Lazy Sunday # 291: The Twitter Trolls

While most of you were reading my insightful as always Lazy Sunday post last Sunday morning, I was surfing the news and came across an article stating that the latest UN report on Climate Change (due in about a week) would state that somebody mighta screwed up.

No, it’s not that the planet hasn’t gone (or isn’t going) through a warming phase (as it has many times in the past), just that the computer models in use appear to have been flawed and we weren’t warming at anything even close to the massive civilization ending rate many of the scientific or famous have been predicting.

Now, I admit I’ve always been a little sceptical about the predictions of Al Gore and David Suzuki. That’s partly because the former constantly counters the rise of the oceans by purchasing even more beach front property –- and the latter appears to have gone off the rails, declaring that Canada is “full” and doesn’t need any more people coming here from the rest of the world.

I’ve also looked somewhat askance at the myriad doomsday predictions of those declaring the planet’s end days are upon us. Depending on who you choose to believe and on which day, where you live will either be under 30 feet of water, an arid wasteland or infested with poisonous reptiles and insects from the jungles of Borneo for which neither you nor your dog have any natural defense…

Beyond immediately paying down your carbon footprint.

So anyway, I posted what I’d read on Facebook, and moments later was inundated with messages of derision, shame and revulsion. Not only did I get excoriated for merely directing people to some information, but it was made clear the source was false, the media involved notorious at spreading lies –- and maybe I needed to be sent somewhere for re-education.

Over the last week, most other media, even those sympathetic to the Climate Change cause, have reported the same story and the UN released a preview of their report confirming it as well.

Included in that was that several CC scientists had requested that the computer model debacle be expunged from publication –- no doubt in the interest of expanding our knowledge on the subject.

And some took the opportunity to state that the planet is not warming less, it’s just that “the warming” has retreated into the depths of the oceans –- I presume where it will soon drive Godzilla and the Kraken to the surface thrashing our once safe coastal cities into rubble.

At any rate, we’ll all have the UN Report soon and then we can decide whether the Science on all of this was imperfect or, in fact, the issue is settled, beyond question and it’s time to start paying into those carbon exchanges, which like some modern day Papal dispensation will make all the bad stuff quickly go away.

But the big question that arose for me from all this is –- where did we make the societal turn back to the Middle Ages when anybody who didn’t talk exactly like us or espoused an alternate point of view has become some kind of heretic who needs to be burned at the stake?

I think Bill Maher has the answer.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

American Exceptionalism

We all know, and especially those of us who work in Film and Television, that Americans are better than us. They must be. They’re the only guys you ever hear about on all those Canadian Showbiz magazine shows.

And worldwide, Americans pride themselves on their accomplishments at everything from curing Polio to landing on the Moon. And most of us appreciate those accomplishments and understand the pride.

But the swagger bugs us a little. Because a lot of other places and people also do great things that seldom get talked about, let alone trumpeted to the world –- again allow me to reference all those Canadian Showbiz magazine shows.

Lately, a number of Americans have taken exception with Russian Premier Vladimir Putin for taking up space in the New York Times to basically say it’s okay to toot your own horn, just don’t go around thinking you’re the only guy who’s got one.

Now, much as I don’t hold much affection for Mr. Putin’s policies, I gotta agree with him here. And he may well be basing his opinion on something he learned while heading up the KGB.

For there is a rarely told story from the bad old days of the Cold War and the Russian American Space Race…

It seems that early on, NASA noticed that ballpoint pens didn’t work in zero gravity.

So they spent ten years and $12 Billion dollars developing the Space Pen, which does write in zero gravity as well as upside down, underwater and even on glass at temperatures up to 300 degrees Centigrade -– despite the fact that upside down, underwater and glass at 300 degrees were seldom to be encountered conditions in space exploration.

Russian Cosmonauts, on the other hand, simply used a pencil.

Think of this the next time you see a Canadian TV series being ignored on eTalk.

Lazy Sunday #290: The Double Standard

I spent the first 15 years of my career as an actor. Worked a lot. Got to be in a ton of good shows. It was financially, creatively and personally rewarding.

