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FIFA to investigate Luis Suarez biting incident

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FIFA announced Tuesday it will look into the apparent biting of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini by notorious Uruguay striker Luis Suarez during the teams' Group D match.

Per British Press Association reporter Martyn Ziegler, FIFA stated it will "gather all the necessary elements in order to evaluate the matter."

"There is no doubt Luis Suarez is a fantastic footballer but, once again, his actions have left him open to severe criticism," FIFA official Jim Boyce told the BBC. "FIFA must investigate the incident seriously and take whatever disciplinary action is deemed necessary."

With the match tied at 0-0 in the second half and Uruguay needing a win to advance, Suarez appeared to bite Chiellini in the shoulder. The Italian veteran swung an elbow at Suarez, clutched at his shoulder, and pulled down his jersey in an attempt to show the match referee apparent bite marks on his skin.

Chiellini told Italian TV that Suarez had bitten him, saying it was "ridiculous" he had not been ejected over the incident.

If proven, it would be the third such biting incident in Suarez's career, the 27-year-old Uruguayan superstar having previously bitten opponents while playing in both the Dutch Eridivisie in 2010 and England's Premier League in 2013.

FIFA has banned players from the World Cup for misconduct before, with the longest such ban an eight-game suspension for Italy's Mauro Tossotti in 1994.

Could FIFA impose a similar punishment in Suarez's case? Though it's borderline impossible to predict exactly what the world's most erratic sports organization will do, at this stage it seems unlikely Suarez will escape without at least a multi-match suspension. Chiellini will clearly testify that he was bitten, and nothing in the video of the incident suggests that his account can't be trusted. If photographs of Chiellini's shoulder or other player statements further confirm that account, FIFA won't have any choice but to act.

Suarez also won't be helped by his history of not just biting opponents, but displaying other unsporting behavior. His deliberate handball of a goalbound shot in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals denied Ghana of what many would have said was its rightful semifinal place, and Suarez served another Premier League ban in the 2011-2012 season for racially abusing Manchester United player Patrice Evra.

It's that history that has made what would have already been heavy public pressure on FIFA to act into a deafening public outcry. And though in its somnabulant fashion FIFA doesn't always respond to public pressure as readily as many would expect, the idea of Suarez appearing in Uruguay's Round of 16 match after this is so appalling to so many viewers that it may have no choice.

The uneducated guess: Suarez receives a three-match ban, far short of the blood demanded by many but enough to keep him out until a hypothetical final -- one that without his services Uruguay is highly unlikely to reach. It will be a surprise if we haven't seen the last of Luis Suarez in this World Cup.

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OT it's GROSS how the italian media and people and general are blaming balotelli and using him as a scapegoat. yeah well the rest of your team was playing like shit so stop goddamn racists. hope balotelli does big things wherever he ends up playing this year.

Fox Rebooting 'Predator' With Shane Black

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The Lethal Weapon creator and Iron Man 3 director will write the treatment and is attached to direct the project, which could relaunch the sci-fi action franchise.


The ’80s action classic Predator is getting the reboot treatment from 20th Century Fox.

But before some purists cry foul, they should know that this reboot comes with an interesting attachment: Shane Black, the venerable screenwriter behind Lethal Weapon and writer-director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3.

Black will write the treatment for the project, then will hand over scripting duties to Fred Dekker, his university chum with whom he wrote 1987's Monster Squad. Black will oversee the writing and is also attached to direct.

John Davis, who produced the original with Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon, is producing the reboot. Predator is the muscle-bound action 1987 movie that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura as commandos being stalked in a jungle by a fearsome alien. John McTiernan directed the film, which was one of the movies that cemented Schwarzenegger's star power.

Black actually appeared in a minor role in the original movie and how he became involved is part of Hollywood lore.
When Predator was being made in 1986, Black was already a screenwriting prodigy for his Lethal Weapon and Monster Squad scripts. The studio and producers wanted him to polish the script for Predator, which was then in pre-production. Black turned it down. A few weeks later, they approached him again. Once more, Black said no. Another few weeks went by, and then the studio called again. This time, however, he was told there was a small role in the movie and asked whether he would like to have it. Black said yes.

When he arrived to the South American set, the studio execs and producers greeted him and said, "By the way, would you mind taking a look at the script?" Black replied, "I’m still not rewriting it."

Fox has found ways to keep Predator alive since its initial outing. There was a Schwarzenegger-less sequel, Predators, in 1990. Robert Rodriguez produced an installment of the franchise in 2010. Fox also combined it with its Alien franchise for a couple of Alien vs. Predator movies released in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

Fox exec Matt Reilly is overseeing the reboot. Davis Entertainment's Ira Napoliello is also overseeing. This is proving to be a busy time for Black. He is trying to put together a cast for The Nice Guys, a 1970s crime movie that was originally earmarked for television. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are circling the project, which is being produced by Silver but has no home just yet, and that could shoot this fall.

Black is also very actively developing Doc Savage, the adaptation of the 1930s pulp hero for Sony. He recently met with Chris Hemsworth for the title role, but it’s unclear when that project would shoot since it’s still grappling with budgetary issues. Sony, however, does consider Savage one of its priorities. Black is repped by WME, GreenLit Creative and Bloom Hergott. Dekker, who directed Monster Squad as well as Robocop 3, is also repped by WME.


Sauce


Model tells all about her 'paid sexual encounter' with Kendra Wilkinson's husband

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The transsexual who had an affair with KENDRA WILINSON’s hubby HANK BASKETT tells ALL in an exclusive E̶n̶q̶u̶i̶r̶e̶r̶ ONTD interview!





Just days before Hank Baskett and Kendra Wilkinson were set to celebrate their five-year anniversary on June 27, the couple’s marriage was rocked by The ENQUIRER/RadarOnline’s exclusive report of claims he had hooked up with a transsexual.

In a bombshell exclusive interview with the transsexual mistress, Ava Sabrina London, who has come forward to tell her side of the story in light of the explosive reports about their shocking tgryst.

According to London, the affair started just two months ago, when Baskett first made contact. “I met Hank Baskett probably around the 22nd or 23rd of April this year,” London told The National ENQUIRER.“He contacted me through a video I had posted on YouTube and we exchanged information.”


“I gave him the address to my house, he came over,” she added. “I wasn’t expecting for him to come at the time he did, and I had just gotten out of the pool with my girlfriend.” Dressed only in a bikini, London says she answered the door to find the Kendra On Top star dressed in basketball shorts, sandals and sunglasses.

But at first, London claimed, she had no idea that the man standing before her was a celebrity, and the former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver took precautions to hide his true identity. “Hank never identified himself by his real name. But he used, I believe it was Steve as his name,” she said.


Baskett certainly would have had his reasons for attempting anonymity. Not only has the father of two been married to the former “Girl Next Door” star Wilkinson since 2009, but unlike his wife, the woman he allegedly contacted was actually born a man. “Hank absolutely knew that I was a transsexual and he told me that I was the only transsexual he’s ever been with,” London claimed. “He thought I was beautiful.”

