For American actresses, the worst that can happen when shooting a nude scene is an unflattering angle or disapproving parents. For Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, however, briefly baring her breast in the commercial Corps et Ames for the Cesar Awards (France’s answer to the Oscars) means she can’t go home again. No, really- the Iranian government has told her not to come back . As Farahani told Britain’s Daily Telegraph : “I was told by a Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guide official [after shooting the commercial] that Iran does not need any actors or artists. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else” , she said. Farahani, a star in her native Iran, relocated to Paris last year to escape Iranian cinema’s oppressive moral code, so at least she hasn’t been left homeless. But it’s a chilling reminder that in some places, going bare means risking much more than embarrassment. Golshifteh, we salute you! See the original commercial after the jump!
Or some other lukewarm cling-monkey: “If I were feeling less generous and more cynical on this holiest of all Oscar-calendar mornings , I might say that to decipher this year’s Academy Awards contest, we need only look for inspiration to the GOP presidential race. The Artist is Mitt Romney — desperate to please, doesn’t stand for anything in particular, not especially popular with the general public, will eventually keep most of its money offshore, and, though dinged up and trash-talked, will probably cross the finish line first by default. The Descendants is Newt Gingrich (emotionally unsteady, hard on wives, doing better than expected, but probably can’t go all the way). Hugo is Rick Santorum (a little slow, doesn’t really like anything that changed in the culture in the last 80 years). And The Tree of Life is Jon Huntsman (believes in evolution, probably a little too classy for this field).” [ Grantland ]
The 49ers fell to the Giants yesterday in the NFC Championship Game and – like Billy Cundiff on the Ravens – most of the blame lies at the feet of one player: Kyle Williams, who turned the ball over TWICE on punt returns, including one fumble that led to an easy New York field goal in overtime. Williams has taken responsibility for the mishaps, but that isn’t enough for some crazed fans. Kyle Williams Fumbles, 49ers Lose Many have taken to Twitter and issued death threat against the little-used wide receiver, who was only pressed in to duty due to an injury. “It certainly makes you question our culture of sports as it stands,” said Kyle’s dad, Chicago White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams, while kicker David Akers also stood up for his teammate: “I’m irritated with the way people are treating him, absolutely. I think it’s ridiculous. You know, get a grip on what life’s about. He went out and he put his soul out there. That’s what he does. He was not trying to do anything other than make an incredible play for this team.” We agree. And fans ought to be thanking Williams for helping to set up a Giants/Patriots Super Bowl. It’s gonna be epic!
‘It’s weird when people say it’s an accident, ’cause I kinda meant to do it,’ Blake Anderson says of stunt gone wrong in MTV’s ‘First Date.’ By Rya Backer Cast of “Workaholics” Photo: MTV News As one of the co-stars of Comedy Central’s “Workaholics,” Blake Anderson has made his way into the hearts and televisions of many an American as Blake Henderson, the goofy member of the show’s trio who’s not above spending his week’s paycheck on a coat that looks like a bear, or talking his friends into foregoing their Thanksgiving plans to spend a weekend at a Hedonism resort in Jamaica. So when we sat down with Anderson following the castmembers’ “First Date” shoot, which premieres Tuesday on MTV.com, it was refreshing to know that his quirks and sense of humor — and those of his fellow Workaholics — are not just a stage persona. We asked for details on how he recently made headlines jumping off a roof and landing (not especially gracefully) onto a Comedy Central-branded beer pong table, reportedly fracturing his spine in the process. Oh, and Odd Future’s Tyler, the Creator was there too — having a good laugh at Anderson’s expense. “It’s weird when people say it’s an accident, ’cause I kinda meant to do it,” he explained about the fall. “I was drunk and it was stupid. Don’t jump off roofs into hard surface areas.” His castmates (they are all good friends in real life), however, had a different perspective on the situation: “It was all CGI, it was a ploy to get more viewers. Thank you for viewing,” explained Adam DeVine, whose “Workaholics” character, Adam Demamp, was named one of MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011 . The carnage, however, appears to be very real, with Anderson sporting a fresh scar from the incident on the left side of his back. Though DeVine once again refutes its veracity, asking, “… or is it CGI’d?” So exactly what was recent VMA winner Tyler, the Creator doing at his place? “We have those little rugrats runnin’ around at our parties sometimes,” Anderson said of his friendship with Odd Future. Fellow member Taco appeared in the show’s second-season premiere. Despite their ups and downs, so to speak, the groups remain friendly — despite some fighting words from the cast. “You’re not invited anymore, Tyler. And that’s on you, bro,” DeVine exclaimed. “Yeah, go ‘create’ some sh–,” added Anders Holm. You can see more with the cast of “Workaholics” on Tuesday when their episode of “First Date” goes live on MTV.com!
