Here is my review of Open Water, as submitted to IMDB:

Just caught this little gem on DVD and I couldn’t have made a better choice. Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis play a couple on vacation in the tropics who decide to go on a deep sea diving tour. As the tour comes to an end, they are accidentally left stranded in the middle of the shark infested ocean with little more than their diving suits and each other to cling to.

Ryan and Travis are two very charismatic actors who turn in two excellent, high powered performances as the happy couple who have a date with destiny. The film moves at a swift pace, made gritty by the use of video cameras which give it an almost documentary kind of feel. Real life sharks were used to interacting with the actors throughout the filming, giving it a sense of realism which is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Keep in mind this is an indie film void of the usual Hollywood action flick cliches, there are no explosions, digital special effects, corny one-liners or Will Smith winking an eye at you and singing the films theme song at the end of the movie, this one delves deep into some very real fears and emotions. A very pleasant surprise definitely worth checking out.

Related links:

Official movie site : openwatermovie.com
View my review on IMDB.com
Read about the true life events. Read more »

1. Delivery guys with no change.

2. Paris Hilton claiming her upcoming movie roles are a stretch and the opposite of her. Yeah, playing a sorority chick in one movie and a bimbo in a horror flick are a real stretch.

3. Fear Factor and it’s host Joe Rogan. It’s no wonder this crap is still on the air, considering the networks seem to take Monday nights off.

4. The phrase “bling-bling”. It’s annoying enough when hip-hop artists use it, but it’s annoying as hell when it spews out of the mouth of some waspy white woman. Ooooh yeah, you’re really down wit’ it — or something to that ebonic effect.

5. Entertainment news programs that insist on doing features on the lavish life-styles of undeserving celebrities, over and over again. If I can’t have it, why would I care?

Watching Steve Bartelstein’s some-what “quirky” news broadcasts on the noon edition of Channel 7 News, always brings to mind the scandal he was involved in a couple of years ago.

At the time, everything from alleged sexual harassment and nude photos of Bartelstein posted on his AOL homepage (what?! No ManHunt account?!), to the use of illegal drugs were all purported to be part of the case. Perhaps these things are what gives Bartelstein’s newscasts that extra special little “edge”.

A quick Google search turned up a few reports on the incident, linked here for your reading pleasure. Why bother you might ask? Because it’s a slow news day and sometimes it’s fun not to let sleeping dogs lie.

Sources: Gawker, Page Six, Wikipedia

From BBC News:

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | George Michael hits back at Elton

George Michael hits back at Elton

Pop star George Michael has hit back at comments made by Sir Elton John last month about Michael and his new album.
Sir Elton was quoted last month as saying Michael was “in a strange place” with “a deep-rooted unhappiness” that came across on his latest album.

Michael said in an open letter to Heat: “Elton John knows nothing about George Michael… we have rarely spoken in the past 10 years.”
He described himself as “content” and said he felt he had to defend himself.

Scathing

Sir Elton had said Michael should “get out more”.
But Michael, who duetted with Sir Elton at 1985’s Live Aid concert, said the singer’s comments were based on tittle-tattle.

“Most of what Elton thinks he knows about my life is pretty much limited to the gossip he hears on what you would call the ‘gay grapevine’ which, as you can imagine, is lovely stuff indeed,” wrote Michael.
“Other than that, he knows that I don’t like to tour, that I smoke too much pot, and that my albums still have a habit of going to number one.

“In other words, he knows as much as most of my fans do,” the letter continued.
He said he preferred to concentrate on future songs whereas Sir Elton, “makes millions playing those old classics day in day out”.

All for charity

Michael signed off with a reference to a recent charity donation he had made.
Sir Elton “seems to have forgotten me calling him a few months back to tell him that my American royalties from Patience would be donated entirely to the Elton John Aids Foundation”.

George Michael’s latest album Patience debuted at number one - Sir Elton’s most recent LP, Peachtree, entered the chart at number 21.
Sir Elton was recently involved in another celebrity spat after he accused Madonna of lip-synching during her recent Re-Invention tour, a claim the singer denied.

