Multilingual Actors: Today's BT

We've already gone over Hot Guys with Accents.  This post is admittedly along those same lines, but with a little twist...

As I'm sure most of you are aware, Bradley Cooper was recently named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine.  Personally I think he is very handsome (the eyes! the hair! the grin!) and certainly deserving of this honor.  Did you know he was in WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER?  I loved him in that and in WEDDING CRASHERS.  And I keep meaning to look for LIMITLESS on TV - I really wanted to see it when it came out but just never got around to it.  Anyway, he's a bona fide hottie and legit movie star.  However, I did get a huge kick out of Buzzfeed's 63 reasons why he ISN'T deserving of the People cover:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/reasons-why-bradley-cooper-is-definitely-not-the-s

You know I love me some Gosling (especially with puppies).

Buzzfeed, who is obviously Team Gosling, claimed in this article grading all the past Sexiest Man Alive covers that the only reason Bradley was awarded the title was because of a certain video of him conducting an interview entirely in French.  Unfortunately, that particular video has been taken down from YouTube due to a copyright claim, but lucky for us there are others of the same nature:

And you can see a clip of the original video from :20 - :35 here:

As annoying as the rest of that video is, I TOTALLY AGREE.  So sexy.  It's one thing to learn some lines for a role, it's another to be able to conduct an entire interview, on camera, in another language.  It's incredibly impressive to me. And it got me wondering: Which other actors are multilingual?  Lucky for us YouTube provided some answers:

Evangeline Lily speaking French

Mila Kunis speaking Russian

Natalie Portman speaking Hebrew

I actually used to be fluent in Hebrew, but I haven't spoken it in nearly 10 years so unfortunately I've lost most of it.  I keep thinking about picking up a couple classes to try to get it back, but have yet to find the time.  One of these days I'll do it!

If you know of any other actors-speaking-fluently-in-other-languages videos let me know in the comments!

Weekend Plans & It's Time. : Today's BTs

I know I know, I've been slowing down with the posts lately.  I've been busy at work and any spare time is going to the short I'm producing (we shoot in 11 days!), but lesbihonest, that's no excuse!  So to keep all 8 (I kid, I kid) of you entertained, remember this?:

Original, higher quality video here:  http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b776c00c54/weekend-plans-from-riegel-blatt

It's almost Strawberry season guys.  Still cracks me up.

Also, this has been making the rounds this week:

So it's a totally beautiful video right?  And everyone's talking about its cultural significance and how inspirational it is.  But of course I immediately recognized the Sydney locations and it just made me wish I was back there!

that's not me, i think it's just a rando who happened to be posing in my shot

Post any awesome vids you've come across recently in the comments - sharing is caring people!

IMBT Birthday Shoutout: Roomie & Rachie

This post is in honor of two of my all-time faves:  Rachel, one of my closest friends from high school had her birthday yesterday, and my female roommate Jina is celebrating hers today.

During my recent trip to New York I stayed with Rachel for a couple nights and had a blast.  Over the years she has always welcomed me into her home when I've visited, and always made sure to make plans when we were home in Cleveland at the same time.  I'm so glad our friendship has stayed this strong over the years.

Rachie, I know you have a really exciting year ahead and I hope all your birthday wishes come true.  I can't wait to hear about all your adventures and know that I would love for you to come visit me in LA any time!  I wish I had some of my high school photos scanned in so I could include some pics of us at age 14, but these from our more recent adventures will have to do:

summer '10 in NYC - love this photo of us

laughing so hard we cried with another HS friend

summer '08 (?) in NYC

with more HS friends - not sure which year this pic was taken in, but I still had blonde highlights so it must have been a long time ago!

Happy belated birthday Rachie!


---

I met Jina's boyfriend Dave and his roommate Aaron in late 2005 / early 2006.  They lived down the hall from me when I lived in an apartment in Hollywood.  Jina moved in a while later and upon learning that she loved all things purple and sparkly I knew instantly we would be friends.  Our respective leases expired at the same time and the four of us decided to find a house together.  We moved into the Crest Castle in March of 2009, and since then my friendship with Jina has become one of the most important in my life.

