On Wednesday I had the chance to sit down with "The Road" Director John Hillcoat and discuss his process in creating this post-apocalyptic drama. The film, shot throughout Pennsylvania, New Orleans, and Oregon, is both a visual masterpiece and compelling human drama. And lots of naked men running around, too.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Torre, Torre, Torre
Joe Torre held his annual Safe At Home fundraiser on Friday, November 13th at Chelsea. His foundation helps provide a safe haven for children from violent homes. It was a star-studded gala, more so than I had anticipated. Usually when they say 40 people are showing up, 3 actually show, but this time around, almost everyone and their mother grace the red carpet.
As a Red Sox fan, the opportunity to stand alongside Derek Jeter and Mo Riveria is not that exciting. Well, it's sort of cool, just not incredibly cool, i.e. I was able to maintain my composure and ask questions, even though neither of them stopped to say hi. Robinson Cano was nice enough to join me, and I got a few zingers in. The first entrants in the, 'Who do I talk to?' competition were Don Zimmer, Joe Torre, and Don Mattingly. Mr. Zimmer is nice, he suffered a stroke a year ago, so good for him for being out and about. He's a baseball great, having played roles in numerous baseball organizations including the Yankees and Red Sox. His work with the Yankees is a tad more memorable. He may be best known for charging at Pedro Martinez during a brawl in the 2004 season and getting flipped on his head by Petey, not a pretty sight.
Joe Torre is a nice, standup guy. I only spoke to him briefly, but he was happy to answer questions and he was appreciative of everyone for being there. As was Don Mattingly, most people shun the media outlets that they've never heard, but Don was friendly and personable - sometimes they're not. James Lipton showed up next. Sadly, I don't have anything to ask Mr. Lipton, and it showed, and wished him a good evening.
There was a massive Sopranos presence at this thing. Lorraince Bracco was there, she stopped to say hi. Steven R. Schirripa was there, though they dragged him away and its difficult to ask a thoughtful question when the person is not in front of you. I didn't even have a thoughtful question for him, so maybe it was for the best. Dominic 'Uncle June' Chianese was there, although he and Torre approached me at the same and I had to go with the host. Even Christofah Moltisanti showed up, but that man is in no hurry to speak with anyone, and I wasn't about to go a round with him. What I'm saying is I don't think the cast of the Sopranos were necessarily playing characters. James Gandolfini was nowhere to be found... imagine that.
As a Red Sox fan, the opportunity to stand alongside Derek Jeter and Mo Riveria is not that exciting. Well, it's sort of cool, just not incredibly cool, i.e. I was able to maintain my composure and ask questions, even though neither of them stopped to say hi. Robinson Cano was nice enough to join me, and I got a few zingers in. The first entrants in the, 'Who do I talk to?' competition were Don Zimmer, Joe Torre, and Don Mattingly. Mr. Zimmer is nice, he suffered a stroke a year ago, so good for him for being out and about. He's a baseball great, having played roles in numerous baseball organizations including the Yankees and Red Sox. His work with the Yankees is a tad more memorable. He may be best known for charging at Pedro Martinez during a brawl in the 2004 season and getting flipped on his head by Petey, not a pretty sight.
Joe Torre is a nice, standup guy. I only spoke to him briefly, but he was happy to answer questions and he was appreciative of everyone for being there. As was Don Mattingly, most people shun the media outlets that they've never heard, but Don was friendly and personable - sometimes they're not. James Lipton showed up next. Sadly, I don't have anything to ask Mr. Lipton, and it showed, and wished him a good evening.
There was a massive Sopranos presence at this thing. Lorraince Bracco was there, she stopped to say hi. Steven R. Schirripa was there, though they dragged him away and its difficult to ask a thoughtful question when the person is not in front of you. I didn't even have a thoughtful question for him, so maybe it was for the best. Dominic 'Uncle June' Chianese was there, although he and Torre approached me at the same and I had to go with the host. Even Christofah Moltisanti showed up, but that man is in no hurry to speak with anyone, and I wasn't about to go a round with him. What I'm saying is I don't think the cast of the Sopranos were necessarily playing characters. James Gandolfini was nowhere to be found... imagine that.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Harrison Greenbaum
I had the opportunity to catch up with comedian Harrison Greenbaum. The native New Yorker, known for both his comedy and his magic, is a regular at the Times Square Arts Center. Take a look at my interview below. Also keep an out for his article in amNY next week.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Friday, November 6, 2009
This Week in Sports
So I'm sitting here watching LeBron and the Knicks, er, I mean Cavs play the Knicks in what would be a blowout except that the Knicks started to play well and Cleveland didn't care enough to stop them. Final score is 100-91, but the game was not that close. LeBron coming to New York has turned into a LeBron exhibition. If you haven't heard, Mr. James, the King, his over-ratedness (kidding, he's actually that good), is a free agent after this season, as are like 15 other big names in the NBA. However, since the Knicks have been horrible since, 2000, I think, the popular opinion seems to be that they will take the cap money they are saving by playing really horrible players and spend it on players like LeBron and Dwayne Wade. They already went out and got Shaquille O'Neal, and well, I'm not seeing how that acquisition makes a huge difference. Shaq is not the dominant player he once was. He was dominant in L.A. for 3 years, dominant in Miami for a season, not so dominant in Phoenix for a season, and now he's in Cleveland. Yes, he's still 7-1 and over 300 pounds, but he's 37 and slow, and takes up room. So does Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and he can actually shoot.
