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May 2008
Sharon Stone’s “karma” comment stokes Chinese anger.
China is slamming actress Sharon Stone with its own version of retribution after the actress suggested that the recent earthquake could have been bad “karma” for Beijing’s policies in Tibet.
The 50-year-old actress said last week that she was “not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans.”
“And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?,” Stone said.
Thousands of Chinese posted angry messages on Chinese Web sites on Wednesday and called for boycotts of movies staring Stone.
Maria Cordero, an actress in southern China, called Stone a “state enemy”, according to Chinese media.
“When this tragedy happened in China, it’s okay for her not to offer to help out, but it’s not okay to curse the Chinese,” Cordero added.
Ng See-Yuen, the founder of the UME Cineplex chain, said he would consider banning Stone’s movies in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Many Chinese were infuriated by criticism of a crackdown in March by Beijing on Tibetan protesters and rioters. Beijing says the Tibetans were organized to disrupt the Beijing Olympics. Many Tibetans say the protests were spontaneous and showed deep resentment of Chinese rule of the remote Himalayan region.
The earthquake that struck China’s southwestern Sichuan province on May 12 killed at least 67,000 people and was the worst disaster in the country since 1976.
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Rice on the side.
The verdict is in. If the British people had their way, John McCain would choose Condoleezza Rice as his running mate.
In an online poll conducted this week by the London Times, readers were asked to vote amongst 10 of the most likely choices (at least according to the Times). Here are the choices: Haley Barbour, Charlie Crist, Carly Fiorina, Lindsay Graham, Bobby Jindal, Joe Lieberman, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Condoleezza Rice, and Mitt Romney.
The poll closed at midnight and Condi came in first with 33 percent of the vote. In second place was Mitt with 13 percent, followed by Sarah Palin with 11 percent of the vote. Both Carly and Joe received 10 percent.
The paper itself argued that Carly would make a great choice, giving the candidate the economics knowledge he lacks.
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The Cannes Film Festival is in full swing.
On Sunday the Cannes Film Festival’s most-anticipated premiere — the first showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — attracted a host of stars and critics from around the world.
According to those who saw it, Crystal Skull is an old-school, rip-roaring adventure that has Harrison Ford battling evil commies in the Eisenhower era. Along the way he saves himself from a nuclear explosion by hiding in a fridge, tumbles into quicksand in the jungles of Peru and uncovers buried space aliens in the secret temple of what-not. The whole thing is utterly ludicrous but lots of fun along the way.
Even so, the overall feeling was that the film failed to recapture the Indy magic. Most European critics agreed that it was not as bad as some feared it would be — but not as good as it could have been.
Peter Bradshaw, critic for London’s Guardian newspaper, awarded the film just two out of five stars. He said that most scenes are a retread from the VHS age. “There are some nice moments, and everything is good-natured enough. But this is a moment for Harrison Ford to hang up the hat.”
Beyond the red carpet, also making news is the fact that Cannes jury president Sean Penn refused to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate, although he said he was excited by the support Barack Obama has received. In the tradition of Cannes troublemaker Michael Moore, Penn criticized the “inane stupidity” of President Bush’s politics.
Discussing the incumbent’s record at today’s jury panel press conference, Penn said that “when somebody operates without a brain and without a heart they kill hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world.”
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Cherie dishes it in a Blairing tell-all book.
Talk about juicy. Excerpts of Cherie Blair’s autobiography Speaking for Myself, set to be released Thursday, have been published in the London Times this week. And they make great reading.
The wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has much to say about Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. For example, her first reaction was: “Oh Bill, how could you?” adding that she wondered how he could be so “bloody stupid.” Blair credits Chelsea Clinton with keeping the couple together afterwards.
She also writes that Tony Blair was crestfallen to learn that George W. Bush prevailed over Al Gore in the 2000 election.
Blair said she discussed the scandal with Hillary Clinton. “In her view, the way the right wing relentlessly pursued it was all part of a wider attempt by their enemies to discredit Bill. The most important aspect, she said, was not to let it undermine the presidency. So on a political, strategic level that was the line they took, that this had been politically motivated and stirred up by those who wanted to undermine the Democratic presidency. On a personal level, however, there is no doubt that she was furious and hurt, and rightly.”
Blair also talked about how Tony Blair’s heart sank when he learned that George Bush’s victory over Gore in 2000 had been ratified and that he was to become president. The Blairs, she said, couldn’t imagine they’d be able to get along with George and Laura Bush.
Blair tells how she and her husband watched Bush on TV and were concerned at his poor grasp of foreign affairs.
However it was quite a different story when they all met for the first time. She and her husband learned to appreciate “a very funny, charming man with a quirky sense of humor.” In short, they were both impressed.
