Random News Stories

[Randy Stankey]

I went to Vasquez Rocks and, while I was walking around, taking pictures, I looked down and found a spent five-in-one.

I showed my girlfriend's dad but he said it wasn't from one of his movies but he told me to take it home, anyway. I still have it in my memory jar where I keep interesting trinkets that I find at the beach or other random places.

[Leo Enticknap]

I know someone who has a chunk of the Get Carter parking structure. Apparently the demolition contractors made quite a few quid on the side selling souvenirs to fans of the movie.

I never made it to the Wicker Man locations (somewhere near Stranraer, if I remember correctly), but I have visited Barra and seen the Whisky Galore locations (plus Compton Mackenzie's grave). We went on a CalMac ferry from Oban through a howling gale that had most of the tourists on board puking over the side, and left on a plane from the beach airport. Definitely worth doing.

[Allan Young]

In the media coverage of the trigger warning (including the version above), she is quoted as follows: "“The whole thing is absurd. If they start warnings for this, they have to put them on television for an award ceremony or premieres where people actually wear less than me. ‘" I took this as meaning that there is no question but that she acted that scene (and all the others in the movie).

To clarify, she does perform topless for the majority of the scene in question. The body double was used for a couple of brief arse shots, which the director himself has confirmed.

I've still got a few chunks of the Wicker Man, torn off the remainder of the leg stumps when I went to the location back in the nineties. A few years later, someone turned up with a chainsaw and made off with what was left.

[Leo Enticknap]

In the media coverage of the trigger warning (including the version above), she is quoted as follows: "“The whole thing is absurd. If they start warnings for this, they have to put them on television for an award ceremony or premieres where people actually wear less than me. ‘" I took this as meaning that there is no question but that she acted that scene (and all the others in the movie).

Still, conflicting versions of events can happen. This book claims that no fewer than two body doubles for Janet Leigh worked on the shower scene in Psycho, one of whom was later murdered in similar circumstances to those depicted in the movie! Hitchcock geeks still argue over which shots are of who.

[Allan Young]

As for the body double issue, Ekland herself is claiming that it was her in the scene, so I guess that settles it. Maybe she, or her publicists, let it be known at the time that the scene was done by a body double, because she didn't want to be considered a porno actress and thus denied mainstream roles in the future?

Where has she claimed that it was her in the scene? I have a copy of the book Inside the Wicker Man, which contains an interview with the body double. Hard to imagine why she would make up the details.

[Randy Stankey]

Easy! None of them want to watch an "old" movie. They are just a bunch of lying weasels, looking for any excuse to avoid anything they don't want to do. The "trigger warning" is just the excuse they need.

Had the school admins done things the right way, they would have made the statement, "Please read the movie's Rating statement for more information," this whole thing would have gone unnoticed.

... Cacking hens!

[Harold Hallikainen]

“Until now, no student has chosen to view it.” is surprising to me. And the "trigger warning" was issued on nudity and not extreme violence. I wonder which would cause the most nightmares.

[Randy Stankey]

This story is not about a classification/censorship board rating, but rather a university issuing a "trigger warning"...

The rating system *IS* the trigger warning!

If somebody wants to know whether a movie has content that they don't like to see, they can look at the rating for that movie. That's what it was designed for, in the first place!

The rest amounts little more than the sound of hens clucking.

[Leo Enticknap]

Isn't this what the MPAA Ratings and Classification System is for?
If a movie is Rated-R that means it is for consenting adults only. Right?
If it says, "Nudity & Sexual Themes" that means people are going to take their clothes off and do sexual things. Right?
If the movie contains violent scenes then that would also be reflected in the rating. Yes?
Putting up a ratings poster at the box office should explain all that. Shouldn't it?

This story is not about a classification/censorship board rating, but rather a university issuing a "trigger warning" to its students to the effect that some might find the Ekland nudie scene difficult to deal with, and giving the option of skipping the movie altogether.

This gets even more absurd the more one looks into it. Firstly, the university course in question is a master's degree. The bare minimum age that anyone is going to be studying for a master's degree in the UK is 21 (a bachelor's degree in a humanities subject is typically three years full time, starting at 18), and most are significantly older. Secondly, as opined above, if you're going to be "triggered" by the scene in question, you're really going to be triggered by the Kentucky fried Edward Woodward scene. Or rather, if you are by the former but not by the latter, you are in need of serious psychological help, IMHO.

Thirdly, Randy raises an interesting point with ratings and classifications. The British Board of Film Classification has actually lowered their minimum age guidelines for being able to see this movie over time. For theatrical, it was X (under their old rating system, which lasted until the mid-1980s) on original release (this meant a minimum age of either 18 or 21, depending on the local jurisdiction in which the film played), but downgraded to 15 in 2007 (however, the 2007 re-release was three minutes shorter, so maybe the downgrade reflected cuts rather than changes to their censorship criteria). For home video it was 18 for the first release in 1990, and then 15 for a re-release of almost identical length in 2002.

So for the version that these students in their 20s or older are most likely going to see, the British Board of Film Classification, which is basically a building full of child psychologists (I applied and was interviewed for a job with them straight out of college in 1995, but didn't get it, essentially because I knew a lot about movies but bugger all about child development), reckons that a typical 15-year old can see this pic without anything bad happening to him or her. But if you're a postgrad at the University of Hertfordshire...

