WEIRDLAND

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Great Man Archetypes: Don Draper, Kurt Cobain

There is just one “Mad Men” episode left. Don Draper was born Richard Whitman and took the name of a Lt. Donald Draper, with whom he served in the Korean War. Only a few people from his legitimate past know Don’s real identity. Don not only is a lie; he creates lies for a living. He finds ways of convincing consumers they can’t live without Lucky Strikes, General Motors and whatever Dow Chemical makes. As we know, he’s also a liar out of the office, a serial womanizer, a man who cheats on his wives and cheats his children as well. It’s all about the pitch and whatever Don has to do to make the sale, even when that means selling what’s left of his soul in the process.

Don’s ex-wife, Betty (January Jones), fell on the stairs at college, went to the doctor to have her rib checked out, and found she had terminal cancer. And after being stuck in a small town for a week, Don gave the keys to his Cadillac to a young wannabe hustler who doesn’t drink.

From the beginning, Weiner has built “Mad Men” on the American myth of the self-made man, taking the notion to a literal level, as Fitzgerald did with Jay Gatsby. Welles did it with Charles Foster Kane as well. In the end, both antiheroes were doomed by following their ambition at the expense of their humanity. One was memorialized for the futility of steering “boats against the current” of destiny, while the other, in the final second of an acquisitive life, is crushed by whispered regret.

This week’s episode of “Mad Men” ended with Don sitting alone at a rural bus stop, clutching his possessions in a paper bag. The scene is evocative and solitary, a visual sigh, if you will. A bus will be along in a while, Don will get on board, his life in that paper bag, and probably keep heading west, where he left Dick Whitman a long time ago. We’ll learn the actual destination on Sunday, but we already know part of it: He is bound for the inevitable. Source: www.sfchronicle.com


Mad Men went full '70s with its trailer for Sunday's series finale – and we're digging it. The preview, set to Paul Anka's mellow "Times of Your Life," takes Don Draper (Jon Hamm) on a trip down memory lane, focusing mostly the women in his life: daughter Sally (Kiernan Shipka), ex-wives Betty (January Jones) and Megan (Jessica Paré), and colleagues Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Joan (Christina Hendricks). Don's agency partners Roger (John Slattery) and Bert (Robert Morse) also make cameos. Sadly, the video offers up as many clues as the "clip" creator Matthew Weiner aired on Conan: It's just a mashup of vintage scenes from the drama's seven-season run. Source: www.people.com

That's an ad about world peace and people coming together in harmony — and it's being used to sell soda. It's the ultimate in commodification of powerful ideas by the wheels of commerce, and it's the ultimate in America's blithe belief that if it could just shut out the bad parts — or share a Coke — with the world, everything would be a little bit better. Now, I don't quite expect this to happen. But if you asked me to lay down money on a theory, I'd take Eileen's. It's the only Mad Men ending theory I've heard in the past few years that made me actually want to see some version of it come to life. Source: www.vox.com

The Hero is usually the last of the boyhood archetypes to develop and is the peak of psychological development in boys. It is the last developmental stage before a boy transitions into manhood. According to Robert Moore (author of "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine"), this transformation from boy to man can only occur through the “death” of the Hero. Through initiation and rites of passage, the boy is symbolically killed only to be reborn as a man. Unfortunately, because many men in the modern West lack a rite of passage into manhood, they remain psychologically stuck in adolescence. Moreover, while the mature Warrior knows his limitations, the Hero doesn’t have that sort of self-awareness which often results in physical or emotional ruin. Source: www.artofmanliness.com

Kurt Cobain became "the global icon - Nirvana had produced a Camelot for grunge music, and Kurt was its King," according to Brett Morgen. "Ultimately the mythology of the man is that he was in pursuit of fame, and then he didn't want fame anymore. I hope this film shatters that illusion. I think Kurt, the child of a divorce, was in pursuit of family his whole life, and when that became defiled that's what ultimately led him to take his own life." Source: www.bbc.com

“It’s just mathematics, that’s all rock and roll is. Everything’s based on ten. There’s no such thing as infinity—it repeats itself after ten and it’s over. It’s the same thing with rock and roll—the neck is that long on a guitar, there are six strings, there’s twelve notes, and then it repeats.” -Kurt Cobain


