Review: Flight
by Fred Topel
The movie opens with full frontal nudity (Nadine Velazquez, totally integral to the tone, if not to the plot) while Whip is boozing and snorting before the flight. Another addict, Nicole (Kelly Reilly), visits a porn set to score a fix, and considers performing in a scene. Porn! Zemeckis’ last R-rated movie was Used Cars and what was that for, language? In Flight he covers all the taboos before the plane even takes off.Review: 'Flight' takes Robert Zemeckis and Denzel Washington on an unexpected trip
By Drew McWeeny
I remember seeing Spike Lee talk about the making of "Mo' Better Blues," and one of the things that he said made the film difficult to shoot was a firm rule from Denzel Washington that he did not want to do any elaborate love scenes or any sort of onscreen nudity with a female co-star because of his own offscreen marriage. As good as he is, there's often a sense that he's holding back something, that he is careful about his image. It's the sort of thing that I think often affects Will Smith's choices as a movie star as well, and it can be hard to let go of after you've lived with it for a long time. I couldn't help but think about that when we first see Denzel in this film, in bed with Nadine Velazquez, finishing a beer for breakfast and doing a rail to wake himself up as she walks around the room totally nude. At one point, he gives a sideways glance right up her backside as he talks on the phone, and there is a world weary quality to the beat that is both funny and immediately crushing. This is the sort of performance where there's no personal vanity involved, and there's no thought of Denzel as Denzel.
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(credit goes to anonymous)
Hello, thought I'd share some info on Wrong Turn 5 which you've mentioned.
This review states there are 3 major sex scenes in the film. The short unrated trailer released shows one of the group Amy Lennox in a tent having sex, so that's 1. There is also a dark haired girl having sex that we see briefly, who may be Roxanne McKee, and another review says that she and her man spend the night in a Motel. If so this would be great. For the final scene though, I've got an inkling we may see something of the delicious Camilla Arfwedson, who plays the sheriff. One scene released to the review sites shows her trying to rescue a guy inside a truck, which the studio seemingly describes as her boyfriend. This could be the final pairing for the nudity heavy sex scenes.
Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines (2012) Review By The Horror Czar, Don Sumner
Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines has everything you expect from the series, plus more nudity, more sex and more graphic gore.
Release Date: October 23, 2012 (U.S. DVD)
Directed By: Declan O'Brien
Written By: Declan O'Brien
Starring:
Camilla Arfwedson as Sheriff Angela
Roxanne McKee as Lita
Doug Bradley as Maynard
Simon Ginty as billy
Oliver Hoare as Julian
Amy Lennox as Cruz
Paul Luebke as Gus
Duncan Wisbey as Mose
Radoslav Parvanov as One Eye
George Karlukovski as Saw tooth
Borislav Liev as Three Finger
Kyle Redmond-Jones as Duputy Biggs
The entire Wrong Turn franchise is all wrong, on so many levels, but ultimately that is why these films are so enjoyable, and ultimately so popular. Over time a few staples of the franchise have emerged, so going into Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines there are some things we expect we are going to get: 1) Great and ultra-dramatic opening gore scene, likely before the title screen comes our way, 2) Grotesquely deformed hillbillies who don’t really talk, but giggle and act goofy, 3) pots of stew cooking over an open fire with recognizable human limbs hanging out, 4) Extremely graphic and over-the-top gore, with a heavy leaning on practical effects, 5) No respect for the supposed hero of the feature, as characters can die indiscriminately, and 6) In the end, everyone dies except the hillbillies. Thinking back to the other franchises, it is possible that not every single one of these expectations were realized in every film, but that won’t be further clarified here in the interest of leaving at least something for new viewers to find out for themselves.
Let’s go through each of these elements of Wrong Turn 5 in sequence. Regarding the “great and ultra-dramatic opening gore scene”, this film stays true to course, although if there is a primary complaint about the film it is that this particular scene is not quite as dramatic as the other franchises, which is disappointing because that opening scene is the primary reason many look forward to the franchise’s next installment. Who can forget Wrong Turn 2 when the reality star is cut in half, vertically… so awesome. Number 2, “grotesquely deformed hillbillies who don’t really talk, but giggle and act goofy” is a given for number 5, as without those guys they would have to just start a new franchise. We all know how continuing the Halloween franchise without Michael Myers worked out at the time…
Number 3, “pots of stew cookinig over an open fire with recognizable human limbs hanging out” falls into the same category as number 2 above – this element simply must exist in a Wrong Turn sequel, and it certainly does in this case. But getting on to number 4, “graphic and over-the-top gore”, Wrong Turn 5 does a great job. It’s hard to imagine how each installment creator overcomes the difficult task of bringing something new to the gore equation for this franchise, but this one does it with some excellent dismemberments, burnings alive, a couple of folks being disemboweled (they must have needed to get their money’s worth from those pig intestines) and a great fiery electrocution that is a joy to behold. For those of you who appreciate Motel Hell from 1980, there is a throwback to the signature kill/torture method used in that film too. Wrong Turn 5 is very satisfying in the gore department.
Number 5, “no respect for the supposed hero of the feature”, is one of the greatest things about this franchise, and that trend is continued in this latest issue. Many of us watch a ton of horror movies, and take pride in being able to predict the winners and losers based on oft-used formulae horror movie norms, and to have that ripped to shreds before our eyes, only to then prompt a new analysis of the surviving characters to determine where they fall in terms of winners and losers, is a good thing and keeps the horror freak mind sharp. What about number 6, “everybody dies”? I’m not going to divulge that one.
