Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Oscars To GDC (Game Developer Conference)

As this blog entry is written, the venue is the Moscone Center in San Francisco, site of the Game Developers Conference. And yes, having just retuned from the glitz, glamour, and gossip in Beverly Hills and surrounding the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, one would think this is a big change.

But it's not. It's all media. (And to be sure, more cocktails. There's the Lobby Bar on the main level of Moscone Center South, as shown above).

For example, on the screen next to the table I'm seated at are scenes from a sci-fi video game based on the television show and movie series Star Trek . And all around are games based on movie and television shows and various aspects of popular culture.

So really, if you think like I do, and you should, all of this is intertwined quite well.

The mainstream media doesn't get that. That's why you're not likely to see a massively multiplayer game based on the Libyan Revolution on a news website and an article or blog post about the Tripoli Takeover anytime soon.

(Oh, and I'm not done with the Oscars. More content soon.)

Meredith Baxter Confesses Domestic Abuse




USA TODAY reports that Meredith Baxter, 63-year-old actress, confessed today on the Today Show to Matt Lauer that her during her marriage to David Birney she was violently abused. The two were married for 15 years and were divorced in 1989 - they have three children together.

Baxter says that she coped with this abuse by drinking heavily. Birney has denied these allegations.

Even more confessions include that last year Baxter revealed she was a lesbian.

ABC goes into more details about Baxter's new book titled Untitled. The book is a memoir and an excerpt from ABC News includes:

In her memoir, Baxter alleges that Birney hit her more than once. "It was so sudden and unexpected, I couldn't tell you which hand hit me, or even how hard," she writes. "I do recall thinking, 'I'd better not get up because he's going to hit me again.' "


For some women her story is quite relatable - being trapped in an abusive relationship and not finding a way to get out. It's hard to leave even though to some it seems so simple. It's questionable as to whether her abuse in that marriage is what led her to come out as a lesbian - is it a cover up or is she truly a lesbian?


Although she came out but a year ago, ABC reports, "The actress said that after many failed relationships with men, she started her first relationship with a woman seven years ago, and her entire world view changed."

We'll see what the New York Times thinks about Untitled. -- or what her children have to say.

Christina Aguilera Arrested




TMZ has become the credible and reliable news source for celebrity news, and TMZ reports that Christina Aguilera and her new boyfriend, Matt Rutler. were arrested.


Before the two were arrested her boyfriend drank two bottles of expensive wine.

It is reported that her boyfriend was drunk driving and she was too intoxicated to take care of it. They were arrested at 2:45 this morning.

The Oscars, Michael Lohan At The Polo Lounge, Gary Busey, Dennis Haysbert

Last year's Oscars trip was fun; this year's Oscar trip was a total blast. For this blogger, it was four days of dinners, meetings, videos, interviews, and potential deals. But more important, it was meeting a lot of very cool people, like Michael Lohan at The Polo Lounge, and Richard Dreyfuss, Gary Busey, Ed Asner, Taylor Cole from The Event, Dennis Haysbert from The Unit, Tamara Connelly, Dennis Leisure, Josey Goldberg, and of course, what's becoming an annual event of my own: what happens after The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party.

But first, a great deal of thanks (again) to my team of friends: Marla Schulman of Life After Kids, Jen Friel of Talk Nerdy To Me Lover and Milena Merrill, Ama Jo Budge, and Suniil Sadarangani. Their combined talents gave us more media content than ever for the Oscars, and spread out over their blogs, too. That's the way it's supposed to be done!

Now, back to Michael Lohan and The Polo Lounge.

