A couple of shout-outs

Watchmen: About a week ago Eileen and I caught “Watchmen” on DVD on our 50” plasma. I was really blown away. I knew nothing of the story and background of Watchmen, and I was not expecting anything extraordinary. The movie was just great. Sure, it’s long, but the time just flew by for me. (I know it must have been great because Eileen stayed awake and riveted for the whole shebang). Also, some may say that the violence was a bit too graphic and gory, but I didn’t think so – I squirmed when I was meant to squirm. (Again, the Eileen test: she stayed through the whole thing, whereas with anything remotely resembling a slasher movie, she is gone). It would take me more time than I care to spend describing why I liked Watchmen so much, so I won’t even try. Suffice it to say, that I am still thinking about it even now. Oh, I loved the anatomically correct Dr. Manhattan!

Rave reviews of Watchmen: Roger | Mick

Callie Thorne: We are big fans of “Rescue Me.” Yeah, some of it is over the top, but that’s because Denis Leary is willing to take chances both as a writer/producer, and as an actor. Anyway, a couple of episodes ago, there was a scene where Tommy (Leary) comes over to Sheila’s (Callie Thorne) to fix her sink. (Not the most recent episode where she orders him to come over to install her TV – the one before that). Anyway, I’m watching this scene between the two of them and I suddenly realized how amazingly great Callie Thorne’s acting was in the scene. It was so real that I forgot I was watching someone act. It wasn’t just her delivering her lines with perfection and nuance, but also the way she used her face and body in pauses between her lines, or more importantly when Tommy was speaking to her, but the camera was still on her. I have several friends who are actors and they all say that “listening” is a much harder job than “talking.” Try testing this sometime: Instead of focusing on the “talker” when you are watching a movie or TV, watch the character who is supposed to be listening, and you will often see the most wooden, frozen, lifeless/or obviously forced performance imaginable. Anyway, if you get out a chance, check out Callie in this scene and you’ll see what I mean. She is just fabulous.