Entertainment News: First three days of the week

1. Oscar changes voting method for best picture: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced a new voting procedure on Tuesday for the best picture Oscar nominees. The preferential voting system, in which Academy voters will rank their favorites in order of preference, is designed to accommodate the increase in best film nominees from five to 10 that was announced earlier this year. "Instead of just marking an X to indicate which one picture they believe to be the best, members will indicate their second, third and further preferences as well," Academy president Tom Sherak said......Good news for entertainment lovers, specially movie lovers.

2. Hoax video of Michael Jackson creates online stir: A hoax video purportedly showing Michael Jackson emerging from a coroner's van was an experiment aimed at showing how quickly misinformation and conspiracy theories can race across the Internet, German broadcaster RTL said Tuesday. The video was posted by RTL on YouTube for a single day a week ago and received 880,000 hits. The broadcaster has since removed the video from YouTube, but it has been picked up by other Web sites around the world. "We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the Internet with hoax videos," spokeswoman Heike Schultz of Cologne-based RTL told The Associated Press. "Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead - and the response was breathtaking"........This shows the increasing power of web 2.0 application.

3. ‘Mad Men’ Is Renewed: “Mad Men,” the hit AMC period drama about a New York advertising agency, has been picked up for a fourth season, the cable channel said on Tuesday. “Mad Men” has been the cornerstone of AMC’s gradually expanding lineup of original programming. The show, starring, 'John Slattery' and 'Jon Hamm', won the Emmy Award for dramatic series the year after its premiere in 2007, and it is nominated for 16 more Emmys this month, including outstanding drama. In August the debut episode of its third season was the highest-rated “Mad Men” broadcast to date, drawing 2.8 million viewers. A premiere date for the fourth season has not been announced.

4. Madonna turns director-producer: Pop star 'Madonna', who acted in 1996 movie 'Evita', is now ready to go behind the camera with 'Wallis' - a film she will direct and produce. The film is about the twice-divorced American socialite 'Wallis Simpson' for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne, reported thesun.co.uk. The 51-year-old is trying to get 'David Tennant' and 'Cate Blanchett' to do the project.The final script is now written and the locations have been scouted. Madonna is now trying to assemble the cast and put the finances in place.

5. HBO Show for Scorsese: Martin Scorsese has been tapped by HBO to do more real-life work. He’ll be an executive producer of that cable channel’s new series “Boardwalk Empire,” HBO said on Tuesday in a news release. The series has been ordered for a 2010 debut. Steve Buscemi stars in the drama as Nucky Thompson, a man described as “equal parts politician and gangster,” who runs Atlantic City during the Prohibition era. 'Michael Pitt', 'Kelly Macdonald' and 'Michael Shannon' will also be featured in the series, for which Mr. Scorsese directed the pilot episode........Good news for Martin Scorsese fans. I love his work.....

6. Andy Lau apologizes for lying about marriage: Veteran Hong Kong actor-singer Andy Lau has apologized for lying about his marriage, saying he behaved inappropriately for a public figure. Lau denied that he was married in an interview with Hong Kong's Cable TV in February, but Hong Kong journalists last week discovered marriage records from the Clark County Recorder's Office in the U.S. state of Nevada that showed the 47-year-old star had wed Malaysian girlfriend Carol Chu in June 2008. Lau confirmed the nuptials in a brief message on his Web site late Saturday, saying he did not announce the marriage because he wanted to shield Chu from the press.....Paparazzi and stars are both friend and foe of each other :-)

7. Madonna wrapping up world tour in Israel: Madonna brought her mix of provocative music and spirituality to the Holy Land with a concert Tuesday in front of 50,000 fans who had endured a 16-year wait since the pop icon's last gig in Israel. Madonna is wrapping up her worldwide "Sticky & Sweet" tour with two concerts this week in a country whose place at the heart of the Mideast conflict has made it more of a magnet for diplomats than big-name performers.

8. Matt Damon to receive Lifetime Achievement Award: Oscar winning actor Matt Damon is all set to receive an honour for his contribution to the world of cinema. According to Variety, the actor will be presented the American Cinematheque Award at a ceremony next March, reports the Daily Express. The 38-year-old actor started his career with 1997 hit Good Will Hunting, which he co-scripted with pal Ben Affleck.
Previous recipients of the award include actor 'Samuel L. Jackson' and 'Julia Roberts' have been the previous recipients of the prestigious award......Isn't he too young for this award.

