Kevin Smith

[bigbulgelicker45]

I wasn't sure where to place this, but I figured since he's a celebrity why not here?

I'm not concerned about him "being fat" but I hate the fact that news outlets have to keep bringing his weight up (especially Entertainment Tonight, which IMO has become nothing but a kiss ass celebrity/yellow journalism/ratings hype type of show with stories on Donny and Marie or has been celebrities as "special correspondents". Do they really do celebrity news?).

Anyway, I think they should leave him alone. I like the fact that he's a celebrity and is outspoken about what happened. It does draw attention to the fact that everyone's obsessed with looks and you have to be "perfect." Just for background noise, there was a clip of Rosie and her opinion which said, "he's a big guy" or something like that (on ET). I have XM and maybe I should turn it to 98, but at times it's too gay for me (I'd rather listen to 83 or 8) so I'm not sure what her station number is.

By far I'm not manorexic. I've always been overweight (except when anorexia was "chic" in the early '80's) and in my "new career" as an actor in films being filmed in Detroit (and non SAG) I don't have an agent, I'm older and I'm even turned down for EXTRA work (and as an extra it doesn't take too acting much experience, but I've been getting non paid speaking roles which could maybe make ME a topic in this forum). Guys who are older and bigger than me are constantly getting work. I can't understand it! And here's a cult icon who can't even take a flight without controversary.

I've always been told "if you just lost weight, you'd be hot." I did it and felt like the cheerleader alone on a Saturday night.

Yeah, we'd all like to be perfect but I stand behind Kevin and his fight with the airlines. He's a person (with feelings like all of us) and I don't think a $100 voucher will make up for this.

I'm curious as to what people (men/women/straight/gay/fat/thin it doesn't matter) think and I kind of look at this site as a "Dear Abby" thing (since there are so many topics and opinions). I have to renew my subscription so if this is in the wrong section, please feel free to move it to the correct forum and I'm always up for a debate on what you think!

 

[curiouslady]

Personally: I'm just glad he says he won't fly southwest again...makes my traveling a bit easier.

(flame away LOL)

 

[bigbulgelicker45]

So I've been having a few good cocktails and not sure of how to take your response.

Are you suggesting that since he won't be flying Southwest that it'll be a "lot less lighter?"

And the flame away comment (LOL) I'm not sure of. Are you insinuating that because I'm 100% gay that I can bend my wrist and act totally gay and fly myself anywhere?

I don't know what you mean and I'm not trying to be rude.

 

[mike714]

First, I'd like to say that I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith. The man is a genius and if I got to sit next to him a plane, I would feel so lucky, regardless of his size. He's a nice guy and he's very personable. He doesn't seem like he'd be the type to be upset that a fan was talking to him on a plane.

I think it's sick that they threw him off a plane because of his size. If we start singling out fat people simply because they might make somebody uncomfortable on a flight, where does it end? Will you be able to be kicked off a plane if you have bad breath? What about if you have a cold? What if you have a fussy baby? Are we eventually going to become a nation where our travel plans need to be based on our inability to upset others?

Think, for a second, how terribly embarrassing that had to be for him. Nobody deserves to be publicly humiliated and that's exactly what they did to him. They should be ashamed. I will never understand the hatred shown toward our overweight brothers and sisters. The damage they do is to their own bodies. They aren't harming us. We really just need to learn to live and let live.

 

[Balljunkie]

His getting the boot should be a wake-up call that he should lose weight. It is a health issue. No matter how much you love him, do you want him to end up like John Candy? I would rather have him around making good movies than to have him gone because he can't stop stuffing his damn face.

America has become so complacent with the obesity problems. Nobody says that you have to be a size 00 or a 29, but damn, nobody should need to belts to fit around their waist. You shouldn't need to seats or a seat belt extension because the normal one won't work.

