Another sailing video

Because I feel like it.

This was from last weekend, going over to Port Jefferson and back. It was the first chance we got to cruise this season, and two of our friend's boats joined us. Fun time!

Another film being shot locally

My friend Maura posted this on My Left Nutmeg, a local political blog. This is another Hollywood movie being filmed here in Connecticut. We're becoming the Vancouver of New England! I thought it would be good to repost here. Forgive the sloppy formatting; I'm too lazy to fix it. Enjoy!

(PS: To see lots more of Kate Winslet, rent "Little Children". Yowsa!)
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I mentioned in a comment thread a while ago that the new Kate Winslet/Leonardo DiCaprio film, Revolutionary Road, was going to be filming on my street last week.

Well, the shoot got cancelled last Thursday, but the crew is back today -- and they decided to prominently feature my house and my next door-neighbor's house!

The production crew arrived at 6 this morning and rang our doorbell at 6:40, asking us to move our cars out of the driveway.  They replaced them with these:

It's really exciting -- the production crew are focusing on our house and our next door neighbor's, so we've gotten our tree pruned, fake blooms put on our rhododendrons, and hanging laundry in our side yard. 

I'll put up more photos later this morning as filming commences, and I've posted a few below the jump.  (Click all to enlarge.)

Maura :: Starring my street: Hollywood meets Stamford's East Side

Production crew hanging out in my driveway

Vintage trucks in my driveway.  (That's my sister-in-law on our front steps.

They repainted our fire hydrant from yellow to black and silver, and they sprinkled the street with vintage metal garbage cans.

The street is lined with vintage cars.

My nephew Sean explores the truck in our driveway.

The landscaping crew discusses how best to prune our tree.

Vintage cars across my street.

A great sail

At least, that's how I think it went.

Tonight was our club's first of three "Woman at the Helm" races, where a female needs to steer the boat from start to finish.

We had a good time tonight, and Joyce did great helming the boat.

Here's my salute to Womanly sailing:

Indiana Jones IV casting call

Here's a photo from the casting call on Monday in New Haven. This guy is a bit silly, if you ask me. They already casted the part of "Indiana Jones", so why would he dress like Harrison Ford in the movie? Something tells me he ain't gonna get picked for anything.

From The New Haven Register:

-NEW HAVEN — They came from all over, young and old, big and little, in seersucker suits and tank tops, with tattoos, fedoras and hope.

People were so excited to be extras in the fourth "Indiana Jones" movie that when casting director Billy Dowd drove into the city Sunday evening and saw people already camping out on Crown Street, he knew he couldn't wait till 1 p.m. Monday to open his casting call. (more available from link above)

So, it turns out that Sean Connery won't be in the movie after all. But there's still Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett, and the prospect of being cast as an extra in the movie which will shoot a motorcycle chase on the old Yale University campus.

My ending for "The Sopranos"

With all the controversy about the final episode of The Sopranos, I thought I'd chime in on how it should have ended:

Phil Leotardo goes to the gas station and instead of getting whacked and having his head flattened by his rolling SUV, he simply makes the phone call he wanted and orders a pizza to be delivered to his home. The dramatic point to this is that when he gets home, he finds the delivery guy had been waiting for ten minutes and his pizza got cold.

So Phil doesn't tip the pizza guy.

Paulie Walnuts is creeped out by the cat, so he brings it to the animal shelter. It's a humane shelter, and the cat is later adopted.

The ironic twist is that it gets adopted by Satanists, who crucify it during a black mass.

Tony visits Uncle Junior in the hospital, and later that day Junior forgets to eat his jello with dinner. Then he drools on himself while watching TV.

Meadow gets a ticket because she parallel parked with her tire on the curb.

Anthony Jr. hits his head and forgets to be such a whiny asshole. He later becomes a successful advertising executive.

Dr. Melfi decides psychiatry is a load of crap, and then she replaces Rosie O'Donnell on "The View".

Carmela gets heartburn from the onion rings, and has to buy a roll of "Tums" at the counter. The cashier gives her an extra dime with her change, but Carm doesn't notice.

Tony Soprano gets angry because he put a stupid "Journey" song on by mistake when he meant to hit the buttons for "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones. In a fit of anger he punches the jukebox and hurts his hand.

The owner of the diner walks over to see what the hubbub is about, and Tony apologizes for making such a ruckus. The entire family leaves to go to the Walk-in Medical Clinic, where Tony has to wait 45 minutes to get X-rays taken of his hand. Fade to black.

Viola! That's about five times as exciting as what the showed on HBO the other night!

In any case, hopefully we won't ever have to watch James Gandolfini eat again, or hear him noisily breathing through his deviated septum anymore.

Maybe Tony didn't get whacked, but it feels like WE all did!

"The Fountain" (2006)

This is the third major film directed by Darren Aronofsky (previously, "Pi" (1998), and "Requiem for a Dream" (2000); both very good films).

The Fountain stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz in a richly textured story of love transceding time. The plot is somewhat confusing at times, varying from the year 1500 to present day to 500 years in the future; and the ending is purposefully ambiguous, but it's a great flick to watch just for the joy of a true cinematic experience.

Anyone familiar with Aronofsky's work will recognize his use of redundant images and sounds. Whereas "Pi" was a film about the mind, and "Requiem..." was about the body, "The Fountain" explores the human heart.

Hollywood veteran Ellen Burstyn scores with a good supporting role, too. Overall, a visually stunning movie with great performances and a story that begs contemplation afterwards. Don't expect to be spoon-fed a Hollywood plot with THIS flick!