Thursday, July 16, 2009
MOON LANDING
On its way to Jupiter, the Galileo spacecraft returned images of Earth's moon. Galileo captured this composite on Dec. 7, 1992. The distinct bright ray crater at the bottom of the image is the Tycho impact basin. The dark areas are lava rock filled impact basins: Oceanus Procellarum (on the left), Mare Imbrium (center left), Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis (center), and Mare Crisium (near the right edge). The colors in this image are "enhanced," in the sense that the camera Galileo used to photograph the moon was sensitive to near infrared wavelengths of light beyond human vision. Credit: NASA On July 20, 2009, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon. The mission was Apollo 11.
1 -- NASA has a brief history of the landing (this is a good place to start):
and lots of science about the moon, planets, and all things space:
3 -- There are several stories about the moonlanding on space.com
4 -- The New York Times devoted the Tuesday (7/14/2009) Science Section to the moon.
5 -- CNN is planning, I think, extended programming about the moon on the 20th (but I couldn't find any programming information on their rather poor web site). Try:
6 -- For more about the moon, check out planetariums around the country. In New York,
7 -- And finally, for a complete, detailed history of moon missions... from Wikipedia:
Labels: Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, The moon
LAST TANGO IN PARIS
I turned on TV and arrived at the middle of Last Tango in Paris (after the famous sex scene).
I could not turn away. Almost nothing happens, except: these two passionate, driven people interact. It was riveting.
Strength of desire powers acting.
Although little happens, it is all about sex. Watching the film is liberating and empowering to the audience and to creators of film drama who see it. It is an influential film in the history of cinema, and it was widely honored.
It is the subject of one of the most famous film reviews in history, by Pauline Kael.
So it is disturbing and sad that both actors, both Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider, felt humiliated and abused by the process. I would wish actors to be active, supportive, constructive, and willing participants in the process of making provocative films.
Indeed, Catherine Breillat, who had a role in the film when she was young, did develop into a critic, teacher, and provocative filmmaker.
Perhaps it was the times, perhaps the personalities, perhaps it was the extent to which Tango exceeded the sexual norms of other pictures and the extent to which it required the principal actors to expose themselves physically and emotionally.
The director, Bernardo Bertolucci, recently made The Dreamers with Eva Green (a fine film that captures the spirit of 1968 better than any picture since Godard's La Chinoise). This is another strongly sexual picture that crosses boundaries (but perhaps not, relative to other films now, to the extent of Last Tango). I hope Eva and the other actors involved felt they were creative participants rather than hapless victims in the process of creating the film.
I hope other directors and actors can collaborate sucessfully on new projects that are extreme, provocative and intense.
Labels: Bernardo Bertolucci, Eva Green, Last Tango in Paris, Maria Schneider, Marlon Brando
Friday, July 10, 2009
STONY BROOK FILM FESTIVAL 2009
It's 14 years old, and seems to be getting better every year!
Thursday July 23 – Saturday August 1
At the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University.
I had a very good time at last year's Stony Brook Film Festival (SBFF-08). The screening facilities are exceptional, the whole Stony Brook Campus is inviting and friendly, and the crowd is great. The selections were excellent last year, and this year seems particularly interesting.
Last year, Mary Stuart Masterson showed her remarkable first film, The Cake Eaters. One year later, her film, now also on DVD, seems to be generating interest all around the world. This year SBFF is showing a film that her husband directed (and she produced).
Another film I'm interested in.... I was rehearsing an adaptation I did (a play using Shakespeare's Sonnets) at rehearsal halls in New York and I often passed signs directing actors to nearby studios for a film in production that had a great title: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead. Well, it wasn't a joke, it's showing up at SBFF.
Looking through the program, there are stars & new talent; provocative stories & romances; wars and unrest; lovers from antagonistic cultures; features and shorts; many countries and languages. It's mostly stories, with few documentaries. It's almost entirely relationships with very little FX. Mostly live, with just a bit of animation.
OPENING NIGHT:
The New York Premiere of The Answer Man
CLOSING NIGHT:
The New York Premiere of The Little Traitor
Tickling Leo, written and directed by Jeremy Davidson, produced by his wife, the acclaimed actress Mary Stuart Masterson, and starring Eli Wallach, Lawrence Pressman, Daniel Sauli, Annie Parisse, Ronald Guttmann and Victoria Clark.
Blindness-Saramago in China, a documentary from China directed by Xilin Chen that grapples with the concept of intellectual property rights. Blindness tells a story about the adaptation of Jose Saramago’s Nobel Prize winning book by the same name into a play. It vividly transports the viewer to Beijing, to rehearsals by a professional theatre company, and into the negotiations going on between the play’s producer and the writer’s representative.
Life is a Banquet, which filmmaker Jonathan Gruber says is the first ever about actress and entertainment giant Rosalind Russell. Using words taken from Ms. Russell’s autobiography, the film’s narration is by acclaimed actress Kathleen Turner.
US, EAST COAST & NEW YORK PREMIERES:
Dana Delany (Desperate Housewives), who attended the Stony Brook Film Festival in 2008 when she starred in John Putch’s Route 30, stars this year in a short film dealing with autism, Flying Lessons. The short, making its New York Premiere, is by Janet Grillo and will be paired with the screening of Tickling Leo.
The Anarchist’s Wife, from Germany/Spain/France;
also...
The Missing Person, from the U.S. and starring Michael Shannon, Frank Wood, Amy Ryan, Linda Emond, and John Ventimiglia;
Bowled Over, from The Netherlands;
The Maiden and the Wolves, from France;
The Friend, from Switzerland;
Like Dandelion Dust, from the U.S., with Mira Sorvino and Barry Pepper;
Interpretation, from the U.S.;
True Beauty This Night, from the U.S.;
Light Bulb, from the U.S., with Dallas Roberts, Jeremy Renner, and Ayelet Zurer;
The Gold Lunch, from the U.S.;
In the Dark, from the U.S.;
Adopt a Sailor, from the U.S., with Bebe Neuwirth, Peter Coyote, and Ethan Peck;
After the Storm, from the U.S.;
The Painter of Skies, from Spain;
The Fairy Princess, from the U.S.;
On the Road to Tel-Aviv, from Israel.
For a complete schedule, and film passes, visit http://www.stonybrookfilmfestival.com/ or call the Staller Center Box Office, 631-632- ARTS [2787]. Tickets to parties and receptions are also available. Individual movie tickets go on sale July 13.
Labels: Mary Stuart Masterson, Nina Hoss, SBFF, The Stony Brook Film Festival
Thursday, July 09, 2009
REGISTERING A WILL
I do not understand why there is always a question about whether the latest will has been or will be found.
The trouble is that all disputes about the existence of the latest will now take place without the possibility of evidence from the person most likely to know the correct answer. A false "will" can come from anywhere and a real will can be lost or suppressed.
Wouldn't it save a lot of trouble, and prevent many errors, if there were a system providing basic evidence for the existence of the latest will? There is a system for registering copyrights! There is a system for drivers licenses. There is a system for passports.
There should be a national registration for wills. They should be entered at some local courthouse with (to the extent possible) the creator of the will, a lawyer, and a witness, together with photographic, biometric and other identification, and a simple sworn statement.
Taking the existence of the latest registered will as primary evidence for the intention of the writer of the will would make errors and fraud less likely and more difficult.
Labels: Love's Will, probate
123456789
I have remarked on some special dates. I liked May 5, 2005 (5/5/5). The devil's day was June 6, 2006 (6/6/6).
At roughly noon yesterday (and just after midnight as well) we had the very special:
12:34:56 7/8/9.
In about two years we'll have the eleventh hour:
One hundred 11 milliseconds into
The eleventh second of the eleventh minute
Of the eleventh hour
Of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 2011:
11/11/11 11:11:11.111
Labels: 123456789, 5/5/5, 6/6/6, eleventh hour, Special Dates
Saturday, July 04, 2009
PALIN'S PLANS ($$$???) & TINA'S NEW GIG (???)
In October, she seemed a big draw (Palin & Fey), a fiery speaker (Palin & Fey), and something of a joke in national politics (Palin & Fey).
Republicans (at least those generally in the McCain domain) seem more critical of Palin's exit speech than Democrats. Indeed, backing out of the Governor's mansion before the term is up is not good Presidential politics.
If Palin were serious about politics now, she would take a few year's off, go to the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and fill in the gaps in her understanding about how things work and look from the 48 & the North East & DC.
A simpler plan would be to travel around giving support to Republican candidates all over. She could build a strong base of friends and allies. But it would not solidify her credentials for the rest of the country.
Much of her talk seemed to suggest the main reason for leaving was that her personal legal fees and the state's legal bill were reaching unacceptable heights. So a likely route for her is the lecture circuit (with or without a book). As a politically slanted entertainer, or even in non-political entertainment, she could likely do very nicely.
Should she get full-force into the political wars, she would also give Tina Fey a big present. It was sometimes difficult during the campaign remembering who was who. ("Wait, is that Tina Fey on TV or really the Governor?")
Even the latest speech had a wealth of ironic humor (the Daily Show probably regrets it does not broadcast on Fridays). With the ducks and geese bobbing and quacking and honking in the background it was hard not to remember the ill-fated Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon video, when she pardoned one bird in the foreground while visible in the background less fortunate birds were, well... not fortunate birds.
Labels: Sarah Palin, Tina Fey
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
THE BARD GOES GLOBAL: SHAKESPEARE FILMS AT FSLC
A Celebration of Shakespearean Cinema from Around the Globe
Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio
Romeo + Juliet
Directed by Baz Luhrmann, USA, 1996; 120m
Photo Credit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/The Kobal Collection
Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey
Romeo and Juliet
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, UK/Italy, 1968; 138m
Photo Credit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/The Kobal Collection
Macbeth
Directed by Orson Welles, USA, 1948; 108m
Photo Credit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/The Kobal Collection
Toshirô Mifune and Isuzu Yamada
Throne of Blood
Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1957; 110m
Photo Credit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/The Kobal Collection
The Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) will showcase a summertime selection of films based on the works of William Shakespeare with The Bard Goes Global: Shakespeare on the International Screen, a 12 day, 18 film series beginning on Wednesday, July 15 through Sunday, July 26. Director Julie Taymor will appear in person at a screening of Titus on Thursday, July 23.
