'Juno,' 'The Wire' finalists for Humanitas

Awards honour exploration of human condition




The writers behind "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Juno" and "Lars and the Real Girl" have been named finalists in the 2008 Humanitas Prize feature celluloid category.

Episodes from "Boston Legal," "John Adams" and "The Wire" were the finalists in the 60-minute tv category.

The Humanitas, which honour film and TV program writing that explores the human condition, also ushered in a new epoch by bringing writer-producer John Wells on base as president. Frank Desiderio, who has been president since 2000, will now become chairwoman of the board.

Humanitas' annual tiffin is too changing its venue, from the Hilton Universal to the Beverly Hills Hotel for its September 17 awards festivities.

Ronald Harwood ("Butterfly"), Diablo Cody ("Juno") and Nancy Oliver ("Lars") are now in the running for part of the $115,000 in prize money that will be handed out.

Other finalists include:

-- "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," "Charlie & Me," "A Life Interrupted," and "Pictures of Hollis Woods" in the 90-minute category;

-- "The Bill Engvall Show," "In Treatment," and "Scrubs" in the 30-minute category;

-- "My Friends Tigger & Pooh," "Sweet Blackberry Presents" and "Toddworld" in the children's vivification category;

-- "Johnny Kapahala" "Minutemen," and "Sheira & Loli's Dittydoodle Works" in the children's live action category;

-- "Henry Poole Is Here," written by Albert Torres, "A Raisin in the Sun," by Paris Qualles," and "The Visitor" by Tom McCarthy, were accepted in the Sundance feature film film category.

Other categories include the David & Lynn Angell Fellowship in comedy writing and the Humanitas pupil drama family, as well as the documentary award.


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Geodesium

   
Artist: Geodesium

   Genre(s): 
Electronic: Progressive
   New Age
   

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Discography:


   
 Anasazi

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 17


   
 Fourth Universe

   Year: 1992   
Tracks: 18

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Velvet Revolver - Velvet Revolver Wannabes Are Nothing Like Weiland

VELVET REVOLVER founders SLASH, MATT SORUM and DUFF MCKAGAN have been impressed with the candidates competing to replace SCOTT WEILAND - because they are pleasant and show up for rehearsals on time.

In a slight aimed at Weiland, who was kicked out of the band in April (08) following weeks of public band squabbles, drummer Sorum insists the ongoing search for a new frontman has been enjoyable.

The rocker admits the trio have found a favourite - rumoured to be former Panic Channel frontman Steve Isaacs - and he's nothing like the group's departed singer.

He says, "It's really weird because Slash and Duff and myself... were kind of like, `Wow, this guy shows up to a rehearsal on time, he's really nice, he's easy to get along with', and it actually kind of scared us.

"We thought, 'Is this possible?' I was worried for a minute... that we might be so used to the drama. I kind of looked around at the guys. I said, 'Man, this guy is a super-nice dude. You think we can go with that or what?'"

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Bif Naked

   
Artist: Bif Naked

   Genre(s): 
Alternative
   

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Discography:


   
 Superbeautifulmonster

   Year: 2005   
Tracks: 13


   
 Purge

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 12


   
 Another 5 Songs and A Poem

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 6


   
 Bif Naked

   Year: 1996   
Tracks: 11

---

Born in New Delhi, India, to a pair of boarding school teenagers, Bif Naked was adopted by American missionaries and stirred to Minneapolis. Several other moves preceded her eventual settling in Winnipeg where she enrolled at the University of Winnipeg as an aspirant drama major. At this fourth dimension, she also joined Jungle Milk, an eclectic troupe of musicians, and married the act's drummer. The wedlock was short-lived, only it light-emitting diode to her becoming the frontwoman of Gorilla Gorilla, a punk outfit for which her married man likewise drummed. It was a turbulent situation and, although she remained with the do as they relocated to Vancouver, Bif Naked eventually quit to join another hood act, Chrome Dog. There was a brief association with Dying to Be Violent before she finally released an independent solo EP, Four Songs and a Poem, in 1994. She inked a make do with Concrete Records and an eponymic, full-length release soon followed. When the label went under, Bif Naked regained the edgar Lee Masters and, in 1996, reissued the album through her have Her Royal Majesty's Records imprint. On the strength of that record, and the violence of her live performances and never-ending touring, she snagged a dish out with Lava and, in 1998, I Bificus was released. The record book was critically well-received and managed to catch some attention with the rail "Second of Weakness," aided by a memorable, energetic video clip. Purge followed in 2001, but the American firing was delayed as the first gear undivided, "I Love Myself Today," became a smash hit in Canada. After over a year's wait, the album at last came out in the US in the devolve of 2002. The Essentially Naked retrospective appeared in 2004 earlier Bif Naked returned with Superbeautifulmonster in September 2005.

Operator Please set for free gig

Operator Please are set to play a free gig in Reading.

The band will play at the Oakford Social Club on May 17 as part of the Bleep Test night.

Arthur will support, along with sets from the West Reading Galaxy DJs, Jack (Knock'em Dead) and DJ Horror Tackle.

Stallone considering more Rambo, Rocky sequels

Sylvester Stallone is considering scripts for further sequels in his 'Rocky' and 'Rambo' franchises, despite vowing never to revive either of the legendary characters again.
The action star has signed a multimillion dollar deal to direct and star in two new action films, which may feature his two best known characters.
The actor will again link-up with 'Rambo' producers Danny Dimbort, Avi Lerner and Trevor Short of Nu Image/Millennium Films following the success of his recent films 'John Rambo' and 'Rocky Balboa'.
He told the Hollywood Reporter: "The past year and a half of working with Avi, his partners Danny and Trevor and his film family has been nothing but a high point for me and my career and an extremely rewarding experience. Avi is a real gentleman and a man of his word."
Stallone's 2006 film 'Rocky Balboa' grossed $70m, while the fourth instalment in the 'Rambo' franchise took $18.2m in its opening weekend in the US last month.
The 61-year-old is also separately working on a remake of the 1974 vigilante drama 'Death Wish'.

