Friday, June 30, 2006

Oscar Best Picture Nomination Predictions

Oscar time is months away but...it's the last day of June and the award nominations for the 79th Academy Award ceremony isn't THAT far away...2007 is just around the corner.

Best Picture Prediction (June 30, 2006)
Flags of Our Fathers
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Little Children
The Good German

My next tier of 10 would be: A Good Year, The Departed, United 93, A Prairie Home Companion, Breaking and Entering, Red Sun Black Sand, All The Kings Men, World Trade Center, Babel, & Goya's Ghosts.


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Who is that drinking with the Baboons?



If you guessed Steve Carell on the set of Evan Almighty then you're just really smart.

(This picture accompanied an article in USA today)

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

11 Thoughts for Thursday

Why did the administrative assistance bring a tarantula to work?

That's pretty funny that there was a major typo on the Word Play promotional material (see it here).

Why are they putting three wise men in The Nativity Story coming out Dec. 1st of this year?

Ang Lee's next film is called Lust, Caution. Is this a sequel to Brokeback Mountain?

Speaking of Ang Lee do you think he could higher the Men in Black to make everyone forget he ever had anything to do with the movie the Hulk?

Speaking of bad projects...I wonder if Matt Damon will get an academy award nomination for the Good Sheperd or the Departed, because he might need to do some career building after he appears in Star Trek XI.

Dakota Blue Richards is a new little girl actress chosen as the lead of the film the The Golden Compass...I wonder if Dakota Fanning is angry?

Dying because of a roller coaster ride is a horrible way to die.

I wonder if M. Night Shyamalan's kids are messed up...Apparently Lady in the Water is based off a children's story he used to tell them...and man, it looks like one freaky children's story...especially if when he told them he had Paul Giamatti listening to Josh Groban music.

Could Johnny Depp even have a chance of getting another academy award nomination for playing Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest since he got one for the last time he played the role.

Similarly, could Cate Blanchett get nominated again for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur film The Golden Age since she got nominated for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shekhar Kapur film Elizabeth.

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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Is M. Night Shyamalan afraid of Water?

Reflecting on past M. Night Shyamalan movies I've begun to wonder... is Mr. Shyamalan afraid of water?

Aquaphobia (or as some people call it, hydrophobia) is a very real phobia. Most people have it when it comes to deep water, not the general substance of water...but I think Shyamalan might have an extreme case of Aquaphobia.

With out any major spoilers, I will just through out a few titles...Unbreakable? Signs? Do you see how a fear of water is shown in the films.

And now Lady of the Water...is Shyamalan trying to express his deepest of fears through this film? I think this might be his last cry for help.

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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Brief Look at the Life of Nikola Tesla

With David Bowie playing the support role of Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film The Prestige, I thought I'd research a little about the life of Tesla.
  • Born precisely at midnight (July 9th/10th 1856) during an electrical storm to a Serbian family in a region of the Austrian Empire (today, Croatia).
  • His father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox church (his mother the daughter of a Serbian Orthodox priest.
  • After graduating from Austrian Polytechnic, Tesla moved to Budapest to work for a telegraph company at later engineer of the company's first telephone system.
  • Tesla arrived in the United States and worked for Thomas Edison's company Edison Machine Works. Edison apparently offered Tesla $50,000 dollars to make certain motor improvements. When Tesla asked for the money Edison is reported to have said "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," and Tesla was offered a raise of $25 a week. Tesla refused the raise and resigned.
  • Tesla started his own company and worked in New York for over ten years before moving to Colorado Springs in 1899 where he'd have room for high voltage equipment. There he told reporters pon his arrival he told reporters he was conducting expiraments sending wireless telegraphs from Colorado Springs to Paris. He left Colorado Springs in 1900 to pay debts and moved back to New York.
  • Tesla did many expirements such as figuring out how to photograph the bones in his hands with x-rays and many other complicated things, but alternating current electric power (AC) is credited to Tesla. Tesla was also later credited with inventing the radio.
  • In 1915 Tesla and Edison were up for the Nobel prize but both tried desperatly to minimize the work of the other, and both refused to share it or except it if the other one received it first.
  • 1916 Tesla filed for bankrupcy because his back taxes were so large.
  • 1931 on his 75th Birthday Tesla was on the cover of Time Magazie.
  • Tesla died a of heart failure as a poor man sometime between January 5 and January 8th at the New Yorker Hotel. The same year he died the US supreme court upheld Tesla patent and made his the official "inventor of the radio."
  • J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI took possession of all Tesla's unpublished work and papers and made them top secret because it was believed he was working on a teleforce weapon (or Death Ray). Although an American citizen, much of his work was gained back by the Serbian embassy.

