Screenhead

More previous work of the late Heath Ledger is surfacing once again. Screenhead introduced Ledger’s King Rat, an animated short, some time ago.

 Now, Cause and Effect has surfaced in the news today. 

Ledger was known for saying “Talent begets Talent.” The Godfather of Australasian Hip Hop – Nfamas of 1200 Techniques – made a decision to go out on his own as No Fixed Abode. He approached his childhood friend, the late Heath Ledger, to direct his first music video. 

Ledger loved to immense himself in music, and reportedly he believed in Nfa’s talent and ability to become a Hip Hop star on his own. Together, with Ledger as director, they created Nfa’s first music video Cause and Effect.  Clearly we can see Ledger’s talent as an artistic director and the potential future he had as a director. The ability Ledger had to boldly embody the No Fixed Abode fundamental spirit, is very clear in this extraordinary music video.

It’s sad to lose such talent as Ledger, but at least we have the spirit of his work today that will live forever.

Remember the whole Slumdog Millionaire mess when the kids were supposed to be getting money, and weren’t, and the dad was basically trying to sell the little girl into marriage and all like this?  Well, there’s a little more drama going on–seems the kids are about to shoot themselves in the metaphorical foot.

They’re at risk of losing both their trust fund and their monthly stipend becasue they haven’t been attending school.

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail has only been showing up roughly one day in every three, and Rubina Ali’s only managing one day in four, roughly.  But it’s not just straight truancy, it’s part of a schedule.  Apparently they’re constantly on planes, going to places like Paris and Cochin and Chennai, and most recently, they were at a Mumbai hotel tea party on a Thursday afternoon.  The family responds that the tea party was held on a school holiday, so they could go freely, but there’s been plenty of regular absences besides.

It’s a bad deal all the way around, and it’s really only hurting the kids at the end of the day.

What do Tom Cruise, Beck, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Giovanni Ribisi, Katie Holmes, and Paul Haggis all have in common? Why, they’re all members of the cult-I mean religion-called Scientology. That is, until this week when a letter written by Paul Haggis (director of Crash, writer of Million Dollar Baby and Casino Royale) to the “church” of Scientology was revealed.

Apparently, Haggis was infuriated by Scientology’s backing of California’s Proposition 8, which in 2008 made same-sex marriages illegal. Haggis wrote: “The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent [...] I refuse to consent”. Haggis also criticised Scientology for putting pressure on Haggis and his wife to “disconnect” their lives from her grandparents’. And so, Haggis has quit.

What’s far more astounding is how on earth people can buy into this ridiculous cult. It was created by a crazy sci-fi writer who wanted to abuse the tax-breaks handed out to religions. How can anyone associate themselves with an organisation who charge people up to thousands of dollars for “personality tests” (haven’t they heard of facebook applications?), deny the existence of autism (which John Travolta’s recently deceased teenage son had), and forbid a woman from screaming during childbirth? Not to mention their hatred for psychiatry, their use of legal waivers forced upon those who join, and their tendency to harass and torment those opposed to or investigating them. It’s a secretive, money-grabbing, dangerous cult. And anyone who disagrees with me need only check out the Simpsons episode called The Joy of Sect, in which Springfield is controlled by a group known as the Movementarians. So well done, Paul Haggis, let’s hope the millions of others see sense and follow suit.

On October 31, Nordstrom and Summit Entertainment invite Twilight fans to take advantage of a special opportunity to meet select cast members of The Twilight Saga: New Moon at select Nordstrom stores. The cast appearances are being held to celebrate the highly-anticipated November 20 release of the second movie in Summit’s Twilight film saga. Nordstrom launched an exclusive clothing and jewelry collection inspired by the mood and spirit of the film in early October.

Customers can visit nordstrom.com/newmoon for more details about how to acquire VIP access on Saturday, October 31, at 8:00 a.m., to be one of 75 customers to meet the cast.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon cast members will visit the following Nordstrom stores: 

    November 5- Topanga (Canoga Park, CA)**

    November 8- Park Meadows (Lone Tree, CO)*

    November 9- Natick Collection (Natick, MA)*

    November 10- The Galleria (Houston, TX)*

    November 11- Mall of America (Bloomington, MN)*

    November 11- Cherry Hill Mall (Philadelphia, PA)*

    November 11- Stonestown Galleria (San Francisco, CA)*

    November 12- Perimeter Mall (Atlanta, GA)

    November 12- Southcenter (Tukwila, WA)*

    November 13- Aventura Mall (Aventura, FL)

    November 13- Scottsdale Fashion Square (Phoenix, AZ)*

    November 14- Fashion Place (Murray, UT)*

* These malls will also host a talent question and answer forum in the mall which will be open to the public.

