Filed under: OpEd, The Office, Celebrities

(Continued from Part Three…)

After the press conference, the cast was shuffled into a larger gymnasium filled with what the organizers said was 3000 people. I’m going to tell you this right now: the Cast Q & A was unwatchable.

This was because after every single thing any one of the cast members said, the entire audience of 3000 people would hoot and holler with almost religious excitement. When Darryl got up and kissed Kelly, I half expected the majority of those in attendance to fall to the floor shouting in tongues.

Continue reading The Office Convention: Part Four — The cast Q&A

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Filed under: Industry, OpEd, The Office, Celebrities

(Continued from Part Two…)

At 4 PM, we all shuffled into the gymnasium to speak to the assembled cast. This was fun because bloggers and podcasters (from places like Cinemablend and the That’s What She Said podcast) got to sit in the same room and rub shoulders with actual reporters from actual newspapers and magazines. I’ll tell you, there’s no greater thrill for me than receiving the same press pass and sitting in the same room as one of the feature writers from The New York Times. Take your journalism degree and years of apprenticeship at one of the world’s finest papers and shove it, pal, cause I’m a blogger. Yeah!

During the press conference, I also got to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams: I got to stand up and say, just like reporters do on The West Wing, “Uh, yes, I’m Jay Black, from TV Squad,” and then ask a question. The only thing missing was Allison Janney…

Continue reading The Office Convention: Part Three — The press conference

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Filed under: OpEd, The Office, Celebrities

(Continued from Part Three…)

After the press conference, the cast was shuffled into a larger gymnasium filled with what the organizers said was 3000 people. I’m going to tell you this right now: the Cast Q & A was unwatchable.

This was because after every single thing any one of the cast members said, the entire audience of 3000 people would hoot and holler with almost religious excitement. When Darryl got up and kissed Kelly, I half expected the majority of those in attendance to fall to the floor shouting in tongues.

Continue reading The Office Convention: Part Four — The cast Q&A

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Filed under: Industry, OpEd, The Office, Celebrities

(Continued from Part Two…)

At 4 PM, we all shuffled into the gymnasium to speak to the assembled cast. This was fun because bloggers and podcasters (from places like Cinemablend and the That’s What She Said podcast) got to sit in the same room and rub shoulders with actual reporters from actual newspapers and magazines. I’ll tell you, there’s no greater thrill for me than receiving the same press pass and sitting in the same room as one of the feature writers from The New York Times. Take your journalism degree and years of apprenticeship at one of the world’s finest papers and shove it, pal, cause I’m a blogger. Yeah!

During the press conference, I also got to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams: I got to stand up and say, just like reporters do on The West Wing, “Uh, yes, I’m Jay Black, from TV Squad,” and then ask a question. The only thing missing was Allison Janney…

Continue reading The Office Convention: Part Three — The press conference

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Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries

Well, this is unfortunate news. We told you last week that singer and actor Robert Goulet was in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, sedated and awaiting a lung transplant. Now comes news that Goulet passed away this morning.

Goulet had a really long career on stage, TV, and in film. He gained fame playing Sir Lancelot on Broadway in Camelot in 1960 with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. He went on to many other stage productions (Carousel, Meet Me In St. Louis, La Cage Aux Folles, The Pajama Game, and others), movies (Toy Story 2, Atlantic City), and TV shows (everything from The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote to Mission: Impossible and Howdy Doody). In the past several years he enjoyed spoofing himself, in movies such as The Naked Gun 2 1/2 to talk show appearances to stints on ESPN and those weird Emerald Nuts ads. He sings the theme to Jimmy Kimmel Live too.

Goulet suffered from Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis. He leaves his wife of 25 years and three children.

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Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Casting, Scripts & Screenwriting, Newsstand

Three of Hollywood’s most beautiful and talented actresses — Winona Ryder, Robin Wright Penn, and Julianne Moore — are teaming up for a comedy/drama called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. That title makes it sound like a sitcom doesn’t it? According to Variety, the story “centers on a dutiful wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown.” Explore her buried sensuality? OK, now this sounds like something you’d see on Cinemax.

Rebecca Miller will direct the film, which will be adapted from her upcoming novel of the same name. The book’s release date is listed as October 5th, 2008, and filming is scheduled to start this April. Maybe they’re going for a simultaneous release? Miller also wrote and directed The Ballad of Jack and Rose and co-wrote the snoozefest Proof, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow. The Variety article doesn’t give many plot specifics, but I’d imagine Ryder plays the younger woman and Moore’s the one having the “very quiet nervous breakdown?” And perhaps she “explores her buried sensuality” with Penn? Wishful thinking? Here’s hoping Ryder is bringing up the comedy side, I thought she was hilarious in The Ten.

