Odysseus celebrates yet another birthday this week. I won't tell you when and I won't tell you how many Odysseus has observed in his all too short life but suffice it to say that birthdays are not quite as much fun as they used to be, although they are a hell of a lot more appealing than the alternative.
Be that as it may, this birthday provides a wonderful opportunity to detour a little from the posting I had originally planned and to reflect a little on what's important in life and how quickly it all passes. Time, even more than real estate, is one thing they make far too little of.
And project time is saddled with its own particular set of constraints, with so much to do and so little time to do it in. In my 13 years of SAP consulting, I can't remember a single time when a project went live on its originally projected date. Whether at work or at play, time always seems to slip away.
That's why your colleagues are so important. This is a real no-brainer: people are a lot more interesting than technology. Good people make good technology. And SAP, with its vast application vistas, its complex business rules, its obtuse German acronyms and its sometimes dense and uninformative help screens, especially needs good people working well together for a successful implementation.
It's not enough to be smart. I've run into too many bright SAP consultants, often fresh out of business school, who demonstrate a particularly infuriating arrogance inconsistent with the lack of practical business, technical or life experience they bring to a project.
Luckily, these folk rarely cut it. They have a tendency to offend the client and unless they have a critical skill, which they rarely do, are usually the first to go.
There was one European consultant I knew on a project in Asia who was Teutonic to the core. Let's call him the Continental. He stood out as a particularly engaging rogue. He oozed that smug, self-satisfied arrogance that some SAP consultants display as if it were a birth-right. It was as much a part of him as the meticulously stylish blue suits that he wore as un-self consciously as his skin.
Yet the Continental was a funny and likeable character whose company was always enjoyable. His real skill was a level of incompetence so monumental that it was actually very engaging. You got a perverse pleasure out of helping him through his daily round of bungling even if your only reward was his perennial exclamations of Scheissen …and … Idi-oht!
I've worked with a lot of German-speakers in my time but have never run into anybody who approached the artistic genius, the passionate disdain, embodied in the Continental's use of that pungent and oft-quoted German expletive.
Our cozy little 820 EDI build had no Continental to entertain us with his endearing brand of incompetence. But we did luck into an interesting and quirky cast of characters representing a complementary range of critical skills. But hey … this is Hollywood, isn't it? If you can't find engaging characters here they just don't exist. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
From the snowy wilds of Canada came the String Bean, a Sterling Technical Architect who designed and built the base technical and application architecture for our GIS EDI subsystem. He was fast-paced and brilliant, particularly in front of a white board where his ideas stormed out of his head in a non-stop stream of consciousness orgy of talking and sketching. I never saw anybody who could fill a white board with good ideas as quickly as the String Bean.
He had little to do with our 820 build but he did provide the base EDI application framework on which everything else was built. Without his efforts, ours couldn't even have begun.
There was the Map Lady from San Francisco. She loved to build and document maps with the Contivo Vocabulary Management System. The Map Lady is pure California: born in the Philippines of Chinese ancestry, her sister married a Frenchman who fastidiously sends his children to France every summer to ensure their facility in that oh so romantic language. His own genius bends towards the culinary arts: the Map Lady often regaled us with tempting descriptions of the gourmet cuisine at her brother-in-law's charming French restaurant in San Francisco.
Intelligent and generous with her talent to a fault, the Map Lady nonetheless has a superstitious aversion to the number 666. This came out on June 6, 2006 when she became spooked and flustered whenever I teased her with the date 6-6-6, which I did frequently after I realized just how much it spooked her. You're such a bad boy she would complain … and never once repeated the number.
And who could forget our SAP Accounts Receivables Guru who worked closely with me to flesh out the details of our evolving 820 design and had to go back again and again to face the users each time we had to make a change. He deserves a medal for his untiring patience and for the diplomatic skill with which he managed the expectations and anxieties of our users. We shall name him Doug.
An Indiana farm boy, Doug woke up one morning in San Francisco and said to his little dog: Toto … I don't think we're in Kansas anymore ... Not that there's anything wrong with being an Indiana farm boy but it's a role that Doug just wasn't cut out for. He's never looked back and every day he thanks the gremlins that haunt SAP for washing him up on the shores of the distant Pacific.
We were also lucky in that we had our very own personal ABAP programmer at our beck and call to help work us through our latest headache. I'll call him Raja because it means King and he was the King of the ABAPers on our project, excluding yours truly of course and I was told to keep my mitts out of the ABAP code, except for the design.
Raja was a youthful and endearing presence excitedly planning his first trip back to India in five years. While Raja put up with my design changes each time we hit the reality of our data, his parents were busily dreaming of wedding bells and grandchildren, appraising likely feminine prospects and casting horoscopes for an auspicious match in anticipation of his visit home.
There were many, many others, far too many to name here. Our users deserve special commendation. They had been thrust into a new and uncertain world from an old one that worked comfortably, and they were still responsible for processing and clearing tens of millions of dollars worth of payments each month. They were rightly anxious that the new system would work at least as well as the old.
And of course the larger SAP project, with a team that grew to more than 60 very bright and ambitious consultants and programmers, client IT personnel and business process owners and users working together to transform their Enterprise.
In the end it's all about the people and their jobs, the work that they do everyday that keeps our beloved Acme Studios afloat. These are the real stars of Hollywood: the ordinary and the extraordinary people that run and operate the business of the studio that generates the revenues that keeps the dream factory alive.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Hollywood Newspaper
I started working at a tabloid paper titled the "L.A. Star." It was a local Los Angeles porno paper. Paul and Shirley Eberley owned and published it. It was an underground type of thing and had been quite successful at that time. I told them about an idea I had for the Hollywood Star. They asked me to do an ad for it to run in their paper. But, this was so sudden and I had no idea how to do this. I just had an idea for a newspaper with no particular design. So there was no workable ad. They were behind on paying their contributors too, so after a few articles, I left but had watched and learned a lot about how to do a small newspaper. I had also taken Journalism in high school, which helped me a bit too.
Then I came up with a format that I liked for the paper. I used to love the old "Confidential Magazine," of the fifties with their exposes of the stars. This is what I wanted to do. I bought a layout pad with press-on format letters to create a headline. It would resemble an ordinary newspaper, but with eye catching headlines that would guarantee sales (I hoped). Then I had to try to find a backer to pay for the typesetting and printing costs. The stories I wanted to write about, were already stored in my head. Things I knew about but nobody had ever written about them. I wanted to be anonymous but at the same time I wanted "my name" to be known. So, in many issues, in photos taken with celebrities, I had my face blocked out before I went to press. I needed to remain anonymous so I could gather gossip without people knowing what I looked like.
And on occasions I would get into semi-drag, (my face would be made-up in drag), for a disguise, but I would wear men's clothes. I went to a "porno" premiere at the Pussycat theater on Santa Monica Boulevard like this too. And another time, singer Frankie ("Sea Cruise") Ford, drove me to "That's Entertainment II." But, studio publicist, Ted Hatfield, who had promised a press pass for me, wouldn't let me in when he saw me with my face made up.
Frankie had stopped his car in front of the bleachers that had been set up for fans and tourists so they could see the stars as they went into the Cinedome Theater. And we opened the trunk of his car and took out bundles of THE HOLLYWOOD STAR and passed them out to everyone in the bleachers. The crowd was ecstatic. But, later I was pissed because Ted had ignored me and wouldn't let me in. I had already seen the film at a press screening, but I wanted the exposure.
So, a few days later, after writing to his boss stating that if it had been Elton John in drag, or any other celebrity like Alice Cooper, they would have gotten in and that the make-up was "my thing" and I had been made a fool of. So, I was told I would be on their screening list "for life"...probably so they wouldn't have to go to court over my threat of a lawsuit.
I had the HOLLYWOOD STAR format all figured out. It would consist of three pages of gossip, an occasional celebrity interview, a controversial editorial called "On my soapbox," in memory of Louella Parsons, who often used that term, and "I Nominate for Stardom," page, giving space for new actors. I would include numerous movie reviews with photographs and of course a male, nude celebrity photo, whenever possible. I ended up with several stories on transvestites, male strippers, circus freaks, Hollywood murders, autopsy reports of celebrity victims, a music review section and a few "freebie" ads. I would reword items making them aimed at adults. If so and so was making a comeback, I would write that but would add, who the fuck cares? Of course if someone was getting a divorce, I'd say so and so are no longer fucking....they are getting a divorce.
I developed many fans as well as enemies. The studio publicists had mixed emotions. Jet Fore, at Fox, was always friendly and loved the newspaper and always wanted extra copies. The Paramount publicists hated me. With Columbia Pictures, it was an on and off romance with them, according to what mood they were in. If I did a nostalgia thing, they loved it, but if I gave a "candle-up-the-ass award," (this was for persons who gave me a hard time), then Columbia would be up in arms. Ironically, 99% of the time, the persons who I gave that award to, left their jobs soon after. Well, not all were demoted or fired. A couple had been promoted.
For such a small paper, I began to receive notoriety. I received phone calls from around the world, with foreign radio stations wanting to interview me. Many of my stories had been reprinted and published in European newspapers. The Los Angeles Coroner, Thomas Noguchi, congratulated me on a headline story he had seen in a foreign newspaper. I don't even remember what story it was that he had seen copies of, but I heard that one story was headlined in a newspaper in Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia. Even CNN's Anne McDermott interviewed me. I don't recall now what the story was that she reported on. It was probably the paper itself, or a pick-up from the Los Angeles Magazine interview or the Harriet Choice story in the Chicago Tribune. Yes, I had my fifteen minutes of fame, if you can call it that.
One of my stories made headlines in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, written by reporter, Denis Hamill. He had been advised, via a phone call from Nevada, not to print the story. He did write it and it made headlines. It was about the David Begelman affair, the head of Columbia Studios at the time. The whole thing is chaptered in this book.
