'Angels & Demons' actors: What controversy?

Three years heat shrink tubing ago, the http://www.sz-yunlin.com/enindex.asp film based on Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" was the focus of protest and controversy, with a Vatican archbishop calling for a boycott and Catholics at many levels refuting plot points.
But when it comes to the new film based on a Brown novel, "Angels & Demons," star Tom Hanks says talk of controversy is much ado about nothing.
"Everybody is looking for some scandal whether a scandal exists or not," Hanks said of the film. "I think a kind of natural reaction is now that somehow because it's the second Robert Langdon mystery that there is some degree of controversy over it. And there is really not."
The movie ventures into similar waters as its predecessor, "The Da Vinci Code," with Hanks reprising the role of Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbology expert, and conspiracy theories galore.with director Ron Howard, who helmed "Da Vinci," and teams Hanks with actor Ewan McGregor and Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer.
While "The Da Vinci Code" centered on the complex investigation of a murder in the Louvre and the theory that a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene produced descendants, the new film features a murder at the Vatican and a secret and powerful society known as the "Illuminati."
McGregor, known for his role as a young Obi-Wan http://www.sz-yunlin.com/enindex.asp Kenobi in the "Star Wars" films, said that while "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons" are inextricably linked, the latter can stand on its own.
"If I thought [Angels & Demons] was pinned to 'The Da Vinci Code' in some way then it would've been a lesser script to read and it wasn't," McGregor said. "It's a standalone movie ... it's not relevant whether you've seen 'Da Vinci Code' or not."
Both films, like the Brown novels they're based on, have been met with criticism for their melding of history and storytelling.
"I have a strong objection to the genre of mixing fact with fiction," said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League. "You've got [Dan] Brown, [Ron] Howard and [Tom] Hanks in the movie all alleging that the Illuminati was this secret society which was brutalized by the Catholic Church in the 1600s."
"It's all a lie," Donohue said. "[The Illuminati] never even existed until May 1, 1776, but they have to pitch it back into the 1600s so they can trot out their favorite victim, Galileo. What happens is you get the audience thinking 'Well, maybe it's not all true, but probably some of it is true.' "
Ted Baehr, founder of Movieguide and the Christian Film & Television Commission, first issued an advisory alert about the film in April and reiterated it days before the movie's May 15 release.
"Now that we've previewed 'Angels & Demons,' Movieguide has decided to keep in effect our caution alert," Baehr heat shrink tubing said. "Faith is often denied throughout the movie."
Director Howard wrote in the The Huffington Post that he believes Donohue is on a mission "to paint me and the movie I directed, 'Angels & Demons,' as anti-Catholic," a claim Howard emphatically denies.
The director told CNN that he attempted to reach out to the Catholic Church regarding the film, but had no success. He also downplayed reports that Rome and the Vatican tried to hinder filming.
Hanks said shooting the movie in the ancient city was complicated given the vibrancy of Rome. At one point, Hanks said, make-believe collided with one woman's fairy tale.
"We had a lady showing up who was getting married at the Pantheon and she had to get married and we had to get our shot," Hanks said. "She showed up right between shots, when we were moving cameras."
Fortunately, both the wedding and the day's filming were able to be completed, Hanks said.
McGregor said Howard was to be credited for how well the production came together. Howard's background as an actor undoubtedly helped enhance the heat shrink tubing actors' performances, McGregor said.
"A lot of directors are able to tell you what they're after, but Ron's able to tell you what he's after and help you for how you might play that ... which is kind of total directing," McGregor said.
Zurer said she had a blast being the only female lead in the film.

Margaret Cho geared up for 'Dead'

Comedienne heat shrink tubing Margaret http://www.sz-yunlin.com/enindex.asp Cho knows a great deal about Hollywood's obsession with body image.
The once-zaftig actress is co-starring in a new series for Lifetime titled "Drop Dead Diva" about a brilliant plus-size attorney who finds her body inhabited by the soul of a shallow wannabe model.
The Sony Pictures Television-produced heat shrink tubing show debuts July 12 and stars Broadway actress Brooke Elliott as lawyer Jane Bingum.
