Gael García Bernal, Pablo Larraín 'No' Cannes 2012 - Hollywood Reporter
If you had any doubt about whether people in advertising can create positive social change, No seems to be the film to watch.
Bernal: I knew about, obviously, Pinochet. I mean, I grew up with a lot of Latin American exiles in Mexico, but I didn’t get a sense, a real sense of the pain, and the deep pain that a dictatorship cost until I arrived to Chile.
Larraín: It’s unique because if you have for the very first time, after fifteen years of dictatorship, you have a little moment on TV when you can express for first time what do you think, and convince people, in order to convince people to vote for the ‘No’ option, the very first thing that you would do is to go, “Pinochet is a bad person, he killed this, he did this.” And then one guy, a couple of guys would come in—and that’s what Gael represents—and they said, “no, no, no, no—that’s not the way. If we do that, they will win because we will spread fear. We have to say, “Man, let’s, you know, the storm is over. Now, it’s the spring coming, the joy is coming.” Let’s spread a positive message.” And they were so smart and brilliant and unique. But these people that were coming from advertising, that were used to sell spaghettis, or pop sodas, or whatever, they changed the history of a country.
(via Johnny Depp, Natalie Portman sign on for McCartney’s ‘My Valentine’ - latimes.com)
And it’s screening before The Intouchables! I’m not sure if the writer of the article watched the film, but the music creates a strong “flavor-ral” connection between the video and the film, for sure. In any case, if it’ll draw people to the cinemas to see the show, I’m all for it! Really, really enjoyable.
And I’m really interested to see what the domestic response will be to it, here in the USA, given that people here are much more sensitive to any onscreen portrayal that might have the slightest hint of a Black-person-as-entertainment, White-person-as-enlightenment model. I was privileged enough to watch it at the DGA’s COLCOA this year, and be at the filmmakers’ Q & A session, where it was very evident that they had hoped for this film to transcend racial and cultural borders, not reinforce them. In France, they certainly seemed to have succeeded: the film was talked about as “the cultural event of the year,” and Omar Sys became the first Black actor to win the Best Actor Cesar (French Oscars). He also came in third in a recent poll of the most popular persons in France! (Behind the Algerian football player Zidane, no less.)
My advice: just watch and enjoy it first, you can take it apart with me later—that’s a promise. ;) I haven’t laughed so hard for so long!
Source: Los Angeles Times
IPO will keep Eduardo Saverin’s party going in Singapore | Techi.com
The Social Network portrayed jilted Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin as a victim. His character portrayed by The Amazing Spiderman‘s Andrew Garfield was trying his best to implement profitable strategies at the startup while Jesse Eisenberg‘s Mark Zuckerberg and Justin Timberlake‘s Sean Parker partied their way to not-so-accidental success. Now, with 2% of the company heading into an IPO that could be valued near $100 million, Saverin is about to have enough money to maintain his partying ways in Singapore.
While Zuckerberg is often spotted walking his dog or driving his Acura, Saverin is a Singapore playboy, Bentley and all. Since 2009 when he moved to Singapore full time as an investor, the man portrayed as somewhat shy and clearly business-oriented has been best known for running up tens of thousands of dollars in bar tabs at clubs. His entry into the city-state had been seen as an avenue to jumpstart the tech startup goals that have been floundering for a decade.
“Eduardo doesn’t invest in much. He doesn’t invest in Singapore companies,” grouses John Fearon, CEO of Singapore start-ups dropmysite.com and dropmyemail.com. “He doesn’t set up his stall and say, ‘come to me’ for investment.”
The other component of his notoriety in the area is a penchant for skipping out on speaking obligations at the last minute. He was scheduled to judge startup pitches at Echelon 2011 but sent a text message hours before he was supposed to be on stage. It’s not the only report of cancellations at the 11th hour.
He has been relatively aloof with the media over the years which may be one of the reasons he went to tabloid-unfriendly Singapore in the first place.
And I was so charmed by Garfield in The Social Network. (Full disclosure, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher are formidable.) Posing the question, once again, on the influence of films on the perception of real-life people and events. TSN also didn’t mention that Parker’s more recent claim to fame is his aggressive philanthropy tactics.
