EddieShirt: krix? Do you still love me?
krix: of course I do
ES: but we're not sleeping together anymore
k: that's because you make me too hot
ES: oooooh, baby that's what I....
k: No, I mean hot as in hot. As in kicking-off-the-covers-in-the-middle-of-the-night, thrashing-around-because-I'm-uncomfortable-and-sweaty hot.
You're thermal baby, and it's so warm at night I can't sleep.
ES: oh.....(sighs)
k: and you're funky enough as it is.
ES: what?
k: you totally stink, dude
ES: stink? That's the scent of our essences co-mingling, baby.
k: Yeah, but the cat won't come near me when I wear you anymore.
ES: You know, there's this amazing newfangled thing called a washing machine...
k: Smartypantsshirt, I know. I'm just afraid that something will happen, I mean ... you're perfect right now. What if you shrink or unravel?
ES: I won't. Just keep me out of the dryer.
k: We'll see. I guess I will have to before I take you to see Reloaded.
ES: You're taking me to see Reloaded?
k: Of course.
ES: ...
k: ...
ES: You know what I miss?
k: What's that?
ES: waking up in the morning and watching silly stuff on the morning news, and having coffee with you.
k: I miss that, too. Trust me, there's very little that's silly on the morning news these days.
ES: Then you should let me wrap around and comfort you, I've seen my share of explosions, I'd keep you safe.
k: Dude, you were in the celebration scene. The only explosion you saw was the pop of the champagne cork.
ES: Shut up.
k: I'm sorry baby, you are brave. And special. And I do need your comfort.
ES: You know, you could turn the A/C on at night.
k: I think I might just do that.
Report/Review of last night's BECKY show over at Reeves Drive's message board.
Thanks to Rhonda for the link.
I finally got the chance to sit and give all the Becky songs a good listen.
I actually kinda sorta dig it.
Now I wish I'd gone....
*checks watch, counts on fingers*
Nope.
I'd really like to know if that is Reeves on bass on these tracks, because whoever it is makes me all creamy inside.
FUCK, I really didn't want to like this band.
I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I guess because I wonder what it means for Dogstar. But I support and enjoy Bret in his solo efforts so I guess the same can apply here. And official word is that this is just a side project.
I guess I'll just be happy that there is music being made.
From DogstarFans egroup:
We, dogstarfans-owners, received an email today from one of the band members, directing us to a website for a new band that includes Rob and Keanu.Before I say anything else, we were assured, by this same band member, that Dogstar is NOT splitting up. This is just a new project that is in addition to Dogstar.
The band is called Becky, and the website URL is...
Be sure and click on the audio icon at the bottom of the page so you can hear one of the band's songs.
The band is playing tomorrow night at The Roxy on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood. If anyone from this group is able to attend the show, please let us know how the show goes! ;~)
Wow.
Yes, I'm already trying to figure out if I could/should make this trip or not.
I'm listening to the track - "Oblivious" - right now and it's not bad...
*UPDATE 3/29, noonish: There are now eight tracks on the BECKY website to listen to, so go check them out.
There's really no telling what sort of freaky little sex game he's trying to talk me into here....
...but apparently, I'm into it.
According to TLFC, the Matrix Trading cards are not going to be produced after all.
Fine with me, less crap to buy that I can't afford anyway.
And it just increases my respect for this franchise to know that they made this choice rather than to license something not up to standard.
Today's profile shot of Reeves' tuckus was brought to you by the letter "O".
MatrixFans.net has a bit of an upcoming interview/article in Empire mag about...
...gasp! Sexuality and The Matrix
Read the MatrixFans report here, the full article will be in the April 25 issue of Empire.
"Despite Laurence Fishburne's claims that "People don't have sex in the Matrix." Joel Silver confirmed Empire's belief that getting jiggy is one of the few advantages of living in a world where anything is physically possible. But as one half of the trilogy's hottest couple, Carrie Anne Moss is the one to deliver the verdict. So who really floats her boat; Neo with his slick good looks, superhuman powers and expensive wardrobe or his alter ego Thomas Anderson with his distressed knitwear, pasty complexion and unsightly hole in the back of his skull?"
Who wouldn't want to boink Neo?
After all, "he's a machine".
Although I wouldn't kick Thomas Anderson out of bed for sniffing packets, either.
And speaking of sexy - Joel Silver - talks about Final Flight of the Osiris with SciFi.com here
(shout outs: club-keanu and keanuweb)
I was actually a little concerned that I would not have a good place for little Neo to live in the new car. He rode on the steering column of my old one, secured by wedging his coat into the gap between the column and the dashboard.
[side note: this is one reason why I never should buy anything truly collectible. I simply must play with it, wear it, etc...the only thing I have "near mint" is a half tin of altoids]
Anyway, the console of the Station wagon is full of little shelves and cubby holes, and there was much rejoicing as I discovered that there is actually a perfect spot for him guarding the ignition.
Who needs The Club™?
Oh, and speaking of Matrix related stuff for your car, TheLastFreeCity reports that the Reloaded Soundtrack album is now up for pre-order at amazon.
This week, from freewillastrology:
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It's the Grunting Season, my dear. Your luck will multiply and your alignment with cosmic rhythms will grow whenever you engage in activities that provoke your copious grunting. Bench-pressing? Hole-digging? Pot-washing? Floor-mopping? APRIL FOOL! I totally lied. You didn't believe me, did you? In point of fact, Virgo, it's the Sighing Season. Your luck will multiply and your alignment with cosmic rhythms will grow whenever you engage in activities that provoke your copious sighing. Gazing at gorgeous sights? Thinking deeply about the big picture? Making love long and slow?
::insert copious sighs at "making love long and slow" here::
This spiffy Reloaded poster is available now through allposters.com (please shop through an affiliate, thx), and the new theatrical posters are already hitting eBay.
Go read about and see that one over at TLFC.
I'm still waiting on the first holographic teaser poster I bought to be framed as it is, and thankfully I'm not so ga-ga over this second one.
...and gets totally smacked down by the universe.
So, Cheyenne posts this song by this guy - Jason Mraz - on her blog.
The lyrics include this line "the remedy is the experience. It is a dangerous liaison", so of course I have to give it a listen and I love it.
Yesterday with Eric, we're at the super-mega-record store and I have to call her because I can't remember the name of the artist (although the song has been running through my head for..what, like a week now) and thankfully she picks up the phone and tells me so I can pick up his CD.
Which I love.
And so, this morning, I have to check out his website and see that he has a journal that I will proably add to the blog links.
Then I have to check out his tour schedule.
And yay, he'll be coming to Vegas!
When?
May 15.
May motherfucking fifteenth.....
sigh.....what to do?
Eric's in town (YAY!) so I'm heading out early, but since I've been putzing around in photoshop with tuxedo boy all day, I thought I'd post another pic.
The original was sent to me, I think it's from IMDB.
Mercy....
This is from AOHell's Oscar thingy (yay! it's good for something).
And...um, wow..yes...more at Club-Keanu.
Lordy.....
I do so love him in a tux.
(thanks Rhonda!)
UPDATE: ChicksDig_Scars doth rock muchly.
There are already some screen grabs over at Club-Keanu.
Oscar Facts:Oscar's height: 13 1/2 inches
Oscar's weight: 8 1/2 pounds
Number of Oscars presented at Academy Awards shows or to winners absent from show to date: 2,455
Number of competitive categories in 1927: 12
Number of competitive categories in 2002: 24
How many people it takes to make a statuette: 12
How long it takes to make a statuette: 20 hours
Number of Oscars manufactured each year: 50-60
How many Oscars have been refused: 3
Number of decorative prop Oscar statues: 65
Smallest decorative prop Oscar statue: 1-½ feet
Tallest decorative prop Oscar statue: 24 feet
Want to know what's in those gift baskets that everyone gets?
