The Air I Breathe è un film d’esordio alla regia del regista Jieho Lee, che ha co-scritto la sceneggiatura con Bob DeRosa. Gli interpreti sono Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brendan Fraser, Cecilia Suárez, Clark Gregg, Emile Hirsch, Forest Whitaker, John Cho, Julie Delpy, Kelly Hu, Kevin Bacon e Andy Garcia.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Jieho Lee | Kevin Bacon | Julie Delpy | Brendan Fraser | Andy Garcia

Ya hace algunos años que me había alejado en mis lecturas, de la novela negra, pero tuvo su momento, y los clásicos, Hammett, Chandler, M. Cain, Jim Thompson, Sciascia, Simenon, o Patricia Highsmith, me hicieron disfrutar con las historias que sus creativas mentes habían concebido.

He observado con escepticismo el giro que las editoriales han dado para alejar a los devoradores de bestsellers, de la literatura que se ha estado consumiendo estos últimos años (que marcó “El código Da Vinci”), conduciéndolos hacia la novela negra (con la trilogía de Stieg Larsson a la cabeza). Y seguía sin intención inmediata de volver a introducirme en el género (no me gusta que me dirijan en la elección de lo que leo), pero, visto el retraso con el que se iba a estrenar una película que ha despertado en mí gran interés, si que me planteé comprar un libro que pertenece a la novela negra. Me refiero a “Shutter Island”, de Dennis Lehane, que Martin Scorsese ha llevado al cine, y que se estrenará en Estados Unidos el 19 de febrero próximo.

Con “Shutter Island” me ha ocurrido exactamente lo mismo que con “The road”, llevada al cine por John Hillcoat, sobre la novela de Cormac McCarthy, y pendiente todavía de estreno. En ambos casos, tener que esperar su llegada a la pantalla, me ha “obligado” a leer antes la novela.

Pero en realidad, no es de “Shutter Island”, ni de “The road” de las que voy a hablar en este post, como ya habréis podido imaginar por su encabezamiento, pero como una cosa lleva a la otra…

Como llevar en mente comprar “Shutter Island”, me llevó a comprar antes “Mystic River”.

Y fue casual.

Aunque conocía la noticia de que una editorial había lanzado una nueva colección de libros de bolsillo dedicados a la novela policíaca para la venta en kioscos, no me había despertado ni el interés de conocer los títulos que la componían. Pero hace unas semanas, recargando la tarjeta del bus en uno de esos kioscos, reparé en la entrega que se había puesto a la venta aquellos días. Era “Mystic River”, la novela de Lehane en la que se basó Clint Eastwood en 2003, para realizar una de sus mejores películas.

El recuerdo de la magistral película de Eastwood, mi decisión de leer “Shutter Island”, y, todo hay que decirlo, su asequible precio (4,95€), me decidió a comprarla.

Estaba acabando por entonces “Nocturna”, la novela de Guillermo del Toro y Chuck Hogan (si esto fuera un foro literario, le dedicaría un capítulo aparte, y no muy favorable -pero podéis pinchar en el título y leer una reseña que coincide plenamente con lo que yo diría de ella), y a los pocos días, pasando por alto otros libros que esperaban su turno de ser leídos, comencé su lectura. Aunque, confieso, con ciertas reservas, porque en ningún momento pensé que la novela pudiera ser tan plena como la película. Y me equivoqué.

Sin quitarle ningún mérito a Eastwood, que supo aprovechar al máximo el magnífico material que contiene la novela, el libro sirve en bandeja para su adaptación al cine, una coherente e interesante historia, bien redactada, con unos personajes que derrochan autenticidad y un dominio de los diálogos que la convierte en notable.

Son precisamente los diálogos (y en la novela hay muchos), uno de valores que más he apreciado en esa pequeña joya que es “Mystic River”, y los que al igual que yo, seáis aficionados a la lectura, sabéis a lo que me refiero, pues cuantas veces, un libro que te ha contado una buena historia, te ha dejado un mal sabor de boca porque en la de los personajes han aparecido frases que piensas nadie hubiera dicho de esa forma en la vida real.

Cuando hablamos, sobre todo la gente corriente (que somos los más), no preparamos las frases para que suenen bien, ni introducimos palabras de adorno en ellas. Todo es espontáneo, y salen de nuestra mente comentarios, preguntas o contestaciones que no suelen tener una segunda oportunidad de ser rectificadas como cuando escribimos. Y ese es el fallo de muchos escritores. Por mejorar la forma, abandonan el realismo, lo natural de los diálogos. Y Lehane lo domina. Jimmy Markum, Dave Boyle, Sean Devine (los protagonistas), y todos los personajes que aparecen en la novela e interactúan con ellos, se expresan como lo haríamos cualquiera de nosotros en sus circunstancias.

“Mystic River”, la novela, no es tan sólo una buena historia del género negro o policiaco. Su profundidad en el tratamiento de sus personajes, de sus sentimientos y reacciones, la convierten en algo más.

Si habéis leído este post desde su principio, sabéis que este libro ha sido mi primer contacto con Dennis Lehane, pero… ahora estoy por la mitad de “Shutter Island”.

No voy a hablar de ella hasta que no vea la película de Scorsese, aunque sí quiero comentar una opinión compartida con una amiga tan aficionada y veterana en la lectura como yo. Es nuestra opinión, y discutible, pero nos hemos confirmado con el tiempo, en la idea de que en la producción literaria de un autor (hablamos de los buenos), siempre hay una novela que sobresale sobre las otras. Un libro “redondo”, al que prácticamente no puedes encontrar ningún defecto. En el resto de sus escritos, anteriores o posteriores, volverás a encontrar muchos de los valores de esa gran obra, pero nunca la igualan, y menos, la superan. Creo que “Mystic River” es la obra “redonda” de Lehane.

