Last year I did a show for German/French Tv called Into the Night. I wandered around Edinburgh chatting with the lovely novelist Ian Rankin, and film crews followed us. Here it is. We'd never met before and it is really interesting to get to know someone in this way, let me tell you.
It's the one that's best of all...
Have you seen the new Google images? It's so great. I found out about it hyesterdahy and geeked out for ages looking at old pictures and totally missed my spinning class. Yes, I know, excuses, excuses.
Anyway, I found a few gems including this, on some atheist website...
I am moved. I also found this one of me doing a photo shoot in Edinburgh last summer. Do you see now why we get the big bucks? Danger money, people! Peril!
I am thinking a lot about Edinburgh as I have been doing some press for my shows there in August during the festival. It has been along time since I have performed there. In 2007 I was in the International Festival withThe Bacchae, but it has been since 1991 that I have performed on the Fringe (in Victor and Barry's swansong). I am looking forward to it.
Today I was working on The Good Wife again and had a hilarious scene with Mary Beth Peil who plays Jackie. I love the relationship she and Eli have. It's pure war, but all done so politely. And today it involved laundry.
It's hot and sticky here in New York City. Honey has an upset tummy, as she often does on very hot days, poor thing. There have been a few emergency runs to her favourite tree down the street. And on that note, bon weekend tout le monde!
I just re-read this and realised that the other day I basically made a commercial for the Ipad and today I am schilling Google. I must try and do this for more personal financial gain instead of casting my endorsement seed so liberally on this blog, don't you think?
Spin, baby, spin!
I started back on The Good Wife yesterday. It was lovely to see everyone and catch up. It was a bit like going back to school after the summer holidays, except of course the summer is well and truly still with us. I write this in my underpants.
I had a sentence to say that was so convoluted, long and tongue twisty, but I managed it. And today I have a day off. I like this acting in a TVshow lark.
Did I mention I took my first spin class the other day and thought I was going to die? I have never sweated so much, and despite the fact that it is not a difficult concept intellectually, I couldn't get the hang of which way you are supposed to turn the little knob and so as a consequence I think I may have exhausted myself too early, and sat down a few times even when the teacher was screaming for us to stand up. Talking of which, why doesn't she use a microphone? There is very loud music playing and she will have very damaged vocal folds if she doesn't watch out. And also, hello, I can't hear you, even though you're shouting! There is another one tonight and my friend Darren told me the teacher is the bomb so I think I might go. Imagine if I became a spin addict!
Herer are two videos I found. The first is me on Jimmy Fallon's show launching itsasickness.com, and the next one is a weird painting with light video commercial thing I did ages ago for Turner Classic Movies, talking about one of my favourite films, North by Northwest. Enjoy!
an ipad commercial
I love my Ipad. I really do. I love how I have become slightly less available to people. I look at others frantically reaching into their pockets every time a buzzing heralds a new email and I smile. I like having less buzzing in my life.
And you can do fun things like this...This was in my dressing room just after my show at Broad Stages in Santa Monica the other week.
scooting aboot
Today I did a lot of scooting. I don't know if I mentioned my scooter before. It's actually called an Xooter, and it has a brake on it and everything. I should point out that it's not an electric scooter or a Vespa or anything, it's more like a skateboard with a handlebar and, as I mentioned, a brake.
My scooter is really a concession to my realisation that my skateboarding days are over. I had always wanted to be a skateboarder. When I was a little boy growing up in the countryside of Scotland I would be so jealous of my friends who lived in the local metropolis of Carnoustie who had smooth pavements outside their homes, and streets and streetlights and all the normal accoutrements of succesful boarding. I had none. I lived in the middle of a forest, the roads were uneven and gravelly and the only light by night was the Moon. It was an impossible situation to reconcile. I put my skateboard plans on the back burner.
