British 'Couples Retreat' Posters Leave Out Black Couple

If you live in Britain, you won't see Faizon Love and Kali Hawk on the movie posters for 'Couples Retreat,' like you would in America.

The pair -- who are both black -- has been left off the promotional photo in the U.K., while the rest of the white actors remain.

According to The Daily Mail, Universal -- the studio behind the film -- claims they wanted to "simplify" the posters for the English audience. However, they apologized for offending anyone.

The dogs are in a better place...

Kathy Lee has a song to sing.

Gap Gets 'Glee'-ful for New Holiday Ads

Gap has unveiled its first television campaign in over two years and it will strike a familiar chord with millions of viewers.

In the new series of holiday commercials, a boisterous troupe of particularly "Glee"-ful models and cheerleaders prance around spreading holiday, well, cheer.

They dance, they tumble, they build human pyramids, all while decked out in Gap's seasonal 1969 denim, plaid shirts and chic winter accessories. (You can even shop the looks.)



Their intricate routines look an awful lot like the glorious song and dance numbers featured on the hit Fox series "Glee," which depicts the conflicts between the misfit members of a high school glee club and the uber cool cheerleaders (aka the "Cheerios").

The similarity is a little more than a case of great minds thinking alike. Though the campaign was in development "before we saw 'Glee,'" Ivy Ross, executive vice president of marketing for Gap told The New York Times, the resemblance is "no accident."

"We were very conscious of the environment we're in," she added.

Called "Holiday Cheer," the campaign features 10 different peppy ads including the intentionally inclusive "Happy Whateveryouwannakah," the very clever "Still Got That Receipt?," the politically correct "Vegetarian RSVP" and the procrastinator's theme "Be Belated" (cue "Bring it On").

View all of them at Gap's holiday microsite, Cheerfactory.com, where you can customize cheers and send via email, Facebook and Twitter. Spread the joy and receive a 20% off coupon good through the end of January 2010.

Gap clearly wants to make it a cheerful holiday season.

What do you think of the new campaign? Leave a comment!

'Shark Tank' contestants making millions

"Survivor" touts a $1 million grand prize and the winner of a season of "American Idol" winner can potential rake in millions, yet it's ABC's underdog reality show "Shark Tank" that arguably offers the most lucrative prizes for a typical contestant.

Below is list of entrepreneurs' products pitched during the first eight televised episodes of the Mark Burnett series and how they are faring with (and in some cases, without) the sharks' help. Here's the report:

Life Belt (The Lifebelt Safety System)
Outcome: The entrepreneur, who refused a million dollar offer from the Sharks, just signed a 1.7 Million dollar deal with one large automotive dealership. With orders from national retailers (e.g. AutoZone and Hendrick Automotive) Rob is projected to make 30 million dollars by March 2010.

Mr. Tod's Pie Factory (Sweet Potato and Chocolate Pecan Pies)
Outcome: Mr. Tod's sales have tripled and he is currently opening a new retail location. Mr. Tod appeared on QVC and sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of his signature pies.

A Perfect Pear (A Jar of Tapenade)
Outcome: Susan's retail sales have increased by 1,000% and she has been asked to sell her product on QVC.

Stress Free Kids (A Bestselling Children’s Book)
Outcome: Lori's book, "The Angry Octopus" became one of Amazon's top selling books and is now available in Borders bookstores nationwide.

Coverplay (Play Yard Liner)
Outcome: Amy and Allison are in final negotiations with the Marriott hotel chain, who is interested in carrying their Coverplay product in all their hotels worldwide.

Pork Barrel BBQ (Award Winning BBQ Sauce and Dry Rub)
Outcome: Before appearing on "Shark Tank," Brett and Heath had their BBQ products in only three specialty stores, now they’re are in 300 supermarkets on east coast and will soon be available on the shelves of Costco. In addition to their retail success, Brett and Heath have also broken ground on their first Pork Barrel BBQ restaurant.

Treasure Chest Pets (Stuffed Animal with Hidden Compartments)
Outcome: Lisa recently closed a deal to sell her products online at "Bed, Bath and Beyond", and in "Buy Buy Baby" retail stores.

Voyage Air Guitars (A Guitar That Folds in Half)
Outcome: After turning down a half million dollar offer from the Sharks, Jeff Cohen set out to make his unique folding guitar a household name. Now Jeff’s sales have doubled and he will have his guitar featured in 18 million catalogs e.g. Hammacher Schlemmer. Voyage Air Guitars are also in the hands of celebrity musicians like Brad Paisley and Alan Jackson.

Hollywood rethinks use of A-list actors

Films are showing that a good concept trumps star power.

Hollywood studios are now thinking twice about splurging on A-list movie stars and costly productions in reaction to the poor economy, but also because of the surprising success of recent films with unknown actors.

After buddy comedy "The Hangover," a movie with a little-known cast, made $459 million at the global boxooffice this past summer, several films have shown that a great concept or story can trump star appeal when it comes to luring fans.

