Joke of the Week: Funny People "I'm really good at Guitar Hero, then I thought like maybe I should get a guitar. Then I thought like I'm really good at Grand Theft Auto, maybe I should start beating up hookers." Seth Rogan in Judd Apatow's upcoming Funny People *** Hot List Cover Girl: Gaga Rolling Stone's Hot List cover story: "The Rise of Lady Gaga" http://robalini.blogspot.com/2009/06/hot-list-cover-girl-gaga.html *** http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/05/cannes-report-2.html Cannes report: Brad Pitt in Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' May 20, 2009 by Lisa Schwarzbaum Categories: Cannes Film Festival 2009, Film I wish you had been there with me this morning. Seriously, I wish everyone who ever wants to see Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's newest, brash cine-geek homage to genre moviemaking, could have been there waiting for an hour with me at 7:30 on a sparkling sunny weekday morning at the Cannes Film Festival. It would have been so great if you could have joined the mob stamping and twitching and actually buzzing to get into the very first, 8:30 a.m. screening of the very latest, certainly very Brad Pitt-iest movie to arrive on the Croisette from the very oxygenated Palme d'Or winner. Oh, how you would have enjoyed breathing the heady atmosphere for which QT made his creation! Plus, you would have freaked out the squadron of guards! As it is, the minute the festival tents fold and the movie is eventually released in less glamorous American movie theaters, it's unlikely that this joke-y, boyish, play-acted war-game fantasy (at least half spoken in German and French) can ever be inhaled with quite the right mixture of helium and nitrous oxide required to sustain the anticipatory hullaballoo. The tall-tale premise introduces a small band of primarily Jewish, Nazi-hating "basterds," led by doggone Tennessee mountain drawler Aldo Raine (Pitt), who join forces with one Shoshanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a French Jewish woman who escaped while her family was murdered, and who now runs a little local movie theater. While the boys scalp Nazis (watch! one of them also specializes in clubbing heads with an American baseball bat!), Shoshanna has plans to topple the Third Reich by killing Hitler and all his biggies assembled at one screening of a Nazi-propaganda war drama in her Cinema Paradiso of a movie hall. And yet: It's amazing how little Nazis, Hitler, mass murder, or Resistance bravery mean in this action cartoon. Tarantino is a brilliant showman, the smartest, most erudite guy in the movie clubhouse, a master at re-creating old and/or exotic styles (Hong Kong action, blaxploitation) for a new audience -- no argument. Inglourious Basterds pays homage to spaghetti westerns, noirs, WWII war pics, and spy thrillers, and those who adore being in the know about cinema history will feel super satisfied to figure out throw-away allusions to past movie stars, movie makers, movie scenes, and movie costumes. But how deep can a movie that repurposes recycled material go? Not very. I've never felt that Tarantino has ever been interested in real emotions or real characters, and that's fine, that's not his thing. But the choice is also an Inglourious limitation. So Pitt play acts; that's what's called for. And Jews and movies win the war this time around. But a Nazi steals the picture. I'm talking about Austrian actor Christoph Waltz -- huge in his home country, unknown in ours but about to be famous -- who's memorable long after the credits roll in retro typography. (Ennio Morricone's retro music works hard, too.) Waltz plays icily precise Nazi colonel Hans Landa, known as "the Jew Hunter." And from his very first scene, in which Landa pries information out of a French farmer, spaghetti-western style, he's irresistible, a one-man display of theatrical virtuosity applied to a villain we're meant to love to hate. Second-best Nazi award, by the way, goes to the celebrated young German actor Daniel Bruhl (The Bourne Ultimatum), while German-born Diane Kruger wins the award as best German undercover agent/actress in high-heeled pumps. Oh, and B.J.Novak from The Office? He's a Jewish Basterd, too. No joke. *** http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-sasha-grey21-2009may21,0,7751766.story Porn star Sasha Grey gets a mainstream role Sasha Grey has the lead in Steven Soderbergh’s latest film. Hoping to cash in on her notoriety, Steven Soderbergh casts her in 'The Girlfriend Experience.' By Chris Lee May 21, 2009 Oscar-winning writer-director Steven Soderbergh isn't coy about his motive for casting Sasha Grey in his low-budget indie drama "The Girlfriend Experience." In a movie entirely populated by nonprofessional actors, who better to portray a $2,000-an-hour Manhattan call-girl than one of the most prolific and in-demand adult film stars working the so-called San Pornando Valley? Still, he cops to a certain degree of exploitation. Soderbergh gave Grey the lead role in the film (which opens Friday) fully intending to milk her X-rated fame for all it is worth. "I was very much counting on the fact that the interest in her would be greater than the interest in the movie," Soderbergh said. "We would be drafting off her notoriety rather than vice versa. I needed her. That's no different than getting Brad Pitt to be in your movie, albeit in a different context." In that regard, it probably helps that Grey, 21, can be considered a porn star only by the same reductive logic