We have a feeling that the Jackson family drama is gonna get worse before it gets better… Michael Jackson’s Nanny Grace Rwaramba Speaks Out Against Family In-Fighting According to RadarOnline : Michael Jackson’s long time nanny, Grace Rwaramba, is speaking out about the ongoing Jackson family drama, telling RadarOnline.com exclusively that the recent turmoil is exactly what the late singer had tried so hard to protect his three children from while he was alive. Grace began working for Jackson in 1997, and continued to work on and off for the King of Pop for the next decade, including after he tragically died in 2009. In an exclusive statement to RadarOnline.com, Grace says, “Everyone knows that Michael went to great lengths to protect his children from the public eye. While the use of veils and masks was unconventional, it only highlights how important this issue was to him. He understood, probably better than anyone, that growing up as a public figure, especially in the entertainment industry can be disaster…The recent drama surrounding Michael’s mother, Katherine, the ongoing custody issues and now the public dispute between Paris and Janet is exactly what Michael wanted to protect his children from. These matters have been further complicated by Gladys Knight and others recent and well intentioned comments about Paris. I have great respect and admiration for Mrs. Knight. And while I agree with the spirit of her comments, attacking Paris in public is not the answer.” The nanny goes on to ask for the public’s mercy on Michael’s daughter, Paris. Rwaramba asks that the public be fair to Paris Jackson and “give her a chance to make and learn from her mistakes without demonizing her. She is a spirited, very expressive and dramatic young girl. The traits that made her the apple of her father’s eye are the same traits that she must learn to control as she matures into adulthood. Let’s be careful not to dim her spirit. It breaks my heart to think that Paris and her brothers could become the subject of endless criticism for simply being kids. Michael loved his children very much. He gave them tools that they will need to become good and decent individuals. I am confident that in time, Paris and her brothers will learn that their family loves and wants what’s best for them. Until then, please take her tweets with a grain of salt. No child should have 700,000 followers on Twitter or any other social media platform.” Rwaramba makes a good point. Paris Jackson will lead a life in the public eye, and without her father’s protection she’s probably going to learn how cold the world is as she makes mistakes. Hopefully she doesn’t end up like Maia Campbell. Sweet baby Jesus. Image via Instagram
Bit of a random post this morning, with rumors of Facebook entering China finally, and in the spirit of China, Mark Zuckerberg with wife in tow, have made a surprise appearance in a documentary about China’s Police force, which aired on broadcast channel CCTV. The video shows Zuckerberg and his wife as bystanders for just a second (at 0:29) and is ironic considering Facebook is blocked in China. The… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : TweakTown News RSS Feed Discovery Date : 27/05/2012 14:17 Number of articles : 2
There are enough terrific, elegant old-style Tim Burton touches in Dark Shadows that, now and then, you might be fooled into thinking the once-mad genius had finally come back to his senses: A young girl gazes dreamily through the window of a train slipping through the New England countryside, the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin” serving as an aural curtain for her reverie; a wispy ghost woman floats toward the waiting arms of a giant chandelier, her hair and tattered skirt winding around its crystals like jellyfish tendrils; a secret button reveals a passageway whose opening is framed by mechanical ocean waves and a cadre of cast-iron wolves raising their snouts to the moon in a hearty salute. Parts of Dark Shadows look lovely. So what happened to the story? Burton used to be a madman; now he’s just a franchise. The vibrant inventiveness of pictures like Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (his debut) and the doleful elegance of his Batman movies and Sleepy Hollow have given way, over the past 10 years, to an excess of primary-color gimmickry. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland are loaded with self-conscious wonder and strained jokes masquerading as clever ones. Similarly, Dark Shadows suffers from the now-predictable Tim Burton pile-on: Like a matron who’s gone mad for garish jewelry, he just doesn’t know when to stop. It didn’t have to be that way. Dark Shadows takes its inspiration from the late-’60s spooky-Gothic soaper of the same name, starring Jonathan Frid (who died just last month) as a lovesick vampire named Barnabas Collins. The show was just the thing to scare the bejesus outta you while you enjoyed your bowl of after-school Cheerios, and my friends and I adored it. Clearly, Burton did too, because there are dots and dashes of affection in this Dark Shadows . The script, by John August and Seth Grahame-Smith, resuscitates many of the original characters and keeps them fairly close to the spirit of their forbears, though only the movie’s opening sequence – the finest section of the picture — is set in the early 1800s. Johnny Depp plays Barnabas Collins, formerly the son of a rich Maine fishing family, now a lost 19th-century soul transplanted to early ’70s New England, a land of banana-seat bikes, frilly granny dresses and Donovan records. Eva Green plays Angelique, a witch who begins spinning a never-ending web of revenge around Barnabas after he spurns her. Bella Heathcote is Barnabas’ original