Chaz Bono ignores controversy, focuses on dance (AP)

By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen, Ap Entertainment Writer – Thu Sep 8, 11:39 am ET

LOS ANGELES – Chaz Bono isn't thinking about the controversy surrounding his casting on "Dancing With the Stars." He says he's been flooded with fan support and is focused on the cha-cha.

Bono is the show's first transgender contestant, and some viewers and conservative media groups have responded to his casting with hateful blog posts and calls for a boycott of the hit ABC show.

But at a Wednesday rehearsal in Los Angeles, the 42-year-old author and activist said he hasn't looked at the negative posts on the network's website and has received loads of support from fans on Twitter.

Bono, who began learning dance moves last week, says the controversy "hasn't taken any type of negative toll on me at all" and that he remains intent on perfecting the dance routine he'll perform in front of millions of viewers when the show premieres later this month.

Yahoo! News

London Film fest seeks beauty and controversy (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes and David Cronenberg will parade the red carpet of the British Film Institute's (BFI) 55th London Film Festival, which is set to showcase a varied line up of big titles and emerging talent, organizers said Wednesday.

The European premiere "360" directed by Fernando Meirelles with a glittering cast including Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz, will launch the 16-day festival in October, and "The Deep Blue Sea," also starring Weisz and directed by Terence Davies, will round off Britain's largest cinematic celebration.

"London has a strong reputation as a center for creativity and innovation in the film industry and I'm particularly pleased to see that the high profile films selected for the opening and closing nights have been shot in the capital with great British talent," London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a statement.

Following in the wake of Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), London faces stiff competition from these high-profile and higher-ranking magnets for the big studios and A-listers.

Many big titles of the London Festival, such as George Clooney's hotly anticipated work "The Ides of March" have already had a run in Venice, while the opening and closing films in London festival are set to make their world premiere at TIFF.

But organizers stressed the "variety and richness" of the London roster this year, which will showcase 13 world premieres, including "Hut in the Woods" - a new film from Germany's Hans Weingartner, who also directed "The Edukators."

"The festival will present a broad program of the best and most significant films ranging from beautifully crafted narrative to boundary pushing experiments and we hope we've found richness in diversity," festival Artistic Director Sandra Hebron said.

The celebration of film will look at art and cinematic heritage as well as crowd-pleasers. The Archive Gala will offer film lovers a return to cinematic roots with a showcase of restored reels from archives around the world.

The festival is set to give a modern twist to the world premiere of the melodramatic 1928 silent film, "First Born," in which a newly commissioned score will accompany the on-screen exploits of a badly behaved aristocrat.

"The restorations from the film archives reflect the diversity reflected elsewhere in the program. There's something of a historical flavor to our Experimenta programs too," Hebron said.

No single country dominates the lineup, but the Iranian contingent of world cinema featuring new films by Mohammad Rasoulof and Morteza Farshbaf, received particular attention from organizers.

"The London Film Festival brings together films of beauty and controversy, many of which we wouldn't see in the UK otherwise," said Amanda Nevill, BFI Chief Executive.

Special mention was made in particular of Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Iranian co-director of "This is not a film," whose passport was confiscated by Iranian authorities en route to Toronto Tuesday, Hebron said.

"This incident shows it is more important than ever for film festivals and the film community to support artists like him," Hebron said.

The 55th London BFI Film Festival will run from Oct 12-27.

(Created by Paul Casciato)

Yahoo! News

Bob Dylan addresses 'China controversy' (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) – In a rare and strongly worded message to his fans, Bob Dylan has denied claims his songs were censored by government authorities when he made his much-publicised China debut last month.

The music legend, who played in Beijing and Shanghai on April 6 and 8, missed out some of his best known politically inspired songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind", sparking speculation he may have been censored.

Addressing the "so-called China controversy" in a post on his official website, Dylan admitted that authorities had asked for the names of the songs he would be playing ahead of the concerts.

China's leaders -- criticised by rights groups and Western governments for human rights violations -- are widely believed to be nervous about the potential for politically provocative songs or statements by foreign rock acts.

"There's no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous three months," Dylan wrote on Friday.

"If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play."

Dylan, who received a warm reception from a mixed crowd of Chinese and expatriates in Beijing and Shanghai, denied reports that his concerts had been attended mostly by foreigners and that there were many empty seats.

"If anybody wants to check with any of the concert-goers they will see that it was mostly Chinese young people that came," he said, adding the audience responded "enthusiastically" to his more recent songs.

"Out of 13,000 seats we sold about 12,000 of them, and the rest of the tickets were given away to orphanages," he added.

Dylan was playing as part of a tour commemorating 50 years since his first major performance on April 11, 1961. He also denied claims that he had been banned from playing in China last year.

"This was all drummed up by a Chinese promoter who was trying to get me to come there after playing Japan and Korea," he wrote.

"We had no intention of playing China at that time, and when it didn't happen most likely the promoter had to save face by issuing statements that the Chinese ministry had refused permission for me to play there to get himself off the hook."

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.