plucked this one off the fmu message board :
Kathy Graham ckane@wpost.org
Bush Bush In The Puss
Wed Jul 18 12:31:31 2001
Who Cares What You Think?
Here's an honest to God (?) account of one person's meeting with the President in Philadelphia last week:
"So when the President was here on July 4, I had the opportunity to shake his hand. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not but I did it anyway, and said to him, "Mr. President, I hope you only serve four years. I'm very disappointed in your work so far." He kept smiling and shaking my hand but answered, "Who cares what you think?"
His face stayed photo-op perfect, but his eyes gave me a look that said, if we'd been drinking in some frathouse in Texas, he'd've happily answered, "Let's take it outside." A nasty little gleam.
But he was (fortunately) constrained by Presidential propriety. But that was the end of it until I turned away and started scribbling the quote down in my notepad, so as to remember the "Gift" forever. When he saw me do that, he got excited and craned his neck over the rubberneckers to shout at me, "Who are you with? Who are you with?" People started looking, so he made a joke: "Make sure you get it right." But he kept at it: "Who do you write for?" I told him I wasn't "with" anybody and pointed to one of his staff people who knows me a little, and said, "Ask him, he'll tell you."
Then I split.
Half an hour later, my boss (who had helped organize the event we were at) came up to me and said, "Did you really tell the President that he was doing a 'lousy fucking job'?" "No way," I said, "I was very polite, I just told him what I thought." Fortunately, he believed me. He wasn't happy with me, but he believed me.
But anyway, if you ever wondered if the Prez really is kind of a jerk, I'm here to tell you, he is, and I got The Gift to prove it. I'm thinking of making up T-shirts so we can share The Gift with everyone: "Who cares what you think?" - President George W. Bush, July 4, 2001.
Andrew Hudson
Spokesman, Mayor Wellington Webb
1437 Bannock Street, ST. 350
Denver, CO 80202
Direct (720) 865-9016
FAX (720) 865-8791
Pager (303) 640-0780
Cell (303) 880-9521
For information on Mayor Webb's Office
Do The Mouse
Kathy Graham ckane@wpost.org
Bush Bush In The Puss
Wed Jul 18 12:31:31 2001
Who Cares What You Think?
Here's an honest to God (?) account of one person's meeting with the President in Philadelphia last week:
"So when the President was here on July 4, I had the opportunity to shake his hand. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not but I did it anyway, and said to him, "Mr. President, I hope you only serve four years. I'm very disappointed in your work so far." He kept smiling and shaking my hand but answered, "Who cares what you think?"
His face stayed photo-op perfect, but his eyes gave me a look that said, if we'd been drinking in some frathouse in Texas, he'd've happily answered, "Let's take it outside." A nasty little gleam.
But he was (fortunately) constrained by Presidential propriety. But that was the end of it until I turned away and started scribbling the quote down in my notepad, so as to remember the "Gift" forever. When he saw me do that, he got excited and craned his neck over the rubberneckers to shout at me, "Who are you with? Who are you with?" People started looking, so he made a joke: "Make sure you get it right." But he kept at it: "Who do you write for?" I told him I wasn't "with" anybody and pointed to one of his staff people who knows me a little, and said, "Ask him, he'll tell you."
Then I split.
Half an hour later, my boss (who had helped organize the event we were at) came up to me and said, "Did you really tell the President that he was doing a 'lousy fucking job'?" "No way," I said, "I was very polite, I just told him what I thought." Fortunately, he believed me. He wasn't happy with me, but he believed me.
But anyway, if you ever wondered if the Prez really is kind of a jerk, I'm here to tell you, he is, and I got The Gift to prove it. I'm thinking of making up T-shirts so we can share The Gift with everyone: "Who cares what you think?" - President George W. Bush, July 4, 2001.
Andrew Hudson
Spokesman, Mayor Wellington Webb
1437 Bannock Street, ST. 350
Denver, CO 80202
Direct (720) 865-9016
FAX (720) 865-8791
Pager (303) 640-0780
Cell (303) 880-9521
For information on Mayor Webb's Office
Do The Mouse
longest meal of my life was in Provence couple weeks back
6 hours, we sat down at 7:30 and signed the check at 1:30am
yes had 6 bottle os wine for 4 of us but due to the long meal i didnt feel anything, we had the 9 course truffle menu, and some dishes were great other ok, i had fun and time wasnt an issue for me as i had enhanced my system before but the service was bad exp since this was a 2* michelin spot
the chef supposably runs through the woods in the am and finds wild herbs and finds new cheese producers etc
great dishes were: wild mint soup with a wild shroom girole plus shaved truffle, grilled veggies w/ wild mountain parley n truffle sauce that included sunfloer floers in all the stages, a baby zuchini stuffed with spicy truffled tomatoe sorbet....
