Entertainment News Blog - Celebrity Movies Music Television

Police were called to the Neighbours studio last week after one of the soap’s regular extras began acting strangely and damaged part of the set.

According to the Herald Sun, the woman in question - who has not been named - had to be taken to hospital by ambulance on Friday after slicing her wrist with a glass in a disturbance which took place during filming at Charlie’s Bar.

It is understood that all shooting was subsequently cancelled for the day and members of the cast and crew were removed from the set.

Neighbours‘ executive producer Susan Bower commented: “It was a bit of a shock. One of our regular extras wasn’t really feeling the best and started behaving in an extraordinary way.

“She was very distressed and swung her hand and knocked a glass off a table.”

Producer Neal Kingston added: “We were concerned for the welfare of everyone and removed all cast and crew until the police arrived to assess the situation.

“She broke a couple of items so we cleared the situation to make sure everyone was okay and waited for authorities to arrive. She was assisted by police and went willingly outside with them.”

Police are said to have then called an ambulance and the extra was taken away to hospital, where her wrist injury was treated.

Filming on Neighbours resumed as normal on Monday.

Danielle Lloyd has claimed that she does not believe all she sees when she watches Big Brother.

The model explained that her opinion of the reality show changed following the controversy which surrounded her appearance on the 2007 celebrity series. The behaviour of Lloyd, Jo O’Meara and the late Jade Goody towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on the programme led to accusations of racism and bullying.

Reflecting on the row, Lloyd told the Daily Record: “I’ve moved on from Big Brother. It was a learning curve and an experience that really made me grow up. You have to take some knocks and falls in life and this one was pretty bad.

“At the end of the day, I felt Big Brother was badly edited. You just don’t know what to believe when you watch it.”

The 26-year-old said that she is now looking to the future after recently becoming engaged to footballer Jamie O’Hara.

She commented: “I’m determined 2010 will be my best year yet. I’ve had a hard time over the past couple of years and I just want to move on and get on with life.”

It didn’t occur to me until I finished my basement project a few weeks ago that the vast empty room underneath our living space actually had a motif. A lattice of wires, cables and pipes are stapled or…

If ever there was a question in my mind as to why “Avatar” probably had no realistic chance of taking the best picture Academy Award, it was answered at the Oscars viewing party, “Night Of 100 Stars,” I covered Sunday night at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

It was the actors branch, dummy. With 1,205 members, three times as many as any other peer group in the academy, they are collectively a powerful voice and if you don’t have them behind you, your best- picture chances are slim.

The consensus I had drawn in recent weeks from talking to academy members of other branches strongly pointed to “Avatar” winning, but with few exceptions, most of the actors I asked thought the movie’s advanced ”performance capture” technique was threatening their career future. I remember sitting next to JoBeth Williams (”Poltergeist”)  at a “Lovely Bones” lunch event in December, and she said she worried it had the potential to eventually put actors out of work. Heavily involved with the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, she said then that SAG was forming a committee to investigate the process.

“Avatar” producer Jon Landau told Film Drunk shortly after the film was snubbed by the SAG acting nominations that “I blame ourselves for not educating people (actors). We made a commitment to our actors that what they would see up there on the screen is their performance, not somebody else’s  interpretation of what their performance might be.” James Cameron said performers were confusing it with animation but that the “creator here is the actor, not the unseen hand of the animator.”

That message clearly wasn’t heard by most of the actors I talked to Sunday. Aside from sensing a heavy “Hurt Locker” vibe in the room, many, while acknowledging the technical prowess of the film, didn’t believe “Avatar” was their sort of  film, at least when it comes to Academy Awards.

“I confess I didn’t see ‘Avatar’. It’s not really an actor’s kind of movie is it?” said 1987 best actress nominee Sally Kirkland. “I voted for ‘Hurt Locker’ and Sandy [Bullock]. She took my acting workshop when she was starting out in New York.”

In all the years I have been covering the Oscars, I have never really focused on this black tie sit-down dinner organized by agent Norby Walters and now celebrating its 20th year as a go-to place for actors, many past nominees and Oscar winners, who want somewhere to celebrate instead of actually attending the ceremony itself or getting turned away by a Vanity Fair party that only caters to the current Hollywood crowd. 

