By Marie Cunningham January 23, 2012

Monday begins the “Year of the Dragon” in the Chinese calendar, and Beverly Hills honored the occasion on Friday with its first Chinese New Year celebration on Rodeo Drive.

“We want to wish you all a very prosperous and healthy and happy Year of the Dragon,” Julie Wagner, executive director of the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau, told those in attendance at a special VIP reception hosted by porcelain retailer Lladró.

In Chinese culture, dragons bring people good luck. The dragon year is revered as the most important year of the Chinese zodiac. It represents ambition, success, passion, boldness, perseverance and divinity. Children born during dragon years are traditionally expected to enjoy health, wealth and long life.

“Celebrations like this Chinese New Year event are very important to Beverly Hills because we recognize the local Chinese tour operators and government officials, and highlight our appreciation for the Chinese culture,” Vice Mayor William Brien told the reception’s guests. “China is California’s fastest-growing inbound market. In 2010, China sent over 400,000 visitors to the California area, many of them coming to Beverly Hills and here to Rodeo Drive.”

Mary Su, mayor pro tem of Walnut, CA, told Brien that, like many tourists from her native China, she is a frequent visitor to Beverly Hills.

“I do spend a lot of money here in your city,” she said.

Outside of Lladró, hundreds of residents and visitors lined up to be one of 1,000 people to receive a commemorative Beverly Hills T-shirt and envelope containing special offers from participating Golden Triangle shops and restaurants. The East Wind Dance Troupe out of Los Angeles’ Chinatown also performed the traditional dragon dance and lion dance with its drum corps.

Actor Alan Thicke of Growing Pains fame was on hand to assist the lion dance performers in acting out “cai ching,” or “plucking the greens.” During the Chinese New Year, it is a tradition for lion dancers to go from business to business and be fed heads of lettuce. This custom is meant to bring prosperity to the business for the upcoming year. In return, the lion receives a red envelope filled with money.

Notable attendees at Friday’s festivities included City Treasurer Eliot Finkel, former Mayor Linda J. Briskman, former Mayor Nancy Krasne, Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Alexander Stettinski and Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, who is campaigning to represent the new 50th Assembly District, which includes Beverly Hills.

“It’s the year of the dragon! Who wouldn’t be celebrating the Chinese New Year?” Butler told Patch. “It’s a great, prosperous year. Let’s be festive and hopeful.”

http://beverlyhills.patch.com/articles/beverly-hills-celebrates-the-chinese-new-year

Much to our surprise, Heidi Klum and Seal have announced they are headed for divorce. Sadness! The seemingly happy couple even renewed their vows each year on their anniversary (May 10).

The two married in 2005 and have 3 children together: Henry, 6, Johan, 5, and Lou, 2. Heidi also has a daughter from a previous relationship named Leni, 7, that Seal legally adopted.

What does their divorce spell out for the future — could there be a custody battle? Celebuzz turned to Divorce Expert Michael Kelly from the Law Offices of Michael Kelly, for the answers!

What does this mean for the couple – could this lead to a custody battle?
If the couple is unable to come to agreements in regards to time shares, custodies, Christmases, and other holidays it could lead to a custody battle.

Both celebs make a lot of money, would could the mean for their financial forecast?
The fact that both celebrities make a lot of money would probably foreclose the need for any spousal support. If they purchased property together, which they probably did, it could lead to a financial battle. I would have a hard time imagining that Heidi Klum … would not have financial advisors, managers, and agents that would advise her to prepare to have a financial arrangement through a prenuptial agreement.

What are the next steps now that they have confirmed they are splitting?
The living arrangements, the disposition of the household goods, and how they are going to share the children in the intern until there is a court order.

