The Origins of Richard Grieco's Painting

In honor of the fact that Richard Grieco's Los Angeles premiere officially opens tomorrow with a red carpet event at Gallerie Sparta on Sunset Boulevard (his work is on display from August 10-September 6), I wanted to share this article from last year, in which Richard talks about when and how he started painting.

The magical turning point he describes took place during filming of If Looks Could Kill, and it sounds as if painting has been Grieco's first love since. Though it's only been the past few years that Richard says he's been pulling back from acting in order to focus on his painting, this story makes me wonder whether this drive in another direction might have played a role in some of his much earlier career choices, as well.

Richard Grieco of 21 Jump Street Blows His Cover: He's a Serious Painter Now, No Joke

Here's hoping tomorrow brings the recognition that Grieco clearly deserves as an artist.

Random References

Just happened to run across this and thought I'd share. It's an odd song called "Shorty Said" by an artist called Das Racist with a number of pop culture references, including this little batch:

Shorty said I look like Richard Grieco

[Kool AD]
Grieco or Greco?
Shorty said I look like Art Deco
Shorty said I look like the gecko from the Geico commercials

I can't say I'm zipping over to iTunes to find out whether I can download this gem, but I do find it interesting how often Richard's name pops up in such a wide range of apparently random places.

Run across any of these references lately? Please share!

So, Fox News is Kind of an Asshole...

I'll cop to it right up front; I've never been a fan of Fox News and there are far more significant reasons than the one I'm about to share. But when it comes to non-news, Fox has had some good and even progressive programming. And, though I'll admit that I'm far from a regular viewer/reader of the network, I hadn't previously noticed tabloid-style nastiness (I'll be interested to hear from more experienced viewers whether this is the norm).

Earlier today, Fox posted this piece about Richard Grieco's artwork. It's not a bad article,and in it Richard talks about the inevitable comparison between his career path and former co-star Johnny Depp's and says that while he's happy for Johnny, he likes his own shoes.

Of course, Fox topped off the story with a "Where are they now?" photo line-up of the stars of 21 Jump Street--and chose, for some reason, to feature this photo as Richard's "now" shot. It's impossible to believe that this was anything other than a deliberate attempt to find the worst relatively recent photo of Richard available, particularly when you compare it with the "now" shot of Johnny Depp.

I'm sure everyone (except, apparently, the person who put this story together) is bored to death with the 25-year-old "rivalry" between these two men, but Fox appears to have done as good a job of spreading misinformation with its choice of illustration as it does with its news reporting.

Thus far since the article went live earlier today, about 150 brand new visitors have come to this blog, the vast majority of them on the search terms "richard grieco drugs" and "richard grieco drug problem". For variety, a handful have entered on terms like "richard grieco plastic surgery" and "richard grieco troubles".

The power of the media is impressive and disturbing; without a single negative word, Fox has managed to convey an impression that has people all over the country hitting search engines to get to the root of a problem even they haven't directly suggested exists.

If you're one of them, check out this post to see what Richard Grieco actually looks like in the present--not his best or worst pictures, but an actual sample of photos from different events over the past couple of years.

Will Richard Grieco's Fame Help or Hurt His Career as an Artist?

Richard Grieco's fans from the old days have jumped right on board as cheerleaders for his artwork. That's not surprising: his fan base appears to be very loyal and his artwork is damned good. But will those fans and Richard's early fame be good or bad for his career as a painter?

Since I once made my living in Internet marketing, my first thought was that Richard's fan base was a gold mine in terms of spreading the word. He (or someone) has done a great job of getting press coverage for his artwork, but in the era of social media that coverage is only as good as its dissemination. From that viewpoint, having thousands of people invested in promoting your work is a definite benefit.

But, of course, the world of marketing and public relations is rarely so simple. Perception is sometimes more powerful than reality, and the unfortunate fact is that many, many celebrities dabble--some of whom should probably keep their hobbies private. It seems, sometimes, that every actor in Hollywood is in a band on the side and every actress is publishing a children's book. The same gallery showing Richard's work features Jane Seymour on their website, and Rick Springfield has a novel coming out next year.

