The Hobbit: racist casting director fired

The Hobbit and Peter Jackson show the way.

This blogger has often wondered how so many movies and commercials wind up with entirely white extras. This story sheds light on that.

It seems the casting director for Peter Jackson's production of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit was fired for being racist. According to Celebrfic.com, an actor named Briton Naz Humphreys, who is of Pakistani descendent, was rejected because, as the casting director told him, they didn't allow people with dark skin to play in the movie.

To his credit, Jackson, the producer of King Kong and The Lord of The Rings trilogy that swept the Academy Awards a few years back, took fast action, canned the casting director, and issued and apology, saying:

“No such instructions were given, the crew member in question took it upon themselves to do that and it’s not something we instructed or condoned.”

The actor reportedly started a hard-to-find Facebook group called "Hire hobbits of all [colors]! Say no to hobbit racism!."

But according to Black Voices, Briton then makes a statement this blogger finds disturbing, saying "I would love to be an extra. But it just seemed like a shame because obviously hobbits are not brown or black or any other [color]. They all look kind of homogenised beige and all derived from the Caucasian gene pool."

Tolkien described three races of Hobbits, including one with skin darker than the other two.  So this is a case of not just a casting director who's own racism was working to "inform" the production, but a person in Briton who seems to see herself as not fitting into it because of her dark skin.   That, even though she protested the casting director's actions.

People of color must fight through the negative images in media and realize not just that they don't apply, but to challenge their very presentation.

Meanwhile, bravo to Peter Jackson!

Tiger Woods tweets that Stanford shirt helped him to 66 score

Tiger Woods, The World's Greatest Golfer, has a new addiction to Twitter, and its causing his legendary Stanford Cardinal-infused hubris to show.

This tweet he issued...

TigerWoods Tiger Woods
66 today. Maybe it's the shirt? http://yfrog.com/5cdjr0j
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

...contains a link to that goofy Stanford logo on his shirt.   You will not see it here.

Woods 66 came today at the Chevron World Challenge, and is a signal that Woods is back to his old form. And, even if that comes with the occasionally delusional thoughts of Stanford sports supremacy, is a good thing.

Geez. Ok. So the Cardinal beats the sturdy Golden Bears in the Big Game. You'd think they'd won the damn National Championship the way Tiger's strutting around.

Just wait. Cal will get back the Axe in 2011's Big Game. Bet on it.

GO BEARS!

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“Jobless Talk” to End Broadcasts After 14,000 Listens, Dismaying 99er Nation

The Award Winning BlogTalk radio show “Jobless Talk” - which has had over 14,000 listeners in the past 8 months will likely cease broadcasting later this month. The announcement was made during yesterday’s airing of Jobless Talk at Noon PST - much to the dismay of the 99er Nation.

Jobless Talk, a BlogTalk Radio Show dedicated to Jobless Americans called the “99ers” will likely air it’s last show on December 17, 2010. The show which first aired in April 2010 is hosted by Paladinette (Yours truly) and has been enjoyed by over 14K listeners either live or by podcast. For the first 3 months, the show aired twice weekly but was cut back to air Fridays only 5 months ago. The show is dedicated to the plight of UI exhaustees who have been without UI checks for 9 months now.

Unfortunately, the unique quality that gives Jobless Talk it’s authentic flavor, the fact that I am a 99er - is also the reason it may no longer continue to be the place to vent 99er frustrations by this Christmas and beyond. The fact is I have been unable to secure paid employment, thus can no longer afford to keep my internet and phone connections. Both of which are necessary to continue not only my job search, but my weekly show now as well.

I really hate giving up my weekly broadcasts but I have no choice. Once my internet goes, I will no longer be able to advocate for the longest term unemployed (99ers or otherwise) with my blogging, Facebook, The American 99ers Union, U-Cubed, Jobless Talk, My websites like Jobless Unite (nearly 500,000 visitors), email, or even the 1 gig that pays me a few bucks a month: writing as the San Diego Unemployment Examiner for Examiner.com.

Jobless Talk has had the honor of being one of the Spotlighted shows on Blog Talk Radio and only 2 months after the premiere episode, I was honored as the BlogTalk Featured Host for June 2010 - something for which I will always be extremely proud.

My show has been scorned and feared by several members of Congress and many staffers of Senators know me by my “Paladinette” pseudonym and “in your face” reputation. The goal of Jobless Talk was always to phase out naturally, but the plan was to stop broadcasting the show after the 99ers received their Tier 5 and a real jobs creation bill was implemented in America. Life often does not adhere to “the Plans” we make especially when Washington chooses to neglect their sworn duty to serve All Americans - not just the Rich ones.

If any of you have in any way been helped by these episodes of Jobless Talk - then I am grateful for the opportunity to have helped in some small way. As always it has been my pleasure to help the 99er cause by whatever method possible. It has also been a great deal of fun putting the show together each episode with news, opinion and the real “Stars of the Show” - my callers!

After making the announcement on air, the response from the 99ers has been overwhelming disappointment but a united understanding of how unavoidable my decision was and how impossible it would be to carry on without the funds required to continue. 99ers need every dime they can get their hands on to survive, so I am adamant about NOT taking donations from the 99er Nation.

If you know of anyone who is NOT a 99er and wants to help keep Jobless Talk on the air, please direct them to the "Donate Widget" at My Jobless Unite website http://joblessunite.yolasite.com/

Or just use the Donate button below - Thank You!

YouTube Comments to Zennie62: 52 notifications contain N-word over 27 days

Being a YouTube Partner is a fun experience that has taken this blogger to places, like the Academy Awards and Comic Con, that are the dream destinations for some viewers.

To date YouTube.com/zennie62 has 1,130 videos. With each video comes the expected comment on it. But for me, one word pops up on a daily basis and at times more than once per day: "nigger" or the "n-word."