Modified Motion

   
Artist: Modified Motion

   Genre(s): 
Drum & Bass
   

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Discography:


   
 Modified Motion (MM02)

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 2


   
 Modified Motion (MM004)

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 2


   
 Lfo and Agent Delta (MM001) Vi

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 2

---

 

Corrie's David set for more trouble

'Coronation Street' star Jack P Shepherd has said that his character is set to cause more trouble in Weatherfield in the coming weeks.
According to Digital Spy, the actor, who plays David Platt, said of his upcoming storyline: "There's something really big coming up at the beginning of April that the whole Street will be talking about - so watch out."
A show source reportedly said: "We've just filmed some amazing scenes with Jack which see him totally destroying the Street."
"It was great fun filming is and the devastation is bound to cause friction amongst Weatherfield's residents."

iPower predicts the death of the Internet

Is the Internet going the way of the dodo?  It is if you ask iPower, the Belgian filmmaker-activist group whose "Athene" YouTube show I wrote about a few weeks ago.  In a video that became the number one story on Digg yesterday and is today one of YouTube's most viewed, the group claimed it had an inside source at a major telecommunications company who told them that the telco industry was colluding on a plan to make the Internet subscription-based, kind of like cable TV. You'd pay a standard fee for your 'basic' sites--the high profile, mainstream sites that everyone uses, and would have to pay extra to access the little guys.

According to iPower's apocalyptic vision, the new paradigm would obliterate net neutrality--and the Internet as we know it, because once you put a tiered system in place, most users would choose not to pay extra for the non-mainstream stuff, and those sites would be extincted.

Warning: this video is long.  But you can get the basic idea in the first couple of minutes.  Incidentally, Tania's cleavage is a central part of iPower's publicity strategy.

Digg commenters cried foul on iPower's scandalous and unsourced claims. If the telecommunications companies were making back room plans to gut the Internet, people wrote, that would certainly be an antitrust violation. Second, there's an entire sector of companies whose raison d'etre is to innovate online--if they got their access revoked, a big fat slice of the economy would go poof. Take a site like Google, which is built to help users navigate a limitless Web. But if the Web was just a few hundred (or a few thousand) sites--a search engine as powerful as Google would be pointless.

So iPower's claim doesn't really add up. I spoke to Reese Leysen, one of iPower's members, and he swore that a high-level contact at one of the companies told him it was so. I'm tempted to believe Leysen since he's been a straight shooter before, but as is often the case with secrets, whatever secondhand truth he was handed probably got further muddled in translation. 

It seems plausible that the businesses that control the Internet might be having conversations about a next generation profit model--which might include ways they can decide which sites get to use their networks. It's an old prediction that without net neutrality laws, the big, high-traffic Web businesses would get the royal treatment--a sort of HOV lane on the Internet highway--and everyone else would fight for the scraps of bandwidth left over. But in a way, that's sort of what iPower is predicting, even if their specifics are off. The details of a nonneutral Internet don't matter as much as the big picture: once you make the net a pay-for-play system, it stops being a medium and starts being a market.

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Rep Slams Ashley Tisdale HIV Rumor

A representative for 'High School Musical' star Ashley Tisdale has dismissed online reports that she has been diagnosed as HIV positive, saying the story is "completely untrue."

Rumors spread online on Thursday (June 5) following a posting on the website Digg, which was subsequently removed, claiming that, "An inside source stated that Ashley may have contracted the virus last year when she underwent a rhinoplasty procedure."

The article also quoted a spokesman for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles saying, “Ashley and her family are trying to come to terms with this horrible development. They only ask that you pray for Ashley’s health and to please respect their privacy as the family decides on the next course of action.”

Tisdale's rep, Scott Appel, has angrily denied the report explaining, "The story is completely untrue."

Simi Singer from Cedars-Sinai adds that, "We did not release any statement regarding Ashley Tisdale." 

NEXT: The Daily Trailer: Kung Fu Panda

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Klum opens home to troubled Spears

Model Heidi Klum has said that Britney Spears could come and live with her as the troubled singer puts her life back on track.
The Associated Press reports that in an interview to be aired tonight on German broadcaster ARD, Klum said: "She can call me and come live in our house with us for a couple of months. I would help set her straight."
The model, who is married to the singer Seal, continued: "I am sorry when a young person gets thrown so off track. She has, of course, lived an extremely wild life."

Autolux

   
Artist: Autolux

   Genre(s): 
Rock
   

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Discography:


   
 Future Perfect

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 11

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Los Angeles noise pop trio Autolux formed in 2000. Singer/bassist Eugene Goreshter met ex-Ednaswap drummer Carla Azar while collaborating on the score for Dario Fo's play Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and following the addition of late Failure guitarist Greg Edwards, the radical made its live debut that summertime at the far-famed L.A. area club the Silverlake Lounge. Upon cathartic the self-produced EP Demonstration in the spring of 2001, Autolux signed with producer T-Bone Burnett's newcomer DMX label and began writing material for their approaching debut LP -- yet, in May 2002 Azar fell from a stage and tattered her elbow, making a complete retrieval following an experimental surgery that requisite the effectuation of ashcan School titanium screws. At year's end the mathematical group eventually entered the studio apartment, and patch recording wrapped in early 2003, Autolux exhausted more than than a year refining the final merge and Future Perfect did not hit retail until October 2004. Tours in support of the Secret Machines and Nine Inch Nails followed, as did an appearance on the Vincent Gallo-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival.