"Uptown" by Brian Ackley

Official Trailer for the feature film Uptown, directed by Brian Ackley http://www.twitter.com/princetonholt
www.uptownfilm.com

"Ackley has done a wonderful job at capturing the emotional journey in his story, and Hampton and Riquinha are wonderful in conveying their characters respective dilemmas. Such is the strength and intelligence of this film that nothing feels forced, and more importantly, everything feels real."
- Sonic-Cinema.com

"A simple yet intelligent storyline, rich and authentic dialogue, solid character development and strong performances across the board. Rather than explode with emotions and manufactured drama, 'Uptown' exists squarely in the awkward state of unknowing." - Richard Propes - TheIndependentCritic.com

"I won't give away the end, but it'll make you rethink your relationships and give you a renewed hope in humanity." - RogueCinema.com

"A titillating film, with a great cast, an outstanding score, and gorgeous cinematography that makes you feel like youre right there." - TCWReviews.com

"The characters are real and raw. Uptown is a great example of solid indie film making." - MovieRoomReviews.com

The Forgotten Sands is not a ported Prince

"Ubisoft's made it very clear that Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, being released alongside the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring PoP film, is not another lame movie-to-game adaptation. It's also not a lame port of a superior 360 or PS3 entry.


Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is the next chapter in the fan-favorite Sands of Time universe. Visiting his brothers kingdom following his adventure in Azad, the Prince finds the royal palace under siege from a mighty army bent on its destruction.

Jake Gyllenhaal & Gemma Arterton in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" (2010).

As the Prince progresses through the game, so do his Sand Powers. By the title's concluding chapters, for example, you'll be able to place the hand-holds wherever you like, without the previous necessity of activating jewels. So, in theory, you'll be able to create your own platforming path.
Visually, The Forgotten Sands looks damn good on the modestly powered hardware. It runs at a steady 60 FPS, and great effects like whipping sand and falling rain look like the real deal. Some nice lighting and shadowing effects are also utilized in the varying indoor environments and exteriors. Fighting and acrobatic animations also looked fluid, even when the screen was cluttered with multiple scimitar-wielding baddies.By not simply porting a watered down version of the 360 and PS3 entries, Ubisoft is providing the Prince's loyal following with an alternative adventure, while also adding enough optional accessibility to introduce new fans to the franchise. While my demo was strictly eyes-only, what I saw has me pining for the day when I can wield the world-altering sand for myself".
Source: kotaku.com

Jesse Eisenberg: Emotional Nerdiness

"I just go to a therapist to brag about my job where I get to kiss girls." — Jesse Eisenberg

When Michael Cera appeared in befuddled virginal fashion in Superbad, he started a sort of a trend, although the disaffected geek has been already featured in a string of coming-of-age films and TV shows. Among some of the more notable examples are Matthew Broderick in WarGames, Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club, Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People, Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko, Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore, Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, Wes Bentley in American Beauty, Tobey Maguire in The Ice Storm, Ryan Gosling in The United States of Leland, Brad Renfro in Ghost World, John Heder in Napoleon Dynamite, Crispin Glover in Rubin & Ed, Paul Giamatti in American Splendor, Hayden Christensen in Shattered Glass, Anton Yelchin in Charlie Bartlett, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Brick, Michael Angarano in Sky High, Kieran Culkin in Igby goes down, Paul Dano in Little Miss Sunshine, Patrick Fugit in Bickford Schmeckler's Cool Ideas, Nicholas Hoult in A single man, Nicholas D'Agosto in Rocket Science, Matthew Lillard in Spooner, Andrew Garfied in Here, Christopher Mintz-Plasse in Role Models, Simon Pegg in Spaced, Misfits of Science, Freaks & Geeks, Dweebs, etc.

Part whiz, part social flake, we're talking about a figure that dates back to literary icons like Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in The Rye by J. D. Salinger), misfits like Sal Mineo's character in Rebel Without a Cause, and the pre-hipsters that John Cusack played in Say Anything and High Fidelity.
Jesse Eisenberg, a revelatory up and coming actor raised in New York by a college professor and a professional clown, belongs to this exemplary area too. Eisenberg is 26 years old, unconventionally attractive and easily recognizable by his neurotic gentle shtick; his features ooze bonhomie, and he's well versed academically. In addition to his newly blossoming film career, he is currently an anthropology major at the New School in New York and a budding playwright. He was recently nominated as Rising Star to BAFTA's 2010:



Eisenberg is often compared to Michael Cera by the critics.

