stars, sex and nudity buzz : 09/01/2012

Cops, hooker, 'curvy' women sought for 'Magic City' 

by Robert Nolin, Sun Sentinel

Ever picture yourself as an exotic character in pre-Castro Miami? This could be your time.

"Magic City," a Starz cable TV production about sex, crime and intrigue in a 1950s Miami casino, is seeking extras for background roles in the series' second season.

Among characters sought: a "very attractive" Asian prostitute willing to appear fully nude, real doctors and nurses, and "stunning females" to act as Hispanic elevator girls in "tight or revealing clothing."

Extras are guaranteed $108 a day whether they work or not. "They're not going to get rich, but it might be something fun for them to do," said Bill Marinella, whose company is handling the casting call.

"It's really a unique experience," he said. "We feed you a fantastic lunch."

Other roles include:

Real waitresses and bartenders, age 18 to 30, any ethnicity.

Experienced period-car drivers, familiar with on-the-column gearshift levers and double clutching.

Hotel guests, men and women 18 to 65, any ethnicity.

Current and former police officers, men, 18 to 55, Caucasian.

Attractive natural women, "curvy but not overweight," age 18 to 40. "We are keeping an eye out for beautiful, NATURAL women for various roles," Marinella wrote in the casting call.

The emphasis on a natural look stems from the difficulty Marinella had in finding local actresses who hadn't had breast augmentation, common in South Florida today but rare in the '50s. "I've actually had better luck finding synchronized swimming groups than I did finding real boobs," he said last spring.

The show will be filming in Miami through the end of the year.

Dominik García-Lorido : GQ Spain [September]2012


* we can only pray to the gods of nudity that we'll get to see Dominik melons in the upcoming season. It's again up to persuasion powers of Mitch and his wife Kelly to make it happen and I have full confidence in them to succeed.

____________________________________________________


Ben Affleck's 'To The Wonder' Role Significantly Reduced?

by Christopher Rosen 

Ben Affleck is poised to have a big fall. The formerly maligned actor stars and directs the drama "Argo" and plays a lead role in Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder," a romantic drama premiering at the Venice Film Festival. Or maybe he doesn't.
Intrepid blogger Jeffrey Wells -- who is at the Telluride Film Festival this week, where Affleck is in attendance to support "Argo" -- tweeted on Friday that the actor's "Wonder" part has been significantly cut. "I'm told he's barely in [it]," Wells wrote.

@wellshwood
Hollywood Elsewhere

Affleck didn't say this, but I'm told he's barely in "To The Wonder" a la Adrien Brody in "Thin Red Line" and Sean Penn in "Tree of Life"

August 31, 2012 5:49 pm via Twitter for iPhone Reply Retweet Favorite

Of course, that puts Affleck in some pretty great company. It was recently revealed that "To the Wonder" co-stars Rachel Weisz, Amanda Peet, Michael Sheen and Barry Pepper were also cut out of the film completely. Stars Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko and Javier Bardem are presumably still part of the finished product, as are assorted leaves of grass, wind gusts and stalks of wheat.

* So the odds are pretty good the nudity will either come from McAdams or Olga.

____________________________________________________


Korine revamps teen dream
by Anthony Kaufman

Has Harmony Korine, the enfant terrible who wrote "Kids," and directed "Julian Donkey-Boy" and "Gummo," grown up?

With his latest film, "Spring Breakers" -- premiering in Venice on Sept. 5 -- the provocative filmmaker has tackled his most ambitious and possibly most commercial project to date: A girls-gone-wild Florida-s et adventure, starring James Franco and former Disney Channel stalwarts Selena Gomez ("Wizards of Waverly Place"), Vanessa Hudgens ("High School Musical") and ABC Family vet Ashley Benson ("Pretty Little Liars").

"Technically, it was the hardest thing I've ever done," says the filmmaker, now 39. "We had 12 cameras break; cranes collapsing; boats sinking; at some points, there would be more paparazzi than crew members; you'd have news helicopters entering the shot; 1,000 screaming teenagers with signs trying to destroy the campers -- every day felt like some mild form of warfare."

Korine, who shot on 35mm film, added that he wanted huge production values. "I wanted things to look and feel incredible. It would have been much easier if I didn't have ambition."

The last time Korine was on the festival circuit, in 2009, he was promoting a far different project. Called "Trash Humpers," the 78-minute experimental movie, shot entirely on a VHS camcorder, chronicled the creepy escapades of a family of masked maniacs engaged in objectionable, lewd or just plain weird behavior, including yes, humping garbage. "It was a provocation," Korine admits.

But with "Spring Breakers," it wasn't just about creating something "shocking or seductive," as he says, referring to the original image that sparked the idea of teenage girls in bikinis, wearing ski masks and carrying guns. "This film is different from anything I've done," he explains. "It's the narrative: It's very liquid and boozy, and freed up. It's more like a pop poem."

Another big difference is the cast, of course. With Disney Channel icon Gomez in one of the key roles, along with "High School Musical's" Hudgens, the film is drawing far more attention than Korine's previous work, increasing the stakes for the filmmaker.

For Gomez, the more risque project also presents a potential hazard.

"Obviously, I have a younger generation (of fans), and I really appreciate that," says the 22-year-old actress, who got her start on "Barney and Friends." "I want to respect that and I still want to do things that will earn me that respect. But I also want to do things that challenge me and put me out of my element."

Korine had always wanted Gomez and the other young female stars for the movie. "I liked the idea of having these girls in the film specifically," he says. "They are of this pop culture, and that added a whole new element that was exciting for me."

Entrusting Korine, a director known for his glue-sniffing, date-raping outcasts, with America's next top starlets on an indie budget, might appear like a risky move. But the director says, surprisingly, he was fully encouraged by his team, including CAA, which packaged the project.

"There was no lack of confidence (in Korine)," says Muse Films' Chris Hanley, who has known the director since the mid-'90s, and had been talking to him for two years about exploring, he says, "a more pop, and therefore commercial" side of his aesthetic.

"Even as the intention was to make a pop commercial bikini movie," continues Hanley, "it has its intelligent side, (which) shows there is an underworld to every seemingly perfect and happy setting. So while it is commercial, it makes you think a lot too -- this is something Harmony does very well."

According to Hanley, the investors were kindred spirits, including former members of the Andy Warhol Factory ("Baby" Jane Holzer) as well as Stella Schnabel, daughter of artist Julian Schnabel, and designer Agnes B., who backed Korine's 2007 feature "Mister Lonely."

Korine, himself, is upbeat about the results.

"I can't wait for people to see it," he says. "As a filmmaker, I did things I've never done before that I've always wanted to do, that I couldn't have done five years ago or 10 years ago. I just didn't understand moviemaking in this way. This one feels special."

____________________________________________________

Oliver Stone’s ‘Savages’ Debuts Unrated Version on DVD, Blu-Ray

Ferocious Thriller Now in Uncut Version Not Shown in Theaters

By TheImproper

 
Blake Lively’s turn as an addled, uninhibited hippie chick in Oliver Stone’s blood and guts movie about the Mexican drug trade is being released on DVD and Blu-ray in an unrated version that was too hot to be shown in theaters.

The crime thriller “Savages,” Stone’s take on the drug war, is comparable to his other compelling looks at war and Wall Street scandal, “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Platoon,” and “Wall Street.”

Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Features

Featured Commentary: Oliver Stone, producers Moritz Borman, Eric Kopeloff, Co-Screenwriter/Novelist Don Winslow, Executive Producer/Co-Screenwriter Shane Salerno and Production Designer Tomas Voth

Blu-ray Exclusives

Stone Cold Savages Documentary: A five-part profile of cast, crew and Oliver Stone, an unprecedented access to a master storyteller’s creative process.
Deleted Scenes:
UltraViolet Capable: Instantly stream or download to tablets, smartphones, computers and TVs.
Digital Copy: Viewers can redeem a digital version of the full-length movie from their choice of retail partners.
Pocket BLU App: For smartphones with newly updated versions for iPad®, Android™ tablets, PC and Mac computers.
Advanced Remote Control: Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live™ functions with ease.
Video Timeline: Instantly access any point in the film.
Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content and save to their device or to stream from anywhere there is a Wi-Fi network.

