L'shanah tovah!

May the new year bring you peace, health and happiness.

L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem

Debate back on

Sources close to the Kentucky Democrat are informing us that John McCain decided that he wanted to get out of bed this morning and attend the presidential debate on the condition that David Letterman moderates the debate.

Letterman, already unhappy with the events that went down this week, was quoted as saying "What is this, a joke? The dude already dissed me by not showing up this week. Do you know how hard it is to find a guest to fill in for him in New York City? It's next to impossible. I'm not going to show up to moderate a debate when I have my own show to host."

Upon finding out the new conditions set by McCain, Obama refused to comment saying, "I have no comment on the situation regarding John McCain."

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Have a great weekend!

Wow, Gentiles do have a lot to learn...

I just saw this on DHD and well, see for yourself:
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 5:09 PM
Subject: RE: SWP Mtg. Kristi w/ Kristin and Matthew

Hey Ryan-
I’m sorry, b/c I’m covering for Lindsey’s usual asst., could you tell me, who’s Rosh Hashanah and why would he/she affect Kristi’s meeting with K and M?
Thanks! I really appreciate it!
Michelle

McCain cancels on Dave Letterman

TV Guide:

During a commercial break between Olbermann's segments, the control room noticed video of McCain being miked up for an interview with Katie Couric for the CBS Evening News, and of course, Letterman ran with it. "He doesn't seem to be racing to the airport, does he?" Letterman asked as the live feed continued, later joking, "the road to the White House runs right through me."

Olbermann got in on the fun, too. "I think he dissed you," he said. "Or the other possibility is that [Couric] has all the money that's required to fix the economy. If that's the case, then I'm voting for him."

Earlier in the show, Letterman had praised McCain's heroism during the Vietnam War, saying "I have nothing but the highest regard for this man…we're in short supply of actual heroes like John McCain." We wonder how he feels about him how.

The reason McCain won't debate on Friday

The reason why John McCain will not debate Barack Obama on Friday is that he wants those of us who are Jewish to have the chance to watch the debate and not catch the highlights online.

I want to watch the debate live on television and not be forced against my wishes to catch it online or on demand!

Exclusive Interview with Nicholas Stoller

Danielle Solzman: Nick, thank you for taking some time off of writing to join the Kentucky Democrat for a blog interview. How are things going?

Nicholas Stoller: Things are going well. My daughter is turning one in a couple weeks. She's crazily cute.

DS: When did you decide to become a comedy writer and how did you come to that decision?

NS: I was obsessed with SNL, Mel Brooks and Zucker brother movies growing up. Then when I was twelve I read Dave Barry, at the time he was a local Miami writer. He made me realize you could write funny stuff. It was mindblowing. A Sort of History of the United States I must have read 800 times.

DS: What was your experience like when you were writing for the Harvard Lampoon? Aren’t Harvard grads supposed to be doctors, lawyers, or politicians? You don’t see too many Harvard grads pursuing comedy careers, do you?

NS: Among the consultants and ibankers, there's a fine tradition of Harvard grads doing to the Lampoon and going onto professional comedy writing. The Lampoon was a great experience. You meet a lot of likeminded nerds. I also did improv comedy which really helped me understand comedy from the performance angle. And the spazzy angle.

DS: When you wrote for Undeclared, did you ever think that Judd Apatow would become one of the biggest names in comedy? And how did you land that gig anyway?

NS: I had no idea. I knew he was incredibly talented and we all thought that what we were doing was really funny, but what's happened since is kind of a dream. Everyone in Hollywood talks about how stupid the movies are that are being made and how we could do a whole lot better. The fact that we've been briefly given the wheel is pretty awesome.

DS: I want to talk a bit about Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That comes out on DVD soon, right? When the release date was selected, did anyone consider looking at the calendar to see if it conflicted with a holiday? Next to Talladega Nights, it’s the first Apatow-produced movie that I did not see opening weekend because of Passover.

