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Alyssa Campanella @ Dorit Shaw Bikinis
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Steven Bauer Talks Showtime Series RAY DONOVAN With Liev Schreiber
Ray Donovan centers on a celebrity fixer who cleans up problems before the paparazzi catch wind. Schreiber plays the title character while Bauer plays his partner - former Mossad agent.
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There are few episodes left in the season and according to Imdb Kelly Overton will only make an appearance in the final episode......
Tonight episode is directed by Stephen Moyer :Alan Ball about Stephen Moyer on 5.08 (Somebody That I Used To Know) “He directed a sex scene that might be the hottest sex scene we’ve ever had on the show,” Alan revealed.
My gut says it's between Sam and Luna but my cock wants it to be Rikki and Alcide.
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How Being Big in Japan (or Germany, or Russia ... ) Gets a Movie Made
It is the job of people like Patrick Wachsberger, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairman, to figure out how best to leverage the right stars in different parts of the world to maximize grosses, though he cautions that it’s not a simple, easily quantifiable equation. “You could not go about it by plugging numbers into a computer and waiting for them to be spit out,” he explains. “I don’t want to say it’s artistry, but it kind of is.” However, when choosing a cast for a film, there is a delicate hedging of bets, using stars who may be negligible in the States, but who are of decisive value overseas.
Take Colin Firth, for example. “Internationally, [he] is a draw,” says Wachsberger. “Most Americans would say, ‘Colin who?’ But [if we could get him] we would say, ‘Oh, great!’” The King’s Speech was a surprise hit in the U.S., pulling in $139 million. But it was a downright blockbuster abroad, taking in nearly twice that. The bulk of that came from Europe, and King’s Speech was a very European story, but as a British actor, Firth is often a draw there. Take his Easy Virtue: Forgotten in the U.S. (or barely noticed in the first place) in 2009 with $2.6 million, it was rescued by taking in another $15.8 million overseas.
Other stars dominate when they’re in their wheelhouse genre. For example, the aforementioned Kevin James is huge in Germany when he’s doing physical comedy. His grosses for The Zookeeper there nearly doubled that from the film’s next highest-earning country, Mexico. (When it came to the less pratfall-driven The Dilemma, Germans largely stayed away, along with the rest of the world.) And while Jason Statham feels a bit B-movie in America, he is probably the biggest and most consistently profitable action star working in the world today, with a particularly loyal fan base in Russia.
Without the vast coffers that Wall Street–owned media hydras possess, smaller studios like Lionsgate and Summit (the latter of which Wachsberger owned before Lionsgate bought it in January) often spread risk by bringing in foreign distributors who chip in on the budget in exchange for exhibiting the film in their region. Having a star who is a proven lure in a financier’s neck of the woods is a big enticement. One talent agency insider familiar with Statham’s power abroad says, “I once read a Millennium Films spreadsheet on the financing of The Mechanic about how much Statham's name raised in [pre-sales to distributors in] the different territories around the world — it totaled $22 million."
It was no accident that Summit’s 2010 action thriller RED was populated with stars like Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich. Sources say that its budget was a little under $60 million, but with the cast’s international appeal, the company was able to raise 70 percent of that budget by preselling distribution rights to overseas exhibitors. (A Lionsgate representative declined to comment.)
RED provides an interesting lesson in the nuances of calculating each star’s value when looking at the world view. “With Bruce Willis alone [in an action movie today], a foreign buyer in, let’s say, Scandinavia, could be excited — or not,” explains Wachsberger, who sat with his lieutenant, Helen Lee-Kim, who heads up Lionsgate’s international division.
“The Scandies like their action a little more sophisticated,” adds Lee-Kim.