But if I was starting out today, I’m not sure I’d approach the craft with the same relish I once did. In fact, given the way the world seems to work these days, I’m not sure I’d have chosen the profession in the first place.

It’s pretty clear we live in an era of great television. Series populated by complex and complicated characters, the kind of roles that require consummate skill and immense talent, parts any self-respecting actor hungers to play.

But every now and then I’m stopped short by what those actors are additionally required to do while assaying those roles. I’m talking, of course about all the nudity and simulated sex that permeates the current crop of great shows.

“Game of Thrones”, “True Blood”, “Boardwalk Empire”, “Hung”, “Girls” –- they all demand their leads to do a whole lot more than make you believe in their characters.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I did my share of nude scenes and sex scenes and didn’t have a problem with that. I’m not Gay, but I also played my share of Gay characters. But there was always a line. Mostly proscribed by network or studio censors –- but often drawn by the artists involved, perhaps best described as pushing the envelope while not compromising our own moral code.

Though I haven’t acted in years, I still find myself reading scripts and processing them from the point of view of how I’d have approached the characters. And while watching a show, I sometimes do so from an angle that assesses the actor’s choices with those that I might have made.

And quite often, I come up wondering, “Would I have been able to do that?” Could I have played a sex scene that explicit? Could I have gotten it on with a guy on set if the script required it? Would I have been able to remain on set while an actress was treated in the manner many are treated?

Often, my answer is “No”.

And I get the same answer when I ask myself if I could have written a scene or produced a series requiring such things of my cast.

Try as I may, I can’t imagine these roles being played by Olivier, Bogart, DeNiro, Nicholson, or Pacino – let alone by Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas.

It makes me wonder how much talent there might be sitting on the sidelines, their creative power untapped, just so we can get a little more titillation from our ground-breaking dramas.

You see. Hard as it may be for some people to believe, actors are not that different from anybody else. They get through life pretty much the same way we all do. Go home to their families at the end of a hard day. Try to bring up their kids to be decent and contributing members of society.

And sometimes actors have to choose between paying the rent and being in the vampire orgy scene their family and neighbors settle down to watch on a Sunday night –- a scene their children and their friends will eventually Bit torrent.

Much is made about the double standard that exists between what you can “get away with” on cable and the rules which must be observed by the networks.

Yet something can still be said for the creative necessity of not being able to fall back on the “F” word or suggest what can’t be shown.

And after watching this season’s “Money Shot” episode of “Girls”, I also wonder if there’s a developing double standard when it comes to drawing the line between what’s Art and what’s just Porn.

That’s the subject of this week’s first video.

The second addresses another double standard even the cable companies seem afraid of embracing. Perhaps its the hill the next generation of actors will have to climb.

And how many with talent will choose to do something else instead…

Enjoy Your Sunday.

And…

Lazy Sunday # 289: Agent Provocateur

It’s said that if Love was truly blind, there would be no need for lingerie.

And much as men might appreciate lingerie, it takes a woman to understand what really makes it “work” –- so to speak.

Therefore, while Penelope Cruz (pictured above) in something frilly can get any man’s attention, trust me when I tell you that Senorita Cruz fully clothed but behind the camera writing and directing a lingerie commercial is a force of arousal to be reckoned with.

A partner in the lingerie firm known as “Agent Provocateur”, where her sister is one of the top models, Penelope took it upon herself to direct the introduction to the 2013 Autumn/Winter line.

Chuck your subscriptions to the Victoria’s Secret catalogue right now and thank me later for keeping you warm during the chilly months ahead.

“L’Agent” is Penelope Cruz’s directorial debut. Somebody give her a feature.

Please.

And –- Enjoy Your Sunday.

Getting Sirius About The Stooges

When I was a kid, short films by “The Three Stooges” still played in movie theatres, usually somewhere between the Looney Tunes cartoon and the previews of coming attractions.

And when the opening theme played, a cheer always arose from the kids in the audience, while most of the adults settled back with a smile, knowing that despite what film they were in the mood for, they were in for a few belly laughs first.

“The Three Stooges” were never anybody’s idea of sophisticated entertainment, but nobody cared because, no matter which culture spawned you, they were drop-dead funny.

