Archive for the ‘uncategorized’ Category
Anne Hathaway Wears Sexy Backless, Beaded Dress at Les Miserables London Premiere
Anne Hathaways back was front and center in London at the Wednesday Nov. 5 (sec) premiere of Les Miserables.Hitting the red carpet for the epic film musical based on the classic Broadway show, the newlywed star, 30, made a dramatic appearance in a white Givenchy gown featuring pearl details, draped, off-the-shoulder sleeves — and a rear hemline that completely exposed the actress back, famously slimmed down from rigorous dieting for the intense role.
via UsMagazine.com.
She must like white for premieres as she wore the color to the New York premiere of The Dark Knight Rises and London Premiere of One Day
NBC: Anne Hathaway SNL Promo
Anne Hathaway gears up for her third round as host, with musical guest Rihanna on SNL this Saturday
Anne Hathaway hosts an all-new SNL with musical guest Rihanna.
Before playing Chris Nolan’s sadly uninspired angry and bitter version of Selina Kyle, Anne Hathaway sparkled with life and energy whenever she appeared as herself. Her promos for her third time hosting Saturday Night Live are strangely off-kilter and lacking in magic. We hope it returns soon, before she begins promoting her role as Fantine in Les Miserables.
SNL Promo: Anne Hathaway | Video | Saturday Night Live | NBC.
TV’s Batman Adam West gets a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
For the generation that first encountered a Batman who was as likely to smile as snarl, a Dark Knight who is too dark will never ring true. There was a lot of camp in the 1960s TV Show, but the values of a hero were rock solid. Adam West’s Batman was the incarnation that exploded the Caped Crusader from the insular world of comic books into the stratosphere of international pop culture. It is wonderful to see his contribution finally acknowledged. The 83 year old actor was finally awarded a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s walk of fame. Like many covering this story, we were astonished it hadn’t happened before now.
He is now arguably the most famous of all the pantheon of superheroes.
But it was 1960s TV star Adam West who transformed Batman from comic book favourite to pop culture icon.
And he has finally recognised with a spot on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame today, nearly 50 years since the show originally aired.
Adam, 83, was overjoyed as he was given the 2,468th star on the famous attraction, sitting in front of the Guinness World Records Museum.
Appropriately enough he has one of his own, as his 156 individual screen appearances as Batman are the most appearances as the character by any actor.
He was joined by guest speakers Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane and radio personality Ralph Garman, who is a voice on the series.
They were there as the veteran thespian is the voice of Mayor Adam West on the hit Fox cartoon show.
West, who was born William West Anderson, began his career more than half a century ago as a disc jockey and television host.
In 1959, he moved to Hollywood after landing a contract with Warner Brothers, making his movie debut opposite Paul Newman in The Young Philadelphians that same year.
His early success continued as he won roles on Maverick, Bonanza, The Outer Limits, and a co-starring role for a season on The Detectives.
But his biggest role came when producer William Dozier handpicked him to play Batman for the ABC TV series.
He revelled in hamming it up in the campy role and helped the show become a pop-culture phenomenon in the 1960s.
via Batman star Adam West finally gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame | Mail Online.
Just announced! Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) joins Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), and Director Joss Whedon in our Global Fan Chat today! Assemble at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT!
“MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS” ASSEMBLE ON TWITTER
MARVEL STUDIOS SPONSORS GLOBAL TWITTER CHAT WITH DIRECTOR AND CAST FOR FANS AROUND THE WORLD
PARTICIPANTS GET TEASE OF “MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS”
BURBANK, CALIF. (January 27, 2012)–Marvel Studios announced today that they will be sponsoring a Global Twitter Chat on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11 a.m. (PST) with cast members and the director of their highly anticipated action-adventure “Marvel’s The Avengers,” opening in theaters on May 4, 2012. The 30-minute live tweeting event features writer/director Joss Whedon and cast members Tom Hiddleston and Clark Gregg.
