MIKE GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE HIS INSPIRATIONS IN LIFE AND MAKE MY MARK ON HIM....FOR THOSE WHO DONT KNOW MIKE LET ME SAY HE IS A CLASS ACT AN IT WAS GOOD TO MEET HIM AND WISH HIM MANY MORE KICK ASS YEARS IN THE NFL
Photos of Carlitos at the Portland Tattoo Expo
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S.E. Hinton on Supernatural
CW Supernatural: Slash Fiction
S.E. Hinton did a Supernatural episode! It's her and I think fans of "The Outsiders", "That Was Then...This Is Now", "Tex" and "Rumble Fish" are reveling in actress S.E. Hinton. She played one of the many victims of LeviDean and LeviSam.
Susan is not in unfamiliar territory. I remember her in a brief scene in "Tex" opposite Matt Dillon and even then, I paused, pressed rewind on the VCR, and watched the scene again.
In "After School Special" Supernatural highlighted "The Outsiders" while Sam relived his favorite high school moments. Unfortunately for Sam, he lives in a world of monsters, demons, and angels. How can Sam stay innocent and gold, when as a child he was tainted and deemed the worthy vessel of Lucifer?
Dean Winchester in Season 7
An on going blog about season 7's Dean Winchester, its just rambling and mistakes will be made....
I shall start this particular part of the blog with Jensen Ackles is the center of Supernatural. Sam and Dean Winchester dominate the story plot with Sam in the lead with major battles with demon blood, the YED, Ruby, and Lucifer. But at the heart of the show is an actor who maintains his integrity despite any sudden changes to the script or format of the show. Jensen Ackles and his talent to develop his character and his willingness to work as a team player, elevates the show to a higher level, more deserving than its CW status. The CW is a strong network that usually houses such shows as 90210, Gossip Girl, Smallville, and Dawson's Creek. If that is what you crave, the CW has it.
Jensen Ackles has helped create an icon with Dean Winchester. I've acknowledged Ackles' work in Supernatural as acting which has transcended technique. I think this is the center of the controversy. For me, Jensen Ackles is one of the only actors on SPN who strikes a chord within me. He somehow forges SPN in a warped reality for me that shouldn't exist. Supernatural is considered a fantasy show with monsters, demons, and angels. The other actors are fine in their roles, but somehow Dean Winchester seems true to some form of reality. I laugh when he laughs, even when I don't always find Dean humorous. His sadness can be torture to watch because of how the actor can portray misery. Jensen's acting, more so than others on the show, reaches out and confronts me with my issues, my own demons.
I'm also not saying anything negative about the other actors on the show. Jared Padalecki is reaching new heights with season seven, Jim Beaver is such a pleasure to watch and season seven is looking great for Bobby in the love department. Misha Collins broke through a barrier with his acting in season six, not that that barrier was bad, it was really good, now Misha is amazing.
Let's take a look, shall we, into season seven and Dean Winchester.
I'm going to tackle the most talked about scene in season seven, killing Amy. The character was portrayed by the beloved Jewel Staite who has a following in her own right, first from Firefly and then from Stargate: Atlantis. I knew about the casting ahead of time and I was excited from the jump. I also had a sneaking suspicion that she would die in the episode because, well, she was playing the MOTW. That's "monster of the week".
The back story was rather cute. Told through flashbacks and directed beautifully by Jensen Ackles, fans learn about Amy, a girl monster whom Sam saved from bullies. The kids, Sam and Amy have an adorable heart to heart, complete with a first kiss, but to my dismay we learn that John was indeed an alcoholic. I always thought that Sam was joking in the Pilot. Colin Ford impresses once again as Sam Winchester.
In the attempt to save Sam and herself from her mother, Amy kills her mother. It's an act that will resonate with Sam so much that Sam spares her life when they meet up again as adults.
Dean on the other hand sees something Sam does not. Dean sees a female Kitsune who has killed and will kill again. The argument that some have with this is that Cute and Adorable Little Amy was only doing this to help her son. I've even seen some fans call her Kaylee, sorry fans, wrong show. I thought Jewel Staite fans would be ecstatic to see her portray a different kind of character, I sure had fun watching her character manipulate Sam and play a Kitsune. Yes, Amy manipulated Sam. Watch the scenes again. Amy meets up with Sam in the woods (because initially Sam hunts her down himself), she seems harmless and sweet. Sam finds her home and sweet Amy stands there caught in the act of a fresh kill and calling her self a person. At this point in the story, she had managed to kill again, despite knowing that Sam was scrutinizing her actions. Manipulated much Sammy? Poor Sam. Amy is what she is despite the very adorable act. LeviSam had a brother whom he "ate". Apparently monsters have family too and it seems to make them more efficient killers.
