The Valley Wire - January 2012

Hollywood Begins Again By Mary Beth Gentle

The Holidays have ended. The Decorations have all been crammed back into their boxes. And it’s time to draft our New Year’s Resolutions. A New Year brings with it the chance to begin again. It is the opportunity to change the direction of our lives and carve out a bright new future. With one piece of paper and a pen we can create a list to help us achieve our goals. It is a list of lofty goals that will allow us to soar to new heights and realize our dreams. Okay, maybe it’s not all that, but it is at the very least a chance to trick ourselves into exercise and diet improvements for a couple of months. For this Hollywood Cube Dweller it means dusting off last years resolution list and seeing where I succeeded and where I failed. Last year’s list contained the required three resolutions; go to the gym, eat healthy, spend time with family and friends. Okay, I made all of those attempts and did fairly well. The rest of the list may have well said scale Mount Everest and take a rocket ship to the moon. They were too grand and too lofty. I never stood a chance. This year I have decided to make a Resolution list that is attainable. It will be a list of realistic goals that I won’t bury somewhere in the sea of lists on my refrigerator. I will not list my goal to run a major motion picture studio by next Thursday nor will I list my goal to attend the Academy Awards with Brad Pitt. This year I will make a list that is based in reality. It will start with the standards: 1. Get myself to the gym at least three times a week. 1. Reality check. Get myself to the gym at least twice a week. 2. Stick to my diet and eat healthier. 3. Spend more time with my family and friends. Okay. Now that those are out of the way, I can get down to serious business for my other resolutions: 4. Write my Valley Wire articles in a timely manner (I throw this on every year for your editor – I like to give him a good laugh). 5. Watch things on my DVR in a timely manner to keep my available percentage rate higher than 10% - very important. 6. See a new movie at least once a week - so I can join in the movie talk around the cubicles. Those are all attainable goals. These are things I am already working on and having them on a list should help me stay focused. I’m ready; this is going to be the best New Year ever. All goals are on track and ready to be achieved. But, am I really using the list to it’s full potential? Will the things on my list push be to reach my full potential? Is there a happy medium between a list full of lofty unrealistic goals and a list that only covers the basics? 7. Finish my website – this feels like a goal worthy of my New Year’s list. 8. Get my Novel published – if you don’t put it on the list it will never happen, right? 9. Jet to Paris for a week – a girl has to dream! Now that feels like a list that is ready to take on the New Year! If you haven’t made your resolution list yet – it’s never too late! Happy 2012 everyone!

Life of a Writer

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

John Steinbeck

The Valley Wire - November 2011

Hollywood Has an Early Christmas By Mary Beth Gentle

There are many wonderful happenings in the month of November. The colors of fall swirl around us. A cold crispness fills the air. And Thanksgiving feasts abound. And then there is the other thing that November brings with it; the pressure that the Holiday’s are hovering just around the corner. It cannot be escaped. Every department store, grocery store and even the airwaves are filled with silver bells and sale signs. But, with all the Holiday pressure comes a few early treats, Hollywood style! The first of the Holiday movie surprises appear on November 23rd with the release of The Muppets, Hugo and Arthur Christmas.

Walt Disney Studios brings the old Muppet gang to the big screen in a heartfelt and very entertaining way in The Muppets. When a young Muppet named Walter from Smalltown USA comes to Los Angeles to visit the Muppet Studios with his brother Gary (Jason Segel), he soon discovers an evil plot by a rich oilman to tear down the Muppet Studios and drill for oil. Walter and his brother Gary go to Kermit with a plan to save the Studios. It’s a chance for the whole Muppet Show gang to reunite and put on one more big Muppet extravaganza. Just as with the original Muppet Show there will be many cameos and a lot of fun for the whole family! The next Holiday movie treat comes from Martin Scorsese with his first 3D venture, Hugo. Based on the children’s book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Scorsese brings to life this tale of a young boy who lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station. The young orphan’s life changes when he becomes involved with an eccentric young girl, a bitter old toy maker and a mystery that turns his life upside down. I can’t wait for the mysteries of Hugo to come to life on the big screen. The final Holiday movie surprise comes to us in the form of an instant Animated classic, Arthur’s Christmas. It is the holiday classic that ventures to answer the age-old question – just how does Santa deliver all those toys in one night? Santa’s youngest son and unlikely hero, Arthur helps answer that question as he embarks on his own Christmas mission that must be completed before Christmas morning arrives. Without a doubt - this one is going on my holiday movie list. As you prepare to settle in for a Thanksgiving Day of football, parades and turkey remember that Hollywood has also delivered a few holiday surprises to your local Cineplex to start the season out right!

The Valley Wire October 2011

Hollywood and the Magic of the New TV Season By Mary Beth Gentle Hollywood has built a very successful business by capitalizing on the world of make believe. We learn about this world when we are very young. We enter it willingly and happily. It is where we are able to climb Mount Everest by simply scaling the heights of the jungle gym. It is where a young boy can battle a dragon and a young girl can live in a beautiful castle. It is where our imaginations first come alive. Hollywood makes a small fortune every year by helping us escape into our old worlds of make believe even if it’s only for a little while. The new television season is upon us and with it comes the normal fare of medical dramas, family sitcoms and murder by the number mysteries to solve. But, this season, mixed amongst the vampires struggling with teen angst and the “C” list dancing stars are a few shows that hold the potential to reawaken our worlds of make believe. The shows this season that hold that promise for me are Terra Nova and Once Upon a Time.

With Terra Nova comes hope for a dying world, a return to the past for a people with no future. It is about a family entering into a world of dinosaurs and danger for their only chance at a new life. The Shannon family leaves behind a world that is dark and grey, a world where they were separated from one another for the hope of a new life together. They leap back through time to an Earth that has not been ruined by misuse and to a world that is fresh and new. It is a world of our imagination, a world of make believe dinosaurs and adventures. Once Upon a Time is a new series that is based on the classic Fairy Tales of our youth. It tells the story of Emma Stone, a woman drawn to a small town in Maine where the fairy tales we all know just may be real. It is where we will be reminded that there are two sides to every story, the good and the evil. Emma soon discovers that everyone in the town is held there by a curse, whether they know it or not, they are all characters from fairy tales. It will be up to Emma to unravel the mystery. Once Upon a Time is television show that holds the promise of an escape into the kind of make believe that all Fairy Tales are made of. So as this new television season begins, it will be up to you to decide which Hollywood world of make believe can help you rediscover the imagination you held so dear in childhood. Whether it be an escape into the world of dinosaurs or the pages of fairy tales, settle in for an hour a week and enjoy a little of the magic of Hollywood.