Hollywood • mackaycartoons

Wednesday January 10, 2018

January 9, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 10, 2018

Some questions for Mr. Trudeau

Later Wednesday morning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drops by McMaster University for the second in a series of town hall meetings. It’s the sort of thing Trudeau is good at. His charisma, empathy and accessible style stand him in good stead.

The Liberals under Trudeau continue to enjoy strong support. The latest Nanos Research has the Liberals at 40.9 per cent, the Conservatives at 30.7, the NDP at 19.5 and the Greens at 4.8. Even more impressive is that 45.6 per cent of respondents prefer Trudeau as PM, compared to Conservative Andrew Scheer (20.3 per cent) and Jagmeet Singh (9 per cent). Even after the Aga Khan holiday scandal, Bill Morneau’s travails and numerous broken promises, Trudeau enjoys a level of support most politicians would envy.

Journalists don’t get to ask questions of the PM at today’s event. But here are some we’d like to see him answer. Feel free to borrow.

Entitlement: Trudeau, and his Finance Minister Bill Morneau, are seen by a growing number of Canadians as elitist and privileged. They owe no apologies for their accidents of birth. But even though measures like the child tax credit are unquestionably helping middle class families, there is a sense that Trudeau, especially, is more of a tourist in the lives of working class Canadians. How can the PM assure working Canadians that he is truly in their corner when he doesn’t have the life experience?

Pensions: Stories, many of them heartbreaking, continue to pour in about the hardships being experienced by Sears Canada retirees who have seen incomes cut and benefits lost. U.S. Steel retirees are still in limbo and at risk. Why won’t Trudeau commit to rewriting obsolete bankruptcy protection legislation to give pensioners more clout?

Democratic reform: Trudeau promised electoral reform but broke that promise and now says he thinks a proportional representation system would be “damaging to our stability, to our electoral system.” How can that be? How did reform go from being needed to being a threat? And are we stuck with the status quo forever?

Poverty: The government deserves credit for its $40 billion national housing strategy. But why does the investment not kick in until after the next election? Even more seriously, where is the government’s promised plan to fight poverty, promised in 2016? In his mandate letter, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos was given this direction: ‘Lead the development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy that would set targets to reduce poverty and measure and publicly report on our progress, in collaboration with the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. Our strategy will align with and support existing provincial and municipal poverty reduction strategies.’ Nice words, but where’s the action to back them up?

If Trudeau could give credible answers to even two of these four questions, he’d offer assurance to the growing number of Canadians who fear his leadership is long on style and charisma, but short on substance. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

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Monday November 13, 2017

November 10, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday November 13, 2017

Who’s next? High anxiety in Hollywood amid sexual harassment allegations in the industry

The curtain has been pulled back, and, oh, is it messy.

November 9, 2017

Hollywood has always revelled in scandal. The rumour. The whisper. The unfortunate photograph. The apology and return to grace. But the recent sex abuse stories have turned into a parade of tawdry violations and twisted passions, the stuff of movies acted out in real lives against the unglamorous air of disgrace, endless transgressions that even Ray Donovan, Showtime’s half-shaven mercurial fixer, couldn’t clean up with all his hush money and muscle.

The rape and sexual abuse allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, James Toback and others have shattered the awards-season aplomb in a town that imagines itself bold and freewheeling but prefers the tempered and scripted. The entertainment industry has slipped into a multi-polar catharsis of emboldened women, nervous men, threatening lawyers, broken deals, spoiled careers and the uncertainty that comes when cracks run like lightning through facades.

May 25, 2011

“I think the industry is forever changed,” said Marcel Pariseau, a publicist whose clients include Scarlett Johansson and Olivia Munn, one of six women who accused Ratner of sexual misconduct in the Los Angeles Times last week. “Every morning we wake up and we don’t know what’s going to be next. You’re almost afraid to get on your gadget to see what the new story is.”

“No one is going to be going to a producer or director’s hotel suite anymore,” he added. “All meetings will be done with somebody else in the room for protection for both sides. It’s a defining moment. It’s vigilance.”