"The implications of focusing on the ability of humans to imitate and borrow information and then to pass it on to another by non-genetic means is genuinely far reaching. It is what makes culture possible" -Maurice Bloch in his Anthropology book "The Rehabilitation of Human Nature" (2005).
Hollywood has recently re-prioritized its old stereotypes and has given these oversensitive, intelligent dupes their chance. This character constitutes a figure that has been evolving since the '80s and got its consolidation by way of the slacker inamoratos in '90s grunge cinema (Paul Rudd in Clueless, Stephen Dorff in So Fucking What, James Spader in Sex, Lies, and Videotapes, Tim Robbins in I.Q. and Antitrust, Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise, Giovanni Ribisi in Suburbia, etc.) who seemed to find their ascension once the indie phenomenon made its way into mainstream culture, as an article in Paste Magazine discusses.

But the inscrutable nerd in film is a more complex type than we think, since it agglomerates disparate characteristics that suggest essentially a blatant contradiction (awkwardness meets a romantic side) which could extrapolate Jerry Lewis or Rick Moranis's nuttines with Woody Allen/Dustin Hoffman's histrionics along with James Dean/Montgomery Clift's old-fashioned romanticized detachment.
Going back to the parallels to Michael Cera, it's true the two share a gawky attitude, nervous sensibility, and hip wardrobe, but the biggest difference is also what separates both irremediably, and it's how their fictional characters deal with sexual situations differently. Jesse Eisenberg takes us to a level not matched enough before the '00s films, where the disenpowered variorum of dorks started to acquire self-awareness and self-respect, and thereby their stories were more diversified and polished up.

Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires (1996) is a documentary written by Robert X. Cringely. Its title is an homage to the film Revenge of the Nerds (1984), based on Cringely's book Accidental Empires. It may not be a coincidence after all — one of Eisenberg's latest projects is The Social Network, directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac), about the origins of Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, following the creation of the hugely successful social networking site. This incremented quota of schmick, crackbrained, and high netiquette mavericks is attempted to emend the prejudices that unfairly held them back for so long.
These socially recusant male models are gaining new popularity among females due to an irresistible dualism (a combination of academic narcissism and sentimental clumsiness), and Jesse Eisenberg never recombines it as a mere caricature. There is always a disquieting humane quality through his "non compos mentis" gimmick, redefining the geek's socially unskilled scepticism in manifestly painful quips and relatable dissension. His is a prodigious alloy of '80s nerdiness and '90s hip slackerism connected via the unflappable '00s emo boy.
He began his professional career acting at 7 as Oliver Twist in a New Jersey children's theater production with Al Pacino on board. Then he landed a role in the TV show Get Real, playing Anne Hathaway's little brother Kenny Green (a sweet teenager who burst into tears when he kissed his neighbour Amy goodbye in the episode "Prey"). A lot of his screen characters can play off people — their neuroses usually portend and anticipate an oncoming breakdown, but they help the girl get her life back into gear.
Eisenberg's breakout role was in Roger Dodger (2002) directed by Dylan Kidd. Its very sharp screenplay introduces us to the main character Roger Swanson, master in sexual politics, who decides to teach his nephew from Ohio, Nick ( Eisenberg) — who's visiting New York after an interview at Columbia University — about women and seduction games with two barflies: Andrea (Elizabeth Berkley) and Sophie (Jennifer Beals). Eisenberg is perfect as the shy apprentice who, scrambling for his first sexual experience, surpasses his cynical uncle, offering us an eminent soliloquy:
"It always drives me nuts when I hear a guy going on about something a girl does that's supposed to be so sexy. Like how she flips her hair. How she stands with one foot to the side... Because that's nothing. That's just something she does. And she probably only does it because she saw it in a movie. It's not their real stuff. All that stuff- the hair flips, the mannerisms, the catch phrases. They add up to the personality. [...] You need the outside stuff. You need, like, the reasons to be in love... All her usual ways of hooking you in have no effect and yet you're still in love. It's like the act is over and you get to the part she's been hiding. And she's been hiding it because she thinks that's the part that's gonna blow it or make you leave or get bored but you get to that part, and you're still there. And you're even more in love".
After two brief roles in The Village (2004), directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and The Emperor's Club (2002), he starred in Wes Craven's Cursed as Jimmy, Christina Ricci's brother, half geek, half werewolf. He takes a shine to a schoolmate Brooke (Kristina Anapau), who dates a closeted gay bully Bo (Milo Ventimiglia). In the last act of the film he questions his sister about her clingy affection for a man who isn't ready to commit to her (screenwriter Kevin Williamson trying here to make a metaphor of a non-commital guy identified as a monster) and Jimmy says to his sister, "I know you think he's a good guy, Ellie, but don't forget, all of this, everything we've been through, is because of him, when it comes down to it, a monster is still a monster."
In The Squid and the Whale (2005) written and directed by Noah Baumbach, Jesse plays the fictionalized version of the real adolescent Baumbach as Walt Berkman, the petulant son of a washed out littérateur, Bernard, in the process of divorce from a promising novelist, Joan (played impressively by Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney). Walt whines at his mother "you disgust me" and feels proud of his elitist egomaniac father (who demeans ordinary people as "philistines") in the first part of the film, but he'll progressively communicate more with his mother looking for comfort; in this time lag he acts oblivious to his nice girlfriend Sophie (Halley Feiffer) while he maintains a childish obsession with a sexy student, Lili (Anna Paquin). Walt powerlessly observes his father's appalling despondency and he fantasizes about being intimate with Lili, who (having once plagiarized some of Lou Reed's verses) knows of Walt's secret rip-off of a Pink Floyd song that he's been passing as his own. In a double climactic father/son denouement, Bernard makes an elegant farewell citing Belmondo's 'Déguelasse' line to Jean Seberg in Godard's film À bout de souffle, and Walt accepts the scary uncertainty caused by his limitations: "The scary fish at the Natural History museum. I was always afraid of the squid and the whale fighting. I could only look at it with my hands in front of my face."
It's a fine dramatic (and marine) note to end this autobiographical film, since our visual system (primate) is made to appreciate yellow and red colors but below sea level there is no red light so male fish, when trying to attract females, only see blue tones.
In The Education of Charlie Banks (2007) directed by musician Fred Durst, Eisenberg plays Charlie, a bourgeois young man whose acquaintances belong to an uppity college environment during the '70s at Brown University in Rhode Island. He's running away from a bad boy Mick (Jason Ritter) while he tries unsuccessfully to invite the "very much out of his league" Mary to a lunch. Among decadent parties, references to The Great Gatsby and Derrida, Charlie (a "cold bitch") flips a "fuck off" to Mary (Eva Amurri) when he's the object of her condescending derision, learning a difficult moral lesson when he confronts Mick in the end.Eisenberg appeared in indie films such as The Living Wake, and One Day Like Rain in 2007, and then was cast in a supporting role in The Hunting Party, playing Benjamin Strauss, the son of a TV network's Vicepresident who's desirous of being taken seriously in journalism field, joining an unsteady twosome of veteran reporters embarking on a hunting mission to capture The Fox, the number one war criminal in Bosnia.
In Adventureland Eisenberg looks nattier and can display as James Brennan (Greg Mottola's stand-in) his full acting range (oscillating from comedic to dramatic timing) and heartthrob potential, blessed at Kristen Stewart's (Em Lewin) side: "Wait, Em. I think I maybe see you a little differently than you see yourself."
In Zombieland (2009) directed by Ruben Fleischer, he stars as the distressed Columbus, a WoW video game player who dreams of finding a girl to fall in love with, and to take her to meet his remote family. The outside landscape is draughty, full of undead zombies who chase the only surviving humans in the USA to kill and infect them. So the first chance for him will happen with an infected beauty (Amber Heard playing a mysterious blonde anonymized as #406) whose intentions are not precisely too amorous. Columbus: "You see? You just can't trust anyone. The first girl I let into my life and she tries to eat me."
Columbus joins the out of whack zombie hunter Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). This is a wild road trip in search of an escape from a dreadful destiny, hoarding vintage guns and durable goods, but most importantly, in a desperate search for a Twinkie (for Tallahassee) or one's own trust (for Columbus). Both goofballs will meet two cute bad-ass sisters, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).
The movie starts with a funny exordium of Columbus explaining to the viewer his methodic catalogue of rules to survive in Zombieland, and it ends with his apogee at Pacific Playland. On the surface Zombieland is a full blast horror comedy but there is a surreptitious tongue-in-cheek conclusion, a sideswipe at America's alienating culture among plenty of wisecracking and goo.
Eisenberg attended the Sundance Film Festival to promote one of his latest films, Holy Rollers (2010), directed by Kevin Asch, which has just been purchased by First Independent Pictures acquiring U.S. distribution rights. Eisenberg plays a Hasidic Jew named Sam Gold who, influenced by Yosef (Justin Bartha), turns into a drug mule and, developing an interest in one of his drug bosses's girlfriend Rachel (Ari Graynor), lives a cultural clash against his religious precepts. The plot is inspired by actual events about Orthodox Jews recruited to illegally bring ecstasy into New York City from Amsterdam in the late '90s.
Eisenberg's laugh out loud moments may not be as frequent as in Cera's case, but the main discordance between them is that Michael Cera seems to fall into a cataplexic state when he's infatuated with an attractive chick and he's always passive towards the girls he's after, even in Youth in Revolt, where a naughty alter ego Francois Dillinger appears, his conquest weapons relied on deadpan courtship.
Cera himself confesses in the Movieline interview:

