Shut Up Little Man

Shut Up Little Man!: How Vitriol Went Viral In 1987 Peter was gay; Raymond was a homophobe. They were also, for some mysterious reason, roommates. Creative putdowns proliferated. Their story is now a documentary in theaters today.

By Jason Feifer 5 minute Read 

Peter and Raymond were middle-aged men with severe drinking problems and a bitter hatred for each other. Peter was gay; Raymond was a homophobe. They were also, for some mysterious reason, roommates. They fought loudly, frequently, and creatively. “I can kill you from a sitting position!” Raymond would yell. “You’re a rotten little liar man. Lady. Pardon me–lady!” Peter would retort.
In 1987, two college grads moved into the apartment next door–a dump of a place with thin walls, the rooms soon filled with Peter and Raymond’s rage. The guys were freaked out. Then they started recording the rows on tape cassettes, figuring they might need them to share with the police. Eventually, though, the fights stopped being scary and started being funny. And so the guys did what anyone today might do with such material: They shared it. 

And so began a viral sensation in the analog age.The tapes (all 14 hours of them) became known as “Shut Up Little Man!” referencing one of Peter’s favorite insults. Friends copied them for friends. A music label put out a CD. Comic books were made. A play was produced. Devo recorded a song.
Today, a documentary by the same name opens in 30 markets nationwide, tracking the phenomenon’s rise and then going a step further: Though both Peter and Raymond are now dead (and only one of them was ever made aware of their strange popularity), director Matthew Bate unearths the story behind these men and their relationship, putting the tapes into a more sorrowful context. 

In the YouTube era, that discovery–that a viral hit is often far more complex and sad than we’re willing to consider–resonates more than ever. We spoke to Bate (who also directs TV commercials) about what this Patient Zero can tell us about the nature of viral, and its role in our culture.

We think of “viral” as a modern sensation, made possible by the Internet. But Shut Up Little Man! was the very model of viral. Do you know of even older examples?

Yeah: Christianity! That went viral. I mean, I’m sure this happened all over the place–they just aren’t well known anymore. I hadn’t heard of Shut Up Little Man! until recently, but there are still fans of it. On Facebook, fans have this ongoing quote game, where someone will lay down one quote and then 50 people will carry on this weird Shut Up Little Man! conversation.

Was there something about the old technology that gave it longevity? I can’t imagine anyone will be talking about today’s viral memes in 20 years.

I think it’s a matter of the sheer volume of material. A Star Wars Kid clip, or a Christian Bale rant, are usually two or three minutes long. And they can be amazing. When you listen to the Christian Bale thing, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Christian Bale was going apeshit! But that’s all you want now. The attention span of people is generally under two minutes. And a two-minute viral video is perfectly digestible and forgettable.
Meanwhile, the Shut Up Little Man! tapes went on for 14 hours. You can fully enter this universe. For the fans that become really obsessed, it’s like a seemingly unending gold mine of quotes and moments that people seem to study.

Does Shut Up Little Man teach us anything about the nature of going viral?

I saw it as an early warning sign of what was to come–the increasingly more cannibalistic nature of popular culture. The source material itself is incredibly captivating stuff. Their dialog and relationship is so bizarre. But as you learn more about these guys, it all changes. First it’s hilarious, then it’s tragic, then should you ask if you should even be listening to this stuff.
That leads directly to the Star Wars kid, that little fat kid who recorded himself pretending to be Darth Maul, or whatever he was doing, and the video went viral. From what I understand, he’s gone through psychological torment. It’s had a very negative effect on his life. The difference, though, is that the Star Wars Kid filmed himself. It’s an interesting phenomenon of the modern age, that we create these little videos, these little Frankensteins, that can turn back and haunt us.
So to enjoy a viral hit, are we willfully ignoring the obvious humanity behind it? I mean, it was clear something very tragic was going on with Ray and Pete, but nobody seemed to stop and consider it.

Yeah, I think we’re collectively guilty of enjoying this stuff. Entertainment is schadenfreude, and schadenfreude has become big business. It always has been, in a way. There must be something in us. We laugh at Buster Keaton. We laugh at a man slipping on a banana peel and falling on his face. And now we have the real version of this–people on the streets in real-life situations, falling off of BMXs or falling on their faces. 
 So what’s consistent between the tapes of the 1980s and the videos of today? What makes them such hits?

There’s an element of voyeurism–we want to see a sneak peek of something that we shouldn’t. It’s a bit naughty. But this is a very difficult thing to answer. I direct advertisements when I’m not making documentaries, and there was a time when advertising companies would all say, “We want this thing to go viral.” I’d say, “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a magic formula.”
And it’s not like you can just film some stranger and then make that the advertisement. So what did you do?

It’s very difficult. Because when advertising idiots get together in a room to create magic, it just doesn’t work. But in advertising, I think that the viral thing came and went. It was like a buzzword for a while that advertising people were interested in. Then they understood that “going viral” is incredibly difficult. It’s not just something that you can decide upon. It’s something that’s self-generating, it’s something that seems to capture the collective minds. We send it to one another.
So what’s an advertiser to do now?

Adverts now are more project-based. It’s less about coming up with some amazing 30-second advert, and it’s more coming up with a 360-degree campaign, which might include a 10-minute documentary that appears on Facebook, and has characters out of which the 30-second commercial can come from. It’s a different approach now.

Is it better that they stopped chasing the viral hit? Was that bogging down creativity?

