Che Benicio

By ariel in Uncategorized, Entertainment, News, Movies, Hollywood, Retro, film history, film, 2008, Benicio, Del Toro, Che, Guevara, Steven, Soderbergh, Spanish, Fidel, Motorcycle Diaries, 2004, Cannes, film festival on May 22 2008

Benicio Del Toro plays Che Guevara (The resemblance in the picture is unbelievable,) the Argentine who, together with Fidel led the Cuban uprising that brought Castro in to power, in a new movie. The 4 hours, Spanish speaking film was directed by Steven Soderbergh. The movie may be released in two parts titled “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla.”
“Cuba is less of an issue for me than Che,” said Soderbergh, “I think he’s great movie material is really what it comes down to. He had one of the most fascinating lives I can imagine in the last century.”

“Che” is considered a serious contender for the Palme d’or in the The Cannes film festival.
If you are fascinated by Che’s life like Steven Soderbergh, you might want to check the wonderful Motorcycle Diaries from 2004.

Why Do People Love Zebras? (Or, The Zebra Experiment)

By ariel in Uncategorized, Weird, environment, Zebra, Experiment, Wildlife on May 20 2008

Dictionary.com: Zebra- Any of several horselike African mammals of the genus Equus, each species having a characteristic pattern of black or dark-brown stripes on a whitish background: all zebra species are threatened or endangered.

So, why do we like the Zebra so much? What’s there to love?

(This post is some sort of an experiment, I do apologize for it’s relative meaninglessness…)

Amaldo Music Spotlight: Regina Goes Mainstream, But the Proper Way

By Beth in Entertainment, Hollywood, Music, acoustic, pop culture, Regina Spektor, Amaldo Music Spotlight on May 19 2008

I did a Youtube search for one of my favorite artists today and discovered that Ms. Spektor is doing the theme song for the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. It’s a big coup for the artist, whose music has graced many a Grey’s Anatomy/CSI episode over and over again, but has yet to venture into the lucrative, albeit potential shark infested waters of Hollywood.

Anyways, as we’re huge fans of Regina on this blog and were planning on sneaking a peak of the new Narnia flick this weekend (Note: Not the Sex & The City movie), I say a celebratory drink is in high order. However, given that it’s 5 PM and I have a night of work ahead of me, I think I might have to settle for a run to the local Dunkin Donuts…

To hear a clip of the song, click below.

Iron Man- Mini Review

By ariel in Uncategorized, Entertainment, Money, Movies, Hollywood, Retro, film history, film, media, America, celebrity, George Clooney, Iron Man, Robert Downey, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard on May 19 2008

So, we went to see Iron Man on Friday. In Hollywood’s saturated political environment, where “We are to blame for all the bad in this world” George Clooney style, it’s hard to avoid the agenda even in a movie like Iron Man. But other than that, it is a very enjoyable movie; Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard are doing a very good job. So, if you like the genre, you are up for a treat.
Oh, and a very important tip: Stay in the theater for the credits, and wait until the very end!!!! You’ll thank me later.

Don’t Mourn The Office Too Much

By Beth in Entertainment, NBC, comedy, The Office, Hollywood, TV, pop culture, Steve Carell, media on May 18 2008

Fans of Steve Carell got a double dose of Carell this week starting with an hour long season finale of The Office on Thursday night and winding down with a spectacular season closer to SNL last night. The highlight of last night’s episode being the clip below where Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office (the British one), introduces the faux Japanese version of the show. Kristen Wiig, always a crowd pleaser and Bill Hader, my own personal favorite SNL cast member did a smash-up job as Pam and Jim.

For those of you Office fans who can’t wait 5+ months to know if Michael really gets with Jan or if Dwight and Angela conceive a child from their amorous tryst (might happen with the storyline given actress Angela Kinsey’s pregnancy), NBC is cleverly offering fans some crumbs in the form of webisodes to be featured on their site mid-July. Most likely these mini shows won’t give us any insight into the cliffhangers we really want answers to (rumor has it these shows will focus on Kevin’s gambling addiction), but they might provide some much needed entertainment in a world of otherwise bland and unimaginative reality TV programming.

