Happy Birthday Julia Stiles!

Table Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZWwPaamC-s

Picture Legend
1. Ms Julia
2. "I Love You, I Love You Not"
3. Julia and Claire, Longtime Friends
4. "The Devil's Own"
5. "Wide Awake"
6. "Wicked"
7. Love Child
8. "10 Things I Hate About You"
9. "Down to You"
10. "Hamlet"
11. "O"
12. "Save the Last Dance"
13. "State and Main"
14. Bourne
15. "The Omen"
16. Homewrecker
17. "Silver Linings Playbook"
18. Pretty Mets Fan
19. Don't Screw It Up!
20. More Bellybutton

   It's my great pleasure and honor this morning to give a great big happy birthday shout out to one of my very favorite actresses, Ms Julia Stiles!

   Julia O'Hara Stiles was born at a very early age as a small female infant in New York City. Well one has to be born somewhere I suppose.

      She is the oldest of three children born to Judith Newcomb Stiles, a ceramic artist who owned a shop in Greenwich Village (40° 44′ 2″ N, 74° 0′ 4″ W), and John O'Hara, who is, or was, either a businessman, or a second grade teacher, depending on which source of information you choose. Perhaps he was both, as it is said he helped sell his wife's artwork, as did Julia by and by.

   Here's some more confusion, depending on what source you choose, Julia is of Irish descent (just like me) on her father's side (duh!), and either English and Italian, or English and German, on her mother's side. Perhaps Julia will comment and clear up this very important matter.

   She grew up in a loft apartment in New York City's SoHo neighborhood (40° 43′ 23″ N, 74° 0′ 3″ W), which boasts the greatest collection of cast-iron architecture in the world. Imagine that. The loft served as both the family home and her Judith's art studio, so the place smelled like wet clay all of the time.

   Julia described her parents as 1960 liberals, and took part in political discussions at the dinner table at a very early age. So also helped her mom at her store beginning at 6 years old. She liked to chat up the customers I'm told.

   She developed a love for the theater also at an early age, especially the plays of some guy named Shakespeare, and kept a ceramic bust of the playwright in her bedroom, rather than a poster of David Cassidy like my sister. Perhaps her mother made the bust.

   Julia took modern dance lessons, just like me, and taught herself how to act by watching the TV series "The Honeymooners," and acting out different parts along with the show.

   "One of these days, Alice... POW!!! Straight to the moon!"

   Uuhh, I assume she was watching reruns.

   She is also a natural born writer, just like me (we have so much in common). At age 11 she wrote a letter to then New York City mayor Ed Koch suggesting he place more trash bins along the streets. Baaamm, it was done! She also wrote to the director of New York's experimental off-Broadway La Ma Ma Theatre Company, demanding an audition. Baaamm, she got it, and soon began acting in its avant-garde stage productions there, and New York's the Kitchen Theater.

   Again depending on the source, some say she began work in commercials, some that she worked exclusively on the stage. I don't know which is really true, but I don't think it really matters. What does matter is that she soon began working in movies, which is probably why we know her today. When she was 12 or 13 she was considered for the child vampire role of Claudia in "Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles," (1994) with the Cruise and Pitt boys,  but lost out in the end to that bitch Kirsten Dunst (just kidding Kirsten, we all love you here at Joyce's Take... bitch).

   She continued studying at New York's Professional Children's School and got a gig playing Erica Dansby in 5 episodes of the television show, "Ghostwriter," which was about a group of teens who go around writing books for other people. Then at age 15, she made her cinematic debut with "I Love You, I Love You Not," (1996) with Jude Law and childhood friend Claire (The Bomb) Danes. To be honest, reading the plot notes, this sounds like a thoroughly depressing film.

   She got some small parts in both a Harrison Ford movie, "The Devil's Own," (1997) about angry Irish people, and with that Pitt guy again, and "Wide Awake," (1998) starring our lovely friend Dana Delany, and written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, you know, that guy who makes movies with surprise endings, like "The Sixth Sense." But this was waaaay before he became a famous director (1 year).

   That same year Julia won her first lead role in the film "Wicked," playing a teenage girl who may, or may not have murdered her mother so she could have her father all to herself. You decide. How did she get this part? She got it by writing a letter to director Michael Steinberg, asking to be cast, and Baaamm! He agreed to cast her.

   The film was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival, but was never shown in theaters, and went straight to video. I don't know why. What it did do was to get her some notice from casting agents and film critics. Once Julia's career took off, "Wicked," was re-released on video in 2001.

   In 1999 Julia did a whole bunch of things, but three of them were to play the female lead in the TV movie "The 60s," with Jordana Brewster and Jerry O'Connell, graduate from the Professional Children's School, and be cast as Kat Stratford, opposite Heath Ledger, in Gil Junger's "10 Things I Hate About You," which is where I first became aware of her... and Heath for that matter. The film is an adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," set in a high school in Tacoma, Washington. She won an MTV Movie Award for "Breakthrough Female Performance" for the role, and the Chicago Film Critics voted her the most promising new actress of the year.

   In "The Taming of the Shrew," the lead female character name is Katherina, or Kate for short. In "10 Things I Hate About You," the female lead, Julia's character is named Kat. Get it? Kate... Kat. It all fits so well.

   In "The Taming of the Shrew," the male lead's name is Petruchio. In "10 Things I Hate About You," the male lead, Heath's character, is name Patrick, which has absolutely nothing at all in common with Petruchio. The name Patrick in Italian (Italy is the setting for "The Taming of the Shrew") is Patrizio. However the sneaky writer of 10 Things made Patrick's last name Verona, which is the name of the city Petruchio came from. There's the connection! Isn't it wonderful?!

   I enjoyed "10 Things I Hate About You," very much, especially the performances of the two stars, and at the end when the band Letters to Cleo sang Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me," on the roof of the high school. I used to have my very own VHS copy of "10 Things I Hate About You," but I no longer own it.

   I no longer have a VHS player either.

   Here's a compilation from "10 Things I Hate About You"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXExTqWDqBw

   Julia was a big time movie star now. Her next film was opposite Freddie Prinze, Jr. in "Down to You" (2000), a romantic comedy which also starred Ashton Kutcher in his 2nd film role (he was working "That 70s Show," at the time) and the lovely Rosario Dawson. The movie was panned by critics and didn't do well financially, but Julia and Freddie both earned  Teen Choice Award nominations for their on-screen chemistry.

   Julia, the Shakespeare devotee, would star in two more adaptation's of his plays, playing Ophelia in Michael Almereyda's version of "Hamlet" (2000) set in contemporary New York, with Ethan Hawke as Hamlet, and with Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, Steve Zahn, Casey Affleck, and Tim Blake Nelson. Then the very next year that wile Tim Blake Nelson directed "O," which is a lose adaptation of "Othello," which Julia starred in opposite Mekhi Phifer.

   Here's a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMhzAcofd_8

   Those films didn't do very well at the box office. Julia's next commercial success was 2001's dance film "Save the Last Dance," with Sean Patrick Thomas. In it she played a high school student who likes to dance, and who eventually is accepted to the famous Juilliard School after Sean teachers her Hip Hop.

   Here's a clip of Julia dancing like a mad person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vNrchLNMsI

   Females liked the movie and made it a success. I've never seen it, although it was on TV just the other day, and I'm sure Julia was very, very good in it. I don't like dance movies... except "All That Jazz."

   I do practice synchronized Hip Hop though.

   Julia won  the 2001 Teens Choice Drama Award for her role in "Save the Last Dance," and during her hiatus from the film she signed up with Habitat for Humanity International, an organization that builds homes for the needy. Isn't that wonderful?! She helped build houses in Costa Rica.