Together we've survived earthquakes a foreclosure (not us, but the owners of the Castle) and a pretty devastating break-in.  She's my morning work-out partner and my evening TV buddy (the boys join us for the latter of course).  We love going to tea.  I know I can always discuss the latest teen novel / movie / show with her.  She'll almost always be on my "side" if I say it's just too cold in the house.  She respects my love for Funfetti.

Jina, you're such a fantastic woman (and Auntie!) and you deserve all the happiness life brings you.  I hope this coming year is just as exciting for you as the past one.

at our friends' wedding earlier this year

Joshua Tree sunset silhouette

whale watching fall '10

saying good-bye to our "castle" (the house we lived in for over 2 years)

taking a break at the Golden Globes HBO party

Happy birthday Jina!

Hot Trailer Thursday: IMBT!

While I was in NYC (will be posting about that and the BFAS trip next week) the new HUNGER GAMES trailer came out.  If there are any of you out there who haven't seen it (yeah right), I'll post it below, but I recommend you instead follow this link for a MUCH better quality video: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/thehungergames/

So what do you think?  I really liked the music (composers for the movie are T-Bone Burnett and Danny Elfman.  Not sure if they did the trailer, but I'm excited to hear their score!) and the choice to include Katniss' salute to District 11 in this trailer.  It was also great fun to see Elizabeth Banks' and Stanley Tucci's looks - I think the hair and make-up folks did a smashing job.  I didn't imagine everything in the Capitol to be so clean/metallic and I also imagined Haymitch to be much more homeless-y.  I think it's the wig.  Not to say the choices aren't good, it's just different from how I imagined.  Will be officially starting a countdown to March 23rd come January 1st.

Also released this week were the two new trailers for the two new Snow White movies, MIRROR MIRROR (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1667353/) and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/snowwhiteandthehuntsman/).  Videos will also be posted below.  Let's start with HUNTSMAN:

Here we see the OTHER Hemsworth brother (Liam is "Gale" in Hunger Games), Chris a.k.a. "Thor" and he's looking HOT.  Kristen Stewart usually annoys the crap out of me, but man, this looks like a fun flick and I honestly want to know more about her character.  I would like to know a little more about her the story, but I'm willing to wait for future trailers.  P.S. Did the music sound exactly like the INCEPTION score to anybody else?  As there's no composer listed on IMDB, it's entirely possible that they licensed that piece of music for this trailer.  Curious, but either way it was a perfect fit.  Will definitely be seeing this one when it comes out.

And now on to MIRROR:

Oh boy.  Where to begin...  First, I just can't buy into Lily Collins as Snow White.  It's not that she isn't pretty - I actually can't put my finger on what it is, but I'm just not feeling her.  And while I love Julia Roberts, Nathan Lane, and LOOOOVE Armie Hammer, you can almost feel them all going "OK, I kind of can't believe I'm saying these lines but they're paying me enough so I'll play along."  And the supposed comic relief of the "dwarfs"?  Groan groan groan.  Sorry MIRROR MIRROR but you are totally the ugly stepsister to HUNTSMAN in this fairy tale battle.

But potentially more exciting than all of the above is a movie you should all have know I'd be SUPER excited about, called, quite predictably, BIG MIRACLE (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430615/).  Here's the trailer:

Are you kidding me????  Whales AND John Krasinski???  Does it get any better than that??  Inspired by a true story (of course), BIG MIRACLE looks like the kind of movie I will have to drag Boyfriend or the roomies to, but they will all secretly enjoy it.  Also starring Drew Barrymore, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Ted Danson and Stephen Root (of OFFICE SPACE fame) and directed by Ken Kwapis, the movie is set to be released in February.  I can't wait to see it!!!

2012 should be an exciting year at the cineplex.  What are you excited to see?

Thanksgiving!!!: IMB Holiday!