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Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Romance, Casting, Celebrities and Controversy, Harry Potter, Cinematical Indie

Those crazy artists, always experimenting sexually. Big deal. Nothing new. Right? Oh wait, the idea still has people intrigued. Remember those lesbian scenes in Frida? Of course you do — they’re the only reason you watched the film. But will you be as interested in seeing a young Salvador Dalí make it with a man, specifically Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, as you were in seeing Salma Hayek kiss Ashley Judd? A UK-Spain production must be hoping so; it not only has the distinction of being about the 100th Dalí film in the works right now, but it also describes itself as the “racy” and “sexy” one, and will likely be released into the public reception as “the gay Dalí movie”.
According to Guardian Unlimited, the film is titled Little Ashes, named for one of Dalí’s paintings, and it isn’t exactly based on any definite evidence. In fact, Dalí reportedly acknowledged being the object of Lorca’s homosexual affection multiple times, but denied they ever became physical and insisted that he continually rejected the poet. However, the film’s screenwriter, Philippa Goslett, stands by her depiction of the events. She claims to have done enough research to believe that the men consummated in some way. The way the script apparently shows it, as far as Guardian Unlimited relays it, is Dalí wants to have sex with Lorca but can’t and then ends up merely acting as a voyeur, watching while Lorca sleeps with a woman.

Little Ashes is apparently done shooting, having been filmed primarily in Barcelona on a low budget of £1.4 million (roughly $2.9 million — I think). Paul Morrison (Solomon and Gaenor) directed the film, with Robert Pattinson, best known as “Cedric Diggory” in the Harry Potter movies, playing Dalí. Spanish newcomer Javier Beltran is Lorca and Matthew McNulty (Control) portrays a young Luis Buñuel. On a related yet personal note, I must address to all my friends that this news will have no impact on my long-decided plan to go as Dalí for Halloween this year (I’m broke, and it’s cheap — you only need a long mustache and a suit!).

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Casting, RumorMonger, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

I’m not sure how many actors need to turn down roles in the upcoming Justice League of America movie before they just to tuck their movie production tail between their legs and run away. Man, they’ve got to be close. Jessica Biel’s turned down Wonder Woman, and they’re really having a heck of a time finding interested actors. MTV now reports that Stomp the Yard’s Columbus Short, who has got This Christmas and Whiteout on the way, is among those who have turned down the chance.

The actor told the site he was up for the movie, having been approached to take on John Stewart/The Green Lantern. But he didn’t refuse out of comic disgust. Short says: “Justice League is going to be dope; it’s going to be huge. But it’s not the movie for me.” While he used to be set on becoming the first really big African-American feature film superhero, now he says: “I think there comes a point in an actor’s career when he decides what type of actor you want to be. [Each actor] decides: I want to do commercial movies, but do I want to go this way? Or do I want to go that way?” Apparently, he didn’t want to don tights and take that route.

The cynic in me wonders if he’s just being nice, and would be interested in the role, or a similar superhero role, if it wasn’t such a rush-job movie. Whatever the case, he’s out, and JLA is back to square one. Will anyone want to be in this thing? Is this a lost cause?

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Strictly Come Dancing star Kelly Brook has revealed the secret behind her striking figure - “having tons of sex”.

In an interview for the December issue of ‘Company’ magazine, the model and actress also disclosed that fighting and fantastic lighting keeping the passion in her relationship alive.

“Fight a lot. Even if you agree pretend you don’t. It’s about mentally stimulating each other as much as it is about the physical and emotional side,” the Daily Mail quoted Brook, as saying.

“Fantastic lighting! When you redecorate, make sure everything’s on dimmers. Either that or candlelight,” she added.

However, she confessed that her looks didn’t quite help her to find work.

“I have to audition for things. They don’t just hand it to me because I look hot. I wouldn’t keep working if it was just about looks. I’m 27 and there are tons of hotter girls who are 10 years younger than me,” she said.

Brook also slammed girls who marry soccer stars for the moneyed lifestyle.

“I’m not saying all girls who shack up with footballers do. But I would hate to be a girl thinking, ‘What am I going to do when I leave school?” she said.

“I’ve done it all on my own,” she added.

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Filed under: Late Night, TV Royalty, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show

Here’s who’s sitting down on the couch on the late night shows tonight.

• Charlie Rose: Valerie Plame Wilson and Mohamed Elbaradei
• The Daily Show: Valerie Plame Wilson
• The Colbert Report: Craig Venter
• The Late Show With David Letterman: Jennifer Connolly, Slash, and Nicole Atkins
• Jay Leno: Tom Cruise, Senator Ron Paul, and The Sex Pistols
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Rebecca Romijn and James Lipton
• Tavis Smiley: Paul Krugman and Serj Tankien
• Late Night With Conan O’Brien: Ethan Hawke, Susie Essman, and Zappa Plays Zappa
• The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Steve Carell and Good Charlotte
• Last Call With Carson Daly: Criss Angel

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