Entourage or how to become famous in hollywood

The team

I know that I am a few years late, BUT better late than never, right? As I was telling my friend A. how DISAPPOINTED I was by Gossip Girl, she mentioned the name of a TV series she thought I would like: ENTOURAGE.

I know what you're thinking - "how could she NOT know about this before"-, but I've never been a big TV or TV series fan, for my defense. However, if you're like me and haven't heard of it, please find a way to watch this, because it is really worth it, I swear.

It all started in 2004. The series was created by Doug Ellin and produced by Mark Wahlberg. The plot is pretty simple and clever: the up and down of a guy, his pretty face, his two best friends, his brother and his agent - WHOM I SIMPLY LOVE -, as he struggles - sometimes - to become a movie superstar in L.A. Originally from NYC, they all moved to Hollywood for the career of Vince - the actor to be -. For the anecdote, it is inspired somehow by Wahlberg's experience when he first started in the industry.

You're wondering: what's so great about it?

- It's only men - and when there are women, they're just there to be pretty, brainless and into sex.

- Ari, Vince's agent, is brilliant, fun, clever, annoying and interesting.

- You can see how Hollywood works - in a fictionalized way.

- Guest stars are everywhere, from Mandy Moore to James Cameron, Scarlett Johansson or Jessica Alba.

- You're finally able to see how awful it is to be a movie star in LA - except if you're crazy, hysterical and workaholic. Still, it is so great to watch, even if you're not like that!

ENTOURAGE's finale season - #8 - will air from July 24th, 2011. Watch the 7 seasons, and you won't be disappointed.

My hero - Ari Gold alias Jeremy Piven - who gives an impressive performance of an LA superstar agent.

A quick preview of the women in the show - if you're a guy: just to let you know...

MJ.

April in Seattle - Salad Bowl

Fleet Foxes at The Columbia City Theatre in Seattle - April 14

Nirvana's exhibit opening at EMP - April 15

In Utero

Paul Simon at The Showbox - April 17

Gas Works Park - one of my favourite places in Seattle

Robert Plant and his Band of Joy at The Paramount, April 20
Seattle is pretty special to Plant as it's the city where the famous mudshark episode happened back in the 60s with Led Zeppelin.

Daniel Blumberg, singer of Yuck, when the band opened for Tame Impala at Neumos on April 22. I really enjoyed their performance, very moving and deep. Their album is my new obsession.

Amazing and mind-blowing Kurt Vile at the Sunset Tavern, April 24.

A.C.

Snow White vs Twilight. GAME OVER.

spring right by the house

The Big Pictures : two big slaps in the face

It was first the title of this film that intrigued me - in English "I'm Glad That My Mother Is Alive" - . I've never been a huge fan of Claude Miller - I liked L'Effrontée above all, but simply hated Little Lili, which I found was empty of content and boring. However, I must say that this film is a real discovery, profound, human and moving. Vincent Rottiers, who was nominated for a Best Newcomer (Male) at the Césars last year for it, is impressive and so disarming that he left me open-mouthed in surprise.

Thomas goes on summer vacation with his parents and brother. While in the water, he asks his father what his mother looks like. The later answers that he has no idea. Thomas is an adopted kid, and so is his brother. Their mother abandoned them when they were kids. But when Thomas reaches his twenties, he finds her and starts building a weird (AC will like the fact that I'm using this word... again) relationship with her. Has he forgiven her.. or is it only an illusion hiding some much deeper feelings?

A fantastic film about troubled youth, about adoption, about anger, about love and about desire.

Its construction is a bit confusing - flash backs between different times in the past & present -, but it's so true and intimate that it simply leaves you fulfill and happy to see that such films are still made and possible to make.

Always been a fan of this kind ok books/ movies - I read and watched Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice about a hundred times - so I HAD TO go see this one. Mia Wasikowska had gained my sympathy in "The Kids Are Alright", but I really disliked Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. However, I have to give her some credit: she is simply extra-ordinary in this adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece.

Everyone knows the story of Jane Eyre : an orphan abandoned by her aunt as a kid, who grew up in a boarding school full a sadomasochistic people and ended up as a tutor in the - haunted - house of a gorgeous, crazy, romantic and eccentric single dad. What happens next? Either you've read the book or seen one of the many films made before this one, or you'll have to go see it, because it is really worth it.

Energetic, gothic, aesthetically perfect, this film is a true delight. The director, Cari Jogi Fukunaga, is the one of "Sin Nombre" and the screenwriter worked on "Tamara Drew" script before this one - a pretty heavy team, you can tell. It's emotional, full of suspense at time, wild and romantic: all the qualities you're looking for in this kind of" period piece" film.

You can feel Jane Eyre's passion and rage, her desire of freedom and attention, her love for the (very hot) Mr. Rochester - played by the absolutely gorgeous Michael Fassbender who does an amazing job here, restoring the cynical, tortured but charismatic male character of this novel. One of the "must see's" of the season. For sure.

MJ.

not a music specialist, but some great songs on THE KILLS new album

I am not the music writer - A.C is, as you all know - but as I knew she would probably not write anything about this album, I thought I kinda had to. I've been following THE KILLS work for some years now - I'm not CRAZY about them, but I do like some of their songs - and after listening to this album, called BLOOD PRESSURE, is felt I had to tell you a few things about it.

It's THE KILLS fourth album. Very sensual, sometimes even sexual - I found myself dancing on Heart is a Beating Drum or on the psychedelic Pots & Pans - but also orchestrated and musical. Each one of the singers - Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart - also wrote and sang a ballade/ ditty, responding to one another: I'm particularly found of The Last Goodbye. And even if it's not revolutionary, it's good, it's swinging and dynamic. After listening to that, you just wish you could meet your artistic soulmate and experience hype - if not perfect - rock'n'roll like THE KILLS do. Strangely, you find yourself wearing a leather jacket the next day, more nonchalant - and romantic - than ever.

MJ.

Epic, you said epic?

I know it's gonna seems strange to some of you, but I REALLY needed to write a few words about this film I've seen... many times, that was released in 2002, the famous (or not?) GANGS OF NEW YORK directed by the famous (of that, I'm sure) Martin Scorsese.

(If you've not seen his films, please do, because most of them are masterpieces, I'll make sure to write a short list of my favorites at the end of this article.) Scorsese had wanted to make this film since the 70s, but due to money issues, he had to wait until the late 90s to start shooting - but that also gave him the great cast he has, meaning Day-Lewis, whom I simply adore, and DiCaprio, brilliant and tense.

One of my friends, A, who happens to be a movie addict just like me, told me that she hadn't seen this film because a lot of people around her had told her that it wasn't worth seeing. Let me say that I am very upset with these people. GANGS OF NEW YORK is carnal, epic, astonishing, beautiful, melancholic, powerful, and most of all, alive. This historical movie - I want to say that it's Scorsese second attempt as the first one, with Day-Lewis too, was THE AGE OF INNOCNECE - has all the assets to be great : perfect action, cinematography, music, set, costumes, love story, moral and characters. If its length frightens you (2h46), let me say that you don't see the time - it flies.

Just a quick plot, so you can know more - but not too much - about the story (thank you IMDb):

In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill The Butcher, his father's killer.

You see the city build itself, with its melting plot, its colors, its violence, it eccentricity. And it's a true pleasure.

MJ.

(List of films - only some - : Taxi Driver, Who's That Knocking At My Door, The Departed, Good Fellas, New York, New York, Mean Streets, The Age of Innocence)

Here is also one of his shorts, called THE BIG SHAVE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83i8G6o0quc&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dthe%2Bbig%2Bshave%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1

Vent couvert or Vancouver