S01.E09: The Test

[Tara Ariano]

The editing process begins for Anna and Shane, and both battle to maintain their individual vision as their work is critiqued.

[Kaoteek]

"Before, there was no story in that script, but now, there's a great story there. There's something great. I think people will love it, they'll freak the f' out, and we'll get great reviews" - Shane.

 

Yeeeah, nope. The moment Shane got selected for the show, everybody called it : critics were gonna hate his movie, and quite frankly, 80% of the viewers were gonna hate it, because of Shane's style, because of his sense of humor, & because of his self-professed "target demo"... If Shane really thought, at that point, that he had any chance of making a well-reviewed movie, the guy is probably way past delusional. But then again, given his refusal to take any note into account, and his constant need to go "nahnahnahnah I can't hear you my movie is great the way it is", it's not surprising.

 

On another note, I really LMAO'd at Quinto's & his associate's indignation & fury : really, guys ? You mean you didn't expect the guy who makes stupid, offensive, crass & vulgar youtube vids to make a stupid, offensive, crass & vulgar movie ? *sigh*

 

On Ah-na's front, not much to say. The girls all looking & sounding like Ah-na each other shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, and... uh... well, that's about it. Oh, yeah, I appreciated the brief, random Ashley Williams cameo.

[biakbiak]

The girls all looking & sounding like Ah-na each other shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, and... uh... well, that's about it.

 

It was even mentioned during casting!

[WaltersHair]

I shouldn't be surprised by how insulated Shane made himself during the screening's criticism, but I am. For someone who can dish out every insulting joke under the sun,he certainly can't take critiquing even when he populated the audience with his 'homies'. No one in his movie is likeable and the over-acting was excruciating to sit through (Alien Aunt anyone?) His movie may do better, and he may actually win The Chair, but will anyone want to work with him in the future? He needs to grow up, both emotionally and cinematically.

 

As for Anna, I agreed with the test audience that the sheer number of characters and their physical similarities was bewildering. Showing Heather (it was Heather, right?) eating candy in a store and acting squirrely as an introduction to the audience was a big turn off. Overall, I really liked her movie and I hope it does well. I think she needs to cut her posse loose for future ventures, but I don't see that happening.

[Gregg247]

The only 2 times I've ever liked Zachary Quinto:

 

1. During that funny car commercial he did with Leonard Nimoy.

2. When he said in no uncertain terms (and without any Hollywood feel-good b.s.) how much he hated Shane's movie, how angry he was that $850k was wasted on it, and how he refused to have his name associated with it.  Bravo, Sylar!

 

I find Ah-na excruciating to watch, but I did admire how open she was to finding out what audiences liked and didn't like about her movie.  Hopefully, she'll be able to use some of that information to make her movie better.

 

Shane, of course, doesn't want to hear anything negative at all.  He recruited a test screening of just his friends and fans, and he STILL didn't have the guts to listen to what they said.  He's already constructing a big scenario in his head about how nobody "gets it" except for his true fans, and only THEY know how much of a genius he is.  He's going to get stuck in this constantly shrinking loop of only listening to his most rabid fans, and he won't even notice that. over time, he'll have fewer and fewer of those.  Sad.

[jaj]

I shouldn't be surprised by how insulated Shane made himself during the screening's criticism, but I am. For someone who can dish out every insulting joke under the sun,he certainly can't take critiquing even when he populated the audience with his 'homies'. No one in his movie is likeable and the over-acting was excruciating to sit through (Alien Aunt anyone?) His movie may do better, and he may actually win The Chair, but will anyone want to work with him in the future? He needs to grow up, both emotionally and cinematically.

Yes. Found this interesting and it explains a lot. Dude, if you wanna go around writing raunchy, offensive jokes, then you need to learn how to take it when people tell you they are offended. Kudos to Anna for requesting a test audience and actually listening to the feedback. Felt like she was really interested in hearing actual feedback. The two female leads in her movie  do look alike, and the only reason I knew they were different was because I watched the show. 

 

They also did a lot of editing with the Quinto scene, makes me think it wasn't nearly as dramatic as they wanted it to be. They basically showed the whole clip in the preview. I thought there'd be more. I liked that he pointed out that some of that stuff was offensive, since apparently the rest of them thought it was so LOL funny. Baffling to me, especially in light of the reviews. 

