FUN FOR THE WINTER HOLIDAYS OF 2009

Here are some things (partly national, partly New York City specific) to do this last week of Holidays in 2009. There are of course lots of obvious things to do (we'll note some of them later), but first some more off-beat suggestions:

LESS OBVIOUS IDEAS

Here are some ideas (mostly) off the beaten track that have appealed to me:


(L-R) JUDE LAW as Dr. John Watson, ROBERT DOWNEY JR. as Sherlock Holmes
and RACHEL McADAMS as Irene Adler
in "Sherlock Holmes"
Photo by Alex Bailey, from WARNER BROS

MOVIES

Sherlock Holmes -- Sherlock Holmes is always terrific; plus Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law (who was just super in Hamlet recently on Broadway), and Rachel McAdams..

Nine -- Best cast in years.

Avatar -- 3D IMAX. The spectacular effects should be seen in the best theater possible. Seek out the 3D IMAX version.

Precious -- Counter programming for the Holidays. This is not a simple feel-good film.

It's Complicated -- A love triangle (or quadrangle) angling around Meryl Streep.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus -- Difficult to follow logically, this is counter-programming for those who want to let the imagination run free... very free... wild, even.

Broken Embraces -- A great film by Almodovar, with a lovely performance by Penelope Cruz (... if Nine is not enough). A very accessible art film..

DVD’s

The Open Road -- This is a quirky, independent, small, family-and-love story. A good choice for something different.

Up -- One of the most heralded whole-family (?) stories of the year, just out on DVD. (Its sad, frightening, filled with mean people, with failed dreams, and with adventure for the sake of the journey, not the destination. Not really for everyone, despite its reputation. Not a happy kidflick.)


BOOKS

Free For All -- This is one of the best theater books ever.

CavanKerry Press / Joan Handler -- Joan Handler is a poet of the very personal. CavanKerry Press produces some of the most elegant books around. It's a "small press" in the best sense of that notion.

Joan Cusack Handler
Reading from her book of poetry
"The Red Canoe"
Photo by Eric Roffman

THEATER

Ragtime -- Taking us back to our roots -- 100 years ago -- makes this a perfect family Holiday theater experience.

Scarlett Johansson & Liev Schrieber in Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge -- The hottest new opening on Broadway starts previews on the 28th. Liev is one of the most skilled young actors, and Scarlett one of the hottest young actresses today. The promotional videos and interviews -- worth watching themselves! -- suggest this production will emphasize the sexual heat in this classic American play.

Ernest in Love -- A musical version of Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest. Some fine voices, including one of our favorite singing actresses, Katie Fabel.


CABARET

These three venues have some of the most interesting performances in the city.

LPR - Le Poisson Rouge
Cornelia Street Cafe
Joe's Pub

Les poissons rouges (ie the red fish) at the entrance to LPR - Le Poisson Rouge
Photo by Eric Roffman

RESTAURANTS

Blue Hill -- New American, super-fresh-from-the-farms food. Downtown. Even better, take a trip up to Blue Hill at the Stone Barns Farm.
Le Bernadin -- Superb seafood.
Aquavit -- Try the flights of home-made aquavit (the "water of life").
Maya -- Modern Mexican.
Firebird -- One of the few places where Zagat is wrong -- It's much better than its Zagat rating, especially for caviar and a honey-vanilla vodka.


ACTING (AND OTHER) CLASSES

December is a good time to register for winter classes, which start, usually, early in January. HB Studio is one of the best acting schools for actors of all ages and levels of skill. LAByrinth Theater Company has a powerful program for skilled and dedicated actors. (The Master Class, from November '9, [MCN9] continues to sprout amazing projects.) The 92nd Street Y has many arts oriented classes of all kinds.

HB Studio
LAByrinth Theater Company Master Class
92nd Street Y


KIDS

Bronx Botanical Gardens Holiday Train Show -- (It's actually not really a "show," but rather a huge exhibit of a breathtaking NY landscape, made out of plants, with an immense model railroad running through it). Open this Holiday season till Jan 10. Here's a video I made a few years ago at the show. And... the Train Show gets better every year!

REALLY QUIRKY

Duracell Power Lab -- Help charge up the Duracell battery by pedaling the bike. I tried it. I wonder if my picture is up someplace.

SOMEWHAT OBVIOUS IDEAS:

And here are some of the more obvious ideas for things to do this week:


REALLY EXPENSIVE:


The great big, most popular Broadway shows (or any of the other shows on, off, or off-off Broadway) -- Check the New Yorker Magazine, the latest Holiday issue of Time Out or the Friday or Sunday New York Times for listings. TKTS -- Broadway & 47th, South Street Seaport, and Brooklyn -- may have discounts for some of the not-quite-sold out shows.

The finest restaurants (check the Zagat Guide for the most reliable ratings) -- Note: Even some of the hardest restaurants to get into sometimes have cancellations, tables available late in the evening, tables at lunch (cheaper, too), or room at the bar. (Arrive when the restaurant opens for the best shot at a bar seat.)


REALLY CHEAP:

Museums -- The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, The Natural History Museum, The Museum Of Modern Art are all amazing.