I also had a threat from actress Jean Peter's husband, when I ran an article saying she was "getting cobwebs in her pussy," while married to Howard Hughes, because they weren't having sex. I heard she had laughed at the article but her new hubby was pissed. He had personally phoned and threatened me. But, the HOLLYWOOD STAR was never sued. The Los Angeles magazine printed a lengthy story by Mitch Tuchman, about me and the newpaper. This made me halfway legitimate. SCREW was one of the first publications to do a story on the newspaper, followed by another publication titled "Brut," that re-ran some of my stories. Harriet Choice, of the Chicago Tribune, flew in and interviewed me and wrote a syndicated story that went over the wire services to other newspapers across the country, where they ran half page stories. I was on Cloud 9 and had gained a lot of clout. I would often be invited to "private press screenings" at the studios. I could be sitting, with two or three people at 7:00 a.m. watching a horror film. Press screenings became a one a day thing.
My first scandalous headline in the first issue of the paper was, DAVID McCALLUM IS BLIND. Nobody today, even knows who the hell David McCallum is. Well, he was one of the stars of the popular TV series, "The Man From Uncle." I mentioned this in the gossip section, where it was sort of buried. But, the headlines sold the paper, even though he is only "blind in one eye"...probably from birth.
The papers were sold, mostly in news vending racks on the street, although the local newsstands sold them too. The second headline was TAB HUNTER SAYS I'M HOMOSEXUAL! Thirty years before his autobiography TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL. But, it was no secret in those days either. At that time he had all ready told this to a magazine but I went to press with it first and their story came out a couple of months later. But, I was first! My distributor had been disappointed when the first issue came out. He said, "it isn't selling." Well, I had absolutely no advertising nor promotion. It was just "there' in the news racks with the headlines. But, the next week he said, "Guess what? All the Beverly Hills racks are empty...and the money is there too." Word of mouth was selling the paper. A lot of the exposes had been old stories that had been around Hollywood for years but were never in print. People in Hollywood, knew they were true. I pushed the paper as "Movie Gossip for Adults."
I started using four letter words, to try and out-do Rona Barrett publications. They were too boring and filled with studio hype. The Laufer Company paid for and used her name but she seldom, if ever, wrote anything for them. Barbara Sternig was Barrett's ghost writer. She also found stories for Rona's three minute daily ABC clip. Bill Royce was the editor and he was, at one time much later, a producer of Jay Leno's Tonight Show. I asked Sternig is she had written Rona Barrett's book and she denied that she had written anything for her, (at that time), but in Sternig's book she told the truth.
I would always keep my ears open to conversations in restaurants and had a way to sneak inside the studios to find out things. I also had a gossip "hot line" and would get leads from people. Often celebrities themselves would phone me and tell me gossip. People would call at hours of the night. Many had run ins with celebrities and wanted to dish me all the dirt.
The third big headline was 8 STARS WHO WERE FORMER HOMOSEXUALS. If there is anything such as a former homosexual. Among those were Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter (again), Tony Curtis and Alain Delon. Anyway, you get the idea without me running down each and every title. I already mentioned the Elvis Presley story on his drug addiction in the first issue of the paper. And now Lisa Marie Presley Cage, (well Cage for three months), admits she too had been a drug addict, in her teens, after Elvis was long gone.
I later named 150 MALE BISEXUAL STARS. Brad Davis, star of "Midnight Express," Tony Perkins ("Psycho"), were on the cover as well as French film star, Alain Delon. As we all know now, both Brad and Tony died of AIDS. Both talented actors and I miss them very much. The reason I named and outed so many actors, was to get it done and over with. (I explain this in the 150 that were named, and now listed in this book). Not one actor was hurt by my outing. Only two persons complained to me. Donna Summer (through her agent) said she wasn't gay or bisexual, (she was in the list of bisexual female actresses), and Scott Baio phoned me and said, "I'm Scott." I said, "Scott who?" and he hung up. I knew it was him from his voice.
I later heard, from a limousine driver, that Scott had knocked up a girl and that he and his Dad were arguing in the limo about it. His Dad said he he should have used a rubber. So, I deleted both of them from the lists, although I have heard "rumors" about them since the paper ceased publication.
I recall, way back in the fifties, Tony Perkins had suddenly disappeared. And Louella Parsons had written in her column to "check out Tab Hunter's apartment on Sunset, that's where Tony Perkins car is parked." Tony was at the peak of his good looks and had just started acting in films. He was in "Fear Strikes Out," a baseball story and then "The Tall Story," with Jane Fonda, also starting her film career. That's when she was living with her agent, Dick Clayton. Tony was tall, lean and lanky and sexy. I saw him at the premiere of, "The Gunfight at the OK Corral," which premiered at the Hollywood Paramount theater, (now the El Capitan). He was wearing goggle type of glass frames, usually used for sunglasses. But, he had plain, untinted glass in them. Later I would have the same type made up and other than the President of General Motors, we were the only three who had those type of frames. Today they are all too familiar.
I saw Tony another time at the Mocambo on Sunset, after the premiere of, "The Spirit of St. Louis," at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood, many years before the paper. There was a benefit fund raiser for the widow of the owner and Frank Sinatra was appearing. Tony came out the front door at intermission and just looked over the fans and tourists who were crowded around the front door, then smiled and went back inside. Frank came out and asked if we could hear the music alright? The front door was left open so we could listen.
It was a star studded event and it's where I learned there is a small group of autograph hunters who keep up on celebrity events and they all go to them to get autographs. One of their group was "discovered" by Tab Hunter and at another event Tab "arrived" with the former autograph hound. (Today autograph hunters are called stalkers. It's a damned shame).
Funny that one of the autograph hunters, who had been there, appeared years later when I was taking photographs of the Carradine's at the Ebelle theater. He was standing in the crowd. He told me he had lived in New York but was retired and had moved to Hollywood. Hard to believe, but harder to believe I had remembered his face over all those years.
Jack Sernas, the handsome actor from, "Helen of Troy," was there and I got his autograph and he "wrote down his phone number." He was married to an obese woman, who was with him, but he was obviously gay. And believe it or not, I never phoned him. Jack was very short, sort of an Alan Ladd type. He looked tall and muscular on film. The only other film I saw him in was, "La Dolce Vita." He reminded me of a good looking usher at the Capitol theater in Flint, Norman Courney.
I saw Brad Davis after the screening of "Chariots of Fire," at the Academy theater. I had gone there with artist Kenneth Kendall. Kenneth had painted a porcelain miniature of Brad, so I introduced myself and Kenneth, while Brad was waiting for the red traffic light to change. He talked to Kenneth for quite a while. After Brad's death, at a memorial service at the Doolittle theater in Hollywood, Kenneth gave the miniature to Brad's widow. Brad's death was very sudden and his illness had been kept quiet from the press. Brad's brother, Gene, is more handsome than Brad and he still hasn't recovered from losing his brother. Gene starred with Charles Bronson in, "10 to Midnight." Kenneth Kendall's brother, Lester, (nee Katz) had been Bronson's agent when Charles was using his real name, Charles Buchinski. Kenneth was a James Dean fan and created the James Dean Memorial at the Griffith Park Observatory, where scenes for "Rebel Without A Cause," were filmed. He dedicated a similar memorial in Fairmount, Indiana where Jimmy grew up. It stands in a small park near the edge of town. Kenneth passed away September 3, 2006.
The Hollywood Star newspaper didn't make up stories but we wanted to be sensational as well as truthful. There was "no intent" of hurting anybody's career and it was a sort of cat and mouse game. If actors wanted to be mousey, then we were catty and often caught up with them. Many stories seemed to be outrageous when they were written and many people didn't believe what we printed. But, as time went by and the things we said were proven true, then attitudes changed. We wanted to be more "confidential" than Confidential magazine ever was.
We erred on two stories that I can recall. Actually it was one story and one photo. The" Sal Mineo's Killer is Known," headline, proved later that our sources were wrong. At that time, even a detective thought it was credible. And a nude of Kent McCord, wasn't Kent McCord. It was a questionable photo. Some thought it was him while others didn't. The Hollywood Star had an editor's pledge that read:
"Whatever we print, we believe it to be true.
If we should err on any item or story, we
will acknowledge it in future issues. We research
our stories to the best of our ability. We hope you
enjoy our paper and will recommend it to others" - Bill Dakota
I would often venture out with my face in drag, as I mentioned here. After the Westwood Village premiere of , "A Star Is Born," (where I had worn a white, rental tuxedo, as everyone had to do, so that when Ms. Streisand came, wearing a red gown, she would stand out like a rose-.....phew). Anyway, the following evening I went walking down Hollywood Boulevard, in the tux, and face in drag, with a tape recorder interviewing theater managers and I used this in a column titled, "Waltzing Matilda."
"Deep Throat," had played at the Pussycat theater on Hollywood Boulevard for a couple of years. I stopped and asked to see the manager. Then I asked him a few questions, such as how the movie was holding up after such a long run? I had never done this before, and I can imagine what they thought, seeing and talking to a man in a white tuxedo and face in drag! Anyway, this turned into a full page story, things happening along Hollywood Boulevard. And some people even asked me for my autograph. That's Hollywood!
Of course people knew me in the bars that I frequented in those days, the Sideshow, the Beachboy and the Kenmore Lounge, where some scenes for "Barfly," were filmed. All of which are now gone.
The HOLLYWOOD STAR was started on a shoestring. The first few issues had different backers. Some were the vendors who owned the racks, (this was before we bought ours). It was the best selling tabloid on the street. It outsold Playboy Magazine at the World Book and News on Cahuenga Boulevard. I finally got a backer who bought 120 newsracks and they were put out, along Hollywood Boulevard, on nearly every corner, along Sunset Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood, and some special places like the original Brown Derby on Wilshire Boulevard, and in front of the post-offices.
The paper only came out once every two or three months. Yet, each week the racks would often be sold out. Other tabloids were weekly and they never sold as well. My backer had purchased an Iteq Quad typesetter (this was before computers of course), which cost around $18,000 in those days and $5,000 for a printer. The copy was in a sealed binder that had to be run through a developer or printer. We also had a photo machine to do half-tones as well. I operated out of the basement of an apartment building I was managing. So, this is how the Hollywood Star was born. Well, it was born in Hollywood earlier but it wasn't that secure, moneywise.
My 24 hour hot-line could also be dangerous, so I taped all of the phone calls. I also asked for names of witnesses for whatever it was they were calling me for. I tried to get a minimum of two other names and then I would verify the information. I often found myself phoning restaurants or bars for verification. I may have been duped a few times, but I always printed the fore-mentioned disclaimer. I didn't want to intentionally hurt anyone by making up gossip on them.
