Text 20079, 291 rader
Skriven 2011-06-23 19:15:13 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 20069 av Richard Webb (1:116/901.0)
Ärende: Jackass Dies
====================
Hello Richard,

 RW>> YEah right.  WOuld that JOhny KNoxville and the rest of
 RW>> those morons followed him, so long as they don't take any
 RW>> innocent bystanders along for the trip.

 LL>> Hollywood loves stuntmen.  So do the actors who depend on those
 LL>> stuntmen to do the stunts they would otherwise have to perform
 LL>> themselves.  Most people (actors and fans alike) respect stuntmen
 LL>> who perform those roles.

RW>Indeed, good stunt men, and women are very skilled at what
RW>they do, and do it under carefully controlled conditions,
RW>most of the time.  SOmetimes, no matter how much you think
RW>you've got under control though, the unexpected reaches out
RW>to grab you.

Shit happens.  Which is why most stuntmen take proper precautions.
But even then, that might not be enough.  But hey.  That is the risk
they take.  And they know those risks.  The reason why they are willing
to take those risks is for the money.  And maybe for the fame.  But
most likely for the money, not really caring much for the fame.

 LL>> Remember, stuntmen are actors.  Real actors.  And they get paid,
 LL>> very handsomely, for what they do.  We might not know their names.
 LL>> But we love their stunts.  And some of them perform very dangerous
 LL>> stunts.

RW>Indeed they should be.  Their work is dangerous.  STagehands flying
RW>speakers, lighting, and sometimes people should be as well paid,
RW>often their work is just as dangerous.

Would you expect them to do it for free, or for next to nothing?
In the past, people would do anything for a buck.  Including children,
who were often forced to work in slave conditions.  Contrary to what
most people would like to believe, Hollywood (the film industry) is a
dirty business.  Always has been.  Always will be.

 LL>> Had a stuntman been killed doing a stunt in place of a major movie
 LL>> star, nobody would have criticized the stuntman for the job he did.
 LL>> In fact, most people would have mourned the loss of life.  But if
 LL>> the stuntman had been an actor on MTV, well, that's different...

RW>THe trouble here is that the jackass who killed himself had
RW>been "drinking with friends" the afternoon before the fiery
RW>crash.  I've read that in more than one account of it,
RW>including your post in another echo on the subject.  THat
RW>means he was driving while liquored up.

Dunn did not appear to be intoxicated at any time he was at the bar.
Nor did he appear to be intoxicated at the time he left the bar.  Yet,
the toxicology report showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.196, which
is over twice the legal limit of .08.  In other words, he was plastered
when he wiped out his sports car.

RW>I've talked to people on the net who are in the film and tv
RW>location sound business who refuse to work with those guys,
RW>even for the standard day rate with rental package of gear,
RW>because those guys are as abusive to the techs' equipment as they
RW>are to themselves.  When you can get a working location sound guy
RW>to turn down $500/day plus fees for renting gear to a production
RW>because he doesn't want to work with you it speaks volumes.  THIs
RW>is a cutthroat industry, in all phases my friend.  tHose guys don't
RW>turn down work without good cause.

If the money is right, most techs will work with anybody.

RW>THe actor in your feature film isn't wearing you $1k
RW>wireless microphone when the stunts  happen, as he often
RW>doesn't do his own stunts.  THese guys do their own stunts,
RW>and insist on having the body worn microphone so you can
RW>hear them, that's part of what the whole show's about.  I
RW>gather from industry scuttlebut a couple years back that
RW>show ended up buying a lot of its own audio kit because they
RW>couldn't get folks who hire btrained sound men and their kit
RW>to work with them.

Oh, they could have.  But not at the cost they were willing to pay.

 TR>>> ....and no more brains than to get drunked up and kill himself in a
 TR>>> speeding car wreck? By the way....this jackass fool had other issues
 TR>>> with drinking and driving. In 2005 he wrecked another car he was
 TR>>> driving while drunk. He went through a program that got the charges
 TR>>> dismissed, but he obviously didn't learn anything from that first
 TR>>> experience. This time the dumb fuck got killed for his screwin'
 TR>>> around. Tough shit!

 RW>> I'm with you there TIm.  THere is nothing even resembling
 RW>> art in what those clowns do, and I find its value as
 RW>> entertainment dubious at best.  LET's hope Bam Margera
 RW>> decides not to reproduce.

 LL>> Not everybody was a fan of his television show, or his movies.  But
 LL>> that does not mean that one should celebrate his death, or say
 LL>> unkind words about him.  The man died far too young, at age 34.  Not
 LL>> sure how old his passenger was, but that person also died before
 LL>> his/her time.

