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Sunday, February 27, 2011

This may help with the show. 2011 Academy Awards Drinking Rules - Esquire

It's a remarkable failure of planning that all of our culture's most alcoholic occasions — the Super Bowl, Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, the State of the Union — occur on school nights. The Oscars, unfortunately, are no exception. But traditions are traditions. So this Sunday, pre-game like Clooney and brace yourself for a Tinseltown blackout* thanks to the 83rd Academy Awards Drinking Game.

PLUS: More Oscar-Night Advice on Eat Like a Man >>

We don't recommend you mix your spirits, so choose one and stick with it. You may feel more engaged if you pick a poison that corresponds to your favorite Best Picture nominee. If so, please refer to the following guide:

For True Grit: Whiskey.
For The King's Speech: Tokay, claret, tawny port, or Beefeater gin and tonic.
For The Social Network: A growler of John Harvard Ale; dorm-room vodka (the kind that comes in plastic bottles); appletinis.
For The Kids Are All Right: Chardonnay.
For The Fighter: Sam Adams; crack.
For Winter's Bone: Bathtub hooch; meth.
For Black Swan: Vodka tonic and ecstasy.
For Inception: LSD.
For Toy Story 3: White Russian.
For 127 Hours: A Nalgene filled with your own urine.

Have a hearty sip:
Every time Anne Hathaway changes outfits.
Every time James Franco makes you laugh.
Every time the orchestra interrupts the speech of someone you've heard of.
Any time the music doesn't interrupt a winning sound designer or short-doc producer.
For every visible tear in a thank-you speech.
For every thank-you speech that starts with "Wow."
For every red-carpet interviewee who doesn't mention who they're wearing.
Every time the camera cuts to Jack Nicholson.
If the In Memoriam montage snubs one of the following: Irving Kershner, Sally Menke, Gary Coleman.
If the montage includes Corey Haim.

Take a shot:
Every time James Franco changes outfits.
Every time Anne Hathaway makes you laugh.
If Natalie Portman loses.
If Natalie Portman wins.
Any time a winner claims they "didn't prepare."
Before Gwyneth Paltrow performs the song from Country Strong.
If 95-year-old honorary Oscar winner Eli Wallach makes it through the night.
If Gary Busey is allowed on the red carpet.
If Melissa Leo trips Hailee Steinfeld on her way to the stage.

Down the whole bottle:
If Aaron Sorkin doesn't win Best Adapted Screenplay.
If the Wolfman doesn't win Best Makeup.
If Tony Curtis gets snubbed in the In Memoriam montage.
If Betty White somehow makes the cut.
If Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein go mano-a-mano.
If Bruce Vilanch unzips himself from head to toe and Banksy pops out.

Smash the bottle over your head and jump out your window into a pile of trash:
If Christian Bale doesn't win Best Supporting Actor.

*Esquire condones neither binge drinking nor excessive use of the word "Tinseltown."

Thursday, February 24, 2011

A little taste of Raphael Saadiq!

RAPHAEL SAADIQ IS 'STONE ROLLIN'' ON NEW LP

I love this track!

 

<span>01 ST www.pinboardblog.com by PinBoardBlog.com</span>

 

And I added a little Old School stuff from his Tony Toni Tone days just for the hells of it.  

 

   (5887 KB)
Listen on posterous

 

 

Adele feat Darius Rucker: Need You Now.

From pinboardblog.com

Adele along with Darius Rucker doing Lady Antebellum's hit "Need you Now."   The song was recorded live at the ‘CMT Artists of the Year’ show in December and will appear on the Target deluxe (U.S) edition of her album.

Adele’s new album 21 is out now.  

<span>NYN www.pinboardblog.com by PinBoardBlog.com</span>

Bell Biv DeVoe (Never trust a big butt and smile). It's 1990 all over again!

Bad Teacher - Red Band Trailer. Needless to say, NSFW!

What?  I want to see this movie.  Don't you?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Let's Dance .... remember when? "I'm the lyrical Jesse James!"

I remember I could only play this in the club after 1 am.  The owner did not want the club to get (as he put it) "too dark too early"  ahh the old days!

Yaeeyaae

 

Is it Six Flags time already?

The Day the Movies Died (by Mark Harris): GQ

You want to understand how bad things are in Hollywood right now—how stifling and airless and cautious the atmosphere is, how little nourishment or encouragement a good new idea receives, and how devoid of ambition the horizon currently appears—it helps to start with a success story.

Consider: Years ago, an ace filmmaker, the man who happened to direct the third-highest-grossing movie in U.S. history, The Dark Knight, came up with an idea for a big summer movie. It's a story he loved—in fact, he wrote it himself—and it belonged to a genre, the sci-fi action thriller, that zipped right down the center lane of American popular taste. He cast as his leading man a handsome actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, who happened to star in the second-highest-grossing movie in history. Finally, to cover his bet even more, he hired half a dozen Oscar nominees and winners for supporting roles.

Sounds like a sure thing, right? Exactly the kind of movie that a studio would die to have and an audience would kill to see? Well, it was. That film, Christopher Nolan's Inception, received admiring reviews, became last summer's most discussed movie, and has grossed, as of this writing, more than three-quarters of a billion dollars worldwide.

And now the twist: The studios are trying very hard not to notice its success, or to care. Before anybody saw the movie, the buzz within the industry was: It's just a favor Warner Bros. is doing for Nolan because the studio needs him to make Batman 3. After it started to screen, the party line changed: It's too smart for the room, too smart for the summer, too smart for the audience. Just before it opened, it shifted again: Nolan is only a brand-name director to Web geeks, and his drawing power is being wildly overestimated. After it grossed $62 million on its first weekend, the word was: Yeah, that's pretty good, but it just means all the Nolan groupies came out early—now watch it drop like a stone.

And here was the buzz three months later, after Inception became the only release of 2010 to log eleven consecutive weeks in the top ten: Huh. Well, you never know.

"Huh. Well, you never know" is an admission that, put simply, things have never been worse.

It has always been disheartening when good movies flop; it gives endless comfort to those who would rather not have to try to make them and can happily take cover behind a shield labeled "The people have spoken." But it's really bad news when the industry essentially rejects a success, when a movie that should have spawned two dozen taste-based gambles on passion projects is instead greeted as an unanswerable anomaly. That kind of thinking is why Hollywood studio filmmaking, as 2010 came to its end, was at an all-time low—by which I don't mean that there are fewer really good movies than ever before (last year had its share, and so will 2011) but that it has never been harder for an intelligent, moderately budgeted, original movie aimed at adults to get onto movie screens nationwide. "It's true at every studio," says producer Dan Jinks, whose credits include the Oscar winners American Beauty and Milk. "Everyone has cut back on not just 'Oscar-worthy' movies, but on dramas, period. Caution has made them pull away. It's infected the entire business."

