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This Hollywood Life

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Lone 5 Star Review On Amazon Turns Out To Be Work of Crew Member
 
WESTWOOD - Derek Lajeunesse is suspected of giving a five star review to The Grim Reaper; a direct-to-video film he worked on the set of earlier this year. Amazon officials became suspicious of the five star review when they clicked on his username, "D-Licious55" and discovered only one other review- a five star review for last year's direct-to-video horror film, The Yeti Horror which imdb lists Lajeunesse as having worked on as well. In both reviews, Lajeunesse posted the same text, verbatim, in the form of a narrative which is now believed to be fictional. "I walked into a small theater on a whim not expecting much. Boy was I surprised! While it doesn't have the big budget of Hollywood horror films, this little indie flick has a lot more heart... and enough gore to keep any horror fan happy. Awesome!"

The scam was uncovered by Justin Quinn, alias "TheRealTylerDurden," who watched a rented copy of The Grim Reaper based on Lajeunesse's glowing testimony. Quinn's review took a decidedly contrary view, "I don't know if the last reviewer is retarded or what. This movie sucked. It was boring and the acting and effects were awful. I'm only giving this one star because Amazon doesn't allow you to give zero!"

Control Release Date Pushed Back To 2011

NEW YORK - Tamara Jackson, speaking on behalf of her employers, The Weinstein Company, has confirmed her company's decision to not release Anton Corbijn's critically-acclaimed film for another three years. Jackson explained, "In keeping with Weinstein's cautious approach to DVD releases, we have thought long and hard and decided to wait until the smoke clears from the recent HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray format war. While Blu-Ray has proven winner in this battle, who's to say that some new, undreamed of format, like an optolithic data rod, isn't going to render Blu-Ray as obsolete as VideoDiscs?"

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Posted by Eric Brightwell on April 1, 2008 at 01:29pm | Post a Comment

Happy Easter!

In terms of beloved figures central to Christian children's mythology, the Easter Bunny would probably show up near the top, well below Santa Claus but higher than Jesus, The Sandman and the Tooth Fairy. Actually, I was never too crazy about the Tooth Fairy. What does she does with all those teeth? Why does she buy our silence with micropayments left under our pillows?

    

Questions about the Easter Bunny are less frightening and more practical. How does a Rabbit lay eggs? Where does the Easter Bunny live the rest of the year? How does he carry the Easter Basket? And perhaps, what does he have to do with Christ Jesus' resurrection (if you're Rod or Tod).


 

Of course, like all great holy days, Easter's roots aren't in Christianity. Whereas usually the Churchies change the name of the holiday when moving their religious observance onto its pagan foundation, in this case they left the old name. This could be because Eostre, a goddess of the Angles and Saxons, hadn't been actively worshiped for some time when Jesus' resurrection was being celebrated.

      

The Venerable Bede, the Northumbrian monk who is known as the "Father of English History" wrote, somewhat speculatively:

In olden time the English people – for it did not seem fitting to me that I should speak of other nations' observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation's – calculated their months according to the course of the moon. Hence after the manner of the Hebrews and the Greeks, [the months] take their name from the moon, for the moon is called mona and the month monath.

Posted by Eric Brightwell on March 23, 2008 at 12:38pm | Post a Comment

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Irish bishops move St. Patrick's Day 2008 over conflict with Holy Week
"Religious celebrations for St. Patrick's Day will come two days early in Ireland next year to avoid a conflict with Holy Week.

St. Patrick's Day is usually celebrated March 17, but Ireland's bishops have shifted the feast day, in honor of the national saint, to Saturday, March 15, reported The Associated Press.

Church authorities reportedly spent weeks debating where to move the feast day because March 17, 2008, falls on the second day of Holy Week next year.

The liturgical norms would require the feast day to be moved to the earliest available date after Easter, which would be April 1. But church officials said the Vatican approved the March 15 date in order to minimize conflict with the scheduled civic events.

While religious celebrations honoring St. Patrick are affected, religious and secular authorities stressed this would not change secular festivities. The St. Patrick's Festival Committee in Dublin confirmed that next year's parade would be March 17 as usual. In addition, Monday, March 17, will remain an official day off of work in Ireland.

This marks the first time the date has been changed since 1940. The next conflict with Holy Week is not expected until 2160."

(source: the Catholic New Agency)

This is news to me! Just to be safe and cover your bases, wear green and drink whiskey on both the 15th and the 17th... and the 18th (Sheelah's Day- which you honor by drowning the shamrock in whiskey in honor of Sheelah-Na-Gig).
       

In the face of my enthusiasm for holidays, I often encounter all types of Negative Nellies who, with their cosmopolitan wisdom, frequently let me know that St. Patrick's Day isn't that big of a deal in Ireland. To them I offer these facts:
Posted by Eric Brightwell on March 15, 2008 at 04:19pm | Post a Comment

Happy Valentine's Day

      

It's Valentines Day. Pshaw! A Hallmark Holiday, you say. Singles Awareness Day, another jokes. I guess every holiday has it's Scrooge. My friend Nick would gripe about Valentine's, Christmas or (especially) 4/20. He doesn't need holidays to legislate his behavior. And yet his love of Halloween never once carried into the rest of the year. Why not don a Boba Fett costume and go door-to-door stating "Trick or Treat!" in March, you rebels? Despite what cynics claim about the supposed commercial origins of Valentine's Day, the oldest known association of St. Valentine's Feast Day with romantic love occurs in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parlement of Foules which was published back in 1382.  In it he wrote,

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chesehis make.

It was written to commemorate the engagement of the 13-year-old Richard II to 14-year-old (cougar) Anne of Bohemia. The "volantynys" or "valentine" is variously assumed to be either, Valentine (Valentinus) of Rome or Valentine of Terni who may've been the same person or, more likely, never existed. Valentines, from at least that point on, has held special significance for lovers. By the 1850s, Esther Howland was mass-producing and selling Valentines after taking her inspiration from an English Valentine. Hallmark, the Missouri-based mass producer of greeting cards began producing Valentines 532 years after Chaucer's remark, making accusations that they're behind the holiday somewhat less than likely.

       

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Posted by Eric Brightwell on February 14, 2008 at 12:51pm | Post a Comment

The New Lincoln Penny

The four designs under consideration to replace the 'tails' side of the penny.
In 2009 the cent, (most people refer to the one cent coin as a penny, but the U.S. Mint's official name is ‘cent’), will get a one-year, four-coin commemorative program marking the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, and the 100th anniversary of the first minting of the Lincoln penny. The redesign was passed as part of the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, which also authorizes the production of collectible, numismatic versions of the cent coins containing the same copper content as the original pennies minted in 1909. The standard circulation penny issued will have a copper-plated zinc composition. The redesign of the reverse side, the former Lincoln Memorial 'tails' side, in 2009 will show four difference scenes from Abraham Lincoln's life: his birth and childhood in Kentucky, his formative years in Indiana, his professional life in Illinois, and finally his Presidency. Though not confirmed by the US Mint, there are likely to be at least 12 different versions of the 2009 Lincoln Cent: a circulation version of each of the four designs but with a "P" mint mark, a circulation version of all four designs but with the "D" mint mark, and of course the collector's version, likely proof sets, of all four designs. In 2010, the cent will be completely redesigned again, with a new permanent design being released into circulation, but still with Lincoln’s image. So start hording those old Lincoln Memorial cents, before you know it, they’ll be worth a fortune ... thousands of pennies will be worth tens of dollars!!!
 

Posted by Whitmore on February 12, 2008 at 09:37am | Comments (2)
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