“Right,” says Wachsberger. “So with Bruce Willis alone in ‘just’ an action movie, the Scandinavian buyer is asking, ‘Who else is in the movie? Who’s directing?’ Because the budget directs the look of the movie, and a substantial amount of money paid to a star like Bruce Willis changes that look.” In other words, if a big wad of cash goes to Willis’s salary, and he’s the only real star, they can’t spend much more on the other elements or the film will never recoup, since Willis’s value in most places (not just Scandinavia) is not what it used to be. Says Jay Cohen, a partner at the Gersh Agency who heads its independent film finance and distribution division, “Bruce needs people with him in a movie. He’s older, he hasn’t worked as much, and the recent movies haven’t worked as much, either.” Cohen estimates that securing Willis’s involvement alone likely accounted for only $10 to $12 million of the budget via presales. (The Lionsgate spokesman also declined to comment on these figures.)
But Willis’s value does grow when he’s in one of his proven franchises, like Die Hard, or amid a gaggle of other well-known stars. No accident then that Willis has many action sequels in the months to come: Next month’s The Expendables 2 will be followed by Die Hard 5: A Good Day to Die Hard in February, and RED 2 in August 2013. In these, he’s a much safer bet.
In fact, The Expendables and its sequel are textbook examples of the new economic reality of Hollywood: It is almost entirely a dialogue-free series of explosions and gunfights designed to leverage the appeal of virtually every foreign action star on the planet — Briton Jason Statham, Australian Liam Hemsworth, Chinese Jet Li, Scandinavian Dolph Lundgren, and Belgian Jean Claude Van Damme — all the while simultaneously exploiting stars who have a bright future behind them in America (e.g., Willis, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and even Chuck Norris — now 72!), but who still have huge value overseas. “Foreign buyers buy ‘yesterday,’" explains Cohen, “They don’t buy ‘tomorrow.'”
Max Von Sydow once groused that Hollywood’s propensity for onscreen xenophobia meant that “those with an accent are bad guys.” But he might be cheered up to know that, behind the scenes, those with an accent have very much become Hollywood’s saviors.
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Miami Spice Special: $500 Sushi Served on (Nearly) Naked Bodies (Photos)
For $500 you get dinner and a show; what kind of show? A sushi strip-tease of sorts. Basically, the Naked Sushi special is two live, almost naked human beings (except for the raw fish garments and leaves covering genitalia) that come out to your table covered with the best Kung Fu has to offer. It may even come with a polite conversation.
Nathan Lieberman, owner of the Catalina Hotel, said that they put out a casting call for bodies and they responded in droves.
Is it sanitary? Yes, says Lieberman. Prior to coming to the table scantily covered in raw fish, all volunteers must take group showers. The reason for the group showers is for the timeliness factor. After all, you must keep the customers happy.
The Catalina is well-suited for group showers, which can accommodate four people. First they take the volunteers to the shower for a group scrubbing. Then they are treated to a bath of sake and rose water. Women especially are notorious requiring lots of time, hence the volume. "It takes them forever to get ready as it is so they prefer the group shower," Lieberman says. "I'll scrub yours, you scrub mine."
Regular entrees are priced at $33 per person and included chicken teriyaki, Buddha's Delight garlic-fried tofu, sweet and sour pork or Rock'N'Roll spicy crab sticks. The lunch menu is $19, which includes signature appetizers: Tuna tartar salad, Rock shrimp and orange salad.
Desserts, which come with the meal, include items such as guava mango cheesecake and ice cream brownie sundae. Each dinner entree comes with a suggested wine pairing.
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The special is available through August 1 to September 30. Reservations can be made at 305-600-9572. Walk-ins are welcome too.
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Zhang Ziyi’s nude body double reveals casting couch in China’s entertainment circle
July 29
Actress Shao Xiaoshan known as Zhang Ziyi‘s stand-in in some bathing and sex scenes in Feng Xiaogang’s 2006 blockbuster “The Banquet“, recently revealed on her Sina Blog that the ugly casting couch is dominant in China’s entertainment circle, and an A-list actress once pocketed 10 million yuan for trading a one night sex favor to a businessman.In an interview later, Shao also out-spoke that Chinese female celebs have clear price tags for their dinner services and sex services. And mostly, their agents help pimp them out for any kind of payoffs. Interestingly now, there are even actors who prostitute themselves too.
