Little House on the Prairie

Melissa Gilbert will be starring in a stage show version of Little House on the Prairie:

Patrick Swayze and Melissa Gilbert will star as Pa and Ma in an April workshop presentation of "Prairie," a musical version of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie."

Gilbert played middle daughter Laura Ingalls in the long-running NBC television series from 1974-83. She was recently president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Beth Henley, who won a Pulitzer for "Crimes of the Heart," wrote the book, Donna DiNovelli wrote the lyrics and Oscar winner Rachel Portman ("Emma") composed the music. Francesca Zambello will direct.

Imagine, being so associated with a part that you end up playing your own fictional mother!

Marisa Tomei

Marisa Tomei is due to star in a new CBSpilot:

 

Marisa Tomei will play the title role in CBS' comedy pilot "The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud."

The Oscar winner will play a brilliant, opinionated writer struggling to deliver the follow-up to her acclaimed first novel. She has an epiphany and tries to recapture her youthful optimism.

Tomei is currently in movie theaters with box office champ "Wild Hogs." Her TV credits include a cameo as herself in an episode of "Seinfeld." She won an Academy Award for her supporting turn in 1992's "My Cousin Vinny" and was nominated nine years later for "In the Bedroom."

If you're not sure how these things work, yes, going from being an Oscar winner to a TV show is indeed a step down in the world.

Natalie Portman to Direct?

What is it about actresses? Natalie Portman says she wants to direct a movie:

Hollywood actress Natalie Portman has expressed interest in directing a film version of Israeli writer Amos Oz's internationally acclaimed autobiography, a production spokesman said on Thursday.

Portman, 25, who is best known for her starring roles in the recent Star Wars trilogy, may also act in "A Tale of Love and Darkness" if it is brought to the big screen, Jerusalem Capital Studios spokesman Danny Levy told Reuters.

"JCS has met with Portman to discuss the possibility of her participating in and directing a film version of the book," he said.

"A Tale of Love and Darkness" describes Oz's upbringing in Jerusalem amid the fighting during which the Jewish state was founded. Israeli media said Portman was interested in playing Oz's mother, who committed suicide when the author was a youth.

Don't people realise that having a pretty face, even being a good actor, doesn't then mean that you'll be a good director?

 

Technorati tags: natalie portman, amos oz

Joss Stone's new look and sound.

Joss Stone's album is about to be released in the Us : "Introducing Joss Stone":

 

When she made her debut several years back at only 15, Brit belter Joss Stone was an instant wow, a young girl mining soul's past with a voice beyond her years.

Now 19, with a stunning new album, "Introducing Joss Stone," due in March, she's proving to be the true heiress to Aretha Franklin as this generation's queen of soul. Her sold-out show Wednesday at the Sunset Strip House of Blues not only drummed up interest in the upcoming release, it announced that she most definitely has arrived as a superstar.

After an intro instrumental from her soul revue-style band, led by producer Raphael Saadiq, that included horns and backing singers, a new Stone took the stage. This wasn't the blond girl next door of past years; she sported a whole new look of long, permed magenta hair and wore a tight gold and silver minidress. She was instantly captivating.

Bit weird though, I thought that album had been out in hte UK for a year or two?

 

Technorati tags: joss stone

Sidney Sheldon

Sidney Sheldon, the best selling author of all those novels you would be ashamed to let others see you read (but you really enjoy them all the same) has died:

Sidney Sheldon, an Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter who went on to become one of the world's most prolific novelists, died in California on Tuesday at the age of 89, a publicist said.

Sheldon died of complications from pneumonia at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, near his Palm Springs home, said Sean Rossall, publicist at Warren Cowan and Associates.

Sheldon became an American icon in the 1970s with novels like "The Other Side of Midnight" and "Bloodline," bestsellers spun out of international intrigue and the sexual liberation of the era. Strong women were often the main characters.

He sure found a successful niche:

He published 18 novels and sold 300 million copies, making him a paperback stand staple for decades. Translations into 71 languages in 180 countries won him a listing in "The Guinness Book of Records" as "the world's most translated author."

I don't read them any more but I do remember them: he certainly knew how to keep a narrative going.

 

Technorati tags: Sidney Sheldon, novels, books, obituary

Indian Condoms

Over at the Lindsey Lohan blog a super little tale about Indian Condoms. 

No, I won't spoil the punch line for you by giving it here but one part of it is all entirely sensible and believable. The question is whether the last line was delivered with a straight face or not?

If it was a native English speaker I would have sdaid not, it was done tongue in cheek, but with someone not completely at home in hte language, well, it could have been inadvertent.

Windows Live

So does this windows live product actually work?

 

I'm trying it out on a number of blogs. So far it seems to keep up.

 

 

Technorati tags: windows live writer

Ben

Have you ever wondered what job to do? Thought about working for someone else, getting a job, a career, simply doing the nine to five?

Of do you hanker after something a bit more interesting, risks thrown in but fabulous rewards if you get it right?

You might want to think about starting your own business in that case. An example of thesort of training you will need can be seen in this biography of Ben Padnos, an internet entrepreneur.

Kelly LeBrock

Kelly LeBrock is the ex-wife of Steven Seagal and the mother of his three children. Born in New York and raised in London she started her acting career in 1984.

Amazingly, for someone with three children, she wears size 8 clothes and by some co-incidence also has size 8 feet.

Her latest movie, due out in 2005, is Zerophilia.

A full listing of her film career is here.

There is also a very nice series of photos of Kelly LeBrock at this website.