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"A little piece of you
The little peace in me
Will die [This is not a miracle]
For this is not America" --David Bowie,
lyrics from "This is Not America"
The beginning of this month really blew, didn't it?
Well, for me it did...and for Mt. St. Helen's,
too. See, that was the problem. Bruce missed our 15th anniversary (9/30)
because he
was up there covering the eruption from 9/29-10/6. You know it's a real
barn-burner when the media
descends for a geological event and ends up interviewing each other. Here,
CBS correspondent John Blackstone (a native of Canada) is
interviewed by Canadian TV. A palm reader once told me back in 1987 that I
would marry my then-boyfriend (Bruce)...check! But, that we would spend our
15th anniversary apart. Check! (eerie!) I think she meant we'd be separated
or something...Fortunately, we still have plenty of spark...certainly more
than that volcano in SW Washington State!
Although things "blew" personally, they
were very cool professionally:
THE PAWN and A LIFE OF DEATH won Special Jury
Prizes at the Fano International Film Fest in Fano, Italy. THE
PAWN also got into the Anchorage Int'l
Film Fest for Dec. and was also invited to Euroshorts 2004 in Warsaw, Poland for November.
(Then, it will tour 13 other cities in Poland from
Nov. 2004-March 2005.) A LIFE OF DEATH got into fests in Santiago, Chile and Bangalore, India, and
hit its 50th festival invitation when it got into the Global Peace Film
Festival in Orlando, FL for
November! Then...Festival #51 came in late in the month, from a festival in
Siena, Italy! #52
came in from Anchorage, Alaska...and
#53 came in from ritzy Tiburon, CA by
month's end! Both films got a rave review in The Wheaton Leader/Glen Ellyn News after
last month's Progressive Film Fest outside of Chicago. There was also
another article published by The
Wheaton Sun on Oct. 8th.
MINI DRIVER PROJECT was also in the news...in the International Herald
Tribune! And, what was really weird was that the writer, Kevin O'Brien,
stationed in Berlin, reconnected me with two people who I hadn't heard from
in a couple of years! An old "internet pen pal" Beau Buck of
BigDigit was quoted...and the illustration of the article (the hard copy) was done by Felipe Galindo, who I met in NYC
in Times Square in April
2002. Felipe also had a film on the jumbotron...in the same program as MINI
DRIVER PROJECT! Back on that night, we had another coincidence. I found
out that he is close friends with Sergio Arau, for
whom I starred in the short A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN (and, I had a small
part in the feature which opened May 5th of this year...) From Berlin to
NYC to LA...with echoes of Mexico City...From the jumbotron to cell phone
screens... Too, too weird!!!
Speaking of coincidences...Bruce and I have been
season-ticket holders for the LA Clippers for several years now, and there
was another ticket holder who sat in our section for awhile who would often
attend with his sister...or so we assumed (and we were right). You see,
this person was so vibrant and was always having so much fun, that he just
sparkled amongst the thousands of people there. (Yes, the Clippers get
thousands of people to their games, and we've seen them beat the Lakers
handily FOUR times, so look into it, people...!!! There's another Bball
team in town, and they are fabulous!) Anyway...back to the story...So, we
would look at this man and his sister and speculate about who they were,
what they did, and why they were so damn happy all the time. (That's what
screenwriters and journalists do when they hang out together...journalists
ask the questions and screenwriters make up the answers...) Well, after
starring at this person for years, he just casually walks into a screening
of A LIFE OF DEATH at the Egyptian Theatre last April! I couldn't believe
it! So, I ran up to him and said, "Are you a Clippers fan!?" He
stepped back (because I'm sure I looked CRAAAAZZZY...) and said,
"Yeah. Uh, why?" So, then, I told the whole story about starring
at him for years, and instead of slapping me with a restraining order, he
was actually thrilled. As it turns out, he's a musician (I knew it!) and
his sister is a writer. (I had her pegged as an executive...so...close? No?
Okay...) This month, I finally got out to one of his gigs at Genghis Cohen.
So, here now is "very-famous-to-me" Jason Luckett (and his
friend Karen Greene). To hear Jason's music, and to make him
"very-famous-to-you", click
here.
And...speaking of the Clippers...October 19th was
their first home game (exhibition) against the Golden State Warriors which
now has Derek Fisher from the Lakers and Eduardo Najera of the Dallas Mavs.
Our starters were all injured (accept for Corey Maggette...yowza...the man
is beautiful...they don't call him "Maximus"
for nothing!)...and guess what, folks!? Our SCRUBS beat Golden State by
FIFTEEN points! It was great to be back at Staples Center and the private
club for season ticketholders, the Crown Royal Room. All our
old seatmates got the same tickets, and we were even reunited with our
favorite ushers, Ray and Carlos. Now, I am starting to understand why
people go to Chuich/Temple/Mosque and/or bars like
"Cheers!"...It's definitely fun when everybody knows your name
(as the song goes...). ;-)
We were included in a sublime evening of
excellent food, company and entertainment at Tomas & Christina
Rosander's mid-month. Tomas
is a famous former-journalist who is now the Consul General of Sweden in
L.A. His wife Christina is a
doctor/research scientist. They threw a fabulous "Arts &
Letters" night where we dined on haute cuisine prepared by their Swedish Chef (yes, the food
was a good as he is cute!), heard music from the Sandgrens, the Fortieris, another Tomas, and others, and a very moving
reading by world-class poet James
Ragan. I bonded with former Bond Girl Britt Ekland over the broccoli and
goat cheese (Sorry, no pictures...I had to balance a wine glass, sterling
silver, a linen napkin and china plate...But, if you want to know...She
still looks fantastic!!!), and also enjoyed meeting a major producer from
New Line, another from Warner Bros., a famous documentarian from Russia, a
major interior designer, the Swedish General Counsel from NYC, etc., etc.,
etc...
