Affleck has taken himself out of "Focus," the heist romance/comedy picture that he would've co-starred in with Kristen Stewart. The Warner Bros. movie tells the story of a veteran con-man (the role Affleck would have played) who becomes romantically involved with a newcomer (Stewart) and finds the relationship challenged by their illegal activities. When they meet again down the line, the complications have long-lasting effects. "Crazy, Stupid, Love." team Glenn Ficarra and John Requa wrote the script and will direct, and the studio wanted to get this one going soon, so presumbly they'll trying to find a replacement fast.
* wonder if Jenni Garner had something to do with Ben pulling out? She might have been more worried about hubby porking trampire for real than the supposed sex scene(s) in the movie. Like many child-stars, Kristen is bit fucked in the head. They claimed to hate the spotlight but will do everything to be the center of attention. With Ben being the man of the moment, Kristen would been all over him in no time. Having said that and I'm not being malicious here (adores to death Jenn girl), Ben will stray at some point. He is a nice dude and super-smart but that cockiness will attract the typical skanks that permeates Hollywood in various guises. Who knows even clean-cut Garner may want to explore her wild side after all the years of living like a Disney princess.
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Miss USA Olivia Culpo is crowned Miss Universe
LAS VEGAS -- A 20-year-old beauty queen from Rhode Island was crowned the new Miss Universe on Wednesday, beating out 88 other women during a televised competition at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Olivia Culpo took the crown from Leila Lopes of Angola after strutting in a purple and blue bikini and a red velvet gown.
In the final stages of the competition, she answered a question about her regrets by saying she wished she hadn't picked on her siblings.
Miss Philippines, Janine Tugonon, came in second, while Miss Venezuela, Irene Sofia Esser Quintero, placed third.
Contestants from 89 countries on six continents spent the past two weeks in Sin City, where they posed in hardhats at a hotel groundbreaking, took a painting lesson, and pranked hotel guests by hiding in their rooms.
The beauty queens took the stage in tight, pleated mini-dresses with glittering sequin bodices and sky high platform shoes, strutting to the hit "Live While We're Young," by English-Irish boy band One Direction.
Later in the two-hour show, they walked a stage decked with white Christmas trees and snow flurry effects, throwing off gauzy white wraps to show off tie-dye bikinis in purples, pinks and blues.
For the third elimination round, they strutted in evening gowns as band Train and Australian singer Timomatic performed. Miss Venezuela's straight-cut, emerald-colored gown was perhaps the most distinct, its long sleeves virtually invisible but for the navy blue, garland-like trim encircling them. Miss USA's red velvet number was full-skirted and wintery, except for the deep, plunging neckline. Miss Australia's gown evoked a wedding dress -- pure white with sparkles at the waist and a corset-style bodice.
Culpo, from Rhode Island, was trying to end a long losing spell for the U.S. in the competition. An American had not won the right to be called Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.
The contestants voted to give the Miss Congeniality crown to Miss Guatemala.
The pageant aired live on NBC and was streamed to more than 100 countries.
Andy Cohen of the Bravo network and Giuliana Rancic of E! News returned to host the pageant, which was back in Las Vegas after being held in Sao Paulo last year.
The panel of 10 judges included singer Cee Lo Green, "Iron Chef" star Masaharu Morimoto and Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants.
Asked on the red carpet whether he found playing in the World Series or judging the beauty pageant to be more difficult, Sandoval said both were hard.
Angola sported a low-cut sequined gown and said she expected this night to be the worst part of her year. The 2011 winner offered some advice to the women vying for her crown.
"Be calm and smile," she said. "Smiling helps a lot. Even though they are not relaxed, the judges will think that they are."
Sharply dressed women and men, including a large contingent from South America, held banners and cheered on their favorite contestants.
"I've seen them and they are absolutely gorgeous," said Donald Trump, a co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization. "They're very nervous and they should be. It's a billion people (watching)."
Organizers had considered holding the 61st annual Miss Universe in the popular Dominican Republic tourist city of Punta Cana, but Miss Universe Organization President Paula Shugart said that country's financial crisis proved to be too much of an obstacle.
Contestants in the pageant cannot have been married or have children. They must be younger than 27 and older than 18 by Feb. 1 of the competition year.
The winner of the crown receives an undisclosed salary, a wardrobe fit for a queen, a limitless supply of beauty products, and a luxury apartment in New York City.
The pageant started as a local revue in Long Beach, Calif., organized by Catalina Swimwear. It is not affiliated with the Miss America pageant and unlike that contest, does not include a talent section.
Miss USA Olivia Culpo won the coveted diamond nexus crown and her court of beauties as announced were Miss Brazil Gabriela Markus (4th Runner-Up), Miss Australia Renae Ayris (3rd Runner-Up), Miss Venezuela Irene Esser (2nd Runner-Up) and Miss Philippines Janine Tugonon (1st Runner-Up).
