Do people care if Dumbledore is gay? Is there a direct relationship between world peace and global warming? Is Wes Anderson racist? What's your take on the Korean film called Juno Jenny and why is Diablo Cody pissed?

These are some of the posts I've seen recently, after which I came up with my own top 10. Perhaps you may want to have your say as well...

"When J.K. Rowling announced at Carnegie Hall that Albus Dumbdledore - her Aslan, her Gandalf, her Yoda -was gay, the crowd apparently sat in silence for a few seconds and then burst into wild applause. I'm still sitting in silence. Dumbledore himself never saw fit to come out of the closet before dying in Book Six. And I feel a bit like I did when we learned too much about Mark Foley and Larry Craig: You are not quite the role model I'd hoped for as a gay man... Why couldn't he tell us himself? The Potter books add up to more than 800,000 words before Dumbledore dies in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and yet Rowling couldn't spare two of those words - 'I'm gay' - to help define a central character's emotional identity? We can only conclude that Dumbledore saw his homosexuality as shameful and inappropriate to mention among his colleagues and students. His silence suggests a lack of personal integrity that is completely out of character."

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2. Ang Lee and the Academy: The recent disqualification of Ang Lee’s Lust/Caution is slowly catching fire within the film community. But it may not be a blazing ‘bush fire’ coz who is Ang Lee anyway, he’s not even American (please note the sarcastic tone here). So why would anyone rise up in protest, except, of course, his producers? And to add insult to injury, even the Hong Kong Film Awards has disqualified the film…

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3. A 'chauvinist' at Warner Bros.: Hollywood news site /film first posted the news about how one Warner Bros. executive declared no more women on the lead from Warner. Of course the guy later denied saying anything like that… [ read more ]

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5. Peter Jackson versus Ryan Gosling: We were one of the first to announce the news that Ryan Gosling was no longer part of the new Peter Jackson film, The Lovely Bones. When many sites wanting to add to the controversy started making incredibly annoying and irresponsible remarks, Gosling was compelled to clear up the issue by explaining that things are not what the press has been saying all along… [ read more ]

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7. Arabian Sense and Sensitivity: A while ago some Danish cartoons depicted the prophet Mohammad in 'extremely bad taste' and sparked protests from many Arabs. Now comes the news that the child actors in The Kite Runner might be attacked in Afghanistan as a result of a rape scene in the film.

The controversial novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini has been widely praised for its realistic depiction of life in Afghanistan, from the early glorious times, through the Russian invasion and up to the repressive Taliban regime. While it’s a good read for those who live outside the country and are thus safe from harm, the child actors in the movie are not as lucky. After receiving meager talent fees for their roles, they are now in danger of being murdered by their own countrymen who do not approve of them putting their country in a bad light and discussing issues they consider taboo… [ read more ]

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9. Nicole Kidman and her fall from grace: Is there a conspiracy to force Kidman to an early retirement? [ read more ]

"Unbeknownst to me, we had another spiritual cousin out there, a Korean movie called Juno Jenny. This time, the cousinry goes one step further and the movie is about--seriously--a pregnant teenager and her cute, sweet boyfriend. (The guy character is named Juno, not the girl.) There's no adoption subplot and apparently the film is otherwise dissimilar to mine, but how fucked up is that? I bring this up because a journalist drilled me about it recently--awkward!--and also because I saw someone on our IMDB board wondering if Juno was a remake of the K-flick. So for the record, 1.) it isn't a remake 2.) I haven't seen Juno Jenny, though I want to now, and 3.) I don't think anyone would even bat an eye about this if my film was called Jenny. The name Juno is just so darned distinctive that confusion is inevitable.

Actually, I think Jonny addressed this in the most succinct way: "Like you'd watch a Korean movie."

(No offense to Korean readers and/or fans of world cinema; It's just that I'm fairly film-illiterate and would probably only rent a Korean movie if it was called Broken Lizard's Juno Jenny.) [ read more ]

I find Diablo’s reaction to be quite honest. Instead of bashing the Korean flick, she showed just how confident she is regarding her work and harbors no ill feeling towards anyone. Not all filmmakers and writers (famous or infamous) could be such good sports. I think anyone can also understand her frustrations that while her work is original, there is really no need to defend it during media inquiries. I have no idea if she’s new to the scene, but if she is, then perhaps one needs to shout at her and say ‘Welcome to the suck!’

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Comments (3)

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You made me laugh!! :-) Welcome to the suck, indeed!!

LA Bennett , October 31, 2007

It\'s actually from Jarhead but I love i

yeah, its so funny actually! I was watching Jake's Jarhead for the nth time while I was also doing this article, so I kinda mixed the watching with the writing. Diablo Cody is an interesting blogger and her posts are extremely funny and witty too!

Jed , November 02, 2007

Is Wes Anderson racist?

This is definitely a serious question posed by that slate.com article. I am no fan of this guy though he seems to have quite a following in the US. I know that most of his movies centered on white urbanites, those who only wear clothes by Tommy Hilfiger, who also figured quite prominently as one designer who is frank with his opinion that only whites should wear his clothes...wow, talk about racial equality in today's modern and global community. That's a pity.

Jed , November 02, 2007

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