Charlotte Amalie Harbor as seen from our balcony.
Charlotte Amalie & Yacht Haven Grande as seen from our balcony.
The harbor at night. It was pretty spectacular. Scuba diving pictures to follow shortly. Enjoy!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
A First Taste of St. Thomas Pics
Charlotte Amalie Harbor as seen from our balcony.
Charlotte Amalie & Yacht Haven Grande as seen from our balcony.
The harbor at night. It was pretty spectacular. Scuba diving pictures to follow shortly. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
In Rememberance of Dr. King
Great Words from a Great Man
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
"Injustice any where is a threat to justice everywhere."
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
"Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal'. "
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
"Injustice any where is a threat to justice everywhere."
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
"Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal'. "
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Meeting Chaske Spencer!
Some people had the rare opportunity to meet Chaske Spencer [Sam Uley] in a small group (about 50 people or so) on Tuesday of this week at a Yale University Master's Tea. And since I'm such a creeper (and because my fabulous Yalie sister is such an enabler) I was able to attend.
First, I'm amazed at how good looking he was in real life. I usually figure that actors aren't really that fabulous looking in real life - sorry to burst your bubble but if Chaske is any indication, then they're all strikingly beautiful. Damn for us lay people.
But, fortunately, he's also one of the sweetest, most impassioned people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. He was first introduced by a member of the college hosting him. I'm still a little bitter about that because she stood directly in my line of sight while everyone was taking pictures so I have next to no pictures of the event (I refused to be rude and snap flash pictures while he was talking, despite how tempted I was).
Some of the Things I Learned Were:
He, like Taylor Lautner [Jacob Black], does not like to be asked to growl. And no, he won't take his shirt off either.
He moved to NYC at 20, with only a $100 in his pocket. And he doesn't recommend that anybody else try it.
His favorite part of acting is between 'action' and 'cut'. And all the cgi props (the cardboard wolves, etc) don't really throw him.
He really admires Gil Birmingham [Billy Black] and Graham Greene [Harry Clearwater]. He says that they can out act anyone on set and went as far as to say that Michael Sheen [Aro] and Graham Greene were scene stealers.
He talked about the cast and how, while it's difficult to hang out with the vamps, everyone is very welcoming. He also talked about what him and his fellow pack-mates bonded over - the work outs. He talked about how they all strutted around when they found out they were being trained by the guy who worked on 300. But that, as fit as he was going into the first work out, it still killed him. Apparently, they had to do 300 sit-ups right off the bat. But, he said that the workout changed how he lives his life. He continues to work out (admitting that he has to gain 20 more pounds before Breaking Dawn) and he eats healthy. Finally, he talked about how he gained all the bulk; claiming that he got the best bulking-up advice from ex-cons. He claimed that they not only knew how to pack on the muscular pounds but also how to fit in an entire work out in 30 minutes (something I suspect had to do with limited access to gym time in prison). He talked about his costars what they bring to the project. He said that there's something about Rob [Edward Cullen] that he "can't quite put his finger on, but it's there" and that he likes the different emotional facet Lautner adds to the love triangle.
Although the books wouldn't have been something that he would have originally sought out to read, he all but shouted that he "gets it!" He said that he understands the pull and why the fanbase is as devoted as they are.
He also did say that he still can't believe the hype associated with the saga. When asked what his craziest fan experience was, he said that he had someone faint on him. And, like Ashley Greene [Alice], he panics when fans cry and finds it very awkward. He says he tried hugging someone who was crying once and that she immediately started sobbing harder.
I asked him if fans could expect Eclipse to stay as close to the book as New Moon. I reminded him that in all the New Moon interviews Taylor Lautner would specifically say if we'd read the books, then we knew what was going to happen (i.e. do Jake & Bella kiss?). His answer was something along these lines "due to fan backlash if we change things, Summit and Stephenie Meyer (who was on set for a good portion of the movie apparently) made sure that it stuck very close to the book. David Slade's contribution makes this film much darker though."
He also talked about how he auditioned for the role of Jared (really???) but was called back to read for Sam (good call casting director!). He also said that he was about 24 hours away from not being cast at all. Apparently, Chris Weitz decided on an entirely different wolf pack, went home, had a dream or something, and came in the next day and said that it had to be the other group. The group that had Chaske Spencer, Alex Meraz [Paul] and Bronson Pelletier [Jared].
He talked about how he thinks the Carlisle and Leah characters are interesting but that unlike his character, he doesn't see himself as much of a leader. Someone asked him if he thought that Stephenie's book was sexist in that it objectifies men and while he didn't outright agree, he skirted answering the question by saying the doors this job opened for him justify the means. Example, his production company is working on a new film called The Block which is the story of a writer who decides to kill someone to get past his writer's block and then becomes addicted to killing when it works (cool, hmm?).
