_____________
cudi interview:
After working a lot with Kanye, how does it feel to be focused on your own career?
Kid Cudi: It’s exciting, man. I’m just ready to try new shit. I’m a dude who likes to create music with good feeling. I live like a chameleon through music. It all depends on what the beat tells me to do; that’s why you’re always gonna get passionate hooks, because I’m feeling the beats and the emotion behind the drums and melodies.
Are you worried about recapturing the success of “Day ’N’ Nite”?
Kid Cudi: I was briefly, and then I started to record and just make shit. That’s when I realized I’m going to be OK. Shit is going to come together as it should, don’t worry about it. I didn’t come in the game to just do that one joint, you know what I mean? I came in the game to have multiple hits.
What kind of fears do you have about releasing your album?
Kid Cudi: I don’t really have any fear about the business; my biggest fear is getting wrapped up in the illusion of fame and Hollywood and shit like that. Getting wrapped up in the worldly things like drugs and the excitement of being famous. I have a vulnerable enough past that it could propel me into that world. I don’t want to be caught up in it. I want to do something while I’m here. This is hell. All the shit that’s going on around us, this is hell.
What’s hell about it?
Kid Cudi: Just turn on the fucking news.
But do you feel like your own world is hell sometimes?
Kid Cudi: Yeah. Most of my groupies are spawns of the devil. [Laughs.] They’re there to take me off track and fuck up my purpose. It’s like the dark side is trying to pull me in. Who wouldn’t like a bunch of hot-ass bitches saying, “Hey, we all wanna fuck you right now!”? [Laughs.] But you have to realize that it’s an illusion, that you can get caught up, turn into a person that you never knew you could be—and I don’t wanna be that dude.
Has the girl situation really been that crazy?
Kid Cudi: Man, I was always the ugly duckling; I never got attention from girls like that. So now that it’s happening, I’m kind of hip to it. I know half of these bitches wouldn’t be talking to me if I wasn’t Kid Cudi, and I’m not no fool, you know what I’m saying? I wasn’t born yesterday.
So how do you deal with that?
Kid Cudi: I just don’t want to get wrapped up in that world, so I keep to myself. I’m more like an actor-celebrity, rather than a rapper-celebrity. Actors keep to themselves, they’re very reserved, you only see them at premieres and shit like that. I’m not that dude who always
Do you consider yourself a weirdo?
Kid Cudi: “Weird” itself, even in the dictionary, is just something that is different and unexplainable. A weirdo is someone who follows their heart. I’m definitely weird, ain’t nothing wrong with that.
Is that a product of having your dad pass away?
Kid Cudi: My dad was Superman to me. He was the coolest. When he died of cancer, it was like my world was destroyed—I just went from seeing my dad normal to seeing my dad sick and then seeing my dad where he couldn’t even recognize me. My heart crumbled. I cried, but it wasn’t because I was sad, it was because I was pissed, like, “What the fuck?! Why?” But that’s when I started to want to express myself through words and rhymes.
How does that loss affect you now?
Kid Cudi: Not in the obvious way. Going through all that heartache and loss made me super-sensitive—not to where I want to cry all the time, but I’ll want to snap. There’s a lot of anger still in me, and it transforms into sadness through song. The day that I can say I’m truly happy will be my day of peace, like for real for real. Until then, I’m on my grind.
Speaking of your grind, when did you decide to move to New York?
Kid Cudi: I was working at this restaurant in Cleveland. There was this white dude in his 40s who was cool as shit and would tell me, “You’re funny and people like you. You need to move the fuck out of Ohio and just do this.” My uncle told me I could come out there and stay with him in the South Bronx until I got on my feet. I’d never met him; this was my father’s older brother, the last of my father’s siblings, so I wanted to make that connection anyway. I moved in 2004 with my little demo and maybe $500.
Your uncle let you stay for free?
Kid Cudi: Yeah. I didn’t have a job for about the first five months there, so I had to make that $500 stretch. [Laughs.] I didn’t have any friends and I didn’t know anybody, so my thing to do then was to go to Times Square and just walk around. I wanted to be a New Yorker so bad.
Compared to what you had been through, it must’ve seemed easy.
Kid Cudi: It was like growing into a man: “All right, let’s see what the fuck you’re made of. Let’s see you be a man now, mama’s boy.” It was a whole other journey. My uncle that I lived with passed in 2006. We were actually beefing because he forced me out the house when I didn’t have another situation set up, so I was bitter. I never apologized for it, and that kills me. That’s why I wrote “Day ’N’ Nite.”
Wow.