18 Films 10 Countries 12 Days (July 15-26)
Romeo & Juliet (2 versions)
Hamlet (3 versions)
Macbeth (4 versions)
Antony & Cleopatra
Henry V
King Lear
Richard III
Midsummer Night's Dream
Merchant Of Venice
The Tempest
Titus (Director Julie Taymor to Appear in Person)
Sonnets
Comments from FSLC:
"For a medium that spent many of its early years trying to distinguish itself from theater, cinema has often gravitated toward the challenges offered by Shakespeare. How much should a filmmaker refer to its theatrical origins? Do you embrace the opportunities cinema engenders to open up the play or guard against them? Should Shakespeare's historical settings be maintained or is the essence of his greatness its timelessness? And what should be done about Shakespeare's language? Despite (or perhaps, because of) these considerations, screen adaptations of the Bard's works continue apace; thirteen Shakespeare-based films are reportedly in production.
"To help prepare for this new Bardic wave, The Film Society offers the works of William Shakespeare through films from around the world, ranging from a Mumbai gangster-style Macbeth (Maqbool) to three renditions of Hamlet, two of which re-imagine the tragedy of the Prince of Demark as a tale of corporate corruption. Along the way, celebrated films by Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, Akira Kurosawa, Aki Kaurismäki, Derek Jarman, Grigori Kozintsev, Roman Polanski, Julie Taymor, Baz Luhrmann, and many more, can be rediscovered.
The Bard Goes Global opens on July 15 with one of two interpretations of Romeo and Juliet. Franco Zeffirelli's cinematic 1968 version (also showing on Thu Jul 16 & Sun Jul 19) was described by Roger Ebert as "the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made", earning the film two Oscars, including one for Best Cinematography. The director's wildly popular adaptation of Shakespeare's most ubiquitous work very much caught the spirit of the moment: shrewdly casting beautiful teenage unknowns Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, he emphasized the glory of young love when generational conflict was reaching a crescendo. Baz Luhrmann's 1996 interpretation, Romeo + Juliet (Wed Jul 22 & Sat Jul 25), transports the star-crossed lovers, played by a 22 year-old Leonardo DiCaprio and a teenage Claire Danes, to "Verona Beach," liberally peppering the original Elizabethan dialogue with modern-day accents.
In addition to two renderings of Romeo and Juliet are four very unique adaptations of Macbeth: Orson Welles' 1948 director's cut (Sat Jul 18), painstakingly restored by the UCLA Film & TV Archive (and out of print on DVD); Kurosawa's 1957 masterwork, taking place in medieval Japan, Throne of Blood (Wed Jul 15 & Sun Jul 19), praised by critic Harold Bloom as "the most successful film version of Macbeth"; Vishal Bhardwaj's imaginative 2003 Mumbai gangster rendition, Maqbool (Fri Jul 24 & Sun Jul 26) starring Irrfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire, The Darjeeling Limited, The Namesake); and Polanski's 1971 collaboration with influential critic Kenneth Tynan (Tue Jul 21, Wed Jul 22 & Sun Jul 26).
Also included are three versions of Hamlet. Svend Gade and Heinz Schall's restored Danish silent from 1920 (Sat Jul 25)which premiered at the 2007 New York Film Festival with original polychrome tints intact features live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin. This unique and madcap take on the story of the Prince of Denmark stars Danish diva Asta Nielsen playing the title role; Hamlet was born a princess and her gender was kept hidden. Finally, on Thursday, July 16 and Sunday, July 19 will be Michael Almereyda's 2000 edition starring Ethan Hawke & Bill Murray and on Thursday, July 23, Aki Kaurismäki's 1987 deadpan noir comedy Hamlet Goes Business (also showing on Fri Jul 24 & Sun Jul 26).
Other highlights include directorial debuts from Charlton Heston with Antony and Cleopatra (Sat Jul 18 & Mon Jul 20), Al Pacino in Looking for Richard (Wed Jul 22 & Sat Jul 25) and Laurence Olivier with his 1944 blockbuster Henry V (Wed Jul 15). In the biggest budgeted British film of the time, Olivier creates one of the most beloved Shakespeare adaptations at the movies, earning him a special "Honorary Oscar".
Film Descriptions
The Angelic Conversation
Derek Jarman, UK, 1985; 81m
Described by the director as "a dream world, a world of magic and ritual, yet there are images there of the burning cars and radar systems, which remind you there is a price to be paid in order to gain this dream in the face of a world of violence," this powerful examination of love and desire balances 14 Shakespearean sonnets (read by Judi Dench) with often astonishing tableaux that evoke everything from classic friezes to contemporary performance art. The project was shot on Super-8 then transferred to 35mm, giving each image a haunting effect, like paintings suddenly animating into life.
Sat Jul 18: 9:30pm
Thu Jul 23: 4:30pm
Antony and Cleopatra
Charlton Heston, UK/Spain/Switzerland, 1972; 160m
After years of monumental leading roles, Charlton Heston's first project as a director was this prime example of a character brought down by passion. He glided into the role of the Roman conqueror who Cleopatra (Hildegarde Neil) first abhors, then over whom she gradually and forcefully exerts her power. Rarely seen, this deeply felt rendition of Shakespeare's second Roman tragedy was a true labor of love for Heston, who co-wrote the screenplay, and presents a little-remembered side of the headliner's immense talent.
Sat Jul 18: 1:00pm
Mon Jul 20: 1:00pm
RESTORED PRINT
Hamlet (1920)
Svend Gade and Heinz Schall, Germany, 1920; 110m
Piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin
Screened at the 2007 New York Film Festival, this very different approach to Hamlet was long available only in black and white. See it now in its original polychrome tint, thanks to a lovingly restored print courtesy of the German Film Institute. Danish screen diva Asta Nielsen was at the height of her popularity when she took on the title role with a twist: the Prince was born a Princess. For reasons of royal succession, her gender was disguised, a secret known only to Hamlet's parents and nursemaid. The text acquires provocative new resonance in this assertive, ever-powerful silent.
Sat Jul 25: 6:30pm
Hamlet (2000)
Michael Almereyda, USA, 2000; 112m
"Visually both brilliant and dark...This Hamlet may be closer to inspired collage than to poetic drama, but it releases the old fable with its emotional force intact."-David Denby
When the CEO of a major media conglomerate dies, his artsy son Hamlet (Ethan Hawke) discovers that something is rotten in the Denmark Corporation. Imagining, like Kaurismäki, the contemporary world of corporate skullduggery as an equivalent to medieval court intrigues, Almereyda creates a cool, steel-and-glass labyrinth for Shakespeare's most internal character, in which reflections and corporate branding brilliantly serve this executive prince's sense of wounded vanity. With Sam Shepard, Diane Verona, Kyle MacLachlan, Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, and Bill Murray as Polonius.
Thu Jul 16: 3:45pm and 9:15pm
Sun Jul 19: 4:00pm
Hamlet Goes Business / Hamlet liikemaailmassa
Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 1987; 86m
Having tackled Dostoevsky with his first feature, Finnish malcontent Aki Kaurismäki confronted Shakespeare with his fourth: the somewhat clueless son of a deceased business magnate is visited by his father's ghost and, finally, given something to do. Lusciously shot in black and white and edited with the crisp pace of a B-movie, Hamlet Goes Business is remarkably faithful to its source-albeit rendered in Kaurismäki's trademark deadpan style. The final act, in which Hamlet re-stages his version of The Murder of Gonzago, is one of the comic highpoints of the director's career.
Thu Jul 23: 6:15pm
Fri Jul 24: 2:30pm
Sun Jul 26: 6:15pm
Henry V, aka The Chronicle History of Henry the Fift with his Battell Fought in Agincourt in France
Laurence Olivier, UK, 1944; 137m
"Almost continually, [Henry V] invests the art of Shakespeare-and the art of cinema as well-with a new spaciousness, a new mobility, a new radiance." ~James Agee
Olivier's debut as a film director-complete with a $2 million price tag that made it the most expensive British film production to that point-literally moves from the stage of the Globe Theater deep into the realm of cinema, as the once wild Prince Hal assumes the throne and faces down a purportedly invincible French army at the Battle of Agincourt. Made when British wartime morale was being especially challenged, Olivier's Henry V is often read as straight nationalistic propaganda. Nevertheless, it became and remains among the best-loved Shakespeare adaptations on screen.
Wed Jul 15: 1:15pm and 6:15pm
King Lear / Korol Lir
Grigori Kozintsev, USSR, 1971; 140m
The Soviet cinema made more than its share of celebrated adaptations of classic world literature, but Kozintsev's King Lear, the Shakespeare play labeled by one critic "the best suited to Russian adaptation, being the longest, wildest, starkest, and most replete with pain and suffering at all levels," is among the greatest film versions of Shakespeare in any language. Using Boris Pasternak's translation and a superb score by Shostakovich, Kozintsev fashions an exhilarating adaptation that vividly captures both the chaos of battle and the deepening madness of the king.
Sat Jul 18: 4:15pm
Mon Jul 20: 3:20pm
Looking for Richard
Al Pacino, USA, 1996; 112m
This provocative musing on the Bard's place in today's culture follows Pacino's search for the soul of Richard III. Dedicated to rescuing the work from academic speculations and giving it back to the audience, he discusses performing Shakespeare with luminaries Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, and Kenneth Branagh, while working through the play in a production co-starring Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, and Kevin Spacey. Along the way, Pacino expresses both his touching reverence for Shakespeare's genius and an unbridled enthusiasm in sharing his pleasure with us all.
Wed Jul 22: 3:50pm
Sat Jul 25: 1:30pm
RESTORED DIRECTOR'S CUT
Macbeth (1948)
Orson Welles, USA, 1948; 108m
In the late '40s, Republic Studios president Herbert Yates moved to upgrade his B-studio by hiring name-brand filmmakers John Ford, Allan Dwan, and, following the failure of The Lady From Shanghai, Orson Welles. Welles's Macbeth, shot on the studio backlot in 23 days, brought out the true darkness of the play, but Yates grew nervous hearing that his actors were to speak with Scottish accents. He soon cut the film by 20 minutes and re-recorded the dialogue. This print, the result of exhaustive research by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, restores Welles's version, as well as the overture and original exit music.
