The biggest problem is that Hollywood is either unwilling or unable to distinguish between types of industry. The Once-ler's operation was really a 3rd world-type operation, run by an incompetent. He stripped the entire forest of truffala trees without paying attention to the dwindling supply. A first-world type operation, in ownership of the land, would have rotated the lands in use, so that some were always being harvested and others regenerated. He furthermore had a great deal of waste, both liquid chemical and gaseous. These are generally indicators of inefficient equipment. A first-world type operation would be producing less waste to begin with, and strictly controlling what is released to maintain the integrity of the land on which they rely.

An intelligent, first-world type businessman, free of burdensome regulation, would be constantly using his profits to upgrade his operation to run more efficiently - which inevitably means cheaper and cleaner. The type of operation the Once-ler ran is one you would see in a communist country. This is the difference between a conservationist and an environmentalist. A conservationist wishes to be a good steward of the earth, and recognizes that there are many wise and effective ways of using resources. An environmentalist watermelon worships the earth, does not believe in using any resources, and becomes a useful idiot for those who do far more actual damage. No points for guessing which side Hollywood falls on.

Many of my favorite moments in the last few seasons have been the interplay between Henry and Lassie. The episode where they and the coroner woke up in the Psych office with no memories of the night before was epic.

"But one hit does not an infrastructure make. Hollywood still owns the infrastructure, still owns the relationship-machine that decides jobs and futures. We need to build our own machine."

The bright side is that the cost of entry for building infrastructure is lower than it's ever been in history. This flick was shot on a $3000 Canon EOS camera. You can get Final Cut Pro for $300 on the App Store, and run it on an iMac. There are many recognizable faces who are either itching do something that doesn't insult their principles, or simply enjoy working so much that they'll pretty much do what comes along. There are also scores of talented actors and actresses out there just waiting to be discovered. Small theater runs often turn into much wider runs. There are also scores of options for self or digital distribution.

This is not to say that it's easy. But these guys have definitely proved that you can do it. If the quality is there, the people will come.

Last Action Hero did have one of the best villains I've ever seen in a movie, with one of my favorite movie lines of all time.

Villain shooting at Arnie, who's hiding behind cover. Blam! Blam! *click!*
Arnie, emerging from cover: "Ooh, did you just make a movie mistake? You forgot to reload the damn gun!"
Villain, smiling: "No, Jack. I just left one chamber empty" Blam!

It should be noted that the Clone Wars television series (when it is a wartime drama and avoids the political aspects of the war) is exceptionally well done, and a pleasure to watch. Lucas is not involved in the day-to-day on that one, and they've created quite a team. I am, therefore, cautiously optimistic about the new series.

I definitely agree with you on the marketing point. There are many movies which are marketed as ridiculous, but are far better. "Kung Fu Panda" 1 & 2 were far more serious movies than they were marketed as. "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" was marketed as nothing but slapstick, but was in fact a classic disaster movie. There are so many more movies that people would see if they actually knew what they were going to get.

Contrary to what the the left-wing guardians of the entertainment tell you, “black and white” doesn’t mean “dumb” or “simple.”

This is one of the reasons why I love the 'Kung-Fu Panda' series - it makes it clear that evil is, every step of the way, a conscious choice. In the sequel, the villain is dumbfounded that the hero has faced all the same loss (and even worse) that he did, and did not choose to do evil. The villains in both movies are given a chance, at the end, to stop and turn from evil - to continue to fight is their own choice. It's the difference between 'explaining' and 'excusing', and it is refreshing that there are some who still understand this.

With Netflix streaming and DVDs, I can raise my children on good stories, regardless of when they were made.

The populations of public and private schools are completely incomparable. In private schools, every student is there by choice. The parents had to be involved enough to apply to the school, and the children had to meet certain criteria to be accepted. This population, therefore, already excludes most children of uninvolved parents. This population also does not include special ed children, or emotionally disturbed children. Once there, the schools have the authority to hold students to certain standards of academics and behavior, and have the ability to remove any students who do not meet this criteria.

Any public school which was given the ability to pick and choose students and actually enforce standards would immediately see every performance measure skyrocket.

Voyager did, however, have one of the most unashamedly pro-life episodes of any show I've ever seen. In one episode, Chakotay goes on a technology-enhanced-pseudo-native-american vision quest to speak with his father. His DNA was stolen by a Cardassian spy who had used it to impregnate herself. The father tells him that when the women of his ancestral tribe were raped, the children were welcomed, because the crime was not their fault.

Let us not forget, however, that as soft as she often was, Janeway did have her nasty streak. On one occasion, for example, she tied up a crew member from a renegade Federation ship and held him in front of killer trans-dimensional beings to get him to talk. I didn't hate the series as much as many others. I didn't love it either, though.

My favorite show, though, remains Deep Space Nine. While Picard drank tea, the entire crew of DS9 subsisted on Klingon coffee, most of them taking it double strength. It also had the best characters, and brought back the great tradition of getting drunk and singing.

I enjoyed the second one somewhat, simply because I'm such a huge fan of Jeff Goldblum. Without him, I don't think I would've given it a second thought.

The third one, however, I did enjoy immensely. It was just plain fun, and didn't take itself too seriously. Most days, that's exactly the sort of movie I need.