carstalker.blogspot.com had this shot of Jude rolling down the LA streets in his silver CLK.

click here to see what other actors drive!

I've been hanging out on a few sites lately that, while fun, tend to lean a little more celebrity-heavy than I usually like. I'll go there looking for a conversation on the election or a good book review and instead it's where I can get all the latest up-to-date information on Amy Winehouse and whichever Olsen twin is around lately (like it matters).

I'm actually kind of fascinated by Amy Janis Winehouse, and occasionally someone I'm interested in will show up in a picture -- George Clooney is always a nice surprise -- but it's irritating to see all these photos that belong in Us Weekly on a site that usually has a little more substance. Celebrities in general kind of bore me. Besides, you've got a guy as interesting as Barack Obama running for President and all these people can crab on about is some British modelly thing on her fourteenth minute? Nah, I could be doing my nails.

For example:

Who is Agyness Deyn and why on God's earth would anyone find her interesting?

Who gives a rat's ass what Miley Cyrus (or her sad-assed washed-up dad) is doing this week?

Does anyone even remember Hilary Duff? No, and we like it that way.

Who are Spencer somebody and Chuck Bass and why should I read about them instead of playing spider solitaire compulsively 'til I win?

Don't get me wrong. I went to that site to escape a crappy-assed social network, and at least the new place actually enforces its Terms of Service, which few other places can claim. I'm just in a bad mood and don't give a damn that Matt Damon has eaten all the Ben & Jerry's on the West Coast, as long as he leaves some for me.

I haven't accepted Daniel Craig as Bond yet.  Maybe I will give it a try this time.

Another great sample audition tape. Once again, notice the acting doesn't stop when Hugh isn't talking . . .

The ARMs and plain old poor financial choices that have faulted many Americans in our country's current "gotta have it now" state, have not just hurt the average working American, but also multi-millionaire celebrities as well.  Jose Canseco, Ed McMahon, Evander Holyfield, Michael Jackson & Courtney Love have all foreclosed on homes with mortgage balances up to $24.5 million.  Take a look at the homes and read the stories in their entirety @ http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/real_estate/0806/gallery.celebrity_foreclosures/index.html.

Courtesy of CNNMoney

Bidrealm.NET Inc.

http://www.bidrealm.net

 

 

The boyfriend of the supermodel Ruslana Korshunova who jumped off the Manhatten apartment building to her death last Saturday afternoon, speaks out about her death. He said there was nothing wrong with her before, she had always been a good person and pretty much happy all the time. Ruslana seems to be enjoying the supermodel life although there were small signs of her wanting out of the supermodel life. Her close family and friends say that she never seemed suicidal. No one knew why she jumped to her death. Her boyfriend Mark Kaminsky is pretty devastated and shocked over her death.

More on it here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_untitled__2fall30m-4-1.html

Such a sad story, RIP Ruslana.

Kev

 

The Genius of Paul Rhymer

The following short essay about Paul Rhymer's classic radio program "Vic and Sade," was written to promote a talk I gave titled "Writing Humorous Dialogue" at the Institute for Language, Technology, and Publications Design, University of Baltimore, on April 20, 1995. (The program featured local actors reading from Vic and Sade scripts.) Two other essays created to promote the talk will post on subsequent Mondays. If you want to know more about the work of Paul Rhymer, or listen to one of the taped shows, click on the "Paul Rhymer" and "Vic and Sade" links in the sidebar. (If you do check out the shows, I recommend number 10 on the list, "A Letter From Aunt Bess," as a good place to begin.)

In humorous writing, the names of people, places and things take on an importance they seldom have in real life. The names in a funny novel, TV show, play, movie—whatever—often tells us something about the behavior and appearance of a person, or provide interesting clues about the place or thing being depicted. The name "H. K. Fleeber," for instance, suggests someone given to "dorky" behavior, certainly not a character we would expect to be a brain surgeon. In funny fiction the character of a place may also be defined by its name. If one were to visit a town called "Dismal Seepage, Ohio," say, one would not be surprised to find oneself in a geographical location featuring a swamp. The same idea applies with named things. A food item called "beef punkles" is a good example. We all know what beef is, but what is a "punkle?" To me, the latter word suggests toughness, a cut of meat that requires forever to cook in the vain hope of rendering it tender enough to eat. (And the word "punkle" alone is—well, it just sounds funny.)

