Julie, Julia, Clerp, Jerp, and Amy
The following videoclip, which includes our first introduction to Amy Adams' Julie character in the 2009 movie, "Julie and Julia" (now available on TV for the first time on "Starz On Demand-Early Premieres"), should be filed under my March 21st blog (two blogs ago), in the section, "Pavlov's Chef":
Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Fire
A person I've referred to here and there in previous blogs, Kiefer Sutherland, again drove past me. It was while I was on my way to work Friday, March 26th. I am nearly certain it was he, despite the sunglasses and semi-upbeat expression.
His face divulged nothing about a bombshell that was about to be dropped on the world later that day, not that the explosion would have been preventable even if I had foreknowledge: "24" has been canceled. Jack Bauer will not live forever - at least in terms of new episodes of "24" (after this season). I also read that there may be a movie. I think back to the expression on his face for some indication of exactly how dead Bauer might be for Sutherland, but as I find myself unable to visualize ketchup splattered about, it is difficult for me to envision death and Jack Bauer next to each other to the extent that it is now so.
We have been left with a serious void on the landscape of our shared, common focus on matters related to terrorism against the U.S. Do not underestimate the value of a singularly iconic fictitious character of this variety at this point in the history of the world, particularly when one considers the degree to which we as a society have come to use the medium of theater to digest events that would otherwise be too difficult, perhaps even impossible to wrap our hearts and minds around.
We can come together over nobody in particular when we say here comes the sun, we may never need a sun king to say "here comes the" about, but we are not so good at not having a human to focus on when real events turn us towards this side of reality, and occurrences that could conceivably lead to the end of reality itself. I don't see anyone coming close to a Jack Bauer, just a whole lot of James Bonds, Sherlock Holmeses and what not.
On the bright side, Sutherland is now free to do a sequel to "Dark City" - though I have the feeling I'm alone in thinking along those lines.
It's Just Another Vote
Several days ago on my way home from work, at about 5:30pm, about 30 minutes before the final reconciliation vote on healthcare reform (after the House passed the healthcare legislation and after the Senate then passed the agreed-to reconciliation amendments and then the amendments went back to the House - I believe this was Thursday, March 25th), "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart may or may not have driven past me. The show has been on vacation this past week, so it was definitely possible for him to be in Southern California. Also, as occasionally referred to in previous blogs, over the years I have occasionally been an influence on his and Colbert's show, sometimes to no small degree. He appeared very serious. And his hair was not slicked down as one normally expects when looking at Jon Stewart. I don't think his was searching his mind for a punchline just then. Then again, it could have just been someone whose job it is to bring Jon Stewart to someone's mind at the precise right moment. I get a lot of that.
One On One
Ben Stiller, whose appearance at the recent Oscars was largely in relation to my "Gosk 2" video (see my March 13th blog), drove by me yesterday (March 27th), while his two recent late-night talk show appearances made no inside-references for my benefit (of which I am aware). I think that puts things where I'm supposed to.... no, can't say I know exactly.
The late-night talk show appearance in February by Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton's wife, on Craig Ferguson's show did make inside "Gosk" references for my benefit. These references to "Gosk" were not even close to being as clearly delineated as Burton's "Gosk" references in "Alice In Wonderland" (see my my March 16th and March 21st blogs). I do not feel that husbands and wives should be considered contractually obligated to be identical in the degree to which they make references to "Gosk", nevertheless, I will not permit Carter's references to dilute the intensity of Burton's references, and will therefore confine myself here to this general a description of her action.
Regis Philbin's recent late-night talk show appearance on Ferguson made absolutely no inside-reference for my benefit of the variety I have come to expect, though Ferguson isn't Letterman, which is where/who this normally can be relied upon. Is this non-relationship over? If so, I do not yet feel the void, and for now will make no assumptions.
Face To Face
Immediately after I emailed someone (a fellow CalArts alumni, aka a "CalArtian") asking what gives with Tim Burton and his Steinhoff references in "Alice In Wonderland", where's my $11.23 (I did the math and decided I was at least entitled to enough money to purchase 9.2 chocolate bars), I received an invitation to be the Facebook friend of someone else, someone I hadn't spoken with in about 30 or more years, and a non-CalArtian. Adding this person as a Facebook friend required that I logon to my Facebook page for the first time in about half-a-year. This caused me to see that another CalArtian I knew (different CalArtian) had visited my Facebook page, indicated to me by way of that privacy-violating way Facebook has of showing Facebook users this like it or not. This led me to feeling inclined to look up that particular CalArtian on Facebook and the listing of her Facebook friends - which included Tim Burton. I suppose it is a given that when Tim Burton uses your material in a big way in "Alice In Wonderland", trails of breadcrumbs are headed your way. Now send me a trail of breadcrumbs I would want to follow more directly, please.
