The unimportant news thread

[knight66]

Clearly time has not been kind to Nicole Kidman.

Mike

[Lethevich]

Clearly time has not been kind to Nicole Kidman.

Mike

Incidentely, I watched half of a film with her in last night (To Die For).

[karlhenning]

For whatever passel of reasons, I've hardly seen anything Kidman is in.

Notable exception was Moulin Rouge, which we found garish even by Baz standards  0:)

[Harry]

Kidman is a fine actress and a good looking woman, with a fabulous body, and I saw many films with her, that made me long for such perfection in feminine beauty.

[Harry]

Incidentely, I watched half of a film with her in last night (To Die For).

Somehow Sarah, these animated smiley's make me quite sad.......

[Lethevich]

Somehow Sarah, these animated smiley's make me quite sad.......

Indeedie, a bullying emoticon

[greg]

Carrot Top at Vegas' "Cathouse" nightclub.

.....

[Lethevich]

Some very funny news was on the radio just now.

He continued: "I detect among many people a sense of loss, of not being in touch with living sources that can nourish them. They want to live by shared values that can sustain our society but do not know where to find them.

For a long while in this country, those "shared values" were anti-Popery

However the Archbishop also urged the faithful to treat those who do not believe in God with "deep esteem"

This is a member of the church which preaches Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus...

[Harry]

Some very funny news was on the radio just now.

He continued: "I detect among many people a sense of loss, of not being in touch with living sources that can nourish them. They want to live by shared values that can sustain our society but do not know where to find them.

For a long while in this country, those "shared values" were anti-Popery

However the Archbishop also urged the faithful to treat those who do not believe in God with "deep esteem"

This is a member of the church which preaches Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus...

Duly noted
It took me some time to recover this shock!

[BorisG]

Speedo Lawsuit

http://www.winknews.com/news/weird/18776144.html

[BorisG]

Spielberg joins regulars for Cannes film fest

May 13, 9:41 AM (ET)

By DAVID GERMAIN

CANNES, France (AP) - Rounding up a lot of the usual suspects, the Cannes Film Festival presents a lineup from an illustrious if somewhat predictable gang of regulars, including Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh, Woody Allen, Atom Egoyan and Wim Wenders.

Then there's Steven Spielberg - who's not quite a newcomer, since he's been at Cannes before. But the festival's centerpiece, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," marks the director's first trip back since the 1980s, when he showed "The Color Purple" and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" here.

The new "Indiana Jones" flick opens worldwide May 22, four days after its Cannes premiere, giving the movie a similar global rollout that preceded blockbuster "E.T."

"That's our benchmark. This is the same kind of movie in that (Cannes is) kind of the perfect launching pad, because we can bring the whole world there," said Frank Marshall, producer on the "Indiana Jones" movies. "It's perfectly timed for our release worldwide."

In its 61st year, the world's most-prestigious film festival sometimes catches heat for including too many glossy Hollywood productions, such as past opening-night film "The Da Vinci Code" or action spectacles such as "Matrix Reloaded" and "X-Men: The Last Stand."

While this year's festival, which opens Wednesday, also includes the cute and cuddly animated comedy "Kung Fu Panda," featuring the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman, the rest of the schedule is mostly serious cinema, much of it from past Cannes luminaries.

Eastwood returns with "Changeling," a child-abduction drama starring Jolie, while Soderbergh is showing "Che," his two-part epic on revolutionary Che Guevara, featuring Benicio Del Toro. Wenders offers "Palermo Shooting," a thriller about a photographer pursued by a mysterious gunman, and Egoyan presents "Adoration," centered on a youth who reinvents himself in cyberspace.

Also back are Belgian siblings Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, whose stark drama "L'Enfant" won the Palme d'Or, the top honor at Cannes, two years ago. This time, the Dardennes present "Lorna's Silence," the tale of an Albanian woman caught up in an elaborate underworld crime plot in Belgium.

With international press mobbing the French Riviera resort, there is no better spotlight than Cannes for a film to gain global attention, said Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Co. is premiering Allen's romantic drama "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" with Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.

"Cannes is a grand stage," said Weinstein, whose past top prize winners at the festival include "Pulp Fiction,""Fahrenheit 9/11" and Soderbergh's "sex, lies and videotape.""You have the Oscars, which are American-centric, and the world-centric place is Cannes. It's the most far-reaching, important festival in the world and creates a worldwide image for films you're launching there."

Among other Cannes highlights: James Gray's romance "Two Lovers," with Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow and Isabella Rossellini; James Toback's "Tyson," a documentary on the rise and fall of heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson; and "Synecdoche, New York," the directing debut of "Being John Malkovich" screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.