Well you can find a list of the goodies over at girlhacker.com's blog.
I don't even know if I'm going to watch the Oscars tonight. I'm not particularly interested, although I do like Steve Martin.
I remember when I was in high school, the Oscars were THE Event for the Drama Club crowd. We'd get dressed up, get someone's older brother to buy us champagne and figure out who's house had the best combination of a big TV, jacuzzi and out-of-town parents.
Good times.
This year? Feh, whatever.
In the DVD Comentary for Hardball, the director (?) talks about meeting Keanu the day after the Oscars. Keanu showed up approximately an hour and a half late (he did call) in his helmet claiming that "the day after the Oscars should be a holiday."
So tomorrow is unofficially "Keanu Reeves Day".
So bake a cake or something.
After driving around for a few hours, confirming that every other car on the road sucks, we decided not to catch Dreamcatcher tonight.
Instead, Roi decided to assist me in my quest to eat a bug (a pox on the lot of you for trying to let me off the hook).
We picked up a fifth of mezcal with a whopping 4 worms, w00t! (yes, I've had two shots already).
For the record, this stuff is Nas-Tee....
And I'm a little too goofy to be posting (plus we have DVD's to watch) but here's evidence of worm eating (it was gross it *popped* when I bit down)
And Roi's the best, he ate one too!
So I'm way hammered.
See you tomorrow......
EEE! I have a new car, my very first brand new car, ever.
It's very orange and I LUFF it!
It has 10 miles on the odometer. I'm fixing to go pick Roi up and put some more on it. We may go see Dreamcatcher.
This was the christening CD, Dogstar's Happy Ending.
Heh, the stereo RAWKS!
OK - I'm off.
I don't even know if there is any Keanu or Matrix news, Check the links in the sidebar!!!
Well, it took uninstalling my quicktime and downloading a fresh version 6, but I managed to get the new lengthy Animatrix trailer.
Totally worth it.
Some of you might be interested in the fact that Keanu does some voice work on one of the shorts - "Kid's Story".
And Carrie-Ann works as an animated Trinity in "Detective Story" as well.
The Animatrix DVD can be pre-ordered at Amazon. Please get there through your favorite affiliate link.
In other Matrix News, the evil that is Samsung continues to mock me.
I just got a phone call that really cheered me up. After two months of waiting, I think I may be going to pick up my new Honda Element tomorrow.
I think it's adorable, like the bastard child of a Hummer and a Mini Cooper.
It gets about the same mileage as my current ride, and it has a most excellent safety rating. And it's just really fucking different and groovy.
And now I can finally file my request for my plates!
DOGSTAR is still the first choice, then NEOGIRL or KRIX as alternates.
Cross your fingers that everything goes smoothly at the dealership tomorrow.
Then all I'll need is an excuse for a road trip.
Which has nothing to do with today's pic.
Which I almost didn't post.
But my mind changed.
This is was the most violent AF pic I could find.
I imagine that the series of explosions on the news while I was deciding had something to do with it.
And not in a good way.
I'm horrified by the images on my television, but I can't manage to turn it off.
I don't support this war.
"Cry 'HAVOC' and let slip the dogs of war!"
I'm going to bed.
MatrixFans reports on another set of Matrix action figures, prototypes shown at Action-Figure.com.
I really like the look of the flow of the coat (if that makes any sense), I think his head seems a little small (might be the angle), and while it might not show up once the black paint is applied, there is a disturbing glimmer illusion of man-boobie going on.
Um.....ew.
I think a little more exaggeration of The One's package would be nice as well, but that's just me.
In other Matrix News, The Last Free City reports that there is a new Animatrix trailer to be found at the Official Site.
I'll be trying to download that once I go home tonight, hopefully I'll have better luck than with "Program". I never could get my sound to work on that one.
When in the mood for a little distraction, Worth1000 is always a good bet.
When I noticed one of the contest/galleries displaying some amazing photoshoppery with spoons, I knew there would be a Matrix reference or two.
Also, the "Celebrity Time-Travel" contest has this entry featuring Keanu.
And he's sometimes seen in other celeb-related categories as well, so go browse around.
What Brezsny says for Keanu:
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Many otherwise intelligent people cling to a perverse model of intimacy articulated by Norman Mailer. As reported in Leah Garchik's column in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mailer described marriage as "an excretory relationship, in which you take all the crap you hide from the world and dump it on the person closest to you. But the proviso is that you have to be willing to take theirs." If your approach to intimate communion has even a shred of this vulgar stupidity, Virgo, you're now in prime time to banish it from your repertoire forever. You'll attract uncanny luck and inspiration whenever you work in a way opposite to Mailer's; that is to say, when you train yourself to call up all the beauty you hide from the world and offer it up to the person closest to you.
One can only imagine the beauty that Keanu shares with those closest to him...
What Brezsny says for me:
ARIES (March 21-April 19): When you're at your best, Aries, you see the cracks in the facades as opportunities; you get giddy as you careen over bumps in the road; you love the enticing magic that flows from situations that other people regard as rough or crooked. Since you will soon be at your best again, I expect you'll be encountering a surge of juicy serendipity. Here's a quote to incite you, courtesy of Aries poet Charles Baudelaire. "That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal: from which it follows that irregularity -- that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment, are an essential part and characteristic of beauty."
The enticing magic from that which is rough or crooked....
Oy.
Sigh.
I'm leaning toward a chocolate covered cricket, unless someone wants to buy me one of these.
Jilly pretty much sums it up.
I just want to crawl into a bed called good memories, listen to beautiful music and radiate under the covers.
WASHINGTON
Written by Bret Domrose
I feel something near
Is it misery or fear
It's a mystery unclear
What am I doing here
A breeze upon my face
Smells sweet as your embrace
A smile across my face
As I think about that place
And I feel like I know
What's going on
Like roses reach to
Kiss the morning dawn
I'm Washington tonight
And all is calm
I'm coming home to you
We're moving on
We rode upon a town
People all around
It's a good place to lay down
And I dream about you now
Holding pictures near
I think of you my dear
My body knows no fear
What am I doing here
Celtic Blessing For a Friend
Power of the raven be yours,
Power of the eagle be yours,
Power of the Fianna.
Power of the storm be yours,
Power of the moon be yours,
Power of the sun.
Power of the sea be yours,
Power of the land be yours,
Power of heaven.
Goodness of sea be yours,
Goodness of earth be yours,
Goodness of heaven.
Each day be a joy to you,
No day be sad to you,
Honour and tenderness.
Feeling Keanu
by Chris Carbury
How can one man be so sexy? How can he not know it? These are the conundrums of modern day life. Keanu Reeves - he of the piercing gaze and dogdy motorbikes skills is back! Girlfriend managed to nab him for a chat about his new movies, Feeling Minnesota and Chain Reaction and Dogstar. Or course.
Is your foot back to normal now after your motorbike accident?
Yeah, it's a little awkward. I thought it would be fine once the cast came off but I still have to hobble everywhere. It's still very hard to walk.
In the theatre, they have that expression 'break a leg'. What do they say to people who ride motorbikes?
They say, 'Break the other leg.'
Do you keep climbing on board?
Yeah. I love to ride.
Don't film companies get a bit scared, insurance-wise?
Yeah, sometimes they ask me not to ride, sometimes they don't.
A lot of motorcyclists say just getting on the road with the other motorists is tough in LA.
Yeah, they're a little tricky with the signaling thing. I guess you don't have enough hands left, with the phone, and the CD player. I guess they just forget to hit that indicator.
You've just returned from your first trip to Europe with Dogstar. Did you enjoy playing in Britain?
