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January 2009
Digital TV delay not dead yet …
WASHINGTON (AP) White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says President Barack Obama will sign a bill to give consumers more time to get ready for the switch from analog to digital television broadcasts. The switch under current law is set for Feb. 17. The Senate earlier this week passed the bill to delay that until June, but it failed in the House under a procedure that required a two-thirds vote for passage. The Senate passed the bill again Thursday night, and the House plans to take another run at it next week under regular procedures. That means a simple majority vote is required. Gibbs said Obama will sign the bill because he wants more time to ensure that people don’t lose their television signals.
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“Need for Speed’ franchise is switching gears
LOS ANGELES — Electronic Arts is steering the popular “Need for Speed” franchise in a new direction.
The video game publisher announced plans Friday to spin off the 15-year-old racing series into three driving games on different platforms. The new games will speed into three separate genres — simulation, action and arcade racing.
“It’s all about crafting different games for different audiences,” said Keith Munro, EA marketing vice president. “The ‘Need for Speed’ brand is quite powerful. It has great recognition, even outside of gaming. When we talked to consumers about what the brand meant to them, we realized that it could be stretched to new limits on different platforms.”
The new games, expected to be released later this year, are “Need for Speed Shift,” a first-person racing simulation for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; “Need for Speed World Online,” a multiplayer action-driving game for the PC; and “Need for Speed Nitro,” an arcade-style racing game developed by EA Montreal for the Nintendo Wii and DS.
“In the past, our ‘Need for Speed’ games have done very well on all platforms,” Munro said. “We just think we can do better with this new plan. We actually have the opportunity to devote an entirely new studio and development team to the creation of a from-the-ground-up Nintendo-only ‘Need for Speed’ game. We didn’t have those resources available before.”
Munro said EA Black Box, the Canadian developer that created every previous “Need for Speed” game, has been collaborating with developer Slightly Mad Studios on “Need for Speed Shift” and EA Singapore on “Need for Speed World Online.” He also said Black Box is continuing to work on a new action driving game, despite recent companywide layoffs.
“They will still be very much involved in the development of ‘Need for Speed’ products,” Munro said. “Over the years, we’ve asked the Black Box team to deliver a new ‘Need for Speed’ game every year. We’ve gone to a couple of new studios to deliver next fall’s games to inject freshness into the category and give the Black Box team time to retrench.”
The new games have been in development for two years. The original “Need for Speed” was released in 1994 for the 3DO, PC, PlayStation and Sega Saturn systems. The most recent game, “Need for Speed Undercover,” was released last November for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii and PC.
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‘Heroes’ returns Monday
“Heroes” fans, the wait is over. The series returns to NBC Monday with the start of the promising volume 4, “Fugitives.”
Actor Masi Oka talked about the new story arc and how the show will win back fans in a conference call earlier this week. You can read what he has to say on SciFi.com.
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Popular character from ‘Shrek’ gets his own feature film
No, it’s not Donkey. It’s Puss … in Boots.
The feline swordsman voiced by Antonio Banderas will star in his own feature film, says the Hollywood Reporter. Puss In Boots just got a writer on board, though, so I don’t know when work will begin on the movie.
Until then, your next chance to catch the furball comes in Shrek Goes Fourth, due in theaters in 2010.
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What movies shouldn’t be remade?
Seeing the report about Masters of the Universe a few minutes ago got me thinking, once again, about movies that shouldn’t be remade.
Two immediately popped into my mind: Labyrinth, which just wouldn’t be the same with computer generated characters (or anything else, for that matter) replacing Jim Henson’s creations; and Princess Bride, which just can’t be improved upon.
What other movies should Hollywood stay away from?
Here are my favorite scenes from Labyrinth and Princess Bride (thanks, YouTube, for giving me the chance to watch my favorites without watching the whole movie)
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ABC’s ‘General Hospital’ getting a makeover
LOS ANGELES — The prognosis for the medical facility depicted for the past 45 years on ABC’s “General Hospital” isn’t good.
The daytime soap’s long-standing hospital set is flat-lining as part of an explosive story line. Following a fiery crisis, the show’s crew has ignited the clinical den of drama, and producers plan to construct a totally new interior.
“This story really became an opportunity to take a shot at revising the look of the hospital and refreshing it,” said executive producer Jill Farren Phelps. “It felt like the right time to update it. The style of the nurses’ station has been the same for 45 years. In daytime, space is money. This new version will incorporate a lot of usable new space.”
The fresh new set, created by production designer Chip Dox, will debut in April. It will incorporate several expansive elements, including a nurses’ station, emergency room, hospital room, elevators and stairs. Farren Phelps said that on the show, the wealthy Quartermaine family will donate the cash necessary for the hospital’s plastic surgery.
“It will have a very different look,” Farren Phelps said. “We want it to feel like you are walking into a place that feels fresh and modern. It will still be inside the same hospital. It will have the same architecture, but it will no longer be that big round nurses’ station we’ve become nostalgic about over the years.”
Since the show’s 1963 debut, the nurses’ station set has frequently been home to soapy drama — from a visit by the evil Helena Cassadine, famously played by “General Hospital” fan Elizabeth Taylor in 1981, to last year’s over-the-intercom proposal by Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson) to Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough) when both the doctors were on duty.
In this image released by ABC, the nurses hub set from the daytime series “General Hospital,” is shown ablaze. After 45 years, the ABC daytime soap’s long-standing hospital set is flatlining as part of an explosive storyline. Following a fiery crisis, the show’s crew has ignited the clinical den of drama, and producers plan to construct a totally new interior. (AP Photo/ABC, Ron Tom)
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He-Man movie in the works, too — is nothing sacred?
In the past week (or so) alone, I’ve told you about the Tomb Raider movie franchise getting a reboot, a new adaptation of the tale of Bonnie and Clyde, Daniel Craig landing a role in Tintin, Ridley Scott signing on to produce A-Team, and Tom and Jerry and other Hanna-Barbera characters getting the feature film treatment.
As if that’s not proof enough that there are no new ideas in Hollywood, now I am seeing reports that Warner Bros. is planning a Masters of the Universe movie.
Yep, He-Man and Skeletor may be coming to a screen near you.
Variety.com reports that Warner Bros. has gotten Kung Fu Panda co-director John Stevenson to direct Masters. It will mark his live-action directing debut.
Yes, a live-action He-Man. Wasn’t that tried once before? If this is the correct trailer, it looks like the 1987 movie was really cheesy.
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Elisabeth Hasselbeck expecting third child
“The View” co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is expecting her third child — and apparently she was a few months into the pregnancy before she found out, reports People.com.
She announced her pregnancy on “The View” Thursday. She and her husband, Tim, have a 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.
Apparently Hasselbeck wasn’t feeling well on election night, but had chalked it up to the hoopla. “No — I was knocked up and didn’t realize it,” she told her co-workers and audience.
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EA and Spielberg plan ‘Boom Blox’ sequel
Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts are planning a sequel to last year’s “Boom Blox” video game, says the Hollywood Reporter.
The sequel, “Boom Blox Bash Party,” will be available for the Nintendo Wii. Supposedly the game will have 400 new levels and “increased multiplayer action,” says the entertainment industry trade publication.
Here’s the trailer for the first one, to give you an idea of what the game is about:
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Run-DMC story may be headed to big screen
I may not be reading the article on HollywoodReporter.com correctly, but it looks like a biopic of superstar rap group Run-DMC is in the works.
I’m confused because it’s being adapted from the book Tougher than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC — the Authorized Biography, so it sounds like it has a script (and Cheo Hodari Coker, who penned Notorious, has been attached to the movie). However, Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels are still alive, so it could be more of a documentary.
I guess at this point we’ll just have to wait until the film either starts casting or starts production to find out more.
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Fox takes on ‘Narnia’
Twentieth Century Fox has committed to developing the third movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series, reports Variety.com.
Disney dropped out of making Voyage of the Dawn Treader last month, leaving Walden Media searching for another financier.
Fox and Walden will split production costs for the movie. Budgeting and script issues still need to be solved, but the studios hope to begin filming this summer.
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Kim Kardashian thinks Jessica Simpson ‘looks hot’
Have you heard the buzz about Jessica Simpson’s weight gain? It’s a lot of uproar over the fact she looks curvy and healthy, I think.
Several celebrities — as well as some bloggers and commentators, something I’m glad to see — have jumped to her defense. Obviously little sister Ashlee Simpson-Wentz has stood up for Simpson, posting on her blog that she’s disgusted by the headlines.
And reality show star Kim Kardashian says she thinks Jessica Simpson “looks hot,” according to People.com.
How sad is it that a celebrity’s weight change causes such nastiness and speculation? A star loses some weight, and people start freaking out and thinking she’s anorexic. Her stomach goes from perfectly flat or even concave to slightly fuller, and the tabloids freak out and think she’s pregnant. She puts on weight, and they have a field day. And don’t get me started on the apparent definition of fat.
Is it any wonder so many American girls and women have low self-esteem and food issues?
Jessica Simpson, I think you look beautiful.
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Shopping and decorating magazine Domino closing its doors
Home decor magazine Domino will cease publication after putting out its March issue, reports The New York Times.
Despite its popularity — it had a circulation of 800,000 — the Conde Nast publication was not profitable and had been losing ad revenue, says the Times.
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House defeats bill to delay digital TV
WASHINGTON — Bucking the Obama administration, House Republicans on Wednesday defeated a bill to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — leaving an estimated 6.5 million U.S. households unprepared for the currently scheduled Feb. 17 switchover.
But the battle over a delay may not be over, with some predicting the House will take up the measure again next week.
Wednesday’s 258-168 House vote failed to clear the two-thirds threshold needed for passage in a victory for GOP members, who warn that postponing the transition by four months would confuse consumers.
House Republicans say a delay also would burden wireless companies and public safety agencies waiting for the spectrum that will be freed up by the switch, and create added costs for television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals for four more months.
The defeat is a setback for President Barack Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who maintain that the Bush administration bungled efforts to ensure that all consumers — particularly poor, rural and low-income Americans — will be ready for next month’s analog shut-off. The Obama administration had no immediate comment on the House vote.
Despite Wednesday’s setback, House Democrats are not out of options. Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal policy at the Consumers Union, which has been lobbying for a delay, said he hopes the House will bring the bill up again for a regular floor vote, which would only require majority support to pass. Wednesday’s vote took place under a special procedure that required two-thirds support for passage.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said he is working with the Obama administration and congressional leaders to explore all available options.
“A clear majority in Congress supports postponing the transition and providing assistance to the millions of households that are unprepared,” Waxman said in a statement.
Wednesday’s House vote came two days after the Senate unanimously passed the bill, sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill again — possibly as early as Wednesday night — to incorporate minor changes in the House version so that it can go directly to the White House for President Obama’s signature if it clears the House next week. Congress in 2005 required broadcasters to switch from analog to digital signals, which are more efficient, to free up valuable chunks of wireless spectrum to be used for commercial services and interoperable emergency-response networks.
The Nielsen Co. estimates more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals still are not prepared for the planned transition.
Still, Jonathan Collegio, vice president for the digital television transition at the National Association of Broadcasters, argues the Nielsen estimate may overstate the number of viewers who are not ready. He noted that the numbers exclude consumers who have already purchased a converter box but not yet installed it, as well as those who have requested coupons but not yet received them.
What’s more, consumers who subscribe to cable or satellite TV service or who own a TV with a digital tuner will not lose reception.
Speaking on the House floor late Tuesday, Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Commerce Committee, insisted a postponement is not necessary.
“We could do nothing worse than to delay this transition date,” Barton said in a statement Wednesday. “The bill is a solution looking for a problem that exists mostly in the mind of the Obama administration.”
Barton led the push to scuttle the bill, which passed the Senate on Monday night after lawmakers in that chamber struck a bipartisan compromise. Senate Democrats won over Republican support by allowing broadcast stations to make the switch from analog to digital signals sooner than the June deadline if they choose and permitting public safety agencies to take over vacant spectrum promised to them as soon as it becomes available.
But those concessions did not placate most Republicans in the House. Only 22 Republicans voted for the bill, while 155 voted against it. Among House Democrats, 236 voted for the bill and just 13 voted against it.
The Obama administration called for the transition date to be postponed after the Commerce Department early this month hit a $1.34 billion funding limit for coupons to subsidize digital TV converter boxes for consumers. The coupon program allows consumers to request up to two $40 vouchers per household to help pay for the boxes, which translate digital signals back into analog ones for older TVs. The boxes generally cost between $40 and $80 each and can be purchased without a coupon.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department administering the program, is now sending out new coupons only as older, unredeemed ones reach a 90-day expiration date and free up more money. The NTIA had more than 3.2 million coupon requests on a waiting list as of Wednesday and those people will not receive their coupons before Feb. 17.
Barton, for one, is pushing legislation to fix the coupon program without delaying next month’s transition.
Yet Rockefeller said a delay is the only way to ensure that millions of Americans don’t see their television screens go dark next month.
“The outgoing Bush administration grossly mismanaged the digital television transition and consumers are confused, households are not prepared, and the coupon program for converter boxes is broken,” Rockefeller said in a statement after the House vote.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which threw its support behind Rockefeller’s bill this week, declined to comment on Wednesday’s vote.
Among the big broadcast networks, The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC said it supports a delay, while CBS Corp. said it is “open to any plan that makes the digital transition easier for our viewers.” News Corp.’s Fox Network had no comment Wednesday, although it has previously said it “supports any efforts to ensure that the transition to digital television is a success.”
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The Boss coming to Austin on April 5
The Austin American-Statesman reports that Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band are performing April 5 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin as part of his spring national tour.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 7 and cost $39, $55 and $80 (plus those ever-ballooning service charges) through Texas Box Office (www.texasboxoffice.com with outlets including the Bell County Expo Center, Killeen’s Renaissance Records and some H-E-Bs in Temple, Georgetown, Round Rock and the Austin area)
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Lynyrd Skynyrd pianist dies
Billy Powell, pianist for southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died at his Orange Park, Fla., condo at the age of 56. according to this story on jacksonville.com. No cause of death was given.
Powell joined the band in 1970 and survived the 1977 plane crash that killed band leader and guitarist Ronnie Van Zandt. He played briefly with the Christian rock band Vision after his conversion and toured with Christian rocker Mylon LeFevre. He joined the revived Lynyrd Skynyrd that started up in 1987. He and guitarist Gary Rossington were the only members from the original band.
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Paul McCartney set for ‘Colbert Report’ visit
LOS ANGELES — The Comedy Central TV channel says Paul McCartney is going to drop in on Stephen Colbert.
McCartney will be a guest on Wednesday’s “The Colbert Report,” talking up his latest album, “Electric Arguments.” The work represents a collaboration between the former Beatle and producer-musician Youth, and was released under the band name the Fireman.
“The Colbert Report” airs at 10:30 p.m. CST weeknights.
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Warner Bros. may revamp ‘Tomb Raider’ movie franchise
An article on scifi.com (The Sci Fi channel’s Web site) says Warner Bros. is looking to reboot the Tomb Raider movie series.
The movie is expected to revamp the character, her origins, her love life, her arch-enemy and her missions — in other words, “bear little resemblance to the two Paramount movies also based on the game, 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and 2003’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” both of which starred Angelina Jolie, says the article.
Hey, it worked for Batman.
No word yet on who will play Croft this time — first the project will need a writer and director.
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‘Grey’s’ creator has new show in the works
“Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes is reportedly working on a new show about “the juicy lives of Washington, D.C., journalists,” says TVGuide.com.
The Web site says she has gotten the go-ahead on the new pilot, “Inside the Box,” from ABC, one of three pilots to have gotten the green light from the network.
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Is Joaquin Phoenix’s rap career a hoax?
Last week Joaquin Phoenix debuted his new career as a rap artist.
Now friends of his are telling Entertainment Weekly that it’s a hoax. It may be this is all an attempt to reboot his career by “trying to both lampoon pompous actors and punk the media that covers them,” says EW.com’s Hollywood Insider blog.
Keep in mind, though, Entertainment Weekly doesn’t identify the sources of this information, so it could just be someone trying to punk the magazine. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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Coming up in this week’s Access Waco
In this week’s Access Waco, Carl Hoover talks to musicians with rock bands Disturbed and Sevendust about their upcoming concert in Bell County. Also, he answers an age-old question — What is Christian ballet? — through an interview with the founder of Ballet Magnificat. Plus, he talks about the upcoming season of “Texas Music Cafe,” which kicks off this weekend.
You’ll find all that and more in Thursday’s Access Waco.
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Joe Carnahan, Ridley Scott signed on for Fox’s ‘A-Team’
By now you may have heard that Twentieth Century Fox is trying to bring ’80s TV show ‘The A-Team’ to the silver screen.
So far, according to Variety, the studio has signed on Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces) to direct and Ridley Scott (Body of Lies director) to produce, along with his brother Tony Scott. A script is also already in the works.
No word yet on the cast, though the studio is hoping to begin production in June and release the film in June 2010.
Fox is hoping to keep the movie from being as campy as the TV show. Says Variety: “Fox has struggled to find a way to exploit the branded TV show while avoiding the series’ campy tone. … Carnahan and the Scott brothers say they will use the original premise of the series as the template for an action film. In the original, four Vietnam vets convicted of armed robbery escape from military prison and became do-gooder mercenaries.”
And, no surprises here, the Middle East will replace Vietnam as the place where the team does its tour of duty.
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Is Olivia Newton-John’s missing boyfriend alive?
Olivia Newton-John’s boyfriend disappeared more than three years ago, and was believed to have drowned at sea, but now a private investigator hired by “Dateline NBC” says he may still be alive, reports People.com.
Reportedly the boyfriend, Patrick McDermott, has been spotted along Mexican and South American coasts. You can read more about it at People.com.
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From Edward Cullen to Salvador Dali
Call it “A Portrait of the Vampire as a Young Artist” (sorry, I couldn’t resist): It looks like the next Robert Pattinson movie to hit theaters, Little Ashes, has the Twilight actor portraying offbeat artist Salvador Dali.
The movie, set in 1922, apparently focuses on the Spanish surrealist’s love affair with poet Federico Garcia Lorca, played by Javier Beltran, says People magazine’s Web site.
You can see a picture of Pattinson as Dali on People.com.
Of course, whether that movie hits Waco theaters has yet to be determined, but it’s expected to open in the U.S. in March.