Then I came up with a format that I liked for the paper. I used to love the old "Confidential Magazine," of the fifties with their exposes of the stars. This is what I wanted to do. I bought a layout pad with press-on format letters to create a headline. It would resemble an ordinary newspaper, but with eye catching headlines that would guarantee sales (I hoped). Then I had to try to find a backer to pay for the typesetting and printing costs. The stories I wanted to write about, were already stored in my head. Things I knew about but nobody had ever written about them. I wanted to be anonymous but at the same time I wanted "my name" to be known. So, in many issues, in photos taken with celebrities, I had my face blocked out before I went to press. I needed to remain anonymous so I could gather gossip without people knowing what I looked like.
And on occasions I would get into semi-drag, (my face would be made-up in drag), for a disguise, but I would wear men's clothes. I went to a "porno" premiere at the Pussycat theater on Santa Monica Boulevard like this too. And another time, singer Frankie ("Sea Cruise") Ford, drove me to "That's Entertainment II." But, studio publicist, Ted Hatfield, who had promised a press pass for me, wouldn't let me in when he saw me with my face made up.
Frankie had stopped his car in front of the bleachers that had been set up for fans and tourists so they could see the stars as they went into the Cinedome Theater. And we opened the trunk of his car and took out bundles of THE HOLLYWOOD STAR and passed them out to everyone in the bleachers. The crowd was ecstatic. But, later I was pissed because Ted had ignored me and wouldn't let me in. I had already seen the film at a press screening, but I wanted the exposure.
So, a few days later, after writing to his boss stating that if it had been Elton John in drag, or any other celebrity like Alice Cooper, they would have gotten in and that the make-up was "my thing" and I had been made a fool of. So, I was told I would be on their screening list "for life"...probably so they wouldn't have to go to court over my threat of a lawsuit.
I had the HOLLYWOOD STAR format all figured out. It would consist of three pages of gossip, an occasional celebrity interview, a controversial editorial called "On my soapbox," in memory of Louella Parsons, who often used that term, and "I Nominate for Stardom," page, giving space for new actors. I would include numerous movie reviews with photographs and of course a male, nude celebrity photo, whenever possible. I ended up with several stories on transvestites, male strippers, circus freaks, Hollywood murders, autopsy reports of celebrity victims, a music review section and a few "freebie" ads. I would reword items making them aimed at adults. If so and so was making a comeback, I would write that but would add, who the fuck cares? Of course if someone was getting a divorce, I'd say so and so are no longer fucking....they are getting a divorce.
I developed many fans as well as enemies. The studio publicists had mixed emotions. Jet Fore, at Fox, was always friendly and loved the newspaper and always wanted extra copies. The Paramount publicists hated me. With Columbia Pictures, it was an on and off romance with them, according to what mood they were in. If I did a nostalgia thing, they loved it, but if I gave a "candle-up-the-ass award," (this was for persons who gave me a hard time), then Columbia would be up in arms. Ironically, 99% of the time, the persons who I gave that award to, left their jobs soon after. Well, not all were demoted or fired. A couple had been promoted.
For such a small paper, I began to receive notoriety. I received phone calls from around the world, with foreign radio stations wanting to interview me. Many of my stories had been reprinted and published in European newspapers. The Los Angeles Coroner, Thomas Noguchi, congratulated me on a headline story he had seen in a foreign newspaper. I don't even remember what story it was that he had seen copies of, but I heard that one story was headlined in a newspaper in Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia. Even CNN's Anne McDermott interviewed me. I don't recall now what the story was that she reported on. It was probably the paper itself, or a pick-up from the Los Angeles Magazine interview or the Harriet Choice story in the Chicago Tribune. Yes, I had my fifteen minutes of fame, if you can call it that.
One of my stories made headlines in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, written by reporter, Denis Hamill. He had been advised, via a phone call from Nevada, not to print the story. He did write it and it made headlines. It was about the David Begelman affair, the head of Columbia Studios at the time. The whole thing is chaptered in this book.
I also had a threat from actress Jean Peter's husband, when I ran an article saying she was "getting cobwebs in her pussy," while married to Howard Hughes, because they weren't having sex. I heard she had laughed at the article but her new hubby was pissed. He had personally phoned and threatened me. But, the HOLLYWOOD STAR was never sued. The Los Angeles magazine printed a lengthy story by Mitch Tuchman, about me and the newpaper. This made me halfway legitimate. SCREW was one of the first publications to do a story on the newspaper, followed by another publication titled "Brut," that re-ran some of my stories. Harriet Choice, of the Chicago Tribune, flew in and interviewed me and wrote a syndicated story that went over the wire services to other newspapers across the country, where they ran half page stories. I was on Cloud 9 and had gained a lot of clout. I would often be invited to "private press screenings" at the studios. I could be sitting, with two or three people at 7:00 a.m. watching a horror film. Press screenings became a one a day thing.
My first scandalous headline in the first issue of the paper was, DAVID McCALLUM IS BLIND. Nobody today, even knows who the hell David McCallum is. Well, he was one of the stars of the popular TV series, "The Man From Uncle." I mentioned this in the gossip section, where it was sort of buried. But, the headlines sold the paper, even though he is only "blind in one eye"...probably from birth.
The papers were sold, mostly in news vending racks on the street, although the local newsstands sold them too. The second headline was TAB HUNTER SAYS I'M HOMOSEXUAL! Thirty years before his autobiography TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL. But, it was no secret in those days either. At that time he had all ready told this to a magazine but I went to press with it first and their story came out a couple of months later. But, I was first! My distributor had been disappointed when the first issue came out. He said, "it isn't selling." Well, I had absolutely no advertising nor promotion. It was just "there' in the news racks with the headlines. But, the next week he said, "Guess what? All the Beverly Hills racks are empty...and the money is there too." Word of mouth was selling the paper. A lot of the exposes had been old stories that had been around Hollywood for years but were never in print. People in Hollywood, knew they were true. I pushed the paper as "Movie Gossip for Adults."
I started using four letter words, to try and out-do Rona Barrett publications. They were too boring and filled with studio hype. The Laufer Company paid for and used her name but she seldom, if ever, wrote anything for them. Barbara Sternig was Barrett's ghost writer. She also found stories for Rona's three minute daily ABC clip. Bill Royce was the editor and he was, at one time much later, a producer of Jay Leno's Tonight Show. I asked Sternig is she had written Rona Barrett's book and she denied that she had written anything for her, (at that time), but in Sternig's book she told the truth.
I would always keep my ears open to conversations in restaurants and had a way to sneak inside the studios to find out things. I also had a gossip "hot line" and would get leads from people. Often celebrities themselves would phone me and tell me gossip. People would call at hours of the night. Many had run ins with celebrities and wanted to dish me all the dirt.
The third big headline was 8 STARS WHO WERE FORMER HOMOSEXUALS. If there is anything such as a former homosexual. Among those were Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter (again), Tony Curtis and Alain Delon. Anyway, you get the idea without me running down each and every title. I already mentioned the Elvis Presley story on his drug addiction in the first issue of the paper. And now Lisa Marie Presley Cage, (well Cage for three months), admits she too had been a drug addict, in her teens, after Elvis was long gone.
I later named 150 MALE BISEXUAL STARS. Brad Davis, star of "Midnight Express," Tony Perkins ("Psycho"), were on the cover as well as French film star, Alain Delon. As we all know now, both Brad and Tony died of AIDS. Both talented actors and I miss them very much. The reason I named and outed so many actors, was to get it done and over with. (I explain this in the 150 that were named, and now listed in this book). Not one actor was hurt by my outing. Only two persons complained to me. Donna Summer (through her agent) said she wasn't gay or bisexual, (she was in the list of bisexual female actresses), and Scott Baio phoned me and said, "I'm Scott." I said, "Scott who?" and he hung up. I knew it was him from his voice.
I later heard, from a limousine driver, that Scott had knocked up a girl and that he and his Dad were arguing in the limo about it. His Dad said he he should have used a rubber. So, I deleted both of them from the lists, although I have heard "rumors" about them since the paper ceased publication.
I recall, way back in the fifties, Tony Perkins had suddenly disappeared. And Louella Parsons had written in her column to "check out Tab Hunter's apartment on Sunset, that's where Tony Perkins car is parked." Tony was at the peak of his good looks and had just started acting in films. He was in "Fear Strikes Out," a baseball story and then "The Tall Story," with Jane Fonda, also starting her film career. That's when she was living with her agent, Dick Clayton. Tony was tall, lean and lanky and sexy. I saw him at the premiere of, "The Gunfight at the OK Corral," which premiered at the Hollywood Paramount theater, (now the El Capitan). He was wearing goggle type of glass frames, usually used for sunglasses. But, he had plain, untinted glass in them. Later I would have the same type made up and other than the President of General Motors, we were the only three who had those type of frames. Today they are all too familiar.
I saw Tony another time at the Mocambo on Sunset, after the premiere of, "The Spirit of St. Louis," at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood, many years before the paper. There was a benefit fund raiser for the widow of the owner and Frank Sinatra was appearing. Tony came out the front door at intermission and just looked over the fans and tourists who were crowded around the front door, then smiled and went back inside. Frank came out and asked if we could hear the music alright? The front door was left open so we could listen.
It was a star studded event and it's where I learned there is a small group of autograph hunters who keep up on celebrity events and they all go to them to get autographs. One of their group was "discovered" by Tab Hunter and at another event Tab "arrived" with the former autograph hound. (Today autograph hunters are called stalkers. It's a damned shame).
Funny that one of the autograph hunters, who had been there, appeared years later when I was taking photographs of the Carradine's at the Ebelle theater. He was standing in the crowd. He told me he had lived in New York but was retired and had moved to Hollywood. Hard to believe, but harder to believe I had remembered his face over all those years.
Jack Sernas, the handsome actor from, "Helen of Troy," was there and I got his autograph and he "wrote down his phone number." He was married to an obese woman, who was with him, but he was obviously gay. And believe it or not, I never phoned him. Jack was very short, sort of an Alan Ladd type. He looked tall and muscular on film. The only other film I saw him in was, "La Dolce Vita." He reminded me of a good looking usher at the Capitol theater in Flint, Norman Courney.
