Russell Brand is Tempest's Jester

Just read this today in my EW:

Perhaps it's redemption for being kicked out of the prestigious Drama Centre London a week shy of graduation. Or maybe it was just too juicy a part to turn down. Whatever the reason, this year's outrageous host of MTV's Video Music Awards, Russell Brand, will play drunken jester Trinculo in Julie Taymor's adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The British-born comic will appear opposite Helen Mirren, who stars as Prospera (Taymor's version of Prospero), and Alfred Molina as Sebastian. Jeremy Irons (King Alonso), Geoffrey Rush (Gonzalo), and Djimon Hounsou (Caliban) are also in negotiations to join the cast. Taymor (Across the Universe) has directed the Bard's island-set play twice on stage, but in November, she plans to take her shoot to Hawaii.

From The Guardian:

Russell Brand last week revealed his secret plan to seduce Helen Mirren. Adopting that familiar "naughty little me" persona, Brand told reporters at the Pride of Britain awards: "There's something about her that drives me wild. She's so sexy and enchanting, just look at her form ... They're going to have to hold me back when we start work. I'll be all over her. I don't know how I'll get any work done."

Russell also has an upcoming one hour special on Comedy Central in 2009, that will tape next month in New York City. I'm looking forward to seeing his standup routine madness.

Film Ads finally allowed during Oscar Ceremony

From Variety:

Movie ads have always been banned from the movies’ biggest night on TV.

Not any more.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences board of governors voted Tuesday night to ease its longstanding ban on movie advertisements running in the Oscar telecast.

The board voted to allow a limited number of spots for movies that will not open until the last week of April at the earliest — meaning that none of the nommed pics can be tubthumped during the telecast, Acad prexy Sid Ganis told Daily Variety. Ads for sequels or prequels to pics in contention in the picture, docu and animation categories will not be allowed.

Acad had banned movie advertising ever since the Oscars were first televised in 1953 in an effort to avoid any suggestion that studio coin influenced the outcome of the awards.

The ads must never have appeared before their appearance during the Oscar telecast, and only one per distributor will be allowed.

It seems obvious that there should be commercials for the summer tentpoles during the Oscar ceremony, but out of fear of seeming to have the votes tarnished, this has never been allowed before now. Seems like having an ad for Transformers 2 or G.I. Joe has little worry of affecting it's Oscar chances for next year!

The Oscars have rivaled the Super Bowl in having first run creative ads, and to me this just makes lots of sense. You've got a worldwide audience of millions of people who love and are interested in movies. Yeah, we'd like to be the first to see some movie commercials for upcoming pics!

Blog Love

I've been awarded the I Love Your Blog Award by my dear friend Darling Diva, also known as Nancy. I met Nancy through our love of a certain actor and a mutual friend. We were the three amigos getting lost in the wilds of Scotland! During those days, Nancy and I discovered we loved a lot of the same authors, and she has widened my horizons so much. She is my main source for new books to read as our tastes are quite in tune. She was the one who told me about Twilight. 'Nuff said. Nancy goes to tons of author talks and even romance writing conventions. She is always "in the know" about the latest hot thing in the kind of novels I devour. Her blog, The Things In Life That Make Me Happy, was also one my inspirations for starting my own blog. Thanks my Darling Diva!

The rules for this award are that you need to:
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

These are my nominations:

I'll start with the personal, and end in the political!

1) Darling Diva's The Things in Life That Make Me Happy. Check out her favorite authors! If I'm the movie maven, then Nancy is the book maven.

2) Our mutual friend Kaione's blog The Art of Nothing. Kai is one of the most well-traveled friends I know, and she takes gorgeous pictures. I love that she takes pictures of the great meals she has on her trips, too! Makes me feel like I was there. She's also a damn fine video maker. Mwah!

3) Suburban Scrawl - Melissa and I know each other from synagogue, and someone there I think first told me about her blog. She's a tiara-wearing Martha Stewart wannabe. She's a mom with teenage sons, like me, and I just love reading about all the food she makes (with pictures!) like her international feast for the Olympics. She also has a snarky sense of humor in relating her adventures, and I love that. Here's a picture of the Aussie burger she made to watch Amazing Race. Check her blog for the ingredient list!