RW>YEs, but whiskey and wheels don't mix.  I am indeed sorry
RW>for his passenger, but the fool driving had been drinking
RW>when it happened, and if true to form drinking pretty hard.

He did not appear to be intoxicated while at the bar.  He did not
appear to be intoxicated when he left the bar.  It was only after
toxicology reports showed he was plastered that the world knew the
probable cause of his fatal crash.

RW>Those guys are major party animals.

Not all of them.  Some of them are (presumably) sober and actually
know what they are doing.

RW>IF you're stupid enough to operate a motor vehicle while drunk
RW>that's what happens.

I saw somebody get a DUI while drunk on a horse.  The judge threw
it out of court, saying the horse was not a motor vehicle.  The state
legislature then rewrote the law to include animals.  I also saw a
guy get a DUI in a wheelchair.  That one stuck, given it was a
motorized wheelchair.  The fact he was a disabled veteran did not
seem to sway the judge.

RW>If you're that stupid don't expect my sympathy.  I have
RW>sympathy for your victims, but not for you if you're
RW>arrogant to believe that it won't happen to you.  Sooner or
RW>later, it's going to.

Teenagers look at themselves as being indestructable.  And they
usually are.  Until disaster strikes.  Dunn apparently never outgrew
his teenage years.

 LL>> Tim is making an assumption that may, or may not, be true.  Was Dunn
 LL>> drunk?  We don't know.  Was Dunn's passenger drunk?  We don't know
 LL>> that, either.  Of course, it makes no difference if Dunn's passenger
 LL>> was drunk, given that Dunn was driving.  Maybe Dunn was driving his
 LL>> passenger home because his passenger had had too much to drink at
 LL>> the bar where they had apparently been earlier.  But we don't know
 LL>> that. We don't even know if the passenger who was with him had had
 LL>> anything to drink at all.  Or where that passenger had been before
 LL>> stepping foot inside the car with Dunn.

RW>tHe passenger is in this case a victim.  Dunn *had* been
RW>drinking.  tHese guys aren't one or two with dinner type
RW>folks, as I noted above.  Drinking is a way of life for
RW>these kids.  THey'll be the first to tell you they devise
RW>some of their coolest stunts when they're drinking and
RW>brainstorming.  IT's part and parcel of who these folks
RW>are, and waht makes them do what they do.

Dunn's passenger was 30 years old.  Does drinking help with
brainstorming?  Some people think it does.  Even if the reality
is far different.

 RW>> Wrong, Jimi HEndrix died of an overdose of pills, exacerbated by a
 RW>> dim bulb woman who wouldn't summon help for him.

 LL>> Jimi Hendrix was murdered.  The official coroner's report was that
 LL>> Hendrix had died of asphyxiation, having choked on his own vomit,
 LL>> and having taken 9 sleeping pills.  But what is not mentioned in the
 LL>> coroner's report is what induced the vomiting.  Or why not all the
 LL>> pills that were on Hendrix' person had been swallowed.  If Hendrix
 LL>> had intended to suicide, he would have ingested ALL of the pills,
 LL>> not a mere handful.  And 9 sleeping pills were not nearly enough to
 LL>> kill anybody, much less a man who was used to popping pills.  There
 LL>> are far too many questions that remain unanswered to believe Hendrix
 LL>> died of an overdose (accidental or deliberate).  And his girlfriend
 LL>> likely was too wiped out to even notice Hendrix was dead until it
 LL>> was far too late for her to have done anything, much less call for
 LL>> help. For more about Hendrix and his mysterious death, check out
 LL>> this url -

 LL>> http://www.woodstockstory.com/jimi-hendrix-murdered-conspiracy.html

RW>Indeed, read a book by a reporter friend of JImi's on the
RW>subject.  She has some suspicions about the girlfriend, or
RW>lady friend actually.

We will never know the truth as to what really happened.  But
speculation is so much fun, and will never end.  Especially when
it comes to celebrity deaths.

 RW>> OTherwise, I'd agree with that.  wHy should we feel sorry for such
 RW>> people?  LIfe is short, earth is overpopulated anyway.  such an end
 RW>> for fools is fitting and appropriate.

 LL>> Dunn was an actor.  He provided entertainment for a certain audience
 LL>> that appreciated his talents.  While his form of entertainment is
 LL>> not for everybody, it did gain him fame and fortune in certain
 LL>> quarters.

