Pouting Rupert Penry-Jones

I was a big fan of Spooks (MI-5) thanks to Rupert Penry-Jones who makes the spy business attractive, and while I'm struggling yes or no I should keep watching the series now lead by the "Robin Hoods" villain Richard Armitage. Here I found something really funny to read about the former Spooks hero.

Rupert Penry-Jones shines in The 39 Steps

The success of The 39 Steps was mostly down to Rupert Penry-Jones, who re-creates his role from Spooks in rather better tailoring. He isn’t really an actor, in the sense of someone who actually acts. He is more somebody who stands around pouting. He manages to project a bland and fuzzy likeability through a conventionally pretty face. He reminds me of a male version of Audrey Hepburn. This is not a criticism. Well, it is a criticism. But not a bad one. Standing around pouting, looking like Audrey Hepburn, is quite as difficult and admirable as marching up and down being Hamlet. He has a defined and narrow range of emotions and reactions available to him, most delivered with a Botoxed gauche minimalism, and in this he perfectly fits the strange, sensually neutered understatement and studied insouciance that is the default setting of your archetypal Edwardian hero. Those weird boy-men, tongue-tied around women but effusive with horses and dogs, scrupulously fair but comprehensively prejudiced, a bizarre collection of public-school contradictions, repressions and neuroses became the template for derring-do heroes. You can see him in Dirty Harry and Indiana Jones, in Matt Damon and Batman.

- by AA Gill - The Sunday Times - January 4, 2009 Original article

Chien-Ming Wang's Johnny Walker Ad

Cute dog in TV ad

Kelly Ripa's Electrolux

Despite of my TV ad background. Ever since the recordable TV box exist. We watch TV shows only after the air time to be able to view the thriller show without interruption and skip the annoying long, frequent ads that TV channels trying to make we all swallow.
But lately I sort of having a pretty healthy life style which I started to sleep early and wake up early, so we advanced almost all the show watches on real time, and unfortunately can't avoid the ad anymore.
Here is one of many very boring ads we saw and found a little something at very end make us smile - A little high 5 dog.

New TV shows this fall

This fall. Almost all the old shows we know like Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisie, Desperate Housewives, Samantha Who?, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, Chuck, Heroes, Life, My Name is Earl, Bones, House, Dexter, Californication etc. are coming back after a chaotic writers strike season. And there are some very interesting new shows fashionably with movie casts have been promoted since a month that we all can't wait to see: "The Mentalist" with the charming Simon Baker, "Eleventh Hour" with Rufus Sewell, "Gary Unmarried" with Jay Mohr, the very promising supernature thriller with Bill Pullman, Christopher Gorham etc. "Harper's Island", The UK TV version of "Crusoe" with Sam Neill, the comedy "Kath & Kim" with Selma Blair, the war thriller "Kings", "Fringe" with Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson, "Raising the Bar" with the NYPD Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and "Starter Wife" with Will & Grace's Debra Messing etc.
But while we're all staring at the Olympic Games' very selected and not live prime time monopole transmission. Weeds, Psych, and the high quality 100% canadian made police thriller "Flashpoint" are making our summer very refreshing.

"Flashpoint" is entirely shot in Toronto where the city gives all it has got to make it's new name in Hollywood.
The show is fairly well written and smartly directed, sharply filmed and gladly casted with less known canadian actors which the production can spend much more budget to produce a quality show shot with Panavision, color enhanced movie like TV must see.
Each episode starts from the critique moment the so called "flashpoint" then flashback to few hours earlier, with mainly 2 story lines, one from the Strategic Response Unit, the SRU side which is inspired by Toronto's Emergency task Force team, and the other one from the criminal or the social victims side.
The SRU geared up like swat, arrived in 3 big black SUVs, and the guy who played the photographer in "Just Shoot Me" will talk the disturbed attacker through or the snipers will push the trigger shoot the unstable public threat on the keyword "Scorpio".
I like specially Hugh Dillon's new promising face which reminded me Bruce Willis and Jason Statham. And the little flirt tension between the cliche good looking young man David Paetkau from the Final Destination 2 and the smart and only female sniper Felicity's Amy Jo Johnson. And Amy Jo Johnson and Hugh Dillon also produce and use their music as soundtrack often make beautiful closure to each tense episode.
"Flashpoint" music guide here, episode guide here.
My favorite episode: Ep. 3: The Element of Surprise

My old production work - Li-NIng Sportswear Concept ad 2001 (China)

This ad was shot in December 2001 in Paris and air in China for the new year of 2002.
The beautiful gymnast : Amélie Villeneuve

HBO new show - Voyeur (outdoor movie)

Not sure the show is any good but the outdoor movie at lower east side was some what amazing. It basically looping the same doll house like footage over and over again on a big parking lot's wall, characters fade in and do their everyday thing. Love story or drama or majority drama. 8 apartments 8 stories. Like "Seven" but 8 names by the voyeur. The selection of the soundtrack is beautifully composed by Clint Mansell, Dean & Britta, M83, Scott Hardkiss, Theodore Shapiro, Carlos D. Film director: Jake Scott.
Here you can see by yourself HBO Voyeur website

Shu Qi - New FlowerByKenzo ad!!

