From http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow
State regulators agree to explore requiring porn industry performers to use condoms and adopt other safety measures
State regulators voted Thursday to establish a committee to explore the possibility of requiring porn industry performers to use condoms and to take other safety measures.
The six-member California Division of Occupational Safety and Health standards board voted unanimously on the advice of staff to create an advisory committee to report back on whether to change state law to require safe-sex protections for adult-film actors and actresses.
The decision was greeted with applause from the crowd of about 40 people, including current and former adult-film performers, at Costa Mesa City Hall.
Board member Guy Prescott, director of safety for Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3, said he had planned to vote against the measure but changed his mind after hearing from performers and other members of the industry.
“The question is the particular acts and exposures to the workers and what are we doing to prevent that,” said board member Jonathan Frisch, principal risk manager at PG&E Corp. "I found it extremely interesting to hear from members of the industry here this morning. It’s going to be very, very important that we do have them at the table.”
The board, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, had up to six months to act on a Dec. 17, 2009 petition filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to change state law and require mandatory condom use for adult-film workers and more stringent safety training and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
“We believe the state of California has a responsibility to regulate these workplaces as they do every other workplace,” AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein told the board.
The foundation has been pushing regulators and porn industry leaders to better safeguard the health of adult-film performers since an HIV outbreak among porn performers in the San Fernando Valley in 2004.
More than a dozen speakers addressed the board before the vote, including Los Angeles County public health experts and several current and former adult-film workers.
Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, director of communicable disease control and prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, recommended mandatory condom use and increased, free STD screening for adult-film performers.
Rates of STDs such as chlamydia and gonorrhea are seven times higher in the adult-film industry than in the general population, he said, and up to a quarter of performers are diagnosed with an STD in a given year.
Former porn actor Darren James, who tested HIV-positive during a 2004 outbreak, called current industry STD testing practices a security blanket that actors mistakenly believe protects them from infection.
“You think you’re safe but you’re not; in between scenes, you don’t know what other actors are doing,” James told the board.
Then he turned to the crowd and addressed fellow actors.
“I’m living your nightmare every day,” he said. “You don’t want to live what I’m going through now.”
Actress Angelina Armani disagreed. She said that during the last two years she has appeared in many adult films, has been tested regularly for STDs and has never contracted a disease.
“My industry has protected my safety and continues to protect the safety of other performers,” Armani told the board.
Last summer, the foundation sued Los Angeles County after the disclosure that an adult-film performer had tested positive for HIV. In the suit, it alleged public health officials failed to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and to enforce laws requiring employers to protect workers against exposure to bodily fluids.
The suit was dismissed by a Los Angeles
Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based trade association said her group’s members have tried to comply with state health and safety regulations but that they are overly vague and general. She said she supports forming an advisory committee as long as it includes adult-film workers, producers or other industry representatives.
“Our industry is eager to comply with California state standards,” she told the board.
-by Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Btw, why was this meeting in Orange County regarding L.A. valley porn? Was this done knowing that a lot of performers and industry reps would or could not make the trip down there to argue their side?
A couple of comments on the L.A. Times article:
“What a joke. Require condoms and you’ll get two results: The big companies will leave California, and the little companies will operate under the radar.
Prohibition never works, folks.”
“Since there are so much injurys in football I propose tackle football be outlawed and only allow flag football.
Can the government just get out of folk’s lives?”
Also, Millions of people get the flu every year, also 80% of the population supposedly has a oral herpes virus. Should we all wear surgeons masks and outlaw kissing in porn? Tens of thousands die every year in auto accidents. Should we outlaw automobiles?
Everyone that is born is gonna die. Should we outlaw life, itself?
Regulate This!
‘Explore the possibility of requiring porn industry performers to use condoms.’
That’s what I call jerk off politics. Whenever a politician tells you I’ll explore the possibilities, I’ll look into that, I’ll get back to you on that, etc. he/she is politely telling you to go fuck yourself. Better luck next year.
‘The decision was greeted with applause from the crowd of about 40 people.’
40 People versus an industry of thousands of performers, directors, producers, videographers, location owners, etc. You gonna need a bigger boat.
‘Including current and former adult film performers, at Costa Mesa City Hall.’
Let’s see who was there: Shelly Lubben AKA Roxy The Gang Bang Star, Little G. I. Joe. Who else, but of course, probably Sierra Sinn. Man oh man, she was a fucking mess, but she knew how to suck a cock.
‘Former porn actor Darren James, who tested HIV-positive during a 2004 outbreak, called current industry STD testing practices a security blanket that actors mistakenly believe protects them from infection.’