Who’s the real (empty) party boy?
And is everything really “good guys vs. bad guys” anyway?
And so, ironically, we come back to the last lines of TSN:
You’re not an asshole, Mark. You’re just trying so hard to be.
End of story. Maybe. Not really.
Some Like Her Hot: GQ.com
Michelle Williams, tenderly rendered. I must be clear: I’m not a fan—I did not grow up on Dawson’s Creek, and My Week with Marilyn has only just joined Blue Valentine on my endless to-watch list; I’ve not seen her work. Her life story itself moves me. A real tale of working hard, taking risks, challenging yourself, persisting—and loving oh so incredibly much. Thank you, Chris Heath.
There is a question I have been wanting to understand the answer to, but have been feeling that I simply can’t ask. Eventually I just ask it anyway:
Do you think there was a part of you that imagined the two of you would somehow end up together?
Immediately, I wish that I hadn’t. The look on her face—a kind of juddering visceral alarm at what has been said…I don’t wish to see that look many more times in my life. “That would make me way too sad to answer,” she says quickly, and I hurriedly begin another question, about something completely different, hoping that if I say it fast enough these new words will chase the old words away from where they are hanging in the air between us, and maybe she will let me pretend that it was something I never said.
“No, no,” she says, and I can see the tears forming, and I think she means that she doesn’t want to answer any more questions about anything. I mutter some kind of apology under my breath.
But, even now, I’m wrong about everything. Mostly she is just trying to stop my new question. She has something to tell me.
“No,” she says. “I said it would make me too sad to answer but it’s also…”—and she nods even as her voice breaks once more with tears—”…one of my favorite things to imagine.” And through the tears, a beaming, almost beatific smile stretches room-wide across her face. “It’s actually one of my favorite places to visit.”
Just watched X-Men: First Class
and died a little inside when I saw the familiar sights of Oxford. The dreaming spires, spilling out of the Tavern onto the street with Hertford’s bridge, striding out of the Sheldonian - if only I -could- teleport.
Also, someone needs to explain to me why James Mcavoy is so mesmerising.
Emma Watson Photographed for the July Issue of Vogue by Mario Testino
In hopes of restoring some sanity to her schedule, she will go back to school in the fall somewhere closer to home.
I’ve been increasingly impressed by this young lady over the years, and I’m well excited that she’s going to be at Oxford in the fall. Hope those six-week breaks + long vac help with making and promoting great films/fashion!
Source: Vogue
Penélope Cruz Photographed by Mario Testino for the June Issue of Vogue
Click-through to read the article of Penélope’s life, career and current state of mind, beautifully rendered, by Jason Gay.
“A lot of things can be said about this creature Penélope Cruz,” Depp says. “None of them are bad.” He calls her a “one-off,” “magnificent,” and “magical.”
Penélope Cruz adores karaoke. She adores it the way a first-grader adores a golden-retriever puppy—in an unself-conscious, non-ironic way. She will sing “Hollaback Girl,” by Gwen Stefani, and, if she is so compelled, “Without Me,” by Eminem. (Opening lyrics: “Two trailer-park girls go round the outside/Round the outside/Round the outside.”) Karaoke is a non-negotiable part of the Penélope Cruz experience. “I’ve gone to karaoke bars in almost every city I have been to,” she says. “Every time I am on a movie location, we find a karaoke bar and take the crew.”
Cruz took her mother, Encarna, to the Oscars the night she won for Vicky Cristina. “I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this was not a very realistic dream,” she said from the stage as her mom got misty.
When it was over, she headed over to In-N-Out Burger, still wrapped in her vintage white Balmain gown. “You have to remove the tight dress to eat a Double Double monster cheeseburger with everything on it,” she says.The post-Oscar In-N-Out burger has become a ritual. It’s happened after each of her nominations—the hungry Spanish bombshell at the drive-through. But this February, after Cruz accompanied Bardem to the Kodak Theatre in support of his Best Actor nomination for Biutiful, there was no burger run.
“We had something more important to do,” Cruz says, smiling. “We had to go home to the baby.”
