SMH at ‘Are you referring to the white or black cemetery? ‘ Really???? According to USA Today: The chain-link fence slices through the Hamilton City Cemetery, splitting it into two clearly defined sections. On one side are beautiful, grassy vistas with well-tended plots where rest some of the city’s most esteemed citizens. On the other are hundreds of abandoned, overgrown graves, some thought to contain the remains of slaves. Many are unmarked; some are inaccessible in the thick undergrowth. At first glance, that fence seems as defiant and forbidding as the “Whites Only” signs that once defined life in this city of 1,021 about 90 miles southwest of Atlanta. But the situation at the Hamilton City Cemetery, which was established in 1828, is not uncommon in cities and towns across the Southeast. The fence represents not so much the grip of the region’s segregationist past as a disturbing dilemma in the nation’s present: Just who owns African-American history, whether the lost stories from a worn graveyard or the very events or poetic moments that have shaped this nation? Perhaps more troubling: Who wants it and will cultivate it for future generations? It’s a question that resonates as we leave a month swelling with African-American achievement — the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, the second inauguration of the nation’s first black president — and usher in Black History Month. Yet those hard-won gains toward a post-racial society for the living seem to fade amid the forgotten souls in places such as the Hamilton City Cemetery. Andrea McNally, an amateur historian who’s leading an effort to have the city or Harris County clean and maintain the “black side” of the cemetery, has been repeatedly frustrated by the fact that no one here seems to know just who owns that part of the burial ground. “Everyone I approached, when I asked about it, they said, ‘Are you referring to the white or black cemetery?’” she says. “I went to the tax office, went to the deed office. Nobody knows who owns it.” These neglected black cemeteries are most common in the Deep South but also are seen in other parts of the country. Mansfield, Texas, near Fort Worth, faces a situation nearly identical to Hamilton’s: a fence separating a white cemetery near downtown from a black one containing the anonymous graves of former slaves. A black church there took over ownership of that cemetery. In many instances, African-American cemeteries in the South were started by small associations of a dozen or so black community leaders around the turn of the century. As those people died off, and as 6 million black people moved North during the Great Migration of 1910-70, ownership of the cemeteries became muddled, Trinkley says. Wow we guess black life (or death for that matter) really ain’t worth spit. This is really sad. Hopefully more people will educate themselves and reach out to help these cemeteries.
I don’t know if this is the official video…they call it the official lyric video…which I guess is a teaser to get people all hard and doing a massive sing along gayness…but I will say shit is a fail…because if I am going to watch Justin Timberlake on his comeback album….getting dressed in Video with Jay Z….like this was an interracial gay fantasy turning into a horrible reality….I’d like them to throw a little Jessica Biel Timberlake into the mix…cuz I watched Texas Chainsaw Masacre the other day and that girl…in those jeans…was something I wouldn’t have mind killing with my dick….slow and steady and via her vagina….but they can keep lip syncing Beyonce at home to emotionally eat while Jay Z fucks young and hotter pussy….as he does… Either way, I’m not down with this song, but it’s gonna be huge….and that’s why I’m posting it. CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ONLINE INTERNET VIDEOS
Woman Loses Legs And Fingers From Dog Bite Infection A 48-year-old Texas woman recently faced a near death experience after a failed attempt to break up fighting family dogs during the holidays resulted in a dog bite that landed her in the hospital fighting for her life. via Fox News A Texas dog lover and mother of four lost her legs and almost all of her fingers after she suffered a rare infection from a dog bite on Christmas. 48-year-old Robin Sullins was left fighting for her life after doctors say she experienced a rare reaction to bacteria in dog saliva, My FoxAustin.com reports. Sullins’ family says on a web page set up to raise donations for her care that she was bitten on the finger and scratched on the leg while trying to break up a squabble between family dogs on Christmas. Two days later she was taken to the emergency room with a fever, chills, and vomiting. “By late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, she was pretty much on life support. We’re talking respirator, dialysis, feeding tube, being kept alive,” her mother Carole Wilson told MyFoxAustin.com. Her family says doctors were at first baffled by her symptoms, as Sullins grew worse. Sullins’ organs began failing and her hands and feet grew black and blue. Doctors were forced to amputate both of Sullins’ legs below the knee and nearly all of her fingers. Sounds like this woman was blessed to have survived this bizarre infection. Image via Shutterstock