that would characterize Kobe Bryant as merely a "basketball player." The actress -- real name Marina Ann Hantzis -- is professionally distinguished by her take-no-prisoners attitude toward the hardest of hard-core sex scenes and consensual degradation. Aggressively staking a claim for herself in the industry from almost the moment she turned 18, Grey's porn oeuvre extends to more than 150 films -- "Sasha Grey's Anatomy," "House of Sex & Domination" and "Teenage Whores" (parts 2 and 3) being among the few titles printable in a family newspaper. For her ambitiousness, she took home the Adult Video News Awards' female performer of the year in 2008, becoming the youngest person to win. Moreover, Grey is establishing herself as a burgeoning multimedia mogul. She calls herself a "performance artist," is filming a documentary, writing a graphic novel and a "sex philosophy" book and recently launched her own production company with the twin goals of changing the look of pornography and empowering women. "Part of the reason I got into this business was to change it," Grey said. "I can take my fantasies and ideas and deliver those to an audience. It's all an extension of who I am." Dan Miller, editor in chief of AVN magazine, explained what separates Grey from her industry's rank and file. "She brings it in her sex scenes," he said. "She means business. Sasha's been able to showcase a way of going about it, a fearlessness, that has resonated with adult critics and made producers take notice. She's in the top 10 in-demand female performers." Over lunch in a Hollywood restaurant, picking at a salad she variously described as tasting "like ammonia" and later, wasabi, Grey made working with Soderbergh -- the force behind the blockbuster "Ocean's" franchise as well as more personal projects starring non-pro actors such as "Bubble" and the HBO series "K Street" -- seem like no biggie. Never mind that, outside of adult films, she had never professionally acted (despite having studied theater from age 12 to 18). And that working from a bare-bones plot "outline," she was responsible for improvising her own dialogue. "Steven wanted a natural quality and for things to be spontaneous," Grey said. "So it was about trying to find a way to bring my training into the film and also leaving room for this open-ended, never-ending surprise that came into each scene." Grey portrays Chelsea, a high-class escort whose upscale clients enlist her for more than just sexual encounters. She provides them a "GfE" -- the titular "girlfriend experience" -- of simulated romance and faux emotional intimacy. While operating in a high-gloss world of posh hotels, pricey restaurants and designer clothing, the men in her life -- customers, potential pimps, her boyfriend, a nosy journalist and a sleazy escort review blogger known as "the Erotic Connoisseur" -- attempt to control Chelsea as she plies her trade against the real-life backdrop of last fall's stock market crash and presidential election. As Soderbergh sees it, Grey's day job and ambitiousness lent her portrayal the kind of verisimilitude you can't learn at drama school. He first hatched the idea to hire her for the film after reading a 2006 Los Angeles magazine profile of Grey's first few months in the adult movie business, "The Teenager & the Porn Star." "I needed somebody who in a sexual situation could be in control and in command," he said. "Sasha has a macro vision of how she is going to conduct herself. She has a five-year plan. That was very similar to the escorts we interviewed before we made the film -- you hear a lot of GfE's talk like that. But it's very unusual in the porn world." The actress' literary agent, Marc Gerald, is working with Grey on a coffee-table book featuring photos she took on porn sets over the last few years; it will function as a kind of "manifesto" for her singular outlook. The as-yet-untitled book from Vice/MTV Books has a tentative publication date of early next year.He pointed out that the actress operates "to the extreme" in both her business and creative pursuits. "She has an intellectual curiosity you can't force or manufacture," Gerald said. For her part, Grey -- a petite Sacramento native who speaks with a kind of flat affect and still possesses the physique of a teenage girl -- seemed more interested in talking about her new production company Grey Art than "The Girlfriend Experience." The plan going forward is for her to act as her own manager, work exclusively for herself (rather than one of the big agencies that represent most porn performers) and even direct her own movies. "All women have the right to be feminist whether you're pro-porn or anti-porn," she said. "But I think it's definitely about continuing to put the control in women's hands. And sending a positive message to our society that every girl in porn is not abused and cracked out." Grey continued: "I have this brand, I have my name. And I'm going to do what I want because people will buy it. People will enjoy it. So don't tell me I have to follow this formula and sit inside the box. Because I don't." chris.lee@latimes.com *** http://www.austin360.com/tv/content/tv/stories/2008/10/1020progressive.html The strange allure of the Progressive insurance girl What makes normal people fall so hard for the cute and perky pitchwoman known as 'Flo'? By Chris Garcia AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, October 20, 2008 She's bubbly and beaming, high-volume, with a flip of dark hair and a face like a lollipop. She irks as