NS: It comes out Sept. 30th on DVD and blu-ray! There are many different things that come into play when selecting a date. We were originally going to open against Sex and the City. When the powers that be recognized that we'd be crushed under that thing, they moved us earlier.

DS: How are things shaping for the 2-disc collector’s set? Will there be anything exclusive to the Blu-Ray release that won’t be on the standard two-disc release?

NS: There are going to be karaoke scenes on the blu-ray and I think a third digital version on blu-ray. There's so much extra stuff it's hard to keep track of it all.

DS: Writing-wise, how far are you and Jason Segel on Five Year Engagement and the upcoming Muppets movie? Or is there some sort of confidentiality agreement that keeps you from talking about that?

NS: We're doing well. We've been focusing on the Muppets movie because I'm going to direct Get Him to the Greek first. The Muppets is going along well. I'm actually going to get into the draft after this interview. It's an old school Muppets movie which has been really fun to write. It has a lot of puns. Puns are harder than normal jokes because you have to think about them for a while.

DS: What about Get Him to the Greek? One rumor I read says that it’s a sequel to Sarah Marshall. Is there any truth to that?

NS: It is indeed a spinoff. I wanted to do a movie with Russell as a rock star who's fallen off the wagon and it seemed impossible to avoid his rock star character from Sarah Marshall. So we decided to own our laziness and make it a spin off.

DS: If Wikipedia is to be trusted, Five Year Engagement seems like a prequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Is that a fair assumption?

NS: It's not a prequel. It actually will have nothing to do with Sarah Marshall. Except for Jason and my obsession with pain and romance and comedy.

DS: Speaking of writing, I know Line-a-Rama is on many DVDs from the films produced by Judd Apatow. How much of the shooting script actually lands in the final cut that people see on the big screen?

NS: I would say about sixty to seventy percent of the shooting script lands on the big screen. We make sure the script is rock solid before we go into shooting. Then we discover stuff during rehearsals. And then, of course, on the day as well. But the script is already in tight shape once we start shooting. Also my self and my exec producer, this hilarious guy named Rodney Rothman, write down a ton of jokes/lines and throw them out at the actors while we're shooting.

DS: Yes Man marks the return of Jim Carrey to the big screen in a movie you wrote. How did that come about? Is there added pressure when you know that a movie you write will have a huge A-lister being the star? Or was he added to the cast after you wrote the movie?

NS: I was hired to adapt the Danny Wallace memoir before Jim Carrey was attached. Then my draft got him interested. Once he was attached, Sarah Marshall started heating up so I had to jump over to that. They hired a great writing team to take over. I saw an early cut of it. It's really, really funny. Petyon Reed directed and did an awesome job. There's also pressure to deliver, but to me it doesn't vacillate whether it's a big star or not. It needs to be top notch funny or as a writer you're not doing your job.

DS: Did the writer’s strike delay production on any of the films that you were hired to write or considered writing?

NS: Thankfully, no.

DS: And how are things developing with the talks between SAG and the AMPTP?

NS: I'm a bad guild member in that I don't really understand what's going on in any other union except the WGA.

DS: What’s your day like on a typical writing day?

NS: I wake up and depending on what I need to get done I sit down in front of my computer and start writing. If I'm writing a draft of a script, I try to write a set number of pages a day, no matter the quality. I call this the vomit draft. Then I go back in and start rewriting once that draft is done. Usually I write from 9 to 2, but it depends on what's going on.

DS: And a day when you are directing?

NS: It depends on the shoot day, but it's a lot more physically demanding then writing. You wake up at 6, get in the car at 7, get to the set at 7:30 or whatever and then start shooting by 8 or 8:30 usually ending by 7. Directing is all about making choices, which shot, which gun looks good, which sweater vest looks good, how many sizes of his penis should we shoot, etc. We also do a lot of extra lines so there's a lot of time spent thinking of new jokes.

DS: Jack Benny or Groucho Marx?

NS: Groucho Marx.

DS: Jon Stewart or Bill O’Reilly?

