Friday, November 30, 2012

Tall Glass of Something

Jake's been a busy guy in England


He chatted with Grimmy on BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show



And he went and sat down to chat and cracked up with Graham Norton



But it's Austin Friday - so why all the Jake stuff


Jake happy happy demeanor might not be just his hiatus of the play or being in London,  but that he's not there just by himself.  He is truly a happy chappy which lends to believe that he has those he loves with him, including that Tall Texan that makes him smile.

Speaking of that Tall Texan.

Jake was asked what drink he would be on the live chat with MSN UK and what did he say?

 "A Ribena. Next to a tall glass of water..."

Now Ribena is sweeten black current juice - that still is a little tart

And a tall glass of water? 

Jake who ever do you mean that you'd be next to?
A little bit tart?

Now how's that for your Austin Friday?


Thursday, November 29, 2012

End over End

Jake's trip to England is more of a busman's holiday with him doing promotion for EoW to at least three outlets tomorrow.



Jake will chat with BBC Radio One's Nick Grimshaw Friday morning,  field questions on MSN UK later in the day and then his late couch time  with Graham Norton.

And it looks like the end of the End in terms of promotion for it's theatrical run too. And for those who missed it  End of Watch is coming out on Blu-Ray and DVD in the US on January 20th.



While Jake works his way out of 2012, 2013 will give him a little rest in Jan will soon ramp up in February as he goes back in front of the camera for Prisoners.

Then maybe Jake's beard will get a break.


All work and no play? 

 

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A Little Independent Spirit

There was speculation that End of Watch would be well represented across the board at Independent Spirit Awards,  but it came out with just two nominations and Jake isn't one of them.


The two noms came for best supporting male for Michael Pena,


 and for best cinematography nom for Roman Vasyanov.


Will End of Watch be a part of the Golden Globe Derby?  It will be a wait and see.

And where was Jake when the Independent Award noms where announced?  England

And it looks like Austin was a traveling man too.  (More about that on Austin Friday Travelogue)

 But there is work to do this week Jake is off the play.  He's sitting down and getting chatty.

One correction about Jake on Graham Norton.

Jake  will be on Graham Norton THIS Friday night  on BBC One Channel ( 10:35pm).


His visit with Graham along with other guest Joan Rivers, Ke$ha, and the 2/3rd of Top Gear will be on BBC America December 8th.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

.... pulls you back in

The Crazy Tree might be over, but crazy hasn't finished just yet.

While Brulian is long gone, it has popped up on TV’s Top 50 Love Stories of the Past Decade put together by BuddyTV right at the middle at #25.

My fingers numb you can stop squeezing now.
Fans always knew it would take a monumental, cinematic-level of romance to sweep damaged rich girl Brooke Davis off her feet. Enter film director Julian whose persistence and devilish smile gave Brooke the happy ending her movie deserved.  





 Well the one thing we all can agree on was Julian's devilish grin and still agree on Austin's amazing smile.


Monday, November 26, 2012

Old Blighty Bound

"If There is" is on a break starting today (Nov 26) thru to D-day (Dec 7), so what will Jake be doing?




England

Well at least part of the time.  And don't think it's a trip to keep the accent up to snuff.

Jake is scheduled for several interviews while in England, including something he has never done before.

That is going on the Graham Norton show.

Jake is going to brave the comedy chat show for the first time, and he is joining  Joan Rivers, and Top Gear presenters Jame May and Jeremy Clarkson, and singer Ke$ha.

Taped earlier next week, the show will be first shown on BBC One, Dec 8th.  The episode will then be on BBC America a week or two later.

But can Jake survive Joan the lady who left her filter with her first face so long ago?

And with the Top Gear guys give Jake grief for being a bachelor who is driving a family truckster of an Audi.  And the thought of Jake and Ke$ha could just send you running into the night.

And on The Graham Norton show, Jake can't just chat and go.  Ohhh no no,  on Graham Norton, the guests stay on the couch the whole hour, it's the audience that might get boot before the show ends.

 Maybe his sister can give him some tips.