Wow. Some people cease to amaze us. Via WDSU News: A woman arrested for prostitution charges Monday night had her 4-year-old son with her at the time of the arrest, according to the New Orleans Police Department. Miranda Crisp, 28, of Texas City, Texas, had just arrived in New Orleans when police arrested her at an area hotel. Police said Crisp was advertising for sexual encounters on the website http://www.backpage.com . Crisp arrived in town with Mark Jackson, 34, also of Texas City, Texas. Jackson was booked with pandering and trespassing charges. A second woman, Nayelly Lanada, 18, was also booked with interfering charges as well as trespassing. NOPD said Crisp’s son was taken into protective custody to await child protection services. Crisp told police that Jackson brought the two women to New Orleans to work as prostitutes and strip at different clubs during their stay in the city. NOPD said it regularly checks websites for illegal practices, such as prostitution Really??? This is “take your son to work day” but the ultimate extreme edition! SMMFH.
The Sundance Film Festival opens Thursday with a new crop of anticipated American indies – some of which will define the cinematic year. Last year’s narrative winner Beasts of the Southern Wild received a slew of Oscar nominations this year along with other titles. Which ones will emerge this year. Over the next week, M.L. will give a snapshot of the filmmakers themselves in their own words along with trailers. The first five filmmakers profiled today include Lynn Shelton’s Touchy Feely (U.S. Dramatic Competition), David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (U.S. Dramatic Competition), directors Aaron Aites, Audrey Ewell, Nina Krstic, Lucian Reade’s 99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (U.S. Documentary Competition), Bastian Guenther’s Houston (World Dramatic Competition) and Stacie Passon’s Concussion (U.S. Dramatic Competition). Touchy Feely by director Lynn Shelton – [U.S. Dramatic Competition] Synopsis What happens when a family’s delicate psychic balance suddenly unravels? Abby is a free-spirited massage therapist. Her brother, Paul, an emotional zombie, owns a flagging dental practice, where he enlists the assistance of his equally emotionally stunted daughter, Jenny. Suddenly, transformation touches everyone. Abby develops an uncontrollable aversion to bodily contact, which seriously hinders her chosen profession and the passionate love life she once shared with her boyfriend. Meanwhile, rumors of Paul’s “healing touch” begin to miraculously invigorate his practice. As Abby navigates through an identity crisis, her brother discovers a whole new side of himself. Boasting superb performances from an ensemble cast that includes Rosemarie DeWitt, Josh Pais, Ellen Page, Scoot McNairy, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, and newcomer Tomo Nakayama, Touchy Feely is about learning to live in your own skin—literally and figuratively. Written and directed by talented Sundance alumnus Lynn Shelton (Humpday, Your Sister’s Sister), Touchy Feely bristles with originality, coupled with Shelton’s trademark sensitivity to the foibles of human nature. [Courtesy of Sundance] Comments by Lynn Shelton: Touchy Feely quick pitch: Touchy Feely has an ensemble cast and multiple story-lines. At its center is a brother and sister: Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), a free spirited massage therapist who can’t do her job after developing a mysterious aversion to touching skin, and Paul (Josh Pais), an emotionally stunted dentist who’s dying practice is suddenly invigorated when his waiting room fills with folks seeking out his “healing touch”. …and why it’s worth checking out at Sundance and beyond: I think it’s honest and emotional and funny and goes to some unexpected places. Plus, take a look at the cast list. Some quick anecdotes on how it all came together: 1. Our already short prep period became quite a bit shorter when Rosemarie DeWitt got cast in Promised Land which was shooting exactly when we were hoping to. In order to keep her in our film, we moved our schedule up by three weeks. 2. The dentist office, one of our key locations, eluded us until the eleventh, nail-biting, hour. I had nearly given up in despair, when, as if by magic, I discovered through casual conversation that the father of the very nice town car driver who took me to the airport one day, had JUST retired from dentistry at the age of 92. They turned out to be the most wonderful friends to the production. It was pure serendipity. 