The Artist Formerly Known As (James Franco)

Tomorrow, the highly anticipated movie Eat Pray Love opens in theatres, starring Pretty Woman herself, Julia Roberts.  But to be honest, the only thing making me take notice is the presence of the elusive James Franco, who I am so fascinated with right now. (and not just because he’s hot, which he is, obviously.)  I’m convinced we should all pay attention to what he’s doing, which seems so scattered and unintentional, but I can’t seem to write him off as another crazy (Joaquin Phoenix-style) attention-whore that Hollywood is famous for.  Why is he all over the place?  Can he not decide on a career?  Or is he just re-defining the boundaries of art and life.  Before I get too philosophical, let me highlight why I can’t get enough of James Franco.

On Freaks and Geeks, James played Daniel Desario, the bad boy who won the hearts of teenage misfits everywhere with his Dylan McKay-like persona, rebelling against everyone in his life, full of angst, and damaged to the point where all you wanted to do was save him from himself.  He was so rock’n’roll.  That show was kick-ass by the way and it’s a shame that it only lasted one season.  Judd Apatow directed it before his hit comedies (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up).  You can see similarities in both his casting choices and a hint of comedy beneath the over-dramatic-ness of it all.  Love it.



He’s smart as hell.  If you are even remotely interested in him, make sure you check out this amazing article from New York Magazine (The James Franco Project), on how he’s got this insatiable thirst for learning and only sleeps like three hours a night.  Not because he’s busy partying or drinking himself into rehab a-la-Lohan, but because he’s concurrently completing three masters programs.  Who does that?!  He makes everyone else look like under-achievers.

His stint on General Hospital right now is so random.  Critics are wondering why someone with an already-successful film career would choose to work on a soap opera, where most actors start their careers.  I may be biased since I’m a crazy General Hospital fan but, isn’t he just expressing various art forms.  Acting in itself is still an art-form, no matter where you do it.  I guess the point is, no one knows why he’s choosing to do what he’s doing.  His ambiguity makes him a topic for discussion, and whether his actions are intentional or not, he’s still a mystery that remains unsolved.

Just for fun, check out the Freaks and Geeks intro, featuring my wake-up song, Bad Reputation, by the lovely Joan Jett!

July, in a nutshell.

Things I'm loving right now:

Lady Gaga: Oh my Gaga.  Last week’s concert at the ACC was one of the best I’ve ever been to.  And guess what, she danced and sang at the same time with No lip-syncing!  See Britney, it can be done.  Her voice is amazing.  Gaga sings (and sometimes yells) straight from the heart and it’s so raw when she does.  People tend to get distracted by the costumes and façade of her image and button-pushing videos, but when you strip all that away and it’s her sitting at a piano, belting out a song like Speechless, you are left speechless at how breathtakingly beautiful the experience of it is.

True blood Season 3: I can’t even explain how excited I get on Sunday nights (actually, I usually watch on Monday nights) when I get to slip into the magical and most of the time, very colourful Bon Temps and get to live in this world were sexy vampires and werewolves cause a lot of ruckus.  Growing up watching Buffy and now with this Twilight craziness, this is obviously something so relevant, especially teens, no matter what the decade.  Something about eternal love just makes us girls swoon!  That and Alexander Skarsgard.

Vanessa Marcil’s upcoming return to GH: I’m regularly googling her name this week, just to make sure she’s still planning on reprising her epic role as Brenda on GH.  I know I may seem ridiculous at doing that but who the hell cares.  According to one post I found, the official date is August 11.

The Hills is finally over so maybe now I can look forward to the beginning of the end of reality TV? – HA.  I literally laugh out loud at the thought.  It’s probably just wishful thinking, but that would be just divine.  I’m so sick of having to get through endless reports on Jake, Vienna and company just to see some actual entertainment news.  (I do, however, appreciate the absurdity that is Jersey Shore, a guilty pleasure of mine as; you are free to judge my hypocrisy.)

Vanessa Marcil to return to General Hospital this summer & Julia Stiles joins the cast of DEXTER

The season finale of United States of Tara is on tonight, and I'm very interested to find out the root of Tara's dissociative identity disorder (DID) if they actually let us find that out in only the second season. Love the characters and Toni Collette's acting but I feel so bad for her family that I just want them to figure out what has made Tara need to cope so badly through various identities. We know now that the sisters were in foster care for sometime, although we don't know why so tonight should be a good one!

Also, big big big news for any General Hospital fans out there! Don't laugh or mock me, but I've been watching this show since I was literally in diapers and can somehow stop watching for years but pick it back up anytime. Anyway, the always gorgeous Vanessa Marcil (90210, Las Vegas, ex-girlfriend to Brian Austin Green) is set to make yet another return as the epic character Brenda Barrett sometime in mid-August. I read this on PerezHilton.com so I'm hoping this has serious validity to it because I'm already too excited to claim that I'm normal. With Sonny single right now (as in, not married to Carly like he has been four times already - got to love Soap Operas and how they make being married 6 times seem normal) and all torn up about his son being in prison, her return couldn't have come at a better time. Last time Vanessa returned to GH's Port Charles for a visit, viewership increased somewhere around 30% PLUS, James Franco is also said to be returning again for a guest-spot. It's looking to be a sweltering hot summer in Port Charles!

And, last but not least, the hit deadly drama, Dexter, won't be back for a 5th season until sometime this fall but news hit the stands today that Julia Stiles will be joining the cast for at least 10 episodes, probably as some sort of a woman-friend to our beloved Dexter. Since the earth-shattering, shocking season finale where (spoiler alert!!!!) Dexter's wife Rita was found murdered in the bathtub by John Lithgow's character, Julia will most probably develop some sort of relationship with Dexter while he copes with the aftermath of Rita's death. Way to keep us fans interested in the off-season!