Gyllenhall and Carrey -- Jake and Jim, together again for the first time!

Here it is, right from the horse's mouth -- or at least right out of the pages of Variety (so you can believe it when I tell you that two of the hottest gay stars who aren't actually gay -- or at least won't 'fess up about it -- are paired ... together again for the first time ... in A MUSICAL:

Carrey, Gyllenhaal do 'Yankees'

Yip yip yip yip --

Seriously. Now, Damned Yankees is a peach of a project to begin with: there's this really, really nice guy, Boyd (married, but I don't recall him having kids. Anyone??) who's in love ... with a baseball team. Not the GUYS on the team, y'understand, but the team itself. And they only know how to do one thing: lose. So this really nice guy makes a pact with the devil hisself ... to transform himself into Slugger Joe, who's going to save the team, get them to the World Series, an' all. Things get complex when the contract's deadline comes up smack in the middle of said World Series (which is actually a misnomer because nobody else in the world plays in it, only the USA). And Old Nick plays the trump card: he reincarnates a femme fatal by the name of Lola to go "up there" on his business, seduce the Boyd (aka Slugger) and make sure the pact is forever. Add songs and dances, and you've got it.

Now, Jake Gyllenhaal is going to play Boyd ... okay; he's rather young for the part. Boyd was supposed to be maybe 15 or 20 years older. And Jim Carrey (what a surprise!) is going to play the Lord of Darkness who knows exactly how to seduce Boyd --

And I'm not going to say another word about that. Except --

Who's playing Lola?!

And the winners are --

Yep, it's Oscar's Day -- can't say "Oscar's Night," because down here in Aus, the show goes on (and on and on and on) all day, due to the time difference!

As I write this, the great news is that Heath Ledger has just been honored with the AFI award:

See the winners come up in real time here, if you can't park yourself in front of a TV screen for about six hours during the working day -- and who can?

From my perspective, this is the big news at the Oscars -- why? Because it's the last chance Heath Ledger will have to "win the big one." And he richly deserved it. Brad Pitt and others will have many, many other chances, but this one was critically important for Heath, his family, and his fans.

Nice one, kid. Real nice.

Paul Bettany, transported to the fantasy landscape

Today I'm in a Paul Bettany mood for some reason -- not that you need a reason, right? And I have to say, I'm really looking forward to Inkheart. I like this actor so much; he reminds me a little bit of what the late Michael Gothard might have been, if he'd been born maybe thirty years later and given a chance! (As it was, Mike Gothard was so far out of his time, it's a wonder he left his mark on the world at all -- but he did, with projects like Arthur of the Britons. Speaking of which -- you DO know it's been out on DVD for about a year, don't you??)

But I digress, and to apologise, let's have a really lovely Paul Bettany pic:

Paul has done his fair share of creepy stuff, so it's going to be so nice to see him once again looking gorgeous, as he did in -- oh, for instance, A Knight's Tale, with Heath Leger and company...

Got a soft spot for Geoff Chaucer. I have. And not just because he has one of the nicest posteriors in motion pictures. Anyway --

Inkheart is going to be a major treat, and if you want to know more, there's a good interview with Brendan Fraser running right now, on Movies OnLine.

On the other hand, if you prefer to go into a movie "blind," then don't read that page!! However, I'm going to paste in the movie poster right here, because it's a beaut:

This one, I'm going to see on the big screen, whether or not my significant other wants to come along or not. Paul Bettany and Brendan Fraser in the same movie? How could you not love this one?

TEN MINUTES LATER, here's a bloody annoying PS to this post:

I just went to Greater Union (dot-blasted-com) to find out when Inkheart opens. Now, bear in mind it already had its world premier in Berlin back in January (because it's from the novel by Cornelia Funke, makes sense to have the premier in Germany). But they're not opening it in Australia until April!! Can you believe this? Think I read it wrong? See this:

http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/7166/Inkheart.htm -- that's Inkheart's page at the aforementioned Greater-flaming-union -- complete with auto playing trailer, and opening date. April 2. Well ... shoot. AG is under-impressed.

Heath Ledger: Speak out for him someone, since his voice is silent now!

Two items hit me squarely between the eyeballs this morning, and Heath Ledger is central to both of them. The first is great ... the second is a "WFT" piece for which somebody, somewhere, has to say something -- and if it has to be me, then so be it.

Let's go to the first piece ... first. This is lovely:

HEATH Ledger's love of chess has been set in stone at a park on Perth's Swan River, where he played as a child.

Ledger's family have given the City of Melville, in Perth's southern suburbs, a polished concrete and marble sculpture in memory of the late actor, comprising two chess boards and a yin and yang symbol.

Ledger's mother Sally Bell said the family had chosen the site at Heathcote Reserve, overlooking the Swan River, because her son had cared about the environment and spent much of his youth in the Applecross area.

Ms Bell said he often walked to the park with his friends. "He truly loved it there," she said.

There's loads more to read on this story -- get the whole thing here:
Heath Ledger's memory set in stone in park along Perth's Swan River

Is that lovely, or what? Nice one. [Reaches for a kleenex]

And then, at the exact same moment, this pops up ... and it just can't be kosher:

FYI: Heath Ledger was a badass chess player.

After sodomizing Jake Gyllenhaal (so hot) and hamming it up as a psycho, mass-murdering clown (hella artsy), Heath overdosed on sleeping pills (so in right now) and bit the dust — a fucking brilliant career move. Immortalized forever as a tortured actor on the cusp of glory, the former junior chess champion joined the VIP list of early-death superstars: James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee ... and now our favorite, 28-year-old Australian man candy.