Keep your eyes peeled for mentions of Jake in England starting now,  he could have left as early as today.  But did he go alone?  Guess it's a wait and see too.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight was a composer, pianist and musicologist known principally for his work as a composer for films. They were nominated for an Academy Award twice for their work, and won a BAFTA in 1985. Today's Out Spotlight is Richard Robbins.

Richard Robbins was born December 4, 1940 in South Weymouth, Massachusetts and began his musical studies at the age of five. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, he received a Frank Huntington Beebe Fellowship and continued his studies in Vienna, Austria.

In 1976, while he was acting director of the Preparatory School at Mannes College of Music, Robbins taught the youngest daughter of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the noted novelist, screenwriter and winner of the Man Booker Prize for her novel Heat and Dust. Jhabvala introduced Robbins to filmmakers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, which launched their longtime collaboration.

Of their initial meeting, Ivory said Robbins "liked us and we liked him, and then he gradually became a composer. I don't think that was something he ever thought he'd be doing, writing film music, but what happened to him was what happened to me and to Ruth: Ismail just kind of assigned us our roles and that was that."

Ivory added, "I think the more Dick did, the more he realized he could do. And soon, he was writing really wonderful original music."
He concluded, "I always felt that if anything happened to him and we didn't have his music, then it really wouldn't be a Merchant Ivory film. His music was integral to our films."

Robbins first work in film was Sweet Sounds, a documentary about gifted five-- year old music students, conceived and directed by Robbins and produced by Merchant and Ivory. Robbins went on to compose the score for the 1983 film adaptation of Jhabvalas' Heat and Dust.

Robbins went on to create the score for nearly every Merchant-Ivory film from The Europeans in 1979 to The White Countess in 2005.

He typically combined lavish orchestrations with synthesized minimalist cues to evoke the dramatic complexity of each film and the psychology of its characters.

Robbins's work embraced a wide range of music and musical styles, from opera to jazz. His romantic, lushly orchestrated music for Maurice (1987), which won an award at the Venice Film Festival, was quite different from the melancholic score he wrote for The Remains of the Day, for example.

His compositional style combined lavish orchestrations with synthesized minimalist cues, evoking the dramatic complexity of each film and the psychology of its characters. Robbins said of his process, "I know when ... the hard part of writing the score is over, because I know how I feel about a character. That's a great relief. That can happen all at once: it can be as simple as watching one of the characters enter a room or walk down a hallway. In The Remains of the Day, it happened when I first saw the shot of Emma Thompson walking down the hall toward the camera. That did it."

He was responsible for choosing and supervising all the music for the films he worked on, from the pop songs for Slaves of New York (1989) to the Puccini aria "O mio babbino caro" for A Room With a View (1985).

Robbins was best known for the scores he wrote for Merchant-Ivory films,  he won a Golden Osella from the Venice Film Festival for Maurice (1987), was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Score for Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993). His score for A Room with a View (1985) won him a British Academy Award.

Robbins work in film extended to direction. Inspired by a leper couple he heard singing a duet of what he described as almost unearthly beauty on the street below his Bombay hotel window, Robbins directed Street Musicians of Bombay (1993), documenting the street life of that city.

Robbins work was honored in 1996 at a gala benefit concert at Carnegie Hall supporting AIDS research. Robbins was passionate about his dogs , his gardens, and all aspects of the natural world.

Richard Robbins died on November 7, 2012 at age 71 at his home in Rhinebeck, New York , following a long struggle with Parkinsons disease. He is survived by his long-time partner, painter Michael T. Schell. In 1994, the couple collaborated on Via Crucis, a musical and visual collage representing the Stations of the Cross.

In addition to Schell, he was survived by his brothers Donald, William, John, and Peter Robbins and several nieces and nephews.

The clip below is the music from the end titles of Maurice, the Merchant-Ivory film based on E. M. Forster's novel of homosexual awakening and love.


Saturday, November 24, 2012

Sparkle Motioned

Donnie Darko was quite the deep dark mysterious philosophical journey







that didn't mean the set was:



 Jake with a little special sparkle motion.