After our coverage of The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party at The Beverly Hills Hotel - where Dennis Haysbert talked about setting the tone for America electing the first black president before Barack Obama, and told Jen Friel that he's a nerd:



And Gary Busey of The Celebrity Apprentice and Ed Asner, best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, held court on the Wisconsin Protests issue, and Asner told Frances Fisher from The Titanic that her kids were "artificially inseminated:"



And where Richard Dreyfuss talked with Marla, who's sons were best friends when both were two years old, and for whom I put in a plug for The Alley in Oakland:



And Taylor Cole ("Vicky Roberts") talked about her show The Event on NBC (after he friend talked about how she stays in shape by pole dancing):



We walked over to the bustling Polo Lounge, located just off the hotel's main lobby, and where I was for last year's "Night" Party, after the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. That was the time Alec Baldwin, last year's Oscars host, walked in to great applause. And while I'm sure this year's hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway would have gotten the same treatment, they didn't walk in - at least while we were there.

We - Marla, Milena, and I - wound up cocktailing with a fun-loving, dirty-talking guy who shall remain nameless, his totally lovely and outgoing friend in the flowing green dress, Tamara Connolly who plays "Phyllis" on As The World Turns and her friend, who's a wealth of information about Beverly Hills life, and Michael Lohan.

Now, I had no idea the guy chatting-up my friend Marla was Michael Lohan. I was talking with Ms. Connolly, as Ms. Schulman was next to me (it was crowded), when I noticed this man exchanging business cards with this man dressed in black. No, not in a tux; he had on a black turtle-neck sweater, black coat, and black pants. He looked trim and tanned, but not overly so. What's more, he was nice, and fit right in to the overall vibe. That is festive and friendly.

Marla introduced the man and I, talking about my blog in general terms and about our Oscar coverage. So I followed up with a very brief explanation of what I'm doing in forming Zennie62Media.com and my game company SBS, but then said "So what do you do?"

No, I had no idea the man I was talking to was that guy.

It's just not me to get that into being able to recognize someone who's famous, but it's necessary to be able to do. My need to do this for obvious business purposes is countered by the fact that I just don't get caught up in it. "I'm an investment banker," he said. And pretty much left it at that. He and Marla were talking about the South Hamptons, where he just came from, and that he's from Long Island, as is she. Between all of us, it was a series of conversations that flowed between people, so I went back to talking about prayer with Ms. Lewis (I'm not kidding), and Lohan continued talking with Marla.

Then, Marla and "the man" started talking about kids, as both have them, and Mara made a comment that drew my attention.  She said "I don't want to be famous," or words to that effect, and I chimed in that it's actually something you need to be in the Internet business.  (Heck, it helps with traffic and revenue, you know?)

So, I turned and said to "the man," So what areas of investment banking are you in." He said "Well, for the last six year's my daughter was the number one actress in Hollywood." But rather than say "number one in what?" I waited for the punch line name. There was silence.  Then, it clicked in my stupid brain that I was talking to Michael Lohan.

So, I said "You're Michael Lohan." He said "Yes." I said "So you know something about being famous," and we laughed.

Michael Lohan is much trimmer in person that in the photos and videos I've seen.  So I didn't feel bad about not knowing who he was; just the opposite.  It made for some great conversation.

I told Mr. Lohan that I felt sorry for what he was going through - which he appreciated, saying it was "tough" - in essentially watching his daughter Actress Lindsay Lohan rack up a criminal rap sheet before the public's eye. I asked him how he was doing. "Fine," he said. Lohan was in the middle of setting up a new effort back East involving teens that he's not ready to fully talk about as of this writing.

After that, we talked about the Internet and how it works from a news standpoint.  No, we didn't talk much about his daughter, Lindsay Lohan, and he seemed happy to be with people who weren't peppering him with questions.

Lohan then left, saying he was headed to The Vanity Fair Oscar Party.

For the record, I had one cocktail and two glasses of water. Having not had a full meal all say, I didn't want to play with my sensitive system; after the second glass of water, I was ready for bed.

Marla and Milena wanted to go over to The Elton John Party. So, even though I told them the best place to be is The Polo Lounge. Nothing against Elton John, but his party's a pressure-cooker place to be, with people looking, craning necks, and not much real talking; at the Polo Lounge you talk with people and make friends. It's a great reminder that, in many different ways, and regardless of who you are, we're all just trying to get through this thing called life.