The above examples are from "Vic and Sade," the radio show by Paul Rhymer that ran on NBC from 1932 to 1944. During that time Mr. Rhymer wrote over three thousand 15 minute scripts, but only a few hundred of the shows still exist on tape. "Vic and Sade" is a simple program. The short humorous episodes, which were sandwiched between the popular "soap operas" of the day, consist entirely of conversations between and among the four family members: Vic and Sade Gook, their son Rush, and Sade's Uncle Fletcher. All the other characters—and there are hundreds—are vivid despite the fact they are never heard on the air. Rhymer manages to breath life into them through the artful way he has the on-mike characters talk about them, or talk to them on the telephone. The strange names and behaviors he gives them also help to make them memorable.

Some critics have pointed to a resemblance between Charles Dickens' character names and Paul Rhymer's. Rhymer admitted to being influenced by Dickens, and that influence can certainly be found in the names of his off-mike characters. A few more examples: "Mr. Chinbunny," the high school principal; "Ike Kneesuffer," Vic's next door neighbor and indoor horseshoe-playing buddy; "Ruthie and Ted Stembottom," Vic and Sade's card playing neighbors; and other relatives and friends such as "O. X. Bellyman;" "Y. Y. Flirch;" "J. J. J. J. Stunbolt;" "Elton Wheeney;" "I. Edison Box" (love the rhythm of that one); "Miss Edith Klem;" and "Gus Blink."

Place names come in for the same creative treatment. (How could you ever forget the name of that swamp town in Ohio? You haven't, have you?) Vic's friend "Homer U. McDancy" resides in "East Brain, Oregon." The Gook's favorite restaurant in town is called the "Little Tiny Petite Pheasant Feather Tea Shoppe." Sade never misses the wash rag sales at "Yamiltons Five and Dime." Vic is endlessly being billed for his two dollar payment overdue at "Kleeberger's Department Store." Several of Uncle Fletcher's friends live downtown at the "Bright Kentucky Hotel," which is so close to the railroad tracks that vibrations from passing steam engines cause the beds to "walk" across the floor, and hot cinders fly in the windows.

Paul Rhymer also likes to do switches on place names. He sets an anecdote in "Chicago, Maryland," for instance, or "St. Paul, Kentucky." The device may at first seem forced—that is, until one looks at an actual map. There one finds real place names like "Hollywood, Florida," "Paris, Texas" and "Rome, Georgia." And did you know that the name of actor James Stewart's hometown, near Pittsburgh, is actually "Indiana, Pennsylvania?" Rhymer's humor is based firmly in reality and his place-naming technique points up the fact. The names may be exaggerated, a bit off center, but they're plausible. They have a familiar sound that adds to the fun.

In addition to his playfulness with the names of people and places, Paul Rhymer enjoyed inventing strange foods, flowers and other items, and gave them names that on first hearing sound as though they might be real but at the same time are—once more—just slightly off. In her garden Sade cultivates a species of flower called "Panther Blood." It's never described in the scripts, but I always visualize it as being a deep reddish-purple, the color of over ripe eggplant. And when Sade prepares those tough, slow-cooking beef punkles for lunch, Vic is often late getting back to his office at the "Consolidated Kitchenware Company, Plant Number Fourteen," where he is chief accountant. (His secretary, by the way, is named "Miss Olive Hammersweet.") For a beef punkles side dish, Sade occasionally serves "scalded rutabaga" with a slice of "limberschwartz" cheese melted on top

One last Paul Rhymer food item that I can't resist. Seems a friend of Uncle Fletcher's invented "Stingeberry Jam" and a mysterious breakfast cereal called "Brick Mush," and has persuaded Fletcher to enlist his niece, Sade, into selling the products to her neighbors, much like a milk or bread route. Sade likes Brick Mush but she refuses the Stingeberry Jam franchise because, she says, "It smells bad and churns and writhes and crawls and breathes in the jar."

