Archive for April, 2013
Project Runway S11.Ep13: RECAP
Posted by Amy Steele in TV on April 22, 2013
Final Four– Michelle, Stanley, Patricia and Daniel have gone home to create collections. They’ll be judged on three looks from their collection. Only three will be able to show at New York Fashion Week.
–I thought Michelle definitely had the best designs and vision. I liked her color palate and lone wolf theme. I’m not sure Patricia should even BE in the Final Four. She never won any challenges! I wanted Samantha in the finals. Daniel does design some outdated looks although he’s so sweet and enthusiastic about everything. Stanley’s been the threat from the beginning in his mind and according to other designers too. He’s been so confident throughout the show. He seems to have lost some steam here. We do find out on his home visit he tried out for PR three times.
Michelle
–inspired by lone wolf
“When I looked at this, I thought there’s a lot going on. And I like it.” –Heidi Klum
“I feel like you created a universe here. I like that it goes casual to more dressy.” –Zac Posen
Daniel
–inspired by moon, Germany, sting ray
“I’ve seen this dress from you before. It just doesn’t feel that sophisticated.” –Zac Posen
“I feel that when you are going to have an all-black collection it’s going to be able the shape or the drama. I’m worried that I don’t see any color or I don’t see any shape.” –Nina Garcia
“It’s too tame. It’s not unusual and I like you. It’s not interesting enough.” –Heidi Klum
Patricia
—encompass a lot of new materials I tried to use like horse hair. I find it a celebration of silhouettes that are very festive.
“My favorite piece here is the jacket. It’s rocking. It’s awesome. I also love this blue dress. My next question is how cohesive would your collection be?” –Heidi
“The details that are very special are being overshadowed by so much.” –Nina
“I don’t think she’s ready yet. There’s a lot of ideas. She needs to clean it up.” –Nina
“To me she has the most potential because the ideas are so original. I’m looking at something that combines history craft and originality.” –Zac
“It would be so sad for the people at home to see what else she’s made. I would much rather see her show than one of the snooze boys.” –Heidi
Stanley
—”I wanted to keep my simple shapes and apply simple textures upon textures. I built a loom.”
“I think you had the same problem as Daniel. I think you didn’t have enough ideas. Where is the wow.” –Heidi
“Your looks are cohesive. There’s a lot of texture to your collection. You need to inject texture to these clothes. But that’s just in the styling.” –Nina
“This is your one opportunity to bring your vision out to the world. It is chic banal.” –Zac
“I think his clothing is impeccably made. The proportions and styling is way off. From what I’ve seen from the rest of the season, he’s way off.” –Zac
“He needs some modern pieces.” –Nina
Daniel is OUT
Michelle, Stanley and Patricia will be showing at New York Fashion Week
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new music: Tin Cup Serenade
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on April 21, 2013
who:
Eric Garland (drums)
Safa Shokrai (upright bass)
Rolf Wilkinson (vocals)
Larry Leight ( trombone )
Pete Cornell (saxophone)
from: San Francisco
sound:
combines jazz, calypso and swing. All flowy dresses, dark suits and cha-cha. makes you feel like you’re right in a film. emotional story-telling through horns, upright bass and melancholy vocals. mid-tempo songs. A mellower version of 90s band Squirrel Nut Zippers.
album: Tragic Songs of Hope [out April 23, 2013]
label: Tin Cup Serenade Productions
my picks:
“Limbo Jazz”
“Sunny Oakland Day”
“Money is King”
purchase at Amazon: Tragic Songs of Hope
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The View from Penthouse B: book review
Posted by Amy Steele in Books on April 21, 2013
The View from Penthouse B by Elinor Lipman . Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 2013). Contemporary fiction. Hardcover. 272 pages. ISBN 9780547576213.
It starts off all charming and filled with situational-comedy-setting humor as a widowed sister moves into her divorced sister’s penthouse. Younger sister Betsy suggests that middle sister Gwen-Laura and older sister Margot might make ideal housemates. Gwen-Laura’s been a widow for two years, her husband died suddenly from a congenital heart condition. Margot endured an acrid and publicized divorce when her fertility specialist husband decided to impregnate some of his clients himself. Also, she lost money to Bernie Madoff. They’d never been close. Margot rather lavish and Gwen rather goodie-goodie. “It was kind of her not to make me admit my most obvious shortcoming: I would be a sad roommate who couldn’t be counted on for any fun at all.” They take in a younger gay guy, Anthony [a cupcake baking former Lehman Brothers financial analyst] as housemate and form a modern family.
When Charles, Margot’s ex-husband, gets out on parole and moves into the building he starts wiggling his way back into his ex’s life through bi-weekly dinners that Margot initially refuses to attend. But old feelings start to defrost. The focus shifts to heavy matchmaking for Gwen. Urging her to write a personal ad and sign up for online dating. There’s amusing writing about dating in your 40s and 50s.
