Ricky Gervais and Elmo

Ricky Gervais and Elmo crack each other up.

This is a preliminary peek at an interview scheduled to air in November 2009 for Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary episode.

The producer has lost control of the interview. Instead of talking about charity, they turn to "what NOT to ever" talk about on Sesame Street. Heh.

Enjoy.

H/T Huffington Post.

There's more...

Dancing in the Liverpool Street Station, London

T-Mobile Commercial

Huffington Post

Telecom giant, T-Mobile, chose this location in the UK as the backdrop for a new advertisement, filmed during rush hour. It took 8 weeks of planning, 8 sound tracks of 60s thru 90s music, 10,000 people who auditioned, 400 people chosen, 10 hidden cameras, and a terminal full of unsuspecting commuters...

Public Reaction

Would you have danced?

Watched?

Or run for your train which you can't miss?

What are you doing today, hmmm?

When was the last time you danced? Why? With whom?

Dance for at least 10 seconds. Report back...

There's more...

3rd Annual GNB Oscar Contest

81st Academy Awards
Sunday, February 22, 2009
LIVE 5 PT/8 ET ABC

GNB Contest Rules:

1. Submit your picks to jwe.sea@gmail.com by Sunday 2/22 @ 3 PT/6 ET.
2. Only email entries count. Comment entries don't count (although we invite you to repost your email entry in comments if you wish.)
3. You may only enter once. No making corrections once you've entered. People who submit a second entry or a correction are automatically disqualified. (If you can't follow the rules...)
4. The person who predicts the most Oscars, wins the contest.
5. Tie-breaker: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay. In that order. And if two of you have ALL of those, well, damn! Then both of you win (even if we have to give one of you a different book.)

The contest winner gets a copy of The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards. If you win, you'll need to provide us with a valid name, shipping address, telephone number, and email address, to receive the book.

We will announce the winner -- their real or GNB name -- within a week.

Good luck everyone.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" (Overture Films)
• Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
• Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)
• Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Josh Brolin in "Milk" (Focus Features)
• Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
• Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)
• Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Meryl Streep in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)
• Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

• "Bolt" (Walt Disney)

  Chris Williams and Byron Howard

• "Kung Fu Panda" (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount)

  John Stevenson and Mark Osborne

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction

• "Changeling" (Universal)

  Art Direction: James J. Murakami Set Decoration: Gary Fettis

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Art Direction: Nathan Crowley Set Decoration: Peter Lando

• "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films)

  Art Direction: Michael Carlin Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway

• "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

  Art Direction: Kristi Zea Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

• "Changeling" (Universal)

  Tom Stern

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Claudio Miranda

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Wally Pfister

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

  Chris Menges and Roger Deakins

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

• "Australia" (20th Century Fox)

  Catherine Martin

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Jacqueline West

• "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films)

  Michael O'Connor

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Danny Glicker

• "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

  Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  David Fincher

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

  Ron Howard

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Gus Van Sant

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

  Stephen Daldry

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature

• "The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)" (Cinema Guild) A Pandinlao Films Production

  Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

• "Encounters at the End of the World" (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment) A Creative Differences Production

  Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser

• "The Garden" A Black Valley Films Production

  Scott Hamilton Kennedy

• "Man on Wire" (Magnolia Pictures) A Wall to Wall Production

  James Marsh and Simon Chinn

• "Trouble the Water" (Zeitgeist Films) An Elsewhere Films Production

  Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject

• "The Conscience of Nhem En" A Farallon Films Production

  Steven Okazaki

• "The Final Inch" A Vermilion Films Production

  Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant

• "Smile Pinki" A Principe Production

  Megan Mylan

• "The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306" A Rock Paper Scissors Production

  Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Achievement in film editing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Lee Smith

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

  Mike Hill and Dan Hanley

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Elliot Graham

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year

• "The Baader Meinhof Complex" A Constantin Film Production - Germany
• "The Class" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Haut et Court Production - France
• "Departures" (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film Partners Production - Japan
• "Revanche" (Janus Films) A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production - Austria
• "Waltz with Bashir" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production - Israel

