[scifinoir2] Knight Shifts Batman Genre
Knight Shifts Batman Genre http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0id=57090 Christopher Nolan, director of the Batman sequel film The Dark Knight, told reporters that his ambition was to make the franchise bigger and smaller at the same time by shifting genres from superhero-origin story to urban crime drama. There's a huge advantage being able to jump in having told the origin story, so you can jump in with a fully formed character and then see where that goes, Nolan said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., over the weekend. So I think it definitely gives you the opportunity to go new places and to get into the story much faster. In The Dark Knight, Gotham City has seen crime lowered by the presence of Batman (Christian Bale), who is working with police detective Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and a new crusading district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), has been elected. But a sinister new villain, the Joker (the late Heath Ledger), appears, casting doubt on the moral choices made by all and challenging Bruce Wayne to confront his darkest impulses. I had very much enjoyed the rhythm and dynamic of the origin story that we got to tell in Batman Begins, so it was a little bit daunting how we were going to replace that, the feeling of scale and size that gave us, just the timespan of that story, Nolan said. And so what we chose to do is to tell a very immediate, very linear story, but based on a slight genre shift, going a little more into the crime story, a little more into the kind of epic city stories of films like Michael Mann's Heat, things like that, which I think achieve great scale even though they're confined within one city. In his own interview, Bale said that viewers will find themselves immersed in a Gotham City that feels authentic. We see an even more realistic-appearing Gotham, the characters, and I think he's really nailed it with his ability to take a certain genre of movie but not have it be constricted by that genre, you know? Bale said. And [he] truly has made a superb story, and finely crafted movie, that I think stands up against any movie regardless of genre. The murky morality of The Dark Knight is particularly relevant now, Bale added. Clearly that's very relevant to America: the question of what kind of deals do you do with the devil in order to solve a problem quickest, he said. But are you then setting yourself up for future problems and more dire circumstances and consequences? The Dark Knight opens July 18. -- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Patrick Lee, News Editor http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/images/spacer.gif [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom
LOL...Knew you'd like it... I am me, said the stranger, and I work for the ones who pay my fee...and that#39;s not you.quot; - The Side Street Chonicles by C.W. Badie --- On Thu, 6/26/08, Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 11:43 AM Oh. My. Frelling. DEITY! This is going into my faves there, so I can pass it out during the holiday season. Thank you, pal! quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Thu, 6/26/08, Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 8:17 AM Had to pass this on...had me in tears...Yes, it's a little early for holiday songs, but... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTGlUMvbhSw I am me, said the stranger, and I work for the ones who pay my fee...and that#39;s not you.quot; - The Side Street Chonicles by C.W. Badie --- On Wed, 6/25/08, Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 4:17 PM That we do, pal. If anything, *they* should sign over *their* site to *us*. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Wed, 6/25/08, Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 2:45 PM (Sigh) We have a place!!! I am me, said the stranger, and I work for the ones who pay my fee...and that#39;s not you.quot; - The Side Street Chonicles by C.W. Badie --- On Tue, 6/24/08, ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 8:51 PM http://blackgeekdom .com/blog/ This good looking website has really grown since I last checked it out. A refreshing blend of movie and comic book coverage. Check it out! ~rave! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[scifinoir2] Deep Down, We Can't Fool Even Ourselves
Maurice C. Jennings Certified Credit Consultant Credit Justice Services FEATURES THE 75 Day Credit Makeover. A client can potentially see an increase of 50 - 100 points in their credit score in 75 days or less! 100% Money Back Guarantee* *Terms and conditions apply Identity Theft Solutions, too! http://www.creditjusticeservices.com/?ccc=2173 http://www.creditjusticeservices.com/?ccc=2173 [EMAIL PROTECTED] blocked::mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 860-202-1041 Deep Down, We Can't Fool Even Ourselves By JOHN http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/john_tierney/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per TIERNEY In voting against the Bush tax cut in 2001, Senator John http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per McCain said he cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate. Today he campaigns in favor of extending that same tax cut beyond its expiration date. Senator Barack http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per Obama last year called himself a longtime advocate of public financing of election campaigns. This month, he reiterated his support for such financing while becoming the first major party presidential nominee ever to reject it for his own campaign. Do you think either of these men is a hypocrite? If so, does this hypocrite really believe, in his heart, what he is saying? Fortunately, we don't need to get into the fine points of taxes or campaign finances to take a stab at these questions. We can probably get further by looking at some experiments in what psychologists http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics /psychology_and_psychologists/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier call moral hypocrisy. This is a more devious form of hypocrisy than what was exhibited by, say, the governor of New York when he got caught patronizing a prostitute. It was obviously hypocritical behavior for a public official who had formerly prosecuted prostitutes and increased penalties for their customers, but at least Eliot http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eliot_l_spitze r/index.html?inline=nyt-per Spitzer acknowledged his actions were wrong by anyone's standards. The moral hypocrite, by contrast, has convinced himself that he is acting virtuously even when he does something he would condemn in others. You can understand this self-halo effect - and perhaps discover it in someone very close to you - by considering what happened when two psychologists, Piercarlo Valdesolo and David DeSteno, tested people's reactions to the following situation. You show up for an experiment and are told that you and a person arriving later will each have to do a different task on a computer. One job involves a fairly easy hunt through photos that will take just 10 minutes. The other task is a more tedious exercise in mental geometry that takes 45 minutes. You get to decide