she endears, bemuses as she bewitches. She's a bundle of energetic contradictions, bursting here, retracting there. Her expressions blink and change like a neon sign. Her eyes are popping globes. And she just sold you a bunch of car insurance. Flo is her name. She's the spokeswoman for Progressive Auto Insurance, lighting up televisions in a series of commercials in which her perky cashier pitches the money-saving merits of Progressive to customers. She works in a sterile, all-white big-box store, and her florid makeup stands out like paint spilled in snow. First she caught our eye; now she's snatched our heart. Viewers are smitten. They're crushin'. They want to know: Who's that girl? From a recent blog at HoustonPress.com, with the headline "The Cult of the Progressive Car Insurance Chick": "Am I the only one completely and totally enamored of the woman in the television ads for Progressive car insurance? You know, the ones starring that babelicious brunette named Flo with her 'tricked-out name tag' and her '60s style eye makeup and her kissable red, red lips?" No, sir, you are not. There's more where that mash-note came from, out there in the blogosphere's infinite confessional space: "She's hot." "She's weird but, God, she's fine!" Others have naughtier ideas that they're perfectly comfortable sharing with the world, even if we can't do so here. "It's so weird," says Stephanie Courtney, the actress who plays Flo. We spoke to Courtney because we had to. We had to know if she was real or just a cartoon character. If she was at all like the effervescent Flo. If she really wore that much make-up and, hey, who does your hair? Courtney, 38, has been playing Flo for about a year, and was recently signed to do 12 more Progressive ads. Which makes her the face and voice of Progressive, a peer of the Geico gecko (do they ever hang out, compare rates?) and the Verizon guy. She follows in a heady tradition of corporate mascots, from Palmolive's Madge to Tony the Tiger. It's been quite a ride for Courtney, a senior member of famed Los Angeles improv troupe the Groundlings. (Courtney and the group performed in September during the Out of Bounds Improv Sketch Comedy Festival in Austin.) It began with a simple audition for a commercial last fall. She showed up in a polo shirt and ponytail. She did some improvisation. "They wanted someone with a lot of personality," Courtney says by phone from her Los Angeles home. They liked her and signed her. Then, the look. That look. They cut her hair, gave her bangs. They subjected her to two hours of hair and make-up. "They tease my hair, spray it and stick the headband in it," Courtney explains. "And the makeup is like painting a portrait on my face," she says, laughing. "It's insane. It totally changes things on my face. It's like having a mask on." One of Flo's best-known lines is: "Wow! I say it louder." (You had to be there.) Courtney has popped up in the movies "The Heartbreak Kid" and "Blades of Glory," and was one of four leads in the smart adult comedy "Melvin Goes to Dinner," which won the audience award at South by Southwest in 2003. She also has a recurring role as a gossipy switchboard operator on the hit show "Mad Men." And you can see her doing yoga in a new Glade commercial. How much is Courtney like flamboyant Flo? "It's me at my silliest," she says. "You start off with a script, but at the end they usually let me put a little zinger in there. We put a little mustard on it. That's when it gets fun. "Flo could be one of my improv characters, always on and sort of cracked in a weird way." But who is Flo? What is she? People wonder ... Like this blogger: "Is it her fabulous comic timing, her over-the-top facial expressions, her cute-as-a-button retro flip? Or is it the slight hint of a bad girl that lies just under the surface? The promise of a tattoo under that checkout girl uniform? The possibility of a motorcycle parked out back?" Her character has been compared to a vintage Vargas pin-up girl, '50s burlesque dancer Betty Page and, adds Courtney, a "fetish chick." "I don't know what it is," she says. "The way I play her, she's pretty much the most asexual thing on TV right now. I think the Geico lizard puts out more sexual vibes than Flo does. But I do think the cavemen are totally crushable." Though Courtney is engaged to a sixth-grade teacher, Flo appears alluringly single. So pine away, in the same brunette-crush way you did with Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island" and Velma on "Scooby-Doo." Because things couldn't get much stranger than they already are for Courtney. Top this: People are dressing up as Flo for Halloween. "That makes me so happy. But I do have to warn them that it takes two hours in hair and make-up," she says. "I wish them luck." cgarcia@statesman.com; 445-3649 *** http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getback/123828/rocks-short-list-5-8-and-under/ Rock's Short List (5' 8" and Under) Fri May 22, 2009 Shawn Amos in GetBack The world's a cruel place for a short dude. Barred from basketball, left off firefighter shortlists, and unable to ride Space Mountain, his life is a never-ending "you must be this tall to ride" sign. Music is the only place a short dude can go for salvation. While most athletic teams, branches of the armed forces, and theme parks have height requirements, bands do not. A 5-foot-tall dude may never be starting guard for the Lakers, but there's nothing preventing him from shredding a solo at Madison Square Garden. He may get