REALLY COLD:

Zoos -- Central Park Zoo (pretty big); Bronx Zoo (very big). Lovely weather for Polar Bears.
Aquarium -- Lovely weather for penguins.
Times Square -- for New Year's Eve


REALLY SIMPLE:

A whole bunch of new movies have just opened or are arriving on Christmas Day, including Avatar (especially 3D & 3D IMAX), Nine, Sherlock Holmes, Invictus, Up In The Air, An Education, Twilight, 2012....

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ANGELS & DEMONS

Angels & Demons is a first-rate, very exciting movie thriller; and also a lousy film.

The action will have your heart beating faster; the scientific and religious nonsense, together with the cliches and holes in the plotting can make your brain hurt.

After the death of a Pope, four Cardinals, the leading candidates for the Papacy, are kidnapped and threatened with murder. A secret, scientific, anti-church conspiracy claims responsibility. Dr Robert Langdon, a Harvard expert on these "Illuminati," albeit a presumed enemy of the Church, is called on by the Vatican to help resolve the crisis. Directed by Ron Howard; from the book by Dan Brown.

Tom Hanks as always is fun to watch. He can make the most boring, silly exposition sound like real drama. Ayalet Zurer is an effective, believable, and attractive sidekick.

The routine (also inconsistent and incomplete) plotting puts a deadline for murder every hour of screen world time and every 20 min or so of audience clock time -- and then comes the matter-antimatter bombblast to demolish the Vatican and most of Rome (basic screenwriting 101 technique for "upping the stakes"). Harvard professor Robert Langdon (aka Tom Hanks) must identify the next murder site from clues so sparse they would confound Sherlock Holmes, and then race across a crowded Rome in less time than Jack Bauer would need to get from one street in LA to the next block.

The production team does a fantastastic job of rendering Rome and the Vatican. The DVD extra "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" is a gem for anyone interested in making movies or knowing how they are created!

The traditional pairing (male star; young, attractive, intelligent female costar -- no sex) works well; the traditional plotting (don't knock screenwriting 101 -- it's a good course) works too. It's a fun movie.

Watch it! Just don't think about it.

VOD -------------------- DVD --------------- BLU-RAY

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THE OPEN ROAD

Kate Mara
At the HIFF 2008 Breakthrough Performers' Panel
Photo by Eric Roffman

The Open Road [TOR] is (surprise, surpise) a road movie, but also a sweet and bittersweet love story, with a complex father-son relationship at its center. It's a comedy and a drama. You've probably never heard of this film, because it hardly had any theatrical distribution; but it's well worth checking out.

The writer/director is a relative newcomer, Michael Meredith, [MM] who worked before with Wim Wenders (who acted as executive producer).

It has a stellar cast... with an exuberant performance by Jeff Bridges, an affecting performance by Justin Timberlake, and an adorable performance by Kate Mara.

(Note, by the way, that Jeff Bridges is currently being mentioned as an Oscar contender for his work in another film this year, Crazy Heart.)

The director and female lead both have a strong sports heritage: Kate Mara, a Breakthrough Performer at The Hamptons Film Festival [HIFF] in 2008, comes from a family of football owners (great granddaughter of Art Rooney, founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Timothy Mara, founder of the NY Giants). Michael Meredith is the son of football legend Don Meredith (Dallas Cowboys). Appropriately, the main character, Kyle Garrett, played by Bridges, is a sports legend (baseball in this case). But it's not a movie about sports -- familiarity with the milieu of sports stars enriches the ambiance, but is not the subject of the movie. The movie is about a difficult family relationship and a difficult romance.

Justin Timberlake, of course, is well known as a singer, but he is also a fine actor, delivering sensitive performances in numerous films, and he hits just the right notes here.

One mark of a special film is the depth of portrayals of the minor characters. Here, Lyle Lovett, Harry Dean Stanton, Mary Steenburgen, Ted Danson, and others all make important contributions in supporting roles.

In spinning this tale, though Bridges plays his character with full-out style, MM maintains a level of reality, both in the complications and the resolutions, that makes it much more grounded -- and therefore much more interesting -- than most family stories or romantic films.

Anyone searching for a love story different from the standard Hollywood formula romance should check out this film.

Meredith (I've had some brief opportunities to chat with him) is an earnest and nice guy. This is his second film; earlier, he made Three Days Of Rain [TDOR], which just happened to be on TV last night. (See it next on Showtime: Tue Dec 22 8:45 AM).

In Cleveland, during a Jazz festival and rainstorm, the bluesy score and lousy weather set the tone for a morose and downbeat, interesting and atmospheric film. In TDOR, as in The Open Road, MM investigates father-son relationships. One father, played by Peter Falk is, like Bridges in TOR, an idiosyncratic and difficult dad. (Michael's own dad, Don Meredith, is in the film and does a fine turn as a father who's recently lost a son.)

Michael Meredith is a writer/director to watch as he navigates his next film projects. He has an interesting sensibility, a talent for pulling in great actors who deliver stylish performances, a sense of sadness as well as a sense of humor, and an original way of telling stories.

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RAGTIME

Quentin Earl Darrington as Coalhouse Walker
with The Cast
Photo: (c) 2009, Joan Marcus

Most Americans, and nearly every New Yorker, will have a strong and visceral connection to something in the new, powerful, entertaining Broadway version of Ragtime. Feelings and memories stirred up while I watched Ragtime were profoundly moving for me.