The film unfolds as a couple of laid-back California pot growers Ben (Aaron Johnson) and closest friend Chon (Taylor Kitsch), a former Navy SEAL and ex-mercenary, bump into a Mexican drug cartel led by Elena (Salma Hayek) and enforcer Lado (Benicio Del Toro).

When the duo rebuffs an offer they can’t refuse to join the cartel, all hell breaks loose. Lively’s character is kidnapped and the two pot dealers must enlist the help of a dirty DEA agent (John Travolta) to fight off the drug gang.

The theatrical version was intense and graphic enough. But the DVD is promising even more graphic action.

The Combo Pack includes exclusive deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes featurette with the entire cast.

The Combo Pack also includes a digital copy of the film compatible with most major phone and tablet computers, as well as UltraViolet, according to Universal Studios.

The combo pack and disc sets go on sale November 13, 2012. Pre-order through TheImproper at amazon.com and save 31 percent off the price of the Two-Disc Combo Pack: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet. It normally retails for $34.98, but by pre-ordering you pay $23.99, for a savings of $10.99.

* it's sad Miss Lively is firmly against outright nudity (for now). She is so gorgeous. Eminently watchable. Folks tend to make fun of the way she talks but even that is a strange attraction....somehow works in her favor.

____________________________________________________

Real life a bit of a rom-com too

THEY'VE defied the unspoken Hollywood rule that real life couples have no on-screen chemistry. And Kristen Bell can't shut up about her man. 

The Michigan-born blonde and her fiance Dax Shepard have broken the curse in their new film, Hit and Run, and Bell couldn't be happier.

"I feel like I'm in a great place," she beams.

Bell, is starring in the TV series House of Lies (expected to screen here on Ten this year) and Hit and Run took a modest $5.9 million at the US box office in its opening weekend - almost three times its $2 million budget. Her breakout role in TV's Veronica Mars in 2004 led to movie roles in the romantic comedies Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Couples Retreat, and When in Rome.

And she was confident she and Shepard would sizzle on the big screen.

"Well, Dax isn't a rule kind of guy," she tells Insider. "And neither of us wakes up in the morning saying, 'What would the public want from us?' Obviously, I hope people will want to see it but that factor didn't go into the decision.

"We wanted to work together; that was that. He's my favourite human being on the planet and making this movie was the best six weeks of my life."

Art imitates life in the case of their on-screen romance, written by Shepard.

"It's about the idea of whether your past should inform your future," Bell explains. "It relates to the first moment I met Dax. He was my Prince Charming but then I heard that he had a more exciting past than he initially let on to me.

"So immediately I got nervous and felt threatened. Subconsciously, I punished him for things he did before he met me, which is really not OK to do in a relationship."

Bell, 32, is referring to Shepard's reported alcohol and cocaine addiction. He is now eight years sober.

"I had to recognise that I was being judgmental," she says. "It was something we explored, dealt with, and thankfully got over."

Shepard, 37, also born in Michigan, burst on to the Hollywood circuit on

the Ashton Kutcher prank show Punk'd.

He then parlayed his appearances into an acting career, landing a role on the TV show Parenthood.

"I don't think people should be shamed by their past," Shepard says. "They don't owe an apology to their current partner for things they did before they knew them. People are fallible. They make mistakes and move on."

Bell is petite, bubbly and effortlessly charming. This afternoon she is styled in a slim-fitting Etro dress and Barbara Bui heels. Her hair is long and perfectly groomed.

"When it comes to fashion, I didn't really know what I liked until about six or seven years ago, but I definitely gravitate towards classic styles," she says. "I also recognise that my fashion sense is ever evolving."

Hit and Run packs a punch with some off-the-wall dialogue, stunt driving (using many of Shepard's own cars), an unrecognisable Bradley Cooper in a role that rids him of any physical appeal, and for some shock value, naked old people are thrown into the mix. "Dax's humour is very politically incorrect and that's very much who Dax is," Bell says.

Clearly, they are besotted with each other. "We like hiking together, having friends over to dinner, and we love to watch TV together, especially reality shows. That's our guilty pleasure," she says.

Ready for a change of pace, Bell is shooting controversial film, The Lifeguard, about a 30-year-old woman who begins a relationship with a troubled 16-year-old.

"It's very, very honest and very, very raw," she says.

Hit and Run opens Thursday

____________________________________________________


Movie Review: Compliance
True story of dangerously blind obedience

by C.W. Ellis

Would you do something that you feel is wrong if someone in authority told you to do it? How far would you go if that person said it was okay? Would you say no, or obey? Don’t most people accept, and even like being told what to do?

Compliance is a small film that asks these big questions. The answers, like the film itself, will make you uncomfortable.

The story is straightforward. It’s a busy Friday night at a suburban fast-food outlet. Sandra (Ann Dowd), the restaurant’s stressed 50-something manager, receives a phone call from a man who identifies himself as Police Officer Daniels (Pat Healy).

He says that his surveillance team witnessed Becky (Dreama Walker), a pretty blonde teenaged restaurant employee, stealing money from a customer’s purse. He tells Sandra that he needs her help in securing evidence from Becky until his men can arrive at the scene.

“Officer Daniels” (who the audience will learn is not really a cop) then proceeds to give Sandra detailed instructions. His requests—orders, really—escalate step by step, from questioning Becky to a humiliating strip search culminating in sexual assault. Becky, Sandra, and Sandra’s fiancé willingly comply.

Before you say that nothing like this would ever really happen, in April 2004 a prank caller identifying himself as a police officer played out this exact scenario with employees of a McDonald’s outside Louisville, Ky. And that wasn’t the only instance. Over a period of 10 years, 70 similar phone calls have occurred across the country, according to the film’s press notes.

Filmmaker Craig Zobel and the cast succeed in bringing gut-wrenching reality to what seems intellectually unbelievable.

How can normal, decent people become complicit in committing astonishingly outrageous acts? For Sandra, it’s a sense of duty to please those above her and command those below. For Becky, it’s desperate hope for a way out. It leads them both to do as they are told.

The film opens with close-ups of the fast-food workplace stations, the greasy reality where the players spend so many of their waking hours. When Sandra enlists in a police investigation—something big, something important—we feel the excitement of escape from a life of quiet desperation. Later, Sandra pulls her pleasant but somewhat befuddled fiancé in, to disastrous effect.

“Officer” Daniels is a master manipulator. Listen closely and you hear the lexicon of control—the appeals to authority, the scolding followed by reassurances, the “I need you to do this” commands masked as requests—all with the effect of keeping the victims confused and compliant.

The Milgram and Zimbardo social psychology experiments famously demonstrated how easy it is to get an average person to degrade, even torture, fellow human beings. Most of us fancy ourselves better and smarter than that. We question authority rather than obey it. We’ll never be in the docket at Nuremberg for “just following orders,” we tell ourselves.

But spend just a few minutes in quiet meditation and you’ll hear a critical voice inside speaking to your fears and desires. It expects you to accept, not question, the reality of its narrative—it’s the authority, after all—and to react accordingly. Officer Daniels is on duty.

Hollywood blockbusters scare us with special effects, aliens, and explosions. Compliance shows us the monsters within ourselves. That is truly frightening.

Rating: 4 stars / 5

____________________________________________________

 
Jena Sims talking about working with Roger Corman in the film “Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader”
Jena Sims plays Cassi Stratford in the upcoming Roger Corman film “Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader”. Media Mikes had the chance to talk with Jena about the role and what it was like working with Roger.

Adam Lawton: How did you first get connected with Roger Corman?
Jena Sims: I auditioned for the film just like any other audition.  I really had no idea and was just treating this like another audition. The call was held in Roger’s office however he was not there at the time. I met with the director and casting associate and almost immediately booked the job.  They asked me if I had any cheerleading experience which I had as I did cheerleading throughout school. I didn’t get to meet Roger until about half way through filming. He has a brief cameo in one of the scenes. Roger was very sweet and quiet. He was just so nice. I was and still am very glad to be a part of one of his movies.