Cut to about thirty years later. I am a grown up. I live in New York City near a park where there are millions of skaters every day rushing around, doing tricks and generally looking cool. I get a board. I get, for my birthday, one of the hot, skinny skater boys to give me lessons. I am quite good. I go to Vancouver to shoot Tin Man and on the huge green screen stages where we shoot so much of it, Iskate back and forth to my trailer, scaring the producers out of their wits no doubt but making the crew think I am totally cool, I just know it.
I return to NYC unscathed and a bit better in my boarding technique. I sometimes go to appointments on my board. Yes, I skate on the streets of New York, baby! Soon I start a job in a Chekhov play The Seagull, at a theatre downtown quite near my apartment and so when performances begin I skate to work!! I wonder how many Chekhovian actors do that, huh?! Not too many I'll wager.
The thing about skating to work of course is that you have to skate home. I guess you could just pick the board up and carry it, of course, but generally after a show you tend to go out and have a few drinks with the cast and friends who have come to see it and so you tend to throw caution to the wind a bit and decide to skate home, maybe even show off a little to your friends and skate alongside them as they walk to the subway or a taxi or a restaurant. Can you see where this is going?
One night I was with a crowd of friends and we were enroute from the theatre to a restaurant. My friend Paul was visiting from Vancouver and we were walking together, me on my skateboard and he alongside me suporting my arm on his shoulder. We were having fun. The sidewalk was a bit bumpy but I was a pretty good boarder for a 43 year old man and I could cope. What I hadn't bargained for was the combo of the bumpiness and my amusement at Paul's hilarious stories. I guffawed a little too heftily and before I knew it the board had slipped from under me and I was on the deck, and several inches of the skin on my side remained there, ingrained on the scraggy concrete. I laughed it off, of course, my pride being the most hurt and all that. The next day though I begged to differ. I had a weeping raw scrape about six inches long, and suddenly my desire to skate to work was gone.
How many Chekhovian actors have to peel their linen costume trousers off their gooey, scabby hip between acts I wonder? Not many, I'll wager.
Anyway, now I have a scooter. And a helmet. And I zip around town and it's great fun, great exercise (fabulous for the abs apparently with all that pushing off) and all is well in the world.
I do feel a little bit of a dork when I dare to cross the skateboard park, but the cool kids don't seem to snigger. Too much
My ideal dinner party
Brian, my trusty assistant, found that list of people I would choose to have dinner with!! It was for a Scottish charity called Victim Support Scotland.
So here then, is the line-up for my dead and alive people dinner party...
Bonnie Prince Charlie
I sort of sense he would be a bit prissy and it would probably be very entertaining listening to him tell tales of marching around the highlands in drag, covered in mud, desperate to get home to France for a croissant and a cafe au lait.
Gore Vidal
Because everything I have ever heard come out of his mouth has been either hilarious, contentious, outrageous,scandalous or a combination of all four, so the perfect dinner guest to stir things up.
Lord Lucan
Just because it would be really great to get the real story
and my Granny, because she was always the best fun and said the most surprising and nutty things and I would love to see her again.
A weekend of ask alan
Lucas from LA has something to confess: i must confess that im looking forward to see Burlesque in theaters.I realy like your acting skills and you do a fabulous performance in every movie i believe you did it with burlesque again :) , I was wondering about the soundtracks because i heard that there will be only twelve songs is it impossible? And do you have any favourite songs from christina from the movie?? Well Lucas, I too am looking forward to Burlesque. I saw a few of the big numbers being shot and they sounded and looked really amazing. I don't know about the soundtrack in terms of numbers of songs, and I am sure that since the film is still being edited there will not be a final list available yet. But I do remember a crazy good power ballad that Christina sings in the middle of the film that will rock your socks off. Now say five Hail Marys and begood boy.
