AMERICAN JUKEBOX FAMILIES: ROBIN THICKE’S AMERICAN FAMILY ART OF CRAZY, SEXY, COOL
On a birthday in the USA, my neighbors pooled together to get me a Robin Thicke concert ticket. They said, “he’s second generation Hollywood. He’s sexy. Robin really represents the best of L.A and the U.S. He doesn’t see color. You’d swear he is a black man.”
Always feeling like acclimation into the US was never done, I gratefully said, “Okay,” took the ticket and decided to check Robin in concert. I also got a strong recommend to go to Korean BBQ (LA does good ones) before the concert, however I flagged that idea.
At the concert, there were many white celebrity actor stars. This was in the days before Robin was a big star like he is now. He was medium and rising then. At the time Robin was the warm up act to Dream Girls Oscar winning artist, Jennifer Hudson, Robin wasn’t seen as billable to carrry a concert on his own. Jennifer’s family hadn’t had the brutal family murder saga at that point. When she sung, the roof was raised. You felt goose bump tingles at the back of your spine. He was cupid-curio combined, yet real and a local boy of the hood.
[Celeb News -Parsee Kids Parenting Club of the USA: Robin Thicke & Julian are Grocery Guys, Bristol Farms, West Hollywood]
Surreal. Robin was an anomoly. You’d swear he was black when he performed. He made everyone feel like Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles because if you were blind, you wouldn’t have known what ‘color’ Robin was. So he was Wonder Charles all in one too maybe. He was humble, super sexy, musically gifted, soulful, definitely a sexy symbol, yet his gospel music section let you know where his passion for music first came from. Although the Latino, white and black single thirty-something girls danced in the front of the stage as if the American Messiah of cool had dethroned Tom Jones of Wales standard as a sexy singer doing the art of sex symbol music-cool.
When Robin performed, celebrities canoodled in their seats all around me, fully capturing the romance that Robin brought as an artist who reinforced their Hollywood ideals. They were lost in love. (more…)
CHAMPAGNE BOW AMAZON SKIES AS PEACE POETRY
A request today is for a poem I once wrote in Hollywood. It can be read many different ways. It was an attempt at an e-poetry experiment as a world peace.
I wrote the poem while an ‘Aunty’ of California was not well. She was dying of cancer at the time. The poem reflects in part too, the fusion between reality lived in my Little Russia, West Hollywood hood while crossing town to stay in her hood of Westwood near UCLA, during her illness and the ‘energy’ reflected in her family around her life, at this one moment in time.
She was a very smart, sharp, fun person from a family who reflected all views on any different topic in an intelligent and democratic way. Their spirit as a family, was we are about finding solutions. Democracy in their family was reflected on any issue at the lunch table. Like light shining through the different sides of a diamond. All views were valid and appreciated.
The poem is titled, Feathers of Peace for Queen Noor Types.
Feathers of Peace rising
like dove’s wings of trunk boas
The wind still blows:
upon scarred Earth
In the spirit, ascending past “why’s”
with Peace, ‘exploding into view’
across ‘champagne bow’ Amazon skies.
Lay your weapons of fear down
Lay your soul down
Upon the body of scarred Earth
Doves of Rainbow family hearts,
to go Up
through the crossfire.
. . .
[From Universites in Edinburgh, New Zealand and the USA who teach and read my poems in Uni curriculums in Te Ao - thank you. Most importantly, always write and share your own poetry too.].
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 8.6.12~
AMANDA BYNES EASTER WEEKEND WAS NOT SO GOOD
The story goes: While leaving a West Hollywood club in her Range Rover with a friend, whilst trying to overtake a police car, Amanda Bynes clipped the rear corner of it instead. Amanda was arrested on Robertson and Santa Monica at 3am and was released on bail at 10.30am. Hot mess Hollywood news this Easter Weekend – can be read at The LA Times.
Bynes is America’s no.1 story today. Poor Amanda Bynes.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 7.3.12~
ALEXANDER SKARSGARD & CHARLIZE THERON DATING
The National Enquirer gets all creative when writing that Charlize Theron and Alexander Skarsgard have beers together in West Hollywood. A ‘source’ of the Enquirer says :
“They ordered two beers and went to sit on the patio. I realized it was Charlize and her date was Alexander Skarsgard. It was clear they were a couple, holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes. People said hello, and they were really nice. After about 45 minutes, they left with their arms around each other and drove off in the same car.”
