Vicki Cristina Barcelona

Woody's latest, well-received at Cannes (mais bien sur!)

All I can say is: hm. Wait, make that "hmmmmmm."

REPRISE

REPRISE is currently on Bluestocking's radar.

Trailer here.

Looks like a good one. Joachim Trier is Danish.

Love those Danes! My favorite city in Denmark is Odense well that and the port city of Århus (pic):

WTF!?

That's all I can say, WTF!!!?

Indy - advanced review!

Well through the grapevine of the www and a pm or two exchanged with yours truly, a NYer saw a screening tonight of Indy Crystal Skull and gave me a mixed review. I guess this is happening all over the net even though it did fine at Cannes (a standing O) and is doing okay over at Rotten Tomatoes, but still the reviews are mixed. I don't care. I'm a fan, I'm going to like it and have fun. Only a few days away!

luvahlee weekend

First Baby A, the DH and I went to LA's very own Natural History Museum on skid row near USC. She loved the butterfly garden. It was like 100 degrees hot in the shade, or as Roger Moore says in Cannonball Run II "it was 180 in the shade."
Note to BLA readers: if you want to take in the "Pavilion of Wings" at NHM, what the website fails to tell you, after you arrive in the sweltering heat, speak to the oh-so-unfriendly parking attendants, pay for parking, and walk CARRYING a stroller because their elevator isn't working is that it's by reservation only. Thanks. Thanks. Good to know, you know, not until we get there that we have to reserve a time! Seriously, NHM: please make your employees a bit more friendly. Oh and don't pick the weekend to bring the babe to look at a giant T-Rex when it's a Bug's life weekend. 'Nuff said.

Lately I've been buying wine as gifts. I'm currently in a I-should-be-more-into-wine phase. So I went to buy 3 more gifts, a wedding gift and another and we decided to pick out a nice Cab for us. Cue our lunch: and then me who doesn't really drink, sipping a Cab with the baby napping... it was bliss for about ten minutes until ten minutes later when I passed out. Such is life. The wine was, to my palette, quite "grapey" and delicious!

For some blog navel gazing, here's my lunch, a charcuterie of sorts, I'm a huge, maniac Top Chef fan (even though we all know I can't cook) and this was awesome.

Then met up with DH's good friend and cutie-patootie son at park in the Valley, such a sweet cutie, was fun. Then we capped off Sunday night with an inspirational drive by the

DEATH STAR

and a late-night stroll through BH (Beverly Hills), came across interesting mannequin of a suit with a hawk head (I'll post pic later). A luvahlee weekend!

pic:

Pineapple

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
new trailer... looks pretty hilarious, maybe a bit of a "guy" film but still funny.
I'm always skeptical, thinking the mad streak has to end, and then end up laughing my a-s off, like I did with SUPERBAD.

new trailer here

Cannes!

So far so good for Indy IV...

and a live Cannes cam of the red carpet HERE

Holy disaster!

We wrote a TV pilot (Slamdance Top 20 Finalist) about a mysterious disaster which hits Los Angeles and wipes out everything electronic like an e-bomb (electromagnetic pulse bomb) only this one is sci-fi in origin and an Analyst character explains to the Governor (who's a woman in my script, GOVERNOR RITA AMUNDSON) "LA's just been kicked back to the dark ages." It's a great script and I love it because of the pains I took with the characterizations, there's a nurse battling cancer/chemo as she's served divorce papers at work described as having the "face of an angel" and the eccentric billionaire who chain smokes and is bi-polar who loves her (they met when he tried to kill himself and she worked the ER) who in response to someone calling him weird says: "Poor people are weirdos. I'm rich. That makes me eccentric." And the young, madly in-love teens defying their parents to meet at Griffith Park Observatory, the South Bay stoners. and West Side "yuppy" couple etc. who race to find out what's happened to LA -- imagine a city where nothing works - no cars, no phones, nothing electrical.
A scary thought.

I was watching CLOVERFIELD the other night and turned to the DH and said: "I'd like to be prepared, we don't have a bug-out-bag (or BOB)."