What is your legal advice to this couple?
The legal advice that I would give to this couple is: Don’t do it. You both are at the top of your game and staying together would be good for the children and the children’s upbringing.

http://www.celebuzz.com/2012-01-23/are-heidi-klum-seal-headed-towards-a-custody-battle-legal-expert-answers/

Friday, January 20, 2012

Kevin Spacey in “Seven,” Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs,” Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight.” A good actor can elevate the role of a villain and turn a movie into a must-see. But being a good movie villain is harder than it looks. Witness Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Batman & Robin,” John Travolta in “Battlefield Earth,” or Sharon Stone in, well, pretty much everything. For this week’s Interesting Expert column, we turned to Dave Vescio, horror actor and expert villain, to find out what makes these villainous actors tick. Vescio, a former CBS photojournalist, has played numerous movie villains since making his movie debut in 2005. Since then, he has worked alongside Alec Baldwin, Blake Lively, Juliette Lewis and more. We sat down with Vescio to find out more about how he started acting, how he prepares for his roles, and what he likes most about playing a villain.

What led you to acting? Is it something you always wanted to do?

I actually didn’t start acting until I was 32 years old. Before that, I was a TV photojournalist working for CBS News, and all of my mentors (who all won Emmys up the yin yang) told me that if I keep on doing what I’m doing, I could win an Emmy within the next 5-10 years. But I didn’t care for that, to be honest. I just worked as a TV photojournalist because it was easy to do; I had a natural talent for it. But it’s not what I really wanted to do with my life. So, I took a year off to co-teach TV production and electronic newsgathering at Virginia Tech to figure things out. That’s when I decided to become a professional actor instead. So, I read over three-dozen acting books; two of them really stood out to me. One, “True and False,” was written by David Mamet, and the other was written by his students. So, I applied to Mamet’s acting conservatory in New York City, finally got accepted, and I then started to train full-time there as an acting student in June of 2002.

I guess what led me to becoming a professional actor versus anything else in life is that as a TV photojournalist, I was just an observer of life, and I guess I got jealous of the characters in these stories that I was hired to shoot/report about. So, I guess I chose acting as a profession so I could just experience my own scenarios and become a character that others got to observe from a distance instead. I just wanted to perform and stop being the constant observer. So that’s what I did. I switched sides.

You have a preference for provocative and controversial roles. What is it about those roles that appeals to you?

Actually, that’s a three-way street. Yes, I love to perform in provocative and controversial roles, but, at the same time, these controversial storytellers like to hire me as well. But a movie or a TV program cannot exist without a paying audience, which happens to be the third element, and they also enjoy watching me in these types of storylines. Or maybe they just watch these storylines to criticize them. Either way, they paid for the experience, and they want to be taken to these very dark places we’re all taking them to.

As for what appeals to me about these type of roles, I guess I just want the audience members to feel something, to experience something, to think about something, versus to just entertain them. I’m always trying to open the audience’s heart, mind and soul to an idea or to a feeling that may get underneath their skin somehow someway — to give them an experience they have never experienced before or rarely get to experience in real life or on screen. But, in the end, it still affects them somehow someway, but from the safety of their own home, or from their movie theater seat instead. Because we do live in a very dangerous world; people are raped, molested, killed, used and abused, stolen from, etc., every single day of every single year of every single century. So, I feel it’s my job as an artist to remind them of these things, to get them to ponder about these monstrosities, but, in the end, to protect themselves from these types of human beings, as well, because they do exist — and the more one knows about the evils of this world, the more one can protect oneself from these types of experiences.

What kind of preparation do you do for roles? (I hope it’s not Method acting!)

Ha ha ha — yep, it’s definitely Method acting!

For me, it’s either Method acting or it’s just pretend acting — and pretend acting just doesn’t work for me. Trust me, I’ve tried. In the end, my audience has told me over and over again that they would rather watch me perform my characters naturally (for real) versus pretending. Otherwise, it just doesn’t affect them at all; it doesn’t seem truthful or authentic to them. So, I do feel it’s my job to give the paying audience what they want/need from me, because they did pay for this experience. I was taught the customer is always right; no matter what, so I’m constantly listening to them and figuring out how to change my acting style to fit their needs – but, at the same time, fit my needs as an artist, as well. It’s a collaboration between me the industry and the audience, all at the same time. And I really do enjoy this kind of collaboration. It’s what I live for! And the paying audience wants me to be a Method actor, so I became a Method actor for them, which means that I try to make the scene and the relationships of these characters as real and as truthful as possible. That’s what I try to do with every single one of my characters in every single scene that I ever perform in. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but I’m always trying to make it as real as possible.

