Monday 31 August 2015

Bobby Axelrod….


I‘m sure many fans around the world were thrilled when the news came out Damian Lewis
would return to Showtime for a drama pilot called Billions so was I and all the fans I talked to as
well as my girls from blog and site.

 Once the pilot was finished everyone was waiting for good or bad news, of course no really wanted to hear bad news but there was a chance it’s a tough business isn’t it?!
I was in worry…well actually I was exactly the same wreck when the Homeland pilot was in the waiting lineJ

Sometimes Selene and I joke about the fact that I always reclaim myself as Miss Worry.
But this time I kept my fingers crossed the whole time because I was convinced the moment I read the plot and ask Emma and Selene I am not easy to convinceJ

But no other network approached the theme of high finance yet and that was the same with Homeland it was something new a bit risky and Damian Lewis has given PTSD a face and showed
us the effect that war has to our young men we send out to fight there for our countries.
And now again a plot of temporary premise surely not for everyone but so very new and interesting.
Bobby Axelrod will brings us the world of high finance into our living rooms which means we invite
Him again to be our guest and to be part of our daily life with a new series.
A series people will talk about….again…;

Bobby Axelrod a hedge fund titan a king in the world of money will be another step in Damian Lewis’s
career and a figure we haven’t seen before and frankly I really expect and hope for a bad guy because I doubt you can reach a Billionaires status without some dirty tricks in the pocket but I’m
also sure there will be something under the surface to discover….
Actually I cant wait!! 

source:damian-lewis.com




Friday 28 August 2015

Pic of the day

source:damian-lewis.com

Read and listen..part two

Damian Lewis the audio book reader part two
He has the rare ability to create a world for the listener and it would be too easy to say that exactly
should be his job as an actor, no not at all not every actor who reads  a book is gifted to create a story. As an actor you have normally much more to show than a voice.
It’s all about the package isn’t it?!

A brilliant actor like Damian Lewis has a wide range of feelings and emotions to present and often he transport so much by doing so little like raising an eyebrow or just looking at someone and the audience knows within seconds what’s going on in this man he plays. 

Reading is the same the only difference and we talk about a big difference here is the fact that you need to transport the same feelings and emotions but only with your voice.

Yes Damian has a great voice and yes as a woman I find his voice quite sexy and interesting.
Its kind of husky and briskly and special so I think he is perfect to read an audio book but again a
Fantastic voice is just half the fun but Damian has the ability to transform words into creativity.
He has such a wide range of different tones and accents to bring every single character in the book to live and with a dash of humor and a bit of his own inspiration, he creates a world for the listener
and with this it’s so much more than just reading a book….


I will tell you about my favourite audio books with him….soon here on DFI





 

      

Monday 24 August 2015

get yourself a good time and listen...to Damian Lewis

Damian Lewis the audio book reader part one
One reason I am a Lewis fan is probably his versatility and the fact he try on everything.
He plays character so far from himself that I sometimes think Brody Soames or Teach didn’t
Even look like Damian Lewis and did you ever notice that Charlie Crews walks differently from
Brody and Keane walks in great pressure and anxiety??

That’s acting…he gives every character a life a face and yes a way to walk that fascinates me.
Bur besides acting and being a brilliant host on HIGNFY where he shows the most British skill and that’s humor and spice the show with wit and cleverness I’m still convinced that one day he will be a director or an acting teacher. I really see him in both “roles” and I can rely on my feelings…J
But actually I was about to write about something different….
Damian Lewis the audio book reader!!

 I love audio books from the start of it I was in love with audio books and its readers because
Its not easy to transform a book into a story for the ears.
I am a big fan of audio books since they became popular for over two decades, some people
Say it’s the lazy way of book reading but I disagree it’s another way to read a way that needs
your fantasy and thinking even more because send your thoughts on a travel together with the author and the reader.

You close your eyes and wherever you are the bond between author reader and listener is there and
you explore the book on a different level.
But with so many books and readers the person who buy and listen to audio books is spoiled and I am no exception. I choose the audio books carefully and look who’s reading because its not easy to grab attention.

We have wonderful readers here in Germany and I spend way too much money for audio books, when other women go and buy shoes I join them only that I stop a shop earlier at the mall to
spend hours in a book shop but have to confess that I take amazon as an option its nothing we should do regularly because it makes it harder for my little book shop but with a smartphone
in your hands the world became smaller doesn’t it.