The story of Ragtime begins around 1902. There are three families (all fictional): an established Wasp family from the suburbs, a black family, and an immigrant family, together with many historical characters.

The play selects from the characters and events in the book (the novel by E. L. Doctorow), a carefully chosen story that focuses on the developing radicalism of Coalhouse Walker, a ragtime pianist, and on the interactions between Mother (of the WASPs) and all the others.

Christiane Noll as Mother
Robert Petkoff and Sarah Rosenthal as the Immigrants Tateh and Sarah
and Ron Bohmer as Father
Photo: (c) 2009, Joan Marcus
Quentin Earl Darrington -- as Coalhouse Walker, Jr., the ragtime piano player who is gradually radicalized -- sings and acts with great skill and passion. Christiane Noll as Mother sings beautifully and is just a pleasure to listen to. Stephanie Umoh, making her Broadway debut as Sarah, is just beautiful; and she has an affecting duet with Coalhouse Walker, Jr. in the second act. Christopher Cox as the Little Boy also deserves special mention.

Coalhouse Walker is said to be named after a character, Kohlhaas, in an older novel by Heinrich von Kleist. Together with references to the shooting of the Archduke that triggered WW 1, these threads connect this story of a 1900’s black militant to militant radicals of all kinds throughout history.

The set design is based on an attractive scaffolding which extends way up into the sky. It makes an impressive opening stage picture when the curtain rises, even drawing some gasps in the audience. There are some variations on this basic set, but no big new scenery changes ever appear.

The huge cast fills the whole stage and all the layers on the scaffold, and a large live orchestra provides a rich presentation of the music. The basic ragtime music is infectious! and the other songs and music are excellent, but not particularly memorable; they hold your interest throughout the play: I would go back to Ragtime to hear the music again, ‘though I couldn’t repeat it at home.

Ragtime music is a form of syncopated music that was developed around the late 1800’s. It had a recent revival (one of many revivals since its peak) when used as the theme music of The Sting. There’s a very interesting article about ragtime music in Wikipedia.

Just a few minor suggestions and notes... All the cast have their pictures in the program. Why not print the actor’s character and their name in the same caption, so readers don’t have to shift back and forth in the program to figure out who is who? (This, of course, is true of most every program for most every Broadway show.) (More conveniently, but also without character names on the captions, the whole cast is on the Ragtime website.)

Also, the seats in the theater, like so many seats in the classic theaters of Broadway are just barely large enough for a modern audience. I’m not big at all and sitting down for the first act my left pocket caught on the left armrest and ripped the seam of my pants as I sat down. So I was very careful sitting down for the second act to avoid ripping that left pocket again… so my right pocket caught on the right armrest and when I sat down I ripped the right seam on my pants.

Finally, Broadway theaters need more restroom facilities – especially for the women -- more conveniently located. (Stairs, lobby, and the restroom itself are more crowded during intermission than a subway at rush hour.)

This is an old-fashioned musical (book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgram Dodge). It tells a story about events one-hundred years ago, staged and performed in a classic manner.

Unlike many shows which peter out in the second act, Ragtime’s second act is entertaining, moving, and hits a dramatic and emotional peak as it moves to the close.

Ragtime is a perfect holiday, family show, with excellent music, a strong story, great singing, visual pleasure, and, most of all, those incredible moments when the tales of these three old American families find deep resonances in our own modern lives and histories.

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EMMY ROSSUM & DARE

Rooney Mara (l) and Emmy Rossum (r)
At the Breakthrough Performers Panel
At The Hamptons Film Festival 2009
Rooney & Emmy play friends in
DARE
Photo by Eric Roffman
Dare is a terrific new indie film.

It's being released Fri (11/13) in a limited number of theaters.

Seek it out!

It's about the sexual awakening of 3 high school seniors, (two boys, one girl).

It's well written, well directed, and well acted by the leads and an exceptionally deep supporting cast. (Also, the opening sequence -- credits and titles -- is one of the best, most original, and most effective I've seen in years.)

The film stars Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, and Ashley Springer, with Rooney Mara as a close friend. It was made by first timers... Adam Salky -- a guy to watch -- directed, from a superior script by David Brind.

Here is a conversation I had with Emmy Rossum, at the Hamptons Film Festival (HIFF), about herself and about DARE:

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CALIFORNICATION & THE HANK HAIKU CONTEST

Californication, the aptly named Showtime program (new episodes on Sundays), is more edgy, more sexy and more together this year than it has been since the first season.

Last year ("coincidently" just before the season started), David Duchovny, who plays Hank Moody, was said to enter a program for sex addicts. This year, with true method acting zeal, he seems to be applying whatever experience he had directly to the story.

The program is funny, serious, sexy and well acted in Duchovny's inimitable style.

Inimitable (ie not imitatable) or not, there is a contest now to imitate -- or reinvent -- Duchovny's acting.

It turns out that many of Hank's best lines are actually Haiku.

(Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry... The English version is usually 3 phrases of 5 7 and 5 syllables. For a full description, see the article on Haiku in Wikipedia.)