Moulin de Lourmarin in Lourmarin
but you must click restaurant at the bottom to see the story!!
6 hours, we sat down at 7:30 and signed the check at 1:30am
yes had 6 bottle os wine for 4 of us but due to the long meal i didnt feel anything, we had the 9 course truffle menu, and some dishes were great other ok, i had fun and time wasnt an issue for me as i had enhanced my system before but the service was bad exp since this was a 2* michelin spot
the chef supposably runs through the woods in the am and finds wild herbs and finds new cheese producers etc
great dishes were: wild mint soup with a wild shroom girole plus shaved truffle, grilled veggies w/ wild mountain parley n truffle sauce that included sunfloer floers in all the stages, a baby zuchini stuffed with spicy truffled tomatoe sorbet....
Moulin de Lourmarin in Lourmarin
but you must click restaurant at the bottom to see the story!!
forgive me but I could not pass on Hippie Chick. The seller just contacted me letting me know that he has a bunch of others from the same shoot. He will send me some scans so I can decide. Oh, I've already decided.
No links provided by the New Yorker for one of this week's Showcase pieces titled ART JOCKS penned by Alexi Worth which focuses on the new Joel Shapiro instalation in (on?) the Met's roof top garden (that's Mr Wilson's stomping ground). He kicks it off with a reference to Ad Reinharts quote on sculpture. "...somthing you bumped into when stepping back to look at a painting", then switched "painting" to "Dakota" for the occasion. Shapiros have long been the "must have" pool-patio adornment of choice in top (and near top) LA circles. He goes on to describe the five pieces, "flying Waleda like clusters of limbs", "speed skates", "marches", "topples", "kicks". "His biggest yet at 24' in bronze, aluminum and polychrome rocket-red."
You can tell he wants to slam them, but just won't spit it out. Not untill the final paragraph, I quote :
"Over the past thirty years, Shapiro's sculptures have become more insidiously likable and less conceptually demanding. Critics have implied that this is a bad thing, a drift toward Henry Moore-ish accessability. But Moore's matriarchs invite you to carress them; Shapiro's athletes want you to get out of their way. They project a healthy impatience, linking Degas's self-absorbed ballerinas to John Woo's kung-fu fighters. Sure, they're simpler and less mobile than we are. But they're also having a better time."
Finally ! (but he will still be able to eat lunch in this town again.)
You can tell he wants to slam them, but just won't spit it out. Not untill the final paragraph, I quote :
"Over the past thirty years, Shapiro's sculptures have become more insidiously likable and less conceptually demanding. Critics have implied that this is a bad thing, a drift toward Henry Moore-ish accessability. But Moore's matriarchs invite you to carress them; Shapiro's athletes want you to get out of their way. They project a healthy impatience, linking Degas's self-absorbed ballerinas to John Woo's kung-fu fighters. Sure, they're simpler and less mobile than we are. But they're also having a better time."
Finally ! (but he will still be able to eat lunch in this town again.)
Had a decent meal last night at Jane (Houston St. - north side - and Thompson.) Very nice room. Entrees around $19, apps around $9. We had good fried clams (very good fry, maybe not enough clams,) O.K. crab cake, O.K. tomato and watermellon salad, and a great fennel and beet salad with some sort of sliced hard cheese. For entrees we had a good eggplant and truffle oil risotto, a nice sea bass with gnocchi, and two meat dishes that looked good (but I didn't taste.) Maybe that doesn't sound like a great review, but overall it felt very nice. Maybe it was the service which was excellent. That always helps. Nothing to absolutely die for, but no mistakes either.
On the wine side we drank a good 99 Lingenfelder Reiseling (Terry Theise selection) and the ever popular 98 "Les Terraces" Rioja ($43 - a little cheaper than I've seen it elsewhere.)
Good choice by itself, plus it's pretty handy if you can't get into Lupa (who can?) and don't want to walk very far for a decent alternative. It gets my vote.
On the wine side we drank a good 99 Lingenfelder Reiseling (Terry Theise selection) and the ever popular 98 "Les Terraces" Rioja ($43 - a little cheaper than I've seen it elsewhere.)
Good choice by itself, plus it's pretty handy if you can't get into Lupa (who can?) and don't want to walk very far for a decent alternative. It gets my vote.
ate again last night at Locanda Vini & Alii--it rocked and was far superior to my fist visit--salad's, soup, app's and pasta's were all we ate--all but one were right on--room had some wine industry rockers and good mix of local's--jim is right the 1997 Pico Vini is very good in an old school way, but the wine star is the 2000 Petite Arvine IMnotsoHO.....
