TOM HANKS FACES DA VINCE CODE PROTESTERS IN ENGLAND!

Ignorance is the problem of most people claiming to know God. But, they misunderstand his ways. Because, they misrepresent him. God does not need anyone to defend Him. God knows how to defend himself. Therefore, all the so called "Christians" protesting against Tom Hanks in the production of the Da Vince Code need a shrink. Tom Hanks should just ignore them and have a drink on me.

Hanks faces DaVinci code protesters

Source: World Entertainment News Network

Oscar-winning actor TOM HANKS was faced by protestors including nuns,
as he began filming scenes for the upcoming film adaptation of DAN
BROWN's best-selling novel THE DA VINCI CODE in England yesterday
(15AUG05).

The demonstration took place outside Lincoln Cathedral, which is
doubling for London's Westminster Abbey, where religious leaders only
agreed to allow filming after the movie's producers made a $180,000
(100,000) donation.

Hanks, who will only be in Lincoln for two days, was chauffeur-driven
the short distance from his five star hotel to the historic location -
and he briefly waved at a small gathering of fans, who vied with
demonstrators for his attention, before disappearing inside.

The cathedral's Dean, The Very Reverand ALEC KNIGHT, has dismissed
Brown's 20 million-selling book as "a load of old tosh", but he was
unable to turn down the offer which gives priceless publicity to his
spiritual home.

However, demonstrators outside the cathedral have taken exception to
Brown's questioning of their religious beliefs, and were led in a 12
hour prayer vigil by Catholic nun Sister MARY MICHAEL.

The 61-year-old says, "I just don't think it is right that they are
filming this story here. I know the Bishop and Dean argue that it is
fiction - and it might even be brilliant fiction - but it is against
the very essence of what we believe." (SC/WNTEX)



Cleese to undergo colon surgery

Source: World Entertainment News Network

Comic legend JOHN CLEESE is to undergo surgery on his colon to
alleviate diverticulitis - and he plans to auction the parts of his
anatomy surgeons remove on his personal website.

The MONTY PYTHON funnyman and actor, 65, jokes with fans in a
statement released on the internet that he developed the condition,
which is prevalent in older people with a low fibre diet, because of
his "gluttony".

He even takes the joke so far as to suggest parts of his digestive
system will shortly be available for his most dedicated fans to
purchase.

The statement continues: "The cure is to have the bit of the gut that
has all the little pockets cut out. A very nice surgeon will be doing
this.

"The infected bit which has been cut out by the surgeon will be
offered for sale on the website in the next few days.

"Proceeds from the sale will be divided between JC (John Cleese) and
the very nice surgeon." (SC/WNTEX)



Mortensen's fish charm

Source: World Entertainment News Network

VIGGO MORTENSEN used an unusual lucky charm on the set of new movie A
HISTORY OF VIOLENCE - a life-size plastic fish.

The LORD OF THE RINGS star nabbed the anatomically-correct trout from
his on-screen daughter, who was given the fish as a toy, and he
carried it everywhere he went.

Mortensen explains, "It was a compulsive thing after a while. I felt
like it was unlucky not to have the trout, so I would sneak it in. It
became this game to see if I could keep getting away with it."

His secret was blown when he accidentally dropped the fish on camera,
on the last day of the shoot - in front of director DAVID CRONENBERG.

The actor adds, "David was appalled." (IG/EW/SC)

Send feedback about this Ezine to:
entertainmenttoday.editor@arcamax.com


Television Review: Beautiful People

By: Eakta Khangura

Source: U-WIRE

(U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In an ironic twist unexpected of parent
child-friendly ABC Family, the channel's new show "Beautiful People"
serves as a perfect homage to our image-obsessed culture. It reminds
you of a standard Monet.From far away, the show looks like a
refreshing take on the role beauty plays within our culture. A closer
look, however, reveals that it utterly lacks the panache or unified
execution to make up for the absence of substance, ultimately making
it a vapid primetime soap opera. And with most of its parts husked off
of other, more colorful beasts, most things on the "Beautiful People"
set give the viewer a pretty annoying sense of Deja Vu.

"Beautiful People" introduces us to the Kerrs, a middle-class family
made up of three women who have just been relocated to New York City
from New Mexico. Lynn, played by Daphne Zuniga (TV's "Melrose Place"),
is the strong matriarch of the family who decides to go to New York
after her younger daughter, Sophie, played by relative newcomer Sarah
Foret, wins a scholarship to prestigious Manhattan prep school
Brighton Academy. Tagging along is her older daughter Karen, played by
Torrey Devito, an aspiring model.

Shockingly, almost every fictional television family manages to get
one kid into an "exclusive" day school. Admissions standards are
certainly odd these days, aren't they?

The storyline focuses largely on Sophie's attempt to navigate the
stormy seas of adolescence amidst the decadent lifestyles of New York
society's creme-de-la-creme, also known as the "Beautiful People." She
is joined by new friends Gideon (Ricky Mabe) and Annabelle (Kathleen
Monroe), the aforementioned beautiful outcasts.

Lord knows the idea of people born into a world of wealth and
entitlement is certainly nothing new. In the end, the show becomes
like every other WB teen drama currently on the air.

"Beautiful People" attempts to be the edgier version of "Gilmore
Girls" by showing fifteen year olds doing lines of coke in the
bathroom of a meet-and-greet party on the first day back at school
(because, of course, all rich kids are on drugs), while still
retaining the saccharine sweetness of the perfect mother-daughter
relationships so elusive in the real world.

Eating disorders also occupy a fair share of screen time: Paisley
(played by Jordan Mabley), Queen Bee of the "BPs" (the nickname of the
Beautiful People) is bulimic in order to fit into her size-two Helmut
Lang's. And Anorexia Nervosa rears its overplayed head in the sister,
Karen -- because, for every skinny beautiful model-wannabe, there is
someone skinnier and more beautiful. These are all certainly fine plot
devices -- for 1997.

Most conventional seems to be the storyline developing around Lynn,
who just happens to run into an old flame at the aforesaid
meet-and-greet, played by James McCaffrey (TV's "Rescue Me"). It's
only natural to move across the country, enroll your daughter in the
most posh prep school on the East Coast and run in "the one that got
away," a.k.a. Julian Fiske. OK, now they are just stretching reality.

The banality of the plotline does not stop there. Mr. Fiske just so
happens to be the father of Nicholas Fiske (Jackson Rathbone), the
leader of the Beautiful People and young Sophie's crush. The apple
does not fall far from the tree in either case. Nor does the plotting,
which, in this case, seems to have fallen from a really, really
convoluted tree.

If the show is any indication, ABC Family should stick to cartoons and
feel-good family movies and leave the angst-ridden teen drama genre to
those who know it best. Taking a warmed-over concept and tossing some
notes cribbed straight from "Mean Girls" isn't the most
forward-thinking of concepts.

ABC Family needs to make up their minds -- either "Beautiful People"
must be witty or chock full of stylish diversions. Otherwise, it
remains as inconspicuous as their other teen drama, "Wildfire" (if you
have no idea what I'm talking about, then that's exactly the point).
Of course, eerily like the ultra-skinny Manhattan scions, when the
style of a show is this played out, it only makes what little
substance there is look that much worse.