3. The biggest challenge for me of making this film was cutting together all the story-lines in the edit room. It was like an advanced-level jigsaw puzzle. Some background on the cast… Josh Pais and Rosemarie DeWitt functioned as muses for me; I wrote their roles specifically for them. The rest of the cast fell into place with relative ease once the script was finished. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints by director David Lowery – [U.S. Dramatic Competition] Synopsis: Bob Muldoon and Ruth Guthrie, an impassioned young outlaw couple on an extended crime spree, are finally apprehended by lawmen after a shootout in the Texas hills. Although Ruth wounds a local officer, Bob takes the blame. But four years later, Bob escapes from prison and sets out to find Ruth and their daughter, born during his incarceration. The barren landscapes of David Lowery’s poetic feature evoke the mythology of westerns and saturate the dramatic space with fatalism and an aching sense of loss. Aided by powerfully restrained performances by Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, and Ben Foster, Lowery incorporates an unnerving tension into the film, teetering it at the edge of violence. The beautiful, irreconcilable dilemma of the story is that Ruth—compelled by the responsibilities of motherhood and her evolving relationship with the deputy she shot—remains haunted by her intense feelings for Bob. Each of them longs for some form of peace. Ironically, it’s Bob, the unrepentant criminal trapped in the romantic image of a bygone past, who is driven by an almost righteous sense of clarity. Following in the footsteps of Badlands and Bonnie and Clyde, Lowery’s humanism transcends the genre. [Courtesy of Sundance] Comments by David Lowery: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints quick pitch: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is a classic tale of an outlaw who breaks out of prison and sets out to reunite with his family. …and why it’s worth checking out at Sundance and beyond: It’s looking like the temperature in Park City next week is going to have a high of 12, so escaping into the heat of the Texas summer – at least on screen – might be a cozy respite! Some quick anecdotes on how it all came together: That Texas summer was one of the challenges; the movie was originally set during the winter, but for scheduling reasons I rewrote the script to take place in summer. I figured that we might as well own it and make the heat an integral part of the film. It eventually became so integral that we had a few crew cases of heat exhaustion on set. Pausing in the middle of a hectic shoot day for medics to assist our fallen comrades was troubling for multiple reasons. But everyone endured and in the end, all the sweat and dirt looks amazing on film, and the summer is almost a character in the movie – burnt grass blowing in the wind, birdsongs in the morning and those amazing summer sunsets that you only get in Texas. 99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film by directors Aaron Aites, Audrey Ewell, Nina Krstic, Lucian Reade [U.S. Documentary Competition] Synopsis: In 2011, seemingly overnight, Occupy captured the imagination of our nation—and the world. The sweeping story of the birth of a movement, 99%—The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film follows a disparate group of activists who converge on lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park to build a society organized by nonhierarchical decision-making structures. Inspired by the idea that wealth and political power are dangerously concentrated, grassroots groups from Minneapolis to Mississippi to Oakland soon follow suit, converging to focus on issues crucial to their own communities. After confrontations, expulsions, and mass arrests, the movement finds itself at a crossroad. What’s next? Designed in part as an experiment modeled on Occupy’s process, the film employs multiple cameras around the country to capture the kinetic, immediate experience on the ground, peppered with a comprehensive range of viewpoints from activists, experts, and detractors. In an era of hopelessness and resignation, this film is a reminder that another world order is still possible. Comments by Audrey Ewell: 99%: The Occupy Wall Street quick pitch: Mainstream news coverage of Occupy Wall Street left most people with a pretty inaccurate idea of what really happened. We went behind the scenes and took a hard look at one of the most tumultuous movements in contemporary American life. 99% connects the dots on who these people were, what they were doing, and why; this film will give you a whole new understanding of what was really happening in the cultural and economic environment, and why it compelled people all over the country to take to the streets. And then we look at what could be coming next. …and why it’s worth checking out