Cho plays Bingum's gal Friday, Terri, and it's a more serious role than fans might expect of Cho, known for her irreverent, and often political, humor.
She recently spoke with CNN about her new project, how President Obama helped inspire her upcoming music album (seriously, she really does have a music album coming out) and why some folks in the gay community are a little peeved with her.
CNN: What drew you to this particular character in "Drop Dead Diva"?
Margaret Cho: I heat shrink tubing thought, what a wonderful part. To me, it's kind of like Moneypenny in James Bond. [My character] gives Jane all of her assignments and gets her on track with this amnesia story that she gives her.
It's a comic foil, but I also kind of help her back into the world, and I love that sort of midwifery character. It's very fun.
CNN: You've talked before about your less-than-positive experiences working on a sitcom ["All-American Girl"]. Any apprehension about doing this series?
Cho: I've been back to TV doing stuff now for a couple of years. I have a lot more confidence and a lot more awareness about what I would like to do. And I think television has really changed in a good way.
This show, I absolutely love. It's really funny, but it's also touching. It has a lot of heart, and I think the acting is really incredible. I'm really proud to be a part of this show. CNN: How do think television has changed?
Cho: There's more diversity in general. There are like two more Asian people on television now then there was 10 years ago, and that's pretty heat shrink tubing impressive. Before, it was just me and Connie Chung, but now there's me, Sandra Oh and Connie Chung.
Wait, Connie Chung's not on anymore, so there's Ann Curry. She's kind of Asian-adjacent.
CNN: I loved your VH1 reality show, "The Cho Show." Your parents were great on that.
Cho: They're so famous now among Koreans. They can't go anywhere anymore!
CNN: You are such an icon in the gay community, but some people took you to task for an interview with The New York Times where you said you identified yourself as gay, although you are married to a man.
Cho: I identify as queer. I've had a lot of same-sex relationships in my life, and I guess it would be bisexual, but to me it's more appropriate to say I am queer. I am also attracted to transgender persons, and bisexual doesn't cover it. I feel like being queer is my politics, it's my life; it's the community I do the most political work in, for the gay, lesbian and the transgender community.
Being married made it much more important for me to fight for gay marriage, because I believe marriage is vital for heat shrink tubing us as people.
CNN: How important is it to have a show like "Drop Dead Diva" which features a main character who is plus-sized?
Cho: I don't think of her as plus-size. I just think of her as beautiful.
I think people are going to fall in love with Brooke and the character Jane and realize that beauty comes in all sizes. That's something we are trying to promote with the show. The idea of being plus-size is somewhat ridiculous, because most women are. I mean, I am, and most women are.
CNN: You, plus-size? You are so tiny!
Cho: But I'm not a size 4, and that's the standard in Hollywood. When you look at women in movies and TV, it's an unrealistic view of what women really look like. With the show, we are promoting a real woman who is beautiful with real curves, has a real attitude and is fabulous.
CNN: You make so many people laugh. What makes you laugh?
Cho: I'm kind of crazy about "Flight of the Conchords" right now, and I love Sarah Silverman. I love music and comedy, and that's my new my passion, trying to do some funny songs. I love Weird Al Yankovic, and he's kind of my hero, so that's the direction I want to go in right now.
CNN: You have an album coming out next year. What's the title?
Cho: "Guitarded," because it's just so guitarded and silly. There are heat shrink tubing songs on the album that are super dirty and super silly.
I did so much hard-hitting, political critique humor for so many years, and now I feel like the world has changed a lot, especially with Obama in office. I feel like I don't have to be as angry with the government and the status quo anymore.
CNN: Are there any song titles you can share with us, keeping in mind that we are trying to be family-friendly here?
Cho: Then, no, I don't think so. I think people are going to have to buy the album if they want to know titles.

Michael Phelps' mom: My son has great values

Phelps spoke heat shrink tubing with http://www.sz-yunlin.com/enindex.asp CNN's Larry King about her new book, a recent tabloid report detailing her son's partying ways and the infamous bong photo.
