Singer Lady Gaga arrives at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center in Los Angeles

Singer Lady Gaga arrives at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

 

Image Gallery: 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center in Los Angeles

The following image gallery are celebs arriving and during the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

 

Whip It (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Entertaining, fun and an enjoyable coming-of-age film.  A solid directorial debut by Drew Barrymore and another wonderful performance by Ellen Page and also from the film’s all-star supporting cast.

© 2009 Babe Ruthless Production, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Whip It

DURATION: 111 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Widescreen 2:40:1, AVC@36MBPS English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

RATED: PG-13 (Sexual Content including Crude Dialogue, Language and Drug Material)

COMPANY: Twentieth Century Fox

RELEASE DATE: January 26, 2010

Based on the book “Derby Girl” by Shauna Cross

Directed by Drew Barrymore

Screenplay by Drew Barrymore

Executive Producer: Drew Barrymore, Peter Douglas, Joseph Drake, Nancy Juvonen, Nathan Kahane, Kirsten Smith

Producer: Barry Mendel

Co-Producer: Nicole Brown, Kelli Konop, Jason Lust, Karyn McCarthy

Associate Producer: Chris Miller

Music by The Section Quartet

Cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman

Edited by Dylan Tichenor

Casting by Justine Baddeley, Kim Davis

Production Design by Kevin Kavanaugh

Set Decoration by Meg Everist

Costume Design by Catherine Marie Thomas

Starring:

Sarah Habel as Corbi

Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar

Alia Shawkat as Pash

Shannon Eagen as Amber

Marcia Gay Harden as Brooke Cavendar

Daniel Stern as Earl Cavendar

Jimmy Fallon as “Hot Tub” Johnny Rocket

Kristen Wiig as Maggie Mayhem

Zoe Bell as Bloody Holly

Eve as Rosa Parks

Drew Barrymore as Smashley Simpson

Andrew Wilson as Razor

Juliette Lewis as Iron Maven

Rusty Mewha as Holy Rollers

Ari Graynor as Eva Destruction

Landon Pigg as Oliver

Carlo Alban as Birdman

The memorable heroine of Juno is back and scores huge laughs as Bliss Cavendar, a blue-haired misfit stuck in a tiny Texas town in Whip It, a coming-of-age comedy skating onto Blu-ray Disc with Digital Copy and DVD January 26 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Tired of following in her family’s footsteps, Bliss discovers a way to put her life on the fast track when she lands a spot on a rough-and-tumble roller derby team. Her journey comes full-circle as she reconnects with her family and finds her own path in the world.

Roller Derby.  I can easily remember turning on the television and watching the Los Angeles T-Birds. Personally, I didn’t know if this was a true sport or if it was like wrestling and it was just sports entertainment.  But I was hooked.  Not sure if it was the blonde women with poofy hair throwing other women out of the rink or that one person who didn’t look should be on the rink, actually kicking butt.  Needless to say, that roller derby has had its following for decades and now here we are with a film based on a character who takes part in roller derby competitions.

“Whip It” marks the directorial debut by actress Drew Barrymore (“E.T.”, “50 First Dates”, “The Wedding Singer”, “Charlie’s Angels” films) and is an adaptation of the novel “Derby Girl” by Shauna Cross, a fictionalized book of skating with the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls.

The independent film was released in theaters during the fall of 2009 and now makes its Blu-ray and DVD debut.  The Blu-ray edition comes with a second disc which contains a digital copy of the film.

The film revolves around Bliss Cavendar (played by Ellen Page, “X3″, “Juno”, “Smart People”), a quiet and shy girl who lives in the small town of Bodeen, Texas and works at a fast food restaurant.   She aspires to nothing and is constantly pushed by her pageant mother Brooke (played by Marcia Gay Harden, “The Maiden Heist”, “Damages”, “Mystic River”) to compete in a variety of beauty pageants.  Her little sister Shania is more of the person who enjoys the pageants but for Bliss, it’s not her thing.  In fact, she doesn’t even know what kind of person she is and just thinks that she is not cut out for the pageants.