AL: Can you give us some background on the film?
JS: The film is a younger version of the classic film “Attack of the 50ft Woman”.  The story starts out with my character Cassi being the “ugly duckling”. She desperately wants to be a cheerleader and part of a sorority but because of her looks she can’t. One day while messing around in the science lab with her friend Cassi is injected with a serum that makes her beautiful but at the same time makes her grow.

AL: What drew you to the project?
JS: I grew up watching the “Bring It On” films. Those movies actually made me want to be a cheerleader. I loved that this film had a cheerleading element to it but also that it was a Roger Corman film. Roger has worked with so many great people and I wanted to be a part of that roster.

AL: How did working on this film compare to some of your previous work?
JS: It was like night and day. Being an independent film with a lower budget I think allowed everyone working on the film more creative freedom. Things were so much more relaxed and we all could contribute ideas for lines and or scenes. We all had a tremendous amount of input. I picked out and wore a number of my own clothes in the film. A lot of films the procedure is very tight and things are done in a certain way. Working on this Corman film was like going to summer camp. It really was just so much fun.

AL: Can you tell us about your involvement with HBBQ?
JS: HBBQ is a non-profit organization that I started. The letters actually stand for “Has Been Beauty Queen”. I started the organization in 2006 as a pageant for kids with terminal cancer called “Pageant of Hope”. I competed in pageants as a kid and was Miss Georgia Teen 2008. I lost my Grandfather when I was younger to cancer so I was always very interested in fund raising for places like the American Cancer Society. When kids come in to be a part of the pageant we teach the pageant walk and do their hair and makeup. We really try to get to know the kids and help bring them out of their shells. At the end of the day we have the pageant and everyone is a winner. With these pageants we try and help take the kids minds of being sick and in the hospital. I have been able to travel all around the world putting on these pageants and it’s been great.

AL: What other projects do you have coming up?
JS: I just shot a found footage film the other day which has still yet to be titled. It was a really fun and cute roll. I have auditioning quite a bit as all the fall shows are beginning production. I also will be doing a pageant for my organization in my home town in September so I am really looking forward to that. It’s been a long time since I have held one of these in my home town.
____________________________________________________

RAAZ 3: No Body Double For Esha Gupta’s Nude Scene

MUMBAI: Barely 2 films old, newcomer Esha Gupta, who recently shot for a nude scene in her forthcoming 3D horror film Raaz 3, did so minus a body double and without any inhibitions.

Reveals a source, “The near-to-nude scenes were crucial to the script of the film. And while Esha was offered a body double, she insisted on doing the scenes herself. She had no qualms shooting for the scenes since she comes from an extensive modeling background. She completely trusted the team’s judgment and shot for the bold scenes like a thorough professional.” 

Apparently Esha refused to go for a body double for this scene in Raaz 3.

All praise for the actress, says director Vikram Bhatt, “The scenes Esha has done is with utmost grace. She has shot for them beautifully.”

The first–of-its-kind 3D horror film, starring Emraan Hashmi, Bipasha Basu and Esha Gupta follows the journey of a fading superstar’s revenge against a rising star.

Presented by Fox Star Studios and produced by Vishesh Films, Vikram Bhatt’s Raaz 3 comes releases on 7th September,2012.
____________________________________________________



James Toback Strikes Again: I Have to Cum at Least Seven Times a Day

Rich Juzwiak

Director of Tyson, Black and White and (haha) The Pick-Up Artist, James Toback has gained a reputation as a creep for hitting on young, random women. A few years ago, Gawker posted a string of stories detailing his antics. Here's a recent one from a 24-year-old Bushwick resident who spent over two hours with the 67-year-old filmmaker.

About three weeks ago, I was on the 6 train and I realized I needed to get some iPhone headphones. I tried the Apple store in Grand Central. They didn't have any, but they directed me to the Best Buy at 44th and 5th. As I was turning the corner to enter the store, this man stopped me. He was heavyset, sweaty and wearing glasses but I could see that his skin was all scaly under his eyes.

"My name is James Toback," he started. "I saw you and I had to turn around. I've been following you for 20 yards."

He started running down his resume and listing all these celebrities he had "discovered," like Adrian Grenier (whom he worked with in Harvard Man).

"You need to be in my next movie," he told me.

I was completely caught off guard. I asked for his business card.

"Real directors don't carry business cards," he told me, but then he said to Google him if I needed to identify him. I did that right there and saw his IMDb page with his picture on it.

"Look, I know this is weird, would you come with me to the Harvard Club? It's across the street and there will be people there. You will be safe. It'll just take 10 minutes of your time."

I wasn't really doing anything that afternoon, so I went with him. I'd never been in that part of Midtown, but there's also the Yale Club and the Cornell Club on that street. I didn't go to an Ivy League, so I was thinking that I'd never get the chance to go to any of those weird clubs. Walking into the Harvard Club was a strange twist to my day.

Everyone there knew him. I found out later that he's a Harvard alumni. We sat down and I ordered a Coke. He ordered the same. He started rattling off about his life. He went into this longwinded story about being on a bunch of sports teams at Harvard. He told me he had wanted to take the highest amount of LSD ever recorded. I can't remember what the dosage he was basing this off of was, but he wanted to take more than that. So he did and he had an eight-day trip where he fucked all these woman. He felt like he was God. He had this experience where he was walking beside the river in Boston, and this was on the eighth day of his trip. He ran into this guy who had been missing, this football player, and he saw that this guy was God instead. It was really weird.

"My movie Harvard Man with Adrian Grenier was based on that," he told me. This first reference to sex led to him discussing the fact that he doesn't follow any organized religion, but he follows the Church of Orgasm. He told me that he has to cum at least seven or eight times a day, whether it's with a woman or by himself. He explained that before you cum, you can say, "I'm going to cum," and after you've come, you can say, "I have cum," but while you're cumming, "There are no words. You're in a different state." I thought it was so gross to think of him cumming seven times a day.

(The Church of Orgasm is figurative, by the way. There's not an actual church.)

He told me his goal when he was younger was to impregnate someone in every country. He told me that he had fathered dozens of kids he did not know, that he would go around and fuck women and impregnate them. He has a son that he does know, though, with his wife. I guess that's a completely separate part of his life. Later, he told me about this woman he had fallen in love with. He didn't put her in a movie like he said he would and she became very vengeful and tried to contact his wife. He got very serious.

"I told her, ‘If you want to do anything in this industry, I will ruin you. If you contact my wife, I will make your life very hard.'" I guess it stopped. I'm not sure what his arrangement is with his wife, but it didn't sound like she knew the details of what goes on in the Church of Orgasm.

He started on the movie that he wants to film. He told me I had this great aura and asked me what I did. I told him I worked in fashion.

"Yes. I could tell. Just the way you carry yourself," he said. I looked like shit that day. I'd been running all over the city. It was such bullshit.

He asked me if I wanted to work in costume design. I told him I worked as a wardrobe stylist.

"I can tell," he told me. "How does this sound to you so far?"

"It sounds really sketchy," I replied.

"Why don't you trust me?"

"Because I think you're just trying to fuck me."

"I would never have sex with a woman that wasn't begging me to have sex with her," he told me. "She would have to be begging and even then I might not do it."

Over the next two hours, he repeatedly asked me, "How does this sound to you?" I told him I was skeptical. He kept saying that I'd have to beg him to have sex. I felt really nervous. He went to Harvard. Obviously, the guy is smart. I told him that I felt like he was trying to manipulate me. I didn't drink any alcohol and sipped on that one Coke that I ordered the whole time.

He talked about himself the whole time, asking me questions once in a while and then going off on another tangent. It was fascinating. These were the craziest stories. He told me he was married to some royal figure when he was really young. I got the feeling that he came from a well-to-do family. He told me when he was 14, he would go to the Dakota and there were all of these classical music guys that were super famous staying there. I don't know classical music well, so I recognized the names but I don't recall them. He said he would fuck these crazy famous classical music composers.

"I'm not gay, and I would never let anyone fuck me, but I would fuck them, and they loved me because I was so beautiful," he explained. For the most part, I believed him. Researching him afterwards, I got the sense that his background lines up with his story.

He told me about living in Los Angeles and there was a boxer or football player who had this crew that he would hang out in. He was the only white guy. They would have crazy orgies with everyone fucking everyone.

Almost all of his stories were about sex or tied back to it.

