Photographed for Esquire magazine April 2004 by [searching for credit]

“I think mystery is kind of great. I don’t know anything about Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn or Ava Gardner — not really — and I like that. I love watching their movies because they’re my personal movie stars. I don’t know what they eat and who their trainer is.”

No clue where this came from; sometimes I just right-click and save things and make no effort to credit them. Super-sorry!

“Most of the time we do nothing, myself included, … I think the lesson I learned from [playing humanitarian Tessa in The Constant Gardner] is that a lot of drops make up an ocean. If people would stand up and say what they believe in maybe we can make a difference. Helping one person is better than nothing. Just do something.”

Still from The Shape of Things

“There’s not much room for eccentricity in Hollywood, and eccentricity is what’s sexy in people.”

I have heard rumors she is one of the actresses who has been approached to play Catwoman in the next Batman movie, but I’ve also heard Chris Nolan quoted saying that Catwoman isn’t going to be in it. It doesn’t matter, because that would be lame anyways. She should not be Catwoman, regardless of whether Selina Kyle pops up in the next movie (a direction which would actually disappoint me).

What Rachel Weisz should do in the new Batman movies is play Talia, the daughter of Rā’s al Ghūl and love of Bruce Wayne’s life. Helloooo, she would be perfect! Talia seriously needs to once and for all get in the mainstream big screen storylines, especially considering how great the new movies Chris Nolan’s been making are: in the comics she even has Batman’s kid, for god’s sake (Damian Wayne, who is the current Robin). It’s already been set up, when, in the novelized Batman Begins, Rā’s al Ghūl refers to having a wife and daughter while he is talking to Bruce.

So, come on. Let’s finally get her in a movie, and let’s have Rachel Weisz play her. The woman is a stranger to neither action pictures (The Mummy franchise) nor comic book movies (the wildly underrated Constantine). That’s my awesome suggestion: obey!

Es la nueva película del director/escritor/productor Christopher Nolan el cual se ha convertido en uno de los más prestigiados del séptimo arte, con pocas películas pero prácticamente todas exitosas, nada mas acuérdense de las dos de Batman, El Gran Truco y un poco más viejita la de Memento (Amnesia).

Hay mucho velo o poca información, probablemente debido a la propia campaña publicitaria o el supuesto odio de Nolan por la internet, incluso en la página oficial no hay nada, pero se espera un thriller con tintes de ciencia ficción y mucha acción: Una compañía es capaz de meterse y manipular los sueños de la gente, y el set es la arquitectura de la propia mente (interesante no?). No es futurista como Matrix aunque las escenas del tráiler nos la recuerden un poco.

El cast es familiar en sus películas, a excepción de DiCaprio que vendrá de protagonista, Cillian Murphy que fue el espantapájaros en Batman, Michael Caine que lo vimos con su actuación y estilo impecables interpretando a Alfred en Batman, Ken Watanabe como Ra’s al Ghul también en Batman.

En fin, vean el tráiler y júzguenlo por ustedes mismos en lo que esperamos al verano del 2010 para verla en la pantalla grande.  (Si tienen bloqueado Youtube pueden dar click aquí)

The speculation over the long developing sequel to The Dark Knight, has calmed down over the past couple of months. Mostly due to the fact that Christopher Nolan has been working on his latest film Inception, which is currently in post production. But, a “reliable source” over at batman-on-film.net, says that Warner Bros. will soon make a big announcement regarding the future of the Caped Crusader.

Warner Brothers along with Christopher Nolan, are set to make an announcement over the next installment of the successful Batman franchise in January 2010.  After months of speculation, comments from Gary Oldman at Comic Con and of course, the endless list of quotes from Sir Michael Caine about the number of possible villains for the sequel, this should give Batman fans everywhere a decent amount of closure.

The only downside to this rumor, is a recent interview from Caine (again!) stating that Batman 3 won’t happen for the next couple of years, so now we’re completely confused about the film’s status. We’ll just have to sit pretty and wait until next year to figure out what the hell’s going on with the series.

Do you think Chris Nolan will be back? If not, who should replace him?

