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Ok so Joseph Gordon Levitt (3rd Rock From The Sun, Ten Things I Hate About You, Mysterious Skin)
has a website http://www.hitrecord.org which has a really great concept * See end of this post for further explanation
On his site he has a video he recorded himself of what happened to him one day when paparazzi wouldn't leave him alone.
He explains -
"It doesn’t normally happen that paparazzi photographers pay me any attention when I’m not working. In fact, it only ever happened once (thank god) that I can think of. Luckily I had my video camera on me when it did. A friend and I were just walking down the street in Manhattan when we passed these two photographers who were sitting outside the entrance of some hotel, presumably waiting to photograph somebody who was staying there. I didn’t think much of them until, a block or so later, they came running up and started to take my picture. I tried to be nice and politely ask them not to. They were neither nice nor polite. And that’s when I remembered I had my camera in my bag. So that’s where the movie starts. The only other thing I’ll say is (and I had trouble deciding whether or not to be so blunt with my opinion, but here goes) I do believe that the myth of “Celebrity” is not just innocently shallow entertainment, but a powerful and fundamental part of a larger movement revolving around greed, apathy and hierarchy that is currently dragging us down, down, down, lower and scarier, and perhaps weaker than we’ve ever, ever been. Smile!"
He called the video Pictures of A**sholes and you can watch it here > http://www.hitrecord.org/picturesofassholes.php
This sums up EVERYTHING I think of the paparazzi and what their very presence is doing to our society. I had the misfortune to stand next to a bunch of paparazzi outside Michaels hotel once and they are the most vile people I have ever come across. How they sleep at night I do not know.
I think this is very true as well - JGL says -
"Actors didn't use to be celebrities. A hundred years ago, they put the theaters next to the brothels. Actors were poor. Celebrities used to be kings and queens. Then the United States abolished monarchy, and now there's this coming together of show business and celebrity. I don't think it's healthy. I don't want to sound self-important, but all these celebrity shows and magazines - it comes from us, from Hollywood, from our country. We're the ones creating it. And I think it works in close step with a lot of other bad things that are happening in the world. It promotes greed, it promotes being selfish and it promotes this ladder, where you're a better person if you have more money. It's not at all about the work itself. Don't get me wrong. I love movies. But this myth of celebrity has nothing to do with movies."
* (What does it mean, HIT RECORD? WATCH THIS VIDEO > http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jd-fm0JRQgs
Different things... It can be a noun, a musical recording that sold a lot of copies. It can be a verb, to hit record, to start recording, to make a record, be it musical, visual, textual, or anything else. That moment when you hit the REC button, when the tape starts rolling, or the camera clicks, or even when somebody writes something down, it always makes my heart beat a bit harder.
Hit record. A complete sentence in the imperative tense, it's something I've been telling myself a lot lately. So far, my life's work has been to be recorded, but not to hit record. With this site, I hope to change that.
What do you suppose could change if we all started to HIT RECORD?
So anyway....any thoughts?
On his site he has a video he recorded himself of what happened to him one day when paparazzi wouldn't leave him alone.
He explains -
"It doesn’t normally happen that paparazzi photographers pay me any attention when I’m not working. In fact, it only ever happened once (thank god) that I can think of. Luckily I had my video camera on me when it did. A friend and I were just walking down the street in Manhattan when we passed these two photographers who were sitting outside the entrance of some hotel, presumably waiting to photograph somebody who was staying there. I didn’t think much of them until, a block or so later, they came running up and started to take my picture. I tried to be nice and politely ask them not to. They were neither nice nor polite. And that’s when I remembered I had my camera in my bag. So that’s where the movie starts. The only other thing I’ll say is (and I had trouble deciding whether or not to be so blunt with my opinion, but here goes) I do believe that the myth of “Celebrity” is not just innocently shallow entertainment, but a powerful and fundamental part of a larger movement revolving around greed, apathy and hierarchy that is currently dragging us down, down, down, lower and scarier, and perhaps weaker than we’ve ever, ever been. Smile!"
He called the video Pictures of A**sholes and you can watch it here > http://www.hitrecord.org/picturesofassholes.php
This sums up EVERYTHING I think of the paparazzi and what their very presence is doing to our society. I had the misfortune to stand next to a bunch of paparazzi outside Michaels hotel once and they are the most vile people I have ever come across. How they sleep at night I do not know.
I think this is very true as well - JGL says -
"Actors didn't use to be celebrities. A hundred years ago, they put the theaters next to the brothels. Actors were poor. Celebrities used to be kings and queens. Then the United States abolished monarchy, and now there's this coming together of show business and celebrity. I don't think it's healthy. I don't want to sound self-important, but all these celebrity shows and magazines - it comes from us, from Hollywood, from our country. We're the ones creating it. And I think it works in close step with a lot of other bad things that are happening in the world. It promotes greed, it promotes being selfish and it promotes this ladder, where you're a better person if you have more money. It's not at all about the work itself. Don't get me wrong. I love movies. But this myth of celebrity has nothing to do with movies."
* (What does it mean, HIT RECORD? WATCH THIS VIDEO > http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jd-fm0JRQgs
Different things... It can be a noun, a musical recording that sold a lot of copies. It can be a verb, to hit record, to start recording, to make a record, be it musical, visual, textual, or anything else. That moment when you hit the REC button, when the tape starts rolling, or the camera clicks, or even when somebody writes something down, it always makes my heart beat a bit harder.
Hit record. A complete sentence in the imperative tense, it's something I've been telling myself a lot lately. So far, my life's work has been to be recorded, but not to hit record. With this site, I hope to change that.
What do you suppose could change if we all started to HIT RECORD?
So anyway....any thoughts?
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