Anyway audio books might be not an option for everyone but if you haven’t try it yet start with one of the best readers I can recommend…Damian Lewis
As I said above audio books and its reading is in my opinion not an easy thing to do because you have to transport words feelings and emotions as well as the skill to bring different characters to live without being seen.
I think during the last twenty years I have heard hundreds of audio books for private reasons as well as in the library but Damian Lewis is for sure among my top five readers and he is quite on top of the ranking.



Friday 21 August 2015

Quiz answer..

And did you get it?
Yes of course it's Colditz with Damian Lewis as Nick McGrade
for more check out @emsjbabb



Thursday 20 August 2015

Pic of the day


Being a foreigner...part two

I love the English language and Damian Lewis helped me so much with listening to him reading his interviews especially interviews are an amazing help since Damian speaks and express a brilliant english, it couldn’t be more perfect but I remember one occasion when I was gifted to meet him and I had a few minutes time to put myself together which isn’t easy because you hardly meet a person with a charisma that blows you away .

but I’m not that kind of OMG fan I usually have myself under control lol but I remember the little conversation in my head almost stopping myself because I was so afraid to make a fool of myself by using the wrong grammar or what if I would mix up words or using the wrong words, gee better I leave the area as quick as possible….but!!


Damian promised me a few minutes before he would come back to me after a little picture taking break and he remembered the second I decided to leave and came actually back!!

Let me say and I know I have said that before Damian Lewis takes time for fans I know hundreds
of stories like mine and he always takes time and he gives you feeling he is ok with it.

So he came back to me and started talking on such a lovely way that he took away my anxiety and
embarrassment the next moment although he recognized me as a foreigner or maybe not
but he asked where I am from and he talked to me so natural and normal that I am still
happy thinking of it!!
We joked we talked so my result and advice to everyone who learn or want to learn a language is:
Go for it!!


Try to speak wherever you can and don’t think too much about it just go out and talk!!
If you standing in line at the grocery store smile at the next person and talk about the weather
or sitting in the theatre use the interval and talk to the person next to you about the play…or the actor
what I mean is try to remember how little kids handle new things with excitement and the wish to
have fun so learning a language enjoy your steps to get better and don’t avoid speaking even you don’t know the correct word then describe it people will understand and respect you!!

I had one of the best teachers ever….the encounter with Damian made me a lot more confident.

Go out and talk!! You won’t regret it!!

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Quiz time again...

Who is this and what project the blog talks about on twitter? see for yourself and guess...but maybe you know it already
  @emsjbabb tells you Friday:-)


Tuesday 18 August 2015

Pic of the day


Being a foreigner...

Being a foreigner and learning from Damian....

I recently asked myself or it was more that I was talking to myself if I made any kind
of improvement in the matter of speaking English?

Well Emma would immediately say YES and I would disagree immediately
I’m sure I did but it’s hard to admit this since there is so much I need to improve and you never stop
learning things…..


learning a language can be fun unless you are an adult…then its hard work!
See, when you are a kid and you learn a language most children start to learn the natural tongue language everyone is pleased and happy listen to those sweet little creatures and if they do a mistake
Everyone laugh…with them not at them!


When you are an adult trying to learn a language it’s a bit different no laughs and you probably
get a weird look when you try to be confident and relaxed while you telling people the big fat lie that
you perfectly aware of every word you saying….

I still find it hard to express myself in English although I love doing it!


Friday 14 August 2015

The fifth answer:-) and a special Tea and a Mag

Its one of the fantastic stories from Shakespere Re Told - It is of course the wonderful and funny Much a Do about Nothing from 2005, where Damian plays the arrogant and sometimes not very nice Benadict, alongside the beautiful Sarah Parish.

Tensions mount in the TV studio when a take-charge anchor (Sarah Parish) is reunited with a man she has a "history” with (Damian Lewis)


Below is a fabulous interview with Damian Lewis about the short film


Damian regards Much Ado About Nothing as the most modern of the Bard's comedies.

"There's no conjuring of ghosts or spirits, no one goes into a metaphorical wood to be transformed," he explains.

"It's about two people living on their wits who have blocked off the idea of love in their lives, without knowing that the perfect person for them is each other – there's a rich comic vein in it."
The 34-year-old star of, among others, Band Of Brothers, Colditz, The Forsyte Saga, Hearts And Bones (in which he also worked with Sarah Parish) and the recent Chromophobia, adds: "In Benedick, I enjoy his childishness and his immaturity; the unreconstructed nature of him and then his transformation just through love – through the strength of his feelings for this woman, once he understands what's going on in his heart and mind.

