Sundance Meet The Artists 2013
Sundance has released their new wave of Meet The Artists videos for the 2013 festival, where the directors from the dramatic competition category discuss their films. Of course, Francesca Gregorini can be seen below chatting about Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes. There are also a few snippets from the film itself in the video:Liz Garcia on her film "The Lifeguard", which is premiering in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
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First look at Alice Englert in Sundance Midnight premiere “In Fear”
Before attempting to become the next Bella Swan in next month’s “Beautiful Creatures”, British rising star Alice Englert will head to the Sundance Film Festival to give being a scream queen a shot. “In Fear”, the directorial debut of Jeremy Lovering, will premiere in the genre Park City at Midnight lineup, and today we have the first still of Englert looking to live up to the title.Englert and fellow newcomer Iain De Caestecker play a young couple driving to a music festival and looking for a countryside hotel, but “with hotel signs leading them in circles and darkness falling, they soon become lost in a maze of country roads…and the target of an unknown tormentor.” The film plays out in real time and “hinges on a claustrophobic, unrelentingly tense visual style”, remind us of 2011′s Elizabeth Olsen-starrer “Silent House.” Taking method acting to a whole new level, the director withheld the script from his actors in order to get real scares out of them.
“In Fear” premieres in Park City on January 20th at 11:59 pm. The full image of Englert can be viewed below.
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'Bling Ring' Emma Watson Stuns on Marie Claire UK
Despite the end of the world renowned wizardly franchise "Harry Potter" last 2011, the film career of the stars in the film show no signs of slowing down. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are in fact making their own mark in the Hollywood business. For one is Emma Watson of who has graced hundreds of fashion magazine covers ever since her "Potter" days. Now, add Marie Claire UK to Emma's list of fashion magazines of which she has graced.It looks as if leading ladies from well-known film franchises are each gracing a magazine cover of their own. "Hunger Games" Jennifer Lawrence recently graced the February 2013 issue of Vanity Fair where she was named "World's Most Desirable." The post may be found here. The same goes to "Twilight" leading lady, Kristen Stewart who had also graced the January issue of V Magazine found here.
Of course, the lovely "Potter" star wouldn't miss out on all the covers because Emma had once again landed herself a cover on the prestigious fashion magazine, Marie Claire UK. Apart from showing off her impeccable good looks, Watson also opened up about acting and how she lives her life despite the negative comments in the world outside of acting.
"Now I feel a lot more settled in who I am and what I think, how I want to do things. Because I feel good about what I'm doing, I don't need anyone to say whether they think it's good or not," explained Watson.
"Friends and family come first and work comes second; that's just how I live my life," added the Lancôme ambassador.
With over three films coming out this year, Emma proves to have an impressive film career. Apart from booming in the film business, Watson is also currently the face of both Lancôme and Burberry. Watson is also managing her time taking up a degree in literature at Brown University. Talk about being the perfect woman of which of course Emma is aiming hard for.
"My parents have very strong work ethics and have instilled that in me a love and a respect for what you do and taking pride in it. And then - and this is sort of irritating at times - I'm a bit OCD about perfectionism," said Watson in the Marie Claire UK interview, adding, "I'm my own worst critic. I always want to do better. I'm always striving towards the next thing."
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Mercedes Raquel in Studio
from La ZonaTiffany Fox Jumping Around
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At Iowa prison, a lonely battle against sex movies
By RYAN J. FOLEY
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Administrators let offenders at one of Iowa's most dangerous prison units watch violent and sexually explicit movies and TV shows for years, despite repeated complaints from a female officer who said it encouraged inmates to sexually harass her.
Murderers, sexual predators and other men housed at a unit for mentally ill inmates at the maximum-security state prison in Fort Madison were allowed to watch movies such as "Deranged," a horror film that includes a scene in which a woman is beaten, raped, hung upside down and skinned. Among other movies inmates watched were "Delta of Venus," an erotic film; "Coffey," which shows sadism and attempted rape; and "Cruel Intentions," records show.
Despite correctional officer Kristine Sink's complaints, administrators told her not to turn off the movies or shows. When she did, they accused her of insubordination, according to department records that Sink provided to The Associated Press. One warden blamed Sink for causing problems by complaining, and another supervisor suggested her outfits — a standard-issue uniform — were enticing inmates.
Sink said she has fought a lonely battle under four wardens against movies that caused inmates to become sexually aggressive — through "10 years of misery." She filed a lawsuit Nov. 30 against prison officials alleging sexual harassment, discrimination and workplace retaliation, seeking an unspecified amount of damages.
"It's inconceivable. If I had not lived through it myself, I wouldn't believe this," she said.
Sink, who started at the prison in 2003 after the factory where she had been working shut down, said the movies played multiple times a day for a week on a television in a common area where 45 inmates could watch. Some inmates would openly masturbate and make sexually harassing comments to her.
Sink said that when prison officials finally acted on her complaints in September 2011 by largely barring movies with sexually explicit content, inmates blamed her and subjected her to a torrent of insults and threats to beat or even kill her. One threw urine on her. Despite the threats, Sink said her supervisors refused to move her to a job where she wouldn't be in contact with inmates for more than a year. She was finally moved to a desk job last month, after she filed her lawsuit.
Sink's attorney, Brooke Timmer, said the lawsuit is aimed at forcing changes to allow employees to file complaints without retaliation and be free from sexual harassment by inmates. "No private employer could get away with this," she said.
