16th January, 2009
Samuel L. Jackson may reject role for first time ever
Hollywood is buzzing like crazy with the news that Samuel L. Jackson may reject a role in a movie for the first time ever in his prolific and discretion-free career.
The rumors, not yet confirmed, started after Jackson told the Los Angeles Times that he may not play Nick Fury in Marvel's upcoming "Avengers" movie after playing the secret agent in a cameo in "Iron Man." According to industry insiders, Jackson has never before declined to play a part offered to him in any film for any reason.
"This is devastating news for our industry since we depend on Sam to take the roles that no actor with taste will ever play in movies that nobody in their right mind would greenlight if a star of his caliber wasn't involved," said Albert Greenblatt, a producer who has worked with Jackson on godawful films including "The Spirit," "Jumper," "The Man," and "Snakes on a Plane."
Economists who study the entertainment industry say reports that Jackson may my developing a sense of taste comes at the worst possible time for the industry
"The last thing Hollywood needs during a recession is for one of its most versatile stars to start reading scripts and thinking about whether roles are good before he accept them," said Alyssa Tate, a professor at the UCLA Center for the Study of Showbiz. "If Sam Jackson doesn't star in at least six crappy movies that would never get made without him this year, we predict it couuld cost the entertainment industry over 700 jobs and tens of millions in lost revenue."
Tags: hollywood, lost, rap, stylePosted at 3:28 pm | Comment (0)
3rd December, 2008
Lindsay Lohan’s strong love
Lindsay Lohan insists she and lady friend Samantha Ronson are not splitting up.
The 'Mean Girls' star, who has been dating the DJ for several months, has posted a new blog denying all rumours of a rift in their romance.
She said: "Oy vey! Rumours. Just to clear this up, because I have been getting a lot of emails asking me this one question. Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan (me) are NOT breaking up. Take care xxLL"
Lindsay also revealed to her fans she can't stop listening to the song 'Happy Together' by The Turtles.
Lindsay and Samantha were reported to have had a physical fight during a recent night out at London's Boujis nightclub.
Samantha is believed to have lost her temper when she saw Lindsay flirting with her ex-boyfriend, model Calum Best, and angrily confronted the pair.
A source said: "They caused quite a commotion - everyone was staring. Then it erupted into a catfight, with Sam and Lindsay swearing and screaming like banshees.
"Calum looked mortified then things got nasty and he stepped in to separate them."
Source
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12th October, 2008
Corey Feldman: Actor talks about crash that could of cost him his life
Corey Feldman has revealed that paramedics thought he might not make it after he was involved in a car crash 2 years ago.
The 37-year-old Lost Boys says a priest at the scene was ready to read the last rites.
‘Someone drove into my car at an intersection. A priest came up to me and started saying prayers,’ he tells Metro.
‘I was carried out on a stretcher. But it turned out I only had whiplash.’
Photo and Source
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5th October, 2008
Naomi Campbell: Sarah brown encourages me to help charity
Naomi Campbell says meeting Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah opened her eyes to lack of facilities for women giving birth in the Third World.
The model met Sarah to learn about the White Ribbon Alliance, which promotes safer childbirth. The PM's wife lost her daughter Jennifer Jane when she was just 10 days old.
‘When Sarah started talking I though she was going to cry,’ she says. ‘When someone’s talking from experience, it’s very touching.’
Naomi, 38, organised her recent style For Relief show to raise money for the charity.
10,000 women die while giving birth every week, a figure that horrifies Naomi.
‘It’s a huge problem,’ she tells the Daily Mirror. ‘We’re very fortunate but these people don’t have the equipment to deliver a bouncing baby.
‘I connected with it, I’m a woman, I’d like to have kids.’
Photo and Source
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2nd October, 2008
Mayor Michael Bloomberg Wants a Third Term
It must be nice to make up the rules as you go!
For a long time, Mayor Michael Bloomberg seemed to despise the very notion of changing a voter-approved law restricting elected officeholders to two terms in office. When a bill reached his desk in 2002 that would have extended the terms for some officials, he vetoed it. He said the proposed law was wrong because elected officials shouldn't be changing rules to benefit themselves politically.But Bloomberg now appears to have reversed himself. He wants to change the law and run for a third term.
A person who has been briefed on the matter told The Associated Press that Bloomberg will announce Thursday that he will seek to overturn the term-limit law and run for another four years. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement hasn't been made.
Bloomberg, a former chief executive officer who started his career on Wall Street, will cite the nation's precarious economic situation as the reason that New York needs a tested financial manager to stay on and guide the city, the person said. The individual close to the mayor said his plan is to go through the City Council to extend the law to allow a third term because it is too late to get the issue on this year's ballot. Bloomberg quickly drew the scorn of term-limits supporters.
