“Let’s Get It On:” Marvin Gaye is Still the King of Ultimate Feeling
ATLANTA–(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)–Sept. 1, 1999–
Durex condoms releases the results of the Ultimate Feeling contest and Gaye proves to be the first choice with people of all ages. When people ‘get it on,’ Marvin Gaye is the artist chosen to set the mood for a night of Ultimate Feeling. The smooth, sultry sounds of the late Gaye appeared as a popular choice for more than 80 percent of the respondents who entered the Durex Ultimate Feeling contest.
The contest, sponsored by Durex Condoms and Rollingstone.com, gave music fans a unique opportunity to create the ideal song list to make love to. Music brings people together to experience mutual pleasure, as does Durex’s Ultimate Feeling condom, which is thin and ribbed for mutual pleasure. Contest participants, including men and women ages 18 * 52, selected Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” and “Sexual Healing” as two of the most popular choices.
“Let’s Get It On” was also included on the winning compilation that was designed by Lynn Chen of Astoria, N.Y. Chen’s entry was selected from more than 2,000 consumers who took part in the Durex Ultimate Feeling contest by entering online at www.Durex.com or in person at one of the top 20 nightclubs across the nation. Durex asked consumers to list the 10 songs they felt created the ideal environment for an evening of intimacy and shared pleasure for both partners.
“The Ultimate Feeling contest was designed to give men and women an opportunity to express their sexuality through music,” said Jim Cowsert, brand manager of Durex Consumer Products. “The sensual mood that these songs create is something everyone can appreciate. Bringing these together through the Durex Ultimate Feeling contest is the perfect way for Durex to promote bringing people together to experience mutual pleasure.”
Other artists, including Aerosmith, 98 Degrees, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, and Peter Gabriel were among the top mood-music makers, appearing on more than 50% of the selections. Durex enlisted the help of experts to select the ultimate compilation. Celebrity deejays including Derrick Carter from Chicago, Chris Monoco from Los Angeles, Lancelot from New York and J-Luv and Tommie Sunshine from Atlanta chose the winning music mix.
The winning Ultimate Feeling compilation is in a class by itself with selections like “Glory Box” by Portishead, “Angel Eyes” by Ella Fitzgerald, “Crazy” by Patsy Cline and “Sonata No. 6″ by J.S. Bach. The deejays felt this selection best represented the ultimate music compilation to set the mood for a perfect intimate evening.
“Mixing Patsy Cline with songs from the ’60s and ’70s, toss in a little Sly and the Family Stone and top off with the smooth sounds of Marvin Gaye and you have a mix that would get ANYONE in the mood,” said Chris Monoco, a deejay from Los Angeles.
Lynn Chen will be traveling with a guest to the 1999 Video Music Awards, courtesy of Durex. She will also receive a gift basket filled with products for the Ultimate Feeling evening, including Ultimate Feeling condoms, which are thin and ribbed for mutual pleasure, and a variety of other Durex products.
Durex Consumer Products is a division of London International Group, Inc., the manufacturer of Durex, the world’s leading condom brand. Backed by more than 70 years of sexual health experience Durex condoms are sold in more than 140 countries around the world and hold a 21 percent share of the global condom market.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Business Wire
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group
yo yo yo, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to display all these pics and images that I have. I’ve also been playing with RockYou as a slideshow, and it totally does ROCK! You can also check out the slideshow here. It’s set to some pretty good music.
These aren’t all the pics cuz it was quite a pain to upload. Some of the pics also seemed, well…a little too private which is wierd cuz I found them on the net anyways. Nevertheless, I didn’t put them up. BTW–I don’t own these images. If MK or LC happen to venture over here and want me to take down some of the pics, give me a shoutout. But I doubt that would ever happen. Ha!
This is a pretty interesting interview. I’ve cut and pasted only to include Michelle’s portion. If you’d like to read the entire transcript, check out First Amendment Center.
Michelle Krusiec and Alonzo Bodden ‘Speaking Freely’ transcript
Recorded Feb. 28, 2002, in Aspen, Colo.
Welcome to “Speaking Freely,” a weekly conversation about free expression and the arts. I’m Kyle Paulson. Our guests today are two young performers featured at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Joining odden. Welcome.
Michelle Krusiec: Thank you.