The following is an edited version of the transcript.
Larry King: You have this terrific new book coming. If I do say so myself, it's inspiring. Yet (Thursday's) lead story in the "New York Daily News" gate crasher column -- I don't know who writes that -- "tsk, tsk," it says, "Michael Phelps, partying your face off in public is not the way to reclaim your good guy image. The Olympian was been laying relatively low since his bong smoking scandal in January was out in full force Tuesday night at New York City hot spot Marquis" -- I think is the name -- "Michael was definitely having a good time, an eyewitness tells us, drinking straight from a bottle of Grey Goose. When the DJ started playing MIA's 'Paper Planes,' he got up started dancing like a loon and kept on yelling 'shots.' Phelps definitely had enough alcohol on hand for several four round. He ordered four bottles of Vodka."
Is this tough for a mother? How do you react?
Debbie Phelps: It's one thing that I learn at a very early age is I don't get caught up in gossip columns. I know my son. He has great values, lots of integrity. That's what I think about that.
King: Did you talk to him about this?
Phelps: I always talk to Michael. I talk to Michael every day. We talked about training today and things of that nature.
King: But it would be normal to say, what happened, wouldn't it? I would say that to my son.
Phelps: We give support. We give guidance. We give an ear to listen. And, again, I don't get caught up in gossip.
King: Therefore, you don't believe it? I just want to establish what your feelings are.
Phelps: I don't get caught up in gossip, Mr. King.
King: What about something that wasn't gossip, the picture with the bong thing. It was a picture.
Phelps: It's a picture, that's true. But, you know, a picture can say many things. It has many words. It has many meanings. It has many visualizations that you want to think. It depends on the person who is looking at that picture.
You know, as a mom, I support all three of my children. I believe that no matter who you are in this country, in this world, there are obstacles that get into your life. I call them speed bumps in school sometimes. I heard someone say lightning bolts. That's another term for that.
But, you know, how do we grow? How do we learn? You raise a child through 18. You send them off to college. You give them the roots. You give them the foundation to be a strong, young man, a strong lady. Life throws curve balls to you sometimes. How do you handle that curve ball?
King: Michael is 23. That's an adult. He's an adult.
Phelps: A young adult.
King: Young adult. So one could say it's his life. He chooses to lead it. As our parent, we do our best to guide them, but 23 is 23. Do you view him still as a kid?
Phelps: I view my 31-year-old daughter as a kid sometimes. You know, I look at each of my children independently and individually of themselves. They have many strong values, strong points, professionalism. I'm just very proud of all three of them and everything they've done.
King: Do you think these kind of stories -- and you don't pay attention to them -- hurt your book?
Phelps: I was asked many times and told many times, "Debbie, you need to write a book some day." As an educator, I'm thinking, I would really like to do that. It became a personal goal of mine to be able to publish a book, not knowing exactly what it was going to be.
Was it going to be my life? Was it going to be parenting? Was it going to be swimming? Was it just going to be motivational and inspirational? When I take a look at the book I was able to write, I have great pride in that book because it shows other people, every woman, but not even women -- men can read this book also -- the inspiration and motivation of life.
King: The question is, "Do you think these kind of stories might hurt the chance of people buying the book, which is what you want?"
Phelps: People are going to have to make that decision.
King: Do you think it might?
Phelps: Life is life. I do want to say, though, in reference to the Beijing Olympics, we, as a family, I think, made a great impression on the world, on the United States. My son has great love for me. It's a great bonding relationship. Families are very important.
King: Is he still a role model, do you think?
Phelps: You know, when I think of the word role model, I'll go back to me being a little girl. It was my mom and my dad. They were my role models when I was growing up. When I hear that role model in a sentence with my son, what I think about with Michael is what he does with and for children. It might be things people don't even know of -- his association with the Boys and Girls Club. For years, he has done that (and) his association with Make A Wish.
He touches kids' lives. So if an individual, wherever they may be, may select my son as a role model, I say that my son has strong values. I say he's a human being. And I say that from obstacles that get in people's ways -- we all have them, Mr. King, and you know that -- what do you learn from them and how do you rise above the occasion?