Information summerized from wikipedia.

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September 11th Tribute: 2,996

Someone, D.Challener Roe, is trying to get 2,996 volunteer bloggers to pay a tribute to the 2,996 people who died on the September 11th terrorist attacks. Each person who participates will get the name of someone who died and then have the opportunity to somehow pay tribute to them on their blog 9/11/06 (on the 5 year anniversary of the attacks).

I Discovered this a little while back and decided to participate. I received the name of my person today. I wanted to offer up the link to the 2996 site where you can sign up to receive a name and participate as well.

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Sunday, June 25, 2006

Paper Boats and Other Photographs

For the past couple months our church has had a photography exhibit open to church members. The theme of the submissions was to answer the question:
"What Does Lost Look Like?"

There were 22 different people that submitted photos and tonight we had gallery night were people came to look and discuss the pictures.

The pictures varied. Many people had pictures of people from around the world. Some people took pictures of large churches, that in all their splendor no longer attracted people to worship God but instead charged an admission for people to view their splendor.

I took a picture of a few high schoolers at the school I teach at. The kids faces are barely visible, what you see is them with paper boats releasing them down the side of a street filled with rain water. The title of my picture was "These Too Are Like Paper Boats."

It was very neat to be able to share my photo (although I was reluctant to do so) and be able to see the photos of others also. It was all remarkably personal. I wish you could have been there.

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Saturday, June 24, 2006

Good Bye and The End

The last two films I've seen...

Good Bye Lenin!
Short Spoiler Free Premise:
A socialist mother in East Berlin goes into a coma. When she comes out of the coma, everything has changed because the Berlin wall has come down. Her son (Daniel Brühl) creates a scheme to keep the reunification of Germany a secret until she gets better.

Quick Thoughts:
This German film is at times touching, at times funny. The film has a great tone, although sometimes the pacing is a tad slow. It offers an excellent personal perspective on how East Berlin changed in the early days after the wall came down. (Thanks Will for the recommendation)

End of The Spear
Short Spoiler Free Premise:
A dramatization of the real life story of 5 missionaries and their families who head to the jungles of Equador to reach out to a very violent tribe, the Waodani.

Quick Thoughts:
A very touching and moving film that delves into many themes about family, dedication, compassion, violence, and spirituality. The film is low-budget (estimated at 10 million). But they did an excellent job at doing a jungle period piece with out making you realize it. The most low budget aspect is the presence of no recognizable actors (unless you recognize Chad Allen from the TV show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman)

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Friday, June 23, 2006

Will the Prestige by Magical?

One of the movies I am anticipating the most for this year is The Prestige directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins). The film's release date is set for October 27th in limited release.

It's pretty challenging to find much information on this film, except that it's about dueling magicians in turn-of-the-century London. Those magicians are played by Christian Bale (who we all know worked with Nolan in Batman Begins) and Hugh Jackman.

Beyond those two, the cast is very interesting. Other famous cast members include: Michael Caine (also in Batman Begins), Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo (rember her from Coyote Ugly), Andy Serkis (you know Gollum/Smeagol and King Kong), and David Bowie (who will be playing the historical person Nikola Tesla)

The movie is based on the novel written by English science-fiction writer Christopher Priest.

I really hope that this movie is able to be a player come award season, the premise seems interesting, the cast seems like a lot of fun, and I've been very impressed with Nolan's career thus far.

