Indeed!! It was a perfect way to spend a chilly Sunday evening in the city last weekend to go out for a screening and to listen to what the producers, the director and the actors of this movie had to talk about. I was happy to see the intelligent Colin Firth and the quirky personality Helena Bonham Carter at the spot. ^^
Excellent film! “The King’s Speech” was full of warmth, witty conversations, humane interactions, a well-woven personal stories with the intersection of historical events. The storyline was simple enough about a royal personality overcoming his personal shortcoming, yet interestingly rich and intriguing. Even Colin Firth’s frequent stammering moments were charming. ^^ Ohhhh, I also loved the king’s speech therapist (Lionel Logue), starring Geoffrey Rush, a gem of the movie. His witty words were sparkling magic dust all over the movie.
It was also interesting to know from the conversations with the actors that Helena is a great granddaughter of a former British prime minister Herbert H. Asquith. She personally knew about the king’s stuttering, but didn’t know Lionel Logue’s role and presence behind the door. Another interesting note is that this was originally a play and the director Tom Hooper (half British and half Australian)’s mother incidentally discovered this script at a casual play reading gathering and convinced her son and Colin Firth to do the film. It was funny to hear: “How did you get involved with this movie? Your agent?” Colin Firth replied “No. Tom’s mom called me. And she called me again. haha”
The award season is fast approaching. Interestingly, the unusually large number of interesting movies this year based on real stories or characters, like “The King’s Speech” “127 Hours” “Conviction” “Secretariat” “Fair Game” “Social Network” all of which screenings I attended. Sometimes, real life stories are more interesting than any other fictional versions.
It’s like Juliette Lewis character’s monologue in “Conviction”, which was replicated based on the real conversation taped by Betty Anne Water at that time. The writer of this movie had another version of the conversation already written up, but she thew away her writing after listening to the tape, saying in amazement “You cannot make this shit up!” lol
About 10 days ago, a NYC band called “Atomic Tom” posted a video taken from their iphones on Youtube, shooting their live subway performance. Their musical instruments? iPhones and iPhones only! In about three days from posting their video, their album hit #38 on the iTunes album chart and their Youtube video marched toward 1,000,000 hits at a sweeping speed.
Their instant popularity surge is almost the level of a giga “Atomic Bomb”
As of today? They hit 2,775, 222 on Youtube. They became an official “HIT” band.
Looking at them, you have probably felt a big tingling on your spine that the game (whatever that is) has changed compared to 10 years ago. Before, to become a star, you wished upon a star either to be picked up by the main media or to have one-sided unfair employment contracts with major enterprises or agencies. So star wannabes used to be lurking around LA or NYC subways to be picked up or crazily networking around to make important connections. Or even the very talented were going through many years of their own underground period to build up their brand recognition.
Now, the game has changed. For better or for worse… Depending on where you stand. You can build up your brand right off from your computer, sitting in your room. I’m still in awe of how quickly and swiftly technology can connect the world, or the individuals. Hitting the “Enter” key on your computer can reach the whole world in a nano sec, if not reaching the whole stars in the universe. You can create hits by hitting on your computer. lol How amazing is that? The eye balls have been diversified from the mainstream media. I’m NOT just talking about stars in the entertainment sense and sensibility. I’m talking about YOU, YOUR CAREER and YOUR BIZ!. Whatever business or career you are building, you can be a STAR in whatever you do and build your brand equity digitally and in reality. That’s a big difference. Is this change a boon or a crisis to you? It’s up to you.
Are you ready to shoot your personal brand (Whatever that is) to the star? Have you been jealously searching and vying for the divine workplace? Search no more. The divine workplace is YOU! Are you ready to be a STAR? Then, Be Digitally Successful! The rest will talk.
Listen to what Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur and the author of “Crush It,” has to say. You are gonna realize that you are not the only one who saw the change. His words hit the bull’s eye.
Tonight, I shook hands with Betty Anne Waters and briefly talked about the “Innocence Project” and Barry Scheck. I have been familiar with the Innocence Project since law school because my school has been running this unique clinic program for law students to participate in real cases as part of their legal trainings.
Betty’s complexion was fair, her hands were soft and her smiles were bright, not showing any sign of the extraordinary ordeals and agonies she might have gone through for many years.
Strangely enough, at the screening of “Conviction,” I saw part of myself through the eyes of Betty Anne’s character, which was wonderfully performed by Hilary Swank.
Against all the odds and all those years… Without her strong ‘conviction’ and determination to save her brother, would it be even possible to go near where she has gone so far? Without the strong belief that she could prove her brother’s innocence and free him out of the wrongful conviction, would it have been possible to touch the line she was able to cross?
When I received a late night international phone call from my mom many years ago in the city, listening to her shaky and teary voice repeating “You should save your brother. You should save you brother…” What can I say? Against all the odds… Against all the adversaries… Had to rely on my conviction. The conviction that I can survive and I can fly the sky. And the destiny…
A very different story. But my own emotion still resonates through Hilary Swank’s eyes from the big screen.
If you haven’t seen this movie “Conviction,” go and see it. I might feel the same emotion I felt during the screening.
