While official confirmation has yet to be reported, columnist Liz Smith eulogizes friend and filmmaker Nora Ephron , writer and director of films including Sleepless in Seattle , You’ve Got Mail , and 2009’s Julie & Julia . “People who never dreamed she was ill, are crestfallen. Amazed. Stunned,” Smith writes. “I won’t say, “Rest in peace, Nora” – I will just ask “What the hell will we do without you?” UPDATE: Sources clarify that Ephron is alive, but “gravely ill.” Meanwhile, advice columnist Margo Howard, who also writes for the online publication The Women on the Web , where Smith’s remembrance appeared today, Tweeted the news citing Smith as her source: Well, to those of you who can't find the news of Nora Ephron's death, the funeral is Thursday – and maybe that's the way she wanted it.— Margo Howard (@Margoandhow) June 26, 2012 Contradicting the odd announcements, the New York Times contacted Ephron’s publisher, Knopf, who said she has not died : Nora Ephron's publisher, Knopf, tells the NYT that she is still alive.— Julie Bosman (@juliebosman) June 26, 2012 UPDATE: Newsweek/Daily Beast reporter MariaElena Fernandez chimed in through the confusion, adding that Ephron, who is battling cancer, is alive but near death. Nora Ephron news is not a hoax but she has not passed away. She is not expected to make it through tonight. This is the truth.— MariaElena Fernandez (@writerchica) June 26, 2012 UPDATE: TMZ cites family members who say Ephron is “gravely ill,” while Roger Friedman has been told that she’s in a New York hospital suffering from “a rare form of leukemia.” Developing… [ WOW ]
Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller made names for themselves with their feature debut, the animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs , before moving on to direct Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in the live-action hit 21 Jump Street . As they work up their next film — WB’s live-action/CG blend LEGO adaptation, apparently titled Lego: The Piece of Resistance , based on the plastic toy building blocks — the duo are casting a few familiar superheroes to appear in the pic. Variety reports that Lord and Miller have tapped Will Arnett to voice LEGO Batman in the adventure, with the hope that Tatum can find room in his schedule to come on as LEGO Superman. They’d be joining Parks and Recreation ‘s Chris Pratt , who leads the pic after recent turns in Moneyball , What’s Your Number , and The Five-Year Engagement . Pratt and Tatum also co-star in the indie high school reunion drama Ten Year , which is slated for release through Anchor Bay, while Tatum of course starred in 21 Jump Street for Lord and Miller, with hilarious results. The synopsis, via Variety: “Pratt will play Emmet, an ordinary, law-abiding, Lego mini-figure who is mistaken for the most extraordinary MasterBuilder. He’s drafted into a fellowship of strangers on a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together.” Of course, there’s no indication of just how big the parts of LEGO Batman and Superman will be in the film, but the cheeky, geeky move should get DC/LEGO fans excited nonetheless. The parts are all falling into place… [ Variety ]
Bigger Than the Sound explores the general all-over-the-placeness of Jepsen’s breakout hit. By James Montgomery Carly Rae Jepsen Photo: WireImage Over the past one-hundred days, I have most definitely been alive, and as such have certainly bought clothes, spent time in an Applebee’s, listened to the radio, been on the Internet, had conversations with actual human beings and watched programming on the CW (“Hart of Dixie,” I wish I knew how to quit you). Which is why it is somewhat troubling that, until this week, I hadn’t heard Carly Rae Jepsen ‘s “Call Me Maybe.” After all, during that time, it has become most ubiquitous song in the universe (or at least the most ubiquitous one not named “Somebody That I Used to Know” ), rising to the top of the Billboard pop chart — she’s the first female artist to claim the top spot with a debut single since Adele — earning covers by everyone from Justin Bieber and Katy Perry to Fun. and the Harvard University baseball team, and racking up more than 104 million views on YouTube (where it’s currently the site’s most-viewed music video ). None of this is exactly surprising. After all, “Call Me Maybe” is probably the most perfect pop song of 2012, sterling-silver shiny and full of sappy, sweet sentiments, it is an alarmingly effective melding of dance pomp and Disney circumstance … with a chorus to match. And you get the