Entertainment Blog

Millionaire Filmmaker Michael Moore: ‘Capitalism Did Nothing For Me’

2009-10-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter
(CNSNews.com) -- Documentary film director Michael Moore, who has become a millionaire thanks to the profits from his movies, told CNSNews.com that “capitalism did nothing” for him.

CNSNews.com spoke with Moore on the red carpet at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night before the premiere of his upcoming documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story."

CNSNews.com asked: “Critics may say, when they see this movie, Michael Moore has amassed a fortune of over $50 million, some have said and –”

Moore said: “Really? Are you kidding me? Seriously? Wow. Where did it go?”

CNSNews.com then asked Moore: “Critics would say he’s [Moore] been very successful under a capitalist system. How would you justify making a movie where you paint capitalism as evil?”

Moore said: “Well, capitalism did nothing for me, starting with my first film.”

“You know, I had to pretty much beg, borrow and steal,” he said. “The system is not set up to help somebody from the working class make a movie like this and get the truth out there.”

“In fact, in Fahrenheit 9/11 if you remember, capitalism, the Disney Corporation, tried to kill that film--tried to make it so that people couldn’t see it,” said Moore. “My book Stupid White Men--Harper Collins tried to kill that book so that people couldn’t see it. It's only because I put the light of day on it and told people what was going on did people get the chance to see these things.”

According to Fortune Magazine, Moore’s films have grossed over $300 million worldwide. His highest grossing film was “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which critiques the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and earned over $200 million worldwide.

Moore reportedly was paid $21 million by Disney for producing, directing and creating the film.

Moore also earned 50 percent of the profits of his 2007 film “Sicko,” totaling $25 million plus DVD sales, according to Vanity Fair.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Moore would receive all of the profits made from DVD sales of “Sicko,” sales of which have been estimated at over $17 million.

“Look, you know, I mean, I make documentary films,” said Moore. “So, clearly, I’m not loaded in the way you described. But I do well, obviously because my films do well.”

“So, that means I have an extra responsibility to make sure I spend my time trying to make things better for the people that don’t have what I have, right? I mean, everybody should do that,” he said.

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The 17 Coolest G.I. Joe and Cobra Animal Sidekicks

2009-09-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

By Kevin J. Guhl

Both G.I. Joe and Cobra are very diverse organizations, allowing in pretty much any species that wants to join their ranks. Sure, it makes sense that the occasional Cobra or Joe would learn to work with a dog or a falcon, but once they started adding various aquatic life and other random animals, things got pretty god-ri-damned-diculous. Each team's headquarters must have started to look like Noah's Ark! Still, the inclusion of an animal sidekick with a G.I. Joe figure automatically made that toy 250% more desirable, even if the actual human figure was a waste of plastic. Here are the 17 coolest animal sidekicks in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline.
17 & 16) Falcon and Condor (tie)

Two Cobra guys in really dumb costumes equals two very embarrassed avian sidekicks. Voltar was a plain old nut who happened to be a good military commander and for some reason liked dressing up in hilarious armor straight out of Buck Rogers and carrying around a condor. Raptor was insane, too, and didn't even have successes that made up for it. He not only attempted to train an army of falcons to attack G.I. Joe; he loved dressing in the falcons' image and hanging around in a birdcage. He probably loved pooping on car windshields, too. Oh, and he's an accountant. These are two clear cases of bird abuse, and that's just for being forced to be in the presence of these psychos.

15) Barracuda

Okay, it's a nifty accessory. But exactly what function does a barracuda serve in combat? Can you train it to munch on command? Undertow, one of Destro's frogmen, was probably just a big fan of Heart.

14) Scorpion

According to G.I. Joe lore, dropouts from the Cobra Viper program had to go sharpen their skills in hot, sandy environments as Desert Scorpions, where the troopers spent a lot of time with their namesakes. But where the hell is the desert these guys were training in? The Mesozoic Era? Those scorpions are HUGE!

13) Boar

According to the filecard of Gnawgahyde, this Dreadnok poacher likes to grease himself up with rancid hog-fat before going on a hunt, as the horrible scent will mask the chemical additives from processed foods that are in his body and could scare off animals. Translation: The poor boar packaged with Gnawgahyde isn't long for this Earth, his destiny to become Dreadnok cologne!

12) Manta Ray

Cobra Hydro-Vipers are apparently all like Aquaman, summoning the beasts of the sea to do their bidding. It's not clear what exactly these genetically-engineered Cobra troopers use the black mantas for, aside from having them swim curiously around members of the Joe underwater team.

11) Sandstorm

Late in the G.I. Joe toyline, Hasbro decided that established G.I. Joe desert trooper Dusty would get a pet coyote named Sandstorm that shared his proclivity for being a desert survivalist. That's all well and good, but it's hard not to picture Sandstorm running off to try and drop an anvil on the Roadrunner.

10) Max

Okay, who here really believes a bobcat can be adequately trained to be of any use whatsoever in G.I. Joe desert operations? Even the filecard pretty much implies that insurance salesman-turned-point man Spearhead brings along his bobcat Max as a mascot. Thankfully, Max was so cute that we were willing to overlook any lack of practicality on his part.

9) Robot Shark

While not a living animal, the Cobra Eel's mechanical shark pal bested any other fish companion, mainly due to its ability to fire a spring-loaded torpedo from its mouth.

8) Order

If you were a drunken Joe sneaking back into the PITT after lights out, the attuned senses and loud bark of Order (the German Shepherd belonging to M.P. Law) were sure to alert his master and get your Real American ass thrown in the brig.

7) Kangaroo

Brazil took the animal sidekick idea even further and introduced a line of exclusive figures called Force Fera. The animals looked suspiciously like the cheap plastic beasts you would get a in a bag of zoo critters at the grocery store, as evidenced by the tiny lion, tiger and bear that the Joes and Cobras were paired with. The most inspired combination, though, was of Cobra boxing instructor Big Boa (called Kangor in this set) with a kangaroo. Even better, the kangaroo was given Big Boa's boxing gloves! How fantastic is that?! Imagine yourself as a Joe running across the battlefield on Cobra Island and suddenly being confronted with a boxing kangaroo hopping your way. You'd be KO'ed before you could figure out where and when you popped the LSD.

6) Gold Cobra

The gold cobra that came with Serpentor was perfect not just as the terrorist organization's mascot, but as a toy that allowed you to re-enact two key scenes from G.I. Joe: The Movie. The cobra can serve as the snake javelin that Serpentor almost killed Duke with, and can also serve as Cobra Commander in his snake state when he persistently annoyed poor Roadblock by repeating, "Was once a man!"

5) Freedom

Freedom was the bald eagle teamed with Spirit, the Native American tracker. He was also the living mascot of the Joe team's American spirit, perfect for those posed, patriotic group shots the Joes liked so much.

4) Alligator

In what is apparently a running joke, every version of Cobra henchman Croc Master comes with a pet alligator. "Alligator Master" doesn't have the same ring, we suppose. Either way, it's still a pet alligator on a leash, and that is awesome.

3) Polly

Polly the talking parrot managed to fly a fine line between being annoying and endearing, but he earns a high spot on this list because he was an integral part of the whole package of greatness that was G.I. Joe sailor Shipwreck. Shipwreck's look and personality seemed patterned after Jack Nicholson in the Last Detail (and he also unfortunately looked like a lost member of the Village People). He was the team's wiseass and Polly was his foil. Polly even turned a bit creepy during Shipwreck's extended drug-induced hallucination in "There's No Place Like Springfield."

2) Junkyard

Just for the record, Junkyard was the Joe team's resident Rottweiler and Mutt was his even more vicious human trainer. They also had the distinction of being the first human/animal pair in the Real American Hero toyline, back in 1984. A fixture of both the cartoon and comics, Junkyard sadly went to Doggie Heaven in the comics due to old age, but his son, Junkyard, Jr., entered the fray with Mutt to take a bite out of Cobra's butt. And yes, they were probably both doing the biting.

1) Timber

There have been many Snake-Eyes figures over the decades, but the prize gems are the instances when the Joe team's mute ninja came packaged with his pet wolf, Timber. They are a dynamic pair, one clothed all in jet black and one sporting stark white fur. (Sometimes Timber is painted black, too, and that's just a shame.) They go together like the two halves of a black and white cookie and rival Constable Fraser and Diefenbaker of Due South for best human/wolf pairing. Timber played a role in Marvel's G.I. Joe comic book series and died of old age in the Devil's Due series, but not before siring a litter of little Timbers.

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Coldplay Settles Joe Satriani Lawsuit

2009-09-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

Coldplay and Satriani have settled their legal disputes and the guitarist’s lawsuit alleging copyright infringement has been dismissed.

Last Winter guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, sued Coldplay for ripping off his 2004 track “If I Could Fly” for their own Grammy-nominated hit “Viva La Vida.” According to court documents obtained by Justia News, the lawsuit was dismissed “upon Stipulation” by Judge Dean D. Pregerson, and “each party bears [their] own cost.”

More than likely the two have agreed on some sort financial conclusion to get this train wreck of a case over with. I actually feel bad for Coldplay on this one. It’s just a melody line and similar ideas come close to overlapping all the time. I mean come on, everyone writes in the same keys using the same scales (major, minor, blues) over similar tempos.

It’s doubtful but even if Coldplay does listen to Satriani, anyone who writes music knows that some things can come out on a subconscious level without you having a clue. It’s not usually intentional and a lot of times it may be too late before you realize that it is similar to a song you have listened to before. If anyone should know this, it’s Satriani who seems to be writing the same songs over and over again since “The Extremist“. Then again maybe he doesn’t realize it if it is being done on subconscious level. Oh man we’re getting deep here.

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The Ten Greatest Films of Steven Soderbergh

2009-09-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

Posted by Turk182 in Lists, Features

With Steven Soderbergh's latest slice of cinematic greatness hitting theaters this week in The Informant!, we thought we'd take a look back at the amazing career of one of the most important filmmakers of the last two decades. With as impressive a range of films as anyone working today, what's remarkable about Soderbergh is his ability to go from completely mainstream blockbusters like the Ocean's franchise to much smaller films like Bubble to something in between like The Good German (cast was mainstream but concept was definitely not). He's completely unpredictable and his work ethic should be inspiring to everyone. The one thing his films have in common is that you can tell that Soderbergh loves making film. How else do you explain releasing Che, The Girlfriend Experience, and The Informant! in less than a year's time? He's passionate about his craft and inspiring in his refusal to deliver anything predictable.

