By the way, the long forgotten King of Pop Michael Jackson will turn 50 tomorrow. There is no celebration. Yes, the fanfare is missing; in fact, one can’t even spot the man who was ruling the music arena for decades. You know once there was a popular joke that every child in the world would probably not know who the prime minister or the president of his/her country was but he/she would have definitely heard of Michael Jackson. But the same man has been erased from our memories; quite obviously he gave us reasons to treat him the way we are. So, don’t worry this article will not make you look at him differently. It will just go back into time to look at the singing sensation he used to be till he had a sharp fall from the top due to allegations of child abuse and his crazy whims.
Starting out as a member of Jackson Five, a music group formed with his siblings, in 1964 Michael gave hits like ‘ABC’ and ‘I’ll be there’ in even before he was a teenager. But he created history with ‘Thriller’, ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Beat It’ in the late 70s. There was another plus point that Michael had — his impeccable dancing skills. You can imagine what fun people my age must have had growing up when Michael was creating musical and visual wonders all around. Women fainting at his live performances were a common occurrence; the special effects did actually take our breaths away. He was a star in the truest sense of the word, and not just in the west, he had a strong fan following all across the globe.
Perhaps that is the reason why he suffered such a severe downfall after the two accusations of child molestation against him in 1993 and 2003. And then there were also the debacle of marriages he entered intoa and the innumerous plastic surgeries. Oh yeah, and holding his baby from the window of the hospital he was born in, did not win Michael any brownie points.
Like many others, Michael blamed his behaviour to the abuse he faced at the hands of his father and to the challenges of being a child star. The latter definitely is a very scary statement that always lurks in the minds of parents whose children are rising to fame. We have had the likes of Britney Spears and Macaulay Culkin suffer the same fate as Michael did. They were sensations, people loved them, they went terribly wrong and then we forgot who they were.
Fame sure is a scary thing.

Aamir Khan accepts awards on his own terms. How else will you explain possibly the first ever Indian film award that the acclaimed actor received himself! The country sat in shock yesterday when Khan graciously accepted the 11th Golapudi award for ‘Taare Zameen Par’ from film veteran K Balachander.
We have grown up listening about Khan’s anathema of awards because he doubts the authenticity of the selection and winning process. Well, he isn’t the only one to believe that. The reigning clout in Bollywood does seem to take the call on who should get the award and who should not. But aren’t times changing a little. C’mon SRK doesn’t bag an assured award every year. I don’t mean to target him as I’m a loyal fan. But thinking objectively, there have been breaks in his award-winning career that suggests the growing transparency in the Indian award system.
We all know Aamir made an exception once before the Golapudi when he participated in the Oscars in 2001 with his film ‘Lagaan’. On that note, I would like to ask Aamir how transparent does he think the Oscars are? C’mon after Heath Ledger’s death people have already declared him a winner at the Oscar this year. Why? Maybe the scandal involved in his death, could be one reason, I’m not sure.  
My point is, Aamir films are about pleasing the masses or should I say popularity that it enjoys. The awards cannot be decided along a strict guideline. It’s the ‘clicking’ that usually works because we are talking about the art of filmmaking here. So, why don’t you give Indian film awards a chance? Make an appearance at award functions and please your fans. Frankly, we are quite tired of Sajid Khan poking fun at your poster and of you not ‘giving permission to show a clip of TZP in a film nomination’ in awards hosted by SRK and SAK.
Via ibnlive

After actor Morgan Freeman met with a serious car accident, the grapevine is abuzz with fears of a curse trailing The Dark Knight. Freeman portrays Lucius Fox in the film. The shock was too much for the film buffs to bear, especially after the untimely death of Heath Ledger, who immortalised the Joker in the latest Batman film, in January this year. Experts say it was an accidental prescription overdose that killed Ledger who suffered from chronic insomnia because he was haunted by his work in the film. In fact, Ledger had even admitted in interviews that he had tapped into some very disturbing elements of his psyche to play such an intense role. Eyebrows rose even further when the lead star of The Dark Knight, Christian Bale, who is a very private star, was troubled by an old unresolved family feud taking over the media. His mother and sister made a private altercation public and even filed assault charges.
Many believe that Warner Brothers, who have been infamously trying to profit off the tragedy of Heath Ledger’s demise, is getting its due. Is it really a series of unfortunate events?

