Gender: Female
Sign: Virgo
City: Tinsel Town
Country: US
Signup Date: 12/30/2005
|
|
|
|
Thursday, November 05, 2009
|
I made it to my appointment with the "end of the world" two years early. The premiere of 2012 - Hard to believe that was just yesterday! So much happened. And all I had to fortify me was copious caffeine, and pastries. This was breakfast at THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS junket: coffee and pumpkin bread.  Then nothing to eat (too busy) until late night McDonald's drive-thru after THE 2012 RED CARPET: Coffee and apple pie.  The day started early on the treadmill, then down the road out of town...  ...and to the Four Seasons Hotel, where I got to interview Terry Gilliam for THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS. I was really, really looking forward to it. The only other time I've interviewed him is for another "Heath Ledger movie" THE BROTHERS GRIMM in 2005. Look at the picture comparison. We have both changed a lot, in four years. But not in chemistry -- as with the first time I talked to him, we were joking around immediately and it seemed like we had a shorthand. That doesn't happen very often.  Definitely some directors I've taken to instantly are Gilliam, Todd Haynes, and Guillermo Del Toro. A few actors would be Malcolm McDowell, Doug Hutchison, and Idris Elba. Females who're really cool, right off the top of my head, are Zoe Saldana, Emma Stone, and Helen Mirren. Always a pleasure to talk to any of those folks. Most interview subjects are pretty guarded -- Heath Ledger was in that category, for sure. I get so many questions about Heath Ledger, as if I knew him. Our TV-Wire video at YouTube has gotten over 200,000 views and people either love or hate it. It's very polarizing. The interview took place in November of 2007 in New York, and while I'M NOT THERE wasn't a box office hit, that clip certainly was (and is). When Ledger died in January of '08, I actually had friends calling me and offering their condolences. I have to say I was shocked, but not surprised when I heard the news. Since I have been asked so many times, I'm going to write everything I can remember about my impressions of Heath Ledger. If memory serves, he first caught my eye in A Knight's Tale. I thought he was really hot and good-looking onscreen, then was totally disappointed when I did the premiere! He was introverted to the extreme, his skin was bad, his hair was dirty, and he was sucking down cigarettes like cancer was going out of style. I subsequently interviewed him on the press lines for Monster's Ball and The Four Feathers. Naomi Watts was with him, and I thought: "She could do better!" He wasn't exactly rude, just so withdrawn it was hard to find something to like. But then his work started to trascend him... his acting was so amazing that it really spoke for him. I didn't cover The Order or Brokeback Mountain (though I did interview Ang Lee for the latter), but then we did our first on-camera interview for THE BROTHERS GRIMM. He was paired with Matt Damon, and that was a super-short interview (three minutes for two people, and gregarious Matt did most of the talking), but there was a little more of a light in his eyes. After that, I did a much longer interview (for print) on the set of The Dark Knight in Chicago. He was still pretty uncomfortable with the press -- I really can't believe anyone wouldn't evolve in so many years, doing the same thing -- but he was talking more. For the first time, I was impressed by Heath Ledger. He didn't seem assured, but he did come off as a very comitted actor who genuinely cared about his work. He also got my sense of humor, which a lot of people don't. So he scored a few points there. Then he did the amazing, wonderful, fantastic film I'M NOT THERE and that's where he really scored. Not only in the movie, but our interview was really interesting for me. First of all, he remembered me from the Batman set visit and there were pleasantries. Then after the interview, he said he really liked the blue streak in my hair and he asked me how it's done. He gave me his "lucky" clothespin and was still shy, but much sweeter than usual. I like his sort of unguarded moment during the interview when he isn't sure if when I say "that's interesting" I really mean it or if I was using "interesting" as a substitute word for something else. But I genuinely found his reply informative; he answered my question in a way I didn't expect. He had good perspective on things. That interview has been praised, torn apart, understood, and misinterpreted by hundreds of YouTube users. Some people say he seems to be flirtatious, and others say he seems very uncomfortable. In the room, at the moment, it felt like a little bit of both -- but I did feel as though he liked me: but he didn't like the press junket situation. He did seem very jittery and sleep-deprived, yet he took the time to be complimentary on my hair, clothes and shoes. It was really the first time he seemed (more or less) engaged during an interview. In sum, if he hadn't passed away, Heath Ledger would have made a just "OK" impression on me overall. He was improving on the interviews side of things, and as far as acting: I was beginning to love him. His later roles -- Dark Knight, Candy, I'm Not There -- are my favorites. FYI Brothers Grimm Video Interview http://www.horror.com/php/article-917-1.htmlIt's old, not Flash, so you may have to download it. As for my stuff on Dark Knight, that's only in text. http://www.horror.com/php/article-2036-1.htmlhttp://www.horror.com/php/article-1873-1.htmlAnd, my Heath blogs (from before he passed on) http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=46048036&blogId=329477658http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=46048036&blogId=329501080= = = Earlier today, I wrote my review of THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS.  CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE THING http://www.horror.com/php/article-2618-1.htmlThis was one of the more difficult reviews I've had to write this year. (I think "It Might Get Loud" still takes the cake.) It is a movie I really liked... one with many depths and layers of meaning, innuendo, inside jokes and cosmic connections and a bit of bafflement. I honestly don't think I absorbed it all properly... so I was hoping to see it again before having to write the recap. But I didn't have time. Heath Ledger is perfect in the flick, as are his three counterparts (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell). But it's really Christopher Plummer and Lily Cole's show. At the junket, I also interviewed Lily Cole and Vern Troyer. They were nice, but for me it really was all about Terry Gilliam.  = = = Back to yesterday (I really can't believe I did all this less than 24 hours ago). We covered the 2012 premiere at the new Downtown L.A. Entertainment Complex. Never been there before. I guess the inaugural event was THIS IS IT, which isn't my thing. I didn't cover it, and have no interest in seeing it either. Here're some stills from the red carpet. Me, on Jenna's iPhone. As you can see, I didn't bother to change from that morning, and I put my hair up in a messy bun.  Mickey Rooney and his wife Jan were among the first to arrive. He's not in the movie, so I am not sure what the connection is. Anyway, I didn't interview him. I may have mentioned he's in a movie with my mom (THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ADAM & EVE) but then again I may not have -- he seems rather cantankerous.  Not at all cantankerous -- quite gorgeous and charming, actually -- was Johann Urb who plays a pilot in 2012. I love him on EASTWICK.  Here's another shot of him, with his girlfriend off to the side. 6'+ blonde supermodel type: a very predictable couple, these two.  Beatrice Rosen is in the movie. I didn't talk to her, I was waiting for the director to come up.  I didn't talk to this cute little girl in the movie, either -- but I got a great snapshot!  Oh, and then there is my shoe obession. These are both publicists' shoes. The black ones are cool, but I liked the nude-colored ones so much, I asked about them. They are Gwen Stefani LAMB, she said.   The director, Roland Emmerich. He's good to interview -- very enthusiastic. Then star John Cusack... not so much. It's always like pulling teeth to get a good soundbite out of him.   Here is Camilla Bell, who was in Emmerich's last movie, 2000 BC (or something like that; I covered it a couple of years ago, and found it dreadful).  Danny Glover is in the movie. He plays the President of the United States.  Adam Lambert, from American Idol (a show I am proud to say I have *NEVER* watched). He has a song on the 2012 soundtrack.  Last shot of the night: All's well that ends well!  = = = AT RANDOM I watched and reviewed NOT FORGOTTEN today. Don't bother.  I do want to bother with these two movies, though... haven't seen them yet but they're so on my radar!   Remember the other day I posted that thing about the "Staci Layne" friend request at FaceBook? Well, I also stumbled upon REDHOTSTACI -- funny.  I'm reading NEIL GAIMAN'S SANDMAN for the first time, at Terrance's suggeston. I really like it a lot, even though I don't naturally take to the graphic novel format. I have a lot of books here to read, plus have a couple on order (cheap, under $5 at half.com) about mirrors (inspired by DR. PARNASSUS, and simply my enduring fascination with mirrored imagery).   = = = That's it for now. Got lots of work and travel ahead of me in the weeks to come... E-Ya Later! Staci Layne
Powered by  | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, November 01, 2009
|
Current mood: Wolfish
Aw, I am sad that Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year, is in the
past and it's November already. As usual, I had two costumes.