I saw Brad Davis after the screening of "Chariots of Fire," at the Academy theater. I had gone there with artist Kenneth Kendall. Kenneth had painted a porcelain miniature of Brad, so I introduced myself and Kenneth, while Brad was waiting for the red traffic light to change. He talked to Kenneth for quite a while. After Brad's death, at a memorial service at the Doolittle theater in Hollywood, Kenneth gave the miniature to Brad's widow. Brad's death was very sudden and his illness had been kept quiet from the press. Brad's brother, Gene, is more handsome than Brad and he still hasn't recovered from losing his brother. Gene starred with Charles Bronson in, "10 to Midnight." Kenneth Kendall's brother, Lester, (nee Katz) had been Bronson's agent when Charles was using his real name, Charles Buchinski. Kenneth was a James Dean fan and created the James Dean Memorial at the Griffith Park Observatory, where scenes for "Rebel Without A Cause," were filmed. He dedicated a similar memorial in Fairmount, Indiana where Jimmy grew up. It stands in a small park near the edge of town. Kenneth passed away September 3, 2006.
The Hollywood Star newspaper didn't make up stories but we wanted to be sensational as well as truthful. There was "no intent" of hurting anybody's career and it was a sort of cat and mouse game. If actors wanted to be mousey, then we were catty and often caught up with them. Many stories seemed to be outrageous when they were written and many people didn't believe what we printed. But, as time went by and the things we said were proven true, then attitudes changed. We wanted to be more "confidential" than Confidential magazine ever was.
We erred on two stories that I can recall. Actually it was one story and one photo. The" Sal Mineo's Killer is Known," headline, proved later that our sources were wrong. At that time, even a detective thought it was credible. And a nude of Kent McCord, wasn't Kent McCord. It was a questionable photo. Some thought it was him while others didn't. The Hollywood Star had an editor's pledge that read:
"Whatever we print, we believe it to be true.
If we should err on any item or story, we
will acknowledge it in future issues. We research
our stories to the best of our ability. We hope you
enjoy our paper and will recommend it to others" - Bill Dakota
I would often venture out with my face in drag, as I mentioned here. After the Westwood Village premiere of , "A Star Is Born," (where I had worn a white, rental tuxedo, as everyone had to do, so that when Ms. Streisand came, wearing a red gown, she would stand out like a rose-.....phew). Anyway, the following evening I went walking down Hollywood Boulevard, in the tux, and face in drag, with a tape recorder interviewing theater managers and I used this in a column titled, "Waltzing Matilda."
"Deep Throat," had played at the Pussycat theater on Hollywood Boulevard for a couple of years. I stopped and asked to see the manager. Then I asked him a few questions, such as how the movie was holding up after such a long run? I had never done this before, and I can imagine what they thought, seeing and talking to a man in a white tuxedo and face in drag! Anyway, this turned into a full page story, things happening along Hollywood Boulevard. And some people even asked me for my autograph. That's Hollywood!
Of course people knew me in the bars that I frequented in those days, the Sideshow, the Beachboy and the Kenmore Lounge, where some scenes for "Barfly," were filmed. All of which are now gone.
The HOLLYWOOD STAR was started on a shoestring. The first few issues had different backers. Some were the vendors who owned the racks, (this was before we bought ours). It was the best selling tabloid on the street. It outsold Playboy Magazine at the World Book and News on Cahuenga Boulevard. I finally got a backer who bought 120 newsracks and they were put out, along Hollywood Boulevard, on nearly every corner, along Sunset Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood, and some special places like the original Brown Derby on Wilshire Boulevard, and in front of the post-offices.
The paper only came out once every two or three months. Yet, each week the racks would often be sold out. Other tabloids were weekly and they never sold as well. My backer had purchased an Iteq Quad typesetter (this was before computers of course), which cost around $18,000 in those days and $5,000 for a printer. The copy was in a sealed binder that had to be run through a developer or printer. We also had a photo machine to do half-tones as well. I operated out of the basement of an apartment building I was managing. So, this is how the Hollywood Star was born. Well, it was born in Hollywood earlier but it wasn't that secure, moneywise.
My 24 hour hot-line could also be dangerous, so I taped all of the phone calls. I also asked for names of witnesses for whatever it was they were calling me for. I tried to get a minimum of two other names and then I would verify the information. I often found myself phoning restaurants or bars for verification. I may have been duped a few times, but I always printed the fore-mentioned disclaimer. I didn't want to intentionally hurt anyone by making up gossip on them.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Hollywood Old Songs
Hollywood Undead are about to drop a musical bomb. On their debut album (A&M/Octone), they've concocted an explosive cocktail of hip hop, rock and metal, forging an alternative style that's primed to blow the scene up. They craft incisive, sharp and sarcastic raps that slash the jugular of mainstream pop culture. They aren't your standard rap or rock crew. They're something new, dangerous, funny and alive. Deuce busts out the melodies. Johnny 3 Tears, J-Dog and Charlie Scene lead the lyrical charge, while Funny Man drops rhymes, and Da Kurlzz hypes the fray. Donning individual masks, Hollywood Undead possess a dark aesthetic that's connected to their hometown's depravity. Tracks like "No. 5" dissect the frivolities of Hollywood with witty, catchy choruses. Album opener "Undead," sets the tone, firing off a big melody and buoyant beats. Meanwhile, "Los Angeles" examines the town's evil edge. However, Hollywood Undead has got the gusto to be earth shattering far beyond cyberspace. They're already knocking at your door, and they're about to break it down.
Hollywood Undead’s sound cuts with a distinct hip hop swagger and a brooding, hard rock aggression. The band recorded seventeen songs with production by Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), Don Gilmore (Linkin Park) and Deuce. J-Dog describes the sound best. "It's different genres mixed together with no holds barred. The rap songs are straight-up club songs. The rock songs are in your face and industrial. It's a collaboration of six people with different thoughts, coming together and not holding back." Charlie Scene elaborates further, "It's the truth about what average, suburban teens are thinking. No one else is rapping about how those kids party and what they go through in life, but we are."
Everything was born from a collaboration by Deuce and J-Dog in 2005. They posted a couple of their songs on the internet, and within a day, they had a slew of friends and plays. They inked a deal with A&M/Octone in 2008, and they're ready to unleash their manifesto. Johnny 3 Tears delves deeper into the band's message. "Our music and lyrics are just a communication of our lives. That's the best way to define it. It's all extremely and explicitly honest about stuff we go through--love, hate and pain. People see that honesty, and they respond to it. I want it to last forever for them. It's not fleeting."
The masks contribute to the band's mystique. Charlie explains, "In order to keep everything a mystery, we didn't want people to know what we look like." That mystery is just as important to the band's identity as the city is. J-Dog continues, "I've seen too many people who just couldn't cut it out here. This city literally chews people up and spits them out. In Hollywood, there are aspiring actors, artists, crack heads, gang bangers, taggers, and homeless people. They all add to the culture. Growing up around so many different people made us who we are. Hollywood was always known for its rawness, and we have that." The world will soon see that Hollywood Undead is as raw as it gets.
This song began life as "Jockin' My Mercedes," and was performed during a couple of festival sets during some of the brief Mutations promotions. The song did change a little from then, but it was basically the same as what you know now.
"Hollywood Freaks" might be the most typical Midnite Vultures track. As the perfect example of the Vultures mood, "Hollywood Freaks" would have been Beck's first choice as a single for the album. "That's the one I would choose because this is what I would wanna hear if I was in a club...you know, on a Thursday night, feeling mildly excited." The song is a catchy and melodic, but at the same time, a bit of a goof, as proved by all the laughing and silly references.
Beck's a master at finding the right words to match the right attitude of the music (and vice versa). There are so many pop references, it's hard to begin! (See below.) Basically, as the title conveys, the song is just full of freakiness: neon mamacitas, tropical oils, twenty-million dollar fantasies. But as Beck put it, it's a riff on all "the pervasive R&B entrepreneurial superstar star-maker man-male '90s machines." I'm not sure how Norman Schwarzkopf fits that description though!
Beck explains his love/hate relationship with Los Angeles, which comes out subtly in "Hollywood Freaks." "I love L.A., but there's certain elements that are repelling to me, but at the same time I enjoy it. I love to hate it. As a musician or somebody who works creatively, you tend to take things from your environment that bug you or disturb you and try to reassemble them the way you see fit. That's one of the licenses you acquire when you start writing songs or making movies. You're able to do odd things and rework the world as you see it. So I took the liberty to do it with Hollywood because it's taken liberty with me. It's a two-way relationship."
Often "Hollywood Freaks" is considered a spoof (as is much of Midnite Vultures), but Beck takes issue with that. He explains, "I don't think of that song as a parody at all. There is a fine line there but it isn't parody. I love the new stuff and the old school. That song to me is just my aesthetic. In my fantasy world that is the kind of hip hop song you would hear on the radio, hear Puff Daddy rapping."
Hollywood Undead’s sound cuts with a distinct hip hop swagger and a brooding, hard rock aggression. The band recorded seventeen songs with production by Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), Don Gilmore (Linkin Park) and Deuce. J-Dog describes the sound best. "It's different genres mixed together with no holds barred. The rap songs are straight-up club songs. The rock songs are in your face and industrial. It's a collaboration of six people with different thoughts, coming together and not holding back." Charlie Scene elaborates further, "It's the truth about what average, suburban teens are thinking. No one else is rapping about how those kids party and what they go through in life, but we are."
Everything was born from a collaboration by Deuce and J-Dog in 2005. They posted a couple of their songs on the internet, and within a day, they had a slew of friends and plays. They inked a deal with A&M/Octone in 2008, and they're ready to unleash their manifesto. Johnny 3 Tears delves deeper into the band's message. "Our music and lyrics are just a communication of our lives. That's the best way to define it. It's all extremely and explicitly honest about stuff we go through--love, hate and pain. People see that honesty, and they respond to it. I want it to last forever for them. It's not fleeting."