NS: Jon Stewart.

DS: Why do you think it is that so many Jewish people chose comedy or comedy writing for their profession?

NS: There's a wonderful strain of neurotic self-awareness that all Jews seem to have. Maybe it comes from having had to survive so many horrible events in our past and maintain our sanity. As far as I can tell all comedy writers/comedians are Jewish, Black, Catholic or from Wisconsin. I don't know why. Guilt, being subjugated, enjoying cheese. I'll just say it's difficult to find an Episcopalian or Baptist comedy writer.

All I know is that in my family laughter is inexorably tied to everything. It's the great catharsis. And it seems that way with most of my Jewish friends.

DS: Thanks again for joining the Kentucky Democrat. If there’s anything else you wish to plug (that I forgot), please do so now.

NS: Thanks so much for having me!

Much ado about...

Okay, let's just get on with the post because a headline is just what it is...a headline.

I have to agree with this article. Why isn't Bill Hader famous yet?

Who is the only actor to have appeared in ALL of the following hit comedies: Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad and Knocked Up?

Okay, since his name is in the title of this article, you've probably figured out by now that the answer is SNL funnyman Bill Hader. But here's the tough question: With all of those hits on his resume, (not even Seth Rogen can beat that track record), why isn't Bill Hader a household name yet?

The easy answer is that it's because Hader is a mere utility player. So far, he's been relegated to mostly sidekick roles. He played the stepbrother of Jason Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the butt-kissing assistant of Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder, and a co-worker of Katherine Heigl's in Knocked Up. He was perfectly funny in each of these films, but didn’t score enough screen time to really break out.

But over a year after its release, I'm still wondering why Superbad didn't propel him into stardom right alongside his young costars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. Hader and his on-screen partner Seth Rogen were given almost as much screen time as the kids, and were just as funny. In fact, the two divergent plots of Superbad could have easily been split into two movies -- one dealing with Seth and Evan's quest to hook up with their crushes at the big party, and another centered around McLovin's adventures with Officers Michaels and Slater. Although the friendship between the two fun-loving cops provided a nice mirror to what Seth and Evan would probably be like as adults, there was definitely enough humor and depth of character for each of these plots to stand alone. I doubt any Superbad fans would've objected to spending more time in the police cruiser, watching Hader and Rogen break the laws their characters were sworn to uphold.

Hader has the comedic talent. I know great comedians when I see one.

The early reviews are starting to come in for Role Models, the upcoming film with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott.

Two (unconfirmed) screening reports have surfaced online for Role Models over at the IMDB Boards. According to the viewers this film is hilarious or, in their words, Judd Apatow caliber.

November 14th cannot come sooner.

Ray Liotta is Seth Rogen's nemesis in Observe and Report.

Judd Apatow did stand-up comedy at UCB.

The Jerusalem Post talked with Paul McCartney ahead of his first concert in Medinat Israel. Listen, this concert is a huge deal to me. It's McCartney and it's in Israel. I'd do whatever I could to be there for this thing! Here are some excerpts from the interview.

You're the soundtrack to my children's lives as well. My daughter, who's 11, has just started learning bass and she's learning "Let It Be." That's the first thing they've got her working on.

Wow. It is fabulous, eh. We never, ever, thought that it would last this long. But, you know, it's a great tribute that it has lasted and that kids play it these days. I'm very proud of that fact.

It's third time lucky for Israel, right, after our brilliant government banned you and then the Wings dates fell through [in the 1970s]? Is this somewhere you've particularly wanted to play?

Yeah, you know, I'm always interested in visiting places I've never been to before, just as a tourist. It's always interesting to go to a new region. The offer of a gig came up. And it was somewhere that I'd been interested in. I'd like to go there and see what's what. I hear from a lot of people that Tel Aviv is a great place.

Israel is glorious and frenetic! Are you going to get to tour, get to Jerusalem…?