Somewhat Related Strange Culture Post:
The Joker and Batman Begins 2
Hugh Jackman's Shot to Break Free to New Genres
2005's Best Film Portrayl of Love and Grace

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The Joker and Batman Begins 2

In my last post Sheri Ann asked:

Have you blogged about the upcoming Batman Begins sequal which is another prequel to Batman? Now, I really like Batman Begins, and the other Batman movies (for the most part). I had one problem with Begins though...Didn't the Joker kill Bruce Wayne's parents? And if so, why did the murderer get murdered in the courthouse after the trial in Begins? Are they messing up the storyline? Do you know what I'm talking about? Anyway, I was just curious if you had heard anything about the Batman Begins Sequel.

Like the Star Trek question...I don't know much but, Christopher Nolan appears to be planning a sequel to Batman Begins (maybe out in 2008).

And I found this comment he made:

As for the rumors that the Joker or Harvey Dent, aka the villainous Two Face, will appear in the next Batman film, Nolan remained coy. "Anything's possible," he said.

Beyond that I know nothing, perhaps Strange Culture commenters might be able to fill in some of the gaps and respond better to your question.

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Jason Bourne Gets Beamed Up. I hope not.


In a recent post of mine Tom asked: "Since you are up on all things cinematic, what have you heard about the new Star Trek film?"

What a compliment that you would ask, but I have never watched a Star Trek film, nor do I plan to. BUT! I do have some news.

Star Trek XI (yes that's the eleventh installment) is to be produced anddirected by J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Mission: Impossible III). And the news of the day is apparently Abrams is interested in Matt Damon playing young captain Kirk! Like Superman and Batman and Star Wars, the idea here is that the 11th film will actually be a prequel.

Apparently William Shahtner (the original kirk) has given J.J. Abrams his blessing.

But why in the world would Matt Damon choose this project?? He's a very talented director who's had great roles and what is he thinking?

At one point Ben Affleck was buzzed about being in the film...what's going on?

Matt Damon's better projects this year include:
The Departed
The Good Shepherd
Margret

Photoshopped image courtesy of Jeremy Barker.

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Thursday, June 22, 2006

Extreme Makeover: Trinity Edition

"My Rainbow, My Rainbow why have you forsaken me"
--The Ark in Matthew 27:26

Apparently the Presbyterian leaders (PCUSA) met earlier this week at their national assembly and began looking for more gender-nuetral language for the trinity. Instead of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost other suggestions were made.

Here are some of those ideas suggested:
- Mother, Child and Womb
- Rock, Redeemer and Friend
- Lover, Beloved, and Love
- Creator, Savior and Sanctifier
- King of Glory, Prince of Peace and Spirit of Love
- Rainbow, Ark, and Dove
- Speaker, Word and Breath

Don't believe me?
Here's some places that talk about it.

Chicago Tribune: Presbyterians revisit the Trinity
Baptist Press: FIRST-PERSON: The God who names Himself (article by R. Albert Mohler Jr.)
PC(USA) website: Trinity paper draws both praise, criticism in hearings

(via)

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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Kavalier and Clay: coming out of limbo? I hope so.

One of my favorite authors in Michael Chabon post on his blog that his pulitzer prize winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay still may actually someday be made into a movie.

It seems like a couple of years ago that Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, the Hours) would be directing a film adaptation of this brick of a book (over 600 pages). Hopefully he still is.

From the beginning I've been so curious...who would play Sam Klaymen , who would play Josef Kavalier. (In a dream cast I thought Josef would be perfect for Josef the refuge from Prague, but as years have gone on I begin to wonder if Law is too old? probably not. Also who would play Salvador Dali?)

Yet according the Michael Chabon's blog it looks like Natalie Portman is likely to play the part of Rosa and that for some reason or another "a budget and cast and everything, will be decided on or around 12 July 2006."

I will be waiting for this announcement. In the meantime, I recommend this book and others the Chabon has written.

