Rebeca Eckler loves her name:
How much does it cost to achieve literary immortality? In the case of Rebeca Eckler, a Canadian journalist and writer, about $7,000. Two years ago, Eckler paid that princely sum at a charity auction to have her name used as a character in the next novel by her favorite author, fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood.
Though the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) can’t force filmmakers to have certain titles, the excessive use of English words made them to come up with a set of rules about a year and a half ago. The rules said filmmakers must avoid English words in titles as far as possible. The committee responsible for okaying titles made many directors change English words. For instance, originally, director S D Aravind had titled his film `Bangalore Bylaw’. But, the KFCC asked him to change it and he renamed it `Jugari.’ “We cited some past instances but they told us these are new rules. We adhered to the norms,” said Aravind.
Linda Holmes thinks these romantic movie titles leave something to be desired:
The new Jennifer Aniston/Aaron Eckhart romance opening tomorrow is called … Love Happens. Which would seem to be based on … you know, the common phrase? “[Blank] Happens”? I’m not saying they’re directly attempting to link love and [blank], but it sort of feels that way, doesn’t it?
Sierra Entertainment today announced that Radical Entertainment is developing Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant, a new installment of the Crash Bandicoot video game franchise scheduled for release this October on Wii, Xbox 360, PSP, DS and PS2. In Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant, a rejuvenated Neo Cortex is taking over the world one brain at a time. Cortex and N. Brio devise a new kind of evil – a text-messaging, do-anything device which controls both mutant and bandicoot minds. Armed with his quick-wits and lightening agility, Crash must free his friends, the titans and save the day.
Dr. Blair A. Rudes, Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, died unexpectedly on March 16, 2008, after spending the afternoon exercising. An internationally known linguist and expert in American Indian languages, Dr. Rudes came to UNC Charlotte as an Assistant Professor in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005.
During his career at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Rudes became famous as a “Hollywood linguist.” In 2004, film director Terrence Malick hired Dr. Rudes to work as a consultant and dialect coach for the film The New World, which deals with the founding of Jamestown and the interaction between the Native people and the English settlers. Malick wanted the American Indian characters to speak in their native language, but this language had been extinct for over 200 years. Dr. Rudes drew on his expertise in the history of American Indian languages to revive the Virginia Algonquian language. He then translated the dialog spoken by the Native characters into Virginia Algonquian and coached the actors on how to pronounce their lines in this language. Dr. Rudes’ contributions to this film attracted widespread publicity including a feature story in the New York Times. Impressed with Dr. Rudes’ contributions to The New World, film director Carter Smith hired Dr. Rudes to serve as the Mayan Dialogue Coach for the film The Ruins, which will be released by Dreamworks later in 2008.
Sega Europe is polling the world (or a reasonable sample thereof) to name the new alien baddies in the next iteration of its legendary Sonic The Hedgehog franchise. My vote? The Darkmood.
Sonic is cool and all, but he’s no Crash Bandicoot.
“We expect Pure to set a new standard for off-road racing that delivers adrenaline-inducing vertical experiences with spectacular aerial tricks and intense wheel-to-wheel racing,” said Craig Relyea, senior VP of global marketing at Disney Interactive Studios. “Pure will appeal to a wide audience based on the game’s jaw-dropping aerial tricks, breakneck racing and vast environments.”
Now, Disney is embarking on a $1.1 billion, five-year effort to get California Adventure on track. The blueprints call for ripping out ho-hum rides and adding elaborate new ones, rebuilding the park’s entrance — a hodgepodge of turnstiles, a miniature Golden Gate Bridge and pastel tile murals — to shift the focus to Disney iconography.
A Phoenix-based investment team said today it wants to build a 240-acre rock ‘n’ roll theme park in Pinal County intended to rival Orlando’s Disney World complex and the Busch Gardens amusement parks across the country.
The $800 million project, which is proposed to include a luxury hotel and retail space, would be known as Decades Music Theme Park. One of the consultants for the project was a project manager of Disney’s Epcot Center.
A number of haloed Hindu gods and goddesses have debuted in the frenetic world of animation over the past five years. Their appearance marks a shift from a decades-long period in which Indian children grew up almost exclusively on American TV and movie characters, including Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, and Spider-Man.