Here's the official result of Miss Universe 2012 held at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada:
FINAL RESULTS | CONTESTANT |
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Miss Universe 2012 |
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1st Runner-up |
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2nd Runner-up |
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3rd Runner-up |
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4th Runner-up |
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Top 10 |
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Top 16 |
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SPECIAL AWARDS | CONTESTANT |
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Miss Congeniality | ![]() |
Miss Photogenic | ![]() |
Best National Costume | ![]() |
And the live telecast judges were Nigel Barker, Diego Boneta, Scott Disick, Brad Goreski, Masaharu Morimoto, Ximena Navarrete, Pablo Sandoval, Lisa Vanderpump, Kerri Walsh Jennings and Claudia Jordan.
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'Sushi Girl' Director Kern Saxton Reasonably Confronts Pirates On Torrent Site Downloading His Movie
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Kern Saxton, the man behind the low budget crime flick "Sushi Girl" featuring Mark Hamill, Michael Biehn, Danny Trejo and Jeff Fahey among others, surfed over to a torrent site recently and confronted those who were making the movie available to download. And his reaction? Pretty level headed. He basically says that while he appreciates the attention they are giving his film, indie movies like his need every dollar they can get, and he hopes that if viewers enjoy it, they purchase it when it comes to DVD and Blu-Ray in February (and he notes it will have a better sound mix than what's floating about online).
Basically, he's taking the if-you-sampled-it-and-liked-it-please-buy-it-approach. And again, that's more than fair.
See his full statement below after the red band trailer for the movie. "Sushi Girl" is now on VOD and open in limited release on January 4th. [Reddit]

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21-years old French-Canadian model Anais Pouliot : OYSHO WINTER
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DODGE CITY USA
December 17, 2012 - NEW YORK – After the massacre of 28 people at a Connecticut school– 20 of them children – Americans are bitterly asking themselves what has gone wrong in their country. School and work place shootings have become almost as common as sports events. What can be done to halt this plague?
Not very much, at first glance. Americans love firearms: there are some 150 million in circulation. Half of all Americans own weapons. Welcome to Dodge City. In Puritanical America, it’s ok to show people being sawed in half and skinned alive on TV but illegal to show the nude human body.
Attacks on schools are not just an American problem: they have occurred in Europe, Canada, Pakistan, and, last week, China.
The Second Amendment of the US Constitution, enacted in 1791, guarantees: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” This basic right was reaffirmed by Supreme Court decisions in 2008 and 2010.
The right to bear arms was designed to enable citizen’s militias and to protect individuals against “tyranny.” The United States had just battled Britain for its independence and feared the rise of a home-grown monarchy.
America was not alone in arming its citizens. In Switzerland, the country of my youth, citizen soldiers keep their automatic weapons at home. As far as I know, there has been only one case in half a century of a Swiss running amok and using his military rifle against civilians.
Switzerland illustrates the claim by gun advocates that “guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Some members of America’s mighty National Rifle Association, the leading advocate of gun ownership for hunting and self-defense, claim that the majority of gun killings are suicides, not assaults.
But the United States is not tranquil Switzerland. Nor is it the highly civilized Western Europe, where gun ownership is strictly limited. In many senses, the US remains the Wild West, a nation that is still rough and unfinished.
However, crime rates in the United States have dropped sharply over the past 20 years. The reason is uncertain and hotly debated. Gun advocates insist it is because citizens can carry arms and protect themselves. Some statistics indeed show drops in robbery and assaults in states where carrying weapons is legal.
While there are two sides to these arguments, no doubt exists that military-style semi-automatic and fully automatic arms – like AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles - have no place in a modern society. They only belong on battlefields.
Nor do such deadly weapons have any place in hunting, where single shot, high-powered rifles with scopes are more than enough to massacre helpless animals. It was noteworthy that Newtown, where the shooting occurred, banned hunting for the weekend. People suddenly felt a little of the terror that hunted animals experience.
America’s real problem is its pervasive culture of violence and the glorification of killing. Ultra-violent video games and comic books, grisly horror films, gory war movies, and endless police drama filled with gunplay infuse society. Add heavy, pro-war drumbeating and patriotic guff from the media and politicians.
Military TV stations (I watch them, too) promote a pornography of violence. America’s wars against Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen have turned war and the killing of civilians into sanitized video games were “the bad guys” are effortlessly liquidated – or, to use a newly favored euphemism, “taken out.” Ever since 9/11, America has become profoundly militarized and addicted to macho propaganda about “special ops,” Navy Seals, and CIA black ops.
The principal consumers of all this violent pornography and the cult of killing are confused teenage boys and young men who are at a turbulent age when potent hormones addle the brain, and whose place in this world has not yet been found.
Young men cannot be banned, but weapons and ammunition can – provided enough Americans become outraged. President Obama vowed this weekend “these tragedies must end.” But will he expend the huge amount of political capital need to fight America’s powerful gun lobby and hunting industry, and its pistol-packing citizens for whom guns have become the latest fashion accessory?
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