Manual Dexterity?

According to subtitlespub's blog, Swimmer's Ear Magazine:


"Manual Dexterity is an independent music zine done by Adam. Each issue features bands that Adam is really into at the time and is usually thought up pretty spontaneously.

Issue 3 features interviews with Bob Nanna from The City on Film, Chicago's Bound Stems, and Andrew Kenny from the American Analog Set. It also contains an article about Lovitt Records 10 year anniversary and mini interviews with folks from the PR world, David Lewis from Riot Act Media, Celeste Tabora from Solid PR, Kate Cafaro from Big Hassle, Steve Martin from Nasty Little Man, Brendan Bourke from Tag Team Media, and Pam Nashel-Leto from Girlie Action. 44pgs in black ink. Available in print or as PDF."




Can anyone tell me where I can get this or download this? THANKS!

Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind" video

BESTWEEKEVER.TV (Best Week Ever) explores Paris Hilton's first music video (Stars are Blind) and creatively lend their funny to it. OH, and hilarity ensues...

BBC America's "Hex"

Move over The O.C. - Thursday nights has me staying in for Hex! Which is finally stateside since it made it's mark abroad in 2004! Be warned: if you read the story-line and do not watch the show, you will likely be quick to say "Oh it is just like Buffy." But don't judge a show by its poor marketing department - it's pretty rad acutally. Her BFF has no eyebrows and the popular girl totally does look like she idolizes Kelly Osbourne's horrible fashion choices.

---

Set in a remote British boarding school, Hex is the story of Cassandra "Cassie" Hughes (Christina Cole), a shy social outcast who discovers she has unique powers that provide a terrifying link to the past.

Longing to be popular, but only truly loved by her lesbian roommate Thelma (Jemima Rooper, Kinky Boots), Cassie goes to great lengths to be accepted by the "in crowd" at her cliquish English boarding school, Medenham Hall. Thelma, who couldn't care less about being ostracized, is appalled at Cassie's attempts to fit in with the superficial classmates who treat them so badly.

While stopping for a cigarette in one of the old buildings on campus, Cassie's future is forever altered when she unearths hidden ancient artifacts - a discovery that leaves her cursed with supernatural powers that have their roots deep in Medenham Hall's history. As she begins to recognize the extent of her new abilities, Cassie is bewildered and terrified by the visions that haunt her. She soon discovers that there are certain advantages to being a student endowed with mystical powers, when she learns how to manipulate the people and situations around her.

However, Cassie realizes that her new gift comes with a price. Her tragic fate is sealed with the appearance of Azazeal (Michael Fassbender, Band of Brothers), the leader of a group of fallen angels who were banished from heaven for tasting the pleasures of mortal women. Azazeal kidnaps Thelma in a bid to get to the one human sacrifice he's really concerned with, Cassie. But when Cassie confronts him and demands to see her friend, it's Thelma who pays the ultimate price.

CP: Dog days of summer, LA

Gracie chilling out in the yard at Karen, Aysha, and Kris' house.

Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams"

They told me that if I sleep with a nicotine patch on, my dreams could possibly be very vivid. Since I've done all this traveling this year, I don't remember my dreams much at all - so no matter how strange and real the dreams are, it is an interesting change.

---

He has been starring in my dreams at least five times since the nicotine patches have accompanied me to sleep. Last night I dreamt of the Mystery Man again. It was the type of dream that left me to wake up with the same euphoria I would experience if I had developed a new love. Though nothing in the dream itself made any kind of direct connection with romance.

