PR, Films and Fantasies

There’s no secret that I am into acting lately so while researching I found a very interesting book on Film Acting (for actors and directors). In it’s second chapter, Jeremiah Comey discusses the difference between personality actors and character actors.

Personality actors are those who let their personality show in all the roles the play. As a consequence, most of their characters are the same to a certain extent.

Character actors are those who leave every bit of themselves aside and enter the role completely. They live, breathe, speak, act as a totally different person “playing the fictional personality of somebody else”.

After reading this I kept thinking: is there a good way of acting? At a first glance it would seem obvious that an actor should become the character and forget everything about his off-camera self. However, some of the most famous actors as personality ones… Think about De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Adam Sandler. I think we can also incluse Johnny Deep in this category as, although his  roles seem different at first sight, at a deeper analysis it’s always the same thing.

Some great character actors I found are Daniel Day-Lewis, Judy Dench and even Leonardo DiCaprio (if we are to compare older movies to his recent ones). I would include Angelina here considering how well she portrays Marianne in A might Heart, Cristine in Changeling or Amelia in Bone Collector.

Who else?

Second week home and boy life is good 🙂

I totally defied any clocks and tic-tacs and did absolutely no coursework or any kind of work. I tried to spend as much time offline and enjoy everybody I used to write on facebook, twitter or here for… tried to keep them up to date live and actually see their reactions at my latest discoveries. So I promise I’ll start with the posting in a few days as I have tons of new ideas and interesting facts to talk to you about.

Bucharest is lovely this time of year with all the trees in blossom, the sun and rain fighting for daily supremacy, the traffic, the crazy city days… I was shopping in a huge supermarket today and I realized how much I miss some simple, basic things like my favorite yogurt, my special blend of iced green tea, my crisps and my yummy bread. But tomorrow is Monday and I’m left with 3 days of Romania before leaving my daughter, granddaughter, friend and cousin roles and head for the student life in Birmingham.

Anyway, with all my free time I had loads of hours for some culture… so here’s my week again:

I read: Cecilia Ahern’s  ‘A Gift’ (from the author of ‘PS: I love you!’ comes a very lite reading but really touching and with a shocking ending – would make a wonderful film and I can bet we’ll see it on the screens sometime near Xmas – found it on my parent’s washing machine and stole it), almost finished ‘A single man’ (I must admit it is a bit hard to stay focused on this story… totally not connecting with it but maybe in other circumstances I would appreciate it better – time to see Colin Firth in the movie), and started Isabel Allende’s ‘Infinite Plan’ (I am simply in love with all the South American literature and I discovered Allende with the House of Spirits many years ago – this book, although from 1993, has been recently translated into Romanian and I found it in one of my favorite bookstores in town – I just read a few chapters but it already charmed me ) and today, I found a book I wanted to read for along time on my night table, Mircea Cartarescu’s ‘Encyclopedia of Dragons’ (actually the word I’m looking for is not ‘dragon’ but what the book is a bout is fairytale creatures, the bad guys that have to fight the princes for the beautiful princesses – it is a fiction book that ‘demonstrates’ their existence, talks about their history and spices… it reminds me of so many childhood feeling, so many thoughts and action plans but mostly, it helps me understand that somewhere deep down, I still have a bit of innocent imagination which society and day to day life left intact… Thank God!)

I watched: Started the week with Spider (very hard to describe the feeling after this film… Ralph Fiennes demonstrates his talent once again in a story about how fragile human minds are – I recommend it to everyone who has the patience to follow a character through a remarkable, quiet and long rediscovery of himself – in a recent research, Mintel claimed that people in the UK appreciate a good, intelligent script more than anything and this one is majestic), Fast and Furious 4 (yes I did it again and survived – sometimes I enjoy an action movie, especially if it has cars in it), The Bounty Hunter (we were suppose to watch Von Trier’s Antichrist but we ended up at this ‘comedy’ due to synchronization problems between couples – a pathetic movie, centered around Aniston and Butler who, although pleasant and nice people, can’t save this production – I really don’t understand these guys… how can you simply rely on good names for a film? ), ‘If I want to whistle, I whistle ‘ (a brilliant Romanian film covering such a sensitive national issue – parents leaving the country to work in other parts of Europe and abandoning their children with relatives or care homes… obviously, many of them get into trouble, quit school and end up pretty bad – what’s the price for a few extra euros? is it worth it?)… and an old time favorite ’50 First Dates’ (sweet romantic comedy, watched it with dad – the story is really cute but since last winter it brings back bad memories: two of my friends lost their short term memory after ski accidents… they’re both ok now, but it’s scary to think that one bump can turn one’s life up side down… extra credit for shooting in Hawaii).

I photographed: had a new lomo film but it ended up bad 😦 camera fell and film rolled out… just a few photos left, nothing big.. just friends 😦

Online: I so miss stumble 😦 but the Wii thing we found is really cool.

Visited: Pitesti and Canmpulung – seen by grandparents and the countryside in Romania… my childhood sights 🙂

Listened to: Tudor Gheorghe (brilliant Romanian singer, impossible to translate), Yann Tiersen (Amelie thoughts)

Was shocked by: death of Poland’s president and elite society members…

This week I:

watched: Little Ashes (the perfect “genius” movie with a remarkable Salvador Dali portrayed by Rob Pattinson – yummy), Into the Wild (the run away from it all, made after a real story – ends bad – started hours of debate: I think it’s selfish), Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (was too lazy to read the book first as I really wanted to compare them – wonderful Swedish film after a Swedish story (yes, Hollywood didn’t get its dirty hands on it so it is really authentic) which made me think – again – about how sick the human mind can be), The Notebook (I didn’t cry….this time – still think the colors of this film are amazing), Remember Me (tears at the cinema – really sensible although the ending might seem too much for some – again Rob Pattinson 🙂 – again beautiful urban light)

read: On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan ( I have to thank the guy from Waterstones who recommended the book when I was in doubt at the 3 for 2 offer…. it’s the kind of story that makes you wonder about each decision, each person, each thought…), A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (not that thrilled about it but really looking forward to compare it to the film), Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier (finished it – not one of Tracy’s best but surely a very good fiction for history – loved the way London is pictured as I find many things the same as back in 1792)

online stuff:  What Adults can Learn from Kids – I wish I was like that as a kid… Ballon Rouge – I’m all about colors this week

listened to: BB Brunes on repeat, The Godfather OST

visited: hmm…. Bucharest (which I think is changing each time I come back) and Amsterdam airport 🙂

photographed: Everyone and every place (my first LOMO film, I was desperate to finish it)