No chemistry? Oh, so it wasn't just me who noticed? Academy president Tom Sherak tells TheWrap: Franco and Hathaway Had 'No Connection'

Oh, so it wasn't just me who noticed how contrived the relationship between James Franco and Anne Hathaway seemed during Sunday's 83rd Annual Academy Awards?

-----

TheWrap
Academy Chief Sherak: Franco and Hathaway Had 'No Connection'
By Daniel Frankel
Published: March 03, 2011 @ 5:22 pm

Pelted by critics of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards telecast over the last three days, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak quipped to TheWrap Thursday that he remains in a "bunker."

"I'll climb out as soon as I hear Winston Churchill say it's OK," he added, conceding that the host pairing of James Franco and Anne Hathaway wasn't as dynamic as hoped, but defending the overall ratings performance of the ABC telecast, which drew an average of 38 million viewers.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.thewrap.com/awards/article/sherak-his-bunker-there-was-no-connection-between-oscar-hosts-25235

*All screenshots above and below from the 83rd Annual Academy Awards of February 27, 2011 by South Beach Hoosier.


Oh, I get it.
Anne Hathaway in tails and James Franco in drag, all so he can make a Charlie Sheen joke. But really, do you think that people watching the Academy Awards show LIVE in Germany or Eastern Europe when it was 4:15 a.m. or so found it so damn hysterical?
Me, I've got to think they just groaned.
Like I did here in Anytown U.S.A., Hallandale Beach, Florida
For whom it was intended...

Well, at least someone didn't needlessly mention Sarah Palin just to make her a liberal punchline and show how "edgy" they are!

Gothamist: James Franco Says "F*** The Yale Daily News"
http://gothamist.com/2011/03/04/james_franco_says_f_the_yale_daily.php

The whole show reminded me of the very awkward relationships created when people are thrown together like a salad during long car rides from IU to Fort Lauderdale or Daytona Beach during Spring Break, tales related to me by friends once we were all back in cold Bloomington.

I once even personally experienced that clash of personalities on such a drive down here.
I was ready to jump out of the car somewhere between Chatanooga and Atlanta, probably near Franklin, home of Paramore, home of some very steep mountains on I-65, and those runaway truck pits on the side of the road are no laughing matter when it's raining hard.

And the drama didn't end once the four of us actually got here, either, when we were staying at the Sheraton Yankee Trader -and that fabulous swimming pool of theirs that was such a great people-watching magnet.

One of the girls on the trip down just "vanished" in Fort Lauderdale, so we had to call her parents up in Fort Wayne and then get the Fort Lauderdale police involved once her folks said they hadn't heard anything from her.

Shocker -she met some guy from some other school who was also visiting, and and she just decided to spend all her time with him and his friends -without telling us.

In comparison, at least nobody had to call the LAPD for either Anne and James once James seemed to check-out mentally and just sleepwalked his way thru much of the show.

So much for the great idea of having one of the hosts be someone who was nominated for an Academy Award!



Great Cate! Every inch a movie star: Cate Blanchett.
She is transcendent in every film she does.

Her dress was from Givenchy Couture, and was NOT so keenly received by the fashionistas:
http://www.vogue.fr/mode/look-du-jour/articles/cate-blanchett-en-givenchy-couture/6999


Bosom pals from Down Under with talent-to-spare: Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Nicole is wearing Dior Couture.

Mr. Sherak, the answer to who should be hosting the Academy Awards show if they are not nominated for an award themselves is obvious.
It's right in front of you: Jackman & Kidman.

The two of them have more natural (and honed) singing and dancing talent than almost any two other actors you could've found in the Kodak Theater, and everyone knows it, too.
And everyone also knows what great friends they are, too, and that enthusiasm and synergy will surely show up in their performance as well.
Case closed.

-----
See also:

Official website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: http://www.oscars.org/

Transcript of Live Chat: After the Oscars, with David Denby
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/ask/2011/02/david-denby-oscars.html

TheWrap online: http://www.thewrap.com/

TheWrap's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/thewrapnews

The title says it all: "You Can’t Play a New Media Game By Old Media Rules" by Matthew Ingram

This Matthew Ingram piece is an excellent analysis of the changing media landscape, and the legacy media's attempt to freeze things in place to maintain their old advantages.

