Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,
I wish that I could effectively communicate the amount of excitement that I’m feeling for this New Orleans trip in now, less than two weeks time. Also, I may have another date this weekend, which is always cool (okay, usually cool, sometimes just plain awkward). Work is busy… and it’s just going to get busier with the snow (shiver). Oh… and there’s a new boss lady. Her name is Boss Lady H… and she seems pretty cool and obviously knowledgeable in the field, so far so good. Haven’t really had a chance to sit & chat with her because of the busyness… but it’ll happen. Believe you me. Anyway, here’s the news…
Hotel Room Record - Want an exclusive venue for your next party? The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo hotel may have the answer: use of the entire hotel, including nine restaurants and all spas and rooms -- for a cool $671,000 a night. The luxury hotel in central Tokyo began selling the plan a week ago as "something splashy" to commemorate its opening five years ago, said hotel spokeswoman Chie Hayakawa. It intends to apply for recognition from Guinness World Records once a reservation is finalized. "When the hotel opened we had an exclusive party like this -- black tie, cocktail dresses. There was music and drinks and food from the restaurants, and it was all quite grand," said Hayakawa, who took part. "We thought it would be fun to offer the same experience to an exclusive group of guests." Under the plan, the entire hotel -- 178 guest rooms, all nine restaurants and all spas -- would be reserved from 3:00 in the afternoon to noon the next day. It would include a cocktail reception for 500 people. The price tag is 55 million yen (about $671,800). Hayakawa said the hotel has already received a number of inquiries, mainly from companies, though individuals would be welcome as well. "The only thing is, you have to pick a date where there are no reservations already," she added. "It's not as if you could just request it for later this week." So if you can plan ahead, you can hold your family reunion here for under a cool million. Sound a little out of your price range too? Well... maybe you might want to consider a second job...
Courier, Not a Transporter - We all like "The Transporter" movies with Jason Statham, right? Sure, you can't really tell one from the other... but still, you know what you're getting. The only great action movie series I can think of that the exact same mold is "The Bourne (blank)" series with Matt Damon. You can be watching it on TV and someone will ask you what you're watching and the response is always "The Bourne... Supremacy? (check channel listing)" Same camera angles, same badass fight scenes, same car chases, looks like the same city (because they're usually all shot in Prague) and the only thing that changes is usually a different chick. "Saw" has the same problem. Anyway, this isn't about "The Transporter" but rather a completely different new action series. I don't even know why I mentioned it. Til Schweiger ("Inglorious Basterds") and Mickey Rourke ("Iron Man 2" & "Sin City") have both signed on for the new thriller "The Courier" according to The Wrap. In this movie, Jeffrey Dean Morgan ("Watchmen" & "The Losers") plays a courier with a penchant for dangerous assignments. Hired to deliver a briefcase to a notorious crime figure who hasn't been seen in years, he finds himself being chased by corrupt cops and federal agents along with rivals from the criminal world. Like I said, COMPLETELY different from "The Transporter" series. Schweiger will play an FBI agent, Rourke's role isn't specified... but I don't think it'd be a stretch to say he's the criminal figure who hasn't been seen in a few years (remember the 90's after the bike accident?). Schweiger also recently joined McG comedy "This Means War" in which he'll play an arms dealer. Hany Abu-Assad ("Paradise Now") directs from a script by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt ("Wanted"). Filming kicks off this month in New Orleans... so I guess you know what that means, right? Guess who's probably going to bump into more celebrities during his Halloween vacation in the Crescent City? What could rival meeting Brian Westbrook this past weekend? How about a photo op with Marv, Hugo Stiglitz & the Comedian (or John Winchester if you're a "Supernatural" fan like I am)? Can you tell I'm excited about this trip?
