OMG! May 13, 2008

Fraggle Rock consumed my childhood; my mom used to say, “”FR” is on, don’t turn on the television.” I always knew what she was talking about. A huge FR poster hangs in my classroom and I cannot wait to watch it on the big screen.

Guess what? It’s time to “Dance your cares away/ Worry’s for another day/ Let the music play/ Down at Fraggle Rock!” The Fraggles are back! According to Variety, the Weinsteins are teaming up with Lisa Henson of the Jim Henson Company to bring a live-action, half-human half-puppet Fraggle Rock extravaganza to the big screen.

The Dangerous Book for Boys April 9, 2008

I am not the biggest fan of the book but I know kids will be excited that The Dangerous Book for Boys is coming to the big screen. Information found at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6548879.html.

The 2007 runaway best-seller The Dangerous Book for Boys is about to hit the big screen and the tube.

British authors Conn and Hal Iggulden were determined to woo boys away from their electronic, couch-potato lives. And they did so with their tongue-in-cheek how-to manual, which offers step-by-step instructions about treehouses, paper airplanes, fishing, and other traditional boy past-times. A new “factual” television series based on The Dangerous Book for Boys, (HarperCollins, 2007) is now in production and will feature celebrity fathers and their sons. The show will air on Britain’s Channel 5, with a possible spinoff for the United States.

Disney and U.S. producer Scott Rudin also have acquired the film rights to Dangerous Boys—following a bidding war. But we’ll have to see if the movie will appeal to British kids or their American cousins. When the book made its leap across the Atlantic to the U.S. market, various British boy staples had to be replaced for the American edition. 

Thus conkers was replaced with stickball. And Britain’s kings and queens historical list gave way to baseball’s “most valuable players.” Cricket was cut, along with Admiral Horatio Hornblower and the history of the British Empire. Added were the Wright Brothers, the Navajo code talkers of World War II, and Gettysburg and the Alamo.

Mamma Mia March 18, 2008

 I cannot wait for its release! :)

Shelf Life February 27, 2008

Vanity Fair Hitchcock Portfolio February 10, 2008

Vanity Fair recreates scenes from Hitchcock films in the current issue. A video of the making of the Hitchcock Portfolio is avaliable here.

Charlize Theron in Dial M for Murder

Keira Knightley and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Rebecca

Renee Zellweger in Vertigo

Jodie Foster in The Birds

Found @ http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK2AJ9M1WBL1SJN

Another Movie on Broadway January 17, 2008

 

Shrek The Musical, based on the William Steig book and the DreamWorks film, will arrive on Broadway in November 2008 following an out-of-town tryout.

Shrek will make its world premiere at The 5th Avenue Theatre. The musical will play the Seattle venue August 14-Sept. 21. The production will then head to Broadway for a November debut at a theatre to be announced.

The musical features book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori. Avenue Q’s Jason Moore will direct. The creative team will also include set and costume designer Tim Hatley, lighting designer Hugh Vanstone, choreographer Josh Prince and music director Tim Weil.

Shrek The Musical, DreamWorks Animation’s first venture in legitimate theatre, is being produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (Bill Damaschke, president) and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. (principals Sam Mendes and Caro Newling).

Playbill.com has learned that Christopher Sieber (Spamalot, The Triumph of Love) will be part of the Shrek cast. Additional casting and creative team members will be announced shortly.

Retrieved from Playbill

Juno January 2, 2008

I finally, finally made it to see Juno tonight. I loved every moment of it!

30 Days of Night December 25, 2007

 

I am not sure Barrow, Alaska would be my first place to spend Christmas but I’d love to travel there someday!   

