BuzzSugar

Buzz News Roundup, 2/25

BuzzSugar — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:29:49 PST

Last night's Oscars look like they'll have record-low viewing numbers based on the preliminary ratings, Reuters reports. Stay tuned for the final numbers later today.
Though its showrunners were recently fired, Women's Murder Club will still produce three more episodes this season, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
Zap2It reports that the Tina Fey-hosted Saturday Night Live - the first post-strike episode - produced strong ratings over the weekend.
According to ComingSoon, production on Steven Spielberg's next project The Trial of the Chicago 7 will be delayed "for the foreseeable future."
Writer Stephen Marlowe, best known for his pulp crime novels, has died at age 79, the Associated Press reports.
Billboard reports that Donna Summer will break her 17-year hiatus with the May 20th release of her studio album, Crayons.
The typically comedic actress Teri Polo will star in indie thriller The Beacon, writes Hollywood Reporter
Leighton Meester, aka Blair on Gossip Girl, has recorded her first album, CTV reports.

Battleship: Needs a Lifesaver

Maggie Pehanick — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:00:00 PDT

I don't remember aliens making an appearance in my own childhood sessions with Battleship, but I suppose when you try to make a toy into a feature-length film, you're afforded a few liberties. Unfortunately, the producers of Battleship may have spent too much time finding creative ways to explode things and not enough time on a plot, ending up with underutilized actors, in a wishy-washy destruction story.

Battleship starts out in 2005, when the US establishes the Beacon Project, an effort to reach out to potential life forms on a planet that has a similar climate as the Earth. The government sets up a powerful signal on Hawaii capable of sending transmissions to the foreign territory. Little do they know the frequencies are being received, and not by friendly folks. Enter brothers Alex (Taylor Kitsch) and Stone (Alexander Skarsgard). Stone is clean-cut and responsible while Alex is generally a mess. We first meet them in a bar scene that turns to Alex breaking into a convenience store to steal a chicken burrito for his future girlfriend, Sam (Brooklyn Decker). Thanks to Kitsch's surprising physical comedy skills, the scene is the highlight of the movie. It all goes to the aliens after that.

Read the rest of my thoughts on Battleship after the break.

The Sweetest Easter Bonnets For Little Girls

LilSugar — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 05:37:56 PDT

The concept may be a bit old-fashioned, but what better beacon of Spring exists than a little girl decked out in her Easter bonnet? We've rounded up the sweetest hats - from traditional straw styles to crocheted cloches - as the perfect finishing touch for your daughter's holiday best. In the words of Irving Berlin, she'll "be the grandest lady in the Easter parade!"

Octavia Spencer Calls Her Oscar Win "Fan-Effing-Tastic"

Becky Kirsch — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:11:07 PST

Octavia Spencer completed her award season sweep with the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in The Help. After giving a very teary speech on stage, Spencer dried her eyes and cracked jokes back in the press room. She talked about how humbled she is by her win, her deep love and respect for her cast mates, and why you can't take yourself too seriously in showbiz.

On the tone of the film: We wanted to make the movie that Kathryn Stockett had envisioned when she wrote the book. I don't think there's anything lighthearted abut the civil rights movement, but if you can have a laugh every other 10 minutes while you watch the struggle, then I have no problem with it.

On her upcoming plans: Tonight I am going to find my cast mates and I'm actually going to have a quarter of a glass of champagne and hang out. I think we all start projects within the next couple of days, but I'm just gonna live in this moment because lord knows it's never gonna happen again.

On what the cast meant to her: It's very rare that you have the type of ensemble that we had. You don't get all the Academy Award nominees and winners coming together to do a project. And then you have the collaboration of Academy Award nominees behind the scenes. We just left our egos at the door and worked together as one beautiful unit. It was an award-winning cast. So to be a part of that, and to just sort of dissolve into the world that we were representing is something that we're supposed to do as actors, but it was rare that we did it without judgment of each other.

On her love affair with The Help: The word I want to use, I can't. I want to say fan-effing-tastic. But we'll leave the "effing" out. Fantastic. It is humbling, the love affair I have with The Help. I'm a benefactor of all of the riches that the real life Minnys, Aibileens, Cosntantines, Skeeters, that they basically reaped. And so I am very humbled because I get to stand here and accept this award and I haven't really done anything.

On what she was feeling at the moment she won and advice: Really and truly I was just trying not to fall down. This is one of those evenings in my life that I'll never forget. I hope it's the hallmark for more aspiring actresses of color, and by color I don't just mean African American. I hope that in some way I can be some sort of beacon of hope. Especially because I am not the typical Hollywood beauty.

On her advice for aspiring actresses: Get a great designer because you don't know if you're gonna be on TV or not. I think that you have to believe in yourself, and you have to work very hard. You can't think that you're the best thing that sliced bread, because there are going to be Viola Davises, Jessica Chastains, Emma Stones, who are the best things since sliced bread. Take it seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously.

On her dream role: I don't have one role that I want to play. I guess I want to be a producer. I want be an activist. I want to be proactive in bringing about work for men, women, boys, girls, that are good at what they do and deserve a shot at it. I want to have a presence behind the scenes and in front of the camera. I want to be a jack of all trades and hopefully decent at one of them.

Detachment Trailer: Adrien Brody Tackles Tough Questions

Lizzie Fuhr — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:05:00 PST

In Detachment, Adrien Brody stars as Henry Barthes, a substitute teacher who moves around a lot, never staying in a place long enough to develop any true connection or emotional attachment to the student body, the administration, or anyone, for that matter. At his newest school, Henry finds that the unmotivated students have completely burnt out the faculty. When Henry unexpectedly becomes a beacon of light to a few of the kids, he begins to come to grips with the world around him.