What's In A Name? - A New Zealand television host has quit after sparking a diplomatic row when he ridiculed the name of the chief minister of the Indian capital of New Delhi. I mean... is it really his fault that her name is Sheila Dikshit? Television station TVNZ came under heavy criticism after its "Breakfast" show host Paul Henry mispronounced Dikshit, despite being told by the lead anchor that it is pronounced "Dixit." Get it? Like 'Diks-hit', not the other way. India summoned New Zealand's high commissioner on Thursday to formally protest against what it said were "racial remarks" involving Dikshit who was asked last month to take charge of the floundering Commonwealth Games preparations. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Monday that Henry had resigned after several hundred complaints to the broadcaster regarding his Dikshit comments and questioning whether the nation's Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, who is of Indian descent, was "even a New Zealander." Yeah, that can get you fired... but on Fox News you can say the same thing about Obama and it's perfectly acceptable. "He has made that decision and I guess over the last week he's had some time to reflect on the comments," Key told breakfast television on Monday. Key said there had been no pressure from himself or the government on TVNZ regarding Henry's future (right...) and it was "good that he has personally made that decision." The prime minister said Henry's resignation would help repair any damage caused to New Zealand's relationship with India but it stressed these were comments from one person. TVNZ's Chief Executive Rick Ellis said he accepted Henry's resignation on Sunday after seven years as a breakfast TV host and apologized to anyone who had been offended by the presenter's "inappropriate on-air comments." "I will be apologizing in person to the Governor General. I also apologize to the Indian community, both here and in India," he said in a statement. Henry, 50, who was suspended from the TV station on October 5, said he had apologized twice and accepted he had inadvertently crossed the line of what was acceptable from time to time. "I do not want to continue to be used as a lightning rod for racial disharmony in this country. Likewise, I certainly do not want my elderly mother staked out at her nursing home by tabloid media, as has happened this weekend," he said in a statement. There are more than 100,000 New Zealanders of Indian ethnic origin, almost 3% of the population. The row was the latest in a series of problems for authorities in Delhi who have struggled with a chaotic run-up to the Games where corruption, shoddy construction, health and security issues brought into question India's ability to host the event (remember the condoms choking the city story last week? That was a good thing). So yeah... go ahead and say it with me. Dikshit!!!
Internet Babies - They may not know how to use a computer yet, but a recent poll revealed that some children as young as six months already have an online presence, including their own email address. Antivirus maker AVG conducted a poll of mothers with children under two years old to see when they began uploading pictures of their kids to the web (does in utero count?). The results, taken from mothers in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, show that there's no time too early for parents to post their little tots' pics. According to the survey, the average age children acquire an online presence is six months, with more than 70% of mothers posting baby and toddler pictures online and sharing them through social networking sites. By the time they are two, 81% of kids have what AVG CEO J.R. Smith called a "digital footprint." The study revealed that 33% of children have had pictures posted online from birth. And it goes back even further - 23% of parents uploaded their child's pre-birth scan to the Internet (see? You thought I was joking?). Not that they could use it, but 7% of babies even have an email address set up by their parents at birth. Okay, the email address thing is a little surprising... but the 81% with pictures posted, that's actually a little low. Then again, not everybody has internet access, ladies & gentlemen. Even in developed countries like those surveyed. Anyway, just something to think about. Eh, what do you say we sexy it up a bit?
Putin Calendar - While some were bearing gifts for Vladimir Putin's 58th birthday on Thursday -- others bared their flesh. Several female journalism students from a prestigious Russian university posed in slinky lingerie for a calendar filled with warm -- sometimes steamy -- birthday greetings for the prime minister. The calendar is the latest and one of the flashiest pieces of publicity for Putin, who has assiduously developed a manly image by posing shirtless on horseback, stalking a tiger through Siberian forests and climbing into jet-plane cockpits. It drew swift and severe criticism from a separate group of journalism students from Moscow State University (GO FIGHTIN' COMRADES!!!). Hard to find in stores but splashed widely across Moscow's tabloids, the cheesecake calendar features a photograph of a woman for every month in 2011, each with a word bubble addressing Putin. "Vladimir Vladimirovich, WE LOVE YOU!" reads the cover, which shows a close-up of a woman's chest above barely concealed cleavage. "You only get better with the years," third-year Moscow State University journalism student Nastya