“Nevermind” and “Infinite Jest” are highly singular works in totally different traditions, but I think they represent the same scale of achievement and possess a similar cultural resonance. It’s by no means irrelevant that they were both (Kurt Cobain and David Foster Wallace) white heterosexual men who were deeply aware of the problematic nature of the Great Man archetype. “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” depicts the society that nurtured and fed that genius, and that made his unlikely creative explosion possible, as being the same environment that poisoned him — and suggests that the rise and fall were inextricably connected. Kurt Cobain was a canary in the coalmine, as was David Foster Wallace. You and I are still in it, and it’s getting harder to breathe. Source: www.salon.com

Friday, May 08, 2015

Nirvana's Montage of Heck, Wilco, Bradley Cooper's air guitar

There is no shortage of information concerning the life and times of music icon Kurt Cobain. Through countless magazine articles, books, and films, a fairly accurate portrait of the man has been created, but a mystery surrounding his troubled existence somehow remains.

Biographical information is provided in “Montage of Heck,” with the opening of the film covering the Aberdeen, Washington years, where young Kurt lost a sense of security when his parents divorced. Growing up in a state of alienation and rejection, Morgan makes a specific point about Kurt’s pinball existence, where a sense of belonging was never found, caught between a mother who lost patience and interest in him and a father who started over with another family. Morgan manages to sit down with Don Cobain and Wendy O’Connor, and while he doesn’t push too hard on the subject of abandonment, the parents aren’t particularly shy to share their befuddlement with Kurt and his behavioral problems, basically admitting he raised himself once he hit his teenage years.

Kurt Cobain & Courtney Love during their honeymoon in Hawaii, 1992


Morgan sits down with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, Kurt’s sister Kim, and Courtney Love, but interviews, while valued, aren’t the point of “Montage of Heck.” The documentary is more about abrasion, with sights and sounds rubbing each other raw, finding the noisy pitch of art-school escapism Kurt flourished within. “Cobain: Montage of Heck” is the microscopic study fans have been craving since the musician’s 1994 suicide, capturing the humanity of a rock star, not just the extent of his image. Source: www.blu-ray.com


Wilco - I am trying to break your heart (2002) directed by Sam Jones. “Since Uncle Tupelo, I’ve been trained that you put out a record and people buy it five years later,” says Jeff Tweedy, leader man of Wilco. On top of it all, the cruel logic of major-label math meant Wilco’s royalties for both Mermaid Avenue albums were less than $1,000 despite their combined sales of about 400,000. Tweedy had long ago figured out that making records isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme.

Victimized by the corporate wrangling at AOL Time Warner, Wilco suddenly found itself without any champions at Reprise, and with a completed album hanging in limbo. The story has a happy, deliciously ironic ending: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was picked up by another Warner label (Nonesuch) for three times the money, and it made its debut high on the Billboard charts on the force of Wilco's fan base and ecstatic reviews. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is first and foremost about the art and joy of making music, with extensive and crisply recorded footage devoted to songs in various stages of development and deconstruction. Stripped of the layers of discord that alienated Reprise executives, the opening track becomes a lovely acoustic folk song; with dual electric guitars, "Kamera" sounds more like a raucous outtake from 1995's A.M. than the plaintive version on the finished album. Above all, the documentary is a reminder that the small miracles of a great record come from artistic devotion and agonizing rigor, even if the sum ultimately falls on tin ears. Source: www.avclub.com


Aloha, Mahalo, Malasada, Jeff Tweedy solo acoustic from Hawaii Theatre (2011). Tweedy flubbed a lyric during “New Madrid,” and explained afterward that the reason was he had been thinking about a psychedelic depiction of himself using a number of Hawaiian motifs on the cover of the Honolulu Weekly. Someone produced a copy from backstage, which Jeff proudly showed off and kissed, saying it looked nothing like him but was nevertheless amazing.


Air Guitar with Bradley Cooper - Bradley Cooper shows Jimmy Fallon his impressive air guitar skills by shredding Neil Young's solo from "Down by the River."

