HollywoodIdiocy.com

Comic book legend Frank Miller was huge in the 1980s and his ahead-of-his-time storytelling is finally making its way to the big screen in droves. Miller’s latest movie epic, 300, is a gritty war drama with Oscar-level ambitions, but first saw light as an indepedent comic book. In the meantime, the newest incarnation of the the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bested 300 in TMNT’s opening week box office receipts, about $25 million for TMNT to $20 million for 300.

The irony in all this is apparent only to longtime comic book fans. You see, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may be remembered by most as a corny series of live-action kids movies in the late 80s and early 90s, but they have their origins in the comic book world, as well.

Created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the original TMNT book was a general send-up of gritty, mutant-and-ninja-populated comic books in general, but was most specfically a parody of Frank Miller’s work on Daredevil and, most notably, on The Dark Knight Returns, which recreated Batman for a new generation of comic book fans as a Dirty Harry-style vigilante.

So, it must be especially sweet for Eastman and Laird - and perhaps ironically frustrating for Miller - that a movie based on parodying Miller’s work did better than a film based on Miller’s actual work. Maybe someone should send ol’ Frank a set of Powell furniture to help ease the pain.

Sometimes there is good news out of Hollywood. This is such an occasion. EOnline.com is reporting that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have all signed on to reprise their roles of Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger for the last two movies of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the yet-to-be-published Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which marks a definitive end to the series.

Rumors abound that Deathly Hallows could feature the death of Harry himself, though that is entirely uncertain at this writing. While it would make the best literary resolution, Rowling has a generation of readers to consider and while she may give into the temptation to off Harry in much the same way Arthur Conan Doyle attempted to off Sherlock Holmes, it may all be part of the hype machine to build anticipation for the final book. Will Harry live or die? What better marketing gimmick could there be?

Of course, the media is sure to blow the whistle on how the series ends at first opportunity, and there is the movie franchise to consider; if the ending is revealed a couple years before the movie is released, and it proves unpopular, it could devastate box office receipts for the final films.

Personally, I’d rather not know what happens until I either read the book or walk into the theatre; but that’s not bloody likely. Trust Hollywood and the media to blow a good thing. But at least we know there won’t be any 11th-hour recasting of the principle leads in the film. At this point, if the cast were redone, combined with the ending of Deathly Hallows likely being revealed within a couple hours of the book’s July 2007 release, that would create the perfect storm to kill of the series.

With the way the page counts are increasing in each book released, it’s a good thing the series is ending at seven books, or future releases would become so weighty it would take a load of computer memory just to store it. However, whatever happens to Harry, Hermione and Ronald, at least it’ll happen to the cast audiences around the world have grown so fond of.

Sean Penn, whose schizophrenia has him convinced he’s not only an Oscar-winning actor (which is true), but an unbiased journalist and a smarter political mind than the entire Bush administration - which at best, is open to debate and in my opinion is about as ridiculous as Al Gore’s claim that he invented the Internet - has been at it again.

Speaking in Oakland, California, of all places - talk about your stacked audiences - to “boldly” proclaim ad nauseum his opposition to the Iraq War. Yeah, it’s really “brave” to tell Bush to “shove it” in front of an Oakland audience; about as brave as George W. Bush saying he’s gonna cut taxes - in front of the GOP National Convention.

Of course, like all brain-dead celebrities, Penn offered no substance on how an “immediate pull-out from Iraq” would work without causing the current democratic regime to fall, thus making the lives lost in the war effort there so far an actual waste, rather than just a waste in the minds of liberals.

With his rosy outlook, perhaps Penn should develop another persona to add to his multiple personality disorder; with his gloom and doom outlook, he’d make a perfect agent for selling funeral insurance.

The internet is all abuzz today over the fact that pop singer and fossil-in-training, Madonna, would “support Al Gore over Hillary Clinton,” if Gore entered the race. As usual, the Bay City rock-n-roller has overestimated how much people care about her political views. Sure, it’s a bit eyebrow-raising that she’s not on the trendy Hollywood Obama bandwagon, but ultimately, who cares who Madonna supports? Heck, I don’t even care who she thinks sells the best diet pills, let alone who she votes for.

The fact is, since 2000, Madonna’s been living in England with her hubby, Guy Ritchie. We’re happy for her. But considering she doesn’t live in American anymore, who cares who she’s gonna vote for, she since doesn’t have to live with the consequences?

Much like the Dixie Chicks, Madonna should just shut up and sing. People like singers for their singing voices, their songs, their performances… not their voting history. If they want to make a political statement, at least set it to music and be entertaining in the process.

I’m starting to outgrow my concert-going years, but when I was still active in attending live music events, the performers I respected most were the ones who were all about the music. A perfect illustration was one of the last concerts I went to, a Styx/REO Speedwagon/Journey nostalgia tour.

Styx was the worst of the lot; with Dennis DeYoung no longer part of the band, they assiduously avoided singing their biggest hits - all of which involved DeYoung - and mostly played music from a “new CD” that absolutely no one cared about or had ever heard of. The current Styx band doesn’t seem to realize their time is past and live under the delusion they’re still relevant.

REO Speedwagon was much better. They “got it.” They opened the concert with the entire A-side of their most successful ’80s album, High Infidelity, to get the crowd worked up, and didn’t take a breath until all five songs were complete. Kevin Cronin was a self-deprecating hoot who didn’t mind telling a couple jokes at his own expense. They played to the crowd and stuck with all their greatest hits.

But the capper of the night was Journey. Even without Steve Perry, the band played their biggest hits from their entire catalog and never spoke a word, letting the songs and the accompanying multimedia slideshow, mostly focusing on the band’s history, say everything for them. They entered, they entertained, and they exited and that concert could have taken place in 1985 or 2005. It was as timeless as their music.

That’s the way it ought to be. Madonna could learn a lot from Journey.