Kid Cudi: If he wasn’t there to let me stay with him those first few months, there would be no Kid Cudi. It fucked me up watching him go, but it was like, “I have to fulfill this destiny now for sure.” Things were moving but they weren’t solidified yet. I had “Day ’N’ Nite,” we were just getting started, and I was like, “This shit has got to pop off.” I wasn’t taking no for an answer.
People love to point out similarities between you and Drake—do you view him as competition?
Kid Cudi: I think it’s just that Drake and me are the most creative out of the new up-and-coming MCs. Me and Drake are here not because of anything other than two niggas that have their own flavor. I’m doing my shit, nobody else can do my shit. Nobody else can do Wale’s shit or Charles Hamilton’s shit. It’s like a bunch of Kool-Aid stands. It just matters whose flavor you like the most.
It seems like a lay-up for you and Drake to work together.
Kid Cudi: We’ll come together eventually, but I’m not trying to force this because there’s hype around us both. I want to work with Drake, yeah, but right now I don’t want to work with anyone who’s in the same creative realm as me. I’m still creating my own shit.
Has he reached out to work with you?
Kid Cudi: Drake had been wanting to do an official “Day ’N’ Nite” remix early on. He was one of my earliest supporters; that’s why I fuck with Drake on another level than just being a new artist. His homeboy Oliver used to hit me up when I’d go to Toronto, like, “Yo, you gotta fuck with Drake.” Imagine if I would’ve let Drake remix “Day ’N’ Nite” when he wanted to back in ’07. That shit would’ve fizzled out; no one would’ve cared. Luckily we let it live and it worked out. We’re changing things on accident. That’s how I know this is my destiny.
How crazy is it to you that Kanye was inspired by your music?
Kid Cudi: Kanye is inspired by everybody around him. He’s inspired by life. So yeah, he kind of drew inspiration from everyone around him at that moment when it came to 808s & Heartbreak.
You helped write four of the most popular songs on that album. How much did you actually write?
Kid Cudi: Well, I can’t reveal numbers. But they were completely fair in giving me my credit and shit like that. It was a good experience and it was definitely lucrative
What about people who look at you as Kanye’s little man?
Kid Cudi: [Laughs.] The album will shut a lot of people up. I actually have my own voice, and people will see that with the album. ’Ye just lets me be a man and shit. You don’t necessarily want a motherfucker to be holding your hand the whole time. There was a time when nobody listened to my shit and nobody would give me the time of day. Now I’ve got like four fan-made mixtapes—I’ve only got one mixtape out, the rest of them are from fans. Fans make these Kid Cudi wallpapers and draw pictures of me and all this and that. That shit is real; that means that kids connect with that shit. Not just because I’m Kanye’s artist. Those kids fuck with my music and that’s the realest shit ever. That lets me know that I’m important, and nothing is better than knowing you’re important.
That’s gonna get you some points, man.
Kid Cudi: I think they’re amazing creatures.
How much does your mom figure into that?
Kid Cudi: That’s what one of the issues was when we came up with “I Poke Her Face.” I was like, my mom is gonna hear this! But my mom understands rap, and I already explained it to her: “Well, you’re gonna hear this song one day and it’s a little bit explicit.” My mom is no stranger to vulgar content; my earlier raps used to be about all types of crazy shit.
The whole time we were at the video shoot, people were coming up for autographs and you talked to every single person. Are you really that worried about fame going to your head?
Kid Cudi: I don’t want to transform into a fuckin’ zombie. Every time people come up to me I want to hit them with that smile and shake their hands sincerely. Let them know that I appreciate them approaching me and I appreciate them liking my music.
What would your dad say to you if he was still here?
Kid Cudi: “Keep it up, young man.” He was always like, “Pick your head up! It shows confidence!” Now, with my confidence, because of my father and those moments, I remember why I’m here.
__________________________________
______________________________
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In her upcoming movie "Julie & Julia," Meryl Streep throws back her head and laughs as Julia Child.
The 60-year-old actress doesn't quite look like the mirror image of the famed TV chef, but with her head of brown curls, crinkled eyes, wide smile, and faint dusting of powder, she utterly becomes her. With some help from a longtime friend.
Streep, a chameleon whose face transforms from movie to movie, has worked with the same makeup artist and hair stylist, J. Roy Helland, on every one of her films since the early '80s, when she snagged an Oscar for "Sophie's Choice." Their professional pairing is the kind most actors can only covet.
"He's a collaborator in everything she does, and the hair and the makeup is just part of it. I think he's an extra pair of eyes for her in every single way," said "Julie & Julia" director Nora Ephron.
Streep's ability as an actress, plus Helland's Emmy-winning talent, have made for some incredible roles — from a stern nun to a free-spirited mother to a ferocious magazine editor.
Makeup artist Bill Corso said Helland, who declined to be interviewed for this article, deserves much of the credit for Streep's transformations.
