LA FLORIDIANA UFOs I Have Seen -- Part 1 by Will Moriaty

THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW "National Lampoon's Dorm Daze" by Mike Smith

COUCH POTATO The Dinosaurs vs The Pirates, a Couch Potato Editorial....The Cure DVD and Video  by Vinnie Blesi

ASHLEY'S HOLLYWOOD The 9-25 Club....SAG & Oscar News Already!....THE PUNISHER....Mark Wahlberg  by Ashley Lauren

CREATURE'S CORNER UFO vs The Creature  by John Lewis

MIKE'S RANT The Nothing Left To Chance League....Milking It....Congrats....If He's Not Back By Wednesday, We Get Clapton....Passing On  by Mike Smith

Archives of Nolan's Pop Culture Review

Archives 2003 Archives 2002 Archives 2001 Archives 2000

Email PCR Home

Welcome to another mind-blowing edition of Ashley Lauren's Hollywood. I know, I know, you all wait with abated breath every week for this very column. Okay, so maybe you don't, but you do read it, right? Many things to talk about today, let's dive right in.

The 9-25 Club
The 9-25 club will be celebrating their birthday this Thursday, and for some stars that means you celebrate it together. Normally there is a big birthday bash in NYC every year. For whatever reason this day happens to be the birthday of many celebrities, to name a few: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Barbara Walters, Christopher Reeves, Will Smith, and Heather Locklear. I'm sure there is more that I just can't remember at the moment. I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention. I wish them all a very Happy Birthday! My birthday is exactly 7 days later, so I expect the same from them, just kidding.

SAG & Oscar News already!
Melissa Gilbert was re-elected to her throne as the President of the Screen Actors Guild. Not really much to say about this event since most of our readers probably aren't in the Screen Actors Guild. Although, if you would like more information just surf your way on over to www.sag.com, anything you need to see, it's all right there.

Billy Crystal will be hosting the Oscars again this year which I can't wait for. Billy Crystal's opening numbers are always the best part. Steve Martin did a pretty good job, his sarcastic humor was definitely a plus for me. How about Steve and Billy switch off every other year? That would be the best of both worlds!

The Punisher
As you are aware, I live for Hollywood (in a sane way) so when Hollywood is in my backyard I must be a part of it as well. I'm sure you guessed it, The Punisher. The movie stars Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Laura Herring, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos.

Well, I had heard early in the day on Monday that they would be filming some exterior shots on Kennedy Blvd in Tampa and I wanted to see what exactly they were doing. So I gathered up my friend Andy, my dad (John Lewis---N), and his friend Troy and we made our way for Tampa. Before I continue I must tell you. I am the sort of person who doesn't like to feel like a tourist or a crazed fan, no pun intended. I like to feel at home in any scenario. Back to the story. We get there and I decide to park in the grass lot where all the BMW's and such are, praying my car doesn't get towed. We walked past all the trailers and over near where they were setting up a shot. After standing with some annoying college kids I made my way over to the production side with my dad. There were some PA's standing around but they seemed pretty cool and didn't say anything.

When I got thirsty I walked on over to their cooler and grabbed myself out a drink, much to the disbelief of my counterparts. We were literally standing within 30 feet of the shot, which was really interesting. A black excursion then pulled up next to me and out pops, Thomas Jane. To me he is very unrecognizable in general. He is not a star, but whatever that's not the point. He walked over to where Laura Herring was giving her performance, if that's what you want to call it. She walked out of a building, to her car, and to another door. WHEW! There went a million dollars in talent.

After that they called lunch, we walked behind the building by catering just to see what was up. Not much of course, so we left downtown and traveled south-westward to see the one and only Nolan B. Canova (somewhere in God's own South Tampa. It was good to see you guys, I'm glad you came.---Uncle N). After chatting for a little while we headed back over to Clearwater and called it a night.

The following morning, while sitting in my dreadful English class, Nolan called me and left a message (just as he had promised) saying that he did talk to Corey (you guys know Corey! Special FX) (Yes, he of the Castellano persuasion, computer-tech and make-up FX maestro, http://imageworks-fx.nocturnis.net, plug, plug---N) and that he would be on set that night but he didn't know where. Okay, I figured that I would drive over later with two of my friends and see if I could find him and say "Hi".

We get there and they are filming this huge, wide-angle shot of some club scene. There are 100 extras out there in Oscar wear and all the stars are within a 100-foot area. We were not getting anywhere near there. The cops were out in full force. My friends and I walked down to where all the trailers were hiding. A security guy stopped us, as well as a lady police officer, and asked us what we needed. I then told her the deal. She walked up to another woman in one of the transport vans and talked to her in private. Then they signaled for me to come over. My friends continued to talk to the nice security guy while I walked over to the van and the cop and told them who I was and who exactly I was looking for. Both women were really nice and were actually trying to help me, which I was surprised at. Then they said he may be over across the way or he may be on set. They sent us through the non-secured area so we wouldn't get hassled again and we talked to every tech person, but still no Corey. I then called dear Nolan and found out that Corey had received the message that I was looking for him but he was tied up on set. That was okay I figured he would probably be busy, he's not a PA, he actually had a job to do. (OUCH, no offense to Production Assissants everywhere, I'm sure! Heh heh. Corey told me later that with so many stars in one place, the shoot was indeed especially touchy, and he regretted not being able to see Ashley, but was needed at his post until the wee hours of the morning. I'm not kidding, he recently called me on his way home from work--at 7:00am!! His shift started the previous afternoon---Nolan

We then made our way over to the yellow-taped off area and stood there watching the shot from a distance. At the same time my friends and I noticed that the PA (production assistant), in charge of keeping people back, looked very familiar. He was the waiter at Denny's who hit on me an my friend Eunice!!! How the hell did he get this job!? He simply went up to someone a couple days earlier and asked and they gave it to him. Bastard! Now I was disappointed. He's not even a good waiter for crying out loud.

Anyways, After talking to him for a while and seeing John Travolta drive by a couple times and Hulk Hogan walking with [local radio DJ/personality] Bubba the Love Sponge, we took off. We drove back kind of silent the whole way home and that was my run in with Hollywood.

On a sadder note....

Mark Wahlberg
More sad H'Wood news- September 2, 2003 started out as a joyous and blessed event for Mark Wahlberg and his girlfriend of nearly two years, Rhea Durham. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, into the world. Ella Rae was even quite a few days late. Mark and Rhea were obviously overjoyed by what seemed to be a perfect day. Later that day Mark got a call that his older sister had died of salmonella poisoning. She had allegedly gone to the hospital with what she thought was kidney stones and ended up dead. Mark Wahlberg flew out immediately back east to be with his family. His brother who is on the show Boomtown, Donnie Wahlberg, also flew out to be with his family. After the funeral a few days later, Mark had to then fly to Europe to promote The Italian Job with Charlize Theron. To make matters worse, he would supposedly not be able to see his newborn daughter again until late September. Just another example of "when it rains, it pours".

***It was also said recently that he popped the question to Rhea finally.

That about does it for this week.

Till next time!
Ashley Lauren