Mishmash Musings

I was at the video store today when I saw the DVD cover for a film called The Machinist. I’d never heard of it before, but the image on the cover was so disturbing that I had to pick it up. It showed this positively SKELETAL man on the front in some kind of weird pose, making me think the movie was about torture or something.

Imagine my surprise when I read the info and learned that the guy on the cover was Christian Bale!! He legitimately lost a whopping 62 pounds for the role, which is amazing for a 180-pound guy. Apparently, Bale didn’t even need to use Leptitrex or any other supplements. He just basically starved himself by eating only an apple or a can of tuna each day. Gross!

Well, I can’t even bring myself to post a picture of The Machinist because the image makes me want to vomit. Look it up for yourself if you want to see Bale looking like a POW.

Well, this certainly gives rise to another debate about whether life imitates art or art imitates life. I just read that former X-Files star David Duchovny has entered rehab for sex addiction treatment. The report was first published by People and has been confirmed by Duchovny’s publicist Flo Grace. He has been playing a, wait for it, sex addict on the Showtime series Californication since 2007.

I tried watching Californication once since I really enjoyed Duchovny’s work on The X-Files, but I found his character on the new show to be really disgusting and creepy, so I never went back. To think that he could actually be like that in real life kind of makes my stomach turn. Eww!

Poor Téa Leoni and the Duchovny children. Whenever Duchovny talked about marriage in his interviews, he always says how wonderful it is, how he never thought he could settle down with one person until he met Téa. And now for this to come out? Things live forever in this Internet age, so this sex addiction story is one that will never go away.

My question is why would Duchovny even want any of this to be public? You’d think he’d follow a few X-Files maxims and tell his publicist to “Deny Everything” or “Trust No One”. Maybe the whole thing is a publicity stunt to promote season 2 of Californication. Who knows? Either way, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to view Duchovny in the same light again….

I don’t watch very many awards shows, but I almost always tune into the Emmys. I enjoy this broadcast much more than the Oscars because the show isn’t interrupted by dumb skits and interminable song/dance numbers.

I’ll definitely be tuning in for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards this year, as many of my favorite actors and shows have been nominated. I would love to see Neil Patrick Harris, Alec Baldwin, and Hugh Laurie win, and would be excited if House finally got some recognition as Best Drama.

At this point, I’m not planning to go all out and invite my friends over for a party, so there won’t be any need for champagne, hors d’oeuvres, or home theater lighting. That could change, though, depending on how many of my television-loving pals want to get together for the night.

So were you one of the people who helped make Hancock another box office success for Will Smith over the long weekend? I wasn’t, but I’ll probably end up seeing it on DVD at some point — which is why I’m currently staying away from detailed reviews and message board postings about the flick. Apparently, there’s a major plot twist in the film that has fans divided, and I don’t want to hear anything about those discussions!

I mean, imagine if you went into The Sixth Sense knowing that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time, or imagine if you knew the girl was a actually a guy in The Crying Game. Being clued into a major twist ahead of time takes all the fun out of a movie, so I’m going to do everything I can to avoid mentions of what exactly the Hancock twist is!

Well, I finally went and saw Sex and the City: The Movie yesterday. What a huge disappointment it was!! I was never a total hardcore fan of the TV series, but I did enjoy it and thought it was well-written most of the time.

This movie, however, was completely different. Sure, the four women still walk around in designer fashions and expensive vintage sunglasses, but that’s about the only thing that reminded me of the TV show. Almost everything else the women did felt completely unnatural and out of character.

All I have to say is no wonder the movie’s audience dropped off by an astonishing 63% after its first week in wide release. The word of mouth on this film is B-A-D. Needless to say, this is one DVD I’m not going to bother purchasing!

I just read that Bill Murray’s wife of 11 years, Jennifer Butler Murray, has filed for divorce from the actor. Among her complaints, she alleges that Murray physically abused her, including one occasion where he hit her in the face and then said she was lucky he didn’t kill her. In addition, Jennifer Murray claims that Bill would often travel overseas specifically to have sex with other women.

Wow, he sounds like a real gem, doesn’t he? I realize this is just half of the story, but… yikes!

The couple signed a prenup, so the divorce should be quick. Jennifer Murray stands to receive $7 million out of the deal.

The results are in! Kristi Yamaguchi is the Dancing with the Stars winner for 2008. Kristi and professional dance partner Mark Ballas bested pro football player Jason Taylor and his partner Cheryl Burke. This was the first time in four years that a woman won the competition, so good for Yamaguchi!