Most directors don't have three films that diverse on their ENTIRE resume and the fact that all three are excellent is all-the-more amazing. Soderbergh has already had three periods of brilliance. The first came when he changed the face of independent cinema with Sex, Lies and Videotape and followed it up with an amazingly unique series of films including Kafka and King of the Hill. The independent film movement was decidedly different in the late 1990s as it was in the late 1980s when Soderbergh first came on the scene, so Steven went mainstream but brought his own energy and talent to a ridiculously good string of popular films like Out of Sight, Traffic, and Erin Brockovich. To this viewer, Soderbergh entered his darkest period in the mid-2000s by going too much "Inside Hollywood" with films like Full Frontal and the first Ocean's sequel. But in the last few years, Soderbergh has perhaps pulled off his greatest feat by blending all the different directorial personas of his past from the independent maverick who might have made a film like The Girlfriend Experience to the more mainstream filmmaker who puts Matt Damon in The Informant! And he's doing some of the best work of his career.

Skipping the TV work and his part of Eros, Steven Soderbergh has given us twenty complete films (viewing Che as one) to choose from and it was actually very difficult to whittle this list down to ten. Despite some respected critics who claim otherwise, Ocean's Twelve is Soderbergh's biggest misstep in my eyes. One man's "subversive" is another's "narcissistic, boring, and stupid." Full Frontal and Schizopolis can be immediately scrapped for most of the same reasons. But everything else should be seen and would be recommended. Gray's Anatomy doesn't have the impact that makes me remember it well enough to include (besides, Swimming to Cambodia is a better Spalding Gray film anyway) and The Good German was undeniably flawed, even if I think it got unjustly slammed by most people.

As for true runner-ups – Kafka was a daring choice for a second film; King of the Hill is perhaps the most underappreciated-by-the-public film in his career; Ocean's Thirteen was a lot more fun than it was given credit for being; Erin Brockovich probably would have made the list if I hadn't seen it recently and thought it looked extremely dated; and as much as I truly want to love Solaris, I just don't. Perhaps it is being too familiar with the original but there's something about Soderbergh's Solaris that strikes me much like Van Sant's Psycho – I'd rather see the original.

by Brian Tallerico

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10. Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Probably the most straight-up popular film on this list (if you gauge popularity by being played on basic cable interminably), Ocean's Eleven represents Soderbergh playing with a classic representation of the essence of cool (in the rat pack) that clearly had an impact on him personally, but also just trying to deliver a film that will leave audiences smiling on their way out the door. After the incredibly serious one-two punch of Erin Brockovich and Traffic, which had both come out only the year before, could you blame a director for wanting to get together with an amazing ensemble and have some fun in the city of sin? When the Ocean's films work, which is in most of the first and third and some of the second film, that's what they do best, create an infection of the joy of the con and the beautiful men and women involved in the game.

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9. The Underneath (1995)

God, I wish Soderbergh would make another noir (although he arguably would again in the neo-noir The Limey, which you'll find further up this list). 1995's The Underneath is an underrated attempt at the genre fueled by a great performance from the always-excellent William Fichtner and turns from Peter Gallagher and Elizabeth Shue before they became so predictable. The final act holds it back from greatness but The Underneath proved that Soderbergh could make movies for the masses. After Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Kafka; and King of the Hill, it looked like Soderbergh might always be a director who appealed more to the arthouse than the mainstream. The Underneath was when I realized that Soderbergh would eventually not be just a Sundance darling but someone who would probably take the stage at the Oscars (which he would just a few years later). It's not that The Underneath is Oscar-caliber filmmaking, but it's where I think Soderbergh really developed into the director who would make most of the films on the rest of this list, including the blockbusters, independent experiments, and award-winners.

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8. The Girlfriend Experience (2009)

Proof that Soderbergh isn't concerned about expectations and simply makes the films he WANTS to make can be seen in the excellent The Girlfriend Experience from earlier this year. This is evidence of Soderbergh telling the stories that interest him; ones he wants to tell by experimenting with the form. TGE is about the life of a high-priced escort (Sasha Grey) and is shot on digital video with almost entirely unbroken takes. It looks both amazingly refined and feels voyeuristic at the same time. The design of Girlfriend is subtle but remarkable and Soderbergh proves to have an eye for talent as Grey is simply great, bringing a genuine quality to the role that so many actresses would have turned into melodrama or missed entirely. I love Girlfriend because it shows Soderbergh taking chances with subject matter and style. Track it down on DVD on September 29th.

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7. Bubble (2005)

Probably the least seen film on this list, Bubble is disturbingly underrated. It's probably unlikely to become your favorite film but there's a mastery of craft on display in Bubble that's mind-blowing to this viewer and I think the reason I rank it so high is because I see it as the opening act to the latest chapter of Soderbergh's career, a step back from the mistakes I think he made in the mid-2000s. Made for under $2 million, shot on digital video, largely improvised, and released on DVD four days after being released in theaters, Bubble represents Soderbergh experimenting with the form in much the same way he did with his breakthrough Sex, Lies, and Videotape. He's not only playing with the delivery structure of film but he's playing with the expectations of what an audience brings to a film when they see a director's name above a title and driving home that you should have none when it comes to his films.

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6. Che (2008)

Oh, Che. The lengthy, heated debates I've gotten into about Soderbergh's epic about the failure of revolution are one of the reasons I love it. When someone tells me they hated Che, I smile. It's one of the few films of the last few years that I think is honestly worthy of discussion. You were bored during the second half of Che? What if you were supposed to be? It's a film about the fizzling out of the passion required for revolutionary action. I think Che is remarkable in its construct with each driven action of the first half matched by apathetic failure in the second half. With Benicio Del Toro giving arguably the best performance in all of the Soderbergh films (if it's not this one it's probably the one he gave in Traffic), I find Che mesmerizing. With critics and movie goers constantly telling me that they wish more filmmakers would take honest risks, I feel like we need to support experiments like Che. You say Che was a difficult film? What if it was supposed to be? Shouldn't the life of someone as complex as Che Guevara be more than disposable entertainment?

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5. The Informant! (2009)

Soderbergh's newest is a wonderful comedy that gets richer in memory and discussion, as all great films do. Damon gives the performance of his career as Mark Whitacre, a man who is so delusional that he basically lives inside his own head. Like a lot of Midwesterners, Whitacre has read a few too many Crichton and Grisham novels and when he becomes involved in an international, billion-dollar investigation, he makes mistake after mistake. Damon is simply perfect in the role and Soderbergh's direction is masterful, making for a film that's almost jarringly unusual at first. But once you get on the wavelength of this nearly screwball story of a man who poisoned nearly everything around him with his own delusions, it is a wonderfully brilliant examination of high-level greed and stupidity. (Come back for more on The Informant! with our full-length review on Friday.)

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4. The Limey (1999)

Terence Stamp simply rocks in The Limey. Giving one of the most driven, remarkable performances of his career, Stamp stars as Wilson, a violent Englishman who heads to the city of angels to get revenge for the death of his daughter. Thrilling from beginning to end, The Limey transcends its genre by hinting at how Soderbergh would later experiment with the form through unusual editing and flashback techniques. The Limey is one of my personal favorites because it brilliantly displays Soderbergh's multi-faceted abilities as a director. A lot of directors can make a taut thriller but very few can make one with a performance as complex as Stamp's in the lead role and break so many of the traditional rules of the genre while still providing an intense, riveting experience.

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3. Out of Sight (1998)

Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing, Out of Sight is an underrated classic, a film that turned George Clooney into the modern Cary Grant and a film that thoroughly entertains from first frame to last. I grew up on films like North by Northwest and Charade, films with charming leads, gorgeous women, and intriguing mysteries and those films defined my love for the medium. That love is there in Out of Sight. Out of Sight is a direct descendent of those films, a masterpiece of cool style and clever dialogue. It is one of Soderbergh's best-directed films by far, a movie that gets better every time I see it, feeling more like a modern classic with each passing year.

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2. Traffic (2000)

What more is there to say about Traffic? It's ambitious, flawless, and riveting filmmaking and probably Soderbergh's most universally-acclaimed film ... for good reason. Traffic worked different, related narratives into a full experience long before the narrative structure had reached the point of over-saturation. With a massive running time, huge ensemble, and daring subject matter, Traffic was a risk in every way and it paid off with four Academy Awards, including Best Director, Supporting Actor, Editing, and Adapted Screenplay. (And it should have won Best Picture over Gladiator.) Soderbergh had displayed incredible technical and storytelling ambition with small films like Kafka and The Limey but Traffic proved that the scope of the film wouldn't dictate his willingness to take risks. All directors should follow his lead.

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1. Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

What criteria should be used to pick a director's best film? If we're talking influence, nothing touches Sex, Lies, and Videotape, a movie that really changed the game when it came to the potential of independent film. If we're talking performance, no one in the cast was ever better than they were here. And if we're talking storytelling, Sex, Lies, and Videotape is as timelessly riveting as anything the man has made in the twenty years since. Yes, it looks a bit like a product of its time, but that's not as much of an issue as with other films because it's an essential part of the film. Sex, Lies, and Videotape put a stamp on the end of the selfish era of the 1980s and ushered in an era where technology, whether it be videotape, computers, or your damn Facebook page, would become a major part of the way men and women interact. Witty, clever, honest, and fascinating, Sex, Lies, and Videotape won several major awards, including the Palme D'Or, and became a cultural touchstone for the generation that would follow. Seeing Sex, Lies, and Videotape made me want to become a writer in the hope that I could somehow bring work this good to a wider audience. No film by one of my favorite directors was more personally motivating, and, so, I can't claim any was better.

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Burt Reynolds In Rehab, Found Lying In Pool Of Blood

2009-09-16T23:22:00.000-07:00

Burt Reynolds has checked into rehab in West Palm Beach to be treated for an addiction to painkillers, following an allegedly grisly and bizarre incident in late August. He was found semi-conscious and covered in blood in his Hobe Sound, Florida, home, the National Enquirer reports.

"The houseman found Burt lying in a pool of blood. He'd fallen and was badly cut. The houseman drove him to the hospital. But this time, Burt was behaving strangely, and doctors were so concerned about his state of mind that they sent him to the county mental health facility in West Palm Beach," a source told the tabloid.

His admission to rehab may not have been entirely voluntary. The facility allegedly refused to release Reynolds unless he agreed to head straight to rehab.

"He's been increasingly abusing booze and prescription drugs, mainly painkillers. There have been many times recently when he's been completely out of it, and twice in the last few months he's ended up at the ER," the source said. "...Burt wasn't happy about it, but he checked in, went through detox and then joined a regular 30-day rehab program."

Take what you want from the Enquirer's report, but the tabloid has gotten it right before. Reynolds' manager, meanwhile, has put forth a less colorful version of the events that landed the 73-year-old actor in rehab.

"After a recent back surgery, Mr. Reynolds felt like he was going through hell and after a while, realized he was a prisoner of prescription pain pills," he said in a statement to People. "He checked himself into rehab in order to regain control of his life. Mr. Reynolds hopes his story will help others in a similar situation. He hopes they will not try to solve the problem by themselves, but realize that sometimes it is too tough to do on their own and they should seek help, as he did."

