Tag Archives: movies

May 3, 2011 · 10:07 pm

Television Ownership Drops in U.S.

I’m not surprised…

We barely watch TV and if we do, it’s usually to watch a DVD or stream a movie in from on-line….

Broadcast TV has become a wasteland of mindless trash and insipid commercials….

I don’t miss it….

I choose to watch a few quality shows on DVD, get my news on the internet and ignore the trash culture TV perpetuates….

From the New York Times:

For the first time in 20 years, the number of homes in the United States with television sets has dropped.

The Nielsen Company, which takes TV set ownership into account when it produces ratings, will tell television networks and advertisers on Tuesday that 96.7 percent of American households now own sets, down from 98.9 percent previously.

There are two reasons for the decline, according to Nielsen. One is poverty: some low-income households no longer own TV sets, most likely because they cannot afford new digital sets and antennas.

The other is technological wizardry: young people who have grown up with laptops in their hands instead of remote controls are opting not to buy TV sets when they graduate from college or enter the work force, at least not at first. Instead, they are subsisting on a diet of television shows and movies from the Internet.

That second reason is prompting Nielsen to think about a redefinition of the term “television household” to include Internet video viewers.

“We’ve been having conversations with clients,” said Pat McDonough, the senior vice president for insights and analysis at Nielsen. “That would be a big change for this industry, and we’d be doing it in consultation with clients if we do it.”

Nielsen’s household figures suggest that while the TV set is still firmly at the center of the average American’s media life, a small minority of Americans are finding ways to live without it. The “persistently rocky economy” is a factor, the company says in the report to be released Tuesday.

via Television Ownership Drops in U.S., Nielsen Reports – NYTimes.com.

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May 3, 2011 · 8:59 pm

Actress and Playboy Model Found Mummified

Another cheery story out of Hollywood from Salon.com:

It’s a well-documented fact that Hollywood is cruel to women, both those on the screen and those of us watching at home with our unrealistic body expectations. Somehow, I always manage to forget this fact right before I buy my ticket to the next “Transformers” film, but the story of Yvette Vickers is chilling enough to taint anyone’s idealization of the City of Angels.

Yvette was a cult-famous B-movie actress of the ’50s and ’60s, first appearing in “Sunset Boulevard” in a small, unaccredited role and moving up to star in such features as “Attack of the 50 ft Woman” and “Attack of the Giant Leeches.” She was also famous for her Playboy centerfolds, the first one of which was shot by noted sexploitation director Russ Meyers.

Sadly, Vickers died sometime earlier this year. As it turns out, she’d been dead for months, though the police just found her body in her Benedict Canyon home last week. According to the L.A. Times:

AND, in closing….

A really sad, stark reminder to any young actresses out there: No matter how high you’re riding now, there’s still a chance that everyone will forget about you and you’ll be dead for months before someone finds your body.

Link to full story:   Actress and Playboy model found mummified – Celebrity – Salon.com.

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May 3, 2011 · 8:52 pm

Jim Caviezel Claims “The Passion of the Christ” made Him a Hollywood Outcast

It sounds to me, all these years after he played Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ,” that Jim Caviezel still hasn’t yet climbed down off the cross…..

And I hate to tell him, but Mel Gibson isn’t the best source for career advice….

And perhaps he should also consider that there are other factors in play-

Like the fact that maybe he’s just not that good of an actor…

Or is too much of a self-centered, self-important, paranoid personality even for Hollywood…

It also sounds like he’s made the career change to Professional Christian….

It probably pays better than acting- at least it did for Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson…

And it’s not all that different from acting….

From The Guardian:

“He said, ‘You’ll never work in this town again.’ I told him, ‘We all have to embrace our crosses,'” said Caviezel. He added: “Jesus is as controversial now as he has ever been. Not much has changed in 2,000 years.”

A passionate Christian, Caviezel told the audience at the First Baptist Church of Orlando he had learned to accept that the destruction of his acting career was a price worth paying. “We have to give up our names, our reputations, our lives to speak the truth,” he said. Though he labelled Gibson “a horrible sinner”, he said the actor turned film-maker should not be vilified. “Mel Gibson doesn’t need your judgment, he needs your prayers,” Caviezel said.

The Passion of the Christ was an enormous box office hit in 2004, taking more than $600m worldwide after attracting huge numbers of religious filmgoers. However, it was also the source of controversy with some critics accusing Gibson of antisemitism. Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News called it “the most virulently antisemitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II”.

via Jim Caviezel claims The Passion of the Christ made him a Hollywood outcast | Film | guardian.co.uk.

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May 2, 2011 · 7:17 pm

Fantasia Barrino, ‘American Idol’ Winner, to Play Mahalia Jackson

And she may be talented enough to also pull this one off….