Achievement in makeup

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Greg Cannom

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan

• "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal)

  Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Alexandre Desplat

• "Defiance" (Paramount Vantage)

  James Newton Howard

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Danny Elfman

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  A.R. Rahman

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman Lyric by Peter Gabriel

• "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Gulzar

• "O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Best motion picture of the year

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) A Kennedy/Marshall Production

  Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal) A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production

  Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers

• "Milk" (Focus Features) A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production

  Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production

  Nominees to be determined

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) A Celador Films Production

  Christian Colson, Producer

Best animated short film

• "La Maison en Petits Cubes" A Robot Communications Production

  Kunio Kato

• "Lavatory - Lovestory" A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production

  Konstantin Bronzit

• "Oktapodi" (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L'école de l'image Production

  Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand

• "Presto" (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production

  Doug Sweetland

• "This Way Up" A Nexus Production

  Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best live action short film

• "Auf der Strecke (On the Line)" (Hamburg Shortfilmagency) An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production

  Reto Caffi

• "Manon on the Asphalt" (La Luna Productions) A La Luna Production

  Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont

• "New Boy" (Network Ireland Television) A Zanzibar Films Production

  Steph Green and Tamara Anghie

• "The Pig" An M & M Production

  Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh

• "Spielzeugland (Toyland)" A Mephisto Film Production

  Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in sound editing

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Richard King

• "Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment)

  Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Tom Sayers

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood

• "Wanted" (Universal)

  Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt

• "Wanted" (Universal)

  Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin

• "Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment)

  John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Screenplay by Eric Roth Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord

• "Doubt" (Miramax)

  Written by John Patrick Shanley

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

  Screenplay by Peter Morgan

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

  Screenplay by David Hare

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

• "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)

  Written by Courtney Hunt

• "Happy-Go-Lucky" (Miramax)

  Written by Mike Leigh

• "In Bruges" (Focus Features)

  Written by Martin McDonagh

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Written by Dustin Lance Black

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

There's more...

About Damn Time

RIAA Quits Suing World

In the best Holiday Present Ever, the RIAA announced they were no longer suing their customers.

Now they'll simply contact your ISP and try and have your Internet access turned off.

Because the RIAA still thinks YOU, your MOTHER, CHILDREN, your UNCLE RUPERT, SISTER GLORIA, and all your employees are fucking thieves.

Aren't you? You over there... Aren't you a fucking thief? Yes... you, with your hand on that DVD. What? You already OWN it. You're just making a COPY onto your daughter's iPOD? POLICE. POLICE, someone call the POLICE! FBI, DEA, US NAVY, we've CAUGHT ONE...

The only reason they're quitting suing is because a class action law suit against them was about to blow up in their face. It was going to cost them about a zillion trillion peta-ga-lots of dough. Even more than Wall Street just got with no strings attached from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress, and that President-elect Obama thinks was a really good idea.

Now the RIAA is just going to get your ISP to shut down your Internet access, attempt to hack into your home account, have you download screwed up files and if they mess up your system, well, that's what you evil criminals like you deserve.

New business model that treats artists with respect, shares profits with artists without funny "studio accounting", and considers customers as people who want to pay an honest price for music, film and television to the artists they like....

Fuh-get-about-it. This is just same game, different inning.

The game is still to eliminate every possible means for you to make ANY legal copies of music you own, including backup copies, time-shifted copies, or copies you make to share with a friend. And if someone goes out of business, you're -- again -- going to be completely screwed as their DRM server dies, leaving you with no means of authorizing your collection. Regardless of the laws which should protect you.

Again, the point is not to protect you. You're a customer, thus by definition, a wanton lawbreaker and thief, either already, or potentially. The entire point is to protect the failed business model which already exists, thus screwing YOU, screwing the artist, and ultimately screwing the studios by locking them in tighter and tighter into what already has been proven to totally suck.