Sometimes, even when that old media is, in fact, a popular website or blog itself, like Deadline Hollywood, Nikki Finke's site that I've had on my blog roll since I started this humble blog of mine just over four years ago.

In general, those efforts as such aren't working as American news consumers continue voting with their feet -and eyeballs- to get more and better written information with unique content.

And to bring this issue to a local level, it doesn't help when the majority of South Florida's mainstream media is risk-averse, seemingly wanting stories either nice-and-neat when they deign to show-up somewhere, or, delivered to them like hotel room service over the telephone, without the reporter ever leaving his or her desk.

Worst of all, most of them DON'T and WON'T show-up at public events that are clearly newsworthy, a noticeable fact very much on the minds of people like myself, who actually DO SHOW-UP at government meetings and public policy forums in South Florida.


gigaom.com
You Can’t Play a New Media Game By Old Media Rules
By Mathew Ingram
Feb. 24, 2011, 9:02am PT

If there’s one aspect of the media business that has been disrupted more completely than any other, it’s the whole idea of “breaking news.” Just as television devalued the old front-page newspaper scoop, the web has turned breaking news into something that lasts a matter of minutes — or even seconds — rather than hours. If your business is to break news, your job is becoming harder and harder every day...

Read the rest of the post at:
http://gigaom.com/2011/02/24/you-cant-play-a-new-media-game-by-old-media-rules/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29


http://gigaom.com/
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/
http://www.thewrap.com/

A British Superman? Stephen Colbert on why casting British actor Henry Cavill as The Man of Steel is just plain wrong

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - British Superman & Big Flats Beer<a>
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

The Colbert Report Tip/Wag British Superman and Big Flats beer

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/373138/february-02-2011/tip-wag---british-superman---big-flats-beer

British actor Henry Cavill, who has become known in the United States chiefly for his role in Showtimes's provocative and sexy take on a young Richard VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in The Tudors is blowing-up, and is being inked to progressively larger projects all the time.

Six months ago, Jeff Sneider in TheWrap had the news about a film project Cavil's going to be starring in that I hadn't heard anything heard about called The Cold Light of Day.
Cavill will play "a young American whose family is kidnapped while vacationing in Spain. He's given hours to find them, uncover a government conspiracy and discover the connection between the kidnapping and his father's secrets.

Bruce Willis is playing Cavill's father, while Caroline Goodall recently signed on to play Willis' wife."

And Sigourney Weaver plays the villain!

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/exclusive-veronica-echegui-emma-hamilton-join-cold-light-day-20095

Then last week came the very surprising news that Cavill has been selected by director Zac Snyder to star as the Man of Steel in a new reboot of Superman slated to hit theaters by Christmas 2012.
At least it was surprising to me and everyone I know with an opinion about the matter.
Me, I'm firmly in the Tom Welling camp, even though I haven't watched Smallville in over two years.
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/henry-cavill-will-be-next-superman-24329

Well, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report has some thoughts on the curious case of casting one of our British cousins as the American icon.
And he is not amused!

And when are we going to get some accurate casting news about who'll be the new Wonder Woman on NBC-TV's David E. Kelly production, anyhow?
Can't we all just agree that when you take everything into consideration, Eliza Dushku has more pluses than anyone else and just get started?
But I could live with the adorable Cobie Smulders, too!

http://tv.ign.com/articles/831/831152p1.html
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/07/01/new-wonder-woman-loses-patriotic-costume/

While her opponents are busy trying to brainstorm and reinvent themselves to thwart her, like the Mississippi River, Sarah Palin keeps rolling along..

See my response to this story at TheWrap amongst their reader comments.

Brand Palin Takes a Hit With 'Blood Libel' Video

By Brent Lang
Published: January 12, 2011 @ 7:21 pm

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/after-giffords-shooting-brand-palin-takes-hit-23857


I must admit that I make a mistake in responsing to this post in such haste, as I was wrong about there being only one person quoted, as I forgot about Laurence Barton's comments and...

Then again, I also neglected to attack the asinine 'remain a punching-bag' remarks by John Feehery

“She should let others defend her and keep quiet for a while,” John Feehery, a Republican political consultant and the president of Quinn Gillespie Communications, wrote in an email message to TheWrap.

His comments may be the single dumbest thing I read all year.