But I digress, whenever LeBron shows up in New York, there is a perpetual media circus, and half of Madison Square Garden is rooting for him. Kinda sad, especially since moving him to New York will not make the Knicks better- it will make him a really good player on a worse team.
Neeeext. So something happened in baseball this week, not sure what it was. Hold on, be right back. (dramatic pause).... so the Yankees and their trillion dollar payroll won the World Series. Their high-rolling, free-spending ways finally paid off. A-Rod finally went became clutch, and Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are happy that their daughter is dating up. Seeing her in the stands everywhere reminded me of when Ben Affleck was dating Jennifor Lopez and he would take her to games and she would always be on the Fox camera. It was nice of her to fake cheering for the Red Sox, given that she's from the Bronx. My point being, celebrity girlfriends of athletes or other celebrities are annoying, be they J-Lo, Kate Hudson, or Jessica Simpson. You know what's also annoying, when the Yankees win- anything. Editor's Note: If the Yankees had lost, we would have seen Brian Cashman's obituary the next day in the Times - I'm saying he was on a short leash.
The Patriots play the Dolphins tomorrow. The Pats are 5-2, having demolished their last 2 opponents by the score of 124,345 - 6. Okay, not that bad, but given they were playing the two worst teams in the league, they totally destroyed them both. Miami is hanging in there at a steady 3-5, with new quarterback Chad Henne replacing poor bastard Chad Pennington. This is the guy who was tossed out of the moving car known as the Jets to make way for Brett Favre, and wasn't that a productive season?
Anyway, as is the tradition, loudmouth Joey Porter again voiced his displeasure with the Patriots, and specifically one Tom Brady. He was pissed during Spygate and now he's pissed that Tom Brady is protected by the NFL. Here's the thing about star players, they get calls, they just do. Michael Jordan did, Kobe Bryant did, LBJ does, if I watched hockey I would say that Wayne Gretzy did, but I don't - but I'm sure he did. There is a play against, I forget who, where a linebacker sort of tumbles towards Tom's leg, and he jumps out of the way, points to the ref, and the flag is thrown. Some argued that was proof that the refs are on Tom's side, and I say to that... good, I want them to be on his side :-) I also say to Joey Porter- nothing, he's a big nasty dude and I'm sure he could wallop me.
And finally, Tom Cable, the big nasty dude who happens to coach the not so nasty Raiders - his ex-wife and former girlfriend went to the press saying he had harmed them. This is after the D.A. said it wouldn't press charges against him for taking actions against his coaches that led to a broken jaw. So not only does he beat up his coaches, he beats up his women, too? I don't know which is worse - kidding, I do. Coaches are really important. :-)
But I digress, whenever LeBron shows up in New York, there is a perpetual media circus, and half of Madison Square Garden is rooting for him. Kinda sad, especially since moving him to New York will not make the Knicks better- it will make him a really good player on a worse team.
Neeeext. So something happened in baseball this week, not sure what it was. Hold on, be right back. (dramatic pause).... so the Yankees and their trillion dollar payroll won the World Series. Their high-rolling, free-spending ways finally paid off. A-Rod finally went became clutch, and Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are happy that their daughter is dating up. Seeing her in the stands everywhere reminded me of when Ben Affleck was dating Jennifor Lopez and he would take her to games and she would always be on the Fox camera. It was nice of her to fake cheering for the Red Sox, given that she's from the Bronx. My point being, celebrity girlfriends of athletes or other celebrities are annoying, be they J-Lo, Kate Hudson, or Jessica Simpson. You know what's also annoying, when the Yankees win- anything. Editor's Note: If the Yankees had lost, we would have seen Brian Cashman's obituary the next day in the Times - I'm saying he was on a short leash.
The Patriots play the Dolphins tomorrow. The Pats are 5-2, having demolished their last 2 opponents by the score of 124,345 - 6. Okay, not that bad, but given they were playing the two worst teams in the league, they totally destroyed them both. Miami is hanging in there at a steady 3-5, with new quarterback Chad Henne replacing poor bastard Chad Pennington. This is the guy who was tossed out of the moving car known as the Jets to make way for Brett Favre, and wasn't that a productive season?
Anyway, as is the tradition, loudmouth Joey Porter again voiced his displeasure with the Patriots, and specifically one Tom Brady. He was pissed during Spygate and now he's pissed that Tom Brady is protected by the NFL. Here's the thing about star players, they get calls, they just do. Michael Jordan did, Kobe Bryant did, LBJ does, if I watched hockey I would say that Wayne Gretzy did, but I don't - but I'm sure he did. There is a play against, I forget who, where a linebacker sort of tumbles towards Tom's leg, and he jumps out of the way, points to the ref, and the flag is thrown. Some argued that was proof that the refs are on Tom's side, and I say to that... good, I want them to be on his side :-) I also say to Joey Porter- nothing, he's a big nasty dude and I'm sure he could wallop me.
