New movie

New movie

New movie

Have you seen the trailer for St. Vincent? The movie, starring Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy, features a chain-smoking curmudgeon (naturally), who agrees to babysit the 12-year-old boy who moves in next door. As you'd expect, they become friends, teach each other valuable lessons, yada yada yada, but the script looks funny and Bill Murray is the best.
It comes out October 24th. Will you see it?

P.S. Our favorite comedies and documentaries. Plus, the 101 best written TV series.

Have you seen the trailer for St. Vincent? The movie, starring Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy, features a chain-smoking curmudgeon (naturally), who agrees to babysit the 12-year-old boy who moves in next door. As you'd expect, they become friends, teach each other valuable lessons, yada yada yada, but the script looks funny and Bill Murray is the best.
It comes out October 24th. Will you see it?

P.S. Our favorite comedies and documentaries. Plus, the 101 best written TV series.

New movie

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWuY9eG02x5y3gzIhMdDNSLQAXOKt7Ov382vw6NgjVM-Ys5TK5w-w5BSNzTb19H-bdK7Ghli4A4n8TNy-woSBVnaz6NmPeEeLRoIJelWAdpWx5mAEISoclgDFQyE1Xyry2MC2dL-mo8w8/s72-c/bill-murray.jpg

How would you describe yourself in five words?

How would you describe yourself in five words?

How would you describe yourself in five words?

The other day, I came across this quote from Nora Ephron:

“We have a game we play when we’re waiting for tables in restaurants, where you have to write the five things that describe yourself on a piece of paper. When I was [in my twenties], I would have put: ambitious, Wellesley graduate, daughter, Democrat, single. Ten years later not one of those five things turned up on my list. I was: journalist, feminist, New Yorker, divorced, funny. Today not one of those five things turns up in my list: writer, director, mother, sister, happy.”

Alex and I often talk about how people's lives can be divided into distinct chapters— I'm curious, how would you describe yourself in five words at this stage in your life? Today mine might be mama, writer, friend, sleepy, loving.
P.S. Another brilliant quote from Ephron: "I have a theory that children remember two things—when you weren't there and when they threw up."

The other day, I came across this quote from Nora Ephron:

“We have a game we play when we’re waiting for tables in restaurants, where you have to write the five things that describe yourself on a piece of paper. When I was [in my twenties], I would have put: ambitious, Wellesley graduate, daughter, Democrat, single. Ten years later not one of those five things turned up on my list. I was: journalist, feminist, New Yorker, divorced, funny. Today not one of those five things turns up in my list: writer, director, mother, sister, happy.”

Alex and I often talk about how people's lives can be divided into distinct chapters— I'm curious, how would you describe yourself in five words at this stage in your life? Today mine might be mama, writer, friend, sleepy, loving.
P.S. Another brilliant quote from Ephron: "I have a theory that children remember two things—when you weren't there and when they threw up."

How would you describe yourself in five words?

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGv6DA-o2_OP6b_eRsHj9-chuQ9fGP_sEGAz6uXULDJwwXxwx8Z0LsftvCUtgPB29pXoSI03QOQ1yIYBybEnh3mBOhJ3YJRUTUPLX1-Z0RFq8W4OYxS9WsM6Yv6yiTiQMR85uFRQ83fqo/s72-c/Nora-Ephron-01.jpg

Reading: How the Internet Destroyed Tom Cruise

Reading: How the Internet Destroyed Tom Cruise

Reading: How the Internet Destroyed Tom Cruise

This morning, I read a fascinating article about how the internet killed Tom Cruise. "The first star to stumble in front of the knives was the biggest actor in the world—and the one who'd tried the hardest not to trip," wrote Amy Nicholson for LA Weekly.

Tom Cruise had always been edgy around the press. When Risky Business turned him—a 21-year-old kid with three bit parts and one flop on his résumé—into an overnight sensation, he disappeared. "I'm not personally ready to do this," he told the film's publicity team. Instead of giving interviews and swanning around Hollywood with his best friends, Sean Penn and Emilio Estevez, Cruise ditched the flash bulbs and escaped to London, where he hid out for two years while filming Ridley Scott's ill-fated Legend. (Sniffed one British director to The Hollywood Reporter, "Nobody would notice a boy with that little experience anywhere in Europe.")

By the time Cruise flew back to America, he'd been half-forgotten—a breakout talent who'd been shortlisted as one of 1983's "Hottest Faces" by the Los Angeles Times, only to vanish. Meanwhile, his buddies had been christened "the Brat Pack," and Penn was marrying Madonna, exactly the kind of splashy spectacle Cruise wanted to avoid.

To promote Top Gun, Cruise finally agreed to his first round of major interviews in 1986. He wanted to make one thing clear. "I want no part of that or this Brat Pack," he insisted to Playboy. "Putting me in there is absolutely absurd, and it pisses me off because I work hard and then some guy just slaps me together with everybody else."

Just 25, Cruise could already sense that quick fame was a curse: for every Robert Downey Jr. who transcended the '80s, there'd be a Judd Nelson, frozen in time.