The challenge with any franchise is keeping it fresh in some way. How many films about deformed hillbillies capturing youngsters and eating them in the backwoods of West Virginia can there be before it just cannot go on? Wrong Turn 5 mixes things up a bit with the introduction of a non-deformed hillbilly serial killer who’s been hiding out in the woods for 30 years, played by none other than Pinhead himself, Doug Bradley. The addition of this different kind of character helps to keep this film from being a simple repeat of those from the past. It would have been nice to have a bit more set-up of his involvement, how he got tangled up with the hillbillies in the first place, where he’s been all this time, etc. etc., but we don’t need to get too nit picky. Let’s just say that there is so little set-up that it’s very noticeable, which is a pretty big deal as nobody going into this film is expecting Citizen Kane.
On the plus side, this film as a ton more nudity and sex than its predecessors even dreamed of having. With three major sex scenes, each complete with full thrusting and apparent buy-in by the performers, this one beats all of the others combined in the nudity and sex department. The only thing between Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines and an X rating is a clever camera angle here and there… and perhaps a strategically placed bed sheet.
For what it is, Wrong Turn 5 is a whole lot of fun. There are a million little things that will bug the crap out of you, so if you need anything other than a flimsy excuse for a bunch of deformed cannibalistic hillbillies to chop up and eat a bunch of college kids, then choose another movie to watch. If you are looking for gore that will make you yell out loud and a re-boot of the best part of Motel Hell though, this one just might be for you.
Number 3, “pots of stew cookinig over an open fire with recognizable human limbs hanging out” falls into the same category as number 2 above – this element simply must exist in a Wrong Turn sequel, and it certainly does in this case. But getting on to number 4, “graphic and over-the-top gore”, Wrong Turn 5 does a great job. It’s hard to imagine how each installment creator overcomes the difficult task of bringing something new to the gore equation for this franchise, but this one does it with some excellent dismemberments, burnings alive, a couple of folks being disemboweled (they must have needed to get their money’s worth from those pig intestines) and a great fiery electrocution that is a joy to behold. For those of you who appreciate Motel Hell from 1980, there is a throwback to the signature kill/torture method used in that film too. Wrong Turn 5 is very satisfying in the gore department.
The challenge with any franchise is keeping it fresh in some way. How many films about deformed hillbillies capturing youngsters and eating them in the backwoods of West Virginia can there be before it just cannot go on? Wrong Turn 5 mixes things up a bit with the introduction of a non-deformed hillbilly serial killer who’s been hiding out in the woods for 30 years, played by none other than Pinhead himself, Doug Bradley. The addition of this different kind of character helps to keep this film from being a simple repeat of those from the past. It would have been nice to have a bit more set-up of his involvement, how he got tangled up with the hillbillies in the first place, where he’s been all this time, etc. etc., but we don’t need to get too nit picky. Let’s just say that there is so little set-up that it’s very noticeable, which is a pretty big deal as nobody going into this film is expecting Citizen Kane.
For what it is, Wrong Turn 5 is a whole lot of fun. There are a million little things that will bug the crap out of you, so if you need anything other than a flimsy excuse for a bunch of deformed cannibalistic hillbillies to chop up and eat a bunch of college kids, then choose another movie to watch. If you are looking for gore that will make you yell out loud and a re-boot of the best part of Motel Hell though, this one just might be for you.
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Extras casting call: Anna Nicole Smith movie seeks body doubles
The late Anna Nicole Smith, God rest her soul, will be the subject of a new Lifetime movie that is now filming in Atlanta.The flick seeks body doubles who can approximate Smith’s dimensions at various points in her life.
The casting notice says the production folks need blonde women between 18 and 35, standing 5′6″ to 5′10″ tall, and sizes 4-8 and 10-14, with a D bust size.
If that’s you email tammysmithcasting@gmail.com.
They’re also looking for guys to serve as strip-club patrons. Basically you need a pulse to be eligible for this one. The casting call says they’re looking for men ages 21 to 70, in both blue collar and more upscale attire.
Email tammysmithcasting@gmail.com with”PATRON” in the subject line.
Smith, who will be portrayed on the small screen by actress Agnes Bruckner, died of an overdose in 2007 at age 39.
* I'm getting conflicted reports in regards to the Lifetime movie. A guy at one of casting agencies whose talent recently auditioned for the lead role told me the flick is nudity free with liberal use of four-letter words. A female talent from another agency claims Lifetime is producing a extended cut for DVD (VOD?) market. She was casting for minor supportive role but callback for second audition was for another character - stripper with couple of lines and if she was willing to be topless in a closed set. There is a reason for hiring Mary Harron as a director yet Agnes Bruckner on her Facebook posted all the 'bust' work will be movie magic...
First Trailer For 'Carrie' Starring Chloe Moretz Arrives
After bringing some sizzle to the crowds at New York Comic Con over the weekend (read our report here), now everyone else is getting the first taste of "Carrie," and it's pretty much what audiences saw in Manhattan. But that doesn't mean it's no less impressive.
The teaser zeroes in on the iconic climax of Brian De Palma's original, with the the high school burning to the ground. But instead of stopping there, the camera cranes up and takes a gods-eye-view, surveying the entire town, as buildings tumble and burn, and townspeople in voiceover speak aloud their disbelief over what's happening. And then just as the goosebumps are being sufficiently raised, a girl in a bloody prom dress enters the frame.
