Our favorite bit from the lavish, no-expenses-spared, “night at Versailles” styled state dinner last night was word that reporters actually questioned why some of the “luminaries” were there, at taxpayer expense, wining and dining at an event when the White House claims it can’t afford to put on a traditional Hannakkah celebration.

Alfre Woodard, who was not, as some believe, either one of the reporters talking to Deep Throat about Nixon or that puppet that ate cats on NBC twenty years ago, was asked why she, randomly, was invited to the state dinner:  “I don’t know why I’m here” was the best she could offer.  When pressed if she knew what connection she had to India that required her attendance, she said, “I know where India is.  I’ve heard of it.  I’ve had Indian food before, too, and it was good, mostly”.

Blair Underwood, who was not, as some believe, either an American Idol winner or the character played by Lisa Welchel on Facts of Life, was also asked why he was invited to the state dinner. “Uh, because Alfre Woodard was, I guess.  I don’t know why I’m here either.”

Chicago native Jennifer Hudson was one of the entertainers last night, which we heartily approve of, because Hudson is a wonderful, wonderful young woman.  Randomly, a year or so ago, before she won the Oscar, we ran into her at a restaurant near the Southside where a friend we were with knew her personally and got the chance to talk to her for a bit — she is every bit as nice and friendly as you would imagine, so we’re glad she got a chance to go to the White House and sing there.  She is a good ambassador for the City of Chicago, so it makes sense for the Chicago president to invite her to entertain him. Kudos to her.

But, Alfre Woodard and Blair Underwood?  If the guest list needed random black actors, why not Forrest Whitacker and Angela Bassett?  Has Underwood done anything relevant since L.A. Law?  And Woodard stunk up Wisteria Lane on Desperate Housewives a few seasons back.  Too bad Lynne Thigpen is dead, because she would have been a great, random state dinner guest — maybe she would have come dressed as “The Chief” from her Carmen Sandiego days, and could have told the other guests about India, since that was a show about geography and many of the Hollywood luminaries barely have high school educations so they might have benefitted from that.

What other random people should the White House have invited with no connection whatsoever to India besides having heard of it, maybe, and having eaten Indian food a few times in the past?

Who would you have invited?

This post will be dedicated to all the celebs who use the Peace sign to express themselves!

Angela Simmons at her daddy’s birffday partay

Samantha Ronson loves her peace sign!

Teyana Taylor

FeFe Dobson

Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Singer, Mario

Will Smith and Brother-in-Law at the Precious movie Premiere

Dave Chappelle and Michael Strahan 10/19/09

Amber Rose was spotted flashing her PEACE sign as she left her NYC apartment 10/6/09

Ryan O Neal in a good mood walking the beach in Malibu on 9/22/09

Julissa Bermudez [Purple] at Nordstrom’s in Scottsdale, AZ.

Hum… I dunno what Pink is wearing but she did coincidentally enough shyly flashed her peace sign.

Paris Hilton spotted at Radio Shack on 9/15/09

This is a bad angle. However, Pete Wentz was caught flashing his peace sign while arrving at Warner Bros studios in Burbank on 9/9/09

Skye Townsend daughter of actor, Robert Townsend;celebrated her 16th birthday a few days ago.  Skye also threw up her peace sign!

Allen Iverson is kinda throwing up the peace sign. he he he Allen was spotted in Atlanta for Gay Weekend Pride at Jamie Foxx’s Velvet Room partay!

Rihanna was in Las Vegas for the Labor Day Weekend celebration. RiRi went to say Thank  You and Hello to the Chef who was cooking her food all weekend long!

Hum…Lindsay Lohan was spotted expressing herself not only with the peace sign but her t-shirt. I highly doubt she is against drugs! Lindsay’s nose looks like she just did an 8 ball.

Mickey Rourke

Kimora Lee Simmons was spotted at the Shrek Broadway show with her lil Familia.

Ashley Judd was spotted flashing her Peace sign.

Miley Cyrus got caught waving her peace sign at nail salon in orange 8/23/ 2009.

Usher caught over the weekend in St. Tropez 8/23/09

Lindsay Lohan in Soho the week of 8/19/09

Beyonce aka Beywance

Solange and son Juelz

Kate Walsh spotted in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles today (July 21) through the underground parking garage.

Tameka Raymond Foster

Jo Jo Simmons, Rev Run’s Son

Actress, Alfre Woodard at the Nelson Mandela Gala Dinner

Dawn Richard throws the peace sign at Jay-z back stage

Khloe Kardashian and her next B-Ball jump-off @ Diddy’s White Party

Solange at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans

Lindsay Lohan on her birthday!

