Eva Marie Saint and Ben Mankiewicz To Appear In Pittsburgh

 Actress Eva Marie Saint and Ben Mankiewicz will be in town in two weeks for a free showing of "On the Waterfront" at the Byham theater.  This showing is part of Turner Classic Movie's Road to Hollywood tour.  These two actors are famous for their work in movies that have won them various awards.

Actress Eva Marie Saint and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz are coming to Pittsburgh for a free showing of "On the Waterfront" at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Byham Theater, Downtown.
It's being presented by TCM and Verizon as part of TCM's 10-city "Road to Hollywood" tour.

 

 Ms. Saint won a best supporting actress Oscar for her screen debut in the 1954 film. "On the Waterfront" also won Academy Awards for best picture, actor Marlon Brando, director Elia Kazan, writer Budd Schulberg and for art direction, cinematography and film editing.



 Brando played a former boxer who goes to work on the docks and stands up against a corrupt union. It's the movie with a famous taxicab scene in which Brando's character, whose brother made him take a dive in a boxing match, laments, "I coulda been a contender."

Free tickets, needed for entry, will be available through tcm.com/roadtohollywood beginning Oct. 29.

Read more at the Post Gazette.

New Movie Being Shot in Pittsburgh

  The streets of Washington, PA are being transformed into a Hollywood sound stage thanks to the movie "The Umbrella Man".   This movie, which was originally performed at The Pittsburgh Playhouse, is being produced with the help of Point Park University. Keep reading to find out more about this local play becoming a major film.

 

 

The streets of downtown Washington will look like a scene out of a Hollywood screenplay when work on a feature film begins shooting this week.
“The Umbrella Man” is the story of Pete Brennan, a father who becomes engrossed with conspiracy theories after the death of his 8-year-old son. While trying to find out more about the person who ran over his child, Brendon stumbles onto the story of the umbrella man – a suspected shooter in the John F. Kennedy assassination.

“It’s the story of a couple who loses their young son,” said Michael Grasso, co-writer and co-director of the film. “The father goes deep into the Kennedy assassination as an escape.”
Set in 1983, “Umbrella Man” is the film adaptation of a play by the same name written by brothers Michael and Joseph Grasso. A successful advertising director, Michael Grasso is trying his hand at narrative filmmaking.

 
The play was originally performed at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, which is operated by Point Park University in Pittsburgh. When campus officials learned the play was being made into a screenplay, they thought it was a perfect way to get students enrolled in their cinematography program involved. 

“Point Park is really visionary,” Grasso said. “They want to be known as a university that’s a home to original work. Not only can they say that they staged it as an original play, but helped make it into a feature film.”

Grasso said the marriage worked perfectly. The Pittsburgh region’s recent emergence as a movie-making destination made it an ideal place to shoot. Point Park students and alumni offered talent and professional help. Although the movie takes place in the Southwest, buildings in this region provide ideal set locations.

“Washington is going to double as New Orleans,” said Cory Stoken, recent Point Park graduate and production office coordinator for the film. “We’re shooting at the George Washington Hotel for a number of days. The architecture of the hotel is from the same time period and has similar features as something you would find in New Orleans.

“This area gives a different feel than you can find in the downtown areas of Pittsburgh and feels a lot more Southern as opposed to other parts of Western Pennsylvania,” Stoken said.

In addition to using Washington’s buildings, producers hope to incorporate area residents into the filming of the movie. Organizers are looking for about 30 extras each day to work on the set during shooting at the hotel Oct. 22 through 25. Tuesday, a large conspiracy convention scene will be shot, requiring as many as 60 extras. Filming also will take place in various locations throughout Washington County Thursday through Oct. 23.

Although the independent film doesn’t have the budget to pay extras, Stoken said volunteers would be entered into drawings to win an iPad, Apple TV, Kindle Fire and other prizes.

Those interested in becoming extras should send a recent picture and contact information to UmbrellaManExtras@gmail.com.

Grasso said writing the screenplay gave him an opportunity to explore the Kennedy assassination, and he hopes the movie will be ready for the 50th anniversary of the president’s death next year.

“I’ve always been really interested in Kennedy’s assassination, while also intrigued with the men and women who spent lifetimes investigating conspiracy theories,” Grasso said. “We realized it would make a very interesting feature film to tell the bigger story of the assassination while using it as vehicle to tell the timeless story of two grieving parents who have been through the loss of a child. It 
explores their journey, both together and separately, through the trauma.” 

For more information see Observer Reporter.

Extra Opportunity

If you missed fighting with batman or dancing the night away with Emma Watson, then here is your next chance to be an extra in a movie.

Although it's not identified, what is being called "Foxcatcher" or the Untitled Fair Hill Project will hold an open casting call from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the DoubleTree hotel in Green Tree at 500 Mansfield Ave.

The movie is the real-life story of a chemical fortune heir who went to prison for killing an Olympic gold medalist and wrestler.

Directed by Oscar nominee Bennett Miller, who made "Capote" and "Moneyball," the movie is about John du Pont, great-great-grandson of E.I. du Pont, the industrialist who founded the chemical company.

