Cody Brotter2013-06-19T06:23:48-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=cody-brotterCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Cody BrotterGood old fashioned elbow grease.Things I Worry About: Media Narratives on Womentag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.25238702013-01-22T16:02:04-05:002013-03-24T05:12:02-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/ Michelle Obama
If I have a daughter one day, I hope she will not be judged by the coverup on her skin but by the content of her character.]]>The Millennial Party Platformtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19833852012-10-23T18:14:27-04:002012-12-23T05:12:01-05:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/ Let Gays Marry!
According to a USA Today/Gallup poll, 58 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds believe that the president himself should work to legalize marriage equality. That's one percentage point off from how many Americans (of all ages) the same pollsters found opposed same-sex marriage in '09.
This year's Pew Research Center study concurred that this is a "generational change," as Americans born during or after Reagan's presidency are almost two times as likely to approve of gay marriage than members of the Silent Generation are. From the Silents to the Boomers to Gen X-ers to Millennials, you can see a steady rise in support among all generations -- and a direct correlation between your opinion and the year of your birth.
Legalize Illegals!
The Public Research Institute -- in conjunction with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University -- conducted "a new national survey of college-age Millennials" on the topic of the election, faith, and values. This past spring, they found that most citizens between the ages of 18 and 24 would have voted hell "yea" on the DREAM Act. The only dissenters? College-aged white evangelical protestants. The bill proposes a legal pathway to residency for undocumented immigrants if they: (A) came to the U.S. before their Super Sweet 16, (B) have yet to celebrate their 30th birthday, (C) don't have a criminal record, (D) have lived here for half a decade, and (E) go to one of our colleges or served in our military.
Sixty-one percent of Millennials support the controversial legislation that helps keep children of "illegals" within our shores. Even more controversial than the legislation is the fact that Obama, a president whose own status as an American-born citizen is doubted by almost half of all registered Republicans, completely dissed Congress by issuing his own Executive Order to pass a version of the bill that ends the deportation of 800,000 young people. Unlike President Reagan, President Obama is not granting amnesty; in fact, he's kicked out over a million "aliens" since his presidency. And speaking of teens, aliens, and Obama conspiracy theories, this year, the White House officially denied reports that a 19-year-old "Barry" Obama teleported to Mars on a secret mission for the CIA in 1980.
Raise Taxes on the Rich!
According to that same survey, 63 percent of college-aged Americans are in agreement on something else: their country doesn't give its citizens an equal chance in life. Even more of them, almost three quarters in fact, think their economic system unfairly favors the wealthy. Millennials who are registered Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are united in their desire for more government action in reducing the gap between the poor and the rich.
That's why they're also strongly united, irrespective of their party, in their support of the "Buffett Rule." This rule, assumingly named after millionaire Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band, increases the tax rate on the rich. According to 72 percent of Millennials, if you make over a million bucks a year, you should pay a minimum of 30 percent on your income tax. And despite the fact that Obama's "Buffett Rule" is not in place, CNN found the same exact percentage of all Americans agree with Millennials on millionaires in their support of the tax plan.
Regulate Cannabis!
Speaking of Coral Reefer, Gallup recently found that "support for legalizing marijuana is directly and inversely proportional to age." The generational gap on this issue -- which isn't necessarily at the top of Millennials' list of concerns -- is as clear as (a clear) day: as many as 62 percent of young people (18-29) think pot should be legal and as little as 31 percent of elderly people (65+) do not.
Though this doesn't mean 62 percent of Millennials support legalization because they're pot-smokers, it's important to note that recent numbers from the National Survey on Drug Use & Health indicate that in the first three years of Barack Obama's presidency, the rate of illicit drug use among young adults (18-25) jumped from 19.7 to 21.4 percent. The stats can be attributed to the fact that last year, under a president who's a former member of "The Choom Gang," close to 70 percent of the 3 million "first-time experiences" with illicit drugs last year involved, well, chooming.
Today, half of the country supports the legalization of cannabis -- which is the highest on record, no pun intended. But, as with the "Buffett Rule," national support has yet to translate into national action.
Help Us Prevent Unwanted Pregnancies and Support Abortion!
The New York Times and CBS report that three quarters of Millennials are of the Sandra Fluke viewpoint on birth control: insurance companies should be required to cover it. They even believe colleges and hospitals affiliated with religious institutions should provide free BC as well.
But before Rush Limbaugh dubs us "The Slutty Generation," The National Campaign also surveyed young adults (via cell phone because landlines are like VHS tapes or newspapers) and found that a vast majority believe the issue of unplanned pregnancies is more important than other social and economic problems and thus warrants national attention and education.
Perhaps that's why 69 percent of them told Lake Research Partners that the Pill is "one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the last century." The Pill is the leading method of contraception for women under 30, says the Guttmacher Institute, and yet, even the White House acknowledges the majority of those women admit to struggling with the cost.
As with contraceptives, young people just want abortions to be available. While less than half of seniors and 60 percent of Baby Boomers support access to abortions in their own community, almost 70 percent of Millennials support that local availability. (By the way, they're statistically more likely to support abortions if they watch MTV, thanks to Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant.) And 85 percent of The National Campaign's young respondents think that if you're an adamantly anti-abortion politician, then you better be an adamantly pro-BC one.
Stop HIV/AIDS!
Not only do most Millennials want government assistance in preventing pregnancies, but they also want federal intervention in preventing HIV. Last year, the Kaiser Family Foundation learned that less than half of Boomers and seniors think the government should spend more cash to fight HIV and AIDS. Well, 63 percent of Millennials disagree with those parents and grandparents.