Print courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Macbeth preservation funded by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Sat Jul 18: 7:00pm
Macbeth (1971)
Roman Polanski, UK/USA, 1971; 140m
In perhaps the least romantic take on the Scot who would be king, Polanski, working with critic Kenneth Tynan, focuses on Macbeth's (Jon Finch) bloody will to rule and downplays his ruminations on the costs. In a daring move often inspiring mention of the then-recent murder of Polanski's wife Sharon Tate, the director includes an off-stage scene, Duncan's murder, rendering it from Macbeth's point of view. Seen today, Polanski's Macbeth firmly stands alongside the era's other meditations on ultra-violence, A Clockwork Orange and Straw Dogs, as harsh rebukes to the idea that humankind's worst instincts can be controlled.
Tue Jul 21: 2:00pm
Wed Jul 22: 8:40pm
Sun Jul 26: 8:00pm
The Maori Merchant of Venice / Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weniti
Don Selwyn, New Zealand, 2002; 158m
Made by a group of New Zealand filmmakers as the first feature completely shot in the Maori language, The Maori Merchant of Venice follows Hairoka (Waihoroi Shortland), an importer-exporter and religious pariah among his fellow wealthy Maoris. The film explores the creation of his outsider status and the uses his community makes of it. In a unique role reversal, Maori actors wear silks and satins while the few Caucasian role-players are treated as exotic others, offering a fascinating cross-cultural examination of Shakespeare.
Thu Jul 16: 6:15pm
Sun Jul 19: 1:00pm
Maqbool
Vishal Bhardwaj, India, 2003; 132m
Composer-cum-filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj's Maqbool is an engaging update of Macbeth set in contemporary Mumbai. Maqbool (the excellent Irrfan Khan, Slumdog Millionaire) is a leading henchman for crime boss Abbaji (an award-winning performance by Pankaj Kapoor), until two corrupt cops predict he will soon take over Abbaji's criminal empire with the help of his boss's mistress, Nimmi. Bhardwaj, who co-wrote the screenplay with Abbas Tyrewala, works outside of Bollywood convention, avoiding numerous subplots to focus on Maqbool's relentless rise to power and his inevitable collapse.
Fri Jul 24: 8:15pm
Sun Jul 26: 1:00pm
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt, USA, 1935; 132m
The romantic intrigue in the court of Theseus, Duke of Athens, has failed to pair each suitor with the right partner. That's nothing a few servings of the right magic can't cure. The only U.S. film credit for the highly influential Austro-German theater director Max Reinhardt is this Warner Bros. super-production, based on his 1934 staging in The Hollywood Bowl. Adding to his extraordinarily inventive cinematic vision are a superb James Cagney as Bottom, Olivia de Havilland as Hermia, Dick Powell as Lysander, and, unforgettably, Mickey Rooney as Puck.
Fri Jul 24: 4:15pm
Sun Jul 26: 3:45pm
Romeo and Juliet
Franco Zeffirelli, UK/Italy, 1968; 138m
"I believe Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet is the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made...because it has the passion, the sweat, the violence, the poetry, the love, and the tragedy in the most immediate terms I can imagine. It is a deeply moving piece of entertainment." ~Roger Ebert
Zeffirelli's wildly popular, Oscar-winning adaptation of Shakespeare's most ubiquitous work very much caught the spirit of the moment: shrewdly casting beautiful teenage unknowns Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, he emphasized the glory of young love when generational conflict was reaching a crescendo. Although taking great liberties with the text, he makes up what the film lacks in authenticity with a real sense of lived experience.
Wed Jul 15: 9:00pm
Thu Jul 16: 1:00pm
Sun Jul 19: 6:20pm
Romeo + Juliet
Baz Luhrmann, USA, 1996; 120m
Baz Luhrmann's eye-catching second feature transports the star-crossed lovers to an ocean-side North American suburb ("Verona Beach"), liberally peppering the original Elizabethan dialogue with modern-day accents and gun-toting action. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes generate plenty of on-screen heat while handling the text with admirable ease. Few adaptations have played more successfully with the inherent tensions between theatrical tradition and cinematic potential. With John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, and Paul Rudd.
Wed Jul 22: 1:30pm and 6:15pm
Sat Jul 25: 3:45pm
The Tempest
Derek Jarman, UK, 1979; 95m
"The concept of forgiveness in The Tempest attracted me; it's a rare enough quality and almost absent in our world. To know who your enemies are, but to accept them for what they are, befriend them, and plan for a happier future is something we sorely need." ~Derek Jarman
When a shipwreck strands Alonso on the obscure island on which he had banished his royal brother, the magician Prospero, and niece, Miranda, Prospero must decide how far to go to exact revenge. The late, great Derek Jarman presents Shakespeare's final play as a meditation on the possibility of re-invention, giving his exception visual imagination free rein in a film that combines elements of the Baroque, Gothic, and Roaring '20s.
Thu Jul 23: 2:30pm
Fri Jul 24: 6:15pm
Sat Jul 25: 9:00pm
Throne of Blood, aka Macbeth / Kumonosu jô
Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1957; 110m
When an old woman prophesizes that Lord Washizu (the great Toshirô Mifune) will one day become daimyo, the local provincial ruler, his wife Asaji (Isuza Yamada) spurs her husband into increasingly greater risks. Kurosawa's extraordinary adaptation of Macbeth, stripped of most dialogue and minor characters and performed through the stylistic filter of Japanese Noh theater, could scarcely be farther from the original. Yet few, if any, more effective screen adaptations of Shakespeare exist. Magnificently photographed on sets built on the side of Mount Fuji, Throne of Blood is one of Kurosawa's greatest achievements.
Wed Jul 15: 4:00pm
Sun Jul 19: 9:10pm
Titus
Julie Taymor, Italy/USA/UK, 1999; 162m
Julie Taymor, fresh from her stage triumph The Lion King, boldly took up the challenge of one of Shakespeare's earliest and most violent texts, grounding its horrors in recognizable if repellent emotions and her signature stunning visuals. Following his victory over the Goths, Roman general Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) returns home with the captured Goth queen Tamora (Jessica Lange). Despite her pleas for mercy, he sacrifices the queen's eldest son in memory of his own slain children. Thus begins a brutal cycle of revenge and treachery. With Alan Cumming and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Julie Taymor will be in person for this screening!
Thu Jul 23: 8:00pm
What's playing when:
Wednesday, July 15
1:15 Henry V
4:00 Throne of Blood
6:15 Henry V
9:00 Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Thursday, July 16
1:00 Romeo and Juliet (1968)
3:45 Hamlet (2000)
6:15 The Maori Merchant of Venice
9:15 Hamlet (2000)
Saturday, July 18
1:00 Antony and Cleopatra
4:15 King Lear
7:00 Macbeth (1948)
9:30 The Angelic Conversation
Sunday, July 19
1:00 The Maori Merchant of Venice
4:00 Hamlet (2000)
6:20 Romeo and Juliet (1968)
9:10 Throne of Blood
Monday, July 20
1:00 Antony and Cleopatra
3:20 King Lear
Tuesday, July 21
2:00 Macbeth (1971)
Wednesday, July 22
1:30 Romeo + Juliet (1996)
3:50 Looking for Richard
6:15 Romeo + Juliet (1996)
8:40 Macbeth (1971)
Thursday, July 23
2:30 The Tempest
4:30 The Angelic Conversation
6:15 Hamlet Goes Business
8:00 Titus
Friday, July 24
2:30 Hamlet Goes Business
4:15 A Midsummer Night's Dream
6:15 The Tempest
8:15 Maqbool
Saturday, July 25
1:30 Looking for Richard
3:45 Romeo + Juliet (1996)
6:30 Hamlet (1920)
9:00 The Tempest
Sunday, July 26
1:00 Maqbool
3:45 A Midsummer Night's Dream
6:15 Hamlet Goes Business
8:00 Macbeth (1971)
Single Screening Tickets: $7 members/students/child - $8 senior - $11 public
Series Pass ($40 public/$30 member): admits one person to five titles in the series;
only available for purchase at the box office ~ subject to availability.
Labels: enter, FSLC, Hamlet, Macbeth, Shakespeare, The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
HIFF SUMMER STUDENT FILM WORKSHOP
For the second year in a row, Guild Hall in collaboration with Hamptons International Film Festival presents the Summer Student Film Workshop. Led by film producer Anne Chaisson and television producer Seth Redlus, aspiring filmmakers (ages 8-13) will learn the entire filmmaking process, from development and writing, to acting, blocking, production, cinematography, and editing.
Students will have the opportunity to learn about the art of visual self-expression from experienced filmmakers such as writer Joan Stein (ONE DAY CROSSING, Academy Award nominee for short film), director Michael Almareyda (ANOTHER GIRL, ANOTHER PLANET; HAMLET; TONIGHT AT NOON), and actor Josh Perl (NAKED STAGES). At the end of the five day workshop, students will screen their work at the newly renovated Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY.
This 5-day workshop takes place July 13-17 from 12 - 3 pm daily and costs $200/student. To register, please email Public Programs Associate Melissa Erb at merb@guildhall.org or call 631 324-0806.
Labels: filmmaking, Hamptons International Film Festival, HIFF
Sunday, June 28, 2009
HUNG
Showtime has weed & a happy prostitute. Of course there has been a mob family man and a serial killer. Undertakers, vampires, ... There was a family of grifters.
Now we have a male prostitute. All in fun. A bit derivative. Are any other family friendly vices left to harvest for TV?
Hung is a pleasant show.
The main character, Ray Drecker, (Thomas Jane) is firmly sexualized. (Pun is accidental but appropriate.) Like a prostitute who is portrayed for her physical endowments rather than for her ability to convey the high-end GFE. (Girl friend experience.) (See the Huffington Post on this.)
Drecker is genial. Altogether seemingly too well put-together all the way from head to toe to be the complete disaster of a father/husband/wage-earner/etc the back-story requires. Cast rather in the mold of Mad Men.
His sidekick, Tanya Skagle (great name!), a poetess, played by Jane Adams (a Tony award winning actress), is rather more interestingly cast, and does a lot to give the show some character.
It's well written, amusing, frequently hinting at (if not delivering more than the usual Cable appropriate) sex, and well acted. It's OK.
Labels: Hung, Jane Adams, Tanya Skagle, Thomas Jane
Saturday, June 27, 2009
TAKEN
Jack Bauer is a wuss. 007 is a dandy.
For merciless, nonstop pursuit of bad guys, Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills is far tougher, rougher, stronger, more efficient and more focused than any of these predecessors.