LA PELÍCULA DE CLINT EASTWOOD

No es mucho lo que puede añadir mi opinión personal a un film aclamado en su momento como uno de los mejores realizados por Eastwood, nominado a seis Oscar en la edición de 2003, y ganador de dos (Mejor Actor, Sean Penn y Mejor Actor de Reparto, Tim Robbins), pero quiero alabar su trabajo.

La película arranca, como en la novela, una tarde de verano, en la que Jimmy Markum, Dave Boyle y Sean Devine, tres niños de once años, juegan en las calles del barrio obrero East Buckingham, situado a las orillas del río Mystic. Una pelea por un desacuerdo entre ellos, ocasiona que un hombre que se identifica como policía, salga de un coche, y obligue a Dave a acompañarle, ante la mirada impotente de sus amigos. Dave aparece unos días más tarde. Ha conseguido escapar del hombre y de su compañero, pero todo el mundo sabe que ha sido víctima de abusos sexuales. La mala conciencia de Jimmy y Sean, que no hicieron nada para evitar que Dave subiera al coche, hace también que su amistad acabe diluyéndose. Veinticinco años más tarde, la vida de cada uno de ellos, ha seguido un rumbo diferente: Jimmy (Sean Penn), que se inició en la delincuencia y pasó un tiempo en la cárcel, se casó muy joven, tuvo una hija a los 17 años y está casado en segundas nupcias, porque su primera mujer murió tempranamente de cáncer, regenta ahora un pequeño supermercado en el mismo barrio que le vio nacer. Sean (Kevin Bacon), en cambio, es policía y abandonó el barrio al casarse, pero su mujer le ha dejado. Dave (Tim Robbins) no ha dejado el barrio, se ha casado y tiene un hijo, pero aunque aparentemente es un hombre normal, lo ocurrido en el pasado continúa atormentándole. Un día, la hija Jimmy de 19 años, desaparece, y su cuerpo sin vida es encontrado a las pocas horas en un parque. Esto motiva que las vidas de los tres vuelvan a cruzarse, pues Sean, junto a su compañero Whitey (Laurence Fishburne) es el encargado de investigar el asesinato, en el cual llega a relacionarse a Dave por una serie de circunstancias que lo convierten en sospechoso. Jimmy, por su parte, inicia una investigación paralela a la de la policía, porque quiere vengar la muerte de su hija…

Muy poco altera Eastwood, el desarrollo de la novela, y a los principales personajes en su película (Whitey, que es un hombre blanco en el libro, y su personaje está más elaborado, sería una de esas mínimas alteraciones), y pone con magistral acierto, escenario y rostros, para contar la trama, en la que los diálogos, tanto exteriores como interiores, al igual que en la novela de Lehane, son los protagonistas.

Y se ve su mano al dirigir a los tres actores principales, sacando lo mejor de cada uno de ellos. El comedimiento de Sean Penn (excelente actor, pero que si no es bien dirigido tiene tendencia a los tic y al histrionismo), aún en la escena más desgarradora de la película, sus expresiones, con las que nos cuenta su tortura interior… La aparente apatía del personaje de Tim Robbins, pero que con su mirada y movimientos, nos dice que algo está ocurriendo dentro de su cabeza… Y la corrección de Bacon, en la que yo diría, la mejor de sus interpretaciones…

Si los tres actores principales nos ofrecen magníficas actuaciones, no quedan atrás las de Marcia Gay Harden (que da vida a Celeste Boyle, la esposa de Dave), y Laura Linney (la esposa de Jimmy Markum), personajes secundarios, pero importantes en el desarrollo de la historia.

Magistral es también el tratamiento que ha dado Eastwood a la violencia contenida que subyace a lo largo de todo el film, y que en algunas secuencias llega a sobrecogernos. Arropado todo, por una adecuada banda sonora compuesta por él mismo.

Y mucho más podría extenderme comentando la película, pero no quiero repetir lo que otros ya dijeron cuando se estrenó.

Lo que sí quiero, es recomendar la novela a los que no la hayáis leído, pues sea o no, vuestro género favorito, sé que os satisfará su lectura. Igualmente recomiendo el film. He vuelto a verlo después de leer el libro, y me he confirmado en la idea de que es una gran película.

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Para ver la ficha de la película, pincha aquí

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Swanson 

If a magazine can’t sell advertising, it should probably just throw in the towel.

But after losing $13 million in 2008 to be followed by losing an estimated $8 million this year, Playboy went in a ‘different direction’ contracting with David Pecker’s AMI publishing to sell ads–and essentially outsource all business functions but editorial.

Most magazines have two key revenue streams: advertising and circulation.  Playboy has both and adds a third–licensing of the venerable Playboy name.   But apparently only the licensing part is working (and is not part of the AMI deal).  NY Post media reporter Keith Kelly says Playboy newsstand sales, which once topped 7 million copies per month, have deteriorated to a pathetic 150,000 today.  I’ve written before about Playboy’s incoherent content (and cookie-cutter plastic girls) which hardly makes it a compelling impulse purchase.

Contracting with Pecker’s AMI is no panacea for advertising either.  According to Keith Kelly, Pecker boasts that when Playboy’s total circulation of 1.1 million is combined with that of AMI titles such as Flex, Men’s Fitness and Muscle & Fitness, there will be a combined ad buy of 11 million men in the prized 18-to-35 demographic.  “That’s bigger than the men’s networks of Time Warner, Jann Wenner’s company or Hearst.”

I don’t believe a word of it for three reasons:

1. Flex, Men’s Fitness and Muscle & Fitness have ten million readers?!

2. A more apt display of the work AMI does selling ads can be found in Star and my old rag, The National Enquirer.  If you actually pick up a copy, they’re very low on the quality national ads like the Sonys that Playboy has traditionally had, and high on commemorative plates and catalog crap.

