life. love. films.

Director Stephen Gyllenhaal Turns Sixty Today

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:00:00 -0700

Film director, poet, and famous father Stephen Gyllenhaal turns sixty today.

This past year the man has gone through tribulations no man should go through. The dumping by his wife of thirty years, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Naomi Foner, who also publicly shamed him in her divorce papers with several odd disclosures. The loss of his house on Martha's Vineyard. The loss of his house on Mulholland (Conan and Springsteen's drummer, Max Weinberg, now owns it). Gawker.com's ridicule of his Huffington blog, particularly his post entitled "Free Bernie Madoff Now!" The exposure on Page Six of the New York Post that he and Naomi were broke from overspending. The strained relations with his children, Jake and Maggie. His sexual insecurity publicly humiliated in this YouTube video.

But let's not dwell on Stephen's real-life stumbles. Let's recall, instead, the bottle-rape scene in Paris Trout—the dreamlike stabbing of David Strathairn by Debra Winger in A Dangerous Woman—Lena Headey's shrieks in a sun-dappled forest while undergoing an illegal abortion in Waterland—Barbara Hershey's graphic ax murder of her love rival in Killing in a Small Town—and wonder that this film director once had it in him to be the American Claude Chabrol, with a little Sylvia Plath thrown in.

And so I urge you: Cheer him up! Send him your warmest, most encouraging birthday greetings here! And tell him Cantara sent you.

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Sesame Street's Mad Men

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:05:23 -0700

I think their Don Draper is dreamy, don't you?

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Jon Hamm on Kevin Pollak's Internet Show

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:30:30 -0700

Don't you just love it when good-looking actors need a shave and a bath?

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Yes, Juliana Egley, Filipinos Do Exist

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:17:57 -0700

At the turn of the 20th century, Filipino martial arts were not just sports; they were techniques for survival. Three Americans, however, found a way to attract Filipino crowds by creating American-style Filipino boxers. The rest was history. (Read the story at ESPN here.)

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Hitchcockian Handbags

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:58:21 -0700

What a story. And it's all about one of my favorite subjects!
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Jake Gyllenhaal-Tobey Maguire Celebrity Death Match

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:38:52 -0700

Not rooting for either one in particular. They're both big boys.
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You Blow a Fuse

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:50:57 -0700

When YouTube yanked this Bjork video I thought I'd lost it forever. But here it is now, courtesy of Daily Motion - one of our favorite singers doing a great rendition of a song Betty Hutton sang to the troops in '44...
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John Barrowman Sings Doctor Who Theme

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:46:53 -0700

Is there nothing this man cannot do? John Barrowman aka Captain Jack Harkness sings - yes, sings - the theme music to Doctor Who with an assist by David Tennant. And by the way, The Weakest Link is one kinky show.
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Do-Re-Mi, Antwerp

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:29:32 -0700

Marvel at this incredible stunt of choreography: Approximately 200 dancers in Antwerp Centraal Station dancing to “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music.

Of course it’s a promotion, this time for a Belgian television program, Op zoek naar Maria (trans: Looking for Maria). The talent competition—based on the BBC’s groundbreaking reality TV show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?—is searching for the lead role of Maria von Trapp in a revival of The Sound of Music at the annual theatre in Efteling, the largest theme park the Netherlands.

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Camera 1

Camera 2

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Famous Sketches Retold

nobody@vox.com(Cantara Christopher) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:46:51 -0700

Famous Sketches Retold

What if famous directors retold some of the most famous sketch comedy of all time?

What if Wes Anderson directed Abbott and Costello's Who's On First?

What if Michael Moore directed Monty Python's The Ministry of Silly Walks?

What if Quentin Tarantino directed The Kids in the Halls' I'm Crushing Your Head?

Written by Chris Wilkes, directed by Guy Patton, and shot and edited by John Kingman.
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