Elizabeth Taylor Dead

Wow. This is a big one. A real legend in the eyes of Hollywood and the public at large, Elizabeth Taylor has died at 79 years old. She's always been around. A two-time Academy Award winner for her classic performances in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Butterfield 8. She made other classics such as Father of the Bride, National Velvet, A Place in the Sun, Giant and of course, Cleopatra.



This is going to keep the entertainment media busy for a while.

Knut, the Globally-Loved Polar Bear Dies at Four

Knut, the world-famous polar bear, collapsed and died in front of 600 visitors at Berlin Zoo yesterday afternoon.
'He was by himself in his compound, he was in the water, and then he was dead,' said Mr Kloes. ' He was not sick, we don't know why he died."

This sucks.

Fans pay tribute...

UPDATE: Autopsy (necropsy) reveals brain anomalies tied to death.

Hollywood Legend Jane Russel Dies at 89

Hollywood legend and 40s -50s pin-up girl, Jane Russel has died of respiratory failure at her home in Santa Maria.

For Those Who Care

I don't watch the Oscars anymore, save for checking in to see if someone who I feel deserving to win a little golden statuette actually does, I just can't stand the soapbox speeches and the patting on the back of Tinseltown elitists who, contrary to what they would have you believe, couldn't care less about you, me and anyone or anything outside of their ivory towers.

But, just in case your wondering, here are the winners of the 2011 Academy Awards. I will not critique any of these performances, since I have not seen any of them, which as usual is par for the course until about four to six months after the fact.

Inspiration for Lois Lane Dies at 93

Woman Behind Superman: Inspiration for Lois Lane Dies:

Here's some super-sad news: Lois Lane has died. The woman who inspired the character from the "Superman" comic, Joanne Siegel, was 93. Her husband, Jerome Siegel, modeled Lois Lane after the woman who eventually became his wife.

The Cleveland native met the Man of Steel co-creator Siegel and his partner Joe Shuster when she was just 15 or 16. The teen had placed a classified ad in the local paper offering her services as a model. Shuster answered the ad, and the sketches he made were the basis of iconic Lois Lane.The love interest of Superman eventually became the real-life love interest of Siegel. She was introduced to Siegel by Shuster in the 1930s, but the two didn't marry until 1948, when Siegel's divorce to wife Bella Siegel was finalized."Superman," introduced as a DC comic book in 1938, became one of the best-known superheroes of all time, but the writers were not credited.

In 1978, with the Warner Brothers movie about to come out, DC finally added the co-creators' names to every Superman story and agreed to pay a lifetime stipend. After Jerome Siegel died in 1999, the Siegel and Shuster families filed for partial ownership of the character from Warner Brothers. Joanne Siegel could not leap tall buildings in a single bound, but she would end up doing something more important: preserving the legacy of the Superman creators. Brad Ricca, who teaches a comic book class at Case Western University, described her determination for justice this way: "Siegel would call DC Comics in New York and say, 'You need to help these people who made you all millionaires.'"

The professor added, "Kind of like Lois Lane, she just wouldn't give up."In 2008, a ruling gave the families a right to a large share of "Superman," but details are still being worked out.All that, and looks, too: An expert on Siegel tweeted, "Just heard Joanne Siegel passed away. Lois Lane herself. One of the most beautiful people I ever met."

ET2: Extinction

Nah. Not really. But a really cool fake trailor of a movie that I hope never does get made. These parodies are fine for a "what if?" scenario, but really, does anyone want to see this classic ruined with a bad sequel? Or a sequel (or God forbid a prequel) of any kind?



A really well-edited faux trailor. I caught parts of "The Siege" with Bruce Willis, I think I saw a bit of "Sudden Impact" and "50 First Dates." I have no idea where they got the footage of the "older Elliot."
Of course there's no way the "E.T." race would ever do this a la "Mars Attacks," right? For one thing, you would scare a whole generation of kids and really disappoint another. I remember the phenomenom Steven Speilberg created with this little guy. Believe me this little guy was everywhere in 1981-82. Lunch boxes, bedsheets, puzzles, story-books, toys, etc. Pretty much all the merchandise George Lucas had with the original STAR WARS. Pretty much.
However, I doubt if anyone would buy it. No one would forgive either Spielberg for reuining a classic or whomever he relinquishes the rights to for destroying the image and memories.

Still, overall a cool job. But...E.T. with fangs? Really?

Best 2011 Super Bowl Commercial