He asked me if I have a type.

"Generally, tall, skinny white guys," I told him.

"OK, now that is just a construct in your head so that you shut out other options that might be a little more challenging to you," he said. I asked what he meant. "I think you can be attracted to things that disgust you," he continued.

OK.

"That's actually what the movie is going to be about," he said. I asked him about the process. He told me he develops a very personal relationship with his actors. He told me he'd write this role for me and that way I wouldn't be acting at all. I'd just have to be myself.

"First, you need to watch all my movies," he said. "When would you be able to do that? I want to get started right away."

"This weekend?" I said. I was still intrigued at this point, and I at least wanted to hear him out.

"Can you meet me at the Angelika tomorrow at 7:25? I'm meeting Alec Baldwin there at 7:30. If you can meet me, I can give you the DVDs, but they're my only copies so you have to give them back," he said. He asked my schedule for the following week. I told him I was free Tuesday and Wednesday.

"OK," he said. "We'll meet Tuesday evening. We can have dinner here and then we'll go upstairs and start to do this type of psychoanalysis."

"What's upstairs?"

"Oh, it's a hotel."

OK.

"How does this psychoanalysis work?" I asked.

"I really need to get to know you so I'll write the character around you so that it fits you like a dress. I'll shoot out a word and then I want you to rap on it. We'll go from there. It's sort of a stream-of-consciousness way of me getting into your psyche and getting to know you."

OK.

"The room will be registered in my name," he continued. "There will be tons of people downstairs. You'll be safe. It won't be sketchy."

Yeah, not sketchy at all to go to a hotel room with a guy I don't know. That's when I accepted the fact that this whole thing was totally weird and he's completely crazy.

I told him I needed to think about it. He implored me to consider it.

"We'll be making art!" he said. "This is what you're meant to do. Isn't it weird that I saw you on the street and now you're here? You need to be making art. You aren't meant to be working in a store or as a stylist. There is something more that you're destined for. I feel it."

Looking at his prior films, I think he was lying. He worked with established actors and he had no idea whether I can act or not and I can't! I'd be terrible.

I told him I'd watch his films and gave him my card. When we parted, I was reeling and shocked by this experience. I ended up walking home from Midtown to Bushwick. It took two and a half hours. I was that weirded out by the whole experience.

I did not meet him the next day. He called me three times around the time we were supposed to meet. He waited there for an hour, but by then I knew this was too weird and I was going to stop engaging him.

After I was home, I thought back to something he told me: "I'm catching a lot of flack because people think I'm walking around Manhattan with my dick in my hands following every girl I see. And I stop guys sometimes, too." He rolled up his hands and stacked them at his crotch, like he was holding a light saber that was also his dick. It struck me as such a crude gesture. I had no concept of the extent of what he was talking about. He told me to Google him and see what comes up. The first three results are his IMDb, his Wikipedia and an article about his new movie that just premiered.

I didn't look past that until I got home. The fourth result is the Gawker article from 2010, Sleazy Film Director James Toback's Underage Pick-up Attempt. When I read that in the safety of my apartment, suddenly the whole interaction all made sense.

Here are the voice mails he left me from outside of the Angelika:
Toback voicemail 1

Toback voicemail 2

Toback voicemail 3


____________________________________________________


Fifty Shades of Grey Movie : Is a TV Series a Better Idea?

by Aida Ekberg 

The Fifty Shades of Grey movie hasn't come out yet, but some fans are already upset about it.
There's been an intense online battle going on over who should play Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, with fans fighting for favorites like Matt Bomer, Ian Somerhalder, and Ryan Gosling. Ana options include Alexis Bledel, Alexandra Daddario, and Emilia Clarke.

However, Fifty fans must be tired of the casting debate, because now some of them have taken to arguing that the movie shouldn't exist at all - they'd rather see 50 Shades on TV.

According to Books and Review, fans have been posting messages like this on the Fifty Shades Film website:

"As great as it is to have a movie in the works, I would of loved to have a HBO series. That way we could enjoy it longer, and the story could be told. Anyone else think this? Will a movie be able to do it justice?"

HBO and Showtime are known for airing sexy TV series that feature a lot of sex and skin - Game of Thrones, True Blood, and Californication are proof that a 50 Shades of Grey TV series could work. And what gal wouldn't want to get to see Christian Grey every week?

However, the movie is already in the works, and there's no way that the producers are going to abandon their cash cow now.

But this doesn't mean that a 50 Shades TV series can't exist in the future - if the movie is a big box office success, the producers will probably be looking for more ways to profit off of the 50 Shades property.

Reboots and remakes are all the rage these days, so audiences are getting used to seeing multiple actors and actresses play beloved characters. There's even been talk about a Twilight TV series.

Producers might feel pressured to pick a big-name movie actor like Ryan Gosling for the film, so fans unhappy with such a choice would enjoy getting to see someone like Ian Somerhalder or Matt Bomer play the character on TV. By the time the TV series came out, their current shows The Vampire Diaries and White Collar probably wouldn't exist anymore.

____________________________________________________


‘Dirty dancing’ at the Republican National Convention


____________________________________________________

VENICE : ‘The Master’ And Joaquin Phoenix Draw Raves, But Pic Is Hard Nut To Crack For Some; Trailer Scenes Missing

A Venice audience lined up starting at about 8am today to catch the first press screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. The packed house was hushed throughout the entirety of the film with only a handful of walkouts. Although immediate rection following the screening was enormously positive, applause when the credits rolled was muted. After sitting through 2 hours of a gorgeous, yet emotionally grueling and difficult to decipher picture, folks say they’re still parsing the movie.

As one industryite and, self-professed fan of Anderson’s work, said to me this morning, “I would have preferred if it moved from point A to point B, not because I’m illiterate about film or need signposts along the way, but it seems to keep circling around.” An across the board consensus, however, is that Joaquin Phoenix is a lock for a best actor Oscar nomination and, barring any other exceptionally standout performances this year, a win. His portrayal of a disturbed World War II veteran Navy man is disturbing itself for the masterful way he embodies such an enigmatic character.

Anderson is known for operatic tales, whether set against the backdrop of the porn industry, the San Fernando Valley during a frog storm or the Southern California oil boom. But this one will be a tougher sell to audiences not used to the director’s work. The movie has been regarded as a thinly-veiled treatise on Scientology and someone who’s not heard all of the Scientology talk before seeing the film would immediately recognize references to it. Still, one person this morning told me they felt Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd, aka The Master, resembled a snake-oil salesman more than L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Curiously, a scene that was part of one of the original trailers for The Master in which Phoenix’s Freddie Quell screams at Dodd, “I know you’re trying to calm me down, but just say something that’s true!” was not in the version screened in Venice this morning. Nor was a scene in which Quell is being questioned about “an incident.”

The film focuses largely on Phoenix’s shell-shocked, alcoholic and violence prone character – though one suspects he was shell-shocked long before the war. He stumbles across Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd, aka The Master, the affable if ominous leader of “The Cause,” who takes Quell under his wing and begins to “process” him. The pair engages in a pas-de-deux throughout the lush film almost erasing every other player – save Amy Adams who is compelling when on screen. The Weinstein Co releases The Master Sept 21 in the U.S and sneak screenings around the country have resulted in largely glowing reviews.

____________________________________________________ 


Naked orchestra
  ____________________________________________________ 

Do Nude Scenes Hurt an Actor's Career?

By Michael Kostroff | Posted Feb. 23, 2012

Dear Michael:
Recently, I've been doing a lot of research on acting and what it takes to get started, as well as the type of work aspiring actors face. Lately, I've been booking short film auditions and a few actual jobs. I go to this film website looking for auditions. I notice half of them require nudity.

When the question first popped up whether I would do nudity or a sex scene, I believed sex scenes were a waste and in most cases not needed. Recently, I've been studying more into it. I feel that before, it was pointless because of my insecurities. Now, I'm reconsidering.

As a male aspiring actor, if I were faced with an opportunity to do a nude or sex scene, should I do it? Would doing sex and nude scenes at the beginning of my career hurt me later on?

The reason why I've also been questioning this is I've been noticing, especially in indie films and on HBO, that the sex scenes are becoming more graphic, and a lot of the scenes are borderline soft-core porn.