But congratulations. At least the RIAA isn't suing us any more.

And Happy New Year.

There's more...

Art on the Walls Open Thread

Hi All, here is part 2 of Home is where the art is.

I have a new piece of art! I got a signed copy of the Shepard Fairey Rock the Vote poster when we were at the convention. Finally got the framing done and it is proudly on my wall.


Send me a pic a favorite piece from your home/ home office? Office?

And I will post them up and we can all get a glimpse of each other's art-diggs.
Take a look back at our previous thread on GNB home art here.

ps. for any Japanophiles out there, I also have a good post up today about Japanese bath culture over at Fighting Liberals (shameless self-promotion)

***(click on the pics for bigger versions***

Sherry has a great vintage game (her uncle joe's) hanging on the game room wall! Cool.

From Carl; silkscreen by Dutch artist Jacqueline de Jong (b.1939). She was associated with the Situationist movement from about 1957 to 1962, but has gone her own way since. This is called Pistol, from 1983.



And from Steve K we have this one, framed and hanging.


Doug shares 2 goregous paintings done by his wonderfully talented wife;

There's more...

Home is Where the Art Is; Open Thread

This painting was done by a friend of mine, a Chico Cal. gal, who was living in Japan when I first got here years ago. Her name is Jana Donoho-Strong, and she is back in Chico now.

This is a painting of a huge stack of old Shoyu (soy) jugs outside a historic town in Shikoku. It is done on paper, and burned and distressed etc to make it look old. It is a big piece. And I love it.

This was a part of a series she did reflecting on her experience in Japan. She being fair skinned, American in a rural area of Japan where everyone else was uniformly Japanese. Not so much in Tokyo these days, but still in the countryside the sight of a foreigner is cause for exclamation. "Gaijin!" Also usually includes pointing and gesticulating.

What do you have hanging on your walls? Email me pics and I will update the post. Or just write about your favorite art (hanging on your home walls) in the thread.

At Jurassicpork's House



At Maggie Jochild's House



At Minstrel Boy's pad



At DrBopperTHP's digs (he sent a ton of great pics of terrific art this was one of my faves)



At reader Chris Pisarra's place they prefer big sculptural work! Love it!



from prof fate "although it looks like an ink drawing, is actually a paper cutting from a single sheet of black paper. It's inspired by the famous Chinese folk tale, "The Journey to the West" and depicts the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven Sun Wu Kung (aka the Stone Monkey) kicking some villainous butt as was his usual wont."



Sara's Gorgeous Hummingbird (I love this one!)"Watercolor and ink by Austrailian artist Jody Bassett. It's a metaphor for the physical limits imposed by the disease we share. I have it across from my bed, where I see it first thing every morning."



At home at Abo Gato's place



Sherry has this gorgeous family heirloom hanging in her halls,




(click on pics to enjoy larger versions)

There's more...

Freedom, Baby, Freedom

Mash up dj earworm.

Rock Out

To quote the wonderful Skippy:

skippy the bush kangaroo

how many times have you asked yourself, what if the scissor sisters, paul mccartney, george michael and aretha franklin collaborated?

well, it might go a little something like this...

FREEDOM, Baby.

There's more...

Art-o-Mat; Intersection of Art, Antique, and Community

I heard about the Art-o-Mat project several years ago. Basically artists submit cigarette pack sized art following certain specifications and these are sold through retro-fitted Art-o-mat Machines.

Art-o-mat machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art. At last count there are 82 active machines in various locations throughout the USA. There are over 400 artists involved in the project. I am dying to get one of these over here in Japan. Or do something similar here.

The idea is to make art an everyday thing. Make art fun, affordable, and give artists an easy way to get their ideas out into the world.

