stars, sex and nudity buzz : 11/15/2012

Netflix Original Series ‘House of Cards’ Trailer

by Kevin Yeoman

Today, a Netflix membership certainly has its privileges. The rental house and streaming service has released to its members the first trailer for House of Cards, the highly-anticipated collaboration between David Fincher and Kevin Spacey, which will be premiering exclusively on Netflix early next year.
Adapted from the BBC TV political drama of the same name, Fincher’s House of Cards takes place in Washington, D.C. where Congressman Francis Underwood (Spacey) sets in motion his underhanded plan to wring every ounce of power out of his position that he possibly can. Scripted by Ides of March screenwriter Beau Willimon, the 13-episode series certainly packs quite a punch considering the talent involved, but it may need all of that and more to win over fans of the original 1990 series from writer Andrew Davies and starring Ian Richardson (Dark City, From Hell).

Aside from Spacey, Netflix’s House of Cards boasts an impressive cast, which includes Robin Wright, Mahershali Ali (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button), Kristen Connolly (Cabin In The Woods), Michael Kelly (Chronicle), Kate Mara (American Horror Story) and Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris).
In addition to serving as executive producer on the series, Fincher has stepped in to lend his directorial prowess to the first two episodes. Meanwhile, filmmakers James Foley (Glengarry Glen Ross) and Joel Schumacher (Falling Down, Batman and Robin) – a name that will certainly turn some heads – have been brought in to handle multiple episodes of the series. In addition, frequent television directors Carl Franklin (Magic City, Falling Skies) and Charles McDougall (The Office) will also be contributing behind the lens.
Read the official synopsis from Netflix below:

“A ruthless Congressman, Francis Underwood, and his ambitious wife Claire, will stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama slithers through the back halls of greed, sex, love and corruption in modern D.C.”

While there is undoubtedly some excitement related to the cast and creators of the series, the real buzz regarding House of Cards is the untraditional manner in which it will be presented to viewers. Not only will the series not air on any television network – cable or otherwise – but all 13 episodes will be made available to Netflix subscribers on February 1, 2013. Netflix has reportedly poured $100 million dollars into the project, in the hopes the series will generate more demand for the company’s original content, and to get viewers hooked on its “binge viewing” model.

According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings,  
“The Netflix brand for TV shows is really all about binge viewing, the ability to get hooked and watch episode after episode. Our release strategy … is to get [you] hooked rather than get strung out.” So, in other words, if House of Cards proves successful, it may herald a new model for the way we view our television series.


Netflix has been quite vocal in regards to becoming a legitimate outlet for original television programming that is intended to compete primarily with the kind of shows found on pay-cable services like HBO and Showtime. The service’s trump card, however, may be the way it steers clear of the standard “weekly installment” model currently used by all television networks. The service previously tried its hand with the original series Lilyhammer, starring Steve Van Zandt (The Sopranos), which appeared on the service earlier this year almost as a test to see how subscribers would respond to an entire season being made available for viewing at their leisure.

The model poses an interesting question: with every episode available at the same time, what will this do to the normal build-up and anticipation in regards to a series’ premiere and finale?

House of Cards will be available on Netflix starting February 1, 2013.

* There should be nudity but keeping fingers crossed it's the type we can write about the next day and not some party strippers kind. Again it depends on the final cut (editing). Don't want to sound like a broken record but both Kate Mara and Kristen Connolly have prominent roles with strong possibility of sex scenes. The red-band trailer will probably come out in December or January.


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Yvonne Strahovski: The "Hot Complex" Interview, Photo Gallery, And Video

By Frazier Tharpe

Yvonne Strahovski’s days of operating in the shadows are over. After kicking ass for five years as sexy spy Sarah Walker on the cult favorite action-comedy series Chuck, the 30-year-old Australian bombshell is currently expanding her audience playing Hannah McKay in the seventh season of Dexter. In December, she mines laughs with two of the biggest comedic actors alive, Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand, in The Guilt Trip. The truth is coming to light.

You wore a variety of crazy outfits while playing a spy on Chuck. Which was your favorite?It was always fun to try on costumes and partake in weird activities. I particularly liked the belly-dancing outfit. I’d never belly danced before, but I learned, and now that’s a skill I can add to my résumé. [Laughs.]

Chuck spent most of its years on the bubble, so every season finale acted as a series finale in case the show wasn’t renewed. Did you have one where you thought, if the show ends here I’m satisfied?
That’s hard to say. I don’t know that if I’ve ever thought about that. What I can say is I was always prepared for it to end. We were always on the bubble after every season, so we never knew what was going on. The writers had a very difficult task of writing kind of like Choose Your Own Adventure books. They had to write an ending that would be satisfactory as a real ending, but also be open to continuation if we got renewed. It was great to know that season five was the end, and they wrote with that in mind, knowing that that was it and they could write with a big finale in mind, and not have to play that game of “will we or won’t we?” anymore.

Over the seasons there were a number of Sarah-centric episodes. Which is your favorite?
Hands down, the Thailand episode [“Chuck Versus Phase Three”]. That has my favorite fight scene and it was a side of Sarah Walker that we hadn’t yet seen, a more evil side. She didn’t care about anything except finding Chuck and she stopped at nothing. I had fun playing that.

In The Guilt Trip, Seth Rogen plays an inventor and your love interest. What non-existent invention do you need in your life?A robot that makes decisions for me so I can have an extra set of hands accomplishing the things I have zero time for, in the way that I want them done! 

How would you describe your ideal guy?He has to be smart, honest, understanding with a good conscience, funny, and…athletic. [Laughs.]

Do you prefer Australian guys or American guys?There are good ones and bad ones in both countries. For now, I’ll be patriotic to the country I’m currently living in and say American.

How tough are your parents on guys you date?They’ve always been supportive. They are welcoming and tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. Then, later on, they give me their two cents!

How did marathon viewing Dexter to prepare for your role as Hannah McKay affect you?It gave me horrible nightmares! I watched the full six seasons in three weeks and had Dexter on the brain day and night.

How do you punish people who do you wrong?I drug them and take them out to a forest, where I wrap them in plastic and—oh, wait, that’s Dexter.

What’s the shadiest thing you’ve discovered about someone you’ve dated?On our first date, one guy farted loudly in front of me. I considered that shady for a split second, before I burst into laughter and thought, Wow, he’s a keeper. 

What do fans ask you to say most often in your Australian accent?Everyone loves to hear me say “no.” When an Aussie says “no,” you can hear all the vowel sounds in the alphabet.  I often get made fun of for it. 

Hearing you say “yes” must be even better. 

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Miss Earth Russia 2012 Natalia Pereverzeva Posed Topless For Playboy Magazine

MANILA, Philippines - The Miss Earth 2012 pageant is currently happening in the Philippines and several pre-pageant activities already took place and yet a photo scandal has been surfacing over the net since the start of the year.

Miss Earth Russia 2012 (at Krasa Rossii 2011 pageant) Natalia Pereverzeva posed for Playboy Magazine Russia last year May 2011, six months before she was crowned. 

The Miss Earth Russia organization may have the leniency in hailing their national delegate as Natalia already arrived in the Philippines to compete for the Miss Earth 2012 pageant.

On the Miss Earth's official website, there were no emphasis as to what ground a candidate should be disqualified from the international competition. On the other hand, in the official website of Miss Earth UK, there are certain "RULES" from those who want to register and join, here's a screencap:

If in UK, they are strict and the organization is under the roof of Miss Earth, should it be the same or should it be applicable to all national pageants?

Anyway, since Miss Earth Russia 2012 Natalia Pereverzeva is now competing and one of the best contenders in this year's pageant, I guess the "Playboy" scandal is no longer an issue or a ground for her disqualification.

Here are the photos of Miss Earth Russia 2012 winner in Playboy Magazine Russia:


A blondish Natalia when she was crowned Miss Earth Russia:

* The Russian hottie actually thought no one will recognize her at the Miss Earth pageant if she dyed her hair! You can't change your name my Russian delight! To be fair in Russia, it's norm for Miss Earth contestants to pose topless in name of fashion modeling or something to that effect.

