Tropic Thunder feels the heat..

In the usual star-studded premieres, "Tropic Thunder" had to endure a semi-closed premiere atmosphere due to protesters. For many developmentally challenged American's, the "r" word is considered equal to using the "n" word. Within the film, various groups counted over 100 times the "retard" word was used. The groups in tow included Arc of The United States, the Special Olympics and the National Down Syndrome Congress.

According to an ARC executive, "Hollywood has picked on different groups in the past and they've fought back. Now they have picked on a group that is sensitive and can't always fight back."

From wire reports, Dreamworks Studios spokesperson Chip Sullivan said that the groups and Dreamworks have met to air concerns and determine the next step in working out a course of action. They plan on meeting at the end of the month.

Due to the protest, the premiere looked more like a garden as event planners had foliage lined all four sides of the streets to detract the main event from protesters. The usually fans lined up against barracades hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite actor or actress were blocked by the walled bushes. At one point, a fan had climbed up a tree to peer over the brush while he heard photographers shouting out Katie and Tom's name.

According to yahoo, "Tropic Thunder is summarized as "A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film. But after ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys."


Tom Cruise never took off his sunglasses.

Walking the carpet were the majority of the stars of the film from Tom Cruise, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Brandon T. Jackson, Brandon Soo Hoo, Reggie Lee and Steven Coogan.

Miss Jodi Foster made a surprise visit wearing a black short dress while Katie Holmes was supporting an off black number herself.


Katie Holmes looking cute.

Ben Stiller's lovely lady Christine Taylor was also wearing black. Hmmm must of been a black night.

Interesting outfit of the night was co-writer/producer Justin Theroux's flooding tuxedo topped off with a hat. Funny thing was that it suited him well.


Justin Theroux.

Jack Black's sports jacket was emblazoned with lightening bolts. With his energy, that jacket reflected his blinding funny powers.


Jack Black with his lightening bolts.


This was Brandon Soo Hoo's first major carpet event.

Amy Adams was looking a big flowery with her evening dress. She even gave a quick "Over The Shoulder" pose!


Amy Adams


Robert Downey Jr is lighter in color than in the movie.

"Tropic Thunder" opens this weekend.

ABDC extends dance tour

Too All You ABDC fans,

The tour for America's Best Dance Crew has been extended to more cities with the ever growing popularity of the show.


The Jabbawockeez with Randy Jackson during the East West Players' 42nd Annual Visionary Awards.

Here's the info from the recent press release:


RANDY JACKSON PRESENTS
AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW LIVE
EXTENDS TOUR DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND
* * *
25-DATE NATIONAL TOUR NOW INCLUDES STOPS IN LAS VEGAS, SAN DIEGO, PHOENIX, GRAND PRAIRIE AND HOUSTON
* * *
TICKETS ON SALE THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 15TH-16TH

LOS ANGELES (August 12, 2008) – Due to overwhelming fan demand, Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew LIVE has added further dates to its 2008 North American tour, expanding across 25 cities this fall to include Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix, Grand Prairie, TX and Houston, TX. Presented by Glacéau vitaminenergy™– your natural energy source! – and promoted by AEG Live, the tour arrives hot on the heels of the top-rated smash MTV program, which attracted more than 11 million fan votes last week and recently won the Teen Choice Award for Best Reality Dance Show as broadcast on FOX TV. Beginning in Miami on September 18th, 2008 and running for five weeks across the country through October 23rd in Houston, TX, the tour will feature five of the hottest dance crews from the show’s first two seasons as they battle it out, live on stage each night.

Tickets to Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew Live will go on sale the weekend of August 15th-16th, and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com. Fans can visit www.dancecrew.aeglive.com for the latest tour updates and information.

"We're excited to bring AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW closer to you, LIVE,” said Randy Jackson, the show’s Executive Producer. “And we’re thrilled we could just add these five shows to satisfy all you fans in Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix and Texas. We heard your requests and read your blogs, and we’re making our way across the nation to give America what it wants. AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW has the greatest fans, and we just want to say thanks by giving them the hottest show of the year.”

The electrifying tour will feature the return of America’s Best Dance Crew Season 1 winners, the incredible masked men of JabbaWockeeZ. They’ll be joined by the amazing b-boys on wheels, BreakSk8, an equally exciting crew full of surprises. With three open spots remaining, competition will go into overdrive as crews previously featured on the show battle it out to earn a coveted spot on the tour; the full lineup will be announced after the show’s live Season 2 finale episode on Thursday, August 21st.

Fans caught a glimpse of the upcoming tour when JabbaWockeeZ appeared on the Teen Choice Awards broadcast on FOX. America's Best Dance Crew, which was ranked #4 on the Top 10 Dance Shows of All Time as listed in the August 4th issue of TV Guide, airs Thursday’s through August 21st on MTV, with several encore presentations throughout the week.

