Friday, August 31, 2012

Michael Douglas as Ronald Reagan in indie film?



Michael Douglas’ next role might be pulled from the history books.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Douglas is in talks to play former President Ronald Reagan in a film called “Reykjavik.”

The independent project centers on the 1986 nuclear arms discussions held between Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the titular capital of Iceland.

Ridley Scott, now serving as a producer on the film, at one point was considering directing, but at the moment Mike Newell is reportedly in talks to helm the $10 million project.

THR notes that “Reykjavik’s” producers are still looking for an actor to play Gorbachev — any thoughts on casting?

Nollywood Actor, Rich Oganiru, kills Wife Over Her Property



National Enquirer magazine has reported that though Rich Oganiru`s name might not really ring a bell again but he`s one of Nollywood`s very good actors and stakeholders. In fact, he prides himself as one of the pioneering members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria and has starred in over 300 movies.

Please look at his pictures again if you`re still in doubt because he`s presently battling a murder scandal for his alleged involvement in the complicity leading to the death of a very rich Abuja based multimillionaire businesswoman believed to be his wife.

The deceased, National Enquirer gathered reliably is not his first wife, the first wife also died mysteriously years back and he was in a very poor state of life before he met the Abuja based multimillionaire who transformed his life in a matter of months.


Rich Oganiru, according to those who know him, loves money and attention almost to a fault, aside that, he also likes blowing his own trumpet as he always praises himself, “I have starred in over 300 movies, I am the Corporate Marketing Consultant to the Abuja Chapter of AGN, a high flying Evangelist called to lead the skilled and unskilled gifted in art to realize their God`s given potentials in the Kingdom. I am the General Overseer of Davidical Order Ministry, we discover, develop, expose, empower and evangelize musicians, actors, and artistes to be relevant in their different churches- a non-denominational outreach for the entertainment industry”, his self-appraisal on Facebook page.

The Owerri born actor is, as you read this, swimming in a murder scandal that might have him behind bars for the rest of his life except for divine intervention. Mr. Rich, according to our own findings has featured in movies such as

Queen of Hasso Rock, Wasted Effort, Pay Day, Lacrima, Stoneface in Love, Givers Never Lack, His Majesty, Yellow Fe Rich Odichinma Azu ver, My Destiny, Battle Of The Rich, Political Control, Touching Love, Total Control, Last Confession as well as many others.

This office can exclusively disclose that the actor is presently at the homicide section of the force headquarters, Abuja where he’s being held for killing his wife, a top business woman in Abuja.

Tracing the genesis of their liaison, we gathered that the deceased met Rich Oganiru who already lost his wife and mother of his two boys at a time he was facing financially challenges and could hardly afford daily meal. Rich, our source explained was able to win the pretty woman’s heart after sweet tonguing her especially because he’s a known face who’s featured in several movies.

This, we further gathered was how the woman in a short while brought back smile to the face of the light skinned actor to the extent that, he became financially buoyant and had even started cruising one of her cars. The relationship as expected blossomed into marriage within a short period and the actor we learnt even had a traditional wedding with his supposed God sent wife. The union, we learnt however took a new dimension when Rich began to complain of his wife’s inability to get pregnant.

Meanwhile, the woman had, by this time handed over the documents of her landed properties as well as making him part of the signatories in her firm. The affair, we reliably learnt took another twist as the graduate of music, Rich started seeing a younger lover, Iyake, a calabar born undergraduate of Nassarawa State Polytechnic whose mother owns a shop in Abuja.

“He`s always hibernating everyday for hours with a young girl whose mother owns a shop at the popular area known as Food Court built by El Rufai where there are banks, it is so shameful for a man like that doting on a young girl,” the source disclosed.

While doting on a young girl outside, the actor, who the source revealed is also an ex Naval officer kept mounting pressure on his wife to get pregnant shunning the fact that the business woman was suffering from Fibroid. This, we gathered might not be far from the reason the woman had to take the decision to get the fibroid removed by all means.

Quoting the source “It was Rich’s unnecessary pressure on the lady that made her resulted into having a fibroid operation in a private hospital in Abuja which she luckily survived but only recuperating at the hospital before she was allegedly poisoned”.

