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Post by darthtoxic on Feb 7, 2010 19:39:42 GMT -5
This weekend, I was at an annual convention at a nearby college. There was all kind of stuff, but I spent most of my time in the Bad Movie Screening Room. While I was in there, we watched some MST3K episodes. During one episode, we were laughing at something Mike said, and the guy running the room said "man, it's too bad he's an asshole" or something like that. I asked what he meant, and he told me that a few years ago Mike Nelson came to the convention and was, as mentioned, a huge asshole. I didn't ask any details, but I remained curious.
Later on, when I was in a different room, I just started asking people if they were there when Mike Nelson came. All of them told me the same thing, and I was told what exactly he did that made him an asshole...
It's semi-common knowledge that he's a staunch Christian conservative republican. He's called people/things he disagrees with communist and satanic, but I always figured he was joking rather than being nut-shit. Turns out I was wrong.
When he came to the con, he got on stage and gave a lecture. They said he was his hilarious self for that. When he did a meet-and-greet afterwards, though, they said he became distant and very rude to the fans. He made some very homophobic comments, and when someone asked him if something was wrong, he told them he hates even interacting with people he disagrees politically/morally with, even though they were having a completely apolitical forum that was primarily about his experiences on MST3K. They said that overall, he was just a massive dick to everyone he came in contact with there.
He must not have known until after he got there that the college's student body is made up primarily of hippies, artsy liberals, and flaming queers.
Anyway, I was so immensely disappointed, I thought I would share that. I've always liked Joel slightly better than Mike, and this isn't helping Mike at all. I still enjoy Mike's work (except RiffTrax. Completely unfunny) but in a way it will never be the same again.
Might as well give this thread a purpose other than an F/B rant... Anyone else have similar experiences that soured them on actors/writers/musicians/entertainers/etc. that they were fans of?
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Post by Tiger on Feb 7, 2010 19:59:26 GMT -5
Anyway, I was so immensely disappointed, I thought I would share that. I've always liked Joel slightly better than Mike, and this isn't helping Mike at all. I still enjoy Mike's work (except RiffTrax. Completely unfunny) but in a way it will never be the same again. Really? I find RiffTrax hilarious. Anyway, I really don't care at all about an entertainer's politics as long as it doesn't bleed into their work. Orson Scott Card, for example, is a complete loon. |
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Post by MaybeNever on Feb 7, 2010 20:07:21 GMT -5
I had a somewhat opposite experience regarding Michael Shanks, who has done a lot of things but is probably most famous for playing Daniel Jackson in the Stargate television programs. Watching interviews with him I always got this vaguely prickish vibe from him, which saddened me because I loved the character of Daniel. But then I started talking to people who had seen him at conventions and pretty universally the verdict was that he was an extremely nice guy and went out of his way to interact with fans. Same with Scott Bakula, although I never got negative vibes from him.
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Post by RavynousHunter on Feb 8, 2010 3:45:59 GMT -5
Meeting Amy Lee for the first time off stage. I mean, sure, her singing is mediocre, but I always thought she was at least a halfway decent person. Dear Gods was I wrong. She was a complete and utter bitch...was? Fuck, she still is.
Now, I had the exact opposite reaction when I met Ben Moody (ex-bassist for Evanessence). He was cool, let me sleep on his couch, drank, cursed, laughed, and cracked jokes. He also hated all the pretentious art fucks that were over when we were. He probably spend more time with me and my brother than the rest of the others combined. Shit, if I knew where he was and how to get a hold of him, I'd give him a ring and try to come over and hang out.
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apedant
Full Member
Over himself, over his body and soul, the individual is sovereign--J S Mill.
Posts: 139
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Post by apedant on Feb 8, 2010 9:56:20 GMT -5
Marylin Manson.
I really liked some of his lyrics, still do in the abstract. Lines like "I'm not a slave to a god that doesn't exist" and songs like Disposable Teens and Cruci-fiction in Space speak to a part of me that just wants intelligent counter-cultural nihilism.
So when I saw him on the line-up for Download last year, I made sure to catch his show (helped that he was on right before Slipknot). I don't know what stage persona he is trying to put across, but what it comes over as is arsehole. All rock singers occasionally throw the mike stand to the floor at the end of a song, Manson has a roadie standing on the stage to pick it up for him, he stops between songs for a girl to come on and touch up his make-up. During a lull between songs the music from one of the other stages drifted in, and he flew off the handle. Hint, if you don't want other bands to be there, don't play festivals.
Now I can't listen to his music without thinking of a pot-bellied, middle aged, arrogant arsehole.