That’s right, it’s the adult industry’s fault that Darren James banged some untested street hooker in Brazil off camera and then got rich off milking AIM and walked away with a big, fat check. The world is a cruel, fucked up place, after all.
Come on, you little conspirator fuckheads, this won’t do the trick. Call 1-800-Jesus and let him take care of that for you.
Let’s hope you’re right, Colonel. Otherwise we’ll all be applying for jobs at KFC.
Oh I am right, Jeremy, don’t worry about that. Let me raise the stakes a bit for some kicks: If the bankrupt state of California decides to spend the money they don’t have on patrolling and supervising the porn valley to make sure every felon who fucks hookers on film wears rubber, then instead of applying for jobs at KFC, perhaps you and I can jump up the opportunity wagon and work with Little G. I. Joe as OSHA inspectors and drive around the valley all day long.
As for pushing Little G. I. Joe’s wheelchair, I’ll push it, alright. I’ll push it all the way down the stairs just for the hell of it.
To quote something I read: “Life is a sexually transmitted disease”.
And If it rains acid rain outside I still have the right to choose whether to wear a raincoat or a titanium umbrella.
Ca is both bankrupt and corrupt. Here’s a new word: Bankorrupt. Kalifornia is Bankorrupt. Leave us the fuck alone and let us throw some much needed tax revenue your way. Ok, Arnuuld?
I’m trying to figure out who besides Will Ryder as hired Germy Steel in the last 2 years?
Him and that little Asian he is taking pictures with dont work very much.
I can only assume Germy is doing privates in West Hollywood?
I know that I need to clear(after taxes) at least $5k to support my lower-middle class lifestyle here in LA. I simply dont see Germy grossing 6 or 7K per month. Each month. I dont see it.
It think there are alot of fringe people in porn. To say you are “really” in the business is need to be your sole source of income and you need to be doing fairly well.
Guys like Powder and Steve Nelson dont count. Those jokers are just above living in their cars but they continue to maintain lame-ass websites simply so they can have a reason to be in the same room with a porn girl.
Will this condom shit get passed? No. But even if it does most shooters will simply ignore it and keep going bareback.
I have to say that this seems like the beginning of the end for porn in Cali.
Colonel, I was with you until this hearing. I think the politicians are for real. The more this issue gets press and the more politicians get interested, the more they get involved in the policymaking process. They’re gonna do something.
Origen says:
‘I think the politicians are for real.’
I always thought of you as an intelligent person, Origen, but what you said here is far from what an intelligent, self aware person thinks of the politicians. I hope you were joking. The politicians, regardless of their color, religion and nationality are as corrupt, greedy, self serving and treacherous as human kind can get. They’re the scum of the earth. Period. And right here, right now in California they’re broke, fucked over and at the end of their ropes. They’re not in a position to make any move against the adult industry; and even if they make a move, they won’t accomplish anything. Big companies that produce vanilla porn won’t be affected by any regulation, because their customers don’t care about the use of condom in scenes; for instance look at Wicked that has been producing condom only scenes for years.
Other companies will simply stop using well known locations in the valley which OSHA inspectors might visit, and find new locations to shoot. Even if OSHA monitors new releases to find out in which one condom is used and in which one it isn’t, the producer can and will say the none-condom scenes have been shot outside California, and he purchased the scenes through a content trading deal in order to sell them. Since most of porn scenes are being shot indoor, there’s no way to determine whether a specific scene was shot somewhere in California or Nevada or Florida or what have you. So if the politicians in the bankrupt state of California want to play balls and have some extra money to burn in order to satisfy some 40 bored housewives, disabled senior citizens, religious nut jobs and lunatic right wingers, let them do that. Just don’t say the politicians are for real, that’s an insult to your own intelligence.
I’d be for condoms only except I like seeing creampies, also I know a lot of these guys dont have good muscle control, so they would blow long before the condom was off. As for California, the state is bankrupt cause of all the Propositions that limit the revenue that can be brought in via taxes. Colonel you are damn right about Darren James, he went to Brazil and paid the consequences, any company that goes to Brazil and uses US talent should be boycotted or at the very least quarantined.
Is it just HIV thats tested monthly? What about all the other little nasties?
BDD, you sure are right about Powder et al. Steele? He had a nice suit on at some event, maybe he isnt doing porn that much and has a real job, maybe he works at The Men’s Wearhouse or Burlington Coat Factory part time…or he’s been swiping suits off corpses from the local funeral homes at night.