And finally, Tom Cable, the big nasty dude who happens to coach the not so nasty Raiders - his ex-wife and former girlfriend went to the press saying he had harmed them. This is after the D.A. said it wouldn't press charges against him for taking actions against his coaches that led to a broken jaw. So not only does he beat up his coaches, he beats up his women, too? I don't know which is worse - kidding, I do. Coaches are really important. :-)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Only Make Believe
The Only Make Believe 10th Anniversary gala was Tuesday night. It was at the Shubert Theater, hosted by Sir Ian McKellen and honoring some people I'm not quite familiar with. If you're on Broadway there's a good chance I'm not quite familiar with your work, unless you're Jude Law and you're dreamy.
As the arrivals approached, all us press people had to join forces and google the sort of unknown Broadway stars. We figured out that Alex Ko is Billy Elliott, and he won and award for that. The others, well, we had to guess and look up what their Facebook status was. It's not very professional to start off a Q & A with 'who are you?'
Alex Ko stopped by, he's young and he's on Broadway, that's really all I can tell you. I almost felt like giving him Halloween candy, but I knew that would be rude. Or make a Michael Jackson joke, too soon? Christopher Meloni, of Law & Order was there, he was also at the premiere of 'Capitalism: A Love Story' but he didn't stop at that one. He stopped at this one, he's a nice guy, I feel like he and I and Mariska Hargitay could hang out together - or he could just stay home. Maybe Ice - T would stop by, and then I would probably be asked to go home.
Sir Ian McKellen, the evenings host, caused quite a stir. He and Christopher Meloni had been singing at the other end of the carpet, so naturally when he came our way I wanted to ask if he could sing. Sadly, because of my non-Boston accent, he thought I said 'could you say something?' and he said sure, what? and I said I dunno, whatever you sang back there. He didn't understand - and then my camera woman jumped in and said 'SING!' and he said 'Oh, no I don't do that, you have to pay for that.'
Up next was his loveliness Jude Law. Jude is very British, and I didn't really know what to say to him, so I asked him about the event. I asked him to discuss any upcoming movies he's doing, but he wasn't there to talk about that (he should have been, I think). It's disconcerting when you ask a normal question and a celebrity isn't there to discuss it, what else do they get paid to do?
After Jude, we saw The cast of Hair and The Lion King test their pipes out. They can sing, and you have to love the hyena woman from the Lion King who knows her talent is to do the hyena laugh, so that's all she does. After this, there was a lull, and then Andrea Martin from SCTV stopped by. I caught her off guard by my three questions in one technique - sometimes it works and sometimes it confuses people. She was nice though, she has some performances she's doing, including an SCTV reunion in Chicago.
So check out the Only Make Believe foundation, they put on interactive theater for sick children in hospitals across the country, and soon to go international. Good work folks.
As the arrivals approached, all us press people had to join forces and google the sort of unknown Broadway stars. We figured out that Alex Ko is Billy Elliott, and he won and award for that. The others, well, we had to guess and look up what their Facebook status was. It's not very professional to start off a Q & A with 'who are you?'
Alex Ko stopped by, he's young and he's on Broadway, that's really all I can tell you. I almost felt like giving him Halloween candy, but I knew that would be rude. Or make a Michael Jackson joke, too soon? Christopher Meloni, of Law & Order was there, he was also at the premiere of 'Capitalism: A Love Story' but he didn't stop at that one. He stopped at this one, he's a nice guy, I feel like he and I and Mariska Hargitay could hang out together - or he could just stay home. Maybe Ice - T would stop by, and then I would probably be asked to go home.
Sir Ian McKellen, the evenings host, caused quite a stir. He and Christopher Meloni had been singing at the other end of the carpet, so naturally when he came our way I wanted to ask if he could sing. Sadly, because of my non-Boston accent, he thought I said 'could you say something?' and he said sure, what? and I said I dunno, whatever you sang back there. He didn't understand - and then my camera woman jumped in and said 'SING!' and he said 'Oh, no I don't do that, you have to pay for that.'
Up next was his loveliness Jude Law. Jude is very British, and I didn't really know what to say to him, so I asked him about the event. I asked him to discuss any upcoming movies he's doing, but he wasn't there to talk about that (he should have been, I think). It's disconcerting when you ask a normal question and a celebrity isn't there to discuss it, what else do they get paid to do?
After Jude, we saw The cast of Hair and The Lion King test their pipes out. They can sing, and you have to love the hyena woman from the Lion King who knows her talent is to do the hyena laugh, so that's all she does. After this, there was a lull, and then Andrea Martin from SCTV stopped by. I caught her off guard by my three questions in one technique - sometimes it works and sometimes it confuses people. She was nice though, she has some performances she's doing, including an SCTV reunion in Chicago.
So check out the Only Make Believe foundation, they put on interactive theater for sick children in hospitals across the country, and soon to go international. Good work folks.
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