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Cinemax Eyes New Incarnation Of ‘Hunted’ With Frank Spotnitz And Melissa George

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC-Cinemax series Hunted won’t go beyond its current freshman season after BBC One opted not to renew the espionage drama for a second season. But Cinemax is working with series creator Frank Spotnitz on a new incarnation of the show about spy Sam Hunter (Melissa George). “We are making plans with creator and executive producer Frank Spotnitz and star Melissa George to present a new chapter in the Sam Hunter mythology,” Kary Antholis, President, HBO Miniseries and Cinemax Programming, said in a statement to Deadline. “We are very pleased with what Hunted has done for Cinemax’s brand and are very excited about what lies ahead.”

Because of the project’s setup –  BBC originally commissioned eight episodes from Shine-owned British production company Kudos Film and Television before Cinemax came on board as producer/U.S. distributor — I hear continuing the series in its current form proved impossible without partner BBC. That has led to Cinemax brass looking for another way to keep the premise and the Sam Hunter character alive while also assuming greater creative control. In a complex co-production agreement like the one on Hunted, it is hard for each of the partners to realize their vision for the show as decisions are often made by compromise. Additionally, for a pay cable network, doing a series with a public broadcaster like the BBC imposes certain restrictions on the content that could be featured.

Hunted earned some of the best reviews for a Cinemax show. Ratings-wise it’s done OK, pulling in 250,000 viewers for its premiere last month. While that was below the Season 1 and Season 2 openers of Cinemax’s Strike Back (567,000 and 390,000, respectively), I hear Hunted is a major on-demand draw for the network. So far, the first two episodes have averaged a total of 1.7 million viewers each. Last Friday’s Episode 4 was up 6% from the previous week.

As for BBC’s decision to drop Hunted after Season 1, network sources point to the series’ ratings declines from 4.5 million viewers for the series premiere to 2.6 million for the most recent sixth episode, noting that the series hasn’t been able to find “mainstream audience.” But, like in the U.S., Hunted is doing well in time-shifted viewing, adding some 40% to its Live+ ratings via DVR and on-demand. I also hear the decision may be part of a larger shift in the types of shows the public broadcaster plans to focus on. It comes at a time of turmoil at the BBC, which has been at the center of several scandals that led to the resignation of the new director general, George Entwistle, after 54 days on the job.

At TCA this summer, X Files alum Spotnitz noted that that he was already working on scripts for a second season and fully expected the show to be renewed. George stars in the series as an operative for an elite private intelligence firm who survives an attempt on her life that may have been orchestrated by members of her own team.

Cinemax moves forward on 'Hunted' without the BBC

Spy thriller will be rebooted to continue Melissa George's story without some others

By Alan Sepinwall

Both HBO and Cinemax have benefited from trans-Atlantic partnerships the last few years, resulting in shows like "Extras," "Strike Back" and most recently "Hunted," the Cinemax thriller starring Melissa George as Sam Hunter, a British private spy looking for revenge on the people who tried to kill her. These partnerships have given the larger HBO family access to series and talent who might not have been available without taking on a partner in the U.K., and at a cheaper price than if they were producing it on their own.

But some partnerships don't always go smoothly, as Cinemax has found out with "Hunted." The series still has a few weeks to go in its U.S. run (original episodes air Fridays at 10), but BBC One has already announced that they won't renew the show for a second season, despite Cinemax's interest in continuing the show.

As first reported by Deadline, Cinemax will try to continue the story of Sam Hunter, if not the some of the larger stories of "Hunted," without the BBC's involvement. Because of the multiple righstholders involved, Cinemax can't simply continue "Hunted" as a series, but they and creator Frank Spotnitz do have the ability to build a new show around Sam herself.

We are making plans with creator and executive producer Frank Spotnitz and star Melissa George to present a new chapter in the Sam Hunter mythology," Cinemax president Kary Antholis said in a statement. "We are very pleased with what 'Hunted' has done for Cinemax's brand and are very excited about what lies ahead."

From what I'm hearing, Cinemax executives are frustrated with the BBC for announcing this decision before the American run is over, but also relieved to be finished with a collaboration that they found creatively stifling much of the time.

I've seen the full season of "Hunted," and without going into too much detail, some of the stories get complete closure, while others were left as danglers to be continued in additional seasons. It's unclear which of those might be allowed to continue in this new Cinemax-only version, which may be frustrating to people who watched this season. On the other hand, the strongest part of the show is Melissa George herself and the character Spotnitz created for her, and a clean break from a fairly complicated storyline in favor of something focused even more heavily on that character — particularly if the people at Cinemax are right that their partners across the pond were holding them back — might not be such a bad thing.

* HBO/Cinemax at the moment believe the series has potential to be a cult hit. Now free of any stupid constraints, the second season will feature Melissa naked much more often alongside new female cast-members. The location could either shift to South Africa, Wales or Canada.
Though Starz could run into same trouble in their collaboration with British broadcasters who are super-timid when it comes to sexual content. Instead of offering two different versions, BBC should adapt quickly to be more accommodating or risk losing viewers to online options. Other British subscription channels should be super flexible on racier content. At the end they're going to end up as losers and putting their American counterparts on the spot. This also doesn't bode well if instead Starz choose to capitulate to guys in charge across the pond demanding sole version particularly when I'm all excited to see Laura Haddock extensive T-and-A display on Da Vinci's Demons.

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Marion Cotillard ~ Harper's Bazaar UK December 2012


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Rome Review: Peter Greenaway's 'Goltzius And The Pelican Company' Dazzles and Numbs The Mind In Almost Equal Measure

by Jessica Kiang [November 14, 2012]

Visually extraordinary, but narratively frustrating, "Goltzius and the Pelican Company," which showed here at the Rome Film Festival after premiering in The Netherlands, is every sumptuous inch a Peter Greenaway film. So those who are beguiled by the peculiar rhythms of his filmmaking -- which often give rise to a kind of tidal waxing and waning of the viewers' attention -- will be delighted by its richness, its erudition and its mischievousness. Detractors, however, may well be able to hold up this film as Exhibit A in the "too-clever-by-half" case against. For our part, 'Goltzius' pulled us in and pushed us out repeatedly, and often exactly when we were in danger of being lulled into total insensibility, an indelibly beautiful or grotesque image would emblazon itself across the screen, and our yawns would be stopped in our throats. It's a trick you can get away with a few times over, but Greenaway does stretch his luck too far here, so that by the end it we were no longer responding to the tweaks of his fishing rod, and had simply drifted away.

The story is inspired by a real man, 16th century Dutch engraver Hendrick Goltzius, whose legacy includes several erotic prints based on stories from the Bible. Here, Greenaway reinvents Goltzius (Ramsey Nasr, the Dutch Poet Laureate, no less)  as not just a painter and wannabe publisher, but the leader of a troupe of actors and artists -- The Pelican Company. Together they try to convince the local bigwig, the Margrave of Alsace (F Murray Abraham, in a masterful turn), to finance the purchase of a state-of-the-art printing press, the better for Goltzius to disseminate his biblical erotica. They do this by staging elaborate tableaux, usually featuring nudity and often full-on sex, for the lustful Margrave's entertainment -- mini-plays using Bible fables to explore six sexual taboos: fornication, incest, adultery, prostitution, 'seduction of the young' and necrophilia. Even within Margrave's famously liberal court, the plays cause religious and moral outrage, and as free speech and tolerance begin to crumble, some members of the troupe are condemned, some even killed. 

But none of that is really the point. Presented in self-consciously stagy format, the six sections separated by long discursive wordplay-heavy monologues from Goltzius, richly attired and often accompanied by Greenaway's now-trademark text on screen, the majority of the film unfolds in an obviously dressed set -- a huge, modern warehouse space which does not draw attention to itself, but is not hidden either. Couple this anachronism with the inclusion of seemingly 'drawn' elements, like columns and pillars, and even those parts that happen between the presentational interludes seem designed to communicate their artifice.  But what this approach sacrifices in terms of viewer engagement, Greenaway at least partially compensates for with visual exuberance. The painterly composition of the scenes, their rich colors and textures, the shafts of light, the alabaster flesh tones, the judicious use of subtle video effects, all come together on occasion to create images of such depth and detail that, as slow as the film is, you actually wouldn't mind spending even longer unpacking them. 