The first
one was Bad, Bad Bettie Page (see previous blog). That was was fun because it was comprised
of all my own clothes and handmade visual cues and I got to wear a wig
and totally change my look... BUT, I was much more comfortable and at
ease in last night's costume: Little Dead Racy Hood. Anyone who knows
me well (or if you read this-here blog), you know I am slightly obsessed with
the the fairy tale on all its levels. There is not only so much to the
underlying psychology, but it's a fun, kick-ass horror story on the
surface. To help get in the mood, I watched TRICK 'R TREAT in the
evening, then it was out the door and into the naughty, naughty night!
To see all the red'n racy pics from Halloween night, please look at the whole gallery on Facebook (you don't have to be signed in to view it) PHOTO GALLERY
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, November 01, 2009
|
So last night for the "13th Annual" Halloween Ho-Down at Super Heidi's house last night, I was bad Bettie Page. Tonight I'm gonna be Little Dead Racy Hood.
What are you guys all doing for Halloween? Post photos in comments, or in my Facebook.
Also, please remember to tune in to MOVIE MOB this weekend on Reelz Channel. I am glad they left my bit in about the great horror villainesses we've had this year (Esther, Jennifer, Mrs. Ganush...).
Pictures ensue. Videos coming too!
Happy Halloweeeeeeen!
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Friday, October 30, 2009
|
Current mood: Anticipatory
Why, hello! Just wanted to let you guys know a few things... earlier today I was part of the Movie Mob party for their special spooktacular Halloween episode -- it will be airing on the REELZ Channel on the 31st and also on Sunday. It was so fun!
My cohort Travis Oscarson is the new host of the show (he used to be L.A.-based, now he's in NM @ the channel's headquarters), and he made it really easy and fun to dial in via webcam.
Here's Travis and me in L.A., last year. For the show I was flanked by Doug Jones and AJ Bowen, plus a rotation of Movie Mob regulars. Can't wait to see how it all comes together.
Also, Bravo Channel is still running 13 SCARIER MOVIE MOMENTS, so you can look for me there too!
Here are the links... I know BRAVO doesn't repurpose their stuff to the Web but REELZ often does. So, even if you don't have cable you should be able to watch the MOVIE MOB online.
You can also see my quote for Saw VI on the TV spots and online banners. Lionsgate took it a bit out of context... I did say it's "A Saw fan's dream!" with the caveat that it's because the movie finally explains John's entire agenda and there are some terrific scenes with all of the Saw villains together... BUT, it really is a movie just for Saw fans. I don't think someone walking in cold would get it at all.
On other professonal fronts, I have a whole lot of articles and reviews online, and some stuff in print. Another cover story for L'Ecran Fantastique (French) and I hear Fantastique Issue #3 is on stands (I couldn't find it, but here's a 'cap).
I did Part Two of the GENTLEMEN BRONCOS press junket yesterday. The one last week was with Mike White, and the co-writers / directors Jerusha and Jared Hess. Then Jemaine Clement flew in from New Zealand, and that was yesterday's interview.
I'm not sure what to say about the movie. I basically didn't like it (way too scatological for my taste... it's from the Napoleon Dynamite people), --BUT-- I thought the performances were outstanding. Especially Jermaine, whom I've loved on the TV series FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS for years. He plays this really arrogant sci-fi author and lecturer who plagiarizes a teenaged fan's work, has a bestseller, and all hell breaks loose.
He is fantastic as "Dr. Ronald Chevalier" -- I'd suggest just going to the website, ronaldchevalier.com/ - you will NOT regret it, I promise.
Anyway, the interview with Jemaine was a bit awkward. He talks just like "Jemaine" on the show. Looking down, pausing a lot so you're not exactly sure when he's done talking, and he seemed a bit nervous. I liked him, though. Especially when, after the interview I geeked out a bit and told him how much I love the David Bowie episode. He said thanks, then asked if my necklace was for Jimmy Page, and of course yes... and I asked if he's seen IT MIGHT GET LOUD yet (not yet). It was all good.
I got to interview two of my faves the other day, Roger Corman and Corey Feldman. They were, like, "Oh, good to see you... AGAIN!" 'Tis the season.
= = =
In addition to all that, I did a big report on the Sacramento Horror Film Festival for Horror.com, plus am working on a SHORTS piece for L'Ecran. I had never been to Sacramento before, but I was in good company with lots of friends -- namely Mars, Terrance, Darren, Blake, Alisa and Nancy.
Mars was kind enough to pick me up, and put me up. Here's a little vicarious trip through Sacramento and Auburn with me...
Mars and moi!
Alisa
Blake (stripes are in, I guess! Nobody sent me the memo)
Blake, giving his talk to aspiring filmmakers.
Mars, me, and Horror Host Mr. Lobo
Me and Horror Hostess, The Queen of Trash
QOT & Mr. Lobo
Terrance and Alisa show off the fancy tickets printed up for the Saturday night showing and special event for Repo!
Mars and Terrance
Blake, me, and Terrance
Mars and Darren
Peaches, waiting for the Repo! madness to begin
Repo! stage shows and such...
I loved this old light fixture
When it was lights-out time, I stayed in the spare room of Mars' neighbor. Here's what's left of me at the end of the night... a barbie-sized bra, a press pass, and well-worn dungarees all folded up neatly. Then, it's the room: straight out a prairie time-warp, complete with a well-read Bible on the nightstand... ee-gads! ;)
After few more short films and such the next day, it was off to the airport. I was exceedingly tired, so I did my own personal "Do Not Disturb" sign with my hoodie, iPod, and stern expression. Pretty effective, huh? Even my toes weren't peeking out.
This girl's toosties were on display, though. I rather liked this Lynchian image of the nearly empty terminal, late night, a random foot just sticking out, all mysterious-like.
= = =
Now, for something completely different! I got this Facebook friend request from... STACI LAYNE. Hm. Talk about your David Lynch moments. Never seen anyone with that name, and spelled exactly the same. Coincidence, or crazy? I accepted, so I guess we'll see.
Not much time to read lately, but here's what on the nightstand...
And lastly, a goodbye to little KENO, who I knew, and was Samantha's baby for many years. He was sweet little fella.
= = =
That's it till the Halloween party reports! Weeeeee! Can't wait for the shenanigans.
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, October 29, 2009
|
Current mood: Reflective
 | Currently listening:
Ooh La La
By Faces
Release date: 1993-09-14 |
|
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Saturday, October 24, 2009
|
Current mood: Fast 'n Furious
Take two of these, and call me in the morning.
That's how I'm feeling these days! My schedule is driving me straight to crazy-town. I counted back over the past few weeks and saw that I've interviewed nearly 60 PEOPLE this month alone.
