The national tour of LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL will open the holiday season at the DuPont Theatre on Tuesday, December 1 and will run through Sunday, December 5, 2009.

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL takes the audience from the sorority house to the halls of justice with Broadway’s brightest heroine and her chihuahua, Bruiser. And Elle Woods does not take “no” for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone “serious,” Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.

Becky Gulsvig, the Elle understudy in the original Broadway cast, plays Elle Woods in the tour.

via BBW

My friend, B’s, birthday is today.  She’s the big 3-8.  Only two more years until she’s over that hill.

I kid.

Last night we had a girls night out where Steph, B and I feasted on tacos, drank frozen margaritas and saw Legally Blonde the Musical.  It was great!  So funny with fantastic music.  Our local performing arts center rocks.  We get all sorts of awesome shows!

I could not resist running out to the lobby before the show began to purchase B this ginormous pink feather boa!  The darn thing had a shedding problem.  B left a cloud of pink feathers in her wake every time she moved.

After the show we headed back to my house for chocolate cake and this week’s elimination episode of Dancing with the Stars.

It was a great and much needed night.

Happy Birthday, B!

I have weird preferences over many things, one of which are my choice of books. Actually, I don’t have any preference at all. I read everything, be it a classic and boring novel to a funny comic series. However, the only books that I find worth buying and keeping are those whose themes are related to law, politics, criminal investigations, and the like. And trust me, this fascination didn’t start upon the introduction of Elle Woods in my life.

This is also the reason why I think I wanted to become a lawyer someday–a corporate lawyer. Ryo wanted to become a criminal lawyer. Yeah,  so Ryo, right? That is why when I was a HS senior, my dream course was Legal Management. I learned that if I take Legal Management as my pre-law, it’s possible that I can have my proper for only two years. So instead of 8 years of studying, I can already land on my dream profession in 6 years. For this, my choice of school was San Beda because UP is not offering Legal Management.

Aside from Legal Management, Accounting is another pre-law course where in one can take law proper for only two years. Everybody knows that I hate numbers, moreover computations and formulas.

Anyway, when I learned that I didn’t pass the UPCAT, it wasn’t hard to move one because I know that my parents will have no other choice but to enroll me in San Beda where my dream course is being offered. Little did I know that there is such a thing as “Appeal for Reconsideration.”  My cousin, Bettina Sandiego, is a former Orcom student who transferred to UP Diliman. She recommended that I choose OrCom for my first choice. I gave in because during that time, I know that getting into UP through this process is not a sure ball.

Much to my surprise, I got in and landed in Orcom without knowing what this course is all about. Goodbye San Beda! Goodbye Legal Management! Hello UP! Hello Orcom!

It was during a career orientation when we were Freshmen that I found out that Orcom is a potential pre-law. But still, this means that I will have to take another four years for my proper. That was a sad fact, but if I really do want to become a corporate lawyer, another four years is not enough to discourage me.

What the problem was is that IT’S DIFFICULT NOT TO LOVE ORCOM. With the many possibilities that it provides us for career growth, the path to corporate law became blurry, and the path to Corporate Communications or Public Relations are much clearer. Trust me, this is not a bad thing at all. It may have confused me but a brighter side to this confusion is that I improved. The fact that I’m not caged to a single path or career in the future makes me feel so flexible like I can be a master of whatever career path I actually choose.

The process of experimenting on one’s skills and abilities is not the only thing that made me love Orcom. There are the people, the Orcom people.

Freshmen Years, Lantern Parade

Orcom Class 2010 Christmas Party '08

Having such wonderful yet equally smart people around you can only happen when you are in Orcom-UPM. Be it online or offline, the presence of Orcom lingers. Besides, what I experienced in Orcom is not an isolation case between Orcom majors. The fact that entering the alien world of Orcom was more of a shared experience made the exploration or journey more fun because it’s being done together.

So to summarize, it’s difficult not to love Orcom because it allowed me to realize my potentials in lots of other career paths. And most especially, socialization never stops.

Another four years in law school is nothing.  After more than three years in the Orcom program, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, Ryo promised that we’ll go to law school together. And I just love spending time with my fellow Orcommates, especially Ryo! HAHA

Theobroma cacao: Food of Gods …I feel a choccie expert Goddess myself. I ate my first bar of Milka couple weeks back and since then I’ve been addicted! I’ve only tried the Alpine Cream milk chocolate so far but I LOVE it! Weirdly, tastes like malted milk when you take the first bite but then…you are in heaven! I’ve not known such addiction before…or may be I have with (mum’s home made chocolate, Mars and Galaxy). I don’t need PMS to stuff my mouth up with some chocolate. Sure, the pre-teen and teen me took the addiction too far and ended up on the flabby side for most years of my life until a few years back when I realized that if I worked out enough, I could eat all the chocolate my heart wants and still stay fit!