For the Hank Haiku contest, go to the HankHaiku site, watch clips of Duchovny delivering Hank's Haiku lines, then make your own video version of the Haiku and upload it.

Your Haiku video may appear on the website, and more opportunities may follow. See the site for the rules and rewards.

The contest ends Nov 29.

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HIFF SCREENWRITERS LAB 2010

Here is an announcement from The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) about their screenwriters lab.

The announcement does not explain any special rules (whether you can submit more than one screenplay, for example) and it does not give a cutoff date. I guess the sooner the better.

Scripts are submitted through withoutabox.com


The 10th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival Screenwriters' Lab will take place April 16-18, 2010 in East Hampton, New York. Submit your script via withoutabox.com.


SCREENWRITERS' LAB

The Hamptons Writers' Lab is an intimate gathering that takes place each Spring in East Hampton (April 16 - 18, 2010). The Lab develops emerging screenwriting talent by pairing established writers with up-and-coming screenwriters (chosen by the Hamptons in collaboration with key industry contacts). The mentors advise in a one-on-one laboratory setting while additional daily events bring the participants together with board members, sponsors, the local artistic community, and other friends of the festival. The lab allows accepted screenwriters the chance to improve their script and meet with industry professionals to help find ways to get their scripts made.

Some recent mentors:

Michael Cunningham (The Hours, Evening); James Vanderbilt (Zodiac); J. Robin Baitz (People I Know, The Substance of Fire); Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco); Ira Sachs (40 Shades of Blue, This Married Life); Jeff Sharp (Producer, You Can Count on Me, Evening); Maria Maggenti (The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love); Sabrina Dhawan (Monsoon Wedding, Cosmopolitan); Gregory Widen (Highlander, Backdraft); Mark Christopher (54); Maggie Greenwald (Songcatcher, Ballad of Little Jo); Belinda Haas (Angels and Insects, Blood Oranges); Lawrence Lasker (Sneakers, War Games); Michael Weller (Ragtime, Hair, Spoils of War); Chap Taylor (Changing Lanes, National Treasure); and Dylan Kidd (Roger Dodger, P.S.) are among the writers who have served as mentors at the Screenwriters' Lab.

We seek a broad selection of screenplays addressing a wide subject matter.

Additionally, in collaboration with The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's initiative in furthering the public understanding of science, we encourage you to submit screenplays that explore science, technology, mathematics, invention, and engineering in fresh and innovative ways.

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i560 USED INK TANK FULL

Canon seems to have arranged that certain printers, including the i560, fail after a while with an error:

The used ink tank is full.

There seem to be various complex and messy procedures on the internet (though Canon's own web site is not too helpful... I'll try e-mail support) for addressing this problem; and the cost of giving it to some service center for repair is about comparable with the cost of the printer (now about $100).

So, basically, they are saying -- or designing into the product the requirement -- that the printer should be replaced every couple of years.

Of course, when a printer fails I also lose the money for any ink cartridges I've bought in advance.

Sorry, but I won't replace it with another Canon... Ill try something else.

Products should live longer.

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NOV 3, 2009

Here's my take on the results:

Corzine lost because even though he spent a lot of money, it was on terrible ads. Spending more than your opponent only helps if your ads are any good. His attack ads were pretty convincing -- I'm worried about Christie's ethics -- but Christie's ads were very effective: they raised doubt about Corzine's accomplishments and his future plans. The trouble with Corzine's ads was that he did not address the question of what he accomplished during his term, and what he would do for NJ in another term. (He sort of did, though with little energy, at the end, but it was too little, too late.) He was almost invisible from the news. He seemed somehow tired and ready to leave office. He didn't seem to care about what he had done and what he would do. There was no energy in his campaign.

Bloomberg's narrow win was a surprise, considering how much he spent, on really excellent ads. Voters seem to be tired of incumbents, and perhaps were offended by his run for a third term. If there is one thing term limits should do, it is to prevent an incumbent from changing the rules. (If the person in office can change the rules on running again, then there are no rules against running again; term limits that can be removed in favor of an incumbent are a joke, an insult to previous office holders, and not, obviously, term limits at all.) Bloomberg supported term limits in the past. Voters do not like hypocrisy -- in this case Bloomberg now supporting the end of term limits when it applies to him.

The victory of the Democrat in the 23rd (NY) -- the first time, by the way, a Democrat has held that seat since the 1890s! -- indicates the problems moderate Republicans have in their own party. The Conservative was able to bump the moderate off the race in the secondary. (He did not win the primary, so if he was able to bump the other candidate after the primary, we should call it a victory in the secondary.) Democrats, moderate Republicans, and others should remember that the Conservative strategy has been for many years that it is more important to strengthen the Conservative base for a future win, than to allow moderate Republicans to win an election and strengthen their base.

The old aphorisms are: All politics is local. And, "It's the economy, stupid."

Here are some newer aphorisms.