Mark Green, the former city public advocate who lost to Bloomberg in 2001, called the move "an antidemocratic, unfeeling, power grab." Green said civic and labor officials had already been talking about mounting a pro-term-limits campaign should Bloomberg seek to overturn the law.
"He's picked a fight. And now he'll get one," he said.
The New York Times said in an editorial published Wednesday that it supports the idea of scrapping the term limits law: "This is a rule that needs to be abolished. If the voters don't like the results, they can register their views at the polls."
Bloomberg, who founded the financial information company Bloomberg LP and whose worth is estimated at $20 billion, winning re-election by 20 percentage points in 2005. Bloomberg's change of heart comes amid the nation's worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The turmoil has dealt a serious blow to the city's economy, which relies heavily on Wall Street profits for its tax base.
The decision follows a year in which he toyed with a White House bid, drawing constant speculation, before ultimately deciding against it. If Bloomberg did seek another term, it will be politically risky, however. Polls have shown that the public supports term limits.
Chris Kelley, associate director of the government watchdog group Common Cause New York, accused Bloomberg of attempting to subvert the will of the voters, saying it was "an end-run around the voters' choice" and "just incredibly disappointing."
After the Sept. 11 attacks, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani floated the idea of a three-month extension to his term to ease the transition of power. He also suggested overturning the city's term-limits law, but ultimately decided against it. Even in the wake of the attacks, with Giuliani's approval rating at 90 percent, one poll found that 55 percent of New York City voters opposed repealing term limits.
Democrats lining up to run include city Comptroller William Thompson, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Rep. Anthony Weiner and city Councilman Anthony Avella. On the GOP side are supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis and lawyer Bruce Blakeman.
In 2006, Bloomberg scoffed at the notion that an individual could be truly irreplaceable.
"My experience in business has been, whenever we've had somebody who was irreplaceable, their successor invariably did a better job, and I think change is good," he said. (From AP/AOL News)
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2nd October, 2008
4 Super-Hero Show Ideas the CW Rejected Before Picking up its New Robin Series
Many comic book fans were surprised when the CW announced it is picking up a new series called "The Graysons" that chronicles the life of Dick Grayson (known on TV as "DJ") before he became Batman's sidekick Robin. Is Robin a compelling enough character to carry his own TV show? And just how much will the network have to change the Batman mythos in order to create a dramatic series that works in the year 2009?
As it turns out, those are easy challenges compared to the other unlikely comic book characters the CW was considering adapting. Dateline Hollywood has obtained an exclusive development report from the network containing the top four super-hero concepts it almost approved before picking up "The Graysons":
4. Beppo's Laboratory: This proposed series would have focused on the civilian life of Beppo, the Super Monkey. Bepp, of course, stowed away on Kal-El's spaceship as Krypton exploded and gained super powers on Earth. "What's it like for a monkey with super strength and heat vision who has to live as a test subject in a laboratory to hide his secret identity?" asks the series proposal. "Rather than showing another monkey's super feats, we'll focus exclusively on Beppo's efforts to live a normal life: His struggles to learn sign language, his uncertain romance with fellow captive monkey Lana Langur, and his efforts to hurl his own feces without using super strength, which might cause death upon impact." The writers proposed waiting until season five or six to introduce Streaky the Super Cat and Comet the Super Horse as supporting characters.
3. Sub-Heroes: Rather than focus on the powerful and revered Legion of Super-Heroes, DC Comics' teenage super-team from the 30th century, "Sub-Heroes" tells the tale of the kids who didn't quite make the cut. This dramatic take on the characters whose powers were judged completely useless by the Legion. How does Porcupine Pete, whose body is covered in razor sharp quills, handle his first sexual encounter? How does one of Double Header's heads react when the other admits that he is gay? Note: In order to make the characters more appealing, CW executives wanted the subs to work as models and alternative rock band members in order to pay the bills on their clubhouse.
2. Ego, the Living Planet: Network TV has brought us hundreds of doctors, lawyers, and police officers, but never a living planet. "Ego" details the loves, loneliness, and tribulations of the universe's only sentient planet. "Ego is constantly bugging Thor and the Fantastic Four and whoever else he can find, but all he really wants is somebody to care about him," the network's notes explain. CW executives were said to be high on Brian Dennehy or Kirstie Alley to play the part of Ego.
1. Lightning and the Panther: This series would have brought together trailblazing super-heroes Black Lighting and Black Panther, who come from the DC and Marvel universes respectively, as roommates! In a hilarious sitcom billed as "Smallville meets Sanford and Son," the two aging heroes run a junk shop together and reminisce about their days as the first Black super-heroes. The only these cantankerous coots agree on is that modern day African-American heroes who don't use "Black" in their code names have lost their sense of racial pride!
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