I Didn't Say It ...

Mike Huckabee, on why he’s leaving Fox News:

"I've never had so much fun in my life. I've met people I never dreamed I'd meet and I've played music with legends in the music business. But I also realize that God hasn't put me on Earth just to have a good time or to make a good living, but rather God has put me on Earth to try to make a good life. There's been a great deal of speculation as to whether I would run for president. And if I were willing to absolutely rule that out, I could keep doing this show. But I can't make such a declaration."

Wait. So, um, God wants you to leave Fox News? Good on God. But if you want people to believe — at least those folks who believe in God — that with all that’s going on in the world, with terrorism, and famine, and death and disease that She’s taking one second to send you a message about running for the White House again, again, you’re more delusional than even I ever thought possible.

Frank Bruni, in a New York Times column, pondering about our political dynasties:

"Jeb and Hillary. Hillary and Jeb. It’s getting to the point where a mention of one yields a reference to the other, where they’re semantically inseparable, presidentially conjoined. Should we just go the extra step, save ourselves some syllables and keystrokes? The 2016 matchup as envisioned by many: Jebary. Or, more economically still, Heb. The fascination with this pair as possible rivals for the White House makes perfect sense, because it defies belief. We’re talking about tomorrow while trafficking in yesterday. We’re saying we need to turn the page by going back to a previous chapter. We’re a country of self-invention (that’s the myth, at least) in thrall to legacies and in the grip of dynasties, riveted by the mightiest surname in modern Democratic politics and its Republican analogue, imagining not just a clash of the titans but a scrum of the successors."

Well, I can see Hillary in the White House, but Jeb? We’ve gone down that road with two other Bush’s and I know we can do better than that.

Benedict Cumberbatch, on Alan Turing, whom he is playing in The Imitation Game:

"He's a man who died tragically early due to a government he helped free from fascism by his work in World War II cracking the Enigma Code, rewarding him for his nature for quietly confessing to who he was - as a gay man in a time of intolerance in the 50s.”

Even why helping with the war effort in a way no one had ever done before, Turing was literally, physically tortured for being gay.

Jamie Dornan, on wearing a special ‘sock’ for the sex scenes for 50 Shades of Grey: 

“Your dignity is intact as much as it’s all tucked away in a little flesh-coloured bag… As a guy you put all your essentials in a little bag and you tie it up like a little bag of grapes and it’s tucked away. It’s quite a peculiar thing to do every day.”

Is it just me, or would anyone else want to be the one to tie up Jamie’s essentials at the start of filming and then let them out at the end of the day.

Russell Crowe, on women in film not aging gracefully:

“The best thing about the industry I’m in — movies — is that there are roles for people in all different stages of life. To be honest, I think you’ll find that the woman who is saying that [the roles have dried up] is the woman who at 40, 45, 48, still wants to play the ingénue, and can’t understand why she’s not being cast as the 21 year old. Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why that’s bullshit, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be. If you are willing to live in your own skin, you can work as an actor. If you are trying to pretend that you’re still the young buck when you’re my age, it just doesn’t work.”

I think Crowe has a point. Jennifer Aniston, for example, is a forty-five year old woman but she’s still playing at least 15 to 20 years younger.

That said, the double standard of men in Hollywood acting onscreen with actresses young enough to be their granddaughters, should also be addressed. I saw a graphic yesterday that showed when Denzel Washington was in his 30s and playing married onscreen, the actress who played his wife was twenty-eight. Now that he’s sixty, the actresses who play his wife in films have aged to their mid-30s.Double standard Hollywood.