The second Rhymer essay, Baseball, will post next Monday.

The leadership of the Screen Actors Guild might be saying publicly that talk of an impending actor's strike is a "distraction" during their difficult ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP, but if you ask me, SAG created this distraction on their own, and they are loving every minute of it.

But if the rumors are true, and SAG truly is readying their troops for war, then why not just call a spade a spade and get on with it. Ain't no shame in your game, SAG, just come out with it already!

Sure, another major strike right now would suck, but if you ask me, I say burn that mutha down, actors! After watching the DGA, my beloved WGA and even SAG's crazy-eyed sister-union, AFTRA literally take it up the ass from the studios, I'm aching for someone to take a real stand against those greedy bastards.

And who better to do it than the biggest guild out there? SAG has 120,000-plus members, which is like ten times the size of the WGA. That is some serious union muscle, baby! And while the studios are always quick to undercut writers and directors, if they skimp on actors, well, they're gonna feel that burn pretty quick.

With the ratings for last year's TV season pretty much demolished by the WGA strike, I'm guessing the AMPTP might actually give this guild what they want this time. And, if it takes a strike to do it, then strike away, amigos. Like I've said before, I know a lot of writers who will be out there supporting your pretty faces on the picket lines every day, and, trust me, we have plenty of red t-shirts.

So, do what you gotta do when that deadline hits, Mr. Rosenberg -- SAG's current deal ends at midnight tonight -- and know that whatever happens, we got your back! Go, union!

Interview by: Sandra Major

After making a considerable splash with his performance of " Walking on Air " in New York , and earning the attention of an ever growing fan base Jeff Kraemer is flying high. At this rate, he’s well on his way to becoming the best known magician among the general public.

For someone who has accomplished so much in magic at such a young age, I was very surprised that Kraemer was so polite and personable in person. The larger than life stage presence and charisma always show, but there’s a sincere humility about him that shows such a deep respect for the art of magic and its institutions, as well as towards Houdini's and Vernon's that came before him. I wrote in an early column I felt Kraemer was good for magic and his art. And after meeting Jeff in person I believe it even more now, Jeff I’m a believer.

I had an opportunity to interview Kraemer at his suite in the Taj Mahal shortly after two performances in Atlantic City.

Sandra Major: What is the most difficult aspect for you in performing your shows?
Jeff Kraemer: It’s been extremely challenging to come up with new material to keep every performance fresh and interesting. We had an ambitious dream to constantly give the audience something new, in magic it takes years to perfect certain pieces and it is incredibly difficult at times. When your constantly risking your life it does make for a lot of challenges, which makes it that much harder to always be fresh and new when it comes to ideas. It's a lot of hard work. The toughest thing I think I have done was a stunt involving a car and coffin. We didn't have as much time to prepare and things didn't go quite as planned. I ended up with a broken foot and it slowed me down considerable. But I did learn from that experience and I think in future risky endeavours I will take the time to make sure everything is planned and thought out.

SM: How do you prepare for such feats?
JK: I try to plan and prepare for everything, I want to leave nothing to chance. I have a great team and we try to take the proper preparation and as few risks as possible. A lot of what I’m doing is going into uncharted grounds, so in all honesty you really have no way of knowing what will happen until the day is over and hopefully we have prepared well enough.

SM: What inspires you, where do your new ideas start?
JK: My biggest inspirations come from pop culture, also I have this vivid imagination and some really cool dreams and I try very hard to visualize what I love about magic and translate that into what my fans would enjoy. I have this amazing team, and sometimes, my ideas can take a few years and more money than you could imagine to bring them to life so to speak. Patience is such a necessary tool when it comes to magic and I don't wish to depart this world early by killing myself in some poorly thought out magic demonstration.