• Some politics is local.
• It's the economy, stupid.
• Most politics is economic.
• Incumbents need a strong economy.
• Republicans spend and borrow; they spend mostly on behalf of the rich.
• Democrats try to serve the entire population; they sometimes have to tax to pay for what Republicans borrowed.
• Conservatives can be more interested in capturing the Republican party than whether a Democrat wins a particular election.
• The presentation of high energy and the ability to inspire confidence is a great campaign strategy.
• Moral issues make great sound bites, but gather few votes.
• Moral issues generate votes even on off years; not that many votes, but "moral voters" vote consistently and dependably in most elections.
• The possible exception, and most important moral issue, however, is anti-hypocrisy; voters will flee from incumbents viewed as hypocritical.
• Defense issues are unimportant in local races, important in national races, but it's the economy, stupid.

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THE HOUSE AND SENATE HEALTH CARE BILLS

After a matter is investigated in Congressional Committees, eventually

(a) A bill comes to the floor of the House and another comes to the floor of the Senate.

(b) These bills may be amended.

(c) If they are passed in each house of Congress, a Committee consisting of members of both houses creates a single bill using elements of the two separate bills from the two houses.

(d) This final, single, "compromise" bill must then be passed by each house.

(e) After the bill is passed, it must be signed by the President, and then becomes law.

The current bills from the House of Representatives and the Senate are now being amended before coming to a vote in each house. (We are just at step (a)).

Here is the text of the two HEALTH CARE bills. They are very long and complex pieces of legislation:

HOUSE BILL as of October 29, 2009 (1018 pages)
http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

SENATE BILL as of July 15, 2009 (615 pages)
http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf

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FAR, FAR AWAY & LONG, LONG AGO

At 3:55 a.m. EDT on April 23, a NASA satellite ("Swift") detected a gamma ray emission from an object believed to be about 13 billion light years from Earth. The event is believed to have taken place about 600 million years after the Big Bang when the universe was created.

Light takes 13 billion years to go 13 billion light years. If the object was 13 billion light years away from Earth when it exploded, it had to have travelled those 13 billion light years since the Big Bang (when "Earth" and the object, and everything else were all together in one tiny little space): that is, the object travelled 13 billion light years away from "Earth"in only 600 million years.

To get 13 billion light years away from "Earth" travelling at the speed of light would take 13 billion years, not 600 million years.

Either

a -- it was (way!) closer to "Earth" when it omitted the gamma ray pulse than 13 billion light years (ie distance estimate is wrong)

b -- it emitted the light (way!) longer than 600 million years after the Big Bang (ie time estimate is wrong)

c -- "Earth" & the object were not in proximity at the time of the Big Bang (ie Big Bang assumptions are wrong)

d -- The object separated from "Earth" (way!) faster than the speed of light.

e -- something else (for example, light does not travel at "the speed of light").

Note that our Earth did not exist 13 billion years ago; "Earth" (in quotes) designates a sort of virtual place that would later be occupied by our Earth. Since the idea of the Big Bang is that all matter in our universe occupied a very small space, exactly what space "Earth" occupied is not relevant -- unless of course that is where the solution lies...

Right now, the leading explanation for how something could get 13 billion light years away from "Earth" in 600 million years may be something like this... (a) the whole universe expanded / inflated at a rapid rate shortly after the Big Bang; and (b) this is allowed by General Relativity: space itself can expand, separating objects faster than the speed of light; it's not that the objects are moving, it's that the space between object is expanding.

So d (carefully using the word "separated") may be the leading explanation...

NASA ARTICLE:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/cosmic_record.html

WIKIPEDIA ON THE EXPANSION OF SPACE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_expansion_of_space

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DELL FINANCIAL SERVICES

The website for making online payments to Dell Financial Services was and has been so bad (performance, organization, redundancy, navigation, lack of facilities, possibly misleading information) that -- given that it comes from a computer company -- one wonders if it is deliberately intended to cause the user to make mistakes and generate extra fees, or if it is functional stupidity, or if there is some other reason for the site to be so bad.

It should be one click to the payment page from the DELL website; it should easily allow multiple types of payment; payments should be credited same day; amounts to be paid should be clear and accurate...

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ENTERTAINING SCIENCE - NOV 2009

At 6:00 on the first Sunday of each month, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry) Roald Hoffman convenes an entertaining session of Science Entertainment at the Cornelia Street Cafe.

Here's the info for Nov 2009. Early reservations are recommended. (It usually sells out.) Some people on the wait list are likely to get in also (but mostly end up sitting in the back).

The food and drinks you can have (upstairs before or after, downstairs during the show) are quite good at the Cafe/Restaurant.

6:00PM Nov 1, 2009
ENTERTAINING SCIENCE
Roald Hoffmann

SHAPES AND ENERGIES: LOVE AND HATE AMONG THE ATOMS

"Molecules have shapes, and their geometries determine ultimately their every chemical, physical and biological property. Tiny electrons, scooting around the much bulkier atoms, and governed by the lovely logic of quantum mechanics, actually tell those big guys how to arrange themselves.

An expert on la liaison chimique, Odile Eisenstein of the University of Montpellier, France, takes us by the hand into the world of molecular shapes, from the simple tetrahedron of methane to the less intuitive world of molecules containing metal atoms.

Gerard Parkin, who is rumored to make a living studying such molecules, will do some non-electronic magic.