All of the above, Larry. My cardboard “Will fuck for food” sign has done wonders…
Uh oh, Roy is back, feeling confident again and with his “auto replay” switch on.
“$5k to support my lower-middle class lifestyle here in LA.”
When did you move out of San Diego? Thanks for telling us where you live and that it’s not Sandy Eggo! I just got back from there, btw, for a b/g shoot. Go spend your free time searching it.
Btw, bitch, don’t address us as “Daddy”. I don’t even call my own father “Daddy”. Who the fuck are you? And big dick? To quote Lex: “Get a real dick”.
I also don’t eat at “Papa Johns”. I don’t even call my own dad “papa”, either. I sure as hell ain’t gonna call no guy named after a toilet “Papa”.
$4k is you’re monthly eating habit. That’s not my problem. Remember that!
Lets have Sophia back and have a good ole time…though her and Steele still swing at each other occasionally…with words. Colonel, forgot to ask, but since Alex Chilton died a few days ago, what do you think of him and his career, more interesting to me is what do you think of Paul Westerberg, who wrote the song “Alex Chilton”, part of the Replacements best album(in my opinion) “Pleased to Meet Me”.
hey if the condom regs kick in just go over the state border in Las vegas and shoot there. They can’t enforce the California law there. What happens in vegas stays in Vegas. Or go to Ft.Lauderdale and shoot at Kevin’s or Daves house in Florida!!! LOL
It all looks like the broke ass state of california is trying to make money off of everything they can get they’re hands on. Next the be hitting us up for parking on private property. Tax, Tax, Tax!!! Its time to move and then they got no income coming in except Illegal aliens with $6.00 hour jobs.
Rick, you are right, califonia laws dont apply in Nevada. Neveada LAW does, and in Nevada filming porn is specifically forbidden, and the legal sex workers are already reqired to wear condoms and get tested weekly. While some companies do occasionally shoot in Vegas, under the radar, you can rest assured that the state of Nevada is NOT going to play host to a wholesale move of the adult industry into their state.
Toobad VIVID withdrew their application for an OSHA variance to section 5193. If they had been granted the variance it would have preempted the move by AHF to convene a panel to change section 5193.
And it sure didnt help the industry cause when Diande Duke stated for the panel..”This is a workplace safety issue.” At that exact point, it was guarenteed that the panel woould vote to establish the advisory council, and NEVER has the OSHA board not acted on the recomendations of and advisory panel that they have appointoed…NEVER!!!
P.s. Similar action is currently taking place in Florida and New York.
the board members also made it perfectly clear that the threat of the industry leaving the state is of no concern to them, as one member stated, “This is about what happens at the MOMENT of exposure, this is an “exposure” issue, NOT and “industry” issue.
And diand dukes statement that she believes this take up to two years is nothing but wh=ishfull thinking. Tha average time from council appointement to adotion of council recomendations aberages 8 months.
And Steele,
Yes, there was a conspiracy inside OSHA to have the meeting take place about one hour away from the Valleyl because they knew that porn people could never be expected to go SO FAR FAR FAR out of their way to fight for theirindustry. And it looks like it worked. The board members even thanked duke, and cambrreia for AGREEING that this is a workplace safety issue that has nothing to do with speech rights. Steele, is their a consiracy among the FSC and major companies to have 5193 ammended to put the ‘little’ guys out of business?
You know Larry, I was never a big fan of Alex Chilton and either of his bands, though I prefer Big Star over The Top Box. As for the alternative bands of the 60’s and the 70’s, I have several favorites, but my most favorite band from that era is Velvet Underground. I love those guys.
Stop it, Little G. I. Joe, your *knowledge* of ludicrous laws and sections won’t do you or OSHA any good. People who want to fuck on film bareback and sell smut will do that whenever they want, wherever they want; and there’s not a damn thing you or your dear Shelly *Gang Bang* Lubben or the rest of your fellow conspirators can do about that. Your problem is you’ve got your head shoved deep up your disabled, old, wrinkled ass, and are completely divorced from the reality of pornography. You have no idea how this industry operates, otherwise you wouldn’t be chasing your tail like a frantic dog year after year, after year.
In any event, I hope OSHA decides to regulate the adult industry in the bankrupt state of California. I hope they go to any lenghts and borrow money from the federal government to spend on a regulation which is doomed to fail. If and when that happens, the only outcome will be that you’ll see your pathetic little dreams of conspiracy and control crash and burn in front of your very eyes. Then you can die, and I’ll come to piss and shit on your cold, dark grave as I promised you.
