Posts tagged Australia
Can acting insane drive someone crazy?
Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Dark KnightJust a thought. Heath Ledger apparently complained of sleepless nights while playing the role of the Joker in the next Batman movie, Dark Knight. Could playing such an insane psychopath actually drive someone over the edge and cause problems in their personal life? Many actors talk about "getting into the character" they're playing so intensely that they feel as if they're actually the person they're acting as. To people like me who aren't actors or involved in the film industry, it's easy to watch a film and discount the emotional toll certain rolls take on actors. But given the amount of stress most people's jobs cause them, I can see how playing a super-freak (I listened to Rick James the other day :P ) could cause an actor to actually become one. But I guess I'll never know, as I have no desire to act, nor acting talent, for that matter. I wonder if Malcolm McDowell or Robert De Niro felt like they were minds were being negatively affected at any point while working on A Clockwork Orange or Taxi Driver, respectively...
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Global climate change causing a new kind of sadness?
According to this Wired.com article, global warming might not only be causing extinctions, water shortages, and hotter days: it might also be causing depression. According to philosopher Glenn Albrecht, his fellow Australians have shown increased symptoms of depression as their country has changed for the worse due to global warming. Albrecht calls this "solastalgia": a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home. The article mentions that though many of us are modern globe-hoppers with all kinds of gadgets to keep us in touch with our family and friends at home, we're still closely tied to where we live — we haven't evolved that much. I can see the effects of global warming, or at least its causes, where I live: polluted waters, warmer days, dirtier skies. And I know for a fact that these things don't make me happy.
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