Fans around the world will be able to participate in the Q&A on Twitter by using the @Avengers handle and the #Avengers hashtag. Participating fans will have the opportunity to see a 10-second tease of the 30-second Super Bowl spot that will air during Super Bowl XLVI on February 5 on NBC. They will also have a chance to answer ”Avengers” trivia for a chance to win “Avengers” prize packs.
International fans will be able to submit questions for the talent in their native language through a global translation tool provided by Ortsbo.com. The chat will be moderated by Marvel’s @Agent_M.
“Marvel’s The Avengers” is the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, NickFury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.
Starring Robert DowneyJr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, JeremyRenner and Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson, and written and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. “Marvel’s The Avengers” is presented by Marvel Studios in association
with Paramount Pictures. The film is being produced by Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige and executive produced by Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Patricia Whitcher, Victoria Alonso and Jeremy Latcham. The film is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Follow @Avengers on Twitter for more details.
So what if it’s not Batman, it’s a viral for a superhero movie!
Catwoman Breast Cancer Awareness Ad (I swear to God, this costume thing should not be that hard)
Reblogged from Chris Dee's Cat-Tales Blog:
Does it really matter what I say at this point?
Okay, in case anyone is actually reading down here, that picture is from a breast cancer awareness campaign rolled out by an advertising agency in Mozambique late last year, when it might have received a little more attention if we weren’t all occupied trying to figure out what Bane was saying in…
8 Scientific and Technical Achievements to be Honored with Academy Awards
Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that eight scientific and technical achievements represented by 28 individual award recipients will be honored at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation at the Beverly
Wilshire on Saturday, February 11, 2012.
Unlike other Academy Awards to be presented this year, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2011. Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.
The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are:
Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate)
To Andrew Clinton and Mark Elendt for the invention and integration of micro-voxels in the Mantra software.
This work allowed, for the first time, unified and efficient rendering of volumetric effects such as smoke and clouds, together with other computer graphics objects, in a micro-polygon imaging pipeline.
Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy Plaque)
To Radu Corlan, Andy Jantzen, Petru Pop and Richard Toftness for the design and engineering of the Phantom family of high-speed cameras for motion picture production.
The Phantom family of high-speed digital cameras, including the Phantom Flex and HD Gold, provide imagery at speeds and efficacy surpassing photochemical technology, while seamlessly intercutting with conventional film production.
To Dr. Jürgen Noffke for the optical design and Uwe Weber for the mechanical design of the ARRI Zeiss Master Prime Lenses for motion picture photography.
The Master Primes have achieved a full stop advance in speed over existing lenses, while maintaining state-of-the-art optical quality. This lens family was also the first to eliminate the magnification change that accompanied extreme focus shifts.
To Michael Lewis, Greg Marsden, Raigo Alas and Michael Vellekoop for the concept, design and implementation of the Pictorvision Eclipse, an electronically stabilized aerial camera platform.
The Pictorvision Eclipse system allows cinematographers to capture aerial footage at faster flying speeds with aggressive platform maneuvering.
To E.F. “Bob” Nettmann for the concept and system architecture, Michael Sayovitz for the electronic packaging and integration, Brad Fritzel for the electronic engineering, and Fred Miller for the mechanical engineering of the Stab-C Classic, Super-G and Stab-C Compact stabilizing heads.
This versatile family of 5-axis camera and lens stabilizers allows any standard motion picture camera to be fitted into the open architecture of the structure. The system can be quickly balanced and made ready for shooting platforms such as helicopters, boats, camera cars or cranes.
To John D. Lowry, Ian Cavén, Ian Godin, Kimball Thurston and Tim Connolly for the development of a unique and efficient system for the reduction of noise and other artifacts, thereby providing high-quality images required by the filmmaking process.
The “Lowry Process” uses advanced GPU-accelerated, motion estimation-based image processing tools to enhance image quality.
To FUJIFILM Corporation, Hideyuki Shirai, Dr. Katsuhisa Oozeki and Hiroshi Hirano for the design and development of the FUJIFILM black and white recording film ETERNA-RDS 4791 for use in the archival preservation of film and digital images.
