blog Simbarashe.

I’m just going to come out and admit it: I love watching “The Bachelor”. I feel comfortable in declaring this in part because shortly after watching the last episode there was a Facebook status update where a guy had shh’d his girlfriend for talking during one of the critical points. So apparently I’m not the only guy who watches “The Bachelor”. For starters, let me just say that you have no idea how great this makes me feel—there are sporadic times throughout a man’s life when he questions his own masculinity, and for me this probably was one of those times—because I can take solace in knowing that I’m not alone. But the other thing that gets me all riled up (and this is all drama aside, no kidding) is that the show runs two hours every week. This is a bad thing because the second half runs into “24”—a show I absolutely must watch.

(Really, ABC? You can’t just do an “American Idol” and put the show on for an hour on Monday and then an hour on Tuesday? Is your programming roster so stacked that such an undertaking is impossible? Luckily, in my estimation they take the finally forty-five minutes to drag out the rose ceremony, so it’s not like I’m missing much But still, you gotta wonder.)

At least I can save some dignity for myself and say that I was really late to the “Bachelor” party. I hadn’t seen one episode of the show until last summer while I was doing research for a book that I was writing. I sat through the entire episode thinking how preposterous it was. But then again, DeAnna Pappas wasn’t someone I’d want to root for. She seemed a little high maintenance, a little ditzy, and a little bitchy all at the same time. It would’ve been like rooting for the hottest girl in a “Real World” house to find a spouse in a television reality series. Actually, maybe that would’ve been better. So I got sucked into the very first episode this season because I was waiting for the season premier of “24” and there was nothing else on at 8pm. No “Heroes”, and I think even “Chuck” didn’t start until the next week. When the girls started showing up and getting out of the limo, I’m thinking to myself, ‘OK, she’s hot, she’s sort of hot, she’s not hot, wow really? She’s OK, she’s OK, she’s a disaster . . .’ and then I’m curious to know if my favorite girl of the bunch at least makes the first cut. Because you know, you gotta see if your girl makes the first cut . . .

But she doesn’t! And yet, several weeks later, here I am.

I had a lot of compassion for Jason in the beginning for being a single dad, having his testicular fortitude busted by DeAnna in the last season, and just generally seeming like an all-round good guy. But I gotta say, his radar is faulty. I don’t want to get personal, but I’m starting to wonder if his decision-making ability is what got him divorced to begin with. Take Molly for instance, the bright-eyed blonde (whom I’m not all certain she’s a real blonde, like that matters, but it kind of does). Throughout the entire season I’ve been campaigning for her to stay in the final two if only because realistically, if you must have two women then one must be emotionally compatible and the other should be recreational fun. Let’s call Molly the RV girl, though she’s slightly more attractive than someone you’d normally attribute that comparison to. He’s then left with Jillian (not incredibly hot, but her personality rocks and you can at least figure what she might look like in ten years), and Melissa, the ‘other one’. Now to be fair, I think Melissa is gorgeous. She’s nice, she seems like she’d be a lot of fun, and she’s got that gift of being able to dress up or down and maintain a sexual consistency, which is VERY, VERY, IMPORTANT. But how does Jason keep her around when she wouldn’t let him visit her parents (because she didn’t tell them that she was going on the show, most likely)? And apparently the whole country missed that conversation between Jason and her friends when they confessed that they’d never met her ex-boyfriends, either. They is a mighty red flag if only because in the next episode, she confesses to him that her parents had met ex-boyfriends. From her best friends’ boy languages, it was evident that nobody in that house had ever met her parents, or her ex-boyfriends. So either she doesn’t have ‘best friends’, or she doesn’t have ‘parents’, but in any case, Jason’s got to be an idiot for only thinking that he should “back away slowly”. Seriously, if you want to keep her around because you’re most attracted to her, then just say so. I don’t understand what all the lip service is about in saying that things like “she really might be the one.”

Quick tangent on that—did you see how she went to his place in Seattle, with his son Ty sleeping in the next room, when she broke out in her “stretchy pants”? For the record, I’m not complaining about the stretchy pants (definitely NOT the stretchy pants!) but her choice to wear something so skimpy with a little boy in the next room who could just spontaneously jump out of bed demanding orange juice. Is this consistent with a woman who is trying to be a mother? Really? You think the redheaded Desperate Housewife that he cut three weeks ago would’ve pulled that? OK, that’s my tangent.

So ultimately, Jason the Bachelor has ended up with two women who are not motherly material. If I had to give an edge to one of the girls, I’d say that Molly would be the better choice only because of the three finalists she seems most genuinely in love with him. She’s super fun and affectionate but at the same time she doesn’t throw herself all over him mercilessly the way Melissa does (though let’s clarify: for aesthetic purposes Melissa throwing herself all over someone is by no means in of itself a bad thing). If I were to go to Vegas with cash, I’d put my money on DeAnna—he’s already made a string of head-slapping decisions that are destined for tragedy and this can’t be any more apparent. You know what they say about birds of a feather.

For the 2009 Grammy Awards, Starpulse.com contributing writer Simbarashe keeps a blog as everything happens live!

