The truth about 'X-Files 2'

The following article was taken from CNN.com:

'X-Files' creator Chris Carter, writer Frank Spotnitz and other crew members gathered last Wednesday to discuss the TV series - and declassify some information about the upcoming film.

The popular Fox paranormal drama, which aired from 1993 to 2002, starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

"While this is not a mythology movie, it's true to everything that's come before," Spotnitz said at the William S. Paley Television Festival. "It's true to Mulder and Scully, who they are and where they would be this point in their lives and all of the experiences that they've had."

The series first made the leap to the big screen with 1998's "The X-Files: Fight the Future." Plans for another film were grounded in 2005 when Carter sued Fox over syndication profits for the show. The lawsuit was later settled.

Carter, who also directs the new movie, said it takes place in the present and uses a story envisioned when the series ended. While the show's sprawling alien mythology isn't part of the plot, Carter said there is a reference to Scully's seemingly supernatural son, William, who was born in season eight and later given up for adoption.

The film is due out July 25.

Carter was tightlipped about the title.

"I can't tell you," he said. "I know what I want it to be, but Fox has some ideas of their own."

Is Obama related to Clinton?

US Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt and Hillary Clinton is related to Pitt's girlfriend Angelina Jolie, a genealogical society has said.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society have discovered that Jolie and Clinton are ninth cousins, twice removed, while Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins.

Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother's side, is also related to Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette, researchers found. Other cousins include Camilla Parker Bowles and Jack Kerouac.

Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, on the other hand, shares his ancestry with six US presidents, including current commander in chief, George W. Bush, and his father, George H.W. Bush.

Other far-reaching Obama relations include Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney and Sir Winston Churchill.

Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.

"It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn't necessarily expect," Child said.

Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates' genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, "Ancestors of American Presidents."

'Storm Riders 2' is coming

Universe Entertainment has just announced the production of their latest big-budget fantasy sequel 'Storm Riders 2', featuring the return of Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng as Cloud and Wind in the comic-book adaptation.

The $12 million sequel to the 1998 smash hit will start next month. Directors Danny and Oxide Pang ('The Eye') are spending big on post-production to get a '300' kind of feel to the movie.

The film is slated for release by the end of 2009 in Hong Kong, China and Asia.

'Storm Riders 2' will be the first Hong Kong movie that is filmed exclusively on blue screen and custom-made sets. Frankly I was not impressed with the visual effects in the first movie. I thought it was too fake-looking. Hopefully, after 10 years, the technology has improved.

The movie also stars Simon Yam as Lord Godless, Nicholas Tse as Heart, Charlene Choias Second Dream and rising star , Tiffany T, will play Chu Chu.

'Storm Riders 2' is an adaptation of comic master Ma Wing Shing's 1990s best-selling 'Fung Wan'.

***UPDATED 10-DEC-2008***
'Storm Riders 2' will also be known as 'Storm Warriors'. The Pang Brothers' sequel has been shooting for a while in Mainland China and now the teaser for the film, coming next year from Universe, has just been released.

Click here to view.

In the meantime, there's an animated version currently doing it's round in the cinemas. The movie is called 'Storm Riders - Clash of Evils'. It basically starts where the first live-action 'Storm Riders' left off, with orphaned martial artists Wind and Cloud taking on Conquer, the man who murdered their parents in order to make them his disciples and secure his rule of the martial arts world.

Review: August Rush

'August Rush' is one of those soppy, predictable, uplifting movie that you can't help but fall in love with!

The main character in the movie is Evan Taylor played by talented Freddie Highmore (from 'Finding Neverland' and 'The Spiderwick Chronicles'). Evan is being raised in an orphanage with no contact with his parents.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Evan's parents were a famous concert cellist named Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell), and Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an Irish guitarist and lead singer from a rock band. They met and fell in love in one night, but through a series of events, were separated. Late in her pregnancy, Lyla was in a car accident and was told by her father (William Sadler) that her child didn't survive.

Evan believes that by creating and playing music, it will bring him back to his parent. So he runs away from the orphanage and head out to New York where he meets some colorful characters who teach him music.

Although some people might scoff at the logical flaws of the movie, I must stress that this is a 'fairy-tale' and the filmmakers must be applauded for making this as entertaining and uplifting as it can be.