"It's about anybody who has ever been told no, anybody who ever told you, 'Look, you're not going to amount to anything, you're never going to be who you want to be,'" the film's star Chloe Moretz told MTV about the film which has gained even more currency in the era of bullying awareness. "It's [a movie] for everybody who has ever been told no. She looks back and goes, 'Watch me. I'm going to become the person who I want to become. I'm going to become who I need to be.' "
Promising? You tell us. "Carrie" opens on March 15, 2013. Watch below.
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'Hip-hop fanatic' Rachel Nichols Raps "W.T.P." on Sway in the Morning
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Kata Mara tweets....
She was basically off the tweet loop after opening the account back in 2011 but suddenly became active twitterer again from mid of August of this year. Hmm. Wonder why?
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| On the set of House of Cards |
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| with James Foley |
Dexter : Yvonne Strahovski
* it's been a good day for nudity lovers. Nadine provided hints of first nude scene with racy pics on her twitter. Now Yvonne changed her profile photo as well after making first appearance on Dexter. Is she telling us something as well? From wholesome cherry avatar to this:
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Starz' The White Queen : Filming in Bruges
“The White Queen”, a ten-part television series commissioned by the BBC and intended for global distribution. With a budget of 22 million euro for ten episodes, this is the real deal. But the reason why the set is open to the press today lies elsewhere: the series, which will take 125 days to shoot, is being recorded in its entirety in Flanders.
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| Rebecca Ferguson |
The White Queen: Rebecca Ferguson scoops lead role in BBC adaptation of Philippa Gregory's The Cousins' War novels
Swedish model and actress Rebecca Ferguson has landed the biggest television role of the year.
She has been cast to play The White Queen in a mammoth ten-part BBC drama based on Philippa Gregory's The Cousins' War novels about the women of the Wars of the Roses.
Rebecca, who is based in Stockholm, did audition after audition, joining scores of other actresses up for the role of Elizabeth Woodville, a widowed Lancastrian commoner with two children who falls in love with Edward IV, a member of the family of York.
The actress did her final audition on Bank Holiday Monday with Max Irons, who had already been signed to portray Edward. By 7.15am on Tuesday, she was told the role was hers.
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| The Cousins War: Actresses Rebecca Ferguson, centre, who will plays The White Queen with Amanda Hale, left, who plays Margaret Beaufort and Faye Marsay who plays Anne Neville |
Later, she joined other cast members for a read through of the scripts, which were written by Emma Frost.
It's an impressive ensemble. Amanda Hale will play Margaret Beaufort - who becomes Elizabeth's bitter rival. Faye Marsay and Eleanor Tomlinson will portray Anne and Isabel Neville, daughters of Lord Warwick, the so-called Kingmaker (played by James Frain).
Award-winning Janet McTeer will play sorceress Jacquetta, Elizabeth's mother, who uses her magical powers to help her daughter capture the king's heart.
The women work behind the scenes, scheming ruthlessly to help their lovers, and their children, and will stop at nothing to gain - or keep - the throne. In terms of the menfolk, Aneurin Barnard will play Richard, Duke of Gloucester, David Oakes will be George, Duke of Clarence, and Tom McKay will portray Jasper Tudor.
Other key parts have gone to Robert Pugh, Juliet Aubrey, Frances Tomelty and Michael Maloney. Director James Kent will begin filming on locations in Bruges next week.
Ms Gregory's Cousins' War books were huge best-sellers and there's already talk that Ben Stephenson, BBC television's drama chief, is thinking of commissioning a second series next year.
* needless to say 29-years old Rebecca from Sweden heavenly tits will be in full view frequently. I could be wrong here (you never know with these European actresses. They often go nude early in the career on small-scale indie flicks) but I believe this will be her first nudity on-screen.
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Review: ‘The Sessions’ Gets Laid-Back With Female Nudity
Seeing a woman naked means a hell of a lot to Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a Berkeley poet and journalist who, after surviving polio as a child, has spent almost all of his life horizontally – and not in the good way. (O’Brien was a real person – he died in 1999 at age 49 — and “The Sessions” is based on a 1990 article he wrote called “On Seeing a Sex Surrogate.”) Mark is a charmer, a clever guy who’s surprisingly open about his feelings; he’s able to have an erection; and he also, unsurprisingly, craves the companionship of women.
Mark needs professional caretakers through much of the day and evening, and after doing a bit of soul searching, he fires a grumpy attendant he doesn’t really like and hires a sweet young woman (Annika Marks) who seems to genuinely care for him – though not in that way, a realization that leaves him crushed. And so after seeking the counsel of his parish priest (William H. Macy, in a performance so deeply humane it could make even the most resolutely agnostic sheep return to the flock), Mark enlists the aid a sex surrogate, a professional who might be able to help him overcome some of his anxieties about sex, many of which are tethered to his feelings about his twisted and somewhat immobile body.
The woman he hires is Cheryl Cohen Greene (Helen Hunt), a warm but crisply professional woman who at first isn’t quite sure how to approach Mark’s problems – she has never before worked with a disabled patient. But over the course of just a few sessions, she and Mark forge a relationship that is, for both parties, half businesslike and half life-changing.