   I would live in a house if she built one for me.

   Julia has also worked with Amnesty International to raise awareness of the harsh conditions of immigration detention of unaccompanied juveniles, again... just like me!

   Back in 2000 she appeared in David Mamet's "State and Main," a film I enjoyed very much. In it she played a teenage girl who seduces poor Alec Baldwin.

   Poor Alec.

   And she continued work on the stage, appearing in "The Vagina Monologues," "Twelfth Night," and Mamet's "Oleanna."

   In 2000 Julia enrolled at Columbia University to study English literature. She later said that, at first, it was difficult to be a celebrity on a college campus: "In the beginning, it was a little hard, because ... I wasn't even really fully aware of what people were saying. ...I would get people coming to my door, and knocking on it in the middle of the night. But it pretty much died down." She took time off from school on occasion to pursue her film career, but graduated from Columbia in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

   One of her classmates was the lovely actress Anna Paquin, who is the 2nd youngest actress to win an Academy Award (1994's Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for her work in "The Piano." She was 11 years old). The youngest person to win an Academy Award is Tatum O'Neal, for 1973's "Paper Moon." Also Best Supporting Actress. She was 10.

   In 2001 Julia appeared in "The Business of Strangers," with Stockard Channing (Ms Channing said of her co-star, "In addition to her talent, she has a quality that is almost feral, something that can make people uneasy. She has an effect on people." Indeed).

   The next year Julia had a small but crucial role as CIA operative Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons in "The Bourne Identity," (2002), a role that was enlarged in "The Bourne Supremacy," (2004), then greatly expanded in "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007). They actually tried to kill her in that last one.

   Here's a clip from "The Bourne Supremacy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdfCyow-Tiw

   And an interview for "The Bourne Ultimatum"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xen8VkI0pBY

   The three Bourne films Julia appeared in remain her greatest grossing pictures each making $214,034,224, $288,500,217, and $442,824,138 respectively (please notice that the one film that featured Julia the most made the most money).

   In her personal life, Julia has a thing for the Prince of Denmark, having dated him in two movies... "Hamlet," and "The Prince and Me" (2004).

   In 2005 she was considered for the role of Susan Storm/Invisible Girl in "Fantastic Four," but the part was given to Jessica Alba instead... bitch.

   In 2006 she appeared with Liev Schreiber again in a remake of "The Omen," in which she gets killed by Mia Farrow... bitch.

   In 2007 she made her writing and directorial debut with the short film "Raving," starring the lovely Zooey Deschanel. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival of that year.

  In 2010 Julia returned to television in the serial killer romance, "Dexter," appearing in 10 episodes in the shows fifth season.

   Just recently Ms Stiles appeared in my favorite movie of last year, "Silver Linings Playbook," as Jennifer Lawrence's sister, along with Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.

   She's been in, and done a whole bunch of other things as well. She's a busy lady!

   And still going strong.

   She is a reformed vegan, but began eating meat again after she lost all of her blood iron. Just like me... when I was six months old.

   She likes the New York Mets, a lot. They like her too, and asked her to throw out the first pitch at Shea Stadium during the Memorial Day game between the Mets and the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 29, 2006. After a 39-minute rain delay, dressed with a Mets cap, she finally did it.

   "I was gonna throw the first pitch at a Mets game, but there was a rain delay. So I'm waiting for it to stop, and the team's manager, Willie Randolph, comes by. Now he's already intimidating to begin with. But he comes over to me and says, 'If you screw this up, they will boo you.' And I said 'Thanks.'"

   As far as her love life goes, no one knows anything about it. She may still be a virgin for all we know. She's never married, has no kids, and may or may not have dated. Who knows? I certainly don't.

   Wait a sec. While searching for photos I've discovered that Julia broke up her "Dexter," co-star, Michael C. Hall's  2 year marriage.

   Homewrecker.  

   In any case all of us here at Joyce's Take really like her a lot (I'm single Julia!), and wish her continued good health and fortune, and success in anything she may choose to do, and of course a very happy birthday!

   Happy birthday Julia!  

Monsanto and the approaching Zombie Apocalypse

Announcement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc60XPCXrh8

I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,

I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down,

and will let the dead go up to eat the living!

And the dead will outnumber the living!

Ishtar, the Assyrian goddess of fertility, war, love, and sex... and Monsanto board member.

   So it's all Ishtar's fault! And here I thought it was just a crappy movie.

   At midnight last Sunday I happened to be watching the SyFy channel while consuming a nice salami and cheese sandwich, and right after the American Ninja Warrior competition failed to produce an American ninja warrior, the 2011 film, "Zombie Apocalypse," came on starring the talented actor Ving Rhames of "Pulp Fiction," and "Mission Impossible," fame. Yeah, the same Ving Rhames who gave his Golden Globe for best actor in a TV miniseries in 1998 to Jack Lemmon. I know, WTF is he doing these stupid low budget SyFy Channel movies for? I suppose one does have to pay the bills.

   He seems to have a penchant for zombies (who doesn't?), as he also starred in the big budget film, "Dawn of the Dead," with our lovely friend, Sarah Polley, and "Day of the Dead," with our other lovely friend Mena Suvari (now all we really need is a "Night of the Dead (oh please, somebody make one!), and "Afternoon of the Dead," and "Evening of the Dead," movies to fill in that 24 hour cycle.

   Not surprisingly, we've discussed zombies before in this post entitled "Irresponsible Climate Zombies,"

http://joycestake.blogspot.com/2010/11/irresponsible-climate-zombies.html

   which was really about Republican's inaction in Congress (to be fair, and I don't know why I should be, Democrats are practically just as culpable) concerning climate change. However we did discuss zombies, their sources of energy, and civilizations chances of surviving a zombie apocalypse, which quite frankly are not very good.*

   In Ving's "Zombie Apocalypse," film, for instance, one single, tiny French woman gets infected with the VM2 virus, which of course as everyone knows, will turn an infected person into a zombie. Within 28 days (a very important number in zombie lore), 83% of the entire European population becomes infected, and continues to spread globally, even to the United States. Republican members of Congress denied the spread of Zombiism, and that it was man made, until they became infected themselves and turned into zombies... however no one seemed to notice as they behaved just the same as they did before being infected.

   After six months 90 % of us Americans are zombies, which meant 10% were zombie food. The film then narrows down to a small group of survivors (low budget) who are making their way to Catalina, which is a small island off of the coast of Los Angeles, which is supposedly zombie free, as zombies are notoriously bad swimmers (theoretically, as zombies are dead and all, they could walk to Catalina on the ocean floor as they don't need to breath... because they're dead). Ving is part of that group.

   There's a lot of zombie abuse in this film, and people being eating by zombies, which is their way. I've seen it all before. I'm pretty sure I've seen "Zombie Apocalypse," before, so I turned the TV off and watched the first episode of "The Americans," on my computer, which involved sticking fingers up people's asses, and old Fleetwood Mac and Phil Collins' songs (for a moment I thought I was watching a rerun of "Miami Vice"). After that was over I turned my television back on and the zombies were still there, so I turned the sound off and went to sleep surrounded by brain eating zombies.

   With AMC's "The Walking Dead," and Brad Pitt's "World War Z," coming out soon, zombies seem to be very popular these days.

   Fictional ones at least.

   I don't know why.

   The next morning I read this article concerning Monsanto, the giant American multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri, and the so-called "Monsanto Protection Act," which is aptly worded as that's all it does, protects Monsanto.

