THE MYSTERY BEHIND NEWSROOM'S ALISON PILL
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THE GLORIOUS CORNER
By: G. H. Harding
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Alison Pill
MAGGIE’S WORLD --- Sunday’s night episode of the HBO series Newsroom, called Unintended Consequences, finally addressed the foreboding question of what happened to Maggie’s hair. In the first episode, Maggie (Alison Pill) was shown to have shown off her luxurious and certainly sexy, long blond hair. Turns out she was off to Africa to investigate a possible story and the three episodes leading up to tonight’s explanation were thick with what dire circumstances may have occurred. We feared that she was somehow attacked there like Lara Logan.
Turns out, the show went another way; she formed a bond with little boy there who ended up being fascinated by her hair. The school they were based at was attacked and the boy was killed. This episode also turned out to be the strongest so far this somewhat middling season. Jeff Daniels continues to delight he’s really one of the best actors we have, and Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue is just stellar.
Daniel's characters interviews a spokesperson from the OWS (Occupy Wall Street) and basically rips her apart on screen. Later, he explain she was just a toy for him and probably enjoyed the interview a bit more than he should have; pretty sharp, huh? The spokesperson was also a teacher and he asks if he could audit her class as they begin to flirt a little. Schmaltzy? Yep, but, it worked.
NAT’S ALL --- Nat Weiss, Brian Epstein-confident and Beatles-confident, passed away last week. I was fortunate enough to know him and in my many encounters with him, found him to be a legal wizard and a good guy. A former divorce attorney, he met Epstein and with him watched The Beatles career move to great heights. Many nights we'd wind up at a long-gone club on First Avenue (in NYC) called Trax (run by the late, esteemed Jimmy Pulis) and watched such acts as James Taylor and Cat Stevens do surprise, impromptu sets.
Later on, he ran Nemperor Records, where he released albums by Steve Forbert and The Romantics (“What I Like About You”). Quiet, studious… he was exactly the type of barrister you wanted and definitely needed. PR-man David Salidor who worked at the label in its formative days says, “Nat gave you a wide swath in which to work, but there was no question he was driving the ship. His legal background proved invaluable. He had great taste in music and you’d never know who you’d see in the office, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor or Peter Asher. It was quite a time.” RIP Nat!
Leonardo DiCaprio
BABYLON GATSBY --- Singer/songwriter Dominick DiPietrantonio, who’s written several tracks for the web show Hollywood Girl, was at Babylon’s E Donald Conroy Gold Course over the weekend; waiting to play the next hole, looked up at the next party, it included none other than Jay Gatsby aka Leonardo DiCaprio. Says Dom, “I've lived there for 7 years and we rarely get a bold-faced names … at first I couldn't believe, but he was left-handed, and Leo is left-handed. Wild.”
ALLIE JONES --- A few weeks back we told you about one of the best “new” records of the year; Mayer Hawthorne’s Where Does This Door Go. There’s a track on the album called “Allie Jones,” that I've not been able to get out of my head. It’s one of those “Me And Mr. Jones” song about a fictional character; but, what a song, what a production. I was just telling Republic Records' Nate Alpert, a neighbor of mine, that it should be the next single. Based in L. A. Hawthorne (aka Andrew Mayer Cohen) is one of the year’s find. No question.
Amanda Seyfried
TWO FER --- Two quick takes on two different movies opening now: Lovelace and We’re The Millers: The first: Amanda Seyfried and Pater Sarsgarrd are astonishing good in the movie based on Linda Lovelace’s 1980 memoir Ordeal. The book was penned after her worldwide success in the porn-movie Deep Throat.
Chris Noth, as an investor, is brilliant; maybe the best thing we've seen him in; also in it, Hank Azaria, Juno Temple and Eric Roberts are also in it and terrific too. The movie, which cost just $60,000 to make, and it has made more than $500 million ... so, it was a bona fide story. Did you know that Micky Dolenz was in the 1975 camp movie Linda Lovelace For President ... as Lt. Fenwick? The movie was a follow up to her success in Throat.
Next: The Millers is a good movie; but, nothing we've not seen before. As Jason Sudeikis’ first feature, he’s great, but at times seems like he's in an extended skit on Saturday Night Live. Aniston … we love her, but when will she get a movie that she can really sink her teeth into. I'd see Throat … wait for the DVD on the Millers.
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