Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history!

Happy Birthday to SONY Walkman: I had one and Damian had one, too!

“I remember going to work with one of those enormous, brick-like Walkmans that we all used to have…” -Damian Lewis on NPR

Happy 41st to Birthday SONY Walkman!

One of the great things about writing on Damian Lewis is that he’s from my generation. This essentially means I very easily relate to a lot of things about him, from the football team he supports, the pop culture references he makes, his sense of humor or the music he likes — I know some people have found his music taste “unsophisticated” on Desert Island Discs, but hey, we both grew up in the 80s, cut us some slack please ☺ And so some of the stories I write are mine as much as his… like… this one!

Today we go back to 1980s, to a big cultural icon and a real coolness symbol of the times: SONY Walkman… and Damian Lewis, too! Well, as the Great Charlie Crews says “everything is connected.” And everything, in our universe, finds his way, ultimately, to Damian.

Continue reading “Happy Birthday to SONY Walkman: I had one and Damian had one, too!”

Billions Season 5 Dining Guide, Episodes 1-7

One of my favorite things about my favorite TV show is how it showcases the New York dining scene from hole-in-the-walls to neighborhood gems to Michelin-starred restaurants. And it has been my pleasure to share the information about restaurants appearing on the show first in my weekly recaps and then in a full dining guide by the end of the season for Season 1,  Season 2, Season 3. and Season 4.

Fan Fun Billions dining guides are some of the most popular posts  on the blog and even some leading media outlets have noticed. Look what Forbes Magazine says about us!

“There are posts on actor Damian Lewis’s official website, that diligently track, with screenshots, all the food locations featured in every season. These posts even manage to name-check the take-out Chinese in one scene as the beloved eatery Wo-Hop.”

Continue reading “Billions Season 5 Dining Guide, Episodes 1-7”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at Times Talks

source: Times Talks Program
source: Times Talks Program

Time flies! Damian Lewis was the guest of celebrated Times Talks at Directors Guild Theater four years ago. And I would love to take this opportunity to travel back to that day to re-live the wonderful conversation Damian had with Cara Buckley, a New York Times culture reporter and celebrate the first anniversary of a beautiful friendship with Paige and Joyce with whom I clicked as soon as I met them in the line!   Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at Times Talks”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in The Escapist

“You know the one thing you’ve got going for you, Frank? You’re too old to die young.” – Rizza

source: superiorpics.com
source: superiorpics.com

Today we travel back to Damian Lewis in The Escapist: An Ireland-UK co-produced ensemble piece directed by Rupert Wyatt. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to critical applause.

The Escapist premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, source: Getty Images
The Escapist premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, source: Getty Images

The Escapist is a prison escape movie. But not your typical prison escape movie. It is a healthy combination of an action movie and an art house movie giving you the grim prison life. You feel the brutality. You feel the daily presence of threat. You, in fact, live the violence without even seeing it. You feel very disturbed by the place.

Frank Perry (a BRILLIANT Brian Cox for whom it turns out Rupert Wyatt wrote this role!) is in prison for life and he has made his peace with the fact that he will never see outside life again… Until he gets a letter, the first one in 14 years, that his beloved daughter is a drug addict and, following an episode of overdose, she is critically ill. This makes Frank to think about escaping. He plans his escape with fellow prisoners Lenny Drake (Joe Fiennes, a Guildhall class mate of Damian’s!), Brodie (Liam Cunningham), Batista (Seu Jorge) and Lacey (Dominic Cooper). These five “good guys” make the movie poster. Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in The Escapist”

Billions on Showtime, Season 5 Episode 7 (Mid-Season Finale): The Limitless Sh*t

I cannot believe this is the last episode of Billions Season 5 that we will see for a while! Since they had to stop shooting mid-March due to Covid-19 crisis – which gets its first mention in this episode –  Episode 7 is the mid-season finale that leaves us with more questions than answers. I just hope they can resume shooting as soon as possible when it is safe to do so, and given what we have seen so far, the rest of the season is sure to be a crazy ride! Hope you stay with us between the two halves of Season 5 because we still have a lot to say about what we have seen in the first seven episodes!

The Limitless Sh*t, written by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Emily Hornsby and directed by the one and only David Costabile, addresses a billion dollar question: Is anyone incorruptible? Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 5 Episode 7 (Mid-Season Finale): The Limitless Sh*t”