Specifically designed for laser film recording and widely used in the industry today, the high-resolution FUJIFILM ETERNA-RDS 4791 film stock is an important step in protecting the heritage of the motion picture industry.
Academy Award of Merit® (Oscar® Statuette)
To Franz Kraus, Johannes Steurer and Wolfgang Riedel for the design and development of the ARRILASER Film Recorder.
The ARRILASER film recorder demonstrates a high level of engineering resulting in a compact, user-friendly, low-maintenance device, while at the same time maintaining outstanding speed, exposure ratings and image quality.
Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation will be included in the Oscar ceremony.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
TDKR star Christian Bale roughed up in China | CNN
This is not an amusing case of life imitating art*. CNN is reporting Christian Bale was roughed up in China in an attempt to see an activist. The text story follows, but there is video of the incident on cnn.com.
Bale is in China in conjunction with Zhang Yimou’s ‘The Flowers of War’
DONGSHIGU VILLAGE, China (CNN) — As Christian Bale approached an impromptu checkpoint leading to this tiny village in eastern China, four men blocking the narrow path started marching toward him in menacing unison.
“I am here to see Chen Guangcheng,” the Hollywood actor said and I translated, with correspondent Stan Grant and cameraman Brad Olson next to us.
“Go away!” the plainclothes guards barked, pushing us back.
Amid the scuffling and yelling, dozens more guards in olive-green, military-style overcoats — and two gray minivans — emerged from the other side of the checkpoint, all coming toward us.
“Why can I not visit this free man?” Bale asked repeatedly, only to receive punches from guards aiming for his small camera as they tried to drag him away from the rest of us.
As we retreated, I recognized the ringleader — the same burly man who had hurled rocks at the CNN team 10 months earlier to force us out of the same location.
A precarious scene ensued Thursday as one of the gray minivans chased our car at high speed on bumpy country roads for some 40 minutes.
When the dust settled, we counted a broken car, a damaged camera — and a “Batman” star disappointed at — but not shocked by — his failure to see a personal hero.
“What I really wanted to do was to meet the man, shake his hand and say what an inspiration he is,” Bale said.
Christian Bale visits China as activist
The man, 40-year-old Chen Guangcheng, has been confined to his home along with his wife, mother and daughter, and watched around the clock by dozens of guards since he was released from prison in September 2010. A local court had sentenced him to more than four years in prison for damaging property and disrupting traffic in a protest.
Blind China activist recovers amid call for his release
His supporters maintain authorities used trumped-up charges to silence Chen, a blind, self-taught lawyer who rose to fame in the late 1990s thanks to his legal advocacy for what he called victims of abusive practices by China’s family-planning officials.
Bale first learned about Chen through news reports, including our coverage in February, when he was in China filming “The Flowers of War,” a wartime drama set in 1930s Nanjing in which he plays a mortician trying to save a group of schoolgirls from the clutches invading Japanese soldiers.
Blind lawyer makes Chinese officials jittery
The injustice faced by the activist and his family stirred such strong emotions in Bale that, upon hearing his impending return to China to promote the movie, he decided to do something unusual to raise the international awareness of Chen and thereby to turn up the heat on the Chinese government.
“This doesn’t come naturally to me, this is not what I actually enjoy — it isn’t about me,” he explained during our eight-hour drive from Beijing to the eastern city of Linyi, where Chen’s village is located. “But this was just a situation that said I can’t look the other way.”
Known to be a media-shy celebrity, Bale reached out to CNN and invited us to join him on his journey to visit Chen.
In the car, he lamented the American public’s lack of knowledge on Chen’s case, despite senior U.S. officials’ increasingly vocal support for his freedom. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gary Locke, the American ambassador to China, have both championed Chen’s cause.
Bale appeared a little surprised to learn a studio that produced his Oscar-winning hit recently filmed in Linyi and was accused by activists of cozying up to the same officials who ordered Chen’s detention and torture.
Although China’s state media has largely ignored the story, Chen’s plight has spread online and outraged a growing number of Chinese “netizens.” Many have tried to visit Chen, and activists say nearly all would-be visitors have been turned back, often violently, by plainclothes police and local thugs.