My favorite aspect of the movie is definitely the music. The muscial performance by the stars are simply magical, especially Freddie Highmore's solo guitar performance (even though it was not really performed by him).

Overall, this is one of the best movies of the year. Don't miss this.

Final 'Harry Potter' book to be 2 movies

Harry Potter will be pleased to know that the eighth book in the series will be split into 2 movies.

Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that the final book 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' will be made into 2 films, with the first slated for November 2010 with the second part following in May 2011.

"It was born out of purely creative reasons," producer David Heyman told the Times. "Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book."

The two final 'Potter' films will be shot concurrently, much like the 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy.

Get ready for a new election campaign!

Now that the election fever is over for us Malaysians, it's time to get ready for a new election campaign....well, a fictitious one anyway.

IBelieveinHarveyDent.com is a website launched as part of the marketing campaign for the upcoming Batman movie, 'The Dark Knight'. The website is part of Harvey Dent's campaign in his run for District Attorney in Gotham City.


The website is asking supporters to submit pictures and videos of themselves holding the campaign poster (which can be downloaded from the website as well).

Another viral site is WhySoSerious.com which is supposed to be The Joker's website. Previously the site is contains a scavenger hunt with hidden messages, instructing fans to uncover clues at certain locations. Recently the site has been changed to link to another site called 'Rory's Death Kiss' where fans could submit photographs of themselves dressed up as the Joker. Those who sent photos were mailed a copy of a fictional newspaper called 'The Gotham Times', the online version of which led to the discovery of numerous other websites.

Harvey Dent will be played by Aaron Eckhart in the movie. Christian Bale reprises his role as Batman. 'The Dark Knight' opens in cinemas in July 2008.

(*spoilers ahead*)
Harvey Dent's campaign against crime ends tragically during the prosecution of crime boss Sal Maroni for murder. Enraged Maroni throws sulfuric acid on Dent, resulting in one side of his face horribly scarred.the left half of his face while leaving the other half undamaged. Dent's disfigurement brings out his latent multiple personality disorder and transforms him into the villainous Two-Face.

***UPDATES***
Two more websites have surfaced - Gotham City Clerk and Gotham Election Board. Not much info on these sites yet. Check back later for details.

New Iron Man Poster

New channel for women

It's time for women to reclaim the remote!

Korean American television personality May Lee says that Asia's modern women need a new voice. Which is why she is helping to launch a new channel which would focus solely on women. The Lotus Channel launches into a gap for a chic, sexy, useful television destination that doesn't pretend to be anything other than 100% focused on women.

Lotus Channel, targeting women aged 25-45, is looking to roll out in Southeast Asia by second quarter 2008.

Shopaholic comes to the big screen

Fans of Sophie Kinsella would be glad to know that the author's best-selling novel 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' will be coming to the big screen soon.

Sophie Kinsella, aka Madeleine Wickham, raced to the top of the bestseller lists in September 2000 when her novel 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' was published. To date, there are 6 books in the Shopaholic series. The entire series has been optioned by Hollywood.

Here's the synopsis:

The story is about 25-year old Rebecca Bloomwood who has a very boring job writing for a financial magazine. Her weakness is her shopping addiction.

When she was offered a hefty line of credit by a London bank, she blew the limits within a few short months, and begins furtively to scan her credit-card bills at work, certain that she couldn't have spent the reported sums. Struggling with her spendthrift impulses, she tries to heed the advice of an expert and appreciate life's cheaper pleasures: parks, museums, and so forth.

Eventually, Rebecca's uncontrollable shopping and her "imaginative" solutions to her debt attract the attention not only of her bank manager but of handsome Luke Brandon - a multimillionaire PR representative.

The lead role of Rebecca will be played by Isla Fisher. Isla is a former soap opera star who managed to break into mainstream Hollywood movies recently with roles in 'Wedding Crashers', 'The Lookout' and 'Definitely, Maybe'. Hugh Dancy ('Blood And Chocolate') will play the romantic lead role.

John Goodman, Joan Cusack and Krysten Ritter co-stars.

The romantic comedy will be directed by PJ Hogan and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

The following are some other novels which will be made to movies:

• PS I Love You (Cecelia Ahern)
• Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
• Nim's Island (Wendy Orr and Kerry Millard)
• Marley and Me (John Grogan)
• jPod (Douglas Coupland)
• The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
• Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
• The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho and Alan R. Clarke)
• Angels & Demons (Dan Brown)

How to download videos from YouTube

Have you ever came across a cool video in YouTube and wanted to download it? Well, YouTube does not allow downloading of its video easily (unless you search in your cache file). Even then the format of the YouTube videos are in FLV and you probably have to download a FLV viewerto play the video on its own.