how to divvy up the chores: either let a computer assign the tasks randomly, or make the assignments yourself. Either way, the other person will not know you had anything to do with the assignments. Now, what is the fair way to divvy up the chores? When the researchers posed this question in the abstract to people who were not involved in the tasks, everyone gave the same answer: It would be unfair to give yourself the easy job. But when the researchers actually put another group of people in this situation, more than three-quarters of them took the easy job. Then, under subsequent questioning, they gave themselves high marks for acting fairly. The researchers call this moral hypocrisy because the people were absolving themselves of violating a widely held standard of fairness (even though they themselves hadn't explicitly endorsed that standard beforehand). A double standard of morality also emerged when other people were arbitrarily divided in two groups and given differently colored wristbands. They watched as one person, either from their group or from the other group, went through the exercise and assigned himself the easy job. Even though the observers had no personal stake in the outcome - they knew they would not be stuck with the boring job - they were still biased. On average, they judged it to be unfair for someone in the other group to give himself the easy job, but they considered it fair when someone in their own group did the same thing. Anyone who is on 'our team' is excused for moral transgressions, said Dr. DeSteno, a psychologist at Northeastern http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/northea stern_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org University. The importance of group cohesion, of any type, simply extends our moral radius for lenience. Basically, it's a form of one person's patriot is another's terrorist. If a colored wristband is enough to
Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom
Thank you again, pal! If I had the time, I'd look at it again. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Wed, 7/2/08, Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 4:53 AM LOL...Knew you'd like it... I am me, said the stranger, and I work for the ones who pay my fee...and that#39;s not you.quot; - The Side Street Chonicles by C.W. Badie --- On Thu, 6/26/08, Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 11:43 AM Oh. My. Frelling. DEITY! This is going into my faves there, so I can pass it out during the holiday season. Thank you, pal! quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Thu, 6/26/08, Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 8:17 AM Had to pass this on...had me in tears...Yes, it's a little early for holiday songs, but... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTGlUMvbhSw I am me, said the stranger, and I work for the ones who pay my fee...and that#39;s not you.quot; - The Side Street Chonicles by C.W. Badie --- On Wed, 6/25/08, Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 4:17 PM That we do, pal. If anything, *they* should sign over *their* site to *us*. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Wed, 6/25/08, Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Astromancer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 2:45 PM (Sigh) We have a place!!! I am me, said the stranger, and I work for the ones who pay my fee...and that#39;s not you.quot; - The Side Street Chonicles by C.W. Badie --- On Tue, 6/24/08, ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Black Geekdom To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 8:51 PM http://blackgeekdom .com/blog/ This good looking website has really grown since I last checked it out. A refreshing blend of movie and comic book coverage. Check it out! ~rave! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [scifinoir2] More celebrities taking on animated roles from voice actors
(standing ovation) I'm still on record as saying that, should anything I write ever be filed, it'll be animated, and *no famous actors will be allowed on the set*. Casting *starts* with the unemployed actors. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] More celebrities taking on animated roles from voice actors To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 9:39 PM Original Story URL: http://www.jsonline .com/story/ index.aspx? id=766785 Not just a pretty face More celebrities taking on animated roles By JOHN ANDERSON Special to the Journal Sentinel Posted: June 27, 2008 Los Angeles - Is it not enough that Angelina Jolie was kissed on the lips by the God of Good Looks, gets to play with Brad Pitt and shoot bad guys in $100 million movies? Must she also take food out of the mouths of people who use those mouths to make a living? Jolie's role as the voice of Tigress in the animated flick Kung Fu Panda, which also features the dulcet tones of Jack Black, is yet another example of the Hollywood star-ization of the animated voice-work industry. Last year brought Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger in Bee Movie. This year heard Steve Carell and Jim Carrey in Horton Hears a Who! and now there's Disney's Wall-E, with the voices of Sigourney Weaver and Fred Willard. And it's not just the starring roles. Look at the list of voices on the Internet Movie Database for Kung Fu Panda or Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (coming this fall), and you'll find the first 10 or so actors are household names. When the `The Lion King' came out, there was no big deal made about who was in an animated movie, says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers, which tracks box-office figures for the industry. But you see now with `Kung Fu Panda' it's all about star power and Jack Black. Critics voice opposition Yet celebrities aren't necessarily wowing critics. It's curious how many reviewers of Kung Fu Panda went out of their way to trash the vocals of Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and David Cross, who play the movie's Furious Five. It's not her voice that makes Angelina Jolie distinctive, wrote the Newark Star-Ledger' s Stephen Whitty, so it's unclear why she was given the part. Despite all that marquee vocal talent, (the characters) have next to no personality, said NPR's Bob Mondello. Star names for the Furious Five have relatively few vocal opportunities to shine, wrote Variety's Todd McCarthy. Blame it all on Robin Williams. Previous to his vocal acrobatics in 1992's Aladdin, vocalizers were as anonymous as key grips. Even as late as 1991 with Disney's Beauty and the Beast which remains one of the masterpieces of Disney's so-called second golden age the studio used a virtually unknown vocal cast, with the exceptions of Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury (who certainly weren't cast to reel in the youth market). Once Williams brought real-life star power to cartoons, however, the putty tat was out of the bag. I can't help thinking, `Don't they already have enough money?' says Veronica Taylor, a voice well-known to fans of Pokemon and lots of other Saturday morning cartoon shows. Taylor is a trained actress who says she sort of fell into vocal acting when she had her daughter nine years ago. It was all about the flextime. Hurting the little guy? But that doesn't mean there isn't a certain amount of resentment toward what she calls the celebrities only others need not apply policy now surrounding Hollywood animation. (Spokespeople for Paramount and DreamWorks, which together brought you Kung Fu Panda, had no comment neither did Disney.) It's easy to see why actors want to voice animated characters, says actor Keith David, who has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows (including Crash and ER), and has been the voice of video games, U.S. Navy ads and the Ken Burns documentary Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. The quality of animation has risen to the point where . . . a lot of these features are like any movie, except you're doing it with your voice, he says. The question is why they don't use more people who are equally as capable. There are people in the voiceover community who act as well as any star. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change