As for the body double issue, Ekland herself is claiming that it was her in the scene, so I guess that settles it. Maybe she, or her publicists, let it be known at the time that the scene was done by a body double, because she didn't want to be considered a porno actress and thus denied mainstream roles in the future? The Wicker Man certainly was a controversial movie at the time of its release, but my memory of reading about it is that the burning alive scene was its most controversial aspect, and that Scottish nationalists campaigned against it, because it didn't exactly portray their neck of the woods in a very positive light.

[James Biggins]

Funny thing is, it's not Britt Ekland who's naked in the film. They used a body double.

Not necessarily. There are conflicting stories on the subject.

[Allan Young]

Funny thing is, it's not Britt Ekland who's naked in the film. They used a body double.

[Randy Stankey]

Isn't this what the MPAA Ratings and Classification System is for?
If a movie is Rated-R that means it is for consenting adults only. Right?
If it says, "Nudity & Sexual Themes" that means people are going to take their clothes off and do sexual things. Right?
If the movie contains violent scenes then that would also be reflected in the rating. Yes?
Putting up a ratings poster at the box office should explain all that. Shouldn't it?

So, then, why did it take me an entire paragraph to explain all that when the statement, "Rated-R for violence, nudity and sexual themes," would have done the same?

It should have! People, today, need to have the dictionary read out, to them, in order to understand something that a person of average intelligence should understand, intuitively!

That's where the real bullshit is!

[Leo Enticknap]

From NY Breaking:

Wicker Man actress Britt Ekland slams university after issuing trigger warning for her nude scene in 1973 film

By Chris Hastings Arts Correspondent

Published: 23:00 GMT, February 15, 2025 | Updated: 04:16 GMT, February 16, 2025

It is a time when many teenage boys would have been the first glimpse of nakedness on the screen, while the character of Britt Ekland danced naked to seduce a policeman in the wicker man.

Yet the scene from the classical film from 1973 has now received a trigger warning, since the university bosses are supposed to fear that it might be too much for the sensitive students of today.

The film is on the syllabus of a master’s degree in Folklore at the University of Hertfordshire. But students on the course – mostly older than 21 years – have been told that they can skip it if they are concerned about the ‘image of nudity’.

Last night the Swedish actress burned the decision ‘absurd’. Mrs. Ekland, 82, the mail told on Sunday: ‘Excuse my language, but it is B ******.

‘I had many comments in 52 years [from men] That was their first experience to see someone from the opposite sex without clothing.

“I never had a comment that said,” You disturbed me for the rest of my life. “

‘I doubt that every young person will be shocked or dismissed in the twenty or unable to function for the rest of the day, or the week or month, because they keep an eye on the thatched man naked for one minute .

“The whole thing is absurd. If they start warnings for this, they have to put them on television for an award ceremony or premieres where people actually wear less than me. ‘

Britt Ekland has branded the decision to hit a trigger -warning on her iconic scene in the wicker man as ‘absurd’

It is a time when many teenage boys would have been the first glimpse of nakedness on the screen, while the character of Britt Ekland danced naked to seduce a policeman in the wicker man.

Yet the scene from the classical film from 1973 has now received a trigger warning, since the university bosses are supposed to fear that it might be too much for the sensitive students of today.

The film is on the syllabus of a master’s degree in Folklore at the University of Hertfordshire. But students on the course – mostly older than 21 years – have been told that they can skip it if they are concerned about the ‘image of nudity’.

Last night the Swedish actress burned the decision ‘absurd’. Mrs. Ekland, 82, the mail told on Sunday: ‘Excuse my language, but it is B ******.

‘I had many comments in 52 years [from men] That was their first experience to see someone from the opposite sex without clothing.

“I never had a comment that said,” You disturbed me for the rest of my life. “

‘I doubt that every young person will be shocked or dismissed in the twenty or unable to function for the rest of the day, or the week or month, because they keep an eye on the thatched man naked for one minute .

“The whole thing is absurd. If they start warnings for this, they have to put them on television for an award ceremony or premieres where people actually wear less than me. ‘

Britt Ekland has branded the decision to hit a trigger -warning on her iconic scene in the wicker man as ‘absurd’

Mrs. Ekland, 62 (photo), said the decision was B ***** s and ‘can only happen in England’

Details of the university warning, which is issued to students participating in a workshop called Folklore on the big screen, were obtained under the freedom of information legislation.

The film was X-rated when it was first released, but was relegated as a suitable for those aged 15 or older when it was re-released for home to 2002.

A spokeswoman for the University of Hertfordshire defended the warning. She said: ‘The well -being of our students will always be our greatest priority.

‘It followed students that we have added a content warning to our screenings of the Wicker Man and an option to look at themselves as the preference.

“Until now, no student has chosen to view it.”

Agreed completely with Ekland that the trigger warning is b******* and absurd, but not only for the reason she has in mind. In whose mind is a trigger warning necessary in respect of her cavorting around with no clothes on for a few seconds, but not of a much longer scene in which a guy is burned alive?!

[Frank Cox]

That's what happens when you monkey around with high voltage.

[Leo Enticknap]

From Jim's article:

There was no word on the fate of the monkey.

It would appear to be, unsurprisingly, a case of RIP monkey. From The Telegraph's coverage:

A security guard at the Panadura power station said he heard a loud explosion followed by a ball of smoke rising from the power station.

The monkey died on the spot, he said.

Seriously, crumbling power transmission infrastructure seems to be a growing problem in both the developing and the developed world. Prolonged outages have become a fact of life in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and they've even happened in California and Texas in recent years. I wonder if the long term future is distributed microgeneration (which is already happening: many of the parking lots around here have canopies with solar panels on them now) that can be operated both on and off grid as required, gradually making the grid itself less critical over time.