Finally, I asked him to talk his charitable projects which ended up being when he got really impassioned. He's working with United Global Shift on some Native water rights. Apparently the government is trying to buy the land surrounding this lake in Montana from the Native peoples there and they're doing it both unfairly and corruptly. Chaske talked about filming a documentary and maybe helping the people there open a water plant so they can bottle and sell the water and wouldn't have to sell their land to the government. He also talked about his work with veterans. That he thinks it's such a travesty that young men are returning home from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD, broke, homeless and that the government isn't doing nearly enough to help them get back to their post military lives at home.
It was a very pleasant experience and I very much enjoyed meeting him (especially since I didn't have to wait in line at some giant convention).
First, I'm amazed at how good looking he was in real life. I usually figure that actors aren't really that fabulous looking in real life - sorry to burst your bubble but if Chaske is any indication, then they're all strikingly beautiful. Damn for us lay people.
But, fortunately, he's also one of the sweetest, most impassioned people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. He was first introduced by a member of the college hosting him. I'm still a little bitter about that because she stood directly in my line of sight while everyone was taking pictures so I have next to no pictures of the event (I refused to be rude and snap flash pictures while he was talking, despite how tempted I was).
Some of the Things I Learned Were:
He, like Taylor Lautner [Jacob Black], does not like to be asked to growl. And no, he won't take his shirt off either.
He moved to NYC at 20, with only a $100 in his pocket. And he doesn't recommend that anybody else try it.
His favorite part of acting is between 'action' and 'cut'. And all the cgi props (the cardboard wolves, etc) don't really throw him.
He really admires Gil Birmingham [Billy Black] and Graham Greene [Harry Clearwater]. He says that they can out act anyone on set and went as far as to say that Michael Sheen [Aro] and Graham Greene were scene stealers.
He talked about the cast and how, while it's difficult to hang out with the vamps, everyone is very welcoming. He also talked about what him and his fellow pack-mates bonded over - the work outs. He talked about how they all strutted around when they found out they were being trained by the guy who worked on 300. But that, as fit as he was going into the first work out, it still killed him. Apparently, they had to do 300 sit-ups right off the bat. But, he said that the workout changed how he lives his life. He continues to work out (admitting that he has to gain 20 more pounds before Breaking Dawn) and he eats healthy. Finally, he talked about how he gained all the bulk; claiming that he got the best bulking-up advice from ex-cons. He claimed that they not only knew how to pack on the muscular pounds but also how to fit in an entire work out in 30 minutes (something I suspect had to do with limited access to gym time in prison). He talked about his costars what they bring to the project. He said that there's something about Rob [Edward Cullen] that he "can't quite put his finger on, but it's there" and that he likes the different emotional facet Lautner adds to the love triangle.
Although the books wouldn't have been something that he would have originally sought out to read, he all but shouted that he "gets it!" He said that he understands the pull and why the fanbase is as devoted as they are.
He also did say that he still can't believe the hype associated with the saga. When asked what his craziest fan experience was, he said that he had someone faint on him. And, like Ashley Greene [Alice], he panics when fans cry and finds it very awkward. He says he tried hugging someone who was crying once and that she immediately started sobbing harder.
I asked him if fans could expect Eclipse to stay as close to the book as New Moon. I reminded him that in all the New Moon interviews Taylor Lautner would specifically say if we'd read the books, then we knew what was going to happen (i.e. do Jake & Bella kiss?). His answer was something along these lines "due to fan backlash if we change things, Summit and Stephenie Meyer (who was on set for a good portion of the movie apparently) made sure that it stuck very close to the book. David Slade's contribution makes this film much darker though."
He also talked about how he auditioned for the role of Jared (really???) but was called back to read for Sam (good call casting director!). He also said that he was about 24 hours away from not being cast at all. Apparently, Chris Weitz decided on an entirely different wolf pack, went home, had a dream or something, and came in the next day and said that it had to be the other group. The group that had Chaske Spencer, Alex Meraz [Paul] and Bronson Pelletier [Jared].
He talked about how he thinks the Carlisle and Leah characters are interesting but that unlike his character, he doesn't see himself as much of a leader. Someone asked him if he thought that Stephenie's book was sexist in that it objectifies men and while he didn't outright agree, he skirted answering the question by saying the doors this job opened for him justify the means. Example, his production company is working on a new film called The Block which is the story of a writer who decides to kill someone to get past his writer's block and then becomes addicted to killing when it works (cool, hmm?).
