Don LaFontaine, John Leader, Al Chalk, Mark Elliot, and Nick Tate - Video

Wow. Check out this video featuring the greatest movie voices of the modern age of movies.

It features Don LaFontaine, John Leader, Al Chalk, Mark Elliot, and Nick Tate, all off to the Key Awards.

"300" Movie Set To Make Over $60 Million - Largest March Opening

According to Nikki Finke , the CGI-based epic "300" is set to earn a record $60 million, the largest ever take for a movie opening in March. I can say that the movie is a hit with teenage boys, who flock to see this in large groups, as I observed at the Sony Metrion in San Francisco. Or rather, I heard some screeming "300 tickets!" as I got off the BART train.

I can't remember a movie that's really connected with this set since Spiderman. But this is more primal and that's due to the story and approach. It's a violent male-oriented movie, period.

Here's a video:

Ellen DeGeneres Gives Martin Scorsese A Script At The Academy Awards

This is absolutely funny. I don't know if it was staged or spontaineous, but it made me laugh out loud.

Paris Hilton Smoking Crack? - ParisExposed Website Is Shut Down?

I thought the ParisExposed website was shut down, but I find ParisExposed.tv, so I guess the party migrated, or something. As you may know, Paris Hilton's trying to get the website -- which has free videos of her doing "stuff" and picts of her smoking a crack pipe shown here -- shut down.

Scott Storch Calls Timbaland The N Word

What's interesting to me is that a White rapper is calling a Black performer the N-word in a music clip. Fascinating. Stupid, too. What's equally so is Paris Hilton using the word, as reported here. Here MediaTakeOut's view and explanation of all of this followed by the video itself and the song:

February 27, 2007. In today's hip hop, diss songs are commonplace. But even a hip hop diss song has boundaries that aren't supposed to be crossed. And MediaTakeOut.com has learned that hip hop producer Scott Storch may have just crossed that boundary.

Storch, who is Caucasian, has been publicly feuding with fellow producer Timbaland for months. And in a recent diss track, the Caucasian producer put all of his harsh feelings on wax.

In the new song, entitled Built Like Dat, Storch blasts Timbaland with some scathing lyrics. The Caucasian producer uses the track to make some explosive allegations against his rival. For example, Storch claims that Timbaland is on steroids, and implies that the hit producer is a homosexual. But that's not the controversial part of the song.

Near the end of the track, Storch uttered the verse, "Don't apologize [N Word], you can't even get your label to work right." And that verse, which was clearly aimed at Timbaland, is sending shockwaves throughout the hip hop community.

MediaTakeOut.com spoke with a prominent New York DJ who offered his take on the controversial track. The DJ, who asked to remain anonymous, told us the following, "I know Scott [Storch], and he always talks reckless like that ... I don't know if he's a racist or not. I do know that no matter how many beats you make, you don't have the right to call a Black man a [N Word]."

And there may be another reason to question Storch's use of the 'N word' against rival Timbaland. The Caucasian producer is very close friends with socialite Paris Hilton - who was caught on tape using the 'N Word' to refer to Black people.

MediaTakeOut.com has repeatedly tried to contact Timbaland for comment. So far, he hasn't responded to our requests.

We've included audio of the song below. Storch uses the 'N word' when there's :40 left:

Ellen DeGeneres Show - Oscars - Behind The Scenes

This is a video of Ellen's presentation of her behind the scenes video at the Academy Awards.

Spiderman 3 - Toby McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, Sam Rami Talk About Spiderman 3

Spiderman 3's set for a May 4th release and already the buzz is starting to build for the movie. Of course, most of this buzz is being generated by Sony, the film's producers. Take this great video for example. It contains interviews with stars Toby McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, and director Sam Rami talking about the storyline of the film.