The movie is expected to star Steve Carell as Mr. du Pont, Mark Ruffalo as the slain wrestler and Sienna Miller as his wife along with Channing Tatum as David's brother and a champion wrestler in his own right.

In January 1996, he shot and killed David Schultz, a 1984 gold medal winner who came to live and train at the state-of-the-art Foxcatcher National Training Center that Mr. du Pont had built on his 800-acre property in Newtown Square, Pa.

The production, which will shoot in the Pittsburgh area in November and December, is looking for people to play police officers, wrestling mainstays such as coaches, trainers, refs and wrestlers, business men and women, politicos, photographers, owners of 1975-1998 cars, and wrestling match spectators.

Bring a recent photo and a pen to the call on Saturday. You must be 18 or older to qualify.

For more information see the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Ten Ways to Declutter Your Technological Life

Technology can clutter up your life and make organization complicated.  Here are ten tips to organize your technological life before it over takes your home or office.



1. Add Velcro To It!: It's such a simple idea, but just adding some velcro can be a most satisfying (and affordable) organization upgrade for nearly any corded appliance or device with a long cord.


2. It's Time to Take Shortcuts: Whether you're a Windows user or prefer OS X, keyboard shortcut proficiency is what separates the everyday user from the professional. Using shortcuts also save a lot of time in the long run, so get acquainted with Mac-only Command/⌘ key or the Control key for Windows. There's even a CheatSheet if you need one, so consider this a "must" upgrade to your mind's operating system.

3. So Simple, Yet So Darn Useful!: Sarah Rae was right, adding a second AC adaptor into the mix and adding an extension cord under the sofa can be time savers in the long run. I'm always going back and forth between docking my laptop to a monitor and traveling (or working from bed), so having an extra AC adaptor allows me to keep my docked setup intact, while a second unit is ready for mobile use, proving to both be convenient and preventing misplacing one of the most important accessories in the household.


4. Improve Your Home Theater System Sound In 5 Steps: There's a good chance you might be watching a movie, sporting event, or TV show today, so why not enjoy it with the best sound possible? It just takes 5 steps to calibrate your home theater setup for optimal sound and create your own "money seat". The problem could be solved with a simple tweak to your sound levels.


5. The Coolest Tech Accessory Might Be Inside Your Oven: It may officially be the end of summer, but heck, that sure doesn't mean it's really any cooler. Hot weather is the enemy of most every home electronic device, whether it be your laptop, the internet router, or a video console. Here's an affordable solution for keeping your hottest tech devices at safe operational temperatures with an item amusingly may be sitting inside your oven.


6. Learn How to Trim Coax Cable: How many of us call the cable guy to trim and connect cables? Too many. In reality, trimming your cable/internet coax cable is easier than lacing new shoes with just a few affordable tools. "Why should I learn how to do this?", you ask? Rearranging a home office or the perhaps changing the placement of your home theater often means rerouting coax cable for cable TV or internet access. You may need to shorten or lengthen the cable coming into your home and to their respective devices. Now you won't have to rely upon the reliably always-late cable guy!


7. Take 5 Minutes To Improve Your HDTV 100%: I'm not exaggerating when I promise that all it takes is 5 minutes and your HDTV's remote control to noticeably improve your set's picture like a pro. The secret isn't a calibration service or even a calibration disc...it's a website which lists pre-formulated/tested recommended settings according to the brand you watch. Worked for my HDTV set and also the one I purchased for my dear ole mom.


8. Upgrade Your Home Storage System to the 21st Century: I remember years ago Martha Stewart recommended sticking a photo printout of the contents of storage boxes on the outside. It's a great idea, but one that can be upgraded for the smartphone era. Snap a photo, upload the image to an image hosting site/Facebook/Dropbox, connect a QR code to the image's URL, and finally print out the QR code to affix to the appropriate boxes. This way you can point your smartphone's QR reader at any box and get the 411 of its contents, including multiple photos of the layers inside each box.


9. Maximize the Efficiency of Your Biggest Home Appliance: There are three simple tips for maximizing energy efficiency when it comes to the largest home appliance in the home, the refrigerator: 1. make sure there's at least 2" distance between the fridge and the wall, 2. regularly clean the coils in the back, and 3. if you're living the model lifestyle with only a bottle of Perrier and to-go leftovers inside your fridge, add a couple of gallon milk jugs filled with water, as recommended by one of our readers.

10. Declutter Your Tech Box Collection: You've got one...don't deny it. It's probably lurking in a storage closet. Or maybe it's hiding in your garage...a collection of empty boxes you've had for years all kept under the premise of "maybe I'll need it later". It's more likely than not you do not need the box for that 19" RCA CRT television or the 1999 microwave oven that last nuked a Hungry Man dinner back in college. Tech devices and home appliances are the biggest culprits of storage box bulge, so it's time for an audit to determine what to chuck out/recycle/donate and what to keep for the sake of resale value.



For more information see Apartment Therapy.