Usher with his babyEddie Murphy in LAla la velasquez

Teairra Mari

Drew Barrymore

America’s Next Top Model, Eva

Selena Gomez

Kid Cudi
Angela Simmons
Samantha Ronsonjessica simpson and her stylistParis Hilton
the peace queen, Miley Cyrus

I mentioned briefly yesterday that my wife’s copy of ESPN: The Magazine (published on Earth: The Planet) arrived yesterday.  This issue was their annual “athletes take over the magazine” issue, which as a novelty is at least more interesting than Sports Illustrated’s annual softcore porn “swimsuit” issue.  (Incidentally, there’s been so much outcry over that particular issue of SI that they now offer subscribers the option of simply not receiving the issue if they so choose.  It’s true.  But I digress.)  And featured on the cover was this year’s athlete guest editor, tennis player Maria Sharapova.

So yesterday morning while collecting the mail, I pull out this magazine.  And on the cover is the 22-year-old Sharapova on the cover, a young lady who in addition to her success in her chosen sport (three Grand Slam titles, occasional stints ranked #1 in the world) is also sought after as a fashion model.  She’s dressed in a low-cut tank top and a pair of shorts.  And being a fairly healthy middle-aged man, you can probably guess at my first thought.

Or not.  Because actually, my first thought was, “look at those shoulders!  Gosh, they’re like brick stoops!”

Which makes perfect sense if you think about it — after all, Sharapova is a tennis player, and tennis players generate a lot of their power from their shoulders.  You would expect a woman in that field to have square, muscular shoulders.  Still, I have the sneaking suspicion that that wasn’t what the magazine editors had in mind when they asked her to don the tank top.  but that’s what I noticed, because — and I suppose this is the real surprise here — I’ve never found Sharapova’s looks to be that big a deal.  Not that I think she’s ugly, by any means.  It’s just that I could take a seat at the local mall and people-watch, and in an hour I’d see at least a dozen women who are just as good-looking in my mind as Sharapova.  More if it’s on a weekend.

So what’s the big whoop-de-do about Sharapova’s looks?  I honestly couldn’t tell you.  Again, she’s not hideous looking.  She comes across in interviews as very genial, not stuck-up or anything.  She’s obviously in good health — you have to be to compete on the pro tennis tour.  She’s in her early twenties and blonde, and I guess some guys particularly go for blondes.  But does that combination automatically add up to her being some ultimate sex symbol?  Well, not to me.  I’d be willing to wager that you know at least three women who fit all of the above criteria (except maybe the tennis-playing part).  So Sharapova’s not particularly unique that way.  I look at her picture and think, “yeah, she’s okay-lookin’ … and she’s wearing a man’s watch.  That thing is huuuuge — have I ever owned a wristwatch that big?”  She’s not holding my attention.

Nor is this situation unusual for me.  There is a long list of “sex symbols” that in my mind aren’t really notable, including some that I find for one reason or another decidedly unattractive .  Paris Hilton.  Pamela Anderson.  Kim Kardashian.  (Basically, if you’ve leaked a sex tape of yourself to the press, I’m not interested.)  Scarlett Johannsen.  Jessica Alba.  (They just look … plastic to me, if that makes any sense.)  Angelina Jolie.  (Husband-stealing ranks below even sex-tape-leaking.)  Jennifer Aniston.  (I’m still on her side against Brad, though.)  Jennifer Lopez.  Anna Kournikova.  (An ex-tennis player whom Sharapova has been compared to, except Sharapova isn’t insufferably arrogant, doesn’t have a face that looks like it was molded from Play-Doh, and has actually won some tournaments.)  These are all held up as paragons of the feminine ideal … and none of them do anything at all for me — except Jolie, and what she does for me is cause instinctive revulsion.

The flip-side list is the famous women that I think look just darling, but rarely or never (or used to but no longer) get mentioned in People Magazine’s Most Beautiful Folks in the Universe issue.  That list starts with Norah Jones, the jazz singer.  Alfre Woodard.  Kristin Davis from Sex and the City.  Bonnie Hunt (possibly the funniest woman in America).  Tina Fey (a close second to Bonnie).  Ellen Page.  Annette Bening.  Camryn Manheim.  Joan Cusack.  Nia Vardalos.  Michelle Pfeiffer.  And in the tennis-playing set, Venus Williams and Pam Shriver.