The Sundance Film Festival - Video Blog From Susan On Pierre Huyghe

I've never heard of her or the film-maker she's vlogging about, but the video is quite interesting. Here's Susan:

Jack Baeur Bites Artery Of Bad Guy And Donald Trump's Apprentice

I saw the first episode of "24" and while I was waiting for The Apprentice to come on. OK. I admit it. I'm an Apprentice junkie. But I've got some disagreement with the idea of having it in LA. It's nothing against LA. But it's just that The Apprentice is a show with a distinctively New York cut. It doesn't mix with LA. Thus, it comes at no surprise that "24's" Jack Bauer bit the artery out of the bad guy and The Apprentice with one chomp.

Wait? Biting? Yep. Biting.

It was a move distinctively Jack Baeur. Creative. Unexpected. Necessary. Efficient. Brutal. And it's acts like that which keep even Apprentice junkies like me looking at the show, when I'm suppose to turn the channel. It's hard to do.

But eventually I did and watched Trump's show with my Mom. It was the usual Apprentice formula. But this time, this brotha named Carey decided he was going to let his being Gay impact a business decision. This dude insisted on wearing a pair of tight pink shorts no normal man would be caught in. The idea was that clothing buyers were going to buy those shorts! No way. But Carey insisted on the design and on his wearing it on a fashion runway.

As you might have guessed, Carey got fired.

I don't know what happened to the end of the "24" two hour episode, but it was so good it made me think twice about what I did. But in the end I know why. I'm an Apprentice junkie, but if Baeur keeps up his run of unexpected bites, I could become a "24" junkiee, too.

Eric Clapton's Layla - An Enduring Song - Video

This is perhaps one of the most popular songs in the history of modern music. Layla as performed by Eric Clapton has been in commercials, spoofed, and copied many times over.

According to Wikipedia, Layla...

is the title track on the Derek and the Dominos album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, released in December 1970. It is considered one of rock music's definitive love songs,[2] featuring an unmistakable guitar figure, played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, as lead-in. Its famously contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Jim Gordon.
Inspired by Clapton's unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend George Harrison, "Layla" was unsuccessful on its initial release.[3] The song has since experienced great critical and popular acclaim. Two versions have achieved chart success, first in 1972 and again twenty years later.

Background

In 1966, George Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a model he met during the filming of A Hard Day's Night. During the late 1960s, Clapton and Harrison, as two of the top English guitarists of the day, became firm friends. Clapton contributed guitar work on Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on The Beatles' White Album, and Harrison played guitar pseudonymously on Cream's "Badge" from Goodbye. However, trouble was brewing for Clapton. His supergroups Cream and Blind Faith had broken apart, his growing drug use would lead to a life-threatening heroin addiction, and, when Boyd came to Clapton for aid during marital troubles, Clapton fell desperately in love with her.

The title, "Layla", was inspired by a love story, The Story of Layla / Layla and Majnun (ليلى ومجنون), by the Persian classical poet Nezami. When he wrote "Layla", Clapton had recently been given a copy of the story by a friend (reportedly Ian Dallas)[5] who was in the process of converting to Islam. Nezami's tale, about a moon-princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the man who was desperately in love with her, resulting in his madness (in Persian, Majnun, مجنون, means "madman"), struck a deep chord with Clapton.[4]
Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979. Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's wedding with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. During their marriage, Clapton wrote another love ballad for her, "Wonderful Tonight". Their marriage later developed difficulties over Clapton's alcoholism and his extramarital affair with Yvonne Khan Kelly, and in 1985 he left Boyd altogether for Italian model Lori del Santo, with whom he had a child. Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989 after several years of separation. Boyd currently lives with the property developer Rod Weston.

In an interview with Songfacts, Bobby Whitlock, who was a member of Derek and the Dominos and good friends with both Harrison and Clapton, explains the situation between Clapton and Pattie around the time he wrote Layla:

“ I was there when they were supposedly sneaking around. You don't sneak very well when you're a world figure. He was all hot on Pattie and I was dating her sister. They had this thing going on that supposedly was behind George's back. Well, George didn't really care. He said, 'You can have her.' That kind of defuses it when Eric says, 'I'm taking your wife' and he says, 'Take her.' They got married and evidently, she wasn't what he wanted after all. The hunt was better than the kill. That happens, but apparently Pattie is real happy now with some guy who's not a guitar player. Good for her and good for Eric for moving on with his life. George got on with his life, that's for sure.