feeling that, with summer nearly upon us, its reign is only beginning, and soon it will overtake “Somebody” as the song your aunt writes about on Facebook. And yet, I find myself conflicted by all of this. Its rise to ubiquity has left me wondering if I am truly capable of doing this job anymore. This has nothing to do with the song itself, but everything to do with its very existence … mostly in that I was completely unaware it existed in the first place. In hindsight, this seems almost implausible — after all, it is probably playing somewhere in your general vicinity at this very second (maybe you are listening to it right now) — and, really, how am I supposed to consider myself a music journalist if hadn’t heard it once over the past three months? Was I that out of touch? Do I hang out with the wrong people? Had I really spent that much time interviewing Japandroids ? These are the things that keep me awake at night. I’ll admit, I was panicked. I began updating my resume. But then, roughly around the 15th time I listened to “Call Me Maybe” on Tuesday (my officemate loves me), I realized something important: I actually had heard the song — many, many times, in fact. But only in bits and pieces; the plucky intro in a pizzeria, those saccharine string stabs slithering from the window of a passing car, that “I missed you so, so bad” outro … I had never actually put them all together and realized they were part of the same song. And then it dawned on me that perhaps that was the reason for its success: it is less of a song as it is a collection of fascinating parts, each as easily digestible and appealing as the last, each meant to appeal to someone somewhere. In fact, you could probably re-arrange them in any order and the end result would be the same: “Hey, I like this!” And sure, you could argue that all solid pop tunes are basically created in the same mold, but in some way, “Call Me Maybe” is different. It seems custom-built for the fickle and fleeting attention spans of the public: You can hear any three seconds of it anywhere — between stations on the radio, over the end credits of a TV show, at H&M — and instantly be drawn in. Compare its structure to other recent ubiquitous hits — like Fun.’s “We Are Young,” any of Adele’s melodramatic missives, and, of course, “Somebody That I Used to Know” — and you’ll notice that they all seem practically leaden by comparison. They are traditional songs. “Maybe” is a glorious assortment of glimmering bits, expertly crafted to latch on to your subconscious and never let go. It is, in parts, a dance tune, a feathery pop ballad, a tween-aged heartbreaker, a light-FM sorta-rocker, a Disney Radio staple … oh, and Jepsen’s Canadian to boot. No pop movement from the past few years goes untouched. There’s truly something for everyone. So, in case you’re wondering, I’m not worried anymore. I am not clueless or out of step … I simply fell victim to the rather devious machinations of “Call Me Maybe.” It is the song you can’t un-hear, even if you’ve just heard a few fleeting seconds of it. And while it may not be the smartest pop song of all time, I’m here to tell you it just might be the most brilliant. Or at least the most brilliantly constructed. Well played, Jepsen … well played. Related Artists Carly Rae Jepsen
Karina Brez, the reigning Miss Florida title holder, is speaking out and denying the allegations lobbed by former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin this week. Specifically, that Brez found out Miss USA is rigged . Monnin is now being sued by the Miss Universe Organization over her accusations, which stem from Brez’s alleged discussion of seeing a list of the five finalists before last week’s pageant even took place – which Brez denied. Sheena Monnin claims Brez said she saw the list of the final five, but Miss Florida claims what she saw did not reflect the big Miss USA winner(s). “Looking back, it’s definitely a rehearsal list, because from the names that I read off that sheet, it wasn’t even the top five,” Brez told E! News. The pageant’s eventual winner, Olivia Culpo, wasn’t even on it, she adds. “It was nowhere close to what [Monnin] is saying, so her claims are incorrect … I know that I made the comment out loud saying something about a rehearsal list backstage … maybe she assumed that I said a fact, [while] I said it jokingly.” “I honestly don’t even remember speaking to her … I feel bad at how this has been handled … [Monnin’s] been taking it just way too far.” When Donald Trump seems like the voice of reason, we’d have to agree.
