Or is he just effing with us? While doing press for his upcoming Dredd , Karl Urban seemed to let slip the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch ‘s Star Trek 2 character. Was he telling the truth or not? Right now, there is evidence for both sides. First, some background. 1. J.J. Abrams ‘ own origin story is based around his grandfather gifting him with a “Mystery Box.” It is, therefore, wonderfully ironic that he should be the current quarterback of the entire Star Trek franchise, a massive shared universe whose rabid fans are obsessive, meticulous and savvy enough to translate Shakespeare into its made-up language. Excuse me, one of its made-up languages. As a result, we still don’t know the name of the villain in the forthcoming Star Trek sequel. 2. Many years ago it leaked that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci had delivered a script wherein Gary Mitchell – Captain Kirk’s Starfleet Academy chum turned ESP-monster from the early Trek episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” – would be the heavy. I personally heard this from a guy who was inside and had some intel. 3. The rumor goes that Abrams didn’t like this script and sent everyone back to the drawing board. A Gary Mitchell storyline in the “new universe” Star Trek comics (that only mouthbreathers like I read) appears, effectively “putting that story to use.” Then we started hearing that Khan Noonien Singh – you know, the guy from KHAAAAAAAN – was going to be the baddie. A casting offer to Benicio Del Toro seemed to confirm this – even though Khan is supposed to be a Sikh, not Hispanic, but only hardcore dweebs like to bring this up. 4. Benedict Cumberbatch (pictured above) is cast. He doesn’t look like a genetically enhanced poet-warrior. (But, really, who is to say?) It is accepted by most people that he is playing Khan. Then Simon Pegg says “ No Khan .” Fair enough. 5. Now today’s news. Karl Urban, in yapping about the upcoming Dredd , lets this slip to SFX : “[Benedict Cumberbatch’s] awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.” Wow, so it was Gary all along? Open and shut, right? But wait! 6. Just a few weeks back, Roberto Orci gave a list of Star Trek characters that are NOT in the film . Among them: Gary Mitchell. Here’s the thing. Normally, a gaffe from an actor during a press day is a great way to squeeze info out of someone. They are tired and they can’t remember what’s already out there and what is being held for strategic marketing reveals. (These are called SMRs in Hollywood.) (No they’re not, I just made that up.) However, I think Urban might be throwing a red herring on purpose. I had the good fortune to shmooze with the guy once – at the very genre-friendly Fantastic Fest in Austin. He was pitching Red , but we got to discussing Star Trek and “The Nrrd Life” in general and he struck me as someone who really got it. If ever there was a guy who’d be so on board to screw with the heads of fanboys, it’d be him. Luckily, Urban will be moderating the Masters of the Web panel at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con , and you can rest assured the online press (our own Jen Yamato among them) will put the screws to him. Personally, I think having Gary Mitchell is cooler than having Khan, but I’d prefer if the Trek brain trust were, you know, boldly going where no man had gone before. In a remake-happy culture, that may be too much to ask for. Anyway, here’s Captain Kirk and Gary Mitchell fighting on Delta Vega. Sally Kellerman and her creepy contact lenses can only look on. [ SFX ]
Fans of E.L. James’ erotic bestseller 50 Shades of Grey have been fantasy-casting their perfect Christian Grey for months, arguing over whether this actor or that actor would best embody the BDSM-addicted rich playboy hero in the forthcoming film adaptation. But one enterprising academic has cobbled together the perfect Christian Grey with the help of police technology — a little Brad Pitt here, a dash of McDreamy there — morphing together the features of various leading men. The result: Kinda creepy! University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) Dr Faye Skelton employed image-generating software to “create” the first image of womankind’s perfect Christian Grey, using a radio poll of a tiny sampling of fans of the novel. Among this Christian’s features, taken from their suggested dream actors: Patrick Dempsey’s eyes, Brad Pitt’s jawline, Chris Hemsworth’s nose, and, um, Val Kilmer’s lips. Needless to say, this 12-woman focus group might have been a bit too narrow a selection… “While we don’t want to intrude on anyone’s fantasies, based on a small sample of women, this is the image of Christian Grey they have in their heads when reading the novels,” Skelton said (via the BBC). “Personally, I think he’s quite handsome — although everyone’s interpretation will be different.” Neat trick, but way off-base to begin with — almost all of the celebrity sex symbols whose features went into this bizarre face-mash are too old to play Christian Grey, anyway. It doesn’t just make sense to fantasy-cast just any piece of hunky Hollywood man meat for the role; it makes even less sense to mush together the noses and ears and hairlines of random hot dudes and think that will equal hotness squared. I guess this faux Christian isn’t terrible-looking – he looks like any bro you’d see at the gym, though I keep fixating on his various face parts and thinking about who they belong to. Is this the vision of godlike man-beauty you envision introducing Anastasia Steele to a world of kink and psycho-sexual dramarama? Not so much. Besides: What woman is that into Val Kilmer ‘s lips? [ BBC , Daily Mail ]
Holly Peers is looking absolutely gorgeous on the beach wearing bikini bottoms and going topless showing off her perfect rack for the camera in these posed for the camera photo shoot pictures. Continue reading →
There has been so much nudity on the site today, I figure why not celebrate along with this picture Sara Jean Underwood just posted to Twitter celebrating, what I can only assume is all the nudity today….I figure she is the perfect canditate to promote nudity as someone who launched her career and celebity getting naked for Playboy….but decided that those days were behind her….only to not get naked ever again…but to instead host shitty shows about nerd shit….but the good news is that once a whore, always a whore, and while she tries this mainstream shit…. I’ll just cross reference all her nude pics, you know sizing up her vagina lips, because I can …..it is just a matter of time before she gets back into pornography….we’ll just call these years the detour….every whore needs down time from whoring…otherwise their vaginas would explode…. Here’s the party pic for the virgin losers who love this bitch, even though she’s wronged them by turning her back on nudity…even though that’s kinda her fucking thing.