Re: [scifinoir2] Most Watch TV On Computers To Catch Up
I would watch TV on my laptop *exclusively* if my wireless card's buffering rate were better. That way, I could dump Comcrap. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Most Watch TV On Computers To Catch Up To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 9:18 PM Most Watch TV On Computers To Catch Up 1 July 2008 10:29 AM, PDT The overwhelming majority of persons who watch television shows on their computer monitors do so to catch an episode they missed on TV, according to a study conducted by Nielsen Media Research for the Cable Telecommunications Association for Marketing and reported by Broadcasting Cable magazine. The survey of adult broadband users found that 35 percent of them have watched a TV show on the Internet. Of those, 87 percent said that they watched the shows on a network website. Nevertheless, 94 percent of those surveyed said that prefer watching television shows on their television sets. http://www.imdb. com/news/ ni0254771/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [scifinoir2] More celebrities taking on animated roles from voice actors
I never did drop my review of Kung Fu Panda, which i loved, but one thing that did irritate me was this very point. I *never* look at the cast when going to see an animated film. I'm more concerned about the look, the plot, and assuming the producers hire the best voice talent possible, not the most famous stars. As I was sitting in the theatre, I kept going Who is that? They sound familiar and it was only after leaving the theatre that I realized the lead was voiced by Jack Black, and his mentor was Dustin Hoffman! Funny thing is, had I known those two were in the lead, it might have influenced me negatively against the movie, as they are name stars. But in this case, Black is phenomenal as the Panda, and Hoffman's good in his wise-old-leader schtick. In that case it's A-list casting that seems to have been based on actual ability. Still, that being said, when I realized that Angelina Jolie was in the film, my first thought was Why? Her character doesn't even have that many lines. That was annoying. I can think of a dozen voice actresses--by voice only, don't have a clue as to their real-life identities--who would have done better. Seth Rogen has a funny kind of voice and way of speaking that's great for animation, but he wasn't the best fit for his character either. Not bad, mind you, just not all that great. I remember one reason I didn't see Prince of Egypt was irritation at Brad Pitt being cast as Moses, and Robots sho' 'nuff kept me away with the Who's Who billing of the likes of Halle Berry and Robin Williams. And Mr. I'm-in-every-other-blockbuster Will Smith in Shark Tale? In that case, the over-used Smith's presence was the single greatest reason I avoided seeing that flick.Why in the world do I want to enter a new, never-before-seen reality of animation on screen, only to be hit over the head with the same ubiquitious stars' voices assailing me? One reason I loved Iron Giant and The Incredibles was the obvious vioce casting based on *ability*, not number of People Magazine covers. I mean, who else would have grabbed country-voiced Holly Hunter for a lead role and not made some kind of big stupid deal of her accent? Who else would have gotten Craig T. Nelson to play Mr. Incredible? Most producers for a film like that would have been begging for Smith, Pitt, Cruise, Jolie , Anniston, Berry, Williams--you get it. (Okay, they did cast overused Sam Jackson as Frozone, but I'll let that little slip go!) This does bother me greatly. All those talented voice actors who do the dozens of cartoons on TV have a right to be in line for movie roles as well. I have to question just how much bank is added when the likes of Jolie or Pitt are cast in an animated film. I'd say not much. And just imagine what will happen now that video game visibility is increasing, and voice actors for gaming are demanding more pay. Next thing you know, Will Smith's mug will be on the box of the latest Grand Theft Auto or Metal Gear Solid! -- Original message -- From: ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] Original Story URL: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=766785 Not just a pretty face More celebrities taking on animated roles By JOHN ANDERSON Special to the Journal Sentinel Posted: June 27, 2008 Los Angeles - Is it not enough that Angelina Jolie was kissed on the lips by the God of Good Looks, gets to play with Brad Pitt and shoot bad guys in $100 million movies? Must she also take food out of the mouths of people who use those mouths to make a living? Jolie's role as the voice of Tigress in the animated flick Kung Fu Panda, which also features the dulcet tones of Jack Black, is yet another example of the Hollywood star-ization of the animated voice-work industry. Last year brought Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger in Bee Movie. This year heard Steve Carell and Jim Carrey in Horton Hears a Who! and now there's Disney's Wall-E, with the voices of Sigourney Weaver and Fred Willard. And it's not just the starring roles. Look at the list of voices on the Internet Movie Database for Kung Fu Panda or Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (coming this fall), and you'll find the first 10 or so actors are household names. When the `The Lion King' came out, there was no big deal made about who was in an animated movie, says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers, which tracks box-office figures for the industry. But you see now with `Kung Fu Panda' it's all about star power and Jack Black. Critics voice opposition Yet celebrities aren't necessarily wowing critics. It's curious how many reviewers of Kung Fu Panda went out of their way to trash the vocals of Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and David Cross, who play the movie's Furious Five. It's not her voice that makes Angelina Jolie distinctive, wrote the Newark Star-Ledger's Stephen Whitty, so it's unclear why she was given the part. Despite all that marquee vocal talent,
[scifinoir2] Re: Movie Reviews Summary: Hancock
I have yet to read a good review of HANCOCK. The early trailers were awful. The middle set were good enough to make me consider seeing the movie and the last trailers, while more honest in content, tended to dampen any enthusiam I had. ~(no)rave!