4)Living the American Dream - yet someone else from my synagogue that blogs. Hillary moved to my town from England over a year ago, and in addition to her blog writes a column in our local paper about her take on living in America. I just find her absolutely hilarious, and enjoy seeing my town through English eyes. Red Squirrels have nearly vanished in England, but she encountered some in her yard recently that stole her autumn decorations:

This morning I went out again. All but two of the gourds were gone. No signs of any vandalism, but knowing Naperville as I do, the neighbours are more likely to break in and redecorate your home than steal anything off the front porch.

4) List of the Day Blog - Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that List of the Day is my source for tons of very funny and bizarre posts. Mostly not safe for work, but a laugh riot. Today's post of a list of classic classified ads is just one example:


5) Katie MacAlister Katie MacAlister's Men In Kilts is one of my all time favorite romance novels. I don't visit her live journal every week, but if you need a Dishy Guy Monday pic, Katie will set you up. This week it's Angel:

Yes, she knows how to keep her readers happy.

6)From the personal to the political. My first blog read of every morning, and several times a day, in fact, is Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish at the Atlantic. He's conservative. He's gay. He's HIV postive. And he was one of the first conservatives to come out for Obama. You all know I'm a liberal, but it is fascinating to me to read about the disappointment of the last 8 years from someone who started as such an enthusiastic supporter. Not only does he have spot on political commentary and news, but he also posts bizarre mental health break stuff every day. Andrew keeps me in the know. The fact that in the midst of serious political commentary, he can post a silly 80's video convinced me that eclectic was the way to go in my own blog.

7) Talking Points Memo by Josh Larson has also become a must read every day. Josh has scooped the newspapers on several political stories this year, and I appreciate his biting wit, too. During the last debate I spent the evening flipping back and forth between Josh and Andrew's live blogging commentary.

For a movie maven, I haven't listed any movie blogs as my seven blog loves. I check several for movie news and opinions:

The Movie Blog
Movie Moron
We Are Movie Geeks
Spoutblog
Perez Hilton (of course)
and Variety now has several blogs on their site, as well as EW's Popwatch (love the Brit loving Bits 'n Bobs!).

New Twilight Trailer!!

Twilight

This trailer is even appealing to the male audience and not just the fangirls. It has a sort of Smallville or Comic Book superhero movie feel to it, no?

The sequel, New Moon, already has the greenlight. Nikke Finke writes:

When your soundtrack isn't even completed much less released (not until November 4th), yet it's already in the Top 5 Best-Selling Albums on Amazon based on pre-sales alone, you know you have a hit. When Borders makes an exclusive calendar and sells out the first printing in a matter of days, you know you have a hit. And when the new trailer to your movie surpasses 3.5 million views less than 48 hours after its online debut, you know you have a hit. Which is why Summit Entertainment's CEO Rob Friedman is already readying a Twilight sequel -- even though the vampire tween/tween movie isn't set for release until November 21st which is the date vacated by Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. Oh, and did I mention that Twilight has the fastest selling licensed merchandise since -- you guessed it -- Harry Potter?

Yes We Carve

Carve your own Barack O'Lantern with stencils at YES WE CARVE.
Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan

Happy 40th Hugh!

Hugh Jackman turned 40 this weekend, and gave a present to all of us by celebrating on the beach! Thanks, Hugh!

Don't PSA spoof

NSFW. From the guys who brought us that hilarious Michael Phelps spoof video. This is hilarious. Friends don't let friends watch Nic Cage movies!
Hat tip: The Movie Blog

80's Video of the Day

Hat tip: List of the Day Blog

First Look at Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes

With that hat, he reminds me of his Charlie Chaplin days. Guy Ritchie began filming Sherlock Holmes near St. Paul Cathedral in London this week. Jude Law will play Watson.

When asked what he could bring to a character portrayed countless times on film and television, RDJ has joked: “Clearly I’m going to do it better than it’s ever been done. The more I read about it the more overwhelmed I was by the weight of it and the amount of people who will be watching to see if it’s gotten right.”

Nathan Fillon Nailing Your Wife in PG Porn

Nailing Your Wife
Hilarious. This episode of PG Porn stars Nathan Fillion and real porn actress Aria Giovanni. Hat tip: The Movie Blog