This is either a delicate subject or an unapologetically vital one, and the key to “The Sessions” is that Lewin treats it as the latter. Lewin has been making movies for years (the 1988 Australian feature “Georgia,” starring Judy Davis; the 1994 romantic comedy “Paperback Romance,” with Anthony LaPaglia) and has directed frequently for television. (He also, incidentally, had polio himself as a child.)
But “The Sessions” has a youthful aura about it, maybe because it’s the kind of story an older person might dismiss as being too conventional, too done-to-death, although it’s not. And Lewin steers clear of any special pleading in the way he guides his actors. This is a superb ensemble – even the actors in the smallest roles shine, particularly Moon Bloodgood as Mark’s most intimidating – and perhaps most sympathetic — caretaker. Hawkes brings a great deal of dryness to his performance. He leaves no room for self-pity, but he also recognizes the seemingly insurmountable anthill battles that a guy like Mark has to fight every day. When Mark tries to explain to Macy’s Father Brendan why he wants to fire that grouchy attendant, he describes the expression on her face as “that ‘you need me more than I need you’ look.” There’s a measure of disdain in his voice but also a twinge of sadness; the reality is that he does need a great deal of help, and day in, day out, there’s no forgetting it.
Hawkes and Hunt are wonderful together: To call them “natural” isn’t quite right – it’s their awkwardness that makes their scenes tick. Hunt has always been a marvelous, down-to-earth comic actress, but now that she’s reached middle age, there’s something simultaneously softer and more flinty about her. Amid a raft of “older” actresses who are nervous about looking their age, Hunt’s unselfconsciousness stands out, particularly in her nude scenes: When she strips down for Mark, for the first time showing him what she’s got, the vision of her is a little shocking for us, too. It’s not that she doesn’t look great; it’s just that she’s not buffed, polished or airbrushed to perfection. She looks like a real person, and that’s a rarity even in moderately small-budget pictures. “The Sessions” may be about a guy whose circumstances are extraordinary. But the movie around him is ordinary in the best way, and that’s what makes all the difference.
Grade: B+
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‘The Walking Dead’ Return Draws 10.9 Million, Sets More Basic Cable Ratings Records, Tops All Broadcast Series In 18-49What Dish blackout? Last night’s Season 3 of AMC‘s The Walking Dead opened to 10.9 million total viewers, a big 50% increase vs. the show’s second-season premiere despite AMC’s loss of carriage on Dish Network systems. The Walking Dead’s Season 3 opener now ranks as the most-watched drama telecast in basic cable history. In adults 18-49 and 25-54, where the series already held the records, last night’s premiere set new benchmarks with 7.3 million adults 18-49, up 52% vs. the Season 2 premiere, and 6.1 million adults 25-54, up 46% (Live+Same Day). How staggering are those demo numbers? The Walking Dead‘s season premiere 18-49 average was higher than any broadcast series this season, excluding Sunday Night Football. The zombie drama topped Modern Family‘s season opener, which drew 7 million adults 18-49 in Live+ SD to lead the fall broadcast series pack.
The season premiere eclipsed Walking Dead‘s previous series highs posted by its most recent episode, the second-season finale, which in March drew 9 million total viewers, 6 million adults 18-49 and 5.3 million adults 25-54. For the night, Walking Dead averaged 15.2 million total viewers across the premiere and two encore telecasts at 10 PM and midnight. At 11 PM, the second-season premiere of Walking Dead‘s companion talk show Talking Dead,drew 2.1 million viewers (up 85% from its series debut last fall), 1.5 million adults 18-49 (up 92%) and 1.3 million adults 25-54 (up 71%).
* truly an absorbing series. The lack of background score (similar to Hitchcock's Birds) heightens the suspense and elevates any normal scenes into tense one. One minor weakness. Tendency to telegraph who is going to get bitten by the zombies either through cast credits (the Doc for example) or anyone who hangs around with that little jinxed shit Carl. I'm dreading Emily Kinney fate in coming weeks. My pervy curious mind is wondering if she will hook up with the black guy what with everyone pairing up nicely - sister is into yellow cock and dad is about to bite the dust. I don't see that happening though. The viewership will plummet in southern regions. My guess is the producers will turn T-Dog into a gay character to avoid future complicated romantic pitfalls. Cute 27-years old Emily is from the heartland of America. The Nebraskan was a singer back home before embarking on an acting career in New York. She also is an (in)active blogger, writing about her experiences as a young actress in New York for Unscripted Magazine.
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Guys, check out this site. Candid racy photos of celebs (Melissa Johnston from latest Barely Legal movie, Jules Hagerty), models (Li Zheng, Jules Diamond ) and adult performers. Some oddities there as well in shape of Courtney Laudner - supposedly from Conservative Christian background.
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She first made a splash as a Cleopatra-wigged New Year's guest, shimmying her way through a rendition of "Old King Tut" – and eventually out of her dress and into Nucky Thompson's (Steve Buscemi) bed in the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire. But Lillian "Billie" Kent isn't your dime-a-dozen aspiring actress, and neither is Meg Chambers Steedle.
The North Carolina native, still a relative ingènue to the world of film and television (she graduated from Northwestern University in 2008), has taken the old Jersey Shore by storm with her scene-stealing performance as Nucky's new flapper mistress. Billie, whom Steedle describes as "a mishmash of Sally Bowles and Holly Golightly," epitomizes the burgeoning independence of young women in the Roaring Twenties, which makes her the perfect match for Nucky's overwrought, philandering gangster. We caught up with the endearingly effervescent Steedle shortly after she wrapped on Boardwalk (she remained tight-lipped as to whether Billie will return for the recently renewed fourth season) to learn more about why Nucky has fallen hook, line and sinker for her fun-loving party girl.