   The company tried passing the same act last year, but a huge outcry from consumers, and organizations such as The Center for Food Safety, the National Family Farm Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Sierra Club, and the Union of Concerned Scientists stopped the Senate from including the provision in the 2012 Farm Bill and the 2013 Agriculture Appropriations Bill.

   Yet giant multinational corporations can at times be very persistent, and lobbyists for the company got somebody in the Senate (Sen Roy Blunt) to slip in what is known as a legislative rider into the Senate Continuing Resolution spending bill, which the Senate passed in a 73 to 26 vote, which keeps the federal government operating past the March 27th expiration date of last year’s continuing resolution. The rider, entitled Farmer Assurance Provision, Sec. 735, grants Monsanto immunity from federal courts pending the review of any genetically modified (GM) crop that is thought to be dangerous, by anybody! Under the section, courts would be helpless to stop Monsanto from continuing to plant GM crops that are thought even by the US government to be a danger to health or the environment.

   The provision also gives Monsanto blanket immunity from any United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) action regarding the potential dangers of its GM products while under review (if the USDA was ever inclined to take action, which is debatable). The USDA would be unable to act against any and all new genetically modified organisms (GMO) that are suspected to be adversely effecting either human health or the environment.

   So why would Congress give up so much power to Monsanto?

   Good question. We've previously discussed comprehensively the possibility that Congress may be an itsy bitsy corrupt here:

http://joycestake.blogspot.com/2012/02/is-our-congress-corrupt_17.html

   Right now nothing short of a presidential veto will put an end to the ruling. Is the president expected to veto the ruling? Not really.

   If you're concerned about this issue and would like it for President Obama to veto this provision, here's a petition you can sign urging him to do so:

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_the_monsanto_protection_act_seize_congress/

   But Rick... what's a GMO?

   Funny you should ask. GMOs are plants or animals created through gene splicing techniques of biotechnology (also called genetic engineering, or GE). This experimental technology merges DNA from different species, creating unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional cross breeding. Once genetically modified crops are seeded and grown, cross pollination can occur with non GM crops, thus creating contamination.

   So what's the big deal? We've got a lot of GM crops out there already as this list indicates:

Alfalfa (first planting 2011)

Canola (approx. 90% of U.S. crop)

Corn (approx. 88% of U.S. crop in 2011)

Cotton (approx. 90% of U.S. crop in 2011)

Papaya (most of Hawaiian crop; approximately 988 acres)

Soy (approx. 94% of U.S. crop in 2011)

Sugar Beets (approx. 95% of U.S. crop in 2010)

Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash (approx. 25,000 acres)

Also animal products like milk, meat, fish, eggs, honey, etc. because of contamination in feed and intentional modification.

   Well the big deal concerns several possible problems with GMOs, and controversies, such as:  risk of harm from GM food, whether GM food should be labeled, the role of government regulators, the effect of GM crops on the environment, the impact of GM crops for farmers, including farmers in developing countries, the role of GM crops in feeding the growing world population, and GM crops as part of the industrial agriculture system.

   Wikipedia tells us: "Advocacy groups such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund have concerns that risks of GM food have not been adequately identified and managed, and have questioned the objectivity of regulatory authorities. Opponents of food derived from GMOs are concerned about the safety of the food itself and wish it banned, or at least labeled. They have concerns about the objectivity of regulators and rigor of the regulatory process, about contamination of the non-GM food supply, about effects of GMOs on the environment, about industrial agriculture in general, and about the consolidation of control of the food supply in companies that make and sell GMOs, especially in the developing world. Some are concerned that GM technology tampers too deeply with nature."

   Wikipedia also tells us that as yet no reports of ill effects have been documented in the human population from GM food.

   So why don't we just label these suckers and let consumers make their own choices about what they eat?

   My own state of California tried to pass a Proposition, number 37, to be exact, last November, but it narrowly failed. The huge amount of money supplied by agricultural and industrial interests, like Monsanto let's say, which opposed the measure might have had something to do with this.

   If it had passed California would have been the first state in the nation to pass such a law.

   Oregon's thinking about doing it right now. Last Thursday lawmakers heard testimony on several bills that require labels on genetically modified food and prohibit importing genetically modified fish.

   Supporters say consumers should know what kind of food they are buying at the grocery store, and genetically engineered fish threaten Oregon's native fish.

   Opponents say labeling foods would stigmatize the products, and the engineering process has been proven safe.

   Proven safe. That sounds pretty certain. But when you're talking about a living organism released into the environment that changes and mutates as all living organisms do, how can we be so certain?

   The answer is we can't. As powerful and as rich as Monsanto is, it still cannot predict the future, because it's an agricultural company, not a time travel company.

   No one knows for sure what these creations may or may not turn into once loosed into the world, which has already happened.

   Perhaps GM foods will safely feed the billions of starving people in the world that exist today and in the future.

   Or perhaps it will mutate into something like the ebola virus, or worse yet, the T-virus of "Resident Evil, or VM2 virus of the "Zombie Apocalypse," movie above.

   And once a zombie apocalypse starts... well it's awfully hard to stop.

Monsanto Wrote Monsanto Protection Act
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/448-farm-and-food-policy/16689-focus-monsanto-wrote-monsanto-protection-act

*"According to a 2009 Carleton University and University of Ottawa epidemiological analysis, an outbreak of even Living Dead's slow zombies 'is likely to lead to the collapse of civilization, unless it is dealt with quickly.' Based on their mathematical modelling, the authors concluded that offensive strategies were much more reliable than quarantine strategies, due to various risks that can compromise a quarantine. They also found that discovering a cure would merely leave a few humans alive, since this would do little to slow the infection rate.

On a longer time scale, the researchers found that all humans end up turned or dead. This is because the main epidemiological risk of zombies, besides the difficulties of neutralizing them, is that their population just keeps increasing; generations of humans merely "surviving" still have a tendency to feed zombie populations, resulting in gross outnumbering. The researchers explain that their methods of modelling may be applicable to the spread of political views or diseases with dormant infection." -Wikipedia

Happy Birthday Moira Kelly!

Picture Legend
1. Moira Kelly
2. Another version
3. In "Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me"
4. "The Cutting Edge"
5. With Robert Downy Jr. in "Chaplin"
6. In "With Honors"
7. Nerd
8. With Matthew Broderick in "The Lion King"
9. Sexy
10. Publicity Still for "One Tree Hill"
11. "Heros"
12. With Some Old Pals

    It is my great pleasure and honor to give a great big happy birthday shout out yesterday to one of my very favorite actresses, the lovely Moira Kelly!

   Moira was born as a small infant, at a very early age (I'm sorry, but I could not find any baby pictures on the Internet machine) in Queens, which is one of the five boroughs of New York City, the largest in area and the second-largest in population. She didn't stay there long though, and was raised in a place called Ronkonkoma, New York, which is on Long Island... as is Queens for that matter... and Brooklyn, but none of this is to to the point really, so let's move on.

   Moira was the middle child sort of Peter Kelly, a professional violinist, and Anne, a professional nurse. They had six children, and Moira was the third to appear. Peter and Anne came to the United States from Ireland, which makes Moira an Irish American, just like me.

   Like her dad, she had a musical bent, and began learning to play the violin, drums, and flute, which is a pretty diverse set of instruments when you think about it. While attending Connetquot High School she also competed in opera, which I'm sure sure how that's done. She became interested in acting and was cast in a small part in the high school's production of "Annie." She got a break when the actress playing Miss Hannigan came down with mononucleosis, which opened up a major role, and Moira got the part of Grace Farrell, who was and is Daddy Warbucks faithful secretary. 