[absnow54]

"He's not being racist for the sake of being racist!" was the quote of the night for me after Zachary Quinto's rant. What exactly was the point of all his racist, rapey jokes other than to reinforce damaging stereotypes for cheap laughs?

 

The kid gloves they had to use around Shane was embarrassing. He's lived in this YouTube bubble where all of his feedback has been faceless comments under his video, and I don't think you find bigger assholes on this planet than in the comment section of any website, so I see why he's so quick to dismiss any negative opinions because he's only used to the extremes, but if he wants to make it in this business, he needs to put on some big boy pants. And his reaction to Lauren's small criticism about the pacing and how it supported the feedback Chris Moore gave him during the script stage, and how someone deigned to prove Shane wrong on camera. Oh Shane. You really are a Dawson. *facepalm*

[LotusFlower]

Anna - I've watched the whole show, every episode, and then the movie, and yet it still took me awhile to realize Tori wasn't Heather for a good scene or two (and this was before I watched tonight's episode with everyone saying this). So even with all this feedback, they either didn't agree, or didn't address it, or they did, but it still didn't work (at least for me). I liked how open Anna seemed to the process, though, and most importantly, she seemed to keep her eye on the prize.

Shane - How old is he? Because he acted like a spoiled brat who needed constant praise and validation. And maybe when you're Martin Scorsese you can forego focus groups and trust your instincts, but when you're an unknown first-time director who's only made YouTube videos? Even sadder for me was watching Chris Moore and every other producer laughing hysterically at Shane's movie. I guess it explains why the bulk of mainstream Hollywood movies are made for teenage boys.

But saddest is the prediction that Shane will win, due not to the merits of the movie, but to his large fan base. The fix was in when they pitted a well-known personality vs. an unknown, right? If it's any consolation for Anna, I think she has a future in the biz, due to her talent and professionalism. Plus, I think people in the industry who watched The Chair (and Hollidaysburg) will want to work with her. Shane? I think most will react like Zachary Quinto. Shane was like an ebola patient to him -- he wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

[biakbiak]

You can totally see that everyone from "The Chair" realized that choosing Shane was a mistake. Not because his shit was vulgar but that they shouldn't have chosen someone who had such a built in fanbase so that his obviously shitty movie is a shoe-in to win over a superior movie. I mean in the end I think Anna will be more successful because her movie wasn't a flaming pile of shit eaten by a black dude, so even if Shane wins it isn't going to advance his career in film making where Anna's reviews will make her and her husband/brother team advance in actual business. So "The Chair" will be a failure but if Shane wins he will also be a failure and Anna will be fine.

 

I also found it interesting that Shane's bravado failed to materialize when even his friends were commenting on the movie and Anna's special snowflake sat their and took the criticism like a professional. Yes, the expressed surprise over the actresses looking alike but she sat there like a professional and dealt with the criticism of strangers whereas Shane whined about the glossed "overview" from his hand picked audience and producer asking leading questions. 

Edited November 2, 2014 by biakbiak

[Primetimer]

Post-production is underway on The Chair, and Shane's mulish resistance to notes could cost him.

Read the story

[Latverian Diplomat]

I was surprised Lauren was invited to the early editing sessions when we were just told that editing was usually an intimate partnership between the director and the editor only. But that was because both she and I misunderstood why she was there.

 

Lauren: "I'm so happy to be included in this process. I've come up with a few suggestions, and I'm eager to dig in and help you get started improving the rough cut!"

 

Shane: "No Lauren, NO! This is phase one of my editing process where only two comments are allowed: 'That is so funny!' or 'Shane, you are so awesome!' You are usually a lot better at this. Also, phase one is the only phase in my editing process, please make a note of it."

 

I appreciate Shane's interest in the laugh-o-meter approach to identifying the best jokes, but using such a skewed audience of his friends and fans destroyed its validity.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Latverian Diplomat

[Tara Ariano]

Sarah's post was gorgeous, of course, and QuintoRage lived up to the hype for me. It's clear now that, whatever her hiccups during filming, Anna is the actual professional who can potentially have a career in this business and understands what collaboration actually means.

 

As for Shane: someone PLEASE tell him no one cares as much about his hair as he thinks they do. SETTLE DOWN, FOOL, YOU AIN'T CONNIE BRITTON.

