First Look: Streep as Thatcher

Meryl Streep as former British PM Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. The film is currently in production. I. Cannot. Wait.

Psycho at 50

Fifty years ago today, Alfred Hitchcock's classic film, Psycho opened on the big screen. This movie revolutionized how films were made, and has been imitated time and time again. The most shocking thing about the film, besides the fact that little violence is ever really seen, is the killing off of the main character 20 minutes into the film. This "red herring" storyline was a genius device that is still shocking today. For me to write about the further brilliance of this film is redundant, and I am sure that most of you have already seen it. Psycho being brilliant is no news to anyone.

I remember the first time that I watched it (way too young - like most of the first time I saw many of my now favorite horror films) I felt like I was watching the ultimate no-no. The way the film was talked about and whispered about in school (MANY YEARS after it's release!) had whipped my imagination into a frenzy. Finally, it was AMC (back when they actually showed classic movies) who brought this film to me on Halloween night. It was a doozie of a night that year, with me experiencing both Psycho AND Night of the Living Dead for the first time. Suffice to say, I was absolutely terrified. I have never forgotten that night, and the fact that I snuck watching the films so my Mom and Dad didn't know that I was...and how scared I was later when it was time for bed...haha - I guess I brought that on myself. Happy Birthday, Psycho. Movies everywhere owe so very much to you.
Enjoy this old theatrical trailer of the film as Hitch himself gives you a tour of the film set...

AVATAR

I watched the film, Avatar for the first time, and found it utterly amazing. The creativity flowing through this film was awe inspiring, and the thought that this ENTIRE WORLD was created in someone's head was truly breath taking.
The metaphors in the film are so very right beneath the surface, and you can feel them from the onset. This is an alien movie in which you root for the aliens instead of your own race. One part Pocahontas, one part Dances with Wolves, and one part Jurassic Park, this film delivers on so many levels, and features the always amazing Sigourney Weaver.
If you are one of the few who have avoided the film or not seen it because blue people turn you off, I strongly recommend that you reconsider. It is an amazing film that I did not want to like, but have ended up LOVING.

SCARY MOVIE DIALOGUE QUIZ

I had a Scary Movie Dialogue quiz on Facebook on Halloween day/night. Here are all of the questions. Answers are below the questions. Try to answer them yourself!


#1:..."Only when I say so! Only when I say!"...
#2:..."We may not enjoy living together...but dying together isn't going to solve anything.."
#3:..."Come to Daddy..."
#4:..."This is no dream, this is really happening!"
#5:..."You're crazy to know who I am, and what I am..."
#6:..."...hope it doesn't rust the barrel..."
#7:..."Thank you... have a nice day."
#8:..."The only person who could miss with this gun is the sucker with the bread to buy it."
#9:..."I need the child...before the blood changes..."
#10:..."There's an old fella named Jack who lives downriver, but he woundn't treat any hospitality towards them. Oh, and there was some kind of Army test site way up on top of the mountain. But that closed down five, six years ago."
#11:..."I'm running this monkey farm now Frankenstein and I wanna know... what the fuck you’re doing with my time?"
#12:..."Call me. Dial your number. Go ahead. "
#13:..."Well, hi. What are you doing out in this mess? "
#14:..."The Han River is very broad, Mr. Kim. Let's try to be broad-minded about this. Anyway, that's an order. So, start pouring. "
#15:..."Well if he come near you again, I'm gonna bust his liver lose if he tries to touch you!"
#16:..."Madam, are you traveling alone?" "All alone." "Should I wake you for Pittsburgh?" "No, I'm going to New York." "The Big Apple?" "Right." ... "Thank you, and goodnight!"
#17:..."Is that you, little man?"
#18:..."Get out of the grave, Alan. Get out of the grave and let an artist show you how to call a curse down on Satan! "
#19:..."Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle."
#20:..."Do you know anything about aphids? "
#21:..." I don't mind telling you, this place is infested."
#22:..." Of all the places in all the world my dad could have picked to build his dealership, he picked the one right down the street from Walking Dead Central."
#23:..." Sorry, Dan. My idea of perfection is a voice on the phone."
#24:..."How can he go so fast? "
#25:..."You're gonna need me in the evening, you just don't know it yet. "
#26:..."There are many strange legends in the Amazon."
#27:..."That's so sweet it's painful. "
#28:..." OH! How lovely! Nobody knows it's my birthday! I've stopped counting..."
#29:..."I believe I will go back to the Double Bar B Ranch..."
#30: (SUDDEN DEATH) ..."Do not venture outside"
BONUS:..."Not true! My hair stinks! This dress stinks! Look, this whole thing is disgusting! These sleeves on this go back and forth! What am I gonna do? "