Tour dates and itinerary follow.


Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew Live Presented by Glacéau vitaminenergy™ – Tour Itinerary

Septembern
18 Miami, FL Waterfront Theatre at the American Airlines Arena
19 Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
20 Atlanta, GA Boisfeuillet Jones Civic Center
21 Clemson, SC Littlejohn Coliseum (Theater Mode)
23 New York, NY WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden
25 Boston, MA Citi Performing Arts Center
26 Atlantic City, NJ The Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall
27 Sewell, NJ Commerce Bank Arts Centre
29 Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall
30 Newark, NJ New Jersey Performing Arts Center

October
1 Albany, NY Palace Theatre
3 Detroit, MI Masonic Temple Theatre
4 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee Theatre
5 Rosemont, IL Rosemont Theatre
6 Kansas City, MO Midland Theatre
8 Denver, CO Wells Fargo Theatre
11 Oakland, CA Oakland Paramount Theatre of the Arts
13 Everett, WA Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center (Theater set-up)
14 Portland, OR Rose Garden - Theater of the Clouds
16 Los Angeles, CA Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE
17 Las Vegas, NV Orleans Arena (Theater set-up)
18 San Diego, CA San Diego Sports Arena (Theater set-up)
19 Phoenix, AZ Dodge Theatre
22 Grand Prairie, TX Nokia Theatre – Grand Prairie
23 Houston, TX Jones Hall


Photo by Sthanlee B. Mirador/Pacific Rim Photo Press.

Fanny Pak gets their Freak On

Fanny Pak Gets Their Freak On
By Peter Gonzaga


Fanny Pak strike a pose after their performance of "Get Ur Freak On."

Burbank, CA - Looking back at the last episode (Thursday, July 31, 2008) of "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew," Fanny Pak definitely wowed Missy Elliott with their challenge of recreating her "Get Ur Freak On" video. All the judges were blown away by Fanny Pak as they stepped up their game and showed that they are a definitely a dance crew to contend with. After their performance, I was able to join in their celebration of their triumphant success of their challenge and sneak in a few questions.

PG: Hey guys, how's it going?
Fanny: Great! (Megan Lawson sticks out her tongue)

Great tongue action Megan.

PG: Missy Elliott is creative as anyone can get. How were you guys able to take the creativity of her video and make it a Fanny Pak video?
Matt Cady: Especially that it was Missy Elliott, we had to push ourselves creatively as we've never pushed ourselves before. We listened to the song, got the feel for the song and we got the video that we wanted. It's very dark. We never went that route before. We haven't gone that strictly modern almost hip-hop number and that's where we pulled our inspiration from this video.

PG: Shane mentioned about the crawling backwards move on the hands and feet. Who came up with that?
Cara Horibe: That was from "The Exorcist."


Cara Horibe and Phill Collins mesmerize you with their freaky eyes!

PG: Did it just come into your mind?
Cara Horibe: We were all trying to brainstorm and come up the weirdest f**kin blank. The first thing that came into my mind was Exorcist so I was like, "It would've been amazing if we came down some staircase." I think that would have been a little scary and a little short for time.

PG: With all the moves of this performance, what was the hardest to execute?
Matt Cady: Glenda's flips.
Glenda Morales: Nah, not that.
Fanny Pak: The tape!
Phill Collins: You can't tell if the tape falls off. If you're sweaty, the tape falls off before you start pulling it off.
Beau Fournier: Girl, then we got a free wax job. I think some of my hairs were on it. My lips were burning.


Beau Fournier and Matt Cady before their performance.

PG: So the whole time with the tape, you had trouble with that?
Beau Fournier: Well, I learned to tuck my lips to do it. It still hurt.
Matt Cady: He has a nice mustache and it tugged a little.

PG: Did you notice Missy Elliott get into your routine? It was like you did your own video and she was awed by it. How did you guys feel about it when she gave you all those props?
Matt Cady: That's the best feeling in the world!
Glenda Morales: It's Missy Elliott!
Megan Lawson: It's an honor because we were definitely excited about that video.


PG: Imagine if she did a remix of the video and had you guys star in it!
Fanny Pak: Aargh. Yeah!
Megan Lawson: I would probably die.
Phill Collins: Missy Elliott is one of my favorite artists.
Cara Horibe : If that happened that would be the best thing we got out of this even if we won!

All photos by Sthanlee B. Mirador/Pacific Rim Photo Press.

Sarah Silverman refuses to autograph photos at Monk 100th episode party

Yesterday evening at the Pane e Vino Restaurant in Los Angeles last night, Sarah Silverman arrived at the party for USA Network's "Monk" 100th episode celebration. Before Sarah could walk the carpet and get into the event, she was flocked by more than 15 autograph seekers jamming tons of photos in here way. Ms. Silverman happily obliged until one seeker pushed a stack of photos in her face with the same pose.



