New Barnabas and Angelique

A new photo from the new Tim Burton Dark Shadows has been released. It is of Johnny Depp (Barnabas Collins) and Eva Green (Angelique Bouchard):



The movie is based on the Dan Curtis soap opera. The roles of Barnabas and Angelique were originated by Jonathan Frid and Lara Parker.

Whitney Houston Reported Dead

Some sad news.

From the Washington Post:

Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

What a tragic waste.

So sad that Whitney Houston is gone. That voice was a gift from God. Her rendition of the National Anthem was transcendent. - Monica Crowley.

Ghost Rider Creator Gary Friedrich Needs Your Help

Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich has been counter-sued by Marvel. He needs your help to eat and pay everyday living expenses while he pursues an appeal against the court decision.

Recently, Gary posted the following on Facebook:

A NOTE TO MY FANS AND SUPPORTERS:

Since the various news agencies and websites have reported the ruling against me on my claims against Marvel in the Ghost Rider lawsuit, and the assesment of a $17,000 judgment against me and my company instead, I have read an amazing amount of comments in my support on the internet, and have received many messages of support directly. Although the reports of my employment situation and financial difficulties as well as problems with my health are unfortunately true, I want to let everyone in the comic book world, especially my supporters and fans of the Ghost Rider character which I invented, created, and wrote, that I am going to appeal the Court's ruling and continue to fight this as long as I am able and that your support of me means more than you will ever know. I have heard your voices. I thank you with alll my heart, and I appreciate your thoughts and best wishes as I soldier on.

Feel free to keep in touch with me via e-mail: fgroovygary@aol.com.

Thanks again and God bless you.

Fellow writer Steve Niles has set up a donation page. To access it, go here.

Masami Nagasawa In New Detective Series

Masami Nagasawa has been a rising star in Japan. Godzilla fans know her as one of the Mothra fairies (shobijin) in Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) and Godzilla Final Wars (2004).

Left, Masami Nagasawa (right) with Chihiro Ôtsuka in "Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S."

Now, she is set to star as a television detective.



From Japan Today:

TOKYO — Masami Nagasawa says she is very happy to play a detective in her newest TV drama, “Toshi Densetsu no Onna,” which will air on TV Asahi on Friday nights from April.

It has been three years since Nagasawa appeared in a TV drama series. “Toshi Densetsu no Onna” is a mixture of comedy and mystery. Nagasawa plays Tsukiko Otonashi, a police detective who is obsessed with urban legends and who works on unsolved cases behind the legends.

Right, Masami Nagasawa in “Toshi Densetsu no Onna.”







To read the Japan Today article, go here.

"The Great Dictator" Obama Issues Edict To Health Insurers

Hoping to quell a firestorm President Obama announced a change in healthcare policy concerning religion and contraceptives.

Fox News reported:

President Barack Obama, in an abrupt policy shift aimed at quelling an election-year firestorm, announced on Friday that religious employers would not be required to offer free birth control to workers and that the onus would instead be put on insurers.

The compromise sought to accommodate religious organizations, such as Catholic hospitals and universities, outraged by a new rule that would have required them to offer free contraceptive coverage.

Instead, the new approach puts the burden on insurance companies, ordering them to provide workers at religious-affiliated institutions with free family planning if they request it, without involving their employer at all, the White House said.

Well, the problem with this is that although Obama shifted gears, this new plan is no more constitutional than the other one. It really is no change. Who do you think pays for the insurance coverage? The employer and the employee. He has no authority to make an insurer or any business pay for free contraceptives by edict. Governing in this manner makes Obama a dictator.

From Heritage.org:

“It’s very chilling and very dangerous,” Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) told the Heritage Foundation in an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He insisted that the president’s supposed walk-back of the contraception mandate “is all rhetoric” and does not address either the constitutional problems with the mandate or its detriments to freedom of choice for America’s health care consumers.

On the constitutional question, Price said that members of the administration “so believe that they have to have the power to determine what kind health coverage that an individual may get that they’re willing to trample on the First Amendment to the Constitution in order to increase their power.”

To read the full Fox News story, go here.

UPDATE (2/11): From CNSNews.com:

CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement late on Friday declaring that the small alteration President Barack Obama had announced earlier in the day to a regulation that would force all health-care plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives--including those that cause abortion--is 'unacceptable" because, among other things, it does not protect the freedom-of-conscience rights of secular for-profit employers, or secular non-profit employers, or religious insurers, or self-insured religious employers, or individual Americans.

To read the full story, go here.

Rondo Awards Voting Begins Sunday Night!

The announcement has been made that the 10th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards ballot will be unveiled and voting begins this coming Sunday night.

What is the Rondo Awards?

The Rondo awards, named after Rondo Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, celebrate the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation.

To see the ballot and to vote, go here Sunday night!

18 Million Visitors To Japan Goal

Above, a streetcar in Nagasaki. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan has unveiled a five-year plan to increase in-bound tourism by 2016.

According to an article posted at InsideJapan News Netork:

A five-year tourism plan issued by Japan is aiming to attract 18 million visitors to the country's shores by 2016.

Following the publication of a draft copy of the proposals, the Japan Times reported that the plans are expected to get cabinet approval for implementation at the beginning of the next financial year.

In 2010 a record number of travellers visited Japan, with 8.61 million foreigners entering the country.

However, this number fell by more than a quarter to 6.22 million last year, with Japanese authorities believing that inaccurate information following the tsunami, earthquake and subsequent nuclear problems had discouraged visitors.

To read the full article, go here.