Guess what guys: it's almost Thanksgiving!!  Yayyyyy!!!

image source: longislandpress.com

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.  When I was little it meant seeing my cousins who live out of town, a couple days off from school, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in our pajamas, the most amazing home cooked meal of the year, lots of things with cinnamon in them (who doesn't love cinnamon?  It's the best spice of all the spices!) and the start of HOME ALONE airing on a loop on TV.

LOVE that movie!

Now, as an adult, Thanksgiving means seeing friends and family here in LA I might not have seen for a while, a couple days off from work, watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade in my pajamas with my cat (that's not as sad as it sounds), the BEST DAY OF THE YEAR at HBO (more on this in a second), lots of things with cinnamon (and rum) in them (specifically my signature spiced/spiked cider - more on this later), and the start of HOME ALONE marathons airing on a loop on TV.

Love that movie too!

As mentioned above, Thanksgiving at HBO is a very special day.  The Friday prior to the actual holiday we have what is called a "Progressive Meal" - each geographical section of the office is assigned a part of the feast (i.e. appetizers, salads, potatoes/starches, desserts, etc.).  Anyone who cooks is given a plate and a map (yes, a map) and at 1:00 pm all work ceases as everyone makes their way through the halls piling all the food they can fit on their plate.  Of course everyone goes into a food coma immediately after and productivity never fully resumes.  I personally look forward to this day ALL YEAR ****and it's almost heeeeeeere****!!!!!!

With holiday travel becoming increasingly hassle-riffic, I've chosen to stay in Los Angeles for actual Thanksgiving this year.  As tough as it is to be away from my family, a good friend of mine hosts Transplant Thanksgiving for all of us whose immediately families are back East, and it is kind of the best day ever.  We play video games of the active/moving variety so we don't feel so guilty snacking all day and then gorging ourselves at dinner.  We sip wine and spiked spiced cider all day as well:

I made this.  It may not look like much, but it was a huge hit, I swear.

And at the end I get to go home with Thanksgiving Parfait: a tupperware containing layers of leftovers - the most beautiful container of leftovers you will ever see in your life.

Here are a couple more photos from last year's Transplant Thanksgiving:

Drooling yet?  I am.

I also love how the city empties out - there's this beautiful, peaceful quiet that usually lasts through the long weekend.  I'm looking forward to seeing more friends, hopefully seeing my cousins as well, catching a movie or two with Boyfriend, and hopefully getting a long-awaited-for and much-needed massage.

And oh yeah, that whole thinking about what you're thankful for and why your life is actually a good one is always nice too.  ;-)


HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!!!

The Big Apple: ALMOST MBT

Image credit: greenwichmeantime.com

The countdown is almost over!  Tomorrow night I fly to NYC and I'm SUPER excited.

I'm only planning two really "big" activities.  One, which I'm still waiting for confirmation on, is seeing the Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera.  Boyfriend's best buddy just recently began playing the role of Monsieur Andre (funny story actually) and I'm looking forward to seeing him.

The other was JUST THIS MINUTE confirmed, and, as I'm currently keeping it as a surprise for my friends who might join me, I will only offer the following three clues:

• My girl crush
• Not U2
• Partially mentioned in a previous IMBT Birthday Shoutout (you'll have to figure out which one!)

Other than that, I just plan on lots of catching up with friends and enjoying Manhattan in the fall.  Speaking of which, I've been tracking the weather really closely because I really really REALLY don't want it to rain.  Having lived in LA for almost 7 years I just don't own appropriate clothing for any weather besides "nice".  I went a little nuts this week and impulse-purchased waterproof, cozy boots (see below) online and had them shipped to my friend's place in NY.  I also went on a shopping spree at Old Navy but will only bring about 5 of the items (out of, like, 15) with me - I just can't resist sparkly tank tops!  *Sigh*  At least I'll have these:

image credit: shoes.com

Cute, right?

I do have a couple questions for my fellow frequent travelers and NY natives:

1. Does Virgin America provide pillows on their red-eyes?  Continental does not and I have learned to bring one with me.  But I'd rather not if I don't have to...

