A bad "Secretary" Review

"Secretary was one of the biggest disappointments I've ever seen. After seeing it land on a vast majority of year-best lists, and witnessing the adoration on RT, I had been very excited to see it.

What I found disgusting about the film was not the explicit sexual content so much as the very conceit of the film. Essentially, the film suggests that a person driven to self-mutilation can find solace in submitting to pain and humiliation at the hand of someone else. I find that incredibly offensive. The structure of the film is very simplistic and does a tremendous disservice to people with real psychological difficulties. If there is any complexity in the film, it's because Gyllenhaal and Spader are incredibly intelligent, perceptive actors. The sad thing is that the film has a few keen observations and moments of humor that are awash in the exploitive nature of the concept. Maybe if they had done it differently it might have worked. I'm too lazy to post a link to the review in my journal, but Secretary just ended up not working for me at all." -Dade Devlin in "Rotten Tomatoes forum"

HAPPY YEAR 2007!

I hope you have at hand some good remedy to your hangover from your New's Year Eve party, my friends Weirdos. I wish this new year is more special than the past one for all of you.

Jake On Fire!

"A fire broke out at Manka's Inverness Lodge in Marin County early Wednesday after a tree fell on the structure. The local fire chief called it a total loss.

Jake Gyllenhaal and sister Maggie were staying at the inn for Christmas. Guests were seen running outside at around 2:43 am. Said a neighbor: "They weren't dressed to come out. It was early."

Daniel DeLong, chef and co-owner, said Gyllenhaal assisted with recovery efforts: "Jake was helping me pull things out of the fire."

Other well-known guests at the inn were Frances McDormand

and husband Joel Coen. No injuries were reported."
Source: Celebrityfox.com


the front wall of Manka’s restaurant remained mostly standing. Sky can be seen through the windows of a guest room whose roof was consumed. Pictures from Sparselysageadtimely.com

And more information from People.com:
"Jake Gyllenhaal battled hurricanes and tidal waves
in The Day After Tomorrow,
but on Wednesday he faced a real-life natural disaster: A fire at the California hotel where he was vacationing with his family.

Gyllenhaal, 26, and his actress sister Maggie, 29, were among the guests forced to flee Manka's Inverness Lodge in the San Francisco Bay area when the two-story wooden inn caught fire around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Marin Independent Journal reports.

"Jake was helping me pull things out of the fire," Daniel DeLong, a chef and co-owner of the historic lodge where the actors had often vacationed, told the Journal.

[...] The inn and its restaurant were known as a place where A-listers could unwind in a relaxed environment: Prince Charles dined there last year, and DeLong told the Journal that over Christmas he'd cooked grits for the Gyllenhaals as well as actress Frances McDormand and her husband, filmmaker Joel Cohen.

"We just do what we do," he said.

HAPPY WEIRD CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!

Riding and shopping

Jake riding his bike on 20th December in L.A. and Reese Witherspoon shopping in Beverly Hills on 19th December.

Eccentric Jake and Reese

Who, aside Jake, would celebrate his birthday riding his bike on Munholland Dr, a step of becoming the "Livestrong Yellow Man"?

Equally eccentric, Reese has gone through hard times in her marriage split, but she forgot to change her "patucos" for one pair of stylizing peep-toes.

Meryl Streep in "Rendition"

"Meryl Streep has joined the cast of New Line Cinema's "Rendition," a political thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon and being directed by Gavin Hood.

Alan Arkin also has been cast, playing a senator.
Written by Kelley Sane, the multilayered story centers on a CIA analyst (Gyllenhaal) based in Cairo who finds his world spinning out of control after he witnesses the interrogation of a foreign national by the Egyptian secret police. Witherspoon is playing the pregnant American wife of the national.
Streep is a government official who orders the rendition of the national. Shooting is under way in Los Angeles. The production also will shoot in Washington, Morocco and South Africa.

Steve Golin is producing. David J. Kanter, Keith Redmon and Michael Sugar are executive producing.

Toby Emmerich and Keith Goldberg are overseeing for the studio.

Streep, repped by CAA, is riding high on Oscar buzz for her performance in "The Devil Wears Prada."

Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs in "The Devil wears Prada".



Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in "The Devil wears Prada".
She recently joined the all-star cast of "Lions for Lambs," in which she will act alongside Tom Cruise and Robert Redford."
Source: Hollywoodreporter