Dummies and Death and Jennifer Lopez

June 12, 2015, 4:40 am

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Characters in thrillers--especially the women--live in a parallel universe, don't they? A universe where they've never read a thriller or seen one on TV or in a movie theater.

Because otherwise they wouldn't behave like dummies even now, heading past the middle of the decade.

Take Jennifer Lopez in this year's erotic thriller The Boy Next Door.

She plays a high school teacher of classics here. That's right, and in a school that offers a year-long course in Homer. The poet, not Homer Simpson. It's one helluva well-paid job because she drives what looks like a Cadillac SUV. [Spoilers Ahead]



Of course, who cares since you're either ogling Lopez looking gorgeous in every scene or drooling over ripped Ryan Guzman, the sociopath who moves in next door, befriends her nebbish son, displays his body for Lopez at night in a well-lit bedroom across the way, seduces her and then stalks her in escalating scenes of nightmarish threat and violence.



It all ends with bizarre family togetherness, but before that, Lopez goes dumb in major ways aside from having humped a high school sociopath. Her bestie phones Lopez to come over right away because she's in trouble. When Lopez pulls up and the house is totally dark, is she cautious? Nope. Does she call first? No again. She rushes inside. When the lights don't work, does she back out and dial 911? Well, you guessed it. She proceeds alone and unarmed into the large dark house, calling out her friend's name.

And in her final confrontation with the psycho hunk, when she gets a chance to take him down, she clunks him on the head just once. Duh! When he's knocked out, she doesn't finish the job or even kick him a few times to further incapacitate him, despite knowing how dangerous and twisted he is. He's tied up her husband and son, threatened to kill them both, killed her best friend, and was going to turn the barn they're all in into a giant funeral pyre. But of course she turns her back on him.

And of course that one blow doesn't do the trick. He predictably rises up and attacks her again. More mayhem ensues...and Lopez shrieks enough to win a Yoko Ono Award.

You'd think after Scream had eviscerated this kind of plotting years ago, writers would be embarrassed to have their characters behave like dummies, but Hollywood keeps churning out femjep films.

Sadly, this one was co-produced by Lopez herself.

Lev Raphael is the author of The Edith Wharton Murders and 24 other books in genres from memoir to mystery.

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There Is No Theatre Without the Writers

June 12, 2015, 6:24 am

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I congratulate the Tony broadcast and do not seek to chastise it, but I want to call attention to the telecast which was well paced and well-intentioned to serve the theatre lovers of America. Disclosure: I have nothing to do with producing on Broadway. My company serves the theatre community and we license shows after their lives Broadway to some 35,000 high schools, 70,000 grade schools, 10,000 community theatres and thousands of professional theatres throughout America and in many other countries. There are (in the USA) about five million households (approximately 15 million Americans) that care about or are involved in theatre.

Since the broadcast, constituents we serve have started to question us about the omission of any awards on camera for the winning playwrights, composers or lyricists (who create and own these shows)! They have contacted us with only one question: "Why?" because our company is regarded by them as a repository of the largest collection of musicals in the United States, licensing musical shows to these students and adults, and it is they who principally comprise the audience watching the Tonys.

There is no theatre (whether it be a play or a musical) without the writers. They are the foundation, indispensable heart and essence of everything that appears on the stage; be it a play or a musical, whether in a school, community theatre, a church, or professional theatre in any town in America and also of course on Broadway (plus more than the 68 countries around the world that regularly produce and perform American theatre.)

Writing a play is lonely. It takes hard work, discipline and craft, requiring an author to bring characters to life and tell a story. Authors imagine words as dialogue being delivered by actors who need direction. The structure and story have to keep the audience interested and (hopefully) involved. All of this starts with the mind and talents of a writer. With a musical, it is more complex because that requires a collaboration of different talents getting along, setting egos aside and working toward a common goal without any science or magic formula. It requires organic trial and error and relies on a sort of alchemy for how scenes evolve into songs, songs replace dialogue and dialogue then continues. The songs can bring tears to the eyes, add laughter, lighten the heart and the dialogue continues the story and seamlessly melds with the music and the lyrics into one great surge of impact on the audience. The music often subconsciously acts like great motion picture scores, driving emotions of fear, tension, anxiety and romance, and most of this takes place without the audience being aware what is happening to them. They've either had a good time or not at the end of the evening. They either remember it or they don't... and sometimes they find it indelible and life-changing, or end up arguing afterwards about the meaning and their respective interpretations of what it all meant! Hopefully they are never bored.

Authors work for years together to make this experience happen. You cannot phone it in or research it on Google. You have to work hard. You have to work with each other and often, reverse course and be willing to try again, and then again, with discipline and resilience and courage.

This form of communication at the end of the day is purely an American trait and quintessentially an American art form. The idea of transporting an audience from a seat in a dark theatre to the stage, to suspend belief in everything around them, to keep them from clearing their throats, spending hours in a fabricated world that mesmerizes, enlightens, entertains, is provocative and (at times) hysterically funny and/or disturbing is no accident. Hard work, craft and talent as the crux of storytelling in a very special way and the best of the best should be given their due, the winners their moment. We join our constituents in their disappointment.

It was particularly disheartening to witness the absence of Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron as the historically significant first all-female team to break through and write the Tony winner for Best Musical: the adventuresome, dazzling Fun Home, based on Allison Bechtel's book based on her life.

Oscar Hammerstein, a legendary lyricist (who this year might well have not have been invited to the podium with Richard Rodgers to accept their award), wrote words spoken by the character who plays the King of Siam in their Tony winning musical THE KING AND I and the King says: "Tis a puzzlement" and I say: "Tis sad."

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A-Sides With Jon Chattman: Unsinkable -- 'Life' With Flagship and 'Fantasy' With Fireships

June 12, 2015, 6:27 am

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For a two-member band, Flagship certainly make a lot of noise, and I don't mean that in a toddler (or STOMP) slamming pots and pans kind of way. Drake Margolnick and Michael Finster have a mysterious, sometimes subtly big sound - churning out dreamy alt-rock tracks with traces of folk and even retro '80s flair. That's a lot of adjectives, but here we are.

Speaking of which, "Life Underwater," the debut single from the Charlotte, NC-bred band, is quite infectious - easily in the top five best songs of 2015 so far. It's no wonder the song heated up alt-rock radio charts when it dropped a few months back. Thankfully, their self-titled debut album is just as deeply felt and, um, heard. Flagship are already working on an EP and sophomore LP, and thank goodness for that. Moving to the more immediate, they recently performed a pair of tracks acoustically and sat down for a chat - all for A-Sides.

Watch it all - filmed at Primary Wave in New York City - below. Yeah, you will.

"Life Underwater"


Want more Flagship? Check out the exclusive A-Sides interview and performance of "Faded" here.

Keeping with the sort of "two ships passing in the night" theme, we move to Fireships, the Brooklyn band created by Honey Brothers founder and NYC vet (music vet not actual veterinarian) Andrew Vladeck. Like Flagship, the band's self-titled debut comes at you with an alt-rock, folksy vibe but skews more Americana.

Vladeck's "veteranness" matched with his band mates Lauren Balthrop, Jason Lawrence, Chris Buckridge, and Hannah Thiem's awesomeness make for one singular takeaway: it's a carefully crafted, fun record. Watch "Fantasy" below, and follow the links to some more goodness.

"Fantasy"


Want more? Check out "Come Back to Me" here, and the A-Sides interview - also shot at Primary Wave - here.

A-Sides "Delve Into Twelve" Countdown
Each week A-Sides unleashes its top 12 tracks of the week AKA the "Delve Into Twelve" based on the following contributing factors: songs I'm playing out that particular week (no matter when they were released - think overlooked songs, unreleased tracks and old favorites), songs various publicists are trying to get me to listen to that I did and dug a bunch, song posts and trends I've noticed on my friends' Facebook walls and, most importantly: what my toddler is currently enjoying thoroughly with an assist from my newborn.



About A-Sides With Jon Chattman:
Jon Chattman's music series features celebrities and artists (established or not) from all genres of music performing a track and discussing what it means to them. This informal series focuses on the artist making art in a low-threatening, extremely informal (sometime humorous) way. No bells, no whistles, just the music performed in a random, low-key setting followed by an unrehearsed chat. In an industry where everything often gets overblown and overmanufactured, Jon strives for a refreshing change. Artists have included fun., Charli XCX, Imagine Dragons, Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, Gary Clark Jr., STP, American Authors, Echosmith,and many, many more!



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Podcast Review: Pistol Shrimps Radio

June 12, 2015, 7:04 am

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There's a new podcast, Pistol Shrimps Radio (eight episodes so far), that's the answer to the prayers of listeners who love the action of women's rec league basketball.

Sort of.

The LA-based Pistol Shrimps really exist (as featured in a GQ article last fall) and one of their team members is Amanda Lund.

That's where the trouble starts.

Lund is the girlfriend of podcaster Matt Gourley, ringleader and cast member of the Superego podcast. He's got two other shows besides and "I thought, 'I only have three podcasts. I really need a fourth."

That's what Gourley shot me back when I asked him the question "Why?" on the Internet. He dragged fellow Superegoist Mark McConville in to help him provide a running play-by-play and color commentary of the basketball games as they are actually happening, set up more or less courtside.

The whole thing is completely improvised with no editing ("The one rule I made for myself is that this show gets NO EDITING," wrote Gourley. "That's what kills me in podcasting.")

The two guys, as the announcers, bounce back and forth between drooling over sexy male refs and leering at the players, in between describing the action on the court -- which is ever more obtuse as neither guy in real life knows much about basketball. In the halftime break they're joined by podcaster/rapper/wrestler Jensen Karp, who describes in detail the socks worn by the players.

The whole thing's funny, fast-paced, and has hilarious flubs along the way because of Gourley's "no editing" rule: "It's the loosest thing I've ever done - and that's kind of the point. It's nice to do something really mediocre - it's much harder to fail at it!"

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Podcasts I'm also listening to this week: Dear Hank & John -- The Debut: Do You Pee on Your Own Head? and Deetales Podcast: This Gon' Be

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The Pistol Shrimps Radio review originally posted as part of This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com.

Marc Hershon is the host and executive producer of Succotash, The Comedy Podcast Podcast, featuring clips from comedy podcasts from across the Internet as well as interviews with podcasters, comedians, and assorted show biz folk.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

No, They Didn't Do the Same Thing: Why It's Dangerous to Compare Josh Duggar and Lena Dunham

June 12, 2015, 8:08 am

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A couple weeks ago, I wrote about Josh Duggar. In the comments section, someone made a comparison to Lena Dunham; the author came to the conclusion that she got a pass for molesting her sister because she's a feminist liberal with a show on HBO. He claimed by society not condemning Dunham, it was perpetuating a double standard. A number of other people chimed in -- some agreed, some didn't. My friend Rhylee pointed the comment out to me, and I considered replying, but ultimately decided not to because the two incidents were so obviously dissimilar that I figured this argument would be a one-off.

Boy, was I wrong.

On June 4, 2015, Bristol Palin, famous for being the daughter of former Alaska governor and U.S. vice president candidate Sarah Palin, published a blog post catchily entitled, "Let's Get This Straight, Liberals -- What Kinds of Molestation are Acceptable?" In it, she makes the same comparison between the actions of Lena Dunham and the actions of Josh Duggar; she rails against the unfairness of the liberal media's double standards and concludes, "Liberals in today's media can do no wrong, while conservatives can do no right."

Sarah Palin then promoted her daughter's blog in a lengthy post on Facebook; she, too, espouses the Dunham/Duggar comparison, sympathizing, "I hate for anyone to go through this game liberals are allowed to play, relentlessly attacking on an uneven playing field until a conservative's career, relationships and reputation are destroyed." Her appearance on Hannity three days ago was filled with more of the same.

I can't believe we need to have this conversation, but apparently, we do. So, let's get two things straight right off the bat:

1) This is not a game. This is a serious situation about a sexual predator and children and the family that protected the former and devalued the latter.

2) This is not about politics.

Lena Dunham and Josh Duggar did different things. Lena Dunham, at the age of 7, asked her mother if her 1-year-old little sister had a vagina like hers. A few days later, she looked -- yes, in fact, her little sister did have a smaller version of the same vagina.

This is not a perversion. This is not sexual. Genitalia is not and should not be inherently sexual. This is anatomical curiosity, from a young child, that involved no sexual touching and no sexual pleasure. Developmental psychologist Ritch Savin-Williams, director of the Sex and Gender Lab at Cornell University, told Slate, "This is clearly not a case of abuse. Children have been doing this stuff forever and ever and ever and ever, and they will do it forever and ever and ever."

Admittedly, Dunham writes about another experience with her little sister in which she tried to bribe her with candy and tried "anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl." While this is a joke in poor taste, and has been criticized as demonstrative of Dunham's privilege, it's a joke made precisely because she wasn't a sexual predator -- she was a little girl.

Josh Duggar has admitted to molesting five girls, including four of his sisters. He was 14 and 15 when he fondled the girls both while they were asleep and while they were awake and both under and over their clothes.

This is sexual. Fondling is sexual. Josh Duggar was intent on sexual pleasure when he committed these acts. That, and the respective ages of Dunham and Duggar, makes these situations very different.

The Palins have asserted the liberal media controls what is and is not publicized, and, furthermore, that these are similar incidents the media treated differently because of the politics of the people involved.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

That position isn't only incorrect -- the incidents are not the same -- it's dangerous. It's dangerous because it minimizes and trivializes sexual assault.

We live and operate in rape culture. Now, before you start yelling that Josh Duggar didn't rape his sisters, he only molested them, let's have a conversation about what rape culture actually is -- because it's not just about rape.

Rape culture is our refusal to accept that most sexual assaults (be it penetrative rape or something else) are committed by ordinary men, not men that would otherwise seem to be violent criminals. Rape culture is women being afraid to report sexual assault because they fear backlash and victim blaming. Rape culture is women being told not to dress provocatively, to carry a rape whistle, to never let their drink out of sight, to not walk home alone at night, instead of men being told not to commit sexual assault. Rape culture is blatant disbelief when a woman says she's been assaulted.

Rape culture is a product of sexism and a patriarchal society, which is why when we talk about rape culture, we talk about men assaulting women. Please note: this should never be construed to say that women can't assault men, that women can't assault other women or that men can't assault other men. Rather, the notion of rape culture is used describe the dominant sexual assault patterns in our society, where they come from and where they lead. It's used to describe what a woman faces when she wants to come forward about an attack. It's what she will face as she attempts to regain some sense of normality in her life. If she comes forward, she will be doubted, she will potentially be publicly vilified and she will lose her privacy.

This is all very serious.

What's not serious is a normal exploration of the human body where there was no victim and no sexual gratification. In fact, such an exploration is normal and natural -- children want to explore both their own bodies and the bodies of their friends and families.

By raising Lena Dunham's actions to the level of Josh Duggar's, you provide an opportunity for people to look at what happened and say, "That's not that bad. That's not a difficult thing to admit to. Sexual assault isn't that serious, after all." Calling something sexual assault that clearly isn't helps no one; worse, it diminishes the trauma of real sexual assault and its consequences.

And that, Palins, is the real outrage.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-656-HOPE for the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

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ReThink Review: Love & Mercy -- Mental Illness on the Beach

June 12, 2015, 8:47 am

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The songs we love have an almost magical ability to access our hearts, memories, and souls, which explains why humans will always be fascinated by musicians and filmmakers will continue to make movies about them. But despite directors' best efforts, the mystery of how music originates in a musician's mind often remains inscrutable, especially for the vast majority of us who have never written a tune. Maybe that's why we so easily talk about an artist's "vision" but don't even have a word for the sounds a musician "hears" in her head before attempting to perform them.

What I appreciate about Love & Mercy, the fantastic new film about Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, is its assertion that true musical genius is an ineffable gift -- and potentially a curse -- bestowed upon the rare few. But the process of getting songs from a musician's mind to the listeners' ears is the knowable job of the producer, requiring his ability to recreate those mental sounds using whatever tools he deems necessary. Which for Wilson, as he recorded the Beach Boys' seminal album Pet Sounds, involved making music in ways that had never been done before. Watch the trailer for Love & Mercy below.




Instead of a more traditional biopic structure, Love & Mercy interweaves moments from the two most important periods of Wilson's life during the mid 1960s and early 1980s. Paul Dano plays Wilson in his twenties after the Beach Boys had become international stars, storming the charts with a slew of hits that immortalized the "California sound" and its images of endless summer fun, surfing, bikini-clad girls, and fast cars. But Wilson, who was beginning to show signs of the mental illness that would follow him throughout his life, made the decision to let the band tour without him so he could focus on writing new songs and recording them using studio techniques that were considered revolutionary for a pop album, including the use of orchestral instruments, complex harmonies, and even animal noises.

The second period finds John Cusack playing Wilson in his forties as he's emerging from a years-long breakdown under the oppressive care of his therapist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), who keeps Wilson heavily medicated as he takes control of nearly every aspect of Wilson's life. Elizabeth Banks plays Melinda Ledbetter, a Cadillac dealer who falls in love with Wilson and attempts to free him from Landy's domineering, abusive influence.

It was definitely a risk to have two such different-looking actors playing the same person, but Dano and Cusack's performances are so fantastic and achingly sincere that it won't give you much pause, especially since they capture Wilson at such radically different stages of his life. Dano's Wilson is a force of youthful ambition, potential, and excitement as he attempts to translate the sounds in his head into music he can share with his band and the world, even as emotional scars and the mental condition that seems to be inspiring his work show the dark edges that would eventually overtake and incapacitate him. Cusack, in perhaps his most vulnerable performance to date, shows Wilson as he has only partially emerged, unrecognizable, from the wreckage of that darkness, only to be subsumed by a new darkness imposed on him by Landy, with Meredith as his sole ray of light. Banks gives a great performance that goes way beyond being a supportive girlfriend/witness, while Giamatti gives what I consider a classic Giamatti performance as the sort of raging, domineering boss/manager jerk he often played earlier in his career.

People who love movies often repeat the quote that film is a visual medium -- and for good reason. But that should not take away from the fact that sound is at least half of the experience of watching a movie, and perhaps more since a movie's images appear separated from us on a giant flat screen while sound in a modern theater happens around us in three dimensions, perfectly replicating how we perceive sound in real life. That's what makes film such a terrific medium for a story like Wilson's, a man who heard complex, swirling, multi-layered sound in his head and realized that he could reproduce what he heard if he treated the recording studio not as a room to record voices and instruments, but as an instrument itself -- a space for pure sound. Not only does Love & Mercy let us audibly experience what Wilson heard in his mind, it effectively uses a documentary shooting style to put us inside those exciting, joyful, though often contentious studio sessions as Wilson's bandmates and the best studio musicians attempted to wrap their brains around and fulfill Wilson's sonic fantasy.

With its intriguing subject, terrific performances, and willingness to take chances, Love & Mercy sets a new bar for musician biopics while thankfully avoiding the convention of attempting to encapsulate an entire career or life into one film. Two things that are exceedingly difficult to achieve in film are to bring the audience into the minds of geniuses and people with mental illness, and Love & Mercy is able to do both through the performances of Dano and Cusack, which will draw in even those whose knowledge of the Beach Boys doesn't extend beyond their biggest hits, showing how a pioneering prodigy and legend can be as fragile and yearning as any of us.



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Is the Odd Antitrust Investigation Into Apple Music a Failure to Innovate?

June 12, 2015, 11:22 am

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You've probably heard that Apple and the major labels are being "investigated" over Apple Music by the Department of Justice, the European Commission as well as State attorneys general for New York and Connecticut.

Understand that the way most of these investigations get started is that someone complained to the antitrust authorities. Who would complain loudly enough to get the attention of so many law enforcement agencies? Most likely Spotify and its board member Google in this case.

Yes, that's right. Another Valley-style example of interlocking boards of companies that are supposed to be competitors. Because that would be the same Google that owns YouTube, often described as Spotify's biggest competitor--at least before Apple Music. (Well-respected tech reporter Kara Swisher reported in Re/code that Omid Kordestani, chief business officer of Google, joined the Spotify board, and a former YouTube product head Shishir Mehrotra left Google to become a special adviser to CEO Daniel Ek and the company's management.)

So why might Spotify and Google complain to antitrust authorities? For one reason, Google and Spotify are probably stronger together than at least Spofiy is on its own. Google knows its way around the antitrust regimes quite well as it is to one degree or another under investigation by all of them. Google might find portraying itself as a victim could help their various cases, particularly before the European Commission's competition commission. Some might describe this tactic as corporate "lawfare", the use of the law to make war upon your competitors who you don't want to just meet in the channel like a normal person.

So unless these investigations are a hunting party gunning for Google competitors, I think that's a very encouraging sign for a number of reasons, none of which being the ones that Google and Spotify have in mind.

1. Investigate Everyone: Since governments are supposed to do justice, then let's investigate everyone. Spotify recently announced that "Spotify is half of the $1.5 billion global subscription streaming market" which sounds like a dominant market position that should cause antitrust regulators look twice. So by their own admission, Spotify is at least dominant in that market, so what have they been up to in doing things like using their market dominance to bully Taylor Swift?

Of course we all know how Google treats artists based on any one of a number of unnecessary debacles for YouTube, such as YouTube's bullying of Zoë Keating. Google clearly uses its market power against independent artists and record labels alike. If there's going to be an investigation of the streaming business, then let's investigate everybody.

It's a little odd that antitrust regulators are taking cues from Spotify and Google, two dominant firms in the relevant market who clearly are apprehensive about the mere fact that Apple is entering the market with what may be a better mousetrap. You would think that Google and Spotify would welcome new competitors entering the market rather than clinging to the buggy whip.

2. The Freemium Buggywhip: What's really got Google and Spotify scared may be what happens if the market tells them that the "freemium" model hasn't worked? What if the market says we don't want advertising? Because make no mistake, this is just as much about YouTube as it is about Spotify. What if the market says we're tired of our music being used for one long commercial and however much money you pay us it's just not worth it?

A free market deal that rejects the ad supported model that Google's ad networks provide to Spotify and of course to YouTube? You would think that Silicon Valley free marketeers would celebrate such innovation and competition. As the music business has been told many times, that's the problem of the buggy whip maker holding on to a past whose time has come.