Some fans diligently bring up Lenore from when? Season two. Lenore eventually killed again, sure it was because the Mother of All had risen. But in the end even Lenore realized that she was a monster who needed to die. The Dean Winchester we see today is unfortunately not the same person. The Dean we see today is post hell Dean. The Dean who dealt with Amy is a Dean who made a deal with Death to retrieve Sam's soul from the pit. This Dean made a horrific decision about what to do with SoulLessSam, but Death saved the day. This particular Dean had to let go of two people he considers his family, Lisa and Ben. Oh, let's not forget the Dean who tortured demons to find out the location of Lisa and Ben in "Let It Beed". We aren't talking about the same hunter of season two who wore Daddy's leather jacket and still had hope for the future. We are also looking at a man who is grieving over the loss of Castiel.
Some fans thought Dean should have told Sam the truth. It wasn't about Amy or killing a mommy monster. It was lying to Sam. Dean had to lie at the time. Placating an hallucinating brother must be weighing heavily upon Dean. I can't blame Dean for lying to someone who might not be able to handle reality.
Sam is still hanging out with Lucifer in his head. LeviSam said so. I thought so too in "The Girl Next Door". Just because Sam seems focused, that doesn't mean he is and I often wonder if the over the top sepia tones were used to accent the possibility that Sam isn't remembering everything perfectly.
During the scene where Sam pleaded Amy's case, take a very close look at Dean Winchester's face. Dean is looking at a brother who is hallucinating. Jensen Ackles makes that very clear. While Sam is moving side to side, Dean is staring straight into his brother's face and seeing something else.
This is where the scenario gets tricky. The fandom seemed to have exploded. Dean hate was raging from "Dean killed a mother!" to "Dean should have killed the child Kitsune as well!!". It also seemed like both sides banded together to shout and scream at Dean Winchester. I'm amused. Truly. Yes that's sarcasm.
Do I condone this lie to Sam? Well, I think Dean should have come clean himself, Sam shouldn't have had to hear it from a Levi, but Dean is being rather secretive lately about his feelings.
For me, this is what it boiled down to, am I ranting? I think I am. Dean's actions didn't bother me. Dean took down the MOTW. That's his job and he did it well. Dean gave the kid a chance and I can't wait to see what the writers are going to do.
I also think that it's Jensen Ackles. Ackles somehow creates a profound and distinct feeling of reality. Dean's emotions seem brutally intense and not based on a fantasy television show. Unlike Mark Sheppard or Mark Pellegrino, whom I adore on the show, Jensen Ackles doesn't make me feel like I'm watching a show about monsters and demons and angels. I think it's part of what caused the fandom to react so strongly. Jensen Ackles drives Dean Winchester's emotions to a terrifying level of realism, so much that fans react on a similar level. Jensen Ackles' performance resonates in such a way when perhaps it shouldn't.
So when fans saw Dean cunningly hunt Amy down with silent and soft predatory skills, it was chilling. He spoke to her, apologized to her, and held her dying body. Dean then threaten her son in an interesting scene which makes me wonder considerably about Dean's future. The scene was brilliantly directed, the delivery, captivating.
Jensen Ackles did a wonderful job directing. I loved the cross cutting in the beginning during the hospital scene. I loved the scene when Dean cut through his cast. The mirror shots were fantastic. My problems were the sepia tones (which were added in post production) and the close camera shots to the face, especially with both Sams.
For the first time in a while, Supernatural didn't deal with a topic with a soap opera flair, and somehow fans still complained.
CW/Supernatural: Dean Winchester
I shall start this particular part of the blog with Jensen Ackles is the center of Supernatural. Sam and Dean Winchester dominate the story plot with Sam in the lead with major battles with demon blood, the YED, Ruby, and Lucifer. But at the heart of the show is an actor who maintains his integrity despite any sudden changes to the script or format of the show. Jensen Ackles and his talent to develop his character and his willingness to work as a team player, elevates the show to a higher level, more deserving than its CW status. The CW is a strong network that usually houses such shows as 90210, Gossip Girl, Smallville, and Dawson's Creek. If that is what you crave, the CW has it.
Jensen Ackles has helped create an icon with Dean Winchester. I've acknowledged Ackles' work in Supernatural as acting which has transcended technique. I think this is the center of the controversy. For me, Jensen Ackles is one of the only actors on SPN who strikes a chord within me. He somehow forges SPN in a warped reality for me that shouldn't exist. Supernatural is considered a fantasy show with monsters, demons, and angels. The other actors are fine in their roles, but somehow Dean Winchester seems true to some form of reality. I laugh when he laughs, even when I don't always find Dean humorous. His sadness can be torture to watch because of how the actor can portray misery. Jensen's acting, more so than others on the show, reaches out and confronts me with my issues, my own demons.