This was originally a link to a now expired page six article on the Genart art show at the Puck building. (the complete article is now posted in the comments section of this thread) Curators Jon Raymond and Jay Sanders took the oppurtunity to make the whole show a prank. All but one of the artists in the show are friends of the curators using pseudonyms and made work specifically for the show, work which they would not make "in real life" Not only was the art work itself a prank, but many of the dramatic events at the opening were staged. The incedents ranged from an organized protest, to accusations of adultry and spilled drinks.
ive got some of those comments that wont go away. how do i clear those out?
"Dow Jones is discontinuing the "ownership and maintenance of indoor plants" in a bid to save $40,000 a year at the Wall Street Journal and its other properties.
"If you would like to take over the maintenance of any of the plants," staffers were told in a memo, "please attach a yellow Post-It note with your name to a visible part of the plant container."
I haven't bought the times in weeks but I do get a summerial e.mail from them every morning / todays includes this :
How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote
A six-month investigation by The Times shows that under intense pressure from Republicans, Florida officials accepted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state election laws.
How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote
A six-month investigation by The Times shows that under intense pressure from Republicans, Florida officials accepted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state election laws.
From Wired:
When a family of ducklings fell down a Vancouver sewer grate, their mother did what any parent would do: She got help from a passing police officer. Vancouver police officer Ray Peterson didn’t know what to make of the duck that grabbed him by the pant leg while he was on foot patrol in a neighborhood near the city's downtown. He pushed her away, but the mother duck persisted, grabbing Peterson's leg again when he tried to leave, and then waddling to a nearby sewer grate where she sat down and waited for him to follow and investigate. "I went up to where the duck was lying and saw eight little babies in the water below," he said. Police said they removed the heavy metal grate with the help of a tow truck and used a vegetable strainer to lift the ducklings to safety. Mother and offspring then departed for a nearby pond.
my hand became my enemy
Either way, art seems to have triumphed once and for all, at the price of having nowhere to go. "Art after the end of art," Danto called it. Could art really have escaped its own history?
Either way, art seems to have triumphed once and for all, at the price of having nowhere to go. "Art after the end of art," Danto called it. Could art really have escaped its own history?
bill, tom, steve how was the concert--i had to run i felt it would have been rude to leave during show and i had been there a bit and neede to work at home
Charlotte Morman
" I had no difficulty being Korean in America. We were thinking in terms of numbers. This virgin land here was so big that I didn’t have a problem. I could go anywhere. I wanted to do everything. I was like an elephant in a china shop. I could break everything. I was very excited about a revolution with Charlotte Mormon and me. In Germany I was making a kind of “sexable music” and I couldn’t find in Germany an instrumentalist girl who would play nude for me. In Japan I was looking for some nude girls, but at that time, classical music was a middle class thing in Japan. So they were very prudent. So they didn’t understand what I wanted. But Charlotte Mormon was wild oats, a tough girl. So she was a very tough girl; she knew what I was trying to do. America had become a very important art country by then. America was invading Germany and France already and I needed a homeland, to homestead. When I was in New York I came here to SoHo. I lived on Canal street for almost 10 years." -NJP
Fame Exchange
" I had no difficulty being Korean in America. We were thinking in terms of numbers. This virgin land here was so big that I didn’t have a problem. I could go anywhere. I wanted to do everything. I was like an elephant in a china shop. I could break everything. I was very excited about a revolution with Charlotte Mormon and me. In Germany I was making a kind of “sexable music” and I couldn’t find in Germany an instrumentalist girl who would play nude for me. In Japan I was looking for some nude girls, but at that time, classical music was a middle class thing in Japan. So they were very prudent. So they didn’t understand what I wanted. But Charlotte Mormon was wild oats, a tough girl. So she was a very tough girl; she knew what I was trying to do. America had become a very important art country by then. America was invading Germany and France already and I needed a homeland, to homestead. When I was in New York I came here to SoHo. I lived on Canal street for almost 10 years." -NJP
Fame Exchange
Stephen Vitiello
Listen to Walker Arts Center audio project 7/1-30/01 crossfade
Tetrasomia
The Light of Falling Cars
The World Trade Center Residency
Scratchy Marimba
TWISTER
interviewed
Listen to Walker Arts Center audio project 7/1-30/01 crossfade
Tetrasomia
The Light of Falling Cars
The World Trade Center Residency
Scratchy Marimba
TWISTER
interviewed
What exactly is a Media Z Lounge, a Sky
Media Loft, or a Login Gateway? And could
someone please explain what happens
when you take a Chariot to the Heavens?
