Rourke Write-Up

Here's a cut from a beautiful write-up about Mickey Rourke by NYT:

Rourke knows about being hit in the head because, he claimed, he was a Golden Gloves boxer in his teens. He said he had 26 fights and won 20, 17 by knockouts. He planned on making a career of boxing until he suffered a concussion in the ring and "they wouldn't let me fight anymore." So he turned to acting, on a whim, because "I liked that you could escape who you were and be someone else, someone smarter, tougher." When Rourke's movie career tanked in the '90s, he turned back to boxing in his late 30s because, he said, "I'd be less of a man if I didn't react violently to the war in my head."

Photo by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

YouTube To Show Complete Movies

According to NYT, YouTube will show selected TV shows and movies from MGM, like 'The Magnificent Seven'. From NYT story:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios will kick off the partnership by posting episodes of its decade-old "American Gladiators" program to YouTube, along with full-length action films like "Bulletproof Monk" and "The Magnificent Seven" and clips from popular movies like "Legally Blonde." These will be free to watch, with ads running alongside the video.

Let The Right One In Clip

NYT has an exclusive clip from 'Let The Right One In'. Scene has that delicate subtle layering that, for the most part, Hollywood isn't able to produce. I don't have high hopes for the remake that's underway.

NYTimes.com/TMagazine - Screen Test: Naomi Watts

Sunday Morning

Penelope Cruz talks with Lynn Hirschberg on 'T Magazine'.

TMagazine Covers Seth Rogen And James Franco

The New York Times is shifting more and more to online video production and interactive content. They've had audio slideshows and video movie reviews for a while. Their latest move to becoming an internet TV platform is TMagazine and T Exclusive Films.

The names don't do that much for me but I'm liking the content. The latest segment features Lynn Hirschberg talking with Seth Rogen re: being a sex symbol, how he determines what kind of movies he wants to do, and writing 'The Green Hornet'.

Here's the segment with James Franco, about the bromance element of 'Pineapple Express', his inspirations for becoming an actor, and kissing Sean Penn in '(Harvey) Milk'.

So far, I've liked what I've seen from TMagazine. The segments marry the focus of an NYT article with the free-flow energy of an NPR interview a la Terry Gross. It certainly gives NYT more traction online than other news services. I just wish they'd make their content embedable. (Come on, guys, that's par for the course these days and drives a lot of traffic your way).