The Tourist, starring Angelia Jolie and Johnny Depp: My Review

This movie is funny! I wasn't expecting that. I expected the glorious eye candy that is Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp and the cities of Venice and Paris and "The Tourist" delivered that much at least.

It's a combination romantic comedy and spy movie. I was surprised how much I laughed. Depp plays a small town, math teacher who meets a gorgeous, mystery woman, on a train heading to Venice.

It was a visual feast, with Jolie looking like the most glamorous movie star alive. In many shots, we're simply watching her walk into a sumptuous, well appointed room or merely walking down an historic European street; and loving it. She is drop dead gorgeous.

The clothes, the jewelry, the fancy boats and the glorious posh hotel rooms are all fun to look at.

 

The plot could be any man's fantasy, but I suspended my system of disbelief and went along with the ride. If you don't do that, you won't like this movie.  Depp is charming and irresistible, while Jolie is a glam Goddess; much like Cary Grant and Sophia Loren were in movies from the 50's.

There were some cool, high tech incidents, a couple of boat chases and a funny scene with Depp in his pajama's running across Spanish tile rooftops.

It's not the best movie I've ever seen before, but it's not the worst, by far. Fortunately, it's not too long, checking in at 104 minutes. The pacing was good, with no major lulls. I laughed a lot, smiled even more and was mostly entertained. There were some predictable moments, but a surprise ending. I give it three stars.

 

Merry Christmas from The Girls of The DSC Show 2010!!

Women in Art Over 500 Years

I love this video. Philip Scott Johnson created it and posted it to YouTube in 2007. It morphs famous female portraits in Western Art over the last 500 years. 

Maybe you'll recognize The Madonna, Mona Lisa or The Birth of Venus. Many artists are represented, including: Botticelli, da Vinci and Renoir. For a complete list of artists and paintings visit http://www.maysstuff.com/womenid.htm

The lovely music is Bach's, Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 performed by Yo-Yo Ma. 

 Thank you for visiting and Merry Christmas!

Feast Your Eyes on This - Incredible Foodscapes!

By nature, artists tend to see the world differently than other people - and it never stops amazing me! I recently came across a London artist named, Carl Warner. He uses food to create landscapes, cityscapes, people and more. If you look closely, you'll see every object in each of the pieces is something edible.

Warner says he see's trees and bushes when he looks at broccoli and celery. He says his only problem is creating sky, since there's no blue food.

He loves fat loaves of artisan bread, where he see's the bubbles as rocks and stones of all shapes and sizes. He uses them to build mountains, roads to create each detailed piece.

Smoked salmon is used below to show a sunset reflecting on a body of water. A lot of time goes into planning each piece.

When I see food, I think of eating it and how good it might taste. Not Warner. He see's sculpture and creates what he calls foodscapes. The details are stunning!

I'm a more traditional mixed media artist who uses paint, collage and lots of pretty pens and pencils. I feel sort of boring compared to Warner.

 Here's the artist at work.

There's no paint here, just colorful, well placed food, beautifully photographed.

Learn more about Warner and see more of his outstanding originals on his website, here. He has some stunning foodscape video's too. He also has two books for sale here.

Incredible Collage - All Created From Junk Mail! Plus, Love For Robert Schimmel

I was happily checking out some art on Facebook one day when I came across an outstanding collage artist from Arizona, Sandhi Schimmel-Gold. I went to her website so I could learn more about her work and discovered all of her work is created solely from junk mail! I'm enthralled by her sense of color, incredible detail and all around creativity. I love her work and feel inspired to push myself further.

Like many of us, I pitched all the junk mail from this month's election into the recycle bin, but Sandhi used hers to create the above portrait. I was impressed and blown away by this fact. That she's a green artist and uses nothing but junk mail just slays me! I recycle a large bag of paper every week, never thinking it could be used to glean future art projects.

 

John Lennon

 Her website shows a wide variety of portraits, some custom made from personal photographs. Her collection of portraits are also peppered with pop icons like Elvis, Marilyn Monroe,  Paul McCartney, Twiggy  and Jackie Kennedy Onassis, shown below.