Think about that second list, and you’ll notice some commonalities.  Jones and Page are both short (5′1″/155 cm) and a little pudgy.  The same with Fey, only she’s 5′4″ (165 cm).  Vardalos is more than a little pudgy.  Manheim freely admits she’s fat.  Fey is 39, five months younger than me.  Davis is 44.  Hunt, Manheim, Cusack, Vardalos, Pfeiffer and Shriver are all in their mid-to-late-forties (Pfeiffer turns 50 this year).  Bening just turned 51, and Woodard — this shocked me when I looked it up — is 56.   I think all of them are natural brunettes except Hunt and Pfeiffer (both blondes going gray).  Some of them wear glasses some of the time; Fey wears them most of the time.  Page, Cusack, Pfeiffer and Shriver are … let’s just say they’re not what you’d call “buxom”; I’ve heard Pfeiffer even cracks jokes about it.  And Woodard and Williams are black, which doesn’t seem to equate to beautiful in the eyes of the media (or at least not enough).  But I think they’re all gorgeous.

The point I’m getting at is that just because a woman is or isn’t portrayed in the mass media as the epitome of sexual desire doesn’t mean squat.  When we let ourselves get gulled by the pressure of press in this area, it’s like we’re surrendering our own ability to analyze what we like or dislike, or even what reason and logic tell us is worthy of praise.  Annette Bening is 51, far older than the American ideal for physical beauty.  She’s had four children, which will take its toll.  She’s put on a little weight, as have most 51-year-olds who’ve popped out a few kids.  Her hair is likely going gray, though she currently dyes it blonde.  No one is asking her to be on magazine covers anymore (except maybe Modern Maturity).  But she has nonetheless managed to hang onto and keep faithful Warren Beatty, possibly the most notorious Don Juan in the history of Hollywood.  Clearly she’s doing something right!   So what makes her less attractive than Scarlett Johannsen?  To me, nothing — quite the opposite

But that constant pounding from the media over what supposedly is or isn’t “hot” does damage, to men and women alike.  Men, fed nothing but a steady diet of large-breasted 19-year-old blondes, will start to believe that that’s how all women are supposed to look, despite whatever personal tastes they may have previously held.  And women, having the same thing shoveled at them, will stop believing in their own beauty when they don’t conform to that unrealistic ideal.  And that’s ridiculous for both sides.

I’ve been working with my wife (aka the Supermodel) for eleven years to help her see that I find her MORE attractive than the Megan Foxes of the world.  (Nothing against Megan Fox, she looks okay, but she’s not in the Supermodel’s league IMNVHO.)  And it’s still not an accomplished fact in her mind.  She’s not blonde, or buxom, or famous.  She wears glasses any time she’s not showering or sleeping.  She has a form of CMT (see previous posts on that issue), which plays hob with her balance and ability to walk and makes her unable to gain weight.  She’s chunked out two kids, with the stretch marks to prove it.  And she knows all of this, and it bothers her.  AND I WOULDN’T HAVE HER ANY OTHER WAY.  She is the sexiest creature on planet Earth, as far as I’m concerned, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

So women, I call each and every one of you to appreciate what you have and thank God for it.  You don’t have to be Maria Sharapova to be a sex symbol, ladies — all you need is at least one person who appreciates who and what you are.  (And the first person who does it should be YOU.)  And men, I call on each and every one of you to stand up and publicly declare your appreciation for redheads and brunettes, for short women, for fat women (hey, if some guys didn’t like large women, where did all the large kids come from?), for women in their 40s, their 50s, their 70s, for every female out there who doesn’t get the magazine covers but deserves to just as much as the ones who do.  Because, by golly, you’re not sheep — you like what you like, and you have no reason to be ashamed of it.  Most of all, dudes, publicly declare your appreciation for the woman you’ve got, and all her attributes — because if you didn’t like them, face it, you wouldn’t be there.  You’re attracted to her because she is the way she is, and you know it.  And they must be something else, or they wouldn’t have you, right, guys?  (Naked appeal to the male ego there.)

Is this a call to revolution?  You bet your A-cup and dimples it is!  Real-life humans of the world, unite — you have nothing to lose but someone else’s silly expectations!  Let’s march!

Canadian television network ichannel launches its ninth season on Monday, September 21^st, including new programs that address the “good and bad news” of our ecology, as well as several star-empowered charities and their “A” List supporters. 

New in-house production “Celebrity Soapbox” provides a forum for Hollywood stars, recording artists and the like to elaborate upon causes for which they are both well informed and dedicated.  Early scheduled guests include Ted Danson, Chantal Kreviazuk, Wyclef Jean and Indigo Girls.