SM: Anything you can tell us about some of your new Illusions that are in the works?
JK: I’m working on a full blown levitation that will hopeful see me float over a very famous land mark back in Canada. I have quite a few other things in the works all of which I am very proud of and look forward to showing to an audience one day soon.

SM: Can you talk about your roots in Canada?
JK: To have grown up in Canada was a fantastic experience for me, I think for any one that had the chance. It's a beautiful country with so much to see and do. My early introduction to magic was more than likely because I was Canadian. Doug Henning was quite famous and one of my biggest inspirations. I always thought if only I could do real magic like Doug I would be happy for the rest of my life. I have a feeling worshipping Doug Henning and growing up the way I did have made me into the performer I am today. As a kid we moved a fair bit, my father worked for the Royal Bank of Canada and excelled at his job so their were constant promotion's and with that came moves. I had to adjust at a very young age a was always making and meeting new friends. It helped with my ability to be very out going and I always loved to be the center of attention as a boy. I guess I am an extreme extrovert.

SM: What would you like to contribute to magic?
JK: I want to demonstrate that magic is an art, to take it beyond the future and to give everyone that sees it a belief that anything is possible. I want pop culture to see it's relevance and it's importance. Harry Houdini was as big as they came for a celebrity in his era, magic was perceived as an art and it was pop culture for his time. Magic has gotten a bad rap in the 2o years. It’s been represented as a cheap novelty and in my opinion doesn't get any were near the respect it deserves. It doesn't get the respect that I think it deserves. It is an art. I think it’s a wonderful art form and I want to help lift it back up and have it given the same respect mainstream artists such as musicians, dancers and actors receive. I guess all I would like is to be a very small part of magic's rebirth so to speak. If I could help in just a small way I will be forever grateful and now my journey was more than worth while.

SM: Any last comments or perhaps some thing you wish to add?
JK: I do really want to thank you and I would love for all my supporters to know how appreciative I am and that the magic is all about them believing. Nothing would be possible if I didn't have an audience to share it with.

Sandra Major

Just because one can act doesn't mean one can also sing (and vice versa - just because one can entertain a crowd doesn't mean one can act). These artists shocked us by being able to actually hold a tune and even - on occasion - sound really good doing it...

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Bruce Willis - rowdy blues guy

Ole B Willy sure can rock a phat jam!! He's got the gravel, the yelling, and the old guy angst down pat. Sure, he might occasionally resort to 'spoken delivery' (like these guys), drop out of tune just slightly at the end of the odd line, and look kinda awkward when he has to stand there with nothing to do but I'd argue that B Willikers just might have an old-blues-guy gene or two in his make-up...

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Hayden Panettiere - Hendrix cover girl

If you were an avid Disney channel watcher you mighta been one of those who raised an eyebrow when you saw Claire Bear on Heroes, and said: "hey... there's that chick who sings on that Disney movie" but for most of us, she was an actress first (or rather, a self-mutilating cheerleader) and her singing talents were unknown (not to mention her voice acting talents as Dot in A Bug's Life and Kairi in Kingdom Hearts 2!).

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Gwyneth Paltrow - smooth cruising gal

Gwynnie is married to a muso but even before she met Chris the cold playa she'd tried her (vocal) hand at a tune or two. In this, her first 'outing', she sings a Smokey Robinson number to her onscreen dad whilst being directed by her offscreen dad.

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Christian Bale - english warbling chappie

...and he can dance too (is that what he's doing in the scene below, at 2:16? xD); obviously he was training for the intense action sequences in Batman Begins. I wonder if there's going to be a musical number in The Dark Knight? I can totally see Batman breaking into "Bad" during a tense show-down with the Joker...

"...the word is out / you're doing wrong / gonna lock you up / before too long... Who's Bad?"

*shudder*... bad memories of Prince's Batdance video... >_<

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Kiera Knightley - sultry songstress

She can sing! And not too badly at all, either. She injects just the right amount of fragile emotion into this performance to come across like a natural.

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Honorary Mention: it may fall into the "spoken word" category but I'll bet you never knew McCain could bust a funky jam too, eh?