This Goodie is the anouncement of Nolan’s (that would be me) new series Gangsta Big Bird!

We’ve been sitting on this news for some time, but now that Jamie’s out of the first trimester, we can safely announce that, come May 2010, we’ll be welcoming Nolan’s baby brother or sister into the world!

Now, to head off a few questions:

1) Is it a boy or a girl?

Don’t know yet.

2) Do you want a boy or girl?

Preferably one or the other.

3) Do you have names picked out yet?

Yes.

4) When’s the due date?

The end of May, 2010. But Nolan came two weeks early, so who knows?

So, a couple weeks later, here’s our Halloween update. 

Brandon made it back from bird hunting just in time.  We didn’t do much door-to-door trick or treating, just stopped by a few friends’ houses to say hi and let the kids play for a bit. 

Here’s a photo of the motley crew.  There’s a monkey (Cooper), a princess (Evan), an elephant (Nolan), and a baseball player (Xander), and of course two mommies as crew leaders.  These kids to quite a bit of playing together.  All close in age, and another mother who knows what it’s like to have two kids under two years (Evan and Xander are about 16 months apart as well).

Nolan was done with having his photo taken.  Unfortunately, he’s in this stage where he’d rather play with the camera than smile for it.  Ugh.

This costume still cracks me up.  I loved it last year with Nolan in it, and again this year with Cooper.  Silly monkeys.

And we finished the evening with a little house warming get-together at a friend’s new house that she just closed on.  Her and her family spent all day moving her in and we showed up at the end for Chinese food.  Yes, we’re bad friends.  At least the boys provided entertainment – Nolan spent the evening playing chase with the dog, and let me tell you, watching an elephant chase a dog is pretty darn comical.  Coop did his part by attempting to ride the dog (with a bit of assistance), and then spent rest of the evening slobbering on all the gals.

All in all, a very fun Halloween for the Briels Bunch.  Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see our neice for Halloween, but here’s a photo of her (thanks Amber!).  Can you guess who she’s suppose to be?

Cyndi Lauper!  How stinkin’ cute is she?!  Her mother has brought her up well, instilling a love an appreciation of the 80’s in her. 

Here’s another photo of her, because you really need to see the whole outfit.

Here’s one of the niece and the two nephews (the one in bandages and the one with the hunter orange vest).  Fun group!

Now, if we could only convince them to move to Baker….

Relax, Colton Orr -- it's just one game

The dream is dead, Torontonians. Well, at least the dream of the Leafs getting a point in every game the rest of the season. I still think they have a shot at the eight slot though, even after tonight’s 5-2 loss to Minnesota at the ACC.

The Leafs weren’t exactly facing a formidable opponent — the Wild came in at 6-10-0 — which makes tonight’s loss a little deflating, especially coming off a fine-ass 5-1 win over the Red Wings on Saturday. Toronto gave up the first goal for the 14th time in 16 games and saw a 1-1 tie turn to a 4-1 deficit in a stretch of just over 12 minutes in the second period. Goals by Mikko Koivu and Greg Zanon 27 seconds apart put it away with just over two minutes to go until the intermission.

Phil Kessel scored late in the third, but the Wild did a good job all night keeping him and the top line in check. Jonas Gustavsson didn’t have a memorable one either, coughing up four goals on 30 shots before Owen Nolan’s empty netter wrapped it up.

The loss drops the Leafs to 3-8-5, ending a streak of seven straight games with a point (three wins and four overtime losses). They’ll look to get back on track Friday in Chi-town before coming home to face the Flames on Saturday.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but if you look back through the pictures of me as a little kid, a theme emerges. In almost every single shot, I’m clutching a car, truck, or some sort of four-wheeled thing in one of my hands. Maybe it’s a coincidence that I grew up to be a car nut, but…maybe not.

Fast forward a few decades, and now I have a little boy of my own. And ever since he could, well, move, I’ve been watching for that interest in cars. To date, nothing. Oh, he’s shown a complete a total fascination with the Pixar film, but as far as actual cars go, he really hasn’t taken to them. Save as convenient projectile weapons.