   Moira worked her way through college, New York City's Marymount Manhattan College to be precise.

   Like a lot of people of Irish ancestry she was a devout Catholic and had dreamt of becoming a nun at one time, and it was a tough decision for her to choose which way she wanted to take her life. I'm told she discussed this with her priest, which is what Catholic people do, and we have to thank him for telling her that acting may be part of God's plan for her, which is quite a liberal thing for a Catholic priest to do.

   Moira was on her way.

   At the ripe old age of 23 she made professional acting debut in a four hour long television movie called, "Love, Lies, and Murder," as a teenage murderer. That movie also starred a young actress named Sheryl Lee, with whom Moira would work with a little later.

   She continued in small roles in "The Boy Who Cried Bitch," and the Dustin Hoffman vehicle, "Billy Bathgate," before being cast as Donna Hayward in David Lynch's motion picture prequel to his television show, "Twin Peaks," appropriately named, "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me," which starred the aforementioned Sheryl Lee. The part of Donna Hayward had been played by the lovely Lara Flynn Boyle, who would go on the play the alien antagonist in "Men in Black II."

   Moira felt she needed to consult with her priest again due to an explicit sex scene.

   I love this priest.

   I was a big fan of Lynch's work since "Eraserhead," and the television show, and this prequel, and I became aware of this talented lovely young actress in this film as her performance was quite noteworthy. But I also became aware of Sheryl Lee, Phoebe Augustine, and Heather Graham as well. But that same year (1992), I saw "The Cutting Edge," and I became very aware of Moira, as did a lot of others.

   Here's a clip with Moira and D.B. Sweeney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keBSNn_ofSM

   Moira spent over two months in figure skate training with D.B. and they became close friends and so remain.

   That year she was also cast opposite Geena Davis in LaVerne DeFazio's "A League of Their Own," but she had hurt her ankle while working on Cutting and the role went to Lori Petty instead.

   The next year she co-starred with a young Robert Downy Jr. in Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin," playing two roles, Chaplin's first love and then his fourth wife. I guess the production was running low on cash and couldn't afford another actress. In any case she was wonderful in it.

   I first became aware of Downy in this film and remember thinking he was very talented and should also have a bright career ahead of him. This was of course before all of the drugs and jail time. But fortunately he straightened and became an international star after "Tropic Thunder."

   Here's a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgeAucDnEBI

   The next year she starred with Cuba Gooding Jr (she's worked with a lot of juniors) in "Daybreak." Before accepting the role she felt the need to once again talk to her priest.  "Being a Catholic, I wondered if it would be against my religion to play a girl who has premarital sex." He told her "it was okay, as long as my artistic intentions were true and I wasn't doing it for the notoriety or the money."

   She should have put this guy on retainer and have him follow her around.

   In 1994 she appeared with an actor I see on TV about three times a freaking week, Brandon Fraser, and Joe Pesci in one of my very favorite films, "With Honors." Here's a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRDE80Hf598

   This film is also notable, at least for me, for using the only song by Madonna that I like during the closing credits, "I'll Remember." Here it is just for the pure sweet hell of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUefFs8V-dY

   That year she supplied the voice for the lion Nala, in "The Lion King." Now I don't particularly care for animated films, but I did see this one, and while I was watching I kept thinking that voice sounded familiar. Now I know why.

   She also appeared with Tim Roth and Edward Furlong that year in  "Little Odessa." 

   In 1995 she was a target for Daryl Hannah and Keith Carradine in "The Tie That Binds." 

   Moira went on to work in many fine films such as "Drive, She Said," and  "Dangerous Beauty."    She starred in her own television show, "To Have and to Hold," before playing Mandy Hampton in the first season of "The West Wing." In 2003, Kelly began playing single mother Karen Roe on the teen drama One Tree Hill.

   Here's a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08gRYEFEfiE

   In 2000 she married businessman Steve Hewitt, and they have two children. Her daughter is named Ella and was born in 2001, her son is named Eamon and was born in 2003.

   In recent years Moira has guest starred on television shows such as "Law and Order," "Heros," and "Numb3rs."

   In 2011 a 3D version of "The Lion King," was produced for a limited theatrical run. Here's a interview with her promoting it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK3WZd3Bmh8

   Isn't she wonderful?!

   And all of us here at Joyce's Take wish her and her lovely family continued good health and fortune, and of course a very happy birthday!

   Happy Birthday Moira!

As If We Didn't Have Enough To Worry About Already

  

   Last Saturday morning I turned on my television at around 8:30, or so. Except for two channels all that was available to view were info-mercials, paid programming. I hate info-mercials. Regular commercials are bad enough, but to sit through a half hour of someone shilling a certain product, I mean does anybody really watch these things, despite how cute Christy Brinkley looks while working out? I don't, I can tell you that.

   On the two channels that were not playing info-mercials, one was a special showing how Corona beer was made at their super factory in Oaxaca, Mexico, where I used to call all of time as a long distance operator for AT&T. The other was the sit-com, "How I met Your Mother," which quite frankly sucks.

   I'm sorry, that may not be true. Actually, the small portion I did see examined Canadian beavers and what could be done with them, a segment that was both informative and lascivious.

   To tell you the truth I'm kind of sit-comed out, and I blame this on Charlie Sheen. I mean "Two and a Half Men," was clever, funny, and enjoyable, for a long, long time. It had April Blowby and Melanie Lynskey as recurring cast members for a while, which was reason enough to watch, but they've moved on, as did Charlie. And now the show features Kelso, and the cute chubby kid, has grown skinny and tall. How much can one person take! I can't handle this kind of change! I need stability, damn it!

   And I could care less about "Anger Management," Sheen's new show, even though the lovely Selma Blair works on it. I'm Sheened out. I just don't care how many girls his character, or Sheen himself, screws, which seems to be a major part of his persona. It's not interesting to me anymore, if it ever was.

   I watched the beer show.

   My teeth hurt.

   There's a full moon going on, and you know what that means... werewolves! Skid Row werewolves, the worse kind.

   Freaking werewolves.

   Herkimer, my invisible bit me the other day because I accidentally sat on him. I don't blame him, I guess, but the God damn cat is invisible for Christ's sake, so you never know where it is... these things just can't be helped.

   I was told the other day that sometime this month someone from SRHT management is going to come over to inspect all of our boxes, which means some stranger is going to come in my box and look around. I don't know what they expect to see, but I'm not dusting!

   Speaking of depression, I walked to the downtown VA clinic Monday to attend the Depression Group they have there. I got there and couldn't find the meeting. Apparently they had moved it to another room and no one told me. Did they do this on purpose, I wondered, just to get rid of me?

   This depressed me. I thought about going home and committing Seppuku, the Japanese form of ritualized suicide by disembowelment, but then thought better of it, as I don't have any swords, it would hurt too much, and missing the Depression Group wasn't all that big a deal anyway.

   My microwave oven is slowly dying. All I can use it for now is to heat water to make coffee.

   I need to buy a new microwave oven.

   The desert rain frog fills my dreams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUXX5dns2Tc

   It won't go away.

   It's my understanding that we are all filled, or soon will be filled with man made nanoparticles. This upsets me and I don't understand why it has to be. I already live in one of the most polluted, smoggy cities in the country, why must I be filled with nanoparticles as well. This certainly can't be very healthy.

   The giant agricultural company Monsanto wants us all to eat genetically altered food that will turn us into the walking dead (that's how it all started, you know).