Ted Danson’s concerns lie with saving oceans, so the former Cheers star’s Celebrity Soapbox episode fits right in with another prominent topic on ichannel’s 2009-2010 program roster:  our embattled environment.  A new ichannel in-house production, slated for premiere in January 2010, is Green Diaries.  The program features Candice Batista, host of “Pet Central” on The Pet Network and known for her work as a veteran environmental reporter; Batista travels across Canada assessing regional planet preservation efforts, with appropriate congratulatory or reproachful evaluations.  Green Diaries will be followed by the Robert Redford hosted Global Focus, profiling initiators of ecological directives across our planet. 

The “idoc” documentary series returns with themes that include a brothel-eye-view of larger-than-life working girl Xavier Hollander in Happy Hooker: Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary, the self-explanatory title We Love Cigarettes, the heart-wrenching Breast Cancer Diaries, a portrait of gender-based genocide called India’s Missing Girls, an eye-opening profile of Nigeria’s religion-infused legal system Inside a Shari’ah Court, along with several short series including the works of award-winning documentarian Louis Theroux, and the nail-biting real event dramatization series Special Forces Heroes.  Undoubtedly the most notable milestone for ichannel this season is the introduction of the network’s first self-produced feature documentary; Milk War follows impassioned Durham, Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt’s battle to legalize the sale of unpasteurized milk.      

ichannel’s flagship debate and discussion forum @issue is back to challenge and explore headlines through the assertions and insights of opinionated authoritative guests; this season promises to be the most explosively controversial series of programs in the franchise’s history.    The Film is back this Fall season, with new award winning films and major marquee stars.   Another star-packed entry into the ichannel lineup is St. Elsewhere; the Emmy and Peabody award-winning drama features the early work of Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, Howie Mandel, Bruce Greenwood, Alfre Woodard, Helen Hunt, and Ed Begley, Jr.  Other favourites like MSI, Helen Help Us! and Drug Class return with new episodes. 

For a complete listing and schedule of ichannel’s fall shows, visit www.ichannel.ca.  ichannel – Intelligent Television - is available by subscription through local cable and satellite television providers across Canada.  The digital cable network is owned and operated by Stornoway Communications.   

For further information, contact:  Rosemary Fusca, (416) 756-5523, rfusca@stornoway.com

I’m in Washington, D.C. today with The Creative Coalition joining a delegation of artists from The Creative Coalition headed Creative Coalition president – actor Tim Daly along with Dana Delany, Alfre Woodard, Matthew Modine, Kerry Washington and Rachael Leigh Cook presenting my book “Art & Soul” to The White House and Congress to support public funding for arts and arts education.

The book features my portraits of celebrities including Tim Daly, Alfre Woodard, Kerry Washington, Dana Delany, Tony Bennett, Anne Hathaway, Zooey Deschanel, Alyssa Milano, Ellen Burstyn and David Hyde Pierce accompanied by handwritten personal testimonials from each artist which express their support for the importance of the arts in our lives.

The project was made possible through generous sponsorship from Hachette Filipacchi Media, American PHOTO and Sony. My thanks to Kayla Lindquist, of Sony Artisan’s of Imagery program, Robin Bronk, Barbara Horvath and Briana Mulherin of The Creative Coalition, Jeffrey Roberts, Al Silvestri, Alissa Reynolds, Anna Martin, Athos Kyriakides, David Schonauer and Russell Hart of American PHOTO and Hachette Filipacchi Media, Eileen Gittins and Robin Goldberg of Blurb, Arri Weeks and Matthew Schulert, our fabulous digital tech from Splashlight, Joel Warren and Eddie Tricomi and over a dozen hair and make-up artists from Warren-Tricomi and Ted Okada, Steve Sommers, Phil Lubell, Kristen Elder and Mark Weir of Sony. But my biggest and deepest thanks goes to my lovely wife Fazia who always makes sure everyone always look great on our shoots – thanks for believing in me all of these years…

Friday night we’ll all be with director Barry Levinson for the Washington, D.C. premiere of his documentary film PoliWood, which examines the intersection of celebrity and politics. The film debuted last Friday to a sold-out theater at the Tribeca Film Festival. Catch it if you can! Things wrap up Saturday with the White House Correspondents’ Brunch and Dinner

EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 camera
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8
Sony Zeiss 85/1.4
Profoto 7A 2400 Packs
Profoto 7 Heads

American Violet tells the story of Dee Roberts, a young Texas woman who is swept up in a drug raid on her housing project and wrongfully accused of dealing drugs. Based on a true story, the film highlights one Texas district attorney’s agenda of targeting poor black communities and bolstering his conviction rate by forcing suspects (some innocent, some not) to plea bargain. Dee, who holds fast to the fact that she has done nothing wrong, eventually teams up with two ACLU lawyers and a local lawyer to mount a civil suit against the DA’s racist agenda. Their suit is successful insofar as they are able to dismantle the drug task force targeting poor communities, expunging their records, and obtaining a nominal settlement. While not the best film, the movie does highlight the severe problems with this country’s criminal justice system and its disparate treatment and impact on poor people of color. Yet it also provides hope that there are some people who are courageous enough to put their lives on the line to do what’s right and obtain at least a modicum of justice. Nicole Beharie, who plays Dee, is a talented Juliard-trained actress and will be one to watch as her career blossoms. Alfre Woodard is also featured as Dee’s mother.

