A fatwa did wonders for Salman Rushdie and the Satanic Verses. I'm told it was a mediocre book and otherwise uninteresting, but bagged a bunch of awards on basically a political angle - like Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn/Алекса́ндр Иса́евич Солжени́цын and his Gulag Archipelago. Except that Solzhenitsyn was actually a very good writer! He bagged a Nobel Lit Prize for that back in the days when the USA was trying to embarrass the commies on the world stage. That strategy backfired since Solzhenitsyn had gone religious during his imprisonment, and took the opportunity to decry the materialistic West. "At least in Russia we have oppression. Here you have nothing!"
It also badly backfired with chess prodigy Bobby Fischer. The powers that be thought he would be the ideal instrument to beat the commies at their own game. However Bobby went mad from pressure, or possibly KGB microwaves beamed into his dental fillings. He died in Iceland still talking about how happy he was that 911 had happened, and polishing his tin foil hat.
As for Salman, he is married to Padma Lakshmi, so politics does have it's perks! In the long term it might be a bad career plan for Matt Stone and Trey Parker, especially if they got killed or something. This ain't FOX News you're dealing with, although FOX has racked up their own fatalities - Dr Tiller "the Baby Killer".
Speaking of trouble accused sex offender and esteemed director Roman Polanski is one step closer to a long anticipated return tot he land of the free - but not for any life time achievement award. A California appeals court has throw out his appeal to get his statutory rape charge dismissed.
Polanski shouldn't have relied on appeals, since he's not very appealing. Charles Grodin, who worked with him on Rosemary's Baby described him as an asshole. They had a disagreement over a scene in the film. Grodin, as the doctor, has to give Rosemary some unusual news. Grodin paused before delivering his line, since it seemed the reasonable thing to do. Polanski insisted on redoing the scene with no pause, explaining that he was paid big money to direct films. Grodin went on to reveal that Polanski irked others on the set. Apparently John Cassavetes wanted to haul off and deck the little pervert. Sounds like someone is losing the support of the Hollywood community!
There's another Muppet Movie on the way. Now you might think that a Muppet Movie in this day and age wouldn't stand a snow balls chance in hell. Especially without Jim Henson - the prime creative force behind the popular puppets. The Muppets aren't worried about that, they have an ace in the hole. They have a new character named Walter or something. Unless Walter is gay, or insults the Prophet Mohamed, I think that the film might not generate enough interest. Also I hear that Jennifer Lopez may be playing the role of Miss Piggy, with Marc Anthony as poor hen pecked Kermit. That might be worth a look see, especially if JLO delivers the dreaded karate chop to her husband! Hiyaaaa!