My name is Léa, I’m 16 and a half and I really want to tell you my story. I don’t know how to begin. I’ve been a Belieber since September 2009. I remember the date, but that is not important. I live in South West of France . My mother said to me, “We are going to London” and you know what? Justin was probably going to be there too. “Never Say Never” stayed in my head. I said to her, “I want to meet him, to see him, just two seconds, no matter what”. I spent 4 hours outside his hotel, but he never come to the window. I met some extraordinary people, I met some Beliebers, it was great, but no Justin. I came back to France. I didn’t feel right at school or at home. Then heard that Justin was coming to Paris on June 1st. Everything was happening so fast. I called into the radio station “NRJ” in order to win tickets for the showcase. The guy said to me that I can come to the radio’s show and try to sing and win tickets. I called my mother to explain the situation. I took the train to Paris (which took me 5 hours). I sang “One Time” in front of some people who were in the studio, the crew and people who were listening on the radio. Click here to watch the video. I’ve cried so much ‘cause I didn’t win tickets right away. Another girl won before me. Then I saw a Belieber who I met in London so I was happy to talk to her. Then I won the tickets the following day. Beliebers was waiting for Justin at the radio station. On Friday, June 1st, it was a BIG dream. The other belieber called me on my phone and said, “I have two girls who want to meet Justin, so if you want, I can invite you to go Grand Journal (a huge TV show), are you happy?” Oh my God. I was going to meet Justin, my idol, TWICE IN ONE DAY? That was crazy, incredible. My friend was late for the show, so we had to hurry up. We entered the TV studio. We had to sit on the floor, the studio was full. It ended up being the BEST WAY to be close to him. He sang ‘Boyfriend’ and touched my hand. He also did an interview and at the end, he came to us and hugged a girl. I touched his neck, he smiled, I smiled. I was so close to him during those seconds, but then he had to go. He performed, “Die in your arms” away from the cameras. He looked at us, in my direction, with his nice smile and his bright eyes. I began to cry. It was very emotional. He left the studio. My uncle saw him in his car going to the showcase. We arrived on the site for the next TV show. There were MANY PEOPLE waiting to enter. He sang “Baby”, “Never Say Never”, “Be Alright”, “Die In Your Arms”, “As Long As You Love Me” and “Boyfriend”. I didn’t scream, I couldn’t say anything, I was open-mouthed. I was so stressed and worried for Justin because I heard he was sick. My friend told me to keep calm and not to cry. It was so hard. It’s my idol, I don’t want him to be sad, not well, sick, or something like that. Thank you to everyone who helped me to do this, and people who read the text. I can’t really find the words to explain this. Justin, don’t change, stay yourself, you’re very nice. I ADMIRE YOU. I will be a belieber until the end of the universe. YOU! Yeah, you who’s reading this, if you didn’t meet Justin yet, YOU WILL MEET HIM. Love from France ♥ God bless you -@shawty_lea See original here: My name is Léa, I’m 16 and a half and I really want to…
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus opens stateside today, which means no more tiptoeing around spoilers for those who’ve seen it. ( Obviously, spoilers will follow. You’ve been warned. ) The number one complaint among folks who have now seen the highly anticipated Alien kinda-prequel? So. Many. Unanswered. Questions. So let’s jump right into the spoiler goo and get to deciding (and, hopefully, answering) the biggest question prompted by Scott’s gorgeous, murky space opus that is left yet unanswered. I’ll start: WHY? Why does pretty much anyone in Prometheus make any of the decisions they make? Like… – Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) with the helmet-taking off. Really, is sniffing (and contaminating) the alien world atmosphere on the planet you just landed on and know nothing about such a good idea? – Vickers (Charlize Theron), running in the one direction that will lead her to being squashed by a giant falling spaceship? – Millburn the dumb biologist (Rafe Spall), who just wants to reach out and make friends — even with the squishy alien penis-snakes? – Space crew guy, walking straight up to his recently deceased, re-animated fellow shipmate who has spider-crawled his way across a space desert to space-murder everyone? Most of these aren’t necessarily unanswered questions, just incredibly stupid decisions that inform and support the characters in facepalm-worthy strokes. Holloway is a risk-taker! Vickers is a sheltered, prideful ice