Not everyone is overjoyed by the SAG/AFTRA merger.

Yielding the floor to film reviewer/blogger David Poland, who had this to say in a series of tweets yesterday on Twitter:
"March 30, 2012 will be remembered as the day SAG gave up on actors making a basic living as actors and handed the keys to the union to AMPTP.
Apologists for AFTRA and the SAG leadership that crafted this disaster will blame the problems with residuals & pension on industry changes.--
The truth will be that Roberta Reardon [AFTRA head] killed SAG w/disloyalty & a turf grab & that 81% of SAG thanked her for having broken the union.--"

Mel Gibson gets the sympathetic interview that he wants on the eve of THE BEAVER's release.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/exclusive-mel-gibson-finally-talks/

From the DEADLINE intro: I opted to give Gibson's interview to Deadline because editors at other media outlets seemed inclined to use this story to pursue their own agendas.--Allison Hope Weiner


Guessing that Mel and publicist Alan Nierob were terrifically happy with this interview.


A highlight:
WEINER: People didn’t understand how you could say the things you did on these tapes.  They wondered, what kind of person says those things.  Right now, many people think you’re a racist and that you hate women from listening to those tapes.
GIBSON: I’ve never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality -- period. I don’t blame some people for thinking that though, from the garbage they heard on those leaked tapes, which have been edited.  You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship. It’s one terribly, awful moment in time, said to one person, in the span of one day and doesn’t represent what I truly believe or how I’ve treated people my entire life.

Here's a rebuttal to the interview from David Poland of THE HOT BLOG:
http://moviecitynews.com/2011/04/the-end-of-days-april-21-2011/

When anger and resentment go too far: film critic bans commenter for salacious remark about the former's personal life.

Precis of the events you will read about below:
LexG is a gadfly (working in the post-production part of the film Industry) who posts to a lot of film blogs (including Jeffrey Wells' HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE--where I post as well).  Lex has a horndog persona (in LexG world, Megan Fox and Kristen Stewart are the Ultimate Women)--occasionally, he'll say something fairly interesting and cogent.  But he's an acquired taste for most.
Glenn Kenny used to be a film critic for PREMIERE magazine; now his reviews can be read on MSN.com.  Glenn has a blog called SOME CAME RUNNING, where Lex was a commenter until recently.
Two years ago, Glenn played a small and memorable role as an adult-film critic in Steven Soderbergh's THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, which starred adult-film actress Sasha Grey.  In a fit of lack-of-manners, Lex wrote a somewhat offensive remark regarding Glenn (and somehow relating to Ms. Grey), which I won't quote here.  Lex's banishment came afterwards.
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/right-as-usual-sir.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/anxiety-of-potential-influence-and-vice-versa.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/on-appearing-to-have-struck-a-nerve.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/as-iggy-pop-said-in-the-leadin-to-louie-louie-on-metallic-ko-i-never-thought-its-come-to-this-baby.html