Got 14 minutes to kill?

The New York Times Magazine amassed "Fourteen Actors Acting" for a minute each.

Some of these took me back to some exercises from acting class. One was to do a task. It's definitely easier than it sounds because it's actually a bit difficult to do something consciously what is normally done without much thought at all. So, you'd definitely get someone eating breakfast like they're using the biggest knife and fork in their hands and feeding their starving self with appreciative yummy expressions after every bite. Or the woman putting on makeup like she's off to the circus. But this was simply an exercise, it wasn't designed to be a compelling performance. But tip of the cap to Robert Duvall for showing us how it's done.

Another exercise was to execute an action with 100% emotion. The one most of us did was anger--so easy to tap after all. So we'd make breakfast so angrily that it was impossible to fathom food was actually made or we'd read a newspaper so angrily, we'd be flipping around in our chair, shaking the paper so violently it was unreadable. But the one that could tap a vulnerable emotion like fear or sadness really well? It was like watching Jennifer Lawrence.

Of the others, I enjoyed the little stories done by Javier Bardem and James Franco. I also liked seeing Noomi Rapace in such a different light from her titular character in the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series. Vincent Cassel's vignette made me smile--though technically, it was edited together, not one contiguous minute of acting. And Tilda Swilton--what is it about her? I'm always drawn to her. I totally wish I could rock the short hair like she does. Maybe she's got good face.

I'd love to hear any other opinions--