Terminator: Salvation
Check out George Lang’s Staticblog for some behind the scenes “Terminator: Salvation.” Anton Yelchin talks about his Terminator obsession and his love for killing machines.
Trashing Twilight?
AP- A St. Louis beauty salon owner accidentally happened upon one of the hottest Hollywood scripts — the pages from an upcoming “Twilight” sequel — in a trash bin.
Casey Ray found two scripts, one for the vampire sequel “New Moon” and one for a different movie titled “Memoirs.” She decided to return them to the studio making the films. In return, she was invited to attend the movies’ premieres, her lawyer said.
Ray recently was waiting for her fiance to finish work when she spotted two scripts in a trash container. She was outside a hotel where actors were staying during a St. Louis shoot for the upcoming George Clooney movie, “Up in the Air.”
It’s not clear how the scripts wound up in the bin.
The Clooney movie includes actress Anna Kendrick, who is also in the “Twilight” vampire movie. A spokeswoman for Kendrick, Lisa Perkins, said the actress wouldn’t have left scripts lying around.
When Ray found the scripts, she considered leaking them to a national tabloid but decided against it, said her lawyer, Al Watkins.
“My client didn’t really want to get paid,” he said, but she was interested in hanging onto the scripts as collector’s items.
Watkins helped her return them to Los Angeles-based Summit Entertainment LLC, the studio making the movies. He said the studio invited Ray to premieres for the two films, and will certify the scripts as authentic after the movies are released.
“Summit doesn’t comment on any of the deals it does,” Summit spokesman Paul Pflug said. But he added, “We thank Ms. Ray for doing the right thing.”
The “Twilight” movies are based on the novels of Stephenie Meyer, so many of the plot turns are well known to readers. But keeping the “New Moon” script written by Melissa Rosenberg out of the public eye preserves which elements of the book will be included in the films, Pflug noted.
Last year’s original “Twilight” film grossed over $350 million worldwide.
What do Miley and Barack have in common?
Barack and Miley move up, but the classics still rule. Emma is the top baby name for girls, Jacob for boys.
Associated Press
Emma’s surge to the top in 2008 ended Emily’s 12-year reign as the No. 1 baby name for girls, the Social Security Administration announced Friday.
Jacob held onto the boy’s crown for the 10th straight year.
Barack may have been the man of the year in 2008 as Obama won the White House, but the president still trails the king. Barack moved up a record 10,126 places to No. 2,409. Elvis is still in the building, though he slipped from 673 to 713.
Isha Kallay of suburban Washington, D.C., named her son — born before last year’s presidential election — Obama. She said she was concerned that Barack might become too popular a name.
“I wanted my baby to have a special name that other people don’t have,” Kallay said from her home in Lanham, Md.
Baby naming experts said Americans are pulled by sometimes conflicting impulses when choosing names for their children. They gravitate toward the popular, wanting their child to fit in. But many also want their child’s name to be unique, so they don’t have to share it with four other kids in class at school.
Many turn to the Bible; others turn to TV.
Emma debuted in the top 10 in 2002, the same year that Jennifer Aniston’s character on “Friends” gave the name to her TV show baby. In the latest lineup, Emma was followed by Isabella, Emily, Madison and Ava.
“They might want to emulate the stars, but if they do, the name can’t be too far out,” said Jennifer Moss, author of “The One-in-a-Million Baby Name Book” and founder of Babynames.com.
“You don’t see many Apples,” she said, referring to name actress Gwyneth Paltrow gave her daughter. There aren’t many Gwyneths, either.
Miley, as in popular teen singer Miley Cyrus, moved up 152 spots to No. 127. But her stage name, Hannah — as in Hannah Montana — fell from No. 9 to No. 17.
Michelle continued a steady 20-year slide, falling from No. 94 to No. 103. But that could change now that Michelle Obama is first lady. The names of the Obama daughters, Sasha and Malia, were in the 300s.
The top five boys names remained unchanged from 2007. Jacob was followed by Michael, Ethan, Joshua and Daniel. Alexander joined the top 10 at No. 6 while Andrew dropped out.
The Social Security Administration started compiling name lists in 1997. The agency offers lists of baby names dating to 1880. The agency’s Web site includes the top baby names by state.
New girl names in the national top 1,000 included Isla (623), Mareli (718), Milagros (731), Dayami (750) and Nylah (821).
Debuting among the boys were Aaden (343), Chace (655), Marley (764), Kash (779) and Kymani (836). Beckham debuted at 893, perhaps a nod to the British soccer star, David Beckham, who now plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Spring’s hottest accessory
Flu prevention never looked chicer. I am not making light of the H1N1 virus — but many graphic designers and retailers are.
And now, Oklahoma has at least one verified case of H1N1, though, as most of the cases in the U.S., it’s mild. I want to be prepared — yet stylish. Some creative and irreverent web retailers have jumped on the swine flu bandwagon with some, well, innovative takes on the boring old flu mask.
You can bedazzle your own mask or you can turn to the designers.
At Irinablok.com, the graphic designer has conceptualized a line of masks with personality. From leopard print to a full bearded look, a creepy skull, a pig snout and the message mask that reads “oink!,” these masks are for the bold fashionista.
www.samiraboon.com, a sassy Japanese company, offers a line of 15 “Get Well Soon” masks that range in style from a gorilla face to a set of Geisha lips sure to thrill any Anime fan. Some high couture masks even made the runway at the recent Japanese Fashion Week.
Unfortunately, as always, there is a price for beauty. These masks likely don’t meet the CDC recommendations of filtering out at least 95 percent of airborne particles.
Should you run out and buy a family pack of hospital-grade face masks? Not according to many experts. In fact, some say masks are less effective against spreading the flu and more effective at “social distancing” — scaring people away from one another. A better way to control an outbreak is to limit public gatherings.
So, now that experts are saying that the strain of H1N1 is less virulent than once thought, have we all overreacted? Maybe, but probably not. This is very different than the time a month ago when the weather guys said to expect the snow storm of the year that never showed up.
Many are quick to say the entire scare was ridiculous but who knows what could have happened if our neighbors across the border hadn’t taken extreme measures to contain and control the outbreak?
And now that there are cases in Oklahoma, will our schools close? Will we don masks and cancel functions?
