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It seems a quaint idea now, but there was once such a thing as a celebrity anthologist. Edward J. O’Brien was a pale and sickly young poet and playwright who’d graduated from high school at 16, attended Boston College and Harvard, but dropped out, resolving “to educate myself as long as life lasted.” He became the protégé of William Stanley Braithwaite, a poet and critic who in 1906 began publishing an annual survey of American poetry in the Boston Evening Transcript. When Braithwaite’s editor suggested the paper run a companion survey of short stories, the task fell to O’Brien, who solicited complimentary copies of all the going magazines publishing fiction, several of which had circulations in excess of 500,000, not to mention the little ones that were about to become busy launching modernism. O’Brien proposed an annual anthology to a Boston publisher, and so in 1915, there appeared the...

This seems like an intriguingly different project for Karl Urban to involve himself with. It's a 3D family film called The Wonder, and it's a fantasy adventure that centers around magic rainbows. Apparently the actor is officially signed on with the film now, and it sounds like it's going to be a very crazy film... seriously! Just read over this breakdown of the story (thanks to Empire), and see for yourself!

The Wonder follows three teenagers, led by defiant outsider Rachel (Willow Shields), who after a bruising encounter with school bullies, experiences something incredible and seemingly impossible… a rainbow reaching up to the sky from a pool of golden energy.With the help of friends Grace, a Chinese girl and Tane, a Maori boy, the teenage trio adopt high-tech methods to find another, and learning of ancient rainbow legends they each make a special wish. Finally they actually track down...

Bette Davis movies: TCM schedule on August 14 (photo: Bette Davis in ‘Dangerous,’ with Franchot Tone) See previous post: “Bette Davis Eyes: They’re Watching You Tonight.” 3:00 Am Parachute Jumper (1933). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Harold Huber, Leo Carrillo, Thomas E. Jackson, Lyle Talbot, Leon Ames, Stanley Blystone, Reginald Barlow, George Chandler, Walter Brennan, Pat O’Malley, Paul Panzer, Nat Pendleton, Dewey Robinson, Tom Wilson, Sheila Terry. Bw-72 mins. 4:30 Am The Girl From 10th Avenue (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Ian Hunter, Colin Clive, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Phillip Reed, Katharine Alexander, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bill Elliott, Edward McWade, André Cheron, Wedgwood Nowell, John Quillan, Mary Treen. Bw-69 mins. 6:00 Am Dangerous (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Dick Foran, Walter Walker, Richard Carle, George Irving, Pierre Watkin, Douglas Wood,...

Mickey Rooney movie schedule (Pt): TCM on August 13 See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Movies: Music and Murder.” Photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940. 3:00 Am Death On The Diamond (1934). Director: Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Robert Young, Madge Evans, Nat Pendleton, Mickey Rooney. Bw-71 mins. 4:15 Am A Midsummer Night’S Dream (1935). Director: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Cast: James Cagney, Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, Verree Teasdale, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Grant Mitchell, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dewey Robinson, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Treacher, Otis Harlan, Helen Westcott, Fred Sale, Billy Barty, Rags Ragland. Bw-143 mins. 6:45 Am A Family Affair (1936). Director: George B. Seitz. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lionel Barrymore, Cecilia Parker, Eric Linden. Bw-69 mins. 8:00 Am Boys Town (1938). Director: Norman Taurog. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, Addison Richards, Minor Watson, Jonathan Hale,...

Karl Urban ("Star Trek"), Willow Shields ("The Hunger Games") and Leehom Wang ("Lust, Caution") will star in Ron Underwood's 3D family action adventure "The Wonder".

Shields plays 14-year-old who, together with two of her classmates, find the end of a rainbow which transports them to China. They soon find themselves pursued by both local authorities and a mysterious organisation.

With help from Consul William Stanley (Urban), the kids elude those after them but discover their trip has triggered a major natural disaster.

Robert Sidaway, Iain Brown, Steve Sachs and Chun-Yi Yueh are producing.

Source: Screen Daily...

Ron Underwood ( Mighty Joe Young ) is set to direct Karl Urban ( Star Trek , Dredd ) and Willow Shields ( The Hunger Games ) in the 3D fantasy film The Wonder , says The Hollywood Reporter . Chinese actor Leehom Wang ( Lust, Caution ) will also star. According to the trade, the film "focuses on 14-year-old Rachel (Shields) who, together with two of her classmates, find the end of a rainbow which, magically, transports them to China. There, they find themselves pursued by local authorities and a mysterious organisation. With unexpected help from Consul William Stanley (Urban), the kids are able to elude their chasers but soon discover that their journey has triggered a major natural disaster. Together with their new friend Cheng (Wang), they find their way back home but...

This could be an interesting combination. Karl Urban and young & sweet Willow Shields are set to star in the upcoming 3D fantasy film titled The Wonder. The movie comes from director Ron Underwood and, apparently it will include a lot of teenagers, magic, a rainbow, catastrophe and… well, China? Try to find some connection, or read the rest of this report for more details.

So at this moment, thanks to THR, we know that The Wonder will center on Shields’ character, 14-year-old Rachel who, together with two of her classmates, find the end of a rainbow which, magically, transports them to China.

There, they find themselves pursued by local authorities and a mysterious organisation.

With unexpected help from Consul William Stanley, played by Urban, the kids are able to elude their chasers but soon discover that their journey has triggered a major natural disaster.

Together with their new friend Cheng,...

Karl Urban and Willow Shields have been cast in The Wonder. The pair will join Leehom Wang in Ron Underwood's family-friendly 3D fantasy film, with another major Chinese actor to be added to the cast soon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film centres around 14-year-old Rachel (Shields), who discovers a rainbow with her friends that transports them to China. There, Consul William Stanley (more)...

If William Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets that have beguiled people for generations, then who did?

That's the controversial question at the heart of Roland Emmerich's new thriller Anonymous, which launches in UK cinemas this weekend.

Emmerich (Independence Day, The Patriot, 2012) and writer John Orloff have woven the ultimate literary conspiracy theory into a historical drama set at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

In a video included below (and in our video channel on the right), the filmmaker presents his case for why he believes Shakespeare didn't create the works attributed to him.

The so-called 'authorship debate' has been around for decades and has attracted an illustrious band of supporters down the years.

Academics, actors and writers - including Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Orson Welles, Sigmund Freud and Sir John Gielgud - have supported the claim that Shakespeare simply didn't write Shakespeare. Collectively, the doubters are known as anti-Stratfordians.

It's a given among Peak Oilers and New Urbanists alike that the imminent and permanent return of high oil prices will send convulsions through the suburban American landscape. But it's one thing when professional Jeremiahs like James Howard Kunstler preach this to the converted week after week, and something else when the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers advise commercial real estate investors to "shy away from fringe places in the exurbs and places with long car commutes or where getting a quart of milk takes a 15-minute drive." Oil shocks will do what urban planners can't seem to and the government won't (through sharply higher gas taxes or putting a price on carbon): force people to live at greater densities.

In books like $20 Per Gallon and Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller--both published last year, in the wake of 2008's real estate bubble-burst--the end...