Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Effectively Friday

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  • BenWilson,

    but there's a difference between a blowup and a prolonged attack

    You'd probably have to actually be there to pick it. Who knows what non-verbal attitude was being given? Or what this was the tail end of? I could definitely hear other voices giving back. Could have been something quite personal. Could have been richly deserved. Could have been what everyone in the room had been wanting to say for a long time.

    It might happen a lot, but it's not justifiable.

    Well most of the times I've seen it, it was pretty justified. People getting yelled at for fucking up something despite repeated warnings, without any excuse other than they were incompetent or lazy. Or worse, simply defiant, or antagonistic. People who deliberately fuck things up.

    It's not my way, and it doesn't work with me, and people don't do it to me. But I've seen it done and I've seen it work, with a lot of people. Particularly people who are in high positions, who understand that their fuck ups are actually quite major, and who have a lot to lose. And people who, for some reason, aren't listening when the matter is put politely.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Illustrious Energy

    Hell yeh.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Pad the room and give everyone nerf bats. Last one standing gets to write the Code of Practice.

    At last, a practical solution!

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    "And not least, APRA produces an annual event that regularly attains real creative excellence. Last year's Silver Scrolls was just soulful. Over the years, it's been a real force for the idea of a national culture."

    ah yes, Joseph Goebbels, he had some other brilliant quotes too regarding force for the idea of national culture.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    Could have been richly deserved.

    Boggle. OK, I am clearly an over-sensitive flower. I just can't think of a movie-making situation where that is 'deserved'. He's the director of photography, who walked through an actor's sightline on the sure-to-be-shitty fourth Terminator film, not a fucking child rapist.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Lucy Stewart,

    So are God, the Novel and Even Worse Remakes of Slasher Movies that Hurled Woman-Hating Chunks In The First Place. The world is full of dead things that won't lie down, and the zombie apocalypse hasn't even started yet.

    You'll probably want to avoid that zombie version of Pride and Prejudice they're releasing, then.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Yamis,

    "child rapist"? Bit of a strong comparison. According to the link posted earlier the guy had been poncing around with lights quite often and had been talked to by Bale about it and now did the same thing in what sounds like his most intense scene in the movie. Fuck it, I would have gone ballistic as well.

    What probably deserves more attention (but won't be getting it from police because they dropped the case as a conviction was unlikely) was the alleged assault a few days later in a London hotel room on his sister and mother.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Danielle, it's hardly surprising that Bale takes the movie more seriously than you do. He has millions riding on it, and you probably won't even be risking the price of a ticket.

    I personally think it's bad form to rag off ballistically when disciplining people, but that's my style, quiet and careful. Actors are often emotional people, because that helps them display a range of emotions on camera. They have to deliberately wind themselves up all the time. I find it highly tedious and don't associate with those kind of people. But I fully recognize that their talent often derives from their nature.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Boggle. OK, I am clearly an over-sensitive flower. I just can't think of a movie-making situation where that is 'deserved'. He's the director of photography, who walked through an actor's sightline on the sure-to-be-shitty fourth Terminator film, not a fucking child rapist.

    No, and neither is Peter Jackson -- and I've some reliable (and agenda-free) first-hand reports that when he loses his temper, it truly is a sight to behold. It's not OK, but also pretty understandable when you're on location and DOC is being pretty insistent that you've got to start demolishing the set the next morning.

    And sorry for restarting the thread about gig etiquette, and perhaps I'm a nasty bully, but I said "fuck yeah!" after hearing this this little (literally) show-stopping diva moment from Patti LuPone:

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And just to play devil's advocate here, let's do a flip test. The most elaborate FX and pyrotechnics heavy scene in the movie in on the schedule, and it's taken the DP (and everyone else on the crew) days to prep. It kind of matters to the finished film that it works, and there's not a lot of time or money for a second take.

    And Bale fucks it up, because he's far too important to actually learn his blocking or show up at rehearsal.

    Wonder how much sympathy Bale would get if a tape of McG going Von Stroheim on his arse hit teh interwebz?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    According to the link posted earlier the guy had been poncing around with lights quite often and had been talked to by Bale about it and now did the same thing in what sounds like his most intense scene in the movie. Fuck it, I would have gone ballistic as well.

    Bale earnt 38 million for the Batman movie he did, probably something similar for the terminator movie.

    Obviously I come from a different world, but someone wants to pay that much money for a few month's work, they could have their DP prancing around in a tutu for all I care.

    And there's "Hey! I'm trying to fucking concentrate here, could you stop moving shit around!" vs threatening to hit the guy. To return to the "it's no OK" theme of a few weeks ago.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Yamis,

    C'mon, he was just acting!!!!

    I mean fighting those bloody regenerating terminators using conventional weapons just wasn't working was it? We all saw that. They just needed a damn good talking to and Bale delivered.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Bale earnt 38 million for the Batman movie he did, probably something similar for the terminator movie.

    Not really seeing your point here -- Peter Jackson got paid US$20 million upfront (against 20% of the net rental income) for King Kong, which is chump change compared to what's he earned, one way or the other, for the Rings trilogy. Not exactly curing cancer, folks. And unless he's doing a remake of The Red Shoes I've not heard of, I suspect prancing around one of his sets in a tutu is a fast ride to the nearest Work and Income office. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    And there's "Hey! I'm trying to fucking concentrate here, could you stop moving shit around!" vs threatening to hit the guy.

    He was threatening to 'Kick his arse'. Which could mean exactly what he was doing. Or getting fired. It doesn't necessarily mean violence and you'd only know if it did mean that if you were there. I'm not splitting hairs, I've just heard 'kick his arse' used in that way so many times in workplaces I don't leap to the assumption that someone is going to get thumped.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    You'll probably want to avoid that zombie version of Pride and Prejudice they're releasing, then.