Then there's the parties, fashion and stargazing. With a red carpet that swoops up the broad stairs of the Palais, the festival's headquarters along the Mediterranean, Cannes puts celebrities under a glamor microscope like no other.

"It's a carnival, it's a spectacle. It's fun," said David Koepp, who wrote "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and came to Cannes twice previously as a young assistant to a film sales agent. "There's a lot of crazy people. What you get to see at Cannes is all the crazy, rich foreigners who want to get into Hollywood, having parties on their yachts."

The festival presents two major premieres most nights during its 12-day run, with stars preening and posing in front of an endless throng of shouting, gesticulating photographers.

Karen Allen, who reprises her "Raiders of the Lost Ark" role in a reunion with Spielberg, executive producer George Lucas and "Indiana Jones" star Harrison Ford, recalled her first trip to Cannes.

"It was one of the most surreal moments of my life, standing at the bottom of those stairs at the Palais," Allen said. "So many flashbulbs are going off, you're blind."

The new "Indiana Jones" movie has been kept under tight wraps, with Spielberg and his collaborators playing coy on key plot points.

This much is known: The story is set in 1957, 19 years after the action of 1989's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," and archaeologist-adventurer Indy is battling Cate Blanchett's Soviet operative over ancient crystal skulls that may possess immeasurable power.

However the movie turns out, fans are happy at the return of Allen as Indy's old flame Marion Ravenwood, whose stormy relationship with Jones promises to pick up where it left off more than two decades ago.

"It's just like 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'" Lucas said. "It's like you just said, 'We'll wait 20 years, and we'll do the reunion movie.'"

[Lethevich]

'Sex pest' seal attacks penguin

[BachQ]

The electric cigarette that gives you a nicotine hit and gets round the smoking ban
Last updated at 12:04pm on 14th May 2008



Inventors have created an electric cigarette which gives a nicotine hit while still managing to avoid the smoking ban. The small white stick, which looks just like a proper cigarette, contains a chamber that vapourises pure liquid nicotine into a puff of steam.  Smokers can inhale the vapours as they would a cigarette smoke and still get the buzz - without taking in any harmful substances.

Nicotine is its only ingredient, unlike tobacco alternatives which contain over 4,000 chemicals and tar. The electric cigarette is battery powered, has a glowing red tip and tastes like the real thing.  Makers claim it can be used inside pubs and restaurants despite the national smoking ban as it has no flame and does not
produce smoke.  They also say the cigarette cannot cause lung cancer as it only contains nicotine.  The stick, called Gamucci Micro Electronic Cigarette, uses small cartridges which are filled with the liquid substance.

There are three types of cartridge, 'low' which contains six milligrams of nicotine, 'medium' which has 11mg, and 'high' which contains 16mg.  A tiny atomizing chamber inside the stick heats up the liquid when the user takes a drag, and within a second reduces it to vapour.  The effects kick-in almost instantaneously and provide a nicotine hit without harmful tar and carcinogens. Passive smoking is impossible, making it perfect for indoor use.  The Gamucci is on sale via online gadget company I Want One Of Those for £49.95 which includes two sticks, five 'high-strength' cartridges and a mains charger. But it is only available to people aged 18 or over and is not suitable for pregnant or breastfeeding women.

[Lethevich]

This is kind of sad and makes me wish the net came with a beginners guide.

[BorisG]

Olsen X 2

[BachQ]

13 Year Old Steals Dad's Credit Card to Buy Hookers



A 13 year old from Texas who stole his Dad's credit card and ordered two hookers from an escort agency, has today been convicted of fraud and given a three year community order.

Ralph Hardy, a 13 year old from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card from his father's existing credit card company, and took his friends on a $30,000 spending spree, culminating in playing "Halo" on an Xbox with a couple of hookers in a Texas motel.

The credit card company involved said it was regular practice to send extra credit cards out as long as all security questions are answered.

The escort girls who were released without charge, told the arresting officers something was up when the kids said they would rather play Xbox than get down to business.

Police said they were alerted to the motel by a concerned delivery clerk, whom after delivering supplies of Dr Pepper, Fritos and Oreos had been asked by the kids where they could score some chicks and were willing to pay. They explained they had just made a big score at a "World of Warcraft" tournament and wanted to get some relaxation. On noting the boys age the delivery clerk informed the authorities.

When police arrived at the motel they found $3,000 in cash, numerous electronic gadgets, an Xbox video console with numerous games, and the two local escort girls.