Taken (directed by Pierre Morel, written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen) is a non-stop, well crafted, old-fashioned, modern action movie. (Old-fashioned in the sense that it relies on actors, not special effects. Modern because the plot, subject matter, style, dialog, etc. are all 2009/now.)
The interpersonal dramatic relationships are all well presented, and set up the action convincingly, but they are otherwise not important.
Mills is at odds with his ex-wife, out of touch with his daughter, and retired from a job as a special operative from the government, which cost him his family: they think he ignored them. He, of course, loves them.
When his daughter is kidnapped by a sex-traffic ring in France he uses (as he says in the preview/promos), his "very particular set of skills" to try to save her.
Labels: Liam Neeson, Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen, Taken
Thursday, June 25, 2009
... - 2009 Rest In Peace...
Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson...
I never met them, but they were a part of my life...
John Donne:
If a clod be washed away by the sea
Each man's death diminishes me
Therefore, send not to know
Labels: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, For whom the bell tolls, John Donne, Michael Jackson, No man is an island
Monday, June 22, 2009
NASA PICTURE OF THE DAY
Explanation: This rocket is headed for the Moon. Pictured above, a huge Altas V rocket roared off the launch pad last week to start NASA's first missions to Earth's Moon in 10 years. The rocket is carrying two robotic spacecraft. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is scheduled to orbit and better map the Moon, search for buried and hidden ice, and return many high resolution images. Some images will be below one-meter in resolution and include images of historic Apollo landing sites. Exploratory data and images should allow a more informed choice of possible future astronaut landing sites. The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) is scheduled to monitor the controlled impact of the rocket's upper stage into a permanently shadowed crater near the Moon's south pole. This impact, which should occur in about three months, might be visible on Earth through small telescopes.
NASA Picture of the day.
Labels: NASA, Picture of the Day, Rocket to the moon
STAR TREK
Star Trek is a great movie! It is visually brilliant. The special effects are excellent. The action is non-stop, yet the dramatic interplay is convincing and interesting, with superb casting and pitch perfect acting. Best of all, the story is clear, something that rarely happens in action movies (recall, for example, the last half hour of the last Batman, which was total confusion).
It's not quite a perfect movie. Mumbo-jumbo about moving back and forth in time is a bit, well... mumbo-jumbo. And the music, except for the famous Star Trek theme, is too schmaltzy, too much like an incessant fanfare, "heightening" excessively the already dynamic visual action.
There are a few, but only a few, moments which transcend the plot and provide a moment of (let's call it) wisdom, notably the brief but powerful times when the real Spock (an aging Leonard Nimoy, of course) appears.
What it does very well is express a spirit of adventure, courage, and creative solutions to life threatening problems using expert knowledge; but -- since it deals almost exclusively with military threats, revenge and warfare -- it lacks the sense of scientific curiosity and joyful exploration of the wonders of space that is also at the heart of Star Trek.
The concept was perfectly executed. The film captures much of the spirit of the Star Trek myth and the stories yet to come (this is a movie whose sequels have already been made**), enriched by the tradition of the myth, and also enhancing the myth by describing how it all starts. The young characters (and actors) in this film capture the essense of the characters (and actors) which inhabit this story in the future with such fidelity it is almost spooky.
Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto as Spock
Karl Urban as Bones
Simon Pegg as Scotty
John Cho as Sulu
Anton Yelchin as Chekov
Zoe Saldana as Uhuru
The script (by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman -- based of course on the concept originated by Gene Roddenberry) deserves great credit also for making this possible.
J J Abrams has created great television (Lost, Alias, ...), with complex and fascinating characters and stories that were always interesting and compelling to watch from moment to moment, though on a larger scale became almost impenetrably complex, with characters sometimes, for example, double crossing, triple crossing and quadruple crossing each other, changing sides from one moment to the next, and sometimes dying and coming back to life.
His first feature, a Mission Impossible, was not terribly successful.
Star Trek has none of the problems of Abram's other work, and many of its best qualities. He has arrived as a major feature film director. We can look forward with great hope and anticipation to his next Mission Impossible feature. That's a great franchise, and it will be fun to see it re-invigorated!
(**Note: Of course there are more Star Trek sequels yet to come!)
Labels: J J Abrams, Mission Impossible, Star Trek
Saturday, June 13, 2009
BLOOFY
Positioned conceptually midway between Twitter and Blogger, with a dash of search and a helping of Wiki, bloofy (always lc & ital) accepts short posts (though size is not limited quite so severely as in Twitter), photos, video, and audio posts. Interactive videos (IV's)(eg Flash with video) are also hosted, allowing users to upload games and interactive tutorials.
bloof's (posts on bloofy, also called bloo's or blo's) can be formatted, and special words and terms (eg replys -- twitter @, tagwords -- twitter #, and URL links) can be separated from the main text, improving readability, clarity and appearance.
It is possible to aggregate a series of selected posts from all over bloofy, then publish and annotate them in a section (called a stream) of the user's home site, effectively making the user an editorial director for that topic. (See ** below.)
Similarly one can re-edit certain "designated" videos from bloofy -- Designated Videos (DV's) uploaded to bloofy for re-mixing are considered to be essentially in the public domain.
All DV's, IV's, and Designated Audio must however, be certified as original by the uploader, and must be accepted (manually) by bloofy. The search tags (and navigation) for Designated Audio and Video files are also created by bloofy to facilitate accurate and efficient audio and video retrieval. So, in addition to essentially unlimited user contributed content (non-designated), there is also carefully selected and valuable designated material.
Sorting this all out would be a monumental task if it were all handled by the staff, so in fact these tasks are initially handled by users, in a similar manner to the way imdb was created and Wiki's are run.
The "premium" section of bloofy -- as a source of information -- is like a multimedia Wiki encyclopedia, and -- as a source of entertainment -- is becoming a premiere online site for quality, independent films (short films, feature length films, and episodic series), games, and some new forms of fun.
A rich, open, free Development Kit allows extensive user-enhancements to the site, including tie-ins with Dev Kits for some other sites. That enables some extremely interesting compound applications.
** One very interesting application makes it easy to take IV's DV's DA's and streams, and publish them as a multimedia e-book!
One outstanding feature of bloofy is that it automatically collects accurate and informative statistics of traffic. This facilitates a growing amount of advertising that is appearing on the site. (When DV's are re-edited, a portion of the ad revenue from the re-mix flows back to the original creator.)
In one of the most popular features of bloofy -- commonly called "don't ask, just tell" -- users enter a simple fact of which they have personal knowledge each time they login, and receive a random, personal fact from someone else. Many friendships and even some marriages began this way! (But also at least one divorce.)
Though it maintained a low profile for some time, bloofy was recently outed by Stephen Colbert in the June 15 issue of Newsweek. "Bloofy" has been defined as something like "sleepy." The new bloofy is anything but asleep!
Labels: bloofy, Newsweek, Stephen Colbert
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
SHARON ROFFMAN PLAYS VIVALDI'S FOUR SEASONS IN CAPE MAY
Sharon RoffmanOn Thursday June 11, Sharon Roffman will be the violin soloist in Vivaldi's Four Seasons, with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony for the "Spring String Fling" in Cape May.
Also on the program are: Gershwin’s Lullaby for Strings, Holst’s St. Paul’s Suite, and Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile.
8PM, The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May,
500 Hughes St. (Hughes & Decatur)
Cape May, NJ 08204
Tickets at the door.
$25, seniors $20, and students $10.
Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts
Labels: Bay-Atlantic Symphony, Cape May, Four Seasons, Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, Sharon Roffman, Spring String Fling, Violin Concerto, Vivaldi
PHONE CALL OR PHONY CALL
When some company -- or some automated computer -- calls, there is no way to know who the call is coming from. If they leave a phone number/web address to call back, there is no way to know if the number/URL they left is legitimate. If they ask a question and say "Press 1 for yes or 2 for no" , there is no way to know if you are actually triggering some other action, like buying some worthless item for lots of money. Note: They've got you on record! (even though you didn't know what you were doing).
In other words, phone calls from people who say they are the telephone company, or a debt collection company, or a pollster, or a Police Benevolent Fund, [*] or a Cancer charity may not be what/who they say they are.
These calls should be illegal, because even if the call you just got chanced to be legitimate, then the next call from someone saying the exact same thing might be a crook.
If you get a call that sounds legitimate, like the phone company saying you owe money, and you know you do, just thank them for the reminder and pay the way you usually do. DO NOT EVER PAY OVER THE PHONE TO SOMEONE WHO CALLED YOU.
When you call the bank, say, they ask you for your name and some kind of password to verify your identity. When someone calls you and says they are the bank, say, you have the same obligation to verify the caller. Since that is impossible, yes IMPOSSIBLE, you should not respond with any information whatever; even information that sounds innocuous to you, like whether you are the person they say they are calling. If they are pfishing, they can use any information you provide against you.
In response to calls from anyone -- any company -- you do not know, just say, "Thank you for calling, but I never respond to a cold call. Never. Bye Bye." And hang up.
[*] Note. A funny thing... just as I was in the middle of writing this post, at the exact place where the [*] is, I got a call from a "Breast Cancer Charity."
Labels: pfishing, pfishing by phone, phone scams, Phony calls
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
CALVIN KLEIN JEANS CAMPAIGN
Calvin Klein has released a new, beautiful, and sexy campaign for their jeans:
http://www.calvinkleinjeans.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3430142
Photographer: Steven Meisel
(Note: Unfortunately, attractive and sexy as it is, the web presentation is -- I assume deliberately -- marred by strange streaks on the still photos and a tiny, murky screen for the video. If you are going to be sexy and beautiful, go all the way!)
Labels: Calvin Klein Jeans, Sexy advertisement
WEEDS
Darker & darker!
Once it was a wickedly naughty show about a quirky mom who sells a bit o' pot to make ends meet.
Now, on the new season opener of Weeds, we've already had two quick (very cold blooded) murders, a (different) mother kidnapped and nearly murdered so her daughter could cut her up and sell her organs for cash (see * below), and Mary Louise Parker, the first mom (aka Nancy Botwin -- or the "Hemptress" as she's called in promos) now pregnant with the baby of a drug lord who knows she ratted him out and seemed (in a segment played in Spanish with no translation) to be, perhaps, planning to somehow extract the baby by force.