Yeah, London was fab. We played the Shepherd's Bush Empire which is a great place for bands to play. It's a really intimate, cool crowd. I had a couple of friends there, like Rachel Weisz, who stars with me in Chain Reaction. She's English and she was in town, so I went with her. The band had a really fantastic time. It was truly epic!
Would you ever be tempted to give up the acting and concentrate solely on the music?
No, never. I do have fun but I also have a lot of fun acting. No, acting is my deal. I'm just not that great a musician.
And I see you've just put out an EP?
Yeah, we have an EP out right now, which is actually also an enhance CD. It's pretty radical.
Yes, I've been playing with it - it's absolutely fantastic! Speaking of computers, have you checked out any of the websites devoted to you? The best one is the Society For Keanu Consciousness.
I've never gone into that one. I've only seen a photocopy of one website page and I hear it's really cool and creative. I like that.
There were reports that you gave up Speed 2 so you could carry on touring with Dogstar.
No, that's just not true. Speed 2 had nothing at all to do with playing in a band. That was my own choice and I don't know where those rumours started. Basically, I decided not to do Speed 2 because I just didn't want to repeat it and do the same thing again. Frankly, I've done one sequel before - Bill and Ted's Bogus Adventure - and the results were less than satisfying.
Last year you said that Sandra Bullock, director Jan De Bont and you had made a pact that either all of you would do Speed 2 or it wouldn't happen.
You've got to do what you've got to do, I guess. It's not that I'm sick of action films or anything like that. I really like them when they are good. I've just made another one in Chain Reaction. But I don't like repeating myself.
Was it hard to walk away from the offer of $32 million to make the sequel to Speed?
It was easy from my own point of view and because of the nature of the picture and doing it again. But it was very hard career-wise and from a business point of view because it was a lot of money. Speed brought me a lot of attention and a lot of opportunities to act in different films. Now I'm just throwing caution to the wind and we'll see what happens.
Is that why you agreed to do a small film like Feeling Minnesota with a first-time director?
I've worked with a lot of first-time directors and I love their enthusiasm. With this one, I went for the plot and the characters. I like the whole way these people are trying to get out of their pasts, trying to find love, but having hardship like Freddie [Cameron Diaz] and Jjaks [Keanu]. My brother in the film, Sam [Vincent D'Onofrio], he's also confused and lost in space, but still wanting to have an affair. It's very interesting and worthwhile.
The director said your sex scene with Cameron Diaz was very hot. He also said, "Keanu's thing kept failing out while they were writhing around on the floor. But Keanu just kept putting it back in and carrying on." What happened?
It was pretty funny. Poor Cameron. Her first scene on her first day was this hot sex scene on a bathroom floor. Her character's just got married and then we meet at her wedding and just go off and do it in the bathroom. We were going to do something else, another scene that day, but they told us because of the bad weather we had to start with that one. They said it would break the ice.
Did it break the ice?
Oh yeah. Cameron was pretty cool about it. She was wearing this wedding dress and I'm wearing a jockstrap and I guess it just fell out because it was a very physical, rolling around scene. It was probably the farthest I've ever gone on camera.
What did you get from Feeling Minnesota?
All you need is love. You see the way people are trapped in different ways by their pasts - like Freddie, who's physically trapped, having been raped, threatened, followed. There's a lot of pain in the film and stuff about criminals trying to get by, but for me it's also a love story with a happy ending. I like that.
Did you know your character, Jjaks, right away? Because in the beginning of the film the audience learns more about him the way other people respond to him.
It's hard for me because so much of me relates to what we shot. And then to speak about the film that exists is a little different. Not all of what we shot is in the film, unfortunately. There's a different life between the script and the film you see. So an actor has to come to terms with that. But yeah, I understood 'it feels too good', which is a line that the character says. And the line, 'It'll always turn to shit.' And that's really one of the moments, the backbone of Jjaks. It was cool, because the character tries to get over it. He jumps in.
In the film, there's a strong theme of sibling rivalry gone wild. Do you feet that's true to life?
I'd imagine that's inherent in the psychological make-up of all humans, western and eastern. But I don't think it's the case with me. My sister and I are very, very close and there is no feeling of rivalry between us.
Did you get many bruises from the fight scenes?
No, Vincent and I were quite careful about knocking each other in the face. Because we both exchanged blows, it was like one of those things where we went, 'Okay, now you hit me. Then ha ha ha ha, I get to hit you.' But Vincent is an amazing actor. So we were quite careful about taking care of that. But we'd both done fighting before.
How much did you interact with Courtney Love during filming?
I met her once. We said hello.
Did you have an interest in meeting her because you both have musical backgrounds?
You know what? I think she's a little more developed in a music sense, than I am. I'm a great fan of her and her albums. She brought a great energy to the set. Everyone was like, 'Wow, it's Courtney Love!'
Did you choose to do a commercial action movie like Chain Reaction next for the money?
The truth is, I didn't think it was going to be a big action movie. I had script consultation but not approval and I signed early on. But it went in a direction I wasn't expecting. I thought it was going to be drama-action. I think some of the drama stayed in there. The subject matter is quite different from the other movies around. We concentrated on making a very realistic picture and not letting the special effects be the most important aspect, like so many other movies. Some movies go so over the top with special effects. I feel like throttling someone when I see that trash.
You must have spent loads of time on that frozen lake shooting Chain Reaction. How was that?
It was cold. One time, I had to drive this ice boat. And I felt my hand flash freeze. It was really weird. It's because it's so cold that I guess everything in your hand crystallises. But it's an odd feeling, because you get a feeling of warmth, and then excruciating pain. And then the director is hand-holding a camera going, 'OK, now scream at her!' And you're like, 'What about me, man? I can't feel my hand!' But you just go for it.
What's next for you?
I'm now filming Devil's Advocate. I don't play the devil, I play the lawyer, so I'm both! Did you know there are more lawyers in school now than there are lawyers on the earth. So that means they're going to double in like five years, and spawn. It's kind of wacky. But yeah, I guess it's a kind of moral allegory. It's a thriller about a young lawyer who joins a top New York law office and then discovers his boss is a very sinister person.
You have had a rough ride with critics. What do you say?
Yeah, I've learnt to deal with the fact that I'm the critics' whipping boy.
Why do you think so many people have it in for you?
I think it stems from the early days when I went from a film like River's Edge to something like Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure and that really threw some people. And then I kind of stank in Dracula and that was a drag. I guess, after that, they didn't know what to make of me. I make up my own mind.
Why don't we ever hear or read about your relationships?
I haven't really had a relationship in the past couple of years. So I guess that's why you haven't heard about it.
So you haven't found the woman of your life?
(laughs) My soul partner? No, I haven't. Unfortunately. But I'm looking.
Is it hard to have a relationship in this business?
I don't know. I haven't had one. Well, no, I have, but it's hard to have a relationship... I can't even speak in general terms. In this business... I find that the creative process can be violent. Can be extreme. Can be moody, So maybe those aspects are a battle to be fought by the relationship itself.
Do you find people confuse the Keanu Reeves from your screen personality to who you are in regular everyday life?
Right. Well, that happens all the time. I've felt that duality for a long, long time. I really don't mind it. 'Cos I can easily see through it. Although, it's taken me by surprise a few times. I've had some close encounters of the weird kind when people have been with me because of I am in the movies. And then there are other times when, you know, no-one knows who I am and no-one cares.
What's the difference between how you really are and how people think you are?
I have no idea. I would assume they're completely different, 'cos I'm not like any of the characters I've played on screen, although there are aspects of characters who are similar to me.
How would you describe yourself?
How would I describe myself? (smiles then laughs). I'm a deeply sensitive, extremely intelligent, romantic, funny, exciting person. Complex yet simple.