About an ad Gwen ran in the New York Review of Books:
“No one answered, and I knew why. The competition in that highbrow publication where women aiming for a man with books on his shelf, art on his walls, smoked salmon in his refrigerator, and tenure. I was at a distinct disadvantage, lost among ads posted by Ivy Leaguers with advanced degrees in Masculine Preferences.”
The strong bond that develops between the disparate sisters kept me reading The View from Penthouse B. They depend on each other as never before and care deeply for each other’s happiness and well-being. Along with Anthony, Margot and Gwen have quite the set-up in penthouse B that anyone would envy. [It was our nuclear family. As of that day, it was the only portrait I could paint of the widow Gwen-Laura Schmidt where she was neither lonely nor alone.”]. This would’ve been enough for me but apparently in women’s fiction all women MUST get married or married again or they be failures.
RATING: ***
–review by Amy Steele
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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Lifetime TV movie review: CALL ME CRAZY [A FIVE Film]
Posted by Amy Steele in TV on April 19, 2013
Last year executive producer Jennifer Aniston and Lifetime started the FIVE film project which brought five female directors together to direct five short films about domestic violence. This year the focus switches to mental illness with films about bipolar disorder, depression, PTSD, schizophrenia and how the illnesses affect friends, family, partners and careers. Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Bonnie Hunt, Ashley Judd and Sharon Maguire direct the films.
Lucy
Brittany Snow plays Lucy, a schizophrenic, in three of the films. In this film she suffers a breakdown during law school as she goes off her meds. She’s institutionalized and meets and befriends Bruce [Jason Ritter]. They spent quite a bit of time in group therapy and walking around on the grounds of this really nice rehab facility. Lucy’s quite shook up and doubtful about her intended career as a lawyer due to her mental health. A psychotherapist [Academy-award winner Octavia Spencer] convinces her to use her illness to her advantage. Snow’s quite talented. Very impressive and emotive in this role. Not too theatrical or flat. She’s just right. Truly convincing.
Grace
With a single mom, played by the venerable Melissa Leo, suffering from bipolar disorder her teenaged daughter [Sarah Hyland] must effectively become the parent. When her mom endures manic and depressive episodes, she hides them from her friends as it’s difficult to explain and embarrassing as a teenager to have an abnormal mom. One afternoon her mom takes her friends on a shopping spree and Grace witnesses her becoming frighteningly unhinged. Hyland and Leo have a strong connection. Director Laura Dern captures the manic and depressive episodes quite well with colors and camera movement.
Allison
When Lucy [Snow] returns home it’s to the dismay of her younger sister Allison [Sofia Vassilieva] who brought her boyfriend to meet her parents and never expected to see her sister who she considers unstable. She’s not very understanding or supportive to Lucy. Finally she says, “I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of becoming you.” It turns out that Allison’s been worried that she’d develop schizophrenia just like Lucy.
Eddie
Eddie [Mitch Rouse] is a comedian with depression. How could that be possible? He’s married and has plenty of friends too. Depression isn’t about one’s environmental situation. It’s about brain chemistry. Eddie’s in such despair and pain that he’s contemplating suicide. He’s become much darker than usual. Only his wife [Lea Thompson] recognizes this about him though.
Maggie
Ashley Judd directs Jennifer Hudson as a soldier returning home after repeatedly being raped by her superior officer. She’s suffering from PTSD and ends up having her son taken away from her. Lucy is back and she’s representing Maggie. When Maggie isn’t too keen on it being Lucy’s first case Lucy explains that she understands what it’s like for others not to understand about her mental health. Lucy says: “I have seen thousands of spiders running up my best friend’s face.”
There’s such a strong stigma regarding mental illness that makes it difficult for people to honestly discuss. Anyone who has a mental illness or knows someone with a mental illness will understand and recognize the struggles faced by those in the films. There’s constant maintenance and vigilance. It takes a support system and perseverance. For someone who doesn’t know someone with mental illness perhaps these short films will dispel some misconceptions.
CALL ME CRAZY airs SATURDAY, APRIL 20 on LIFETIME at 8 PM ET/PST
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STEELE INTERVIEWS: Laura Dern
Posted by Amy Steele in Film, Interview, TV on April 18, 2013
Laura Dern directed “Grace” one of the five short films which comprise CALL ME CRAZY: A Five Film. It airs on Lifetime Saturday April 18 at 8 p.m. This is the second film that Dern’s directed [her first film was a short back in the 90s]. She said she’s been contemplating directing for quite some time. Some of Dern’s films include Citizen Ruth, We Don’t Live Here Any More, Jurassic Park, Blue Velvet, Rambling Rose and October Sky. Most recently Dern starred in the fantastic series Enlightened on HBO.