The intended audience of Greenaway devotees (because we don't think Greenaway's overly concerned here with recruiting new fans) is a small enough one, but the copious full-frontal nudity, the erections, the torture and the frequent sex mean this is highly unlikely to get much of a Stateside release at all, save on the safety of DVD. 

Which is a shame for those few people, because some of those intricate tableaux really do warrant watching on the big screen. However, a handful of startling images, no matter how original, do not a great movie make, and, while there are other positives (we really enjoyed the whistle-stop art history lectures that pepper the narrative), ultimately the film is just too damn long to be so ponderous. And we spend far too much of it in the company of Goltzius, he of the ludicrously over-egged Dutch accent; what is quirky, arch and knowing in the first hour, becomes grating, cartoonish and tiresome by the end of the second. 

A graph of our engagement with 'Goltzius' would probably show something of a seismic scribble of peaks and troughs that trail off to barely a heartbeat blip every few minutes, which is a shame, because with a little more judicious editing, the positives could easily have outweighed the negatives. As it is, the longer it goes on, the more unshakable the feeling that the film, though undoubtedly smarter than we are, thinks we're so dumb we need the lesson to be repeated and repeated and repeated. [C+]

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Kandyse McClure, 'BSG' Star, On Upcoming 'Hemlock Grove' And The Next Robert Pattinson

"Battlestar Galactica" fans rejoice: Dualla and Chief will soon reunite on the small screen. Kandyse McClure and Aaron Douglas have both been tapped to star in Eli Roth's spooky new TV series "Hemlock Grove," set to premiere in 2013 on Netflix. 

The show revolves around the brutal murder of a 17-year-old girl in a creepy small town. The murder's two prime suspects, played by young up-and-comers Bill Skarsgard (yes, Alexander's little bro) and Landon Liboiron, decide to team up to find the real killer. Famke Janssen plays Skarsgard's mom, Douglas is the Sheriff and McClure is Dr. Clementine Chausser, an animal expert brought in to help with the case. (In case the murderer was actually an animal ... or a werewolf!)

McClure called us from her Jamaican vacation to give us the lowdown on the hot young hunks of "Hemlock," being star-struck by Janssen and what it's like working with Douglas again. 

What can you tell us about Dr. Chausser?
Clementine has trouble in her life, and a chaotic past. She struggles with that. The way that she manages her inner demons is by throwing herself into her work. She's very flawed and imperfect, but that's what we love about her. 

How does she fit into the broader storyline revolving around the murder mystery?
She's brought in as the resident animal expert to aid law enforcement in finding what kind of animal did this. The path that she follows unravels secrets of the town, and who's really in control. She goes there to hunt an animal but finds a town of monsters.

So is it safe to say there are some supernatural elements?
Absolutely. Think of "True Blood" with "Twin Peaks," with a lot of gore. That would be Eli Roth's contribution. A little "Hostel" thrown in there! [Laughs]

I read that Eli Roth directed a couple of the episodes...
He did! He directed the first two, I believe. I unfortunately did not get to work with him on set. My character doesn't appear until a little later. I got to hang out with him, though! It was a surreal experience sitting at lunch eating barbeque ribs chatting with Eli Roth! [Laughs]

What's it like hanging out with him? Is he intense?
He is intense! The references and the people he knows and the situations he's been in -- it's a bit of a whirlwind. He's intense, but he's also approachable and hilarious as well. 

What's the dynamic like on set?
On the one hand, we've got these young, talented kids. They're in their early 20s. And then on the other side we have these icons who I've watched from my own screen -- Famke Janssesn, Dougray Scott. Sometimes I'm in a scene with Famke and I forget that it's my turn to speak because I'm just watching her! [Laughs] 

What's it like working with Aaron Douglas again?
It's awesome. It was kind of weird for the first couple of days, because we don't talk to each other except when we're out eating dinner, socializing! He'll throw different things at me each take. He teases me, and we make "that's what she said" jokes.

Have you two been spotted by any "Battlestar Galactica" fans who wonder what you're doing together?
Yes. We can get away with [not being recognized] when we're on our own, but when we're together we might as well have a neon sign! [Laughs] Sometimes it blows people's minds, I guess, because it's so random. 

What types of things do people say to you?
"Omigod, Chief!" People are flabbergasted or taken aback. We love going to conventions, and Aaron especially enjoys talking to fans. He spends a lot more time with fans drinking in the bar with fans after the panels are done than I do. People are generally complimentary or share an experience that "Battlestar" helped them through or gave them perspective about. 

What's the strangest thing a fan has ever said to you?
They gave me a scientific breakdown of what dark matter is, and then asked me if I knew where it was. [Laughs] Sometimes people say, "If you become an officiant, you could marry us!" Or "We have a uniform, would you just try it on?" It's all generally harmless and fun. 

Going back to "Hemlock," who do you think the show will appeal to?
Let's see ... sexy, smokin' young men: check. So there's the 18-35, me demographic. Anyone who's a fan of thriller, horror, sci-fi, fantasy. It's a little "True Blood." 

Speaking of "True Blood," I know that ["True Blood" star] Alexander Skarsgard's younger brother Bill is on the show. How does he compare? Do you think he'll have ladies swooning, too?
When I first met Bill Skarsgard and Landon Liboiron, I thought, "I'm sorry, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, your time is done!" [Laughs] There are new werewolves and vampires in town. There's definitely something about those Skarsgards.

So he has the family's intangible quality?
Intangible quality is a great way to put it. Yeah. Definitely. 

"Hemlock Grove" is set to premiere in 2013 on Netflix.

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Shocking: Michael Bay Testing Young Hotties For 'Transformers 4' Including Abbie Cornish's Sister; No Word On Supermodels Yet

"Michael Bay Testing Hot Young Actors for 'Transformers 4' Leads" reads the THR headline that spells things out: director Michael Bay is looking at attractive, fresh-faced actors to help star in his 'Transformers' quadrilogy. Uhh, duh? What else would he be looking at? But we're actually shocked to hear that none of them are Sports Illustrated swimsuit models, supermodels or Victoria Secret's models, but hey, the day is young and there's lot of casting still to come, right?

According to the trade, Bay will be looking at the following two actresses: Isabelle Cornish, the younger sister of accomplished Aussie actress Abbie Cornish and Nicola Peltz, the young female lead of M. Night Shyamalan’s "The Last Airbender." She would play some sort of helpless daughter to the film's Mark Wahlberg, which makes sense given that both females seem to have strangely wholesome beauty qualities instead of the sexed-up type Bay usually casts in his pictures (those will surely come later).

For the boys, playing the part of the daughter’s boyfriend, a racecar driver (of course), Bay will evidently be testing Luke Grimes who had a role in "Taken 2" plus appeared on the ABC drama series "Brothers and Sisters" among other roles, "Weeds" actor Hunter Parrish, Jack Reynor (“What Richard Did”) and Aussie actor Brenton Thwaites (who starred in the 2012 TV remake of the “Blue Lagoon” titled, “Blue Lagoon: The Awakening” -- lol). What's clear is that Bay is largely looking at relative unknowns for these two parts instead of the the usual hot, up-and-coming crew; stars in the making they call 'em. Predictably, all the potential actors would have to sign three picture deals as a new franchise is in the works and the film will likely begin shooting next April if all goes according to plan.

* Bay may be many things, but stupid is not one of them. He makes his move during the shooting of the movie. He stakes out the vulnerable one at audition, becomes her on-set mentor once selected for the 'coveted' role. Gets close in pretext of coaching her so she can evolve into a better actress. She is so grateful she wants to repay any way possible. Mind you...this is all gossipy on my part.

