Day: November 5, 2019

Jordan Ruimy’s top performances of the 20teens are, in this order, The Master‘s Joaquin Phoenix, The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Leonardo DiCaprio, The Social Network‘s Jesse Eisenberg, Lincoln‘s Daniel Day Lewis, Blue Jasmine‘s Cate Blanchett, Frances Ha‘s Greta Gerwig, Amour‘s Emmanuel Riva, Margaret‘s Anna Paquin, Whiplash‘s J.K. Simmons and Lady Bird‘s Saoirse Ronan.

HE’s list (in random order): Manchester By The Sea‘s Casey Affleck, The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Leonardo Dicaprio and Jonah Hill (don’t care if Hill is supporting), Joker‘s Joaquin Pheonix (also really good in Her), Silver Linings Playbook‘s Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, Inside Llewyn Davis‘ Oscar Isaac, Dallas Buyers’ Club‘s Matthew McConaughey, Lady Bird‘s Sairse Ronan, A Separation‘s Payman Maadi, Hereditary‘s Toni Collette, Moneyball‘s Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill (don’t care if Hill is supporting), 12 Years a Slave‘s Lupita Nyong’o, Greenberg‘s Ben Stiller, The Iron Lady‘s Meryl Streep.

Others?

From 3.27.19 Guardian story by Jessica Glenza, “Trump’s Spiritual Adviser: Relationship With President Is ‘Assignment’ From God”:

“Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser and megachurch leader Pastor Paula White said in an exclusive interview [that] her relationship with the president is the result of a direct ‘assignment’ from God, who directed her to ‘show him who I am‘.

“The controversial pastor at the central Florida-based New Destiny Christian Center is known for her luxurious lifestyle and preaching the prosperity gospel, which tells followers the more they donate to the church the more God will bless them.”

I shit you not. This is Trump’s “faith advisor.” For real. This woman works in the whitehouse. This one. This woman. pic.twitter.com/4avg0KOZN5

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 5, 2019

I drew this Peter O’Toole portrait at a tender, pre-pubescent age. Yeah, I had a certain facility but the eyes are too big and the facial proportion is all wrong.

If I’d been an actual budding artist I would’ve drawn something from real life, but instead I tried to imitate a studio-issued photograph with pencil strokes. I was basically more into expressing obeisance before the glamour of the Movie Godz than trying to tap into visual creation itself.

I went to Silvermine Art College one summer and drew some nude models, but my heart wasn’t in it. In high school I got the idea I might turn into a rock-band drummer, but my drumming was mediocre at best. It was only when I turned to florid letter-writing in my early 20s…only then did I realize “okay, this might work out.”

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I need to say this carefully so I don’t get in trouble. Keanu Reeves is 56, fairly loaded and in reasonably good physical shape. The usual thing for a studly-spiritual hetero movie star of his age is to partner with a classy, curvaceous hottie who’s at least 10 or 15 or even 20 years younger. If Keanu was with a 35 year-old the paparazzi would shrug. Sometimes middle-aged actors will even do a Dennis Quaid (i.e., pair up with a 20something.)

But it’s a very rare thing for a guy like Keanu to hold hands at a big public event like the LACMA Art + Film Gala with a woman who…uhm, doesn’t fit the mold.

Her name is Alexandra Grant, a 46-year-old artist-designer. Besides being Keanu’s creative collaborator (she’s illustrated two Reeves books, Ode to Happiness and Shadows) she’s also his girlfriend. Let’s just say that Reeves, Hugh Jackman and Pierce Brosnan are in the same approximate boat, significant-other-wise. And there’s nothing the least bit wrong with that.

One year away from the 2020 election, a Washington Post-ABC News poll of registered voters has found that Mayor Pete is polling ahead of President Trump by 11 percent — 52% to 41%.

Droolin’ Joe, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are running strongest against The Beast nationally, with Biden leading by 17 points (56% to 39%), Warren by 15 points (55% to 40%) and Sanders by 14 points (55% to 41%).

But Biden is a slow-mo train wreck/gaffe machine, and his lead is partly if not largely due to stubborn black voters refusing to reassess. Am I encouraged that Warren takes Trump by 15%? Yes, definitely. But you know she’s vulnerable with Medicare For Life, the Pocahantas thing and that schoolmarm voice. And we all know that Bernie won’t make it because of the heart attack.

I don’t know which is a scarier one-on-one debate prospect, Trump vs. Biden or Trump vs. Warren.

Does it bother anyone at all that Trump, Biden, Bernie and Warren are all in their 70s, and that the 70 year-old Warren is younger than Biden by seven years? Executive- or management-performance levels peak when people are in their mid 40s to mid 60s.

How about electing a President who’s below retirement age?

Pete, I’m dead certain, would kick the tar out of Trump in a debate — ten times brighter, better educated, more mature and composed, military background.

Bad Boys For Life (Columbia, 1.17.20) is obviously a gaudy and shameless cash grab by a couple of over-the-hillies whose careers have been downswirling for quite some time.

Will BBFL “open” regardless of quality? As the core audience has been known for occasionally stupid and gullible allegiances, yeah…probably.

How do I know for certain that Bad Boys For Life is second- if not third-tier stuff? Because of what the trailer shows, and especially how it’s cut. And also because it was directed by the Belgian-born Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. During his peak years (’93 to ’03) Smith wouldn’t have glanced at these guys. But things change.

When did I know that Smith would wind up screwing the pooch? When he passed on The Matrix to make Wild Wild West — that’s when I knew he would eventually sink into the swamp. Smith’s all-time peak moment came when he starred in Tony Scott‘s Enemy of the State (’98). His second-best was starring in Michael Mann‘s Ali (’01). And I’ll never forget how completely cool and transporting he was in Fred Schepisi‘s Six Degrees of Separation (’93).

Angsty Loner to Mr. Lonelyhearts: I’m 16, a high-school junior, and miserable. Partly (mostly?) due to the fact that my hormones are raging while my experience with hetero physical intimacy has been, shall we say, limited.

Which doesn’t mean I haven’t emotionally suffered over this or that dashed relationship. I’ve eaten my heart out over…I don’t know, seven or eight girls since the third grade. Maybe more. And none of the objects of my desire have been more than semi-interested, if that. Girls are fickle and flighty and all over the map, and at the end of the day I don’t seem to have what they want. Temporarily, I mean. Before their mood switches back again.

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