The dead pre-med student in me would love to write down the name of all the chemicals in chocolate that trigger the choco-high but the event manager in me can’t be arsed. Basically, chocolate stimulates the production of dopamine which puts us in a happy mood. Chocolate also triggers the release of endorphines and endorphines and dopamine are two different things! (Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t. -Elle Woods)

So like coffee, chocolate is good for me because it stimulates my brain to produce more dopamine which my brain produces in lesser than normal quantities, which explains all the restlessness (ADHD!)…geesh.

Chocolates…chocolates everywhere but my favorite is the good old Milk Chocolate. The next task I’ve set myself is to buy the cocoa spice and cook some cocoa chicken, just need a good recipe. *Fingers crossed* Hope it turns out fine like my peanut butter chicken so once again I can rub my love for eccentricity in all the nay sayers faces.

New social media have taken the globe by storm, and started to spread out like virus on earth. They have already tapped a lot of fields in this world. There are marketing, public relations, advertising, social networking, and job hunting and recruitment. And let’s talk in particular the last field.

Remember how Elle Woods of Legally Blonde talked about her self, her abilities and skills, to be able to enter Harvard University, and to be able to be one of its law students? Aside from written documents, Elle sent them a video showing and telling the university what she got. Setting aside the fact that she was only wearing a two-piece swimsuit, this video indeed helped her to enter the university. And this video helped the university in considering her as one of the qualifying students of law.

Let’s not blab about Elle Wood’s absurdity in the film, but the benefits of making a video to stand as one’s resume, and putting it on the context of job hunting and job recruitment. And let’s call this one as video resume.

Before when one is looking and applying for a job, he/she would prepare his/her bio-data; a few years after he/she would prepare his/her resume. But as the world changes, and as new social media rise, these bio-data and resumes are starting to be out of place; thus, the birth of video resume in job hunting and recruitment.

The rapid growth of the number of videos online, paired by the dominance of digital cameras and other video recorders, has created the stage for birth of video resume. According to Alison Doyle of About.com, a video resume or vidresume is “a short video created by a candidate for employment that describes the individual’s skills and qualifications and is typically used to supplement a traditional resume.” It reinforces an applicant’s curriculum vitae, and at the same time builds up one’s skills and abilities. It can highlight one’s personality and can talk about can talk about an applicant’s qualities more than a paper or a traditional resume can do because it offers more dimensions not only to the job hunters, but also to the employees.

In a country like the Philippines, which is suffering from unemployment and underemployment, a video resume can be a helpful medium for job seekers and applicants to advance his or her self over others. Since hunting and acquiring a job seems to be a big competition now in the country, it will be beneficial for the Filipino applicants to have a medium that will aid them in the current situation of employment. Also, this will help them cope with what’s happening on the online world.

So, the question is this… Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba?

Reese Witherspoon als Elle Woods

Legally Blonde II begint nu op Net5!

Legally Blonde is een van mijn favoriete films. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) een ware inspiratiebron. Steeds als ik de film zie ben ik geneigd om mijn rechtenstudie weer op te pakken. Gelukkig kan ik fiction en reality nog redelijk goed scheiden…

Hoewel ik Legally Blonde toch wel iets beter vind dat Legally Blonde: Red, Wihte & Blonde zie ik beide films errugh graag.

Goed, ik ga nu heel snel genieten van de avonturen van Elle Woods  en haar  hondje Bruiser. Ultieme ontspanning!

En lång måndag och en lång tisdag som handlade om det här resulterar i trivsam ledighet i eftermiddag. Jag har ägnat mig åt att äta lång lunch och fika med J. När jag räddat mig ur den nylönade innerstadsstressen kom jag hem och fann Legally Blonde på dörrmattan – ett och två! Innan jag kastar mig över Elle Woods dyker jag återigen ner i senaste Bust och läser om Diablo Cody till tonerna av Amanda Blank. Kan det bli bättre? Knappast!

BREAKING NEWS!

Jessica to make a musical debut! Our Don Sica is casted for musical remake of movie ‘Legally Blonde‘, she got the main role as Elle Woods. The lead actor is Kim Dong-wook (Partner, Coffee Prince, Unstoppable Marriage). Interesting! The two have acted together in Unstoppable Marriage, when Jessica and the rest of SNSD make a cameo appearance as high-school students who bullied Wang Sam-baek (played by Kim Dongwook).

source: bossa747, mtstarnews

Do you think Jessica fits the role of bubbly-sorority-girl-slash-harvard-law-student Elle Woods?
lol I’m not sure about Jess, but I swear lady Tiffany will make a great Elle Woods!

Okay, I admit it, I totally love Legally Blonde. I remember seeing it the first time when it aired on TV (I think I was 13) and I was so excited about it and I even had a little legally-blonde-phase: my favorite color was pink (I tried to write with pink pens as much as possible), I wanted to become a lawyer and of course study in Harvard Law School. Crazy, I know…:D

This is what the film basically is about:

Elle Woods (played by Reese Witherspoon!!) has a perfect life. She is the popular president of her sorority, has a major in fashion and is Miss June in her campus calendar. Plus, she dates the cutest guy on campus and on top of it all, she is a natural blonde!