Showing posts with label Meryl Streep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meryl Streep. Show all posts
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A Good Diet Is The Key To Good Health
Several things to report, though for the most part they are things that fall into the category of being unsubstantiated by anyone other than myself. Approximately 29.2% of the things I describe in my blogs fall into this category. The way I figure it is, owing to the 70.8% of the extraordinary things I describe that can be substantiated, though some effort may be involved (such as checking that the timestamp/copyright at Archive.Org is intransmutable; viewing those videos of mine posted there when I indicate that such action is relevant to the information being conveyed; putting 2 plus 2.2 together; etc.), I'm legitimately entitled to some real cred.
Addendum In Wonderland
After I posted my immediately preceding blog, which focused on Alice In Wonderland with relation to the bucket scene in my "Gosk 2", it occurred to me that the hat scene in "Gosk 2" immediately follows the bucket scene. This is the scene where all you see are intercut shots of Vinakalert's hat, framed such that one does not see his head beneath it, while he talks to himself about his high school girlfriend, Gosk (only direct mention of Gosk in the video). This hat scene should also be seen in connection with my fellow CalArtian's movie, owing to the context as described in my preceding blog. I should also take this opportunity to mention that the other CalArtian described in that blog, a woman I knew at CalArts, was never my girlfriend, I regard her as someone who was a friend. Whether or not people such as Paul McCartney or whoever saw in that relationship material for songs is more of a reflection of the fact that he tends to make quite a bit out of any relationship I have with members of the opposite sex. I have come to look upon any woman I might or might not have any kind of relationship with in terms of whether this is something they are secretly taking into account.
Wagon Train
In my June 7, 2009 blog I described something that happened the moment I came back to California for the first time in 15 years, during the early '90s, half-a-year after a movie that originated with something I sent to Steven Spielberg became the biggest movie of all time ("Jurassic Park", though this movie has subsequently lost this status - to other movies upon which I have also been a significant influence):
"....approximately one week after I moved to Southern California in the early 90s, when I was driving in Van Nuys when suddenly I found myself driving alongside Steven Spielberg, with two motorcycle police riding alongside each other in front of us."
The other day I saw on the highway four policemen riding together on motorcycles. Being aware that this did not constitute being under alien attack, and furthermore that it could easily contain zero significance, I did not see it as necessarily relating to the afore-described Steven Spielberg experience. It nevertheless seems odd to me that about four hours or so later, in a completely different neck of the woods, someone I believe may have been Steven Spielberg drove by me, though some of the hair on top of his head seemed darker than one would expect, and though he was driving a red pickup truck. A few moments later I came to an establishment called, "Stagecoach", which is also the name of a movie, about people on a road trip having to contend with being the target of attacks yet without the security of motorcycle policemen driving in proximity. At the time I saw the motorcycle cops there no was indication I would later be driving by "Stagecoach", so I can't say the whole thing in every detail was planned that way from the start. On the other hand, people know how to find moments to do things that are more opportune than other moments.
I already had been given a clear heads up that I was being followed that day (as if I needed one, as I can generally expect to receive such a heads up on most trips), when I saw someone driving by me who resembled Rob Hahn. I had just brought up Rob Hahn in conversation at work two days before, so it seems very unlikely to me that the siting of his look-alike in the middle of nowhere was a random event. By the way, Rob Hahn was among the people I assisted on an AFI film shoot during the summer of 1975. He had been the boyfriend of Amy Heckerling (now a well known director) at high school in New York, afterwhich they came to AFI together, afterwhich they broke up, afterwhich they were both working on that same AFI film shoot. I first met Stuart Cornfeld on that AFI shoot (now a major producer whose film company has their films distributed by Spielberg's DreamWorks).
Pavlov's Chef
Only because of my strange experiences in life and not because I consider it something that would ordinarily occur, I believe it possible that the Merryl Streep movie, "Julie and Julia", was made partly because it could later become connected, in a certain way, with my YouTube posted video, "Recipe For Fun" (I have not yet seen this Streep movie, however). "Recipe For Fun" (not to be confused with my "Recipe For Fun Epilogue (Non-Ketchup Version)") resulted from Lorne Michaels eating a sandwich on SNL, which itself had been the result of my sending Michaels something several days earlier wherein he eats a sandwich (my "Frozen" comedy sketch idea, which I subsequently made into a video that I've posted on Archive.Org - about The Beatles reuniting for an SNL appearance with a little help from cryogenics). The day following "Recipe For Fun", wherein the specific ingredients of good comedy are conveyed, ketchup being specifically portrayed as one of the major ingredients, the husband of the head of Heinz ketchup (former Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry) got into serious trouble, regarding which he could only defend himself by saying that he had told a bad joke. He had been misunderstood. He wasn't trying to say people who go into the military have a lower IQ. So I sent a message to Paul McCartney that this mishap, which had been set off by "Recipe For Fun", etc., should be addressed by McCartney being in a comedy sketch. A former candidate for President of the United States of America is not a small potato (I didn't put it exactly that way). Basically, I was saying, "Clean-up on Aisle 7" (I didn't put it exactly that way either). Several days later Paul McCartney made a surprise appearance on SNL in a comedy sketch about poison in a drink, which naturally made me think of "Recipe for Fun", though I am not Julia Childs. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were also in that SNL poison comedy sketch. So years later, when Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were together again, this time in a movie, I also thought of "Recipe for Fun", though I have not seen this movie yet ("It's Complicated"). Meryl Streep was also in that movie with Martin and Baldwin. Martin and Baldwin just cohosted the Oscars together - this made me think of "Recipe for Fun" as well. Streep also justed appeared in "Julie and Julia", about famed chef Julia Childs, which might also bring "Recipe For Fun" to mind (it brings it to my mind, anyway). I'm seeing this great big Baldwin, Martin, Streep stew, and I'm sure you could too, if you just put your mind to it.
