Shannon Leto (now 38)
I wanted to wish my favorite drummer a very Happy Birthday (3/9/08). I know I’m a day late and will probably be rolled in the parking lot after work today by a hoard of 30STM fans. I apologize, unreservedly, for my late post. And if any of those fans care to tell me exactly where Shannon appears in “Highway” I would be very appreciative.
For all of you 30STM fans out there, I read this today. I can’t verify that it’s true but I suspect most (if not all) of it is. This video was filmed entirely 200 miles into the Arctic in Greenland with no green screen effects. It’s aim is to show the decline of arctic ice and how it is affecting the Earth.
The crew refused to set foot on the glacier because it was deemed too dangerous
The weather was so cold that taking your hood off for a minute could result in frostbite. Their hoods were off for the entire video.
39 hours of film were shot. 5 minutes of slow motion were used, all and all about 1:59 of footage.
It was filmed from a helicopter by amatures, because of the dangerous conditions on the actual iceburg
The black lines you see in the video are huge slits in the ice. Thousands of others are unseen. The glaciers were literally breaking under their feet.
If you look closely during part of the video you can see pools in the glaciers. These are water pools from the glacier melting.
At one point (Though edited out) Jared slips and starts to fall down the slippery hill. He saves himself about 20 feet from falling off the cliff.
It took almost a year to plan, took a week to film, and 6 months to edit.
Jared directed, (partially) paid for, and edited the video himself. He edited it on 3 different countries while filming his new movie Mr. Nobody.
The original idea was to film in Antarctica, and the crew wanted it filmed on a green screen. Jared refused to back down and Greenland was eventually chosen for the video (And no green screen was ever used)
The idea of the video was to show the world what we’re losing by not caring about the environment. These beautiful glaciers are melting, and aren’t only effecting those who live by.
The band had to carry all of their own equiptment on and off of the helicopter. In the scene with the flags, the helicopter caused so much wind that Shannon’s drum set would go flying 30 feet away.
192 kinds of insurance were required to shoot the video.
It was so dangerous that the helicopter crew said if not returned to the chopper at a certain time, they would leave without them and the band would have to sleep on the glacier.
When Jared got the tapes to edit, the company gave him the wrong playback machine. He had to pay thousands of his own dollars to rent the correct machine.
For every pound of carbon emissions, they purchase green tags to offset the environmental damage.
And the most honorable thing of all, after shoveling barels of his own money into this video, EVERY DIME FROM THE PROCEEDS OF THIS VIDEO GO TO THE NRDC (natural resources defense council)
Here are some screenshots from this spectacular video…
Shannon Leto
Heads up 30STM fans. Shannon Leto was at the NAMM Convention yesterday. Hope you had a chance to say hello. Now I realize that the pic is huge, but I know 30STM fans and they wouldn’t have it any other way. (If you can’t see it all, save it and look at your leisure).
NAMM is the not-for-profit association that unifies, leads and strengthens the $17 billion international musical instruments and products industry. NAMM’s activities and programs are designed to promote music making to people of all ages. NAMM is comprised of approximately 9,000 Member companies.
Jared Leto (the reveal)
Ooh, what a spectacular view. I’m sending one to my grandma so she’ll have some nice art on her walls. I’ve said it before, bloggers and rag mag writers have been talking smack about Mr. Leto and 30 Seconds to Mars, but the Karma Police have come for them. The band is doing very well and guyliner or no guyliner, Jared Leto is smokin’ hot. This photo among others appear in the September issue of Malibu Magazine. Go out and get a copy now! (I can’t help but wonder if brother Shannon didn’t take these exquisite photos.) Whoever did the shoot, bless you and may your success be beyond imagining. (And if you could send a 36″ x 24″ copy of any of those photos to me, I’ll make sure grandma gets it.)
Shannon Leto
Jared Leto
There’s nothing like a tattoo. I love ‘em all. I love the realistic portraits, the cartoons, the symbols, the text, band tats, religious tats, and even the cheesy cliche tats. I have one and plan on more. I like the henna tats and have a great recipe for the paste, but, again, I digress…
Today, I wanted to list a few celebs who have tats that you may or may not know. I chose these particular people because I had no idea they had them. A lot of famous people are sporting ink and we’ve seen them…alot. But some people were a surprise for me.
Gillian Anderson (turtle shell on ankle, Sanskrit symbol for “every day” on right wrist)
Halle Berry (sunflower on her ass)
(Sorry, watch “Swordfish” for more info.)