Q: Do you have an inner Francois?

Cera: Not really. No.

As Superbad's and Adventureland's director Mottola expresses, "Jesse, I think, is a little more sexualized than Michael."

"Every script is about a guy trying to have sex with lots of women. I read them and my veins hurt, like, what am I doing with my life? — except, of course, acting", Eisenberg told BlackBook.

We see in Jesse Eisenberg a stubborness, a social emotional nerdiness, but also a healthy chirpiness which throws us back into reality, because we realise that even when his character has won, a sense of insecurity remains inside his privileged brain. Published today in Blogcritics.org

Celebrities working out

Jake Gyllenhaal leaving a Gym in Santa Monica, on 14th April 2009.Jake Gyllenhaal leaving The Burn 60 Gym In Brentwood on 10th July 2009.

-How did Ashley Greene get fit for New Moon?

"It was really easy", the actress, 22, told Usmagazine.com Saturday at the Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights event in Naperville, Il. "We were working 12 hours a day, so it didn't leave too much time to eat."
When she did eat, she chose "really healthy stuff, which was nice."
Greene also said that training extensively for the sequel -- which had the third biggest box office opening of all time -- accounted for her figure in the movie.

"We had a personal trainer and then we also had fight training," she told Us. "It was a good four hours a day of training."
To stay in shape these days, she said she does Pilates, usually six days a week.
Ashley Greene attending Giorgio Armani: Milan Fashion Week Womenswear A/W on 27th February 2010.

"I do it early in the morning. It wakes you up, and it's kind of refreshing," said Greene, who is headed to London in a few months to begin filming the thriller The Apparition. "And that is basically it. Sometimes cardio. I am not a big weight person because when I do weights I build muscle mass." Source: www.usamagazine.com

"Kate Winslet has always compared herself to the ‘normal women’ of the world and shunned the Hollywood body ideal. Yet somehow she always manages to look unbelievably slim and trim in every photo shoot I’ve ever seen. (Thank you photo shop)
Kate Winslet attending BAFTA's in London - February 2010.

But Kate says she’s been the same size for years and it’s all because of the magical practice of Pilates.

“I’ve actually been this way since I had Joe,’ she said. ‘I still don’t believe in this craziness for being skinny, but I eat sensibly and I don’t stuff down chocolate biscuits. I don’t go to the gym because I don’t have time but I do Pilates workout DVDs for 20 minutes or more every day at home.’ Source: www.hollywoodbackwash.com


Gwyneth Paltrow making Tracy Anderson Method
http://goop.com/newsletter/70/
Gwyneth Paltrow Leaving The Pilates Gym In London.

"There are definite high points to the Paltrow way of existence. Bikram yoga: amazing. I join a class of about 40 other attendees at the studio in Harold's Cross for 90 minutes of 26 postures in 40º where the sweat runs off you like rivulets to stimulate energy and blood flow and increase collagen production." Source: www.tribune.ie
“James Franco is perfect for this fragrance and perfect for Gucci,” the brand’s creative director, Frida Giannini, tells WWD. “He personifies the sort of nonchalance and unforced appeal that is most attractive in a man. In the advertising campaign, he captures the fragrance’s casual, modern and masculine air.” Shot by famed fashion photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in Cannes, France, the new series depicts a very wet and chiseled Franco gazing seductively into the camera after a fully-clothed dip in a pool. The sporty fragrance, a mix of fresh citrus scents and masculine undertones like veviter, is available in stores now" Source: stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com

Hilary Duff out for Pilates (January 6 2010).

"Keeping in shape and staying healthy, Hilary Duff tried a new workout called Piloxing on Wednesday (January 6).