And now is the time for Elle to become Mrs. Warner Huntington III. So dressed in her favorite color (pink!) she goes out with her sweetheart just to get ditched. Warner certainly won´t marry her. Why? She is too blonde, and with his high career ambitions he simply can´t afford to marry a Marilyn. No, he needs a Jackie.

So in order to win back her boyfriend, Elle decides to go for Harvard Law School (Warner´s there too) and become a lawyer. Her dad (always with a martini in his hand ) thinks it´s a waster on his beautiful girl, but okay…

And of course, Elle gets accepted with her veeeery creative application-video! Now she only has to break up Warner and his new frigid girlfriend.

But Harvard is way more difficult than she thought. So she pulls herself together. Not only to proof her abilities to Warner, but also to herself and to show the whole world that blondes have brains too!

Okay, yes, Legally Blonde really is predictable, kitsch and all that keeps it alive is Reese Witherspoon. She makes Elle such a funny, lovable and sweet character. So if you don´t mind mindless entertainment, then go and watch the movie if you haven´t already seen it!  

Here´s the trailer:

-Katie*

The other day, someone sent me a link to one of those silly lists (not unlike the kind that I make for this column from time to time). This particular list was the 20 sexiest UGLY celebrities. The people on the list were, in my opinion, definitely ugly (which is why I’m not going to list them here. I’m not that mean), but I didn’t find any of them sexy. This got me thinking, “Hey! I should make a list, but I won’t be so damn harsh about it!”

So here goes: My list of actors who are not traditionally good-looking but have that certain something that makes them sexy. No one on my list is ugly, but if they were non-celebrities in line next to me wearing jeans and a T-shirt at Auntie Anne’s pretzels, I probably wouldn’t give them an extended glance. And I’m guessing that neither would you.

10. Ali Larter
Yes, she’s got some nice hair and a killer bod, but facially, she’s more manly than striking. In fact, if anything is notable about her face, it’s those ginormous teeth. Still, her bad self on Heroes is hot, and when Elle Woods visits her in prison in LEGALLY BLONDE, there is definitely something sexy about Larter in an orange jumpsuit.

Du’s Queue Pick: DRIVE ME CRAZY (1999). Larter plays a disenfranchised youth opposite Adrian Grenier, before he had a group of d-bags following him around.

9. Hank Azaria
I’ve always felt that Hank has a certain cuteness about him. But if the brilliant, hilarious voice work he does for The Simpsons and that six-pack in ALONG CAME POLLY weren’t so well-known, he’d blend right in with the rest of us in line at Target.

Du’s Queue Pick: AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS (2001). My initial gut instinct told me not to see this, as any film starring Julia

Clive Owen- he’s not Colin Firth, but he’ll do.

Roberts in a fatsuit is just not that appealing, but my adoration for Hank Azaria and the adorableness that IS John Cusack won out. Azaria plays Hector Gonzales, the wife-stealing Latin lover who provides much of the com in this better-than-expected rom-com.

8. Penélope Cruz
I know what you’re thinking: “Dude, are you nuts! She is smokin’ hot!”
Sure … for someone who is totally funny-looking. Look closely; she has what I call a push-face. Everything of importance (eyes to mouth) is in a narrow little 2-inch space and everything else is hair, hair, hair. Still, something about her hips and the way she stole VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA makes her very sexy.

Du’s Queue Pick: VOLVER (2006). Cruz is phenomenal in this mystery, and no one writes parts for women (in any language) like Pedro Almodóvar.

7. Clive Owen
Clive was probably a gorgeous toddler. Those sweet, expressive eyes, deeply dimpled cheeks . . . but as an adult, his wide nose, that protruding Reese Witherspoon-esque chin, thicker-than-should-be-legal eyebrows, and exaggerated lip dip are the strangest individual facial features of anyone on this list, but somehow they work together to equal one sexy guy.

Du’s Queue Pick: CHILDREN OF MEN (2006). A science-fiction movie for people who don’t like science-fiction movies but enjoy an engaging look at a not-outlandish bleak future. In CHILDREN OF MEN, Owen needs to save the world’s last pregnant woman.

6. Amy Sedaris
Sedaris does her damndest to play unattractive characters on film and TV. Shoot, when you’re best known for the unattractive and awkward character Jerri Blank from Strangers With Candy, it’s hard for the general public to know how attractive you really are,

When he’s not Dwight, he’s handsome!

although she doesn’t seem to mind. The people she won over on the Second City stage certainly know. She’s had small roles in many films including ELF and THE SCHOOL OF ROCK. Currently, she is the unfortunately named Ms. Cameltoe in the Wayans’ spoof DANCE FLICK (which I won’t be seeing. Probably).