‘Everybody felt what I was saying and was riding,’ former Murder Inc. boss says about October ‘RapFix Live’ appearance. By Rob Markman Irv Gotti Photo: MTV News No matter if he was producing hits for Jay-Z or J.Lo or running Murder, Inc Records, Irv Gotti always approached the game with passion. Gotti brought that same love to MTV’s “RapFix Live” in October when he essentially campaigned to become Def Jam’s next president . “It caused a buzz, and I want people to know I didn’t start the whole ‘Irv Gotti for president’ thing; the people did,” the former Def Jam A&R told MTV News as he walked the red carpet at the reopening of Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Manhattan last week. “It was a crazy thing, and it was all good.” Gotti has a storied relationship with the groundbreaking rap label. After he produced “Can I Live” from Hov’s 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt, Irv helped set up a deal between Jay’s Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam. Next, Gotti coaxed DMX to the powerhouse label and then Ja Rule. In 2005, the federal government charged Gotti’s Murder Inc. label with money laundering, and even though Irv was cleared of the charges , his relationship with Def Jam soured. Back in October, Irv made his pitch to return to the record company in a very big way. “If you don’t want to hire me — the best man for the job, the man who will die for it — cool, I understand. You think I’m Suge Knight, you think the feds may come in here again if you hire me, cool,” he said at the time. “Put somebody in there, because you not giving any sign or any indication that you care about my culture.” A number of artists and industry mainstays spoke out in support of Irv, while others quietly championed him behind the scenes. “It was one of the best ‘RapFix’ [interviews] ever,” Jadakiss told MTV News in November. “He said a lot of stuff that doesn’t get said. He was able to [vent] without hating on the record labels or channeling any hate. … Everything he said — me being on the inside looking out and him being on the inside looking out but now on the outside looking in — I think he nailed every point. I think everything he said was excellent, and almost everything was true.” It doesn’t seem like Def Jam brass will put Irv in the big chair, but Gotti is appreciative of the support he has gotten from the hip-hop community. “Everybody was riding. It was a lot of love,” he said last week. “Everybody felt what I was saying and was riding.” Who do you think should be Def Jam’s next president? Tell us in the comments! Related Videos ‘RapFix Live’ With Method Man And Irv Gotti
‘Everybody felt what I was saying and was riding,’ former Murder Inc. boss says about October ‘RapFix Live’ appearance. By Rob Markman Irv Gotti Photo: MTV News No matter if he was producing hits for Jay-Z or J.Lo or running Murder, Inc Records, Irv Gotti always approached the game with passion. Gotti brought that same love to MTV’s “RapFix Live” in October when he essentially campaigned to become Def Jam’s next president . “It caused a buzz, and I want people to know I didn’t start the whole ‘Irv Gotti for president’ thing; the people did,” the former Def Jam A&R told MTV News as he walked the red carpet at the reopening of Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Manhattan last week. “It was a crazy thing, and it was all good.” Gotti has a storied relationship with the groundbreaking rap label. After he produced “Can I Live” from Hov’s 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt, Irv helped set up a deal between Jay’s Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam. Next, Gotti coaxed DMX to the powerhouse label and then Ja Rule. In 2005, the federal government charged Gotti’s Murder Inc. label with money laundering, and even though Irv was cleared of the charges , his relationship with Def Jam soured. Back in October, Irv made his pitch to return to the record company in a very big way. “If you don’t want to hire me — the best man for the job, the man who will die for it — cool, I understand. You think I’m Suge Knight, you think the feds may come in here again if you hire me, cool,” he said at the time. “Put somebody in there, because you not giving any sign or any indication that you care about my culture.” A number of artists and industry mainstays spoke out in support of Irv, while others quietly championed him behind the scenes. “It was one of the best ‘RapFix’ [interviews] ever,” Jadakiss told MTV News in November. “He