Bradley Cooper with Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams on the set of "Aloha" (2014) directed by Cameron Crowe

Monday, May 04, 2015

Renaissance Artists

Leonardo Da Vinci is mentioned in a list by Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza about the most prominent engineers, from the 1490s, comprising four in the top category of Ingenariis ducalis: ‘Bramante engineer and painter; Giovanni Battagio, engineer and builder; Giovan Giacomo Dolcebuono, engineer and sculptor; Leonardo Da Vinci, engineer and painter.’ Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks testify that his mind was busily active in his capacity as a ducal engineer, devising ingenious solutions to engineering problems – large and small, architectural and mechanical, military and domestic, feasible and fanciful. There was hardly a field of mechanical endeavour in the Renaissance which did not come under his scrutiny. The most prominent industries in Milan, arms and textiles, received especially sustained and detailed treatment in his drawings at this time. The difficulty in studying these in their historical context does not lie in judging the quality of his designs – their conceptual and illustrative brilliance is spectacularly apparent – but in knowing how far they played a productive role in the practice of the various trades and professions. Rarely do we possess adequate records of actual machines from this period, and when a later working design appears to reflect a Leonardo invention, there is generally no way of knowing whether they were both dependent upon a common prototype.

Michelangelo Buonarroti was born to poor aristocrats in Caprese, near Florence. Barely thirty years later, he was hailed throughout Italy and much of Europe as one of the greatest artists of all time, a judgment of which he was keenly aware and that he would bemoan yet try to preserve throughout his life. Michelangelo’s artistic contributions redefined Rome as the self-proclaimed “capital of the world.” In turn, the world celebrated the artist for his redefinition of beauty and expression, reclaiming the word “genius”—a term resurrected from the Latin—to describe this singular artist’s talents. Michelangelo’s contemporaries struggled to describe the phenomenal talents of a man whose work surpassed all superlatives. According to one of Michelangelo’s friends and biographers, Giorgio Vasari, God sent “to earth a spirit who, working alone, was able to demonstrate in every art and every profession the meaning of perfection.” Countless visitors still flock to see the frescoes, sculptures, and architecture with which Michelangelo adorned Rome. Although many artists fade from popularity as styles and tastes change, Michelangelo’s golden reputation has never tarnished.

Few other great Renaissance artists specialized in portraiture and were so brilliant as portrait artists as Titian, mastering a genre that in his time was considered less important than religious, historical or mythological subjects, and which was underrated by Vasari and Michelangelo, who believed that the reproduction of nature was less exalted than the creation of ideal forms and features. Masters of the calibre of the Bellini brothers, Leonardo, Giorgione and Raphael developed Italian portraiture as a sideline. Titian, who was the first Venetian to take advantage of a new appetite for realistic likenesses of prominent people, was unique both for the sheer numbers of his portraits and for the techniques and insights with which he revolutionized the genre. Portraits constitute a greater proportion of Titian’s oeuvre than they do of any other artist of the period. About a third of his extant works, are portraits, now scattered throughout the picture galleries of the world.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Neurotic characters, Jennifer Lawrence & Bradley Cooper, "Crazy about my baby" video

Some of the most intricate, oddly endearing (no matter how gruff or selfish or disturbed) characters to grace movie screens in the past few years have been introduced to audiences by David O. Russell. A former mental patient and his deeply troubled girlfriend. A quartet of soldiers out to steal gold during the Persian Gulf War. Conmen, FBI agents, and well-intentioned politicians navigating the New Jersey mob. Existential detectives. The list goes on.



A new supercut by Jacob T. Swinney highlights the consistently “cool, calm, [and] neurotic” characters unique to Russell’s filmography. Swinney asserts, “Russell's characters tend to possess a variety of contradicting qualities that spin and twist throughout the duration of the film, concluding that “while these characters may seem to be unlikeable on paper, in spite of their tedious and often aggravating complexities, we cannot help but care for them.” As a testament to his claim, Swinney includes scenes from six of Russell’s films, “Flirting with Disaster,” “Three Kings,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “The Fighter,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and “American Hustle.” Of the half dozen films featured, it’s worth noting that only “The Fighter” wasn’t also written by Russell.

