Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I first saw James Franco as 'James Dean' in the TV movie way back in 2001. Completely impressed by his spot on character portrayal and dashing good looks, I was hooked on this Hollywood Star.

Again I saw him in 'HOWL' portraying Allen Gingsberg. He did a wonderful job. The real gem is the interview of Peter Orlovsky, Allen's life partner, in the extra section of the DVD. The movie was good but the animation was a bit disjunct from the timeperiod of the 'beat generation'. These scenes did assist as it interpreted words through pictures, if you will.

I couldn't help but wonder if 'HOWL' was the inspiration of Florence + the Machine's song 'HOWL' or if there was any relation. Whichever the case, it's a good segway in introducing the music I've been listening to.

The style of Florence + the Machine is impactful with the deco-esque album cover and dress of this artists latest creations. Inspiring + different- vocally + stylistically speaking. Her powerful voice reminds me of Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane- aaahhhh...'White Rabbit'.

It definetely gives me a breath of fresh air of true artistry, though pop? she may be.

Friday, January 27, 2012

READY FOR THE WEEKEND

(since wednesday to be exact)

i need one of these....o.k. ...maybe two...



+ i'll be here at some point tomorrow for sure....



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Let's just say that I was glad when Monday ended. Today has been much lighter + brighter (maybe the coffee gave me a buzz). Everything seems to be much simpler + more clear today, I love these types of days!

A fellow friend and subscriber of KCRW invited me to attend a Matt's Movie screening of 'Miss Bala' (Miss Baja) in West LA last week. Upon further investigation, this movie was presented at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and in an absurd decision, the movie did not make the short list for "Best Foreign Language Film" @ the 84th Academy Awards.

We're talking Baja California about the Drug War so it does containg heavy violence and explicit content. However, the grotesque scenes of bloodshed were not overtly present. An emotional rollercoaster of a movie- it was quite excellent.

The movie slightly reminded me of my trip to Tijuana with my whole immediate family (crazy good times- years ago) and a few of my more recent visits to Mexicali - yet, thankfully, without hiccups of danger.

See it!

Continuing with my day, coincidentally, I had the pleasure of meeting the fabulous Embeth Davidtz! She is most recently known for her role she plays in Californication on Showtime.


Embeth Davidtz, smart + stoically seated in center 

The currently well known Facebook social media sight is rolling out a new format called Timeline. We'll see how it fairs in our immediate future. The latest info on how Facebook is still
making waves in our culture, today's article in;

will bring us fully up-to-date. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html

Now, with much anticipation, I await the LA Clippers + LA Lakers game tomorrow night!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

My favorite purple drink that I found in a 32 oz. bottle the other day. So good!

The Acai berry only grows on one species of palm tree which grows in the flood plains of Central and South America regions.

Tuesday, Janurary 17, 2012

Wikipedia.org (which I LOVE) shuts down its website Wednesday Jan. 18th in protest for this cause...

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

STOP SOPA & PIPA

HR3261 & S968 are threatening CL and the rest of your Internet.

Most of the web sites you use strongly oppose these bills.

Find out why, and how you can help put a stop to this madness before it's too late!

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

Corporate supporters of HR3261 (SOPA) and S968 (PIPA) demand the ability to take down any web site that affects their profits -- without due process or judicial oversight -- in the name of combating "online piracy." Hoping you won't notice or care, quite a few of our Public Servants want to give them that right.
 
SOPA/PIPA authors and supporters insist they're only after foreign piracy sites, but Internet Engineers understand this is an attempt to impose "Big Brother" control over our Internet, complete with DNS hijacking and censoring search results.

★ ☆ ★

Tell Congress you OPPOSE H.R. 3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA)

and S. 968 "Protect IP Act" (PIPA)

★ ☆ ★

Supporters of SOPA: RIAA, MPAA, News Corp, TimeWarner, Walmart, Nike, Tiffany, Chanel, Rolex, Sony, Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren, VISA, Mastercard, Comcast, ABC, Dow Chemical, Monster Cable, Teamsters, Rupert Murdoch, Lamar Smith (R-TX), John Conyers (D-MI)

Opponents of SOPA: Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, AOL, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy, Zynga, EFF, ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX)

(All Information posted courtesy of Craigslist.org)

Think about it. A recent news cast I saw discussed the possiblility for the Internet to be a profit business by charging for the otherwise free access to information. Yikes!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Thanks to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his contributions for society- "The time is always ripe to do what is right".