Nucky's New York interactions with Billie always seem like an escape from the stress of bootlegging, murder and corruption. How much do you think she knows about what really goes on when he's back home in Atlantic City?
I think it's by choice that she doesn't ask him about his business. She knows that it's not something he'd tell her. He wouldn't be completely open with exactly what goes on in his life, and so a lot of that has to do with her keeping him at an arm's length as well because they have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I think that's for protection, but also because she knows that he won't tell her everything, so why should it be any different?
He's certainly shown Billie more affection than he's ever demonstrated with his wife, Margaret (Kelly Macdonald). Do you think he's in love with her? And is she in love with him?
Well, I think there's definitely a reason for their relationship in that the attraction they have to each other is significant. We'll see more of it as the show goes on, but again, even with that, Billie's a young girl in 1923, she's in the theater scene, and it's an exciting life. And then we've also got the flapper lifestyle starting to come into play. While researching this role, I watched interviews with women who were in their 20s [in the Twenties], and everything that these ladies kept coming back to was the idea of freedom. Because there were so many restrictions on women during that time, there's this rebelliousness going on in the youth culture. So while Billie's connection with Nucky is very important, I think the other significant thing to her is freedom and living life to the fullest and that every turn around the bend can be something new, so commitment isn't exactly on her mind [laughs].
Billie's introduction into the cast of Boardwalk Empire does officially signal the arrival of the flapper.
Yeah, and I think it's a certain energy and confidence that we see in the female sex that was probably not as rampant prior to that time. Boardwalk Empire was already on my radar, but then to read this character they had written that just brought this idea of this new movement was really exciting to me.
Since you were a member of Boardwalk's audience prior to joining the cast, what do you think it is about the show that keeps the viewers coming back season after season?
My favorite type of show is the period drama. It's fascinating because the attention to detail on Boardwalk is immaculate. Walking on set feels like you're walking back into the era. What also drew me to the show when I was watching it was to see that the people involved have obviously done their research to represent that time so realistically. You have movies that do that as well, but it's so cool to have Boardwalk basically be a 12-hour film. Also, on a personal level, I grew up going to the Jersey Shore every summer. Boardwalk is set in a place that is so close to my childhood, so I was on it from the beginning.
I can't think of a better way to bring up Steve Buscemi: You tweeted a couple of months ago that you saw The Big Lebowski for the first time – complete with a #crushondonny hashtag.
[Laughs] The Big Lebowski! I couldn't believe I'd never seen it, first of all. My impression was always that it was a guy movie, so I never watched it, because I was like, "I'm not gonna like it!" I watched it in Central Park, and having worked with Steve it was thrilling for me to actually see him on the screen, in that sense. But I loved it! What a weird movie!
Most of your scenes in Boardwalk are with Steve, so for someone who has had very little on-screen experience, what has it been like having a crash course in television acting with somebody of Steve Buscemi's calibre?
Well, at first I was terrified. The Sopranos was my favorite show when I was in college, and I've watched him in his various roles and also on Boardwalk. Just knowing that I looked up to him so much, and would be playing such intimate scenes – in which a lot of the time, I have the upper hand – is very intimidating. The first scene that I did, where I had to be completely confident walking through the New Year's party and throwing back two drinks in quick succession, I choked. It was embarrassing. But – I tell this to everyone who asks because it's completely true – he's like a family man on set. Everyone knows that he's the daddy of the ship. He was looking out for me from Day One, knowing that I probably wouldn't speak up about, say, being cold. He would be like, "Can we get her a heater? I think she's a little cold." And he made me feel a lot more comfortable that first day because he specifically brought his wife up to meet me. It just made me feel a part of the family that is Boardwalk, because he was literally introducing me to his actual family. But I think the best education I've had is just from watching him so closely. It's incredible how he knows how to communicate with the camera. You can't pay for that type of education. Also, just knowing that he is such a master and I was such a newbie, and yet he treated me with complete respect and acted as though I'd been doing this for years.
Did he give you any straight-up advice, or was the best education just from observing him?
Mostly from observation. From my theater background, I'm used to going all-out every single time, because you always want to give your best performance, so a lot of it is about stamina and keeping it real every time. So part of the exercise for me, when you do multiple takes on something, was giving the same or similar performance. And one of the things Steve told me once – which I remember being very "Wow, I didn't even think about that!" – is to save the longest of the emotion, or a certain touch, until the camera is actually on you. To me, as an actor, that was interesting, because so much of [being on] camera is capturing the reality of the moment. It was like, "All right! Acting for Camera 101!" [Laughs]
When you're not singing Twenties ditties like "Old King Tut" or "You'd Be Surprised," what type of music do you enjoy?
I'm a big singer-songwriter fanatic, so I love any of those artists that write with piano, like Sara Bareilles or Natasha Bedingfield or Charlotte Martin and Ben Folds. And then I'm really just a product of the times. I love Top 40. I'm such a TRL chick – I used to watch it after school every day [laughs]. I was into Britney Spears growing up. Guilty guilty!
Now that Boardwalk has finished shooting for the season, do you have any other projects in the works?
