Friday, April 30, 2010

Hubba Bubba

He's done Hop on PoP, now he's doing Hub in the Tub.

Here's a sneak peak of Austin in the tub.



Wait wait wrong clip.


All the old ladies dressed in black run together. Here's the right clip.



You know I think the first one has more magic than the second. Maybe it was the bubbles. Or Mr. Bubble.


More of a Mr. Bubble fan. Especially of this one.





Hmmm Mr. Bubble and a Lasso. And Dirty Bert.


Bert and..... Ernie. Well Ernie was awfully fond of his ducky.


Who said getting clean isn't dirty work.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Contenders and Pretenders


Jake wasn't the only person up for the role of Dastan. In an Obsessed with Film Exclusive Mike Newell in a press event in London was asked they had thought of any other actors for the role, he surprising acknowledged that there were a few other early contenders:

“When you don’t use them you sort of erase them from your mind, but [James] McAvoy was certainly someone we looked at and there was this dark looking chap from one of the Narnia films [likely 'Prince Caspian' star Ben Barnes].”

But Newell suggested that Jake was cast because Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney wanted an American star for the role, but added he's known Jake since he was a boy and it was more than just “this big-deal actor” as lead and embraced working with him on the project.


Seeing Jake as Dastan now it's hard to imagine anyone else as the Prince.

What do you think? Do you think McAvoy or Barnes could have been Dastan and carried the large epic?

Check out more from Newell about what inspired him making the movie and it wasn't the game.


Now for the pretender.

The Daily Beast has a great article about David Bergstein. Who is Bergstein? He is the money man, well lack of money man behind Nailed. The Beast refers to him a Hollywood's biggest hustler. The articles gives more insight what was going on during Nailed from Bergstein's money games.

When everyone was thinking that David O' Russell would be the reason thing might go pear shaped on the shoot, no one thought it would be the backers that brought the movie down and left it sitting on the shelf waiting for the one scene that is the premise to the whole movie to shot. Jessica's scene where her character gets the nail in her head, without there is no movie.

So how did they end up hooking up with this guy? Well the economy was starting to go and the big studios weren't funding smaller projects like they did when things were better, so they went out looking funding for the project. Bergstein went after these kind of smaller projects that the studios weren't funding.

"According to several sources, Bergstein has consistently lured in talent by offering just a bit more money than the next highest bidder. In the world of independent film, that’s a temptation many can’t resist. “If he’s saying, I’ll put up $24 million and the other person is saying he’ll put up $22 million—that’s a lot of money,” says a key player on Nailed."

"The cast and crew of Nailed certainly found Bergstein unfit and incompetent—and that’s putting it kindly. They suffered through repeated shutdowns when promised funds failed to materialize." And started on the very first day. SAG told its members not to work because a required bond payment had not been deposited yet. And that even meant the actors couldn't even rehearse. Great way to start out.

“We had the normal five blocks of trucks, it looked like the Marines had landed, and we couldn’t start." They got the bond and got started filming but a week later the Director’s Guild also ordered its members to stop work. And it was money problems and stops from then on out.


It is estimated that all stop work orders and delays added $4 million to $22 million production budget. Things were really bad. "By the end, some crew members were left so short of money and desperate that they made off with photocopiers and other equipment in an attempt to recoup their losses. And no one seems to blame them. 'It was the hardest movie in my life,' says one key member of the filmmaking team. 'Some people quit. Some people were brought to tears. . . They were at the breaking point.' "


Jake and Jessica, who both took reduced pay to do the film, didn't have to worry because their salary had to be secured before filming began. That was not so for the crew. Sources on the set said that Jake pressured his agents at CAA to squeeze Bergstein to get the cash and get everyone back to work, but that Bergstein "proved to be squeeze-resistant". Back on set Jake and Jess were both offering words of support to the embattled crew. Jess took off during the shutdowns, and the crew hit a local bar called The Whig. "They began to read news articles about problems on other Bergstein films, emailing distressing stories to each other with mounting horror. A group created a website called “ihatedavidbergstein.com.” And a member of the accounting staff sent Bergstein and his associates a signed “fuck-you” email—using those exact words, more than once."

