All That Jazz? More like She's okay...

I found a couple old columns from College interviews etc. Enjoy the flashback!

Otters Cute and Cuddly? Think again!

“There’s danger in der sea,” as said by a famous elderly person. Or maybe it was said on Scooby Doo. Ah, I forget.

This past weekend, while reading the Sunday paper, I read an article that greatly touched me. The title was “Rogue otter may be serial killer,” written by Vicki Haddock of the San Francisco Examiner. The article describes how a seemingly normal otter has turned on his fellow marine life and began brutally killing them.

Some people may cast it aside and say “Ha, ha otter serial killer, what a laugh they’re so cute and cuddly”-or are they?

What is an otter, really? How much do we know about these “creatures” who frolic in the ocean? Yeah, there were those cute Otter Pops we ate as children. Remember, Sir Isaac Lime, Alexander the Grape, or Louie Bloo Raspberry looking cute, wearing clothes, shoes and looking so innocent?

Reading the article filled me with shock, remorse and outrage. I vowed that I needed to let the world know about this menacing creature of the sea who frolicks in Monterey Bay.

He is known only as “Morgan,” a 5-year-old otter who was abandoned by his mother (I feel if a psychological profile was done results would probably show that Morgan’s problem began because of this). He was then taken in by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otter Rescue and Conservation Program. The article described him as a “star graduate … until he hit puberty and somehow went awry.”

According to the article, “His motives remain a mystery. As for his physical description, tourists who have seen him in and around the slough describe him as “frisky, whiskery and curiously cute.”

Some of you may be wondering, What exactly does this sea otter do? The accused “serial killer” is disturbing, sick and shows no remorse for his victims.

Researchers have seen Morgan “assuming a mating position with a seal and then been seen roughing it up. Soon thereafter, Morgan has been spotted floating with the dead seal in his grip or nonchalantly grooming himself alongside its body.”

May I say, “Eww?” What will be next for seemingly sweet sea animals like Morgan? Will there be future reports of diabolical dolphins, tyrannical sea turtles or even worse, if I dare say, maniacal manatees?

The sad truth is they may be next for every animal who graduates from the rehabilitation program.

“It really is a roll of the dice with every animal we release,” said Andy Johnson, director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter research and Conservation Program, in the article.

Many may ask what will become of Morgan? Since the evidence is circumstantial, many may think Morgan is being brought down by a conspiracy created by the “human.” Others may think the sick bastard of an otter should be prosecuted for these murders but, come on, what sane person would prosecute an otter in a court of law?

Since otters are under the Endangered Species Act, there is little to be done with Morgan. He is granted a sort of “diplomatic immunity” and can not be thrown out of the wild.

Morgan will probably be moved to another location, risking the lives of other helpless seal pups or even worse he could be sent to a local aquarium or Sea World-like Park near you.

Will Morgan be added to the long list of sea killing creatures such as Jaws or will he have his story told as a movie in Hollywood fashion?

Many will curse the day when Morgan, the “rogue serial killer” moves into their neighborhood. Seems there is nothing to do for him-no psychological treatment, no “rehab” of sorts. Perhaps he will grow out of this maniacal behavior brought about by puberty, but alas no one knows. All we can do is hope.

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I interviewed John Cusack once….

Cusack discusses upcoming movie

John Cusack, an established actor from such films as “The Grifters,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Grosse Pointe Blank” and such 80’s generational films as “Better Off Dead,” “Sixteen Candles” and “Say Anything” sat down for an interview at the Century City Hotel to promote his new movie “High Fidelity” opening today.

“High Fidelity” revolves around the love life of music afficionado Rob Gordon, who recently broke up with a long time girlfriend. In the film, Gordon explores his top five break ups. As well as starring in the film, he co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay with close friends Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincetis.

Throughout the film Gordon and his fellow music fiends Dick and Barry constantly make “top five” lists. Cusack when asked what his top five bands were, said, “I don’t make list, believe it or not I totally revert from character.” Though he does name The Clash and Nirvana as two of his all time favorite groups.

The movie, based on Nick Hornby’s cult novel, is originally set in England. Yet, when Cusack read the book to adapt it he realized the novel was universal and could be filmed in his hometown of Chicago, Ill.

“I read it and I knew all the places in Chicago. I knew the record shop, I knew those guys. And the most interesting thing about the book is all the stuff about men, sort of interworking of their minds,” he said.

The film marks Cusack’s eighth with his sister Joan Cusack (“Runaway Bride,” “Cradle Will Rock”). He finds working with his sister is entertaining and easy.

“It is fun. She is just a great actress. So much of acting is like developing a short hand with someone. So, if you know people, it is like you can skip the process and just go to the fun,” said Cusack.

Cusack, whose first venture into producing was the cult favorite “Grosse Pointe Blank,” plans to write a sequel.

“I just have to write it. Maybe he will be (character Martin Blank) CEO of some bio-tech or dot com internet company.”

He is well known for his teen generational films of the ’80s and considered a movie icon by fans is not fazed by the attention he gets from ’80s film.

“Well all I can say is [that] it is on film,” said Cusack.