I'm also not saying anything negative about the other actors on the show. Jared Padalecki is reaching new heights with season seven, Jim Beaver is such a pleasure to watch and season seven is looking great for Bobby in the love department. Misha Collins broke through a barrier with his acting in season six, not that that barrier was bad, it was really good, now Misha is amazing.
Let's take a look, shall we, into season seven and Dean Winchester.
I'm going to tackle the most talked about scene in season seven, killing Amy. The character was portrayed by the beloved Jewel Staite who has a following in her own right, first from Firefly and then from Stargate: Atlantis. I knew about the casting ahead of time and I was excited from the jump. I also had a sneaking suspicion that she would die in the episode because, well, she was playing the MOTW. That's "monster of the week".
The back story was rather cute. Told through flashbacks and directed beautifully by Jensen Ackles, fans learn about Amy, a girl monster whom Sam saved from bullies. The kids, Sam and Amy have an adorable heart to heart, complete with a first kiss, but to my dismay we learn that John was indeed an alcoholic. I always thought that Sam was joking in the Pilot. Colin Ford impresses once again as Sam Winchester.
In the attempt to save Sam and herself from her mother, Amy kills her mother. It's an act that will resonate with Sam so much that Sam spares her life when they meet up again as adults.
Dean on the other hand sees something Sam does not. Dean sees a female Kitsune who has killed and will kill again. The argument that some have with this is that Cute and Adorable Little Amy was only doing this to help her son. I've even seen some fans call her Kaylee, sorry fans, wrong show. I thought Jewel Staite fans would be ecstatic to see her portray a different kind of character, I sure had fun watching her character manipulate Sam and play a Kitsune. Yes, Amy manipulated Sam. Watch the scenes again. Amy meets up with Sam in the woods (because initially Sam hunts her down himself), she seems harmless and sweet. Sam finds her home and sweet Amy stands there caught in the act of a fresh kill and calling her self a person. At this point in the story, she had managed to kill again, despite knowing that Sam was scrutinizing her actions. Manipulated much Sammy? Poor Sam. Amy is what she is despite the very adorable act. LeviSam had a brother whom he "ate". Apparently monsters have family too and it seems to make them more efficient killers.
Some fans diligently bring up Lenore from when? Season two. Lenore eventually killed again, sure it was because the Mother of All had risen. But in the end even Lenore realized that she was a monster who needed to die. The Dean Winchester we see today is unfortunately not the same person. The Dean we see today is post hell Dean. The Dean who dealt with Amy is a Dean who made a deal with Death to retrieve Sam's soul from the pit. This Dean made a horrific decision about what to do with SoulLessSam, but Death saved the day. This particular Dean had to let go of two people he considers his family, Lisa and Ben. Oh, let's not forget the Dean who tortured demons to find out the location of Lisa and Ben in "Let It Beed". We aren't talking about the same hunter of season two who wore Daddy's leather jacket and still had hope for the future. We are also looking at a man who is grieving over the loss of Castiel.
Some fans thought Dean should have told Sam the truth. It wasn't about Amy or killing a mommy monster. It was lying to Sam. Dean had to lie at the time. Placating an hallucinating brother must be weighing heavily upon Dean. I can't blame Dean for lying to someone who might not be able to handle reality.
Sam is still hanging out with Lucifer in his head. LeviSam said so. I thought so too in "The Girl Next Door". Just because Sam seems focused, that doesn't mean he is and I often wonder if the over the top sepia tones were used to accent the possibility that Sam isn't remembering everything perfectly.
During the scene where Sam pleaded Amy's case, take a very close look at Dean Winchester's face. Dean is looking at a brother who is hallucinating. Jensen Ackles makes that very clear. While Sam is moving side to side, Dean is staring straight into his brother's face and seeing something else.
This is where the scenario gets tricky. The fandom seemed to have exploded. Dean hate was raging from "Dean killed a mother!" to "Dean should have killed the child Kitsune as well!!". It also seemed like both sides banded together to shout and scream at Dean Winchester. I'm amused. Truly. Yes that's sarcasm.
Do I condone this lie to Sam? Well, I think Dean should have come clean himself, Sam shouldn't have had to hear it from a Levi, but Dean is being rather secretive lately about his feelings.
For me, this is what it boiled down to, am I ranting? I think I am. Dean's actions didn't bother me. Dean took down the MOTW. That's his job and he did it well. Dean gave the kid a chance and I can't wait to see what the writers are going to do.