Media Loft, or a Login Gateway? And could
someone please explain what happens
when you take a Chariot to the Heavens?
Brézéme
Over ten years ago Eric Texier read about a lost viticulture area in the 1880’s book Les Grands Vins de France by Dr. Ramain. This once famous area is very similar to Hermitage, with its steep, south-facing slope, hillside vineyards. It is about 30 miles south of Hermitage, on the east side of the Rhone River, outside the town of Livron. The history of the appellation goes back to the last century, and in the early 1900’s, wines from Brézéme sold for as much as Hermitage. In the middle part of the century most of the vineyards were abandoned. There was less than one hectare planted in vines in 1961.
There are now 22 hectares in vines and Eric is the #1 bottler
of Brézéme, controlling more than a third of the current appellation. There is room for more vineyard plantings but this is a very complicated issue. From what I gathered on my magical visit is there are six owners but only four bottles it as Brézéme. Note: due to the microclimate
Brézéme is harvested end September to early October,
several weeks later than Hermitage.
Pouchoulin
First vintage was 1940 and he’s the Grandfather of Brézéme . His father made the wine before him and some of these 100 year old Syrah vines remain. All his vines are 60-100 years old. He is slowly turning over his vines of Syrah and Roussanne to Eric. In the 2000 vintage he is making only 55cs of red and less of white. This was the most moving visit we have ever made in all the years visiting cellars.
Pouchoulin age’s his Syrah for 30 months in barrel’s, which look like they are from the 40’s. We tasted: 2000 Blanc, 1999 and 2000 Rouge from barrel, plus the 1998 Rouge and 1999 Blanc in bottle. Also the 1989 Rouge that spend 2 months in new oak (the only time new oak was ever used) than 4 years in old wood. Bottled in 1994, this was the first time Pouchoulin tasted it since 1997.
Pouchoulin told us one interesting story. He read somewhere many years ago that the chemicals that you put in the vineyard will end up in the grape and the wine. So as he is his #1 customer, (he drinks half of his production himself) he went to organic farming as to not poison himself.
Jean-Marie Lombard
We did not visit this producer but did taste his 1995 Rouge (which showed flawed winemaking) the night before at Moulin de Lourmarin. Older vintages were said to be excellent here.
It’s the only reference to Brézéme we know of before Eric as they were at one time imported to the USA.
Chateau La Roliere
A grand family whom own a marvelous Chateau and the Clos La Roliere. In 1995 they left the Co-op to bottle themselves. The Clos is about six hectares of which Eric buys almost half. It’s located on the next ridge to the north of the main slope of Brézéme, slightly less steep, but still south facing. The vines are 25+ years old and Eric is assistant winemaker at this time. The wines are sold only at the Chateau.
We tasted: 2000 Rouge tank and barrel. 2000 Viognier, 1999 Roussanne/Marsanne blend, and 1999 Cuvee Speciale Rouge from bottle.
Eric Texier
We tasted with Eric five different barrels that will go into his 2000 Brézéme’s. He will bottle a V.V. this year for the first time from Pouchoulin’s steep terraced vineyards. He has also secured a few lots of other V.V. vineyards in such lesser-known appellations as Seguret (80 yrs old) and St Gervais (113 yrs old). We also tasted the 1998 Brézéme Blanc. Eric also found two other lost viticulture areas in the same old book.
One of which he is in the works of bringing to light,
but sorry we are sworn to secrecy:>)
Over ten years ago Eric Texier read about a lost viticulture area in the 1880’s book Les Grands Vins de France by Dr. Ramain. This once famous area is very similar to Hermitage, with its steep, south-facing slope, hillside vineyards. It is about 30 miles south of Hermitage, on the east side of the Rhone River, outside the town of Livron. The history of the appellation goes back to the last century, and in the early 1900’s, wines from Brézéme sold for as much as Hermitage. In the middle part of the century most of the vineyards were abandoned. There was less than one hectare planted in vines in 1961.
There are now 22 hectares in vines and Eric is the #1 bottler
of Brézéme, controlling more than a third of the current appellation. There is room for more vineyard plantings but this is a very complicated issue. From what I gathered on my magical visit is there are six owners but only four bottles it as Brézéme. Note: due to the microclimate
Brézéme is harvested end September to early October,
several weeks later than Hermitage.
Pouchoulin
First vintage was 1940 and he’s the Grandfather of Brézéme . His father made the wine before him and some of these 100 year old Syrah vines remain. All his vines are 60-100 years old. He is slowly turning over his vines of Syrah and Roussanne to Eric. In the 2000 vintage he is making only 55cs of red and less of white. This was the most moving visit we have ever made in all the years visiting cellars.