Does your experience as a photojournalist affect your acting?

I think it does. I think everything I’ve ever done in my life affects my acting somehow, someway. It all feeds off one another. Plus, I’m a big fan of using sense memory to help make these imaginary circumstances as truthful as possible, meaning that I need to make this stuff very personal. And if I can use a past memory that means everything to me, then it does make my job a hell of a lot easier. Plus, it gives me something to focus on in the scene. It’s a win-win situation no matter how you see it!

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s a tough question. I’ve enjoyed so many horror films over the decades. Since I can only pick one horror movie, I would have to say it’s “Psycho.” I remember seeing this movie for the very first time on TV when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old, and it really scared the hell out of me. I mean, that mother was so wicked and so violent towards those women. She definitely did not want Norman to be in love with any other woman besides herself. When you finally find out that it was Norman the whole time — very, very scary. I never saw that ending coming. That was a total mindblower.

The other reason “Psycho” is my favorite horror movie is because it has lasted as one of the top horror movies of all time for over five decades now. To create a piece of art that lasts beyond one’s death is, in my opinion, considered great art. “Psycho” has definitely done that. To this day, it’s still seen by the masses all around the world — pretty impressive if you ask me.

Tell us about your latest projects.

If you get the chance, you should definitely check out my controversial dark comedy called “Hick,” starring Alec Baldwin, Blake Lively, Juliette Lewis, Rory Culkin, Chloe Moretz and Eddie Redmayne. It comes out to a movie theater near you this spring. Also, my science fiction movie, “Air Collision,” starring Reginald VelJohnson and Jordan Ladd, will be released on Netflix, Redbox, and possibly Syfy this coming March/April. And you can always check out my upcoming movie trailers at my Twitter account: @DaveVescio. Enjoy!

On a recent Friday afternoon a colleague stopped by my desk, and by the look on her face, I could tell she came for one thing and one thing only. She came to complain.

“I’ve spent the last hour in a meeting of a ‘committee’ of young employees to talk about young employee stuff with old employees,” my colleague—who, mind you, has a very busy and important job here at Forbes—said to me. “And the only thing that came out of this hour-long meeting was the formation of ‘sub-committees’ of certain young employees to talk about specific young employee stuff with specific old employees. Meanwhile I wasn’t getting any work done! I feel like I’m going crazy!”

While I promptly replied that my friend should join my new Subcommittee on Happy Hour in a bid to make her laugh, her gripe was not lost on me. It’s not an infrequent complaint: young employees, those who fall neatly into the Generation Y or Millennial cohort, are naturally meeting-averse, preferring to hash out our ideas on shared Googledocuments whereas our Baby Boomer colleagues feel work is better done via Outlook-scheduled meetings in windowless conference rooms.

And in a workforce where the two demographics are often at odds for power, not seeing eye to eye is a problem. According to the Harvard Business Review, in four years Millennials—the people born between 1977 and 1997—will account for nearly half of all employees worldwide. In some companies, that tipping point has already occurred. Whether it’s opinions on meetings or simply opinions about each other, the two largest generational demographics in the history of the world have a lot to work out.

I tapped a marketer, a generational expert and an actor/author (and former TV dad) to chime in on some of the most over-used stereotypes about both cohorts. I had a lot of questions. Where is the truth? Both generations, it seems, often get a bad rap. Why are we so quick to judge one another? The Boomers birthed and raised the Millennials. We’ve spent the past 30 years getting to know one another; shouldn’t we be used to each other by now? And most importantly, as research shows the Boomers are living (and working!) longer than anyone before them, reasons stands that they’re not going away any time soon. So: how can we find our similarities—and use them to (both) of our advantage?