Klabukova, posing in a black-and-teal bra and panties, says on the September page. "The fires are out, but I'm still burning," the March model says -- a risqué reference to wildfires that killed more than 50 Russians this summer, and which Putin helped fight by dropping water from a plane. Hot, right? Well, as always, there's another side to the story. In a retort, other journalism students from the same school posted a calendar with photos depicting them in dark clothing, their mouths taped, with captions asking questions about issues that are the focus of criticism of Putin and his era. "Who killed Anna Politkovskaya?" one asks -- a reference to the unsolved slaying, on Putin's birthday in 2006, of an investigative journalist who exposed human rights abuses (by opening her eyes). "When will (Mikhail) Khodorkovsky be freed?" asks another about an imprisoned oil tycoon whose fraud and tax evasion trial was seen by Kremlin critics as a punishment for challenging Putin. Critics have accused Putin, who was president in 2000-2008 and has hinted he may return to the Kremlin in a 2012 election, of encouraging a personality cult. Technically subordinate to the successor he steered into the presidency in 2008, Dmitry Medvedev, Putin is widely believed to be the final arbiter of Russia's policy. Putin and his spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment about the calendar (as he was thanking the models of the calendar personally... and thoroughly). Its creators said they had not consulted with Putin's office or anyone else in politics before publishing the calendar. "We wanted to create a colorful project and at the same time make a present for his birthday," Vladimir Tabak, a co-head of the publishing company that put out the calendar, told Reuters. Tabak said he and colleagues at the company, Fakultet, are graduates of the Moscow State University journalism department but that the calendar had no connection with the department. A spokeswoman for the department told Ekho Moskvy radio that it was "tactless" of the publisher to use the department's name for the calendar, but that the students would face no punishment. Nine of the calendar girls are current students at the department, two are graduates and one is to enroll there soon (aka jailbait), Tabak said. He said all were at least 18 except one 17-year-old who was more fully dressed than the others (whew...). Not a bad birthday present, right? Ladies, still wondering what to get me for MY 30th birthday? Hint hint...
Poe Update - Rising British actor Luke Evans ("Tamara Drewe") and British mega super babe Alice Eve ("She’s Out of My League") are in negotiations to join the period thriller adaptation of "The Raven" for Intrepid Pictures and FilmNation reports Heat Vision. Set in Baltimore in 1849, Evans will play a detective who partners with famed macabre author Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) to search for a serial killer who has kidnapped the author’s fiancé (Eve) and has gone on a murderous spree that mimics the author’s work. Evans replaces "The Hurt Locker" star Jeremy Renner who was tipped to take the lead but opted to do the fourth "Mission: Impossible" instead. James McTeigue directs while Travor Macy, Marc Evans and Aaron Ryder will produce. Shooting kicks off November 9th in Budapest and Serbia. Sounds like it’s starting to become a pretty serious movie… and in other Alice Eve news, she will replace Margarita Levieva ("Adventureland") in the female lead role in Chris Sparling's "ATM" reports Bloody Disgusting. The story follows three co-workers who, on a common visit to the nearest ATM to get some money, find themselves terrorized by a large menacing man in a parka who won't let them leave. Eve, Brian Geraghty and Josh Peck will play the trio in the low-budget feature. Sparling wrote the recent coffin-set thriller "Buried". It sounds… like a low-budget horror flick… but hey, what do you expect? It’s not like she’s afraid because her cell phone is going to murder her (only slowly give her brain tumors) like in some of these other cheesy horrible horror flicks. I have an incredible idea for a horror movie that will make MILLIONS and become the stuff of Legend… but you’re just going to have to wait until I can fund it myself. Trust me though, some great eye candy like Ms. Eve would be perfect for it though. Ooh, speaking of eye candy…
Angelina Update - Bosnian officials have reportedly revoked the filming permit for Angelina Jolie's war film after protests reports Digital Spy. Gavrilo Grahovac, Culture Minister of the Muslim-Croat federation, told a local radio station that he had prohibited the actress from filming in Sarajevo and Zenica and that the production will only receive authorization if "they send us the scenario with a story which will be different from what we have been told by people who read it". What do they have a beef with? Well, the story apparently centers on a love affair between a Muslim woman and a Serbian man… as reported before on this blog. The problem? The story goes that the Serbian man raped the Muslim woman… and THEN they fall in love. Kind of a different story now, isn’t it? When that information was leaked, women's war victims groups were up in outrage, calling it "misleading history... we will not allow anyone to falsify our pain." Jolie, who penned and is currently directing the film in Hungary, planned to complete scenes in Bosnia over the next few months. So… yeah, good luck with that. Wow!