Sink said she began complaining about the practice of allowing inmates to rent or purchase graphic movies to be shown to the unit soon after she went to work there. She filed a formal complaint with in 2007 after the showing of "Deranged."
"What are we saying to the sex offenders that are already convicted of these crimes and then we provide them visual viewing to fantasize about or to act upon," Sink wrote to then-Warden John Ault. She told him that she has been waiting for management "to fix this wrong and make it right for over four years."
Sink told Ault, who retired in 2010, that inmates were accusing her of trying to eliminate their movies and suggested a supervisor had let them know she complained.
Ault responded that he took "umbrage" with her claim that management identified her, and said "you, and you alone, have put yourself out there" by turning off movies and complaining. He said it was her who got upset and filed the complaint, even though steps were being taken to select more appropriate movies.
"I question who here has created a 'more hostile environment to work in' or an 'unsecured environment to work in', as you call it," Ault wrote. "I cannot disagree with you that some of the scenes in movies have shown sexual violence, especially those involving females, and should not have been shown, and we believe we have tightened up the process to lessen the likelihood of such movies being shown. We must remember, however, that we are an institution of adult males, and much of what we show can be seen on general television broadcasts."
Sink claims a male supervisor then told her the department had received a complaint from an inmate that her clothes were too tight. Sink says she was humiliated when she was directed to turn around so the supervisor could inspect her uniform.
Weeks later, Ault dismissed Sink's complaint, saying officials determined the movies didn't violate the state's violence-free workplace policy. "As always, we encourage you to continue to report any inappropriate behaviors you may encounter while performing your job duties," he wrote.
Months later, Sink wrote that she turned off another movie after it showed sexual violence and she found one inmate masturbating in his cell. Another said, "No offense but some women like it that way," she wrote to superiors. She said such movies jeopardized staff security and hurt the goals of sex offender treatment.
Department spokesman Fred Scaletta said he couldn't comment on Sink's allegations. He said the agency prohibits the showing of NC-17 films and requires any R-rated videos to have a "redeeming value." Unrated shows must be reviewed to ensure they are appropriate, he said.
In 2009, Ault adopted guidelines that allowed movies to be shown in inmates' cells after 9 p.m., not in the common area. But Sink said Ault's successor, Nick Ludwick, loosened the restriction at the urging of inmates. Ault and Ludwick declined interview requests.
In 2011, inmates were allowed to watch the Showtime series, "Californication." Sink said she objected to sex scenes that "whipped up" inmates and turned off the show despite an order not to do so. Sink said she was investigated for insubordination and later learned she received a disciplinary letter, which has since been removed from her file.
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24-years old actress and former Miss Teen Denver [Second Runner up] Cortney Palm in Sushi Girl.Possibly her first nudity as well on-screen considering the movie was in production for nearly two years since 2010 due to budgetary issues.
Quite media savvy, Courtney is working hard to gain a strong foothold in capricious natured Hollywood. Cortney major advantage in climbing the stairs to celebrity status is her fearlessness in performing nude scenes unlike some of the current actresses of similar aspiration unwilling to be flexible until pushed to the corner of obscurity, irrelevancy or on throes of financial meltdown. It's second nature to the former beauty queen having worked extensively as glamor model including shaking her cute bum at strip clubs while waiting for acting career to take off.
Clash Daily
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Lobbyist on quest for legal prostitution in Vegas
By DAVID McGRATH SCHWARTZ, Las Vegas Sun
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 file photo, brothel lobbyist George Flint, top right, stands behind Moonlite Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof, bottom second right, as they wait for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to speak to a joint session of the state Legislature in Carson City, Nev. Flint is entering his 28th year as a uniquely Nevada political fixture: brothel lobbyist, wedding chapel owner, self-proclaimed mayor of the coffee shop at the Legislature and, perhaps most importantly, keeper of secrets. If Hof is the brothel industry's public face, Flint is its political girth, an accepted part of the Nevada legislative machine. |
That way, the working girls know they don't have to line up to primp for a paying customer.
Inside, the small brothel is Nevada casino dark, tinged with red lighting. During Flint's visit on a recent Wednesday afternoon, girls napped on couches and armchairs.
The brothel's public room was empty of other men. Flint, 78, propped himself on a stool at the bar. A brunette and a blonde — Trinity and Star — sat beside him, taking advantage of a lull in business to sip sodas and watch true crime mysteries on television.
Flint pulled out his business cards. He has two sets.
One is for his job as brothel lobbyist: "Your insurance against the Legislature," he told the girls, according to the Las Vegas Sun (http://bit.ly/T5Iv0X).
His second business card seems incongruous with his first.
"And if you get married," he said, handing them a card for his wedding chapel business.
Yes, Flint is also a minister.
"Oh! I just got engaged," said Star, her face brightening.
Flint is entering his 28th year as a uniquely Nevada political fixture: brothel lobbyist, wedding chapel owner, self-proclaimed mayor of the coffee shop at the Legislature and, perhaps most importantly, keeper of secrets.
Since the first Nevada "house of ill fame," as they're sometimes referred to in state law, was licensed in 1971, brothels have operated in low-slung "ranches" near industrial sites where wild mustangs graze. The businesses are residue of the state's libertarian mining camp ethos.
