Do not watch celebrity-studded telethons with heartwrenching vignettes featuring pediatric cancer patients while intoxicated.

Sob.

Labels: celebrities, TV

Happy 44th Birthday, Keanu Reeves!



You are the only man in his forties that I find absolutely DELICIOUS.

Labels: celebrities, opinions, pretty

Here is the trailer for The Happening, which is being released in June.

I just watched this for the first time from my desk at work, and I inadvertently let out a loud howl when, about halfway through it, there are a couple quick scenes from the G-Lodge Restaurant on the outskirts of Phoenixville, known in the movie as The Filbert Restaurant, in which everyone looks to be running for their lives out of the restaurant and into the street. It's just after the scene in which Mark's character is talking to the train conductors.

Just from the quick shots of it here, it's almost impossible to imagine that just beyond the camera's scope, several hundred crew members and gawkers were gathered in the street to watch the filming.





By the way, I just realized that in the picture just above this paragraph, you can see part of John Leguizamo's face. He's sitting in a chair, just to the left of the guy in the black t-shirt and baseball cap who's standing right near Mark Wahlberg in the center of the picture. See him? I'd been thinking that was JL at the time, but some crazy woman standing next to me kept insisting that it couldn't possibly be John Leguizamo, that the guy in question looked too young. Well, now that I've seen the trailer, I can confirm that it was definitely him, without a doubt.

Apparently the critics are already bashing the film, but I don't care, I'm still going to see it in the theater anyway. It looks like a totally different role for Mark Wahlberg, and I'm very interested in seeing how he does.

Labels: celebrities, Mark Wahlberg, movies, Philly burbs, technology, The Happening

What a loss.

I found out about his death around 5:30 p.m. yesterday, but was honestly too stunned to mention anything about it here.

Then I accidentally came across a video on TMZ that showed his body being carried out of the apartment building where he was found. I couldn't watch it; I found it very tasteless.

I read this morning on my favorite celeb/pop culture boards that his family found out about his death FROM THE MEDIA. How awful is that?

I hope those paparazzi vultures will leave them and Michelle Williams alone so that they can grieve privately.

Labels: bad news, celebrities, gossip

On a shallow (VERY shallow) note:

Britney Spears' kid sister and Nickelodeon actress Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant.

She's 16 years old.

Well done.

Labels: bad news, celebrities, sheer idiocy

I stood out in the freezing cold on the edge of the set for over six hours last night. What the hell is wrong with me????

But it was worth it!

Sorry these shots aren't better. He was moving fast, it was relatively dark, people kept moving in front of my camera, and let's face it...I'm definitely no professional photographer.

The security men there were the surliest I've ever encountered. As soon as he came walking up to us, they started screeching, "Put your camera away NOW!" People were taking pictures, anyway.

Mark Wahlberg was way cool and so nice to the gawkers, as always. He signed about thirty autographs but had to get back to the set. He kept apologizing to everyone for not being able to stop and pose for pictures and for not personalizing his autographs.

He was only with us for about three minutes, then he had to go back down to the next block where his scene was being filmed. They must have done at least a dozen takes on this one scene where he gets hit by a car. There was a padded mat on the street by the curb, and we watched him pretend to walk into the path of a car and then tumble onto the ground over and over again.

Big shout-out to Giovanni's at 5th and Main in Royersford--they carted out a stack of piping-hot pizzas and fed all of the gawker holdouts around 1 a.m. Yummy!

Labels: celebrities, local news, Lovely Bones, Mark Wahlberg, movies, Philadelphia, Philly burbs

I somehow managed to infiltrate the "backlot" of the set late this afternoon. I guess I picked a good time to do it...everyone was on their lunch break!

I spent over two hours sitting on a wall in the parking lot of the Royersford Police Station, looking out over a section of Main Street. They didn't do ANY filming during my time there. Unbelievable, isn't it?! Two hours of set-up...can you imagine?

There were all kinds of huge light fixtures positioned throughout the set, and several smoke/dry ice machines were pumping out steam onto Main Street. Techs and assistants and extras and locals were milling around, chatting and hoping to catch a glimpse of someone important.

Truth be told, I actually got bored after a while. After watching the filming of The Happening a few months ago, I have decided that moviemaking is an unbearably tedious process.

By 6:30, I was positive that my ass was frostbitten, so I headed home. I had no feeling in my feet or my fingers, despite my gloves and heavy socks.

Anyway, I didn't see any movie stars tonight, but I did catch a few glimpses of Peter Jackson (not close enough for a worthwhile photograph) and also a man who looked suspiciously like Steven Spielberg. Hmmm...

Labels: celebrities, local news, Lovely Bones, Mark Wahlberg, movies, Philadelphia, Philly burbs

Taken this evening. Some not so great...sorry!

This story takes place in 1970s suburban Philadelphia, and the level of details that went into making Main Street in Royersford (which will be the fictional town of Fairfax in the movie) look the part really impresses me. All the storefronts in a four-block stretch have been done up with authentic (or at least authentic-looking) props.

From what I've gathered, filming starts tomorrow. Security was EVERYWHERE and parking was sparse. Pretty much all street and lot parking is off-limits within a three-block radius of Main Street.

Labels: celebrities, local news, Lovely Bones, Mark Wahlberg, movies, Philadelphia, Philly burbs

Pardon the crappy camera-phone pic. Tonight was one of the rare times I didn't have my real camera in the car with me.

I'm doing a little reconnaissance work this evening, since I just learned that The Lovely Bones (Wahlberg, Sarandon, Tucci, Weisz, et al) will be filming in my zip code for the next couple of days.

I'll post later...

Labels: celebrities, local news, Lovely Bones, Mark Wahlberg, movies, Philadelphia, Philly burbs