As usual, suck my dick.
Colonel says “suck my dick”. I say to these fellas, “keep your hands off my cock”. Your beliefs and recommendations have been heard, however
you have no authority over me and you have no right to choose FOR me. You have no right to choose for anyone else. We are sovereign citizens. You don’t own us. You can’t protect us, either, even if we want you to (see MSN article below) to mind our business. All you can do is further ruin an already wrecked economy.
You want safety? Take the bus. Don’t have sex with anyone, condom or not. Don’t eat fast food, drink or smoke. Get out of the city.
http : // www . msnbc . msn . com/id/8399212/
How well do condoms work against STDs?
Debate over whether warning labels should be changed
TRENTON, N.J. – Everyone knows condoms prevent pregnancy and protect against sexually transmitted diseases. But how well do they work?
That question is at the center of a debate over whether the labels on condom packages should be changed.
On one side are abstinence advocates, including a conservative congressman who is blocking appointment of a new federal drug agency chief until the labels are changed. On the other side are “safe sex” advocates who fear label changes could undermine confidence in condoms and increase the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Each side has some truth in its argument: Condoms are very effective against the AIDS virus, but data for their effectiveness against some other STDs is surprisingly spotty.
“They do not provide 100 percent protection, but for people who are sexually active they are the best and the only method we have for preventing these diseases,” said Heather Boonstra, a public policy official with the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that researches reproductive health issues.
Boonstra said Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, a physician from Oklahoma, and the abstinence-promoting Medical Institute for Sexual Health are “manipulating this data to drive home their own anti-condom, anti-contraceptive message.”
James Trussell, who serves on the board of the Medical Institute and is director of Princeton University’s Office of Population Research, said there is “absolutely incontrovertible evidence” that condoms reduce transmission of the most serious sexually transmitted disease, AIDS.
“To my mind, everything else is gravy,” Trussell said this week. “All of this is ideologically motivated. What they’re really concerned about is people who are not married having sex.”
But John Hart, spokesman for Coburn, said the senator’s June 15 hold on Lester Crawford’s nomination as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration is an effort to make Crawford obey a 2000 law Coburn sponsored. It requires the FDA to change condom labels to give more information on their “effectiveness or lack of the effectiveness in preventing STDs.”
Hart said FDA officials recently have said they will have a draft of the language soon. FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said she could not discuss policy issues.
Dr. Marie Savard, a women’s health specialist in Philadelphia, said she has qualms about using the word “ineffective” but agreed people need reliable information.
“The labeling should be changed to something like, ’condoms protect better against some STDs than others,”’ Savard said.
Not used properly
Currently, FDA requires condom boxes and packets to state: “If used properly, latex condoms will help to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV infection (AIDS) and many other sexually transmitted diseases.” Many brands also state condoms are highly effective in preventing pregnancy.
When latex condoms are used every time and put on early enough, they reduce chances of pregnancy over a one-year period to 3 percent, compared with 85 percent without birth control. Likewise, condoms cut risk of HIV infection by about 80 percent, to less than a 1 percent chance of infection per year.
Related story
Why do people have risky sex?
According to the National Institutes of Health, condoms are impervious to the smallest viruses and only break or slip off 1 percent to 2 percent of the time. But surveys show most people don’t use them properly or consistently, and roughly 12 million Americans each year contract an STD.
STD FACT BOX
STDs IN THE U.S.
— 65 million people in the U.S. have incurable STDs
— At least 1 in 4 Americans will contract an STD in their lifetime
— Teenagers make up one-fourth of all new STD infections
— Herpes is the most common STD in the U.S., affecting 45 million people
— Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B are the only vaccine treatable STDs
A 2001 NIH expert panel, convened at Coburn’s request, examined dozens of published studies. It reported that for STDs besides AIDS and gonorrhea, for which condoms cut transmission by 50 percent to 100 percent, the evidence on protection is unclear because of weak and contradictory studies. Individual studies cited in the report give prevention rates ranging from 18 percent to 92 percent, depending on the disease.
The Medical Institute for Sexual Health’s board chairman, Dr. Tom Fitch, who has previously pushed FDA officials for label changes, said some STDs are much more easily spread than others. In addition, STDs such as herpes and human papilloma virus, or HPV, can be transmitted by contact with skin not covered by a condom.
Fitch said he would not discourage condom use, but his group advocates abstinence or monogamy and it trains teachers how to teach students about abstinence.