So, the weird thing is I'm checking my email the next day and find that I've been asked by the state of California and Maria Shriver's new campaign for safety and preparedness to get the word out. They selected 50 people to represent the online CA community and the little blog that could is one of them! They've created a new website WE Prepare where you can learn what you need to do to prepare in the unfortunate event of a disaster. For example, you should have 3 DAYS worth of food, water and supplies minimum on hand at all times should something horrible happen, you can be prepared. I will be blogging about this in coming days. One thing they sent me was a complimentary "survival kit" and I'll post its contents in coming days.

The website has tons of useful information and a pdf book to download for kids, you can also customize your disaster plan for your family. These types of things are not fun to think about (unless you're a Hollywood writer :)) but important, right? Please take a look at their website, look at volunteering, and get prepared!
Check out the website:

WE PREPARE

Baby A's

hysterical laughter is the cutest thing.

She understands slapstick! It is the damndest.

So the DH is trying to swat a fly with his baseball hat and everytime his hat lands
on the wall or the ceiling -- she laughs hysterically. The laughter is infectious, so cute... she laughs so hard she screams and tears come out her eyes.

I blogged about how she laughed at slapstick stuff on TV, certain scenes in movies get her going and then we replay them and she just rolls! She's not even a year, yet. So maybe comedy is inherent.

aw, baby's are the best!

Indy

This was going to be behind the scenes footage of Indy IV but then there's no link and the disclaimer: "videos removed at Paramount's request."

btw

in case anyone's wondering I'm a disaster in the kitchen.
I can bake (in the tradition of my Irish grandmother's side of the family and my great-great grandma Riley who used to bake pies for all the Irishman working on the railroad), I really can and pretty well too.
But I cannot cook. At all. Maybe if I concentrate really hard and follow directions to a T.

Case in point:
today the DH was irritated because my coffee exploded in the microwave and he asked me what I'd set it on and I said, "what I always do, the same, I have no idea why it exploded."

Case in point 2: one night I tried to make chili. From a can. This was pretty good organic beans really, chili flavored. My disaster ended up that the baby cried and I tended to her and the DH left a note on the pan which read: "you're insane."

First of all, I turned on the heat, set the empty pan on the burner and went to ask him if I needed to strain the beans. "No, it's chili just dump it in the pan and simmer." So, the kitchen is not my element, I go back in, dump the beans into the pan and it sizzles which is a nice way of saying it EXPLODES. Chili sauce shoots all over, the bottom of the pan burns, and it goes to an immediate boil. At this point I'm like, "Huh, guess the pan was too hot." Then I folded up a whole wheat tortilla and shoved it in the toaster. I didn't have time to press to toast because I was mixing the beans with a spatula. Now I know you're not supposed to use rubber on heat but no wooden spoons were available. The baby cried, I turned the heat to "simmer" ran to check on her came back out and had the note from the DH: "you're insane. This was supposed to be soupy chili -- it's paste." Basically a glob of burned beans was all that was left. He had also rescued the sure-to-set-off-the-smoke-detectors- tortilla from the toaster. So, what did I do? I dumped the beans in the whole wheat tortilla, mixed in low-fat cheese and salsa and had a nice, lo-cal, dinner. :-) really, it wasn't that bad. I almost burned the kitchen down but it was pretty tasty.

Note the new tag/category: my kitchen disasters

the valley

Headed out to the valley today...
it's HOT! Like 100 degrees!
I like that about the valley, at least for visiting, it's always hot.
It is so old school LA to me. Funky shops, old 40's, 50's, 60's buildings, bustling, crowded and the home of the two-story strip mall.
Everyone in the valley looks like a TV star from the 80's or 90's, in other words, someone who was famous once for something and now just hangs out on a Friday and, say, buys a candleabra or a throw pillow for their house. Parts of the valley have a whole "rocker" vibe going and I actually saw a street hot dog vendor, which to a one-time New Yorker, was fun. There's also a hippie vibe and a Melrose vibe and a suburban California vibe...
good times.
traffic? not so much.

And now back to you...

The Kelsey Grammer -Heaton vehicle was cancelled, I love him but the show never quite took off, it seemed a bit too sit-com-y in this post sitcom-y world.

