Winehouse delivers the goods, with both music and controversy at Glastonbury Music fest:
throws punch at fan during last song “Rehab”
By Veronica Ramsden
GLASTONBURY, UK (Hollywood Today)
6/28/08 —
“Ladies and gentlemen this is… Amy Winehouse” and the surprising thing it was.
She appeared on stage, on time, somewhat intense but nevertheless THERE for the audience who had spent the night in tents waiting for her at the Glastonbury fest, the Woodstock of the UK.
And with her track record of skipping shows, her recent collapse and diagnosis of emphysema, her recent drug troubles and time in rehab, there was every reason for her to be a no-show.
Sporting four cocktail umbrellas in her trademark beehive’do, she launched into what was to be a full menu from aperitif to digestif of full Amy.
It was an important show for her, her first full set since all her problems began in earnest.
And she was on best behaviour until she went into the security pit for her last two songs.
During her Grammy-winning song “Rehab,” she threw a punch at a fan.
It’s not clear what provoked the incident, the fan may have grabbed her.
But she was mad – she even went back for second sock at the attendee.
She delivered her songs and shared her emotions with an audience who
were not there to judge just to enjoy.
Amy drank , gyrated and spat on stage: she did what she does best …she performed
Why was it, she queried, that it took a girl so long to get dressed and so short a time to be undressed ?
An allusion maybe to how quickly the media had been to expose her private struggles and how slow, lately, to applaud her hard earned fame.
Her husband ,she told us, was to be “released from jail in two weeks time” clearly tonight this is the man Amy loves.
She is a showgirl and the show went on .
Tonight her band were tight and so was Amy…in her performance ,who cares if she may have been drunk as well.
She, like her music , is two tone ; she wandered among the crowd flashing aggression and intimacy.
The star rambled: “This one was another one where I never thought I would see Blake again.
I said, ‘Blake I never thought I would see you again’.
I thought I would die with the man and then never see him again.”
When people in the crowd jeered, Amy threatened:
“Who booed?
I will find you.”
During her set, which featured some of her most famous songs including Cupid, Tears Dry on Their Own and Back to Black, Winehouse thanked her fans “for your support”.
Winehouse, however, was less appreciative of rapper Jay-Z, who she preceded on the Pyramid Stage, announcing that she thought he had “got some front to come here…with tunes you don’t even remember”.
Amy Winehouse provided expectant Glastonbury festival-goers with the controversy they were anticipating last night,
Her beehive was slipping and you could just feel the sting itching to get out but it seems Amy is back willing and able and at the end of her set she still had 2 cocktail umbrellas in her hair……
proving that not everything that goes up has to come down.
The girl did good.
And has a mean right hook.
who READS THE LBN E-LERT?
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LBN-SEE IT.....
Smadar Haran speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 29, 2008.
The man at the center of the prisoner swap Israel approved Sunday with Hezbollah is an unrepentant Lebanese gunman who has spent nearly 30 years in prison for one of the grisliest attacks in Israeli history.
Kantar, then 16, shot Smadar Haran's husband in front of their little girl, then smashed her skull against a rock with his rifle butt, killing her, too, Witnesses said.
Kantar denies killing the little girl.
LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:
***Hollywood movie studios are preparing to go into shutdown here Monday, when a contract with the top actors union expires, raising the grim possibility of another crippling strike.
Negotiations to renew the contract between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have so far been deadlocked, echoing the build-up to this year's screenwriters strike.
Entertainment industry press has said most major movie studios had already planned their schedules to complete filming on existing projects by Monday
SAG President Alan Rosenberg releases statement concerning strike and lockout chatter
By Brian Frederick
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today)
6/29/08 —
“We have taken no steps to initiate a strike authorization vote by the members of the Screen Actors Guild.
Any talk about a strike or a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction.
The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee is coming to the bargaining table every day in good faith to negotiate a fair contract for actors,”
SAG President Alan Rosenberg wrote in a press statement released today.
The SAG contract with the studios is set to expire at 12:01 am on Tuesday.
Pressure has been mounting for months against SAG’s effort to strike down the AFTRA ratification vote this week, which appears
likely, will be voted for by its members.
That time simply has been “wasted time and should be spent obtaining a better contract for its own (SAG) union,” stated AFTRA President Roberta Reardon.
Her comments come on the heals of a six month effort to have half of its members who belong to SAG, vote down the AFTRA tentative agreement with the studios.
AFTRA’s contract expires at the same time as SAG’s.
SAG members and line-workers that could be affected by a SAG strike have voiced their opposition for months over SAG’s aggressive stand towards its smaller union and not spent that energy working towards a contract with the studios.
The industry is still feeling the pain from the writer’s strike which cost the local economy an estimated $2.5 billion.
A SAG strike would be devastating for the industry as a whole and could exile its union members to seek employment in a different industry.
The cinema photographers union in Hollywood has expressed anger at SAG for the manner and delay it has handled their contract negotiations.
Although the cinema photographers are not a part of SAG, smaller unions are voicing their concern that a strike or possible lock-out by the unions will cost them and other’s their jobs.