As I've mentioned before, talented people tend to be talented. Many of those celebrities do, in fact, have other talents, and their work in other fields is quite good. And you already know that I strongly believe that Richard is not an actor who took up painting but an artist who happens to do some acting. But I'm not a critic, and I'm not a collector.

Is Richard's name recognition a blessing or a curse as he unveils his work to the world?  I'm not sure, and I'm hoping to hear your thoughts in the comments or the forums. For the moment, I'm holding my breath a little.

Absolution - Maybe Not So Much

Possibly I should have known, when I paid $5.90 for this movie, that it wasn't going to be the best Richard Grieco movie I'd ever seen, but sometimes there are hidden gems in those forgotten archives. The fact that it had a 3.1 IMDB rating gave me a little more pause, particularly since that rating was bolstered by the 18-29 year old male category (almost certainly because Jaime Pressly gets naked). More than 30% of users rating the film gave it a 1. Though I'm sure that's far from unheard of, I don't recall ever having seen quite such a preponderance of single-star ratings before.

I'm not going to go so far as to say this movie was a 1, but I didn't finish it. And, you may recall, I went on and finished Against the Law. Most of the screen time in this movie went to the younger generation--specifically, to a handful of young male "cadets" who didn't seem to get fully dressed very often. They didn't do a whole lot for me, though, and apparently I wasn't alone--women gave this film an average of 1.8 stars.

Though Grieco's role was significant, we didn't see nearly as much of him as we did Mario Lopez and his scantily-clad squadron. And, Richard's character (the despotic and possibly somewhat crazy commanding officer) was a bit over the top, barking and shouting more than he spoke.

I'm slowly working my way through Richard's whole catalog, but I can't in good faith recommend this one--unless you happen to be an 18-29 year old male, in which case you'll probably find it mediocre.

Josh Hutcherson is Addicted to Gigolos

That's right: The Hunger Games star confessed that Richard Grieco's Gigolos was his "guilty pleasure" and called the show addictive. I wouldn't normally out a guy on a thing like this, but Hutcherson didn't exactly 'fess up over one too many drinks--he shared his fascination with the show with Cosmopolitan UK.

He may also have used the word "horrible"--apparently the life of a male escort isn't for Josh, since he also quickly responded, "Not Gigolos!" when asked which reality show he'd like to appear on. But, hey...he's watching.



And he's not alone. Though the first season of the series drew a 30% Metacritic rating, the New York Times said it was "almost impossible to watch," and TVGuide's critic wonder aloud how it could be legal, it was in its second season when Josh Hutcherson confessed to being a reluctant fan. As of this writing, the fourth season just wrapped. IMDB user ratings stand at 5.2, and that's the weighted average--the arithmetic mean and median are significantly higher. Ratings are significantly higher from overseas users than Americans, and viewers aged 30-44 (male and female) posted the highest ratings.

Bottom line: say what you will..someone is watching this show. And liking it.

When Time Expires

I'll be honest: I chose When Time Expires to watch next because I also have a blog about Mark Hamill and I figured I could double up on my "homework".  I'm not actually a big sci fi fan, which creates a bit of a challenge for me in much of my research. I'm more interested in characters than complicated weaponry or learning to pronounce inter-galactic names.

I kind of enjoyed this movie, though. It opens amusingly, with Richard suddenly appearing naked in the middle of the desert. Though it's wide open spaces for miles around, the female lead (played by Cynthia Geary from Northern Exposure) is naturally present to witness his arrival.

She responds as any red-blooded American woman would if Richard Grieco suddenly materialized in front of her (naked) and pretty soon they're in his hotel room...except the whole inter-galactic dating thing turns out to be a little complicated.

The fact that Grieco's mission on earth turns on putting a quarter into a specific parking meter at exactly the right moment also adds a humorous touch, particularly when he and Hamill gather around the parking meter to consider it. It's pretty much like every other parking meter in the United States.

When Time Expires Pictures

Of course, there are additional complications involving assassins and the risk of altering the future and a double-cross or two and even one moment that took me by surprise. All in all, the plot was pretty predictable (for an intergalactic story about a parking meter), but that wasn't fatal. This wasn't a bad way to pass 93 minutes.

Reviews were mixed and the weighted average rating on IMDB came in at 4.7.  Once again, middle-aged women gave this film the highest ratings, followed very closely by both men and women aged 18-29.