I'm not sure. Everyone says to me, "Oh you must go to Jerusalem, it's so beautiful. It's such ancient history." I don't think I'm going to have time, realistically… I have to be back in England for other things. But what happens is you go to these places and you think "I really must come back, I've got to explore more." So often these are good jumping off points.[...]

Apropos life in the goldfish bowl, on the bigger scale, how worried have you been about the Islamists' threats - saying you shouldn't come and play here?

You have to realize that any high profile event brings with it some worries. But I have a very good team of people. And I think that most people understand that I'm quite apolitical and that my message is a global one and that it is a peaceful one. So I just have faith in that aspect of what I do.

Obviously you have to consider these things but I don't worry. I mean when I went to Quebec there were certain comments from people who said they thought it was entirely inappropriate for an English guy to be playing in a French Canadian city. I tend to just ignore those things and think there's always a voice in a crowd that will say that.

When we first went to Japan there were people who were very upset that we were playing in the Budokan because it had sacred connotations for them. [The Beatles were the first rock band to play in the arena, in 1966.] But I think the vast majority of people don't think like that. My mission, if I have one, is humanitarian, and concerns all people, not just a few.

When you think back 40 years ago, and you were writing songs about love and giving peace a chance and exploring freedoms and pushing boundaries, is it a darker world today than it looked back then?

I think it is. There certainly are problems that didn't exist then. But at the same time you have to remember that we had grown up in the shadow of World War II, which was a pretty dark time. So everything's relative.

It's certainly not as carefree a time as the '60s was, but it's a better time in many ways than World War II was, particularly for someone where I lived, like Liverpool, which sustained a lot of bombing. And my parents grew up in that. I think it gives you a sense of perspective.

There are a lot of things that aren't great about modern life, but I still feel there's a lot of stuff that is. And I try to focus on that and try to encourage people to look for the good in each other and address the best.[...]

I have to ask you what "Let It Be" is about, if only because my daughter's teacher has asked them…

Well that's a very special song to me as well. The story behind that was again something to do with a dream. I was going through some difficult times as a young guy in the '60s. There was plenty of partying going on and I'm sure I was overdoing it. So it led to occasionally feeling a bit sort of fried or whatever. I felt like I'd sort of overdone it.

But in one of my dreams, this particular dream, my mother, who had been dead for the 10 years previously, came to me - it's always a great thing when you see somebody that you've lost in a dream. And because she could see I was feeling a bit down, she said to me, in the dream: "Let it be." So I took this as very inspirational and woke up and wrote the song "Let It Be."

It's a big favorite with gospel choirs. I mean it mentions "mother Mary," which obviously a lot of people take to mean the Virgin Mary. But my mom's name was Mary. When I say mother Mary, I mean my mum
I feel very blessed to have had those things happen and slightly puzzled as to how they did happen.

The 60th Annual Emmy Award Winners

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Jeremy Piven - Entourage
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Jean Smart - Samantha Who?
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Zeljko Ivanek - Damages
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Dianne Wiest - In Treatment
Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program: Louis J. Horvitz - 80th Annual Academy Awards
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program: The Colbert Report
Commemorative Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety: Tommy Smothers - The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Laura Linney - John Adams
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Tim Conway - 30 Rock
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Kathryn Joosten - Desperate Housewives
Outstanding Director in a Comedy Series: Barry Sonnenfeld - Pushing Daises - Pie-Lette
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Outstanding Made for Television Movie: Recount
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Tom Wilkinson - John Adams
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Series: Jay Roach - Recount
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special: Kirk Ellis - John Adams
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie: Eileen Atkins - Cranford (Masterpiece)
Outstanding Reality-tv Competition: The Amazing Race
Outstanding Miniseries: John Adams
Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program: Don Rickles - Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Glynn Turman - In Treatment
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Cynthia Nixon - Law + Order: Special Victims Unit
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Greg Yaitanes - House
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Matthew Weiner - Mad Men - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Pilot)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie: Paul Giamatti - John Adams
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Glenn Close - Damages
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Outstanding Host for a Reality Competition Show: Jeff Probst - Survivor
Outstanding Comedy Series: 30 Rock
Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men

And next year, let a comedian host. The opening skit, I say skit because it was no monologue, was a huge let down.

