June 15, 2009, - 8:34 pm
“Hung” Joke of the Day: Star-Struck Michigan Taxpayers Thrilled by Gigolo Show Their Taxes Subsidize
By Debbie Schlussel
I can’t say I’m stunned by the high level of star-struck stupidity of Michigan taxpayers, who don’t mind that they’re subsidizing Hollywood garbage with their taxes, to the tune of millions and 42%.
As you may know, Michigan for the last year or so has had a tax subsidy of movies and tv shows shot in Michigan, which is simply ridiculous. Businesses and individual taxpayers that are struggling to survive are subsidizing Hollywood gazillionaires in exchange for a few sightings of Drew Barrymore, a glimpse of Rob Schneider, and some schlocky temporary jobs as extras that don’t pay much.
The shows and movies are completely tax-exempt for the portions they shoot, edit, etc. in Michigan and they get a refund of 42% of all costs. It’s obscene.
But what’s really funny is the level of bulldung some people in my area are feeding themselves. Take the people of a West Bloomfield, Michigan neighborhood where “Hung,” a new HBO series, is being shot. West Bloomfield, FYI, is a swanky, upper middle-class city mostly populated by Jews and Chaldeans (Iraqi Catholics). I ran for the Michigan House of Representatives from there.
“Hung” is about a former star athlete and coach who works as a male prostitute, and–as you can guess–the title of the show refers to his large penis size. (The show begins on June 28th at 10:00 p.m.)
But the lascivious, lewd, low-class nature of the show doesn’t bother the West Bloomfield residents where the show is being shot. In fact, they think it’s cool. Vulgar is the new cool, especially for those who are aging and believe that holding onto your decency makes you uncool and feeling old.
And, in that vein, here’s my favorite part of the story:
“He’s a male escort?” asked neighbor Nancy Marlin, who lives on nearby Bunker Avenue. “OK …”
But as risque as the plot may be, several residents and local officials say they don’t have a problem with it — so long as it’s tastefully done — and are excited about the community’s moment in the spotlight.
(Emphasis added.)
“Tastefully done”? Hello . . .? It’s a show about a gigolo and the title is “Hung”–again, that’s referring to his big penis. There just can’t be anything tasteful about it. That’s like saying, “Herpes and crabs . . . tastefully done.” Or “A bearded lady . . . beautifully portrayed.”
Sorry, people, but “Idiocracy” is not our future. It’s our here and now.
It’s like these Michigan people are so desperate for a taste of Hollywood, they’re starting to spew the same BS Hollywood people do when they talk about this stuff. Like Sharon Stone talking about her crotch shot in “Basic Instinct”: “Well, it was tastefully done.” Or, like everyone in Hollywood who does nude shots and naked sex scenes and–unlike the ex-Miss California–doesn’t blame it on the wind and the photographer she hired: “Well, that scene of me in explicit sexual positions and frontal nudity . . . it was a necessary part of the plot and it was tastefully done.”
I just have to laugh.
Here’s another money shot, er . . . quote:
Supervisor Michelle Economou Ureste said producers did make a “concerted effort” to work with township and school officials on the nude scene in the opening credits so it wasn’t filmed when kids would be around.
Well, thank Heaven for small favors. If you have to worry about the kids seeing naked people tramping through the neighborhood, that should be a hint.
West Bloomfield, Michigan: First, it was the home of Jewish and Chaldean American Princesses. Next, the porn capital of the world.
Also hilarious is that the people in this neighborhood are rallying around the gigolo show, saying it’s made them closer.
Nanette Nawrot said the filming has brought the neighborhood together. Her house is shown in the opening credits in which Jane walks by a variety of places, shedding item after item of clothing, until he jumps nude into the lake.
“All the neighbors were gathering around for filming,” she said. “I got to meet all kinds of people from my area.”
She needs a gigolo to walk by her house for her to get to know her neighbors. Nice statement on America’s neighborly relations in the year 2009.
But the most laughable thing about this is not that it’s untasteful and that their comments justifying it and gushing over it are BS.
No, the most laughable part–the most obscene part–is that Michigan taxpayers are subsidizing the show, willingly opening their wallets, as their state continues to collapse, in need of real industry, not Hollywood fair tales or fantasies about penises of gigolos.
Ironically, the tag line for “Hung” is, “It’s Hard to Make an Indecent Living.” But that’s not true in Michigan. If you’re here from Hollywood, it’s actually pretty easy. And you don’t even have to walk Eight Mile in a sequined tube top and stripper shoes to do it. Just put your hand out to the Legislature, which passed this indecent subsidy and flat-out pay-off.
Yup, a show about a prostitute is probably the best metaphor for what Michigan taxpayers are doing for the pimp that is Hollywood. And they are definitely getting pimped.
Sadly, when they get “hung” it’ll be by a rope, not like a horse.
***
Watch the “Hung” trailer, and you’ll see what I mean. Sadly, Deuce Bigalow’s gone “mainstream.”
More like “hung over.” You’ve gone a long way south Michigan, to the land of nether parts and pure slime!
NormanF on June 15, 2009 at 10:44 pm