The stats show that most people under 30 genuinely think more spending is needed and that more spending leads to meaningful progress. Not only that, but about half of them want more information about both "how to prevent the spread of HIV" and "how to talk with children about HIV/AIDS."
Now if someone called a college kid's cell phone and asked "Should we do more to stop a murderous STD?" it's easy for us to see why they'd hear a "yes" and therefore easy for us to dismiss these numbers. But for the first time in a decade, "personal concern" about getting the virus increased dramatically. After years of "a growing complacency," says Kaiser, "the change was driven by young people." In my freshman year of college, that individual concern statistic was in the teens. By my junior year, about a quarter of my entire generation personally fear infection.
If the changes in concerns were youth-driven, will the changes in policies be as well?]]>Undergrad Undercover: Testing Mitt and Barack's College Resumes on TVtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19500252012-10-10T11:02:04-04:002012-12-10T05:12:02-05:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/
When I was first contacted by mtvU, I bolted out of my classroom at BU. The network was gearing up for an exciting new segment involving the 2012 presidential candidates and they wanted a college comedian to be the star. My first step: after my work study job the next day, I would run to the student union and call a producer named Annie. After unknowingly butt-dialing her at midnight the night before with my new 99-cent-upgrade iPhone, I gave her a ring:
"Hello?" Annie answered.
"Hi this is Annie!" I eagerly responded. "Is Cody there?"
To quote another 2012 presidential candidate, "Woops."
Luckily, my stand-up clips online impressed the folks at MTV's 24-hour college network enough to make up for my telephonic impairment -- and enough to let me star in a special episode of "mtvU's Hire Learning." So, I took off my Red Sox socks, put on my Yankees underwear, and hopped on a bus from the city that drunkenly passes out to the city that never sleeps.
Now I'm no stranger to college TV stations. On buTV10, our campus station, I've gone from playing a meth-dealing baby-daddy to a caricature of myself on Welcome Back, Brotter. But living rooms in 750 college communities across America? mtvU reaches about nine million students -- from the computer screen to the TV screen to the projector screen at BU Central all day long. Talking to our faculty advisor during office hours is one thing, but meeting with a team of execs in a Viacom conference room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Times Square is another.
Fresh off my summer internship at The Daily Show -- where my boss gave this year's mtvU Convocation Address! -- I was ready to be the best (undergraduate) correspondent in the Big Apple. My challenge: take the entry-level resumes of President Obama and Governor Romney and see how they'd fare in the very job market that they for some reason seek to govern. But there was only one way to test how they'd fare fairly: pose as each of the candidates.
With unknowing participants and an MTV camera crew, I felt like Ashton Kutcher... but, obviously, much sexier.
Going under the fake names Robert Miller (Mitt Romney) and Oliver Brady (Barack Obama), I defended these "Pres-umes" as my own in attempts to land employment at the world-famous Gotham Bar and Grill as well as Grey Era Vintage, the chicest clothing store in the Village.
Bret Csencsitz, Gotham's General Manager, and Sierra Fromberg, Grey Era's owner, ended up being great sports about the whole thing. In fact, Sierra turned out to be a BU alum and once I finally admitted that I was just a normal college kid and that she was reviewing the resume of the Republican nominee for president, we spent the rest of the afternoon dishing about our favorite places to grab pizza on campus.
Without giving away any spoilers, not only were Bret and Sierra surprised to learn what and who they were looking at, but I was also surprised by their critiques. See, the unemployment rate for people between the ages of 18 and 29 is 12 percent! To put that in perspective, that's almost 50 percent higher than the national average. And yet, according to MTV research, 90 percent of my generation thinks they deserve their dream job.
In working on this incredibly timely television special in advance of the 2012 presidential debates, I certainly scored my dream job. And whether you're having a Tea Party or Occupying Wall Street or just voting for the first time like me, make sure to check out both candidates' resumes online. Just don't try passing them off as your own... unless you've got a camera crew to back you up.]]>Family Values? The Palins' Gay Chicken Problemtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.17452172012-08-08T13:12:53-04:002012-10-08T05:12:32-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/radical socialists on women's choices -- and why would liberty-lovers argue for a discriminatory amendment to the federal Constitution?
This Chick-fil-A poppycock isn't about legitimate differences in economic philosophies or foreign policy positions -- nor is it about red states versus blue. This is about nonpartisan oppressors versus the legally, culturally, brutally oppressed. As Dr. Cornel West says, "Since justice is what love looks like in public, you can't talk about loving folk and not fighting for justice, especially beginning with the least of these."
So whether you're an Occupy Wall Street-walking regulator or Tea Partying deregulator, you can see that Sarah Palin's being a bit of a bully. She's actively campaigning against the least of these under the guise of the very religion that beautifully preaches such wisdom on love and righteousness. It's one thing to see someone who nearly became your president thinks you're a sinner undeserving of equal rights -- those in the LGBT community are used to that by now! But it's another to see the same bullying from your teenage classmates then reflected in the adults, in the masses, in the mainstream.
Thankfully, I cannot imagine what it is like to witness a nationwide gathering to voice (or chew) their support for discriminating against me. But I would hope my political leaders would never give the thumbs up to a rather cruel public spectacle. Those who support some statements uttered by the President of a fried chicken sandwich chain are free to vehemently agree with him. But they don't need to be so vigorously disagreeable with those who don't.