3. What Taylor Swift Proved: What is driving this is a bona fide use case: Taylor Swift. Taylor proved once and for all that Spotify needs hits and hits don't need Spotify. Often over looked in the reporting on Taylor's withdrawal from Spotify is she also pretty much withdrew from YouTube except for current singles that were predominantly available on Vevo which pays more than YouTube. And none of the fans complained-they even applauded her. So how were consumers "harmed" again?

Google and Spotify would like artists to believe that artists are dependent on YouTube and Spotify for hits. If you measure hits by streams that produce negligible income and actually cannibalize sales, then you have a different view of a "hit" than anyone does who has P/L responsibility.

This is not to say that there is no music discovery value to YouTube and Spotify, but it is becoming apparent that their true value to breaking artists may be far less than the conventional wisdom and that their value to hit records is not only out of balance, it may actually be counterproductive.

When the world wakes up to this, more hit records may look like Taylor Swift-that is, not so involved with YouTube and not on Spotify at all. Did anyone ever say that record clubs made hits? YouTube and Spotify are a lot more like record clubs with an algorithm than tastemakers like NPR Music or Zane Lowe.

3. Ignoring Taylor Swift: I don't think it's a coincidence that Universal started a major restructuring of their company after the Taylor Swift use case and that the direction of that restructuring was away from free.

Since Universal were in the middle of a renegotiation of their deal with Spotify during the Taylor Swift release, it should come as no surprise that the wisdom of staying in the free model came under additional scrutiny since it was failing so badly. And failing completely independently of Apple Music.

And this is the takeaway: You would have to be very short sighted to just ignore the Taylor Swift experience and blindly cling to the "freemium" buggy whip. Free might have been a good idea a few years ago, but it hadn't delivered on its promise. It was time to move on.

4. How Much to Bribe the Richest Company in the World? Set aside how utterly daft it is to think that Apple was so afraid of a broken model at Google and Spotify that they'd have to get protection in order to even launch a music service they already paid $3 billion to acquire and clearly were going to launch unless hell freezes over. Also set aside how insulting it is that a company with Apple's integrity with artists would need to be bribed in order to compete against Google and Spotify.

How much would it take to bribe Apple? Think about that for a minute or two and the absurdity of the idea will come to you.

5. When Were the Beats Deals Concluded? Remember, Beats was a going concern well before Apple acquired the company. It's highly likely that all the deals for Beats were done before Spotify hit its self-inflicted downward spiral in the press over Taylor Swift. So it's not clear what these law enforcement agencies will be investigating.

So the key takeaways: There are good market place reasons to question whether to continue with free at all, demonstrated by Taylor Swift. On a more profound level, those reasons may support questioning the validity of Web 2.0 advertising driven business models altogether. Anything that doesn't sell advertising is anathema to Google the Spotify board member, because that might get people to question the very business model that contributes over 90% of Google's revenue. And you don't want to be a buggy whip maker who can't innovate, right?

Connecticut State Attorney General George Jepsen has already said "that his office was satisfied that Universal [Music Group] did not have anti-competitive agreements to withhold music titles from free services" according to NPR.

But if there is to be an investigation, let's investigate everyone including who fed these complaints to law enforcement resulting in a negative announcement the very day that Apple Music launched.

The timing is a little too odd.

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At the Heart of It: Colleen Raney on Music and Connection

June 12, 2015, 11:32 am

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Ask almost any artist, and he or she will tell you the expression of art is about far more than the art form itself. Painting goes beyond canvas and oils. Dancing is not just about choreography. Acting is more than memorizing and repeating lines. And for Colleen Raney, Irish singer, singing and music transcend sounds and lyrics and tunes, to serve a much greater purpose: connection.

"Live interaction with people, telling of stories, exchange of information, the ability to learn from the solidarity of shared experience as reflected in music," these are what Colleen values about music, about art. "We have been conditioned by so much of our day-to-day life to fear any sort of emotional connection or investment, to avoid vulnerability, to surpass our own humanity. This struggle is where art lives."


Photography by Della Chen

Though Colleen didn't initially set out to be a musician, in the crisp vision of hindsight, her path seems inevitable.

Colleen, who now lives in Portland, Oregon, grew up in Seattle, where she spent her childhood Irish dancing and singing in church and school choirs. In Colleen's family, music was simply a part of everyday family life. "Something to love. Something to feel connected to. Just a thing we did," she says, "but never because it was our job. [My brother] Mark is a doctor, for example, and my sisters are teachers, and accountants, and real estate agents. I was in school studying engineering first and then moved over to theatre. I finished an MFA in acting in 2001 and still was just playing with Mark and with [the musical group] Magical Strings because it was a fun thing to do and not because it was my job. I taught high school for three years and moved to New York where I quickly found work as an actor and traveled and toured for a few years."


Coastal Celtic Festival, 2010

Even with moving into theatre, music still didn't take its hold on Colleen for a few more years. Colleen studied voice in high school, college, grad school, and then professionally in New York, but it wasn't until the late 2000s that she picked up the guitar and bodhrán and started playing them again.

"I moved home from New York to deal with a family issue, and wasn't really sure what I was going to do -- stay or go back -- when I ran into (musician) Hanz Araki at a party. We decided to make an album then (2008) and recorded Linnet, my first of four albums, that autumn. That's when Irish music became a career in addition to a personal interest."


In Dublin, 2013 / Photography by Orla McGann

What inspires Colleen these days? "At the moment, the thing that is most inspiring, musically and otherwise, is authenticity. By that I don't mean pedigree, or immersion, or legitimacy. I mean the sense that you get from a person, piece of music, painting, meal, conversation, that there is something present there that is real, and gritty, and substantial. The quiet center of things is where I find most of my interest and inspiration. I seek the heart of matters, of people, of songs, of melodies."

To Colleen, music and art offer a way for us to move beyond the masks and walls we all live with, even if only for a short time, and truly connect. "The veil that comes down when a show starts is fear. I don't mean stage fright (that doesn't ever go away). I mean the fear of vulnerability that many of us put on every morning as we begin our day. It gets checked at the door when people come in because we all agree to suspend reality for a tiny bit and live in a world where saying exactly how you feel about something or expressing a big emotion or thought doesn't create awkward responses and emotional distance."


Photography by Della Chen

Connecting without those barriers is vulnerable, but yet, says Colleen, "We want to experience it, either from a performer's perspective, or from an audience experience. We want to be moved, to be changed, to emerge somehow subtly, but significantly different. We want to feel something. We want to feel like feeling something is okay. And we place our trust and our hope and expectation on the artist to provide that opportunity for us -- the place where we get to not feel lost for a little while because someone has this under control. That is a deep responsibility and an incredible honor."

"I think we all feel a little lost. Not everybody all the time, but everybody feels lost at one point or another in their lives. Some folks more often than others. We see these brightly packaged options for when we feel lost. Midlife crisis. Fancy vacation. Career change. Dramatic appearance change. Entire industries exist because we come face to face with our fragility at some point in our lives. Because feeling lost is hard. It's made up of feeling vulnerable and scared and alone and we doubt and we feel foolish and we don't know where to turn."


Photography by Della Chen

As for her chosen genre, Colleen believes there's something about folk music that has a lasting appeal to people, a staying power, a core truth and appeal that survive trends and time. "Folk music traditions carry these stories, lessons, emotions, reflections, fantasies, and possible solutions in them as well. Generations of people have experienced a thing enough to preserve a song from some time in the 14th century -- that can be pretty reassuring in a lot of ways."

The folk arts -- music, gardening, canning, knitting, old time gatherings, swing dance communities, etc. -- are popular, she believes, because, "I think it's the way back to self.... It makes us feel a little less lost and a little more connected to a history of things that got us here in the first place."


Photography by Kimi Kolba

What does Colleen want from her career, from life? "To be a part of something that has value, integrity, elegance, depth, and respect. If I am to be recognized at all, I'd like it to be as a contributor rather than a maverick. Why does a person perform rather than just stay home and play the music for the love of the music? The answer isn't that I think I have any particular value over anyone else. It's maybe that my contribution is as a conduit. For the history, for the legacy, for the simple and inherent beauty of traditional song. When I perform, these days, the thing that feels joyful is similar to the feeling a person gets when he or she opens up a very old book. Touching something far bigger, that has been here for a lot longer than I have. The gossamer thread that binds one generation to another. To know that these words and these notes were sung a hundred years ago by someone else sitting on a different continent for different reasons. It's like having Alice's looking glass in a lot of ways."

Colleen is currently touring the Pacific Northwest with appearances in the Northeast and California through the summer and autumn. For booking information contact info@littlesearecords.com.

Find Colleen at her website, and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.


Photography by Jilly Lancaster

Also published at pamstucky.com.

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Phineas and Ferb finale, Last Day of Summer, may not be as final as we think

June 12, 2015, 11:47 am

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In Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along (which is this wonderful if flawed musical about friendship & show business), there's this particular line of dialogue that talks about the importance of a properly timed exit. It states that ...

"You know what true greatness is? It's knowing when to get off."

Well, tonight -- after 126 episodes, five one-hour specials, and a Disney Channel Original movie -- "Phineas and Ferb" are heading for the exit. Not because anyone in Mouse House upper management decided to pull the pull on this Emmy Award-winning animated series. But -- rather -- because Dan Povenmire & Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (i.e., this show's creator) decided that it was time.



"Look, without naming any names here, we all know that there have been TV shows that overstayed their welcomes. Who did themselves a real disservice by hanging in there a season or three too long," Povenmire said during a recent phone interview. "And we just didn't want that to be the case with 'Phineas and Ferb.' We didn't want our show to be one of those that wore out its welcome. We really wanted to go out strong. Shut down production while people were still fond of the show and its characters."

"Besides -- in the animation world -- it's just so rare that that a show actually gets to do a finale," Marsh stated. "Which is why we feel so honored & privileged that Disney allowed us to do this."

And given that "Phineas and Ferb" has always talked about making the most of those "104 days of summer vacation," it's entirely appropriate that this show's finale (which airs tonight on Disney XD and simulcast on Disney Channel at 9 p.m. ET?PT) is entitled "The Last Day of Summer." Ah, but thanks to Dr. Doofenshmirtz' latest invention -- the do-over-inator -- and Candace's determination to bust her brothers -- tonight's episode is really the last day of Summer by way of Groundhog Day.



"For a couple of years now, we've been thinking about how we should bring 'Phineas and Ferb' to a close. And then somebody pitched the idea of the show doing its own version of Groundhog Day. And I thought that that was perfect. Because that's what Phineas and Ferb would do if they could. They'd find a way to artificially extend that very last day of Summer," Dan admitted. "So we just took that idea and ran with it."

And to make sure that this particular episode of "Phineas and Ferb" was a true celebration of the show, Povenmire and Marsh pulled out all the stops. They used every asset at their disposal to make sure that this finale was a genuinely memorable one.

"Take -- for example -- the opening number for 'The Last Day of Summer.' We had built a 3D model of Phineas and Ferb's neighborhood for "Night of the Living Pharmacists," which was this episode of the show that we did back in the Fall of 2014," Swampy admitted. "Dan remembered that we had this asset and said 'We've got this cool 3D neighborhood. Why don't we start the show off with a big musical number where the kids fly hover boards all over the neighborhood?' And that turned out to be a really fun way to kick off the finale."



