What are you really looking for?

 What is it that makes your heart skip a beat? What is it that you want?

 

 

 

"Something that scares me."

 

Les Misérables: A Christmas Day Experience

Les Misérables is a must-see for all families on December 25th. A Christmas Day experience that will warm your heart. A movie-going outing that will bring the family closer. A story of love, pain and selfless giving.

It's [Jang-go], the D is silent. A film about finding love.

You would never guess in a million years that seeing Jamie Foxx naked would be an uncomfortable experience, but given the circumstances in Django Unchained, it was. This was full of action, emotion, comedy, triumph and everything you'd want from a movie-going experience. It was very Tarantino, as we knew it would be. Having Dorsey's take on the film before sitting down for the advanced screening last week (a very swanky pre-screening might I add, with eco-friendly water bottles, a table full of snacks and a flat screen playing the trailer for Leo DiCaprio's other upcoming film The Great Gatsby) gave way for me to know, for the most part, what to expect from the movie. I wasn't disappointed.

Unchained was refreshing. Different from any other action movie that I've seen in a long time. Somehow a romance/western/historical/comedy all in one.

Foxx and Waltz were an amazing duo. Heartwarming, witty and mischievous. Foxx the most brilliantly heroic and iconic I've ever seen him, so I wasn't surprised to read that he's set to play the new Spider Man sequel villian Electro. Rather HC in this. (Hard core. This month's made up lingo of mine.)

I've been a fan of Waltz since 2011's Water for Elephants, and seeing him in Unchained was much anticipated. Using his trademark natural German accent that we know so well, he played Django's cut throat while sensitive partner-in-crime to a tee. Dr. Shultz brought me back to WFE's August Rosenbluth in the way that they both seemed to be able to do unspeakable things in a very mechanical fashion while remaining completely civil (Until someone beautiful almost gets a bottle smashed over their head). A whole lot of borderline sociopath on-screen goodness.

  

There was another sociopath in this. I'm thinking Leo DiCaprio being dubbed next year's Best Supporting Actor was a spot-on assessment by Dorsey. Filming The Wolf of Wallstreet in New York right now, we haven't seen him on the red carpet much lately, like other potentials. But he did win the Best Supporting Actor title for his performance in Unchained from the National Board of Review last week. 

His 'Calvin Candie' was flawless. At some moments I was trying not to pee my pants. This was generally when he was yelling (which he's unsettlingly great at for some reason). There wasn't one moment of falter, and his egotistical Candie was as unlikable as somehow endearing (and I'm guessing that somehow was only because it was Leonardo playing him). I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this did turn out to be 'his time' for an Academy Award.

Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington were amazing. Sam the majority of the latter half of the movie's comic relief and brutal impact, a masterful performance indeed, and Kerry not having to say much to convey her depth and emotion, and undeniably stealing her scenes with silent beauty.

Favorite Omar J. Dorsey was as pitifully believable as hilarious as Mandingo fighter Chicken Charlie, and almost unrecognizable in time-fitting costume. A high topic of conversation amongst 'bidders' around Candie's plantation. Be on the look out for a hilarious final bit in the movie, a token from Tarantino, no doubt, for a lost scene.

The use of today's slang estimation of the "N" word was thrown around so much toward the end of the movie that it was hard to chalk up whether to laugh or wonder what was going on. A showcase of Tarantino's comedic style no doubt. Those comedic inputs were the only 'Why?' moments of the film- but, it sure made for a short and sweet deal for that final line of the movie.

You laugh and you learn from this one, which is always fulfilling. You learn about history, about perseverance, relationships, love, and via Mr. Calvin Candie, a bit about the human brain.

3.5/5

Warm Bodies

sweet? f*cking gross? you decide.

You're unsettled because you feel you have no role. You have no place.



But you have to ask yourself who's fault that is. Because in fact there's very little in this society that you have to hate. Think.

On DVD January 1

Silver Linings Playbook

I liked how this movie was unique in the way that it was two crazies that found each other and fell in love. That's really different. Usually the crazy person in the movie is the friend, or the sibling, or when the movie is centered on people like this it isn't about finding love. This type of movie's subjects were surprising and somehow satisfying at the same time, just to see something we don't usually see. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper were great together, their chemistry was alive in their scenes and that's another thing that's rare. When I sat down to watch this, remembering Jennifer Lawrence in 'The Hunger Games' trailers/clips not too long ago left me doubting if she was right for such a seemingly more mature role like this.. It was hard to see her going from a teeny fantasy franchise to the woman she plays in this in such a short amount of time.

