Washington:
Thousands of young oriental actresses had been vying
for this coveted role but lady luck smiled on only one.
According to Imdb, a Scottish actress Katie Leung has been
selected the role of Cho Chang - the Chinese girl who wins
the heart of the boy wizard, Harry Potter in Harry Potter
And The Goblet Of Fire. "The film producers and author J
K Rowling were keen to get a complete unknown for the part
of Cho Chang and Katie's absolutely perfect. She's pretty,
bright and one can see why Harry would have a crush on her.
She has a glittering career ahead of her," an insider was
quoted as saying.
Vampires rule the roost
in Hollywood (Go
To Top)
Washington:
It seems that Hollywood's has fallen in love with horror
so much so that there are no takers for light entertainment.
According to EOnline Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackson
as the foe of Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster,
has upstaged the Olsens' New York Minute grossing 54.2 million
dollars. The movie marked the year's biggest opening since
The Passion of the Christ's in February. The reigning teen
movie, Mean Girls, fell to the second spot grossing a two-week
total of 42.4 million dollars While Denzel Washington's
Man on Fire occupied the third slot. New York Minute, Mary-Kate
and Ashley's legitimate screen debut, played to less-than-full
houses, taking in 6.2 million dollars and bowing in fourth
place.
The
top 4 are: 1. Van Helsing, 54.2 million dollars 2. Mean
Girls, 14 million dollars 3. Man on Fire, 7.9 million dollars
4. New York Minute, 6.2 million dollars
Hollywood's 100 most
memorable characters (Go
To Top)
Sydney:
Who can forget Marlon Brando's impeccable portrayal
of Don Vito Corleone in the Godfather? Perhaps this is the
reason why Vito ranks supreme as the greatest movie character
of all time by Premiere magazine. According to the Herald
Sun,the scruffy Fred C. Dobbs of The Treasure of the Sierra
Madre ranks a close second.
The
top 100 include: 1. Vito Corleone of The Godfather 2. Fred
C. Dobbs of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 3. Scarlett
O'Hara of Gone With the Wind 4. Norman Bates of Psycho 5.
James Bond of Dr No 6. Annie Hall of Annie Hall 7. Indiana
Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark 8. Ellen Ripley of Alien
9. Jeff Spicoli of Fast Times at Ridgemont High 10. Gollum
of Lord of the Rings 11. Margo Channing of All About Eve
12. Charles Foster Kane of Citizen Kane 13. Atticus Finch
of To Kill a Mockingbird 14. Randle McMurphy of One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest 15. Hannibal Lecter of The Silence
of the Lambs 16. Robin Hood of The Adventures of Robin Hood
17. Dorothy Gale of The Wizard of Oz 18. Carl Spackler of
Caddyshack 19. Rick Blaine of Casablanca 20. Virgil Tibbs
of In the Heat of the Night 21. Susan Vance of Bringing
up Baby 22. Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver 23. Eathan Edwards
of The Searchers 24. The Little Tramp of Mabel's Strange
Predicament 25. Gordon Gekko of Wall Street 26. E.T. of
E.T.the Extra-Terrestrial 27. Marge Gunderson of Fargo 28.
Captain Quint of Jaws 29. Daphne/Jerry of Some Like it Hot
30. King Kong of King Kong 31. Norma Desmond of Sunset Boulevard
32. Holly Golightly of Breakfast at Tiffany's 33. Ratso
Rizzo of Midnight Cowboy 34. Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and
Clyde 35. Dr Evil of Austin Powers 36. Alex Forrest of Fatal
Attraction 37. Jake Gittes of Chinatown 38. Willy Wonka
of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 39. Michael Dorsey/Dorthy
