Nit Pick Nation

Well, I have to say I am certainly enjoying the buzz over the rumor that Jeff Bridges is an Oscar contender for his recent Crazy Heart movie. I have been positing for months that it is far beneath Jeff Bridges, aka The Dude, to be shilling for the ultimate Wal Mart car. Especially while American industry and blue collar workers remain on the ropes.

If he should win the Oscar, his pay scale would have to get a tremendous boost. Hopefully, it will be more than the Hyundai Wal Mart company will be willing or able to afford. Is it possible there is a clause in his Hyundai contract that would include an Oscar win pay increase ? If anyone knows, please let me know.

Also, can anyone confirm whether or not Jeff Bridges actually drives a Hyundai ? I find it hard to believe someone with his cash flow would be caught dead driving a Wally World automobile. But then, he did lower his standards to do the commercial. So, I guess anything is possible.

Cross your fingers that Crazy Heart produces the Oscar for Bridges. He deserves it. For all the whining I have done, I really do like the guy. Honest. He is one of my favorite actors. Maybe that is why I am holding him to a higher standard.

If you agree, go here and let your voice be heard.

As I type, unemployment in America is still at 10 per cent – over 18 per cent in Michigan, erstwhile home state of the Big 3 (and we all know what happened to them).

I had hoped this subject could be laid to rest by now but, no such luck.

The Dude is still shilling for Hyundai. The new commercials are ruining my Christmas. Jeff Bridge’s voice urging Americans to cheer up and buy a Wal Mart car for the holidays is just too much to bear.

Please. Jeff Bridges. Dude. Why does everything have to be a travesty with you ? Even John Boy Walton got a Mercedes car commercial.  As far as I know, he hasn’t done any serious acting in years. He may actually NEED the money.

Jeff. You are starting to lose your shine. Your credibility as a great actor is starting to wear thin because of your decision to lower your standards to hawk for Hyundai. I am not the only one on the internet machine who feels you have disgraced yourself. Google it.

Stop with the Hyundai television commercials already ! Get an American car gig. You are The Dude – not Joe Lieberman.

Go here ( Jeff Bridges message board ) to sign up and voice your opinion….man.

HIE-YUN-DIE does NOT rhyme with Sunday in blue collar America.

We’re talking about the famous Jeff Bridges. So many great movies over the years besides the Big Lebowski. His involvement in the End Hunger Network.

The “Dude” should be promoting for Harley-Davidson or Chevy Corvette. Something Americana and cool. It’s just plain embarrassing listening to Bridges plugging “dollar forty nine a gallon gas” for your Hyundai like it was Samuel Adams beer.

It’s all over the TV machine and I am just sick of it.

Please stop His Dudeness from further shame and humiliation.

Ask Jeff Bridges to stop the Hyundai ads once and for all.

http://nicko62.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3268355

HIE-YUN-DIE does not rhyme with Sunday in blue-collar America.

It just baffles me that there is so much venom spewed by Americans against American auto workers and American made cars. It would seem that much of that comes from outright jealousy that the American auto worker had the nerve to make a decent enough wage to own a home and send his or her kids to college. That jealousy is then channeled towards the American car itself.

Then there appears to be guilt. The shame of, in a way, selling out one’s own country during a time of nearly unparalleled crisis, by buying a third world automobile and then trying to justify it by blaming it on unfounded, inferior American quality.

There are no doubt people here who have purchased an American made car that turned out to be a lemon. They have a legitimate gripe and may never buy anything other than an imported car again.

But, all the jealousy, guilt, shame, anger or whatever else is the motivation, does not change the fact that we are all still Americans. Maybe, at the end of the day, we can stop sweating the small stuff and pull together to help fix what the politicians cannot.

By buying American again, or even consciously making an effort to buy American made again, right now, today, even if it hurts or costs more, we can make a tiny step forward in restoring our sorely-needed manufacturing base. Americans did it during the World Wars. Why not now ?

Given the pickle we are in, I don’t think you can consider it protectionism. Nor blind patriotism, or being foolish with your money. Right now, today, it just makes sense.

Please take a few minutes of your time to ask Jeff Bridges to use his clout as a major celebrity to publicly renounce his Hyundai commercials and jump on the American Made bandwagon.

Click here to do your part.

From Rt. 66 at Piggington.com:

“I think this will not help Jeff’s career, who would want to be allied with a foriegn maker while hundreds of thousands of Americans have been/are losing their jobs?

Apathy towards those jobs? I’d call it misguided, ignorant hostility.

Do most Americans think it’s wrong for an auto worker to make a decent living with health care and retirement ?

Not me! I think we should ban together as workers and defend other workers. UAW, IT guys, whatever, yes we should all want them to have a good living.

Most in this country think they can call for the other guy to get fired and cheer the loss of “his” job and somehow believe the forces of collapse will stop at “thier” job.

How about we all make a pact. Lets agree to buy American cars. And to appease the anti-American car folks lets just say we accept that we may have to go to the dealership for a warranty repair one, two, heck maybe three more times than if we bought a Honda.

Would that appease the Honda/Hyundia/Toyota/etc lovers? You can say, “US cars are a bit less reliable” than Asian cars and we won’t fight you anymore. BUT, and this is a big BUT…. we need to make this tiny sacrifice (buying US cars) to help ourselves get back on our feet (let’s not hold out hope waiting for TPTB to help us).

If you do, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. You might just find that driving a US made car gives you a sense of pride in your country you may not have felt for a while. You may also find that, just like a Honda, your shiny new example of helping your fellow US worker, starts everyday and gets you to and from work, holidays etc. safely and reliably. You may be shocked to find the odometer roll past 130k miles and realize you have never needed to visit the dealership for repairs.”