Ground zero for cold: As winter begins, Barrow braces for brutal temperatures, food shortages and more darkness” Last December, we kicked off a wintertime series about Barrow, Alaska — the northernmost town in the United States. With a population of 4,500 (57 percent of them native Inupiat Eskimos), Barrow holds the record for the lowest average temperature in the United States. But the town won another distinction this year: It is the supposed setting for the horror movie “30 Days of Night,” in which Barrow is attacked by a gang of bloodthirsty vampires. The real town of Barrow doesn’t have a movie theater, so the film won’t be available there until the DVD release in February. But even without seeing the film, people in Barrow said they were skeptical. They complained that the title, “30 Days of Night,” was just plain wrong. Every year Barrow is plunged into darkness when the sun dips below the horizon in late November and doesn’t come back until late January. But that means — let’s count the calendar days — the darkness lasts for more than two months. Maybe “60-Some Days of Night” seemed too long for restless audiences. Then there is the setting. The movie was shot in New Zealand, where filmmakers reportedly used tons of Epsom salts, shredded paper and white blankets to re-create Barrow’s arctic landscape. “I think the movie was a bit of a non-event here. People pretty much laughed at the whole idea. It was a ridiculous concept,” said David Ongley, the director of Barrow’s library. “There aren’t too many movies that get Alaska right.” — Colleen Mastony

Retrieved from the Chicago Tribune. (Thank you, Mary Ann)

Mamma Mia December 15, 2007

 I may be Meryl Streep’s biggest fan! W00t!

  

Golden Globes ‘08 December 14, 2007

 

Once upon a time movies almost came in front of books as my biggest hobby.  Sadly, little time is devoted to movies…instead I juggle masters degree number two, full time teaching, breathing, and managing to ‘have a life.’ Last year my calendar would have been marked “Hollywood Foreign Press Announces Golden Globes.”I could not believe it when I  read a headline that the nominees were announced this morning, and even more shocked when I realized my entire Christmas break will be spent in a movie theatre. I’ve barely made a dent in the nomination list.

The Golden Globes is part awards ceremony, all party, and the HFPA members have always been smart about nominating the kind of megastar that they need to have access to as interview subjects. So on Jan. 13, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NBC, you’re likely to see more celebrities than you can shake an autograph book or a fist at: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Johnny Deep (Sweeney Todd), Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts (both for Charlie Wilson’s War), Jodie Foster (The Brave One) and John Travolta (Hairspray). Angelina Jolie couldn’t attract paying customers to A Mighty Heart, but her allure as a good-deed-doing camera magnet is undiminished. She’ll be there as a Best Actress nominee. Brad will have to come as Angelina’s guest, however; the Pitt bull was snubbed for Jesse James — not to mention the outrage of ignoring Ocean’s Thirteen.

John Travolta’s nomination for playing Edna Turnblad must be some twisted joke. His performance is best suited for a Razzie Award.

Excerpt retrieved from Time

Sex and the City Teaser December 12, 2007

This falls under MORE and I love it!

 

USPS vs. Netflix December 7, 2007

I came upon this interesting post at Techdirt.

While Netflix has done a great job building up its business and competing with players who were much bigger and more well established, could it be the US Postal Service that finally does the company in? It turns out that those patented funky red DVD mailer envelopes are a pain for the postal service. They “sustain damage, jam equipment and cause mis-sorts during automated processing,” and the postal service has had enough. The Inspector General is asking to charge an extra $0.17 per DVD mailer if adjustments aren’t made to make the envelopes more “machinable.” While $0.17 may not sound like a lot, a research analyst at Citibank cranked the numbers and found that it would likely cut Netflix’s monthly margin per customer from $1.05 to $0.35 — basically killing 67% of its margin (ouch). Now here’s where the situation gets fun. It turns out that Netflix’s main competitor, Blockbuster, does not have this problem with its DVD mailers. Remember that Netflix sued Blockbuster over its patents last year. The two firms reached a settlement earlier this year, but could this be a chance for Blockbuster to strike back at Netflix? Anyone know if Blockbuster patented its “working” design for the DVD mailers? I’m sure it would be thrilled to license it to Netflix… at a reasonable fee.

Into the Wild October 26, 2007

Tomrorow my friend Donna and I are finally seeing Into the Wild! I cannot wait…