Tag Archives: development

Malawi gay couple sentenced to 14 years in jail

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

A judge in Malawi has sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison with hard labour after they were convicted of gross indecency and unnatural acts. The judge said he wanted to “protect” the public. Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, have been in jail since their arrest in December 2009 after holding an engagement ceremony. Their arrest sparked international condemnation and a debate about homosexuality in the country. “I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you, so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example,” said Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa in the commercial capital, Blantyre. Defence lawyer Mauya Msuku had argued for a lighter sentence, pointing out that the pair's actions had not victimised anyone. Peter Tatchell Gay rights campaigner: “Unlike in a rape case, there was no complainant or victim in this case,” he said after the pair were convicted on Tuesday. “Here are two consenting adults doing their thing in private. Nobody will be threatened or offended if they are released into society.” Michelle Kagari, deputy Africa director of Amnesty International, called the sentence “an outrage”, reports the AP news agency. She described the pair as “prisoners of conscience” and said Amnesty would continue to campaign for them to be freed. Malawi is a conservative society where same-sex liaisons are frowned upon. The judge said same-sex relations were “un-Malawian”. But UK gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell pointed out that the laws under which the pair were convicted were introduced during British colonial rule. “These laws are a foreign imposition. They are not African,” he said, The men had denied the charges and their lawyers said their constitutional rights had been violated. But the Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) and the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) have been urging authorities to relax the country's stance on homosexuals. The BBC's Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says the government has come under pressure from Western donors over the issue. For a poor country, 40% of whose development budget depends on donors, such concerns must be taken seriously, he adds. added by: crystalman

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Bret Michaels: Rushed to the Hospital for Severe Brain Hemorrhage

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Any reality show that stars Bret Michaels is an exercise in ridiculousness and hilarity. But the rocker’s health is now a serious matter: After complaining of a headache last night, the singer was rushed to a hospital and diagnosed with a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding at the base of his brain stem). Michael is in critical condition. “After several CAT scans, MRIs and an angiogram, [doctors] decided to keep Michaels in the ICU and are running several tests to determine the cause. [It] will be touch and go for the next few days while he is under intense observation,” a source told People . Michaels went through an emergency appendectomy in San Antonio on April 12. There’s little medical reason why this development would be related to that procedure. We wish Bret a speedy recovery.

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Bret Michaels: Rushed to the Hospital for Severe Brain Hemorrhage

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Hollywood Ink: The Cameron Diaz/Benicio Del Toro Pairing You’ve Always Dreamed Of

Posted on April 20, 2010 by | Leave a comment

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Conan O’Brien Launching Late-Night Show On TBS

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

In surprise move, show will launch in November at 11 p.m., followed by George Lopez’s ‘Lopez Tonight.’ By Eric Ditzian Conan O’Brien Photo: Michael Kovac/ Getty Images In a shocking turn, Conan O’Brien has inked a deal with TBS to launch a new late-night show in November. “In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I’m headed to basic cable,” O’Brien said in a press release. “My plan is working perfectly.” The news comes just as negotiations between O’Brien’s reps and Fox were said to be progressing, albeit facing obstacles over concerns from the channel’s affiliates. The announcement was made on the same day that O’Brien launches his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour in Eugene, Oregon. O’Brien’s publicist confirmed the development to MTV News. The press release states that TBS began negotiations with O’Brien last week, after George Lopez, who has his own late-night show on the channel, personally called the displaced “Tonight Show” host and asked him to join the lineup. “I can’t think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in,” Lopez said in the press release. “It’s the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy.” O’Brien’s still-untitled, one-hour show will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. ET/PT starting in November. “Lopez Tonight,” which currently airs at 11 p.m., will shift to midnight. “Conan has been the comedic voice for a generation. TBS already has a huge audience of young comedy lovers, and Conan’s show will give these fans even more reasons to watch our network,” Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, said in the release. On his Twitter account, Conan added, “The good news: I will be doing a show on TBS starting in November! The bad news: I’ll be playing Rudy on the all new Cosby Show.” Will you tune in to Conan’s TBS show? Let us know in the comments!

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iPhone’s Plus+ Developer, ngmoco, Excited For Apple’s Game Center Plans

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Apple announced plans today to roll out their own system-wide social gaming network across iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad called Game Center. Several of these networks already exist — i.e. Plus+, OpenFeint — each vying for the attention of developers and consumers, hoping their network catches on and becomes the de facto platform standard. Instead, it looks like Apple will take that spot. What does this mean for companies like Plus+ developer ngmoco (aka the studio behind your latest obsession, We Rule )? Besides games, ngmoco’s been focused on pushing Plus+, one of the many social gaming networks that’s popped up in a number of games, attempting to tie them together. ngmoco president Simon Jeffery is actually applauding Apple’s efforts to unify their platform. “Game Center is an exciting first-party innovation for the ecosystem that reinforces much of what plus+ has already accomplished and proven out early in its life cycle,” said Jeffery in a n e-mail statement released to me this afternoon. “It will effectively clean up the social space on the iPhone, which has become confusing and cluttered to consumers due to the number of social gaming networks vying for attention. ngmoco has anticipated this move from Apple for some time, and is happy to see a cleaner developer and consumer experience on the horizon.” Plus+ incorporates achievements and friends lists across all of ngmoco’s games and other titles. Game Center will do this, too. ngmoco was one of the first companies to try and bring the vision of Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and other unifying online services to Apple’s expanding games platforms. Here’s why Jeffery doesn’t foresee Game Center tearing down what they’ve accomplished so far. “As we demonstrated at the recent GDC [Game Developers Conference], plus+ took a strategic shift in direction a few months ago toward being a service, and less about being a set of social gaming features,” he explained, while noting the recent hire of MySpace exec. Jason Oberfest. “plus+ is all about empowering monetization and discoverability mechanisms for the development community, and we have clearly demonstrated with games like We Rule that these mechanisms work.” ngmoco’s Plus+ might have started as Xbox Live for iPhone, but that’s not the case anymore, a vision no doubt accelerated by today’s news and understanding that Apple will likely dominate the space. iPhone OS 4.0, which includes the addition of Game Center, is scheduled for a summer launch. A private beta is now available for developers. The iPad version of the OS is coming in the fall. Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me . You can also follow me on Twitter . Apple – IPhone – IpodTouch – IPad – OpenFeint