Flint — who wears glasses with lenses the size of baseballs and walks with a heavy limp caused by a 1975 car crash after a night of celebrating a legislative victory — is the man who represents them at the Legislature.
Since becoming the industry's lobbyist in 1985, he has cultivated a low profile for the industry and himself.
"You don't want to rub this business too much in people's faces," Flint said.
But for an industry that is only one bill away from annihilation, Flint has big plans — he hears the footsteps of time, and this might be his last session.
He's planning to take a run at the grandest date of all, the holy grail and great white whale of the brothel industry rolled into one: convincing lawmakers to allow legal prostitution in Clark County and Las Vegas.
Technically, it's a simple fix: Eliminate a state law that says only counties with fewer than 700,000 people can issue work cards to prostitutes and brothel owners. Then, the Clark County Commission would have to allow it.
But Flint is inclined to make a more specific, major push in Clark County, the specifics of which he's not ready to talk about yet.
Politically, though, it's a massive effort, and Flint is working it both at the state and county levels.
'He could own this state'
Flint's job as a lobbyist is traditional in many ways.
He chats up lawmakers, testifies at committee hearings, and hands out campaign checks to candidates — only one of which was returned this year, Flint said proudly.
But by virtue of the industry he lobbies for, Flint also logs some fairly nontraditional duties — offering tours of Nevada's houses of ill fame to gawking lawmakers and even handing out "freebie" visits to legislators with the women who work there.
But things may be changing.
The days when lawmakers would ask for passes to the brothels from Flint have quieted. For the first time, there were no requests last session, Flint said.
Over the years, Flint has seen the industry change. He's watched, sometimes uncomfortably, as it climbed slowly out of those obscure bushes in the state's remote counties and onto cable television.
There's outspoken brothel owner Dennis Hof, star of the HBO series "Cathouse."
Lance Gilman, another brothel owner, was just elected to the Storey County Commission, bringing a new round of oh-my-gosh national media stories about the only state in the country where prostitution is legal.
"Maybe this is a door opener; it allows a little more visibility of the industry," Flint said. "We have nothing to be ashamed of and a lot to be proud of, in fact."
Flint's reality: Men pay for sex
To Flint, the rest of the country — even Las Vegas — is living in denial. They've been playing with prohibition, decades after it proved it didn't work with alcohol.
Meanwhile, underaged girls are trafficked. Pimps beat up women. Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV are spread. Money changes hands — $7 billion a year in Las Vegas, Flint estimates — to criminals as part of a dark economy.
On prostitution, in Flint's view, it's a binary choice: illegal and dangerous or regulated and safe.
From the pulpit to the brothel
It wasn't actually prostitution that first landed Flint in the Legislature. It was his job as a minister and wedding chapel owner.
Flint was born April 12, 1934. His parents were both preachers, ministering particularly to the Southern California Japanese-American community. When the United States shipped off the Japanese-Americans to internment camps in Wyoming during World War II, his parents moved with them to minister. Flint was in the fifth grade.
Back then, there were brothels all over Wyoming, Flint said, maybe not legal, but tolerated and accepted.
Flint was a sportswriter for his high school newspaper and would travel around the region with the football and boys' basketball teams. Brothels were sometimes stops on those trips.
He went inside, he said, but, "I never went to the bedroom — hell, I was 15 or 16, scared to death."
The owners of one brothel, the Yellow Hotel, would come into his dad's photo shop — his parents couldn't afford to live on the modest salary the congregation paid — when they lived in Lusk.
"My father had a terrible distaste for them because they were in prostitution," Flint said.
But to Flint, the owners of the brothel were "lovely people. Good businesspeople."
After high school, Flint went to the College of the Open Bible in Des Moines, Iowa, where he studied theology for three years. He doesn't know why he did it.
"I was never motivated to go into the ministry," he said.
In 1961, married with four young kids, Flint visited his sister, who worked in a wedding chapel in Reno. They performed seven weddings in one day, and he saw a business.
In the spring of 1962, he moved his family to Reno and started his own chapel.
At that time, every other state but Nevada required either a waiting period before couples got married or a blood test. Nevada required neither, and Reno and Las Vegas were ready-made cheap honeymoon towns.
Reading the newspaper during the 1963 legislative session, he started to get a bug.
"It looked to me like we were on rocky ground," he said of the chapel business. "We weren't respected. The attitude was that we married runaway kids."
The evangelicals and the Catholics wanted the quickie-marriage industry gone.
His first legislative war came in 1967, when Nevada's church leadership tried to squash the wedding chapel business — which they regarded as irreverent competition, Flint said.
To do it, Nevada church officials fronted a bill in the state Senate that would have declared couples married as soon as they picked up a marriage license — a move that would have essentially killed the quickie wedding chapel business.
Local pastors came up and testified their support.
Then it was Flint's turn.
Unbeknownst to the local pastors, Flint had called church officials at their out-of-state headquarters, including the Methodist, Catholic and Assembly of God leadership.
When he took the microphone, Flint explained to lawmakers that the national church leaders thought the idea of marriage via certificate was "very unorthodox, very nontraditional."
In fact, he got the national leadership to say "that was the dumbest thing they ever heard of." And he got them on tape.
"It was a good bloodletting," he said.
Church leadership, after talking to the local pastors, claimed they were duped.
"I wasn't 100 percent honest," Flint said. "I didn't tell them I was with a chapel."
He was scolded by the lawmakers for his tactics, but the bill was dead. The industry was protected.