[scifinoir2] Re: Wanted Is Big Weekend Star
I am curious to see how WANTED performs in its second week. In its opening weekend, it went down each successive night, opening with a high of $19 million on Friday, $17 mil on Saturday and $14 mil on Sunday. Most hits increase their take on their first Saturday. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Disney/Pixar's Wall-E http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/ performed about as expected at the box office over the weekend, taking in $63.1 million dollars, according to final figures released Monday by box-office trackers Media by Numbers. But the real surprise was the performance of Universal's Wanted http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/ , starring Angelina Jolie http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001401/ and James McAvoy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564215/ , which took in $50.9 million despite playing in 20-percent fewer theaters than Wall-E. In fact, Wanted http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/ took in more on a per-theater basis than the Disney hit, averaging $16,040 per theater versus $15,803 for Wall-E. In its second week, last week's box-office leader, Warner Bros.' Get Smart http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425061/ , dropped to third place with $20.2 million. Overall, the top 12 films grossed $180,202,418, up 23 percent from the same weekend a year ago. For the year, box office revenue is now up 0.7 percent over 2007. However, attendance is down 2.15 percent. The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):1. Wall-E, Disney, $63,087,526, (New); 2. Wanted http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/ , Universal, $50,927,085, (New); 3. Get Smart http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425061/ , Warner Bros., $20,211,242, 2 Wks., $77,477,031; 4. Kung Fu Panda http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/ , Paramount, $11,692,061, 4. Wks., $179,276,754; 5. The Incredible Hulk http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800080/ , Universal, $9,577,245, 3 Wks., $115,859,210; 6. The Love Guru http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811138/ , Paramount, $5,340,895, 2 Wks., $25,222,377; 7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/ the Crystal Skull, Paramount, 6 Wks., $5,179,960, $300,085,447; 8. The Happening http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0949731/ , Fox, $3,907,948, 3 Wks., $59,120,854; 9. Sex and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000774/ the City, Warner Bros, $3,808,288, 5 Wks., $140,170,362; 10. You Don't Mess With the Zohan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960144/ , Sony, $3,175,214, 4 Wks., $91,190,129. http://www.imdb.com/news/ns003/#ni0254778 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] Ledger as Joker Getting Rave Early Reviews
Man, I've been looking forward to this flick for a while. I had some initial misgivings with Ledger as Joker, but his look--twisted, psychotic--changed that. I hope the growing hype doesn't spoil the experience, but still thinkign it will be great. I thought I read that Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two Face actually has more screen time than Ledger, but of course the Joker would get more press. ** http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/02/arts/Film-Ledger-Oscar-Buzz.php?page=1 No joke: Ledger's Batman villain has Oscar shot LOS ANGELES: Jack Nicholson's Joker was a blast. Heath Ledger's Joker is as dark and anarchic a figure as Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the role that brought Nicholson his first Academy Award. Ledger's performance in the Batman tale The Dark Knight is so remarkable that next Jan. 22, the one-year anniversary of his death, he could become just the seventh actor in Oscar history to earn a posthumous nomination. I do think that Heath has created an iconic villain that will stand for the ages, and of course, I would love to see him get an award, said Christian Bale, who reprises his Batman Begins role as the tormented crime fighter. But you know, to me, you can witness his talent, celebrate his talent within this movie. Anything else is gravy. Superhero flicks usually are not the stuff Oscar dreams are made of. Yet Ledger delivered so far beyond anyone's expectations that he could end up as the second performer to win Hollywood's top honor after his death. He may be the first actor since Peter Finch. He may even win the damn thing, said Gary Oldman, who co-stars as noble cop Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight, which hits theaters July 18. Finch is the only person to win posthumously, earning the best-actor prize for 1976's Network two months after he died. News of Ledger's death at age 28 from an accidental drug overdose broke just hours after the Oscar nominations were announced last January, darkening what normally is one of Hollywood's happiest days. The nominations next year fall on the same date because they were moved back two days from their traditional Tuesday announcement to avoid conflicting with the presidential inauguration. With nothing remotely like the maniacal Joker among his credits beforehand, Ledger had been a surprising choice to fans, some feeling he was too young, others sensing he would not live up to the campy but earnest performance Nicholson gave in 1989's Batman. (The role earned Nicholson a Golden Globe nomination, though he did not make the Oscar cut.) As filming progressed last year, word began leaking from the set about the feverishly psychotic persona Ledger was creating. With a marketing campaign heavily focused on the Joker, the movie trailers that followed presented a Joker with sloppy, ominous clown makeup that looked as though it had been applied in a windstorm. The brief footage revealed a character whose cackling humor cannot conceal the malevolent soul beneath. Whatever Heath channeled into, he's found something quite extraordinary, Oldman said. It's arguably one of the greatest screen villains I think I've ever seen. Fans were hooked, but some were skeptical when Oscar buzz for the performance started circulating after Ledger's death. Comic-book tales and other big action flicks rarely are taken seriously by awards voters, who are willing to honor them for technical achievements but generally not for acting. Skepticism dissolved once Warner Bros. began screenings for The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger didn't so much give a performance as he disappeared completely into the role, filmmaker and lifelong comics fan Kevin Smith said on his MySpace blog after seeing The Dark Knight. I know I'm not the first to suggest this, but he'll likely get at least an Oscar nod (if not the win) for best supporting actor. Ledger's performance is surpassing even the sky-high expectations hardcore fans have going in. He was better than I thought he was going to be, said Bill Ramey, founder of the fan Web site Batman-on-Film.com, who caught an advance press screening. I think he legitimately would deserve an Oscar nomination, not just out of sympathy to his passing, but because he was just fantastic in the movie. ... It's right up there with Hannibal Lecter, which earned Anthony Hopkins an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs. Along with Finch, past posthumous Oscar contenders include James Dean, who was nominated for best actor twice after his death, with 1955's East of Eden and 1956's Giant. The other actors nominated after their deaths were Spencer Tracy (1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner); Ralph Richardson (1984's Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes); Massimo Troisi (1995's The Postman); and Jeanne Eagels (1929's The Letter). The aura surrounding Ledger since his death is a sign that, like Dean, he could endure as a mythic figure of talent silenced before his