I actually like Jason Taylor too, so it wouldn’t have mattered to me if he had won. He was surprisingly good all season long, which made it easy to pull for him.

Anyway, Dancing with the Stars has become one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Yes, it’s just a “stupid dance show”, as my husband likes to say, but it’s really a lot of fun!!

If you’re a Miami Heat fan, this past season was a tough one to watch, as the team struggled throughout the year and ended up with a league-worst record of 15-67. Of course, it didn’t help that superstar Dwayne Wade was sidelined for more than 30 games with knee and shoulder problems or that Alonzo Mourning played in just 25 contests before requiring season-ending surgery. Toss in the Shaquille O’Neal trade, and it’s not surprising that the Heat had a bad year.

However, there’s always a bright side in sports, and things are no different with the Heat. They’re sure to get a high draft pick, which means they’re going to add significant talent to the roster. Then, once their regular stars are healthy, they’ll be back on track and hopefully regain that championship form that they had in 2006.

So there’s no reason to jump off the bandwagon just yet. In fact, if I were you, I’d go out and buy Miami Heat tickets right now to get the best seats in the house for the ‘08-’09 campaign. PremiumSeatsUSA.com has excellent options and pricing, so check that site out today and make sure you get in on all that great NBA action next season!

Speed Racer, second big-budget film of the season, is set to open today, but I really have no interest in seeing it. For one thing, it has gotten pretty low reviews from professional critics (just 33% on Rotten Tomatoes), with most of them saying there’s not much of a plot or story at all. In fact, one critic went so far as to say that it wouldn’t matter if you watched Speed Racer with no sound because there isn’t much dialog anyway. Hmm, not my kind of movie at all.

Second, the trailers don’t look that great. I guess I can see why anime fanboys would want to stand in line for this thing, but I’m certainly not going to bother.

I don’t know much about the entertainment industry, but I’d be willing to bet that Speed Racer doesn’t break $25 million this weekend and that it will have a hard time recouping its $100 million budget during its multiplex run.

The hottest celebrity item of the day is the rumor that Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds are now engaged. Reynolds used to be on that stupid sitcom Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, and has had roles in a number of films as well, including Waiting…, Van Wilder, and Smokin’ Aces. Johansson has starred in much bigger films, such as The Prestige, Scoop, Match Point, Lost in Translation, The Nanny Diaries, and most recently, The Other Boleyn Girl.

She’s 23, he’s 31. Call me cynical, but I put the over/under on their marriage at four years.

I took advantage of the recent WGA strike to get caught up on The Office, a show I never really got into before. But my friends kept insisting that I’d end up loving it if I just stuck with the DVDs, so I did. I managed to get through the first three seasons in about three months, and then I caught up on Season Four by watching the eps on a friend’s TiVo. And while I don’t love the show, I do think it’s pretty funny most of the time.

Anyway, last week’s episode was about a dinner party that Jan and Michael threw for Jim, Pam, Andy, and Angela. While it wasn’t a quality ep from beginning to end, there were a few good moments. I especially liked the part where Michael showed off his brand-new flat-panel TV. It was just a tiny thing, like 8 inches or something ridiculous like that. What made the gag totally hilarious was that Michael actually had it on a tv wall mount, and said he could “stand there” for hours watching his favorite shows! I couldn’t stop laughing at that one!

I haven’t watched “Chair Model” yet, but it’s on my TiVo now, so I should get to it this weekend. I can’t believe I’m actually a fan of The Office after hating Season One and the first part of Season 2 so much!

Why am I posting about Cypress Bay High School? Am I an alum of the Weston, FL institution? No. Do I just want to tell you that it’s the largest high school in the nation, with an enrollment of more than 5,000 students? Nope.

It’s because Cypress Bay High School is the focus of a brand new MTV reality show called The Paper. The series takes a behind-the-scenes look at The Circuit, Cypress Bay’s award-winning newspaper. Apparently, being on staff of the paper at Cypress Bay is somewhat akin to being a star athlete at other high schools.

I didn’t watch the premiere of the show, which was last night, but I might check out the full-length ep over at MTV.com. I’ve seen previews and trailers for The Paper, and I have to say that it looks like it would get old quickly. I mean, there’s a bunch of drama about who gets to be editor-in-chief, then there’s a lot of infighting after the editor is selected, blah, blah, blah.

The trailer also showed some other high school stuff, such as pool parties and kids making out. Hmm, I think I’m a bit old to be watching that kind of thing!!

Anyway, I’ll at least give the first ep a try and see what the show is all about.