Well, I didn’t watch the Academy Awards, because, well, you know. And the other you know. But I did look at the red carpet pics. You know I loves the fashion.
But I gotta say, some people are starting to fuh-reak me out. Namely the women who just aren’t aging. You know how they used to say that it wasn’t fair that women get “old” while men get “distinguished”? Well, evidently changing society’s attitude, it was easier for women in Hollywood to just stop getting old. Sigourney Weaver, gorgeous. Katherine Bigelow, she’s 58??!?!? Demi Moore, she’s not getting older, but Ashton is – do you suppose she’s sucking the life force out of him while he sleeps? (okay, hee-hee) There was just picture after picture of these Hollywood women who should be dames by now, but seem to stopped aging around 40. Frankly? Weird.
There used to be a progression to the red carpet. First you were wearing a dress cut up to here and down to there. Then the thigh high slit would disappear as the legs are the first to go, but the boobs still looked pretty good (as long as there was plenty of support), so the plunging neckline would stay front and center. But then the décolletage would start to go, so the neckline would start creeping up, and the under-arm wobbles would start the sleeves growing down, and with the poochy tummy comes the floaty fabric. Pretty soon, you were 50, in a snappy caftan, and looked like a head and pair of hands floating down the walkway.
But there’s Demi Moore with the down to there and up to there. With her sadly withering former boy toy. Who may look like her grandpa by next year’s Golden Globes. He’s starting to look a little distinguished.
Monday, March 8, 2010
A little attitude adjustment
I don’t know, I guess it’s just one of those moments that makes you re-think what it takes to be happy.
My brother is in town for a visit with his wife and two sons (three and 9 months). Given that my brother was a bit of a hellion, it’s always a surprise to see that his boys are high-spirited, but basically well-behaved boys. The older boy, C, is a little mischievous and mercurial, and the younger is a pretty happy-go-lucky little soul.
It was raining yesterday, so they were stuck in the house. And while C was laying on the couch watching Sponge Bob, his little eyes just fluttered closed, in spite of the fact that he as not sleepy, and did not need a nap (at least according to him). After about 45 minutes, his mom decided that if they didn’t want him bouncing off the walls at midnight, it would be a good idea to wake him up. Maybe, the rain was messing with him, they don’t get much of it back home in Arizona. Because he was rubbing his eyes and blinking and giving a cranky “No!” to any question – “C, want some juice?” “No!” “You want a snack?” “No!” “You want to lay back down?” “No!” Just more rubbing and frowning, with his hair sticking out in all directions.
I asked him, “You want to go outside and look at the frogs?” My dad likes pottery frogs, so there are quite a few out in the front yard. After a few minutes of consideration (which evidently involves, squinching one eye and frowning a bit), I finally got an “uh-huh”, and it being the only thing that didn’t rate a “No!”, I thought I’d better jump on it. So, we found his orange Crocs, and pulled his sweatshirt hood up and ventured outside.
It was a three-year old walk. Down the sidewalk to inspect the frogs, and the gnomes that keep them company, across the street to watch the water go down the storm drain, around the corner of the house, and back up the side to make sure we caught the frog house.
But once we got back in, the eye rubbing and cranky puss were replaced with something called the “Hot Dog Dance”, which involves wigging, jumping in place, then spinning around until you fall over dizzy. And a lot of laughing.
That’s something we adults could learn from 3-year olds. It doesn’t really take that much to blow out a bad mood. A little walk. Some good stuff to look at. And it’s time to do the Hot Dog Dance
My brother is in town for a visit with his wife and two sons (three and 9 months). Given that my brother was a bit of a hellion, it’s always a surprise to see that his boys are high-spirited, but basically well-behaved boys. The older boy, C, is a little mischievous and mercurial, and the younger is a pretty happy-go-lucky little soul.
It was raining yesterday, so they were stuck in the house. And while C was laying on the couch watching Sponge Bob, his little eyes just fluttered closed, in spite of the fact that he as not sleepy, and did not need a nap (at least according to him). After about 45 minutes, his mom decided that if they didn’t want him bouncing off the walls at midnight, it would be a good idea to wake him up. Maybe, the rain was messing with him, they don’t get much of it back home in Arizona. Because he was rubbing his eyes and blinking and giving a cranky “No!” to any question – “C, want some juice?” “No!” “You want a snack?” “No!” “You want to lay back down?” “No!” Just more rubbing and frowning, with his hair sticking out in all directions.
