Ewwwwwwwwww! Michigan Boy Bites Into A Severed Finger In His Arby’s Sandwich A Michigan teen made a gristly discovery after biting into an Arby’s junior roast beef sandwich. Ryan Hart said he had nearly polished off his sandwich last Friday when he bit into something tough to chew that tasted like rubber, so he spit it out. Turns out it tasted like finger. The fleshy pad of an unfortunate employee’s finger, apparently. “I was like, ‘That (has) to be a finger,”’ Hart, 14, told the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Wednesday (http://bit.ly/LeTa5f ). “I was about to puke. … It was just nasty.” The employee apparently cut her finger on a meat slicer and left her station without immediately telling anyone, said Steve Hall, the environmental health director for the Jackson County health department. Her co-workers continued filling orders before they became aware of what happened, he said. John Gray, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Arby’s, released a statement Wednesday apologizing for what he described as an isolated and “unfortunate incident.” He said Arby’s is still investigating, but has determined that the Jackson workers shut down food production as soon as they found out what happened and thoroughly cleaned and sanitized the restaurant. Says Ryan’s mom about the finger-lickin’ ordeal: “Somebody loses a finger, and you keep sending food out the window? I can’t believe that,” said Vail. She and Wheaton said the severed section was about an eighth to a quarter-inch thick and at least one inch long. Vail said she called 911 and met police at a local hospital, where her son’s blood was drawn and he was prescribed some medication. Ryan said he is feeling fine. Vail said she has been in touch with a lawyer, but has not decided what course to take. We’ll tell you what course to take…GET PAID!!!!!! Image via AP Source Continue reading →
If you’re in the mood for something new to keep you up at night worrying (and who isn’t?), Jessica Yu’s new documentary Last Call at the Oasis will neatly do the trick of refreshing your sense of impending doom. Aside from times of drought, water never seemed as urgent a problem as climate change, peak oil, deforestation and the other issues on our path to world destruction. But Last Call at the Oasis makes a convincing case that we’re on the verge of both Waterworld and large scale Erin Brockovich -style scenarios. The real Brockovich appears on-screen in Last Call at the Oasis , along with experts and activists like Peter Gleick, Jay Famiglietti, Robert Glennon and Tyrone Hayes, who guide the doc through its various sources of alarm. As a topic, water issues are sprawling and more than one feature can really handle — the film bounces between the imminent failure of the Hoover Dam due to the steadily dropping level in Lake Mead to the possibility of draining an area in North Nevada to continue providing water in Las Vegas. California’s Central Valley is the site of a debate between farmers furious their water has been cut off and environmentalists and fisherman trying to protect the watery ecosystems being devastated by the process. Satellites show groundwater disappearing; hormones and steroids from medication aren’t being processed out of what we all then drink; chemicals from factories and pesticides get into the water supply and poison people and animals. Basically, as one scientist puts it, “We’re screwed.” Last Call at the Oasis has more than the usual share of gloom, though it’s too steady with the facts to ever come across as alarmist — and some of its imagery is downright haunting. Hayes, a professor at UC Berkeley, was first hired to research the impact of the pesticide Atrazine on amphibian populations, and took his findings public when the company wanted him to hide his discovery that even at levels deemed safe for human consumption the chemicals caused male frogs to develop female characteristics. Then there’s the green water coming out of the taps of homes in Midland, Texas, indicative of the carcinogenic hexavalent chromium. Manure pools from concentrated animal feeding operations in Michigan bleed chemicals into the ground; dead fish clot watersides. Not even bottled water is safe. Last Call at the Oasis is a Participant Production, and its determined US-centricity seems both calculated and closed-off. The film wanders abroad only to explore situations as they relate to the States. There’s the cautionary tale of Australia, where a decade of drought has shut down dairy farms, their owners weeping and sometimes, as a troubling stat notes, committing suicide. Singapore shows up because it has successfully trained its population to accept recycled water. A visit to the Middle East shows that Yardenit, the Jordan River baptism site, is downstream from heavy pollution, and that some families go for months without water. It’s an irritating way to look at a global problem, especially since, as the film notes in the beginning, America has “the biggest water footprint in the world.” But there’s also something canny (if cynical) about it — problems elsewhere are other people’s problems, and what better way to motivate a population than by showing it things that have only to do with them? Yu is a step above the average problem-doc director — her earlier nonfiction films In the Realms of the Unreal and Protagonist showcased unusual visual ambition, touches of which show up in this more traditionally structured work. Lakes drain before our eyes, leaving a dock jutting out into the air; dreamy vintage footage shows children wriggling along underwater in a pool. The opening credits appear over shimmering, slow motion shots of splashes of liquid, and a sense of the power of imagery can also be found in the more standard footage: For example, a worker at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn opens up a hatch to show the condoms bubbling up to the surface of the to-be-treated water. Having presented so much widespread impending disaster, Last Call at the Oasis can’t quite make its final argument that “the glass is still half full” — there doesn’t seem to be any turning this ship around, only slowing it a little. The film offers some hope in the form of reclaimed water, the most economically and environmentally sound means of slowing our water consumption. It’s sewage water that’s been treated and purified to the point of being potable, though as a psychologist notes, there’s a serious public reluctance to be overcome before anyone will actually want to quaff it — the film even brings in marketing teams and Jack Black to test out what kind of marketing it would take to make it work. Like many of the angles in the film, it’s a question of short-term gains versus long-term survival — arguments about jobs, keeping the Las Vegas Strip in working fountains or squeamishness about where your drink came from start to seem trivial when you consider not having enough safe water to live. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