Alonzo Bodden: Thanks.
Paulson: You come from different aspects of the performing arts. Michelle, in your case, you’ve had a lot of success — early success — in television. Alonzo, you’re a stand-up. What brings you to this festival?
Krusiec: Well, I was invited to do my one-woman show, which is called “Made in Taiwan,” and it’s a project I’ve been working on for several years now, so somebody got wind of it and just got into the process, and so they asked me to come here, and it’s been really exciting.
…
Paulson: Short-term gain, long-term loss. We want to talk to you today a bit about the popular culture we all live in, entertainment — film, television — especially as regarding diversity. The Freedom Forum, an organization with which I work, actually funds a program where they encourage minorities to go into work in America’s newsrooms because they feel like America’s newspapers in particular don’t reflect the communities at large. They don’t fully understand the cultures that they serve. And in the work you do, do you see a lot of stereotyping, or do you see an accurate reflection of the cultures of our country?
Krusiec: Well, definitely, just being an Asian-American actress, I mean, I get stereotyped all the time, in terms of what I’m asked to audition for, the types of roles I’m auditioning for. And so when I look at these roles, a lot of times, I’m seeing what current writers are seeing me as and who I represent within their story line, and oftentimes, it’s — you know, it’s the smart Asian girl or it’s the newscaster, or you have the prostitute, and I run across those all the time. And then, of course, you have the martial artist. And it’s very difficult to go beyond that right now, but I find that there is a process you have to go through, which is kind of like a — you’ve got to prove yourself. You’ve got to prove that you can do those. And then once they see that, then they start going, “Oh, well, you know what? You could also be the blonde best friend.” And that’s, I think, the place I’m at now in my career.
Paulson: And you’ve had good success. You have appeared on “One World,” and then you’ve moved on to be a recurring character in “Titus,” and expanding, as I understand it, into some films: “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Pumpkin.” What are those roles?
Krusiec: Actually, in “Pumpkin,” I am the — the film’s very clever. It takes a lot of stereotyping and parodies it and also satires it — satirizes it — at the same time. It’s — I play a sorority girl who was taken into the sorority because I was the token Asian, and I am the Asian girl trying to fit in, knowing that I was taken in as the token Asian. And so it’s kind of a — you know, it’s a double-edged sword that my character has, that even though I know I was in — I was accepted — because of my race, I’m also ignoring that fact, but it’s also played against me as well in the film. It’s kind of difficult to explain. But there’s a lot of references of, like, “Oh, even her, even she — she can do it as well,” just because I’m Asian-American.
Paulson: As an Asian-American, and aside from your acting career, when you watch America’s popular media, do you see anything that truly reflects the culture you perhaps grew up in?
Krusiec: Um … no.
Paulson: I know you’ve — if you’d talk a little bit about your background, because it plays a major role in “Made in Taiwan.” If you could just give us some sense of what that show is about.
Krusiec: Well, my show starts out talking about how I grew up with the insecurity of being Asian and wanting very much to deny that as a child and how I struggled with that acceptance. And I look at it through more of a comedic eye, because as an adult, you look at it, and you think, these are the things you did, you know, because you were trying to cover up who you were ethnically. And that’s the background in which I introduce the show, but I don’t really stay there for very long. I introduce that as a part of myself, and then I go into the world of my family life — my parents, specifically my mother — and how their psyches affected my psyche and how my mother’s standards were imposed upon me and how my mother, even though she was very old-school Asian, became Americanized, and she changed her values in accordance with her own Americanization, which then affected me, because here I was, struggling to be American totally and deny my Asian self, so it’s a very complex journey.
Paulson: And what kind of reaction are you getting from audiences?
Krusiec: It’s been, fortunately, wonderful. It’s been really, really great. Almost everyone has remarked on — even though it’s a very specific journey, it’s been very universal. Because when it boils down to it, you know, human relationships, and the ones that I focus on, which are my mother and I — our mother-daughter relationship — it becomes universal. And even though it’s a little culturally specific in the beginning, it has nothing to do with just being Chinese in the end.
…
Paulson: Michelle, I’m curious. Have you ever turned down a job because it was stereotypical?