    Bloody hell, Lucy, you weren't joking! "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” My Inner Janeite is outraged, but the other part that loves me some zombie ultraviolence is going to track down his prissy arse and eat it.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Bloody hell, Lucy, you weren't joking! "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” My Inner Janeite is outraged, but the other part that loves me some zombie ultraviolence is going to track down his prissy arse and eat it.

    I would never joke about something that serious, naturally. *grins*

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    So, let me get this right. Mr. Bale, or whatever his name is, got pissed off with the DOP for walking in front of him whilst lighting a scene? Hmmmm, yeah, great acting Chris, shame we couldn't see it in the dark.
    Actors, pah!

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Amy Gale,

    "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

    And then there's Twelfth Night Of The Living Dead...

    tha Ith • Since May 2007 • 471 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    So, let me get this right. Mr. Bale, or whatever his name is, got pissed off with the DOP for walking in front of him whilst lighting a scene? Hmmmm, yeah, great acting Chris, shame we couldn't see it in the dark.

    Perhaps I'm missing something here, Steve, but I thought the usual m.o. is to set the lighting scheme before you start shooting, and if it needs adjustment you do it between takes. Then again, what do I know?

    And I'm pretty sure that an actor would snark back that without them, all you've got is a very expensive (but pretty, I'm sure) House and Garden spread -- or Rubble and Wasteland, in this case.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Sam F,

    Mark Taslov wrote, with regards to APRA:

    ah yes, Joseph Goebbels, he had some other brilliant quotes too regarding force for the idea of national culture.

    This doesn't just fail to advance your point, it actually salts the entire terrain of the discussion to the point where nothing worthwhile will ever grow out of it. What are we seriously supposed to draw from a comparison between APRA and the Nazis?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    So Sam F, where did I mention APRA?

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I would never joke about something that serious, naturally. *grins*

    I hope not, because I've just got from the library an excellent -- if less than imaginatively titled -- anthology called __The Living Dead__ (Night Shade Books, paperback). Mostly reprints (even if from out of print anthologies) but the crap-quality ratio is impressively low, and there's a nice spread of styles and writers. Think my favourite story has to be a dead heat between:

    1) 'This Year's Class Picture' by Dan Simmons -- in which a middle school teacher who has either lost her mind or found it again isn't going to let the end of the world spoil Class Picture Day.

    2) 'Death and Suffrage” by Dale Bailey -- in which the living dead don't want brains. They want ballot papers, a closely fought presidential campaign hits the Twilight Zone, and a low-level spin doctor learns what happens when you don't stay on message.

    3) 'The Dead' by Michael Swanwick -- in which the undead are just another high end, luxury commodity. So who should you really be afraid of: The product, or the people selling them like plasma televisions?

    4) 'Sex, Death and Starshine' by Clive Barker -- the show must go on! Even if you're in a third-rate show in the sticks, headlined by a third-rape soap star well past her use-by date. And dead.

    5) 'Bobby Conroy Comes Back From The Dead' by Joe Hill -- and you can reconnect with an old love in the strangest of places. Including a mall in Philadelphia, in the middle of the night, where you're both extras in a wee indie flick called 'Dawn of the Dead'. (BTW, Joe Hill's 'Twentieth Century Ghosts' and 'Heart Shaped Box are well worth reading -- not least because they're better than anything his father (name's Stephen, lives in Maine, might have heard of him) had done for a while.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Craig, the usual MO would be to use a stand in for the lighting setup but who knows. In this case it maybe the DOP wanted a moving light in the scene but Mr Beal thought himself more important than the scene itself. As Pliny the Younger said "Stop moving that hill, I'm trying to write"

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    That's right Sam F. I didn't. Assumption and inference I compared the words Russell used;

    "Over the years, it's been a real force for the idea of a national culture."

    likening this rather uncultured belief that a national culture is something governments should instill in the masses. Rather than allowing it's natural unforced development, to be akin to the work JG himself did at behest of the NAZI's. On this charge, I feel APRA are more or less guiltfree. I don't blame Russell either. There's been more than enough propaganda to infiltrate the strongest of minds, to sway them to the notion that in order to create a national identity, the select few to select need to promote 'the national culture they feel best represents the whole. NZ on AIR are obviosly guilty or permeating this belief. Though I find there infiltration of the TV industry far more benign in that

    a) you can turn it off
    b) You're not forcefed it, while on hold or waiting in a supermarket queue.

    The comparison to the NAZI's you make Sam F is cheap. It can be any totalitarian system. Take the CCP if you will. Exactly the same manifesto "a force in the idea of a national culture" different chord shapes of course.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    The main reason this ethos hits a 12 on the suckometer, is that music is so privy to the whims of personal taste. They'll look back at that NZ on Air music in the same way people look back on any politically exploited musical movement.

    ah yes, they late 20th century, when a handful of old bastards, started to try telling us what music represents us...the force....

    i think kkkulture was the word Russell was looking for.

    Where on a hill just outside of Glasgow, late 17th century, two guys are playing music. one is playing a guitar. another 'playing' some confounded instrument he hammered together out of vacuum cleaner. the local Baron passes by, and here's the two players. and due to eons of inbreeding actually enjoys the nasally scrapes of that baggy thing and invites that player to come and perform in the town square for a month to represent the culture (theguitarist fucks off to Spain. The selected's instrument sounds like balls, But the workers have no choice to listen, they have their day to day working lives to lead. They can't revolt against the notion of the bagpipe as their national instrument. And they never did.

    true story. So Russel is right in a way.All national cultural identity was forcefed to people by the governments of the time (not just the NAZI's). Hence bagpipes.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

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