They’re more Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf kind of Hollywood kids.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 10.3.12~
SUNSETS OVER HOLLYWOOD
Sunsets over Hollywood can be swirly, dreamy, heady, classic… yet always pretty dreamlike.
Peace!
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 8.2.12~
MILEY CYRUS RUNS ERRANDS IN WEST HOLLYWOOD + 10 @ 2.06pm KIWITIME, 23.1.12
Fresh from a Hawaii vacation, Miley Cyrus visits West Hollywod, California.–Photo Source – HuffPo.
Meanwhile, here in Auckland City, Kiwiland – I met a French aspiring rock guitarist today; the word “Maori” emblazoned proudly in the form of a right forearm tattoo. Grew up in France, Argentina, New Zealand he reckons.
People in Argentina, called him “Maori” because of his Kiwi connections and the fact that Argentina loves Maori culture so much. France too. So, his gift to New Zealand culture (I did ask the question) is that he has a song he wants to write called Generation Z. Inneresting.
More on aspiring rock dude, in a bit.
Ten People you’re peeping right now at 2.07pm KiwiTime are:
4. Laura Dekker
5. Heidi Klum
6. Rihanna
8. Paul Simon
10. Stephen Donald
Song lyrics I’m listening to right now? are:
… “We could try to count the stars, you already know them each by name.”–Totz groovy!
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 23.1.12~
BRAD PITT, W MAGAZINE COVER 2012
Bradley Pitt is in overdrive this Hollywood Awards season, attending most events and selling Hollywood glamour. He also covers W Magazine. Pic via NYC and MK-LG.
Although Pitt hasn’t won an Oscar yet, he sure can carry Hollywood’s image on his shoulders to market to the world – outside of the awards show, Oscar in the gift bag or not. That alone deserves an award perhaps. That’s tough yacka!
Ten Posts you’re viewing as selections right now are:
1. New Zealand’s Summer of Wedding Romance
2. #MissAmerica2012 is Laura Kaeppeler of Wisconsin
3. Johnny Mac
4. Nina Dobrev
6. Zoe Saldana
7. West Hollywood Cowboy Culture
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 15.1.12~
#AMERICANBEAUTY
#AmericanBeauty – Mina Suvari news is rating well. She’s a beauty.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 15.1.11~
MARKET RESEARCH – NORTH AMERICA, UK AND NEW ZEALAND – BEST HORIWOOD.COM NATIONS 2011
WordPress Blog has released its report defining Horiwood.Com’s Global Audience Shared Mixed-Model:
The report says USA. UK & NZ are the three nations who read this blog the most in 2011. Each territory, is broken down by audience percentage share per nation reading Horiwood.
Here’s our breakdown for 2011.
Most People who read Horiwood.Com are from North America:
87.4% - USA.
9.1% - Canada
1.9% - Mexico
0.2% – Puerto Rico
0.2% – Jamaica
Europe
28.6% – The United Kingdom
11.6% – France
6.2% – Germany
5.5% – Italy
4.2% – Netherlands
Oceania
62.5% – New Zealand
35.8% – Australia
ANNA PAQUIN AND MARTIN HENDERSON TALK BEING HOLLYWOOD-KIWIS
Anna Paquin is Hollywood’s resident reigning face of Oscar winners with Kiwi ties.LA loves this girl!
Recently, Greg Dixon sat down and chatted to Paquin and actor Martin Henderson on their surreal Hollywood-Kiwi lives in a telephone interview. Here’s what they had to share.
Writes Greg – “The accents aren’t giving them away. On the phone from Los Angeles, their prolonged vowels, convoluted Yankee syntax and warm and positive vibes sound like pure Californian sunshine must feel. But if Anna Paquin and Martin Henderson don’t sound very much like us these days”… they still are.
The two New Zealand actors, talked by speaker phone in a conference room on the True Blood lot in West Hollywood. I tease them by suggesting that, when things go wrong, they’re New Zealanders-on-call. “We’re circling the wagons,” Paquin says, then laughs. Technology connects, but the physical distance with “home” remains of course. Both Paquin, 28, and Henderson, 36, have long since, as their accents disclose, made their homes where they have had the best chance of pursuing what actors like to call “the work”.
“If you make some specific product, you go to the town where they make it the most if you want to get a lot of jobs,” Paquin says. “[LA] is the factory town for movies and television. I kind of gradually, then suddenly, ended up in America. I ended up spending so little time at home that eventually it made more sense to have my base out here.”