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‘Rocket Boys’ is One Book, One Waco spring selection
I used to build and fly model rockets, and I saw the movie October Sky, so the inner science geek in me was thrilled to learn that the spring 2009 One Book, One Waco selection is Rocket Boys, the first of three books by retired NASA engineer Homer Hickam, whose love of rocketry got him out the mining town of Coalwood, W.Va. and into the U.S. space program.
The spring book choice was unveiled this morning at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce building. Not surprisingly, the primary sponsor for this endeavor is SpaceX, the engine and structural test facility down the road in McGregor. Lauren Dreyer, an aerospace engineer at SpaceX who had to step into the role of company spokeswoman when SpaceX’s late-night test-firing of its rocket engines last fall sent the western half of McLennan County into a tizzy, unveiled the book selection with Lewis Snell, chairman of the One Book, One Waco planning committee. (See photo above; click to enlarge)
Eight of the nine members of the rocketry club at Rapoport Academy Public School were on hand for the book’s introduction. The rocketry club was supposed to fire off one of its model rockets (and they brought with them a 4-foot-tall model) after the presentation, but not unlike NASA, the nasty weather forced them to scrub the mission. Gaylene Reed, the school’s institutional development director, promised that the rocket would blast off on the next available clear day.
Also present were seven first- through sixth-graders from Waco Montessori School, representing an expansion of the program with the spring book. For the first time (this is the fourth book in the One Book, One Waco series), the program will have a companion book for elementary students. It will be Max Goes to Jupiter by Jeffrey Bennett. Complimentary paperback copies of Rocket Boys were given to some of the students.
Fifth-grader Emma Catherine McKenzie, 10, (seen at left; click to enlarge) started reading the book after third-graders Jackson Anderson and Jacob Jansing were finished scanning the back of the jacket. I think she was already on Page 15 when it was time to leave. They were joined by Jackson’s 7-year-old sister Holley and sixth-grade triplets Logan, Austin and Cassidy Hector.
Dr. Roland Goertz, chairman of the chamber, began the presentation by saying that at a recent inter-city meeting in Oklahoma City, an official there commented on what a great idea the One Book, One Waco program is.
Snell, from McLennan Community College, said the program has expanded with the addition of a planning committee, which he chairs, to the existing advisory and book selection committees. More high schools also will be getting the spring book than have in the past.
Bryan Fonville, student body president at Baylor and chairman of the book selection committee, thanked the Waco-McLennan County Library and director James Karney for selecting the companion book for elementary students.
SpaceX’s Dreyer said she’s looking forward to the chance to let residents meet “Waco’s very own Rocket Boys of SpaceX.” After the presentation she met with the visiting students (photo at right; click to enlarge) and I overheard her invite the rocketry club for a tour of SpaceX’s McGregor site. Of course, that received an enthusiastic “yes!”
Allan Marshall, managing director of One Book, One Waco, is still recovering from more than a week in Washington, D.C., where he served as an adviser to students at the Presidential Inaugural Conference and soaked in President Barack Obama’s inauguration. He wrapped up the presentation by stating his desire to “promote unity in the community with One Book, One Waco.”
More information is on the chamber Web site.
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John Updike, prize-winning writer, dead at age 76
NEW YORK — John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76.
Updike, a resident of Beverly Farms, Mass., died of lung cancer, according to a statement from his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf.
A literary writer who frequently appeared on best-seller lists, the tall, hawk-nosed Updike wrote novels, short stories, poems, criticism, the memoir “Self-Consciousness” and even a famous essay about baseball great Ted Williams. He was prolific, even compulsive, releasing more than 50 books in a career that started in the 1950s. Updike won virtually every literary prize, including two Pulitzers, for “Rabbit Is Rich” and “Rabbit at Rest,” and two National Book Awards.
Although himself deprived of a Nobel, he did bestow it upon one of his fictional characters, Henry Bech, the womanizing, egotistical Jewish novelist who collected the literature prize in 1999.
His settings ranged from the court of “Hamlet” to postcolonial Africa, but his literary home was the American suburb. Born in 1932, Updike spoke for millions of Depression-era readers raised by “penny-pinching parents,” united by “the patriotic cohesion of World War II” and blessed by a “disproportionate share of the world’s resources,” the postwar, suburban boom of “idealistic careers and early marriages.”
He captured, and sometimes embodied, a generation’s confusion over the civil rights and women’s movements, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Updike was called a misogynist, a racist and an apologist for the establishment. On purely literary grounds, he was attacked by Norman Mailer as the kind of author appreciated by readers who knew nothing about writing.
But more often he was praised for his flowing, poetic writing style. Describing a man’s interrupted quest to make love, Updike likened it “to a small angel to which all afternoon tiny lead weights are attached.” Nothing was too great or too small for Updike to poeticize. He might rhapsodize over the film projector’s “chuckling whir” or look to the stars and observe that “the universe is perfectly transparent: we exist as flaws in ancient glass.”
In the richest detail, his books recorded the extremes of earthly desire and spiritual zealotry, whether the comic philandering of the preacher in “A Month of Sundays” or the steady rage of the young Muslim in “Terrorist.” Raised in the Protestant community of Shillington, Pa., where the Lord’s Prayer was recited daily at school, Updike was a lifelong churchgoer influenced by his faith, but not immune to doubts.
“I remember the times when I was wrestling with these issues that I would feel crushed. I was crushed by the purely materialistic, atheistic account of the universe,” Updike told The Associated Press during a 2006 interview.
“I am very prone to accept all that the scientists tell us, the truth of it, the authority of the efforts of all the men and woman spent trying to understand more about atoms and molecules. But I can’t quite make the leap of unfaith, as it were, and say, `This is it. Carpe diem (seize the day), and tough luck.’”
He received his greatest acclaim for the “Rabbit” series, a quartet of novels published over a 30-year span that featured ex-high school basketball star Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom and his restless adjustment to adulthood and the constraints of work and family. To the very end, Harry was in motion, an innocent in his belief that any door could be opened, a believer in God even as he bedded women other than his wife.
“The tetralogy to me is the tale of a life, a life led an American citizen who shares the national passion for youth, freedom, and sex, the national openness and willingness to learn, the national habit of improvisation,” Updike would later write. “He is furthermore a Protestant, haunted by a God whose manifestations are elusive, yet all-important.”
Other notable books included “Couples,” a sexually explicit tale of suburban mating that sold millions of copies; “In the Beauty of the Lilies,” an epic of American faith and fantasy; and “Too Far to Go, which followed the courtship, marriage and divorce of the Maples, a suburban couple with parallels to Updike’s own first marriage.
Plagued from an early age by asthma, psoriasis and a stammer, he found creative outlets in drawing and writing. Updike was born in Reading, Pa., his mother a department store worker who longed to write, his father a high school teacher remembered with sadness and affection in “The Centaur,” a novel published in 1964. The author brooded over his father’s low pay and mocking students, but also wrote of a childhood of “warm and action-packed houses that accommodated the presence of a stranger, my strange ambition to be glamorous.”
For Updike, the high life meant books, such as the volumes of P.G. Wodehouse and Robert Benchley he borrowed from the library as a child, or, as he later recalled, the “chastely severe, time-honored classics” he read in his dorm room at Harvard University, leaning back in his “wooden Harvard chair,” cigarette in hand.
While studying on full scholarship at Harvard, he headed the staff of the Harvard Lampoon and met the woman who became his first wife, Mary Entwistle Pennington, whom he married in June 1953, a year before he earned his A.B. degree summa cum laude. (Updike divorced Pennington in 1975 and was remarried two years later, to Martha Bernhard).
After graduating, he accepted a one-year fellowship to study painting at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts at Oxford University. During his stay in England, a literary idol, E.B. White, offered him a position at The New Yorker, where he served briefly as foreign books reviewer. Many of Updike’s reviews and short stories were published in The New Yorker, often edited by White’s stepson, Roger Angell.
By the end of the 1950s, Updike had published a story collection, a book of poetry and his first novel, “The Poorhouse Fair,” soon followed by the first of the Rabbit books, “Rabbit, Run.” Praise came so early and so often that New York Times critic Arthur Mizener worried that Updike’s “natural talent” was exposing him “from an early age to a great deal of head-turning praise.”
Updike learned to write about everyday life by, in part, living it. In 1957, he left New York, with its “cultural hassle” and melting pot of “agents and wisenheimers,” and settled with his first wife and four kids in Ipswich, Mass, a “rather out-of-the-way town” about 30 miles north of Boston.
“The real America seemed to me ‘out there,’ too heterogeneous and electrified by now to pose much threat of the provinciality that people used to come to New York to escape,” Updike later wrote.
“There were also practical attractions: free parking for my car, public education for my children, a beach to tan my skin on, a church to attend without seeming too strange.”
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Hilary Duff to star in ‘Bonnie and Clyde’
Hilary Duff will star in The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, a new adaptation of the tale of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, reports Variety. The industry trade publication says it’s not a remake of the 1967 film starring Warren Beatty.
Starring as Clyde is Kevin Zegers (The Jane Austen Book Club).
Looks like the movie will be filmed in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Not in Texas, even though both were born in the state (Parker in Rowena and Barrow in Ellis County, according to Wikipedia), and not in Waco, where Barrow managed to talk his way out of jail after being arrested.
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More “Watchmen” fun
Here’s a look back at Dr. Manhattan… actually, a look back at a look back, since it’s notionally a 1970 news report on the tenth anniversary of the superhero’s public unveiling. (If you haven’t read the comic book it’s based on, it helps to know that Dr. Manhattan is the only one of the book’s/movie’s heroes and villains to actually have superpowers.)
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Hargitay back at work
Mariska Hargitay has returned to the set of “Law & Order: SVU,” a couple weeks after suffering partially a collapsed lung, reports TVGuide.com.
The actress, who plays Detective Olivia Benson, had been on vacation when she first suffered the ailment.
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Stan Lee Media suing … Stan Lee?
Talk about infighting: Stan Lee Media Inc. shareholders are suing founder Stan Lee, Marvel Entertainment and others “as part of a long-running legal battle for profits,” reports Reuters.
The lawsuit, which apparently was filed Monday in Manhattan, “said that in October 1998 Lee, creator of characters such as ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Ironman’ and ‘Incredible Hulk,’ transferred all his interest in Marvel characters and his interest in the name and trademark ‘Marvel’ to SLMI,” reports Reuters.
SLMI went into Chapter 11 reorganization and bankruptcy in 2001 and emerged from it in 2006.
Marvel declined to comment, and Lee and his attorney could not be reached, said Reuters.
The article on Reuters doesn’t have much more in the way of details, so what exactly led to the lawsuit, I have no idea.
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Daniel Craig nabs role in ‘Tintin’
Daniel Craig will play a villain in the movie The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, reports the BBC.
The British actor, best known for playing Bond, James Bond, will star as Red Rackham. Young reporter Tintin will be played Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot and, most recently, Defiance, which also stars Craig), says the BBC.
Tintin will be directed by Steven Spielberg, of all people, and also stars Simon Pegg (Run Fatboy Run and this year’s Star Trek).
And a sequel is already in the works — with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson lined up to direct.
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Here’s a treat for Pat Green fans
If you didn’t get to see Pat Green at Hastings Monday night, don’t despair. We have a video of his performance — check it out by clicking here.
I had forgotten how good a showman he is. The last time I saw Green in concert was, I think, when he opened for Keith Urban a few years ago — still one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. And that Green comes back to Waco to give a free performance is just incredible. It’s a shame that other famous people from this area don’t do the same.
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ABC to put “Ugly Betty” on hiatus in March
“Ugly Betty” will go on a short hiatus in March, replaced by two sitcoms as ABC tries out a Thursday night comedy block, according to an article on Reuters.
According to the article, the single-mom comedy “In the Motherhood” will start at 7 p.m. March 26, and “Samantha Who?” will move from Mondays to the 7:30 p.m. Thursday slot.
“Ugly Betty” will return after the two comedies finish their runs.
“The move also represents one of the first hints that ABC might be getting frustrated with the performance of ‘Betty,’ which has served as a dependable yet relatively modest lead-in for top-rated ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ” said the article.
Well, as a fan of “Betty,” I can tell you right now, ABC, that I will not tune in for the comedies. Boycott, anyone?
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SAG fires executive director
Looks like Doug Allen is finally gone from the Screen Actors Guild.
The New York Times says the guild, which has become divided in recent weeks over whether to strike, fired Allen Monday night. Allen was “the architect of the union’s hard-line approach to contract talks with studios,” says the Times.
The firing comes a couple weeks after a previous attempt to oust him was blocked by a filibuster.
No word yet on whether the strike authorization vote will go ahead, but I would guess not.
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Rolling Stone offers ‘Guitar Hero: Metallica’ sneak peek
If you can’t wait for the new “Guitar Hero” game, “Guitar Hero: Metallica,” to hit stores, check out this sneak peek from Rolling Stone magazine.
The game is due out March 29 (for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 — folks who own a Wii or PS2 will have to wait). Rolling Stone says: “Everything about the game, from the menu animations based on art by Pushead, Metallica’s long-running collaborating artist, to venues and stage sets from all phases of the band’s career to signature lighting effects and crowd chants will be familiar to fans. The motion-capture used to animate the band is strikingly lifelike, as all of the signature moves are there…”
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‘Burn Notice’ return gets good ratings
The USA original series “Burn Notice” scored its best results ever in the adults 18-49 category with its return episode Thursday night — even though it was going up against ABC’s “Private Practice,” CBS’ “The Eleventh Hour” and NBC’s “ER,” reports Variety.com.
The series, which stars Jeffrey Donovan (Changeling, Hitch) as a fired spy, also fell just short (5,000) of its all-time high in total viewers.
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Sundance honors ‘Push,’ ‘We Live in Public’
PARK CITY, Utah — The Sundance Film Festival’s prizes for best U.S. drama on Saturday went to Push, the dark yet hopeful story of a young woman finding her way out of nightmarish circumstances in 1980s Harlem.
Based on the 1996 first novel by the poet Sapphire and directed by Lee Daniels, Push won both the grand jury and audience awards. The film version is subtitled “Based on the novel by Sapphire” to distinguish it from the Dakota Fanning-Chris Evans sci-fi thriller due out next month.
The penultimate night of the 11-day festival, the nation’s premiere showcase for independent film, was marked by political references and jangled nerves.
Sundance Institute executive director Ken Brecher hoisted an honorary festival pass with the new U.S. president’s name on it, and presenter Joseph Gordon-Levitt tugged at his red Barack Obama T-shirt, saying: “These awards are exercises in democracy, and it’s a good time for democracy right now.”
Gordon-Levitt cheered and gave Daniels a big hug before presenting the audience award to his film, which stars Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey and Paula Patton alongside newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, who plays pregnant 16-year-old Precious Jones.
“This is so important to me because this is speaking for every minority that’s in Harlem, that’s in Detroit, that’s in Watts, that’s being abused, that can’t read, that’s obese and that we turn our back on,” Daniels said. “And this is for every gay little boy and girl that’s being tortured. If I can do this … ya’ll can do this.”
When he picked up the grand jury prize later in the evening, Daniels acknowledged: “I’m drunk. I got like three shots right after we got the last one.”
The grand jury prize for U.S. documentary went to We Live in Public, focusing on little-known Internet pioneer Josh Harris and his failed “lifecasting” art projects in 1999 and 2000. The film was directed by Ondi Timoner, whose Dig! won the same award in 2004.
Timoner dedicated the honor to Harris, calling him “the first subject I’ve ever had that said I don’t care how you portray me as long as you make a great film.”
Nicholas Jasenovec and Charlyne Yi won the Waldo Salt screenwriting award for Paper Heart, a hybrid documentary-improv road movie featuring Yi and Michael Cera.
“I feel sick. I’m sweaty. I smell bad,” said Yi, a performance artist and comedian best known for a bit part in Knocked Up and her relationship with Cera.
She finished by addressing other filmmakers in the audience: “Who knows what’ll happen to our films but at least they were seen.”
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Disney gives ‘Seeker’ a second season
“Legend of the Seeker,” a “Xena”-esque drama based on author Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” series, is getting a second season, reports Variety.com.
Its ratings aren’t great (it had a 1.6 household rating for the week of Jan. 5-11), but are good enough for a Saturday night show. Variety says it also fills a void for Tribune Company’s CW affiliates (such as Dallas’ KDAF): “Tribune stations run ‘Seeker,’ a ‘Lord of the Rings’-esque vehicle, on Saturday nights when there is no CW-supplied programming.”
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Dakota Fanning hoping for role in ‘New Moon’
According to an article on People.com, 14-year-old actress Dakota Fanning is hoping she gets to join the cast of New Moon, the sequel to the hit movie Twilight.
The Web site says Fanning told Hitflix.com: “I really hope it works out. It would be a really fantastic experience, I’m sure.”
She was reportedly offered the role of Jane without auditioning because “director Chris Weitz is so confident that Fanning is right for the part,” said People.
Filming begins in March in the U.S. and Italy.
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‘Mall Cop’ still No. 1
Paul Blart: Mall Cop held the top spot at the box office for a second week, beating Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and now is expected to make more than $100 million, reports Reuters.
Mall Cop took in an estimated $21.5 million over the weekend, raising its total to $64.8 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking and analysis firm Media By Numbers, told Reuters: “It’s going to be a $100 million-plus movie now and I don’t think anybody thought that was possible,”
Underworld fell just short of the top spot, bringing in $20.7 million in its debut weekend.
Gran Torino dropped to third place, with Hotel for Dogs and Slumdog Millionaire rounding out the top five.
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More awards for ‘Slumdog’
The underdog film Slumdog Millionaire received another honor over the weekend: best cast of a motion picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The Associated Press says that honor “is tantamount to best picture from the guild.”
Also honored Sunday night: Sean Penn as lead actor for his role in Milk; Meryl Streep as lead-female actor for Doubt; Heath Ledger as supporting actor for Dark Knight; and Kate Winslet as supporting actress for The Reader.
“Mad Men,” “30 Rock,” Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Sally Field and Hugh Laurie won in the TV categories.
But the 800-pound gorilla in the room was the internal strife that has plagued the guild for a few weeks now. You can read more about that at Reuters.com.
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‘Law & Order’ alumna joining ‘Samantha Who?’
Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello is reporting that “Law & Order” alumna Angie Harmon is joining the cast of “Samantha Who?” as the crazy ex-wife of Sam’s boyfriend.
I’ve never really watched the show starring Christina Applegate, but I’ve been a fan of Harmon since she was on “Law & Order.” I might check out “Samantha” just to see her, but apparently the show’s on hiatus while ABC is showing “expanded episodes of ‘The Bachelor,’ ” says Ausiello.