And while Marsh & Povemire deliberately tried to craft the sort of celebratory send-off that that the fans of this Disney Channel / Disney XD show expected, at the same time, Dan & Swampy wanted to use this series finale as a way to pay tribute to some of the very talented people who helped to make "Phineas and Ferb" possible. Which is why -- if you watch tonight's episode closely -- you can briefly glimpse the faces of Vincent Martella, Thomas Sangster and Alyson Rae Stoner, the real-life performers who voice Phineas, Ferb and Isabella Garcia-Shapiro.

Given how ambitious & involved this particular episode of "Phineas and Ferb" was, it took a number of months for "The Last Day of Summer" to make its way through the production process. Povenmire & Marsh weren't actually able to deliver this show to Disney 'til just before Christmas 2014.

"Which made for kind of a blue Christmas. I remembering spending a lot of this past holiday season talking with my wife about 'Phineas and Ferb,' " Swampy said. "I mean, Dan and I spent the last 10 years of our lives working on this show. So it was a really big deal -- for me, anyway -- to finally be letting go of these characters."



Mind you, what's kind of ironic about all this is -- over these past few weeks, as Povenmire & Marsh have been doing interview after interview looking back on "Phineas and Ferb" -- they've also been hard at work on "Mikey Murphy's Law," a new animated series for Disney XD. Which should debut sometime in early 2017.

"And what's really cool is that -- in my mind, anyway -- Mikey Murphy just lives a couple of neighborhoods over from Phineas and Ferb," Dan said. "And given that these two animated series will have a similar sort of look & design ... Well, who knows? If 'Mikey Murphy's Law' is successful, maybe a few years further on down the line, we could do a crossover episode where the Mikey Murphy characters get to interact with the Phineas and Ferb characters. I'd love to get the chance to do a show like that."

So given that the idea for a "Mikey Murphy's Law" / "Phineas and Ferb" crossover is already out there, tonight's finale may not be quite as final as we think. Especially when you take into consideration that Disney has " The O.W.C.A. Files," which is this hour-long special that focuses on Agent P and his fellow animal agents, scheduled for this Fall.



But even so, there are going to be some very blue Phineas and Ferb fans when "The Last Day of Summer" airs tonight on Disney XD and simulcast on Disney Channel at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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Ornette Coleman and the Beat Generation Literati

June 12, 2015, 11:47 am

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A Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Fellow, jazzman Ornette Coleman died this week at age 85. Ornette Coleman's extraordinary career as an alto saxophone performer dovetailed with several poetry movements in America including his friendship and collaborations with the Beat Generation writers. He made the soundtracks on David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch (1991), based on William Burroughs' classic novel, featuring a sequence in the "Interzone" marketplace, a stand in for Tangier, and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky (1990), based on Paul Bowles' book about a Western couple travelling in Morocco.

In 1973, Coleman traveled to the Rif mountains of Morocco to collaborate with the famed Master Musicians of Jajouka; a short recording of these encounters, "with the Jajouka reed players' untempered approach, confirmed his belief that the "concert key" system of Western tonality was misguided, appeared on his album "Dancing in Your Head," released in 1977," according to Ben Ratliff in Thursday's New York Times obituary. As recently as 2013, "The Road to Jajouka," with the Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar, and Medeski Martin & Wood, Mickey Hart, Flea, DJ Logic, John Zorn, Howard Shore.

In 1999, at the opening for a major Francesco Clemente exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, Jill Krementz took this photograph of me alongside Ornette Coleman. At work on a new photography book that will include a shot of Ornette Coleman with Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus, Krementz has graciously allowed me use of this photo.

A version of this post also appears on Gossip Central.

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AFI Docs: Where Policy Meets Art

June 12, 2015, 11:55 am

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AFI Docs Silver Theater, courtesy AFI Docs

There are thousands of film festivals in the world. A festival for every flavor of filmmaking from features, shorts, animation, horror, women, wildlife, documentaries and even for films featuring moustaches. Each one's vying for eyeballs. There are just a handful of fests that are considered important.

The top tier fests, Venice, Cannes, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin attract audiences, media and distributors who come mainly for the narrative fiction films and celebrities. The increasing importance of documentaries has given rise to a selection of fests focused specifically on non-fiction films. One of the best, AFI Docs, put on annually by the American Film Institute in and around Washington, D.C., opens next week, June 17 and runs through the 21st.

I spoke with the festival's new director, Michael Lumpkin about what sets AFI Docs apart and why people should go to festivals when they can sit home and watch TV. Here's an edited portion of our conversation.

Q: Why a festival in Washington, D.C.?

Lumpkin: It's about great documentary filmmakers and about geography. This region has the most highly educated population in the country and they have a keen interest in film. That's a documentary audience.

Q: What else about D.C.? Does being in the Nation's capitol influence the film selection?

Lumpkin: We purposely connect issues and politics that are going on in legislation and policy. We connect films and filmmakers to people who are working on these issues. We have really informed conversations after the screenings at the festival.

Q. How do you do you connect filmmakers to this ecosystem?

Lumpkin: This year we have an experiment, an impact lab, where we'll plug films and filmmakers into conversations with policymakers to talk about how to make sure their films have impact. Two days before the festival they'll meet legislators, strategists and others and discuss how to create awareness around important issues. They'll also meet with donors and talk about funding strategies.

Q. I noticed a lot of the documentaries are produced, directed, edited or scored by women. More than we'll find in the narrative fiction world. Almost 50% of the films shown at the recent Sheffield Documentary Festival were by women? Are women more represented in documentaries than in fiction?

Lumpkin: The data support that. A much higher percentage of women work in documentaries. This year over 40% (48%) of the films we're screening are by women. There's still a lot of work to be done. There's still a glass ceiling.

Q. What can we expect to see this year?

Lumpkin: In the films you'll meet extraordinary people. Great biographies. Some famous like Steve Jobs, LA Food critic Jonathan Gold, singers Nina Simone and Mavis Staples. And others like those who live in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan.

Q. What connects these films? Do they all open a window on a seldom seen world?

Lumpkin: You hear about the refugee problem in the media but you get to learn things in a long form documentary you can't in a 30-second news story. You connect with people in a situation and understand it in ways you wouldn't otherwise.

Q. What convinced you to take this job?

Lumpkin: What drew me was the potential of the festival, what can happen when we bring people together to experience documentaries in a unique way.

It's that hot and muggy time of the year in D.C. but the venues are all air-conditioned. So do yourself a favor and take in some of these exceptional films.

These are my recommendations and a link to order tickets. Most films screen more than one time and at different venues. Many screen in the evening so you can actually do your time in the cubicle during the day. In addition to these, try and make the time to see some of the shorts and some of the other films. Many of these you won't see on PBS, HBO or Netflix. This is your chance. If necessary, call in sick and go. You'll be glad you did.


To order tickets:


Wednesday June 17

Opening night gala; Magnolia Pictures' BEST OF ENEMIES, from director Robert Gordon and Academy Award®-winning director Morgan Neville (20 FEET FROM STARDOM), as the Opening Night film at AFI DOCS. Screening at the Newseum, followed by a discussion and Q&A with filmmakers Gordon and Neville. BEST OF ENEMIES features William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal's explosive debates during the 1968 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, aired live on ABC News. The documentary masterfully captures the dawn of pundit television as it is known today.

Thursday June 18

Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation
Two-time Oscar® winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA) focuses on the esteemed weekly The Nation. Founded in 1865 by abolitionist Republicans, the iconic progressive publication accepts no revenue from advertisers, enabling its ahead-of-the-pack critiques of the tobacco and automobile industries. Kopple follows the editorial production process, with insights from veteran editor Katrina vanden Heuvel. Facing industry challenges from all sides, this "lefty North Star" proves that print media have never mattered more.

Dir. Barbara Kopple; 2015; 93 min
• Thu, Jun 18 / 6:00PM / SILVER 1
• Fri, Jun 19 / 9:00PM / NAVAL HERITAGE CENTER

DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL LAMPOON
In 1969, three newly minted alumni of Harvard University hatched the idea to launch a humor magazine spun off from the Harvard Lampoon. Little did they realize that their creation would become ground zero for modern comedy as we know it today. DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD is a hilariously profane and illuminating trip into the past that dares to reveal the unhinged story behind one of the most influential magazines of our time.

Dir. Douglas Tirola; 2015; 94 min

• Thu, Jun 18 / 8:30PM / SILVER 1
• Sun, Jun 21 / 7:30PM / NAVAL HERITAGE CENTER

Friday June 19

The Diplomat
Richard Holbrooke was a crucial diplomatic negotiator for two Democratic presidents, but his charisma and his talent for foreign policy also came with a brashness that earned him nicknames such as "The Bulldozer." Through the eyes of Holbrooke's filmmaker son David Holbrooke, THE DIPLOMAT examines a career with global reach and unquestioned historical impact. Holbrooke's unflinching view of his father adds emotional resonance to a biography of one of the most influential public servants of the last five decades.

Dir. David Holbrooke; 2015; 103 min
• Fri, Jun 19 / 8:30PM / PORTRAIT GALLERY
• Sat, Jun 20 / 1:45PM / SILVER 1

Saturday June 20

STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE
To many, Steve Jobs was the genius visionary behind the meteoric rise of Apple Inc., which has dominated the tech industry since its inception in the late 1970s. To others, however, Jobs was a controversial figure who was as vilified as he was deified. Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE) takes a candid look at the iconic figure whose impact helped define the Silicon Valley tech culture before his untimely death in 2011.

Dir. Alex Gibney; 2015; 128 min
• Sat, Jun 20 / 6:30PM / SILVER 1
• Sun, Jun 21 / 2:15PM / NAVAL HERITAGE CENTER

Sunday June 21

MAVIS!
AFI DOCS CLOSING NIGHT
Mavis Staples, the legendary gospel and R&B singer, has been making music for more than 60 years. From her roots in Chicago with the family group The Staple Singers, led by her father, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, to her award-winning work as a solo artist, MAVIS! traces the life and career of this remarkable woman with the unstoppable voice. Filmmaker Jessica Edwards, whose short films SELTZER WORKS and TUGS screened at AFI DOCS in previous years, returns with her feature debut. The film includes contemporary interviews with Staples herself, Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy and Levon Helm, along with plenty of unforgettable,
soul-stirring music.

Dir. Jessica Edwards; 2015; 81 min
• Sun, Jun 21 / 7:00PM / PORTRAIT GALLERY

Also interested in seeing:

Thursday, June 18

THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION
The Black Panthers occupy legendary space in our 1960s pop culture narrative, but who were the people behind the legend? Director Stanley Nelson offers a film that is sure to become an essential history of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Using archival images and intimate interviews, Nelson introduces the Party leaders, the informants, the supporters and their ultimate undoing.

Dir. Stanley Nelson; 2015; 116 min
• Thu, Jun 18 / 4:00PM / SILVER 2
• Sat, Jun 20 / 6:00PM / LANDMARK 7

REQUIEM FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM
Our country was built on the idea of the American Dream, but is that dream dead? One of the most distinguished contemporary intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, offers a persuasive and riveting discourse on income inequality and its devastating effects, which threaten to erode democracy itself. With smart, fresh insight that opens the doors to a broader discussion, Chomsky's potent message could not be more timely.

