Reducing Franco

I was just perusing my favorite blog and I felt the need to share my own opinion, not so candy-coated... about James Franco.
It is almost time to get cracking on Oscar prediction tracking (speaking of... who is hosting our annual Oscar viewing party this year, I wonder?) and James Franco is going to be all up in our faces come Oscar time, as host and maybe nominee.
I'm afraid I've been swayed in my good opinion of James Franco by a certain cynical gossip blogger, so fair warning, this is what influenced his fall from grace...http://www.laineygossip.com/

At first I didn't want to believe that the ego of James Franco had taken over but this video (start at 20:25) was uncomfortable to watch... and the body language of the other actors around the table says that they were embarrassed for him too. Also, this is just a great video from an acting perspective... getting actors around a table talking about their craft is always fascinating.
And I think Nic and I can at least agree that we heart Colin Firth! Still friends, right?

Red Recruited Again...

It has been epically slow in C-Town on the acting front and I feel like I have been adrift with nothing on the horizon. I have received a few mass emails from my agent about non-union indie stuff that I can't do because "I work Actra". Great.

Sidebar: Why can't my agent create some simple email lists? Like union vs non-union or male vs female? Simple enough concept right? RIGHT?

And back in November my agent gave me some feedback about two radio commercial auditions from the auditioners that totally didn't match my experience with them. Talk about an ego blow. I mean I didn't bomb but the auditioners direction led me further away from what they wanted. I was also motivated to take an acting class but I chickened out. Yep, that's what I did... and it was too expensive and I couldn't decide which one would be more worthwhile. And hey, my life has been full and busy lately...

So imagine my surprise Monday to get a call begging me to teach a children's drama class for the next day! What, no, I couldn't possibly, it's been years, I'm not even an employee anymore, 8-10 yr olds - eek!!
But my sense of duty of course won out and I agreed. Who panicked? - not me... well maybe a little.

What happened, you ask? Well, just like riding a bike apparently... the class was awesome, I enjoyed myself - the kids loved me, they weren't little devils (some classes are full of them!)... I was tempted to offer to teach the full term. I only committed to one more week though - see how that goes.

Wintered Out!

It's a blustery day here in Cowtown; a day where most people stay in and listen to the wind howl from the comfort of home. Winter has been unrelenting since October it seems. Sure we've had a couple of small chinooks but it didn't melt all the snow. Today, of course, we braved the arctic gale force winds to go out shopping for shelves and plumbing supplies. Exciting I know. What a way to kick off the 2011 blog list!

As per usual I have too many topics that need updating and I don't know where to start. Books, movies, life as I know it? Hmmm... how about books - I am back on a reading kick, thank goodness, because the reading list is starting to pile up again.

Let's backtrack to the "summer" reading list, I did complete a few that haven't been reviewed yet.

My turn for Furious Love finally came through at the library and I must say, it was well worth the wait. The story of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor's life and love together is almost unbelievable in it's excess. They were the first paparazzi obsession, the first Brangelina... the details of their extravagant life are fascinating; like how often they replaced the carpets on their yacht (their main residence) because their plethora of dogs were not potty trained. It was also a very honest portrayal and approved by Ms. Taylor herself.

Yep, another one that was worth the wait. I don't know what I can say about this one that wouldn't cheapen the experience, plus it's been a while so my review isn't that fresh. A fascinating study of modern relationships - how things really are between two people, not your typical perfect romance stuff.

So The Hippopotamus Marsh (reviewed earlier) was part of a trilogy and of course, I've been working my way through the whole set all the while enjoying the books but feeling like I had to get through them to enjoy the others on my list.

Next up, my new Nora Roberts book I got in my stocking... although Santa gave me book four of a quartet so I'll have to backtrack to the rest of them. Darn these trilogies and quartets... I have a whole stack of other books too, stay tuned!