[scifinoir2] Dark Knight Posters
http://www.movieweb.com/movies/film/81/4381/poster16.php
Re: [scifinoir2] Fox promotes new TV show with mysterious ads
So *that's* what that was. I thought it was my niece talking on her phone in the back seat. Seriously. Very effective advertising. Not. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, brent wodehouse [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: brent wodehouse [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Fox promotes new TV show with mysterious ads To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8:53 PM http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2008/ 07/01/AR20080701 00342.html Fox promotes new TV show with mysterious ads By James Hibberd Reuters Tuesday, July 1, 2008 LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Find the pattern, growls a voice from your radio. The gravely suggestion interrupts a commercial for the Abrams Auto car dealership and concludes with a whisper of Fox. The Fox network is hoping listeners will piece together these mysterious fragments and realize there is indeed a pattern -- one that leads straight to the network's new action drama Fringe, which premieres September 9. The ads, which debuted this week, are part of Fox's innovative ad campaign for the J.J. Abrams series, which the network hopes will jump-start its fall lineup. Although the network declined to release specific dollar figures, the campaign represents Fox's largest scripted series marketing effort in years. The campaign will feature cryptic messages that encourage fans to search on the Internet for more information. Fans of Abrams' hit ABC drama Lost and the hit winter movie Cloverfield are familiar with the tactic, so much so that Abrams' name is incorporated into the radio ads as a clue. Our radio goal was definitely to not say 'Fringe,' said Laurel Bernard, senior vp marketing at Fox. We didn't want them to sound in any way like a traditional radio spot. We wanted them to be disruptive and a little mysterious sounding. The campaign also includes online ads placed on Web sites outside of the usual entertainment hubs to catch viewers attention in unique locations. Users on such sites as Automobile.com and recipe site FamilyOven.com will see mysterious ads encouraging them to Imagine the Impossibilities. They will be very quick sort of messages, leading people to nondescript Web sites that will ultimately lead them back to 'Fringe,' Bernard said. With the campaign, Fox is getting an early start on its fall marketing. The network's off-air marketing efforts usually don't being until six weeks before a series premiere. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [scifinoir2] Lost Writer Talks Middleman
Agreed, Brent. Can't say that I'm not enjoying this show. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, brent wodehouse [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: brent wodehouse [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Lost Writer Talks Middleman To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 7:59 PM Yet another kindred spirit. ;-) Brent --- http://tv.ign. com/articles/ 884/884913p1. html Lost Writer Talks Middleman Javier Grillo-Marxuach leaves the island for a creation of his own. by Travis Fickett June 27, 2008 - ABC Family's new series The Middleman has been getting pretty great reviews, including by yours truly. The problem with a show like this one is that it doesn't really have a genre but is a combination of so many. It's like a geeky Awesome Mix Tape of genres and ideas that comes hurling at you with equal parts parody and homage. It's certainly unlike just about anything else on TV right now - and makes for a great diversion and diamond in the rough for the famine that is Summer television (a diamond wouldn't be all that useful to famine victims, but we'll deal with mixed metaphors later ) In order to get a better idea of what The Middleman is, and where it's going - we went to the source. Javier Grillo-Marxuach is the show's creator, and he also created the independent comic book that became the series. Grillo-Marxuach has written for some of television's biggest shows - not the least of which is Lost - another show that breaks rules and mixes genres in a much different way. Talking to Grillo-Marxuach is a bit like watching his show - it's at a breakneck pace, it's often funny, at times confusing and never - for a single moment - dull. IGN TV: What are you shooting today? Javier Grillo-Marxuach: Today is the second to last day of an episode called The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation, which is about a haunted sorority house. Wendy has to go undercover in a sorority house to uncover a sinister plot. They first believe it's ghosts, but it turns out to be some physics geeks who are doing some very interesting things with body-swapping. So that's what we're shooting right now. On Tuesday we start an episode called The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown, which is about a Middleman from the 1960s to the present day to work with our crew. And that is going to be the Lollapalooza of spy-fi fro the 60s inside jokes. It is the staff of its show exorcising every demon from the 1960s spy-fi that we ever had. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's a show that has all of the requisite things that have to happen in a 1960s spy-fi thing - martinis, exotic card games, colorful villains, arch nemeses, melting rays IGN: Let's talk about your demons for a second. Your spy-fi ones in particular. How did this come about, and where does all this come from? It certainly stretches back to before your time - into the pulp era and old issues of Amazing Stories Grillo-Marxuach: Well, there's two things about it. My generation is a pop-culture generation. There was an article in the magazine Fast Company and I was one of the people they profiled along with Damon Lindelof, Ron Moore, Jesse Alexander, Tim Kring and Joss Whedon - and it was all about how geeks were writing all of entertainment right now! We were the pre-internet pop-culture generation. The guys who read Starlog magazine. Frankly, it's all coming from being a sci-fi geek as a kid. I read a lot of comic books, and when you're a comic book reader you have this obsessive desire to discover back story and find out what the references are. Obviously Star Wars wasn't the first science fiction film and it wasn't the first pulp film, but you begin with whatever is popular in your day. Then you start looking for all of those influences and they're delightful. Also, I grew up in Puerto Rico and the thing about Puerto Rican television was that a lot of the programming when I woke up - and I was a kid who would wake up at 6 and turn the TV on. It was a lot of cheap programming and so they reran a lot of serials. So when I was a kid I used to watch Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon and Commander Cody and all of these serials. Even things like Rin Tin Tin were shown on Puerto Rican television. So really sort of old stuff. And my generation is the last generation to have UHF. I'm 38 and I have a writer here who is 32, and whenever we talk - that's the cut-off for the UHF generation, and when it becomes TV Land. So the UHF generation grew up with Creature Features, and I would run home and starting at 2pm it would be Ultraman and Johnny Socko I feel like in a way the geeks of my generation have a knowledge base that goes further back. Because those UHF stations were showing the Man from Uncle and the Girl from Uncle and Secret Agent Man and all of these shows that are very hard to find now.