HOLLYWOOD SYMBOLS IN A STORE FRONT WINDOW – THE LEMON TREE – 4.4.11
At The Lemon Tree, one store has this vibe about their snap shot of Hollywood history in this moment.
We’re content to be James Bond lead (it’s spy time), we gave up Superman to the UK (it’s his turn to steel it), we’re about green peas on our plates, we’re about fat chooks shopping and sharing their wealth… and a few other things.
Intriguing, laden with many symbols all worthy of giving a mood and a vibe in this pop cultural terrain.
As always in the hood every single month, Marilyn Monroe still makes the cut.
Masterful too at playing the ‘damsel in distress’ the US admits to feeling a bit like China’s concubine in this moment of being in debt. An honest expression of Hollywood? Or just this mad crazy town being always dramatic, that’s impossible not to all love. It’s what we do in Hollywood as an art form. Always a colorful store is The Lemon Tree.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, California USA. 4.4.11~
TAPESTRIES OF US – THE HORIWOOD TOP TEN – 4.2.11
Artwork… “it doesn’t matter what color our eyes are… just don’t kill civilians if you can help it. We must never cheapen Life, because in Life is our redemption as fellow brothers and sisters across all and any divides.”– this one for Ivory Coast & Afghanistan & Libya & Hollywood today and whoever needs a reminder that they are loved just the way they are too. Especially soldiers cast in war… this one’s for you. Peace!
Artwork made of recycled plastic pieces of happily consumed products, that were then collected and painted blue. Steel wire and copper wire also make up this piece, mounted on the side of a plaster building – opposite the wonderful and very expensive Whole Foods. West Hollywood. Photographed 5 minutes ago.
Our top ten this eve, are…
1. Land mines, post traumatic stress & USA’s military on the front lines
3. Miranda Kerr
4. Lady Louise Windsor has a wedding to go to
6. Petra Ecclestone & James Stunt
7. Flags by Brooke Fraser is so now
8. Michael Buble ties the knot
9. Game of Thrones gets a good review on HBO
10. A dancer speaks for a mother post trauma
George Pendle shares his observation of airport decor:
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 4.2.11~
POSTS FROM HOLLYWOOD WE’RE SHARING, RIGHT NOW :)
Marcona coffee make a move on the cafe culture scene of Hollywood by muscling into the coffee market in Los Angeles.
They have good positioning in the heart of the Melrose fashion district of West Hollywood. As you can see. They make franchising seem like a light initial investment.
The best coffee is on Melrose. Make a pitt stop when in L.A. So much to do here! Aussie’s retail-loving community are perhaps the strongest foreign fans of Melrose each week. Funny that, aye?! Oi! :)
Hollywood entertainment blog shares, were peeping and sharing at this moment are:
1. Humor – Kids who grow up on Kiwi chocolate can be a little bit cowboy gangsta
2. Patt Morrison was tackling Islamophobia months back, did anyone listen?
3. Flynn Kerr-Bloom is Aussie-South African
4. Celebrating Tonga + novelist Patricia Grace‘s amazing body of work
5. Petra Ecclestone & James Stunt‘s romance news
Some good Hollywood bloggers are - E!: Hollywood News; Hollywood Reporter; Access Hollywood; (more…)
BEST INDIAN LUNCH IN WEST HOLLYWOOD – STAR OF INDIA ON MELROSE
The cool thing about Indian cuisine, is that it tastes the same in any country you’re in. Today, in order to celebrate India’s win in the Cricket World Cup, I decided to check out Star of India, on Melrose Ave in West Hollywood.
The food is delicious. The service is friendly. The artwork, a tad cheesy, but the warmth of spirit was outstanding too.
Best of all, an all you can eat daily lunch buffet was affordable. $9.95 all up.
Angelenos, put The Star of India on your list of things to do. And again… Namaste India… congratulations on a fine cricket sporting win.
Here’s two pics of the artwork today.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 4.2.11~
JONES @ SUNSET on SANTA MONICA BLVD, WEST HOLLYWOOD – 7.40pm, 3.30.11
This beautiful view of Jones @ Sunset on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood is just one of the many reasons why you should visit California.
So pretty. This photograph is real, non photoshopped, required zero amount of money to photograph and is free to share, with whoever you like in the science of information sharing online.