Sidenote: Chabon in film. Chabon wrote the book Wonder Boys which was made into the excellent movie with the same title. He also wrote the story for the film spider-man 2.

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Okay, Maybe It's Not In the Bible...a fish alien follow up

Okay, so Lucinda was confused.

I mentioned yesterday about Lucinda thought the bible talked about Giant Fish Aliens taking over the earth in 2011.

Well, she asked her husband and realized it didn't talk about that in the bible...go figure.

But instead it is in the book The 12th Planet: Book 1 of the Earth Chronicles by Zecharia Sitchin.

Although this book does try to use the Bible amongst other "ancient research" to unlock the codes that lead to this conclusion.

Hum? I wonder if the book says anything about the Holy Grail?

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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The Giant Fish Aliens of 2011

At the work lunch table...

Lucinda asks everyone: "You guys know about the Bible right?"

Everyone: "Yea, I've heard of it" Chuckle, chuckle, chukle.

Lucinda: "Well I've read parts of it but never the whole thing, but my husband was telling me about how it says that the world will end in 2011 and that no ones ever made a calender that goes pass 2011, and that giant fish creatures are going to take us over."

Everyone: "What?"

Dee: "I can tell you the Bible says nothing like that?"

Lucinda: "Well I told my husband that in Iran were I was born, I was born in the year 2021, so that can't be true on the calender thing, but have you seen the beer commercial where the beers are falling from the sky and people grab them and get sucked up into the air?"

Everyone nods "no."

Lucinda: "Well there's alien fish and they're fishing for humans. I don't like the thought of their being aliens, but you know there is, and I'm worried that we'd all get killed somehow like that. I think they would make us all be our slaves, doesn't the Bible say something about that."

Olivia (my boss): "Well if giant fish aliens did come, I'd invite them over, maybe teach them Algebra or something. And if we were their slaves, maybe they'd be good masters. The bible also says masters should be good to their servants."

Jill: "And anyways, the bible says we don't know the day or the hour the worlds going to end, so you shouldn't worry about this stuff."

Lucinda: "I know, but you just worry, can't you see it happening like this?"

* The names have been changed to protect the crazy.

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Monday, June 19, 2006

The 1984 Apple Commercial

This old news was recently new to me.

When Apple launched the personal computer in January of 1984 it ran this advertisement during the third quarter of Superbowl XVII January 22nd, 1984.

Obviously the commercial was based on Orwell's play 1984 about Big Brothers watching over our every move.

The Commercial was directed by Ridley Scott after he filmed Blade Runner (obviously the commercial looks more like Blade Runner than his next project A Good Year)

Anya Major the runner in the commercial was chosen because most actresses and models could not throw the hammer and she was an experienced discuss thrower. Her only other credit to her name is as "Nikita" in an Elton John video. (via wikipedia)

Creative director Lee Clow was responsible for this ad and he also did other famous ads later that were a little more annoying but successful...the energizer bunny and Taco Bell chihuahua campaigns.

The commercial almost wasn't aired at all, even though later it was hailed by adage as the number one commercial of the decade.

Watch it yourself, or re-watch it if you haven't seen it since 1984.


most info via wikipedia. more can be found there.

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Saturday, June 17, 2006

Michael Shih is Mitsu's Guy

The other night we attended Concerts in the Garden a multi-night event in Fort Worth put on by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Last night was a tribute to Gershwin, with fireworks going off while Alexander Mickelthwate conducted An American in Paris.

One of my friends Mitsu is a Japanese-American has had minimal experience with the the symphony life and was excited to see so many Asians in the orchestra (he counted 6).

The concert master is Chinese-American Michael Shih from Taiwan.

As soon as Mitsu realized that Shih was such a big wig in the FWSO he adopted Shih as "his guy."

Funny things Mitsu said last night:

"My guy just needs to forget them and bust loose."

"People think Asians are just math and science guys, but Asians excel in the Fine Arts."

"My guy needs to have a solo concert with the boston pops and play John Williams. John Williams is much better than Gershwin."

