Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Variations on a Theme

The pilot I did for Showtime, RAY DONOVAN, was picked up to series. @SHO_Network @SHO_PR - AUS10

Great news  about the pilot getting picked up and better news for us that we will get to more of Austin in the year ahead.

How much of Austin  will we see when he's on screen with his character and Showtime's history... quite possibly a lot.

Tommy Jenkins...Cocky, and intelligent movie star who loves to break the rules and take chances....But Tommy finds himself in hot water with the press when he is caught with a prostitute, and he now must turn to Ray for help.

  And not just  a prostitute but one with shall we say a little something something extra.

Brash, cocky, smart, the character gives Austin a chance to show off what he's been hiding behind that devilish grin.....

 Now  will it be the Parking garage?  or  Behind a restaurant? 

 No doubt Austin doesn't have to look far for background on a rule breaking movie star who's found himself in hot water.

It's an role that could bring him one step closer... step by step.

Go Austin Go.
And since it's Tuesday, it's Two Wheels.... here's a LA salute.


28 comments:

Florida Tom said...

I have been a huge fan of Rafa Nadal for a long time. Rafael is a great tennis player and very hot. I have seen and heard some rumors that Nadal may be Gay. I have also heard some rumors that his friend and NBA star Pau Gasol is Gay. Pau attended the French open which Nadal just won for the seventh time. The hug that they gave each other after the match was very very passionate. I am beginning to believe more and more that it may be true.

Florida Tom said...

My new avatar. Nadal so called girl friend was no where to be seen during hug time after the victory which was also very interesting.

Florida Tom said...

To me in the photo it looks like Pau is kissing Nadal on the top of his head. So sweet. Nadal also did pose for a Gay calender in the past.

Special K said...

Tom it looks like there is very honest emotion in that embrace. It's great to see guys not afraid to show that with each other.

Methodical Muser said...

Wow, that is some kind of hug, isn't it Tom? The reports indicate that Rafael Nadal hopped into the the crowd to hug his mother, father, coach, girlfriend, sister, and Pau Gasol.

As you say, no girlfriend in sight. Tender and passionate all wrapped up into one. An intimate moment between these two men, no doubt about it. Thanks for sharing this.

destiny said...

Thanks Tom, never heard those rumors before.

prairiegirl said...

Interesting and very nice picture, Tom, thanks for bringing. I definitely see strong feelings there. I have to say that I don't know these guys but just looking at the photo, I get that.

PG is just 100% dog tired this morning. And very cranky and crabby. I need one of those Monster drinks or something. Something is going to have to get me through this long day ahead, lol. I don't know what but I don't think I am going to make it. I don't think I can even get up out of this chair at the moment.

Fun game last night. Chicago dog was a disappointment. That guy put too much mustard and relish on there. Why do people think you have to slather condiments on things? And then he told me my pickle was "all that green stuff". Noooo, all that green stuff is relish. Relish is not the same as pickle. Everyone told me it was under the relish and I tried to tell them it was not in there. Sure enough, no pickle. And the sign said pickle and relish. That's what a Chicago dog is. **sigh**. Grrr.

Well, off to work. Nice bike, Special, Is that thing for real?

Seaweed said...

Last night I did some 'Nadal' surfing and discovered some articles and a few vids and images of he and also Gasol.

Looks like high flying tennis pros are as tightly managed and packaged as hollywood stars.

Thanks for bringing this up Tom! I'll keep my eye on Nadal from now on.

prairiegirl said...

I've always really liked Carrie Underwood. She has come out in support of same-sex marriage and that's a great thing for someone of her huge popularity & success. She's a country star and she is taking some heat on Twitter right now from some of her fans and also conservatives because she is widely known to be a follower of Jesus. I love what she says though and I love that she spoke out like she did. I'm sure she knew she would lose some fans and lose some sales. This is pretty big for the CW industry that she spoke out like this. Carrie is huge in Nashville. Good for Carrie, love her!!!!

Sorry for the Fisher Price.

Posted at 03:19 PM ET, 06/11/2012
Carrie Underwood voices support for same-sex marriage
By Sarah Anne Hughes

Carrie Underwood has voiced her support for same-sex marriage.

In an interview with the Independent, the married country singer said, “I don’t know what it’s like to be told I can’t marry somebody I love, and want to marry. ... I can’t imagine how that must feel.”

