So the movie adaptation of Ayn Rand’s delusional screed Atlas Shrugged – whoops, I’m sorry, Part 1 of the movie adaptation, etc., etc. – is on track to gross about $3.1 million. It cost $20 million to make. And this is, somehow, all the critics’ fault. The possibility that, in fact, you might not be able to polish a turd never seems to have crossed the movie makers’ minds.
Then again, that may not have been their point.
But wait! There’s more! Commenter Brian H. at Roy Edroso’s Alicublog points us to this 2007 newspaper article documenting that John Aglialoro, the Galtian corporate overlord who was primarily responsible for bringing Atlas Shrugged to the big screen, shook down Massachusetts taxpayers for $15 million for his company just a few years ago.
No wonder he’s not worried about how much the movie’s going to make. We’ve already covered his bet for him.
Finally, Twitterer @PROTIPZ has been kind of live-tweeting his reading of Atlas Shrugged, and he’s only the most stylish of the many critics who have noted that Ayn Rand appears to have found domestic abuse Teh_SeXXor. But what do we get all the complaints about? Mark Twain using the N-word — and the complaint are more like trolling than complaints. So I guess Objectivists think it’s objectively OK to unsafely, insanely, nonconsensually slap the bejesus out of their significant others … or, you know, talented women with whom they’re not even involved yet but just want to mack on. Yeah, yeah, trust the song, not the singer, I know, but it really does kind of tell you where they’re coming from.
