They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.
Nah, the news accounts I'm seeing say they called one of the Olsen twins first.
"At 2:45 p.m., the massage therapist showed up for Ledger's appointment, knocked on his door and got no answer. She later noticed Ledger was unconscious and called actress Mary-Kate Olsen, whose number was programmed into Ledger's cell phone, to seek advice, police said.
Olsen said she would send over her private security. In the ensuing moments, the massage therapist realized that Ledger might be dead, called Olsen again, and then called 911. Paramedics ? and Olsen's security people ? arrived minutes later."
The coverage of this clearly exposes the purience of the media.
Just when reports of the sadness of such a loss should have been held with some respect, the press suddenly interrupts its own spongy sentimentality which is supposed to pass for eulogic commentary, lifts its eyebrows with sensational promise, and raises its voice with a sense of gossipy urgence--'hey, look, another celebrity factors in, and what does it MEAN? How does this new celebrity factor in? Was she involved? Did she contribute? Was he fucking her?
Handled with a kind of 'let's look at some shit' mindset, which more or less explains the whole of the popparotzi raison d'etre.
Meanwhile, the overtones of the supposedly less salacious press members are turned to broaden the story in order to expand its play, all the while pretending to be presenting all sides: one serious drama critic states Ledger's performance in Brokeback suggests depth equal to Brando, while the rabid holy man from Kansas suggests that Ledger has been assassinated by Jesus for his sins.
Some serious critic ought to point out that the media's performance in this story recalls the pulpy zippiness of a pimp, or barker outside the hooch show.