[Glade]

It was great seeing Zachary Quinto blow through the other producers feigned obligation to take Shane's trashy, racist, homophobic film seriously.  It's disgusting trash.  And I also don't buy all of this stuff about 'it's just his demographic, etc' one of the most revolting scenes of the chair for me was when Shane was laughing with the ecstatic, immature joy of an elementary school bully while watching an actress pretend to vomit.  He plainly likes what he's doing, and there is nothing inside of him to mature or grow beyond it, nothing more deep or intelligent inside of him.  I thought it was unbelievably stupid when the producers were talking to him about what characters the audience really responded to vs. not, and his response was only to count the laughs....so character development and good acting performances don't matter to him, just slapstick. 

 

I really hope he doesn't win just because Anna doesn't have a youtube following, and just because the original scriptwriter was allowed ten minutes per episode to talk about how much he hated Anna for taking creative control of the script. 

[LotusFlower]

As for Shane: someone PLEASE tell him no one cares as much about his hair as he thinks they do. SETTLE DOWN, FOOL, YOU AIN'T CONNIE BRITTON.

LOVE this! I'm laughing as hard as those idiot producers were laughing at the jokes in Shane's movies. What was up with that? Ok, they're guys - that explains a lot. But they're in their 30's and 40's. WTF? Zachary Quinto gets my vote.

[QuinnM]

Will the real Shane/Anna please stand up.

Anna - Gone is the pursed lip, pout thing.  Gone is the baby voice.  Gone is the overbearing co-directors.  Suddenly she is thoughtful, decisive, in charge of making a film.

Shane - Other than the ugly angry despot so beautifully captured in the screen capture from the recap, the most surprising new Shane was the 12 year old girl that suddenly appeared to introduce the film to his minions.

Edited November 2, 2014 by QuinnM

[biakbiak]

As for Shane: someone PLEASE tell him no one cares as much about his hair as he thinks they do. SETTLE DOWN, FOOL, YOU AIN'T CONNIE BRITTON.

 

Seriously it boggles my mind that he has passionate fans. I mean I literally can't comprehend it. Also, is he Sampson what was so good damn special about his awful hair. Hopefully he is Sampson and now that it's gone he will fade into obscurity.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

"Also, is he Sampson what was so good damn special about his awful hair."

I didn't use the screenshot for this reason, but it happens to illustrate an unfortunate thinness that the Bieb swirl may have been in part designed to hide. Or that he discovered too late.

[Surrealist]

As if I could be any more in love with Zachary Quinto.

 

I didn't even make that piece of shite Not Cool and I felt like Quinto was pissed at me. Ha! I couldn't agree more. He hasn't been on Shane's side since the beginning, but surely he knew what Shane's schtick was. All anyone has to do is go on YouTube.

 

Neal was more diplomatic, but you could tell that he was thankful for Zachary's reaction. I don't know how anyone can justify $850,000 being spent on that film.

 

For a brief moment, I didn't mind Shane as much as a person (on the show) because he seemed very laidback and friendly to everyone. In the past couple of episodes, he's been acting like a brat and he's been awful to Lauren. I wondered why she'd waste time on someone like him, but she knows what's she's talking about and he needs to listen. I gained a lot of respect for her after the way I saw Shane treating her.

 

In the previous episode, I could swear he talked about shaving his head and wanting to grow and mature in his career. In this episode, he seemed to be back at square one. I don't get him. Aren't the reasons for being in this contest about making your first feature to build a reputation in the film industry and gain a larger audience who will want to see more? Why did he bother coming on this show if all he wants to do is pander to his existing audience? He needs to stick to making YouTube videos, if that's going to be his attitude.

 

Also, I was under the impression that Shane's audience was probably, mostly young male teens. Most of his audience is young female teens?! What the hell? There are women who find his humor amusing?

 

I didn't feel like this episode focused as much on Anna's post-production process, but she got major props from me for attending the test screening and taking in all the suggestions. For someone like her, that's probably not an easy thing to do. I like that she seems more genuinely collaborative, even though she can be extremely annoying. I want her to win.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Surrealist

[biakbiak]

I didn't feel like this episode focused as much on Anna's post-production process, but she got major props from me for attending the test screening and taking in all the suggestions. For someone like her, that's probably not an easy thing to do. I like that she seems more genuinely collaborative, even though she can be extremely annoying. I want her to win.

 

I think it's because it was so drama free, there was just not enough footage for them to pull together an interesting storyline. You can only focus so much on the fact that the two girls look alike. 