In fact, it wasn’t long after their introduction, she said, that the couple became intimate behind closed doors. And although Baskett allegedly seemed nervous, London said the 31-year-old was the first to take his clothes off.

“We quickly went to my bedroom where things got a little hot because he had already had taken off his clothes and he was erected,” she said of their first alleged encounter. “I started giving him a hand job and he was playing with my penis ‘cause he was laying down and I was like, you know, above him, so that’s when I realized who he was.”

Although she claimed the two did not have sexual intercourse, she said Baskett still was satisfied. “He put my penis close to his face and that’s when he, you know, he came really quickly,” she alleged. “Hank and I gave each other hand jobs and he played with my breasts. And it didn’t really go that much further because he had already come.”


And, even more surprising, after the act Baskett casually took a shower in London’s bathroom to clean up, London claimed. But their intimate meet-up wasn’t for free, according to London. The model alleges that Baskett enjoyed their fling so much, he gifted her about $500 for the 20 minute romp.“I got up and he took a shower,” London said. “And he met my girlfriend after that, shook her hand and he left.”


Mods, last post was the story leaking. This is the full interview.



SOURCE

A WHO post: Matt Smith is jealous, Colin Baker thinks Capaldi is "perfect"

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What makes Doctor Who the longest-running sci-fi series in history? A great team, a great cast, great characters...?

Matt Smith can tell you exactly why and he doesn't need many words to do so...

"Is there a better format for a show?" he asked the audience at the Wizard World Comic Con last weekend. "Man can go anywhere. Man picks up hot chicks. Man travels universe. Man fights aliens. Man can change. Beat that, television. James Bond's got nothing on us."


Well said, Matt Smith. Although we reckon Karen Gillan's hopes for new Doctor Peter Capaldi could make for an even better format. "I'm hoping he swears all the time and they bleep it out with Tardis sounds," she joked with the crowd of Whovians in Philadelphia.

Smith - who calls Capaldi a friend - also has high hopes for his successor. "I think he's going to bring his reinvention and I think it's going to be really bold and really interesting. He's a fabulous actor, he's having a great time. I think he's pretty tired now they're on week 24."

But the eleventh Doctor does have one bee in his bonnet... "Can I just add - not that I'm bitter - they're going to Mexico City, Rio, Seoul and Sydney. We went to Belfast. Belfast is a nice place but it's not Mexico City."




Smith: Doctor would have got mean

Matt Smith has admitted that if he had carried on playing Dr Who, his character would have ditched his good nature and become tougher.

According to the 31-year-old actor, who quit the sci-fi series last June, if he had stayed on the show longer, the 11th Time Lord would be fiercer.

Speaking at the Wizard World Comic Convention in Philadelphia he said: "If my Doctor had carried on he'd have become a bit meaner and a bit tougher."

He added: "The universe would have weighed on his shoulders a little more which would have been cool."

"Damn, I should have stayed," he continued.

Fans of the hit BBC show are eagerly awaiting Peter Capaldi's debut as the 12th Time Lord in August.

Matt is set to star in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut The Lost River and has been signed up for a role in Terminator: Genesis.

Doctor Who: Colin Baker calls Peter Capaldi ‘perfect’ and David Tennant & Matt Smith ‘bloody kids’




Everyone was very sad when 11th Time lord Matt Smith announced his decision to leave Doctor Who last June, but equally we were all excited to see who would be brought in to replace him.

Having had a dip in The Doctor’s age over the last few regenerations we had left our minds completely open as to who the next chosen one would be, with some people even predicting a female casting for the role.

So it almost came as a surprise when Scottish The Thick Of It star Peter Capaldi had been cast, because he was just so old school ordinary.

But that is precisely one of the many reasons why he will make such a great Doctor Who, as former Time Lord Colin Baker has been explaining in a recent interview.

When asked by Red Carpet News Flash if he thought Capaldi would make for a good Doctor Who, Baker excitedly replied:

Peter is a perfect fit for the role. And if they hadn’t come up with the idea, eventually someone would have because his work leads inextricably to playing Doctor Who.”

He went on to add that Capaldi is a brilliant actor in his own right, and he’s delighted that he’s taking over. Not only that, he’s “grown up” unlike all the “bloody kids” who have been playing the doctor over the past decade.




But is the age of the Doctor really such an important thing?  Apparently so, as Baker explained that Capaldi is around the same age as William Hartnell was when he first started playing the Doctor, so to him, it really is an important quality.

However, despite the last couple of Doctors being pretty young, Baker did praise both David Tennant (10th Doctor) and Matt Smith (11th Doctor) as their performances convinced him that they were 900 years old, going on to be 1,000.

He went on to add: “They have got a female market now because of those two young guys, girls are now watching it, and hopefully they will continue to once they see and older man playing the part superbly, which I absolutely know that Peter will!”

Doctor Who is currently filming its eighth series in Cardiff, with a view to being shown on BBC1 in August later this year!



source 12& 3

Author John Gray: Feminism and free porn are ruining relationships

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He claims to have saved hundreds of thousands of marriages. But John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, is worried about where relationships are going - notably online.

Free internet porn is "like taking heroin," while online cheating websites can also lead to sex addiction, Gray said.

Gray, whose books including the original 1992 classic have been published in 50 languages and sold 50 million copies, is also worried about feminism, which he blames for spiking divorce rates.

"The reason why there's so much divorce is that feminism promotes independence in women. I'm very happy for women to find greater independence, but when you go too far in that direction, then who's at home?" he asked.

In an interview with AFP, Gray said widespread feminism in America holds back sales of his books here, while other parts of the world - he cited Australia and Latin America notably - are more in tune with his basic message.


Men and women come from different planets, and the two sexes should stop trying to behave similarly, and embrace their own natural personalities, according to Gray.

"The most resistance I get to my message is in America. Wherever feminism has a strong hold, there's resistance to the idea that men and women are different," he said.

"When you go to Australia, for example, there's a very clear knowledge that men and women are different."


Gray also cited Latin American countries as places where "they love my books."

In Europe, he said his biggest fans are in France.

"I think it's because France is a romantic country, the language is more romantic, people care more about relationships," Gray said.

The 62-year-old - who says he has saved "at least" hundreds of thousands of marriages over the last two decades - meanwhile was ambivalent about the impact of technology on relationships.

Being able to meet people easily online has its pluses he said, citing notably the number of divorced people in their 40s and 50s who seek out former friends and partners from their younger days.

But he voiced concern notably about two online trends: internet porn, and the huge success of so-called cheating websites, where users can hook up with others seeking illicit affairs.

"With free internet porn, there's a massive addiction happening ... just millions and millions of people are experiencing their sexual satisfactions through total fantasy," Gray said.

"The effect that porn has on the brain is like taking heroin."


Cheating websites, while providing real physical sexual experiences, are equally dangerous to real, long-term loving relationships, the author cautioned.

Sites like ashleymadison.com and arrangementfinders.com go "along the same line of pornography," he said. "When you have impersonal sex.... 'It's OK, here are these cheating wives, men, they want to have sex with you.'

"So you go have sex with someone that you don't know and someone you don't love ... impersonal sex does promote addiction to sex," he said.