I was curious as to how Sandhi catalogs and stores all of her junk mail to be able to make sense of it and to be able to find what she wants when she begins a new piece. Here's what she told me.

1. I sort the mail as it comes in, put all the junk - postcards, catalog covers, etc. in a pile. 
2. Just as normal "recycle" / garbage sorting, all old greeting cards, menus, business cards, etc. go into the studio instead of the recycle bin.
3. All that goes into drawers.
4. Every time I start a new piece, I make myself spend time going through the drawers for a "rough sort" - and chop up everything into color chunks.
5. Those go into drawers - very basic color group
6. When I am looking for a color, I find a piece that is a "key" - then I look through the color drawer for pieces that sort of match it - and cut those pieces into strips, and as I work, cut the strips into squares. This is all done by hand, by the way.
7. So, yes there is sort of a system and it is organized. There are drawers, boxes, etc. 
8. Remember, I have been saving stuff for years. So there is a LOT of it! Every time I finish a piece, I clean up - I make a mess while I'm working, but won't start something new until the studio is tidy.

Marilyn Monroe

 I had no idea her brother was the very talented, comedian, Robert Schimmel, until I saw the announcement of his death on her Facebook page in early September 2010. He's been a favorite of mine for many years and he's appeared in person on The DSC Show numerous times over the last 10 years. I've always enjoyed his raunchy, bold, brand of humor and he's given me many laughs over the years. He will be sorely missed. Sandhi made a portrait of him, shown below.

Robert Schimmel

Robert survived cancer, (and other nightmares), but died in a horrible car accident in Arizona. Sandhi told me his daughter, who was also in the car, is doing better physically; but having a tough time emotionally. She and her Dad were very close. Our prayers go out to the whole Schimmel family.

Sandhi said, "One thing I could say about Bob is that he did live his life the way he wanted. It kicked him in the ass MANY times, but that's what happens when you live on the edge."

She goes on to say, "Bob was actually a very talented musician and songwriter, but funny - always. He was fired from every job he ever had because of it. Once, after he started to headline, he was playing at a club here in AZ. He sent tickets to all of his bosses [anonymously] and parents of girls he dated. They all came to the show, and during the act, he thanked all of them for firing him - so [or kicking them out of their daughter's lives] he could pursue comedy." 

Sandhi said her family has always been very close. I asked if Robert teased her much when they were kids. She told me, "He did tease me, but he was not cruel. He was actually very sweet and protective - if you knew him "off the air" you knew him to be gracious and generous to a fault - especially with his time."

Sandhi's collage art deals with a wide variety of subjects including flowers, landscapes, angels, religious icons and more. Please visit her website here to see her gallery collections and make a purchase if you're so inclined.

 

Please view Sandhi's blog here. Her website shows how you can stay in touch with her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and subscribe to her newsletter.

All art on this page created by Sandhi Schimmel Gold and not for reproduction without her permission.

Freebies For All Veteran's Today 11-11-2010!

Today is Veteran's Day, a national American holiday. Although I am not a veteran, I appreciate, support and am very grateful for their service to our country. I live in a military town, San Diego, CA and want to help those who serve.  No matter what you think of war or what political affiliation you follow, we should all support our troops. Thousands have given their lives for our freedoms.

 Fortunately, there are lots of  businesses who want to give back in some small way to Veteran's, active duty service members and their families. You'll definitely need to show your ID to take advantage of the freebie's and discounts. I did a search and found lots of free and discounted meals, free admission to certain parks, free haircuts, free donuts; plus discounts at hardware stores and Old Navy.

Below is a partial list. Please click on the highlighted words for more information. Some are in San Diego only, while others are nationwide.

Free admission to the USS Midway Museum in downtown San Diego. Stop in after the parade! Anyone who donates blood to the San Diego Blood Bank can also enter for free. Click here for details.


Wahoo's Fish Taco is going to be celebrating Veterans Day this year by giving a free #1 combo meal to all active and retired military personal. You must be 18.