New Kids on the Block take fans back

Twenty years ago, when the New Kids heat shrink tubing on The Block were wearing their hair almost as high as their fame, the music business was a vastly different animal. There was no "American Idol." No such thing as a download, legal or otherwise. People collected posters, not ringtones.
But it appears something has carried over from that distant era. Something loud, something jumpy, something ready to roar: Blockheads (or to those not familiar with boy band lingo, fans of New Kids on the Block).
As a "look who's laughing now" to those who thought reuniting for a new album and tour was a ridiculous idea, the group's past heat shrink tubing followers came out in droves last year to see Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood give some new choreography a whirl at concert venues around the world.
"I think a special thing happened out there on the road," Wahlberg said. "I think the fans came back not quite knowing what to expect but determined to have a great time. And we came back not quite knowing what to expect [but] determined to have a great time and determined to put on a great show. And I think we all got there and became teenagers again. It was pretty cool."So cool that the band has announced a whole new set of North American concert dates they're calling the "Full Service" tour. The 34-stop trek kicks off in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 28 and winds up in Houston, Texas, on July 18. Tickets go on sale Friday.
But before the tour, New Kids on the Block will hit the high seas -- along with boatloads of Blockheads -- for a three-day concert cruise in the Bahamas in mid-May.
"The cruise is the one area where we've completely lost our minds," Wahlberg said. "We're going to have to answer to thousands of fans on the boat. It's going to be insane."
But perhaps not as insane as things might've been if this were still the '80s. The band members -- now 40ish, and all but one of them fathers -- concede that heat shrink tubing they've mellowed considerably, and so has their 30-something female fan base.
"We didn't just go completely bonkers and stop being adults," Wahlberg said of the 2008 tour. "The fans didn't hang out in front of the hotel, singing songs for 20 hours straight. They just got hotel rooms and hung out in the lobby and met us for drinks at the bar."
Cheers to that.
New Kids on the Block recently hung out with CNN and talked about surprising the skeptics, the boy-band stigma and how the music business has changed in the 15 years since they disbanded. The following is an edited version of the interview.
CNN: What's the biggest change you've noticed in the music business?
Joey McIntyre: The music business has changed incredibly. There used to be 50 record companies. Now there's only three, and it's just getting smaller and smaller. But then again, you have the Internet, so anybody who has music can get it out there.
Jordan Knight: We also come from an era where getting on stage and performing, really honing the craft of performing on stage, was important. So lucky for us we have that background, and even though record sales are down, concert ticket sales are up, and that favors us, because that's what we mainly like to do. We like to perform.
CNN: When you left the spotlight, bands like 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys moved in and flourished. Was it difficult heat shrink tubing for you to watch them take the torch and run with it?
Donnie Wahlberg: I found no bother in other boy bands taking the spotlight for a number of reasons: A, I was not interested in that spotlight myself. B, it was their time. C, we weren't even in a band anymore. I was doing other things ...
McIntyre: It sounds like a comedy skit where we're furious over it!
Wahlberg: Yeah, like "Damn it! Why are they being so successful?"
McIntyre: "We've got to find a way to ruin it!"
Wahlberg: When we came out, there was MTV, and that was it. And there wasn't room for another band like us. ... And when we went away, the music business changed. Suddenly, there were all these different avenues and outlets. ... So you heat shrink tubing could have three, four, five boy bands, and they could all be very successful. And that was more fascinating to me than anything else.
Anybody who was as successful as those guys were -- be it Backstreet or 'N Sync -- it takes so much hard work to be successful. I can only respect [that]. We had a backlash on us, so to come out as a boy band after us and to have the perseverance to succeed and overcome a lot of doors that were closed from people hating on us ... they deserve credit for that. And we deserve credit now for coming back and overcoming hurdles that are there now for us.
CNN: What are the biggest hurdles?