Since then, Flint says, he has pretty well rewritten most of Nevada's wedding laws, including taking justices of the peace out of the business.
The great white whale
In 1985, Flint received a message at the Legislature that led to his role as both wedding chapel minister and brothel lobbyist.
A pair of brothel owners called him out to the Kit Kat Ranch, east of Carson City, for a meeting.
"There's a new disease out there, called AIDS," Flint remembers them saying. And, they worried, "it could be the downfall of the industry."
They needed help keeping state lawmakers from trying to shut them down.
Flint took the job, and since then, he's not only fought off efforts to abolish legal prostitution, but tried to further weave the industry into the state's economic fabric.
At least twice, he's unsuccessfully worked to pass a state tax on prostitution, believing that lawmakers would never kill an industry on which it depended for money. Efforts in 2003 and 2009 failed because lawmakers felt the issue had become too big of a distraction for a relatively small amount of money.
But in the 2013 Legislature, which starts in February, Flint said he's going to make a run at more sweeping legislation.
He said he has two lawmakers in the Assembly — whom he would not name — interested in "addressing the problem" of illegal prostitution in Clark County, by legalizing and regulating the industry.
Flint also said this might be his last session.
"I'm dedicated to doing it in my lifetime," he said. "I feel the lack of legalization and regulation in Clark County creates a huge amount of crime that needs to be addressed."
Plus, he estimated, it could bring in $300 million to $400 million in taxes for the county, city or state, every two years.
But to do it, he'll have to overcome the state's biggest industry: the casinos.
Billy Vassiliadis, a top lobbyist and marketer in Las Vegas — but not speaking on behalf of the Nevada Resort Association, in this case — said legalizing prostitution would damage the prestige of the Strip, where some of the highest-class resorts in the world have been built.
"It is not consistent with what business travelers, convention delegates want," he said.
Guy Rocha, a state historian who has studied the legal brothel industry, said Flint's quest was a long shot. No longer does Nevada lead the way in libertarian trailblazing, as it did with divorce, boxing, gambling and the marriage industry. Instead, other states have taken the lead on issues like legalized marijuana and gay marriage. Nevada, with its corporate-owned casinos, is more cautious.
"Prohibition on sex for sale has failed, is a failure and will continue to be a failure," he said.
'It's not totally not normal'
Flint admits his dual role as minister and brothel lobbyist is "incongruous."
"It was never planned," he said.
But he likes to bring up the Bible in defending the brothel industry.
"Who was Jesus' best friend? I think it was Mary Magdalene," he said.
His second wife, Betty — to whom he has been married 44 years — and children are fine with his brothel lobbying, though he admits his wife sometimes gets irked when he shows friendship to some of the girls.
Has he ever been to a brothel? Of course, Flint said. He went out with a reporter the other day. Here's what you really want to know: "If you're asking if I've been to the bedroom? Yeah. I have."
Between his first and second marriages, in the 1960s, "I reached out for the solace and warmth of professionals," he said.
But would Flint want one of his family members working in the brothel business?
"I had one daughter who died in her late 40s of alcoholism. A lot of times, I think she'd have been better off at the Mustang Ranch," he said, getting quiet.
Flint revels in telling real-life "Pretty Woman" stories, about the prostitutes who've made it out — used sex work to bank cash so they could get an education, become a nurse or get a doctorate, or met a husband through work.
But they don't all end up that way. One of the women Flint introduced during an interview with the Sun has been working as a prostitute for two decades. She is now 50 years old and admitted she needed to find a new line of work. But what?
Flint could sense a reporter's uneasiness with the profession.
But he justifies his quest for the spread of legalized prostitution with the knowledge that it is happening, regulated or not.
"All day today, nothing I've told you — I'm not going to tell you this is totally normal," he said finally. "But don't think it's totally not normal either."
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Fifty Shades of Grey: How far will film adaptation dare go?
British screenwriter promises a 'raunchy' movie but dodges questions about casting
PEOPLE in Hollywood have gone to desperate measures to find out who will play Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, according to British screenwriter Kelly Marcel. On a recent visit to LA, Marcel's "trash was gone through" so she's now getting shredders installed at her home in Twickenham, London.
In an interview with the Sunday Times Style magazine, 38-year-old Marcel gave a hint of what fans can expect from the film but remained mum on the subject of casting.
In an interview with the Sunday Times Style magazine, 38-year-old Marcel gave a hint of what fans can expect from the film but remained mum on the subject of casting.
Anyway, she insists, "no actor would sign up to a film without a script" - so until the screenplay is delivered it's not an issue.
Try telling that to the Hollywood gossips who are convinced it will be Ryan Gosling or Tom Hardy for the role of Christian (to name but two) and either Kristen Stewart, Scarlett Johansson or Mila Kunis playing Anastasia.
Even the Sunday Times' own business columnist Prufrock has joined in the guessing game, claiming that the latest name to be linked to the part of Anastasia is Krysten Ritter, best known for her role as Jane Margolis in the TV series Breaking Bad.
What Marcel is happy to reveal is that there is going to be "a lot of sex in the film" and that it will be rated NC-17 in America, 18 in the UK. "It's going to be raunchy," she says. "We are 100 per cent going there."
Indeed, the main task facing Marcel now is to inject some plot between the endless sex scenes and the constant discussion of what Anastasia will agree to accept from BDSM addict Christian. (BDSM, for those still in the dark, stands for bondage, domination, sadism and masochism.)