That’s an “unrealistic explanation” for young people, said Dr. Shari Brasner, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York who has patients as young as 13 who are sexually active. “These conservatives are the same people that are trying to limit access to the morning-after (birth control) pill. They’ll leave us with nothing.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8399212/
Colonel says to them “suck my dick”. I say to them, keep your hands off my privates! You have no authority over our lives. And you can’t protect us, even if we give you that authority. You want safety? Take the bus. Don’t smoke, drink, eat fast food, or live in the city. Don’t have any sex, whatsover, condom or not (see above article).
How dare you think you have the right to choose over sovereign citizens who decide otherwise? Consumers, performers and industry professionals say it is up to us to decide our lives, not you! Any person can choose not do to porn or not to have sex or how to have sex.
Again, you have no authority over our lives! Keep your hands off my cock!
Also, if you condom nazis’ dream becomes a reality, what happens when it’s time for the blowjob in a porn scene? Shouldn’t you nazis make sure the girls suck the cock with it’s condom on? After all, they may give or catch something. Isn’t this how prostitutes often do their “escort” work?
I know those movies are gonna sell like playstations and weed!
Again, you and the AHF, who push infanticide as part of our alleged non-right to choose, can go fuck yourselves, with or without a condom!
Everyone will just go shoot in Phoenix. It is already growing fast as a porn area. If CA does this it will basically be the next porn capital. In all reality it would be cheaper for the industry. You can live and rent in the land of the sun for half to 2/3 of what LA costs food is cheaper gas is cheaper. Plus you have an air port that is cheaper.
if this where to pass it’s just another thinning of the herd so to speak. Many of the big boys would probably consider folding up shot and retiring.
I still think that solo girl websites are going to be the only real money makers in another 5 years. But that totally depends on the women that the site is related too. Actual numbers of “porngirls ” will drop big time. DVD sales already suck and the web is such a better delivery system. Piracy is an issue that is really pretty simply fixed for a solo girl website. No affiliate program and no downloads.
Who’d you shoot for in San Diego?
yeah thought so
You went to TJ to find a girl to hang out with.
Germy Steele do you even have a car?
Johnnie: Arizona, Nevada, or Florida do not have the statutory flexibility to host a pornographic production and distribution hub. No state does expect California. What make these states extra risky is that they are SUPER red and their bureaucrats are all too happy to put porners IN JAIL.
If a bareback ban does go through, Brazil or Europe would be a popular place for relocation (Spain, France, Germany, Czech Rep, or Hungary).
alloverthirty . com loser, yeah, thought what? You’re so fucking smart, that’s why you failed as an agent, otherwise you might know and be doing business with these people today, instead of hiding on the internet, like Zorro, and waiting to take pop shots at whores. Sorry, we see through your paltry mask. You’re real hero name is “Zerro”. I suggest you go down to T.J., as these days you might get kidnapped. I promise to pay the randsom if it’s under 30 pesos.
I just saw that oscar winner war movie, Hurt Locker. What a one dimensional, repetitive piece of crap! I can’t believe it won, let alone was nominated! I was right; those hos at the motion picture academy couldn’t give it to Avatar for political reasons, which was an infinitely better and more interesting and entertaining movie but portrays the types of “heros” as seen in Hurt Locker as bad guys and kills them off, in the end.
In fact Jeremy, I saw Hurt Locker, too, and in compare to other Iraq war movies, I have to say it’s a better movie. I don’t think it portrays American soldiers as heros. It portrays them as either naive kids who didn’t know what they were getting themselves into, or adrenaline junkies who are there just to get their fix; and in my opinion that’s a realistic depiction. War is a complex subject, and things are far from black and white. When it comes to war movies, depicting one group as the ultimate good guys versus the other group as pure evil like Hollywood used to do back in the day doesn’t make sense anymore and is cartoonish. A good modern war movie must depict realistic characters and shed light on thier inner emotions (fear, guilt, remorse, etc.) and their personal reasons; and that’s what Hurt Locker does. I suggest you watch the movie again, perhaps you’ll like it more the second time around.
By the way, Ministry’s Al Jourgensen co-wrote the soundtrack for Hurt Locker. Hell of a soundtrack, industrial, heavy metal and spaghetti western all mixed together.
The Pacific is an example of a good war film as it should be. While I enjoyed Band of Brothers, I know that they as a group didnt endure hell as much as many other American or British Units. Many units landed in North Africa in 1942 and were in combat til May 1945. The Marines in the Pacific endured hell for almost four years. Steele, allover30, good, was it a real porn star or one of those quasi amateur milfs/cougars? One thing about the Hurt Locker, how did Kathryn Biegelow stay so well-preserved for 58, I was impressed.