Consider this:

In the 2008 Democratic primary -you know, the one that the MSM said was already Hillary's in 2007- if Obama's media acolytes and union pals at SEIU kept attacking Hillary with untrue info and she let it stand for nearly a week, the media would've said that she showed weakness, correct?
Yes, he said in answering his own rhetorical question.

Palin waits five days after being hammered for something she didn't do and is promptly attacked for "inserting" herself into the situation by ABC News.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/01/the-note-obama-palin-and-arizona-a-tale-of-two-speeches.html?cid=6a00d8341c4df253ef0148c78e402e970c

You don't have to want Sarah Palin to be either the face of the GOP or president -and I don't- to know that this was a 'high-tech lynching.' and a probable preview of what the MSM has in store for the GOP this year.

Go ahead, explain the difference in media sentiment.

Welcome to the American mainstream media's 2011 version of civility: They'll attack you and say things that are clearly absurd, then attack you for defending yourself, and when you finally respond, they'll selectively run stories featuring people who never liked you, who then further attack you.
Afterwards, they'll attack you for needlessly "inserting" yourself.

And after it's all over, and the lack of evidence is even more stark, and there are recriminations for the lynch mob, they'll say, "Well, even if it's not true this time..."


My favorite version of Ol' Man River, from the 1936 film starring the amazing Irene Dunne, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028249/



Paul Robeson - Ol' Man River (Showboat - 1936) J.Kern O. Hammerstein II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s

Worse than sad, it's true: Playboy's Hugh Hefner engaged to 24-year old woman who has never been alive when Dolphins were playing in Super Bowl game

Expressen TV video: Hugh Hefner friade till 24-å- ring
http://tv.expressen.se/noje/1.2269295/hugh-hefner-friade-till-24-aring

Worse than sad, it's true: Playboy's Hugh Hefner engaged to 24-year old Crystal Harris, a woman who has never been alive when Dolphins were playing in a Super Bowl game.

Perhaps that thought will sharpen in your mind the amount of time that has transpired since the Dolphins were very relevant to any serious discussion of elite NFL teams competing for the Lombardi Trophy.

Meanwhile, in other news affecting Playboy Enterprises...

TheWrap
Playboy to Go Private
Published: January 10, 2011 @ 6:06 am
By Dylan Stableford

Playboy is going private.

The board of directors for the iconic but struggling men's brand has agreed to 84-year-old founder Hugh Hefner's $6.15-per-share offer to take the company private.

Hefner first made a $5.50-per-share offer in July. The $6.15-per-share price represents an 18.3 percent premium over the stock price at close on Friday and a 56 percent premium over the closing price at the time of Hef's initial offer.

The new offer puts the value of the company at about $207.3 million. On Monday morning, Playboy's stock price jumped more than 16 percent on the news.

Read the rest of the post at: http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/breaking-playboy-goes-private-23768

Playboy's press release at:
http://www.playboyenterprises.com/home/content.cfm?content=t_template&packet=7006C185-E06B-679F-4140890A93180DBD&MmenuFlag=news&ArtTypeID=0002043D-FF53-1C7B-9B578304E50A011A&CFID=8461596&CFTOKEN=41304166


What's my Line? Hugh Hefner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrKJJge66YI

http://www.playboyenterprises.com/

See also:
New York Times Opinionator blog
Last Call at the Bunny Roundup
By Timothy Egan,
January 6, 2011, 9:00 pm
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/last-call-at-the-bunny-roundup/#more-76009,

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/playboy-enterprises-inc/index.html?scp=2&sq=Playboy&st=cse,
and
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/galleries/hugh_hefners_many_women/hugh_hefners_many_women.html



Above, May 1, 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez of Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies won by Miami Dolphins for Super Bowl VII and VIII, taken at Miami Dolphins HQ, Davie, FL.