Will Ferrell killed the sports comedy

And he's finished with shooting comedies in the sports genre.

Will Ferrell is giving up athletics — at least in movies.
"I will no longer attempt to do any sports movie, anymore. Any sports," Ferrell said Friday before playing in a charity golf tournament hosted by one of his fraternity brothers from Southern California.

Ferrell was dressed almost as if he could step right into a golf movie.

"No, no golf movie. Yeah, I'm retired from sports-genre films. You know, I think I filled my quota," Ferrell said.

Maybe this isn't a bad thing. Anchorman was a great film. Step Brothers was way better than Semi-Pro.

This could be a good thing for Will Ferrell so he can focus on his work and Anchorman 2, which is in development.

Will Ferrell is on my to-watch list with regards to the late night shows...but lately, I've left the theater thinking: what was he thinking?!?

I hope WENN has it wrong...

If this is the case, then consider the upcoming James Bond film a failure! You don't take CLASSIC lines out of the Bond movies. Those lines help make a Bond movie exactly what it is: A FRICKIN' JAMES BOND MOVIE!

IMDB:

Producers of the new James Bond film Quantum Of Solace are set to anger die-hard 007 fans - they have dropped all of the superspy's catchphrases.

The legendary character has often thrilled cinema audiences with the immortal line, "The name is Bond, James Bond," and ordered his martinis "shaken, not stirred".

But movie bosses have cut the lines out of the new film, fearing they may be too old-fashioned for a modern Bond.

Director Marc Foster says, "There was a 'Bond, James Bond' in the script. There are several places where we shot it as well, but it never worked as we hoped. I just felt we should cut it out and Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson (the film's producers) agreed, too.

"It's nice to be open-minded about the Bond formula. You can always ago back to them later on."

Yea, that site is dead....

I'm issuing an ultimatum. Start blogging again or just simply kill the site. I'll delink in one month from today if I see nothing.

I get busy at times but I post at least once a week to say that I am alive...

You were brought on in July to replace Mark. Nothing since August 19, 2008!

Is T-Mobile acting up?

I'm able to make calls and then I'm getting the whole "not allowed" for a while...

To quit or not to quit?

It's the halfway point of September and usually, some campaigns will get going at purchase blog ads by now.

I don't want to point fingers at whoever but the facts are facts. If this blog can not get some serious blog ad revenue flowing by the middle of next week, I am considering doing what I don't want to do. This is not the first time I have had this internal debate.

The job market stinks right now and the country's economic collapse does not make it any better.

I didn't want to make this post. I had no choice.

I can blog as much as I want about Kentucky politics or movie sports news but the facts are facts. Revenue is revenue and that's not something this blog has really seen all year.

Hillary Clinton pulls out of protest, citing Palin

JTA:

Hillary Clinton pulled out of a Jewish-sponsored rally against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad upon learning that Sarah Palin would participate.

Organizers announced Tuesday that Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska governor, will speak at the Sept. 22 rally organized by several Jewish groups to protest the Iranian president at the United Nations.

When Clinton aides were informed by reporters that Palin also would be participating, they became angry and said the New York senator would not participate, The Associated Press reported.

Clinton accepted the invitation to speak several weeks ago, before the Democratic National Convention, according to Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a key group organizing the rally.

The fact that Clinton pulled out because of Sarah Palin being there is utter bullcrap. I really hope that the Senator reconsiders.

University of Maine speaks out...against new facebook

New Facebook...On Notice!

It's not Facebook, It's Failbook

Why am I the last person to consider making a video?

Tree Damage at My House

Photo 1:


Another angle:


Our Tree in the Back Yard: 1984-2008:

Why did I think of doing this?

McCartney and Rogen

This is bad news. Why are people so desperate for attention like that? McCartney has my support.