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Misdirection: When Hollywood Directors Take Credit For Movies They Didn’t Direct

2009-09-16T23:20:00.000-07:00

Hollywood is a self-congratulatory industry. It devotes millions in time and money to constantly patting itself on the back. But it's even more unbelievable to be self-congratulatory about a project you had virtually nothing to do with. Increasingly, famous Hollywood directors are "presenting" movies. They neither directed nor produced these movies, but for the sake of clout, marketing, and getting more people in the theatre, 'presenters' seem to be needed. Too bad if the real director did all the work and now their name is eclipsed by Spielberg, Scorsese or Tarantino. Here is a list of the biggest names in Hollywood's “misdirection.”

1. Steven Spielberg

You'd think the (arguably) most successful director of all time would have his plate full. Apparently not. The films Spielberg has leant his name to are impressive: An American Tail, Tiny Toon Adventures, or Animaniacs to begin. While Spielberg acts more as an executive producer, rather than the common presenter, it must suck to direct the classic The Goonies or The Gremlins, and no one remembers your name. Richard Donner and Joe Dante anyone?

2. Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino is talented, famous and revered by audiences. He's one of the few directors (often) more famous than the actors in his films. Yet, he is not shy to "present" films he had absolutely nothing to do with. Usually Tarantino attaches his name to Asian action films he loves. Tarantino "presented" Hero directed by Zhang Yimou and The Protector directed by Prachya Pinkaew. The best job he did of presenting was Iron Monkey, a film from Hong Kong director Yuen Woo-Ping. This movie was released in 1993. Tarantino presented this film in its US release in 2001. Nothing like an 8-year-gap to really hone your presenting skills. Tarantino spread his love to some Americans, as well. He was the executive producer, for example, on Eli Roth's Hostel.

3. Francis Ford Coppola

Creating The Godfather franchise and Apocalypse Now wasn't enough for Coppola - he had to start presenting movies himself. Even though 1987's Barfly was directed by Barbet Schroeder, written by Charles Bukowski and starred Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway, it apparently needed Coppola's presenting skills to really get some name recognition. Although Coppola's executive producer credit didn't do much to help Chatrichalerm Yukol's The Legend of Suriyothai, an epic Thai historical drama. Not that anyone saw it. Then again, Coppola's last film as director was Youth Without Youth. Nope, no one saw that one either.

4. Martin Scorsese

Scorsese's name is synonymous with gritty, crime films so when he presented 2008's Italian modern mob drama Gomorrah at least that made some sense. But who thinks Shakespeare when they hear the name Scorsese? Love's Labour's Lost directed by renowed Shakespearean actor/director Kenneth Branaugh and produced by Miramax was presented to US audiences by Martin Scorsese? Maybe any attempt at Shakespeare starring Alicia Silverstone should take any help it can get.

5. Michael Bay

While Bay's summer has been consumed with the massive success of Transformers 2 not to mention the idiotic ramblings of its hottie lead Megan Fox, Michael Bay had time to lend his name to Horsemen, a Seven-ish ripoff starring Dennis Quaid. Horsemen is directed by Jonus Akerlund and also stars Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Ziyi Zhang. Maybe if Akerlund is lucky, Zhang will be as nutty as Fox and get his name out there since he actually did all the work for the film. Bay must want to do to horror/thriller films what he did to action films, which was make them big and sucky, because he recently produced The Unborn, starring Meagan Goode who bears an uncanny resemblance to Megan Fox. The Unborn was written and directed by David S. Goyer, but who cares. Michael Bay needs his name on everything in 2009.

6. Ron Howard

It's easy to understand every man's secret desire to be an astronaut, especially if you made Apollo 13 and got to use all of NASA's official stuff. Apparently the 16 executive producers of In The Shadow of the Moon were not enough, neither was the participation of real astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. They needed Ron Howard to "present" this film.

7. Spike Jonze

Ever since Spike Jonze brought audiences the very original, quirky Being John Malkovich his name brings a certain coolness to projects. However, it's questionable that his name helped Tarsem Singh's visually stunning The Fall, although the poster looked really cool.

8. Robert Zemeckis

Zemeckis, best known for directing all the Back to the Future films, not to mention the little indie film Forrest Gump, also presented the world to a little known New Zealand director, Peter Jackson. Zemeckis must feel pretty good about himself, or maybe he just taught Jackson a lesson about filming trilogies all at one time. Zemeckis first 'presented' Jackson's film The Frighteners starring Michael J. Fox. See, it's all coming full circle now.

9. Spike Lee

When Spike Lee isn't picking fights with Clint Eastwood or watching the NY Knicks, he's usually directing or producing films. But even Lee is not afraid to get in the presenter game. He leant his name to Kevin Willmott's C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America a British 'documentary' that takes a satirical and scary view if the South had won the Civil War. There isn’t an embeddable version of it, but you can view the trailer to CSA here.

10. Joe Roth

While Joe Roth's early successes came producing movies such as Young Guns, Bachelor Party, and Major League, somehow the studio releasing The Exorcist III, totally NOT in the same genre mind you, needed Joe Roth as presenter. He was also an executive producer on The Exorcist III, which seems normal, but presenter? Who even knows Joe Roth? Well, he did direct Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise.

11. Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme, who won an Academy Award for directing The Silence of the Lambs and most recently directed Rachel Getting Married, for some reason needed to present 1997's Ulee's Gold directed by Victor Nunez. It didn't seem to matter that the lead actor, Peter Fonda, was one of the most highly regarded actors of his generation or that the film featured a young but still sexy Jessica Biel. No, the studio called for the virtually nameless Jonathan Demme to step up to bat, and step up the bat he did.

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TARANTINO RULES SET WITH AN IRON DILDO

2009-08-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently there was a running joke on the set of Inglourious Basterds, whereby if a castmember was caught sleeping, they would get their picture taken with a giant purple dildo, and that giant purple dildo was named Gerry. I would’ve called it “Danny Masterson.”

Actor Michael Fassbender admits he was one of the only castmates not to make the board - because he found ways of sleeping in secret. He tells WENN, “Big Gerry was a giant purple dildo, very large in girth and length. Basically, anybody that was caught going to sleep would get photographed with Big Jerry the dildo somewhere near their face and put up on the Board of Shame. The idea was three strikes and you’re out. This kind of really worried me because I have a tendency to nap. If I have 10 or 15 minutes you’d find me in a corner underneath something but I never got caught. Brad (Pitt) was up there once on the Board of Shame, Gedeon Burkhard got caught twice, Diane (Kruger) was on the board… There was a lot of people on that board.” [ONTD]

Well isn’t that cute. It’s nice to see that even people living the dream, making the kind of movies most people can only dream of making, with some of the biggest stars in the world can still find the time to have fun. Heartwarming, really. It’s kind of like how sometimes I shower just to put on pajamas, and only because I can’t stand the smell of myself. Blogging is so glamorous. Hey, know who else has a wall of dildos? You guessed it, your mom.

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EXCLUSIVE: Jerry O'Connell Enrolls in Law School

2009-08-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

Jerry O'Connell has gone back to school, his rep confirms to Usmagazine.com.

The actor, 35, recently enrolled at Los Angeles' Southwestern Law School.

"I had always planned on continuing my education at some point and because my wife is working on Eastwick, which is on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. this fall, and I'm home all day with the girls, I figured I would take a couple of classes at night," O'Connell tells Us. "It was either that or play video games until 2 a.m."

Do these stars look smarter with glasses?

O'Connell "is very excited to be starting his law school education here at Southwestern," Leslie Steinberg, the school's Assistant Dean of Public Affairs, tells Us. "He just had orientation last week, and he started classes this week."

See celebs' high school year book photos.

Steinberg says that even though O'Connell -- who welcomed twins with wife Rebecca Romijn last January -- has "been out of school for awhile," he's "very excited and enthusiastic" about his studies.

See which other stars have twins.

She adds that O'Connell decided to enroll there because he was "very impressed with the faculty and the vibe here. This is brand new to him as well. He's very much looking forward to his education.

A fellow student posted on Twitter's CelebSightings earlier this week: "Actor Jerry O'Connell is at orientation @ Southwestern Law School. He is an entering night student, mingling @ mixer."

Join Us on Facebook and Twitter for even more up to the minute celebrity news and photos!

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Sean Bean to star in HBO's 'Thrones'

2009-07-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

This is great news for an eagerly anticipated series.

By Borys Kit and Nellie Andreeva

Sean Bean has nabbed the lead in "Game of Thrones," HBO's adaptation of the George R.R. Martin fantasy-book series. Tom McCarthy is directing; David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who wrote the screenplay, are executive producing.

Mark Addy is in final negotiations to also join the production. Kit Harrington, Jack Gleeson and Harry Lloyd also have come aboard.

The books revolves around a battle among seven kingdoms and between two ruling families for control of the Iron Throne, the possession that ensures survival through a 40-year winter to come.

Bean will play Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark, known for his sense of honor and justice, who becomes closest adviser to King Robert (Addy).

Harrington will play Jon Snow, Bean's bastard son, and Lloyd will play Viserys, a powerless ruler who seeks to marry off his sister to a powerful king. Gleeson will play Joffrey, King Robert's son.

Peter Dinklage also is in the cast for the production, which is in the pilot stage and begins shooting in October in Ireland.

Guymon Casady, Carolyn Strauss, Vincent Gerardis and Martin also are executive producing.

"Thrones" marks the latest fantasy epic-style production for Bean. He recently wrapped shooting on "Percy Jackson & the Olympians," an adaptation of Rick Riordan's children's book. Bean, repped by CAA, also has "Black Death," a supernatural thriller set during England's first bubonic plague, in postproduction.

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McCartney Makes History at Citi Field With Billy Joel, Beatles Hits

2009-07-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Photo: Bill Bernstein/MPL Communications Ltd/Getty

Forty-four years after the Beatles‘ legendary show at Shea Stadium, Paul McCartney returned to Flushing Meadows, Queens, last night to perform the first concert at Citi Field, Shea’s replacement. The sold-out crowd was clearly nostalgic for the Beatles’ heyday, but not as much as McCartney himself. “These occasions are so cool,” he said early on in the show, as he walked to the front of the stage to absorb the crowd’s adoration. “I’m just going to take a sec to soak it all in.”

During the first encore McCartney spoke about his most recent appearance in the area, guesting with Billy Joel during his Last Play At Shea concert. “That gentleman is with us tonight,” he said as Joel ran onstage, sending the audience into hysterics. He played piano and sang a rollicking duet with Macca on “I Saw Her Standing There.” Joel, currently on tour with Elton John, looked extremely sunburned, but clearly relished the opportunity to play again with his hero again.