The very last moment of Barbara Walters' very last Oscar Night interview (she will no longer be doing this show) had Barbara Walters and Sandra Bullock toasting Meryl Streep.
My own "personal" Meryl Streep story involves when I went to see her in "Taming of the Shrew" at a Shakespeare In The Park performance in NYC in 1976 or 1977. A heavy downpour occurred during the performance, which prompted Streep's costar, Raul Julia, to say, "And NOW my reign begins." I subsequently learned that there is no such line in Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", though it was certainly a relevant thing for Raul Julia to say. I tended to enjoy this anecdote more when I thought it was Shakespeare's line benefiting for the moment from Julia's inflection. Now I realize Shakespeare isn't very much a part of the anecdote at all. Raul Julia just ran with the moment, apparently.
In any event, the anecdotal significance of this line from the Meryl Streep play, "And NOW my reign begins," comes to mind (as I associate it) during that toast at the final moment of Walters' show:
This all makes me think of "Recipe for Fun". In recent blogs I promised to describe in an upcoming blog the significance I found in this Walters-Bullock moment. Sandra Bullock has since that promise of mine leaped into the headlines, or was pushed, owing to her marital problems. I am most reluctant to appear to be inserting myself into that situation. I have influenced the work of Sandra Bullock in the past ("The Lake House" comes most immediately to mind) without acknowledgment, and hope to continue this non-relationship with her in the future. I do not wish to be in relation to her current situation in any way, and am confident that this attention I am drawing to that toast will not leap anywhere near the headlines. If that wouldn't make me seem opportunistic I don't know what would. Perhaps Paul McCartney could do a song that will straighten all this out.
Addendum In Wonderland
After I posted my immediately preceding blog, which focused on Alice In Wonderland with relation to the bucket scene in my "Gosk 2", it occurred to me that the hat scene in "Gosk 2" immediately follows the bucket scene. This is the scene where all you see are intercut shots of Vinakalert's hat, framed such that one does not see his head beneath it, while he talks to himself about his high school girlfriend, Gosk (only direct mention of Gosk in the video). This hat scene should also be seen in connection with my fellow CalArtian's movie, owing to the context as described in my preceding blog. I should also take this opportunity to mention that the other CalArtian described in that blog, a woman I knew at CalArts, was never my girlfriend, I regard her as someone who was a friend. Whether or not people such as Paul McCartney or whoever saw in that relationship material for songs is more of a reflection of the fact that he tends to make quite a bit out of any relationship I have with members of the opposite sex. I have come to look upon any woman I might or might not have any kind of relationship with in terms of whether this is something they are secretly taking into account.
Wagon Train
In my June 7, 2009 blog I described something that happened the moment I came back to California for the first time in 15 years, during the early '90s, half-a-year after a movie that originated with something I sent to Steven Spielberg became the biggest movie of all time ("Jurassic Park", though this movie has subsequently lost this status - to other movies upon which I have also been a significant influence):
"....approximately one week after I moved to Southern California in the early 90s, when I was driving in Van Nuys when suddenly I found myself driving alongside Steven Spielberg, with two motorcycle police riding alongside each other in front of us."
The other day I saw on the highway four policemen riding together on motorcycles. Being aware that this did not constitute being under alien attack, and furthermore that it could easily contain zero significance, I did not see it as necessarily relating to the afore-described Steven Spielberg experience. It nevertheless seems odd to me that about four hours or so later, in a completely different neck of the woods, someone I believe may have been Steven Spielberg drove by me, though some of the hair on top of his head seemed darker than one would expect, and though he was driving a red pickup truck. A few moments later I came to an establishment called, "Stagecoach", which is also the name of a movie, about people on a road trip having to contend with being the target of attacks yet without the security of motorcycle policemen driving in proximity. At the time I saw the motorcycle cops there no was indication I would later be driving by "Stagecoach", so I can't say the whole thing in every detail was planned that way from the start. On the other hand, people know how to find moments to do things that are more opportune than other moments.
