental in the battle for American independence over Britain, but he also kept slaves and treated them as animals. Both of these things exist and that's what makes a person whole. As much as we would like to believe that everybody is either purely good or purely evil, that is just not true, there are always shades of grey.
I am not in any way defending any of the despicable things that people like R Kelly and Kevin Spacey are accused of doing, but just because Spacey allegedly preyed on young boys, it doesn't mean that his performance in Se7en isn't still one of the greatest performances ever committed to film.
Another example of this is rap music. I am a huge rap fan and there are rappers that I listen to that brag in their songs using misogynistic language or homophobic slurs, things that I fundamentally disagree with. However, that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate their flow or delivery.
To be honest, I think that it is actually way more healthy to separate these things as an audience member. If I was to stop listening to/watching everyone that had ever been accused of doing something bad by the press, there probably wouldn't be much content left.

40x40

Allison Knapp (118 KP) Jan 21, 2019

I would have to agree with you there. Talent and personal life are definitely two separate matters

40x40

Deborah (162 KP) rated The Tudor Wife in Books

Dec 21, 2018  
TT
The Tudor Wife
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was not bad for an 'on holiday, don't think too much about it' sort of read. I still can't say I'd go out of my way to recommend it though!

I thought the writing style was OK, but in places got a bit repetitive - towards the end I lost count of the number of times we heard "she who sows the whirlwind reaps the storm".... I never think books written in the first person work quite so well as those written in the third person anyway. This one was written from the point of view of Jane Boleyn (nee Parker), wife to George Boleyn, Anne's brother. It could have been a more interesting psychological study of this woman, but she ends up looking voyeristic and petty! The sex scenes in this book are one of the worst parts to be honest, let alone the fact that we have Jane sleeping with Cromwell and Katherine Howard and Anna of Cleves involved in a very interesting situation with a pot of honey.... it seems to be salacious just for the sake of it as it doesn't add anything!
  
Witch's Betrayal
Witch's Betrayal
Crystal Ash | 2019 | Romance
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Written so well (0 more)
Great instalment
Contains spoilers, click to show
I know who I really am. But if my coven finds out, they’ll hunt me down until I’m erased from history.

Seth, the arrogant demon hunter, is dangerously close to knowing too much. If that prick gets anywhere near one of my demons, there will be Hell to pay. Unfortunately, he’s also the one teaching me shadow magic.

Secrets hide in the shadows. And some secrets should never be known. But I won’t stop looking for who killed my birth mother. If I must face trauma from my previous lives, so be it.

I have my lovers. I have my coven. But I still need answers.




I really enjoy Crystals approach to demons and angels, heaven and hell! Her character development is so good and she writes her sex scenes making you want more without it overpowering the story! This is the 3rd book and i flew through it! Her style has such a nice flow from one book to another!

I'm lookin forward to seeing where things go from here now the 4 are about to become 5 while contending with the witches hunting them!!
  
Personal Services (1987)
Personal Services (1987)
1987 | Comedy, Drama
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Not many people get a film based on their life while they're still around: prostitute and brothel madam Cynthia Payne had not one but two released in the same year (this and 'Wish You Were Here') - makes one proud to be British. A typical story of rags to riches, embellished with a vast amount of kinky sex and tawdry etablishment hypocrisy - not entirely surprisingly, the women here are the tough and clever ones, the men who come to them are awkward, fragile creatures.

One of those off-beat comedy-drama films, with a strong sense of the seedier side of life, that the UK film industry went in for quite a lot in the 1980s. This one has a strong performance from Julie Walters, but the comedy often feels strained and it can't seem to quite decide how it's going to handle the more graphic material inevitably involved - straightforwardly, or in nudge-nudge style? Tends towards the latter. Passes the time reasonably well as a slightly odd piece of entertainment; may well also be of interest as an insight into the English psyche (God help us).
  
Fantasy Island (2020)
Fantasy Island (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
Much like the recent adaptation of the Banana Splits Hour, Blumhouse's Fantasy Island took a show from my childhood and added horror elements to the premise. Five strangers land on an island where their fantasy is granted. The island is overseen by a mysterious Latino named Mr. Roarke, played by master monologuist Michael Pena. As you may have seen in the trailer, two are given everything that they want (money, sex, a mansion), one plays soldier, one is given a fresh start, and one gets revenge on a middle-school bully. However, a fantasy can easily become a nightmare and the island does not distinguish. As the five strangers are slowly brought back together, they learn that the island did not randomly select them. Someone else has their own nightmarish fantasy to live. I will not spoil the secret, but the mysterious person behind it all makes precious little sense unless he or she had a traumatic brain injury before and during the plot of the movie. Some scenes were very good and it could have been a good horror movie if it had just left the storylines separate like the tv show managed to do.
  
The Tigers Ambush (Kit Davenport #3)
The Tigers Ambush (Kit Davenport #3)
Tate James | 2020 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
If you're reading this, you've probably already read my first two installments, and know exactly how deep into trouble I've got myself.
But you totally don’t care about what’s happening in this blurb because let’s be honest here… It was going to be a bunch of vague questions and hints that would really give away nothing, but leave you scratching your heads.
So, let's call a spade a spade and pretend this was an awesome blurb. Yeah?

Oh also, I'm Kit Davenport and this is going to leave a mark...

Another brilliant book in this series I think it's the best one yet! Finally we see some real power from these gorgeous men! I absolutely love Austin I think he's been my favourite from the start and I love how he's developed in this book. I read quite a few different series and in some I find the sex scenes a big over played but not in this series it's so well written. I actually really enjoy Kits character too. I'm excited to see where these characters are going! Also I almost cheered outloud at Mr Grey's demise!!
I think I need an Austin Tiger!