From the people who brought you 16 & Pregnant , Date My Mom , A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila and Jersey Shore where once you found proud, pioneering music videos roaming free on the TV plains: Five new categories for this year’s MTV Movie Awards! Including “Best Music”! This should turn out great . And there’s more . From the official MTV press release just over the transom, which doesn’t even read like English after a while: “The Movie Awards will be a re-imagined celebration of the most popular films and performances from the past year,” said Stephen Friedman, President of MTV. “This year, we’ve overhauled categories and added a Breakthrough Performance award that will be chosen by some of the best directors in the world. We’re also making music a more central experience to the overall show creative, and are thrilled to announce fun. – a band that has already imprinted a new anthem on a generation – as our first musical moment.” Once again, MTV fans will hold the “Power of the Popcorn” awards in their hands. This year’s brand new “Best Music” category will allow fans to vote for a specific movie moment when the perfect song played during the perfect scene. In returning category favorites like “Movie of the Year,” will the final installment of Harry Potter bring home the crown or will the record-shattering The Hunger Games shake things up? Last year, Emma Stone took home the prize for “Best Comedic Performance” but could she receive a nomination for “Best Female Performance” for her role in The Help ? One thing is for certain, it’s Hollywood’s wildest awards ceremony and anything can happen. Categories for the “2012 MTV Movie Awards” include: “Movie of the Year” “Best Female Performance” “Best Male Performance” “Breakthrough Performance” “Best Comedic Performance” “Best Music”* “Best On-Screen Transformation”* “Best Gut-Wrenching Performance”* “Best Kiss” “Best Fight” “Best Cast”* “Best On-Screen Dirt Bag”* * New category The “2012 MTV Movie Awards” nominees will be elected by a special voting Academy, including members of the MTV audience. In addition, the winner of “Breakthrough Performance” will be decided on solely by a special Academy of Directors who will lend their expertise for spotting and developing new talent. What could go wrong, etc. etc. Find out June 3! [ MTV ]
Actor George Clooney once confessed to Oscar-winner Michael Moore that he used the filmmaker’s debut Roger & Me as a dating litmus test. Or so Moore told an audience at the Walter Reade Theater in New York, where the hit 1989 documentary had a special screening Tuesday night. Moore laughed when recalling the story at an event hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which screened the documentary as part of its lead-up to the 50th anniversary edition of the New York Film Festival in September. The director explained how Clooney shared with him years back that, “I use Roger & Me for dating. By the first or second date, they have to watch [your film]. If they get it, they get a [follow-up] date. If they don’t… they don’t.” Then Moore added rhetorically: “This story will only stay in this room, right?” Moore gave insight and, not surprisingly, his opinion about Roger & Me and how it figures in the present economic times Tuesday night, and didn’t hold back. “We’re in some deep shit,” Moore said about the condition of the country today compared to when he made Roger & Me for $150K back in ’89. “I had hoped that what we have now wouldn’t have happened.” Moore, who sat through the screening with his wife, said that he hadn’t seen the film in years because doing so is personally difficult. He noted today there are only 4,000 GM workers left in Flint, Michigan where Roger is mostly set, compared to 50,000 at the time he made the film. “Five minutes into the film, my wife started crying,” he said. FSLC program director Richard Peña praised Moore — dressed in a brown hoodie and Tribeca Film Festival baseball cap — for ushering in a “golden age” of documentary beginning with Roger & Me which screened at the New York Film Festival in 1989. “I was nobody in the business then,” Moore responded. “I was unemployed at the time. We screened it around the same time as Sex, Lies and Videotape was showing. The Warner Bros. people were in the audience that night and saw it receive a standing ovation and they bought it.” Roger & Me was the first documentary to hit multiplexes, eventually grossing nearly $8 million worldwide. “I never liked documentaries growing up, they felt like medicine,” Moore said. “I wanted this film to be structured in a way that can be enjoyed with popcorn in a theater, but at the same time, making sure all the facts are in fact — true.” Moore added that he takes pride in helping to “kick the door open” for doc filmmakers that have also had success with theatrical releases. But when it comes to making his movies including his blockbuster Fahrenheit 9/11 and Oscar-winner Bowling for Columbine , he said that he finds the root-cause of his films depressing. “I dread making these movies,” he said. “When we solicited stories from people for Sicko , it was very emotional. We couldn’t help crying.” Now, more than two decades after making his debut, Moore gave himself a pat on the back for Roger & Me , noting the film stood above the rest for him personally. “I wouldn’t change a frame of this film,” Moore said. “It’s probably the favorite of all my films. I was learning how to make a film as I was doing it.” Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . [Photo: Julie Cunnah/Film Society of Lincoln Center]
We know at least one person who took pleasure in the latest round of Kendall Jenner bikini photos . Balraj Singh is a high school student from Michigan who has made an impassioned plea to this reality star: please go to the prom with me! Moreover, he’s recruited all his classmates and a good numbers of teachers to join in the movement, as they all contribute below, telling Kendall in the following video that she should attend because Balraj “doesn’t smell like curry,” is “adorable” and, our favorite, is “swagged out from turban to toe.” Kendall Jenner Prom Invite So… what should Kendall say? Should she accept Singh’s invitation?