Naturally, the same faces pop up time and again during the 4-minute supercut, and why wouldn’t they? There’s a good reason Russell reteams so frequently with a few rotating Hollywood A-listers. It takes a very talented actor to pull off the complex, dislikeable yet simultaneously endearing and engaging characters intrinsic to a David O. Russell picture. Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper have routinely proven they each have what it takes to bring such robust characters to life. Their performances have garnered them Oscar nominations and wins, along with countless other accolades. Russell, too, has met with great critical success due to the complex characters he creates for the screen. The man himself has been nominated for five Academy Awards (three as director and two for screenplay). Source: blogsindiewire.com

I found some funny extracts of a comedy script (Life as Liz) written by Kip Bowman, Jr., inspired by Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper - their characters Liz and Russell seem like more exultant extensions of their psychoneurotic Silver Linings Playbook personas:

Liz stops her work, clicking back onto the dating site. Curious if there are any cute guys on there. Liz scrolls through the hundreds of profiles and pics. Until coming upon one pic that really catches her eye. Close up upon a picture - A male in his mid to late 20's. Very good looking, also has a charming persona about him. A good head of hair and facial stubble to round out his features. Underneath his profile/picture is his name, Russell Lawrence. You wonder what's he doing on a dating site like this. Also what could he be hiding that's made him still single after so many years? We freeze on that picture as we hear Liz doing other work in the background.

They're in AIM mode. One small pic of Russell, and one small pic of Liz. Each has a nickname under their pics. Russell's is RustyTheRainMaker (All in one long word) while Liz's is FancyFitzy90 (Also one long word). Rusty (Russell): "I hope you're ready to meet me. Because I know these things can be kinda scary, especially meeting for the first time." Fitzy (Liz): "Yeah, I know what you mean. Cause I like you so much, I don't wanna screw this up at all." Russell: "Wow." All is silent. Liz sits trying to come back with a witty cover up. Liz: "I'm sorry. That came out wrong." Russell: "I said wow because I feel the same way, too. I'm looking forward to this more than anything. Finally getting able to see your beautiful face in person for the first time. So I don't wanna screw up." Liz talking to Russell via Skype Messenger: "Don't let those bed bugs bite you. That's my job."

Russell stands in an empty work area. Dressed head to toe in a nice expensive black and blue suit. He turns his head looking around. Spotting this gorgeous woman heading towards him, Liz. He can't believe how beautiful she is. Russell: "I suppose I should call heaven because it's missing an angel." [Karaoke bar] Liz gets up from her seat to sing a karaoke song. Russell: "What are you going to sing?" Liz: "You’ll have to wait and see there, Studly Do-Right." Russell: (laughing lightly) "Me studly? Okay, well, if you say so!" Russell walks up to get on the stage to sing his song to Liz ("Waiting for a girl like you" by Foreigner). Liz: (I think I know why he's called TheRainMaker. Because my panties are soaking wet right now) "You are so lame but I love you."

Russell: "And you still wanna be with me?" Liz: "Why wouldn't I?" Russell: "My explosive temper that almost killed a man." Liz: "You were protecting your sister from her loser boyfriend. It doesn't make you a monster at all." Russell: "I don't wanna hurt you, or see you resent me like my sister does." Liz: "You won't hurt me and I'll never resent you." Russell: "God, How did I end up with such a great girl like you?" Liz: "Guess you‘re just lucky, because you hit the fucking jackpot with me." They begin to kiss passionately as seen in older time films. —“LIFE AS LIZ” (2015) by Kip Bowman, Jr.


Bradley Cooper ("Crazy about my Baby") video.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

"Aloha" clip, Bradley Cooper (Tony nominee), "Generation Katniss" (Jennifer Lawrence)


In his latest film, Aloha, the Oscar-nominee plays a military contractor who returns to Hawaii for a big job. While trying to reconnect with an old girlfriend (Rachel McAdams), sparks start to fly between him and the watchdog (Emma Stone) who has been assigned to him. Directed by Cameron Crowe, Aloha (in theaters on May 29) also includes Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin, John Krasinski and Danny McBride. E! News has the exclusive first look at Cooper and McAdams finally talking about what drove them apart. "We broke up because you didn't show up to our vacation," McAdams says. "I had three days planned in San Francisco. I had things planned for us to do and things to tell you and you stayed in Guam."