And it is not over yet… I am leaving Sacramento Horror Fest first thing in morning, then when I get back to L.A. I have a 1:1 interview, an international set visit, two TV junkets, a television appearance as a horror movie expert, and before I know it — it's gonna be Halloween! WOW.
I've been writing reviews with quick, half-witted hellfire fury today… I got Saw VI, The Stepfather, Cirque du Freak, The Canyon, Wrong Turn 3, Damned By Dawn, and (untitled) all banged out. And it's not over yet… I still have video editing to do and three article intros to write. That's why I'm posting this blog now, because otherwise everything will get lost in the shuffle.
Here's what's new on Horror.com — REVIEWS, My Super-Psycho Sweet 16 Exclusive Clip, Stan Helsing Junket Report, and Exclusive Interview with Robert Englund about Fear Clinic.
· REVIEWS · My Super-Psycho Sweet 16 Exclusive Clip · Stan Helsing Junket Report · Robert Englund on Fear Clinic
Here are some graphics to jazz up the presentation.
No time to read, but I did start and not finish The Architect of Desire. Suzzanah Lesard, the diarist, is a puzzle. She can write, but she can't write a story. She loses the forest for the trees, and so I couldn't keep up… kept losing the plot. But I loved these following passages about her father so much, I just have to share her prose.
"As a young man, Papa was dazzling. But there was no vanity in him. Nor was there in his restlessness any edge of violence, or in his energy any sense he might go out of control. He was not vain, but he was indelibly elegant, and he had a swanky social life in New York, where he was popular and conspicuous — as opposed to withdrawn and restless, with a corona of irritation around him as he was later. Papa was not a family man. He bonded with institutions: with Harvard, with the Navy, McKim, Mead & White. Papa was dynamo. He had a surplus of mental energy, a kind of whirring of the mind, that made him restless. His principal method of managing his energy was to keep phenomenally busy — reading detective novels as if he were eating chocolates, reading cookbooks as if they were detective novels, and putting together volumes of genealogy as if they were cookbooks."
I love that bit about the mirror. Mirrors are ever a fascination (which is partially why I want to see Dr. Parnassus again) and it was by dumb luck alone that the junket for Gentlemen Broncos would take me to the SLS Hotel… a veritable hall of mirrors, even in the lounge ladies room! I didn't have time to really set up shots, so here are the ones I took uper-quick on the fly… still pretty cool, though if I were choosing to do self-portraits I would have worn something fancier.
RANDOMNESS
The Loco-Motion is currently on the radio. I can never believe, when I see the artist, that that's Grand Funk Railroad. Gawd, I hate that song as much as I love GFR's We're An American Band. What two **TOTALLY DIFFERENT SONGS**! Anyone know if it's the same band lineup? I doubt it, cause weren't both songs out in '74? Huh…
One of my favorite interviews of the whole month was a quick one at the Scream Awards, with Kunal Nayyar, who plays Raj on The Big Bang Theory. I felt so pleased to be able to tell him, just a couple of days after the fact, how much I loved his showcase episode, "The Pirate Solution". I was laughing so hard during that one, I recorded it so I could watch it again. (I think I'll have time in 2011.) He seemed to genuinely appreciate the compliment and he was so present and open. I really liked him, he seems very sweet.
I have been in so many different nightclubs this month, what with all the after parties. Last night it was some loud, overcrowded place on Cahuenga for the Saw VI celebration. The instant I walked in, I could not wait to get out! I hated it. I ate a couple of free appetizers before splitting, and regretted it. It was salmon, and sushi… whose bright idea was that, to serve fish in such close quarters. Even if I didn't eat any, I'd still have to smell it. Ugh. And so hot, stuffy and crowded. I practically jumped out the door, right into Bill Moseley's arms — he said, "You're leaving already?!" Ha. Also saw Laura Bousman at valet… it's been forever. At least, it's good to see friends and acquaintances while out "working".
Here's Bill, last night. I love this pic I took of him, because to me it really captures him and not a pose.
I've been so busy and not eating much, I have lost weight. I prefer it that way, but a couple of friends said I am too skinny. I've been getting a lot of comments, good and the occasional bad (YouTube), about my appearance lately. I did have one sort of over-the-top outfit on… but sometimes, it's really hard to tell how it's going to look when you're in different lighting situations (especially with semi-sheer clothing). Of course, nobody can pull off EVERY look… I wonder what it is? The other night when we were out covering an event, Enzo and I both noticed a pretty girl in a pretty dress, but together we agreed the combination wasn't at all pretty. Somehow, she just looked funny. We decided it was her slouchy posture — in a strapless dress, walking tall is especially important.
Later on that night, I saw a guy with golden blonde hair and a really ostentatious Snidley Whiplash waxed mustache… and it was sexy! Normally I wouldn't care for that, but for him it totally worked. Just like some guys look good with eyeliner, and some don't.
A few days before that, at the Reaper Awards, I overheard a couple talking about Mick Garris's long, silver hair. (Mick was on display, on the press line.) The man was saying, "Gawd, it's time to grow up," and the woman was like, "I think it's very distinguished. Professorial." Personally, I love Mick's 'do. If a man has non-scraggly, healthy hair I think longer is always better than shorter.
Found a great WHITE STRIPES performance online. Lovelovelove it. (And Beck intro's - Nice.)
I dropped a glass the other night, and look at the little cut I got:
Doesn't look like much, but it was bleeding copiously. Like a deli meat-slicer, the glass just sheared off a flat piece of skin. It didn't really hurt — I have a high tolerance to pain, judging from what I see of other people's reactions to similar injuries — but whoa… my bathroom looked like a crime scene from Dexter. I put one bandaid on it and that filled up, spilling out the top. So then I added another one and the gore started leaking from underneath. Then I got another and it finally staunched. The next day I got a manicure, and when the lady put polish remover on it, then jammed her sharp fingernail into it… that was an "ouch". But still, I just mentioned it and cringed a little. I've seen and heard some really loud reactions from others to pain (or even getting shots, or going to the dentist… none of that causes me any stress at all).
I think part of the reason is, I was conditioned from a young age to not cry when hurt. I wasn't allowed to wail in public for sure, and I remember one time when I was about seven I broke my leg in three places in a horseback riding fall and my mom didn't believe me that it really hurt. She thought I was overreacting and so I walked on it for about three days before we finally went to the doctor. I had to wear a hard cast for about eight weeks. I still went horse-riding with it, even though I wasn't supposed to.
Thinking back on all my injuries and stuff that's hurt, here are some that stand out (and that left marks! I have a ton of scars).
· Emergency spleenectomy (but the accompanying broken finger hurt worse) · At least four root canals, plus wisdom teeth pulled · Countless fingernails ripped off at the quick · Two concussions · Dropped a huge pair of shears on my foot, point stuck in by my big toe · Had the tip of my finger cut off and reattached when I was two (don't remember much) · Been bitten to the finger-bone by a couple of ferrets · Been kicked, bitten, and fallen on by several horses · Sunburns so bad I couldn't wear anything other than a robe for days · Shocked by an electric fence · Had whiplash
And I think that about sums it up, but the pain that stands highest in my memory is a time when I was working in an office YEARS ago, and I was filing. I slammed the file drawer on my fingernail and it hurt so bad I almost passed out and nearly threw up.
Nice rack! (Him, definitely not me. And boy, do I need a tan.)
Well, I guess that's a good note to leave on. Nice racks. Till next time!
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
|
Current mood: zombified
I'll be here all week! Try the veal. 