[Surrealist]

I think it's because it was so drama free, there was just not enough footage for them to pull together an interesting storyline. You can only focus so much on the fact that the two girls look alike. 

 

I agree. Drama free is a good thing, but I wondered if those responsible for The Chair found her too boring to follow. She might not be boring, but I felt like the cameras followed Shane's journey more because his movie was such a hot mess. It's as if they couldn't keep their cameras away. It worked for those of us who watch the show. It's just something I've been noticing for a while.

[Latverian Diplomat]

I think it's because it was so drama free, there was just not enough footage for them to pull together an interesting storyline. You can only focus so much on the fact that the two girls look alike. 

I just watched her film, and while it's hard for me to judge because I went in knowing about the issue, there was a neat little editing trick that makes it pretty clear where Tori is talking about Heather and Scott in the narration that Heather is someone other than her. I'd love to know if that was done as a result of the feedback, and if so, it would have been great to see that change featured as the capper to that storyline.

 

If that edit was already there for the test screening and people were still confused, then I just knew too much going in, and it didn't work as well as I thought it did.

 

That's the kind of detail I wish the documentary handled better.

Edited November 3, 2014 by Latverian Diplomat

[Al Lowe]

Shane's abuse of Lauren for not blowing enough smoke up his butt at the start of EDITING... you know she was wishing she had her terrible hat so that she could use it to suffocate herself.

[QuinnM]

 

Shane's abuse of Lauren for not blowing enough smoke up his butt at the start of EDITING... you know she was wishing she had her terrible hat so that she could use it to suffocate herself.

The latest in the twitter verse has Victor going off on Shane and Shane tweeting how he can't wait for this to be over because of all the emotional abuse he is suffering at the hands of the other team.  It's followed with a little teardrop emoticon.  Apparently he can dish it out but he can't take it.  If I was Lauren during that exchange I would have just got on a plane and left.

 

And for those of you that have a life and can't follow this insanity on twitter:  The best is the Shane fan that tweeted that she was tired of everyone saying his fans are tweens because a lot of them are almost legal or some are even legal.  Yes of course dear that makes a big difference.

[Gregg247]

 

Shane's abuse of Lauren for not blowing enough smoke up his butt at the start of EDITING... you know she was wishing she had her terrible hat so that she could use it to suffocate herself.

 

Is it a coincidence that Lauren's hat disappeared at almost exactly the same time that Shane "shaved" his head???  I think something was going on there among their headwear that this documentary completely swept under the rug! LOL

[jaj]

The latest in the twitter verse has Victor going off on Shane and Shane tweeting how he can't wait for this to be over because of all the emotional abuse he is suffering at the hands of the other team.  It's followed with a little teardrop emoticon.  Apparently he can dish it out but he can't take it.  If I was Lauren during that exchange I would have just got on a plane and left.

 

And for those of you that have a life and can't follow this insanity on twitter:  The best is the Shane fan that tweeted that she was tired of everyone saying his fans are tweens because a lot of them are almost legal or some are even legal.  Yes of course dear that makes a big difference.

I ain't gonna lie, I spent some time going through twitter timelines yesterday with some popcorn.  My eyes almost rolled out of my head when I saw that. He's soooo passive aggressive on twitter, lol! I imagine it is hard not to personalize things when one of your producers writes a harsh critique & the other team, like everyone else who is not a fan, thinks your movie sucks. But that's where my sympathy ends with him. I get the sense that he doesn't seem interested in understanding why someone who is partly responsible for giving him the opportunity would critique him like that. That Wrap article was pointed in it's criticism and I did feel at times condescending to his audience, but his actual critique of the movie and some of Shane's process I felt was accurate. Yes, words like racist, homophobic, and misogynistic are strong, but when you cast minorities, gay characters, overweight actors for the sole purpose of them being used as stereotypes & jokes, make jokes about rape, and turn a female character into a one-dimensional sex-crazed cartoon. What words should be used to describe that. And if that wasn't his intention like Moosa said, then the movie obviously failed to depict that and the end result is still the same. Sure it's all fairly casual in it's presentation, but there is too much a of it. (I'd actually argue that casual homophobia, racism, etc is a lot detrimental than overt isms). Then on top of that, the jokes weren't even funny. Honestly, he can miss me with that poor me, people think my movie sucks, and are "emotionally abusing me."