• [BEGIN DREAM SEQUENCE]
  Walking down the alley in-between my house and Rainbo in Chicago with some male friend whose specific identity I don't recall, getting there and all of a sudden I am located somewhere that is a hybrid of Miami at the Shore Club and Hollywood at The Roosevelt. some kid millionare DJ was there. I was standing next to Mystery Man by the pool, one step down from the stage area, we were watching the DJ together but not conversing. There was no music coming out of the speakers. The DJ's sister greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. He stood stoic (that is Mystery Man's thing) harboring contempt for the DJ. I walked away from mystery man to take care of some work. All of a sudden I was running the event. After going in circles from one room to another, I end up above stage level on the second floor of the venue which has now morphed into Hollywood's Roosevelt meets Minneapolis' Quest. I am talking to a female intern with no specific identity. I am directing her as to which tasks are priority, I notice that one of my record label clients is yelling at Mystery Man, confronting him about something he did in the past to annoy them. They are all sitting at a table together. They threaten to harm him. He gets up and walks away. Three people from the table are now standing, still yelling. He pauses, looks around for me. He looks to the right, then to the left and takes a couple of steps in that direction. He looks up. He sees me. I motion with my hands for him to come upstairs. He nods. The venue has once again changed. We are in an opera box with red velvet curtains, but Mystery Man and I can still look down at the record label clients table. They see us point at them. I ask Mystery Man what happened. He shrugs but I know he did something stupid. There is a television in our opera box. Mystery Man cuddles me on the red velvet couch. A commercial comes on, the opera box now becomes a living room. We are no longer in any kind of venue. A hot dog commercial comes on. We order hot dogs.
  
• [END DREAM SEQUENCE.]

When I woke up I had Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" looping in my head. But only this verse:
Now here I go again, I see the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself
Its only me
Who wants to wrap around your dreams and...
Have you any dreams youd like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness...
Like a heartbeat... drives you mad...
In the stillness of remembering what you had...
And what you lost...
And what you had...
And what you lost

The Omen

vs.
1976 original | 2006 remake
(click on either image for desktop images)

I have to get this off my brain asap before I implode. I already talked off Erin from Fox's ear last night about it... must. jot. down. before. I. forget. Or before armaggedon it.

As soon as I gotofftheplaneatLAX-hoppedinthecarwithMattandMartin-pickedupkeysfromKarenonthewestside-hoppedbackinthecar-watereddownthecarafteritoverheated-gottoKaren'swashedfaceputfacebackon, Lisa & Mary & I went to Mann's Chinese Theater for the remake of The Omen's screening. It was supposed to start at 730, we got there at 745 thanks to rush hour traffic (even though we took La Cienega and not the 405-101 which would have been worse!). Anyway, thanks to Hollywood - the screening was running late too. I mean, I had time to be walked up to our reserved seats, get up and get nachos + raisinets + pepsi, sit back down and just in time for the preview! (Singluar. It was only one for The Devil Wears Prada.) As Lisa noted, "We couldn't have timed it better."

So, the movie... right. Well, I REALLY ENJOYED IT. I was really impressed with the way the picture moved; It's pace. The visuals were beautiful! Definitely up to par with the way the 1976 version was shot. (The original came out June 6, 1976.) They focused on things that I had *always* wished the original would have elaborated on. Like, Catholic/Vatican research, beliefs on the anti-christ and the religion itself. Sure - they didn't dwell on it, it's not a documentary after all. But they did acknowledge the church's studies and predictions - which is rad. The first nanny was only there for one scene, which doesn't really lead you to associate a very important relationship to Damien, as nannies would have with kids they care for, right? Evil nanny is played by Mia Farrow. (If you don't recognize her by name - she is an actress most recognized for her marriage to Woody Allen failing after he falls for their adopted daughter Sun Yi and marries her, but most beloved by myself for her role in Rosemary's Baby.) It's nice to see her in a major motion horror picture again. [Sigh of sweet relief here.] Liev Schriber, who's acting I've never enjoyed before, was great in this role. Julia Stiles was thankfully given more of a character as the mother than Lee Remick in the original. All the characters are more believeable, more human - which today's movies are more concentrated on. (Is this the effect of reality TV?) The suspense is still there, even though the scare-factor is more immediate. (The original had a lot of slow foreshadowing where you knew something bad was going to happen, often times you knew what was going to happen, and just had to wait it out.) The gore is minimal, but effective. The situations in which people get killed (some of which were changed) are more animated, leaving little to the imagination - which in this case is a good thing. It is an intelligent thriller. You have to follow the story in order to be involved in what is going on, so don't take too long in the bathroom if you're going for a break. It's not the kind of movie that is going to give you too terrible of a fright in the theater, it's the after-math that would potentially scare you. Exactly like the original, you can go and open any ol' page in the Bible (the good book of tall tales around so long people believe it's real) and read passages that are quoted in the movie. Mwah-ah-ah-ah-ahh!