at Sundance and beyond: This film gets into the lives of real people who are struggling to deal with the issues the movement propelled into the spotlight. It’s both affecting and enlightening. What’s great about 99% is that you will walk away truly understanding how all of the issues are connected. How a single mom in Minneapolis struggling with foreclosure is connected to the pension crisis faced by teachers and firefighters, and how the deregulation of banks and corporations (that led to the junk mortgage market crash) is directly linked to laws that govern lobbying and campaign finance. All of that is 100% connected and this film uses the stories of real Americans to cover the big interconnected picture in a way that has never quite been done before. It peels back the curtain and reveals who has the power in America, how they maintain it (including coordinated suppression of protest by DHS, local police forces and government), and the consequences for real people. Some quick anecdotes on how it all came together: Just two or three? Well, this film had unique challenges due to its experimental production process. Audrey Ewell (the founder of the film) was liaising with our shooters and co-directors all over the country, keeping it all coordinated and making sure we were getting material that could blended into one story. Various co-directors were responsible for various threads in the film. At one point, one of the co-directors in NY wanted to interview someone who was in Oakland, CA. Our Philadelphia co-producer had a connection to this woman, so he put us in touch, and the NY co-director and Audrey researched and wrote questions for her, and then a shooter in the Bay Area filmed the interview by proxy. And after all that, the NY co-director quit the film as it was too big a commitment for her, and all of that work got scrapped because her thread was subsequently cut. On a film like this, people came and people went, and because it was designed to be a parallel (but unaffiliated) experiment that mirrored and tested the processes of the movement, this was just the sort of thing that we’d invited in. So while it was frustrating and time-consuming, we’d decided to embrace the process and see where it would take us. What we found was that not all of the movement’s processes worked for us, and we had to adjust as we went along in order to satisfy the needs of a real-world, goal-oriented process with deadlines. And in our case, what that meant was scrapping any ideas about consensus, and instead implementing a strict hierarchy, with the more experienced filmmakers leading the process. Only then was production of the film possible. Houston by director Bastian Guenther – [World Dramatic Competition] Synopsis: Clemens Trunschka is not doing so well. With spotty employment and a shaky marriage, he’s pretty much lost any claim to being a “functional alcoholic.” The more accurate term for him would probably be “lousy drunk.” So when an opportunity arises to help a German company recruit an American candidate as its CEO, Trunschka seizes the chance to get… [Courtesy of Sundance] Comments by Bastian Guenther The Houston quick pitch: Clemens Trunschka is a corporate headhunter and an alcoholic. Drinking increasingly isolates him from his life and leads him away from reality. On the hunt for a top CEO in Houston, Texas, his addiction takes him on a haunting journey into his own darkness. …and why it’s worth checking out at Sundance and beyond: I hope that, like a good short story, the film lives on in the viewer’s imagination after leaving the theatre. It gives no answers and is certainly not didactic, but I hope it provokes some critical thoughts about how we live today. If so then the film achieved a lot beyond being 107 minutes of entertainment. We get wrapped up and lost in systems of our own creation that are organized around short-term goals and short-term satisfactions. On the individual level, this comes in the form of rampant consumerism or addiction, and on the societal level, in extreme capitalism and global corporations. These systems do not offer enduring solutions or meaning. They divide and conquer. So the film shows this and the isolation that comes with our modern way of life. Some quick anecdotes on how it all came together: I remember that during our shoot, Garret Dillahunt was shooting the TV show, Raising Hope , in which he stars. This ran all week in LA, then he would fly into Houston to shoot with us for the weekend and return late Sunday night to be on the set in LA early Monday morning. For 6 straight weeks, he worked every single day. I truly appreciate his dedication to our film. One day we shot a complicated scene in which some of the crew stood on a rooftop of a skyscraper in downtown Houston holding a fishing rod with a line that was attached to another fishing rod held by another crew member on the street below. To complicate