Dancing Mattress Productions
The Mental Nomad Podcast: Podsafe music from all over the world. Pod Across America: A journey across America, one state at a time. And other feats yet to be revealed.
03 January 2012
26 December 2011
Boxing Day celebrity crush: Joss Stone
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| Photographers are always encouraged to e-mail me at mentalnomadshow -at- gmail -dot- com with photo credit information. |
Name: Joss Stone (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: The English city of Dover, according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Joss emerged on the music scene as a teenager whose voice belied her young age. She's a soul singer often seen with a nose ring and barefoot on stage, quite often dressed in a hippie-chic style.
Besides her soul work, Joss is a much-sought-after duet partner, having worked with Angelique Kidjo, Santana, Ricky Martin, Ringo Starr, Tower of Power, and Raphael Saadiq, to name just a few. And this year, she joined with Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, and others in the supergroup SuperHeavy; she'd appeared very early in her career on that duo's soundtrack album for the film Alfie, and she's collaborated with Stewart more than once in the interim, so the combination isn't as unusual as Ye Olde Podcaster had first thought.
Humble Beginnings: Her debut album The Soul Sessions made her the youngest female singer to land a No. 1 album on the U.K. music charts. It ain't about being humble here.
(Only music videos from age 18 and up are listed below; but in terms of album sales, the entire span of her work is represented.)
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| Looking a wee bit like actress Julia Stiles here. |
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: Not her fault at all, but a couple of (alleged) freaks were arrested this summer in England on charges they intended to kidnap and possibly kill her.
On a more fun note, she appeared nude in the late magazine Jane, offering a quote that she "wasn't into wearing clothes" when she was at home. (That magazine featured tasteful, non-explicit nudes of a lot of people who have never posed nude otherwise -- Kristen Bell, former West Wing co-star Janel Maloney, and a lot of others over the years.)
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| Less hippie, still chic. |
All the rest -- her hippie-chic persona, her astonishing beauty -- were things I picked up on later. I wouldn't list a singer in the celebrity crush roster if I didn't like her voice or her music; I was reared on soul (Motown and to a lesser extent Stax, to be specific), and even as she's branched into collaborating with musicians from other genres and experimented with the sound of her solo works, Joss Stone continues to impress.
Selected TV and Web Series Credits: The Tudors, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Tudors, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * American Dreams, season 3: "Starting Over" (Amazon | iTunes)
Selected Film and TV-movie Credits: The Funeral Planner (2010 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * The People Speak UK (2010 documentary) (Amazon | iTunes) * Cirque de Soleil's Poetic Social Mission (2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * Soundtrack for a Revolution (2009 documentary) (Amazon | iTunes) * Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott's (2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * Snappers (2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * Frosted Pink (2007) (Amazon | iTunes) * Concert for Diana (2007) (Amazon | iTunes) * Eragon (Amazon | iTunes) * Herbie Hancock: Possibilities (2006 documentary) (Amazon | iTunes) * Live 8 (2005) (Amazon | iTunes)
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| Joss' voice acting credits include MI6 agent Nicole Hunter in the video game James Bond 007: Blood Stone. She also contributed a song to the game's soundtrack. |
Selected Music Videos (as Adult): "Miracle Worker" (SuperHeavy) (iTunes) * "Tell Me 'Bout It" (iTunes) * "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now" (iTunes) * "Cry Baby Cry" (Santana feat. Sean Paul and Joss Stone) (iTunes) * "The Best Thing About Me Is You" (Ricky Martin feat. Joss Stone) (iTunes) * "Gimme Shelter" (Angélique Kidjo feat. Joss Stone) (iTunes)
Solo Releases: LP1 (2011) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Back in Style" (Amazon | iTunes) * "I'll Take It All" (from James Bond 007: Blood Stone, 2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Every Time I Turn Around" (NCIS soundtrack vol. 2, 2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * Colour Me Free! (2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Love Has Made You Beautiful" (Serve3: Artists Against Hunger & Poverty, 2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * "All I Want for Christmas" (Amazon | iTunes) * Live at Austin City Limits Musical Festival 2007: Joss Stone (Amazon | iTunes) * Introducing Joss Stone (2007) (Amazon | iTunes) * "What Ever Happened to the Heroes" (Fantastic Four soundtrack, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Treat Me Right (I'm Yours for Life)" (Desperate Housewives soundtrack, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Under Pressure" (Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * Mind Body & Soul (2004) (Amazon | iTunes) * Sessions@AOL (2004) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Soul Sessions (2003) (Amazon | iTunes)
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| This profile was brought to you by the adjective "leggy" and the sound effect "va-va-voom." |
(Insert caveat about the inherent creepiness of the "who's your daddy" idea with the possible exception of paternity questions.)