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iPhone’s Plus+ Developer, ngmoco, Excited For Apple’s Game Center Plans

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Sony’s Promises Less Arrogance

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

According to Sony’s SCEA VP of Marketing, Peter Dille, the company is not going to be arrogant anymore… or, more accurately, it’s marketing and advertising for the PlayStation 3 will shy away from arrogance. Like remember those weird PS3 ads with the baby in the white room? We’re probably not going to be seeing more like that.

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Gears Of War Movie Grinding To A Halt?

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

It looks like there’s big trouble for the Gears of War movie. According to an L.A. Times blog, the film has had its budget slashed, its director (Len Wiseman) is reportedly turning his attention to another project and may not be involved at all when/if the film hits the production stage, and the film’s producers are looking for new writers to handle a stripped down version of the story. The movie’s official release date of 2010 is looking increasingly unlikely. Originally, the movie was planned as a sprawling, $100 Million epic, but the new Gears (if it happens) will be a more modest flick. As the L.A. Times points out: Video game adaptations have a unique way of coming about. At the beginning stages, the projects tend to have a huge amount of “Heat.” It’s an easier sell in Hollywood to be able to show development people an established property with a built-in fan base than to take something totally untried and try to raise $100 million bucks on it. But the problem comes in when Hollywood actually tries to make the picture. Video games are, almost always, based loosely on movies and movie genres (How many reviews have you read that called a game “cinematic?) so making a game movie is essentially like making a movie version of something already based on a movie, which may be too derivative even for the modern film industry. Some kinds of stories lend themselves to games and not movies (and vice-versa) so putting together a good movie based on game presents perhaps insurmountable difficulties. It’s also hard to make a movie based on a video game because we like to play video games. You can’t play a movie and no one has found a way yet to make a movie feel like a video game — it might be impossible. As history has shown us again and again, movies based on games suck, but Gears could be the exception. Personally, I

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Stephenie Meyer’s ‘The Host’ Could Begin Filming Next Year

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

‘Twilight’ author’s first adult novel is well on its way to the big screen. By Christoper Campbell Stephanie Meyer Photo: MTV News With the film installments of her “Twilight” novels not yet fully completed, Stephenie Meyer is already well into the development of her next film franchise. According to Deadline.com , the adaptation of the author’s first adult novel, “The Host,” could go before cameras as early as next year. Published in 2008, the book involves benevolent yet parasitic aliens who have taken over the minds of almost all the humans on Earth. Upon its release, Meyer described the plot to MTV News as ” ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers,’ if the aliens had won.” Although financing is not yet in place and no definite shooting schedule is planned for the sci-fi/horror hybrid, producer Steve Schwartz divulged that “Truman Show” Oscar-nominee Andrew Niccol is currently working on his third draft of the screenplay, with the author’s close involvement. Niccol is also signed on to direct the film. Schwartz, who is now budgeting the project with co-producers Paula Mae Schwartz and Nick Wechsler, again noted that Meyer handpicked the filmmaker because Niccol’s directorial debut, “Gattaca,” is one of her favorite science-fiction films. However, his hire was not immediate. “We spent time with Andrew,” Schwartz explained. “Listened to his vision, introduced Andrew to Stephenie and she responded. There is very good chemistry in this group. Stephenie is a very smart collaborator, and she had an intuitive strong hunch he would be the right guy. Based on the script we’ve seen, we think she was right.” Fans will have to wait and see if Meyer is also right about her dream cast for the film, which she told MTV News in 2008 includes Robert Redford, Matt Damon and both Ben and Casey Affleck. Another uncertainty is when — or if — Meyer will ever finish her two planned sequels to “The Host.” Regardless of whether or not the adaptation spawns further novels or movies, a 2011 shoot could put “The Host” in theaters before the “Twilight Saga” ends, depending on when the second part to the two-film adaptation of “Breaking Dawn” is released. Plus, with Meyer’s announcement of the “Eclipse” spin-off novella “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner,” there’s now a tease that Summit Entertainment could extend the hot vampire film series even further than a fifth installment. Would you go see the film version of “The Host” in theaters? Let us know in the comments! For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: Stephenie Meyer

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Sessler’s Soapbox: Indie Games Need More Love

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Indie games have been making a huge splash recently, thanks in part to XBLA, PSN, and all-inclusive gaming conventions like PAX. Fresh off the plane from PAX

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Tech Review: Fujifilm FinePix Z37 Digital Camera

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Watch Larger Version of this Video Weighing only 4 ounces and just under an inch thick, Fujifilm’s Z37 digital camera features 10 megapixels, face detection and one touch movie recording. Chris Hardwick and Alison Haislip find out if this mini camera is worth its affordable $75 price tag. Find the full review from Gadget

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