Michaels of Tootsie 40. The Terminator of The Terminator
41. Jane Craig of Broadcast News 42. "Dirty" Harry Callahan
of Dirty Harry 43. Forrest Gump of Forrest Gump 44. Jules
Winnfield of Pulp Fiction 45. Mary Poppins of Mary Poppins
46. John McClane of Die Hard 47. Mrs. Robinson of The Graduate
48. John "Bluto" Blutarsky of Animal House 49. Chance the
Gardener of Being There 50. Blondie of The Good, the Bad,
and the Ugly 51. Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street
52. Howard Beale of Network 53. Ninotchka of Ninotchka 54.
Frank Booth of Blue Velvet 55. The Dude of The Big Lebowski
56. Alan Swann of My Favorite Year 57. Tom Powers of The
Public Enemy 58. Phyliss Dietrichson of Double Indemnity
59. Lt Kilgore of Apocalypse Now 60. George Bailey of It's
a Wonderful Life 61. J.J Hunsecker of Sweet Smell of Success
62. John Shaft of Shaft 63. Carrie White of Carrie 64. Rocky
Balboa of Rocky 65. Edward Scissorhands of Edward Scissorhands
66. Navin Johnson of The Jerk 67. Inspector Clouseau of
The Pink Panther 68. Alex DeLarge of A Clockwork Orange
69. Terry Malloy of On the Waterfront 70. Judy Benjamin
of Private Benjamin 71. Rev Harry Powell of The Night of
the Hunter 72. Lloyd Dobler of Say Anything 73. Norma Rae
of Norma Rae 74. Tony Montana of Scarface 75. Dr Strangelove
of Dr Strangelove 76. Tony Manero of Saturday Night Fever
77. Annie Wilkes of Misery 78. "Mad" Max Rockatansky of
Mad Max 79. Hans Beckert of M 80. Sam Spade of The Maltese
Falcon 81. Aurora Greenway of Terms of Endearment 82. Jack
Torrance of The Shining 83. William Cutting of Gangs of
New York 84. Darth Vader of Star Wars 85. Stanley Kowalski
of A Streetcar Named Desire 86. Melanie Daniels of The Birds
87. Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean: The
Curse of the Black Pearl 88. Raymond Babbitt of Rain Man
89. Sandy Olsson of Grease 90. John Malkovich of Being John
Malkovich 91. Mrs Iselin of The Manchurian Candidate 92.
Dil of The Crying Game Š 93. Harry Lime of The Third Man
94. Rose Sayer of The African Queen 95. Oda Mae Brown of
Ghost 96. Tommy DeVito of GoodFellas 97. Ace Ventura of
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective 98. Antoine Doinel of The 400
Blows 99. Kevin McCallister of Home Alone 100. Roger "Verbal"
Kint of The Usual Suspects.
Aussie traffic cops
turn to martial arts to fend public ire (Go
To Top)
Sydney:
Ticket inspectors and parking officers in Australia
are now resorting to martial arts to protect themselves
from the angry members of the public. According to News.com,
a course has been started by a Melbourne company, National
Training Systems, which teaches inspectors and teachers
how to defend themselves against violent public, abusive
parents and badly behaved children. The course includes
lessons in communication, assertiveness and confrontation.
Participants learn how to handle verbal abuse and receive
instruction in self-defense tactics from martial arts experts.
"We're not actually teaching martial arts, we're teaching
a sort of self-protection, the emphasis is not on striking
the other person. It's deflecting the attack and being able
to put yourself in a position so you can neutralize their
weapon," says the co- director of National Training Systems,
Tony Angus, while explaining that the emphasis of the training
is on harm minimization. Paul McKeon, manager of Yarra Trams'
revenue protection unit, said that complaints about ticket
inspectors had dropped 110 per cent as a result of the training.
It was noted that the number of injuries to staff had also
fallen as a result of the skills they had learned. "I am
now more aware of how to handle irate parents and children.
I am more confident in protecting myself," said a teacher
who took the course.
Queen may honour Beyonce
with OBE (Go
To Top)
Washington:
Pop singer Beyonce is all set to receive some royal
treatment. Her dedication to the Prince's Trust charity
has impressed Queen Elizabeth II so much so that the sexy
singer may receive the rank of Honorary Officer of the Order
of the British Empire (OBE). According to rate the music,
Beyonce axed tour dates to perform with her rapper lover
Jay-Z at Prince Charles' Urban Music Festival in London.
"She cancelled a couple of dates on her Ladies First tour
to do this. She loves Prince Charles because he represents
all things British and she loves that," an insider was quoted
as saying. "She insisted on bringing her entire entourage
so she could do the show properly and now they are talking
about giving her some kind of honorary OBE ," he added.
Keanu Reeves re-ignites
passion with ex-flame (Go
To Top)
Washington:
Wedding bells might soon ring for "Speed" star Keanu
Reeves if the actor's friends are to be believed. According
to Teen Hollywood, the 39-year-old actor has recently reunited
with his ex-flame, actress Autumn Macintosh. The couple
had been together for four years in the 90's and was recently
seen enjoying a romantic dinner at the posh Los Angeles
eatery The Ivy. "It's really serious. Autumn is ready to
settle down and start a family and she thinks Keanu is too.