The red-carpet arrivals stretched over two banquet rooms and saw such disparate personalities as Coolio, “Borat” co-star Ken Davitian, Florence Henderson, Frankie Valli, Scott Baio and moonwalker Buzz Aldrin working the media. Some of the invitees got stuck waiting in the wrong line to get in until a guy with a clipboard came and shouted “anyone who’s ever been on TV follow me.” Joanne Worley, Fred Willard and Bernie Kopell (”The Love Boat”) took him up on the offer.

The event held in the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom really could have been titled “Night of 100 Academy Members” because that’s at least the number I saw there. It was heavy with names whose movie heydays probably peaked in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s but they still like to party. It’s like stumbling on to a viper’s nest of Oscar voters, and they don’t keep their opinions to themselves.

Like a fair maiden waiting with baited breath for her vagabond lover to arrive, I welcomed Monday night’s new episode of “Gossip Girl” with open arms. It has been three months, after all! I expected the same hot and heavy reception that Nate got from Serena, but ended up with a greeting as flat as Chuck’s French accent. Why so serious? Perhaps the show and I just need to get to know each other again.

Because there’s plenty to be serious to about, let’s start with the froth. Serena and Nate, together at last! I’ve been waiting for this couple to take off since, well, the pilot episode. There’s no doubt that Serena and Nate have unbelievable chemistry; their spark pretty much blows any of their previous relationships out of the water (yes, even Serena’s relationship with Dan). They’re both just so … hot. We know we can expect more steamy scenes in coat check closets and other assorted tight spaces, but will that physical chemistry be enough to sustain a real relationship? It’s a journey I’m willing to take, especially if Serena and Nate are going to be taking kooky advice from their respective exes/BFFs (remind me to create a Venn diagram of who’s dated who on this show).

Speaking of exes, one particular doctor ex-husband is causing a major rift between former golden couple Lily and Rufus. After getting wind of Lily’s secret summer tryst in the letter sent by Dr. William Van der Woodsen (to be played by William Baldwin starting April 26), Rufus decided to take off to Colorado to hang with his buds and avoid his new wife. The time away didn’t help; he returned with a heart as icy as the mountains around Telluride in January. I don’t blame him. I’d be angry if my fiancee at the time had kissed an ex — even if it didn’t mean anything. During their confrontation, Lily resembled a guilty Serena, who could do nothing but shrug and pout at her transgressions. Like mother and daughter indeed.

Guest post by Eric Kendall of Ski Zinal

For every big name resort in the Alps there must be at least 10 small ones. And even when there’s great skiing on your doorstep, it’s tempting to explore further afield if you have a few days to spare. For the best off piste, the resorts to seek out need minimal facilities but huge terrain. As long as there are lifts of some sort to get you up there, you have all you need, and most critically, few other people. The canton of Valais in south-west Switzerland is particularly good at this.

Lauchernalp, freeride heaven

Here’s where we explored over the last four days:

First stop, Lötschental, where the Lauchernalp domain reaches 3100m. The pretty chalets in the meadows at the top of the cable car suggest a couple of bunny slopes and some winding blue runs. In fact this is freeride heaven interspersed with broad, rolling pistes. Go right to the top for a view over the Bernese Oberland into the north of Switzerland as well as access to each side of the ski area where there are big scary routes to do with a guide and a strong group of skiers. OK it’s all south facing, but there’s generally no shortage of snow around here and later in the season the spring conditions must be incredible.

Next stop the village of Blatten, just above Brig. Belalp is the ski domain, possibly the most perfect incarnation of what a non-skier’s notion of a ski resort might be. Beautiful chalets dotted across a high alp, staggering views of the entire Valais, including about a million 4000 metre peaks, and wide pistes criss-crossing the vast bowl below a rocky summit ridge. Undeterred by the massive rock wall separating them from yet more perfect terrain, the locals simply tunnelled at 3200 metres above sea level through 150 metres of rock (they are Swiss, after all), so you can now get there without breaking sweat or using any mountaineering skills.

As local guide and avalanche security chief Peter Schwitter explained, the tunnel doesn’t just save them from needing more lifts, it’s the easiest way to control access to the slopes when conditions are dangerous - just lock the tunnel door. Actually, the exit from the top T-bar - it’s in the double black diamond category - should be enough to keep people away. It’s easily capable of lifting you several feet into the air before dumping you in an uncool heap.

