In university,Catherine Young joined the sorority Delta Delta Delta, where she met some amazing young women with whom she shared similar goals and aspirations. Through the sorority she was able to participate in philanthropic endeavors through fundraising and volunteering, raising large amounts of money for Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee. Catherine has always cherished family and friends in her life. One of her personal mottos is “everything
So you’ve got your low-budget indie feature cast, for better and most definitely for worse . What next? Learn how to DIRECT the thing, Modern Imbecile-style, in the latest installment of Idiot’s Guide To Making Movies For Dummies presented by Slamdance TV, in which Don and Lizard Man show Wallace the finer points of shooting a love scene. Check back next week for the next installment of Modern Imbecile’s Idiot’s Guide To Making Movies For Dummies , with new episodes posting each week leading into the Slamdance Film Festival. Slamdance alums Kevin M. Brennan and Doug Manley have teamed up with Slamdance TV to present Modern Imbecile’s Idiot’s Guide To Making Movies For Dummies. In the five part web series, Slamdance TV’s very own Ben Hethcoat goes behind the scenes of Wallace Cotton’s latest feature film, COP HEAT starring Brennan and Manley as the titular duo, Don and Lizard Man. COP HEAT: “Two hot for the streets. Two hot to handle.” Join the festival ‘By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers’ in this Slamdance TV original web series which explores the independent filmmaking process. Slamdance Film Festival takes place January 18-24 in Park City, UT. For more information visit slamdance.com Facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival Twitter @ Slamdance PREVIOUSLY: ‘Modern Imbecile’s Idiot’s Guide To Making Movies For Dummies,’ Episode 1: Casting Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Last Spring, Forbes named Kristen Stewart Hollywood’s highest paid star, but the title of “most bankable star” is another matter altogether. Natalie Portman gives the best cash return, according to those denizens of wealth at Forbes, beating out the likes of Stewart, Robert Pattinson , Shia LaBeouf and Daniel Radcliffe . [ Related: Kristen Stewart Tops Forbes List of Highest Paid Actresses ] Portman’s films Black Swan , No Strings Attached and Your Highness were included in the formula that put the Oscar-winning actress over the top. Your Highness was, in fact, a flop, taking in only $25 million on an estimated $50 million budget, but that blemish did not derail her reign atop the list. Forbes also did not count Thor because Portman was a supporting actor in the title. Forbes devised a calculation that includes an actors’ earnings, box office grosses and budget estimates that fixed the Black Swan star’s returns at $42.70 for every dollar she is paid. Noted Forbes: We looked at the last three films each actor starred in over the last three years that opened in more than 2,000 theaters, calculating the return on investment for the studios who pay his (or her) salary. We didn’t count movies where the actor was in a supporting or large ensemble role and we didn’t count animated movies. The actors who score well on this list tend to have small paydays and star in highly profitable movies. Kristen Stewart ranked as Hollywood’s highest paid actress by Forbes last June and yet, she nevertheless placed second on the return list. Not bad considering she’s been paid $25 million for each of the last Twilight pics, but the overall franchise has brought in $3.3 billion. Co-stars Robert Pattinson placed fourth while Taylor Lautner placed sixth on the list, but Stewart came out on top with her role in Snow White and the Huntsman , which grossed $400 million from an estimated $170 million budget. Pattinson’s Water for Elephants grossed $118 million worldwide from an estimated $38 million budget. The one oddity in the calculations was that Pattinson’s specialty releases, Bel Ami and Cosmopolis were not factored in because Forbes said neither reached “enough theaters” to count for the list. Also, Stewart’s On the Road was not factored though that film opened last weekend. Shia LaBeouf, who topped the list in 2009 and 2010, ranked third this year. 1. Natalie Portman : $42.70 for every dollar paid 2. Kristen Stewart : $40.60 for every dollar paid 3. Shia LaBeouf : $35.80 for every dollar paid 4. Robert Pattinson : $31.70 for every dollar paid 5. Daniel Radcliffe : $30.50 for every dollar paid [Sources: Forbes , via Huffington Post ]
