Video Of The (Past) Week: Hole

For some reason, I'm still in my Hole trip - it's been a year, these usually last me three or four months at a time, but I'm hearing things I want to hear on every single one of their records these days - well, 1991 (Pretty On The Inside) until 1998 (Celebrity Skin), anyway, I never delve into 2010 (Nobody's Daughter) territory.

This song - Celebrity Skin, the title track off their most commercial release - was co-written by Courtney Love with the band's guitarist Eric Erlandson and Billy Corgan (of The Smashing Pumpkins), whose influence is very distinct (the chord progression is very Siamese Dream, the wordplay very Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness), and the beautifully stylized video was directed by Nancy Bardawil; it's the type of imagery (glowing gowns, bright pink and purple with black) that would also have worked wonders for the band's breakthrough hit Miss World.



The only downer in it is seeing future drummer Samantha Maloney wear a wig to look like Patty Schemel who had not yet been told she wasn't in the band anymore; they didn't even really have to go that route since Deen Castronovo (G/Z/R, Ozzy Osbourne, Bad English, Steve Vai, Paul Rodgers Band) was the actual session drummer they used, but I guess having two men (with Erlandson) appear in the comeback video for what is considered a ''girl band'' - and one that the media put the entire weight of feminism in rock on - may have been seen as a treason of sorts.

Gold Lion

I thought I was among the only households with a pet lion:

Turns out some Hollywood types have the full-size versions of them in their homes:

That's the home actress Melanie Griffith grew up in, with mother (actress) Tippi Hedren and father (director) Noel Marshall, and lion Neil, as the family was ''researching'' living with large cats.

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Heeeeerrrooooooiiiinnnnnn
Be the death of me
Heeeeerrrooooooiiiinnnnnn
It's my life (...)
- Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground's Heroin

Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hofman - a perennial favourite of mine as can be attested in my ''best-of'' lists - died today of an apparent heroin overdose at age 46 in his Manhattan apartment.

The hype machine will likely go nuts - and if it does, it will be more deserved than when it hit Heath Ledger, for sure - but while I don't think he qualifies for the moniker of ''greatest actor of his generation'', he surely ranks among the most consistent, and constantly original ones.

Like William H. Macy, he was as good as the seventh-role in a blockbuster as he was starring in an indie character-driven picture, and my favourite performance of his remains the scene-stealing sexually deranged obscene phone caller in Happiness:

He could be at turns nerdy, shy, subdued, over-the-top, depressed, strong, conniving, lost... always on point.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Cassandra Lynn Hensley

(reposted from my collectibles blog)

R.I.P. Cassandra Lynn Hensley, who died two nights ago following an evening where cocaine and champagne were consumed after a time of not feeling well. She was 34 and leaves behind a daughter.

I didn't know the February 2006 Playboy Playmate Of The Month, but I do know models who did, and this has come as a shock to two of them in particular.

Her Twitter account still updates with her automatic daily horoscope, and the one published just hours after her death turns out to be eerie in retrospect:

Unspoken obligations prevent you from doing what you wish today. No matter what you do now, you might not feel completely fulfilled. Working harder isn't the answer, but neither is escape.

As a tribute, here is a card I got in a box of Benchwarmer's 2006 Holiday cards, an autographed insert (#15 of 16):

Worst Wax Museum Ever (And That's Saying A Lot!)

I already had a negative opinion of wax museums in general, but seeing the pictures accompanying this scathing review of the Hollywood Wax Museum may have sealed the deal for me to never go to one again...

These only barely resemble the actors they're supposed to be, and they're not even the worst (Tom Hanks wins that one, but I'll let you see for yourself). Actually, they look like melted wax sculptures of bad celebrity look-alikes, 5 seconds after they've posed looking similar to the celeb, not quite there anymore...

Demi Moore Is Single Again

It's true, the talented beauty is getting a divorce.

Ah, Demi Moore. One of my childhood fantasies. Who knew I had a better shot when I was a child? (I kid, I kid)

Will Kat Dennings Save TV?

Talk about putting pressure on yourself...

The wonderful Kat Dennings, now starring in the TV sitcom 2 Broke Girls, claims:

The show's not just a ha-ha machine. I grew up watching The Golden Girls, The Nanny – I want to bring the sitcom back.

Big words for such a reclusive young girl. Then again, she's not that reclusive. But at 25, we won't hold any of that against her.

