Film
Wherein Bradley Cooper has a question for Sean Penn
Life rarely melds together this neatly; if there wasn't video/audio proof of this Louis C.K/Bradley Cooper/Sean Penn connection, I'd have to think the following video was a hoax. But it goes to prove that you never know where life is taking you next, that one day the handsome nobody in the front row asking…
Read MoreSweating the details: Notes on “August: Osage County”
Movies are fantasy. We know this. We know that normal people living normal lives don't look like George Clooney or Angelina Jolie (though we can better imagine they might look like Jennifer Lawrence, who is accessable and beautiful), and we know the lives they are living on screen are a kind of heightened reality. And…
Read MoreGoing, going “Gone Girl”: Read it now
I'm a little late to the party, but I can't recommend highly enough Gillian Flynn's terrific "Gone Girl." I ran through it in about ten days (which considering my schedule is pretty swift) and though it'll sound like a cliche, hadn't felt a book emotionally yo-yo me like that in, well, almost forever. If you…
Read More22 Rules for Storytelling
In lieu of anything significant from my pea brain today, how about a list from Emma Coates, the story artist at Pixar? 22 Rules for Storytelling Terrific advice there, including: "Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone." and…
Read MoreType it, and the words will come. Trust me on this.
As I told M Sunday night around 12:15 am (so okay, it was early Sunday morning), it's easier than breaking rocks to get paid to cover the Oscars from the comfort of your own home office … but six hours in front of the TV and computer screen ain't for wusses, either. We got home…
Read MoreSci-fi/fantasy will eat itself (or) HBO’s bid for literary success
Just returned from the sci-fi convention Arisia, up in the surprisingly temperate zone of Boston, in which I spent several hours on panels talking about sci-fi/fantasy films and TV. (I also sold a book, but that's for another post.) Lesson learned: It is possible to get about 20 people in a room to talk about…
Read MoreTalking with De Niro, and what you leave at the door
And then, sometimes, the interviews you expect to be the toughest are — if not, say, the easiest — at least go more easily than you expect. Interviewing someone is exciting, but I recognize it's a challenge for the person being interviewed, unless they're on autopilot. The one time I was interviewed was fairly stressful,…
Read MoreOn Stone Roses and other teachers: Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you
Having done this journalism thing since high school — and now for over 25 years beyond — it's probably safe to say I've done thousands of interviews. In the recent vast cleaning out prior to a move I finally dumped most of the old ones, recorded on 90 and 120-minute cassette tapes, into the bin,…
Read MoreAwards Season adrenaline rush: Thank you, Joan Cusack
One of the reasons I got into journalism originally was the newsroom rush. You've seen it — on just about every Hollywoodization of how a TV news or newspaper room works; the hollering, the deadlines, the last-minute frenetic typing or calling of sources, the figuring things out in the moment, and making things happen that…
Read MoreTruth and consequences in flying drunk, or: Fly me, Denzel Washington
I enjoyed "Flight," for the most part. I wasn't sure what Hollywood had still to tell us about the dangers of alcoholism, and I was concerned it would turn into a big-ticket version of an Afterschool Special. But as most everyone recognizes, Denzel Washington is a terrific actor, deeply felt and not hard on the…
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