Cooper reluctantly remembers that time: "You said, 'If you don't show up on this vacation then that's it.'" "Because you're a workaholic who creates work to avoid real work," McAdams says. "Well, I'm still working on it," Cooper replies. "But to me, a vacation can't be an ultimatum. How can you relax on an ultimatum vacation? The whole concept is stressful." Source: uk.eonline.com

"I knew that we would have a great chemistry," Cooper told ET. "At least I thought we would based on Wedding Crashers, a movie I'd done with her 10 years ago. I always thought, 'Wow! It's so easy to work with her.' She's so present and it only got stronger after 10 years." "It's such a wonderful thing to come to work with Bradley every day, because he has so much passion for not just his character but the whole film -- the whole process," McAdams said. "He approaches every scene like he wants it to be the best scene filmed ever."

While McAdams sang Cooper's praises, Stone gushed over Crowe. "He is such a wordsmith," Stone said. "So many of the lines are perfectly crafted. He's a perfectionist and he will admit to that. And I have a tendency toward that too." Source: www.etonline.com

If Bradley Cooper played a very damaged and spiritually heavy military figure in “American Sniper,” his outfit is decidedly lighter in Cameron Crowe’s latest romantic dramedy, “Aloha.” In the picture, Cooper plays a defense contractor who falls for an Air Force pilot (Emma Stone) in Hawaii who is really his polar opposite. But before that romance can bloom, he has to contend with his still-conflicted feelings for his ex girlfriend, played by Rachel McAdams. Source: blogs.indiewire.com

Bradley Cooper, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, The Elephant Man: "To be a part of a community that gathers together in a 13 block radius, eight shows a week, no matter what, in the greatest city in the world – for one sole purpose, to tell stories – I can't think of a better job to have. Thank you for letting The Elephant Man be a part of this season’s story telling." Source: www.playbill.com

David O. Russell’s latest project, “Joy,” is still in production, but that didn’t stop the director from sharing a sneak peek of the drama — and speculated 2016 Oscar contender — at CinemaCon in Las Vegas Thursday. In the teaser — which failed to include any dialogue — each main member of the cast was shown for a brief moment on screen, including Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper, Édgar Ramírez and, of course, Lawrence. Quick shots, accompanied by solemn instrumental music, showed the 24-year-old actress tearfully attending a funeral, using heavy machinery, picking up a child, standing in a prison cell, shooting a gun and eventually, filming on a set.

While little is known about Cooper’s role in the film, he did appear to be working on a set in two scenes. Perhaps he will be the catalyst that helps bring Lawrence’s character to stardom? The movie marks Lawrence’s third collaboration with Russell. The pair, alongside Cooper and DeNiro, worked together on “Silver Linings Playbook” and the 2013 hit, “American Hustle.” “Joy” is scheduled to premiere in theaters Dec. 25. Source: www.ibtimes.com

The next generation of women—specifically those born between 1995 and 2002—grew up with social media, recession and global conflict. Proclaims British economist Noreena Hertz, who recently surveyed more than 1,000 teenage girls in the United States and England: “This generation is profoundly anxious.” Hertz, a professor of decision science at University College London, dubs them “Generation Katniss.” She named the group -- also known as Generation Z, ages 13 to 20 -- after the Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen, a skilled archer who fought for justice in the top-selling dystopian series that became a blockbuster franchise. There’s a silver lining amid the apocalyptic horror, said Hertz, who personally interviewed 25 girls for the research. She said the young women in the survey seem motivated to curb social and economic inequality. They value diversity. When asked how they describe themselves, Hertz said, the most common response was “unique.” Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Thursday, April 23, 2015

"Aloha" soundtrack, Rachel McAdams & Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)

Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a new Cameron Crowe movie coming out next month. That may sound crazy because buzz around the film has been almost non-existant, but it’s true. The director of Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire and Say Anything is about to release Aloha, a Hawaiian-set military romance starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski, Bill Murray, Danny McBride and Alec Baldwin. It’s an insane cast in a film with a weird plot that involves satellites and space.