“I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love,” she continued to the U.K. outlet.

The “American Idol” winner explained that she attends a “gay friendly” church and doesn’t believe she has the right to judge anyone.

“Above all, God wanted us to love others,” the “Jesus Take the Wheel” singer told the Independent.

Fellow country singer Chely Wright, who came out as a lesbian in 2010 and married her partner the following year, called Underwood “brave” and “bold” on Twitter for the decision to support same-sex marriage. However, the reaction hasn’t been totally positive.

Underwood has never shied away from injecting her faith in her music, something she discussed in a recent interview with Glamour (via Taste of Country.)

“Country music is different. You have that Bible Belt-ness about it,” she explained. “I’m not the first person to sing about God, Jesus, faith [or] any of that, and I won’t be the last. And it won’t be the last for me, either. If you don’t like it, change the channel.”

It’s because of this that some of the religious backlash against this revelation should be expected. Some commenters on the site Taste of Country, for example, said they are “disappointed” in Underwood, while others said they would no longer buy her music.

Still, it seems this announcement has gained Underwood fans, as well. One commenter on the Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Because of her comments I am now interested in supporting [her] all the more.”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/carrie-underwood-voices-support-for-same-sex-marriage/2012/06/11/gJQAA96LVV_blog.html

? said...

PG, what does your church preach about homosexuals?

Paid professional trolls said...

I(was)A Professional Internet Poster. I got paid to turn internet opinion in favor of our clients, or against our clients' opponents. AM(almost)A (self.IAmA)

-submitted 16 hours ago by Pro_Tester-

Today I started a new job as a software test engineer. It's not fun; I'm in a den full of smelly guys doing the same test over and over again until something breaks. I'm loving it. I haven't felt this good, this clean about work in years. Though I have an unending Non Disclosure Agreement with my last company, the focus of this post, I want to do this to help... I don't know, assuage my guilt (?) at what I've done for a paycheck for the past [X] years. This is my story; I hope I can get it all out during my 45 minute lunch break.

I was hired by a commercial marketing company about [X] years ago. At first I was started off simply polling the internet for opinions, getting the general feel of the public and using that to make suggestions on how the clients could change their marketing to get a better acceptance rate. Slowly, almost unnoticeably (though, maybe I had my own blinders on), our direction started changing. When I was hired, there were [a dozen or two] other guys like me doing "market research."
We expanded as the company took on more clients, and the bigger we got, the more our directives changed. Eventually we stopped polling for opinions almost entirely and, instead, we were instructed to directly manipulate public opinion via posting as users on forums and community boards. We were supposed to be the catalysts to set off sparks of support (or outrage) for (or against) some person or product. Chances are you've read my posts before without knowing it; Digg and, eventually, Reddit were good places for "general" work, though most of our time was spent on forums with more specific topics.

Paid professional trolls said...

I've worked for more than a few well-known clients, and worked to change opinions on people, companies, and products that frequently (though not always) went against my personal convictions. We worked for politicians, video game publishers, media companies, phone companies, food companies, a shoe company... everyone you can imagine, really.

On a typical job, the client would get six to twelve "researchers" and we would actually start by doing real polling to find a basis. What do people already think? What emotional platforms can we exploit? Each of us has a reservoir of hundreds of accounts on dozens of forums and community boards. (In some cases we paid the website owners to create "old" accounts for us, complete with backdated registration date, increased post count, and whatever community points/ranks they used, if any.) This way we could frequently work on a particular community without it seeming like one person (or group of people) was always being the vanguard for things.
Even though each of us had multiple accounts on a particular forum, we seldom work alone, as spotting similar writing styles between different accounts proved to be detrimental early on. We also added a repertoire of hundreds of paid, private ******* around the world. (We didn't give internet detectives enough credit, and we were called out a couple of times.) Most of the time we have a group of guys go on a forum and publicly discuss the product, talking it up and hyping it, but with a real "grassroots" genuine feel to it. At least, that's the goal.

Paid professional trolls said...

Other times we would purposely start disagreements between us, with one side meant to lose in such a pathetic way that readers would be shamed to be on "that side" of the argument. We started using this more and more as time went on, as we saw better results from it. People liked feeling that both sides of an issue had been weighed and a clear winner had been determined... even when it was all a staged show. The point is that we were supposed to start a movement and then walk away, letting the natural momentum carry it into a useful marketing tool.