Seriously, Screamfest is a luxury compared to most of October's insanity. Only a couple more weeks to go, but this week alone I have 9 screenings, 3 junkets, and 1 red carpet. Then travel... Not to mention the computer: reviews to do, articles to post, lists to compile, photos and blogs to cyber-sprinkle, and manifestos to write.... Good thing I love my job.
Anyway, just wanted to let everyone who know, who asked: Bravo's 13 Scariest Movie Moments is airing again on Monday the 26th. You will see a lot of familiar faces! Here's one, in particular.
I'm in 3 or 4 of the segments, I think. I come in at the last half-hour (the best part of the countdown, which is cool). My friends and colleagues Heather Newgen, SpookyDan, and Shade Rupe are in it too. So are Eli Roth and Bill Lustig and a few other people I know. The producer Rebecca Bruno did a fantastic job, I think, of making this entry into the series a lot brisker and faster-paced. Also, some of the scenes they got away with showing from the horror movies are pretty cringe-inducing!
Anyway, back to Screamfest. The video interviews should be up at horror.com later on today. In the meantime, I have a written report from the opening night and as well as photography. (Different from these, below — that's me with Rachel Belofsky and then with Tim Anderson and Steven Shea. Plus black carpet. I never wear my hair in a ponytail, but I just couldn't be bothered with anything otherwise.) The opening night movie, The Tournament, was mighty gory. I'll be reviewing it… um… soon! Probably on the go on my laptop between events this week.
The after-party for Screamfest's launch was kind of weird. Like, for instance, the Spike Scream Awards had theirs at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. That makes sense. Shriekfest had one at Hollywood Billiards, which has a Universal Monsters horror theme. And Screamfest itself once had a really awesome gala at the Hollywood Wax Museum in the horror exhibit area. This time, it was at Bouelvard3. I have been there before (for a friend's swanky bday party), and it just seemed like a regular, if pretentious, Hollywood nightclub. But this time it was very rap- and hip-hop heavy. There were some live dance performances and a strange street couture show on a catwalk. I will admit, I did like the sashays down the runway. Being groped while sidling by mobs of Eurotrash, not so much… but the fashion, yeah. I had my press pass from the fest, so I slipped backstage to take some pictures of the performers as they were warming up. It was a quiet little nook, just me alone peering in. Rather voyeuristic. I love taking pictures like that, kind of 'camera verité'. 
I think the voyeuristic aspect is what people like about self-portraits, too. I have not done any as elaborate as when I was in Chicago… but for those who've asked, I will probably someday continue. A few days ago I was killing time, and went shopping. Snapped some shots in the dressing room, and then asked on Twitter which dresses followers liked out of these two (exact same garment, in different colors) — women preferred the white, while men preferred the grey. I got both (inexpensively, I might add :) 
This dress was not in the running, but I just had to try it on because it was tacky! All blue sparkles and cut-outs, like something a stripper would wear on her way to work. 
This blouse I actually liked a lot — very soft, silky, and sexy — but not on me. Too bulky. 
…And the dress I arrived in. It's a flight attendant mod mini from the 60s! Functional zipper down the front… 
Let's see. Where was I? Oh, yes. The Spike TV Scream Awards. You know cursing isn't my thing, so I will just quote Robg on this: "What a clusterfuck!" It really is one of the worst, most stressful and fruitless red carpets to cover. Why, why, why do we do it? Oh, yeah: The paycheck. As you can see, I wore a baggy tee and I didn't even bother with anything other than eyeliner, I'm not on camera for this anyway. But wanted to get a photo with Jenna's new jam-jacket, which matches my hair color! And, of course, who can resist posing with bare-chested and beheaded dummies? Not me. Also, I took several photos of things I thought were absurd, funny, or just plain blog-worthy (namely… shoes). 
Harvey Lowry from Drac Studios. What a cutup! 
I didn't say anything to Dave Navarro, but he gave me a nice 'say-cheese' kinda smile anyway. 
I did interview Jaime King. She is one of my favorite people to chat with. She's in Darren Bousman's Mother's Day, so we talked about that. 
I see Stan Lee!
And I see unicorns, too. (No virginity required for the Hollywood version, apparently.) 
Here's a shot of the critter from Jenna's iPhone - a publicist took it (you can see that's not my work, right?) 
Another mythical creature, a swingin' angel. 
And, z' zapatos! I think Julie Benz had the prettiest, slinkiest ones. 
Here's a gaggle. I don't care for this new trend I'm seeing of peep-toe boots. 
I did read an article recently about another disturbing trend — apparently, women are getting foot surgery to correct gnarly toes and making their feet smaller somehow. Eeek. 
I still haven't had time to write any of my reviews — I really want to do my Dr. Parnassus one justice. It's a hard movie to define, but I think I can do it. What I am not looking forward to is the new rash of trolls we will be getting on my interview with Heath Ledger on YouTube. Shortly after he died, we got a zillion "anti-gay" posts (Brokeback Mountain), then for a while it was people hating on me, and then it was all clothespin love, and now some of the crackpots seem to be deifying him. Here's the latest… He is a True Love-Rebel For The Lord JESUS CHRIST---We Do Now Like Lenny Kravitz Said :"We Follow More and more The Only Real Rock-Love-Rebel Jesus Christ"
HALLELUJAH FATHER AND KING JESUS-Sorry But JESUS Loves You Really With Eternal LOVE-Jesus Has Proven It Throug His Eternal LOVE-CROSS-So jump on U 2-The Eternal-Love-Grace-Eagle-StormWind-CROSS-SpaceRocket-Ship-JESUS-HALLELUJAH FATHER AND BEST FRIEND AND KING JESUS Um, OK. Anyway, it's funny how certain videos bring out people's Irish. Rush Hour 3 is one where we field (and usually delete) mean, vicious, nasty comments about how "fat" Chris Tucker is, and then I won't even go into It Might Get Loud. When people start arguing about their guitarists, there's blood on keyboard! As for me in that video, I am either inspiring boners or being called a bonehead. Can't win. I love and hate YouTube. Either way, you sure cannot mind the ease of just finding stuff. I saw this clip on the so-called news the other day, and viola! here it is. It's pretty shocking! The baby miraculously survived, and I guess most people would be thinking, "Whew! Crisis averted!" I did too, but that was quickly followed by, "What if that baby is the next Hitler or Bin Laden?" Yeah. What if? I never did see the Balloon Boy story. Missed that whole drama. I do know it turned out to be a hoax, though. Anyway, I'm off again. Three screenings today. I wonder if I'll pass the same dead dog by the freeway divider that's been there since the rains? It's so bloated and colorful, it's starting to look like a movie prop. I'll keep my windows rolled up. More REAPERS COVERAGE
Staci's Article Marco's Article My Personal Blog w party photos Till then, please do check out my friends' latest projects. Everyone else has been just as busy as me! Dan's Nightmare on Elm Street documentary now shooting — they're actively seeking the lead actor from NOES 2: Freddy's Revenge. His name is Mark Patton. Follow @ElmStreetLegacy on Twitter. Adam and Joe's Annual Halloween short is now online http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPyyiiH76Kw Tim's 2:22 short film is on the festival circuit Andrew's Thirsty short film is on the festival circuit Terrance's Molting comic still in progress, pt 2 coming soon Darren's talking about Mother's Day as it's being filmed, via his Twitter feed Mars scored two films (Won Ton Baby and Slime City Massacre) now on the convention circuit, and one doc (Lovecraft) Stephen directed a rock video for dance artist Fawn Samantha is doing handmade jewelry stuff in connection with breast cancer awareness month Darren is attending the Sac Horror Fest, will be releasing the first 3 of 40 Repo! jingles
Marcus and Patrick have Saw VI coming out this week Brian cut two "behind the scenes" for the Public Enemies DVD, out this November Doug stars in the Skin & Bones episode of NBC's FEAR ITSELF, now available now on DVD Marco is writing for Forth magazine - check out Charles Bukowski is Rolling in His Grave Jimmy is moderating and hosting a Q&A with Paul Mazursky onstage at the Aero in Santa Monica on November 19, and showing two Mazursky movies = = = INSERT TITLE CARD "Much later that night…" Well, I never did get the blog posted in time before I had to go. Today I saw Gentlemen Broncos, Damned By Dawn, and Wrong Turn 3. Reviews coming. I also picked up a screener, a new interview for next week, and a TV gig to air Halloween weekend. Whew! On top of all that, here's the video from Screamfest's opening night — just new going live at Horror.com.
