January 30, 2012
Are students at Rutgers University ready for this jelly?
A new course at the big league school will study the politics and meaning of Beyonce and her music. Starpulse reports that Politicizing Beyonce will now be offered as part of the school’s Women’s and Gender Studies program.
Lecturer Kevin Allred will teach the class, which will analyze the star’s music and videos in an exploration of Beyonce’s cultural importance.
“The performer’s music and career are used as lenses to explore American race, gender, and sexual politics,” reads an overview for the course. “Course topics include the extent of Beyonce’s control over her own aesthetic, whether her often half-naked body is empowered or stereotypical, and her more racy performances as her alter ego, Sasha Fierce.”
In addition to Beyonce, other stars such as Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Lady Gaga, Adele and Amy Winehouse will also be discussed.
The star, who recently gave birth to her first daughter, the already famous Blue Ivy, isn’t the only member of her family with a university course dedicated to their study.
Georgetown University currently offers Sociology of Hip-Hop: Jay-Z, which focuses on the rhymes of the star’s famous rapper husband.
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January 30, 2012
Former American Idol favourite Danny Gokey has married for a second time.
According to People magazine, the bespectacled singer married model Leyicet Peralta at a small ceremony in front of friends and family this past weekend in Florida.
“We wanted a smaller, more intimate wedding of just friends and family,” the happy couple tell the magazine. “The theme of the wedding was romance and love.”
As Idol fans will recall, Gokey’s first marriage ended tragically when his wife Sophia died in 2008 following surgery for congenital heart disease.
At their wedding, Gokey and Peralta requested that all gifts be donations to Sophia’s Heart, a children’s charity the singer created to honour the memory of his late wife.
“We are so thankful to have found each other and now be able to spend the rest of our lives together,” say the newlyweds. “We pray our gratitude grows more every day because there is so much for us to do now.”
After placing third in the eighth season of Idol, Gokey released his debut album My Best Days in 2010.
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January 30, 2012
The Foo Fighters are set to headline a campaign fundraiser for U.S. President Barack Obama’s upcoming re-election campaign.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Dave Grohl fronted modern rockers will entertain guests at the event which will be held at the estate of soap opera producer Bradley Bell.
Word is up to 1,000 tickets will be sold, ranging from $250-$500. Movie star Will Ferrell will co-host the show.
Grohl tells Red Bulletin he’s an Obama supporter. The Foos have played for the president before, performing at the White House for members of the military and their families at an event back in 2009.
“He’s got the toughest job on earth,” Grohl says. “I would hate to hand the administration over to another party that is just focused on corporations, greed and money. You know, I’m a fun, peace-loving guy, but sometimes the right wing gets a little too selfish.”
Following the show will be a fundraising dinner that promises to be a little more exclusive than the rock and roll gig, as plates for the meal will cost $35,800 apiece.
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January 30, 2012
A new book by a former pimp claims that some of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s golden age were gay.
Scotty Bowers claims he ran a gay and bisexual prostitution ring in Hollywood in the 1940s. His new book Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars makes the claim that some of the biggest stars of the silver screen procured Bowers’ services.
According to the New York Times, among those named in the book are the legendary Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, George Cukor, Katherine Hepburn and Gone With the Wind’s Vivien Leigh.
Bowers tells the Times that publishers have tried to convince him for years to write a tell-all about his exploits, but he never understood the appeal.
“I’ve kept silent all these years because I didn’t want to hurt any of these people,” he says. “And I never saw the fascination. So they liked sex how they liked it. Who cares?”
Nevertheless, at 88 years-of-age Bowers says he finally agreed to the book on account of his advancing years.
“I finally said yes because I’m not getting any younger and all of my famous tricks are dead by now,” he says. “The truth can’t hurt them anymore.”
(Image: Grove Press)
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January 30, 2012
Captain America will be back for more action and adventure with a sequel to the hero’s 2011 smash, and is set to start shooting later this year.
That’s the word according to actor Neal McDonough, who played the Captain’s tough-as-nails buddy Dum Dum Dugan in the original. McDonough tells IMDB.com that the Marvel studio has a plan that sees Cap back in action by the end of 2012.
“They’re planning Captain America 2 for the end of this year, because Marvel does one film at a time,” McDonough reveals. “So they’re going to do Thor 2 and as soon as Thor 2 has wrapped, they’ll do Cap 2.”
McDonough says the movie he’s really looking forward to, however, is a potential Nick Fury picture with Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as the leader of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.
“Hopefully right after that, we’ll jump into Nick Fury because that’s the one I’m looking forward to more than anything,” he says. “It’ll be me and Sam Jackson. In the real Marvel universe, Dum Dum Dugan is Nick Fury’s right hand man.”
McDonough says one hope he has for the film is that the studio will decide to set the Fury flick in the 1970s.
“I just pray that they have a 1970s setting, because I want to see Sam Jackson with lambchops kicking people’s a**es… It would just be awesome. And to work with Sam would be a treat.”
Fans of the patriotic Avenger won’t have to wait for Cap 2 to see the hero again, however, as he’ll turn up in the upcoming superhero supergroup The Avengers when they finally land on the screen en masse in April.