But fortunately, she has a friend named Pash (played by Alia Shawkat, “Arrested Development”, “Bart Got a Room”) who is a good friend and her emotional support. Both dream of leaving the small town, while Pash dreams of going to an Ivy League School, Bliss doesn’t know what to do with her life.

One day while shopping with her mother, she discovers a group of women promoting a roller derby event in Austin.  Immediately, she is mesmerized by it and she and Pash go to Austin and pretend they are going to a football game when in fact, she goes to watch the roller derby event in which she suddenly becomes inspired by the team “The Hurl Scouts” who are the worst roller derby team in Texas.

When she goes to meet with them and tell them how they are her new heroes, Maggie Mayhem (played by Kristen Wiig, “Saturday Night Live”, “Extract”) and Smashley Simpson (played by Drew Barrymore) asks her to put on some skates and attend the tryouts and become her own hero.  Of course, Bliss lies and tells them that she’s 22 when she’s actually a teenager.  But Bliss who has become inspired by these women, takes her Barbie skates and starts practicing to skate and enters tryouts.

While at tryouts, she immediately, she is bossed around by Iron Maven (played by Juliette Lewis, “Cape Fear”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”) but the Hurl Scouts coach, Razor (played by Andrew Wilson, “Fever Pitch, “Charlie’s Angels”, “Rushmore”) sees her speed as major potential and gives her a spot on The Hurl Scouts and quickly becomes good friends with the other ladies on the team which include Bloody Holly (played by Zoe Bell), Rosa Sparks (played by Eve) and more.

Part of the perks of being a Hurl Scout is attending parties hosted by roller derby host “Hot Tub” Johnny Rocket (played by Jimmy Fallon) and both Bliss and Pash start to have some fun.  That is where she meets Oliver (played by Landon Pigg), a musician from the band playing at the party and eventually a guy that she starts to fall in love with.

Immediately, Bliss becomes a sensation on the team as the quick “Babe Ruthless” and suddenly the last placed Hurl Scouts become the hot team in roller derby and her presence has inspired her teammates to want to win their matches.  For the first time, Bliss feels that she is making a difference with her life and things are starting to happen and she’s happy. But yet she is still living a lie.  She’s underage and shouldn’t be competing, she’s lying to her family and telling them that she’s with her friend studying for her SAT’s.  How long can she keep this up?

With her mother expecting Bliss to compete at major beauty pageant competitions, having a new guy in her life, maintaining her friendship with Pash and trying to fake her injuries that she receives at roller derby competitions, let alone lying about her age…what happens when the truth about Bliss comes out?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Whip It” is presented in 1080 High Definition (Widescreen 2:40:1), AVC @ 36 MBPS.  The film sports vibrant colors with the Hurl Scouts green outfits, while amber lights shine on the roller derby rink.  You can see details in the surroundings, especially injuries ala bloody noses to bruises.  Even the tattoos on Kristen Wiig are seen much clearly on HD.  Skin tones are natural and blacks are nice and deep.  Everything is visible from the freckles of Pash, to the sweat and tears of Bliss and the other girls during competition or the more emotional scenes of the film.  I will say that at first, I thought this was a period film shot in the ’80s but you realize that the film focuses on Bliss living in a very small town.

There is a fine amount of grain in the film and I didn’t notice any compression artifacts, banding or any sign of DNR.  A solid Blu-ray release in terms of PQ from Fox.

As for the audio, “Whip It” is featured in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish, French 5.1 Dolby Digital.  The film is front and center channel driven.  Dialogue and music are both crystal clear but there is minimal use of surrounds.  You can hear crowd ambiance and the women racing on the rink and hitting the side rails and hearing the skates but its not immersive as I would have hoped but still, the film is not all about the roller derby and there are plenty of dialogue scenes and music-driven scenes that are very clear, with some songs having a nice kick of bass.  A pretty interesting soundtrack as well from ’80s 38 Special’s “Caught Up in You” to music from the Ramones and the Breeders.

Subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Whip It” comes with a digital copy of the film and comes with a few special features:

• Deleted Scenes – (16:14) Included is an alternate opening and eight deleted scenes.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents Writer’s Draft: Shauna Cross of “Whip It” – (3:04) A short featurette with an interview with novel and screenwriter Shauna Cross about “Whip It”.
• Whip It Soundtrack Spot - (:32) A promotional for the “Whip It” soundtrack.

“Whip It” may seem like a film about roller derby and the antics that go behind-the-scenes of the sport but truthfully, the film has many layers.  From a coming-of-age film, a relationship movie and a girl power film, there are a good number of things going on in this film that there is far much more to enjoy than expected.

I have to admit that Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut definitely shows promise.  The actress has starred in so many films since she was a child and has worked with a good number of quality director’s, I had no doubt that she would do a pretty solid job.

Part of the challenge of “Whip It” is bringing together this wild bunch of characters that the character Bliss associates with and then bringing this other side of her life as a teenager from a small town, having an overbearing pageant mother and working at a fast food restaurant while trying to maintain her friendship with her high school friends and then finding love.  Definitely not an easy task for Barrymore but one thing she does have is the original author Shauna Cross involved with the screenplay and she has a talented actress in Ellen Page in the main role.

At first glance, I didn’t know if Page can pull of such a role but as she did with “Juno” she manages to pull of Bliss very well for “Whip It”.

As for the other supporting characters, personally I don’t if roller derby lifestyles are similar to what is depicted in the movie.  As much as I do enjoy Barrymore’s directorial debut, her role as Smashley Simpson is a bit too much while I do feel Kristen Wiig manages to pull off another solid supporting role like she has done in “Extract” and Juliette Lewis still does a great job in portraying the bad girl.  Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern (who plays Bliss’s father) also do a good job as the parents of Bliss.

As for the Blu-ray, the picture quality for the film was very good and the lossless audio was satisfactory but it would have been great to have it a bit more immersive via use of the surround channels.   And it would have been great to have audio commentary by Barrymore and Shauna Cross or even a featurette on how the talent prepared for the film or even  Behind-the-scenes footage.  I felt the special features were a bit short for this Blu-ray release.  But as for the film, “Whip It” is an entertaining, humorous and a solid coming-of-age, feel-good style of film.  And again, although roller derby does play a big part in this film, “Whip It” is not an all out sports movie.  The film has many layers to it and fortunately, the solid performances definitely made this film enjoyable.

Overall, “Whip It” is a solid directorial debut from Drew Barrymore and fine performances by Ellen Page and its supporting cast makes this film better than expected.

 

Michael Jackson choreographer Travis Payne collaborates with the dancing Cebu inmates

We have seen the Cebu inmates in the Philippines dancing to Michael Jackson songs but this time they get to work with Michael Jackson’s choreographer Travis Payne as the inmates do a pretty cool routine with Payne and crew.

 

Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc – The Masters of Cinema Series #4 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Finally, Godard’s masterpiece “Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” (A Married Woman: Fragments of a Film in 1965 in Black and White) is available on Blu-ray and a release that everyone in the world can enjoy.   The film looks absolute magnificent in HD and the 80-page booklet is just fantastic!  Highly recommended!

© 21964/2010 Gaumont. 2010 Eureka Entertainment, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc

DURATION: 95 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p AVC Encode, 1:37:1 Original Aspect Ratio, Includes Optional English Subtitles and the Original French Soundtrack, Dolby Digital

RATED: Contains strong sex references and some sexual nudity

COMPANY: Masters of Cinema.EUREKA!