3. The dirty little secret of men’s magazines is that they’re read by old guys like me and Kevin Bacon; the ‘prized 18-to-35 demographic’ is more interested in Call of Duty than ‘call of p***y’ on glossy paper stock.

Soon enough, Pecker will want to take over editorial and do it cheaper with the reporters he has already.  Maybe they’ll sell him the rest of the magazine.

More likely it will go out of business.  The only thing keeping this money-losing relic of the 60’s alive is the fear that killing it will kill Hugh Hefner.

Siempre hemos oído que el mundo es un pañuelo…ahora, con las estructuras en red, mucho más.

La teoría de los seis grados es mucho más antigua que internet. Se remonta a 1929 cuando Frigyes Karinthy la relató en su  Chains:

Dos personas cualquiera del mundo pueden conectarse mediante conocidos por únicamente 6 pasos.

De esta manera…si pienso en Obama, me doy cuenta que conozco a bastantes personas (primer grado) que conocen personalmente a Zapatero (segundo grado) y él, a Obama (ya he llegado!!).

Es curioso el experimento del “número Bacon” (con Carmen Sevilla incluida …)

Recientemente, Microsoft publicó los resultados de un experimento realizado con el Messenger para verificar esta teoría:

“Para demostrarlo, Microsoft ha utilizado 300.000 conversaciones electrónicas de 180 millones de usuarios de su servicio de mensajería instantánea Messenger. El estudio, basado en datos de 2006, parte de la base de que dos personas se conocían si habían intercambiado, al menos, un mensaje de texto. A pesar de que la media dice que dos personas están conectados por una media de 6,6 eslabones, en algunos casos fueron necesarios hasta 29 para relacionarlas.”

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He encontrado una página en la que existe un buen monográfico sobre las estructuras en redes (en pdf).

Me ha gustado la introducción de esa web:

“Dice una antigua tradición africana, que la comunidad es el espíritu, la luz que guía a todos. El espacio donde las personas se unen para cumplir un propósito específico, para ayudar a otros a cumplir su propósito y para cuidarse unas a otras. En la comunidad, todas las voces son oídas. Sin compromiso, la comunidad se muere.

Los espacios de formación de mujeres se asemejan a pequeñas comunidades de construcción del conocimiento y la práctica política. Es el lugar donde se comparte. Si no existe, nadie te escucha.”

Kevin Bacon is one of those actors who just needs a better agent. he is charming, subtle, realistic, and instantly a friendly character. so when i saw this movie, i was truly shocked. Kevin Bacon turns in what could possibly be the best performance of his career as the struggling pedophile.

this movie doesnt justify him or even vilify him, it just shows him as who he is, a greatly flawed human being. his urges and his desires are bad. he knows that.

with that out-of-the-way the film finds itself able to become a movie and passionate film about purification. Kevin Bacon’s character has just gotten out of prison after serving 12 years of a sentence for child molestation. he is still on parole though, so his parole officer (Mos Def) has to come to check in on him periodically. the film is carried by the sheer power of their scenes together. the other actors in the film are well cast and very strong (David Allen Grier, Benjamin Bratt, and rapper EVE), but as far as the adults go, Mos Def and Bacon both turn in their best performances to date. the two of them seem like they arent even acting. they seem like they are funneling their real emotions, their real regrets and their real hatreds into fake characters. the other star actor in the film is the young girl Robin, played masterfully by Hannah Pilkes. i was actually stunned by her emotional power in her ‘big scene’ with Kevin Bacon. the tears in her eyes seemed more real than i was comfortable with. her longing for love and affection and her dark scars tore me to pieces. both times i saw that scene i have actually begged out loud for things to be ok. when i see the way she cries, and the way Kevin tears up… it makes me feel so horrible. but at the same time, it gives me hope. when Kevin Bacon’s character sees how horrible what he wants to do really is. not how horrible a cop says it is, not how horrible he is told it is, not how horrible doctors say it is… how horrible the victim says it is… then he changes. something in him changes. and he understands that his joy isnt worth the pain others would feel from it.

in the second most powerful scene in the film Mos Def talks with Kevin Bacon about ‘the woodsmen’, the man who comes in at the end of little red riding hood and cuts open the wolf to help the little girl out. he finished his statement by saying that there arent any woodsmen in the real world. that there are no people to help save the victims of the world and hold them without a scratch… and its true. but if the ending of the film is any indication, there are people who try.

i recommend this movie wholeheartedly. but not to everyone. its hard to watch, and it is emotionally heavy. it doesnt make him a hero, but at the same time it isnt one of those disgusting revenge films where vigilantism and sadistic vengeance take over. it is a very real film. and because it is so real, it is that much harder to watch.

http://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/connected/

Connected:  The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives

Authors/researchers Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler have produced a book that is pertinent for everyone.   It contains the latest information on social networks as compiled by these two leaders in the scientific community.   Much of the material used for the book originates from Christakis’ and Fowler’s own extensive social sciences research.

The book provides the reader with an overview of human (social) networking and the various forms it takes.   There are excellent examples with cross references to related published works, and quotes by notable recognized experts in a wide variety of areas such as public health, sociology and philosophy.   Each facet of life that may be directly and indirectly influenced by persons to whom one is connected is explained by the authors through scenarios, historic examples and illustrations.   The most easily identified example is the “six degrees of separation” principle, as in six degrees of human separation from Kevin Bacon.

One notable element of the authors’ heavily academic writing style is the frequent reference to other chapters where a principle or theory is discussed from a slightly different perspective.   These references might be useful for a reader who is using this book for academic or personal study reasons.   For this reader, the cross references served as a distraction and were detrimental to a cohesive flow of information.

Recommended, with reservations.