The woman we were told, however met her untimely death few days after the surgery when her husband was said to have visited the hospital and allegedly gave her a pill without the doctor`s consent claiming that it would aid her speedy recovery, not knowing that it was poison.

The whole thing started looking suspicious when Rich who had sold some of his wife’s landed property for a church member for N2.5m requested for her death certificate. The actor we gathered claimed that he urgently needed the certificate to sort out some personal issues instead of informing the wife’s family or at least show a remorse for the irreparable loss.

In addition, the church member who bought the land, according to our source also smelled fowl play because Rich refused to have his wife’s signature on the land receipt neither did he even inform any of her family member claiming that he’s the husband and has the right to sell her land. This, we learnt informed the church member’s interest to investigate the actual cause of Rich’s wife death.

“This was how the man reported the whole land story as well as the woman’s death to her family and it was what made them involved the police before the doctor and Rich were arrested” the source revealed.

The doctor, knowing that his hands were clean, therefore suggested an autopsy which shockingly revealed a poisonous pill in the woman’s system. The said poison we gathered was ingested between the time her husband visited the night before she died.

The nurses were also said to have saw her sleeping few minutes after Rich left not knowing that she was dead in her sleep. The actor, our source added later confessed killing his wife after much torture in police cell without any cogent reason. We also learnt that Rich is still in the police custody in Abuja while remains of his wife have been deposited in the mortuary, we shall however bring you unfolding details as events unfold.

Culled from National Enquirer
Magazine

Entertainment Editor of Vanguard Newspaper, Ogbonna Amadi is dead



Ogbonna Amadi Entertainment Editor of Vanguard Newspaper died yesterday evening at a hospital in Apapa. He was said to have developed cold at his office in Apapa that evening and was rushed to the company's clinic where he gave up the ghost in what was diagonized as asthma attack. 

Details of his death is being awaited. Amadi is seen here on the left being presented with an award by the Editor In Chief Of CKN nigeria Chris Kehinde Nwandu at an award ceremony recently. RIP

Movies:RZA Recalls Learning From 'The Master' Quentin Tarantino



RZA's affinity for martial arts films has been well known since Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) changed hip-hop in 1993. So, when RZA described Quentin Tarantino's mentorship over his budding movie-directing career, he put it in kung-fu terms.
"When I met Quentin Tarantino, I kind of met my, as we say in martial arts, my Sifu," RZA told MTV News, using the Chinese word for "master." "I asked him if I could become a student of his. That's a very humbling thing, especially for the RZA," he noted.
The Wu-Tang mastermind co-wrote, directed and starred in this fall's "The Man With the Iron Fists," which also stars Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu and boasts a predictably killer soundtrack featuring Kanye West and the Black Keys. RZA made a cameo in Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog" in the late '90s and worked on music for action maestro John Woo, too. But befriending the "Pulp Fiction" writer/director took things to a new level.
RZA, whose hip-hop aliases have included "the Scientist" and "the Abbot," said, "My fans look up to me as a teacher, but [Quentin] is such an encyclopedia and such a genius of film, I couldn't find a better teacher. I always tell people: I've been taught by the master."
RZA came up with the action-packed story of a blacksmith in feudal China, which he polished with fellow Tarantino buddy Eli Roth.
"After some years of hanging around and picking up the knowledge shall we say, I felt I was ready," he recalled. "I went to him and asked him. Me and Eli Roth had a screenplay we wrote, and Quentin gave me the blessing: 'Yeah, I think you're ready. You guys can go ahead and live it out.' "
The cast soon expanded to include Crowe (as "Jackknife"), Liu ("Madam Blossom") and blaxploitation legend Pam Grier, who famously starred as the title character in Tarantino's "Jackie Brown." RZA himself appears, but the character named "The Abbott" is actually played by Chia Hui Liu, who had roles in both "Kill Bill" movies as well as a 1978 classic we're pretty sure RZA has seen: "The 36 Chambers of Shaolin."
RZA credited Universal Pictures for taking a chance on his directorial debut, which is due November 2. "Fortunately and luckily, the new regime at Universal is a really good group of people," he said. "This isn't the typical Hollywood thing where you've got guys who've already proven themselves, but I think this regime felt compelled to give an artist that shot. And I was that artist. And here we are with 'The Man With the Iron Fists.' "

