pimblr.com

Edward Norton at the 'Hulk' premiere.
Edward Norton at the 'Hulk' premiere.
Friday’s premiere of “The Incredible Hulk” should prove big box office numbers, but not with any help from star Edward Norton.
Norton, I’m told, has slipped off to a desert island rather than do publicity for the movie he stars in and nominally wrote.
I say nominally because there’s been a dispute right along about who did what on “Hulk.” The screenplay is credited to “X-Men 3″ writer Zak Penn, who definitely wrote the original draft and mapped out the movie.
But wasn’t it only last July 2007 that Norton boasted of writing the screenplay at Comic-Con, the convention for people who trade comic books and associated materials? Uh, yes, he did.
I’m told that Norton did substantially rewrite the Penn draft, added lots of dialogue, and worked on the character of the Hulk’s alter ego Bruce Banner to make him more human.
But Norton fell out with Marvel and Universal and declined to do much publicity. This left the bulk of it to co-star Liv Tyler.
Interestingly, Norton is not signed to do the typical two sequels to this “Hulk,” although Tyler is and so, I’m told, is director Louis Leterrier. The reason for Norton holding out is likely a money issue. Could he be replaced in future versions? Undoubtedly, although that would be a shame. He’s terrific as the un-jolly green giant.
Meantime, some Web sites like Cinematical have noted that Universal is using Robert Downey Jr.’s surprise appearance in “Hulk” as Tony Stark aka Iron Man in their TV commercials. Downey’s presence was supposed to be a big twist at the end — so much so that I kept it out of my review the other day. But I guess that Marvel and Universal want to capitalize on “Iron Man”’s huge box office.

foxnews.com

The 30th district, comprised of Ridgewood, Glendale, and Middle Village, is a conservative part of Queens, represented in the State Senate by Republican Serphin Maltese, who has sponsored a state Defense of Marriage Act, fortunately forestalled in Albany. His Assembly partner on that effort is Democrat Anthony Seminario, who represents a portion of the 30th.
According to GothamGazette.com, the district is 53 percent white, 32 percent Latino, seven percent Asian, and only two percent black. Just over half of the voters are registered Democrats, with only a quarter identifying as Republicans, yet the GOP has held the Council seat for the past 16 years.
At a candidate forum in Glendale in early April, strong opposition was voiced in the crowd and among some of the candidates to bilingual education and to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which shortly afterward went down to defeat in Albany. Only Ober said anything positive about the congestion plan, though he emphasized some reservations. Several mentions of the “Brooklyn border” during the evening indicated community anxiety about the proximity of Bushwick and East New York, two neighborhoods with predominately people of color populations.
In a race that includes three Republicans and two Democrats and will be decided in a nonpartisan vote, the divides among the candidates have played out as though two primaries were simultaneously being contested. Ognibene has been harshly critical of the GOP machine in Queens for supporting Anthony Como, a Maltese aide who just resigned his post as a Queens County elections commissioner.
Ober meanwhile has taken on the county Democratic establishment for endorsing Crowley, who also got the party’s nod in 2001 when, at age 23, she garnered just 40 percent of the vote against Dennis Gallagher, the Republican. Gallagher’s resignation after pleading guilty to two sexual abuse misdemeanor charges set the stage for the special election. Ober charges he was never given consideration by the Democratic organization.

gaycitynews.com

Here’s a not-very-significant question: which current show do you think has the best episode titles?
The elaborateness (is that a word?) of episode titles seems to fluctuate a lot. A lot of shows used to have very elaborate titles for two reasons: a) Most dramas actually showed the title at the beginning, requiring the writers to come up with a cool title that summed up the episode, and b) Comedies, which didn’t usually show the title, would have punny in-joke titles based on the writers’ belief that nobody would ever see them. That’s how you got episode titles like “Dwarf in a Helium Hat” (my personal favourite, from The Rockford Files), and “Warning: Live Blueberries” (from the soon-to-be-released first season of Mannix) and another of my all-time favourites, “Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas Eve in the Hospital” (The Bob Newhart Show — if the title had bee shown onscreen, we wouldn’t have had to watch the episode).
There were always some shows that had simpler titles, like Dragnet, which called every episode “The Big _____” and later just “The ______.” But more shows started moving towards simpler titles as producers realized that writers were spending too much time coming up with titles that no one would ever see (especially once dramas stopped putting the title at the beginning). That’s why Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, influenced by Dragnet, decreed that all Seinfeld episodes would just be “The _____,” because they said they didn’t want the writers wasting time on writing awesome titles. (If you look at the titles from the first season of Law and Order, they had crazy titles like “By Hooker, By Crook,” which they mostly dropped after the first season in favour of one or two-word titles.)
But then in the mid-’90s, with the rise of the internet, it became apparent that many if not most fans would, in fact, see the title and they’d want something interesting or funny. That’s how Dawson’s Creek gave us titles like “First Encounters of the Close Kind” or King of the Hill came up with “Little Horrors of Shop” (rule of thumb: taking a famous movie title and reversing it — title gold). The Sopranos,  which started in the late ’90s, had some insane titles (”The Telltale Moozadell”).