Picasso a bit too pricey? Not to worry: for a mere five bucks, a vintage cigarette machine called the ART*O*MAT will dispense an original work of art with the pull of a lever. Collectors get a cigarette pack-sized sculpture, watercolor painting or stained glass mobile to call their own. The vintage art dispensing machines, 60 in all, are the brainchild of artist Clark Whittington. ARt*O*Mats are acrosss the country in places like the Chicago Cultural Center, the Whitney Museum in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Oceanside Museum of Art, as well as in cafes, restaurants and grocery stores around the country. Hundreds of artists submit their work to this project. Art*O*Mat customers don't get to choose a specific piece of art work, so the piece they receive is a surprise, just like the random dispensing of novelty toys in a gumball machine.-acfnewsource

Another great art idea is ATCs or Artist Trading Cards. Lots of these are being made, traded and/or sold on swap-bot, and etsy.com. I've even made and traded a few myself. ATCs are basically playing card sized bits of art, often created and traded around a theme. You can read about making them and the idea behind the process here and here. Interested in participating? There is a great ATC community at ATCs for All. I am thinking of making some progressive and GNB ATCs to give away in Denver.

I especially like collage style ATCs like this one;


Check out more ATC samples at the Illustrated ATCs Gallery. There are also tons of people doing photo based ATCs which is also a great way to share your camera lens view of the world.

But at the end of the day, all these miniature art movements are about access, distribution and a cultural sharing of ideas that is fun and not intimidating.

There's more...

Andy Goldsworthy: Mother Nature's Street Artist

About 15 years ago I was flipping through some photo books in a small book store in Philadelphia when I saw a photo that stopped me in my tracks. It was a gorgeous sculpture made of stream stones built out in a wooded area of Scotland, the artist/photographer,genius who made this piece was a man named Andy Goldsworthy. In the following years I kept an eye on him, bought some books of photos of his work, and marvelled at what he was able and willing to create. What do I mean by willing to create? Well-- the thing is, Andy does his thing in nature, made of natural objects and without the goal of permanence. He makes a record of it with his camera, as do other friends and admirers, but the pieces themselves are painstakingly created to live a very short and glorious life. It surprises me every time I really think of it. I have known so many artists that want to create something that will last, something to be remembered by, something more permanent.

I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and "found" tools--a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn...I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature. -Andy Goldsworthy

I think this is one of the reasons I like today's street-art as well. In fact, Banksy and the rest are the Andy Goldsworthys of the Urban environment, just as Andy is kind of a street artist out in the highways and byways of mother nature. (rowan leaves and a hole)
Andy's work has stayed with me-- I often can see his images in my head when taking a walk in the park, or when the seasons change. His mind is a rare and beautiful one. Read more and see more in "Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature"

There's more...

Artist Robert Rauschenberg Dead at 82

Robert Rauschenberg is dead at 82 from heart failure. He was a great artist, producing many classics of modern art. He also got a grammy for the album design of Talking Heads, Speaking in Tongues.

The artist's job is to be a witness to his time in history. -- R.R.

There's more...

Final Theme Song

DrBopperTHP asks a great question:

What specific song do you want played at your funeral as your "final theme song?"

My favorite tune of all time is Vienna Teng's Lullaby For A Stormy Night (live version; poor recording).

However when it happens I'll be dead. I have no wishes for those who are there except my ashes's eventually being released on both Mt. Lemon (north of Tuscon) and Mt. Rainer. No marker; let my body return to the earth.

I love music, so whatever music is there -- except religious hymns, other than classic music such as Bach -- would be fine. What might be even better is simply paying attention to the music of the birds, the trees and the wind. Just being present would be perfect.

Followed by everyone going somewhere and having a big-ass party. With lots of Margaritas. 'Cause otherwise people might think life and death was fracking serious. *laughs*



How about you? Do you have a song you want played at your memorial?

We're taking last requests.

There's more...

Laugh, Laugh, Laugh

Note: Not precisely work safe everywhere; use caution.

The 50 Funniest Comedy Clips Ever

Nerve and IFC dare to rank great comedy with their:

The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time

I don't know if I agree with them. I do know, I've wasted the last three hours.

You have been warned.

h/t Boing Boing.