[scifinoir2] Yahoo! Readers and Critics rate Hancock
Yahoo! readers give HANCOCK a B+; Critics: C+. http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hancock-reviews.html
Re: [scifinoir2] Yahoo! Readers and Critics rate Hancock
And *both* those marks are far higher than the ones I'm seeing to date. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Wed, 7/2/08, ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Yahoo! Readers and Critics rate Hancock To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 3:56 PM Yahoo! readers give HANCOCK a B+; Critics: C+. http://movies. yahoo.com/ feature/hancock- reviews.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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I am finally going to see Iron Man. Leaving in 30 minutes. Super excited Bosco
Re: [scifinoir2] Iron Man
In a message dated 7/2/2008 4:56:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I am finally going to see Iron Man. Leaving in 30 minutes. Super excited Bosco Enjoy I have not seen it yet. **Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com! (www.tourtracker.com ?NCID=aolmus0005000112) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Report back please :) -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bosco Bosco Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 2:56 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: [scifinoir2] Iron Man I am finally going to see Iron Man. Leaving in 30 minutes. Super excited Bosco Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: [scifinoir2] Iron Man
definitely one of the best super hero movie ever. On 7/2/08, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Report back please :) -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com [mailto: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bosco Bosco Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 2:56 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com Subject: [scifinoir2] Iron Man I am finally going to see Iron Man. Leaving in 30 minutes. Super excited Bosco Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [scifinoir2] Iron Man
I hope he remembered to stay to the end of the credits. JJ Mohareb On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 5:55 PM, Bosco Bosco [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am finally going to see Iron Man. Leaving in 30 minutes. Super excited -- Read the Bitter Guide to the Bitter Guy. http://thebitterguy.livejournal.com
[scifinoir2] FW: The rewards of radio Racism:Limbaugh gets 100 million
From: CINQUE [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 4:20 PM To: Albert Fields; 'athleticacademic'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Kai; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Kimberly_Luft_job; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Richard Clement Sr.; Tracey DeMorsella; Valery Jean; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The rewards of radio Racism:Limbaugh gets 100 million The rewards of radio http://playahata.com/hatablog/?p=3824 Racism:Limbaugh gets 100 million Filed under: Playahata Breaking News http://playahata.com/hatablog/?cat=3 - FYI @ 6:11 pm http://playahata.com/hatablog/?attachment_id=3823 rush_limbaugh_racist.jpg Don Imus makes a lot of racially derogatory marks but it pales in contrast to the offenses by Rush Limbaugh over the years. Limbaugh never really worries because he knows he is supported and his support was solidified today when Premiere Radio Networks inked Rush Limbaugh to a new long-term deal that includes his daily show and 90-second Rush Limbaugh Morning Update feature. PREMIERE, in partnership with Limbaugh, will also continue to oversee THE Limbaugh Letter newsletter and Rushlimbaugh.com. Terms were not disclosed, although in an article to be published in the New York Times Magazine this Sunday, Limbaugh says that the deal is for $38 million a year for eight years plus a $100 million signing bonus. Rush Limbaugh now makes more than ever African American Radio Personality combined, that includes the likes of those considered rich like Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, Funkmaster Flex,Wendy Williams etc combined. Clear Channel Radio President, CEO and GOP financier John Hogan, who signed his own renewal deal this week, added, Broadcasters of RUSH's quality come along once in a lifetime. We are privileged to continue our relationship which is unprecedented in the history of our industry. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Twilight Zone marathon tarts tomorrow **Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut000507) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
RE: [scifinoir2] Iron Man
--- On Wed, 7/2/08, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] Iron Man To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 5:45 PM I feel like I just got hit in the head with a shoulder launched rocket containing bombs of mega intense coolness. Everything positive review about this movie is right on the money. It's definitely one of the greatest comic book movies ever made. I'm not sure where it fits in but it's right up there with Batman Begins. My youngest son went with me, he's eleven. He was bouncing in the seat the whole time. My brain is still whirling with the excitement of the movie right now so I'll gather my thoughts for a something a little more informative than Wow. At this point, WOW seems about as accurate as possible. I do have one down note and it may have been discussed already but I avoided reading much Iron Man discussion. ( I will go back to review now that I have seen the movie.) I think Paltrow was a poor choice for her role. She was barely better than serviceable in her performance and to my mind, she brought absolutely nothing to the over all equation. What did everyone else think of Paltrow? And yes I stayed for the very end because I knew there would be an extra bit of cool foreshadowing coming. Bosco Report back please :)
RE: [scifinoir2] Iron Man
I agree with you about everything. I think top comic movies are Batman Begins, Ironman, Spiderman I or II. Batman and Ironman compete for the top with me. Paltrow was ok, but I was left with the impression that she could very easily replaced -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bosco Bosco Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 6:48 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] Iron Man --- On Wed, 7/2/08, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] Iron Man To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 5:45 PM I feel like I just got hit in the head with a shoulder launched rocket containing bombs of mega intense coolness. Everything positive review about this movie is right on the money. It's definitely one of the greatest comic book movies ever made. I'm not sure where it fits in but it's right up there with Batman Begins. My youngest son went with me, he's eleven. He was bouncing in the seat the whole time. My brain is still whirling with the excitement of the movie right now so I'll gather my thoughts for a something a little more informative than Wow. At this point, WOW seems about as accurate as possible. I do have one down note and it may have been discussed already but I avoided reading much Iron Man discussion. ( I will go back to review now that I have seen the movie.) I think Paltrow was a poor choice for her role. She was barely better than serviceable in her performance and to my mind, she brought absolutely nothing to the over all equation. What did everyone else think of Paltrow? And yes I stayed for the very end because I knew there would be an extra bit of cool foreshadowing coming. Bosco Report back please :) Yahoo! Groups Links
