Entertainment

The entertainment world is rather liberally stocked with people who will eagerly tell you they’re unfeasibly talented, so it makes a very welcome change to find a group by whom such claims have been viably earned. One of these rare cases is Studio Center.

Formed in 1966 the firm specializes in what, thanks to the unbounded triumph of movies by firms like Pixar is fast becoming a major sector of today’s creative landscape – voice actors.

And their gift for enhancing such a project’s success is also easy to see – Having already helped clients gather some impressive awards, including Clios, Silver Microphones and even a Grammy the firm’s burgeoning international profile now supports 700 employees across 23 countries, creating over 10,000 new projects a year.

And that’s no small feat.

Almost any creative production from movie trailers to a full-scale motion picture can rise or fall on the merits of those whose talents are heard but not seen. If you have an outline for such a project yourself it’s clear you’d be following a solid tradition if you gave Studio Center a call…

Photo by Keefe

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Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Studio Center, a rare glimpse of subtle success

Despite the wonders of Blu Ray and Imax there’s still nothing to beat the experience of a live concert. Watching your idol on the screen is one thing but to see them live on stage is usually an experience few fans can forget.

Of course, the big snag is the cost – Tickets for some star’s live shows are well over $100 and that’s forcing a lot of fans to give up the live experience and settle for CD’s and TV spots.

But if you count yourself among that crowd you’re not doomed yet, so don’t worry: The ticket firm ‘acheapseat.com‘ is a rare example in the live concert business – you can get great seats at all the major events, but at more sensible prices.

Whether you’re into the Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion or Rascall Flatts these guys can help. Or if your idea of a dream is touchline seats for the New York Jets or San Diego Chargers the guys at ‘CheapSeat’ can save you money on those as well.

Summer is still in full bloom and the concert season will be running for months, and if you want to go see the stars without going broke, you now know what to do.

Good luck and enjoy…

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Good news for concert fans

Despite the wonders of Blu Ray and Imax there’s still nothing to beat the experience of a live concert. Watching your idol on the screen is one thing but to see them live on stage is usually an experience few fans can forget.

Of course, the big snag is the cost – Tickets for some star’s live shows are well over $100 and that’s forcing a lot of fans to give up the live experience and settle for CD’s and TV spots.

But if you count yourself among that crowd you’re not doomed yet, so don’t worry: The ticket firm ‘acheapseat.com‘ is a rare example in the live concert business – you can get great seats at all the major events, but at more sensible prices.

Whether you’re into the Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion or Rascall Flatts these guys can help. Or if your idea of a dream is touchline seats for the New York Jets or San Diego Chargers the guys at ‘CheapSeat’ can save you money on those as well.

Summer is still in full bloom and the concert season will be running for months, and if you want to go see the stars without going broke, you now know what to do.

Good luck and enjoy…

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Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Good news for concert fans

Anna Massey, one of the most gifted, captivating and widely loved actresses of her generation has died in London. She was 73.

This is sad news for the acting world and a great loss for her legions of fans. Every role was crafted by an understated artistry that made her both convincing and a pure joy to watch in whatever she did.

In a 53-year career that began at just 17-years old and covered everything from lonely spinsters to Baroness Thatcher, Anna won a BAFTA and many other awards, plus a CBE that proves her talent was also admired by those at the Palace.

But the seemingly effortless aplomb she displayed on the screen was also an act, so it seems; And a fine one;

“I find acting incredibly difficult – it demands much more of my time than it does for some people,” she once told reporters. “I’m not instinctive. It takes enormous discipline and bravery to get me there.”

This wonderful lady and consummate actress will be deeply missed by anyone who ever saw her work, and that loss is best expressed by her agent;

“She will be remembered as a loving wife and mother, a cherished grandmother, a generous colleague and, always, a consummate professional,” the told the BBC. ”She will be greatly missed.”

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Anna Massey takes final curtain call at 73

As part of Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday it’s been announced that British entertainer and icon, Bruce Forsyth is to be knighted.

In the long and colorful history of this award there can be few people whose claim to deserve it is as solid as Bruce’s. This unique man got famous the old-fashioned way – He worked for it. He’s been performing since he was 13 and to this day it’s still hard to find one person with even a mildly bad view of either him or his work.