TLC reality show star Sarah Palin gave birth to ABC reality show star Bristol Palin, who gave birth to Lifetime reality show star Tripp Palin. There seems to be a rare rule of decency in politics wherein members of the media don't scrutinize the candidates' offspring. So this critical anecdote is not the vilification of a little kid -- in fact, Tripp is a pretty helpless victim as the unknowing star of his own TV series (sort of like a homophobic version of The Truman Show).
On this summer's Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp, three Palin kids sit on a couch. Sarah's grandson Tripp, like any cranky three-year-old, is throwing a little fit. But something troubling happens when he looks up at his 21-year-old mom Bristol and 17-year-old aunt Willow. "Go away, you faggot!" he says angrily. Even more troubling, Bristol and Willow beam. They cover their mouths. They giggle.
Okay, maybe Tripp just heard a word used as a slur on TV and his mommy, auntie, and grammy deplore that kind of hate speech. But as much as I want to believe otherwise, using homosexuality as an insult aligns far too perfectly with the tactics of the other two girls in the frame.
After riding a bull at a bar this past June, Bristol confronted a man who talked smack about her mom, ex-Governor Sarah Palin. "Is it because you're a homosexual?" asks Tripp's mom. "And that's why you hate her? I can tell you are. That's your boyfriend right there."
And remember Willow's Facebook confrontation with one of her fellow students? In an attempt to offend, Tripp's aunt posted: "Haha your so gay." She then sent a follow-up post that read: "STFU. Your such a faggot." Go ahead and scrutinize the teen for making the common "you're" and "your" error, but the content speaks to a problematic pattern for the Palin dynasty.
Bristol blamed the whole incident on the fact that Tripp "apparently picked up some language" that led him to use gay slurs when he's mad at someone. And as Chick-fil-A rakes in the cash from its "record-setting day" on August 1st, I wonder where these genuinely precious Palin children and grandchildren ever "picked up" such gleeful intolerance.]]>Confessions of an Ex-CONAN Interntag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16497082012-07-06T12:31:13-04:002012-09-05T05:12:07-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/CONAN on TBS, she immediately called off that night's Halloween plans. Probably because the deadline was the next day.
According to Variety, the Los Angeles Internship Program "relies on an alumni network of Boston U. grads at work in the industry." The article cites specific "leads" (Jason Alexander, Emily Deschanel, Michael Chikilis, writer Corinne Brinkerhoff, producer Lauren Schuler Donner, and CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler were named) who help undergrads like Breen "by supplying a stream of internship opportunities."
Program Director Bill Linsman told Variety that around 80%-90% of the students -- who juggle two internships with three courses -- find showbiz-related jobs upon graduation. It sure looks like it worked for Breen; this summer, she received her Bachelor's in Film & Television from BU's College of Communication and is currently employed (isn't that enough of a feat these days?) back in Boston at the Creative Services department of WGBH, the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning PBS member station.
Collegiates and their parents alike should listen up to this success story because, to paraphrase Robert Zimmerman, "the internship processes, they are a-changin'." Breen wrote a cover letter, like our folks did, but instead of writing, printing, sealing, stamping and shipping, she sent a PDF to an email address listed online. She was subsequently interviewed, like our folks were, but it's all via cell phone. A week goes by and in comes "the acceptance email." Next thing the applicant knows, she's watching a Warner Brothers movie in the sky on her way to Warner Brothers Studios.
For the 2012 Spring Semester (January through May) the screenwriting student was selected for one of two spots -- out of 2,000 applicants -- to be a Script Intern at CONAN, or as she calls it, "a courier of comedy." Interacting mainly with the script coordinator and others on the writing staff, Breen distributed rehearsal schedules, scripts and show rundowns to others on the crew.
She described her nine hour days (9 am-6 pm Monday, Thursday and every other Friday) at Building 34 on the WB lot as "the best learning experience I could have asked for."
"There were so many things that never made air," says Breen, who would love to work at Sesame Street one day. "If things weren't working in rehearsal, it made for a long afternoon, but the crazy days were also exciting."
And as for Boss O'Brien, Breen will say little besides that "Conan is a really kind person and treats everyone with respect." (Incidentally, these are probably not the same words Mr. O'Brien uses to describe Jay Leno.)
So for those college students lucky enough to score a rare gig for Team CoCo or any other team in the biz, Breen warns that although you will rightfully "feel like an absolute rockstar when you get accepted," interns must realize "that no matter how educated you are, how many other internships you have had, you are still new to this workplace and need to learn how they do things there." She advises students to befriend their fellow interns and to focus on making your boss' lives easier as opposed to "making yourself a star."
And for those high school students lucky enough to choose from any number of higher learning institutions, check the place out and go with your gut. Breen says she was "walking on campus and just felt at home" during her tour of Boston University (which, unlike Boston College, is actually a school in the city of Boston).
"Maybe not the most concrete way or intelligent reasoning," she acknowledges. "But I had such a strong gut feeling that I couldn't ignore it. And it worked out for me."
In fact, Breen credits the College of Communication with teaching her the technical stuff -- from using a camera during production to using Avid during post production. She thinks she also benefited from BU's credit requirements, which ensure that even an aspiring comedy writer gets a well-rounded liberal arts education.
"BU helped me understand that learning about another language, our government or world history will make me a better filmmaker," she says. "Although the technical elements are really important, instilling the idea that you can find value in any activity or task helps you tremendously in the interning world and later in the working world."