Who do you count among your Hollywood friends?
I don't have any famous friends.
Are you able to walk into a supermarket and buy groceries?
Yeah, sure. And I've done it. I'm not that famous, man. I'm not that famous. No.
How do you react when there are crowds of young girls screaming after you, "Keanu! Keanu! Keanu!"?
I actually enjoy it and think it's fun.
Are you afraid of losing your sex symbol status?
Listen, I'm not interested in that stuff. I just want to do good work in interesting films. Am I afraid of going away? Certainly. But I don't think about that other stuff 'cos it's really not important.
Case closed!
If this is really the new Samsung Matrix phone?
I'll eat a bug.
There's no way. It's a monstrosity, and I can only imagine the poor blind, retarded and obviously insane designer is getting their revenge after being laughed out of the Samsung cafeteria by leaking these pictures.
Please.
These are Samsung phones.
If that is really "the matrix phone", Samsung is committing some sort of bizarre corporate hari-kari.
Another article, this one also from 1994. Thanks kaz.
We love you Keanu...
even if you can't get a girl
by Lesley O'Toole
"Oh my God, it's driving me crazy. I don't know where it came from but all of a sudden it's like, 'I need a mate'."
Keanu denies the US tabloid claims that he's a "hellraiser". "Cool!" he says, grinning from ear to ear, "But I'm not really a hell-raiser - I wish I could be."
Frankly, I don't really believe him. I can see the glint in his eye and, let's face it, Keanu has always been considered a bit of a party animal. Even the movies he's been working on lately are action-packed adventures! In his latest film to hit the big screen, Speed, he plays a freeway-speeding cop who saves a busload of people from being blown sky-high. And he's now working on a cyberpunk gangster-type movie called Johnny Mnemonic with Dolph Lundgren.
But perhaps, behind the scenes, Keanu really has changed. I mean, he hasn't been photographed at any of the trendy Los Angeles hangouts for quite a while. In fact, he's been keeping a very low profile since the death of fellow party-boy and close friend River Phoenix.
The Keanu I'm talking to today is much less laid-back than I expected. Sitting opposite him in a suite at a Beverly Hills hotel, I discover that he's just not out there anymore. Instead, he's talkative, funny and modest. And he's definitely not the grunge god he used to be, either.
His hair is short and spiky, and he's wearing a smart black suit. Close followers of the recent Reeves roster might wonder if this change has anything to do with his parts in Much Ado About Nothing and the forthcoming epic Little Buddha (to be released at the end of July), for which he spent several months living in Nepal and India, and nearly became a Buddhist himself!
But Keanu reckons it has nothing to do with these films. "I've just been through so many years and experiences, I guess, and they've worn on my back. Maybe it's just time. I'm getting older, I turn 30 this year." He ponders the figure for a moment. "I guess something inside of me is just waiting to take hold."
I say to Keanu that a lot of guys nearing 30 might be considering marriage... "Oh, yeah, definitely. Oh my God, it's driving me crazy I don't know where it came from but all of a sudden it's like, 'I need a mate'."
Is there a potential mate on the horizon? "Oh no, I guess I'm single."
Unlike Johnny Depp, who's less than a year older than him, Keanu doesn't have three broken engagements under his belt. "I've been lucky, though," he says, almost apologising. "I've known some incredible women, but I've never come close to marriage. I've never proposed and I've never been proposed to."
OK, so what about Little Buddha? He tells me that doing the film changed his life. "I'm not out on the street helping to feed the homeless. I get to a few charities, but at least in my own small world, I have become more patient."
Keanu says he nearly missed getting the part on this life-changing film. The first time he met Bernardo Bertolucci, the director of Little Buddha, he was friendly, but didn't seem very interested in offering him any work. "He told me the story of Little Buddha and said he'd seen My Own Private Idaho and liked it. But I guess I wasn't right for the part. He said, 'Well, it was nice to meet you, but now I have to go off and cast this film'. Then we met a few months later when I was in Tuscany (filming Much Ado About Nothing) and he offered me the part. I later found out that he cast me because of my innocence," he says, wrinkling his forehead and looking surprised.
In the film, Keanu's character is the son of an American couple (played by Bridget Fonda and Chris Isaak) who don't suspect there's anything unusual about their son, until they're told that he's actually the reincarnation of Buddha. "The film's about this man-boy who knows nothing of the harshness of existence; suffering, death and old age."
Keanu had a bit of an embarrassing moment during filming when he couldn't quite do what was required of him. "I was very embarrassed that I couldn't do the lotus position for the film (a yoga position that's quite tricky to get into). I worked very hard at it, but I just couldn't get it. When Mr Bertolucci realised, he said, disbelievingly, 'You can't do the lotus?' He was horrified. And I was like 'Oh my God!'. I did manage it once for about 20 seconds, but not for the film. They ended up covering my legs."
One of the film's oddest scenes is where Keanu wades into water and practically has a conversation with a water buffalo. "Yeah, wasn't that great," he almost squeaks. "The buffalo came up to me. Oh my God. Bertolucci was in love with the buffalos. He loved their eyes. In the movie there's one incredible close-up shot of their eyes. In India, the cow is sacred and their eyes signify wisdom. So I got in the water and this buffalo just turned towards me. I had to go up and talk to it."
Sounds a bit dodgy! "Oh not at all. I wasn't scared. What was funny was that the place where I went into the water had a little beach, and up from there was a little bank of sand. In between the two they put cages to prevent crocodiles getting at us. And they had men with shotguns. At least that's what I was told after I got out of the water." He laughs again, and I can now see that he's having me on.
But Keanu definitely wasn't kidding when he gave me the spiel on his preoccupation with meditation and doom. "Have you heard of chakras? They're energy centres. I had an experience which, basically in the beginning, was a feeling of magnitude. I was meditating in Tuscany and I felt as big as a valley. I'd move my arm and it would feel like it was 30 kilometres long. The man who taught me to meditate said to me, 'As soon as you think you know something, you don't know it'. I was thinking 'Oh no, doomed again. Just doomed'."
Back in 1991, Keanu said the same of his career goals: "I don't want to live a stupid life. I know I'm doomed, I'm just a dog." So has his master plan changed? "Actually I'm thinking of coming back as a cat. That way, at least I'll have nine lives. No, it's basically the same in 1994. I've worked on not leading a stupid life, but I'm still doomed. I'm trying, though."
At the inevitable mention of River Phoenix, Keanu's face falls. Among the actors in River's age group, Keanu was the closest to him. When River died, not a single young actor mourning his death made a public statement (public comments were left to two of River's more mature co-stars, Harrison Ford and Dan Aykroyd). Maybe it was the drug connection, or perhaps they were all just gobsmacked. It seems Keanu certainly was - this is the only time during our conversation when he is stuck for words. He chooses them carefully, and makes the announcement: "I wish he wasn't dead."
How did Keanu hear the news? "I was downstairs in my house and a friend heard it on the news upstairs." Keanu can't even answer a question about how he felt. He looks misty-eyed and mumbles, "I miss him very much."
Buddhists believe in reincarnation - in other words, when someone dies, they are reborn as another person. So does Keanu think River may still be out there somewhere? "Hmm, where is Mr Phoenix going?" he says, cheering up. "I don't know. I take reincarnation for granted. It never seemed to me to be something that wouldn't happen."
On a more earthly note, I ask Keanu how he fared in January's devastating LA earthquake. "I jumped out of bed and fled my house. I live on a hill so it shook, but it was nothing compared to what the people of Northbridge felt," he says, definitely playing down his experience. "So I left the house, then I had to run back inside to get dressed first."