Review by Ruta Arellano

Why is the defense sending their crack PI out investigating Roy Kronk? Why aren’t they searching for Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez instead?

There is a game I’m sure you are all aware of called six degrees of separation. The premise is that if you are one step away from each person you know and two steps away from each person they know, then everyone is, at most, six steps away from any other person on earth. It was popularized by the play, Six Degrees of Separation, written by John Guare in 1990. It was also the title of a movie released in 1993. I’m sure you are familiar with the very similar game known as The Kevin Bacon Game or Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It started after he claimed that he had worked with everyone in Hollywood. The objective rests on the assumption that any actor can be linked to Kevin Bacon through his or her film roles within six steps.

My challenge is to prove that Casey has a definitive and viable connection to Roy Kronk and I will do that. First, I’ll try an easy one, just for kicks. I can connect Casey Anthony to Kevin Bacon and I can do it in less than six degrees of separation. Wanna bet? Casey knows Jose Baez, who knows Geraldo Rivera, who knows Dennis Miller, who knows Kevin Bacon. That’s four, so there. No Zenaida anywhere in sight and it is not my intent to provide any evidence of Kevin Bacon’s guilt or involvement in the murder of anyone, so I will leave his name out. God knows he could be implicated by the defense. In the meantime, I fully expect tabloid fodder to soon read something like this…

ALIEN ABDUCTORS TELL TRUTH ABOUT CAYLEE

ROY KRONK IS CAYLEE’S FATHER

OK, back on solid ground. You know how absurd it is that Roy Kronk could be a suspect in the disappearance and murder of Caylee Anthony, but toss the idea around in your head for a while. OK, it’s still bizarre. No need to continue. It’s as crazy as the above headline and it’s ludicrous to remotely conceptualize, but the bottom line is that good old boy Roy is expected to be one of the key witnesses for the state. We think, in unison, that the defense is grasping at straws, which it is, but I firmly believe the only objectives here are to poison the state’s forensic evidence, or if that fails, to create an element of doubt in the minds of jurors. Could it have been someone else? We know the state must prove Casey’s guilt, so the onus is on prosecutors. Do I personally think the latest motion in limine* filed by the defense is an injustice to Mr. Kronk? You bet, because law enforcement cleared him early on, but in the defense team’s scheme, all they have to do is attack his credibility as a state witness. Mark Fuhrman knows all about that from his experience with defense attorneys at the OJ Simpson murder trial. Did Roy ever use the “N” word? Yes, as in “Nope, I had nothing to do with it.” Toss out a blinding smoke bomb. Confuse the 12. Before this comes in front of a jury, though, the defense wants the case thrown out because their client was the only person of interest in a murder and that’s an injustice, pure and simple. Unethical and unfair. The real killer could be hiding among us to this day, or it could be Kronk.

If we ever saw bad medicine in the making, there’s a Doctor Baez needle of doubt waiting to be injected. The only thing is, neither the judge nor a jury need or want a dose of whatever he’s dispensing. Personally, if the prescription remains the same, it’s more like laughing gas and it’s a malpractice suit in the form of a retrial waiting to happen around the corner of a big time cancerous conviction that will sap the life out of their patient, one Casey Marie Anthony. This is no precision incision. It’s plastic surgery gone wild.

Let’s see what the doctor is telling us the symptoms are:

Tell me, are young girls and toddlers one and the same? Define young girl for me, Mr. Baez. Has Roy Kronk ever been convicted of any of your allegations? They sound to me like nothing more than old, rancid, bottles of wine; sour grapes, and they leave a bad taste in my mouth. Is Roy Kronk the only man on the planet who walked away from prior relationships on not so friendly terms and got his reputation bashed? What does his “sordid” past have to do with the murder of Caylee? It seems to me that the defense team AND the Anthonys should be eating the part of the turkey that goes over the fence last come Thanksgiving Day because they were the first ones to say that the sins of Casey, as in check fraud, do not a murderer make.  How could anyone possibly cull a murder out of Roy Kronk? Where, perchance, is the direct evidence that ties him to the death? Is he also guilty of stealing money from Amy Huizenga? On numerous occasions, I have used the word hypocrisy. The worst offense of all is the so-called “evidence that indicated” that Kronk is – not was – “involved in an imaginary world of fantasy and violence.” With young girls, to boot? Excuse me? Who is really living in a fantasy world here? Who sits in jail for murder, most likely committed violently by a fanatical young woman? Just who is this private investigator and professor at DePaul University, Mort Smith, who helped conjure up this nightmare? What is their motive? They intend to assassinate the former water company employee’s character and ruin his credibility on the stand. Will the defense, because of their sexual innuendos, accuse him of a meter violation?

There’s more to this than just that. I understand what Baez & Co. are up to. It is so powerfully clear that their intent is to dupe the judge and jury – not into thinking Roy actually committed the act of murder, but to set into motion what I feel is the whole basis of the defense strategy: that the state never looked anywhere else. The state never fully investigated Roy Kronk and they cleared him prematurely. In other words, their private investigator was more thorough than law enforcement. Quite clearly, none of the evidence ever pointed at him or anyone else, either, so why would authorities waste taxpayers’ money grasping for straws like the defense is doing now? I think it is quite evident that this defense is lost. It has no focus. No direction. This is a body of attorneys without a head and as much as I hate to say it, they are clowning around with a very serious matter. Instead of throwing cream pies at the court, they are throwing apples in an orange grove and calling them nectarines. With this sort of strategy, there is no doubt who will be buying the farm and the injection Doctor Baez intends to administer to the judge and jury will instead lead to one carried out by the State of Florida at the Lowell Correctional Institute. This is no laughing matter.