For the rest of the show McCartney stuck to his tried and true concert formula: a smattering of new songs in the beginning, a handful of Wings hits and a fuckload of Beatles classics. Each time he’s toured recently he’s revived a couple Fab Four songs that haven’t been played since their original recording. This time around he dug out “Day Tripper,” and “A Day In The Life.” “Day Tripper” was scorching and clearly should have been unearthed years ago, while “A Day In The Life” was surprisingly effective and emotional considering that the original was a product of so much studio magic. At the end of the Wings cut “Let Me Roll It” the band played a snippet of “Foxy Lady,” followed by a story about McCartney seeing Jimi Hendrix cover a track from Sgt. Pepper in London days after it came out.

The middle section was heavy on material from McCartney’s recent Fireman album, and obscurities like “Flaming Pie” and “Here Today.” It also began raining, and one could feel the energy being sucked out of the stadium as masses of people begin sitting down to huddle under umbrellas and makeshift hats. When McCartney sat down at the piano for “Live And Let Die,” however, the rain stopped and the booming pyrotechnics instantly brought the crowd into the game. From here it was one Beatles song after another: “Lady Madonna,” “Yesterday,” “Get Back,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and the inevitable crowd sing-along on “Hey Jude.” Best of all was “Helter Skelter,” which managed to nearly sound as hard and menacing as the original.

The Beatles’ 1965 and 1966 Shea Stadiums gigs were certainly landmark cultural moments, but as musical events they were quite lousy. The sound was run through the stadium’s public address system, rendering it all but inaudible — regardless of the fact that the girls spent the entire time screaming at the top of their lungs. They only did a dozen songs during a barely 30-minute set. Last night, McCartney played for nearly three hours, in a voice that sounds remarkably unaffected by the passage of time. The only song played at both the 1965 and 2009 shows was “I’m Down.” While nothing could beat this version (watch John Lennon play the keyboards with his elbows), the 2009 rendition was light years better than you’d expect from a man three years short of his 70th birthday.

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Metallica’s Lars Ulrich is Proud of Napster’s Destruction

2009-07-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

Written by enigmax

Just days after the BPI’s Geoff Taylor said that the industry screwed up in its handling of Napster, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich indicates he has no such regrets, declaring his pride for his hand in the destruction of the file-sharing pioneer but giving credit to the Napster management for painting the band as greedy luddites.

In recent times it’s become something of a trend in the music industry to admit that its handling of Napster left a lot to be desired. Of course, everyone was telling them this exact same thing 10 years ago.

While some, such as the BPI’s Geoff Taylor, have shown at least some sign of regret (although not necessarily backed up by actions), others are adamant that crushing the file-sharing pioneer was the right thing to do.

Despite making some uncharacteristically pragmatic comments about P2P last year when his album ‘Death Magnetic’ appeared on the Internet, and despite trying file-sharing himself fairly recently when he downloaded the album using BitTorrent, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has no regrets over his part in the neutering of Napster.

Ulrich and Metallica generated years of hate with their aggressive anti-Napster stance in the early part of the century, after discovering their entire back catalogue was available through the service.

But now, speaking with Kerrang!, Ulrich says he did the right thing in bringing Napster down, standing firmly behind his decision, expressing pride where others today are expressing cautious regret.

“Being right about Napster doesn’t mean that much to me. I don’t find any particular glory in being proved right about it,” he said.

Turning to Napster’s management, Ulrich said he admired them for managing to paint the band as greedy rock stars who were behind the times, although it hardly seems fair to give Fanning and friends all the credit for that - the band did more than enough to nurture that impression too.

“You have to give props to the other side because they did run a brilliant campaign, and they did portray me and Metallica as being greedy rock pigs and luddites who were completely behind what was happening technologically,” said Ulrich.

“But I am proud of what we did, and what we stood up for,” he added.

Indeed, today’s file-sharing community owes a debt of gratitude to Ulrich and Metallica, because without their efforts to destroy Napster there wouldn’t have been the massive effort by others to create the many improved replacements available today.

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Steven Sommers Dismisses G.I. Joe Firing Rumors as 'Complete Lies'; Sienna Miller Admits It Isn't the 'Best Acting Work We've Ever Done'

2009-07-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Written by Seth Abramovitch

Any movie based on a line of boys’ attack-Barbies, directed by the man who brought you Van Helsing, and starring Marlon Wayans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt without the least bit of irony has turkey written all over it, and nothing in the trailer for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra suggests otherwise. Indeed, the signs were there early on, after a number of stunt mishaps narrowly averted serious disaster — though resulted in at least one cleavage-singeing for star Sienna Miller. She confirmed as much to Australian press at a stop on the movie’s worldwide promotional tour, saying, “Luckily it wasn’t my breasts, it was the bit in-between. It got a bit burnt when an explosion got a bit close.”

But it would take more than some barbecued boobies to get Paramount to eject the man behind it all from the production. Denying widespread rumors that he’d been dismissed by the studio after some disastrous test screenings, Sommers said:

‘It’s complete lies. I have always had final cut of the film. People just make stuff up. You have to really screw up to get fired from a movie. The stigma of that would kill it. This is not the case.’

Meanwhile, newly married star Channing Tatum explained how his position as an opinionless patriot nearly prevented his involvement — until he read the script, and realized that what Sommers and Paramount were trying to do was create a military strike-force movie, without the military:

‘When I was first approached about the role I thought, ‘Aww man, how are you going to make a movie about G.I. Joe in a time of war?’

‘Then I read the script and it was nothing to do with the military at all. ‘I’m a big supporter of the soldiers and the military and I don’t have a view on the war at all, I’m not a political person.

In the end, the film’s stars seem to want to keep expectations realistic:

Actor Channing, 29, said: ‘I hope it does OK’, while a less tactful Sienna added: ‘You know, GI Joe, it’s not going to be the best acting work we’ve ever done.’
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Growing Pains: When Child Stars Become Adults

2009-07-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

Growing up isn't always easy, so imagine having to grow up on movie screens in front of an audience of millions. Sure, the money probably eases the burden... but we digress.

Watching the Harry Potter kids as Half-Blood Prince rolls out seems to reveal a relatively well-adjusted trio of stars who've avoided the pitfalls of celebrity life and kept their wits about them (though not always their clothes, as Daniel Radcliffe showed in his Equus theatre debut).

But how will the kids fare post-Potter? Will they transition successfully into adult roles? We decided to take a look back at 25 memorable child stars -- and the courses their careers took.

Natalie Portman

A 12-year-old couldn't ask for a cooler film debut than that of a gun-toting, Lolita-esque muse to a hardened New York hit man. In 1994's Leon, Natalie Portman gets to swear, smoke, wear hot pants and learn how to take out a target -- only Luc Besson would dare get away with it -- thus preparing herself for a successful adult career as the muse of a Sith Lord, a terrorist, and Devendra Banhart. But really, Natalie -- what the hell was with Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium?

Edward Furlong

Ah, Eddie. He burst onto screens wearing a Public Enemy T-shirt, robbing ATMs and teaching killer robots how to high five as the young k.d. Lang -- sorry, John Connor -- in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but the ensuing years have been anything but 'eeeasy money'. 1998's trio of Pecker, American History X and Detroit Rock City looked promising, but Furlong's battle with drugs sidelined his CV -- and meant we had to deal with Christian Bale as John Connor in Terminator Salvation. Uh, thanks for that. Still, at least Uwe Boll's giving him work.

Dakota Fanning

There are those who'll insist Dakota was never really a child actress -- just an adult trapped in a miniature body. True, there's something eerily preternatural about her performances, even going back to 2001's I Am Sam -- when she was just seven -- and she was definitely too old to be playing with pigs and spiders in Charlotte's Web. But the world wasn't ready for Dakota to grow up, as the rape-gate controversy over the quickly-shelved Hounddog illustrated. Now, she's ready for proper young adult, starring in Twilight: New Moon, and as proto-punk '70s riot grrl Cherie Currie in The Runaways. Hello daddy, hello mom...

Linda Blair

To be fair, Linda Blair was never going to live up to -- or live down -- her portrayal of The Exorcist's Regan, a... 'troubled'... child given to decorating her bedroom with projectile vomit, descending staircases upside-down, and telling men of the cloth exactly what their mothers liked to suck in Hell. Her roller-skating teenage return in the train wreck Exorcist II quickly gave way to a rut of straight-to-video B-movies in the 1980s, while she later spoofed her most famous role with 1990's Repossessed!, resurfaced for a cameo in Wes Craven's Scream, and recently appeared in an episode of TV's Supernatural. Fitting enough.

Haley Joel Osment

Teenage growth spurts can be painful at the best of times, but when your awkward years are captured in a police mugshot for a DUI, it's all the worse. That 2006 photo of Haley Joel Osment's post-car accident arrest stunned everyone who remembered him as the silent, ethereal little boy who saw dead people in The Sixth Sense, played a creepy kinder-droid in Spielberg's A.I. and then, well... it's not that HJO disappeared exactly, but did anyone see Home of the Giants? He's only 21, so let's give his body time to align and then we'll see where he goes...

Elizabeth Taylor

Hard to imagine the fabulously over-the-top 77-year-old icon was once a child star, but there it was: baby-faced Liz cuddling up to a border collie in 1943's Lassie Come Home and a prized horse in 1944's National Velvet. Her adult career is legendary, of course, with two Best Actress Oscars, star turns in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Giant; not to mention an infamously stormy marriage to Richard Burton and a collection of husbands almost as long as her list of film credits.

Ke Huy Quan

He got his break trying to pick Dr. Jones' pockets and went on to become the adventurer's trusted sidekick in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -- proving useful in a lop-sided fight against evil henchmen and wicked Maharaja's with voodoo dolls -- but Ke Huy Quan may just be as fondly remembered as Data, he of the malfunctioning booby-trap gadgets in 1985's The Goonies. Seems his fight-training paid off, too: he's since worked as a stunt choreographer on X-Men and Jet Li's The One.

Kristen Stewart

Okay, so she wasn't exactly stretched to do much of it in Twilight, but we all knew Kristen Stewart could act -- cast your memories back to the barely 12-year-old's petrified turn as Jodie Foster's diabetic daughter in David Fincher's Panic Room and you can see a child actress with an intense range... of fear, at least. No doubt her ex-child prodigy co-star offered her some tips because Kristen's career has been on a sure and steady climb ever since -- with the obligatory kids' films (the underrated Zathura) giving way to parts in Into the Wild and the Twilight Saga, which has made her one of the world's most recognizable stars. Next up: loving rock and roll as Joan Jett in The Runaways. Yowl.

