Film: Interview with actor/screenwriter John C Reilly

 
"Keep growing, keep moving and you’ll find the world that you need" 

This Friday's advice comes from Oscar and Grammy nominated actor, singer, and screenwriter John C Reilly who you probably know from films like: Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Chicago, Gangs of New York, Boogie Nights, Casualties of War, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and one of my favorites What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I interviewed him a few times over the years but here's a snippet from the press tour for the 2011 film Terri in which he plays a high school assistant principal. 

Mr. Needles: What's your advice for students who are being bullied or having a difficult time in high school? 

John C. Reilly: If you’re in high school and you’re freaking out about your place in the pecking order and you feel like a monster or an outcast and you feel like, in the deck of cards that is high school there’s the aces and the kings and queens and you’re like the three of clubs, just know that this is true for every single person in the world- the moment you get out of high school that deck of cards is thrown into the air and those who were kings and queens often end up the assistant manager at the grocery store and those who were the three of clubs end up on press junkets for movies starring themselves, it gets better for everybody, and you just have to get through it. Keep growing, keep moving and you’ll find the world that you need. 

Full story: Short and Sweet NYC

Interview with NASA engineer Bobak Ferdowsi

I had a chance to talk with NASA engineer and director of the Mars Curiosity Bobak Ferdowsi on the Weird Education twitter chat with "The Weird Teacher" Doug Robertson!  I asked two questions that apply to our art and media classes, take a look:

As a scientist spotlighted w/ a mohawk what's your advice for colorful students who are less accepted in school?

I always remind people that it takes all types - diversity is scientifically shown to help business. Find a group of people who recognizes you for your positive qualities - best part of science and engineering is that we judge on results, not looks (goes both ways, sometimes “bad” fashion is part of it).

What's your biggest takeaway from attending school in Japan? My class learns & collaborates w/ Japanese schools

Understanding more cultures and thought-processes helps me approach problems from different angles & work better with others.


Here's a link to the Storify of the entire #WeirdEd chat to explore for more questions and answers: http://t.co/IPLfTaiIKm and below is the video of the Mars Curiosity landing that made Bobak a meme!

Media Arts: Screenwriting

This week we will be working on our first screenplay so each day at the beginning of class we'll take a look at a screenwriter and learn a bit about how they work.  Today we'll be looking at Rob Reiner who began his career as an actor winning an Emmy on  All in the Family then started Castle Rock producing, directing, and writing films like  Stand by Me, When Harry Met Sally..., The Princess Bride, This Is Spinal Tap and A Few Good Men.  Here's an interview I did with Rob this summer: Tim Needles interview with Rob Reiner.

Tomorrow we'll be looking at Tales from the Script a documentary about screenwriting featuring clips from Frank Darabont and William Goldman among others.

Little Kids Rock

I had an opportunity to attend an awards presentation by the not-for-profit Little Kids Rock program which was started by former teacher David Wells 10 years ago to help restore the arts in public schools and I spoke with Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band and The Soprano’s who was being awarded the “Big Man” award (named for his band mate Clarence Clemons who passed away last year) for his charitable work in music education.  Steven had a number of interesting things to say about art and music in schools but he made one point which really stuck with me:

"We're the only country in the world which thinks art is a luxury, it's not"

I certainly have seen this thought evident as I've traveled around the country and seen the cuts in arts education nationwide but I think something that can be learned from the unfortunate reality is for artists and educators to remind the public why the arts are important and to understand the impact they have on our culture and our economy. The event featured an array of guests who I spoke with including: Elvis Costello, American Idol winner Kris Allen, Robert Randolph, The Midtown Men (the original cast of The Jersey Boys) and I was also lucky enough to photograph surprise guest Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny who joined Steven onstage for a few songs so for the complete interview check out my article on Short & Sweet NYC.

Media Art: Spotlight Films The Sessions

This week the Media Art Honor Society will be once again volunteering at the Hamptons Film Festival along with the festival I will be doing interviews with the cast, director, and producer of one of the Spotlight Films The Sessions starring Helen Hunt and John Hawkes (and which was amazing btw).

My interview with actor/director James Franco

Here's a short clip from an interview I did recently with the actor and director James Franco from films such as: Spider-Man, Pineapple Express, and 127 Hours and television shows like: Freaks & Geeks and General Hospital.  The question is about how he deals with his fears so it's certainly relative to all my students heading out to college to work in film and art and in it he references his directorial debut The Broken Tower which comes out soon.

The whole interview can be read on Short&SweetNYC