Amy Winehouse Booed Off Stage in Serbia, Cancels Part of European Tour

I spent three years in L.A. going to concerts, nearly every weekend, and the only performer I can recall on stage this drunk was Darby Crash of The Germs. He could sing, no matter how wasted, but he died from a drug overdose in 1980, just a couple days after the last time I saw the band play. I've never seen Amy Winehouse, but this is just sad. It's all sad, the drugs, the lost promise, the death. At the Independent UK, "They know that she's no good... Amy Winehouse booed off stage in Serbia," and Los Angeles Times, "Amy Winehouse cancels part of European tour":

Ashton Kutcher Shares 'Victoria's Secret' Catwalk with Alessandra Ambrosio

In the news, at London's Daily Mail, "Considering a new career Ashton? Now Kutcher takes to the catwalk."

And E! Online, "Who's the Lucky Bastard Getting Touchy-Feely With a Topless Victoria's Secret Model?"

RELATED: At Just Jared, "Alessandra Ambrosio: Colcci Beach Shoot!"

California Coastal Commission Rejects U2 Guitarist's Plan for Five-House Compound Near Malibu

Apparently not a "Beautiful Day" for U2's The Edge.

At Los Angeles Times, "Coastal Commission rejects U2 guitarist's Malibu development plan":

The California Coastal Commission on Thursday rejected a controversial proposal by U2 guitarist the Edge to build five mansions on a rugged ridgeline above Malibu that is home to mountain lions and native chaparral.

The 8-4 vote was the culmination of what has become a closely watched property rights battle between the musician, whose real name is David Evans, and the agency that regulates development along the California coastline.

"In 38 years of this commission's existence, this is one of the three worst projects that I've seen in terms of environmental devastation," Peter Douglas, the agency's executive director, said in an interview after the vote. "It's a contradiction in terms — you can't be serious about being an environmentalist and pick this location" given the effects on habitat, land formation, scenic views and water quality.

Douglas said he expected the matter to end up in court.

More at that link above.

And from Steve Lopez, "The Edge is a bully, not an environmentalist."

'Super 8'

My mom's visiting. We're heading out right now to take the boys to "Super 8."

Reviewed at the Los Angeles Times. And New York Times.

BONUS: At Pajamas Media, "Super 8: A Return to Vintage Spielberg?"

Skylar Grey at L.A. Times Magazine

"Hooked":

Her name doesn’t ring a bell when mentioned, though you certainly know the voice. There was Skylar Grey, front and center amid the smoke and shadows at February’s 53rd annual Grammy Awards, singing the hooks she wrote for Eminem, Dr. Dre and Rihanna during a haunting performance of “Love the Way You Lie” and “I Need a Doctor.”

Now the 25-year-old is making her move on the spotlight. Previously known as the girl who pens the lyrics or adds the inimitable vocal track (think Diddy-Dirty Money’s “Coming Home,” Lupe Fiasco’s “Words I Never Said” and T.I.’s “Castle Walls” featuring Christina Aguilera), she wants to be more than hip-hop’s go-to girl.

RTWT.

And check the photos at the Skylar Grey News fansite.

'Breastaurants'

At Entrepreneur, "'Breastaurants' Ring Up Big Profits" (via Instapundit):

Franchises inspired by the Hooters model--such as Celtic-themed sports bar chain Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery and faux mountain sports lodge chain Twin Peaks--have expanded rapidly over the last half decade, while corporate-owned chains like Brick House Tavern + Tap and Bone Daddy's House of Smoke are picking up steam regionally. In fact, for the next couple of years, this segment (often referred to as "breastaurants") is poised to be one of the fastest-growing restaurant categories.

More at the link.

Obviously not the kinda place for guys like ASFL Scott Eric Kaufman.

Shopping at Wal-Mart

Out with the family, yesterday morning:

This is the Wal-Mart in Foothill Ranch. It's beautiful out there. That's Saddleback Mountain seen from the parking at the second picture below:

Turns out that Wal-Mart had its annual meeting on Friday, "Wal-Mart CEO pushes plan to keep retailer growing." And it announced a huge $15 billion stock buy-back: "Wal-Mart to Buy Back Billions More in Shares."

Cruising around the toy section:

I love Wal-Mart. Great selection of products, and of course great prices. And environmentally friendly? "Wal-Mart's motive is no secret: Going green saves it money." Well, better late than never, I guess.

