If I ever need to feel like a woman in power, a confident woman who can take on any problem at any time, a problem solver, a fixer. A woman who can take on all of Washington and the world, I flip on my DVR and for 43 minutes get lost in #Scandal. For 43 minutes, I take on the attitude of Olivia Pope. For 43 minutes, I can fix anything and am on top of the world! Olivia is a Gladiator, and so is everyone on her team. For 43 minutes, I am a Gladiator!
She's sexy, sassy,  intense, perceptive, powerful, emotionally strong, yet completely complicated and most importantly: Fashionably fabulous!... Yeah, basically Olivia Pope is Super Woman. 
Tonight's episode (4th episode of season 5) reminded me so much of the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal. This season is about the President's affair with Olivia being discovered and her actually admitting it to the world.
Tonight was the media picking her apart and making her the home wrecker (although we all know the President pursued her!) The idea was that the President could be impeached for the affair...sound familiar?  For the first time, it hit me, Olivia Pope is Judy Smith. Well, a very loose interpretation of her!
This was the super empowering episode where the entire world hates Olivia and the media has crucified her. The President's team has skinned her alive and hung her out to dry. Somehow, when the entire world hates you and anyone can "anonymously" post anything they want about you online, you can see the "person" in her. She is just as vulnerable as you or I, she simply has a much much higher tolerance for nastiness. A much thicker skin if you will!
Olivia Pope has her limit, she has her "kryptonite" like every superhero, like every person. And just like every superhero, she picks herself up from the floor, looks the villain(s) right in the eye, head held high, and she carries on. Respect is gained by standing tall, standing behind integrity and owning it. No matter what challenge life throw at us, we can always overcome it. We are all Gladiator's, you just have to discover your inner strength that makes you a Gladiator...and if you can't find it, at least you've got your 43 minutes a week!

​In the past few weeks there has been so much controversy about the #Peeples app, which is basically described as "Yelp" for people. Two ladies started it so you can “review” other people and give them a rating from one to five stars, kinda like restaurants! Users can assign a rating and feedback to anyone they know, positive or negative, and the ratee can do very little about it. Negative reviews would be live for at least 48 hours, and in order to remove them, the ratee would have to contest a negative review.
Today following the very well placed negative criticism, mean girl Julia Cordray, one of the two app developers, said the app might be less controversial than what was previously announced: “You will NOT be on our platform without your explicit permission. There is no 48-hour waiting period to remove negative comments. There is no way to even make negative comments. Simply stated, if you don’t explicitly say ‘approve recommendation’, it will not be visible on our platform.”
Why these two ladies thought this was a good idea escapes me, but it kinda reminds me (and everyone else) of the movie Mean Girls. 
In any case, we will only know how this new rating app for people actually works when it is released.
Sadly, this app isn't the only people rating/review system out there. MyLife (www.mylife.com) also has a pathetic version of this. In fact I actually looked myself up after someone mentioned to me I was listed on the site & even had a rating and review! I was stunned to find out that 90-95% of the info about me listed on MyLife was completely incorrect! Including the state where I live, previous addresses, not to mention family members I have never heard of! It's a complete joke! 
As far as my personal rating & review, I'm only a 7.5 out of 10! I don't know about you, but that's a pretty crappy rating for a human being. When I was in school a 75% was below average and unacceptable. I would hate to think I'm a 7.5 out of a 10 as a human being. To add to this degrading rating, the review was done was the Founder and CEO  of MyLife, Jeffrey Tinsley. A man whom I've never met and who knows nothing about me!  On this rating and review page you can rate people on a personal, professional or dating level. HELLO! Why oh why would you rate anyone on dating. That can obviously be done only by previous partners. It's a recipe for disaster!!! (note: I believe he's given the same review for everyone listed on the site)
Mr. Jeffrey Tinsley, you now get to join the mean girls high school team and I'm officially giving you a 0 out of 10 for thinking you have the right to rate or review anyone, much less people you don't even know. That is the definition of a megalomaniac and terrible behavior for a human being. Also your website is rubbish! To get your crappy review removed I have to provide a credit card. That's extortion! Not to mention all the incorrect info listed on your site. 
Bottom line, rating/review sites and apps for people are just a new way in the digital age to bully people. They are disgraceful and degrading. This gives kids (or anyone) a new way to be that "mean girl" only in a more cowardly anonymous way. Just because you can create something should you? 
My opinion: These sites will only last as long as the first lawsuit from a suicide of someone bullied to death or the first murder of the bully who posted nasty things about someone because they broke up, are jealous or just simply don't like you. 
In an age where anything can be posted online and people can hide behind online anonymity, people have become more cruel than ever, I think we all need to make an effort to embrace humanity and to be better people.  Think about how your actions can affect or hurt someone.
I believe what goes around, comes around, and karma's a b****! Be a better person, why surround yourself with negativity when positivity feels so much better?! 
Comments welcomed and appreciated!