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Agnes Bruckner Almost Tricks Us Into Thinking Anna Nicole Smith Led A Good Life

by Natalie Zutter

Lest you thought that Lifetime dealt with only one iconic female biopic at a time, in addition to the upcoming Liz and Dick movie, we also have The Anna Nicole Story to look forward to. Embodying the Playboy-centerfold-turned-exotic-dancer-turned-trophy-wife-turned-cautionary-tale is Agnes Bruckner, who you might recognize as the poor girl lured in by a murderous boyfriend in last year’s The Craigslist Killer.

Entertainment Tonight visited the set, where Agnes was just gushing about her character. The thing is, she sounded so hard like she was trying to be positive that I just couldn’t take her seriously. When asked what Smith’s most outrageous moments were, she demurred, “It’s just such a fascinating story to me. There were so many different layers to her, and she was so iconic and so larger-than-life. It was just something that I was like, ‘This is gonna be really scary but it’s gonna be really awesome at the same time.’”

Wow, she sounds way more enthusiastic about the role than I would’ve expected any actress to be. She continues to remember Anna Nicole Smith’s life through rose-colored glasses with this quote: “She had so many ups and downs—weight gain and then lost it, she was messy and crazy and then she was really put-together at times… She had so many amazing moments.”

I had to laugh that she amended her statement with “at times” because I can’t actually think of a single media appearance that Smith made where she wasn’t slurring or falling all over herself. And of course all that mess carried on after her death, when her lawyer Howard K. Stern was locked in a custody battle over their alleged daughter. You don’t even hear Lindsay Lohan trying to sell herself playing Elizabeth Taylor; she openly admits that the diva’s life was filled with drama that she’s trying to recreate.

In fact, the juiciest detail I wanted to hear from Agnes was her explaining her transformation from “a brunette tomboy” into the blonde model. She says something about “prosthetics” around 1:30, but what prosthetics? Fake boobs? The masses need to know!

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The General Petraeus scandal explodes the myth of a socially liberal America

Cristina Odone 

Cristina Odone is a journalist, novelist and broadcaster specialising in the relationship between society, families and faith. She is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies and is a former editor of the Catholic Herald and deputy editor of the New Statesman. She is married and lives in west London with her husband, two stepsons and a daughter. She has recently launched the website freefaith.com.

Jill Kelley

David Frum, the former Bush speech writer and conservative commentator, is so influential in America that during the election, people on the Mitt Romney campaign were made to follow his tweets, read his every post and article, and generally try to get inside the mind of the man. So when Frum analysed the Republicans' defeat  everyone sat up and paid attention. Here is what he said (in an e-book he rushed out last week): the Republicans lost because they were socially conservative, economically exclusive, and environmentally irresponsible. His message to future candidates was, don't stick to this anti-gay-marriage, anti-abortion agenda, because that puts you out of touch with grassroots America.

The Frum message was so powerful and convincing that, George Osborne picked it up and replayed it in an article yesterday. Back gay marriage or lose, he told the Tories.

All of which might sound convincing – were it not for the almighty scandal rocking America. Frum's e-book had just appeared on the internet when the American public was hit with a bombshell: CIA chief General David Petraeus had been having an adulterous affair with his comely biographer. This explosion was quickly followed by a second: General John Allen, Afganistan commander, was embroiled in a scandalous email exchange with Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite – who also happened to be a close friend of Petraeus, and was warned to keep her paws off him by the CIA chief's mistress.

The ensuing furore has a little to do with the special place the CIA holds in American mythology (the best of the good guys for some; the worst of the bad for others). But it has a great deal to do with American's puritanical world view. Adultery is still seen as a wrong by God-fearing Americans – and they are the overall majority. David Frum can posture all he wants; but the hardcore citizens of his country are still deeply conservative when it comes to social and sexual mores. When North Carolina passed Amendment One last May, defining marriage as a union only between a man and a woman, it was the THIRTIETH state in the union to do so – only six states allow for same sex marriage. As for abortion, as the BBC noted with distaste, laws are getting tighter, not more relaxed in a number of states, including Ohio, Texas and Virginia.
David Frum (and George Osborne) have got it wrong: being socially liberal does not play well among the grassroots. Just ask the Generals.

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Six things you didn't know about Miss Nude World

by: Tory Shepherd  (news.com.au)

Melbourne Mum Cassandra Jane has been crowned Miss Nude World 2012. Source: Supplied

• Aussie takes out top gong for strippers
• US law meant Miss Nude World had to cover up
• Hopes for more glamourous life for her daughter, 5

AN Aussie stripper has taken out the Miss Nude World 2013 title and tells how she didn't even have to get naked to do it. 

Melbourne Mum Cassandra Jane has been crowned Miss Nude World 2013, and we thought you might want to take a peek at what's beneath the surface.

1. Wait, there's a Miss Nude World Competition?
There is - it was the 49th Miss Nude World extravaganza this year and it's a highlight of the adult industry's calendar. Last year's winner was the extravagantly named US pornstar Aspen Reign – it was her fifth win.

2. The judges didn't see Ms Ryan naked
Despite the strong emphasis on nudity involved in rising through the ranks of the top nude women in the world to become Miss Nude World, at the championships in Ohio earlier this year Ms Jane had to wear a g-string and "pasties" over her nipples to comply with strict regulations. “You have to wear pasties in case you lactate on a customer," she said. (Yes, we thought that was pretty weird too).

3. Even Miss Nude World isn't completely happy with her body
Ms Jane says she doesn't really have “body issues" but she hates her nose “so badly" and bemoans her lack of hips. “I'm ripped, I've got a six pack but no hips," she told news.com.au. “I kind of look like a trunk." (We politely disagree).

Miss Nude World 2012 and single mum Cassandra Jane with her daughter Montana Jane, 5.

4. She has no “use-by date"

At 36, Ms Jane sometimes feels like she's at the wrong end of the age spectrum, but she's focussing more on burlesque than stripping. “I'm trying to put the class back in it, the entertainment rather than the smut," she says, and says unlike stripping, there's no use-by-date for burlesque.

5. Men quite like seeing her with her clothes on
Ms Jane said she was nervous about doing a burlesque routine, clad in a costume, in a strip club. “But afterwards I had a massive big fat dude come up and say it was amazing, mesmerising," she said. “It's not about being nude. There's all this other stuff."

6. She's OK with it if her five-year-old daughter Montana wants to follow in her footsteps
But she'd rather see her dance at the “more glamourous" Moulin Rouge in Paris than the “not-so-glamourous" stripping industry here.

On November 29 Ms Jane will perform at the EROS Shine Awards at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Check out the gorgeous Aussie babe here and here.

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You Can Talk About Piracy and Manwin Takeovers But Porn Won’t Address Racism.
Women and Women of Color In Particular Are Marginalized in Porn

by Gene Ross

According to the LA Times, last week’s Los  Angeles County porn condom law won big in  nonwhite, working-class areas.

The ballot initiative which would dictate condoms  in porn racked up huge margins in lower-income neighborhoods that are either heavily Latino, black or both, like East Los Angeles (67%); Inglewood (75%); Compton (76%); Los Angeles' 8th City Council District in South L.A (76%); and Willowbrook, south of Watts (77%).

To me, this sounds a little like porn karma at work where racial discrimination after all these years has bit the porn industry square in the ass.

Years ago I was flabbergasted to learn that movies featuring black performers or IR scenes featuring mixed couples were simply passed over when it came to making cable deals.

And I remember then a number of black performers telling me they were being paid much less than their white counterparts. Truthfully, I didn’t know that was going on. Then again, I was representing AVN, the bastion of white bread porn supremacy.

[In all my years at AVN there was one black employee who worked in the warehouse and I doubt if there was ever one on the editorial staff after I left.]

To add fuel to the fire, this week Dr. Mireille Miller-Young, an associate professor of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, wrote an article for the NY Times about racial inequality in porn.

As a researcher of the porn industry for the past decade, Dr. Young claims to have interviewed dozens of performers.

