Call this an experiment. Like it? Please tweet, retweet, facebook-like etc 🙂
Below, the first episode of my attempt at a political-comedy/commentary show; “American Bob.” This is an INDEPENDENT project, produced entirely by me and is NOT affiliated with any other business, organization or entity that hosts/produces any of my other shows. First episode is about Anthony Weiner, some of the material will be familiar to frequent followers of this blog, my twitter, etc.
It’s a little rough around the edges at this point, but topical is topical. I’m intentionally trying to hold back on the geek-specific references in this case, to differentiate it from the rest of the output and broaden the potential audience. Yes, I am aware of the inherent “me-too-ism” in starting a political-bitchfest series during an Election Year.
Not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, I understand, but any feedback and/or views are appreciated. There will be ZERO crossover, in terms of topics and (hopefully) jokes between this, OverThinker (new episode tomorrow night!) and the Escapist series, so fans of those who don’t care for politics should feel under NO obligation to watch it.
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
@M I haven't seen a single thing that led me to believe that the pictures he sent were unsolicited or unwanted. Do you have sources to back that up? (I did see the link someone else posted, that says he tried to shift the conversation to sex, but it does say it didn't send pics when she wasn't interested).
@Chris Cesarano, I think I know what you're trying to say about people being selfish, but I have to fundamentally disagree with the idea of putting your whole family before yourself.
In my own experience, it has resulted in people being miserable because they sacrificed themselves and didn't take care of their own basic needs. It can even happen when both people in a mono relationship do it, they each put themselves last and they're both unhappy.
I think you need to take care of yourself first so that you're able to take care of other people better. When you're on a plane, they always say “put on your own oxygen mask before helping someone else”. That's exactly the kind of thing I mean. If you first worry about your kids' masks, you'll faint with nobody able to put yours on, and maybe you won't have time to save all of your kids.
So, that's my grain of salt to your comment. Obviously, you should have the best interest of the people you love in mind. However, remember that to take care of them properly, you need to take care of yourself first. I definitely think a lot of people are miserable in relationship especially because they take care of everyone else and have no time left to treat themselves (and some things only you can treat yourself too, even if everyone else is putting themselves last and you first too).
As far as your Nintendo example, yeah, it was unethical, and Sony was right to be pissed. But people didn't call for Nintendo to stop doing business. If Weiner went behind his wife's back and betrayed whatever agreement they had, it's wrong as a husband, and it's her business to be pissed with him, not ours.
Or maybe they failed to have an agreement at all. If I recall a survey, among couples where one member said there was an agreement to be monogamous, 50% of the partners said there was no such agreement, making their rate of guessing whether there was one or not dumb luck.
On the other hand, people who said there was an agreement NOT to be monogamous always had their partner say the same thing. I think people don't see the need to make an agreement if they think it's “normal”. But hey, everyone has different things they're fine with or not. It's a good idea to try and figure out where your partner's line is, and not just assume it's the same as yours.
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PROTIP: If you have to explain to your audience in the description/before the video itself that it's “comedy”, guess what your video lacks?
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hey bob long time listener first time poster…. alway wanted to say that.
i have to say i like. my views are somewhat close to yours and its nice to see a political view on the us that is not fox ( i am from australia and good mr murdoch owns most of our media).
and there is aways some fun in seeing the crazy amreican political system . australia's prime minister is an unmarried athiest woman who is living in sin with her partner take that america. ( i assume your responce will be that america ia awesome which i will concur and sit back down )
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Addendum to my previous post:
My mistake, it was 40%, not 50%. And I found an article about the study (not the article I heard about the study from, but it gives you the figures so it's what matters): http://www.charlieglickman.com/2011/02/new-research-young-couples-disagree-about-whether-theyre-monogamous/
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@Avistew:
Thanks for the response, hopefully my points were legitimate to the conversation (still haven't gotten to check it out, though if I'm reading comments right and MovieBob actually says something along the lines of “fuck Republicans” I'm going to have to just avoid it. I don't like most extreme-left Liberals or Democrats myself, but if I wanted to run a political show I'd try and keep things fair and balanced rather than condemning the opposing side. This is America, a place where we're supposed to be more open-minded than the rest of the world. Sure, we're failing on that part, but an “enlightened” political commentator should be able to approach something from EVERYONE'S perspective and arrive at a compromise…you know, like an adult).
You're right, if we don't take care of ourselves as well, we'll ultimately suffer. I think I might have made my example be a bit extreme, though, as that seems to be how you perceived it. If you go to a merge lane, stop your car and let EVERYONE in the other lane merge, then you're only going to cause harm to yourself (though this is also under the assumption that everyone else is being selfish, which is the rub: I'm saying if everyone were selfless instead, but we all know that's impossible).
When it comes to modern couples, be they married or simply dating, the happiest I've known are able to compromise, or recognize when they are wrong about something. Constant communication. Etc. Basic thing is, their partner's needs aren't forgotten, and they are always communicating so everything is clear. Couples that always have one person giving things up, being stepped on or taken advantage of, etc., yeah, those are naturally miserable. But sometimes you just have people that hit a conflict, or have poor communication, and the only thing considered is their own feelings and why can't their partner understand?
That said, I've never personally known polyamorous couples, but I've spoken with a couple people in such relationships. They've been happy as well, but that said, they've also had a lot of communication. I look at communication as being part of selfless, because if you do it right then you're taking other people's thoughts and feelings into account.