ANSWERS


1. Poltergeist
2. Night of the Living Dead
3. Hellraiser
4. Rosemary's Baby
5. The Invisible Man
6. The Devil's Rejects
7. Chopping Mall
8. Dawn of the Dead
9. The Guardian
10.Pirahna
11.Day of the Dead
12.Lost Highway
13.Friday the 13th
14.The Host
15.Squirm
16.Martin
17.Trilogy of Terror
18.Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
19.The Company of Wolves
20.Bug (2006)
21.Graveyard Shift
22.Children of the Living Dead
23.The Fog
24.Duel
25.Carnival of Souls
26.Creature From The Black Lagoon
27.Day of the Woman AKA I Spit on Your Grave
28.Bug(1975)
29.Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula
30.Night of the Living Dead
BONUS:Demons 2

Keeping Afloat...

Well, as always, life goes on. Katie passed on Friday, and my family has been mourning her loss. In the interim, much has gone on.
I told you all earlier that I was going to start the tanning salon job last Thursday. That got postponed till (today) Tuesday. So I will teach children, then drive straight to the tanning salon. Details to follow.
I am financially in wreckage since SPIDERWOMAN closed, and yes I have several projects upcoming, including A SMILE TO HIDE THE PAIN at Signature in June, and an upcoming cabaret there in July, I am trying to make a living on many part time jobs. This is NO living. I had hoped for employment theatrically this summer, but that has fallen through, so it's CANDLES, teaching camp, Tanning Salon, and TICKETplace for me all summer. Sleep? I'll sleep when I'm dead.
So also adding to this attempt at making what I would were I employed gainfully theatrically, I agreed to do lawn maintenance on a beloved friend's yard this coming Sunday. This was a fantastic development, as I often forget that I know what the hell I am talking about when it comes to landscaping (a career that I careered out of back in 2005). Walking through his yard and observing what needed attention with the trimmers, I was reminded what an eye I do have for lawn care and maintenance, and was actually excited to start work on it Sunday. Anyone need lawnwork? I love transforming something. Whatever the product that I am transforming is: an old piece of furniture that I refurbish, pieces of cloth and rubber into a ghoul, wax blocks into candles, whatever the clay, I love to shape it.
Can I just say that ...wow...gas is almost $4??? Food is more expensive than ever....a clear measure of that is this: I bought 2 ears of corn tonight for $1.00.
This same time last year (I always hanker for corn on the grill this time of year), I could buy 4 ears for a dollar. This is only a small indication of how your money flies out of your pockets. With a piece-meal life like mine, when you are broke one month and barely treading water the next, it gets trickier.
On a movie front, I am REALLY into mutated nature-creature films right now. Mainly from the 50's...(atomic age radiation based terror of giant crabs and spiders attacking a city)...just becuase they make me happy. I feel like this genre of horror is going to make an Eco come back soon. It is the next phase of horror now, as environmental horrors are larger than ever. Horror will go here next. You wait and see. Soon enough giant insects will ravage Washington, DC on the silver screen again.
Eco-horror has been high on my must watch lists of Netflix rentals. More on this soon.
What else?
I saw the Stephen Schwartz Project at Metro Stage, which has one week left. I enjoyed it, and while I had a few issues with staging, thought that the ALL DC CAST sang their ASSES off, and sounded amazing. Go check it out, the tickets are inexpensive.
I also reconnected with another friend tongiht, who recently installed an addition into her house, and a lap pool into her house. (hence the photo at the top of this post). We swam and had a great time tonight. We will surely be going over there more in the future.










Oh, it also has a High Def TV that you can watch as you are swimming...ahh, the life...








SO all in all, life is hand to mouth for me, as it is for most.
I am exploring cabaret themes right now, and have stumbled upon (thanks to Matt and my Mom) a funny premise that I will just say would be a TV show setting. More to come on this hatching idea.
So, in closing on this early Tuesday morning, if you need candles, lawn care, or a man to sing his ass off, call me. I'm free all summer.
;)
Love,
Stephen

i'm still here...

Sorry I have not posted that much, but I have been really busy with Spiderwoman rehearsals, and my ass is thoroughly being kicked. Still here though, thankfully enjoying a day off to rest and regroup. This is my first total day off in three weeks. I forgot how nice it could be. Not that I have been sitting around all day, however. I took Buddha ( who has a new blog post that you can read HERE) to the park for a nice little romp, then brought him home and gave him a bath. I am currently in the "catch up" mode of trying to do laundry, dishes,etc. I am taking a breather from that as I write this.
I plan on making my March Candles tonight, and am in prep for that. I know what design I want them to be, but I am honing details in my head of how I want it to smell, proportion of color, and so on. So I will start that in a little bit.




