Sarah Hyland stars on ABC’s Modern Family , a sitcom about, well, a very tight-knit modern family. But no tale about the Pritchetts or the Dunphys can match this actress’ real-life experience, as she tells Seventeen this month: her dad gave Hyland a kidney! The 21-year old suffered for years from kidney dysplasia and underwent life-saving kidney transplant surgery just last month. “You know that family is always going to be there for you – no matter what. My dad gave me a freaking’ kidney!” Hyland tells the magazine. “But its also the families that you create outside of your family. And you really find out what kind of people you’re friends with. It was just amazing, and it really opened my eyes to see who’s there for me and who’s not.” Hyland, who says she’s grateful for this “second chance at life” is dating actor Matt Prokop. “He helps me with my medication and takes me to doctor appointments and all the stuff that I need to do to take care of myself. Any other 21-year-old guy would not be there, I guarantee it,” she says. “I am one of the luckiest people in the world to have him be there for me.”
High five to Fox for pulling their bullet-ridden Neighborhood Watch marketing materials from Florida theaters this week following the February killing of Trayvon Martin. Trying to get as much distance as possible from the teaser’s emphasis on grown men Ben Stiller , Vince Vaughn , Jonah Hill , and Richard Ayoade stalking and finger-shooting suburban kids is a good idea and a sensitive move — not to mention a no-brainer necessity, PR-wise — so the studio’s forthcoming campaign will likely focus on the film’s “broad alien-invasion comedy” elements. But even four months from now, will it be too soon for Neighborhood Watch to make fun escapism out of vigilante violence? A Fox representative explained the studio’s decision to THR : “We are very sensitive to the Trayvon Martin case, but our film is a broad alien-invasion comedy and bears absolutely no relation to the tragic events in Florida,” a Fox spokesperson tells THR. “The movie, which is not scheduled for release for several months, was made and these initial marketing materials were released before this incident ever came to light. The teaser materials were part of an early phase of our marketing and were never planned for long-term use. Above all else, our thoughts go out to the families touched by this terrible event.” Extending that retraction on a wider scale might even be in order, seeing as the media firestorm over Martin and his shooter, George Zimmerman, is now a national conversation and not just one for Floridians. Which brings us to the big question: Is the Trayvon Martin case too big, too incendiary, or just too heartbreaking for Neighborhood Watch to come out as planned, and perform well, in four months’ time? What’s in the teaser trailer may be an indication of the problem here: Whether or not it’s revealed in marketing materials, the film seems to glorify the kind of volunteer policing that Martin shooter Zimmerman was a part of in real life. The sounds of Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” underscore the comically grandiose slow-motion crawl of the Neighborhood Watch gang — they’re lazy suburbanites using a self-important Neighborhood Watch front to get away from their families, but once the aliens invade they’ll become true-blue heroes. (Since I haven’t seen the film, I’m only guessing here — maybe it’ll turn out that the aliens were only visiting peaceably, their presence horribly misunderstood by overzealous would-be heroes, who resolve their differences with nonviolence.) That setup would be fairly harmless if it didn’t tap directly into the debate over what really happened on February 26 in Sanford, FL. Zimmerman was an active Neighborhood Watch captain in his gated community who, by many accounts, took citizen policing very seriously; following Martin as a suspicious person on the day of the incident led to the unarmed 17-year-old’s fatal shooting, which Zimmerman claimed was an act of self-defense. Neighborhood Watch , penned by Seth Rogen , Evan Goldberg, and Jared Stern as a ” hard R ” and directed by Lonely Island ‘s Akiva Schaffer, is still on Fox’s schedule for a July 27 wide release. According to the THR report, the studio doesn’t plan on pushing back the debut, despite the ongoing furor over the Martin case. I’d like to think that Martin’s death will be resolved but not forgotten by then, if only to give his family and all who’ve become invested in the case some closure, but I’m skeptical that four months — or five, or a year, or any measure of time — will be long enough that I won’t be thinking of George Zimmerman while watching Ben Stiller blow away the aliens who darken his doorstep. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Some New York City residents are not fans of AMC’s new Mad Men ads. The images in the billboards shown below are familiar from the show’s opening sequence, and feature Don Draper “falling” in the figurative sense. But many citizens, especially the families of 9/11 victims, are taking serious offense. Deborah Burlingame, whose dad piloted the jet that was forced to crash into the Pentagon, finds it “impossible to believe” that any advertiser would run such a campaign in New York and not evoke the “tragic memory of those poor souls on 9/11.” “I think this advertiser decided that creating a controversy, at the expense of thousands who will be hurt by this image of man falling to his certain death, is worth it.” The creators of Mad Men said in response: “The image of Don Draper tumbling through space has been used since the show began in 2007 to represent a man whose life is in turmoil.” “The image used in the campaign is intended to serve as a metaphor for the events happening in Don Draper’s fictional life and in no way references actual events.” Mad Men ads in New York: Offensive?