"Oooh," I tease, "I wish I had been there." Keanu bursts into uncontrollable laughter. "What? To help me find my things?" It doesn't seem to occur to him that thousands of girls the world over would love to see his naked bod!
Big Love to kaz, who has sent out some articles from the past. I'll be posting them over the next couple days...
Seventeen Questions - Keanu Reeves
by Cindy Pearlman
Three years ago he was the ultimate slacker dude. Today he's speeding toward superstardom. Is Keanu Reeves finally ready to grow up?
He quotes Shakespeare, but often ends his sentences with an enthusiastic "Dig it!" He throws his bodacious bod under moving buses, but claims to be afraid of the dark. He doesn't have a permanent home, yet fears for the homeless. He's Keanu Reeves, and meeting him is an excellent adventure.
The first time we met, three years ago, Keanu was pure Ted. He strolled into a Los Angeles hotel wearing a grungy T-shirt, a ratty blue sweat jacket, and torn jeans. His hair? Uneven, dirty, failing in his eyes...
Fast-forward to the present. Another hotel, this time in New York City. The 30-year-old actor looks, in his own words, "hunkster studly." His hair is cropped Air Force short and he's wearing a sleek khaki suit. But don't freak out. Keanu hasn't gone from Speed action-hero man to slow businessman. He is definitely still part dude.
1. How did you get to the hotel? Take the bus?
Oh no. I never, ever take the bus. But I dream about buses every night.
2. Are you psyched that Speed was such a megahit?
I like that the movie is so imaginative, man. I wanted the SWAT guy I played to be "every-guy," not this hunkster studly, but sort of sensitive. There is this humanity in the picture. We even reshot a couple of the action scenes because the emotions weren't there. For example, after the bus blows up, when Sandra Bullock and I look at each other and get very emotional, we shot it one day and weren't happy with it. So we came back to the set the next day and asked to do it again. We wanted those characters to have a real relationship, and it was all in the looks they gave each other.
3. What do you think of your new title, Keanu Reeves, Superstar?
How nice of people to say that. But it's not a reality to me. I'm a very private person. People talk to me about my career and sometimes I ask, "What career?" I guess I can be very uncomfortable with a lot of attention. Basically, I'm a person who doesn't want too much.
4. Did you really risk life and bod for some of those Speed stunts?
Yeah! I jumped out of a moving Jaguar into the bus. It was cool. My adrenaline was really pumping, I was also under the moving bus, which was going about 30 miles an hour. Remember the part where I dismantle the bomb? Well, it's really me under the bus. It's sort of weird to have a bus on top of your face, but it's all really safe. The stunt guys make sure you can't get hurt.
5. Weren't you afraid?
Nah. I was running and jumping and playing. I enjoyed it.
6. What does scare you?
I'm not claustrophobic, but then I've never been trapped in an elevator for 25 hours, so who knows? I don't go in caves because I'm afraid of the dark.
7. What were you like as a kid?
[Laughing] Younger and more afraid of the dark. Actually, I had an interesting childhood. We traveled. Sometimes we had cooks and sometimes we ate generic food. It was weird. A real free existence. I call it "Attention to more, but with less."
8. When did you know you wanted to act?
When I was 15 and a half I said to my mother that I wanted to be an actor. Period. It was settled. From then on, I started to take acting lessons. I was always working on scenes. The weird thing is I don't know what made me tell my mom that I wanted to act. But I did.
9. What's so cool about acting?
It's about investigating life. I can explore who I am and how I feel. Hopefully, I'll get to continue acting till I die.
10. Speaking of acting till you die, in your next movie, Johnny Mnemonic, don't you play some cyberdude with a data chip in his brain who's being chased by killers?
I play this guy who doesn't have an altruistic bone in his body. He's very self-centered. Very angular, My suits are sharp angles. I got to work with a lot of shapes and emotions of shapes.
11. Oh. Okay. Next question. What about the other movie you just finished?
It's called A Walk in the Clouds. That movie wasn't physically tough, it was mentally tough. It's about a World War II officer coming home who meets a Mexican girl who's traveling from college to her home in Northern California to work the vineyard harvest with her family. She's single and pregnant. I'm married, but I'm on the road trying to sell chocolates. I tell her, "Why don't I pretend to be your husband for a night to save you from shame? I'll leave in the morning and never come back." That way she can say I abandoned her and the baby. I'm the rat. I start to do that, but we fall in love. It's a big turmoil.
12. How do you feel about that California art college offering a course on the films of Keanu Reeves?
I just asked myself, Why, why, why? But I was also kind of curious. I read an article that said the teacher was interested in the detachment that he felt I brought to some of the pieces I've done and the variety of genres. The teacher uses it as a launching point to talking about storytelling.
13. Here's a big one: How would you like to change the world?
We should make the world a kinder, more respectful and passionate place. Like the Little Buddha says, "To learn is to change. The path to enlightenment is in the middle way."
14. Other then acting, what else is your passion?
I don't like anything else to the same extent. But I've done some things for Pediatric AIDS and I've given some money to the homeless. Doing good makes me feel good.
15. What's the one thing about you that most people don't know?
I recite Shakespeare to calm myself down. I love Shakespeare. When I was 18, I did Romeo and Juliet onstage. It's very relaxing when you read it out loud. Try it. I really like Hamlet. I'm doing it onstage soon and I'm learning my lines, right now.
16. What do you do for fun?
I play hockey. I'm in a couple of leagues and I'm a goalie.
17. And what worries you?
That if I died, all they would put on my grave was "He Played Ted." But I don't worry about that anymore.
Big Love to Rhonda, for sending me today's pic.
I'm only #6 for "Ass Friday" on google, which is fine because really - the brains behind the idea - Tracy, should be at the top.
Heh, I am the number two result for "Ass Clown".
Second only to ass-clown.net.
So that's something.
From Ananova Via Metafilter, a list of the top ten movie one-liners of all time...
1. "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off" - The Italian Job;
2. "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" - Gone with the Wind;
3. "We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here and we want them now" - Withnail and I;
4. "You talkin' to me?" - Taxi Driver;
5. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" - Apocalypse Now;
6. "I'll have what she's having ..." - When Harry met Sally;
7. "All my life I wanted to be a gangster" - Goodfellas;
8. "I do wish we could chat longer. But I'm having an old friend for dinner" - Silence of the Lambs;
9. "Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it in for me" - Carry on Cleo;
10. "He's not the Messiah - he's a very naughty boy" - Life of Brian.
The thread over at Metafilter is chock full of other great lines that didn't make the list.
A few Keanu utterances from The Matrix as well as a line from DA are among those in the discussion as well.
My favorite non-Keanu movie lines include the one in the title (from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) and "Yeah! Let's go get sushi and not pay."
Bogus Jouney is full of great lines - "I got a full-on robot chubbie".
So is Speed- "Shoot the hostage."
Even in one of his smaller roles, Tod in Parenthood, Keanu had the memorable "You know, Mrs. Buchman, you need a license to buy a dog, to drive a car - hell, you even need a license to catch a fish. But they'll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father."
I could go on and on.
What are some of your favorite movie lines?
However, that might not be good enough.
Keanuweb's Merlin has a bit of an exposé about a possible MPAA leak. Go read it.
Kudos to Merlin for bringing attention to this.
I imagine that it's not as easy as the MF forum poster makes it sound, and I'd be willing to bet that if somehow illegal copies were made, that they would be easily traceable to the source.
But hey, maybe impressing your girlfriend's brother's friend's friend is worth your career and a whole world of shit...
(can you imagine? I'll bet they genetically breed special lawyers for this type of thing down in the Warner Brothers Labs.)
Ok, something is definitely screwed up and I have no idea where to start looking. I can't get the comment pop-up to work at all...