Source

Eli Wallach passes away at 98

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The character actor from Brooklyn was at his best playing banditos in that Clint Eastwood classic as well as in "The Magnificent Seven," just two highlights of his six-decade-plus career.

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Eli Wallach, the enduring and artful character actor who starred as weaselly Mexican hombres in the 1960s film classics The Magnificent Seven and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, has died. He was 98.

Wallach, who won a Tony Award in 1951 for playing Alvaro in Tennessee Williams’ original production of The Rose Tattoo, made his movie debut as a cotton-gin owner trying to seduce a virgin in Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll (1956) and worked steadily well into his nineties, died Tuesday, his daughter Katherine told The New York Times.
No other details of his death were immediately available.

“As an actor I’ve played more bandits, thieves, warlords, molesters and mafioso that you could shake a stick at,” Wallach said in November 2010 when he accepted an Honorary Academy Award at the second annual Governors Awards to become the oldest Oscar recipient.
Among his survivors is actress Anne Jackson, his wife of 66 years.

The good-natured actor appeared in more than 90 films, including two released in 2010: Oilver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer.
On television, Wallach won an Emmy for his role as a former drug merchant who is now in the aspirin business in ABC’s Poppies Are Also Flowers, a 1966 anti-narcotics telefilm produced by the United Nations from a story by Ian Fleming. He also earned noms for his work as a blacklisted writer on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in 2006 and as an ailing patient on Nurse Jackie three years later.
Plus, he got loads of fan mail for playing Mr. Freeze (the third actor to do so) on TV’s Batman in the 1960s.


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Great Movie Showdowns Are Too Rare In Recent Films

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Luke and Vader, Batman and Bane, The Bride and Bill: Done well, cinematic fights elevate their pulpy surroundings. What makes for a good one?



The audiences who crowd theaters in the summertime know they can expect one thing from any given “event” movie: a showdown. As in, badass hero faces badass villain in a fight to the death. As in, impressive stunt choreography, wire works, or judicious photo-realistic CGI. As in, good guy dishes out punishment, bad guy returns same, and (spoiler alert) at the last possible second, perhaps with the help of a just in-reach weapon, good guy vanquishs his rival. (Optional: stirring music of the Williams/Shore/Zimmer variety.)

It’s a cliché. But it’s a worthwhile one. Roger Ebert called movies machines for empathy, and a good showdown is one of the chief fantasies for which viewers turn to the movies. These scenes give form to the forces in the world that challenge us, and they create a stage where we try to overcome those forces. It’s a potent dream, because life rarely spells out so clearly what we’re up against.

Most genres feature some kind of showdown, be they westerns, martial arts movies, sports movies, courtroom dramas, or musicals. Even purportedly “serious” movies borrow the language of the showdown when they pit stars of equal reputation and skill against each other to see who can outact the other. You can see showdowns across popular narratives, of course, from movies to TV shows, video games, and comic books. But they're also there in hip-hop, sports, politics, and business. They reflect a need for us-versus-them distinctions, for “bad guys” to muscle up against and smack down in some moment of self actualization. Further, they speak to our sometimes naïve desire for closure, to fashion our lives into coherent narratives with clearly marked dramatic episodes that begin and end.

Showdowns reflect a need for us-versus-them distinctions, for “bad guys” to muscle up and smack down. At the same time, the showdown reflects the kind of unpretentious craftsmanship and pleasure that marks the best American movies. They’re a way in which art can deepen our understanding of the world while still entertaining. So, showdowns matter. Yet despite $200 million budgets and A-list actors and auteur-ish directors and world-class composers, editors, set designers, and writers, these scenes rarely thrill. In fact, they generally disappoint.



Eight Harry Potter movies work toward an ultimate good-versus-evil showdown between the boy wizard and Lord Voldemort, but by the time we get there it proves an underwhelming finale. Sound and fury, etc. There is such a thing as too much build up, too many minor confrontations along the way. Or maybe it’s the way Voldemort becomes less menacing and more prissy as the films go on.



The recent Marvel movies? Thor and Loki? Captain America and the Red Skull? Iron Man and a bald Jeff Bridges, tatted up Mickey Rourke, or fire-breathing Guy Pearce? Come on. The Avengers versus—who were they fighting, again? Loki and some aliens from another dimension? No showdown with the meager Loki will ever be any good. In fact, the best Marvel showdown is probably when the Avengers tee off against themselves. But we know that no one’s going to really get hurt.



How about the James Bond movies of the Daniel Craig era? Certainly the films are the franchise’s best since the early ‘60s, but with an actor as physical and charismatic as Craig, they’ve yet to provide an antagonist who fully measures up. We need a showdown like the train fight between Bond and SPECTRE heavy Red Grant in From Russia With Love, where Robert Shaw not only convinced us that he was Sean Connery’s mental equal, but also looked like he could kill him with his bare hands.



As for the X-Men movies, they are built on the rivalry between Professor X and Magneto—whether played by Stewart and McKellen or McAvoy and Fassbender—but the films mostly skip a direct showdown between the two and instead spin them, and their attendant philosophies of accommodation and separatism, wearily around each other, forever unresolved. And why is it that Wolverine, one of pop culture’s great antiheroes, has yet to face even one antagonist worthy of him?



And what to say of the Star Wars prequels? People waited two decades to see what should have been the greatest showdown of all time: Anakin Skywalker versus Obi Wan Kenobi. Three movies of build up, best friends turned enemies, the galaxy hanging in the balance, a battle on a volcano planet, and it just cannot achieve anything close to the greatest of all modern blockbuster showdowns, the feverish Cloud City duel between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

The showdown is like a jazz ballad. We all know the tunes, but a good artist should nevertheless be able to connect with us. Some movies still can, often by tweaking the showdown or our expectations. Sherlock Holmes and arch-rival Moriarty stage a clever battle in the otherwise average Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, in which they comment on their fight as its taking place. The Dark Knight can be understood as a movie about the Joker’s refusal to engage Batman in a traditional physical showdown, because he knows he will lose, instead trying to run a counter showdown designed to corrupt Batman’s ethical code. For all the traditional heroics of The Lord of the Rings movies, the real showdown does not involve Aragorn or Gandalf, but culminates in a tiny little fight between Frodo and Gollum, both corrupted by the ring and fighting each other to the death over it. The day is saved only by chance as Gollum, having gotten the ring by biting off Frodo’s finger, accidentally falls into a lake of lava, destroying both. Frodo lives, but never really recovers his soul. But these are the exception far more than the rule.

What is the problem here? Below, I’ve tried to sketch out some thoughts on what a showdown should contain. I doubt the points that follow constitute a comprehensive list—and a good showdown may only lean on a few of these—but really good showdowns appear to display many or all of the traits. I define a showdown as a direct and major confrontation between protagonist and antagonist, physical and psychological, that meaningfully impacts the characters or the story. It’s an imprecise definition, but the point is to say that there are many awesome set pieces, shootouts, fights, and chases—other staples of these kinds of movies—that are not really showdowns as I’m considering them.

It’s true that plenty of good showdowns feature in otherwise mediocre movies. And plenty of good movies feature weak ones. But a great blockbuster? I think it needs a great showdown.