Great article from the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-peeple-app-bad-reviews-20151006-story.html

Here is a good fact finding blog about the two ladies who developed the Peeples app:
https://www.notehub.org/2015/10/5/dear-julia-shame-on-you

Also a lovely screen shot of the review of me. Remember, that remove review button does not work, you must provide a credit card. Notice you can also post these anonymously .

Miami does not allow Lyft or Uber to pick customers up at the airport. After flying all day, I collected my luggage and went out to the cab line. I walked up, asked my cabbie if he had AC and told him where I was going. He said of course he had AC and didn't know where exactly I lived. I explained it in 4 VERY simple directions. You simply take the 112 to 95 North exit #, then go East to to beach.
From the minute I get in the cab, I am sweating like a piggie in heat! There is no AC and he is too busy on the phone speaking Creole to someone. Did I mention he could barely speak English? He's on the phone blabbing away, I am melting in the rear of the cab about ready to pass out because the cab smells of dirty shorts, ethnic food and what may or may not be BO. My nostrils were burning!
We get on the expressway and he exits early! I said this isn't exit #bla :Oh yes it is!" My response: No it's not.. I live here, you had no idea where this was and I am telling you if you go this way it will add several minutes and $9 to my already ridiculous cab fare! He is still on the phone... I shout (and this is so un-JStar style!!!) Get off the F-ing phone! You have no AC, your cab smells like a wet tiger (Ya, that actually came out of my mouth)  and you have no idea where anything is in Miami. I gave you 4 very simple exact instructions and you can't manage to read the numbers on the exit sign. Please go straight, get back on the highway make the next exit then go East. Uncomfortable silence followed. Meanwhile my mother called me to ask whats taking me so long to get home and am I safe. I said who knows, the cab driver has taken the wrong exit and wants to go through the hood!
We finally get to my place, the total: $47.45. I handed him $57 and said "Honestly, you are the worst cab driver I have ever had, but I shouldn't have yelled at you. Rather than not tip you for not listening and talking on your phone, I am hoping that you will be a better driver in the future for someone else."
Harsh? Absolutely! Here's the thing. If I take a Lyft to the airport, it's about $15- sometimes even $7-8 if they are offering discounts. Uber is $21-22. Both are great and the drivers have new CLEAN cars, AC, can speak English and have GPS! Amazing!!! Some of the drivers even offer water. You can see what your driver looks like, what car they are driving and the license plate. You can also see where they are so you know exactly when they will arrive. 
The point of this rant? Who wants to pay more than double to take a smelly, hot ride with someone who doesn't know where they are going, may or may not speak English and is just rude? You might say, Jamie... this is a one time thing... nope... sadly I have to take cabs home from the airport a minimum of 4 times and month and I have even worse stories! This was just the latest and the very first time I actually yelled at the driver. (That was wrong of me, I blame it on the Super Blood Moon!)
The cab companies complain about companies like Lyft and Uber but at the end of the day they offer a much better, cheaper and more efficient service- isn't that capitalism at it's best? Healthy competition.

