Friday, April 30, 2010

Barrett Matthews Photos

Barrett Matthews
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Morrell Presley Pictures

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Morrell Presley

Celeb couples I want to break up

Last time I shared with you all some of my favourite celebrity couples of all time who had sadly parted ways and I desperately wanted to reconcile.

Today I find myself feeling slightly more vindictive and mean. I would like to highlight some celebrity couples I hate and who I WANT to break up. Reasons vary from "he is too good for her", "too boring", "I can't bear to see any more pictures of them together", etc.

We begin with two giant crashing bores:

Prince William and Kate Middleton (aka Waity Katie)


You see, Waity Katie is so gosh darn boring that even Wills can't bear to be married to her. He knows his life will be infinitely more shit with her in it everyday and while he knows, "yes, this is an respectable choice of bride for me; yes, people may be reminded of my sweet mum; but no, my mum was sparky and interesting Kate is just boring and positively itching to be Royal". It's true, this is what he thinks, it's not just me. Sidenote: And if they ever DO get married (hope not) I'm sure the tabloids will whip out this pic to demonstrate her secret trashy past that will inevitably lead to problems:


Tweed and hats and being boring do not make you royal Kate Middleton!

Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard


VOM VOM VOM. As much as I envy Kate's wardrobe she is nowhere near good enough for the gorgeous Askars. PLUS she is making him a douche. After parading in front of the paparazzi all during Coachella (Kate sitting on his shoulders, making out, etc) Askars snapped and tried to punch one of them when he got his drank on. FYI Askars: if you do not like the paps as much as your non-working, desperate-for-attention girlfriend - BREAK. UP.

Delta Goodrem and Brian McFadden


"Who cares about these two Aph? What is wrong with you? You hate both of them!" I hear you cry. Well dear readers, this is true. I do hate both of these whores. Delta "butter wouldn't melt" Goodrem has been on my hate list for a while now. Basically, as soon as she entered my radar, but she was momentarily saved when she dated Mark Philippoussis (who supported her all through her battle with cancer). But then she met Brian when they recorded a duet together, and despite the fact that he was a married man, they hooked up. The Homewrecker and the drunken douchebag Irishman, hated by his own nation (possibly for ditching his kids for Delta). Why do I want them to break up then, if I hate them both? Because as pathetic and naive as it makes me seem, I don't believe Delta is a bad, awful person (like Brian). I think she should be with somebody else more like her. Then I won't have to see this gross couple staring up at me from the pages of Who.

Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds


Blergh. I love Ryan Reynolds. I do not like Scarjo. I ESPECIALLY do not like her as Ryan's wife. VOM. He is way way way way too good for her, and way too hot for her. I don't like them together. Everything about this couple just feels wrong for me. I understand they both have amazing, out-of-this-world bodies and felt the need to put that shit together...but to progress to MARRIAGE? Please. Time to end this extended fling.

Speidi


Obviously these two speak for themselves. They may seem like the perfect blonde, retarded couple and therefore made for each other but I leave you with one thought...IMAGINE IF WE LET THEM REPRODUCE.

Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Douchebag Disick (Dick)


Kourtney...baby, no. My dear surrogate sister who I love and adore...how can you do this? How can you still be with this asshole? Is he amazing in bed? Does he have secret footage of you partaking in disgusting sex acts? WHAT DOES HE HAVE ON YOU? He is one of the most disgusting people to ever walk the planet, and if seeing him shove dollar bills into a waiter's mouth for not serving him alcohol does not push you over the edge, WHAT WILL??? Please don't let him have a significant role in raising your child. Ew.

Comedy in Truth


I was walking home from a dinner with Friend Alison the other night when she started recounting stories of various klutzy moments in her life. In particular, she mentioned a time that she was walking down the street and walked directly into a wall so hard and unexpectedly that she 1) fell right on her butt with 2) legs splayed and 3) skirt up over her head. I, of course, thought this was classically hilarious, and suggested we should get her a camera crew and a YouTube channel, just in case it happens again. She balked at this notion, and we moved on to stories of when we have tripped and fallen UP stairs . . . but I think I can bring her around.