** 125 customer VIP packets will be available for the Topanga event only. The mall will not host a talent question and answer forum.

Select Nordstrom stores will also offer customers advanced movie screening passes as gifts with purchase (see nordstrom.com/newmoon for participating stores and details), and will host in-store styling parties on November 14 and 15. Customers can visit nordstrom.com/newmoon to learn what events are taking place at their nearest Nordstrom store and sign-up for email alerts.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon directed by Chris Weitz and starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner will be released November 20, 2009. In the film, the romance between mortal and vampire soars to a new level as Bella Swan (Stewart) delves deeper into the mysteries of the supernatural world she yearns to become part of–only to find herself in greater peril than ever before. Following Edward Cullen’s (Pattinson) departure from Forks, Wash., and Bella discovers his image comes to her whenever she puts herself in jeopardy. In time Bella’s frozen heart is gradually thawed by her budding relationship with Jacob Black (Lautner) who has a supernatural secret of his own.

Such talent…

Before we begin today’s proceedings, let me preface my remarks by saying that Michael Moore better go get a cheesecake and a bottle of scotch RIGHT NOW because he’s probably about to lose a world record.

The best sales record for a theatrically released documentary ever was Fahrenheit 9/11 by Moore, and it brought in a whomping one hundred and nineteen million dollars.

The final biography about Michael Jackson, This Is It, has already sold out a hundred and sixty showings at the official site.  Online ticket vendor Fandango reports that its available ticket stock of a hundred and ten showings have sold likewise out.

This one releases October 28th, and with all those showtimes sold out, sounds like businesses all around the country better prepare for a massive outbreak of flu, colds, and bad backs, because no one’s gonna show up with that huge wad of tickets outstanding.  In fact, from the look of things, even Saw VI might get a run for its money.  Man, how creepy is that?  The biggest seller of Halloween weekend might be a documentary….

Roman Polanski can’t seem to get a break. The notoriously intense film director, who made films such as Chinatown and The Pianist, was on his way to Switzerland last Saturday to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival, only to be nabbed by the authorities. Why? Well, it seems to be due to a very old yet still publicised incident in the US. Polanski famously fled Hollywood after he was accused of raping a 13-year old girl. He has yet to return. The arrest warrent is still out and despite having travelled to Switzerland many times before, someone decided to uphold the warrent and arrest him. Polanski now faces extradition to the US and he may even spend the rest of his life behind bars.
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I think Megan Fox looks like Gene Tierney in this promotional clip for SNL.  The clip below has young Frank Sinatra singing “Laura”, the theme song from the movie of the same title.  Laura is a wonderful movie starring Gene Tierney, which fans remember her the most. Other Tierney movies are shown in the clip as well. Tierney is just as beautiful, if not more, than Megan Fox.

Susan Varney (9), Christopher H (63) and DanV (111) are the winners! 

Arguably one of the world’s most famous  music performers in history, the late Michael Jackson’s story lives on in Devotion: An Unauthorized Tribute to Michael Jackson, coming to DVD Sept. 1, 2009.

On June 25, 2009, the world seemingly stood still as news spread that Michael Jackson – “The King of Pop” and one of the most beloved, successful and iconic performers in history – was dead.

Devotion is a multi-faceted and personal look at Michael’s rise to the top and how he conquered the world, changed music forever, fell from grace and shocked us all with his departure on the eve of history’s biggest come-back tour. Includes interviews with family, friends, fellow celebrities and music industry insiders.  Yet, we mustn’t forget the prescription drugs he took to further his downward spiral.  He leaves a legacy but also a lesson to learn. Stay away from harmful prescription drugs!

Featurettes: “The Memorial”; “Media” – a look at a life-long bombardment of press coverage; “Global Phenomenon” – examining the world-wide sensation; “Charity Work” – explores the star’s philanthropic dedication, supporting 39 charities

First off, yes, Kristen Stewart DOES in fact have an action figure, based on her character Bella from the truly godawful Twilight series that everyone seems to love despite all logic and good common sense.

But anyway, she’s not terribly happy with that action figure, and you won’t believe why.

It turns out it has…ahem…larger attributes than she does.  I’ll let her be more specific:

“I think she has a much bigger rack than I have,” Kristen said. “I also think she looks much older than me.  I guess I can live with that. In fact, I’m getting used to the bigger rack.”

There are a great many things that could be said at this point but most of them would likely get me sued by somebody for some reason or another.  I’ll just suffice it to say that Hollywood’s weirdness truly knows no bounds.