I love LA! And here’s my Top 10 Reasons to Live in LA. Plus, celebrity shout-outs to Angelina Jolie for her latest surgery, and to Little League icon Mo-ne Davis for having a heart and offering a second chance to the college baseball player who got kicked off his team for a racial tweet. Thanks for tuning in – R. Watch weekdays on youtube.com/tolatalks and all social: @richtola
Here’s one of my favorite Tola Talks…the 6 Rules to Success by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because who doesn’t want to be their best and find success in whatever you do! Peace – R
Tola Talks about the comedic brilliance of Jon Stewart and his legacy at Comedy Central, the 2014 US Little League baseball champions getting stripped of their title, and it’s WTF Wednesday so check-out the 5 Tasty Ways to Eat Snow…plus some inspiring talk about yesterday’s weight loss show. Weekdays at youtube.com/tolatalks. Social: @richtola
Tola Talks about Eminem, Clayton Kershaw, Dwight Gooden (aka Dr. K), Mariano Rivera, Evander Holyfield, Paget Brewster, Gerald Butler, Whoopi Goldberg, Warren Buffet (buying Duracell Battery), Kim Kardashian (nude pictures), Walmart, Black Friday, and Takata (exploding airbags). On Throwback Thursdays, Rich takes us back to 2006 – the year he entered the Entertainment Business and became a Yoga teacher – and gives the Get Your S#!T Together Award to a Polish woman for having a threesome with her two lovers she hired to kill her husband. Watch weekdays on youtube.com/tolatalks.
Tola Talks with the beautiful & talented singer/songwriter, Cooper Phillip. On Acoustic Fridays, Rich interviews 21 year-old Cooper who plays two songs from her EP, Walk a Mile, and discusses going for her dreams and her heartfelt journey from Russia four years ago. Rich also talks about earthquakes, the San Francisco Giants, building dream-homes on the wrong property, mild winter forecasts, President Obama & the Ebola Czar, Brad Pitt & his new film Fury, Ms. Science Babe & her homeopathic experiments, plus GYST Awards & Hunter Biden.
Tola Talks leadership and baseball with a tribute to the great Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter. On Movie Mondays, Rich also reviews A Walk Among the Tombstones with guest co-host, Troy Titus-Adams. Weekdays on youtube.com/tolatalks.
Tola Talks’ Rich Tola and Movie Monday’s guest co-host, actress Troy Titus-Adams.
Tola Talks with Celebrity Hair Stylist & Beauty expert John-Francis Maseda. On Movie Mondays, today Rich reviews the irresistible music movie of the summer with Keira Knightley & Mark Ruffalo, Begin Again. Watch the show weekdays on youtube.com/tolatalks
Tola Talks’ Rich Tola with Celebrity Beauty Guru John Francis
There is much we can learn about poise and leadership from one of the greatest shortstops of all-time – The Captain of the New York Yankees, Derek Jeter. Thanks for the memories DJ!
When you look up the word complacency in the dictionary you’ll learn the following meaning: self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation or condition.
So whatever you do in life, AVOID it like the plague! Because in order to improve upon your existing situation – or physical well-being, for that matter – it’s always best to “stay hungry” for perfection so you can better yourself and your condition. And never be smug about it!
Regardless of your situation, always strive to better yourself and seek the higher ground.
As a kid growing up in a poor Sicilian family, my parents taught me to always strive for perfection and to believe in myself in whatever I did. Whether it was playing baseball on my unbeaten 12 year-old All-Star team, or attending auditions in the “nobody makes it here world of Hollywood”. I do my best and never get complacent with my abilities or achievements.
That’s why over the past six years since I arrived here in February 2007, I’ve been creating and innovating as much as I can. Like my more than 100 free Yoga & fitness videos posted to the Internet and new Audio-book for my memoir, Simply Between Millions: From Wall Street to Hollywood. I didn’t just settle with the paperback and digital versions. No. I wanted to make my life’s wild and inspiring journey about pursing my Hollywood calling and persevering against the odds – however great they may be against you – available on all platforms, including Audio.
So in two weeks I’ll be the proud father of another creation narrated and produced by me. Here’s a preview of what’s to come:
After two months of trying to attract the right publisher – or any publisher for that matter – I’ve decided to take the plunge! That is, take the plunge into self-publishing my memoirs with Amazon’s independent publishing company, CreateSpace. And I must say, thus far I’m quite pleased with the process and my CreateSpace team. By the looks of it, the book will be available in late January, and to say the least, I’m really looking forward to it. And for anyone not familiar with my 45 years of rather colorful stories, here’s a preview of Chapters 11-20 in, Simply Between Millions: From Wall Street to Hollywood.
At age nine I watched the 1969 classic, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. From that point on, I became fascinated with Hollywood’s “world of make-believe”. So Chapter 11, Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, is aptly named after Robert Redford’s gang of bank robbers, and sets the stage for my dreams of becoming “the Sundance Kid”. Chapter 12, The Belt, touches upon the cycle of domestic violence and the abusive grandfather I never knew and met only once, while Chapters 13 – 15, All-Stars, Going to PENN, and Just Say No, explain my early teenage years and how baseball and my parents’ “Sicilian parenting” impacted my life and set the stage for the next 30 years. In Chapter 16, Sweet 16, I unofficially become of legal drinking age and recall my not-so-virginal romance with a gal stricken with Anorexia Nervosa – a horrible disorder that rears its nasty head time and time again (as well as in my film, Boulevard Zen). Chapter 17, Jersey Shore, is quite amusing with tales of adolescent debauchery that I’m sure you’ve seen on the popular reality show of the same name, albeit, without the scripts and cameras! In Chapter 18, The Game, you’ll experience the best High School baseball game of all-time – all 20 innings worth, while Chapter 19, Dear Olde PENN, introduces you to one of the best colleges in the world, The University of Pennsylvania, as well as the gritty bars of Philadelphia in the early 80’s. As for Chapter 20, Two Minute Drill, no, it’s not about the final two minutes of a football game. Rather, imagine what it’s like drinking 8 beers in 2 minutes, and then imagine what it’s like seeing 400+ wild and crazy gals hooting it up at the hottest Ladies Club in town – with your best friend as the lead attraction!
Good stuff that makes for some fun reading! So, like I said earlier, I’m really looking forward to self-publishing my colorful memoirs in the coming months. I hope you are too. Have a wonderful day – and don’t forget to get your workout in! – R