On fame

Here is something for you to think over.

Al Pacino has 42 movies listed in his filmography at IMDB. These include filmed, filming, announced, pre- and post-production. Robert De Niro has 70. Sean Connery has 78. Anthony Hopkins has 98.

I’m sure you can easily remember a movie or two with any one of these guys.

And you probably have never heard of Ron Jeremy. And even his face looks very unfamiliar to you. Nevermind the fact that his filmography lists 918 movies. In most of these he played had one of the main roles.

Who is he you’re wondering? Well, he is number one American porn star. Or so they say…

Becoming a celebrity

I feel like I am becoming a celebrity. People started to recognize me on the street because of this website. Today I had the second incident in my life when someone knew who I was without me or anyone else telling. The guy just came up to me and said “Hi, Leonid. How’re you doing?”. I was standing there speechless with a puzzled look on my face and a question in my eyes. Luckily, the guy felt the need to explain – “I’ve recognized you from the picture on your website”.

One day I’ll either get used to it, or get a heart attach, nervous breakdown or some other unpleasant medical condition…

Punk’d

Usually I am not interested in television programs. I don’t watch much of them and I don’t want to watch much of them. Unless they are really good. Than I make an exception. That’s how I am with TV. Or at least this is how I want to be with TV.

For some time now Martin was bugging me about this MTV show called “Punk’d” done by Ashton Kutcher. I was already thinking about renting it some time in the future. Today Martin had enough of my reasons and all that crap about television, jumped from his seat, grabbed the DVD, and made me watch one episode. The one about tax enforcement officers confiscating property, if you are interested. So, I liked it. It was funny. I took both DVDs – the complete first season – and went home to watch.

The show turned out to be as good as I expected it to be. I watched all the episodes, plus all the bonus features, deleted scenes, and everything else I could find straigt through. No breaks.

If you’ve heard nothing about this show, here is a small summary for you. The idea is very similar to the “Candid camera”, “Show me the funny”, etc. Hidden cameras, actors, setup pranks, and one victim.

What is so different from the other shows? Well, first of all, all victims are celebrities. Secondly, the setup thingy is extremely serious with large sums of money going in, to make it all look realistic. Thirdly, victim’s best friends and/or relatives are assisting in the prank to make it more believable. Fourthly, the scenarios are original. These are not some stupid jokes a third-grader can read in the magazine and try to pull on you. We are talking tax enforcement officers (actors, of course, but with all the merchandize) confiscating property, crane accidentally destroying a house, car theft of a $250,000 collection edition vehicle, busting of illegal casino, and things like that. Add to all of these great acting skills and talents of the people involved and excellent commentary and hosting by Ashton – and you have a really amazing show.

So, I suggest that if you have a chance of finding it, than find it and watch it. Rent it if you have to. It’s worth it. If you are out of luck, I’ll rip it off and share it for you. Probably I will do it anyway. Ashton asked me himself. Yup. In special features of the second DVD he called me names and asked me to rip and share the show. So I will.

Samuel L. Jackson

IMDB is a ultimate movie resource. Not only it provides with a quick information like ratings, casts, and production on most movies you will ever going to see, but it also has everything you want to see when following up a movie – soundtrack listings, photos from the set, quotes, discussions of other people who saw the movie, etc. One particular feature that got me interested recently is actor’s biographies. IMDB provides a nicely summed up short biography, with a list of interesting facts from the life of actor or actress, personal quotes, and much such.

I’ll use Samuel L. Jackson as an example to kind of information you can find out without searches, comparisons, and translations. Why him? I find him interesting. I have seen him in many movies and he always delivers good acting. It does automatically mean that the movie he plays in will be good, but at it assures that there will be at least some quality acting. I respect him for that. And I am interested in knowing a bit more about people that I respect.

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