“One of the biggest stereotypes about Millennials is that they only want to communicate through technology,” says Lindsey Pollak, the author of Getting From College To Career: the Revised Edition who’s made her own career as a Gen-Y expert from the neutral perch of a Gen-Xer. “It’s said all of the time: they don’t want to communicate face to face.” In contrast, Baby Boomers are often described as technophobes, hesitant to adapt to the rapidly advancements in technology both at work and at home. “They’re largely reluctant to communicate via IM and text message, particularly at work where they prefer to sit down and discuss issues in person,” says Pollak.

But while a preference in both generations is clear, a proclivity for face time doesn’t necessarily indicate an “old dog” syndrome in the Boomers just as a Facebook account doesn’t mean Millennials are incapable of socializing offline. Sara Bamossy, a strategic planning director for Saatchi & Saatchi LA and one of the brains behind a recent Toyota Venza campaign that pokes fun at both Millennials and Boomers has spent a lot of time pondering the generations. “At the same time that it’s said that Millennials are addicted to social media and are doomed to be socially inept, the understanding is that Boomers can’t even open an email attachment,” she says. “Neither are true. Both generations value technology. Sure there’s been a delay in Boomers adapting, but they are.” She points to Boomers adoption of tablets computers and social networking as indicators of more similarities between the cohorts than differences—at least when it comes to tech.

Alan Thicke spent seven years portraying the Boomer father of four early Gen Y kids on the hit show Growing Pains—and even longer in real life as the father of three sons. He now spends his time writing about his generation on his blog, The Boomer Monologues. From his perspective the overwhelming critique of his peers is that they are culturally out of touch. “TV comedies, for example, characterize us broadly and one-dimensionally,” he says, “The easy joke is always how corny and disconnected we are.” The opposite, he says, is actually true, and the explanation suggests yet another similarity between the generations. “Since politics and pop-culture are generally the barometers by which our “in synch-ness” is measured, let’s note that many of us voted for Obama and actually prefer this generations political and entertainment options.” Pollak would attribute the pop-culture leanings to the Boomers’ history of political and cultural revolution. “Boomers were born optimistic,” she says. “They thought their politics and their music were going to change the world. There’s a similar sense of energy in the Millennial generation and the culture that’s coming out of it.”

But technology and “coolness” aside, the number one source of generational stereotypes about Boomers and Millennials is the discussion of work ethic. Millennials, we’ve heard, are coddled, entitled and expectant of a trophy for showing up at work every day. Conversely, Boomers are micro-managers who don’t respect the talents of young employees. Unfortunately for both cohorts, there is undeniable truth to these particular generalizations. More unfortunately for the Boomers, they’ve got only themselves to blame. Helicopter parents, it seems, have become helicopter managers at work. “Boomers can say what they want. They call Millennials coddled,” says Pollak, “but deep down they know that—as their parents—they made them that way.” In generational studies, the Millennials are often referred to by another name: The Echo Boomers.

And interestingly enough, when asked about their “best friend,” the overwhelming majority of Millennials named a Boomer: their parents.

Readers: Do Millennials and Gen Ys butt heads in your organization? Whose faults are more detrimental to productivity? And more importantly, where does tiny Gen X fit into the melee?

Steven Wyer was involved in a major federal lawsuit that wound up on the Internet. With the click of a mouse, thirty years of credibility disappeared. The online accusations damaged his business, hurt his family and deeply affected his income. While Wyer used to live by the belief that all Americans are innocent until proven guilty, he learned the hard way it doesn’t work like that anymore. Since then, Steven Wyer has personally talked to hundreds of people with stories woven from the shadow side of the Internet. Their narratives would sound like fiction, were it not for the fact that he has helped many of them reclaim their lives and their dignity through his company Reputation Advocate

As Mr. Wyer writes in Violated Online, readers will learn how the American government has passed laws that, in attempting to support the right to free speech, leave its citizens open to be maligned with impunity by accusers both real and fictitious. In Violated Online, Wyer explains that our basic rights to privacy are being run over by data aggregators, cookies on our computers and profiteers.  Steven Wyer has lived with the shadow side of the Internet ever since his business, his family and his credibility were attacked without warning online. Now, through Reputation Advocate, Inc., he focuses his efforts toward helping others who have been slandered online as he was.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/positively-incorrect/2012/01/18/violated-online-steve-wyer-on-positively-incorrect-radio

Director/Writer Marshall Cook, SS Media Ventures, Pollywog Entertainment, Convoy Entertainment & Lit Post presented  Football’s Finest Los Angeles film premiere at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood with a fun-filled red-carpet and after-party at

 Café Entourage on January 12th 2012.

