Showing posts with label Entertainment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entertainment. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Police say no crime occurred in Houston's death
"BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Police have closed their investigation into Whitney Houston's death without finding any evidence to suggest it was anything than an accidental drowning, investigators announced Wednesday.
The Beverly Hills Police Department did not release a detailed report on the case, but Lt. Mark Rosen said the conclusion came after detectives reviewed the complete findings of the coroner's office. Coroner's officials ruled Houston drowned accidentally at the Beverly Hilton on Feb. 11 and that heart disease and cocaine use contributed to her death.
Beverly Hills authorities also released a minute-long 911 call made by a hotel worker who summoned police and paramedics to Houston's suite at the hotel. The call revealed few details, other than that people in the Grammy-winning singer's room repeatedly hung up on hotel personnel after discovering Houston in a bathtub.
The dispatcher had asked to be patched into the room to deliver lifesaving instructions, but the security worker said that wasn't possible. He said a woman who notified the hotel that Houston was unresponsive was "irate" and didn't provide many details.
Rosen re-iterated condolences to Houston's family and friends in a brief statement.
Houston's death on the eve of the Grammy Awards stunned the world. The singer had been attempting a comeback and had finished work on a remake of the film "Sparkle" when she drowned.
Toxicology results showed cocaine throughout her body, and coroner's officials said the results indicated chronic use. In the bathroom, investigators found a small spoon described by investigators as having a "crystal-like substance" in it, and they discovered a white powdery substance in a drawer, a coroner's report released last week showed.
Houston had a history of drug abuse which marred her career, robbing her of her voice and reputation, but family and friends described her as intent on returning to glory in the months before her death. Her unexpected death at age 48 sparked a renewed interest in her music and movies, sales of which will benefit her only daughter, Bobbi Kristina." - Anthony McCartney, Associated Press.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Christian Bale 'Flowers' overseas in his new Chinese movie.
"LOS ANGELES - Christian Bale has never been afraid to speak his mind. But the Oscar-winning actor took his outspokenness to new levels during a visit to Beijing last week for the premiere of his film The Flowers of War.
Days after appearing at the official unveiling of director Zhang Yimou's epic (opening in select U.S. cities starting Wednesday), the 37-year-old actor drove eight hours to visit the home of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng. The blind lawyer has been under house arrest since September 2010 after speaking out against the government's alleged human rights abuses.
The resulting footage, from a CNN crew traveling with Bale, shows the actor being roughed up by government-backed guards. "What I really wanted to do was shake the man's hand and say 'thank you,' tell him what an inspiration he is," Bale told CNN.
Perhaps compounding the public-relations fallout for the government, Bale is starring in what's touted as the most expensive Chinese film in history (at an estimated $94 million). The film also is the country's official submission to the Oscars.
As director Yimou notes in a joint interview with Bale prior to the China visit, Bale looks to play a significant role in Chinese popular culture with the release of the film.
"Everyone in China is really familiar with his work," says Yimou, speaking through a translator. "But after this movie, Christian is going to be a really big star. Everyone is going to fall in love with him."
The film, which received a Golden Globe nomination last week, features Bale as a selfish Westerner who turns sacrificing protector to a motley crew of schoolgirls and courtesans during the brutal Japanese occupation of Nanking during World War II.
It is not new historical territory for Bale. He broke into Hollywood as a child actor, earning rave reviews in Steven Spielberg's 1987 Empire of the Sun, set in an internment camp during the Japanese occupation. Yimou says he was inspired to cast Bale for his film after visiting Spielberg's home in 2010.
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| Christian Bale in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). |
"Steven read the script and said it was like the Schindler's List of China," says Yimou. "He said, 'You have to cast Christian for this!' He even wrote a personal note to Christian. It was destiny.''
Bale jokes that the casting conversation went a different way. "(Spielberg) probably said, 'Do not do it,' " says Bale, laughing. "But it was probably just translated incorrectly."
The actor found time before the production of the Batman saga Dark Knight Rises (due next summer) to shoot Flowers in Nanking and immediately was blown away. Yimou had overseen the production of an elaborate set, including a nearly full-size re-creation of a cathedral.
"I am accustomed to the types of (set) buildings where you can't lean too heavily or the whole thing is going to fall down," says Bale. "This thing was a concrete, heavy-duty cathedral, which will probably be standing in 100 years' time. The commitment to the work was amazing. I have not seen anything like that before."