Okay guys, time for this year’s Grammys. Since I’m doing this live I’ll have no choice but to post only my initial gut-reactions as things happen, so hopefully this will be to your reading benefit. If someone is hot, I’ll let you know. If someone is not, I’ll let you know that too. I’m just wondering if anything I blog can or would be used against me.

8:00pm - I’m excited! The Grammys have started!

8:00pm - U2 kick things off with their new single “Get On Your Boots”. It’s like ZooTV Lite! It’s amazing that Bono’s voice  holds up after all these years of screaming and singing stadium anthems. The Edge looks well rested.

8:00pm - That Bono sure knows how to strut…

8:02pm - Is this the second or third straight time that they’ve appeared on the Grammy’s by opening for it? I think that’s a bad way to go. If I’m a top 3 band in the world I do not want the opening slot. People are still settling in, they haven’t got their vocal chords warmed up to scream properly…the whole thing is just awkward. If I were Paul McGuiness, I’d have something to say about that.

8:04 - Whitney Houston! NO WAY! Look at that wig! Ridiculous! She needs to thank her plastic surgeon and personal trainer…

8:05 - And the Best R&B album goes to…

8:05 - Oh wait…Whitney has to make a speech… not surprised… she’s so loaded… somebody give her a glass of water and an aspirin.

8:06 - The award goes o Jennifer Hudson! Well if you remember what I said in my <a href=”http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/01/30/2009_grammy_award_predictions”>Predictions Column</a>…

8:08 - The Rock–er, Dwayne Johnson–apparently he kissed a girl and LIKED it.

8:10 - Justin Timberlake on stage. That’s an awesome suit–where an I get an American flag in bronze?

8:11 - Boyz II Men, Keith Urban and the Rev. Al Green performing together onstage…Al Green’s hair is so perfectly manicured–there’s not a stray hair anywhere. Justin sings a verse from Green’s classic, “Let’s Stay Together”.

8:13 - I love Timberlake, but He shouldn’t be singing more of Green’s song than Green; that man is on FIRE. Best falsetto in the business (sorry, Prince).

8:15 - THIS JUST IN… Chris Brown and Rihanna pull out of the Grammys due to a ‘domestic incident’ involving a battered woman. I don’t have all the details, but I have a Chris Brown story of my own when I was living in Hollywood that would surprise people.

8:21 - Simon Baker presents Coldplay. Nice suit.

8:21 - Chris Martin plays “Lost” solo on piano. His piano and microphone are all colorful and artsy. That Chris Martin is real vibrant for a straight guy.

8:23 - Jay-Z joins Martin onstage to rap to piano. Haunting stuff.

8:24 - Now the full band is in effect! “Viva La Vida”! Will Champion is banging a church bell??? Now that’s innovative stuff for an awards show. Joe Satriani must be bugging out right now. I can see him throwing his guitar at his 60″ plasma and yelling obscenities.

8:29 - Okay, let’s officially add Carrie Underwood to the “Women Who Look Hot In Anything”  club.

8:31 - Wow. Underwood’s chick guitarist is totally shredding. And she’s hot too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. Throw in a towel it’s over!

8:42 - All right, Song of the Year time! If you remember, I voted for “Amerian Boy”. The winner is… Coldplay! Coldplay! COLDPLAY!!! Man! Quick - somebody call Satriani’s house and make sure he’s still sane..

8:45 - Kid Rock starts off with one of his and goes into”Sweet Home Alabama”. I gotta say, his transformation is on par with Madonna, if only in a purely musical way.

8:46 - I’m telling you, everybody’s in a dope suit this year. Even Kid Rock is GQ tonight. Talk about raising the bar.

8:48 - John Mayer is a completely different lookingguy with short hair.  He doesn’t look like a rock star. In fact, he looks like just the type of guy Jennifer Anniston should be dating. They’re perfect together. I bet you she actually wanted to do Playboy and he talked her out of it.

8:53 - Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift! OMG! OMG! OMG!!!! I’m like, SOOOOO excited! They’re SO cute!

8:54 - Wait, are they even legal yet?

8:55 - Miley sure does have something sparkly on the wedding finger of her left hand. That special bling is blinding me.

8:55 - That Taylor Swift sure has me sold. Girl can sing.

8:57 - Sixteen and Nineteen? Oh well, so I guess I can go on about how I like Taylor Swift some more…

8:58 - Plant and Krauss just won Best Pop Callabo. I smell a sweep…

9:00 - Jennifer Hudson takes the stage. She came out like an old school Anita Baker.

9:01 - Why are her vocals mixed to the background? Somebody in the sound department is FIRED! This is just as bad as TV on the Radio’s performance last night on SNL. At least Hudson’s in tune…

9:03 - Man, when a great performance on TV is ruined by a horrible sound mix, that’s..just..terrible..

9:04 - Two words to describe Heidi Klum playing Guitar Hero in her house clothes: oh yes.

9:09 - Jason Mraz needs to tell me where he buys his hats..

9:10 - The Jonas Brothers! And 710 teenyboppers faint in bedrooms across America.

