I don’t blog about the news much anymore, but this article from the Associated Press just boggled my mind. The source they quoted was by far the most useless source they could have found. If nothing else, it shows how shallow and insipid Hollywood still is and probably will be for a long time. The article’s headline reads, “Hollywood feeling pinch amid economic worries”.
I was interested. I was like, “Oh, wow maybe there’s some useful stuff in here.” I was half right. Most of the article talks about how movies, television shows and the like are being scaled back, spending is dropping and things of that sort. Garden variety cut backs due to the economic slowdown. You expect that piece to be talked about and it’s pretty well researched in this article.
However, the person they talked to is not the best example they could have found.
The article start right off with a quote from the man,
“When Paul Hodges lost his job as a newspaper librarian this summer, he cut back on junk food, canceled his Netflix subscription, went back to his old DVDs and tried to stop buying new ones. “I had to scale back like everyone,” said Hodges, a 35-year-old homeowner in Coral Springs, Fla. “It forced me to prioritize things.”
Are you kidding me? I can’t even afford Netflix, never mind new DVDs. The last movies I bought were from the ten dollar rack (Iron Giant and Neverending Story). I can’t even fathom buying new DVD’s and signing up for Netflix. People have long since accused Hollywood (and a whole bunch of other groups) of being out of touch with the “average joes” of the world. Here’s one piece to that statement. And it gets better. The article uses Paul Hodges again at the end.
Hodges busted his spending restraints to see “The Dark Knight,” and after finding a new job at Strayer University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., last month, he turned his Netflix account back on. He even bought “Iron Man” on DVD.
“A recession is a recession, but you still have to be a human being,” he said. “You can’t turn into a monk and just sit in a room with a chair.”
Here’s where I literally fell of my chair. I wanted to call up Paul and say, “Some of us have to do exactly that. Weekends? HA! Iron Man DVDs? Double HA! Actually going to a movie theatre to see a movie? Triple HA!
Perhaps Mr. Hodges had more struggles that the writer of this lop sided article did not specify or explain in further detail…but it sounds like to me that Mr. Hodges was relatively unscathed from the job loss. All he had to give up was Netflix, new DVD movies and seeing movies in the theatre.
I’ll half apologize for my rashly worded response to this article and Mr. Hodges by saying that my button’s were pushed by the fact that reading those words made me wonder if anybody in Hollywood understands what it’s like to live in our shoes anymore.
_____
National Blog Writing Month (nablowrimo) is underway! 22 bloggers from around the world are united in blogging once a day! You should read them and check ‘em out every day! See more details at the site here or look at the list below!
NaBloWriMo Bloggers
- groovygrrl
- I’m Not Hannah
- The Kittalog
- Indian Food Rocks!
- Cooking and Me
- The Way I Always Was
- Jugalbandi
- Culinary Colorado
- Digging In
- Thistle Dew Farm
- Mimi On The Move
- Enjoy Indian Food
- Siri’s Corner
- Conch-to-be
- Nags of a Similar Ilk
- Damn Yankee, Vermont
- Aaron Delay
- Fun Climbs Around the World
- Seriously Wonderful
- Straight From Hel
- Use Real Butter
- Here it is!!!