"The conceit in Benedick is terrific because his vanity never leaves him fully," smiles the softly-spoken Old Etonian.

"Once he is led to believe that [Beatrice] loves him, only at that point is it possible for him to love, so he needs a little prodding.

think there are wonderful parallels with modern living – the way people have become. In the pursuit of careers, men and women, nowadays particularly, have often blocked themselves off to committed relationships in pursuit of their careers or in pursuit of some spurious notion of independence and, in doing so, can harden themselves unwittingly; harden themselves more than they think they are to the idea of love and a relationship with someone else.

"Often it's very typical that it happens in the mid-thirties, and I'm coming into my mid-thirties and so it felt relevant."

He was enchanted by what he describes as writer David Nicholls' "lovely wit and sense of comedy timing" and his appetite for research took him to the BBC's regional newsroom in London.

"What struck me was that nothing seems to happen until three or four minutes before you actually go on air," he muses.

"Then suddenly everyone is there – the presenters, the make-up artists – and it's a flurry of activity. It all comes together very quickly at the last minute."

Even though this version of Much Ado sets Shakespeare in the modern day, Damian believes there still remains a fairytale element. 

"It's just the transforming power of love, so that what we see in Benedick and Beatrice are these two hard-bitten, rather cynical, self-involved, thirty-something news presenters, whose lives haven't quite gone the way they both anticipated," he declares. 

"With a simple dramatic conceit, which is simply a bunch of friends duping our two heroes - fooling them into believing that the other person absolutely loves them – they just accept that. 

"If you allow the fairytale elements of the story to work at that point, it's absolutely delightful to see their faces soften and open, and allow the possibility of this other person loving them into their world." 

He continues: "Where a huge amount of the comedy comes from is that Benedick, at that point, resolves to love Beatrice without any reservations because she loves him. 

Once under Beatrice's spell, "he behaves in a charmingly childish way, in a totally endearing way, because he becomes like a giddy teenager in love... I think there's nothing more lovely than seeing friends of yours just become gooey with love and I think that's what happens to Benedick. 

"He scampers around after her trying to do the right thing; he changes his hair, he gets better clothes - all that sort of stuff, because he wants to please her." 

"I love working with Sarah Parish; I think she's a fantastic actress," he declares. "We had a great cast around us and there was a lot of laughter. 

"There's a particular scene where I try to get in shape once I think that Beatrice loves me and Benedick gets a rubber ball into his dressing room and tries to do sit-ups on it. 

"We found it very difficult to get through that scene without laughing, and Sarah kept opening the door to see me sweating there on the rubber ball!" 


Pic of the day

source:damian-lewis.com

let`s have a moment with Charlie Crews

Charlie Crews

 Charlie would be probably the only fictional character Damian did I would go out
on a date because I loved Charlie the moment he hit the screen.



For me Charlie Crews is one of the best character ever Damian brought to Life,
Life had a fantastic plot a brilliantly pointed script and a title character that was
New and unusual.

Charlie is intelligent, funny and attractive, he is rich, charming and a Ladies man…
But he is also a broken hero.

Charlie was in prison long and innocent and since you expect a real broken hero with such a plot
You get a great “dramedy” series…I remember once seeing an interview with Damian about Life
And he said: “ I hate that word but that’s what it is”

Yes it is, its great dramedy because besides all the funny and intelligent dialogs
There is the silent and thoughtful Charlie who tries to find the real murder of his
friends family and  he works hard to earn the trust of his partner Dani Reese.

Life has no favourite episode to me because every single episode shines and is a joy to watch.
Charlie brought us closer to Zen and a different way to deal with tough times

I loved his chats with Ted because I was a real fan of Ted and the talks they had in the empty kitchenJ

Charlie is a broken hero with a desire of fruits sexy women and has a great zest for life after
he was innocent in prison ,  lives in an empty house and is probably not so strong as he seems..
of course he is not but we only find that out slowly and step by step because that is the
specialty of Damian Lewis a look under the surface and he did it marvellous in Life.

Charlie Crews is one of those guys you open your heart for immediately and because of him we
Finally know that the “ universe is insecure” thank you Charlie





Wednesday 12 August 2015

Number five...