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Friday, October 16, 2009
|
I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But I do have a phD in work piled higher and deeper. And, let's hope, I'm imaginative when it comes to posting this quickie blog about my doings of the past two days before memories are snapped up by the hungry horror maw that is (cue the Jaws theme) OCTOBER. Off to cover ScreamFest tonight, Scream Awards tomorrow, simply screaming on Sunday, then from Monday on its junkets, screenings, and more horror shows. Just finished the Saw VI TV junket, the House of the Devil junket, and saw a few movies — two of them were Satan-inspired and I am now a disciple of them both (House of the Devil and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus — very good!) = = = SAW VI Here's Costas Mandylor, back again as Hoffman. Check out his smoldering eyes and pouty lips. I am so jealous, looking at my own goofy grin with chagrin. I need to learn how to make love to the camera, too.
 Here's Tobin Bell, returning as Jigsaw. He, too, is much more snapshot-savvy than me. We were actually chatting away while the photo was being taken, but he has the smiling-while-talking thing totally nailed. Me, not so much.
 Here's Tanedra Howard, who got her role due to superior acting abilities she displayed as the winner of the VH1 reality show, Scream Queens. Check out the cute chin-tilt and the hand on the cocked hip. I'm telling you, I can learn a lot from studying these poses.
= = = HOUSE OF THE DEVIL Here's writer/director Ti West (is it "Tie" or "Tee"?) and Jocelyn Donahue. This is truly (joking aside) one of the more interesting interviews I've done lately; it was fun to talk about not only setting a horror film in the early 80s, but actually making the finished product feel exactly like one of that era. I'm looking forward to reviewing it in depth (as I pray to Chronos I will have the time to do it justice).
 = = = THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS Haven't done the junket yet, but am very much looking forward to seeing Terry Gilliam again (it's been since The Brothers Grimm). This is a movie I really liked… one with many depths and layers of meaning, innuendo, inside jokes and cosmic connections and a bit of bafflement. I honestly don't think I absorbed it all properly, so I am planning on catching it one more time before the interviews. It's fantastic (much as I love Gilliam — I even liked Tideland — I had low expectations for this one). Heath Ledger is perfect in it, as are his three counterparts (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell). But it's really Christopher Plummer and Lily Cole's show.
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Friday, October 16, 2009
|
Friday - October 16
'Twas a boo-tiful, rainy Tuesday when the "Grimmys" were handed out at the haunted Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in the dead of night.
I was in attendance, and wrote a little piece on it for horror.com (totally informal, since my involvement with Dread's "Uncle Creepy" is rather... erm, incestuous). The real report, with a full-on list of winners' names and everything, is coming from the marvellous Marco Mannone real soon. I'll be updating this blog entry with new links throughout the weekend, so hopefully you will kindly check back. We got a lot of good stuff!
This is just a photo scrapbook with some captions from arrival to after-party. Pics were taken mostly by me, Enzo, Marco, and stolen from Heather and Annette. Also, there's a YouTube video of my onstage flubs posted below (read my horror.com article for my lame excuses :)
= = =
My first-snapped photo of the night. Shoes... SHOCKER! It's Naughty Nettie's leopard pumps and EnZorro's sinister sneakers
Hanging out with the crew before walking the red carpet gauntlet
Annette and Larry
Kyra, Blake, and Ann
Enzo and myself
Me and Debi
Yours truly (most of the time), Tamity and Spooky
On the carpet. Too many snaps, but I couldn't decide which ones were best for the outfit, and something new I tried with my makeup (hard to imagine me not having done something beauty-productwise, huh?). So, this is my Betsey Johnson vintage gown and then the faux lashes are top and a hint at the bottom, like they used to do in the 60s. I liked it, but it's definitely not an everyday kinda thing.
Marco doing his thing behind the ropes
Brian interviews Andrew and Dan
Trophy
Trophy girl Emma, and Naughty Nettie
The Show
Uncle Creepy
Emma
Mick
Nick
Rob
Jonathan
Me
Spooky
Handing out the swag-bags at the end of the evening
Basking in the gory glory
Winners and their prizes
Party-time! Cabana shenanigans (the ones we can publish, anyway...)
The rowdy crowd
The sedate indoor folks. Make that the sedate, indoor, bearded folks (AJ and Robg)
Marco and me
Wixson and Wilson
Couple of shots I took of the view from the balcony, then one of me putting my feet up and kicking back on said balcony :)
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Saturday, October 10, 2009
|
Current mood: Be-Guile-ish
It's no secret I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday, by far. (Followed by birthdays, and New Year's.)
In the past, I have often gone with stealthy costumes almost no-one guessed. It's kind of fun to have an unusual disguise, but it's less-fun trying to explain it all night long at the parties. So this year, I am going with some very easy-to-spot get-ups. (Not telling now, but will post pics when the time comes.)
However, I am not following my own advice when it comes to the article I wrote for Horror.com and which is posted today. These are some pretty unique (mostly... I mean, Jason Voorhees *is* in there) ideas, I think. Please click the link and tell me what you think!
Also, I'd love to know what everyone is planning on being this year, or what you own favorite previous costume was. Do you ever swap genders? I did, once. I was Jeff Spicoli. But for some reason, I had never, ever had the desire to do a male-related look for Halloween.
SEE THE ARTICLE ON HORROR MOVIE HALLOWEEN COSTUME IDEAS 2009
In case you don't know, and are wondering about previous year's costumes that I referenced for myself, I was
1) Meg White. A few people knew, but most guessed Karen Carpenter or Josie & the Pussycats,
2) Sister Morphine. No Rolling Stones fans at the that party, I suppose. I had a nun's dress, a set of devil horns, union jack ring, a syringe, and a belt looped around my bicep.
3) One of Spooky Dan's Living Dead Dolls. Granted, I did not wear this costume to Spooky Dan's house, so no one could compare me to the collection that lines his dining room wall, but I did have the look down-pat.
I do admit, I am a HORRIBLE guesser (I'm no good at mysteries of any kind), so I don't blame anyone for not reading my mind.
Aside from devising costumes for parties, I'm in the thick of the horror-season in my work-life. Here are a few of my recent holiday-related articles and coverage....
READ THE WHOLE CREEPY KIDS COUNTDOWN HERE
Someone pointed out in the "comments" that I forgot Claudia from Interview With The Vampire. D'oh! That is a good one, and one of my all-time favorites. Ah, well... save her for Part 2? (I guess I don't think of her as "creepy" so much as "cool" :})
ALSO:
Universal's Halloween Horror Nights Eyegore Awards Red Carpet Video - featuring Rob Zombie, Rick Baker, Bill Moseley, and many more
Drag Me To Hell Unrated Director's Cut DVD Review
Seventh Moon DVD Review
Movie Review Roundup - Terror X3 (Red Velvet, Die-Ner, and The Stepfather 1987)
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, October 08, 2009
|
No, I never did read Abbie Hoffman's STEAL THIS BOOK. But I did see the movie, starring Vincent D'Onofrio... it was pretty good, if memory serves.