9:10 - Stevie Wonder’s microphone is turned down! Damn it!

9:11 - The Jonas Brothers sure do put their all into their performances. They remind me of the cheerleaders at Sea World who get you all ready for Shamu…

9:13 - This microphone problem is irritating.

9:14 - Question: So, do the Jonas Brothers qualify as “rockers”? They play guitar, they rock out…but there’s something very “Rock Band” about it. Lip synchers? Maybe not, but do they guitar synch? I really wonder about this…

9:14 - Blink 182! Back together again! Maybe because– oh you know what? Travis is in a sling. They’ll get a pass.

9:16 - Coldplay win best rock album. Really. Martin is definitely on the money by saying the least rock of the rock albums. Pfff.

9:22 - Ladies and gentlemen, Craig Ferguson!

9:23 - “Ladies and gentlemen, the beautifully bi-curious Katy Perry!”

9:24 - Kids, here’s an example of how to successfully spill out of a dress…

9:24 - BTW, did you see the photos that leaked of her actually spilling out of her dress??

9:25 - BTW, the vocal leveling for this entire show has been ghastly.

9:27 - American’s favorite well-mannered son Kanye “Jesus” West comes on stage, and he looks like a “Billie Jean” era Michael Jackson circa 1982.

9:28 - Estelle and Kanye are SHINY! Look at Kayne Jackson’s hair! Ohh that’s just wrong on so many levels.

9:30 - Adele wins best new artist. Well deserved. I bet this is the first time America has seen her face.

9:34 - Speaking of 1982, there’s a LOT of people walking around NY these days like it’s 1982. They even got boomboxes. What the hell? Are these still sold in stores? If the Jheri curl comes back I’m moving to France.

9:36 - Morgan Freeman is in the house! Whew! I was worried that his woman might’ve strangled him after what happened…

9:37 - Kenny Chesney holding it down with his guitar. Looks like they fixed the vocal mics problem.  Actually, the vocal mics worked for Swift and Cyrus too. Makes me wonder if the engineers are the reverse of all those “I love everything but Country Music” people…

9:40 - Natalie Cole! Also known as Whitney’s temporary roommate for a while, if you know what I mean…

9:41 - Record of the Year. Probably will go to Coldplay again, the way things have been going (there’s always a sweep)

9:41 - Plant and Krauss again! It’s shaping up to be a two horse race!

9:42 - I’m so surprised that Plant wins a Grammy and people only marginally clap. Do they not know who this man is?? LED FRIGGIN ZEPPLIN! See? That’s what happens when you give a Grammy to an old timer in front of a bunch of people signed up to the Jonas Abstinence Club.

9:44 - I mean, can you take the sex and drugs out of rock an roll? Oh, wait. The Jonas Brothers are giving their list of 500 newly signed petitioners to Coldplay. It all makes sense now…

9:48 - Queen Latifah has the most godly compexion ever.

9:49 - Jay-Z, Kanye, Lil Wayne, and T.I. together on stage!  But wait! M.I.A.! Preggo!

9:50 - Every time I see T.I. I’m just happy this cat isn’t in jail.

9:50 - The Rat Pack! I mean the Black Pack!

9:51 - M.I.A. is on her own planet with the “swagga”. Good Lord she’s on Mars. I don’t even know if this is an insult…no…definitely not an insult…

9:52 - T.I. just got served on his own track. But if there was a Mt. Rushmore for current rappers, you’re looking at them.

9:54 - BTW, are Jigga and Chris Martin still BFFs?

9:55 - Kate Beckinsale! I need a drink…

9:55 - Sounds like Paul McCartney is about to come out. Back to Beckinsale–her hair is phenomenal.

9:55 - I’m sorry, it’s Sir Paul McCartney.

9:56 - With Dave Grohl on drums, they’re doing “I Saw Her Standing There”. Grohl looks like he seriously just rolled out of bed.

9:57 - BTW, how come every time Paul–Sir Paul plays in front of a nationally televised audience, he’s playing songs from thirty-five years ago? He and Stevie. I mean can you imagine Madonna coming on next to perform “Holiday” or “Like a Virgin”? Let’s hope Radiohead plays “Creep”…

9:59 - Time out: I just saw a bunch of pictures of Speidi doing really stupid workout moves and forms of PDA online. Talk about cheesetastic. I’m convinced Spencer Pratt has taken the Art of Smug to a whole new legendary level.

10:05 - Best Male Pop Vocal - and Kid Rock somehow is nominated. But the award goes to, John Mayer!

10:06 - OH COME ON! Where’s Jen!

10:06 - He’s always so sincere when he speaks publicly. He’s always so irritated when he speaks to TMZ and other assorted paparazzi.

10:07 - What’s up with Jay Mohr’s hair?

10:09 - Another superb vocal performance by a country singer. They’re killin’ em softly this year. Why does the bottom half  of her blouse look like a lampshade?

10:11 - Adele performs “Chasing Pavements”. Her voice is amazing. Why couldn’t CBS give Jennifer Hudson this kind of love so we could hear her? Utterly unacceptable.

10:13 - BTW, what’s up with all these rappers performing twice?