Drew Barrymore

Drew's rise and fall and rise again is the oft-told stuff of pop culture legend: a descendant of the famous Barrymore acting clan, the 7-year-old with the blonde pigtails melted the world's heart as Gertie in E.T. and, just a few years later, had succumbed to the abyss of Hollywood's party drugs. Yet what looked like a classic case of child-star burnout turned around in the '90s -- we're saying precisely at the moment she appeared as a Swedish receptionist in Wayne's World 2; or gave a 'revealing' interview on Letterman -- and, post-Charlie's Angels, Barrymore is a successful producer (thank her for Donnie Darko) and about to be first-time director, with Ellen Page's all-girl roller derby Whip It! due later this year.

Macaulay Culkin

It's a filmic image as enduring as Mйliиs rocket in the Moon, Citizen's Kane's Rosebud or Godard's Breathless jump cuts: yes, we're talking about 10-year-old Mac's hands clasped to his face in Edvard Munch-like horror in Home Alone -- arguably the greatest ever moment in cinema history. (What? We poll experts on these things, you know.) Culkin was the biggest thing in child stardom since Shirley Temple and for a brief moment in the early '90s he reigned supreme: a hit sequel, hangin' with Michael Jackson; a pretty moving turn in My Girl. But age and -- dare we say, a limited acting range -- caught up with Culkin, whose roles in the likes of Party Monster required more than cute McCallister face-pulling. We'll always have his weirdly hot Sonic Youth video, though.

Winona Ryder

"My whole life is a dark room," deadpanned Winona Ryder as the comically morbid kid in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. "One big, dark room." Okay, so things haven't gotten quite so grim for "Wino Forever" (as ex Johnny Depp renamed his tattoo of her), but after an opening resume that included Heathers and Edward Scissorhands -- and an Oscar nomination for 1994's Little Women -- the actress appears to have steadily drifted sideways, appearing most recently in stuff that's missed theatrical release altogether. We could make some easy wisecrack about kleptomania here, but whatever she's doing to keep her looks -- it's clearly working.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Hey, Mr. Serious Scorsese Muse and Eco-Crusader -- you were in Critters 3! Yep, Leo's less-than-auspicious debut predicted little of what his career would become; yet the guy quickly demonstrated his electric talent as a teen in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and The Basketball Diaries. Titanic teen-idolatry, running with the so-called "Pussy Pack" and overexposure almost finished him, so DiCaprio wisely removed himself from the public eye for a couple of years, reemerging with Spielberg (Catch Me If You Can), Scorsese (Gangs of New York, et al) and Ridley Scott (Body of Lies). What we wouldn't give to see the dude lighten up a little, though...

Christian Bale

Ben Stiller said that, while working on Empire of the Sun, he conceived the idea for Tropic Thunder, his war-movie satire rife with maniacal, egotistical actors who love to shout a lot. Could he have been reminiscing about his 13-year-old co-star Christian Bale, who hurled perfectly eloquent obscenities at incompetent director Steven Spielberg and ordered John Malkovich to get out of his shot? We'll never know, but Bale's performance -- based on J.G. Ballard's memoirs -- shows a kid with already enormous intensity. The rest is history -- Patrick Bateman, Bruce Wayne, Reign of Fire. What's that, you don't remember that movie? Helicopters and dragons -- together? Bale is next up in Public Enemies, and is filming The Fighter with David O. Russell.

Judy Garland

Dead at age 47 from a drug overdose, Judy Garland's was a tumultuous career marked by dizzying highs -- and tragic lows. Already a child star at MGM in the '30s, she may have been 17 by the time she stepped down the Yellow Brick Road as Dorothy, but her role in The Wizard of Oz is immortalized among the great childhood performances. Garland's adult career was marred by pills and alcohol abuse -- some claimed the studios insisted she was overweight, leading to her self-destructive binges -- and the actress attempted suicide several times. Yet with 1954's A Star Is Born she emerged triumphant -- only to be gone, sadly, just a few years later.

Jodie Foster

Stick with psychos, kids, and you'll do just fine. 13-year-old Jodie Foster's big break (and first Oscar nomination) came as Travis Bickle's obsession -- a preteen prostitute in Taxi Driver -- and she would go on to win her two adult Oscars playing a rape victim in The Accused and matching wits with Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. (On the other hand, a Foster-fixated wackjob did attempt to assassinate ex-President Ronald Reagan by claiming the actress made him do it.) Still at the top of her game, Foster will next direct Mel Gibson in The Beaver (jokes after class, please). But would everything have been different if Disney had released her from her contract for a shot at Princess Leia?

Jake Lloyd

You kinda have to feel a bit bad for Jake Lloyd: aside from his CGI Rasta pal Jar Jar Binks, the young Anakin Skywalker copped a large percentage of the flak from incensed fan-boys demanding a refund for their violated childhoods in the fallout from Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace. And that was more or less it for Lloyd, who seemed none-too-fussed about the whole thing -- as this candid interview reveals -- and headed off to college (as a film major, no less). Then again, we're sure the merchandising royalties from one of the ten highest-grossing films of all time will ease his bad memories.

Natalie Wood

Her role in 1947's holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street would have sealed her movie memory, but child star Natalie Wood was only beginning -- it was her roles as a young woman that will be best remembered. Over the next two decades she starred opposite James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause, headlined musical gem West Side Story, and appeared alongside Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass (both from 1961). Her later career was less eventful, save for the fact that, well, she drowned -- at just age 42, having filmed her last role opposite Christopher Walken in the sci-fi Brainstorm.

Kirsten Dunst

"I want some more," hissed Kirsten Dunst's tortured bloodsucker in Interview With the Vampire, all golden tresses and dripping red fangs like some Shirley Temple of the underworld. And she got it: after doing kid duties in films like Jumanji and Small Soldiers, she transitioned elegantly into quality teen roles both haunting (The Virgin Suicides) and archly bubble-headed (Bring It On). Spider-Man, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Marie Antoinette would follow, confirming her place as one of her generation's most talented.

Shia LaBeouf

"Who is this guy and how does he seem to be everywhere all of a sudden?" exclaimed some as the teenager apparently groomed by Dreamworks for instant stardom started opening number one films with Disturbia and Transformers and landing the plum role as Jones Junior Junior in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Shia's success wasn't quite overnight, however: he'd done his time on Disney's TV series Even Stevens, appeared in kids' film Holes, and guested on episodes of The X-Files and Freaks and Geeks. Now, he's the more or less the biggest star in the universe -- whether you like it or not.

Christina Ricci

Miss Ricci's always had a thing for the dark side -- she was, after all, the sardonic face of Wednesday Addams in the two films of the classic TV series, before taking the Tim Burton rite-of-passage opposite Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow. But even that couldn't prepare us for the emotionally dark places the actress was drawn to: from her precocious role in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm to her lascivious entrapper in The Opposite Sex, Ricci has shown she's willing to bare her soul -- and, in Black Snake Moan, everything else -- for her art. Plus, her haircut might have been the best thing about Speed Racer...

Anna Paquin

Winning an Oscar at 12 -- the second-youngest actress to do so -- for The Piano in 1994 was either a ticket to a downhill ride or the beginning of something illustrious. In truth, Anna Paquin's career since has been a mixed bag, her most visible work being her role as Rogue in the X-Men trilogy. Beyond the franchise, though, she's shown range in smaller films (Almost Famous, the excellent The Squid and the Whale) and her current gig headlining TV's True Blood has seen her maintain her profile. Not so sure about the hair.

Corey Feldman

As one half -- the more charismatic half, you say? -- of late '80s teen heartthrobs the Coreys, Feldman and his screen pal Haim were cemented onto bedroom walls and into a time and place that it was always going to be tough to escape from (just try to watch 1995's Dream A Little Dream 2 -- we dare you). Long before that particular dreamboat ran aground, though, Corey Feldman had appeared in a bunch of the '80s most cherished films: there he is playing with Gizmo in Gremlins, shooting his mouth off in The Goonies and coming of age in Stand By Me. The Lost Boys should have made him a star. So what happened? May we direct you to last year's Lost Boys: The Tribe, perhaps?

Carrie Henn

Who could forget wide-eyed, pint-sized lost urchin Newt in Aliens? (Well, who but David Fincher, anyway, who decided to reintroduce her as a frozen corpse in Alien 3). In many ways she was the soul of James Cameron's revered sci-fi sequel, compelling Sigourney Weaver's Ripley to motherhood instinct action and inspiring the movie's great line: "Get away from her, you bitch!" So, with just the one movie to her credit -- and what a movie at that -- it makes you wonder where she vanished to. The answer: Henn, now 33, is a school teacher. (Thanks to Cplbeaudoin for the photo).

Tatum O'Neal

Sorry, Anna Paquin: Tatum O'Neal was all of 10 when she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Paper Moon, the 1973 hit in which she played a diminutive grifter opposite her dad, Ryan. Unfortunately it was to be the high point of her career. After a couple of teen turns in The Bad News Bears and International Velvet, Tatum became better known for her marriage to tennis bad-boy John McEnroe, and -- if Michael Jackson's 2002 reminiscence is to be believed -- she was the raunchy starlet who attempted to deflower the shy young music star. O'Neal's recent drug busts for crack possession put her a long way from the glory child actor days, though she continues to get TV work.

Shirley Temple

The Queen Bee of child movie stars, Shirley Temple began her acting training at age three, and was a star at six, going on to appear in a string of popular hits during the 1930s. In 1935 -- now the ripe old age of seven -- the golden-curled one received a special 'miniature' Oscar from the Academy for her contributions. Now that's one good ship lollipop. You can't blame her from retiring from movies in 1949 -- aged 21.

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GEORGE LUCAS IS H’WOOD’S HIGHEST PAID

2009-07-21T01:19:00.000-07:00

Forbes’ list of Hollywood’s highest-paid dudes came out recently, and not surprisingly, the biggest fat cat is the big fat cat-eater himself, George Lucas. My question: if George Lucas is making $170 million a year and Jerry Bruckheimer $100, why are their movies still such sucky, shameless cash grabs? Once you’ve made more money than you could ever spend, wouldn’t you want to do something that you can actually be proud of? In Bruckheimer’s case, I think he’s just really lazy. “A movie about guinea pig secret agents? Sure. F*ck it, why not. I mean, we’ve already done rapping kangaroos.” As for George Lucas… I think it’s pretty clear that he’s a robot. A machine being controlled by others whose mission is only to make more money. And the pilot sits in his bullfrog chin.