Visit California. Enjoy such views. Sunsets of California are some of the biggest and brightest stars in America as entertaining breath taking views. Peace.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 3.30.11~
VINTAGE BEATLES ART – WEST HOLLYWOOD – 3.27.11
There’s nothing like some Beatles art in the hood of West Hollywood. Here’s that view for ya. :)
This poster remembers the guest appearance by legendary actor Wilfrid Brambell. Put simply, this man was a comedic genius.
[Artwork - Weideman Gallery, West Hollywood]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 3.27.11~
FLAMING AEROPLANES OVER OCEANS BILLBOARDS, IN SANTA MONICA – WAR OF THE WORLDS BLOGGING – 3.26.11
Photographed today in West Hollywood. This is not what I call good surfing views on this billboard for the film, for Battle: LA. The film hit theaters 3.11.11. At the time of writing it’s sitting in the no.3 box office position, behind Limitless at no.1 and Rango at no.2. Ahead of The Lincoln Lawyer at no.4, Battle: LA has taken $16.4 million as of Saturday night at the weekend domestic box office.
The studio marketing for this flick says – “There are patterns that cannot be explained. There are warnings that cannot be ignored. In 2011, nothing can prepare you for what’s next. “–the trailer for this aliens invade the USA movie depicting war over America.
Our battle is economic. This movie billboard depicts surfers surfing while aeroplanes on fire fly overhead these lads on surfboards in the ocean. It’s a battle that occurs on coastlines. Where fuel is.
The movie’s website invites viewers to be more participatory than spectatorial. We are invited to Play The Game. That is, the video game, of course!
The Royal Gazette’s review of this movie goes like this: “Battle: Los Angeles” doesn’t rely as much as its genre brethren on the gleeful horror of seeing familiar landmarks burn. (We don’t even get a shot of the “Hollywood” sign in flames.) Instead, this West Coast version of alien invasion distinguishes itself as an urban warfare film and a patriotic advert for the Marines. Like so many of these films, “Battle: Los Angeles” opens on urgent news reports announcing that “the world is at war” CNN snippets are laced throughout the movie, and it’s easy to see their function in relaying exposition. But it’s rather terrifying to think that even extra-terrestrials can’t stop the 24/7 stream of cable news.
The date is August 12, 2011. Alien ships, first appearing like a cluster of meteors, “breach” the Earth and quickly make their violent intentions clear, shooting gun-like weapons and discharging flying mechanical droids. One of the 12 ships lands just off the shore of LA’s laid-back Santa Monica. All the hallmarks are here [for a conventional war movie], with handheld cameras and rousing, “ooh-rah” solidarity just with the notable exception of enemy species.”
Military hierarchy is the ‘religion’ observed in the scripting of this film’s Hollywood cult-like propaganda. But Staff Sergeant Nantz keeps the group focused and grounded, much as the talented Aaron Eckhart (“The Dark Knight,” “Thank You For Smoking”), who plays Nantz does for the film.
Clearly the military are looking to recruit in Los Angeles, California with this film.
I write this on the last day, of the advised week where we have been on “earthquake watch” in Los Angeles (March 19th – 26th). Now this! We are meant to be in a continual state of spooked-out-ness. Clearly!
As I write this blog post in a Hollywood Starbucks, Scott, a 6’4 body builder and voice over talent (huskier in the base tone department than someone like Orson Welles was) introduces himself. “You’re the calmest person I’ve seen in a while. I’ve been watching you for an hour. What is about you? You’re like Ghandi man.”
We shake hands. “I’m from New Zealand. We value calmness of spirit” is all I say.
Chal, Scott’s mate, a chiropractor here in LA says “Keep that calmness, you Kiwi people are known for that.”
I guess Kiwis are. We get excited when our cricket team wins a match. The rest of the time, we’re quite calm people. Anyway, if you’re not scared enough, or, if you want a vision in special effects of what people may or may not be experiencing on the front lines of war (via this sci-fi film genre movie) you might like this film.
My Fishy Stuff, a YouTube subscriber has posted this trailer of the film. Press play below to listen to the film’s sound track. ‘The movie stays surprisingly close to the ground, bogged down in block-by-block combat. Los Angeles traffic triumphs again. (In reality, 90 percent of the film was shot in low-tax Louisiana.)’
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 3.26.11~
BLACK PORSCHE, BLACK CAPS HOLLYWOOD BLOGGING – 3.26.11
These days in America, we love getting on the bus. It saves fuel, wasted energy. On weekends though, there’s nothing like a convertible or a Porsche to drive around in. Here’s one.