Ten Things You Never Knew About Seth Rogen...

Hurrican Ike and it's impact on Kentuckiana

Along with all if its victims along the gulf coast, my thoughts and prayers are with those victims of Hurricane Ike, including the Kentuckiana region.

Jim Ramsey gets the schmuck of the week comments. Seriously. Why keep the University of Louisville open tomorrow? 300,000 homes and businesses in the region don't have power. Trees and power lines are down. Bellarmine is closed. The school system is closed. JCTCS is closed. Yet, Louisville remains open? Bull-fricking-crap and you know it!

Close the university except for the essential personal. Commuter students, and they know who they are, will not make it to campus. If they don't have power, they won't know if their classes are cancelled.

Chicago, in the meantime, had it's worst record of rainfall yesterday...but not as a result of Ike. All that rain came today.

Meet the new boss, WORSE than the old boss

Mark Zuckerberg does not listen to his consumers.

NO ONE LIKES THE NEW FORMAT.

A Nation Remembers

A poem written by Jack Buck

Since this nation was founded under God
More than 200 years ago

We've been the bastion of freedom...

The light that keeps the free world aglow.
We do not covet the possessions of others,
We are blessed with the bounty we share.

We have rushed to help other nations...
Anything...anytime...anywhere

War is just not our nature...we won't start
But we will end the fight.
If we are involved we shall be resolved to
Protect what we know is right.

We have been challenged by a cowardly foe
Who strikes and then hides from our view.

With one voice we say, "There's no choice
Today, there is only one thing to do"

Everyone is saying the same thing
And praying that we end these senseless
Moments we are living.

As our fathers did before, we shall win
This unwanted war

And our children will enjoy the future,
We'll be giving.

Written by Jack Buck
September 14, 2001

Today in Cardinals History - 1998

Ten years ago today, Mark McGwire hit the 62nd home run of the season to break Roger Maris' single season home run record.

Harold Ramis confirms Ghostbusters 3

Harold Ramis sent an email to the Chicago Tribune:

yes, columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my year one writing partners, gene stupnitsky and lee eisenberg. judd apatow is co-producing year one and has made several other films for sony, so of course the studio is hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent. aykroyd, ivan reitman and i are consulting at this point, and according to dan, bill murray is willing to be involved on some level. he did record his dialogue for the new ghostbusters video game, as did danny and i, and ernie hudson. the concept is that the old ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity. not much else to say at this point. everyone is confident a decent script can be written and i guess we'll take it from there.
best,
harold

Columbia hires Office writers to pen Ghostbusters 3

Variety reported this yesterday.

Columbia calls up new 'Ghostbusters'

Eisenberg, Stupnitsky to write reunion film

By MICHAEL FLEMINGColumbia Pictures is getting serious about scaring up a new installment of its blockbuster "Ghostbusters" franchise.
The studio has set "The Office" co-exec producers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky to write a script for a film designed to bring back together the original cast of Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson.

Studio would not comment on the development and has been mum on recent rumors that there was interest in making another installment of the franchise.

The scribes just wrote "Year One," a comedy that was directed by Ramis. Ramis with Aykroyd wrote the first two installments of the films. Ivan Reitman directed both the 1984 original and the sequel that was released in 1989. The close proximity between the writers and original Ghostbuster Ramis is evidence that the ghost chasers have sparked to the idea of returning.

"Ghostbusters" was Columbia's highest grossing film ever, until it was beaten by "Men in Black" and then "Spider-Man." An attempt to make a third installment of the franchise was stymied in the dealmaking stage. Sources said so much gross was pledged to the participants that it was next to impossible for the studio to make any money on a third installment.

No deals will be made with the original cast until the script is ready, but the gross percentage will certainly be an issue. Sony has a standing policy not to allow more than 25% of first dollar gross out the door.

The scribes, who are Emmy- nominated for their work on "The Office," just set up another picture at Columbia, selling their spec script "Bad Teacher" to the studio for Jimmy Miller to produce.