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‘Idol’ beat ‘Lost’
“American Idol” beat the return of “Lost” Wednesday, with 25.4 million people tuning in for the singing competition, says The New York Times. The two-hour “Lost” premiere averaged 11.4 million viewers.
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Kelly Osbourne going to rehab
Kelly Osbourne, who, as we learned earlier this week, was arrested in London earlier this month on charges she slapped a gossip columnist last summer, has entered rehab, reports MTV.com.
The 24-year-old daughter of rocker Ozzy and reality show judge Sharon Osbourne has checked into a rehab center near Los Angeles for 30 days, says the MTV Web site. She reportedly has been in rehab twice before, struggling with an addiction to pills.
As for why she entered rehab this time, we don’t know.
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The other three trailers
And, so that I don’t slow down anyone’s computer too much, here are the other three trailers for movies opening in Waco Friday. Again, you can find these on YouTube.
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Coming to Waco movie theaters
Revolutionary Road, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, Inkheart, Rachel Getting Married and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans are all opening at Waco movie theaters Friday, and the Tribune-Herald will have reviews of all save Underworld, which was not screened for critics.
Need help deciding what to see? Here are some of the trailers, which you can find on YouTube:
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Inaugural ratings good, but maybe not the best
Early estimates from Nielsen show that more than 29 percent of U.S. households watched the inauguration of Barack Obama, reports Variety.com.
Those numbers are the best since Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981. That inauguration was watched by more than 37 percent of households.
A few factors to consider: the Reagan inauguration was shown on three channels (ABC, CBS and NBC), while Obama’s aired on 15 networks, according to Variety. President Obama’s numbers, however, don’t include online viewership.
Plus, I think you have to consider the increase in the number of households (so it’s possible the number of households watching was higher Tuesday than in 1981) and the increase in channels (if you wanted to watch TV on Tuesday but didn’t want to watch the inauguration, you had a lot of other options).
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Tom and Jerry getting the CG treatment
Thanks to the success of the CG Alvin and the Chipmunks, Tom and Jerry are headed to the big screen, reports Variety.com.
Warner Bros. is turning the cat and mouse into “CG characters that run around in live-action settings,” says the industry trade publication.
Because Alvin and the Chipmunks and Garfield were such good movies.
And Tom and Jerry aren’t the only Hanna-Barbera characters headed to the big screen. The Jetsons and Yogi Bear also have movies in the works.
By the way, the Chipmunks sequel is scheduled for release in 2010.
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Is George Clooney headed back to ‘ER’?
That’s the rumor, anyway. Entertainment Weekly’s Web site is quoting an online report that George Clooney will make a cameo on the medical drama, which is in its final season.
If you’ve been watching the show, you’ve seen Anthony Edwards make a cameo (didn’t his character, Mark Greene, die?), along with Alex Kingston (Elizabeth Corday) and others.
The series will end in early April.
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Parents group warning about new Spears song
The Parents Television Council is asking radio stations not to broadcast the new Britney Spears song “because the nonprofit organization believes it ‘would violate the broadcast indecency law ‘if aired between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.,’ ” according to an article on Reuters.com.
What’s wrong with the song? The title, “If U Seek Amy,” when said quickly out loud, sounds a bit like you are spelling out the F-word, according to the nonprofit group’s president, Tim Winter. “There is no misinterpreting the lyrics to this song, and it’s certainly not about a girl named Amy,” he said in the article.
So far, according to the article, radio stations are still playing the track, and “Amy” has sold 107,000 digital copies in the U.S.
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Snubbed!
Can you believe The Dark Knight was left out of the best picture category for the Oscars? Honestly, that movie and Iron Man were two of the best films out this year, and both were ignored for the major categories (with the exception of Heath Ledger’s best supporting actor nod).
And, really, WALL-E should have been up for best picture as well. It was so well done.
Oh well. Another year, another chance for Oscar to honor Small But Important pictures.
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‘Button’ gets 13 Oscar nominations
The romantic fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button led Academy Awards contenders today with 13 nominations, among them best picture and acting honors for Brad Pitt and Taraji P. Henson and a directing slot for David Fincher.
Other best-picture nominees are Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader” and Slumdog Millionaire.
Heath Ledger had a supporting-actor nomination for “The Dark Knight,” but the Batman blockbuster was shut out for other top categories such as best picture and director.
Slumdog Millionaire lived up to its rags-to-riches theme, coming in second with 10 nominations, including a directing spot for Danny Boyle and two of the three song slots.
Real-life couple Pitt and Angelina Jolie both will be going to the Oscars as nominees. Jolie had a best-actress nomination for the missing-child drama Changeling.
Kate Winslet won two Golden Globes, best dramatic actress for Revolutionary Road and supporting actress for The Reader. But she was nominated for lead actress at the Oscars for The Reader and shut out for Revolutionary Road.
Other best-actress nominees were Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married; Melissa Leo, Frozen River; and Meryl Streep, Doubt.
Joining Pitt in the best-actor category were Richard Jenkins, The Visitor; Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon; Sean Penn, Milk; and Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.
The full list of nominees is below.
Complete list of 81st annual Academy Award nominations announced Thursday:
Best Picture: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”Frost/Nixon,” ”Milk,” ”The Reader,” ”Slumdog Millionaire.”
Actor: Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”; Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”; Sean Penn, “Milk”; Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler.”
Actress: Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”; Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”; Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”; Meryl Streep, “Doubt”; Kate Winslet, “The Reader.”
Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, “Milk”; Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”; Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”; Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”; Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road.”
Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, “Doubt”; Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”; Viola Davis, “Doubt”; Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler.”
Director: David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”; Gus Van Sant, “Milk”; Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”; Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Foreign Film: “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” Germany; “The Class,” France; “Departures,” Japan; “Revanche,” Austria; “Waltz With Bashir,” Israel.
Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; John Patrick Shanley, “Doubt”; Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon”; David Hare, “The Reader”; Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Original Screenplay: Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”; Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”; Martin McDonagh, “In Bruges”; Dustin Lance Black, “Milk”; Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter, “WALL-E.”
Animated Feature Film: “Bolt”; “Kung Fu Panda”; “WALL-E.”
Art Direction: “Changeling,” ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”The Dark Knight,” ”The Duchess,” ”Revolutionary Road.”
Cinematography: “Changeling,” ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”The Dark Knight,” ”The Reader,” ”Slumdog Millionaire.”
Sound Mixing: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”The Dark Knight,” ”Slumdog Millionaire,” ”WALL-E,” ”Wanted.”
Sound Editing: “The Dark Knight,” ”Iron Man,” ”Slumdog Millionaire,” ”WALL-E,” ”Wanted.”
Original Score: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Alexandre Desplat; “Defiance,” James Newton Howard; “Milk,” Danny Elfman; “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman; “WALL-E,” Thomas Newman.
Original Song: “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E,” Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman; “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman and Gulzar; “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam.
Costume: “Australia,” ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”The Duchess,” ”Milk,” ”Revolutionary Road.”
Documentary Feature: “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon),” ”Encounters at the End of the World,” ”The Garden,” ”Man on Wire,” ”Trouble the Water.”
Documentary (short subject): “The Conscience of Nhem En,” ”The Final Inch,” ”Smile Pinki,” ”The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306.”
Film Editing: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”The Dark Knight,” ”Frost/Nixon,” ”Milk,” ”Slumdog Millionaire.”
Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”The Dark Knight,” ”Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”
Animated Short Film: “La Maison en Petits Cubes,” ”Lavatory — Lovestory,” ”Oktapodi,” ”Presto,” ”This Way Up.”
Live Action Short Film: “Auf der Strecke (On the Line),” ”Manon on the Asphalt,” ”New Boy,” ”The Pig,” ”Spielzeugland (Toyland).”
Visual Effects: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ”The Dark Knight,” ”Iron Man.”
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‘Fearless’ holds No. 1 spot
Sorry for the delay in blog posts. I’ve been having some technical difficulties.
Taylor Swift’s album Fearless “begins a seventh week at No. 1 on The Billboard 200,” says Billboard.com, something that hasn’t been accomplished since Usher’s Confessions stayed at No. 1 for nine weeks back in 2004. The album sold 63,000 copies in the U.S.
Will she continue to hold the top spot to the nine-week mark? This week didn’t see much in the way of new releases, but next week brings new albums from Pat Green, Hoobastank, Franz Ferdinand, Duncan Sheik and … Bruce Springsteen.
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Midmorning break — Keith Urban’s ‘Sweet Thing’ video
I think I found another song to download, but the video to Keith Urban’s “Sweet Thing” threw me off a little bit — Urban’s lips don’t always match up to the main vocals. I think he might have been filmed singing the background vocals, and then the main vocals were edited in, but I’m not sure.
Anyway, here’s the video, which debuted last week on MySpace:
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Ever heard of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’?
The movie adaptation of the graphic novel Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is signing quite a cast of young stars.
According to The Hollywood Reporter and imdb.com, Michael Cera (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) stars as Pilgrim, a slacker who meets his dream girl but must battle her evil boyfriends in order to win her love. That girl is played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free or Die Hard, Sky High and Death Proof).
Playing two of her evil boyfriends are Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Push) and Brandon Routh (better known as Superman). Imdb.com also says Kieran Culkin has a role in the movie.
This is the first I’ve heard of “Scott Pilgrim.” Can anyone shed some light on the series?
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Coming in Thursday’s Access Waco
Coming up in this Thursday’s Access Waco, Carl Hoover talks with singer-songwriter Pat Green, who has a new album coming out and will be in Waco to meet fans.
Carl also gives a preview of two concerts at Baylor University, and a look at two new art exhibits opening at Baylor’s Martin Museum.
And of course you will find our guides to what’s going on around town.
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Polanski lawyer wins stay of LA court hearing
LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court halted a Los Angeles court hearing on fugitive director Roman Polanski’s bid to have his 1977 rape case dismissed.
The highly anticipated hearing had been set for today.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal issued the stay of the hearing Tuesday in response to an 11th-hour motion by Polanski attorney Chad Hummel who argued that the Los Angeles Superior Court is biased against the filmmaker.
The appellate court asked the prosecution for written arguments on the issue.
Hummel argues that a neutral judge from outside Los Angeles County should be appointed to the case. The Superior Court’s presiding judge, who was scheduled to conduct the hearing, turned down the original claim of bias last week.
District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons declined to comment on the issues involved but said, “The court has requested that we file something and we intend to do that.”
Polanski, director of such classic films as Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and Tess, pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 but fled to France before he was sentenced, and has lived there since.
Hummel’s request to the appellate court reiterated his claim that a spokesman for the Superior Court displayed bias when commenting to news media that Polanski was required to be present for his hearing. He said this showed that the court had prejudged the case.
Prosecutors claim the 75-year-old Polanski must appear in person to have his motion for dismissal heard. If he returned to the United States he would be arrested, and Hummel has said his client has no intention of returning.
The dismissal motion is based on information in an HBO documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. The film shows that the now-deceased trial judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, conferred with a deputy district attorney not assigned to the director’s case and then reneged on Polanski’s plea bargain.
Hummel argues that the communications between the judge and prosecutor were clear misconduct and violated Polanski’s constitutional rights.
The girl who was sexually violated, now a 45-year-old woman, has filed an affidavit supporting dismissal of the case.
Polanski received a directing Oscar in absentia for 2002’s The Pianist.
Polish-born film director Roman Polanski during the burial ceremony for French film maker Claude Berri in Montrouge, outside Paris, Thursday. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
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‘Love Guru’ up for 7 Razzies
Mike Myers’ comedy The Love Guru garnered seven Razzie nominations this morning, including worst picture and worst-acting nods for Myers, Jessica Alba, Verne Troyer and Ben Kingsley, reports the Associated Press.
John Wilson, founder of the Razzies, said of The Love Guru and Mike Myers: “This is one of those auteur-of-the-awful situations. I think people are tired of him in general. He hasn’t really made a good movie in quite some time.”
Also up for worst picture: Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, The Happening, The Hottie & the Nottie (starring Paris Hilton, who is up for worst actress) and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.
Worst actor nominees: Myers, Eddie Murphy (Meet Dave), Al Pacino (88 Minutes, Righteous Kill), Larry the Cable Guy (Witless Protection) and Mark Wahlberg (The Happening).
Worst actress nominees: Alba, Cameron Diaz (What Happens in Vegas), Hilton, Kate Hudson (Fool’s Gold, My Best Friend’s Girl) and Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith and Meg Ryan (sharing a nomination for The Women).
The Razzie, um, winners will be announced Feb. 21.
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Shia LaBeouf loses driver’s license
Actor Shia LaBeouf will not be able to drive — legally, anyway — for at least a year after having his license suspended recently, reports United Press International.
The 22-year-old star of Eagle Eye and Transformers lost his license because of his refusal to do a Breathalyzer test after a car crash last July
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A tale of two “Pushes”
So I’ve been getting a little confused while reading the coverage of the Sundance festival this year.
A movie called Push, which co-stars Mariah Carey, of all people, has garnered some acclaim at the annual film festival in Utah, but was still looking for a buyer as of Sunday.
But … there’s a movie called Push that’s due in theaters Feb. 6 and stars Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans.
I had heard of the second movie but not the first, hence my confusion.
Fanning’s Push is about American ex-patriots with special abilities, like telekinesis, who are hiding from a U.S. government agency.
Carey’s Push, according to Variety, is an “urban nightmare with a surfeit of soul” based on the novel by Sapphire. Push is about an oppressed teenager — impregnated by her father and abused by her mother — who finds some hope when she enrolls in a GED program.
Click here to watch Lee Daniels talk about the urban horror movie Push.
And here’s the trailer for sci-fi movie Push, found on YouTube:
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Original ‘Karate Kid’ urges Hollywood to leave classics alone
Ralph Macchio doesn’t think a new Karate Kid is a good idea — and he’s urging Hollywood to leave classic movies alone, reports imdb.com.
The original Karate Kid “is adamant that the new film won’t be a hit with the public — because too many movies are ruined by remakes,” said the Internet Movie Database.
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IFC, SXSW to simultaneously premiere ‘Alexander the Last’
IFC Films and Austin’s South by Southwest Film fest will premiere the movie Alexander the Last simultaneously on March 14, reports Variety.com.
The movie, about the “highs and lows of a young marriage,” will debut at the festival and on the channel’s Video on Demand platform “Festival Direct,” says the industry trade publication.
A couple other films will get the same treatment: the neo-noir Zift and the comedy Three Blind Mice.
Speaking of video on demand, IFC will offer Che, starring Benicio del Toro, on Wednesday. Let me know if you watch it — I certainly don’t have time during the week for a 257-minute movie.
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Fox picks up mall cop pilot
What is Hollywood’s fascination with mall cops these days?
First you have Paul Blart: Mall Cop, then the Seth Rogen movie Observe and Report. Now Fox has picked up a TV comedy called “Walorsky,” about an ex-cop turned mall security officer who starts to care about his job after being paired with a rookie, reports Variety.com.
Actually, Fox had picked up the comedy before Blart did so well at the box office, says Variety.
“Walorsky” is among four comedy pilots and three dramas that Fox picked up last week, says the industry trade publication. Which shows actually make it to fall remains to be seen.
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‘ER’ actress marries longtime boyfriend
“ER” actress Parminder Nagra has married her longtime boyfriend, James Stenson, a celebrity photographer, reports People.com.
The 33-year-old Nagra married Stenson, 34, on Saturday in a traditional Sikh ceremony, reports the magazine. The couple are expecting their first child together.
Nagra plays Neela on the medical show, whose run comes to an end this year.
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Country singer Jo Dee Messina welcomes son
It’s a boy for country singer Jo Dee Messina and her husband, Chris Deffenbaugh, reports People.com.
The couple’s first child was born Monday in Nashville. His name is Noah Roger Deffenbaugh.
Messina told the magazine that she would be taking her son with her when she goes on tour later this spring.
“But I’m like, ‘How do you do that?’ ” Messina told People. “Who rides where? Band? Crew? Family? What safety devices do you need? I might grab one of the other singer moms like Sara Evans or Martina McBride and say, ‘Help me!’ ”
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Kelly Osbourne arrested in London
Kelly Osbourne, daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, was arrested earlier this month in London, accused of slapping a gossip columnist in the face last summer, reports United Press International.
The writer, Zoe Griffin, “claims Osbourne smacked her in the cheek at Punk nightclub because she apparently didn’t like an unflattering article Griffin penned about Osbourne’s model boyfriend, Luke Worrall,” says UPI.
Osbourne’s publicist is not commenting.
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From rapper to movie-maker
While actor Joaquin Phoenix is trying to become a rapper, rapper 50 Cent is trying to become a movie-maker.
Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, has launched a film production company, called Cheetah Vision, Reuters reports. The rapper/actor/author told Reuters his company has purchased eight scripts, and the first Cheetah Vision will produce will star him and Nicolas Cage. That movie is titled “The Dance.”
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Salman Rushdie reflects on 20-year-old fatwa
Nearly 20 years after being driven underground by a religious decree, he is now Sir Salman Rushdie, properly famous and free, yet still burdened by his status as a symbol of persecution.
“This is the albatross around my neck,” the novelist said Sunday night during a conversation with author-activist Irshad Manji at the 92nd Street Y on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The 61-year-old Rushdie said he would rather be known as an artist than as a social critic, and worried that the attacks against his religious satire, “The Satanic Verses,” had obscured “the real person that I am and the actual value of the books.”
But the author did seem to enjoy himself as he took on Islamic fundamentalists, President George W. Bush and other objects of his liberal disdain. He was mostly relaxed and jovial despite his reluctance to revisit the death sentence by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“The Satanic Verses” was released in late 1988 to critical acclaim and furious protest, with Muslims burning copies in the street and demonstrating around the world. On Feb. 14, 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious decree, or fatwa, calling for the author to be killed.
Rushdie, a native of India who had moved to London, was forced into hiding and lived for years under British protection. The 500-page “Satanic Verses” became an international best-seller, although widely regarded as having far more buyers than readers.
The Ayatollah is long dead and Rushdie has stopped worrying about his safety, although the fatwa has never been withdrawn. On Sunday night, he questioned the accuracy of the Quran, used profanity when referring to Islamic leaders and bragged about once wearing a T-shirt that read, “Blasphemy is a Victimless Crime.”
