A nice little stop-motion viral to get your Monday started right. The project was conceived by The Viral Factory to promote the Samsung F480s drag-and-drop interface, and unlike most virals, it actually relates in a meaningful way to the product it promotes.
I find it a little funny that the term “viral” is hanging on. I guess it still functions as a descriptor of production value and writing style. If someone said to me, “I want a commercial about a squirrel piloting a rocket to Mars,” I’d imagine a CG extravaganza directed by Michael Bay. But if they said, “I want a viral about a squirrel piloting a rocket to Mars,” I’d imagine sock puppets shot on a HandyCam. I’d also imagine a smaller budget and far, far fewer explosions.
Snoop Dogg's wife Shante was picked up in Orange County for DUI early Saturday morning, according to the AP:
Fullerton police Lt. Craig Brower says officers stopped 32-year-old Shante (Shahn-taye) Broadus of Sherman Oaks about 12:15 a.m. Saturday and took her to jail. She was cited and then released pending a court appearance.
Brower says nobody else was in the car but he didn't have any other details.
I bet Snoop strolled into the station to pick up his wife and, suddenly, music starts playing while strippers drop from the ceiling. A hobo announces "IT'S SNOOP DIZZLE DOGGY D!" and all the cops realize they hate paperwork but love malt liquor. But, with a scratch of the record, Detective Partypooper (according to his name tag) says "Just a darn minute. This man's wife was arrested for DWI. That's no partying matter!" Then everyone just laughs while Black Riddler starts a conga line. For such is my understanding of the bail bond process.
Ashanti has been famously secretive about her relationship with rapper Nelly. But she broke her silence (a bit!) Sunday night, after a sterling rendition of the National Anthem during game five of the Lakers-Celtics championship series.
“Me and Nelly, we’re good friends. We kick it – hang out a lot,” the 27-year-old said. “The industry is very hard, so it’s good to have fun and lighten it up.”
As for those persistent rumors that she and the rapper plan to get hitched? Holding up a ring-free left hand, she told reporters, “Oh no. Noooo! No engagement.” Then she added with a wicked smile, “But definitely in the future. Ha! Ha!”
To unwind, the couple sometimes hits Lakers games. “But the one thing we do a lot of lately is listen to my new album, The Declaration,” she said with a giggle.
Nelly was not by her side at the Staples Center, but Ashanti did bring along the other man in her life: Dad Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas. “Happy Father’s Day!” she said, waving at him.
After the game (which the Lakers won 103-98), Ashanti and her family hopped a flight to Las Vegas. Despite an exhausting week spent promoting her album and rehearsing the “Star Spangled Banner,” she said, “Were going to party tonight!”
My Best Friends Girl - Trailer Smart, beautiful and headstrong, Alexis is the girl of Dustin’s dreams. But after only five weeks of dating, the love-struck Dustin is coming on so strong that Alexis is forced to slow things down – permanently. Devastated and desperate to get her back, Dustin turns to his best friend, Tank, the rebound specialist. A master at seducing – and offending – women, Tank gets hired by freshly dumped guys to take their ex-girlfriends out on the worst date of their lives – an experience so horrible it sends them running gratefully back to their beaus. But when Tank works his magic on Alexis, he ends up meeting the challenge of a lifetime. Alexis is the first girl who knows how to call his bluff, and Tank soon finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dustin and a strange new attraction to his best friend’s girl. An outrageous, sexy, no-holds-barred romantic comedy, Lionsgate’s MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL stars Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, Jason Biggs and Alec Baldwin. MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL is directed by Howard Deutch and written by Jordan Cahan. Directed by: Howard Deutch Starring: Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, Lizzy Caplan, Alec Baldwin
Country star Sara Evans married former University of Alabama quarterback Jay Barker Saturday evening in an outdoor ceremony at a Franklin, Tenn., farm near Evans’s home.
Evans’s son Avery, 8, walked his mother down the aisle, preceded by her two daughters, Olivia, 5, and Audrey, 3. The couple’s seven children (Barker has four from his previous marriage) sat on quilts during the ceremony and were the only attendants. They collectively gave their parents away.
The short ceremony featured Nashville songwriter Marcus Hummon, a close friend of Evans’s, singing “God Bless the Broken Road,” the Rascal Flatts hit he cowrote – a song that the couple says has deep meaning for their relationship. Christian minister Joe Beam, who was responsible for introducing the couple last fall, performed the ceremony.
Evans, 37, wore an ivory silk taffeta Vera Wang gown with a halter neck and Barker, 35, wore a Dolce and Gabbana suit. The black-and-white affair (guests were requested to wear black) was accented with hints of yellow roses, and the sophisticated décor was given a down-home twist with a menu catered by Constant Craving featuring Southern fried chicken, country-style pole beans, biscuits and macaroni and cheese.