Uno Chicago Grille is offering a free entrée or pizza with the purchase of another entrée or pizza for all veterans and active duty military.  

Free meals  and other discounts are being offered at Famous Dave's BBQ, a national chain.

Tabe BBQ Grille is offering 50% off with military ID, but only at their store on Murphy Canyon Road.

Applebee's and Chili’s restaurants are both offering all military veterans past and present their choice of one of six meals for free.

More than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees are waiving that fee on Thursday. Visit one of your national parks on Veterans Day.

Outback Steakhouse's appreciation to our Country's veterans and active duty military, comes in the form of a free Bloomin' Onion and beverage of choice (one non-alcoholic drink or one draft Anheuser Busch beer except where prohibited by law). Check http://www.outback.com/ for locations.  

Amazon.com  has free “Veterans Day Honor” MP3 album downloads. The album includes 12 songs by The Bands and Ensembles of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Sea World is offering veteran's and three direct dependents free admission on any one day of the year.

Knott's Berry Farm offers free admission for vet's today. Actually vets can go for free on any one day of the year.

Krispy Kreme Donuts has free donuts for our fighting hero's.

Old Navy clothing is offering military personnel a 30% discount on purchases for the second week of November. Lowe's and Home Depot are giving a 10% discount all this week.

Wear your uniform or show your ID at T.G.I.Friday's through the weekend to get a "buy one meal, get one free."

Mimi's Cafe is offering a free meal with any $20 purchase, but only with this coupon.

Participating Hooter's restaurants are offering free meals to active service members and vet's with ID.

Sports Clips Haircut is a chain salon for men of all ages and is offering a free haircut to active military and veterans on Nov. 11 at participating Sports Clips locations.

If you aren't a veteran, but would like to help one, volunteer or donate money; here are a few links of some terrific organizations:

National Veteran's Foundation
Freedom is Not Free: Serving Wounded Warriors
Leave No Veteran Behind

This is one small way I thought of to officially thank you for your service. I hope it lets you know how much you're appreciated. My boss, Dave Rickards,  always thanks our military listeners for their service to our country. So I've gotten into that wonderful habit as well and I encourage you to try it too. It feels good.

And Happy Holiday if you're lucky enough to get the day off!

DSC Supports Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in San Diego County!

 Back Row: Chris Boyer, Dave Rickards, Cookie "Chainsaw" Randolph; Front Row: Ruth 66 (me), Elaina Smith, Emily Maguire

We've all been effected by breast cancer in one way or another. We either know someone who has it, had it ourselves or know someone who's died from it. We are joining The Susan G. Komen Foundation in imagining the world without this deadly disease.

 With cuts to the Every Woman Counts program and the numbers of uninsured women increasing in San Diego County, Komen San Diego is set to Make Change in a challenging economy with a new campaign – The Make Change campaign.

The ad shown above ran in the San Diego U-T Sunday paper featuring our little radio show! All KFMB team members are raising money for the cause. You can contribute here or go to our web page at: sandiegojack.com . I donated $25 and hope you will match that amount or better it.


The whole DSC Crew also autographed a new pink bra to raise more money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure fund.  You have to take a look at it and you should also place a bid on this lil' beauty on Ebay here. None of the guys wore it - we just signed it!

As usual we had some fun behind the scenes in the KFMB photo studio. Elaina's Dad, Barry Smith, was our photographer. He and his stellar crew put up with us trying to hurry the process along. Needless to say, the boys were a tad uncomfortable wearing their lingerie and wanted to get it over with. They noticed how uncomfortable bra's are and wondered how on earth we put up with them. My answer in one word - gravity.

I took these pics with my Blackberry while the photo team was getting ready.

 Boyer, Dave and Chainsaw

Chainsaw insists people always publish the wackiest photo's of him, but when he poses like this - what else can you do. I love ya, big guy!

Thanks to everyone in Promotions, Sales and Management at Jack-FM, 100.7 KFMB for making this possible and for their support of The DSC.

Please listen to The DSC on Jack-FM, Mon-Fri 6-10 am or download the podcast after each show here.