1215060302
I did not see much of Tru Calling in its first run, but with Scifi Channel showing periodic marathons, I've seen almost every episode and I have become a fan. Today they showed episodes all day and I found myself wishing I knew where they were headed and I got lucky by finding a blog post from one of the writers. Since I remember a few Tru Calling fans on the list, I decided to post her explanation. What do you think? Tru Calling staff writer Doris Egan has revealed details of how the show's long term story arc and mythology would have played out had the series not been cancelled!!! And it worths read it, I can sure you... Saturday, April 30, 2005 - For Tru Calling fans Yes, there were more than three episodes, and the last one aired pretty much leaves you wondering what's going on in the storyline. That's just the danger of television; a novel ends where it's supposed to end, but TV is a collective endeavor whose product depends on a thousand different judgments about business and programming. I'm sure that's no shock to you. Ordinarily I wouldn't talk about where the arc was going, but then, ordinarily there's another half-season where you'd get to watch that arc play out. I know some people got really involved in the second season and you feel you were left hanging. So, for you: I'm going to be talking about spoilers, if they can be called that when a show is over. First, I joined TC late in the first season, when the idea of Jack had already been introduced. I thought, Good timing. I'm joining when the fun part starts! We dived right into my episode, Two Pair. By the end of that, it was clear to the audience that Tru had an opponent, someone who was working against her to maintain the timeline as it was. The idea was never that he'd be a villain in the classic sense, but that he had a different view of what was good or bad in these circumstances. The rest of the season expanded the cat-and-mouse game between the two of them. Here's where I go into some of the mythology you never got to see explained before the show disappeared. Of course, canon can be boring when it's just written out, so let's play with this for your amusement. Suppose Tru rushes to save a woman about to die, only to find Jack in her way. - JACK: You can't keep doing this just because you have the power. It's wrong. TRU: I'm saving that woman's life! How is that wrong? JACK: Who the hell are you to decide you can tilt the balance of the universe? Everything we do has consequences, Tru. Everything. You save one person, and what happens? TRU (with her best sarcasm): She lives. I see what a problem that would be. JACK: It would be, because there's a plan at work here bigger than anyone can comprehend. This woman lives, and that plan gets thrown off track. She's home when the next-door neighbor has his heart attack; she drives him to the hospital. He lives, and goes on to abuse his two children. One of them grows up to be the next Unabomber. The other marries a man who was originally destined for someone else, who would have been his partner in discovering a cure for cancer -- TRU: You can't know all this! JACK: I know there's a plan, and I know you're destroying it, like a child who doesn't understand why Mommy won't let her paint on the walls. - One of the aims of season two was to gradually outline the overarching mythology for the audience. There was a lot of discussion of this at the beginning of the year. I'm a big proponent of the idea that on any show it pays to have the mythology straight in the writers' minds, even when they aren't going to show all their cards to the audience right away. Because the audience can always tell when you're making it up as you go along, and they feel taken advantage of. Mind you, there are going to be some refinements and additions that are indeed made up along the way; and if they work, that's all you can ask. I'll start with the big-picture idea here: There are two great Powers in the universe concerned with humanity's fate. (This particular part of the mythology I feel I'd better admit was mine -- because while television is a group effort, and most of the mythology was on the way to being implemented, I'm not 100 percent certain it would all have been. And should you find this specific idea incredibly dumb, I don't want anyone else blamed for it.) World mythology has a lot of ways of presenting fate -- three old women weaving, that sort of thing. For the moment, interpret Powers as you will -- single forces, groups; religious, non-religious. But since Jack's calling was clearly to stop Tru, there had to be two warring forces at work here. (Or one with advanced schizophrenia.) The first Power long ago laid out the original plan the Earth has been following for millennia -- to what end, we don't know. (Jack's side would have you believe that despite pain along the way, this is our best possible future.) Over
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Scots comic writer Mark Millar is toast of Hollywood after Wanted Jun http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity-interviews/2008/06/26/ 26 2008 By Rick Fulton SCOTS comic book writer Mark Millar's life is about to change for ever, all thanks to Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. Mark is the man behind the story of summer blockbuster Wanted, which hit cinemas last night. And if Angelina and Scots star James help him to box office glory, Mark knows how he'll celebrate - take a day off and go to Ayr with wife Gill and daughter Emily, nine. Laughing, the writing wizard, of Glasgow, said: I can't drive so I won't be buying a flash car. We live in a nice house already and I dress the same as I did at university. There's actually nothing to spend it on. If things turn out well at the weekend I'll take Monday off and me and the family will go to Ayr for the day. But I'll be back at work on Tuesday morning. Life couldn't be much better for Mark right now. Not only is he one of the best-selling comic book writers in the world, Wanted is the first in what could be a long line of film adaptations of his work. Released in the UK and America yesterday, he knows that across the pond he won't get a No.1 movie as Pixar's latest animated movie, Wall-E, is also released this week. But with Angelina and James starring in the Û110 million