Legendary Hip-hop manager Chris Lighty passes away at 40



The world of Hip-Hop has been thrown into mourning with the sudden death of the legendary manager and C.E.O of entertainment company Violator, Chris Lighty.
Police have confirmed that 40 year old Lighty committed suicide. The Hip-hop mogul Chris Lighty is said to have shot himself in the head in his Bronx apartment, sources told the Daily News.
Lighty began his career working as an assistant for veteran Bronx native DJ Red Alert back in the ’80s. He later on hooked up with entertainment mogul Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen‘s Rush Management.
He is best known for setting up his powerhouse company Violator Entertainment, a management firm, record label and marketing company, which housed the likes of 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Mariah Carey, Diddy, Swizz Beatz, Mobb Deep, CNN and many more.
Rest in peace Lighty.

Harvard Cheating Ring: University Probing Dozens In Plagiarism Scandal


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Dozens of Harvard University students are being investigated for cheating after school officials discovered they may have shared answers or plagiarized on a final exam.
Harvard officials declined to release the name of the class, the students' names or the exact number being investigated, citing privacy laws.
The undergraduate class had a minimum of 250 students and possible cheating was discovered in roughly half the take-home exams, university officials said Thursday.
"These allegations, if proven, represent totally unacceptable behavior that betrays the trust upon which intellectual inquiry at Harvard depends," President Drew Faust said.
Each student whose work is in question has been called to appear before a subcommittee of the Harvard College Administrative Board, which reviews issues of academic integrity, said Jay M. Harris, dean of undergraduate Education. He emphasized that none of the allegations has been proven and said there's no evidence of widespread cheating at Harvard.
"The facts that are before us are that we have a problem in this one course," Harris said. "I hope that doesn't sound overly naive, I don't want to be naive, but this is what we have. The rest would be speculation.
"Looking at the students we have and the work that they do, I would be loathe to say this is something that represents Harvard students generally."
The spring course included undergraduates at all class levels, Harris said. A teaching assistant noticed some possible problems on the tests, including evidence that students collaborated on answers or used the same long, identical strings of words. The exam had clear instructions that no collaboration was allowed, Harris said.
The assistant notified the professor, who referred the case in May to the administrative board. After interviewing some students, the board found what Harris characterized as "cause for concern."
Depending on the offense, the punishments range from an admonition, a sort of warning for a first offense, to being forced to withdraw from Harvard for a year. It wasn't immediately clear what sanctions any student who has graduated may face.
There's no timeline for when the investigation will be finished, Harris said.
"We believe in due process for students and fairness," he said. "Everyone wants it done yesterday, but we have to be patient. It's going to take as long as it takes."
A Harvard spokesman said he knows of no incidents in recent memory of possible cheating at the university on this scale.
Michael Zimmet, a freshman from Aspen, Colo., said news of the investigation "was really surprising."
"You think of Harvard as somewhere where people are academically honest and interested in their course work," he said.
Tiffany Fonseca, a sophomore from Boston, said she didn't know the details of what happened, but that it was easy to see how students could talk to each other about a take-home test.
"I'm kind of shocked, but I'm not," she said.
In response to the allegations, a Harvard committee on academic integrity led by Harris will present recommendations on how to enforce faculty-wide expectations of academic honesty.
In an email Thursday, Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, urged faculty members to clarify policies on student collaboration and work to "foster a culture of honesty and integrity."
The school plans to initiate broad conversations on campus about academic honesty, including why it's vital to intellectual inquiry. It is also considering instituting an honor code. Such codes at other schools, for instance, set standards for honesty and require students to sign completed work, attesting that they followed those standards.
"We really think we need to work harder," Harris said. "We do think it's an opportunity to really put out before the community how much we value integrity."
It's not a surprise that Harvard isn't immune to possible cheating, said Teresa Fishman of the International Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University. Twenty years of data shows that a quarter to a third of students across all levels of collegiate education admit cheating on tests, she said.
Reasons range from indifference to the subject to believing you must to keep up with other cheaters. Fishman added there's widespread "wishful thinking" in academia that the real problem is elsewhere. An investigation and action at a high-profile school such as Harvard might benefit other colleges, she said.
"That might even encourage other schools to say, `OK, well I can admit that we have a little bit of a problem here with cheating, too," Fishman said.

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