said a lot of stuff that doesn’t get said. He was able to [vent] without hating on the record labels or channeling any hate. … Everything he said — me being on the inside looking out and him being on the inside looking out but now on the outside looking in — I think he nailed every point. I think everything he said was excellent, and almost everything was true.” It doesn’t seem like Def Jam brass will put Irv in the big chair, but Gotti is appreciative of the support he has gotten from the hip-hop community. “Everybody was riding. It was a lot of love,” he said last week. “Everybody felt what I was saying and was riding.” Who do you think should be Def Jam’s next president? Tell us in the comments! Related Videos ‘RapFix Live’ With Method Man And Irv Gotti
South Korea’s 2012 contender for a foreign language Oscar feels more like a war movie than a movie about the Korean war, right up until its pitilessly bleak final frames. Though the American presence in that war is peripheral to its story, Hollywood clichés pervade The Front Line , from its slate and sepia tones to its stock company of characters and dialogue that translates macho posturing into present-day slang. And yet the movie has its startling moments, moments with the spark of specificity and the bitter clarity of perspective. Those stabs of the unexpected culminate in an ending that refuses to raise even the mildest or most melancholy flag of redemption. Is it worse for history to downplay a war as pivotal as this one or for the culture to overlook it entirely? Roughly based on true events, the film gives a grunt’s eye view of a conflict that some feel has been forgotten in popular retellings of the 20th century, despite the efforts of Don Draper and co. Perhaps this under-representation drove director Jang Hun to go for broke in telling the story of the end of the Korean civil war in 1953. The genre poaching begins with the flimsy hook of a mole investigation: An officer named Kang Eun-Pyo (Shin Ha-Kyun) is sent to the front to explore the apparent assassination of the famed Alligator Company’s commander. There he finds a group of men poised on the border of insanity, and among them an old friend name Kim Soo-Hyuk (Ko Soo). Since Kang last saw him Kim has been transformed from a frightened naïf into a soulless killer — the ruthless soldier who’s too cool to die, too hot to live. A rivalry seethes between the two friends about who has seen the worst of the war. Through their philosophical divide — for Kang there are only orders, for Kim there is nothing left to obey — the film explores the worth of a single life in a balance too steep for anyone to bear. Hun takes pains to emphasize the futility of the war; again and again the men ask why they are fighting. That question might seem a little curious to anyone who has paid even the most fragmented attention to the plight of North Korea over the last sixty years. Every inch withheld from Kim Il Sung and his heirs is an inch free from despotic rule and decades of mass starvation. But The Front Line focuses on the muddled, desperate view from the ground, and the absurdist terms on which war is actually fought. The bulk of the film is set in the Aerok Hills, mountainous territory on the embattled Eastern border. North and South exchange possession of one particular hill so many times that they begin leaving notes and gifts for each other in a bunkered cubbyhole. Hun is careful not to demonize the North Korean fighters, spreading the stereotypes out evenly: The Reds get the grizzled leader with the bitchin’ facial scar and the legendary sniper who turns out to be a foxy woman. The battle scenes, like most shot in the wake of Saving Private Ryan , feel derivative when they’re not quoting that film directly. A sequence recounting a frenzied insurrection during a failed amphibious landing is horrific on its own terms, however, as is the depiction of an overwhelming assault led by the Chinese. But The Front Line , at almost two and a half hours, develops its own case of battle fatigue. By the time the “one last job” trope is deployed in the wake of an armistice, the point has been made bloodily and well that war is same everywhere — appalling — and everyone sounds the same screaming for their mother. We don’t know what they’re fighting for any better than they do, and the dialogue is too thick with treacle for archetype to clarify into character. What ultimately makes the film compelling is the extent to which it uses the shared language of cinema to telegraph