For some performers she seems to think that porn is a path to college and out of poverty, and for others it’s a chance to make a statement about female pleasure.

“I have found that women enter the pornography industry because they are enthusiastic about its potential for lucrative, flexible and independent work,” she says.

Women who previously worked in the retail sector or in nursing [hey, Nina Hartley used to be a nurse!] found that pornography offered them greater control of their labor, and surprisingly, it treated them with more humanity.

“Some women found that it enabled them to rise out of poverty, take care of their families or go to college. Others emphasize the creative aspects of pornography, and say it allows them to increase their economic mobility while also making a bold statement about female pleasure.”

But the biggest challenge Dr. Miller-Young discovered to women working in porn is gender and racial inequality.

“Overwhelmingly, women do not control the production and distribution apparatus of the business,” she reports.

“The men who run both the large companies and the smaller, amateur businesses tend to marginalize women’s perspectives and priorities and to foster a competitive environment that pits female workers against one another.”

According to Dr. Miller-Young, African-American women and men of color in general – are paid half to three-quarters of what white actresses are paid.

“Like in other kinds of industries, they face prejudice and inequality in structural and interpersonal forms. But they also challenge them. Porn’s workers are fighting to achieve greater control over their labor and the products they produce,” she states, noting that with the Internet fast democratizing porn, women should have a larger voice in its betterment.

In an interview she did five years ago with www.npr.org, Dr. Miller-Young was a lot more forceful. She stated then: “I think that - my work specifically looks at pornography, for example - you can see that in the production of the types of films that black women appear in: lower production value, less of the kind of market, lower kind of values in how they treat the workers.

“Women are paid half to three quarters of what white actresses tend to make. And this, you know, reflects the ways in which black bodies have historically been devalued in our labor market since, you know, slavery to the present.

"I think that, you know, it speaks to the ways in which there's this simultaneous problem that was like a deep desire to have those bodies present and to consume those bodies as commodities, but a deep disgust for black people, our humanity and our bodies, at the same time that allows that devaluing to function.”

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stars, sex and nudity buzz : 05/17/2012

'Girls' HBO Series: 5 Things To Know About Actress Allison Williams

Allison Williams is one of HBO's newly infamous "Girls": The new comedy series follows four twenty-something women as the struggle to adjust to the demands of post-collegiate years in New York City.

The show was created by "Tiny Furniture" writer, director and actress Lena Dunham; "Girls", like her debut feature, is semi-autobiographical. Some have complained the series is driven by privilege and nepotism, as all four lead actresses hail from well-connected backgrounds. An altered series promotional poster -- highlight each actress' famous connection -- made the viral rounds shortly after the show premiered to mostly positive reviews.

Until the joke poster serviced, many viewers may not have known that Allison Williams is the daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. But skeptics can hold their horses: Nepotism exists in just about every industry, for one thing; and it certainly looks like Williams did not just wake up one day and decide to be an actress (well at least not any day recently).

Here are five facts about the "Girls" star.
She's an improvisation veteran.
Williams joined the Yale University improvisation group Just Add Water while a student. She credits her improv experiences with helping her land the role of Marnie Michaels in "Girls." "Part of my audition for 'Girls' was doing an improvised scene with Lena that lasted maybe ten minutes," she told the Yale Daily News in 2011. "If I hadn't been doing improv for the four years that I was at Yale, I would have been completely unequipped to handle the scene."
She's spoofed Kate Middleton, in a truly funny and not cringe-worthy way
Williams took a funny stab at the royal couple by writing and performing in Funny or Die episodes titled "Will and Kate: Before Happily Ever After." She played the future Duchess of Cambridge. One episode features the couple getting ready for an on-camera interview. Her Kate is concerned about the lighting on William's head.
"You look like a globe," she tells him.
His diminishing hairline doesn't help matters, either.
"I had no idea he was this f**cking bald," she vents.
She's made waves on YouTube.
Williams starred in a professionally-made YouTube video titled "Mad Men Theme Song With a Twist." She sang "Nature Boy" to the tune of the hit show's theme song. Don't worry, it's not another "Black Friday." Williams looks a wee bit uncomfortable in front of the camera, but her melodic voice is worth listening to.

That video caught a certain directorial eye.
Williams told the Huffington Post that Judd Apatow, an executive producer for "Girls" whose film resume includes "Superbad" and "Knocked Up," called a few days after the video aired and asked her to audition for the show. She said she then became acquainted with Dunham's "Tiny Furniture" film and loved it. "Obviously I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself," Williams told HuffPo of her audition.
Her parents were cool with acting, on one condition.
Williams was barely out of diapers when she realized she wanted to be an actress, but her folks wouldn't let her do it full-time until she got a degree. She told the New York Post in a 2011 interview that her parents would be "morally and emotionally supportive of my career as an actress if I promised I wouldn't start professionally until I graduated from college."

Girls’ Allison Williams on Boring Relationships, Not Getting Naked, and Her Masturbation Scene 

By Jada Yuan

We're imagining last night was an "unmitigated joy" kind of night for Brian Williams, whose daughter, Allison Williams, stole Episode 3 of Girls with a masturbation scene unlike any other we've seen on TV. (It involved a gallery bathroom and Jorma Taccone talking dirty.) It was her character Marnie's hottest sex to date — she otherwise barely gets off (if she gets off at all) with her boyfriend, Charlie. Vulture spoke with Williams about the long shelf life of a boring relationship, what she knows about gallery girls, and getting it on with herself onscreen.

I feel so bad for Charlie.
He’s such a good person. I think [their relationship] is a very relatable scenario. And I think it’s one that isn’t depicted very frequently. It’s that very familiar dynamic where you’re over someone in a relationship and no matter how nice they are to you, and especially when they are nice you to, it just feels grating, and it just feels like you’re being suffocated, and she just doesn’t have the guts to end it.

Why do people stay in boring relationships?
Safety. It’s honestly as simple as having someone to have dinner with every night. Like, someone who is your default meal partner. And it’s also just that fear of change, and when you’re in such a precarious phase in life anyway, the idea of adding one other variable into the mix is really terrifying. And, so, if you have one constant, which is a boyfriend, then it might kind of feel like you kind of have it together.

Marnie is also just completely abusive to him.
Yeah, but I think it’s in that way where, again, as you’re nearing the end of a relationship that you’re no longer in emotionally, and you just want to push them away, which requires some abuse, because if you lack the maturity to figure out that you need to end it, I guess the instinct is just to push them away and offend them and piss them off to the point where they will break up with you, because you just don’t have the guts to do it yourself. 

Were you drawing off of any boring relationships?
Oh, I’ve never had a boring relationship. I’ve had — I’ve had relationships, and there have been shades of this in them, but, you know, like anything with acting, you just sort of pull experiences from every corner of your life and create an amalgam of them to portray. And I think that was definitely the case with this. It’s no one boyfriend that he corresponds to.

Are you someone who ends things, or are you someone who lets them go on?
Oh, I’ve been on both sides of that. I’ve been dumped hard. My heart has been broken and shattered, and I’ve also been on the other end of that too, so.

How did you prepare for the masturbation scene?
Uhhh, [Nervously laughs.], I talked to Lena about it. It was just, I read it and, um, we just, yeah — I mean, I shot the scene with Jorma, so I knew what came first, so that was really nice to shoot it in sequence. And so I could remember what I felt like after that scene with him and then, yeah. I’m sort of fascinated that it’s being made into a thing, because I just looked at it as a part of my job. There were scenes that were more difficult for me to do than that one, and it’s interesting to me that people are fixating on it. I mean, little Sally Draper in Mad Men did it before me, so listen — I’m just entering her territory.

Did you meet girls who work in galleries to prepare for the role?
I know a couple girls that work in galleries. My roommate in college was an art history major, which was very helpful. I don’t know much about art, and so I had to ask a couple questions about it. But it’s just a fascinating world.