So you can click the timestamp of the entry to go to the individual page and use inline comments.
I still can't feel half my face to that's the best I can do for now.
I'm finally getting to see the Denzel tribute thanks to a tape from "Chicks", Thank You!
...and I just wanted to say, Nia Vardalos?
ONE OF US.
This morning at work I'm suddenly getting an error when loading this page. Can someone help me?
I haven't posted or done anything different.
I'm using IE5.
Is anyone else suddenly getting this error?
It's driving me nuts.
The only way you'll get me to a theater to see Willard is to promise me I can sit next to Keanu and re-enact the scene from Action.
It seems my coping mechanisms for both "Crispin Glover" and "RATS" have a bit of an overlap. There's no way I could do both at the same time.
I got the heebie-jeebies just typing out that sentence.
One more thing to add to your shopping list, Matrix Trading Cards will be available come May (via MatrixFans.net).
CHUD has an interview with my boyfriend Joel Silver.
There's an article here on Reloaded/Revolutions as well (via 999.squares). There's a few spoilerific parts in that one, so consider yourself alerted. There's one thing regarding the end of Reloaded that I'm actually glad to know ahead of time. That's all I will say.
Frasier: Now, Bebe, tell me, what is so wonderful about smoking?Bebe: Everything. [with actions] I like the way a fresh firm pack feels in my hand. I like peeling away that little piece of cellophane and seeing it twinkle in the light. I like coaxing that first sweet cylinder out of its hiding place and bringing it slowly up to my lips. [getting more erotic] Striking a match, watching it burst into a perfect little flame and knowing that soon that flame will be inside me. [laughs] I love the first puff, pulling it into my lungs. Little fingers of smoke filling me, caressing me, feeling that warmth penetrate deeper and deeper until I think I'm going to burst then... [imitates the noise of smoke flooding out of her] ...watching it flow out of me in a lovely sinuous cloud, no two ever quite the same.
I smoke.
I know I should quit. My body is telling me I should quit. But I just enjoy it sooooo much.
Amazingly, I can go a whole day without a cigarette. If I'm at home, I usually don't smoke. But as soon as I get in the car, I have to have a cigarette. Coffee? yes, please. Let's sit outside so we can smoke.
And what's the point of living in Las Vegas if you can't wander from place to place with a drink in your hand and smoke pretty much anywhere? There are people whose job it is to empty ashtrays.
I'm good for the economy.
I'm also the Contessa of Justificatia, and have convinced myself that Ultra -Light Marlboro 100s are actually good for me.
One time, before a Dogstar show, I bought a pack of Marlboro Reds.
Just in case I bumped into Keanu and he was out.
I ended up smoking them.
I may be spooky but I'm no fool.
Somebody's listening to the voice of reason.
Even if it does sound a whole lot like squawking.
from thedigitalbits.com My Two Cents column via The Last Free City
Well... we've finally heard back from Warner Brothers. The Matrix: Special Edition, which had been set for release on 4/29, has been officially cancelled. Here's the studio's statement:"Warner Home Video will not be releasing the previously announced The Matrix Special Edition double-disc DVD. In a shift in strategy to broaden The Matrix fan base prior to the May 15 theatrical release of the highly anticipated sequel The Matrix Reloaded, Warner Home Video will reprice The Matrix DVD to $19.99 SRP on April 29.
Also on April 29, WHV will reprice the two-pack of The Matrix and The Matrix Revisited - the complete, behind-the-scenes two-hour companion to The Matrix phenomenon - to a new low price of $34.99 SRP."
There's no official reason given as to why this SE was cancelled. Consider this next bit Rumor Mill-category information, but we've been hearing word that the Wachowski Brothers themselves decided to pull the plug, opting instead to revisit the title as a completely new special edition from the ground up at some point in the future. If we can confirm anything else with regard to this title, we'll let you know.
Stay tuned...
This certainly gives me hope for the soul of The Matrix franchise.
You know, if I were a snarky bitch I would seriously consider adding a second facet to Ass Friday. Something that singles out someone that chooses to invoke Keanu's name in a negative manner in their article or column (even though the story has nothing to do with him) and respectfully suggesting that they kiss mine.
However, I'm much too classy for that.
So let's all just enjoy Nelson's butt.
Speaking of bands, this sort of sucks.
edited to add: "sort of sucks" just meant it looked like those of us that were waiting for news of a show or something would be waiting some more. It isn't good news, but it certainly didn't come off (to me, anyway) as heralding the demise of this band.
I'm late to post today because I'm still recovering from last night, which ruled. I got to hang out with Marcie and her love, Alan. We met at Bally's at some tequila bar with really slow service and chatted for a few (which was great because I missed them last time they were in town and really didn't get to spend time together during the chaos that was BlogCon, either).
And we got to experience the greatest lounge act ever.
Chey, Suzie and Mikey know who I'm talkin' 'bout...
That's right, The Sounds of Joi. Live at the Imperial Palace.
I couldn't believe it when we walked in and they were playing again.
Joi is amazing. Teeny little thing with a great big voice. She can sing like nobody's business and even throws in some moves as well.
And the man behind the Joi, Bass Face. Yes, there are seven strings on that beast, and he works it. Bass Face puts the fun in funky, baby.
There was a new guitar player who was very cute but didn't play with his teeth like his predecessor. He was cute though. Did I mention how cute he was?
So it was quite the Boogie Wonderland and lots of fun. No sign of Chey's favorite dance partner, but we had a reasonable facsimile. Yes, those are roses and beer in his hands. The roses were delivered to Joi during the set and Cassanova there actually started snagging them and handing them out to all of us ladies. Poor Joi.
She finished out the night with a smile, though. And we got our groove on until the end at about 1 am. Stumbled back to Bally's and made plans to get together again soon. Either here or in LA, I'm definitely going to party with Marcie and Alan again soon.
This is the Las Vegas you don't see in commercials, kids.
And it's hella fun.
I had to deal with way too many numbers and words today so I took a break to play with pictures.
This one amused me so I thought I'd share.
Makes me want to leave work early and go home and take a bubblebath.
Which I just might do, as I will be meeting Marcie later for cocktails.
The original capture of the pic above and many others can be found at kcrl.net.
I've been fortunate enough to receive a copy of the new book, Taking The Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's an outstanding collection of essays inspired by and looking deeper into the questions raised by The Matrix. From "Glitches in The Matrix and How to Fix Them" - which addresses directly those nagging "people as an energy source?" and " what's the deal with needing a phone line?" questions that message-boarders everywhere have squawked about - to "The Human-Machine Merger: Are We Headed for The Matrix?" - that uses The Matrix as a starting point to look at the technology of the future and how close we really are to being able to be "plugged-in"- each contributor does an amazing job of taking the reader through the looking glass and deeper down the rabbit hole.
Even a dumb bunny like me.
(I shall continue to blame poor translation for the fact that I am still hovering around page 54 of Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation I got nearly a year ago. The only time I made any progress was while waiting at the mechanic's and even then I ended up staring at the thing with some sort of buzz/hum in my ears that eventually segued into a local window-tint company's theme song. I can't explain it.)
Each chapter/essay in Taking The Red Pill is amazingly thought-provoking yet completely understandable and easy to comprehend. I've only read a few of them so far and already I can't decide if I want to go and become a complete luddite or be first in line to have the nanobot wireless processors delivered directly into my brain stem. I'm also looking at my concept of "reality" a little deeper and eyeing my genes with suspicion.