The best part of watching The Hurt Locker was watching some cute chick walk out early with her ass in my face as she was squeezing past me in my seat.
The academy proves again and again how rediculous they are. This piece of crap was directed by a woman and a woman director hasn’t won best pic oscar in a million years, so a nice piece of affirmative action, here.
I kept looking at my watch and was just waiting for the movie to end, very repetitious, unrealistic, long, flat, tedious, no character development, the best actors in the movie, Guy Pearce (from “Count of Monte Cristo”)and Ralph Fiennes were in the movie for a couple of minutes. No questioning why the native suicide bombers would be suicide bombers, but I guess we’re not supposed to think about such things, anyway.
Says one soldier who watched this movie:
“This movie was utter crap and was nothing like an actual EOD unit. I’ve been to Iraq as EOD and not once did we go any where without escorts. If the main character would have done those things in real lifethat he did I’m the movie he would have been kicked out and never let back into an EOD unit! The EOD comunity finaly gets a movie made and it’s a piece of garbage. Robo cop was more realistic then this steaming pile of crap.”
Another soldier’s review: “Anyone who has spent ANY time in the Army would know that this movie is full of inaccuracies. 3 EOD guys driving around the Iraqi desert in a lone humvee? Really? 3 EOD guys chasing bad guys through the alleys of Bagdad with no coms and flashlights? Are you serious? Then, they split up? WTF? Where were their superiors? No platoon sgt? No Lt.? It mad NO sense whatsoever. Tell me how a guy who can’t hit a big ass open window with a .50 can suddenly kill a runner with a head shot at 850 meters? Does that sound plausible to anyone who knows anything at all about shooting?
Did you catch the part where the Eldridge called James “sir”, twice in the same sentence? You don’t refer to an E-6 as sir. EVERYONE knows that. WORST MILITARY MOVIE EVER”.
Another soldier wrote: “As an OIF veteran having worked alongside EOD countless times, I found this movie to be completely ridiculous. EOD techs don’t walk up to IED’s with bomb suits and cut wires. First of all, it takes hours for the EOD guy to actually get to the suspected IED. Second, it takes hours for the EOD guys to get their little robot ready to go up to the IED. Then finally, hours later after the guys who find the IED have called EOD, it is blown in place. Hardly exciting I know, but it pisses me off that Hollywood makes heroes out of these guys when the real heroes are the guys on patrol every day finding these things, sometimes getting fragged in the process. EOD doesn’t roll around Iraq in a humvee by themselves without 2 or 3 truck escorts. Soldiers don’t leave a cal .50 mounted humvee unoccupied in the streets of Iraq. RANGERS AREN’T FREAKIN’ EOD TECHS. EOD TECHS DON’T KNOW HOW TO OPERATE A BARRETT, MUCH LESS DRILL A GUY IN THE HEAD WHILE RUNNING FROM A THOUSAND METERS. BUCK SERGEANTS DON’T PUNCH A SERGEANT FIRST CLASS IN THE FACE AND STAY AROUND TO TELL THE STORY! I’m sorry, but this movie was the absolute worst war movie I’ve seen in recent memory and is a slap in the face to every combat arms soldier in the U.S. Army”.
Another soldier writes: “Being a veteran of the Middle East, watching this movie made me feel like the film makers were mocking military personal. I found myself thinking if this is how people portray soldiers in Iraq then us soldiers aren’t looking too good. Hopefully people who have no association with the Army won’t see us like this movie makes us out to be.
First off this movie is highly inaccurate… The “ACU” type uniforms they are wearing wasn’t introduced until late 2005. (The movie takes place in 2004). Second… At no point can a “renegade” EOD soldier just don a hoodie and walk outside the wire in Iraq! Sorry, but no service member will tell you risking ones own life to find a 12 year old Iraqi boy is worth it! Tasteless movie making at it’s best.
Also the average soldier can’t pick up a sniper rifle and know what to do. Sniper school is 5 weeks of hell. A lot of patience and math are involved. No way in hell a non-sniper trained soldier can pick up a sniper rifle and be accurate with it. Not to mention… not wearing hearing protection while operating a sniper rifle will for sure cause some hardcore hearing damage. Instantly.
What’s with the scene where he stops the car with a side arm? That shit is a joke. While all the other soldiers just stand around and watch? Reality check… If a speeding car is hauling ass towards you in a hostile county, your gonna put some rounds thru that windshield. Sound harsh? Well then put yourself in harms way and see how you react!
