16 September 2008

Cooler than New York Magazine.

That's THF.

The proof:

Dunst told the October issue of Harper's Bazaar that [the rumors of romance between her and Justin Long] "are the funniest thing on planet Earth. I don't know him from Adam. I met him once and he and his friend were kind enough to walk me home. I've never seen him since." Bizarre old-lady expression aside, that clears that up. On her future plans, Kirsten says she won't always live in NYC. "I want to have kids and a farm with lots of animals on a lake," she said, presumably brushing her waist-length hair and buttoning her prairie dress.
"Bizarre old-lady expression"? You mean "traditional expression"? As in "not-born-yesterday" expression? Is it hip to be illiterate?

Actually, NYMag...THF doesn't want to hear your answer to that. Don't know that farming's not just for the Amish anymore, but rather for anybody who's awake? Don't know that more and more celebs are waking up all the time? Don't know that this is good news? Then you don't know. We know, though. But don't worry. We'll send you a link.

15 September 2008

Everyone Loves A Music Video.

I know I do.



This is his best yet. It's also the most insane. That's why.

Burn, Baby.

I knew there was a reason why I love this show. Sure, Jeffrey Donovan, Bruce Campbell and super-smart creator-writer Matt Nix are all great reasons to love Burn Notice, but at the moment I'm excited about the fact that there are apparently not one but two ag-types in the cast:

Burn Notice, a breezy summer spy romp on the USA Network, is the kind of regular gig Mr. Campbell long ago stopped pursuing, deciding that instead of chasing stardom in Los Angeles he’d rather make his own movies, write a few books and basically not get involved in anything that would interfere with his ability to hang out on his middle-of-nowhere property, a lavender farm outside Ashland, Oregon. "I’m a fairly antisocial hermit type," he confesses. "So I like it up there."
But Campbell hasn’t been there much lately. Besides working on “Burn Notice” in Miami (where, he claims, he’s prone to “projectile sweating”), he’s been out on the hustings, finishing postproduction and greasing the promotional wheels for his next film, an indie horror-comedy called “My Name Is Bruce,” scheduled to open in October. He directed it and stars as a legendary B-movie actor named Bruce Campbell, who turns out to be a liquored-up jerk who ends up battling a nine-foot-tall sword-wielding Chinese god of war (and of bean curd) to save a small town. It is not a true story.

A recent screening of footage from the film, which has been long delayed (“because,” he explained, “low-budget movies aren’t released, they escape”), drew roars of approval at Comic-Con International in San Diego, with one fan loudly proclaiming Mr. Campbell his favorite actor, ever. After which Mr. Campbell opened his wallet and gave the guy $2.

So now I like him not only because he's hilarious, but because of his apparently equal love for film and farm. But that's not the only thing we have in common. We also both projectile-sweat.

UPDATE: Farmers are sleepy at the end of the day, which may be why I didn't notice my Burn Notice star here is THF's first American celebrity-ag tag! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

14 September 2008

Speculation.

They still made movies during the Great Depression, right?

WSJ writers who see it coming, unite.

I predict that every field (not just mine) will come to be split between people who recognized some kind of farming was necessary and did it--even though it made their lives insane--and people who scoffed and now are scraping.

OK, my oracle is done now. Time to pass out.

UPDATE: Well, this is some consolation, I suppose.

Country. City.

Went to a barn-dance.



Went to the Flatiron District.



The first was about tradition. The second was about writing for TV.

Hello, I'm The Hollywood Farmer. Sometimes I'm afraid I'm not sustainable.

Because I have to be.

05 September 2008

Again with the U.K.

This from Gabrielle Anwar, the lovely lass from Burn Notice (which actually has an online clothing store that sells what's seen on the show):

I was just reading one of these magazines about nothing in particular...you know, about what everyone's wearing. And I guess I now have a sudden interest in what's hot and what's not. I discovered that I actually am interested in fashion. I don't know if I would actually incorporate that into my everyday existence. It's just not something that's as interesting to me as...growing a vegetable patch. [laughs]

The embarrassed laugh either indicates that she knows she sounds quaint or that she's bullshitting. If the latter, could it be that vegetable gardening is some sort of universally-acknowledged Activity of Fundamental Import (AFI)? As in "Of course I garden. I care, don't I?"

P.S.: Still listening for soundings from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Shame on me for treating the U.K. without distinction. I'm rather Irish, so I really ought to know better.

04 September 2008

OK, That's It

We've now heard from from the last remaining English-speaking country that's not this one (see here and here, and here): Nicole Kidman sings the garden organic in Vogue:


I’ve been in Tennessee, just sitting. We have a farm there, and I have an organic vegetable garden. This is a path I’d not taken before. My mum’s always gardened. My sister gardens. And I’ve now conformed to the Kidman women’s hobby of gardening. And it is just a hobby. I’m not feeding the troops. [laughs]

Yeah, but...you were thinking it. Anybody's who paying attention would be.

Nicole is also pregnant for the first time. Some cute bits:

"Would you like to touch it?" asks Nicole Kidman.

I lower my hand onto the rounded curve of her stomach. It's as firm to the touch as a melon. "I just felt some kicking," she says, giving me the look of unbridled delight you might expect from a 40-year-old woman who's soon to bear her first child.

"The whole experience is so primal," she says.

"Just look at how I'm sitting here with my legs apart"—her knees splay out at a 45-degree angle. "This is the way you have to sit when you're pregnant."

"When I first saw the baby on the ultrasound, I started crying. I didn't think I'd get to experience that in my lifetime," she says. "I like the unpredictable nature of it. To feel life growing with you is something very, very special, and I'm going to embrace that completely. I don't believe in flittering around the edges of things. You're either going to walk through life and experience it fully or you're going to be a voyeur. And I'm not a voyeur."


Visceral, yet clinical; immersed, yet self-conscious to a point just this side of detachment. No, not a voyeur. An actor.

03 September 2008

With Love, From Hollywood.

My brother from out H'wood way sent these pics. He was location-scouting here for the upcoming "Beauty and Tranquility" from Touchstone. His old high-school buddy heard he was going to be headed back east for the annual family vaca and called in a favor. I hear Bruckheimer will be helming this one. It's going to kick beautiful, tranquil ass.