I know sometimes actors are forced to make choices based on furthering their careers. I just would like to know the best way to deal.

JLine, Boston

Dear JLine:
Here are a few things to think about. When you're first starting out, with no agent and no union to vet projects for legitimacy, you're vulnerable to all kinds of less-than-reputable situations. I must caution you that nonunion, nonpaying, and amateur projects that involve sex and/or nudity may be worse than unprofessional; they may be no more than scams by opportunistic pervs looking for cheap thrills. There are hundreds of stories of people who've found themselves compromised (or worse, endangered) by such rackets.

The decision whether or not to work nude is a personal one. While I know some disagree with my point of view, I don't believe actors should ever think of nudity as an inherent requirement of our profession. It should never be assumed that just because you're an actor, the world gets to see your naked body. Many actors—myself included—have had successful, busy careers without shedding their clothes.

Even if nudity fits with your artistic philosophy, you might want to wait until it's in connection with a project you know is 100 percent legitimate, safe, and worthy of such intimate exposure, like an HBO project or a first-class feature film with a known director.

All that notwithstanding, nudity also doesn't have the stigma it once had, and it's doubtful that a nude or sex scene would ruin your career, unless your career plan involves working primarily in religious or family-oriented projects.

I disagree with your last statement: We're never forced. We can always choose. No one decision will make or break your career, and no opportunity is your last. So don't give your power away. You're the CEO of your own company. You get to choose how you want to present yourself. And if anyone tells you you'll be washed up in show business unless you strip, find the nearest door. 

____________________________________________________ 

Are online nudie pics an art form?
It's time to radically rethink the way we approach nude images sent through social media

By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Alternet

If you’ve happened upon any tabloid media over the past week, you’ve likely seen the scowling, scolding headlines about Prince Harry’s “wild night in Vegas.” The shock and awe directed toward the now 27-year-old son of Princess Di was not necessarily about his “wild night,” however, but directed in particular towards photos leaked by some of his comrades during a night of nude billiards. Of course, it was such a scandal—Harry’s whole life seems to be about having the absolute minimum amount of decorum expected of him as a royal — but one can imagine the collective gasp heard ’round Buckingham Palace when his naked butt landed on the Internet. But the typically Victorian horror from the royals brought to light a valid question for Americans, who were ostensibly untethered from the Queen’s morals 200 years ago: why are we so freaked out about sexting? Why are we so freaked out about Internet nudes? And does our fear of the union of the naked human body and technology create an environment where bad-news exploiters (like “revenge pornographer” Hunter Moore) can thrive?

America’s longstanding puritanism is no secret—as a society we are appalled by the human body. Over 500 years after Botticelli painted that sumptuous nude Venus, Americans tend to muster a disproportionate, regressive outrage over far less sexual representations of anatomy. As recently as last week, an artistic nude was censored in Atlanta, as though it revealed some secret and more salacious body part, instead of the ones half the population possess. Transmogrify the nude painting into an artistic photograph, however, and we find far deeper reasons to object: the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, whose nudes were artfully lit and often posed to mimic (also nude) Greek sculpture, is still a point of controversy 22 years after his death.

In our accelerated reality, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that cameraphone nudes, floating on the Internet, are part of the lineage from Botticelli to Mapplethorpe. Maybe they do not generally possess the same level of skill as those greats, but cell pics continue the tradition of capturing the human form in new and strange lights, in ways that reflect a moment in time. Self-captured cell phone images, whether meant for preservation or for stimulation, are perhaps unwittingly part of our new media art flow, where Instagram acts as a conceptual, real-time gallery, and can even be reversed onto canvas. And while Prince Harry was, it seems, leaked without consent, a gross violation, the blurry images of his body, netherparts covered by a hand like Venus de Milo’s strategically placed golden locks, are as reminiscent of classical sculpture as anything.

Does that all sound lofty to you? Perhaps, but maybe it’s time to re-evaluate our thinking on the sext, which inspires incessant hand-wringing and yet is simply a microcosm of America’s freaked-out existence. Harry’s a 27-year-old man, old enough to know what the hell he’s doing, but the shame culture drummed up by his photos sends a very direct message to rebellious teenagers, who adults worry about the most. The shaming says: your nude body is illicit, it is pliable, yet it is a way to get attention. The conflict of the shaming is what we should be worrying about most, as the root issue of sexting that ends up on Web sites and ruins high school reputations.

Americans need to radically rethink the way we approach nude images sent through social media. We look at cameraphone nudes as an extension of porn culture and an inevitable effect of our technology-era voyeurism, and sometimes they are (I am still mad at gossip blogs for exposing me to halfway up Amber Rose’s coochie, but that’s a personal matter). But if we reframe them as an extension of new media art, can we use them as a lesson to stop the endless cycle of feeling bad or moralizing nakedness? More importantly—by changing our reaction to leaked nude cell photos, to something approaching bemused disinterest rather than fixated shock, can we help the selfsame teenagers we fear sexting, feel more comfortable and confident about their bodies and in their own skin?

It’s certainly a hypothetical—it will take a lot more than feeling okay about naked TwitPics to erase hundreds of years of Judeo-Christian finger-wagging. But increasingly, as LEAKED NUDE PHOTOS are top Internet click fodder, and technology offers us more and more ways in which to expose ourselves, maybe LEAKED NUDE PHOTOS are not the problem, but part of the solution.
____________________________________________________ 

17 Things That Make You Dumber

Shlomo Sprung 

With all the talk about self-improvement these days, people don't pay enough attention to self-worsening. In fact, there are many common behaviors that have been shown in one or more studies to make people stupider.
You can start by turning off most TV shows.
As a follow-up to our 25 ways to boost your intelligence, we've compiled a list of things that decrease intelligence or IQ or cause neurological decline.

Watching reality TV

An Austrian study showed participants a reality-like show and asked them to take a knowledge test immediately afterward. Those participants fared worse than those who had not seen the reality show beforehand. 

Sugar

A UCLA study showed that steady sugar consumption for as little as six weeks "slows the brain, hampering memory and learning." Americans consume 35 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup each year, UCLA reported via the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Multitasking

Research conducted at Stanford University in 2009 shows that multitaskers "who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time."

Chewing gum

A series of three experiments conducted by Cardiff University in Wales determined that chewing gum "impairs short-term memory for both item order and item identity." 

Watching FOX News

A 2011 study by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that people who watch Fox News are less likely to be knowledgeable about the political landscape than those who watch MSNBC, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show or NPR. "Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources," a 2010 University of Maryland study showed.

Obesity

A 2010 Kent State University study tested more than 100 obese individuals before and after they had bariatric surgery. Men's Health reports that "before the surgery, most subjects showed below-average memory skills. But 12 weeks after surgery...their memory test scores had improved to within the average range for all adults." 

Jet lag

Researchers at Cal Berkeley changed the sleep schedule for hamsters every three days for a month and the hamsters produced 50 percent fewer neurons than they did on a normal sleep schedule. 

Fluoride

A recent study performed by Environmental Health Perspective, a journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, concluded that "children in high-fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ scores than those who lived in low-fluoride areas." Fluoride is found in most drinking water in the United States. 

Meetings

In businesses around the world, it's fairly common to toss ideas around at meeting to help stimulate creative and productive activity. But a Virginia Tech study revealed that "group settings can diminish expressions of intelligence, especially among women." Social feedback in settings ranging from jury deliberations to cocktail parties "had a significant effect" on the subjects' problem-solving abilities. 

Being spanked as a child

A wide-ranging study by the University of Manitoba found that more than five percent of all mental disorder is caused by being spanked or other forms of childhood physical abuse. "This type of punishment was associated with poor mental outcomes and several mental disorders almost uniformly across the board," said Tracy Afifi, the founder of the study, according to WebMD. 

PowerPoint

If you believe the U.S. Army, PowerPoint presentations are making us stupid. Commanders in the Army told the New York Times in 2010 that the Microsoft program "stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making." 

Watching SpongeBob

A 2011 study by the journal Pediatrics showed that children who watched fast-paced cartoons like SpongeBob  performed poorer at a mental test than those who watched an educational show or those who drew. "Children who watched 9 minutes of a fast-paced cartoon," SpongeBob, in the study's case, "had impairment in their executive function compared with children who were assigned a drawing task and those who watched educational television." 