In the past couple of weeks, though, that’s changed. And now he’s carrying around cars, kind of driving them around on the floor, running them down his little slide.

I couldn’t be happier. I mean, I want him to like what he likes, whatever that may be. But cars…that’s something I can get into, something I can nurture, something I can bond with him over.

And so tonight, after dinner, I took Nolan to Wal-Mart. Yeah, I know…shudder…but their Blu-ray prices absolutely spank Best Buy, and I wanted to pick up Monsters, Inc. So while we were there, we wondered over to the toy section to get a car or two.

I picked out one, and Nolan picked out the other.

Next up…history and sci-fi…

Currently being developed by Ben and Nolan. More information soon to be released.

Hace una semana vi Julie & Julia, la nueva película de Nora Ephron y que además es la primera “major motion picture” que gira en torno a un blog.

Lo primero que hice, naturalmente, fue recomendársela a quienes habitan y dan forma al espacio murciano y que por esta condición (que puede pasar por gratuita o inofensiva y que en realidad es todo lo contrario) nos hemos hecho muchas de las preguntas que el personaje de Amy Adams se hace con respecto a la labor de dar vida y alimentar un blog: la necesidad, la realidad, el compromiso. Estas preguntas, hay que decirlo, no tienen respuesta. Pero esta falta de salidas (o de salidas fáciles) no afecta a la película que, contra todos los pronósticos, se logra sostener y cerrar después de haberse abierto como cola de globo. Lo que quiero decir es que la película ni sale volando ni se escurre. Más bien como que se congela. Y creo que ésa es su mayor virtud: evitar el hervidero. El entusiasmo que me provocó esa muestra de contención o profesionalidad narrativa me llevó a calificar la dirección de Ephron como “precisa” y al guión como “intimidante”. Ahora, es evidente que exagero.

Lo que es cierto es que la película de Ephron revela una forma muy particular, que además me gusta mucho, de hacer cine y coloca definitivamente a Ephron en el equipo de Spielberg. Es una forma que recuerda más a un campo de refugiados o a un campamento de sobrevivientes o a un grupo de soldados rasos que se juntaba en la noche a contar historias mientras esperaban el amanecer y que, al final, terminaron hablando en un código que fue producto del aislamiento. Un día estos sobrevivientes regresaron a sus países y fueron recibidos como héroes y la reintegración fue feliz. Entre ellos están o Giuseppe Tornatore o Billy Wilder o Guy Ritchie, y es ahí en donde Spielberg es la gran ballena blanca y en donde Scorsese se mueve como un submarino y en donde David Fincher es un buzo a la deriva y en donde Christopher Nolan o Jean-Pierre Jeunet amenazan con convertirse en huracán. También aquí está Alfonso Cuarón. No hay tiburones.

Por otra parte, están los directores que siguen en el campo de batalla. Ellos, salvo algunas excepciones, nunca saldrán de ahí. Tampoco tienen un código sino que aprendieron a vivir en soledad. Unos viven huyendo constantemente. Otros, como Fellini, se revuelven y saltan en el lodo frente al enemigo porque saben que son inmortales. Lars von Trier, en cambio, está herido y sus últimas fuerzas están destinadas a acribillar a quien se acerque, ya sea por traidor o por cobarde o porque sí. Hitchcock entendió el secreto de esta guerra eterna y Kubrick lo reformó. Kurosawa fue un suicida nato. Lo que más hay son fantasmas, pero con una particularidad: estos fantasmas primero fueron fantasmas y después, a fuerza del horror, se convirtieron en personas (o en algo que simulaba personas; nunca lograron perder su calidad espectral). Entre ellos están Bergman, Welles o Jean Renoir.

Todo esto, claro, es a grandes rasgos y no es verdad.

Dom Mingo

Today’s choice is a fashion-forward import that could catch on.

Thanks to Rachel for suggesting Stellan as Name of the Day.

Stellan sounds like the masculine counterpart to Stella, but that’s not so.  While Stella comes from the Latin for star, Stellan is Scandinavian.  His exact origins are uncertain – some link him to the Norse stilling, for peaceful.  Other sites insist that he means star, too.

