The News About The Whitney Houston

Osama Bin Laden wanted to marry her and was willing to drop his “color rule” for her. Rush Limbaugh had a thing for her (he said so on his radio show). And, today, Whitney Houston tragically died at the young age of 48 in Beverly Hills. And even just before her death, she still had the beauty of youth (as a teen, she modeled for Seventeen Magazine) and probably the voice, too. Houston originally came from a church background, singing gospel, and I will never forget how she chose to visit Israel with Bobby Brown, despite calls from many for her to boycott the Jewish State. She originally went there with the controversial “Black Hebrews” cult, but went with her then-husband and daughter to the Jordan River, where they were baptized (video at the end of this post). She and Brown also met with then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, again bucking the calls of the Israel-haters (but she refused to shake his hand – huh?).

Although we don’t yet know why Houston died so young and so suddenly, a life filled with drug addiction can’t be ruled out, even if she died of other causes. A life of constant illegal drug use, including cocaine and crack, catches up with you in the end. Such a tremendous, beautiful voice, such a tremendous talent, such beauty–all of it thrown away to smoke crack with Bobby Brown and have a kid with him. The victim here is their daughter, Bobbi Kristina, who–as I’ve decried on this site–was forced to be part of their disgusting-beyond-relief reality show . . . and then their real-life reality, none of it good.
One of my guilty pleasures: I was a huge Whitney fan, back in the day before she essentially became Bobby Brown’s crack whore, and many of her top hits have always been and are still part of my workout music on my Zune and iPod. Wish I could’ve seen her in concert in her prime. My favorites were “Love Will Save the Day,” “Queen of the Night,” “I’m Your Baby, Tonight,” and “My Name is Not Susan,” because people would often confuse me for my sister, Susan. My late father even liked her singing voice. Nobody can deny that powerful voice–with such range and such strength to stay in such high octaves for such long notes–was one of the greats in contemporary music. My all-time favorite Whitney Houston rendition was her Star-Spangled Banner/National Anthem delivery at the Super Bowl (during the Persian Gulf War in 1991), a version I’ve posted on this site, before, and which I post, again, below. It’s–in my opinion–the best Super Bowl national anthem rendition ever.

