Blogosphere
'SURVIVOR' SNAGS A PHILADELPHIAN
From Jonathan Storm's"Eye of the Storm"
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/
storm/
For the first time in years, a Philadelphian has made it onto the island.
Glenside attorney Russell Swan, 42, is one of a bumper crop of 20 Survivor castaways, working in Samoa this time, as the show premieres Sept. 17 on CBS.
Like a lot of 'em, Russell S. (there's a Russell H. on the show, too, a Texas oil company owner, which should add a little confusion) has it all figured out going in.
"I'm just a regular guy," he says in the CBS video. Not one of these "tall, strapping, white, blond guys" who usually populate shows like Survivor, adds Swan, who is of African descent. He's going to let everybody think he's just a hunky body-builder type, he says. Little will they know he's a conniving lawyer, waiting in the weeds and not trying to be a dominant male.
"You got to find a sucka," says Russell, who plans to have everybody outfoxed at every turn and make "allegiances" in all the right places. Women? He'll talk about his 6-year-old daughter and being a dad. Men? He'll talk about his glory days as a kick-boxer.
"At the end of the day, I'm gonna be figuring out how to eliminate these people," he says, "because I want the $1 million."
Good luck, Russell.
Survivor has the usual cast of characters, including a mixologist and a bartender; a brawny 49-year-old policewoman with a New Hampshuh accent (who'll use some of her winnings to heat the mudroom), and the usual complement of hot students, hairstylists, and salesfolk who, in their skimpy clothes, will make the viewers drool.
There's a private chef with a funny, braided beard who looks like Jeffrey Tambor. My pick to click, handsome John Fincher from Los Angeles, who's supposedly a rocket scientist.
Not so well-suited for the winner's circle, despite two degrees from Pepperdine University, in psychology and sociology: Erik Cardona, the bartender, whose top hobby is skirt-chasing. Though his favorite female is his dog, "There's nothing sweeter than taking another man's goods," says Erik, who pooh-poohs guys with regular jobs as "sell-outs."
DON'T WALK AWAY, RENEE
From Carrie Rickey's "FLICKgrrl"blogs/flickgrrl/
Over at "Thompson on Hollywood" (http://blogs.indiewire.com/
thompsononhollywood), blogmeister Anne Thompson has some advice for Renee Zellweger, whose career has sailed slowly into the doldrums so often encountered by actresses of a certain age.
I know some readers are allergic to Zellweger, whose chipmunk charm is not universally beloved. (Consider Jezebel's Women Who Women Love to Hate at http://jezebel.com.) But I've very much liked her since I saw her in The Whole Wide World (1996), in an astonishing turn as Novalyne Price, the real-life 1930s Texas scribe who gets involved with Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian. Shortly after came Jerry Maguire, where she brought pith and marrow to Cameron Crowe's Manic Pixie Dream Girl (cf. Kate Hudson in Almost Famous and Bridget Fonda in Singles). While I haven't liked RZ in everything, I sure liked her dramatic depth as the daughter in One True Thing, her comic frivolity as Bridget Jones, her send-up of Doris Day in Down With Love, her brittle Roxie Hart in Chicago, and that Ma Kettle character she played in the otherwise tepid Cold Mountain.
As everyone knows, 40 is a dangerous age for actresses - including Meryl Streep, who muddled through She-Devil and Music of the Heart before re-emerging, much to her surprise, as both actress and movie star in Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt, Mamma Mia!, and Julie & Julia. Similarly, Diane Keaton foundered after 40 until she found Nancy Meyer - who created Baby Boom, Father of the Bride, and Something's Gotta Give for her.
All it takes is one good role - think of Susan Sarandon's Annie Savoy in Bull Durham (she was 42) - to transform an aging babe into a bankable goddess. Sandra Bullock is having a very good year with The Proposal and buzz is promising on her next film, All About Steve. Diane Lane has found a niche in starting-over films Under the Tuscan Sun and Nights in Rodanthe. Would that Angela Bassett, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, and Zellweger find the right material.
Are you a Zellweger lover or hater? Favorite role? Career advice?