I already had been given a clear heads up that I was being followed that day (as if I needed one, as I can generally expect to receive such a heads up on most trips), when I saw someone driving by me who resembled Rob Hahn. I had just brought up Rob Hahn in conversation at work two days before, so it seems very unlikely to me that the siting of his look-alike in the middle of nowhere was a random event. By the way, Rob Hahn was among the people I assisted on an AFI film shoot during the summer of 1975. He had been the boyfriend of Amy Heckerling (now a well known director) at high school in New York, afterwhich they came to AFI together, afterwhich they broke up, afterwhich they were both working on that same AFI film shoot. I first met Stuart Cornfeld on that AFI shoot (now a major producer whose film company has their films distributed by Spielberg's DreamWorks).
Pavlov's Chef
Only because of my strange experiences in life and not because I consider it something that would ordinarily occur, I believe it possible that the Merryl Streep movie, "Julie and Julia", was made partly because it could later become connected, in a certain way, with my YouTube posted video, "Recipe For Fun" (I have not yet seen this Streep movie, however). "Recipe For Fun" (not to be confused with my "Recipe For Fun Epilogue (Non-Ketchup Version)") resulted from Lorne Michaels eating a sandwich on SNL, which itself had been the result of my sending Michaels something several days earlier wherein he eats a sandwich (my "Frozen" comedy sketch idea, which I subsequently made into a video that I've posted on Archive.Org - about The Beatles reuniting for an SNL appearance with a little help from cryogenics). The day following "Recipe For Fun", wherein the specific ingredients of good comedy are conveyed, ketchup being specifically portrayed as one of the major ingredients, the husband of the head of Heinz ketchup (former Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry) got into serious trouble, regarding which he could only defend himself by saying that he had told a bad joke. He had been misunderstood. He wasn't trying to say people who go into the military have a lower IQ. So I sent a message to Paul McCartney that this mishap, which had been set off by "Recipe For Fun", etc., should be addressed by McCartney being in a comedy sketch. A former candidate for President of the United States of America is not a small potato (I didn't put it exactly that way). Basically, I was saying, "Clean-up on Aisle 7" (I didn't put it exactly that way either). Several days later Paul McCartney made a surprise appearance on SNL in a comedy sketch about poison in a drink, which naturally made me think of "Recipe for Fun", though I am not Julia Childs. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were also in that SNL poison comedy sketch. So years later, when Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were together again, this time in a movie, I also thought of "Recipe for Fun", though I have not seen this movie yet ("It's Complicated"). Meryl Streep was also in that movie with Martin and Baldwin. Martin and Baldwin just cohosted the Oscars together - this made me think of "Recipe for Fun" as well. Streep also justed appeared in "Julie and Julia", about famed chef Julia Childs, which might also bring "Recipe For Fun" to mind (it brings it to my mind, anyway). I'm seeing this great big Baldwin, Martin, Streep stew, and I'm sure you could too, if you just put your mind to it.
The very last moment of Barbara Walters' very last Oscar Night interview (she will no longer be doing this show) had Barbara Walters and Sandra Bullock toasting Meryl Streep.
My own "personal" Meryl Streep story involves when I went to see her in "Taming of the Shrew" at a Shakespeare In The Park performance in NYC in 1976 or 1977. A heavy downpour occurred during the performance, which prompted Streep's costar, Raul Julia, to say, "And NOW my reign begins." I subsequently learned that there is no such line in Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", though it was certainly a relevant thing for Raul Julia to say. I tended to enjoy this anecdote more when I thought it was Shakespeare's line benefiting for the moment from Julia's inflection. Now I realize Shakespeare isn't very much a part of the anecdote at all. Raul Julia just ran with the moment, apparently.
In any event, the anecdotal significance of this line from the Meryl Streep play, "And NOW my reign begins," comes to mind (as I associate it) during that toast at the final moment of Walters' show:
This all makes me think of "Recipe for Fun". In recent blogs I promised to describe in an upcoming blog the significance I found in this Walters-Bullock moment. Sandra Bullock has since that promise of mine leaped into the headlines, or was pushed, owing to her marital problems. I am most reluctant to appear to be inserting myself into that situation. I have influenced the work of Sandra Bullock in the past ("The Lake House" comes most immediately to mind) without acknowledgment, and hope to continue this non-relationship with her in the future. I do not wish to be in relation to her current situation in any way, and am confident that this attention I am drawing to that toast will not leap anywhere near the headlines. If that wouldn't make me seem opportunistic I don't know what would. Perhaps Paul McCartney could do a song that will straighten all this out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
