A day after Billy Bob Thornton said Canadian audiences were like mashed potatoes without gravy, the actor professed his love for the Great White North.
“I love Canada, absolutely,” said the 53-year-old actor.
Thornton talked quickly to reporters on Thursday night before a performance with his band, the Boxmasters, in Toronto, Ontario. The group was opening for Willie Nelson.
The proclamation was a sharp contrast to comments Thornton made on Wednesday of last week when he was an uncooperative guest on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Q radio program.
During that appearance, the Oscar-winning star of Sling Blade sparred back and forth with host Jian Ghomeshi and found time to insult Canadian crowds.
Thornton, who was interviewed alongside his Boxmasters bandmates, took issue with Ghomeshi’s introduction, which included references to the star’s career as a Hollywood actor, director and screenwriter.
For much of the interview, Thornton refused to answer any of Ghomeshi’s questions directly, instead mumbling “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” or some variation thereof in response to most questions.
Thornton said Ghomeshi’s producers had been instructed ahead of time not to talk about his film career at all.
Thornton mainly seemed sensitive to any comment that implied that his band which he described as “cosmic cowboy music” was not his full-time passion.
When pressed for details on his musical influences, Thornton elliptically provided a non sequitur about a magazine he subscribed to called Famous Monsters of Filmland and a model-building contest he once entered.
The actor’s belligerent appearance on the show has already become a veritable viral sensation. More than 1.2 million viewers have watched the clip on YouTube.
From cosmic music to exploring the cosmos, NASA’s sense of humor is being put to the test. The US space agency is facing a serious dilemma after a popular television comedian, Stephen Colbert, hijacked an online contest sponsored by NASA to pick a name for a new module on the International Space Station.
Colbert’s suggestion for a name? His own.
His victory may have had something to do with his repeated appeals to fans of his show, The Colbert Report, to vote for him.
With the help of his fans — called the “Colbert Nation” — the comedian’s name easily won the online poll at nasa.gov, rocketing past NASA suggestions “Earthrise,” “Legacy,” “Serenity” and “Venture.”
NASA announced on Friday that astronaut Sunita Williams will unveil the name tomorrow on Colbert’s television show.
The space agency declined to reveal the name until the show and is not obliged to bow to popular demand. The contest rules state that while NASA will take into consideration the results of the voting they are not binding.
Voting online is also a way for people to choose their favorite Simpsons character. The US post office wants folks to vote early and often among the five new stamps honoring the nation’s funniest dysfunctional cartoon family.
The Simpsons stamps will be issued May 7, portraying Homer, his wife, Marge, their son Bart, daughter Lisa and baby Maggie.
The characters, created by cartoonist Matt Groening, have become pop culture icons in 20 years on television.
The US$0.44 stamps are on display at www.usps.com/simpsons and votes can be cast at that site until May 14.
American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has won a cybersquatting case against a US Web operator who registered two Internet addresses that used her name for commercial profit, a UN agency said on Thursday.
The disputed domain names, jenniferlopez.net and jenniferlopez.org, directed users to a Web site that generated paid advertising revenues, according to the ruling issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
An independent arbitrator ordered the domain names transferred within 10 days to the Jennifer Lopez Foundation, which filed the complaint. The charitable foundation promotes better access to healthcare for women and children.
The Grammy-nominated singer, widely known as J.Lo, joins other celebrities in ousting cybersquatters through the dispute procedure, including Pierce Brosnan, Tom Cruise, Celine Dion, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Madonna and Julia Roberts.
Lopez registered her name as a trademark in the US in May 1999.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built
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