1. Anticipation

Moviegoers rarely watch big-budget films in a two-hour sitting anymore. Instead we ingest bits and pieces for a year or two: behind-the-scenes footage, gossip, speculations, trailers, until the movie we’ve built in our heads is almost always better than the one we finally see.

Nevertheless, anticipation built within a film can be effective. A showdown is made sweeter by talking up the villain and delaying his entrance, or by allowing hero and villain to engage in a preliminary showdown that ends in a draw, and most especially by slowing down the moments before the final confrontation begins. Showdowns are highly ritualized, and good ones will allow that nice long pause, that full breath in and out, to let audiences savor what is about to happen.



No one pushes the idea of anticipation to its limits quite like Quentin Tarantino. His characters talk and talk and talk. They insinuate and surmise, bluff and counterbluff, threaten and defend, and then they talk a little bit more, and the pressure is building all the while, until a violent reckoning at last arrives.

The Kill Bill films are best thought of as a four-hour greatest hits collection of quippy, bloody showdowns. No fight scene capitalizes upon anticipation as effectively as the final showdown does, when Uma Thurman’s Bride confronts her old lover and boss, Bill (played by a rascally David Carradine), who left her for dead. It’s a conversation. They’re seated. Bill rather unapologetically explains why he tried to kill her. The sense of menace builds. Eventually even these folks will run out of things to say. When the fight finally starts, both Bride and Bill remain seated, and Tarantino stages a short and wittily choreographed fight, which culminates in the Bride deploying her five-point palm exploding heart technique. Then they resume their conversation, now with a new sense of affection—Bill is impressed she has mastered the technique, and it’s clear he appreciates her as his better for the first time—until his heart explodes a moment later and he dies.



2. The Weight of the Moment

Anticipation helps make the big moment big. But that “moment” must also stand on its own. How?

For one, the opponent must be formidable. The villain should be equal or superior to the hero—no minor minions—and the odds should at least slightly favor him. We can like the villain or fear the villain, but we must respect him: his skill or charisma or ruthlessness, his tragic dimension or his utter lack of human empathy. Villains can believe what they are doing is just, or they can know they are rotten bastards. They can be witty and urbane or cold and silent, but we must find them worthy foils. Moreover, the hero must find them worthy, too. Villains often seek respect from heroes, (“You and I are much alike,” “Surely you can understand the necessity of my plan,” etc.) and I find that when the hero reciprocates even a little, if in action if not words, then the showdown becomes more personal, almost intimate.

Further, the stakes must be right. The fate of the town/country/world by itself is not necessarily the right stakes. Those are abstractions. We must care first about specific people. We care about the heroine. What we are relating to in a showdown is the idea of a character who, in facing a nemesis, is really facing herself and the choices that define her life. The right stakes test the heroine’s character, her soul. (The Bride both wants revenge on Bill, but she still loves him.) The threat is not her death but her failure to live as well as she could have. The characters, somewhere along the way, should understand the stakes.



One of the great showdowns is the meticulous scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey where astronaut Dave Bowman, in a space pod and without his helmet, tries to gain access to the spaceship Discovery, against the wishes of the computer HAL, who has possibly gone insane and just murdered the crew. HAL knows Bowman had been plotting to deactivate him, so he refuses to let him back on the ship. The scene is great for any number of reasons—the convincing verisimilitude, HAL’s brilliantly dismissive indifference, the audaciousness of Bowman’s plan to blow himself back aboard through an airlock. That audaciousness is the whole point. There’s human pride, naturally, a determination not to be bested by a computer. That’s actually enough, but the way I read it, the stakes are bigger. Heretofore the humans we’ve seen in the movie have been deliberately presented as bland bureaucrats with little personality, charisma or character. The film has left us subtlety starved for drama, conflict, something to happen. And suddenly, Bowman is forced to shake off that blandness, to reclaim humankind’s capacity for daring, original action, the kind that proves the species is worthy to transcend to a higher level.



3. Vulnerability

You might think of a good showdown as simply being about strength. But it’s about weakness, too. Most showdowns show us the hero’s physical vulnerability as he gets his ass kicked—and as he gets to his feet one last time, bruised and bloodied and never say die, we stand and cheer his resilience.

The problem, though, is that superheroes and villains these days can endure too much. Their strength is too long-lasting, as is their ability to take a beating. By the time we see any sign of weakness, we’ve long reached our empathetic limits. Few of us actually know what it’s like to get beaten up, anyway, and tough guys (and now tough gals) too often only seem emboldened by pain.

Pain can work in a showdown if you don’t overdo it, but what suggests vulnerability more convincingly is effort. Sweat counts more than blood. It tells us that the characters are being depleted, that they are pouring all their psychic and physical gifts into the moment but can’t keep doing so forever. This is something we can all relate to, whether trying to gut out that extra mile or rep, or struggling to tread water. Depletion helps undercut the emotional stoicism of the typical badass, and leads to a more interesting place, genuine fallibility.

(It should be noted that nakedness also works, whether it’s astronaut Bowman sans helmet or a literally naked Viggo Mortensen surviving a brutal knife attack in a London bathhouse in Eastern Promises.)

As with 2001, there are many reasons the duel in The Empire Strikes Back is a classic, but an overlooked and crucial contribution is Mark Hamill’s performance. He sweats. He looks at times like he can barely catch his breath. It helps sell the whole thing. Luke begins the duel with a brittle shell of confidence, but as we see his physical exertion, we see that shell shatter. In his effort to match Vader, Luke grows more and more aware of his desperate position. We see it in his face. He is in over his head. Yoda was right; he should have stayed on Dagobah and finished his training. He won’t be able to save his friends or himself. Indeed, he winds up on a gantry that leads nowhere, over a bottomless pit. He’s overwhelmed, and this is before he loses his hand and learns the truth about his father. Within moments he has passed from physical and mental fatigue, through to one severe experience of bodily trauma, then onto to an even greater emotional trauma. The only way he can save himself is to fling himself towards death.



In a good showdown, confronting your vulnerabilities is not a one-time event where you see the stakes, gather your courage, swallow hard, and dive in. It’s a constant unfolding. In The Matrix, Neo’s subway-station showdown with Agent Smith works marvelously because the whole movie has seen Neo gradually gain more power and more belief that he can beat the seemingly unbeatable agents who police the Matrix. And yet as the showdown progresses Neo is forced to summon more resolve—far beyond what he thought he was capable of—just to fight Smith to a draw.

An early showdown from Troy perhaps best illustrates the power of vulnerability. The young prince of Troy, Paris, a playboy, has run off with Helen, the wife of Greek King Menelaus. Menelaus and his brother, Agamemnon, bring a massive army to the shores of Troy to get her back. Hoping to stop the fighting, Paris summons up what little courage he has to challenge the much stronger Menelaus to a duel, thinking that if he wins, the Greeks will withdraw their forces.



Paris, played by a reedy Orlando Bloom, is no match for Menelaus, played by the bearish Brendan Gleeson. We see some of the action through Paris’s helmet as Menelaus pounds away at his shield, and we feel like Paris does, small and breakable. Paris puts up a poor fight; he is slow, clumsy, weak and afraid, and he is quickly defeated. A single sword slash across his thigh cripples him and carries more weight than a dozen slow-motion blows in a lesser contest.

