Just Seen October 2011

Here are some more tasteful (hopefully) star sightings:

Matthew Gray Gubler, who plays BAU's resident cute and nerdy genius, Spencer Reid, on the hit CBS TV show Criminal Minds (along with my TV favs Thomas Gibson, Joe Mangtena, and Shemar Moore) seen crossing the street sipping soda from a straw and cup on the corner of Vermont and Prospect near the Mexican take out place in Los Feliz Village.

Gubler is also one of my TV favs so I tapped him on the arm as we crossed the street and told him, "I love you". He looked at me apologetically but genuinely confused like he wanted to love me back too but couldn't remember ever meeting me and he was quickly running a whole lot of scenarios through his mind as to why a strange woman he just passed walking on the street loved him.

Finally, he realized I meant I loved his work on the show. He then smiled back politely and a bit sheepishly and said "Oh, yeah. Thanks." like he forgot that he's on TV nation wide once a week (twice if you count ION). His attitude was so refreshing and very un-Hollywood as he was totally unaffected by fame and very down to earth. I tell you, I love this guy-lol!

I did feel a little bad about confusing Gubler though so I smiled an apology and I resisted the urge to hand him my script (seriously, I have written a role for him in my feature- only in LA. :) I waved Gubler on his way and he nodded back, raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement and waved good-bye to me with his cup then we both headed off in our respective directions.

I looked back minutes later and saw that he'd crossed the second cross walk and then had strolled over to the area near the Rite Aid store. I guess he was in need of some mundane items like a new tooth brush, after shave or Motrin. I would have guessed he was heading to Rite Aid to get chips to soothe his cravings for munchies, too but that's very unlikely as Gubler is a very slim, lean and lanky guy and, at about 6 feet tall, weighs only about 155 pounds tops. So I doubt he does late night snacking-lol.

This is the second sighting I've had of Mr. Gubler, the first being after the Fantastic Mr. Fox premiere in 2009 when he was right next to me.

Film Bio:
Gubler also played one of the best friends of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character in 500 Days of Summer and he is the voice of Simon (my fav) in the animated movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks. As well as acting, Gubler was a model and he studied film at NYU's Tisch School. He's also a director of TV and film and he does art sketches, too. Gubler is apparently a big fan of Twitter and Tumblir and he maintains many online accounts that I enjoyed visiting.


Faith Encounters:
On the serious side, I have indeed written a role for Gubler in my first feature film script. I usually carry my script (read, "my baby") around with me but I had left it at home in favor of a book of Bible readings as I was heading to church. I had a beautiful day at church then I stopped to pick up some groceries and stuff at that same Rite Aid then I crossed the first intersection.

I was in pain as I walked and my head was bowed, looking up just enough to keep an eye on the crazy LA drivers. I was also truly agonizing over the likeliness of my script ever getting to the big screen and I wondered whether or not my time in Hollywood was just a wasted dream and a big financial drain on my meager budget.

In desperation, I started to pray as I finished crossing the first street and stood on the landing before I started crossing that second street and God just calmed my spirit enough for me to exhale, then for me to smile. The crossing sign flashed walk and I looked up and stepped out and crossed and then Gubler appeared. If I had had my head down with worry I would have totally missed him and the instant encouragement that the encounter with him gave me. Amazing God!

Psalm 3:3
But you, O LORD, are a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

Gospel Greats BeBe & CeCe Winans Get Their Star!

Gospel greats, BeBe and CeCe Winans get their star on Hollywood Blvd

Benjamon and Priscilla Winans the award-winning brother-sister gospel singing duo known as BeBe and CeCe Winans received their star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood on Thur 10/20 at 11:30 a.m. and I was blessed enough to be there!

This duo has been in the industry for over 20 years and have won many Grammy, Dove and Stellar awards. Their star was the 2,452nd to be placed on the Walk of Fame and Bebe and CeCe join Mahalia Jackson and Andre Crouch as the only other gospel artists honored in this way. The ceremony was held at 6125 Hollywood Blvd in front of the Music Box at the corner of El Centro and it was a full red carpet event. As an added touch, Bebe and Cece's names were on the Music Box's marquee sign above.

I arrived late so I missed the actual ceremony which I was told involved the pair signing a couple of praise songs from their various albums and then comments from them and their industry friends. I was told that Bebe and Cece gave God full credit for their longevity and success in the business and thanked God for the respective gifting in each other and the entire Winan family. Speaking of family, Bebe and CeCe's mother was there front and center as well as their respective kids and some of their Winan siblings including their brother Pastor Marvin Winans and I think I saw Vicki Winans.

I got to meet, hug and take pictures with both Bebe and CeCe after the ceremony and they signed my “Heaven” CD that I'd been traveling with for over 20 years. The songs on that CD helped me through a lot of tough times in the past and it still does today so I was glad I got to tell BeBe and CeCe that and to love on them a bit. Other fans had their self-titled first album which they gladly signed also. That album was released in 1987 around the time that Bebe and CeCe where singing with the Praise The Lord/PTL singers but it is now a near impossible album to find.