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There’s a new film that came out yesterday titled American Violet. The film stars Nicole Beharie, Alfre Woodard, Charles S. Dutton and Michael O’Keefe.  American Violet is in limited release.

American Violet is loosely based on the real life story of the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Task Force case in Texas. Dozens of residents, mostly African Americans, were arrested on charges of selling cocaine.   The film focuses on Dee Roberts, a mother of four, portrayed by Nicole Beharie.  Dee’s character is based on Regina Kelly, who was one of the many residents falsely arrested in Hearne, Texas.

A documentary based on this case, Tulia, Texas was shown on PBS’s Independent Lens earlier this year.

The movie has been receiving some pretty good reviews.  I’m glad to see that whoever cast this film didn’t go the usual Hollywood route when it comes to black actresses by hiring some r&b singer for the leading female role if you know what I mean.  As a matter of fact they cast a newcomer in the leading role of Dee Roberts.  You know this is a rare moment for a black actress who’s also a Julliard graduate.

Check out an interview with Nicole Beharie at Beliefnet.com and an interview with Regina Kelly and American Violet writer Bill Haney at HollywoodChicago.

Based on real events and set in small town Texas in the year 2000, American Violet tells the story of Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), a 24 year old African-American mother of four who is swept up in a drug raid and falsely accused based on the uncorroborated testimony of a single informant. Despite the urgings of her mother Alma (Alfre Woodard), Dee rejects a plea bargain that would release her from jail but forever brand her as a felon. With the custody of her children at stake, she instead decides to take on the powerful district attorney behind it all, Calvin Beckett (Michael O’Keefe). Roberts finds herself in an unlikely alliance with ACLU attorney David Cohen (Tim Blake Nelson) and former local narcotics officer Sam Conroy (Will Patton). With inspiring courage and dignity, Dee overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles, forever changing her and the Texas justice system.

I was overcome by a feel-good moment. The kind of moment that puts a smile on your soul and makes the joy inside of you unerasable. That’s what the movie  ‘American Violet’ did; it made me smile inward for a change. The movie was about more than a young Black mother wrongfully accused. More than the seemingly insurmountable odds that peaked too high for a weak person to climb. To me American Violet was about perseverance in the face of blind justice. More so American Violet or Regina Kelly; who American Violet was based on, reminded me that you can’t measure the strength of a Black woman. In this day and age where some young Black women carry labels depicting themselves in the most unflattering of lights, Regina Kelly reminded me why she and her kind  is the fabric of my people. Their strength keeps us woven together no matter how much the ends may fray…

This is one of my favorite all-time family history related movies. It’s called “Down in the Delta” and was released in 1998 and directed by Maya Angelou. It’s about a woman named Rosa Lynn, living in Chicago, who sends her troubled daughter Loretta and her grandchildren down to her family home in rural Mississippi. What follows is the best of family movies, a tender tale showing how the love of family can heal the deepest of wounds. There’s a terrific segment about the family’s enslaved roots and I found as a genealogist that this film particularly touched me. Please rent it if you haven’t yet. And tell me what you thought!

 If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full? Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, because Christ wasn’t a woman!

Where did your Christ come from?

From God and a woman!

Man had nothing to do with Him….

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they are asking to do it, the men better let them.

The allure of the Paramount Lot has taken on the guise of the CBS lexicon. For the CBS Set Visit Studio Day of the TCA Summer 09 Press Tour, the possibilities were in force with two distinctly different new series in different stages of extension. One uses the power of CSI and brings it into the medical profession. The other takes a tried and true franchise and seemingly gives a heap more coolness, fun and sex appeal.

