June 07, 2006

I was Russell Crowe's publicity whore All the world's a stage, it seems, and an elite few are aware of the plot. We clueless extras are there to be deceived, abused and bullied into playing our parts, for the show that celebrates the stars must go on.
  • o/~ Makin' music, makin' movies, fightin' 'round the world! o/~ Dang, how do you make those music notes?
  • Ah, well, I've liked the 3 Crowe movies I've seen, and that's all I expect of him. The rest of it is his publicist's problem. So far, he hasn't deceived or abused me since his personal life/ego isn't my concern.
  • That was a great read, thanks.
  • Interesting read.
  • Interesting indeed. I think Russell Crowe's music is a load of cack. They played it on some radio station here recently because he was in the country (smoking in bars, no less! It's illegal!) singing with his band. He sings in that deep voice of his about seeing birds flying and sweetly singing and oh my god, it's eye-rollingly bad. And then they interviewed him between songs and he just takes himself so. goddamn. seriously.
  • By the way, he never got fined for smoking in bars. Because he's a Celebrity.
  • 'Amazing' is not the word for this fine post.
  • Steven Seagal is a better musician, a better energy drink formulater, and a better human being.
  • Not at all what I expected.
  • Ooo that was interesting....
  • Russell Crowe once smashed my face in with a chair. That was awesome.
  • flongj lol. Seagal is a flipping guru. An amusing read; poor Crowe so needy, yet so wealthy.
  • yeah, yeah, whatever.
  • I HATE Crowe, so LOVED that post. Ta.
  • Crowe seems so insecure. Heh heh. There's a funny essay on Seagal in a book of essays somewhere; it's probably David Rakoff's Fraud, which I lent to someone. Basically, he was guruing his way through some Seagalian-Buddhist retreat weekend, and barely showed up for his scheduled events. When he did show up, IIRC, he mostly talked about himself, certainly nothing in any way helpful to the attendants (unless they'd come to hear celebrity self-aggrandizement). Someone who's read the essay more recently than I have, or who has a copy at hand, might have more (& more accurate) things to say about it.
  • The narrator of this piece seems as self-absorbed as the celebrities he's criticizing. He let his own greed suck him into a situation he saw a mile off, and now he whinee about how badly he was treated.
  • russell crowe has always struck me as a bully type of personality, so none of this is surprising. it must suck to be him and be so insecure.
  • AND I look better in a leather skirt!
  • Chuck Norris can kick Steven Seagull's arse.
  • dirigibleman did you win? peach everyone from Wellington is like that. Much worse than the Aussies or even the Welsh.
  • the writer comes across as a self-obsessed arsehole; crowe too.
  • Man, I'd love to fight Russel Crowe - where do you sign up?
  • Russel Crowe, Everyone know Him a wanker Very Big Show
  • funny - Russell Crowe sucks - but wihtout his influence i wouldn't have attracted so much interest to me - Maybe so he a show off and whatever else - but hey - how many people build their precarious celerbity lives off him?? U know - One day someone can say I was - remember garbo - but this pile of parasites??????? I was in Who magazine once because?? Go figure less the wharhol estimate i hope. Then again - read the front cover of a mag today in the supermarket - marketing lives - Paris to be an actress a hex on all your people .Dummy Spit
  • Applauds kitfistos comment. See u in the weekly garbage high circulation mags and ur cellulite tomorrow. Oh and i Appreciate the fact they have started to use arrows to direct u to the offending bit in case u missed it.......Bitter twisted my sweetie my sweetie my precious yeeeeee..............ssssssssss
  • Tiny, insignificant voices ... the sheer audacity of you miniscule ... frothing with envy ... you presume to challenge the infinite ... his rage shall subdue you ... mighty and immense crowe-lord ... a telephone like a lightening bolt ... spurn his music ... will all pay ... crush, crowe-lord ... their teeth into splinters ... underneath his righteous sandle ... die in your thousands plebians ...
