| Suspended Hollywood commissioner worked both sides of dais | | Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 7:02:43 AM by Blog57 Team | | Keith Wasserstrom urged his peers on the Hollywood City Commission to pursue a developer's hotel proposal without disclosing that he was a registered lobbyist for the developer. The news comes after revelations about Wasserstrom's role in helping a sludge company get an $18 million contract in Hollywood which led prosecutors to charge the commissioner with five felony counts earlier this month. The charges led to his suspension. Wasserstrom registered with Broward County as a lobbyist for Triad Housing Partners in 2005, county records show. He did not register with the city of Hollywood as a Triad lobbyist. But Wasserstrom's lawyer, Larry Davis, said Triad never paid Wasserstrom to lobby any entity. ''He was an unpaid advocate for a low-income housing project which was disclosed on the form itself,'' Davis said.... | |
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| | | From hats to undershirts, auction offers Hollywood collectibles | | Posted Wednesday, October 04, 2006 7:02:07 AM by Blog57 Team | | DALLAS The white, cotton T-shirt with the 15-thousand-dollar price tag has a Hollywood pedigree -- it once hugged the torso of actor James Dean during the filming of "Rebel Without a Cause." That makes it a valuable collectible to some of the quarter (M) million registered customers who could bid on it during online auctions scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The shirt is one of more than 18-hundred items up for sale in the latest music and entertainment offering from Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries. The auction house specializes in the trivial -- from Fred Astaire's top hat to Dean's undershirt. Dean is the star attraction at this auction. An Indiana museum featuring all things Dean closed earlier this year, and Heritage obtained the rights to unload the memorabilia.... | |
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| | | AGs Ask Hollywood For Anti-Smoking PSAs in Films | | Posted Saturday, September 09, 2006 5:16:00 PM by Blog57 Team | | ALBANY---Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has renewed his call for Hollywood's major motion picture studios to insert anti-smoking public service announcements in all DVDs and videos of movies in which smoking is depicted. In addition to a written appeal, Spitzer, part of a coalition of 41 states and territories concerned about the connection between depictions of smoking in films and youth smoking, sent each studio three anti-smoking messages which were created by the American Legacy Foundation. The three ads are being made available at no cost for the studios' unlimited use. "The purpose of this initiative is to counter Hollywood's glamorization of smoking," said Spitzer. "Unlike depictions in films, smoking is not cool and glamorous. Smoking kills. We hope that these ads, placed in DVDs and videos, will help deter young people from ever taking up this deadly habit." The action follows a November 2005 request by Spitzer and 31 other attorneys general to the studios to help prevent youth smoking by inserting anti-smoking messages on movies that depict smoking.... | |
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| | | How Robert Snatched Barbara from Hollywood | | Posted Sunday, September 03, 2006 7:08:24 AM by Blog57 Team | | It?s a fairy-tale love story that grows more beautiful with every retelling, a story that proves that love does conquer all ? even a tempting offer from Hollywood. Ask Robert Arevalo how, 45 years ago, he offered his girlfriend Barbara Perez an alternative ? a marriage contract ? and his eyes turn misty with fond reminiscence. It was the time when Hollywood was recruiting Filipino actors, including Pancho Magalona who starred in The Hook, Luz Valdez in Merrill?s Marauders (with Jeff Chandler) and, yes, Barbara in No Man Is An Island (with Jeffrey Hunter). Coming from the Ylagan clan (his father, musical director Tito Arevalo, was the brother of the great director Gerry de Leon), Robert, an Ateneo graduate with theater background, was then being built up as a drama actor by Premiere Productions while Barbara belonged to Sampaguita starmaker Dr.... | |
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| | | Luna is equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscar | | Posted Thursday, August 17, 2006 1:05:41 AM by Blog57 Team | | RP'S OSCAR – The Luna Awards of the Film Academy of the Philippines should be the most coveted and prestigious and popular of all cinema awards. After all, Luna is the industry award, the peer award. Members of the movie industry nominate and vote on their fellow workers. Now what can be a greater honor than being recognized by one's peer? It's the ultimate honor. Luna is the equivalent of Hollywood's Oscar. Unfortunately, it isn't so. The Urian (critics' award) is more coveted and prestigious. Star and Golden Star (of the enter-tainment press) are more popular. Why is this so? The Academy is divided. Many big-name directors, scriptwriters, and musicians do not belong to the Academy. A lot of actors are nominal Academy members, not bothe-ring to attend Academy func-tions, including the Luna night.... | |