Wahlberg: The whole concept of us coming back, honestly, was met with skepticism by a lot of people. ... All the record heat shrink tubing companies thought when (other boy bands) were thriving, that was the time that we should come back. But it was their time; it wasn't our time. ...
The fact that 90 percent of the people who discussed this with us thought it was crazy or thought we'd do a barnstorming tour at best, that in itself is a hurdle, because we had to walk away. We had to all make a commitment to do this. We all had things in our lives that we were doing, that we were committed to. ...
But we believed, and fortunately the fans believed and came back heat shrink tubing in bigger numbers than we ever imagined and made a lot of people look wrong. It even surprised us.
CNN: Boy bands traditionally get a bit of a hard rap, don't they? You're often dismissed as overly choreographed, a little bit cheesy.
Wahlberg: I think it's easy to criticize things that you maybe don't quite know the story on. But the reality is, we're in the music business. John Mayer might be able to play the guitar better than any of us ... but heat shrink tubing we all signed record contracts. We've all made a decision to make our career in this business. So to scoff at people because they do something different or don't do what you would do is silly.
Fortunately, we haven't really found that this time around. I think people have come to understand that maybe we're a little bit different ... a little bit more of a grass-roots band than people ever gave us credit for. We weren't picked out of thousands of people. It was a very real story, how we came together.
CNN: Which one of you has changed the most?
Knight: I don't think any of us heat shrink tubing have really changed. We've matured; we've mellowed a bit. We have more wisdom, but personality-wise, we're all the same and it's good to see. And that's what made us in the past, and that's what makes us now.

Optimism shadowed by uncertainty at SXSW

CD sales are down. Digital hasn't heat shrink tubing caught up. Record companies are consolidating. New bands are trying to find their own way.
Despite all the challenging news, thousands of industry professionals and eager music fans turned out for the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. The festival, tailored to recording industry talent seekers and the talent they seek, officially ended Sunday.
While optimism ran high at the heat shrink tubing five-day whirlwind of panel discussions, trade shows, live concerts and private parties, much of the conversation throughout the event focused on the sobering reality of the music industry's uncertain future.
"Obviously we're going through a transition. All of the major record labels have gone through some sort of cost-cutting and consolidation over the last few years," said Rand Hoffman, head of business and legal affairs at Interscope Geffen heat shrink tubing A&M Records.
"Right now CD sales are falling more rapidly than digital is going up," he told a group of SXSW festival-goers at a panel discussion on the future of the industry.
According to a release from Nielson SoundScan, which tracks record sales, over a billion songs were downloaded in 2008, an online music industry record.
But the success of the individual digital song sales on popular sites such as iTunes has not replaced the lost revenue from the declining number of CD sales. Total album sales fell 14 percent in 2008, which accounts for a huge portion of record company profits.
Sony Music Entertainment's Julie Swidler noted that despite the stressed state of affairs for the corporate music industry, the major labels will stay relevant, but probably as smaller versions of their past selves.
"We'll still be major, just smaller major," predicted Swidler, who works as the executive vice president of business affairs and general counsel.
The growing trend of established heat shrink tubing artists selling and distributing their music without the aid of a major label paints an even bleaker picture for the corporate music business.
"The bottom line is if we want to continue, we have to break future superstars, and the only way to do that is artist development," Swidler said.
Both Swidler and Hoffman see light at the end of the tunnel, however.
Hoffman acknowledged that the major labels must find a way heat shrink tubing to turn the digital sales momentum into a greater profit and predicts that the United States will eventually have a terrestrial radio performance right law, which would require radio stations to pay artists each time they play their songs.
"I can't believe that if almost every single ... Western country in the world has [a performance right], that the U.S. will go on indefinitely not having this. There's no rational basis for it. Its just politics."
And Swidler believes that heat shrink tubing the labels can adapt to the online music movement with new, creative ways of directly connecting the artist to the consumer.
"I think you're going to see online where suddenly instead of buying an album by your favorite artist, you'll buy a year's subscription to that artist," Swidler says. "So it's almost as if an artist will trickle out a story for you for the entire year."