So here’s to the unique and irreplaceable Brucie: That is one attractive ribbon you’ve won yourself there, and you deserve every lustrous inch.

Photo by Squeak

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Nice to see you, Sir Brucie

A local non-profit is reporting on a woman in this area whose husband recently passed away from Cancer. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in August, but more tests found the disease had spread to every major organ – and the brain.

He died in March and his wife’s life since then is a catalog of misery, heartless oppression and debt.

The co-pays on all the medical care the guy needed has left the wife with no savings and two maxed-out credit cards. And despite paying one off she’s now got debt collectors demanding $900 more just to close that account.

All this has caused her to get behind in her mortgage and she’s now at risk of foreclosure. If you guys can help with a donation the non-profit will give it to her and make sure she’s at least got a safe place to live.

You can read the full story here. As they say, it’s a sad situation and an unflattering testament to the unfeeling greed of the credit card firms. But if we pull together we can beat those unthinking a-holes and help her, and to me that’s more than a good idea.

Photo by: Zed

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Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Cancer kills husband, Wife facing the streets

Guest post by Piper McCauley

As if buying clothing for one kid growing like a weed isn’t bad enough, it’s so much harder to find clothing for two twin boys that refuse to wear the same kinds of clothes. I thought that at least I would be able to get away for a few more years with buying them the same clothes so I wouldn’t have to worry about keeping whose clothing is whose straight. But at 6 years old, they are both really bent on having separate identities.

Well, it’s time to buy some new rain coats for both of them, so I went online to see if I could find some different looking rain coats for them at a good price. While I was online looking for rain coats, I happened across the website WildBlueDeals.com. After I looked through it, I decided to sign up for an Internet package for our household from it.

I did find a kids rain coat for each of them that will give them a little bit of room to grow. I guess I need to get used to buying them different looking clothes now.

Photo by: Vijay

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Cute rain coats for my twin sons

Oh yes my precious! It will be mine! Finally, the long awaited extended editions of one of the bestest fanatasy epic trilogies will be coming to a Blu-ray box set near you.  Tolkien fans rejoice! I thought the original DVD’s were spectacular, so I’d imagine this edition will blow our collective socks off. Boasting a new remastered film transfer in 6.1 DTS-HD surround, this 15 disc box set from Warner Bros. will retail for about $119.98 SRP, but probably less than that online I’m guessing. Amazon has it for $83.99 preorder. Bring it on Mordor!

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

In this first part of the Trilogy, the young hobbit Frodo Baggins inherits a ring; but this ring is no mere trinket. It is the One Ring, an instrument of absolute power that could allow Sauron, the dark Lord of Mordor, to rule Middle-earth and enslave its peoples. Frodo, together with a Fellowship that includes his loyal hobbit friends, humans, a wizard, a dwarf and an elf, must take the One Ring across Middle-earth to Mount Doom, where it first was forged, and destroy it forever. Such a journey means venturing deep into territory manned by Sauron, where he is amassing his army of Orcs. And it is not only external evils that the Fellowship must combat, but also internal dissension and the corrupting influence of the One Ring itself. The course of future history is entwined with the fate of the Fellowship. The film won four Oscars^® for Best Visual Effects, Cinematography, Makeup and Original Score.

Special Features:

Disc 1 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Feature Extended Edition Part 1

· The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – The Untold Story Trailer

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 2 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Feature Extended Edition Part 2

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 3 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 1 From Book to Vision

· Peter Jackson Introduction

· JRR Tolkien: Creator of Middle-earth

· From Book To Script

· Visualizing the Story

· Designing and Building Middle-earth

· Middle-earth Atlas Interactive

· New Zealand and Middle-earth Interactive

Disc 4 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part Two From Vision to Reality

· Elijah Wood Introduction

· Filming The Fellowship of the Ring

· Visual Effects

· Post Production: Putting It All Together

· Digital Grading

· Sound and Music

· The Road Goes Ever On…

Disc 5 (DVD)

· Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Created by Filmmaker Costa Botes during filming of
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

In their parallel journeys, the Fellowship will stand against the powerful forces spreading from the Two Towers — Orthanc Tower in Isengard, where Saruman has bred a lethal army of 10,000 strong; and Sauron’s fortress at Barad-dûr, deep within the dark lands of Mordor. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers culminates in the astonishing battle for the refuge, Helm’s Deep, the Kingdom of Rohan’s ancient large stone fortress, besieged by Uruk-hai warriors. The film won two Oscars: Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects.