matters, we were shooting this from another skyscraper across the street. Bad cell phone and walkie talkie reception did not help. But it was an exciting and fun moment, and I love how it turned out on screen. In general it was a challenge to shoot a feature film outside of my home country. The film sets work differently in Germany and the U.S. Each provides unique challenges. However, the experience was deeply gratifying, and I definitely want to continue making films in both countries. And background on the cast: I sent the script to Ulrich Tukur’s agent. After a while she called back and told us that he loved it. So we met several times, talked about the character, the story, and what it meant to me. Pretty soon we agreed on doing this project together. Our casting agent in LA, JC Cantu, showed me a lot of excellent actors for the role of Wagner. But when I had a Skype conversation with Garret Dillahunt, that JC organized, I knew that I found the right actor. We didn’t read any lines. We just talked about the film and the character. This was one of those rare moments where I knew immediately that I had found the right person. Our casting agent for Texas, Beth Sepko, did a fantastic job of finding stellar actors from the region for various other roles. Insight on the clip: Each of the two clips consists of one continuous shot in the film. They capture the pace and the style of the film. This was important to me. The clips should ignite viewers’ curiosity but also render in that short amount of time the condition of the main character. Concussion by director Stacie Passon – [U.S. Dramatic Competition] Synopsis: Abby is a fortysomething, wealthy, married, lesbian housewife who—after getting smacked in the head by her son’s baseball—walks around every corner of her suburban life to confront a mounting desire for something else. She takes on a new project and purchases a pied-à-terre in Manhattan. Walking around the city streets reminds Abby what it feels like to be sexy, and her pent-up libido shakes off its inhibitions. Her desire is not a take-home item for the minivan ride back home, so Abby inaugurates a double life that draws her deeply into a world of prostitution for women. In an auspicious debut effort, director Stacie Passon draws out a pitch-perfect performance from her lead actor, Robin Weigert, as a sexy, shut-down family woman stretching to bloom again. Palpably sensual and deliciously contained, Concussion is a keen observation of the complicated contours of midlife crisis. [Courtesy of Sundance] Comments by Stacie Passon: “Grateful to Sundance”: Firsts are always very fun, but with it I know there will be a lot of scrutiny. Will these films stand up? Will they move people and make them think? Sundance has been very brave here, but also I know they have a ton of confidence in the films in competition. They’ve been wonderful and supportive of Concussion in a so many ways already. We are grateful and lucky to have their support. Here’s to Technology and non-traditional distribution: I’m really encouraged. I mean, Sundance said that there where a many features made by women this year. Technology is making it easier to make films. Access to distribution platforms makes it easier to monetize films. I think as more and more women find these non-trad ways to get the work seen, we’ll see our numbers rise dramatically. The other thing is that women historically have had a hard time making more than two or three features, and many of the films at Cannes are not by new filmmakers. So women drop off huge in that category. For most of the women at Sundance in competition, this is a first or second feature. So it’s not only Sundance’s willingness to embrace women, it’s really about embracing new voices as well.
Kelly Hildebrandt and Kelly Hildebrandt, the Facebook couple who met, fell in love and got married all because they have the same name, are getting divorced. The pair with matching names made news when they tied the knot in 2009. But both Kelly Hildebrandts came to realize that sharing a name wasn’t enough . “She’s a Florida girl, and I’m a Texas guy,” Kelly Carl Hildebrandt (the guy) told Miami news station NBC 6. “We really did come from pretty different worlds.” The romance started in the same world: Facebook. One night in 2008, Kelly Katrina Hildebrandt was curious and bored. Wondering if anyone on the website shared her name, she typed it into the search engine. Up popped Kelly Carl. The then-20-year-old emailed the 24-year-old about the coincidence. Emails led to phone calls, phone calls to visits, and the whirlwind romance led to an engagement. The two wed in 2009; the news made People and Today . But despite sharing a name, blond good looks and worldwide attention, the marriage crumbled. “How do they term it at the courthouse? ‘Irreconcilable differences,’ that is what I would say,” added Kelly Carl Hildebrandt. “We gave it our best shot.”