Name the film name the Character



so sure that Damian fans know it already:-)
as ever come back on Friday and see the answer and enjoy a little bonus...

Monday 10 August 2015

Pic of the day


Emma and Sabrina....means friendship


Sonnet: I thank you

I thank you, kind and best beloved friend.
With the same thanks one murmurs to as sister,
When, for some gentle favour, he hath kissed her.


Less for the gifts than for the love you send,
Less for the flowers, than what the flowers convey;
 If I, indeed, divine their meaning truly,
And not onto myself ascribe, unduly.


Things which you neither meant nor wished to say,
Oh! Tell me, is the hope then all misplaced?
And I am flattered by my own affection?
But in your beauteous gift, methought I traced
Something above a short-lived predilection,
And which, for that I know no dearer name,
I designate as love, without love`s flame.


Henry Timrod

Allie Esiri The Love Book 



Friday 7 August 2015

The answer:-)

Of course its Our fabulous Soames Forsyte - Damian once said in an interview that we had the pleasure of being at, that any woman who goes up to him and says “I loved you as Soames” is a dark horse! well call me a dark horse because I absoloutly adore this character


The Forsyte Saga Chronicles the lives of three generations of the upper-middle-class British family, the Forsytes, from the 1870s to 1920. The makers of the 2002 version felt that any new production would be compared with the 1967 version, which set the standards for period drama for the next 25 years. The idea came initially from David Liddiment, ITV's director of channels, who seized on the Forsyte novels not only as a great achievement in English literature, but also for their iconic status in British television. Granada were thinking big from the outset of the project - this was clearly something that couldn't be dashed off as a two-parter. The initial plan was for two series, the first an adaptation of The Forsyte Saga and the second continuing with A Modern Comedy.


Thursday 6 August 2015

Pic of the day


Emma says about....




When I was 8 years old I changed primary schools, it wasn’t easy as I had already made friends in a school I was comfortable in and loved.  But in September 1981I started St Hilda’s Girls school.  Like most kids on a first day at school, we work out the nice girls from the not so nice girls, and even at a young age I knew who i did and didn’t want to spend my break times and lunches with.  I think it must have been the end of my first week in Mrs Hefernans class, when a little girl I had been chatting to on and off all week, who had told me her name was Andee, wondered if I would ask my Mum if I was allowed to have her come back to my house for tea one afternoon.  I remember so clearly going home that day and saying to my Mum “Theres a little girl called Andee in my class, she wants to be my friend and come for tea, and she has long red hair”, 33 years later and Andee is still my best friend and still has wonderful red hair.  However, why is it people with red hair have a label?  I mean, did she run home that afternoon and say to her Mum “I met a nice girl called Emma, she is having me over for tea, and she has lots of brown hair” No, of course she didn’t, because red hair gives you a label, and sadly red heads have had far too much bad press......
 

I don’t understand why someone who has red hair and freckles has to be branded this way, I find it so upsetting and offensive, especially when someone like Andee is one of the nicest, kindest people I know, being her friend is one of the best things in my life, she is funny and caring.  I have been through some horrible times and some happy times, but she is always there for me and there is no other friend I have who I could share things with like her.  When we go out on a “girly night” we usually do end up wetting ourselves from laughing, its the sort of laughter no one else gets, and if you try and explain it to anyone, they just look at us blankly.   What also makes our friendship very special is  our kids love eachother too - we have even said that one day when we are old and grey we will retire to Miami together and share a condo in the sun, she will have that lovely pale skin and sit in the shade and I will be more like an old leather handbag.  The one thing that I love most about Andee is, she has always kept her beautiful hair colour she has never died it, not even tried a few highlights its just her lovely colour, which amazingly throughout the year changes naturally, in summer it takes on a lighter more strawberry blonde shade and in the winter a more auburn shade.
 

Being friends with a red head has never gotten in the way of our friendship and I actually think its ginger/red head boys who get bad press more than girls, girls get away with being “cute or pretty” where as boys with ginger hair and freckles are told by society that they are drippy nerds.... I really don’t think you could ever look at Damian Lewis and call him a nerd or a drip. Nicholas Brody “Terrorist or Nerd” just doesn’t sound right.
 