In the last few seasons there have been many murders, the arson of an entire town, young boys (Parker's character's boys) planting, harvesting and dealing weed, hard drug trafficking, forced prostitution and the whole amusing situation just getting really out of hand!
(* This kidnap situation was resolved all too neatly: mom's cancer chemotherapy rendered her organs unfit for harvesting. And her daughter's boyfriend, who had been trying unsuccessfully to raise ransom for the kidnapping -- nobody would pay any money to save her -- got fed up with his nasty girlfriend and kicked the would-be momicidal daughter out.)
This show has always had a different way of looking at people and plots. In normal television the simplest way to resolve a situation like this -- the Hemptress getting deeper and deeper in trouble -- would be to kill off all the bad guys in one big drug raid. I'd guess they'll find a better way to resolve the plot lines.
All in all, the acting, plotting, dialog, characters, and situations are top notch television: humorous, inventive, compelling, and entertaining!
Mondays at 10 on ShowTime.
Labels: Mary Louise Parker, Showtime, Weeds
Monday, June 08, 2009
iPHONE NEWS
Continuous updates from the Apple World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC) at:
http://www.macrumorslive.com/
iPhone:
=>Faster
=>More business friendly
=>Better battery life
=>Better camera + video
=>Voice control
=> also some price reductions and improvement in Mac lines.
See also www.engadget.com for more news.
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS
In the US there is rarely much attention paid to the rest of the world, except when (and where) there is violence. Since US businesses can make half their money outside the US that is a little puzzling: One would think Americans (ie US citizens; note: there are other countries in North, South, and Central America) would be extremely interested in world events, world culture, world news, world economics, world politics, world ... (etc)
Since Europe, collectively, together with China, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Central and South American countries, African and other countries make up the world in which we live, with vital influence on our lives, it is important to pay attention. It does affect us. A lot.
In particular, little notice has been made here of elections to the European Parliament which just ended.
The European Parliament is a step toward integration of European countries, although it has little real power currently. It is slightly more important than simply symbolic, and is a way to measure European sentiment.
The results of the election seem to be a slight but significant move toward conservative isolationism and protectionism, with a nod toward radicalism on both left and right. There are signs of anger at the economic situation and, in England, at the financial scandal (where members of Parliament have charged personal expenses to their government expense accounts).
One exception, however, is that an opponent of the Lisbon treaty (relating to European unification) in Ireland (where the treaty was defeated) was not elected.
A trend toward protectionism and radicalism in Europe is disturbing, but not surprising. Optimism in the US has been rising because of the vigorous, intelligent, broad based, middle of the road attack on the financial crisis and international conflicts (current and potential) that is being pursued by the new US administration. European leaders, however, have been less forceful in addressing economic problems which in some cases (eg unemployment in Spain) are much worse than in the US.
Economic problems and scandals often lead to a desire for change. When the opportunity for a change that can improve the situation is not available, voters may select change that makes things worse.
(It should be noted that these elections are for the European Parliament, not for the actual governments of individual countries, so these elections have little immediate, direct effect on government policies, though they may inspire policy decisions based on a reading -- or misreading -- of voter sentiment.)
Labels: European Parliament
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH CONAN O'BRIEN (v2)
The second edition of Conan O'Brien (aka CoCo) went well. Tom Hanks, as expected, was somewhat out of Conan's control, but Hanks came in with great stuff. And a big finish with a small asteroid was a smash.
Labels: CoCo, Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show, Tom Hanks
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH CONAN O'BRIEN
First night went by smoothly, amusingly.
There were lots of filmed bits. Funny. Not hilarious. Opening was a good start: Conan discovering he was on the wrong coast twenty minutes before the show; couldn't catch a cab; had to run all the way to LA. Didn't seem all that out of breath when he arrived.
Monolog was OK. Conan shed many (but not all) of his quirky moves. It worked.
The set is very ornate. Lush. Big.
Band sounded good. Sidekick timing wasn't there yet. Will Farrell came on with some lame bits. (Warning to Conan: Tom Hanks -- tomorrow's visitor -- is a popular film star, but he can be a tough guest to handle.)
Pearl Jam was a hit, I think. (At night I can never turn the sound on TV up to where I can really hear the music well.) Conan was very appreciative of everything and everyone... and Pearl Jam especially.
On Late Night, Conan got getting better and better. He's a smart, funny, hard working comic. Carson & Leno were very different when they started than they were later on.
Paar was best at attitude; Carson was best with guests; Leno was best with just plain comedy; on scant evidence, I'd guess Conan will have comic media bits defining his show, at least for a while.
I think it will be a good show. I look forward to staying up too late. Wait! Sorry, NBC. I've got a DVR now. I'll see you in the daytime, Conan.
The web site has extra features:
The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien:
http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/
Good luck Conan!
Labels: Conan O"Brien, Tonight
Monday, June 01, 2009
WHAT'S GOOD FOR GENERAL MOTORS...
The head of GM, Charles Wilson, became the Secretary of Defense under President Eisenhower.
During one hearing, related to some controversy over whether Wilson was favoring GM as a supplier, (GM at the time was the archetypal model of a huge, efficiently managed company doing consumer and government business -- but solely interested in its own success), Wilson is reported to have defended his actions by saying "What's good for General Motors, is good for the country." (Note: That quote in context might have been somewhat less pointed.)
It was roundly denounced.
Indeed, Eisenhower's finest moment as President may have been his farewell speech, warning about the "Military-Industrial Complex" (including companies like GM).
It is very amusing that President Obama refers to that famous remark, giving it a new, ironic justification, in closing his speech on the GM bankruptcy.
Labels: "What's good for General Motors..", Charles Wilson, General Motors, GM
RADAR??? SO LAST CENTURY
This is not a matter for jokes:
Reports are that a French plane disappeared over the ocean when it was out of radar range; they didn't notice the problem for hours, and they can't find it. Even though it did send an automated text message (wow!) that it had electrical problems. (I hope they know -knew- exactly when that was sent. Did they respond immediately? Or wait several hours 'til the plane did not re-appear on schedule on the radar?)
I find it hard to believe that it is not possible for every airplane to be connected by satellite in real time with a control center. It should have GPS contact. The whole "black box" should be communicating in real time, not some lame text message. If there is a problem on board, knowledge of the problem and backup support should be immediate.
Radar has its value, but there are other technologies that make world-wide communication instantaneous. I do not understand why they are not ubiquitously deployed.
For that matter, reports have suggested the plane was travelling through a region with brutal storms. With world-wide satellite coverage, and the possibility of sensors all over, it does not make sense that a plane should be allowed to go into a region with murderous weather conditions.
As a side note, I once (only once) long ago flew a particular airline (which will not be named) in which the movie was shown by way of a super-8 projector on board. The film suddenly became abstract, with an interesting design starting in the center of the screen and then growing. The stewardess fortunately ripped the burning film out of the projector before the fire spread.
They don't use film in a projector anymore to show movies. They should not rely on last century's technology for airplane safety anymore, either.
Labels: "GPS", Airplane safety, radar, weather alerts
GPS - FAREED ZAKARIA
Lately, "GPS," the show by Fareed Zakaria (he's also editor of Newsweek International) has proven to have the best, most timely interviews on the most important international issues. He talks to the people who are on the front lines. They may or may not be "experts." They may or may not be right. But they are the people doing it: the people who are negotiating and the people making the decisions. Zakaria asks deeply informed questions. Recent, outstanding shows, centered on Iraq, Pakistan, China, and North Korea.
"GPS" --
CNN Sunday @ 1PM & 5PM --
The GPS website is also very rich, with many interesting features --
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/fareed.zakaria.gps/
Labels: "GPS", China, CNN, Fareed Zakaria, Iraq, Newsweek, North Korea., Pakistan
Saturday, May 30, 2009
LENO'S LAST (TEMP)
Jay Leno's final Tonight show was a warm tribute to his staff, his fans, & his silliness (ie JayWalking), and a warm handoff to Conan, his successor.
It will be interesting to see if he can re-invent primetime, or if he is just taking his aging audience and putting them to bed 90 minutes earlier.
I wish him well in his new show. It would be great if it is a groundbreaking invention (re-invention?) of the the prime time, topical, comedy/variety hour.
Labels: jay Leno
Friday, May 29, 2009
WOODSTOCK (40TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING)
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
The Director's Cut of
This Wednesday, June 3 at 7pm at the Film Society Of Lincoln Center.
Help celebrate the 40th Anniversary of one of rock's most famous events!
Special guests include director Michael Wadleigh and festival producer Michael Lang; original musicians Stu Cook from Creedence Clearwater Revival; Jocko Marcellino from Sha Na Na; Tom Constanten from the Grateful Dead; Gregg Rolie, Mike Carabello, and Michael Shrieve from Santana, and more.
The Director's Cut is magnificently restored and features newly added footage.
Hurry! Only Limited Seats Remain! CLICK HERE to order your tickets now!
Also for Woodstock Fans: Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music -- the four-hour director's cut of the 1970 Oscar®-winning documentary -- will be released June 9 in a spectacular new Blu-ray and DVD Ultimate Collector's Edition (UCE) from Warner Home Video with three extra hours of bonus features, including two hours of unseen performances.
Labels: Michael Wadleigh, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Woodstock
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
GEEK PRIDE DAY
I've heard that May 25 will be Geek Pride Day. The Science Channel and other tech spots will be celebrating. According to Wikipedia the date was chosen to honor "the premiere of the first Star Wars movie in 1977."
However, there's no reason a Geek must worship "Star Wars". (Nor does a Geek -- or Nerd -- need to be socially inept or inexperienced.) A compulsive attention to any particular artifact of techy entertainment is not required.
The best of Geek is just respect for technology and a passion for knowledge.
Labels: Geek Pride Day
Monday, May 11, 2009
POOR KIM BAUER
OMG! Kim Bauer is again being threatened with kidnapping & murder. The poor girl... the poor actress... she deserves a better plotline.
I always liked Elisha Cuthbert but I got bored with her repetitive, unimaginative plotlines in the first seasons of 24.
I was happy when they brought her back this season. I thought she'd be involved in some interesting, new, different, original save-my-daddy plots. Instead we're back to Season One.
Her father is saving the whole world; perhaps Jack can rescue her with a better plotline. GET ME RE-WRITE!!!