Blair described Bush’s tendency to “talk Texan” — a trait that he himself has blamed for his bad press — but she goes farther, comparing him with Bill Clinton, who is also from the South. She said: “Clinton may talk Southern, [but] he doesn’t think Southern, whereas Bush thinks Texan.”
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Boring … Sex and the City?
The first review of the reunion movie of the year — Sex and the City — is in. And it’s not great. Will Pavia, film critic for the London Times, gave it only two stars out of five.
In general, he said there may be a problem with stretching Sex and the City into a two-hour-and-twenty-minute film — “it can feel like a never-ending dinner party: however pleasant the courses, after a while you can hardly eat another one.”
He also said it can be bothersome when a narrator has to constantly tell the audience the meaning of what they’ve just seen, gift-wrapping each scene with a moral.
But Pavia admitted that the women sitting around him were weeping and laughing in quick succession.
In a controversial move, the New York-based film premiered in London on Monday night. All four of the film’s main stars — Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis — walked down the red carpet, greeted by thousands of mostly female fans. A larger premiere is planned in New York before the film opens in theaters worldwide on May 30.
According to Pavia, “the crowds cheered louder than they have for established film stars. Many felt they were welcoming back friends who had lived on their screens for six years and were returning for one last blast.”
He said it was almost as if the director was feeling the nostalgia. “The opening scenes are broken up with musical montages, softly lit like Hallmark adverts.”
Do does Carrie finally marry her Mr. Big? Pavia’s not telling.
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Don’t blame China and India for rising food costs…
If you’re worried about the escalating cost of groceries - a bill the Department of Agriculture predicts could rise by 5 percent this year - don’t blame China and India, a columnist writing for the China Daily argued on Friday.
While Chinese and Indians, who together make up more than a third of the world’s 6.6 billion people, are eating more as they get richer, “surely we can’t be blamed for soaring grain prices,” Ravi S. Narasimhan wrote for the state-run newspaper, which is controlled by China’s government.
To make his case, Narasimhan pointed out that “China is largely self-sufficient in grain production” while India exports rice (although it also imports wheat). Quoting data from the United Nations, he said that the percentage of the world’s total grain output consumed in China and India has fallen since 2006.
Most analysts say that while larger appetites in Asia - and a growing ability to afford grain-fed meat - has contributed to rising food prices, spiking demand for biofuels and higher transportation costs have been larger factors.
Last weekend, President Bush sparked anger in India when he suggested that the country’s economic rise is partly to blame for food price inflation.
Speaking to employees at a high-tech firm in St. Louis, Bush said that as Indians become richer they “start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.”
A cartoon published in the Times of India newspapers on Tuesday lampooned the idea that Indians are to blame for rising food prices. The drawing showed overweight American tourists watching thin Indian men rummage for food in a trash heap. “No wonder we’re having food shortages back home in the States — these guys in India have started eating way too much,” they say, according to the Washington Post.
Narasimhan suggested that instead of “worrying about rising prosperity in China and India driving up food prices,” the world should focus on how it can help the poor survive as costs spike.
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America’s No. 1 pundit? The Telegraph votes for Rove.
With just over six months before the U.S. presidential election, London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper has unveiled its list of the most influential political pundits in America.
At the top of the list is Karl Rove. According to the newspaper, Democrats may protest that they would rather see him in jail than on their television screens but they can’t help noting what he says.
The other nine are: 2) Chris Matthews 3) Sean Hannity 4) Rush Limbaugh 5) John Harris and Jim Vandehei 6) Matt Drudge 7) Tim Russert 8) Jon Stewart 9) David Brooks 10) Mark Halperin
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The British government’s not diggin’ Snoop Dogg
The British government doesn’t seem to hold much esteem for American rappers.
Officials have lodged a second appeal in an attempt to prevent rapper Snoop Dogg from entering Britain, after being twice overruled by immigration judges, according to today’s Guardian.
The star - whose real name is Calvin Broadus - was prohibited from entering Britain after he was involved in a brawl at Heathrow Airport in April 2006.
The ruling was overturned earlier in January and Britain’s Border Agency had a subsequent appeal against the ruling turned down by an immigration judge last month. Judges found that the rapper was not responsible for the public disorder at the airport.
However, the British Home Office has now filed a second appeal to challenge the decision - putting into question the star’s proposed UK tour later this year. The Border Agency insists his presence in Britain would not be conducive to public order and that his visit would put the public at risk.
After Snoop Dogg and five members of his entourage were arrested following a mass brawl at Heathrow airport in 2006, immigration officials claimed his presence in the UK risked provoking violent crime and last year refused him a visa for a tour. It is understood the decision came directly from immigration minister Liam Byrne.