Here’s the top 10:

(numbers are from June 2008 to June 2009)

1. George Lucas - $170 million
2. Steven Spielberg - $150 million
3. Jerry Bruckheimer - $100 million
4. Jerry Seinfeld - $85 million
5. Tyler Perry - $75 million
6. Dick Wolf - $75 million
7. Harrison Ford - $65 million
8. Adam Sandler - $65 million
9. Larry David - $55 million
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Chewie, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia and R2D2

2009-07-21T01:17:00.000-07:00

20 Most Incredible Cartoon Cars Of All Time

2009-05-04T00:48:00.000-07:00

Posted in Cartoon Cars, Pop Culture

At RideLust, we’re all big fans of cartoons. So we decided to have some fun and put together this list of the most incredible cartoon cars of all time. The reason we use the term “incredible” here is that some of the items on this list wouldn’t be classified as “great” or “amazing” - some of them are incredible for other reasons (i.e. they are obnoxious, or major FAILs compared to the show they were featured in).

With that brief introduction, let’s raise a toast to the great memories of cartoon past…

Cartoon: Super Friends

Although Batman’s Batmobile went through more design changes then Michael Jackson (yeah, I went there) the most impressive of all the (animated) Batmobiles was the winged, wheeled avenger seen in the Super Friends cartoon. Like all the Batmobile models before it, the Super Friends Batmobile came heavily equipped with several on-board computers and a military-grade weapons artillery rivaled in coolness only by the machine-gun equipped Jeep in the The Rat Patrol.

Cartoon: The Tick

Unlike many of his superhero, comic book brethren, The Tick takes a much more environmentally, realistic approach to crime-fighting by carpooling whenever evil is afoot. Watch the video above to see The Tick use a rare moment of quiet in The Tick Mobile to explain in his own words why the superhero car is just as important as the superhero himself. Honk if you love justice!

Cartoon: Scooby Doo

As a kid I loved Scooby-Doo, but I was always mildly annoyed by the fact that Fred never seemed good for much other than making sure his ascot was always perfectly tied. My irritation with Fred as an efficient sleuth was also eased, however, when I realized that Fred was actually an integral part of Scooby’s gang. Since I suspect Shaggy was always high, without Freddy, the iconic Mystery Machine would never leave the garage, and thus it would never have become a vehicle famous for transporting the likes of everyone from the Harlem Globe Trotters to Sonny and Cher (yeah, I watched a lot of Scooby Doo).

Cartoon: Speed Racer

Although the company that oversaw the production of Speed Racer made a valiant effort to include a viable storyline in every episode, the plot was almost always the same. Inevitably, some evil force would attempt to squelch Speed Racer’s dream of, well, racing, and in order to thwart the ne’er do wells, Speed Racer would be forced to engage in an action-packed, high-intensity car race. Fortunately, the under 12 audience didn’t really care if episode 12 was not immediately distinguishable from episodes 13-86, we just wanted to see Speed Racer take the Mach-go through the jaws of animated hell again and again and again.

Comic: Wonder Woman

Despite her superior ability to fight crime and still be home in time to cook dinner for Superman, Wonder Woman was still plagued by the human inability that prevents women from driving with any sort of skill. Thus, seeking to avoid the nightmarish traffic female drivers in a hurry are wont to cause, Wonder Woman’s creators at DC Comics equipped her with the Invisible Jetplane. Acknowledging that a jetplane (even an invisible one) would be difficult to park when Wonder Woman ran to pick up the Super Friends’ dry cleaning, the Invisible Plane was also given the impressive ability to morph into whichever type of transportation Wonder Woman desired, be it a motorcycle, a submarine, or a minivan. Over the years Wonder Woman’s powers evolved to eventually include the ability to fly and the Invisible Plane began to appear less and less in the storyline.

Cartoon: Inspector Gadget

For an incredibly accident prone police detective that was probably the subject of many an internal investigation, Inspector Gadget still somehow managed to score the coolest cruiser on the force: the Gadgetmobile. The Gadgetmobile was essentially your run of the mill, totally awesome crime-fighting vehicle and as such, included the quintessential bad-guy-banishing features like a smoke screen, ejector seat, glue rockets (which were exactly what they sound like), and the Gadget Claw. All of the Gadgetmobile’s accessories (as well as the Gadgetmobile itself) could be immediately readied for use with a simple cry from the Inspector of “Go-Go Gadget [insert accessory here].” Despite Inspector Gadget’s status as the Steve Urkel of Special Ops, Inspector Gadget was still a huge favorite among elementary aged children, even if for no other reason than the extremely hilarious schoolyard chant in inspired: “Do-do-do-do-do, inspect my gad-get, do-do-do-do-do-do-doooo.”

Cartoon: The Thundercats

Ironically enough, Lion-O’s “Thundercat-mobile” made this list not because it was incredibly impressive, but rather because it wasn’t. For those of you who are old enough to remember, like every other action-packed cartoon airing at the time, Thundercats spawned its own line of action figures. Unfortunately, for whatever reason the marketing department in charge of the official Thundercats vehicle was asleep at their post, because Lion-O’s super-powered racer had about as much commercial appeal as the county school bus. Even though the Thundercats’ massive metal tank looked like it was prepared to wage serious war, it never really did much more than drive the Thundercats from point A to point B (though I do recall it made an occasional u-turn, and it did prove to have an impressively tight turning ratio). In spite of the fact that it was thoroughly unexciting, however, I still remember roughly 50% of the Talbot Park Day School kindergarten class carried a Thundercats tank-shaped thermos…go figure.

Cartoon: G.I. Joe

As far as badass quotient is concerned, the only fictional character that can even stand in G.I. Joe’s shadow is Captain America, but even the Cap’ wore a unitard. In addition to the fact that G.I. Joe was a superhero without the benefit of super powers, he also appeared to purchase his clothing from the J.C. Penny casual men’s section rather than from where all the other superhero’s apparently shop at, “Big Gay Al’s Costume Emporium.” G.I. Joe is/was a realistic hero and the fact that he was limited by the same laws of physics as his fans were made him wildly popular. In keeping with the humanistic theme, G.I. Joe’s official Jeep also spawned a legion of followers for the simple fact that all the stunts it performed on screen, it was more than capable of performing in reality as well (I mean for crying out loud, it’s a Jeep, even Chuck Norris bows his head in reverence).

Cartoon: Transformers

Oh right, as if this one needs any explaining. To summarize, this is how awesome the Transformers were: your sister has an old picture of you wearing nothing but Optimus Prime-themed tighty whities and a t-shirt that reads “More than meets the eye,” and you don’t even care when she shows it to your girlfriends.

Cartoon: Wacky Races

Inspired by the 1965 film The Great Race, the Wacky Races cartoon was essentially an animated, G-rated version of The Gumball Rally. It was a short-lived series with only 17 episodes produced with each episode featuring two separate races and the campy hi-jinks of the 23 different racers. There were 11 race cars total, and each racing team was competing against each other in pursuit of the ultimate prize, the title of “World’s Wackiest Racer.” Shying away from the typical cartoon formula, what made Wacky Races so notable was the fact that the “evil” racers were often the stars of the show, and even inspired their own spin-offs later on.

Cartoon: Jem

The plot of the cartoon Jem essentially revolved around a popstar singer, Jem, and her band, the Holograms. It was kind of like a less-slutty precursor to the Bratz musicals Nickelodeon occasionally airs today, only with significantly less blatant marketing. The typical Jem episode usually involved Jem and the Holograms competing in some manner of musical contest against their arch-rivals, the Misfits (no relation to Glen Danzig’s little freak show), and the band-on-band sabotage that inevitably ensued. Although the Misfits were supposed to be loathed by the Jem fan base, it was incredibly difficult to feign hatred for them. Not only the Misfits rock way harder then Jem and the Holograms, but they were also prone to making their grand entrance on guitar-shaped motorcycles. Hardcore chicks on hardcore bikes, what’s not to love?

Cartoon: Mr. Magoo

An oldie but goodie, most of us probably missed Mr. Magoo the first time it came around in 1949. In fact, most of us probably missed it altogether unless we had incredibly nostalgic parents who turned us on to silver screen gold mines likes Gilligan’s Island and CHiPS. Although Mr.Magoo wasn’t a cartoon that could hold our undivided attention for quite as long as the current weekend morning lineup, we did kind of get a kick out of him. In addition to the campy mischief the bumbling Magoo was prone to inspire, it was also a rare treat for us kids to have the opportunity to watch a grown-up get into more trouble tying his shoes then we did during an entire period of recess.

M.A.S.K. Mobile Armed Strike Kommand

M.A.S.K. was another one of those cartoons that sprung immediately sprung up in the ’80’s after the Federal Trade Commission deregulated children’s television in 1984 - so you know it was good. Specifically targeting American children who couldn’t wait to beg their parents for more toys, the Japanese creators of M.A.S.K did very little to disguise their obvious intent to duplicate the astronomical commercial success of the Transformers action figures. Even as a members of the non-discriminatory 12-and-under crowd, however, most kids were quick to pick up on the knock-off nature of M.A.S.K.. Despite a keen intuition that told us M.A.S.K. was really no different then our beloved Transformers, we remained enraptured just the same. I mean really, blatant market manipulation aside - can anyone among us offer a valid argument solidly refuting the badass factor of the red Chevy Camaro G3 Thunderhawk? Yes, I thought not…

Cartoon: Speed Buggy

The Speed Buggy cartoon was basically the best of two entertainment worlds: Scooby-Doo and Herbie The Love Bug. Centered around the crime-solving talking car, Speed Buggy, the cartoon itself was, quite simply, the animated version of every unrealistic quality children were prone to give their toys (::holds toy Speed Buggy upright on rear axles, bounces it up and down:: “Beep-beep! I’m here, Malibu Barbie! Don’t you shed one more tear, you just hop in and we’ll get right to work solving the case of the Haunted Dreamhouse!”

Cartoon: Biker Mice From Mars

For all those of you aged 25 years and up, unless you had a younger sibling you probably missed the Saturday morning delight that was Biker Mice From Mars. It originally aired in 1993 and followed the same anthropomorphic crime-fighting rubric that had been established by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The only remaining survivors of there Mars-based culture of Motorsports enthusiasts, Biker Mice Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie are charged with saving Chicago (and the rest of Earth) from the evil Plutarkians. The entire plot of the show was heavily based around the motorcycle culture, so not only was there an abundance of gratuitous chase and/or stunt scenes, but you also got the benefit of the ubiquitous hot female mechanic, Charlene “Charley” Davidson (get it?).

Cartoon: Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

Kids like Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors so much primarily because it was just one giant 30-minute long commercial for cool toys, literally. Created by Mattel as a support vehicle (groan) for their toy line “Wheeled Warriors”, the plot for Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors was basically identical to that of M.A.S.K., only there was even less of a story line. Since boys (and at least one girl) aged 2-10 years don’t tend to make for the most discerning audience, the show ended after running from Setp-December 1985 (as planned) and was abandoned by Mattel marketing so abruptly, it didn’t even bother to air a season finale. While Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors definitely didn’t achieve the inonic status that Transformers did, it still provided rides like “Battle Base” (pictured above) that were just as cool as Optimus Prime.