Dir. Peter Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, Jared P. Scott; 2015; 75 min
• Thu, Jun 18 / 6:00PM / NAVAL HERITAGE CENTER
• Fri, Jun 19 / 6:45PM / SILVER 3
•
CARTEL LAND
Filmmaker Matthew Heineman (ESCAPE FIRE: THE FIGHT TO RESCUE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE) returns to AFI DOCS with a probing look inside the Wild West atmosphere of the drug war in Mexico. With astounding ground-level access, Heineman immerses himself in danger to follow a citizen uprising against the encroaching drug cartels. When government, police and sometimes even neighbors can't be trusted, for some the only answer is to fight fire with fire.

Dir. Matthew Heineman; 2015; 98 min
• Thu, Jun 18 / 3:15PM / SILVER 1
• Fri, Jun 19 / 8:30PM / LANDMARK 7

PROPHET'S PREY
Filmmaker Amy Berg (DELIVER US FROM EVIL) examines the controversies surrounding the rogue polygamist religious sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and its currently incarcerated leader, Warren Jeffs. Featuring riveting interviews with some who escaped as well as descendants of church leaders, PROPHET'S PREY sheds light on the allegations within the isolated group, including sexual abuse and underage marriages, that led to Jeffs' arrest, whose influence is still wielded from behind bars.

Dir. Amy Berg; 2015; 93 min
• Thu, Jun 18 / 7:00PM / SILVER 2
• Fri, Jun 19 / 2:30PM / LANDMARK 7

WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?
Nina Simone earned her moniker as the "High Priestess of Soul." Trained as a classical pianist in North Carolina when racism was open and rampant, Simone drew upon her struggles as she became one of jazz music's most beloved and complex figures. Director Liz Garbus (THE FARM: ANGOLA, USA) offers access into Simone's most intimate thoughts through her own words as the influential chanteuse became a leading voice for the civil rights movement of the late 1960s. Despite her enormous talent, however, Simone battled worsening demons that ultimately drove her into a life of seclusion in Liberia and France.

Dir. Liz Garbus; 2015; 102 min
• Fri, Jun 19 / 8:30PM / SILVER 1
• Sat, Jun 20 / 6:45PM / LANDMARK 6

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Actress Lindsey McKeon: Her New Venture and Getting Inside Chris Evans' Head

June 12, 2015, 11:58 am

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Lindsey McKeon has just posted her latest interview on her website. The actress then naturally tweets it out and then asks the interviewee if he can do the same. To the normal everyday person, this wouldn't be a big deal. Even to McKeon, it probably didn't run through her mind the magnitude. However the interviewee is a superhero. Okay not really, but he does play one in the movies. The interviewee in question was none other than Chris Evans. The two have been friends for years since meeting on the set of a series called Opposite Sex. After Evans tweeted out the link to his few million followers, McKeon's website lindseymckeonblog.com crashed due to the volume. Yes, "Captain America" crashed her site, a feat that only a select few in the social media world could accomplish. Still, Evans did state on his Twitter account that it was the "Favorite interview (He's) ever done. Ever." So, what is the website about and why did Lindsey McKeon start it?

Lindsey McKeon recently launched Healthy, Sexy, Mindful Living by Lindsey McKeon. McKeon, an actress, has worked steadily in Hollywood and is best known as Tessa/The Reaper on Supernatural and Taylor James on One Tree Hill. The idea for the site came to her on a few separate occasions. "In the beginning I shrugged it off because it didn't feel organic to me." McKeon states. "I'm not a fan of forcing anything just because I'm told there may be a benefit to it." She states. However after sitting on the idea for a while, she got inspired to create. "I realized that yes, I could do it my own way, sharing things that were important to me. And that felt exciting." She exclaims.

The site is a reflection of how McKeon lives her own life. She uses both her experiences and the experiences of others to empower and share knowledge and insights on how we can live our best lives. She believes being aware of one's self is one of the keys to achieving this. "I've learned and experienced so much of my own life through awareness." She states. "Awareness of the self, awareness of the habits and programmed behavior that keep us reactive, and ultimately keep us from joy. In the present moment joy is abundant. And if we slow down long enough, we are able to see that it is our nature." She says.



(Lindsey McKeon by Photographer: Brad Everett Young)

Her article "Getting Inside Chris Evans' Head" is a set of videos where we learn some new things about Evans'. Some of the questions include "What terrifies you?" and "What do you do or practice to continue your growth?" These are not the typical film questions, but instead delve deeper into the actor's or interviewee's mind.

McKeon wasn't that surprised by Evans' answers. "I just felt proud. Proud of who he is, proud that we have the ability to offer this information to the world. He speaks it so well, I would love to see him write a book or be a motivational speaker; maybe do a TED talk." She says with enthusiasm. After releasing the article last week, she was thrilled to see all of the responses from the fans. "It really seems to have hit home with them. To me, that's a huge gift."

Besides the Chris Evans interview, McKeon has a few others coming up as her site begins to grow. She is currently filming an interview with Sheila Kelley, actress and founder of S Factor, a feminine fitness program that incorporates Pilates, yoga, stretching and uniquely designed pole dance routine. She is also working on an interview with Arielle Kebbel, star of The Rock's new HBO Show Ballers. So what does Lindsey McKeon hope readers (and viewers) take away from her new venture? "I hope it connects with them on some level. If I can spark a new, healthier way of being or thinking, than my blog has been a success. And hopefully it gets to be fun in the process!"

After viewing the interview with Chris Evans and e-mailing back-and-forth with Lindsey McKeon, it is clear why Evans holds her in such high regard. Besides the acting roles (She has a few projects in the works), she will continue writing in various forms, including poetry and also in the process of creating a Goddess Women's Group in LA which is where a group of women meet once a month to speak openly about their lives, offer each other support, and affect change. While this may seem like quite a bit on a person's plate, there is no doubt in my mind Lindsey McKeon can handle it. It will be interesting to see her different ventures take-off, but in the case of Healthy, Sexy, Mindful Living by Lindsey McKeon she is clearly going in the right direction. Even though she received a "superhero" boost, it is clear that she is driven to keep the momentum going and I personally see her website continuing to grow as time goes on.

To visit Healthy, Sexy, Mindful Living by Lindsey McKeon. and read/watch the Chris Evans' interview, you can visit the site here.

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Ariana Grande: Tearing Down Double Standards?

June 12, 2015, 11:59 am

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Singing sensation Ariana Grande wrote an elaborate, empowering essay about male and female double standards after her split with rapper Big Sean. She said, "If a woman has a lot of sex (or any sex for that matter)... she's a 'slut.' If a man has sex.... HE'S. A. STUD. A BOSS. A KING.... If a woman even TALKS about sex openly... she is shamed!" Ariana touched on one of many examples of double standards when it comes to dating and relationships, and is hitting a nerve because what she wrote about does often seem to be true.

In today's world women want to be able to make mindful choices when they decide to be intimate and sexual with their partner. But that isn't always easy to do. When a woman has an active sex life she might be viewed as being loose. On the other hand, men are expected to seek it out, and if they brag about a few notches on their belt then they are respected and thought of as manly. Women are finally looking to move beyond these images and not let them hold them back anymore. Along those lines, the most recent Bachelorette openly said she made a conscious decision to be intimate with one of the men she had met on the show, because a sexual connection is such an important part of a relationship that she wanted to have a sense of their chemistry before they moved too far forward. She chose a course of action, and so can you.

If you consider what you stand to gain by exercising your sexual expression, as well as what you stand to lose if you are not in touch with it, you will see how important it is to be the manager of your sexual life. By challenging these stereotypes that have trapped, confined and limited women for too long, you can work to redefine your sexual identity and what it means to you in terms of your happiness and your sexual esteem. If, for example, you want to be intimate with someone when you first meet them, if you are on vacation and want to have a fling, if you are at a wedding and want to have a romantic escapade, or just a one night stand, the most important thing is to know what you are doing and why you are doing it. In other words, own it. This means recognizing that you are with that person to enhance your sexual experience and pleasure, and still feel good about it regardless of whether or not it leads to something more serious down the road.

If you are in the driver's seat you can give yourself the permission to say yes to your desires and feel empowered by them when it comes to your sex life decisions, rather than feeling bad about yourself. The essential thing to be aware of is that whatever your action may be you are doing it by choice, one that you are making for yourself and thereby can feel confident about. When you do this, you free yourself from blame and judgment so that you will not feel objectified or used in any sexual experience you share. You no longer have to be in a position where you are compromising your own values or worrying about what other people think.

It follows that if you are in a new relationship and your partner asks how many sexual encounters you have had, you can have a clear sense of your history and how it came to be, free from guilt. You will be able to level the playing field so that what was once only acceptable for men can also be acceptable for women. Saying no always remains a powerful choice as well, what matters most is that you are determining what is going to be most comfortable for you. In this way, you will be a woman who takes charge, is in control, knows what you want as well as what you don't want, and will be better able to build your inner security which will reflect in your emotional and sexual wellbeing.

Please tune in to the Doctor on Call radio hour on HealthyLife.net every Tuesday at 2 PM EST, 11 AM PST. First and third Tuesdays are Shrink Wrap on Call, second Tuesdays are HuffPost on Call, and the last Tuesday of the month is Let's Talk Sex! Email your questions dealing with relationships, intimacy, family, and friendships to Dr. Greer at askdrjane@drjanegreer.com.

Connect with Dr. Jane Greer on Facebook, at www.facebook.com/DrJaneGreer, and be sure to follow @DrJaneGreer on Twitter for her latest insights on love, relationships, sex, and intimacy.

For more on Dr. Greer, visit http://www.drjanegreer.com.

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Yanna Avis: Make Some Magic

June 12, 2015, 12:12 pm

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photo credit: Aaron Cobett

Yanna Avis is a magical person blessed with equal parts physical beauty and inner beauty. The kind of woman who reminds you of an elegance that has been lost in modern society but a kindness and intelligence that is very much present. I have known Yanna for years and witnessed her navigate the sophisticated politics of international crowds in multiple languages without losing the everyday realness that would inspire her to hold an in depth conversation with someone who might be working at one of the many social events her busy schedule allows. Her audience has included Liza Minnelli, John Guare, Arlene Dahl, authors such as Dominick Dunne and legendary socialites such as Daisy Soros, Pat Buckley, Ivana Trump, Nan Kempner, Taki Theorocopulos, Carolyne Roehm and legendary record executive Clive Davis. Or you may find politicos such as Vernon Jordan or fashion royalty's Mary McFadden, Carolina & Reinaldo Herrera and actual royalty Princess Firyal of Jordan. It is only fitting that this Renaissance Lady would title her latest cabaret show at 54 Below "Make Some Magic." I sat down with "La Chantouze" to find out a little more about what drives her in this mission to entertain, inspire and bewitch...

EP -- First let me start by asking about training and development. How did you begin this journey and what have been your influences?