1-Click YouTube Batch Downloader

Anyway, I came across this excellent software which enables you to download videos from YouTube - either a single video or multiple videos in a batch. You can select the format of the downloaded videos as well (eg. MP4, WMV, AVI) The program is fairly easy to use, and comes with some video tutorials as well.

Click here to go directly to the Home Page to download the program. The software is freeware and adware-free.

Is David Archuleta the next American Idol?

David James Archuleta is a Honduran American with dark brown hair and hazel eyes who was born on December 28, 1990 in Miami, Florida, USA. When he was 12 years old, David won the Junior Singer category of Star Search. Four years later, David Archuleta auditioned for the 2008 American Idol in San Diego and won his ticket to the Hollywood auditions. After the last 2 performances ('Shop Around'and 'Imagine'), David is considered to be one of the front-runners in the show. Seeing how the producers and judges of AI is grooming him, many people have predicted that he will be the next American Idol.

Michael Slezak, from Entertainment Weekly says:

"I think at this point calling him the 'early front-runner' would be an understatement. He's that cuddly, cute contestant that tweens and grandmas alike can get behind, and that's a pretty powerful voting bloc. We've seen what Sanjaya Malakar and John Stevens and Kevin Covais did in the competition without being particularly great vocalists, just on the cute, teen merits alone, that I think this kid has that plus — what we've seen so far — a pretty good singing voice. I don't know if I'm ready to call it a great singing voice yet. It's too early to hand him the competition, but on the other hand, if someone said bet all your money on one contestant to win, it would be David Archuleta."

Who's who in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

Although everybody is tight-lipped on plot details, the cast of the upcoming movie 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' keeps getting bigger, featuring “a good bit of cameos of new and familiar mutants.” Reprising his role as Logan aka Wolverine is Hugh Jackman. Set 17 years before the X-Men trilogy,the movie will focus on Wolverine's violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe.

The film is directed by Gavin ('Rendition') Hood and written by David ('The Kite Runner') Benioff.

Here's a look at the characters which will make their appearance in the movie:


Sabretooth (aka Victor Creed) will be played by actor Liev Schreiber. Both Sabretooth and Wolverine were victims of the supersoldier program called Weapon X. Sabretooth possesses bestial superhuman physical abilities, most notably a rapid healing factor, razor-sharp fangs and claws, and hyper senses. He is a vicious killer responsible for numerous deaths both as a paid mercenary and for his own, personal pleasure.


Silver Fox (aka Kayla Silverfox) will be played by fairly unknown actress Lynn Collins. Silver Fox is a member of the Blackfoot Native American tribe. She formed a serious relationship with Wolverine when they met in the Canadian Rockies.


William Stryker will be played by actor Danny Huston ('30 Days Of Night'). Stryker is a religious fanatic, with a military history which has connections to the Weapon X project


Agent Zero (aka David North aka Maverick) is played by American-Korean heartthrob Daniel Henney ('Seducing Mr Perfect'). Agent Zero, who has the power of absorbing kinetic energy through impact, was one of the mutant operatives that Weapon X experimented on. Agent Zero is also an expert tracker with lethal marksman skills.


John Wraith will be played by Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am. Wraith's power is teleportation. He also has a life-extending serum in his blood, due to his involvement in the Weapon X program


Gambit (aka Remy LeBeau) will be played by model and actor Taylor Kitsch ('The Covenant'). Gambit is a Cajun thief who is able to turn any object he touches into kinetic energy, forcing it to explode.


Beak (aka Blackwing aka Barnell Bohusk) will be played by Dominic Monaghan ('Lost'). Beak started developing his powers at puberty. His body changed into that of a humanoid-bird form. Beak wears an advanced body suit that gives him the ability to fly, superhuman strength, and energy blasts, as well as giving him enhanced protection.


Deadpool (aka Wade Wilson) will be played by Ryan Reynolds, better known for his role in the sitcom 'Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place'. Deadpool is a sarcastic, scheming hero known for his wisecracks and black humor. Deadpool's abilities are man-made, derived from samples of Wolverine's mutation, but expanded to an almost limitless degree, allowing him to regenerate entire body parts, and even his entire body, making him effectively immortal.