It is, but you also don’t know what they do all day when they’re between openings.
It’s sort of inexplicable. One of the things I love about Marnie is that she wears a suit to work, even though she works at an art gallery, because her idea of going to work is just, like, you put on a suit and you go to work. And it’s very official, but in reality, her job is one of the more fun ones that a young girl can have, and she should really be enjoying it and not taking it so seriously and that’s one of the things that I love about her is that she just — she really takes everything pretty seriously.

Did you know that Bravo is actually doing a reality show called Gallery Girls?
Oh, I didn’t know that. That’s really funny. Someone even said to me last night, “I didn’t know you were a gallery girl on the show.” Yeah, they used that phrase. That’s funny.

You haven’t gotten naked yet on the show. Are you planning on getting naked?
Uh, I’m not planning on getting naked.

Is that contractual?
I don’t think I can talk about that.

Okay.
But, yeah, I’m not planning on it.

* The good news is the non-nudity clause is open to negotiation in near future if the show is renewed for third season as well. That's why sweet Allison hesitates to be affirmative about it. The manner she stresses "not planning on it" means the folks in charge needs to reward her generously ($$$) and persuades to do it in baby steps. Bare ass shot. Filming love scenes albeit dark silhouettes of the tits. Before the unveiling of the real thing. Without doubt she is the most popular character on the series. But will she be around for third year?

How long did you live off your parents after college?
I’d rather not talk about it. They’re really supportive of me emotionally, though. [Laughs.]

And did you intern throughout college?
I did. Oh my gosh, I’ve done so many funny jobs. I worked at a farmer’s market through high school. I worked in the stock room of Ralph Lauren. I graduated to salesperson at Ralph Lauren, which was a big deal to me. I’ve been a P.A. I’ve been a stand-in. I’ve been an assistant’s assistant. Uh, yeah, I’ve done a ton of jobs. 

And you were an assistant to Tina Fey’s assistant, right?
Yes.

Like, how does that even work?
You know, I think it was really — I just wanted experience and I wanted to get to know the business, and it was a great summer because she was finishing Baby Mama and starting 30 Rock, so I kind of got to see, like, film and television. And it was so informative. Not only did I learn a lot about the industry, but I learned a lot about New York City — just getting lost in cabs and not knowing where things were. I got to spend a day in the writers' room of 30 Rock and I’ll never forget it … I just thought [Tina Fey] walked on air.

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America's Fear of Sex and Nudity

By M. T. Dremer

Imagine the following scenario: you’re a ten-year-old kid watching a movie with your parents. You’re enjoying the movie and everything is going fine until suddenly your parents leap from their chairs to cover the TV screen, your eyes, or find the remote in order to fast-forward. What happened during that brief blackout is going to be of great interest to ten-year-old you, heck it would still be of interest to present-you if such a strange thing were to happen. What was it that your parents didn’t want you to see? Maybe it was a violent murder, or a character getting high on drugs. In my case, more often than not, it was nudity; it didn’t matter if it was a man or a woman, a butt or a boob, it all got censored. Like anyone else this only helped develop a curiosity with that which cannot be seen.

 As I got older the need to censor these things became less apparent and when I turned eighteen I was able to see an R-rated movie without having to worry about my mom jumping in front of the screen (though it is still awkward to watch those movies with her.)  But now that these worlds were open to me I began to notice an entirely different form of censorship, one that was perpetuated not just by those people making the movies and television shows, but by most of us watching them. You can blame the ratings companies all you want but just look at the old super bowl scandal as evidence of why nobody will touch certain material. For those of you who don’t remember; during one of the previous super bowls, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed during the half-time show. For whatever reason Justin decided, at the end of the song, to rip off part of Janet Jackson’s outfit, exposing one of her breasts (though her nipple was covered… because thatmakes sense). I was watching that super bowl and the exposure couldn’t have lasted more than one second before the camera switched away. But the damage was done and the ensuing uproar was taken completely out of hand. For one thing, a great deal of people didn’t even know it had happened because it was so quick. For another, it was one boob with the nipple covered; there is more scandalous stuff on basic cable every day.
But the super bowl incident was neither the first nor the last time America freaked out about nudity (or suggested nudity). If you need a more recent example, look no further than Katy Perry’s appearance on Sesame Street. There was no boob exposure in that one and people still freaked out about it. And if you’re reading this article when it is horribly out dated, just fill in the blanks: “Remember when ______ wore that ______ on the ______ show and everyone freaked out?”

Different aspects of our media are in different stages of nudity denial. R-rated movies can show full frontal, but generally it is quick and does not involve full frontal sex scenes. If your character is nude for too long you’ll probably get an NC-17 rating. (Watch the movie “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” for a greater exploration of the movie rating system). There also seems to be a hierarchy of nudity no-nos. For examples, showing butts is pretty acceptable, followed by every part of the breast except the nipple. For some reason a tiny circle of darkened flesh is more offensive than the rest of the boob. After the nipple comes the vagina and the penis; in that order. Those last two don’t make it into R-rated movies very often, but it does happen. However prolonged camera time of said genitals will quickly skyrocket the rating. Why this hierarchy of nudity exists is a mystery to me, and the only part that makes any sense is the last two because those are the actual sex organs. There is also the hierarchy of gay sex scenes, which by default are more offensive to the public than straight sex scenes. And within the gay sex scene category, lesbian sex is less offensive than two men having sex. For example the movie Gia depicts two women having sex and it is regarded as a teen boy’s holy grail. But when Brokeback Mountain even hinted towards two men having sex, there was a whole debate about whether or not it should be in there. Granted, those two movies might not be the best to compare, but these hierarchies exist and they’re visible in almost every form of media.
Premium cable channels tend to follow in the film industry’s footsteps, allowing for R-rated material on their original shows. Video games seem to be lagging behind. You can depict countless bloody decapitations, disemboweling and murders, but you’re going to have to jump through hoops to get a pair of boobs in there. I would say that this is because people still think video games are for kids, but that argument doesn’t hold up because why is graphic violence okay, but nudity is not?

And that brings me to my next point; violence versus nudity. Let’s ask ourselves this: why don’t we want our children to watch violent shows or play violent video games? The answer, I assume, is because we don’t want our children to perform violent acts. Now let’s ask ourselves the other question; why don’t we want our children to watch shows or play video games with nudity or sex in them? The answer here is probably that we don’t want our kids to run out and have lots of meaningless sex with risk of STDs and pregnancy. So how are these two doing in practice? Kids have access to shows like power rangers, ninja turtles, Danny Phantom and Avatar: the Last Airbender. What do these shows have in common: violence. Now I’m not saying they are bad shows. I’m actually a huge fan of Avatar and Danny Phantom, but it is clear to me that violence is a part of those shows and neither me nor my nephew are shocked to see it; it’s just part of the story. 
The same is true of video games. One of my nephew’s favorite video games was Super Smash Bros where Nintendo’s famous mascots beat the snot out of each other.  It is important to note here that violence doesn’t necessarily mean blood; just any sort of hostile attack/battle between two parties (though kids certainly find a way to get their hands on the newest Mortal Kombat game). I’ll often point out to my brother that my nephew probably shouldn’t be playing/watching certain things because of the violence factor, and his only argument is that we played/watched the same things when we were kids and we turned out fine. I hate that argument because it is ignoring the problem, but the consensus among my family is that even with violence, kids turn out okay. I doubt every family feels this way, but the very fact that violence is allowed to have a debate shows how it is separate from nudity. With nudity there is no debate; the answer is always no. There is never a spec of nudity in children’s shows and the mere thought of it sends a nation of parents gasping. What is it that is so offensive about nudity? Specifically human nudity because animals have been appearing nude on television for ages.

I remember a time in elementary school that a lot of us probably experienced. It’s when you find that medical book in the library that shows pictures of naked people. It’s always so scandalous and exciting. But the only reason these medical pictures have any power is because of how much emphasis censorship has put on them. If children had already been exposed to naked people prior to the book in the library, would that book ever get picked up? Do kids hide in corners looking at books about martial arts or do they just run home to play Ninja Punch-Fest 4? Despite how much people try to avoid letting their children see nudity, there is still a rise in teen sex and pregnancies. Part of that is just; all teenagers are horny, but hiding that stuff from them has only seemed to make it more appealing. Other countries are more lenient with sex and nudity in the media and, as far as I know, they aren’t churning out sex-crazed adults.