But he believes that “a culture of offendedness,” in which any religious criticism is regarded as insensitive or even blasphemous, has intimidated others. Last year, Rushdie strongly criticized his own publisher, Random House, Inc., for pulling Sherry Jones’ “The Jewel of Medina” over fears that the novel would set off violence. (“The Jewel of Medina,” about one of the Prophet Muhammad’s wives, was released by Beaufort Books without major incident).
Calling himself an early victim of attempted censorship, Rushdie likened his place in history to a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller, “The Birds.” He recalled a scene in which Tippi Hedren spotted a crow outside her window. Hedren paid little attention until she noticed hundreds more had arrived.
“I think I was the first crow,” Rushdie said.
The author, otherwise known for his classic “Midnight’s Children,” said he always considered the reaction to “Satanic Verses” a political, not a religious problem. He noted that Iran’s government had recently ended a long war with Iraq and was highly unpopular, and so used Rushdie to regain approval.
Few of his enemies knew anything about “Satanic Verses,” Rushdie says. Years after he was out of hiding, Rushdie met a young “British-Asian” guy who confided that he had once been a demonstrator against the author.
“Then I read your book,” the man told him, “and I couldn’t see what the fuss was about.”
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Happy 200th birthday, Edgar Allan Poe
Today is the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth. The birthday was marked at Poe’s grave in Baltimore as it has been every year in recent decades — a mysterious and elusive “toaster” leaving three red roses and a half-filled bottle of cognac.
The Baltimore Sun has a number of articles celebrating the Poe bicentennial, among them a profile of actor John Astin, who is preparing a new one-man show as a followup to his highly successful Poe show launched in the mid-’90s. Here’s Astin from that show, reading Poe’s most famous work, “The Raven”:
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TV casting tidbits
Wow, you take a day off, and all kinds of TV news breaks.
Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello had these tidbits to share:
— “Eli Stone’s” Matt Letscher is moving to “Brothers & Sisters”
— Laura Prepon from “That ’70s Show” has landed a role on “How I Met Your Mother”
— Vanessa Marcil (“General Hospital” and “Las Vegas,” if I’m remembering right) is joining “Without a Trace” for at least a few episodes.
— Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and husband Pete Wentz will guest star on “CSI:NY” in March.
— Scott Bakula will appear on NBC’s “Chuck.”
— And David Blue, who for awhile appeared on “Ugly Betty” (as Mark’s boyfriend), is joining “Stargate Universe.”
And from TVGuide.com:
— Danny Glover will guest star as Crab Man’s dad on “My Name Is Earl.”
Whew. That’s a lot of TV to look forward to.
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Asimov trilogy ‘Foundation’ may be headed to silver screen
Columbia has acquired the movie rights to the Isaac Asimov trilogy “Foundation,” says Variety.com.
Roland Emmerich (10,000 B.C., 2012) is set to direct.
“Originally published as a series of eight short stories in Astounding Magazine beginning in 1942, ‘Foundation’ is a complex saga about humans who are scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, living under the rule of the Galactic Empire,” says Variety.
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‘Lost in Space’ actor has died
LOS ANGELES — Bob May, who donned The Robot’s suit in the hit 1960s television show “Lost in Space,” has died. He was 69.
May died Sunday of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Lancaster, said his daughter, Deborah May.
He was a veteran actor and stuntman who had appeared in movies, TV shows and on the vaudeville stage when he was tapped by “Lost in Space” creator Irwin Allen to play the Robinson family’s loyal metal sidekick in the series that debuted in 1965.
“He always said he got the job because he fit in the robot suit,” said June Lockhart, who played family matriarch Maureen Robinson. “It was one of those wonderful Hollywood stories. He just happened to be on the studio lot when someone saw him and sent him to see Irwin Allen about the part. Allen said, ‘If you can fit in the suit, you’ve got the job.’”
Although May didn’t provide the robot’s distinctive voice (that was done by announcer Dick Tufeld), he developed a following of fans who sought him out at memorabilia shows.
“Lost in Space” was a space-age retelling of “The Swiss Family Robinson” story in which professor John Robinson, his wife and their children were on a space mission when their craft was knocked hopelessly off course by the evil Dr. Zachary Smith, who became trapped in space with them.
May’s robot was the Robinson family’s loyal sidekick, warning them of approaching disaster at every turn. His line to one of the children, “Danger, Will Robinson,” became a national catch phrase.
The grandson of famed vaudeville comedian Chic Johnson, May was introduced to show business at age 2 when he began appearing in the “Hellzapoppin” comedy revue with Johnson and his partner, Ole Olsen.
He went on to appear in numerous films with Jerry Lewis and in such TV shows as “The Time Tunnel,” “McHale’s Navy and “The Red Skelton Show.” He was also a stuntman in such 1950s and ’60s TV shows as “Cheyenne,” “Surfside 6,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “The Roaring 20s” and “Stagecoach.”
He was particularly fond of his Robot role, once saying he came to consider the suit a “home away from home.”
Lockhart said May wore the suit for hours at a time and learned the lines of every actor in the show so he would know when to respond to their cues. Because it wasn’t easy to get in and out of the suit, he kept it on during breaks.
“He was a smoker,” Lockhart remembered. “From time to time (when he was on a break), we’d see smoke coming out of the robot. That always amused us.”
May and his wife lost their house in November when a wildfire destroyed their upscale mobile home park in the San Fernando Valley.
Survivors include his wife Judith; his daughter; his son, Martin; and four grandchildren.
Funeral services are pending.
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‘CSI’ scores with lead character’s departure
William Petersen’s farewell to “CSI” garnered the show its highest ratings all season, reports Variety.com.
More than 24 million people tuned in to watch Thursday, “making it the season’s most-watched scripted program,” says Variety. (I’m not sure if that means it beat all scripted shows on all networks, or what.)
It’s also the show’s largest audience since September 2007.
However, far more people — 35.7 million — watched George Clooney’s final “ER” episode in February 1999.
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Joaquin Phoenix has new career
Retired actor Joaquin Phoenix debuted his new career over the weekend — rapping at a Las Vegas club, reports People.com.
Phoenix announced his retirement from the movie industry in October, saying he wanted a career in music. I guess I expected a career in rock or country music, but he told People he loves “the storytelling aspect of hip-hop.”
On Friday, he performed three songs from an upcoming CD, and the performance was filmed by brother-in-law Casey Affleck for a future documentary.
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‘Mall Cop’ tops box office?
Well, this is a surprise. Paul Blart: Mall Cop came in first at the box office this weekend, earning $32 million to $33 million (I’ve seen differing figures, but the Associated Press is reporting more than $33 million).
Blart knocked Gran Torino to second place with $22.2 million. My Bloody Valentine 3-D came in at third place with $21.9 million; Notorious took fourth with $21.5 million, “the biggest opening ever for Fox Searchlight, which previously released such critical darlings and crowd-pleasers as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine,” says the AP.
The family film Hotel for Dogs made $17.7 million, putting it in fifth place.
Honestly, I thought Notorious or Valentine would come in first. If you saw Mall Cop over the weekend, let me know what you thought — and why you went to see it in the first place (you like Kevin James, you just felt the need to laugh, etc.).
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Obamas, Bidens enjoy Lincoln Memorial concert
Under the gaze of Abraham Lincoln’s statue, Bruce Springsteen and a red-robed gospel choir kicked off a spirited preinaugural concert today before tens of thousands on the National Mall.
The crowd erupted in cheers when Obama and his wife, Michelle, arrived, walking down the steps of the memorial, and kept applauding for the high-energy Springsteen act and the performances that followed.
There was no red carpet, but the event had the feel of a Hollywood awards ceremony, with stars taking the stage to praise, serenade, and even impersonate the next president.
Performers including Bono, Beyonce and James Taylor were on the bill.
A crowd expected to reach up to a half-million was stretched past the reflecting pool separating the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.
Obama and his wife and Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, sat behind bullet-proof glass near the stage erected on the steps of the memorial.
The concert began with Springsteen, dressed in black, singing “The Rising,” with the help of the choir, taking a song best known as a call to action following the 2001 terror attacks and using it to usher in a new era in American politics.
Denzel Washington was the first celebrity to speak, telling the crowd, “we are all in this together.”
Another speaker was actor Tom Hanks, who as Forrest Gump famously gave a speech at the monument steps and jumped into the reflecting pool. This time, he appeared in a dark suit and read a somber tribute to Abraham Lincoln.
Jamie Foxx brought many in the crowd — and the Obamas — to their feet by repeatedly urging those from Chicago to make some noise: “Chi-town, stand up!” he demanded.
Foxx then launched into a quick impersonation of the president-elect.
Joe Biden told the crowd: “Look around you. Look at the grace and grandeur that surrounds us and you’ll see the work of American hands.”
The crowd threw their hands up for Garth Brooks’ thumping rendition of “Shout!” supported by a massive choir wearing red and blue jackets against the cold.
The crowd, including Obama and Biden, were writhing when Stevie Wonder, Usher, and Shakira pumped out Wonder’s classic “Higher Ground.”
Sheryl Crow and will.i.am performed “One Love,” and golf great Tiger Woods, the son of a military man, urged the audience to remember the sacrifices of military families.
The event began with a convocation by the Right Rev. Gene Robinson, who asked the crowd to pray for “understanding that our president is a human being and not a messiah.”
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WB, Fox agree on “Watchmen:” March 6 opening OK’d
For those of you sweating over missing the eagerly anticipated Watchmen film adaptation,
No word if there’s a Watchmen vs. Attorneys: Death Match sequel in the works from either studio …
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‘Do you really want to … put me in prison?’
Former Culture Club singer Boy George was sentenced today by a London court to 15 months in prison for falsely imprisoning a male escort, a court spokeswoman said.
Full details of the sentence weren’t immediately clear, but his imprisonment gives the words “Do you really want to hurt me?” a whole new meaning.
A jury unanimously found the pop star and disc jockey, whose real name is George O’Dowd, guilty of the charge last month after a seven-day trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in northeast London.
Here’s Boy George from his more successful days, though frankly, his look always creeped me out.
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Writer John Mortimer dies at 85
M’lud, the defense rests.
British writer and barrister John Mortimer — best known here in the U.S. as the creator of Horace Rumpole, the poetry-spouting barrister long a mainstay of PBS’s “Mystery!” — has died at 85.
In Britain, Mortimer was also known for his courtroom work as a staunch defender of civil rights.
More here from the Associated Press.
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Artist Andrew Wyeth dies at age 91
Andrew Wyeth, known for his rustic landscapes, farmhouses and country folk, died in his sleep early today at age 91, according to news reports. His famous work, “Christina’s World,” is seen at right.
The Washington Post has this lengthy story.
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American Idol update
The second night of “American Idol” delivered an unexpected gift to Fox: a bigger audience.
An estimated 30.5 million people tuned in Wednesday to television’s most popular program, up from the 30.3 million the night before for the eighth season opener.
Nielsen Media Research said it’s the first time in five years that the audience increased from the first night to the second, a development Fox attributes to good word of mouth about the first night.
“We’re thrilled,” Mike Darnell, chief of alternative programming at Fox, said.
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Trailer for Notorious
One of six movies opening in Waco, like I mentioned earlier, is Notorious, the story of Notorious B.I.G. It’s also the only that I don’t think I’ve seen the trailer for (I know I’ve seen previews of Defiance, Last Chance Harvey, Hotel for Dogs and My Bloody Valentine 3-D, though, come to think of it, I don’t recall any ads for Paul Blart: Mall Cop, either).
Anyway, here’s a link to the trailer. I would have posted it here but there are some minor curse words.
Be sure to catch the reviews in Friday’s Tribune-Herald.
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More ‘Iron Man 2’ rumors
I can’t wait until we have an actual cast list for Iron Man 2, instead of just rumors, but until then, here’s the latest:
— Emily Blunt is reportedly the frontrunner to play the Black Widow, aka Soviet spy Natasha Romanoff, says Variety. Blunt played the — what’s the best word — snooty first assistant in The Devil Wears Prada and will soon be seen opposite Benicio Del Toro in The Wolf Man.
— Samuel L. Jackson may not be back as Nick Fury. MTV says negotiations between Jackson and Marvel Studios have come to a halt. Which could be a problem, because he would tie together Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers.
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Actor Idris Elba joins “The Office”
Idris Elba (The Unborn, Daddy’s Little Girls) has been cast as a rival to Steve Carell’s Michael Scott on NBC’s “The Office,” reports Variety.com.
Variety didn’t have many details on the role, but says that Elba will appear in six episodes later this spring.
Speaking of NBC, though: The network is expected to announce that a new crime drama, currently titled “Southland,” will fill the soon-to-be-vacant 9 p.m. Thursday time slot, says Variety. That’s the spot “E.R.” holds, but the long-running medical drama will end in March.
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Entertainment Weekly picks best biopics
If there’s one thing Hollywood loves, it’s taking a real person’s inspiring/dramatic/tragic story and putting it on the silver screen.
The latest is Notorious, about rapper Notorious B.I.G., and that hits theaters Friday (including Waco).
Entertainment Weekly has picked the 50 best biopics — but is only showing Nos. 50-26 today.
Included in that list are Stand & Deliver, What’s Love Got To Do With It, La Bamba, Gandhi (at No. 43? Seriously?), Braveheart, A Beautiful Mind, Chaplin and Serpico.
Makes me wonder what they picked for the top 25. I mean, I thought Gandhi, Braveheart and A Beautiful Mind were extraordinary.
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‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ‘Benjamin Button’ get 11 BAFTA nominations
The Golden Globe-winning Slumdog Millionaire and Brad Pitt’s Curious Case of Benjamin Button each got 11 nominations for the Orange British Academy Film Awards this morning.
They were followed by The Dark Knight, which is up for nine awards, and Changeling, which received eight nominations, says the Hollywood Reporter.
Pitt was nominated for best actor for Button and best supporting actor for Burn After Reading. Dev Patel of Slumdog was also nominated for best actor, as were Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk) and Mickey Rourke (who won the Golden Globe for The Wrestler).
Kate Winslet received two best actress nominations, for The Reader and Revolutionary Road. She will compete against Meryl Streep (Doubt), Angelina Jolie (Changeling) and Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long).
If I am remembering right, the BAFTAs are the Britisth equivalent of the Oscars. The awards will be given out Feb. 8.
Orange, by the way, is a cell phone operator and the sponsor of the BAFTAs.
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Mariska Hargitay not back on ‘SVU’ set
“Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay has not returned to the set, reports People.com, but that still doesn’t mean she’ll miss any episodes.
Earlier this week, we learned Hargitay had suffered a partially collapsed lung during the show’s hiatus over the holidays.
According to the article on People.com: “A production source tells PEOPLE that the show has had to rearrange schedules to accommodate the star’s absence. ‘We don’t know when she’ll be back to production,’ says the source. ‘We’re just going to wait and see.’ But, the source adds, as long as she returns in the next couple of weeks, ‘she won’t miss any episodes. They’ll work around her.’ ”
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Gil Grissom’s final night on CSI
Is tonight the night Gil Grissom (played by William Petersen) leave “CSI”?
I haven’t seen many episodes of any of the “CSI” shows, but I’ve been seeing ads about his departure for weeks now.
Is it that big a deal?
Given that there are articles about his departure on Web sites for The New York Times, New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and more, I suppose it is a big deal.
If you watch it tonight, let me know what you think.
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Coming soon to CBS: John Mayer?
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — CBS is close to a deal with pop star John Mayer for a music and variety TV show.
CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler told a meeting of the Television Critics Association that the project is under development and an agreement is near. She didn’t provide details.
Mayer and CBS have worked together before. In 2006, he made a cameo appearance on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” performing songs for a scene set in a Las Vegas network.
Mayer, whose current hit is “Say,” might also appear on next month’s Grammy Awards on CBS: He’s up for five prizes. He took the best pop vocal album Grammy in 2007 for Continuum.
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Smaller audience for ‘Idol’
“American Idol’s” season premiere on Tuesday drew a smaller audience compared with previous seasons, but it was still enough to dominate the ratings, says The New York Times.
Around 30 million people tuned in, down 3.3 million from 2008 and 7.3 million from the sixth season 2 years ago.
Coming in second on Tuesday was CBS’ “NCIS” (with 18.5 million) followed by “The Mentalist” (with 18.1 million).
I have yet to see the numbers for “Idol’s” Wednesday show, but I’ll post them when I find them.
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This year’s South by Southwest Music Fest lineup
This just in from the Austin American-Statesman: the latest and presumably final band lineup for this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival. Didn’t see any bands from Waco (or even Central Texas), but if there’s any local connections to the groups in the SXSW lineup, feel free to share them here.
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Actor Ricardo Montalban dies at 88
OK, the obit wire is officially starting to annoy me today. First it was Patrick McGoohan, and now Ricardo Montalban has died at 88.
The linked AP obit (at least in its early version) only mentions his MGM musicals and, of course, his role as Mr. Rourke in “Fantasy Island.” For science-fiction fans like me, though, the biggest role was the vengeful genetically-engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh — first in the classic “Star Trek” TV episode “Space Seed,” then in the big-screen sequel Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.
“Ah, Kirk, my old friend… do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish best served cold? It is very cold… in space…”
And here’s a 2002 Archive of American Television interview in which he looks back at his career.
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Actor Patrick McGoohan dead at 80
The Prisoner has escaped.
Patrick McGoohan, the actor acclaimed in many roles but best known as prisoner Number Six in the late ’60s series “The Prisoner,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a short illness.
“The Prisoner” was a followup to the British spy series “Danger Man” — shown in the U.S. as “Secret Agent” — which catapulted McGoohan to fame but was starting to bore him. McGoohan and writer George Markstein came up with a new series about a spy — presumed to be “Danger Man’s” John Drake but never actually named, both to lend an air of mystery and because McGoohan and Markstein didn’t have the rights to the character — who resigns from his agency, is gassed when he returns home to pack, and wakes up in a gaily decorated but well-guarded place called The Village. The 17-episode series details his attempts to escape and his rebellion against the system.
He also won two Emmys for guest appearances as killers squaring off against Peter Falk’s Lt. Columbo in TV movies 16 years apart.
More here from the Associated Press.
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Coming up in Access Waco
In Thursday’s Access Waco, Carl Hoover talks to Ted Neeley, who plays Jesus in the touring production of “Jesus Christ Superstar”; and Carl interviews Kevin Fowler, who headlines this year’s Zack and Jim’s Anniversary Blowout.
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Swift stays on top of Billboard charts for another week
Taylor Swift’s album Fearless has become the first album to hold the Billboard top spot for six weeks since 50 Cent’s The Massacre came out in 2005, says Billboard.com.
