because sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand
a pop culture blog by Joe Tranchina and inspired by Paul Newman
Esquire Theme by Matthew Buchanan
Social icons by Tim van Damme
11
Jan
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
20
Nov
How can you measure acting in inches?
James Dean, on being considered too short to be a star.
19
Aug
When I was a child I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I have ever dreamed has come true a thousand times.
31
Jul
Haley Reinhart has signed to Interscope Records!
Congratulations, Haley! In her honor, here’s a performance that is especially for the fans. Haley was a contestant that was by the people and for the people. Her performance of “Yoü and I” showcases that like no other.
Haley has made it clear. She would not have signed a deal had she not been allowed creative control. She plans on releasing a jazzy, bluesy, soul album after touring with her fellow contestants.
Haley Reinhart knows what she’s doing! Go platinum, Haley!
28
Jun
In the film, Cool Hand Luke’s prison number 37 refers to a Bible verse.
Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing shall be impossible”
26
Jun
Quite possibly the greatest American Idol contestant of all time.
Rumor has it Haley Reinhart has scored a rather secretive record deal with Interscope or a sister label. Her debut is allegedly and tentatively slated for a fall release.
Listen to her studio recording of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” above. The track, which was just leaked on youtube, is fantastic. You can buy the song, along with four others, on Haley’s EP which will be available on Tuesday, June 28th.
Cheers! to the career of the lovely and talented Haley Reinhart!
23
May
Stand firm for what you believe in, until and unless logic and experience prove you wrong. Remember, when the emperor looks naked, the emperor is naked. The truth and a lie are not ‘sort of’ the same thing. And there is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza.
22
Mar
I had no natural gift to be anything — not an athlete, not an actor, not a writer, not a director, a painter of garden porches — not anything. So I’ve worked really hard, because nothing ever came easily to me.
14
Mar
I never lie. I believe everything I say, so it’s not a lie.
28
Feb
People today are overly critical of award shows but I guess that is just our time.
After all, that’s what generates buzz. That’s what gets you the facebook “like” or comment and that’s what gets you that retweet or that one extra follower on twitter. It’s not posting about how you “loved The King’s Speech.” It’s making a snarky comment about stuttering featuring The King’s Speech. Cynics run social networking sites and people are addicted to them.
The Oscars were too long, too dry, too awkward, not enough, blah, blah, blah. There will always be something! An award show is a giant red target. It’s not moving. It sits there for three or more hours and all of its cracks and flaws show sooner or later. Critiquing it just seems gratuitous. You’re not really being clever or smart. You’re being obvious and so you might as well not say anything at all.
If I had to critique The Academy Awards this year it would not really be a critique at all. It would just be a disappointment in how the cards fell. I can’t say that I was inspired overall. I found Christian Bale’s speech to be great. I loved seeing Dicky Eklund, the man who’s life inspired his character in The Fighter, and I loved how Christian promoted him and his website (Eklund trains professional boxers today just as he trained his brother Micky Ward in the film). I found many of the other wins, although justified, to be somewhat dull in that they weren’t truly moments they were just speeches.
It’s hard to find the balance between how much of this is for them and how much of this is for us. After all, movies are made for our entertainment; however, it is to be assumed that many of these people work very hard for these oscars. It it 50/50? I’m not sure. If I don’t find Colin Firth’s speech to be particularly inspiring after waiting three hours for it, do I get angry because it wasn’t an overly emotional moment for him as I felt it should be? or do I reconcile that it’s his speech and he should do what he wants with it because we still got a great movie?
The way I see it, even if an awards show only generates but a few seconds worth of inspiration, it’s probably much more worth it than not experiencing it at all, especially for someone with dreams of making it big in entertainment someday.
