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Tag: Werner Herzog

  • Werner Herzog Directs Powerful Anti-Texting & Driving Documentary

    Every year, texting while driving is a factor in more than 100,000 car crashes. The four major providers in the U.S, AT&T, Spring, Verizon, and T-Mobile recently teamed up to launch the It Can Wait campaign – an initiative with a simple message: No text, email, or Facebook update is worth endangering the lives of everyone on the road.

    Now, the campaign has enlisted master filmmaker Werner Herzog to help get its message across.

    Herzog, known best for his powerful documentaries Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World, and Lessons of Darkness, as well as the films Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God, has directed a 30-minute short film that follows the stories of those affected by texting and driving.

    It’s called “From One Second to The Next,” and you can watch it in its entirety below:

    “When you get a message while driving, it’s hard not to pick up your phone,” said Herzog. “With this film, we want to help make people more aware of the potential consequences of that action.”

    Recent studies have shown that texting while driving Is prevalent, it makes you more likely to do other stupid things behind the wheel, and that it kills more kids than drunk driving. It’s a topic that many feel needs a brighter light shone on it, and there’s nothing like a powerful film from a legendary filmmaker to help achieve that goal.

    The film, apart from being free to view online, will also be distributed to more than 40,000 high schools in the U.S.

  • Werner Herzog Is Directing a Killers Concert, and You Can Watch it Live

    Werner Herzog Is Directing a Killers Concert, and You Can Watch it Live

    Werner Herzog is the lastest director to helm a concert in YouTube, VEVO, and American Express’ UNSTAGED concert series. Today, he’ll be directing the broadcast of The Killers’ concert in NYC, set to kick off at 7 pm ET.

    And you can watch it live on The Killers’ VEVO channel on YouTube.

    The UNSTAGED concert series kicked off in 2010, and allows viewers to not only watch the performance live, but interact by switching camera angles. Previous artists have allowed fans to vote on which songs they will play for their encore, for example. Former UNSTAGED artists include Coldplay, Jack White, Mary J. Blige, Usher, My Morning Jacket, and Duran Duran. Previous big-name directors include Gary Oldman, David Lynch, and Todd Haynes.

    The Killers are also dropping their new album “Battle Born” today, in tandem with their live streamed concert.

    “To pair such visually gifted musicians with Werner Herzog is nothing short of inspired. Herzog is an iconoclast of the first order, a German director whose work compels, fascinates, and alienates in equal measure. Herzog is drawn to the margins, outliers and extremes whether in his fiction or documentary offerings,” says YouTube in a blog post.

  • Samuel L. Jackson, Werner Herzog Read Viral Hit Go The F*ck To Sleep

    NSFW Warning – If you’re offended by the f-bomb, I must warn you that this article will contain it, as it is part of the title and verses of the subject matter.

    A book that began as a viral PDF on the internet was finally published yesterday, giving families everywhere the opportunity to own a hard copy for their children’s library. “Go the Fuck to Sleep,” by Adam Mansbach is a children’s book for adults. Advertised as the “secret anthem of tired parents everywhere,” the book itself lives up to all expectations.

    Last year, a PDF of the book leaked online and advance orders began coming in at a rapid pace. Before U.S. publication yesterday, the book had already amassed 100,000 advance sales and will soon have over 400,000 copies in print after its fifth printing.

    The book is currently #1 on Amazon.

    Of course, the book has drawn controversy from some who clearly don’t get the joke. A group called Family First has asked booksellers in New Zealand not to stock the book, and some groups in the States are also upset about it. Family first has said –

    While in an adult context, the book may be harmless and even amusing, we have grave concerns about its effect on aggressive and dysfunctional parents, and also on children who are attracted to the book. Because the book looks like a children’s story, it could easily be mistaken by children as being for them. Some parents may even foolishly read it to their children. As well as that, the offensive language and the tone of the conversation is also concerning. Verbal abuse is a huge concern and can be very damaging to both children and adults.