Good turnout, but not everyone is happy
If the turnout at SXSW 2009 is any indication of consumers' willingness to spend money on music, then record label executives have heat shrink tubing reason to be hopeful. The festival brought in an estimated $103 million to the Austin-area economy in 2008, and though this year's numbers have yet to be tabulated, SXSW representatives expect the amount will be on par with last year.
Almost 2,000 artists played SXSW this year, which is about a hundred more than last year. An impressive list of major recording artists brought their high-profile acts to the intimate Austin stages. Kanye West, Jane's Addiction, Big Boi and Metallica all played unannounced shows, primarily to exclusive crowds of industry insiders who heard about the concerts through word of mouth, though news of Metallica's set at the release party of "Guitar heat shrink tubing Hero: Metallica" on Friday was well-known around town early that morning.
In addition to the surprise appearances, SXSW showcased scheduled performers PJ Harvey, the Indigo Girls, Ben Harper, Third Eye Blind and droves of other hit groups, almost all of whom garnered huge crowds of enthusiastic and devoted fans.
Not everyone was pleased with the festival's exclusive nature, however. To many locals, the perception is that major music acts are stealing the thunder from unsigned, local artists who are trying to attract as many label representatives to their shows as possible.
Austin-based band the Vincents played a slew of gigs throughout the week and received positive feedback from the people who heat shrink tubing attended their shows, many of whom purchased their CD. But they ultimately felt overshadowed by the swarms of industry types who were constantly rushing to the next secret show or exclusive party.
Local find
In spite of a few complaints from Austin residents, SXSW can provide an amazing opportunity for a lucky few whose acts get picked up by industry folks.
The "feel good" story of SXSW 2009 might have been local, buzz-worthy heat shrink tubing band The Black and White Years, which recently took home five Austin Music Awards, including best new band, song of the year and best producer, the latter for former Talking Heads keyboardist-guitarist Jerry Harrison.
Harrison stumbled across The Black and White Years at a small performance at SXSW in 2007. He liked their sound and decided to produce their debut album.
"People think when you play these South by Southwest things that nothing ever happens. Sometimes it does. You've got to be skilled at your instrument, but it takes a little luck. You just never know, it might heat shrink tubing happen," said drummer Billy Potts.
Though dominated by music, SXSW also features a robust film festival and an innovative interactive gala, where techies from around the country showcase their latest software, gadgets and gaming technology.
This year the film festival had 57 world premieres, 133 features and 127 short films screened, many of which fulfill SXSW's primary heat shrink tubing role of providing a platform for indie films and documentaries. Whereas the big studio movies have seen a boost in sales during the recession, the economic crisis has crippled many foundations that provide the funds for independent documentaries. Indeed, New heat shrink tubing York's Tribeca Film Festival announced last week that it would be making cuts to its line-up because of economic conditions.
But producer Erin Essenmacher, whose film "Mine" premiered at SXSW and took home the documentary audience award, remains confident about the entertainment industry's future.
"I hate to say things are recession-proof because heat shrink tubing I don't even know what that means anymore, but there's always going to be a need for content, whether it's on the Web or on TV," she said. "And as the economy gets worse, I think people want that outlet."

Hearing set for Monday in Lohan case

A hearing is set for Monday in a case involving heat shrink tubing actress Lindsay Lohan after an arrest warrant was issued for her Friday, officials said.
Lohan's attorney told heat shrink tubing CNN the warrant was issued "out of a misunderstanding." It was not known whether she would attend the hearing Monday.
The warrant was issued by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in Beverly Hills, California. It apparently stems from Lohan's 2007 convictions for drunken driving, police said Friday. She is serving three years probation.
Sandi Gibbons of the Los Angeles County District heat shrink tubing Attorney's office told CNN on Sunday the warrant is believed to be in connection with a possible probation violation. The district attorney's office prosecuted the original 2007 case, she said.
The hearing is set to begin sometime after 8:30 a.m., she said.
Lohan "has the right to appear" at the hearing, said Alan Parachini, Los Angeles Superior Court spokesman. "That decision is up to her."