Aloha seems difficult to peg. But what better way to preview a Cameron Crowe movie than with its soundtrack? - via The Uncool:

Hanohano Hanalei – Alfred K. Alohikea
Tropical Swing – Bobby Ingano
Alika – Genoa Keawe
I’ll Weave A Lei of Stars For You – The Royal Hawaiian Serenaders
Slack Key Lullaby (Live at Maki’s Studio) – Ledward Kaapana
Ipo Lei Manu – Cyril Pahinui
Kids and Dogs – David Crosby
I Know I’m Not Wrong – Fleetwood Mac
I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) –Daryl Hall & John Oates
Take My Advice – Kurt Vile
A Field of Birds (Live at KEXP) – The Tallest Man on Earth
Midnight Mix – Jónsi & Alex
Vapour – Vancouver Sleep Clinic
You and Jake – Evening Hymns
Come and Find Me – Josh Ritter
Always Gold – Radical Face
Let’s Go Out Tonight – The Blue Nile
Heart Is a Drum – Beck
Shooting Stars – Jónsi & Alex
Source: www.slashfilm.com

Rachel McAdams will forever be, first and foremost, Mean Girls' Regina George, the Plastics’ queen. And you probably also know that McAdams originally wanted to play Lindsay Lohan’s character, Cady Heron, which would have been a mistake of monumental proportions. No one can be as backhandedly mean as McAdams’ Regina George, and no one can drive a convertible the way she can. We might wonder what may have been when it comes to a world where McAdams played Cady, but this isn’t the only role the actress almost took on.

McAdams took a break from acting after her major roles in The Notebook and Wedding Crashers, and told The Times that she “never really wanted to be a movie star.” This meant she turned down a lot of roles that ended up being huge ones.

The Silver Linings Playbook: David O. Russell revealed that Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar-winning role as Tiffany opposite Bradley Cooper in was a coveted one, and a bunch of eligible actors auditioned for it, including Rachel McAdams (believable), Zooey Deschanel (apparently the role was meant for her), Anne Hathaway, and also, Angelina Jolie. Source: www.bustle.com

Friday, April 17, 2015

Bradley Cooper: cinematic chameleon, broken characters (Mad Men)

Time magazine released its 100 Most Influential People in the World list for 2015, which features everyone from politicians to comedians to pop culture icons. Among this year's influencers are Kanye West, Bradley Cooper, Taylor Swift, Laverne Cox, Reese Witherspoon, Kevin Hart, and Kim Kardashian. The five Time covers have gone to Kanye and Bradley, as well as ballet dancer Misty Copeland, Mexican-American journalist Jorge Ramos, and US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The list, which is in its 12th year, requires a prominent public figure to write an essay for each honoree, and this year's pairings include Kim Kardashian by Martha Stewart, Reese Witherspoon by Mindy Kaling, and Chris Pratt by Amy Poehler. Keep reading to check out this year's cover stars. Source: www.popsugar.com

"It’s hard to make people, especially your friends, forget who you are onscreen. But Bradley’s that good. And I think we’ve seen only a hint of what’s to come." -Oliver Platt calls Bradley Cooper 'The cinematic chameleon' in Time magazine.

Bradley expressed his honour at being included on the list, saying in a statement: 'It's a real big thing to be included in anything that has to do with TIME magazine let alone the 100 list!' The American Sniper star added: "It's a huge privilege for me and if it does anything at all it helps spread awareness for veterans' issues." Actress and author Julianne Moore, meanwhile, has been fronting campaigns for Women Of Worth, which aids domestic violence victims in their quest for independence. Among the other names leaked early are Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt and film-maker Lee Daniels. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Amy Pascal wrote: Bradley is genius... Exactly the movie belongs to Bradley more than I realized in the process. Cameron Crowe wrote: Smart. Feel a little bit like we did on “Say Anything” — the movie tilted toward Cusack, the script tilted toward Ione Skye. But our acting is better here all around, so we can hopefully get everything. Frankly Bradley is such an odd bird getting him right is tricky but he's fine now so lets just let him cook where he is and take care of our girl... Frankly, we have great options on all the performances except Bill Murray… who pretty much is what you saw.