queen with probably little field experience who would rather try to outrun death than roll, like her unassuming and practical brunette counterpart, out of its way! Crew guy is, well, a redshirt, for lack of a better term. Yes, yes. There are reasons to be found here, if not particularly great ones. The bigger questions have to do with two still-opaque entities: The Engineers and David, the increasingly creepy mayhem bot, Lawrence of Robotica. In the prologue we see one Engineer take a dose of black space goo and tumble, dead and transmorphing, into the water — thus presumably starting human life on Earth. So what is the goo? Prometheus builds a tech-driven world filled with great flying ships and alien holograms and C-section machines but is more concerned with ideas: Of creators and creation, of life and death cycling endlessly across the universe between humans and aliens, parents and offspring, scientists and their inventions. All children want to see their parents dead, according to David, who seems to be counting himself in that equation. What is the goo, then? Is it the proto-material of a xenomorph? How does it work, exactly? Why would anyone feed it to the cute Tom Hardy-looking guy? And who created the Engineers, anyway? Does it even matter when the real question is asking why we create, and in the process, destroy? The brilliance of Prometheus ‘s stubborn insistence on not feeding us the answers is that they’re not really important in the grand scheme of things, unless you require your movies to make sense. You know what else refuses to share vital information, instead choosing to provoke and see what happens? David. David, who has spent years in space flight amassing the breadth of human knowledge and yet cannot feel (or can he?), who has the answers — or, at least, the instructions the Engineers have written in their mystery language on the sides of their sweaty weapons of mass destruction like how-to manuals — and yet can’t understand why it is that Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw MUST understand. David, played marvelously by Michael Fassbender, remains the biggest mystery . He’s tasked with one directive: Help Weyland find a way to live forever. You could build a strong case that everything David does is indeed in service of this goal. Weyland’s mistake is in trusting a machine that doesn’t think in human terms, but in practical ones; if there’s no alien magic out there to Benjamin Button old man Weyland back into handsome, young Guy Pearce, David finds another way to help his master live forever: Through his legacy, by altering the course of human history (gladly, it seems) via one or two devious deceptions. Consider the legacy of the man at the center of David’s favorite film, as seen in Prometheus ‘s sublime opening sequence. T.E. Lawrence was born in 1888, helped upset order in the Arab world in 1916, was immortalized on celluloid in 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia , and then, years later in the world of Prometheus , inspired an android to not only imitate his blond coif but instigate the beginnings of the Alien universe in 2093. Lawrence is really the key to understanding David; in helping Weyland achieve his immortality by way of launching the destruction of humanity, David is immortalizing himself, and a part of me thinks that a part of him yearns to express this measure of often foolhardy human emotion. Or maybe he’s just designed to be a close, but not close enough, imitation of the humans who built him? The more I think of David as a stand-in for Prometheus the movie at large, the less I care that Idris Elba figured out in five minutes what the Engineers were up to on this rinky dink planet, or that we’ll never know what David whispered to the last remaining Engineer, a la ScarJo and Bill Murray in Lost in Translation . Those quibbles seem minor given the vast provocations the film leaves behind. To an aggravatingly obvious extent, the gaping abyss of understanding that Prometheus leaves puts us, the viewer, in the position of Shaw — still searching, desperately, for answers, with only a soulless computer brain as her guide. We are Shaw, and maybe the internet is our David, offering knowledge and spoilers at our fingertips but, unless Ridley Scott and writers Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof hop on a Reddit AMA session, no ready answers and plenty to be wary of. Big things come in small packages, and that goes for space goo, blond robots, and universe-expanding ideas. So, all that said, what unsolved mysteries irked you the most in Prometheus ? Sound off in the spoiler-friendly comments below and let’s figure this sucker out. — Our colleagues at (PMC-owned) Beyond the Trailer pose a relevant question: “Is Prometheus an intellectual sci-fi thriller, or a pseudo-intellectual sci-fi thriller?” See what other real folks say in their impromptu exit poll. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