   I live in an area of Los Angeles where on any given night more than 4,000 homeless people, many of them mental ill, or suffer from substance abuse problems, don't have a place to sleep at night. Some of the Missions down here that are designed to help the homeless now charge them rent to stay inside at night. It's hard to come up with rent money when you're homeless and unemployed. The temperature at night now averages around 48 degrees.

   The police patrol the area ubiquitously, like lice on a Bactrian camel.

   Society shuns these people although it helped to create them. Because of policies initiated in Washington D.C. the country slid into a full blown recession, creating conditions that make becoming homeless easier than it ever had been, then politicians in the very same Congress that started this mess and allowed it to happen call us (as I include myself) lazy and shiftless and would deny us welfare payments to help us get back on our feet, all the while giving away billions of dollars in oil and gas subsides. Banks get billions in subsides too. Other industries as well.

   Whose the real plague on society?

   We no longer live in  democracy.

   We live in a Corporatocracy.

   Republicans rig House elections by gerrymandering. Republicans in states like Pennsylvania are trying to rig the general elections so that even if the Democratic candidate wins the majority of popular votes, the Republican candidate will still get the most electoral votes.

   We need to do away with the Electoral College. It is time.

   Today the sequestration has launched in a misguided effort to reduce government spending and the deficit by 85 billion dollars this year, even though the deficit is down 50 percent as a share of gross domestic product just since President Bush's fiscal year 2009 deficit and is  falling at the fastest rate since the end of World War II:

http://www.alternet.org/economy/everybody-listen-deficit-actually-shrinking-despite-beltway-propaganda

   Bloomberg News commissioned a survey asking Americans whether they believed the budget deficit was growing or shrinking, just six percent answered the question correctly. Ninety-four percent had no clue. And 62 percent actually thought it was getting bigger.

   If the deficit fell any faster we'd go into a recession... another recession.

   In our still recovering economy we need to increase spending as a stimulus measure, not decrease spending which will depress the economy. Three year old children know this yet the Obama administration allows the Republicans to frame the debate and does whatever the Republicans says the real problem is. I don't know why.

   The Obama administration does not tell the American people that the deficit is shrinking when they should be shouting it from the roof of the White House.

   As we have learned the sequestration will harm the country in many, many ways, all needlessly.

http://joycestake.blogspot.com/2013/02/sequestration.html

   Because of lower levels of funding demanded by the sequestration the nation faces greater risks of wild fires and pest infestation. There will be nation wide food shortages. There will be less services for the mentally ill, homeless, and substance addicted who live here on the streets of Skid Row. 600,000 women and children may be thrown off the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women & Infants. 7,400 fewer patients could get HIV medications. Many will die due to sequestration. No Head Start for 70,000, no child care for 30,000 children. Soldiers may be sent into combat situations in Afghanistan without the proper training... on and on.

   The Republicans keep trying to blame the President for the sequestration, even though they all voted for it. The sequestration is a response to the House Republicans holding the nation's debt ceiling hostage. That's it. End of story. The Republicans are responsible for this.

   And the Republicans could have ended it if they had wished, but they didn't wish to.

   Anyone who did this to their own country should be called what they are... traitors. They are destroying the country from within, which is the only way this country can be destroyed.

   My country is still at war in Afghanistan. I don't know why. Our soldiers are still being maimed and killed there. I don't know why. To keep military and private contractors happy, I suppose.

   I keep hearing these ads on the radio trying to entice our young people into joining the National Guard so they can serve their communities by putting out wild fires, and such. They don't seem to mention Afghanistan, or that once you sign up, baammm! Like a slingshot you'll be sent over there, or that if you're a woman you'll have a one in four chance of being raped by your fellow soldiers. (  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/female-veterans-face-limbo-in-lives-on-the-street.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130228&_r=0  )

   I swear to the God that does not exist that if I had a child who was thinking about joining the military service I'd chain them up in the basement for the duration rather than let them throw their life away. Unpatriotic? The war itself is unpatriotic. The United States doesn't think enough of the war to initiate a draft.

   If you want to help your community and put out fires... join the Fire Department.

   Unexpected meteors are exploding in the sky's above us, and asteroids are whizzing by our planet too close for comfort. 

   A comet is expected to slam into Mars next year.

   Five billion years from now as our Sun dies, it will turn into a Red Giant, expand and engulf the Earth. This will really be inconvenient.

   And as if we didn't have enough to worry about already... the universe may be unstable.

   God damn it!

   Last year as you know we may have finally discovered the Higgs Boson, sometimes called the God Particle, as it is responsible for giving everything mass, which is very important to have. Without mass, you ain't got no body.

   Here's the post I wrote about it back then:

 http://joycestake.blogspot.com/2012/07/discovery-of-god-particle-and.html

   Well that discovery has allowed scientists to make calculations that weren't previously possible. And what some have discovered is well... a little unsettling.

   "It may be the universe we live in is inherently unstable, and at some point billions of years from now it's all going to get wiped out," Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., said Feb. 18th at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

   From the article in LiveScience by Clara Moskowitz:

   First of all, the Higgs boson is related to the Higgs field, an energy field pervading space that is thought to imbue many particles with mass. Just as swimmers get wet moving through a swimming pool, the thinking goes, particles get mass moving through the Higgs field.
   The Higgs field has a certain potential energy related to the way it interacts with itself. Just as a field of grass has hills and valleys — maximums and minimums — the Higgs field can have potential energy minimums and maximums, as well, explained Tim Barklow, a physicist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. 
   But if the universe's Higgs field tunneled to a new potential energy minimum, it could become much stronger, causing the universe's particles to gain mass. Any change in the mass of fundamental particles like the proton and electron would have drastic repercussions. Atoms, planets, stars and galaxies would no longer hold together as they do now if their fundamental constituents were altered.

   Geeez, this is all I freaking need!

    The likelihood of whether or not this eventuality comes to pass depends on a number of properties, including the mass of the Higgs boson. That wasn't known until just recently, when the Large Hadron Collider produced a never-before-seen particle that looks to be the Higgs. This particle's mass is about 126 billion electron volts, or about 126 times the mass of the proton.
   The vacuum instability of the universe also depends on the mass of the top quark, a relative of the ingredients of the protons and neutrons that make up all the atoms in the universe.
   Both the Higgs mass and the top quark mass turn out to be just what's needed to create a fundamental instability in the Higgs field, and therefore to doom our universe.

   Well if that don't beat all!

   There's also the possibility that a new universe will manifest itself within our universe at some point and begin to expand, and we all know what that means... well it can't mean anything good, that's for sure.

   Man, I've got to find my Depression Group.  

Skid Row Diary 9

July 23   2003   Wednesday   Day 11

"Values are relative." - Wile E. Coyote

   The rats were out last night. I don't mean to alarm you, but they were. Mama rats. Papa rats. Little rats. Whole families of rats, rat families if you will.

   John Manzano and I saw them scurrying about in the underbrush, or else running from one hole in the sidewalk to another.

   One medium sized rat came up out of the darkness while we were watching the play and made off with my backpack.

   I woke at 3:00AM to watch Part 2 of the "Voyager Crew and Captain Become Assimilated by the Borg to Further a Plan That Has No Clear Objective," episode. As if assimilation and regeneration were as easy as changing your shorts once a week! Well I'm here to tell that it's not, by God! It took Captain Picard a whole season's hiatus to recover, let alone one night.

   I was tired so I returned to sleep. I dreamt I was walking through Hell with Lois Ayers, the beautiful and talented star of "Sin City," and many other fine films. Her sister, Sandra Stillman joined us, and they escorted me to the exit.

   "I didn't know Hell had an exit," I told them. "Sartre didn't think so."