Cartoon: C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists)

Set in the year 2020, the cartoon C.O.P.S. only ran from 1988-89 but despite its brief run it, still managed to provide us with some of the most legendary crime fighting action vehicles of the generation. Pictured above in the lower left, The Ironsides was the official tactical assault vehicle of the C.O.P.S. unit, and was usually driven by rookie officer Hardtop, a guy who a had a crush on a network new anchor and was afraid of heights. Directly opposite The Ironsides is the Bluestreak Motorcycle. Riden by C.O.P.S. member “Highway”, a former patrolman with the San Francisco, CA Highway Patrol, the Bluestreak Motorcycle was a super-performance machine that occasionally possessed the ability to fly (depending on whether you were watching C.O.P.S. in the U.S. or in Britain). It was also perhaps the gayest thing since spandex.

Cartoon: The Ambiguously Gay Duo

TV Funhouse’s Ambiguously Gay Duo is as crime fighting cartoon as interpreted by guys who grew watching the same Saturday morning specials you did, and you also like you did, began to suspect that something was just off with the hero/sidekick relationship. Of course you don’t devote entire mornings to watching cartoons anymore (though only because your girlfriend insists on dragging you to these excruciatingly boring yard sales - but I mean what are you gonna do? She’s great in the sack…), but you do still make time for the Ambiguously Gay Duo. Not only is it vaguely nostalgic, but it also provides some validation for those many sleepless nights you spent as a kid, wrestling with the inner suspicion that despite his awesome crime fighting powers, Batman was still kind of a fruitcake.

Cartoon: Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

Calvary Command was Earth’s law enforcement arm dispatched to space in to maintain law and order in the final frontier. The Star Sheriffs were a branch of the Calvary Command, charged with battling the Command’s most formidable foe, the Outriders. The Outriders were non-human, and were thus impossible to defeat without the Saber Rider and the Star Sheriff’s secret weapon, the Ramrod Equalizer Unit. Usually referred to by the Star Sheriff’s as simply “Ramrod”, Ramrod was a specially designed craft that could transform from a space ship to a galactic crime-fighting robot in order to battle the Outsiders on equal terms.

Comic: Captain America

In stark contrast to many super heros that have reigned the animated world, Captain America is a superhero that does not have the benefit of any super powers, but he did have a super badass bike. Customized especially for Captain America by S.H.I.E.L.D. (originally stood for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division; currently stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division), the official Captain America Harley Davidson became so wildly popular as a symbol of red-blooded Americans, it very nearly eclipsed the famous G.I. Joe Jeep.

Original here

Regarding The Jonas Brothers

2009-05-04T00:46:00.000-07:00

Joe Jonas displays his package while brothers Kevin and Nick play with their instruments in a way that would make even Freud blush.

I am angry that I am writing about The Jonas Brothers on this blog.

I am angry because their existence as a "musicians" does not deserve recognition. 'N Sync was a manufactured "band," but they also made adult pop songs (if aimed at teens), several of its members displayed exceptional vocal talent (Timberlake especially, of course) and their existence in pop canon can be justified. At the time, as a teenager listening to late 90's "socially conscious" hip-hop, I hated 'N Sync. As a thoughtful adult today, their legitimacy is obvious.

But the Jonas Brothers are worse, a cultural sin of much greater, more significant magnitude. If 'N Sync was a punk rocker's Abu Ghraib then The Jonas Brothers are the punk rocker's Auschwitz. They were bred in the Corporate Disney Clone Vats. Their music is unadult and yet mainstream media outlets cover them as though they were U2. They represent some of the worst hypocrisy of our society.

The subtext of The Jonas Brothers is an American morality horror. They were child performers at single-digit ages, indicating the tradition of greedy parents who use their children to obtain a fortune and vindicate their own professional failures in adult life. The Jonas Brothers wear purity rings, an ignorant contrivance of the same backwards, healthy sexual attitude-damning, radical evangelical culture that champions Purity Balls, a twisted ceremony where a father asserts his dominion over a daughter's virginity and sexual freedom until a time of his choosing. The life of a Jonas Brother is never publicly presented to their fans as anything other than a life of material wealth and glamor. (And in fact, they reportedly made $62 million dollars in 2008.) And nothing about The Jonas Brothers suggests the rich ethnic diversity of America.

The Jonas Brothers are a flagship weapon in the culture wars. They feign conservative social values while romping around the bizarre hyper-sexual Disney meta-verse where young kids dress like Madonna and Mick Jagger and live the rock n' roll lifestyle, promising to America's young, malleable minds a life of glamor and cool that can never be obtained, while diverting these child automatons from healthy creative engagement, imaginative play, and intelligent thought.

(This is the same sexual dynamic that occurs when Ann Coulter flashes leg while decrying sexual promiscuity, or when Fox News is so horrified at a "disgusting" sexual photo or video clip that they decide to show it to you over, and over, and over.)

Little girls' hands innocently reach toward the Jonas Brothers' crotches.

The ubiquity of the Jonas Brothers is so enormous that parents are left with little choice but to submit or ostracise their child. The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana and The Cheetah Girls (The Pussycat Dolls for tweens) are the only mainstream option for preteens to participate in rock culture and though I am focusing on the way this is damaging to young girls, let it be said that Disney's hyper-sexed musical offerings and the confusing sexual message they carry are no less dangerous to young boys.

Disney is selling sex to kids, pretending they're not, and making a fortune while forcing their audience into cultural bankruptcy. South Park covered it quite well:

When I saw South Park's dressing-down of The Jonas Brothers I did not for a minute believe that the Jonas Brothers sprayed their fans with white foam canons. I just assumed that was a hyperbolic joke of sorts, an outrageous caricature.

Oh, no. It is quite real:

My mind reels trying to accept that as reality. It is Idiocracy made true, something that should come from the sick and twisted minds of Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison and presented in fiction, not a factual reality.

After subtly massaging the budding sexual urges of thousands of pre-teen worshipers who have worked themselves into a lusty frenzy, The Jonas Brothers ejaculate their horrid metaphor into the gaping maws of their Hannah Montana harem who have now completed their souls, having received the warm, foamy jism of their young male slavemasters.

And the hyper-conservative adults who were outraged -- outraged! -- that the word "SEX" might have appeared for a half-second in The Lion King look on with glowing approval and happily shell-out hundreds of dollars to provide their kids with "wholesome" entertainment. At it's core this is no less sexual or subversive than commercial hip-hop, but you know, it's not... (whispers) black.

The problem is not that The Jonas Brothers are making their young fans sexually aware; I would praise The Rolling Stones for accomplishing the same feat. (And doing so with important music that displayed exceptional proficiency and intelligence.)

Quite the contrary; teenage life is sexual emergence and rock music often times is sex. The problem is that The Jonas Brothers conceal sexuality under the guise of sex-free fun.

When the Rolling Stones came to prominence (when the music mattered) there was no purity pretense to their promiscuous metaphors. They may have been lyrically subtle as to pass censorship, but there was no question as to what Mick Jagger was about. The Rolling Stones (and most other, real rock bands) confronted sexuality with honesty, a moral trait that supercedes any kind of sexual restraint. They took a part in a sexual revolution that has led to a liberation and better understanding of our sexual nature.

The Jonas Brothers are lighting sexual fires with ignorant sparks, hypocritically extinguishing the flames of knowledge, the wealth of understanding we have about ourselves as sexual beings. The 'Stones never once sold a lie. The Jonas Brothers have sold their fans the world -- their fans' world, their bodies, their minds, their souls. And Disney's young stars have made a promise that no purity ring can keep.

Original here

Why Pirates Buy More Music and Music Labels Fail

2009-05-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

Written by Ernesto

In the past we’ve documented studies that showed how the majority of artists sell more music thanks to piracy and that those who download (more) also buy more. Last week another study was added to this ever growing list, arguing that pirates are 10 times more likely to buy music than those who don’t.

So why do pirates buy more music? The simplest explanation for this finding might be that people who are not interested in music don’t have the need to pirate or buy it. I have to agree that it’s not the the sexiest, most controversial or inspiring answer, but it does tell us something about the core of the piracy ‘problem’.

The real reason is in fact very simple. The true music enthusiasts simply want to consume, sample and discover as much new music as they possibly can, and the most straightforward and convenient way to do this is through file-sharing networks. Music pirates are just regular consumers really, and they love music just as much as anyone else.

Music fans share more.

Although I personally believe that the ability to sample music through file-sharing has a positive effect on music sales, much of the correlation between piracy and sales is simply caused by a third factor - a passion for music. This is one of the main reasons why most users of music oriented BitTorrent sites love an initiative such as Spotify where they have access to one of the largest music libraries online.

Although piracy can breed consumers, it’s generally happens the other way around. The Internet has freed music and the music labels’ greed and abuse of copyright is the only barrier that stands between the artists and millions of potential fans. Creative business models where consumers have instant access to unprotected and high quality music are the future.

The labels of course fail to see this all too obvious connection and continue to exploit their acquired (copy)rights.They would rather pump yet more millions into overpaid pro-copyright lobbyists and expensive lawyers trying to keep their outdated business model alive - the model where the artist gets 1 to 10% of the total music sales while the labels are filling their pockets. No wonder the passionate music fans flee to BitTorrent.

What we can learn from the studies is that true music fans buy and pirate more music. The labels are fighting against those who generate a large chunk - perhaps even the largest - of their yearly revenue. The labels should understand that piracy is merely a signal that they are on the wrong track.

The Internet makes it possible to offer unlimited access to music cheaply with virtually no production and distribution costs. Unlimited access is exactly what most consumers want. It’s an opportunity not a threat.

Original here

Have You Heard the One About the Rapper That Mooned The Nazis?

2009-05-04T00:43:00.000-07:00

By Keegan Hamilton in LOLZ

The National Socialist Movement (the American Nazi Party) held a rally in St. Louis on April 18 under the Gateway Arch, and in response, a large crowd gathered to protest the Nazis. Police and park rangers erected barricades to separate the two groups.

Photo: David Walthall

Park Rangers and St. Louis police kept the two groups on opposite sides of the Arch, but it was a distance that couldn't stop a moonrise.

Several media outlets, including the RFT, covered the event. Here's the slideshow that was posted on the Daily RFT, to give you an idea of what the crowd and atmosphere was like.

Among the protesters was Tef Poe, a hip-hop artist from St. Louis. This fact might have gone unnoticed, if not for the caption on this picture submitted to the website for the Post-Dispatch:

http://stltoday.mycapture.com

Intrigued, we called up Tef Poe to hear his Nazi mooning story. Here it is, verbatim save for a bit of minor editing for clarity and conciseness:

When I went to go down there I was amped. I woke up early in the morning, caught the bus like three hours beforehand. I got dressed up like I was going to a job interview. I was looking forward to it.