I don’t even know what to say right now, I still can’t believe I met JUSTIN BIEBER. I’m just going to say, if you haven’t met Justin, really don’t give up! My mom, dad, brother and I were in the car the night I was suppose to be getting the email saying if I had won the BieberFever contest coming home from my mom’s birthday dinner. I had entered myself, and my mom into the contest with two different pictures and two different emails and then my friend Erin, had entered too and if she won, she was going to give me the other wristband! I kept refreshing my email over and over again hoping something would come up, when suddenly I got a text from Erin saying, “YOU’RE MEETING JUSTIN BIEBER!” Then not even two seconds later my mom started to scream, “I GOT THE EMAIL, I GOT THE EMAIL! YOU’RE MEETING JUSTIN!” I immediately started bawling and screaming. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I called my friend Sally and told her I had won and as soon as I hung up I had gotten the e-mail from BieberFever saying I had won!! I was screaming and crying even more now, not only did I win 2 meet and greets, BUT 4! A couple minutes later me and Erin were texting, talking about who we should take and I already knew who one meet and greet was going to. I had met a friend on Twitter coming all the way from NEW MEXICO to Tulsa and I knew it’d make her life! I texted her saying, “We’re meeting Justin Bieber!” She couldn’t believe it! The other meet and greets, Erin and I gave to a couple of Kansas City girls who had never met Justin before! I stayed up all night thinking about what I’d say to Justin, and what I would do when the curtain opened. My mom, my brother and I decided we should leave at around 6 a.m., because we were driving from Texas, which is a 4 hour drive. After the long wait, we were finally in Tulsa. I was so excited. We parked and then we walked over to Justin’s hotel and at the time, there was only 2 other girls standing outside so I just waited with them. Out of one of the tour buses, an older man came out of the black tour bus, also known as Justin’s. We started making conversation and he asked us if we wanted a picture inside of Justin’s bus , and no doubt about it I said YES! After the man got back on the bus, Lil Twist came out. I asked him for a picture, and he was being so sweet! He turned towards me and the other girls and was like “Sure, definitely after I come back out!” During the time I was waiting for Twist to come back out, my phone had died. I was so upset, but luckily one of the girls waiting let me borrow her phone to take a selfie with him once he came back out. After the picture I waited until about 1:30 and got bored, so I walked over to the car where my brother was and I sat in there thawing because it was so cold. While I was at the hotel my mom had met this little girl and her grandma, and began to become friends with the grandma! They had told my mom about how the little girl had won a radio contest and they won two meet and greets and two tickets to the concert. Around 3 p.m. they had to go pick up their tickets and M&G’s so me, my brother, and mom walked with them. While we were standing in the room that the box office was in watching the little girl get her wristbands, the grandma walked over to us and was like, “I’m getting you two meet and greets and tickets to the show!” My mom being a fan of Justin was SO excited and my brother being a secret belieber was smiling so hard! I don’t know how she pulled it off but my mom and brother got into the show and met Justin for free! About 10 minutes later I met up with Erin in the box office waiting for my friend from New Mexico and the Kansas girls. When we all finally met up and had our wristbands on, it was time to get in line. We were in the line for like 2 hours and then finally the line started moving extremely fast. A guard had opened a door and we had to walk down stairs and as we were walking down, girls were screaming and bawling their eyes out and running past us! That’s when it hit me. I was about to meet my idol, my inspiration, the one person I’ve looked up to for 4 years now. I started crying, even though I swore to myself I wasn’t going to. When the girls ahead of us went in I got a peek of Justin when the curtain opened and started to cry even more. I was shaking and overwhelmed. I was seconds away from meeting him. The guard then asked, “Are you ready?” and I immediately screamed YES! The curtain opened and I ran for Justin! The guards stopped me and they were like, “Woah woah woah! You can’t meet Justin if you’re gonna attack him hahaha!” Justin was literally right in front of me so I was reaching my arms out trying to get to him and trying to break free and they finally let me go! I wrapped both of my arms around Justin and I hugged him, basically crying into his shoulder