還是法國人最酷！Les Guignols de l'info

很抱歉，第二支video必須要懂得法文才能懂。但是，讓人覺得實在太酷的地方，是仿美國影集"Friends"的部份。因為去年丹麥有報紙刊出對伊斯蘭莫罕莫德的嘲笑漫畫後，引起極端伊斯蘭教對丹麥和全世界嚴重的不滿。最近一份法國報紙更大膽刊出了嘲笑的封面，這讓向來跟回教國家關係良好的法國，也燃起了隱隱的危機。不過，正當大家都在戰戰兢兢的時候，這個向來誰都敢批評的人偶秀，乾脆就來一段每個宗教都一起嘲笑的短劇。好讓極端伊斯蘭教徒不要再小心眼的以為又被歧視了。

Best series - Dexter

End of mystery but story goes on for another season. The ShowTime annouced Dexter will start a new production in spring and air for summer. And before next summer comes, there is always plenty of time to read the "Dearly devoted Dexter".

Author : Jeff Lindsay
- Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004)
- Dearly Devoted Dexter (2005)
- Dexter in the Dark (July, 2007)

ShowTime's new series - The Tudor

When Dexter finally get his Ice Truck Killer soul mate, everyone is packing or preparing for the holiday season. And when evryone is back from the long break, ShowTime's new series The Tudor, the story about the English King Henry VIII is giving us another reason to expect the year 2007. Here is a little teaser with the charming and excellent Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

My Name Is Earl

The best comedy - My Name Is Earl
Robot Dance

Broken heart Randy

What animal would you be?

Anti-Hero's Showtime - Dexter

I always though to smoke weeds in US is a crime unless you prove you need it to ease your pain and purchase legally in a pharmacy with a doctor prescription. And this fall, Showtime's popular family show Weeds is on its 2nd season and it's more popular than ever. Now Showtime pushes the anti-hero's button even farther then we can expect. Dexter, a day time blood stains forensic expert also a night time justice serial killer. The actor Six Feet Under gay brother, Michael C. Hall, the wonderful stunning performance that you once believed he was gay and now a psycho serial killer.

Since 3 episodes so far I was stunned by Dexter's world and the new experiment that Showtime makes all audiences swallow. Yes. You can freely choice not to participate this experiment or manipulation like refuse to watch any stupid reality shows. But it's hard to not to prove a slight pleasure when you see Michael C. Hall's Dexter's clever mind and self struggle without agreed with his philosophy. The show likes Psych on USA NetWork has flashback of character's youth to explain how Shawn Spencer grow to be a very good detective, here we see how Dexter Morgan became such a character with his very convincing evil double life. From Six Feet Under, Soprano, The Shield, Weeds and now Dexter, they personalized the so called weirdo and bad people which I guess they're trying to color the good and evil, happy ending cliche that US movies and TV brain washed the world since the past century.

Fortunately. Dexter didn't kill anyone in the 3rd episode, and it didn't gave up the know how to prepare a bloodless cut corp and packed them like meat from the market either. And even Dexter's god playing is hard to reproduce in real life, or find the similarity struggles in each one of us. But it's still hard to enjoy the show after the almost monthly school shooting and non stop street violence due to the gun control problem. We can maybe spend 90 minutes in a theater watching an action movie and call it a cool film and despite the free violence from some irresponsible filmmakers, or love and hate A Clockwork Orange and trying not to watch it again or skip the violent scene. But like some young men in the 1971, copied Alex's one eye makeup, cool style and even his violent acts. From the moment when Dexter found the Barbie message in his frizzer, the point we change side from witness Dexter's secret to feel exciting about the challenge when we see Dexter's reflection in the tiny pink mirror. That I'm sure the weekly show Dexter will affect more people into their life struggle and still naively hoping it won't inspire some might rules for real a double life to play god in the name of the justice.

I'd spent quite some time there in Miami scouting and making action movie which I'm familiar with Dexter's background landscape while watching him walks around at South Beach. The show recalled my everyday life in my past memory which I'm happy about it, and yes. I found pleasure in watching the show and I'll keep watching it or I might also write some sick scripts one day. The fact that show is a success since it aired just like the Weeds. Is because we believe the show has deeper message in it and the Showtime is a very courage and ambitious channel that we all happy its existence? Or is simply because the show digs right into the dark secret deep, deep inside of us?

Does the average audience able to make difference from the show to the real life? Is there an explanation for the execution of those peaceful Amish little girls? Or why the Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle we just saw he cleaning locker room few days ago, killed in a sudden death from plane crashed into a high rise building in Manhattan on 10.11 and make New Yorkers relive the 9.11 nightmare? Maybe we should all move to Des Moines in Iowa, where is supposedly "three years behind" everywhere else?

Darkly Dreaming Dexter - novel by Jeff Lindsay
See Dexter, Weeds links at the sidebar of the page.

Stay healthy - TV hosts!!

First we lost Steve Irwin, someone we love to watch on National Geography Channel. Now we're sad to hear our favorite crazy Top Gear and Brainiac host Richard Hammond is seriously injured. Sure they were doing exactly what they love, but who doesn't want to be healthy and to spend more time possible with love ones.

Click Steve's picture to memorial soundboard.