I was thrilled to be able to go up to Stanford
University in Palo Alto, CA for the United Nations
Film Festival where A
LIFE OF DEATH played on 10/22. The filmmakers were put up in the very
posh Hotel Avante in Mountain View
where we had the days to ourselves to work out in the gym, swim in the pool, take jacuzzis, play
with the "executive toys"
in the room, email the world about all the great films we were seeing via
the FREE T-1 line in every room, and drink wine while grooving to tunes in
the Hi-Fi Lounge. The
festival organizer, Jasmina Bojic, treated us to a wonderful lunch at Evvia
on Friday afternoon. Together, Jasmina,
filmmaker Anne Aghion (In Rwanda
the Family That Does Not Speak Dies), filmmaker John Smihula (Hidden in Plain Sight), filmmaker Casey Hayward (Looking Down) and his partner
Courtney, and festival coordinators Phillip Hadrovic and Mary Jane, and I
all tried to solve the world's problems. We basically just came up with the
obvious, though...What the world needs now, is love sweet love...and less
fear, ignorance and intolerance (i.e. that means you, Mr. Bush, and your
"sworn enemies", who you ironically emulate...). Anyway, politics
aside, I could not help feeling really gleeful about my film's inclusion in
this festival. The other filmmakers were either Oscar nominees, or Sundance
participants and winners (!), or Cannes participants, or had major
distribution deals with places like PBS...or they were doctoral candidates
with incredible large brains. So, thank you, Jasmina, for the excellent
accommodations, company, and the very inspirational half-week!
I had to leave Stanford and the UNAFF early
because our new film THE PAWN had its LA debut at Tarfest on the Miracle Mile on
10/23. The films were projected on a 20'x30'
screen in Hancock Park (no, not the neighborhood, but rather the actual
park between the LA County Art Museum and the La Brea Tarpits). Before the
screening, the sunset provided a great opening act with pink cotton candy
clouds, and then, the moon was like a klieg with one barn door pulled over.
My composer Greg Johnson braved
the cold with gal-pal Diana Giorgiutti, Jason Luckett turned up, Richard Berman came, and Olivier Renoult came
with his partner Carlos and their friend
Didier, visiting from Paris. Projecting on
a sheet outdoors is not without its complications, but I want to send a
heartfelt thank you to James
Panozzo, Micah, Mr. Kramer, and all the hardworking people at Tarfest
who are trying to make L.A. a little more community-oriented (like NYC or
Chicago). Dealing with egomaniacal artists
(just kidding you, kids!) is rarely rewarding, but James and the gang keep
stepping up month after month! Afterwards, my co-star Sam Ambler and his partner Ed Rubin
threw a great pizza party, so I also want to give a big shout out to them.
Respect!! ;-)
During the UNAFF, I got some amazing news from my
folks about a national scandal that came out of DuPage Co.(in Northern IL,
mind you...not Northern Iraq...okay?) It seems that Henry Hyde's (mentioned
in last month's SCENE) Republican goons allegedly felt so threatened by Christine Cegelis, his
Democratic challenger in the sixth congressional district race, that they
had her erased from the ballot...and assigned to a race for which she'd not
registered! A fine local journalist caught the "honest mistake",
published the bad ballot, and the Chicago media, NPR and even FOX (!?)
picked up the story. Wake up, America...Wake up, DuPage Co. ! As David
Bowie would say, "This is not America, sha-la-la-la-la!" (I have
a suggestion for you, no matter where you live in America. On a piece of paper,
record all your votes for candidates, judges, local referendums, etc...and
have it NOTARIZED, just like you would a will, on Nov. 2nd. This may be the
only way to prove what we in America really want!) And then, we can give a "one-fingered
victory salute" to this classy, classy man, as well.
Before I close, and before you VOTE, I just want
to present evidence of a major "flip-flop" by the GOP. No, I'm
not going to get into the tax cuts for the megarich vs. the salary/benefit
reductions for those serving in Iraq/Afghanistan...No, I'm not going to
bring up the crocodile tears our "President" sheds when he talks
about those who have died, yet he's NEVER attended a military funeral. I'm
not even going to bring up how he said in the second debate that Supreme
Court Justices should be non-partisan, except that he wants "those who
would vote for me...hee-hee...haw-haw...snort-snort". (Chilling.) I
won't even enter into the irony of how much our fundamentalist leader has
in common with the fundamentalists who lead in the Middle East...No, I have
a "flip-flop" that's much simpler...for the lowest common
denominator out there. Remember how mad the Admin. got at CBS News last
month? Well, look hard at this man's
cap. So, they don't trust their journalism, but they'll let them drive
the bus!?!? Flip-floppin' hypocrisy, my friends! ;-)
FADE TO NOVEMBER (the month in which I may move to France
or New Zealand, if the wrong man wins...)...
p.s. Special thanks to Olivier Renoult for some
of the pictures...and Jeff Goldman!
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