Tom Cruise Who Is Actually A Real Family Man

Tom Cruise as Van Helsing? Sure? Judging from the "Rock of Ages" trailer, he's certainly got the hair (or at least a good wig guy).
　　
Per a press release from Universal announcing a new deal with hot screenwriting duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Cruise is attached to play the famed vampire hunter in a new film from the decade-old studio.
　　
“Alex and Roberto are extraordinarily talented writers and producers who know the value of a great story in building successful tentpole films,” Universal chairman Adam Fogelson and co-chairwoman Donna Langley said in a statement. “They have been a major part of some of Hollywood’s biggest movies and television shows in recent history, and we’re eager to have them build on that success at Universal.”
　　
Tom Cruise is easily one of the top five most recognizable and sought after actors in the world. If you don't know him from his numerous blockbusters than you probably know him from his crazy shenanigans such as jumping on the couch while on the Oprah Winfrey show or his views of religion and strict allegiance to scientology. Tom Cruise is no doubt a strange fellow, but the brilliant performers always are. However, the Tom Cruise story starts in an unexpected manner, especially considering the icon he has become. Tom Cruise was born into an extremely religious family and grew up with his eyes on one goal and one goal only. No it wasn't acting, performance art or performance of any kind. Growing up, Tom Cruise dreamt of becoming a priest and devoting his life to God. However, while in high school, he abandoned those dreams, dropped out and moved to New York to pursue acting. What came next was what a whirlwind that ended with Tom Cruise being one of the highest paid actors not just in Hollywood but the entire world. He has commanded a salary of 15 million dollars or more for recent films such as "Mission Impossible" and "War of the Worlds"; quite an amazing ending for a story that started with such humble beginnings. However, along with the triumphs, there are always failures and for Tom Cruise those failures come in the form of cinematic duds. The two best examples of Tom Cruise's cinematic duds are the bigbudget films "Valkyrie" and "Collateral".
　　
The Hollywood caste system began to crack in the 1950's, when Kirk Douglas, the father of Michael Douglas went independent, and formed one of the first independent film companies called Bryna, for his mother. They produced the "Vikings", "Spartacus", and "Seven Days in May". The so called Studio system was now dead. Power shifted to the individual actors, who became BRAND NAMES in their own right.
　　
Two developments began in the 1960's. The Hollywood studios would be taken over by corporations, and then reacquired by giant multinational corporations seeking world-wide influence. The second development was that the stars began to exercise their power. Giant multinationals like Sony, Newscorp, and Viacom hated the fact that stars had so much power. In the last ten years, A-List actors like Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, and Robert Redford started to receive profit participations, which the studios only gave begrudgingly.
　　
At first it didn't matter because Hollywood accounting is such that somehow the studios could always show a loss on the movie. The stars got wise to that very quickly, and started taking front end participations, a percentage of the ticket when movie goers bought their tickets. In my 35 years on Wall Street, I participated in financing many movies, and I have to tell you that nobody ever made money on the backend. No matter how big the movie, somehow the movie always lost money when it came to the backend participations.
　　
Set for a June 5 street date, the official soundtrack for the upcoming movie will include 20 songs featuring film stars Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, Alec Baldwin, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
　　
Music by Def Leppard, Poison, Journey, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, Foreigner, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar and Whitesnake are among those covered by the cast.
　　
“Taking classic, beloved rock anthems and seeing them through the unique perspective of the characters in the film was such an exciting prospect for me in directing Rock of Ages,” said Rock of Ages director Adam Shankman. “We had a phenomenal cast who performed these songs in such a powerful way — adding depth and meaningful imagery to the film. I was lucky to have a partner in Adam Anders who, better than anyone working today, understands how to take popular songs and seamlessly repurpose them to tell a story with unparalleled originality and success.”
　　
Asked what surprised him the most about Tom, Simon replied: "That he's quite normal, you know, he's a real family man. When Katie and Suri visited the set, they're just like a normal little family and you see them doing normal things. I don't know what I expected them to do. Suri's a very sweet unprecocious little girl, she just does what kids do, she's not walking around in high heels and shouting at people, as some people would have us believe."
　　
Simon also said the odd ball reputation Tom has is unjustified and was very impressed with how seriously he takes his job.
　　
Speaking on Daybreak, Simon said: "I think the people that have the strongest opinions about him [Tom Cruise] are the people that haven't met him. The fact is he's a guy, he's a human being and that's it. I mean he's incredibly concentrated and he's amazing to work with because he's so collaborative and it means a lot to him that the films are good. That's why he hung off the tallest building, because he wanted people to see that it was him."

To Tell You About Avril Lavigne My Favorite Singer

Serious and emotionally reserved, Avril Lavigne was probably never an exuberant, playful child, and she rarely expresses herself in a spontaneous, childlike manner. She is cautious about letting others get close to her and sometimes withdraws from people altogether. At times, even when Avril Lavigne is with people, she feels lonely or isolated. Learning to appreciate her own company and to find satisfying solitary activities is essential to Avril's emotional well-being.
The position Avril plays in hockey is right wing and center. She has said in the past that she played hockey better than some guys when she was back in high school.
Avril started playing guitar when she was about 10 years old.
The best time to catch Avril Lavigne singing her song Losing Grip is when she's angry. "I really like performing it when I'm mad," says Avril. "And I'm always mad at boys."

Avril broke a record set by Madonna. Her song Complicated held the number one spot on the Contemporary Hit Radio chart (which tracks air play on the radio) for 11 weeks in a row. Madonna previously held the record with her song Music, which held onto number one for 10 weeks.
Avril appeared topless on the front cover of the Blender magazine June 2007 edition, but she was not happy with it because she wanted it darker.
Avril released her song Girlfriend with choruses in different languages, including Italian, Spanish, French, and Japanese.
Avril Lavigne has a rich, colorful, dreamy imagination and a sense of beauty. Involvement in the arts, or with artistic, sensitive, or spiritually inclined people is very satisfying to her. In her friendships and romantic relationships, Lavigne tends to be unselfish, giving, and forgiving. Avril Lavigne might enjoy joining with others for charitable events or social service
She has deep, compelling love feelings that seem irresistible and often irrational. Her love relationships are very passionate and intense, and Lavigne experiences both agony and ecstasy in love. Avril Lavigne is always changed in a deep, fundamental way by her love experiences, though this may come about through painful and difficult confrontations or separations. She is something of an emotional fanatic about things she cares about.