10:19 - Gwenyth Paltrow is so leggy. What’s up with that dress?

10:20 - Radiohead! (YAY!) With the marching band from USC! (BOO!)

10:20 - Thom Yorke is looking like old Thom Yorke. Like Thom York when Radiohead first came out. Very retro.

10:21 - this performance is hot! The marching band is hot too, I regret to advise!  (I kid about hating on USC! Sort of…)

10:22 - It’s official, Radiohead have turned in the best performance of the night. Standing O’s all round.

10:29 - Justin and T.I. on stage (again). Justin’s mic is in the background. So is T.I.’s. Conspiracy? I think so!

10:31 - But hey, at least T.I.’s not in jail…

10:35 - Obama’s won Grammys? Wow. Proof #1,586,304 we have a black president!

10:37 - I don’t, it’s weird having someone giving a “Yes We Can” speech who isn’t Obama. He should trademark that speech or something.

10:37 - They really like to show McCartney and his chick a lot.

10:39 - I want a full Congressional hearing into this “Mic Malfunctions for Non-Country Stars” thing.

10:40 - Jamie Foxx, Smokey Robinson and co. did a bang-up job.

10:43 - So apparently, Justin performed twice because he was the one replacing Chris Brown and Rihanna. Not lookin’ too good for our boy Chris.

10:47 - Neil Diamond! And he looks quite rested! And a little scared. He’s totally putting on a Nixon face. Hide your children.

10:49 - But sweet Caroline is a timeless song… BAH-BAH-BAAAAH!

10:49 - The microphone problems haven’t been fixed three hours into this thing. Astounding. Am I missing something? Should I be listening to this in Dolby 5.1?

10:53 - Chef!

10:55 - We got a blues battle on stage and the guitars are turned down like the mics. I give up.

11:04 - Lil Wayne on stage (again) with Robin Thicke. Very low-key performance.  Can’t hear Thicke.

11:09 - I see empty seats!

11:10 - Best Rap Album goes to…

11:11 - Tha Carter III!

11:11 - Lil Wayne brings his entire family onstage! There’s about to be a Carter ho-down backstage. BBQ, ribs, crab legs, jambalaya …

11:18 - Plant and Krauss are performing. It’s almost 11:30, which means if they’re last performers to go they may likely win the Grammy for Album of the Year…

11:21 - Robert Plant is smiling like he knows he’s gonna win the big one.

11:22 - It’s amazing that no one got cut off on their acceptance speech this year.

11:23 - Green Day are up to present the Album of the Year…

11:23 - Was Ne-Yo’s album Album of the Year good??

11:24 - And the winner goes to…. (they won’t give it to Wayne…rap haters…)

11:24 - Plant & Krauss!

11:25 - And the people file out of Staples Center faster than you can say “robbed!”

11:26 - Well…looks like they finally cut someone off…

11:27 - And it’s Stevie Wonder! AGAIN!!!!

Tom Cruise must be the only actor on the planet who can get away with playing any character, at any time, with an American accent. He never really disappears in his roles, not like Daniel Day-Lewis or Jamie Foxx with his portrayal of Ray Charles in “Ray”—no matter what he does, you can’t help but looking at the screen and simply thinking to yourself, that’s Tom Cruise. If that’s the worst thing that can be said about a film, it probably stands a fighting chance.

As it turns out, Cruise’s refusal to be anyone other than himself proves to be but a slight annoyance in an otherwise terrific film. Director Bryan Singer (of the classic “The Usual Suspects”) does a phenomenal job of capturing the tension and urgency brought forth by screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie and Gilbert Adler, and the supporting cast are invested enough to give this film serious Oscar consideration.

So some of you may have heard the story: during World War II, Adolf Hitler was in a briefing room with some of his top men when a bomb exploded. The rest of you can figure out the result: he didn’t die. As a matter of fact, Hitler managed to escape with only minor injuries. So how does one go about making a movie about a plot of which the audience already knows will fail? This is where Singer rolls up his sleeves and gets dirty.

“Valkyrie” makes you feel the anxiety of Cruise’s character, Nazi dissenter Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who continues to serve as a German military officer despite losing a hand and an eye in an air strike while on tour in North Africa. Now imagine having the task of rewriting Hitler’s very own emergency contingency plan in order to sabotage it, and then having the task of taking the amended document to Hitler himself to convince him to sign off on it, and then having the task of taking a bomb into his notorious Wolf’s Lair complex to assassinate him not on one, but TWO seperate occasions. The key people in the resistance circle carry grave concerns as the plot unfolds, but von Stauffenberg is determined only at executing the objective, which is vintage Tom Cruise stuff, so it works out. As it seems, one would need superior testicular fortitude to pull this off, and herein lies the irony when things begin to fall apart. Watching the events unfold, and seeing how an operation that relies largely on Hilter’s death for a chance at success can still proceed despite the fact that he’s not dead is nothing short of ridiculous.