Whole portions of 1937 Nanking were re-created for the movie. While the production required more than five months of non-stop shooting for the rest of the cast and crew, Bale shot his role in two intense months.
"In China, there is no union. So everyone works. There are no days off whatsoever," says Yimou. "Christian actually sacrificed his weekends and resting time to keep on working."
The actor had to get used to many cultural differences on the set. He was asked to mentor the actors ("It would have been rude not to," he says), which he found difficult to get used to. Away from the set, Bale was constantly pleading for restraint from his well-meaning but highly intimidating bodyguard, whose presence was mandated by the filmmakers.
"He would pick people up and move them out of the way on the street," says Bale. "I was like, 'Don't do that. I am just walking down the street.' (The bodyguard) was like, 'Respectfully, this is what I must do.' "
Bale certainly set a great example on the set as the rare Hollywood actor in a Chinese domestic film. He had no entourage during his time in China (normally, even minor Chinese stars have multiple assistants) and went beyond expectations to aid the film's completion.
Says Yimou: "He set an example for Chinese people to understand Western people and actors. …We're a little bit spoiled now.'' " - Bryan Alexander, USA Today.'
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, new trailer!
The movie is set to hit theatres December 16th, 2011.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
CBC: We disagree w/ Don Cherry's comments
"The CBC is skating away from Don Cherry's rant about fighting in hockey that has generated widespread criticism toward the outspoken commentator.
The CBC issued a statement Saturday saying it does not agree with the views Cherry expressed on a Hockey Night in Canadabroadcast Thursday.
Cherry called three former NHL tough guys "pukes" for speaking out against fighting in the sport. Those ex-players were Stu Grimson, Chris Nilan, and Jim Thomson.
In his popular "Coach's Corner" segment, he also lashed out at anti-fighting advocates in general.
He said they used the summer deaths of three former NHL enforcers as a soapbox for their arguments against fighting. Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak died within a matter of weeks this summer.
Kirstine Stewart, the CBC's executive vice-president of English services, says Cherry's comments reflect his own personal opinion.
"While we support his right to voice that opinion, we do not share his position," Stewart said in the statement.
"Player safety is a top priority for CBC, and we support the initiatives of the NHL and others in keeping players safe on and off the ice."
Stewart says she spoke Friday with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and delivered a similar message.
Cherry called Grimson, Nilan and Thomson "turncoats" and "hypocrites," accusing them of not wanting players to make the same living they did.
He also accused those who want to end violence in the sport of taking advantage of the three deaths to make points on fighting. " - CBC.ca
I agree with CBC. Cherry is just an *sshole with outfits that would make even a figure skater go blind.
Amanda Tapping: Vancouver is why "Sanctuary" works
BY ALEX STRACHAN, POSTMEDIA NEWS OCTOBER 6, 2011
VANCOUVER — Amanda Tapping is fighting the early signs of a cold on this early October morning, but she feels energized and reinvigorated just the same. Filming has concluded in Burnaby on the 13 episodes of Sanctuary’s fourth season, and Tapping — an executive producer, as well as Sanctuary’s lead actor — is immersed in post-production, putting the finishing touches on a season she says will take Sanctuary’s followers on a darker, more cerebral turn.
The modest, home-grown science fiction-fantasy series has confounded the doubters who scoffed at the idea that an eight-webisode series, originally conceived for the web in 2007, would ever make it as a full-blown drama series on prime-time TV, let alone one that would survive four years. Sanctuary returns Friday on SPACE. It has become a mainstay for the U.S. Syfy cable channel, and shows little sign of going gently into that good night just yet.
Sanctuary has become a full-time preoccupation for her, thanks to series creator Damian Kindler and a cast ensemble of fellow Canadians that includes Robin Dunne, JPod’s Emilie Ullerup, Stargate Atlantis’s Christopher Heyerdahl and Battlestar Galactica’s Ryan Robbins. Tapping is perhaps best-known from her years playing galaxy-tripping adventurer Samantha Carter in the long-running sci-fi series, Stargate SG-1, but Sanctuary is a personal passion project.
“This season is a little darker than previous seasons, a little more action-packed,” Tapping said. “We go back in time. It’s all part of a master plan.”
The new season will also feature the series’ first all-music episode, Fugue, with music and lyrics by Kindler and Sanctuary’s longtime background composer, Andrew Lockington.