Somewhere, somehow, there are six degrees of separation between everyone, so they say. Here is what links Casey Anthony to Roy Kronk. It doesn’t go through Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez because in real life, fictional characters do not coexist with real people. Fictional characters are as imaginary as Casey’s, well, imagination. My best shot, based on true and documented information taken from law enforcement interviews is that the degrees of separation are simple. They are very concise and very much after the fact because there never was a before: Casey Anthony to Yuri Melich to Roy Kronk. Cut and dry. The sad part about it, in real life, is that there will never be more than zero degrees of separation between poor Roy and the late Caylee Marie. You’ve got to ask yourself, what would Caylee say about this mess? She’d be talking by now.

*Motion in Limine – Although motions in limine are most often used to exclude evidence, they can also provide an opportunity to obtain a pretrial ruling on the admissibility of certain evidence. Source: Professor John Barkai, William S. Richardson School of Law.

For the St. Petersburg Times:

Though best known as a movie star — and the subject of the Six Degrees game that’s ingrained in pop culture — Kevin Bacon is a talented singer-songwriter and guitarist whose band performs catchy roots rock sweetened by Philly soul flourishes. Kevin and Michael, who were raised in the City of Brotherly Love, spoke to the St. Petersburg Timessimultaneously by phone from their respective homes in New York.

Continue reading.

Aqui os dejamos otra pelicula interesante… asi que preparad palomitas y a disfrutarla. Saludos,

Película: Quicksilver

Año: 1.986

Intérpretes: Kevin Bacon, Jami Gertz, Paul Rodriguez, Rudy Ramos
Sinopsis: Un trader vende unas opciones sobre acciones en descubierto y le cambia la vida en un día. Muy interesante, especialmente para todo aquél que haga trading. El control de riesgos y la gestión del dinero son lo más importante y en esta película queda muy claro.

Bacon, yesterday

Thank you, Scali Delpeyrat! I can officially be played in Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Awesome!

This good news is tempered a little by the discovery that on IMDB I am James Harris (XXIX). XXIX? XXIX?

I am not impressed.

One more Harris in that list and I could have been James Harris (XXX) and how cool would that have been? Quite cool, that’s how cool.

  A little over a month ago the entertainment community collectively went “Huh?”  when it was announced that James Franco would be appearing a 2 month long story arc on of all things a Soap Opera.  “This must be a joke” and “It is for research” were thrown about fairly often as possible reasons why JF would have chosen to leave his ivory tower in Hollywood and walk amongst the commoners.  Because when you get right down to it that is how the industry chooses to view Daytime, as commoners.  Someone not worthy of their respect.  Someone to laugh at and mock.  Daytime is so low on the totem pole that some people are even quiet about the fact that they watch them at all because of the laughter that it might illict.  Granted not everybody has been negative in their response to the news, for the most part it has been a range from startling disbelief to a kind of way to go JF.  But still it got me to thinking why doesn’t Daytime earn more respect?

  Some say that soaps are just one long story that keeps replaying itself over and over again.  They say that each story line gets more outlandish than the one before.  Remember the Possesed by the Devil story on Days of Our Lives?  Or perhaps Dixie coming back from the dead for perhaps the millionth time on All My Children?  Plus we aren’t even going to get into the Who’s the daddy? story arcs or the myriad of romantic entaglements that are the crux of the daytime world.  So I guess I can see their point, to an extent.  Because honestly what makes Soaps any different from Primetime or even the very top of the Ivory Tower, Movies?  Can the naysayers honestly tell me that Primetime doesn’t have outlandish storylines?  Can they honestly say that shows like Grey’s Anatomy or Gossip Girl are more respectable for their romatic entanglements than say The Bold & The Beautiful?  Or shows like Fringe and The X-Files are more grounded in reality than say no longer on the air, Passions?  Or why The Sopranos deserves more respect than General Hospital?  The truth is they can’t say any of that because the only differences Primetime and Daytime have are the amount of money the networks are willing to spend on them and and one runs one night a week and gets up to a 3 month hiatus and the other is on 5 days a week and has no hiatus.  And no being blacked out for two weeks, holidays, and weekends do not count. 

   Or it could possibly be the fact that only second rate actors are on Daytime, while all the “real” actors are on Primtime?  Oh wait a minute that can’t be true because Daytime is proud to be one of the few venues that has churned out some of the best actors of the past couple of generations.  What other venue can honestly say that?   But despite that fact Daytime is still considered to be either the place where younger actors get their feet wet or older actors go when they have no other options.  Because as we all know Primetime has no bad actors.  Hey I know how about anyone who feels that Daytime is the blackhole for talent I dare you to go up to Betty White and tell her she doesn’t have any other options or tell Bradford Anderson that GH will be his last stop.  Oh wait a minute I have an even better dare for you.  I dare you to go up to Jennifer Aniston and tell her that the man who plays Victor Kiriakis on DOOL is a bad actor.  Go ahead we will wait because I am sure those of us who are fans of Daytime and those of us who work tirelessly to bring it to fruition could use a good laugh at your judgemental expense.

You know what nevermind Daytime doesn’t need your respect nor do we want it.

Renee Zellweger 3 kere Oscar adayı olmuş, bu 3 adaylığından birinde evine altın heykelcikle dönmüş Amerikalı bir aktris.Bridget Jones’s Diary ve Chicago ile 2002 ve 2003 senelerinde aday olan aktris, 2004 senesinde Cold Mountain ile turnayı gözünden vurmuştu.Peki 2004 yılından beri Zellweger ne yapıyor? Bana göre kendini tekrar etmekten başka hiçbir şey yapmıyor.Hatta kariyerini Bridget Jones ve diğerleri olarak ikiye ayırmak mümkün.Her seferinde aynı kırmızı yanaklar, yarıçapı 1 cm’den küçük olan ağız ve şaşkaloz bakışlar.Bence üç sene Oscar’a aday olması da şimdi düşününce insanlara mantıksız geliyordur.Cold Mountain için ise aksandan kazandığını düşünüyorum.Biraz acımasız olsam da her izlediğim filminde bir kez daha kanıtlıyor sanki haklı olduğumu.Şimdiki konumuz ise Leatherheads ve New In Town‘daki oyunculuk numaralarını tekrar kullandığı My One and Only.