After the screening, I went home and decided to do some research on this operation, and what I found was simply fascinating. What really surprised me was how true to the historical timeline the movie was, and how the little details, as mundane as they were (to get from Berlin to the Wolf’s Lair is a three hour plane ride; this is critical information), turned out to be so crucial to the fate of so many people, including Hitler himself. There’s a tiny, indiscriminate action that an officer takes with von Stauffenberg’s briefcase just before the bomb detonates, and it arguably changes the course of the war, and history.

And say what you will about Cruise being Cruise, but the man is at least committed to the emotional center of his character. But the real gem here lies with the supporting cast. The politicians and officers who want Hilter dead are genuinely concerned with the delicacy that things must be handled, and von Stauffenberg’s supporters are devout in their conviction that he should succeed. It is no surprise then that a monument dedicated to him stands at the Benderlock—“the only monument to a German who served in World War II.”

The film’s greatest strength is the way it takes advantage of it’s behind-the-scenes privy into what the Germans at the top of the food chain were dealing with during the war, and since there are no Westerners to here save the day, it easily makes for an intriguing look at one of the truly underrated events in the history of warfare.

My Grade: B+

Running time: 120 minutes

Starring: Tom Cruise, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Adler

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Distributed by United Artists

Release date: December 25, 2008

In the days heading up to the premier of Baghead, the Sony Pictures Classics camper about a group of four friends who hole themselves up in a cabin to write a screenplay before their idea of writing a horror movie comes to life, the amount of buzz surrounding it has been growing quite positively, an official selection into the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, as well as critical praise already coming in from Roger Roeper, NPR and Variety. This past week I got the chance to sit down with writers/directors Jay and Mark Duplass, as well two of the stars of the film, Ross Partridge and Greta Gerwig.

What was the inspiration to do this film?

Jay: We wanted to make a movie that was about something that was weirdly scary and funny at the same time. We were sitting around trying to think of an idea of what’s scary and someone came up with the idea of a guy with a bag over his head. That’s like the most lo-fi version. Most scary movies aren’t even scary; they’re movies about people mutilating each other, which is kind of gross and not scary. But even the scary movies are tending to go to more and more extremes of what that thing has to be. We were like, “That doesn’t really scare me because that doesn’t exist.” What scares me is, “There’s a guy outside my window with a bag over his head and I don’t know who the hell he is, or what he’s doing there.” It’s relatively reasonable to think that it could happen.

Mark: And it’s also pretty funny too, when you think about it.

Jay: It was just that dichotomy that you could laugh at that and still be pretty scared at the same thing, was really fascinating to us.

How long have you been making films now?

Mark: We did the whole video camcorder thing when I was six and Jay was ten, and we went to film school and made the obligatory bad film school movies. When then ran an editing business for a while where we actually learned a ton. It’s kind of common knowledge that editing is a good way to get into making movies because you’re at the back end of the process and you’re realizing what everybody else is doing wrong. It was probably when we were in our mid-20s where we really lucked into the documentary style of filmmaking. When we scaled down our crew, and it was just me on the camera and Jay on the microphone, and we worked with a group of actors and just told a story that we know to be true, we started coming up with material that audiences really responded to.

And to that end with Baghead, was it difficult to get from point A to B, from the conception to the actual point of filmmaking?

Jay: For us there’s never a point where we’re sure about anything; it’s always a process of discovery and questioning and rewriting, improvisation, re-shooting a scene, and then editorial where you cut the movie in such a way that you think it’s going to work, and then you re-cut everything four or five times. It’s not until we’re nearly done editing that everything finally starts to come together.

What led you to choosing the four principles in the film?

Jay: I met Greta on the movie Hannah Takes the Stairs. I really liked her and thought she was a natural, and was convinced that she had the same qualities that our character Michelle required. We met Ross at a film festival; we not only thought he was a great guy, but we saw that he shared our sense of ambition; a sort of nervous energy that was the desire to get something done. Steve was the president of our high school student council.

Mark: He’s our muse!

Jay: And then we cased Elise out of a Backstage ad. Most importantly, we really liked these people and wanted to hang out with them, and could stand hanging out them for three weeks in a cabin while we shot the film. That was important!

Ross, I saw your listed of credits on imdb.com, which are pretty lengthy. How was it for you going from all the supporting role work that you’ve done in the past to this role where you are essentially the engine for the four characters?

Mark: He’s the cooker.

Ross: To me, it never felt like a responsibility. It always felt like a collaboration; I didn’t feel like a had to carry the film. I’ve done other films where I’ve played parts where I’ve tried to carry the project, but in this film it was never a problem.

Mark: I think Ross is good at carrying things. He’s got a big dad vibe. We hired him as a producer in our last film because he’s so good at that. He would drive everybody back and forth to and from the set. All of a sudden on day two he’s setting up lights; by day four he’s cooking dinner for the crew.

Would you say you’re like your character Matt?

Ross: There are some elements that I’m like, some for better and some for worse.

Mark: Ross is a little smarter than Matt. He gets shit done. I mean Matt does too, but…

Greta: His shit’s good!

Mark: Right! [laughs]

Jay: Matt’s represents the television version of us. When we get our eyes set on an idea, we become less sensitive to the people around us, and we develop this mad energy and get focused.