Lohan's attorney, Shawn heat shrink tubing Chapman Holley, told CNN on Sunday that she will appear at the hearing on Lohan's behalf.
"Since her case was resolved, Ms. Lohan has been in compliance with all the terms and conditions of her probation and all orders of the court," Holley said in a statement.
"The warrant issued on Friday was, in our view, born out of a misunderstanding which I am confident I can clear up next week," Holley said.
Police said Saturday they were not actively seeking Lohan, as they heat shrink tubing would not usually go after a person to take them into custody in such cases. Beverly Hills police Sgt. Mike Foxen said on Friday authorities were hoping Lohan would turn herself in.
Lohan was arrested twice in 2007 on driving under the influence charges, with a cocaine possession charge in the second incident.
The first arrest, in May 2007, came after Lohan lost control of her Mercedes-Benz convertible and struck a curb in Beverly Hills.
Just two weeks after heat shrink tubing checking out of a Malibu drug and alcohol rehab facility, she was arrested again in July 2007 after a woman called Santa Monica police saying Lohan was trying to run her down in a car.
A judge sentenced Lohan to three years probation after she entered guilty and no contest pleas to the charges.
Lohan's acting career, which heat shrink tubing started at age 10 on a soap opera, took off on the big screen a year later when she played both identical twins in Disney's "The Parent Trap."
Since then, she has starred in at least a dozen movies, including "Georgia Rule" with Jane Fonda in 2007.
Her pop music recording career, boosted heat shrink tubing by her movie roles, has floundered in the past year. Her last album was released in 2005

'Apocalypse' writer: Most scripts today 'are garbage'

You know that line in "Dirty Harry" in which heat shrink tubing Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan describes the power of the .44 Magnum? John Milius wrote that line.
Remember the line in "Jaws" when Robert Shaw, playing the shark hunter, talks about his buddies being eaten alive heat shrink tubing by sharks during World War II? That was Milius.
How about the line in "Apocalypse Now," when Robert Duvall, playing a surf-loving Army colonel, says, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"?
Milius again.
And he hasn't lost his bold way with dialogue -- including his own.
For example, here's Milius on stopping murderous drug traffickers in Mexico: "We need to go down there, kill them all, flatten the place heat shrink tubing with bulldozers so when you wake up in the morning, there's nothing there," he said in a phone interview. "I do believe if you have a military, you use it."
Or Rush Limbaugh: "I was watching Rush Limbaugh the other night, and I was horrified. I would have Rush Limbaugh drawn and quartered. He was sticking up for these Wall Street pigs. There should be public show trials, mass denunciations and executions."
And that's despite being identified as one of Hollywood's most outspoken conservatives. But Milius isn't all blood heat shrink tubing and thunder. As a surfer, whose surfing exploits as a teen helped to forge his self-sufficient world view, he's lent his gruff voice as narrator to a new documentary about surfing soldiers during the Vietnam War.
"One of the most poignant things of the film is how many California surfers went to Vietnam, and how many didn't come back," said Milius, 64, who learned to surf while growing up in Southern California.
"One of the reasons I put surfing in 'Apocalypse heat shrink tubing Now' was because I always thought Vietnam was a California war."
Instead of the cliche GI of World War II who hailed from Brooklyn and the Bronx and played stickball in the streets, Milius thinks of Vietnam's soldiers as having the laid-back attitude associated with the West Coast lifestyle.
"You had the guys hopping up their Huey choppers with new engine parts and painting flames on the rocket pods."
Milius clearly loves heat shrink tubing surfing. He credits it with forging his most powerful friendships and uses it as a metaphor for life. As a lifeguard along California's treacherous Zuma Beach north of Malibu, Milius learned "to be a loner, because when you get planted by a big wave, there's no one who can help you," he said, audibly lighting a cigar. "Your heat shrink tubing fate is involved in a different universe."
The 1978 surfing coming-of-age film "Big Wednesday," co-written and directed by Milius, has become a respected classic in surfing culture.
"Apocalypse Now" has its own morality, said Milius. "It has its own rules."