“I’m not brave doing this,” Bale emphasized. “The local people who are standing up to the authorities, who are visiting Chen and his family and getting beaten or detained, I want to support them.”
As our car sped toward Beijing in the dark, Bale wondered aloud if he would never be allowed back — a prospect he is prepared to accept — even as “The Flowers of War” became China’s official entry into next year’s Academy Awards.
“Really, what else can I do to help Chen?” he kept asking as the clock struck midnight, with his latest movie — partially funded by the state — about to open nationwide in China.
via ‘Batman’ star punched, stopped from visiting blind Chinese activist – CNN.com.
Breakout
*refers to opening sequence in Batman Begins where Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne is in a Chinese prison.
Batman is Trending: Community, SNL Parody
As anticipation builds for The Dark Knight Rises in July of 2012, we can expect more Batman appearances in other media trying to get a piece of his popularity. Recent weeks have seen a very enjoyable “Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism” on NBC’s Community and a painfully unfunny parody on SNL with Steve Buscemi as Commissioner Gordon:
Community established a certain character’s fondness for The Dark Knight in the season 1 Halloween episode. Now it seems his prized limited edition DVD (with Chris Nolan commentary!) was stepped on by one of his housemates, who stages a break in to cover it.
SNL put host Steve Buscemi in a mustache to resemble Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon, and parodied The Dark Knight’s tendency to appear and disappear at will in increasingly ludicrous and inappropriate places. Whatever.
Humor: Batman’s Social Networking Nightmare
Before the Thanksgiving break, we had Superman’s Social Network Nightmare in Superman Busted. Batman wasn’t exactly sympathetic. Karma is a bitch.
via Agent-X Comics
Batman pajamas
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. From now on when someone asks what’s wrong with the Darker than Dark, Grittier than Gritty Batman that is the mainstay of certain over-rated Batman writers and games, we will simply show them this:
Humor: Superman busted
So it’s not Batman humor exactly. Batman’s in it, and it must be shared:
The Joy of Tech comic… Superman’s social network nightmare..
Batman Artwork
We’ve been seeing some fascinating superhero inspired art in the past few weeks. These are the most striking Batman images from saturdaychurch and djstorm.
Not really sure what the early twentieth century arts movement was that was so industrial, but this appears to be of that style.
Batman Humor: Bat-Cat
There is no reasonable explanation for this video, why it exists or why we watched it four times, unless it is an alien plot and we’ve been assimilated.
Now you have too.
I’m Batman! « Cats and Cupcakes
One of the biggest problems in Batman comics and Batman related media like Arkham City is they have made everything so dark and gritty, they’ve forgotten that comic book superheroes should be fun. Cartoons like Batman: The Brave and the Bold and games like Gotham City Imposters remember, but they are few and far between. Often it falls to real Batman fans like this to save the fandom from itself.
Batman’s Adventures: A week in pictures
We’re particularly fond of the ones with the cat.
via Cats and Cupcakes.
Justin Bieber’s Batmobile
Celebs like Batman just as much as the rest of us. From Kim Kardashian’s Poison Ivy costume to Justin Bieber’s Batmobile, their indulgences do get more attention. Thanks to TDW Geeks for the heads up.
Justin Bieber’s Batmobile of the Day: Justin Bieber has done what any self-respecting 17-year-old multimillionaire would do: commissioned a custom Batmobile.
The modified Cadillac CTS-V — called the “Batillac,” natch — was customized by Ryan Friedlinghaus of TLC reality show Street Customs. It’s got Batman logos on the front and back, a “Batmobile” nameplate on the trunk, and the reverse-opening “suicide doors” favored by various rap stars.
You could definitely knock the Batillac for its lack of true Batmobile features, but a $70,000 Cadillac (and that’s just the base model) is still pretty sweet.
Bieber’s Batmobile is already attracting the attention of the police. According to TMZ, Bieber was pulled over in the car and let off with a warning after cutting off a California Highway Patrol officer.
Check out some more pics of the Batillac after the jump.
