Archive for August 7th, 2008

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "Clerks" director Kevin Smith has made a porn movie the whole family can watch.

His racy comedy, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," successfully appealed its restrictive NC-17 rating, and will be released on October 31 with an R rating, which allows viewers under 17 to see it as long as they are accompanied by an adult, distributor Weinstein Co. said on Wednesday.

Films tagged with an NC-17 are off limits to anyone aged 17 and under, and generally disappear at the box office. No NC-17 films have been released since 2005, according to the Motion Picture Assn of America, which administers the ratings system.

"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as roommates and platonic friends who make a pornographic film to escape ruinous debt. But they soon find out creating a porno is more emotionally complicated than they had expected.

It was initially given an NC-17 rating for "some graphic sexuality." The MPAA said it overturned the rating on Tuesday, after hearing statements from Smith and Weinstein Co. attorney Alan Friedman.

"This is a great day for Kevin Smith fans and we are grateful that the MPAA’s appeals board was able to overturn what we felt was an unwarranted and overly restrictive rating," Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co, said in a statement.

Even with an R rating, the filmmakers still face numerous marketing restrictions aimed at protecting youngsters. The biggest R-rated comedy in the last 10 years was 2005′s "Wedding Crashers," which made $209 million, and ranks No. 80 among all-time movies, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo. It incidentally featured a cameo by Republican presidential contender John McCain.

Two of Smith’s previous comedies, "Clerks" and the 2004 "Jersey Girl," also had their original MPAA rating overturned by the appeals board, the Weinstein Co. said. "Clerks" ended up with an R rating and "Jersey Girls" got a PG-13, which warns that "some material may be inappropriate for children under 13."

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Want all the hassle of air travel without going anywhere?

Step up for JetBlue Airways Corp’s trial of bag check and security systems at its new John F. Kennedy International Airport terminal, which is set to open in September.

New York-based JetBlue is looking for 1,000 of its frequent flyers to show up at JFK on August 23 to check bags given to them by the airline, go through security and wait at the assigned gate for their imaginary "flight".

In return, the airline is promising unspecified "giveaways", free parking and lunch.

The U.S. No. 7 carrier is taking no chances with the systems at its new Terminal 5, following the chaotic opening of British Airways’ Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport in March, as baggage systems failed and staff didn’t know their way around the new building.

Only last week, AMR Corp’s American Airlines had to cancel flights from JFK after its baggage system software malfunctioned at a different terminal.

JetBlue, partly owned by Germany’s Lufthansa, is no stranger to snafus at JFK, canceling hundreds of flights and stranding thousands of passengers last year after an ice-storm hit New York.

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So I’ve made some first motions towards contact w/ my two half brothers. No, I’ve never met them before – I’d known about them for about a decade or a bit more by way of my paternal grandmother (both of them are by my biological father).

I’d seen one’s myspace for a while, but they hadn’t made many changes on it. This past weekend was the aforementioned grandmother’s 90th birthday and they’d all been together in the twin cities for it. I had Willits Faire to manage, but also I really don’t think that a first contact should have come at a large family gathering. There’s little sense in bringing in that kind of tension (if not outright drama) into a special event like someone else’s big birthday bash.

So I’ve traded a few emails with the older one, David (he’s about 20 I think), and then today I IM’ed briefly with Michael (18?) and we’re slated to chat more a bit later on. Still not sure how I feel about it all, I’m definitely curious, but beyond that, the other emotions are muddled at best.

I’ve always been an only child for all practical purposes (yes, when my mom remarried, I picked up a number of step-siblings, but they were all much older than I was, so they didn’t really play any material roles).

So now I get to mull about what to say, what to ask, and how I feel about meeting two 1/2 brothers. I spent a good deal of today’s therapy session talking about this very thing.

Will write more about this as the next few days progress.

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By VESELIN TOSHKOV, Associated Press Writer
Thu Aug 7, 8:24 AM ET

SOFIA, Bulgaria – Archaeologists have unearthed a 1,900-year-old well-preserved chariot at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Thursday.
 
Daniela Agre said her team found the four-wheel chariot during excavations near the village of Borisovo, around 180 miles east of the capital, Sofia.

“This is the first time that we have found a completely preserved chariot in Bulgaria,” said Agre, a senior archaeologist at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

She said previous excavations had only unearthed single parts of chariots — often because ancients sites had been looted.

At the funerary mound, the team also discovered table pottery, glass vessels and other gifts for the funeral of a wealthy Thracian aristocrat.

In a separate pit, they unearthed skeletons of two riding horses apparently sacrificed during the funeral of the nobleman, along with well preserved bronze and leather objects, some believed to horse harnesses.

The Culture Ministry confirmed the find and announced $3,900 in financial assistance for Agre’s excavation.

Agre said an additional amount of $7,800 will be allocated by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for an initial restoration and conservation of the chariot and the other Thracian finds.

The Thracians were an ancient people that inhabited the lands of present day Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Turkey, Macedonia and Romania between 4,000 B.C. and the 6th century, when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.

Some 10,000 Thracian mounds — some of them covering monumental stone tombs — are scattered across Bulgaria.

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