Filmin konusu açık ve net.Kadın kocası tarafından aldatılır.Kadın bunu olgun bir şekilde karşılar, iki oğlunu alır ve şehir şehir gezmeye başlar.Misyon ise paraları bitmeden yeni bir koca bulmaktır.Bir kere film konudan zaten sınıfta kalıyor.Bir de bu senaryoyu en sevdiğim film Music From Another Room‘un yazarı Charlie Peters‘ın kaleme aldığını görünce iyice hayal kırıklığına uğradım.İşin bitmiş Charlie!

Filmin yönetmeni ise televizyondaki işleriyle DGA, BAFTA, Emmy gibi kıdemli ödüllere aday olmuş bir yönetmen, Richard Loncraine.Loncraine‘in atmosfer yaratma konusundaki başarısı bariz.Ama filmin geneli pek iç açıcı olmadığından kendisinin başarısı da gölgeleniyor tabi.Çok da izlenmeyecek türden bir film olmasa da izledikten sonra size yeni bir şey katmadığı kesin.

Renee Zellweger‘ın başını çektiği kadro ise oldukça zengin.Filmin anlatıcısı konumundaki Logan Lerman rolüne cuk oturanlardan.O dönemlerin insanlarını andırıyor fiziksel olarak.Zellweger‘ın diğer oğlu rolündeki Mark Rendall da fena değil.Filmi özetlemek için yeterli olan vasat kelimesinin karşılığı gibi.Will & Grace‘in tanıdık siması Eric McCormack yan rollerden gözüme çarpan ilk isim.Mr. Big olarak tanıdığımız Chris Noth da şöyle bir gözükmüş.Carnivale dizisi sebebiyle hafızlarımızda yer edinen Nick Stahl ise bir şekilde Zellweger‘ın hayatından geçen bir başka erkek olarak karşımıza çıkıyor.Kemikli suratı sebebiyle benim için hep hastalıklı bir adam olarak kalacak Kevin Bacon ise kilit karakterlerden birini canlandırmış.Konuyu o başlatıyor, o bitiriyor diyebiliriz.Tekrardan başa dönüp Zellweger‘a döner isek kendisini tekrar ettiğinden başka bir şey söyleyemeyeceğim.Artık o kadar tahmin edilebilir hale geldiki mimikleri ne zaman ağlayacağını, ne zaman ağlarken güleceğini, ne zaman güleceğini ve tabi ne zaman şaşkaloz bakışını atacağını biliyorsunuz.Kabus!

Çoğu yerde tahmin edilebilir hale gelen diyalogları, Renee Zellweger‘ın illet olduğum oyunculuğu sebebiyle My One and Only ortalamının altında vasat bir film olmaktan öteye gidemiyor.Ne yazık ki 2009′un izlense ne olur izlenmese ne olur dediğim filmlerinden biri oldu.

D

NOTA : 6

Download subtitrare My One and Only

Trailer My One and Only :

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just had time to view this new Bellamy Brothers and Bacon Brothers video (starring Shannen Doherty) singing an Eagles tune, “Guilty Of The Crime” and I was BLOWN AWAY!!! The Bellamy’s have been my dearest friends for nearly 30 years and I am always amazed by their impeccable divinely inspired songwriting gifts, perfect vocal harmonies, visionary business sense and innovative musical artistry but this takes the cake..and I Love cake!! The Bellamy Brothers and The Bacon Brothers singing together….A Perfect 10 in my book!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check it out~~and, tell ‘em I sent ya! ~sst

VERDICT:
7/10 Mean Girls

Cat fights, murder, threesomes, and Bill Murray. Sounds like a winner to me.

Wild Things is about a studly High School guidance counselor in an upscale area of Florida that gets accused of raping one of his students who also happens to be the daughter of the wealthiest woman in town…who he’s also slept with. While trying to defend his innocence, he gets accused of raping another one of his students. As you might expect, his life gets turned upside-down, but nothing is as it seems when your dealing with…WILD THINGS!

Alright, so it might not be the best movie title (I can’t get that damn Tone Loc song out of my head now) and the only reason anyone’s probably seen this movie is because of the infamous threesome scene I alluded to, but believe it or not, all those other scenes you fast-forwarded through were actually worth watching. Who knew?

It had been a while since I’d seen this and it had been a while since I’d watched a whodunit of sorts, but thanks to a suggestion by my good buddy Fred, I’m glad I gave it another shot.

So, the script here has its pros and cons. For one, it’s pretty sharp and is filled with solid twists and turns right up to the very end. Being that I could never write a script like this, it gets many a point in that regard. The characters are also pretty good, the only problem is that their dialogue isn’t all that great. With the exception of Bill Murray, everyone seems like they’re just kinda going through the motions with their lines, and for the most part that’s the writer’s fault. You’d think a hot and heavy movie like this that’s backed up by a pretty well-known cast and set to a score by George Clinton (one of the coolest men alive) would have some pretty smooth dialogue to go along with it, but alas, beggars can’t be choosers.

And I’ll just get it out of the way before every paragraph starts to inevitably lead back to this statement like it always does – Bill Murray’s got the best role in the movie is Matt Dillon’s ambulance chasing attorney, party because he’s got the best dialogue, partly because there’s no one better to get as your comic relief, and partly because…well, he’s Bill Murray. One of those characters that you wish was in the movie more because everyone else is just so damn serious. Lighten up, guys.