Starting with the Ms. America pageant winner on Saturday, is the dyed black hair, dark heavy eyeliner, just got back from a funeral look we're going for in the US? The celebratory red roses don't help. Yuk!

I was too engrossed in the LA Clippers Vs. LA Lakers game to care. With, makes it look way too easy front man Blake Griffith of the Clippers and power house Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, it was the basketball game to watch. Such an exciting rival game with the Clippers making it out on top. Clippers or Lakers fan? I vote Los Angeles!

Then, on Sunday, my Alma Mater, Indiana University basketball Vs. Ohio State rival beat the crimson right from the creme in a BIG way. Nonetheless, it was a good Sunday game for cracking open a beer with snacks to really kick back.

The Golden Globes were ok. The most noteworthy was for the silent movie called "The Artist". The old Hollywood 1920's Glam style with pops of color ruled the Red Carpet with the show taking place in Beverly Hills.

An eye opening exploration about the wealth of Qatar & it's impact on the middle east took place on one of my favs, 60mins. I had no idea Al Jazeera was the only televised News outlet for the middle eastern countries & the very significant role it played on uprisings in neighboring nations. A noteworthy vessel of change in the early second decade of the 21st Century.

Last, after an unexpected TV party with a winter shower rounding out the weekend, long awaited new episode of "The Good Wife" was on. A latecomer to this series, I'm a fan with it's strong cast & intriguing nuances of interwoven plots which best describe today's complexities using current discourse.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Liam Neeson is a believable character as Dr. Alfred Kinsey in the movie, "Kinsey". I watched this a couple of days ago. The movie itself seemed to fade in and out of being a movie and documentary- I would have preferred it to stick to one or the other.

Liam Neeson as Dr. Alfred Kinsey

In my opinion, I've never understood the controversy behind sexuality. It's something everyone does/is, one way or another. Taking advantage of others who do not have the capability to understand as in such cases of pedophilia or incest, for example, is where I find it to be a problem. In contemporary history, these things still come up. If people are willing to document sexual acts for research, on the level of higher education for The Kinsey Institute, it's for the better. Of us all.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want anyone publishing my sexual habits.:) I get that.

I may also have a biased opinion since I am from Bloomington, Indiana where this research takes place + has since Alfred Kinsey started it at Indiana University. It's a very small liberal pocket in a very Republican State.

Take the Kinsey Scale for instance, can you really argue with this method? Genius.

The Kinsey Scale 

It's 2012, the future is now, sexuality should not be a threatening subject. If it's understood, a more civil society should come of it. After all, if it weren't for education in this area, we'd still be walking around not knowing how to conceive.  Nuclear energy, melting polar ice caps or balancing a budget with a financial deficit is where we may have a problem.

Monday, January 9, 2011

As the new year begins, I reflect back on old friends and look forward to strengthening the friendships I have with hopes of making new ones as well.

A few of the friends which come to mind who have virtually (literally) gone 'missing' are missed. Great friends, some of the best, from teenage years to young adult- hope you are doing well + prosperous!:

Elliott Wilkinson
John Grote
Erika Hall

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

After a nice long Christmas + New Year's vacation back home- not had since 2009, along with the amount of prolonged vacation time, I feel great!
One knows they are back in Los Angeles with temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's in January & the addition of multiple star sightings before a full 24hrs has elapsed!


Eva La Rue of popular CSI Miami



Ty Burrell of hit show, Modern Family

Back in town and on-track, I'm able to reflect on my trip. Having made a couple of parties had by the folks old + somewhat legendary local party friends from years ago, I recall growing up. One thing that I remember is going to parties as a kid and they were always full of tons of people (many of the same I mention above), abundance of vegetarian food (think no Wholefoods or Trader Joe's) with lots of dancing. An album (recently downloaded from iTunes) that probably possesses much of that spirit was the release of Paul Simon's 'Graceland' in 1986.

A phenomenal album exploring ethnic sounds, rythym + danceable beats with a creative edge not found in popular music. A real treasure bringing back the party days of my youth.



+ the Talking Heads- to be undoubtebly
mentioned in a future post...

 H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R  2 0 1 2 !