overlooked at the McDonald's counter trying to order a Happy Meal, but he's always 10 feet tall on the JumboTron. Some say short dudes compensate for their lack of height by becoming overachievers or hostile. Or both. It's not my job to psychoanalyze just to lay out some selectively chosen facts that make my case the way I want. So I present you with Rock's Short List. Randy Newman was wrong. Short people DO have reason to live. It's rock 'n' roll. Prince (5' 2") One of the most diminutive musicians around, Prince makes up for his height by wearing high heels, playing every instrument on his recordings, and making sure none of his women are taller than him - and wear flats. John Mellencamp (5' 7") The former Johnny Cougar fits the profile of an angry short dude. He was arrested at age eight for breaking and entering, started his first band at 14, and lost a college job for using profanity. To complicate the theory, though, his wife is supermodel Elaine Irwin, who stands at 5 feet 11 inches. Bono (5' 7 1/2") Bono is the classic overachiever. He's determined to be in the biggest rock band in the world, save said world, and receive all of its accolades (he's the only person to be nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy, and Nobel Peace Prize). If the dude was 6 feet 1 inches tall, we wouldn't know who he is. Thom Yorke (5' 5 1/4") The Radiohead singer's height is overshadowed by another physical trait: his left eye, which was closed shut at birth. Yorke underwent five operations by the time he was six to correct it. He was left with a drooping eyelid. Angus Young (5' 2") The 54-year-old AC/DC guitarist has played the instrument since he was five. And he's dressed in a schoolboy uniform the whole time. It's the perfect way to get people to ignore your adolescent height: just dress like a kid. Roger Daltrey (5' 7") Within The Who, Daltrey had a reputation for quickly punching anyone who disagreed with him, including the 6-foot-tall Pete Townshend. He also gets around the height issue by swinging his microphone around his head onstage. It adds a couple feet at least. Ronnie James Dio (5' 4") Dio sings so loudly and looks so satanic that no one would notice his elfin height. That is, unless you paid attention to some of those early band names, like Electric Elves and Elf. Those were unfortunate. Iggy Pop (5' 7 1/2") Iggy's bare-chested stage antics distract from any height issues his fans may possess. Between the self-mutilation, stage-diving, and self-exposure, who's counting inches (no pun intended)? Paul Simon (5' 3") Simon and his duo partner, Art Garfunkel, have famously feuded for more than 40 years. Some say the tension was caused by Garfunkel's acting career. Others say it was Art's jealousy of Simon's solo success. I say it's Simon being overshadowed by a dude who's 6 feet tall - 6 feet 5 inches with the Jewfro. Bob Marley (5' 7") The Rastaman was proof that big things come in small packages. Marley is as close to a musical deity as you can get. He had a sound and a message that transcended mere mortals. And with his lion's mane of dreadlocks, you'd think you were standing in front of a giant. *** SPRINGSTEEN ANNOUNCES RETURN TO NEW JERSEY AS FINAL MAJOR MUSICAL ACT TO PLAY GIANTS STADIUM SEPT 30, OCT 2, & OCT 3 Bruce Springsteen announced from the stage at his Izod Center concert in East Rutherford, NJ that he and the "legendary" E Street Band will return as the final major musical act to play Giants Stadium on September 30, October 2, and October 3. Tickets go on sale June 1 at 10am Eastern. Springsteen holds the record as the number one selling artist at the Meadowlands (which includes Giants Stadium) in New Jersey, having sold out 56 concerts to date with the E Street Band. The Working on a Dream tour has earned rave reviews, with Shawn Courchesne of the Hartford Courant proclaiming, "It just got better and better... perfect, simply perfect." Rolling Stone Online proclaimed of a rehearsal concert, "Springsteen seemed to offer a renewed sense of purpose and optimism onstage, rejuvenating and uniting a people in danger of losing their faith." "He's the best there is," exclaimed Melissa Baron of SF Weekly, "Springsteen played so hard that sweat dripped off his whole body." Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post wrote, "Springsteen is a better showman today than in 1984," while Mike Ragogna said in the Huffington Post, "If you haven't been to one of Springsteen's shows in a while, you need to catch this tour." Meanwhile Sarah Rodman of the Boston Globe writes, "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band don't have to play for two hours and 40 minutes. Nor, when they play, is it a requirement that Springsteen fall to his knees, shimmy and shake, attack his guitar like he's still discovering new sounds it can make, or take audience requests that he and his band don't know how to play... Springsteen and his band did all of that and more." Martin Cizmar of The Phoenix New Times had never seen Springsteen live. "I'm not from Jersey, I didn't grow up with The Boss and I'd never seen him play before," Cizmar admits, "but I will say that nearly everything you've heard or read about a Springsteen show is true. The fans are rabid, the set marathon, Springsteen a first-rate showman." 'Working on a Dream' (Columbia Records) debuted at #1 in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and New Zealand and received exemplary reviews in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, People, and elsewhere.