If any of this makes sense. It's a long and winding conversation in and of itself.
As for the Nintendo thing, I think we've gotten used to companies being assholes about stuff, plus, let's face it, the regular people didn't know Nintendo pulled a dickish move. Only members of the industry really knew. I don't know anyone who knew about it until years later when info was on the Internet about it. So what if Nintendo pulled that today, on a live E3 Press Conference or something? What do you think the reaction would be? I'm not certain myself, but there'd definitely be a lot more commentary now than there had been then.
But that's also off-topic. I think I will hold off until I've actually watched the video…if I can. I may try to be moderate, but I tend to lean right, and when Bob is vocal about politics, he is VERY vocal.
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(clap… clap… clap) Brilliant! Whether I agree with your commentaries, reviews and columns they are always a joy to hear. You have some very interesting theories, keep them coming. Good luck with the film career, I can't wait to see your ideas reach a broader audience. Incidentally, I think you're right on the money with this one. The only person Weiner needs to apologise to is his wife, a lot.
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@Chris Cesarano
Totally agreed on communication. I think it's really important, actually it goes back to what I said about talking with one's partner(s) about what's okay or not in your relationship, what your limits are, etc.
My point about putting yourself first/last wasn't just about cases of one partner being last and the rest of the family treating them like crap or something. Of course that situation sucks, but I also think you usually know your own needs better than someone else will. So you can have two partners each sacrificing themselves without the other noticing, because they think it's what the person wanted in the first place and that they're happy, not that it's a sacrifice.
Sometimes it's even worse than that, they both suffer something they don't like because they think the other does, and they're both wrong. Pointless sacrifice there.
But yeah, it's about communication again. You need to be able to tell each other when you need something and compromise about it. I completely agree. I think communication is essential in successful relationship, be them mono or poly.
On that note, I've heard people say that poly relationships force you to communicate and as a result are more likely to be successful, but I think that's BS, personally. You can fail at communication in any kind of relationship, and you can use polyamory to avoid confronting your problems too if you choose to do so.
Anyways. You probably won't like the video, just warning you.
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Bob, I agree with your basic point that demanding that powerful men MUST be married and monogamous is pretty naive, but this isn't really a left/right issue, so don't make it one. That stuff about “keeping these assholes out of the White House” doesn't really belong in this video. It's especially problematic how you spent most of the video defending Weiner and mocking his critics, but you also said he probably should resign – NOT because of anything he actually did, but just because it's good tactics (yeah you also called Weiner stupid but it was pretty half-hearted). Are you more interested in partisan manoeuvring and “getting one over on the other guys” than standing up for your principles? What are you, a politician?
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definitely agree with most of your big points here.
however, i disagree on your opinion of relationships and marriage. Essentially:
1) my relationship with my wife has thrived BECAUSE of, not in spite of honesty. have you ever tried to be completely honest in a relationship. if you find the right person, it works far better than the white-lie bullshit.
2) as a consequence, i am never worried about where my next lay is coming from.
that said, KIDS are a huge problem, i'd imagine, for an elected official. after you have a steady, functional relationship, you don't necessarily have to “worry” about what your partner thinks so often – you already KNOW it. but having to worry about raising kids and stuff – THAT would be a distraction.
after reading the other comments, i might suggest you not bill this as “comedy.” it's not “funny” like some other stuff is. however, it is “overthought” and quite snarky. that's enough for me, no doubt.
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I can't say that I enjoyed this video as much as all of your other series, but you brought up some good points. I'm not really behind you on the whole “lying in relationships” thing, but I believe that what Politicians construe as “Family Values” is bullshit.
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I found this to work for the most part, but had a few qualms, if you will.
First off, it was snarky sure, but not all that funny. I'd say your “GL” MovieBob episode was funnier.
Second, and lastly, I find your views on being in a steady relationship (married or not), to be rather wrong. I am in a long term relationship, and am as honest as I can be.
Overall good, and with some tweaking, could be a lot more.
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“Stable, steady, romantic relationships live and die on a succession of little white lies told for the greater good and require an incredibly distracting, time-consuming amount of work.”
Most people seem to be responding to this quote and not necessarily the concept of a political show on the whole. As far as that goes, I say go for it. I like your views on pretty much everything else, even when I don't agree, because you argue your point and make logical, rational arguments. Except when you generalize, like in the above quote. My advice is, avoid generalizing and you have yourself a good show, and frequent viewer on my part. And by the way, I'm married, and I've never had to lie to my wife about anything and rarely do I consider our relationship “work.” It's a commitment, yes, and it's challenging, but the merits far outweigh the flaws. But I can see how the above quote can be true as well. Some guys like a piece of ass, but I prefer the whole ass. It's much nicer.
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Said this before when you brought this up, but I do care about politician sexuality being exposed when it shows them as being hypocritical in their voting / policies. For example the Anti-gay politician who voted as such who is then exposed as having gay affairs. But of course when that has happened recently it has not had as much coverage as this. Which is dumb.
As far as politicians only being trusted if married, the same could be said about religion. US politicians stand no chance of being elected unless they show how 'god fearing' they are, like that is a good indicator of how moral a candidate is……
Otherwise interesting new idea to make video's about, looking forwards to where you go with it. Love the funny posses in front of the flag…
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