The man who nearly single-handedly made puppets cool has gone to see the great manipulator in the sky. Gerry Anderson, creator of the pioneering puppetry technique called ‘Supermarionation’ and the popular series Thunderbirds , died Wednesday in Oxfordshire, England, at the age of 83 from complications due to Alzheimer’s disease. He is survived by four children, and by his third wife, Mary. Born in London on April 14, 1929, Anderson’s long career in television began in the 1950s, when he worked as a freelancer on numerous film and television productions. In 1957, he cofounded AP Films to produce the children’s series The Adventures Of Twizzle , which featured Anderson’s first use of extensive puppetry. This was followed by another series, Torchy The Battery Boy , in 1958, and finally Four Feather Fall in 1959, which was the first series to employ the technique for which he would become most well known. Anderson’s Supermarionation programs enjoyed considerable success during the 1960s (one of them was even picked up in the US by ABC), but it was the 1964-65 series Thunderbirds that made him world famous. The series focused on the Tracy family, adventurers who ran a high tech rescue service in the 21st century. It spawned two Supermarionation feature films, Thunderbirds Are Go! and Thunderbirds 6 , as well as a 2004 live action film which flopped. Other Supermarionation productions included Supercar , Joe 90 , The Secret Service , and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons . Supermarionation, which combines marionettes with complex wire work and motorized puppet faces, achieves the effect of presenting the puppets as independent actors. Though the technique fell out of favor as special effects improved during the 1970s, Supermarionation’s influence can still be seen not only in films and TV shows that deliberately mimic it — like Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Team America: World Police (below) — but in the worldwide success of The Muppets and the films made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in the 1980s. Interestingly, Anderson never liked working with puppets, seeing his Supermarionation programs as a way of making it possible to transition to live action, which just goes to prove once and for all that you don’t get to pick what you’re great at. Though Anderson transitioned to live action in the 1970s, with the exception of Space: 1999 his puppet-free productions never enjoyed the same level of fondness and influence. In recent years he produced a computer animated update of Captain Scarlet , and numerous aborted projects. He was awarded an MBE in 2001. We’ll be firing up Thunderbirds Are Go! in memorium. Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow him on twitter (@rossalincoln). Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Santa don’t play that! Santa Claus At Virginia Mall Refuses To Give Children Guns Via Washington Post Every year, the children ask Santa for dolls, cars, games and puppies. They also ask for guns. Nerf guns, pistols, air rifles, shotguns. Even assault weapons. And that breaks this 82-year-old Santa’s heart, especially this year. Unlike the department store Santa in the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story,” who told Ralphie he would not be getting the official Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot Range Model air rifle because “you’ll shoot your eye out,” the much beloved Merrifield Garden Center Santa has a more elaborate denial. “You might get a gun from your father or your mother or grandfather, but you won’t get one from me,” he tells kids who request weapons, either real or make-believe, at the Fairfax County nursery. “Guns were put on this earth to take the life of a bird, an animal or a person. Guns were designed to make people cry, to make people die. Now, take a candy and a holy card.” At Merrifield, where Santa has been nestling children on his lap for more than 30 years, at least one child a night comes asking for a gun. And that’s not abnormal, given the role of guns in the arsenal of kid toys. But Santa remembers one child who asked for an entire arsenal: an assault rifle, a shotgun and two handguns. And he asks me not to print the awful details of one encounter that really rattled him. But let’s just say that some parents don’t agree with his quiet speech about weapons. Santa’s steadfast denial of guns as gifts, coming from a man who first dyed bedsheets red and wore a cowbell around his neck to create his uniform decades ago, is especially poignant this year. Santa’s heart is as heavy as the rest of ours are this year. “Those first-graders,” Santa tells me as he stretches his legs after all the children have gone home to bed, “you just look at them, and you think: ‘How? How could anybody, how could anybody shoot them?’ ” God bless this Santa Claus. Would you be upset if he lectured you and your children about asking for guns as Christmas toys this year??? Image via AP