Lots of auditions going on, and hopefully one of those will come through. So we'll see. But right now I'm just enjoying. It's been wonderful how many new people I get to meet because of the show. I'm very grateful to [series creator] Terence [Winter] and [executive producer] Tim Van Patten and all of those guys for really giving me a beginning, in a sense. So it's a fun new life.
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Kelly Brook to bare all on stage for nude revue show Crazy Horse
The actress and glamour girl will join the production for a one-week stint as a guest performer early next month.
Dancers from the famed Paris Crazy Horse cabaret have been performing in London since last month with a residency for a show called Forever Crazy.
Now Brook will join the show - being staged in a temporary venue on the South Bank - from November 1, after being trained by former Crazy Horse performer Iota Theoreme, who is the show manager.
The 32-year-old will perform a segment called "Lecon d'Erotisme", a key part of the show, and will also appear as a character called Miss Bisou throughout the show.
She lined up with her co-stars from the show today but Brook and the dancers remained far more modestly dressed than they will be on stage as they posed for photos.
Others who have taken guest roles with the Crazy Horse girls over the years include Dita Von Teese and Pamela Anderson.
Brook said she was "ecstatic" to be making an appearance.
"After seeing the show in Paris a few years ago, I have dreamed of becoming a Crazy Horse dancer. The costumes, lighting and choreography make it the best cabaret in the world," she said.
It will not be the first time she has undressed on stage. She took a role as a lap dancer in the play Eye Contact in 2000 performing at London's Riverside Theatre in just a thong and heels.
And she also disrobed in a production of Calendar Girls.
She will appear in Forever Crazy until November 8.
Promoter Harvey Goldsmith, who brought the show to London, said he was thrilled she was appearing, adding: "It seems like a very obvious fit and I know Kelly will be an incredible addition to the show."
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Yam Concepcion: ‘I want to be known as someone who takes off my clothes but can act’
By MJ Marfori
Sexy films are about to make a comeback, thanks to the introduction of the R-16 rating by the MTRCB and the SM Cinema chain’s embrace of this new classification.
At least that’s what Viva Films thinks. That’s why it has introduced a “new sex goddess” in Yam Concepcion, who appears nude on the cover of the latest issue of FHM Philippines ahead of her film debut.
The 23-year-old Multimedia Arts graduate of the College of Saint Benilde is very proud of her magazine cover.
“Maganda. It works well, lalo pag walang damit kesa ‘yung may damit. For a change di ba? Something new,” Yam quipped to News5.
Yam is the lead actress in the upcoming Viva movie “Rigodon”, which will mark the return of director Erik Matti to the erotic thriller genre.
Viva is said to be counting on Direk Erik to do for Yam what he did 13 years ago in his directorial debut
when he successfully launched Joyce Jimenez to sexy stardom in “Scorpio Nights 2″.
“Rigodon” also stars John James Uy and Maxene Eigenmann.
“It’s a very sexy film na borderline mainstream and indie,” said Yam, who is no ordinary Viva hot babe.
Before she was recruited by Viva last year, Yam used to be the drummer for a rock band called Ursa Minor.
She could still pass for an innocent colegiala, but she is determined to make it as a new breed of sexy star.
“I want to be known as somone who takes off my clothes but can act. ‘Yung ginawa ko it’s pure acting,” she said of her provocative scenes in “Rigodon”.
The decision to disrobe for the camera did not come easy for Yam. It took her a year to accept Viva’s offer after convincing herself she could do it and convincing her mother, too.
“For me to be able to show a lot of skin it took a lot of effort and a lot of psyching sa sarili ko,” she said.
* always enjoyed past Filipino erotic flicks. Looking forward to Yam natural tits and bush in all its sexual glory.
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Stop Giving a Shit About Naked Boobs Already
I assume, if you're reading this, that you are most likely a human being with eyeballs in a head on top of a torso with nipples on it sitting on a butt attached to some genitals and legs and feet. Or some approximation thereof, give or take a few limbs/eyeballs/genitals as needed. In that case, congratulations! You have a body. And your body is—truth!—naked under your clothes right now. Look to your left. Look to your right. Literally 100% of the people within your line of sight are also naked under their clothes! And if, for some reason, some of those clothes happened to come off, or go invisible, or get burned off by acid rain or the erotic ray-gun of a lecherous sex-doctor, you might accidentally behold your neighbors' nakedness. And do you know what would happen then? Literally nothing. Nothing would happen to anyone. (Except for that sex-doctor. We gotta get that dude off the streets.) And that's why our culture's nudity taboo is STUPID. And it's not stupid because I'm some latent nudist who wants to go out and run around flapping my bunz all over town. I profoundly don't. Nor do I particularly want to drink in the sight of grampa's freshly buffed testes while standing in line at Starbucks or whatever. I'm fine with people keeping their clothes on in public 99% of the time. But the issue here is twofold: 1) When people's clothes come off—in public or private, whether by accident (Janet Jackson) or on purpose (Kate Middleton)—we react like fucking maniacs; and 2) This taboo is gendered and unfair, and women bear the brunt of it.
In the wake of Amanda Todd's suicide (after schoolmates distributed photos of her naked chest), Conor Friedersdorf has a super-smart take-down of the English-speaking world's nudity taboo over at the Atlantic today.