The “War, Inc” actress looked to be in good spirits as she left the pilates mixed with boxing class in Toluca Lake, CA". Source: www.celebrity-gossip.net

Hilary Duff going to a Pilates session before going to Mo's for lunch in L.A on 24th February 2010.

The Humble Abode is proud to offer Pilates classes to engage both body and mind. Pilates can help transform the way you look and feel, promoting body awareness and good posture. Pilates helps build strength without excess bulk. No matter your age or body type, Pilates can benefit you. Reformer classes, private training, and rehabilitative sessions are available.

Deep Tissue / Sports Massage
This very popular massage is useful in soothing muscle spasms and relieving pain at reflex areas, stress points in tendons, and trigger points in muscles.

Swedish Massage
This relaxing type of massage, which stimulates the tissues through kneading and long strokes, stretching, and percussion, is excellent for easing pain, reducing swelling, and increasing circulation.

Reflexology
Foot Reflexology is the skilled massage of very specific zones in the feet, which correspond to organs and other parts of the body. By massaging these reflex areas, blockages are released, tensions are erased, and the body's capacity to heal itself is greatly enhanced. In addition to being a wonderful and deeply relaxing foot massage, Reflexology is in fact very deep therapy with a remarkable impact on the health of internal organs and circulation.

The Humble Spa & Salon offers a broad selection of services to choose from:
Skin Care
Microdermabrasion
Waxing
Massage
Manicure/Pedicure
Endermologie, which was originally developed by French plastic surgeons whose techniques were successful and its process is now patented in the US as well. Endermologie uses rollers that often feel like deep tissue massage, over problem areas of the skin.
Scalp Treatments
Pilates Los Angeles: Pilates dramatically transforms your body. It builds strength without excess bulk, creating a sleek, toned body with slender thighs and a flat abdomen. It teaches body awareness, good posture and easy, graceful movement. Pilates improves flexibility, agility and economy of motion. Professional dancers have known the benefits of Pilates for decades. Hollywood celebrities and supermodels use it to maintain beautiful physiques.
Chiropractic
Physical Therapy
Day Spa Los Angeles: Spa Health treatment (the word spa is an acronym of various Latin phrases such as "Salus Per Aquam” or "Sanitas Per Aquam" meaning "health through water") which can include packages of Deep Tissue Lift Facials, Stress Relief Massage, Rejuvenating Massages, Deep Cleansing, Pilates Reformer Class, etc.


Japanese commercial with Charlize Theron for Lux Spa Moist.

Greenberg - Featurette video

Greenberg brings actor Ben Stiller together with Academy Award-nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) to tell the funny and moving tale of Roger Greenberg. Focus Features releases Greenberg on March 26th, 2010.

Anne Hathaway at London "Alice in Wonderland" premiere

Anne Hathaway as The White Queen with the Bloodhound in "Alice in Wonderland" (2010).
Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham-Carter and Anne Hathaway.Anne Hathaway with "Alice in Wonderland" director Tim Burton.

Watch CBS News Videos Online
Johnny Depp, Tim Burton Take on Alice. And according to Depp, his version of the character got help from an unlikely place: the music of the unhinged Canadian indie-psych band Sunset Rubdown.
Anne Hathaway wore a dress by Vivienne Westwood and Casadel high heels at the World Premiere of Alice in Wonderland in London (February 25th 2010).Mia Wasikowska at "Alice in Wonderland" World Premiere in London (February 25th 2010) wearing a dress designed by Valentino:

New scene from "New Moon" + TYH Interview

Deleted Scene From New Moon starring Kristen Stewart via Target.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Watch a recent NBC News interview with actress Kristen Stewart on the upcoming film “The Yellow Handkerchief” by director Udayan Prasad (Gabriel & Me) and starring Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Runaways), Maria Bello (Grown Ups) and William Hurt (Robin Hood).
"Synopsis: One lazy afternoon in a backwater Louisiana town, Martine takes a leap into an unfamiliar convertible. The driver, Gordy, an awkward young itinerant who eyed her in the diner earlier, isn’t displeased to find this pretty sylph in his front seat. Soon they meet Brett, a laconic, humble man just released from prison. Martine isn’t keen on going solo with Gordy, and now it’s raining cats and dogs, so she invites Brett along, and the unlikely trio sets out, each person unsure of the destination. What ensues is a journey through the lush green byways of rural Louisiana and into the depths of these characters’ souls". Source: www.shockya.com