My 2 Cents: The same article featured a photo of George Michael with the following ( sarcastic? ) quote:

“I will always be grateful to Elton for the inspiration he gave me as a child.”

Can’t say Elton hasn’t been asking for it, there seems to be no end to his recent erratic, bitchy outbursts. Perhaps it stems from the hot and cold flashes that befall women at that age.

From IMDB:

Movie & TV News @ IMDb.com - WENN

Spears Stinks Out Plane with Feet

Pop beauty Britney Spears’ smelly feet upset her fellow airplane passengers recently. The “Toxic” singer was flying from Los Angeles to New York with her husband Kevin Federline and decided to make herself more comfortable by removing her shoes.

Unfortunately for her fellow passengers, Britney’s feet caused such a stink it wasn’t long before they were forced to complain to a stewardess. One says, “The smell was unbelievable.

One woman had a word with the air hostess, then three or four others complained. “She looked pretty embarrassed as she tapped Britney on the shoulder and asked her very politely to put her shoes back on. “Britney went red, laughed and said her shoes made her feet stink.

Thankfully she put them on. There’s no way we could have put up with that.”

My 2 Cents: The Federline’s fly? I figured they just hitch up the ol’ trailer to the pick-up, stock the cooler with six-packs and hit the road. Mayonnaise sandwiches anyone?

From IMDB.com:

Movie & TV News @ IMDb.com - WENN

Jolie Turns Down Beckinsale and Electra

Movie star Angelina Jolie is flattered she’s the first choice as a female love interest for Kate Beckinsale and Carmen Electra, but she can’t return the favor. At the Oscars earlier this year, Van Helsing star Beckinsale praised fellow awards guest Jolie’s beauty, declaring, “I could have eaten her up with a spoon. She’s so gorgeous.” However when Jolie was asked by American TV network E!’s gossip columnist Ted Casablanca if she would become romantically involved with former Baywatch actress Electra or Beckinsale, Jolie replied, “No and no.” Jolie says there are several women she would consider marrying, but one was recently off the market. She says, “I don’t want to say her name, ’cause she just got married… to a man. (My son) Maddox’s godmothers… They’re two women I’d marry.”

No one can accuse Angelina of not being sexually diverse.

New York Post Online Edition: gossip

LIZA TRYING TO EVICT STEPMOM

LIZA Minnelli tried again yesterday to persuade her 94-year-old stepmother, Lee Minnelli, to move out of her late father’s Beverly Hills mansion so the new owners can finally move in ‚Äö?Ѭ¢??‚Äö?Ñ?? but the nonagenarian is refusing to budge.

Lee ‚Äö?Ѭ¢??‚Äö?Ñ?? the widow of Liza’s father, Vincente ‚Äö?Ѭ¢??‚Äö?Ñ?? has been living in the same house she shared with her director husband until his death in 1986. His will stipulated that Liza must allow Lee to live there until her death or provide something comparable.

But Liza, who bought the place from MGM back in the ’70s when she was flush, was forced to sell it for $2.75 million two years ago, around the time she hit rock bottom and married icky impresario David Gest.

“Liza couldn’t afford to maintain the house,” a source close to the situation shared with PAGE SIX.

Fortunately, the buyers, Merhdad Saghian and Stephanie Jarin, agreed to allow the elder Minnelli to continue living in the mansion, “but they didn’t expect for her to live that long,” an insider said. And now they want her out.

Liza went to court to try to void the sale, but she lost her bid and is now faced with evicting her stepmother.

Liza and Lee had a face-to-face in Beverly Hills on Sunday, with disastrous results. After insisting she would not leave, the stepmother hired a driver and went to lunch, telling Liza, “I’m staying,” a source said.

The bad blood between the women is nothing new. In fact, Lee sued Liza in April 2002 for abuse and breach of contract, because Liza had allegedly cut off the mansion’s electricity and fired the staff to get Lee to move out. Liza was ordered by the court to continue paying for upkeep and expenses on the house.

