On Friday, November 21, Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest movie, “Body of Lies,” will be released internationally. Yahoo! Movies is scheduled to interview the three-time Academy Award-nominated actor this coming Friday. One of our sister sites, Yahoo! Answers UK & Ireland, has a slot for one of your questions. If you had one question for Leo, what would it be?
For more details and to submit your question, check out the site’s blog.
Photo by ~jjjohn~
I love a good movie. Actually, that’s entirely untrue. I love a whole bunch of horrendous movies. The “good” part is how they make me feel. The same way that smells bring back memories, movies that I’ve watched obsessively during specific periods of my life make me feel that age again. It’s completely uncanny. (I guess they’re called “feel-good” movies for a reason, right?) The “Ghostbusters” movies remind me of being a little kid-pretending (with my baby brother) that we were wearing proton packs, busting ghosts, and wisecracking. Even now, we can’t resist the urge to say the lines along with the movie, or answer the question, “Who ya gonna call?”
“Grease” takes me back to middle school: sleepovers and singalongs with my friends and eating enough pizza that-in retrospect-my parents should have invested in Pizza Hut stock. It really highlights all the best parts (and feelings) of being a tween, without any of the unpleasantness that goes with the beginnings of adolescence. Both “Grease” and “Batman Forever” cause a crazy regression that leads me into uncontrollable fits of giggles-the trademark teenage-girl experience.
Our family has “tradition” movies-movies we watch to get in the holiday spirit. Halloween isn’t Halloween without a showing of “Hocus Pocus,” and Christmas Eve wouldn’t be the same without “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” We like to gather together, queue up the movie and-once everyone has gotten comfortable-enjoy the fun all over again.
A few months back, my brother and I were cleaning out our parents’ garage. We cleared out what felt like a million VHS tapes. I made a mental note to pick up some of these family classics the next time I was out buying DVDs. Because I occasionally forget my own whims, my brother has given me our favorite childhood-and-adolescence movies on DVD for the last dozen gift-giving occasions. We rip open the (often annoyingly secure) cellophane wrap and turn back the hands of time for a few hours.
Photo by shanewarne_60000
A month ago, my 21-year-old daughter informed me that she had just purchased two grenade launchers. I should have been shocked. Instead, I was jealous. You see, she had a head start of about a week on Facebook’s Mob Wars, and was at a higher level than I was. She had multiple villas, restaurants, and apartments and was working on a hotel. I was still doing muggings and an occasional house burglary, so my bank account was dismal. Clearly, I needed to beef up my mob and start picking a few fights.
For those who are new to Mob Wars, it’s a game application on Facebook. You “start out as a petty thief and work your way up the ranks to build your criminal empire” by performing progressively more lucrative jobs, and by fighting other members on your level. Once you start making a little money, you can buy better equipment like body armor, S.W.A.T Bearcats, and CheyTacs. You can also purchase income-earning properties, starting with empty lots and working up to casinos. The more members you invite into your mob, the better–more firepower for scuffles.
I’m not really the game-obsessed type, but somehow I got hooked on this crazy thing. I’ve clawed my way up many levels, recruited gang members, cleaned a few clocks, and now earn a tidy hourly income in the millions. I’ve built up quite an empire and it was no easy feat. Just ask the Godfather. He knows how many late nights I’ve put in taking quizzes and filling out surveys for a few measly favor points.
But you know–it’s just a game. I can stop at any time. Really. Uh–gotta go. Someone just put me on the hit list!
There might be something to this social networking thing after all. What keeps you online? In addition to Yahoo! Answers, of course!
Photo by 46137
In my free time, I make pottery at a little ceramic studio in New York City, right down the street from the Yahoo! offices. Each year, we host what turns out to be our biggest public event: Oktoberfest. We invite all of the teachers, students, and resident artists to make mugs, steins, and other drinking vessels. We throw a big party and anyone who purchases a handmade cup gets it filled with beer (or soda for the youngsters) all evening. It’s always a great party: the artists make a little money, the studio gets a little publicity, and everyone indulges in a little (OK, a lot of) beer and brats. It’s something I look forward to every year. But as I was hard at work on my collection of beer steins last night, I realized that I have no idea what Oktoberfest is really about, other than an excuse to drink beer.
Apparently, the original Oktoberfest was a raging party thrown in Munich by Prince Ludwig of Bavaria on October 12, 1810, to celebrate his marriage to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. A horse race was planned, and copious amounts of beer and food were served. It was such a great bash that it became an annual tradition. The horse race was eventually abandoned, but the beer still flows to this day.
Well, after doing a little research, I guess my original Oktoberfest impression wasn’t that far off - it’s pretty much just an excuse to drink beer. That’s my kind of holiday! “Oans, zwoa,drei, Gsuffa!”
How will you (responsibly) celebrate Oktoberfest this year?
Photo by notlob86
My daughter and I went to Filoli Gardens over the weekend to take some pictures. She had a project to work on for her photography class and I was testing out my new digital camera. My daughter used her 35mm SLR camera because part of the project includes processing and developing the roll of film. I used a digital camera that has a few bells and whistles but is basically a travel/personal model-not a fancy, high-end digital SLR.
Once I got home, I uploaded my pictures and performed a few enhancements with software, such as cropping and adjusting the contrast, saturation, etc. I was really happy with the pictures in general (although I’m still getting used to the macro feature), and as I glanced over at my once-cherished Minolta X-700 (I know, it’s an oldie!), I wondered if I would ever need to load another roll of film again.
Of course, I’ve yet to see my daughter’s photos. She is a much better photographer than I am and she’ll probably do some creative things during the film-development process.
Still, I’m wondering if using film makes any difference for someone like me-an amateur photographer who may benefit from being able to snap away and delete the mistakes without worrying about the cost of buying and developing film.
What do you think? Any die-hard 35mm film fans out there? Do you have any preference between digital and film?
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