CW/Supernatural promo
I also think that it's Jensen Ackles. Ackles somehow creates a profound and distinct feeling of reality. Dean's emotions seem brutally intense and not based on a fantasy television show. Unlike Mark Sheppard or Mark Pellegrino, whom I adore on the show, Jensen Ackles doesn't make me feel like I'm watching a show about monsters and demons and angels. I think it's part of what caused the fandom to react so strongly. Jensen Ackles drives Dean Winchester's emotions to a terrifying level of realism, so much that fans react on a similar level. Jensen Ackles' performance resonates in such a way when perhaps it shouldn't.
So when fans saw Dean cunningly hunt Amy down with silent and soft predatory skills, it was chilling. He spoke to her, apologized to her, and held her dying body. Dean then threaten her son in an interesting scene which makes me wonder considerably about Dean's future. The scene was brilliantly directed, the delivery, captivating.
Jensen Ackles did a wonderful job directing. I loved the cross cutting in the beginning during the hospital scene. I loved the scene when Dean cut through his cast. The mirror shots were fantastic. My problems were the sepia tones (which were added in post production) and the close camera shots to the face, especially with both Sams.
For the first time in a while, Supernatural didn't deal with a topic with a soap opera flair, and somehow fans still complained.
Divorced Duo Ryan Reynold and Scarlett Johansson List Former Love Nest in Los Angeles
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $3,650,000
SIZE: 2,835 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: In August 2010, just over two years after their hush-hush wagon hitching ceremony in some tiny town in British Columbia (Canada), comely movie stars Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds acquired The Wong House, a single story 1969 wood and glass contemporary located in the celebrity-stocked Los Feliz area of Los Angeles and designed by much-beloved California architects Buff & Hensmen.
This was, celebrity real estate watchers readers will recall, just a couple short months after Miz Johansson finally managed to unload her humongous house in the Hollywood Hills at a pocketbook punishing three million dollar loss; She had paid seven million for the 7 bedroom and 7 bathroom Mediterranean manse in the low-key but star-studded Outpost Estates 'hood in May 2007 and sold in June 2010 for just $4,000,000.
Anyhoo, a few very short months after Mister and then-Missus Reynolds purchased their love nest in the upscale hills above Hollywood their high-profile romance swirled down the Tinseltown Terlit of Love. Their divorce (reportedly) became final in June 2011 and now, more than half a year later finally time, the time has come to divide their community assets that include (and may or may not be limited to) their mid-century modern hideaway which where not sure they every actually occupied as a couple and has just popped up the (open) market with asking price of $3,650,000.
A couple of quick and unscientific calculations on our bejeweled abacus shows that's a whopping 30 percent more than they paid for the property less than 1.5 years ago. The price increase likely takes into account the eco-friendly restoration and upgrades added to the house in the last year that include the incorporation of solar power.
Listing information shows the newly gated and video secured post and beam abode sits on a .44 acre triangular shaped lot with sprawling views from downtown to the beach, measures 2,835 square feet and includes 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and an attached 2-car garage with convenient direct access.
Plans for a second story addition are available according to current listing information.
A long row of full-height windows extends almost the full width of the rear of the house from the "formal" living room at one end, past the updated and upgraded open kitchen, beyond the dining area to the den/family room. Listing information indicates the L-shaped residence also includes a library, indoor laundry room, and a private master suite complete with secluded walled garden and outdoor shower.
The back of the house opens to a deck that extends out towards the salt water swimming pool and steps down to flat grassy yard that encircles the swimming pool and includes an elevated built-in fire pit with curvaceous built-in bench seating.
After Mister Reynolds listed his modest if not exactly inexpensive bachelor pad in the nearby Outpost Estates neighborhood in the summer of 2011 with a $1,599,000 price tag—he paid $1,715,000 for the 2 bedroom and 2.5 bathroom canyon and city view crib in October 2007—Your Mama thought maybe he planned to remain in residence at The Wong House. Alas, Mister Reynolds took his Outpost Estates digs off the market in early November (2011), a decision that may or may not have something to do with the recent listing of The Wong House.
As far as we know Miz Johansson continues to own an approximately 1,200 square foot New York City penthouse with stunning city view terrace that property records and previous reports reveal she snapped up in April 2008 for $2,100,000.