Ralph had reportedly told police that his father wouldn't mind, as it was his birthday last week and he had forgot to get him a present. The father, a lawyer said he had been too busy, but would take him on a surprise trip to Disneyland instead.

Asked why he ordered two escorts, Ralph said he thought it was the thing to do when you win a "World of Warcraft" tournament. They told the suspicious working girls they were people of restricted growth working with a traveling circus, and as State law does not allow those with disabilities to be discriminated against they had no right to refuse them.

The $1,000 a night girls sensing something up played "Halo" on the Xbox with the kids, instead of selling their sexual services.

Ralph's ambition is to one day become a politician.

[BorisG]

Sean Penn warns Barack Obama at Cannes Film Festival opening

By Anita Singh, The Telegraph Showbusiness Editor

Last Updated: 8:31AM BST 15/05/2008

The Cannes Film Festival got off to a lively start with Sean Penn, president of this year's jury, sounding off about US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama and the opening movie almost being upstaged by a bunch of performing pandas.

Penn joined fellow judge Natalie Portman on the red carpet for the premiere of the first night film, Blindness, a thriller starring Julianne Moore.

At a press conference beforehand, the actor, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration, offered his views on the Democratic nomination race.

Asked if he would be joining other Hollywood A-listers in pledging support for Obama, Penn gave him a less than ringing endorsement and warned that he has an awful lot to live up to.

"I don't have a candidate I'm supporting and I'm certainly interested and excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring," he said, but went on to accuse him of a "phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional" voting record.

"I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be," Penn said. "This is the most important election, certainly in my lifetime, and maybe ever."

Portman, 26, said she would not be endorsing Obama or his rival, Hillary Clinton, but added: "I think it's a very exciting year for our politics, that for the first time in a while we have a choice of who we like better instead of who we hate least."

Penn said it was impossible to separate film from politics, and promised that the winning film would be a reflection of the current climate.

"One way or another, when we select the Palme d'Or winner, I think we are going to feel very confident that the film-maker who made the film is very aware of the times in which he or she lives."

There are 22 films in competition for the Palme d'Or and the jury will watch them over the next 12 days. "The idea is to be wide awake with an empty bladder for the start of everything," explained Penn.

Asked if he was enjoying it so far, he complained that he had been "discouraged from smoking" – France's smoking ban was introduced last year – before lighting up and chain-smoking his way through the press conference. 

The opening film, Blindness, is a thriller from director Fernando Meirelles about a town struck down by a mysterious epidemic, leaving Moore the only character with the ability to see.

Based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, its story of a community hit by disaster and receiving no government help draws obvious parallels with Hurricane Katrina.

Moore said the film was timely: "I think there's sometimes something in the zeitgeist. There's a tremendous amount of tragedy right now, physical tragedy and man-made tragedy, and we are feeling anxious."

The 47-year-old actress dyed her famous red hair blonde for the role. She said: "I'm a redhead and I'm always a redhead, except for this movie. I don't want to do it again. I didn't like it very much."

Away from the main competition, comic actor Jack Black launched his latest movie, DreamWorks animation Kung Fu Panda, by performing martial arts moves on the beach in the company of 40 extras in panda suits. Black, who lends his voice to the film along with the likes of Angelina Jolie and Lucy Liu, explained that he was there to create "panda-monium".

The film creating the most buzz on the Croisette remains Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which has its world premiere on Sunday. Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett and director Steven Spielberg will fly in later this week for the summer's most eagerly-awaited sequel.

[Lethevich]

Almost the wrong thread to post this in, as it's obviously of global importance...

Botched sex game leads to heart piercing

A Canadian man who asked his lover to carve a heart-shaped symbol on his chest during a rough sex game almost died when she accidentally pressed too hard and punctured his heart, a newspaper reported.

The Winnipeg Free Press said the 25-year-old woman had been sentenced to three years' probation after she pleaded guilty to assaulting the man in February 2007.

The 24-year-old man was initially given little chance of survival but made a full recovery and is backing the woman.

Both had been drinking heavily and engaging in rough sex when he asked the woman to carve the symbol, the paper said.

[BachQ]

A Canadian man who asked his lover to carve a heart-shaped symbol on his chest during a rough sex game almost died when she accidentally pressed too hard and punctured his heart, a newspaper reported.

Ummmm ....... wouldn't you need to puncture through a bone (sternum) to reach the heart? 

Strange. 

[knight66]

I have heard via the radio that Pressi. Bush has decided to sacrifice playing golf to show solidarity with his men and women in Iraq. I have no doubt they will be touched, he certainly is.

Mike