Amy Steele: Hi Laura.
Laura Dern: Hey.
Amy Steele: I loved Enlightened by the way.
Laura Dern: Thank you Amy. That’s hilarious. Not that I’m saying there are any similarities, but every time I meet an Amy now I feel so close to them because I love the name so much because I love that character.
Amy Steele: So how did you prepare to direct?
Laura Dern: You know, I mentioned earlier it was really run and gun. We actually were finishing Enlightened in the middle of this, so it was a really insane time for me. It was literally a matter of days.
I got the call and they needed to start immediately. Mine was the first one up. So it was literally a matter of –I think– five days between, “hey can we send a script over” and needing to be on a set with a cast, a crew and a vision. So good news and bad news is I think I didn’t have time to even figure out what I needed to know. I just had to go for it.
I love working with actors. I’ve done it my whole life. I’ve been raised by them so I don’t have a lot of fear about that. It feels quite natural to me, I guess. I felt surprised by my awareness of where the camera should be. That seemed natural too oddly and luckily for me I had the brilliant DP, Gail Tattersall, who came and shot it. He and I were in sync about the vision as he supported me immensely.
The part that I think was hardest was just, you know, scheduling the day (time management), making sure actors had the time in something this emotional and shifting locations and all of that. Just the real producerial managing of getting your work done in a very, very short window is probably the area I learned the most from and had the most to learn about.
Amy Steele: There’s a clear difference between the manic and depressive scenes. Darker when she’s having depressive episodes and real quick scenes, brighter colors during her manic scenes when she takes the girls shopping and everything. What approach did you take for the different scenes?
Laura Dern: You know, relying on a totally brilliant actor like Melissa Leo. Really spending time talking through it before we started and spending time speaking to specialists and someone I know who has the disorder. Making sure that Melissa felt comfortable with really understanding the highs, the lows, and the in-between. You know, the medicated version which was important to me that when we did the un-medicated version, it’s not healed.
It’s all about degrees with the disorder and really trying to stay true to that, when someone comes off a manic episode like how they come down off of it. So in a very short time, there were scenes which dealt with every single one of those things, so I think it was more spending time with Melissa and making sure we knew exactly what that was and hoping to capture that in at least one take in each area so that people could really feel the differentiation.
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BOSTON, You’re My HOME
Posted by Amy Steele in Uncategorized on April 17, 2013
Why I love Boston and why Boston will remain strong
When I attended Simmons College and for several years after, I’d hang out at an MIT fraternity right in Kenmore Square on Beacon Street for a rooftop party to watch the Boston Marathon every year. It was so much fun. We had perfect viewing position and could run back and forth from the street to the house to refill our refreshments or take a break. I saw the elite runners and so many others pass by every year and cheered them on with a crowd of people. I watched endless other runners pass by—a friend from college, the Hoyts, a former mayor of Boston.
The Boston Marathon and Patriots Day are special to Boston. I always make a point to at least watch the elite runners finish on TV if I’m not going to be watching the race live. The elite marathoners amaze every time. The people who manage to run in three or four or five hours also impress me. Since ruining my ankles playing collegiate soccer, I’ve not been able to run distances. It takes determination to get through a marathon and Boston’s a particularly grueling one. Like many others the bombing shattered me. Why would anyone want to knowingly hurt so many random people in this despicable, cowardly manner? Who would do this? It angered and upset me.
Many think Bostonians are unfriendly, snobby, cold people. I lived in D.C. I’ve heard it before. You know the jokes—Massholes, the worst drivers out there etc. I prefer discerning than any of those things. We’re intelligent. We have big hearts that might just take a while to thaw out. We’re survivors. We were first on the scene way back when. Boston’s known for its academics, world-renowned hospitals, (mostly) winning sports teams and its rich cultural history.
Boston’s a city filled with a well-educated, well-read and diverse population. It’s a small but not too small city. I like being in the midst of discoveries, research and academic prowess. It’s a perfect blend of brain and brawn. Intellectual for some. Sporty for others. A nerdy paradise. That blend suits me. While I’m more interested in intellectual pursuits, sports serve a purpose to bring a community together. Sports teams motivate. Boston’s fans stick with their teams. Combine the braininess and the perseverance of the sports teams and Boston’s not going to be frightened easily. The world saw Boston come together as the bombing occurred to help those injured in the blasts. Once you get to know us we’re loyal to the end.
If Boston has all those things going for it, it’ll survive. It will get through this.
I love you Boston.
Boston Strong.