Linda asks: Ever have your portrait painted? Ever wanted to? I have had my portrait painted a few times and I really like it. I especially like when you don't have to be totally still and can chat, then it is sort of a like a fun therapy session and the artist is your shrink! Most recently my friend David Remfry has done a few of me, one of which was hung in the Royal Academy's summer exhibition a couple of years ago. He has also done Honey and Leon several times too. And then my friend Grant Collier did one a while back (infact these pictures are from a shoot that he took to use as source materil for the portrait in 2000. ps smoking is bad, okay?), and a long time ago in the early nineties my friend Gerard Morris from Glasgow first did a portrait of me. Come to think of I have been painted or drawn by quite a lot of people, and also my husband Grant is an illustrator so there are always pictures of me appearing in my bags or stuck to the bathroom mirror.
Molly asks: After a friend and I spent a while trying (and failing) to imitate your lovely Scottish accent, I was wondering- do you ever have trouble mastering accents or dialects for certain roles? If so, which ones, and what helped you overcome it? I certainly do have trouble sometimes! But I just practice, listen to tapes and sometimes I work with a dialect coach if the accent is really unfamiliar to me. At drama school we studied phonetics a bit and so I still have that tucked away in my brain somewhere and it comes in handy sometimes. I think also that because I am Scottish and was told from my first day at drama school that it was imperative for me to be able to lose my accent and do a standard English one if I ever wanted to work, I have a more inquisitive and attuned ear! How ironic that I make my living mostly by playing Americans these days.
From Marilyn: PLEASE...more photos of you doing yoga poses in your underwear. It fuels my fantasies and gives me very pleasant dreams. I think you are the most talented, gorgeous man I have ever seen and I loved you in The Anniversary Party. Marilyn, I am blushing. And you need to get our more! But I will see what I can do about the yoga and the underwear combo. It mohgt have to be swimming trunks and underwater yoga.
Jane asks: which five people (alive or otherwise!) would you invite to dinner, and why? I answered this very question for a press thing a while back and have been trying to find it online today with little success. I can't actually remember who I said so I am rather curious to find out. I think it was for Visit Scotland or the National Library of Scotland, but I could be wrong. I will have another dig and get back to you.
From Mimi: Not a question but an apology for interrupting your show at Feinsteins Sat. before last. Seems the Gray Goose got the best of me, You were fantastic and made our trip to New York a memorable one. Thanks so much! Thank you Mimi. You were actualy really good value and gave me a lot of material. No worries.
Cara asks: hey Alan, what do you do to relax? I come to my house in the country, where I am right now. I am looking at rolling hills, I slip into the pool and have a sedate swim occasionally, I watch my dog rush down into the meadow and chase away deer. Later I am going to cook our dinner over the fire pit. That sort of thing.
Alan, am i hallucinating, or do you only have one dimple...on your face that is. I think I have two but sometimes the less big one doesn;t show. Maybe I don't smile hard enough or maybe I am not fat enough. I think it appears less and less these days. But the first one is an ample sufficiency I think, don't you? Oh look, I think there are two in this picture with Marc from the Castro last weekend!
Gerald writes: I am so amazed and thrilled at your participation with Intact America and NORM UK. If only more celebs could follow. Have you visited the websitecircumstitions.com? I get so sad/mad when I hear of this being done to babies or teens - a bit like the twilight zone. Thanks again, best wishes, and cheers. Gerald, thanks for writing. I didn't know about circumstitions.com, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention. There are some scary statistics on it. It's great to find more and more places around the world where people are questioning why we do this to our children, and also especially in Africa where the whole idea that circumcision is neccesary to combat HIV is being undermined and re-examined.
I read you do not add people on facebook and I understand why. But if you ever start to, lol...It's not actually me on facebook, I am afraid. Just someone still pretending to be me so I am sorry if I haven't friended you or whatever it is.