No word on the house in the rural Louisiana farm the couple allegedly purchased in the spring of 2010 and (allegedly) updated and upgraded with all the eco-friendly accoutrement a green-thinking celeb can conceive of and afford.
listing photo: Keller Williams Realty / Beverly Hills
Super Producer Brian Grazer Buys Big Digs
LOCATION: Santa Monica, CA
PRICE: $12,500,000
SIZE: 10,285 square feet, 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Not too long ago we heard from Our Fairy Godmother (O.F.G.I.S.M.) in Santa Monica who snitched with some shock and awe that Oscar-winning and spikey-haired super-producer Brian Grazer had, in early December 2011, dropped $12,500,000 on a sprawling, many-winged (and lobster-shaped) mansion in Santa Monica, CA.
It wasn't that O.F.G.I.S.M. found it at all odd or bedfuddling that Mister Grazer coughed up well over twelve million clams on a monstrous mansion that is, by Your Mama's unsolicited and somewhat snotty assessment, in desperate need a full-scale make-over. That is, let's be honest, par for the real estate course for Showbiz power players like Mister Grazer. What O.F.G.I.S.M. marveled about, rather, was that the Santa Monica estate, not quite a mile and a half from the beach, had been listed on the open market back in late 2007 with a magnificently higher price tag of $22,500,000. Eventually the price tag plummeted to $16,500,000 and in fall 2011 the property was made available as a partially furnished lease at a rate of $28,000 per month.
Did Mister Grazer snag a great real estate steal, if twelve and some million bucks for a single family house can ever really be considered a steal? Or was the original price tag for the meticulously maintained but wan-looking spread was laughably bullish? Or, looked at from a slightly different angle, did Mister Grazer pay too much given that the most recent sale of any property that backs up the the manicured expanse of the The Riviera Country Club was back in October 2010 when a stately but also tired and significantly smaller Elmer Grey-designed 1926 Tudor on 1.2 acres—much of its utterly soo-blime original woodwork intact but screaming for an overhaul—went for $7,700,000? Your Mama will let the children, from those with real estate expertise to those with an entirely uninformed opinion, hash out the consensus with their commentary.
The almost two acre estate, privately situated behind electronic gates and a dense thicket of mature trees on a sometimes busy but particularly purrdy boulevard, backs up to the ritzy and celeb-friendly Riviera Country Club and measures 10,285 square feet according to listing information kindly forwarded to Your Mama by O.F.G.I.S.M. The spacious, two-story streamlined traditional—an architecturally unsatisfying and decoratively démodé dwelling by Your Mama's humble and meaningless opinion—was built in 1990 and contains 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 4 fireplaces, garage bays for five cars that encircle a parking-lot sized motor court, and a separate guesthouse.
The architectural and decorative tone(s) for the interior spaces are set straight away in the airy, origami-like foyer where chunky stone pillars anchor towering walls of glass, where honey-colored wood floors have a strangely directional inlay, and the heavy-duty staircase curls around a small pond with rock sculpture and climbs to a serpentine bridge that cuts confusingly through the voluminous space and connects the various wings on the upper level of the house.
Entertaining and living areas include, according to listing information, formal living and dining rooms, den, library/study, media room, and a temperature controlled wine and booze cellar with stone floor and walls lined almost floor to ceiling with individual bottle cubbies. Family quarters include a separate breakfast room and soaring double-height, five-sided center island kitchen with a bulbous, super-sized greenhouse window. The kitchen area connects over a compact, L-shaped snack counter to a long, narrow and voluminous family room area with wood floors and massive stone-faced chimney breast.
The fully-landscaped, notably private and tree-shaded back yard has a meandering, dark-bottom lagoon-like swimming pool bordered by behemoth boulders, a waterfall or two, tropical-looking plantings and a sunken swim-up bar with curvaceous counter top that mimics—blah blah blah—the serpentine bridge that winds through the various double-height spaces inside the house. A broad, sinuous lawn stretches back from the house and terraces towards the bluff's edge where a snaky stone terraces hangs over the unnaturally green golf course. Your Mama is not big on golf course fronting properties—we have zero interest in golf and even less interest in being seen by golfers as we sunbathe in our booze bloated birthday suit—but the geography here sits the house and back yard well above the golf course for maximal privacy and scenic views over the golf course towards the rugged Santa Monica mountains that rise ruggedly to the north and west.
Just before their summer 2007 divorce, Mister Grazer and his now ex-wife writer/reality show host Gigi Levangie Grazer (The Starter Wife, The Arrangement) listed their sprawling Cliff May-designed ranch-style mansion in Pacific Palisades with an asking price of $27,500,000. The superstar-style 9 bedroom and 14 bathroom compound finally and famously sold in March 2009 for $17,550,000 to fast reproducing Tinseltowners Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner.
listing photos (Santa Monica): Sotheby's International Realty
listing photos (Malibu): Everett Fenton Gidley for Westside Estate Agency
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