For those eagerly awaiting a third installment to Christopher Nolan’s Batman and wondering who could top Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker, good news came recently. Apparently, Michael Caine let it slip that The Riddler would be the villain in the franchise’s next installment.
If the news is indeed true, It’ll be interesting to see who will play The Riddler and what approach he will take. Jim Carrey’s over-the-top Riddler, as seen in Batman Forever, fit that film’s campy style, but it may be too much for Nolan’s more realistic approach to Batman. Rumors have been circulating for awhile that Johnny Depp would play the part. If that happens, could we expect a more dapper, calm and precise Riddler akin to the one that appeared in Batman: The Animated Series? Time will tell, but it is certain that whoever steps into the role of villain will have to bring their “A” game to live up to Ledger’s legendary performance as The Joker. What actor is up for the challenge remains an enigma.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/04/michael-caine-reveals-batman-3-villians-1.html

Kevin Spacey lost his temper on the London stage when a dramatic scene was ruined after an audience member’s cell phone rang.

The actor tried to keep his cool during the performance, at the Old Vic theatre he runs in London’s West End theatre district, but exploded with rage when the culprit didn’t cut the call.

Spacey reveals, “I was doing a play called The Ice Man Cometh at the Old Vic, and in the middle of the quietest moment of the second act, a phone started ringing. I felt the anger starting in my toes and it came right out of my mouth, as loud as anything else I’d said on the stage, I looked out to the audience and said, ‘Tell them you’re busy!’ And it got a round of applause.”

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0786353/

Hopkins To Feast As Hannibal Again

Sir Anthony Hopkins is teaming up with director Sir Ridley Scott to bring his most infamous villain Hannibal Lecter back to the big screen.

The actor will reprise his cannibalistic serial killer for the fourth time in a second sequel to the 1991 hit film The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won a Best Actor Oscar.

Hopkins also appeared in 2001′s Hannibal before starring in the 2002 prequel Red Dragon.

And actress Cate Blanchett has been tipped to take over the role of Clarice Starling after Jodie Foster pulled out to direct Claire Danes in the forthcoming Flora Plum.

A spokesperson for film-makers Universal says, “Hopkins and Scott are both very committed. We like what we’ve got, and the revised script is really, really good.”

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0786350/

Kung Fu Panda Comes To TV

Hit animated film Kung Fu Panda is making the transition to the small screen – the movie is to be adapted into a TV series.

The 2008 movie, which featured the voices of Jack Black and Angelina Jolie, was a box office smash, grossing $600 million (£400 million) worldwide.

It was also nominated for an Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards.

And now the film’s success is set to continue, with a Kung Fu Panda cartoon series in production for cable children’s network Nickelodeon.

The 26-episode series will use the same computer-generated process as the film but it is not known whether any of the stars will reprise their roles. The show is scheduled to air in 2010.

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0786354/

Jackman Hops Behind The Wheel

Hugh Jackman is ready to hit the road – after finally passing his driving test in the U.S.

The Aussie actor recently cleared his busy schedule to head to the Department of Motor Vehicles in New York’s Staten Island for a road exam.

And a witness tells the New York Daily News the X-Men star “passed with flying colours” – before celebrating the milestone by buying a sandwich and a handful of lottery tickets at the nearby Corporate Grind deli.

http://www.imdb.com/news/ns0000002/#ni0786356

The biting, territorial fire ants cost the Texas economy about $US1 billion ($A1.31 billion) annually by damaging electrical equipment, according to a Texas A&M study. They can also threaten young calves.

But now the researchers are trying a tiny phorid fly, native to a region of South America where the fire ants originated. Researchers have learned that fire ants in their home region are kept under control by as many as 23 phorid species.

The flies lay eggs on the fire ants, and the eggs hatch into maggots inside the ant and eat away at the pest’s tiny brain.

The ant will get up and wander for about two weeks while the maggot feeds, said Rob Plowes, a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin.

“There is no brain left in the ant, and the ant just starts wandering aimlessly,” he said.

About a month after the egg is laid, the ant’s head falls off – and a new fly emerges ready to attack another fire ant.

“They’re not going to completely wipe out the fire ant, but it’s a way to control their population,” said Scott Ludwig, an integrated pest management specialist with Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension Service in Overton, in East Texas.

Four phorid species have been introduced in the state since 1999. They don’t attack native ants or other species and have been introduced in other Gulf Coast states, Plowes told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

But it will take time to determine if the flies are effective in Texas, perhaps as long as a decade.

“It’s not an immediate silver-bullet impact,” Plowes said.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=813503

The husband, identified only by his surname Lee, discovered the illicit sex on the DVD in 2002. The sexual acts apparently had been recorded using a hidden camera and were on a pornographic DVD, titled Affairs with Others’ Wives, which the husband bought from a vendor to watch at home.

Lee, who lives in Taoyuan County near Taipei, divorced his wife after viewing the DVD. His friend, a butcher, disappeared from their village.

In August 2008, Lee spotted the butcher in Chungli City, returned with a knife and stabbed his former friend in the thigh.

The butcher sued Lee for causing bodily harm. Lee sought but was unable to countersue the butcher for adultery, because of a five-year statute of limitations.