About 4 or 5 times a year, there is a group of old friends that get together and have tea and lunch/dinner. This last week I met with the ladies and one of the girls, who is has been in a committed relationship for a few years finally let out that she had caught her significant other cheating. She wasn't going to tell us because she was embarrassed about the situation. She did get a very large piece of gorgeous  jewelry, which was eye catching! The thing is that all of us have stories of being lied to, cheated on or simply dumped without explanation.  Most of the women are married, a few in relationships and a couple of us are single.  
You know what happens when you get a large group of ladies together to talk about men? It all comes out! And oh boy did a lot of juiciness come out that day! The best story of the day was Lilly's story. None of us had heard anything quite like it! Lilly is back in the dating pool told us her story of being "ghosted." Apparently this is a new term in the digital world... or I guess the dating world as it is these days. Ghosting is when you are either dating or talking to someone and they just disappear... vanish without a trace. Stop answering your texts, calls, emails, DMs, messages or whatever else you can do digitally! Lilly hadn't even actually met this man but for weeks they were non-stop texting and calling. She grew very fond of him, and although the situation wasn't ideal, she was happy. She got the butterflies and lit up when she got a text from him. She enjoyed their conversations immensely- she looked forward to their chats and messages. Then out of the blue, he just disappeared. She sent a few messages and called once and never heard back. She then found out that he had lied to her and was in fact in a relationship or married. Rather than tell Lilly to her face, have the conversation, be abused, take the shit because what he was doing was mean, unnecessary and undeserved, he was a coward. When you don't say anything, its even worse. It's like you don't have a backbone. What is so wrong these days with doing the right thing? Having the hard conversation? Are people so far gone in the digital world or simply desensitized to human interaction that they can't do the right thing and have a bit of integrity and honesty and say look I'm sorry I've met someone else, or I'm sorry I just don't think this is going to work, or listen, I was dishonest I have a wife/girlfriend and I can't talk to you anymore. Anything is better than nothing, am I right? 
Why can't more people (men and women) be decent. What is the price of admission? Simply doing the right thing, which is difficult. Technology has made it easy for people to be rude and uncaring. It is easier to just avoid "life" itself. 
Statistically 70-83% of married men have extramarital affairs. It's closer to 96% for couples in relationships but not married. (Numbers depend on which study you read... but they are big numbers!)
​I personally do not believe men are inherently monogamous creatures. Keep in mind this is my opinion and women can be just as bad! What came out of our girly pow-wow was that men simply get bored. It doesn't matter who you are, what you look like, how good the sex is they just get bored!
I don't think this should make someone skeptical nor punish the next person that comes along, rather keep your eyes wide open, heart guarded and never let anyone "screw you over!" He'll never screw me, but he can screw someone else!

We are in full swing back on the road... in different stages of three separate projects, Its hard to remember where I am what day without looking at the calendar. Recently, while on the road we happened to see an older gentleman fall and seriously injure himself. I went to see if I could help. There were two ladies and his wife, who was obviously very shaken. The man (Herb)  was unable to get up and was in so much pain. One of the ladies and I stayed and tried to calm him. We put ice on his arm and shoulder, talked to him and did our best ease him and his wife.
They were apparently on their way to see war room,  a faith based film. The ladies who stopped to help suffer from ailments themselves and were so attentive and helpful even though being on the ground was also painful. There was so much love and willingness to help, I couldn't help but think to myself that there are still good people in this world. So many people just keep going... in their own world, without a care for those around them. In Florida, it is rare for anyone to stop and help. It is almost as though we have become an apathetic society. We have lost that thing that makes us human. This incident has restored my faith in human beings.
We waited for the ambulance for 1:10. I felt so bad for Herb who was a super trooper! It took another 45 minutes for the medics to treat him and get him on the stretcher. Herb has since been released from the hospital and is doing well. As for me, I made a very special new friend. Everything happens for a reason, and I think each of us took something home that day. 
I know there are still those out there who will just keep walking. Who are so engrossed with themselves and their own loves they think nothing of others, but there are still of a few of us out there who truly care, and if you fall down or need help, we will be there to help. 