The latest addition to the cast is Kevin Durand who will play The Blob (aka Fred Dukes). The most dominant physical trait of The Blob is obviously his size. The Blob possesses an extreme amount of pliable body mass, which grants him superhuman strength. He mostly uses his powers for petty crime.

***UPDATES***

Tim Pocock will play Scott Summers aka Cyclops.

Scott Adkins will play Weapon XI. Weapon XI will be featured in the end sequence fight scene against Wolverine. Scott Adkins is a British-born martial-arts actor who has appeared in movies like 'Unleashed' and 'The Medallion'.

Troye Sivan will play young Logan.

'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' is due for release on May 1, 2009.

And the winners are.....

Here are the winners of the 80th Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE
No Country for Old Men

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Juno

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

BEST FOREIGN MOVIE
Fälscher, Die (Austria)

BEST ANIMATED MOVIE
Ratatouille

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Atonement, Dario Marianelli

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Once ("Falling Slowly")

Where in the world is Osama bin Laden?

'Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?'

I wrote about this movie a while back in one of my post. Here's the trailer which has just been released. Very hilarious!

Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? : Trailer

The 'American Idol' controversy

As the 24 final contestants of American Idol Season 7 was announced last week, a new controversy has come to light.

Irish singer Carly Smithson (the one with the tattooed hand) is basically a professional singer. She recorded an album called Ultimate High with MCA Records in 2001 under her maiden name Carly Hennessy. Apparently MCA spent millions to promote the album, which turned out to be a complete flop. The record only sold 300 copies!

The latest news is that Carly was signed to MCA Records during the same time period that Randy Jackson was the senior VP. Carly was at MCA in 1999. Randy started at MCA in 1998 and was there for 4 years. The question on everybody's lips is whether she has been 'planted' by the producers.

(Closer to home, even our own Malaysian Idol, Jaclyn Victor, mentioned during a press interview that she was 'asked' by 8TV CEO Ahmad Izham Omar to enter the competition.)

The sad part is that Carly is not an exception this year. There are other contestants who are have failed careers.

Aussie Michael Johns (the one who brilliantly sang Bohemian Rhapsody during Hollywood Week) was formerly the lead singer of a band called The Rising and a band called Film. He also changed his name from Michael Lee. Michael was signed to Maverick Records with Film, and they were supposed to release a debut album in 2003. But according to reports, Michael allegedly screwed the band by stealing their songs and passing them off as his own.

Kristy Lee Cook (the kick-boxing gal) was previously "discovered" by Britney Spears. In 2005, Kristy Lee Cook released her debut CD “Devoted” under Ren-Hen Records. In 2007, Kristy got out of her contract with her manager Marty Rendleman (who formerly managed LeAnn Rimes) so she could be eligible to join American Idol.

Was anyone bothered that she sang 'Amazing Grace' during both the audition and the 2nd round of Hollywood week, and during the time when she sang some other song, the judges were not impressed. So basically she can only sing one song, and yet the judges put her through. Is she also one of the 'planted' contestants?

(Notice how the producers always portray the contestants as innocent, unprofessional singers living in a farm, working two jobs to support a family etc, but nobody thought to emphasize that they have already cut record deals before.)

Robbie Carrico (the blonde haired rocker with the beanie cap) is one of the four singers from the pop group Boyz N Girlz United. The band opened for Britney Spears and LFO before disbanding, and he was even one of Britney's first boyfriends. Robbie now fronts the band Missing Picket.

David Archuleta and Alexandrea Lushington were contestants in Star Search. David won the Junior Singer category of Star Search in 2003 when he was 12 years old. During Idol's first season, David met all of the finalists and even sang for Kelly Clarkson and the gang. A few days later, David met with a host of record labels and producers with connections to the show.

***UPDATES***
David Archuleta's dad, Jeff Archuleta runs a company call Arch Music Group which has "spent the last 5 years working with American Idol and Star Search performers as well as young up and coming singers and songwriters who want to compete in the top 40 arena." As if David didn't already have the previous connection where he met with Idol producers during season one, now his dad has been working with show contestants.

The latest news is that Syesha Mercado has appeared in a recent Ford Sync commercial. And of course Ford is one of the sponsors of American idol! Is there a connection there?