The other day, I saw a documentary on TV called “Once Brothers” (yes, the ESPN 30 for 30 series) and it was about the civil war that took over Yugoslavia after the fall of the Soviet Union… but primarily about the basketball team and the relationship that they had. See, in 1988, the Yugoslavian team got a silver medal (US got bronze) behind a team that included Vlade Divac, Dino Radja, Toni Kukoc, and the late great Drazen Petrovic (who would all later have pretty productive NBA careers, but at the time were all kids). At that point, they were on the fast track to super stardom not just in Europe, but across the world. Vlade & Drazen were best friends… but when the wall fell in ’89, things changed a bit. See, though they were all Yugoslavian, their ethnicities were Croatian & Serbian, which apparently meant that they were sworn enemies or something once the nation didn’t have an overlord and they all wanted their independence. It really came to a head when Vlade tossed a Croatian flag away from a fan on the court after Yugoslavia won the 1990 European Championship. He said that it was because Yugoslavia won the championship, not Croatia (kinda like if the Confederate flag was waived if the U.S. had won the gold medal or something) but it became a HUGE thing. Vlade was basically an enemy of the state of Croatia… and his Croatian best buddy Drazen never forgave him. War is horrible. It divides brothers, families & nations like nothing else. Also, a few years later, Drazen (who was one of my favorite players as a kid by the way) died in a car accident in Germany… which was tragic on many levels. Anyway, I know it sounds depressing as all hell… but at least there wasn’t any raping of a Muslim woman involved… so I guess it’s okay to film there. A lot of those “30 for 30” series flicks are actually pretty damn good, even if you’re not that into sports.
Sigh… sorry to put a downer on everything… but I think I know how to cheer you up. Not everything related to Eastern Europe is depressing. Remember the Putin Calendar? Well, I do. Here you go!!! Have a great day everybody!!!
I wish that I could effectively communicate the amount of excitement that I’m feeling for this New Orleans trip in now, less than two weeks time. Also, I may have another date this weekend, which is always cool (okay, usually cool, sometimes just plain awkward). Work is busy… and it’s just going to get busier with the snow (shiver). Oh… and there’s a new boss lady. Her name is Boss Lady H… and she seems pretty cool and obviously knowledgeable in the field, so far so good. Haven’t really had a chance to sit & chat with her because of the busyness… but it’ll happen. Believe you me. Anyway, here’s the news…
Hotel Room Record - Want an exclusive venue for your next party? The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo hotel may have the answer: use of the entire hotel, including nine restaurants and all spas and rooms -- for a cool $671,000 a night. The luxury hotel in central Tokyo began selling the plan a week ago as "something splashy" to commemorate its opening five years ago, said hotel spokeswoman Chie Hayakawa. It intends to apply for recognition from Guinness World Records once a reservation is finalized. "When the hotel opened we had an exclusive party like this -- black tie, cocktail dresses. There was music and drinks and food from the restaurants, and it was all quite grand," said Hayakawa, who took part. "We thought it would be fun to offer the same experience to an exclusive group of guests." Under the plan, the entire hotel -- 178 guest rooms, all nine restaurants and all spas -- would be reserved from 3:00 in the afternoon to noon the next day. It would include a cocktail reception for 500 people. The price tag is 55 million yen (about $671,800). Hayakawa said the hotel has already received a number of inquiries, mainly from companies, though individuals would be welcome as well. "The only thing is, you have to pick a date where there are no reservations already," she added. "It's not as if you could just request it for later this week." So if you can plan ahead, you can hold your family reunion here for under a cool million. Sound a little out of your price range too? Well... maybe you might want to consider a second job...