For the studios, a good new idea has become just too scary a road to travel. Inception, they will tell you, is an exceptional movie. And movies that need to be exceptional to succeed are bad business. "The scab you're picking at is called execution," says legendary producer Scott Rudin (The Social Network, True Grit). "Studios are hardwired not to bet on execution, and the terrible thing is, they're right. Because in terms of execution, most movies disappoint."

With that in mind, let's look ahead to what's on the menu for this year: four adaptations of comic books. One prequel to an adaptation of a comic book. One sequel to a sequel to a movie based on a toy. One sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a movie based on an amusement-park ride. One prequel to a remake. Two sequels to cartoons. One sequel to a comedy. An adaptation of a children's book. An adaptation of a Saturday-morning cartoon. One sequel with a 4 in the title. Two sequels with a 5 in the title. One sequel that, if it were inclined to use numbers, would have to have a 7 1/2 in the title.1

And no Inception. Now, to be fair, in modern Hollywood, it usually takes two years, not one, for an idea to make its way through the alimentary canal of the system and onto multiplex screens, so we should really be looking at summer 2012 to see the fruit of Nolan's success. So here's what's on tap two summers from now: an adaptation of a comic book. A reboot of an adaptation of a comic book. A sequel to a sequel to an adaptation of a comic book. A sequel to a reboot of an adaptation of a TV show. A sequel to a sequel to a reboot of an adaptation of a comic book. A sequel to a cartoon. A sequel to a sequel to a cartoon. A sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a cartoon. A sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a movie based on a young-adult novel.2 And soon after: Stretch Armstrong. You remember Stretch Armstrong, right? That rubberized doll you could stretch and then stretch again, at least until the sludge inside the doll would dry up and he would become Osteoporosis Armstrong? A toy that offered less narrative interest than bingo?

Let me stipulate that we will probably come out of three or four of the movies categorized above saying "That rocked!" (One of them is even being directed by Nolan.) And yes, it is technically possible that some years hence, a magazine article will begin with the sentence, "Stretch Armstrong's surprising journey to a Best Picture nomination began when..." But for now, let's just admit it: Hollywood has become an institution that is more interested in launching the next rubberized action figure than in making the next interesting movie.

At this moment of awards-giving and back-patting, however, we can all agree to love movies again, for a little while, because we're living within a mirage that exists for only about six or eight weeks around the end of each year. Right now, we can argue that any system that allows David Fincher to plumb the invention of Facebook and the Coen brothers to visit the old West, that lets us spend the holidays gorging on new work by Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell, has got to mean that American filmmaking is in reasonably good health. But the truth is that we'll be back to summer—which seems to come sooner every year—in a heartbeat. And it's hard to hold out much hope when you hear the words that one studio executive, who could have been speaking for all her kin, is ready to chisel onto Hollywood's tombstone: "We don't tell stories anymore."

1. Captain America, Cowboys & Aliens, Green Lantern, and Thor; X-Men: First Class; Transformers 3; Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; Rise of the Apes; Cars 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2; The Hangover Part II; Winnie the Pooh; The Smurfs in 3D; Spy Kids 4; Fast Five and Final Destination 5; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

2. The Avengers; Spider-Man (3D); Men in Black 3 (3D); Star Trek untitled; Batman 3; Monsters, Inc. 2; Madagascar 3; Ice Age: Continental Drift in 3D; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2.

via gq.com

Vote for Clooney?

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- George Clooney may be active in politics - helping generate support and aid for the people of the Sundan -- but he won't be running for office any time soon.

"I didn't live my life in the right way for politics, you know... "I f***ed too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that's the truth," George told Newsweek, a small quip in an eight-page article on the actor's humanitarian efforts in the Sudan.

MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: George Clooney - Bono - Movies - ABC - News

George said someone who wanted to go into politics would have likely admitted to the scandalous details about their past sooner in life.

"[They] would start from the beginning by saying, 'I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let's talk about issues.' That's gonna be my campaign slogan: 'I drank the bong water.'?" he continued.

Instead, the "chick" magnet actor, who is currently dating Italian TV personality Elisabetta Canalis, makes movies and spends his off time trying to bring light to issues in Africa.

George told Newsweek that he uses his celebrity to sway the media, which he suggested in some areas, has "abdicated" its "responsibility."

"Celebrity can help focus news media where they have abdicated their responsibility. We can't make policy, but we can 'encourage' politicians more than ever before," the actor told the magazine.

The actor said he admires the work U2 frontman Bono has done for Africa, and he uses the singer as an example of how to be effective.

"Bono's model really worked," George said. "There is more attention on celebrity than ever before -- and there is a use for that besides selling products."

Beyond Bono, George said he admires several younger stars - though he did not name them - for their own interest in helping others in embattled nations.

"A lot of the young actors I see coming up in the industry are not just involved, but knowledgeable on a subject and then sharing that with fans," George said. "No one's just a 'peace activist' anymore -- they have a specialty."

In other Clooney-related news, the actor will also be a presenter at this weekend's Oscars, airing on Sunday night on ABC.

CBS & Netflix Announce 2 Year Licensing Agreement For Library Content

<< [Back to Press Releases]

CBS and Netflix Announce Two-Year Licensing Agreement For Library Content

NEW YORK and BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – February 22, 2011 — CBS Corporation [NYSE: CBS.A and CBS] and Netflix, Inc. [Nasdaq: NFLX] today announced a two-year, non-exclusive licensing agreement that will allow select TV shows from CBS's library, including episodes of "Medium" and "Flashpoint" as well as full seasons of classics such as "Frasier," and "Cheers," to be streamed instantly from Netflix. CBS retains an option to extend the agreement for up to two additional years.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Beginning in early April, dozens of hit shows from CBS will join the extensive library of television shows and movies available to watch instantly from Netflix for only $7.99 a month.

Content covered under the new deal includes the long-running drama, "Medium" and the summer season favorite, "Flashpoint."  Also covered under the agreement are episodes from some of television's most iconic franchises.  Full seasons of sitcom greats "Frasier," "Family Ties" and "Cheers" will be streaming instantly from Netflix.  Episodes from the original "Hawaii Five-0" are included in the package, as are episodes from all generations of the definitive sci-fi series, "Star Trek," and the cult favorite, "Twin Peaks."  Installments of '60s classics, "The Twilight Zone" and "The Andy Griffith Show," will be available as well. 

"This deal recognizes the increasing value of our content in today's marketplace," said Scott Koondel, President of Distribution, CBS Television Distribution.  "More and more, people want to be able to access our programming on a wide variety of platforms.  We are very pleased that the titles offered through this deal will now also be made available to a whole new community through the terrific and convenient service that Netflix offers.  We will continue to pursue additional non-exclusive distribution partners that are additive to our overall business."