Naturally, everyone else isn’t as memorable as good ol’ B.M., but they’re still pretty good. Except for Matt Dillon. He’s not very good here. He really hams it up as the guidance counselor, but I think some of that has to with the fact that he’ll always be Healy to me.

I can’t think of anything else Denise Richards has done with her career outside of her role here as the Matt Dillon’s student/rape accuser, her Bond girl stint as Christmas Jones (really?) in The World is Not Enough, and a god-awful reality TV show on E!, but something tells me she’s gonna have a pretty hard time making people forget about this one. Call it a hunch. Doesn’t have a whole lot to do with her acting abilities, but that’s just what happens when you show your boobs to the everyone on Earth.

Trust me, I know.

Kevin Bacon is also good as the cop investigating Matt Dillon’s case. Typical Kevin Bacon performance. Gets the job done and gets it done well, but that’s to be expected when you have the ultimate last name.

And Neve Campbell is pretty good as the second girl that accuses Matt Dillon of having his way with her, even though she’ll always be Sidney Prescott ’til the day she dies. A lot of good development going on with her character, probably should throw some credit to the screenwriter on this one, too.

Okay, enough about the acting, I’m rambling. The point is that I was surprised that this movie was actually good and it’s too bad that it’s only remembered for “that scene” – despite how nuts that scene may be. It gets a little slow at times, but all the plot twists and saucy liaisons kept me entertained from beginning to end. 

Just one more great reason not to screw your students. Believe you me, teachers, it ain’t worth it.

It's sort of like this, only we haven't aged quite so much. And we're not Angelina Jolie.

In a rather short period recently, I have managed to search for and “friend” (thank you, Facebook) hundreds of long lost friends, colleagues, classmates, distant relatives and acquaintances. I guess the correct term would be “re-friend,” since I was at one time actually friendly with these people in the old-fashioned, pre-internet social networking sense of the word.  Since I am only now back in touch with these individuals after not having seen them for many (in some cases more than twenty) years, it seems to me when I see their profile pictures, that they have aged from teenager to middle ager in an instant. It’s not exactly like looking at time lapse photography. It’s more like traveling through a time warp, and it is a very trippy experience. I have taken the express train, not the one making local stops, to my reunion with everyone.

But I am not going to kid myself that having someone’s gravatar (a new term I learned around the same time I started “friending” all my friends) in the “friends” list on my Facebook profile page is tantamount to my being back to having slumber parties and all-night gossip phonefests with them. Some of my “friends” really are my friends (either newly acquired or ones with whom I have been in touch all along without the assistance of Mark Zuckerberg and his gang) at this stage in my life, but for the most part my “friends” constitute what is known these days as my “social and professional network.”

Facebook is the extent of my online social networking right now. But it's good to know I have other options.

Nonetheless, I can’t help but marvel at how technology allows us to reconnect and stay in touch with people over time and space in a way that former generations could never have even dreamed of. When my Zaida and Uncle Noach left Russia and Poland respectively as teenagers, they in effect said goodbye to each other and everyone else they had known there. A few letters may have made their way between them in their new homes in Canada and Israel and the relatives remaining in the Old Country (prior to WWII, but not after), and between the two of them as they built their lives on separate continents. Never would they have fathomed that their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren could keep abreast in real time of every little detail of one another’s lives. To exactly what degree depends, of course, on how narcissistic and voyeuristic they are.

If Kevin Bacon were Jewish, that number on his t-shirt would be a much lower one.

Facebook’s keeping track for you not only of your “friends” but also the “mutual friends” you share with each of your “friends” is a very handy application. Although I can’t claim to have done any scientific study on this, I do think that it has helped prove beyond any doubt that when it comes to Jewish Geography, there are far fewer degrees of separation than six. It could be that those who cannot claim MOT status, including many people who think they are somehow affiliated with actor Kevin Bacon, do really need quite a few links in the social chain to ultimately connect them to specific others. But we Yids are all one big mishpocheh. The Rabbis weren’t joking when they proclaimed, Kol yisrael arevim zeh la’zeh (all Jews are bound together).

As tempting as it is to knock the oversharing (to understand this term, just read some of Ayelet Waldman’s works and listen to interviews in which she admits to this possible vice) that is a byproduct of the usage of social networking sites, I do have to credit it with enabling me to be present at (in the loosest possible definition) some important milestones for people of whose lives I had lost track. Without pursuing an in-depth correspondence with these individuals, I can at least now wish them “Mazel Tov” on a child’s bar or bat mitzvah, or congratulate them on the completion of a major professional project or the achievement of a personal goal.

English speakers say time flies. For Hebrew speakers, it runs.

I still remember a song my class sang as part of our junior high graduation: Od shanah, ve’od shanah, hazman hu galgal anak (Another year and another year, time is a giant wheel). Close to thirty years later, I have become quite reflective about the passage of time and the cycle of life as I read and see on Facebook that my friends and I now have children of the same age that we ourselves were back when we were truly part of one another’s daily lives. This kind of thing makes me all wistful and nostalgic. On the other hand, doing the math and recognizing that some of my former students are now as old as I was when I taught them (not to mention that some are engaged to be married) just makes me feel old.

We can see from this illustration in Haper's Weekly from 1872 that time didn't fly back then.

In English we say that time flies. In Hebrew, for some reason, time doesn’t fly. It runs. To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure which idiom I like better, or which makes more sense. There’s a saying about time in Hebrew that, unlike others, translates well into English. Hazman oseh et shelo means “Time does its thing.” It certainly does, whether you take this to mean that time heals all wounds or that it just plain does a number on all of us.

As I have my fun socializing in cyberspace, I sometimes think about some old friends who I will never be able to find on Facebook. It’s not because they are technophobic or can’t abide this particular internet site. It’s because they are no longer alive, having died due to accident, illness or suicide. No matter whether it flies or whether it runs, time is indeed precious.