And in an era when many decent TV shows such as Pan Am and Parks & Recreation are probably doomed to disappear because dumb TV execs don't factor in TiVo recordings nor DVD/Blu-ray sales when counting a series' viewership, audience numbers are seemingly stalling.

But as fine shows such as Arrested Development and My Name Is Earl have shown, network bosses have no idea how today's fans react and how passionate they can be. I hope 2 Broke Girls finds its niche.

Career-Altering Mistakes

It had been a while since a page from Cracked.com made me laugh this much.

Here, they list 5 film celebs who have made dramatic mistakes that have forever altered their careers. I agree with just about everything - except omitting Delirious in Eddie Murphy's credits.

Foot In Mouth Disease: Mila Kunis

So...


In this month's GQ, Mila Kunis talks low-level feminism, saying women in Hollywood aren't considered decent comedic actors and are instead relied upon to just stand pretty. Of course, she does so in her underwear:

And that's not the only thing she should have thought more about, she is also quoted as saying, about having ''friends with benefits'':

It's like communism -- good in theory, in execution it fails.

Except that, time and time again, that comparison has been proven wrong. Communism in its purest form, unlike capitalism, has never been given a chance. And in the instances where it was watered down and tried, it was said to be because of human greed - which capitalism also suffers from.

And don't tell me about China and Cuba's emprisonment of dissenters - the good old U.S. of A. has also done so repeatedly, from the 1950s to the George W. Bush years, in which the Department of Homeland Security was even given the right to lock up people without a warrant nor a trial.

Maybe Mila isn't as smart as she thinks she is. Nor *gasp* as pretty as she thinks she is.

Huckabee Versus Portman (Whether She Likes It Or Not)

Three years ago, when he was running for President as an unknown ordained Baptist minister and went on the Colbert Report, I thought he seemed like a reasonable, cool man - you know, for a Republican.

I don't know if he's just playing for the Party's base or if his real face is finally showing, but Mike Huckabee's been saying some nasty, confusing things about, well, just about everything. From homosexuality to single moms to welfare to health care to terrorism to war to race to (the sanctity of) marriage (4 of which are mentioned in this clip alone), it seems like he's trying to one-up Sarah Palin at every turn, either forgetting she's a total nutjob or just not giving a shit. Then again, they're both full-time Fox News commentators, so maybe it's something they put in their water coolers.

Jessica Alba Is Pregnant

Yes, Jessica Alba is pregnant again. She already has a nearly 3-year old kid with her husband, Cash Warren, and People Magazine is claiming they're going to have a second one.

Which means in two - maximum three - years, she'll be divorced. Hollywood standards, I'm not making this up, I'm seeing it in my crystal balls.

Now... when the hell are the two remaining Sin City movies coming out? Aren't they, like, 5 years overdue?

Playing Robert Pattinson

No, I haven't seen the Twilight movies, and hopefully I never will have to. I haven't read the books either, but that's because I'm still reading things I haven't read from my favourite authors: William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, Paul Éluard, Daniel Pennac, and a slew of others that get in the way.

But Kristen Stewart is in town filming On The Road, directed by Walter Salles, based on the Jack Kerouac book of the same name (who many don't know is actually of Quebecer origin - although he never lived here himself, proper - both of his parents being natives of La Belle Province - he even initially started On The Road in Quebec French!).

Now, I was never a fan of Stewart's (again, not a Twilightee), but I'd seen a few films she was in, such as The Cake Eaters and The Messengers - typical ''meh'' Hollywood fare. But her turn as Joan Jett in The Runaways was fucking dead-on. Flawless. Perfect.

And since Megan Fox is taken (just kidding! just adding to my readership count again!)... maybe I could take on acting myself, play her boyfriend, film a love-making scene... just for fun.

Tim Burton: Fall From Grace

Tim Burton hasn't made a good movie in a long time: Alice In Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride... and very few people liked Charlie And The Chocolate Factory as much as I did (no, it's not really for kids), or even Planet Of The Apes, for that matter, which means Big Fish is the only good thing he's made in the past decade.

Then again, it may be his best film ever. Was it his last, final bit of inspiration? It could very well be, considering his next project looks like it's going to be a remake of his 1984 short, Frankenweenie...

Or maybe his reputation got to his hair. After all, his output from the 90s is as impressive as anything anyone else could come up with, starting with 1989's Batman, then Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow.

Whatever the case, let's hope he wakes up soon, 'cause he's an original voice in Hollywood, one that should not be silenced - and one that gives Johnny Depp too much work for all of it to be crap - it'd be a waste of Depp's talent as well.