As a cult film character, almost every Cusack fan seems to love is Lane Meyer from “Better Off Dead.”

“People love that movie and I don’t understand it,” he said.

Though he is not fazed by the admiration he receives, he does enjoy watching his movies with real audience.

“I like to see them play in front of a live house. Not like critics or industry types but I like to sort of see it with people who like movies and want to go have a good time and are not going to be like Rob, Dick and Barry and be above it all. I like watching that because that is sort of what you do it for is to see it play,” he said.

In “High Fidelity,” the relationships of men and including the ups and down are heavily expressed. To Cusack, the film and novel are universal and easy for men to relate to. He also can find correlations in this movie to his own life.

“I think the thing about the book that is so cool, and hopefully in the film, is that he is telling to you some universal truths about men and their relationships to women and themselves. I think every guy can relate to the fact that they might be with a girl they really like, and they might be with a girl they love, but still after a while they just become a girl.

“Somehow that is just shattering to our fragile male egos. We want that first rush we had when you just get with someone. We keep chasing that dragon and sooner or later you get older and you realize that it is not a real good look when you are like the 45-year-old guy in a club trying to get a date and it al starts to get sad, and you realize you are playing with real bullets. When you get to be 33 it is not to far down the road,” said Cusack.

In all of the films he has done he does not have a favorite character but likes the ones from his recent films.”

“If I do one that just worked out recently that seems to be my favorite because it is fresh. I liked Schwartz in ‘Malkovich’ and I like Rob. I think if the film works, then the characters make sense,” said Cusack.

In the film, Cusack’s character goes through comedic emotional turmoil, but always seems to strive though his troubles with honesty, which is one of the qualities he likes.

“I think his honesty, and somewhere after all is said and done, he has this capacity to be really sort of honest about the way things are and what he really feels. There is a part of him that after he is done bitching and whining, moaning, dragging his feet he looks at things in a hard way. There is a certain courage to that, so that is pretty cool as a character. I think most people are like that, in some ways you are a coward and in some ways you are really brave and they sort of shift back and forth, depending on how their emotions take over,” said Cusack.

One of his favorite parts of the movie was being able to work with Jack Black (“Cable Guy,” “Cradle Will Rock”) and Todd Louiso. One of his favorite scenes in the film is when Rob realizes his fantasy woman is just that, a fantasy.

“I like all the actors. I think they are all so cool. I like I all the stuff with me Jack and Todd. I particularly like the scene where Rob comes back and he has created this ‘Vietnam’ of this girl because sometimes we do that too. They are not real. We just create these fantasies with these women,” said Cusack.

One of the troubles Cusack said he had while adapting the film was the emotional and comical narratives by Rob in the novel. In the film, Rob performs inner monologues, where he speaks directly into the camera, which often worried Cusack at times.

“The thing that was cool about that[the monologues] was that whenever he did it he was in the most painful truth he could find. I would say ‘look’ if I am going to do it…he has got to hurt, because that is the only way it is going to keep focus.

“If you are doing it to move the story forward, you are screwed. The stuff that is so great on the book is all those interior monologues are so kind of brutally honest. I kept looking for devices to get all the material in. You cannot just get them in conversation, I didn’t want to voice over, so finally we thought maybe he should just bust it out and start looking at the camera and confessing. I was worried about doing it when I started,” said Cusack.

For Cusack, great things are considered great over time. With the extensive amount of fans Cusack has and the ability to attract films with universal characters Cusack is one of those actors that will almost always be considered good.

“Something is good if it is good like three years from now. Some of the films that I have done I thought were good, they still are. People still remember them they still sort of have a place in people’s mind or hearts,” said Cusack.

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Actually won an award for interviewing my friend Ross Matthews

Mathews dons black tie for Oscars

In front of the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the glimmer of Halston diamonds dance off the light, exquisite gowns and suits shine as the celebrities make their way down the red carpet toward the 72nd Annual Academy Awards.

While in La Verne, a nervous tuxedo clad Ross Mathews waits in anticipation for the first award to be presented. It is a night that, like the nominees, he has been waiting for all year.

Mathews, a sophomore broadcasting major, has been in love with the aspect of movies since he was younger.

“I began loving film itself when I was younger and my mom took me to like ‘Ghostbusters,’ and ever since then I have been obsessed with film. I try to see them all, but I try to see especially the ones that are Oscar caliber,” said Mathews.

The Academy Awards is something that is very important to Mathews, it is ritual, a compulsion.

“I have always been obsessed with the shallowness that follows celebrities, and the Oscars celebrate that. Not only that, but celebrates the greatness that is film,” said Mathews.

Though his favorite actor varies, right now he considers William H. Macy to be his favorite because, “He’s like a chameleon, he can do anything.”

Meryl Streep who has a total of 13 Academy Award nominations, is Mathews’ favorite actress. He has admired her work ever since he first saw her in the Academy Awarded nominated film, “A Cry in the Dark.”

“She reminds me of my mother and I think she is one of the most talented women in the world, not only her acting style but her persona, how she keeps herself hidden. She is a superstar based on her talent. She is not out in the public eye. The reason she is a superstar is because she is so gifted and I respect that so much,” said Mathews.