RELEASE DATE: January 2009

Written and Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Cinematography by Raoul Coutard

Edited by Andree Choty, Francoise Collin, Agnes Guillernot, Gerard Pollicand

Production Design by Henri Nogaret

Starring:

Bernard Noël as Robert, the Lover

Macha Méril as Charlotte

Philippe Leroy as Pierre, the Husband

Roger Leenhardt as himself

Rita Maiden as Madame Celine

Chirstopher Bourseiller as Nicolas

Jean-Luc Godard as the Narrator

Georges Liron as The Physician

Long out-of-circulation and unavailable on home video, Jean-Luc Godard’s 1964 masterpiece Une femme mariée, fragments d’un film tourné en 1964 en noir et blanc [A Married Woman: Fragments of a Film Shot in 1964 in Black and White] has, until now, represented the ostensibly ‘missing’ key work from the first, zeitgeist-defining phase of JLG’s filmography. The feature which bridges the gap between Bande à part and Alphaville, Une femme mariée is, nevertheless, a galaxy, or gallery, unto itself — a lucid, complex, profoundly funny series of portraits, etched with Godardian acids, of the wife that represents either a singular case, or a universal example, of “a”/”the” married woman, and the men in her orbit.

Macha Méril (later of Pialat’s Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble, and Varda’s Sans toit ni loi) plays Charlotte — the title character. She’s married to aviator Pierre (Philippe Leroy, of Becker’s Le Trou). She sleeps with thespian Robert (Bernard Noël). She talks “intelligence” with renowned critic-filmmaker Roger Leenhardt, and takes part in a fashion-shoot at a public pool. The “fragments” of the film’s subtitle are chapters, episodes, vignettes, tableaux; Une femme mariée is a pile of magazines made into a film, and a film turned into a magazine — the table of contents reading: Alfred Hitchcock. Jean Racine. La Peau douce. A Peruvian serum. Nuit et brouillard. The “Eloquence” bra. The quartets of Beethoven. Madame Céline. Fantômas. Robert Bresson. A Volkswagen making a right turn. — A film shot in 1964, and in black and white.

Designed with Raoul Coutard’s breathtaking cinematography, Godard’s picture captures a moment in time — but all its mysteries, its truths, its beauty, comedy and grace, serve to resolve into a work of art for the ages. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Jean-Luc Godard’s classic, Une femme mariée, in a magnificent new HD Gaumont restoration for the first time on Blu-ray anywhere in the world.

1964.  Jean-Luc Godard has had another success with his fifth film “Bande a part” (Band of Outsiders) and began his sixth feature film “Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” (A Married Woman: Fragments from a film from 1964 in Black and White).  The film which he began in June 1964 was shot in a four weeks, edited within five weeks and shown at the Venice Film Festival in early September.

Among the few early ’60s Godard titles that have not been released in the U.S., fortunately EUREKA!’s Masters of Cinema (based in the UK) have heeded the call of cinema fans worldwide and have decided to release most of their Blu-ray’s ala non-region (with the exception of a title or two that were released in the US by the Criterion Collection).

“Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” is rather an interesting, entertaining and profound film by Jean-Luc Godard.  Quite different than “Band of Outsiders” which preceded it and “Alphaville” which came after, this film is a film that can be seen as a sign of the times but still as relevant today.

Although I have not seen every Godard film made let alone any films he released after 1970 but I have seen a good number of his ’60s films and I have to say that “”Une femme mariée” is his most erotic film.  We see many shots of a naked back, a stomach, thighs as hands are seen caressing a woman’s body. Visually poetic, Godard’s film uses fade outs instead of his familar jump cuts.  We see the negative utilized in Godard’s video (which would be explored in “Alphaville”) and more.

“Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” revolves around a woman named Charlotte (played by Macha Méril, “Belle de Jour”) who is a married but having an affair with theatre actor Robert (played by Bernard Noël, “La Ronde”, “Trois Femmes”).  She enjoys her time with Robert and loves him.

But she is married to Pierre (played by Philippe Leroy, “Le Trou”, “La vita di Leonardo Da Vinci”), a pilot who provides her with what she needs financially, and she also raises her step son with him.  Pierre is truly in love with his wife Charlotte, even though he discovered her affair three months earlier to Robert via a private investigator.