Labels: 24, Elisha Cuthbert
TORTURE ON 24
Jack doesn't torture anyone, anymore. He just looks at them and growls, and they remember how he tortured other people in other seasons.
Labels: 24, Jack Bauer
Sunday, May 10, 2009
TRUMP'S WIERD FINALE & DISGRACE
I know "wierd" is backward. So was the result on Celebrity Apprentice.
It's hard to believe that Trump would "hire" someone who lied to him to his face in the Boardroom, and who disgraced the show using insults such as ... No, I can't bring myself to repeat them ... But they exceeded the standards that caused other personalities to lose their jobs on radio and TV, and would have resulted in legal problems in any real business.
There were many hints throughout the show that Trump was favoring Joan Rivers. And reality show producer Burnett described Rivers as reality TV gold, suggesting that (are you shocked?) ratings may have played a role in her success.
We saw on TV -- they showed us on TV -- that Joan lied to Trump to his face when she screamed in the Boardroom at Annie for Annie's perfectly accurate description of how her set decorator quit because of a problem the company had with Joan.
It demeans Trump to show him picking someone who has lied to him to his face.
The despicable (and demonstrably false, by the way) insults Joan screamed at Annie and others should not be condoned.
It demeans Trump to show him picking someone who would say such things about someone else on TV (or not on TV, for that matter).
Allowing Rivers to do those things -- the lies, the insults, the tantrums, the rudeness -- and rewarding her to boot, demeans us, demeans TV and demeans responsible business.
Annie Duke on the other hand, in what was shown on TV, was very impressive -- honest and aggressive about the important things: raising money for charity and treating people well.
I am surprised (shocked?) how many people bought Joan's descriptions of Annie as "trash" and Brande as "dumb" just because Joan kept repeating that lie so often. There was no evidence of that at all that I saw on the show. It seemed like self-righteous, false, hypocritical hyperbole to me. In this case it apparently was also self-serving, but it should never have been allowed to stand. Joan should have been fired early on. She should have not been let back on when she quit.
I found Annie much the better person, and Brande smart, shrewd and nice. I was very disappointed in Joan.
I'm not so sure about the final challenge results, either. From what I saw, Joan won only the branding challenge. Annie's party and celebrity presence seemed far more distinguished and elegant than Joan's party and celebrity factor. Joan's party, while more crowded, seemed much more tacky and celebrity light. And her celebrity impersonators seem to me to subtract from, not add to the celebrity quotient. In short, given Annie's uncontested advantage in charity presentation, and roughly 3-fold advantage in fund raising, I'd give her a four to one win on the last task.
By the way, Who judged the parties? On what basis? It seemed, already last week when the criteria for judging the final challenge were announced, that they were intended (Trump almost said so himself) to prevent Annie from winning easily, since everyone believed she'd be able to raise more money.
In every measure, other than "losing" 3 of the five categories on the final task, Annie was much more successful, during the entire run of the show, than Joan or anyone else. If the show is about philanthropy and raising money for charity, or completing tasks, or performing successfully with honor, Annie won hands down.
We should certainly not celebrate the power of insult -- Joan's strength. And the fact that she is energetic at 75 is irrelevant.
All in all, I rate Annie Duke the far nobler, better person and better contestant.
And, by the way -- on another topic altogether -- what an insult not to name the person they showed giving Joan that huge contribution.
I think the show was a disgrace.
(Irrelevant Note: "i" before "e" except after "c" or when sounded like "A" as in "neighbor" and "weigh"... and "seize" and "weird" and a few other words...)
Labels: Annie Duke, Celebrity Apprentice, Joan Rivers, Trump
Sunday, May 03, 2009
NISI ESTIATORIO
Estiatorio is Greek for "restaurant". Nisi means "island" and Nisi Estiatorio is a very fine restaurant in Englewood NJ.
It's a welcome newcomer, since there are not a lot of very good restaurants in Bergen County. Nisi seems to be one of the best.
The fish entrees were excellent -- delicious in fact. The restaurant specializes in fish, with a large iced display of fresh fish from which you can choose your own dinner.
The spanakopita was very good: The phyllo dough was crisp; the spinach filling was tasty, though the center was not quite as hot as I'd have liked. It was just slightly more than moderately warm, but I'll accept that that was the intended effect. The bread, was excellent. So was the ouzo.
The baklava, strangely, was made of almonds, not walnuts, but was good, and another dessert was also enjoyable. The Greek coffee was better than in most restaurants.
(Some take-out items from the restaurant, on another occasion, were also very good.)
The staff is friendly. The service is neither fast nor slow, with items cooked to order.
The room is attractive, with a major redesign from previous restaurants at the same address. A glassed in wine cellar and waterfall are eye catching. The color scheme is restful.
The walls are hard and the room open and spacious, so it could get a bit noisy if too many patrons have too much good ouzo.
There is also an inviting bar room; and the restaurant has a private party room.
There is valet parking, and street parking is usually available also.
With one shared (fairly large) appetizer, sparkling water, ouzo, two entrees, a dessert, tea and Greek coffee, everything was enjoyable, and the meal plus tip and tax came to about $55 per person. The same meal in Manhattan with the same fine quality, would be at least half again as much.
It was a very nice meal.
NISI Estiatorio
90 Grand Avenue
Englewood, NJ 07631
http://www.nisirestaurant.com/
201 567-4700
Labels: Greek restaurant, NISI Estiatorio
Saturday, May 02, 2009
PETE SEEGER CELEBRATION
There will be a big bash (with every known folksinger alive performing!) tomorrow to celebrate Pete Seeger's 90th birthday and benefit the Clearwater & the Hudson river.
I saw Pete Seeger with his grandson and a friend in concert just last year and it was great! Some snapshots from the concert head this post.
The concert was at the same time as the Democratic convention last year, and I was thinking -- when Pete sang "This Land Is Your Land" that he should be singing that as an anthem at the convention!
Here's a link to information about the concert: http://www.seeger90.com/
And here's a post on PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG, a wonderful film about Pete Seeger! -- http://qporit.blogspot.com/2007/05/tff-pete-seeger-power-of-song-happy.html
Labels: Clearwater, Pete Seeger
Saturday, April 11, 2009
NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a music-centric, harmless time-waster (that may be a compliment, by the way).
Often, the commentary on a DVD explains what is right or wrong about a film. Here, there are two commentaries, and they explain a lot about the film.
First, the actors just sort of goof around on their commentary, much as they did in character in the film.
Then, on the other commentary track, the authors of the book on which the film is based explain how they came to write it and, with the writer of the screenplay and the director, explain how it changed to become a film.
The book originated in a meeting at a restaurant, where the following snail-mail improv was concocted: Each of the two writers, a man and a woman, would write successive chapters of a novel (in practice, each ending their chapters in a deadend to make it hard to start the next part). The main rules were that the two central characters were named Nick and Norah (from The Thin Man - there, Nora), and they were NJ High School Bridge and Tunnel clubbing kids in New York for one night.
It's necessary to listen to the entire author's commentary to find out how the movie got its name.
The film, unfortunately, dropped much of the sex that was apparently in the book, making it very bland.
The whole film is something like a High School version of After Hours.
Michael Cera and Kat Dennings are both good as the leads (though I find her lipstick schmear unflattering and marginally out of character). Most of the supporting characters are good, with some cameos by SNL guys & other well known people. Ari Graynor is very good as the lost, drunk friend around whom the night revolves.
It's watchable. And listenable. A bit like looking at a fire or the small lapping waves of a lake at the shore. Sort of pleasant, inconsequential, almost content free, intermittently boring or amusing, but somehow with a feeling as you watch that if you watch just a a little bit longer you will get another joke and understand the profundity behind the back and forth... up and down... light and dark... soft and loud flow... and little sparks, that meet the eyes and ears.
Labels: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
DUPLICITY
WARNING: These comments contain some spoilers:
Duplicity is a brilliantly written, brilliantly acted, excellently directed, old-fashioned in technique, modern in spirit, thoroughly entertaining film... until the last few minutes.
Much is often made, in films and stories about Hollywood, about how a studio forces some idealistic young director to change his ending -- the one with integrity -- to a softer ending in order to make more money. (eg. What Just Happened). Duplicity is the perfect example of where, if the studio had insisted on a different ending, they could have been right! Forget the fact (well, guess) that the film might have made twice as much money, the current ending just does not work. And right before the ending there is a bit of expository back-flashing that is confusing and so simple-minded, compared to the rest of the film, that it compounds the problem.
If, as one may guess, one element of the duplicity in the film is the ending, then perhaps the idea of the ending is OK, but the execution still fails completely.
By the way, the actors are innocent victims of whatever problems the film has:
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are both exceptional, classy in the classic way, and as tawdry as they should be.
As a side note, they act "bad acting" perfectly.
The other principal actors in the film are also excellent.
Enjoy the film up to the last few moments -- and then at the end, just re-write and re-direct the ending in your head.
Labels: Clive Owen, Duplicity, Julia Roberts
Friday, April 10, 2009
PRIVACY POLICY
I have an excellent dentist.
My car has run perfectly since I got it.
It was my birthday recently.
I do not believe there is any justification whatsoever for getting an automated "Happy Birthday" from my dentist and two automated "Happy Birthdays" (yes 2! 1 online, the other, one of those really annoying pre-recorded phone calls) from my car dealer.
The only reason my dentist should have or use my birthdate is for medical reasons. Certainly not for marketing (or anti-marketing as in this case).
The only reason my car dealer should have my birthdate is to verify financial information when financing a car. Again, certainly not for marketing (or anti-marketing as in this case).
Now, one often signs a notice that one has received and "read" the privacy policy of some company (or doctor, hospital, etc) one is dealing with. Under the (unlikely!) assumption that using my birthday for some unprofessional reason was actually part of some agreement I signed, it would still be inappropriate. That highlights the fact that -- since the privacy policy is pretty much non-negotiable -- signing the "privacy policy" might give a company some cover. It gives the signer none.
Therefore:
1 -- Privacy policy should be uniform, and established by the government, not by companies -- or any holder of private information.
2 -- Great respect for private information should be expected and required by everyone handling personal information.
3 -- In particular, personal information should be used only for the purpose for which it was provided.
Labels: privacy policy
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
ENGADGET -- BLOGGING LIVE FROM CUPERTINO
It's the next best thing to a live video feed. (Is there a live video feed?) Engadget has a gadget (that is, they've used their expertise to set up a very efficient technology) that is sending photos and quotes from the Apple iPhone announcement in almost real time.