Could Adam Lanza’s motive for last week’s sickening Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have been fear of being committed to a psychiatric facility? Nancy Lanza, the 20-year-old’s mother, was in the process of having her son committed when he went on the killing spree, a lifelong family acquaintance said. A senior law enforcement official also confirmed that Adam Lanza’s anger over his mother’s plan is being investigated as a possible motive for the massacre. Lanza killed 28 people – himself, his mother, six adults and 20 children – in Newtown, Conn., marking one of the worst mass murders in recent memory. “From what I’ve been told, Adam was aware of her petitioning the court for conservatorship and (her) plans to have him committed ,” said Joshua Flashman, 25. Flashman grew up not far from where the shooting took place. “Adam was apparently very upset about this. He thought she just wanted to send him away. From what I understand, he was really, really angry.” “I think this could have been it, what set him off.” It’s unclear whether Adam’s mother, Nancy Lanza, was really filing that specific paperwork, because court officials say that such records are sealed. She would have had to go through a protracted process to acquire legal rights to commit an adult to a hospital or psychiatric ward against his will. As for ties to the school, Nancy Lanza was not a teacher, as was initially reported, but she reportedly volunteered with kindergartners there for years. Flashman said that Adam “believed she cared more for the children than she did for him.” On the day of the massacre, Nancy was Adam’s first victim at the house were they lived. Flashman said Nancy was good friends with the school’s principal, Dawn Hochsprung , and psychologist, both of whom were killed during the incident. Adam had also reportedly cut off communication with his father, Peter, in 2010. It’s unclear if he kept in touch with his older brother, Ryan Lanza , 24. Investigators’ efforts to gain insight into the deeply disturbed mind that planned and executed this massacre have been exhaustive, and not without roadblocks. Police believe Adam Lanza’s hard drive may have been damaged by the killer in the days leading up to the shooting, rendering its data unreadable.
Former Saturday Night Live star and conservative activist Victoria Jackson has made a series of controversial comments in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders. She harshly criticized President Barack Obama, which is hardly surprising, but her comments on killer Adam Lanza raised eyebrows – even by Jackson standards. Of the Newtown, Conn., shooting, Jackson posted on Facebook, quoting a friend: “Wasn’t the Connecticut killer just doing what abortionists do every day?” “It’s a wonder we don’t have more 20-year-old ‘dads’ doing what women and doctors have been an accomplice to for years. When you forget the TEN COMMANDMENTS, THIS is what you get’.” While one outraged person said that Jackson should have to “go before all of the families that lost loved ones” with her views, that didn’t stop her for a second. The Tea Party supporter went on to criticize President Barack Obama, claiming his pro-choice views are tantamount to mass murder along Lanza’s lines. Jackson wrote: “Obama dramatically wiped a tear as he said, ‘The majority of those who died today were children – beautiful little kids … They had their entire lives ahead of them.” “YEAH OBAMA. SAME AS THE MILLION BABIES YOU HAD ABORTED THIS YEAR IN AMERICA. ARE YOU CRYING FOR THEM?!” Jackson, who describes herself as being “an outspoken activist for the conservative movement,” on Facebook, may be understating the outspoken part. In President Obama’s Newtown speech last night, he called for America to ask “hard questions” about itself and whether we are doing all we can to care for our children. No response yet from Victoria, but you can bet it won’t be a measured one.