Super Bowl Highlights, January 20, 1985, San Francisco 49ers vs. Miami Dolphins. January 20th, 1985, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/123666/super-bowl-highlights-1985-super-bowl-xix-san-francisco-49ers-vs-miami-dolphins

Ten days from now will mark 26 YEARS since the Dolphins were relevant to the discussion of elite NFL teams. We got proof positive on Saturday that this isn't likely to change with the current Stephen Ross regime in place, as Miami Herald Dolphins beat reporter Armando Salguero confirms here:

The Saturday meeting with the media (w/ audio)
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2011/01/the-so-called-round-table-the-dolphins-planned-to-set-the-record-straight-for-what-has-happened-over-the-past-week-and-announ.html

Perfect film casting? Aussie as Honest Abe? Maybe says Jeff Sneider in TheWrap: Eric Bana as "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"

Above, 1923 Abraham Lincoln three-cent stamp

But Eric Bana won't be starring in Steven Spielberg's historical film "Lincoln," which was originally going to star Liam Neeson as the 16th U.S. president, but which will now feature Daniel Day Lewis, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443272/ but rather in a very different sort of film, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051509/

Here's the exclusive story with casting Bana as Honest Abe as I came to learn it last Thursday in my daily First Take email from Sharon Waxman's savvy Santa Monica-based entertainment industry news site, TheWrap, http://www.thewrap.com/
And you know how I love Santa Monica!

The Wrap
Exclusive: Eric Bana Circling 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'
By Jeff Sneider
December 16, 2010 @ 11:52 am

EXCLUSIVE
Hollywood may be looking to continue to outsource the role of Abraham Lincoln.

British Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis was recently set to play the 16th President in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," and now another foreign import is being eyed to play Honest Abe.

Australian actor Eric Bana is circling the title role in 20th Century Fox's big screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" TheWrap has learned.

While Bana hasn't landed the coveted role yet, he's scheduled to meet with director Timur Bekmambetov soon, and is certainly in contention for the part.

Read the rest of the exclusive story at
http://www.thewrap.com/deal-central/column-post/exclusive-eric-bana-testing-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-23294

The last time we saw Daniel Day Lewis in buckskins was 1992's The Last of the Mohicans, which I've seen about a dozen times.
Hope DDL wears some as Abe!



-------

Eric Bana's upcoming film is Joe Wright’s Hanna, co-starring Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett, which opens in the U.S. on April 8th, 2011.

As you can see for yourself below, the trailer really grabs you from the get-go!



Hanna (2011) HD Official Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bucFp1tQ0z8

"Sometimes, children are bad people, too." -Marissa Wiegler

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993842/maindetails


TheWrap YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/thewrapnews

re Topix, Sun-Sentinel's reader comments site; Venture Beat: Online news gatherer Topix aims for election-ad dollars

Some of you are already quite familiar with the downside of using the Topix reader comment boards affiliated with newspaper websites.

If you're in South Florida like me, it's pretty likely you're familiar with it from having seen the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's, where scurrilous, hateful and racist comments were/are routinely posted there just for the hell of it, and people could literally post things things there that were/are NOT factually true, with no fear of it being deleted, despite what the newspaper lamely claims.

Want to accuse someone you don't even know of being drunk at 9 a.m. and causing a traffic accident? Welcome aboard!
This is from today about the Channel 10 news van accident in Fort Lauderdale:
3 hurt in accident involving WPLG Ch. 10 live truck in Fort Lauderdale
http://discussions.sun-sentinel.com/20/soflanews/fl-van-overturn-20101015/10

I saw things there repeatedly about someone I knew that were NOT at all true, but it hardly mattered that it wasn't true, because there it stayed, day-after-day, week-after-week, month-after-month.
(For the record, it was from West Hollywood Dissident.)

If you wanted to publicly say that your ex-girlfriend/ex-husband or ex-roommate was a vampire, a deadbeat, a drug user, a fleeing felon or a Justin Bieber-lover, that was the place for you to vent your wrath!
And it shows!

Well, this Oct. 13th article from Venture Beat informs us about the TOPIX geniuses' newest strategy to get more political advertising $$$.

But fortunately, some smart readers chime-in and share even more personal horror stories and ruin the TOPIX party.
Sweet!

I found the article today after I received an email in my inbox from Topix this morning telling me -deceptively- implying that someone had a new message, presumably responding to something I'd written at some point in the past.

That seemed odd, since I haven't used it in a while since their site was such a mess.

Such a mess, in fact, that I'd written an email to the Sun-Sentinel's management many, many weeks ago.
Official response? ZERO!

Way to be accountable, legacy media!

-----

Hi Hallandale Beach Blog,

CitizenTopix sent you a message on Topix.

To see the message, click this link:
(I deleted this for obvious reason to post it here on the blog.)