There has been so much nudity on the site today, I figure why not celebrate along with this picture Sara Jean Underwood just posted to Twitter celebrating, what I can only assume is all the nudity today….I figure she is the perfect canditate to promote nudity as someone who launched her career and celebity getting naked for Playboy….but decided that those days were behind her….only to not get naked ever again…but to instead host shitty shows about nerd shit….but the good news is that once a whore, always a whore, and while she tries this mainstream shit…. I’ll just cross reference all her nude pics, you know sizing up her vagina lips, because I can …..it is just a matter of time before she gets back into pornography….we’ll just call these years the detour….every whore needs down time from whoring…otherwise their vaginas would explode…. Here’s the party pic for the virgin losers who love this bitch, even though she’s wronged them by turning her back on nudity…even though that’s kinda her fucking thing.
San Francisco Giants pitcher, the 22nd man to toss a perfect game, got us thinking about musical perfectos. By James Montgomery The San Fransisco Giants’ Matt Cain Photo: On Wednesday night, San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain made baseball history — and totally helped my fantasy team — by tossing a perfect game against the Houston Astros. For those who have no idea what that means, Cain faced the minimum of batters — 27 — and didn’t allow a single base-runner. That means no walks, no hits, no anything over nine innings (with 14 strikeouts to boot). If that sounds impressive, well, it is : Only 22 pitchers have ever thrown a perfect game in the 143-year history of Major League Baseball, and somewhat surprisingly, the list of those who’ve accomplished the feat reads less like a who’s who of MLB greats as it does a who’s that ? For every Hall of Famer (Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Catfish Hunter) to reach perfection, there are just as many pitchers who made history and then were history. I’m talking about the likes of Len Barker, Mike Witt and Charlie Robertson, each of whom were perfect for one glorious game and never again came close to matching that perfection. And yet, that’s what makes the perfect game so special. On any day, anyone can throw one; all it takes is the right mixture of luck, skill and, well, more luck. And yet, of the thousands of men who’ve toed the rubber in the majors over the past century-plus, fewer than 2 dozen have actually done it. The perfect game is the ultimate mythologizer: Pulling it off automatically earns you a permanent place in baseball lore — and for most, it will be the unquestionable highlight of their professional career. So, in honor of Cain’s feat, I’ve spent the majority of the day trying to figure out what the musical equivalent of a perfect game might be. Certainly, it has to be historic: an album or song that came out of nowhere to define a time or an era to such a degree that it has become the stuff of music legend. Secondly, it has to be the crowning achievement of an artist’s career, especially since the overwhelming number of pitchers who have tossed perfectos are basically the MLB equivalent of one-hit-wonders (I’m looking at you, Philip Humber). Sure, the Beatles, Radiohead and Jay-Z have probably all been perfect, but, like Young or Koufax or Hunter, what’s one more accolade to any of them? And finally, well, it has to be perfect : the perfect album for the time, the perfect song for the moment, the perfectly recognizable riff or sample — we’re talking history here, people. Anyway, here are my picks for music’s 10 perfect games — and if there’s an album or song I’ve missed, let me know in the comments below. The Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bullocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols Lean and mean, sneering and snotty, it’s not only one of the most perfect albums of all time, it may very well be the most perfect debut in history. When it was released in 1977, it shocked pretty much everybody, and its historical status was only secured when the Pistols would implode following a disastrous U.S. tour in ’78. In the years since, it’s become a touchstone of punk, not to mention a lesson to any band that dares to fly too close to the sun. Hope you’re paying attention, Dallas Braden. The Knack, “My Sharona” Released as a single from the band’s Get the Knack debut, “Sharona” quickly surged to the top of the Billboard charts, where it would remain for six weeks (and be named the #1 song on the publication’s year-end pop chart). The song’s iconic guitar line (dunna-nunna-nuh-nuh!) has since become a thing of rock lore, the soundtrack to a million bar mitzvahs and just as many stadium rally chants, and though the Knack could never replicate its success, for one brief, shining moment, they were perfect. The Sugarhill Gang, “Rapper’s Delight” It’s the song that brought hip-hop out of the rec rooms and into the masses, crossing over to both the pop and R&B charts when it was released in 1979. Chances are, in the years since, you’ve heard its iconic bass line (sampled from Chic’s “Good Times”) and can probably recite its lyrics verbatim (“I said a hip hop, a hippie, a hippie to the hip hip hop … “). Not too bad for three dudes from Englewood, New Jersey. Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, “It Takes Two” One of the most sampled (and revered) hip-hop tracks of the pre-breakout era (like 1988), merely reading the “It Takes Two” title is probably enough to conjure up the sound of the wailing diva belting out the hook (or those “Woo- Yeah s”). It swept the streets and crossed over to the clubs, and has since become a staple at weddings and dance parties — and no, the dynamic duo could never match its success. But they don’t have to; they’re in the perfecto club. Young MC, “Bust a Move” The biggest hit from Young’s breakout Stone Cold Rhymin’ album, it not only won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance, but made the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and paved the way for the rap takeover that would follow in the ’90s. Oh, and Flea plays bass on it. One of the greatest hip-hop tracks of all time and probably one of the first ones you ever saw a video for on MTV. Don’t just stand there, bust a move! Alanis Morrissette, Jagged Little Pill Buoyed by the Dave Coulier-baiting “You Oughta Know” (or any of the five smash singles that followed), Morrissette’s debut sold a staggering 33 million copies worldwide and basically brought the roiling, riot-grrl spirit to the mainstream. Not surprisingly, Morrissette never again reached the heights she did here, but if you’re making a list of albums that unquestionably defined the 1990s, well, this had better be on it. Craig Mack, “Flava in Ya Ear” The song that basically put Bad Boy on the map, it featured a cameo by a then up-and-coming Notorious B.I.G., not to mention Puff Daddy. It’s stark, black-and-white video is equally iconic, though the song is perhaps best known for the fact that Mack all but disappeared following its release. Still, “Flava” is so of a time and a moment in hip hop that it’s subsequently earned classic status, meaning that somewhere, Mack can rest easy. The Verve, “Bittersweet Symphony” Breakout, genre-defining smash from Brit-rock lifers the Verve, “Bittersweet” — and its accompanying music video — were smashes on both sides of the pond. Too bad the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and Mick Jagger caught wind of it and sued the band for royalties, effectively ending their run just as it was beginning. But legality aside, you cannot deny the song’s thrilling, chilling rush, which, 15 years after it debuted, still raises goose bumps — kind of like watching a perfect game, really. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea When it was first released in 1998, its sparse production and spine-tingling emoting confused many — though, in the decade since, it’s become a touchstone of American indie, a harrowing, haunting rumination on life, death and reincarnation (and Anne Frank) that mastermind Jeff Mangum has yet to follow up. And who knows if he ever will; pitching a second perfecto has proven impossible to date. The Postal Service, Give Up One of the most unlikely success stories in recent memory, it started as a project between Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and electronic musician Jimmy Tamborello, and thanks to gently bubbling hits like “Such Great Heights,” it went on to become the best-selling album released on Sub Pop since Bleach, the debut from some band called Nirvana. Since then, neither man seems willing to embrace the idea of recording a follow-up, and really, why would they? Perfection usually only comes around once. Cee Lo Green, “F— You” A song so huge it not only managed to make Green into a solo star, but helped launch the career of Bruno Mars too. It went from Internet sensation to the Billboard Hot 100 and has since become Green’s signature song — which, given his time in the Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley, is certainly saying something. He’ll probably never be this perfect again, but you can never take this smash away from him. What are you musical perfect games in your book? Let us know in the comments!
In this scene Rosane Mulholland wakes up totally naked and gets out of bed. We get to see her perfect tits as she argues with a lover. Continue reading →
