Everyone in the UK has been horrified by the riots in major English cities. Homes and businesses have been destroyed and the stupidity of the rioters is a real tragedy for many people. The Sony/PIAS Warehouse in London has been gutted by fire – PIAS UK is the main distribution hub for more than 150 independent film and music labels and it is believed that all stock has been lost.
Russell Crowe joins Mark Wahlberg’s Broken
10 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
Cheery chappie Russell Crowe has joined the cast of Mark Wahlberg’s political thriller Broken. Crowe will play a Mayor who hires a private detective to uncover evidence of his wife’s cheating which leads to murder and financial scandal. Sounds very worthy and really rather dull. Can real estate shenanigans make for a decent film?
Barbara Cartland “stole” plots and characters
10 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
News emerged this week of a rift between the grande dame of romantic fiction Barbara Cartland and historical novelist Georgette Heyer. Heyer accused Cartland of stealing character names and situations from her novels and using them in a “common minded, salacious and illiterate” manner. Miaow. I’ve read a few Barbara Cartland books in my time, I don’t know know if she plagerised Heyer but she certainly copied from herself, over and over and over again!
Edinburgh International Book Festival
10 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
It’s the time of year that Edinburgh becomes culture central and thousands of people flock to the Fringe. Other festivals are held at the same time including the International Book Festival. The festival runs from 13 – 29 August and featured authors include Bettany Hughes, Sarah Brown, Simon Callow and Ian Rankin. The full programme is available online and makes me sorry to be missing the fun.
British Red Cross Creative Writing Competition
10 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
Not book news as such but it certainly caught my eye. To mark the International Day of the Disappeared on 30th August, the British Red Cross is running a creative writing competition with the theme ‘The Disappeared’. The winning entry will win £50 cash and a £50 book voucher but more importantly will be contributing to publicising this vitally important cause. I’m already planning my entry….
Waterproof paperback launched
10 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
There’s a little bit of me that’s surprised it has taken so long for this to happen. I know lots of people who read in the bath and they all have a story about that one book that fell in and now has crispy pages from where it was left to dry off on the radiator. Apparently this new innovation will make our books last 200% longer – I have my doubts. Have a read of the comments – does anyone really put their Kindle in a ziploc bag to read in the pool? Really?
Expanding Expendables
3 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
The cast list for The Expendables 2 is continuing to grow. The sequel to last year’s action adventure starts filming next month and a loose-lipped executive has let it slip that Chuck Norris and John Travolta have joined the action hero-heavy cast which includes Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham and Jean-Claude van Damme. Cue a whole new round of Chuck Norris facts – for example did you know that when Chuck Norris crosses the road, cars look both ways….?
A tie at the top
3 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
I’ve never heard of this before but there’s a dead heat at the top of the US box office. Both Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs have earned $36.2 million dollars on their opening weekend. I’m sure that over the next couple of days one or the other will take a lead but for the moment it’s a tie.
I don’t see this as a great result for Cowboys & Aliens – surely Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig would have been expected to beat some CGI little blue men?
Die Hard 5 – Really?
3 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
Rumours about a fifth installment in the Die Hard franchise have been whizzing around for a while. This week it seems that Max Payne director John Moore is the latest favourite to helm the new chapter which is apparently taking place in Russia. Another rumour from Total Film is that Adam Buxton who directed Attack the Block is also in the frame.
I love Die Hard – it’s one of my favourite films of all time, but this just sounds a little Mission to Moscow for my liking. Maybe it’s time for Bruce to retire gracefully as everyone’s number one NYPD detective?
Harry hits $1billion
3 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
The success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was never in doubt, the only question was how big that success would be. Well, news is in and it’s huuuuuuuuuge. So far the film has taken over $1 billion (said in a Dr Evil voice of course), the first of the franchise to break through that threshold. After only three weeks on release it is already the 8th biggest film of all time and I wouldn’t bet against it going all the way and toppling Avatar from the top spot.