"Why's that other guy playing when my guy's playing his solo."

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Friday, June 16, 2006

Sweet Treat

These little Bite Sized Take 5 Ice Cream bars are so good. Go buy a box, your probably deserve a treat.

My birthday is on Sunday and so today my wife was so sweet and surprised me at work with a treat for me and all my summer school students.

What makes the blue bunny brand Take 5 ice cream bars so good:


-- peanut butter ice cream
-- topped with caramel
-- peanuts

-- caramel-coated pretzels
-- covered in Hershey®'s milk chocolate

I felt so lucky and special to get such a great treat.


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Stink-Fest Movie Weekend

May 2nd I posted this summer's vomit enducing movies...and this week is the barfiest of them all.

In no other weekend did I post more than one vomit movie at a time, and this weekend I had posted THREE!!! (Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift, The Lake House, Wordplay)

And now it appears that next weeks bad movie is also coming out this weekend (Garfield: A Tale of Two Kittens) bringing this weekend up to at least FOUR bad movies.

For movies that are opening rotten tomatoes has given 3Fast3Furious 36% rotten, The Lake House 31%, Garfield's Kitten movie 18% rotten. Also Nacho Libre opens today and also scored a poor score of 42%.

All the more reason to rent Everything Is Illuminated this weekend.

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Thursday, June 15, 2006

Your Assignment: Rent Everything Is Illuminated

At the recommendation of Will, my wife & I watched the film Everything is Illuminated.

The film was released in 2005, is directed by Liev Schreiber and is based off the novel by 28 year old author Jonathan Safran Foer.

This movie tells the story of Jonathan Safran Foer (Elijah Wood)* who is deeply connected to the past and possessions of his Jewish family (aka his dead grandmothers false teeth, etc.) and yet has very few things he has collected from his grandfather who died when he was a child. Jonathan gets a photograph from his dying grandmother that gives him the clues he needs to go on the search for the Ukrainian woman who saved his grandfather during WWII.

All this leads to Jonathan being assisted by a cranky old Ukrainian man, a Ukrainian hipster (Eugene Hutz), and their dog, Sammy Davis jr. jr. (yes that's right jr. jr.)

This is one of those movies that is funny, kind of goofy, but also uniquely serious, and strangely spiritual. This movie is highly enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

I'd love to talk more about it but I assume you haven't seen it...so your assignment...go rent the movie Everything is Illuminated.

*Yes the main character is named after the author of the book.

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Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Dakota Fanning's Blue Suede Shoes

In my recent post about Jamie Foxx playing the part of Bob Marley many people questioned whether or not Jamie Foxx needed to stray away from the music legends to help him diversify his portfolio and save him from being typecasted.

Miss Kitty's comment in this post was :

if he's as good as Marley as he was a Ray, then the only roles he'll be able to get will be musical legends. I can see it now: an Elvis bio-pic starring Jamie Foxx...

When I read this it made me laugh because if you think the idea of Elvis played by Jamie Foxx is funny, how about the idea of Elvis being played by Dakota Fanning???

Have you heard about the movie Hounddog? According to Variety this movie is about "a precocious girl who overcomes the negative effects of abuse by singing and dancing like Elvis."

Forget the roles she's had in movies like War of the Worlds, I Am Sam, or the Cat in the Hat...this part sounds super challenging. Where did Dakota Fanning come from that she could play these parts? Who is this girl? She's 12, for goodness sakes!

(Side Note: Speaking of Jamie Foxx's role in Dreamgirls could also conicide with theories on why the Bob Marley project just might be the beginning of a type-cast)

Information about Dakota Fanning new role was first found here.

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Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Who Should Play Booth?

A comment last week on my post about Liam Nielson playing the part of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's future film asked:

Wonder who will play Booth. Reading up on that bugger and he was one once referred to in the newspaper reviews as "the handsomest man in America."

I think this is a very fun question.

Jordan M. Poss responded with a suggestion for the part of John Wilkes Booth:

Right off the top of my head... I think Johnny Depp would make a good
booth--there's even a slight similarity in their facial features, and both were
well-known, dashing actors.