Dang it...the CJ fired Tom Dorsey

WHY?!?

That's it. Now, I'm down to only reading the Buzz online and the occasional sports articles!

Gosh darn it, I enjoyed reading his column!

RIP: Don LaFontaine

We've lost the voiceover guy. May he rest in peace.

The Book of Lies

Watch Joss Whedon of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, Damon Lindelof of LOST, Christopher Hitchens, and A.J. Jacobs debate as to whether the BOOK OF LIES by Brad Meltzer is, in fact, real.



Author Gets Slammed by Grandmother, the Press, the World


Save the Superman House


When you go to Brad Meltzer's charitable website, you can:
- bid online for original Superman and comic book art and items by top writers and artists
- buy a Siegel & Shuster Society t-shirt (designed by the legendary graphic designer Chip Kidd)
- or just donate to the good cause

Here's more information, by way of Brad himself:
All proceeds of the auction go to the restoration of the Siegel house.

Who's involved in the auction?
This is a coming together of an entire community. The full list includes: Stephen Colbert, Jim Lee, Brian Michael Bendis, Brad Meltzer, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Joe Quesada, Neil Gaiman, Alex Ross, Dave Gibbons, Jeph Loeb, Murphy Anderson, Ed Brubaker, John Cassaday, Gene Ha, Greg Rucka, George Perez, Michael Turner, Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert, Judd Winick, Frank Cho, Eric Powell, Tim Sale, Walt Simonson, Joe Staton, Eric Wight, Dave Mandel, Mike Mignola, Rags Morales, Bill Morrison, Ivan Reis, John Romita Jr., Jason Palmer, Amanda Conner, Geoff Darrow, Ron Garney, Renato Guedes, Heroes, Dave Johnson, Chris Bachalo, Mike Bair, Allen Bellman, Dan Brereton, Ernie Chan, Travis Charest, and Ian Churchill, YOU, and even Jerry Siegel (see below).

How did this come about?
While researching his new novel, The Book of Lies, Brad Meltzer visited the boyhood home of Jerry Siegel in Cleveland, Ohio, where Superman was created. As Meltzer says, "The house where Google was founded is preserved. The garage where Hewlett Packard was founded is protected. But the house where Superman was born? I was in shock." After contacting dozens of comic book creators -- and thanks to the hard work of many in the city of Cleveland -- The Siegel & Shuster Society was created and is dedicated to commemorating and celebrating the creation of Superman in Cleveland by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. "I think sometimes people take things like this for granted because it started in cartoon form, but this is a house were modern mythology was created," Brain Michael Bendis adds. "Mythology that will never die away or disappear. There is no difference, to me, between this house and Mark Twain's house. We have to honor and exalt such creation."

What are the items in the auction?
You can win a walk-on part on Heroes, VIP seats to the Colbert Report, original Superman art (go see the art!), have your name in Bendis or Brubaker or Rucka's comic, or Meltzer's next novel. There's a rare original pre-Superman movie script from Geoff Johns, signed by Richard Donner. And Joanne Siegel told Meltzer that before Jerry Siegel died, he signed six Superman t-shirts that no one ever knew existed -- and then told her that if their family ever needed money, she should sell the shirts. Instead, she donated one of them to be auctioned off here. The signature is on a Superman: Quest For Peace(!) t-shirt. C'mon, baby, it's Jerry Siegel on a Quest for Peace shirt!

Recapping the past few weeks of Rogen and Apatow...

Seth Rogen has a twin. No, really, take a look at this.

In case you didn't know, there is a drought for the rest of the year: Judd Apatow will not have another movie released on the big screen in the year of 2008. The New York Magazine has some recommendations for movies to see: Role Models, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Sex Drive, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and W.

Could Anna Faris be the female answer to Seth Rogen?

Judd Apatow has predecessors.

Vote No on I-97!

If you live in Seattle or have friends that do, encourage them to vote No on I-97!