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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Hunting for Bambi |
| 2003-07-17 |
| Iâll leave the in-line commentary to Fred... the possibilities are endless. NEW YORK â A new Las Vegas game gets thrill-seekers out of the casinos and into the great wide open â to shoot naked women with paintball guns. In "Hunting for Bambi," men pay $10,000 each for the challenge of tracking the women, who are nude except for sneakers, and trying to blast them with colored paint. "You can actually hunt one of our Bambi [expletive] and shoot her with paintballs," Mike Burdick, who runs the game and the site for Real Men Outdoor Productions, says on his Web site, www.huntingforbambi.com. According to the site, the hunters also have the option of mounting their prey when theyâre done â and having sex with the women. Despite criticism that the game is sick and barbaric, Burdick said it was all in fun and caters to both male and female fantasies. "The majority of women have a deep-seated fantasy of that bad-boy image, to be sought after by a stranger," he told Fox News, adding that the women get paid $1,000 to participate in the game â and $2,500 if they avoid getting hit. Womenâs groups and legal experts are, not surprisingly, up in arms over the cruel game. "I couldnât quite believe it. [The site] advertised this as really hurting people," said legal expert Susan Estrich on Fox News. "[Theyâre] violating about 20 criminal laws, including assault." The National Organization for Women has also spoken out against the game. "Itâs appalling, and itâs really frightening," Rita Haley, president of NOWâs New York City chapter, told the New York Post. "It says something about the men who want to play this game and something about the financial climate that drives women to participate. The big fear is that somebody who plays will eventually want to use real bullets." But at least one woman who has participated as a target in "Bambi" said people are over-reacting. "Weâre not getting hurt that bad," Taylor, who didnât give a last name, told Fox News. "[The paintballs] donât hurt as bad as everyone says they do. Itâs about as bad as getting slugged in the arm." I can vouch for that, though Iâd say itâs more like a slap than being slugged - not Guns, Babes, Sex, satisfying the Hunting & Mating instincts, the Great Outdoors. This has it all. If he doesnât end up in jail, all participation IS voluntary, after all, heâll make millions. Alley Oop gives it 5 stars. |
| Posted by:PD |
| #14 On O'Reilly's show, a former prosecutor (female) said she'd like to charge the shooters with assault and battery and the organizer with conspiracy. If this is a crime, why isn't regular paintball combat a crime? That would be just a start: Boxing is obviously assault, as are tackle football, hockey, basketball, water polo, lacrosse, baseball and who knows what. they just add a little nudity and the puritans go ape kaka. I certainly wouldn't pay $5000 bucks for this privilege. I'm thinking the whole thing is a big hoax by the famous media hoaxer. |
| Posted by: Jabba the Nutt 2003-7-17 10:45:35 PM |
| #13 If this is true, all they would have to do is get Bill Clinton to be one of the hunters and NOW and Susan Estrich would see nothing wrong with it. It's a private thing between consenting adults, after all. |
| Posted by: Denny 2003-7-17 9:39:41 PM |
| #12 Actually, local âobscenity/public decency/community standardâ type laws should handle this kind of cr#* quite easily -- the problem is how âfreedom of speechâ has been morphed into a veritable license for lasciviousness. The courts can distinguish between political and commercial speech, but have some real problems recognizing the difference between expression and excess. As a fan of state rights in a constitutional federal republic, I think it would be great to give real power to police this stuff back to the local communities that are most affected by it. Oh, and BTW, linking sex and violence is dangerous. Those attracted to it tend to tire of a purely mental exercise . . . |
| Posted by: cli 2003-7-17 4:04:03 PM |
| #11 Celissa: Let's not put the cart before the horse. The whole thing is defiantly "unwise," not to mention bad publicity for a sport I personally like, but lets not start walking down the righteous "there ought to be a law" path just yet. No actual crime has been committed and here are already far to many laws, I think you will agree. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2003-7-17 3:01:47 PM |
| #10 snopes.com thinks it's a scam as well. Here's the meat: Moreover, in common with most web-based business hoaxes, the Hunting for Bambi site displays a curious lack of contact information. Its putative parent company, Real Men Outdoor Productions, is indeed a registered Nevada corporation, but that in itself doesn't mean much, as anyone can register a business for a small fee. (The address listed for Real Men Outdoor Productions corresponds to the address of another registered Las Vegas company, Clean Your Carpets Inc., whose corporate status has since been revoked.) Perhaps more significant is that no business address or phone number is to be found on the Hunting for Bambi site, and several readers who expressed interest in booking a "hunt" have told us their e-mail inquiries to the Hunting for Bambi folks went unanswered. Those are rather odd business practices for a legitimate company looking to book customers at $10,000 a pop. We're still investigating, but we'd be quite surprised if this scheme was hatched as anything but an attempt to sell videos. (After all, $19.99 tapes and DVDs, and not $10,000 hunts, are the product advertised on the site's opening page.) Our estimation is that the whole "hunt" concept was a phony promotional dog-and-pony show staged for credulous reporters. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-7-17 2:12:45 PM |
| #9 Am I the only person who sees the grotesque similarity to a very REAL serial killer who was doing just this with his vicitms? Doesn't anyone think this might be unwise: linking sex, violence, and death? Who do you guys think will be buying these videos? Not Fred and Ethel, but the sick bastard who is already contemplating some "hunting" games of his own. |
| Posted by: Celissa 2003-7-17 12:58:43 PM |
| #8 10 grand to do this? And rich losers pay it?Idiots! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-7-17 12:40:00 PM |
| #7 As a tournament paint ball player I find this whole matter extremely distasteful. Paint ball is a great (is painful) family sport, the sort of thing that fathers play with sons. The sort of scenario playing that my team (BMF Renegades) does is very war game like; and I don't want to give some sort of soccer mom with time on her hands an excuse to start "Mother's Against Paint ball." Plus, the guys doing the hunting in this video aren't exactly the finest example of manhood, to put it mildly. Bad, bad, naughty bad. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2003-7-17 11:32:02 AM |
| #6 Steve - That would certainly solve any legal problems - and the video, well, that was a "movie" - it was all "staged" and "f/x"... no harm, no foul for the authorities to follow up. |
| Posted by: PD 2003-7-17 8:59:16 AM |
| #5 I've read some stories that this is a scam. They have a videotape of a hunt for sale (suprise). The thinking is that the girls are actresses and did this as a one time thing and are now going public to boost sales of the video. I'll bet if you tried to book a "hunt" they'd tell you that they didn't have any openings right now, but buy the video and call back later. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-7-17 8:47:55 AM |
| #4 The first thing I thought (Other than, "Ewww!!") was the problem of getting hit in the eyes: The girls should be wearing goggles. The price for avoiding getting hit is set appropriately high, to encourage canniness. A few other issues: Bugs, poison ivy, cuts and bruises from stones and trees. The girls had better have good insurance. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-7-17 7:47:55 AM |
| #3 Susan Sarandon,where are you? |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-7-17 6:50:10 AM |
| #2 How much it hurts depends upon where you take it. Whilst paintballing, a friend of mine took a ball in the balls - from a member of the fairer sex, whilst taken prisoner. This sort of thing might appeal to him. Strangely, I've found shoulder shots to be the most painful. Can't explain why. If the chick's only wearing sneakers, she won't be happy about clean shots aimed for between the eyes. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-7-17 6:34:56 AM |
| #1 Do any of the models look like Ned Beatty? |
| Posted by: Mountain Man 2003-7-17 3:18:45 AM |