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Even after escaping his infamous phone-based assault of a New York concierge with the most delicate of judicial wrist-slaps, telecommunications quality-control advocate Russell Crowe still has found something to gripe about:

Russell Crowe says he believes the media blew his phone-throwing incident out of proportion.


"I got a $160 court-cost fine for something that would have had more newsprint about it than some very horrific and specific things that we should know about in our community," he told reporters in Melbourne. [...]

"Traveling businessmen get touchy or testy with hotel staff in every major city all around the world," Crowe said. "That doesn't excuse the fact that I lost my temper … What I did was stupid. I admitted that straight away."

We had a feeling that after Crowe finally crawled out of the well of self-pity, he'd once again embrace his trademark "Every ass in this room has been freshly kicked, so it is now time for the recording of the names" macho-defiant pose. Genuine contrition, after all, is for pussies.