Omar J. Dorsey Interview

Omar J. Dorsey is what you would call an actor who was born to be an actor. With the theatrically strong voice, fully able to be heard across many of the surrounding low-set booths of Burbank's classic Bob's Big Boy Restaurant during our chat this week, the expressive facial and hand gestures, and the all-around profound presence. It's a bit hard not to watch and be captivated. That is, until the famously inner 'shit talking guy' comes out. I sat down with the Django Unchained star to talk about the new movie, having drinks at Leo's, married life, and predicting who would be 2009's Best Actress winner-- before anyone else.



Just want to start off by saying I’m not just here to talk about what Leo DiCaprio is like on set, although that is a subject I’ll be landing on eventually. Want to start out with the gist of Django Unchained, what would you say the movie is about and what will moviegoers get from it?
It's a movie about slavery. It's also about a slave who's freed by a German bounty hunter, and they become bounty hunters together.

The German bounty hunter is played by Christoph Waltz.

Christoph plays the German who's the bounty hunter, who tries to pay-- I don't want to tell you the story! He gets Jamie [Foxx, who plays Django] and they do a couple of jobs, and he frees Jamie, but they become partners. The story is a love story also, about a man trying to find his wife who's still in slavery. 

Waltz and Foxx in Unchained (Entertainment Weekly)

Played by Kerry Washington.
Yes. She ends up going from different places to different places, but ultimately ends at Calvin Candie's plantation [played by Leonardo DiCaprio] and that's roughly where a third of the movie is centered around. Them being at Calvin Candie's plantation, meeting up with Calvin, and trying to find Django's wife. 

So would you say it's ultimately a story about finding freedom or finding love?
Ultimately it's a story about love, it's a love story. It's about the lengths a man would take to get his love back. Through death, through whatever it takes. Aspiring to get back to his one true love   ... and there's a lot of violence in it because it's Quentin Teaantino.

Maury Sterling Interview

When you think of Maury Sterling you could picture a focused henchman sworn to protect, a crazed flare-wheeling 3^rd part of a family assassin trio with a drawn-on Hitler mustache, or a swoon-worthy bring-home-to-mother-approved stud. The visions are endless (and would we want them any other way?). A Mill Valley, California native with a draw for action roles, at 41 he's one of Hollywood’s most promising talents. I sat down to talk with the actor (in the most claustrophobic while also completely satisfying situation I've ever been in) at Hollywood's trendy Bourgeois Pig to talk about his work on Showtime’s Emmy-winning drama Homeland, his draw for good writing, and being swooned after by older ladies with Chris Pine and Kevin Durand.

After finding the coziest, faux moss and shrubbery surrounded sitting nook for-two in the dark set cafe to conduct our interview, not until Sterling arrived and took his seat did I realize how close together we would be, or just how handsome he is. I probably should've taken some deep breaths to prepare myself.  I receive a steaming hot cup of green tea as Sterling gets more comfortable.

      Just wanted to start out by saying your character in 2006's Smokin’ Aces has to be one of my favorites. Always enjoy the crazy Tremor Brothers. Could barely recognize Chris Pine. You seem to be a very cool and collected guy, what was the experience like of transforming into such a wild character?

      Thank you for saying that I'm cool and collected, it's only on the outside. It was a blast. The audition process was fun because it was the kind of audition that I looked at and read the sides and read the character description and thought, "There is no way in hell I will ever play this part." And I think because of that-- and I remember talking to my manager at the time and saying "Seriously? They want me for this?" and he's like, "Yeah, just go in." and I said, [shrugs] "Alright." So I think that helped because I went in with complete abandon, like I had nothing to lose. Which worked. I just threw myself into it, said "I'm going to go nuts." The actual transformation into the character was your question right?

Sterling, Durand and Pine as The Tremor Brothers in 2006's Aces

relevance

I close my eyes and imagine what it must be like to have to maintain relevance in order to be able to succeed at work. I close my eyes and try to rack my brain for why I would ever want that for myself.