Du’s Queue Pick: Strangers With Candy Season 2. Purists will tell you to start from the beginning, but I’m kinda partial to Season 2 because it has guest spots by Andy Richter, Janeane Garofalo and Bebe Neuwirth, not to mention the hilarious episode in which Jerri tries to find her lost virginity (it’s on the C drive). And did I mention Stephen Colbert? Did I have to?

5. Rainn Wilson
You might be cringing, dear reader, because Dwight Schrute is such a cantankerous, creepy, creepy character, but do a Google image search, and what you will find is that if the hair isn’t gelled back revealing a huge forehead, he’s not half-bad looking. Then get rid of those weird short-sleeved shirts, replace the glasses with a bit of facial hair, and Rainn Wilson is a tasty, tall drink of water!

Du’s Queue Pick: Six Feet Under Season 3. Wilson is perfect as the odd and quiet Arthur.

4. Maggie Gyllenhaal
She’s way too skinny, she looks exactly like her brother except that he got the nice nose, and she has virtually no top lip. Despite all of that, there is something undeniably appealing about the newlywed Gyllenhaal.

Du’s Queue Pick: STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006). Will Ferrell and Gyllenhaal had terric chemistry in this witty, smart, terrific film.

3. Bill Murray
Funny is sexy. And Bill has both down, even as he grows older. He’s always had a receding hairline, he’s got a

Typical, unnoticable Emily Blunt.

button nose that really only belongs on someone playing Dakota Fanning’s best friend, and he’s also got a bit of the Penélope Cruz push-face thing going, but damn! There is something absolutely sexy about him.

Du’s Queue Pick: BROKEN FLOWERS (2005). My favorite of the three Jim Jarmusch films I’ve seen, and one of my favorite roles of Murray’s. I’m guessing it’s the best Bill Murray movie you’ve never seen. Murray plays Don, a committed bachelor who tracks down his exes to try to solve some personal mysteries. Interestingly, one of his exes is played by Frances Conroy from Six Feet Under.

2. Emily Blunt
If you know who Emily Blunt is at all, it’s probably as Emily, Miranda’s “number one” in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. She doesn’t tend to stand out, as she either looks like a sullen teenager or ridiculously plain, especially next to Anne Hathaway. But a closer look reveals lovely, full lips and a set of some amazing breasts.

Du’s Queue Pick: SUNSHINE CLEANERS (2008). Blunt plays Norah, the unreliable sister of a desperate entrepreneur played by Amy Adams. Her part in SUNSHINE CLEANERS is a quiet one, with a few zingers and harsh lines, but her performance in this heartfelt comedy is as impressive as her American accent.

1. Humphrey Bogart
Bogart was an ugly man. At 5′ 8″, he was not nearly tall enough to be a traditional leading man. He was bald, had a horse face, and when I look at him, I swear I can smell cigarettes. Yet, his voice and stage presence made the camera love him.

Du’s Queue Pick:THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951). Bogart takes on Katharine Hepburn, swarms of bugs, and leeches in this movie that has it all — adventure, Germans, romance and two of the 20th century’s best actors.

As a self confessed gym bunny, procrastinator, and chick, I’m an avid reader of Cosmo. And Self. And Shape. And Elle. And…well, you get the picture. Reading articles like “One Sock Brand to Drive Your Man Wild” and “How to Get the Perfect Body in Just One Week” pass the time spent elliptical-izing quite nicely. I eat it up: from the bedroom confessionals (you did what?!), to the diffusive health warnings (cigarettes are bad, go figure), to the starlet interviews (this month, Jessica Simpson says, just be yourself!). I love a good trashy mag. But Elle Woods circa Legally Blonde’s assertion that she brought her client “The Bible” aka Cosmo is taking it a little far. Plenty of women jokingly refer to it as that, but I have a hard time canonizing a magazine that reprints essentially the same content month after month. “10 Things Guys Crave in Bed” and “His Sex Fantasies” sound like the same article to me. The juicy and alluring Sex headlines that Cosmo is known for are always conveniently placed in the upper left corner, and vary little with each installment. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for seeing doggy style explained 5 different ways, but the “New!” and “fresh!” tips Cosmopolitan and other such magazines promise every month simply aren’t being delivered on.

This isn’t groundbreaking; anyone who has picked up a couple of women’s magazines can pinpoint the similarities. I’m not suggesting that we boycott these publications poolside, fem-bot out and subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times or limit ourselves to the on-flight magazines when traveling via aero-plane, rather I’m encouraging an open mind. My current fave? Men’s Health. The content is similar in some ways but all-encompassing; the featured articles are generally better written and topics seriously run the gamut. If for nothing else, pick one up to see the hilarious advice men give other men about women. Awkward. Maybe a fitness centric mag covered in pictures of sweaty, muscly beefcakes isn’t for you (in which case we are no longer/never will be friends), but check out something else at the magazine stand. Just once. If you’re all about music magazines, pick up one about technology (Wired) or film. For a newsy but not wholly overwrought pick try The New Yorker. Over the diet recipes offered in Self? Flip through Cooks Illustrated and find something better for dinner. And for those of you out there who are all about The Economist, maybe looking through a Cosmopolitan wouldn’t kill you.