This photo shows Andy Dick with Sugar (celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.)

Celebrities included Andy Dick, Marshall Cook, Adam Carolla (Entourage)  Will Sasso (Three Stooges, Mad TV) Alison Haislip (The Show), Mo Collins (Parks and Recreation, Arrested Development) and Debra Wilson (MadTV).

Additional confirmed celebrities included -Bob Stephenson (The Forgotten, Fight Club), Chad Kultgen (Average American Male), Kevin Farley (An American Carol), Kevin Covais (State of Georgia), Marshall Allman (True Blood), Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect), Jennifer Gimenez (Sober House) Sugar Kiper (Survivor), Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled), Genevieve Wilson (Sell This House), Chelsea Rendon (A Better Life), Danielle Vasinova (Bucky Larson), Gabriel Jarret (Pawn), Jill-Michelle Melean (Reno 911, Big Time Rush, MadTV), Kato Kaelin (Tosh.0), Sean McNabb (Quiet Riot), Cristal Camden (Girls Next Door/Bunny House) and Pavan Sitlani (Along Came Polly/ World Series of Poker Champion), and Eric Lutes (Caroline In The City).

Division III, Football’s Finest will be released straight to blue-ray and DVD.

About Football’s Finest

This ensemble comedy follows the Pullham University Bluecocks, a small liberal arts college with a Division III football program (the lowest division in the NCAA). When the head coach unexpectedly dies, the future of the flailing football program is in jeopardy, as they have not had a winning season in decades. In a desperate attempt to create some media attention for the athletic program and the university, President Georgia Anne Whistler hires known lunatic and felon, Coach Rick Vice, for what could be the football program’s final season.

About Marshall Cook

Born in Santa Rosa, California, Marshall graduated from Occidental College with a degree in Film and New Media Production (minoring in Theater). In 2010, Marshall directed his first feature film, ‘Division III: Football’s Finest (2011)’. The football comedy was inspired by Marshall’s experiences playing quarterback for 10 years (2 years of D3 at Occidental). In addition to directing the film, Marshall wrote, produced, acted, as well as edited the movie. While in college, Marshall landed his first role in ‘Jeepers Creepers II (2003)’. He continues to work as an actor, director, writer, producer and editor.

 For further information please contact Zuzana Korda zkorda@lcoonline.com; 310 300 0950 ext 311

STUDIO CITY (CBS) — Did you known more divorces are filed in January than any other month of the year?

Family law attorney Michael Kelly visited the KCAL 9 studios Wednesday to talk about why so many divorces are filed in the beginning of the year and what to do if you are considering ending a marriage.

For many, New Year’s resolutions inspire the need to begin a new life — by filing for divorce. With “Divorce Season” well under way, you can sure the hotlines at family-law offices everywhere will be ringing off the hook from now until Valentine’s Day with the disheartened cries and irreconcilable differences of unhappy couples.

People can and more importantly should, prepare for January’s Divorce Season just as you would any other difficult time of year like flu and tax season, according to Kelly. There are several key things you need to consider if and when entering into a divorce this time of year if you want to make the process as painless as possible and beneficial to all parties involved.

For tips from Kelly and more information, visit him online.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/01/18/statistics-show-more-divorces-filed-in-january-than-any-other-month/

The carpet wasn’t the only thing that was red in Hollywood this weekend.  Rocker chic(k) new music artist Erica Chase sported a slick lick of power-red lipstick as she hit the carpet in high Hollywood style.