For once in Bad Movies We Love history, I’m both speechless and teary-eyed. The holiday season is here, and as far as I’m concerned, that means it’s time to wheel out the movies that are fucking dependable — the ones that enrich our families, provide nourishment for our newborns, and encourage Jesus to be more of a hilarious character actress. For me, this means one movie — my favorite movie — and one that could be considered bad if you are a heartless, freakish, braindead moviegoer who thinks that skittish ensemble comedies based on board games might be stupid. I would strangle those people in a poorly lit billiard room. The movie is Clue , it’s the one thing on Earth I’m positive I love, and I want to hug you as I write this. Girl, let’s hold our candlesticks high, our dignities low, and bludgeon the daylights out of Mr. Boddy.
Breaking Story: The Second Tragedy is the Lies By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor “The attack in Oslo also came 65 years to the very day after the Israeli Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem”… Eileen Fleming Remembering my manners and putting aside cheap journalism for humanity, the staff at Veterans Today offers its condolences and best to the families of the dead and the people of Norway…. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Uprooted Palestinians Discovery Date : 24/07/2011 02:42 Number of articles : 2
Many of today’s women and children are being enslaved through the rampant sex industry around the world. Promised a better life and more opportunities, women are sold by their families only to find that they were tricked and are actually being sold into prostitution. There are different forms of human trafficking, all of which involve women being lured away from their families toward a life in which they are constantly indebted to someone. Here are some statistics about the prevalence of human trafficking from a group called Global Issues Affecting Women : -The US Department of State estimates 600,000-800,000 trans-national trafficking victims each year . -The U.S. State Department estimates that 80 per cent of trafficking victims are women or girls (about 640,000 each year). -Human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world after drug dealing, and it is the fastest growing. Similar to how drug dealing works, the exploiter profits from his sale. However, in this case, the item being sold is a human against her will. Often, women are forced into prostitution or forced to work extremely demanding jobs such as factory workers. Then, the owner of the woman gets to keep the majority of her profits, successfully keeping the woman inferior and needy. The reason that human traffickers are able to successfully scare their victims into silence and servitude is because they transport them to a foreign location where they have no connections or opportunities to save them. Women are stripped of their belongings and important travel documents in order to keep them from attempting to flee. Owners can easily deprive the woman of food and water to emphasize the power that they have over their victims. Here, the woman is the property of her owner and must abide to what he says or suffer the consequences of abuse, sexual assault, or even death. Often, women are blackmailed into listening to their owners because the victims are threatened that their owner will have her families killed at home if they do not follow the rules. One of the biggest risks with sex slavery is the prevalence of premature death of the woman. This can be the result of suicide, homicide, drug problems, or HIV/AIDS. Because women are forced to live unhealthy lifestyles at the mercy of their owner, they often fall victim to diseases and fatal situations. Human trafficking is an important issue not only because of the inhumane acts that it entails and the psychological damage that ensues, but also because of the illegal movement of immigrants across the globe. Just as slavery existed in American history, women are being sold, bought, and transported against their wills. At this very moment, women and children are being help captive, forced to give up their bodies and work without hopes of being able to escape and live a free life again. If you would like to read testimonies of survivors of human trafficking, click here . Women In The World: Why Do Women Have To Fight To Drive? Women In The World: Why Are Brides Being Burned After Their Marriages? Women In The World: Why Are So Many Pregnant Women At Risk? Women In The World: Why Does Female Circumcision Still Exist?
It took far too long in the eyes of many, but Rebekah Brooks is finally out at News International. The woman who served as the editor of Great Britian’s News of the World throughout its phone-hacking scandal – the tabloid broke into the voicemails of a 13-year old girl who had been kidnapped, along with the families of 9/11 victims and many others – resigned today. “As chief executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place,” she said in a statement. “I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate.” Brooks added that recent times have been “tough” and that she plans to correct “distortions” about her record as a journalist. We wish her good luck in explaining why her newspaper hacking into the voicemails of over 4,000 people. [Photo: WENN.com]
Having apologized multiple times for his controversial stand-up routine in Nashville, Tracy Morgan returned to the stage a few days ago… … and proceeded to get himself in more trouble. Performing in New York City, the 30 Rock star warned audience members not to “mess with women who have retarded kids” because “them young retarded males is strong. They’re strong like chimps.” As the crowd groaned, Morgan joked about hooking up with “a cripple.” In response to these remarks, Peter Berns – CEO of The Arc, a nonprofit organization that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities – has issued the following statement: “Tracy Morgan should apologize immediately. This quote is far too offensive to be excused as comedy, and it is very hurtful to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Mr. Morgan has an incredibly powerful platform from which to fix this, and if he’s learned anything in the last few weeks, he can’t bomb this apology.” Should Morgan apologize for these new jokes?
What will Justin Bieber be doing this summer? Well, aside from spritzing girls with his perfume, Someday, and recording new music, he's also going to have lots of barbecues. It seems that the world's preeminent pop … Read more: Do Justin Bieber's Summer Plans Include Selena Gomez?
Photo: Justin Bieber attends his fragrance launch at Macy's Herald Square. (Getty Images). Reported by The Huffington Post. Payton and Avery Wall met their idol on Thursday when they chatted with Justin Bieber in a VIP … Go here to read the rest: Justin Bieber Meets Families Of 9/11 Victims | MTV Act Blog