Breen, a semi-finalist in Final Draft's Big Break Screenwriting Competition, has idolized the 79-year-old Carol Burnett ever since her grandma showed her The Carol Burnett Show.
"She was actually on CONAN for the first time when I was interning there," recalls Breen. "And when she walked out on stage, she pulled her ear. I was sitting in the control room and not ashamed to say that I got teary-eyed."]]>Boston University Student Wins Gig at 'TBS Just For Laughs'tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16076602012-06-19T15:04:41-04:002012-08-19T05:12:08-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/sophomore gets named the prettiest girl in America and now a rising senior gets named the funniest college kid in the country. While the Emerson College team won the Rooftop Comedy's National College Comedy Competition, it was another student from Boston who was selected as the contest's overall MVP.
Twenty one-year-old psych major Nick Peine was selected by a panel of judges: Conan producer J.P. Buck, Just For Laughs Director of Programming Robbie Praw, as well as comedians Kumail Nanjiani and Janet Varney. Peine was The Chosen One out of twelve MVP nominees -- who were narrowed down from hundreds upon hundreds -- thanks to the fifth annual nationwide competition and their 32-campus talent search last spring.
And it's not the first time the Minnesotan has been celebrated for his skill. At the end of 2011, the royal jester was crowned the judge's pick at BU's Funniest Student Competition. But this win in particular came with some pretty remarkable rewards courtesy of TBS who joined Wendy's in sponsoring the NCCC (because the best way to watch a Tyler Perry show is with a Baconator in your mouth).
Peine, who "basically worshiped" Sinbad's HBO special when he was five, won a VIP trip to TBS Presents Just For Laughs, Chicago. Not only did he get to watch the biggest stars in comedy at the biggest joke convention in the world, but he also got a five-minute spot to perform at the official festival on June 16th. TBS flew him out on the 14th, guaranteeing him "access to festival performances, VIP parties, quality shmoozing and a bunch of cool freebies." Well, the network delivered.
Peine's review of the evening? One word: "Amazing." Okay, a few more words: "Everything I thought it could be and more."
"They paid for everything," said Peine the day following his performance. "The hotel threw parties for us every night. Last night I was chatting with Jeff Ross, Andy Kindler, and Chris D'Elia." Peine was also escorted through a series of interviews, which he called "a lot of fun."
"My mom visited me and got pulled into an interview with TBS LIVE," said Peine. "It was a great time all around."
Though his "influences change on a daily basis," Peine says his "biggest influence as a performer" is another Nick from Minneapolis. Upon seeing the star of his own self-titled Comedy Central show, Nick Swardson, become "a big name from Minnesota," Peine "wanted to do exactly what he did."
And so he started. Swardson -- who's face you'll recall from just about every Happy Madison production -- discovered the stand up at a Monday open mic night at Acme Comedy Company. It was there in the Twin Cities that Swardson saw that the then-19-year-old Peine, in his own words, "has great jokes and a great stage presence."
Peine even got to open for one of his comedy heroes in what he calls his "biggest gig" -- opening for Nick Swardson at the Boston College Arena. Even two BC comics in the Improv Boston green room (before competing with BU in the 2012 Live Showcase Round of the NCCC) recognized Peine from his packed-house performance in the spring of 2011.
"Nick is super funny," said Swardson, surely in reference to Peine and not himself. He says he owes Swardson "a huge debt" and that his "invaluable" friendship has helped Peine "handle [him]self as a comic" and "break into LA." Peine added that "working with him now is a huge thrill."
Ted Bender, Peine's manager in Beverly Hills, called the NCCC victory and subsequent TBS-sponsored performance "huge" and "exciting." He considers Just For Laughs as "basically the pinnacle of validation in comedy" and believes "everybody who's gone on to be anybody" has gone through "JFL in some form."
"But to get to take your first step this early puts him ahead of his game," said Bender, who works at Prinicpato-Young Entertainment. Bender even called his discovery of Peine in May of 2011 "a pretty lucky break for me actually." On summer vacation from BU's College of Arts and Sciences, a 20-year-old Peine scored a slot at The Improv in Los Angeles. Bender, whose company has repped some of the funniest dudes in Hollywood -- like Jonah Hill, Will Arnett, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, and David Wain -- happened to be in the crowd.
"He went up and he was just light years ahead of his age," said Bender of Peine's performance. He had never heard of the young comic before, so he introduced himself after the show and was shocked to learn how "young he actually was."
A kid who's "that comfortable on stage is a pretty rare thing," he said. Bender added that after learning Peine was "developing his act," the two stay connected so that Peine is preparing for graduation from Boston U "while preparing for his jump to the pros." And if he's not in a psych class or in his dorm room or in the dining hall, he's somewhere killing the crowd.]]>BU vs. BC: The New Green Line Rivalrytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13882862012-04-02T17:08:24-04:002012-06-02T05:12:01-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/ Sports Illustrated once called the relationship between Boston University and Boston College the biggest rivalry in sports history. And the Battle of Commonwealth was even ranked first in College Hockey News' list of "College Hockey's Top 10 Rivalries." The B-Line Rivalry derives its various nicknames from the "T" trolley that takes Terriers and Eagles alike along their respective campuses (which are within about four miles of each other).
Now, BU and BC are taking their historic beef -- Wendy's beef, that is -- to the Web.