Autumn has always loved Keanu and he's so taken with her,"
revealed a friend of the couple.
My marriage is not in
trouble, says Brad Pitt (Go
To Top)
Washington:
Film actor Brad Pitt has rubbished reports that his
marriage to Jennifer Aniston is in turmoil after he publicly
declared recently that their union could collapse in the
future. Brad has been married to the 'Friends' beauty for
almost four years. He sparked media frenzy last week when
he revealed that their marriage could fall apart as both
of them are realistic people who accept that their love
for each other may die one day. "There is so much pressure
from day one to be with someone forever - and I'm not sure
that it really is in our nature to be with something for
the rest of our lives. Jen and myself don't cage each other
with this pressure of happily ever after. We work it out
as we go along," imdb quoted Brad as saying. The 'Troy'
actor also hit back at reports that Aniston is furious over
his comments about their relationship in the media. "I'm
not in the doghouse. Jen and I put everything on the table.
We discuss everything," Brad added.
Karachi to host Anupam
Kher's stage show (Go
To Top)
Karachi:
Bollywood actor Anupam Kher will arrive here on May
22 on a three day visit to perform a one-man stage drama,
the Daily Times reported on Monday. The versatile Indian
actor, director and producer will be performing his autobiographical
play "Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai". The play was written by Ashok
Patel and directed by Feroze Khan. Kher will be narrating
his successes and failures as a man who should have been
a failure, given his humble beginnings in life, but ended
up as an internationally acclaimed cinema star. During the
two-hour performance, he will be narrating and dramatizing
these successes and failures while changing personas to
enact different episodes of his life. The paper said that
the great showman would donate 50 percent of his fee to
the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation.
UK pupils to get lessons
in oral sex (Go
To Top)
London:
Kids in Britain will soon be encouraged to experiment
with oral sex in a bid to reign in teenage pregnancy rates.
According to the Sun, teachers will talk to pupils about
'stopping points' before full sex and promote alternative
forms of loving. The scheme has been tested in 104 schools
and the government is set to give the go-ahead throughout
England and Wales. "It teaches people that they should be
only as intimate as they feel comfortable with," the report
quoted Dr John Tripp of Exeter University as saying. However,
Tory MP Ann Widdecombe insisted, "If you tell young people
how to do it, they will do it and end up increasing pregnancies."
After 'Gollum,' Serkis
will now play King Kong (Go
To Top)
Washington:
British actor Andy Serkis, better known as "Gollum,"
his character's name in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is
all set to play King Kong in Peter Jackson's new movie of
the same name. According to Teen Hollywood, Serkis who worked
with Jackson in the Rings trilogy has been approached to
play in the King Kong remake. If he accepts the role, he
will once again be transformed into a villainous creature
with the help of computer graphics. "I'm the perfect King
Kong. About 13 years ago I once scaled the outside of the
Eiffel Tower in the middle of the night," explains the actor.
Legends serenade Travolta
as he turns 50 (Go
To Top)
Sydney:
He has come far from his 'Grease' days. And yet his
looks belie his age. So, it's a bit hard to believe that
John Travolta is 50. According to the Herald Sun, before
he had a chance to start feeling old, his wife, Kelly, organised
a monster birthday bash for him. "Every one one of my friends
I grew up with in show business was there," Travolta said.
"I was sung to by Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Carly
Simon, Robin Gibb, you name it . . . Roberta Flack, Jackie
deShannon. That was pretty good. You couldn't ask for better,"
he added.
UK father sells daughter
to clear gambling debt (Go
To Top)
Sydney:
In a shocking incident a British father is being investigated
for selling his 15-year old daughter to pay off his gambling
debts. The girl, a resident of Bradford was sold to an older
man residing in Asia for an amount of $38,000 and the incident
came to light when the girl herself called up the police.
Her husband-to-be, who is reportedly a family friend, would
have become eligible to apply to become a British citizen
in 12 months' time by marrying her. "There is no doubt this
girl is in grave danger," Mrs. Cryer said. "Her father has
committed himself to this deal which would see her married
against her will to a man in Bangladesh.The girl is absolutely
petrified. I am terrified the family will put her on a plane
within the next few days," Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for
Keighley was quoted by Sydney Morning Herald, as saying.
Mrs. Cryer also mentioned that it was not uncommon for British
families to sell girls to husbands on the Asian subcontinent.
"I am not trying to single out any particular community,
but what should I do when I am being approached on an almost
daily basis by young girls and women who are in fear of
their lives and desperate for help?" she added.