Fran Kranz, One Of The Stars Of "The Cabin In The Woods"

There are horror movie cliches — "honored conventions," if you like — that every horror fan knows and embraces.

"All hell is breaking loose, people are dying and for some reason, a girl has to take her shirt off," says Fran Kranz, one of the stars of "The Cabin in the Woods." "Love that. One of my all-time favorite cliches."

"My favorite is how people want to split up," says Kristen Connolly, Kranz's "Cabin" co-star. "Why? Are you kidding me? All these terrible things are happening, and somebody says, 'OK, let's split up.' It happens in every single movie. You yell at the screen, 'No, nooo.' But it doesn't help. They don't hear you."

Make that "We don't hear you." Connolly and Kranz are the very people you'll be yelling at in "The Cabin in the Woods," opening Friday (the 13th). It's a horror comedy that toys with those conventions. Writer Joss Whedon (TV's "Dollhouse" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and director Drew Goddard (he wrote "Cloverfield") wanted to send up horror movies and "change the direction" of horror, away from the "torture porn" so popular in recent years, Whedon has said.

So they rounded up five college kids — a collection of stock horror movie "types" — and packed them off to a cousin's cabin. In the woods. And once they're on their way, we see just who is engineering their trip and making sure the characters make exactly the mistakes we expect them to.

Kranz plays Marty, "the stoner." And with his mop top and sometimes cracking voice, you can be forgiven for having childhood TV cartoon flashbacks.

"I didn't think about Marty as a new Shaggy. Not when I got the part, not when we were shooting it. But now? How could I miss it? It hit me, and I was like, 'Why, why, why didn't I pay more attention to Shaggy when I was a kid, watching 'Scooby-Doo?'"

That makes Connolly — as Dana, the innocent "smart" girl — a new Velma? Maybe.

"There's always some smart girl who weighs 90 pounds who says, 'I will go down into that dark cellar by myself. Me and me alone!'" Connolly says. "Girl, don't do it. Bad decision-making is the rule in these movies. But Dana (her character) doesn't make many."

There's also a jock, a hot blonde and, for good measure, a hunky, sensitive guy.

"I based Marty on the stoners I've known in my life — especially an ex-girlfriend," Kranz says, laughing. "A lot of inspiration from her. And on James Franco in 'Pineapple Express,' Brad Pitt in 'True Romance.' And remember Corey Feldman in 'The 'Burbs?' He's got all these conspiracy theories," and Marty is the guy who starts wondering, in his pot paranoia, just who is pulling the strings in this cabin."

The earliest notices for "Cabin" have been breathless raves, like Variety's — "Not since 'Scream' has a horror movie subverted the expectations that accompany the genre to such wicked effect."

But the movie's been sitting on a shelf, largely due to its original studio's financial difficulties. Cast and crew have had three years to wonder when this thing would come out.

"It's very frustrating," Connolly says. One of the stars, Chris Hemsworth, broke through as "Thor" in the years "The Cabin in the Woods" sat in limbo. The rest are waiting for their big break to break big.

"You want your family to see this thing you put so much blood, sweat and tears into," Connolly says. "I mean literal blood. Sweat. And tears."

Kranz is just as frustrated, but he's tried to keep it all in perspective. "'Cabin in the Woods' could be the last movie I make and I'd be happy. I'm that proud of it."

Not that it will be his final film. Kranz has a major role in Whedon's version of "Much Ado About Nothing." And Connolly is a lead in Barry Levinson's new viral outbreak thriller "The Bay," due out this summer.

And now that "Cabin in the Woods" finally is reaching theaters, the phone might be ringing even more.

Will Kate Winslet's Comments Upset Celine Dion?

Kate Winslet feels "like throwing up" when she hears 'My Heart will Go On'.The love theme from Kate's most successful film, 'Titanic' - sung by Celine Dion - was a huge hit around the world, but the actress admits she has to hide her real feelings every time she hears it.She told MTV News: "I feel like throwing up when I hear it. No, I shouldn't say that. No, actually, I do feel like throwing up."