"Relevancy is the true tool of the powerful. Relevancy involves an audience. You can't be relevant to nobody. You have to create and nurture it. You have to know what that audience craves. One of the things I like most about good music is that it captures this idea perfectly. Musicians have a particular subset of people that they speak to, and adapt their music and their message to it." "Create an audience. It's a lot of trial and error, but art is one of those things that has to be done to really "get." And keep yourself relevant to that audience. The audience isn't so much a bunch of people as it is a creation that happens to resonate with people. An audience is an idea. They're referred to in sassy terminology, "the mid-thirties house-frou." "brooding mid-teen glampires.""

♥ Waving bye to Twi

Jackson 

Anya

Ashley

cover your tracks

heart, cover your tracks
the blood that you've spilled 
will wash what you lack

soul, sew up your wounds
test out your engine
give it some room

mind, pick up your pace
capture your thoughts
you always change

soul, open your wings
lift this cage higher than any dream

cover your tracks
sew up your wounds
pick up your pace
open your wings

heart, flush out your words
the past that was tangled
will unwrap and shed

soul, sing out your songs
clear out your throat
belt it out strong

cover your tracks
sew up your wounds
pick up your pace
open your wings

cover your tracks
cover your tracks

life is surreal

me filming 'Save Me From Love' 

11/12/12 

how things happen. how it changes.

In another life
I would make you stay

So I don't have to say
You were the one that got away

Something about the way they lived

"Something about the way they lived, and their limits, and their priorities in life- I wanted to keep up. They really push each other, they love each other so much. I want to find relationships like that in my life that are that challenging, and you sort of vicariously live through them. You learn from the music that they listen to, and the books that they read, and the artists that they talk about. There are so many aspects of _______ that is inspiring for someone who's young. Not just the spirit of it, which is the most inspiring part."

'If you know what it is, then it's dead'

 "There's a thing which Fellini said about 'If you know what it is, then it's dead'. Which I think is really true and I think it's really changed my opinion about how I approach everything now. You don't need to know what it is. You're just being arrogant if you think like, 'Oh, I understand it fully'. I don't even understand myself-- I don't understand anything, about anything."

Is your heart made of glass?

This. Friday.

Surreal, I remember when I first blogged about this last year.

I have the best Soulmate in the world ♥

TinaValley

   

True merit, like a river: the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.

I was looking for a breath of life
A little touch of heavenly light

As painful as it is...

to be so publicly pushed and prodded,
how does she square wanting to be projected on a 40-foot screen?

“Laurence Olivier was asked, ‘Actors, what’s the impulse? Why?’ And he was just like, ‘Look at me, look at me, look at me, …’ That was his answer. But at the same time, it’s like, ‘Nooo, don’t look at me. Look at some version that I’m going to present to you. Let me control it.”

Is there nothing apart from the thrill of a new work challenge that drives her? When is she really happy, I ask? 'In my car with the right friend - I like to drive and I love being in LA, it always feels like, "Ahhhhh."

Jay-Z and Kanye West in Vancouver for the Watch The Throne Tour - 12/17/11 & 12/18/11

 ♥ Stalo Panayidou

Marcus Foster and Sam Bradley in Lake Arrowhead, CA - April 1, 2012

Sam 

Marcus 

 

 

Lee MacDougall also performed but he was so cute that I forgot to pick up my camera 

Photo enhancements by the lovely Stalo Panayidou

join Sam's Street Team

When I gave myself to you it felt like wasted time.

When moves so fluid in one motion and flowed off into life.

It dawned on me that you may be the careful kind.

Am I foolish to believe that I can change your mind?

Chased you through streets overcrowded you must have been disguised.

It dawned on me that you may be the doubting kind.

And sure enough this heavy gust of wind seems to never die.

You breathe it in and back out again when I’m close and by your side.

Ooooooo Ooooooo Ooooooo Ooooooooo

Don’t let sadness rule your conscience.

Let your heart decide.

I will wait with no defenses for when your pain subsides.

It dawned on me that you may be the hurtin’ kind.

And sure enough this heavy gust of wind seems to never die.

You breathe it in and back out again when I’m close and by your side.

Ooooooo Ooooooo Ooooooo Ooooooooo

As this time has passed between us months have faded out.

They have broken what was often a man without doubt.

It dawned on me I may not see a sign I was not to believe that I am not your kind.

That I am not your kind.

OTR

and I shambled after as usual as I have done my whole life after the people that interested me

cause the only people that interest me are the mad ones

the ones who were mad to live, mad to talk

desirous of everything at the same time

the ones that never yawn or say a common place thing

but burned- burn, burn like roman candles across the night

click