A Swedish website suggests that Stellan is actually German in origin.  That fits with the evolution of our word still, meaning “at rest,” which traces back to the Old High German stillen.  But nearly all of the notable bearers have been Swedes, including:

• Stellan Mörner, an early 20th century surrealist painter;
• Stellan Skarsgård, the actor seen in movies from Good Will Hunting to Angels & Demons to Mamma Mia.

The list gets more obscure from there.  There’s a World Table Tennis champ from the 1970s, Stellan Bengtsson, plus a current international chess champion, Stellan Brynell.  There was also a Danish film director, Stellan Rye, who died during World War I.

With an uncertain meaning and a lack of famous bearers – at least in the US – it is possible that Stellan could remain obscure forevermore.

Or not.  Actors Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany named their son Stellan after Mr. Skarsgård back in 2003.  And consider these sound-alikes:

• Rhyming Kellen comes in at #444;
• Other -l in the middle, ends-in-n choices include Dylan (#51), Colin (#114) and Collin (#143) plus Nolan (#131);
• Sharing that same construction and a modern, 21st century vibe, the US Top 200 also includes Jaylen (#184) and Rylan (#217).

Factor in popularity of girls’ names Stella and Ella, and it is easy to imagine parents embracing this masculine moniker.

But that hasn’t happened yet.  Stellan has never appeared in the US Top 1000, and he’s not terribly common in Sweden, either.  (At least he’s not in their Top 100.)

Some might like the idea of Stellan as a Swedish heritage choice, but that feels like a stretch.  It’s probably more accurate to group Stellan with that cluster of names that have some slight history, but are almost considered modern inventions.  Stellan fits right in with choices like Kai – the name of Jennifer Connelly’s firstborn – or Chase.

So if you’re seeking a boys’ name that feels more authentic than a smoosh of popular elements (like Rylan, Kyler or the -adens) but still appears novel and relatively untethered to religion or a specific heritage, Stellan might work for you.

Ο διαγωνισμος με το δωρο προσφερονται απο τo www.motograndprix.gr

I’m back! I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t even gotten to post. Part of it was my new obsession with the Youtube baby name community. Who knew? Anyway, check out my new baby name channel, just search LucyKruegerBabyNamer. Also check out AnastasiaRuby, she’s another great baby name Youtuber.

Anyway…on to my featured names. Nola is the girl name, and I suppose Nolan must be the male form though I can’t be sure. Nola is of Celtic, Irish, and Latin origin, and is the short form of the Irish name Fionnula. I heard on Nameberry from Olivekit that she named her little girl Nola, and it means little bell. Hmm…Fionnula. That’s an interesting one, especially with Fiona gaining popularity right now. Nolan is also Celtic and Irish, which makes me think the two are related. Nolan means famous and noble. I love the old lady cool feel that Nola as, and is also just so cute. I can imagine the name on a cute little girl. Its similar to Nora, but I don’t like Nora as much. I love how Nolan has that girly-masculine feel to it. Its hard to explain, but I just don’t see Nolan as some sort of muscular football player. I see a handsome but nerdy guy who wears tweed, and somehow I love that. There aren’t any nicknames I can think of for these two, but I do like these combinations:

Nola Isabelle Jane

Nola Penelope Grace

Nola Dorothy Alice

Nolan Andrew Charles

Nolan Samuel James

Nolan Daniel Howard

Howard. Howard??!! Somehow, the more I think of Howard, the more I think it needs a revival. And Howie is an adorable nickname. That’ll be my next featured name, I think. Oops. Did I give it away? Oh, well. Comment and question, please.

—Lucy <3

Look at me! Posting Lauren’s 6-month photo on her actual 6-month birthday!
My apologies to everyone who comes here looking for updates of our kids (I’m speaking to you, Grandparents!). The lack of her 5-month picture is pure testimony to how much life changes from one child to two!

Anyways, enough delay. Here is Lauren at exactly 6-months:

And for those curious, here is Nolan at 6-months (look at all of that hair!):