I really can’t believe Bette Midler is 66 years old today….
How do all these entertainers keep getting older and I don’t?
I loved her from her first hit:
Then she was Oscar nominated for “The Rose”
and brought the house down with her TV performance as Mama Rose in the TV version of “Gypsy”
I hope she has many more Birthdays!!!
Filed under Entertainment, Movies, Uncategorized
This just supports my long-held theory: “If it upsets the Vatican, it must be good!”
As a rather slack yogi who loved the Harry Potter movies, all I can say is, this is total nonsense propagated by an elderly man with a closed mind and no sense of humor.
In other words, an Italian Republican…
This is an example of why the Vatican is becoming increasingly irrelevant to so many Catholics and non-Catholics today….
The Vatican’s former chief exorcist says yoga and Harry Potter are tools of the devil.
“Practicing yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter,” Father Gabriele Amorth said this week.
Those seemingly “innocuous” Potter books convince kids to believe in black magic, he said.
“In Harry Potter the Devil acts in a crafty and covert manner, under the guise of extraordinary powers, magic spells and curses,” said Amorth.
As for yoga, it leads to Hinduism and “all eastern religions are based on a false belief in reincarnation,” the 86-year-old priest said.
Amorth made the hellraising remarks at a film festival in the Italian city of Umbria, where he was invited to introduce a movie about exorcism called “The Rite,” which stars Anthony Hopkins, the Telegraph of London reported.
“Satan is always hidden and what he most wants is for us not to believe in his existence,” he said. “He studies every one of us and our tendencies towards good and evil, and then he offers temptations.”
Science can’t explain evil, added Amorth, who claims to have performed 50,000 exorcisms before retiring in 2000. He is both founder and honorary president for life of the International Association of Exorcists.
No surprise, Amorth’s favorite movie is “The Exorcist.”
While the Jesuit’s remarks might strike many as the ravings of a man possessed, Pope Benedict once warned of “subtle seductions” in the Potter books that “dissolve Christianity in the soul.”
The Pope has also warned that yoga “can degenerate into a cult of the body.”
Filed under Movies, Religion, Uncategorized, Yoga
Another reason to love Daniel Craig….
I’m really offended that I even had to find out who the Kardashians are….And I never watch TV!
They are so omnipresent in the media, you can’t avoid the skanky creatures…..
Daniel puts it in perspective….
Daniel Craig is a very private man, on screen and off. On film, he plays a journalist doing important investigative work, as well as the world’s most famous spy; in real life, he does things like get married in super secret ceremonies. And as he tells British GQ, he’s got good reason for all the secrecy; once you go Kardashian, you never go back.
“I think there’s a lot to be said for keeping your own counsel,” Craig tells the magazine. “You can’t buy it back. You can’t buy your privacy back. ‘Ooh, I want to be alone. ‘F*ck you. We’ve been in your living room. We were at your birth. You filmed it for us and showed us the placenta, and now you want some privacy?'”
In case he wasn’t clear enough that he was talking about the Kardashians — hey, reality shows blend together — he then emphasized his target.
“It’s a career. What can I tell you?” he continues. “It is a career; I’m not being cynical. And why wouldn’t you? Look at the Kardashians, they’re worth millions. Millions! I don’t think they were that badly off to begin with, but now look at them. You see that and you think, ‘What, you mean all I have to do is behave like a f*cking idiot on television and then you’ll pay me millions?'”
In fact, Craig’s comments are quite salient on a day when Kourtney Kardashian announced that she is pregnant… on the cover of Us Weekly.
via Daniel Craig Calls Kardashians ‘F*cking Idiots,’ Talks ‘Dragon Tattoo’ And Reality TV In British GQ.
Filed under Entertainment, Movies, Pop Culture, Television
If you need some Holiday amusement and/or want to feel better about your own family or community, you must see this movie.
It’s a cult favorite and was later made into an equally amusing series on TV….
Both are available on DVD.
If you missed it, especially if you are Southern, it might be a good way to spend a little time…
I loved it!
Filed under Movies, The South, Uncategorized
I can’t wait to get my hands on this….
I’ve heard about this guy for years and never thought he would tell his stories. And from what I read, he’s a pretty honest and dependable guy…
Hollywood Historian William J Mann quoted him in his Katharine Hepburn bio, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn– which is great reading and well worth your time if you need something to hold you over until this comes out..(http://www.amazon.com/Kate-Woman-Who-Was-Hepburn/dp/0805076255/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1321817616&sr=8-15)
I’ve just pre-ordered a copy at Amazon.com. and can’t wait to read this when it comes out in January or February.