“It was really very elegant, but Sara wanted it to feel like you were at her house,” says friend and wedding planner Traci Phillips of The Perfect Party.
The bride and groom had their first dance to Chris Brown’s “With You” and the 145 guests – including Sheryl Crow – boogied beneath a canopy of strung lights to a collection of R&B and pop hits spun by a deejay.
Evans met Barker, the host of a morning sports radio show in Birmingham, Ala., through Beam when each had turned to the minister for support after their respective divorces last year.
“He was our own personal matchmaker,” laughs Evans, who says that Beam made both of them promise – before they even met one another – that they would let him officiate at their wedding. “I think God told Joe to get us together.”
They were engaged in March. “It was hard for me to believe he was real and that he loves me the way he loves me,” Evans says. “I thank God many times a day for bringing me Jay.”
Now in its 11th year, the CineVegas Film Festival is still trying to establish its identity in the festival world. Should it be glitzy and glamorous (and gaudy and tacky) like Vegas? Or should it be a champion of up-and-coming indie films with no stars and no Hollywood connections? Either way, CineVegas has already settled on one point: Its parties are every bit as dazzling and boozy -- and numerous -- as you'd expect from a Las Vegas-based fest.
Cast in point: Friday night's official 10th anniversary party, held poolside on the roof of one of the Palms Resort Casino's buildings. The DJ-facilitated music was thumpin', the bars were giving out complimentary vodka drinks courtesy of sponsor Grey Goose (they stopped just short of filling the pool with the stuff), and there were plenty of tasty snacks and desserts. Everyone was there, including the film critics and reporters (who tended to be under-dressed), the filmmakers, and the CineVegas pass-holders (who tended to be over-dressed, which is the general rule in Vegas).
Over at Thompson on Hollywood, the ever-astute Anne Thompson has a great analysis of what really happened with Edward Norton's involvement in writing the script for The Incredible Hulk, what ended up on the cutting room floor during post-production, thanks to Marvel's final cut rights, and why the WGA didn't end up granting him script credit. It's an interesting look at the behind-the-scenes details of how these things work in Hollywood. Thompson says, in part:
Norton mostly changed dialogue, filled in gaps of motivation and developed character. For example, the scenes in Brazil about finding a serum in the Amazon to cure him, and Banner's emails with Tim Blake Nelson, were Norton adds. Marvel agreed to shoot Norton's script.
Although Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were in Las Vegas on Friday, the former couple managed to navigate the social scene without running into each other.
While Spears, 26, relaxed and sipped water in a cabana at the Cinevegas party at the Palms Place, Federline drank Jack Daniels at Strip House only a few miles away. And while Spears’s night ended early, her ex kept the party going past 3 a.m. at Prive Las Vegas, where he was honored as “Father of the Year”.
Looking dapper in a black suit and red tie, Federline, 30, arrived at Prive just before 1 a.m. with an entourage of about 30, including his divorce lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan. At a VIP table, Federline nodded his head to several hip-hop songs and paid little attention to the risqué fashion show that was happening on top of the club’s deejay booth.
At around 2:30 am, Federline headed to the back kitchen of the club, where he was presented with a “Father of the Year” trophy out of the public eye, an honor he told reporters “surprised” him.
Spears, celebrating Father’s Day weekend with her dad Jamie, ate fresh fruit and sunned herself for three hours Friday at the newly opened Palms Place pool. Later, she began her night with a low-key dinner with a friend and a member of her security staff at the Palms restaurant Nove, where she feasted on an artichoke dish.
After donning a short black cocktail dress, the singer attended the Cinevegas party with her father, Palms hotel owner George Maloof and his business associate Jon Gray. In a private cabana, Spears showed little emotion as she sipped water and chatted with her group for two hours.
Spears is reportedly staying the weekend in Las Vegas, while Federline is expected to head back to Los Angeles on Saturday to spend Father’s Day with his children, including his sons with Spears, Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1.
Ashanti has been famously secretive about her relationship with rapper Nelly. But she broke her silence (a bit!) Sunday night, after a sterling rendition of the National Anthem during game five of the Lakers-Celtics championship series.
Break a leg? Not exactly. But theater vet Mary-Louise Parker was nursing a broken toe at Sunday night’s Tony Awards in New York City.
Country star Sara Evans married former University of Alabama quarterback Jay Barker Saturday evening in an outdoor ceremony at a Franklin, Tenn., farm near Evans’s home.
Now in its 11th year, the CineVegas Film Festival is still trying to establish its identity in the festival world. Should it be glitzy and glamorous (and gaudy and tacky) like Vegas? Or should it be a champion of up-and-coming indie films with no stars and no Hollywood connections? Either way, CineVegas has already settled on one point: Its parties are every bit as dazzling and boozy -- and numerous -- as you'd expect from a Las Vegas-based fest. 
Over at Thompson on Hollywood, the ever-astute Anne Thompson has a great analysis of 
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