Secondhand smoke

In addition to the numerous other harmful effects secondhand smoke causes, children who are exposed to enough of it could end up with lower IQs and lower achievement in school and on test scores, according to Central Michigan University. 

Stress

The Yale Stress Center concluded this year that stressful situations "can reduce the number of connections between neurons in the brain and impair the ability of managing tense events in the future," as reported by The Morning Call. Cumulative stress, Yale found, can cause a decrease of gray matter in the brain's prefrontal cortex and "can impair the brain's ability to store information and respond to the environment."

Ambien and Xanax

If you're an older individual, taking Ambien (a sleeping pill) and Xanax (used to ease stress and anxiety) could become extremely harmful, according to doctors at AARP. These drugs could cause "memory loss (even amnesia), dementia and suicidal thoughts" among users and "both Xanax and Ambien slow down the central nervous system." 

Lack of iodine

You don't need much iodine in your system, but it's crucial to have before you're born. In the prenatal stage, an iodine deficiency "can lead to serious physical and mental disorders," according to Steady Health. In fully developed adults, an iodine deficiency can lead to a 13 point decrease in IQ. 

Smoking weed

Smoking weed consistently from adolescence causes "neuropsychological decline broadly across domains of functioning, even after controlling for years of education," according to research from Duke University. Even stopping the habit for a long period of time "did not fully restore neuropsychological functioning among adolescent-onset cannabis users. Findings are suggestive of a neurotoxic effect of cannabis on the adolescent brain."

____________________________________________________

stars, sex and nudity buzz : 08/25/2012

22-years old Aussie actress Adelaide Clemens does her first nude scene in quite dismal Generation Um...(2012).

The Oz nudie party will soon have first-timers like Mia Wasikowska (breasts in Stoker), Margot Robbie (possible full frontal) and gorgeous Bella Heathcote to complement Adelaide nude-coming.

Here is my prediction way back in January on CNDB forum............
Michelle Williams look-a-like Adelaide Clemens is slowly gaining ground in Hollywood with handful of flicks coming out in 2012. Keeping fingers crossed the Aussie blonde will have the same positive attitude towards nudity like Michelle. High chances of seeing her boobies in Generation Um... (2012) and Parade's End (TV Series 2012)
http://collider.com/generation-um-images-poster/109525/

__________________________________________________


ET Canada On The Set Of Schrader-Ellis-Deen-Lohan’s THE CANYONS (3’05″)
Entertainment Tonight Canada visits the set of The Canyons
Stars Nolan Funk, James Deen and Lindsay Lohan

* Lohan (breasts) and Tenille Houston will have nude scenes. First on-cam for Miss Houston. Hopefully it's full-frontal as promised.

__________________________________________________


Jena Sims on 'Attack of the 50-Ft Cheerleader 3D' and Her 'Pageant of Hope'

Jena Sims is a name you will get used to hearing! The young actress and model makes her film debut on EPIX this weekend as the star of Roger Corman's latest production, ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT CHEERLEADER. Sims plays Cassie, a nerd-turned popular cheerleader who gets a lot more than she asks for when trying to give herself a 'boost'. You may already recognize the former Miss Georgia Teen USA from appearances she has had on some of television's biggest hits including, “The Vampire Diaries”, “Entourage”, “Dexter”, “Leverage” and “One Tree Hill”. 

But acting and modeling aren't the only places where Sims's talent and passion lies: she is an award-winning philanthropist. Sims is the founder and president of the non-profit HBBQ's, Inc.(Has-Been-Beauty-Queens); which she started as a high school student after years of fund-raising for the American Cancer Society. HBBQ works to raise self-esteem for kids dealing with Cancer and other serious health challenges through the noncompetitive 'Pageant of Hope'. 

The Georgia native has taken her heart around the world providing hope to children everywhere from the slums of South Africa to Cuba to all the way to Australia. Her 'Pageant of Hope' event in Los Angeles was recently featured on ABC's “Everyday Health”. When speaking with Sims, her unwavering passion and dedication to uplift and make a difference in the lives of others is highly apparent. We chatted about how her love for charity began, what it was like filming her first movie, the most valuable lesson she took away from it and much more!

ATTACK OF THE 50-Ft CHEERLEADER is your first film, what was the experience like for you filming it? You have the starring role.
Jena- Yes, it's my first movie. It was so awesome! It exceeded my expectations of what I thought it would be like. I was working six days a week. Every day I woke up looking forward going to work and I knew this is exactly what I want to do because I love it. I never once dreaded going to work at four in the morning or staying till four in the morning. (Laughs) It was awesome. And we also had a lot of creative input in the film. We got to make certain choices and do more improv. It was really fun.

What is the premise of the movie?
Jena- It is not technically a remake of ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, but it has its similarities. It's about an ugly-ducking turning into a pretty swan story. In the beginning I play Cassie Stratford. I'm a nerd, I have pimples on my face; and my crazy mother all she wants me to do is join the cheer-leading squad and join a sorority. And I had to do those things to please her so she'll pay for my tuition at the college I'm going to. So I create this serum that I inject myself with and first it's to make me beautiful and more athletic, and it does, but as its side effects, I continue to grow throughout the film. And then there's another whole story about the antagonist who gets jealous because she has the height complex. She injects herself with it and then there's a big fight because I'm supposed to be the only 50 foot cheerleader.

What did you enjoy most about your character?
Jena- I think the nerd part. Playing the nerd, even though it's such a brief amount of time in the film, it was so easy to go to work and not have to sit through hair and make up. It was so fun to play a nerd because I feel like I'm such a nerd at heart. I just got to explore that and let my nerd roots sprout high. (Laughs)

What would you say was the most valuable lesson you learned from making the movie, that you think you will take with you to future projects?
Jena- The first thing that came to my mind was Hollywood is such a game and there's no way to predict it. I literally woke up that morning and just went to that audition like it was any other audition. In the beginning I didn't know that much about that project. It changed my life the day that I booked it. It has totally changed me as a person. I'm more confident with my acting now. I definitely think the lesson there is you can't plan these things. It's all about the right time, right place.

Was there a day on set of filming it that stood out to you as the most fun or most challenging?
Jena- I definitely think the most fun and the most challenging day on set was when we were filming the fight scene at the very end. It took a week to film this one fight. And this stunt coordinator got so frustrated with us because we were so tired. It was already around three am, we were so sore from doing the same fight and moves over and over, and we were all hyped up on red bull; and he was like “I'm going to throw some energy balls!” And we said, “What the heck is that?” And he was just tossing these fake energy balls. literally just air, just moving his hands and throwing these “energy” balls at us and we just got such a kick out of it because he took it so very seriously. But it was fun. It was our comedic relief. And it got us through. Anytime we were doing the fight scene, it was particularly challenging.

What is your dream role?
Jena- I want to play Tina Fey's daughter in a comedy. That is my dream role. I love Tina Fey and I think we could pass as relatives. I think it would be so much fun to be her daughter and do like a fun mom-daughter comedy with my other favorite actor Aziz Ansari. I think it would be fun to have him as a love interest or an adopted-brother. And if Will Ferrall was my dad, I think all my dreams would come true! (Laughs)

You have your HBBQ non-profit, that you do the Pageant of Hope with, how did the idea for it come about?
Jena- When I was ten, I lost both my grandfathers to Cancer. And at ten, I decided I wanted to raise money to cure Cancer. Of course, as a ten-year-old I thought I could cure Cancer! (Laughs) I started raising money for the American Cancer Society. I formed my own Relay for Life team. I raised $88,000 by the time I was 18 for Cancer research, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to play with the kids more. I wanted to go into the hospitals and interact with the kids. So at 15, I started doing pageants while I was still raising money for Cancer research. One day I decided to combine my two favorite things; which was at the time competing in pageants and philanthropy, and I created an event. It originally started out as a Cancer pageant. I started with kids with Cancer at first. And then eventually I brought the children to me because it was so hard to get a team into the hospital for it.

