Strike A Pose

Fly High
Sylvester Stallone

"Gonna fly now, Flying high now, Gonna fly, fly, fly" - The Theme From "Rocky"

Surfing the WWW one can without any doubt turn up some amazing and unexpected things. Such as this image of Sylvester Stallone posing with the statue of himself as his character Rocky Balboa from the iconic Best Picture Oscar Winner Rocky in Philadelphia.

"Yes" the film came out in 1976 minions. This being stated it still packs a punch (pun intended) - it's an underdog tale that inspires one to be their personal best.

Let this image be your inspiration. I know it's motivating me as I am waking up and headed to the gym for some boxing, arm work & spin. I am a brute and take no prisoners. 

Seize the day people! It's the only April 8, 2018 you are you are ever going to have so make it yours!

Rocky on IMDB:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0075148/   

Film Buff Friday: "The Apartment"

Jack Lemmon & Shirley MacLaine
The Apartment

The Academy Award Winner for Best Picture, Directed by the great Billy Wilder

The Apartment - Limited Edition (12/26) In 1960, following on from the success of their collaboration on Some Like it Hot, director Billy Wilder (Ace in the Hole, Sunset Boulevard) reteamed with actor Jack Lemmon (The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross) for what many consider the pinnacle of their respective careers: The Apartment. C.C. "Bud" Baxter (Lemmon) is a lowly Manhattan office drone with a lucrative sideline in renting out his apartment to adulterous company bosses and their mistresses. When Bud enters into a similar arrangement the firm's personnel director, J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity), his career prospects begin to look up... and up. But when he discovers that Sheldrake's mistress is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine, Irma la Douce), the girl of his dreams, he finds himself forced to choose between his career and the woman he loves... Winner of five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, The Apartment features a wealth of Hollywood's finest talent - on both sides of the camera - at the top of their game. By turns cynical, heart-warming and hilarious, Wilder's masterpiece now shines like never before in this all-new, 4K-restored edition from Arrow Films. Trailer: https://youtu.be/GX9-5Zxy5us  LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS - Limited Deluxe Edition Blu-ray [3000 copies] - Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release - Original uncompressed PCM mono audio - Optional 5.1 remix in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio - Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing - Audio commentary with film producer and historian Bruce Block - New appreciation of the film and select scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp - The Flawed Couple, a new video essay by filmmaker David Cairns on the collaborations between Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon - Billy Wilder ABC, an overview by David Cairns on the life and career of the filmmaker, covering his films, collaborators and more - New interview with actress Hope Holiday - Inside the Apartment, a half-hour "making-of" featurette from 2007 including interviews with Shirley MacLaine, executive producer Walter Mirisch, and others - Magic Time: The Art of Jack Lemmon, an archive profile of the actor from 2007 - Original screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (BD-ROM content) - Theatrical trailer - Special collector's packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Ignatius Fitzpatrick - Collector's 150-page hardcover book featuring new writing by Neil Sinyard, Kat Ellinger, Travis Crawford and Heather Hyche, generously illustrated with rare stills and behind-the-scenes imagery

Michael's Musings

Come To Daddy
Michael Shinafelt

Another week has passed and the Academy Awards made history twice in one show can you believe it?! One time for something progressive and liberal and another for the biggest error on an Oscar telecast ever. So big that even if you didn't tune in, you heard about it all over the news.

Never fear I am here this week to address both of those moments and more. It's time for me to crack that whip!

Moonlight, which happened to be my favorite film of the year, won the Best Picture Oscar. Thus making Academy Award history as the first film with an all black cast to do so.

Whatever actually went down backstage and on stage Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty made Oscar history by announcing the incorrect Best Picture winner as La La Land only to have some dude from Price Waterhouse come and make the situation right.

Am I the only one who sees a commercial for Kong: Skull Island and thinks Kong: Skull Fuck Island?

Once upon a time there was a transvestite hooker fresh from a trick...

Remember: No matter what you think, I am always way ahead of you

Eat a hot dog and go home, or not

For the record I love Million Reasons by Lady Gaga, but the song really makes no sense. She has a million reasons to let someone go, but if they give her one good one they can stay? Do the math...

Can someone please tell me why? Yeah, I thought not.

A shout out to my friend Naama Kates, her indie film which she wrote, directed not to mention starred in Sorceress is out now! I highly recommend it. You can find it here: http://a.co/fzLrOq8

Just say no to blowing aliens for space Range Rovers

I was pleased Emma Stone won Best Actress for La La Land. The film, while entertaining was incredibly overrated. She really elevated the material and brought a lot of depth and heart to her role.

Until we cyber again, don't do anything I wouldn't do, but if you do, name it after me!

Follow me at:
https://www.instagram.com/michaelshinafelt/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/MShinafelt  

Sorceress-Magic Or Madness?

Planets of the Universe
Naama Kates

Happy Post Oscar Monday, how about that Best Picture flub? Moving on you may recall a fairly recent interview I did with filmmaker Naama Kates about her indie Sorceress here is the link:

http://mshinafelt.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-sorcery-of-naama-kates.html

Well guess what peeps, it's been released! Here to tell you all about it is a note from Naama herself, read on minions...

Hey. Hey! What is up, hey?

Sooo... Nowadays, making movies is easy. NOT. Nowadays, making movies is frickin' hard. Writing them, shooting them, producing them-- it takes a village. Literally. A big, whopping, fat production, also literally, involving the creative and administrative skills and talents of many, many people. The most collaborative medium of all media. So there's that. To make movies...

And getting anyone to see them, once made, is frickin' hard. Hard, hard, hard!!! Because, well, because it's always been hard, because it's a competitive field, and cuz of democratization of resources, and technology, and various new media outlets, like SVOD platforms, and cuz who cares, cuz everyone has a story, and cuz there are so many good ones already being told, every moment of every day, not just at the cinema or on the telly or the radio, but on your social media feed, and over the phone, and at the neighborhood pub, and, lord knows in any newspaper, and, and, and.

So, not to make a short story longer, and because I have not won any awards* so a long-winded gushing acceptance speech is not in order, I'll refrain from thanking, in this email, all of the incredible people who made this all possible... Also, that's what the credits are for... But I would like to mention my awesome distributor, Global Genesis Group, and in particular Charles Morris Jr. of GGG for taking a chance with me and my film, Sorceress, because now it is available for y'all to see, on-demand on Amazon, for rent, and free if you have Amazon Prime (which I highly recommend as a longtime member for like 5 years now). So, YEAH!

And this is IT:
http://a.co/fzLrOq8

If you wanna know a bit more before you take the plunge, check out the images and synopsis on the Global Genesis site at: http://globalgenesisgroup.com/portfolio-view/sorceress/
Or the review by brilliant philosopher and author, Daniel Coffeen at:
http://hilariousbookbinder.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-beautiful-blur-of-being-on-10.html
And if you wanna, stop by and like the FB movie page (though I really got update that) at:
https://www.facebook.com/srcrssthemovie
And follow on Twitter (gotta get that together too):
https://twitter.com/SorceressMovie

So okay YEAH. Most importantly, drum roll please, just go watch it!!!!!!!! http://a.co/fzLrOq8

Now y'all take care. Be safe. Drink a lot of water and wear sunscreen and a hat. And a scarf and a coat, cuz it's cold.

Love and other indoor sports,
xoxoxo
N