And what tops it off? Instead of dying with honor—this duel was his idea, after all, and even his father, King Priam, urges his son to fight (and die)—he crawls back to his brother, Hector, as the whole city watches. We are simultaneously ashamed by his cowardice and sympathetic with his naked desire to live. Hector saves him by slaying Menelaus, but it’s an unsatisfying victory.

4. Tangibility

Obviously, then, a good showdown continues to propel the story forward. The principals don’t simply stop and beat each other up for five minutes. Character is exposed, revealed, tested, transformed. If there are any ideas the film has been cultivating, they should come to fruition here.

But there are other qualities that need to be in play. Some great showdowns would be impossible without special effects, but most suffer because of them. Why? For one, when heroes and villains dash around too much, it’s hard to follow the action. Two, as scenes become too elastic and insubstantial—and rapid-fire editing exacerbates this—so do the characters. We wind up with nothing or no one to hold onto.

Good showdowns tend to constrict themselves to a single or handful of distinct locations. Think of the courtyard duel in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon between Michelle Yeoh’s Yu Shu Lien and Zhang Ziyi’s Jen Yu. It moves, yes, and people fly about, but the clean camera work and quietly propulsive score bring the conflict down to earth. Or recall the claustrophobic setting for Batman’s beat down at the hands of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. This fight successfully borrows bits from Empire: Part of the fight takes place on a long and narrow gantry, and sound effects create a moody atmosphere. There’s nowhere to run, and gradually Batman is ground down.



Even a weak film like The Hunted benefits from two terrific face offs between Benicio del Toro’s Special Forces commando, who has snapped and is killing hunters, and the man who trained him, played by Tommy Lee Jones. They duel twice (here’s the first) and the tight choreography gives the scenes a powerful sense of coiled energy, as if these two guys had been put inside a very small box. (Also, it doesn’t hurt that del Toro’s eyes convey tremendous vulnerability even in the midst of the brutal knife play. He’s seeking both to best his mentor and reach out in anguish for a father figure to save him.)

Fantasy and sci-fi movies can convey enough reality to make us buy in through tangible staging. Would you rather watch this overblown fight between Khan and Spock on top of a moving hovercraft in a towering cityscape, at the close of the baffling mash up Star Trek Into Darkness—or the comparatively static, but tactile and infinitely more satisfying showdown between Khan and Kirk in Wrath of Khan? You like the grandiose and splendidly digital showdown in Avatar, between a villain in a power suit, and a blue digital Na’vi riding some exotic digital animal? I’ll take Ripley’s real-world exosuit as she faces down the alien queen in Aliens. (Thirty years later and even James Cameron can’t make an exosuit that feels as believable as this one.)

5. The Iconic
Lastly, the best showdowns do not overextend themselves. This is in part a question of length. Neo and Agent Smith duel across an entire city over six minutes in The Matrix Revolutions, and at some point you start checking your watch. The same can be said of Superman and General Zod’s fight in Man of Steel, (here, here, and here). Allowed to go too long, a showdown, no matter how good, wears out its welcome.

But length is not really the issue, at least in showdowns when the fighting is less frenetic. What we want is a scene that somehow pares a confrontation down to something visually essential. Most showdowns are at best visually indistinct and suffer for it. Think of the smoky blues and oranges of the carbon freeze chamber in Empire, and of that magnificent ten-second shot of Vader and Luke on the gantry. Now think of the Emperor’s drab grey throne room in Return of the Jedi, where Vader and Luke duel a second time. It’s a far more mundane location and weakens the scene. The recent Captain America: The Winter Soldier ends with a good showdown between the two titular characters. It checks most of the boxes, but it falls short of being really good because it’s a little too busy, a little too generic, right at the moment when it needs to be streamlined and iconic.

The greatest of all movie showdowns is probably the exquisitely composed duel between Charles Bronson’s unnamed hero and Henry Fonda’s blue-eyed killer Frank in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West. Leone takes his time, giving us long close ups of Bronson’s granitic face, static shots of the two men facing each other, like old trees trunks, stripped of branches and leaves. Ennio Morricone’s mesmerizing score suffuses the screen. It’s an unapologetically long buildup (again anticipation flirts with going too far), interspersed with the tragic flashback that reveals Bronson’s motivation. But the duel itself concludes in a moment, and despite the stately pace, our overall impression is one of crisp, perfectly controlled timing. It’s both a knowing pastiche of great western duels and something more—the physical manifestation of the end of the west. In a real sense both men are facing the same fate, obsolescence, and so both lose.



It’s magnificent filmmaking. And it demonstrates the fundamental contradiction of the showdown. Less is more, but more is more, too. Showdowns allow us to imagine ourselves as bigger, stronger, faster. Better. And yet a good showdown is essentialized to the struggles of vulnerable, fallible, fragile beings, too. They remind us of our smallness, and force us to confront our fears, our inadequacy, to reckon with who we are at that very moment we try to be more.

So showdown greatness comes not from making the stage bigger. It comes from making the stage denser, by plowing more feeling, more theme, more craft, more emotion, more soul, into a smaller, simpler frame. That’s the challenge of the form. When a movie pulls it off, it’s an event.

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What is your fav cinematic showdown, ONTD?

Ed Sheeran hits No.1 on iTunes in 65 countries with new album x

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Ed Sheeran has topped the iTunes sales chart in 65 countries with his new album x.

The singer's second studio collection - pronounced 'multiply' - was released earlier this week and has reached the top spot on digital stores in the UK, US, Australia and Germany.

Sheeran has also reached number one on iTunes stores in Denmark, France, Mexico, Italy, Egypt, Israel, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

The new album features his hit single 'Sing', along with new tracks 'Don't', 'One' and 'I'm A Mess'.

Sheeran dominated the UK iTunes songs chart last week after releasing a new track everyday in the run-up to his new album. At one point he occupied eight spots on the Top 10 best-selling songs chart.

The star will play the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this weekend (Sunday, June 29), three years after performing on the BBC Introducing Stage at the festival back in 2011.


Never really liked Finster for some reason, but his album is pretty good

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Beyoncé Kicks Off On the Run Tour: Go Behind the Scenes

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This is going to be epic.

On Wednesday night, Beyoncé and Jay Z kick off their joint On The Run summer tour in Miami – and it promises to be one for the books.

The couple, who will be performing together through September, will rock more than 40 songs when they hit the stage at Sun Life Stadium, PEOPLE has learned.

The superstar duo have been working around the clock to prepare for their multi-city, three-country onslaught. In an exclusive behind-the-scenes photo, a smiling Beyoncé is seen working on her laptop while final tour preparations are being made.

Earlier in the week, she shared other images of her and Jay Z during rehearsals. Entitled "My Work," the series of candid shots offers a glimpse into their working relationship: from their shared, intense focus to their joy at creating something together.

One question remains: Will Blue Ivy make a cameo?