I'm a total dork, I know, but I found this abso-friggin-lutely hilarious (especially the second from the last one)

happy friday!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

http://www.calparks.org/
Yippee! Thanks to all those who signed the petition!
Very important to me as I actually frequent several of these parks w the fam, and very impo. to California to preserve the natural beauty for everyone -- not just those who can afford a yard and/or Malibu coastline, imho.

The voices of state park supporters across the state have been heard! Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger announced he reversed course on his draconian proposal to close state parks. He released a revision to his January budget and is now proposing to restore funding to keep all of California's state parks open and keep lifeguards on our state beaches.
This is welcome news, and is a real testament to the activism of tens of thousands of state park advocates who kept this issue alive in their communities. Congratulations to all of us for working as part of the Save Our State Parks Campaign and making this a top priority for the Governor and Legislature to hear!
But our work is far from over, and the Save Our State Parks Campaign will continue. It's important to remember that the Governor's proposal is just that, a proposal, and must be approved by the Legislature. We will be working with legislative leaders to ensure they share the goal of keeping all state parks open and accessible and secure their approval of funding to do so.
At the same time, the proposal to close 48 state parks and take lifeguards off 16 state beaches illustrated how underfunded the state park system truly is, and how precarious its long-term fiscal picture appears. While we may have averted an immediate crisis, our challenge is clear – as park supporters, we must identify and advocate for sustainable funding for our state park system. Otherwise, we will simply be fighting, year after year, over another list of 48 parks to be closed.

Vertigo turns 50

Hitchcock, the great's, masterpiece VERTIGO turns 50. For me, summer just isn't summer without watching REAR WINDOW, my favorite Hitchcock film right up there with NXNW and TROUBLE WITH HARRY which my mom actually took the family to see in a movie theatre when I was a kid. I believe it was part of Hitchock's lost five which were then re-released.

NYT covers Vertigo turning 50 here.

I also read somewhere that Hitchock's daughter said one of his favorite guilty pleasures film was SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT. Seriously.

I had the pleasure to catch BANDIT, for the first time, the other day and it's hilarious. Especially the scene when Reynolds breaks the 4th wall. And "the great One" Gleason's "Sumabitch" improvising.

"They call him the baaaaaandit..."

The Returns

"After all
There are such things
and these are the things
who'll turn
your memories
back
into dreams
again.
Oh it's all flying and waving
for you to keep trying
you're so close
so close
and all the Returns.
One of these days
one of these days
one of these days..."
-- Rickie Lee Jones

in my life

"There are places i'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends i still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life i've loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When i think of love as something new
Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more
Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more."
- The Beatles

Get ready for...

sex!

SEX AND THE CITY had its London premiere last night.

Read about it (and video footage) here.

why London I am not sure since this is the New York film.

One article called the female fan mood in the theatre "devotional."

Hilarious. You can almost hear the Y-chromosomed shaking in fear at all that "emoting." I think the Sun article actually said: "[the women] in the theatre laughed then cried in quick succession."
OMG! You can't be serious! Two emotions, you say, in quick succession!? How horrible!
:-P
Baby, you have no idea!

I'd be ready to get down on my hands and knees and pray to my TV set if they'd bring the show back! :)

ETA: my bad, typos fixed, unintentional that is

Something to keep in mind

In a classic Roger Moore Bond film LIVE AND LET DIE there's a great boat chase scene through a bayou that lasts several minutes, it's a memorable, classic set piece, especially considering this Bond film is from 1973.

Something for scribes to ponder, according to IMDB this boat chase scene was written in the original screenplay as:

"Scene 156 - The most terrific boat chase you've ever seen."

Yep, that's it.
Just a friendly reminder that overwriting in screenwriting is not your friend.

LA Film Fest

I've been a busy, busy bee lately...

Just around the corner is the LA Film Fest. Pre-sale tickets on sale soon.

Festival kicks off with WANTED, Jolie's and (the OMG! intense & gorgeous) James McAvoy.

If you don't want to go to the entire festival, check out the Coffee Talks and Poolside Chats.

IRON MAN

steels the b.o.!!!! ;-P

$100 mil domestic, $200 mil worldwide!

T is for Trespass

or Terrible or Tedious...