Rounding out the top five are Nickelback’s Dark Horse; Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak; Beyonce’s I Am … Sasha Fierce; and the Twilight soundtrack.
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Keith Urban’s new video debuting on MySpace
Keith Urban fans, be sure to check out MySpace on Friday: The country singer will debut his new music video, for the song “Sweet Thing,” on the social networking site, says People.com.
Urban also has a new CD, due out in late March, and goes on tour in May.
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Costner’s other career is making music
We’ve heard about a number of actors who also like to be musicians, but Kevin Costner might be the most high-profile movie star to do lead vocals and play guitar.
Read the CNN story here.
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Jackie Chan will likely join ‘Karate Kid’ remake
It looks like Jackie Chan will be in the remake of The Karate Kid: Variety.com says he is in final negotiations to join the cast as the mentor to Jaden Smith’s bullied kid.
Supposedly, the remake will borrow some elements from the original plot but will not be exactly like the 1984 film.
The new Kid is expected to start filming this summer in Beijing.
Jaden Smith, by the way, is the son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
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Assorted bits of TV news
Some interesting news from other television shows, courtesy of Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly.
“Grey’s Anatomy” is losing another doctor. Melissa George, who has only been part of the show for this season, is leaving, but she is leaving on good terms.
Season 2 of HBO’s Golden Globe-nominated series “True Blood” is expected to start airing this summer.
No word yet on when “Dirty Sexy Money” will air its final episodes.
And TVGuide.com had these tidbits:
“The Starter Wife” has not yet been picked up for a second season on USA, but apparently that’s not unusual for cable.
Meanwhile, ABC is planning to air the final episodes of “Eli Stone.”
And the final season of “Monk” will be a full season.
Of course, both Web sites had more tidbits, so check them out but beware of spoilers.
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Say goodbye to ‘Prison Break’
Fox is looking to add some new comedies to its lineup, and is bidding farewell to “Prison Break” after this season, according to an article on Reuters.com.
According to the article, Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said that “Prison Break” “is just played out. Creatively, everybody feels enough stories have been told.”
Fox could add five comedy pilots and at least five dramas to its fall lineup.
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Hudson to sing at Super Bowl
Oscar winner and former “American Idol” contest Jennifer Hudson will sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, reports the Associated Press, which says this will be Hudson’s first public appearance since her mother, brother and nephew were killed in October.
The Grammy-nominated singer will also perform at the Grammys’ MusiCares event a few days later.
The Super Bowl will be held in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 1, and will feature Bruce Springsteen at halftime.
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So what was the deal with my SAG post Tuesday?
The news that the Screen Actors Guild has kept national executive director Doug Allen as its lead negotiator came as a bit of a surprise to me this morning — Variety had said earlier this week that he was out.
Here’s what Variety had to say Tuesday:
“After a filibuster-filled 30-hour board meeting Monday and Tuesday that was meant to bring some resolution to the raging divisions within the guild, nothing has changed: Though moderates have a majority on the SAG board, the stall tactics prevented a vote on a measure that would have ousted Doug Allen as chief negotiator, canceled the strike authorization vote and replaced the negotiating committee.
“The outcome is 180 degrees from info leaked Monday evening by SAG board members — notably Seymour Cassel — and printed in half a dozen major news outlets, including Daily Variety. It’s not clear whether the leak was misinformation or a mistake by Cassel, but the conflict underlines the disarray and the warring factions within the guild.”
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SAG continues with strike vote
LOS ANGELES — The Screen Actors Guild is going to press on with plans for a strike authorization vote, but needs to reassess when to send out ballots after the end of a contentious meeting that lasted nearly 30 hours, its president said Tuesday.
A date for the ballots to be mailed out was undecided after a two-day meeting.
During the meeting board members attempted but failed to fire the Guild’s lead negotiator with Hollywood studios, Doug Allen, SAG’s national executive director who supports a strike vote.
Stalling tactics at the meeting were severe, exposing a cavernous divide between a strike vote-supporting Hollywood faction known as Membership First and a coalition forming a majority on the board from New York, the regions and an upstart Hollywood group known as Unite for Strength.
In one example of the vote-delaying debate, Membership First led an eight-hour discussion on whether to extend the end of the first day of the meeting from 10 p.m. Monday to 1 a.m. Tuesday. The debate carried on until 6 a.m.
“We’ve got to regroup a bit,” Guild president Alan Rosenberg said after the meeting ended Tuesday afternoon. “I’m thrilled that Doug is still our lead negotiator. If I were more rested I’d be even happier.”
No vote was taken on a motion that would have removed Allen, a former NFL Players Association executive, because it lacked sufficient signatures and other technicalities, according to the guild. Allen has a year left in his three-year contract.
Anne-Marie Johnson, a board member and member of Membership First, said her group peppered opponents with questions about their motion to fire Allen.
“It was flawed enough where debate was so extended, we never got to an official vote,” Johnson said.
Ned Vaughn, leader of the Unite For Strength group, which won six of 11 Hollywood board seats up for grabs in a September election, expressed disgust at the meeting’s outcome.
“We worked for 28 straight hours but got nothing accomplished, despite our clear board majority,” Vaughn said. “Membership First used endless stalling tactics to keep our motion from being voted on.”
The motion would have fired Allen, found a replacement, and reconstituted the guild’s negotiating committee in an effort to kick-start stalled talks with Hollywood studios.
Actors in the 120,000-member guild have been working without a contract on movies and prime-time TV shows since June 30.
Guild leaders had planned to send out strike authorization ballots by as early as Wednesday, but an exhausted-looking Rosenberg suggested it would not happen that quickly. Last year, a 100-day strike by writers reduced the Golden Globe Awards to a news conference, but a deal was reached quickly enough to save the Academy Awards.
This year, the Globes went off without a hitch and Rosenberg suggested that even the Oscars, set for Feb. 22, might make it by unscathed by a potential actors’ boycott, despite the negotiating leverage such a threat might carry.
“The Golden Globes and the Oscars have never been our priority,” Rosenberg said. “Getting (strike authorization) is the priority.”
A strike vote requires 75 percent support from voting members to succeed. If it is approved, the SAG national board can call a strike. Voting would take about three weeks.
The actors guild has been pressing the major movie studios for a better deal on residual payments for productions made for Internet distribution. It also wanted to ensure continued benefits during work stoppages, including those that are caused by strikes by other unions.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represent the movie studios, declined to comment.
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It’s an angel for the Affleck family
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have named their second daughter Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck, reports the Associated Press.
The name was confirmed Tuesday. Seraphina was born last week.
As far as celebrity baby names go, that one’s quite lovely.
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Lil Kim not happy with Biggie biopic
Lil Kim was a big part of the Notorious B.I.G.’s life, but she’s not happy about the way she’s portrayed in the new biopic about the late rapper.
The Notorious B.I.G. was Lil Kim’s mentor and was also romantically linked to the rapper. Their sometimes rocky relationship is depicted in the new movie “Notorious,” but Lil Kim doesn’t think it’s very accurate.
In a statement, she said: “The film studio and producers involved were more concerned about painting me as a ‘character’ to create a more interesting story line instead of a person with talent, self-respect and who was able to achieve her own career success through hard work.”
She added: “Even though my relationship with Big was at times very difficult and complicated (as with most relationships we have all experienced at one time or another), it was also genuine and built on great admiration and love for each other. Regardless of the many lies in the movie and false portrayal of me to help carry a story line through, I will still continue to carry his legacy through my hard work and music.” But Wallace’s mother, Voletta Wallace, dismissed Lil Kim’s criticisms of the movie in an interview on Monday.
“This is not a Lil Kim movie,” she said. “This is a Christopher Wallace movie. It has nothing to do with Lil Kim. If she’s disappointed and upset, that is her problem.”
At the film’s New York premiere last week, “Notorious” screenwriter Cheo Hodari Coker said he understands why Lil Kim might not like the film, but added: “I think that Naturi (Naughton) did a great job playing Kim. I think people are going to be a lot more sympathetic towards (Lil Kim) after seeing the movie.”
Wayne Barrow — Biggie’s former manager and a producer on the movie — expressed less patience with Kim’s attitude.
“Our job as producers … was to deliver for three individuals. That’s his mom and his two children. Everybody else: Stand in line, buy a ticket and enjoy the show.”
“Notorious” chronicles the life and untimely death of the Notorious B.I.G., who was shot to death in 1997 and remains one of rap’s most important figures. It opens in theaters this Friday.
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Nominees for Writers Guild’s best videogame writing award
“Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3,” “Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!,” “Fallout 3,” “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” and “Tomb Raider: Underworld” have been nominated for the best videogame writing award by the Writers Guild, reports Variety. This is the second year that the WGA has honored video game writing.
The winner will be announced Feb. 7.
Here are trailers for a few of the nominees, which I found on GameTrailers.com (by the way, you might see some famous faces in the trailer for “Command and Conquer”:
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Can you say mainstream? Guitar Hero III tops $1B in sales
The tech Web site Ars Technica reports that Activision’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has now topped $1 billion - that’s with a B - in sales, becoming the first videogame in history to reach that milestone.
Those who still think that videogames are primarily a teen phenomenon haven’t been paying attention for, oh, the last decade and a half.
What’s also interesting are some secondary details to that announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith in its first three weeks of release sold triple the amount of the band’s last CD in its first three weeks. Plus, bands with songs in Guitar Hero and its various sets have seen a bump in their music sales from 15 to more than 800 percent.
It used to be that radio airplay was the brass ring that up-and-coming rock bands stretched for; I wonder if landing a song on Guitar Hero (or Rock Band, for that matter) now carries that cachet.
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TNT adds new series starring Ray Romano
TNT has decided to pick up Ray Romano’s drama “Men of a Certain Age,” reports Variety.
Last week I had mentioned that TNT was still considering whether to add the TV show, in addition to the two other series it had picked up. Since then, TNT has ordered 10 episodes of the series.
The show, which will also star Andre Braugher (The Andromeda Strain and The Mist) and Scott Bakula (“Star Trek: Enterprise”), is about three friends in their 40s who are realizing that midlife isn’t living up to expectations.
Look for the show to start in 2010.
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New Seth Rogen film to debut at SXSW
Unless I’m misreading the story on Variety.com, it looks like Seth Rogen will return to Austin’s South by Southwest Film Festival this March.
Variety says Rogen “will return to SXSW Film Festival with the world premiere” of his new movie, Observe and Report. His breakout hit, Knocked Up, debuted there in 2007.
I think that means he will make an appearance, but it could mean that you’ll see him in the movie, in which he plays a mall cop who starts a turf battle with police. The movie opens in wide release in April.
Also scheduled to appear is director Catherine Hardwicke, who helmed Twilight.
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SAG ousts negotiator
The Screen Actors Guild may be close to ending its controversial strike authorization vote, having reportedly ousted its lead negotiator, national executive director Doug Allen, reports Variety.com.
A board member, Seymour Cassel, told Variety that Allen was removed Monday, but a SAG spokeswoman disputed that statement.
“SAG’s moderate wing, which gained control of the national board last fall, is likely to pass a resolution that includes removing Allen, replacing the negotiating committee and canceling the authorization vote by the end of the two-day session on Tuesday afternoon,” says the industry trade publication.
You can read more about this controversy on Variety.com.
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Taylor Swift tries out her acting chops
Country singer Taylor Swift has already crossed over to the pop charts, and now we’ll see if she has what it takes to be an actress.
The 19-year-old is set to appear on an episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” says the Associated Press.
“Swift will play a teenage girl whose family manages a seedy Las Vegas motel and who undergoes personal changes that have tragic consequences. CBS didn’t announce the air date for the ‘CSI’ episode,” said the AP.
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Vanessa Hudgens auditions for ‘New Moon’
People has a lot of interesting news on its Web site this morning. For example:
High School Musical actress Vanessa Hudgens has auditioned to play a werewolf in the Twilight sequel New Moon, according to the magazine.
Ashley Greene, who played Alice in Twilight, told MTV that Hudgens auditioned for the role of Leah Clearwater.
“As Leah, Hudgens, 20, would be a foil to Taylor Lautner, who will reprise his role as werewolf Jacob Black,” said People.
Zac Efron (left) and Vanessa Hudgens arrive at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
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Ledger’s daughter to get his Golden Globe
Sally Bell, mother of the late Heath Ledger, told People.com that her son’s Golden Globe award will go to his daughter, Matilda.
Bell told People: “I should imagine that eventually it will be going to Matilda. At this stage she is only so young, but down the track she will have all these things. It will belong to her because she is part of him.”
Ledger, you might recall, was found dead nearly a year ago of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
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Howie Mandel, Mariska Hargitay suffer ailments, injuries
“Deal or No Deal” host Howie Mandel has been hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat, says People.com. His rep told the Web site that his condition “was not believed to be serious” and that Mandel is supposed to return to work today.
And “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay has suffered a partially collapsed lung, reports People.com. She is not expected to miss any work because of it. An unnamed source told People that her injury “did not occur on the set of her show.”
A May 2, 2008, file photo shows Howie Mandel in Los Angeles. Mandel has been hospitalized in Toronto with an irregular heartbeat a spokesman for the 53-year-old comedian and game show host said Monday Jan. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles/file)
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My favorite Golden Globe moment
My favorite moment from last night’s show was Kate Winslet’s win for best dramatic actress.
Here’s a clip of it from YouTube:
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SAG may ditch strike threat
Variety.com is reporting that the Screen Actors Guild may nix the strike authorization vote during a meeting today.
Here’s part of the story from Variety.
“SAG’s leaders may pull the plug as early as Monday on the guild’s divisive strike authorization vote at what is certain to be a volatile meeting of the guild’s national board.
“The moderate wing of the Screen Actors Guild’s fractured national board may also follow through on its stated intention to oust the union’s negotiating committee along with removing national exec director Doug Allen from his slot as chief negotiator.
“The depth of the nastiness of SAG’s internal politics over the strike vote issue was illustrated by the revelation late last week of a suggested boycott campaign of eight actors up for SAG awards due to their opposition to the authorization vote. SAG president Alan Rosenberg told Daily Variety that he condemned the effort but he understands the ‘anger and frustration’ of members who support a strike authorization.”
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New cast members for “Grey’s” and “Heroes”
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that actress Faye Dunaway is heading for the OR on “Grey’s Anatomy,” playing a renowned doctor.
And Swoosie Kurtz will appear on “Heroes” in what could be a recurring role. She’ll portray “an old society friend” of “Heroes” character Angela Petrelli. The TV show will return Feb. 2.
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Box office darlings of 2008
The top three movies of 2008 — according to earnings — made more than $1 billion for Hollywood.
Twenty-five movies last year made more than $100 million. Surprisingly enough, High School Musical 3 was not one of them; however, it’s still in theaters, so it’s still making money.
This is according to a list on Variety.com.
Not too shabby during a year when the economy tanked and the Writers Guild strike hurt movie production.
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‘Dexter’ actors marry
“Dexter’s” Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter have gotten married, reports Reuters.com.
The couple married New Year’s Eve in California.
Hall plays the title character, a police analyst and a serial killer who goes after sociopaths. Carpenter plays his adoptive sister on the Showtime series.
Unfortunately, some bloggers just had to use headlines like ” ‘Dexter’ siblings tie the knot” and ” ‘Dexter’ takes an incestous turn” (you’d think they’d at least learn how to spell incestuous).
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Splitsville for Amy Winehouse and her hubby?
People.com is reporting that Blake Fielder-Civil is divorcing wife Amy Winehouse on grounds of adultery.
The magazine received confirmation on the divorce from Fielder-Civil’s lawyer and his mother.
Winehouse’s rep didn’t comment.
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‘Gran Torino’ sets record for Clint Eastwood
Gran Torino was No. 1 at the box office over the weekend — not that I’m surprised. I saw it on Saturday up in the Metroplex and the theater was pretty full.
Clint Eastwood’s latest earned about $29 million since it opened in wide release Friday, reports Reuters. That’s the most an Eastwood movie has earned in one weekend, says the news service.
Bride Wars came in second with $21.5 million.
If you saw a movie over the weekend, please share your reviews. But don’t give away any major spoilers, please.
As far as Gran Torino, I thought it was a good movie, and I hate to say it, but I’ve known people like Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski. At least he has a good heart.
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Motown turns 50 today
Music label Motown celebrates its 50th birthday today.
You can read about its birthday and history at Reuters.com, or about how bittersweet the anniversary is for Detroit on the BBC Web site.
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How ‘bout them Golden Globes?
Were you surprised at all at last night’s Golden Globe awards? I was. In particular, I was surprised by Kate Winslet’s two wins — not that she’s a bad actress, by any means, but I fully expected Meryl Streep would win the best dramatic actress award. Sally Hawkins’ win for Happy-Go-Luck (best actress in a motion picture comedy) was also a bit of a surprise.
And a couple surprises in the television categories — in particular, I was surprised (and pleased) that “Mad Men” didn’t sweep the dramatic acting categories. I have nothing against “Mad Men” — I’m just a fan of variety, and would have been bored if the AMC series swept its category like “30 Rock” did.
You can see the complete list of winners by clicking here.
Of course, I have to comment on the dresses and tuxes. My favorites were Eva Longoria’s red mermaid number, Susan Sarandon’s tux, Mickey Rourke’s tux and Sally Hawkins black dress. I was not big on J.Lo’s gold dress — I thought it looked too much like wrapping paper — and Drew Barrymore’s messy hairstyle.
Check out the fashions from last night’s event at our slide show, and let me know who was the best (or worst) dressed.
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William Zantzinger, villain in Dylan song, dies
William Zantzinger, a wealthy Maryland landowner whose fatal beating of a black barmaid was recounted in a Bob Dylan protest song of the 1960s, was buried Friday. He was 69.
Zantzinger died Jan. 3. His family did not provide further details of his death, the Brinsfield-Echols Funeral Home said.
The tobacco farmer served six months and was fined $500 for manslaughter in 1963 for striking the 51-year-old barmaid with his cane for taking too long to serve him a drink. Hattie Carroll later died of a stroke. In the “Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” Dylan criticized different standards of justice meted out to whites and blacks.
Zantzinger was allowed to delay the start the sentence two weeks so he could harvest his tobacco crop and served the time in the Washington County jail, working in its kitchen.
“There is something wrong with this city when a white man can beat a colored woman to death and no one raises a hand to stop him,” the Rev. Thomas C. Jackson said in his sermon at Gillis Memorial Church the Sunday after Carroll’s death.