YA -- I started my artistic endeavor as an actress; I studied at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris. Do not laugh, with a minor in Jean Racine Berenice tragedy! From that moment, my stage career began: First the classics (Moliere, Shakespeare, etc) in various productions, then "Boeing-Boeing" by Marc Camoletti in which I played "Janet" the American stewardess. In 1991, the play was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most performed French play throughout the world. The Broadway production included Gina Gershon in said part. Following this success, I got the part of the young American starlet in John Guare's "House of Blue Leaves" or in French "Le Pape, New York". Mr. Guare came to my last performance of "Make Some Magic" in April and that was magic! He had not seen me on stage since I was his young ingenue in Paris.


Yanna Avis and John Guare

My influences? All the Hollywood golden age movies currently referenced by Lana Del Rey and the others. Of course, the goddess La Dietrich!

EP -- I am a big fan of Julie London and cannot help but see parallels of an artist who has been able to maintain a feminine profile but exude a strength in her determination to create. How has being an attractive person either helped or hurt your craft?

YA -- I cannot resist quoting Marilyn Monroe's famous line in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"..."You men are funny; you don't marry a girl because she is pretty, but doesn't it help?"

EP -- Who is your audience and how do you see yourself growing to broaden this base?

YA -- When I began it was mostly my friends; then they brought their friends and my audience grew. That is where the challenge lies, introducing strangers to know me and luring them into my shows...the best reward!

EP -- Why is it important to you that a new audience become fans of your style of entertainment?

YA -- Unfortunately, Cabaret is not "ala mode" anymore. It belongs to an era when people loved glamour and would go for a night cap to listen to music. But don't forget the Avis motto: "We Try Harder" and I shall. Cabaret is a true passion for the actress I was born to be.

EP -- When you are in front of an audience do you ever experience stage fright or have moments of insecurity?

YA -- Oh, do I ever! This will never change but at the same time it makes your adrenaline rise and this gives you tremendous energy.

EP -- You previously stated that your show continues to develop and grow. How so?

YA -- Is it not that the more you do something you love, the better you become? There is so much to explore in great lyrics.

EP -- I have always thought your shows were the perfect evening of entertainment; I have brought work colleagues, dates and family. Can you explain a little of how you plan a show?

YA -- I am an entertainer and the best way to explain it would be the lines I wrote for one of my albums: L'amour, toujours L'amour...

"It seems like a long way from the theatre stage of Paris to the cabaret scene of New York and yet...it came along as the most natural road for me to take and an inevitable challenge. I feel cabaret is a form of theatre with music. The songs I choose are like little plays about love, tenderness, despair and rapture. Strangers crowded together in the dark...I look into their eyes, I caress their hearts with love words and at times, I touch souls. No matter where, no matter when and no matter what the language the feeling is always the same. So here's to love, here's to the moment, here's to all the foolish hearts...like mine."

EP -- For readers that are unfamiliar with your work; where do they go to find out more about you and what homework should they do before attending your show?

YA -- No homework please, except perhaps a quick French lesson. I have a website yannaavis.com as well as a professional FB and twitter.

EP -- You consider yourself a cabaret performer. In your opinion, what is the current state of cabaret and where does this genre fit into today's prepackaged mega concerts?

YA -- It could very well be just my illusion to believe the genre still fits into the 21st century...

EP -- On a personal note, who are your heroes in entertainment past or present and how do you relate?

YA -- If I answer this question, I will sound like an old movie since I am a hopeless romantic!

EP -- Lastly, what does the future hold for Yanna? Give us a peak into your crystal ball...

YA -- If you have one, cheri, please tell me!!!!

EP -- Absolument!!!

Yanna performs "Make Some Magic" Thursday, June 18th at 9:30PM at 54 Below

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What Are Your Thoughts on Caitlyn Jenner?

June 12, 2015, 11:49 am

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I, and probably every other transgender person who's open about their identity, have been asked this question dozens of times. When asked, I would generally smile and gently change the subject, simply because I knew I couldn't honestly say what they wanted to hear.

The first time I gave a slightly honest answer was with my doctor, with whom I have a fairly casual relationship. As I walked into her office a few days after Jenner appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair, my doctor could barely contain herself. She was on the edge of her seat with an eager smile stretched across her face.

"So did you see the Vanity Fair cover?" she asked.

"Yep," I said shortly. "So how does my blood work look?"

Her smile dropped. "That was not the reaction I was expecting," she admitted.

I explained that while I thought it was great that Caitlyn has this wonderful opportunity to start a conversation about what it means to be transgender, the magazine cover hasn't really changed anything for trans people.

As someone who is turning 26 in a few months and will soon be scouring the healthcare marketplace for adequate insurance, my focus is on whether or not I will be able to afford hormones rather than on whether or not people are discussing what it means to be transgender.

Some people see physical transition as a purely cosmetic issue. For me, it is literally life-saving. For most of my life, I have suffered from severe depression, which has included multiple trips to the psychiatric unit and more therapists that I can count. Honestly, there has not been one medication that has singlehandedly curbed my depression as much as testosterone has. For the first time in my life, I no longer had suicidal ideations (or homicidal ones, for that matter).

Unfortunately, not all insurance companies see the value in transgender health care. Most of them openly discriminated against transgender people until Jan. 1, 2014, when the Affordable Care Act made exclusions for pre-existing conditions illegal. Even though insurance companies are now obligated to take my money, many will still not cover transition-related care in spite of the fact that the American Medical Association has validated its necessity. Currently only nine states and the District of Columbia require insurance carriers based in their jurisdiction to cover such medications and procedures. Florida, my current place of residence, is not one of those states.

Unfortunately, this is just one of many issues plaguing the transgender community that take more than Caitlyn gracing the cover of Vanity Fair to solve, including job protections and rampant hate crimes.

Thirty-one states have zero nondiscrimination laws to protect transgender individuals from prejudice in the workplace. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported in 2013 that 72 percent of all LGBT homicide victims were transgender women. The issue has become so prevalent that there is an entire day dedicated to commemorating transgender murder victims.

While I am thrilled that Caitlyn finally has the opportunity to unapologetically be herself, her photo shoot has done little to deal with these issues. However, Caitlyn's coming out has started a national dialogue, but my fear is that it will start and stop there. How can you help? Listen to transgender people when they talk about their needs, help pass legislation that protects transgender people, and of course, continue the conversation that Caitlyn's photo shoot has initiated.

If even one of these major issues gets resolved thanks to Caitlyn bravely transitioning in front of the world, I will proudly return to my doctor's office with the genuine grin she was hoping for when I was first asked about Ms. Jenner.

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Great Conversations: Paul Verhoeven

June 12, 2015, 1:44 pm

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Director Paul Verhoeven.


This is the first of two conversations I've had with director Paul Verhoeven, the second being for his WW II drama "Black Book." When I met Verhoeven in the Sony Pictures commissary for lunch in October of 1997, I had been a fan of his work since seeing the classic "Soldier of Orange" in 1979. The manic energy that Verhoeven is renowned for was evident throughout our chat, and was infectious. By the time our all-too-brief lunch was over, I found myself waving my hands while I spoke in rapid clips, and using more bounce than usual in my stride, to the point where a few friends suggested I switch to decaf.

The other memory that remains vivid is the passion and high hopes that Verhoeven had for "Starship Troopers." Like the director himself, I thought this would be a groundbreaking movie event and that the world would embrace its blend of gleefully gory sci-fi action and deft satire, as they had with "Robocop" the decade before. Alas, it was not to be, but "Troopers" certainly became a classic in retrospect, claiming a spot on many highbrow critics' "overlooked" and "Best of the '90s" lists. It remains a personal favorite of mine, and one of Verhoeven's finest hours behind a camera.


PAUL VERHOEVEN
GOES BUGGY WITH STARSHIP TROOPERS

Paul Verhoeven was born in Amsterdam, Holland on July 18, 1938. During his early childhood Verhoeven lived in German-occupied Holland and was exposed to the horrors of war first-hand, including watching the neighboring city of Rotterdam get flattened by German bombs and having a group of Dutch Nazi sympathizers throw him up against a wall at gunpoint at age six, only to walk off laughing. These early impressions of the reality and immediacy of violence left their impression on the future filmmaker, impressions that, combined with his Dutch frankness regarding sexuality and its depiction, Verhoeven has made his cinematic real estate since day one.

Though he earned his Ph.D. in mathematics and physics, Verhoeven discovered filmmaking interested him more, and he turned to creating documentaries for the Dutch Royal Navy and Dutch television. After success with the TV series "Floris," about a medieval knight (played by his frequent future star Rutger Hauer), he made his feature debut with Business Is Business (1971), then gained wider recognition with the Oscar-nominated international box office hit Turkish Delight in 1973. The aggressively erotic satire about the unhappy marriage of a sculptor (Hauer) brought recognition not only to Verhoeven, but to the emerging Dutch film industry. He followed this with Katie Tippel (1975), about the rise of an ambitious young girl in 19th century Dutch society. His next hit film, Soldier of Orange (aka Survival Run, 1978), was a riveting true story about the lives of six wealthy Dutch university students whose lives are irreversibly changed by World War II. Many regard it as one of the greatest war films ever made. In subsequent films, Verhoeven returned to the themes of sexuality and obsession he had begun to develop in Turkish Delight. Spetters (1980) was a frank look at the lives of gay and straight teenagers enamored of motorcycle racing. The Fourth Man (1983) was a stylish, hallucinatory, darkly comic thriller about a gay novelist on the trail of a woman he suspects to be a husband killer. Frequently working with cinematographers Jan De Bont, and Jost Vacano and actors Hauer, Jeroen Krabbé, and Renée Soutendjik, Verhoeven established a characteristic visual style that was both haunting and kinetic.

Verhoeven's work caught the notice of Hollywood, resulting in Flesh + Blood (1985), a grim and bloody 16th century adventure starring Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It did poorly at the box office and narrowly avoided an X-rating. For his next films, however, Verhoeven managed to transfer the commercial adroitness he developed on the art house circuit to the larger scale of Hollywood blockbusters. Beginning with Robocop in 1987 and again with Total Recall in 1990, his U.S. films have been violent, action-oriented material that pack theaters even as they arouse public and critical controversy. Basic Instinct (1992), sparked nationwide protests from gay activists for its depiction of lesbians, family groups for its sex and violence and some critics for what they felt was a confusing tale of sex, betrayal and murder that made a great deal of money, just the same. With Showgirls in 1995, Verhoeven's story of an ambitious lap dancer in Las Vegas, the director took a critical beating that would have reduced lesser men to rubble. But guess what folks, Paul Verhoeven is back--with a vengeance.



Starship Troopers, based on Robert Heinlein's classic 1959 novel, is a science fiction/war epic that can only be described as All Quiet on the Western Front meets Attack of the Crab Monsters. Telling the tale of a 23 rd century lad named Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) who is forced to fight for the future of planet Earth as it is threatened by invasion from a planet of bloodthirsty insects(!). Although the plot might make some cynics a bit skeptical, Troopers boasts the most eye-popping CGI visual effects ever put on film (created by special effects master Phil Tippett), along with what will surely be Oscar-winning production design and star-making performances from newcomers Van Dien and particularly from Dina Myer, as a feisty, sexy, 23rd century femme warrior. It was an E ticket ride that left this passenger begging for more at the journey's end.