I think this is a very interesting idea and question. Be casting director and you choose who you think should play the part?

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Response to Comments about Novel

Some of you have commented or e-mailed expressing interest in reading the novel which I have written. And my response at this point is:

"THANKS! but not yet."

I'm not really sure what would be involved in copy-write issues etc. if copies of my manuscript were released on paper or in electronic form with out control. Some people (like my wife and others) have expressed interest in reading and helping me out at this stage with being voices of reason and at this point I'd be interested in other willing readers, but at this point I want to be careful of who is a part of that process.

In the same train of thought, I am cautious to release details of the story/plot ideas until further down the road, but I will post and share if major developments are in the works.

Thanks to all those who have voiced their interest! It's very encouraging.

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Monday, June 12, 2006

The Novel by Me

I rarely post anything remotely personal but last night I finished my first round edit of a novel I've been writing for well over a year.

(Only about 10 or so people even know I have been writing a novel, and now, its basically finished with the exception of further editing and tweaking.)

Now is the scary part that I've been hoping wouldn't happen. At this point I don't know what to do with this novel at this stage. I assume I need to begin pursuing an agent or something...it all seems to get a little more scary from here.

Also at this point no one has read any of it (except my wife who I allowed to read the first chapter a couple months ago after I had finished my first rough draft). It's intimidating to me to think of people I know reading my novel.

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Saturday, June 10, 2006

A Third Good Film: A Good Year

I've posted this year about the buzz-worthy films The Good Shepherd (directed by Robert De Niro, staring Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, De Niro and Joe Pesci) and The Good German (directed by Steven Soderbergh, straring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett).

But I have not yet said a word about the third buzz-worthy "Good" movie coming out in 2006.

I introduce: A Good Year a movie that's not about tires, but a movie about a vineyard.

Russell Crowe plays Max Skinner, a London investment banker who feels empty in life. As fate would have it, he has recently been left an 18th century chateau and vineyard in the south of France by his deceased uncle. He moves out to take possession of the estate, where he used to spend his summers as a child, but discovers that his wine leaves much to be desired, that his long-lost American cousin wants a share of the action, and that some of the villagers are less than thrilled to see him. (premise abridged from here)

The film is adapted by the book by Peter Mayle and is being directed by three-time Academy Award nominee Ridley Scott. The film also stars five-time nominee Albert Finney.

I don't know why, but I just feel like this film will be a good movie. Not neccesarily a sweeping award winning film, but I think there is room for it to be touching and moving and highly enjoyable. I hope that somehow Crowe could stay out of the tabloids so that people could appreciate him for his acting, and not for his anger.

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Friday, June 09, 2006

Next Week: Lethal Weapon Found in Pet Sematary

True Story:

Woman gets Chihuahua from breeder.

Vet says puppy only 4 months old and needs to be returned to mother.

Chihuahua puppy dies before able to return dog to breeder.

Woman breaks into breeders house fighting her way to the basement to get another puppy.

Breeder wrestled the woman out of the house.

Woman hits the breader over the head multiple times with dead Chihuahua puppy

Woman drove away waving dead puppy out of the car's sunroof while yelling threats

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Thursday, June 08, 2006

Can Jamie Foxx Pull Off Another Musical Legend


The other day I reported that Liam Neeson was cast to play Abraham Lincoln but get this...

Jamie Foxx has been cast to play Bob Marley.

Foxx has an academy award for Ray, but can he change his image and be reggae-politico Bob Marley??

The film is being directed by the Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb (who recently get some attention at Cannes for his film Indigènes, which I believe is also called "Days of Glory")

Can Foxx pull of Marley??? (Especially, can he pull off Marley as well as he pulled off Ray Charles?)

The film is apparently supposed to be about Marley's life as a child through his young adulthood.

