All Is Well, All Is Well

Larry Miller is an asshole.
The car dealer who own the Utah Jazz and a bunch of low-rent businesses in Salt Lake pulled Brokeback Mountain from his theatre after a reporter explained the plot to him(apparently this particular theatre owner has no idea what's going on in the movie industry).

His excuse?

``It's something that I have to let the market speak to some degree...I don't think I'm qualified to be the community censor.''

Funny, because what he is doing is refusing to let the market decide, and choosing to be the community censor.

As for the market, the film has been showing at the theatre owned by the Salt Lake Film Society, and it has been drawing record earnings. The Salt Lake Film Society is the non-profit group that often has to pick up the ball in Utah when coward theatre owners like Miller are cowed into dropping films when the state's most extreme elements get their panties in a wad. It's telling that such a role is even needed. Sadly, one could fill a blog with just stories from the Utah press like this that are embarrassing to the state.

If you really believe you have the truth, and trust me, Mormons really believe they do, then why be so terrified to put your ideas out there in the marketplace and let them compete? I guess it's just easier to be the bully.

I love Utah, my ancestral home. I just wished it loved me back.

P.S. I just found out that the same theatre is currently showing the ultra-violent Hostel. Family values indeed.