Prosecutors urged the men to settle the case out of court, but they refused.

With the failure to resolve the case, Lee was indicted on Tuesday on a charge of causing bodily harm to another person, the Liberty Times reported. Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of less than six months in prison, which can be converted into a fine.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=813293

Scientists scanned the brains of people lying inside magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, as they alternately pushed buttons or rested.

The scans showed that the “default network” deep inside a human brain becomes more active during daydreaming.

But in a surprise finding the scans also revealed intense activity in the executive network, the outlying region of the brain associated with complex problem-solving, neuroscientist Kalina Christoff told AFP.

“People assume that when the mind wanders away it just gets turned off – but we show the opposite, that when it wanders, it turns on,” said Christoff, co-author of the study, and head of a neuroscience laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Western Canada.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest daydreaming might be a better way to solve problems than intense focusing.

“People who let themselves daydream might not think in the same focused way as when performing a goal-oriented task, but they bring in more mental and brain resources,” said Christoff.

She argued that now people might change their attitudes towards daydreamers.

“Within ourselves, we have absorbed that attitude that mind wandering is a bad thing. We’re harsh on ourselves, if we catch ourselves mind wandering,” she said.

“A more playful attitude might allow you to call in more resources.”

People typically spend one-third of their waking time daydreaming. “It’s a big part of our lives, but it’s been largely ignored by science,” Christoff said.

The study is the first to use MRIs to study brain activity during “spontaneous thoughts and subjective experiences,” said Christoff.

“Until now the only way was to use self-reports that were not always reliable.”

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5562606/daydreamers-solve-problems-faster/

Kailash “Kalau” Singh replaces bathing and brushing his teeth with a “fire bath” every evening when he stands on one leg beside a bonfire, smokes marijuana and says prayers to Lord Shiva, according to the Hindustan Times.

“It’s just like using water to take a bath,” Kalau was reported as saying. “A fire bath helps kill germs and infection in the body.”

Kalau, 63, from a village outside the holy city of Varanasi, outraged his family by refusing to take a ritual dip in the river Ganges even after his brother died five years ago.

“I still don’t remember how it all began,” he said in Saturday’s edition of the paper. “I just know it started about 35 years ago.”

Kalau’s hygiene regime has taken its toll on his professional life.

The grocery store that he used to own closed when customers stopped shopping there due to his “unhealthy personality” and he now tills fields near Varanasi airport.

Kalau, who wears two pullovers all through the Indian summer, said his pledge not to wash was a commitment to the “national interest.”

“I’ll end this vow only when all problems confronting the nation end,” he said.

But his neighbours in the village of Chatav said there was another reason for Kalau’s washing boycott.

“A seer once told Kalau that if he does not take a bath, he would be blessed with a male child,” a man called Madhusudan told the paper.

Most Indians prefer sons, who are typically regarded as breadwinners, while girls are seen as a burden because of the matrimonial dowry demanded by a groom’s family and the fact that their earnings go to their husband’s family.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090512/od_afp/healthindiagenderoffbeat

DAYTON, Ohio – A suspected shoplifter was arrested after he put his address on a job application before leaving the store, police said.

The 49-year-old man was arrested Tuesday on a misdemeanor theft charge after employees said he stole T-shirts and pants.

Police said the man stuffed the items under his shirt and the waistline of his pants before going to the checkout counter to fill out a job application. The items set off an alarm when he left the store.

Police said the man wrote his actual address on the job application, and police arrested him there while he was ironing a pair of jeans he was accused of stealing.

He remained in the Montgomery County jail Thursday on a $1,000 bond, awaiting a court date.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30631935/

By Mayer Nissim

Rex

A man has been caught allegedly trying to sneak 14 live birds into the US under his trousers.

Californians Sony Dong, 46, and his accomplice Duc Le, 34, have been charged with conspiring to smuggle in the magpie robins, red-whiskered Bulbuls and shama thrush birds from Vietnam, Fox reports.

Dong was stopped by customs officials who were following up an earlier case involving birds being smuggled in baggage.

US Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien said that an initial search found bird feathers and droppings on Dong’s socks, resulting in a more thorough check which discovered 14 live animals strapped to his legs.

The colourful songbirds are thought to fetch around $400 when sold to collectors in the US.

http://www.digitalspy.com/odd/a155076/man-caught-with-14-birds-down-trousers.html

Gavin Hyatt went to his GP Joe Santos when a growth that protruded from his belly began to force its way out, The Sun reports.

Hyatt said: “Four hospital doctors had previously examined me and were all puzzled by the lump. Some thought it was a cyst, others an ingrown hair.

“Then one said it could be my undeveloped identical twin that I absorbed at a very early stage.”

Santos said: “It was like something from Alien. I didn’t believe Gavin when he said something was coming out of his belly button until I saw him.”

In a pivotal scene in Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien, an alien creature bursts from the chest of Executive Officer Kane, played by John Hurt.

Hyatt added: “I feel absolutely fine now but it has not sunk in yet that I could have had a twin brother. I have him in a jar at home and I call him little Gav. I haven’t told many people. I feel like a bit of a freak.”

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/a155424/man-gives-birth-to-alien-twin.html