Speaking of reading and watching, the former has fallen by the wayside a bit (I'm *still* slowly getting through The Know-It-All, much as I love it) to make way for the latter. I watched three review DVDs yesterday, on top of all my review and article writing. I have three left to view and review (Natural Born Killers Anniversary Ed. Director's Cut, Objective, and Seventh Moon) ... that is, until the UPS and FedEx guys arrive for this morning's deliveries!
I love horror of course, but I do miss my art films, fashion documentaries, and gialli. I was doing so well for awhile there, catching up on all my 70s Italian mystery, Beniex, Wenders, and the 10 Years of Rialto Boxed Set, etc. Of course, lack of time and being behind hasn't stopped me from buying DVDs. Yesterday I picked up two movies I have been intent on seeing for years: Irreversible, and The City of Lost Children.
Been reading a few short news items and such. There was an interesting article on Spike Jonze in the October issue of G.Q. It actually makes me feel much better about him not doing TV at the Where The Wild Things Are junket. He seems weird... in a bad way.
Then again, I've been pretty lucky with people who are supposedly notoriously awful to interview (Crispin Glover, John Malkovich, Samuel L. Jackson... I'm sure I'm forgetting some females, too). I have talked to Forest Whitaker before, briefly on press lines, but at the WTWTA junket the other day, a few of the journalists said he was mopey and only mumbled out a few words. I was a little concerned, but once I was in the room and talking to him he seemed perfectly fine. I mean, he's hardly Robin Williams, but I didn't get any bad vibes.
The video isn't up yet, but here are some screen-caps:
Forest, Catherine, Lauren
The trio checks out my "ZOSO" necklace (nope, not one of them recognized it for what it is)
Here's me, obviously asking a deep question about itchy monster costumes
Max and Catherine
I'm still deciding whether or not to review the movie for horror.com (I did the junket for SyFy, but they seldom have me write). It *is* a monster movie, after all. We'll see. (Personally, I'm holding out for the Spike Lee version.)
= = =
Here are a few pics from the final night of Shriekfest. I really enjoyed Dark House (been wanting to see it, since the director, Darin Scott, showed me the trailer on his iPhone at Spooky Dan's bday party a few weeks back) on Saturday (and also the short, Thirsty, by Andrew Kasch... those two were my faves).
I was happy to see Darin win, but some other short I didn't see got the trophy. Also trophy-less were a couple of screenplay finalists by friends -- Jim Hemphill had one, and so did Terrence Kelsey. Terrence's script In The Mind's Eye is based upon my novel, Ghost Writer. I read the script, and I really like it. It's ambitious (read: couldn't be very low-budget) but hopefully it gets at least optioned soon. (It's a supernatural thriller, and would need a very solid male lead.)
Here are some photos from Sunday.
Terrence and me with the poster. The second picture was a "mistake", but I rather like it!
Pretty Paula-la-la's petals
The famous "John Photo-bomb" - Gulagar mugs with Paula and Terrence
Darin and I
It's not an event without Naughty Nettie!
...And the winners are:
= = =
Here's a still from Dark House (Jeffrey Combs is great in it!), and my review is up at Horror.com...
And Thirsty, which is also reviewed under the "Shorts" head on HDC
= = =
Pretty soon, I'll be on the scenes at...
The Reaper Awards (aka, "The Grimmys") is on the 13th, and I am looking forward to that one especially since I am a judge and I get to go onstage to present! Mighty exciting)
= = =
eBay's autosearch turned up another one of my mom's vintage pinup mags. This one is called GENTLEMAN, and it's Issue #1. She was not only featured in a photo spread, but also the centerfold. Pretty cool!
In other parent-related news, my dad called me from Japan a few days ago. He's probably home in Seattle by now, but I haven't spoken to him yet. He's exhausted. It was The Ventures' 50 Anniversary! Yeah... 50 YEARS. Hard to imagine any band having that much longevity. My dad is the sole-surviving founding member now, and I don't think he has ever missed a tour.
= = =
A few other odds 'n ends
Shallow fashion stuff:
I'm enjoying these newly-discovered makeups, so I'm sharing the love. The lipstick is truly non-transferable and it really does last for hours (not the gloss part, though; that has to be reapplied fairly often). The concealer is GREAT -- I had to try a lot of them before I finally found one that works great for video and pictures (often, they'll look OK to the naked eye but not so much on-camera). The I.D. lid color was a birthday gift from my sister, and it's not only vibrantly metallic, but it lasts a long time and isn't nearly as flaky/lightweight as the L'Oreal loose powder shadows.
Also, I found some cool (and probably cruel) shoes on eBay. I didn't buy any of them, but I am considering the cutout Oxfords and the corset-like ones. I also like the other pair, but those look way too steep for actual walking (pictures would be good, though). They're all from the same seller: Teri's Exotic World.
= = =
Having fairly recently interviewed Brooke Shields (because her husband is a producer on Land of the Lost), and because I grew up with her movies and Calvin Klein commercials, this item caught my eye
I'd love to post the pics here, but I'm sure Photobucket would shut me down... so if you want to see them, click on over to this blog.
I never did see that book by Gary Gross (was it released? Anybody know?) "The Woman in the Child" -- but I do believe it was genuinely intended as art. For instance, I love (the genius) Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, and I don't find it any more exploitative than say, another Brooke Shields movie, Alice Sweet Alice. Children are "used" for the purpose of provocation in that film, as well.
Some news stories are making it seem as though this photographer kidnapped her and forced the kid to pose naked. Actually, it was her mom who commissioned the session, and I think aside from the book they were also used to promote Pretty Baby.
I admit I have a left-of-center viewpoint on things like these because I had an extremely liberal upbringing, and also I do not have children. So someone with a different moral background, or parental concerns, would probably have another opinion.
But I was quite surprised to hear Bill Mahar calling Roman Polanski "a pedophile" straight up and going off on him almost as bad as Nancy Grace and Jane Valez have been (I didn't see that episode of Real Time, but I did catch a couple of discussions on Issues, and wow... they do nothing but editorialize and don't present ANY of the mitigating factors in the Polanski case!).
I do think the "Hollywood petition" is a bit ridiculous (he's hardly a POW... at least, not any more - he is a holocaust survivor), but I do think the guy should be cut loose. I hope WANTED & DESIRED starts airing on television so I can see it again. It was pretty well-balanced on the shades of gray in that particular case.
Anyway, all this stuff on Shields and Polanski is thought-provoking. Like, how is it they never hooked up in the 70s? (JOKE!)
But really. There is so little balance in journalism anymore. Obviously I love the blogosphere, and I am very interested in personal perspectives from people (which is why I gravitate toward autobiographies as opposed to bios) -- but it does bother me when such things are presented as "news" and "journalism". How can any viewer process the whole story, when the whole story isn't presented?
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Monday, October 05, 2009
|
What a month. As you-all know, I'm doing more film festivals and awards shows than usual. Also some junkets, studio screenings, Halloween parties and so on. In fact, I really should be doing my hair for the final night of SHRIEKFEST now, but wanted to zip this blog out so I could tout some of the cool things I've seen in the past few days (do check out Halloween Horror Nights, and although they're currently in limbo, BOLO for my Shriekfest faves "Thirsty" [a short] and "Dark House" [a feature] - reviews coming soon to horror.com)
FRIDAY NIGHT
The Eyegore Awards and Halloween Horror Nights launch...