Despite all this turmoil that would drive a director over the edge, it was just the opposite, Russell, stepped up as the ultra-professional to see if he keep everything together long enough to finish filming. And he almost did, except for that one scene. But as someone pointed out "For him,[Russell] it was so cruel—he was trapped at every turn."

So what does that mean for Nailed. Well after $26 million it's sitting a shelf waiting to be finished. Russell wants to finish it but other "are worn out and feel that nothing is worth the pain of dealing with Bergstein again." But don't put the nail in Nailed's coffin yet, lawyers are now involved to see if they the money and the film from Bergstein and get it finished.

The Daily Beast: Hollywood's Biggest Hustler

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Regular Joe Jake


He plays the adventurous – and buff! – Prince of Persia this summer, but off-screen the actor, 29, is a regular guy who doesn't need much to make him happy. "I feel my best after a home-cooked meal with family and friends"

It isn't all the workouts or those blue eyes that make Jake one of the most beautiful. It is what comes from within, the love of life, love for family and friends, the gentleness, kindness, and compassion he has, and that almost childlike wonderment and glee he has never lost. And it is just being that regular guy.


How more regular can you be:

"I feel my best after a home-cooked meal with family and friends."

Who can disagree with that? Is there anything better? Some of the best memories people have are doing just that. That everyday thing, coming together, sharing food and thoughts and a moment in time.

It's in those regular everyday things that you find the most poignant moments of life.

It sounds like Jake has found those in his life and it shows.




Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Solve for Y

Many times pictures are meant to answer questions, but some times what happen it just makes more questions pop up.

Like this one.


Why would the bottom of your jeans be frayed if they look like they are the right length for you? Are you a couple inches shorter on the weekends? Or is someone else sneaking into the seat of your pants and fraying your edges?


And why a cami? See through shirt? Got a Longhorn tat you're not ready to show? Belly ring? A ring of a different kind? Or because the tee you're wearing is a little just wee bit too short? Shrunk in the wash again. Or is it one of the ones you would wear to the clubs to go dancing showing a little peek, before you pull it off and unicycle. Or maybe because it isn't your shirt you pulled out of the drawer that morning.



Not even going to there about shoes with sweats. Oh that's right rehearsals.

Well it should be a rehearsal day.

Don't know how they just get back to LA and are scheduled to do a pilot in front of a live audience on this Thursday, and yet have time to grab lunch in West Hollywood three days before. Amazing!

Especially after just shooting a movie, and being stuck for days and days in Europe by ash. Not having a chance to really spend time to get familiar with the rest of the cast, go through a table reading and or blocking anything. You know Monday is only 3 days from Thursday, but maybe they don't need rehearsals. You'd think they'd want to get this picked up since they don't really have anything else firmed up.

Of course it could have been a lunch break, but they don't shoot pilots in West Hollywood they shoot them in Culver City don't they?

Then, of course there's all the people. Wait scratch that, more like it's how it's not really that busy on the street for midday in WeHo. Hmmmm kind of like a Sunday. Kind of a "Hey let's do this quick" walk down the street and see you later. Of course that's not the day your show comes back on, is it? But it doesn't mean they don't publish the day the show does come on.

Monday, April 26, 2010

It's Jake's favorite Uni... Corn Cycle!

then again it could be a unicorn Jake did say his had thing for horns. ; )

Yeah he's on his own, there's no bike gear and his only got one wheel, but it's on Austin on a cycle.

...Mr. Nichols is a nerdy, brainy,
eccentric man in
disguise.
- Hilarie Burton

You know he's kind of guy who would get the funny of remaking Xanadu on unicycles.

Suddenly--
The wheels are in motion
And I, I'm ready to sail any ocean
Suddenly I don't need the answers
'Cos I, I'm ready to take all my chances with you

(Whaaat? We all have visions people. Out out out outside of the box thinking. You know Xanadu on uni's, Quadrophenia as a one man show with puppets. Don't laugh. It could happen. Ridley Scott made a movie of the game Monopoly)

From the hair and the shoes, it looks like it was during JFC. Makes you wonder if Milch was working on a scene where John was going to unicycle his Sermon on the Mount monologue, or maybe John and Butchie were going to go on the road as circus folk spreading the good word.