I asked him, “You want to go outside and look at the frogs?” My dad likes pottery frogs, so there are quite a few out in the front yard. After a few minutes of consideration (which evidently involves, squinching one eye and frowning a bit), I finally got an “uh-huh”, and it being the only thing that didn’t rate a “No!”, I thought I’d better jump on it. So, we found his orange Crocs, and pulled his sweatshirt hood up and ventured outside.
It was a three-year old walk. Down the sidewalk to inspect the frogs, and the gnomes that keep them company, across the street to watch the water go down the storm drain, around the corner of the house, and back up the side to make sure we caught the frog house.
But once we got back in, the eye rubbing and cranky puss were replaced with something called the “Hot Dog Dance”, which involves wigging, jumping in place, then spinning around until you fall over dizzy. And a lot of laughing.
That’s something we adults could learn from 3-year olds. It doesn’t really take that much to blow out a bad mood. A little walk. Some good stuff to look at. And it’s time to do the Hot Dog Dance
Friday, March 5, 2010
Creativity and Process
Last night’s ushering gig was for a panel discussion on the creative process as it relates to movies. The speakers were Brett Ratner (director of X-Men 3, producer of Prison Break, among other things), Peter Guber (producer of A Few Good Men, 7 Years in Tibet and Batman Returns, among many, many others) and Bob Balaban (producer of Gosford Park, director of The Exonerated and actor in many things – you might recognize him as the studio executive who leaves Hollywood and joins Greenpeace to save whales in order to impress Elaine on Seinfeld). There were a few things that I took away (four if you include the fact that Campbell Brown from CNN is prettier in real life than on TV, wench, pretty or smart, pick one).
The first is that the Oscars are pretty much the big ball of hooey that I’ve always figured they were. And are getting hooier by the minute. One significant item I found out is that the only category where you are required to have seen all entries in order to vote is foreign film. Thank you and good night. The Academy just lost all semblance of credibility with me. Oh, I heard Sandra Bullock was good in that. Let me check that box.
Second, and really sad for me personally, is the disappearance of the middle budget film. Once upon a time, if you really, really wanted to get your movie made, you’d figure out a way to do it for between $5 million and $30 million, and if you had any sort of a reputation or were considered a hot prospect, odd were that you’d be able to get it made. But because they’ll only double the investment at best, and make another piddly $15 million, they aren’t considered good business. So those are movies that tell a good story and need enough money to pay for a modest location in the real world and good actors with some name recognition, but you aren’t going to blow anything up, shoot at the top of the Eiffel Tower or film in 3D. So what you are getting is big, tent-pole, franchise, merchandise tie-in movies. Or the Blair Witch Project. And even the Blair Witch Projects are getting harder to see, because the studios are afraid of buying something that isn’t the Blair Witch Project or Little Miss Sunshine. So, anyone who’s a fan of movies where people talk, you may be SOL in the next few years at the picture show.
And lastly, and least fully, I started thinking about something as I watched the 3 people talk. It was interesting to me that the two most financially successful people on the stage (Ratner and Guber) focused less on luck and talent in what they do than on the hard work. They focused on the things that they could control: how much effort they could put into a project and how well they were able to apply their talents. Bob Balaban is less financially successful, but, in my eyes at least, more interestingly successful. He focused more on being open to opportunities as they came along. The acting thing wasn’t offering him new challenges, so he decided he’d take a directing gig and found he enjoyed it. Then he wasn’t that excited with the directing projects he was getting, so he decided to start producing projects he found meaningful. When he wrote a script for kids, and was offered to turn it into a book instead – hey, okay, that can work too. He seemed to have a lot of pots on the stove, and when one cooled down, he could turn and concentrate on something else. Always busy. I’m not sure what the lesson is here on this. But it’s definitely something to think about.
The first is that the Oscars are pretty much the big ball of hooey that I’ve always figured they were. And are getting hooier by the minute. One significant item I found out is that the only category where you are required to have seen all entries in order to vote is foreign film. Thank you and good night. The Academy just lost all semblance of credibility with me. Oh, I heard Sandra Bullock was good in that. Let me check that box.