 

[chestybbwsizequeen]

I am a huge fan of Kevin Smith's. I'm surprised he even flew southwest. Their customer service has never been the best. Does anyone remember the reality show on A&E called airline? It focused on the issues that southwest had with their customers and it was the customers who were always wrong. Once I watched it once or twice I swore I would never fly that airline. Hopefully Kevin will now do the same.

 

[gniko21]

Genius?

 

[mike714]

Yes, genius. He's wonderful. He made his way in the industry on talent, not looks. Not many celebrities can say that.

As for what Balljunkie said, no, of course I wouldn't want him to die. But what he does with his body is his decision. I'm amazed how violently opposed people to are to socialism is medicine but when it involves telling people what they can and can't do, it's embraced. We have no right to tell others they HAVE to lose weight. If we start allowing business and the government to push people around for the "good of America", eventually it's going to be our turn.

 

[SirConcis]

I would have liked to have seen Silent Bob's communications with the southwest personnel. Lots of facial expressions and arm gestures, and probably just a "fuck you" word at the very end

 

[Balljunkie]

It's not for the good of America, but for the good of the individual. His obesity is no worse than a person that is strung out on drugs. It seems like people with substance abuse are not told that "there is no right for others to tell other people to stop abusing whatever substance they are abusing". Complications related to obesity is the leading killer of people in the United States. But people are so quick to let that shit slide, but it needs to be taken seriously.

Some diseases (preventable diseases) that are caused by obesity:

Type 2 diabetes
Heart disease
Hypertension
Negative impact on lipid levels

 

[catman]

As to 'genius'- I think Dogma comes close- when it first came out I didn't really 'get' it, but on repeat viewings...wow.

but folks he is not "FAAAAAT" if he were 6'1" and 500 lbs I could see it but he has never struck as 'wall of obesity'- pudgy, sure, but worth the PR nightmare this has created? no...

Not to sound cynical but.....wierd this all happened RIGHT as he had a movie coming out...(with a rediculous title...'Two Dicks" I get..."Copout" yaawwwnnnn

 

[B_hungprepjock]

Yeah, Kevin Smith is a big guy, but frankly, and more importantly, I think Southwest picked on the wrong guy — and, I hope, Kevin Smith totally slams them for it!

 

[Flashy]

David Lynch is a genius...Kevin Smith is not.

Nobody who wrote and directed Jersey Girl, Clerks 2, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, can be considered a "genius"

Let's not get hysterical.

Clerks was a decent film, Mallrats was average, Chasing Amy was good for the first half....but i cannot say that i have warm feeling for the man responsible for unleashing Ben Affleck on the world of cinema.

he deserves credit for being a successful writer/director. Genius is, in my opinion, a serious overestimation of someone whose career has been predicated primarily on dick and fart type jokes.

 

[invisibleman]

Kevin Smith...I don't really consider him a genius. He is one of many American filmmakers. He hasn't influenced or changed the motion picture industry like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, or The Wachowski Brothers have. Not even like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez or Eli Roth has. He isn't EVEN touching David Lynch.

I don't hate Kevin Smith. I don't hate him because of his full-figured stature. (I do like his movies: DOGMA and JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKES BACK.) :biggrin1:

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I dunno - he's certainly up there for my generation, I can't think of many better. If you think it is just fart and dick jokes then you just don't get it. But that's OK, not everybody does. (Though I do recall, Flashy, similar criticism being levelled at Rick and Ade more than once - and we both know they are genius, don't we :wink

Anyway - whoever it was said the airline picked on the wrong guy was right.

And genius or not, big or not, I think KS is hot. Always have.

 

[HazelGod]

I am a huge fan of Kevin Smith's.

I'm a fan of his work...an important distinction.

I'm surprised he even flew southwest. Their customer service has never been the best.

This statement alone tells me you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Not only is SWA regularly atop the service rankings for the airline industry, they're named among the top performers in customer service across all industries.

Does anyone remember the reality show on A&E called airline? It focused on the issues that southwest had with their customers and it was the customers who were always wrong. Once I watched it once or twice I swore I would never fly that airline.