We were not the only group doing this. On two occasions we were told to work with another marketing company to really drive up support for [a US political candidate] and against [his opponent]. This instance really got to me, though, as I was a supporter of and voted for [his opponent]. I think that was the turning point that really made me realize I wasn't okay doing that anymore. Still, that was some time ago, and it wasn't until just recently that I found a neutral pretense to leave while I went and found another job.
And that's where I am now. I'm making 30% less than I used to, it's contract work, and by all external appearances, it's a much worse job. Maybe it'll sink in later, but I tell you guys, I feel great about it. Even just writing this has made me feel a lot better. (The power of confession, eh?) Who knows; maybe this is the last Reddit account I'll ever need. Oh, what a nice thought that is!
*edit*

I've redacted a couple details and put generic terms between [ and ] brackets. While there are enough people that do this that I don't think it's likely that I'll be caught, I know that some of my old colleagues are likely to stumble upon this at work (and if they have any decency they'll keep it to themselves!) and I don't want to wind up in court over this public confession.
*edit - 5/3*

Paid professional trolls said...

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/h3bfi/iwasa_professional_internet_poster_i_got_paid_to/

destiny said...

Fascinating Paid professional trolls. I have always thought that during certain periods of the Reeking years that was going on here and at WFT2, trying to convince us that Jake was really straight.

Tom, I didn't really have time to study your avatar last night. It really is a very emotional photo. It's unfortunate that tennis stars are so packaged, it's all about the endorsements.

Paid professional trolls said...

ITA Destiny. The comments are also well worth a read...

US Weekly said...

This is dedicated to the Minka troll who will be happy to hear about this planted (virtual) bearding, but too bad it didn’t work out!

From the new US Weekly June 25 2012 (print edition):

Secret dates with his ‘crush’...but the spark never caught fire...and it’s over now

prairiegirl said...

Our own M&M called this one first, you guys.

I bet they were going to try some form of bearding and they bailed when M&M spelled it all out here on OMG.

Minka was sent packing back home the weekend M&M called them out on it.

This is unbelievable and a HUGE head-off.

prairiegirl said...

Unstinkinbelievable.

Tonight I'm going to show you guys how they tried to float a Jake/Minka date and how they did it without it going global.

;) said...

and they bailed when M&M spelled it all out here on OMG.

LOL!

No cigar said...

Minka Kelly ‏@minkakelly
Not my nature to address rumors, but contrary to popular belief, I'm not dating anyone. #pleasestopasking

24 Apr

prairiegirl said...

That is an important piece of the picture, no cigar. Thanks for posting that. Thanks to US Weekly as well. Somebody's helping to keep the home fires burning.

Marty McFly said...

From the new US Weekly June 25 2012 (print edition)

Back to the future?

Math is Important said...

Kelly spent the winter romancing serial dater Wilmer Valderrama,32.But when that affair fizzled in LATE APRIL...

Minka Kelly ‏@minkakelly
Not my nature to address rumors, but contrary to popular belief, I'm not dating anyone. #pleasestopasking

24 APRIL

Special K said...

Good catch M&M, sharp sharp eyes.

The timing of this Minka story is also very interesting.

It comes after Jake was seen at the Rufus show and pretty much ignoring his co-stars, and Austin's how getting picked up where he is playing a very provocative role that is familiar in Hollywood.

You wonder if they had waiting just in case they needed to pull the trigger and use it.

Again it is another story about Jake not having luck with the ladies. You think management is trying to tell the public something?

prairiegirl said...

I think they were going to have him beard again, Special. I think he was going to do it.

They went to an awful lot of trouble of having her on the East Coast that weekend of the races for it to just be a high wire catch net.

I think M&M called it and it would have looked ridiculous for her to show up in Toronto because a few of us were already calling it.

How obvious would it have looked for her to show up in Toronto? They couldn't do it. So she was sent back to L.A.

But then someone tried to float something again two weekends ago; whether it was a fan or it was his public relations on that one, is unclear to me yet.

There's no doubt in my mind that we've got someone from Jake's camp who stakes this blog out.

Absolutely no doubt in my mind now.

prairiegirl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
prairiegirl said...

Boy, our air conditioning is not working in our office and it got up to 80 degrees in there. It's still not working either. Man oh man.

How spoiled are we when it seems just unbearable to work in that kind of dead air? Pretty darn spoiled!