Five things we’re peeping at in Hollywood in this minute are:
1. Thomas Edison, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Graeme Smith – cricket’s black caps in India
2. Prince William in Ngai Tahu fashion
3. Kate Winslet revives Mildred Pierce
4. Jarryd Hayne
5. Audio Bond franchising by Jeremy Northam
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 3.26.11~
YOUNG HOLLYWOOD IRONY TEE SHIRT TRENDS, WITH HATS – 3.25.11 @ 6pm
Young Hollywood today is a quick moving terrain. Many young people are shifting their focus off celebrity culture and onto what matters for the future of their America. For many that is studying sciences, engineering and most of all, financial management.
These tee shirts reflect that shift and changing culture of California amongst youth populations as snapped on Melrose in West Hollywood. Let’s go Young America! & Young Hollywood 2010′s! Fun as ever.
Five things we’re looking at in this Hollywood snap shot.
1. Katherine Heigl is know to be gracious
2. Kate Winslet turns on a femme fatale show in Mildred Pierce
3. Guns in high schools are tragic – Indiana’s community story today
4. Shakira speaks of Latino justice at Harvard
5. Steven Spielberg welcomes Daniel Day Lewis in The Abe Lincoln movie
Perspective - Japan‘s tsunami survivors story can make US cry
Five things from The Drudge Report today, look like this:
~Kowhaiwhai art photographed on Melrose. Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 3.25.11~





























BLACK JACKET DUBSTEP CAKE MIX ANZUS FAMILIES & THE HORIWOOD TOP TEN – 5th NOVEMBER 2012
When the going gets tough, the tough put a black jacket on and up the game.–Barack Obama hits the trail in Dubuque, Iowa. AFP
The Horiwood Top Ten are:
1. Light’s Elevator – Helensville
2. One for Russia’s young adults: Pussy Riot – Nicole Kidman & Mario Testino
3. At the movie set office – Mark Wahlberg & Dwayne Johnson
4. Eli Young Band & Taylor Swift
5. Kerry Emanuel on Superstorms
6. Fast cars – fuel entertainment-USA
7. British Royal Senna Kowhai
8. The Horiwood Top Ten – 11.4.12
9. Camilla Belle for Schiaparelli & Prada – NYC
10. Anne St Vincent & Stefani Germanotta
Bonus:
No.11: Google zooms on Antarctica
No.12: Lawyer Greg King
No. 13: James K. Baxter - oil wrangling, war & politics poetry
No. 14: Vintage Photo: Presidents in a Rose Garden
No. 15: Art: Silver Fern by David Wall
No. 16: Renee Stewart
No. 17: Maria Tutaia‘s winning smile
NZ News: All Black’s European Tour & Maori All Blacks England Tour.
Miley Cyrus News: Miley Cyrus hits 10 million followers on Twitter.
Awkward! Miley Cyrus pashes fiance Liam Hemsworth in music vid.
Miley Cyrus Working With Porn Star For New Video.
According to Israeli producer Boregore, Miley Cyrus is doing way too much starring in the music video for his dubstep track, ‘Decisions.’ Boregore and Miley chant: “I wanna eat the whole cake. I’m not sharing. I’m not sharing. You shoulda learned how to bake,” whilst writhing around in chunks of frosting and cream. Jessie Andrews stars in the video with Smilers.
Last week – The Garner Affleck family took the kids to cake mixing class at Duffs Cake Mix in Hollywood. Photo: People Magazine. It’s all about cake in the USA then. (See Benjamin Franklin‘s thoughts on cake. A cake is like a nation. The edges of the cake are its coastlines). The USA is a sweet tooth obsessed people.
Crazy fun American kids! :)
Dubstep Cake Mixers it is then… the vibe from USA today.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 5.11.12~
November 5, 2012 | Categories: Actors, ANZUS, Barack Obama, Ben Affleck, Benjamin Franklin, Boregore, Cake Art, Comedians, Confectionary, Dubstep, Entertainment Celebrity News, Entertainment Distribution, Entertainment News, Hollywood Entertainment News, Horiwood Top 10, Humor, Israel, Jennifer Garner, Jessie Andrews, Liam Hemsworth, Melbourne, Miley Cyrus, Nashville, Ohio, Phillip Island Australia, Politics, Pop Cultural Commentary, Tennessee, Twitter, USA, West Hollywood, Young Hollywood | 1 Comment »