This website made me laugh today: BillionairesForBush.com.
“Widen the income gap!“
Archive for the 'People' Category
Tom talks Scientology:
“I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul.” - George W. Bush
“Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” - Robert Frost
That’s what I’ve been asking myself way too often lately… What happened to two of my favorite actors? Both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are undoubtedly two of the most talented actors who have ever been in a movie and they’ve participated in high-quality political movies. However, it seems that, at some point, they decided to pick movie parts for the money, not for quality. Despite the fact that they’re far beyond rich. They’re getting older, sure, but they could still choose to play older characters in good movies. I mean, neither of them has financial problems, so why don’t they wait for a good part to come along their way? If they want to work they can produce or finance movies if they want. Well, it doesn’t make any sense to ramble about this any longer… Just thought I should express my feelings after reading this LA Times article by Patrick Goldstein today:
I thought Francis Ford Coppola was being cranky last fall when he badmouthed Al Pacino and Robert De Niro — the stars of Coppola’s immortal “Godfather” films — for taking parts for the money and losing their passion for doing great work. “I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come,” Coppola told GQ magazine. “Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. . . . They all live off the fat of the land.”
Coppola was right on the money. The two icons of ’70s New Hollywood, heroes to a generation of young actors and filmmakers, have become parodies of themselves, making payday movies and turning in performances that are hollow echoes of the electrically charged work they did in such films as “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Mean Streets” and “Taxi Driver.”
Pro golfer Tiger Woods has a new house - a $65 million ocean-front Hamptons estate:
Located on exclusive Gin Lane, Tiger Woods’ estate is on nearly six gated acres with a 13,200-square-foot Colonial Revival main residence, a 7,500-square-foot guesthouse and a four-car garage with staff quar ters.
The lush grounds feature an oversized seaside pool with spa, a tennis court, a lily pond and professionally groomed gardens.
You gotta love US news stations:
I’m watching MSNBC as I write this, and they’re twenty minutes into live helicopter coverage of NY Governor Eliot Spitzer’s SUV driving across Manhattan so he can theoretically resign. Forget all the other issues involved… my question is, do these news folks really think there’s a chance Spitzer’s gonna run?
Is it just me or is following a governor in a helicopter for twenty minutes totally insane? Wake up, America!
(via Mark Verheiden’s blog)
What a coincidence that The Sun wrote an article about Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch just a few days after I talked about it with some friends. Well, let me share the news with you: Neverland Ranch is abandoned and rotting away. As if that was not enough, Mr. Jackson has debts of $160 million and even the re-release of his popular album Thriller didn’t rake in too much money, sales have not been going well. Neverland Ranch turned into what I would call Ruinland, and it is a good metaphor for Jacko’s current reception.
I didn’t read this TIMES article until today, but I’ve actually thought about this before. Why are there no movie stars anymore? What’s the difference between the actors of the past, of Hollywood’s so-called Golden Age, and those we’re having today? And then it crossed my mind, if anybody, George Clooney is a movie star. There are many great actors, but real movie stars? George Clooney, definitely. Another talented actor I thought could have become a movie star was Heath Ledger, who recently passed away.
George Clooney wasn’t supposed to say yes. A reporter interviews a movie star at a restaurant or a hotel lobby or an office, with his publicist lurking in the corner, ready to cut off any vaguely interesting questions. But to come over to my house for dinner? That’s a trap no sucker has ever shoved a famous foot into. Partly because there are so many unknowns—you’re stuck alone chatting up the family while the reporter cooks, you accidentally let slip a cruel joke about a wedding photo, you somehow use the bathroom wrong—and partly because who the hell wants to spend Saturday night stuck at some dork’s house eating undercooked lamb? Would Gwyneth Paltrow come over? Johnny Depp? But George Clooney said yes, of course, why not, sounds fun.
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P.S.: Watched Michael Clayton yesterday. Very good movie based on an astounding screenplay, although it had a few “lengths”. Tony Gilroy is one of Hollywood’s best screenwriters as of today, in my opinion. The dialogue he writes is mostly to the point, but what sets Gilroy apart from most other writers currently working in the LA film business is his ability to use an extraordinary structure to tell the movie’s story. He did it when writing the Bourne movies (watch Bourne 2+3 back to back if you’d like to know what I’m talking about) and he did it again with Michael Clayton, which he also directed.
“I don’t get the torture porn films. They’re lacking metaphor. For me the gore is always a slap in the face saying: ‘Wait a minute. Look at this other thing.’” - George A. Romero (on gore franchises like “Saw” and “Hostel”)