9. Dev D's call girl to walk the red carpet: Remember the call girl from the film 'Dev D', who could seduce in four languages, is all set to sizzle at Venice. The Bollywood actress, 'Kalki Koechlin' of French origin, played the role of 'Chandramukhi' in director 'Anurag Kashyap's' movie 'Dev D'. The movie was a modern take on 'Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's' Bengali novel 'Devdas'. Now, the movie will be screened at the upcoming Venice film festival and the actress known for her full pout will walk the red carpet with director 'Anurag Kashyap'. They have already declared there love in public. Unlike other Bollywood celebs, 'Kalki' has chosen Indian designer to dress her up. Designer 'Preeti S Kapoor' has designed a gown in green tone for the petite actress.

"Its good to be entertained"

Sources:
1. Hindustan Times
2. New-York Times
3. Washington Post

Bollywood: Lost in darkness

Dear Bollywood,

Hope things are going great for you.

I have not received any great news from your side apart from 'ADAG & DreamWorks' deal. It has been eight months of this year and still no blockbuster from you, except tasteless masala movies like 'Love aaj kal' and 'Kaminey'. How long creative film directors like Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Baradwaj will keep taking help from their dad 'Hollywood', they are grownup now. What has happened to Ramu, is he under mental treatment right now ?

Are studios like 'Yash Raj' and 'Rajshri' happy with their glorious past ? Are they not interested in making their mark in Entertainment world. I think they are becoming more lazy and arrogant. Please, convey my regards to them. What about 'Subhash Ghai' ? I think he is making more money from his 'Whistling Woods' than movies. Have not heard anything great from his side.

What about our beloved 'Big B' and his family ? Is he still promoting his small baby 'AB', even after more than two dozen movies. I am worried about 'AB'. Don't know how long he will keep taking help from Dady. What will happen to him 10 year down the line ? Congrats 'AB' for his Advertisement 'Walk, when you Talk' on my behalf. He is looking good in advertisement than his movies.

I think 'Bhat camp' is still doing great job, thanks to their inspiration from dad, 'Hollywood'. At least they are making money in these bad times (I mean recession). It is good for them to remain inspired because they are very good in this. I hope one-day they will start mentioning the name of movies from which they take inspiration in casting of their films.

What about our dear Khan's ? Are they still fighting for "King of Bollywood" title in this flat world. How is my dear 'SRK' ? I read about him in newspapers few days back. His US tour was great success, personally and professionally. What about my favorite khan, "Aamir" ? Can I meet him in 'IIM-A' lecture halls or in film studios ?

Take care of your health dear friend 'Bollywood'.

Will keep meeting you on every Friday of the week.

Love & Regards,
EntCon


"It is good to be entertained"

Songs and The Bollywood

People in west may find it quite difficult to digest Movies with 4-6 minute songs present in them. They may find it of no use because for them movie is all about drama, emotion, action, passion (Includes both sex and violence) comedy etc. Some people try to counter argue this by saying that people in countries like India have lots of time to watch movies with songs, whereas in western countries people do not have time to sit and watch songs in cinema theaters. For them songs are meant for I-Pods and MP3 players not movies.

Lets be true, in real people of each and every country of the world have their own set of doing and perceiving things. For people in western countries, its very difficult for them to perceive movies with songs (I appreciate this fact). But its very important for entertainment lovers to appreciate the fact that there is the world of Bollywood with movies which are having 3-4 songs of 4-6 minute duration present in them.

Bollywood has a very rich history of movies with a songs of near to nine decades. During 1935-36 first bollywood songs to hit the nation were from the movie "ACHHUT KANYAA". The most prominent singers of 1930's and 1940's were K.L Saigal,K.C Dey, Pankaj Mullick, Shanta Apte, Govindrao Tembe, Ashok Kumar, Devika Rani, Surendra, and Wahidan Bai (Very few readers may be aware of these singers)."Indrasabha", released in 1932 holds the record of maximum songs in the history of Bollywood with a tally of 71 songs.

How can we forget the movies of 1960's-70's with actors running, jumping and moving around the tree while singing the song. How can we forget the melodious music of Roshan, S.D Burman and R.D Burman. These great figures have helped the bollywood in building this vast empire of music. Most of the latest bollywood songs are inspired in one or the other way by the work of these music giants of the Bollywood.

Bollywood songs are the team work of singer, lyricist and the musician, all of them complement each other.

The most famous singers of the Bollywood Were/are:

1. Kishore Kumar
2. Mohd. Rafi
3. Manna Dey
4. Lata Mangeshkar
5. Asha Bhosle
6. Mukesh
7. Udit Narayan
8. K.L Saigal


The most famous Music composers of the Bollywood are:

1. S.D Burman
2. R.D Burman
3. Roshan
4. Khayyam
5. Laxmi Kant, Pyare Lal
6. Kalyanji, Anandji


The most Famous Lyricist of Bollywood are:

1. Anand Bakshi
2. Javed Akthar
3. majrooh sultanpuri
4. Sameer
5. Gulzar

Reference: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/music_hist.html

"Its Good to be entertained"