News accounts at the time said Zantzinger had been seen drinking with his wife at a dinner before a ball. While dining, Zantzinger told jurors he began hitting waitresses with the cane.
“I’d been smacking — tapping — waitresses on the tail, and they didn’t say anything. I was just playing,” Zantzinger told the jury in Hagerstown, where the case was tried. “I had no other purpose than to have a good time,” Zantzinger testified. “The last thing I intended was to harm or injure anyone. I never even thought about it.”
Zantzinger, who later became a foreclosure auctioneer, didn’t answer questions about Dylan’s song for years. In 2001, he spoke with Dylan biographer Howard Sounes about the singer, saying he “should have sued him and put him in jail. (The song is) a total lie.”
Larry Jenkins, a publicist for Dylan, said the songwriter was not available for comment.
Here’s a video on YouTube of Dylan performing the song about Zantzinger:
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Barack Obama, food critic
This, by way of the Los Angeles Times’ movie industry blog The Big Picture: Turns out a Chicago public television station has footage from a never-aired 2001 restaurant review show in which Obama, then an Illinois state senator, was one of several amateur reviewers.
According to a show producer quoted in The Big Picture, he was so good and natural at it that the station felt audiences wouldn’t believe he was an amateur. As you can see, he’s smooth …
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Lisa Bonet gives birth to a son
Actress Lisa Bonet and her actor partner, Jason Momoa, have welcomed their second child, son Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha, whose name reflects the stormy night of his birth, reports The (New Jersey) Star-Ledger.
The name also reflects Momoa’s Hawaiian heritage, reports the newspaper. Nakoa means warrior; Manakauapo breaks down to mana (strength/spirit), kaua (rain) and po (dark).
Bonet and Momoa also have a daughter together, Lola Iolani, and Bonet has “a 20-year-old daughter from her marriage to Lenny Kravitz,” says the newspaper.
Bonet appears on the show “Life on Mars,” and Momoa is on “Stargate Atlantis.”
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‘Mad Men’ returns this summer
AMC’s award-winning drama “Mad Men” is set to return this summer despite contract negotiations between producer Lionsgate and series creator Matthew Weiner, reports Variety.com.
And the show will lead into the launch of “The Prisoner,” a remake of a British series of the same name, that will star James Caviezel (Passion of the Christ) and Ian McKellen.
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‘Ugly Betty’ supporting actress expecting first child
I had to be careful with that headline — I didn’t want people to start thinking that America Ferrera was expecting.
No, Ana Ortiz — who plays Betty’s older sister, Hilda — is pregnant with her first child, reports TVGuide.com. Ortiz is married to Half Life musician Noah Lebenzon. The child is due in the summer.
TVGuide.com said it has not heard whether the pregnancy will be written into the storyline.
I think it should. It’s not too late in the plotline.
Speaking of “Ugly Betty,” did you watch last night? Bernadette Peters and Hairspray’s Nikki Blonsky guest-starred. It was an OK episode, except for three things: One, that Betty is always solving or causing some kind of crisis; two, that Betty’s family was giving her too much grief for taking advantage of good opportunities for her career; and three, the way that the writers handled the plotline where Elle magazine got ahold of a rare dress that Mode had reserved for a cover shoot. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the way Elle got the dress constitutes identity theft.
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Ready to get ‘Lost’ all over again
Chris Oliver and I will be taking you back to the island as “Lost” returns on Jan. 21. But the “Completely ‘Lost’” blog is back at WacoTrib.com with a fresh post from Chris, who got dibs on watching the screener episodes available to the media.
I wholeheartedly concur with the assessment of the first two episodes by Chris. They are phenomenal and give you just about everything a “Lost” fan could want.
What’s especially great about the episodes is the almost breakneck pace the show is on. There’s a sense of urgency in nearly every scene, which helps propel the entire narrative.
If you love “Lost,” these first two episodes are chock full of great stuff. Like Chris, I’d love to tell you more, but don’t want to spoil anything. Check out his post and start salivating.
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‘Watchmen’ producer speaks up out legal dispute
Watchmen producer Larry Gordon has sent a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess, sharing his version of the legal fracas between Warner Bros. and Fox, according to an article on Reuters.com.
Feess ruled Dec. 24 that Gordon didn’t “secure proper rights to Watchmen from Fox before shopping the project and setting it up at Warner Bros.,” says the article. Feess ruled that Fox still had the distribution rights. He also said that because Gordon ” ‘refused to testify’ to key questions during his deposition,” the producer “would not be allowed to have his voice heard on ‘any aspect’ of the case,” according to the article.
Feess did not read the letter from Gordon, saying it was an “improper communication.”
In the letter, Gordon mentioned that he had been the subject of scorn for his part in the dispute, and that he answered those questions to the best of his ability.
Oh man, this is getting complicated. I hope we’ll find out later this month whether Watchmen will still open in March.
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Speaking of Anne Hathaway …
The star of Rachel Getting Married shared the Critics’ Choice Award for best actress with her idol on Thursday, reports People.com.
Her idol? The Devil herself — Meryl Streep, who played Hathaway’s boss in The Devil Wears Prada a few years ago. In this case, Streep won for playing a nun in Doubt. Gotta love the irony in that.
Hathaway told People: “To win with my idol who I was nominated against is amazing. I’m so thrilled for her and I’m very thrilled for myself, too.”
The awards ceremony also honored the late Heath Ledger, giving him the best supporting actor award for his role in The Dark Knight.
Best picture went to Slumdog Millionaire. Best actor went to Sean Penn for Milk. And Kate Winslet got best supporting actress for her role in The Reader.
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Anne Hathaway says Golden Globes Web site likely just suffering technical difficulties
Actress Anne Hathaway says she thinks the star beside her name on the Golden Globes Web site — a star that seems to indicate that she won the best dramatic actress award — is likely “just a glitch,” reports Access Hollywood.
The incident first started making news Thursday.
We’ll find out Sunday whether Hathaway will grab the Golden Globe for her performance in Rachel Getting Married.
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Obama asks Congress to postpone digital switch
Not sure how I feel about Thursday’s request by President-elect Barack Obama to have Congress postpone the Feb. 17 federally mandated switch to all-digital broadcast television.
On one hand, I certainly don’t want people not to have the capability to watch TV because they don’t have the needed equipment to watch the digital signals. But on the other hand, Congress made the decision in 2005. We all knew this was coming.
The Los Angeles Times has a good story on it. Read it here.
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Cruise hurting for friend Travolta
“Horrific” is how Tom Cruise described the sudden death of the son of his friend, John Travolta.
Cruise struggled to maintain his composure as he spoke on “The View” about last week’s death of 16-year-old Jett Travolta.
“John just adored him, both of his children,” Cruise said haltingly. “… It’s something that I don’t have the words for.”
Cruise’s appearance on “The View” will be shown today at 10 a.m. on KXXV, Channel 25.
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Golden Globe winner previewed?
The official Web site of the Golden Globes (technically, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) marks Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) as the winner of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama.
Oops. The awards won’t be announced until Sunday, Jan. 11.
Scanning the nominations list, though, shows the odd distribution of nominated films in Waco: only one Best Motion Picture - Drama has appeared in Waco (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) while four of the five Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy have (Mamma Mia!, Burn After Reading, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and In Bruges).
Do distributors think Waco audiences won’t go to heavy drama? OK, so maybe that was a rhetorical question …
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TNT adds two new shows
TNT has picked two new dramas to add to its lineup of original TV series, reports Variety.com.
The cable channel added Jerry Bruckheimer’s cop drama “The Line,” starring Dylan McDermott, and the Jada Pinkett Smith medical drama “Time Heals.” Look for both shows to appear later this year.
Meanwhile, Ray Romano’s midlife crisis drama (no, I’m not poking fun at it), “Men of a Certain Age,” is still under consideration.
And the Eric McCormack-Tom Cavanagh ad agency drama “Trust Me” is set to launch Jan. 26.
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Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell eye ‘Iron Man’ sequel
Actors Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) and Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon) are in talks to play villains in Iron Man 2, which begins shooting in the spring, reports Variety.com.
Rockwell’s possible role has not been announced. Rourke, however, is looking at playing Russian arms dealer Crimson Dynamo. “He’s considered to be an evil version of Iron Man because he battles the superhero in a nuclear-powered suit of armor,” says Variety.
Um, didn’t Jeff Bridges play an evil Iron Man in the first movie?
Oh well.
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Gospel Music Hall of Fame adding Parton, Smith
The Gospel Music Association is adding Dolly Parton and Michael W. Smith to its Gospel Music Hall of Fame, reports The Tennessean.
Also joining the hall of fame are Dr. Bobby Jones, The Dixie Hummingbirds and Lari Goss.
The ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 2.
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Check out our People’s Choice Award slide show
Did you miss the People’s Choice Award show last night? The Dark Knight apparently did quite well, garnering five awards.
You can catch up on the highlights with our online slide show.
Christian Bale accepts the favorite action movie award for “The Dark Knight” at the 35th Annual People’s Choice Awards on Wednesday Jan. 7, 2009 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
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Cast set for new season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’
Donald Trump has quite a cast lined up for the new season of “Celebrity Apprentice,” which returns on March 1 on NBC. The list includes:
— Country singer Clint Black
— TV’s Khloe Kardashian
— “Baywatch’s” Brande Roderick
— Figure skater Scott Hamilton
— singer Brian McKnight
— comedian Tom Green
— Footballer Herschel Walker
— controversial basketball star Dennis Rodman
— and controversial comedian Andrew Dice Clay.
Here’s more on the story from the Associated Press’ Frazier Moore.
By FRAZIER MOORE AP Television Writer
NEW YORK — Early last October, NBC unveiled the 16-member cast of “Celebrity Apprentice” to reporters. Everyone on hand at the locked-down news conference swore to keep the participants’ identities a secret until NBC said “go.”
With NBC now issuing its cue Thursday to go public, the major media can take pride at having kept the lid on names like country music’s Clint Black, TV personality Khloe Kardashian and former “Baywatch” babe Brande Roderick.
Those don’t-I-know-him-or-her-from-somewhere? stars will be competing for the title of Celebrity Apprentice when the reality series returns for its eighth season March 1.
Others risking the wrath of Donald Trump in the boardroom will include Olympic figure skating gold medalist Scott Hamilton, singer Brian McKnight, comedian Tom Green and former football great Herschel Walker. Also poker champ Annie Duke, pro golfer Natalie Gulbis, “Deal or No Deal” model Claudia Jordan, singer Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and former “Monster Garage” host Jesse James, a custom bike and car builder.
Oddly, the only notable leaks from an otherwise unified media front occurred on late-night TV, within days of the top-secret briefing.
“Joan and Melissa Rivers! Dennis Rodman! Andrew Dice Clay!” cackled David Letterman of CBS’ “Late Show,” outing four of the contestants in his monologue before he mused, “And the celebrities are …?”
Even NBC’s own Conan O’Brien spilled a few beans during a “Late Night” monologue. After blurting out a couple of the show’s semiboldface players, he cracked, “Apparently the new season of the show is called ‘Celebrity Apprentice: 1988.’”
Presiding over the news conference last fall, Trump insisted the cast was bigger, better, hotter than ever.
“There are some major superstars in this group,” he declared, without getting specific.
The 16 celebrities will not be vying for a job with Trump, as in past civilian “Apprentice” seasons, but instead will compete in business-oriented tasks around Manhattan to raise money for their favorite charities. (McKnight’s chosen charity is Youthville USA, while Watkins will be playing for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia, and Kardashian has chosen the Brent Shapiro Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Awareness.)
Seated at Trump’s elbow, the celebs were happy to anticipate the challenges awaiting them as soon as the next day, when they would start taping.
Hamilton acknowledged having watched the prior season and wondering “if I had the skill set to pull it off, because it was pretty confrontational last year. I’m a pretty easygoing, nice person.”
Clay, a one-time scandalous standup comic, said he was doing the show because of his two teenage sons.
As he explained, “When they watched the show, they’d go, ‘Dad, you would do great on the show,’ and I’d look at them, like: ‘Really?’”
“I have a competitive nature,” said Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy as a junior at the University of Georgia, “but this (show) is really different, where some people are conniving and cheating. I say, I’m gonna stay true to my morals.”
Then he grinned disarmingly and drawled, “I tell ‘em, I’m just a little country boy from Georgia.”
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Taylor Lautner confirmed for ‘New Moon’
Actor Taylor Lautner will reprise his role as Jacob Black in the Twilight sequel New Moon, reports Entertainment Weekly.
The announcement came Wednesday after months of speculation that he would not be returning because he doesn’t look old enough.
AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File
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Ferrets invade the movies?
Peoplepets.com has posted a photo gallery of a calendar that replaces the main characters from popular movie scenes with ferrets.
My favorites were the Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and E.T. spoofs.
Gotta love PhotoShop.
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Jonas Brothers nervous about Grammy night
The Jonas Brothers are starting to get a little nervous about Grammy night, reports People.com.
Actually, Kevin Jonas told Radio Disney that “I fear that day.” He went on to say that he and his brothers were nervous enough about the Grammy nomination special last month.
The trio is up for best new artist.
You can catch the Grammys on Feb. 8 on CBS.
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Consumers Union wants digital TV transition delayed
The Consumers Union is asking Congress to move the digital TV transition deadline so that fewer people lose their TV signals, reports Adweek.
The Consumers Union’s main concern is that the program offering coupons for the converter box has run out of money, forcing consumers to spend their own money or get on a waiting list in order to get a box.
“According to several reports, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet, believes that a delay might be a wise choice,” reports Adweek.
“The National Association of Broadcasters is also concerned, and sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to approve more coupon-program funding, among other options. The NAB stopped short of advocating that the DTV deadline be moved.”
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DeGeneres wins at People’s Choice Awards
Ellen DeGeneres and “Dancing with the Stars” were early winners at the People’s Choice Awards.
“I wish I could share this with you,” DeGeneres told the audience while clutching her trophy for favorite talk show host. “I could throw it on the ground and smash it into a million pieces, and give each one of you a little piece of it, but that’s violent, and that’s probably why you voted for me, because I’m not violent.”
Other winners selected by Internet voters in categories spanning movies, television and music included “Dancing With the Stars” as favorite reality show, Chris Brown as favorite male singer and “American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood as favorite female singer, star under 35 and country song for “Last Name.”
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Colombian coffee growers to sue over US cartoon
Colombian coffee growers are brewing up a lawsuit over a U.S. comic strip joking that violence is so rampant there, maybe “there’s a little bit of Juan Valdez in every can” of the country’s java.
The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation says it has consulted with U.S. lawyers and will sue “Mother Goose & Grimm” cartoonist Mike Peters “for damage and harm, detriment to intellectual property and defamation.”
The suit will be filed Friday and “would not seek any less than $20 million,” according to a note on the federation’s Web site. It will also demand a retraction from any newspaper that published the Jan. 2 cartoon.
In the offending comic strip, a character says: “Y’know, there’s a big crime syndicate in Colombia. So when they say there’s a little bit of Juan Valdez in every can, maybe they’re not kidding.” The joke plays off a former marketing slogan used by the federation.
Peters said today he loves Colombia, drinks its coffee daily and did not intend any offense.
“I had no more thought to insult Colombia and Juan Valdez than I did Pringles, Betty Crocker, Col. Sanders, Dr. Pepper and Bartles & Jaymes,” he said in a statement. “The cartoon is meant to be read along with the rest of the week as a series of which the theme is based on the fact that the inventor of the Pringles can had his ashes buried in one.
“I thought this was a humorous subject and all of my Mother Goose & Grimm cartoons are meant to make people laugh. I truly intended no insult.”
“Mother Goose & Grimm” is published by more than 800 papers in the U.S. and around the world, according to its Web site. Peters is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Dayton Daily News in Ohio.
The federation, which represents more than 560,000 coffee producers, said that by linking organized crime and coffee, the cartoon “attacks the national dignity and the reputation of coffee from Colombia.”
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BU grad new Entertainment Weekly head
The New York Post reports that Baylor grad Jess Cagle has been named the new editor of Entertainment Weekly. Cagle, a 1987 Baylor grad who majored in journalism and Russian, had been People magazine’s executive editor.
He’s experienced at both. He started at People in 1987, jumped to EW in 1990 and covered movies and theater for 10 years. In 2000, he became Time’s West Coast senior editor, then returned to People two years later.
He’ll have a challenge on his hands, the Post reports, with declining profits, ad space and manpower at EW — a fact of life these days for most in print media.
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‘Friday Night Lights’ actor cast in ‘Tron’ sequel
Disney has cast “FNL” actor Garret Hedlund to star in Tron, the sequel to the 1982 film of the same name, Reuters reports.
Correction, the $150 million sequel to Tron.
Hedlund plays a man who is “pulled into the world of a computer.” Ryan Gosling and Chris Pine had also been considered for the role, says the article on Reuters.
Jeff Bridges will return as Kevin Flynn, the lead character from the first movie. Also cast in the film are Olivia Wilde (Thirteen on “House”) and Beau Garrett (Gloria from Made of Honor; incidentally, imdb.com says she’s a cousin to “FNL’s” Kyle Chandler).
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In this week’s Access Waco
Coming up in Thursday’s Access Waco, Carl Hoover sits down with two young but already popular singers, Kaley Caperton and Holly Tucker. Plus he talks Tchaikovsky and Gershwin with pianist David Syme, who’s performing with the Waco Symphony Orchestra Jan. 15. And of course we’ll have Nibbles and the weekly entertainment listings.
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Any good viral videos out there?
I’ve spent the past few minutes searching for some funny or intriguing video to share, and have come up with nothing. Are there no good viral videos out in the first weeks of 2009?
The best I’ve seen so far are “Rat Loves Cat” and the “10 Items or Less” turkey-bowling PSA.
Anyway, here’s “Rat Loves Cat” from YouTube, but please, let me know if there are any other YouTube videos I should watch.
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You could call it ‘Sweating with the Stars’
Another day, another celeb-based TV show gets the greenlight.
This time, it’s called “Superstars,” and it pairs eight stars with eight pro athletes to compete in such events as swimming and biking, reports Variety.com.
ABC has ordered six episodes of the series.
Apparently, a version of the show has been around since 1973. Variety says “Superstars” was created as part of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.” The reality show hasn’t aired here since 2002.