Read your new pick skeptically. Treat it as the average democrat may treat an adventure through Nancy Grace on Fox News. Get out of that box just once. I’ll be on the elliptical reading National Geographic.

Like I said in my previous post, I watched Honor To Us All. Because of that, I stumbled across I’ll Make A Man Out Of You. Anyway, the part that I found interesting was when Shang took out the weights, put them on Yao, and said that the weights represented strength and determination. He also said that both strength and determination were needed to reach the arrow, or in reality, your goals. Personally, I find it to be true because if you don’t have the strength and determination, you won’t be able to do what you want. Case in point would be Elle from Legally Blonde. When Warner didn’t think Elle was spending her time well by being at Harvard, Elle went onto study harder in her classes.

Megan Fox é atrativo meramente estético e Shia LaBeouf é o talentoso da equação, mas sem John Turturro, a nova aventura mecatrônica de Michael Bay teria um destino extremamente desagradável. No fim das contas, o humor de um homem só fez valer horas de pancadaria entre os robozões.

Mais de 1.000 pessoas aglomeravam-se nos jardins da Paramount Pictures, na Melrose Avenue, em Los Angeles. Filas gigantescas, uma equipe de relações públicas exausta – praticamente um mês rodando o mundo – e heróica. Era a pré-estréia de Transformers 2: A Vingança dos Derrotados. O evento dos VIPs aconteceu um pouco mais cedo, no Arclight. Alta expectativa só se assemelhava à falta de informação gerada pelo “buzz” em torno do filme: “é a primeira vez que vão mostrar o filme, vamos fazer parte da história”, diziam alguns jovens ansiosos. Falta de noção. Além das exibições no resto do mundo, a imprensa brasileira já havia visto, por exemplo, e outras projeções tinham acontecido aqui mesmo em Los Angeles na semana anterior, incluindo duas em IMAX. É aquele desejo de “ser importante”. Michael Bay sofre da mesma necessidade e, em sua aventura maior e mais divertida, passou muito perto de colocar tudo a perder. Foi salvo por John Turturro, inquestionável como melhor ator do elenco, dos dois filmes.

SPOILERS!

Em termos de ação, realmente, esse segundo capítulo humilha o anterior. Líder Optimus encarando vários inimigos simultaneamente, num balé metálico e envolvido naquela aura digna de um paladino, é de encher os olhos. Praticamente Boromir encarando os uruk-hai para salvar Merry e Pippin. Com a tecnologia pronta, ficou fácil aprimorar tudo e, claro, expandir horizontes. Entretanto, pura obrigação. Ninguém pagaria para ver os mesmos personagens, as mesmas lutas “simples”. Esse é o lado bom de Michael Bay. Quando as coisas começam a explodir, não há ninguém melhor para comandar as câmeras.

Por outro lado, criou um filme desalmado. Exceto por esse momento de poesia pura envolvendo Optimus, não há mais vida emocional em Transformers 2: A Vingança dos Derrotados – título que, agora, além de esquisito, se torna errado; Fallen, que gerou a tradução Derrotados, é um personagem único e não um coletivo; Paramount deve dizer que pensou em todos “os derrotados” do primeiro filme; bem, forçada de barra.

Há alguns meses, vi toda a seqüência na casa dos Witwicky. Era desnecessária e sem graça de forma isolada. Ficou mais isolada, desnecessária e imbecil no meio do filme. Isso sem falar nos cachorros. Elle Woods teve a decência de brincar com a idéia de cãezinhos gays.

Não é típico de Bay ser tão superficial e bobo. Tampouco vindo de roteiristas como Alex Kurtzman e Bob Orci. Até por isso perguntei a ele sobre o teor comercial descarado dessa franquia. “O filme é meu; sem pressão do estúdio, aliás, a única vez que mexeram comigo foi em Pearl Harbor, colocando muito mais romance”, disse Bay. Um discurso, outro resultado. Não é possível torcer pelos personagens principais. Shia Labeouf conseguiu criar empatia no primeiro filme; dessa vez não. Fácil explicação: a dinâmica familiar ficou repetitiva, desinteressante e dispensável.

Entretanto, enquanto a família Witwicky parece ter vínculos genéticos com o Zacarias, o bobo da corte do primeiro filme retorna em grande estilo para salvar o dia. John Turturro empresta dignidade ao filme com seu agente Simmons, agora renomado internauta especializado em teorias conspiratórias e, claro, robôs alienígenas. Se há algo de crítica social em Transformers 2, ele é a ferramenta ideal. Foi demitido do governo, vive com a mãe, não tem atenção do mundo externo e, quando pode salvar a todos, faz questão de colocar a vida em jogo para “morrer defendendo seu país”. O típico americano looser sonhando pelo momento de ser herói. No meio disso surgem as melhores piadas do filme. Não podemos esquecer de que, por trás desse pateta, existe um dos melhores atores do mundo.