 "We are thrilled to be bringing CBS shows to Netflix and are looking forward to growing our relationship over time," said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix. "Netflix is now the only online premium subscription service with shows featured on all four broadcast networks and dozens of cable TV's biggest brands."

 

About CBS Corporation

CBS Corporation is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry.  The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets.  It has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and The CW – a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), cable television (Showtime Networks, Smithsonian Networks and CBS College Sports Network), local television (CBS Television Stations), television production and syndication (CBS Television Studios, CBS Studios International and CBS Television Distribution), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), interactive media (CBS Interactive), music (CBS Records), licensing and merchandising (CBS Consumer Products), video/DVD (CBS Home Entertainment), motion pictures (CBS Films) and sustainable media (EcoMedia). For more information, please visit www.cbscorporation.com.

About Netflix, Inc.

With more than 20 million members in the United States and Canada, Netflix, Inc. [Nasdaq: NFLX] is the world's leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows.  For $7.99 a month, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streaming over the Internet to PCs, Macs and TVs.  Among the large and expanding base of devices streaming from Netflix are Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PS3 consoles; an array of Blu-ray disc players, Internet-connected TVs, home theater systems, digital video recorders and Internet video players; Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as Apple TV and Google TV.  In all, more than 200 devices that stream from Netflix are available in the U.S. and a growing number are available in Canada.  For more information, visit www.netflix.com.

 

 

Press Contacts for CBS:

Dana McClintock (NY)            212-975-1077             dlmcclintock@cbs.com

Chris Ender (LA)                      818-655-1100             CEnder@cbs.com

Press Contact for Netflix:

Steve Swasey (Los Gatos)          408-540-3947             sswasey@netflix.com

If you listen and believe in what you hear coming out of Limbaugh's mouth, please tell my why.

First lady Michelle Obama speaks on Jan. 20, 2011.

(Credit: Getty)

(CBS) Proving that there's nothing in the United States that can't become a partisan issue, radio host Rush Limbaugh attacked first lady Michelle Obama over a meal she ate recently in Vail, Colo.

PICTURES: Michelle Obama
PICTURES: Michelle Obama's Asian Style
PICTURES: Obama Family Vacation

The Vail Daily reports that Mrs. Obama, who was in Vail with her daughters and some friends for President's Day weekend, "dined at Restaurant Kelly Liken in Vail Village Saturday night, enjoying a pickled pumpkin salad with arugula and a braised ancho-chile short rib with hominy wild mushrooms and sauteed kale."

The short ribs are the thing that have Limbaugh going bananas. "I'm sure you're aware nutritionist-at-large Michelle Obama is urging, demanding, advocating, requiring what everybody can and can't eat," said Limbaugh on his show. "She's demanding that everyone basically eat cardboard and tofu. No calories, no fat, no nothing, gotta stop obesity."

He called Obama a hypocrite, saying the ribs were 1575 calories per serving and 141 grams of fat per serving.

The Vail Daily reports, "A braised short rib is a relatively lean cut of beef, braised with most of the fat cooked off. The 5-ounce serving runs about 600 calories." The paper got the figures from Kelly Liken.

If Liken's calorie estimation is correct, Limbaugh's count is off by 975 calories. And Limbaugh's account of the first lady's Let's Move campaign is reductive.

Mrs. Obama has addressed criticism that her calls for healthy eating don't seem to translate to her personal choices. She told Matt Lauer on "Today," "I've always talked about balance in this campaign."

She was defending the Super Bowl party menu that had some wholly unhealthy foods. "I do talk openly about my obsession with french fries. ... Life is about good food, at least in America."

Listen to Limbaugh's rant here.

Milestone Creator Dwayne McDuffie has Died - Comic Book Resources

Dwayne McDuffie as drawn by friend and collaborator Denys Cowan.

CBR News has learned that comic writer, animation producer and respected industry veteran Dwayne McDuffie passed away. The cause of death and specific details are unknown at this time.

A native of Detroit, McDuffie officially joined the comics industry as part of Marvel Comics editorial in the late '80s. While working on special projects for the publisher, he quickly made his name as a writer creating series such as "Damage Control" and helping to redefine the Deathlok character to fan and critical acclaim. He soon left the staff to become a full time freelance writer, becoming a voice in the industry for diversity, particularly fighting against stereotypical portrayals of people of color on the comic book page.

In 1993, McDuffie co-founded Milestone Media along with creators Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle. The company's mission statement involved expanding the role of minorities in comics both on the page and off, and they launched (through DC Comics) a line of superheroes that included "Static," "Icon" and Xombi" – all of which McDuffie had a hand in creating.

Over the years, the writer contributed to scores of notable comic book

launches and series, always with a keen eye on character, regardless of race. In 2000, his character, Static, made the leap totelevision in the Saturday morning cartoon "Static Shock." In 2003, an episode of the show dealing with gun violence earned the writer the Humanitas Prize.

In recent years, McDuffie pursued dual tracks in animation and comics writing. He served as story editor for the popular "Justice League Unlimited" animated series and wrote a number of DC's recent direct-to-DVD animated films. McDuffie had notable runs on comic series "Fantastic Four" and "Justice League of America," often incorporating Black characters into the core of the fabled franchises.

McDuffie's latest work was the script for the "All Star Superman" animated adaptation, which went on sale today in stores across America. CBR ran a lengthy interview with McDuffie about that project last week and caught up with him, looking in good health and acting jovial, last week at the Paley Center's Los Angeles premier for the film. McDuffie's last known public statement was a post to his Facebook page Sunday at 12:17 PM Pacific. He was scheduled to sign at Golden Apple Comics tomorrow evening as part of Reggie Hudlin's Reggie's World launch party.

The writer is survived by his wife, though at this point no further details are available on what exactly happened to McDuffie. The staff of Comic Book Resources offers our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Discuss this story in CBR's Community Forum forum.  |  63 Comments

Tags:  dwayne mcduffie, static shock, milestone

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‘All-Star Superman’: Christina Hendricks went for ‘strong, sassy and spunky’ | Hero Complex – Los Angeles Times

It’s a big year for actress Christina Hendricks, who is making the most of her time away from AMC‘s Emmy-winning series “Mad Men.” With three upcoming films, including the big-screen adaptation of the Allison Pearson novel “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” Hendricks is working steadily on a variety of projects. The latest is the new animated film “All-Star Superman,” due out Tuesday, in which she gives voice to outspoken news reporter Lois Lane. Hendricks joins a long list of actresses who have taken on the role of Clark Kent’s love interest (among them Erica Durance, Dana Delany, Kate Bosworth, Teri Hatcher and Margot Kidder) and Jevon Phillips got a chance to have a quick talk with her about the super role.

Christina Hendricks (Francois Durand / Getty Images)

JP: You have a number of movies in the works. Are you making the transition away from television into features?