To that end, Marcel, whose writing credits include Saving Mr Banks and the TV series Terra Nova, has been working with Fifty Shades author EL James to edit out some of the novel's sex scenes. "We did go through and decide which are our favourites and which are not," she said. "Most of them are in there but I can't say more than that."
Marcel insists her adaptation will not be all about sex. "Regardless of what you may think of the writing, this is a modern love story, involving two complex characters, and that's what I'm interested in," she says.
"I don't care what anybody says, there is something about Christian that is old-fashioned and romantic." ·
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Viva launches Meg Imperial to sexy stardom
She is FHM’s December 2012 cover girl Meg Imperial, who has appeared in a number of TV5 shows like “Bagets,” “Lokomoko U,” “Pidol’s Wonderland,” “Game and Go,” “Maynila” and “Just Got Lucky.”
A talent of Viva Artists Agency (VAA), Meg has also played contravida to Ritz Azul in the series “Glamorosa.” There are talks that Meg is moving to ABS-CBN soon but she says negotiations are still underway.
Meg, who turns 20 on January 20, admits TV work had to temporarily take a back seat so she can go full time on her most daring project, “Menor de Edad,” megged by multi-awarded Joel Lamangan with Wendell Ramos as Meg’s leading man.
In an interview, she says, “Mahirap mag-say ng ‘no’ sa ganyang offer. Big break ko na po ito at nangako ako sa Viva na gagawin ko ang makakaya ko para sulit ang tiwala nila sa akin. Malaki naman din po ang tiwala ko sa kanila dahil magaling na director ang humawak sa pelikula naming, si Direk Joel. Alam kong magandang lalabas ang pelikula namin kaya hindi na po ako nag-inarte pa.”
* My translation : I will show tits, bare my boobs, folks going to enjoy watching my teen tatas, blah, blah....
The stirring tale of a troubled teenage girl’s sexual awakening is due in theaters January 23. It also serves as Meg’s birthday offering as the screen neophyte turns 20 three days before showing, January 20.
In the movie, Meg plays 15-year-old Jen Guilarman, a third year high school student who leads a lonely, troubled existence in a tenement housing building.
She is brought up by a dysfunctional mom (Ara Mina) and her mom’s lesbian live-in partner. Jen experiences a hellish life from which she tries to escape.
In school, she catches the attention of her Pilipino teacher, Ariel Basco (Wendell), who is himself undergoing a difficult marriage. His wife, Laida, has been in and out of the hospital, diagnosed with cancer of the uterus, and they are saddled with financial problems.
A loner himself, Ariel is sympathetic to the equally lonely Jen and their counseling sessions lead to a friendship misconstrued by others as more than just platonic.
Jen, being the more vulnerable one, imagines herself in love with her teacher and fantasizes about him falling in love with her.
So, to experience a sense of belongingness, Jen becomes involved with a street, all-girl gang. She makes new friends and finds love and security in some kind of a family that accepts her for what she is.
When Jen is initiated into the girl gang, she has to undergo a sexual rite. She chooses to seduce Ariel to devirginize her. When Ariel rejects her advances, Jen is humiliated and runs away from him.
A few minutes later, she is kidnapped by three members of a rival street gang and gang-rapes her.
Afraid of the threats made by the real rapists, she, thus, whips up a lie that will change the lives of people around her.
Will her conscience bother her for sending someone innocent to prison or does justice find its way to setting them free?
For updates, log on to “Menor de Edad’s” Facebook fan page.
* Hopefully the movie will be released in uncut version similar to Yam Concepcion's “Rigodon”.
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Hollywood Shifts Focus on Fight Against Piracy
Hollywood is waiting for a new Congress to bed in before re-entering the legislative fight over content protection. On the Senate side of the Capitol, where the PROTECT IP Act died last year, the Judiciary Committee will continue to be led by Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., an ardent supporter of PIPA. Last year Silicon Valley led the fight against PIPA and its sister bill in the House, the Stop Online Piracy Act, over concerns about freedom of speech, while Hollywood was pushing for the legislation in the name of intellectual property protection. Former Sen. Chris Dodd, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, has made it clear the entertainment industry isn’t looking to restart the bruising fight it was embroiled in last year.
“Hollywood and Silicon Valley have more in common than most people realize or are willing to acknowledge,” Dodd told a crowd of journalists and industry executives at the Variety Content Protection Summit in Universal City in December. “The future isn’t about choosing between protecting free speech or protecting intellectual property—it is about protecting both.”
An official with the MPAA told Backstage that the conciliatory note translates to its legislative strategy and it won’t be seeking a reboot of the two bills that died in 2012. That, no doubt, will be appreciated by Washington lawmakers who faced a vicious backlash from popular websites and online activists over support for PIPA/SOPA.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who is taking over the chairmanship of the House’s Judiciary Committee from Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is staying mum on the possibility of introducing a SOPA-like bill in the 113th Congress.
That isn’t to say there’s no action in the Capitol on copyright law. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., whose district includes slices of Silicon Valley, is drafting a bill that would slow down the process of seizing piracy-friendly domain names by adding some judicial oversight to the process currently used.
“The thinking is, obviously it’s not going to pass any time soon,” she recently told Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. “But it’s a marker out there. And if we can get some Republican co-sponsors and if we have something that is clearly rooted in the Constitution, maybe we can make some progress.”