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Post by deusmalum on Feb 8, 2010 14:33:18 GMT -5
Anyway, I was so immensely disappointed, I thought I would share that. I've always liked Joel slightly better than Mike, and this isn't helping Mike at all. I still enjoy Mike's work (except RiffTrax. Completely unfunny) but in a way it will never be the same again. Really? I find RiffTrax hilarious. Anyway, I really don't care at all about an entertainer's politics as long as it doesn't bleed into their work. Orson Scott Card, for example, is a complete loon. True, but in a way that doesn't bleed into his work. Kind of like the writers of the Dragonlance books (who are also Mormons iirc). |
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Post by devilschaplain2 on Feb 8, 2010 16:37:46 GMT -5
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Post by calee022 on Feb 8, 2010 20:06:27 GMT -5
Two GOOD celebrity stories:
Worked at a restaurant a long time ago, Gordie Howe (BIG TIME hockey player) came in. The pot washer was a big fan of his, but didn't want to bother him while he was eating dinner. When he paid his bill and was getting ready to leave, the hostess told him about the pot washer. He went back to the dish room and spent 20 minutes bullshitting with the kid, in the heat and damp.
A friend of mine used to write a "fanzine" in high school. He wrote a letter to The Ramones asking for an interview. Joey Ramone called him at home and gave him an interview.
Both class acts.
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Post by Amaranth on Feb 8, 2010 20:32:38 GMT -5
Meeting Amy Lee for the first time off stage. I mean, sure, her singing is mediocre, but I always thought she was at least a halfway decent person. Dear Gods was I wrong. She was a complete and utter bitch...was? Fuck, she still is. This surprises me, because I've always heard good things about her. Granted, I'm not enough of an Evanescence fan to go to a concert, so I wouldn't know from personal experience. Well, surprise might be too strong a word. Ummm...Examples. Well, Mick Foley came off as a total douche when I met him. Totally expected him to be decent. I'm not a fan of Linkin Park, but Chester Crawlinginmyskinnington actually managed to come off as more of a dick than I thought (which was amazing, considering I just assumed he was a giant one in the first place). Robin Lane is awesome, and oddly enough, I moshed with her. It's odd moshing with a woman like thirty years older than you who was a musician in an era where you were barely born.... ...Shot up heroin with CM Punk....totally cool guy, but don't leave him with your stash....>.> |
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Post by The_L on Feb 8, 2010 20:56:39 GMT -5
Meeting Amy Lee for the first time off stage. I mean, sure, her singing is mediocre, but I always thought she was at least a halfway decent person. Dear Gods was I wrong. She was a complete and utter bitch...was? Fuck, she still is. This surprises me, because I've always heard good things about her. Granted, I'm not enough of an Evanescence fan to go to a concert, so I wouldn't know from personal experience. Seriously? I couldn't listen to The Open Door more than once, because the smugness radiating from it was so overwhelming. She actually managed to keep her ego somewhat in check for Fallen. |
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Post by Tiger on Feb 8, 2010 21:25:35 GMT -5
Really? I find RiffTrax hilarious. Anyway, I really don't care at all about an entertainer's politics as long as it doesn't bleed into their work. Orson Scott Card, for example, is a complete loon. True, but in a way that doesn't bleed into his work. Kind of like the writers of the Dragonlance books (who are also Mormons iirc). Yeah, I forgot to include "but I still like his books". Tom Clancy, I think, would be his antithesis. Though I liked his books too, back when I was a rabid conservative. |
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Post by MaybeNever on Feb 8, 2010 21:53:56 GMT -5
Christopher Stasheff does a good job of weaving his faith into his books and making the plot more interesting in the doing, considering that when it arises it tends to be an altered but recognizable Christianity in a fantasy setting.
He could be a monumental douche in person though, I have no idea.
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Post by skyfire on Feb 10, 2010 9:37:54 GMT -5
Anyway, I really don't care at all about an entertainer's politics as long as it doesn't bleed into their work. Same here. Unless an artist allows their work to suffer for the sake of their personal POV, or they succeed in making such a fool of themselves that it's hard to associate them with anything but what they did, I generally let it slide. One of the few entertainers I can't listen to anymore is Harry Belafonte. When asked about Powell being the first black Secretary of State, Belafonte went off on a tirade about how Powell and Rice were little more than house slaves and that their accomplishments ultimately meant nothing to the black community as a whole... never mind the fact that even before Powell got the call, his life served as an example of something that people from all races could aspire to (he taught himself Yiddish while in high school, earned himself an appointment to West Point via his grades, majored in geology, and even after making general he took time to know those soldiers who he encounters and their families). |
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