The masks contribute to the band's mystique. Charlie explains, "In order to keep everything a mystery, we didn't want people to know what we look like." That mystery is just as important to the band's identity as the city is. J-Dog continues, "I've seen too many people who just couldn't cut it out here. This city literally chews people up and spits them out. In Hollywood, there are aspiring actors, artists, crack heads, gang bangers, taggers, and homeless people. They all add to the culture. Growing up around so many different people made us who we are. Hollywood was always known for its rawness, and we have that." The world will soon see that Hollywood Undead is as raw as it gets.
This song began life as "Jockin' My Mercedes," and was performed during a couple of festival sets during some of the brief Mutations promotions. The song did change a little from then, but it was basically the same as what you know now.
"Hollywood Freaks" might be the most typical Midnite Vultures track. As the perfect example of the Vultures mood, "Hollywood Freaks" would have been Beck's first choice as a single for the album. "That's the one I would choose because this is what I would wanna hear if I was in a club...you know, on a Thursday night, feeling mildly excited." The song is a catchy and melodic, but at the same time, a bit of a goof, as proved by all the laughing and silly references.
Beck's a master at finding the right words to match the right attitude of the music (and vice versa). There are so many pop references, it's hard to begin! (See below.) Basically, as the title conveys, the song is just full of freakiness: neon mamacitas, tropical oils, twenty-million dollar fantasies. But as Beck put it, it's a riff on all "the pervasive R&B entrepreneurial superstar star-maker man-male '90s machines." I'm not sure how Norman Schwarzkopf fits that description though!
Beck explains his love/hate relationship with Los Angeles, which comes out subtly in "Hollywood Freaks." "I love L.A., but there's certain elements that are repelling to me, but at the same time I enjoy it. I love to hate it. As a musician or somebody who works creatively, you tend to take things from your environment that bug you or disturb you and try to reassemble them the way you see fit. That's one of the licenses you acquire when you start writing songs or making movies. You're able to do odd things and rework the world as you see it. So I took the liberty to do it with Hollywood because it's taken liberty with me. It's a two-way relationship."
Often "Hollywood Freaks" is considered a spoof (as is much of Midnite Vultures), but Beck takes issue with that. He explains, "I don't think of that song as a parody at all. There is a fine line there but it isn't parody. I love the new stuff and the old school. That song to me is just my aesthetic. In my fantasy world that is the kind of hip hop song you would hear on the radio, hear Puff Daddy rapping."
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Hollywood Young Circle
Young Circle Park and Amphitheater is a beautiful park-like setting located in the heart of Hollywood. It serves the community with a wide range of performances – everything from the Hollywood Philharmonic to Hollywood Playhouse performances have graced the stage.
The park itself is a popular venue providing a charming, natural backdrop for yearly events including the Mardi Gras Fiesta Tropicale (February), the St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival (March), Hispanic Fest and Kuumba Festival (April), LoveFest and the Fourth of July patriotic kickoff (July), Viva Italia, Love Radio’s Jazz Harvest, Footy’s Y-100 Wing Ding, the Herald Hunt (October) and dramatic Holiday light displays (December). These major events mirror Hollywood’s cultural diversity and its commitment to the arts.
Surrounding the park are charming restaurants and open air cafes, filling the air with the scent of fresh baked pastries and breads.
No city in Broward County has high stakes development decisions like Hollywood. It's why for the last decade it's become an emotionally charged issue. For all the fine points that fill the debate, the argument comes down to whether you believe the city should accommodate the developer or if the developer should accommodate the city. The projects have changed, but the debate has not.
In Monday's post about the Block 25 project, planned for the northeast corner of Young Circle and Federal Highway, commissioners Patty Asseff and Linda Sherwood argued that the city should be grateful to developer, Chip Abele, for his willingness to build in Hollywood. For this he's entitled to a big share of the future taxes the city would collect on the property, as well as the right to design his condo tower as a "planned development," or just "PD" -- status that frees him from the zoning guidelines that tend to cut into profit margins. Last evening, in a 5-2 decision, the Hollywood City Commission gave Abele his PD.
The culture of giving developers incentives and architectural cart blanche is, for better or worse, the legacy of former Mayor Mara Giulianti. And despite her defeat in January 2008, a majority of the commission still subscribes to Guilianti principles. Commissioner Heidi O'Sheehan, who was elected that same month, is in the minority.
"Unfortunately, there's this feeling in the city that if we don't say 'Yes' to everything, (developers) are just going to walk away and not build anything," says O'Sheehan. "And I don't believe that."
Hollywood, she argues, is selling itself short: "This is prime real estate in South Florida -- there aren't a lot of places left to develop. We're holding a lot of cards that we can bargain with."
More from O'Sheehan, and the city activists who take her view on developing Hollywood's downtown, after the jump.
In July the city's Community Redevelopment Agency hired Miami urban designer Bernard Zyscovich to revise a master plan he crafted in 2004 that was never formally recognized. Abele and his backers on the commission are eager to lock in planned-development status before that happens .
This seems a contradiction. Zyscovich is being paid to ensure a city design in which individual projects fit within a collective vision, while the commission is doing the opposite -- letting each project define the collective vision. And Block 55 development is just the latest example.
Or at least that's how it seems to Terry Cantrell, president of the Hollywood Lakes Civic Association, whose members have lobbied hard against letting the project get in line ahead of the Zyscovich plan. "The city has spent $200,000 to do the (Zyscovich) master plan and zoning recommendations," says Cantrell. It could have delayed approval for Abele's project until Zyscovich's ideas became permanent policy. "Why not wait another couple of weeks?" he asks.
Activist Sara Case lost narrowly in the January 2008 election to Asseff, an event that had big implications for Hollywood development. Case wonders why the commissioners don't trust Zyscovich. "They hire him, and then they don't pay attention to him," she says. "How can they substitute their judgment for the judgment of a professional planner like Zyscovich?"
Supporters of the Hollywood Circle development caution that by delaying its approval, the city would not only risk losing the project, it might make the city vulnerable to a lawsuit. That threat seems implicit in the commission presentations by lobbyist Alan Koslow.
"I think that's a bogus argument," says Case. And if the city really wanted to protect itself from legal action, she adds, it would have called for a "zoning in progress" that freezes new development until new design guidelines and regulations can be adopted. Hollywood has not done so.
While Abele's group may have started the development review in September 2007, Cantrell points out that the developer didn't apply for zoning changes until this past November -- four months after Zyscovich's arrival. By that time the developer should have known that the city's plans were fluid.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Hollywood Cricket Club
Hollywood Cricket Club was founded in 1932 by Sir C. Aubrey "Round the Corner" Smith. Club's By-Laws were passed by the committee on January 20, 1932 and were approved on February 18, 1932.
Brief History of Sir Aubrey Smith.
Sir Aubrey Smith was born July 21, 1863 in St. Stephen's Hospital. As time went by he became serious soccer player, but his real desire was to play cricket.
Sir Aubrey Smith, an opening brisk fast-medium bowler, played for Charterhouse, Cambridge, Sussex and England. He debut in 1882 for Sussex County Cricket Club and was Captain in 1887, 1888, and 1890. He also was the Captain of two England Touring Sides (to Australia and South Africa). As a finale, Sir Aubrey named his house at 2881 Coldwater Canyon Drive, near the junction with Mulholland Drive, "The Round Corner."
Created a C.B.E in 1938 at Buckingham Palace, he went there again in 1944 to receive a knighthood from the King. Sir Charles Aubrey Smith, famous cricketer and film actor died in Beverly Hills on December 20th, 1948.
He will always be remembered by Hollywood Cricket Club.
A great moment for international ‘cricket you can believe in’ was held at the Village Green, Woodley, Los Angeles over the weekend where Credo Cricketer’s, The Rev and the traveling Custard, joined the Compton ‘Homies and Popz’ Cricket Team in a match against Beverly Hills/Hollywood Cricket Club.
Compton is a neighborhood in South Central LA with a reputation for gangs, violence and disadvantage. The Cricket Team was started when the teams patriarch and icon, Ted Hayes, an African American, Republican voting, Jewish, homelessness activist was introduced to cricket by British film producer Katy Haber. Ted resonated with the ‘Spirit of Cricket ‘which he saw as being significantly different to the showy, ‘Me first’ culture of American sport and its mean streets.
With the Hollywood connection it was the Beverly Hills team, made up of ex-pat Englishmen that first taught Ted and the boys how to play. Today however, it was time for the apprentices to become the masters. Compton bowled and fielded well, amongst the trees and undulations of the aptly named ‘Village Green’ to restrict Beverly Hills to 9/134 off 25 overs with America’s version of the Warne/Magill leg spin combination, Ted Hayes (3 for) and The Rev (2 for) proving a handfull.
In response, Compton born and bred, Ricardo starred with the bat with a 50 made up of orthodox forward defense and blistering baseball style swats which peppered the legside boundary. The Rev made 18 and Custard brought the team home with 28 not out. 4/135 with 5 overs to spare.
At the conclusion of the game Marcus Curnow, spoke about the story of Urban Seed’s Credo Cricket with disadvantaged people in Melbourne and the recent Laneway Cricket matches held in response to street violence against Indian students. He handed out Australian team training shirts, and, whilst being heckled by the defeated Beverly Hills Englishmen, recommended the ‘Homies’ wear the shirts for the remainder of the day as the Ashes would be lost by morning! Luckily Ted Hayes received a Victorian Bushrangers 20/20 shirt for whom the Compton ‘Homies and Popz’ will be ‘rootin’in the upcoming Champions league in recognition of Cricket Victoria’s ongoing support for ‘very believable cricket’.
Meet the Players
Ahmed Butt
You heard of the one where the boy wants to be a king. Well here we have a very good middle order batsman, who really wants to be a bowler. Aspirations of Shoaib Akhter, there is an ongoing bet that Ahmed will not take a single wicket this season...
Arvind Vanthasavi
He batted unbelievably well once, but think the rough and tumble world of LDHCC was just too much, so he does nt respond any more.
Asim Bilwani
Another one of our flambouyant openers, its just a pity that he possibly gives the most mis-informed, terrible intel ever. From getting the ground directions wrong, to high certainty but completely misguided views on the strengths of the batsman, he is truly a product of Investment Banking
Hassan Mohammad
The british rude boy, one gets the sense he would really prefer to get stuck into a big team fight with the opposition or our team, than participate in this genteel game. He can bat (I think)
Imran Shah
Certainly the tallest member of the squad, Imran has a very languid presence about himself. A dynamic opening batsman, likes nothing better than rolling a Rizla in the outfield and genuinely encouraging rival batsman.