Pouchoulin age’s his Syrah for 30 months in barrel’s, which look like they are from the 40’s. We tasted: 2000 Blanc, 1999 and 2000 Rouge from barrel, plus the 1998 Rouge and 1999 Blanc in bottle. Also the 1989 Rouge that spend 2 months in new oak (the only time new oak was ever used) than 4 years in old wood. Bottled in 1994, this was the first time Pouchoulin tasted it since 1997.
Pouchoulin told us one interesting story. He read somewhere many years ago that the chemicals that you put in the vineyard will end up in the grape and the wine. So as he is his #1 customer, (he drinks half of his production himself) he went to organic farming as to not poison himself.
Jean-Marie Lombard
We did not visit this producer but did taste his 1995 Rouge (which showed flawed winemaking) the night before at Moulin de Lourmarin. Older vintages were said to be excellent here.
It’s the only reference to Brézéme we know of before Eric as they were at one time imported to the USA.
Chateau La Roliere
A grand family whom own a marvelous Chateau and the Clos La Roliere. In 1995 they left the Co-op to bottle themselves. The Clos is about six hectares of which Eric buys almost half. It’s located on the next ridge to the north of the main slope of Brézéme, slightly less steep, but still south facing. The vines are 25+ years old and Eric is assistant winemaker at this time. The wines are sold only at the Chateau.
We tasted: 2000 Rouge tank and barrel. 2000 Viognier, 1999 Roussanne/Marsanne blend, and 1999 Cuvee Speciale Rouge from bottle.
Eric Texier
We tasted with Eric five different barrels that will go into his 2000 Brézéme’s. He will bottle a V.V. this year for the first time from Pouchoulin’s steep terraced vineyards. He has also secured a few lots of other V.V. vineyards in such lesser-known appellations as Seguret (80 yrs old) and St Gervais (113 yrs old). We also tasted the 1998 Brézéme Blanc. Eric also found two other lost viticulture areas in the same old book.
One of which he is in the works of bringing to light,
but sorry we are sworn to secrecy:>)
They're Back :
"According to the official Ninja Tune website, a Portland, Oregon radio station has been fined $7,000 by the FCC
for playing "Your Revolution," recorded by DJ Vadim featuring spoken word poetry by Sarah Jones. "Your
Revolution" appears on DJ Vadim's 1999 release, USSR: Life from the Other Side. The trouble stems from the
opening line of the song, "Your revolution will not happen between these thighs." The FCC has deemed that the
song features "unmistakable patently offensive sexual references."
Ninja Tune is encouraging fans and listeners to contact FCC Chairman Michael Powell at mpowell@fcc.gov or
1-888-225-5322 "to voice your concern and support independent music and free speech." KBOO-FM stands
by their decision to play the track, and has 30 days to respond to the formal complaint. Those who are interested
in reading the full report (including the lyrics in question) can do so at the FCC's official site."
"According to the official Ninja Tune website, a Portland, Oregon radio station has been fined $7,000 by the FCC
for playing "Your Revolution," recorded by DJ Vadim featuring spoken word poetry by Sarah Jones. "Your
Revolution" appears on DJ Vadim's 1999 release, USSR: Life from the Other Side. The trouble stems from the
opening line of the song, "Your revolution will not happen between these thighs." The FCC has deemed that the
song features "unmistakable patently offensive sexual references."
Ninja Tune is encouraging fans and listeners to contact FCC Chairman Michael Powell at mpowell@fcc.gov or
1-888-225-5322 "to voice your concern and support independent music and free speech." KBOO-FM stands
by their decision to play the track, and has 30 days to respond to the formal complaint. Those who are interested
in reading the full report (including the lyrics in question) can do so at the FCC's official site."
'Weird' Brando, 77, acts the fool
Ageing, overweight film star calls director 'Miss Piggy' and appears
on set half-naked
Edward Helmore in New York
Thursday July 12, 2001
The Guardian
Five years since Marlon Brando's last major film role, and five
decades since he revolutionised acting in On the Waterfront and A
Street Car Named Desire, the legendary actor is making a rare
appearance in a film opening in the US tomorrow.
But by some accounts, the 77-year-old's efforts on the set of The
Score, a crime caper starring Brando's method acting acolytes, Robert
De Niro and Edward Norton, were as bizarre as Brando watchers have
come to expect.
Brando, who plays an elderly homosexual crook about to pull off the
biggest job of his career, received about Ł2m for just three weeks'
work of which all but a few minutes ended up on the cutting room
floor.