And making shapes, exploring different forms of holding energy together, sometimes in "nonintuitive" ways, will also be expressed in the music of Todd Capp and his quartet. "

Cover $10

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SURROGATE

Tali Shalom Ezer
Director of Surrogate
Photo by Eric Roffman
What I like about Surrogate (an Israeli film -- shown at HIFF 2009 -- directed by Tali Shalom Ezer) is that it tells a very simple story very well.

Lana Ettinger & Amir Wolf
Surrogate

A man (Eli, played by Amir Wolf) takes a series of sessions with a sex surrogate (Hagar, played by Lana Ettinger), who helps him become more comfortable with himself, with other people, and with the fact that he was molested by his uncle as a young boy.

Within -- or bursting out -- from this simple story (almost like an archetypal fairy tale) are a myriad of other stories, some of which I will suggest in the form of questions. The simplicity of the story allows the richness of the world of the movie to be invoked.

=>Is the relationship between the man and the surrogate a love affair? Is it a false relationship -- much like the relationship of the uncle to the boy? Will it help the man? Or hurt him by having a loving partner disappear after a false affair, like the uncle's "love" was false? Is it false to Eli? Is it false -- or real -- to Hagar?

=>Is Hagar training Eli to make love to her the way she likes to be made love to? Perhaps the way the director wants men and women to relate physically? Or not? Is Hagar taking control of the physical lovemaking only because that is good therapy?

=>Has Eli's mother really been unaware her son was molested -- or is she in denial?

=>What is the relation between Eli and his own nephew? Is he afraid to get close to the boy? What is Eli's relationship with his sister? Is there a physicality to the relationships between all the family members that promotes? or spites? the possibility of "inappropriate" relationships? Or impedes appropriate relationships?

=>How many love stories are being told? And what is the relation between sex and love in the relationship? (Positive? Negative? Unrelated? Not applicable?)
Eli & Hagar?
Eli & his nephew?
Eli & his mother?
Eli & his sister?
Mother and the rest of the family?
The director & ??? (The story seems so personal as it is told that it feels like the director is personally invested in these relationships.)

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QUICK FIRST REVIEW OF HIFF 2009

Shana Feste
Writer/Director of the Opening Night film, The Greatest
Photo by Eric Roffman
There's 107 films, a bunch of panels, and lots of parties, with usually 5-10 things happening at the same time, so I apologize for only experiencing a fraction of the action at HIFF 2009 (aka The 17th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival).

Here are some brief notes on some things I saw and did, people I met, and places I ate. Several of these will be the subject of in depth articles and, earlier, I wrote previews of the festival and of the Breakthrough Performers event, as well as an article on publicizing yourself and your film.

(Since stories in the blog appear in order from later dates to earlier dates -- the more recent the article, the higher it is on the page -- articles written after this story will appear above it, and articles I've already written can be found below by scrolling down on this page.)


Articles I'm working on include interviews with Emmy Rossum and Ashley Springer from the cast, as well as the writer and director of Dare; a retrospective of the Breakthrough Performers event; more about the Sloan Foundation; more photos and videos; and more detailed reviews of several films. These will be published over the next few days. Keep watching this site!


Here's a brief cruise through some highlights (for me) of the 2009 HIFF:

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMERS AND DARE
The Breakthrough Performer's event brings some of the world’s most exciting young acting talent to the Hamptons.


Alba Rohrwacher
Italian Shooting Star
And star of The Ladies Get Their Say
Photo by Eric Roffman

Three of the Breakthrough Performers were in Dare: (I'll have a detailed story -- with interviews -- closer to the release of Dare in November.)


Emmy Rossum
Rising Star & star of Dare
Photo by Eric Roffman
Emmy Rossum has grown from a great singer who -- though slightly stiff -- held her own as star in the film of Phantom of the Opera, to a beautiful, tall, smart and accomplished actress in Dare, in which her character essentially emerges from a cocoon, transforming from a geeky moth to a sexual, high-flying butterfly.

Zach Gilford (who, unfortunately did not show up in the Hamptons, because he was filming Friday Night Lights) navigates a tricky role as a sensitive and disturbed bad-boy hunk.


Rooney Mara
Rising Star and star of
Dare and Tanner Hall
Photo by Eric Roffman

Rooney Mara, in a small role in Dare, and in a similar character with a bigger role in Tanner Hall, exhibits a fascinating combination of wisdom, recklessness, joy, maturity and childishness. The writer and director of Dare have fashioned a sensitive and sophisticated triangular story, with Ashley Springer (no relation to the Springer PR family) a smart, young, funny actor, playing the third side (with Emmy and Zach) of the triangle. (This being a closed triangle, the film is of some interest to gay audiences, although its universal and original story about self-realization is of interest to all ages and all types of people.)

SLOAN FOUNDATION


Amy Redford and Alan Alda
At the Sloan Celebration
Photo by Eric Roffman

The Sloan Foundation has a program whose objective is to support the presentation of science and scientists in films and theater. At a retrospective celebration of ten years of Sloan participation at HIFF, Alan Alda gave an absolutely brilliant talk about the relation between art and science. Amy Redford, who will be directing a script the Sloan Foundation has been supporting, gave a brief, but cogent description of how a good film could be made from the story of Hedy Lamarr, who in addition to being a beautiful movie star, was the co-inventor (the beautiful co-inventor -- inventors can be beautiful) of frequency hopping ( U.S. Patent 2,292,387), a technology of great importance in technology today (such as cell phone transmission systems).