true love Josette DuPres and her 20th century reincarnation Victoria Winter, two women — or, rather, two versions of the same woman – who drive Angelique to diabolical, murderous measures. Here’s how it all plays out in the Burton version: Angelique, after murdering Josette, turns the then-human Barnabas into a vampire and locks him in a coffin, which is then buried. He remains there until the 1970s, when he’s dug up accidentally. (He wastes no time in makes a tasty meal out of some hapless construction workers.) He treks to his old homestead, Collinwood Manor, and finds that much has changed: The mansion’s current mistress is Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), an ice-cool lady whose necklace collection appears to include the complete stock of the Trifari, Monet and Napier factories combined. Elizabeth lives in the old house with other members of the extended Collins family, including her disaffected teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her semi-orphaned nephew David (Gully McGrath), a troubled lad who keeps having visions of his dead mother. Also floating around are David’s layabout dad, Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), who seems to exist in the story only as a hanger for loud plaid jackets, and blowsy, horny psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), who can’t keep her mitts off mystery-man Barnabas. If you think that’s too many characters to fit comfortably or reasonably into any story, you’re right. Dark Shadows is a rambling affair in which characters who ought to be central to the plot — Josette/Victoria, for instance — drop out of sight for long, mysterious stretches. Some of the performances are extremely entertaining: Green makes a great bad gal, a lanky temptress in an assortment of vixenish Ossie Clark-style gowns and pantsuits. (Costumer Colleen Atwood does right by her.) And Depp is marvelous when he’s not called upon to look quizzically at lava lamps and such: His hair has been styled into great, Frid-like pointy bangs, but his performance is more homage than impersonation. Just as he discovers he’s been turned into a bloodsucker, he surveys his newly sprouted Nosferatu talons with a mix of wonder and horror. The scene takes place in the movie’s semi-naturalistic Gothic opener, before Barnabas has acquired his white warpaint pallor, and it’s the kind of moment that makes you wish Depp would play more roles with less makeup. Because, through most of Dark Shadows , he’s wearing a lot of it, and it’s almost as heavy as the shtick Burton has saddled him with. The movie is overloaded with gags about how tacky the ’70s were, and the routine gets tired, fast. Barnabas recoils from the bright-eyed visage of a Troll doll, and blanches when he accidentally hits the buzzer on an Operation game. Sure, lava lamps are hee-larious, and yet — does everything in Burton’s world have to be so retrolicious? Dark Shadows needs a lot more soap and a lot less kitsch. I fell in love with the movie’s opening sequence, which lays out the movie’s back story — if only Burton had taken that preamble and fleshed it out, instead of just cranking up the old gag machine. The opening sequence captures what was so compelling about the TV show, despite its rather modest production values: It was true to the spirit of Gothic literature while also being dishy and entertaining enough for the masses (i.e., a seven-year-old me). Burton outlines Barnabas’ origins with the same courtly spookiness he brought to his sort-of Washington Irving adaptation Sleepy Hollow : We see Josette, driven to madness by Angelique and throwing herself off a steep cliff. Barnabas runs after her and stands on a rock amid the crashing waves, gazing into the mist and seeing only a bleak eternity. The image — rendered very handsomely by DP Bruno Delbonnell, though I’m sure there was plenty of CGI help — is lifted straight from a famous painting that you’ve probably seen even if you think you haven’t, The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog , by the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Why couldn’t Burton have sustained that moody elegance, while also packing some of his loopy wit around it? Beyond that opening sequence, there’s nothing very dark or shadowy or even just imaginative about Dark Shadows . It’s proof that the candyman can’t. Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
27th April 2012 Dear Take the Flour Back, We have learned that you are planning to attack our research test site on 27th May. Please read the following in the spirit of openness and dialogue – we know we cannot stop you from taking the action you plan, nor would we wish to see force used against you. Therefore we can only appeal to your consciences, and ask you to reconsider before it is too late,… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : RichardDawkins.net Discovery Date : 02/05/2012 01:00 Number of articles : 2
27th April 2012 Dear Take the Flour Back, We have learned that you are planning to attack our research test site on 27th May. Please read the following in the spirit of openness and dialogue – we know we cannot stop you from taking the action you plan, nor would we wish to see force used against you. Therefore we can only appeal to your consciences, and ask you to reconsider before it is too late,… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : RichardDawkins.net Discovery Date : 02/05/2012 01:00 Number of articles : 2
Jimmy Kimmel Live hosted their annual post-Oscars theme show last night, and in the spirit of last year’s Tom Hanks Toddlers & Tiaras video, they put together another cameo-filled opening sketch, only this one is nine minutes long and features EVERY ACTOR IN HOLLYWOOD appearing together in the first film in history attempting to combine every aspect of every type of movie simultaneously. Below, the… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : VH1’s Today In Music Discovery Date : 27/02/2012 07:00 Number of articles : 4