Collaborations, Cont.: "You're the One for Me" (Smokey Robinson's Time Flies When You're Having Fun, 2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Stalemate" (Ben's Brother, Battling Giants, 2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * "This Little Light of Mine" (Buick Audra and Joss Stone, Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration, 2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (with Al Green, Sex and the City soundtrack, 2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Tip of My Tongue" (Something Sally's Familiar Strangers, 2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * Great American Soulbook (Tower of Power, 2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Unchained Melody" (Johnny Hollyday's Ça ne Finira Jamais, 2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Just One Kiss" (Raphael Saadiq's The Way I See It, 2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * Performing Live This Week at Ronnie Scott's (Jeff Beck, 2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Sing" (Annie Lennox's Songs of Mass Destruction, 2007) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Gimme Shelter" (Angélique Kidjo's Djin Djin, 2007) (Amazon | iTunes)
(Shameless plug: That Rolling Stones cover duet with Angélique Kidjo appeared in Mental Nomad Podcast 62.)
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| From Angélique Kidjo's video for "Gimme Shelter." |
(Witty aside made solely to provide an aesthetically pleasing line break and squeeze in one more picture of the lovely lady: "Dead Celebrity Status" may be the best rock band name ever.)
Return of the Collaborations, Cont., Redux Again One More Time with a Fresh Lemon Scent: "Stir It Up" (with Patti Labelle, Chicken Little soundtrack, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Cry Baby/Piece of My Heart" (non-album single with Melissa Etheridge, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Cry Baby Cry" (Santana's All That I Am, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Love Sneakin' Up on You" (Les Paul's American Made World Played, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "When Love Comes to Town" (Herbie Hancock's Possibilities, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Family Affair" (with John Legend and Van Hunt, Different Strokes by Different Folks, 2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * "Issues" (with Mr. G and Christy Beu, Unity: The Official Athens 2004 Olympic Album) (Amazon | iTunes) * Alfie soundtrack (2004) (Amazon | iTunes)

Celebrity crush: Teresa Palmer
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| Photographers are always encouraged to contact me at mentalnomadshow -at- gmail -dot- com with their credit information, |
Name: Teresa Palmer (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Adelaide, Australia, according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Teresa is a film actress exclusively, thus far. She's done a mixture of comedy and action roles: Take Me Home Tonight and Bedtime Stories in the former category, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and I Am Number Four (also featuring fellow celebrity crush Dianna Agron) in the latter. Upcoming is Warm Bodies, which Wikipedia calls a zombie love story.
(Sweet Buddha on a bicycle, will the zombie fad go the hell away already?)
She's also ambitious, working in a production capacity on a documentary about happiness, according to her IMDB profile.
Humble Beginnings: She's still pretty early in her career. Other roles include the horror films The Grudge 2 (with fellow crush Amber Tamblyn), Wolf Creek, and Restraint, plus the indie dramas 2:37 and December Boys (the latter opposite Daniel Radcliffe).
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: She performed admirably as a bad-ass alien warrior in I Am Number Four -- including doing some of her own stunts, apparently -- and was winsome as hell in Take Me Home Tonight. The passing resemblance to Anna Kournikova doesn't hurt matters, either.
Production Credits: Untitled documentary on happiness (filming for 2012) (Amazon | iTunes)
Film and TV-movie Credits: Warm Bodies (2012, post-production) (Amazon | iTunes) * AWOL (2012, post-production) (Amazon | iTunes) * Wish You Were Here (2012, completed) (Amazon | iTunes) * Quirky Girl (2011 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Bear (2011 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Take Me Home Tonight (Amazon | iTunes) * I Am Number Four (Amazon | iTunes) * The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Amazon | iTunes) * Bedtime Stories (2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * Restraint (2008) (Amazon | iTunes) * December Boys (2007) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Grudge 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * 2:37 (Amazon | iTunes) * Wolf Creek (2005) (Amazon | iTunes)
05 December 2011
Celebrity crush: Cody Horn
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| Photographers are encouraged to contact me at mentalnomadshow -at- gmail -dot- com with photo credit info. |
Name: Cody Horn (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Not listed at Wikipedia or IMDB, but given that her father is President and COO of Warner Bros., chances are it was in or around Los Angeles.
