David Blaine breaks world record on Oprah

David Blaine — who is described as an endurance specialist — set a world record on the Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday.  Blaine says he inhaled pure oxygen before he started, and then held his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds. When he broke the record, with half a minute to spare, he said he accomplished a lifelong dream.

Writing Discussion with Stephen, Tabitha, and Owen King on CSPAN-2

Authors Stephen, Tabitha, and Owen King discuss their writing with Washington, D.C. area high school students.  The King family reads from their latest works and takes questions from the students.  This event was sponsored by PEN/Faulkner’s “Writers in Schools” program and the Center for the Book and took place at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.  The program will be featured on CSPAN-2 on Sunday, May 4, at 10 PM and then again on Saturday, May 17, at 8 PM (Both are Eastern Time).

New High School Musical 3: Senior Year Poster

High School Musical 3: Senior Year finds high school seniors Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) facing the prospect of separation as they head off to different colleges. Joined by the rest of the Wildcats, they stage an elaborate spring musical reflecting their experiences, hopes and fears about the future. With incredible new music and exciting dance numbers designed to take maximum advantage of the big screen, this motion picture extravaganza delivers plenty of high-energy entertainment from East High’s talented ensemble.  The movie is due in theaters on October 24, 2008.

 

 

J.J. Abrams Talks Star Trek

J.J. Abrams grew up more a fan of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo than of James Kirk and his Vulcan buddy Spock. So why is a self-professed “Star Wars” kid directing “Star Trek“?

“It was an opportunity to take what I think has been a maligned world — to sound crass, a franchise — and treat it in a way that made it something that I wanted to see,” said Abrams, who recently finished shooting on “Star Trek,” due in theaters May 8, 2009. “To take the characters, the thoughtfulness, the personalities, the sense of adventure, the idea of humanity working together, the sense of social commentary and innovation, all that stuff. To take it and apply it in a way that felt genuinely thrilling.”

Abrams, creator of TV’s “Lost” and “Alias” whose big-screen credits include “Mission: Impossible III,” shared some “Trek” thoughts with The Associated Press in an interview to promote the DVD release of his monster movie “Cloverfield.”

While he enjoyed the TV show about Capt. Kirk, First Officer Spock and their Enterprise, Abrams said he was not a rabid fan. crew mates

In this age of make-or-break opening weekends, the revival of the franchise seven years after the last movie (“Star Trek: Nemesis”) flopped may depend on introducing a new generation to the exploits of the 23rd century explorers rather than just hooking old fans.

“The whole point was to try to make this movie for fans of movies, not fans of `Star Trek,’ necessarily,’” Abrams said. “If you’re a fan, we’ve got one of the writers who’s a devout Trekker, so we were able to make sure we were serving the people who are completely enamored with `Star Trek.’ But we are not making the movie for that contingent alone.

“You can’t really make a movie for them. As soon as you start to guess what you think they are going to want to see, you’re in trouble. You have to make the movie in many ways for what you want to see yourself, make a movie you believe in. Then you’re not second-guessing an audience you don’t really have an understanding of.”

After the 1960s TV show went off the air, it remained alive in syndication, and the original cast led by William Shatner as Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock was reunited for six big-screen movies.

Four more movies followed starring Patrick Stewart and the cast of the 1980s and ’90s update “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” while the “Trek” universe expanded to include three other TV series.

Abrams’ “Star Trek” takes the franchise back to its beginning, with a young cast re-creating the Enterprise crew: Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, Simon Pegg as engineer Scott, John Cho as helmsman Sulu, Zoe Saldana as communications officer Uhura and Anton Yelchin as navigator Chekov.

“It’s a chance to see what Kirk and Spock would look like done now,” Abrams said. “What’s thrilling about it is how great the cast is, how remarkably talented and funny and just spot-on they all are.”

Nimoy also reprises his role as the older Spock, though Shatner — whose Kirk was killed at the end of the seventh movie, “Star Trek: Generations” — does not appear.

Abrams would not share plot details, saying only that the movie would remain faithful to the original while breaking new ground in action, drama and visual effects, which are being crafted by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas‘ Industrial Light and Magic outfit.

“I feel like this is so unlike what you expect, so unlike the `Star Trek’ you’ve seen. At the same time, it’s being true to what’s come before, honoring it,” Abrams said. “I can say the effects for `Star Trek’ have never, ever been done like this. … I can only tell you the idea of the universe of `Star Trek’ has never been given this kind of treatment.”

Purchase New Movies on iTunes Same Day as DVD Release

Apple today announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) on the same day as their DVD release. New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod with video, iPhone, Mac or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV, with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99.

New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include “American Gangster” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Other popular titles now available for purchase include “Juno,” “Cloverfield,” “I Am Legend,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”