film, Wanted is still expected to be huge, setting Mark up as Hollywood's latest source for big superhero movies. This weekend is either life changing or it's a dud, said Mark. But the truth is he is on a roll. Kick-Ass, the next movie adapted from one of his comic books, starts filming in August and will be directed by Matthew Vaughn, the man behind Stardust and Layer Cake. It will be out next year, with two more films in the pipeline, War Heroes and Chosen, both created by him. Wanted 2 is also mooted. As well as his own creations that he releases under his Millar world line of books, Mark also writes for Marvel, which means working on comic book legends like Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and X-Men. He also helps on their films as a script doctor, working most recently on Iron Man. He must be a very, very rich man. But Mark, speaking before a special screening of Wanted at the Cine world, Glasgow, on Tuesday night, claims he won't believe it until he sees the money in the bank. He said: None of the money is in yet. I'll believe it when I see the cash. I'm not anticipating anything. Anything that shows up I'll be really happy with. But I hear stories from other writers who say by the time they work out the expenses, the amount of money is actually c**p. Money doesn't seem to be all that important to Mark, but then he's had more hardship than most. Both his parents passed away when he was still in his teens. His mum died of a heart attack when he was 14. His dad died four years later. How proud would they have been to see their son creating a Hollywood movie starring Angelina Jolie? Mark said: It would be lovely if they were here to see how well I've done, but I've got a really tight family of brothers and my sister. They were all there on Tuesday. The family is still together. We are so close, not a week goes by when I don't see all of them. Our parents dying made us even closer. We are like The Osmonds, we see each other all the time. The youngest of six children by 14 years, he trained to be a priest but left to go to Paisley University, although he had to quit his degree in the final months because of mounting debts. He dropped out and, with nothing to lose, tried to get a job writing comic books, getting his break at 2000AD comics. He was headhunted by DC Comics, who got him working on The Authority, and he made his mark by creating the first gay kiss between two male superheroes. MARK'S notoriety continued with Superman:Red Son in, which the superhero grew up in the Soviet Union instead ofAmerica. The writer was then head-hunted again, this time by Marvel, who asked him to shake up The X-Men. Since then he's become one of the biggest-selling UK comic book writers, but he's staying put in his suburban Glasgow home. He said: Scotland is important to my writing. My agent and attorney want me to move to LA. They think it's a matter of time or money, but I tell them, 'You don't understand the difference to where I stay. This is where I get all my ideas and my life experiences from.' If I lived in LA I'd just write like everyone else. Wanted is an unusual superhero movie, it's dark and black sense of humour. My pals over there are all on their second wives and do drugs. It's a world I don't want my kid to grow up in. I've been married since I was 23. I have a really normal set up. My job sounds glamorous, but I'm sitting in Glasgow in a spare room in the attic, writing on a computer all day and walking the dog at night. Hollywood and the comic books will all end. It might end in two years time, it might end in 10, but it's nice to know
[scifinoir2] Watermelon May Be A Natural Viagra
Watermelon Viagra: A Natural Connection http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/855319/watermelon_viagra_a_natural_ connection.html By July 1, 2008 - Watermelon Viagra? Watermelon is being called out as nature's answer to Viagra http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/305428/turn_muffins_into_an_aphrod isiac_without.html , by a number of different scientific organizations. Natural ingredients in tasty watermelon have ingredients which can create Viagra-like effects, according to Science Daily. Researchers from the Texas AM also see the a natural connection between watermelon and Viagra. The refreshing watermelon fruit is full of vitamins and nutrients which may also have a Viagra-like effect on blood vessels, according to researchers from Texas AM. This claim is also backed up by Science Daily Watermelon Viagra: A Natural Connection The nutrients in watermelon can deliver Viagra-like effects to the body's blood vessels and may even increase libido, according to Science Daily. Watermelon may not be as organ-specific as Viagra, said Bhimu Patil, director of Texas AM's Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center, according to Science Daily. But it's a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side-effects. There are three photo-nutrients which are delivering these healthy effects: lycopene, beta carotene and citrulline. The Watermelon Viagra Nutrients There are certain nutrients in watermelon that make it healthy and can help enhance libido. One of those nutrients is citrulline, according to the Texas AM researchers. The citrulline is contained in the rind, which is considered inedible my most people. How Does Watermelon Viagra Work? The connection is being made between watermelon and Viagra because of the watermelon's citrulline. The citrulline actually relaxes blood vessels in the body, the same way Viagra does, according to Science Daily. The process is slightly complicated, and includes the ability of cirtrulline to create arginine, which helps remove ammonia from the body, according World's Healthiest Foods. Citrulline In addition to relaxing blood vessels, the citrullline is also known to promote energy. Beta Carotene Another healthy phyto-nutrient in watermelon is Beta Carotene. Beta carotene can also be found in red peppers, carrots, paprika, grape leaves, chili powder, and sweet potatoes, according to a query on Nutrition Data. Lycopene Lycopene can be found in watermelon and in other fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, rose hips, guavas, grapefruits and persimmons. Sources AJC, Watermelon the new Viagra?http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/chatter/ entries/2008/07/02/watermelon_the.html Nutrition Data, http://www.nutritiondata.com Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080630165707.htm Science Daily, Want Citrulline? Try Watermelon, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070814185634.htm Science Daily, Watermelon May Have Viagra-effect, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080630165707.htm World's Healthiest Foods, Watermelon, http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspicedbid=31#healthbenefits More resources http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/600437/urban_legend_and_green_m_ms_ chocolate.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