"There are very few makeup artists who have a relationship with an actor that will allow them to create such amazing characters," said Corso, who won an Oscar in 2004 for "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," in which Streep plays a supporting role.
Corso calls their collaborative partnership inspiring. "Their relationship is a singular, rare entity. It's an amazing marriage," he said.
Longtime makeup artist Leonard Engelman said Streep's distinctive features make a very good canvas.
"Meryl has a very angular, almost chiseled face, very strong cheekbones. The nose is quite dominant, with nice, full lips. But I think an awful lot of Meryl's look comes from within her, and what she's portraying," said Engelman, governor of the makeup and hair stylist branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
"I think what works so well is the makeup doesn't jump out at you. You don't want to see a set of lips walking into the room, and an actress behind them," said Engelman, Cher's primary makeup artist since 1986.
In "The Devil Wears Prada" Streep's magazine editor has a white poof of hair and icy, strong eyes to complement to her high-fashion wardrobe. "She looks very refined in 'Prada,'" Engelman said. "The eyes weren't overly made up but they were very strong, like they were looking for you, those piercing eyes."
More subdued looks, like the severe, bespectacled Sister Aloyisius Beauvier in "Doubt," or the naturally pretty, golden-tressed mother in "Mamma Mia!" can take longer than flamboyant makeup. The trick is making the skin look flawless, said Engelman. Beyond having good genes, Streep and her skin have been well taken care of by Helland, Corso adds.
Corso notes that Helland changes Streep's eyebrows in almost every film, a makeup trick to shift the shape and look of someone's face.
Normally, the industry's makeup union rules require female actresses to have separate hair and makeup artists on film. According to Engelman, Streep and Helland worked out an exemption decades ago.
Helland even designs wigs for Streep.
"He's a great wig designer," said Corso. "He created this wig for Meryl for 'Lemony Snicket' that was almost like it's own character. It was giant bouffant with a ball attached to the top of it. When she moved, she would jerk her head a lot, and she would work this hair for all it was worth."
London hairdresser Antoinette Beenders — the vice president, global creative director for Aveda who has styled the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kate Winslet — said Streep's natural locks are fairly fine, conducive to the use of wigs and extensions.
As part of sister singing duo in "A Prairie Home Companion," she had country-tinged honey blond waves. She played a whitewater rafting expert in "The River Wild," casual in a baseball cap, and a '60s Midwestern housewife with soft brown hair in "The Bridges of Madison County." In "Silkwood," she donned a cropped dark shag and eyeliner as a nuclear-plant worker.
"Streep might have worn a dark, curly wig for this role," said Beenders of Streep in "Julie & Julia." ''It's very well done. They probably colored a very fine hair line so that the wig blends so nicely to her skin. The finer the hairline the more natural the hair looks."
But makeup and wigs — even excellent ones — only go so far.
In "Julie & Julia," Streep embodies Child in face and hair, but also attempts to convey her tall stature. She pulled up her 5'6" body, says Ephron, to appear as long as Child's 6'2" frame.
"It's this thing called acting. Many actors could do this, but Meryl has the chops to do it, and the guts to really go for it," said Ephron. "It's a combination of her hair, her makeup, her clothes, her height, it's everything."
__________________________
Actor Edward Norton has refused to comment on whether he will reprise his role as the Hulk in Marvel Entertainment's forthcoming movie adaptation of The Avengers.
Norton has previously denied any involvement in the film, but instead offered a "no comment" when asked about the movie in an interview last week.
"I probably won't comment on that just because they keep a pretty tight rein on what they are letting out," Norton said in a group interview promoting the documentary By the People: The Election of Barack Obama. "I'll let them [address it]."
In Norton's 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, Robert Downey Jr. appeared as Iron Man after the credits, implying that the Hulk would appear in The Avengers film.
The stars from the forthcoming Iron Man 2, Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America movies are already confirmed to reprise their roles in The Avengers.
The Avengers is slated for release in 2012.
_________________________
The first cast promo shots for the former The L Word star’s new medical series, Three Rivers, were released recently. Can I just say, whoa.
The show follows organ transplantation from three points of view: the doctors, the donors and the recipients. Kate plays Dr. Miranda Foster, a member of the elite surgical team who has a rebellious streak and fiery temper. She also happens to the daughter of the revered surgeon the medical wing is named after. I wonder how wardrobe will accessorize that chip on her shoulder each episode.
Rounding out the cast are Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight) as lead surgeon Dr. Andy Yablonski, Daniel Henney as womanizing surgeon Dr. David Lee and Christopher J. Hanke as the newbie transplant coordinator Ryan Abbott.
_____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment