Shayne's Domain

***UPDATE*** Lifetime Movie "The Wronged Man"

I have an UPDATE on the release of the Lifetime movie I filmed, "The Wronged Man."

"The Wronged Man" will premiere THIS SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2010 at 8:00PM ET on Lifetime.

NOT THIS SATURDAY, as I originally posted.

There are three encore broadcasts as well:
1. Sunday, January 17 at 12:00AM ET/11:00PM CT
2. Monday, January 18 at 8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT
3. Monday, January 18 at 12:00AM ET/11:00PM CT 

For a recap on all the movie info, I'll include my last post:

While I'm always a bit iffy with how film stuff turns out, I am excited to see this finished product.  Lifetime is really changing up some of their content:  I'm pretty sure this will not be your typical Lifetime chick-flick.

ABOUT THE WRONGED MAN:

"Renowned actress Julia Ormond(Legends of the Fall, Sabrina) will headline The Wronged Man, an unforgettable story of justice and redemption.....Mahershalalhashbaz Ali(The 4400), Ormond’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button co-star, also joins the cast as an African-American husband and father convicted of raping a young girl. The film is based on the true story of an unlikely friendship between paralegal Janet Gregory (Ormond) and Calvin Willis (Ali) as they fight to overturn his sentence and restore faith in the justice system....

Janet Gregory (Ormond), a single-mother with a haunting past, is a paralegal struggling to overcome doubts about Calvin Willis (Ali), an African-American husband and father wrongfully accused of raping a neighborhood girl. Eventually convinced of his innocence, Janet takes Calvin’s pro bono case and wages a dramatic and stormy 22-year battle with the justice system that ultimately redeems an unjustly accused man and cements a life-long friendship."

Oh yeah, I play Vicky Tanner, the lawyer that makes the case for Willis.  See?  I did actually get to be a lawyer and I didn't even have to go to law school for it after all! :)

Love to all...

I have an UPDATE on the release of the Lifetime movie I filmed, "The Wronged Man."

"The Wronged Man" will premiere THIS SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2010 at 8:00PM ET on Lifetime.

NOT THIS SATURDAY, as I originally posted.

There are three encore broadcasts as well:
1. Sunday, January 17 at 12:00AM ET/11:00PM CT
2. Monday, January 18 at 8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT
3. Monday, January 18 at 12:00AM ET/11:00PM CT 

For a recap on all the movie info, I'll include my last post:

While I'm always a bit iffy with how film stuff turns out, I am excited to see this finished product.  Lifetime is really changing up some of their content:  I'm pretty sure this will not be your typical Lifetime chick-flick.

ABOUT THE WRONGED MAN:

"Renowned actress Julia Ormond(Legends of the Fall, Sabrina) will headline The Wronged Man, an unforgettable story of justice and redemption.....Mahershalalhashbaz Ali(The 4400), Ormond’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button co-star, also joins the cast as an African-American husband and father convicted of raping a young girl. The film is based on the true story of an unlikely friendship between paralegal Janet Gregory (Ormond) and Calvin Willis (Ali) as they fight to overturn his sentence and restore faith in the justice system....

Janet Gregory (Ormond), a single-mother with a haunting past, is a paralegal struggling to overcome doubts about Calvin Willis (Ali), an African-American husband and father wrongfully accused of raping a neighborhood girl. Eventually convinced of his innocence, Janet takes Calvin’s pro bono case and wages a dramatic and stormy 22-year battle with the justice system that ultimately redeems an unjustly accused man and cements a life-long friendship."

Oh yeah, I play Vicky Tanner, the lawyer that makes the case for Willis.  See?  I did actually get to be a lawyer and I didn't even have to go to law school for it after all! :)

Love to all...

Movie "The Wronged Man"

Hello my friends.....thanks to all for bugging me, um, keeping me on my toes about this movie "The Wronged Man."  Can't seem to stay on top of things lately for some reason!

The original November 2009 release has now been pushed to January 2010.

"The Wronged Man" will premiere Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 8:00 PM ET on Lifetime.

While I'm always a bit iffy with how film stuff turns out, I am excited to see this finished product.  Lifetime is really changing up some of their content:  I'm pretty sure this will not be your typical Lifetime chick-flick.

ABOUT THE WRONGED MAN:

"Renowned actress Julia Ormond (Legends of the Fall, Sabrina) will headline The Wronged Man, an unforgettable story of justice and redemption.....Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The 4400), Ormond’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button co-star, also joins the cast as an African-American husband and father convicted of raping a young girl. The film is based on the true story of an unlikely friendship between paralegal Janet Gregory (Ormond) and Calvin Willis (Ali) as they fight to overturn his sentence and restore faith in the justice system....

Janet Gregory (Ormond), a single-mother with a haunting past, is a paralegal struggling to overcome doubts about Calvin Willis (Ali), an African-American husband and father wrongfully accused of raping a neighborhood girl. Eventually convinced of his innocence, Janet takes Calvin’s pro bono case and wages a dramatic and stormy 22-year battle with the justice system that ultimately redeems an unjustly accused man and cements a life-long friendship."

Oh yeah, I play Vicky Tanner, the lawyer that makes the case for Willis.  See?  I did actually get to be a lawyer and I didn't even have to go to law school for it after all! :)

Love to all...

The Extermination of Kindness. Yes! Let's just do away with it all!

Ok, so really, how has it come to be that we live in a society where kindness is a crime?  

Where compassion and common courtesy get you nowhere? 

A world in which genuine thoughtfulness is frowned upon, or even worse, taken advantage of.  

I don't want any part of that kind of society.

Yes, I'm in a pretty bitter place right now. And yes, yes, I know....it's good I'm writing about it. A good sign.

I don't have many moments of discouragement like this, but this is a fairly big one. And one that makes my heart very very sad.

And of course, you know I'll get over it in a couple days. The bitterness will dissipate.  

But man. Right now. It's. Just. Not. Right.

STUCK

In light of a rather random event that happened Halloween night, I pose a rather random question:

Who would you most like to be stuck in an elevator with?

Least like?

Go ahead.  Humor me.

Weekend Wedding in Houston/The Labor Day Gang Explained

Wow.  What a wonderful weekend in Houston (and yes, Houston rose a few notches from its "Least Favorite City of Mine" due to the four days of GORGEOUS weather!).  I not only got to be a guest at the beautiful wedding of Clayton and Elizabeth, but also spent some great time with my family and I FINALLY got to see some of the Labor Day Gang!  The WHAT Gang?  For those that don't know this story, let me explain, 'cause it's pretty darn cool....

So once upon a time, a looooong time ago (hee!), my mom was a wee college lass at Texas Tech University.  It was there she met eight other fabulous women, and the whole lot of them became great friends.  Starting Labor Day Weekend, on the tail end of the summer of '73, they decided to plan a camping trip together - no children at this point, but a few husbands and significant others.  Well, fast-forward 36 years, and they're still  camping....(albeit, a few less tents and more trailers involved).

Of all nine women and their spouses, six still attend regularly.  There are sixteen children in all (yes, yes, once again I'm the oldest...), and now grandchildren are gracing the scenes.  There have been years when not everyone could make it - life has interrupted, parents have passed, children have had crises.  But there have always, always been folks there - even if just one member of a family could make it.  The family representative, so to speak.

I have grown up with these people, literally, my entire life.  I have more godparents than I can count.  I have had to miss many a Labor Day, but I always hear the Labor Day Scoop, and if I'm lucky, I'll get to see a family here and there during a holiday pass-thru, or a beautiful wedding such as this one.

I can't think of a more inspiring example of true friendship than this story.  I know that any one of these families could ask anything of each other.  Through differences and distances, their friendships have remained a priority.  I have seen these people laugh and cry together, argue and hug, pitch tents and throw horseshoes. 

So to them ALL, I say thank you.  What a delight to be there this past weekend.  And to those I didn't get to see, here's to hoping it won't be long!

To Elizabeth and Clayton:  Congratulations!  I wish you both the very best!

To my family - the Kohouts and ALL the Labor Day Gang:  I LOVE YOU!

New Acting Website

Finally getting around to creating an acting website for myself.

Check it out and let me know your suggestions!

www.shaynekohout.com

Two Great New Books

I have two great new book recommendations:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

This is the very cool, inspiring, sort-of biography of American Greg Mortenson, who has devoted his life to building schools in the remote mountains of Pakistan.

From Publishers Weekly:
"Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts." (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

a mercy by Toni Morrison

The latest book from one of my all-time favorite authors; a short, lyrical, but beautifully intense story.

From The Miami Herald:
“A grand tragedy writ in miniature . . . Women, men, Africans, Native Americans, whites, masters, slaves–all are cast into the hard world that is the New World in Toni Morrison’s lustrous new novel. In the same way, the Nobel Prize winner casts us into her hypnotic, many-voiced narrative set in the 17th century in a nation yet unformed. . . . We’re beguiled from the opening sentence: ‘Don’t be afraid.’ The speaker is Florens, black, barely out of childhood, a slave but literate, whose eager-to-please ways and lyrical language endear her to us and to the Virginia household of Jacob Vaark. . . . The subject of [A Mercy] is slavery, and [Morrison] brings to it, along with some of her most haunting language, elements of history and mythos. . . . A Mercy is kindled by characters who are complex and vulnerable, full of what she describes in Beloved as ‘awful human power.’ . . . This novel’s release coincides with the presidential election of Barack Obama, a shining moment in our country’s history of which Morrison’s characters can barely dream.”
–Ellen Kanner, The Miami Herald

Enjoy!  And thanks for sending all your book recommendations.  Keep 'em coming!

Family Fun on the FunShip! Cruise - August 2009

My super-cool stepmom, Lequice, retired this year, and for HER retirement she took all of US on a cruise! (I told you she was super-cool!). So Lequice, Papa-san, Paige, Britt, John (Lequice's son), Stephanie (John's wife), Melissa (Lequice's daughter), Ben (Melissa's wife), Kylie (Ben & Melissa's 2 1/2 yr old) and Jillian (Ben & Melissa's 7 mo old) ALL piled aboard a Carnival FunShip and set sail. Thanks to you ALL for such an amazing trip! I have the coolest family in the world!! (and this doesn't even include the other half of my coolest family in the world!) Lucky, lucky girl...Click here to see the fun! (oh, and for some reason, I can't get the photos to appear in the right order, but you still get the idea...)

Acting

A friend recently shared this quote with me.  It's hitting a big nerve with me now, as I struggle to decide if I want to stay in this business or not.  This is exactly, EXACTLY how to describe the life of an actor....Might sound crazy to most, but it really is often worth "a thousand lifetimes."

Actors are some of the most driven, courageous people on the face of the earth. They deal with more day-to-day rejection in one year than most people do in a lifetime. Every day, actors face the financial challenge of living a freelance lifestyle, the disrespect of people who think they should get “real” jobs, and their own fear that they’ll never work again. Every day, they have to ignore the possibility that the vision they have dedicated their lives to is a pipe dream. With every role, they stretch themselves, emotionally and physically, risking criticism and judgment. With every passing year, many of them watch as the other people their age achieve the predictable milestones of normal life - the car, the family, the house, the nest egg. But they stay true to their dream, in spite of the sacrifices. Why? Because actors are willing to give their entire lives to a moment - to that line, that laugh, that gesture, or that interpretation that will stir the audience’s soul. Actors are beings who have tasted life’s nectar in that crystal moment when they poured out their creative spirit and touched another’s heart. In that instant, they were as close to magic, God, and perfection as anyone could ever be. And in their own hearts, they know that to dedicate oneself to that moment is worth a thousand lifetimes.

David Ackert