Two months. 14 states. 32 schools. 82 live events. For its fifth year, Rooftop Comedy is producing the 2012 National College Comedy Competition (NCCC). TBS and Wendy's are presenting sponsors.
On February 10 and February 12, respectively, BU and BC had their talent search event to narrow -- by audience vote -- 20 comics down to eight.
At the Live Showcase event at ImprovBoston in Cambridge on March 26, those 16 went head-to-head. The 8 on each team were narrowed down to 4, as decided upon by 3 judges -- one of whom was BU's Funniest Student Winner 2009 Jono Zalay.
The individual performances by the winning 4 on each team (aka the Starting Lineup) will be featured on TBS.com/College and most likely divided into two 45-second clips.
The first online voting round commences on Thursday, April 12 and ends on Sunday, April 15.
After the Regionals, the winner of the BU vs. BC voting round will compete with either Tufts University or Emerson College in the Quarterfinals.
Then it's on to the Semifinals wherein the teams battle each other -- with jokes "based off of provided prompts" -- via Skype. These "Grudge Match" videos go online for a public vote (April 25-27) with the addition of the "two cents" of a panel of judges.
Finally, the Finals. Judges' scores and public e-votes (May 1-3) determine The Funniest Comedy Team on May 8th. Those judges also pick an MVP from the Grudge Match to join the winning team in their VIP trips to "TBS Presents Just For Laughs" in Chicago. This summer, the winners will perform at that very festival.
As the 2012 Bracket shows, the winning team could be battling Columbia University or NYU and eventually schools like Stanford University from the West Division, Duke University from the South Division, or Northwestern University from the Midwest Division.
Bonnie Puckett, one of four event managers for the East Division, calls it an "absolute dream job" and "love[s] all of the puzzle pieces involved including finding hosts, comedy clubs, promoting, and travel."
Puckett has now seen over 150 student comics perform and she is "still awed with how talented and brave they are!"
Last year's MVP, Brandon Scott Wolf of Penn State, performed an entire routine on TBS' Lopez Tonight. And indeed, says Puckett, "With so many comedians out there, NCCC can definitely help boost careers."
But no matter who makes it to Chicago, the question now is: who will win the Battle of Boston?
The answer? It's all up to Time magazine's 2006 Person of the Year.]]>"BU On Broadway" Puts on Controversial Musicaltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10916912011-11-15T15:03:49-05:002012-01-15T05:12:01-05:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/
Thankfully, it wasn't a rally. It was BU On Broadway's fall semester production of Mel Brooks' The Producers at the Tsai Performance Center on Commonwealth Ave.
Still, an occasional gasp could be heard as characters sported swastikas or sang such gems as, "Don't be stupid, be a smarty / Come and join the Nazi party!"
Even a few adults shook their heads as a line of Boston University girls marched and danced to "Springtime for Hitler." But those gasps and head-shakings were always accompanied by big laughs.
The material of the show seemed a bit risky and risqué for a college musical theatre company who put on Seussical The Musical spring 2010 and A Disney Showcase last fall. The story surrounds a money-making scheme between a "lying, cheating, dishonest" Jewish producer named Max Bialystock (School of Management freshman Dylan Kaplan) and Leopold Bloom (College of General Studies sophomore Austin Pohlen), his hysterical -- in both senses -- accountant.
If the show didn't sound potentially offensive to the second largest Jewish population of any private university, the producers in The Producers produce a show called Springtime for Hitler. The musical within the musical is written by a Nazi named Franz Liebkind (College of Arts & Sciences senior Alec Nicholson) and directed by Roger DeBris (School of Hospitality senior Michael Butvinik), arguably one of the most flamboyantly gay characters to grace both the stage and the screen.
Although The College of Fine Arts, College of Communication Student Services, and the Dean of Students received "Special Thanks," the BU On Broadway Executive Board (as well as cast and crew) is made up entirely of the University's students from its variety of schools and colleges. And while showtunes like "Keep it Gay" and songs of the Third Reich might not push any of BU's boundaries, perhaps the way The Producers' producers fund their Hitler-worshipping spectacle will; countless "Little Old Ladies" pay Bialystock for sex.
One of those elderly women, named "Kiss-Me Feel-Me," is played by junior in the College of Arts & Sciences Desiree Okoh. And though she admits she "did see some horrified faces," she claims that "there was actually very little talk of how much we might offend people. I think the idea is that it's a well known show, and most people know what they're getting into."
BU On Broadway Membership Photographer Amanda Friedman, a junior in the College of Communication, worked with her fellow Terriers under that same assumption.
"Going into a Mel Brooks musical, the audience and the actors know what kind of material to expect -- satire," says Friedman in reference to the 85-year-old franchise creator. "The Producers was only received with high praises. Going into the show, there were no worries about backlash or negative press. I think audiences have evolved with the taste of current trends."
Friedman cites the The Book of Mormon as the biggest hit on Broadway today as well as the Director's Note from The Producers program with which director and College of Arts and Sciences junior Kat Pernicone opens, "Boston University could use a laugh. We take ourselves too seriously."
This post has been modified since its original publication. ]]>Sarah Silverman Goes to Business Schooltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10881742011-11-15T09:14:23-05:002012-01-15T05:12:01-05:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/
On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Sarah Silverman (best known for her character "Sarah Silverman") and her older sister Susan (a Reform rabbi and Boston University alum) walked into the hallowed halls of BU's School of Management.