Finally, I asked him to talk his charitable projects which ended up being when he got really impassioned. He's working with United Global Shift on some Native water rights. Apparently the government is trying to buy the land surrounding this lake in Montana from the Native peoples there and they're doing it both unfairly and corruptly. Chaske talked about filming a documentary and maybe helping the people there open a water plant so they can bottle and sell the water and wouldn't have to sell their land to the government. He also talked about his work with veterans. That he thinks it's such a travesty that young men are returning home from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD, broke, homeless and that the government isn't doing nearly enough to help them get back to their post military lives at home.
It was a very pleasant experience and I very much enjoyed meeting him (especially since I didn't have to wait in line at some giant convention).
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Finally Somebody Gets It!
Reviewer on BBC radio finally gets how the Twilight Saga's subconscious abstinence theme plays off the original Victorian theme of the vampire myth. Plus, he seems to get why Twi-hards are so die hard. :-P
Today was a head spinner... too bad I'm off icecream and can't indulge in my favorite indulgence.
Today was a head spinner... too bad I'm off icecream and can't indulge in my favorite indulgence.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Why New Moon's Success is Good for the Future of Movies
Offhand, it would be hard to think of a pop phenomenon as rapturously beloved as the Twilight saga that is also as vociferously hated. My God, the hate! If swoony-gauzy teen-bloodsucker romanticism with a golden-eyed indie-rock James Dean as love object isn’t your cup of passion, then fine — so be it. But why the frothing torrents of resentment? I am constantly amazed to see all the incredibly vicious and hostile comments directed at an actress as lovely and expressive as Kristen Stewart. What is her crime? Having a personality moody and brainy and distinctive enough that it carries over, maybe a bit too much, from one role to the next? It makes me wonder what, deep down, is getting the haters so riled up.
Frankly, I think it’s this: The ascendance of the Twilight saga represents an essential paradigm shift in youth-gender control of the pop marketplace. For the better part of two decades, teenage boys, and overgrown teenage boys, have essentially held sway over Hollywood, dictating, to a gargantuan degree, the varieties of movies that get made. Explosive truck-smashing action and grisly machete-wielding horror, inflated superhero fantasy and knockabout road-trip comedy: It has been, at heart, a boys’ pig-out, a playpen of testosterone at the megaplex. Sure, we have “chick flicks,” but that (demeaning) term implies that they’re an exception, a side course in the great popcorn smorgasboard.
No more. With New Moon, the Twilight series is now officially as sweeping a juggernaut on the big screen as it ever was between book covers. And that gives the core audience it represents — teenage girls — a new power and prevalence. Inevitably, such evolutions in clout are accompanied by a resentful counter-reaction. For if power is gained, then somewhere else (hello, young men!) it must be lost. Yet such is the populist magic of Hollywood that these movies can’t simply be written off as some overblown high-school vampire version of a Miley Cyrus concert. Or, more to the point, they can be (hello, haters!), but that completely misses what’s going on in them.
I went into New Moon having not read the book, and so I didn’t really experience the movie as an adaptation, or watch it as any sort of Twilight die-hard. Leaving aside a few leaping boy-to-wolf transformations (which could, at this point, have come out of any routine horror film), what I saw, in essence, was a moody romantic melodrama from the 1950s, a movie that told its story, more than anything else, with faces. For two hours, they loomed up there — Stewart, with her pale crystalline severity, her ability to communicate desire and distress at the same moment; Robert Pattinson, with his sweet-but-not-too-safe, hurtin’-eyed, chalky-skinned delinquent chivalry; and Taylor Lautner, with those naturally wolfy features, as the group’s Troy Donahue, a friendly, quick-grinned stud-muffin who’s just buff enough to divert the heroine without threatening to capsize her devotion to her true love.
The key to New Moon’s appeal, of course, is that a lack of consummation is built into the movie’s very premise, and so the sexiness, as it was in the ’50s, has to emerge almost entirely from the atmosphere, and from the interplay of those faces. And that, more than anything, is what makes this a picture dominated, in spirit, by a new kind of girl power. Mock me all you want (and from the haters, I expect nothing less), but the reason I believe that the big-screen success of the Twilight saga bodes well for the future of Hollywood movies is that the girls (and some boys too!) who are lining up to see New Moon are asserting, in an almost innocent way, their allegiance to a much older form of pop moviemaking: the narcotic potency of mood, story, and romantic suggestion over the constant visual wham-pow! of action, effects, and packaged sensation. It’s not that New Moon has none of that stuff. It’s that the movie uses fantasy to liberate, rather than to steamroll, its emotions. That’s what makes it a new-style, feminine-driven brand of popcorn, one that’s more than welcome at a moment when the other kind — the boys’ kind — has grown more than a bit stale.
-Entertainment Weekly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