Summary: Go see it.
If you haven't seen the original Omen, you'll still be cool.
If you have, you won't be bummed.

Okay, I'm off into more of 90 degrees in the City of Angels.

Np) Echo & the Bunnymen - "Never Stop"

Paris, J'Taime

I'm not quite sure if this the poster for the movie, but after some mediocre efforts to seek out any official movie images - all I could come up with is Nataie Portman stills and this. I'm excited both in the concept of this film and its execution. I have been hungry for cinema lately. Seeking out films "On Demand" from film classics to softcore trash, and of course the terrible and obvious Rom-Coms. I've also gone old school and started borrowing from the video store 4-at-a-time. My time at home in Chicago is rare, and I have no time to wait for Netflix to arrive in the mail. The trailer says June 21st, but I think that is the french release date... TEASE!

Does anyone know when anyone detained in America can view this film?

From the producers: "Paris, Je T'aime is about the plurality of cinema in one mythic location: Paris, the City of Love. Twenty filmmakers will bring their own personal touch, underlining the wide variety of styles, genres, encounters and the various atmospheres and lifestyles that prevail in the neighborhoods of Paris. Each director has been given five minutes of freedom, and we, as producers, carry the responsibility of weaving a single narrative unit out of those twenty moments.

The 20 films will not appear in the order of the arrondissements, from one to twenty, but rather, in a pertinent narrative order, initially unknown to the audience. They will be fused together by transitional interstitial sequences, and also via the introduction and epilogue sequences of the feature film.

Each transition will begin with the last shot of the previous film and will end with the first shot of the following film, and will have a threefold function:
1) The first is to extend the enchantment and the emotion of the previous segment
2) The second is to prepare the audience for the surprise of the next segment
3) The third is to provide a general, comfortable and cohesive atmosphere to the feature film.

The delightful and brief interludes of these transitions will enable the viewer to slide from one world to the next, featuring a recurring and unexpected character. This mysterious character is a witness to the Parisian life and helps create a continuous narration. It appears both in and in-between the films.

In addition to the information these transitions will provide about the city and its people, their tone will be intentionally light often referring to famous scenes easily attributed to the history of Paris cinema.

Similar specifications will be followed by the composer who will supervise the musical fusion between the films and the transitions as he creates the musical score of Paris, je t'aime. Considering the common theme of Paris and Love, the fusion between the films and the transitions, the fast pace of a fluid and complete storytelling, Paris, je t'aime will not be just another "anthology" picture. It will be a unique collective feature film that will constitute a two-hour cinematographic spectacle whose original structure will make for a dramatically different experience for its global audience."

Apparently, whoever cut the trailer is part of the 5% of the world's population* who has a boner for Elijah Wood:

TRAILER ONE

TRAILER TWO

*not counting girls under the age of 12 and pedophiles.

Ledger as Dylan in movie?

BOB FEELS THE SAME WAY I DO ABOUT THE CASTING:
After working together in "Brokeback Mountain," Oscar-nominated couple Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams have joined the all-star cast of the Bob Dylan movie "I'm Not There."

Ledger, who replaces Colin Farrell, would play one of seven actors representing the different aspects of Dylan's life story and music. Williams is set as Coco Rivington, a model with whom an androgynous folk star (Cate Blanchett) is taken. Also cast are Christian Bale, Julianne Moore and Richard Gere.

The film's co-writer/director Todd Haynes ("Velvet Goldmine") and Killer Films principal Christine Vachon persuaded Dylan to assign them the rights to his life story and music two years ago. The first biographical screenplay about Dylan is set to go before the cameras in July in Montreal.

Ledger and Williams received Oscar nominations this year for their performances in
Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain." -Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

I bloody love Todd Haynes, and dislike every single actor/tress that is mentioned here. Can Haynes alone save the movie for me?

Bob Dylan - The Girl From The North Country (The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan version)
The Black Crowes - Girl From The North Country (Live)
Francis Cabrel & Jean Jacques Goldman - La Fille Du Nord (Girl From The North Country)

more here: My Old Kentucky Blog: Girl From The North Country