Sozinho, Simmons consegue ser imensamente mais interessante, engraçado e dedicado que os demais personagens. Humanos ou mecânicos. O novo burocrata babaca é tão insosso quanto os soldados da equipe NEST, para onde Josh Duhanel e Tyrese Gibson foram designados. “Dá orgulho ouvir amigos que estão nas Forças Armadas dizerem que, por causa do filme, suas famílias entendem como é o dia a dia deles e suas funções”, explicou Tyrese ao SOS Hollywood. A propaganda militar agradece, embora não devesse. Os soldados são descartáveis, sem vínculo com o público e não convencem ao demonstrar emoção em relação a seus companheiros mecânicos.  Não comprometem, mas ficaram menos expressivos que os Army Men do Toy Story. E eles não são verdes e feitos de plástico! Aliás, todos os pilotos, operadores de avião sentinela e pessoal de comunicações SÃO militares de verdade.

Há muita confusão organizacional na história, com diversas linhas de raciocínio, muitas explicações, muitos surtos de Sam e, vez ou outra, um novo Transformer pintando e bordando, ou melhor, atirando e explodindo, metade do cenário. Isso sem contar nas inevitáveis, e esquisitas, referências cinematográficas. Tem de tudo, de Roland Emmerich (duas vezes, aliás!), Terminator 3, Van Helsing [Starscream É O IGOR!, Megratron é DRÁCULA... e só tem uma noiva gostosa!] , Legalmente Loira a Riddick. E não é caso de erro no foco e da expectativa, pois o primeiro filme é mais coeso e faz mais sentido, sem tanto esforço.

O grande público não quer saber de nada disso. Quer ver explosão, robôs e Megan Fox. Justo. Mais justo seria todo esse esforço contribuir para um filme inesquecível, dentro de seu gênero, onde foi sinônimo de inovação tecnológica há alguns anos e poderia fazer história novamente. Não faz. Apenas adiciona novos milhões de dólares aos envolvidos. “Corremos risco ao dedicar tantos recursos ao filme 100% comercial? Sim, mas é nosso jeito de dar ao público condições e incentivo de nos visitar [cinemas] mais vezes e reduzir perdas com pirataria, downloads e outros formados”, analisou Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, produtor de Transformers e G.I. Joe. “Ás vezes, pipoca e qualidade crítica se misturam. É raro, mas acontece. Temos que manter a porta aberta e, enquanto isso, agradar ao público no Verão”. Pensando assim, a ofensiva Hasbro nos cinemas é perfeita. Investimento = retorno = mais investimento. Hollywood agradece.

Chamar Michael Bay de exagerado é redundante. Mesmo tendo exagerado em Transformers 2. Exagero bom, porém. O primor da mixagem de som, o estilo agressivo de filmagens e edição [ele nunca começa a filmar sem que outras três tomadas estejam sendo preparadas, para gerar fluxo de produção e cortar custos] e as maravilhas tecnológicas são parte de seu legado. Assim como a boa imagem causada perante a Dreamworks por ter economizado US$ 40 milhões no orçamento. Também exagerou com Megan, exageradamente gostosa e desejável. Um exagero de mulher, cujo exagero na maquiagem sempre oleosa e brilhante, ou nos modelitos vislumbrantes, reforça sua imagem de mulher mais que perfeita. E mais que perfeito não é bom. Pessoalmente é um arraso. Linda [e passou a entrevista toda fazendo carinho no cabelo e ombros do Shia]. Sem exagero. Sem iluminação. Perfeição não requer exageros. Quando se exagera, você pensa em coisas como céu de Transformers e cenas de sexo gay entre cachorros. Afinal, Megan é toda exagerada visualmente, mas na hora do vamovê, quase não beija o Sam. E chega de exagero.

Talvez por isso Turturro tenha superado os colegas. Entregou suas piadas e pirações na medida certa, sem chamar muita atenção. Cumpriu seu papel. Tranformers 2 também faz jus a suas expectativas, especialmente por parte do grande público e deve incomodar Star Trek na briga pelo topo das bilheterias, mas deixa um gostinho de quero mais. Chance desperdiçada de um grande filme, em vez de um filme grande. Assista sem preconceitos… e sem expectativas, pois, como eu, pode se surpreender e entrar no espírito. Viva São Turturro! E viva o Buzz, que tranforma filme mais ou menos no mais aguardado do ano!

BUMBLEBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Meu cachê tá lá em cima, ó!

Recently I attended an oncology conference in Orlando.

I’m not an oncologist or medical doctor.  I’m not a scientist or clinical investigator.  I’m not even a nurse.  I’m a patient advocate.  I consult on support and advocacy issues.  I help lung cancer patients who need emotional guidance and support during their cancer journey.  I educate myself on the latest trials and treatments and advocate for cancer specific legislation.  I volunteer for events and awareness campaigns.  That’s what I do.