Best Known For: Sadly, a role on Rescue Me whose details I don't even feel like typing out; what a waste of a television show's potential that series turned out to be. Cody appeared in a few episodes of The Office in its seventh season but did not return for the eighth season.
On the big screen, she's appeared in the 2010 films Twelve and Flipped. Her on-screen résumé only starts in 2010 at IMDB; though she also has a crew credit (set staff assistant) on a 2005 movie I didn't bother listing below since it was fully a behind-the-scenes, off-camera gig.
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| Hanging out at a fashion show with fellow crush Emmy Rossum, star of Showtime's Shameless. |
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: ... Seriously, was anyone else as disappointed, disgusted, disillusioned by how Rescue Me took a promising premise of showing firefighter life in the wake of 9/11 and turned it into a rehashing of "He-Man Woman-Hater's Club" misogyny, homophobia, racism, and scatology?
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Her short stint on The Office didn't give her a ton to do -- the deleted scenes offered more than what made it to air -- but I was looking forward to seeing how the cubicle dwellers might deal with having a woman so pretty she might as well be a space alien in their midst. (Fellow crushes Jenna Fischer and Ellie Kemper and for that matter Mindy Kaling are all lovely as well, but they're all to varying extents glammed down for the show, as was Amy Adams a bit in her guest turn -- Cody wasn't.)
TV and Web Series Credits: Rescue Me, season 7 (Amazon
Film and TV-movie Credits: Magic Mike (in development) (Amazon | iTunes) * End of Watch (filming) (Amazon | iTunes) * Worst Friends (post-production) (Amazon | iTunes) * Violet & Daisy (Amazon | iTunes) * Hollywood Takes a Stand Against Planking (Funny or Die) * Flipped (2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * Twelve (2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * Occupant (Amazon | iTunes) * Dead Hands (2010 short) (Amazon | iTunes)
28 November 2011
Celebrity crush: Pauley Perrette
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| Photographers are encouraged to contact me at mentalnomadshow -at- gmail -dot- com with picture credit information. |
Name: Pauley Perrette (images | YouTube channel | Twitter)
Hometown: New Orleans, La., according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Pauley is best known for her work on shows whose titles are acronyms: She's been with NCIS since the beginning, indeed even earlier than that, appearing in the JAG episodes that served as a backdoor pilot for the series. She's guest-starred on NCIS: Los Angeles as well, playing the same character. And before that, she appeared on an episode of CSI (but not as the same character).
That's kept her busy for the last almost 10 years, though her résumé extends back to an ABC Afternoon Special in 1994 and includes a number of indie films (including Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous and My First Mister with Leelee Sobieski and Albert Brooks), the big-studio horror film The Ring, and an appearance in a Metallica video.
Beyond that, she's a published writer, though her Wikipedia entry is sparse on details, and has served in a variety of behind-the-scenes roles (directing, production, voice work) as well.
Humble Beginnings: As I said: An ABC Afternoon Special starts her list of screen credits. She's appeared on Dawson's Creek and 24, Tea Leoni's sitcom The Naked Truth and Kim Delaney's legal drama Philly, Stephen Bochco's legal drama Murder One and The Drew Carey Show, and even the Jennifer Love Hewitt-fronted Party of Five spinoff The Time of Your Life.
Not the Courteney Cox Factor: Pauley's a singer as well as an actress, though her work so far has turned up on TV (NCIS) or film (Legally Blonde) soundtracks.