In an age when good movie comedies are few and far between, and often more intent on delivering a social message or subservient to a romantic plot, it’s hard to imagine a creative model that was simply about packing as many laughs into the available screen time as possible.

“The Three Stooges” were movie pioneers as important to the cinematic art form as Charlie Chaplin, John Ford, Hitchcock and pretty much any other filmmaker or movie icon you care to mention.

“King of All Media” Howard Stern has long insisted that the original Stooges, Larry, Curly and Moe are “the greatest comedians of all time”. And he thought he’d read, heard or seen everything available about them.

Then a few months ago, he interviewed “Dancing With The Stars” host Tom Bergeron, discovering not only an equally obsessed Stooges fan, but a guy who’d interviewed Larry Fine and Moe Howard when he was trying to break into the radio business.

At Stern’s urging, Bergeron dug through his attic and found the original tapes of those interviews, which featured both (by then elderly) comedians talking about how their characters, films and comic inspirations came to be.

Bergeron’s tapes form the heart of a Sirius Satellite Radio special that begins running today on Sirius Channel 101 with a wider audio rollout to follow.

It’s a unique insight into creativity and comedy history that’s well worth the listen. Perhaps, with luck, it might even inspire somebody to create content dedicated to doing nothing more than making people laugh.

Lazy Sunday # 288: The Flying Man

One of the silver linings of the last official weekend of Summer is that while marking the turn toward cooler weather and a decline in the days devoted to vacations, it’s also a sign that the guys in Spandex suits will soon be departing the Multiplex.

As the fanboys churned the Internet this week with the angst sparked by Ben Affleck being chosen as the next incarnation of Batman in the “Man of Steel” sequel, truly original movies designed to offer far more than CGI were unspooling in Telluride and Venice, promising original stories designed to engage rather than reboot memes most of us first became familiar with at the age of twelve.

I honestly don’t have a big problem with Super-hero movies. But when they become a steady diet repeated weekend after weekend, and then sequelized until the DVD boxset is released in time for a new auteur and cast to repeat the process –- well, it’s just not really about trying to seriously entertain people anymore.

As the Comic geeks raged against Affleck’s casting, many asking “Why?” since he’d already ruined “Daredevil”. I couldn’t help wanting to point out he’d also got to ruin Superman in “Hollywoodland”.

That’s because ruining things is what Ben Affleck does best, like the way he ruined what really happened as well as Canadian history in “Argo”.

So, in a way, I REALLY want him to play Batman. Because maybe his ruining it might make people turn to movies where the willing suspension of disbelief replaces the complete surrender to imbecility that most blockbuster comic book movies have become.

Don’t get me wrong. I love comic books. I’m in the middle of writing one right now. But the best of the Marvel and DC myths always left room for both the wonder and the scepticism encountering a being with super human powers would clearly engender.

There’s a little of that in a terrific short film by Brazilian filmmaker Marcus Alqueres entitled “The Flying Man”. And Alqueres’ description of his process goes right to the heart of what makes his film so powerful and different, “From the beginning I didn’t want the visual effects to be the centre of attention, I wanted to use it as a tool to help telling stories that can’t be told without it”.

Maybe if this guy were directing the “Man of Steel” sequel, there’d be less chance for the studio blockbuster mentality and Ben Affleck to ruin it.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Lazy Sunday # 287: Give Nick Mancuso A Break

One of the untold stories of the Canadian Film Biz is that I gave Nick Mancuso his first big break. Yep. I’m the guy who first put him in a movie.

It wasn’t a tough decision by any stretch. We’d worked together a lot on stage and it was clear to everybody in theatre in those days that he possessed an awesome talent.

But while I’d done a number of films, Nick hadn’t. And so when I managed to sell a script with me playing the lead, I wanted him to be in it.

Trouble was, the only role he fit was a single scene bit part, playing a sexy Latin lover and waiter named Manuel, who unsuccessfully hit on the film’s heroine when she was on the rebound from my character.

It was a thankless part. I mean, seriously, who was going to believe that any hot movie actress faced with a choice between Nick or I wasn’t coming right back to me.

But as the saying goes, “There are no small parts, only small actors”. So Nick said “Yes”. And he never looked back.