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Here’s a headline for you: ‘Mickey Rourke joins Expendables’
That headline, from Variety.com, probably would have been funnier a couple years ago, before Rourke made his comeback with The Wrestler.
Still, it’s kinda ironic, especially when you consider that Sylvester Stallone is directing the action movie.
“Rourke will play an unscrupulous arms dealer who becomes the go-to guy for a group of mercenaries planning to topple a South American dictator,” Variety says.
Also starring in The Expendables are Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture and Dolph Lungdren. Forest Whitaker and Ben Kingsley may also be part of the project, according to the industry trade publication.
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Alyssa Milano accepts marriage proposal
Who’s the fiance?
Alyssa Milano is engaged to marry a Hollywood agent.
Publicists for Milano said Tuesday that the actress accepted a marriage proposal on Dec. 18 from David Bugliari, an agent at Creative Artists Agency. The two have been dating for over a year. No wedding date has been set.
The 36-year-old “Who’s the Boss?” star most recently has appeared in a recurring role on “My Name is Earl.” Her other TV credits include “Charmed” and “Melrose Place.”
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Will Taylor Lautner appear in ‘Twilight’ sequel?
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are already set to return in the Twilight sequel New Moon, but what about Taylor Lautner, who plays werewolf Jacob Black?
Summit Entertainment is expected to announce this week whether Lautner will keep the role, reports Entertainment Weekly.
The problem is, in New Moon Jacob becomes “a totally different character,” screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg told EW.com. ”He’s a foot taller and huge — and he’s supposed to look 25. It’s really a question of whether or not the same actor can play the role.”
The 16-year-old Lautner has been trying to bulk up for the role, working out and working to put on 29 pounds, says People.com.
But whether that will be enough remains to be seen.
New Moon is currently scheduled to hit theaters in late November.
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Prosecutors to Polanski: All is not forgiven
LOS ANGELES — Fugitive director Roman Polanski received a message from prosecutors in a sexually explicit court motion Tuesday that all is not forgiven and they will fight dismissal of a three-decade-old conviction for raping a 13-year-old.
The documents filed by the district attorney’s office would be rated “X” in movie terminology and contained a reminder that the rape occurred at the home of Academy Award-winning actor Jack Nicholson.
In a footnote, the document said: “Jack Nicholson was not home at the time of the events and had no knowledge of the activities of Roman Polanski.”
The motion, drawing on descriptions contained in transcripts of grand jury hearings in 1977, provided details of a photo shoot in which the young girl was given champagne and part of a Quaalude pill, was told to disrobe and was subjected to oral copulation, forced intercourse and sodomy by Polanski.
It said the victim asked him to stop several times and that she was in tears when Polanski drove her home.
“At some point, the defendant warned the victim not to tell her mother about what had happened, adding that ‘This is our secret,’” the motion said.
The girl, now a 44-year-old woman, has said she never wanted Polanski to go to prison and feels the case should be dismissed. The 75-year-old Polanski, living in exile in France, wants to return to the United States.
His lawyers, prompted by a recent documentary alleging judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, filed a motion in December to dismiss the case.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren argued in Tuesday’s motion that Polanski’s request can’t be heard in court without his presence. If he returned, Polanski could be arrested. His lawyers have said the matter can be heard in his absence.
Walgren said he was not admitting judicial or prosecutorial error, but “the alleged misconduct occurred after the defendant pleaded freely and voluntarily to a felony, with the understanding that the judge would determine the appropriate sentence.”
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 21 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Walgren said the hearing should be canceled if Polanski doesn’t plan to attend.
In a motion filed Monday, Polanski’s lawyer asked to disqualify the entire staff of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from the case for bias against Polanski and said the California Judicial Council should appoint a neutral judge from another county to preside over the hearing. The prosecution’s filing on Tuesday did not address that issue.
In a statement after the prosecution papers were filed, Polanski attorney Chad Hummel accused the district attorney’s office of evading questions of judicial misconduct by focusing on the single issue of whether Polanski needs to be present for the hearing. He said the case should be moved out of Los Angeles County for review by an impartial judge.
The details of Polanski’s sexual activity with the girl had never been described in legal documents because he was permitted to plead guilty to a single charge of sexual intercourse with a minor and other charges were dismissed.
That decision was explained in Tuesday’s motion, which said it was based on the teenager’s concerns. The document said the victim “expressed in no uncertain terms that she wished to maintain her anonymity and avoid the further trauma that would accompany a full-blown jury trial. Based on these expressed concerns, on Aug. 8, 1977, the defendant was permitted to plead guilty to one felony count … for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. … This was an open plea to the court, meaning that at the time of the plea, there did not exist any agreement as to what sentence may or may not be imposed.”
Polanski was sent to prison for a diagnostic study, released after 42 days and scheduled to appear before the judge for sentencing on the day that he fled to France.
Polanski’s life, which has been documented in books and film, has been a study in triumphs and tragedies. His mother perished in a Nazi prison camp in Poland and his first wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson family in 1969 while pregnant with their child. As a movie director, he was lauded from the start of his career. He was nominated for an Oscar for directing Tess and Chinatown, and also for writing the adapted screenplay for Rosemary’s Baby.
While in exile, he won the 2002 Oscar for directing The Pianist, a holocaust drama.
The issue of his rape case drew renewed interest in 2008 with the broadcast of an HBO documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired which suggested a pattern of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct in the handling of his case.
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Patrick Swayze: ‘Yeah, I’m scared. Yeah, I’m angry’
Patrick Swayze says in an interview with Barbara Walters that he has had a hard time since his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer last March.
People.com, reporting on the interview, says the actor first realized something was wrong on New Year’s Eve 2007.
“I tried to have champagne, and it would be like pouring acid, you know, on an open wound,” he said.
“Swayze also admits that the disease has taken an emotional toll. ‘There’s a lot of fear here,’ he says. ‘Yeah, I’m scared. Yeah, I’m angry. Yeah, I’m [asking], why me,’ ” says the article on People.com.
But he is still looking to the future. “I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life,” he says in the interview with Walters.
The interview airs tonight on ABC.
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Another girl for Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck
Jennifer Garner and her husband, Ben Affleck, welcomed their second daughter Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The baby girl’s name has not been disclosed. The couple also have a 3-year-old daughter, Violet.
Both actors will return to theaters this year — for the first time in a couple of years. Garner will star in The Ghost of Girlfriends Past and This Side of the Truth. Affleck is starring in He’s Just Not That Into You and State of Play.
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Apple dropping copy protection, prices on iTunes
Apple Inc. closed its final appearance at the Macworld trade show Tuesday by cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and disclosing that soon every track will be available without copy protection.
Apple’s top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said iTunes songs would come in three pricing tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Record companies will choose the prices, which marks a significant change, since Apple previously made all songs sell for 99 cents.
Apple offered the record labels that flexibility on pricing as it got them to agree to sell all songs free of “digital rights management” (DRM) technology that limits people’s ability to copy songs or move them to multiple computers. By the end of this quarter, Apple said, all 10 million songs in its library will be available without DRM.
While iTunes is the most popular digital music store, others have been faster to offer songs without copy protection. Amazon.com Inc. started selling DRM-free music in 2007 and swayed all the major labels to sign on in less than a year.
The iTunes updates marked the highlights of Schiller’s stand-in for CEO Steve Jobs, who used to make Macworld the site for some of Apple’s biggest product unveilings, such as the iPhone. But Apple said last month that Jobs would not address the throngs this time because the company plans to pull out of Macworld next year.
Schiller also unveiled a Macbook Pro laptop with a larger screen and unwrapped new versions of two software packages for Macs, including the iLife multimedia programs.
For instance, iPhoto ‘09 can recognize faces and sort photos based on who’s in them. GarageBand ‘09 includes videotaped, interactive music lessons given by Sting and other musicians. Apple also added more professional video editing features to iMovie ‘09.
Apple’s answer to Microsoft Corp.’s Office productivity suite, called iWork, also got a makeover, including zippy new ways to add animation between slides in the Keynote presentation software. And Apple unveiled a “beta” test version of a Web site for sharing documents, iWork.com. Unlike Google Inc.’s online documents program, however, Apple’s version does not allow people to edit documents in a Web browser.
Apple said the new 17-inch Macbook Pro, which costs $2,800 and adds to the existing 13-inch and 15-inch models, will start shipping at the end of January. Perhaps the biggest twist is the laptop’s battery, which is designed to last longer on each charge — up to seven or eight hours — and work after more charges than older batteries. But the battery will be sealed inside, and the owners won’t be able to remove and replace it.
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Baylor alum, musician to appear on Letterman show tonight
Erin McCarley, a 2001 graduate of Baylor University, is scheduled to appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” which will be broadcast on KWTX Channel 10 (Grande and Time Warner cable channel 2) at 10:30 p.m. tonight.
McCarley’s debut CD is “Love, Save the Empty.” Her music has appeared in episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “One Tree Hill,” and the title song from her CD will be featured in the upcoming movie “He’s Just Not That Into You,” which will debut in theaters Feb. 6.
McCarley is scheduled to perform Jan. 22 in Houston, Jan. 23 in Austin and Jan. 24 in Dallas.
For more on McCarley, check out her Web site.
Thanks to Jill Scoggins with Baylor for giving us a head’s-up on McCarley’s TV appearance, and for providing us with background information.
Here she is on YouTube performing her song “Pony”:
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Stooges guitarist found dead
Billboard.com is reporting that Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was found dead this morning at his Michigan home.
“Ann Arbor Detective Bill Stanford tells Billboard.com that police were called to Asheton’s house early this morning by Dara Hytinen, his personal assistant, who had not been able to reach him for several days,” says the article.
The article says there was no sign of foul play or drug use, and that the 60-year-old had likely been dead since New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
The Stooges — Asheton, his brother Scott and Iggy Pop — formed in 1967 and split up in ‘74, with Pop then having a solo career. The band reunited in 2003 and has been touring in recent years.
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TNT pondering new shows
Ray Romano, Dylan McDermott and Jada Pinkett Smith are all hoping their TV shows get the greenlight from TNT.
According to Variety.com, Turner programming exec Michael Wright said in November that “the network would wait until the beginning of the year to choose to greenlight ‘one, maybe two’ series from a flurry of pilots from big-name producers and talent.”
Reportedly the leading candidate is Romano’s midlife-crisis drama “Men of a Certain Age.” Also up for consideration are McDermott’s cop drama “The Line” and Pinkett Smith’s medical drama “Time Heals.”
I’m actually rooting for the Romano series — at least it’s something a little different.
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Actor Josh Brolin, ‘Horton’ director tapped for ‘Jonah Hex’ film adaptation
The DC Comics character Jonah Hex is the latest comic-book hero (is he a hero? I’ve never heard of the guy) to get a live-action film, and it looks like he’ll be played by actor Josh Brolin, according to an article on Reuters.com.
The article describes Hex as “a rough-and-tumble gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter whose adventures always ended in blood.”
Horton Hears a Who director Jimmy Hayward will make his live-action debut with Jonah Hex.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt, fiance split
Waco native and “Ghost Whisperer” star Jennifer Love Hewitt and her actor fiance Ross McCall have split up, reports People.com. The couple had gotten engaged in 2007 “after dating for two years,” says the magazine.
People learned about the split from a source close to the couple, but their reps had no comment.
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Craig Ferguson got married over the holidays
Comedian and talk show host Craig Ferguson announced on his show Monday night that he got married over the holidays, reports People.com.
The “Late Late Show” host married his longtime girlfriend, art dealer Megan Wallace Cunningham, in Vermont.
He joked during his monologue that he has been told that he’s not allowed to flirt with guests now.
“Taking issue with the edict, Ferguson said that simply wasn’t true,” reports People. ” ‘If we ever get George Clooney on this stage, all bets are off,’ ” he quipped.
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Patricia Arquette seeks divorce
Actress Patricia Arquette is seeking to divorce husband Thomas Jane, Reuters.com reports.
The “Medium” star cited ” ‘irreconcilable differences,’ according to court records made public on Monday,” said the Reuters article.
The two actors married in 2006 and have a 5-year-old daughter.
Jane starred in 2004’s The Punisher and in the 2007 horror flick The Mist.
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Polanski lawyer claims LA Superior Court biased
LOS ANGELES — An attorney for fugitive movie director Roman Polanski is seeking to have the Los Angeles County Superior Court removed from his notorious sex case, accusing the court on Monday of bias and prejudice against Polanski.
Polanski has been a fugitive in France for 30 years after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. His attorneys filed a request last month to dismiss the charge against him because of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct that was detailed in a television documentary.
In a motion filed Monday, attorney Chad Hummel sought removal of Polanski’s case to the California Judicial Council for resolution. Hummel wants the council to appoint a judge from another county to hear the case.
He claims that statements by a court spokesman since the original motion was filed showed that the courts have prejudged at least one issue — whether Polanski must appear in court on Jan. 21 for his request to be considered. Such an appearance might make him subject to arrest.
The Polish-born Polanski, 75, has been living in self-imposed exile since fleeing the United States in 1978 after admitting he had sex with a girl he hired as a model for a photo shoot. Polanski, who had already been incarcerated for a psychological diagnosis for 42 days, had been scheduled to be sentenced and sent back to prison. The judge issued a warrant for his arrest that is still in effect.
The motion quotes court spokesman Alan Parachini as telling members of the media that Polanski was required to make a court appearance on his request for dismissal. Hummel said that issue must be resolved by a judge.
“The court’s public comments constituted a prejudgment of the merits of Mr. Polanski’s request … without having received full briefing, evidence or argument from the parties,” the motion said.
Hummel also alleged that the court and the district attorney’s office had mounted “a campaign in the media in an apparent attempt to protect one of its own judges.”
He maintains that Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler tried to resolve the Polanski case in 1997 in a deal that would have required televised coverage of Polanski’s court appearance. The court has denied that such a requirement was proposed.
District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the office would file a response to the motion for dismissal on Tuesday.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 21 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Polanski, the director of Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby, has continued to direct films while in exile, including the 2002 Holocaust drama The Pianist, for which he won the best-director Academy Award.
The woman with whom Polanski admitted having sex has said that she wants the charge dropped and that Polanski should be allowed to return to the United States.
The case was a sensation when it broke. Polanski, the widower of Manson family murder victim Sharon Tate, was arrested for having sex with the girl. He was accused of giving her Quaaludes and champagne, taking her into a hot tub nude and having sex with her.
The effort to wipe out the charge comes after an HBO documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which portrayed the late Superior Court Judge Laurence J. Rittenband as a publicity hound who held news conferences and engaged in extra judicial meetings about the case.
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Congrats to Rebecca Romijn, Jerry O’Connell
Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell welcomed their twin daughters last week.
Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip were born Dec. 28, reports the Associated Press. They are the couple’s first children. Romijn and O’Connell married in 2007.
The couple did a funny — if a little vulgar — video about her pregnancy for FunnyOrDie.com, playing off the fact that she portrayed Mystique in some of the X-Men movies. Watch out for curse words in it, though.
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‘Dark Knight’ up for Producers Guild awards
The Producers Guild of America nominated The Dark Knight for best picture for its annual awards Monday, reports the Associated Press.
Also nominated were Brad Pitt’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the saga Frost/Nixon, the film biography Milk and the rags-to-riches tale Slumdog Millionaire.
“The Producers Guild lineup generally is a close match of best-picture nominees for the Academy Awards,” reports the AP. “The guild picks could give The Dark Knight and other contenders a last-minute nudge for the Oscars, whose nomination balloting closes Jan. 12. Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 22.”
Bolt, Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E were nominated for best animated feature.
“Boston Legal,” “Damages,” “Dexter,” “Lost” and “Mad Men” were nominated for best TV drama, while best TV comedy nods went to “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Entourage,” “The Office,” “30 Rock” and “Weeds.”
The winners will be announced on Jan. 24.
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Hispanic TV landscape could shift in L.A. trial
LOS ANGELES — In a trial that could change the landscape of Hispanic television in the U.S., broadcasting giant Univision Communications Inc. squares off Tuesday against the supplier of its popular telenovelas, Grupo Televisa SA.
The courtroom battle, brewing since 2005, has taken on the tinge of a romantic drama. Televisa is playing the role of the spurned suitor seeking justice, while Univision is trying to keep a financially successful, if unhappy, marriage intact.
Mexico City-based Televisa, the dominant producer of Spanish-language dramas, alleges that Univision wrongly excluded certain programs from the deal that called for Univision to share its advertising revenue with Televisa, even from shows that weren’t made by Televisa. The 25-year agreement was set to continue through 2017.
As the charges and countercharges escalated over the years, the dispute has evolved to threaten Univision’s bedrock of programming — the three hours of Televisa-made soap operas that air five nights a week such as “Las Tontas No Van Al Cielo” (“Dumb Women Don’t Go to Heaven”) — and have cemented Univision at No. 1 among U.S. Hispanic audiences.
If Televisa’s arguments — that Univision committed a material breach of contract — are proved at the jury trial starting Tuesday, the company intends to cut its ties and take its programming elsewhere.
Such a move could cripple New York-based Univision, which has $10.8 billion in debt, much of it created in 2006 in a private-equity firm leveraged buyout, at a time when even advertising for the growing Hispanic market is slumping.
“If Televisa wins, overnight it changes the Spanish-language television landscape as we know it today,” said Jose Cancela, a Coral Gables, Florida-based marketing consultant and author of “The Power of Business en Espanol.”
“This source of programming that Televisa provides gives Univision a dominant position in the marketplace,” Cancela said. “If they were to lose that or it unravels, it has a huge implication for their financial circumstances.”
When the lawsuit was first filed in 2005, it was just about recouping payments Televisa said it was owed. But Televisa raised the legal stakes by alleging a material breach of contract, which would allow it to cancel the deal entirely.
Televisa made this move around the time Univision declared that it was for sale in February 2006. At the time, Televisa owned 11 percent of Univision and was trying to take it over. Univision argued that Televisa’s breach-of-contract claim was designed to scare off other suitors, a poison pill that would leave potential Univision buyers with a hollowed prime-time lineup.
Ultimately, Televisa failed in its takeover bid and had to sell its stake to a group of private equity firms and billionaire Haim Saban, which acquired Univision for $12.3 billion.
But Televisa pressed on with its suit, seeing greater value in shopping its content elsewhere in the United States than the roughly $140 million, or around 12 percent of Univision’s total ad sales, that it collects from Univision annually.
Entangled in the corporate legal feud is also the generational struggle of the media mogul family of Emilio Azcarraga Viduaretta, the founder of the company that became Televisa.
