As New York-based media studies student and feministing.com editor Chloe Angyal (pictured) readily admits, pouring over Hollywood romantic comedies for a doctoral dissertation “sure beats poking at a petri dish.” The 2009 Princeton grad is currently working towards this very unusual PhD through the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where she is originally from.
They’re all white. They’re all lean and broad-shouldered. They’re all rather muscular. Some of them are toned and sculpted in accordance with superhero standards: Chris Evans was fresh off filming Captain America when he made What’s Your Number? and Reynolds made The Proposal right after he wrapped Wolverine. And, uh, it shows…
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Following up his initial report about some Ynet-published content lifting, Tablet staff writer Marc Tracy today itemizes additional examples of apparent plagiarism committed by Italian freelance journalist and author Giulio Meotti. Including this passage from a February 2011 contribution to Commentary magazine:
In the post, Meotti wrote: “A nostalgic, utopian, and well-ordered traditionalism is the future heralded by the Brotherhood.”
In 1995 (!), John Balzar wrote in the Los Angeles Times: “A nostalgic, utopian and well-ordered traditionalism is the future heralded by the brotherhood.”
But it is several years later in China that Christiansen nearly made an even bigger Friends mark. The show remains hugely popular there and according to an interview on china.org.cn, a Chinese-language spinoff was extensively developed:
From 2008-2010, Christiansen worked with a Shanghai-based team writing original scripts for a Friends-inspired sitcom that would focus on the lives of a group of expatriate professionals in China and their Chinese friends. Although the project was ultimately shelved because of differences between the writers and production team, Christiansen said he remains open to re-imagining the hit series for Chinese television, albeit with several caveats.
Should a documentary conversation between filmmaker Roman Polanski and one of his closest friends and associates have essentially skirted the topic of the 1977 sexual assault above Mulholland Drive? That’s one of the first questions being addressed by local reporters covering this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
At Hollywood Elsewhere, Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir reviewer Jeffrey Wells suggests that “Polanski pitch-forkers will dismiss” the movie. He and colleague Sasha Stone are themselves quick to dismiss in the comments user Abbey_Normal, who innocently asks and then follows up about the topic of whether or not the episode is covered:
Dude, I’m not a pitch-forker, I’m just curious how they addressed it. Did they not even mention it? Wouldn’t most people watching a documentary on Polanski expect them to say SOMETHING about an incident that has haunted him for decades, effectively exiled him from a number of countries, and left him reviled, fairly or not, by massive swaths of people?
The chair of a Department of Media and Cultural Studies study-abroad program suggests life is not glamorous for many of those who graduate these days from a top film school. Some, he writes, wind up working the B-side of social media causes at Hollywood talent agencies; others may toil for one of YouTube’s 100 new channels. Or, worse:
A colleague from one of the top schools often bumps into alumni. All goes well until he asks what they’re up to. “Oh, I’m working,” they say. No further details are divulged.
Why? They’re making porn movies in the San Fernando Valley for online, cable and satellite consumption. They don’t use their own names. They are unhappy. But it’s helping pay off student loans…
And… with the generous support of his fans, 57-year-old stand-up Mike MacDonald looks to have the best possible chance of overcoming his condition.
Per a local CBC-TV report, MacDonald is in need of a liver transplant after coming down with the disease last year in Los Angeles. He is not specifically clear on how he got it, but tells the reporter it could be linked to a SoCal lifestyle that was once drug-fueled.
The comedian’s friend Brittany Anastacio launched an online donation campaign to help pay for the transplant, and in just the first three days, nearly $15,000 Canadian has already been raised. Per the CBC report:
MacDonald moved back to his hometown of Ottawa last summer and is unable to work. He said he is speechless with all the donations to his cause. “It’s restored my faith in humanity. This whole thing has been very humbling,” he said
One of our favorite Hollywood Foreign Press Association reporters Ruben Nepales has a cool interview piece with Johnny Depp. He leads with several interesting observations made by the reluctant mega-star about dealing with the white noise of the Internet.