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| | | Ex Hollywood Agent Wins World Series Of Poker | | Posted Saturday, August 12, 2006 3:03:44 AM by Blog57 Team | | When Jamie Gold bluffed, his opponents folded. When he had the best hand, they threw in all their chips. With a run of cards, a huge chip stack and an uncanny knack for reading other players, Gold, a talkative former Hollywood talent agent, cajoled his way to victory Friday at the World Series of Poker for the $12 million grand prize. "I was just lucky sometimes, and sometimes I outplayed people," said Gold, a 36-year-old Malibu, Calif., resident. "I just feel really fortunate. I was playing some great poker. The best poker of my life." The 12-day marathon that began with a record field of 8,733 players ended with the flourish that Gold made his trademark. With 3.9 million in chips in the pot, Gold declared "all in" and stood beside the pile of cash at the table to convince the last remaining player, Paul Wasicka, it was his for the taking.... | |
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| | | Shyamalan takes hit in Hollywood tell-all | | Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2006 9:03:20 AM by Blog57 Team | | HOLLYWOOD, July 25 (UPI) -- Former Disney screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan is the subject of a new Hollywood expose that depicts him as childish, insecure, willful and self-important. "The Man Who Heard Voices," by Michael Bamberger, was written primarily about the making of Shyamalan's latest film, "Lady in the Water," which had a tepid opening last weekend. Although the book was written with Shyamalan's cooperation, it is an unflattering portrait, the Los Angeles Times reported. The book focuses on an allegedly disastrous meeting the filmmaker had with executives at Disney for whom he'd had written movie scripts for four big hits, the newspaper said. When Disney production chief Nina Jacobson harshly criticized his "Lady" script, he bolted, taking the film to Warner Bros.... | |
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| | | BUILDING HOLLYWOOD | | Posted Friday, July 21, 2006 3:03:40 PM by Blog57 Team | | There won't be any leftover movie sets or props when the Hollywood Casino opens in Bay St. Louis this summer, but there will be plenty of space to gamble. The Mississippi Gaming Commission on Thursday approved plans for a 42,500-square-foot casino that will have about 1,200 slot machines and 30 table games. The property, owned by Penn National Gaming, was branded Casino Magic Bay St. Louis before Hurricane Katrina. "Everything 15 feet and below was devastated, totally washed away, so we had the opportunity to design and rebuild a whole new resort," John Jagunich, the casino's general manager, told the commission. The casino's design will feature the grand style of the Hollywood of yesteryear without the memorabilia, he said. It will open with 291 refurbished hotel rooms, restaurants and 14,000 square feet of meeting space.... | |
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| | | Hollywood stars team up for hunger strike | | Posted Tuesday, July 04, 2006 9:14:40 AM by Blog57 Team | | Washington - Hollywood actor-activists including Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon and anti-war campaigners led by bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan plan to launch a hunger strike on Monday, demanding the immediate return of American troops from Iraq. As Americans get set to fire up their barbeques in patriotic celebration of Independence Day on July 4, anti-war protesters planned to savour a last meal outside the White House, before embarking on a "Troops Home Fast" at midnight. "We've marched, held vigils, lobbied Congress, camped out at Bush's ranch, we've even gone to jail, now it's time to do more," said Sheehan, who emerged as an anti-war icon after losing her 24-year-old son Casey in Iraq. .... | |
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| | | Hollywood beckons for 12-year-old with no acting experience | | Posted Friday, June 30, 2006 11:04:17 AM by Blog57 Team | | A twelve-year-old English girl with no acting experience has landed the biggest child role in Hollywood since Harry Potter: the part of Lyra Belacqua, the fiercely independent heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy of novels. She was "discovered" after 10,000 children were auditioned in a quest for a girl free of metropolitan influences and "not immersed in the 21st century" who could play the precocious orphan. New Line Pictures, which is producing the trilogy, identified Lyra yesterday as Dakota Blue Richards, which is assumed to be a stage name. She is thought to live in the Cambridge area, as she was chosen after auditioning in the city. Her co-star in the cosmic thrillers being filmed by the director Chris Weitz may be Nicole Kidman, who has been offered the role of Mrs Coulter, a scheming socialite.... | |
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