Andee, like myself is a Mum, but not to two but three children.  Toby, Zach and the ever so beautiful Ruby!  I remember when she was pregnant with Toby who is now 10, she told me how much she was scared about having a boy with red hair who will get picked on at school and be a nerd!  But on August 16th 2004, Toby came into the world and is blonde! Then in 2007 Zach came joined them - and in her words “I remember them passing me this little bundle and all i could focus on was this tuft of Ginger hair”  BUT Zach, who is now 7 is one of the coolest, toughest Red heads I have ever met, in fact even I am a bit scared of him, he is seriously one ginger I would not mess with..... Finally came Ruby in 2011, possibly one of the cutest, loveliest children I have ever met.  Andee always wanted a girl and after having two boys, gave it one last go, it could have been another boy and even another red head boy.  




So I sat down with Andee for a coffee and I asked her! What is it like to be a red head? and also a red head mother of red head kids!
 
Andee: Being a red head has never really affected me, I agree that boys get more stick than girls and I was always glad that Toby was blonde and NOT the ginger out of my two boys, Toby is a very sensitive boy and the thought of him being picked on would just really be hard for him, whereas Zach has embraced his red hair and does not stand for anything.  Having red head kids is a great conversation starter, from when they were babies just standing in a supermarket line - someone would just look a this carrot top family and have to say something (always nice comments) and its been that way since they were babies. 





Wednesday 5 August 2015

Quiz time..a classic one:-)

Name the show and name the Character



easy....perhaps but always worth to think about:-)

answer as usual on Friday....

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Tea and a Mag

This American Platoon Is Being Led by a Brit


LA Times August 20,2000

HATFIELD, England — "I've really screwed up my hearing," grimaces Damien Lewis. "I should have had earplugs in."
The mud-spattered Lewis, in a World War II paratrooper uniform, has spent the morning shooting blanks (24 for each take) from an M-1 rifle at a crowd of extras dressed as German soldiers.
It is a deafening business, and everyone else on set either wears earplugs or covers their ears whenever director Tom Hanks yells "action!"
The temporary ringing in his ears, though, isn't enough to spoil Lewis' morning--and certainly not his year. In "Band of Brothers," he has secured the leading role, that of the great American war hero Richard Winters, a platoon leader. It's quite a coup for a virtually unknown English actor.

"It only became clear to me when all the cast were at boot camp before shooting," says Lewis, 28. "I thought, my God, I'm playing one of America's own, still-living heroes. And they've given it to an English guy. I started to realize the enormity of the task."
Lewis, wiry and red-haired, talks intensely and articulately about being chosen for the role: "I did three auditions, four screen tests. You make a list, and of young actors in London, there were about 30 of us. And they saw about 130 in America. After my fourth screen test in London, I had to wait, then I was asked to fly to Los Angeles to meet Steven [Spielberg] and Tom [Hanks]. That was my big Hollywood moment."
Until then, Lewis' main claim to fame was as part of the ensemble cast of two British TV series: "Warriors," in which he was also a soldier, and "Hearts and Bones," a drama about a group of twentysomethings.
A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he had also played in an acclaimed production on Broadway, as Laertes opposite Ralph Fiennes' Hamlet; when Lewis met Spielberg, it transpired that Spielberg had seen the production twice but failed to connect Lewis as the actor playing Laertes. He got the job, and stresses that Hanks and Spielberg were unconcerned about his low profile and his Englishness.
"Hollywood loves change, the new sensation, the next big thing," Lewis notes. "But certainly, the buzz going on around this project makes me realize what a big deal it is."
In the early days of shooting, Winters himself, now 82 and a retired major, came to London, but fell sick and did not visit the set. Lewis went to see him in his hotel room.
"It was fascinating," he recalls. "Dick Winters is an exacting man who demands the best from people. You win his respect. There's still a charisma about him."
Lewis has read extensively about Winters: "His ability to think quickly and presence of mind made him a hero. He had a force of will and personality. His great cry was: 'Follow me!' And people would."
Hanks concedes that Winters was the hardest character in "Band of Brothers" to match with an actor: "The trick was casting this very enigmatic man, of whom there's a substantial amount of mystery involved. You never know where you stand with Winters. But when we heard Damien read, we'd found our guy. Maybe it's his delivery, a kind of 'less is more' thing.' "
For his part, Lewis makes no attempt to conceal his pleasure at landing the role. "It's been incredibly rigorous for me, but it's thrilling too," he says. "And playing Winters--that's an honor."