Cameron wrote regarding Emma Stone: "I have the shot on Emma... It's a movie star intro shot... Maybe time to put it back in... It is very powerful and overshadowed everything around it... But might feel different now... Big lesson from today... You don't slip Emma in... Let's give her fanfare again... Movie has now earned it." Amy replied, "She isn't bigger than the movie. Trust that. Now she needs to ignite it to get it to the next level and it's gonna be a cross between an idea she has about herself and an actual self that he makes her pay attention to (much to her shock)." Source: wikileaks.org

Bradley Cooper has had quite an interesting career, but had to pay his dues for many years to lead up to the critical acclaim he has earned today. With roles such as the distant war hero Chris Kyle in the controversial American Sniper to a struggling bipolar man just released from a psychiatric hospital in Silver Linings Playbook, Cooper has shown a range of acting skills in the last few years that arguably had not been expected in the past. His days of being the beau to some famous actress are over, and now he is front and center.

Bradley Cooper told The Guardian that his role in the box office hit The Hangover had been actually his most difficult yet. He said: "That guy is so different from me. I'm always amazed by it, actually. When I look at that character on screen, I don't see me at all." Bradley Cooper graduated with honors from Georgetown with an English degree. He told GQ he wrote his thesis on Nabokov's Lolita and he didn’t participate in much drama in high school or at Georgetown, but was more of an athlete up until he went for his MFA. Cooper somewhat randomly applied for his master’s at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York almost as a joke. Even during his acting career he has contemplated going back to school to get his Ph.D. in English and teaching literature. When he moved New York to study acting at the New School, Bradley Cooper worked nights at the Morgans Hotel in Manhattan. Source: www.cinemablend.com

In 2013, the Associated Press added an entry on mental illness to its Style Book to help journalists write about mental illness fairly and accurately. And in recent years, Hinshaw notes, screenwriters have made an effort to portray more humanized characterizations of individuals with mental illness -- for example, Carrie Mathison on Showtime's "Homeland," who has bipolar disorder; Bradley Cooper's character in "Silver Linings Playbook;" and John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning economist with schizophrenia in "A Beautiful Mind." Still needed, Hinshaw says, are more realistic portrayals of the everyday struggles associated with mental illness. Source: news.yahoo.com

-Parade magazine: As Mad Men evolved, what surprised you most?

-Stephanie Newman, Ph.D. clinical psychoanalyst, (author of Mad Men on the Couch: Analyzing the Minds of the Men and Women of the Hit TV Show): "I became more and more fascinated by how [show runner] Matthew Weiner did not sugar coat anything. Infidelity, addiction, divorce, mental illness; he put it all out there and it was not pretty–just like in real life." Source: parade.com

Emmy-nominated actress Elizabeth Reaser also reveals that she viewed Diana as the female counterpoint Don Draper had been subconsciously searching for over the course of seven seasons and countless shags. “I just felt like they were very similar in the way that they communicate, and people say, you know, ‘Diana is mysterious,’ and I think she’s very direct. . . . And she’s been through so much that she has nothing left to lose. . .  She basically doesn’t give a fuck.”

In fact, it is this tragedy-incited disconnect with the world that might make the pair’s communications seem dream-like. “So that sort of takes her outside of time and space, and it just means she’s almost, like, untouchable, when you’re that hurt, when you’re that broken by the world,” Reaser theorizes. Source: www.vanityfair.com

Friday, April 10, 2015

Sexiest Men's dark side: Jon Hamm's hidden shame, Bradley Cooper's alcohol epiphany

Jon Hamm attends a ceremony where objects from the iconic TV series 'Mad Men' are presented to the National Museum of American History on March 27, 2015 in Washington DC.

"Mad Men" star Jon Hamm took part in a violent college hazing in 1990 at the University of Texas that led to criminal charges and to the fraternity chapter permanently disbanding, according to court and school records obtained Thursday. The Emmy-nominated actor had not previously been publicly linked to a lawsuit filed by a Sigma Nu pledge who said he was severely beaten, dragged by a hammer and had his pants lit on fire. In the 1991 lawsuit, the pledge said Hamm participated "till the very end." In March, Hamm completed a stint in rehab for what his representatives said was treatment for alcohol addiction. Source: www.nytimes.com

The combination of pleasure and pain is only appropriate where Mad Men is concerned. Don Draper’s relentless hedonism, drinking and womanising his way through the 60s, making it to the top of Madison Avenue’s advertising industry from nowhere, as literally no one, has always come with a heavy price – not just for those around him but Don himself. After ten years of debauched adventures in New York and Los Angeles, Don may have ‘found himself’ but ‘Severance’ offers little evidence that he likes himself any more than he did when Mad Men began, when we discovered his entire identity was a sham predicated on self-loathing and shame. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

