Craig Hill
Entertainment
Superheroes and Super Tyrants
It is always nice to receive an accolade from a fellow writer, and I thank Chan Kai Yee for his gracious words in his post today.
New Format For Facebook
A big change is coming to Facebook. Facebook users have been beta testing a new feature called “timeline.” It changes the format of your personal account page from a news feed list to a timeline based on photos and other posts. It allows you to peruse your Facebook activity in chronological order. Whether you love … Continue reading
The Apartment
The Apartment is the bittersweet, darkly comic tale of a mild-mannered office nebbish who sells little bits of his body and soul to climb the corporate ladder, falls in love on the way up and finds his way back down to redemption. Jack Lemmon will quite simply break your heart in this wry, cynical indictment … Continue reading
Some Like it Hot
One of the great screwball comedies, Some Like It Hot answers the burning question: will Jack Lemmon’s romantic life actually improve if he puts on a dress? You bet. In fact, just about everybody has a good time in this fun, silly movie, with Lemmon and Tony Curtis in drag, hiding out from the mob … Continue reading
Fiction Family by Fiction Family (2009)
Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins have set out to restore dude love’s lost notoriety with Fiction Family. The resultant self-titled record has plenty of charm despite lacking any “super band” qualities. Those who became enamored with Foreman’s folky acoustic solo project will eat Fiction Family right up. The record isn’t … Continue reading
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
In the crowded pantheon of comic-book-derived movie-franchise superheroes, Wolverine, as embodied by the muscular Australian song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman, always seemed kind of special. A grouchy, sensitive loner with retractable metal claws and apparently unretractable facial hair, Wolverine brooded and growled through the first three “X-Men” pictures, helping to supply them (or at least the … Continue reading
Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur was made back when going to an epic movie was an international event. Great spectaculars were made with real people, mind-boggling sets and casts of thousands, long before digital special effects made them all obsolete. Epics were shown on gigantic screens in palatial movie houses, often with overtures and intermissions, and a really big … Continue reading
Susan Boyle Has A Makeover
It looks like the Susan Boyle makeover has begun. In one recent report about the YouTube sensation from Scotland, Boyle is said to have visited with a hairdresser to help tame her curly flyaway locks. Earlier today, she was photographed at her home in Blackburn wearing a lightweight leather jacket and a purple printed frock … Continue reading
Lorne Michaels Stalker
The case against the man accused of stalking the Saturday Night Live mastermind was placed on hold at a hearing, and will be thrown out entirely if 32-year-old Evans Pidhajecky keeps out of trouble, and Michaels’ eyeline, for the next six months. “There was no crime,” Pidhajecky’s attorney, Jack Litman said. “He never stalked Lorne … Continue reading
Britney Spears Clown Care Donation
Britney Spears knows everybody loves a circus. The 27-year-old popstar, who’s currently on her Circus world tour, is donating $100,000 to the Miami Children’s Hospital’s Big Apple Circus Clown Care program. The mother of two made a surprise, 30-minute visit with 40 sick children at the hospital on Saturday before her show at the American … Continue reading
Monkees Peter Tork Battles Cancer
Peter Tork isn’t monkeying around with his health. The erstwhile Monkee has been diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of head and neck cancer, and underwent surgery to remove the growth on his tongue on Wednesday. “It’s a bad news, good news situation,” the “I’m a Believer” artist said. “It’s so rare a … Continue reading
Michael Jackson Announces London Concerts
It’s the news fans have been waiting for. Michael Jackson is looking to mount a thriller of a comeback, nearly four years since he was acquitted of child-molestation charges. The erstwhile King of Pop is aiming to reclaim his throne, announcing today at a press conference he plans to play 10 concerts in London’s O2 … Continue reading
Robin Williams Heart Surgery
Robin Williams is taking a time-out for “a little tune-up.” The madcap Oscar winner announced today that he is postponing the remaining dates of his one-man show, Weapons of Self-Destruction, to undergo heart surgery. The 57-year-old Williams announced Tuesday he was scuttling two shows in Florida this week after experiencing shortness of breath. Following a … Continue reading
Bruce Willis To Countersue
To put it in Bruce Willis terms, the last boy scout thinks a lawsuit filed against him for “walking off the set” of a movie he was supposed to direct is just a bunch of pulp fiction and he wants it to die hard. The A-lister is looking to get medieval on film company Foresight … Continue reading
Ed McMahon Intensive Care
Ed McMahon is in intensive care at a Los Angeles hospital. The 85-year-old former Johnny Carson sidekick has been hospitalized for several weeks with pneumonia, as well as other unspecified ailments, rep Howard Bragman said. The TV icon’s family is said to be at his side. McMahon has had his share of troubles in recent … Continue reading
Jerry Seinfeld Returning To TV
Jerry Seinfeld is teaming up with NBC once again to produce a reality series called The Marriage Ref. The show will feature “celebrities, comedians and athletes who will judge couples in the midst of marital disputes while recommending various strategies to resolve their problems.” The show is inspired by the star’s own experiences with married … Continue reading
Octomum or Octopussy?