For Charlotte, she has balanced her days with Pierre and Robert and for her, she obsesses with what is shown in the women’s magazines.  Enhancing her breast size, wearing the best panties and bras, she is a very shallow woman.

But she starts to see life differently.  When she meets her husband’s philosopher friend Roger Leehardt, then seeing how young women discuss their attraction to men and losing their virginity, seeing how women do things to attract men and then trying to find out if she is a pregnant woman.  She knows that both men would love to have a baby with her or they say that.  But she is undecided on who she wants to be with and thus she interviews her husband and her lover.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” is featured in 1080p AVC encode with the original aspect ratio of 1:37:1 and looks absolutely wonderful in HD.  Picture quality for this film is absolutely beautiful.  Detail from Méril’s eyes and her hair, to the beauty of her skin, this is seen quite beautifully on Blu-ray.  No trace of DNR and just an overall magnificent transfer on HD.

Audio is in Dolby Digital 1.0 (LPCM) and presented in French with English subtitles.  Audio is clear and understandable, as with the music but for those with a modern home theater receiver, for a more immersive soundtrack, one may want to select stereo on all channels or stay with the monaural soundtrack.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” contains the following special features in 1080i:

• Original Theatrical Trailer – (3:25) The original theatrical trailer in 1080p created and edited by Jean-Luc Godard.
• 80-Page Booklet – A new “overture” by legendary French critic and filmmaker Luc Moullet (Les Contrebandières, A Girl Is a Gun, Les Sièges de l’Alcazar, Le Prestige de la mort).  A lengthy roundtable discussion between Luc Moullet; writer/critic and American correspondent for Cahiers du cinéma, Bill Krohn; and MoC’s Craig Keller — on the film, and its relationship to Godard’s oeuvre from the 1950s through the 2000s. A concentrated investigation into the film by Bill Krohn. A new statement about the film by star Macha Méril. A transcript of Godard’s late-’70s lecture on Une femme mariée, originally presented in Introduction à une véritable histoire du cinéma, translated here into English for the first time. Relevant excerpts from Jean Racine’s Bérénice, in the original French, accompanied by a new parallel English translation. And many notes on the film, Godard, and modern DVD production.

“Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” is an interesting film.  As mentioned, this is his most erotic film as we see hands caressing Macha Méril’s body.  Her back, her arms, her thighs, her waist… it’s a very creative way of how it was filmed.  Focusing on the body parts and showcasing sexuality without having to show its participants full bodies taking part in sex.

Of course, the film is seen differently by many people.  For some, this is Godard’s life with Anna Karina and his marriage going downhill.  Is this why Godard exploring marriage and the obsession of what his hot in pop culture and women’s fashion courtesy of advertising and how it corrupts women.  While men are not as easily pulled into it but yet they are hooked on the women that do so.  Shallowness has been explored in Godard’s “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her” and also in “Masculin Feminin”.  In this case, Charlotte is being told about why they were in Auschwitz, but what happened during WWII is not important as it’s passe to her, while a magazine article about breast enlargement is more intriguing.  She is not an intellectual, she is a woman of faults and is not afraid to admit it.  She is a product of mindless consumerism, a woman who lives for the now and wants to experience for the thrill of what happens “now”.

But I enjoyed this film because it was so visually creative. The erotic shots were well-done.  Improvisational use of questions being asked a question by Charlotte (which I’m guessing similar to “Masculin Feminin”, questions are being told to Macha Méril by Godard) to actor Bernard Noel who is answering as himself but also in character as Robert about if his love for Charlotte is real or is he acting.  Even certain mistakes as Charlotte is running and falls flat on the road is kept in the film.  This is Godard using spontaneous moments and using it for his film.