That might also be said about Milius himself -- who displays what might be described as a larger-than-life heat shrink tubing personality. He's said to be the model for the character Walter Sobchak in the Coen brothers' "The Big Lebowski," an item Milius doesn't dispute.
"They told me they based that character on me," Milius said, adding that he had previously turned down the Coens' offer to appear in their film "Barton Fink" as a studio chief.
His self-image as a loner laid the foundation for heat shrink tubing his conservative politics. When his parents sent him off to a small private school in Colorado "because I was a juvenile delinquent," he learned to love the mountains, guns, hunting, tracking and "living off the land."
He's also used his experiences to create his scripts.
Milius' days in Colorado showed themselves in his screenplay "Jeremiah Johnson," the 1972 film starring Robert Redford as the lonely fur trapper and mountain man.
In 1984's "Red heat shrink tubing Dawn," Colorado is the battlefield where Americans fight a guerrilla war against Russian invaders. "We were promised, when I was growing up, this war with Russia," he said, explaining the film's legacy. "We were promised World War III."
His love of firearms -- he's a board member of the National Rifle Association -- helped inspire his "Dirty Harry" lines.
"I have a .44 Magnum, I love the .44 Magnum, in heat shrink tubing fact I still have the .44 Magnum that inspired that line," he said.
"The Second Amendment becomes more important every day," he added.
After marinating in the zeitgeist for 30 years, Milius' iconic movie lines have flavored American pop culture -- embraced by "The Simpsons," mocked on "Saturday Night Live" and spoofed in Hollywood comedies.
A lot of it is hard work, of course. But sometimes, as Dirty Harry might note, you just feel lucky. Robert Shaw's " heat shrink tubing Jaws" speech about how sharks attacked survivors of the torpedoed USS Indianapolis was written "literally over the phone," Milius said. "I gave it to them, and they went out and shot it." (Milius work on the film was uncredited; Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb are the credited screenwriters.)
And then there's the famous "napalm" line from "Apocalypse."
"I just wrote it -- it just came up," said Milius, describing the famous line uttered wistfully by Duvall's surfing Col. Bill Kilgore. "That's what happens. People love to think that all this stuff happens when you write a famous line -- that you really heat shrink tubing thought about it a lot."
Another famous line by Kilgore in the screenplay, "Charlie don't surf," is Milius' personal favorite. That line, he said was inspired by a published quote by Israel's Ariel Sharon during the 1967 Six-Day War.
A victorious Gen. Sharon went skin-diving after capturing enemy territory, Milius said, and declared, "We're eating their fish."
"That just really heat shrink tubing appealed to me," he laughed. "He was saying, 'We blew the s*** out of them, and now we're eating their fish.' Charlie don't surf."
Milius' latest project is a screenplay for a three-hour biopic of Genghis Khan, "the son of a hit man whose father is murdered and who went on to conquer the known world and become the greatest military and civil genius in history," as Milius described him. Production could begin in early 2010, he said.
Milius said Khan inspired another popular line, Arnold Schwarzenegger's list of a few of his favorite things in 1982's "Conan the Barbarian": "To crush your heat shrink tubing enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women," goes the line.
That came right from the history books, said Milius.
"That's the most famous Genghis Khan line. It's a paraphrase of what he said when he was with his generals heat shrink tubing and he was asked what was the greatest thing in life," he said.
Although he admires a few scripts from modern-day Hollywood -- such as P.T. Anderson's "Boogie Nights," "Hard Eight" and "There Will Be Blood" -- most Hollywood scripts that get made today are "garbage," Milius said, written by "broken writers" with no "shame."
"There's no shame in the world, and without shame, you cannot have honor. Our world is ruled by consensus now. There heat shrink tubing is no sense of honor."
If that sounds like the lament of an outsider, Milius said it's probably because he feels like he's been treated like one through much of his career, given his reputation as a conservative and his opposition to gun-control laws.
"I've led a whole life behind enemy lines. I've heat shrink tubing been the victim of so much persecution," he said. "I'm the barbarian of Hollywood."