So what was I doing at an oncology conference with 30,000 oncologists? 

I was recruited by a research organization that advocates for patients.  As a research advocate, my job was to learn the latest in genomic and proteomic studies.  I was also trained to hear and understand research trials as they pertained to my cancer track, which was lung cancer.  My job was to attend the full lung cancer tracks, the education and clinical and research presentations, and report back to my constituents.  I would be the only advocate attending the lung cancer tracks.  Easy? No.

Intellectually I knew I was able to handle the content of the 4 day conference.  I can take notes with the best of them and I came prepared with my handy flip camera and insanely cute mini laptop.  I was prepared.  But I wasn’t really ready.

My prior experience has been with patients and one on one with physicians and oncologists.  This was a totally different animal.  It was an entire conference center full of oncologist and researchers and I was way out of my element.

I wore spring suits and dresses while everyone else was in dark blue, black and grey.  I shivered and suffered freezing conference rooms while others sat comfortably in their dark and heavy clothes.   I have big Texas blonde hair, while everyone else was dark-headed and slick. 

I draw energy from the connections I make. 

No one spoke to me.

I was Elle Woods walking into Harvard.  I felt inadequate and lonely. 

While I knew I could do my job and do it well (all reports and surveys completed and submitted online before my return flight) I felt out of sorts and out of place and like an outsider.

The one highlight was the organizations dinner on the third night.  It was a chance to connect with other advocates and connect with colleagues and new friends.   

Would I do it again?  Yes I think so.  The information was important to hear, the experience an important one to have had. Being able to attend and forward the information directly to my member s and constituents was really important.  I was honored to be able to do that. 

I’m just really glad to be home.  Channeling Elle Woods is not a comfortable feeling unless you’re on a Broadway stage.

Today, I was reading the comments to a feministing user asking if one could be “pro-life” (aka anti-abortion) and a feminist. As I was reading some of the commentary discussing the major differences in the two, whenever someone would bring up the anti-abortionist notion that human life begins at the very moment that the gametes fuse,  I couldn’t help but think that it sounded a little Elle Woods-ian.

For that matter, any masturbatory emissions, where the sperm is clearly not seeking an egg, could be termed reckless abandonment.

From what I’ve heard, most women don’t even know that they’re pregnant until they’re a month or so along.  However, using the rationale of human life beginning at conception, one could take the argument so far as to charge an unknowingly pregnant women with involuntary manslaughter if she gets drunk and that causes her to miscarry.

Look at these stages.  At what point does the embryo/fetus begin to look like a human-being, as we know them?  Certainly it isn’t at one day.  It’s just silly to argue that a speck takes precedence over a full-fledged human being.  Silly.

Great brands stand for something. They project a strong personality.

What personality do you aspire to put forth for your brand?

Can you easily answer that question? If not, Industribrand CEO and 40-year marketing and advertising veteran Bob Lamons has a way for you to begin crafting your answer.

Before I get to his counsel though, bear with me and read through the following excerpt from the script of the 2001 comedy film Legally Blonde. In this flick, Reese Witherspoon is Elle Woods, a blonde sorority queen who’s out to prove she belongs at Harvard Law School.

Elle sits at the outdoor table, ignoring her slice of pizza, as she looks around for Warner. Not finding him, she turns her attention to the Group Leader, a BURNED OUT 2L (second-year law student) in a red t-shirt.

BURNED OUT 2L: “Okay. Welcome to law school. This is the part where we go around in a circle and everyone says a little bit about themselves. Let’s start with you.”

He gestures at a guy with glasses, DORKY DAVID.

DORKY DAVID: “I have a Masters in Russian Literature, a PhD in Biochemistry, and for the last eighteen months, I’ve been de-worming orphans in Somalia.”

BURNED OUT 2L: “Awesome. How about you, Enid?”

ENID, a militant feminista, looks up.

ENID: “PhD from Berkeley in Women’s Studies—emphasis in the History of Combat. And last year, I led the march for Lesbians against Drunk Driving.”

BURNED OUT 2L: “Killer.”

He looks at an intense guy in his late twenties, IVAN.

INTENSE IVAN: “I’ve got an MBA from Wharton, worked on Wall Street for four years, mushed in three ididarods and I’ve figured out how to crash the stock market in Sri Lanka if any of you want to get together later.”

BURNED OUT 2L: “Sweet. What about you?”

He looks at Elle. She sits up straight.

ELLE: “Hi! I’m Elle Woods and this is Bruiser Woods and we’re both gemini vegetarian. I have a Bachelors degree from USC, where I was Sigma Chi Sweetheart and president of Delta Gamma, and last year—I was Homecoming Queen.”

