Have you read this story? Time magazine is reporting that a group of high-school girls in Gloucester, Mass., who are all under the age of 16, made a pact to intentionally get pregnant and raise their children together. I'll let you excavate all the sad details of that situation on your own, but it got me thinking: What has happened that teenagers want to have children?The Today show reported on Friday that teenage pregnancy rates have gone up for the first time in 15 years. Referencing the Time story, they offered a group of experts who offered possible explanations for the intention to get pregnant at such a young age. One proffered that having a baby is akin to having a pet that offers you unconditional love. Another argued that having a baby is the latest fashion accessory, made popular by the media coverage of young, unwed celebrities whose "baby bumps" are all the rage these days.At the box office, Knocked Up wrestled — albeit comically — with the difficulties of be...
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A few months ago we took a hands-on look at Digital Copy with Family Guy - Blue Harvest. The show's Star Wars parody came to DVD with an extra disc containing a digital file version of the feature which easily copied to a Video iPod, a PC, or a PC-file compatible device (like an Archos media player). It's a handy way to get a "portable" copy of the DVD you've bought, so you don't have to buy it all over again via download to the hard drive of your laptop or a portable video device. But what else is on the way for Digital Copy?· Fox has the biggest support for on-disc Digital Copy so far, but Family Guy was actually their second. Last November's 2-DVD version of Live Free or Die Hard was first. The Blu-ray version didn't have it, though, and it didn't support iPod copies yet either (leaving iPod users AND Macintosh users out in the cold). But this would quickly and easily transfer a nice-looking copy of the film's unrated cut to a PC or compatible device.· Fox then expa...
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Jason Reitman, hot off his accolades for Juno, and Jim Carrey have said, "Mais oui!" to direct and star in, respectively, the new comedy, Pierre, Pierre. The Fox Atomic film follows a nihilistic, self-indulgent French man who brings a stolen painting from Paris to London. If the premise didn't give it away already, the film will be "politically incorrect," according to Variety.For Reitman, the flick will be a brief break sandwiched by Diablo Cody projects: Next up for him is the Cody movie Jennifer's Body, which is billed as a comedy-thriller about a cheerleader from hell (unlike real-life cheerleaders, with apologies to Hayden Panetierre's Claire). — Anna Dimond
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Thanks primarily to good timing, this year's Academy Award contenders for best picture drew in an extra $111 million between the Jan. 22 announcement of the nominees and Sunday's telecast, E! reports.Unlike some past years when all of the nommed films were released before November, many of this year's nominees rolled out much closer to the nominations, taking advantage of the buzz. Juno was the biggest earner, adding about $43.3 mil to its previous earnings. There Will Be Blood made 75 percent of its $35 mil post-nominations, having been in limited release until late January.Even Michael Clayton, which had a disastrous box office debut last fall, tacked on nearly $10 mil with a re-release. Atonement earned an extra $16 mil, while big winner No Country for Old Men added a respectable $15 mil to its gross in the past month. — Adam Bryant
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We were rooting for newbie Ellen Page last night at the Oscars, and even though she lost, we were still excited knowing that she at least received a nomination for Best Actress at all. But perhaps if the movie had gone in a bit of a different direction… maybe she could have won if she got to perform this spoof of the infamous pregnancy announcement in Juno.
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