Kanik Arora
Definitely a tradion buster, our fast bowler disdains the white kit for a multi colour uniform straight from the IPL, as well as famously at one stage removing his pads while batting in one game to free himself for a few big hits. He was bowled next ball.
Kany Bengali
Allegedly a Bangladesh U-19 player, but we are nt really sure, since the floods washed away the Bangladesh cricket academy in '08.
Karan Abbot
More bollywood than hollywood, he is Facebook friends with everyone who has played with or against us. After the mother of all battles with the captain, he was finally allowed a ball in the first match and promptly took two wickets in his first over.
Kashif Sheikh
Every organisation, building, country is built around one entity, in the case of LDHCC, its Kashif. He keeps wicket when we need him to, bowls fast and is leading the race for highest run scorer this season. Kashif is there to win it, the other 10 generate the noise.
Mirnal Jalan
Our chereubic leg spinner, who belies his appearance with some sharp fielding from cover as well as being a solid middle order batsman. Visibly discomforted by the blustery English weather…
Nicholas Khan Roper
The real pin up idol in a team full of Hollywood wannabes. Starting his bowling career 16 years later, he s continued his love affair with the red cherry, never straying from that off stump line. Leading wicket taker and is comfortable at Number 11.
Omar Sheikh
Part 1 of the famous "Shake" brothers. Generates a mean pace from a short run up and capable of the mean bouncer as well. A very solid batsman in a flambouyant top order.
Raj Daryanani
Every team needs the wily, grizzly old pro, who has been there and done that for a good decade. Raj is our man, knows every ground south of the Midlands, bowls fast and furious and when he bats, he tees it up and launches into the stratosphere. Keeps as well.
Rehan Latif
Great Captain likes to think of himself as the poor man's version of Gary Sobers. Left handed, bowls spin, a little medium, bats anywhere, keeps (badly). The fact that all of them are done with little success is beside the point. It would be fairer to say the fact that Rehan has ADD is why he tries to do everything, if he was nt so focused on trying to place the fielders, he would probably wander off every 5 minutes.
Roopak Radia
His one innings was a revelation and sensationally he was the first (and maybe last?) person to take a catch at slip for us.
Rushi Luhar
The scholastic right arm seamer with a competitive streak. Reads the game well as expected from the Morgan Stanley Indoor Captain and dependable lower order batsman, a complete team player.
Samir Dada
The sensitive fast bowler, nifty pace, but like any well groomed prima donna handle with care. Threatens to walk off the field atleast twice every innings. And on an aside, the most bearish equity trader you are ever likely to meet....
Zain Latif
The second of the second pair of brothers, he only adds to the feeling of relaxed languidness that LDHCC display on the field, hands folded no doubt thought drifting to concerns that would typically pre-occupy Investment Banking Directors in this day and age. Scorer of our first 50.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Hollywood In Hindi
Well Done Abba (2010)
2) Hum Tum Aur Ghost (2010)
3) Elektra (2005) (In Hindi)
4) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) (In Hindi)
Staring:
Boman Irani
Minissha Lamba
Sammir Dattani
Sonali Kulkarni
Ravi Kishan
Ila Arun
Salim Ghouse
Rajit Kapoor
Yashpal Sharma
Ravi Jhankal
Rahul Singh
Director:
Shyam Benegal
2) Hum Tum Aur Ghost (2010)
Staring:
Arshad Warsi
Diya Mirza
Sandhya Mridul
Boman Irani
Zehra Naqvi
Shernaz Patel
Tinu Anand
Javed Sheikh
Asawari Joshi
Rituraj Singh
Ashwin Kumar
Nilu Kohli
Director:
Kabeer Kaushik
3) Elektra (2005) (In Hindi)
Starring:
Jennifer Garner ... Elektra
Goran Visnjic ... Mark Miller
Kirsten Prout ... Abby Miller
Will Yun Lee ... Kirigi
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa ... Roshi
Terence Stamp ... Stick
Natassia Malthe ... Typhoid
Bob Sapp ... Stone
Chris Ackerman ... Tattoo
Edson T. Ribeiro ... Kinkou
Colin Cunningham ... McCabe
Hiro Kanagawa ... Meizumi
Mark Houghton ... Bauer
Laura Ward ... Young Elektra
Kurt Max Runte ... Nikolas Natchios
Director:
Rob Bowman
Starring:
Daniel Radcliffe ... Harry Potter
Michael Gambon ... Professor Albus Dumbledore
Dave Legeno ... Fenrir Greyback
Elarica Gallagher ... Waitress
Jim Broadbent ... Professor Horace Slughorn
Geraldine Somerville ... Lily Potter
Bonnie Wright ... Ginny Weasley
Julie Walters ... Molly Weasley
Rupert Grint ... Ron Weasley
Emma Watson ... Hermione Granger
Helena Bonham Carter ... Bellatrix Lestrange
Helen McCrory ... Narcissa Malfoy
Timothy Spall ... Wormtail
Alan Rickman ... Professor Severus Snape
Oliver Phelps ... George Weasley
Director:
David Yates
5) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (In Hindi)
6) Daredevil (2003) (In Hindi)
7)
Starring:
Harrison Ford ... Indiana Jones
Cate Blanchett ... Col. Dr. Irina Spalko
Karen Allen ... Marion Ravenwood
Shia LaBeouf ... Mutt Williams
Ray Winstone ... George 'Mac' McHale
John Hurt ... Professor Harold 'Ox' Oxley
Jim Broadbent ... Dean Charles Stanforth
Igor Jijikine ... Dovchenko
Dimitri Diatchenko ... Russian Suit #1
Ilia Volok ... Russian Suit #2
Emmanuel Todorov ... Russian Soldier #1
Pavel Lychnikoff ... Russian Soldier #2 (as Pasha D. Lychnikoff)
Andrew Divoff ... Russian Soldier #3
Venya Manzyuk ... Russian Soldier #4 (as Veniamin Manzyuk)
Alan Dale ... General Ross
Director:
Steven Spielberg
6) Daredevil (2003) (In Hindi)
Starring:
Ben Affleck ... Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Jennifer Garner ... Elektra Natchios
Colin Farrell ... Bullseye
Michael Clarke Duncan ... Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin
Jon Favreau ... Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson
Scott Terra ... Young Matt
Ellen Pompeo ... Karen Page
Joe Pantoliano ... Ben Urich
Leland Orser ... Wesley Owen Welch
Lennie Loftin ... Nick Manolis
Erick Avari ... Nikolas Natchios
Derrick O'Connor ... Father Everett
Paul Ben-Victor ... Jose Quesada
David Keith ... Jack Murdock
Frankie J. Allison ... Abusive Father (as Frankie Jay Allison)
Director:
Mark Steven Johnson
7)
Hollywood Jokes
In Hollywood they get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day.
The hardest thing in Hollywood is to keep the marriage a secret until the divorce leaks out.
I was invited to a Hollywood wedding. Traffic was heavy, so I got there late
Divorce Magazine provides advice and support for those coping with separation, divorce, and remarriage.
The hardest thing in Hollywood is to keep the marriage a secret until the divorce leaks out.
I was invited to a Hollywood wedding. Traffic was heavy, so I got there late
Divorce Magazine provides advice and support for those coping with separation, divorce, and remarriage.
From time to time, Hollywood loves to make movies about itself.
It's a place so insular and self-centered that it's convinced that everyone else on the planet is as enraptured as they are about themselves and the going-ons behind the scenes. That is the central theme behind the new rambunctious, and very hit-or-miss comedy Tropic Thunder.
It's an occasionally funny comedy that actually isn't nearly as funny or as clever as it thinks it is. It's mainly aimed for people who like to delude themselves that they're "in the know" about the movie business although most of the really savage satire would sail right over their heads without them having a clue.
Marking his return to the director's seat since his unfunny Zoolander and the underrated and dangerously subversive The Cable Guy, Ben Stiller plays a fading action movie star who is working on a big budget Hollywood action flick about the Vietnam War, that is being shot on location in Vietnam, alongside fellow actors Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson. Jackson plays a rapper with the name of Alpa Chino (say it loud to yourself), who is acting in his first film.
However it's obvious from the very start that the film's clueless, stressed out, neophyte Brit director (Coogan) is in way over his head and the film quickly winds up over budget and way behind schedule, incurring the anger of the film's extremely foul mouthed, hyper-aggressive producer (Tom Cruise wearing a bald wig, scraggly beard, fat gut and profuse chest hair).
Desperate to save the film, and more importantly his career, Coogan gets rid of most of the film crew and comes up with the insane idea of dropping his actors in the middle of nowhere in the jungle to make a low budget, guerilla style movie with hidden video cameras placed all around as they struggle to make it out on their own.
Of course there wouldn't be much of plot of things didn't quickly go from bad to worse, (as it does) and the actors find themselves tangling with dangerous real drug dealing guerillas led by a 12-year-old kid (Soo Hoo), though the actors are too imbecilic and self-centered to realize that they're not making a film anymore and their situation is for real.
Though Thunder definitely has its genuinely funny moments especially due to Jack Black, who while relegated mainly to the background at first eventually comes into his own with some hilarious crazed behavior and rudely twisted lines, the film suffers badly from a lumpy pace with its uneven storyline and too many scenes of people screaming at each other for no apparent reason.
It's also dragged down by one too many inside jokes about the business that are not even that funny for those who gets who's being spoofed such as McConaughey's manic part inspired by real life super agent Ari Emanuel, Coogan's take on the real British film director Sam Mendes (Jarhead) and especially Cruise's character who's a blatant mockery of legendary producer Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men) who's famous in the business for his volcanic temper and tyrannical behavior.
However, no doubt most of the attention will center around Robert Downey's Kirk Lazarus, a Russell Crowe type known for his intensity and hard drinking behavior who's so dedicated to his craft that to play a black man in the film he undergoes cosmetic surgery to look black to play the part. Of course the concept is intentionally outrageous and decidedly non-PC with the image of a white guy in modern day blackface to illustrate how ridiculous Lazarus is, especially in his awkward and embarrassing attempts to portray a black man.