Topix

-----------

But rather than seeing a link I'd click to see the new comment -and my own original comment, since they didn't say what the subject was- as with the DISQUS comment system, http://disqus.com/, which I use when commenting on material at TheWrap and the various mediabsitro.com industry websites, it was essentially a sales pitch from TOPIX's new effort, Citizen TOPIX.

-----------------

CitizenTopix

“Sounding off for the citizens”

A Governor, Sheriff, and Dog Catcher walk into a bar...

Topix Election 2010: Citizen Sound-Off is the place to discuss the November 2nd Midterm elections that matter to you. From big-name governor races all the way down to hotly contested county commissioner seats, you can share and debate your opinions with folks from down the street or across the state.

Get started right now: http://www.topix.com/pr/election2010

Are we missing a race for your town? We could use your local expertise!
Just head over to this form and fill in the blanks:
http://bit.ly/topixelections

Vote early. Comment often.

See you at the polls!

Citizen Topix

------

As you might imagine, they were NOT persuasive.

------

Venture Beat

Online news gatherer Topix aims for election-ad dollars

October 13, 2010 Riley McDermid

With its launch of Election 2010: Citizen Sound-Off today, online news aggregator Topix is now the only website to couple localized voter information with a platform for open participation. But can it channel this big election into even bigger ad dollars?

Read the rest of the post at:
http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/13/online-news-gatherer-topix-aims-for-election-ad-dollars/

-----

See also:

"Entertainment Industry Analysis, Breaking Hollywood News" in TheWrap http://www.thewrap.com/

http://www.mediabistro.com/

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

http://www.mediabistro.com/webnewser/

http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/

http://www.mediabistro.com/sportsnewser/

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/

August 16th, 33 years later -The Day Elvis Died. Jon Pareles was right: "In death as in life, Elvis Presley has something for everybody."

1993 Elvis Presley postal stamp -Watercolor of Elvis by Mark Stutzmamn

This is the song and performance that my friend Shannon and I always loved best, and loved most to sing along to together when she lived in D.C., because, for me at least, it's the secular song of his that's closest to the power of his great gospel performances.

Elvis Presley - An American Trilogy, LIVE, 1973

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xcZCigY3gE



Another fabulous story by author David Comfort, today, on the relationship between Elvis and his doting mother, Gladys.

TheWrap
Elvis, Gladys & Their Double Doomdate, Aug. 16
By David Comfort
Published: August 15, 2010

In 1934, Vernon Presley, age 18, recalled blacking out at the instant of his son’s conception; then, regaining consciousness, he had seen the night sky thronged with brilliant blue stars. Elvis Aron’s twin brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn.

The future King’s God-fearing mother, Gladys -- who herself almost died in the delivery -- believed he had inherited Jesse’s soul, and was “the One.”

Years later, Gladys would suffer a miscarriage, making her all the more protective of her only surviving child.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/blog-post/there-goes-my-everything-elvis-gladys-rip-20137

See also:
http://rockandrollbookofthedead.com/
http://www.thewrap.com/


This article has some really great photos, some of which you may never have seen.

Memphis Commercial Appeal
Sweltering heat can't keep Elvis fans from annual vigil
By Christopher Blank
Posted August 16, 2010 at midnight
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/16/always-faithful/


Elvis Presley: Ten of Our Favorite Performances
This Week Marks 33rd Anniversary of the King's Death
August 16, 2010
http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1645830/elvis-presley-ten-of-our-favorite-performances.jhtml


If you never saw my previous post mentioning singer Calle Kristiansson, prepare to be amazed. This gets me every time I see it, because this guy, whom nobody had ever heard
of, just casually walks up to the microphone and belts a home run on the first pitch like it's nothing -perfect.

TV4.se
Calle Kristiansson - Walking in Memphis -
IDOL Sweden 2009, auditions in Malmö

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CESHAeCxV4




Calle Kristiansson Walking in Memphis - XL Live Expressen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtKe9qQYH8



See also: http://www.expressen.se/ and
http://www.youtube.com/ExpressenTV


Yohanna -Butterflies and Elvis from her Butterflies and Elvis CD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8XlKt0eSYc



See also: http://www.youtube.com/TEAMYOHANNA
and http://teamyohanna.blogspot.com/
The guys at TY have got some brand new photos of this super-talent up on their blog, so check 'em out!