Independent Spirit Award-winner tells MTV News ending awards season with her co-stars is ‘so bittersweet.’ By Terri Schwartz Shailene Woodley Photo: Getty Images “The Descendants” took home a handful of awards from the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon, but none of the winners were more enthused about the honor than first-time nominee Shailene Woodley. The “Secret Life of the American Teenager” star has been rewarded repeatedly for her emotional turn as the teenage daughter of George Clooney’s character in the Alexander Payne-directed flick, and the 20-year-old continued that trend Saturday, winning Best Supporting Actress. Sunday night’s Academy Awards marks the last major awards show of the season for Woodley and her “Descendants” castmates. On the red carpet before the Spirit Awards, the young actress told MTV News that ending her time with her co-stars is “so bittersweet.” “Tomorrow’s the grand finale. It’s awesome, because I’ll be able to have clean socks and do laundry for the first time in a few months, but it is sad because every single night has been this beautiful little reunion of people, and tomorrow’s the last reunion,” she explained. At least the reunions will go out with a bang, since the entire cast, including Clooney, is expected to attend the Oscars . Even though they won’t continue to see each other on the awards circuit this year, Woodley expects she and her castmates will stay in touch. If Clooney falls out of contact, Woodley promised, “I will track him down and say, ‘Keep teaching me, because I haven’t learned enough yet!’ ” The actress has made quite a splash on the red carpet while doing rounds for “The Descendants,” and she said her Oscar-night dress is ready to go. Picking out the perfect outfit hasn’t been something to stress about — as she said, that’s what stylists are for. “I do have a dress. It hasn’t been that big of a process because I know nothing about fashion,” Woodley said. “I have an awesome stylist who does know a lot about fashion, and so I’m sure she would say it’s been a big process, but for me, it’s been very simple.” The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 26, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars.
Posted online last week is Got 2B There a full 1998 documentary by Jose M. Torrealba examining the controversies and the spirit of the circuit party, with footage from the White Party (Palm Springs), the GMHC Morning Party (Fire Island),… Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Towleroad Discovery Date : 17/02/2012 21:42 Number of articles : 2
Plus, buzz about Janet Jackson joining Cowell’s ‘X Factor’ panel continues to swirl. By John Mitchell Simon Cowell Photo: FOX Simon Cowell is enjoying the rivalry between TV’s top reality singing competitions and would “be up for” a sing-off featuring the winners of “The X Factor,” “American Idol” and “The Voice.” The “X Factor” mentor/judge took to Twitter Friday morning (February 17) to reveal that he “loves the rivalry between all the music shows” and went on to suggest a mega-showdown between the winners of TV’s three biggest reality singing competitions. “Maybe the winner of @TheXFactorUSA this yr should compete with winner of The Voice & Idol in a super final,” Cowell tweeted . “Just a thought. I’d be up for it.” Maybe the winner of @ TheXFactorUSA this yr should compete with winner of The Voice & Idol in a super final. Just a thought. I’d be up for it — Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) February 17, 2012 Though “The X Factor” did not perform as well as Cowell and Fox had hoped last fall — the notoriously cocky judge even admitted , “it’s going to take a little longer than I thought” for the show to catch on in America — it has been renewed for a second season. When it returns later this year, however, viewers will see a very different panel, as judges/mentors Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, along with host Steve Jones, were let go in January. Rumors over who will replace Abdul and Scherzinger have been rampant, with speculation naming everyone from Beyonc
Most critics have panned the Nicolas Cage flick, citing mediocrity as its biggest crime. By Kevin P. Sullivan Nicolas Cage in “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” Photo: Columbia Pictures Nicolas Cage ‘s Ghost Rider has received a makeover from “Crank” directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, but that’s not enough to keep the critics happy. Most have panned “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” citing mediocrity as its biggest crime. We’ve rounded up a sample of the reviews of the film, so you can decide whether you’ll be making the trip to hell this weekend. The Story “It’s been five years since stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) signed on the bloody line and became Beelzebub’s flaming-biker bounty hunter. Sniffing out evil and sucking the souls out of bad guys whenever his head catches on fire, Blaze finally wants rid of his cursed vigilante alter ego.” — Paul Bradshaw, TotalFilm.com The Lead “Returning as the eponymous not-quite-hero, Nicolas Cage spends stretches of the film on autopilot while waiting for scenes he deems worthy of his particular brand of crazy. They’re not frequent enough to please the Cage aficionado, but sequences in which the twitchy, inappropriately giddy actor tries to choke back transformations into a bloodthirsty skeleton-on-fire are welcome in a film where often-charismatic costars Ciar