You call that crazy? Now this is crazy.

The Crazy Tree is back and on tonight as in Every Picture Tells a Story.

The night before Quinn’s "I took some pictures now I have a gallery" opening, an uninvited doppelganger (aka you look my dead wife but have a better serve) ambushes Feats of Clay. Father and son (Nathan and Jamie) hang while the Real Housewife of Tree Hill Haley tears it up in the car and tears it up too over losing her mom, or is that Bethany Joy upset over losing her storyline and the series? Brooke Davis(TM) gets shocked. (no not literally) when she finds out that Mama is loving an Alex too, as in Alexander or is it that Mom is getting more than she is. (See what happen when you stop bitching Brooke?) Julian and his dad find out that the love scene they shot isn't as good as the webcam of Alex and the Curly Haired Co-star of their movie. Why? Because the d-bag had to give a better performance in the hotel room to make up for lack of skills than he gave on set. Speaking of skills, Skills gets schooled about Lauren who's like she rather have some Mouth than some game. (Oh Snap!)

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is thought to be the oldest "out" African American lesbian known. She is GLBT and civil rights activist Ruth Ellis.

Ruth Ellis was born in Springfield, Illinois, on July 23, 1899, the youngest of four children and the only girl to Charlie Ellis and Carrie Farro Ellis. Her parents were born in Tennessee during the last years of slavery. Her father was the first African-American mail carrier in Springfield. Ellis' mother passed away when she was a teenager.

Ruth learned she could do anything. And she learned to stand up for herself.

When a race riot erupted in Springfield in 1908 after a black man was accused--falsely, as it turned out--of raping a white woman, many black families fled under the threat of having their homes burned down. Not so with the Ellis family with her father standing guard with a sword he owned as a member of the Knights of Pythias. Though the violence raged for two days before the National Guard could end it, the family and their home were safe.

Ellis attended Springfield High School at a time when very few African-Americans enrolled in secondary education. It was during high school when she became aware of her sexual orientation remembering her high school gym teacher as her first female crush around 1915. She was to say that she never had to come out because she was always out from the beginning. She graduated from Springfield High School in 1919, at a time when fewer than seven percent of African Americans graduated from secondary school.

She believed her eldest brother, Charles, Jr, was gay though he never said anything to her about it. Homosexuality was not the kind of issue families discussed at that time, but looking she believed her father knew she was a lesbian and accepted it.

"I think [my father] was kind of glad that I had a woman instead of a man because he was afraid I'd come home with a baby. If you had a baby in those days, you'd have to leave home. And he wanted me home."

After high school, Ruth worked as a nursemaid and cook for a local family before finding a job in a print shop, where she learned how to set type and operate the presses. During that time in the early 1920’s, she met Ceciline “Babe” Franklin, the only woman she ever lived with. They became friends and lovers for more than 35 years. They moved to Detroit in 1937, after the encouragement of Ellis' brother Ray, buying a home and Ellis starting her printing business. She was the first woman in Michigan to own and operate a printing company. She made a living printing stationery, fliers, and posters out of her house.

From 1946 to 1971, their home became the local hangout for African-American gays and lesbians. Known as the “gay spot,”. They opened their home for parties and dances, and never turned down a gay or lesbian friend who needed a place to stay. For generations of African American gays and lesbians in the Midwest, it was an alternative to the bar scene that discriminated against blacks and refuge to African Americans who came "out" before the civil rights movement and Stonewall. They also offered lodging to black gay
men newly arrived from the South and helped many of the young people through college.

In the 70s, Babe Franklin left Detroit for the suburbs so she could be close to her job; Ruth stayed in the city, but they remained a couple, staying the night in each other's homes until Franklin died in 1975.