His son Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, “El Tigre,” locked the company into the quarter-century deal with Univision’s then chief executive, Andrew Jerrold Perenchio. But when the second Emilio Azcarraga died in 1997, passing on the family’s control to the third, Emilio Azcarraga Jean, relations between the companies soured.
In 2005, Azcarraga resigned from Univision’s board to protest Perenchio’s decision to pick the company’s next president without consulting him.
“Perenchio never really accepted Emilio Jr.,” Cancela said. “Perenchio’s attitude was, ‘I signed this with your dad, and you’re stuck with it.’”
Univision, now led by CEO Joe Uva, claims that the alleged breaches in the contract, even if they are proven, are not “so dominant or pervasive as to frustrate the purpose” of the deal, thereby not crossing the threshold for a “material breach” set by Judge Philip Gutierrez.
Televisa claims it is owed $118 million from Univision; Univision has paid $18 million of it under protest. About $80 million of the damages sought are over unsold commercial spots that were then used by Univision subsidiaries, which Univision argues are not part of the revenue-sharing plan.
“Univision has always complied with the terms of its agreements with Televisa,” Univision lawyer John Keker said in a statement. “When the jury hears the evidence, we are confident that they will understand that and we will prevail at trial.”
Televisa lawyer Marshall Grossman argues that the “bad faith which permeates the relationship,” including stonewalling by Univision accountants, is enough to justify the termination of the contract.
The prospect of appeals means it could take another year or two for the matter to be settled, meaning any shock to Univision and its programming lineup might be blunted for now. “This lawsu it is almost five years old. So Univision has had plenty of opportunity to continue to develop and make alternative arrangements,” Grossman said. “If it’s wounded, in our judgment, it’s self-inflicted.”
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Twitter accounts of Obama, Britney Spears hacked
Here’s a story from CNN.com:
The Twitter accounts of President-elect Barack Obama, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Britney Spears, Fox News and 29 others were hacked today according to the microblog site, leading to false and inappropriate messages being posted on their accounts.
The microblog site Twitter was hit with phishing scams and hacker attacks during the last three days.
First Fox News Twitter followers read a false message about Bill O’Reilly’s sexuality Monday morning after hackers launched several attacks.
Then came the attack on pop princess Britney Spears private parts.
CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, who uses Twitter on his TV show to interact with the audience, also fell victim to the scam, when a hacker posted about drugs on his account.
Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or “tweets,” from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the site’s blog that the accounts were compromised after a hacker accessed tools the support team uses when a Twitter user can’t remember or wants to reset their login info.
“We considered this a very serious breach of security and immediately took the support tools offline,” Stone said in the blog post. “We’ll put them back only when they’re safe and secure.”
Jennifer Dargan, Director of Public Relations for CNN confirmed Sanchez’s account was compromised.
“As a result, some Twitter users may have received offensive messages attributed to Rick when the breach occurred,” she said. “This is annoying, though such breaches are not uncommon when using social networking sites.”
“Rick has notified Twitter of his account’s breach and taken some basic steps to secure his account’s access. Rick enjoys communicating with viewers via Twitter and he and many others at CNN find social networking a valuable tool in their shows. Rick will continue to use Twitter — along with MySpace and Facebook — to engage CNN’s audience.”
The attacks came after Twitter suffered a vicious phishing scam over the weekend, during which everyday Twitter users may have been tricked into logging on to a page masquerading as the Twitter front page, according to the site.
Instead, users were actually giving out their login information. The fake link was then passed along to anyone following that user.
Twitter posted a small notice on the page of each user warning them about the attacks.
But some users, concerned about the attacks, began messaging Twitter employees.
“So you’re OK with a status quo where any Twitter [application] is potentially a phishing scam?” Twitter user “Aral” posted on the account of Alex Payne, a developer at Twitter. According to his Web site Payne is in charge of working with programmers who develop their own applications that work with Twitter.
“I’m certainly not happy with the security status quo. I just want people to understand the different threats. We’ll get there,” Payne responded.
The attacks are the first known security issues with Twitter, which has grown as a popular social networking site during the last year.
The attack on Twitter indicates hackers may see social networking sites as a good place to try and steal passwords and account information from the most people.
While many of the accounts were fixed quickly by resetting passwords, the attacks are a reminder for Twitter that with increasing popularity comes more security risks. iReport.com: Scammers ‘phishing’ on Twitter
And those risks have kept employees at Twitter working quickly to try and fend off attacks and fix compromised tools.
The company’s CEO Evan Williams echoed that sentiment with a post on his Twitter account this morning.
“Mood at Twitter HQ the first work day of the year: Focused Anxiety.
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Gwyneth Paltrow shares diet tips
Few people would envision Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow as one who needs a diet.
But the 36-year-old, who most recently appeared in the summer hit “Iron Man,” did share her plans for a post-holiday detox, and you can find the details here and here.
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Springsteen songs free via Amazon, Guitar Hero
Bruce Springsteen fans can download a free song now and also have something to look forward to later this month.
In celebration of his upcoming album, “Working on a Dream,” Springsteen’s single “Life Itself” is already available via Amazon (along with a video).
And from Jan. 27 through Feb. 4, fans of The Boss will be able to download “My Lucky Day” and the classic “Born to Run” for Guitar Hero World Tour. The songs are available for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii video game systems.
Meanwhile, Springsteen and the E Street Band are preparing for their halftime performance in the Super Bowl.
For more details, check out this link.
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North American box office has record year
The Hollywood Reporter says the domestic box office did set a record last year, grossing $9.78 billion, up about 2 percent over 2007.
However, the number of tickets sold in Canada and the U.S. dropped, from 1.4 billion to 1.36 billion, meaning that higher ticket prices helped fuel the record.
Of course, The Dark Knight and its studio, Warner Bros., were the big winners, with Dark Knight earning $531 million.
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Actor Pat Hingle dies at 84
Actor (and University of Texas grad) Pat Hingle died of cancer over the weekend at the age of 84, reports Variety.com.
He was perhaps best known for playing Commissioner Gordon in the 1990s Batman movies, but he also had roles in Norma Rae and On the Waterfront, and made appearances on numerous TV shows.
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Actor Gary Oldman marries jazz singer
Actor Gary Oldman has tied the knot for the fourth time, marrying musician Alexandra Edenborough in California last week, reports England’s Daily Telegraph.
The 50-year-old actor, who played Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight, was previously married to model Donya Fiorentino (divorced in 2001), actress Uma Thurman and actress Lesley Manville (the Web site did not list when those marriages ended).
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‘Marley’ remains at the top of the box office
Marley and Me was the weekend’s top film, making about $24 million and bringing its total to $106.5 million since it opened on Christmas Day, says The New York Times.
In fact, “the top five films — and some others down the ladder — kept their positions from last week,” said the Times.
At No. 2, Bedtime Stories took in about $20 million. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, at No. 3, made about $18.5 million. No. 4, Valkyrie, made $14 million. And No. 5, Yes Man, took in about $13.9 million.
I don’t expect that trend will continue next week, with Bride Wars opening and Gran Torino expanding into new markets. Be sure to check Friday’s paper for reviews of the opening films.
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What’s the song being played in ‘The Soloist’ trailer?
I finally got around to seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button over the weekend, and before the movie started I saw the trailer again for The Soloist, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.
I could not figure out what classical piece was played in the trailer, and finally had to look it up online.
It’s Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G, according to WikiAnswers.
Here’s the trailer (found on YouTube). Following that is a video of Yo-Yo Ma playing the suite (also from YouTube).
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‘Dancing’ host wants Jackman on the show
“Dancing with the Stars” host Samantha Harris says she wants to see Australia star Hugh Jackman on the show, reports People.com.
She expects he would do well as a contestant, because he has had starring roles on Broadway. Harris even pitched the idea to him and “he actually twirled and dipped me. I was so excited,” she said told People.
The next season of “Dancing” begins in March — so you fans don’t have too much longer to wait (remember, February is a short month!) — and obviously the cast will be announced in the coming weeks.
If by some miracle Jackman was a contestant on the show, do you think that would make him the biggest star on the popular reality series? I can’t remember all the other stars who’ve danced for ABC, but no other A-list actor comes to mind.
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‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ gets 3D Super Bowl promo
Talk about a monster of a promotion.
Some 150 million 3D glasses will be given away for Super Bowl viewers to watch a three-minute 3D sneak preview of the big-screen animated feature “Monsters vs. Aliens.” While 3D telecasts are nothing new, this marks the first time one has been done for such a large audience.
DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg called the stunt “perhaps the biggest media-advertising event in history.” He wouldn’t give a hard figure on the cost, but said it “involves tens of millions of dollars.”
Katzenberg promised the quality of the 3D will be superior to what has been done in the past. He said the glasses will use Intel InTru 3D and ColorCode 3-D, which updates the old red-blue Anaglyph system.
The technology will also allow those without the glasses to see an almost ordinary image on the TV screen. But, Katzenberg added, it still doesn’t come close to the 3D quality moviegoers will see in theaters when the film opens stateside March 27.
“Monsters vs. Aliens” follows a group of ragtag Earthling monsters who are out to save the world following an alien invasion. The film features the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen and Kiefer Sutherland.
The glasses will be distributed free at Pepsi/SoBe Life Water displays at 28,000 locations including grocery, drug and electronics stores and big-box retailers.
The promotion was unveiled Saturday during NBC’s telecast of the AFC Wild Card Playoffs between the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers. NBC, which will air the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, has its own interest in making sure the glasses are used, as it will air a 3D episode of its series “Chuck” the following night.
“Monsters vs Aliens” is co-directed by Rob Letterman (“Shark Tale”) and Conrad Vernon (“Shrek 2”), who supervised production of the promotion that will air during the Super Bowl.
The directors said they will be watching the telecast from home. “With beer,” Vernon said, laughing. “We’re going to test the effects of beer and 3D,” said Letterman.
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Travolta says he is heartbroken at son’s death
John Travolta said today he and his wife Kelly Preston are “heartbroken” over the death of their chronically ill 16-year-old son, who collapsed at the family’s vacation home on Grand Bahama.
Police Superintendent Basil Rahming has said a caretaker found Jett Travolta unconscious in a bathroom late Friday morning and he was later pronounced dead at a Freeport hospital. The youth was last seen entering the bathroom on Thursday, according to Rahming’s police statement.
“We are heartbroken that our time with him was so brief. We will cherish the time we had with him for the rest of our lives,” Travolta and Preston said in their first public statement since Jett’s death.
“Jett was the most wonderful son that two parents could ever ask for and lit up the lives of everyone he encountered,” said a statement posted Sunday on Travolta’s Web site.
“We have received many messages of condolence from around the world and we want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. It has meant so much to us. It is a beautiful reminder of the inherent goodness in the human spirit that gives us hope for a brighter future.”
Preston and Travolta have said that Jett became very sick when he was 2 years old and was diagnosed with Kawasaki Syndrome, an illness that leads to inflamed blood vessels in young children. Preston blamed household cleaners and fertilizers, and said that a detoxification program based on teachings from the Church of Scientology helped improve his health, according to People magazine. Others said Jett was prone to seizures.
Michael McDermott, an attorney for the actor, said Sunday that although Jett was last seen Thursday and found the following day, he doesn’t believe that the teen was in the bathroom for a substantial amount of time.
“The police left the impression that the boy was unsupervised. No. There were two nannies with him for the entire evening,” McDermott told The Associated Press. “They made it seem like he was sent to the condo and nobody checked in on him until the next morning.”
“(Jett) was spectacularly supervised,” said McDermott, who said he has not had the chance to talk to the two nannies himself.
McDermott said he had no knowledge of Jett’s medical history but “understood he had a history of seizures.” It is unclear whether Jett was taking medication for that.
The Bahamas’ health minister, Dr. Hubert Minnis, has said that a second, U.S.-certified pathologist will fly in at dawn Monday to assist with the teenager’s autopsy.
“I have spoken to (Travolta) and informed him that the government is doing everything it can,” Minnis said Sunday, adding he could not disclose further specifics about the autopsy.
About a dozen security guards and Bahamian police officers patrolled Sunday around the luxury Old Bahama Bay resort community where Travolta and Preston remained inside their home. The white-sand beach in front of the suites was closed. The couple also have an 8-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu.
Travolta, 54, is trying to finish funeral arrangements and hopes to fly his son’s body to Florida by midweek, McDermott said. Travolta and Preston, 46, have a house in Ocala, Florida.
The Church of Scientology, established in 1945 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, has attracted numerous celebrity followers, and among its more famed members is Travolta, who has long been one of Hollywood’s biggest names.
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John Travolta’s son dies at age 16
Actor John Travolta’s 16-year-old son died today while he and his family were on vacation in the Bahamas, Reuters reports.
Reuters quotes attorney Michael Ossi as saying Jett Travolta suffered a seizure at the family’s vacation home on Grand Bahama Island. He died at the scene.
He was Travolta’s eldest child with wife Kelly Preston.
Much as I pick on John Travolta, my heart truly goes out to him today.
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So how do you make a fictional movie based on an advice book?
That’s a question I’ve been asking myself since I heard that He’s Just Not That Into You was being turned into a movie.
The answer: You cast big name actors and actresses in a chick-flick. Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Drew Barrymore and others star in the film, due in theaters in early February.
Here’s the trailer, found on YouTube, of the movie, which looks cute but cliched.
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‘Night Projectionist’ to headed for movie theaters
Comic-book publisher Studio 407’s horror series “The Night Projectionist” is the latest comic-book series to get a movie deal, reports Variety.com.
“Projectionist” is set in a small-town movie theater on Halloween Eve. Moviegoers attending a Draculathon find themselves locked in the theater with real vampires. The first issue hits stores next month.
Studio 407 is teaming with Myriad Pictures to make the movie. Myriad is also adapting the publisher’s series “Hybrid,” with production scheduled to begin sometime this year.
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Jackman won’t be part of ‘Cleo’
Back in October, I told you about the live-action rock musical Cleo, about Cleopatra, that director Steven Soderbergh was putting together. He had hoped at the time to have Hugh Jackman play Marc Antony.
Well, Variety.com says that Jackman has withdrawn from discussions about the movie, which is supposed to star Catherine Zeta-Jones as Cleopatra. Oh, and it’s supposed to be in 3-D, and done in a style similar to an Elvis musicals.
Insiders report that Jackman had a scheduling conflict.
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Movies to look forward to in ‘09?
Entertainment Weekly has picked 12 movies to showcase in a photo gallery of “Big Movies Coming in 2009.”
Among them: Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger; Terminator Salvation; The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler; Where the Wild Things Are (yes, it’s based on the children’s book, not Britney Spears’ life story); Watchmen; some movie with John Travolta; some movie with the Jonas Brothers; a movie with Will Ferrell; and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Those are the biggest movies of 2009?
— A movie that might not actually open (Watchmen, whose fate now is in the hands of Fox)
— a Will Ferrell movie (Land of the Lost, based on a Saturday morning kids show — because film adaptations of TV shows have just done so well)
— a John Travolta movie (Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, which also stars Denzel Washington) — the best film he’s been in in recent years involved him wearing a fat suit and dressing in drag (Hairspray)
— and the Jonas Brothers doing a concert movie?
This is what we have to look forward to? Oh goody.
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San Diego elephants have lost 5 tons of weight
Several elephants at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park have lost a total of 11,314 pounds since starting a diet in 2000, reports the Associated Press.
That’s nearly six tons of weight. From seven elephants.
The animals get several small meals a day, and zookeepers have stopped feeding them treats like bread, corn and jelly beans. They’ve also been trained “to walk laps around their enclosure,” reports the Associated Press.
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Fergie getting fit for upcoming wedding
Singer Fergie tells People.com that she’s been trying to tone her body to get ready for her upcoming wedding to actor Josh Duhamel.
Apparently it’s been tough, especially since she had to gain weight for her role in the movie Nine. Which, incidentally, is a musical that also stars Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard, among others. Right now it’s scheduled for release in December of this year.
Fergie and Duhamel will get married on Jan. 10.
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Album sales continue plunge
2008 was another tough year for the music industry, with album sales still dropping and digital downloads not compensating for the plunge, reports the Associated Press.
Figures released by The Nielsen Co. earlier this week showed that total album sales dropped by 8.5 percent, from 500.5 million in 2007 to 428.4 million last year.
“Physical album sales fell 20 percent to 362.6 million from 450.5 million, while digital album sales rose 32 percent to a record 65.8 million units,” says the AP report.
Taylor Swift sold the most albums this year, 4 million, followed by AC/DC, Lil Wayne and Coldplay, says the AP.
“Swift had two albums on Nielsen’s Top 10 sales list: her self-titled debut at No. 6 and her sophomore album Fearless at No. 3,” says the AP story.
“Lil Wayne had the year’s top-selling album, Tha Carter III, with 2.87 million units sold, with Coldplay’s Viva La Vida (2.14 million) and Swift’s Fearless (2.11 million) rounding out the top three.”
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The Dead are hitting the road
Jerry Garcia may be gone, but the Dead are far from it. They are going on tour this year, but so far no Texas dates have been slated.
Here’s the story from Billboard.com:
Spurred on by two reunions at benefits for President-elect Barack Obama, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead will embark on their first tour in five years this spring.
The Dead will hit the road beginning April 12 in Greensboro, N.C., and will play 16 “evening with” shows in 19 cities through May 10 in San Francisco. Tickets begin going on sale Jan. 13.
Original Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart will be augmented by keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and Allman Brothers Band/Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes.
“For me, it’s the question mark that’s really pulling me in … what’s gonna happen?,” says Lesh. “When you walk out on the stage the possibilities are infinite every time.”
Here are the Dead’s tour dates:
April 12: Greensboro, N.C. (Coliseum) April 14: Washington, D.C. (Verizon Center) April 15: Charlottesville, Va. (John Paul Jones Arena) April 17: Albany, N.Y. (Times Union Center) April 18-19: Worcester, Mass. (DCU Center) April 21: Buffalo, N.Y. (HSBC Arena) April 22: Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Wachovia Arena) April 24: Uniondale, N.Y. (Nassau Coliseum) April 25: New York (Madison Square Garden) April 26: Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) April 28-29: East Rutherford, N.J. (Izod Center) May 1-2: Philadelphia (Wachovia Spectrum) May 5: Chicago (Allstate Arena) May 7: Denver (Pepsi Center) May 9: Los Angeles (Forum) May 10: Mountain View, Calif. (Shoreline Amphitheatre)
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