Okay, here's the kid's Holy Grail, the Beyblades:

I wrote about Beyblades last November. They're still popular.

And it's back to the skatepark later today!

Barry Manilow New Album Release

The new album is 15 Minutes.

Manilow's a featured performer at Paris Las Vegas. My wife's been dying to see him. She's trying to get a vacation schedule approved and we'll take another trip out there. Recall that we stayed at the MGM last time. I really recommend it. An awesome hotel.

Anyway, Manilow's interviewed at Vanity Fair, "Barry Manilow Only Ever Played One Bathhouse with Bette Midler."

Blake Lively Nude!

It's going wild right now on WeSmirch. Could be a hoax. Still, might get some Google traffic out of it.

PREVIOUSLY: "Leonardo DiCaprio and Blake Lively!"

Paris Hilton Discusses Sex Tape on 'Piers Morgan Tonight'

In yesterday's post, I went without any scintillating photos, etc., of Paris Hilton (well, I actually couldn't resist posting the Stones' "Respectable). But what the heck? She's in the news again with her Piers Morgan interview, so here you go. Breaks up the #Weinergate reporting.

Emotional:

Summer Movies, Male Bodies

Interesting piece, and funny.

At Los Angeles Times, "Ripped Ideals: Muscular Summer Action Heroes Have Swaggered Back Into Style, But What Do They Say to Male Audiences?" It's long. This quote goes with the video, and I'm looking forward to Captain America, so what the heck?

In the World War II-era comic book Captain America, a weak and sickly young man named Steve Rogers is injected with an experimental serum designed to build a super-soldier. In the movie “Captain America: The First Avenger,” directed by Joe Johnston and due in theaters July 22, dozens of tiny needles inject the serum into Rogers’ major muscle groups, and then he enters a pod where “vita rays” stimulate his growth. On paper and on screen, the result is the same: Rogers emerges as a picture of physical perfection, a gleaming, rippling, flag-wearing, Nazi-killing machine.

“The transformation is absolutely key to understanding Steve Rogers as a character,” said Johnston. “He is essentially Everyman, a 98-pound weakling who is chosen for the rebirth program not for his physical attributes but because of who he is as a human being, with his sense of justice and compassion. It’s crucial that we know and love Steve as the kid who’s been bullied and rejected all his life so we’ll appreciate and relate to who he is as Captain America.”

Evans, the actor playing Captain America, has the kind of square-jawed good looks that lend themselves to roles as prom kings and superheroes — he’s best known for playing the football star in the spoof “Not Another Teen Movie” and the Human Torch in the “Fantastic Four” films.

To achieve the dramatic transformation “Captain America” required, Johnston relied on a combination of techniques, including shrinking Evans’ body with CGI and using a smaller actor as a body double for the “weakling” stage. For the “after” scenes, Evans did push-ups in between takes to pump up the broad new chest he’d built for the role.

For any real-life 98-pound weaklings — or even for the average 5-foot-9, 194.7-pound American male — all this physical perfection can potentially create the kind of body insecurity that was once considered the exclusive province of women.

“Men are increasingly getting the message that their muscles are important, that appearance matters too,” said Katharine Phillips, co-author of “The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession” and professor of psychiatry and human behavior of the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. “Men want to be bigger and want on average 15 more pounds of muscle than they have.”

Oh brother. Overthink that much?

Lady Gaga's Next Chapter

At New York Times, "Lady Gaga Has a New Album, 'Born This Way'."

And from the comments at Althouse:

Gaga: progressively more tiresome.

I'd say more like a cross between Madonna and the Spice Girls with some Marilyn Manson thrown in for good measure.

I posted on Gaga's "Judas" previously, and ace commenter Dennis was also unimpressed.

Danish Film Director Lars Von Trier's Nazi Comments at Cannes

This is just plain weird, and that's Kirsten Dunst next to Von Trier at top:

Penélope Cruz in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'

I caught a brief preview of the new "Pirates" while watching television with my little guy the other day. I had no idea another version was coming out, and I think I skipped seeing the last one in theaters; but Penélope Cruz is fabulous, so perhaps the franchise is worth another look. The film preview is at the Disney page. And at Los Angeles Times, "'Pirates of the Caribbean' the latest film franchise to go for a four-peat":

When "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" debuted in May 2007, many critics derided the third installment in the Disney franchise, calling its plot incomprehensible and 169-minute running time torturous. Newsweek prayed it was the final movie in the series; the New Yorker said a monkey delivered the best performance in the film; and Time suggested an alternative title for the picture: "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Wit's End."