It's pretty impressive reporting. (By Joshua Topolsky.)
At this point, (second hand live reporting), Apple is announcing improvements to the iPhone developer system which enhances purchasing and ties to iTunes. They've implemented discovery technology (an iPhone discovers suitable nearby iPhones) that allows peer-to-peer conversations (for example for game playing; or perhaps business card & phone number exchange; or medical applications). There's enhanced mapping services. Push. An API for streaming audio & video. An API for "in-game" voice. Improvements in search, cut/copy/paste, calendar and stock apps, and more.
The API's are available to developers now. The upgrade will be available on phones - free - in the summer.
http://www.engadget.com/
Labels: Apple, Engadget blogging, iPhone, reporting
Sunday, March 15, 2009
RELIGULOUS
Religulous is boring, confused, confusing, and not especially funny. It is kind of a mess of a movie.
Better than the movie are the outtakes (interviews with particular religious figures) and the monologs on the DVD. They are more focused, more consistent and more interesting.
Had that been the movie (just the interviews & the monologs), instead of the movie on the screen, of course the critics would have said: This is just a bunch of interviews and commentaries, not a real movie. But it still would have been better than the movie itself.
The first problem is that Bill Maher does not have a consistent set of religious beliefs, so he is confused.
Second, the movie features only certain religious figures, and seems haphazard in its choices.
Third, the movie concentrates mainly on just two aspects of religion -- on literal readings of portions of the Bible and on religious wars -- while omitting all the other facets of religion. Nor does the movie relate these aspects of religion to each other or to religion as a whole.
Fourth, the interviews in the movie are badly conducted, and Maher is not good either at provoking or inspiring the subject to say interesting things. He seems vaguely uncomfortable at almost all the places he goes.
Fifth, he is not very funny. Neither the interviews, nor his remarks during the interviews, nor his comments after are incisive, interesting or funny.
And it's poorly edited, and it's repetitive... we get the point in the first ten minutes and nothing much is added by the rest.
On the commentary track that overlays the movie (the "Special Features" menu), Maher does not seem like he takes the whole thing very seriously (or very humorously). I gave up after a while.
Religion is a very important force in the world of humans: what's good, bad, dangerous, hopeful, essential... and hilarious about religion deserves a better movie than this.
Labels: Bill Maher, Religion, Religulous
Friday, March 13, 2009
THE CAKE EATERS - AND MARY STUART MASTERSON
Director of THE CAKE EATERS
at the Tribeca Film Festival 2007
Photo by Eric Roffman for QPORIT
Mary Stuart Masterson's brilliant and sensitive film, The Cake Eaters (TCE) opens Friday the 13th at "selected theaters in selected cities".
I first saw TCE at the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) two years ago, where it was one of my favorite films. It features a great (award worthy!) performance by Kristen Stewart, who is soon to be one of our most important actresses. Kristen is beautiful, young, interesting to watch, extremely talented (with a wide range of roles), and almost ubiquitous (the mega-hit Twilight, the comedy What Just Happened, the action film Jumper, plus Panic Room, In The Wild, and five films in the works!).
Also notable about The Cake Eaters is -- well, it's a cliche, but even cliches can be true -- that the location is "almost a character." Shot in upstate New York, the physical environment has a reality that contributes to the mood and the substance of the film, in much the same way that environment was so important in Altman's films.
On a personal note, I interviewed Mary Stuart's father, actor/director Peter Masterson, many years ago, and he was very smart, and the nicest person; I saw Mary Stuart first, long ago, on location on her first film, when she was eight or nine; and I saw her, more recently, bouncing down the Red Carpet at The Tribeca Film Festival, and later I had the opportunity to speak with her on the phone and post about the film, before TCE opened at the Stony Brook Festival last year. She is charming, vivacious and friendly.
The Cake Eaters has a strong pedigree as an award winner at many film festivals (including Best Feature at Stony Brook), and is a very special film to see.
As an extra bonus, Mary Stuart will be on hand for a Q & A after the screenings in New York:
Q&A with Director Mary Stuart Masterson
Cinema Village (NYC) – 3/13 after 7:25p show & 3/14 after 3p show
Cobble Hill Cinemas (Brooklyn) – 3/14 after 7:45p show & 3/15 after 3:10p show
THE CAKE EATERS starring Kristen Stewart, Aaron Stanford, Bruce Dern, Elizabeth Ashley, Jayce Bartok. Directed by Mary Stuart Masterson.
OPENS MARCH 13TH – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, Santa Fe…
http://www.thecakeeaters.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418586/
Labels: Kristen Stewart, Mary Stuart Masterson, The Cake Eaters, Tribeca Film Festival
Monday, March 02, 2009
THE PUBLIC - SHAKESPEARE LAB IS FREE! & OTHER NEWS
The Public Theater is making a lot of important news. The last few years have been one major initiative after another. Here are some important recent events.
THE SHAKESPEARE LAB IS FREE!
The Shakespeare Lab, the theater’s professional actor development program, a six week training program that is the gold standard for American Shakepeare studies, will be tuition-free in 2009!!!
“The decision to make the program free this year builds on The Public’s long tradition of free Shakespeare in the Park and the theater’s ongoing commitment to building a community of classically trained artists.”
Shakespeare Lab 2009 will run from June 15-July 24. Participants must be completely available for this entire period, plus the entire time through August 9 when they will be preparing and touring a one hour performance of Shakespeare at venues around the city.
“Under the direction of Barry Edelstein, The Shakespeare Lab immerses a carefully-selected company of professional, mid-career actors in a six-week intensive exploring the rigors, challenges, and joys of performing Shakespeare. The Shakespeare Lab is a unique opportunity for working American actors in mid-career to hone their craft and expand their classical skills. It aims to build a strong and diverse collective of classically trained actors which will expand The Public Theater’s community of artists.”
“This is a major step for The Shakespeare Lab, and stems from the ongoing democratic nature of the Public Theater,” said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “We need to make the best training available to the most diverse group of artists, regardless of their ability to pay. I am proud that in this tough economic climate we are able to make this move.”
“The Lab’s workshops in Shakespearean performance are led by some of the most respected figures in American classical theater training, including Christopher Bayes, Lisa Benevides, Barry Edelstein, Robert Perillo, J. Steven White, Grace Zandarski, Janet Zarish and others. Guest artists, including eminent members of The Public Theater community and other leading Shakespeareans, will frequently visit the Shakespeare Lab.”
“The Shakespeare Lab was founded in 1995, and in the 14 years since, numerous members of the Shakespeare Lab Company have gone on to secure roles in the Park, at The Public Theater, on and off-Broadway, and in regional theaters, in addition to work in film and television. Past Shakespeare Lab participants include Elena Shaddow, Nana Mensah and Jennifer Kidwell, who performed in The Public Theater’s workshop of The Bacchae, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis; Ryan McCarthy, who appeared in The Public’s 2007 production of King Lear with Kevin Kline; Amir Arison, who will appear in the upcoming Public Theater production of Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them; Julio Monge, who has appeared in many Shakespeare productions at The Public, most recently Hamlet in Central Park; and Nancy Lemenager, who recently concluded a stint as Velma in Chicago on Broadway.”
Several years ago, I spoke with Amir Arison, when he was in a production sponsored by the Sloan Foundation at the Tribeca Film Festival, and he told me how vaulable the Shakespeare Lab program had been for him.
Membership in the Shakespeare Lab Company is by audition only. Requirements and other information can be found at www.publictheater.org, and more specifically at http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/34/110/.
But that's not all! The Public Theater does not just provide free Shakespeare training for professional actors...
There are two other Shakespeare training programs this summer, this time for school children, also both free:
- Shakespeare Lab Jr., a program of free, one-week Shakespeare workshops for New York City schoolchildren http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/131/226/
- and Summer Shake-Up, a one-day celebration of Shakespeare at the Delacorte Theater for New York City schoolchildren and their families http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/144/246/
http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/147/250/
Labels: Summer Shake Up, the public theater, The Shakespeare Lab
THE PUBLIC - TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN + PANELS
Photo: Native Earth Performing Arts.
Currently, TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN is playing at The Public and, now, the Public LAB Speaker Series, held every Tuesday following Public LAB shows, will consist of conversations with the artists and notable panelists.
In addition, NBC Universal, in conjunction with The Public, will be holding Native American Talent Outreach events.
A part of The Public Theater’s Native Theater Initiative, TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN is written and performed by Darrell Dennis (from the Shuswap nation) and directed by Herbie Barnes (from the Ojibway nation), and will run through Sunday, March 15. Tickets are $10 for all performances and include free admission to Tuesday evening post-show discussions.
"In TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN, acclaimed Canadian playwright and performer Darrell Dennis tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a young Indian man, Simon Douglas. From living life on the “Rez” to navigating the mean streets of Vancouver’s east side, Dennis weaves a funny and stirring story of identity, discovery, choice and self-respect. A hit from The Public’s inaugural Native Theater Festival, this one-man play returns to make its U.S. premiere following a Canadian tour and two nominations for the Dora Mavor Award, the highest theatrical honor in Canada. "
Panel -- Tuesday March 3:
"The Tuesday, March 3 post-show discussion will focus on “Native Theater in New York City Today.” Panelists for this introduction to New York’s local Native theater scene, moderated by The Public Theater’s Literary Associate Liz Frankel, include Steve Elm of Amerinda, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s Heye Center director John Haworth, Spiderwoman Theater’s Muriel Miguel, and Mixed Phoenix Theatre Group’s Danielle Soames."
Panel -- Tuesday March 10:
"Following the Tuesday, March 10 performance, Cherokee director Betsy Theobald Richards will join with artists from the formative years of the Native Theater movement to discuss “The Rise of Native Theater in New York City in the 1960s and 70s.” Panelists will include writer and advocate Suzan Shown Harjo, actor and producer Soni Moreno, and Spiderwoman Theater’s Muriel Miguel."
In addition to the Public LAB Speaker Series, The Public hosts NBC Universal’s Native American Talent Outreach in conjunction with TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN.
NBC Universal’s Native American Talent Outreach, March 9 & 10:
On Monday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m., NBC Networks executives will present a multi-network industry panel discussion of particular interest to Native actors, writers and directors. Tickets are free; to RSVP, please email industrypanel@publictheater.org.
