Celebrities, Cameras, Bears... oh my!
April 14, 2006 3:19 PM   Subscribe

Lisa Spodak has been raising money for breast cancer research by getting celebrities to pose with teddy bears. Here's some of her results.
posted by Effigy2000 (33 comments total)
 
Holy shit, please tell me Rue McClannahan is in a revival of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane these days.
posted by scody at 3:22 PM on April 14, 2006


Treacly AND desparate, what a combo! Or am I just grumpy?
posted by billysumday at 3:25 PM on April 14, 2006


David Cronenberg looks just like I think he should.
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 3:27 PM on April 14, 2006


Or am I just grumpy?

At least you didn't jump on the "Here's some of her results." grammar-nazi bandwagon. I'm in a pretty bad mood today, so it took all I had to back off.
posted by thanotopsis at 3:29 PM on April 14, 2006


Coolness. Though i suspect she must have gone to a Firefly convention.

Not that there is a thing wrong with that.
posted by quin at 3:38 PM on April 14, 2006


Yes, she's been to a sci-fi convention or two.
posted by O9scar at 3:45 PM on April 14, 2006


I have a very bad experience with grass-root donation projects involving celebrities. A similar effort , but connected to stylish rubber bands was made in a way that

a) only a tiny fraction of the money reached the beneficiary hospital for children
b) most of the money disappeared in "organization expenses"
c) the organizer disappears in another country

this scam works because there is little or no oversight over donation money and obviously nobody cares to sue, it's too expensive. Also some people is highly distressed by the realization they can be so easily scammed , so they react with pure denial aka "oh no it wasn't me, it wasn't a scam you are wrong"

In my experience it is much better for everybody when one donates to people or institution firmly rooted in the territory or with people you personally know and trust for years : that doesn't reduce scam possibility to zero, but if you can't do it yourself ....
posted by elpapacito at 3:52 PM on April 14, 2006


More like she knows people that go to Sci-Fi cons and they help her out by bringing a bear and some tags, from O9scar's links.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.
posted by linux at 3:54 PM on April 14, 2006


A lot of Firefly and SNL people on there.
posted by BackwardsHatClub at 4:08 PM on April 14, 2006


Yeah, a lot of Jossverse denizens (not just Firefly--Buffy and Angel are represented, too) in that group...which is way cool.
posted by 1016 at 4:12 PM on April 14, 2006


Celebrities? I don't recognize 90% of 'em.
posted by dobbs at 4:15 PM on April 14, 2006


Pat Kiernan rules.
posted by saladin at 4:23 PM on April 14, 2006


Rue McClannahan looks like a cross between Devine and Carol Channing...
posted by WhipSmart at 4:26 PM on April 14, 2006


A lot of NY theatre people on there too.

Agreed that Pat Kiernan rules.
posted by sueinnyc at 4:26 PM on April 14, 2006


Good Christ, Hugo Weaving must be filming "The Life and Times of Gabby Hayes" right now.
posted by Gator at 4:28 PM on April 14, 2006


Cool.
posted by snsranch at 4:30 PM on April 14, 2006


Holy shit, please tell me Rue McClannahan is in a revival of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane these days.

She's in her Madame Morrible costume from the play "Wicked".
posted by zarah at 4:41 PM on April 14, 2006


I can't help but wonder what weird thing David Cronenberg did to that bear after the photo was taken.
posted by Cyrie at 4:49 PM on April 14, 2006


The world needs more Alyson Hannigan.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 5:33 PM on April 14, 2006


Oh yeah, and less Breast Cancer. Both preferably.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 5:34 PM on April 14, 2006


elpapacito if she is walking 312 miles and spending 16 days this year walking in all 8 Avon Walks for breast cancer just to scam you into buying a teddy bear, she deserves what she steals.

This is no random thing, thousands of women (and I think some men) raise thousands of dollars to participate in the Avon walks every year.
posted by Megafly at 5:35 PM on April 14, 2006


It's strange seeing pics of celebrities un-airbrushed and colour-corrected and all that jazz. They look like... people.
posted by arcticwoman at 5:40 PM on April 14, 2006


There is no way on earth I'm ever going to get the image of Willem Dafoe brushing a wee teddy bear against his face. EVER.
posted by Football Bat at 5:59 PM on April 14, 2006


Is there anyone in the world unaware of breast cancer at this point?
posted by delmoi at 6:35 PM on April 14, 2006


Chita Rivera is STILL hotter looking than Julia Roberts.
posted by stacyhall1 at 6:36 PM on April 14, 2006


I don't think "awareness of" is quite the same thing as "funding towards research for the better treatment and cure of."
posted by Gator at 6:45 PM on April 14, 2006


Shades of The Red Couch!
posted by squalor at 6:56 PM on April 14, 2006


I've known Lisa for many years and find it amazing that she found such a great way to raise money. This has been a fairly tireless endeavour for her, and while it may be treacly, it's also full of honest and sincere determination.
posted by keli at 8:38 PM on April 14, 2006


Lisa Spodak responds at Whedonesque.
posted by prolific at 12:47 AM on April 15, 2006




Call me cynical, but it seems like there are approximately 4,269 different charities raising money for breast cancer research or promoting breast cancer awareness. Yet it seems like breast cancer is still on a frightening upswing. I'm sorry, but I just think that wearing a pink ribbon doesn't do squat, and I wonder where all that money actually goes...certainly not towards the reduction of cost of patient therapies, from my own experience.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:36 PM on April 15, 2006


Oh, holy crap. I first met Lisa when she was working her ass off to raise money (and awareness) for the Avon Walk two years ago. Last year, she did all eight walks. This year, she's recruited a team. I'm on that team.

The pics-with-bears is only a part of what Lisa does in order to fundraise. She's wickedly creative, and one of those people who seems to get 36 hours out of regular ol' 24-hour days.

And holy crap, no, she does NOT steal any of the money! In fact, given her travel expenses and such for last year, I'm going to guess that she donated more than anyone on her "thanks" page.
posted by houseofdanie at 1:22 AM on April 16, 2006


Call me cynical, but it seems like there are approximately 4,269 different charities raising money for breast cancer research or promoting breast cancer awareness. Yet it seems like breast cancer is still on a frightening upswing. I'm sorry, but I just think that wearing a pink ribbon doesn't do squat, and I wonder where all that money actually goes...certainly not towards the reduction of cost of patient therapies, from my own experience. - Oriole Adams

Yeah...me too. I mean, not talking about Lisa, whom I'm sure is a lovely young lady doing a mighty fine thing...but I mean the all over money raised by the zillions of pink-clad charities.

Cause, mammograms sure aren't getting less expensive; I was billed $600 for mine a couple of months ago (insurance doesn't cover mammograms, apparently). The machines, even at well funded private hospitals, are only slowly being replaced with imaging systems that don't squoosh our breasts into shapes that nature never intended. My friend who is fighting breast cancer isn't seeing any relief in medical costs or prescription costs. If it's not being used to help sick women, and it's not being used to help with early detection by making mammograms affordable and less painful...then where, exactly, is all the money going, I wonder.
posted by dejah420 at 5:30 PM on April 16, 2006


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