Yes: the baby. “Beautiful Leonardo,” as Marshall called him at the Walk of Fame presentation. Cruz discovered she was pregnant shortly before filming began forOn Stranger Tides. She remains grateful for the way she felt protected by Marshall, Depp, and the rest of the cast and crew. “When she found out it was a boy, she kept it hush-hush, but we knew,” Marshall says. With all the high-flying action going on, the director says, Cruz “loved that there was a boy in her.”
“I was pregnant and a pirate,” Cruz says. “A beautiful experience.”
I ask Cruz how has motherhood has changed her, and her face grows flushed. Tears begin to collect under her eyes.
“One second,” she says. She dips her head and dabs at her face. I fear I am about to be removed from the hotel, forever banned for making Penélope Cruz cry. But now she is laughing and crying at the same time. “This has never happened to me,” she says. “This is really funny. I’m sorry. It’s unexpected.”To date, Cruz hasn’t talked at all about her son in public. But it’s clear his impact is profound. “From the first second, you feel so much love,” she says. “It is a revolutionary experience. That’s the best way I can describe it. It transforms you completely, in a second. Nature is very wise and gives you nine months to prepare, but in that moment—when you see that face, you are transformed forever.”
She is not trying to wipe away the tears now. She rolls with it. It’s an unabashed, blissful cryfest. “Even if you have heard from all your friends and family, ‘This is what’s going to happen,’ until it happens to you, it’s hard to understand in your soul,” Cruz says.
A day later, Leonardo is present during a photo shoot, cooing gently with the nanny while Cruz poses a few feet away outside. Cruz is very careful about unlocking the door on her new family. Never one to disclose personal details—in the past, queries about boyfriends real and rumored were brushed away like houseflies—she is vigilant about her son. “I want my son—and my kids if I have more—to grow up in a way that is as anonymous as possible,” Cruz says. “The fact that his father and I have chosen to do the work that we do doesn’t give anybody the right to invade our privacy.”
Back at our outdoor table, Cruz can’t help being a glowing advocate. “Do you have children?” she asks me.
Not yet.She slaps me hard on the hand. “Good luck!” she says, beaming. “It really is the best thing in the world.”
Cruz says she is excited to start working again. There is a new film with Allen, set to begin filming this summer in Rome, its script draped in mystery, as all of the director’s projects are. “A man came to my house with a package, gave it to me, and said, ‘I will be back in half an hour,’ ” Cruz says. “I asked, ‘Would you mind giving me two?’ ”
But these days, Cruz is unsure how busy she wants to be. “Of course I will work, because we all need to work,” she says. “But it’s very important to have time with my family.”
After an exhilarating year of firsts, this is a happy problem for Penélope Cruz. “It is great to see somebody who you think deserves it get everything she has ever dreamed of,” says Hayek. “It’s magical. It gives you hope.”
Source: Vogue
Everything You Wanted To Know About Every Single Best Picture Nominee (But Were Afraid To Ask)
Who thought it would be a good idea to have 10 nominees for Best Picture again?
Thank goodness for NPR, or I’d be way too intimidated to keep track.
Source: NPR
Wait - Time is on my side now? Whodathunk!
Summer 2009 shall henceforth be remembered (by me) as the anomalous time period in which Time was on my side. And I didn’t know what to do with him.
After bumming around for a month and a half, temping with an events company for 4 and a half weeks - spending one of those weeks in H1N1-suspect quarantine - and resuming bumming for another week and a half, I have now entered a new phase: part-time bumming! A few times a week, I tear myself from the comforts of home to work at a little cafe owned by friends of the family. The work is light - only on weekdays, just a few hours each time - and with a couple of those hours being busy lunch-rush work, the shifts just fly by, and I’ve plenty time left in the day to spare. I seat people, serve food, but best of all, I make coffee! Finally, I’ve regained the opportunity to work that espresso machine, churn out those cappuchinos and lattes, and master the art that is foaming milk.