That first credit was soon followed by “The House on Garibaldi Street”, “Nightwing”, “Ticket To Heaven”, “Maria Chapdelaine”, “Heartbreakers”, “Stingray” “Under Siege” and about 130 other titles.

None of which, of course, would have happened if I hadn’t given the kid his first shot.

And now Nick is looking for a few people to give him his next one.

Somewhere along the way, Nick, like a lot of good actors, started to write. Only he mostly wrote poetry.

I first met Vigo Mortensen at some Poetry Jam or Slam or whatever they’re called where actor poets like them take one another on. It was just like that scene with Eminem in “8 Mile” -- only with not as many hoodies.

Now, I don’t know why so many really good actors are obsessed by poetry, but they apparently are. That Ryan Gosling can rhyme like a sonovabitch.

Anyway, Nick is now trying to launch a film based on the works of beat poet Gregory Corso, who Jack Kerouac called '"the herald of the Beat generation", and he’s looking for crowd-funding to finance it.

The film, entitled “Bomb! Burning Fantasy”, has a cast which includes Nick, John Savage (“The Deer Hunter”, “Carnivale”), Bill Moseley (“The Devil’s Rejects”, “Grindhouse”), Sally Kirkland (Oscar nominated for “Anna”) and Ray Abruzzo (“The Sopranos”, “Mad Men”) –- so, you know –- heavy duty actors. Not those flash-in-the-pan pretty-boy Hollywood types.

Nick is also coming off a run of producing some exceptional independent features, notably “The Big Gamble”, winner of Best Feature at the New York International Independent Film Festival and “Real Gangsters” which this week won Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the Action On Film Festival in Pasadena.

So you have the opportunity here to put a few bucks on somebody with a ton of experience who is, as they say, “On a Roll”.

You can find “Bomb! Burning Fantasy” on Indiegogo here. And what follows is a taste of what you’ll be funding.

As Spike Lee, Rob Thomas and other Hollywood heavyweights have recently proven, crowd-funding may be the only way we get movies in theatres that don’t feature guys in spandex suits.

That’s the kind of film Nick Mancuso is making. And somebody (namely you) needs to cut him a break.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Lazy Sunday # 286: Save The Drive-In

Unless something semi-miraculous happens in the next month, this will be the first Summer I can remember where I didn’t visit a drive-in theatre.

Once a warm weather fixture of every good-sized town, there isn’t a surviving drive-in within a day’s drive of me now. And with fewer than 500 anywhere in the world and only 53 left in Canada, that’s unhappily true for most of us.

Yeah, there are Summer movies in the park in a lot of places, but given the civic bureaucracy attached to most ensuring the films are family friendly, nobody sneaks in a flask and we’re all sent home at a respectable hour –- well, it just isn’t the same thing.

It’s also hard to imagine any insurance wary and nanny lobbied community that would program a dusk to dawn Biker-flick or gore-fest, let alone a demo bending double feature like this…

No, the culture has definitely been diminished. And with all theatres having to switch to prohibitively costly digital projection by next year, things do not look rosy for those of us who delight in watching a movie either under the stars or through a steamy windshield.

And yet –- there’s still hope…

Enter Honda, with a plan called “Project Drive-In” which will donate digital projectors outright to five theatres chosen by online ballots while at the same time raising money to buy new projectors for many more.

According to Honda’s Manager of Social Marketing Alicia Jones, "Cars and drive-in theaters go hand-in-hand, and it's our mission to save this decades-old slice of Americana that holds such nostalgia for so many of us".

To participate, and maybe save your own last remaining local drive-in, visit “Project Drive-In” here. With some luck, those dancing hotdogs and sodas will continue to parade across outdoor screens for generations to come.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Fair For Canada? Yeah. Sure.

It’s interesting that the giant Telcos, which also dominate our television industry, spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year importing product so that they won’t have to employ Canadians capable of creating the same thing, are now whining about how committed they are to protecting Canadians.

Luckily, us artist types aren’t the only people who can see through their arguments.

Everybody Hit The Shower!

And most important – don’t forget to…

Lazy Sunday # 285: The Old Hidden Ball Trick

Back in my day of small town Little League teams and sandlot fields, baseball was about fun.

