Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Don't read this entry if it messed you up to find out Santa Claus wasn't real.

Some people have been asking me why BME is doing an interview with “Steve-O from Jackass” (with the implication that it somehow degrades BME to do so)… Well, I'm not. I did an interview with Steve-O the performance artist, and asked him basically no questions about Jackass. As far as Jackass/CKY/etc., while I do find it absolutely hilarious, isn't really relevant to BME since it's largely fake (note: I'm saying that from observation, not from any insider knowledge). Now, in Steve-O's show, there's an element of misdirection as in all sideshow acts but the core events (the tattoos, branding, fireplay, and so on) are of course real.

Since a pile of people are going to now ask me “but how do you know Jackass is fake?”, I'll just show this one example. Once you've seen it you can easily see tons more yourself. Most regular watchers of the show have seen “the hole” stunt where Bam digs a big whole in his back yard and Phil drives the lawnmover into it… Again, really funny to watch, but entirely fake (CKY4K contains the extended version where the deception is most clear).

Lots of loose leaves blowing around on the lawn.	They dig a big hole.	And cover it up with sticks.	And then a carpet and leaves.
Phil starts to mow. Let's pretend he doesn't notice the truck marks leading straight to the barely disguised hole.	Hmmm…. For some reason the grass is the same on both sides of the mower, and leaves don't move as he drives over them (because he's not mowing).	Boom! Phil falls into the hole, somehow not noticing the carpet-covered trap.	None of the loose leaves have been disturbed by the mower (I assume they decided it would be too dangerous with the blade spinning).

Given that I watch those shows for amusement only, I really don't care that it's fake, although I do worry that kids could emulate what they see at face value and become seriously injured… But anyway, back to the point, my interest is in reality — real acts and real rituals (or stunts, if that's what you prefer to call them) — and I believe that of that crew, Steve-O's act most does that.

Oh, and the interview will be posted whenever he has time to finish it, it's being answered via laptop while on tour I'm told. Anyway, off to do an image update… I've got to get the backlog chewed through.