strangers fallout and clips!

it seems a lot of my 'strangers' fears are being substantiated.

the link below navigates to a review below of the movie, from my favorite english-language moscow newspaper, which i read religiously while i studied there. it seems the movie has changed a lot from what we originally shot, and from what our director told us of his vision. the reviews look to be pretty bad across the board!

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/arts/2008/06/06/372385.htm

i'm also a little pissed off to see the lack of creativity in the way they ripped off the design of the main 'strangers' poster from a 2004 jim caviezel movie.

here are some clips of the movie. after watching one, you can navigate to the others. i haven't watched all of them, and none of them with sound yet, since i'm at work. i don't know whether they are PG or R, fyi.

www.viddler.com/explore/Lockdock/videos/3/

 i still find all of this fun! and i'll still enjoy watching the DVD, if they ever send it to us.

Strangers premieres in Russia

This is a note from my friend Jenya (second from left), who was our friend and translator during our Russian movie adventure. He attended the premiere of our movie, and this is what he had to say:

Dear friends,

 

I just needed to wait a few days after the premier before writing to you about it. I had to collect my thoughts and emotions.

 

Right now all I can say is that the whole event was splendid except one thing - your absence. The premier itself was held in one of the best movie theaters in Moscow called "October" (Scarlett has been there already during the opening night of "Montana"). Our beloved Natasha has done a really extraordinary job. As Yuri's main assistant she had to arrange, gather, solve and organize everything! Last month for her was as tough as the shooting period one year ago. And of course she succeeded. That was definitely the best premier I've ever visited.

 

Friends that I met in "October", former colleagues, Russian actors, cameramen, costume designers, make-up artists - and all of them were asking where are American actors. Journalists and TV reporters - searching for you with their cameras and microphones. Guests and viewers - twisting their heads round to find Tom, Jane, miss Stone, Mike and Bill...

 

However, that night we met all of you. On that giant screen. Watching, empathizing, smiling... Me, Natasha and Irina, our editing girl - synchronously uttering your lines that we know by heart, pronouncing soundless phrases like "Don't be afraid, it's not gonna hurt", "Come in...", "But be aware - there's no vacancies!", "What's wrong with you?!" and so on...

 

Right now "Strangers" is one of the most talked about movies in Russia and a part of the top-three popular subjects in Russian blogs. "This is just the beginning..." (c) Mike

 

Mark, Scarlett, Neil, Kathleen, Jeff, Linda, Victor, thank you for everything. We miss you all!

Jenya

virus

my lifeblood, my electronic crutch, my other girlfriend, call it what you will, you'd be right. and today, my laptop is sick. it has the most blatant malware/virus that i have ever contracted on my home computer. luckily, it doesn't seem to be destroying my hard drive or the like, knock wood, but it has turned my pc into a handy and efficient purveyor of bizarre and garbled marketing messages. it very well could be stealing my identity. the most obvious and incriminating things it does is automatically hijack all google searches, and redirect away from any website that deals with spyware or antivirus software or advice. 

imagine if you had a terrible flu, and one of the symptoms was that you'd swerve away the second you approached a hospital or clinic!

i'm taking it in to professionals ($$$) tonight, and it'll be awfully lonely this week without it! 

quality time

everyone says long distance relationships are supposed to be really hard. well, I don't see why! I've been spending LOTS of quality time with monica lately... really, it's just like normal... here is a picture of us on our last date. i'm feeling good... <bursts into tears>

a theatre near you

monica just tipped me off on a hot new item: in the heights and lin-manuel are headed for the silver screen! what an AWESOME new development in the ongoing saga of that incredible show. (to read about my long love affair and former involvement with heights, check this blog's archives) can't wait to follow what happens. wepa!

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/123119.html

monica's show is officially scheduled

fox announced their midseason line-up, and monica's show, lie to me, will appear on wednesdays, after american idol! see release below.

LIE TO ME, the compelling new drama from the producers of 24, debuts Wednesday, Jan. 21 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) after AMERICAN IDOL and stars Tim Roth ("The Incredible Hulk," "Reservoir Dogs") as DR. CAL LIGHTMAN, the world's leading deception expert who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if someone is lying, but why. When someone shrugs one shoulder, rotates a hand or raises the lower lip, Lightman knows he's lying. Based on the real-life scientific discoveries of Paul Ekman, the series follows Lightman and his team of deception experts as they assist law enforcement and government agencies to expose the truth behind the lies.

