I wrote this when Christian Bale had his meltdown in 2009. Sorry for the broken links. Just a reminder:

I can't believe I'm going to do this, but, well... I am. I'm going to give a teensy bit of perspective to Christian Bale's on set meltdown. I am not a huge fan of actors (other than my cousin who is the bee's knees), but I have to say that I think people are not understanding a few things with that rant. Seriously, I can't believe I'm going to defend an actor.* Anyway...

Anyone walking on set when a scene is being filmed is an amateur. I don't care how long you've been in the business, you do.not.do.that. Ever. Bale mentions that this guy did it twice and the DP certainly was trying to excuse his actions with a certain amount of insolence when Bale went off on him. Now, let me state without any equivocation: there is NO excuse for the way Bale treated that DP. He should not have berated him in front of others and he should not have used such hateful language. However, he was right in his objection to the DP's actions. A DP is rather high up in responsibility and respect on the set, so the fact that someone with that much supposed influence and experience did such a thing is really terrible. I could be wrong, but it indicates an arrogance on the DP's part; he was probably thinking that because he is the big shot DP, he can do whatever he wants. He's the shooter! he has clout! It could be true that he needed a stern talking to and it is UNBELIEVABLE that the director didn't keep this guy in check.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Bale wasn't just going off on the guy while everyone stood around waiting for him to finish. This tirade was compounded by the fact that once filming stops, things need to be reset, perhaps wardrobe or make up/hair needs to come in and tweak here or there. He mentioned needing someone to come back and put something back on him, twice. So, the standing around and waiting would be happening, but not because of Bale's meltdown. I think that compounds the frustration because you can't just go somewhere else, you're all stuck in a confined space waiting for the loader to reload or lights to be fixed, or the dolly to be taken back, or set dressing to be replaced, or any number of things.

This has to be hard on Bale to have this spread around and lampooned. His mother has used this opportunity to garner some attention and sympathy for her plight with Bale; what kind of a mother does that? The first AD has come out in defense of Bale, explaining that it was the most emotional scene in the film. Again, I don't condone his actions, but you can understand how someone who is having to tap into deep reserves of emotion and is suddenly forced to leap out of it by a jarring experience would have an emotional reaction. We've all done it. Actually, I am rather ashamed of the one time I went off on someone on set and I wish I could apologize to him. He took it well and the problem never occurred again, but I should not have done it. Why did I do it? I had been working 20 hour days, 6 days a week, I had a PM from HELL who made everyone's life miserable and it was a bonehead mistake that was going to force me to lose what precious sleep I was getting. None of that excuses my behavior, but it certainly puts it into perspective. That's all I am trying to do with Bale's meltdown: give it a little bit of perspective.

And now, I go into battle with a clear conscience. I battle the vagaries of fate and dastardly deeds. I battle ivy.

*It's just a crew/actor thing and it doesn't apply to all actors; just the ones who are jerks.

Feeling nostalgic today so I grabbed this from Clotted Cognition. I wrote this in December of 2008.

Once again, a semester is ending. As usual, I am sad to see my students leave my classes and will miss each of them so much. Also as usual, this group of students has been remarkable. I've learned a great deal from them and will never stop caring for them.

My students this semester were equally as diverse as any other semester; Richland has made it part of its mission to create a diverse student body. The diversity I am concerned with, though, is diversity of purpose, experience and thinking. The DNA strand of their diversity was woven together randomly but efficiently, beautifully and sensibly. I am always amazed at how well people of different backgrounds can come together in a class and trust each other enough to talk about their tragedies, their joys, and their hopes. But they do, every semester. Every semester my faith in humanity and in the sublime connections we share is renewed. Believe me when I say, they represent all that we can be if we decide to trust and to hope. I wish everyone could experience these things with me, but you can't, so I hope you believe me.