At age seventy-nine, Ellis enrolled in a self-defense class taught by a woman, Jay Spiro, who she correctly suspected was a lesbian. Spiro was the first white lesbian Ellis had ever met. Spiro introduced her to a community of younger gay women, who immediately embraced her and took Ellis to lesbian bars, something the church goer had had never done, and she began to meet more lesbians, openly out lesbians, who loved to hear her story. Soon she became an icon in the Detroit LGBT community. She than became know in the GLBT community, nationally, attending events and programs across the country, often as a speaker or special guest.

In 1999, her life was made the subject of the documentary “Living With Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100,” directed by Yvonne Welbon. The film was screened at film festivals worldwide, and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 1999.

Ellis remained in Detroit and lived to 101, passing away on October 5, 2000. Her life spanned three centuries touching countless lives.

The Ruth Ellis Center honors her life and is dedicated to serving homeless GLBT youth and young adults. It is one of only four agencies in the United States dedicated to homeless LGBT youth and young adults. Among their services are a drop-in center, street outreach program, transitional living programs, and emergency housing shelter.

"The only way we can get anyplace is by being together....Gay people have to get in there just like anybody else. We have to work. We need more businesses. Scientists, chemists, things like that. If we could get more gay people in our politics, I think it would help a lot....And be honest and caring. Try to love people. Have a happy life if you can in this crazy world."

The Ruth Ellis Center


Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100

Sisters in Cinema - Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Happy Birthday

What to do, what to say, what to give to Austin on such an auspicious occasion, it has to be something unique and personal. ~SK

Looking back at your twenties from tipsy Texan college student upstart actor, guest roles to movies, to holding deals and title characters and series, thinker, writer, observer, artist, young buck to deeply committed man with home and family, a lot has happened in a very short time.
Today marks another crossroads in your journey. So for that there is only one thing to give for your birthday.

This.

In the heart of the of the People's Republic of Cambridge (Cambridge, MA) there is a corner that sums up much.


A writer finds inspiration in all things as they look at the world around them. And this is no different. On this corner is the inspiration for your favorite character, Chance the Gardener aka Chauncey Gardiner. It was this corner and this sign that Jerzy KosiƄski found the name of the observer who watched the world on screen, much like you.


And from that comes the message that it is all about dasein (being there), Heidegger's theory of the essential existence of human beings.

Being There. Simple words for a complex experience.

Here's to a new decade. One that continues to grow and change, observed through your eyes and those of wide eye innocence. One to discover and rediscover, to create, to love, to share, to be.


Welcome to your thirties Mr. Nichols.


“Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it 'creative observation.' Creative viewing.” - William S. Burroughs



Oh one more thing, they don't call them your dirty thirties for nothing. Best advice, get started on that today. Think you can find someone to help you get them off on the right heels legs foot. Enjoy!

Friday, April 23, 2010

I am 29 going on 30

One more day before the big 3-0 and some else just finished up work. Hmmm how convenient... : )

Was Mr.Nichols trapped somewhere out there..like Bavaria? Hell even if he wasn't it still too good not use for a top ten.

Top Ten Things Austin did while waiting for Ash.


10.Text Dad and told him there's a big difference between Bavarian and Barium.

9. Found a two for one lederhosen sale.

8. Realize the hills are alive with the sound of music

7. When I say Texas they say Dallas and I say no I'm Austin.

6. Blew one of those Ricola horns and missed home

5. Found out nothing solves a problem like Maria

4. Did the beer boot got this cool t-shirt that say I did the beer boot in German.

3.After too much Jaggermeister tripped out and had a round table with Hegel,Nietzsche Kant, Engels and Heidegger all agree the dog eating Dan's heart was jumping the shark.

2. Learned to say Eine gut gebratene Gans ist eine gute Gabe Gottes.

And the number one thing

1. Text Get ready for wiener schnitzel baby.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Earth Day 2010

An OMG Earth Day PSA

Just a few years ago it was about being bundled up.
And now What we do affects Climate Change.