But it’s not as though Liza meant to leave her stepmother out in the cold. After she sold the house, a source said, she leased a condominium and had it painted yellow, Lee’s and Vincente’s favorite color. But Lee still declined to move.

This time around, Liza has made arrangements with Edie Wasserman, widow of Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman, to get Lee into the Actor’s Fund Home, a retirement home for entertainers. But Lee has no interest in going.

“Lee’s calling her friends and saying, ‘They’re plotting,’ ” our source said.

Reps for Liza Minnelli did not return calls.

My 2 Cents: I live for this stuff, it’s just so out there it reads like one of Danny Devito’s kill-the-old-hag dark comedies.

Poor Liza, just when things couldn’t get any worse, stepmama Minnelli decides she’s gonna add some fuel to the fire. My advise: rent Mr. DeVito’s “Throw Mama From The Train” and “Duplex” and give us the conclusion to the trilogy.

New York Post Online Edition: gossip

KEEPING ABREAST OF ANNA

ANNA Nicole Smith pulled another televised doozy at Wednesday night’s VH1 “Big in ‘04″ Awards taping at the Shrine Auditorium.

When Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav presented Smith with her prize for “Big Makeover of ‘04,” Nielsen started caressing Smith’s breasts onstage and screamed, “Anna, you’re so hot!” Anna’s acceptance speech included the slurred nonsense of: “Wow! I beat the president and I didn’t even have to get on my knees!” Smith then told the audience they could scratch and sniff her undergarments and began to pull down her dress, but was escorted offstage by bodyguards.

Backstage, Smith flashed again while Paris Hilton tried to sound smart by talking money but mispronounced the word “economical” and ended up “looking retarded.” The show airs tonight on VH1 - minus Smith’s breasts.

New York Post Online Edition: gossip

LEADER OF PACHYDERM

THE wacky world of fashion just got even more ridiculous. W magazine is having a party for “the world’s largest fit models” ‚Äö?Ѭ¢??‚Äö?Ñ?? two elephants that the magazine has forced to dress up in Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton designs.

On the invite for the Dec. 9 party at 545 W. 22nd St., Rosie and Tai, two Asian elephants are dolled up in pink and yellow frocks.

The mag promises that 11 other designers ‚Äö?Ѭ¢??‚Äö?Ñ?? including cobbler Manolo Blahnik, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, Nicolas Ghesquiere, Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Lacroix ‚Äö?Ѭ¢??‚Äö?Ñ?? have made clothes for the elephants as well.

We are appalled

From CNN.com:

CNN.com - Sheboygan SpongeBob swiped - Nov 25, 2004

Sheboygan SpongeBob swiped

Thursday, November 25, 2004 Posted: 1:18 PM EST (1818 GMT)

(AP) — It’s a regular SpongeBob crime wave.

First some oversized figures of SpongeBob Squarepants were swiped from Burger Kings in Michigan, Minnesota and Utah.

Now police in Wisconsin are on the lookout for spongenappers who clipped a six-foot Squarepants that was promoting the SpongeBob movie opening.

No ransom note was left in Sheboygan — although in Minnesota, the list of demands includes ten Crabby Patties for SpongeBob’s return.

After some shrewd negotiations between police and a lawyer, a SpongeBob from Bad Axe, Michigan, has been returned home, slightly the worse for wear.

No laughing matter for Crime Stoppers in Sheboygan, though, who say informants on the whereabouts of the Wisconsin blow-up could earn a thousand dollar reward.

Then USA Today reports this:

USATODAY.com - SpongeBob kidnappers seek ransom for doll

SpongeBob kidnappers seek ransom for doll

Have you seen this sponge? Police are looking for a blow-up figure of SpongeBob SquarePants swiped from a Minnesota Burger King. They’ve found a ransom note which starts off: “We have SpongeBob.” It then demands, “Give us ten Crabby Patties, fries and milkshakes.”

Have you seen me? Kin to this Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade SpongeBob SquarePants are missing across the nation.