“Casting couch is prevailing (in the entertainment circle). From little known new comers to A-list celebs, they all experienced various sex services requests.” Shao Xiaoshan assured the public that the sex scandal allegations of celebs aren’t groundless.
But when asked who the A-list actress involved in the 10 million yuan sex service is, she refused to disclose more details, though there already were speculations among the public that she could refer to Zhang Ziyi who was ever rumored to have made 700 million yuan from sleeping with the rich and powerful figures, particularly with the deposed former Chongqing boss Bo Xilai, over the last decade.
Shao only said that when the actress was once asked why she made money that way as a famous actress, she replied, she had to earn as much money as possible while still young as one day she’ll be old and unpopular.
In Shao’s blog post, she also exposed that many models prostitute themselves for quick cash too, because they live in a luxury life style, renting expensive houses and hiring nannies. Then Shao recounted her own experience, telling that she was once asked at a hotel room whether she was willing to trade sex to a businessman from Macau, who offered 1 million yuan for a week long rumpy bumpy in the boss’s luxury yacht. But she angrily refused it, throwing an ashtray to the disgusting pimp.
By the end of the blog post, Shao also said she was confused one time on a news that a female singer was put to jail because of having sexual relationship with a government official. But later she learned that the singer has another title as a military personnel. So when the official was deposed, she was investigated too.
The blog entity has received much attention on the Internet, with many criticizing it is a tasteless stunt to gab publicity for herself though.
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Kim So Yeon, Lee Yoon Ji, Shin Se Kyung, and Jo Yeo Jung will be appearing with five other actors in next month’s Allure Korea, as the magazine will be celebrating its 9th anniversary.
For this special issue, each artist posed for a head shot and a separate shot as a pop culture character: Kim So Yeon as Bonnie and Clyde‘s Bonnie; Shin Se Kyung as Breakfast at Tiffany‘s Holly Golightly; Lee Yoon Ji as Little Red Riding Hood; Jo Yeo Jung is perhaps Pippi Longstocking???
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KIM SO YEON
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LEE YOON JI
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SHIN SE KYUNG
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JO YEO JUNG
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Models vs. Militants: Nisha Pahuja’s Film Shows Two Worlds of Indian Women
by Abigail Pesta May 5, 2012
A riveting new documentary contrasts the lives of a Miss India hopeful and a Hindu fundamentalist. Abigail Pesta reports. Contestants in the Miss India pageant are gliding across a stage in Mumbai, eyes shining. The winner will become an instant celebrity, gracing glossy magazines and Bollywood films. At the same time, in the nearby city of Aurangabad, girls are learning to hate the pageant. They’re students at a fundamentalist Hindu camp, where they are taught to marry young and shun modern influences.
Miss India contestant Ruhi sees pageants as her ticket to success.
Filmmaker Nisha Pahuja captured both universes in her film The World Before Her, which took the prize for best documentary last week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. “I wanted to look at not just women in India, but the country itself and how it’s undergoing massive cultural changes,” says Pahuja, a Canadian filmmaker who was born in India. “The country is deciding what it wants to be.”
The film, which is showing in Toronto this week at the Hot Docs festival, started back in 2008, when Pahuja became interested in the Miss India pageant, a controversial annual event that feminists and Hindu fundamentalists want to shut down. Then she met one of those fundamentalists, a 24-year-old woman named Prachi. “Everything changed,” says Pahuja. “I thought, Oh, my God, how often do you meet a woman like that? She told me about these Hindu camps. I started trying to get access.”