And I know you have done the pageant in Cuba and many cities and countries. Is it at all challenging to organize them and convince the parents to do it? Especially when you're traveling to a foreign country for it?
Jena- I did do Cuba. Pageantry, especially in today's world, is such a whole taboo word because of the reality shows giving us bad reputations. I think it's really hard when people have a disease or challenge, they hear the word pageant, and they're like absolutely not. They think we're going to be putting them on display. Where once I actually sit down and tell them that it's more of a celebration and everybody wins and it's all about the kids, they agree. I think the hardest part is just getting people to listen first to you. And see that I have a proven formula. There is a way to do it. It has nothing to do with beauty. As far as Cuba goes, that was actually one of my easier pageants. It was difficult traveling to Cuba. But all the kids were out of school for the summer and they were at this summer camp so it happened to be a group of children with mental disabilities. We just got to go to the summer camp. It was at an aquarium, so it was amazing. We held the pageant there. It was great! We had around 30 kids. Not a lot of them spoke English and that was tough. And not a lot of them even knew what pageantry was. I guess in Cuba they don't have that many pageants. It was interesting, but it was still really fun.

And I know you have done it in South Africa, too.
Jena- Yes, I've done it in South Africa. That was amazing, too. That was more grassroots. That was not like a full-on pageant because we went to a small place outside of Cape Town and we cooked for the families and then at the end of the day, I just had all the girls crowd around and I just crowned them all. They were prancing around with their crowns. It's the same idea: no matter whether you do a pageant or not, it's more about making them feel like kings and queens and princes and princesses. It just makes them feel confident. There's something about a crown on your head that just makes you feel good!

And it's a distraction for these kids who are facing tough diseases and dealing with treatments and rough days. You're giving them a positive change for a day.
Jena- Exactly. It definitely takes their mind off of the experience. I would say every single pageant there's always one kid who is like, “This is the best day of my life.” At the Alabama pageant, I was in tears because there was this girl who made this acceptance speech. She took the mike from the host and was like, “I have something to say. I want to thank my mom and my dad and my grandmother and my doctors for taking me here. And this is the best day of my life!” She screamed it. And I just melted. It's definitely all about making them take their mind off of whatever they're currently occupied with.

Do you have a special moment or experience from one of the pageants? One that always stands out to you?
Jena- That one recent experience in Alabama was pretty amazing. A lot of them are sad experiences. We had a guy in Alabama who was in a wheelchair, and he didn't speak, he had an application where he could just type and talk. He said, “You know I haven't always been like this.” And I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “I was a star quarterback in high school and I had an accident playing football and that's why I'm in this wheelchair.” It just hits home. It definitely puts everything into perspective. Our issues are so small compared to a life-changing injury or chemo. It's such a life-changing thing. Another one is the reason why I'm still doing this; I used to mentor a kid named Ryan, who when I met him he was seven-years-old and he had a really rare form of Cancer. He was from my hometown in Georgia. He was in my first Pageant of Hope. He was this funny little kid. He was balled and currently in therapy. And right before the pageant started, he tugged on my dress and asked, “Jena, how does my hair look?” And of course, he didn't have any hair so it was really funny to see his sense of humor. So after that pageant, I was so touched, I continued to mentor him. I would go over to his house and swim with him in the summer and bring him presents during the holidays; just spend time with him. In 2008, he ended up passing away. So that's sort of who I dedicate my service to, Ryan.

You're right it definitely does put everything into perspective when you hear the stories and see the kids. I remember thinking that at your Pageant of Hope in Los Angeles and seeing the kids there. We definitely have to appreciate everything and everyone.
Jena- Yes, it definitely helps me value life more because I'm very blessed and you never know! Good or bad, any event that is going to change it. Our next pageant is the weekend after Thanksgiving in Georgia. So if anybody in Georgia wants to be involved, contact me on my website!

If you could go back in time and spend a day in the life of anyone from history, who would it be and why?
Jena-I'm going to go with Steve Jobs. I've grown to truly love Apple and appreciate and respect the way he ran the business so I would definitely love to be him for a day. I think it would be really interesting to see what a day in his life would be like.

Visit www.jenasims.com for more on Jena!
Follow her on Twitter @jenamsims

__________________________________________________

Will Blake Lively’s Refusal to Appear Nude On Screen Help or Hurt Her Career? (ANALYSIS)

Blake Lively marks two milestones this week. One is turning 25 on Saturday, August 25. The other, less remarked upon, is a career decision that could be momentous: she essentially pledged never to appear on camera in her birthday suit.

Granted, she did show almost everything, but not quite, in her steamy scenes in this summer’s Savages. Still, she reportedly said this week that she’s thrown off by watching nudity on screen and doesn’t believe she’ll ever feel comfortable acting in the buff herself.

“When I see nudity in movies, I am always distracted by it,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. “I know that if I am watching a scene and someone has their boobs out, then that’s all I’m looking at — I can’t help it. I just don’t think that will ever be right for me.”

Whether or not to do nudity seems to be a decision that every rising, attractive actress in Hollywood must eventually face. Many choose, as Lively seems to have chosen, to refuse to strip for the camera. Many others seem to have no problem shedding their clothes on-screen.

But which is the smarter career move?

By the time they’re Lively’s age, many young actresses have shown repeatedly that they have no problem with nude scenes. There’s Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, Anna Paquin — and that’s just the A’s. Such actresses have no trouble finding work — or winning awards. And not despite their willingness to strip, but often because of it.

The most celebrated example here is probably Halle Berry. She was a star for a decade before she did her first nude scene in 2001, reportedly demanding an extra $500,000 to appear topless in a gratuitous scene in the big-budget thriller Swordfish. A few months later, she took a lot less money to show a lot more skin in the indie Monster’s Ball, but her performance in that drama of racial reconciliation earned her a Best Actress Oscar.

Movie critics (who are often men) will hail an actress who strips (at least, in the right dramatic role) for her “bravery” or “fearlessness,” which seems to be code for “willingness to satisfy men’s prurient interest.” (And it’s not just young actresses; Helen Mirren and Charlotte Rampling were impressing critics with their willingness to bare all until they were well into their 50s.) The Academy just follows the critics’ lead, according to Scott Feinberg, the awards blogger/analyst for the Hollywood Reporter.

“The Academy is primarily older males who enjoy younger women,” Feinberg told Celebuzz. “Almost every Best Actress winner in recent years has been conventionally beautiful. In every instance where there’s a close race, the edge seems to go to the woman who’s more conventionally attractive.”

But even among beautiful actresses, willingness to go unclothed gives an even greater edge. Not just on screen, but when campaigning as well. “When Kate Winslet appeared naked on a magazine cover that was released as voters filled out their ballots, that wasn’t a coincidence. Even Helen Mirren appeared in a bikini while she was campaigning.” (Both won; Mirren for her fully-dressed role in The Queen, Winslet for her frequently undressed role in The Reader.)

As Feinberg pointed out, there are so many eligible movies every year that they risk being ignored unless there’s something about them that stands out. “The first step is capturing the media’s attention. Flashy acting and nudity are going to do that,” he said.

Still, does nudity really make a lofty drama more artistic, or is it just an easy way to sell tickets and generate press coverage? “There are probably ways of telling those same stories without getting graphic.,” Feinberg said. “I’ve been in conversations with actors who have done this — is that really acting or is it pandering?” Performers will tell you that there is an artistically valid reason for showing all (echoing what their directors must have told them), but aren’t they just rationalizing?

There are certainly plenty of actresses who’ve made the same choice as Lively whose careers have flourished. Julia Roberts won an Oscar and spent two decades as queen of the box office without having to strip all the way down. Even in Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker has never shown everything, and no one ever dismissed that series or the movie spinoffs as timid or less than candid; nor has Parker’s movie career or reputation as an awards-worthy actress suffered.

You’d think it would be easier, then, to just say no. You’d never have to worry about what your wobbly bits look like in HD, or how to negotiate specifics about pay and exposure in nudity clauses in your contract. You’d never have to explain your decision to your parents, or your kids. And you’d never have to dread knowing that screengrabs of your nude scenes will be a click away on every porn site on the Web, forever.

