Monday, May 10, 2010

Alex O'Loughlin Said WHAT!?!


by carol

"I'm sure he said it. It has to be true. I read it on the internet."

What?  Wait a minute!  That’s not what he meant!
 
My latest outrage over the decaying standards of the media has been triggered by headlines and stories about Alex O’Loughlin. 

Copied directly from my Google and Yahoo News Alerts:
Alex O'Loughlin calls sex scene with JLo 'awful'
Sify News Fri, 23 Apr 2010
Aussie actor Alex O'Loughlin has dubbed his onscreen sex scenes with Jennifer Lopez "awful".
Alex O'Loughlin: “Jennifer Lopez Sex Scene 'Awful!'”
By PopCrunch
“Awful” is the word Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin uses to describe his awkward sex scene with Jennifer. In fact, Alex was so uncomfortable pretending to share his bed with The Artist Formerly Known as J. Lo, he’s sworn off sex scenes — declaring that he would “be happy to never do another one again.”

When I read these alerts, I assumed that I must have missed this interview. Surely it was not the same interview that I had already read. It sounded familiar, but was it the same interview where Alex was asked how it felt kissing the Jennifer Lopez?

Making a face and turning to J.Lo beside him, he (Alex) answered dryly, “Kissing Jennifer? It’s awful!” Then, he burst into shoulder-shaking laughter, joined by J.Lo, adding as soon as he recovered his breath, “It wasn’t difficult. I mean, it feels pretty good to kiss a beautiful woman.”  He and J.Lo then discussed the discomfort most actors experience doing romantic/sex scenes.
Why was this playful exchange presented with misleading headlines?  Pretty simple, really.  Bloggers need “hits.” They need you to click on what seems to be a “juicy celeb story.”

I can only think of one thing to say to these "journalists":  Tsk, tsk, shame on you!

You must be sadly lacking in writing skills if the only way to make your story interesting enough to read is to preface it with a lurid headline.  It doesn’t take any real talent to make this crap up.

Let’s analyze these headlines from the fictitious Skanky and Gullible News website: 

Their headline:  Alex O’Loughlin Claims CBS Paid Big Bucks To Have Him Beat Up
What Alex really said:
O’Loughlin is still smarting from the stunts he’s performed himself on the new Hawaii Five-O pilot. “I’ve been getting thrown out of tanks, beaten around the island of Oahu for a couple of weeks and I’ve just come back. If I took my shirt off, I look like a beaten piece of beef.”
Their headline: Alex O’Loughlin Confesses To Self-Loathing
What Alex really said:
"I get up in the morning and my hair is all hanging in my face and poking up on one side, I need to shave and I look older than I am. When I stagger into the kitchen to get my breakfast, I don’t think, ‘Oh, look at that handsome guy. Look at that talented special creature.’"
Their headline: Alex O’Loughlin Walks Out During Sex
What Alex really said:
The actor says he's seen the film (Oyster Farmer) four times on the festival circuit, but always leaves his seat when the sex scene, filmed on a mangrove-lined wooden jetty, is about to play.
Their headline: Alex O’Loughlin Hung Up On Leather Fetish
What Alex really said:
O'Loughlin loves the rush he gets from doing his own stunts. "I really feel like I'm participating in life when I'm strapped into a harness and hanging precariously above the ground," says the 31-year-old Australian actor.

Their headline: Co-Star Admits She Spent Night With Alex O’Loughlin
What Sophia really said:
Says costar Sophia Myles, who plays reporter Beth Turner, "… he's funny — he makes me laugh all night long. With our schedule, 16 hours a day, six days a week, I couldn't have hoped for anyone more wonderful to work with."
Their headline: Alex O’Loughlin Talks About His “First Time
What Alex really said:
When he did a comic turn in an (elementary) school play and heard the audience's laughter, "it was one of the first times in my life I felt a connection with people."
Their headline: Alex O’Loughlin Admits To Self-destructive Behavior
What Alex really said:
"I’ve been hurting myself since I was like five years old. People ask what kind of kid I was…I used to steal bricks from construction sites, build walls from them, then ride my trike down through them. I fell out of a rope swing when I was six years old.”
The more sensational the headline, the more interest. Case in point, Pam tweeted about her latest blog here, stating Alex O’Loughlin’s Back-up Plan is Sh*t. What she actually wrote was a piece called Alex’s Back-up Plan in which she posits that Alex could sell anything, including dryer lint, on Ebay and make a killing. Tracking showed that entry to be the most popular to date.

So, what did we learn today? I learned two things: 
People always think something's all true. ~ J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. ~ Winston Churchill

2 comments:

  1. This is so true! The latest case in point - Headline: The new girl in his life helped him overcome his fear of surfing, while later in the article it states that she will soon take him out for a first lesson from her. (We have all, over the past year, heard how Scott actually helped him with his surfing)

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