Silverman retorts back to the seeker, "What's This? It's all the same thing. That's so impersonal." She then gave back the whole stack of photos back to that hound.



I guess that guy will not be getting Sarah's autograph any time soon.

As for the event, all the main cast members of "Monk" came out to party. Tony Shaloub, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray Stanford and Ted Levine made their way to the party to have some vino and Italian food. The first three stars did take a moment to sign autographs while Ted Levine decided to go directly into the restaurant.



I have to give it up to Tony for really taking the time out to sign those autographs then deal with our flashes as we photographed Mr. Shaloub on the carpet. Now, that's what I call an actor who understands that red carpet photography and autograph seekers are part of his job.



All photos by Pacific Rim Photo Press.

Director Shawn Ku talks about American Mall and Asians

As Asian Americans have begun to break the stereotypes in the entertainment industry, director and choreographer Shawn Ku is no exception. Ku had a change of heart and started dancing instead of continuing on the Doctor path. As he moved further into the entertainment industry, Shawn solidified himself as a major director and choreographer in his directorial debut of MTV’s “The American Mall.”

Set in Ohio, “The American Mall” is a musical romantic comedy set at a mall and focuses on the relationship between two young musicians and their respective personal and professional struggles.

During the red carpet premiere of the film which was held at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, Shawn Ku took a quick moment to talk about his debut as a director and Asians in the entertainment industry.

Peter G: Did you do any of the choreography in the movie?
SK: Oh, yes. I did.

Peter G: Would you consider yourself another Adam Shankman?
SK: Oh I don’t know about being like Adam Shankman. I actually worked with two choreographers in the film. We worked it out and did it all together.

Peter G: How did you get involved with this project?
SK: I met with the producers who did “High School Musical” and really hit it off. The story obviously appeals to me even though I’m not a girl who grew up in Ohio or whatever. (Laughs).

Peter G: Is this your first major directorial debut?
SK: It is.

Peter G: How does that feel?
SK: It was exciting but it’s what we come out here to do. It’s the culmination of a lot of effort.

Peter G: What’s next up for you or what’s in the pipeline for you?
SK: There’s actually a sequel to this. We’re already talking about it and I’m moving quickly on this. It’s more of them.

Peter G: Seeing that more and more Asians are being exposed into the mainstream entertainment industry, do you see that it’s getting easier for Asians to break into the industry?
SK: You know, I hope so. The groups that still are made fun of are Asians and gays. It’s the last frontier. Yeah, so I hope so. I mean it’s funny and not funny. You know, it’s starting to become easier. You know that kid from Disturbia (Aaron Yoo); it’s not about the Asian being the smart one or the nerd. It’s just starting; we’re just staring to break the stereotypes.

Peter G: Just like MTV’s “Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance crew,” you see quite a bit of number of crews or individuals of the Asian persuasion.
SK: I know! A lot of Asians are representing. I mean there’s this Filipino group that I like. Are they still on?

Peter G: Oh yes, that’s SoReal Cru. They’re Still On.
SK: I saw last week and they were excellent especially when they did that sexy Janet Jackson dance.

Peter G: While watching the show, do you ever get that urge to get into dancing more as a crew?
SK: Oh, I’m too old for that.

Peter G: You’re never too old!
SK: But you know with Katee in “So You Think You Can Dance,” I look at her as the Asian girl who can dance. I notice that the Asian girls in “American Idol” never get that far. But Katee’s amazing. She’s fantastic.

Peter G: Do you think there might be that slight glass ceiling for Asians in the entertainment industry to play mainstream characters, which doesn’t look at that individual as being Asian?
SK: I don’t know. I think that like Sandra Oh of “Grey’s Anatomy” changed a lot of things. None of her story lines have anything to do with her ethnicity at all because even back on “E.R.” with Ming Na, she had something of her being Asian and Sandra’s role isn’t about that. She’s just a doctor, which is great. Do I think there’s a glass ceiling in Hollywood? You know, there just might be because unfortunately the country doesn’t look at – this is horrible to say – doesn’t look at Asians as attractive in the same way as a Hispanic guy is or a black or white guy. I don’t know why that is. It might be that they’re always going to looked at Asians especially with the baggage the United States has with Asian countries and the wars we had. It’s a lot of baggage. It takes a lot of time for that baggage to go away.

Peter G: Did your parents give you a hard time with you following your career into the arts?
SK: Oh yeah! I hate to say, I was that typical kid that was supposed to go to med school and my sister’s a doctor. I got into Columbia Med and decided not to go and started dancing. It’s like my mom still cries about it. Well, not really cries about it. Maybe just last year.

Peter G: Would you say, your life is like “Harold and Kumar?”
SK: Haha. Maybe! A little bit. I don’t know about the White Castle part.