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January 30, 2012
Paul Giamatti has joined the cast of an all new movie adaptation of the classic Shakespeare tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
Industry trade magazine Variety reports that the Golden Globe winner has signed on to star as Friar Laurence in the production that’s set to start shooting in Italy very soon. The Friar is an advisor to both Romeo and Juliet and a central character in the drama.
Italian director Carlo Carlei is helming the film, working from a script by Julian Fellowes. Fellowes is of course the creator of the massively popular British television series Downton Abbey.
Young British actor Douglas Booth is set to star as the young lover Romeo, while True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld will play Juliet, the object of Romeo’s effusive and poetic affections.
Never one for a lack of work, Giamatti already has three films in the can for release later this year. After appearing recently in the George Clooney political drama The Ides of March, the actor will next star in the big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages.
Giamatti also appears in the upcoming David Cronenberg adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel Cosmopolis and in the horror comedy John Dies At the End, which just premiered at Sundance.
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January 30, 2012
A New Zealand search for hobbits was shut down by police when a gigantic crowd began to get unruly.
Sky News Australia cites a report by Radio New Zealand that more than 3000 people turned up to a casting call for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel. The crowd began to get unruly and caused at least two traffic accidents before being brought to an early end.
Radio New Zealand reports that organizers of the casting call expected only about 1,200 people to show up. Police Senior Sergeant Steve Baybrook told the station that “There was enough concern that police attended.”
Reports suggest that wannabe Middle Earthers were running across a state highway to get to the audition, creating an unsafe situation.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first chapter of the epic two-parter is set to arrive in theatres this December, with the sequel The Hobbit: There and Back Again scheduled for December 2013.
Both films feature Marin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, in the story that sets the stage for Jackson’s previous J.R.R Tolkien trilogy adaptation, The Lord of the Rings.
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January 30, 2012
Nicolas Cage says he wants to make a sequel to his 2006 bomb The Wicker Man.
Cage tells Empire – perhaps jokingly – that he’s keen to shoot a follow up to his critically derided remake of the 1973 British cult classic.
“I would like to hook up with one of the great Japanese filmmakers, like the master that made Ringu, and take The Wicker Man to Japan,” Cage told the site with a grin. “Except this time he’s a ghost.”
Cage played a cop investigating the mysterious disappearance of a woman in the Neil LaBute directed remake. Wicker Man was torn apart by critics upon its release and soon became something of a cult classic in its own right – though one that’s laughed at instead of with.
The film earned five Razzie nominations, including nods for Worst Picture and Worst Actor for Cage.
The National Treasure star has acknowledged the movie was “absurd,” telling HitFix last August that “There is a mischievous mind at work on The Wicker Man, you know? You know what I mean? And I finally kind of said, ‘Yeah, I might have known that the movie was meant to be absurd.’ But saying that now after the fact is OK, but to say it before the fact is not, because you have to let the movie have its own life.”
Cage next stars in the Marvel comic book sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, opening everywhere February 17.
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January 27, 2012
Is Oprah Winfrey the godmother of Babyonce Blue Ivy?
Not according to the TV talk show host’s best friend Gayle King.
US magazine reports that rumours have floated across the web all week that Winfrey had been selected by Beyonce and proud poppa Jay-Z to be the godmother of their first child, the already world famous Blue Ivy.
Not true, says King, who appeared on The Early Show on CBS to set the record straight.
“It’s absolutely not true that she’s the godmother,” King told the show. “She’s friends with them, of course, and likes them both very much.”
According to King, Winfrey has been so busy lately celebrating the first graduating class of her girls academy in South Africa that she hasn’t even managed to send the happy family a present for the baby.
“She’s working on sending them a baby gift,” King revealed. “She hasn’t even had time to send a baby gift because she’s been away. Let me just say, if it is true, it is news to her. It is news to her. You know, she was heading to South Africa when the baby was born.”
CNN reports that Winfrey travelled to South Africa to congratulate the first graduating class of the school she founded and funded for girls.
“I am one proud mama and for once I think I know what that feels like for real,” Winfrey said. “It feels like a real sense of accomplishment. It is a triumph indeed, considering where all these girls have come from.”
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January 27, 2012
50 Cent says if the Patriots win the Super Bowl he’ll share a naked photo on the internet.
Entertainment Weekly reports that the hip-hop superstar has accepted a wager proposed by one of his Twitter followers. “Lets bet,” wrote tweeter MyBestAssets. “If the Giants lose the Superbowl, u must post ur [d---] on the twitter. If they win, I’ll post my boobs & face on here. Bet?”
Fiddy – real name Curtis Jackson – responded with a succinct “Ok”.
It’s not the only bet 50 is trying to line up for the big game.
MTV reports that hip-hop don Bryan “Birdman” Williams has been tweeting his support for the New England Patriots and offering to bet $5 million on the game to anyone willing to take him up on it.
50 Cent has responded, claiming he already won $500,000 on a playoff game by backing the Giants – and now he’s ready to lay down a cool million they’ll win the Bowl.
“I’m up 500,000 off the last one. F— it ill bet it back Ill put a 1,000,000 on my G MEN. STUNNER you got the # hit me if you want it,” 50 tweeted earlier this week.
No word yet on whether Birdman will accept the wager.
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