Glenn Yeffeth, the editor, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me:
kv: Were you a fan of The Matrix before you began work on the book? If so, what do you remember thinking as you walked out of the theater after the first time?GY: I was a big fan of The Matrix since it first came out, that's where the idea for the book came from. I loved the movie the first time I saw it, but I have to admit something bugged me. The computers were powered by energy from human beings...this made no sense (because it takes more energy to feed people than they can possibly produce; this is basic physics). Being a hard core science fiction reader, this sort of thing bugs me. Next time I saw it I noticed that Morpheus says "combined with a new type of fusion" which gave them an out. I wasn't the only person who noticed this; three of our essay writers come up with explanations (all different) for why people are really in The Matrix.
kv: Do you think that the second and third parts of The Matrix Trilogy will answer the underlying questions introduced in The Matrix, or will they just take us "deeper into the rabbit hole" and let us wonder for ourselves?
GY:I can't wait to find out...my hope is that they continue raising fascinating questions without ending with a weak attempt to keep the mystery going (i.e. the rebels are also in some layer of The Matrix, a la Thirteenth Floor). I don't expect this - I trust the Wachowski's to do something great for us in these next two films.
kv: Who were some of the contributors to Taking the Red Pill, and did any of them have conflicting opinions of philosophy or symbolism of The Matrix?
GY:Lots of conflicting opinions, and in fact we have two pairs of debating essays. One pair debates whether The Matrix is a postmodernist masterpiece or a mindless action flick with a veneer of intellectualism. Another pair debates whether we are headed towards a world of technological wonders or a Matrix-like dystopia.
The contributors are quite a distinguished group.
(The list is in the extended entry --krix)kv: Do you have a favorite essay in the book?
GY: I couldn't possibly pick one. Schuchardt's essay "What is the Matrix?" is an awesome overview. Kurzweil's essay is truly mind-blowing. Bostrom's essay is amazing...he makes some basic assumptions and reaches an incredible conclusion. I could go on and on.
kv: Does one have to have a background in philosophy, science or religion to understand Taking the Red Pill?
GY: Absolutely not, it's been carefully edited to be non-academic and fun for the general fan.
kv: Do you believe we all could be "living in a matrix"?
GY:It's impossible to read this book and not realize that we could be living in a matrix of some sort. So, yes I do believe we could be "living in a matrix." Do I believe like Neo believed at the end of the movie?...not yet.
As Mr. Yeffeth puts it:
"This is a book by fans, for fans, but it just so happens that fans of The Matrix include some of the leading thinkers on the planet."
Taking the Red Pill truly is "academic without over-intellectuallizing".
Even if you don't think you have an interest in religion, philosophy or science, these essays will spark something and will help you to enjoy The Matrix (and the upcoming films) on a whole other level, beyond the unbearable hotness of Neo (or Trinity) and the mind-blowing fight scenes and effects.
Plus, it will "free your mind" on a much broader scale as well.
Contributing Authors to Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix
Peter J. Boettke is an economics professor at George Mason University and the author of several books on the history, collapse, and transition from socialism in the former Soviet Union. His most recent books are Calculation and Coordination (Routledge, London, 2001) and The Economic Way of Thinking (Prentice Hall, 2002). Before joining the faculty at GMU, Boettke taught at New York University and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. Boettke earned his Ph.D. at George Mason University and his B.A. at Grove City College.
Dr. Nick Bostrom is a philosopher at Yale University. He founded the World Transhumanist Association in 1998 (with David Pearce) and is a frequent spokesperson and commentator in the media. Bostrom's research interests are in philosophy of science, probability theory, and the ethical and strategic implications of anticipated technologies (including AI, nanotech, genetics, etc.). He has a background in cosmology, computational neuroscience, mathematical logic, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and stand-up comedy, and is the author of the book Anthropic Bias: Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy (Routledge, New York, 2002).
Dino Felluga is a professor in the department of English at Purdue University, West Lafayette. His first book, The Perversity of Poetry: Romantic Ideology and the Popular Male Poet of Genius is forthcoming from SUNY Press. He is currently working on expanding a Web site (with accompanying book) that introduces critical theory to students and scholars by way of popular culture.
Paul Fontana graduated from Colby College in 1996 with honors in philosophy. This essay was written while he was studying the New Testament at Harvard Divinity School. He currently lives in New York City.
James L. Ford is an assistant professor of East Asian religions in the department of religion at Wake Forest University, North Carolina. He earned an M.A. in 1996 and Ph.D. in 1998 in East Asian religions from Princeton University. Dr. Ford's primary research centers on medieval Japanese Buddhism and he recently completed a manuscript titled Boundless Devotion: Jòkei (1155-1213) and the Discourse of Kamakura Buddhism. At present, he is executive secretary for the Society for the Study of Japanese Religion and serves on the steering committee for the Japanese Religions Group of the American Academy of Religion.
Andrew Gordon is associate professor of English and director of the Institute for the Psychological Study of the Arts (IPSA) at the University of Florida. He has been a Fulbright lecturer in American literature in Spain, Portugal, and Serbia, and a visiting professor in Hungary and Russia. He teaches contemporary American fiction, Jewish-American fiction, and science-fiction literature and film. His publications include An American Dreamer: A Psychoanalytic Study of the Fiction of Norman Mailer; Psychoanalyses/Feminisms (coedited with Peter L. Rudnytsky); and Screen Saviors: Hollywood Fictions of Whiteness (coauthored with Hernan Vera; the book discusses many films, including the science fiction or fantasy films Raiders of the Lost Ark , Men in Black, and The Matrix). He has written numerous essays on science fiction and science-fiction film, including the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Zemeckis, in Science-Fiction Studies and other journals.
James Gunn is both a writer and a teacher of science fiction. His first story was published in 1949; since then he has published 99 stories and 38 books, including The Joy Makers, The Listeners, Kampus, The Dreamers, and The Immortals, which became a 1969 TV film The Immortal and a 1970-71 TV series. He taught for forty years at the University of Kansas, where he still teaches a summer course in science fiction as emeritus professor of English. He has served as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and of the Science Fiction Research Association, and has won the Hugo Award, the Pilgrim Award, and the Eaton Award. Among his academic books are Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction; Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of
Science Fiction; The Science of Science-Fiction Writing; and the six-volume historical anthology The Road to Science Fiction.
Robin Hanson is an assistant professor of economics at George Mason University. In 1998 Robin received his Ph.D. in social science from the California Institute of Technology, and then served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy scholar at the University of California at Berkeley. Earlier he received a master's in physics and a master's in the philosophy of science from the University of Chicago, and spent nine years researching artificial intelligence, Bayesian statistics, and hypertext publishing at Lockheed, NASA, and independently. Robin's work has appeared in several publications, including CATO Journal, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Journal of Evolution and Technology, Social Philosophy and Policy, and Theory and Decision.
Bill Joy is a co-founder, Chief Scientist and Corporate Executive Officer of Sun Microsystems and has played a critical role in the development of a number of critical technologies, including Jini and Java. In 1997 he was appointed Co-Chairman of the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee. His many contributions were recognized by a cover story in Fortune Magazine, which called him the "Edison of the Internet."
Ray Kurzweil, inventor and technologist. Mr. Kurzweil created the first reading machine for the blind and is responsible for many other technology firsts. He has founded and built nine highly successful technology companies and is the best-selling author of The Age of Spiritual Machines (Viking, 1999). Mr. Kurzweil has received eleven honorary doctorates and numerous awards, including the 1999 National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest honor in technology, and the $500,000 MIT-Lemelson Prize for Invention and Innovation.
Peter B. Lloyd graduated in mathematics at Cardiff University, Wales, where he stayed on to carry out research in solar engineering. He later worked as a software developer in the ISIS medical research group in the University of Oxford, where he expanded his interest in philosophy by studying under Dr. Michael Lockwood at the Oxford University department for external studies. Since 1994 he has worked as a freelance software developer. He has maintained an active presence in the Journal of Consciousness Studies Online, and has self-published two books on the nature of consciousness. He lives in London, England, with his wife, Deborah Marshall-Warren, a leading figure in hypnotherapy.