Courier, Not a Transporter - We all like "The Transporter" movies with Jason Statham, right? Sure, you can't really tell one from the other... but still, you know what you're getting. The only great action movie series I can think of that the exact same mold is "The Bourne (blank)" series with Matt Damon. You can be watching it on TV and someone will ask you what you're watching and the response is always "The Bourne... Supremacy? (check channel listing)" Same camera angles, same badass fight scenes, same car chases, looks like the same city (because they're usually all shot in Prague) and the only thing that changes is usually a different chick. "Saw" has the same problem. Anyway, this isn't about "The Transporter" but rather a completely different new action series. I don't even know why I mentioned it. Til Schweiger ("Inglorious Basterds") and Mickey Rourke ("Iron Man 2" & "Sin City") have both signed on for the new thriller "The Courier" according to The Wrap. In this movie, Jeffrey Dean Morgan ("Watchmen" & "The Losers") plays a courier with a penchant for dangerous assignments. Hired to deliver a briefcase to a notorious crime figure who hasn't been seen in years, he finds himself being chased by corrupt cops and federal agents along with rivals from the criminal world. Like I said, COMPLETELY different from "The Transporter" series. Schweiger will play an FBI agent, Rourke's role isn't specified... but I don't think it'd be a stretch to say he's the criminal figure who hasn't been seen in a few years (remember the 90's after the bike accident?). Schweiger also recently joined McG comedy "This Means War" in which he'll play an arms dealer. Hany Abu-Assad ("Paradise Now") directs from a script by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt ("Wanted"). Filming kicks off this month in New Orleans... so I guess you know what that means, right? Guess who's probably going to bump into more celebrities during his Halloween vacation in the Crescent City? What could rival meeting Brian Westbrook this past weekend? How about a photo op with Marv, Hugo Stiglitz & the Comedian (or John Winchester if you're a "Supernatural" fan like I am)? Can you tell I'm excited about this trip?
What's In A Name? - A New Zealand television host has quit after sparking a diplomatic row when he ridiculed the name of the chief minister of the Indian capital of New Delhi. I mean... is it really his fault that her name is Sheila Dikshit? Television station TVNZ came under heavy criticism after its "Breakfast" show host Paul Henry mispronounced Dikshit, despite being told by the lead anchor that it is pronounced "Dixit." Get it? Like 'Diks-hit', not the other way. India summoned New Zealand's high commissioner on Thursday to formally protest against what it said were "racial remarks" involving Dikshit who was asked last month to take charge of the floundering Commonwealth Games preparations. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Monday that Henry had resigned after several hundred complaints to the broadcaster regarding his Dikshit comments and questioning whether the nation's Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, who is of Indian descent, was "even a New Zealander." Yeah, that can get you fired... but on Fox News you can say the same thing about Obama and it's perfectly acceptable. "He has made that decision and I guess over the last week he's had some time to reflect on the comments," Key told breakfast television on Monday. Key said there had been no pressure from himself or the government on TVNZ regarding Henry's future (right...) and it was "good that he has personally made that decision." The prime minister said Henry's resignation would help repair any damage caused to New Zealand's relationship with India but it stressed these were comments from one person. TVNZ's Chief Executive Rick Ellis said he accepted Henry's resignation on Sunday after seven years as a breakfast TV host and apologized to anyone who had been offended by the presenter's "inappropriate on-air comments." "I will be apologizing in person to the Governor General. I also apologize to the Indian community, both here and in India," he said in a statement. Henry, 50, who was suspended from the TV station on October 5, said he had apologized twice and accepted he had inadvertently crossed the line of what was acceptable from time to time. "I do not want to continue to be used as a lightning rod for racial disharmony in this country. Likewise, I certainly do not want my elderly mother staked out at her nursing home by tabloid media, as has happened this weekend," he said in a statement. There are more than 100,000 New Zealanders of Indian ethnic origin, almost 3% of the population. The row was the latest in a series of problems for authorities in Delhi who have struggled with a chaotic run-up to the Games where corruption, shoddy construction, health and security issues brought into question India's ability to host the event (remember the condoms choking the city story last week? That was a good thing). So yeah... go ahead and say it with me. Dikshit!!!