CH: It’s just roles I like. It’s not really a transition thing.  Contractually, my commitment is to “Mad Men.” So since I’m already on a television show, the stuff that I’m able to do in between is film. Luckily, I’ve found some really fun projects to work on and hopefully there’ll be some more things before I get back to “Mad Men.”

JP: What do you look for in a role?

CH: You know, I get very very spoiled on “Mad Men” because the writing is so extraordinary. So … when I read things, it really has to be of really good quality and really good writing, and it’s less about the genre and the format. Whether it’s a TV movie or a TV show or a movie or a play, whatever it is, it just has to be something that excites me.

JP: That bodes well for “All-Star Superman,” then. How did you choose to become Lois Lane?

CH: Well, they chose me, fortunately. I got a call from my manager, and he said they’d come to me with this role. And, of course, we all know Lois Lane, so I was familiar with the role. That was something exciting, so as soon as they asked, I jumped on board.

JP: What’s your experience with superheroes?

CH: I grew up with a big brother, so I grew up with the Superman movies, you know the Christopher Reeve movies, and we’d watch reruns of the old TV show.  My brother also had stacks and stacks of comic books, so even though I didn’t read them myself, the images were always around me, and I would always see the covers and stuff.

JP: So how did you approach playing Lois?

CH: When I think of Lois Lane, I think of this strong, sassy, spunky kind of character. Those are the qualities I see in Lois Lane, and I really wanted to incorporate that, and then I really wanted to be truthful to what the script was and take a lot of notes from Andrea [Romano], who’s directing it, because she has such amazing experience.  Since it was my first time, I just wanted to listen to her and get her feedback and follow her lead.

JP: It was your first time doing voiceover work then?

CH: That was my very first time. And since then, I did an episode of “American Dad,” which I don’t think has aired yet, and I did a quick animated pilot a couple of weeks ago.  I definitely caught the bug, and I think it’s really, really fun and a whole different way of expressing yourself.

Superman and Superwoman (DC)

JP: James Denton mentioned that you all didn’t get to speak much, if at all. Did you even get to talk about character development?

CH: I didn’t get the opportunity to speak with anyone else, but I think that’s what’s so amazing about Andrea. She would have us do a line with maybe three different variations on how we were saying it. That way, she has all these different options so that depending on how James said his lines she could match it up with the correct expression of something that I did.  Not only is she fantastic in the room and guiding us along, there’s a whole process of piecing it all together afterward.

JP: They just named a new “Wonder Woman for the David E. Kelley TV show …

CH: Oh they did?! Who!? 

Christina Hendricks as Joan in "Mad Men." (AMC)

 

JP: Adrianne Palicki, an actress from “Friday Night Lights.”

CH: Oh! OK.

JP: Now, it was rumored that you wouldn’t mind slipping on a lasso and bracelets for a “Wonder Woman” movie. Is that true? Would you consider it?

CH: Of course I would consider it! You know, someone started that rumor, and I don’t know how it got started, but I was very flattered by it. I didn’t have anything to do with that, but it was fun, and if they did it on the big screen, of course I’d consider it. I love Wonder Woman!

JP: And,  for the “Mad Men” fans out there, we know that the show’s coming back, but do you know when?

CH: I really wish I knew. We’re waiting to hear as well.  There hasn’t been anything set. We generally go back around May or June.  I hope we don’t go back any later. It’s already kind of a long wait in between since we only do 13 episodes, so I think it’s nice for the audience to not have to wait so much longer. I hope we get back as soon as possible.

–  Jevon Phillips

RECENT AND RELATED

‘Wonder Woman’: Adrianne Palicki lassos role

All-Star Superman: Denton’s “dying” role

Eastwood: I was offered Superman role in ’70s

Wonder Woman pilot already deflecting bullets

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Look, up in the sky it’s … Henry Cavill

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VIDEO: Christopher Reeve on “Tonight Show”

Amazon streams free movies to Prime members | Media Maverick - CNET News

Amazon said today that it is offering Amazon Prime members free, instant streaming of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows.

In a press release, the company said the feature will be offered at no additional cost above the $79 that Prime members already pay annually. The movies and TV shows can be watched instantly on Macs, PCs, and nearly 200 models of Internet-connected devices, Amazon said. Amazon Prime is a membership program that offers customers free two-day shipping.

Some of the movies and TV shows that Amazon will stream include "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Syriana," "Doctor Who," and "Farscape."

Dan Rayburn, an analyst covering Web video for consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, gets the shout-out for calling this one early. Three weeks ago, Rayburn told CNET that Amazon has the money and audience to stimulate interest in a video service by, say, streaming movies for free to Amazon Prime members.

"Millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy the convenience of free Two-Day Shipping," Robbie Schwietzer, vice president of Amazon Prime, said in a statement. "Adding unlimited instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows at no additional cost is a great way to give members even more value."

Hulu, Netflix, Apple and Google are just some of the companies competing in the online movie distribution market. Rayburn is a big believer that Amazon is one of the companies best positioned to take on Netflix, the Web's top movie rental service. With this offering, Amazon beats Netflix and Hulu on price--both charge $7.99 subscription streaming-only subscription fees--and because Amazon doesn't force commercials on Prime members, it's providing a better viewing experience than Hulu.

In midday trading following Amazon's announcement, Netflix shares were down $10 or 4 percent to $224.

Amazon was once the Web's top source of DVDs and CDs and has since seen the market recreated when iTunes began selling song downloads and Netflix started streaming video.

But Amazon still enjoys a large and loyal following--more than 65 million visitors log on to the company's site each month. With this kind of audience and Amazon's deep pockets, Rayburn said Amazon could also conceivably give away a Roku-like box or some other dedicated device to enable Prime members to watch streaming Amazon video on their TVs.

But how Amazon fares in acquiring content will be interesting to see. Some in Hollywood see the current crop of Internet providers as a threat. Executives from some of the top film companies and media conglomerates have complained that Netflix's streaming service isn't a profitable-enough channel and competes with distribution partners that generate more cash for content creators. Amazon does, however, have a relationship with the studios going back over a decade, when the company used to be a large distributor of DVDs.

Monday, February 21, 2011

(I love Eve Myles) 'Torchwood's' Eve Myles Talks Gwen, Motherhood and 'Miracle Day' (VIDEO)

Get Glue stickers: so now what do I do with them?

Taken with picplz.

In Prime-Time TV, Networks Lost the War for 10 P.M. - The New York Times

For the past several years, many broadcast network executives have looked at the ratings for their 10 p.m. shows and lamented that it has become impossible to build a true, breakout hit at that hour anymore.

No hits at 10 p.m.? How about Thursday at 10 on MTV? For most weeks this winter, about six million viewers 18 to 49 (the prime age group for most advertising sales) have flocked to “Jersey Shore,” a number that would constitute a blaring hit by almost anyone’s measure.