Bebe and Cece were very generous with the fans even though they had to be exhausted from all the photographers pics and interviews. CeCe was a true fashionista but very down-to-earth. In fact, she even jokingly mentioned that she'll have to go so because her "feet hurt". I told her that I could could sympathise as she was wearing a pair of beautiful but punishing 6 inch black stiletto leather and suede boots to match her leather skirt and jacket suit, She wore the leather suit with a belted ruffle blouse that was very cute. BeBe was dressed sharp too, wearing a dapper dark jacket top, open necked shirt and jeans.

I got to see many of the other celebrities who were in attendance, too including Tina from the gospel singing sister duo Mary, Mary, Yvette Nicole Brown form NBC's Community and jazz musician David Koz. Last but not least, I met Mr. Quincy “Q” Jones! Jones wore the coolest purple overcoat and he smiled, waved and shook my hand, too. Wow, God is amazing!

Update:

Bebe and CeCe did a series of free concert performances at the in West Covina last week at Faith Community Church. Faith Community Church has a membership of about 10,000 people and it is pastored by Dr. Jim Reeves, who was also a guest of the Winans at the star ceremony.

Update:
Found out today that one of the guests I saw at the star ceremony (an understated gray and bearded guy in plaid and a cap) was Jim Bakker, the once scandal plagued pastor formerly of PTL. He actually looked quite happy and at peace spiritually (Thank God!) but he was totally unrecognizable.


Sources:
www.walkoffame.com www.dagospeltruth.com www.gospelpundit.com


links:

Angelus Film Festival & Awards

More Favor!
Last Saturday, I got FREE tickets to go to the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Bld at 7920 Sunset Blvd to see the Angelus Student Film Festival and Awards. I'd never been to the DGA before but I was praying that God would be present and evident at this event. Turns out that the Angelus is an organization formed by Holy Cross Catholic church and the Family Theater Productions so most of the films had a love, faith, family or humanity angle and God, love or faith was mentioned often and to much applause by the crowd.

The Event:
Student films from around the world were judged and the honorable mentions shown earlier in the afternoon in the lush DGA theater. Then the winning films were shown at the evening screening ceremony hosted by the Film Freak aka Leo Quinones and Fr. Willy Raymond. The films were all introduced by past Angelus winners and the awards were presented to the winners at that time.

The students took the stage after their respective films screened and were lead onstage by a hostess in a red satin dress plus there was musical accompaniment by a stellar 3 piece band playing music from the respective student films just as the Oscars do (goose bumps). Then each student accepted their awards, made short acceptance speeches, had their pictures taken then were played off to a reception backstage.

Here are the winners:

Angelus Director’s Choice Award3:25 SHOOT THE MOON (Alexander Gaeta, Chapman University) 24 mins
Angelus Outstanding Animation Award
THE LIGHTHOUSE (Po Chou Chi, University of California, Los Angeles) 8 mins
Angelus Director’s Choice Award
TEAMWORK (Seo Yun Hong, New York University) 12 mins
The Priddy Brothers Outstanding Documentary Award
LOVE HACKING (Jenni Nelson, Stanford University) 22 mins
The Fujifilm Audience Impact Award
THE LOVE SONG OF ISKRA PRUFROCK (Lucy Gaffy, Australian Film Television and Radio School) 16 mins
The Mole-Richardson Production Excellence Award
BE STILL (Karrie Crouse and Will Joines, Columbia University) 17 mins
The Peter Glenville Foundation “Triumph” Award
THIEF (Julian Higgins, American Film Institute) 25 mins
Grand Prize Winner - Excellence in Filmmaking Award
RAJU (Max Zahle, Hamburg Media School, Germany) 24 mins

My IMHO Reviews:
First off, I must say I loved the awesome body art segments that introduced each of the categories. The specifics of each award was tattooed on various body parts of different people and then presented to the camera as a close-up shot. I'm not a fan of tattoos and this may have been simulated tattoos or temporary tats but I think it was a novel idea.

Concerning the films, I was late so I missed the two Director's Choice and the animated category but I enjoyed viewing all the others. My favs were Love Hacking, a short documentary about inter-racial, inter-faith love among a computer geek and a Nepalese woman, The Thief, the story about Iraq with the Saddam Hussein look-a-like, and the heart wrenching, Raju, about child abduction in India. Be Still was touchingly sad also as was the 2 live singers on stage singing the lyrics "Mother Ado, I'm so sorry for you" from a country gospel song about heaven that was featured in the film. Look to see one of these films to nab an Oscar nom in a few months.

Summary:
Angelus screens some of the best humanity inspired live, animated and documentary short films world wide, many of which are sure to get Oscar nominations in 2012.

Speaking of Oscar, Luke Matheny, the tall, exuberant, pencil-thin, curly headed writer, director, actor and 2010 Oscar award-winner was at this event. In fact, Matheny was one of last years Angelus student winners also and he went on to win an Oscar for his short film "god of Love". He came back to introduce one of this year's student winners and he mentioned that he didn't have much experience with God but that the Angelus film committee had shown him about God by supporting him and being like family during last years Oscars.

After the screening, I got to speak to Luke about how good God is and I encouraged him to believe God! I also spoke to him about his film, his peculiar journey to film making and his amazing Oscar speech. And, as a bonus, I got to run my hand through his vibrant curly 'do. :D

Wow!
I am continually amazed at how much access God is giving me here in Hollywood, all to His glory! More adventures to come so stay tuned!