May 06, 2006

The contrast between what is glamorous now and what was glamorous in the days of Cary Grant and Norma Shearer says much about how American society has changed. Glamour used to present an idealized version of adulthood. Now it presents an idealized version of adolescence. In the old days, glamour was all about unattainability, i.e., fantasy projection. These days, it has become unthinkable that a major Hollywood director might echo Cecil B. DeMille, who instructed Edith Head's department at Paramount to make clothes "that make people gasp when they see them. Don't design anything anybody could possibly buy in a store." Today glamour is tied to the idea of shopping to maintain the illusion that you are (a) kind of famous, or (b) on your way to being famous, or (c) essentially the same as famous people, because you share the same taste in home furnishings, core values and dog shampoo. Some of the stars with whose dog shampoo brand we may be intimately acquainted don't even appear in the movies, or at least not often. They may appear in TV shows that aren't so much TV shows as a chance to observe celebrities in their natural habitats. Which kind of resembles ours. Mainstream magazines have transformed themselves from facilitators of idol worship to guides to glamour consumption. From a great article in the ">Los Angeles Times...

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January 16, 2006

I've worked on Hollywood movie sets for over ten years and the last year, since living in the Los Angeles area, been more heavily involved. I started with the top people, met more along the way, work with a-listers, chat them up at the local cafe, wave hi to them in Brentwood and generally have seen pretty much everyone. The only time I've ever been tongue tied was meeting the Gilmore Girls Grandpa but I think it had very little to do with actually Hollywood and celebrity. I kid you not, with everyone else it's literally been just everyone else. I remember when the television show The Insider was first going live and I was brought down by their media department to interview. Seems my ability to write, work with people and who I knew was reason I was sought out. And whilst there on set, I remember an actor coming over to me and just demanding a crap load of stuff. I looked at him and said, "Are you kidding me with this?" And he replied, "Don't you know who I am?" To which I responded, "No, actually, I don't" and walked off. I ended up turning down the job because I didn't understand the fascination with celebrities and I didn't want to perpetuate it. I'm all for giving respect but not giving out adoration or jumping just because someone's been on some series. I do not read gossip mags, watch television shows about celebrities and I'm not on...

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October 28, 2005

Tonight I went to a special previewing of Pride and Prejudice where director Jo Wright and star Donald Sutherland spoke. By the end of it all, I had to tuck myself away to gather myself; it had been a roller coaster evening when all I was prepared for was a movie. It began by hearing the director talk. He was quite young which surprised me, however, his ability to speak about the movie, why he did it, and what it was like helped me to believe in movie making again. I'm not one for "Hollywood" but I do adore being on a film set of a good movie - I love the process of it all. I don't, however, like all the ass kissing, the show and tell, the being something that seems to go along with it. There's a definite game that gets played in Hollywood and I've often wondered how to be a part of it without being a part of it. That struggle has kept me from doing as much as I want to do. However, Jo's chat, combined with him being my age and just starting out and belieiving in what he was doing helped me to believe that aside from the politics of it all, there is still movie making going on and I can continue to work in it, somehow. Watching the movie, memories I had long tucked away came back. I remembered my 18 year old self, living in England in a manor...

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April 11, 2005

To communicate something of what I feel about what we do as artists, as musicians and as human beings. The sun will not fall down from the sky if there are no more [artists]. The world can and will go on without us but I have to think that we have made this world a better place. That we have left it richer, wiser than had we not chosen the way of art. The older I get, the less I know but I am certain that what we do matters. You must know what you want to do in life, you must decide, for we cannot do everything. Do not think [art] is an easy career. IT is a lifetime's work; it does not stop here. What matters is that you use whatever you have learned wisely. - Maria Callas At the office today I was watching Faye Dunaway's play "Master Class" based on the infamous opera singer Maria Callas (Unfortunately the play is no longer going and it's not available on DVD - I only had access to it because Faye dropped it off. You'll have to wait until she makes the movie). And of all the things I've heard about being an artist and what it means and advice given and stories told, I would have to say that this play is the only thing that ever shook my core and made the hair on my arms stand in attention. "This is not an opera! This is LIFE"...