And that brings me to my next point; though I talk a lot about the effect of violence and nudity on children, the truth is that this censorship doesn’t stop at age 18. Like I mentioned above, a movie can be filled from start to finish with violence and it only gets an R rating, but if you fill it start to finish with nudity, you’re looking at an NC-17. Television shows like Dexter glorify serial killers and that’s okay, but if a show glorified a prostitute, would it ever get green-lit?
The biggest thing that gets me about the violence versus nudity debate is that violence represents pain, anger and hostility towards someone or something else. Nudity represents the truth of the human body, sexual pleasure and (hopefully) love. Now I understand that not every sex scene is about love, but at least it has the potential to be, where as violence is never about love. So why is it that the human body, without any coverings, is so offensive to the American people? Why is sex viewed as more dangerous than stabbing someone with a knife? It’s no wonder so many of us are self conscious; we’re told to hide and be ashamed of everything vulnerable and natural about ourselves. And don’t even get me started about masturbation; you might as well be punching a puppy because that’s how guilty America thinks you should feel about it.
Now, out of all of this, my message is not that we should run porno on TV twenty-four-hours a day to get everyone used to it. But maybe we could freak out a little less if a boob happens to cross the screen. Sex and Nudity are a part of human culture, but you wouldn’t know it by watching our movies and television shows or playing our video games. We treat it like it is something to be hidden and ashamed of. And I understand that our multimedia is more sexually graphic today than it was years ago, and I also understand that sex is often used to sell products, but there has always been some threshold and I suspect there always will be. There will always be something that is ‘too far’. One can make the argument that we need this threshold in order to maintain a functioning society, but if that is the case; why is there such a double standard versus other forms of offensive content? And why does sex and nudity seem to be singled out as the worst of the bunch in America?

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Girls Guide To Depravity? Not So Much…

* not everyone are enamored with Rebecca sex scenes. To be fair opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one.

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Doug

Sally Golan and Rebecca Blumhagen – stars of The Girl’s Guide to Depravity

The other day I watched a few episodes of the Cinemax After Dark series ‘The Girl’s Guide to Depravity’, based on a Internet blog. While the premise was interesting and the two leads are attractive, the show was a turn off for me. Believe it or not, the main thing against the show are the sex scenes. They aren’t needed and take away from the plot of the show.
When I was a kid one of the things we use to do was try to watch Cinemax Friday After Dark because that’s when they showed the soft core porn. It was all simulated sex (no penetration) but we didn’t care because it was more than we had experienced or known about at the time. The other thing about the Friday After Dark shows, many were also explicit sex comedies. I don’t hate sex comedies in general – check out the classic “Porky’s” – but soft core porn comedies are usually very bad.
‘The Girl’s Guide to Depravity’ has better production values than the usual Cinemax porn but for some reason the worst part of the show are the sex scenes. Those scenes didn’t really add anything to the plot.
The leads are decent actors. Rebecca Blumhagen who played Samantha and Sally Golan who played Lizzie do a good job with the rest of the non-sex parts of the plot. Both are attractive and natural looking which is better than 90% of the Cinemax porn I’ve seen before.
However, the main characters are hard to sympathize with because Samantha makes many bad choices and Lizzie gives terrible advice. Ironically, Lizzie doesn’t have much better relationship success than Samantha. It’s like the blind leading the blind.
One good part in the sex scenes is when the guys are shown putting on condoms.
If you have Cinemax and have nothing else to do, check out the show. I would use a DVR and fast forward through the sex scenes.

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Jang Nara shoots a bedroom scene with Zhao Qing

May 17, 2012

Singer and actress Jang Nara has shot a bedroom scene for a movie for the first time in her life.

Under a beautiful sunlight, the star shot a scene in a bedroom appealing her pure beauty in the Chinese movie Ai Shei Shei (愛誰誰).

Jang portrays a successful career woman with a high social status as a C.E.O of a luxurious skin care shop. In the movie, she visits a charity where she accidently runs into Gao Ren Jie (played by Zhao Qing), director of a veterinary clinic, and falls in love with him. They spend fun time at a gathering with their friends, and they are attracted to each other on their first encounter as if they are destined to be together. Refusing to say good-bye, they spend a sweet night together and approve each other’s feelings.

The bedroom shooting took place on May 5 in a hotel located in Qingdao, China. When the star revealed her white skin, the whole staff was left in awe because her appearance and her bright smile made it look like a still cut of a commercial. The actress would have been emotionally sensitive before the shooting, but she kept her smile on for the whole time and led a bright atmosphere.

Jang said, “I was very nervous because it was my first shooting in a bedroom. But I wanted to get into the character who is deeply in love and has a sweet, heart-pounding feeling. I want to give special thanks to Zhao Qing and Korean staff for their kindness and help in concentrating on the emotional acting.”

Thai actor Zhao Qing who plays Jang’s lover in the movie said, “I’m honored to play as a partner of Jang Nara in the movie. I was very nervous during the shooting, but since Jang led me through a lot of things, I felt more comfortable acting. I’m grateful.”

Jang’s agency Nara Jjang.Com said, “Actress Jang Nara tries to catch every move and facial expression during the shooting. We learned that she prepared for the scene for several nights. We hope that it will touch Korean and Chinese fans’ heart as much as she has poured into it.”

The movie Ai Shei Shei is a romantic comedy where three male characters, including Zhao Qing and Jaycee Fong, express modern men’s marriage, love, and family in a funny way. It will premiere in August.

* really not expecting nudity but you never know with Korean chicks...........

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Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s Steamy Scene

Monday, May 14th 2012

 

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s Steamy Scene 

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are a sexy silver screen duo in the upcoming film Gangster Squad.

The two actors, who are starring alongside Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi and Nick Nolte, are getting cozy in the sheets for a couple scenes.

We have to admit, Emma is one lucky girl!

Gangster Squad shoots into theater this October.

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Paoli Dam in Hate Story



* just wish Bollywood shifts gear into sex and nudity gimmick a bit more quickly. We need to see real nudity and not sheets covering the important parts. It's going to happen soon when they dump the ancient rating system with US/British type of guidelines.

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Indiana Evans Nude! No Not Really…

Who’s Indiana Evans?  Dunno, don’t care.  I care even less that some one saw fit to remake the Blue Lagoon (without the underage nudity) and run it on Lifetime.  Hell, I’m impressed Lifetime found time to run something other than flicks about brutalized women and sappy love crapola.
Anywhoot… this is Indiana Evans on the set.

Indiana Evans Covers Up in Blue Lagoon Remake

 

What's with the clothes?

As filming continues in Puerto Rico for Lifetime's TV remake of The Blue Lagoon, it looks like producers are taking a more modest approach to costumes than Brooke Shield's no-top-no-problem take in the iconic 1980 film.

This time, Australian actress Indiana Evans is making her splash in the lagoon outfitted in denim shorts and a (fittingly) blue bikini top.

While Shields, then 15, wore what PEOPLE at the time described as "artfully shredded dinner napkins," Evans, 21, has been photographed on-set in button-down shirts and jeans as the shipwrecked Emmaline.

She's also been snapped in a white robe, suggesting some of those controversial nude scenes, in which Shields used a body double, might make it into the made-for-TV movie.

Assuming Christopher Atkins's role opposite Evans: fellow Aussie Brenton Thwaites. Denise Richards will also star in the telefilm.


The reboot – which is actually the fourth version, after previous ones in 1923, 1949 and '80 – began filming in February.

Blue Lagoon: The Awakening will air on the female-skewing cable network on Saturday, June 16 at 8 p.m. 

Original Blue Lagoon cast member Christopher Atkins will also make an appearance.

* Lifetime=No Real Nudity. 