Nothing at 10 on any broadcast network on any night of the week comes anywhere near that six million figure. In fact, fewer than five shows in all of the rest of television (other than sports) have averaged that many young-adult viewers this season.

On another cable network, the History Channel, a growing hit called “Pawn Stars” has drawn as many as four million viewers between 18 and 49 on Monday nights, posting numbers bigger than “Law & Order: SVU” on NBC and “The Mentalist” on CBS. Dramas like those have managed to attract about 3.8 million viewers in that audience group, the most for network shows at 10.

Indeed, the 10 p.m. time period has become an expensive graveyard for many hourlong network dramas — so much so that one network, NBC, tried unsuccessfully to insert Jay Leno in that hour five nights a week.

NBC had conducted research that mainly blamed the diminishing audiences at 10 on the growing playback at that hour of programs from digital video recorders. But playback of recorded shows does not seem to be unduly affecting shows like “Jersey Shore” and “Pawn Stars” — along with other 10 p.m. cable successes like “The Game” on BET, “Teen Mom” on MTV, “Tosh.0” on Comedy Central and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” on Bravo, all of which are thriving at 10. In that 18 to 49 age group, of the top 15 shows on cable television last week, eight played in the 10 p.m. hour.

To some longtime observers of the medium, the apparent eradication of the 10 p.m. network hit still feels incongruous because 10 p.m. once housed many of the best — and riskiest — shows the networks had to offer, like “Hill Street Blues,” “NYPD Blue” and “L.A. Law.”

Brad Adgate, Horizon Media’s senior vice president for research, who has tracked the business for three decades, pointed out that “every year from 1979 to 2000, the Emmy Award for best drama went to a network 10 p.m. show.”

Last season it also went to a 10 p.m. show: “Mad Men,” on the cable channel AMC.

“Cable is getting all those cutting-edge shows,” Mr. Adgate said. “The really fresh ideas seem to all be on cable now.”

The shift is not accidental.

“You go where the competition ain’t,” said Van Toffler, the president of MTV Networks. Citing what he called a chronic network problem that MTV has tried to exploit since the late 1990s, when it created what it called “The Ten Spot” for its best programming, Mr. Toffler said, “We noticed back then that what you had on network channels at 10 was local news and aging dramas.”

Nancy Dubuc, the president of the History Channel, said there was an element of simplicity to the cable emphasis on 10. “The Fox network goes off at 10,” she noted, “so does the CW network.” But she added, “Once you get into the minutia of it, it is less about the time period than it is about taking risks” with program ideas.

She argued that “media savvy” younger viewers respond less and less to the standard offerings that populate the 10 p.m. landscape. Even those network shows that work at 10 tend to appeal mainly to viewers older than 50, she noted.

But for one broadcast network, CBS, the laundry list of standard offerings has produced a solid track record at 10 p.m. — and that success is not accidental, either.

Like the other networks, CBS has no real breakout hits at 10, in terms of those advertiser-desirable younger viewers, though it does well in amassing total viewers. Shows like “The Mentalist” pull in about 14 million total viewers, in contrast to about eight million for “Jersey Shore.”

But the audience group for the CBS 10 p.m. shows is tilted heavily toward older viewers. The median ages for the CBS 10 p.m. lineup range from a low of 54.6 years for “Hawaii Five-0” (new this season, though resurrected from the CBS program vault) to a high of 60.6 years for another new drama, “Blue Bloods.”

By contrast, “Pawn Wars” is a more broad-based success with a median age of 45.4, and “Jersey Shore” is almost preposterously young, with a median age of 22.8.

What CBS and the other networks are doing, Ms. Dubuc said, is essentially “giving the viewers the same choices over and over again.” Crime dramas occupy by far the biggest chunk of real estate in the 10 p.m. hour on network television.

CBS is more than content to go down that road, however, because lately it has ended in a pile of money. Kelly Kahl, the chief scheduler for CBS, said, “We’re in a slightly different business from the cable guys.”

He credited those networks with shrewdly identifying where the networks are most vulnerable “first during the summers and now at 10 p.m.” But, he said, “There’s kind of a new job we have at 10. We’re not in the business of us versus the other guys anymore. Now it’s about asset management.”

Simply defined, Mr. Kahl said, those assets are dramas owned by CBS, ones that tell contained stories each week, that can be nurtured and nudged through at least four seasons, and then sold in syndication and to cable outlets.

The shows tend to be well-produced, by-the-numbers crime dramas because those shows can be repeated better than other forms of drama, like serialized soap operas.

ABC has had success with serialized shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” but those shows are far less valuable as long-term assets. At the same time, ABC has generated a long list of 10 p.m. failures, at a daunting cost.

If a broadcast network cannot produce reliable, long-term dramas like CBS has, the economics of 10 p.m. are punishing, especially when compared with the finances of cable’s programming.

Hourlong dramas on networks cost $2 million to $3 million an episode to produce. Few survive, and many more die unseen by the public after pilots that can cost several times as much.

In contrast, Mr. Toffler said, MTV’s shows come in “well under $1 million” an hour. And the hits on the History Channel, like “Pawn Stars,” are even cheaper. They run $250,000 to $300,000 an hour.

Underscoring exactly how much the 10 p.m. hour has become part of a calculated formula, Mr. Kahl suggested that if one of CBS’s carefully manufactured 10 p.m. crime shows somehow managed to break through as a must-see hit on a scale like that of “E.R.,” it would not last long at 10.

“We would probably move it to 9,” Mr. Kahl said — the better to use it to set up some other dependable, if less stellar, performer at 10 p.m.

ESPN.com - Ryan Dempster gets Opening Day nod

Monday, February 21, 2011
Ryan Dempster gets Opening Day nod

By Bruce Levine
ESPNChicago.com

MESA, Ariz. -- Chicago Cubs manager Mike Quade set his opening rotation, and despite campaigning for his seventh consecutive Opening Day start, Carlos Zambrano will watch Ryan Dempster have that honor this season.

The first three slots in the Cubs' rotation will be filled by Dempster, Zambrano and newly acquired Matt Garza.

That means Zambrano will start the road opener against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 8 after the Cubs open the season with home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks.

"I can't get away from some of these performances in Milwaukee," Quade said. "If you're pitching Game 2 or 3, then you're pitching in Milwaukee.

"Also, to expose an important division rival out of the chute to Garza I thought was important."

Zambrano finished last season 8-0 in his final 11 starts, but he endured a tumultuous first half to the season that included a suspension and anger management therapy following a dugout confrontation with former teammate Derrek Lee.

Dempster has been the most consistent Cubs starter the last several seasons, but he was 0-3 against Pittsburgh last season.

"I think they all understand what I expect from them," Quade said when asked if Zambrano was good with the decision. "I respect the hell out of all of them. And after their response [to the decision], I respect them even more."