“It’s hugely gratifying to see how far it’s come, and also a little surreal, because it did start so humbly,” Tapping said. “I often have moments where I think, ‘Man, we’re getting to make it into a TV show. Nobody thought we could make it into a TV show.’ There but for the grace of our finances we go, every year. We are a 100 per cent independent Canadian television series. I think that’s an anomaly in this country, and probably around the world, in most countries. To have a television show that doesn’t have the backing of a major studio or a major network is really unusual. We are supported by a couple of networks, but basically, it’s up to us to make the show happen.”
Tapping both acts in and executive-produces Sanctuary. Her supervisory duties include sitting in on story meetings, signing off on casting decisions, and overseeing the day-to-day running of a series that is both a labour of love and a considerable amount of labour.
“We’ll be working in post-production, probably up until a couple of weeks before the last episode airs,” she said.
Sanctuary would not have been possible to make anywhere other than Burnaby and the Vancouver area, Tapping believes, not just for the expansive sound stages and experienced film crews — many who worked on Stargate — but for personal reasons, as well.
“Many of us have small children,” she said. “We all have families. Doing it anywhere else would have been just awful. There’s a real sense of ownership. I don’t know that we could do this show anywhere else, not for the amount of money we do it for.”
Sanctuary has gone the Comic-Con route; Tapping appeared on a panel at the annual pop-culture convention in San Diego, and was almost mobbed in the process. Genre fans have embraced Sanctuary with the kind of passion — some might say obsession — that sci-fi fans are known for.
Those fans are also socially aware, Tapping says.
“They might be the most socially aware fan base there is, certainly that I’m aware of. And unbelievably generous.”
Tapping used that social awareness to help establish a small-scale, real-world charitable organization, Sanctuary for Kids, in 2009. The charity, which supports children in crisis on both a local and global level, and has raised more than $250,000 in just two years, has been adopted by Sanctuary’s other cast members and crew.
The idea, Tapping says, is that charitable aid can be just as effective on a modest, case-by-case basis — one school, and one child at a time — as it can on the large-scale NGO, non-governmental organizational level. Sanctuary has given Tapping the opportunity to pay something back for the good fortune she and others connected with Sanctuary have experienced in their lives, she says.
“To me, I’m living this great life; I thought there must be some way I can give back. Smaller charities can do a lot. There are places where a small amount of money can make a huge difference. The mandate is to help people who need help. It’s a small drop in the bucket, but it’s a drop. And it is making a difference.”
Sanctuary’s end days are a long way off, Tapping believes.
“I would like to see it continue for a while. We have a plan in place, and we’ve stayed with it so far. We always wanted it to go at least five seasons. From my perspective, I’m not ready to let it go yet. “
astrachan@postmedia.com
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Eddie Murphy reportedly the front-runner to host 2012 Oscars
"According to a report by Deadline, Eddie Murphy has emerged as the front-runner to present the 84th Academy Awards ceremony.
Brett Ratner is producing the show this year, and apparently Murphy's is the name he'll be putting forward to Academy president Tom Sherak.
It shouldn't come as a huge surprise to learn that Ratner is favouring Murphy, as the pair have recently worked together on upcoming comedy Tower Heist, a kind of everyman's Ocean's Eleven.
With his background in stand-up comedy, Murphy could certainly bring a bit of much needed energy to the proceedings, not too mention a welcome smattering of 'edge.'
Some rumour sites are reporting Murphy's role as a done deal, although there has been no official confirmation yet. According to Deadline, Oscars favourite Billy Crystal will be involved in some capacity.
Eddie Murphy received a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the Academy for Dreamgirls in 2007.
Tower Heist opens on 4 November 2011." - By Matt Maytum, TotalFilm.com
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
"House" Season Premiere Scoop!
"Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type: House will be doing time in the pokey alongside Urkel!
Former child geek Jaleel White will guest star in the Oct. 3 season premiere of House as a fellow inmate of Hugh Laurie’s titular grouch, TVLine has confirmed.
White is, of course, best known for his iconic role as the suspenders-clad little Einstein at the center of the ’90s sitcom Family Matters. In recent years, the now-34-year-old actor has made guest appearances on The Game, Psych and Boston Legal.
The prison-set House opener, intriguingly titled “20 Vicodin,” picks up a year after the events of May’s finale and also features a guest turn by Michael Paré (Eddie and the Cruisers) as the warden." -
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
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