As for the Blu-ray release, the fact that EUREKA! ala The Masters of Cinema are releasing the majority of their Blu-rays ala non-region is very important.  For one, the main way for people to watch Godard releases were primarily from The Criterion Collection.  But here we have The Masters of Cinema releasing a quality product on Blu-ray but also making sure that those who enjoyed those Criterion releases, get the same quality with MoC releases and it’s not just for those living in Europe, now all of us all over the world can enjoy this Blu-ray release.

This release of “Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” is simply the best looking version out there and I don’t know if we’ll get anything that will look this magnificent of the film for a long while.  Although, the film does not have any featurettes, for cinemaphiles, the 80-page booklet is just full of content and information about the film.   This is a film that many people have wanted released in the US and now it’s available.  Now hopefully, a company releases Godard’s 1967 film “Week End” remastered on Blu-ray or DVD as many have waited years for a release of the film.

Overall, I know I keep saying that nearly every Godard film is a masterpiece.  But I do feel that “Une femme mariée: Fragments D’un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc” is indeed a masterpiece and shows that an auteur such as Godard can craft something so quickly and yet making sure the film is witty, humorous and also tragic in some way.

Highly recommended!

 

Photo Gallery: Images from the 62nd Annual Directors Guild of America Awards

The following are photos of celebrities arriving to the 62nd Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on January 30, 2010 in Century City, California.

 

“GLEE” actress Lea Michele at the 62nd Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Century City

Actress Lea Michele arrives at the 62nd Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on January 30, 2010 in Century City, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

 

Tila Tequila retires from Hollywood, posts video of herself online

On Jan. 27th, Tila Tequila posted that she would be retiring from Hollywood to care for her baby. Tequila posted on her blog:

So goodbye Hollywood. It’s been a fun ride being here with you all. I have had a lot of great memories of “LIVING IN THE LIMELIGHT” however, at this point……I have seen how vicious living in the limelight can be and it is not something I want anymore. So with that said:

TILA TEQUILA HAS OFFICIALLY RETIRED FROM HOLLYWOOD!

And on January 30th, Tequila tweeted, “Listen…I don’t give a care in the world what ANYONE says about me. Life is short & I LIVE IT TO THE FULLEST! ” and a link to a video on her website.

The website appears to be Tequila fully nude and with the following blog post:

I think women’s body’s are BEAUTIFUL & I JUST DONT GIVE A F**K ANYMORE! LIFE IS SHORT AND IM GONNA LIVE MY LIFE THE WAY I WANT!!!!! AND GIRLS NEED TO QUIT HATING! PROPS TO THE WOMEN WHO DONT HATE CUZ UR SECURE WITH YOURSELF! ENJOY!

After her tweet, netizens started commenting on her post with negative comments.

Tequila then followed up her tweet with:

Such racist people. So PLAYBOY GIRLS can pose Nude cuz They are WHITE GIRLS, yet I pose nude & I get s**t cuz I’m ASIAN? F**k that!

But like I said, Racist, negative, ugly people= out of my life! Positive, supportive, loving people=Forever in my life & I love you! xox

Well at least I know non of that matters. My baby is going to be SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL! Boy or girl…my baby is guaranteed beautiful & healthy!

 

Rip Torn arrested for trying to break into bank

A highly intoxicated Rip Torn was arrested on Friday night after trying to break into a bank in Connecticut with an armed revolver. The newspaper The Register Citizen reported, “Torn allegedly forced entry into a Litchfield Bancorp building, at 326 Main St., setting off an alarm, state police from the Troop B barracks in North Canaan said today. When police responded to the alarm around 9:40 p.m. they found Torn “with a loaded revolver and was highly intoxicated,” according to a police news release.

 

“One Piece”, Japanese best selling manga for 2009

Sales figures are in and the manga “One Piece” is the best selling manga for 2009.

Mainichi Daily News reported:

At 14.7 million copies, “One Piece” sold more than twice as many as its nearest competitor, “Naruto”, with 6.8 million copies.

Coming in third was “Bleach” at 6.5 million. Fourth was “Fullmetal Alchemist” — the only title in the top five not to be published in manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump — with 5.8 million copies.

 

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