Mark: We hope that we’re not destroying the relationships any more when we’re trying to get things done—

Jay: Unless we’re making a film, and then it’s a given.

Greta, your character Michelle surprised me the most. At the beginning of the movie, something told me that your character would probably be the least important, because she was so nice and innocent. But after you all got to the cabin, your character went through the widest range of emotion and dynamics.

Greta: When I got the script, Mark and Jay gave me a lot of freedom. I bought her wardrobe, decided how she wore her hair, and I wore this pink nail polish throughout the film. I was able to bring a lot of physical elements to the girl, and then I just got completely into who she was, and was psyched to get to know who she was. During filming, Mark and Jay weren’t telling me that I had to be this way or that way during certain scenes, and sometimes when we’d improve it out, it kept pushing the boundaries of who she was as a person. I don’t think a person can be one thing all the time, or everything all at once.

Jay: Michelle was the youngest in the group. She was new to Los Angeles and wasn’t quite sure who she was yet.

Mark: She was trying out new things all of the time.

What was the best part of filming?

Jay: Wrapping feels amazing! And that’s spelled W-R-A-P-P-I-N-G.

Mark: Not r-a-p-p-i-n’.

Jay: Honestly, it was a hard movie for us to make. We only had three weeks, and we didn’t really have a payoff. We did several versions of different scenes. But in retrospect I think, the best part was that everybody put in everything they had, and everybody was absolutely necessary. It was a very efficient set. There weren’t a lot of assistants running around wondering “Am I important?” It was nice to have a small crew where everybody on hand had something crucial to do, and not in a superficial, “I’m saying this for the press,” kind of way.

Greta: My favorite part, quite honestly, were the meals. They were home cooked meals. We would cook at night, before the day started, and have dinner and then get up and go, “Okay, let’s make a movie.” That was really nice.

What was the most challenging aspect of filming?

Jay: Managing the tone of the film. We’re making a relationship, comedy, and horror movie all at once. Our brains were hurting at the end of every night. But looking back, I could see how we could have very easily made a bad film under that scenario. I’m really proud of the fact that we did make it happen. At one point, Mark and I realized that this was going to take every inch of ourselves just to make it happen; not make it great, but just to make it work, so that it doesn’t feel like two different movies.

Mark: Because we had a very small crew, we had to basically do a lot of the tech stuff ourselves. We had to clear out paths and light the woods so that people could run through them, and I could run with them with the camera while trying to keep it in focus.

Greta: There was one day when the sun definitely coming out, and Jay kept wanting to do one more take, and then one more take, and Mark was like, “Jay, it’s over. It’s over!” right when sun had started to rise.

Mark: Jay, it’s over… [laughs]

In the opening scene, when the director does the Q&A after his screening audience has this reaction to him, has that ever happened in real life?

Mark: It’s a slightly heightened version of ourselves and what we end up doing at Q&As. What we do is a more subtle way, but you’re asking us if we were brilliant, and we’re saying, “Yes, we were brilliant.” And that’s what happens at Q&As: The audience wants to show you how brilliant you are, and you want to show the audience how brilliant they are for recognizing your brilliance. It just gets really funny when you take a step back and see what’s really going on.

Jay: You gotta make fun of it a little bit.

How does it feel when you stop and realize that in your career you’ve had multiple entries at Sundance?

Jay: To a lot of people, that’s a big deal. …..?

Mark: I have to be honest and say that there was a point in our lives when we couldn’t even think about the possibility of having a feature at Sundance, and then that was literally the apex of everything we could have ever wanted. But we’re desperate guys who want more. And we work and work, and then sometimes, I might look at an old journal that I might have written in as a kid or see old pictures of us, and I’ll think, “Wow, we’ve had four movies at Sundance, and we have deals with major studios who want to do projects with us.” The surreal part, and I know this sounds cliché, but it’s really about us just making stuff. Getting paid is awesome, but really, we just want to make stuff.

Why did you turn down major studio money to make this particular film?

Jay: We had the option of making this on the cheap, because we had made some money making movies, so we were able to finance this ourselves. We had gotten some very good advice that if it was appropriate to do the project with a low budget, which this totally was, then we should do it. We knew that if we made this in the traditional Hollywood style, there would have been some creative compromises to be made to do this through the studio. I think they would’ve wanted us to do a straight-ahead horror film.

What’s next?

Greta: I’m going to start working on a project that’s tentatively called Art House, about an art commune being bought up by a golf course. Iggy Pop is going to be in it, and I’m playing his daughter. [pause]I look like I be part of Iggy’s spawn! I think?

Ross: You know, just fielding offers to do studio movies, deciding what I want to do. I want to get out of the independent world since there’s no money in it. I’ll make a big Hollywood movie and make like twelve million dollars after Baghead does so well, and then we’re gonna go back and make like ten more independents…

Mark: He has to keep up the indie cred… [laughs]

Do you plan on staying the independent course?

Jay: I think it’ll be a combination probably. We can’t say for sure, but we’ll always love making these movies like this. They can get done quicker, so there’s an easier chance to get movies like this made. With that being said, we sold a bunch of scripts to studios and they want us to direct those movies. When those iron out, which takes a lot more time, we’ll do those.