But if it draws enough viewers and proves to be a hit among male demographic, maybe PeaceOut Productions will be inclined to repackage unrated DVD release. Hiring couple of relatively unknown (outside Australia) actors in lead role is quite promising. Cost cutting yes but more approachable - negotiation wise - when it comes to nude scenes.

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Nikki Bell and Her Sexy Sorority Sisters Get Bloody in New 'Alpha Girls' Trailer

More sorority girl shocks are setup for Tony Trov and Johnny Zito's demonic college horror 'Alpha Girls'. A new blood-soaked trailer has shown itself featuring a whole host of sorority sisters involved in all sorts of unholy activity. The movie stars Falon Pattani, Nicole Cingilia ('Six Degrees of Hell'), the sexy former NFL Eagles Cheerleader Nikki Bell (below), Schooly D and legendary porn star Ron Jeremy and you can pledge your allegiances to the brand spanking new trailer below. 

"Alpha Beta house is the oldest and most elite sorority in the world. Some of the most influential politicians, celebrities and scientists are Alpha Girl alumni. After performing long hidden rituals, some of the sisters suspect that their good fortune is tainted by demonic evil. They quickly realize firsthand that the consequences of their curiosity are much more gruesome than any of them could have possibly imagined."

Ding a Ling! It's Sexy ex-Cheerleader Nikki Bell

 

 

 

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First Elijah Wood'sMANIAC Uncensored Trailer Footage

Plot synopsis: Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank's obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill. 

French actress Nora Arnezeder is playing Anna. This Maniac remake is directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2, Wrong Turn at Tahoe) from a script by Alexandre Aja, Grégory Levasseur and C.A. Rosenberg.
Genevieve Alexandra (famous for being the the propeller girl in Piranha 3D and boning Aja to get the thankless part. Probably dies in this one too. Looked like her in that nude scene) and America Olivo (pretty sure she will be naked)

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Cannes Review: Blood and Water Flow Freely In Jacques Audiard's Beautiful and Moving 'Rust and Bone'

What is it we do to survive? Who is it we love? Who is it we fight? What are the forces seen and unseen that push our lives in directions we could have never expected? These are the questions that Jacques Audiard tackles in his latest, "Rust And Bone," a beautiful, moving story of two fractured lives that somehow, together, combine into a single (if unconventional) whole.
Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) and his son Sam (Armand Verdure) are doing what they can to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Living on the street, eating what they can find or salvage, they soon find refuge, and some semblance of stability, with Ali's estranged sister Anna (Corinne Masiero). She too is doing what she can to make ends meet, working part-time as a cashier in a supermarket, in addition to temporarily looking after dogs for a breeder. In the small apartment complex where she lives, the residents share resources, skills and company. Seeing the state of Sam's clothing, she immediately goes to the neighbors to find him more suitable attire and arranges to enroll him in school. It's less to help out Ali than to at least do right by a child whose mother used to use him to smuggle drugs.

Meanwhile, Stephanie (Marion Cotillard), it seems, is better with animals than with people. She's a trainer at Marineland, working alongside a team who lead the killer whales through a routine at one of the park's many shows for the public. While she can command large mammals, men are a different matter. A fight outside a club leaves her with a bloody nose, and the incident finds her crossing paths with Ali, who has found a gig working there as a bouncer. He escorts her home, driving her car, and talks his way up to her apartment so he can ice his quickly swelling hand, an injury sustained while breaking up the fight. Stephanie's boyfriend Simon is none too pleased to see her rolling in late at night, accompanied by a strange man. He's angry and jealous, but Ali is nonplussed, quieting him with a few quick words and a glare. He leaves Stephanie his number "just in case," and after Ali is gone she tells Simon, "No more orders." But soon, orders are all she'll get. Horrifically injured in an accident during one of the shows at Marineland, she loses both her legs, her job and, at her lowest, her will to live. A few months pass, and one day Ali, now working as security guard, gets a call out of the blue from Stephanie. He's heard what happened to her on the news, and she invites him to come by. Perhaps out of curiosity or pity, he makes the time to see her and she's much different than he remembered. Ali finds her depressed, shut up in a new apartment, shades drawn. Asking if she's had any visitors, she says "lots" but it's clear none have been as direct as Ali, and Stephanie soon cottons to his approach. He refuses to tiptoe around her disability or even consider it a disability at all, and rather remarkably, within his first visit, he's taken Stephanie down to the beach and helps her to take a swim in the ocean. The freedom she has in the water is intoxicating, a smile crosses her face. Through Ali, she now has hope.

And if you think from here a conventional romance blooms, you would be wrong. One of the greatest strengths of the film, adapted by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain from Craig Davidson's book, is how committed it is to the characters. Simply put, Ali is impulsive, because he has to be. Early in the film he steals and pawns a digital camera in a quick sequence, because it will buy a meal for him and his son. He takes jobs not on their merits, but foremost because they pay. Whether it's working as a guard or, as he does later, taking part in illegal, vicious, bare-knuckle and (almost) anything-goes fights, it's because of the opportunity they afford at the moment. Ali's hard scrabble life has only proven that nothing is ever permanent, and he has to take what's available at the time. And that holds true for relationships. He has no time for sentiment, and hell, barely any time for sex (it's notable that his first two sexual encounters in the film are interrupted by phone calls) and so the idea of entering a relationship is not just foreign to him, it doesn't cross his mind. Nevertheless, there is a undeniable spark between the pair that keeps them in each other's orbit, but through it all, the actions of Ali and Stephanie never feel anything less than organic and real.

And it's really down to the performers who take Audiard's densely plotted (everything above is more or less first act stuff) and tonally tricky story, into the realm of masterpiece territory. Following on the acclaim of "Bullhead," Schoenaerts may find his breakthrough here, with comparisons to Tom Hardy to come. He's a similarly commanding physical presence, but he's the rare breed with acting chops to spare, finding the vulnerability beneath his character's exterior that helps us understand him, even when he's at his selfish worst. As for Cotillard, she's predictably fantastic, again showing why she's one of the best actors of her generation. So much of what Stephanie is going through is written on her face, and Cotillard says more in a carefully sly smile than anything spoken. The two share an easy chemistry, and watching them both here, with great material to work with, is a huge pleasure and, at times, a master class in film acting. Blood and water flow freely in "Rust And Bone," with the film's biggest dramatic and tragic moments playing out through those elements. And guiding it all is Audiard who, if he hasn't already established himself as one of France's (and world cinema's) finest auteurs, will do so here. There are minor quibbles -- particularly with the use of music in certain parts of the film (though you'll never guess that one of the most touching moments is soundtracked to Katy Perry, go figure) -- but by the picture's twisty finale, in which Audiard navigates a late-stage twist with ease and emotion, you know you are in the hands of a master who is directing with the confidence and command that few possess. That he also manages a secondary social message as well -- aimed at companies who treat their workers as criminals, leading to a vicious cycle of distrust and unemployment -- and manages to seamlessly intertwine it with the narrative, is just a further testament to his skills. "Rust And Bone" is a standout, a towering picture we can't wait to see again and that, this early in the year, is a no-brainer favorite for the awards season. 

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The Director of Candyman Makes a Sx_Tape at Cannes

Yeah, so what if that headline look as if it were torn right from TMZ? We can't help but revel in it! That being said, director Bernard Rose (Candyman) has a new flick working its way around Cannes entitled Sx_Tape, and we have the first details for you here!
Produced by Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Lords of Salem), the flick stars Caitlyn Folley, Ian Duncan, Diana Garcia, and Julie Marcus. Check out the first image from the movie below, and look for more on this one soon!
Synopsis
Adam and Jill attempt to spice up their relationship by recording a sex tape in an old abandoned mansion. However, it quickly becomes apparent that they’re not exactly alone in their new ominous surroundings. Soon the couple realizes that some sex tapes should never be made as their kinky adventure turns into a desperate fight for survival.

*  Caitlyn Folley naked? My gut feeling says she will go topless. Bernard Rose is well respected director in the genre and upcoming actress like Caitlyn is hoping for career break-thru. She will be up for it.

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