© 2009 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

Living in New York City, I see celebrities fairly often.

Sometimes they are simply walking down the street in my neighborhood.  Jerry Seinfeld, John McEnroe, and Kevin Bacon live within 2-3 blocks of me, so it’s not uncommon to see them with their kids.

Other times I see celebrities in the Times Square area in a bar or restaurant. I saw Daniel Radcliffe of “Harry Potter” fame get carded at a bar — by my friend Lucas, who was bartending — one of my favorite New York moments.  And, of course, I have seen them from time to time when I do extra work on a movie or TV show.

But this week, I have discovered a new venue for celebrity sightings, and I wanted to pass this along to anyone coming to Manhattan for a visit.

A great place to see celebrities in NYC?  The horse path in Central Park between 7-8am.

The past two mornings, the weather has been cool and brisk, and Rory Dog and I have been up early with all the other dogs and their people in the park.  On Thursday morning, I saw a group of four runners go by, and one of them — I’m darn certain — was actor James McAvoy, who starred in “The Last King of Scotland,” “Atonement,” “Becoming Jane,” and “Wanted.”

I’m guessing the other runners were a combination of trainers/bodyguards in case a fan like me decided to take chase.

I don’t know that I would thought much about it except this morning, as Rory and I were walking along in the sunshine, I noticed another group of four runners similarly dressed coming towards me, and I wondered if it might be McAvoy again.  But when I looked closer, I realized one of the runners was Adrien Brody, who won an Oscar for “The Piano.”

Maybe both actors are staying at the same hotel or working with the same gym;  I don’t know.  But they are sending the celeb’s out in the park on the Upper West Side for their early morning runs.

Just so you know.  In case ya wanna take a gander.

That’s New York City.  Always something to see.

My Dog Skip is officially one of the saddest yet most heartwarming  films ever made. 

The film stars Frankie Muniz and Kevin Bacon and is directed by Jay Russell. It is based on the autobiographical book My Dog Skip by Willie Morris. The movie was released January 14, 2000 but is just as popular now as it was almost a decade ago.

The movie recounts a few anecdotes about 9-year-old Willie growing up in Yazoo City, Mississippi. The son of a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and a housewife, Willie is the daily victim of three school bullies. Then one day a dog (bought by his mother over his dad’s objections) comes into his life, and everything changes. The dog is Willie’s entry into a world of new friendships.

The final scene in the film is bound to turn even the hardest stone heart to a pile of blubbering mush. Check it our below….

A shy boy (fantastic act by Frankie Muniz of “Malcolm in the Middle”) finds his only friend in a dog, and the two set out on great adventures. This movie also has strong performances from Kevin Bacon and Diane Lane…… See video on- http://khichdiall.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-dog-skip-movie-video.html

The rumors have been confirmed: Pink, sleek, and clear graded Tiete Rosewood flooring has been linked to burly beau Hickory, without any word from Sapele Mahogany’s publicist that she and Hickory had split.

When reached for comment, Sapele Mahogany, with her distinctive vertical striping and verve, seemed indifferent:

“The thing is, I’m made of wood. There’s not a lot of room in my dense cell structure (and that’s 640 kg/m3, boys) for a whole lot of heartbreak. If Hickory wants to be with Tiete Rosewood, I say good for them. I just hope that Hickory can handle a woman with a bigger Janka hardness rating than his. 3,280 lbs to 1,820 lbs? We’ll see if his ego can handle that”

Sapele then added: “But really, what is with that hamburger dress? Seriously.”

Tiete Rosewood, a native Brazilian, could not be reached for comment, but her publicist told HSAGG that Kevin Bacon’s publicist had mentioned to him at a mixer that the HSAGG writers need to stop trying to steal Kevin Bacon’s Lear jet.

HSAGG’s publicists were not available for comment on the unfounded, absurd, and hurtful accusations.

Hickory flooring has a long list of exes in Hollywood, including Tamara Shneider, Beatrice Strazinski, and Gertrude Long. None of these relationships lasted very long. The reason? It seems each of the Z-list actresses soon realized that Hickory’s hardwood flooring industry  connections couldn’t help them get any roles in films other than supporting roles. Getting walked on by Tom Cruise was far from the stardom the actresses had envisioned for themselves.

"Hey, say what you will: I'm getting paid a H.A.G. union wage.

But Hickory’s star seems to be rising now that he and singer/songwriter Tiete Rosewood’s relationship has caught fire. In similar incendiary fashion, Sapele’s latest release, “Tongue and Groove,” has burned up the charts, reaching #1 on the hardwood pop charts for the 4th week running. A live acoustic album entitled “Raw and Unfinished” is slated for release later this year.

One can only hope that Sapele’s indifference is genuine, and not masking a burning desire to torch Hickory’s Hollywood homestead a la Left Eye from TLC. We worry about you here at HSAGG, Hickory, because you are pretty flammable and inflammatory.

Have a happy Halloween out there, HSAGGers. If you see a teetering plank of Tongue and Groove Prefinished Flooring next to you, buy that guy/gal a drink. Because even if it’s not me, they deserve it for their hardwood love and devotion. But please:  no drinks a la flambé.

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Sort of. A word of advice to anyone who cares to listen. Don’t tell the people you love how you really feel about anything ever. Really. Just keep it to yourself or, I don’t know, a little seceret between you and your cat. If you don’t want to be at a party because you feel like you’re only there because it’s your job, just grin and bare it. Chances are, someone else feels the same way, find them. I am telling you this so you don’t have to punch in walls of toolsheds or hyperventalate behind dumpsters to feel better after you told someone something you shouldn’t have.

No one really cares how you feel. Unless it’s inconvenient for them. So just make everyone’s lives easier: just shut up and pretend to love every moment of your life.

Love,

Maya