Louis writes: I had the privilege of seeing your delightful show last night in San Francisco, Mr. Cumming. It struck me early on that what made it so charming -- in addition to the excellent material and the expertise and sophistication of you and your colleagues -- was the boyish enthusiasm you displayed. I have some questions, all of which (happen to?) come around to authenticity, which seems so central to the success of the act. This may be the least interesting: How much of the anecdotal material is literally true? How much license do you take? Set aside obvious facetiousness. I, for one, wouldn't expect the dialogue you quote to be verbatim. But I ask because in recounting one of your wonderful stories (sorry: which one slips my mind at the moment), something struck me as implausible. It's all true, Louis. Some of them are indeed implausible but that's why I tell them! Everything I talk about on stage actually happened Maybe the hardest (and stupidest) question is: Since you're an actor, and a good one at that, is there any particular reason for an audience member to believe that your authenticity is genuine? I'm quite happy to believe that it is, mind you. Why thank you. Since I begin the evening by pointing out that it took me a while to summon up the courage to do the show precisely because there is no characater to hide behind, and that I am being myself, open and truthful, I would hope that the audience would believe me. I think people can discern between a perfomance and a person. Obviously I tell some of these stories again and again, and that is where my skill as a performer comes in to make them seem fresh each night, but then everyone tells their funny stories repeatedly and you don't question their authenticity, do you? Maybe you do. And here's the one I'm most interested in: Why do you choose to retain your brogue in so many of the songs, and specifically in the one from Cabaret? I ask because it distracted me in that one, with the German words and all. I'm secure in presuming this is a choice, since the U.K. rockers always struck me as pretty good at imitating old black guys from Mississippi, and I don't suppose they've done the dialect work you have. Again, I am singing the songs as me, not as a character, and as I point out when I sing the Hedwig medley I have never had a sex change operation but I can still feel Hedwig's pain! The whole evening for me is about stripping away the normal layers of character, accent and other attributes of my work as an actor and connecting with the audience as Alan Cumming the person.
I saw you 7/10 at the Castro Theater. It was a wonderful cabaret experience. My question is when did you know you wanted to sing as a child, and do you think anyone can learn to sing (well)? I asked Sam Harris this question, and his answer was that his father was a high school music teacher and he always had music in his home as a child. Is this true for you also? I suppose I always wanted to sing. I always did as a child, just as I do now. I sing as I walk along the street, everywhere. But the kind of singing I do in my show is more about a desire to connect through a song and intrepet songs by being myself. I think the singing I wanted to do as a child was more about showing off. There was nobody in my family who was a musician so I didn't have a role model in the way Sam did. I think of singing and acting as kind of the same thing and I have come to be as confident at singing as I am with acting rather late in life! Isn't ths a spooky picture btw? It looks like Lance is a ghost!
Does it ever bother you to know that you have younger women (20's) that are huge fangirls?Why ever would that bother me?! Bring it on!
I just wanted to let you know that I will never eat another rubbery shrimp again without thinking of YOU! Thank you for a Great Evening. love Ili B. I am sure there is some relevance to this from one of my stories but right now it escapes me. Or maybe there isn't. Either way, thanks. Love from shrimpy.
Have you ever done any movies where you kiss a guy? Not like the little pecks in Cabaret, I mean really kiss; like smooch. I want to say duh, but I don't mean to be rude! I just did in The Runaway, I did in Ghost Writer, The L Word, oh lots of times. Other times onstage I have done too. I made out with Dominic West in Design For Living, and lots of boys in The Threepenny Opera. I'm an old pro at kissing boys.
Foreskin, wall st, etc
First of all I am so glad today that the monumental Wall St Reform Bill was passed. Okay, it has been watered down, Ok it is not as fierce as it coud be if the Democrats had a huge majority. But you know what? Shut up already. It's a start, and thank the Gods that in this lackadeisical, apathetic country there are still people in government who are trying hard to change things, and change really big things and not be pulled down by the malaise of stasis and cynicism, and look, guess what? They are actually doing it! Big things are happening! Big changes are a coming. We have been living in such a corrupt democracy and finally the pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction. Don't get all bitchy now! Give them a break! Obama is on our side, doing huge things with the majority he has. This is an exciting time to be living in America when the structures of capitalism and class and race are being re-evaluated.
