News Nuggets – 11th June 2004

Oh Nein! Cheese icon David Hasselhoff was arrested for drink-driving earlier this week and freed on $15,000 bail. The supposedly reformed alcoholic faces a court hearing on July 1st and if convicted, a nation will mourn. Sadly that nation is Germany. We are unable to confirm rumours that the car involved in the incident was in fact KITT, framing Hasselhoff after a bitter bust-up over Knightrider royalties. For Pete's Sake! Pete Postlethwaite, ubiquitous character actor and all-round star, picked up an OBE from Buckingham Palace on Wednesday. The 59-year-old rose to prominence in the last decade, moving from bit-part roles in the likes of Alien3 to wow Hollywood with fine turns in films such as In the Name of the Father, The Usual Suspects and Romeo+Juliet. Hollywood Can Read Your Mind! The California Institute of Technology is pioneering "neuromarketing", which uses brain scans to read audience reaction to films and trailers. Unlike the current screening process, viewers could not be anything less than honest in their reactions, and filmmakers could measure reactions minute by minute. Soon Hollywood will control us all! Mwahahahaha! ** Now That's Fast!** Think you know speed? You know nothing. Nike, on the other hand, do know a thing or two about moving very fast and they have commissioned fifteen directors, including Stilletto and Saimon Chow, to each make a short movie interpreting 'Speed'. The results - Nike Art of Speed - can be viewed here Paper Cuts Ray Bradbury joins President Bush in the ranks of those furious with Michael Moore. Bradbury is up in arms over the riff on the title of his book "Fahrenheit 451" in Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore has reportedly apologised for failing to consult with Bradbury over what he called a homage to the author's work. Ringing the Changes Lars Von Trier has pulled out of plans to direct Wagner's Ring Cycle for the Bayreuth festival in 2006. The Dogme director had already worked for more than two years to make the 15-hour-opera for the festival, which is a Mecca for opera fans, but has dropped the idea because of cold feet after watching this year's production. McBox Office Fast food documentary Super Size Me is biting a small but significant chunk out of the US Box Office, remaining on the list of top ten grossers for a third week running. The film, which covers director Morgan Spurlock devouring an exclusively McDonalds diet for an entire month, has hamburgled its way to a $6.2 million take so far. Michelle On The Rue Morgue Michelle Rodriguez has been sentenced to serve community service in a morgue in LA after being convicted of drink driving. It's good to know that the experience of appearing Resident Evil has not completely put her off working with corpses in future.