Alison (and I) fall, unexpectedy and dramatically. I own a cat who humps himself to sleep at night. Wife Megan's occasional, inadvertent experiments with grammar. The Internet. These are all funny things--comedy--and all happen without any prompting or effort. In life, comedy is easy and plentiful. In acting, we can make it very difficult for ourselves.

It's a kind of magic trick, a well-executed comic bit, requiring a certain sense of dramatic flare and sleight-of-hand (or foot, or butt, etc.). Except in this trick, the performer is fooled almost as much as the audience. When I teach pratfalls, I regurgitate a good bit of advice that is so timeless, I can't begin to remember who first told me of it. The best way to execute a convincing trip, is to actually trip. You simply trail your back foot over your front heel as it's taking a step forward, so you then have to catch yourself on the other side of that step. That's not the trick, however: anybody can do that. No, the trick is in believing that there is no possible way you will trip, even as you set yourself up for it. That's what makes it spontaneous, and that's what allows everyone to believe the real payoff: your reaction to just having tripped.

Way back in the day, now (we're talking 2001, people), I played a broadly comic character in a little original production called The Center of Gravity. Moe Franko was the owner of a gas station, a sort of arrogantly naive fellow who was pretty crass 'cuz he just didn't learn any better. (I grew a mustache for the role; me + mustache = comedy.) At any rate, my hands-down best laugh of the show was one in which a strikingly attractive young woman visits the gas station and is introduced to my character. It's already been established that I'm freshly returned from using the facilities, and when we shake hands, she makes a face, to which I reply, "Oh don't worry, it's just water. It's not urine or anything." Their handshake disengaged, Moe turns away, and his face registers every little realization of how awful the thing he's just said is and, by extension, how awful he probably is. It got a laugh, every single time.

Which can totally and utterly ruin a joke. Anticipation is one of the worst sabotage factors of a good gag, and it applies both to the performer and the audience member. I have botched a perfectly good gag innumerable times through this very error. So why didn't it ever take down the water/urine gag? Well, I was quite young and the woman playing the interloper was exotically attractive, and I had a mustache (no, you don't get a photo). So that covered a lot of the sincerity bases in terms of the given circumstances -- I really did feel a little excited, and awful, and embarrassed. Perhaps more importantly, the line felt like something I might say, minus the Texan twang, of course.

I'm thinking about this because I just signed on to act in an original comedy performing in June. The role is probably going to require me to stretch my comic imagination, by the prospect of which I'm both excited, and slightly intimidated. It's good to remember that, ultimately, being real is what makes things really funny. I like this about comedy, that it is served best by truth and belief. Sure: It's all very rehearsed, and calculated, like any bit of good theatre. But all of that is for naught if we can't believe in it in the moment. The impact isn't what's funny; it's the way we deal with it afterward. Not the action, but the reaction, and the best reactions come from that very moment, and no other place.

Bo Van Pelt World No.1 Golf Player

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J Muliaina best Rugby Player

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

The ACTion COLLECTIVE: ACT V, scene ii - Personal Character - Find Your Voice


"Everything you create comes from here."

Last night The Action Collective held our second in a series of workshops focused on character building, and our first to be led by a guest artist:
Raïna von Waldenburg. Raïna is a teacher of Andrew's from NYU's experimental theatre wing, and we met with her a few weeks ago to discuss the possibility of leading a workshop with us, one based on her I Am One Who program of workshops. You can read more about her and her program on the Facebook invitation for the event, but here's a snippet of a description of the approach and goals:
"In a series of improvisations that require the actor to exist in the (power of) now, he/she will be faced with judges, habits, blocks, quirks, and latent talents that he/she has pushed aside. By literally inviting these undesirable parts of him/herself into the work, the actor suddenly has access to impulses that are alive, surprisingly truthful and emotionally resonant. The actor will learn to channel these impulses into acting that is present, open and honest, not forced, pushed or fake."
So: important and intimidating stuff. I was reminded, by her description of the technique and at times in practice, of the initial work Friends Heather, Todd and I did with Grey Valenti learning red-nose clowning. It involves that kind of sheer vulnerability and sincerity -- the very sorts of things I've been working rather hard (though somewhat subconsciously) to avoid in the past year. It also, however, has some important distinctions from that Lecoq-esque clown work, as I was to discover in the course of the evening.

