Blog Archives
The FIFA World Cup Is an Unforgettable Experience
The 2018 FIFA World Cup has kicked-off with host Russia defeating Saudi Arabia 5-nil. And with President Putin present, at least the Russian players can be confident in drinking the water after the win…
While tomorrow’s post will feature a few predictions for this glorious tournament, today’s post will focus on a particularly well-done ad by Hyundai.
Yes. Hyundai.
Nothing may ever top Nike’s airport commercial featuring Brazilian stars for the 1998 World Cup. It’s brilliant. However, a commercial spotlighting World Cup champion–and the ever-cool–Thierry Henry doing his own show-and-tell of personal soccer memorabilia is pretty awesome.
I’ll never forget seeing Thierry Henry in-person play for France in the 2006 World Cup against South Korea in the incredible Leipzig Stadium on June 18 that resulted in a 1-1 draw.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Henry doesn’t run. He glides and plays with world-class precision.
That’s my World Cup memory as a fan of Thierry Henry.
Harrison Ford’s Name Game Is in Reverse
The mysterious ways our minds can play tricks is amusing. But when it happens to us, well…
Hold on a second, I seem to have lost my train of thought.
Oh! Now I remember. Or do I?
Blade Runner 2049 arrives in theaters across the country next Friday, October 6th.
That’s something we all know for certain.
A Crash Course in Listening
“Speak softly and carry a big stick”
–President Theodore Roosevelt
Perhaps we should listen to softly spoken words and, from there, determine what we’ll carry…
Steven Spielberg is the greatest movie director of all-time. But how did he become a movie directing icon? The highly sought after position of Hollywood movie director requires mastering expensive, virtually unavailable and evolving technology, acquiring an acute knowledge of cameras, lighting and effects, gathering a Scrooge McDuck vault of gold coins for a single film and projecting an unforeseen vision of the world to be successful. People (business partners and fans alike) trust you to deliver on the biggest stage/screen. A hiccup could derail your dream in the same time it takes for two trains to crash.
Or, that’s the precise amount of time it takes for you to see everything.
Teachers come in all forms.
And when you realize that, you’ll be admitted to the greatest show on earth.
RIP Gene Wilder
One of cinema’s favorite sons, Gene Wilder, died yesterday at the age of 83.
To list a few of Mr. Wilder’s most popular film credits:
- The Producers (1967)
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- Blazing Saddles (1974)
- Stir Crazy (1980)
To illustrate the impact of an actor, whose acting portrayals far precede my birth, is a challenging task. How did Gene Wilder forever bring joy and fuel an imaginative engine inside the hearts and minds of children (now adults), especially those of us who did not even experience his cinematic works of comedy until a decade or more after the initial release?
The only explanation I can muster is revealed in bright colors, accompanied by a beautiful song in a scene from the 1971 masterpiece Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. This film not only defined a decade, but flipped the switch on who an adult could be in the eyes of a kid: a childlike dreamer.
If that nostalgic trip down Wonka’s way doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, get your tissues ready.
“There were times we would go out to dinner as a family and children would light up at the sight of him and smile. And because he never lost his instinct or sense or sensibility, it occurred to him that if that disease were made public … that then after that smile, some parent may then say something about disease or sadness. And he was such that he could not bear to be responsible for one less smile in the world.”
–Gene Wilder’s nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman on his uncle’s choice not to reveal he had Alzheimer’s disease.
I’ve said on a few occasions that when I finally have a house with a family, on Halloween, I will dress up like Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka and decorate my house like the Wonka factory, ready to hand out world-altering chocolate and candy.
That was Gene Wilder’s everlasting gift: Pure imagination.
RIP Gene Wilder.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 