David Bowie (lizard tattooed on ankle, Kanji surrounding nude woman on back on left calf)
David Duchovny (Actor has compass design on one ankle with N, S, E, WEST (his daughter’s name) spelled out)
Whoopi Goldberg (Actress has a tattoo of the bird Woodstock from Peanuts on left upper chest, floral design on right side)
Lucy Liu (tiger on the small of her back)
(Again, so sorry)
Rob Lowe (small heart tattoo on left shoulder)
(Ladies, I apologize…unreservedly)
Mary Kate Olsen (small tattoo on her ass)
(See the last movie)
Dolly Parton (Country singer has an angel tattoo on her upper left arm, a butterfly tattoo on her chest, possibly one on her ankle)
(Check out pics with sheer sleeves)
Jaime Pressly (Leo symbol on her lower back)
Kyra Sedgwick (large design on the small of her back)
Rod Stewart (Singer has tattooed right arm with a Scottish thistle, his left arm has a Scottish lion tattoo)
(Check Rod at the beach)
Carrie Underwood (American Idol winner had the outline of a black cat tattooed on the back of her left hip to celebrate her win)
(Sorry guys, she ain’t showin’ it).
This information came from:
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/celebrity_tattoos.htm
http://www.tattoos-by-design.co.uk/celebrities
Jared Leto
and 30 Seconds to Mars… Automatic, I Imagine, I Believe
…another much maligned celebrity and his band. Look, let’s get this out of the way first. Yes, Jared Leto is a very nice looking man and like a Van Gogh, a poster sized glossy would look nice in my living room. However, as my mother taught me, I don’t concern myself with the outer packaging. I think we tend to forget why we know he exists in the first place. No, I’m not talking about “the show that shall not be named”.
Jared Leto in “Requiem For A Dream”
I’m talking about “Requiem For A Dream”. That was one intense film and Mr. Leto is one intense actor. And for you fans out there, he’s currently filming “Mr. Nobody” which is billed as Drama/Fantasy/Sci Fi. Personally, I can’t wait….but I digress…
Now, I know Jared Leto has a lot of blogger-haters out there. Perez Hilton made him public enemy #1 on his celebrity blog for quite a while (though me-thinks he doth protest too much. Unrequited love can be such a bitch). I just don’t care because I have been a fan since “Requiem” and Leto’s work in “Prefontaine” really brought it home for me. (I’m haunted to this day by the ending of that movie).
Jared Leto in “Prefontaine”
From Benjy086 on Flickr
From inventory on Flickr
But what really makes Jared Leto underrated is his band “30 Seconds to Mars”. A lot of people out there like to refer to his band as his “vanity project”. I despise that term. It makes no sense to me. Whose projects aren’t “vanity projects”? People accept roles, play music, dance, and paint because that makes them happy. All endeavors can be classified as “vanity projects”. Hell, this blog you’re reading right now is a “vanity project”. “30 Seconds to Mars” is a good band. You don’t sell platinum albums if you suck. I’ll grant you that I’m a fan of the genre, but it’s great music for the genre.
Shannon Leto
From cat tripper on Flickr
And speaking of underrated, Shannon Leto (Jared’s brother) is one of the best drummers today. His syncopated back beats are comparable to Neil Peart of “Rush” and are truly amazing to behold. Check out the album and tell me I’m lying. Have a listen to some samples here: http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Lie-30-Seconds-Mars/dp/B000A7Q2DM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5871841-4961243?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1185381672&sr=8-1 and here http://www.amazon.com/30-Seconds-Mars/dp/B00006AFUR/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-5871841-4961243?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1185381672&sr=8-2
Tomo Milicevic
From Tomo and Gerard’s girl 4ever on Flickr
Tomo Milicevic does fantastic guitar work for the band though remains equally underrated. O.K. so I’m a card-carrying member of the Echelon (sue me). Let me tell you, if you’re going to be a fan of a band, you could do so much worse. From all accounts 30STM are very, very good to their fans. I have to commend the Leto brothers for taking a difficult path making a fraction of the money they could make in films and photography (Shannon’s other passion) and putting up with truckloads of shit from bloggers and others. They truly live by their band credo “Provehito In Altum”. And it does get so very deep for them sometimes.
Links:
Official 30STM site http://www.thirtysecondstomars.com/main.asp
My Space Page http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=5211815