Quade had a sit-down meeting with all three starters.

The final two spots in the rotation still are open.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN 1000.

I LOVE Garfunkel and Oates (NSFW)

I am in love with Garfunkle and Oates. I remember seeing Kate Micucci when she played Gooch on Scubs (she killed) and I found the duo a little later. Their music in on itunes & CD Baby (the CD is "All Over Your Face" get it, you will enjoy) and their site is at http://www.garfunkelandoates.com/.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Garfunkel and Oates is a comedy-folk duo from Los Angeles, California, consisting of actress-songwriters Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome.[1] The two met at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre in Los Angeles. The duet was formed when they started working together to turn a short film made by Lindhome, entitled "Imaginary Larry", into a musical.[2][3] Lindhome hails from Portville, New York; Micucci is from Nazareth, Pennsylvania.[4]

Here are a few of my favorite videos of theirs ....

and I tossed in "Nothin but a glee thing" cause Riki Lindhome is in it.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Stars and Sewers

By Maureed Dowd

WASHINGTON

Rarely have we seen such epic clashes between the forces of light and darkness.

We watch in awe as revolutions somersault through the Middle East. We see instantaneous digital communication as a weapon against oppression and, in the hands of tyrants who tap into its power, as a weapon for oppression.

While the cloud spurs some people to reach for the stars, delighting in freedom of expression, it seduces others to sprawl in the gutter, abusing freedom of expression.

When CBS’s Lara Logan was dragged off, beaten and sexually assaulted by a mob of Egyptian men in Tahrir Square the giddy night that Hosni Mubarak stepped down, most of us were aghast. But some vile bodies online began beating up on the brave war correspondent.

Nir Rosen, a journalist published in The Nation, The New Yorker and The Atlantic who had a fellowship at New York University’s Center on Law and Security, likes to be a provocateur. He has urged America to “get over” 9/11, called Israel an “abomination” to be eliminated, and sympathized with Hezbollah, Hamas and the Taliban. Invited to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2008 about the Iraq surge, he told Joe Biden, the committee chairman then, that he was uncomfortable “advising an imperialist power about how to be a more efficient imperialist power.”

Rosen must now wish Twitter had a 10-second delay. On Tuesday, he merrily tweeted about the sexual assault of Logan: “Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger.”

He suggested she was trying to “outdo Anderson” Cooper (roughed up in Cairo earlier), adding that “it would have been funny if it happened to Anderson too.”

Rosen lost his fellowship. He apologized in a whiny way, explaining that he “resented” Logan because she “defended American imperial adventures,” and that she got so much attention for the assault because she’s white and famous. He explained in Salon that “Twitter is no place for nuance,” as though there’s any nuance in his suggestion that Logan wanted to be sexually assaulted for ratings.

He professed to be baffled by the fact that he had 1,000 new Twitter followers, noting: “It’s a bizarre, voyeuristic Internet culture and everybody in the mob is looking to get in on the next fight.” It’s been Lord of the Flies for a while now, dude, and you’re part of it.

The conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel smacked Logan from the right: “Lara Logan was among the chief cheerleaders of this ‘revolution’ by animals. Now she knows what the Islamic revolution is really all about.”

On her LA Weekly blog, Simone Wilson dredged up Logan’s romantic exploits and quoted a Feb. 3 snipe from the conservative blog Mofo Politics, after Logan was detained by the Egyptian police: “OMG if I were her captors and there were no sanctions for doing so, I would totally rape her.”

Online anonymity has created what the computer scientist Jaron Lanier calls a “culture of sadism.” Some Yahoo comments were disgusting. “She got what she deserved,” one said. “This is what happens when dumb sexy female reporters want to make it about them.” Hillbilly Nation chimed in: “Should have been Katie.”

The “60 Minutes” story about Senator Scott Brown’s revelation that a camp counselor sexually abused him as a child drew harsh comments on the show’s Web site, many politically motivated.

Acupuncturegirl advised: “Scott, shut the hell up. You are gross.” Dutra1 noted: “OK, Scott, you get your free pity pills. Now examine the image you see in the mirror; is it a man?”

Evgeny Morozov, author of “The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom,” told me Twitter creates a false intimacy and can “bring out the worst in people. You’re straining after eyeballs, not big thoughts. So you go for the shallow, funny, contrarian or cynical.”

Nicholas Carr, author of “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains,” says technology amplifies everything, good instincts and base. While technology is amoral, he said, our brains may be rewired in disturbing ways.

“Researchers say that we need to be quiet and attentive if we want to tap into our deeper emotions,” he said. “If we’re constantly interrupted and distracted, we kind of short-circuit our empathy. If you dampen empathy and you encourage the immediate expression of whatever is in your mind, you get a lot of nastiness that wouldn’t have occurred before.”

Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, recalled that when he started his online book review he forbade comments, wary of high-tech sociopaths.

“I’m not interested in having the sewer appear on my site,” he said. “Why would I engage with people digitally whom I would never engage with actually? Why does the technology exonerate the kind of foul expression that you would not tolerate anywhere else?”

Why indeed?

*Sigh*

If only I had this before I saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

How to Tell if You’re About to Watch a Bad Nicolas Cage Movie
11:00 am Sunday Feb 20, 2011 by Emily Temple

Finally, someone has given us the answer to this question! It’s so hard to tell with Nicolas Cage – sure, there are the Raising Arizonas and the Adaptations, but there are also The Sorcerer’s Apprentices and the Nexts. On the one hand, the man has been in so many movies that it seems inevitable that some of them would be pretty bad, but on the other hand… we don’t need to spend precious hours of our lives watching the bad ones. Luckily for us, the kind folks at the Guardian – who claim that ‘roughly 38% of Hollywood’s second-rate output seems to star the indefatigable Cage’ - have created this specially formulated rubric for deciding whether the Nicolas Cage movie you’re about to sit down and watch is going to be totally amazing or utterly painful. Prepare to apply this procedure when deciding whether or not you’ll shell out to see Cage’s new film Drive Angry 3D when it hits theaters on Friday. So you can, you know, choose to do something else.

1. Check the Hair

“There’s a direct correlation between the length of Cage’s locks and the awfulness of his movies. As a rule of thumb, if the hair’s short (Raising Arizona, Leaving Las Vegas, Bad Lieutenant) then you’re on to a winner. But if it’s long, greasy and swept back behind his ears (Con Air, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Next) then – yes – you’re watching a bad Nic Cage movie.”

2. Is he wearing a vest?

“Here’s a handy hint for you. If the role requires Cage to bare his well-chiselled midriff, and it doesn’t star Sean Connery (The Rock), then stand up and make a dash for the nearest available exit. Likewise, if Cage is in any way called upon to take on the action-hero mantle, dispatching faceless goons with an arsenal of firearms (National Treasure), martial arts (Bangkok Dangerous) or a magic sword (Season Of The Witch) – run for the hills. In short, if his physique resembles anything other than a Home Alone-era Macaulay Culkin then you’re probably watching a bad Nic Cage movie.”