   They smiled. Lois said, "He thought hell was other people."

   "How silly," Sandra exclaimed. "Hell is where your heart is."

   "We don't usually show men the way out," continued Lois, "but we know you'll be back."

   "Wha..."

   "See you soon," they both cried, then kissed me on the cheek.

   And I woke up. It was 7:30, waaaay past my waking up time, which may explain the surly mood I would find myself in all day.

   "Damn those girls," I muttered.

   I showered, then dressed. In that order.

   Chicken omelets for breakfast.

   I stayed in the building and wrote while listening to Mark and Brian. Mark was mean to Kelly, behavior I cannot tolerate. I may have to go down to La Cienega and bitch slap the both of them.

   Mark was cranky because listeners kept calling to tell him he was an ass for saying Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones was a lousy drummer.

   It's good to keep some opinions to yourself, a lessen I should take to heart myself occasionally.

      Giselle was back to pants today. Labren was not. She's been showing off those legs all week now.

   Very good.

   I used the computer in the day room to update some files. The lovely Academy Award winning actresses, Anna Paquin, was on "Good Morning America."

   She was wearing pants.

   I left the building at 10:15 and walked back to the HOP office and asked them for a dental referral. The lady at the front desk told me I could call the Buddhist Clinic myself to make an appointment since I was an established client. I got the number and left.

   I'd come back another time when the real receptionist was there and have them call.

   I walked over to the shops on Boyle and Winston Streets to find someone who sold umbrella hats. 12 for $10. Perhaps I could get a better deal if I bought in bulk. Like 24 hats.

   I can make $50 on 12 hats if I can sell them for $5 a piece. A good return.

   Since I was in the neighborhood I stopped in the Skid Row Housing Trust office and signed in, then went to check my mail. The DPSS had mailed another letter to me. I would wait until I got back to my room to open it so I could use my new 99 Cent Store letter opener to open it.

   It told me I had an appointment with my caseworker on July 31st at 10:30, to discuss my GR cash benefit appeal. The letter demanded that I show up, as if the agency still had some measure of power over me. What would they do if I didn't show up... take my money away? They're already doing that!

   But I'll go. I like my DPSS caseworker. She's cute, and I may need to do business with her again.

   Next, to the One Stop. On the way there a car pulled up next to me and the driver, a pretty Iranian lady, asked me how to get to Wilshire. I tried to be helpful, being a nice guy and all, but unwittingly gave her incomplete directions, which I realized after she had left. I felt bad about it for about 2 1/2 minutes.

   I used the computer at One Stop to refine my resume on Cal-Jobs. I also sent a copy to the Paralyzed Veterans of America ("What would you be doing for them," John Manzano asked me later. "Go around, find veterans and beat them until they couldn't move,"  I answered. "You're a sick man, Rick," he replied).

   A Mr. Porter had left a message on my voice mail system twice, wanting me to call him back to discuss my food stamp appeal. I also had two messages from staffing agencies.

   I called Porter back and discussed the situation. He said he would look into the rules governing food stamps issued to a board and care facility rather than an individual. I was to call him back tomorrow.

   I left the One Stop a bit after 2:00, and walked back to the Weingart. I stopped into the indoor mall at 6th and Los Angeles, and bought two more of the purple Buddhas and a VHS copy of the film "Pollock," from the little girl I had bought "Brother, Where Art Thou?" Her mother wasn't around at the moment, and I crouched down to look at the available $5 videos.

   "Can I help you," this pretty little 8 year old asked me.

   "Well let me see," I answered. "I'm going to look at these and see if I want to buy one. Is that alright?"

   She nodded that that was okay.

   I'd seen "Pollock," there before and picked it up to take a look at it. There was only one copy and I instantly became afraid that if I didn't buy it some one else would and it wouldn't be there the next time I came back. I discovered that Jennifer Connelly was in it, which I had not known. Well that sealed it. I'd buy a two minute commercial on how to remove frog warts if Jennifer Connelly was in it. That makes three of her movies I personally own. Now all I need is a VCR machine to be able to watch them.

   I need more Jennifer Connelly movies.

   I bought the day's paper. Saddam Hussein's sons had been killed by U.S. forces in a firefight on Northern Iraq. They had been hiding. They were both human monsters and mass murderers, rapists, and torturers. My only regret concerning their deaths was that they came too quickly. At least for the 6 hours that the fight lasted they both could contemplate their own demise.

   I exercised in my room and wrote until 7:30. At 8:00 I watched an informative National Geographic special on PBS concerning the FBI. Thank God for what they do. Just don't give them leave to ignore the Constitution.

   I had been given a flute of jalapeno bread  at the HOP office. They give bread away to the homeless people when they have it. I made myself a big hot dog sandwich utilizing the bread. It was very good. I used two smoked sausages. Chewy.

   John Manzano came by and wanted to borrow a cigarette lighter from me. I gave him one. He would be lost if I weren't around to feed him and give him guidance.

   I turned the television off at 9:00 and finished reading the paper. At 10:30 I put it down, turned out the lights and went to sleep.

   I dreamt of Cyndi Woods, Playmate of the Year for 1974. In my dream she was the Columbia Pictures Lady who's holding that big torch.

   How odd.

July 24    Thursday   Day 12

   John Manzano came to my room at 6:50AM. I was busy cutting out stories from the paper that I wanted to keep and when I opened the door and he saw what I was doing he began asking all of these questions which I just didn't feel like answering. I'm afraid I was a bit terse with him, not a particularly bright move when dealing with an ex-strong arm bandit.

   "What!" I exclaimed as I opened the door. He stood there and I motioned for him to come in.

   "Hey... you cutting out newspaper stories?" he asked.

   "Yes."

   "Why?" 

   "Just because."

   "Is it history?"

   "Yeah. It's just stories I want to keep," I explained. "You want the rest of the paper? You can have it."

   "Gee thanks," he said sarcastically. "There's nothing left of it."

   "You ready?"

   "Don't you want to see what she's wearing?" he asked.

   "I'll come back," I told him.

   We went to breakfast. Chunks of ham and potatoes. John seemed unusually silent.

   "You want this banana?" he asked.

   "I've already got one."

   "I didn't ask you if you had one already. Do you want this one?"

   "No thanks. I've got this one."

   We rode the elevator back upstairs. John got out on the forth floor without saying anything. I returned to my room and listened to Mark and Brian talk about English chrysanthemums and  what Neil Armstrong said when he walked on the moon.

   Giselle was back to pants.

   I ran out of things to do at 9:30, and began getting depressed. I felt bad about John somehow and was vaguely disturbed about it. I started thinking about my life, and how many friends I had, which further depressed me.

   It was at this point that I relapsed and decided to smoke and act out. Just for today. Only today. That would relieve my feelings of depression, anxiety, and unease. I couldn't do it immediately. I had a 10:00 appointment with a new job developer at the Levy Center next door. I thought about skipping the appointment, but then thought I better keep it.

   I began reading Arthur C Clark's "Rama Revealed," the last in the Rama series he co-wrote with the engineer, Gentry Lee. None of the books Clark wrote with Lee are as spectacular as the first "Rendezvous with Rama," written solely by Dr. Clark, but they are all interesting, and they helped take my mind far away, which is exactly that which I desired.

   Just before 10:00 I walked next door to the Levy Center. I was directed to office 26, where I met Larry Denman Sr., a job developer. Black, roughly my age and size, he seemed rather harried. I introduced myself and gave him two versions of my resume. He looked them over.

   "Customer service? Would you be interested in applying for a..."