When the rally actually started about there were about 150 of 'em [Nazis]. They started marching and I went into go mode.

I started yelling all kinds of stuff. It was mostly funny to me that these guys are dedicating their lives to come out and do this. It's idiotic but noble at same time. I don't agree with views at all but I respect their dedication.

Anyhow, I started having direct, back and forth conversations with them. Before I knew it every media outlet was talking to me...They said we're going to follow you around cause you're the only entertainment.

Tef Poe
I had the crowd chanting 'Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart' and stuff like that. One of the main Nazis started talking and when he stopped to take a breath I yelled 'Your breath smells like hot dog water!'

Then he hung his hand out and made a noose. And I'm like 'Ooh I'm scared.' I was heckling the heck out of them dudes.' I came out to make their lives a little harder and have fun and laugh at 'em.

Eventually I yelled something and he said 'You shut your black ass up!' And then I said 'I got a black ass for you!' And turned around and mooned him.

Then cops came over. They were park rangers or something. I could tell they weren't from St. Louis because they had a country twang accent-- they from part of Missouri that calls it Mizz-urr-UH. He said 'Son, if you drop your trousers one more time I'm going to ask you to leave.'

I went to actor mode. I figured if he did something it'll be on caught on camera. I said 'You need to be asking them to leave. They're spreading this hateful bullshit.' People clapped and applauded.

He didn't do nothing. He turned around and said 'If you drop those trousers again I'll ask you to leave.'

After a while I was like 'I better chill out. He's looking for somebody to get ignorant on.'

All in all, the rally was fun. I wish I could go to one every day. I could travel with them and have some fun.

You can download Tef Poe's latest release Glory 2 God: The Mixtape for free by clicking here. He performs with his older brother Black Spade Friday night at the Black Label Gallery Lounge.

More photos from the rally:

Photo: David Walthall

Flippin' the bird.

Photo: David Walthall

Police discouraged shooting photos of them convening under this overpass just south of the Arch, but this photo was snapped from a car outside the rally.

Photo: David Walthall

It rained steadily throughout the protest.

Original here

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

2009-05-04T00:41:00.000-07:00

by Dave

It is generally accepted that one of the biggest burdens of a comic book adaptation is the hero's origin story. Instead of focusing on high-flying, ass-kicking adventure, the film has to get bogged down with radioactive spiders and frantic escapes from Krypton. Luckily, after two fantastic X-Men movies (and one that's not worth really mentioning), one would think that Wolverine's character would need no more significant back story. One would, unfortunately, be sadly mistaken, as the execrable new film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, focuses all its energies on a trite, boring back story for a character who would be better off with a shadowy past.

The film begins in rural Canada in the early 1800s. Young Wolverine is sick in bed and his playmate, Victor (aka Sabertooth), is keeping him company. They comment about how they were/are both sick frequently, a point that seems important and yet never resurfaces. Speaking of plot points that go nowhere, in the very same scene Wolverine's father is murdered by his friend's dad, a fellow sideburn enthusiast, who is in turn murdered by kid-Wolverine. Only then do we learn that the murderer is actually Wolverine's dad, and that Victor is his brother. Nothing is ever made of Wolverine's true father either, so we must presume that it's being saved for the sequel.

Churning up convenient plot-points only to forget about them minutes later is one of the films biggest problems, and that's saying something, considering most of this movie is an exercise in how not to tell a story.

The opening credits are without a doubt the high point of the film: a highly stylized montage that shows Wolverine and Victor as young men participating in a series of cinematic wars, from the US Civil War, through both World Wars, and finally ending in Vietnam where, after some hi-jinks, the mutant brothers are to be executed by firing squad. The execution, as one might imagine, is ineffective, and soon they are put into an elite, secretive squad of mutants under the Army's Department of Evil, in which they go around breaking stuff and killing people with reckless abandon. When our hero decides that all this shadowy villainy isn't for him, he leaves the unit, finally setting the movie's plot into motion, but not before we spend a seemingly endless amount of time watching Wolverine and Mrs. Wolverine living happily as a blue-collar family deep in the forests of Canada.

From here, things just get worse. Wolverine borrows a few things from the later Rambo movies wherein the hero is given some comfort and companionship, just so that it can be taken away to send him on a killdozer-like rampage. The bad guys are boring, unsympathetic, and, worst of all, stupid at almost a retarded level. The fight scenes, which should have made this movie worth while, looked more like elaborate dance sequences, with bits of action frequently interrupted so that the characters could pose, presumably for the fashion photographs lurking somewhere out of frame. The less said about the writing, acting, special effects, and camera-work, the better.

The real tragedy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that it was going to finally feature Gambit, a character who was mysteriously absent from the previous films. Instead of the cocky Cajun we've grown to love, the actor playing Gambit decided to eschew the accent and make him just another stock character who just so happened to walk around with a sweetass pimp cane and throw playing cards at people.

Unless you're looking to have you intelligence insulted, don't waste your time or money on X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Need more proof? How's this: adamantium bullets become a fairly major plot point near the film's disappointing ending, which is set at Three Mile Island for some reason.

Original here

New Trailer For District 9 Promises Sci-Fi Greatness

2009-05-04T00:36:00.000-07:00

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com)

Neill Blomkamp’s feature debut, District 9, hits theaters this August. Could it be the science fiction film to beat this summer? Check out the trailer below.

Watch the trailer in High Definition on Apple.com

Pretty cool, eh? Especially for a film you’ve probably heard next to nothing about beforehand. Blomkamp has made a handful of commercials and short films including Alive In Joberg (watch it here) which is the basis for District 9. Peter Jackson saw the short and famously brought Blomkamp onboard to direct the big screen adaptation of Halo… which just as famously fell apart due to budget concerns and squabbling with Microsoft. Watching that project crumble, Jackson and Blomkamp decided to move forward with District 9.

The film is done documentary style and tells the story of an alien race that comes to Earth for an unknown reason. They attempt to settle in South Africa but encounter fear, anger, and racism (speciesism?) from the locals. Like the short it’s based on, District 9 plays as a not-so-subtle analogy for past and present human race relations and segregation.

The effects in the trailer look quite good, and while it may not be as flashy as a Star Trek or Transformers it may still be the most intelligent and thought provoking science fiction film of the year. Well, second most anyway… go see Moon!

What do you think of the trailer?

Original here

EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS: David Hasselhoff Alcohol Poisoning; Rushed To Hospital

2009-05-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

The Hoff nearly off’d himself this time!

David Hasselhoff -- the former Baywatch hunk -- was rushed to Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical center Saturday after his distraught daughter Hayley, 16, found him unconscious on the floor of his home in Encino, California RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.

For Hasselhoff, it was yet another case of alcohol poisoning and an emergency rush to the hospital to save his life.

This time the rescuer was his ex-wife actress Pamela Bach from whom he’s been bitterly estranged.

Hayley called her mom, who lives 10 minutes away in the Hollywood Hills and she rushed to the rescue and drove him to the hospital where doctors yet again saved his life.

This time the vodka-guzzling “America’s Got Talent” judge registered a staggering .39. alcohol level. Drunk driving in California is 08.

A source said a frightened Hayley kept “slapping her dad’s face” to keep him alive. “He was barely breathing when they got him at the hospital.

“He’s recovering. Pam was his bedside till 4a.m. this morning. This is about the 7th time he’s been taken to a hospital over the last few years with alcohol poisoning. How many visits will it take before he dies?”

A source also tells RadarOnline.com exclusively that Hoff has been hospitalized at least 10 times over the last few years – many unreported.

Original here

Matrix director Larry Wachowski now walks as a woman in

2009-05-04T00:33:00.000-07:00

by Daniel Herrera

Matrix co-director Larry Wachowski has often told of his affection towards his female characteristics, and wanting to be one as well. It is now that Larry Wachowski, brother of Andy Wachowski is showing his inner female as he has been photographed throughout Los Angeles dressed from head to toe as a woman.

The Wachowski Bros. are notorious for the privacy and their reluctance to the press, so its a big step with this half of The Matrix and Speed Racer duo to show his true colors. No word as to how far the talented director will take the change, if to include gender transformation, but it does show an added confidence the man has now.

The Wachowski Bros. currently have Ninja Assassin as their latest production. “Assassin” is being directed by V for Vendetta director James McTeigue. The directors have no films lined up as of yet for their follow up to Speed Racer.

Source: Hollywood Elsewhere

Hugh Jackman Drops $4300 on Breakfast

2009-05-04T00:32:00.000-07:00

by TMZ Staff

Hugh Jackman knows the best way to a fan's heart is through his or her stomach -- that's why he dropped $4308.87 to stuff 800 faces in Arizona.

TMZ has obtained the receipt from Paradise Bakery in Tempe, Arizona -- where Jackman bought 67 breakfast trays and 80 gallons of coffee for a pack of "Wolverine" fans who had camped out in front of a theater the day before Monday's big premiere.

Once Jackman heard about the fans, he promised to buy them breakfast and placed the order late Sunday. We're told Jackman wanted to keep the food order simple and bought platters of bagels, muffins, and croissants.

No word if Jackman left a tip -- we're gonna assume he did ... 'cause he can do no wrong.

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The World's Most Influential Person Is...

2009-05-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

By TIME Staff

In a stunning result, the winner of the third annual TIME 100 poll and new owner of the title World's Most Influential Person is moot. The 21-year-old college student and founder of the online community 4chan.org, whose real name is Christopher Poole, received 16,794,368 votes and an average influence rating of 90 (out of a possible 100) to handily beat the likes of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Oprah Winfrey. To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it's worth noting that everyone moot beat out actually has a job.

Since moot launched 4chan.org in 2003, the site has given birth to Internet memes as diverse as Lolcats and Rickrolling. 4chan averages 13 million page views a day and 5.6 million visitors a month; by some estimates it is the second largest bulletin board in the world.

See the world's most influential people in the 2009 TIME 100.

For proof of moot's influence on the Web, one need look no further than the TIME 100 poll results. While Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao got a larger vote total (20,391,818), the runner-up for the title of World's Most Influential Person, Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim, received a mere 47 on the influence scale. Moot denies knowing about any concerted plan by his followers to influence the poll, though TIME.com's technical team did detect and extinguish several attempts to hack the vote. (See the full results here.)

Undoubtedly, many people will question moot's worthiness of the title World's Most Influential Person. TIME.com managing editor Josh Tyrangiel says moot is no less deserving than previous title holders like Nintendo video-game designer Shigeru Miyamoto (2007) and Korean pop star Rain (2006). "I would remind anyone who doubts the results that this is an Internet poll," he says. "Doubting the results is kind of the point."

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