RW>\YEs, but you have to know when to turn it off, and if
RW>you're going to live like that as part of what makes you
RW>climb to the top, then fer Chrissake hire a fucking driver!

That would have helped.  But too late now.  :)

RW>THen howl at the moon to your heart's content, and get home
RW>safe!  AFter all, he could afford it.  I understand, you've
RW>got to be as screwed up as a soup sandwich to think up some
RW>of the stuff I've seen those guys do, and read about them
RW>doing, and even just as messed up to follow through with
RW>them.  But still, you'd think that with that much money
RW>you'd at least want to live to enjoy the fruits of your
RW>labors.  trip to ER as the result of a stunt done for money
RW>and to shock the viewing audience aren't any more fun than
RW>regular trips to er ya know.  THat stuff still hurts!

Oh, but what a rush!  Feel the wind at your face as you jump
off that cliff - without a parachute, of course!

RW>Being able to do the kind of thing those guys do means also
RW>endeavoring to keep your body in some sort of good
RW>condition.  IF you're smart you do the extreme out there
RW>stuff when the read light comes on and the director calls
RW>"action."  oTherwise, if you're smart, you husband your
RW>strength, guard your health, and hope to live to enjoy the
RW>proceeds.  IF you're not smart enough to do that, maybe
RW>somebody else will enjoy the fruits of your hard won glory,
RW>and money.  TOugh bounce, but MR. Dunn did it to himself.

Evel Knievel had a very successful career bouncing off pavement.
But at least he had a crash helmet on.  Most of the time.

 RW> <snip>

 TR>>> There ought to be a special place in Hell for people like Hendricks

 TR>>> Too bad there isn't some sort of celebrity
 TR>>> award for taking themselves out of the gene pool. Stupidity is
 TR>>> sometimes its own reward.

 RW>> Again would agree.  tHe fact that these idiots could even be
 RW>> classified as entertaining is indicative of the dumbing down of
 RW>> culture.  I have no sympathy for him or his so-called friends.

 LL>> Dunn and his castmates made a fortune, laughing all the way to the
 LL>> bank.  As such, I cannot rightly call any of them "idiots".

RW>RIght, but, when you laugh your way to the bank, you hire a
RW>driver so you can party all you like and brainstorm your
RW>next cool stunt that's going to wow your audience and make
RW>the cash register go cha ching.  When you start believing
RW>your own bs that's when you get in trouble.  Look at PEte
RW>Townshend.  THe only reason the man can still preform at
RW>all is in ear monitoring, and an amplifier for his guitar
RW>hidden offstage with signals piped to the earbuds in his ear
RW>canal, because playing so loud all those years gave him such a
RW>massive case of tinitis that actually playing at normal rock 'n
RW>roll stage volumes is physically painful.  MOdern technology has
RW>given PEte a new lease on his performing life, but he realizes
RW>the mistakes he made while a young man, but he still made few
RW>enough of them to beat the odds.  HIs buddy KEith made one too
RW>many.

The Rolling Stones concert in New Orleans.  In the Superdome.
Over 100,000 crazy fans, all of them high on pot.  Couldn't really
help it, so many smoking in an enclosed environment.  I was pretty
wasted, having ingested all that sweet smell...

 TR>>> And I'm sure millions of others (me included) don't give a shit! My
 TR>>> only regret is he didn't take himself out sooner!

 RW>> My only hope is that he took himself out before he decided
 RW>> to breed.

 LL>> And what about his millions of fans?  And those who try to imitate
 LL>> his art?  Millions of kids around the world love skateboarding. And
 LL>> skateboarding has been around for a long, long time.  You do realize
 LL>> that is how Ryan and Bam got started with their performance
 LL>> stunts...

RW>Ah yes I do, and then that became too tame.  I know kids who do that
RW>kind of thing, and the emergency rooms see them every day.  THese
RW>kids got to believing their own mythology and believed they could
RW>cheat death, beat the odds.  Maybe this will wake the rest of them
RW>up and convince them that when the camera isn't rolling they need to
RW>guard their lives, their futures and cherish the opportunities
RW>they've been lucky enough to have received.  As for MR. Dunn, he had
RW>fair warning, he didn't heed that warning.  sO it goes, as I said
RW>above, tough bounce.

Most people grow up and mature to adulthood long before their 30s.
But not everybody.  Some people remain kids all their life.  That is
not necessarily a bad thing, as the world does need comedians (such
as Robin Williams and Jonathon Winters).  But sometimes folks just
have to be serious.

--Lee

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