 

Lauren is lovely. I liked her hat. I'd like to see her direct something. I feel like she could have made the movie Shane thought he was making. 

 

While I think engaging tweens on twitter is futile, I understand Team Anna's frustration. The competition element is very unfair, but then I'm like,Victor, you're grown. Step away from twitter. And I half feel like Dodson wrote that article to let folks in the business know that his company or whatever clearly thinks that movie is terrible and wants to be forgiven for being a part of it. Especially since it looks like they have a movie coming out for the Oscar race.  This has all been highly entertaining to me though, lol

Edited November 3, 2014 by jaj

[Kaoteek]

Eh. Honestly, Shane Dawson might be unwilling to take any criticism into account, and he might have appeared like a whiny petulant child towards the end of the competition, but he's handled that whole social media thing much better than the Quinaz did. Aside from that last teardrop tweet, Shane has constantly asked his followers not to troll the opposite team or the producers, not to cyber-bully or insult them, not to stop being a Quinto fan just because he disliked the movie, and so on, and he has barely complained at all, whereas Victor & co really should have kept their mouths (well, their tweeter accounts) shut, because they've looked quite petty & whiny about everything so far.

 

Yes, words like racist, homophobic, and misogynistic are strong, but when you cast minorities, gay characters, overweight actors for the sole purpose of them being used as stereotypes & jokes, make jokes about rape, and turn a female character into a one-dimensional sex-crazed cartoon. What words should be used to describe that.

 

I've got the feeling that Shane is aiming for something along the lines of South Park's original "let's insult everybody, let's offend everybody, and let's go where others won't go because they're too PC" motto, only he doesn't really have the talent of Parker & Stone, nor is he anywhere near as funny.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Kaoteek

[hoodooznoodooz]

Are we really supposed to believe that everyone but Zachary Quinto was laughing at Shane's vomit and fart jokes during the screening? Really?

[sandwoman]

I think a lot of the laughter at the producers' screening is from ... well, trying to have a positive attitude and familiarity with the actors on screen. When you see people you know doing dumb stuff it's a lot easier to find it funny than seeing strangers doing the same dumb stuff. Especially if you were on-set when things were filmed because you remember everything involved with making the scene. That is my excuse for Moosa laughing because I like Moosa and I want to pretend that he's not an idiot.

[absnow54]

I agree, and that's why I feel so deprived of seeing a real test audience watch the movie. Everyone that watched it was too close to Shane or the production to not have a genuine fondness for the film despite how terrible it was. I wanted to see some genuine "What the fuck is going on here? Is this some sort of joke?" faces. The doc crew missed out on some big drama by not forcing Shane to use a traditional test audience.

[Latverian Diplomat]

The doc crew missed out on some big drama by not forcing Shane to use a traditional test audience.

Test audiences are a (not inexpensive) editing tool. Since Shane has complete control of the edit, they can't really "force" him to use a test audience other than on his terms (unfortunately).

 

Hopefully, we'll see real audience and critic reaction in the finale. If so, it will be interesting to see how they present it. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

sandwoman and absnow54: thank you very much for your explanations. They make a lot of sense.

[QuinnM]

I noticed that twice CMoore tried to get Shane to let a professional edit the movie. Offering at one point that the he just needed to look at it that he didn't need to use it. I think he thought there was a better movie in there and that a professional could get it done. Big mistake. This movie will get him online gigs but a professional cut might have gotten him a film.

[sandwoman]

QuinnM, I totally agree. Resisting having another editor is a mistake I've seen lots of directors make ... in film school. Basically we're watching Shane go through a weird form of film school. It's Extremely difficult for directors to be objective and cut things that need to be cut. The smartest move Anna made was giving the footage to not only a professional editor, but someone who hadn't been on-set. Just the other day, I was watching an early cut of a film one of my friends made (and yes, he's fresh out of film school). He was the director and so far the only editor. There were all sorts of shots that I felt slowed things down or didn't advance the story but I also could tell that those were probably shots that took a while to get. An editor really needs to be objective enough to say things like "this whole scene isn't contributing" or "this cool shot isn't helping us tell the story". When you can remember "Oh it took us allll day to get the party scene ...", you resist cutting it. You can think "Oh I'm being so objective" but it's really impossible. 

 

Anyway, I could go on and on, but ... the long and short of it is: Shane is dumb. He's his own worse enemy. I feel bad for Lauren because she seems competent and that she knows better. But I'm probably just projecting on her ... 