The two sat down for an intimate conversation with moderator and BU College of Arts & Sciences Dean Virginia Sapiro, as well as the crowd -- which included the girls' Tweeting father in the front row. The event was dubbed "Sister Act: The Silvermans @ BU" and was sponsored by The Other Within Program.
Though it was strange to hear a comic known for Holocaust jokes being introduced with a special thanks to the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Sarah stayed tame for the duration of discussion... relatively.
As the Dean shared her childhood experience of discovering that she was Jewish after a child called her "Christ killer," Sarah could not help but jump into her usual form.
"Yeah, but it's not like we killed Baby Jesus," she defended. "He had a good run."
Even her sister, who currently lives with her family in Israel, channeled the Silverman irreverence.
"If I killed your God," said the rabbi. "Just imagine what I could do to you."
The sisters did not stop there.
Susan's realization of her own Jewishness came in their Semite-scarce home of New Hampshire.
"I thought being Jewish meant you were a Democrat," she said of her childhood. "I thought when McGovern ran, if you're Jewish you voted for McGovern, if you're Christian you voted for Nixon."
Though the event was billed as a talk on the difficulties of "Growing Up Jewish in New Hampshire," politics (and just about anything from Matt Damon to video chat mishaps) continued to make its way into the dialogue.
For instance, Sarah said she thought the Herman Cain smoking ad "was an SNL sketch."
"You can't parody a joke," she explained in reference to the 2012 Republican candidates.
Sarah spoke openly about her most controversial moments, such as learning from her NBC debacle in July 2001 as well as defending both her "Live From Niggerhead" comedy show and her "Sell the Vatican, Save the World" video.
The defense? Moral outrage. Sarah could not believe the lack of news coverage Rick Perry got for the epithet at his ranch, and had the same fury with respect to the Vatican.
"I just see a world of starving children and a house that's a city," she said, emphasizing that the viral video was not some attack on the Pope "as a Jew" but rather "as an animal in the world."
Similar anger crept through when she visited Susan in Israel and grew "enraged" by the lack of space for women at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall. While Jews traditionally insert written prayers to Adonai in the wall, Sarah shared her desire to stick in a piece of paper that said "No more religion."
"Personally I have no religion," Sarah proclaimed. After declaring her secularism, she leaned over to her big sister and fake-whispered, "Secular means not religious, right?"
Sarah left New Hampshire as she grew up, where she described her "Jewiness" as making her feel "like a goat for in a sea of..." She stopped and leaned over to her sister again. "What's an animal that's not a goat?"
While Sarah said she found "other goats" in New York City, Susan went off to BU, where she participated in gay rights activist groups and could not believe there were "so many Jews."
"I knew nothing about Judaism," Susan said as she tried to comfort a student during the Q&A who was having trouble balancing his religious life with his course load. She now resides in a kibbutz with her fellow Terrier husband, who was a far more devout Jew than herself during their BU days, along with their five children (including two adopted Ethopians).
The sisterly love poured out through the evening, as did an unspoken theme of courage. Sarah spoke of her mother's emails which end with "Be Brave," and she advised the audience to never bite their tongues in the face of injustice. While Susan and her family, some of whom serve in the Israeli Defense Force, continue "fighting the good fight" in the Holy Land, she considers her little sister "a prophet. She just calls the truth out as she sees it."
"I am in awe of my sister," said Sarah. "She is my hero."
After aww's and applause, she sprung back into character.
"Wow, they bought it."
]]>#OccupyBU: A Return to the University's Roots?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10240592011-10-22T16:43:05-04:002011-12-22T05:12:02-05:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/
These were the words of Bill O'Reilly, BU College of Communication grad from '75. And, indeed, any kid who's talked to a Baby Boomer about their BU days learns instantly of the protest history of the campus.
The 1968 four-day hunger strike to protest the war. The arrest of 33 demonstrators protesting military recruiters on campus in 1972. The 250 students who occupied and roughhoused the administration building in the same year. Professor Howard Zinn. Student Martin Luther King, Jr. The riots and turmoil that led to the cancellation of the Commencement of the Class of 1970.
To walk down Comm. Ave. in the autumn of 2011 is still to witness history unfolding, just not as exciting. Still the same vast array of stereotypes intermingling -- just with cell phones. The conversation is less about the president or one of our many wars and more about the regrets from the frat last night.
That is, until recent weeks. Twitter blew up with @BUOccupyBoston. Facebook events were planned. Google groups got in on it. BUOccupiesBoston.Tumblr.com started circulating amongst the Terriers. BU publications even live-Tweeted the protests.
I spoke to some notable and quotable Juniors in that very College of Communication to hear their first-hand accounts of the BU occupation.
"Audience Choice" winner of "BU's Funniest Student Contest" 2011 Ari Stern says he has been participating because he "believe[s] it will restore democracy to this country. There is too much corporate influence on government and people without money are not as easily heard or represented by Congress as well as wealthy individuals."
A BU Fleder-Rosenberg Screenplay Contest winner, Keya Vakil, echoed similar reasons for his involvement. Intrigued by the Tweets and online group postings, Vakil's march down Commonwealth Avenue "was a really cool experience, just seeing how many people are fed up and ready to let the corporations and government know they're fed up."
Boston University College Democrats VP Emily O'Donnell covered the scene of a late-night march from Dewey Square on Monday, October 10th. As with Stern and Vakil, O'Donnell described the protesters as "peaceful." She also sighted 150 policemen in unmarked vehicles lining High Street. Around 1:15 a.m., the arrests really started to escalate.