Via gosslip

Brangelina babies’ first pics cost 14 million dollars to People Magazine. The pair, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, born by a Caesarean section on July 12 in Nice were featured on the mag cover cuddling with their famous parents. Weighing a healthy 5 pounds each the two little ones boost the Pitt-Jolie household to half a dozen in number, including Maddox, 6; Pax, 4, Zahara, 3; and Shiloh, 2. Brad Pitt calls his growing family “a cuckoo’s nest”. The doting parents are extremely glad that the twins have been welcomed with open arms by their siblings. “Zahara and Shiloh are like little mommies to the twins,” shares a happy Angelina Jolie.
Well to give you some facts, Brad makes 20 million dollars per movie while his better half walks away with a smooth 15-20 dollars for a flick. So, you can easily see what a huge figure the twins have earned with their first assignment. In fact, Shiloh’s first baby pics sold for just 4.1 million dollars while Pax’ made 2 million dollars. Brangelina intend to donate the first earnings of the newest additions of their family to charity.
All that is just so super good. But I wonder what the Brangelina household will be like once these kids grow up…identity crisis (C’mon the kids look just so different, how will they overcome their ethnicity)??? Who gets mommy’s attention the most (six is not a small number)? I think the famous couple should consider family planning…any takers?
Via nydailynews

The current Mrs Tom Cruise has had enough of living in a commune. Looks like when Tom Cruise and his current better half Katie Holmes bought a 35 million dollar home in Beverly Hills, Katie insisted that everyone other than Suri and Tom’s two adopted children with Nicole Kidman, Isabella and Connor find another place to live. This new angle in the Cruise household would be the toughest on his mom Mary Lee South and three sisters who have been living with him since 2001 and are practicing Scientologists. But enough has been enough for Katie who is tired of having shadows roaming around the house.
Seriously, I never knew even film stars would find cutting off the umbilical cord so hard. Cruise should’ve had the sense to set up a house with Katie independent of his larger family. The girl needs a place that she can call her own and look after her husband and kids. I just hope the sudden turn in their relationship doesn’t prove to be hazardous to their marriage. Having been surrounded by such a crowd at home for a so long and then suddenly having to stay with just one adult and kids is a change not many can handle well.

Via glosslip

And once again, Hollywood heartthrob of yore Tom Cruise is in news thanks to the controversial religion called Scientology that he follows. Apparently, he is one of the names mentioned in a federal lawsuit filed by ex-Scientologist Peter Letterese in Florida. Letterese’s complaint provides details of harassment by the notoriously thievish organisation that runs Scientology. Referring to the Church of Scientology as a “crime syndicate” in the lawsuit, Letterese demands the dismantling of the organisation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisation law. For those of you who didn’t know, David Miscavage is the Church head of Scientology with Cruise as his ‘right-hand man’. The two have not left any stone unturned to promote their religion domestically as well as abroad acquiring and spending money in tens of millions of dollars, a huge portion of which is donated by Cruise himself.
A classic case of having to taste one’s own bitter medicine, isn’t it? Scientology made a killing by filing frivolous law suits based on falsehoods. And then there is the controversial past. Don’t we remember how in 2005, Cruise was described as a militant for Scientology by the French who regard Scientology as a cult and business respectively, and even decided to stop dealing with him. And of course, how can we forget the famous spat with Brooke Shields and the medical practitioners on the use of anti-depressants and psychiatry.

Via GlossLip

Animator Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues bagged the Crystal for best feature (numero uno award) at the 32nd Annecy International Animation Film Festival held in France. This year definitely belongs to New York indie animators scooped the top two prizes. The second and third postions were occupied by Idiots & Angels (US) and Die Drei Räuber (Germany) respectively. Annecy is the industry’s leading international competitive festival that brings to you the best animation films around the world. The films selected and screened here belong to 4 categories: Feature films, Short films, Commissioned and TV films and Graduation films. Each variety employs different animation techniques in its production.

This year’s winner Sita Sings the Blues entwines the tale of a modern woman Sita and her husband Rama, with episodes from Ramayana ( the Indian epic) in a witty fashion. The plot involves around the life of this modern woman whose husband moves to India and then dumps her by email! The film has a feminist streak as the female character Sita is given voice while the male character Rama is shown as a strong but ‘silent’ man. Through highly stylized characters, the animation film beautifully reveals the pathos of a smart, young and modern woman being dumped by her spouse. Paley has cleverly blended traditional wisdom from ancient epic with contemporariness. She jocularly describes her film to be the greatest break-up story ever told! Her choice to tell this story through animation reflects her sensibilities for had the same story been shot in conventional non-animated manner…the effect on the audience perhaps would have been dull. It’s a must see animation indeed!!

Via EuroNews