Here’s the link to purchase at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Full-Service-Adventures-Hollywood-Secret/dp/0802120075
From Entertainment Weekly:
Scotty Bowers never acted in a single movie. But his story may cast a new light on old Hollywood by revealing the hidden love lives of stars like Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, and Rita Hayworth—all of whom Bowers claims as paramours from his heyday trading sex for money.
Literary agent David Kuhn confirms exclusively to EW that Grove/Atlantic president Morgan Entrekin has bought the rights to Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, Bowers’ memoir of his years spent as a bartender, confidante, and gigolo to a laundry list of showbiz icons. A GI who moved to Hollywood after World War II, Bowers describes how he and friends serviced actors and actresses on leave from nearby studios—using an LA gas station as their base. He says he later became an in-demand bartender who developed intimate friendships with stars like Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, and Rock Hudson, among others. Now 88 and living in L.A. with his wife of 27 years, Bowers agreed to tell his stories now that most of the celebrities he claims were friends and clients have passed away.
“The book is a window onto the shadow lives of all these people who entertained us and made popular culture, but who in many ways weren’t what they appeared to be,” says Kuhn. “Scotty helped them to fulfill the desires that they couldn’t fulfill themselves.”
Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars is set for release on Feb. 14, 2012.
via Memoirist claims he turned tricks for stars like Cary Grant and Spencer Tracy | Shelf Life | EW.com.
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies
The film version of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” opened 50 years ago today, October 5, 1961.
I’ve always loved this movie….
I had to go to Tiffany’s on my first trip to New York just to pay homage to this film and it’s star Audrey Hepburn. I even had to have my picture take where she stood.
I’m much more blase’ and world-weary now, but I always think of this film whenever I’m on Fifth Avenue and go by Tiffany’s. It was one of the films that formed my childhood image of New York.
I’m still looking for the New York of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
And I always will be….
And the original trailer:
And here’s a great blog entry about the film from Gary Susman at Moviefone:
http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/10/05/25-things-breakfast-at-tiffanys-anniversary/
Filed under Entertainment, Movies, Uncategorized
Never have children….
Never adopt children….
Never even talk to children…..
They will get their revenge eventually….
And it’s also a really good idea to avoid making nudie movies….
From The Huffington Post:
Broadway, hide your wire coat hangers. Joan Crawford’s daughter, Christina Crawford, is developing a one-woman show where she not only plans to reveal new secrets about her life with Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford, but also show never before seen home movies of the screen legend in the nude.
“I began my career as an actress and I’ve always loved the theater,” Crawford tells me. “The Play is based on two of my books, the 30th Anniversary Edition of Mommie Dearest and my third book, Survivor — both of which were best sellers. It covers a long period of time and a much more complete story.”
Additionally, Christina reveals that she has discovered Joan’s (she never refers to her as her “mother”) blue movies — naked home videos that she cannot believe the controlling star never destroyed.
“I never knew that they existed before a year ago and never saw them before a month ago,” Crawford says. “I remembered her telling me about her married lover, Charles McCabe; however I never saw photos of him, till the home movies, when they were hunting, fishing, and canoeing in The Poconos.”
Christina says the most shocking thing she discovered during her research was Joan’s quiet desperation in her later years. But she still cannot forgive her mother for the childhood she had to survive, which included being beaten by wire hangers.
“Forgiveness is a two-way street and she never took responsibility for her behavior,” Christina tells me. Which is why she has chosen to call her show that she hopes to take on the road before Broadway, “Surviving Mommie Dearest.”
via Christina Crawford To Reveal Mother Joan Crawford’s Naked Home Videos.
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies, Television
People seem to forget “The Pajama Game” that it was a Musical about Unions vs Management.
In the movie, Doris Day represented the Union and John Raitt was management.
Shows how far we’ve come in the depiction of Unions from what it was in their 1950’s heyday…
Anyway. Love the Movie. Saw it on Broadway a few years ago with Harry Connick, Jr and Kelli O’Hara. Loved it on stage.
Here’s the big Labor Day Picnic scene from the movie:
And, of course, the unforgettable Carol Haney doing Bob Fosse’s choreography to “Steam Heat” in the film.