Dressed in his trademark rumpled denim shirt and faded jeans, Paul Verhoeven, rushes into the Rita Hayworth dining room on the Sony lot. A bundle of kinetic energy, Verhoeven seems to vibrate as he sits, illustrating each sentence with his hands, like a conductor guiding an orchestra. Let's listen to the first movement...

Your wartime experiences in Holland seem to have colored your perception quite a bit. Tell us about what being a kid in the middle of World War II was like.

Paul Verhoeven: If you live in a country being occupied by another one, it's a weird experience, but because I was so young when war broke out, seeing fighting and bombing and ruins and grenades and dead bodies and planes going down in flames seemed like the norm. Then later after we were liberated by the allies, things changed obviously. Even today, those memories play a large part in my work. Sometimes I think my acceptance of violence is based on the fact that I saw so much of it early on. So you could say that I am still haunted by war, or if you like, inspired by it, although that's not a very politically correct statement. (laughs)

Did you come from an artistic family?

No. My father was a school teacher. I had an uncle who was a painter, but besides that the family wasn't artistic.

Verhoeven (R) in the Dutch Marines, late 1950s.

Initially you didn't pursue the arts, either.

Right. At university I studied mathematics and physics, and while I think that both subjects are very important, they didn't really touch me on an emotional level. So during my military service in the Navy, I got assigned to a documentary film unit and did documentaries on the Dutch Marines. I felt like filmmaking was more my cup of tea than mathematics. I never felt creative about (science). I was in it because I was good at it and because I could take my exams well. But I knew that I couldn't really bring anything new to it. Film was more versatile to me. So after the military, I decided to abandon mathematics completely and become a filmmaker. This led me first to television for a couple years until 1971 when I did my first feature.

How did you fall in love with film initially?

Two reasons, I think. One is that when I was seven or eight, suddenly the movies came to Holland. During occupation there were only German propaganda movies anyhow, which my parents weren't too keen on taking me to. So immediately after the war all these American movies came to Holland and it was like after all these years of being cut off from the rest of the world, there were all of the sudden all these different realities: westerns, musicals, science fiction. I went to the movies three or four times a week for fifteen years. The other reason was that my father was always showing films at school at the end of the day on this little 16mm projector. And at the end of the day when all the kids had gone I'd watch these films myself, looking at them again and again. I was fascinated by the possibilities of the medium...feeding the film into the projector, the way it threaded through...it fascinated me. It still took me a long time, until I was 26, to realize that film was what I really wanted to do.

Verhoeven and Der Governator clown on the Total Recall set.

Was there one film in that period that really sparked your imagination?

Sure, War of the Worlds. Also Tarzan's New York Adventure and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Also pirate movies like Captain Blood, Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate. All these sort of action-oriented movies with a lot of movement and a lot of splendor.

You have always presented sexuality and violence in a very matter-of-fact way in your films which is one reason, I think, why most people find them shocking. Do you think this comes from the fact that Holland is so much more relaxed as a country about sex and sexuality?

Yes, I think so concerning the sex. Sex is more accepted in Holland than in America. Violence is not. Violence is accepted by me. And other people of my generation who grew up with it.



Soldier of Orange is one of my favorite films of all time. Tell us how the project came about.

Well the book was an autobiography by Eric Hazelhoff, who was a war hero of the Dutch underground during WW II. We had been trying to get it made for a long time, but it was a lot more expensive than any other Dutch movie ever made. After five or six years, we finally got it set up with the assistance of the Dutch Royal family and the Dutch military...For me the movie was about friendship that goes above political antagonism. I thought it was an interesting theme.

You seem to explore the themes of friendship and betrayal with most of your films.

It seems to me to be a very general theme that goes on throughout your life. People that you think are your friends that then turn around and stab you in the back. And that attitude is certainly nothing new here in Hollywood. In war or in peace it's rare that you stick to your friends or that your friends stick to you throughout your life.

Jeroen Krabbe, Susan Penhaligon and Rutger Hauer in Solider of Orange.

I heard that Steven Spielberg initially contacted you about working in the U.S. after seeing Soldier of Orange.

Yeah, he called me in Holland and said "Why are you staying in Holland? You can do much more interesting things here." So he took me to a few different studios. After Soldier of Orange there was a lot of interest from the American film community...but it wasn't until the political climate in the Dutch film community changed to the point of it being difficult for me to work there that my wife and I decided to move to the U.S.


Trailer for the English-dubbed version of Soldier of Orange, poorly re-titled as Survival Run.

How was making a movie in America different than making one in Holland?

Not that much. Jan De Bont, who came here in 1975, told me that there was nothing to be afraid of. It was the same equipment, the same technique. If anything, in Holland you almost had to know more because there we had no "specialists" as there were here. In Holland, your lead actor might have to be your boom operator when he's not on camera, you see? Here in America everything is specialized and the director usually doesn't have to learn about those other skills.

One thing I noticed about your American films was that your scope really changed to that of making epic films. Do you ever see yourself going back to make a smaller, more personal film like the ones you did in Holland?

Yeah, but I would still try to make it for a big audience. It could be a bit more personal and more intimate than I've been doing the last few years. Ultimately it really has to do with the project itself and if it would be worth doing. Although in the United States I'm not known for doing projects like that. There's one project that I might do on the life of Houdini that Sony wants me to do. This story deals more with Houdini and his relationship to the occult than Houdini, the magician.

Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas, Basic Instinct.

Let's talk about Basic Instinct. When you direct an explicit love scene, how do you approach it with the actors, especially American actors, who might not be as open sexually as European actors?

I am very open with them because otherwise you cannot do it. I call everything by name and I tell them exactly what I want. In fact, with Basic, I storyboarded most of the (love) scenes very specifically and gave them to Michael (Douglas) and Sharon (Stone). The scenes were very choreographed. It was very precisely "You do this, then you do that. Then she does this, and she does that." Every move, every touch was all planned, all done like an action scene.

Did the uproar over Basic Instinct surprise you?

Yes, I thought it was silly. If the people who protested it had taken time to look at my work, particularly The Fourth Man, they would know that I would never make an anti-gay movie at all. I thought all the gay action groups were really full of shit and that it was all about politics because it was such a high-visibility project.

The ironic thing is that the protests probably helped the film business wise.

Yes. Because it was on the news every day. I didn't really see it that way at the time, but later I realized that it had worked that way.

Verhoeven on the Starship Troopers set.

Let's move on to Starship Troopers. Tell us the genesis.

This was about four years ago, at the end of Basic Instinct, (screenwriter) Ed Neumeier came to me with this idea of young adults, coming from high school that have to fight giant bugs in outer space! I got intrigued because it made me remember all the movies I liked so much in the 40's and 50's. It was something I always wanted to do, but never had a chance to do. Although it was what appeared to be sort of 'B' material, I wanted to bring it up to an 'A' in a way, although clearly it was never going to be Lawrence of Arabia (laughs). It still approaches that reality in a very serious way, and I think it succeeds, and seems to be able to portray the world of another species that is extremely dangerous and realistic. You see these movies of the 40's and 50's like Them! about giant ants, and so on, and they all seem today very (unrealistic). But if you look at Ray Harryhausen's work, like Jason and the Argonauts, it was much more sophisticated and poetic almost. And I've studied his work a lot. So I thought there was something there you could do. And I knew today with the digital technique that could give us this and that Phil Tippett would be in charge of it that maybe we could come up with something new and exciting.

Casper Van Dien: "The only good bug is a dead bug!"

I've never seen visual effects like these. Most of the CGI effects I've seen previous to this look like cartoons superimposed onto film. These looked real.

Yes, they're very well integrated. And I only did the movie because Phil was there. That was my context for doing it.

It also had the feel of a WW II propaganda film, which was really kitschy and wonderful.

That was basically there after the first draft, and the stuff with the Internet-style devices and titles came partially during the shooting and a lot in post production. It was an attempt to upgrade the old style Fox Movietone newsreels...and Third Reich propaganda films and even my old Marines documentaries that I did, because a lot of that was promotion and propaganda as well...That's why the relationship to the second world war is so important to me because it was probably the last war, and one of the few wars in history, where you can make the argument that it was good. Although all war has to be viewed as something that should be avoided, this was a case of two, or maybe three, evil empires that had to be stopped. Otherwise you have to argue that Europe really should have been left alone and see what would have happened. And then, well...I wouldn't be here! I'd be speaking German and working for UFA (the German film company). (laughs)

Neil Patrick Harris doing his best Joseph Goebbels.

Do you have any advice for first time directors?

I would be in good physical condition. Avoid drinking and abusing yourself in any way because shooting a film is so physically exhausting. It's twenty hours a day. And also try and prepare as much as possible. Make as many sketches or write down for yourself specific notes before you come to the set, at least for the first week or so. That way if you get stuck or feel uninspired you can just turn to the storyboard and do what it says. Perhaps it's not the best it could be, but at least it's okay, and that way you don't have to sit there and say to yourself 'Okay, now I have to be inventive.' Because then you get scared and lose your confidence. Then after the first ten days or so you loosen up. But in the beginning it's always like "What now?" So get as much sleep as you can, at least five or six hours a night if you can, and have a plan of some sort for the first couple weeks. Also be nice and have a good relationship with your actors and crew members. Listen to suggestions and be willing to admit when you're wrong about something. Even apologize in front of the whole cast and crew if necessary. I still do that today. I make terrible mistakes and get upset sometimes. Never be afraid to be seen as someone who makes a mistake and can own up to it. Like my parents used to tell me "If you ever have a fight, try to solve it before the sun goes down." That's very good advice for filmmaking, I think.

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Testament of Youth: The Memoir-Movie to End All War?

June 12, 2015, 1:45 pm

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Testament of Youth - the recently-released 129-minute cinematic adaptation of Vera Brittain's memoir (of the same title) -- manages to faithfully compress the 660-page (small print) Penguin Classic. VB's intellectual lusts, incipient (instinctive) feminism, and maturing pacifism are sounded amid the telling recreations of World War I Britain and France.

The film may well garner Oscar nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design; maybe Best Actress in a Leading Role; and, quite likely, Best Adapted Screenplay.


Prepping for a literary life Young Vera is strong-headed and intent on grooming herself (without a groom) for the life of the mind and the pen, at Oxford University. She admits to being "caught up" in herself. Her intense tutor-less preparations for the Oxford entrance exam (which required an essay to be written in Latin) might not be wholly relatable to the generation that has been prepping for SAT and ACT exams with manuals and CDs that provide informed test-taking strategies and sample exams. Still, her fierce resolve may resonate with some high-performers.

And yet I wonder, even if the film gets wide distribution, whether the memoir (subtitled An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900 to 1925) will be added to the curriculum of many schools -- outside Oxford and some feeder institutions. I wonder if the memoir's grandiose literary references are widely relatable.

The memoir's many -- many! -- references to, and quotations from, philosophers and poets can be off-putting.

However, a keen sense of the growing disillusionment with how "the war to end all war" was being waged is brought home by leaping past the pretentious invocations and by scanning to the war-time letters from Vera Brittain's suitor, Roland Leighton.

In 1914, Leighton gave up his place at Oxford so as not to miss his generation's opportunity for glory and honor. Glory, he soon discovered, was quite illusory. Instead, there were so many pointless sacrifices by the unprepared who were fodder to ill-conceived and misdirected engagements.