Internet Babies - They may not know how to use a computer yet, but a recent poll revealed that some children as young as six months already have an online presence, including their own email address. Antivirus maker AVG conducted a poll of mothers with children under two years old to see when they began uploading pictures of their kids to the web (does in utero count?). The results, taken from mothers in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, show that there's no time too early for parents to post their little tots' pics. According to the survey, the average age children acquire an online presence is six months, with more than 70% of mothers posting baby and toddler pictures online and sharing them through social networking sites. By the time they are two, 81% of kids have what AVG CEO J.R. Smith called a "digital footprint." The study revealed that 33% of children have had pictures posted online from birth. And it goes back even further - 23% of parents uploaded their child's pre-birth scan to the Internet (see? You thought I was joking?). Not that they could use it, but 7% of babies even have an email address set up by their parents at birth. Okay, the email address thing is a little surprising... but the 81% with pictures posted, that's actually a little low. Then again, not everybody has internet access, ladies & gentlemen. Even in developed countries like those surveyed. Anyway, just something to think about. Eh, what do you say we sexy it up a bit?
Putin Calendar - While some were bearing gifts for Vladimir Putin's 58th birthday on Thursday -- others bared their flesh. Several female journalism students from a prestigious Russian university posed in slinky lingerie for a calendar filled with warm -- sometimes steamy -- birthday greetings for the prime minister. The calendar is the latest and one of the flashiest pieces of publicity for Putin, who has assiduously developed a manly image by posing shirtless on horseback, stalking a tiger through Siberian forests and climbing into jet-plane cockpits. It drew swift and severe criticism from a separate group of journalism students from Moscow State University (GO FIGHTIN' COMRADES!!!). Hard to find in stores but splashed widely across Moscow's tabloids, the cheesecake calendar features a photograph of a woman for every month in 2011, each with a word bubble addressing Putin. "Vladimir Vladimirovich, WE LOVE YOU!" reads the cover, which shows a close-up of a woman's chest above barely concealed cleavage. "You only get better with the years," third-year Moscow State University journalism student Nastya Klabukova, posing in a black-and-teal bra and panties, says on the September page. "The fires are out, but I'm still burning," the March model says -- a risqué reference to wildfires that killed more than 50 Russians this summer, and which Putin helped fight by dropping water from a plane. Hot, right? Well, as always, there's another side to the story. In a retort, other journalism students from the same school posted a calendar with photos depicting them in dark clothing, their mouths taped, with captions asking questions about issues that are the focus of criticism of Putin and his era. "Who killed Anna Politkovskaya?" one asks -- a reference to the unsolved slaying, on Putin's birthday in 2006, of an investigative journalist who exposed human rights abuses (by opening her eyes). "When will (Mikhail) Khodorkovsky be freed?" asks another about an imprisoned oil tycoon whose fraud and tax evasion trial was seen by Kremlin critics as a punishment for challenging Putin. Critics have accused Putin, who was president in 2000-2008 and has hinted he may return to the Kremlin in a 2012 election, of encouraging a personality cult. Technically subordinate to the successor he steered into the presidency in 2008, Dmitry Medvedev, Putin is widely believed to be the final arbiter of Russia's policy. Putin and his spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment about the calendar (as he was thanking the models of the calendar personally... and thoroughly). Its creators said they had not consulted with Putin's office or anyone else in politics before publishing the calendar. "We wanted to create a colorful project and at the same time make a present for his birthday," Vladimir Tabak, a co-head of the publishing company that put out the calendar, told Reuters. Tabak said he and colleagues at the company, Fakultet, are graduates of the Moscow State University journalism department but that the calendar had no connection with the department. A spokeswoman for the department told Ekho Moskvy radio that it was "tactless" of the publisher to use the department's name for the calendar, but that the students would face no punishment. Nine of the calendar girls are current students at the department, two are graduates and one is to enroll there soon (aka jailbait), Tabak said. He said all were at least 18 except one 17-year-old who was more fully dressed than the others (whew...). Not a bad birthday present, right? Ladies, still wondering what to get me for MY 30th birthday? Hint hint...