Most of you know I got my career started in music.  It has always been a big part of my life, and it truly makes me happy. Listening, creating, singing.... it's always how I have expressed myself. I journal my thoughts and have people like my bestie or Rolan Whitt (talent comedian & bit of a lyricist) come up with something fun. I am so Taylor Swift in that way! Rather than wear your heart on your sleeve...just put it in a song! Your ex will never know it's about him... no way! LOL! (Carrie Underwood: Before He Cheats coming to mind!)
In my former life, pop was my thing and decided I want to be a rapper (don't laugh, its a dream!) I soon discovered, rapping is so much harder than you would think. I have been working on a project for quite awhile now (hey, the best things come to those who wait) but things are indeed moving along slowly but surely.  I have one of the most talented vocal and performence coaches on the East coast and not only are we singing but I think my time with Caryn has really improved my speaking skills. Good thing the last 18 months have been filled with speaking events!
I had quite a fall a few months ago and as a result had a broken tail bone, a few ribs, dislocated CV joint, so lets just say singing was not on the agenda for a few months! Last week was the first time I belted out a note in months!  I went in pretty strong. Must admit, it was a tough day but a really good one. We had a lot of laughs which felt good after the week I've had. Not to mention I have a ton of new things to write about--- its been a few months... one can only imagine the stock pile I've got built up! As Gina says: "I was katy Perry'd!" What does that even mean??? In any case, lots to work with! Tons of fun, new material!
Caryn Rae Robin, my vocal coach, who also happens to be a Miami Heat Golden Oldies Dancer made both the Miami Herald and a few TV stations recently for her energetic dancing. (Link attached) 
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article32559009.html
A seriously talented and energetic lady! 
We shall see where the music goes from here. No more deadlines and stress, just fun! Simply music and lyrics... that's what to come.... music and lyrics, as it should be!

If you haven't already heard, we went to West Virginia to film some of Shadow of the Missing. Although we would have loved to go back and film in Llanelli Wales, we needed a US location for some quick pickup shots. West Virginia was very welcoming and hospitable to us. Our Unit Production Manager, (and much more) Doc Benson was able to arrange everything so things were very smooth from the minute my toes stepped out of the plane! The West Virginia Film Commission was amazing. Very efficient, fast and helpful at each turn....not to mention the 31% tax credit that WV offers! HELLO!
There was so much local support. We had great meals provided by local businesses. One of my favorite spots was Shemps which is in Cairo WV. WTAP TV in Parkersburg invited us to chat about Shadow of the Missing on Daybreak, the morning show. I was not particularly fond of the lighting and angle (let's just say I looked like a very tired,deformed alien!) but very appreciative they gave us time to talk about the film (Link attached below- no laughing!)
I am truly thankful for West Virginia's hospitality and it is amazing to me how this state can double for many parts of the UK.
SOTM will be festival ready at the beginning of the year and screened where it all started... At the Carmarthen Bay Film Frstival in May 2016.
​
http://www.thenewscenter.tv/news/daybreak/headlines/Movie-Producer-Visits-Daybreak-323834161.html

Below are some photos from our shoot.

Our very young AD for our film Shadow of the Missing had never been to America and never had a Twinkie. Everyone knows if there is an apocalypse, people will survive on Twinkie's. Apparently they stay "fresh" for like 50 years.  Obviously, I have not been privy to try a 50 year old Twinkie, but its just common knowledge! 
So here is Sam teaching Ceri and Dean about Twinkie's. Good ole' American goodness! Quite disappointed by the results... and let me just add this is at 1am the night before we filmed! Bad boiz.

http://youtu.be/jvCPVMOdUYk 

As many of you know, Llanelli Wales has a church on every block. Sadly, last week they lost one of the most beautiful abandoned churches I have ever seen. I can't tell you how this will play into Shadow of the Missing, but we will certainly make sure this gorgeous structure is not forgotten.
Interestingly enough, people in the town of Llanelli reported seeing actual faces in the flames of the fire. The internet went crazy with stories about this. I am posting a few photos I found online. What do you think? Read the article below from Wales Online.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/can-you-see-faces-flames-9866831

Although we are still getting pick-up shots for Shadow of the Missing, we have already started post-production. Very happy to announce we have a huge talent leading the post production team: Jacob Voelzke. He is one of Hollywood's hottest new directors/editors and we have nabbed him!
Eric (Doc Benson) has found the perfect location in West Virginia to finish filming. Although 90% of this film has been shot in Llanelli Wales, we still need just a few things to make our little film complete.