Recent Amanda Bynes News . . .

Amanda Bynes (an actress who had her start on the Amanda Show in late 1990s to the early 2000s) has been in trouble with several police officers. Her license was suspended because she went 85 in a 65mph zone. Also, in April, she had a alleged DUI bust. Since March 7, she has been six times. She recieved two citations on Septemeber 16 for driving with a suspended license. She's due in court in October for her DUI and hit-and-run charges. Another "offence" of hers was when she was pulled over for using her cell phone will driving, even though it was 1 1/2 feet from her face. All the fines that she had accrued grew to a even larger amount due to her skipping the payments. Seems like she's having a bad year . . . .

Once Upon A Time- Returning Sept. 30

Okay, just to start off to say that I love this show and am very excited to see it starting again very soon!!! I've had favorite shows of mine canceled after one season, especially ones with cliff hangers, but I'm very happy that it came back! Anyways, the first season left off on a cliff hanger too (as all shows tend to do at those points). For those of you who don't know or haven't heard of the show, it's about a woman (named Emma) who goes to a town (called Storybrooke) because the son she gave up for adoption found her and lured her to the town. Emma was also "given up for adoption at birth" (or so she thought. . .). The mayor of the town (Regina) just doesn't get along with her. Why you might ask? Well, the show starts off and continually shows flashbacks of what life was like for everyone before the Curse, the curse made by Regina, who, in fact, is an evil queen. But she's not just any evil queen. She's the evil queen from Snow White, who is also a main character in the show; however, her name (most of the time) is Mary Margret. If you really have no idea about the show, you might be confused at this time (with the part-time names, curses, and all that jazz). So what happened (which is all shown and explained in the first two episodes) is that when Snow (for short) married Prince Charming (also called David) got married, the evil queen's hatred for Snow lead her to create a curse causing all the inhabitants of the land to live in a land where there are no happy endings, our world, and they would have new memories, differents names, and wouldn't be able to remember anything about the way it was before. Oh, and by the way, time doesn't move in this new land, until the "savior" comes back. The only way to break the curse is for the "savior" to break it. The "savior" is the child of Snow and Charming (for short). What is found out later in the show is that Emma is actually their child, who was magically transported to a new land where the evil queen could not harm her, and she would return to save everyone one day when she was an adult. There are many, many, many more details that I could go on and on about, but I'll end it all there. It's a very good show and if you don't watch it, you should start to!

Throwback- The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz was a very popular movie that came out in 1939 and stars Judy Garland as Dorothy, and also includes Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charley Grapewin, and Clara Blandick as the rest of the main cast. It is classified as an American musical fantasy film. This movie was based on the children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was written by L. Frank Baum in 1900. We all know what it's about: a girl and her dog get magically transported to a magical land (after a tornado picks up her house and takes her there) where she meets many strange, but interesting characters while she is trying to find out how to get back home. In the end, she realizes she always had the power to return by using her ruby slippers, so she does and is very happy to see her family in the end. Even though this movie is one of the best known movies of all time, when it initially released in theaters, it wasn't a major box office hit, only accruing $3 million on a $2 million budget; however, re-releases of this movie help make up for this and the movie later went on to win several awards. The Wizard of Oz was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but it lost it to Gone with the Wind. Telecasts (showing it on televison) of The Wizard of Oz started in 1956, which re-introduced it to the general public, making it an annual tradition and became one of the most famous films ever made. The Library of Congress named the film the most-watched film in history. In addition, the film is often ranked in the Top 10 Best Movies of All Time. Many well-known quotes are taken from this movie and are used in pop culture.

Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds, Michael Clarke Duncan

Blacke Lively and Ryan Reynolds, both of which co-starred in the superhero flick The Green Lantern, married recently at the Boone Hall Plantation at Mount Pleasant, S.C., the same house used in the film The Notebook  as Allie's summer home. Although the ceremony was small, many celebrities attended such as Florence Welch of the music group Florence and the machine, who also preformed at the wedding.

Michael Clarke Duncan, probably best known for his major role in the movie The Green Mile, co-starring Tom Hanks, passed away of September 3, due to a heart attack he suffered on July 13. Many well-known Hollywood celebrities attended his funeral. Among these were Tom Hanks, Jay Leno, and Vivica Fox. Other movies that he appeared in include Daredevil, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes remake and Armageddon.

Throwback Thursday- Silent Films:The Beginning of Hollywood

As the title mentions, silent films really were the beginning of an era, the Hollywood movie era, that continues on even now. The "silent era" started around 1894, although before that time (around 1877 and 1880) Eadweard Muybridge had created a "primary proto-movie". In addition, a two second film (the first narrative film) was created by Louis Le Prince, which composed of a scene of people walking in Oakwood streets garden. The "film" was entitled Roundhay Garden Scene. It doesn't seem like much, but for the people of the past, it was something that they had never encountered before; it was new and interesting. The "silent era" ended in the late 1920s with the release of "talkies", films with sound and actual conversation.