While 13-year-old daughter Lily-Rose thinks it’s weird that she has various Facebook and Web fan sites, dad takes it a step further, deeming the phenomenon “somewhat ugly.” He says both she and 10-year-old brother Jack have access to the Internet, but that when it comes to the wild-west standards of Web journalism, he tries to occasionally give them a friendly heads-up:
“They are able to read truths, lies, fiction and rumors. This whole thing has become this mulch of fodder. I’ve decided to just stay hush-hush about anything and everything. If the rumors spin, let the rumors spin.”
There have been several memorable remembrances of journalist and biographer Charles Higham, who passed away in LA late last month at the age 80. Most notably, locally, was Joel Bellman’s guest post on LA Observed about the time he interviewed Higham for an Orson Welles radio documentary.
Another worthy piece comes from the country where the British-born Higham began his transcontinental journalism career, Australia, in the form of a Sydney Morning Herald obit written by Philippe Mora, a French-Australian writer-director who occasionally contributes to the paper. There is much about Higham’s most famous work, the 1980 Errol Flynn biography The Untold Story, as well as this funny anecdote:
Higham had a delight in the macabre and the absurd, exemplified by his invitation to the English widow of Hermann Erben for dinner in Los Angeles with a Flynn double, Chuck Pilleau. Higham coaxed from her a bizarre revelation: SS agent Erben was circumcised.
It’s always a compliment when the person being interviewed notes that no one has asked them a particular question before. This happens twice to Farinella. When asked to grade his first season as a Lakers radio announcer, Ireland gives himself a B minus. The veteran journalist also says his favorite “third chair” celebrity guests on the broadcast so far have been Jamal Wilkes, David Hasselhoff, Andy Garcia and Jeannie Buss.
Ireland also revisits an infamous incident from earlier this year during which he could be seen on TV in the background of a Lakers-Raptors broadcast, applying makeup to his face. He says this was a particularly lazy version of dealing with the juxtaposition of his radio duties and a live post-game TV interview show:
“It was the sixth game of a six-game round trip. What I had done was I had always gone back to the bathroom at halftime to put my makeup on, so when the game ends, I can run right to TV.”
Sometimes, all it takes to cross the legal Hollywood licensing line is a tweet or Facebook post.
After Burberry crowed on social media about the late actor Humphrey Bogart having worn one of its trenchcoats in the final scene of Casablanca, Bogart LLC filed suit Wednesday. The estate of the iconic actor said it never gave permission to Burberry to use a Bogart still in such a manner. From the press release:
“This is such an incredibly disappointing and disrespectful action by Burberry,” said Stephen Bogart, son of the Hollywood legend. “Apparently they believe a shoe company can advertise the fact that Brad Pitt wore its brand while jogging down the street, or a beverage company can claim George Clooney drank its product in one of his movies – all without even asking, much less obtaining, the actors’ permission. Wouldn’t that be a nice, clever way to get Hollywood icons to endorse or advertise products without paying compensation or, more importantly, obtaining permission?”
As New York-based media studies student and feministing.com editor Chloe Angyal (pictured) readily admits, pouring over Hollywood romantic comedies for a doctoral dissertation “sure beats poking at a petri dish.” The 2009 Princeton grad is currently working towards this very unusual PhD through the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where she is originally from.
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online 
But it is several years later in China that Christiansen nearly made an even bigger Friends mark. The show remains hugely popular there and according to an 
The 
Per a local 
While 13-year-old daughter Lily-Rose thinks it’s weird that she has various Facebook and Web fan sites, dad takes it a step further, deeming the phenomenon “somewhat ugly.” He says both she and 10-year-old brother Jack have access to the Internet, but that when it comes to the wild-west standards of Web journalism, he tries to occasionally give them a friendly heads-up:
Another worthy piece comes from the country where the British-born Higham began his transcontinental journalism career, Australia, in the form of a 
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