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USMNT Coach Jurgen Klinsmann Wants You To Skip Work Tomorrow ONTD

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World Cup 2014: Team USA coach Jurgen Klinsmanngives you permission to miss work




Team USA was a few seconds from advancing to the knockout stage on Sunday, but there's a bright side now that Thursday's game against Germany means something.

The noon game (ESPN) gives you a great excuse to miss work -- and Team USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann has you covered. The official U.S. Soccer Twitter feed sent out a fill-in-the-blank note you can give to your employer with a singed approval from Klinsmann.

Just calling in sick or faking an illness just before your lunch break would probably work better, but there could be a few workers with the guts to actually turn this into their respective bosses.

Klinsmann later sent out a Twitter message that would likely have more of a chance of being adopting: wearing a Team USA jersey to work.

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I'm totally using this as an excuse. my boss better approve

Jennifer Lopez 'Got Her Family' To Go Vegan With Her For Support, Including Her 6-Year Old Twins

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She turns 45 in less than a month.

But Jennifer Lopez is in the best shape of her life after dropping 10 pounds with her strict vegan diet and daily six-hour dance workouts.

'You got to work out, you got to watch what you eat. It's a job - you've got to buckle down,' the pop diva told the July 7 edition of Us Weekly.

'I feel great mentally and physically!'

For the past five weeks, the two-time Grammy nominee whittled her waist from a size 4 to 2 after cutting out dairy, meat, and gluten.


Even after having two children, Jennifer looks visibly slimmer than she did in 2004 or even 20 years ago in 1994. Back in April, the I Luh Ya Papi singer hired exercise physiologist Marco Borges, whose clients include Beyoncé, Jay Z, Gwen Stefani, Shakira, and Pharrell Williams. When JLo's not dining on quinoa enchiladas, black-bean burgers, and zucchini 'pasta' - she indulges in Borges' 22 Days cherry chocolate bliss bar.

For support, the American Idol judge 'got her family' to go vegan with her, including her six-year-old twins Emme and Max.

'Sometimes my son will be like "I want American cheese. I don't like this vegan cheese!"' Lopez told Extra on June 6, adding she does allows them to munch on chips.


The former Fly Girl - who doesn't drink alcohol - stays toned and fit with six hours of dance rehearsal every day.

'I'm not an exercise fanatic. I don't love it, but I do dance a lot for the shows, so that helps,' she told the mag.

After splitting with her toyboy Casper Smart, Jennifer said she needed 'time for reflection,' but insiders say she enlisted former Dancing with the Stars contestant Leah Remini to play matchmaker.

Within two weeks, the thrice-divorced singer was spotted canoodling with pro dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy Saturday 'until 2AM' at Shrine Nightclub following her Connecticut concert.

'I'm one of those people who doesn't like to be alone,' the self-described 'serial monogamist' admitted to the mag in January.

'I feel better when I'm in shape and taking care of myself. If you want other people to love you, you have to care about yourself first.'

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I couldn't even decide so this can be a fitness + diet + vegan + parenting post all rolled into one

Daniel Radcliffe finds early Harry Potter films "very hard to watch"

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Actor Daniel Radcliffe says he thinks he could have done with acting lessons when filming the early Harry Potter films.

The 24-year-old, who played the boy wizard in all eight of the films, tells Melvyn Bragg that he finds the early films “hard to watch" in an edition of the South Bank Show airing this Thursday.

He says that he and co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were not given acting coaching on the set of the blockbuster films.

“If we had a singing scene we had a singing teacher come in. If we had a dance scene a dance coach would come in. We never had an acting coach in all the time we were there and there were times we could have done with one. I know I could have.

“There wasn’t a lot of nuance to my performance when we were young and I find those early films very hard to watch personally. There were certain things I just didn’t know. There were certain things like how to break down a script, or even certain questions like what does a certain character want out of a certain scene.”

Radcliffe appears to be thinking of his first two films, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.


He tells Bragg that he is glad to have developed his acting talents and credits the appearance of Gary Oldman as wizard Sirius Black in the third Potter film, the 2004 movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, for helping his professional development.

The two became close friends and Radcliffe reveals that he also sought out relationship advice from his onscreen godfather.

“I was going on my first date and I was doing a scene with Gary Oldman that day so I ended up being anxious about my first date... with Gary Oldman and asking advice and all that stuff," he says.

Radcliffe also reveals that he harboured an early ambition to be a professional wrestler.

“I definitely drifted into acting to start with…I saw an interview with myself, they asked me what do you want to do when you grow up and I completely, sincerely and earnestly answer 'I want to be a professional wrestler', because I was very very into WWF at the time.”

He adds that despite being embarrassed by his early performances as Potter he still owes a great debt to to the Potter producers.

“I never wanted to be one of those people that turned round and had to be disparaging about what they had done in the past in order to make a career for themselves in the future.”



Source, Youtube

Boston EMS: Dozens hospitalized during show at TD Garden

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Dozens of teenage ravers were hospitalized tonight during a show at the TD Garden featuring a Swedish DJ, Boston EMS said.


Many of those attending the electronic dance music show featuring DJ Avicii arrived already intoxicated, said Deputy EMS Superintendent Mike Bosse.


EMS transported 22 people to the hospital, and 12 more were being evaluated, Bosse said. After he gave that estimate, patients continued to stream out of the TD Garden. EMS later called for a bus to take another 10 people to hospitals.


“This street is being secured for EMS and EMS only,” Bosse told security at the Garden. “So you better send somebody to talk to me.”


Bosse said he contacted the Boston Police Licensing Division, which arrived and cited the TD Garden for allowing a large number of intoxicated concert goers on the premises.

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A similar incident happened at an Avicii concert in Toronto last month

Antonio Banderas''intense' connection with Mallika Sherawat ended his marriage

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Just weeks ago, gorgeous brunette Natalie Burn was forced to deny that she was romantically involved with actor Antonio Banderas following reports that she was the one who had come between him and wife Melanie Griffith.

While the pair were pictured enjoying a sexy flamenco dance during the Cannes Film Festival in May - just prior to the couple filing for divorce on June 6 after 18 years of marriage - it now appears that another beauty was in fact the catalyst for the split.

RadarOnline reports that the 53-year-old shares an 'intense' bond with Indian actress Mallika Sherawat, whom he met at the same Cannes Film Festival two years earlier, in June 2012.

Long-ass story at the SOURCE

Well... can you blame him?

Someone Asked Richard Armitage About Those Rumors (And "The Crucible")

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Richard Armitage, interview: 'I think I'm quite a frightening person'

The star of The Hobbit is taking on The Crucible at the Old Vic. 'It's a big mountain to climb,' he tells Chris Harvey

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Richard Armitage arrives in the tiny, cluttered stage manager’s office of The Old Vic straight from rehearsals for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. He’s bearded and dressed in thick shapeless trousers, heavy boots, and a rough collarless cotton shirt open at the neck to reveal a broad chest. He’s a tall and imposing physical presence. Anyone who knew the 42 year-old only as the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit films might have quite a shock. Television viewers who associate him with double agent Lucas North in Spooks, nasty Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, or the character based on SAS man Andy McNab in Sky One’s Strike Back would know different.