The stigma against female nudity is nevertheless something that costs women the world over very dearly. And it benefits none of the places where it prevails. Think of earth as a great natural experiment, where certain parts of Scandinavia think nothing of co-ed naked saunas, and certain parts of the Middle East require women to cover themselves in head-to-toe burkas on the street. How many Americans, Canadians, or Brits believe societies that enforce female modesty are better off? Or that countries where immodesty is most stigmatized are more moral or functional?
Yet we stigmatize the human body.
The idea that free speech—abstract notions that we create with our bodies, our brains and mouths and fingers— is protected, but accidentally letting people see those same bodies is stigmatized and criminalized, is so counterintuitive it's a joke. Our bodies exist. You can tell, just by looking at almost any human being, what they probably look like under their clothes. But when our suspicions are confirmed (there ARE boobz under there!) we lose our shit.
The boobs taboo is completely insane. You can tell it's insane because it's insane. You can show 90% of a breast and everyone's fine—I could go on Fox and Friends right now with just band-aids over the middle part (AND MAYBE I WILL) and the FCC would be all, "No big! Now show me some more surprising household chores I can do with lemons, Gretchen Carlson!!" It's cool. Put Ice Loves Coco on in primetime. But if you reveal the remaining 10% of your breast (or 5% or 20%, depending on aereola-size—another perfectly sensical distinction, obv), you transform, suddenly, into some sort of creeping cultural blight who must be shamed 4 life and fined a one-million-billion-dollar Scarlet Woman Tax. This fact is unacceptable. And it hurts women in the following ways:
1. The topless taboo only applies to women. Downstairs-genitals, fine. Whatever. Cover 'em up. I mean, it's not the most logical thing in the world (kids also have genitals! NOT THAT I'VE CHECKED), but at least penises are just as stigmatized as crimson lady-orchids, so there's no double-standard. But when it comes to chests, this is a woman's burden. Women's chests are so stigmatized that even women without breasts have to cover up in the pool. A dude, meanwhile, could probably get fucking breast implants and still go swimming topless (as long as he otherwise presented as masculine). As the great Caitlin Moran says:
"You can tell whether some misogynistic societal pressure is being exerted on women by calmly enquiring, ‘And are the men doing this, as well?' If they aren't, chances are you're dealing with what we strident feminists refer to as ‘some total fucking bullshit'."
Yes. Some total fucking bullshit. Because a naked woman = porn. Clothe those things! Put cloth on them!
2. Since this taboo is a woman's burden, women are the ones punished for it. Taboos around nudity are deeply tied to problematic objectification and exploitation. If a woman shows her breasts to an intimate partner in a consensual encounter, and that partner non-consensually photographs and distributes that woman's breasts to the public, the woman is still blamed and shamed. Sure, she might be pitied too, but the implication still echoes around more conservative circles: Well, she shouldn't have been doing that if she didn't want to face the consequences. Women shouldn't go around having bodies all willy-nilly if they don't want those bodies to be exploited!
3. By associating women's bodies inordinately with lewdness, sexuality, and shame, we associate women themselves with lewdness, sexuality, and shame. Here's Friedersdorf again, on Janet Jackson's Super Bowl nip-slip:
What boggles my mind is that most people never would've been upset if it weren't for the nipple slip. They were perfectly content sitting through five minutes of sexually suggestive content with their kids, only to freak out at a nipple, as if the exposed body part itself was the problem.
Bodies are not inherently sexual. Women's chests are just chests—like men's chests but floppier! If anything, lady-chests should be more familiar and less shocking than dude-chests, seeing as most of us spent our first year or so with our mouths literally latched on to one. In fact, that makes the determination to sexualize and stigmatize boobs at all cost extremely creepy. You're basically calling your own baby-self a pervert. Stop it, weirdo.
4. All of this trickles down to the kids. Attention, stupid people who are outraged at the sight of a nipple: You have nipples. "But but but what about my children? My children shouldn't have to see nipples!!!" Yes, they should and they do and they have. Because last time I checked, YOUR CHILDREN HAVE NIPPLES. (Not that I've checked your children's nipples, specifically. That would be inappropriate.) This whole system raises girl-children to believe their bodies are shameful, and boy-children to think that girl-children are sluts for showing their shameful bodies. Children cannot, objectively, be scandalized by naked bodies, because children are naked bodies.
I don't have any puritanical notions about censorship—I don't particularly care about sexual content on TV (and I certainly don't think it's worse than violent content), as long as kids have access to open, honest information about what they're seeing. (Sex education in school would be a good place for that! Or...no? Just abstinence? 'Kay.) But conflating nudity with shame and dirtiness makes no sense and helps no one.
Friedersdorf lays out a beautiful fantasy for how Kate Middleton might have responded to her topless photo "nightmare," if we lived in a sane and civilized utopia:
What I couldn't help but imagine is how awesome it would've been had Middleton called a press conference on a nude beach, arrived topless with a thousand women, and told the assembled press, "The photographer who invaded my privacy had no right to capture those images, but I face that nightmare on a daily basis. And no one gives a damn until one of them photographs me topless? Grow up. I am unashamed of my body. In fact, I rather love it, as all these woman love their bodies. That makes some immature people uncomfortable. And it is their problem, not mine. If you're sitting at home obsessing over photos of me topless, or giggling and pointing on the streets, it's you who should feel embarrassment and shame, not me. I refuse to do it anymore."
-jezebel.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Young Women and Porn Use: What Does the Data Say?