the caustic feelings of a people toward their own history. The Front Line was a smash in South Korea, which is more remarkable given the absolute nihilism of its finale. What secrets lay in that response? Are they just tougher than we are, with clearer memories? Was it not worth it, after all? Though the movie’s coda is not enough to lift the film out of its genre-bound shackles, in finally rejecting formula it feels defiant in more ways than one. Follow Michelle Orange on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Living in australia has given me a great opportunity to learn about the culture. Here is my lesson on how to speak Australian. Cheers Mate! Check out how to speak with an Australian accent www.ehow.com Info about Australia en.wikipedia.org Big things happening in Australia www.australianopen.com www.australianexplorer.com www.ticketmaster.com.au Check out this funny video about Australians by comedian Adam Hills—— www.youtube.com Check out this awesome Australian dance crew that won Australia’s got talent 2010—- www.youtube.com Come and say Hello to the Doc on the main channel—- www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/v/KwmqaVCLi0g?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Follow this link: How to speak Australian with Doctor Josie K
Bossip: How did you first get into hip hop? Capone-E: Used to rap at backyard bbqs … Rapped in the hood … It was a hobby and meeting the right people turned it into a profession. Bossip:What artists inspired you growing up? Capone-E: Easy e … Snoop dogg … Nate dogg … Dr.dre. Bossip: The Latin lifestyle has crossed over into urban culture? Tattoos have become a multi million dollar business, but describe what tattoo’s mean in your culture and lifestyle?. Capone-E: The tattoos we used to get were for our hoods … My people got tats bc they were defending a area .. It was about pride and respect .. Not a fashion trend .. It was about putting your badge on you and representing and showing your ranks and allegiance to something.
‘We like to let an artist be an artist and we support what they want to do,’ Cash Money Records boss MTV News. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Travis Laurendine Birdman Photo: Prince Williams/ FilmMagic Busta Rhymes made headlines when he inked with Birdman ‘s Cash Money Records last week, but don’t expect Baby to try and change up the Dungeon Dragon. Nope, the #1 Stunna wants Bussa Bus to just be himself. “Whatever they bring to the table, whatever their vision is, [my role is] just to back it up and let them be the artist that they want to be and we support what they want to do,” Birdman told MTV News of recent CMR recruits Busta and Mystikal. The new deal links Busta Rhymes’ Conglomerate label with Cash Money and Google Music . “It’s just amazing to see that they understood what Busta Rhymes means to the music, what Busta Rhymes means to the culture, what Busta Rhymes means to the embodiment of authentic hip-hop,” the fire-spitting MC told MTV News when we spoke to him last week. “We never was [the type] to try to tell no [artist] how to do music, that’s not what we’re about. We like to let an artist be an artist and we support what they want to do,” Birdman told us while out in New Orleans handing out Thanksgiving turkeys to the local community on Friday. Bus began his career in 1991 as one-fourth of the rap quartet Leaders of the New School, but after the group disbanded he kicked off his solo career in 1996. Now a 20-year rap vet, Busta is responsible for a number of solo hits, including “Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check,” “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” and “Touch It,” as well as scene-stealing cameos on A Tribe Called Quest’s 1992 posse-cut “Scenario” and, more recently, Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.” Some skeptics have questioned how Rhymes, a New York veteran, will blend with Birdman’s Southern record label. Throughout the years, however, Busta has collaborated with the label’s flagship artist Lil Wayne on Weezy’s own Tha Carter III and IV, as well as Busta’s 2009 single “Respect My Conglomerate.” Bus also appears on YMCMB member Lil Twist’s new single “Turnt Up,” so chemistry shouldn’t be a question. Busta’s latest single, “Why Stop Now,” reunites the rap speed demon with Brown on a record that sounds like a continuation of this year’s “Look at Me Now.” What do you think of Busta signing to Cash Money? Tell us in the comments. Related Artists Busta Rhymes Birdman