Poe Update - Rising British actor Luke Evans ("Tamara Drewe") and British mega super babe Alice Eve ("She’s Out of My League") are in negotiations to join the period thriller adaptation of "The Raven" for Intrepid Pictures and FilmNation reports Heat Vision. Set in Baltimore in 1849, Evans will play a detective who partners with famed macabre author Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) to search for a serial killer who has kidnapped the author’s fiancé (Eve) and has gone on a murderous spree that mimics the author’s work. Evans replaces "The Hurt Locker" star Jeremy Renner who was tipped to take the lead but opted to do the fourth "Mission: Impossible" instead. James McTeigue directs while Travor Macy, Marc Evans and Aaron Ryder will produce. Shooting kicks off November 9th in Budapest and Serbia. Sounds like it’s starting to become a pretty serious movie… and in other Alice Eve news, she will replace Margarita Levieva ("Adventureland") in the female lead role in Chris Sparling's "ATM" reports Bloody Disgusting. The story follows three co-workers who, on a common visit to the nearest ATM to get some money, find themselves terrorized by a large menacing man in a parka who won't let them leave. Eve, Brian Geraghty and Josh Peck will play the trio in the low-budget feature. Sparling wrote the recent coffin-set thriller "Buried". It sounds… like a low-budget horror flick… but hey, what do you expect? It’s not like she’s afraid because her cell phone is going to murder her (only slowly give her brain tumors) like in some of these other cheesy horrible horror flicks. I have an incredible idea for a horror movie that will make MILLIONS and become the stuff of Legend… but you’re just going to have to wait until I can fund it myself. Trust me though, some great eye candy like Ms. Eve would be perfect for it though. Ooh, speaking of eye candy…
Angelina Update - Bosnian officials have reportedly revoked the filming permit for Angelina Jolie's war film after protests reports Digital Spy. Gavrilo Grahovac, Culture Minister of the Muslim-Croat federation, told a local radio station that he had prohibited the actress from filming in Sarajevo and Zenica and that the production will only receive authorization if "they send us the scenario with a story which will be different from what we have been told by people who read it". What do they have a beef with? Well, the story apparently centers on a love affair between a Muslim woman and a Serbian man… as reported before on this blog. The problem? The story goes that the Serbian man raped the Muslim woman… and THEN they fall in love. Kind of a different story now, isn’t it? When that information was leaked, women's war victims groups were up in outrage, calling it "misleading history... we will not allow anyone to falsify our pain." Jolie, who penned and is currently directing the film in Hungary, planned to complete scenes in Bosnia over the next few months. So… yeah, good luck with that. Wow!
The other day, I saw a documentary on TV called “Once Brothers” (yes, the ESPN 30 for 30 series) and it was about the civil war that took over Yugoslavia after the fall of the Soviet Union… but primarily about the basketball team and the relationship that they had. See, in 1988, the Yugoslavian team got a silver medal (US got bronze) behind a team that included Vlade Divac, Dino Radja, Toni Kukoc, and the late great Drazen Petrovic (who would all later have pretty productive NBA careers, but at the time were all kids). At that point, they were on the fast track to super stardom not just in Europe, but across the world. Vlade & Drazen were best friends… but when the wall fell in ’89, things changed a bit. See, though they were all Yugoslavian, their ethnicities were Croatian & Serbian, which apparently meant that they were sworn enemies or something once the nation didn’t have an overlord and they all wanted their independence. It really came to a head when Vlade tossed a Croatian flag away from a fan on the court after Yugoslavia won the 1990 European Championship. He said that it was because Yugoslavia won the championship, not Croatia (kinda like if the Confederate flag was waived if the U.S. had won the gold medal or something) but it became a HUGE thing. Vlade was basically an enemy of the state of Croatia… and his Croatian best buddy Drazen never forgave him. War is horrible. It divides brothers, families & nations like nothing else. Also, a few years later, Drazen (who was one of my favorite players as a kid by the way) died in a car accident in Germany… which was tragic on many levels. Anyway, I know it sounds depressing as all hell… but at least there wasn’t any raping of a Muslim woman involved… so I guess it’s okay to film there. A lot of those “30 for 30” series flicks are actually pretty damn good, even if you’re not that into sports.Sigh… sorry to put a downer on everything… but I think I know how to cheer you up. Not everything related to Eastern Europe is depressing. Remember the Putin Calendar? Well, I do. Here you go!!! Have a great day everybody!!!
Okay, so the last few are more Alice Eve but...
I'm pretty sure that you ladies out there can do better...
and there's still 6 months until my birthday...
Let's show Russia how it's done!!!
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