November 19, 2014

Instagram accounts are being scrubbed, Facebook pages edited, publicists consulted and memories jogged about what might have happened where and with whom on that blurry night years ago. The cocktail circuit is jittery; the Oscar buzz feels a bit listless. Talent agencies are dropping clients and scouring their own houses. Studios are pruning relationships, firing executives hours after an allegation is made public. (Source: Toronto Star)

Thursday November 9, 2017

November 8, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 9, 2017

High anxiety in Hollywood amid sexual harassment allegations in the industry

February 25, 2017

The curtain has been pulled back, and, oh, is it messy.

Hollywood has always revelled in scandal. The rumour. The whisper. The unfortunate photograph. The apology and return to grace. But the recent sex abuse stories have turned into a parade of tawdry violations and twisted passions, the stuff of movies acted out in real lives against the unglamorous air of disgrace, endless transgressions that even Ray Donovan, Showtime’s half-shaven mercurial fixer, couldn’t clean up with all his hush money and muscle.

March 1, 2016

The rape and sexual abuse allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, James Toback and others have shattered the awards-season aplomb in a town that imagines itself bold and freewheeling but prefers the tempered and scripted. The entertainment industry has slipped into a multi-polar catharsis of emboldened women, nervous men, threatening lawyers, broken deals, spoiled careers and the uncertainty that comes when cracks run like lightning through facades.

March 5, 2014

“I think the industry is forever changed,” said Marcel Pariseau, a publicist whose clients include Scarlett Johansson and Olivia Munn, one of six women who accused Ratner of sexual misconduct in the Los Angeles Times last week. “Every morning we wake up and we don’t know what’s going to be next. You’re almost afraid to get on your gadget to see what the new story is.”

“No one is going to be going to a producer or director’s hotel suite anymore,” he added. “All meetings will be done with somebody else in the room for protection for both sides. It’s a defining moment. It’s vigilance.” (Source: Toronto Star)

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Wednesday May 17, 2017

May 16, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 17, 2017

Disney hack: Ransom demanded for stolen film

Disney CEO Bob Iger told ABC employees about the demand at a town hall meeting on Monday, The Hollywood Reporter said.

He did not name the film, but Deadline reports that it is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Mr Iger said Disney is refusing to pay, and that the studio is working with federal investigators.

He added that the hackers had demanded the ransom in bitcoin and that they would release the film online in a series of 20-minute chunks unless it was paid.

It is not the first film studio to be threatened with online leaks.

Last month, a group of hackers uploaded the fifth season of Orange is the New Black after Netflix refused to pay a ransom.

Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth instalment of the Pirates franchise and will see Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow return to the ocean alongside Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom.

It is due to be released in cinemas in the US on 26 May.

Mark James, security specialist at IT security company ESET, said: “Anything that has a value will always be a potential victim of theft, either digital or physical. If someone has it and someone wants it then in theory there’s a market for it.” (Source: BBC)

Tuesday March 1 2016

February 29, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 1 2016

Clergy victims doubt “Spotlight” Oscar win will bring change

Victims of clergy sexual abuse are reveling in the Oscar won by “Spotlight” — the story of The Boston Globe’s investigation into the scandal — but say they don’t hold out much hope that the elevated status from the film’s Best Picture award will prompt changes at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic church.

“Spotlight,” starring Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, covers the Globe’s work to uncover how dozens of priests in the Archdiocese of Boston had molested and raped children for decades while church higher-ups covered it up and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.

February 19, 2016

The film was released in November to accolades from victims who said it gave them a sense of validation after years of struggling in silence. Even Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley — appointed to replace Cardinal Bernard Law after he resigned in disgrace — called “Spotlight” a “very powerful and important film.”

But victims say they have little hope that the film’s new status as an Oscar winner will lead to some of the things they’ve called for over the years, including complete transparency by the church and the criminal prosecution of church leaders who knew about the abuse but didn’t report the perpetrators to police.

“I don’t think the Vatican or the archdiocese will necessarily do more,” said Robert Costello, 54, who was sexually abused by a Boston priest from the late 1960s through 1976.

“I think what (the film) is going to do is educate the general public as to what their response or lack of response has been,” said Costello, who agreed to a civil settlement with the archdiocese.

The Globe series was followed by revelations of sex abuse in dioceses around the world. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003. (Source: AP)

Published in the Western Star, Corner Brook, Newfoundland