Special Features:

Disc 6 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Feature Extended Edition Part 1

· The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – The Untold Story Trailer

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 7 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Feature Extended Edition Part 2

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 8 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 3: The Journey Continues

· Peter Jackson Introduction

· JRR Tolkien: Origin of Middle-earth

· From Book to Script: Finding the Story

· Designing and Building Middle-earth

· Gollum

· Middle-earth Atlas Interactive

· New Zealand as Middle-earth

Disc 9 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 4: The Battle for Middle-earth

· Elijah Wood Introduction

· Filming The Two Towers

· Visual Effects

· Editorial: Refining the Story

· Music and Sound

· The Battle for Helm’s Deep is Over…

Disc 10 (DVD)

· Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Created by Filmmaker Costa Botes during filming of
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The final battle for Middle-earth begins. Frodo and Sam (Sean Astin), led by the mysterious Gollum (Andy Serkis), continue their dangerous mission toward the fires of Mount Doom in order to destroy the One Ring. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) struggles to fulfill his legacy as he leads his outnumbered followers against the growing power of the Dark Lord Sauron, so that the Ring-bearer may complete his quest. The film, which won Academy Awards^® in all 11 categories for which it was nominated, took wins for Best Picture, Director, Editing, Art Direction, Costume Design, Visual Effects, Makeup, Adapted Screenplay, Sound Mixing, Original Song and Original Score.

Special Features:

Disc 11 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Feature Extended Edition Part 1

· The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – The Untold Story Trailer

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 12 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King Feature Extended Edition Part 2

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 13 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 5: The War of the Ring

· Peter Jackson Introduction

· JRR Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth

· From Book to Script

· Designing and Building Middle-earth

· Home of the Horse Lords

· Middle-earth Atlas

· New Zealand as Middle-earth

Disc 14 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 6: The Passing of an Age

· Introduction

· Filming The Return of the King

· Visual Effects

· Post-Production: Journey’s End

· The Passing of an Age

· Cameron Duncan: The Inspiration for Into the West

Disc 15 (DVD)

· Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Created by Filmmaker Costa Botes during filming of
The Lord of the Rings: The  Return of the King

[The Limey] – As you may know, photos of Vanessa Hudgens naked appeared online early this week, and the ‘High School Musical’ actress is now helping the FBI track the thieves who allegedly ‘stole’ them from her Gmail account.

The photos show a woman who looks like Hudgens kissing another woman who seems to be fellow Disney star Alexa Nikolas. Hudgens claims they were hacked from her email and FBI sources tell TMZ up to fifty actual celebrities could be victims of the same group of hackers.

People believed to be involved with this group have since attempted to sell pictures to various web sites, but the FBI believes their true motive is not the money it’s the sheer thrill of hacking.

This is the third time 22-year old Vanessa has been the subject of  ‘stolen’ nude photos. Full-frontal nude shots she’d stored on her cellphone were leaked in September of 2007, and more of them surfaced in 2009. But she released a statement saying she was “embarrassed” about them and Disney kept her on the payroll.

To misquote Oscar Wilde, ‘To have photos leaked once is a misfortune; To have it happen twice looks like stupidity. But three times is glaringly obvious attention-seeking, victim-playing BS perpetrated by someone so intellectually vapid they truly believe the people who made them half as famous as they think they are will not only still buy the story, but deserve to be insulted like this.

This is nothing more than concocted drama, manufactured to enable a fading starlet to play the victim – again – and sell tear-coated stories to the low-rent gossip blogs, thus gaining acres of press, cash and attention with no work involved.

Ms. Hudgens should now forsake this charade, admit the malfeasance and apologize to the true victims of this infantile ploy – the fans.

If you’ve seen the photos, do you think it’s her? And was it theft or a stunt? – Let’s hear your views…

Photo: MWibisono

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Vanessa Hudgens plays victim, again

Since I haven’t been able to come up with anything else lately..lets have some geeky fun instead for this nerdy topic. Star Trek fans..who is the better captain. The womanizing, brash, no holds barred Captain Kirk or the calm, calculating, tea drinking, Borg hating Jean Luc Picard. You decide! Make it so!

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