He didn't want to be a trend—he wanted to be a legend. That meant controlling his public image: no drunken nights, no false moves. The attention had to be on his work. After Top Gun became the No. 1 box office hit of 1986, Paramount offered to quintuple his salary if he'd rush into Top Gun 2. He said no.

And then came Scientology, the Oprah sofa incident...The article is really compelling, and here's a rebuttal, as well...Are you a big Tom Cruise fan? Had you been?

I thought I'd start a new series called "What We're Reading" that features interesting articles—on all kinds of topics—that we find during the week. I know most of you are big readers. Hope you like it!

P.S. Tom Cruise as a little kid, and his awesome sunglasses.

This morning, I read a fascinating article about how the internet killed Tom Cruise. "The first star to stumble in front of the knives was the biggest actor in the world—and the one who'd tried the hardest not to trip," wrote Amy Nicholson for LA Weekly.

Tom Cruise had always been edgy around the press. When Risky Business turned him—a 21-year-old kid with three bit parts and one flop on his résumé—into an overnight sensation, he disappeared. "I'm not personally ready to do this," he told the film's publicity team. Instead of giving interviews and swanning around Hollywood with his best friends, Sean Penn and Emilio Estevez, Cruise ditched the flash bulbs and escaped to London, where he hid out for two years while filming Ridley Scott's ill-fated Legend. (Sniffed one British director to The Hollywood Reporter, "Nobody would notice a boy with that little experience anywhere in Europe.")

By the time Cruise flew back to America, he'd been half-forgotten—a breakout talent who'd been shortlisted as one of 1983's "Hottest Faces" by the Los Angeles Times, only to vanish. Meanwhile, his buddies had been christened "the Brat Pack," and Penn was marrying Madonna, exactly the kind of splashy spectacle Cruise wanted to avoid.

To promote Top Gun, Cruise finally agreed to his first round of major interviews in 1986. He wanted to make one thing clear. "I want no part of that or this Brat Pack," he insisted to Playboy. "Putting me in there is absolutely absurd, and it pisses me off because I work hard and then some guy just slaps me together with everybody else."

Just 25, Cruise could already sense that quick fame was a curse: for every Robert Downey Jr. who transcended the '80s, there'd be a Judd Nelson, frozen in time.

He didn't want to be a trend—he wanted to be a legend. That meant controlling his public image: no drunken nights, no false moves. The attention had to be on his work. After Top Gun became the No. 1 box office hit of 1986, Paramount offered to quintuple his salary if he'd rush into Top Gun 2. He said no.

And then came Scientology, the Oprah sofa incident...The article is really compelling, and here's a rebuttal, as well...Are you a big Tom Cruise fan? Had you been?

I thought I'd start a new series called "What We're Reading" that features interesting articles—on all kinds of topics—that we find during the week. I know most of you are big readers. Hope you like it!

P.S. Tom Cruise as a little kid, and his awesome sunglasses.

Reading: How the Internet Destroyed Tom Cruise

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Mindy Kaling interviews Billy Crystal

Mindy Kaling interviews Billy Crystal

Mindy Kaling interviews Billy Crystal

My sister Lucy and I sometimes jokingly chat about which movie characters we'd want to marry. I always end up vacillating between Harry from When Harry Met Sally and Charlie from So I Married an Axe Murderer. (Both are funny and cute, right?)

So, she naturally emailed me today when she saw that Mindy Kaling—writer, actress and noted romantic-comedy enthusiast—had interviewed Billy Crystal about true love, life-long friendship and improvised jokes in When Harry Met Sally. Check it out here, if you'd like.
P.S. A When Harry Met Sally prank, and the horror version:)

My sister Lucy and I sometimes jokingly chat about which movie characters we'd want to marry. I always end up vacillating between Harry from When Harry Met Sally and Charlie from So I Married an Axe Murderer. (Both are funny and cute, right?)

So, she naturally emailed me today when she saw that Mindy Kaling—writer, actress and noted romantic-comedy enthusiast—had interviewed Billy Crystal about true love, life-long friendship and improvised jokes in When Harry Met Sally. Check it out here, if you'd like.
P.S. A When Harry Met Sally prank, and the horror version:)

Mindy Kaling interviews Billy Crystal

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The Office Time Machine

The Office Time Machine

The Office Time Machine

Whoa, this is nuts: Joe Sabia spent the last year and a half creating The Office Time Machine, in which he has organized all the cultural references in The Office by year. For example, above is 1995, and below is 2011...
Look up any year you'd like. It's so addicting!

P.S. How to tell a joke, and Seinfeld reruns.

(Via the always awesome Kottke)

Whoa, this is nuts: Joe Sabia spent the last year and a half creating The Office Time Machine, in which he has organized all the cultural references in The Office by year. For example, above is 1995, and below is 2011...
Look up any year you'd like. It's so addicting!

P.S. How to tell a joke, and Seinfeld reruns.

(Via the always awesome Kottke)

The Office Time Machine

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gJQoiKI46r4/default.jpg