Go here for more at Piggington.com…..

Excerpt From: Lebowski Podcast

There has been a lot of murmuring on the interwebs lately about Jeff Bridges and his voice over work for Hyundai TV ads in the US.  Most of what I’ve seen all stems from one person – http://www.nitpicknation.com.  The first post I saw of his concerning the subject seemed interesting to think about.  In fact I almost posted it as a discussion piece but got really busy at work and didn’t have the time.  Now I’m glad I didn’t….

Continue here…..

My call to action still stands. Ask Jeff Bridges to stop with the Hyundai ads and start rooting for the home team. The team that helped make him deservedly rich in the still-greatest country in the world.

HIE-YUN-DIE does NOT rhyme with Sunday.

Check out the latest opinion on my request and let me know what you think:

This Isolationism Will Not Stand, Man

Pissing on Hyundai ?

My Usual Disclaimer: I am a HUGE fan of Jeff Bridges. It pains me to single him out but, it pains me even more to listen to his voice-overs for Hyundai considering the crisis mode our country is in.

I am only suggesting, not demanding, that he stop shilling for Hyundai and use his major clout to help the blue collar workers and the Big 3 Automakers.

Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s all documented.

Here’s the post that started the ball rolling:

Bridges Should Heed The Boss

Buying American easier said than done, car lovers say

By ERIK ORTIZ, Staff Writer, 609-272-7253 | Posted: Monday, June 8, 2009 3:10 am – PressOfAtlanticCity.com

WOODBINE – The Gentilini Ford dealership’s annual antique car show Saturday was a display of brand loyalty to American automakers, as cherry red Chevrolet Corvettes mingled with Ford Model T’s from the 1920s.

“Made in the USA” signs hung from windows. License plates were adorned with red, white and blue. Car owners were eager to proclaim that they had never bought a foreign model.

Then there were people such as Rita Polhamus, of Vineland, who said she was proud to buy American but reluctant to admit otherwise.

“She had a Toyota,” said Polhamus’ husband, Fred, as onlookers admired their 1964 Chevrolet Spyder at the car show. “Returned it after a year.”

“I never wanted to tell people I bought it,” Rita said. The couple now owns a GMC Yukon, an SUV made by General Motors Corp.

The Polhamuses said they would rather stick with American manufacturers, a patriotic sentiment, but one that needs to translate into new-car buying if the three major U.S. automakers are going to recover from their collective financial failings.

The rest of this story……

P.S. – Ask Jeff Bridges to reconsider the Hyundai ads – Jeff Bridges message board

Even though I have been censored, (well, my posts are filtered by the webmaster) on the Jeff Bridges message board, some of Jeff’s lady fans cannot stop obsessing over it.

Here is a recent post by one of the members at LebowskiPodcast.com

This is really starting to crack me up. Who’d a thunk something that started out so harmlessly would evolve into such a pissing match ?

Never underestimate the wrath of a female Jeff Bridges fan. And it appears most of them (the handful that continue to spew venom about me) are not from the U.S of A.

I am perplexed.

Well, it seems the so called “Democratic Approach” to my anti Hyundai dialogue thread on the Jeff Bridges message board got junked yesterday when someone voted more than once.

Said the message board gatekeeper:

“OK, so my poll got hijacked and has become undemocratic so I’m closing it now and not re-opening that original thread. Thanks for your comments and votes everyone.”

And thus, the chances of keeping my thread going died with not a bang but, a whimper. Instead of just ignoring my posts, the handful that disagreed with my opinions pissed and moaned so vehemently that the seemingly level-headed gatekeeper had to create a new user group to pre-empt me from any more posting. I am still shaking my head in disbelief that things got so out of hand. Or did they?

At last count, there are 1,293 members on the JB message board. My post,”Time for Jeff Bridges to dump Hyundai” has over 4,000 views. Without looking through all the posts since day one that appears to be a pretty big number. After 24 hours or so there were 11 votes against unlocking my post and 6 in favor. The actual post named, “A democratic approach”, to determine the fate of my thread, garnered 959 views.

So, it’s safe to say a lot of peeps viewed my post. That’s almost twice the number of total members. In approximately 24 hours, almost half the number of members (959 vs. 1,293) viewed the voting poll post. Can it be that only a dozen (let’s call them the Dirty Dozen) members were able to bully the gatekeeper into shutting me down?

Pretty impressive, eh?

And if the avatars and screen-names are any indication, they were all women. An anomaly?

Looking back, it was pretty much this same “Dirty Dozen” that dogged my posts, lambasted my views, called me names and were on the path to voting me out.

So where were the other 2,700 viewers? Apathetic? Multiple views?

Well, this is all too much to ponder right now. It has been an interesting experience. My apologies to Jeff Bridges if I caused him any real grief. He is a great person and actor. He should be proud of his dedicated “Dirty Dozen” fan base.

But, that doesn’t change my belief that he should drop the Hyundai ads.

NOTE: I have placed most of my posts and comments on this site to preserve them as it is quite possible all my content on Jeff Bridge’s message board will be deleted. I have left out some of the member banter that did not pertain to the topic but, not very much. I also left off the screen names of the people who commented to protect their privacy even though, as of this writing, you can view them all on JB’s message board.

I was also told by a JB staffer that his message board is private. I would disagree. Anyone can go there and read all the posts without signing up (maybe that has changed). You only need to sign up to add your own post which, I believe, is how most forums are set up.