Three Rivers Entering into the red and orange slick set of this new medical drama, the aspect is of realism. But upon hearing from show runner Carol Barbee, the essence comes from the paradox of true life. The design mirrors in many ways the layout of the Cleveland Clinic which Robin Williams only mentioned yesterday in terms of where he had his heart surgery. This new drama is set in Pittsburgh as the center of transplants central. Nowadays the medical technology can do a lot more than since the time of “St. Elsewhere” which cast member Alfre Woodard was on with Denzel Washington. The first thing that expands when lookng at the set is the amount of plasmas permeating throughout that have a little bit of the CSI tinge to it. Turns out all the monitors are being controlled from a secret compartment between the sets run by 3D Mike. 3D, who was given his name by director Steven Soderbergh on “Oceans 11” is responsible for all the killer graphics. This all comes under the auspice of Rob Bailey, one of the key minds currently behind CSI: NY who the CBS Brass brought over to work on the show. Carol works the character and story but Bailey seems to be the one to work the style.  The shooting on the series post pilot had only started a couple days ago. They were reworking it since the first one was shot in Pittsburgh itself in a shut down hospital. New characters were added specifically Alfre’s character who hired everyone at the hospital. The lead is Alex O’Loughlin who killed last year in the underrated cult CBS  series “Moonlight” (originally known as “Twilight”) which 3D worked on.

O’Loughlin said during the press conference that he got really into the science of it. He was able to witness a couple surgeries and was proud of himself that he didn’t pass out. The key of the show is that Three Rivers is the hub of the action but it also the juncture metaphorically for what happens. The story on some given episodes runs from the victim to the recipient to the doctor. The key of course for a series like this is the balance to keep it from becoming too downtrodden.

Listening to the perspective of someone who had seen the performances in the form of Mike 3D, there seems to be a nice balance between Alex and the two girls in Justina [Machado] & Kate [Moennig], not unlike, in a certain way, the relationship between him and two other girls in a certain “Moonlight” series worked. Kathryn is the dark, serious girl who shows her vulnerabilty and strength that is undeniably alluring but also a little less attainable. Justina by comparison always tries to get Alex’s character to go out and enjoy a real life. You balance this with high octane scenes and there is possibilty. My question was how to make it cinematic without getting too gruesome.

The key was found in earnest and seems to be a Rob Bailey induced element that if done right could be great. It involves when the patient has that moment of either rejection or acceptance, you see their entire life flash behind them. This would be done with a green screen behind the operating table. The actual operating theater which was shown to me is much different than the rest of the hospital although most of the readouts that Mike 3D helped create look like something cool out of “Star Trek”.

At the moment they are reshooting Episode 1 with Scene 21 being done later that night where a young woman Christy either survives or not. Then it is off to Pittsburgh for some shooting on the street to give that edge. Not everything can be green screen. From what is seen here, there is a lot of versatile hand held motion of camera with some dolly iterations. That said, in order for “Three Rivers” to succeed. it will have to find its middle ground.

[Three Rivers premieres Sunday, October 4th at 9pm]

NCIS: Los Angeles After trekking across the Paramount Lot to Stage 9, the inside doors opens into a beautiful Spanish design house which is the team headquarters for this new gestation. Unlike the previous series, the simple basis of this iteration seems sleek, young and cool if the tone is set just right.

Walking in the upstairs glides around you like a combination of Marin County home and New Orleans chill. The study off to the right has the right degree of Indiana Jones antique cool. The Google Earth playing on the Monitor goes from space down into the Paramount Lot and then a wireframe of the set.

Linda Hunt plays the Matriarch of the House who delegates its doings. She says that the space reflects her a great deal in that it is eclectic. It reflects her business and art but her little study (the Indy spot) looks like a museum. Her  curiousity is a reflection of her but she is on her 7th life, as she puts it, with only two to go.

LL Cool J sees his character Sam as the backbone of the team. He is a former Navy Seal that speaks a couple different languages. His boy Callum, played by Chris O’Donnell (who is his partner in this operation), has a troubled past. Callum, as O’Donnell sees him, is purely a loner, LL’s Sam tries to help him with that but he is still rebuilding himself, as LL puts it, as a human being at the same time. Wrapping up the curve is Daniella Ruah who plays Detective Kinsi working with a bit of  international flavor. Ruah actually quickly started to speak in Portuguese. Even far away her itonation had infinite possibility.

As the panel discussion broke, the wandering to the second floor began. The view from above shows infinite possibilities in terms of shooting. The lighting of the entire downstairs “bullpen” as they call it is built through diffusion to look like skylights and gives a great warmth. The inkling coming around the back crest is the impression of the flamenco scene from “Mission Impossible 2″. This set has a great vibe about it if it is used properly.

Entering into the “war room” which it looks like command central, the high tech comes into pay but there is something inherently boy-like and fun. Think “True Lies”. Again that is the impression with the cool lighting but it depends how it is played. Sitting at one of two consoles with major information firepower at your fingertips, the actual working videophones are integrated across the room. On the wall, a touch activated wall-like screen shows that everything here is real world practical. The set has that edge.