And there's the substantiation for my suspicion, thank you very much. Heaven forbid people might bother to form opinions based on their experiences when we've got the almighty reality TV show to do our thinking for us.


As for Smith, he needs to just STFU about it already.

 

[Flashy]

I dunno - he's certainly up there for my generation, I can't think of many better. If you think it is just fart and dick jokes then you just don't get it. But that's OK, not everybody does. (Though I do recall, Flashy, similar criticism being levelled at Rick and Ade more than once - and we both know they are genius, don't we :wink
.

well, rick and ade are in fact geniuses :wink:...but the types of folks who were criticizing them were exactly the types of folks in British society that they were making fun of (like Neal's parents, Roland the professor who didn't want you to seduce his parrot, Lord Snot, etc.)

I, being of your generation as well, (38) am certainly not someone who has any problem with low-brow humor...considering some of my favorites such as Cheech & Chong, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, The Farrelly Brothers, and countless others have engaged in it...

you have to understand especially, for me, a native New York City person, Kevin Smith's universe is crafted in suburban New Jersey...and New Yorkers *hate* New Jersey...all of it.
They are the original acid wash, Bon Jovi perm mullet haired, mall-dwelling. Absolutely horrible creatures...so naturally, i dislike anything having to do with them, unless it is absolutely hysterical.


i think it is primarily dick and fart jokes...that does not mean he does not exhibit some depth here and there, but i think that the "View Askew" universe he has sort of created is rather mundane.

Clerks, for example, i found to be very funny and irreverent....lots of funny and obnoxious humor. It certainly was a very smart film for its time, and i acknowledge and laud that...

Mallrats, certainly had its humorous moments, but after this, to me, was the beginning of what was to become of the mundane Smith material. He was fine as long as he did not have anything big to say...and who could expect that he was trying to give us anything more than a few laughs , which is okay with me.

he tried to really say something in the next movie...Chasing Amy...it had alot of very good relationship views going on in it, it was very funny in the first half, when it was less serious, but then, once you are depending on Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams to carry the attempt at seriousness for the second half, you are asking for trouble. meanwhile, Jason Lee was very funny it.

everything after that was downhill...since suddenly, he was a name in Hollywood, which, is not really so easy to deal with, i more than understand, but everything since Chasing Amy, has been complete garbage (IMO)

Dogma was a valiant attempt at some type of cathartic release at his catholic school upbringing and his thoughts on the church. Personally, i did not find it that good at all, and, once you put Ben Affleck in a movie, you have utterly ruined that part of it for me

then Jay and Silent Bob strike back just felt like a total rehash...
then Jersey Girl was just wretched...

then he had to rehash Clerks for Clerks 2 (which i admittedly did not see, based on how much i hated J&SB Strike back, and Jersey Girl, and Dogma, not to mention i failed to see why he would ruin the legacy of Clerks)

then he had Zack and Miri make a Porno (which i have not seen either, and probably will not see until it is on HBO)

making movies is not easy, and i appreciate the fact that he is very connected to his fans, and is one of the few people in the industry who writes and directs his own films...but, that is both a blessing and a curse...because i think in terms of writing, he has been scraping the bottom for a while now, and, let's face it...the people who go to see his films and who like him, are there for his writing, not for any tremendous directorial achievement.

I certainly would not put him in the "I utterly loathe him" category of filmmaker, like Michael Bay, i just don't find what he is doing to be interesting any more.

he felt original way back when, and i can appreciate that, and applaud that...but he seems to have been running on fumes since Dogma, and to me, it shows in the films he has produced.

of course this is all IMO :smile:

 

[HazelGod]

then he had to rehash Clerks for Clerks 2 (which i admittedly did not see...)

You should see it...I went into it with pretty low expectations but was quite surprised with the result. I still think it's eclipsed by the first one, but it's definitely worth a watch, even if only to learn about the saga of the evil PillowPants.