And besides, since it's the current "Mr. Cool of Hollywood" Iron Man himself, so how bad could it be? But when it gets down to the basic core of the idea, the fact of the matter is that blackface is still blackface regardless.
Another problem as well with the basic concept it that doesn't make sense either. Although the film is a comedy and a satire of the film business, why would a producer and director in the film hire a white guy to play the part of the black guy? Wouldn't it have made more sense to have a black actor spoofing another established, serious black actor such as Forest Whitaker or Denzel Washington?
Things are not helped either with Jackson's rapper character (who's the only black person in the entire film) basically playing a character that is barely a step above Flava Flav. If Lazarus' character was conceived as an attack on the image of blacks in cinema, then neither him nor Jackson's character help in any way. And, in this new age of Obama, the whole thing falls flat.
After everything is taken in, what we have left with Tropic Thunder is a film that could have been a whole a lot sharper and better. There are truly funny and outrageous moments, but unfortunately, the film becomes sluggish as it repeats itself again and again to an increasingly lesser effect.
Perhaps if the filmmakers had stopped gazing into the mirror a tad less often and weren't as convinced that they were so much more clever than the audience, Tropic Thunder might have been a better film.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Hollywood Movie Anaconda
Having tackled the most venomous snakes in Africa, Austin Stevens seeks out the largest and most powerful snake in the world. A snake which can weigh over 1,000 lbs, with a girth of 44 inches. One of the few snakes in the world that actually preys on humans. Throwing a 'death loop' of coils around its hapless victim this monster is capable of crushing a man to death. Austin plans to photograph one of these feared beasts in its natural habitat. To do that he'll need to wrestle it from the water. Austin is a black belt in Kung-Fu, but he has been undergoing additional training for this mission for the last twelve months, working on the amount of time he can stay underwater, and increasing his upper body strength. Now there is no turning back.
No animal in the Amazon is more feared and respected than the world's largest and most powerful snake, the Anaconda. Fully grown, it can approach a length of 30 feet, and weigh close to a quarter of a ton. Physically, no animal in the New World can match its strength. Worshipped as a god and feared for its magic, the Anaconda stands alone at the top of the hierarchy of predators in the Amazon and is the living symbol of the river.
Series combining stunning wildlife with high octane adventure as a team of explorers search the depths of the last great unspoilt jungle on the planet. Cameras follow the team every sweaty step of the way as they explore the beautiful wilderness of Guyana, from abseiling down one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world to climbing to the very top of the rainforest trees. Known as the land of giants, Guyana is home to the huge anaconda, the world's largest tarantula and giant otters.
The big snakes are back..well ok, big “snake”, for another round of body
chomping in our newest edition called ”Anaconda: Trail of Blood”. Our evil master mind this round goes by the name of
Murdoch, who has funded a very large project to find a serum to heal fatal illness. The intent though involves some very devious intentions and the use of creating very large snakes. The cure comes from a hybrid of the black orchid flower which produces regeneration and healing effects of halting decomposition. The tests used on snakes produces a species that requires constant feeding with a higher metabolic rate.
To summarize, there’s really not alot new going on here. The names have been changed but the play is much of the same. With a bunch of assassins confusing the the mix you really just want to get to the munching . Which you more or less assume that all bad men will get eaten. My favorite still stands with the first Anaconda movie but then again they had an all star cast also. Is it me or would just poisoning the carcasses do the trick to kill a big snake? or maybe throw a tasty meat stake attached to a grenade? Oh ya…one problem. The snake can regenerate…so it will take a bit more to kill him off so easily.
It goes without saying that this is snake, like the last, episodes and goes on a
killing spree, attacking the scientist on duty, the rescue team sent to find him, Amanda’s crew in search of the snake and the mercenariesMurdoch sends to retrieve the cancer serum. Again, the experiments have made the anaconda huge and aggressive, but this time it also has the power of regeneration, which is never exploited adequately in the story.
No animal in the Amazon is more feared and respected than the world's largest and most powerful snake, the Anaconda. Fully grown, it can approach a length of 30 feet, and weigh close to a quarter of a ton. Physically, no animal in the New World can match its strength. Worshipped as a god and feared for its magic, the Anaconda stands alone at the top of the hierarchy of predators in the Amazon and is the living symbol of the river.
Series combining stunning wildlife with high octane adventure as a team of explorers search the depths of the last great unspoilt jungle on the planet. Cameras follow the team every sweaty step of the way as they explore the beautiful wilderness of Guyana, from abseiling down one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world to climbing to the very top of the rainforest trees. Known as the land of giants, Guyana is home to the huge anaconda, the world's largest tarantula and giant otters.
The big snakes are back..well ok, big “snake”, for another round of body
chomping in our newest edition called ”Anaconda: Trail of Blood”. Our evil master mind this round goes by the name ofMurdoch, who has funded a very large project to find a serum to heal fatal illness. The intent though involves some very devious intentions and the use of creating very large snakes. The cure comes from a hybrid of the black orchid flower which produces regeneration and healing effects of halting decomposition. The tests used on snakes produces a species that requires constant feeding with a higher metabolic rate.
To summarize, there’s really not alot new going on here. The names have been changed but the play is much of the same. With a bunch of assassins confusing the the mix you really just want to get to the munching . Which you more or less assume that all bad men will get eaten. My favorite still stands with the first Anaconda movie but then again they had an all star cast also. Is it me or would just poisoning the carcasses do the trick to kill a big snake? or maybe throw a tasty meat stake attached to a grenade? Oh ya…one problem. The snake can regenerate…so it will take a bit more to kill him off so easily.
It goes without saying that this is snake, like the last, episodes and goes on a
killing spree, attacking the scientist on duty, the rescue team sent to find him, Amanda’s crew in search of the snake and the mercenariesMurdoch sends to retrieve the cancer serum. Again, the experiments have made the anaconda huge and aggressive, but this time it also has the power of regeneration, which is never exploited adequately in the story.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Hollywood chrismas party
Christmas parties… It’s that time again when we’ve just had our Summer Party and now it’s time to plan our Christmas Party! This year why not hire your exclusive Christmas venue and have a themed Christmas Party? Whether you’re having a Christmas Party in London or Scotland Christmas-events.com are here to help. We are Christmas party organisers and a specialised Event Management company, who offer party planning, venue finding, event management, event production and event entertainment! We help to plan out every aspect of your corporate Christmas Party, to ensure you have a fantastic and memorable xmas party!
This year why not enjoy your Christmas Party in the style of Hollywood! A perfect theme for your corporate Christmas party celebrations!
Imagine beginning your evening walking down the red carpet, paparazzi flashes everywhere while you enjoy being a star for the night!! Your exclusive Christmas event continues as you enter the fabulous Hollywood, greeted with champagne and canapés. As you and your guests take in the magnificent themed Christmas venue, you will begin to be seated at your tables, ready to enjoy a sumptuous three course Christmas menu.
Once seated why not mystify and amazed your guests with a Walkabout magician who will leave your Christmas party guests stunned and thoroughly impressed!
While coffee and chocolates are served to guests your manager will have the chance to hand out those golden globe awards to members of staff.
After your deliciousdinner, you will be thoroughly entertained by a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, followed by a fantastic Elvis who will leave guests ‘All shook up!!’ and ready to walk down the walk of fame onto the dance floor!
Your xmas event is yet to finish there… with a Christmas chocolate fountain, Christmas novelties, a Hollywood photo booth and disco this will be a fantastic corporate Christmas Party not to be forgotten!
Having an exclusive Christmas Party has the benefits of a large corporate company having an exclusive Christmas venue to themselves. However, many smaller companies, can participate in a shared Christmas parties with the same package, except a cheaper Christmas Party package!
Your guests will be talking about your party for months when you host a Hollywood Christmas Party this year. What greater reason to dress up than Christmas? Add a touch of Hollywood and you really have glamor! I've put together some simple ideas that will help you host a Hollywood Christmas Party. The party always starts with the invitation. Your invitation is the first door your guest open to your party. And during a season where everyone is partying make your invitation stand out. Here are a few ideas for your Hollywood Christmas Party.
1. Create a Hollywood DVD to give as invitations. It's easier than it sounds. Just record your invitation to a disc and hand them out. Where your best glamor outfit and using your best dramatic performance to invite your guest to your Hollywood Christmas Party.
2. Purchase elegant invitations and on the front write "And the Nominee for Best Actor is...." When your guests open it they will find their name. Then beneath it write the blurb about your party. You might invite your guest to dress formal and give prizes for the Best Actor and Best Actress, (based of course on appearance).
For party decorations there are a few things you simply must have.
1. A red carpet! Let your guests come in to your home or party space on the red carpet.
2. Cameras with a flash. Anyone who comes not dressed up takes pictures of the guests as they arrive. You can buy disposable cameras with the flash. At the end of the night you'll have a great record of memories. Or you might ask a friend who likes to stay in the background to be the paparazzi.
3. Your Christmas tree would be perfect for a Hollywood Christmas Party with these sensational Christmas ornaments. Buy the inexpensive picture frame ornaments. Download some pictures of your favorite Hollywood Stars like Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Paul Newman. Print each picture and put them in the frames. Place them all over the tree. Make sure you have one for each guest so you can use them for a game later. Have extras!
