Who do you admire? (The Tribute Thread)

The Common Room Members, Inc.
#61

Yeah, controversy is a pretty thin line to walk. I find that people who swear or offend others just for the sake of it extremely annoying. For example, I just discovered that Sarah Silverman - who I’ve never heard of before Wreck-It-Ralph and whose character I absolutely adored - drops a lot of expletives on her Youtube videos and Facebook page, oftentimes just for the heck of it (although her recent political video on voting barriers is compellingly-presented).

I find those who are rude but have something important to say are those whom I admire more. Sacha Baron Cohen, for example, in Borat, was excellent because he played a character who revealed other people’s insecurities and prejudices. And I greatly admired him in that outing. Bruno, on the other hand, is such a repulsive character in his movie (sexually harrassing people like no sane gay person would), that I lost all empathy for him. I have yet to see The Ali G Show movie and The Dictator, but I’ve seen a few of his Ali G TV show episodes, which were kinda okay.

‘Clean’ funny guys like Gabriel Iglesias and Russell Peters are the ones who get the most laughs out of me, although a few ruder Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle stand-ups got me chuckling too.

#62

Yeah, it can be a love-hate relationship. But when we get down to it, all great men have their vices.

I admire Charlie Chaplin so much. His talent and perseverance are admirable. But he is a man who had many relationships with under aged women. (Same is true with Gandhi) A great deal of the founding fathers owned slaves, despite admitting that it was a despicable business. Churchill was a racist. JFK was well known for his libido, despite being in a marriage. Dr. Seuss’ wife committed suicide, in part because of his affairs.

And I won’t even touch Woody Allen’s personal life. He is an intelligent and talented film maker, but dear lord, have you read about the drama and shame he’s brought to his family?

It’s an interesting topic. How great intelligent men and artists have done such immoral things.

#63

Wow, remind me not to compete against you in a history quiz. Now I feel like going on a Wikipedia stroll!

Your “founding fathers owning slaves” statement reminded me of this excerpt from Horrible Histories The USA (one of the books in the series that I own, the rest being France and The Barmy British Empire):

"Did you know…?
Abraham Lincoln was ready to go to war to abolish slavery in the southern states of the USA, but he was still a racist. He wanted free blacks but he didn’t want equal blacks. He said…

I am not, and have never been, in favour of equality of white and black races. I am not, and never have been, in favour of letting Negroes have government posts or marry white people.

That’s nasty."

Was it the fact that he had many wives and affairs? Forgive my ignorance, I haven’t watched any of his films, although I did write about that scene where he cameo-ed Marshall McLuhan in Annie Hall for one of my Media Studies essays.

Don’t forget well-loved bad women like Queen “Bloody Mary” I, romanticised criminal Bonnie Parker (of Bonnie and Clyde) and man-eater Elizabeth Taylor.

Aristotle once said: “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” (Thanks Google!) :slight_smile:

#64

Well I am a History major!

You should read into it, it’s interesting. Woody Allen lived with his girlfriend Mia Farrow. They adopted children together, and had their own. He also lived with children she adopted before previously meeting him. Allen and Farrow separated after she discovered that Allen was in possession of nude photos of her 20 year old adopted daughter Soon-Yi. Allen admitted that he cheated on Farrow with Soon.

Soon and Allen then married, and have been happily together for 15 years. Because of his relationship with his step daughter, his biological son hasn’t spoken to him for years.

I do hope however that you see more of his films. They are brilliant, especially Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris.

Aristotle was completely right. It seems that all great men have something off with them, particularly great artists. I’ll have to remember that quote! (My pet fish’s name is Aristotle, btw)

#65

Watch out… :smiley:

Wow, Allen’s affair certainly is scandalous. I mean, technically, Soon is not his biological offspring, but it still is strange (or I suppose, socially-unacceptable) to marry an adopted family member. And of course, extramarital affairs are a straight no-no, imho.

I love Paris as a city, so I was tempted to watch Midnight. I might give that and Hall a go.

It’s also really cool to name your fish after a Greek philosopher! That’s very… philosophical.

#66

hehee thanks! Aristotle isn’t that smart of a fish though. I’ll put food in his tank, but he won’t eat it because he doesn’t see it?

It’s interesting, of that whole thing Allen said “I’m glad I got to go through life with one juicy scandal”. Affairs are horrible as it is, but his just is extra odd.

I can’t recommend Midnight enough, especially if you love Paris. The film is very poetic and enthralling.

#67

Haha probably he didn’t crave the food as much as the real-life Aristotle’s student did for air. Wait, that’s Socrates. :neutral_face:

I’m only really interested in it cos’ of the dopey-looking Owen Wilson and the lovely Rachel McAdams. I’ll take your recommendation! On a sidenote, I once snuck into another cinema hall in a theatre in Sydney and I actually saw it playing. I watched for awhile, then I got bored and left! :stuck_out_tongue:

…


Yes, folks, she’s the voice of Timmy Turner.

One person I admire is the talented and versatile voice actress Tara Strong. I didn’t know of her existence until I Googled her after discovering she was the voice of Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Apparently, she’s the modern-day, female equivalent of the late Mel Blanc (who died on my birth year).

From movies (The Rugrats Movie, The Iron Giant, Spirited Away, Ice Age, Bolt) to TV shows (The Care Bears, The Powerpuff Girls, Histeria!, Codename: Kids Next Door, Filmore!, Teen Titans, Phineas And Ferb) to video games (Lego: Batman The Video Game, Rango, Rage, Batman: Arkham City) to shorts (Bravest Warriors, Thundercats: Butterfly Blues), chances are she’s probably breathed life into a character of at least entertainment entity you can remember from your childhood.

It also helps that she has a wicked sense of humour (she regularly trolls fans on her Twitter account) and is super supportive of the brony community.

She was practically the only reason I bought a copy of Lolipop Chainsaw (well, okay, there’s the hot cheerleader-killing-zombies aspect too). I’m still kicking myself for missing out on the Bronycon documentary funding on Kickstarter, I coulda got an autograph from her, Lauren Faust (another person I admire, who I’ll write about in another post) and John DeLancie of Star Trek.

#68

It has a great cast! Wilson and McAdams, of course. But also Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Marion Cotillard. And Tom Hiddleston as well, although it’s odd hearing him with an American Accent!

Ah yes, Miss. Strong is extremely talented, the range of characters she has is fantastic.

#69

Well hey, TDIT, you reminded me of the fact that I am obsessed with voice actors. Like, really. I’m not even gonna name all the dudes and dudettes I admire when it concerns voice actors, 'cause I like too many of 'em, haha!

I never really heard much of Tara Strong’s voicework (I grew up in a place where everythin’s dubbed to Dutch, ya dig) except for her role as Twilight Sparkle but yeah, heard a lot of praise about her!

Also, I really admire the voice work in my favourite cartoon Regular Show. The voices sound really natural and not forced, especially in earlier seasons.

#70

Michael Comet–he gave me a private tour of Pixar because I met him at the Kehoe Center in Shelby.

And also, Jack Black. Along with Owen Wilson and Steve Martin. All three starred in a movie called the Big Year.

#71

I’ve been thinking a lot about voice actors lately!

Grey Delisle, Mark Hamill(Yes, the Mark Hamill. Look up his voice work), Mako, Kevin Conroy, and Dante Basco are extremely talented, and channel more emotion than most live action performances by a long shot.