and he hugged me back! I was like, “I love you so much, Justin, I love you” and he was like, “I love you too, don’t cry sweetheart.” By that time I was shaking and crying even more. We turned for the picture and once it was done, I immediately wrapped my arms around Justin again telling him I loved him. Then again the security guards were being rude and pushing me out, but they were nice enough to help me find my way out because I could barely see from the tears. If you were to have asked me what he was wearing in the M&G, I wouldn’t of been able to tell you because when I looked up at him, I saw his face and I was like “OMG he’s real” and I blacked out. It felt like a DREAM. I can’t even believe I was right beside Justin too! -@RadioBiebah See the original post: I don’t even know what to say right now, I still…
Jacki Weaver says she has no Oscar game plan except to buy a new pair of shoes. “I love shoes. I love shiny things,” the Australian actress told Movieline this afternoon, after learning she had been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her fine work in David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook . Weaver, who plays an Italian-American Philadelphia housewife so well that you can almost smell the braciole when she’s onscreen, explained that she learned of her nomination while watching TV “in my Qantas pajamas” after flying into Los Angeles en route to Texas for her next acting gig, as Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother, in David Landesman’s Parkland . “I wasn’t sleeping well so I turned on the TV. I honestly wasn’t expecting it, and it did take me quite by surprise,” Weaver said. “I yelled out a rude word.” That word began with “f, as in Freddie,” the actress said in her jammy Australian accent. “And it sounded like the way Australians say ‘park,'” she explained. “We drop the ‘r’ and say, ‘pahk.'” She went on to explain that said word is “a term of wonderment” in her country,” then laughed: I don’t know why I don’t just say the word.” She never did, but did tell us that she had not spoken to her fellow cast members and nominees, Robert De Niro , Bradley Cooper or Jennifer Lawrence , but had talked to Russell. “He told me that he’s really proud of me and he’s thrilled,” she said. “I adore David.” She likes Americans a lot, too. Weaver explained that “I haven’t changed but my life has changed,” in the two years she since earned her first Oscar nomination for the brutal 2010 Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom . “I’ve now done my fifth film in America and to be embraced so heartily by Americans has been wonderful. It’s a very generous culture, American culture,” she added. “I know you can’t generalize 300 million people, but everyone I’ve met her has been so lovely to me.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The Sacramento Kings are about to be called for a traveling violation. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports has Tweeted confirmation that the Maloof family is on the verge of selling the team to a Seattle-based group of investors for $500 million. That contingent – led by Valiant Capital’s Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer – will then move the Kings to Seattle, hopefully in time for the 2013-2014 season. Seattle was home to the SuperSonics for 40 years until that team left for Oklahoma City in 2008. According to Yahoo Sports, the new owners will build a new arena for the Kings, and, until then, home games will be played in KeyArena. The Maloofs have struggled for years with their finances. They sold a majority of their Palms Casino in Las Vegas a couple years ago and have flirted before with moving the Kings elsewhere. Our apologies go out to residents of Sacramento for losing their squad. But look at the bright side: at least DeMarcus Cousins is someone else’s problem now.
Sean Lowe failed to capture Emily Maynard’s heart on The Bachelorette. It certainly wasn’t for his lack of abs or commitment to physical fitness. In an interview and photo shoot at the Bachelor mansion in Agoura Hills, Calif., Sean Lowe stripped down for In Touch and opens up about being The Bachelor. “I’m very hopeful that I’ll meet a great girl,” said the 29-year-old Texan. “I would love to get married,” he adds. “I’m absolutely ready for love.” Does he find it? The Bachelor spoilers for more on that topic. What is his type? “Honestly, I’ve dated all types of women,” he explains. “She has to be genuine, want the same things I want and have a great sense of humor.” Is this guy a good catch or what? The 6-foot-3 former Texas A&M linebacker, who works as an insurance salesman, is also as modest as he is magnetic . “Hopefully, people will see me for what I am: sincere, genuine and fun.” He explains, “I’m just a normal guy.” With an eight-pack it looks like.