And a little Harry Connick, Jr and Kelli O’Hara from the 2008 Broadway revival:
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies
I loved the book and I loved the movie…
I’m glad to see the film of “The Help” getting such a great response and Oscar talk- especially for Viola Davis.
I really don’t quite get the criticism. I don’t see how it glorifies Jim Crow or racism. Quite the opposite. One of the points is that the only way these black women’s stories could be told in the South in 1963, was anonymously and if a white women helped tell them. The risks they took in just speaking to her were pretty clear to me. As was the racism and danger of the times.
If anything, “The Help” shows the evils of racism and Jim Crow – and the Junior League. Just kidding about the League. Kind of…this does really show how it enforced conformity…
I was around in the South in 1963. I think some of the people who criticize this film/book either weren’t there or are looking at the situation through a 2011 lens without the appropriate filters….
And the critic, who tweated her opinions on Twitter in a running stream while she watched the film, has no validity. Anyone who texts during a movie is obviously not taking the time to absorb it or pay attention to the arch of the story. And has no damn manners….
If Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey support it, that’s good enough for me….
From Sasha Stone at AwardsDaily.com:
Be it controversial or not there is no denying the power of The Help so much so that it is lighting up the box office through word of mouth. The publicity has been off the hook as well, perhaps not playing to the blogerati but hitting right at the heart of white audiences, right smack dab in the middle of Blind Side territory.
I was sitting at a dinner with about six women (white, upper middle class) and the first thing that was brought up was “have you seen The Help? Wasn’t that so good?” The conversation then checked in with who hadn’t yet seen it. After it died down I brought up the subject of race. Needless to say it didn’t go over well. What did come out of the conversation was how timely the film was in terms of Hispanic nannies (do we say Hispanic or Latina?) and how there should be some rumination on this idea of what determines family and what doesn’t.
You can’t tell people who responded emotionally to a film like this that they shouldn’t like it because it isn’t politically correct, or that it’s offensive to African Americans and that any response to that is an endorsement of said repression and the perpetuating of the Jim Crow racism that has and continues to oppress multitudes. I’m not even saying I disagree. But I am acknowledging the emotional power of the film, just as I’m now acknowledging that a movie that does this well at the box office, has this kind of emotional heat, plays to women the way it does, has a very very good chance at winding up in the number 1 spot on AMPAS ballots. Like last year’s winner proved, the heart wants what it wants. No matter if it was a stuttering King or not – the emotional response is real.
What makes an accidental Best Picture nominee today? It’s usually a movie that somehow slips under or over the blogerati, and/or critics (mind you, The Help received many good reviews, most notably from Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleibermann) to become a hit and a strong awards contender DESPITE the shunning by the elite (this theory was offered up on our podcast recording this morning by Jeff Wells). In other words, a good movie is a good movie is a good movie.
When you have a screening at the White House by Michelle Obama and a very public endorsement by Ms. Oprah Winfrey herself, you can pretty much forget any sort of pubic shaming of the film; it has now been deemed perfect acceptable by two of the country’s strongest and most powerful black women.
It is also important to remember that voting is done privately and anonymously. That keeps it fairly honest so that no one is necessarily going to vote for what they SHOULD vote for – not for the best film, but the film they liked the most, starring characters they cared about the most. When it gets right down to it, the heart is the most influential organ when it comes to Oscar voting.
Therefore, I see The Help clocking in as 2011′s second truly strong and formidable Oscar contender (plus, when you get a load of the publicity team behind it you will see it can’t be beat). I count the first as Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, another film that is receiving strong word of mouth, is Woody Allen’s biggest money maker to date and feels more timely than ever, as its message is about looking to the future and not trying to live in the past.
via The Help Takes the Box Office, Becomes Second Viable Best Picture Contender of 2011 | Awards Daily.
I really can’t believe it….
The Golden Boy is 75 years old today. Actor, Director, Humanitarian, Activist and Steward of the Earth Robert Redford is 75 today.
Here are a few of my favorite memories of this one of a kind legend:
First, my all time favorite Redford film that featured him at his most beautiful and iconic:
Another iconic performance with another icon, Paul Newman:
A little-known film that was one of his first and one of my favorites. “Inside Daisy Clover” with his dear friend, the wonderful Natalie Wood:
Another quirky, very different film from the ’70’s, “Jeremiah Johnson”:
And finally, the classic film about Politics, “The Candidate”, that he produced himself in 1972:
Filed under Elections, Movies, Uncategorized
Lost in the 21st Century 