Victoria Soto, 27, a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., ushered her students into a closet, and in so doing placed her body between them and the assailant. “She was found huddled over her children, her students, doing instinctively what she knew was the right thing,” her cousin Jim Wiltsie tells ABC News. “I#39;m just proud that Vicki had the instincts to protect her kids from harm,” he continued. “It brings peace to know that Vicki was doing what she loved,
The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., left a nation in shock Friday afternoon after Adam Lanza gunned down 27 people, 20 of them children. Hollywood Tweeted up a storm in response, sharing love, condolences, prayers and heartbreak, but also anger, disgust and frustration in many cases. The Connecticut school shooting has once again raised debate about gun control and thrust it into the spotlight, as some of their Twitter reactions show: Demi Lovato: “Just in shock. WHAT is wrong with this world sometimes? Right before Christmas? My thoughts and prayers go out to Newton, CT.” Miley Cyrus: “Why does this happen? Why do bad things happen to such good people… Especially young ones. Sending blessings to CT.” Ian Somerhalder: “We are sad. Our hearts, thoughts & help are w/ you. Im so sorry to all affected by this. So sorry. May all the love in the world hug you in this time.” Kourtney Kardashian: “If this tragedy doesn’t change something in this country regarding guns…I just want to scream and cry. Deeply saddened. Praying.” Kim Kardashian: “In total shock over the school shooting in Ct!… What has this world come to…These kids come to school to learn, never expecting this tragedy to happen. They didn’t deserve this. Praying for everyone involved!” Lindsay Lohan: “This is absolutely horrifying. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families in Newton, CT. So unbelievably sad.” Ashton Kutcher: “Overwhelming feelings of sadness for something so senseless. My heart goes out to those in Connecticut.” Jessica Alba: “This is just awful. My heart goes out 2 all affected… So sad.” Zooey Deschanel: “I am filled with sadness in the wake of the sandy hook school tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with all in Newtown, Connecticut.” Blake Shelton: “Stand strong and stand united everyone… We are Americans and we are better than this. What a sad sad disgusting day this is…My heart is so heavy right now… I can’t shake it off.” Kristin Chenoweth: “Our hearts are broken for you, Newtown.” Joe Jonas: “This is such sad news. Heart is broken for the children and their families.” Jordin Sparks: “Those precious children…I will never understand the evil in this world. On my knees praying for those families. I am in tears.” Susan Sarandon: “How much more suffering & loss will it take before we better regulate the sale of arms in our country? Let @NRA know how you feel.” Michelle Branch: “Gun control people!!! My heart is breaking. As a parent this is my worst nightmare.” Mia Farrow: “Gun control is no longer debatable- it’s not a ‘conversation’- It’s a moral mandate.” Dax Shepard: “I love guns. I have several, but I would gladly get rid of them if it would help prevent anything like this from happening again.” Christina Applegate: “There are just no words. Only sorrow. We are all shedding tears today for those families.” Bethenny Frankel: “These poor parents probably have Christmas presents for these poor babies. I can’t stop crying.” Maria Shriver: “My heart is breaking as this story unfolds. Let’s start a #circleofprayer for the children and their families.” Jennifer Hudson: “Yal, we need to pray! This can’t keep happening . My mama always said ‘ if u think you’ve seen it all just keep on living’.” Ashley Greene: “Some things are just bigger than me and impossible for me to understand. My thoughts and prayers are with the families in Connecticut.” Snoop Dogg: “Sending love 2 the families in Connecticut for their tragic loss. 2day I bow my head in sadness.” Josh Groban: “My heart is crushed with the news of this shooting.” Katharine McPhee: “I’m so saddened over the shootings in CT. In light of such an evil act, #PrayForNewton.” Kevin Bacon: “Just sick about the news from CT. Sending love to all those families.” Brooke Burke-Charvet: “Unfathomable news in Connecticut. I have no words. Holiday spirit just got sucked out of me. I’m sick..” Lea Michele: “There are no words to express the sadness of this unthinkable tragedy. Sending my prayers to the families in Newton CT.” Ben Stiller: “Shocked and saddened by what happened today