"I wish I could say, 'Oh listen, everybody! It's the Celine Dion song!' But I don't. I just have to sit there, you know, kind of straight-faced with a massive internal eye roll."Kate's comments are sure to upset Celine, who has previously said she is very close to the song.She said: "My Heart Will Go On is for me a classic. And to be part of a classic is something I feel very proud of."

'Titanic' has just been re-released in 3-D, and Kate appeared at the film's premiere at London's Royal Albert Hall earlier this week, but admits she would not be staying to see the film's intimate scene between her and Leonardo DiCaprio's character.Asked how she would feel seeing herself nude on the big screen, she responded: "Terrible, wouldn't you? I'm not going to look, I'll be in the bar by that point."

"No, I shouldn't say that," Winslet added, thinking through her response before coming to this conclusion: "No, actually, I do feel like throwing up."

Since its release in 1997, the film has stuck with Winslet wherever she goes. It was the movie that helped her sky-rocket to the A-list, after all, and no one is likely to forget Dion's iconic song from "Titanic," set to be re-released in 3-D on April 4. Kate Winslet considers her role in “Titanic” a bit of a shipwreck.

As the 1997 Oscar-winning Best Picture embarks on a 3D voyage to theaters, Winslet remains critical of her performance in the epic romance that set sail her career in Hollywood.

“My American accent could’ve been much better. My acting could’ve been a lot better,” she said to MTV News.

"I wish I could say, 'Oh listen, everybody! It's the Celine Dion song!' But I don't," Winslet admitted. "I just have to sit there, you know, kind of straight-faced with a massive internal eye roll."

Winslet went on to explain that every time she walks into a bar or a restaurant with a pianist, they never miss an opportunity to start playing the notes. "It's thrilling for people to surprise me with the Celine Dion song," she laughed.

But they not only play the tune for her, they also encourage the Oscar winner to sing it herself. "I did a talk show recently in Italy and they actually had a live pianist who started gently playing the theme song. I was not even gently, rather severely, urged to go and sing it as though I had in fact sung it myself in the first place. It was like, 'No! I'm not going to do that.' They're like, 'Oh no, come on it will be funny.' No, it won't be funny. At all. And I'm not going to."

Unfortunately for the actress, it's not just the theme song that haunts her. Whenever she boards a boat, she's the butt of jokes.

"Honestly, I actually now get onto boats and say, 'No jokes, OK? No jokes. Can we just move on from that? And if you have any jokes, let's just get them out of the way right now. Thank you. Anyone? Jokes, jokes? OK, moving on.' And then they still tell jokes," Winslet said. The most common joke is asking her to head to the front of the boat with them to reenact the iconic scene between hers and Leonardo DiCaprio's characters on the rail. To that she replies, "Oh, yeah! Oh, that one! Oh, don't worry, it's my party piece. Sure, come on up, bring your granny."

But Winslet is actually an amazing sport about the jokes. She understands how deeply the film touched its audience. And now that it will be on the big screen again, it can reach a whole new generation — including her children who will see it for the very first time.

"What's negative about it? Really, nothing at all," she said of the 3-D treatment. "It's very different and much more present. It's bigger — if you can believe that — but it is and you really do feel like you're in it."

Audiences will be able to relive the tragic love story — or experience for the first time — when "Titanic" it hits theaters in 3-D on April 4.

Nevertheless, Winslet, who co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio, was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Rose.And the film grossed more than $600 million, making it America’s second highest-grossing box-office hit.

The 36-year-old actress has received countless award nominations since her 15-year voyage through Hollywood after the epic romance’s debut on the big screen. She was the youngest person to earn six Academy Award nominations and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the 2008 film “The Reader.”

Now the story of a ship’s tragic disaster and the famous on-board love story will return to the big screen on April 4. The debut coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s maiden trip from England in April 1912.“It looks very different. I mean, it’s still as wonderful and as epic as it always was. But it does feel bigger, you know, bigger somehow even than it did then, so it’s very exciting,” she said.The actress, who was 21 during filming, claims she is content with the way she looks now.

“I think I look nicer now,” she said. “I prefer myself as a 36-year-old. It's really weird ’cause when you’re 21, you think, ‘Oh God, when I’m 36, oh God, that’s nearly 40 and I'll look really old and wrinkly by then.’ And actually I quite like the way I look. I feel okay about myself these days.”