Friday, March 19, 2010
hollywood movies 2010 Videos
Hollywood movies releasing in 2010, Hollywood movies releasing in January, 2010, February 2010, March 2010, Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in April 2010, May 2010, June 2010, July 2010, August 2010, Hollywood movies releasing in September 2010, October 2010, November 2010, December 2010
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in January, 2010
January 1, 2010: Case 39
January 8, 2010: Youth in Revolt
January 15, 2010: Let Me In
January 22, 2010: Tooth Fairy
January 29, 2010: When in Rome
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in February 2010
February 5, 2010: Dear John
February 12, 2010: The Butchering Ghost
February 19, 2010: Shutter
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in March 2010
March 5, 2010: Alice in Wonderland
March 16, 2010: The Back-Up Plan
March 19, 2010: Season of the Witch
March 26, 2010: How to Train Your Dragon
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in April 2010
April 2, 2010: Repo Men
April 9, 2010: The Losers
April 16, 2010: Piranha 3-D
April 22, 2010: Oceans
April 23, 2010: Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in May 2010
May 7, 2010: Iron Man 2
May 14, 2010: Robin Hood
May 21, 2010: Shrek Forever After
May 28, 2010: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in June 2010
June 4, 2010: Killers
June 11, 2010: The A-Team
June 18, 2010: Toy Story 3
June 25, 2010: Grown Ups
June 30, 2010: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in July 2010
July 2, 2010: The Last Airbender
July 9, 2010: Despicable Me
July 16, 2010: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
July 23, 2010: Salt +1 more release
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in August 2010
August 6, 2010: Step Up 3-D
August 13, 2010: Ramona and Beezus
August 20, 2010: The Expendables
August 27, 2010: Resident Evil: Afterlife
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in September 2010
September 3, 2010: Born to Be a Star
September 10, 2010: The Town
September 17, 2010: Warrior
September 24, 2010: Guardians of Ga'Hoole
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in October 2010
October 1, 2010: Priest October 8, 2010: The Zookeeper
October 15, 2010: Faster
October 22, 2010: Saw VII
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in November 2010
November 5, 2010: MegaMind November 12, 2010: Unstoppable
November 19, 2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
November 24, 2010: Rapunzel 3-D
December 17, 2010: Tron: Legacy
December 22, 2010: The Green Hornet
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in January, 2010
January 1, 2010: Case 39
January 8, 2010: Youth in Revolt
January 15, 2010: Let Me In
January 22, 2010: Tooth Fairy
January 29, 2010: When in Rome
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in February 2010
February 5, 2010: Dear John
February 12, 2010: The Butchering Ghost
February 19, 2010: Shutter
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in March 2010
March 5, 2010: Alice in Wonderland
March 16, 2010: The Back-Up Plan
March 19, 2010: Season of the Witch
March 26, 2010: How to Train Your Dragon
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in April 2010
April 2, 2010: Repo Men
April 9, 2010: The Losers
April 16, 2010: Piranha 3-D
April 22, 2010: Oceans
April 23, 2010: Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in May 2010
May 7, 2010: Iron Man 2
May 14, 2010: Robin Hood
May 21, 2010: Shrek Forever After
May 28, 2010: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in June 2010
June 4, 2010: Killers
June 11, 2010: The A-Team
June 18, 2010: Toy Story 3
June 25, 2010: Grown Ups
June 30, 2010: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in July 2010
July 2, 2010: The Last Airbender
July 9, 2010: Despicable Me
July 16, 2010: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
July 23, 2010: Salt +1 more release
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in August 2010
August 6, 2010: Step Up 3-D
August 13, 2010: Ramona and Beezus
August 20, 2010: The Expendables
August 27, 2010: Resident Evil: Afterlife
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in September 2010
September 3, 2010: Born to Be a Star
September 10, 2010: The Town
September 17, 2010: Warrior
September 24, 2010: Guardians of Ga'Hoole
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in October 2010
October 1, 2010: Priest October 8, 2010: The Zookeeper
October 15, 2010: Faster
October 22, 2010: Saw VII
Upcoming Hollywood movies releasing in November 2010
November 5, 2010: MegaMind November 12, 2010: Unstoppable
November 19, 2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
November 24, 2010: Rapunzel 3-D
December 17, 2010: Tron: Legacy
December 22, 2010: The Green Hornet
Hollywood relesing 2010
If you're serious about selling a spec script to a Hwood movie studio, you're well advised to keep up with what stories they're buying and what movies they're releasing. For the former, GITS posts every spec script and original pitch that sells as they occur. Re the latter, over the next four days, I'll post the 2010 movie release schedule, one quarter per day.
island of Berk
January 1
Case 39 (Paramount): Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper
Horror, Thriller
Social worker Emily Jennings is trying to rescue Lucy Sheridan, 10 years old girl from Margaret & Edward, abusive parents but begins to suspect the girl may not be so innocent after all.
Horror, Action, Thriller
Two-time Academy Award nominee® Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, in which an unknown plague has transformed the world's population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race.
Leap Year (Universal): Amy Adams, Matthew Goode
Comedy, Romance
An uptight woman travels to
You In Revolt (Weinstein): Michael Cera, Steve Buschemi
Teen Comedy
While his trailer trash parents teeter on the edge of divorce, 14-year-old Nick sets his sights on dream girl Sheeni Saunders, hoping that she'll be the one to take away his virginity.
Post-Apocalyptic Drama
A lone hero fights his way across the wasteland of post-apocalyptic
Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil (Weinstein): Hayden Panettiere, Amy Poehler
Children’s Animation
Red Riding Hood is training in the group of Sister Hoods, when she and the Wolf are called to examine the sudden mysterious disappearance of Hansel and Gretel.
The Lovely Bones (
Drama
Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
The Spy Next Door (Lionsgate): Jackie Chan
Action, Comedy
Former CIA spy Bob Ho (Chan) takes on his toughest assignment to date: looking after his girlfriend's three kids, who haven't exactly warmed to their mom's beau. And when one of the youngsters accidentally downloads a top-secret formula, Bob's longtime nemesis, a Russian terrorist, pays a visit to the family.
Drama
The true story of John and Aileen Crowley, whose two children had a rare genetic disorder. Rather than give up hope that nothing could help his children, John Crowley found a researcher (Ford) with a potential cure.
Legion (Screen Gems): Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid
Action, Horror, Thriller
When God loses faith in humanity, he sends a legion of angels to wipe out the human race. It's only hope is a group of misfits holed up in a diner, aided by the archangel Michael.
The Tooth Fairy (20th Century Fox): Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd
Comedy, Fantasy, Family
Derek Thompson is a minor league hockey player, nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy" for his tendency to loosen molars and bicuspids while working. But Derek gets an entirely new gig when he's tapped by Magical Forces to be the real Tooth Fairy and to save the tooth fairy kingdom.
Thriller, Drama, Crime
Ron Craven, a cop and widower, witnesses what first appears to be the accidental killing of his daughter, Emma. Distraught by the loss and further troubled by his conviction that the bullet was intended for him, Craven takes on the murder investigation with an obsessive zeal to see justice done. The investigation leads him to uncover an illegal plutonium stockpile.
When in
Rom-Com
During a short trip to
Romance, Drama
An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams,
From
Action, Thriller
A young embassy worker and an American secret agent cross paths while working on a high-risk mission in
Comedy
Steven Russell is happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force when a car accident provokes a dramatic reassessment of his life. Steven realizes he's gay and decides to live life to the fullest - even if it means breaking the law. Steven's new, extravagant lifestyle involves cons and fraud and, eventually, a stay in the State Penitentiary where he meets sensitive, soft-spoken Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts Steven to attempt and often succeed at one impossible con after another.
My Name is Khan (Fox Searchlight): Shahrukh Khan, Kajol
Drama, Romance
Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, suffers from Asperger syndrome (a form of high-functioning autism complicating socialization). The adult Rizwan marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (20th Century Fox: Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman
Fantasy, Family
A young boy discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods.
Valentine’s Day (New Line): Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba
Comedy, Romance
The story centers on 10 people in
The Wolfman (Universal): Benecio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins
Action, Horror, Thriller
Upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man (Del Toro) is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf.
Thriller, Mystery, Drama
Set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on
Comedy
The story follows a pair of cops as they track down a stolen baseball card, rescue a Mexican beauty and deal with gangsters and laundered drug money.
The Crazies (Overture): Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell
Horror, Thriller
"Crazies" revolves around people in a small
Takers (Screen Gems): Matt Dillon, Paul Walker
Crime, Thriller
A
Fantasy, Adventure, Family
A girl named
Crime, Drama, Action
Three unconnected
Thriller, Drama, War
A thriller about a pair of CIA agents on the trail of certain Weapons of Mass Destruction and the New York Times correspondent following their mission.
Greenburg (Focus): Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig
Drama, Comedy
A New Yorker moves to
Hard Ten (Dreamworks): Jasika Nicole, Jay Baruchel
Comedy, Romance
An average Joe meets the perfect woman, but his lack of confidence and the influence of his friends and family begin to pick away at the relationship.
Letters to God (Vivendi): Robyn Lively, Jeffrey S.S. Johnson
Drama
A young boy fighting cancer writes letters to God, touching lives in his neighborhood and community and inspiring hope among everyone he comes in contact. An unsuspecting substitute postman, with a troubled life of his own, becomes entangled in the boy's journey and his family by reading the letters. They inspire him to seek a better life for himself and his own son he's lost through his alcohol addiction.
Our Family Wedding (Fox Searchlight): Forrest
Comedy
Two families who clash while trying to throw together a wedding in two short weeks.
Remember Me (
Drama, Romance
A pair of star-crossed lovers meet and fall in love while struggling to deal with family tragedies that threaten their relationship.
Comedy, Action
A bounty hunter is hired to retrieve his ex-wife, who has skipped bail.
Chloe (Sony): Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson
Drama, Thriller
A doctor hires an escort to seduce her husband, whom she suspects of cheating, though unforeseen events put the family in danger.
Hot Tub Time Machine (MGM): John Cusack, Rob Corddry
Comedy
A group of adult male friends, bored with their lives, visit a hot tub where they once partied. After knocking a few back, they find it can transport them to a time two decades earlier and to their younger, raunchier selves.
Last Night (Miramax): Kiera Knightley, Sam Worthington
Drama, Romance
Joanna and Michael Reed seem on the surface to be a "perfect couple." But when Joanna accuses Michael of contemplating sex with his attractive co-worker Laura, she succeeds only in shoving him into Laura's arms. And while Michael is off an a business trip with Laura that soon becomes fraught with sexual tension, Joanna meets ex-boyfriend Steven Mann for a casual evening that soon becomes emotionally complicated for both of them and desire, regret, guilt and passion hover like storm clouds over both adulterous couples.
Season of the Witch (Lionsgate): Nicholas Cage, Ron Perlman
Thriller, Supernatural
Set in 14th century, the film follows knights who are transporting a girl suspected of being the witch responsible for spreading the Black Plague.
Action, Adventure
The myth of Perseus, son of Zeus, and his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the Princess Andromeda.
How to Train Your Dragon (Dreamworks): Jay Baruchel, Gerrard Butler
Family, Comedy, Animation
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