Timothy A. Clary, AFP

The ransom note is signed by SpongeBob’s nemesis, Plankton. A postscript reads: “Patrick is next,” referring to the Bermuda shorts-wearing starfish that serves as SpongeBob’s sidekick.

At a southeastern Utah Burger King, vandals made off with a 10-foot-tall SpongeBob balloon.

Employees are handing out “Missing” fliers with a full description of the popular cartoon figure ‚Äö?Ѭ¢??‚Äö?Ñ?? featured in a new movie.

My 2 Cents: Uhmmmm…what the hell is going on here?

From IMDB, 11/30/04:

Farrell and Hilton’s Intimate Encounter

Irish lothario Colin Farrell reportedly enjoyed a romantic liaison with American socialite Paris Hilton last week. The Phone Booth hunk was promoting his new film Alexander when he bumped into the blonde heiress, who was being filmed for Barbara Walters’ TV show The Ten Most Fascinating People Of 2004.

A source tell Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper, “Colin is a lot hotter in person and Paris was unbelievably sweet. But it was not clear, though, whether the couple had previously arranged a meeting or it was just coincidence. Still, what happens when the two most oversexed people on the planet get together - they continued the party, alone, after the cameras shut off.”

Hilton has been romantically linked to a host of famous men, including Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, former porn star Simon Rex, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Kennedy, Sum 41 singer Deryck Whibley and Australian Idol contestant Rob Mills. Meanwhile, Farrell has a baby son James with ex-love Kim Bordenave.

My 2 Cents:

Forget crabs, this pairing must have produced the world’s first case of lobsters. The thought of these two human Petri dishes consummating their mutual admiration for each other is not the least bit sexy.

From filmthreat.com:

Film Threat - Features

FILM THREAT’S FRIGID 50: THE COLDEST PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD 2004 (1-10)
by the Film Threat Staff
(11/23/2004)

1. MICHAEL MOORE
Well, the results of the Presidential election are in and the controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 did not derail a second Bush term. Michael Moore’s box office smash did two things: it mobilized like-minded Americans in a bid to vote a Democrat into office, and it galvanized the opposition in a bid to re-elect Bush. Bush won. There are a lot of Democrats out there that would just like to say — thanks a lot! MICHAEL!

And now Michael’s alleged “limousine liberal” ways are being exposed in a new documentary entitled “Michael Moore Hates America.” (Incidentally, “Michael Moore Hates America” received a coveted “Thumbs Up” from Roger Ebert when it was reviewed on his program.) The film (hitting theaters in limited release) features regular schlub Mike Wilson who seeks out Moore in an effort to question the controversial filmmaker’s techniques. All Wilson wants is to interview Michael –and ala “Roger and Me,” Moore completely disses the young filmmaker, evading his request for an interview and berating him at a public event. In one particularly damning sequence, Wilson exposes that in Bowling for Columbine the sequence in which the gun is received from the bank was completely stage-managed. The bank employees reveal how Michael set up the entire scene.

“Michael Moore Hates America” takes a hard look at Moore’s methods while dissecting the documentary form itself. It’s a doc that tackles ethical issues when reality gets in the way of a political agenda — and all the while the film remains highly entertaining. Kind of like Michael Moore’s movies.

But, hey, look on the bright side; no Presidential candidate endorsed by Michael Moore has ever won an election. So, Michael, why not endorse a Republican in 2008, just to see what happens? You never know, it might work! But do we really need a sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11?
Anti-Freeze: Remember, it’s not always about you. Lose the chip on your shoulder. Really. Morgan Spurlock beautifully attacked McDonald’s in the funny, clever and factually accurate “Super Size Me.” You could learn something from that approach; you used to do that so well yourself.

2. HALLE BERRY
If she makes any more muck along the lines of Gothika and Catwoman, the Academy should send Berry a self-addressed stamped envelope and a letter requesting the return of her Oscar. Her post-Oscar film choices have demonstrated a passionate commitment to doing anything for a buck. And the award for “Least Artistic Integrity on the Part of an Oscar Winner” goes to… who else?
Anti-Freeze: Send back the Oscar, because that’s one peak she’s not reaching again.

Read more »