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| ... Breathe. Breathe, dammit. (Talking to myself here.) At right is Cote de Pablo, her NCIS co-star, of course. |
Film and TV-movie credits: The Girl from Mars (post-production) (Amazon | iTunes) * Satan Hates You (Amazon | iTunes) * The Singularity Is Near (2010 documentary) (Amazon | iTunes) * To Comfort You (2009 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Potheads: The Movie (Amazon | iTunes) * A Moment of Grace (2004 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Cut and Run (2004 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Ash Tuesday (Amazon | iTunes) * Hungry Hearts (2002) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Ring (Amazon | iTunes) * Red Skies (2002 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * My First Mister (Amazon | iTunes) * Almost Famous (Amazon | iTunes) * Malicious Intent (Amazon | iTunes) * Hoofboy (1998 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Hand on the Pump (1998 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Price of Kissing (Amazon | iTunes)
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| Photo by Adam Bouska for the NOH8 campaign, which works for LGBT equality. Prints of her three shots for sale at the link above, profits to the cause. |
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| As a blonde on Time of Your Life, looking a bit like fellow crush Brea Grant. |
Written Work: Pills, Chills, Thrills and Heartache: Adventures in the First Person (short story "Cheers...") (Amazon)
Voice Work: Brother Bear (Amazon | iTunes) * Batman Beyond, season 1: "Golem" (Amazon | iTunes) * Blade Runner (1997 video game)
Music: "Fear" (with Stop Making Friends), NCIS soundtrack (Amazon | iTunes) * "Can't Get Me Down" (with Lo-Ball), Legally Blonde soundtrack (Amazon | iTunes) * "Fire in Your Eyes" (with B. Taylor) (Amazon | iTunes)
Directing and Production Credits: Citizen Lane (2010 documentary) (director, executive producer, narrator) (Amazon | iTunes) * The American Shame (2001) (associate producer) (Amazon | iTunes)

21 November 2011
Celebrity crush: Jessica Capshaw
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| Photographers are always encouraged to e-mail me at mentalnomadshow -at- gmail -dot- com with picture credit information. |
Name: Jessica Capshaw (images | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: Columbia, Mo., according to her Wikipedia profile. She is the daughter of actress Kate Capshaw and her ex-husband, Robert Capshaw; her mother was a teacher at the time she was born. After her mother's transition to acting and her second marriage, she became stepdaughter of director and media mogul Steven Spielberg.
Best Known For: Jessica's longest-running acting role has come on Grey's Anatomy as pediatric surgeon Dr. Arizona Robbins, who at the end of last season married orthopedic surgeon Dr. Callie Torres, played by fellow crush Sara Ramirez. Before scrubbing in there, she had a regular role as an attorney on David E. Kelley's The Practice, also on ABC, in its final episodes. In between, she guest-starred in a couple of episodes of Bones on Fox as the ex-girlfriend of David Boreanaz's FBI agent character and the mother of his son.
Film work includes the horror movie Valentine, which co-starred her (at least initial) Grey's co-stars Katherine Heigl and (fellow crush) Chyler Leigh.
Humble Beginnings: After completing an English degree at Brown University, Jessica headed to London to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
ER brought her to her first TV appearance in 1999, and she made her film debut in 1997's The Locusts, which starred her mom. There are several TV-movies and unsold pilots on the résumé as well; only things that I'm pretty sure aired or screened at some point, or might in the future, are listed below.
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: Like many other Hollywood folks, Jessica has appeared in the nude in Allure magazine. (And it was, in a word, glorious.)
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Jessica's a beautiful woman with a lot of charm who can also be funny or steel-spined resolute as the script calls for it. There are a lot of reasons to feel guilty about liking Grey's Anatomy -- and I still haven't watched last year's season or this current one -- but Jessica's acting is certainly not one of them. She stands tall (well, she stands 5'5"-ish) alongside Chandra Wilson (well, who stands short -- you get my point) as a great actress who manages to consistently rise above the sometimes dubious material.
TV and Web Series Credits: Grey's Anatomy, season 8 (Amazon | iTunes) * Grey's Anatomy, season 7 (Amazon | iTunes) * Grey's Anatomy, season 6 (Amazon | iTunes) * Grey's Anatomy, season 5 (Amazon | iTunes) * Head Case, season 2: "Tying the... Not" (Amazon | iTunes) * The L Word, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Bones, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Into the West (2005 mini-series) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Practice, season 8 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Practice, season 7 (Amazon | iTunes) * Odd Man Out (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 5: "Rites of Spring" (Amazon | iTunes)
Film and TV-movie Credits: One Angry Juror (2010 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Blind Trust (2007 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Groomsmen (Amazon | iTunes) * View from the Top (Amazon | iTunes) * Minority Report (Amazon | iTunes) * The Mesmerist (Amazon | iTunes) * Valentine (2001) (Amazon | iTunes) * Killing Cinderella (Amazon | iTunes) * The Love Letter (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * Something About Sex (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Locusts (Amazon | iTunes)

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