Yet rather than sheath their swords, Johnny Depp and Co. restocked the eyeliner supply and relaced the corsets, signing on a little more than one year later for a fourth go-round. The copious haul of doubloons that Capt. Jack Sparrow pocketed worldwide suggested that with a little freshening of the franchise, audiences might be lured back aboard for yet another film.

"Even though the reviewers weren't crazy about the third one, it did almost a billion dollars. That's a big movie," says "Pirates" producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who, along with Disney, a new director ("Chicago" helmer Rob Marshall) and a new supporting cast, including Penélope Cruz, will bring another adventure in the eye-patch saga to theaters this week. "If we do a little less [money] on the fourth one, we'd be happy."

The return of "Pirates of the Caribbean" on Friday (this one is titled "On Stranger Tides") is part of a major shift in Hollywood, with studios now routinely pursuing a fourth picture in a series, often after an extended layoff — or even a fifth, in the case of Universal's current hit "Fast Five."

That "Fast Five" is of the "Fast and Furious" series, which has already made a cool $140 million and could get a sixth installment.

More examples at the link up top.

'Law and Order'

Before I started full-time at LBCC, I was fanatical about "Law and Order." Basically, all through the 1990s. I'd watch on NBC and TNT, and some of the other franchises were on USA. But I couldn't stay up until 11:00pm on most Wednesdays in the early 2000s, so I lost my mojo. Anyway, this Los Angeles Times piece argues that the entire Dick Wolf enterprise could be on the way out soon, "Critic's Notebook: A new order in 'Law & Order: L.A.'":

"Law & Order" itself may be running out of juice: the original was axed on the verge of its becoming television's longest-running drama (it tied but did not surpass "Gunsmoke"); "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," which NBC shares with USA to split costs, is in its final season, and though "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" is the fourth-place network's highest-rated drama, that is not saying much these days. (It finished 44th last year.)

Still, looking again over his episodes, it's clear that there are some actors who can live in creator Dick Wolf's universe more comfortably than others — sincere Sam Waterston and wry Jerry Orbach are the prime examples — and that much of what makes for success there is the ability to distract the viewer from the fact that, underneath its veneer of naturalism, the franchise is heavily stylized, with a tendency toward corn and cliché. The short scenes that are its building blocks leave little room for casual talk, and the series runs on speeches, sermons and tough-guy quips. "If the STDs don't get you, the blunt-force trauma will."

50 Computer Interfaces from the Movies

Access Main Computer File is a great site I came across while surfing the interwebs. They showcase images of computer GUI (Graphic User Interfaces) from Hollywood Movies.

With some of them, it's obvious what films they came from—Brazil, Starship Troopers, Blade Runner, The Fifth Element—while others have sources far more elusive. But taking them all in, you can get a sense of what production designers thought tomorrow's computers would look like, as well as the limitations they had in creating them.

So how many of these interfaces do you recognize?

Nothing But Trouble, 1991


A Scanner Darkly, 2006


Strangeland, 1998


Sydney White, 2007


Avalon, 2001


Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, 2001


Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, 1986


Blues Brothers, 1980


Clueless, 1995


TRON: Legacy, 2010


TRON, 1982


Grosse Pointe Blank, 1997


Cube Zero, 2004


Timecop, 1994


Old Dogs, 2009


Sleepless in Seattle, 1993


G.I. Jane, 1997


Disclosure, 1994


Batman Forever, 1995


Machete, 2010


The Art of War, 2000


Freejack, 1992


Bicentennial Man, 1999


Going the Distance, 2010


The A-Team, 2010


Undercover Brother, 2002


The Bounty Hunter, 2010


The Bourne Identity, 2002


Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 2010


Source Code, 2011


Stranded, 2001


Oceans 11, 2001


Alien, 1979


Wild Hogs, 2007


Code 46, 2003


THX 1138, 1971


Sunshine, 2007


Dune, 1984


Moon, 2009


Short Circuit, 1986


Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, 2002


Julie & Julia, 2009


Dark Star, 1974


Single White Female, 1992


Batman Returns, 1992


Fortress, 1993


I, Robot, 2004


2 Fast 2 Furious, 2003


Judge Dredd, 1995


Hardwired, 2009