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Thursday, February 5, 2009
Christian Bale Versus Bill O'Reilly
This is an incredibly inspired mash-up that I just had to share. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Regarding That Christian Bale Meltdown
Since an audio clip of Christian Bale’s profanity-laced explosion on the set of Terminator Salvation hit the web earlier this week, it seems as though everyone on the blogosphere is weighing in on it. Of course, one can hardly blame the Internet’s impulsive finger wagging whenever a public figure does something embarrassing. However, is it possible that the nearly four-minute tirade directed at the film’s director of photography Shane Hurlbut—who was apparently adjusting lighting on the set during a crucial scene between Bale (savior of mankind John Connor) and Bryce Dallas Howard (his wife, Kate)—has been taken completely out of context? Whatever the case, to quote Bale, the whole thing is “f*cking distracting.”
Don’t get me wrong, the Dark Knight star has been accused of flying off the handle before. As ABC News reports, the frightening on-set outburst came just days after Bale's July arrest in London, where he was apprehended after an allegedly heated argument with his mother and sister. Needless to say, it must have been a rough month for him. Whether this behavior hints at underlying anger management issues remains to be seen.
Some, such as Ain’t It Cool News founder Harry Knowles, have rushed to Bale’s defense. “Bale had indeed warned the DP on multiple occasions about messing with lights while the cameras were rolling, and Bale was in the midst of a painful scene with Bryce, what was described to me as being the emotional center of the film and his character for the film,” Knowles writes, adding that “the DP really was doing something that professional DPs with experience just don’t do. Not During a performance.”
He makes a valid point, and claims that he received the inside scoop from someone who was on-set that day. If Hurlbut had repeatedly ruined Bale's concentration, then a little verbal scolding was probably in order. It’s when the drawn-out tantrum devolves more than once into threats of physical violence that it becomes a concern.
“I’m going to f*cking kick your f*cking ass if you don’t shut up for a second,” Bale warns as others on-set try to calm him down. No matter what Hurlbut was doing that ruined Bale’s scene, threatening to beat someone up over a Terminator sequel is a bit much.
While troubling, it’s important to realize that we as the general public have only heard a small piece of this story. The saga behind this incident is sure to play out for a long while, or at least until the press gets bored with it and online jokesters get tired of remixing Bale’s rant into hilarious dance songs and even funnier soundboards ideal for prank phone calls (not that I condone that sort of thing).
Should we be passing judgment? Not quite yet. For now, it’s likely that fault lies on both Bale and Hurlbut’s shoulders. Hurlbut should not have been messing with the lights and distracting the actors, while Bale should not have continued to go off on someone long after they’d apologized. It’s a gray issue, and it’s ugly all around.
Don’t get me wrong, the Dark Knight star has been accused of flying off the handle before. As ABC News reports, the frightening on-set outburst came just days after Bale's July arrest in London, where he was apprehended after an allegedly heated argument with his mother and sister. Needless to say, it must have been a rough month for him. Whether this behavior hints at underlying anger management issues remains to be seen.
Some, such as Ain’t It Cool News founder Harry Knowles, have rushed to Bale’s defense. “Bale had indeed warned the DP on multiple occasions about messing with lights while the cameras were rolling, and Bale was in the midst of a painful scene with Bryce, what was described to me as being the emotional center of the film and his character for the film,” Knowles writes, adding that “the DP really was doing something that professional DPs with experience just don’t do. Not During a performance.”
He makes a valid point, and claims that he received the inside scoop from someone who was on-set that day. If Hurlbut had repeatedly ruined Bale's concentration, then a little verbal scolding was probably in order. It’s when the drawn-out tantrum devolves more than once into threats of physical violence that it becomes a concern.
“I’m going to f*cking kick your f*cking ass if you don’t shut up for a second,” Bale warns as others on-set try to calm him down. No matter what Hurlbut was doing that ruined Bale’s scene, threatening to beat someone up over a Terminator sequel is a bit much.
While troubling, it’s important to realize that we as the general public have only heard a small piece of this story. The saga behind this incident is sure to play out for a long while, or at least until the press gets bored with it and online jokesters get tired of remixing Bale’s rant into hilarious dance songs and even funnier soundboards ideal for prank phone calls (not that I condone that sort of thing).
Should we be passing judgment? Not quite yet. For now, it’s likely that fault lies on both Bale and Hurlbut’s shoulders. Hurlbut should not have been messing with the lights and distracting the actors, while Bale should not have continued to go off on someone long after they’d apologized. It’s a gray issue, and it’s ugly all around.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Comic Books: Not Just Kids' Stuff
I’m not easily offended, but when I came across one particular blurb titled “Comics and Combovers” on The New York Times’ City Room Blog, I couldn’t help but shake my shiny head in disgust. As many comic book fans know, New York Comic Con opens on February 6 and is the premier geek gathering outside of San Diego where the main event, Comic-Con International, opens in July. Of course, both events—and all comic book conventions—have grown beyond a sole focus on comic books to include programming to drum up awareness of new films, books, television series and video games.
However, whenever a comic book convention starts grabbing headlines, the geek culture—and I use the term affectionately—is approached with a disheartening ethnographic detachment, as it is in the City Room Blog piece. Posted by Alan Feuer, it reads, “The culture is strewn with examples of grown men in their 40s — some in their 50s — unabashedly proclaiming love for comic books, an obsession that hints at lingering boyhood hungers and ranks up there with coin collecting as something to be given up by age 13. Maybe the security of affluence has permitted men to remain adolescents at heart well after middle age has taken their bodies.” It then directs readers to New York Comic Con's website for ticket information so they can observe these sad, strange people in person.
What’s being said here perhaps isn’t all that bad. Comic books, since their inception, have always been viewed as a childish diversion. However, not only is the NY Times blogger ignoring the fact that the majority of comic book readers are adults these days—and not all of us are the basement-dwelling introverts that stereotypes would suggest—and that the subject matter of most books is geared toward a mature audience and has been since the mid-1980s or so. I would hardly call Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen or Neil Gaiman’s Sandman “adolescent” in nature. But what do I know? I have “lingering boyhood hungers.”
The New York Times Building is located just seconds away from Midtown Comics’ Times Square location. Perhaps staffers should plan a visit and get educated before marginalizing a legitimate art form.
However, whenever a comic book convention starts grabbing headlines, the geek culture—and I use the term affectionately—is approached with a disheartening ethnographic detachment, as it is in the City Room Blog piece. Posted by Alan Feuer, it reads, “The culture is strewn with examples of grown men in their 40s — some in their 50s — unabashedly proclaiming love for comic books, an obsession that hints at lingering boyhood hungers and ranks up there with coin collecting as something to be given up by age 13. Maybe the security of affluence has permitted men to remain adolescents at heart well after middle age has taken their bodies.” It then directs readers to New York Comic Con's website for ticket information so they can observe these sad, strange people in person.
What’s being said here perhaps isn’t all that bad. Comic books, since their inception, have always been viewed as a childish diversion. However, not only is the NY Times blogger ignoring the fact that the majority of comic book readers are adults these days—and not all of us are the basement-dwelling introverts that stereotypes would suggest—and that the subject matter of most books is geared toward a mature audience and has been since the mid-1980s or so. I would hardly call Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen or Neil Gaiman’s Sandman “adolescent” in nature. But what do I know? I have “lingering boyhood hungers.”
The New York Times Building is located just seconds away from Midtown Comics’ Times Square location. Perhaps staffers should plan a visit and get educated before marginalizing a legitimate art form.
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