2. I'm planning on inviting friends to join me for drinks on Friday evening and, as is always the case, I have no idea where.  Any thoughts about a fun, relaxed, not-too-expensive, centrally located bar in Manhattan (I've been looking mainly at lower Manhattan as that's where I'll be staying that night)?  Any and all suggestions are welcome.  I've been using this website and Yelp to check some out and am thinking about GoldBar (I mean, if for nothing else just to confirm it's a real place), Ward III, Whiskey Tavern (I love the quote on the front page: "I love this place." - Anonymous), or AnotherRoom.  If any of you have ever been let me know in the comments!

And now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to go make a packing list!

Penguins in LA: This Past Weekend's BT

I'm not a huge sports person - I go to maybe 2-3 games/events a year.  It's the price of the ticket and physically getting there (specifically, fighting LA traffic from the west side to downtown or to Dodger stadium) that usually lessen the appeal.  When I do go though, I usually end up having a fun time, which was definitely the case on Saturday night.

Boyfriend's team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, were in town on Saturday to play the Los Angeles Kings.  (The sport in question is hockey for those of you not familiar.)  Because these two teams don't play each other that often and the game was on a Saturday night, Boyfriend was super excited.  We left the west side with almost 3 hours to spare so that we could find parking (we got a street spot!), eat dinner, and make our way to the Staples Center without feeling too stressed for time.  This all worked out really well.

"Welcome to the MAIN EVENT!"

Boyfriend bought our tickets on StubHub - they were $65 plus fees, but he claimed they were "decent".  In reality they were almost on the ceiling.  I got altitude sickness climbing to get to them!  Juuuust kidding, but they were 4 rows from the very top.  At least we were surrounded by other Pens fans - very very spirited Pens fans, but Pens fans nonetheless.

decked out in our Penguins fan gear

Meanwhile, one of our coworkers who has season tickets was down in his seats with his wife, their son, and their son's friend.  He texted Boyfriend to let him know that there were a couple open seats next to them that we might be able to come sit in, but to wait until the end of the period just in case.  A couple minutes later the Penguins scored the first point of the game, at which point our coworker told us he "lost" his ticket stubs he was going to use to get us into his section.  ;-)

When we did go join them we were pretty amazed by how great their seats were.  Though there were definitely not as many Pens fans in their section.  When the Kings tied it up in the second period the other season ticket holders gave us a bit of a hard time, but it was all in good fun.  As a native of Cleveland you might be wondering how I could root for a team from Pittsburgh.  The way I see it, Cleveland doesn't have an NHL team so I get a pass.  Plus, penguins in general are really cute.

The third period turned into quite the nail-biter when the Kings scored for a second time, taking the lead.  Having watched last year's HBO sports doc series "Road to the Winter Classic" which followed the Penguins, I was familiar with a small handful of the players and was excited to see my favorite, No. 9 Pascal Dupuis, on the ice quite a bit.  With 2:57 left in the third (and final) period the Penguins scored once more, tying it back up.  Despite much effort on both sides and a lot of really intense back-and-forth across the ice, neither team was able to score again in the remainder of the 3rd period nor in the 5 minute sudden death overtime and the game went into a SHOOTOUT!

Adding "ride a Zamboni" to the Bucket List

I had said to Boyfriend earlier in the evening that I really hoped we'd see a shootout so I was super excited.  The entire audience was on its feet and cheering.  It took 4 rounds but the Penguins' Chris Kunitz finally scored the game-winning goal.  Hooray!  GO PENS!!

What a great game - I'm definitely glad we went.  And a HUUUUGE Thank You to our coworker and to the people who sit next to him who didn't show.  Sitting with him and his wife was really fun and waaay cooler than sitting in the nosebleeds.  If only it always worked out this well - I would go to games a lot more often!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! It's EVERYONE'S Best Thing! (11/04 edition)

We are full swing into the second-to-last month of the year.  How crazy is that?  This week we're casting the next short I'm producing (currently titled TOMATO CAN), then one week from today I'll be waking up in sunny wet and cold NYC (truth).  Before we know it it'll be Thanksgiving - my favourite holiday EVER (post coming soon), then it'll be time to shoot TOMATO CAN, and then it'll be holiday party season woot woot!