Lofgren and other members of Congress have had ongoing concerns with Operation in Our Sites, an anti-piracy and counterfeiting effort by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that since it began in June 2010 has seized 1,630 domains, 684 of which have been forfeited to the government, according to a release.
The MPAA, for which enforcement remains a key part of anti-piracy strategy, had lobbied for its creation, and soon the entertainment industry will have another weapon in its anti-piracy arsenal.
A “Copyright Alert System,” pushed by the MPAA in partnership with Internet service providers, which is meant to monitor file-sharing networks, educate users about piracy, and disrupt illegal downloads, is set to roll out early next year, an MPAA official told Backstage. That’s in addition to international anti-piracy efforts such as the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Beijing Treaty, signed last summer, which has been promoted in part as protection measures for content producers and working actors.
For actors, the outcome of the 2013 legislative battle in Washington could have a significant impact on their pocketbooks. Piracy, the entertainment industry argues, leads to lost royalties and smaller residual checks, and by extension, the money lost by the industry takes funding away from future projects, which would lead to more roles.
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Steamy ‘Seduction’
The mother and daughter team of Regal Entertainment’s Lily and Roselle Monteverde has commissioned erotic films icon Peque Gallaga for the project after a long absence from filmmaking.
Direk Peque is best remembered for Pinoy classics like “Oro, Plata, Mata” and “Scorpio Nights,” the revolutionary movie which set a different concept for sexy films during the ’80s.
The director is a plus factor in convincing the three leads to engage in steamy scenes and bare skin on screen.
As a result, Netizens are all agog over “Seduction’s” uncut trailer in various social networking sites. The three stars threw all cautions to the wind as they dabble in erotic love scenes like that which involves Richard and Sarah making out on top of a kitchen sink and Richard “feasting” on Solenn’s svelte body by the shore.
Solenn comes off so alluring as she displays all she’s got in her swimsuit scenes while Sarah herself agrees to disrobe and show off her wares before the cameras in scintillating sexual acts with her real-life boyfriend.
In the movie, Richard plays struggling fireman Ram. Unfortunately, he gets suspended from work at a time when he is in dire need of money to pay for his father’s kidney transplant.
He then rents a space in a room owned by Trina (Sarah).
One night, Ram makes use of his good looks and appeal to seduce the lonely Trina. They have sex, but to Ram’s surprise, Trina shies away after the act.
This is when rich and influential Sophia (Solenn) enters Ram’s life. He rescues her from a devastating hotel fire.
Sophia hires Ram to be her driver-bodyguard.
The owner of a cable company she inherited from her ultra-rich parents, Sophia has all the means to get what she wants… until she falls madly in love with Ram.
Though bathing in Sophia’s riches, Ram finds himself still yearning for Trina’s love.
When Sophia learns about this, she shows the ill-fated lovers her wrath and the unforgiving nature of her obsession for Ram.
Moviegoers will not be disappointed as far as Richard, Sarah and Solenn’s steamy scenes are concerned.
Richard shows a different side in the movie but is mum on talks of him agreeing to a butt exposure scene.
“Basta contented ako sa ginawa ko sa movie. This is my hottest film ever, hahaha!” Richard said.
“Seduction” is undoubtedly Sarah’s most daring outing. Her young showbiz career boasts of wholesome stints in the afternoon drama “Kokak” on GMA-7 and “Makapiling Kang Muli,” where romance between her and leading man Richard blossomed.
Then, of course, there is woman of the hour Solenn, who is much sought-after for TV and movie projects. Her performance in “Seduction” will not disappoint male fans who fantasize over this half-French, half-Pinay model-actress.
Lastly, film buffs must brace themselves for the long-overdue comeback of Direk Peque in “Seduction,” which is touted to once again set a new trend in the landscape of Pinoy erotic movies!
* And here I thought American catholicism-influenced dramedies (Rescue Me, Ed Burns, David Kelley) were absurd because of the obsession with infidelity and subsequent guilt tinged with heavy dose of remorse (mostly told from male perspective who usually redeems himself after mounting countless women to get to the one he truly loves). Kudos to Filipinos for taking it one notch further. Bet it's all talky and no real skin fest.
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Caitlin O’Connor Can Play Against Type
By Daniel Lehman
Backstage member Caitlin O’Connor is a SAG-AFTRA actor and trained dancer (jazz, modern technique, ballet, and hip-hop) who has appeared on “Tosh.0” and “Kroll Show.” She is represented by Pantheon Talent Group. Her special skills include stilt walking. O’Connor graduated from UCLA with an English major and a theater minor and has also studied at the Acting Corps, Marki Costello’s TV hosting academy, and Howard Fine Acting Studio.
First Gig
After competing in the Miss California USA pageant, she was offered a role as a Disney Princess at Disneyland.
O’Connor says receiving her SAG card in the mail five years ago was “very rewarding.”
Worst Audition
O’Connor refused to go nude for a role, but the CD still asked to see her topless just in case she changed her mind. “I walked out—briskly.”
Caitlin O’Connor’s Dream Role
“My dream role is to portray a powerful, independent, kick-ass woman, or even a superhero. These roles are few and far between, while roles as prostitutes, strippers, and bimbos permeate my inbox.”