Forget that he was the most convincing clown ever, licking his caked-up lips in the freakiest of snakelike fashions (after all, making even the burliest bro piss his pants doesn’t make a man). It’s what happens after — hundreds of tribute videos from love-struck fans, thousands of Facebookers in Joker paint, millions made in box-office bills — that truly grants Ledger a rank among legends.

As for other Oscar nominees? He’s the checkmate from hell.

That's the whole, idiotic piece, in entirety! There is no more. The blogger has said her piece (I assume it's a female -- the first name is Allie):
Best Posthumous Achievement - The Dark Knight

...Say, what? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Don't know about you guys, but I find it muy offensive. This post went up at University of California, San Diego, on The Guardian online magazine.

AG was the first to comment and left this:
Am I the only one who finds this offensive ... or just the first one to find it?! Someone has to be the first ... and if there was a "report this" button, I'd be clicking it. Is this drivel supposed to be a joke? If so, it's in extremely bad taste. Doesn't anyone at The Guardian edit items before they're posted?!

If you're even half as PO'd as I am, skeedaddle over there and leave words for somebody called Allie Cuerdo: http://www.ucsdguardian.org/hiatus/best_posthumous_achievement-1.1486561 in the hopes that this sort of twaddle can be nipped in the bud.

Go on! Heath can't speak out for himself any longer, so someone's going to have to do it!

Let's have some pictures, now, to sweeten this ... because AG's Album isn't supposed to be full of aggro!

Orlando Bloom: headed back to Australia in '09!

It's official, folks: Orlando Bloom has signed up, along with French actor Vincent Cassel, to shoot a movie downunder.

He'll be arriving here in June or July, and the movie shoots in July. The project is called The Cross, and is being described as "a sci-fi escape story." It's shooting on a $24m budget, so it's on a little bit of a shoestring by today's standards ... good idea to film it downunder -- it's cheaper here!

This makes a break -- could be a welcome one?? -- for Orlando, who's done three of the most enormous fantasy movies, and then another five or six historicals that I can think of, and a small number of contemporary films that didn't go down too well. (I really liked Elizabethtown ... I caught on to its loopy sense of humor and laughed my a$$ off, but apparently some people just didn't see the joke. Well -- their loss.)

Am I right, is The Cross the first big Hollywood picture to be filmed down here since Nicholas Cage in Ghostrider?

Here's just about all that's known about the movie at this time: Orlando Bloom to star in 'The Cross' ... that story ran about a week ago, but at the time I saw a few pages that put a big question mark against Orlie's name -- would he be in it, wouldn't he? Seems, he will!

It'll be the first time he's been down here in Aus since making Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger ... and it's interesting that Vincent Cassel has an odd kind of connection: he starred in Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen, who starred with Orlie in Lord of the Rings. Full circle. Nice.

Now, how about some eye candy, thanks very much! Here goes:




Want more? Come back tomorrow! There's plenty of candy for the senses -- and a lot to talk about...

On the cover of the Rolling Stone --!

So, my Significant Other is listening to old-old music on new-new electronics. You've got Doctor Hook and the Medicine Show pounding out of an MP3 player attached to computer speakers, right so far? Right. An they're doing their really Big Number from about thirty years ago --

The Cover of the Rolling Stone. Remember it? And I got to thinking, "Gee-Zeus, it's hard to get on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. In all their years of working, A-listers like Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman and Brendan Fraser have never made the cover yet --

But Doctor Hook did. They did it by writing an hilarious song:
The song was so damned funny, and probably did Rolling Stone a power of good (publicity like this, you cannot buy), and they met the Medicine Show halfway with the cover equivalent of the whacked-out song. Kewl. (Incidentally, the band still has a webpage. Wouldn't you know it? Doctor Hook, uh, dot-com.)

And all this got me to thinking ... so, who HAS made the cover of the Rolling Stone?

Well, for sure the mag has its favorites. Johnny Depp had been on the cover at least four times; Star Wars was on their at least six times that I know of. Brad Pitt has made the cover twice; Angelina's been on there about four times -- so far. She ain't 35 yet. Give her time.

So, just for fun I present the following for your entertainment -- enjoy! (I've uploaded thumbnails because there's s lot of them -- give 'em a CLICK for the fill-sized scan.)



This could go on all day ... time to stop and go get a cup of tea!

Heath Ledger: happy endings

It's official ... Heath Ledger has earned more since his tragic and untimely death than he did when he was on this earth and making movies like A Knight's Tale and The Dark Knight. It's just too bad that the will he left is old, and leaves little or nothing to his daughter. (It all goes to his Dad, and down here the elder Ledger has something of a rep for not being able to handle money, so it seems.)

However, I heard something nice ... and let's be honest, Hollywood is not the usual place from which you expect to hear really nice things! Turns out that Johnny Depp, Colin Farrel and Jude Law came in to finish off the work Heath had begun on the Doctor Parnassus movie, and they donated their paychecks to Matilda Rose.

This is one heck of a nice story. Read more about it right here: http://www.dailystab.com/johnny-depp-colin-farrell-jude-law-donate-earnings-to-heath-ledgers-daughter/

...and meanwhile, let's have another couple of pictures while we're here. NOT the full-frontal totally nekkid one ... let's have a little respect for Heath, guys. Now's not the time ... and this blog probably ain't quite the place for that kind of in-ya-face explicitness. Thoughts, people??

Heath Ledger: a year to the day

And -- on a more serious note ... would you believe that it's been a year since Heath Ledger passed away? The date was January 23, 2008 ... and that date has come around again...



It doesn't seem like a year. And a lot of people will mourn for many years. Here's the article running today in The Australian: A year after, Heath Ledger family still feels loss of actor .

You can say that again.

Here's the incredible painting that was done last year, which many of us think should have won the art competition, but didn't:


Link through to the story about it right here: Heath Ledger is picture perfect

Rest in peace.