Even from the short trailer, you can tell that Brody is going to give one powerful performance. He's not the only one to look forward to; the film has a recognizable supporting cast with the likes of Marcia Gay Harden, Bryan Cranston, and Christina Hendricks. Detachment looks like an intense and poignant story, so to check out the trailer, just keep reading.

Who's Your Tony Awards Best Dressed?

Hannah Weil — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:07:57 PDT

Last night the best of the NYC stage flocked to the Beacon Theatre for the annual Tony Awards. Among the Broadway stars, we spotted a few familiar faces - the always-elegant Ellen Barkin in lace-adorned L'Wren Scott; supermodel legend Christie Brinkley in a silky, cobalt blue Zuhair Murad; and presenter Catherine Zeta-Jones stunning in a sparkly, red Elie Saab. We also loved up-and-coming star style, like Lily Rabe's white Prabal Gurung gown and Jennifer Damiano in sparkly Reem Acra. Click through for the rest of the night's standouts - then cast a vote for your best dressed.

Top 1% Earns Almost a Quarter of Nation's Income

Diana Nguyen — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:00:58 PDT

In the May issue of Vanity Fair, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz collects some shocking statistics in his thought-provoking piece, "Of the 1%, by the 1%, For the 1%." According to Stiglitz, the top one percent of Americans, including business tycoons, congressmen, and banking execs, secure nearly a quarter of the country's income a year and controls 40 percent of the nation's wealth. On the other hand, the working man, with only a high school diploma, has seen a 12 percent decline in his income in the last 25 years. America is a beacon of income inequality, Stiglitz says, and while rich Republicans bemoan the reach of an oversize government, this is the same government - with all its partisanship and gridlock - that enables this economic disparity.

To see Stiglitz's ideas to help close the economic gap, read on.

Hillary May Not Empower All, but She's No Poster Woman For Nepotism

Colleen Barrett — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:00:00 PDT

Powerful women are supposed to be good for females, especially girls. Held up as shiny beacons of possibility, they're an antidote to the women-can't-be-powerful stereotype. But not all high-profile women elicit empowerment. As soon as a hint of nepotism or a dash of luck is sniffed out, their ability to inspire is extinguished. So for the role-model effect to work, the woman's success must be perceived as earned through innate ability and effort.

This inspiration fail has been dubbed the "Hillary Clinton effect," and even that is tinged with unfairness. Researchers behind the study's finding - and coiners of the term - at Texas Christian University admit Hillary is a divided role model: some perceive her stature as unearned, a torch passed down by her president husband, while others see her as determined and unwavering, no stranger to the grit of hard work.

I'd say Hillary's a bit of both. See why below.

Study: 37% of Married Couples Snoop on Their Spouses

Kristy Korcz — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:02:48 PDT

It's fairly easy these days to snoop on your spouse, and according to a recent study, quite a few of you are already doing so. The study, which polled 1,000 people online, found that 37 percent of married couples have spied on their spouse at one point or another. The most common (and easiest) way to snoop is to check their call history and emails. But there are a few other sneaky ways you could monitor your significant other's digital life as well. Check out our list below.

Check their web browsing history - Checking your web browser may not give you any juicy details, but it could help you narrow down where your spouse spends their time online (dating sites, perhaps?).
Monitor their check-in apps - Apps like Google Latitude and Foursquare give you a running tab on places your spouse has checked in at. If they've checked in with a "friend," you'll see their name pop up as well. Now Google her.
Hack in to their cell phone SIM card - Read cell phone text messages with a little tool called the SIM Card Spy - a favorite among cell phone hackers like Kim Kardashian.
Get a Video Girl Barbie - Don't act like you haven't thought about using Video Girl Barbie as a spy cam. Everyone has!
Use GPS - By tossing a GPS device in your car, like the WinPlus Beacon GPS Tracker ($75) you can track your spouse's location on Google Earth, and even get SMS text messages of their whereabouts.

Mark Wahlberg and the Entourage Guys Premiere Their Final and "Best Season Yet" in NYC

Molly Goodson — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:29:29 PDT

The guys of Entourage celebrated their final season with a big, red carpet premiere at the Beacon Theater in NYC yesterday evening. It was a sweltering night in the city, but the cast still suited up and graciously made their way down the press line before heading in to show off the first episode. Executive producer Mark Wahlberg and his wife Rhea joined in the festivities, and he told us that fans should expect season eight to be the "best one yet." Jeremy Piven, Adrian Grenier, Jerry Ferrara, and the two Kevins - Connolly and Dillon - all shared their excitement over making an Entourage movie to follow up the hit series and the show's creator, Doug Ellin, confirmed they are definitely going ahead with the big-screen adaptation. The ladies of the show all looked stunning with Emmanuelle Chriqui in striking red and Perrey Reeves in a Grecian gown.

There are big changes in store for the characters last few episodes, which follows up a dark end to last year's arc. Jeremy Piven says we'll be seeing a new side of Ari while Constance Zimmer, who pays Ari's former lover and professional rival, divulged that there is Dana-Ari rekindling to kick things off. Perrey Reeves revealed that her character Mrs. Ari will be dating this season and that we will finally learn her first name. Watch for that and tons more from the stars of Entourage on today's PopSugar Rush before the show returns on Sunday!