Krusiec: You know, I have a role on an HBO series called “The Mind of the Married Man,” and when I first got the sides, which is the excerpt of the script in which you use to audition with, I literally read them, gawked, and dropped the papers and called my manager, and I just almost freaked out, ’cause it was so stereotypical. I was playing all the stereotypes. I was a massage-parlor girl. I had an accent. And on top of that, they wanted me to be topless. And it was like, you know, why don’t you just make me a bad driver on top of that, you know? But I met with the producer, and he was also the — Mike Binder, the creator of the show — and we really talked about his intentions for the character. And, you know, once we got an idea of what he wanted to do — and he actually came to see my one-woman show, which I believe led him to really deepening the character. You know, once we got to a basic understanding of what we both were looking for and what his intentions were, I was able to sort of step beyond that and say, “Well, listen, this is a stereotypical character, but I think I’m a complex enough actor to bring more to the stereotypicality of this character than maybe somebody else, and if there’s anybody who’s gonna do that, I would like to be the person in charge of doing that.” So it was very stereotyped, but, you know, I sort of thought, “Let me figure out how I can add a little more depth to this person,” because, really, there are Asian massage girls out there. It’s not like they don’t exist, and it’s not like, just because a character has an accent, they should be demeaned at any sort of level. And so, you know, for me, I have to figure out this person and create that person, and not look at it and say, “Well, I am playing a stereotypical character,” ’cause otherwise, you’re not gonna create any sort of real human being.
Paulson: So when you finally saw it onscreen, did you pull it off?
Krusiec: Yeah, because you know, I pulled it off; I pulled my top off. Um, but… Yeah, you know, my character was throughout the entire series, and I end up dropping my accent in the very end of this — the season finale, and you discover this massage-parlor girl is just this college kid who just does this accent to make her customers feel very comfortable. So we did get to a level where the character arced, so I was very happy.
…
Bodden: I think there’s progress, but I also think it’s always going to be there. And, I mean, I can’t speak for — maybe “always” is the wrong word. Maybe I can’t speak in perpetuity, but it definitely goes on, and again, to me, it’s almost like I’d prefer people admit it. You know, why not just say it? Because it’s true. It’s almost more frustrating to dance around it, when you know it and the person at the other end of the table knows it, but you can’t say it for whatever reason. That’s almost an annoying part of the game, but, yeah, I don’t know that it — I know it hasn’t gone away. It’s not as — maybe not as prevalent or as blatant as it has been, but it still exists.
Paulson: Michelle?
Krusiec: Yeah, I mean, that’s really tough, because, you know, I’ve definitely — it’s pilot season right now, and I’ve been witnessing a lot of projects where a lot of the networks have openly said, “We want to be ethnic. We want to support,” you know, “casts that have diversity.” And it’s wonderful, in the sense that they’re taking a really active approach, but I find that, you know, the intention and the outcome are two very different things, and so I think the intention is there. I just don’t know if necessarily the execution always gets completed. So I think that we are definitely progressing, but, you know, I don’t think we’re at the place where I think we would all like to be, which is probably at the place where we’re not talking about stereotypes anymore, you know, where we’re not really acknowledging that. The fact that we’re talking about it suggests that, you know, I think it’s very much still a bigger part of, you know, the American psyche. So I guess that’s not really a very clear answer, but I don’t think it’s a very clear subject, either.
…
Paulson: And you’ve done “Star Trek.”
Krusiec: [Laughs]
Paulson: As we close here, could we talk just — if each of you would just share a minute or two about what you hope for the future in your own career. Michelle?
Krusiec: I think I would like to see more Asian writers, more images of — I mean, really, and I don’t want to just say Asians, but just growing up, I never really had any Asian role models, and it would just be nice, I think, for, you know, kids these days to have a lot more images of Asians in the media, Asians in all kinds of fields, but mostly in the media, because it’s the most — you know, it’s the most visual, so that it inspires, I think, the Asian community to be more expressive. I think, as a community, we’re a little bit more — we have a kind of like face thing that we do, you know, where we don’t tend to be as maybe artistically vocal or expressive. And I think that if those images were present, it might encourage more people to be more vocal and express themselves in a more artistic way.