Accounts of the filming of The Score suggest that he clashed with the
director, the former Muppet Show puppeteer Frank Oz, and refused to go
on the set when Oz was present. The bizarre outcome, according to one
report, was that De Niro was forced to direct while Oz, off set,
directed De Niro through an assistant.
When not regaling Oz with four-letter words, Brando took to calling
him Miss Piggy and has been reported as saying: "I bet you wish I was
a puppet so you could stick your hand up my ass and make me do what
you want."
The actor, who alarmed The Score's makers on the first day of filming
when he ate two enormous steaks in one sitting, turned up to the set
naked from the waist down - a ploy, apparently, to ensure Oz could not
film him below the shoulders and reveal the full measure of his
corpulence.
"He was kind of monstrous," reported a source on the set. "At first I
thought that the guy might be senile and had simply forgotten to get
dressed, but it was part of this weird tactic. Nobody knew where to
look."
But co-star Norton played down Brando's nudity, saying it was hot on
the set so the actor put on shorts instead of suit trousers. "It was
the most practical thing to do," Norton explained.
Brando, the once beautiful champion of the Stanislavskian acting
revolution who is regularly named the greatest actor of the past
century, has followed a strange and haphazard course, often
denigrating the acting profession and his own achievements.
"A movie star is nothing important," he once said. "Freud, Gandhi,
Marx - these people are important. Movie acting is just dull, boring,
childish work. Everybody acts - when we want something."
In the 1970s, on the set of Apocalypse Now, he turned up without
learning his lines and famously messed around during production of The
Island of Dr Moreau, five years ago. But as far back as A Streetcar
Named Desire in 1951 Brando was marked as a mercurial character.
The film's director, Elia Kazan, loved his performance because of the
way he "challenges the whole system of politeness and good nature and
good ethics and everything else". Kazan found in the man-boy "a soft,
yearning, girlish side... and a dissatisfaction that can be
dangerous". There's "a hell of a lot of turmoil there", he warned.
Brando lives by himself in Los Angeles. He reportedly has three young
children by his former housekeeper, Christina Ruiz.
A forthcoming biography by Patricia Bosworth suggests that he is
practically a recluse. He sometimes shares a Chinese takeaway with
Johnny Depp but his main contact with the outside world is via
email. He communicates with people anonymously, occasionally
correcting mistakes on Marlon Brando websites.
"I'm going to live to be one hundred, and then I plan to clone myself,
with all my talent and none of my neuroses," he recently told a
friend.
Brando still struggles with his diet. Periodically, he will telephone
Oprah Winfrey to discuss their weight gains and losses. He keeps the
fridge padlocked to prevent him bingeing on ice cream or eating an
entire brie.
Still, as America gets to see its legendary screen son once more this
weekend, his reputation as the grandest, most disordered personality
will again overshadow anything he may do.
Asked by Newsday whether Miss Piggy or Brando was more difficult to
direct, Oz tactfully replied: "He's a very sweet, gracious - childlike
in some ways - very, very humane, very complex person. I can't say
that we got along all the time. And it wasn't because he was
difficult. He felt one way, quite sincerely and earnestly, and I felt
the other... and Marlon did come around to my side."
Ageing, overweight film star calls director 'Miss Piggy' and appears
on set half-naked
Edward Helmore in New York
Thursday July 12, 2001
The Guardian
Five years since Marlon Brando's last major film role, and five
decades since he revolutionised acting in On the Waterfront and A
Street Car Named Desire, the legendary actor is making a rare
appearance in a film opening in the US tomorrow.
But by some accounts, the 77-year-old's efforts on the set of The
Score, a crime caper starring Brando's method acting acolytes, Robert
De Niro and Edward Norton, were as bizarre as Brando watchers have
come to expect.
Brando, who plays an elderly homosexual crook about to pull off the
biggest job of his career, received about Ł2m for just three weeks'
work of which all but a few minutes ended up on the cutting room
floor.
Accounts of the filming of The Score suggest that he clashed with the
director, the former Muppet Show puppeteer Frank Oz, and refused to go
on the set when Oz was present. The bizarre outcome, according to one
report, was that De Niro was forced to direct while Oz, off set,
directed De Niro through an assistant.
When not regaling Oz with four-letter words, Brando took to calling
him Miss Piggy and has been reported as saying: "I bet you wish I was
a puppet so you could stick your hand up my ass and make me do what
you want."
The actor, who alarmed The Score's makers on the first day of filming
when he ate two enormous steaks in one sitting, turned up to the set
naked from the waist down - a ploy, apparently, to ensure Oz could not
film him below the shoulders and reveal the full measure of his
corpulence.