As a side note, reading about Marley I've discovered that Marley had 12 children, 4 with his wife Rita...for some reason's this reminds me of Jacob's 12 children which became the 12 tribes of Israel...maybe these children will be the 12 tribes of Jamaica, whose offspring it will be responsible to spread the Rastafari message. I have heard some of the music of Ziggy Marley.

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Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Jessica Replaces Lindsay in Bill

Strange Culture recently reported that Lindsay Lohan was frustrated with Bernie Goldmann and Melisa Wallack, first time directors of the film Bill.

Well, I didn't know if Lohan had already begun this film or not, but apparently she hadn't, and because the Bill-crew was beginning filming this week they needed a replacement fast and they hired Jessica Alba to take over Lohan's former role.

It's hard to tell if this film has potential to be even remotely enjoyable or popular, but if anything it shows that Lindsay Lohan lacks a little finesse she might need to remain in the Hollywood game.

Also, props to Jessica Alba for somehow manage to get her name written on my blog again...this is actually the 4th time.

Previous Post mentioning Jessica Alba on Strange Culture:

So since I've never followed Jessica Alba or her career..
here are some random facts about Jessica Alba:

  • Young Jessica Alba appeared in two national TV commercials for J.C. Pennys and Nintendo
  • Her father is Mexican-American, her mother is Danish/Italian/French/English
  • Alba's most prominent award nomination to date is her Golden Globe nod ("Lead Actress in a Drama Series" TV) for her wark the first season of Dark Angel
  • Alba said that in her teen years she became a born-again Christian in a rebellion against her parents but later abandoned these beliefs because people gave her grief and made her feel ashamed for having a body that "tempted men"
  • She has a tattoo of a daisy on the back of her neck, a butterfly just above her lower back, and the Sanskrit symbol for lotus flower on her wrist
Facts found here.

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Don't BE a tool -- Use A tool.

Have you ever used bloglines?

If you haven't it's great...you can set up an account really easily and put the urls to all your favorite sites into the program and when you log in it will show you what blogs you check have had updates, and you can even read the post directly from bloglines.

I probably use it to check your blog, maybe you'd be interested in using to keep in touch with strangeculture and your other favorite online blogs.

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Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Lindsay Doesn't Work Like That

In April I posted: "That's" weird" or What I thought When I saw Lindsay Lohan in the A Prairie Home Companion Preview . Here's a little follow-up (per se).

Cinematical reports: "According to rumors, the actress is unhappy with the production [of the movie Bill] and is planning on only working for big name directors from now on (Bill is being shot by first-time directors Bernie Goldmann and Melisa Wallack). "

Well let's see how things are looking directorially for power-player Ms. Lohan post Robert Altman and with the directors of "Bill"...

  • Bobby is being directed by Emilio Estevez (sure a big name, but a big name director??)
  • Chapter 27 is being directed by Jarrett Schaeffer (never done anything large scale as far as I can tell)
  • A Woman of No Importance (2007) is being directed by Janusz Kaminski (not a big name director but one of the greatest cinemotographers)
  • Georgia Rule (2007) is directed by Garry Marshall and is Lindsay's next project, obviously he's a big name director...certainly a very "light" director, but a name for sure.
  • Speechless(2007) directed by Brian Dannelly (not a big name as I understand, he's credited with Saved! and the pilot of Weeds)

I'm sure this announcement comes post-filming of some of this projects. I will be interested though to see if how these thoughts shape her next projects she choose, she certainly has her hands full, and it's obvious she's moving away from the Teeny-bopper films.

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Liam as Lincoln

Just discovered this: Steven Spielburg's next motion picture slated to come out in 2007 is an Abraham Lincoln movie (Spielburg is also slated to direct Indian Jones 4 also for 2007).

But I found it interesting that Liam Neeson was cast for the part of Abraham Lincoln.

Did you know Liam Neeson is 6'4'', which is the same hieght of Abraham Lincoln (without his top hat).

Did you know Abraham Lincoln died at the age of 56? Liam Neeson will turn 54 on Wednesday (his Birthday is June 7th)

Why do I get the feeling that this movie is about the assasination of Abraham Lincoln?