   At this point someone came to the door interrupting us. There was a veteran's employment meeting in a class room right next door which Larry was involved with.

   Larry left me for a moment, then returned.

   "You're going to the meeting, aren't you?" he asked me.

   "Yeah, I guess."

   "It'll be alright, Richard. Don't worry." he was putting me at ease for some reason which was fine. I think he sensed I didn't want to be there. "Come back to my office right after the meeting."

   We walked next door. Two other vets and a black man dressed in a suit were already there. The suit introduced himself to me as Richard Comes, the Veteran's Project Manager, my caseworker's boss. Labren's boss. He was new. I'd never met him before.

   A few more vets, some of those who seem to live in the day room, straggled in. Just after 10:00, Richard started the meeting.

   Mr. Comes had at one time been a head hunter for a high end employment agency before coming to the Weingart. He started out by explaining that a job interview's basic function was to exclude those found not suitable for a particular job, not to hire. As an example, he asked how does one weed out potential job candidates out of a group of 100, lets say, applicants?

   "Well," he said. "If I were an interviewer here today, I would dismiss all of those who didn't show up on time. Only three of you did. That's the three I would spend my time with. The rest of you (at this point about 20 vets had shown up, with others still arriving) I wouldn't have to worry about."

   He went on about how the Weingart was a transitional facility, and that all of us should get off GR and get a job. We were going to have weekly meetings from now on toward that end. We were all going to learn how to look for work.

   All very well and good. I'd already gone through the HRVP program at the Harbor Light, and knew how to look for work.

   No one had given me an interview yet, so any help this guy provided was fine with me.

   After the very long meeting I returned to Larry's office, and he made an appointment for me to come back and see him Monday morning at 10:00.

   I took a bus to 5th and Broadway and purchased some tax free cigarettes from the street venders who illegally sell them for $2.50 a pack.

   I returned to my room, isolated, smoked and acted out for the rest of the day. 

  I didn't go out to eat. I didn't see John Manzano, nor did he come to my room. The only time I did leave was to use the toilet, or to get more water for my coffee pot.

   I watched "Married with Children," at 8:00, watched the movie "Fear," starring Reese Witherspoon, Alyssa Milano, and the very understated actor, William Peterson. This movie confirmed the disquieting feelings I had always had for the actor Mark Wahlberg. I never did trust that son of a bitch!

   I went to sleep after the 11:00 news, and dreamt I was on the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland with Anna Paquin, who was celebrating her 21st birthday. Then we went to Fantasyland and frolicked all over the place.  

July 25     Friday       Day 13

   With the hope of cleansing myself of depression I took a trip to Universal City for a day at the movies. I was thoroughly disgusted with myself and wanted to get out of me for a little while at least, and hopefully pick up the pieces and yet start once again tomorrow morning.

   I can change certain things, certain types of behavior, I can't regulate basic fundamental personal traits. I might as well try to hold my breath for an hour.

   I didn't have  a particular movie in mind when I reached the City Walk hilltop. I remembered the new Tomb Raider film was out now and thought I might see that. That movie would certainly preclude the need for thought.

   When I reached the theater I was happy to see that "Seabiscuit," was on the bill. I had 30 minutes before the show started, and was hungry. I bought a chile dog (no pickles) from Tommys and ate it while watching Jimi Hendrix play "Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire," on the huge outdoor television screen that they have here, that is one of the hallmarks of this place. I'm fairly unfamiliar with this musician. He died before I began to appreciate the Rock genre. I was heartened by watching him. He was doing what he was meant to do after the first moment he picked up a guitar.

   He made a serious mistake though. He allowed himself to die.

   He may have wanted to die, in which case he made another mistake.

   "Seabiscuit," is a fine film. Brilliantly acted and directed, based on the true story of a small, high spirited horse that could run faster than any other back in the 1930s. I thought attempts to humanize the horse, trying to depict emotions and gestures that are comparable to ours, was as a sad distraction, but I understand why it was done. Today's audiences tend to demand that sort of thing. Chris Cooper should receive another Academy Award nomination for his performance. I enjoyed the film, but couldn't buy into the idea that Seabiscuit was the "hope of our nation," or the films efforts to tie into what was happening in the country. It was a horse for Christ's sake! And although I like horses, and admire and respect all forms of animal and plant life (except jellyfish), I tend to doubt that this horse's actions had a great effect upon the national events of the time. The films premise that it did, attempts to elevate the story line toward more than it is, a good, well, made, entertaining, horse race movie (i.e. "National Velvet").

   But who knows. I wasn't there. Maybe the nation's future, for which I am a part, depended on Seabiscuit. Maybe I owe my very existence to that horse. Maybe we all do.

   Thank you Seabiscuit.

   As soon as the film ended I fell through an inter-dimensional time warp and was transported to theater 16 Just as "Johnny English," a comedy starring Natalie Imbruglia, who is Australian, began. Amazing. She was playing a British secret agent. The movie did have it's moments, similar to the Inspector Clouseau films, but without the formidable talents of Blake Edwards, Herbert Lom, and the genius of Peter Sellers.

   When I attempted to leave the giant movie theater I was pushed into theater 4, which "Tomb Raider, the Cradle of Life," was at the half way point. It was better than the first Tomb Raider, but that's not saying a great deal.

   I returned to the Weingart in time to enjoy some under cooked meat loaf for dinner. There was absolutely nothing on Television, even UHF, and I didn't feel like doing anything remotely constructive, so was forced to view 2 episodes of "Reba," and 1 apiece of "What I Like About You," and "Grounded For Life."

   I read from the Rama book until late into to the night, until I tired and slept.

   I had a dream wherein Natalie Imbruglia and I had been chased into the desert of the southwestern United States by the international criminal mastermind, Pascal Sauvage, where we came across Reba Mcentire, who was being chased by giant earthworms.

   We spent the night sitting on a big rock while the worms circled us under ground.

85th Academy Awards

Red Carpet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB_D6PneLVA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Picture Legend
1. Dolby Theater
2. Christoph Waltz
3. Anne Hathaway 
4. Quentin Tarantino
5. Ang Lee
6. Jennifer Lawrence
7. Daniel Day-Lewis
8. First Lady
9. Argo. The Winners

   Joyce's Take has a long history of reporting on the Academy Awards. As a matter of fact our second post, way back on 2/23/2009, concerned the 2009 Academy Awards and was mis-titled "2008 Academy Awards," and can be found right here:

http://joycestake.blogspot.com/2009/02/2008-academy-awards.html

   That post featured the lovely Ms Anne Hathaway, which is a little bit coincidental as she won for Best Supporting Actress last night for her performance in the musical "Les Miserables." Congratulations to her!

   Personally I can not bring myself to see the film as I can't stand musicals (except for Bob Fosse movies). For instance you rarely see folks walking down the street who break out into song and choreographed dance numbers (except down here on Skid Row). It just bugs the hell out of me. I don't know why.

   All and all I thought the show was a good one, although I don't really watch it to be entertained. I'm more interested in seeing who won. The show lasted 3 hours and 35 minutes, which is about average for these things, although the host, "Family Guy," creator Seth Woodbury MacFarlane made several comments on its length. This was Hollywood's night though, so let them party.

   The show was held at the new Dolby Theater, which was the old Kodak Theater located near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in West Hollywood. When Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy in early 2012 it ended its naming rights deal. On May 1, 2012, it was announced that the theater will be renamed the Dolby Theater after Dolby Laboratories signed a 20-year naming rights contract.

   I personally don't care to watch what is termed the Red Carpet march of celebrities arriving. I don't really care what they are wearing either. Accordingly I have a short clip of this above.

