"Ridiculous Performance"

"I rule out Leonardo immediately because it’s a ridiculous performance," says this longtime voter in the executives branch. "They are running his campaign based on how hard it was to make the movie, right? I’m tired of hearing about it — that's what he gets paid for!"

Oscar voter

"Green-Eyed Monsters"

"When you get the story that every journalist in the world wanted, there's a lot of green-eyed monsters who gonna come give you a kiss."

Sean Penn

"Obsessed With Superhero Myths"

“It’s like the last town on earth where the men are powerful and the women are beautiful. Hollywood is choking on all these outdated myths. Not just the one that 15-year-old boys are driving the market, but all the other myths—that women can’t handle a $100 million budget, that they can’t direct. They’re obsessed with superhero myths, but they have this other series of myths they can’t let go.”

Maureen Dowd

"In Love With America"

"When I was a kid we were in love with America. As early as I can remember, there was a civics class in my public school. And I was in love with those things that guaranteed freedom . . I had a Bill of Rights and a Constitution, those words out of the Declaration that protected me. And I knew about that because we had civics in class. We don’t have that much in the country anymore. So before World War II or shortly after, we were in love with America because we understood what it was about and that’s what we were in love with. . I’d like to go back to civics lessons.”

Norman Lear

"A Total Social Conservative"

“Everybody knows me to be a progressive or a liberal or lefty or whatever. I think of myself as a bleeding-heart conservative. You will not f— with my Bill of Rights, my Constitution, my guarantees of political justice for all. But does my heart bleed for those who need help and aren’t getting the justice that the country promises them and the equal opportunity the country promises? Yes. I’m a bleeding heart, but I think myself to be a total social conservative." 

Norman Lear

"Normal Day-to-Day Stuff"

“I’m not trying to post shirtless photos. The reality is, I’m from California, where it’s f—ing hot. I live by the beach. I’m at the beach all the time. I surf. I fish. I dive. These things on Instagram are really my life with my buddies doing my normal day-to-day stuff. I happen to be shirtless a lot.”

Scott Eastwood

"That the Movie is Popular"

"Sniper is a movie whose politics are so ludicrous and idiotic that under normal circumstances it would be beneath criticism. The only thing that forces us to take it seriously is the extraordinary fact that an almost exactly similar worldview consumed the walnut-sized mind of the president who got us into the war in question.

It's the fact that the movie is popular, and actually makes sense to so many people, that's the problem."

Rolling Stone

The Money Problems of Doyle Bramhall II

Doyle Bramhall II with the new Renée

Whatever reason might be given for Renée Zellweger's dramatic change of appearance, common sense dictates that a Hollywood actress does not go through the expense and trouble of "cosmetic procedures" if the end result:

1. changes her appearance so much that she's no longer recognizable — much of a movie star's appeal rely on being predictably and uniquely identifiable as herself.
2. makes her look older — Hollywood actresses get facelifts to help them compete with the hordes of upcoming starlets.

Those smelling "some nefarious truth" might wonder at the money problems of her supposed current boyfriend, Doyle Bramhall II. Consider:

• Musician Susanna Melvoin — who married Doyle in April 1997 — claims she's struggling to bring up daughters India and Elle, 9 and 12.
• Melvoin's lawyer states she and Doyle are collectively $300,000 in debt.

Her ex-husband now resides at Zellweger’s sprawling home in Montecito, California. The actress' fortune is estimated at $45 million, and she's put her Connecticut estate up for sale for $1.6 million.

Doyle Bramhall senior, the quasi-famous musician, died in his sleep after suffering pneumonia-like symptoms at the sprightly age of 62 in November 2011. His passing followed by a few months a charity* trip Zellweger made to Liberia.**

Anybody curious about the money involved in all that?

SEE: "Putting on a brave face! Renée Zellweger enjoys a break in Mississippi with boyfriend Doyle Bramhall II as speculation rages about her altered appearance" by Jason Chester; 28 October 2014.

---

*called "The GREAT Initiative", a group with no discernible internet presence, had Zellweger over as a patroness.
**if somebody returned from Liberia today, in the age of the Ebola virus, and a close relative exhibited the symptoms Zellweger's boyfriend's father did, one might legitimately wonder at the cause of death.

"Some Nefarious Truth"?

The new Renée?

Saying "it seems the folks who come digging around for some nefarious truth which doesn't exist won't get off my porch until I answer the door," what Renée Zellweger has purportedly become decided to address the "silly" conversation about her dramatically-changed appearance.

Hollywood actresses regularly get their faces worked on. It's much rarer that they don't. And Hollywood actresses deny they've had plastic surgery all the time. The new Renee tosses it all off to aging and a changed mood.*

Okay, but what about fixing one's face could possibly be "nefarious"?

Plastic surgeons looking at her "radically changed face" think it required a bit more than time and better living, listing out the cosmetic procedures she likely had.

When did it all occur? Wouldn't this be done in phases, with periods of recuperation? They don't talk about any such schedule. Who performed the work? Where? Client-patient privilege will likely protect that information.

The face looks too elongated. The neck area, hands, and legs look older. What I've seen of any teeth on the new Renée appear to be caps. Plastic surgery experts don't mention these changes at all. Why have plastic surgery done that makes you appear older? Why have plastic surgery that makes you look like an entirely different person?

Especially for a Hollywood actress, such work is arranged to revive a youthful look. And with everything riding on your look—fame, fans, finances, future—why change it radically? You're not even the same celebrity (or person) if you do. You lose your career.

Perhaps there is "some nefarious truth" underlying all this suspicious activity. Something actually wicked or criminal, as the word suggests. Who was trying to get at such a wicked truth? Press on her porch? Or was this going on in her head.

Perhaps the lady doth protest too much.

Can forensic analysis now be done on before-and-after photos to see if this truly is the Renée Zellweger we know and love?

NOTE: This could all be a publicity stunt/hoax to get people to see her new movie (or to revive her career). Scheduled for release in 2015, we should all know soon enough what Renée looks like in The Whole Truth. Perhaps the title is prophetic, too.

---

*Others suggest it might be just bad makeup.

"That Really Saved Me"

"I found God doing Fury. I became a Christian man, and not in a f***ing bullshit way - in a very real way. I could have just said the prayers that were on the page. But it was a real thing that really saved me."

Shia LaBeouf

"Odd Misogyny"

"In this world in which we all feel we're so full of gender equality and we're a postracial [society] and Obama is president, it's a very good reminder to see the casual racial bias and odd misogyny from a woman written in a paper that we all think of as being so liberal."

Shonda Rhimes

Whoopi Venerates Mammie

Ceased to Exist

“I guess I thought my career would just go on the way it had. But once I turned 40, I really did feel like I’d ceased to exist in Hollywood. I thought I’d have an older-woman’s career like Meryl Streep or Jessica Lange did. But not only weren’t there roles for me, there weren’t any for Meryl either. It was noticeable and unmistakable. And painful.”

Geena Davis

Lillian Gish

"All the Predators Come In"

“L.A. seems to be a place where a guy can say he’s a ‘life-coach-channeller-masseur’. It just seems to be ripe with all these frontier crazies. People are looking to turn their pain into beautiful art, but they also want to be famous. And there’s so much money — so of course all the predators come in.”

John Cusack

"Achieved His Dream"