There's more...

Spike Lee on Filmmaking and Diversity

Spike Lee. March 26, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Too wonderful not to share.

h/t The Hollywood Reporter.

There's more...

Liz Phair Rocks

As long as we're throwing up music...

There's a reason Liz Phair meant so much to so many, back when.

Everyone I hung with burned out at least two, maybe three of her albums.

Warning: Flower is NOT safe for work. Not not not. Neither are the others. All three however, rock hard.

Enjoy.


Fuck and Run -- Live in London 10/07/03


Flower -- Live in London 10/07/03


Divorce Song -- Live at Tower Records

Lyrics
Fuck and Run
Flower
Divorce Song

There's more...

Violinist Viviane Hagner (Age 14)

Zubin Mehta Conducts Israel Philharmonic with Viviane Hagner
Zubin Mehta conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra along with 14 year old violinist Viviane Hagner performing a piece by Camille Saint-Saens. This concert was in Tel Aviv in 1990.

There's more...

Reese Witherspoon Tops Highest-Paid List

Reese Witherspoon. Sep 2006. Christopher Bailey's Burberry lunch.
photo source unknown. Click for LARGE image.

The highest-paid actress in Hollywood

The consummate pro on and off set, Reese Witherspoon is officially #1.

IMDB (Dec 3, 2007)

Walk The Line star Reese Witherspoon is officially the highest-paid actress in Hollywood.

The 31-year-old Oscar winner has beaten the likes of Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz and Nicole Kidman to claim the number one spot in the Hollywood Reporter's annual female rich list - receiving a staggering $15-$20 million paycheck per picture. Tomb Raider star Jolie, 32, comes in second, though her salary for the current Beowulf picture was said to be a "mere" $8 million. Diaz, 35, is placed third, with a $15 million-per-movie salary demand, though her take-home earnings from the recent Shrek The Third are pegged at a very healthy $30 million.

The full list is:
1. Reese Witherspoon - $15 million-$20 million;
2. Angelina Jolie - $15 million-$20 million;
3. Cameron Diaz - $15+ million;
4. Nicole Kidman - $10 million-$15 million;
5. Renee Zellweger - $10 million-$15 million;
6. Sandra Bullock - $10 million-$15 million;
7. Julia Roberts - $10 million-$15 million;
8. Drew Barrymore - $10 million-$12 million;
9. Jodie Foster - $10 million-$12 million;
10. Halle Berry - $10 million.

Once again, everyone not a comedian, is an Academy Award winner.

As has been the case for the last three years.

There's more...

Summer Glau Kicks Everyone's Ass

Summer Glau in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Click for LARGE image.



The Terminators are back, and they're not kidding around.

All that stands between John Connor (from Heroes, Thomas Dekker) being killed is his mother, Sarah (played with just the right touch of paranoia, muscle and motherly exasperation by Lena Headey), and a new model of Terminator, one capable of showing emotion and talking in comprehensible sentences -- Summer Glau (most well known for her role as River Tam in Firefly/Serenity.)

Let me make this simple.

Forget Terminator 3, which we can all agree, blew.

If you liked Terminator 2 -- where this picks up -- you will like The Sarah Connor Chronicles, or as I call it, Summer Glau Kicks Everyone's Ass and looks FINE.

Available from iTunes at $1.99 an episode, and like any dealer, the first hit is free.

Highly Recommended. Monday's on FOX 9 p.m.

There's more...

Drumming

One to One Hundred

by Lenka Clayton and James Price.

h/t Boing Boing.

There's more...

You Suck at Photoshop #1

How LM Got So Damn Good At Photoshop. I Swear.

And you know I'd never pull a fast one on you.

Author Donnie Hoyle. h/t Boing Boing.

There's more...

Sing it Jennifer!

Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson
(Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Dreamgirls [2006])
Sings Somewhere from West Side Story at the Movies Rock event.

Gang... you want to listen to this one.

Jennifer blows the house down. Damn, this woman can sing!

There's more...