   I mean really, Anne Hathaway would look good dressed in a burlap sack as far as I'm concerned... as a matter of fact again, I wouldn't mind seeing her... never mind, I'm sick and need help.

   Women on the other hand judge each other so harshly on this issue it's amazing. If they don't like what someone is wearing they fall on that poor lady like vultures on a fresh carcass. No one seems to care at all what the men wear. Tatum Channing could show up wearing a burlap sack and the ladies would still swoon.

   I don't see why. He has big floppy ears.

   Anyway, let's take a look at what happened inside.

   Seth started the show welcoming everyone to the 85th Academy Awards, or "an attempt to get Tommy Lee Jones to laugh."

   It worked. He did laugh.

   He soon launched into the "We Saw Your Boobs," song, a tribute, if you will, for those actresses who have disrobed in the performance of their profession.

   I thought it kind of weird at first, and it must have been mortifying for those actresses named in it, especially Kate Winslet, whose multiple naked appearances on the screen was emphasized (she wasn't present), yet this morning Stephanie Miller of the Stephanie Miller Show couldn't get enough of it, and now I'm thinking about downloading it myself.

   By the way, Baby Face MacFarlane proved himself to be a very good singer... and dancer.

   After, a screen dropped down with Capt. Kirk telling Seth how his performance would be remembered. I didn't really work, but did allow a couple of nice dance numbers, the first with Tatum and Charlize Theron, the second with MacFarlane, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

   After the opening ceremony finished the first major award was presented for Best Supporting Actor.

   The nominees were:

   Alan Arkin for "Argo," Robert De Niro for "Silver Linings Playbook," Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Master," the Austrian-German actor Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained," and the aforementioned Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln."

   I didn't see "The Master," so I don't have an opinion on Hoffman's performance.

   The rest I did see. De Niro was considered the favorite, and the film he was nominated for is now one of my favorite's ("Silver Linings Playbook," was unique this year as it received nominations for all four acting categories), yet I thought Christoph Waltz's performance in  "Django Unchained," was the freshest, funniest, and most interesting of them all.

   And the winner:

   Octavia Spencer of "The Help," fame presented Christoph Waltz with the award. He's been nominated for this award twice (the first time for "Inglourious Basterds," another Quentin Tarantino vehicle) and has won twice.

   This being the 50th anniversary of the James Bond franchise, a tribute was presented. Originally it had been planned to have all six actors who portrayed the character (Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig) appear on stage together, but that fell through, and musical tribute was presented instead, with Dame Shirley  Bassey singing "Goldfinger," from the film of the same name.

   There was a lot of music presented, with a Celebration of Musicals of the Last Decade. Catherine Zeta-Jones sang "All That Jazz," from the movie "Chicago," the same song she sang in the film, Jennifer Hudson sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," from "Dreamgirls," Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, and the lovely Amanda Seyfried all sang "Suddenly" and "One Day More" from Les Misérables. Very good.

   The "In Memoriam" segment was presented by George Clooney, concluding with Barbara Streisand singing "The Way We Were" in tribute to the song's musical composer, the deceased Marvin Hamlisch. The segment included Joyce's Take friend Ernest Borgnine, who passed away July 8th of last year of kidney failure, which saddens me very much. As you may recall dear readers, I met Mr. Borgnine when I was a kid, when he was working on "Mchale's Navy," and he took the time to give this young man his autograph. Others were Jack Klugman of "The Odd Couple," fame, science fiction author Ray Bradbury (who I've also met), Michael Clarke Duncan, and producer Richard D. Zanuck.

   Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress against Amy Adams for "The Master," Sally Field for "Lincoln," Helen Hunt for "The Sessions," and Jacki Weaver for "Silver Linings Playbook." The award was presented by Christopher Plummer.

   The lovely Jennifer Lawrence introduced the lovely Adele, who sang "Skyfall," from the Bond film of the same name.

   Best Actress nominees included the still lovely Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver "Hey!" Linings Playbook," Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty," Emmanuelle Riva for "Amour," 9 year old Quvenzhané Wallis for "Beasts of the Southern Wild," and Naomi Watts for "The Impossible."   

   I saw all of these films except for "Amour," which I can't seem to muster enough interest to watch (old people) and although I was very impressed with all of the performances, Lawrence was my favorite for without her "Silver Linings Playbook," probably wouldn't have worked as well as it did.

   And the winner was:

   Jean Dujardin who won Best Actor for "The Artist," last year presented the award to 22 year old Jennifer Lawrence.

   Jennifer stumbled face down on her way to the podium (those damn long dresses) and I feel sorry for her as she'll remember that for the rest of her life although no on else will.

   Best Actor nominees were Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook," Daniel Day-Lewis for "Lincoln," Hugh Jackman for "Les Misérables," Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master," and good old Denzel Hayes Washington for "Flight."

   Again, I didn't see "The Master," but I did the others and my favorite was Bradley Cooper for his animated performance in "Silver Linings Playbook," because it was well... animated, and the chemistry between him and Lawrence really clicked, making the film. But everyone favored Daniel Day-Lewis, who indeed won. The award was presented by last years winner for Best Actress Meryl Streep. Mr. Lewis is the only actor to have won 3 Best Actor Awards (the other two being "My Left Foot," (1989) and "There Will Be Blood." (2007)).

   He made a couple of jokes upon accepting his award, one being that he had originally been cast to play the part of Margaret Thatcher, which of course Ms Streep, who was standing nearby, had played, and which got her the Best Actress Award.

   Quentin Tarantino won for Best Original Screenplay for his "Django Unchained." The award was presented to him by Dustin Hoffman and Quentin's neighbor, Charlize Theron.

   There was a bit of a surprise, the biggest of the evening as far as I'm concerned, when it came to Best Director. The nominees were Michael Haneke for "Amour," Ang Lee for "Life of Pi," David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook," some guy named Steven Spielberg for "Lincoln," and Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

   Everyone thought the award would go to Spielberg. Every time Spielberg's nominated everyone thinks it will go to him. If it were up to me I would have given it to David O. Russell, because of the movies nominated his is my favorite (he spent 5 years working on the script). Yet Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda (who worked together in "The China Syndrome") gave the award to Ang Lee for "Life of Pi."   

   9 Best Picture nominees, each had been introduced to the audience throughout the night.

   "Life of Pi," "Amour," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Argo," "Django Unchained," "Les Misérables," "Lincoln," "Silver Linings Playbook," and "Zero Dark Thirty."

   The favorite was "Lincoln." At one time "Zero Dark Thirty," had been the front runner. I liked "Silver Linings Playbook."

   Pudgy Jack Nicholson came out to present the award. As a bit of a surprise he deferred to a dark screen that suddenly appeared and introduced the nation's First Lady, Michelle Obama, who was in the White House with a bunch of strange people standing behind her. She made a little speech about how great movies were and all, then gave it back to Jack who presented the nominated films, then back to Michelle who gave the award to... "Argo," which had also been mentioned as a possible winner. Well, it won! Even though the film's director, Ben Afflick, had been snubbed and not nominated for Best Director.

   The film's producers took to the stage. One guy who no one knew stood between George Clooney (apparently one of the producers) and Afflick, started talking and would not shut up! Time is limited when accepting these awards and this guy wouldn't shut his big yap! Finally Afflick got to say a few words, and that was that.

   MacFarlane and the lovely Kristin Chenoweth did a little song for all of "the losers," which may or may not have been in good taste, and the show was over.

   All in all I thought it was a good show, and

   Annie, you can still victory sign me any day.