"He was kind of monstrous," reported a source on the set. "At first I
thought that the guy might be senile and had simply forgotten to get
dressed, but it was part of this weird tactic. Nobody knew where to
look."
But co-star Norton played down Brando's nudity, saying it was hot on
the set so the actor put on shorts instead of suit trousers. "It was
the most practical thing to do," Norton explained.
Brando, the once beautiful champion of the Stanislavskian acting
revolution who is regularly named the greatest actor of the past
century, has followed a strange and haphazard course, often
denigrating the acting profession and his own achievements.
"A movie star is nothing important," he once said. "Freud, Gandhi,
Marx - these people are important. Movie acting is just dull, boring,
childish work. Everybody acts - when we want something."
In the 1970s, on the set of Apocalypse Now, he turned up without
learning his lines and famously messed around during production of The
Island of Dr Moreau, five years ago. But as far back as A Streetcar
Named Desire in 1951 Brando was marked as a mercurial character.
The film's director, Elia Kazan, loved his performance because of the
way he "challenges the whole system of politeness and good nature and
good ethics and everything else". Kazan found in the man-boy "a soft,
yearning, girlish side... and a dissatisfaction that can be
dangerous". There's "a hell of a lot of turmoil there", he warned.
Brando lives by himself in Los Angeles. He reportedly has three young
children by his former housekeeper, Christina Ruiz.
A forthcoming biography by Patricia Bosworth suggests that he is
practically a recluse. He sometimes shares a Chinese takeaway with
Johnny Depp but his main contact with the outside world is via
email. He communicates with people anonymously, occasionally
correcting mistakes on Marlon Brando websites.
"I'm going to live to be one hundred, and then I plan to clone myself,
with all my talent and none of my neuroses," he recently told a
friend.
Brando still struggles with his diet. Periodically, he will telephone
Oprah Winfrey to discuss their weight gains and losses. He keeps the
fridge padlocked to prevent him bingeing on ice cream or eating an
entire brie.
Still, as America gets to see its legendary screen son once more this
weekend, his reputation as the grandest, most disordered personality
will again overshadow anything he may do.
Asked by Newsday whether Miss Piggy or Brando was more difficult to
direct, Oz tactfully replied: "He's a very sweet, gracious - childlike
in some ways - very, very humane, very complex person. I can't say
that we got along all the time. And it wasn't because he was
difficult. He felt one way, quite sincerely and earnestly, and I felt
the other... and Marlon did come around to my side."
in 1985 i weighted 137 pounds--in 1987 152 pounds--by the mid 90's i was 172--over the past # of years i have gained 4 pounds on every trip to europe--today i weight 200 pounds.....
http://mwheeler.home.texas.net/intro.html
http://mwheeler.home.texas.net/intro.html
friendlier than an Arkansas handshake........
FAKE - OUT
"Wine and War" Julian Barnes
for The New Yorker, The Critics July 16, 2001
for The New Yorker, The Critics July 16, 2001
dont eat at Le Chaudron or at least beware
Mr. Jean-Louis Chave:
My name is Michael Wheeler and I have the most unfortunate story to tell you which involved one of your wines. This last Saturday night I was dining with three fellow wine importers at Le Chaudron in Tournon.
It was our first time at the Restaurant and we were anticipating a grand Rhone experience so we ordered your 1992 Hermitage Blanc as our first wine. Several minutes later, I see the owner go into the kitchen with an empty bottle of Chave Hermitage and a decanter. He comes out with the full decanter plus an open bottle with some liquid in it. There was no effort to show us the wine before he opened the bottle or to do so at our table. As he pours the wine into our glasses, I see a cork in his hand that is branded 1999. We taste the wine and it tastes like an inexpensive young white Rhone.
At this point I say to the owner: "This is not a Chave 1992." He tastes the wine and says yes, this is in fact how the 92 tastes. We ask to see the cork and he said he must have left it in the kitchen. He runs into the kitchen to look for it but returns and says he could not find the cork, that he must
have thrown in into the garbage!
While he is looking for the cork, two of us taste the liquid that still remains in the bottom of the bottle, and there is no doubt but that it is water. When the owner returns to our table without the cork, I demand he take the bottle away and open a new bottle in front of us, which he does.
This bottle is golden yellow in color and and grew into a glorious experience. The owner came over to the table later and said he must have accidentally switched the carafe with a Guigal Cotes du Rhone that was meant for another table. There were only three tables with customers at this time and we took a look at what was being drunk at the other tables and there was not a wine with the same golden yellow color as your 1992 Hermitage Blanc. We had caught the owner in a fraudulent lie, but stayed at the restaurant as it was late and we thought he would not dare try such stupidity again.
