Wednesday Links - Colored Girls, Will Smith Squared, Fingerhakeln, Hollywood Whitewashing, More...
(cue Isaac Hayes Shaft score)- 'Colored' revival set for Sept. 8 - The Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf," starring India.Arie and produced by Whoopi Goldberg, will begin previews Aug. 19 for a Sept. 8 opening at the Circle in the Square Theater.
- Will Smith is in the Fluke Zone - The Fluke Zone is a place where a movie star can do no wrong. Audiences love you no matter what you do. Many stars fall out of the Fluke Zone when they lose touch with their fans. The trick is to stay in the Zone as long as possible. Many try, but few are chosen... there's only one star in the Zone: Will Smith.
- To Bavarian men, Fingerhakeln, or "finger wrestling" is no joke - To become a champion finger wrestler one obviously needs strength, but also good technique and the grit to put up with a fair amount of pain... However, according to one finger wrestler, the most important attribute is the size of one's finger. "You have to have a fat finger, so that the strap has a good hold."
- His latest effort, Hancock, is his most blatant attempt at courting our antipathy - after all, he is playing an alcoholic superhero who throws Frenchmen into space and, in one jaw-dropping scene, fires an innocent woman across his motor-home through the sheer force of his super-ejaculation. But is it even possible to dislike Will Smith? - One writer jovially tries tries to answer that question, and succeeds, jovially, of course.
- The world now has 10 million millionaires - The combined wealth of the globe's millionaires grew to nearly $41 trillion last year, an increase of 9 percent from a year before... That means their average wealth was more than $4 million, the highest it's ever been. Home values were not included in asset totals. (With numbers like that - $41 trillion - the first question that comes to mind is why are there still so many living in poverty?)
- Is Hollywood Whitewashing Ethnic Roles? - In the realm of Hollywood, where artistic license is the rule and studios need to recoup the millions of dollars they sink into films, it's not uncommon for white actors to be cast in ethnic roles or for real-life stories to be "whitewashed" to make them more mainstream.
- After declining political advertising since its inception in 1981, MTV is reversing course. The Viacom MTV Networks channel... says it will now take political ads - I'm sure the Obama camp is popping champagne bottle corks right about now!
- Some 40 percent of New Yorkers with multiple sex partners did not use a condom the last time they had sex, according to a health department study that polled 10,000 adults - In a city that promotes its own condom, many New Yorkers, especially those with multiple sex partners, are still not using protection. Tut-tut-tut...
- And finally, more memorable words from our thankfully soon-to-be ex-president, Dubya - Bush To Filipino President: "I Am Reminded Of The Great Talent Of The - Of Our Philippine Americans When I Eat Dinner At The White House." As one commenter said, "He sure must be blissful. Because he sure is ignorant."
And that's news to me... some anyway...
The Cannes Film Festival got underway today. Lots of American films will be making their debut, including the opening night film, 