This role is a departure. Armitage is to play the tormented John Proctor in the playwright’s terrifying account of the 17th century Salem witch trials, in which Proctor’s adulterous relationship with a young woman sparks a vengeful chain of events that leads to the deaths of many.
He says he feels like he has been waiting for it all his life.(lol he says this about all his roles)“It’s such an epic role. It feels as big as Lear to me in terms of what that man goes through.”
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The Crucible is an unfolding nightmare of accusatory spite that is seen as an allegory of the anti-Communist witch trials in Hollywood in the 1950s. Can it escape that allegory and find another, I ask him.

“It’s ultimately a timeless play, I think,” says Armitage. “It has lines that feel relevant in 1692, relevant in the Fifties, relevant today and relevant tomorrow, in 10 years, in 20 years, while we’re still destroying each other in the way that we do, in that insidious human way.

He promises that acclaimed director Yael Farber’s production will be a full-blooded affair. “You can’t play this story without addressing sexuality in this particular society in this time, the masculinity of the men, the femininity of the women, the vulnerability of prepubescent girls. Yael is cooking something which at the moment feels like it’s - and should be - too hot to handle.”

Armitage is a noticeably calm presence but he talks with passion. I ask him how it feels to be facing The Crucible’s agonising climax over and over for the next couple of months. “It’s a big mountain to climb every night,” he says. “There’s a shattering of the character, and almost a reassembling of him towards the end.

I leave the rehearsal room – and I carry him with me, I carry his thoughts, I dream his dreams a little bit.”

It’s a role that many non-theatre goers associate with Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of Proctor in the 1996 film. How does Armitage feel to be up against that performance?

“I remember seeing the film at the time. And I think there are some monumental performances in it. But I think there’s something about witnessing this play in the round - the theatre is a sort of bowl shape like a crucible - with the audience observing themselves across the room at times, that is the most exciting aspect of this.”

Day-Lewis prepared for the role by building his character’s house himself with 17th-century tools. When he was in Spooks, Armitage famously gained first-hand experience of waterboarding in preparation for a torture scene. He says this sort of understanding is essential to his approach to acting.
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“There’s a fascination from the actor’s point of view of, if I don’t experience that, have I fully understood the character? You know to an extent Method acting feels occasionally lazy. I was in a stress position today before we worked, which enabled me to play the scene [we were doing] without having to do any acting. I had lost the feeling in my feet. It’s not like I’m pretending I can’t walk. That’s the difference, and that was the thing with the waterboarding. I wanted to experience it for a millisecond so that I could know exactly what it felt like.”

For all its physical extremities, though, it’s a very different role to the tough guys that Armitage has expressed a desire to escape from. “It fills me with dismay sometimes when you look at the scripts that do come to you, that are primarily focused on violence. There are so many other things to play around with.”

His career, he says, has been “a slow climb. I started late, and it’s taken 20 years”. He joined a circus in Budapest straight out of his school in Coventry – he grew up in the Midlands - to get his equity card. He says he can still vividly remember the smell of the elephants and being permanently hungry from his circus days. He then worked in musical theatre before going to drama school in London and joining the RSC. But he says his experience of trying to win bigger roles convinced him to alter course. “You fight for certain roles and you realise they’re being filled by television and film actors, because theatre is constantly fighting for survival and they need names and faces and ticket sales. So I remember actively making the decision, ‘I’ve gotta go and make a name for myself, in television or film, so that I can then go back and do those theatre roles that I want.’ But then you lose track of it, because it rolls and rolls.”

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His career in television has been assisted by the fact that women find him sexy. “I still don’t get it,” he admits. He traces it back to when he played mill owner John Thornton in the BBC’s 2004 adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. That initial attraction has sustained itself over the years to the point that a quick scan of YouTube will reveal any number of montages of him in various roles, semi-naked or glowering to camera, set to overpowering love ballads.

“I haven’t seen any of them but I’ll take your word for it,” he says. “I’m so backwards with all that. I know what Twitter is, I don’t use it, I don’t use Facebook, so luckily it does zero to my ego.

His unwillingness to share his private life with the press has led to rumours about his sexuality. I ask him if, in the era of tabloid witch hunts, those in the public eye live with a fear that one day they’ll wake up to find that they’ve become the story, and whether this means having to censor parts of his character in public all the time.

“I think if you’ve got stuff to hide, there’s a level of stress that people live with. I think I read somewhere that someone said I was fiercely protective of my private life, and I thought well, there’s nothing fierce about protecting a private life. I think it’s worth protecting – for everybody, not just high-profile people.”

Does he feel protective of his sexuality? “No, I don’t feel protective about that. I just feel that it’s not relevant to what I’m presenting in terms of my art form. Anything else, any other talk, chatter, rumours, discussion, diverts from the discussion of the art form, and that’s always been my primary focus.”

In the past, he has described himself as a shy person. “Not any more,” he says forcefully. “I mean… if I’m very, very honest, I’m a big guy, I think I’m at times quite a frightening person.”

In what way?

I think I’m quite uncompromising. I can’t bear bulls---. And in a way the shyness is me protecting other people from that. I can feel that there’s an intimidation that can happen if I own my full height, and speak at my full volume. So I’ve learned over the years to just tone it all down a bit.

He admits that being in The Hobbit does have an effect on an acting career. “Having a box office figure next to your name is unbelievably important when it comes to certain castings. But I don’t think it would have made a difference coming to the Crucible.”

And after 13 years of concentrating on film and television, returning to the stage is a very big deal for him. “That’s why it’s interesting coming back now and getting into a rehearsal room and going: ‘This is why I did it. I’d forgotten.’ I’m having a really amazing epiphany doing this, and I think I’ll be a different actor when I come out of it.

The Crucible is at the Old Vic, London until 13 Sept. oldvictheatre.com




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I want to go see his play. Early reviews have been positive, but I heard it's four hours long??? Wtf???

EDIT: Fixed the cut.

Tonight's Catfish episode might be the most confusing love triangle yet.

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Strap in, guys: We’re getting ready for this week’s new episode of Catfish, ”Miranda & Cameryn,” and we have a feeling it’s not going to wrap up quite as nicely as last week’s episode did with Solana and Elijah. Once again, someone’s ignoring every glaring red flag that’s popped up in their relationship, all in the name of love — but really, who hasn’t been guilty of that? This time around, it’s Miranda’s turn, and she’s part of the weirdest love triangle we’ve ever heard of. It’s Miranda, James, and Cameryn, except James and Cameryn are the same person. Confused yet? I’ll try to explain.

It all started back when Miranda, a 21-year-old from Minnesota, fell in love with a guy named Cameryn who she (obviously) met online. I can’t blame her — after Catfish showed his photos, I almost fell in love with him. Damn, he’s cute. But as most cute internet boyfriends tend to be, at least on this show, Cameryn wasn’t the real deal, and he proceeded to lead Miranda on.

Then, as they always do, the excuses started happening just as Miranda and Cameryn got close enough that she wanted to meet him: A family emergency here, a broken down car there, and, of course, Catfish’s classic “My webcam is broken.” How many times do Nev and Max have to tell you guys? Skype. It. Out. Seriously. If they won’t Skype, move on. But matters of the heart are not always solved by Skype, and if they were, we wouldn’t have such an awesome show.