3. Can he see into the future?

“If Nicolas Cage has dug up a time capsule that predicts global catastrophes (Knowing), or he’s playing a cheap Vegas showman who can see into the future (Next), then you too can come over all clairvoyant and predict that you’re about to waste the next 90 minutes of your life watching a bad Nic Cage movie.”

4. Don’t be fooled by the quality of his co-conspirators

“If the film is directed by Martin Scorsese (Bringing Out The Dead), co-stars Michael Caine (The Weather Man), or his love interest is played by either Helen Hunt (Kiss Of Death), Gina Gershon (Face/Off), or even Angelina Jolie (Gone In 60 Seconds), don’t be fooled into thinking you’re watching a good Nic Cage movie – you’re not; put the DVD down and step away from the bargain bin.”

5. Is he in the army?

“Yes? Don’t even bother. Whether he’s protecting Navajo codetalkers (John Woo’s Windtalkers) or attempting an altogether different type of Woo-ing involving a Greek island, PenĂ©lope Cruz and a musical instrument from the lute family (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin), then you’re not just watching a bad Nic Cage movie, you’re watching a bad Nic Cage movie that’s likely to be about as entertaining as a Justin Bieber fanclub picnic.”

Drive Angry 3D’s Scorecard:

Hair: Long(ish), definitely greasy -1

Vest: Vestless, but read the rest – he IS trying to be an action hero -1

Future-telling: No, but he’s coming back from the dead, so we think that makes the results inconclusive -1/+1

Co-conspirators: Nobody super famous, though we do like William Fichtner +1

Army-man: Nope, although it does appear that he was in a gang of some kind +1

Conclusion: We’ve got a tie on our hands. However, if we can add our own qualification, we’re pretty sure that any movie with 3D in the title is probably going to be terrible. So watch at your own risk.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The Fighter

Before I go see The Fighter, I wanted to remind myself what a good boxer Micky Ward was.  I am sure the movie is good, but movies never seem to get boxing correctly.  The one thing I miss about not having HBO, or Showtime is watching Boxing.  You can keep your MMA, for me it's The Sweet Science every time.

I am not much of a gamer, but I would get this game just based on the trailer (and the zombies).

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Print - Chris Rock: The ESQ+A - Esquire

Chris Rock: The ESQ+A

A conversation about LeBron, Obama, the Tea Party, the Oscars, Eddie Murphy, his new play, and fear

By Scott Raab

chris rock

Kristian Dowling/WireImage

Published in the March issue, on sale soon

Nick & Toni's Café, Upper West Side, lunch, December 3, 2010.

SCOTT RAAB: Is that your iPad?

CHRIS ROCK: Why would you go anyplace without your iPad? This is the greatest invention. When it gets a little more power, my God. It's like my office.

[The waitress comes over: "Water to start with? Sparkling, still, tap water?"]

CR: You know what? Tap water. I'm tappy today. How's tappy? It's Bloomberg's best, right? I'll take that.

SR: The magazine's buying, man. Have some Pellegrino.

CR: I'm okay. I'm tap. I'm tap.

SR: Will I see you at the Garden for the Heat game?

CR: No, I'm going to St. Martin.

SR: Could I have the seat?

CR: I already gave it up.

SR: I'm writing a book about LeBron. I'm a Cleveland guy. I'm mad at him.

CR: I don't even see what the big story is.

SR: Cleveland's hurting, Chris.

CR: Cleveland deserves to hurt. I said that wrong. Deservedly so, hurts. But I'm telling you, weather alone should've been cause for panic.

SR: He's got a LOYALTY tattoo.

CR: Loyalty to friends. And all his friends are right there. God bless him.

SR: They all wanted him to stay.

CR: No, they didn't. They all wanted to go. And by the way, he's surrounded by six 25-year-old black guys — where do you think they want to be? They want to be in Miami.

SR: I know that you're right. I'm just having a hard time getting over it.

CR: It's the weather, dude. I can't believe no one's written that article. If Dwyane Wade played in Milwaukee, LeBron would not be in fucking Milwaukee.

SR: I believe that. Chicago I thought was possible...

CR: He was not going to Chicago. What's the point? It was all about the fucking weather.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Raab and Chris Rock Talk (Much) More About LeBron >>

SR: When's the last time you toured as a stand-up?

CR: About three years now.

SR: You miss it?

CR: I'm looking forward to doing it again. But touring's hard. When you've got kids, it's a big undertaking. It's like doing four movies in a row. It's the whole world now; it's not just the States.

SR: The comics I've talked to have varied styles as stand-ups, but the throughline is that it's the most intense thing they've ever done.

CR: Yeah. A lot of guys are great, but they don't want to hit hard. To hit like Tyson up there, that shit is — I just presented some award to Oprah at the Kennedy Center. I probably did four minutes, five minutes. It's weird — you go up there, it's like, what's the guy in Lord of the Rings who puts on the ring and he's invisible? Then he lets it off and he's sweating, like it's so hard to be fucking invisible. It's hard to hit homers. I try to hit homers. I'm not a singles hitter. I'm swinging like Sheffield every fucking time. As hard as I can.

SR: I'm not bad-mouthing Tracy Morgan, but he was talking about the legacy of Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx, and I'm thinking to myself, You're not in that league.

CR: Oh, I don't think he thinks he's in that league. Maybe he's aspiring to be.

SR: You're more of the truth. You weren't put on this earth to make people feel comfortable laughing.

CR: No. I get it. I embrace it. Gladly. Somebody's got to be that guy... Am I eating all this pizza?

SR: God bless you. You've got a good appetite for a skinny young man.

CR: In between projects. I eat now. The play [The Motherf**ker with the Hat] starts in April. So from February on, I'll be in the gym. I'll be watching my calories.

SR: Ever done anything like that?

CR: Never done a play. I did a thing called 24 Hour Plays, a thing they do every year on Broadway. A bunch of playwrights and actors get together, you write a play and you act it out in 24 hours, literally. People pay and the money goes to charity. So I did one — I was horrible.

SR: Horrible?

CR: I was bad. I was terrified. And I was like, "Oh, I gotta do this again." Because I know I can do it. When you do something bad and you know you can do it, only you know you can do it. And do it while it's hot, man. Right now, while I'm this guy who can get this great play that Scott Rudin's producing. If I wait too long, till I'm on the other side of show business, then I'm in Rap of Ages or I'll be some guy in Grease.

SR: What Ever Happened to Chris Rock?

CR: Oof.

SR: I don't know which comes first, the sense of insecurity or the reality that this does happen, even to icons.