Hmm. I don’t know. I really hate making adverts. I never spent much time thinking about it. It just annoyed me. They’d never come up with Pete and Ray. How do you come up with a viral sensation? It’s a weird, morally nebulous accidents that occur in broom closets and schools and apartments. If we had a formula for that, God, I’d be talking to you from my Learjet somewhere in the Bahamas. 

-The Fast Company

Greatest Movie Scenes

Rocky III

"Yo Adrian, I did it!".

Robert Forster 1941-2019

Robert Forster, Oscar-Nommed Star of ‘Jackie Brown,’ Dies at 78

 

 

Robert Forster, a prolific character actor who was nominated for an Oscar for Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” and appeared in more than 100 films, died Friday in Los Angeles of brain cancer. He was 78.
Tarantino created the bail bondsman character Max Cherry with Forster in mind, and the role netted him his first Academy Award nomination.
Most recently Forster reprised his “Breaking Bad” role as Ed in “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” which was released Friday, and appeared in Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” and in “Werewolf.”
David Lynch cast the actor with a distinctive weathered look in “Mulholland Dr.” and in the rebooted “Twin Peaks” as Sheriff Frank Truman.
“I’ve done a lot of genre pictures in my career…I’ve always liked them,” Forster told the Bleecker Street blog upon the release of 2018’s indie drama “What They Had.”

Forster played Tim Allen’s father in “Last Man Standing,” a rare comedy appearance, and played the father of a comatose mom in Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” which was nominated for ensemble acting prizes by SAG and the Gotham awards.
Born in Rochester, N.Y., Forster started his career on Broadway in “Mrs. Dally Has a Lover” before John Huston cast him in “Reflections in a Golden Eye” opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando.
He appeared in “Medium Cool” for director Haskell Wexler and starred in the TV series “Banyon” — reportedly the role that Tarantino remembered when casting him in “Jackie Brown” — and appeared in movies including “Alligator,” “Olympus Has Fallen” and “American Perfekt.”
Forster is survived by his children: Bobby, Elizabeth, Kate and Maeghen; his grandchildren: Tess, Liam, Jack and Olivia; and long time partner, Denise Grayson.

Variety

Marlboro Man

The original 'Marlboro Man' has died at 90. Bob Norris himself never smoked.

His image graced thousands of billboards and magazine ads, always with a Marlboro cigarette.

Philanthropist and rancher Bob Norris, best known as the original "Marlboro Man," died earlier this week. He was 90.

Famous for a face that graced thousands of billboards and magazine ads, always with a Marlboro cigarette in hand or dangling from his lips, Norris served as the recognizable smoking cowboy for 12 years — though he never smoked a single cigarette himself.

  Norris was first approached by ad executives on his 63,000 acre ranch outside of Colorado Springs after he was spotted in a photo with his friend, actor John Wayne, his son, Bobby Norris, told NBC News affiliate WWBT.

When asked whether he would be interested appearing in Marlboro cigarette commercials, Norris apparently shrugged.

"And he said, 'Well I'm kind of busy right now,'" Bobby Norris said of his father, laughing. "He says, 'Why don't you come back next weekend if you're serious, and they did. They came back next weekend."

For the first ad, apparently about 2,000 pictures were shot of Norris with the notable cigarette.

Never a smoker himself, Norris had told his children that he didn't want to see them hacking a butt either.

Son Bobby Norris told WWBT that his father's opposition to the habit eventually led to his children's asking, "If you don't want us smoking, then why are you doing cigarette commercials?"

Norris quit his career as the Marlboro Man the next day, his son said, bringing an end to the photo shoots after 12 years.

Beyond his career as the face of one of the country's biggest tobacco brands, Norris enjoyed a career as a successful rancher and philanthropist, especially for animal causes.

His wife of 65 years, Jane Norris, died in 2016. The couple, who met in college in Kentucky, are survived by their four children and 13 grandchildren as well as lessons he taught his family, his son said.

"There's no gray area between right and wrong," Bobby Norris said, describing one lesson from his father. "You do the right thing even if it costs you."

Nov. 9, 2019, 2:37 PM EST

By Phil McCausland

NBC Obituaries

Walter Mercado

Puerto Rican Astrologer Walter Mercado Dies

 

Walter Mercado, the popular astrologer who endeared himself to millions of Hispanic television viewers for more than three decades, died Saturday in Puerto Rico. He was 87.
Sofía Luquis, a spokeswoman for the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in San Juan, confirmed Mercado's death with The Associated Press and said he died from kidney failure.
Mercado was well-known across Latin America and in the United States for his horoscope readings and predictions.
His career as an astrologer began by chance when he was asked to fill in on a whim for a Telemundo program in 1969, according to CNN. Prior to becoming an iconic psychic, Mercado worked as an actor and dancer.
Mercado's reading of the horoscope was a hit and in 1970 he began his regular broadcast segment reading horoscopes and offering predictions for Telemundo Puerto Rico, according to The Miami Herald.
The way in which Mercado delivered his predictions was just as beloved by his fans as the messages themselves. Mercado was a fan of grand colorful robes and outfits accented with gems and brooches that dazzled. With his trilled "r's" and dramatic readings, Mercado made an art form out of his work.

Speaking about his style with The Miami Herald, Mercado once said, "I have always liked to speak to people very directly. I have used astrology to send positive messages: 'You can do it, even if you fall, get back up again.'"
His broadcasts reached an estimated 120 million Latino viewers daily for more than three decades. Mercado's flamboyant character stood out in contrast to much of what was being broadcast across Latin America television at that time.
At the end of his program, Mercado would sign off by saying "Pero sobre todo, mucho, mucho, mucho amor," or "Above all, much, much, much love."

NPR