Red carpet ready!
Rick Baker and friends...
My obligatory sexy-shoes pix... even Rob Zombie's are kinda hot, so I went AC/DC this time.
Best villain of the year - the "Deadgirl" pimp
The Frog Brothers *will* reunite for Lost Boys 3!
Party time with two of my favorite men, Pavi and Luigi (aka, Ogre and Bill ;-)
And of my other favorite fellas, sans noms de guerre, Robg and Andrew (Enzo was working his tush off, so I didn't get a pic with him!)
Cutest couple at the party, Buz and Linds
The Saw Maze was my fave. Here's one shot of Jigsaw with the digital cam, then a cool-effect one of the ice lady taken with my iPhone
On the tramway to terror! (A word to the wise: when you step off that tram, it's a long, hilly walk in the dirt.)
I have never seen Ashley so dressed up. I had to get photographic evidence ;-)
Just another Friday night
I did a whole report, and posted nearly 50 photos, over at horror.com
Horror.com article on Halloween Horror Nights
SATURDAY
Did a bunch of computer work in the morning (sorry, no photos of that), then it was off to the Where The Wild Things Are press junket, where I got to interview Forrest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, Lauren Ambrose, Catherine Keener, and Max Records (I've talked to all of them before, except Max, on different projects).
I was bummed Spike Jonze didn't do the TV day, but I was happy to see how transformed the Beverly Hilton was for the press day! It was all wilded-out. I took some photos, and then had a couple of shots (the photographic kind) with my colleague and friend Heather Newgen. It was fun! Pics of the talent, and video, to follow.
Heather-Max
Me-Max
After the junket, I drove like a demon (albeit a law-abiding one) to get to the THIRSTY screening at Shriekfest, and I made it! And furthermore, this little short I've been wanting to see since I first heard about, did not disappoint. It totally quenched. It was so funny, and gory too.
Me and the THIRSTY posse -- Andrew Kasch (director), Buz "Danger" Wallick (DP), and supportive S.O.'s Lindsay and Annette.
It was a late night. I didn't go to the Dark House after party, though I am sure it was legendary. Been working since I woke up this morning, and will continue throughout the week -- coming soon, from me:
DVD reviews of Left Bank, Drag Me To Hell unrated, It's Alive remake, The Stepfather release, Objective, and 7th Moon; plus some horror book reviews. Possibly a big screen review of Where The Wild Things Are, video interviews about it, and also a rundown on Shriekfest, plus a couple of articles at SciFiWire and coverage of all the biggest scary events coming up! (But what I really wanna do is curl up in bed with cookies and watch Desperate Housewives till I puke.)
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Friday, October 02, 2009
|
OK, so for those hanging on with baited (bated?) breath as to what I'd wind up doing with my hair --- ;-p LOL --- I decided to compromise and went with the one swoopy side-bang. I can put it over my eyes, partially-cover, or smooth back. I like it... for awhile. I know I will return to my usual Veronica Lake veil as it grows out.
The dress I have on is 50s vintage, which my grandma bequeathed to me before she passed on. It was one of her faves in that era, and she wanted to make sure I got it. It was my first time wearing it. It's cool, huh? Following are a bunch of snaps from last night, at the SHRIEKFEST 2009 kick-off party. I'll be covering as much as I am able this weekend, between the Eyegore Awards and the Where the Wild Things Are press junket. (And this is just the beginning of my jam-packed month.)
With the lovely Denise, high-priestess of the fest
With Super(legs) Heidi
In front of the 8-ball with darling Davy
Hangin' with T-Man Terrence
All the usual spooky suspects
= = =
It's so weird to think ZOMBIELAND is just hitting theaters today. I have been covering it all year, so to me it's very "been there, done that!" -- however, for those who are still excited about it: SEE IT. It's really funny and cute, and Woody Harrelson is awesome as ever.
= = =
I've been watching horror DVDs and writing reviews. Still have a lot more to go!
= = =
Non-genre pursuits
I have been slacking off a teeny bit to watch TV. Hey, I need to relax every once in a while...! OK? So. Sons of Anarchy was the best of the season so far; I am still loving Eastwick; watched Cougar Town and hated it; and got caught up with Entourage, Californication, and Top Chef.
I saw Where The Wild Things Are yesterday, in anticipation of the junket. It's visually stunning, as for other thoughts you'll have to wait for my official review. N'ya!
Just for fun, I watched Cadillac Records. I got a bunch of screening invites to it last year, but never could make it. It's a better at-home movie, anyway. I love that era of the blues, and it was a really well-made, well-cast, well-acted film. The only thing I didn't like was the singing (the actors really didn't belt it out like their historical counterparts) and the mundane cinematography.
It's narrated by "Willie Dixon" (Cedric the Entertainer), but mostly followed the friendship between Muddy Waters and Leonard Chess (Jeffrey Wright, Adrien Brody). There are sidestories of Etta James, Little Walter, Chuck Berry, etc. I have CDs by all of them, but my fave blue singers of all time have got to be: Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Dinah Washington, and Billie Holiday.
Speaking of blues-influences, can't wait to see Jack White's directorial debut of the new DEAD WEATHER video "Cut Like A Buffalo" -- supposed to be out today, but I haven't seen it appear yet!
= = =
Still reading the A.J. Jacobs book. I love it! HUNTING was one of my favorite entries, and I also found it interesting that I'd just finished the Ted Kennedy book when, in The Know-It-All's "K" section, A.J. mentions having met Ted. (Funny, Ted didn't mention meeting A.J. in **his** book! ;-)
= = =
And then, of course, there's the ever-popular topic of food. I got down to 100 lbs awhile back, but I don't think this recent diet obsession of mine has helped keep it there (afraid to weigh... but I **have** been working out)
Now I am back on track with lunches like these. Now, I know it looks worse than catfood, but honestly, it's delicious. I eat this at least 4 or 5 times a week when I am being good: tuna and tomoatoes with olive oil drizzle, avocado with basil and red wine vinegar splash, and my beloved organic 1% milk. Yum!
= = =
I'm not a big "cause" person, but some of my friends are and these look pretty interesting to me. So, I'm passing along the info.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (my mom had a radical double-mastectomy, so I am close to this subject) from SAMANTHA
My contribution to the event was making breast cancer awareness jewelry to sell. Since Breast Cancer Awareness Month is now upon us, I'd like to offer these items here on my blog. I am proud to be contributing part of the proceeds to Susan G Komen for the Cure. All the crystals you see are genuine Swarovski crystals and add that extra little bling! The prices are listed above each of the items. I will accept PayPal (send to nature_journey@yahoo.com) or a check. Shipping is $1.50 for the first item and $0.25 for each additional item. If you're ordering from outside the US, please contact me for shipping information. http://samanthawelch.blogspot.com/
Supporting the Arts with JENNA
I don't send out mass emails normally. This is an unusual situation. The Pasadena Playhouse is having financial difficulties (no, I'm not asking you guys for donations). I wrote an article about it and I want to get the word out. There are a zillion celebs who have done plays there and I'm hoping that if this gets enough press, one of them will donate. The more DIGG's the article gets, the higher it will rise. If you don't DIGG, maybe you can repost, Tweet or pass it on to any theater people you know. I'd appreciate it! http://digg.com/arts_culture/Jenna_Busch_Save_the_Pasadena_Playhouse
= = =
And, lastly... DAVID LETTERMAN. Would you hit that?
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Monday, September 28, 2009
|
Current mood:craving a corpsecake
As per usual, more visuals than vowels. Been busy. Still busy. Gonna get busier.