Later on, we ordered a 1988 Hermitage Rouge from your domaine, which on our insistence, the owner angrily brought to the table, and opened in front of us. It was a fantastic perfect bottle.
We then order a 1990 La Chapelle. "I am out.," he says. We then ask for a 95 or 98 Hermitage Cathelin and to our surprise he says: "I am out but I do have the 90 La Chapelle," which he had already told us he did not have in stock.
The owner was missing in the kitchen for a long time and then comes out with a wet bottle, opens it without showing us the cork, and walks away. The label is moist and there is glue left on the bottle where the original label must have been. Clearly, to us, this bottle had been relabelled. We tasted
the wine and it was old and oxidized. We then asked for the check but told him we refused to pay for the fraudulent La Chapelle or have him bring out another bottle of 1990 La Chapelle. Enough was enough!
The owner insisted we pay for the La Chapelle and it turned into a very big, unfortunate scene. Finally, he kicked us out of the restaurant, saying: "This isn't America" and refused our efforts to pay for the meal and all the wines, with the exception of the La Chapelle.
I am sure he will have a different story for you, but I don't think this was the first time he has done these tricks. Of the three importers at the table, two were Americans who speak French well and one was a native French women. So it is not possible that what happened was a 'misunderstanding.'
As the incident involved your wine I wanted to bring it to your attention.
Best Wishes on the 2001 Vintage.
Mike Wheeler
Mr. Jean-Louis Chave:
My name is Michael Wheeler and I have the most unfortunate story to tell you which involved one of your wines. This last Saturday night I was dining with three fellow wine importers at Le Chaudron in Tournon.
It was our first time at the Restaurant and we were anticipating a grand Rhone experience so we ordered your 1992 Hermitage Blanc as our first wine. Several minutes later, I see the owner go into the kitchen with an empty bottle of Chave Hermitage and a decanter. He comes out with the full decanter plus an open bottle with some liquid in it. There was no effort to show us the wine before he opened the bottle or to do so at our table. As he pours the wine into our glasses, I see a cork in his hand that is branded 1999. We taste the wine and it tastes like an inexpensive young white Rhone.
At this point I say to the owner: "This is not a Chave 1992." He tastes the wine and says yes, this is in fact how the 92 tastes. We ask to see the cork and he said he must have left it in the kitchen. He runs into the kitchen to look for it but returns and says he could not find the cork, that he must
have thrown in into the garbage!
While he is looking for the cork, two of us taste the liquid that still remains in the bottom of the bottle, and there is no doubt but that it is water. When the owner returns to our table without the cork, I demand he take the bottle away and open a new bottle in front of us, which he does.
This bottle is golden yellow in color and and grew into a glorious experience. The owner came over to the table later and said he must have accidentally switched the carafe with a Guigal Cotes du Rhone that was meant for another table. There were only three tables with customers at this time and we took a look at what was being drunk at the other tables and there was not a wine with the same golden yellow color as your 1992 Hermitage Blanc. We had caught the owner in a fraudulent lie, but stayed at the restaurant as it was late and we thought he would not dare try such stupidity again.
Later on, we ordered a 1988 Hermitage Rouge from your domaine, which on our insistence, the owner angrily brought to the table, and opened in front of us. It was a fantastic perfect bottle.
We then order a 1990 La Chapelle. "I am out.," he says. We then ask for a 95 or 98 Hermitage Cathelin and to our surprise he says: "I am out but I do have the 90 La Chapelle," which he had already told us he did not have in stock.
The owner was missing in the kitchen for a long time and then comes out with a wet bottle, opens it without showing us the cork, and walks away. The label is moist and there is glue left on the bottle where the original label must have been. Clearly, to us, this bottle had been relabelled. We tasted
the wine and it was old and oxidized. We then asked for the check but told him we refused to pay for the fraudulent La Chapelle or have him bring out another bottle of 1990 La Chapelle. Enough was enough!
The owner insisted we pay for the La Chapelle and it turned into a very big, unfortunate scene. Finally, he kicked us out of the restaurant, saying: "This isn't America" and refused our efforts to pay for the meal and all the wines, with the exception of the La Chapelle.
I am sure he will have a different story for you, but I don't think this was the first time he has done these tricks. Of the three importers at the table, two were Americans who speak French well and one was a native French women. So it is not possible that what happened was a 'misunderstanding.'
As the incident involved your wine I wanted to bring it to your attention.
Best Wishes on the 2001 Vintage.
Mike Wheeler
another reason to telnet. email wiretapping
