Sask. native magazine launched to counter 'negative' press
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations will publish a magazine about aboriginal issues, saying it wants to counter the often negative coverage in the mainstream press.
On Monday, the FSIN unveiled Saskatchewan Indian, a magazine that the federation's leader, Chief Lawrence Joseph, said would tell positive stories about the province's aboriginal people.
"Not to slam dunk the regular news media, but usually it's negative stories, who got into trouble, who went to jail, that kind of thing, who killed who, that type of thing," Joseph said.
"Now we're trying to complement those stories with our own stories."
In recent months, the FSIN has been critical of the way the news media has covered such stories as the turmoil at First Nations University of Canada, which has campuses in three Saskatchewan communities — Prince Albert Regina and Saskatoon — and the controversy over the Oyate safe house for teenage prostitutes in Regina.
The FSIN started the magazine in the early 1970s, but it ceased publication about 10 years ago.
Joseph said he decided to revive the paper to communicate better with his member nations.
There are many positive First Nations stories that don't get reported by the general media, in part because they don't operate in First Nations communities, he said.
"The purpose of this paper is to tell our stories, the stories that we're proud of," he said.
The Saskatchewan Indian will publish nine times a year.
The FSIN will have editorial control of the paper, but readers will be able to have their say through opinion columns and letters to the editor, Joseph said.
Christian Groups Don't Want a Black Christmas
While horror film fans are likely giddy that at least one scary movie is being released at a time when there is often a lull in scary movies at the multiplex, Christian groups don't seem to share their enthusiasm.
Some Christian groups are upset that Black Christmas, a remake of the 1974 holiday-themed slasher flick, is opening on Christmas Day.
Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, says, "To have a movie that emphasizes murder and mayhem at Christmas, a time of celebration and joy around the world seems to be ill founded."
And Jennifer Giroux, co-founder of Operation Just Say Merry Christmas, adds, "The use of religious music 'Silent Night' and the nativity set on the front porch in one scene are insensitive to Christians. It's not enough to ignore and omit Christmas, but now it has to be offended, insulted and desecrated. Our most sacred holiday, actually a holy day, is being assaulted."
Disney Thinks Tinkerbell Movie is Too Childish
Walt Disney had planned to release The Tinkerbell Movie in 2007 but after reviewing completed portions of the film, the studio has decided to send the animators back to work with a new launch date of 2008 or 2009.
According to the Internet Movie Database, the studio had wanted the direct-to-DVD release to appeal to the 'tween girl crowd but the movie skewed too young, towards kids aged 4-6.
This posed a serious concern for Disney as they were planning on launching a Tinkerbell franchise for the 'tween girl audience with several other direct-to-DVD movies over a three year period.
Rush Close To Wrapping New Album
Rush is nearly finished recording its next studio album, which is expected sometime in 2007 via Atlantic. The tracks were put to tape at Allaire Studios in upstate New York with co-producer Nick Raskulinecz. "I have never enjoyed the recording process so much, nor been so satisfied with the results," drummer Neil Peart writes on his Web site.
Peart went on to relate an instance in the studio when Raskulinecz pushed him to try something out of the ordinary. "We had been working on a complex, syncopated section in one of the songs -- a part that had taken me hours to learn -- and Nick turned to me and said, 'Do you think you could solo over that?'"
"Ha -- what a question! Of course I could solo over it. I'd love to! But I would never dare to suggest such a thing myself," he continued. "When Nick pushed me like that, he would say, 'Hey man, I wouldn't ask if I didn't know you could do it,' and of course that was a kind of challenge. All of us picked up that 'can do' spirit, and it came to express the mood of our sessions at Allaire -- brash, confident, determined, inspired, challenged, fired-up, defiant, excited."
Peart previously told Billboard.com some of his lyrics for the new songs were inspired by his motorcycle journeys throughout the United States, chronicled in the recent book "Roadshow: Landscape With Drums."
"Just seeing the power of evangelical Christianity and contrasting that with the power of fundamentalist religion all over the world in its different forms had a big effect on me," he said.
"You try to put your own way of seeing the world into some kind of congruence with other peoples, and that's difficult for me," he admits. "I mean, I see the world in what I think to be a perfectly obvious and rational way, but when you go out into it and see the way other people think and behave, and express themselves on church signs, you realize, 'Well, I'm not really part of this club.'"
The upcoming album will be Rush's first since 2002's "Vapor Trails."
Black Eyed Peas Finishing Up 'Fun' New Album
The Black Eyed Peas aren't monkeying around on their follow-up to 2005's four million-selling "Monkey Business." Main Pea will.i.am tells Billboard.com that the quartet's next album is "almost finished" and "will come out this time next year" -- meaning the fourth quarter of 2007. At the same time, he says there's room for a lot more to happen before the group wraps things up.
"We have 12 songs," will.i.am notes, "and we'll probably do another 30 or 40 songs." As with "Monkey Business," the Peas have been recording tracks on the road, including in China, but will probably finish things at home since the group is slated to be off tour between January and August.
As for the new album's direction, will.i.am says that "it's still a fun record" but that it also deals with social and some political issues. "We are not complaining," he says. "It's not, 'Oh, everything messed up! Oh my gosh, we're doomed!' It's a thinking record. It brings up what's happening in the world. 'Monkey Business' didn't do that."
The album has no title yet, and will.i.am says it's too early to start thinking about guests and collaborators. And any pressure to equal the multi-platinum success of "Monkey Business" and its 2003 predecessor "Elephunk" is mitigated by the Peas' own internal drive.
"We're afraid of losing what got us here, and that was humbleness and hunger," will.i.am explains. "It's easier now than it was in 1996. But it's still that fear of losing that drive and motivation and determination now that you've accomplished something. That's what's scary to us."
The album is just part of the Peas' crowded pod these days, too. The group recently released "Live From Sydney to Vegas," a highly interactive DVD featuring footage from shows in Australia and the U.S. with cutting-edge technology that allows viewers to shift seamlessly between the two concerts.
The group is also starting to plan for its third annual pre-Grammy Awards Pea Pod event, which this year will honor Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine. The Peas are up for one Grammy -- best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal -- while will.i.am is up for five, including producer of the year.
Goldman sues O.J. for book-deal bucks
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Ronald Goldman's father sued O.J. Simpson on Tuesday, seeking any money the former NFL star received for a canceled book deal and TV interview that told a hypothetical tale of how he would have killed his ex-wife and Goldman.
The federal lawsuit filed in California by Fred Goldman's Indianapolis-based attorney accuses Simpson of "fraudulent conveyance" and alleges that he created a shell corporation that received at least $1.1 million as part of the TV interview and book, titled If I Did It.
Attorney Jonathan Polak said Lorraine Brooke Associates was created in March using the middle name of Simpson's two children. The lawsuit calls it a "sham entity" formed to defraud Ron Goldman's relatives by preventing them from claiming any of more than $38 million Simpson owes the family from a judgment against him in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Goldman's lawsuit seeks about $1.1 million plus punitive damages, although Polak said he believed Simpson has already spent the money he received from News Corp., the owner of Fox Broadcasting and publisher HarperCollins.
Polak said the lawsuit's true aim is to determine how the book and TV interview deals were reached.
"The question in this lawsuit is not about what's in their bank account right now," he said. "The issue is, can we unwind this series of transactions and hold those we believe truly are responsible accountable financially?"
Polak said he believes Judith Regan — who was fired last week as a publisher by HarperCollins — and Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp., need "to come clean" on their knowledge of how Simpson was reimbursed for the deal.
Andrew Butcher, a spokesman for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., said he could not comment on the possibility of Murdoch being deposed.
He said News Corp. has been working with Goldman's family to answer questions about the book deal.
"From the very start, we'd offered every assistance to the family of Ron Goldman. Any information they have asked for regarding the contracts for the Simpson book, we have given them," Butcher said.
Polak said he has asked News Corp. to destroy all copies of the book, as well as copies of the interview with Fox that was to have aired. He also wants News Corp. to assign all rights to those books and interviews to the Goldman family.
Butcher said News Corp. has destroyed all copies of If I Did It but objected to the request to assign the rights to the Goldmans.
"You don't own the rights to someone's book in perpetuity," he said. "It doesn't work that way. It's more complicated."
Simpson told The Associated Press last month that he took part in the project solely for personal profit and acknowledged that any financial gain was "blood money."
Simpson would not say how much he was paid in advance, only that it was less than the $3.5 million reported. He said the money already has been spent, some of it on tax obligations.
Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday with Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter.
Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges in the 1994 killings.
In 1997, a civil court jury, using a lesser standard of proof than is required at a criminal trial, found Simpson liable for Nicole Brown Simpson's and Goldman's stabbing deaths. The jury ordered him to pay about $19.7 million to Goldman's family — an amount Polak said has grown to more than $38 million with interest.
Fred Goldman said in a statement that he was eager to learn who worked with Simpson on the deal.
"We will not stop until we are able to shine the light of truth on those that acted in concert with him," he said.
Oscar poster a font of famous film lines
LOS ANGELES - The new Oscar poster was unfurled Tuesday, and there are lines everywhere. Famous lines from 70 years of famous films.
"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!", "I'm the king of the world!", "I'm ready for my close-up" and "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" are among the quotes that share space with an image of the Oscar statuette on the 79th Annual Academy Awards poster.
"What we have is a failure to communicate," joked Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who told Associated Press Television that the idea of movie lines stood out among the dozens of potential Oscar-poster concepts for this year's version.
"We saw it in rough (form) and thought, `There's an idea.' ... `Yes, the force is strong with this one'."
At first the designers were only going to use lines from Oscar winners, Ganis explained, "and then they broadened the field to Oscar nominees." All but one of the lines were gleaned from films that received an Academy Award nomination for best picture, writing or both from 1936-2005.
"And, of course, we had to include what is probably the most quoted movie line, `I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse,'" Ganis said of the famous "Godfather" comment.
The concept and design for the poster were created for the academy by the Los Angeles ad agency TBWA-Chiat-Day.
Photographer Albert Watson shot the Oscar statuette. The poster employs a black canvas, with the quotes in gold metallic — each in a typeface in the spirit of the film from which it came.
The academy planned to send out the posters to the surviving writers of the lines. "It's a great way to say thank you," Ganis said, adding he was going to write each of the scribes a personal note.
Some 65,000 of the posters will be distributed worldwide. They're also available for purchase via the academy's Web site.
Nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 23, with the Oscar ceremony set for Feb. 25.