An important part of the process has to do with identifying personal "judges," or voices of criticism within our own hearts and minds, and understanding them as characters. Raïna led each of us from theorizing what these individual, major judgments may be, through exploring them as people and finding a dialogue with them, right on to turning our judges into very promising characters in their own rights. She was incredibly present and listening and, though the work progressed very evenly over the course of three hours, you could tell that she was constantly responding to what was happening in the room, adapting our direction based on the "conversation" between students and teacher, or seekers and guide. Moreover, she did it all in such a way that we really had to give ourselves over to the work, because that was all we had to work with. Yet it was never strict, or forced. At least, not forced by her; there was plenty of forced work going on, whenever one of us got defensive or confused in an exercise.

A personal example: After some discussion of our personal judges, we began the exercises with practicing being open and available--present--with an audience. No need to do anything in particular, just don't retreat inward as you maintain eye contact and connection. This gradually developed in our observations and discussions into an informal rating system of 5 to 1 for how open we felt, 5 being not at all, 1 being as open as possible. One exercise along these parameters that she gave us was to start at 5 with everyone, and at some point in the course of 30 seconds flip into a 1 state. I found this really, really difficult (never really did get it) and in the course of my efforts, Raïna encouraged me to give voice to whatever impulse was preventing me from doing something so simple (my words, not hers). Eventually in the course of another 30-second attempt I twisted up my right elbow and neck in some abstract expression of frustration and sneered, "F@#$ this...." And that was good. And that was what we needed to move forward. Admitting my judgment of the exercise was how I could develop further into the work.

I think it's pretty safe to say that everyone last night learned something close to the level of a personal revelation or two (or, in my case, about a half-dozen). We were all working very hard, bravely, vulnerably and sometimes even without personal constraint. By the end, we were one-by-one improvising entire scenarios comprised of just us, and all the judges and judged that battle daily within us. Here was one of the important distinctions from the clown work that I've done, and the one that very nearly made me too defensively to effectively do the work: the naming of our judges. This requires a level of discussion and reflection that I believe actors tend to resist, because we're conditioned to -- afraid, aptly enough, of being judged as narcissistic and cerebral. And we resist it because it's frankly terrifying to acknowledge, to encourage, our judgments of ourselves. Adam Laupus made a pretty concise observation about it last night when he said that by naming one's judges, you begin to take their power back from them.

Apart from all that personal benefit, however, is a benefit of pure acting technique. This is an amazingly wonderful practice that bridges that strange divide between practices that help prepare for rehearsal and ones that are actually useful in rehearsal (for example, you would not [should not {yes; I'm judging}]) pull out the Meisner repetition exercise in the middle of rehearsing the last scene of The Glass Menagerie. This I Am One Who practice gives us a way to connect better with ourselves and our audiences, but also adds a powerful tool to the character-creation toolkit. It's genuine and impulse-based, breaks us out of habit, and it literally creates powerful characters for an actor to use. It's not often these days that I feel that sense of my perception of the acting process expanding, a feeling that I came to expect regularly in my studies at college. Last night, I felt that again, and I'm grateful to Ms. von Waldenburg for that.

In this sense, last night's event was a tremendous success for one of the goals of The Action Collective -- to provide actors with a space to do the work for which there is little time (or, in some cases, too much judgment) to accomplish in a typical rehearsal process. To enrich actors, instead of merely offering support. We may soon be making changes to the way the AC works, and what kind of work it takes on, but I'm encouraged by this latest workshop to maintain that priority. It's too important and too rare to neglect.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Celeb couples I want to get back together

It is a well known fact that I am a bit celebrity obsessed. This is true. I own this obsession. Over my celeb-obsessing years there have been many celebrity couples that have met their untimely demise. Countless, in fact. Hundreds that I do not care about. However there were the special few that for some reason or other have pained my heart. To this day, I still cling to the hope that they will get back together. And even in the cases where I know there is absolutely 100% no way it will (or even could) happen...I still want it.

Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon


These two made me soooo sad when they ended their relationship. I actually could not believe it. I think they are so good together. They stuck it out for so long, I really thought it was foreverz.

Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson


Look at these two babes!!! Summer and Seth! Rachel and Adam! They both may have fallen off a lot of people's radars, but gosh darn were these two a cute couple. Case in point:


Compare the above pics to pics of Rachel and her current bf, Hayden Christensen:

I mean, vomit. It just ain't right. I love Rachel and I love Hayden. I do not love Rachel+Hayden. No.

Prince Harry (aka Prince Hot Ginge) and Chelsy Davy


I don't know what it is about these two. I don't think she's as attractive as he is on ANY level and yet...I like them together. They always seem to be having fun, totally into each other. They could possibly actually be back together. You never really know with these two. Fingers crossed.

Kate Moss and Jefferson Hack


I really, really liked these two together. I liked her with him. They made a gorgeous baby together (seriously, Lila Grace your genes and your future wardrobe are so envy-inducing I feel sick). My favourite of Kate's bfs (not including Johnny Depp, obviously).

Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone


WOULD YOU LOOK AT THESE TWO? THEY ARE QUITE OBVIOUSLY PERFECT TOGETHER! So whyyyy did they break up last week? I don't know. But I desperately want a reconciliation.

Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson


How anybody could have watched "Newlyweds" and NOT loved these two together, is beyond me. They are quite obviously perfect for each other. I loved this era of Jessica Simpson, and I loved watching how much Nick loved her. Sadface.

Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend


Another example of the Best Actress curse. Charlize and Stuart seemed so tight. Sigh. By the way, the common theme that seems to be recurring is the fact that these two seemed PERFECT together. I guess that is why I am so pained by all of these breakups. I feel like all of these couples should be together, even if I am quite apathetic towards the individuals IN the couples. Such as these two.

Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe


Another couple I thought would go the distance. She is in another relationship now but this one seemed more...right. You know? You know.

Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz


Don't particularly care for either of these two...but I did like them together. They always seemed to be happy and enjoying themselves, and I liked looking at pics of them in trashy tabloids more than JT's current gf. I mean, compare for yourself:


blerg. Go away Jessica Biel.

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling.


WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT THESE TWO. LOOK AT THE CHEMISTRY. LOOK HOW GOOD-LOOKING THEY ARE. LOOK HOW MUCH THEY MADE OUT IN PUBLIC:






Like, you can just SEEEE the sex was amazing, non? I should note the last one was taken from the time they actually DID get back together after the break-up. So while I want them back together because they seem so perfect, I accept that this maybe isn't the best for them. But that's ok, I have other plans for these two (look for them in the upcoming "Couples I want to see get together" post).

And this is where it starts getting extra super painful. The next two celeb couples are probably my favourite of all time. The break-ups still hurt me.

Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams


I am not crazy. I know he has passed away (that one hurts way, way, way more than the break up ever did) but I really, really wanted these two to get back together. They had a gorgeous family, they seemed to love each other so much even after they split, and maybe if they had reconciled before he past away...I dunno. Maybe things could have been different. Such a sweet couple:








Aw, man. I still miss him. Heartache.

More heartache:
Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe


These two met at Reese's 21st birthday. Ryan crashed her party and she approached him and asked him if he was her birthday present. I mean...seriously...heartsqueeze! This is probably a prime example of a couple who seemed absolutely, resolutely, 100% perfect together. Now, yes, he seems like a bit of a douche but I think they were good for each other.




Sidenote: if anyone can find the video of her acceptance speech at these Golden Globes (for Walk the Line) where he grabs her by the ass, I will be forever indebted. It's so adorably funny.




Forever immortalised in Cruel Intentions.


LOOK. IS IT JUST ME, BUT SHOULDN'T THESE FOUR BE TOGETHER AS A FAMILY? Ryan please get your act together and win her back from this douchey Jim Toth agent of hers. Please. Redeem yourself.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts:
Couples I want to break up
Couples I never want to break up
Couples I want to get together