Mark: If we could make movies that we love inside the studio system then we would absolutely do it.

“Did they have any good stuff over there?

“Yeah! I snagged this coat for forty-five dollars…”

I’m still reaching for my ink pen, barely making eye contact with bassist Chris Knight, who sports a dapper grayish-blue Nehru style jacket for the occasion.

“How much does it normally cost?” I ask.

“About two hundred and fifty dollars,” he replies with cool gratification.

This was in fact, my first exchange with three of the members of Lemon Sun, the indie rock outfit at the Mesa restaurant in Silverlake, near downtown Los Angeles. Knight had earlier been to a retail warehouse to check out a sale that apparently was closed to the public. As singer Robert Kolar and guitarist Melissa Dougherty listen on with great enthusiasm, I became jealous that I myself wasn’t there to scoop up the deals. He had a knack for making ordinary things sound incredibly titillating. And aside from the fact that Dougherty was valiantly fighting off a cold, it was the sort of relaxed atmosphere you’d expect from a band that had been together for a while, and after almost three years, they certainly fit the part. Enamoring fans with some of the catchiest concoctions of British and Southern Rock, it’s no wonder that they, along with guitarist/keyboardist Michael Shapiro and drummer Nick Rucker, are one of the best and brightest bands that Southern California has produced in recent years. With their upcoming debut LP, Tales of Uncertainty due out in June 2008, the band takes time out of their schedule to reflect on their career from simple musings to playing with The Killers.

Lemon Sun has been around for a few years now, but a few of you have known each other for quite a long time. How did you first meet?

Kolar: I met Chris first. It was geometry class; I was fifteen years old, and I remember this kid sitting in the corner by himself. I didn’t really know anybody at school, and I wanted to meet people.

Did the two of you hit it off right away?

Kolar: No, I thought he was an asshole.

Knight: [laughs] I was real standoffish back then. I’d bounce around from clique to clique and come and go as I pleased. Eventually I found a group of long-haired alternative kids who shared the same musical interests as me. I had a friend, Armen, who brought Rob by one day, and since we both realized that we had a mutual friend in common, the two of us were able to click.

What kind of music were you into back in those days?

Kolar: Growing up, my dad played Leonard Cohen records. My mom is from Jamaica, and she mostly played reggae; you know, Marley, The Wailers, stuff like that. Later on I fell in love with bands like Caroline and the Violent Femmes. I loved their self-titled album.

Knight: My parents listened to classical music all the time, but I was into punk mostly. Operation Ivy, Strung Out, Lagwagon… [pause] They were supportive.

Dougherty: I’d say that MTV in general had the big influence on me, but when I saw U2’s Live from Red Rocks, that did it for me. When they performed “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, I knew I wanted to be a guitarist.

How did the rest of the band come together?

Kolar: Well, with Mikey…when I was in high school I tutored him on guitar. He was maybe eleven or twelve at the time. Then his family moved away to Dallas, but we managed to keep in touch. About three years ago he moved back to California, so for us that was a natural fit. We met Melissa through Craigslist soon after that. Mikey and I went to her house in Koreatown to meet her and thought she was great.

Knight: And then we met Nick through a friend who was trying to play matchmaker for the band. He was like, “I’ve got the perfect drummer for you…”

You’ve played some notable shows in your career. How was it opening for The Killers?

Dougherty: I think that was one of the easiest shows we’ve ever played.

Kolar: Yeah, it’s definitely easier to play in a room full of thousands of people than an empty room. The crazy thing about The Killers’ gig was that, I think that was only our seventh show. I had strep throat; it could’ve really been bad. But when we came out to do our sound check, people rushed to the stage.

They thought you were The Killers?

Kolar: [grins] We got some new fans.

Dougherty: It’s really funny how those things work themselves out. I remember we played at a fair a few weeks before that and there were maybe eight people on the lawn. We go from that to opening for The Killers. Go figure.

You also played SXSW last year. How was that experience?

Dougherty: Oh, we have stories about that…

Kolar: We drove from LA all the way to Austin for twenty-five hours nonstop because couldn’t afford to lodge anywhere. So we’re in this huge van, and Chris is sleeping in this spot in the back that we called the crevice; we made it so that one of us at a time could lay out flat and sleep. Anyway, Chris had been sleeping for a while, and all of a sudden he jumps up and goes, “something’s wrong—why did the road get all bumpy?” We’re looking back at him, telling him to go to back to sleep. About a minute later, one of the tires blow out. It was nine in the morning and we’re in the middle of the desert just outside El Paso, so we hung out with the snakes until AAA arrived.

Knight: Yeah, the guy’s tow truck service was called “Camel Tow.” Hilarious.

Kolar: That was great! But all in all, I’d say that bands romanticize too much over the thought of playing there. In reality, it turns out to be quite stressful. There are literally thousands of bands, and you suddenly feel like a needle on a conveyer. It’s certainly beneficial for bands that already have a lot of hype, but because there are just so many bands, I think a lot of acts go out there thinking they’re going to get discovered and end up greatly disappointed.

