Jack Yan on Vox

Goodbye, Harvey Korman

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:50:09 +1200

Another great actor passes on: Harvey Korman from The Carol Burnett Show, Blazing Saddles and History of the World Part One. (He regarded these as his best credits.) ‘Korman reportedly suffered complications related to the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm he experienced four months ago,’ according to IMDB News. Two clips follow—I’m afraid I haven’t found any of ‘Count de Money! Count de Money!’

Dentist Sketch - The Carol Burnett Show

Pledge to Hedley Lamarr

Mr Korman gave a wonderful series of interviews from earlier this year, which are quite enjoyable.

Harvey Korman - Archive Interview Part 1 of 3

Harvey Korman - Archive Interview Part 2 of 3

Harvey Korman - Archive Interview Part 3 of 3

You will be missed, Harvey.

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Capt Kirk gets off a speeding ticket

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:14:58 +1200

Just as I finished writing about Philip Glenister getting his driver off a ticket by acting as Gene Hunt, I surfed over to an article about Canadian actor William Shatner linked from the Daily Mail page I cited earlier:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=565380&in_page_id=1879

In the 1960s, Shatner wore his Capt Kirk uniform rushing to work and was also stopped. He writes:

I got out of my car, dressed in my uniform. The police officer looked me up and down, frowned and asked: “So where are you going so fast at this time in the morning?”
I told him the truth: “To my spaceship.”
He sighed. “OK, go ahead,” he said, before adding the Vulcan blessing: “Live long and prosper.”

Nothing new under the sun.
The story is quite good, told in the first person. Shatner recounts his lows and the death of his third wife (after what seems to be the final paragraph talking about the price of his autobiography).

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The Russell Crowe of Ferraris doesn’t sound right

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:54:31 +1300

From the Chicago Sun–Times:

Ferrari’s main rivals in the 1960s were Italy’s new, upstart Lamborghini, older Maserati—and England’s veteran Aston Martin. Ferrari meant the 275 GTB to be the most desirable exotic sports car, especially the more powerful GTB/4 model, which had four—instead of two—overhead camshafts.
The 275 GTB is “the Russell Crowe of Ferraris—rugged, powerful and as much as any other production model, it is the icon of Ferrari,” says the March issue of Sports Car Market Newsletter magazine.

   What, you mean it challenges others to fights but loses? That’s not how I remember the 275 GTB.
   This is why it can be dangerous to equate a car with a personality. We might hold different ideas but no matter how I stretch my imagination I cannot think of Mr Crowe as “iconic” in any way. Yes, an Oscar-winning actor, but an icon?
   Maybe it’s a tall poppy thing, but I don’t think so.

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It’s reached the Olympics—Edison Chen scandal fallout continues

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:24:32 +1300

If you thought the story of Amir Massoud Tofangsazan was embarrassing, what if something similar happened to a celebrity?
   Over the last few weeks, the Edison Chen scandal has rocked Hong Kong and even affected the Beijing Olympics.
   Chen, a Canadian-born actor about to make a big US début—already he’s a Pepsi spokesman in Hong Kong—took in his laptop for repair but forgot to take down his home-made porn, which includes 12 female celebrities.
   Just as with Laptop Guy (Thomas Sawyer) in the UK with Amir’s photos in 2006, someone at the computer shop decided they would post the 1,200-plus images and videos on to the ’net.
   If we think the Britney Spears Machine is bad, Hong Kong tabloids make that look like a old world gentlemen’s club.
   PC World offers this analogy: ‘Imagine photos of, say, Matthew McConaughey popping up on the Internet, showing him in various states of undress and sexual acts with, say, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson and Kirsten Dunst.’
   One of the celebs implicated is Gillian Chung, who was supposedly going to perform at the Olympics. Not any more. Prior to this month she had a wholesome image—now she may be more associated with performing and receiving oral sex. (The logical thing now would be to revamp her image as Madonna does regularly, but whether that will go down well in the innocent Cantopop world is another matter.)
   Batgwa summarizes the other celebs:

The biggest female stars implicated were Gillian Chung (鍾欣桐) and Cecilia Cheung (張栢芝).
Other less well known female celebrities were implicated too, including Bobo Chan (陳文媛), Rachel Ngan (顏穎思), Mandy Chen (陳育嬬), Candice Chan (陳思慧) and Edison’s current girlfriend Vincy Yeung (楊永晴).

   Chen has basically announced, at 27, his retirement from the Hong Kong scene. He might have to: some of the celebs may have Triad connections (there is some gang involvement in Hong Kong moviemaking) and he’s received death threats.
   Cops have arrested nine people so far in connection with the unlawful distribution of the images.
   While Chen is no saint, he deserved his privacy. The poster has essentially brought down the careers of several people. I suppose this is a reminder that when you are in the public eye, you need to take precautions. Putting your own porn on to a disc or a flash drive would be an idea—or simply be a role model and being less promiscuous in relationships and never fear these leaks.
   We may criticize Chen for his behaviour and we certainly should criticize the breach of trust from the shop, but the problem is wider. We need to ask ourselves just where our values are—and the way the Chinese people have reacted shows that they have not fled the free and occupied parts of China.

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Remembering Roy Scheider

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:14:22 +1300

I heard zilch about this in the news and had to learn about it via the blogosphere: actor Roy Scheider passed away February 10. In tribute to this great actor, I thought I’d post a YouTube clip on how I remember him best. Not as the sheriff from Jaws, not as the captain on Seaquest DSV, but as one of the defining 1970s cops. Here is Roy in the unofficial French Connection sequel, The Seven-Ups.

The Seven-Ups Car Chase

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