By the way, did anybody notice that a handful of the contestants have practically no exposure in the previous episodes. The producers managed to get through four long weeks of auditions and three whole hours of Hollywood Week without showing a single minute of Jason (Dreadlocks) Castro, Luke Menard, Garrett Haley, and Jason Yeager. Are they just selected as 'fillers' for the other contestants?

Of course there are contestants who have recorded albums and performed professionally before. But the question is whether these singers have been courted by the producers to participate in the show and probably got a free ticket into the final 24. Is it fair to the other contestants who had to go through the grueling 2-3 days audition process?

American Idol Season 7 Top 24 - Unmasked

Back Row L-R: Alexandrea Lushington, Robbie Carrico, Jason Castro, Danny Noriega (striped shirt), Brooke White, Amanda Overmyer, Michael Johns, David Cook (bandana), Luke Menard and Carly Smithson (standing far right).

Bottom Row L-R: Chikezie Eze, Colton Berry, Asia’H Epperson, Kady Malloy (seated, black dress), Joanne Borgella, Ramiele Malubay, David Hernandez (seated, front), Amy Davis, Alaina Whitaker, Syesha Mercado, Jason Yeager, David Archuleta (seated), Garrett Haley and Kristy Lee Cook.

Pictures and info courtesy of justjared.com.

American Idol Season 7 Top 24

Here's a teaser pic of the Top 24 contestants of American Idol Season 7. All of them are holding up Simon Cowell masks.


For those of you who can't wait for the results tomorrow, here's the list:

Top 12 Guys: Chikezie Eze, Colton Berry, Danny Noriega, David Archuleta, David Cook, David Hernandez, Garrett Haley, Jason Castro, Jason Yeager, Luke Menard, Michael Lee Johns and Robbie Carrico.

Top 12 Girls: Alaina Whitaker, Alex Lushington, Amanda Overmyer, Amy Davis, Asia'h Epperson, Brooke White, Carly Smithson, Joanne Borgella, Kady Malloy, Kristy Lee Cook, Ramiele Malubay and Syesha Mercado.

For more info on the contestants, you can visit the American Idol link here.

'Star Wars' is back!

Good news for all 'Star Wars' fans, 2008 will be seeing more of the series. This is the recent article from starwars.com:

A new era of Star Wars entertainment begins in 2008 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas, premieres as an all-new feature film in August, followed by the television series debut in the fall, in a partnership announced today between Lucasfilm Ltd., Warner Bros. Pictures and Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes audiences on incredible new Star Wars adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with an eye-popping, signature animation style. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will open in North American theaters Friday, August 15. International release dates will be announced soon.

The theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is only the beginning of all-new Star Wars adventures that continue in the fall when the long-awaited television series premieres on Cartoon Network, followed by airings on TNT. Details regarding international broadcasts will be announced shortly. Star Wars: The Clone Wars showcases an entirely new look and feel to the galaxy far, far away -- combining the expansive scope of the Star Wars Saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation. Each week, viewers will see a thrilling, 30-minute "mini-movie" created by the talented artists at Lucasfilm Animation.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is set during the 3-year time period in which the Clone Wars occur — between events of Episode II and Episode III. The 'Clone Wars' is the name given to the major galactic conflict fought between the Galactic Republic (the bad guys) and the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) (the good guys). The war was named after the clone troopers utilized by the Republic against the battle droid forces of the CIS.

Unbeknownst to most, the conflict was manipulated by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious (aka Senator Palpatine), whose ultimate goal was the transformation of the Republic into the Galactic Empire with him as Emperor as well as the eradication of the Jedi Order. The conflict would lead to the Sith Order becoming the dominant galactic government once again.

Happy Chinese New Year

Wishing all my readers a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year!!
May the new year bring lots of joy, peace and good fortune....
...and Happy movie-going :-)

Colin Farrell is a hitman

Colin Farrell stars as a hitman in the new comedy 'In Bruges'.

Bruges, the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travellers from all over the world. But for hitmen Ray and Ken (Farrell and Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination; they have been ordered to go Bruges to rest and lay low after a hit gone horribly wrong. Very much out of place amidst the gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, the two men fill their days living the lives of tourists. They find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloe, who may have some dark secrets of her own.


The movie comes out in April 4 2008.