Random Round-Up 05

Fine. I have come to accept that, even though it's not 'officially' summer, gossip at this time of year is a drag. I guess it makes sense - TV shows are on hiatus and blah blah blah but movie people are still working! Throw me a bone, something, anything, please! Mew. It wouldn't be so noticeable if my own life was more interesting and I had personal anecdotes to share but noooooo... not so much. I will have some recital footage and photos within the next few weeks and once Biji comes to town I'll probably have a lot of pictures of him. Along with stories about him driving me nuts... he just sent me an e-mail that says "...it will leave me more time to spend with you guys! I know you can't wait for me to be bugging you every night to hang out. :)" And he will. Trust me. Still, I would much rather have him around driving me bonkers than in Iraq so it's definitely worth it! I'm pretty sure. Like 99.9% sure. ;o)

Anyhoo, since the Round-Up looks like it will now be a regular thing, I will make yesterday's rule a standing one: I'll update this single post multiple times a day, so you may want to re-skim it once or twice after your first pass.

1. I found this on filmonic.com, via imdb.com:

click me!

One good thing? At least LOTR didn't have an extra scene after the credits like so many other movies do these days... yeesh. Once I saw the cast sketches roll, I was outta there!

2. This just sounds awful. According to EW.com:

Keira Knightley is in talks for the updated remake of My Fair Lady in the works at Columbia Pictures, according to Variety. Though the studio has reportedly declined comment on any casting, the trade paper reports that the actress is in negotiations for the starring role as Eliza Doolittle, the simple Cockney flower girl who is able to transform into a proper lady under the tutelage of Professor Henry Higgins. Duncan Kenworthy (Love Actually, Notting Hill) is producing along with London theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh. The project is being described as an update, though it will use the musical's original score and retain its 1912 setting.

Say wha? Huh? Why oh why is Hollywood remaking, updating and/or sequel-izing everything?! Pleh. I actually have never seen My Fair Lady so I can't say for certain whether or not it was so awesome it needs to be introduced to a new generation... but isn't the point of a "classic" that it doesn't need reintroducing? No one's re-doing Gone With the Wind, Casablanca or West Side Story, you know?

3. That's a nice girl. This really encapsulates the joy that is Top Chef's Lisa.

Robert probably can't click on the link at work, so here's the meat of the blurb:

Oh no, I don't read the blogs—you couldn't pay me to read the blogs. I don't want to know what people who can't even afford to eat in my restaurant, let alone know how to cook have to say about me, and the few comments I did read on Eater.com a few weeks back because my job asked me to read 'em. The best they could come up with was that I was ugly.

Enchanting. The woman is enchanting. If only I felt like 2nd rate, sloppy, soggy Asian-inspired cuisine more often!

4. This will probably not interest anyone other than maybe Wade, but since there were 4 hours of SYTYCD again this week, I thought I'd throw him a bone! ;o) Actually, I thought the article was interesting myself and there's no harm in passing it along, eh?

In last week's issue of Entertainment Weekly there was a two-page article on why superheroes have ruined summer movies. This article is a point-by-point rebuttal of that article - and it has some interesting stats to back it up. Stats like

...the best selling comics sell in the neighborhood of 100,000 copies. Iron Man has made $276 million to date. There is quite a discrepancy there. Even if every comic book collector in the world went to see Iron Man twice, it wouldn't add up to half of what its earned.

I am not a comic book junkie (does Calvin & Hobbes count? 'Cause I have all of those...) but I've seen quite a few superhero movies. (Well, except The Fantastic Four films but c'mon, they're kind of B-list heroes, right?) And not just because they have hot, ripped men in them - though that doesn't hurt. I've even seen Hulk and Hellboy, for crying out loud! And y'all know Ron Perlman is no one's "mane" man but my mother's! Granted, I'm not a girly-girl to start out with but I still don't think superhero movies are solely directed at 18-to-35-year-old dudes. I also don't feel totally overwhelmed by superhero movies - yet - though I could've done without Spider-Man 3. However, with movies like Thor, The Green Hornet,The First Avenger: Captain America, (not to be confused with) The Avengers, and Ant-Man all in the pipeline over the next 3 years, my attitude might change. (And those don't even take into account Iron Man 2 [current release date: 04/30/10], Batman 3 [likely but not yet set in stone] and Terminator 4 [already filming] and their possible sequels...)

5. This video of Ricky Gervais 'interviewing' Chris Martin was posted to Ricky's site a while back... but it's new to me so it's new to you, too. Watch it!