6 years ago (wow, that’s long, didn’t realise that!), at age 15, I worked at a coffee franchise store for 2 weeks for a school-arranged industrial attachment. It was my first “job” and I worked hard then, harder than I’ve ever worked since, it feels like; 8-hour days, 6 days a week, with minute-to-minute, drink-after-drink rushes that lasted for hours. I remember crying after my first couple of days, being completely unused to the work, unused to the people I was working with, unused to being treated like a full-fledged, full-time staff person - in short, completely overworked and overwhelmed. The one aspect that brought me joy, aside from some quality conversations with the precious few colleagues I could actually connect with, was the drink-making. It made me so happy to know what goes in each drink, how to put it together, what makes each drink unique. Naturally, I was awfully disappointed with myself when I couldn’t figure out how to foam a pitcher of milk! In fact, one day, while I was performing very poorly at said task, the district manager walked over - mind you, not store assistant manager, not store manager, but district manager - and stopped me, amusedly, saying, “You’re new, aren’t you? You’re overblowing the milk. I can tell from the sound. Let me show you how to do it.” He then came behind the counter, and personally demonstrated the correct way to foam a pitcher of milk. Add that traumatic experience to the numerous occasions in which I scalded myself on the steam tube used for foaming milk, and voila: one phobia of foaming milk, coming right up.
But I have since conquered my fear! Ha!
… indulge me.
The rest of my time is spent wandering, visiting with family and friends, and of course, watching TV. After work, I usually roam around Raffles Place MRT’s shops, if for nothing but to end up at Toast, picking up a cupcake for my sister. When I finally get home, it’s usually just a quick stopover, to wash up and change, before heading back out again: on Monday, for instance, it was to join Geoff, Lianglin, Ernest and Jamie in the car ride out to the East for one of David’s well-loved lamb parties. Kartini, David’s family’s domestic help and our head chef for the evening, really could open a restaurant offering her rich fare to very popular reception and profitable ends. We were well-stuffed by the night’s end.
On Tuesday, my Mum and I brought our dog, Buddy, to the vet. The poor puppy’s skin is acting up again, and he’s been pulling patches out of his back. Thank goodness for Buddy’s happy and otherwise trouble-free personality, I’m not sure how else we would be able to take him to the vet with such relative ease; he really doesn’t know any better, doesn’t know what’s going on or where he is, it’s all an adventure to him, he doesn’t even flinch through multiple injections or a skin scrape, as the vet did for him yesterday. I only wish he’d listen to instruction a little more, and not bark our eardrums a-ringing when we walk through the front door, or drool all over the carseats.
After thoroughly cleaning off the car and myself, my family (sans my sister) joined our cousins’ family for dinner at Shashlik Restaurant for - no prizes for guessing - shashlik, which is basically where the chosen meat is prepared with skewers to scrumptious perfection. This was in honour of my cousin Matthew, who was in town for the week, but is usually found in Pasadena, California, at CalTech, being the intelligent, insightful engineering grad student that he is. Following dinner, all nine of us ajourned to our house to join my sister and her boyfriend for dessert, which was a meal in itself - black forest cake, tiramisu cake, fruit salad with watermelon and longans, strawberry marble cake, and kueh dada (the last three items made by my aunt herself). Limmy is stuffed again, night 2.
Wednesday proved a little more productive, in the traditional sense. After seeing my doctor to get some health registrations forms filled out for Oxford, I met up with Debo to get ourselves some passport photographs (she ordered 30! I just got 12), and then headed into downtown to catch Up!. Oh gosh, I cried so much, particularly at the beginning sequence. I think - or at least, I hope - there’s a part in everyone that hopes to find a lifelong companion, just like Mr Fredricsson, and that’s the part in me that welled up and spilled over.
Then ‘twas back to familial-gathering business. This time, nothing fancy, everything familiar - back to my oldest aunt’s place for a Mum’s side family gathering, as my cousin Shawn is back in town for the 1st time since moving to Geneva earlier this year in May. It was good times, the three of us girls present couldn’t stop prattling away about Geneva, about Boston, about Singapore, telling people-watching stories, food-missing stories, and for my sister, tales about teaching. And again! Stuffing for Limmy! Particularly with sashimi, had at the night’s end. Oh, man.
Thank goodness I’m working tomorrow; I’m not sure how much more my tummy can take!
What do you do with time on your hands?
Eat and meet, meet and eat.