* All demure Caitlin O'Connor used to be Katie Carroll (ID credit goes to B.Sampson). And why was Ms. O'Connor using an alias? Well....like nearly all so-called 'non-nude' models:
From IMDB site :"Caitlin has been a regular guest at The Playboy Mansion since 2009, befriending Hugh Hefner, his close confidantes, and his girlfriends."
Interview with Katie the Playmate:
Playboy.com: What inspired you to become a Cyber Girl?
Well, it’s an interesting story. I was at a gas station in Beverly Hills next to the Playboy Mansion. I had never been to the Playboy Mansion before and something very strange happened. I met Crystal Harris, Hef’s girlfriend, and she said, “You look like you could be a great Playboy model and I want to invite you to the Mansion.” I was like, “What mansion? What do you mean!?” She had just moved in so she kind of changed my life; she invited me up to the Mansion, I met Hef and I got to pose for the magazine and the rest is history.
Interview with Katie the Playmate:
Playboy.com: What inspired you to become a Cyber Girl?
Well, it’s an interesting story. I was at a gas station in Beverly Hills next to the Playboy Mansion. I had never been to the Playboy Mansion before and something very strange happened. I met Crystal Harris, Hef’s girlfriend, and she said, “You look like you could be a great Playboy model and I want to invite you to the Mansion.” I was like, “What mansion? What do you mean!?” She had just moved in so she kind of changed my life; she invited me up to the Mansion, I met Hef and I got to pose for the magazine and the rest is history.
She is still an active Playmate shooting nudetorials as late as of 2012:
Caitlin came clean (publicly) in October/November of 2012 in an article after her disastrous appearance on Girls Gone Wild Hottest Girl In America. She refused to pose (implied) topless for the show pissing off douche Joe Francis who clearly knew the Playboy alter ego of Caitlin. He looked on incredulously as she refused to pose (implied) topless and spurted some inane nonsense about being smarter than other contestants:
"My name is Caitlin O'Connor. I'm a working model, actress, and host based out of Los Angeles. I love to shoot creative fashion/portrait projects. I regularly work as a swimsuit, lingerie and glamour model. I am a weekend guest at the Playboy Mansion and UCLA's BearWear Catalog Model. I've done work with Playboy and will not do nude projects anywhere else. I love shooting and commit 100% to my work in the industry. I've shot with amazing photographers, makeup artists, stylists and industry greats. I'm open-minded and creative. I am always expanding my portfolio and have put a lot of time and work into it thus far."
"My name is Caitlin O'Connor. I'm a working model, actress, and host based out of Los Angeles. I love to shoot creative fashion/portrait projects. I regularly work as a swimsuit, lingerie and glamour model. I am a weekend guest at the Playboy Mansion and UCLA's BearWear Catalog Model. I've done work with Playboy and will not do nude projects anywhere else. I love shooting and commit 100% to my work in the industry. I've shot with amazing photographers, makeup artists, stylists and industry greats. I'm open-minded and creative. I am always expanding my portfolio and have put a lot of time and work into it thus far."
Playboy model Katie Carroll aka Caitlin O'Connor was "Miss Photogenic" at Miss California USA 2008 and competed in Miss Pennsylvania 2011 (Third Runner-up, 2011).
Caitlin O'Connor is the cousin of actor C. Thomas Howell of 'E.T.' and 'Red Dawn'. She's an international actress, television host and model. Caitlin was born in Los Angeles but grew up in rural Pennsylvania. Persuaded to enter beauty pageants as a teen, she became a top finalist in the Miss Pennsylvania USA contest among many others. For college, she moved home to California to attend UCLA. As an actress, Caitlin starred as a series regular on the MTV show 'Chelsea Settles' as well as guest spots on HBO's 'Entourage' and Comedy Central's 'Tosh.O' and 'The Nick Show Kroll'. She has also presented on various television shows including 'The Ski Channel', 'FOX News', and 'Maria Menounos' After Buzz TV' to name a few.
Caitlin has graced the pages of some of the world's leading publications including CNN's 'Sports Illustrated,' the international monthly men's magazine 'FHM', and industry leader with over 2.5 million readers, 'Maxim'.
As a model she has worked on various prominent national and international print campaigns for Target, Xbox, and IGN, and has appeared in many high profile music videos, as an actress or dancer, including the French/Canadian rock band 'Simple Plan', actress/singer 'Taylor Momsen' (Hit TV series 'Gossip Girl'), Jive Records 'Miguel', renowned rapper 'Yelawolf', the energetic pop punk band 'Newfound Glory', and the highly acclaimed Grammy and Billboard award winning artist 'Chris Brown'.
When not acting, hosting television shows or modeling, Caitlin lends her time and talents to non-profit organizations which protect animals and kids, including Safety Harbor Kids, Generosity Water and One Mama.
Caitlin O'Connor is the cousin of actor C. Thomas Howell of 'E.T.' and 'Red Dawn'. She's an international actress, television host and model. Caitlin was born in Los Angeles but grew up in rural Pennsylvania. Persuaded to enter beauty pageants as a teen, she became a top finalist in the Miss Pennsylvania USA contest among many others. For college, she moved home to California to attend UCLA. As an actress, Caitlin starred as a series regular on the MTV show 'Chelsea Settles' as well as guest spots on HBO's 'Entourage' and Comedy Central's 'Tosh.O' and 'The Nick Show Kroll'. She has also presented on various television shows including 'The Ski Channel', 'FOX News', and 'Maria Menounos' After Buzz TV' to name a few.