Big Neil Newsletter Scoops All Major Networks

The Big Neil Newsletter Online will now project the winner of the presidential election. We project that Barack Obama has won the presidency. SCOOP!

french dread

my friend arthur, the cutting-edge French theatre director that helmed the productions of Abigail's Party and Julius Caesar that I was in, emailed a group of us today with his across-the-pond thoughts on our election tonight. i think it's fun:

 

hi friends of america !!!
you know that in France we are used to see things from our point of view, or that we take our desires for reality. 8 years ago, we went to bed happy to know that Al Gore was elected. The next morning, surprise, it was Bush. 4 years ago, we slept relieved that Kerry was your new president. Too bad. F... jetlag. Tonight, i'll go to bed dreaming of Mc cain and Palin, to avoid another hangover tomorrow! I 'm sure that you must experience right now an incredible moment, and if i could, i would take a plane tonight to share the crazy night and the crazy days that will (let's hope) follow. Instants of grace. I'm envious :-)
My bet is also that Carla Bruni will probably dump soon Sarkosy and chase Obama. Antoher good news.
I think of you, share your excitment and hopes, and send you all my love,
arthur

suffrage device

i just voted! it took all of fifteen minutes, from my apartment and back again. even though it was so fast, the buzz there was that the turnout was at least twice the size of previous elections.

what a strange machine awaits you behind that curtain! not a machine.... a contraption.

jungle gem

fun pic from the orchard courtesy of cousin laura- clockwise from bottom right that's her, the adorable cousin kate, the also-adorable main squeeze monica, the highly masculine cousin charlie, his pal greg, and yours truly in the center.

great adventure

only a moment before i pass out from exhaustion to say it's easy to be a kid again: just steal your girlfriend on her last day in town, put some cash inside a ziploc bag and into a zippable pocket, rent a car, and drive to six flags for the day.

it was the last day of the season today, and a mite cold, but monica and i were undeterred as we scampered all over the park from one roller coaster to another. the rides were great, but our bodies feel the toll- bracing yourself at 80 mph all day and routinely freezing your face off in high loop-de-loop winds will tax you.

but it was FUN!

still blogging, after alllll these years...

(sung to the tune of a little paul simon number)

life is fantastic- monica's home from LA for the weekend. this morning we went to bernardsville, nj and had brunch with cousin laura and pete and their awesome kids (who i want to call second cousins but are actually first cousins once removed but maybe i'll just say cousins) charlie and kate, plus charlie's pal greg. it's beautiful in suburban nj today, with changing leaves and lots of rolling hills and multi-acre homes. the coles represented in the brunch field with a highly-big-neil-worthy spread: pancakes (in many polka-dotted permutations), bacon, cinnamon rolls, quiche, blueberries and OJ. and perfect hostess laura apologized that there wasn't more.

after brunch we went to an apple orchard and wandered a couple miles of tree rows, looking for hidden apples on trees that had been massively plundered already. the fields were beautiful, the air cool and clear, with the intoxicating and rich smell of decaying apples. apples lay in the hundreds at our feet, inedible, with gorgeous untouched halves facing the sun. a kick revealed the horror-movie-worthy other halves, rotting away in the mud. we hit the very corners of the huge orchards, finding treasure troves, untouched branches with grape-like clusters of heavy apples, and our special tools (a cross between a lacrosse stick and a pronged mediæval torture weapon) snagging some large perfect tens at the upper reaches. before we knew it, we were muscling back three large baskets filled with red delicious and winesap apples, more than we can eat any time soon!

back on the upper west side and monica is in the bedroom clearing out her closet for me to ship to her in LA. as she shoots the first season of her show, she'll stay in a sublet, and to our minds, her being in LA is still 'temporary.' but i have a weird and ominous feeling that she may never leave the west coast again. i hope i'm wrong, but there are worse places to be tethered to, and i'd be happy to move out there next year and join her.

tonight we're going to see her best friend laura-leigh in 'boys' life' off-broadway at the second stage theatre in midtown. it's a classic (and sort of sexist) 80s play about getting laid and it stars jason biggs (from the american pie movies).

i'm actually enjoying working regularly these days at niche media, fact-checking for various magazines. it's nice to have money coming in. i'm still auditioning here and there. monday i interview the ceo of the new jersey nets for gotham magazine. that'll be fun, although i know very little about professional basketball, and i'll have to be careful not to expose my ignorance in the article!