Also this is what the bible has to say about circumcision. I actually don't give a rat's arse what the bible has to say because I believe it is akin to a book of fairy tales that has been taken and opened to huge and dangerous misinterpreation, but I just think this is an interesting cross-section of opinion and might open up some discussion. Thanks to Brian for doing all this research
Deuteronomy 30:6 (King James Version)
6And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Luke 2:15-21
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. 21On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
Acts 15:1-12
1Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 4When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. 5Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."6The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."12The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
Acts 21:21
21They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.
Romans 2:29; Romans 4:11-14; Romans 13:10
29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.13It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 Corinthians 7:18-20
18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. 20Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.
Galatians 5:1-6
1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. 12Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
Ephesians 2:11
11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)
Philippians 3:1-3
1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
Colossians 2:11, 13
11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature,[a] not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,13Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Titus 1:10-11
10For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
Deuteronomy 30:6 (King James Version)
6And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Luke 2:15-21
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. 21On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
Acts 15:1-12
1Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 4When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. 5Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."6The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."12The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
Acts 21:21
21They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.
Romans 2:29; Romans 4:11-14; Romans 13:10
29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.13It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 Corinthians 7:18-20
18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. 20Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.
Galatians 5:1-6
1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. 12Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
Ephesians 2:11
11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)
Philippians 3:1-3
1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
Colossians 2:11, 13
11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature,[a] not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,13Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Titus 1:10-11
10For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
Shame! Not Well!
I am not feeling very well. My assistant Brian told me that tomorrow is the first day in the near year and a half that he has beenw roking for me that I have no appointments. But I do now: staying in bed, eating soup and being not well. Then gettig up in the evening and going to hot yoga and sweating a lot.
In the meantime, here is a video that shocked me. Shame on you Jay Z, Rhianna and Kanye West. Why is it that people seem to be selective in their understanding that words matter, and using that using the word 'homo' in a negative way has resonance way beyond some generic rap song.
And then something about rap that is funny, for a change.
boo hoo
I am so sad right now. I just heard one of the Mel Gibson phone messages. I don't know what is more upsetting - that he and his girlfriend's relationship had dissolved into such a horrible, violent, painful mess, or that it is available for the world to hear. Of course, the former is far worse, and his anger and violence is obviously out of control, but in some way the way we have access to every detail of celebrity life and love and death and hate is a really awful inditement of our priorities as a culture.
Yuck.
And also, as someone who has heard quite a few angry rants in his time, it is a little too Pavlovian in its reach right now.
Ah well. Guess what I did today folks? Idid some more voice work for next year's Smurfs movie!! Yay! Great showbiz segue, Alan. Gutsy Smurf is a feiity little thing and it was rather exhausting I have to say. And actualy quite touching too. And funny, as I was emailing Neil Patrick Harris throughout and we were having a laugh about the fact that we were doing our first ever scenes together on film- me in a voice studio in NYC today, and him on the screen in front of me, shot several months ago. Funny old world.
I also did a reading of a movie I am involved withcalled Dwelling. Despite the fact that it is notoriously difficult to read a screenplay aloud (they are meant to be read, not heard, after all), it went rather well, some problems were spotted and noted, and I think everyone had a good time and was stimulated by the story and excited to see it executed. So fingers crossed that it happens ere too long.
Honey and Leon and I have been on our stoop just now grooming each other. This involves me brushing them both, as they are shedding furiously - obviously their bodies' reaction to the crazy heat here in NYC - and Leon licking me at every available second.
Now we're off to try and sleep above the noise of the fans in the bedroom. I hate AC, you see. I don't mean myself, natch. I love myself. You know what I mean. It makes me feel funny and I think it is really toxic. So we do fans and open windows. Sometimes we cave and put the dogs to sleep in the guest room with the aircon on. And my office is chilled too. Even though it's a bit sweaty sometimes, I still prefer it to that icy weird existence. There you go.