Drinking? There is no drinking in theatre. Now, does some sneaky shit go down? Of course. But openly getting hammered in Iraq doesn’t. That is what we call in the military a “court marshall” and your getting shipped to the states and going directly to Fort Leavenworth (prison).
The passion the main character has for defusing bombs is flat out stupid. The film makers say they followed a EOD team in 2004? Well if they really did they would know that after only a few minutes and one failed attempt to defuse a bomb, they do what’s called a “controlled explosion”. Most times it’s easier to control a IED explosion rather than defuse it. Also too EOD teams defuse bombs that are putting soldiers in danger. In the movie it felt like they had a bat-phone that they would get calls on about another random IED. Nope, sorry shit heads, EOD soldiers just don’t walk around Baghdad defusing random bombs. And they sure as hell don’t do it with out an ass load of security from combat soldiers!!
As far as the other side of this shitty movie. The story line, acting, ect… I agree with almost everyone else who said it was crap. A lot of people were paid big bucks to say this movie was good. They must be retarded. From a soldier side, this movie sucks shit. From a movie buff/artist side, this movie sucks shit.
If you want to see a good war related movie. Rent Taking Chance. Great movie.
PS. I’ve been a US Army soldier for 9 years now. I’ve been to 5 special skill schools to include SERE training. If it sucks I’ve been thru it!”
Another soldier writes: “I’m an Iraq veteran. This movie is a joke, especially among Iraq veterans, and ESPECIALLY among EOD. If you are looking for accuracy, look somewhere else. That sniper scene? Yea…not happening. Many people on here are saying “it just shows their dedication and training and focus”…the fact of the matter is, in reality, no EOD team is going to be driving around in a desert by themselves, run into a british special forces unit, survive a sniper attack, and then automatically transorm into some kind of sniper team, while the british SF guys just sit there. And no soldier is going to sneak off the FOB to go “investigate” something, and then return back to base without getting his rank stripped and court martialed. Just a small taste of how rediculous this movie is. Pretty much, if you have never been there, then you have no place to judge how accurate it is or isn’t. Besides the inaccuracies, it’s just a poorly put together movie. Cheezy dialouge is frequent, the action scenes are mediocre, and it goes over the top in so many ways. If you dont care about plot, and dont care about accuracy, but just want to see some slow motion explosions, then go forward and watch this garbage. If you are in the military, you will just simply laugh at it.”
Another:
“This movie was horrible and not realistic at all. I am a Marine and I was in Iraq in 2004. This movie was not accurate with in any way shape or form tactically or in any way we worked in Iraq. I worked with both Army and Marine Corps EOD and this is movie is a joke.”
Another review:
“The retard locker is a piece of unrealistic garbage, The sniper scene where the sniper hangs half way out the window, what. I could go on and on. If you liked this movie please get back in touch with reality sometime soon cause your a fucking idiot. oh yeah if you wanna disarm a howitzer round cut the wire that’s it. I bet if you liked this you like paranormal state also”.
Another: “For those of you who are insulting the ones who dislike the movie, at least give us credit for watching it and sitting through a painfully long and drawn out movie. The Hurt Locker is boring and slow and the suspense is very dim simply because there is NO BUILD UP. THERE IS NO BUILD UP IN THIS MOVIE. You never get to know any of the characters. You only see one or two snippets of them interacting with the “yo yo bro” kind of language which does nothing but only try to show you that there is no racial tension between these guys. Everytime they show the locals they show them as people who look distrustful and cannot go about their normal lives without feeling mistrust towards the Americans which is overly exaggerated and only those people will find appeal to it who have no clue what the middle east is. In other words, PLEASE AVOID THIS. If you want good war movies please watch the below:
1) Saving Private Ryan
2) The Deer Hunter
3) Platoon
4) Black Hawk Down
5) The Pianist
The Hurt Locker falls in the same category as Pearl Harbour.”
Another:
“1) EOD members as trained Snipers
2) EOD guys breaking into buildings and clearing them – alone
3) 3 guys running around the desert – alone
4) Walking up to bombs – alone – and using “wire cutters”
5) Unbelievable Dialogue – “C’mon, let’s split up we’ll cover more ground that way”
6) Chasing bad guys at night – alone – in the city streets
7) The uniforms – look at them again and realize that this was supposed to be 2004
Cliché cheese – this film is literally about a 1 man army
These are just some of the problems I have with this film…there are more too numerous to list. I wouldn’t recommend this film to my worst enemy”
Another: “GOD THIS MOVIE SUCKED!!! I WAS SO PISSED OFF FOR WATCHING IT!!!