I am very happy that Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress for La Vie En Rose, which was one of my favorite movies of the past year, and one of my favorite performances on film to this date. If you have not yet seen the film, you should rent it as soon as you get a chance.

What else? Oh yeah, I just watched 30 Days of Night, the vampire horror film that came out last fall, and I was blown away. It now sits in my top 10 favorite horror films of all time. The art direction of the film is stunning, and many of the shots look like they could be framed works of art. That's not to say that it still isn't gory. It is very gory, but not in excess. The film is a very mature horror film that actually has fantastic character development in the script, and wonderful actors as well. If you can stand some fake gore, I would strongly recommend this film. I can't stop thinking or talking about it.




Ok, that's me for right now. I will try to post a little more this coming week, but it will mainly be in the evenings.
Till then,
SGS

TONIGHT...

I'm going to attend the tale of Sweeney Todd! I'll let you know my take on it tomorrow!

Spiderman 3

Ryan and I went to see Spiderman 3 this morning, despite reading and hearing mixed reviews. I am SO glad I saw it! I loved this film better than the other two. I was not a big fan of the "mechanical look" of the Green Goblin in the first movie, and Doc Ock was cool in 2, but I still prefer the third movie's villains, Venom and The Sandman.
I also loved the fact that the movie was very intelligent, focusing on inner darkness, and how these characters deal with it. The Sandman says, "I am not a bad person...I've just had bad luck". He doesn't want this to be his life, but feels as though he has had no choice. "You always have a choice", Spiderman tells him.
Spiderman himself goes through an alien imposed morality crisis. An alien symbiote has attached itself to Peter, changing his suit black and amplifying his personality. I love this physical and mental darkening apparent more as the movie goes on.


Harry Osborne, (The Green Goblin's son) is also going through a darkness of his own, vowing to avenge his father, he attacks Parker/Spiderman at his heart by kidnapping Mary Jane and forcing her to break up with Peter. She tells him that there is another man and leaves. Later, Peter has lunch with Harry and tells him about all of this, and Harry reveals that he is the "other man". Thus begins Peter's descent into darkness. The symbiote further amplifies his own bad feelings and he begins a series of dark actions and incidents.
Eddie Brock, who is a rival photographer of low morals is trying to edge Parker out of the Daily Bugle, and successfully does it by falsifying a photograph. The dark Parker exposes him as a fake, and later steals his girlfriend. Eddie is ruined, and goes to a church to pray. Kind of. He goes to a church to ask God to kill Peter Parker. Talk about going to a dark place...little does he know that Spiderman is in the bell tower of the church trying to rid himself of the alien symbiote. Eddie hears the noise of the scuffle and follows it to the bell chamber, looking up, he happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, yet again...the symbiote is freed from Parker and descends to Brock below, and thus Venom is born.
All of these characters are dealing with inner turmoil that shapes them all in one respect or another.
This film is easily the most campy and comical of the three, and that was very much part of my enjoyment. The sequence of Parker delving to his darker self are very funny at first, even as he dances down the street thinking that he is hot stuff. Not high camp, but smart low end camp. Bruce Campbell has a fantastic cameo in a French restaurant. Spiderman's creator in the comic book form, Stan Lee, also has a brief cameo.
If you are expecting "Vera Drake", don't go to see this film, but if you are going to have fun and enjoy a summer blockbuster, than here is your film. It's action sequences are to die for, with way cool special effects...the Sandman's transformation is incredible, as is his rise to a three story giant who travels in the form of a sandstorm.
Ignore the critics and your shallow minded friends who hated it, believe me it is worth your time.

Notes on a Scandal...

We saw Notes on a Scandal on Monday night, based on Zoe Heller's novel, "What was she thinking? [Notes on a Scandal]".
What a mind fu*k.
It was reminiscent of "Dangerous Liaisons", but mixed with tinges of "Misery", and a shot of Hitchcock mixed in.
Phillip Glass's score sold the movie. While the dialogue and acting are exceptional, the music took the movie to an operatic scale. It was like watching a play with a 14 piece orchestra behind you.
Judi Dench is always on top of her game, but this film is different from most that she graces...she is a force of nature. I would cheapen her performance to try to describe it.

Cate Blanchett is also in superb form in this film, and pulls her weight with Dench, never losing the film in Dench's wake. They act duets, not opposing solos...
The film is one of the closest things to Hitchcock that I have seen since Hitchcock.
All in all, you cannot miss this film. This film is a master class in acting, filmaking, soundtrack composition, and direction.
Go hence and see!

"That's all..."

A 3-D NIGHTMARE!

We went to see Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D last night, and it was gorgeous! I loved every second of it.
I even cried a little bit at the end, as it was SO beautiful. If you have no other plans tonight, it is totally worth a trip to go and see it!