Man oh man it is with a heavy heart that I must ring in my extreme disappointment in this #20 from Ms. Grafton. I've read every single Kinsey Millhone mystery and wanted to read the entire alphabet, all 26, but now I am questioning my desire and ability to hang in there with her to the end.

To start, nothing happens in this book for hundreds of pages. It is dated and not in a good way. And when did Kinsey go from being tough and independent to pathetic, dimwitted, and ultimately -- white trash? I did something that I am afraid to admit here (something I've never done) -- I actually skimmed parts of this book -- large sections because for the most part -- it was actually disgusting. Did I say it was repulsive? The plot revolves around an evil, conniving home care nurse milking her elderly patient of thousands of dollars. Not exactly a riveting plot. Kinsey's side two-bit case involves investigating a fraudulent accident scene. I mean, I'm riveted. When I say repulsive, do I need intimate detailed description of some one's ramshackle house and elastic waist-band pants of dingy basements and the smell of a stinky goon's room? Do I really need to read detailed description of geriatric demise or a weird old Victorian day motel? Then do I need to re-read description after description as Kinsey revisits places and tape records suspects and witnesses testimonies in her plodding, clueless and snail's pace manner? No! And yes, you read that right -- tape records.

It's really disappointing and I wonder if I've changed or she's changed. I remember initially the books at least seemed good and while they always teetered on the edge of no style and too much realism (Kinsey's penchant for McDonald's has grown tiresome), I used to look forward to them. Unfortunately, Ms. Grafton has lost her spark. I can forgive everything else but save one thing: our Californian heroine cannot make dumb mistake after dumb obvious mistake to which point we stop rooting for her. I do believe we read for inspiration, insight, and -- escape. The mood I'm going for is not to feel sordid, dingy, dusty, dirty and in need of a hot shower after reading a book when I was hoping to curl up on a cozy overcast day and settle down with a good friend. Grafton nearly lost me with a previous installment about a female inmate. What's the demo she's going for here? I didn't want to give it a negative review, much of the press reviewed it favorably (however many loyal fans on Amazon marked it as their least favorite) but I am going to have a difficult time finishing out the series with her.
D-

Get your Opera on

So Puccini is one of my faves and the other day on the radio here in LA I heard a beautiful opera. I am no expert but I've heard a few operas in my time: La Boheme and The Marriage of Figaro and this one seemed exceptionally lovely.

I went to the radio's website and discovered I have a pretty good ear as it was The Met and a beautiful opera of Donizetti but in French: La fille du Regiment. Who cares, say you? Well, here's where it gets fun. The Met is live broadcasting its opera to various HD movie theatres nationwide. I had no idea. So instead of forking over $2-$400 or whatever it would be now, you can go down to your local movie theatre and see a Met opera live (or encore). Pretty cool, I thought. Info here: The Met Opera Live in HD. La Boheme is next and it's a beautiful opera.

Get out your popcorn

Summer movie season will soon be upon us!

Check out the complete guide to summer movies here.

Summer movie previews.

221B Baker Street

It's his address.

Would love to do this: book tour of London (sans the creepy mannequin in the photo!)

THR

The Hollywood Reporter launches a new website (redesign) today.
I agree the look is cleaner, crisper.
However, their widgets are lacking. They're too big for the sidebar and didn't load properly. ("Upcoming Movies" widget only loaded one film.)

Baby Mama

Aw, I thought it was silly-cute. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are awesome and they're great onscreen together. Not sure why some of the critics "be hatin'" on this film. It definitely has some 3rd Act problems where it gets really silly but a cute film w/ some funny moments.

Happiness in the teal blue box

It's a cliche (or a legend) I know, but the other day I was feeling kinda down (for various reasons, not the least of which is the price of gasoline) and I had to go to Tiffanys to pick up a gift which was being resized and let me tell you by the time I walked out...
I decided that Audrey Hepburn was right! I felt so much better, as if a burden, somehow had been eased.
Holly Golightly expressed it best when she said:

Holly Golightly: You know those days when you get the mean reds?

Paul Varjak: The mean reds, you mean like the blues?

Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

Paul Varjak: Sure.

Holly Golightly: Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!

Tiffany's will always cure the dumps, the blues, or the "mean reds." If you haven't seen it,

WAIT UNTIL DARK is a great AH flick (based on a play).