Carloads of parents and dating teens would sit in cars ringing the outfield, usually having a beer while stretched out on the hood. Winning and losing mattered, but it wasn’t everything.

And once a summer, barnstormers might pass through using routines like “Ain’t Lookin’ “ and the old hidden ball trick to entertain the crowd.

Or, the local men’s team would host a night of “Donkey Ball” in which every batter had to mount a donkey after getting a hit and ride it around the bases. Trust me, those games were a barrel of laughs for all concerned.

Back then, Collector cards still came with bubble gum and while you might keep a couple, most of them ended up clothes-pinned to your bike wheel so your ride sounded like a motorcycle. And the apex of our MLB heroes’ celebrity was a Gillette commercial.

Yeah, baseball has changed a lot over the years. But, I’m not going to go all Andy Rooney here, as many have following a week of baseball drug suspensions and millionaire player lawsuits that have dominated both sportscasts and celebrity gossip websites.

And I refuse to get sour because my beloved Blue Jays are languishing in the basement of their division despite signing stars and upcoming phenoms “guaranteed” to bring back our glory days.

For there is still “fun” at the highest level of baseball, where a struggling team can still find a creative way to outsmart one that baseball’s brain trust has branded “unbeatable”.

The old hidden ball trick.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

The War On Women

Maybe it’s one of those “false-flag” things…

Shark Week

If you have trouble reaching studio or network executives this week, it might not be because they’re extending their vacations.

It could be they’re staying home to get some inspiration…

As a Scuba enthusiast, I’ve been in the water with sharks on a few occasions. Nothing like it to jack you right into the essence of existence.

So, in the immortal words of Tracy Morgan –- “Live every week like it’s shark week”.

And as for Megalodon (the guy with the teeth up top), a lot of scientists are now saying he might not be extinct.

Not the “no such thing as Global Warming” scientists. The other guys.

Eek.

Lazy Sunday #284: The Hulu Effect

For the last couple of years, whenever Canadian Broadcasters gathered to discuss the future of their industry, they’ve promised to create a “Canadian Netflix” to compete with what’s perceived to be the greatest threat to their future.

What’s interesting is that, although it debuted in 2008, and despite the copycat nature of our homegrown channels, they still haven’t managed to cobble together a Canadian version of Hulu.

Hulu is an American web presence and OTT service offering ad-supported on-demand streams of TV series, movies and original web series produced by the major networks and several studios.

With a name taken from a Chinese proverb in which “the Hulu” was a repository of precious things, the distributor has become a one stop location for virtually everything a television fan either missed the night before or wants to binge on.

And it makes money. A lot of money. Last year Hulu earned $690 Million in profit.

And unlike those aforementioned Canadian broadcasters, who are currently relying on a hodge-podge of individually branded websites and no OTT delivery for their offerings, Hulu is poised to plough a big chunk of those profits back into original programming.

Need we mention –- something else Canadian broadcasters don’t do.

“East Los High”, a teen drama with a Latino perspective, began airing the first of its 24 half-hour episodes in June. Its cultural value may be less prestigious than what Netflix produces and its budgets lower, but the show is easily on a par with virtually anything CW, FX or AMC produces.

This week, it will be joined by two more half hour comedies. “Quickdraw” concerns the adventures of a Sheriff with a degree from Harvard introducing forensics to Kansas in 1875. And “The Awesomes” is the animated brainchild of Seth Myers of SNL and Michael Shoemaker of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”.

They will be followed in the Fall by “The Wrong Mans” produced in partnership with the BBC, “Mother Up” featuring Eva Longoria and “Fugget About It” about a mob boss in witness protection in a small Canadian town.

If all goes as planned, Hulu will offer its viewers 20 original and exclusive series by this time next year. Which would be exactly 20 more than our own CBC plans to debut in the same time frame.

And Hulu’s intention is to double that number to 40 in the year following.

Feeling a little out of your depth and maybe a touch embarrassed Canadian broadcasters?

Wait until you hear what’s coming from Yahoo!, Google and Amazon, to name just three…

Here’s a taste of the Hulu offerings.

Imagine the same commitment to Canadian Content and…

Enjoy Your Sunday.