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(Added later)
Check out Juliette Lewis’ performance. Juliette Lewis character’s monologue in “Conviction” was replicated based on the real conversation taped by Betty Anne Water at that time. The writer of this movie had another version of the conversation already written up, but she thew away her writing after listening to the tape, saying in amazement “You cannot make this shit up!” lol
Oooooh. Aaaaah. Yesterday, I saw a beautiful RAINBOW on my way to the Premiere Screening of “The Social Network” hosted by New York Tech Meetup. I could see all the plasma colors at both ends of the arch. ^^ clearly.
When I arrived at the screening totally intoxicated by the rainbow colors, the theater was full of many geeky techies. My intoxication smoothly transferred to the geeky mode. Thereon, I intoxicatingly enjoyed the geeky, nerdy energy that filled the entire screening. I was on top of rainbow the entire night~*
If I dare to summarize in one phrase, it would be “A Fantasy Trip to the Futuristic Past!” or “Retro to the Future!”
Steam Punk used to be underground culture here in New York. It has become more embraced by a large population.
But still… There are many New Yorkers who lead secret underground steam punk lives in the city. Traveling to the futuristic past, dressing up like a cutting-edgy science fiction novelist or a Victorian romantic idealist or a mad scientist who just invented an insane gadget that’s gonna change the world forever… These underground parties unbeknownst to many people in the city… When it’s getting dark at night… traveling farthest to the Brooklyn land…
A good friend of mine is one of the steam punk New Yorkers. (I would give him this credit even though he abandoned M-land and moved to Brooklyn-land and even though he claims he is Rochesterian, not a New Yorker)
His name is Andrew, a smart and creative IP lawyer. If you happen to be a mad scientist who invented the coolest gadget in the world or in trouble being chased by evil dictators, give him a telegraph call. He’s gonna be a smart ally for you. Check out his website @ SteamLawyer.com.
I see serious creative flows in many different areas, music, film, fashion, new media…
It feels like European (because it is), but edgier and a bit darker. Cool, edgy, innovative, creative, sentimental, high-quality, dark, punk and funky… These are the descriptive words I can come up with when I think about the recent Scandinavian faves of mine, like Trentemoller’s music whose link I posted below.
My recent Scandinavian obsession includes (but not limited to, like lawyers would say ^^) Acne, By Malene Birger, Royksopp, Trentemoller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (a very interesting thriller, soon to be released as a Hollywood remake next year), etc. I hear their voices are getting louder in the cultural sectors and their big creative waves are being perceived as cool.
Sitting in my small Manhattan APT, I’m wondering what is happening in Scandinavia. There must be something going on in their cities…
There are many good restaurants in the City. Sometimes too many to choose from.
Many of these attractions are enticing and luring me to their decorated and aromatic dens on a daily basis while walking by, like the Sirens from Greek Mythology.
Despite these restaurants’ attractive group sing-alongs, I always feel like nothing is more delicious and satisfactory than cooking at home.
I grew up in an environment where my mom always cooked three meals a day starting from scratch everyday, always with fresh ingredients. My mom always used freshly squeezed homemade sesame oil from the best organic sesame available and she also made soy sauce and spicy pepper paste (so-called “gochujang”) herself, cooking without using sugar or any artificial ingredients. She even grew some fresh organic vegetables in the garden. And my grandmother always sent us boxes of juicy fruits harvested from her back-yard orchard every year. I still remember the sweet taste of all the apples, figs, pears, and persimmons around the harvest time each year.
Living and working busy in the city, surrounded by countless restaurants, is the kind of environment that pulls me back away from my childhood experience as farthest as possible. But there is one thing that keeps me on the ground and pushes me back to appetizing home cooking. It’s the farmers market that opens every week all over the city. My favorite usual destination is the Union Square Farmers Market which opens every Wednesday and Saturday, which encourages me to undertake more than 20 blocks of traveling northbound every Saturday. Since saving time is important to me, it has become my key strategy(?) to buy fresh ingredients at the Market as much as possible like mushrooms, apples, apple cider, fresh plain yogurt, vegetables, eggs, etc. and to cook a large amount of food during the weekend. I shamelessly admit that I don’t have many cooking skills and recipes, so I just cook a large amount of stew whatever I feel like making that weekend. If I have the cooked meal stored during the week, I always feel like very safe and sound, perhaps on cloud nine over the whole week, just by peeking inside my big refrigerator everyday.
I happened to know one New Yorker with a similar growing up experience of mine, whose name is Rocco Dispirito, a well known chef living in the city. I saw him at the 53rd New York Emmy Awards Gala earlier this year, who happened to take pictures and have interviews right next to my table. But frankly, I had no idea who he was at that time (sorry, Rocco~). Later I realized that he’s a famous chef who promotes healthy home cooking. I think it’s a real good thing to encourage people to do more home cooking and to have healthier lifestyle. I think I’m gonna say some good words to him when I see him next time, thanking him for his endeavors in promoting home cooking. Every human being really needs that kind of home cooking experience everyday like all moms would do for their kids~ ^^
Hope that you could explore locally grown fresh ingredients for your home cooking experiments this coming weekend…