in Connecticut. We have to stop the access to guns in our country.” Missi Pyle: “We should NOT STOP SCREAMING about this until we have better laws on GUN CONTROL. We have power. Lets DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!” Sarah Silverman: “Band-Aids-on-Band-Aids @NRA people want MORE access to guns to combat all the people w access to guns.” Piers Morgan: “This is now President Obama’s biggest test – will he have the courage to stand up to the American gun lobby?” Chrissy Teigen: “it’s too easy for a monster to get a gun. solution: NO ONE GETS GUNS. sorry if this is an inconvenience for your complete need to have one.” Michael Moore: “The way to honor these dead children is to demand strict gun control, free mental health care, and an end to violence as public policy.” John Stamos: “Soulless coward pulls trigger, children die, officials express regret and then what -we wait for the next shooting? how do we stop this?” Questlove: “ok so….is now that time to have ‘the conversation’?” Rashida Jones: “Gun control is our only road to freedom. Freedom from the fear of senselessly losing children. I’m so saddened. WE NEED LAWS NOW…Gun loversare the first to remind you this should be a ‘day of mourning’. How about we mourn & make it harder to get guns on the same day?…Thanks, gun lovers, for all your hateful tweets. Good reminder of another endemic nat’l issue:a lack of humanity, civility & accountability.” Flea: “No civilians should be allowed to have guns. none…and i dont thinkthe cops should have guns either…change the constitution…and makequality mental health care free…god blessthe children…in many countries the cops have no guns and they do perfectly fine…peace and love to all…heartbreaking…the depth of sadness.” What do you think: Time for major gun control legislation? YES. Fewer guns, fewer tragedies! NO. It’s unconstitutional and won’t stop anything! View Poll »
She lost her job after sneaking lunches to a 4th grader whose family sent him to school without food each day. According to KTVI : A St. Louis County cafeteria worker is out of a job after giving away free meals to a child in need. For two years, Dianne Brame worked as a cafeteria manager at Hudson Elementary in Webster Groves, keeping kids’ bellies full for their all-important task of learning. The lunch lady loved her job: “I knew kids by their names, I knew their likes and dislikes, so it was just fun.” But recently, she came across a fourth grader who consistently came without money. She says he used to be on the free lunch program, but language barriers got in the way of reapplying: “I sent them paperwork so that they could get back in contact with me, but it didn’t happen,” she says. For days, Brame snuck the boy lunches. She explains, “I let his account get over $45 which I’m only supposed to let it get over $10, and I started letting him come through my lunch line without putting his number in, and they look at that as stealing. I thought it was just taking care of a kid.” She was trying to protect him from the bullying: a cruel side dish to the default cheese sandwich given to kids without lunch money. “The kids would ridicule and tell them, ah you don’t have any money, that’s why you have to eat cheese sandwiches every day,” Brame says. On Tuesday, word got around to Brame’s supervisor, who put her between a rock and a hard place: either leave, or move to another school in a demoted position. The 60 year-old former manager felt she didn’t have a choice. “My husband died in February, I lost my home, car got repo’ed,” she explains, “Hudson is in walking distance from me, so I took the firing. Fire me.” Gary Woodruff, whose daughter attends Hudson Elementary, finds the punishment to be harsh: “It just seems a little excessive that they would do that to a lunch lady, I mean it’s a little bit ridiculous, especially nowadays with the economy and what not.” Now, jobless and with the holidays right around the corner, Brame is on a tighter budget—giving cookies instead of pricier presents. According to Brame’s employer, she does have the opportunity to appeal the decision. But Brame says she doesn’t want to bother, especially because she knows she violated protocol. Looking back, she says she wouldn’t change a thing: “I don’t think any kid should be hungry. I don’t. And it’s my belief that some of these kids who go to school and get meals, that may be the only meal they eat that day.” SMH…you can’t even feed hungry kids now. Thanks to thousands of people, Mrs. Brame was rehired after their responses to her story. Images via shutterstock/Facebook