More To Come

There's a lot more video content from The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party to come between today and Wednesday, so stay tuned.


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Monday, February 28, 2011

Charlie Sheen And Tiger Woods Dissed By Gloria Allred At Oscars Party


The Night Of 100 Stars, one of the "Big Three" Academy Awards Oscar parties held after the 83rd Academy Awards, never fails to draw colorful characters. One of them is famed lawyer Gloria Allred, who came to the giant Oscar Party with a sign in the shape of an octagon that read "Charlie Sheen Is A Disgrace."

She then used the press platform to go on a planned rant about Charlie Sheen, but I couldn't resist asking her about Tiger Woods. As you may know, she represented several women who were mistresses of Woods, including Rachel Uchitel. So, she went off on Woods first, before really going off about Sheen.

Allred's obviously trying to capitalize on the current buzz around his legal issues and the cancellation of the final episodes of Two And A Half Men by making appearances like this one. But she knows what she's doing. Gloria Allred says that Sheen should apologize to the 200 workers impacted by his absence, which eventually led to the show's problems.

Today, Sheen continued his series of media rants, this time appearing on Good Morning America to announce he's on a new drug: himself.

More Oscar-Related Videos Coming

There's much more from The Night Of 100 Stars Party - about 10 more videos to be uploaded and blogged including talks with Ed Asner and Gary Busey on the Wisconsin Protests, Richard Dreyfuss on, it seems, everything, Dennis Haysbert, Phil Morris, and many others.

Overall, it was a great and wacky time. I've spent the morning compressing and uploading videos. Now I have to head to the airport. Don't forget to check out Zennie62.com for more blog posts not seen here!

Academy Award Winners





The 83rd Academy Award always seems to be a classy gathering, and there are expectations that the movies that truly deserve to win will receive the Oscar, but this year it didn't seem like the right winners were acknowledged.

The best movie of the year, Best Picture, was "The King's Speech." That is a movie that I had not even gone out and seen, and of course that makes me bias, but in my own opinion any movie that I haven't seen doesn't deserve to win the "Best Picture" award, because I usually see the movies that win movie of the year. I personally thought Inception would win, and many others seem to be singing the same tune.

Last year "The Hurt Locker" won the award for Best Picture - and rightfully so.

At least Black Swan didn't win - it was too overrated and too many people had said that Black Swan was going to win.

Oscars 2011 Shaken Up




Last night at the Academy Awards there were many thanks to other actors, to directors, etc. but there was someone who was neglected in these thanks - God.

The 83rd Academy Award Ceremony seemed like it was more like a reality television show - it didn't seem to flow or to be as planned as the ones that took place before it. It all seemed to be a bit shaky.

One thing that should be noted on is Christian Bale's beard - why would one grow his beard to that length and not shave it for an occasion such as the Academy Awards. Is Bale keeping that beard for other reasons perhaps, a role that he is preparing for or in the middle of shooting, because if not - why else would he have that atrocious beard?

Reese Witherspoon when reading Supporting Male category seemed to be wincing a bit too much - this year at the Academy Awards it was just a bit of a hot mess in every direction.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

2011 Oscars, Night of 100 Stars, Andrea Marcovicci

From the Red Carpet at the "Night of 100 Stars" Official Oscar Viewing party at the Beverly Hills Hotel, we saw more than 100 of Hollywood's "A" listers. Marla Schulman caught up with actress and singer Andrea Marcovicci, who tells her what's next for this versatile and talented performer.

Academy Awards: Melissa Leo Wins; Richard Dreyfuss On Spielberg At Oscar Party

This has been an incredible Academy Awards day. First, I want to thank my friends and colleagues Marla Schulman, Jennifer Friel, and Milena Merrill for helping me (and as of this writing, we're just pulling files together and blogging) at The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party. As I blog this, Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress for The Fighter.

I'm also tired.