State and Main: Sarah Jessica Parker Backs Out of Nudity Agreement (Contains NSFW language)


So how does an actress decide which path to take? Celebuzz sought career advice from Howard Bragman, Vice Chairman of Reputation.com and longtime Hollywood publicist who says he has guided many actresses through this decision. Surprisingly, he said, “It’s just not a very big deal. I certainly respect the right of everyone to make their own decision. It’s just not a career issue.”

One reason it’s not a big deal is the behavior and taste of the 18-to-34-year-olds whose attention Hollywood covets. “The 18-to-34 demographic doesn’t have a lot of concern about nudity,” Bragman said. “They text nude pictures of themselves to each other. It’s different from a generation ago.” He added, “Look at Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. They built their careers on the back of nudity. They’ve certainly transcended that, but you have to remember where they started.”

Nudity for actresses has become such a non-issue, Bragman said, that “one of the last great frontiers is that men have started getting naked.” He cited Michael Fassbender in 2011′s Shame and said that his nudity in that character study of a sex addict was artistically merited. “If he hadn’t taken his clothes off, that wouldn’t have been a credible film.”

How, then, would he advise a young actress facing the decision of whether or not to do nudity?

“I’d look at the role, the director, where the film is going to end up, and her feelings as an actor,” Bragman said.

So, happy birthday, Blake. Trust your feelings.

__________________________________________________

the brigde that could make brussels a new baltimore 

The Buda Bridge, in the industrial area along the canal north of downtown Brussels, will be the setting for an English speaking tv-pilot by HBO (known for The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire and countless other succesful series).

‘Buda Bridge Bitch’ will portray a bleak Brussels in a near, dystopian future. The drama unfolds as a woman is found dead on the old iron bridge. This leads to a series of violent crimes.

The pilot will be written and directed by Brussels based Michael R. Roskam, who got an Oscar nomination this year for his feature Bullhead. If HBO likes the pilot, it will be the start of a full blown series.

Cynics reacted that Brussels doens’t need a violent crime drama to further
harm the city’s image. But the truth is that Brussels hardly has any image at all. No matter how dark the European capital will be portrayed, a series like Buda Bridge Bitch can work out better than any citymarketing scheme (not that the city has many of those).

As the saying goes: There is no such thing as bad publicity. Nobody imagined visiting the grim streets of Baltimore before getting hooked on The Wire. Now people know the city and sometimes decide they want to see it with their own eyes. They want to experience the places where their favourite cops or dealers hang out.

Of course there is one condition: the show must be worth watching. The Wire worked wonders for Baltimore because it’s widely considered to be one of the best series ever.

So will we see tourist busses heading out to the Buda Bridge in some years? Michael R. Roskam, the fate of Brussels’ tourism is now in your hands.

__________________________________________________


Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace Have ‘Passion’ Brian de Palma Style

Every Brian de Palma fan will be rejoicing with his latest Passion starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace as the master of erotic horror is back in fighting form. You can bet Channing Tatum would have liked this Rachel McAdams in The Vow.

Anyone who saw the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo knew that it was inevitable Noomi Rapace and Brian de Palma would work together on this Passion project. Who would have thought it would turn out to be such a highly anticipated film on the film festival circuit?
The man who showed the world exactly what Angie Dickinson’s gynecologist saw in Dressed To Kill and gave a whole new meaning to a bush whacker is back in fine form with Passion as you can see for yourself in the trailer below. I’ve gotten so used to seeing McAdams in Nicholas Sparks films so it’s great to see her in a whole different light and starring opposite Rapace just brings out the best in her.

Passion Movie Synopsis
Christine (Rachel McAdams), an elegant, ice-cool blonde career woman who holds a senior position with a high-powered advertising agency; and her assistant Isabel (Noomi Rapace), a shy and reticent brunette. Christine has a silky smooth charm, but underneath her veneer of control hides a tangle of kinky sexual needs. Isabel, smart and creative despite her hesitance, harbours a growing ambition. When Christine claims credit for a daring marketing campaign that was entirely Isabel’s idea, the gloves start to come off in subtle ways. Isabel is initially disarmed by her boss’ candour: as Christine explains it, stealing her idea was simply business. But things change when Christine humiliates Isabel in public. With the plot set in motion, De Palma uncorks all the stops and, with wild abandon, launches into a labyrinthine revenge story. As Isabel schemes, Christine parries her thrusts with calculated bravura. De Palma relishes these kinds of baroque plots; here he lets rip with a series of set pieces in the style for which he is famous. McAdams and Rapace revel in the expanse De Palma always allows his actors, while the story twists and turns in unexpectedly. Scratch below the surface: passions rage.

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Karoline Herfurth, and Paul Anderson
Directed By: Brian de Palma

Release Date: It’s the hot ticket at TIFF, but no release date yet for North America, but expect that to change if the highly erotic film doesn’t scare off the domestic distributors.

* I don't like the way Rachel is covering herself in that lez scene with Rapace. Just got a bad feeling we're going to be short-changed when it comes to Rachel nudity. I want a lengthy shot of her tits and ass. Wishing and hoping.

__________________________________________________

Brooke Hogan Gets Naked For PETA

__________________________________________________ 

SFPD Officer Suspended For NSFW Erotic Fantasy Pics

Photography stands as a popular extracurricular hobby for many members of the SFPD. Earlier this year the Harvey Milk Photography Center had a successful exhibition, "Beyond the Badge," showcasing the work of our men and women in blue. San Francisco Police Sgt. Peter Thoshinsky even has his own noted imagery for the world to enjoy. What's not allowed for police officers aiming a camera, however, are shots of nudity or eroticism. Enter fantasy photog SFPD Officer Gared Hansen whose pics recently landed him a 10-day suspension for "conduct which reflects discredit on the department."
Slate has more:

The 36-year-old San Francisco Police Department officer accuses the department of violating his right to free speech by suspending him twice for his off-duty hobby of "creative photography” and nude "figure study," according to his complaint filed on Aug. 9 in a federal court. Thanks to the 36-year-old cop’s suit, a federal judge in Oakland is now saddled with making a ponderous precedent: Do police officers have the right to take and publish nude photos in their free time? Though cops with a penchant for sexy succubi may be rare, this case has important implications for other public employees with hobbies that their employers may find objectionable.

Most unfortunate. Officers, like you, should be allowed to photograph nude pics—medusa snakes and all!—without antiquated rules on morality or prickly SFPD rules on misconduct. (This also isn't the first instance of an SFPD officer partaking in erotic photography, we need to point out.) Hansen, for his part, never tried to hide his hobby.
Slate goes on to note:

The seven-year officer served 10 days of suspension this January following an internal affairs investigation stemming from a photo shoot in an abandoned hotel in March 2010. That’s when four sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant in neighboring Contra Costa County cited Hansen and his two models—er, sexy ghosts—for trespassing onto private property. When asked why he was there, Hansen identified himself as an SFPD officer and said that he was taking photos. Hansen says the deputies asked if he had a website for his photos. He said yes, which was enough for his bosses to claim that he was “establishing a nexus between [his] employment as a San Francisco Police Officer and [his] personal website.”

Hansen goes on to defend his work "as art, not porn," adding, "I believe that the work I make is beautiful and interesting and so do my friends and family ... It seems like creating art is a benefit to the department."
You can view Hansen's NSFW photos at peanutart.com.
More here and here.
[Slate]

__________________________________________________

 

Watch The Flaming Lips and Amanda Palmer Get NSFW In ‘The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face’

By Reverend Justito

Remember that time Amanda Palmer got naked on the internet? And then there was that other time she got naked on the internet. Then there was that time on the internet when The Flaming Lips pissed off Erykah Badu because they posted photos and then a video of her naked on the internet. Well now The Flaming Lips have posted a video with Amanda Palmer naked on the internet. You even get to see her Map of Tasmania.

The very NSFW video is for a song called The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face. Now I know what you are thinking, that was the song where The Flaming Lips and Erykah Badu teamed up together. Well after Badu got all butthurt about The Flaming Lips putting her naked body up in the internet, she was replaced by Amanda Palmer. Check out the NSFW clip for yourself down below. 

Now we just sit back and wait for the Amanda Palmer/Wayne Coyne Twitter war to erupt. 

__________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nice porno gifs here
__________________________________________________