blog.macleans.ca

FBI agents raided the Washington D.C. offices of Special Counsel Scott Bloch on Tuesday. Bloch was appointed by President Bush back in 2003.
The Office of Special Counsel was put into place in order to protect the rights of whistle-blowers, and also look into political activity which may not be kosher.
According to reports, Bloch made an attempt to try and destroy computer files which were in his office.
The raid was apparently related to an obstruction of justice by Bloch during 2006.

overthelimit.info

Somewhere between Spider-Man and the Hulk, you might just find Robert Downey Jr. in a can.
Box-office expectations were big—but not crazy big—for Iron Man, which kicks off the summer movie season tomorrow (or tonight at 8 p.m., if you want to be technical about it, and include the so-called "sneak" screenings).
"This is definitely no Spider-Man 3," says Jeff Bock, a box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations Co. "But this is a huge comic-book property."
Bock's guess: Between $80 million and $100 million, and eventual status as the second biggest comic-book movie of the summer after the latest Batman adventure, The Dark Knight.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers, pegged a $75 million-$85 million opening—or, as he put it: "Higher than X-Men but less than Spider-Man."
"We don't have a lot to go on," Dergarabedian said. "This isn't a franchise yet."
Spider-Man 3, which was the latest chapter of its franchise, jump-started last summer with a phenomenal $151.1 million opening weekend.
But as 2003's Hulk reminds, it's not always about how you start. In the case of that critically panned comic-book movie, a $62 million opening gave way to a sputtering $132.2 million finish.
In the case of Iron Man, which stars Downey as a playboy genius-turned-armored crimefighter, Dergarabedian said a debut of $50 million or less would be disappointing, but not necessarily fatal.
"Because it's good, it's going to have legs," said Dergarabedian, who caught a screening a few weeks ago.
Rob M. Worley, founder of Comics2Film.com, agreed.
"I rank it among the better superhero movies," said Worley, who watched it Tuesday night. "It's the cool, hipster superhero movie."
At one point this afternoon, Rotten Tomatoes had tracked 31 early-bird reviews, and deigned all but two of them positive. Iron Man's "T-meter" reading stood at 93 percent.

eonline.com

(S04E11) “What are kids for, if not to be used as excuses to get out of things you don’t want to do?” - Joe Dubois (as well as Paul Goebel)
Forty may, indeed, be the new thirty but considering Rosanna Arquette is a year away from being fifty, they could have done a little more to make her look better. I always thought she was hot but seeing her in that first scene made me want to watch The Executioner’s Song just so I can relive those good old days.
It’s about time, Manny came to his senses and stopped trying to deny that Alison was a huge help to him as the D.A. The truth is, there are plenty of voters who would actually be thrilled to know that the Phoenix police are using any method they can to put away criminals and, as we’ve seen, Alison gets results.
When my kids were little, I was always amazed at how often they and other kids suffered from ear infections. Moreover, I wondered why more adults don’t get them. I’m sure there is a reason for it but the truth is, while it’s happening, all you care about is getting the medicine that will make your child stop crying. Funny how that works. The scene in the car was another great example of how true and grounded the characters are.
When this season started, it seemed like Alison was only getting visions in her dreams, which I found annoying. Recently, however, she’s been visited by ghosts and tonight, she even got a vision when shaking the hand of Manny’s friend. I love that stuff. Maybe it’s because Alison Dubois is a real person or maybe because so many other shows get it wrong but whatever the reason is, I really appreciate the attention to detail that is written into these episodes. It makes for a more interesting story without getting away from what makes the characters fun to watch in the first place.

tvsquad.com

It is tax day, the day that American’s must have their federal taxes filed by. If you put it off until the last minute, we have some information you need to know.
The following retail collection points are available for tax filers on Tuesday, April 15:
Buffalo Main Office Windows, 1200 William St., Buffalo. Full Service until 6 p.m., and stamp vending machines and April 15th postmark available in outer lobby until midnight.
Buffalo Cayuga Branch Post Office, 285 Cayuga Rd., Cheektowaga. Full retail service and April 15th postmark until midnight.
Williamsville Postal Store, 5423 Sheridan Dr., Williamsville. Full retail service and postmark until 7 p.m.
Amherst Branch, 5500 N. Bailey Avenue, Amherst. Full retail service and postmark until 7 p.m.
East Aurora Post Office, 408 Quaker Rd., East Aurora. Full retail service and postmark until 6 p.m.
Hamburg Post Office, 5501 Camp Rd., Hamburg. Full retail service and postmark until 6 p.m.
LaSalle Branch, 9860 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls, NY. Full retail service and postmark until 7 p.m.
Customers will also find automated postal centers open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
West Seneca Branch
Getzville Post Office
Hamburg Post Office
Niagara Falls LaSalle Branch
Grand Island Post Office
Lockport Post Office
Orchard Park Post Office
WGRZ.com is pleased to offer conversations online, but it is impractical for our staff to monitor every posting. Since WGRZ.com does not control submitted statements, we cannot promise that offensive or inaccurate comments may not sometimes be posted. We remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not WGRZ.com.