"They arrested three members of the Veterans for Peace and a lot of the cops were in riot gear," she says.
Around 2 a.m., O'Donnell watched around 100 people walk down Federal Street to a holding facility in the hopes of finding those who had been arrested that night. To their dismay, not one "occupier" was being held there. Police had divided the students into holding areas in Roxbury and Brighton.
"We went home at 4 a.m.," says O'Donnell (a sentence usually reserved for a Thirsty Thursday in Allston).
Vakil, however, showed up to BU's Marsh Chapel around noon. A BU branch of Occupy Boston marched down Massachusetts Avenue, Boylston, Boston Common (where they "met up with people from other schools"),Dewey Square, South Station, North Station and Government Center.
Stern's participation has involved 7 p.m. nightly General Assembly meetings in Dewey Square, which he claims shows "what democracy looks like."
"Occupy Boston has been an amazing thing to be a part of and even just watch," says Stern.
"I'm trying to go as much as I can with my schedule," says Vakil. "Which unfortunately doesn't allow for much."
Is this a 21st century digital spin on the '60s and '70s Boston University activism? Regardless, if any revolution does occur it may indeed be downloaded -- but it'll take actually getting off the computer to make it happen.
]]>Generation Friday: How Rebecca Black Gave Millennial Kids Their Labeltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8372542011-03-17T16:44:18-04:002011-06-06T10:39:45-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/
Let our children's textbooks show that in the winter of 2011, the millennial generation received their title in history thanks to a 13-year-old California girl and a renowned producer named "trizzy66." This upload is our mightiest metaphor for the merrymaking of the measureless mediocrity that makes up the 21st century.
The song tells the story of a young woman who wakes up at 7am on a Friday morning only to be faced with the weighty decision of picking which seat to take in her friend's convertible. For some presumably artistic reason, 45 minutes later, the middle schoolers are speeding on a highway looking forward to the weekend parties (note: though in the car, the indecisive Miss Black is still grappling with this whole "which seat do I take?" predicament). The lyrics, clearly based off of a Maya Angelou poem, feature the words "partyin'" 17 times, "fun" 20 times, and "yeah" 22 times.
The grammatically-gifted girl informs the listener that:
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday / Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin') / We-we-we so excited / We so excited / We gonna have a ball today / Tomorrow is Saturday / And Sunday comes afterwards / I don't want this weekend to end
Now there's nothing deplorable here. But its overnight sensationalism is highly representative of the cultural climate and this most tangibly connected but emotionally disconnected demographic. The cute star and catchy song seem so void of value or substance or charisma that the result is this vibrantly vapid wasteland of emptiness masked in bling.
And speaking of bling, the "rap" portion that follows the previous verse is enough to make Wiz Khalifa look like Langston Hughes:
"So chillin' in the front seat (In the front seat) / In the back seat (In the back seat) / I'm drivin', cruisin' (Yeah, yeah) / Fast lanes, switchin' lanes / Wit' a car up on my side (Woo!) (C'mon) / Passin' by is a school bus in front of me / Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream / Check my time, it's Friday, it's a weekend / We gonna have fun, c'mon, c'mon, y'all"
Hip-hop has traveled from the godfathers' cries for gender and race equality or rags-to-riches tales to a distortion of the American Dream wherein success is a Pimped ride racing death to reach a middle school house party.
It's Bieber Fever. It's McDonalds. It's The Jersey Shore and Hummers and Miley on salvia. It's creepy dudes with high-end technology making money from underage autotuned white girls and a crude caricature of black progress. It's the preteen girl lip-synching to Vanessa in High School Musical 4 as her dad looks up her latest illegal nudie pics -- perhaps the most disturbingly overlooked and fastest female fad to hit high schools in the past few years.
Just this week, we've gone from Carson roasting Lucy to The Situation roasting Trump. Stephanopoulus went from a White House cabinet member to hosting a "network news" special on the star of the worst/most-watched sitcom on TV. Can't success lie somewhere between winning world wars and #Winning Twitter followers? Can't romance lie somewhere between June Cleaver and two pornstar girlfriends? Is it really time for us to throw ourselves a party?
By 2008, Americans learned that greed actually isn't that good. Capitalism got stretched too far for families. The gap between the rich and the poor are reaching their extremes. We're outsourcing jobs to China and getting rid of union workers for machines. This is the natural progression if the goals are cash and convenience. Uncle Sam's invisible hand has curled into an obese fist. We are watching the American Dream on crack.
It's not black and white. But it is our inability to understand and acknowledge the shades of grey that defines this time in history. After all, it was our last President who told our current Vice President, "Joe, I don't do nuance."
I remember when my dad picked me up from school on a Tuesday in 5th grade because two towers near my house had been blown into the ground. I remember Newsweek calling us "Generation 9-11" and Time marking the moment "the end of the age of irony." But from what I've seen, it was hardly that irony had ceased to exist (Urban Outfitters 90's nostalgia tees can't sell themselves) but a devastating decrease in America's ability to comprehend it.
How could we? What can shock us? How can Colbert top Beck? How can Britney top Black? We don't know whether to laugh or cry anymore. Things are so bad they're good or so good they're bad. We have become a parody of ourselves. A perversion of our Founding Fathers. We are satire.