After seeing her amazing performance in “The Color Purple” on stage,   I bet she can do it…..

I hope some of these movies I’m reading about come to fruition.  There sure haven’t been many good ones lately….

I’ve only seen two in the past couple of months….”Source Code” was lame, but “Limitless” was pretty good…

Still, nothing else out there on the movie horizon that is very exciting….

Fantasia Barrino has had her problems over the past year, but unintentional weight gain is not one of them.

The “American Idol” winner has been seen with extra pounds of late, but she says it’s on purpose — she’s getting into character for a new movie, in which she’ll star as gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.

“In fact, she’s just signed on to play the lead in Mahalia and has been told to gain 30 to 45 pounds for the role,” her rep told RadarOnline.com.

via Fantasia Barrino, ‘American Idol’ Winner, Gaining 30-45 Pounds For Movie.

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May 2, 2011 · 7:11 pm

Jeremy Renner: Steve McQueen In New Film

He just may be talented enough to pull this off….

From HuffingtonPost.com:

A newly famous action star isn’t just embracing superstardom, he’s kicking expectations to a whole new level.

Two time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner is set to produce and star in a biopic of legendarily rebellious actor Steve McQueen, the Oscar-nominated icon who helped define the modern action film. Renner’s new production company, The Combine, will be behind the film, to be based on Marshall Terrill’s book “Portrait of an American Rebel” and “The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon.”

McQueen, whose career was launched to true stardom with the TV show “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” featured in a slew of popular action movies through the 60’s and 70’s, including “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Great Escape,” “Bullitt,” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” amongst many others. He became at one point the highest paid actor in the world; his obsession with racing led him to do many of his own stunts and cemented his reputation as fearless leading man.

Renner has been on an epic run of his own; scoring back-to-back Oscar nods for action-filled dramas “The Hurt Locker” and “The Town,” he’ll appear in the new “Mission Impossible” film this summer with an eye on taking over the series from current headliner Tom Cruise. He’s now playing Hawkeye in the comic book epic “The Avengers” with director Joss Whedon, and he’s the choice to take over the “Bourne” films from Matt Damon.

via Jeremy Renner: Steve McQueen In New Film.

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May 1, 2011 · 10:26 am

Happy Birthday, Patsy Stone!

I mean Joanna Lumley, the incredibly talented actress who played Patsy in “Absolutely Fabulous”, one of my favorite TV shows…

Even though, in those years Pats and Eddie hit a little close to home on occasion….

Joanna Lumley really is more than Patsy Stone.  She’s an incredibly talented British stage and film actress.

But she will forever be known to many as “Pats”.

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April 28, 2011 · 9:14 pm

Happy Birthday to the Kitten with a Whip

Otherwise known as Ann Margret….

I can’t believe she’s 70 today…

Here she is in “Viva Las Vegas” with some guy….

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April 24, 2011 · 11:14 pm

Happy Birthday, Barbra Streisand and Shirley MacLaine

Two icons were born today:  Barbra Streisand is 69 and Virginia’s own Shirley MacLaine is 77….

Of course, I have to put up a couple of clips:

A little prime Streisand:

And a little MacLaine:

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April 23, 2011 · 10:08 pm

Easter Parade: Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine

A great version of this song….

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April 23, 2011 · 9:38 pm

Judy Garland: Over the Rainbow, and Then Some!

In recognition of her Carnegie Hall Concert 50 years ago tonight, there’s a lot of new interest in Judy Garland.

Here is a great article from this month’s Vanity Fair:

In December 1959, Judy Garland, only 37 but with a quarter-century of hard living behind her, lay near death in New York’s Doctors Hospital. Alcohol and pills were the culprits. When in reasonably good health, Garland, who stood an inch under five feet, weighed 100 pounds. Now she weighed 180. Her tiny frame was grotesquely swollen with fluid and her liver severely compromised. Her eyes were glazed; her memory was failing; her body was shutting down. Walking by Garland’s hospital room, a close friend overheard a clutch of doctors discussing her condition. One of them turned to the friend. “I have to tell you the truth,” the doctor said. “I don’t think she’s going to make it.”

She made it. “She had the constitution of an army,” Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft says. “She just knew she had to keep going.” But three weeks later, after 20 quarts of fluid had been drained from her body, her lead physician told Garland, “For the rest of your life, all your physical activity must be curtailed. You are a permanent semi-invalid.… It goes without saying that under no circumstances can you ever work again.”

Garland fell back onto her pillows. “Whoopee!” she cried, weakly.

More:  Over the Rainbow, and Then Some! | Vanity Fair.

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