The latest one was this comment received in response to my playful video on Jennifer Anniston's legs and the R-word controversy back in August:

you fuckin spook thumbs down for misleading title and your a nigger to top it ya i said nigger im a racist white boy

And that for this video:



So, tiring of notes like that one, which have served to make me a bit mean in my responses at times in general, I decided to so a search for the work "nigger" in my email. The result, 80 items of dates examples, and 20 dates containing 52 YouTube Comment Notifications between November 5th and December 2nd of 2010. That's over a rate of two a day.

Here's one from November 22nd and in reference to my USA vs. Slovenia World Cup - fire Koman Coulibaly for Offsides call video:

who is this stupid nigger

There's more, but I don't want to ruin your day as much as mine is impacted by this constant flood of n-word-related comments. Now, at times it comes because I talk about a race issue, but not the majority of the time. The Jennifer Aniston and Koman Coulibaly videos have nothing to do with race.

It's just that a portion of the society, so brainwashed to think that the message for anything should be a white person, responds in the way I've experienced. Many African American YouTube Partners have talked about this and complained about it to YouTube, but as far as I know (and I'm giving YouTube and out here) I don't know how to eliminate the appearance of the word.

What we as black YouTube Partners have said is "Keep it coming. We make money from your hate!" But after a time, it becomes too much.

Something should be done.

But more important than my feelings, are this ugly American and World industrial society that still exists around the matter of race. Many of the commenters are young, below the age of 14, and who should be reported to their parents.  If their parents care.

And all are male.

Something's really wrong.

Stay tuned.

Hillary Clinton says Sec of State "likely" last public job - AP vs NY Times

Hillary Clinton
(http://media.supereco.com/)

Hillary Clinton quietly dropped a public bombshell last Friday, when she reported that her current role as Secretary of State would most likely be her last one.

The term most likely be is important, because its omission from some news reports - like that from CBS News, or from The Associated Press. The New York Times Caucus Blog, which filed a blog post from Manama, Bahrain, where Clinton was, is the source that got it right, but in so doing, has caused a problem. One that Google's Josh Cohen should pay attention to.

The NY Times Mark Landler wrote as if he was actually at the place where Clinton talked when she dropped her juicy news. He blogged this:

MANAMA, Bahrain — Journalists and political analysts who follow Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton love to parse her comments on her future career plans for clues as to whether she will take another run at the White House. On Friday, she gave them yet another tantalizing tea leaf to read.


Answering a question from a student at a town-hall meeting in this Persian Gulf kingdom, Mrs. Clinton said, "I think I'll serve as secretary of state as my last public position and the probably go back to advocacy work, particularly on behalf of women and children."

Mark also noted Mrs. Clinton's "qualifiers," "I think," and "probably," which are important doors for the Secretary of State to maintain in case she changes her mind.

But this is what The Associated Press' wrote in a post hosted by Google:

"I think I'll serve as secretary of state as my last public position and then probably go back to advocacy work, particularly on behalf of women and children, and particularly around the world because if you look at what is still happening to women in many parts of the world it is tragic and terrible," she told a Bahrain TV interviewer.
The interviewer began by asking if she planned to run for president.
"No, I do not," she said.
She then launched into a detailed review of her career, noting that she began as an advocate for neglected and handicapped children.

The problem with The AP account is it fails to give a link to the actual source and it doesn't offer more information on who gave the interview. Thus,could the AP have gotten its information from The New York Times and not sourced it? It would at least seem that the AP leaves itself open to such a charge.

It's one more piece of evidence that The Associated Press, which Google News' Josh Cohen has worked so hard to help at the expense of bloggers, is itself to be questioned in how it presents the news. The AP accuses bloggers of the same behavior that it apparently shows in this case. For Google News to favor the AP at the expense of blogs is damaging to the effort to democratize news.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton will most likely give an even clearer, definitive statement on her future soon.

Oakland News: Al Davis fires-up Raider Nation, Oakland A's Hearing a success

This Oakland news is from the sports World. A YouTuber that goes by gorilla142 (subscribe!) made the rare video of Oakland Raiders Manager of The General Partner Al Davis stopping to exhort The Raider Nation to fight for the Raiders before Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins at the Oakland Coliseum.

 From what could be understood over the voice of the Coliseum public adress voice, from some speaker source nearby, Al Davis, walking with what appeared to be a mix of fans and plain-clothed bodyguards stopped, took measure of his audience, and said "You guys are great...You wear the Silver and Black...Let me tell ya this: we're going to play our ass off today...You gotta fight with us...Pride and Poise. Will to win. And just win, baby."

That sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Unfortunately for them and Davis, the Raiders got their clocks cleaned 33 to 17.

Still, it's nice to see Mr. Davis still has the fire in the belly to win. The Raiders are up against the San Diego Chargers in San Diego; a game NFL Network analysts gave the Raiders no chance of winning. Indeed, they were so against the Raiders, Oakland may as well not show up and just give the game to the Chargers.

Just win baby!

On the subject of showing up, an estimated 200 A's fans came to Oakland's City Hall's Oakland Planning Commission meeting on an EIR (Environmental Impact Report) for the (hopefully planned) New A's Stadium.  The meeting was, by the account of the great blog Oakland North, a success (I'm still in Atlanta as this is written.)   The crowd was a mix of what the blog Swingin A's called "supporters and non-supporters."  (That's Oakland.)

On the matter of the As', San Jose Mercury News Columnist Mark Purdy goes on a funny, whining rant about how San Jose has been waiting for the right to build a stadium, and a lot of garbage about San Jose's plans that can be dashed with these words: almost 50 percent of the San Francisco Giants fan base comes from San Jose.

Mark didn't mention that.

Man, on this, I love to fight.  I just do.