This semester I had my students write journals as an informal way of putting thoughts on paper to sort of get the juices flowing. I've found that my writing and thinking has improved as I've written more (dur) and I think the same was true for my students. It was also a rare glimpse into their lives that goes further than I would normally go. I couldn't even count the number of times I had tears running down my face as I was reading those journals. Not all tears are from sadness, of course; many times I was so happy to read that they had experienced something wonderful and had trusted me enough to tell me about it. Many times I wanted to go back into their pasts and beat the crap out of the people who hurt them. How could anyone do such a thing to those little pieces of wonderful?

Two of my students are now dating; that makes me happier than I can express.  Many of my students are in love and feeling the elation that comes from knowing you have someone who loves you and you alone. A few of them are in deep despair; I desperately want to help them but I don't know how. They know how much they mean to me and they know that I am always available to them, so perhaps that is enough. One young man has been to Iraq and knows the horror of what it means to fight a war; he is profoundly kind and possesses remarkable circumspection. One student started out not liking the class very much and is now thinking of majoring in philosophy and going on for his PhD to teach. He is absolutely capable of that and would make an excellent teacher. Another student told me he took my class on a whim, not even knowing what philosophy was; he is also going to major in philosophy, now. One student rescued a woman from an abusive relationship by putting himself in grave danger. One student told the class about an addiction she had been through, something so brave, so giving. This young woman gave of her experience to the rest of the class in an attempt to help others understand the nature of addiction. She didn't have to do that, but she did it because she is a strong, amazing young woman. There are so many instances of tremendous experiences and courage that I could relate, but I would be here all day. The thing I find so remarkable about these students is how many of them expressed surprise at having made friends with other classmates. I am more than pleased that they've chosen to open their lives to each other and to become friends.

It's easy to go on and on about them and to get repetitive with my praise, but I'll leave it a bit shorter this semester. All that really needs to be expressed is this thought: if we trust the younger generations to carry us into the future, we'll be in excellent shape. They have less bias than we do, they are more open to others than we are, and they are more capable of understanding what it means to live in a society of rich variety. They are more amazing than you can possibly understand by just reading this short post, but try anyway. Live this through me: know that there is sublime promise out there and they are ready and willing to represent all that is best, all that we are capable of being that is good and courageous. They are our conscience and they are our best hope realized in action. They are the ease of laughter and the stretch toward the sky. They are the best part of us. We are lucky.

Molly's story

For those of you who didn't follow Molly's story on Facebook, here it is:

I found Molly in Southeast Dallas, eating garbage by the side of the road. She had sores all over her body, very little fur, and was emaciated.

The crazy thing is, I took her straight to the vet and they scanned her for a microchip, as a matter of course. We never thought she'd have one, but she did. It was an SPCA chip, so they called them and got the number of the woman who supposedly owned this dog. They called her and told her they had her dog. She said something like, "My dog? My dog is sitting right here!" When they explained which dog this was she said, "Oh, that dog ran off a year ago. I have another dog now, I don't want that one back." I wish we could press charges against her.

This was what she looked like that day:

As you can see, she was in bad shape. She was also heart worm positive. We decided to wait to treat her for heart worms so that we could get her healthy and raise the money for the very expensive treatment.

Just a few months later, this is how far Molly had come:

Within a month, her hair was grown back, the sores were gone and she was starting to get barrel chested. And she demonstrated this odd twisty ear thing that endears her to everyone. She made herself at home with our 3 other dogs and our 5 cats and soon demonstrated her extreme intelligence. Whenever she had to go to the vet for a stay they had to put a lock on her cage because she could break out of all of them.

What's amazing to me is that this very abused dog allowed me to pick her up the first time I saw her and let me put her in my car. She loved us instantly and asks nothing in return. Well, that's not entirely true: she does require cuddles when there's thunder. She has figured out how to lie perfectly flat between my husband and I when there are storms and bury herself in that space until she feels safe. And safe she is.

Tomorrow, our Sweet Molly Malone is going to the dog park for the first time. She is heart worm free and will be able to play in a large space for the first time in her troubled life. We can't wait! If I can figure out how to do a video, I will.

Thank you to everyone who donated to Molly's cause and spread the word and just loved her for her. She is a testament to your goodness.