I had no idea about his plagiarized scandal, but you can tell that Shia doesn’t take criticism like a man. Some artists fall into a plagiarized scandal but they don’t act like he did. For example, when Coldplay plagiarized Joe Satriani. They settle that scandal like grown men with an out-of-court settlement, instead of whining and then “quitting” from public life.
What does that even mean? Is he not going to go outside anymore? Is he not going to do interviews? Is he going to stop acting all together? Are paparazzi magically going to disappear because he announced his retirement? Obviously, he will be back to his public life soon.
Now, about my experiences with Shia, I saw him a couple times and I have a very fond memory of those times. Not because of him, but because it was the same day I saw Paul McCartney for the first time. They sent me to LAX specifically for a Shia’s departing flight, but when I got there, other paparazzi were waiting at arrivals. The other paps didn’t know about Shia’s departure, but I had no idea that McCartney would be arriving. It was still one of the most surreal experiences in my life. Needless to say I didn’t give a shit about Shia anymore and concentrated on McCartney. Besides, Shia has never been a good sale and he is pretty much a dick. With all that said, I did enjoy one movie by him, Disney’s Holes.
These were taken on February 5th, 2009. The first picture is before McCartney arrived in Terminal 4. Then Shia and Paul had a brief moment in the elevator since they both got in the same one. Then I shot the rest of the pictures of him through security after Sir McCartney was already gone.
I saw him more than twice, but I only have one other folder of him in my hard drive. I also remember this day very well, since he got away with his girlfriend in a really good cat and mouse game done by an airport helper. They were being led by a celebrity greeter that has been working greeting celebrities at LAX since 1983 (three years before I was born!) They arrived in the lower level of Terminal 3, which in most cases means that their car was waiting in the same lower level. When they saw me, they put their heads down, I gave them space and was ready to get pictures once they were outside. But then the greeter yelled “NOW!” and they sprinted towards the escalator leaving me behind and without any good pictures. Shia won that day.
Matingas 