ELLE: “Oh! (dramatically) Two weeks ago, I saw Cameron Diaz at Fred Segal – and talked her out of buying a truly heinous angora sweater! Whoever said that orange is the new pink is seriously disturbed.”

She looks around, pleased. Enid snickers as the rest of the group stares at Elle, dumbfounded.

So, how is all of this relevant to our discussion? Can we cull any lessons on brand personality from the scene above?

You bet we can.

What do we see happening? Each student introduces himself or herself. We get a sense of what they stand for. We get a sense of what they’re all about. We get a sense of their personality, of what matters to them.

That’s exactly what great brands do—they project personality.

Lamons says to get into the mindset of crafting our desired brand image we should think about how we would introduce our brand as a good friend to someone else.

And when you introduce a good friend or yourself, he says, you don’t dump everything out on the table. Instead, you narrow it down and focus on the key information, the most important traits.

It’s the same in branding, isn’t it? You can’t stand for everything, and nor would you ever want to. But you want to stand for something specific, something memorable. You want to stand for what matters most. And by doing so, you distinguish yourself and carve out a position that’s uniquely yours.

And if you’re Elle Woods, then you’re not scared to be you. You don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t. You stand for who you really are, no matter how badly you may want to present yourself differently to fit in and connect.

If you must be anything, be authentic to who you really are.

Personifying a brand, of course, to flesh out its character isn’t anything new.

What are some other ways to think about and define a brand’s personality?

Last night was a very restlesss one. It was crazy windy out and humid. I tossed and turned all night. Bad case of insomnia. In between was an even crazier dream.

I hate reality TV. So anything involving it is a nightmare, awake or asleep. In my dream I thought I was watching one. It was called “World’s Least Likely Drag Queen.” Before long I realized that I wasn’t watching a reality game show, but starring in it.

I’m not 100% sure of the point of this show, but if I had to guess it would be dress someone up in drag and make them walk around the block for cash and fabulous prizes.

I was dressed all in pink like Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, with a pink wig, pink nail polish and make-up. I feel like I looked like a human version of Miss Piggy and sprinkle in a little bit of Divine for good measure. I’m sure this is just my overactive imagination filling in the blanks, but I could swear The Isley Brothers’ “Who’s That Lady?” was playing as I sashayed down the street.

The most frightening aspect of this dream is that I didn’t seemed to be bothered, panicked or freaked out that I was walking down the street dressed as a woman.

I’m be skipping the Gay Pride Parade this year. -fin-

I’ve always loved Reese Witherspoon in those “Legally Blonde” movies, but now I’m a fan at a whole new level.

Well…I recently saw an off Broadway performance of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” and I must say, it was one of the best musicals I’d seen in a while. The musical was set to star Laura Bell Bundy, who previously starred in the show on Broadway. But Bundy wasn’t there. Although initially disappointed because I’d lost my chance to see the original Elle Woods reprise her role, I was soon impressed. The entire cast was amazing! They truly captured the spirit of the films with high energy dancing, and great comedic timing. They also used the songs and dialog in such a way that it didn’t bother me that some parts of the plot were rewritten. For example, the song “What You Want” became the way Elle introduced herself to Harvard’s admissions director instead of a video. In fact, it’s my favorite song in the musical.

So you may be asking why I’m such a fan of “Legally Blonde.”

Well…it’s because there’s something behind the blonde hair, the pink dresses, and the “pet purse.” I obviously don’t have a lot in common with Elle on the surface. Beyond the fact that I’m in a sorority, like pink, and have a mild case of “girly girl” syndrome, there’s not much there. Although I enjoy Elle Woods and her antics so much, her story compels me. It’s a story of triumph.

Now I clearly don’t agree with trying to get into Harvard and changing yourself for a man, but I love that she gets it all right in the end. She has a determination and a drive. And she ultimately remains true to herself. She doesn’t let the negativity and the opinions of others ruin her. She graduates as valedictorian of her law school class and even works with congressional lawmakers.

I know these sort of success stories don’t happen to a lot of us, but they make us set goals for ourselves and dream about achieving the things we never thought we could. I’m a big proponent for vision casting and dreaming big.

If you like the “Legally Blonde” movies as much as I do, you will definitely like the musical.

Now here’s the original Broadway cast performing “What You Want” on MTV.

“…endorphins make you happy. happy people just don’t shoot their husbands. they just don’t.”

Everything I ever needed to know I learned from Elle Woods. Can you believe that Legally Blonde was from 2001! 8 years ago…time flies.

I have not written in two days (oops) and I actually did not even work out yesterday or today because I’m working like crazy both days. Today I got to work at 300 this afternoon and somehow I am still at work and it’s 447 in the morning…hmmm…

So, I really don’t have alot to talk about other than I’m going to be so happy when my work day is over and I can go to sleep!

It is getting warm outside and I’m going summer clothes shopping this weekend. I’m so excited to shop

That’s all I have for now, because it is getting hard to think now that I’ve been working for something crazy like 14.5 hours or something.

Remember…

clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.