“When you think about a mechanism like supportive social networks, or the psychological benefit of helping others, well, they have nothing to do with faith, or God — they have to do with the reality of what goes on in AA, with people meeting others in the same boat as they are in, and with helping other people.” So it can be the case both that AA rests on overly judgmental moral language, takes the unlikely view that God himself (or “a higher power”) is what cures people’s alcoholism, and has various other flaws — and that it still works for a lot of people, simply by connecting them to others going through the same struggles." Source: nymag.com

Jon Hamm was chosen Sexiest Man Alive in 2007 by Salon Magazine - "I try to be a good person. I'm loyal and I'm trustworthy. I'm kind," says the Mad Men star, "and I'm a really good driver." Watching AMC’s “Mad Men” is a sensual feast. Matthew Weiner’s devotion to getting 1960 right means we feel Joan’s girdle and Peggy’s scratchy dresses, taste the rye and the steak and the oysters, glory in the pastels of Betty’s peignoirs; our eyes water at the end of every episode from all that cigarette smoke. The sexual politics are remarkable; the sex is even more interesting, and the hot center of it all is Jon Hamm, who plays Sterling Cooper creative director Don Draper, haunted, predatory, at the top of his game, miserable. I think it’s possible that some of Hamm/Draper’s hotness is how little we know about both the actor and the character. Source: www.salon.com

Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm at the 14th annual AFI Awards Luncheon (2014) in Beverly Hills

Bradley Cooper and Sandra Bullock at the premiere of "All About Steve" (2009) in Los Angeles

Bradley Cooper was declared "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine in 2011. What earned him that honor? - A combination of box office appeal (who hasn't seen The Hangover?), undeniable good looks and the lengths he'll go to for romance. Asked the sexiest thing he's done to woo a woman, Cooper tells PEOPLE, "Getting on a plane to go get them." Source: www.people.com

“I think it’s really cool that a guy who doesn’t look like a model can have this,” the “Hangover” star told People. “I think I’m a decent-looking guy. Sometimes I can look great, and other times I look horrifying.” “If you’re a single man and you happen to be in this business… you’re deemed a player. But I don’t see myself as a ladies’ man,” he said. And Cooper said his first thought at being crowned top hunk was “my mother is going to be so happy.” Source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Howard Stern asked Bradley Cooper about kicking drinking. Bradley said that he doesn't drink and he won't even try it. Howard asked what his Epiphany was that got him to stop. Bradley said that he realized he only has one life and he had to make the most of it or he'd never reach his potential. Howard asked if Bradley would do a TV show. Bradley said he would. He said it's all about the content. He said that it depends on what it is. Source: www.marksfriggin.com

Howard Stern said they were talking about Bradley and how he was named the sexiest man in the world. Howard said he was in a furniture store trying to buy a chair and this gorgeous girl was in the store. Howard said she came running up to him and said she would give him her number. Howard said it felt so powerful. He said Bradley must feel that all the time. Bradley said it doesn't happen. He said he swears to god it does not happen. Howard said he's shocked. Bradley said he had a glass lamp fall on his face when he was 15. He said he had blood all over and it could have made a mess. Bradley said he was very lucky and the lamp smashed his face to the left. He said that he grew up in Philly and the house was over 100 years old.

Howard asked Bradley about working with Jennifer Lawrence and the chemistry they had in SLP. Bradley said that she puts you at ease. Howard said he must have thought about her. Bradley said that he's not Jimmy Carter. Howard said if he worked with Jennifer Lawrence and he wasn't with Beth he would fuck her. Howard said he would never screw things up with Beth though. Howard said he feels like such a man around her. Bradley said that he doesn't have a problem with his girl when it comes to working with someone like Jennifer. Howard asked if he dated in high school. Bradley said he had a cool girlfriend and wasn't into sports back then. He said the girl is still a great friend of his. He said that they're still in touch and she's married to a great guy. He said she's still beautiful too. Source: www.marksfriggin.com

Jon Hamm, Jennifer Westfeldt and Bradley Cooper attending the opening night of "The Elephant Man" on Broadway, on 12/7/2014