–Amy Steele
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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: BOOK TO FILM
Posted by Amy Steele in Books, Film, TV on April 16, 2013
TV show based on Tom Perrotta’s novel The Leftovers
director/actor Peter Berg
Peter Berg will direct and executive produce an HBO show based on the Tom Perrotta’s best-selling 2011 novel The Leftovers. LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof will co-author the script with Perrotta as part of his three-year deal with Warner Bros. Television. If the show moves past development stage, Lindelof will serve as showrunner. The Leftovers centers on a group of people left behind after a mysterious world-wide disappearance. I interviewed Tom Perrotta about The Leftovers for The L Magazine in 2011.
Casting for This is Where I Leave You
Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stoll and Adam Driver [GIRLS] will play siblings in This is Where I Leave You based on Jonathan Tropper’s 2010 novel about four siblings who spend a week sitting Shiva at their childhood home. Jane Fonda plays their widowed mother. Connie Britton [Nashville, Friday Night Lights] has been cast as his girlfriend.
Timothy Olyphant [Justified] plays Fey’s character’s high school sweetheart. Kathryn Hahn has been cast as Stoll’s wife. Rose Byrne will play Bateman’s love interest and Abigail Spencer his ex-wife. Ben Schwartz, best known as Jean Ralphio on Parks and Recreation, will play the family’s non-traditional rabbi.
Shawn Levy will direct This is Where I Leave You and co-produce with Paula Weinstein. Filming is expected to begin next month.
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Lifetime TV movie review: Stalkers
Posted by Amy Steele in TV on April 13, 2013
Constantly dismissed by the boys club and the judicial system’s indifference toward stalking cases, ADA Julia Winston [Jodi Lyn O’Keefe] sets out to establish a task force to track and prosecute predators before they hurt or kill their victims. A newly hired detective Diane Harkin [a bold Drea de Matteo], hiding her own domestic abuse trauma, finds herself facing similar resistance among detectives in her squad. When the two women cross paths on a case involving a woman named Jane [Lela Loren] stalked by her former lover [Mena Suvari] they join forces.
Kudos to Lifetime for showing a movie about a woman stalking another woman. There can be plenty of dangerous women out there, former lovers scorned. We’ve seen more about husbands and boyfriends in the news plenty of time, particularly using children as pawns as children for their power plays to grow stronger.
At the start of the film, someone says to Harkin’s partner [Henry Simmons]: “Your partner’s a real peach, is she always like this?” What a super sexist way to start. She rough handled the suspect and said, “Wipe that smirk off your face.” Her partner then begins a little lecture to Harkin with “Maybe your daddy wasn’t nice to you . . .”
Pretty sure women watch Lifetime films alone. Let’s not have these sexist jokes or comments in them. Not necessary. Although Lifetime films have gotten much better and attract quality casts, they’d be even stronger if screenwriters and directors were women. They’re films about women on a network for women so why not be written by and directed by women all the time. Am I asking too much?
Drea de Matteo turns in quite a solid and credible performance as Detective Harkin. Viewers aren’t immediately sure why she’s so edgy and personally motivated by the stalker case [besides being a woman] although that’s revealed soon enough. de Matteo and Suvari volley against each other exultantly. A bit more about the actual legal ramifications for this case would’ve been appreciated. The inspiration for this movie is Whisper of Fear: The True Story of the Prosecutor Who Stalks the Stalkers by Rhonda Saunders, a criminal prosecutor, who wrote the law on stalking in California.
STALKERS airs on Saturday night, April 13 at 8pm on Lifetime
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The Feelies: Spring Tour dates
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on April 13, 2013
New Jersey indie-rock band The Feelies formed in 1976 and broke up in 1992. The band started performing together again in 2008 after a nearly 20 years. They released an album of new songs called Here Before in 2001.
TOUR DATES:
Friday, Apr. 19 Boston, MA The Sinclair
Saturday, Apr. 20 Pawtucket, RI The Met
Friday, May 17 Hudson, NY Club Helsinki
Saturday, May 18 Brooklyn, NY The Bellhouse
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Various Cruelties: Spring Tour
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on April 11, 2013
Fri, Apr-26 San Diego, CA- Soda Bar
Sat, Apr-27 Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex – Britweek
Mon, Apr-29 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
Fri, May-03 Philadelphia, PA – World Café Live
Sat, May-04 Washington, DC – Jammin’ Java
Sun, May-05 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
Mon, May-06 Boston, MA – TT The Bears
Steele Interviews: Various Cruelties
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About Me
covering mostly music and books. focus on alternative/indie and women in music, literature and the arts. feminist. vegan. mostly alternative, a bit bohemian. Masters in journalism from Boston University. BA from Simmons College.
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Based on a work at entertainmentrealm.comCopyright © 2009. All writing, unless otherwise noted, by Amy Steele.
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