Tomorrow's Friday. A 20-year-old in Baghdad will try to make it back home in the hopes of being able to attend a community college while a 20-year-old at UCLA will ignorantly mock Asian immigrants on her webcam. A 13-year-old girl in Japan will drown before her mother's eyes while a 13-year-old girl in Anaheim Hills will beat on, high on the highway, borne ceaselessly into riches, red cups, and re-Tweets.]]>Class Credit for Colbert College Coursetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8101222011-01-18T10:54:38-05:002011-05-25T18:25:24-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/
This semester, which started for us Boston University kids on January 18, lecturer and Harvard graduate Michael Rodriguez is teaching a Writing Seminar called "The Colbert Report: American Satire."
From our Spring 2011 "Writing Program Guide and Course Catalog":
Stephen Colbert's eponymous persona has become a pop culture icon. With his irreverent, masterful blend of irony, wit, parody, sarcasm, black humor, logical fallacy, and double entendre, Colbert satirically exposes hypocrisy with surgical precision, inviting us to think more deeply about serious issues and to improve our socio-political conditions. Although we will highlight his place in the American tradition, we will examine Colbert's rhetoric in a broad historical context. Readings will include classic poems by Horace and Juvenal, as well as Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, and Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!).
The class counts as a Writing and Research Seminar (WR150), a necessary requirement for second semester. According to our handbook, WR150 courses "stress academic argumentation, standard edited American English, effective prose style, and the process of revision."
Credit for Colbert, please? Here's a sample of other courses that count as and satisfy the same exact requirement as la Classe de Colbert:
Modern Literature and Society
Visions of Technology and Society
Debates in the History of Medicine
Bioethics and Science Policy
American Environmental History
Dante and the Modern Imagination
The Nature of Consciousness
The Essential Writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
So what should we expect this semester? A campus visit from Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. himself to Agganis Arena? It's apparently good enough for the Jonas Brothers.
An angry rebuttal from Boston University alumnus Bill O'Reilly? There's no class I know on the big BO at BU.
Or a personal invitation to his biggest fan (and star of the world-renowned web-series "Welcome Back, Brotter"/the meth dealer boyfriend on America's longest-running, Telly Award-winning college soap opera) to come on his show?
Seriously though, just a shout-out in your "Tip of My Hat" segment would be cool, too.]]>Vote for Me?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8060632011-01-07T17:20:05-05:002011-05-25T18:25:24-04:00Cody Brotterhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-brotter/
In the November 2010 elections, which occurred sometime around November of 2010, I entered a contest with some members of my production company in an attempt to GOTV. I know--I too thought that denoted a network entirely devoted to Gary Oldman, and I too was gravely disappointed. Specifically, we were trying to get out the youth vote and appeal to our skeptical fellow collegiate college classmates. (Also there was a $5,000 prize but who's counting right? Me. Panda Bowls add up.)
Well, in an upset more upsetting than Russ Feingold's loss, we lost the contest. Now I don't want to say that if our video had won the competition that the orange dude with the funny last name wouldn't be third in line for the presidency...so I'll just type it in a Huffington Post post instead. But, I have to give America a pass for failing the midterms last semester. Why? Firstly, because I did too (and I think we can blame parties for both). Secondly, I'm not registered to vote.
I know it's stupid not to be registered, I know most eligible people I know aren't registered, I know they don't talk about it, and I know it's stupid to talk about it on one of the most political places in the e-universe. A political junkie since I got my parents to vote for Bill Bradley in 3rd grade because I really liked the Knicks, I kept a "Deep Throat" file in a manila envelope and had been able to do what Vanity Fair did (identify him as Mark Felt under the stage name "Linda Lovelace") by the 7th grade. I campaigned on Super Tuesday for B. Hussein's victory and campaigned pretty much every year of both middle school and high school to serve in grade government (impeached in 2003 after being identified as "Client #10"). And yet, the only time I've voted was to give "five stars" on Dat Piff for Wiz Khalifa.
Don't get me wrong, I went on "Vote or Die" (meant to click on "Taylor Gang or Die") and downloaded the forms. I even got several pre-recorded phone calls from Adrian Grenier reminding me to send in those forms so I could vote. Despite being robotically called by a guy who became a famous actor on TV for playing a famous actor on TV, I just haven't gotten around to printing those forms. My printer's broken. So, I would have to ask a friend (too awkward) or go to the library (too far). If I printed, I'd have to find all my information and fill it out. If I completed, I would have to mail it. Since nobody sends letters anymore, I would have to go to a place reportedly called the "post office" and buy envelopes and stamps. If I sent, I would have to find out where to vote. If I knew, I would have to spend money on the T to get there. Maybe I'd be missing class. Or the vital sleeping I do when I don't have class. That was genuinely exhausting to write. Now imagine doing it.
Though I did want a pin, I didn't show up at the polls. Like everyone else, I hate most of the players. And the game. And the fact that it's a sport at all makes me very uneasy. But there's no excuse for being a spectator in a crumbling stadium, even if my participation only helps one kid in the crowd have an extra buck for a hot dog.
I remain haunted by one evening during one of Elie Wiesel's annual talks at BU, in which he told us how "neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim." Is it possible that my vote could have helped a victim? Is a lack of action actually action in service to the oppressor? Is sitting out inherently picking a side? Is my indifference making a difference?
It is time I squash the evil rumor that plagues my peers! We are not social net jerks, BMMing and sexting the world away. So, I will fill out my registration form. Tomorrow. I will print it, fill it, stamp it, and send it tomorrow. I will also exercise tomorrow. And start my diet tomorrow. Right after I Skype with my FB BFF on my webcam while Tweeting a LOL-able #FML on my iWhatever.
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