Lynn Chen guest stars in this afternoon’s Law and Order on TNT @ 3pm. The ep is “Teenage Wasteland.”
okay, so this clip is either funny or totally embarrassing. i think we should be generous in that this is not a US production, and the peeps over in Asia are crazy funny. have you seen some the programming over there? anyways, apparently they’ve all got a sense of humor, and that Michelle got some smooth moves…hahaha! I think the dancing is less hip hop and more African. Yes, yes… I know Africa is a continent and not a country. I know nothing about dance.
check out this interview. MK discusses playing Wil in the movie.
Podcasts are fantastic. It’s like portable NPR-on-demand. I load up some podcasts on my mp3 player, listen to Ira Glass and Slate.com’s peeps while working out or making the long trek from my car to my office. Talk radio, FM style, for me is an all or nothing deal. I become so engrossed that I have to be in traffic, working out or cooking, in order to listen. I can not listen to interviews when doing work–I just get so distracted. Anyways…
If case you did not know, you now know that Lynn Chen co-hosts her very own podcast with pal Christy Meyers called Actors Off (catchy name, eh?). At the moment, they have about 8 episodes (I think) and post new eps every 2-5 weeks. They interview “working” actors–meaning, “working” as an actor entails a lot of hustling between jobs. While I am not an actor, I can totally commisserate, as I’m basically a free agent, too. They’re thoroughly entertaining, in a very informal sort of way which is refreshing cuz how much NPR, PRI, and CSPAN can the world really take? Check them out here. Or subscribe to them directly from iTunes.
Also, Michelle Krusiec is interviewed by Tim Coyne on his Hollywood Podcast. I very much recommend listening to this interview. She provides a lot of insight into what it’s like to be an Asian American and an Asian American woman in America and in Hollywood. She’s honest, candid, articulate, and very funny.
In that he conducts this interview right after the VTech shootings, Coyne traverses into what could be dangerous territory–asking Michelle (a VTech alum) about the meanings of race in the tragedy. Michelle insightfully dissects race and nationality, though, her take on Asian vs Asian American is a bit stark. It’s obvious, though, that she understands this binary is not so stark, as she makes referential quotation marks later in the interview. This is not a criticism but an observation, as we all frame what we say according to the perceived audience.
Anyways, I think Michelle is one of the smartest actresses we have out there, and I’m glad she’s representin’. We don’t need no more Bai Lings to embarrass us! Check out the podcast here.
Love this vid. Its images are nicely paced. The cropping could have been a bit neater, but I agree–this song totally should have been on the soundtrack. Naess does a brilliant cover of Velvet Revolver’s “Love is strange” arranged by Anton Sanko on the soundtrack. Just beautiful.
Here are the lyrics to Leona Naess’ “Ballerina”:
I’ll never feel the weight of your hands
Inside mine like diamonds
Lace so fine ballerina
Cupcake and my earthquake
Wakes me from a sleep that
Never comes are you breathing
Waiting for me
I didn’t really want you
But I want you now
Was so foolish of me
To feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room
The lights went out
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
I didn’t think I needed you
But I need you now
Was so empty in me
To feel you crashing down
Into the empty world
The music stops
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
You will always be mine
The room spins
Pull you from me
My body burns
Tell me of the rainbows
The colors that the rain throws
Ballerina dance softly
She knows when to come only
When she’s called I’m slowly coming to
I didn’t really want you
But I need you
Was so foolish of me
To feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room
The lights went out
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
I didn’t think I wanted you
But I want you now
Was so empty in me
To feel you crashing down
Into the empty world
The music stops
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
You will always be mine
So, so sorry
Just come back for me now
So, so sorry
Just come back to me now
oh soon
I didn’t think I wanted you
But I want you now
It was so foolish of me
To feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room
The lights went out
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
I didn’t think I needed you
But I need you now
Was so empty in me
To feel you tumbling down
Into the empty world
The lights went out
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
That you will always be mine
ACTORS OFF- Actors Off - Bonus Casting Director Interview
- Actors Off #16 - Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
- Actors Off #15 - Bitsie Tulloch
- Actors Off #14 - Mousa Kraish
- Actors Off #13 - "White on Rice" cast members
- Actors Off #12 - Jimmy Chunga
- Actors Off #11 - Jon Armstrong
- Actors Off #10 (cont.) - Gary Riotto, Part 2
- Actors Off #10 - Gary Riotto, Part 1
- Actors Off #9 - Emily Bergl
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