Robert J. Sawyer, called "just about the best science fiction writer out there" by The Denver Rocky Mountain News and the leader of sci-fi's next-generation pack by Barnes and Noble, frequently writes science fiction about artificial intelligence, most notably in his Aurora Award-winning novel Golden Fleece (named the best sci-fi novel of the year by critic Orson Scott Card in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction); The Terminal Experiment (winner of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Award for Best Novel of the Year); the Hugo Award-nominated Factoring Humanity; the Hugo Award-nominated Calculating God (which hit #1 on the best-seller list published by
Locus, the trade journal of the sci-fi field); and his just-released thirteenth novel, Hominids, which deals with the quantum-mechanical origin of consciousness. According to Reuters, he was the first sci-fi author to have a Web site; for more information on Rob and his work, visit that extensive site at www.sfwriter.com.
Read Mercer Schuchardt is assistant professor of media studies at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. He is the contributing editor on media and culture for Regeneration Quarterly magazine, founder of CLEAVE: The Counter Agency (www.cleave.com) and the publisher of Metaphilm (www.metaphilm.com), a film interpretation website. In 2003, Spence Publishing will release his first two books, Metaphilm: Seers of the Silver Screen and The Disappearance of Women: Technology, Pornography, and the Obsolescence of Gender. He and his wife home-school their five children in Jersey City, New Jersey. He can be reached at read@cleave.com.
Lyle Zynda received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1995. After spending a year teaching at Caltech, he took up his current position in the philosophy department at Indiana University South Bend (IUSB), where he is now associate professor. Dr. Zynda specializes in philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, epistemology, metaphysics, and logic. He has published articles in internationally renowned journals such as Synthese, Philosophy of Science, and Philosophical Studies. He also periodically teaches a course at IUSB called "Philosophy, Science, and Science Fiction."
Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
JERRY: Tonight on the Jerry Springer show we have a particularly interesting episode! Krix is here to finally confess something to a long-time friend of hers Joel. So everyone please put your hands together for Krix!
Jerry: Okay, now Krix you're here to talk about someone aren't you?
Krix: Yes.
Jerry: And what is this other persons name?
Krix: Bret.
The crowd SQUEALS with delight.
Jerry: Okay, okay, well Bret, is actually here tonight -
The crowd SQUEALS.
Jerry: But first we have a surprise for you Krix, because as it happens there is someone else here to see YOU! So let's bring out... Kiefer!
Krix: What the HELL!!!
Out of nowhere Krix pulls out some stinky boots. Kiefer reaches for the ottoman. Out of the shadows Keanu appears.
Keanu: Wait everybody wait!
Jerry: Yes, everybody let's just calm down for a moment here. First tell us why you're here Kiefer.
Kiefer: Because I saw Krix and Keanu making out at Cleopatra's Barge!
The crowd goes absolutely INSANE.
Keanu: That's a lie! I was home watching 24!
Jerry: (raising his hands) Hold on, hold on, I'm missing the problem here...what exactly IS the problem Kiefer?
Kiefer: Because I've recently been taking part in a sexual relationship with Joel who has recently become engaged to Keanu.
The crowd hollers, screams and whoops in an orchestra of orgasmic excitement.
Jerry: Okay, okay. Well why don't we bring Joel out here because Krix had something that they needed to tell them anyway about... Bret that's right!
Joel: (enters onto stage and saunters over towards Krix) What's the deal? I saw you outside getting it on with Bret! You know how I feel about Bret!.
Keanu: (screams) What? Why the hell did you ask me to marry you if you're in love with Bret!
Joel: Because I knew that I could never have Bret. But Krix promised me that they'd never hook up out of respect for my feelings!
Keanu: What about respect for MY feelings!
Kiefer walks suddenly across the stage, embracing Joel.
Kiefer: Don't worry baby, you don't need any of them now that you have me.
Again the crowd SQUEALS.
Keanu: Oh my God! Are you SICK!
Keanu runs across the room and wraps his arms around Krix tightly.
Keanu: Krix take me away from all of this!
Krix: You see? That's the thing...I'm...well, I'm married...
The crowd does its bit.
Keanu: Married?
Krix nods.
Keanu: Who the hell are you married to? When...when did this happen? I don't understand!
Krix: The other day. In Vegas. I'm married to Bret.
Joel: (screaming) WHAT!!!
Jerry: (grinning widely, makes an enquiry) So...did you have a nice wedding night?
Bret: (stepping back out onto center stage) Well we had sex 7 times if that's what you mean.
The crowd squeals.
Jerry: Okay, okay. So let me get this all straight... Krix is married to Bret who Joel has secretly been in love with for years and years. Now Joel has recently become engaged to Keanu who was recently spotted kissing Krix in the Cleopatra's Barge. Now on top of this Kiefer has just admitted to being in a sexual relationship with Joel.
Bret: That's right Jerry.
Jerry: (looking sternly into the camera) It is times like these that one has to wonder, whether or not these people are aware that they are quite clinically insane. Perhaps we should be spending more on psychiatric health funds in this country, perhaps we should just ban Vegas to cut down on impulse marriages. Perhaps I should get a new job. Thanks for watching folks it's been great but for now...it's goodnight.
Queue cheesy background music and fade to black.
Blame Muffy Moloko for this...
Ahhh, more interactive mad-libby scripty things can be found here (thanx, Sage).
The Action Movie one looks fun!
Good grief, I need a Dogstar fix. I whined way back in December of 2001 that it was time for a show and now it's been 19 months? It's critical, I tell you. Thankfully Bret had a couple solo shows last year to quell my cravings but I'd sure like to see the whole band play again, soon.
And yes, I would even break my 500 mile rule (though not my 'flying over the ocean' one) to see them.
Of course, it would be even better if they would just come to Vegas and see me play a gig.
According to a link found by Keanugirl at the DMB it costs a cool
15 grand to book Dogstar. Of course, it also takes a lot more, not the least of which is working around some people's (*cough*thebassplayer*cough*) schedules.
Well, I really can't work magic on either of those obstacles, but I can help with finding a venue.
Really, there's a veritible buttload of places to play in my little hamlet of sin.
You've got The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel or House of Blues- Las Vegas. Surely someone has worked with a certain HOB exec in a film or something and could pull some strings, no?
Caesars is right out. Don't even think about it, guys. I don't know who was zooming who last year, but trust me - Dogstar on Cleopatra's Barge is recipe for mayhem and disaster. And I don't know of any other live music venue at that property, unless they plan on opening up for Celine.
If the Dogboys really want to get back to their punk rock roots, they could book a gig at The Huntridge. No comp lodging like a resort gig, however.
That's OK, they can stay with me. The cats hardly ever pee on strange musical equipment in the hallway anymore.
Of course, the best choice would be for them to play at Club Madrid again. I promise to wear a plunging neckline and keep my drink off the stage this time.
Think about it, guys.
You know you want to come see me rock Las Vegas.
Roi and I went to see Daredevil last night.
I'm SO GLAD I'm a Keanu Reeves fan.
And I would apologize for laughing* at an inappropriate moment during the movie, but I think it was drowned out by the guy that actually answered his phone and had a conversation** during that same moment.
*I couldn't help it. Roi leans over and in a funny voice says "Ben, those little horns on the mask ? They're coming off as a little fruity."
**"(stupid musical ringtone) "Sup"
"I'm at the movies"
"Dare-devil"
"Iss a-ight, whatchoo doin'"
(continues muttering uh-huh, uh-huh- for a few and then finishes the call and loudly says "SOr-Ry" to the rest of the theater. Fuckwad.