“The American Mall” debuts on MTV on August 11 and will be released to DVD on August 12.

By Peter Gonzaga
Photos by Sthanlee B. Mirador/Pacific Rim Photo Press

Hanging out at MTV's American Mall

If you liked the "High School Musical" movies and loved the mall scenes of "Fast Times At Ridgement Hight," then you don't want to miss MTV's "The American Mall." Directed by Shawn Ku, "The American Mall" is about a young woman named Ally (Nina Dobrev) who loves to write songs and practice afterhours in a mall where her mother runs a music shop in. Wanting to follow her dreams of music, Ally must decide whether to go pursue her music education at a New England Music school or go to a business college that her mother wants her to attend. Adding to the complexities of her life are the friends and new musician love interest (Rob Mayes) she discovers at the mall while her arch-nemesis, Madison (Autumn Reeser) tries to thwart her dreams.


Nina Dobrev


Rob Mayes


Autumn Reeser

This past Monday, July 28, 2008, MTV hosted the red carpet premiere of the film at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, CA. All the stars of the film were out on the carpet from Nina Dobrev to Rodney To who plays Ben in the film.


Rodney To

Rodney To mentioned that he loved being in the film as he made all the cast members laugh. In the film, Rodney is considered just one of the girls, or rather in his wishful thinking state, be the boyfriend of Ally.

I joked around with director Shawn Ku saying that he's the next Adam Shankman. He laughingly protested, "Oh no! Not me. Maybe in the future."


Director Shawn Ku

Other celebrities who showed up included Ana Maria Perez de Tagle, Jai Rodriguez and Monique Coleman.


Ana Maria Perez de Tagle


Jai Rodriguez


Monique Coleman


"The American Mall" airs on MTV on August 11 and will be released on dvd on August 12.

Bye Bye Boogie Bots.

In last week's episode, we saw the two strongest crews at the very bottom with "Supreme Soul" going home. For the judges, they were dumbfounded to the point of saying that America got it all wrong.

Lil Mama showed her displeasure that the Boogie Bots were not the group that was not in the bottom. She said that the crew did not excite her and with tonight's show, they did not prove her wrong.


Boogie Bots rusted out their welcome on the ABDC dance floor.

As for the situation with Lil Mama's response to what she said, she doesn't take any of it back. Before the taping of this episode, I was able to get a little comment from her:



PG: Last week was definitely a heavy week for elimination and you had some strong words about the Boogie Bots. Have you been able to relax and find your zen to concentrate on what the performances have in store for this week?
LM: I'm definitely going to concentrate on this week and we're definitely going to keep real and official with the crews. I'm not a strong believer in gossip or taking things out to be bigger than they are. When you're dealing with facts and emotions, no matter how it comes out it's always real. I mean I'm a loving person. I don't try to point out the negative aspects of anybody or anything anyone does. Tonight, I'll clear it up and keep it…

PG: Real.
LM: Definitely.

For a crew that was called out by a judge, one would of thought they would come back harder. Mama definitely didn't have to clear it up as the Bots did not prove her wrong.

This week's challenge was for each crew to take inspiration from the Missy Elliott song they were assigned.

Here's a quick recap of what the judges had to say including special guest Missy Elliott:


Boogie Bots let down Missy Elliott.

For The Boogie Bots performance:
JC Chasez: Floor foot work was nice. Choreography was a little off.

Shane Sparks: That was the worst. There wasn't anything that made me think you should be on this show. No Missy inspiration at all.

Lil Mama: I didn't get excited. Being cute can only go so far.

Missy Elliott: Nothing was tight. That was not good. If you were my dancers, I wouldn't be nice. You're not focused at all.


Fanny Pak and their Exorcist look.

Fanny Pak
Shane Sparks: Totally enveloped the whole concept. Created another show. Some "Exorcist" Stuff was a good job.

Lil Mama: Unforgettable . You gave us hip-hop, Egyptian, African, and Fanny Pak.

JC Chasez: This is a great number. Got missy throwing her hands around. Very diverse. you got freaky.

Missy Elliott: That was amazing. Very creative and made a new video.


So Real making it Real.

So Real
Shane Sparks: You had me from the intro. Knee knocker move was really sick. Moves were creative.

Lil Mama: Choreography on point.

JC Chasez: Top 3 next week. Not a lot of difficulty.

Missy Elliott: I enjoyed it. Got me into it. Youput yoru own twist into it.


Super Cr3w can build towers.

Super Cr3w
Lil Mama: What you got is choreography.

JC Chasez: An amazing performance. That was exciting, athletic, together and well done. Took the risk with the tower.

Shane Sparks: You got all the street dancers and break dancers at home standing up. Beautiful.

Missy Elliott: I loved the. You all are not just break dancers but choreographers. You made my video whack.


All photos by Sthanlee B. Mirador/Pacific Rim Photo Press