SOME FILMS
Lily, Lily (in English exhibition renamed My Words, My Lies, My Love) is a brilliantly written love story with David Bruhl and Hannah Herzsprung. David and Hannah both deliver superb performances, David as a shy waiter who suddenly becomes -- through fraud -- Germany's most celebrated author, and Hannah as a smart, warm/cold muse, loving, but edgy.

(Note: Hanna Herzsprung was a Rising and Shooting star at the Hamptons the last two years. Her Vier Minuten ends in a concert hall that looks just like the lecture hall where Lily, Lily begins.)


The Surrogate is a deceptively simple or deceptively complex love story, or not a love story. More about this in a dedicated review later. It was paired with Ten: Thirty One, directed by Gabe Fazio, which was the best short film I saw at the festival.

Suzanne DiDonna (l)
Star of Ten: Thirty One
With director Gabe Fazio's eye (r)
And Polish actress (and Gabe's wife) Joanna Moskwa's lips (c)
Photo by Eric Roffman
FILM DISTRIBUTION AND BABELGUM
With Dirty Oil, a documentary by Leslie Iwerks, about the hazard of harvesting Shale for oil, Babelgum (strange name, but interesting site), heralded its venue for high-end web video. Shale harvesting in the US has been suggested as a source of abundant domestic oil, and this documentary is particularly important because the issues it raises need to be considered to prevent thoughtless and irreversibly dangerous choices from being made.


Leslie Iwerks
Director of Dirty Oil
Photo by Eric Roffman
The three biggest troubles with YouTube and similar sites are that (1) they publish anything, (2) the highest traffic goes not to the best, real films, but the silliest, most easy to gape at filmlets. And (3), there's no good way to find really good films. Babelgum is an attempt to collect really fine films, some acquired, some, like Dirty Oil, self-produced. Watching the films is free; Babelgum is supported by advertising. And they are devising players for every possible outlet, including hand-held video players like the iPhone to make watching the films a ubiquitous possibility.

In a panel discussion of new modes of distribution for new filmmakers, VOD was described as an up and coming revenue source. Also emphasized by all the panelists, was the importance of social networking as a vital tool for marketing.

MAISHA
Mira Nair hosted a benefit for her foundation, Maisha, whose objective is to develop filmmaking skills among Africans.


Mira Nair
Photo by Eric Roffman

The film, 8, shown at the benefit screening consisted of 8 short films by eight directors on the eight Millennium Goals. Mira's film, along with Wim Wenders' and Sissako's (the lone African filmmaker), were the most interesting; Mira's, in particular, going beyond a simple exposition of the depth of the problem. Too many of the films were profoundly disturbing (which was, no doubt, intended) , but too simplistic descriptions of these serious problems: hunger, maternal health, devastation by current and future climate conditions, and 5 more.

EATING AND SLEEPING
During the festival I did need to eat and sleep (though rarely).

VUE, one of the sponsors at the festival, is a new "Swiss luxury herbal water." (More in another post.)

Spokeswoman for VUE
At the Chairman's Reception
Photo by Eric Roffman
The parties made it possible to meet filmmakers, and for sponsors to promote their products. Appetizers were mostly very good at most parties, though you had to be in the right place to snatch them before the tray was emptied. I liked the espresso bar a lot.


GURNEY'S INN
Photo by Eric Roffman
Gurney's Inn hosts the annual Opening Night Party. I stayed there last year and this. It's a beautiful hotel, and I liked it very much. This year I had a huge two level suite, which gave me lots of room to work, and a great view overlooking the water while working. The photo above is the view just outside my room.

At Della Femina I had a terrific meal at the bar, and a pleasant conversation with an ex-Wall Street executive and his wife. (We talked films & the festival... He said little about Wall Street and the Bear Stearns collapse... except that he wasn't responsible!)

I liked the appetizer snack at Turtle Crossing, a Tex-Mex hangout. The service was very friendly and there's a chocolate lollypop when you leave.

The Clam & Chowder House Restaurant in Montauk served a simple fish sandwich. The fish was a delicious, moist, perfectly broiled fluke.

My last meal in the Hamptons was desert and coffee at the bar at c/o Maidstone (I don't know why they have the c/o). It was a nice, tasty way to end the festival; the bar patrons, and the bar maid were all great to chat with.

MISSED FILMS, AND AWARDS
The saddest part of the festival is thinking about all the films I did not have time to see because of conflicts with other films, panels, and parties.


Gus Reininger
Director of Corso
Photo by Eric Roffman

Corso is one of the films I most regret missing. The writer/director/producer, Gus Reininger, is an old friend from Wall Street that I haven't seen in decades, and the film -- about the last of the beat poets -- sounds fascinating. (Gus was co-creator of the NBC TV drama, Crime Story, and writer or producer of many other films and TV episodes; this is the first film he has directed.)

The Award winning films are worth catching when you can!

Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative Feature: The Misfortunates, directed by Felix van Groeningen

Special Jury Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Actor: Paprika Steen, Applause

Golden Starfish Award for Best Documentary: Long Distance Love, directed by Magnus Gertten and Elin Jonsson

Special Jury Award: Mugabe and the White African, Lucy Bailey & Andrew Thompson

Golden Starfish Award for Best Short: Dust Kid, directed by Jung Yumi

Best Film of Conflict & Resolution: Rabbit a la Berlin, directed by Bartek Konopka

Audience Award for Best Narrative Film: The Young Victoria, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee

Audience Award for Best Documentary: Waking Sleeping Beauty, directed by Don Hahn

Audience Award for Best Short: This is Her, directed by Katie Wolfe

Zicherman Foundation Award for Best Screenplay: Felix van Groeningen for The Misfortunates

Kodak Award for Best Cinematography: Ruben Impens for The Misfortunates

Kanbar Indie Award: Antonio Campos for My Adventures in Ladies’ Undergarments

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Prize: Agora, directed by Alejandro Amenabar

Roc Skincare Gold Standard in Filmmaking Award for a feature female director: Cheryl Hines for Serious Moonlight

Wouter Barendrecht Award for Pioneering Vision: Big River Man, John Maringouin

NETWORKING AND FILM DEVELOPMENT

Andrea Wozny
Producer/Director of To Timbuktu
Photo by Eric Roffman
Finally, one of the most important reasons filmmakers come to the Hamptons is not to show a film, nor to see a film, but to develop a film. One new producer, for example, is Andrea Wozny who was in the Hamptons to move her project along: It's To Timbukto, about a singer from Mali, and, like Sissako's Bamako, also touches on issues of the world's economic treatment of this African country.

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BROKEN EMBRACES

Penelope Cruz in Almodovar's Broken Embraces

Spain, 2009; 128m

Photo: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/Sony Pictures Classics

Several mysteries, a few love stories -- some twisted, a tragedy, beautiful cinematography, and pitch perfect acting by the delightfully spectacular Penelope Cruz and the whole cast make Pedro Almadovar's Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos) a perfect closing film for the NYFF.

Related, in some of its philosophical concerns (including the deep and wonderful power of compulsion in love and life), to the opening night film, Alain Resnais’s Wild Grass (Les herbes folles), Broken Embraces has a better ending (as the ending of festival should have), plus great heart and great soul.

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BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMERS AT HIFF

One of my favorite features of the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is the series of events centering around the Breakout Performers (BP's). Each year several young and very promising American and foreign actors are honored as Rising Stars (US) and Shooting Stars (EU).

The public events include films with these young actors, panel discussions and parties. (There are also private events for the BP's including "mentoring" with established professionals.)

The last two years and this coming year the honored BP's have been really special. (I'm trying to track down who the earlier -- up thru 2006 -- BP's were.)

Here's a preview of this year's BP's... after we meet the BP's at the festival we'll add more to this story!

The Rising Stars this year are Emmy Rossum, Emma Stone, Rooney Mara, and Zach Gilford.

Emmy Rossum is 23 (9/12/86)and 5'8". She studied at Columbia University.She is a terrific singer, starting in the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus as a child, and starring in Phantom of the Opera. She also had roles in Mystic River and The Day After Tomorrow. Her first starring role was in Nola, a film directed by Alan Hruska (who we interviewed after liking his film, The Warrior Class, one of my favorite films at the Tribeca FF a few years ago). Here's a picture of Alan in his office with a picture of Emmy in Nola on the wall.

Emmy Rossum in a poster for NOLAon the wall of director Alan Hruska's office.Photo by Eric Roffman.

This year she'll be seen at HIFF in Dare (along with Zach Gilford and Rooney Mara).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Rossum

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002536/

Emma Stone is 20 (11/6/88) 5' 6". Her first feature was Superbad. She was funny as the host ghostess in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. She was also in The Rocker, The House Bunny, and Zombieland.

She'll be seen at HIFF in Paper Man with Jeff Bridges. She has Easy-A (from the director of Fired Up) now in post production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Stone
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1297015/

Zach Gilford is 27 (01/14/82). He went to Northwestern. He's a (real life) trip leader for teen adventures... but he's best known for his role as Matt Saracen in Friday Night Lights. (Last year, his teammate Tim Riggins (ie Taylor Kitsch) was a Shooting Star.) Zach is in post production now for The River Why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Gilford

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1472917/

Rooney Mara (about 24) is part of a famous football owning family, and the sister of Kate Mara who was a Shooting Star last year. She was educated partly at NYU and partly in a traveling program visiting South American countries, and is developing a non-profit organization related to international issues. Rooney is in two movies at HIFF, Dare and Tanner Hall. She has several pictures in post production or getting ready for release.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooney_Mara

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1913734/

The Shooting Stars are Alba Rohrwacher (Due partite -- Now called, in English, The Ladies Get Their Say) from Italy, and Cyron Melville (Love and Rage), from Denmark.

More about the present and former Breakout Performers after the festival.

NOTES: OCT 10 --

1 - HIFF calls them Breakthrough Performers, not Breakout Performers.

2 - Zach Gilford didn't make it because of Friday Night Lights shooting conflicts. Emma Stone did not arrive in time for the Panel.

3 - Samuli Vauramo, from Finland, one of Europe's Shooting Stars, did arrive, flying in from Rome for a day or two before going right back to Rome to continue shooting a film with George Clooney.

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