I think it's a little interesting that Kentucky born Lincoln will be played by Norther Ireland born Neeson.

No other cast has been announced.

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Sunday, June 04, 2006

MTV Loves The Same-Sex Kiss

Wendy asked on my last post: 2006 MTV Movie Award Winners
"I LOVE Brokeback Mountain, but that is such a silly PC choice for best kiss. Who were the other contenders? I never watch those awards. "

Wendy, here are the complete list of MTV Best Kiss Nominees for 2006:

Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Jake Gyllenhaal; Heath Ledger
Hustle & Flow (2005) - Taraji P. Henson; Terrence Howard
Just Friends (2005) - Anna Faris; Chris Marquette
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) - Angelina Jolie; Brad Pitt
Sin City (2005) - Rosario Dawson; Clive Owen

Other Same-Sex Kiss Nominations:
2005: Elektra (2005) - Jennifer Garner; Natassia Malthe
2004: Monster (2003) - Charlize Theron; Christina Ricci
2002: American Pie 2 (2001) - Jason Biggs; Seann William Scott (they won)
2002: Not Another Teen Movie (2001) - Mia Kirshner; Beverly Polcyn
2000: Cruel Intentions (1999) - Sarah Michelle Gellar; Selma Blair (they won)
2000: Boys Don't Cry (1999) - Hilary Swank; Chloë Sevigny
1999: Wild Things (1998) - Matt Dillon; Denise Richards; Neve Campbell
1998: Chasing Amy (1997) - Joey Lauren Adams; Carmen Llywelyn
1998: In & Out (1997) - Kevin Kline; Tom Selleck
1997: Bound (1996) - Jennifer Tilly; Gina Gershon
1994: Free Willy (1993) - Jason James Richter; "Willy"
1993: White Men Can't Jump (1992) - Woody Harrelson; Wesley Snipes

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2006 MTV Movie Award Winners

Complete List of Winners for 2006 MTV Movie Awards



Best Movie
Wedding Crashers








Best Performance
Jake Gyllenhaal -Brokeback Mountain

Best Comedic Performance
Steve Carell - The 40-Year Old Virgin

Best On-Screen Team
Vince Vaughn & Owen Wilson - Wedding Crashers

Best Villain
Hayden Christensen - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Breakthrough Performance
Isla Fisher - Wedding Crashers

Best Hero
Christian Bale - Batman Begins

Sexiest Performance
Jessica Alba - Sin City

Best Fight
Angelina Jolie vs. Brad Pitt - Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Best Kiss
Jake Gyllenhaal & Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain

Best Frightened Performance
Jennifer Carpenter - The Exorcism of Emily Rose

mtvU Student Filmaker Award
Joshua Caldwell (Fordham University) - A Beautiful Lie

Silver Bucket of Excellence (a movie from the past that has present-day resonance)
Spike Lee for Do The Right Thing

The award show occured last night and will be shown this upcoming Wednesday on MTV.

Pictured above is Isla Fisher who played Gloria Cleary in Wedding Crashers. The breakthrough performance award is her first film award.

Previous 2006 MTV Movie Award Post:
Strange Culture: Jessica Alba 3 Nomination and the Host! (must be the MTV movie awards)
Strange Culture: Knocked Up Gossip

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Saturday, June 03, 2006

Knocked Up Gossip

Some comments just need there own post.
Woobot recently posted this comment in response to my MTV Movie Award post.

Yeah, get this... MTV has nominated Steve and "40 yr old virigin", meanwhile filming on Judd Apatow's follow up movie (Knocked Up) is shooting on the same lot (Sony) as the awards show. So Judd has decided to shoot the star's entrances on the "red carpet" for his new project. You see Katherine Heigel stars as an up and coming E! journalist so Judd is having her "interview" stars as they enter. I'm sure Steve will get some screen time "playing" himself and will be funny, as they have been doing lots of takes, and letting the actors improv the funniest stuff.

Woobot is Hunter Woo, read about Hunter Woo on Strange Culture here.

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