On Tuesday, March 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., NBC Universal will host an open casting call, featuring talent representatives from a variety of film and television projects who are in search of Native American actors for non-specific roles. This open call is designed to increase diversity across NBC Universal’s expanding talent pool. For more information on this event, please visit www.diversecitynbc.com .
"The goals of the Native Theater Initiative at The Public Theater, funded by The Ford Foundation, are to support the work of Native theater artists across North America; to create a forum for field discussion among Native theater artists and professionals; and to further raise visibility and awareness of Native theater artists for New York audiences and the greater field of American Theater. "
"The Public Theater’s Native Theater Initiative Advisory Committee consists of Sheila Tousey, Hanay Geiogamah, Terry Gomez, Alanis King, Daniel David Moses, Yvette Nolan, Jennifer Podemski, Randy Reinholz, and Edward Wemytewa. "
TICKET INFORMATION
TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN will run through Sunday, March 15. The performance schedule is Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 2 PM and 8 PM; and Sundays at 2 PM and 7 PM.
The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street. All tickets are $10 and can be purchased at (212) 967-7555 or by visiting www.publictheater.org .
BIOGRAPHIES:
Here is some biographical information about the participants (supplied by The Public):
DARRELL DENNIS (Playwright and Performer) is an actor, writer, and comedian from the Shuswap Nation in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. He is a produced playwright and an award-winning writer for television. His script “Moccasin Flats” was accepted into the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Darrell is a two-time Dora Award nominee for his one man show Tales of an Urban Indian. He is also an alumnus of the Second City National Touring Company. His playwriting credits also include Trickster of Third Avenue East.
HERBIE BARNES (Director) works as an actor, director, writer and teacher. His film credits include the television movie “Spirit Rider,” the feature film Dance Me Outside, and the television series “The Rez.” His theatre credits include Toronto at Dreamers Rock, The Rememberer, Boy in the Treehouse, The Illustrated History of the Anishnabe, The Hobbit, The Gap, Sucker Falls, The Epic Period, Sin City, and the Manitoba Theatre for Young's People's production of IMROVident: The Show Where Anything Can Happen.
Panelists (Parentheses denote tribal affiliation):
DARRELL DENNIS (Shuswap) is the writer and star of the two-time Dora Award-nominated Tales of an Urban Indian. He is best-known for his roles in such television series as “Northwood” and “The Rez.” His feature film credits include Leaving Normal, Shania: A Life in Eight Albums, and Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis.
STEVE ELM (Oneida) is an actor, writer, director and educator who has worked in the New York Native community for many years. He is Artistic Director of New York City based Amerinda Theatre, whose mission is to develop and present Native American theatre artists.
SUZAN SHOWN HARJO (Cheyenne & Muscogee) is a poet, writer, curator and policy advocate, who has helped Native Peoples recover more than one million acres of land and has developed key laws to protect Native nations, arts, cultures, languages, religious freedom, sovereignty and sacred places. A Founding Trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian, she began work in 1967 that led to the NMAI, to repatriation laws and to museum reform.
JOHN HAWORTH (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) is Director of the National Museum of the American Indian’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York City. Mr. Haworth has an MBA from Columbia University, where he also was designated as a Revson Fellow on the Future of New York City in 1979.. He has written extensively on cultural and museum issues over the years, including articles for NMAI exhibition catalogues and magazines.
MURIEL MIGUEL (Kuna/Rappahannock) is a founding member and Artistic Director of Spiderwoman Theater, the longest running Native American women’s theater company in North America. Her stage credits include: Philomena Moosetail in The Rez Sister, Aunt Shadie in The Unnatural and Accidental Women, Martha in Buz’Gem Blues, Spirit Woman in BONES: An Aboriginal Dance Opera. She has created the one-woman shows Hot' N' Soft, Trail of the Otter and most recently Red Mother.
SONI MORENO (Maya, Apache, and Yaqui Nations) hails from California, studied at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where she played the role of Crissy in the original San Francisco Cast of Hair. Aside from her theatre credits, she is the co-founder of the aboriginal women’s vocal group “Ulali,” Associate Producer for Native Roots in Rhythms Music Festival in Albuquerque and is on the Board of Directors for the American Indian Community House.
YVETTE NOLAN (Algonquin from Kitiganzibi Nation). Her plays include BLADE, Job’s Wife, Video, Annie Mae’s Movement, the libretto Hilda Blake and the radio play Owen. She is the editor of Beyond the Pale: Dramatic Writing from First Nations Writers and Writers of Colour. Directing credits include Death of a Chief, Tales of An Urban Indian, The Unnatural and Accidental Women, Annie Mae’s Movement (Native Earth), The Only Good Indian..., The Triple Truth (Turtle Gals). She is currently the Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts, and the President of the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance.
RANDY REINHOLZ (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) has directed close to 50 plays across the U.S. and Canada. He was the director and executive producer of Urban Tattoo and the critically acclaimed productions of Jump Kiss, The Buz'Gem Blues and Please Do Not Touch the Indians and was the executive producer of the 2005 world premiere of Kino & Teresa. Reinholz has co-sponsored showcases and Native American diversity workshops for ABC and NBC and is an annual guest artist for the FOX American Indian Summer Institute.
BETSY THEOBALD RICHARDS (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) joined the Ford Foundation’s Knowledge, Creativity and Freedom Program in 2003 as a Program Officer in arts and culture. She also serves as a chairperson of Ford’s worldwide Committee on Indigenous Peoples, is member of the Foundation’s Philanthropy Learning Group and serves as an advisor to Ford’s global Intellectual Property Initiative. Betsy, who has worked as a theater director and dramaturg, developing scripts by Native American writers, is proud to serve as the first Native American Program Officer at the Ford Foundation.
DANIELLE SOAMES (Mohawk). An actor, director, producer and now co-founder and artistic co-director of Mixed Phoenix Theatre Group, she has lived in NYC for the past 12 years. She is a contract cultural interpreter at the National Museum of American Indian. She writes a column in Eastern Door Newspaper and writes for Talking Stick, part of AMERINDA, regularly.
SHEILA TOUSEY (Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee Nation) has acted in movies, television and in theater in NYC and regional theaters across the U.S. Some of the directors she has worked with include Joanne Akalaitis, Joe Chaiken, Linda Chapman, Kennetch Charlette, Liviu Ciulei, David Esbjornson, Ron Van Lieu, Hanay Geiogamah (American Indian Dance Theater), Lisa Peterson, Betsy Richards, Sam Shepard, Tony Taccone, Paul Walker and Robert Woodruff. In 2006 Sheila was Artist-in-Residence at the Public Theater; she currently serves as The Public’s Native Theater Initiative Consultant.
The Native Theater Initiative Partners are Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, American Indian Community House, Amerinda, The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, The National Museum of the American Indian.
Labels: Darrell Dennis, Herbie Barnes, Native Theater Initiative, Tales Of An Urban Indian
Sunday, March 01, 2009
THE READER -- THE TROUBLE WITH GOOD ACTING
Kate Winslet's performance in The Reader has been variously hailed (among other things) for showing the banality of evil, and finding humanity within a troubled character. It is also notable for being "centered" (whatever that really means), which is a way of bringing energy into a character while being fundamentally closed in. It is the power of subtext -- that hidden meaning that never is quite explicitly said.
But I believe there is another level of acting that this style of acting -- also practiced by Ralph Fiennes in the film (and of which Morgan Freeman in almost anything is the absolute master) -- seems almost incapable of. That higher level of acting includes the ability to be messy, open, truly evil, truly scared, truly natural.
The trouble with good acting is that it hides the messy, evil, uncontrollable inhumanity that lies behind evil deeds.
It is clear that Hanna Schmitz, Kate Winslet's character, is not a "good" person. However when you actually list what she is shown to have done, in this film, it is also clear that the full extent of her evil is obfuscated by the style of the film and the acting. I am not advocating being preachy. That is one step less than good acting, good writing, and good directing. I am advocating finding a way to be one step more.
Schmitz:
- Regularly sent women to be killed
- Refused to rescue women who were burning to death
- Preferred to admit to killing people, than to admit to illiteracy
- Seduced an underage boy, tormented him with unexplained mood swings, and abandoned him suddenly without explanation -- effectively disturbing him for life.
The characterization of Schmitz in the movie seems to describe her as unaware, or as rationalizing her actions, as opposed to finding a center of true evil that allows this behavior. Indeed, the scene in which Fiennes' character declines to publicly admit his affair and defend Schmitz from accusations of leading the camp guards (which she admitted to in order to avoid disclosing her illiteracy), seems designed to reinforce the idea that simple cowardice is ubiquitous and more of a presence in people's lives than things like: prison for life and responsibility for murder.
I was also put off by the affluence at the apartment of the Jewish survivor. It was as if the filmmakers were saying: see, she survived and did very well after all (after all the looting and the murders) and it seems exculpatory.
While Fiennes and Winslet act with grace and that great centered, closed in-style (as much acting style as a portrayal of their characters), the boy, played by David Kross, performs in a much more open style, that I found in some ways more interesting than the major stars'. He has been awarded for his performance, but much less than Winslet.
Without taking away from Winslet's accomplishments, and the quality of the film, what both the film and her performance do lack is the additional, essential, central acknowledgement of evil at the heart of her behavior.
To appreciate my concern with the "centered" style of acting, it is necessary to watch real people unexpectedly ambushed by media in the middle of real catastrophes (or triumphs). The way they express fear and hurt... or relief or joy is very different from the way it is portrayed by most actors.
I would like to see acting that remains accessible while allowing evil, joy, hurt, fear, love to be fully open.
Indeed, Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight is the best recent example of this next level of acting. His tragic death soon after, however, may indicate the toll on the actor entailed in portraying this kind of truth.
Schmitz' evil was not of the open kind, like the Joker's. Indeed the point of the film is that her evil was the result of circumstance. But the bigger point is that circumstance is not all there is. There must be a predisposition to valuing literacy more than life, valuing order more than saving burning humans, indulging in seduction rather than taking responsibility for someone else's happiness in life. The behavior just seemed controlled. Controlled acting is not sufficient. What is needed to bring this film and this characterization to the next level is -- without being obvious and tiresome -- acting that makes the evil predisposition smoulder.
Labels: David Kross, Heath Ledger, Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, The Reader