But until then, here are some links and vids to keep us all entertained...

First, may I present the best Microsoft Paint music video I've ever seen (warning, lyrics NSFW):

Thank you to The Hairpin for sharing.

Second, my female roomie, Queen of Finding Amazing Tumblrs, sent me this hilarious one yesterday: http://louisvsrick.tumblr.com/.  This is exactly how my cat would behave if he knew how to IM.  It's double rainbow amazeballs because it reminds me of Amy Poehler's hysterical "Kaitlin" character from SNL who used to drive her Uncle Rick crazy.  Unfortunately I can't embed a video from Hulu, but you can watch one of the sketches HERE.

Third, a friend shared this, one of the greatest inventions I've ever seen, on FB this morning:

It's called Baggy Winecoat.  Here are more details on how to use it:

It looks like a purse... BUT IT'S FILLED WITH WINE!!!  Must. Have. Right. Now.

Fourth, Jimmy Kimmel is hilarious:

And lastly, The Animal Rescue Site has posted this super adorable video earlier this week.  I've re-posted below, but be sure to go to their site and click so they get the credit!

Don't forget kids, Daylight Savings ends this weekend so be sure to change your clocks.  Spring forward Fall back - we gain an hour, hooray!

Happy Friday y'all!

"New Girl": IMBT

How hilarious was last night's episode of "New Girl"?

I didn't even realize how much I missed it until we turned it on.  I realize it has haters (doesn't everything though?) and that a lot of people find it annoying, but I really don't.  I think it's delightful and adorable.

Two reasons I find it so endearing: A) The way Jess likes to sing everything reminds me so much of one of my male roommates who likes to sing everything all the time and B) It makes my female roommate crack up, and her laugh is totally contagious so I always crack up as well.  I don't mean just a chuckle or light laugh, I mean wiping-away-tears-and-having-to-rewind-so-you-don't-miss-the-next-joke laughing so hard.  I think the way they push jokes to their perfect limit - prime example: Nick getting Jess to properly say "penis" - really helps.

Highlights from last night's ep include:

• Jess' suggestion to watch FAME or AN AMERICAN TALE ("It's about a little Jewish mouse, with a big heart...") instead of the scary movie the boys put on.
• Jess' description of Nick's belly as "The little pooch where you keep your extra cookies."
• Lake Bell as the mystifying Amanda and Nick's out-loud exclamation of shock that she went for him.
• The aforementioned penis pronunciation scene.
• Schmidt's latest idiosyncratic need to see Nick's penis so as not to be the only one who hasn't.

I'm hoping the news of the show's dip in ratings doesn't really mean anything.  Fox doesn't think so, though they kind of have to say that.  But I have a feeling, in this case, they're right.  Unfortunately I don't have a clip from last night to share, but here's the pilot promo for any of you who haven't seen it and would like a a taste (you can catch up on Hulu as well):

PS.  Totally am going to start a Slow Chicken Dance at the next wedding I attend.  Who's with me?

Hot Men with Accents: My [And HelloGiggles'] Best Thing

Apparently it's Guys we Love Week here at IMBT.

I can't take credit for writing this masterpiece, but I can say that I AGREE.  Well, I agree with almost all of it - I do still remember Nicholas Hoult as the kid from ABOUT A BOY so I don't know if I personally would have included him in this list, but he certainly has grown into a handsome young lad.  Instead I would probably have included Matthew Lewis.  (Although he too started off as a somewhat awkward, chubbier, little boy so I don't know how subbing him in makes it any better.)  Aside from the obvies (Firth, Neeson, McAvoy, Owen, etc.) I might also have included Dylan Moran of "Black Books" (love and miss that show - another post for another time), his sometimes-twin Matthew Macfadyen of PRIDE & PREJUDICE, and Matthew Goode of A SINGLE MAN.  Yum yum yum.

Maybe I'll follow up with 7 Aussie Actors Who Will Make You Swoon...

Until then...

Happy Tuesday!