CR: No one announces you can't do something anymore. I remember I used to see Christian Slater movies all the time. One day they just stopped making 'em. He didn't get a memo. No one passes you a note. I remember having Jimmie Walker hats when I was a kid, lunch box, shirt, loose-leaf — you think he was warned? No. You think, Oh, I haven't worked in six months, I'll get a job next week. Oh, I haven't worked in a year, now I got to really concentrate on it. It's like finding out somebody cheated on you. Somebody tells you, you overhear it at the fucking coffee shop...

SR: You have not fallen off that tightrope.

CR: I don't think so. Even if a movie's not a hit, it still has to have something to do with the big thing, which is the stand-up.

SR: That's still the big thing?

CR: It pays the most, first of all. It's the thing that I can do at a high, high level. Amongst the best. You've got me and Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais and Louis C. K. and Larry the Cable Guy. Louis's the best right now. He just played Carnegie Hall. Louis C. K. is one of the biggest comedians in the country. You know the weird thing about Louis? He's an East Coast guy, been in New York the last 20, 30 years of his life, but the New York cultural elite doesn't like him — too blue-collar, too Sternish for them. It's very much like Howard Stern. And they only give it up to Stern now because of the money.

SR: Louis's way past anyplace Howard Stern's ever been.

CR: Howard Stern's a bad motherfucker, man. Whenever I talk to Howard, I always point out — and I've been trying to point this out to my wife — I know some of it you don't like, but if I had to be on six hours a day, it would be just as nasty and foul and not sophisticated. The fact that you're going to see me do an hour every four years? Reduce Howard Stern to an hour every four years, you'd have the most brilliant comedian who ever lived. It's not even close.

chris rock oprah ceremony

CBS

SR: Like many nice Caucasians, I cried the night Barack Obama was elected. It was one of the high points in American history. And all that's happened since the election is just a shitstorm of hatred. You want to weigh in on that?

CR: I actually like it, in the sense that — you got kids? Kids always act up the most before they go to sleep. And when I see the Tea Party and all this stuff, it actually feels like racism's almost over. Because this is the last — this is the act up before the sleep. They're going crazy. They're insane. You want to get rid of them — and the next thing you know, they're fucking knocked out. And that's what's going on in the country right now.

SR: I hope so. Because it seems like a lot of people feel they just can't live with this man being president.

CR: It's a lot, man. I remember when I had my show [The Chris Rock Show on HBO], I used to run my show. It was so hard to get people to bring sketches to me. No one had ever worked for a black person before. Even the black people hadn't worked for a black person. In show business, my God, there's no black people in show business. I've never been to a black person's office in show business, for a movie or anything. It literally took a month or two for everybody to know: I'm really running the show.

SR: Strange.

CR: It's strange, but it's not. Women that were running things went through the exact same thing. I could've went crazy about it, but I actually felt sorry for them.

SR: Jude Law — you killed his career when you hosted the Oscars.

CR: I did not kill his career. Dude, I didn't say Jude Law can't act. I didn't say Jude Law was in bad movies. I just said he's in every movie. I hope one year in my life someone's onstage talking about all the movies I've made. I hope I get to work with all the great directors he got to work with, too... I did bump into him one day. I was just walking by him and said, "What's up?" and he kept walking.

SR: He knew it was you?

CR: I think ten minutes later he started realizing who I was. Anyway, I was sitting with Courtney Love, and she might've saved me from a fight. I'm not going to say ass-whipping, because I don't think there'd be an ass-whipping. But you never know — he's hanging out with Guy Ritchie. Those guys go at it. Those motherfuckers are in shape. So Jude Law might whip my ass, I don't know. Those guys bring out mats and shit.

SR: What happened?

CR: Nothing. Courtney kind of barked, or was growling, and that was it.

SR: And you pissed Sean Penn off. Which, by the way, could lead to an ass-whupping.

CR: It could.

SR: Theoretically.

CR: Theoretically. It's the Oscars, it's sensitive. If I host the Oscars again, I wouldn't do that.

SR: Chris, I wouldn't worry about that.

CR: I've been inquired about. What they do with the Oscars is, they check the availabilities. They're not into asking and being turned down. "What're you doing on February whatever? Will you be in L. A.?" So it's been inquired about since then. It's a weird skill. It's not like you can get just anybody to do it...

When I got the job, the first thing I asked was, "Are we doing a TV show or is this a banquet? Because if it's a banquet, let's not change anything. But if it's a TV show, this motherfucker's got to move." My goal in life was to host the MTV Awards, because it's the awards show that Prince sang on, and that was the awards show that Eddie Murphy hosted and Arsenio hosted. It's hard to remember that the MTV Awards used to be huge. So the Oscars just wasn't that thing to me.

SR: Is Eddie Murphy a cautionary tale?

CR: When he wants it, nobody's funnier than him. No one's even close to him. I just went through a little exercise where I watched a bunch of old movies, like from the '80s. The only ones that held up were the Murphy movies. A Murphy movie is like a Sidney Poitier comedy — he's that intensely good... He revolutionized acting. He's literally black Brando. Before Eddie Murphy, there were two schools of acting for a black actor: Either you played it LIKE THIS or youplayeditlahkdis. He was the first black guy in a movie to talk like I am talking to you right now. Just like we're talking right now. That did not exist for black actors before him. Good Times is a good show for that: It was either John Amos or Jimmie Walker; that's what black acting was.

SR: You ever doubt yourself up there trying to get laughs?

CR: There's doubt the whole time. One of the best compliments I ever got was Conan saying to me, "You know what I like about you? You're smart enough to be scared. So many guys come on cocky, they don't want to go over their stuff, they don't want to do a pre-interview. You're always smart enough to be worried till the last minute." That will not stop. You get some guys who get all cocky and they fall right on their fucking face.

SR: You learn to trust your stuff.

CR: I trust it, but you still have to — you can have your stuff, but your footwork's still got to be right, you got to follow through, all these things. Even when you have your stuff, you cannot have your stuff because you're not doing one thing.

SR: But nobody else is going to go out there and be you.

CR: Somebody'll be me, tomorrow or whenever. I've been doing this awhile. My time's limited. I've been doing this awhile.

SR: You haven't lost anything off your fastball.

CR: I don't think I've lost anything off my fastball, but soon you'll see somebody else's fastball. There's nothing like a new fastball.

SR: Who's the next guy?

CR: I like this Hannibal Buress kid. Black guy. The illegitimate son of Mitch Hedberg. Get his record — you'll like it. If you like stand-up — see, a lot of people inherently don't like stand-up, so when they judge a stand-up, they actually look at what he's wearing. There's been a lot of hair bands the last few years in the stand-up world. I will name no names, but I haven't heard the words good-looking so much in my life. Who the fuck gives a fuck what a stand-up looks like?

SR: To me, it's a miracle that guys can just get up there.

CR: And produce laughter. It's kind of a magic trick. I still don't understand it.