From the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The Earth's climate has changed many times during the planet's history, with events ranging from ice ages to long periods of warmth. Historically, natural factors such as volcanic eruptions, changes in the Earth's orbit, and the amount of energy released from the Sun have affected the Earth's climate. Beginning late in the 18th century, human activities associated with the Industrial Revolution have also changed the composition of the atmosphere and therefore very likely are influencing the Earth's climate.

For over the past 200 years, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, and deforestation have caused the concentrations of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from escaping to space, somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.

Greenhouse gases are necessary to life as we know it, because they keep the planet's surface warmer than it otherwise would be. But, as the concentrations of these gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, the Earth's temperature is climbing above past levels. According to NOAA and NASA data, the Earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 to 1.4ÂșF in the last 100 years. The eight warmest years on record (since 1850) have all occurred since 1998, with the warmest year being 2005. Most of the warming in recent decades is very likely the result of human activities. Other aspects of the climate are also changing such as rainfall patterns, snow and ice cover, and sea level.

If greenhouse gases continue to increase, climate models predict that the average temperature at the Earth's surface could increase from 3.2 to 7.2ÂșF above 1990 levels by the end of this century. Scientists are certain that human activities are changing the composition of the atmosphere, and that increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases will change the planet's climate. But they are not sure by how much it will change, at what rate it will change, or what the exact effects will be.

Observed effects include sea level rise, shrinking glaciers, changes in the range and distribution of plants and animals, trees blooming earlier, lengthening of growing seasons, ice on rivers and lakes freezing later and breaking up earlier, and thawing of permafrost. Another key issue being studied is how societies and the Earth's environment will adapt to or cope with climate change.

What can you do to help?

Some things are:
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Use water efficiently

Use green power

Change your light bulbs! There are now highly efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)that last for years, they use a third of the energy of regular bulbs and actually produce more light.

Use public transportation, carpool or walk or bike

Make changes at your table! Go Organic. Eat locally grown food.Eat fruits and vegetables in season.( both saves transportation costs) Plant your own garden.


Check out more here:

Earth Day Network
Global Green USA



Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Mystery (without the) Science Theater

Besides the lady in the hood and the babe in arms there are always other mysteries that seem to PoP up


Like how can you sneak on up on your enemy with this much hardware on and not be heard?


How you do backflips and not knock yourself out with your all necklaces?


Who would want a dagger that been in a hot boot in the desert?

Is fringe in this fall?


Can Tide can get the stain out?


If that is a PoP up umbrella?
Is it going to rain or are you just happy to see me?


And how does a link to a picture show up here days before it gets tweeted and a week before a Tree comes back and tries to hang on by its roots?

Blah blah blah nothing to see here blah blah blah timmmber blah blah tree down.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Have Jake for the Take

You can have a little Jake for you own taking.

Lego Jake



Definitely one to click to full size.


Comic Book Jake

The PoP graphic novel has been released with some of the best artists in the biz lending their talents to tell the tale of the Prince, the dagger and the sands of time. It's a book-length graphic novel written by Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner. It's illustrated by a solid whose who of the comic world with six different artists working on the book.

Cell Phone Jake
PoP Cell Phone Wallpaper







don't forget Action Jake ---

Oops! Wrong Movie.


And while Jake is baring his chest for the movie, you can now bare his movie on your chest.


PoP Ups:

The first shooting location for "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" was at an altitude of 8,200 feet in the mountain village of Oukaimden in the High Atlas Mountains, surrounded by indigenous Berber communities. The cast and crew had to acclimate themselves before proceeding with the demanding action sequences filmed there.

The production battled ferocious sandstorms in Little Fint, outside of Ouarzazate, Morocco.

Morocco offered 100+-degree Fahrenheit temps during production. Massive, air-conditioned tents were erected at the Lycee Hassan II school in Marrakesh. One, which was the size of a football field, housed wardrobe, hair and makeup for the film's background players. And adjoining tent was built just for washing and drying. It was a mind-blowing 124 degrees on the last day of Moroccan filming (Merzouga Sand Dunes outside of Erfoud). According to Morocco Facilities Manager Gregoire Mouveau, during filming in that country the "Prince of Persia" company consumed 1,114,894 bottles of water.