Caitlin has graced the pages of some of the world's leading publications including CNN's 'Sports Illustrated,' the international monthly men's magazine 'FHM', and industry leader with over 2.5 million readers, 'Maxim'.
As a model she has worked on various prominent national and international print campaigns for Target, Xbox, and IGN, and has appeared in many high profile music videos, as an actress or dancer, including the French/Canadian rock band 'Simple Plan', actress/singer 'Taylor Momsen' (Hit TV series 'Gossip Girl'), Jive Records 'Miguel', renowned rapper 'Yelawolf', the energetic pop punk band 'Newfound Glory', and the highly acclaimed Grammy and Billboard award winning artist 'Chris Brown'.
When not acting, hosting television shows or modeling, Caitlin lends her time and talents to non-profit organizations which protect animals and kids, including Safety Harbor Kids, Generosity Water and One Mama.
A bit of advice, Caitlin...drop the sanctimonious attitude before Hollywood drops you for good without ever giving you the chance you think you richly deserve for being smarter and talented than everyone else in the room.
Guys, check out some sexy scenes GIF-ed from upcoming Banshee here
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Finding your way can mean losing your mind in the process…
An isolated elderly woman, in desperate need of stimulation, conjures an infestation of silk-spinning caterpillars, thus leading her to a mind-bending epiphany.‘Caterpillar’ is a cerebral drama, filmed in the historical Wynkoop House, famous for housing George Washington. The crew consists of highly esteemed artists working across a wide spectrum of disciplines. This includes special effects artist, Ben Bornstein (300, The Fighter), visual effects artist Greg Silverman (Black Swan), and editor, Corey Bayes (Haywire, Contagion, The Informant, Che). From storyline through production, Caterpillar is an ode to the creative process. This film is a must-see for anyone who has ever submitted to their imagination and felt transformed by an idea.
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Armed Hate Crime Victim Decides Not to Shoot Attacker
Earlier this week, a 24-year-old Tampa-area resident named Cameron Mohammed was walking with his girlfriend into Walmart at around 3 a.m. when the two were approached from behind by a 25-year-old named Daniel Quinnell. Quinnell allegedly yelled racial epithets at the two, then fired 20 shots at Mohammed with a pellet gun — pictured above — striking him multiple times in the head and neck. Mohammed was armed, too — but with a real .45 caliber pistol. He chose not to shoot.
"I don't know. I just couldn't do it," Mohammed said, recovering at his Tampa home two days after the attack. "I couldn't blow this guy away for something he could change later in life. I'm not going to decide this man's fate."The story is a bizarre, hard-to-reconcile mixture of both right and wrong. The genesis of the attack is something very, very far into the "wrong" column, and when coupled with the recent death of Sunando Sen in New York City, it illustrates just how terrifying America can still be for anyone that even in the vaguest terms codes to the ignorant as "Muslim."
Investigators had released surveillance video of the shooting and photographs of the suspect to the media Thursday. In the video, from Walmart in Lutz, a man deputies say is Quinnell approaches the couple from behind as they walk into the store about 3 a.m. Wednesday. He asked Mohammed if he was Muslim or from the Middle East, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Mohammed said no, but, authorities said, Quinnell shot him at close range with a gas-propelled pellet gun while saying "n——- with a white girl."Like Sen, Mohammed is not Muslim. Neither were from the Middle East — Sen was born in India; Mohammed was born in Trinidad and raised in Tampa. That didn't matter to Quinnell, who told police that "they're all the same" after being informed that Mohammed isn't Muslim. It also didn't matter to Erika Menendez, the woman who murdered Sen and used "Muslim" and "Hindu" as interchangeable terms in her statements to police. But an unexpected part of the story is that in Quinnell's case the system worked, at least as much as it can under current law.
Quinnell, who declined an interview request by the Times, has been arrested 10 times in Florida since 2006, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Many of the arrests involved battery charges and violent threats.Mohammed will have surgery to remove a few of the pellets, and the most lasting pain will be the trauma of being the victim of a hate crime — one in which he was shot in the face for being something that he isn't. It could have been worse, and for many it has. But it also could have been worse — way, way worse — for Quinnell, had he chosen a victim that decided to do what almost any other person carrying a gun would have done.
...
As a felon, Quinnell was banned from carrying firearms. That's why, he told deputies Thursday night, he carried the pellet gun instead. He told them he burned the gun after the shooting.
[Mohammed] said he has been dating his girlfriend for a year and a half. He said she told him that night that Quinnell was staring at her menacingly as they pulled into the parking lot to get some food.[via Tampa Bay Times]
Mohammed says he remembers giving the man a wide berth as he passed in his car.
At some point during the shooting, Mohammed said, his girlfriend must have remembered a conversation the couple had months ago. He told her if they were ever in a dangerous situation, she should keep quiet and find safe cover.
In the Walmart surveillance footage, as the assailant sweeps from behind and levels his gun, Mohammed's girlfriend disappears behind a column, safe from fire.
After taking two pellets to his head and neck, Mohammed stands and watches the man flee, then notices a bystander who could have been hit if Mohammed had taken a shot. His hand is on his gun. But it stays in the holster.
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The discourse around piracy thus far hasn't exactly been nuanced, with copyright holders pushing harder than ever to impose harsh penalities for anyone who downloads music or movies. All this while 