It was a day of talking with Richard Dreyfuss about why Steven Speilberg's work endures. It was Gary Busey being, well, Gary Busey, and intense, brilliant, wild man who I'm supposed to buy drinks for after I blog this. It was Shirley Jones and her husband Marty Ingels, who brought Ms. Jones, was his wacky self, waving the Oscar from 1960 that Jones won for Elmer Gantry. I could go on, and there's a lot more..

But here's the backstage interview transcript for Melissa Leo:


Q. Hey, Melissa. Congratulations, I'm right down here in front.
A. Thank you.

Q. I wanted you to win for FROZEN WINTER so it's awesome to see you back here. And I applaud you for taking your character from the movie on stage, dropping what I think is the first ever F bomb in the Oscars. How does that feel?
A. I had no idea. Those words, I apologize to anyone that they offend. There's a great deal of the English language that is in my vernacular.

Q. I thought it was wonderful.
A. I really don't mean to offend, and probably a very inappropriate place to use that particular word in particular.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Oh, hi, 157.

Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.

Q. Well, I just wanted to ask you if you were in touch with the real life Alice Ward, and I know your character had a very extensive wardrobe. Did you take anything with you fashion wise from that character?
A. Well, the dress I'm wearing tonight I'd like to think that Alice would have liked it, and that was part of the choosing for it. She is a manager of her sons, was caught on camera quite a lot at the edges of the boxing ring, and I noticed a lot of the footage of Alice at the fights had her in white. Might not be so true anymore, but I think back in the days of black and white, it showed up well on camera. So that was some of the thought into it and into being here tonight. Alice, I did have the opportunity to meet. I could not have played her without having met her. I wouldn't have even know where to begin in many ways. The external part of Alice was Mark Bridges, the costume designer, and David O'Russell encouraging the hair department to cut my hair shorter and shorter and dye it and all of that. But no, I don't know that Alice's sense of style and my sense of style are too similar in too many ways.

Q. Melissa, over here. To your right.
A. You say over here...okay, I got it. There you go, okay, good.

Q. What was it like for you when Kirk Douglas kept stretching and stretching and stretching?
A. You know, it's really funny, you know, because he's an old actor. If anybody is an actor, he's an actor, right? And actually, he was doing us all this huge favor, because the longer he strung it out, the calmer I got to be. I got to take more than one glance over at Amy, who was sitting just in front of me away from where he was, I wanted to watch him because he was delightful to watch and I wanted to peek at Amy, so he strung it out in a rather delightful way for me and actually allowed a heart rate that had gotten fairly high as the category was announced to settle a little bit and wait and see what the envelope said.

Q. Hi, right in front. From WEBN in Boston. I was wondering about your experiences working in Lowell and with the Massachusetts people?
A. I've worked in the Massachusetts area on a number of films, and it's a great place to shoot, and I don't know if that's what you're asking about. If you're asking particularly about being in Lowell, because THE FIGHTER, it's not just a story based on the lives of real people, but it's their story. It most definitely is, and we were shooting it with the Wards around us at all times, I would have to say one or another of them. And it was an extraordinarily wonderful experience and I think a lot of what makes THE FIGHTER such an incredible film is that we were there in Lowell with the actual people, and cross referencing, you know, when somebody might say something about somebody and somebody else might say something else about that same somebody. And we were right there in the town hearing the gossip and hearing the language and the dialect and all, and it was very, very helpful to the process.

Q. Melissa, AFP. I was wondering if you felt vindicated about the campaign now that you've won?
A. There's nothing to vindicate, and there was no campaign. It was a photograph in a magazine; I wanted a pretty photograph in a magazine, that's all it was.

I am so sorry, I heard that was the last one, but I have a lot of other people in the films that are up for nominations as well, and I want to run back and see them. I thank you so much, right? Thank you.


Stay tuned for more...

Academy Awards: Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party Update

Good Academy Awards 2011 Oscar Sunday Morning! It's 9:46 AM, and having spent all day on the Red Carpet, and with a lot of content to get out, this blogger made an executive decision not to go back down to The Red Carpet this morning, because our passes expire at 11 AM, anyway, and get ready for The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party which starts (for media) at 2 PM.