What did you think of Austin as a whole?

Dougherty: I liked Austin, I’d go back. Very cool town.

You seem to have a lot of fun with everything that comes your way. For example, there was a negative show review in which the journalist seemed turned off by how you played to the crowd. You responded by posting it on your Myspace page.

Kolar: To be honest, I’m excited for more bad reviews! [grins] I’m looking for maybe five or six terrible quotes…

Knight: We just have a good time with it.

Kolar: It’s a performance. David Bowie, Queen…you know, we’re not like The Strokes—we’re not an anti-performance kind of band. With artists like Justin Timberlake or Britney, people assume it’s pop and suddenly you don’t have integrity.

Dougherty: We have a big sound. Hendrix, he was a real performer. We strive to be like that. We get on stage and do our best to put on a show for people in the audience.

Kolar: We understand that if we act a certain way on stage we risk losing ultra-hipsters, but there are a lot of people who really appreciate it. There used to be a place for real indie rock, but nowadays it seems like there’s not so much anymore.

Knight: I would say that musically, we like it when people have their own slant on their view of the band. We love it when people like you come at it with their own perspective.

Kolar: Within reason! [laughs]

Melissa, as the lone girl in the band, do you view yourself as a role model to other girls?

Dougherty: [long pause] I don’t know… [pause] I mean, I don’t think I feel pressure or anything like that but… [pause] I don’t know, I can’t say.

Kolar: I’ve noticed. Girls respond to her like she’s a hero, which is great.

Dougherty: I think that I can relate in being an outsider, female, interracial…I know what it does to people. In teaching guitar to younger girls, I try to empower them. I try to share that light with other people.

Knight: I think she does a great job.

Your new album, Tales of Uncertainty was produced by Dave Schiffman, whose past credits include engineering for Rick Rubin on the final Johnny Cash albums, as well as Janet Jackson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and System of a Down. How did you guys hook up, and how was it working with him?

Dougherty: We met Schiffman through a mutual friend. Our friend’s label didn’t want to use him for their recording sessions, and during that time, he became a fan of our band and came out to our shows for a whole year. After a while he didn’t have time to wait on the other project and agreed to produce us.

Knight: It was probably the most painless recording process we’ve been a part of. He was really keen about the preparation of the band. He kept it real.

Kolar: He was definitely out to get us the sound we wanted.

How did that differ from the recording process of your previous two EPs?

Kolar: With the first EP, we had to record that in a practice space that was right next door to this other band. So there was a lot of competing going on, racing against time. We’d have to wait for them to finish playing a song and go, “All right, hurry up and record!” We had to get most of the takes right rather quickly. And then with the second EP, well that was just different…

Dougherty: Everything was weird about those sessions. We had this weird producer who would have people over all the time.

Knight: Yeah, random people would just come in and do weird shit; turn knobs and press buttons for the hell of it. That was pretty surreal.

Kolar: With Dave, it was definitely a welcomed change. We were in the studio from noon till midnight for eleven days.

So how does Tales of Uncertainty sound in comparison with those two EPs?

Kolar: There’s definitely more direction and continuity. This album is a lot more rootsy than those two EPs. It’s very American, organic, bluesy. It’s more Creedance Clearwater than it is British rock, as it was in the past.

Knight: Yes, and I think that has to do with our influences with other genres as well as our influences with each other. Since we arrange songs as a band, everybody puts their own ingredients into the mix. For me, these guys are my biggest influences. The album resembles the band as whole.

“Telephones” and “Stranger” are two popular Lemon Sun songs that are set to be on the new album. What are those songs about?

Kolar: “Stranger” is about a friend—a bizarre character, really, and I wrote the song after observing him for a while. It’s about the road to self-destruction, but sort of in a funny way. I hoped subconsciously that if he heard the song, he’d like it. Luckily he did. With “Telephone”, my sister was in London during the 2005 bombings. I remember trying to call her up and wondering if she was alive. So that became the chorus, though the song isn’t necessarily about that situation. The verses deal more with social commentary than anything else.

And the video for “Telephones”?

Kolar: Jason [Argyropoulos, the director] was great. I threw a lot of shit at him. Some of it stuck, some of it slid down the walls. He was great.

Beyond the new album, what’s next for Lemon Sun?

Knight: Keep playing, keep making more fans. Maybe for all of us, we couldn’t not do this, you know? Musicians are musicians; that’s all we know how to do. Doing this keeps me sane at the end of the day, so the goal is to take it as far as we can. If I was a member of another band, I wouldn’t be half the musician that I am. That’s how much they inspire and motivate me.

Dougherty: I agree with Chris. We want to take Lemon Sun as far as we possibly can; be successful, but not egomaniacs. [pause] A cooler U2.

Kolar: Yeah, it would be awesome if we could have cultural effect on music some day. I know this probably sounds cheesy and all, but I think it would be cool to be a soundtrack in someone’s life. It would be great for somebody one day to say, “that song reminds me of this one time in my life…” At the end of the day, we’re all gonna die. Might as well leave something behind.