Lastly, be sure to catch Steve Carell in Get Smart this Summer. As a lover of Maxwell Smart and all things from Inspector Closseau to Gadget, the bumbling, idiotic detective routine rarely wears too thin, unless it involves ruining a perfectly good cartoon.

Indiana Jones, Not Samantha Jones

By ariel in Uncategorized, Entertainment, Movies, Hollywood, Advertising, HBO, Sex & The City, pop culture, America, celebrity, Indiana, Jones, Shyamalan, Mark Wahlberg on May 16 2008

The “Sex & The City” PR machine is working so hard on promoting their film that it almost makes you forget how much of a shitty show it was, especially towards the end. And who has time to watch four middle-age women, strutting around acting like shallow and vacuous teenage girls, chasing 20-year-old dudes? Haven’t we had enough? Why won’t you watch “Indiana Jones” instead? At least Harrison Ford ages with grace…

There’s a new M Night Shyamalan movie coming out mid June called “The Happening,” with Mark Wahlberg. Looks promising, we’ll check it out soon.

Are You Kidding Me?

By ariel in Uncategorized, Entertainment, Weird, Amy Winehouse, British, Music, business, pop culture, media, quirky newsbits, celebrity on May 14 2008

Amy Winehouse is going to model in London Fashion Week in September. Designer Julien MacDonald wants to sign her because of her ” great style” and because ” She’s unique.”
Therefore, I ask again:

Are you f@#$ing kidding me?

Maybe He Had Bad Gas?

By Beth in pop culture, media, quirky newsbits, Jet Blue, Bizarre lawsuits on May 14 2008

Much has been made of Jet Blue passenger Gokhan Mathu’s bizarre ordeal on board a Jet Blue flight back in February. Apparently the event jarred him enough that he hasn’t taken another flight since then.

Mathu was riding a Jet Blue buddy pass (equivalent of a free ride) when he was asked to switch seats - downgrade to the airplane’s toilet because there weren’t any available seats left on the flight. Mathu sat on the shitter for three hours before realizing there was something inhumane about this request, which supposedly came directly from the flight’s pilot. The pilot didn’t want one of the flight attendants to be inconvenienced by having to give up her own seat.

I don’t know about you, but what passenger in their right mind wouldn’t pitch a hissy fit over such treatment. I guess Mathu has finally had his say because he’s asking for $2 Million in damages. Hardly enough for such heinous (dare I say, “shitty”) treatment…

Sprewell In Trouble

By ariel in Uncategorized, Money, sports, NBA, America, Basketball, celebrity, Latrell, Sprewell, Foreclosure, Recession, Economy on May 13 2008

It was very saddening to hear that former NBA star Latrell Sprewell lost his home, like many others, to foreclosure on Monday.
AOL Sport’s Matt Watson put it in perspective:

I know the automatic reaction among fans is to point and laugh at the silly athlete who didn’t know how to manage his money, but there’s nothing funny about foreclosure. I’m in the process of buying a house, and over half of the houses I walked through were both empty and in a sad state of disrepair as a result of frustrated owners taking it out on their property before losing it to foreclosure, which is becoming a sad trend in my state. After awhile, it’s just depressing.

You Know That I’m [Still] No Good

By Beth in Blog, Amy Winehouse, British, environment, Music, pop culture, Amaldo.Com on May 4 2008

Amy Winehouse and her producer Mark Ronson won’t be teaming up for any theme songs to any motion pictures anytime soon. The two were slated to make some more beautiful music together - this time for the upcoming James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace.” Unfortunately for the Bond franchise and Amy fans, Ronson doesn’t feel Winehouse is ready to resume recording sessions for the song.

Said Mark of Amy’s situation:

“We tried to work for a little bit,” he told Sky News. “I’m not sure she’s ready to work on music yet.”

Ronson, who produced much of the troubled singer’s Back to Black album, also said it was unlikely work on the Quantum of Solace track would continue “unless by some miracle of science it gets recorded and someone sings a vocal on it”.

He added: “We did work on it but we never finished it so that’s about it.”

For more on the lovely Amy, click here.