On your next trip, get a little more adventurous with your rental car choice, and we’re not talking about getting a Prius or a Smartcar. Go with something that will leave a lasting impression on everyone you drive past—something like the DeLorean Time Machine from the Back to the Future series. ]]>
One of the obvious perks of visiting Los Angeles, aside from breathing the same smoggy air as your fave celebrities, is taking advantage of Hollywood industry events like sneak previews of films. We're not talking red carpet movie premieres. We're talking about movie screenings for real movie buffs, not reporters from Us Weekly.
The Aero Theater on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica is a small, one-screen theater that's a far cry from the glitzy, high-tech ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood but yet every week you will find big name directors and actors attending screenings of both new and old movies.
Best of all, these events are usually so low-pro that you can almost always score tickets. Unless someone like Seth Rogen is involved. We bought our tickets nearly two weeks ago to this special Q and A session with the funnyman, as well as Anna Faris and writer/director Jody Hill about their upcoming movie, Observe and Report. (It opens Friday.) But soon after that, the show was sold-out.]]>
Emirates, the Dubai-based luxury airline with onboard shower spas and private first-class suites that are bigger than our apartment, has rolled out an ambitious interactive marketing campaign to promote the launch of its new Dubai-to-Los Angeles service. In honor of the Middle East's newest bridge to Tinseltown, the airline is making a short film, and it wants you to star in it. Entitled The Exposure of Tom King, it's a comedic thriller that - surprise surprise - plays on the theme of celebrity, with appearances by an actor consumed with vanity, a shameless paparazzo, a conniving blackmailer, and her bumbling boyfriend. The twist here is that the film has already been shot, only without actors. ]]>
Every teenager from Kansas to Kilimanjaro has probably decorated their bedroom walls with movie posters at some point, but there comes a time when that tattered "Pulp Fiction" fold-out just isn't quite classy enough.
For anyone looking to upgrade their collection a good few levels--and with a few hundred pounds to spare--Christie's in London is holding an auction of rare vintage film posters this week.
You can also place bids online for posters from Hitchcock, Bond and other classics, and the live auction takes place on Wednesday. Even if you don't have the cash, it should be worth turning out just to see exactly what kind of a person drops £2,000 ($3,600) on a "Superman and the Mole Men" print.
Related Stories:
· Vintage Film Poster Auction [Christie's]
· Movie Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· UK Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Christie's]]]>
This is turning out to be a scary year to hang around movie sets: After accidents on the sets of "Quantum of Solace" and the "Hannah Montana" movie, a stunt man was killed today in a planned fire on a boat on the set of the John Woo movie "Red Cliff."
The special-effects staging had a smaller boat, ablaze, crashing into a larger boat when things turned tragic for a 23-year-old working on the historical epic, Woo's first movie in Chinese in 15 years.
Not apparently injured in the fire was the film's star Tony Leung ("Lust, Caution" and "The Departed" inspiration "Infernal Affairs"). In fact, in none of the above cases was the movie's star injured--or even on the set at the time of the incident.
Related Stories:
· Bond 22 Filming Wastes Perfectly Good Car [Jaunted]
· A Stuntman Dies Making Woo Film [NYT]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Slice of Scifi] ]]>
Serbia really started getting in the Jaunted radar when they began to build statues in honor of Rocky Balboa and Samantha Fox (her monument was later abandoned when a Serbian audience started chanting to see her breasts during her concert). Now Serbia's obsession with statues is going even further, according to a recent NY Times report.
Apparently Tarzan--or more correctly, the actor who played Tarzan most famously, Johnny Weissmuller--was born in Medja in Serbia. And so the town of Medja is busily raising money to build a big bronze Tarzan. (Please don't tell them that Johnny Weissmuller's Wikipedia entry disputes his Serbian origin, saying it's more likely he was born in Romania).
Interestingly, it turns out there could be a serious sociological side to all Serbian statue madness. Experts say that Serbs are turning to Hollywood icons because they don't know who to honor from their own complicated history. Since they're not likely to work that out anytime soon, the crazy statues should keep coming, giving us more and more reasons to head to Serbia.
Related Stories:
· Balkans' Idolatry Delights Movie Fans and Pigeons [NY Times]
· Rocky Solution to Serbian Landslides [Jaunted]
· Move Over Rocky, Serbia's Got Another Idea [Jaunted]
[Photo of Philly's Rocky Statue: Damon Green]]]>
We've been wondering for a while what the European Union is really doing to help people like us globe-wanderers and now, thanks to their own promotional efforts, we know. The EU is not around for political stability, its cultural wonders, or to provide fast inter-country transport. It's there for sex.
Okay, not exactly sex: but films featuring sex. The European Commission itself has released a YouTube video featuring clips of soft-core porn, er, cinematic depictions of lovemaking from European movies. The EU is happily promoting both its financial support of these films and the idea of one Europe: "let's come together," they say. If this doesn't cause a rise in travel to The Continent, nothing will.
Related Stories:
· Witches Benefit From EU Accession [Jaunted]
[Video: EU]
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