October 15, 2012 By Mark Regnerus
Recently I gave a talk at a Christian college about the contemporary mating market, and found myself in a conversation afterward with two women students and an administrator. I had mentioned during the talk that it was suboptimal for the mating market that a significant share of Christian men, frustrated by their own penchant for porn, had come to altogether problematize their sex drive and take themselves off of the mating market as being “damaged goods,” unsuitable for a woman. While the share of them that perceive themselves this way is unknown, and probably not large, it nevertheless cannot but cause further problems for the relationship prospects of women, since it means fewer men in the mating pool (at least for some time), thereby giving more power to the (minority of) remaining men to negotiate romantic relationships in ways they wish. In that sense, it should function like elevated male incarceration rates do in altering the relationship dynamics in the African-American community. Bottom line—when more and more men are considered less and less marriageable, this sex-ratio disparity tends to spell greater and greater problems for women in how they conduct their relationships.
Be that as it may, one of these young women declared to me that she knew more women who watch porn than men who did the same. While I know the data well enough to know that would not hold at a population level, it was true in her world and she was convinced that the sex drive of women thus exceeded that of men. Again, won’t hold at a population level.
But I know better than to shrug off her statement as simply incorrect. She was telling me something—that women her age were into porn at rates that people around her underestimated. I heard a similar story at another Christian college several months prior, where a counseling center employee made a comparable remark. So that prompted me to go to the data—to the NFSS data, that is, source of all things interesting and controversial. It’s nationally-representative, has a large sample, and can speak to what’s going on among young adults in America. What did it have to say about women and porn use? In a nutshell, the student is on to something. Just what it means, however, and how consequential it may be is more difficult to say.
I took the sample of unmarried 18-39-year-old women and split them into three age groups: 18-23, 24-32, and 33-39. When asked to report how often they tended to “view pornographic material (such as internet sites, magazines, or movies),” 21 percent of the youngest group of women reported doing so at rates exceeding more than once a month, up from 14 percent among 24-32-year-olds and well above the 8 percent among 33-39-year-old unmarried women. If we limited it to “every day or almost every day” porn usage, their numbers remain lower than among younger unmarried men (who clock in at 6.7 percent), but the age distinction still holds (3.9 percent among the youngest women, while around 0.5 percent among the older two groups). And the difference between 7 and 4 percent is not so stark. (Moreover, if social desirability bias is at work here—and it likely is—I would expect it to be more pronounced among women than men, thus lowering their likelihood of indicating elevated porn use rates.)
But if porn use is simply tied to sex drive, we should see greater use among older women here. Indeed, when asked whether they were “content with the amount of sex you are having,” the older two groups were far more likely to say no (43% and 41%, vs. 25% among 18-23-year-olds). And the correlation between actual reported frequency of sex and porn use is highest among the oldest group of women, reinforcing the standard explanation that—unlike men—women typically use porn-and-masturbation to augment sex, rather than replace it. So that standard explanation here fits the oldest group just fine, but not the youngest group. Actual sex and porn use are altogether unrelated among the youngest women.
What does this all mean? That’s a far more challenging thing to discern. Here are a few hunches, more speculations than anything else.
First, by their greater uptake of porn young women are acting more like men than women just 10-12 years older than them. But they don’t seem more or less permissive in their attitudes about uncommitted sex than women in their upper 20s and 30s. And their frequency of sexual behavior doesn’t seem strikingly different. Yet among the youngest group of women, the correlation between porn use and recent masturbation is twice as large as it is among the oldest group of women. (For men, the connection is, of course, very strong.) Again, the point is that the youngest women mirror men more than do women in their 30s.
Second, back to the basic question: why the greater uptake of porn among younger women? Here is where speculation is difficult to avoid. The easiest answer is that they’ve had more long-term exposure to porn’s availability, and perhaps less social desirability concerns about using it, then have the oldest women in the NFSS. In other words, it’s more normal to them than to others older than they are. But exposure need not mean attraction and uptake. Classically, the pursuit of porn was simply far more common among men than women, and that still remains true. So does this mean that women who watch it are somehow more sexually jaded—however defined—than men who do the same, simply because it’s more uncommon among women than men? Well, it is certainly worth inquiring (via interviews, perhaps) about their motivation for porn use. Heterosexual men are, on average, attracted to naked women. (File that in the “obvious” folder). Are women, on average, increasingly attracted to naked men? What sort of porn are these 21 percent consuming? (That, I should add, is a question seldom asked of anyone.)
Third, some speculate that women’s porn use is not the solitary thing that it often is for men, who typically use it as an aid in masturbation. Here too, the conventional wisdom is not absolute: whereas 92 percent of men who said they watched porn daily (or nearly daily) also said they had masturbated within the past day, only 40 percent of women who did so reported the same (well above the overall “yesterday or today” figure of 20 percent among women who ever have masturbated; for the record, 29 percent of women said they never have). So there is not nearly the linear association between porn and masturbation among women as among men. But a connection is no doubt present.
Here endeth the speculation. What can be known with confidence, however, is the basic message: porn use is notably higher among the youngest adult women than among women in their upper 20s or 30s. Duly noted. Consequential? Quite likely. How so? Not sure. But if porn use undermines classic ideas about marriage—such as sexual fidelity and relationship permanence—then it stands to reason that greater porn use among women should undermine those marital values. That much is certainly true: women who say they never watch porn are the least likely to report having cheated on a romantic partner and most likely to disagree with statements like “traditional marriage is outdated.” Makes sense.
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