    But that hasn’t stopped the book from becoming an enormous hit, and here’s the best part – its audiobook has been narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Available on audible.com, an Amazon affiliate, for free, it features one of the best ever purveyors of the word “fuck” in top form.

    All the kids from day care are in dreamland
    The froggie has made his last leap
    Hell no, you can’t go to the bathroom
    You know where you can go? The fuck to sleep.

    Beautiful. This is bound to go viral, and fast.

    Update: YouTube took down the full reading due to a copyright claim from audible.com, so here is a clip of it.

    If you want to actually see Jackson read a few verses, the AV Club has it.

    And then there’s this – something that makes my heart leap. The great filmmaker Werner Herzog has also given us his interpretation of the book. As part of the “Live From the New York Public Library” event, Herzog read the story to delighted audiences last night. Audio from the event has been posted on YouTube. It’s a delight.

  • Sean Bean Gets Badass Reputation on Twitter

    Veteran British actor and recent Game of Thrones star Sean Bean is currently gaining quite the reputation on Twitter. Today, a story came out about a Sunday night incident at a bar that involves all the elements of a real life hero story – chivalry, bravery, and a hard man with little regard for his personal safety.

    In fact Sean Bean was apparently stabbed in the arm with a piece of glass after confronting a man who had harassed his female companion. While Bean was having a smoke with 30 year-old Playboy model April Summers, a passer-by made inappropriate comments about her. Bean confronted the man. Later that night, the man attacked him. Instead of seeking medical attention, he instead decided to go back inside the bar and have another drink. According to the DailyMail:

    The four-time married star was apparently attacked outside the Hill Bar and Brasserie in Camden, North West London late on Sunday evening.

    Mr Bean was said to have a cut arm and a bruised face, according to witnesses.

    However, extraordinarily, he declined to attend hospital.

    Instead, the star walked back into the bar and, after staff gave him aid from a first aid kit, ordered another drink.

    A member of staff said: ‘Sean is a regular here and we’ve never had any problems before. He was with a very attractive woman and an incident occurred outside the bar.

    ‘He came in with a cut on his arm and a bruise on his eyebrow. We saw to his injuries with the first aid kit.He seemed ok and wanted to have another drink.’

    So Sean Bean protected a woman’s honor, fought off an attacker and went back to the bar for a drink (I bet it was straight whiskey).

    As the story of this started gaining steam, he has become a trending topic on Twitter, with nearly every tweet about him discussing his badassery.

    @danwaddell
    Dan Waddell    Sean Bean was stabbed? Reminds me of his Macbeth. ‘Is this a dagger I which I see before me? Aye, ‘appen it is.’ 23 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @Idi_YahMean
    BOB LOBLAW    Sean Bean aka Eddard Stark got stabbed last night in a bar brawl….my man is really bout that lifestyle 25 minutes ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

    @RamonDestroys
    Ramon    Sean Bean is awesome. 27 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @MatPease
    Internet Sensation ✔    Sean Bean wasn’t stabbed by a broken bottle! The broken bottle was stabbed by Sean Bean 6 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @AdrianneCurry
    Adrianne Curry    Sean Bean was defending a friend in a bar & got punched and stabbed with a glass…of course he is ok..he is Borimir and Ned Stark! hot 8 minutes ago via txt · powered by @socialditto

    But, in staying true to what makes the internet the internet, there are plenty of tweets that look like this –

    @nikgarstonW4
    Nik Garston    Sean Bean was stabbed by a glamour model. Did he refuse to pay his tab? 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    Sean Bean has been in the news lately due to the breakout hit show Game of Thrones on HBO. I will give no spoilers as to why, but suffice to say his impact on the show has been enormous. If you don’t watch the show – you should. And if you do but haven’t seen the latest episode – you need to do that as soon as possible. Please.

    The Sean Bean-arm-stab-drink-order-story is bound to be remembered fondly, in the same way that German filmmaker and all around awesome individual Werner Herzog is remembered for taking a bullet and continuing an interview. It was okay to Herzog, as “it was not a significant bullet.”

    [Image Courtesy of IMDB]