At this time, there's a ton of media people setting up on The Red Carpet for The Academy Awards, and while it's fun to hang out and grab the buzz, the simple fact is that 1) one has to wade through a ton of traffic to get there, 2) the street closures make getting to Hollywood and Highland a mess, then 3) one, in this case me, has to get out of their and go to The Beverly Hills Hotel for The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party.

And since the Night Of 100 Stars party, my second, is expected to draw 187 celebrities and be the largest ever, it makes more sense to go over there, and do so without being rushed.

Plus, I'm already in Beverly Hills, so I might as well stay here and push up more content before I put on my tux and head out.

Oh. What am I wearing? A black single-breated tux by The Men's Warehouse On Market Street in San Francisco, and with a black tie and black shoes.

As for The Night Of 100 Stars Party, I will be joined by my friends Milena Merrill, Marla Schulman, and Jennifer Friel. That's what I'm excited about; this is the first year all credentials and passes were obtained under Zennie62Media.com, Inc. The first year it was just "me;" the second year it was The San Francisco Chronicle, and this year, while I'm still posting for Hearst Corporation, I am working to build my own media brand. So far, so good.

Now, back to the "Night" Update. I mentioned the producers sent an update, announcing they expect 187 stars. Here's the updated list of celebs:



Laura Dern, Amy Brenneman, Jena Elfman, Tom Sizemore, Billy Bob Thornton, Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Ron Perlman, Tom Arnold, Billie Burke(Twilight), Peter Facinelli(Twilight), Kevin McKidd (Grey's Anatomy), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire)Jennie Garth, Michael Nouri, Michael Madsen, Traci Lords, Armand Assante, Dwight Yoakam, Dolph Lundgren, Bo Derek, John Corbett, Michael Clark Duncan, Joey Pantoliano, Tia Carrere, Robert Carradine, Annie Wersching(star of "24"), Gloria Allred with client Veronica Siwik-Daniels aka Joslyn James-(Tiger Woods girlfriend) Eric Roberts, Noah Wyle, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA.) Chairman Entertainment Committee, Ben Vereen. ..Also expected - Sean Astin, Krista Allen, Ed Asner, Jason Alexander, Powers Boothe, Daniel Baldwin, Jermaine Jackson, Timothy Busfield, Joe Bologna, Susan Blakely, John Corbet, Keith Carradine, David Hasselhoff, James Cromwell, Stephen Collins, Michael Chiklis, David Carradine, Joanna Cassidy, Richard Dreyfuss, Kevin Dillon, Lolita Davidovich, Robert Davi, Bruce Davison, Lou & Carla Ferrigno, Frances Fisher, Dave Foley, Peter Fonda, Jon Favreau, Joley Fisher, Robert Forster, Jeff Garlin, James Darren, Carla Gugino, Dominick Dunne(in memorium), Lou Gossett Jr., Dennis Haysbert, Dule Hill, Cheryl Hines, Monty Hall, Harry Hamlin, Marilu Henner, Ken Howard, Jack Klugman, Richard Karn, Martin Landau, Ron Livingston, Hal Linden, Richard Lewis, Sharon Lawrence, Michael Lerner, Matthew Modine, Chris McDonald, Camryn Manheim, Dylan McDermott, Jesse Metcalfe, Ming-Na, Judd Nelson, Kevin Nealon, Danielle Panabaker, Kevin Pollak, Stephanie Powers, Michelle Phillips, Lou Diamond Phillips, Freddie Rodriguez, Jason Ritter, Brande Roderick, Adam Rodriguez, Pat Richardson, George Segal, Fred Savage, John Schneider, Tony Shaloub, Kevin Sorbo, Rob Schneider, Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Tilly, the GEICO Caveman, and over 100 more are expected. In an ongoing tribute to our friend Anna Nicole Smith, who attended our party regularly, Norby Walters has invited over 75 Playboy Playmates and Playboy models . Last year over 30 of the Playmates and 20 Playboy models attended.