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April 07, 2005

Fame is such a funny thing. For the last ten years I've had sites on the web, they've all been attached to the thing called fame. Even when I first began I had television shows from around the world wanting to interview me, "fans" emailling me like crazy and money being offered for this and that (even Jones Soda wanted to do a deal). It became too much for me because I wasn't doing what I was doing for attention - I just did it for fun. So I took my site down and went into hiding so to speak. WHen I came back to the web I had a new address and didn't mention it but again, the site became popular. And as I created new sites each one of them became almost instantly popular with absolutely no marketing on my end. I began to become recognised when out, received hundreds of emails a day (good and bad) and lots of media attention. There were sites dedicated to gossiping about me and my career but I generally paid no attention to it. One thing I learned is that fame is not the goal and has absolutely nothing to do with me. If I start to bank on it on any level, I'd become addicted to it - I've seen it happen with others and knew it wasn't pretty. It's one of the reasons why I've never had comments after entries, often do not share an email address and take...

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November 21, 2004

After a busy day of hosting a garage sale yesterday and packing up this morning, we decided on a whim to dress up, go downtown, share a parfait and mocha and see the movie, Finding Neverland. It did wonders for our souls on so many levels, I couldn't even begin to tell you how. Here's what the Director has to say: "My favorite part [of making the film] was being able to do something that I believe was magical and stimulated my imagination," Forster said. "And I hope I conveyed that in the film. That it will stimulate people's imagination, that they will write things or do things or believe in things that they didn't believe in before." So, if you find yourself in need of a little magic, a little comfort, or a little time to remember what it's like to see the world in a different way, I encourage you to go. And let it change you a little....

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July 15, 2004

Generally not one for museums or dishing about art work (Ah, yes, I see the history of humanities suffering in that yellow blob) I was unexplainably eager to see the van Gogh exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Although I own volumes of his letters and writings, his artwork was a mystery to me. All I knew was he was it when it came to great artists. His works was posters for crying out loud! When people thought of important works of art his name would always come up. His work is so far up the scale that mere mortals were never supposed to do what he did. He's an icon, a legend, a master. Because of this, I had always had the notion he was born this way. He came out of the womb with a brush and went to work. His style was always there or so I believed. The exhibit showed some of his famous paintings and portraits but what they also showed were his drawings. This is where I spent most of my time because this is where I received a lesson. Van Gogh had tried several (unsuccessful) careers before he decided to pursue art at 27. And when he first began he made simple sketches of life around him. In the drawings on display one could see some of his mistakes, hard lines, and sometimes shabby movements. What struck me most about these images was how simple they were, drawn by a man who...

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May 03, 2003

Although, far be it from me to encourage someone to watch television but the movie The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer that I worked on this past winter is finally going to air May 12th on ABC in America. Although I worked as a stand-in for one of the lead actresses, the little girl and the ghost (I hung like a madwoman and suprised all those movie boys with my strength) if all goes well, perhaps there will be a snippet or two of me in there. Oh, the dish I could tell you about the movie, the actors and the creators. But that'd be bad breeding. But I will say this; the movie is quite different than the book and that if you cut a snooty actress down when she deserves it the director doesn't fire you....

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February 21, 2002

Last year when I went back to Europe, I was reminded how natural and accepted art is. In America, there tends to be a snob factor, or an elitist air about it. If not, then it's completely scholarly or slovenly. I've been afraid of art but over the past year I've gotten back into it - even docenting at an art museum. I purchased my second piece of art ever for my birthday and it's amazing. It feels so good to have a peice of art that means something and from someone I've spoken with. I believe that in order to be a part of art, I have to support it and that's my intention when I buy things now or with the websites I create. My best friend is here and she told me how creative I was. "I am now I said," and then added, "No offense, but I never was an artist before becuase you were the arty and creative one. I didn't think I could do what you do. Then I realised I could, if I just tried. And I have been trying....

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