by Bob Martin | Aug 10, 2008 | Art, Art Travel, Creativity, Directors, Live Performance, Theater
We’ve been used to hearing that China has the largest population in the world, 1.3 billion people. However it is still difficult to get your mind wrapped around that number. It sounds like the national debt, mind boggling.
Olympics Opening Ceremony-Jeff Gross/Getty Images
To actually see 15,000 performers begins to put things into perspective. Lets face it “Cats” is a big production by our standards.
Through out the day, radio and T.V. commentators were bubbling about this spectacle (meant in the most positive of terms) almost to the point that I was willing to let it pass by, a little pissed off that NBC would not show it live.
I’m glad I abandoned my attitude and watched. 😀
by Sandy | May 18, 2008 | Actors, Blogroll, Books, Directors, Film, Movies
“Those that stop their questioning at 75, 60, even 30, cut short their explorations and end up with permanently unfinished lives.” (From “Life Beyond Measure: Letter to My Great-Granddaughter”)
Wise octogenarian Sydney Poitier has been a national treasure for quite awhile. He’s won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. He has had success as an actor, director, author and perhaps more importantly, as a man. He has condensed life lessons learned into books not just about his journey, but also about how he has learned to conduct himself in a sometimes difficult world.Born in 1927 in the Bahamas, Mr. Poitier went to New York as a teen, taught himself to read, catapulted himself into an acting career and created a wonderful life for himself and his family. Not an easy road, but he did it with humor, grace, determination and a never wavering belief in him self. Great stuff!
“The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography ”, 2000
“Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter ”, 2005
by Sandy | Apr 23, 2008 | Actors, Art, Artist, Directors, Live Performance, Museums
So, I’m still living on the fumes of my April in New York City adventure.
Went to MOMA on 53rd St and saw the usual suspects – Cezanne, Picasso, Gauguin, Rothko, etc. But, then I went into a little room with the Van Gogh’s. I’ve always liked his work, but I had never seen them in person. They are all beautiful in an intense way.
Of course I’ve seen “Starry Night” in books, magazines, but, when looking close up, I noticed the coiled energy. The whirling stars look as it they are flying thru the air and about to explode. Just amazing.
“Starry Night”, Vincent Van Gogh, 1899
Museum of Modern Art, http://www.moma.org/
* I enjoyed seeing “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”. Unfortunately, James Earl Jones was absent from his role as “Big Daddy” (made famous by Burl Ives in the 50’s movie of the same name), but the rest of the cast, directed by the talented Debbie Allen – Terrence Howard, Phylicia Rashad and Giancarlo Esposito – do a great job with this Tennessee Williams play about a southern family with lots of secrets and lots of lies.
Tony award winner Anika Noni Rose, the “cat” on the heated roof, is terrific as she fights with and for her man – from the opening curtain to the final scene, she radiates and sparkles. She is a star!
Big Daddy: “What’s that smell in this room? Didn’t you notice it, Brick? Didn’t you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?”
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, Broadhurst Theater, NYC
*And, I saw the marvelous Laurence Fishburne in “Thurgood”. Only 90 minutes, the play takes the audience thru personal and historic events of the life of the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall.
Written by George Stevens and directed by Leonard Foglia, “Thurgood” highlights how the man called “Mister Civil Rights” in the 1950’s, used the law to effect change.
The play follows him from childhood, thru his dangerous and stubborn excursions into the South to register black voters, to his successes with anti segregation legislation and then thru his 20 years on the court.
Fishburne delivers, not just an historic figure but, an accomplished, complex man. Great stories, great events some human and funny, others just make you proud.
“Thurgood”, Booth Theatre, NYC
by Bob Martin | Dec 15, 2007 | Actors, Art, Artist, Books, Directors, Movies
I got tagged by James Neil Hollingsworth a delightful and thoughtful painter. I am now required to list 5 little known facts about myself, then “tag” five other artists to do the same.
Here are my five:
- When I was 15 I had this mad infatuation (nothing more) with a niece of Edvard Munch. We worked together (she was technically my boss) I was never sure if it was because she was a relative of a famous artist and I wanted to be one or that I thought she looked like Maria Schell.
- I did and still do get confused when reading something in big type like on a movie theater billboard. As a kid I went by myself to see Samson and Delilah and the African Queen. Looking for the Lion and then the Queen. It would bother me that I didn’t seem to comprehend some things, but it worked out in the end with my feeling OK outside of my comfort zone.
- My wife and I once owned an advertising agency. I would experience pain when watching “Thirty Something” on TV
- I love Movies and wanted to be a director, believed that Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni were geniuses, named my daughter after a movie (Sundays with Cybele) , went to film school before they were hip, made one animated film (after seeing Jim Henson’s first film). Dropped out, cause I wanted to eat.
- I am married to a wonderful, powerful public speaker and coach, who is working on her second book. I am very lucky, but you already knew that.
The Artist that I’ve tagged are:
by Sandy | Sep 14, 2007 | Blogroll, Directors, Film, Movies
“There is no terror in the bang, just in the anticipation of it.” Alfred Hitchcock
Partial AMC TV listings below courtesy of AOL. (Sometimes 2 movies a day – double features!)
*The Birds (1963) Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette
Mon Sep 17 08:00P / Tue Sep 18 05:30P
*Dial M for Murder (1954) Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings
Sun Sep 16 10:30P / Mon Sep 17 03:15P
*Family Plot (1976) Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, – Fri Sep 21 10:15P
*Frenzy (1972) Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Anna Massey
Wed Sep 19 10:45P / Thu Sep 20 02:15P
*The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) James Stewart, Doris Day
Thu Sep 20 07:30P / Fri Sep 21 02:45P
*Marnie (1964) Sean Connery, Tippi Hedren, Diane Baker, Louise Latham
Wed Sep 19 08:00P / Thu Sep 20 04:45P
Thu Sep 27 01:45P / Fri Sep 28 09:15A
*Psycho (1960) Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Sat Sep 22 08:00P / Sun Sep 23 08:30A
*Rear Window (1954) James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr
Sun Sep 16 8:00P / Mon Sep 17 5:30P
*Rope (1948) James Stewart, Farley Granger
Mon Sep 17 10:30P / Tue Sep 18 03:45P
*Saboteur (1942) Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane,
Tue Sep 18 10:45P / Wed Sep 19 03:00P
*Torn Curtain (1966) Paul Newman, Julie Andrews
Thu Sep 20 11:00P / Fri Sep 21 05:15P
*The Trouble with Harry (1955) Edmund Gwenn, Shirley MacLaine
Fri Sep 21 08:00P / Sat Sep 22 03:00P
*Vertigo (1958) James Stewart, Kim Novak
Tue Sep 18 08:00P / Wed Sep 19 05:15P
Sat Sep 22 05:15P / Sun Sep 23 01:00A
BTW – Just in case you’ve forgotten, although I don’t imagine how you could – the photo is Janet Leigh, courtesy of “Psycho “
by Sandy | Aug 28, 2007 | Directors, Film, Movies
* October 18 – 21
14th Annual African American Film Marketplace and Short Film Showcase. Hosted by Award-winning Filmmaker Julie Dash. There will be films and filmmakers, workshops, seminars, vendors, and networking opportunities.
For more info:
310.284.3170 – www.bherc.org
Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, CA