My previous posts on Elvis contain lots of helpful hints on discerning why I am the way that
I am, how my personal world-view was shaped and why I write about the topics I do here,
many of which I never see anywhere else, even though there are, as we're constantly being reminded, tens of millions of blogs and websites.

January 8, 2010:
Walking in Memphis on Elvis' 75th birthday: some Swedish and Icelandic treats
to celebrate with
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/walking-in-memphis-on-elvis-75th.html
and
August 15, 2009
Sunday morning at 2 a.m. - Elvis In Memphis on QVC
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunday-morning-at-2-am-elvis-in-memphis.html

TCB baby!

TheWrap's Mikey Glazer imparts great Left Coast intelligence: "Shhhh ... 5 of Hollywood’s Secret Social Clubs"; Hoosiers and Hollywood

Hollywood, U.S.A. and the sign that lures the world

Great Left Coast intelligence at your fingertips
from our well-informed friends at...

TheWrap
Shhhh ... 5 of Hollywood’s Secret Social Clubs
From the poker table to the hardwood to the far right wing, these Hollywood hangouts require a Hollywood pedigree
By Mikey Glazer March 28, 2010

Yeah, that's right -- Hollywood has secret clubs. And it ain't that new spot Drai’s at the W in Hollywood.

For these clubs, it's not enough to know someone to get in. First you have to know they exist.

From hoops to poker to right-wing politics, they’re secretive in nature and selective in membership. And in an appropriate twist, TV super-spy (Zach Levi) belongs to two of them.

TheWrap went sleuthing to bring you the full reveal of Hollywood's secret social scene.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.thewrap.com/article/shhhh-5-hollywood%E2%80%99s-secret-social-clubs-revealed-15742

See also: http://www.thewrap.com/ and
http://www.youtube.com/user/thewrapnews

Was planning on running a photo of me with the
Hollywood sign behind me, circa 2000, but
couldn't find it.

-----

Some Hollywood odds and ends from my other blog,
South Beach Hoosier
http://www.southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/

Hoosiers in Hollywood are Making Their Mark!
But what they'd really like to do is "Direct..."

Hollywood Hoosiers -Bringing together Indiana University
alumni in the entertainment industry in LA and greater
SoCal for the benefit of a grateful media-consuming nation.
http://www.hollywoodhoosiers.com/

Michael Uslan's funny 2006 IU Bloomington Commencement Address

Michael Uslan, originator of the Batman films,
describes his long journey from Bloomington to Batman,
and it reads as funny now as it did the first time I read it.
Not unlike IU grad and media & technology genius Mark
Cuban, this is one very smart, funny and insightful guy
who "gets it."

See Cuban, Unembargoed from Indiana Alumni Magazine,
November/December 2004
http://www.alumni.indiana.edu/magazine/issues/200411/cuban.shtml

In an entertainment world that actually made sense, Uslan would already have an additional gig as the host of a popular and influential TV program dealing with the intersection of pop culture and media, and the tension between creatives and 'the suits,' but without NPR's usual pretensiousness or PBS' deadly earnest seriousness.

So, where is that program now, exactly, the one you'd expect to already find on Bravo if the Cable TV industry was really giving its viewers what they wanted?

Right now, all the good ideas for it are safe and sound in South Beach Hoosier's head!
http://www.indiana.edu/~ceremony/commencement/uslan_address.shtml

Indiana Hoosiers in the Film Industry, Past and Present

A good source for checking Hoosiers in the film industry
-No, not Cary Grant pretending to be Cole Porter in
1946's Night & Day- is this one from a website run by
former Ball State prof. and chair of the IPAHF board,
and author of Hoosiers in Hollywood (Indiana Historical Press,
2006, $60) David L. Smith.

It's currently accessible by subject headings of Actors, Actresses,
Musicians, Composers, Directors, Screenwriters, Novelists,
Made in Indiana, Oscar Winners, The Silent Era, and
Non-Native Hoosiers.
http://www.whenmoviesweremovies.com/hoosiersintro.html

The simple insightful wisdom of Hoosiers in film
"A man's life ain't worth a hill of beans except he lives up to his own conscience."
-Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper), in Friendly Persuasion, 1956
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049233/