The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I’m a fan of the revenge movies such as V for Vendetta (all time favorite), Count of Monte Cristo, Memento, and Man on Fire; just to name a few. However, after reading The Millennium trilogy and watching the 2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Noomi Rapace as the epic Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist, I was hooked on this series and finished with The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest.
Mind you these movies were written and produced in Swedish, but when I heard that they were bringing it to America to re-make, I didn’t know if I should rejoice or be scared out of my mind.
The 2011 Girl with the Dragon Tattoo teaser trailer…was nothing less than epic. Can’t get over the Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” reproduced by Trent Reznor (NIN) and Karen O (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s). I am still nervous about Rooney Mara portraying the damaged Lisbeth Salander and I hope Daniel Craig can do Mikael Blomkvist justice as well. Very happy to see Christopher Plummer in the cast list though. The teaser trailer gives me hope for the movies and I am very excited and a little impatient for December to roll around.
If you have not already looked into this trilogy via movie or books (the books are ALWAYS better), you need to. I’m being very serious…you really need to step away from the computer or better yet hit up amazon that way you never have to leave your seat, and purchase the books.
Fair warning, these are very dark and twisted books with heavy rape, violence, and language; but we are all big kids here right?
You will enjoy it all the same because Lisbeth is just so badass.
Cowboys & Aliens Sweepstakes
Enter for your chance to win:
Cowboys & Aliens Prize Pack
Set in The Old West: an era when all a man could depend on was his horse and his six-gun, and settlers and Indians fought it out for territory on the last American frontier. Invaders from another planet have crash-landed, and cowboys and Indians alike must put aside their differences to drive the aliens off the sovereign soil of planet Earth.
There will never be another you
I’ve been asked a lot recently in interviews that I’ve done for my book who (if anyone) should play Elizabeth Taylor if there were going to be a movie about her life. It’s a fair questions and a game I love to play. I’m a fan of casting my friends as this or that actor in imaginary or actual movies. I, for instance, would have to be played by a young James Spader – sans the chest hair.
James Spader
While casting myself is easy, I am no Elizabeth Taylor. She was successful, while alive, at preventing a movie being made of her life. When rumors that movies were being made of her life would pop up, she often said (most recently via her twitter account), “No one is going to play Elizabeth Taylor, but Elizabeth Taylor herself.” Well, that was while she was still with us. Since her death on March 23, 2011 of congestive heart failure there have been talks of a possible biopic. It has been widely reported this week that the excellent biography Furious Love –which chronicles Taylor and her 5th and 6th husband, Richard Burton’s love affair– has been optioned for a film by Paramount Pictures as a future directing project for Martin Scorsese.
While I want everyone to know about the life of Liz, the thought of a movie being made of her life makes me cringe a bit. Her life is easy to sensationalize – not that it wasn’t sensational. My fear would be that filmakers would choose to focus only the many marriages and the somewhat odd behavior in her last few decades rather that the work and life of a truly gifted actress, a tireless philanthropist and a caring mother.
Casting the role of Elizabeth Taylor will be no small feat. I feel that the biggest mistake would be to choose someone solely based on looks. Elizabeth Taylor never acted sexy … she was, plain and simply, sex personified. I’m reticent to offer suggestions, but here they are:
1. Angelina Jolie. Jolie is already on deck to star in director David Fincher’s Cleopatra remake. And she knows a thing or two about scandal having been part of the break-up of a famous Hollywood marriage just as Elizabeth Taylor was with Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.
Angie and Liz ... they both like horses.
Cowboys & Aliens: The Book
Before it was the most anticipated summer movie of 2011 (watch the just-released trailer here), Cowboys & Aliens was a hit graphic novel. We’ll be re-issuing the book in its entirety on March 22, but until then, check out the page spreads below, then pre-order a copy:
Book images © 2006 Platinum Studios, Inc.
If he dares wear short shorts
As a straight man who enjoys the freedom of a pair of high and tight swimming trunks, I was heartened by recent news that Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick favors Speedos over “the surfer ones.” I have no problem with baggy surfer trunks, as long as you’re actually catching waves in Oahu or Malibu; but if the only thing you’re catching is sun poisoning at the Soho House pool deck, ditch the cargo-trunks. Somewhere along the line American men abandoned the more flattering trunks that prototypical manly men like Paul Newman (you know, the guy who, at age 80, could drive a car faster, pick up more women, and make better salad dressing than you in your prime) used to sport in their day, in exchange for the current crop of amorphous bathing sacks.
There’s still time to reverse the trend this summer. Check out these alternatives to the modern American monstrosities:
These Apolis Classic swim trunks ($99) are a good gateway for guys who aren’t ready to jump straight from those roomy board shorts into the world of the banana hammock. They have a slim, above-the-knee cut, but you’ll still feel fully-covered enough to play a vigorous game of paddle ball.
Once you’ve gotten accustomed to the slimmer look of your new Apolis, these retro trunks from LA-based Lightning Bolt are a logical next step. Their designs are still surf-inspired, but the 1970s cut is more Hawai’i Five-O than Jersey shore-style bro-trunks:
When you’re ready to take the plunge into full-on Daniel Craig territory, this square cut trunk from Tulio will send a message that you’re confident in your manhood, without landing you in Borat-territory.