Pahuja ended up zooming in on both Prachi and a pageant contestant named Ruhi in the film. Ruhi, a sultry 19-year-old, sees beauty pageants as her ticket to success. Prachi sees a future in fundamentalism; she teaches at a Hindu camp for girls run by a group called the Durgha Vahini, in Aurangabad. Tough and tomboyish, she has participated in protests against pageants.
“There are lots of Hindu fundamentalist and Hindu nationalist groups in India—some are more militant than others,” says Pahuja. “They basically believe that India is a Hindu country and it should be governed by a Hindu philosophy. The more extreme ones attack mosques and churches.”
Pahuja says it took two years to gain access to Prachi’s camp. She did it by slowly building relationships, talking to the right people, “and not talking to the right people,” she jokes.
Students at a fundamentalist Hindu camp celebrate their graduation
In the camp, the girls learn to despise other religions. They are lectured on how they should marry as teens. They’re told they don’t need higher education. They learn how to fight with knives and fire rifles in case “enemies” such as Muslims and Christians attack. “I will kill people!” chirps one young girl when asked how she will use her newfound skills.
It’s a sharp contrast to the pageant zone, where stylists flutter around young hopefuls, prepping them on how to look their best and be confident but “not bitchy.” In the days leading up to the pageant, the contestants get Botox to perfect their young faces, and pose for a Bombay Times photo shoot wearing tight jeans and ripped T-shirts. When the newspaper comes out, Ruhi gazes at her portrait, musing that the paper is so important, “even the president” must be looking at it.
Perhaps the most poignant parts of the film come when the parents enter the scene. Ruhi’s parents, a middle-class couple in a run-down apartment in Jaipur, encourage their daughter to succeed. Sifting through snapshots of her in various pageants, their faces radiate with pride. They want her to be Miss India.
Contestants line up in the controversial Miss India pageant.
In contrast, Prachi’s father in Aurangabad brags about the beatings he has dealt his daughter. He laughs about how he once burned her foot with a hot poker when she lied about doing her homework as a schoolgirl. He tells his daughter she must wed. Prachi and her mother tiptoe around him.
Prachi says she doesn’t mind the beatings. After all, she says, they are only administered when she has done something wrong. She says her father has the right to punish her, as he gave her life—and allowed her to live it. The film makes the point that in many Indian families, baby girls are devalued to the point that parents will ship them off to orphanages, or even kill them, simply because they are not boys. Girls are seen as a burden, as the family must pay a dowry to the men they eventually marry. India has essentially outlawed ultrasounds because many families were using them to learn their child's gender and abort the females.
Prachi teaches at a Hindu-fundamentalist camp for girls.
Pahuja says viewers are “intrigued by the complexity” of young women’s lives in India. “There are so many different facets, so many contradictions,” she says. As part of a collaboration between the Tribeca Film Festival and Rikers Island, the notorious New York City prison, Pahuja showed her film to female inmates last week. “By and large, the response was they were really sucked in, really gripped,” she says. “The violence especially affected them, and the fact that Prachi seemed trapped. They were really moved by that.”
Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja was born in India.
Nothing in the film is black and white. The pageant contestants, while proud of their beauty, also struggle at times with morals and modesty. At one point, a young woman laments shedding her dignity when she has to participate in a “best legs” contest ahead of the pageant, donning a white sheet over her head and torso to walk the runway with the other shrouded contestants, showing nothing but leg.
Prachi, meanwhile, is obedient to her father, but has a major problem with his mandate that she wed. She just can’t see it happening. She describes herself as being like both “a girl and a boy.” She says, “When God made me, he was in a different mood. He combined two things together and sent me down.”
One option she entertains for her future: becoming a martyr for her Hindu cause.
It’s her story that lingers long after the film ends.
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What She Thinks When She First Sees Your Penis
I’ve been giving sex and dating advice for years now. Something I’ve learned: Guys are really obsessed with their own penises. The most common questions dudes ask me have to do with their dongs: How do I make it bigger? Does size matter? What size penis do women want most?
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