wgrz.com

Ananda Krishnan due in SL
Maxis Malaysia boss T. Ananda Krishnan isdue in Sri Lanka this week in connectionwith the NTT/SLT deal, market sources said.
Multi-billionaire Ananda Krishnan is aMalaysian Tamil whose parents were from SriLanka.
However, it’s not clear whether Maxis, atelecoms operator in Malaysia, will buy allof NTT Japan’s 35.2% stake in SLT, or settlefor only 25%, thereby ensuring that NTTwill continue to maintain the right ofappointing/having the CEO of their choice inSLT, by ensuring that NTT will retain aminimum 10% stake in SLT as per itsshareholder agreement, they said.
Last week NTT transferred all of its 35.2%shareholding in SLT to the Colombo StockExchange CDS, a move, which market sourcesinterpreted as a prelude to this Japanesetelecoms company preparing to divest itsholdings in SLT.
SLT has a total of 1.8 billion issued shareswith the government being its biggestshareholder with a 49.2% stake. SLT, alisted company, also has a public float of15.3% of its equity.
The past few days have seen heavy trading inSLT shares on speculation that Maxis willtrigger the Securities and ExchangeCommission’s Mergers and Acquisitions Codeby buying NTT’s 35.2% stake in SLT.If aninvestor buys a minimum 30% stake in alisted company, he triggers this Code,thereby being liable to make an offer tothat company’s remaining shareholders to buytheir stakes also in the company at itshighest traded price in the one yearpreceding the date the Code was triggered.
SLT on Wednesday closed at Rs. 40.50 ashare, down 25 cents over its previousclosing price, on a volume of 6.2 millionshares. There was no trading on Thursday andFriday on account of holidays.
Market speculation is that Maxis willexecute this deal at Rs. 42 a share.
NTT bought this 35.2% stake from thegovernment in 1997 (plus management control)for US$ 225 million.
It has been reported that Maxis has beeneyeing NTT’s stake in SLT since last year,as part of its regional expansion drive. Butits buying was stalled after this issue wentto courts and was only revived earlier thismonth, after the court gave NTT thegreenlight to sell its stake in SLT if itwishes to.

thesundayleader.lk

Most of the network’s comedies were roughly on par with their pre-strike averages, but “The Office” spiked to deliver its highest rating since the show’s fall season premiere (9.2 million, 4.8/12). At 8 p.m., “My Name Is Earl” (7 million, 3.0/9) and return of “30 Rock” (5.7 million, 2.7/7) were down slightly from their averages as they were up against an “American Idol” results show. The return of comedy “Scrubs” at 9:30 was up 6% (6.6 million, 3.4/8). At 10 p.m., the return of “ER” was down 14% to match its all-time low (5.9 million, 3.1/8).
NBC came in third place overall, with Fox in first place airing a special “American Idol” results show (20 million, 6.8/19), which matched Wednesday’s “Idol Gives Back” event. After, an episode of “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” performed strong (10.9 million, 4.0/10).
In second place, CBS aired a series low “Survivor: Micronesia” (11.7 million, 3.8/11). “CSI” was down a couple ticks from last week’s return to originals (20 million, 5.7/14), but effectively matched “Idol” as the most-viewed show of night. “Without a Trace” held steady (14.6 million, 3.9/11).

hollywoodreporter.com

NBA (6:30 p.m., Ch. 14): Jazz at Mavericks
Survivor (7 p.m., Ch. 2): The tribes merge.
Desperate Housewives (7 and 8 p.m., Ch. 4): The two most recent episodes are repeated; a new hour airs Sunday.
My Name Is Earl (7 p.m., Ch. 5): Randy works on Earl’s list.
American Idol (7 p.m., Ch. 13): Another contestant is eliminated.
30 Rock (7:30 p.m., Ch. 5): Everyone is obsessed with a tawdry reality show.
CSI (8 p.m., Ch. 2): A toddler is murdered.
The Office (8 p.m., Ch. 5): Pam and Jim go to Jan and Michael’s house for dinner.
Scrubs (8:30 p.m., Ch. 5): Turk tries to learn Spanish.
Without a Trace (9:01 p.m., Ch. 2): A heart-transplant recipient disappears.
Eli Stone (9 p.m., Ch. 4): Eli represents a convict denied parole. (Another episode airs Sunday at 9 p.m.)
Thursday's are back! Yipee!
Linda | April 10, 2008 at 10:03 a.m.

deseretnews.com