The statement from Rosenberg comes at a time when the count down towards uncertainty is leaving industry personnel, nervous and fearful for their jobs during this tough time in the economy.
Wanted Finds $51 Million with Jolie’s Tats
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Pixar now 9 out of 9 on blockbusters,
Jolie /Freeman wanted a hit and got one
By Keith Williams
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today)
6/29/07 —
The ghost of Number 5 rose to do battle this weekend with a female assassin extraordinaire and both registered stellar box-office returns from families and action fans alike.
Pixar’s WALL-e scooped up $63 million on opening weekend on earth, while Wanted found everything it was looking for with a $51 million bow for Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy.
Wanted, the debut American feature for Timur Bekmambetov, Russian director of Death Watch and Day Watch -
plots so dense you needed a sat nav to figure out where you were -
stars Angeline Jolie in the kind of action chick flick her sexy, insolent attitude seems tailor-made for.
A snazzy trailer, Morgan Freeman doing what he does best –
provide comfort and quality -
James McAvoy brilliantly succeeding in doing what Christian Bale did to crack this very same market,
plus the bonus of earning itself a badge of honor with its R rating for the under-age audience most likely to enjoy it,
resulted in this spectacular
Matrix-like thriller grabbing an estimated 18.7 million Friday on 3175 screens, 51.1 million for the weekend.
Nice to see you’re back
They even let Jolie sport her real tattoos in the film, saving her hours in the makeup room and giving guys an extra treat.
Disney/Pixar in contrast offered Wall–e, the computer-animated tale of a lonely robot clearing up waste on a devastated Earth.
Teasers and trailers had been excellent, as had industry buzz, and while the diminutive lead reminds one uneasily of Short Circuit,
trust Pixar,
the apple of the movie studios,
to come up with something more original and emotive.
Ratatouille, their last production with the title no-one thought you could sell let alone pronounce opened at $47 million.
Prior to that,
Cars took $60M,
The Incredibles $70M,
as did Finding Nemo.
Wall-e, on 3992 screens, hoovered up $23.3 million opening day, $62.5 mil three day total.
Elsewhere, Get Smart took $20 million for its second weekend,
falling 48.3%,
Kung Fu Panda held firm against Wall-e with $11.7 and a 46.5 percent drop,
the less-than-Incredible Hulk tumbled down 58.3 percent to $9.2 million,
while a 60.9 percent nose-dive left The Love Guru with $5.4 mil.
Search parties for The Happening discovered it lurking near the bottom of the top ten with $3.8 green ones from a 63.3 percent drop, the biggest of the weekend top ten.
WEEKEND TOP 5 STUDIO ESTIMATES,
JUNE 27-29, 2008
Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross Theaters Total Gross Week #
1. Wall-E (Buena Vista) $62.5 million 3,992 $62.5 million 1
2. Wanted (Universal) $51.1 million 3,175 $51.1 million 1
3. Get Smart (Warner Bros.) $20.0 million 3,915 $77.3 million 2
4. Kung Fu Panda (Paramount (DW) $11.7 million 3,670 $179.3 million 4
5. The Incredible Hulk (Universal) $9.2 million 3,349 $115.5 million 3
Weekend Estimates courtesy of boxofficemojo.com
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Cover girl Ruslana Kazakhstani dead after fall from Manhattan apartment building
By Matthew B. Zeidman
NEW YORK (Hollywood Today)
6/29/08 –
The life of successful fashion model Ruslana Korshunova was cut short Saturday afternoon after the young Kazakhstani fell from the balcony of her apartment in Lower Manhattan to the pavement below.
According to an anonymous police source cited by local newspaper Newsday, Korshunova’s death, which occurred just four days before her 21st birthday, was being treated as a suicide
It isn’t always psychologically easy for models who are suddenly flush with money and attention at a very young age.
Drugs and a decadent lifestyle are always a temptation.
Yet there was construction underway on the balcony which could mean it was accidental.
And a cut in the temporary netting could indicate something more nefarious.
Korshunova dropped from the ninth floor of the Water Street building, which was under construction, at
approximately 2:30 p.m.
According to the New York Post, there was a gap (apparently cut) in the construction netting covering the balcony.
Additionally, both publications reported that police found no obvious signs of struggle inside the model’s home.
Korshunova, who was represented in New York by IMG Models, had previously appeared on the covers of major magazines, including international versions of Elle and Vogue,
and had done extensive work for a variety of major designers, including Vera Wang and Libertine.
ISRAEL HAS A YEAR TO STOP IRAN BOMB, WARNS EX-SPY:
A satellite image of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
A former head of Mossad has warned that Israel has 12 months in which to destroy Iran's nuclear program or risk coming under nuclear attack itself.
He also hinted that Israel might have to act sooner if Barack Obama wins the US presidential election. Shabtai Shavit,
an influential adviser to the Israeli parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee,
told The Sunday Telegraph that time was running out to prevent Iran's leaders getting the bomb. Mr. Shavit,
who retired from the Israeli intelligence agency in 1996,
warned that he had no doubt Iran intended to use a nuclear weapon once it had the capability,
and that Israel must conduct itself accordingly.
"The time that is left to be ready is getting shorter all the time," he said in an interview.