Almost 60 Academy Award Winners and Nominees who have previously attended and many are expected: Jamie Foxx, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Danny Aiello, Jennifer Tilly, Linda Blair, Michael Lerner, Sally Kirkland, Gary Busey, Bruce Davison, , Richard Dreyfuss, Cathy Moriarty, Kathleen Quinlan, Eric Roberts, Lynn Redgrave, Robert Forster, Diane Ladd, Caroll Baker, Rip Torn, Charles Durning, Dean Stockwell, Robert Stack, Theodore Bikel, Don Murray, Cliff Robertson, William H. Macy, Samantha Eggar, Kevin McCarthy, Glynis Johns, Terry Moore, Burt Young, Karen Black, Eddie Albert, George Chakiris, James Cromwell, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Franciosa, Shirley Jones, Elliott Gould, Tony Curtis, Martin Landau, David Paymer, Robert Loggia, Renee Taylor, Joe Bologna, Rod Steiger, Brenda Vaccaro, Shirley Knight, James Whitmore, Shelley Winters, Pat Morita, Patricia Neal, Stuart Whitman, Carrie Snodgrass, Seymour Cassel, Lesley Ann Warren, Russ Tamblyn, Maximillian Schell, Sally Kellerman and Mickey Rooney.


What we're going to do is use a combination of standard video, Qik.com/Zennie62 live streaming, Twitter updates, Flickr photo posts to Zennie62.com, and live-streaming. So if you want to follow us on Twitter, we're at @zennie62 @DvinMsM @jenfriel @locita1 and using the hashtag #zenOscars and #Oscars, just to make sure, and visit Zennie62.com

99ers Rally to Support Employed Workers - Will Unions Support Tier 5?

99ers Rally to support Employed Workers yesterday in every state but - will the Unions adamantly support Tier 5? One can only hope. One sad commentary on the 99ers' plight is how the AFL-CIO union (and their political off shoot organizations), also with NELP have left the 99er community out to dry so to speak the entire year of 2010 - when we needed them most.

Yesterday the 99er Nation stepped up all across the USA yesterday in support of the Wisconsin Unions and against Gov. Walker's Union Busting shenanigans. One can only hope that these unions will finally openly fight for the 99er cause henceforth.

As Kelly Wiedemer (Denver Unemployment Examiner) said in her article last Friday: The Job Party - bringing 99ers & American workers together

“While politicians are once again ignoring the need to create jobs and are instead in their home districts, patting themselves on the back, fighting over huge spending cuts, groups are being formed and coming together to support American workers. The Job Party is an organization looking to unite the unemployed in a very public push to create jobs. They held their kickoff rally on February 19, followed by a second rally on Tuesday outside of FOX News headquarters in NYC.

Who is the Job Party? http://jobparty.us/ They are a growing coalition of support for middle class workers, pushing for domestic job creation and to stop the Corporate takeover of America. Politicians aren't willing to do this; it is up to every individual in America to take a stand.

Supporters of the Jobs Party include;

Organizations / Blogs

Democrats.com - Bob Fertik
Center for Economic and Policy Research - Dean Baker
Democracy For America - Jim Dean
Down With Tyranny - Howie Klein
GRITtv - Laura Flanders
Progressive Democrats of America - Tim Carpenter
Progressive Kick
Radio Or Not - Nicole Sandler
War Is A Crime - David Swanson
Working Life - Jonathan Tasini
Young Progressives University of Wisconsin-Madison


Jason Tabrys had an article last week
Can Unions and the 99ers work together?

Read Jason’s Open Letter to USuncut here:


Tomorrow I will post an article with the latest Jobless Talk Rant entitled: GET OUT THERE!!! This fight in WI is far from over and is the golden opportunity for the 99er Nation to focus the light of public opinion upon us at long last. The time is NOW and we need to GET OUT THERE!

To view an excellent Slide Show of various marches from yesterday Feb. 26, 2011 - PLEASE click here.






LA


Denver



Ohio


Slideshow


San Diego



99ers in RI