Michigan Construction Sign Hacked, Vandal Posts Racial Slur About Trayvon Martin The ugly racial divide over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin has reared its head in Michigan. Motorists in Dearborn report seeing a racial slur on a construction sign along I-94 overnight. The digital roadside sign displayed the message: “Trayvon A N***er”, a reference to Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who police say was gunned down by a neighborhood watch volunteer in February. “The portable sign has a panel that was broken in to,” said MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi. “The message was changed and the keyboard was actually stolen.” FOX 2′s Amy Andrews reports the message was displayed for over an hour until workers were able to power down the sign. Michigan State Police are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to give them a call. This is a shame. Fawk the punk beyotch that did this isht! R.I.P. Trayvon Source More On Bossip! Part 3 Beyonce Never Seen Photos Of Family Plus Her And Blue Ivy Take A Stroll [Video] Vida Guerra Wants To Remind You She’s Alive By Showing Off Her Tight New Body On Twitter! We Want Prenup!!! Ruben “Teddy Bear Swag” Studdard Doesn’t Have To Hand Over A Dayum Dime To Golddiggin’ Ex-Wife High And Dry: The Most Disrespected Exes Of All Time
‘He’s an a–hole,’ drummer Patrick Carney says of Parker in response to claims the Spotify board member made at SXSW. By James Montgomery Black Keys’ Patrick Carney Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images At this point, you’re probably aware that the Black Keys ‘ Patrick Carney has taken over the Noel Gallagher / Brandon Flowers role as the industry’s “oft-quoted sh– talker” — a list of his recent accomplishments includes beefing with Lady Gaga fans , calling Nickelback “crap” (though he subsequently sorta apologized ), and singling out members of the media as being “pricks” — and he’s living up to the title with his latest comments that take shots at Napster founder/ Spotify boardmember Sean Parker. In a new interview with Michigan radio station WGRD , Carney took issue with Parker’s recent comments that within two years, Spotify would overtake iTunes in total revenue, mostly because, well: “Because [Parker’s] an a–hole. That guy has $2 billion that he made from figuring out ways to steal royalties from artists, and that’s the bottom line,” Carney said. “You can’t really trust anybody like that. The idea of a streaming service, like Netflix for music, I’m totally not against it. It’s just we won’t put all of our music on it until there are enough subscribers for it to make sense.” The subscription-based Spotify would have to really churn and burn if it wants to catch iTunes in terms of revenue (iTunes sells individual tracks, and controls roughly 70 percent of the U.S. download market), and let’s just say Carney isn’t rooting for them to do it. “Trust me, [Keys frontman] Dan [Auerbach] and I like to make money. If it was fair to the artist, we would be involved in it. I honestly don’t want to see Sean Parker succeed in anything,” he said. “I imagine if Spotify becomes something that people are willing to pay for, then I’m sure iTunes will just create their own service, and they’re actually fair to artists.” In the past, the Black Keys famously refused to allow their El Camino album to stream on sites like Spotify. And though the debate over Spotify’s royalty payments to artists continues, Parker has yet to respond to Carney’s barbs. What do you think of Carney’s position on Spotify? Tell us in the comments below. Related Videos MTV First: The Black Keys’ ‘Gold On The Ceiling’ Related Artists The Black Keys
It’s easy to pile on Hollywood for its craven cash grabs , sequelitis and other low-hanging fruit harvested and passed off in the name of popular entertainment. It’s also fair, after a glance at the top 20 or so openings of all time, to acknowledge that mass audiences have tended to let studios get away with such output over the last decade in particular. But if we’re to take anything from the huge opening-weekend success of The Hunger Games , it might be to look at its place on that list — squarely in third place, below even better-regarded cinematic efforts Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and The Dark Knight . With this development, could crowds and critics alike have proven what the sheer volume of lesser hits would seem to contradict — that quality matters? Of course the success of these three films owes plenty to their source material and/or established film franchises preceding them. But virtually every entry in the top 20 enjoys this built-in advantage, from comic-book adaptations ( Spider-Man , Iron Man 2 to decades-old institutions ( Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ) to literary sensations past ( Alice in Wonderland ) and present ( The Twilight Saga ). And few if any among this derivative lot have made as much of a critical impression as those films at the very top, which average nearly 92 percent favorable at the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Not to declare RT any kind of objective barometer of a film’s quality. Still, its documented regard for Deathly Hallows – Part 2 , The Dark Knight and Hunger Games harmonizes with public tastes here in a way that implies something a little more than coincidence. First of all, it is extremely hard to gross more than $150 million in three days, even with the benefit of 3-D premiums — which, of the three, only Deathly Hallows – Part 2 enjoyed (all three had IMAX releases of varying sizes). The only other film to do it, Spider-Man 3 , was met with decidedly more mixed reviews but still remains ranked “fresh” at RT. Despite all you’ve heard about their decline, in both the art-house realms and the rarefied upper box-office echelons, the evidence suggests that critics indeed do still matter. Even the most cynical observer (I’m looking at you, Armond White ) who regards the critical establishment as a legion of pliant, hype-sensitive “shills” would need to acknowledge the success of their mission — largely as a service informing readers about new releases worth considering (or not) — and be encouraged by signs of influence and relevance. It also suggests that creative ambitions require as much a role in the development process as one’s marketing innovations. Just ask Christopher Nolan, or Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins or director Gary Ross . A brand (and sure, 3-D/IMAX) can only take a film so far. Vision seems to carry it much of the rest of the way — something viewers haven’t seen before, even if they know they characters and stakes by heart. Clearly, The Hunger Games ‘ windfall may not help Hollywood reconcile — on paper, anyway — its long-standing love-hate relationship with original ideas and stories. But it doesn’t have to. The Juno s and the Hangover s and Bridesmaids and Safe House s and whatever other original scripts that develop into huge-grossing films aren’t even the same breed of blockbuster. Their conceptual integrity, to the extent they have it at all, yields its own word-of-mouth — its own long tail that may or may not necessitate sequels of its own. So even if the original idea is down, it’s hardly out — not with the potential to follow up a modestly priced, well-liked hit with a true blockbuster in the same vein. At which point we’re back to the development basics: Smarts, vision, ambition and respecting one’s audience. It pays off, Hollywood. The numbers don’t lie. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Back in January, MGM/Screen Gems tapped director Kimberly Peirce to helm their remake of Stephen King’s Carrie , updating the supernatural tale after Brian de Palma’s iconic 1976 film adaptation. The current frontrunners to play Carrie White, the sexually repressed telekinetic teen who wreaks bloody revenge on her classmates at the high school prom? Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz and actress Haley Bennett ( The Haunting of Molly Hartley , Marley & Me ), according to Vulture . Can either fill Sissy Spacek ‘s shoes? Fifteen-year-old Moretz and 24-year-old Bennett reportedly have the edge over other candidates who’ve read for the part, including Lily Collins , Dakota Fanning , and Emily Browning , which might indicate what sort of Carrie they’re going for here — with the exception of Moretz, these are actresses in their early twenties who can play teenage and have already dabbled in more mature material. (Spacek was 26 when De Palma’s Carrie was filmed.) At the same time, Moretz is arguably the hotter name of the bunch. But is the world ready to watch Hit Girl get her period in the showers and go on a menstrual rampage at prom? I mean, I’m sure Moretz could handle the material. I’m just not sure I can believe her playing vulnerable while doused in blood; the strength of her many badass roles to date has been in how assuredly she handles extreme situations despite her young age, not the other way around. Bennett, on the other hand, isn’t as well known to audiences and could probably disappear into the role more easily. Then again, Spacek was great as Carrie because she had that twitchy virginal weirdo thing down, and I’m not sure many up and coming starlets these days possess the ability to flip their freak-out switch on quite like she did. (According to Vulture, Jodie Foster and Julianne Moore are being batted around to play Carrie’s religious fanatic mom.) Are there any other potential Carries out there, or are these the best candidates of the bunch? How about Lindsay Lohan ? Sound off below.
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