[QuinnM]

Anyway, I could go on and on, but ... the long and short of it is: Shane is dumb. He's his own worse enemy. I feel bad for Lauren because she seems competent and that she knows better. But I'm probably just projecting on her ...

Let us not forget Scorsese has an editor. One that has worked with him for most of his career. That's all Shane should need to know

[Gregg247]

"Let us not forget Scorsese has an editor."

 

You're right, but to be fair, Martin Scorsese has a paltry YouTube following, and his street cred among pre-teen girls in non-existant!

[QuinnM]

You're right, but to be fair, Martin Scorsese has a paltry YouTube following, and his street cred among pre-teen girls in non-existant!

Well I didn't say he could win this contest.

He was interviewed when Hugo came out about the process he and his team went through to make his first 3D film. He said then that things like color, new lenses, 3D, CGI are natural evolution of an art form. He predicted that in no time he would be making movies for the internet. So watch out Shane Scorsese is coming for you.

[PetuniaP]

Thank god for Zachary Quinto! Finally someone says that Shane's film is shite without mincing words.  I LOVED his righteous hatred and I'm glad I hadn't seen the previews because it made the moment that much sweeter.

 

I was truly baffled at Shane's reaction to hearing criticism about the film. During the filmmaking process, Shane came across as juvenile but I never saw his post-production behavior coming. But he's like many millennials I have the displeasure of working with, only wanting to be praised to the high heavens for subpar work and can't hear a critical word without crying and calling someone mean. I'm curious to know what Shane will be like at 40. Maybe refusing to let the bad stuff in will actually lead to greater success in the long run. 

 

I have to say, the online debates, articles/counter articles/twitter wars are a rabbit hole of incredible entertainment. I'd love to know how Victor Quinaz pays the bills because he seems to have an endless amount of time to chase down every article and get into online commenting fights with Anna detractors. He comes across as a petty and not very nice man. I suppose he and Anna deserve each other. 

 

I'll probably watch Hollidaysburg at some point but can't vote because I refuse to watch Not Cool. Sorry Annsie.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

 

Let us not forget Scorsese has an editor.

Well, then she owes him a major apology for the end of THE DEPARTED. Hee hee.

[Surrealist]

 

I have to say, the online debates, articles/counter articles/twitter wars are a rabbit hole of incredible entertainment. I'd love to know how Victor Quinaz pays the bills because he seems to have an endless amount of time to chase down every article and get into online commenting fights with Anna detractors. He comes across as a petty and not very nice man. I suppose he and Anna deserve each other. 

 

 

I've felt that way about Victor, since the very beginning of this series. He skeeves me out. I haven't followed the Twitter drama, but I'm not surprised that he's fighting on social media. He has a decent resume, but he doesn't seem very nice. Especially to Anna. I don't understand their dynamic at all. Phil doesn't bug me as much.

 

Shane is a dipshit, but I'd rather be stuck in a room with him than with Anna and Victor.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Surrealist

[Latverian Diplomat]

I just watched her film, and while it's hard for me to judge because I went in knowing about the issue, there was a neat little editing trick that makes it pretty clear where Tori is talking about Heather and Scott in the narration that Heather is someone other than her. I'd love to know if that was done as a result of the feedback, and if so, it would have been great to see that change featured as the capper to that storyline.

FWIW, they revisit this in episode 10, and the trick I was thinking of, they called in "paneling" was exactly what they added to adress the Tori/Heather confusion episode. So, while episode 9 might have been a little more logical place to put that, at least they did include the resolution of that question.

[Jordan27]

For me, Shane just grew more unlikeable as the show went on and Anna became more likeable.

 

Shane being a baby and not wanting to listen to any minute criticism by fans, or others in his circle was just so sad. 

 

I, too, did not care for Victor.  He just seemed overbearing.

 

And I really liked Lauren.  How she can put up with 10-year-old Shane is beyond me.  I would like to see her direct a movie.  That might be interesting. 

 

Hey, Lauren vs. Victor,  the Chair,  Part 2.

[itainttippithebird]

"I'm all for high self-esteem, but if you don't think you have anything to learn, you won't learn anything."

Yeah, seems like a classic case of a performance of extreme confidence to cover for radically LOW self-esteem, because of whit he has absolutely no tolerance for criticism.