Courtship by penmanship and chaperone
Vera and Roland's courtship seems to have been largely epistolary. A number of the fountain-pen-on-parchment exchanges include their own ink-well-dipped poems.

If I'm not mistaken, Leighton's quite moving poem "Villanelle" ("Violets from Plug Street Wood..." - written as he surveyed a World War I battlefield) is recited in full in the film.

The poem opens a chapter in the memoir, and its recitation is an affecting moment in the film whose seriousness of purpose is relieved, briefly, in scenes involving a chaperone, who takes her sentry duty quite seriously. Vera's one-to-one meetings with Leighton are scrupulously monitored. The couple's G-rated attempts at evasion are somewhat amusing, as are the chaperone's chases and chastisements. But the chaperone has a heart. The perils to be encountered at the front become more and more apparent. Newspaper columns list the already fallen -- there are pages, and pages.

In the memoir chapter titled "Learning Versus Life" -- which is opened by Leighton's "Villanelle" -- Brittain quotes from one of her 1915 journal entries: "I could not know how soon the time would come when we should have no more hope, and yet be unable to die. Roland's letters - the sensitive letters of the newly baptized young soldier, so soon to be hardened by the protective iron of remorseless indifference to horror and pain - made the struggle to concentrate no easier, for they drove me to a feverish searching into fundamental questions to which no immediate answers were forthcoming."

Losing herself -- finding her voice - in caregiving

The memoir is redeemed in its descriptions of the sights, smells, sounds, and duties taken on by V. B. and other Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses in war-time London hospitals, and in field hospitals in Malta and France.

In its recreations of the makeshift hospital huts that received wounded directly from the casualty-clearing stations at the front, the film delivers what Vera Brittain wanted Britain to realize.

She wanted those who promote war to see what she saw, to touch what she touched, and to hear what she heard, as she sponged trench mud, battlefield debris and piercings from horribly punctured and torn-up bodies.

A most compelling 50 seconds of the film is a pan of the muddy terrain adjacent to the huts serving as field-hospitals. The camera shot becomes wider and wider - to take in rows and rows of stretchers, and still more rows of stretchers, and still more, all bearing grievously-wounded soldiers.

On his initial deployment to France, Leighton had tried to comfort Vera by saying (as so many thought, or at least hoped), "It could all be over in just a few months."

At his son's deployment, Vera's father had a more realistic, baleful take: "Wars are never short - never fast."

Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900 to 1925 is not short. It is not a fast read. The memoir is a long, protracted engagement; a prolix battlefield, mined with sonnets, elegies, hymns, and music scores, along with sententious letters and self-conscious hyper-intellectual diary outpourings.

The film may well prompt book sales - certainly the memoir is in demand at public libraries. But because it is so stocked with overlong run-on sentences of high (pretentious) intellectual caliber, I wonder if the book's messages about going to war unprepared will get a wide signal.

And yet, I am reminded of what U. S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in excusing unpreparedness: "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

Rumsfeld also explained, "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."

Imagine what Vera Brittain (who died in 1970) would have made of such "known knowns."


Images from the film are copyright BBC Films and Heyday Films. All rights reserved.

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Love in Action: Goldie Hawn

June 12, 2015, 2:27 pm

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"Human kindness is something that a society cannot live without. We will certainly decline and go into ruin without it." Goldie Hawn



Here comes a rush of positive energy. Allow yourself to be fully imbibed with the magic of Goldie Hawn's message, presence and blissful connection to her passion in this NEWSWIRE.FM production of "Love in Action" with Deepak Chopra. The episode begins with a special gift from Deepak, he gives us a brief and wonderful meditation that helps us bring our awareness into focus before he begins his conversation with Goldie Hawn at the Deepak Homebase in the ABC Home mezzanine level studio.

Goldie muses that it was "from God to Go-Go: a perfect connection," as she discusses her early life, her relationship to God and the road she has traveled that has both supported her success and also showed her the pain that is sometimes required when you choose to be true to yourself. In this episode of Love in Action, Hawn discusses how her personal journey led her to a passion for helping children to thrive.

She shares with Deepak and the audience that her organization, The Hawn Foundation, is committed to helping improve children's lives by providing a sustainable core that teaches children to reduce their stress, expand their awareness and connection and improve focus in the classroom as well as in the outside world. One of the most successful programs supported by the Hawn Foundation is Goldie's MindUP program.

MindUP is a "research-based training program for educators and children" that brings a deeper understanding to children's needs within an educational context. The program includes 15 lessons created by neuroscientists and other social scientists, and includes mindfulness practices, brain-breaks and other activities for children that "gives them self awareness, engages them into their classroom, into their lives, [helping them to realize that they] all matter inside of what they perceive to hear." Hawn emphasizes that, "it is very important to have children feel that what they are thinking, feeling, hearing and perceiving has value."

Deepak Chopra praises Goldie's cause and expands upon the medical research that has supported aspects presented in the MindUP Programs that are now in schools across the United States. As the two share data that continues to confirm the positive benefits of teaching empathy and mind-awareness to young children he explains that "our best hope for a planetary civilization is the nurturing of our children and the care of our mothers."

This is a spectacular episode full of contagious laughter, powerful research and intelligent conversation all based around one of the most impactful aspects of humanity, the caring for our children...our future.

This is a blog series produced in partnership with Love in Action, a video series with Deepak Chopra and NEWSWIRE.FM. Click here to watch the full interview.

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Husband Material

June 12, 2015, 2:30 pm

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Typically I write about wedding trends, things to consider when planning your wedding, and why hiring a wedding planner is the most awesome idea you will ever have. This blog though is about the marriage part of the whole wedding thing -- because after the six months to three years of planning (yes, some couples take three years) you have the rest of your life to be married. This is why I consider the ceremony the most important part of the wedding, because it's when you declare that you will be with the person you love, forever. But if you're not married yet, or even engaged, I wonder what you're expecting of your husband.

You know what got me thinking about this? That "Dear Future Husband" song. I don't pay a lot of attention to pop music because I consider most of it fluff. I like lyrics -- correction, I like intelligent, well thought out lyrics. I'm a musical theatre geek and "Hit Me Baby One More Time" isn't exactly thought-provoking to me. But, this morning while working on a wedding timeline, it came on and I actually listened to it for the first time.

My thoughts? Wow. That future husband is getting a really bad deal. I mean, she flat out sings:
I never learned to cook, but I can write a hook.

Well OK then, isn't that helpful?

She continues to sing about how spectacular she is, demands a ring, and expects this future husband to agree with everything she says even when she's going crazy. But, no worries, she'll buy groceries. At least that's covered.

Are these the songs that inspire the women of today? Is this some sort of woman empowerment thing? The thought that we're so amazing that we can get away without cooking and going a little cray-cray, and we still deserve a ring? What happened to the two-way street?

Ladies, nothing against the singer of this song (I don't even know if she wrote the lyrics herself actually), but this should not be your anthem. I say this because I've watched some of my brides turn into this woman during the planning process and I feel that they've probably always been like that. Songs like this are saying that it's OK to be like that. And I'm here to tell you: It's not.

Sure, there are probably some of you thinking that I'm taking this too literally. It's just a song, it's funny, it's just a joke, LOL and all that. But I can tell you that I have met women that would live and die by these lyrics. They are not happy on their wedding day, they are stressed out about every little detail, and I often wonder where the love is, and if this is the marriage they are supposed to be in.

All I am saying is this: marriage is a partnership. It is supposed to be your partner, your teammate. You work together and you love together. You travel through life together, ups and downs, and you're always there to support one another. These are the words you will hear during your ceremony and this is what a wedding is truly about.

When you upset each other, apologize. When you hurt each other, apologize. When you go crazy, apologize. This isn't a high school romance, it is a serious forever together partnership. Make sure your future husband knows that.

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Netflix Guide to Life's Many Emotions

June 12, 2015, 3:28 pm

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With Thursday's early release of Orange is the New Black on Netflix, I realize my nights will soon be filled with Netflix binge watching (as if they aren't every week...). I'm a self-proclaimed Netflix junkie, and the more marathons I watch, the more I believe that Netflix is slowly guiding me through life's roller coaster of emotions.

Being able to escape reality (even if it's only for an hour) has helped keep me sane in this overwhelming world we live in. Now, before I get backlash for having #firstworldproblems, I will say I tried to find some real-life scenarios we have all found ourselves in. So, which Netflix shows do I recommend specifically for life's (sometimes silly) moods and dilemmas?

Let's start with the most obvious young adult scenario: Heartbreak.
We've all been here -- sitting on your bed with your headphones in; searching for the saddest song on your playlist sporting a gloomy face like you could be in the music video. Maybe it's just me, but when I've had a broken heart in the past, I just want to wallow in it for a bit.

What you need: Gilmore Girls
This fun-loving show is about a mother and daughter duo who make life seem do-able. I have also found that the show's small town setting in "Stars Hollow" makes me feel at ease.

You feel like a boss. You had a great day at work, and now you're amped up!

What you need: House of Cards or Mad Men
Nothing says power like watching politicians duke it out. Plus, since you're feeling a bit sassy, the scandalous scenes (well, they pretty much all are after the first episode) will keep you entertained and on edge. I am a tad biased for the show Mad Men since I work in television advertising, but it is uncanny how the industry's jargon had stood the test of time.

You want to change your eating habits and start living a bit more healthy. So, this one I stumbled upon one Saturday night when I was bored...

What you need: Food, Inc. (Documentary)
This documentary opened my eyes to processed foods and well, meat in general. While I am not a vegetarian, it did make me think twice about what I was putting in my body on a regular basis. Aside from showing you some pretty graphic scenes, it kept me engaged throughout the entire program.

When you miss high school or college, and the carefree life that came along with it.

What you need: One Tree Hill or Friday Night Lights
There's no show like One Tree Hill, it gives me an instant warm fuzzy inside while watching, and the cast brings something new to every episode. While its original air date was back in 2003, the show stayed on air for nine years allowing its fans to watch the growth and development (literally) of the cast. The show portrays what we all loved and hated during our high school years, and then dives into the tough issues young adults face today. Friday Night Lights brings me back to high school every time I watch it- young love, heartache, and a whole lot of drama all wrapped into an hour long show-YES.

When you just want to relax.

What you need: Weeds
There is something about the show Weeds that kept me hooked for all 8 seasons. The wittiness of the main character, Nancy Price Botwin (played by Mary-Louise Parker) brings light to an unfortunate situation with the passing of her late husband. She proves that in the worst of times you can find light at the end of the tunnel. While the show's premise has a "darker" edge, the comic relief by the characters allows you to kick back and watch the story unfold.

When you want to laugh.

I couldn't pick just one for when you're in the mood for a chuckle, but here are my top 5:

• The League-a show about a group of friends infatuated with fantasy football, let's get real here...we can all relate.


• Unbreakable-Main character, Kimmy Schmidt, is rescued after living 15 years in a cult and now has to navigate through her adult life without any real life experience. It reminds us just how remarkable life truly is!


• Orange is the New Black-Season 3 is out!


• Grace and Frankie-another Netflix original series


• Zoolander- I had to pick one movie to throw in there. We mine as well get ready for the sequel set to hit theaters in February of 2016!

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