As I start to leave the room to head downstairs, Ruah, possibly still in character garb in form fitting jeans and a white T-shirt with silken flowing locks and a casual but killer smile, turns to watch me go. I tell her that she “is going have fun”. She smiles wide and knowing. She looks and acts like a real woman who can kick people’s asses. This might be a good ride.

[NCIS: Los Angeles premieres Tuesday, September 22nd at 9pm]

Jonathan Frakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor, author and director, best known for his portrayal of Commander William T. Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Moving on to directing in recent years, Frakes directed and also starred in Star Trek: First Contact as well as Star Trek: Insurrection, which earned him the nickname Two-Takes Frakes for his speed.

He is also the author of a book called The Abductors: Conspiracy.

For a time in the 1970s, Frakes worked for Marvel Comics, appearing at conventions in costume as Captain America.

Frakes moved to New York City and became a member of “The Impossible Ragtime Theater”. In that company, Frakes did his first off-Broadway acting in Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape. His first Broadway appearance was in Shenandoah. At the same time, he landed a role in the NBC soap opera The Doctors. When his character was dismissed from the soap, Frakes moved to Los Angeles, California and played guest spots in many of the top television shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Waltons, The Dukes of Hazzard, Matlock, and Steven Bochco’s Hill Street Blues. He played the part of Charles Lindbergh in a 1983 episode of Voyagers! titled “An Arrow Pointing East”. In 1983, he had a role in the short-lived NBC prime time soap opera Bare Essence (which also starred his future wife Genie Francis). He also had recurring roles in Falcon Crest and North & South before signing for the role of Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Jonathan & Genie

He has done animation voice acting, most notably voicing the recurring role of David Xanatos in the animated series Gargoyles, and he provided the voice of his own head in a jar in the Futurama episode “Where No Fan Has Gone Before”. He had a small, uncredited role in the 1994 movie Camp Nowhere. He also reprised his role of Riker for a Next Generation cutaway on an episode of Family Guy that also featured his co-stars Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn as their respective roles of Picard and Worf.

Frakes is one of only two Star Trek regulars to appear on four different Star Trek series (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise). (The only other regular to match or exceed that number is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who appeared in all six television series.) He has also directed episodes in three of them (TNG, DS9 and VOY) and was a popular and innovative director on the Star Trek set, often finding completely new ways to shoot the show’s familiar sets. His directing career has included the films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. Additionally, Frakes was an executive producer for the WB show Roswell, directed several episodes and guest-starred in three episodes. His relationship with Star Trek is made light of in the episode “Secrets and Lies”, in which the alien character Max ironically auditions for a guest role as an alien for Star Trek: Enterprise.

Outside of acting, Frakes appeared on the Phish album Hoist, playing trombone on the track titled “Riker’s Mailbox”. Frakes would occasionally perform on the trombone during his tenure as Commander Riker, drawing on his college marching band experience.

Frakes hosted the television series Paranormal Borderline, which dealt with the paranormal and mysterious happenings and creatures. In one episode Frakes presented an interview of reporter Yolanda Gaskins with veteran astronaut Gordon Cooper, where they discussed the possibility of aliens having visited the Earth in the past.  Overall, the show was criticized and pulled off the air after it was found out that footage showing a yeti from the Himalayas was purposely faked by the show and its producers-Fox television. The “Snowwalker” footage, as it is known, purportedly shows a yeti as it is crossing through a valley in the Himalayas, walking in front of a Belgian couple who are traversing the area on skis. The network finally admitted the hoax, and Frakes distanced himself from the show. Similarly, he is also popular in hosting the hit TV series Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction which also dealt in the paranormal world. Frakes would allude to stories based on true events or fictional stories and only reveal the truth at the ending of each episode.

Frakes also appeared in Lois & Clark in the episode “Don’t Tug on Superman’s Cape” as Tim Lake, a rich collector who tries to add Superman to his and his wife Amber’s collection.

Frakes is also currently narrating the History Channel television show “That’s Impossible” which is on tuesdays at 10-11 eastern time.

Frakes has had a relationship with the production of TNT’s Leverage as a guest director. Jonathan Frakes is listed as the primary director in some episodes of both season 1 and season 2. It is unclear but likely that he will be directing episodes of Leverage regularly in the future, as Voyager Alumni Jeri Ryan is scheduled to have a recurring role on the show.

Jonathan works with The Workshops, The Waterfall Arts Center and The Saltwater Film Society, all located in Maine, where he teaches classes on film direction. He co-owns a home furnishings store with his wife in Belfast, Maine called The Cherished Home. Frakes is one of the best known tall actors at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm).