  • I agree that both Crowe and the author come off as jerks in this. The author writes about getting his feelings hurt because Crowe didn't really want to be his friend, but readily admits that when he equated his relationship with Crowe with dollar signs.
  • If he was only after money, why didn't he accept the payment Crowe offered him?
  • fly, you're so right. I have been eating too much sugar! But how did you know??
  • 'Cause you're so sweeeeet
  • Crowe is a good actor, but this merely confirms what has seemed obvious for a while: he's a turd of a human being.
  • That's what happens when you're eclipsed in your early career by your cricket-star cousins. Hey Russell, I'm anticipating your letter any time now. Just send it c/- MonkeyFilter, kthx.
  • (Wipes drool from chin.) Ahem. In my day, we didn't give a shit about what celebrity's lives were really like. We trusted the publicity departments and Luella Parsons to cloud those things for us, so we could continue to revel in the perfect lives our icons lived. Or not pay any attention. But, Marilyn Monroe died, and the reports of her sex life over took the reports of her death, and gave us all sorts of conspiracy theories. To which most people didn't pay attention. And, then Rock Hudson died of AIDS, and though there had been rumors that he was gay, which we didn't pay any attention to because we didn't care. But the reportage was pretty extreme, since studio control had gone by the wayside. The legacy of that is that we hear every detail of celebrities' lives, which has nothing to do with the reasons for their celebrity, unless they're Paris Hilton or Anna Nichole. I don't even read the reports, but I still get enough headlines to sort of follow the course of human fraility. So, Crowe is an asshole? Why do we care? I'm really curious, so it's only a semi-snark. Liking or not liking his work seems reasonable, but liking or not liking him...why pay attention? Please let me know, because I might be missing a true epiphany.
  • I liked the article. I suppose I enjoyed because it was your classic "celebrity and wealth do not bring happiness" trope. It just seems like fame and "success" act as a magnifier for a persons neuroses. Which is why I have decided to shun fame and celebrity.
  • Crowe is probably a mess at least partly because the world is chock-full of assholes like the author of the article, who will pretend to be your friend and like your music when what they really want is to get close to you, go to your parties, and creepily derive sustenance, or SOMEdamnthing- who knows what?- from your famousness.
  • Stan, I do not disagree with you, but I think that, on the other side, it may take a certain degree of egomania-wrapped-around-terrible-insecurity-in-need-of-constant-and-excessive-reinforcement-and-attention to become the sort of actor that he is. that to an extent you might need a certain type of drive or ambition, that on the outside, might look a lot like you are a self-absorbed asshole....
  • path, I tend to agree with you. I feel weird that "celebrity news" has take over the news-news, and I usually don't care about a celebrity's personal life unless they're overtly, actively awful. I don't really put Crowe in this category -- I'll never run into him in real life, and while he seems petty, he's not bringing about the end of the world -- but I thought the interaction between author and celebrity was interesting, here. (I usually actively avoid knowing stuff about celebrities unless, like last Spring, I got the "great" idea to research celebrity magazines' depiction of celebrity weight issues. Why did I do that? A genuine interest in body issues plus latent masochism, I think. Man, I had to wade through a lot of dreck to research that paper.)
  • Romper Stomper was good though. Wasn't he in that?
  • Romper Stomper was a pretty good little film.
  • I keep meaning to see that. Hard to find around here, though.
  • When I saw it I went with a tres sexy lady, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Had to be a film about racist thugs, didn't it? Couldn't have been some trendy art house film or Ep V could it? Nooo
  • The fastest way to a woman's heart is to show her a movie about jackbooted racist thugs kicking people. (Or maybe not.) I remember my First Serious Boyfriend, in high school, going on about hoooooow gooooood that movie was. But I've never seen it! And I really dislike Crowe, for the most part, so I've never made a point of hunting it down.
  • I once took a date to see this Julia Roberts film. Oops.
  • I had a mate who took a lady to see Much Ado About Nothing. Turned out to be very apt too.