For many people, the Oscars is just one day out of the year in which actors are awarded. For Mathews though, the day itself is only the beginning of his ritual.

“Oscar day is my New Year because the next day starts the process for the next Oscar season. Everyday I post on an Oscar message board on the Internet, where we predict all year long. So starting March 27, we will be predicting for next year. So what I do is predict everyday and I research everyday,” said Mathews.

The year he actually began predicting Oscars was 1996. After seeing one of his favorite films, the dark comedy “Fargo,” nominated in several categories he began to pay close attention to the awards.

“Although I had seen telecasts previously, I decided to really get into the Oscars that year and that is when the obsession began, and it hasn’t lifted since,” said Mathews.

A major part of Mathews ritual is nomination day in early February. He gets up early dresses in his tuxedo and watches the telecast live at 5:30 a.m.

“I stay up most of the night making my final predictions. Then I watch them on television and either cry in agony, or celebrate because Meryl Streep was nominated. Then between that time I predict, predict, predict,” said Mathews.

With the awards two days away, Mathews eagerly awaits the ceremony.

“The day of the Oscars I am usually so nervous I cannot even really eat, and I usually don’t sleep the night before, which is ridiculous. I get dressed in my tuxedo, order food in and I allow a select few in the room. I sit usually with the lights turned off, with our food, complete silence and the Oscars,” said Mathews.

For this year’s Oscar predictions, Mathews is having a hard time predicting because of the numerous amount of innovative films.

“This year is even more difficult [for predicting], because since I have been following film, which is before I have been following Oscars, it is one of the most outstanding years in film that I have gotten to experience with films like ‘Being John Malkovich’ and ‘American Beauty,’ ” said Mathews.

“Being John Malkovich is my No. 1 film of the year. It is the most inventive thing I have ever seen It is so hard to choose who is going to win. Unfortunately films like ‘The Green Mile’ were nominated for best picture, which make me want to vomit,” said Mathews.

He tries to see as many movies as he can and constantly reads such publications as Variety, Entertainment Weekly and Movieline. He also reads through his Academy Awards handbooks and has accumulated an extensive knowledge of film. He has also memorized almost every major winner of the Oscars from the beginning to 1999. Mathews does not proclaim himself as a know-it-all of movies, though he is excited to learn more and more about the film industry everyday.

Mathews has been acting since he was a small child and has participated in high school plays, debates and has been a member of the University of La Verne debate team. After graduation, Mathews would like to try and pursue a career in the film industry or become a stand-up comedian.

“I’m majoring in broadcasting in order to become a talk show host. After becoming a talk show host, I would love to host the Oscars. If I ever won an Oscar, my fantasy would be to win for Best Actor, so then the next year when Meryl Streep won I would present her with her Oscar. It makes me furious that she only won twice,” he said.

One of Mathews favorite people in the world he says, is his English and theatre student-teacher from high school, Cathy Clark-Smith. Mathews said he and Clark-Smith bonded after they both realized they shared a similas passion for the film industry.

“She is like my mother’s age, and we have Oscars and movies in common. When I was going off to college she brought me this packet of portraits of all of the Best actors and actresses from the beginning up to 1961. When she was 13, she sent in $3, which was all she had at the time to get this because she loves the Oscars as much as I do and she gave this to me,” said Mathews.

Hailing from a small town, Mount Vernon, Wash., Mathews said he is often in awe of being 35 minutes away from Hollywood and considers his choice to attend ULV the perfect screen playcliché “Hollywood story,” where a small-town boy comes to the big city to make it big.

“I have always been obsessed with the glitz and glamour of celebrities and show business. Sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the fact that I am so close to it and I know that it is shallow, but it is what I want to do with my life. I am mesmerized by it. To think I can hop in my car and drive by the Shrine Auditorium or the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, just astounds me,” he said.

Mathews has often gone to extreme measures to grasp an essence of the movie industry. He, along with a friend snuck into Paramount Studios in Hollywood by telling the security guard they worked there and had forgotten their wallets. While there, they were able to visit the set of the “The Green Mile.” The security guard soon caught them and gave them a tour of the studio because they had “TV faces.”

Mathews feels that being near a city where there are so many opportunities to see the film industry in action “people that live here often take it for granted, but I will never take it for granted.”

Having been involved in performance art, Mathews said he feels he can often relate with the accolades actors and actresses receive.

“Nothing makes a film artist happier than to win an Oscar and because I understand the mystique and the majestry that comes with the Academy I feel their happiness and sense of accomplishments,” said Mathews

Though Mathews is still a ways from becoming a big time celebrity, he still treasures the way movies are able to touch and educate people and would one day like to be a part of it.

“Movies are tools that can take you somewhere else for awhile and give you a sneak into other people lives for two hours, and it is a break.

“Sometimes their lives can be better than yours and you yearn for that after the film, and sometimes their lives are worse than yours and sometimes you are just so happy that you have your life. And no matter what films give me an insight into the rest of the world,” said Mathews.