Second, and really sad for me personally, is the disappearance of the middle budget film. Once upon a time, if you really, really wanted to get your movie made, you’d figure out a way to do it for between $5 million and $30 million, and if you had any sort of a reputation or were considered a hot prospect, odd were that you’d be able to get it made. But because they’ll only double the investment at best, and make another piddly $15 million, they aren’t considered good business. So those are movies that tell a good story and need enough money to pay for a modest location in the real world and good actors with some name recognition, but you aren’t going to blow anything up, shoot at the top of the Eiffel Tower or film in 3D. So what you are getting is big, tent-pole, franchise, merchandise tie-in movies. Or the Blair Witch Project. And even the Blair Witch Projects are getting harder to see, because the studios are afraid of buying something that isn’t the Blair Witch Project or Little Miss Sunshine. So, anyone who’s a fan of movies where people talk, you may be SOL in the next few years at the picture show.
And lastly, and least fully, I started thinking about something as I watched the 3 people talk. It was interesting to me that the two most financially successful people on the stage (Ratner and Guber) focused less on luck and talent in what they do than on the hard work. They focused on the things that they could control: how much effort they could put into a project and how well they were able to apply their talents. Bob Balaban is less financially successful, but, in my eyes at least, more interestingly successful. He focused more on being open to opportunities as they came along. The acting thing wasn’t offering him new challenges, so he decided he’d take a directing gig and found he enjoyed it. Then he wasn’t that excited with the directing projects he was getting, so he decided to start producing projects he found meaningful. When he wrote a script for kids, and was offered to turn it into a book instead – hey, okay, that can work too. He seemed to have a lot of pots on the stove, and when one cooled down, he could turn and concentrate on something else. Always busy. I’m not sure what the lesson is here on this. But it’s definitely something to think about.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Ain't diversity grand?
Really, it’s so great to see Victoria’s Secret start a body-positive campaign like “I Love My Body.” So many fashion campaigns push a cookie cutter body image, and a narrow view of what is beautiful. But Vickie’s jumps in there with campaign that is about loving the you that you are. It’s empowerment.
Look at the diversity they represent. You can be any size, any shape and any color of woman with big boobs, a tiny waist and less that 18 percent body fat and still have a beautiful, lovable body. They really are angels.
[Okay, fer real. It’s probably unfair to smack Vickie’s. They are one of the few, and one of the earliest, to consistently embrace ethnic models, and not have a lily-white public face. I’ll give them points for that. Kudos. But the fem-bot thing, really? And I should also point out that, in the interest of full disclosure, they don’t even make my bra size. A little bitter.]
Look at the diversity they represent. You can be any size, any shape and any color of woman with big boobs, a tiny waist and less that 18 percent body fat and still have a beautiful, lovable body. They really are angels.[Okay, fer real. It’s probably unfair to smack Vickie’s. They are one of the few, and one of the earliest, to consistently embrace ethnic models, and not have a lily-white public face. I’ll give them points for that. Kudos. But the fem-bot thing, really? And I should also point out that, in the interest of full disclosure, they don’t even make my bra size. A little bitter.]
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Have you lost your freaking mind?!?!?!?!?
http://tv.yahoo.com/dermot-mulroney/contributor/34755/news/tv-news.en.reuters.com/tv-news.en.reuters.com-20100301-us_rockford
Dermot Mulroney as Jim Rockford? What was Kyle MacLachlan busy?
I have to say I most firmly OBJECT. Dermot Mulroney my goddamn ass. He can't touch the hem of James Garner's double-knit polyester, western fit slacks. Could he be Maverick? No. Could he be your Local Sheriff? No. Even Mel Gibson, prior to losing his pea brain, couldn't fill those boots.
James Garner is manly. James Garner sweats Old Spice. James Garner could use is fists. But he's clever enough never to have to. Chuck Norris looks up to James Garner.
Dermot Mulroney is . . . puh.
What's next? Bradley Cooper playing Stroker Ace? Rob Pattinson as Dirty Harry?
This. Must. Be. Stopped.
Dermot Mulroney as Jim Rockford? What was Kyle MacLachlan busy?
I have to say I most firmly OBJECT. Dermot Mulroney my goddamn ass. He can't touch the hem of James Garner's double-knit polyester, western fit slacks. Could he be Maverick? No. Could he be your Local Sheriff? No. Even Mel Gibson, prior to losing his pea brain, couldn't fill those boots.
James Garner is manly. James Garner sweats Old Spice. James Garner could use is fists. But he's clever enough never to have to. Chuck Norris looks up to James Garner.
Dermot Mulroney is . . . puh.
What's next? Bradley Cooper playing Stroker Ace? Rob Pattinson as Dirty Harry?
This. Must. Be. Stopped.
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