First up, ZOMBIELAND! I covered the red/dead carpet, and wrote my review. Video interviews with the cast and filmmakers is coming very soon.
Doing my intro/standup for Horror.com - there's one with zombies in it, too... but nothing quite like the takedown this reporter (below) got!
My colleague, Jenna from Joblo, interviewed a zombie. Not as much fun as interviewing a vampire (especially if it's Brad Pitt).
Then me. I had even less to say than the undead.
This is the uber-cool director of the film, Ruben Fleischer -- then there's a shot of the writers, Paul Wernick and Rhett Rheese (check Mike White lurking in the background). These guys were all so much fun on the set. It was great to see them again, and they were really up at the premiere. It was a good one.
Mafia Don of the Dead.
"Your President is not a corpse!"
Death does Dallas.
Emma Stone was so cute, discovering the "SyFy" new logo for the first time!
This is a better shot :)
And, there are **A LOT** more pics at Horror.com from the red carpet, not to mention my review of the film and such.
Click here to view
= = =
It was Fariba's birthday, and we shared cake as usual. Last year it was carrot, this year flourless chocolate.
We spent the day at a lovely resort and hotel by the Queen Mary called MAYA. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's very cute and boutiquey. The swimming pool is divine and the decor is hip yet cozy.
Of course, posey-pics were taken (and my obligatory mirror self-portrait! Someday I will do a book... and nobody will buy it ;-)
She
Me
= = =
Some other stuff I've been/done/tee-shirt...
The first L.A. signing of Terrance Zdunich's THE MOLTING comic, movie reviews, and reading (mostly) just for fun. The Dracula book is for review, the rest are mine. Still slogging through The Know-It-All (and loving it).
Click to read and see photos
I finally finished Kennedy's True Compass last night. It was decidedly less-interesting after his dad died (Joe was really quite a force, and all the parts of the book centering on him were the best), and the bit about Chappaquiddick; but I'd still highly recommend it. I learned a lot; I'd really forgotten just how much Ted himself did in the Senate for our civil rights, international peace efforts, and poverty relief.
Also caught up on some of the new shows. Curb Your Enthusiasm was MUCH better this week. Saw more Sons of Anarchy, fell in love with Eastwick, and enjoyed Flash Forward quite a bit. Many more on DVR, no time.
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|
Friday, September 25, 2009
|
Any Steve Martin comedy stand-up routine fans here? Even before I could wear cruel shoes, when I was a kid (nope, I didn't have the Suri Cruise upbringing) I loved that bit from his album, Comedy Is Not Pretty. It's called (you guessed it) "The Cruel Shoes" and it is so funny... and so right-on.
click...
TEXT (not as effective as the audio)
Anna knew she had to have some new shoes today, and Carlo had helped her try on every pair in the store. Carlo spoke wearily, "Well, that's every pair of shoes in the place."
"Oh, you must have one more pair ..."
"No, not one more pair...Well, we have the cruel shoes, but no one would want..."
Anna interrupted, "Oh yes, let me see the cruel shoes!"
Carlo looked incredulous. "No, Anna, you don't understand, you see, the cruel shoes are..."
"Get them!"
Carlo disappeared into the back room for a moment, then returned with an ordinary shoebox. He opened the lid and removed a hideous pair of black and white pumps. But these were not an ordinary pair of black and white pumps; both were left feet, one had a right angle turn with separate compartments that pointed the toes in impossible directions. The other shoe was six inches long and was curved inward like a rocking chair with a vise and razor blades to hold the foot in place. Carlo spoke hesitantly, "...Now you see why...they're not fit for humans..."
"Put them on me."
"But..."
"Put them on me!"
Carlo knew all arguments were useless. He knelt down before her and forced the feet into the shoes.
The screams were incredible.
Anna crawled to the mirror and held her bloody feet up where she could see.
"I like them."
She paid Carlo and crawled out of the store into the street.
Later that day, Carlo was overheard saying to a new customer, "Well, that's every shoe in the place. Unless, of course, you'd like to try the cruel shoes..."
= = =
Anyway, point is, I saw some magnificent stilletos at the SURROGATES red carpet premiere last night. (While I, for a major change, was in very low kitten heels.)
Here's a brief rundown (only, these women probably couldn't run...)   I also noticed a few faces...  Photo: Enzo Giobbe    ...And this lovely long train. One doesn't see many gowns on the red carpet these days.    THE SCIFIWIRE EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEWS I DID:  = = = This is just a quick stop-gap -- I have 1,000,000 things to do today, but coming soon I'll have a slew of stuff on Zombieland, The Hills Run Red, Award Shows, Fantastique, etc., etc. Been writing a lot of reviews, too.  Aside from these recently-posted, I am in the process of writing ones on Zombieland, Children of the Corn remake, The Children, and The Thaw. I still need to watch a few more (and the hits keep on comin' ... it must be close to October! :) Lots of videos coming your way. Got a great on-camera interview with Dave Parker, the director of The Hills Run Red (see my review, noted above). Some of the cast was there, too... I wish I'd worn **A LOT** more makeup, but oh well... here's me with Sophie Monk (note her rockin' fringey shoes), Tad Hilgenbrink (love the modified Ed Grimly hair-do), and Janet Montogomery (channeling ennui). They were all so nice, I really had fun at that junket.   = = = As for the more mundane, I am still reading those three books. Kind of... ICONS OF FASHION has been left uncracked for at least a week. I'm totally hooked, equally, on both Ted Kennedy's TRUE COMPASS, and A.J. Jacobs' THE-KNOW-IT-ALL. The other day, when I was rummaging around looking for some stuff in my office, I found these books in my bookcase. I'd forgotten I have them, and really want to read them (these are just the tip of the text-berg... I buy LOTS of books, then set them aside for "later").  Top to bottom - Ayn Rand's THE FOUNTAINHEAD. I like the movie, and I loved her novel ATLAS SHRUGGED. She was such a wordsmith. 1945 is an alternate history novel exploring the question: "What if Japan hadn't surrendered in WWII?" Next is the John Lennon bio I'd totally forgotten I bought, and then another music bio, this one on Lester Bangs (a controversial and rather nutty magazine journalist for Creem and many other pubs, who had his heyday in the 70s). Anyway, back to the books I **AM** reading. True Compass is fascinating. Not only because of the sheer magnitude of the historical events the Kennedys put into motion and / or witnessed and chronicled, but just to learn about what it was like to be the youngest, and therefore most burdened son, in such a powerful, iconic, and relevant family. Like him or not, he's got something to say (hey, I don't like Richard Nixon, but I've read several books on him, too). I'm only just at the part where JFK has been killed, and he (Ted) was in the plane crash. He has the most interesting things to say about his father, Joe, and how he was as a parent. While clearly Ted did not follow a lot of his dad's advice, the advice is stunning -- some of the things he said to his kids are just so wise. I'm impressed. Ted doesn't go into as many details as I'd like (I guess he figures those have been published already, so many times), but I really like how he goes into how he FELT about things. So many memiors are too surfacy for my taste. This one really seems genuine, and totally authentic. Anyway, I am less than halfway through. Getting equal time with my eyeballs is THE-KNOW-IT-ALL. It's so funny, I am just laughing constantly... it also makes me a little envious. What a way with words and the turns of phrase A.J. has. The book is laid out alphabetically, like the Britannica, and as he explores what he's learning (I'm learning things, too), he also chronicles his own life during the year it took for him to read all the volumes from cover to cover. Fantastic idea for a book; along the lines of Julie & Julia.
Powered by | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|
|
|
|