Trivia:

Daughter, Elizabeth Francis, born. [30 May 1997]

Marched trombone in Blue Band at Penn State University.

Son, Jameson Ivor, born 20 August 1994.

Educated at Penn State University and Harvard University.

Nickname: “Two-Takes Frakes,” for his efficient filming style on the set of Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

Has a cow-shaped mailbox, and retrieving the mail involves inserting one’s hand into the cow’s hindquarters. Frakes recorded trombone tracks for Phish’s “Hoist” album. Unforunately, his horn parts didn’t come out all that well – certainly not as well as the horn parts recorded by the Tower of Power horn section. As sort of a consolation prize, a brief interlude on the album is called Riker’s Mailbox.

Is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

Ellen J. Hornstein is his personal assistant/story editor for his production company, Goepp Circle Productions.

Shares a birthday with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

Son-in-law of actor Ivor Francis.

He and Leonard Nimoy have both directed two Star Trek movies. In both cases, one of the films was a time travel story. In addition, both he and Nimoy were best known as the first officer of the USS Enterprise from their respective Star Trek series/movies.

In some of the first season episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), his character, 1st officer William Riker, was called “Bill”. In the seasons that followed, he was generally referred to as either Will or “Number One”.

His trademark beard was acquired during the filming of “North and South, Book II” (1986). It was patterned after a style popular during the American Civil War. He liked it so much, he continued to wear it after he returned to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) for its second season.

Has appeared in episodes of four different series with Marina Sirtis: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Gargoyles” (1994), “Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles” (1996) and “Enterprise” (2001).

Is the only ‘Star Trek’ regular to appear in four different ‘Star Trek’ series: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and “Enterprise” (2001). As well as narrate the 1996 “Star Trek: TNG” audio-book “Crossover”, featuring Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Captain Scott (James Doohan), and Admiral McCoy (DeForest Kelley).

Along with Marina Sirtis, Armin Shimerman, John de Lancie, Michael Ansara and Richard Poe, he is one of six actors to play the same character on three different ‘Star Trek’ series. He played Commander William T. Riker in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and “Enterprise” (2001). He also played the transporter double of this character, Lieutenant W. Thomas Riker, in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993).

Along with Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Colm Meaney and Jeffrey Combs, he is one of only six actors to appear in the finales of two different “Star Trek” series (“Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) and “Enterprise” (2001)).

Has appeared with Kate Mulgrew in four different productions: Camp Nowhere (1994), “Gargoyles” (1994), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

Godmother of his son Jameson is Elizabeth Berman (wife of Rick Berman-Star Trek producer/writer/creator)

Is the only actor who has appeared on “Star Trek” to share scenes with regulars from all five series (“Star Trek” (1966), “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and “Enterprise” (2001)): James Doohan in the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) episode “Relics”, the entire cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) in every episode of the series, Avery Brooks, Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell and Colm Meaney in the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993) episode “Defiant”, Armin Shimerman in the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) episodes “Haven”, “The Last Outpost” and “Firstborn”, Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ in the “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) episode “Death Wish” and the entire cast of “Enterprise” (2001) in the series finale “These Are the Voyages…”.

Along with Tim Russ, he is one of only two actors who have appeared in “Star Trek” to share scenes with four of the five captains: Patrick Stewart in every episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), Avery Brooks in the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993) episode “Defiant”, Kate Mulgrew in the “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) episode “Death Wish” and Scott Bakula in the “Enterprise” (2001) finale “These Are the Voyages…”.

He has played the same character, Commander William T. Riker, in four different series: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995), “Enterprise” (2001) and “Family Guy” (1999).

When preparing for his audition for the role of Commander William T. Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, he had to watch videotapes from the original episodes because he knew nothing about the original Star Trek series.

Was interviewed and cast for Cdr. Riker personally by Gene Roddenberry. He told Frakes that he saw a certain, authoritative “glint” in his eye for that part which reminded him of his self, years ago, while in the LAPD and Air Force.

Shares first and last name with mid-20th Century aviator and stunt man Jonathan Frakes.

Along with Marc Alaimo, Rosalind Chao, Jeffrey Combs, John de Lancie, Michael Dorn and Tim Russ, he is one of only seven actors to appear in ten different seasons of “Star Trek”: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) Seasons One through Seven, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993) Season Three, “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) Season Two and “Enterprise” (2001) Season Four.

Has written the sci-fi-book “The Abductors: Conspiracy” along with Dean Wesley Smith.

Calls Alfre Woodard his “godmother”. The two became friends as young actors in the 1970’s.