The only reason why the academy gave it best picture, best director, and several other awards was because a woman (Kathryn Bigelow), directed it and they didn’t want feminist groups around the country to shit bricks on the academy for being a male-chauvinist organization. They simply wanted to vote for a film that was going to make history and break the gender barrier, not to mention the fact that Bigelow is James Cameron’s ex-wife who sold Cameron’s rights to “Terminator” to MGM. Cameron did not direct the last two Terminator. Bigelow is a good example of how a dirty stealing skank can get an oscar for manipulating the academy. Hurt Locker was also the lowest grossing film to ever win best picture, which should tell you something right there. Avatar should have been the clear winner, but the politics of the Hollywood Academy doesn’t vote the same way that the majority does.
HURT LOCKER SUCKED!!!”
Another:
“This movie winning so many Oscars just shows how political the whole system has become.
Avatar sold out the Hurt Locker by insane amounts, that alone shows which was the best picture.
then again, this win just shows either 1 of 2 things.
1: the Oscars were rigged for political purposes.
2: Americans love to see ‘their’ men and get the false sense of patriotism.”
Another: “Everyone knows (or should) that when a car rushes a position in Iraq that they just open up on it.
Everyone knows (or should) that only a jackass would stand by with a cell phone visible in his hand rather than just detonate his explosives from inside a building as soon as viable target is nearby. Everyone also knows (or should) that the security man wouldn’t scream at him to ‘put the phone down’, he’d just shoot him.
Everyone knows, (or should) that people who plant bombs don’t just stand around filming while someone disarms their handiwork.
Everyone knows (or should) that the protagonist was not at all a believeable character.
This movie was not at all authentic.”
And put simply, my favorite reviewer comment:
“This has to be some sort of conspiracy in order to give a woman an oscar. Probably the worst movie I’ve seen in 2009”
Oh, to answer your question, Larry, I’ve worked for them with Lucky Starr, Persia Monir and Becca Blossoms, so far in the last two weeks…
I’m not trying to advocate Hurt Locker; I liked it and found it a good movie on its own merits, though it didn’t make it to the list of my 10 most favorite movies of 2009, while Avatar did. However, the fact of the matter is that you can criticize Hurt Locker for some inaccuracies (i.e. EOD members as trained snipers, the uniforms, referring to an E-6 as sir, etc.) These inaccuracies are common when it comes to dramatization of actual and historical events. My most favorite 2009 movie is Public Enemies, and yet I can provide a list of several historical inaccuracies in that movie; but that’s not the point, because we’re talking about a drama, not a documentary. As much as I appreciate and respect actual and historical accuracy, but as long as the movie in itself is well made, a few inaccuracies won’t stop me from enjoying that movie. Like I mentioned before, Hurt Locker does not portray American soldiers as heroes, it portrays them as they’re mostly are: Naive kids and adrenaline junkies. The story is decent, acting is good, directing is solid; and that’s pretty much what I expect from a movie. Do I think Hurt Locker is a masterpiece? No. Do I think it’s overrated? Yes. Despite that, do I think it’s a good movie on its own merits? Yes, and I recommend it to movie lovers.
As for HBO’s Pacific, since only one episode has been aired, it’s too early to judge; but I have to admit it didn’t captivate me the way Band of Brothers did. I hope it gets better. Another good TV series that I can recommend is Spartacus: Blood and Sands on Starz. Don’t expect anything like HBO’s Rome, but it’s a guilty pleasure nonetheless.
I read they only did two seasons of Rome because it cost too much.
Reportedly, each episode of Rome cost $1 million to produce, and that’s too much for a TV series. So they decided to wrap it up in 2 seasons; but a feature length movie is in works. A release date will be announced soon.
Speaking of high costs, check this out: HBO’s new miniseries The Pacific produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks cost $200 million to produce. How are they going to cover this cost, let alone making any profits, is yet to be seen.
If they want to do a “mini series” they should do it with midgets.
Those are three good broads to work with, especially Becca, she’s a class act.As for HBO, I’m looking forward to the new show from the guys who made The Wire set in New Orleans, only thing that made me queasy was a quick shot featuring Elvis Costello. How does a guy who hasnt written a decent song in 27 years and rarely performs those songs get so much face time, and he’s treated like all time great talent, not as the oldie act he is.
Maybe some have him confused for Elvis Presley.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-430479/People-recklessly-passing-sexual-diseases-face-jail.html
Interestingly, wearing a condom does not exempt an std carrier from prosecution.