Quote of the Day/Week_ Reinaldo Arenas

We are continuing our quotes from Latin Americans with a quip from the Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990) who left his island nation in part because of the country's political suppression of homosexuals, such as himself.

Arenas became the subject of the 2000 film "Before the Night Falls" featuring Spanish actor Javier Bardem in the starring role in a film that also included Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. The feature was filmed in Mexico instead of Cuba.

Here is the quote from Arenas:

"I have always considered it despicable to grovel your life as it were a favor. If you can not live the way you want, there is no point in living."

Political Confusion Test (15 of 21)-Kirk Cameron v. Sean Penn

Boycotts seem to be the rage these days. Once upon a time, boycotts were synonomous with fringe groups like PETA who urged folks not to eat at KFC or McD's.

But, today people of all political persuasions have called for boycotts. Fringe right-wing talk show host Bill O'Reilly, who was the subject of an earlier Political Confusion entry, told David Letterman that he is boycotting all Sean Penn films since the actor who recently Oscared for "Milk" has visited Venezuelan El Presidente Hugo Chavez.

While I agree that Penn is going a bit too far, I am not inclined to remove "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" from Netflix que anytime soon.

But, I was wondering who Keith Olbermann, O'Reilly's counterpart on the left, could tell folks to boycott.

I came up with Kirk Cameron, who is unquestionably as far from the political center as Penn. Cameron, who was a teen idol in the 1980s when he starred on the sitcom "Growing Pains," is now a Christian fundamentalist whacko who has appeared in propaganda films like "Fireproof" and "Left Behind."

Interestingly enough, while researching this, I found that Cameron and I were both born in 1970 though I'm a few months older than him.

Whichever one of these stars you are more inclined to boycott might just indicate who you should vote for in 2012.

Could it Barack Obama against Sarah Palin?

Quote of the Week- Sean Penn

This week, we focus on two screen performers who are nominated for Oscars.

On our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," we have a quote from Meryl Streep.

Here we have a quote from Sean Penn, arguably the Academy's front runner for his performance as gay rights activist Harvey Milk in the film "Milk:"

"I love acting, truly my favorite people are actors."