Is Sophia Bush The Next "Wonder Woman"?

Joss Whedon, in the seemingly eternal process of writing and casting the Wonder Woman Movie, has reportedly made an offer to Sophia Bush.

Who's she?

This is Sophia Bush's resume:

Actress - filmography

"One Tree Hill" .... Brooke Davis (81 episodes, 2003-2007)
- Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (2007) TV Episode .... Brooke Davis
- Pictures of You (2007) TV Episode .... Brooke Davis
- Resolve (2007) TV Episode .... Brooke Davis
- Everything in it's Right Place (2007) TV Episode .... Brooke Davis
- Songs to Love and Die By (2006) TV Episode .... Brooke Davis
(76 more)
The Hitcher (2007) .... Grace Andrews
John Tucker Must Die (2006) .... Beth
Stay Alive (2006) .... October
Supercross (2005) .... Zoe Lang
"Nip/Tuck" .... Ridley (3 episodes, 2003)
- Cliff Mantegna (2003) TV Episode .... Ridley
- Megan O'Hara (2003) TV Episode .... Ridley
- Nanette Babcock (2003) TV Episode .... Ridley
Learning Curves (2003) .... Beth
"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" .... Fate Mackenzie (1 episode, 2003)
... aka Sabrina (USA: promotional abbreviation)
... aka Sabrina Goes to College (USA: promotional title)
- Romance Looming (2003) TV Episode .... Fate Mackenzie
The Flannerys (2003) (TV)
Point of Origin (2002) (TV) .... Carrie Orr
... aka In the Heat of Fire (Europe: English title: DVD title)
Van Wilder (2002) .... Sally
... aka Van Wilder: Party Liaison (Australia) (Philippines: English title) (UK) (USA: working title)
... aka National Lampoon's Van Wilder (USA: complete title)
... aka Party Animals - ... wilder geht's nicht! (Germany)

Filmography as: Actress, Self

Self - filmography

Grrrl Power (2006) (V) .... Herself
"Punk'd" .... Herself (1 episode, 2005)
- Episode #6.2 (2005) TV Episode .... Herself
"Late Show with David Letterman" .... Herself (1 episode, 2005)
... aka Late Show Backstage (USA: title for episodes with guest hosts)
... aka The Late Show (USA: informal short title)
- Episode dated 21 January 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Herself
"Total Request Live" .... Herself (1 episode, 2004)
... aka TRL (USA: promotional abbreviation)
... aka Total Request with Carson Daly (USA)
- Episode dated 1 November 2004 (2004) TV Episode .... Herself

For me, she lacks the Wonder Woman well-muscled body, so I remain skeptical.

The Apprentice LA: Resting In Its Own Tent City

I'm watching The Apprentice LA now and as a person who's not missed one of these segments, I've got to write that I'm not really down with the LA style. OK, I like the women -- who would not?

But look, the relocation to LA was just plain stupid. New York's the center of commerce, so either keep it there or if Donald Trump's going to try a new city, it should have been Chicago.

But LA? It's not working for me.

The other aspect of the problem with this show is that by placing one group in a mansion and another -- the losing group -- in a kind of tent city, the drama and interplay of the people as a whole is totally destroyed. There's no rivalry to really sink one's teeth into at all. Whoever came up with that idea may have doomed Apprentice LA to a tent city of its own, right at the bottom of the ratings.

Finally, while his daughter's certainly good-looking, I can't see her as a viable replacement for Carolyn. She just does not have "it." What she has is a bitch-approach that she thinks passes for being a woman in business. It's played. I know far too many women who are not like her and get the job done just as well.

I'm not sure this is the right formula..

Time will tell.