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Mostly an excuse for a discussion post.

Sailor Moon - Saturday Morning Slow Jams

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Not the worst thing to happen to Sailor Moon I guess. I'd rather have a cover of Carry On but that's just me.

Frances Bean Cobain Had A Fangirl Moment For Britney Spears On Twitter Last Night

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The Love-Cobain family is sure doing their fair share of lovin’ on the pop world as of late, aren’t they?

Just last week, Hole frontwoman Courtney Love posted a #Beautiful Instagram of herself getting cozy with "the elusive shawntoose" herself, Mariah Carey. We rejoiced! (And prayed for a future collaboration, of course.) And now, her daughter is getting in on the pop action too.

Late last night, the stunning 21-year-old daughter of Courtney and the late Nirvana rock legend Kurt Cobain tweeted some serious love for none other than Britney Spears, hereby confirming that, yes: Anybody who’s anybody loves Brit Brit. Check out the cute fangirl moment after the cut.









“‘Lucky’ is definitely my all time favorite @britneyspears song, despite being forever OBSESSED with ‘Blackout’,” she tweeted. That’s right — not even an obvious hit like “…Baby One More Time” or “Toxic”: Frances Bean goes hard for Oops! anthem “Lucky,” as well as Britney’s dark masterpiece, Blackout.

It’s fitting too — after all, is there a more punk pop record than Blackout? Need we remind you of the 2007 timeline in the Spears legacy? Frances is faithful member of the Britney Army, for sure.

No word from Team B regarding the ringing endorsement just yet — but if we had to guess, we’re thinking she thinks it’s really funky and cool.

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What's your favourite Britney uptempo/ballad?

As useless as searching for meaning in a Katy Perry concert

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Seeing a Katy Perry concert raises lots of questions. Is there symbolism behind each wig change? Are those sparkle cat costumes an homage to “Cats: The Musical”? Does she really believe that stars are “cosmic jewels”? What’s with that music video interlude that shows her in a mental institution? Why is there pizza on stage?

It quickly becomes apparent, though, that searching for meaning at a Katy Perry concert– one that is filled with impossibly glittery outfits and neon paint and people dressed as animals – is an intriguing but useless exercise. And it was clear that during Perry’s sold-out show at the Verizon Center on Tuesday night that no one was supposed to do anything but scream, dance with reckless abandon and take in the brightly colored spectacle in front of them.


Perry’s life is always very public, chronicled regularly by both the tabloids and herself. (With nearly 54 million followers, the 29-year-old Perry is the most-followed person on Twitter, followed by Justin Bieber and President Obama.) But during a live show there’s really no time to think about those real-world concerns and over-analyze what everything might mean. There’s just so much to watch: Back-up dancers dressed as warriors with glow-in-the-dark spears. Perry riding onto the stage on a fake horse. Guitar players shooting into the air with instruments spewing fire. A tap dancing cat. Inflatable tacos. Aerialists performing terrifying tricks. Fireworks. Confetti cannons. Perry flying around the arena on a set of balloons. More fire.

It was the kind of show where music took a back seat to all of the above, as you were too captivated watching the Egyptian-themed set piece (with Perry dressed as Pharaoh) to really appreciate the beat-heavy “Dark Horse” and Kanye West collaboration “E.T.,” the latter of which was accompanied by a hologram of West’s face.

And though Perry has moved into the more “grownup” phase of her career with the introspective album “Prism” – the bubblegum pop of “I Kissed a Girl” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” seems to be a thing of the past – she still can’t resist having a group of costumed cats dance around to Madonna’s “Vogue” on stage while chasing a mouse. (Perry’s most loyal fans call themselves KatyCats, so that may explain the feline obsession.)

The only time the actual songs were the focus was a brief acoustic interlude, which Perry told the crowd is her favorite part of the concert. It was during this segment that Perry, whose on-stage antics and catchy, dancey tunes often overshadow the fact that she actually has a great voice, played “The One That Got Away” and “Unconditionally.She introduced them with a long, rambling speech in which she alternated between giggling Valley Girl, spiritual leader and patriotic pop star.

“I’m Katy Perry, I guess,” she chirped by way of introduction to the screaming attendees – plenty of kids and their parents, with a mix of tweens and childless adults. Wearing a shiny, long white cape and an elaborate butterfly gown, Perry laid down on the stage to take a selfie with a young fan. “Don’t tell anyone I got down in the floor in my couture.”

She explained that D.C. was the second stop on the U.S. leg of the Prismatic World Tour; she’s scheduled to play again at the Verizon Center on Wednesday. Perry, a well-publicized fan of Hillary Clinton, then told the crowd to follow their dreams and appreciate that they’re from a free country: “You know what’s so great about America? Any one of you can be president now.”

Perry dedicated the dark “By the Grace of God,” to the people that supported her when she was at her lowest point – presumably her public, messy divorce from Russell Brand a couple years ago. “Katy Perry goes through crappy days, too,” she confessed. She said her fans helped her get through it with positive Twitter messages, and “telling me I could put one foot in front of the other when it felt like I could not.”

Serious moment over, she sprinkled some confetti from a watering can into a hole in the stage (as you do) and an acoustic guitar and a pizza appeared. She accused people backstage of sabotaging her. “They know I’m a pop star – I’m not allowed to eat things like this,” Perry complained, giving the food away to the audience as she sang a couple lines of it’s-so-hard-to-be-famous ballad “Lucky” by Britney Spears.

Perry might be more self-aware about her fame than most, and it really allows her to be as weird as possible during live shows – her particularly devoted fans will love anything she does. In addition to performing nearly every song off “Prism,” she sang a slow, jazzy version of “Hot ‘N Cold.” During “California Gurls,” the giant letters that were supposed to spell out “YOLO” accidentally spelled “YOOL” at first, but no one seemed to mind.

Things wrapped up as Perry appeared for her final song, the irresistible “Firework” dressed — obviously — as a human firework. It was one last moment of welcome over-the-top escapism.



Who has the best tours, both in theme and execution?

This Rachet Wig -- Kim K Not a Blonde

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Kim Kardashian West revealed on a her instagram account that the blonde hair she posted earlier is just a wig. Rest assured, a brunette beauty she shall stay.

She shared the 'news' of going back to blonde in a selfie at the hairdressers on Wednesday.

And despite later revealing that the new look was actually just a wig, Kimmycakes still enjoyed shocking fans as she left her apartment in New York on Wednesday, as they were desperate to get a picture with the reality star.


The 33-year-old must have been pleased with herself as she fooled passers-by into thinking she had made a drastic new look.

The 33-year-old must have been pleased with herself as she fooled passers-by into thinking she had made a drastic new look.

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Where did this Kim go?

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FLAWLESS

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[Thank God. I thought it was forrealz. No mames wey.]



Source: http://instagram.com/kimkardashian
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2670102/Kim-Kardashian-fearlessly-flaunts-new-blonde-poses-pictures-fans-New-York.html
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