"District 9," a low-budget movie in which the biggest stars were space aliens treated like refugees and the lead actor was South African Sharlto Copley, made $200 million. Thriller "Paranormal Activity," starring Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, has cash registers ringing to the tune of $100 million.

Next up, on Nov. 20, comes Summit Entertainment's relatively low-budget ($50 million) franchise movie "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," a sequel to 2008 hit vampire romance "Twilight" which made global stars of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Online ticket sellers report "New Moon" is one of their highest presale movies of all time, and boxoffice watchers expect the film to have a smash opening.

"Nobody says that a big wonderful movie needs to be expensive, it's just that that's been the trend, and perhaps the trend is misguided," said USC cinema professor Jason Squire.

Last weekend, "Disney's A Christmas Carol," featuring the voice of comic actor Jim Carrey, became the latest celebrity-driven movie to stumble at boxoffices, opening to a lower-than-expected $30 million.

Aside from Carrey and "Carol," which cost at least $175 million, A-listers who suffered boxoffice flops recently have included Bruce Willis ("Surrogates"), Adam Sandler ("Funny People"), Will Ferrell ("Land of the Lost"), Eddie Murphy ("Imagine That") and Julia Roberts ("Duplicity").

"The (major movie) machine didn't fly last summer, if you look at the movies and the names, they were not star-driven movies, they really weren't," said Peter Guber, chairman of Mandalay Entertainment and former head of Sony Pictures.

Hollywood insiders say A-listers are having trouble with salary demands in the $15 million range or participation approaching 20% of gross profits -- deals that were once somewhat common for top talent. Instead, they are being asked to take less money upfront and greater compensation only if a film breaks even.

In "New Moon," Pattinson and Stewart rekindle their romance between an immortal vampire and a high school girl that they brought to silver screens in last year's adaptation from Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" books.

At the time, Pattinson and Stewart were unknown stars but that did not hurt "Twilight," which made $384 million at global boxoffices and gave Summit a bona fide franchise.

It's not unusual for franchises like the "Harry Potter" movies to begin with unknown actors, but as the films' popularity takes root, production budgets relax and actor, producer and other salaries soar.

But in recent years, Hollywood has been racked by the recession, competition from video games and the Web, declining DVD sales and fewer licensing deals with television networks

This week, Disney chief Bob Iger said in a conference call that the sluggish DVD market is one reason the major studio has altered its moviemaking. "It causes us to really reconsider not only what we're investing in our films, but how we market them and how we distribute them," he said.

For its part, fledgling Summit has positioned "Twilight" as a franchise for the recession era by keeping the pressure on the costs for "New Moon," and Hollywood producers are praising them for it.

"Good for them, they are really keeping the costs down. It is unusual," said Lauren Shuler Donner, a producer on the "X-Men" films and 2008's "The Secret Life of Bees."

Summit, whose executives declined to be interviewed, took a page from the playbook of "The Lord of the Rings" by shooting the second and third films back-to-back this summer.

When director Peter Jackson made his three "Lord of the Rings" films simultaneously 10 years ago, it was a novel idea that reduced costs because actors, sets, costumes, locations and other items only had to be assembled and paid for once.

Similarly, by shooting the next two "Twilight" movies together, Summit kept the cost of the third film, "Eclipse," due June 30, around $60 million, one source said.

"What I like is they didn't have a long window (between films), they went in to make a franchise, they didn't go in to see if they had a franchise," said Warren Zide, producer on the "American Pie" and "Final Destination" movies.

To Eat or Not to Eat at the Lemon Tree

In this economy one needs to wonder WHY they keep opening up more restaurants in a town like Dobbs Ferry?

As a resident of this laid back town right out of the Andy Griffith show era (which is what you would think if you compared notes with how the town runs itself) one need only look out ones own window to see that the economy is at a virtual stand still.

Just in the last 6 months alone three businesses have either closed or announced that they are closing and all of these on Cedar Street. This by-the-way is the street that leads to Main Street which is itself hasn't seemed much like a "main street" in years.

That aside let me go back to the original reason of why I'm writing this blog. The Lemon Tree on Cedar Street. Now I must give the owners of this place credit. It really does look all inviting and it sure is a step up from what was there before. But do we really need another Asian Cuisine restaurant on the street? We already have Tenbo and it's affiliate Chinese restaurant and Sushi Mikes down at the end of the street. I went to get something to eat at the Lemon Tree based on a referral from a friend and let me start by saying that the Pepper Chicken lunch special is good. However, the rice sucks big time. If you can substitute the rice for something else and be glad you listened to me. It was the most horrible thing I'd ever tasted and believe me I know my rice.

If I were to rate the Lemon Tree out of 5 stars I will give them 3 and leave open the option to return later to see how their food is during another part of the day. One of my reasons for this rating is the fact that the place looked like a ghost town when I went in. I went in during a peak lunch hour on a Saturday and the place could have substituted for a saloon out of Wild Wild West of days gone by. That and for the fact that parking in Dobbs Ferry is like non-existent. Just in the time alone spent looking for a parking spot one could be at home and be halfway done with making their own meal.

As for the Lemon Tree, I think I'll be back but I may be skipping the rice.