I have done a post on MISS ANGOLA / MISS UNIVERSE 2011 / Leila Lopes’ Tits Before …..back when she won Miss Universe…not cuz I follow beauty pageants or even find the dumb cunts in them remotely interesting, although their answers to questions are always so fucking moronic…that you kind of have no choice but to appreciate them for what they are….especially when there is a bikini pageant associated with it so that we can focus on what is important…their tits not their brains, you see cuz we aren’t zombies here….but sometimes I wish I was on bath salts that turn out to not be actual bath salts making me feel like an idiot for trying to smoke the floral scented bath salts I found in the bathroom because that kind of power is what I need behind me to enjoy sex with my wife…
Olivia Culpo may have earned the title of Miss USA last night – and will go on to represent the United States in the Miss Universe pageant later this year – but Internet users are the true winners here. That’s because the bikini-clad women who took to the stage this weekend are the latest to participate in a “Call Me Maybe” lip dub, moving and shaking and pretending to sing to Carly Rae Jepsen’s catchy hit. And, yes, Donald Trump even gets into the act around the 40-second mark. Watch now: Miss USA Contestants Lip Sync to “Call Me Maybe” Last week, a video was released that summed up a number of similar lip dubs, from those featuring Katy Perry to James Franco to the Harvard baseball team. Check out their ” Call Me Maybe ” versions now!
‘Snow White’ actress tells MTV News how she ‘stalked’ director Rupert Wyatt after hearing about the sci-fi adaptation. By Fallon Prinzivalli, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Charlize Theron Photo: MTV News Charlize Theron has played more than a few not-so-nice characters. She received critical acclaim for her role in “Young Adult,” where she played an unstable woman intent on winning back her married high school sweetheart. Now she’s working on a project with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” director Rupert Wyatt called “Agent 13,” in which she’ll reportedly play another femme fatale. When MTV News caught up with the “Snow White and the Huntsman” actress, she revealed how the sci-fi project came together. “It’s a pitch that I heard a month or so ago and I fell in love with this pitch,” she said. “And ironically, at the same time, I really wanted to have a general [meeting] — ’cause you know how I stalk directors — with Rupert ’cause I really love what he’s been doing. I brought up the pitch to him and he said, ‘I really love this. I think we should talk about it.’ And so it was really just the universe coming together.” “Agent 13” is an adaptation of a 1988 comic book that follows an organization called the Brotherhood, which comprises survivors of the lost civilization of Lemuria. The title character was kidnapped by the Brotherhood as a young boy and trained to be one of their top spies. When Agent 13 realizes the group has been corrupted, though, he sets off to take them down. Fans are speculating that Theron will play one of the agent’s two sidekicks — his seductive lover, China White, or his beautiful, devoted assistant Maggie Darr — but the actress isn’t sure which character she’ll play. “You know, we’re writing it right now so it’s a very, very loose pitch,” she said, “but it’s an alternate world story so it’s big and epic and cool.” With the Wyatt project still in its early stages, fans can get their fill of evil Theron as the wicked Queen Ravenna in “Snow White” when it opens on June 1. Her character’s cruel nature, she said, gave her license to act like a jerk between takes. “I’m like yelling for sandwiches and coffee,” she joked. “And then, Chris [Hemsworth] comes by and he’s like, ‘You’re not shooting right now, Charlize!’ And I say, ‘Your head on a silver platter!’ And he says, ‘No, you’re not the queen right now.’ And then it crushes me, and I cry, and I deal with it.” While Theron hasn’t ruled out playing the nice girl, she teasingly said that for now she takes on the roles most familiar to her. “I stick with what I’m good at,” she said, laughing. Check out everything we’ve got on “Snow White and the Huntsman.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV First: Snow White And The Huntsman MTV Rough Cut: ‘Snow White And The Huntsman’ Related Photos Snow White And The Huntsman ‘Snow White And The Huntsman’ World Premiere
Basketball Wives Episode 14 Sneak Peek With Jennifer Williams Arriving Suzie checks in with Royce while in Tahiti, via Skype, and the drama is all too familiar for them. Turn it for the rest..