Octomom needs money, the world needs alternative movies. It’s a match made in heaven. Or so think the opportunistic peddlers at adult powerhouse Vivid Entertainment, who have made Nadya Suleman a halfway decent indecent proposal, offering the cash-strapped mother of 14 $1 million plus a year of health insurance in exchange for shaking her babymaker … Continue reading
Arnold Schwarzenegger In Sylvester Stallone Movie
Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to make a cameo as his state-ruling self in Sylvester Stallone’s latest testosterone fest, The Expendables. The flick is set to begin shooting March 28 in Brazil and then will then move to New Orleans for an additional two months of photography. Stallone, who wrote the script and will also star … Continue reading
Spider-man Musical From U2’s Bono and The Edge
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the hyped stage musical directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King) with music and lyrics courtesy of U2’s Bono and The Edge, will kick off what its producers hope will be an amazing run along the Great White Way beginning with previews on Jan. 16, 2010, and a Feb. 18, … Continue reading
Charles Barkley Jail For DUI
Charles Barkley’s run-in with the law has landed him in foul territory. The outspoken NBA analyst was sentenced to 10 days in jail Monday after pleading guilty to driving under the influence for his Dec. 31 arrest in Scottsdale, Ariz. He’ll only have to spend five days behind bars, however, if he completes an alcohol-education … Continue reading
Rupert Murdoch Apologises Personally For Chimp Cartoon
This time the apology from the New York Post’s controversial chimp cartoon is coming straight from the monkey’s uncle: Rupert Murdoch. The News Corp. chairman offered up a personal mea culpa this morning for last week’s editorial panel that sparked allegations of racism by linking the killing of a chimpanzee in Connecticut to D.C.’s recently … Continue reading
Oscars 2009 Red Carpet Quotes
“He doesn’t speak English. He isn’t saying anything.” They were the words of one of the little kids from Slumdog Millionaire, translating on behalf of another little kid from Slumdog Millionaire. Unfortunately, many better known people feel obliged to say as much as they can, so here are some more of the quotes from the … Continue reading
2009 Oscar Winners Complete List
2009 Oscar Winners Complete List Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn, Milk Actress in a Leading Role: Kate Winslet, The Reader Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan) Original Song: “Jai Ho,” A.R. Rahman and Gulzar; Slumdog Millionaire Original Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire Film Editing: Slumdog … Continue reading
United Nations Put George Clooney In Danger
George Clooney’s freedom of speech may have cost him his safety. The United Nations announced that it was looking into allegations that the world body pulled the actor’s security detail while he was, and still is, travelling through a lawless region of Chad. The move was alleged to be a preemptive measure to prevent Clooney … Continue reading
Peter Falk’s Daughter Seeks Control Over Dad’s Finances
Columbo can take care of himself. That’s the word from the lawyer appointed by an LA judge to evaluate whether Peter Falk needed to be placed under a conservatorship controlled by his daughter, who has claimed the 81-year-old TV legend suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and is unable to manage his personal and financial affairs. In … Continue reading
Most Recent Posts Post on My Blog About China: China News
Chinese Arctic incursion spooks US lawmakers
China is using the Arctic and seas only miles away from Alaska as a staging area to undermine U.S. national security, top lawmakers and experts say. Newly released images reveal a fleet of Chinese warships conducting operations in American waters off the coast of Alaska, prompting Coast Guard vessels to track and communicate with the […]
China declares all cryptocurrency transactions illegal
China intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrency on Friday, declaring all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies illegal and issuing a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency mining, the power-hungry process in which vast computer networks compete for newly created crypto tokens. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, dropped as much as 7 percent, to around $41,100, on the news, but […]
China plans tax crackdown on richest entertainers, including online influencers
China is set to conduct regular tax investigations into top entertainers including online influencers, promising serious punishment for offenders amid a deepening crackdown on the entertainment industry and lucrative culture of fandom. High-income celebrities who self-report offences by the end of the year, however, may receive reduced penalties or exemptions, the country’s taxation authorities said […]
Xi Jinping’s effort to return to socialism
For decades life in China had evolved around its home-grown version of let-it-rip capitalism. Despite being technically a “communist” country, the government had put its faith in trickle-down economics, believing that allowing some people to become extremely rich would benefit all of society by dragging it out of the disastrous quagmire of Chairman Mao’s Cultural […]
China is financing infrastructure projects around the world – many could harm nature and indigenous communities
China is shaping the future of economic development through its Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious multi-billion-dollar international push to better connect itself to the rest of the world through trade and infrastructure. Through this venture, China is providing over 100 countries with funding they have long sought for roads, railways, power plants, ports and […]
China’s military has an Achilles’ heel: Low troop morale
The Chinese Communist Party has unintentionally revealed weaknesses of the country’s military. One indication came with the building of facilities for launching new intercontinental ballistic missiles in an inland desert region. The other was a series of further attempts to increase childbirths, including measures to help reduce the costly burden of educating children. Behind these […]
Cadence Column: Asia, September 20, 2021
China steps up expansion via Hong Kong elections. Seven editors are banned from Wikipedia on concerns of not acting in good faith and with relation to China. The US sails through the Taiwan Straight again, this time a destroyer. Taiwan wants more backup runways for fighter jets. Escalations only continue and no side shows any […]
China adds powerful new ship to maritime patrol fleet
China has added a new powerful ship to its fleet of maritime patrol vessels in the South China Sea, state media has reported. The 5,560-ton Hai Xun 03 was launched on Tuesday and will become the largest ocean patrol ship under the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration (MSA), the official China News Service reported, adding that […]
A lesson in political economy on investments in China
Paul Krugman, the eminent Nobel laureate in economics, recalls how companies are different from nations and their reasons. Business managers have different perspectives. It is economists – not managers – who place the question of foreign trade, the balance of payments and the exchange rate at the center of their reflections. Since 1989, China and […]
Are China’s climate promises just a load of hot air? (Yes!)
China is prepared to hold its cooperation on climate issues hostage to Western concessions elsewhere. Few cities in China represent the country’s addiction to coal more than Tianjin, where Alok Sharma travelled this week to talk about cooperation on climate issues. It sits on the coast of one of China’s most polluted regions, and its […]