Heading west into the French speaking part of the canton, Anzère’s skiing is like neighbouring Crans Montana’s but without the shopping, the bling, or the architecture. The slopes are extensive with a ton of between-the-piste meadow and woodland that’s perfect in fresh snow. Which is what we had. In spades.

The skiing in Anzère

For the grand finale, local guide Dominique Fellay took us into the neighbouring Sionne valley where the SLF, the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, goes to watch whopping avalanches. On our way out we passed the concrete observation bunker where scientists are sometimes completely entombed before extraction by chainsaw. Crikey, not feeling quite so pleased with my shovel, probe and transceiver any more…

Last stop, Bruson, just opposite Verbier. This is where to go when bad weather hits - lots of tree skiing - or when you’re simply after some peace and quiet. Verbier-based guides are always pleased to explore emptier areas and a short hike on skins ensures total solitude and epic skiing. Verbier is now marketing not just its 400km ‘Four Valleys’ but ‘Verbier St. Bernard’ to encompass the smattering of small resorts to the west and south towards the Grand St Bernard pass to Italy. That’s a very good thing if it allows more people to experience some of these gems and it’s hard to imagine them ever being overrun, however much publicity they get.

Bruson’s tree sking

Kevin Eason

So there I was quietly minding my own business, trying to stick a pin in a printout of the Football League so I could decide which football club might be next to go bust – or be bought by Flavio Briatore – when the bush telegraph chattered into life.

“Start packing. You are back in Formula One,” came the message. Good heavens, a Formula One season in which, not only has Ole Blue Eyes made his comeback but Ole Pink Eyes is returning to the circus. Coincidence or destiny? Actually, the desperate need to pay the mortgage in my case, something that rarely keeps my old sparring partner Michael Schumacher awake at night.

Three years and nine months after hanging up the flameproof overalls and pushing the clapped out bandwagon into The Times’ garage, I have come full circle to get back on the track. I left ahead of Schumi, who also retired in 2006, but our paths will cross again in Bahrain on Thursday morning when we meet up for a breakfast press conference. Old times, eh?

People used to ask if I missed Formula One, but, to a large extent, I never left – and it certainly never left me. Every conversation in a bar eventually veered to Formula One and just a week ago, I was still getting calls from people in the office and radio stations asking for advice on Formula One. Even though I was enjoying wearing my all-rounders jersey, the call came regularly to help out on every kind of F1 story, from Schumi retires to Jenson wins/Max loses trousers/Silverstone loses GP or pretty much anything with the suffix “-gate”.

Unfortunately, after dealing with them, I was then off writing about weird football club owners (you can say the name with the initials “FB” but I could not possible comment), crooked cricket sponsors (the astonishing Allen Stanford), the troubled 2010 World Cup, the troubled 2018 World Cup bid and pretty much any other sports disaster or turmoil you can think of. In between, there were plenty of good bits: Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, my two cycling favourites; spending a day with Tom Daley, our miniature diving Olympian; an afternoon at the Polo with Fabio Capello, or sharing a taxi and a trip to a sports centre with Sven-Goran Eriksson in Qatar when he was supposed to be dodging the media after leaving the England job. There were plenty more highlights.

And now I am back – back to Jenson, Lewis, Michael and all the boys in the press room I shared many a drink with during my a near nine-year stretch at the F1 wheel of The Times. And what is it like to be back? Odd, mainly. I probably feel like Schumi in that I remember all the buttons to press, just not necessarily in the right order, and we both might take a while to get up to speed. I also haven’t worked out the packing thing yet. I had it down to a fine art at one time – two cases in the back bedroom, one small, one large with two sets of clothes ready to be interchanged, plus laptop bag permanently stocked with equipment.

This morning, the house is in chaos, I have no stories to offer and a major series still hanging over me from the last job. Well, why do these things in orderly fashion when chaos can reign?!

But the welcome has been warm and, even though I am dreading the sight of the first Boeing, and would have liked to start almost anywhere on the planet but Bahrain, I am raring to go.

Unfortunately, you are probably waiting for words of wisdom at this point, with a clever prediction of what will happen this season. Well, if you ever find out, drop me a line because I am already mystified with the strongest Formula One line-up in probably 50 or 60 years: Lewis, Jenson, Michael, Nico, Mark, Sebastian, Fernando or Felipe – I haven’t a clue, and the joy of this season is that nobody else does.

Think I am back to sticking a pin in a printout. Speak to you later…

Word.

Read more