Will Smith Eyes ‘Cain and Abel’ Film as Directorial Debut

*Will Smith is looking to make his directorial debut on a film about the biblical story of Cain and Abel, reports Deadline.com.

The project is in development at Sony and is being produced by Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment.

According to Deadline, the script has been in Smith’s sights for some time and has gone under the working title of “The Redemption of Cain.”

Deadline has confirmed that it’s now being developed as directing vehicle for Smith, who’ll likely star in the movie as well.

“Cain” isn’t the only biblical project on the horizon in Hollywood. Both Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott have “Moses” projects in development.

Will Smith in Talks to Play First Doc to Find CTE in Football Player’s Brain

*Will Smith is reportedly in talks to star in Ridley Scott’s untitled NFL drama, playing real life forensic neuropathologist Dr. Bennett Omalu, the first researcher to discover Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in the brain of a football player.

CTE is a degenerative brain disease brought on by head trauma that is only discoverable post mortem. The condition has affected several football players later in life who either ended up dying from the condition or were unable to cope with the pain it caused them and committed suicide.

According to Deadline.com, the Sony Pictures film will be based on the 2009 GQ article “Game Brain” by Jeanne Marie Laskas, which looks into how Dr. Omalu’s autopsy of Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster led to his discovery of a new disease that he named chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

Dr. Bennett Omalu

According to reports, the plot will focus on the fact that the NFL suppressed Omalu’s findings and continually intimidated and threatened him as well as attempted to discredit him and his research. It’s claimed that they even lied to former football players who had been trying to discover the truth behind why their health was so quickly deteriorating.

The script will be written by Peter Landesman, who will also direct the film for Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions.

Michael Jackson comes to live as Jackie Jackson Was ‘Teary Eyed’ Watching Brother Michael’s Hologram

Jackie Jackson poses in the pressroom during the 2014 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 18, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

*Jackie Jackson said he cried while watching his late brother Michael Jackson come to life via hologram at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night.

The eldest Jackson sibling thinks choreographers Rich and Tone Talauega did an ”amazing” job in making the virtual likeness of the King of Pop so convincing as he performed “Slave to Rhythm.”

Jackie told Billboard: ”When he started walking and dancing, I was teary-eyed. It’s hard to please Michael’s fans and Michael… I’m telling you it’s amazing.”

There had been a huge demand for a hologram performance from Michael, but John Branca, the executor of the late star’s estate, felt the music awards show was the perfect setting.

He said: “It’s so important to experience Michael Jackson in a live setting. This is something where we wanted a live performance in front of a live audience and nothing speaks to that more than an awards show.”

see the full video performance below the one above.

20 May 2014

Manchester City: Yaya Toure backs agent in 'birthday row'

Yaya Toure has thrown his Manchester City future into doubt by backing up his agent's claims that the club's wealthy owners showed him a lack of respect on his 31st birthday.

Dimitri Seluk told BBC Sport that Toure was "very upset" and could leave.

Toure initially played down the row on Twitter, saying: "Don't take words that do not come from my mouth seriously."

“If they don't respect him then, easy, Yaya will leave”

Dimitri SelukToure's agent

But he then wrote:  "Everything Dimitri said is true. He speaks for me. I will explain after the World Cup."

City gave Toure a birthday cake as they flew to Abu Dhabi and tweeted their congratulations after he turned 31 on 13 May, but Seluk says he was ignored by the club's owners when the squad arrived in the United Arab Emirates last week to celebrate their Premier League title triumph.

"None of them shook his hand on his birthday. It's really sick," Seluk said.

City declined to comment officially on Seluk's initial claims and are yet to respond to BBC Sport over Toure's subsequent comments.

Manchester City use their official Twitter account to congratulate Yaya Toure

The agent also claimed Toure was unhappy in March 2013, shortly before he signed a new four-year contract, but insisted this latest row is about "respect", not money.

"He got a cake but when it was Roberto Carlos's birthday, the president of Anzhi gave him a Bugatti," Seluk added.

"I don't expect City to present Yaya with a Bugatti, we only asked that they shook his hand and said 'we congratulate you'. It is the minimum they must do when it is his birthday and the squad is all together.

When Roberto Carlos was given an £800,000 car for his birthday

Roberto Carlos's agent Paulo Teixeira: "This particular situation was due to the fact Anzhi Makhachkala president Suleyman Kerimov likes Roberto Carlos very much and decided to give him a car.

"It was extraordinary situation and not common practice in football. Roberto Carlos, before the Bugatti, had seven cars. He didn't need a car but he accepted the gift."

"I hear one newspaper has written that City congratulated him from Twitter but this is a joke. It is better they don't put anything on Twitter if they are not saying anything to him.

"The club's owners ate a 100kg cake after winning the Premier League this season  but when they and the players were all together, none of them shook his hand on his birthday. It shows they don't care about him.

"Of course Yaya is upset about this. If this happened to you as a journalist in the BBC and nobody shakes your hand, you will say bye-bye and go to work for somebody else. It is normal."

The agent of Carlos, Paulo Teixeira, told BBC World Service he did not know why Seluk had chosen to refer to the £800,000 Bugatti Veyron that the former Brazil defender received as a gift for his 38th birthday in 2011.

"I don't see why this is coming out," Teixeira said. "It's nothing to do with the contract of the player. Toure has got enough money to buy 10 or 20 Bugattis. This is about egos.

"If Yaya's agent comes out with this, it's because he understands his player, what his player needs and maybe he's trying to make the management of the club do something for the player. But I don't know why they're picking up on this, it's almost to the limit of being ridiculous."

Seluk is adamant he is not looking to negotiate an improved contract for Toure, saying: "No. Money is not important. He has enough money.

Play media

Toure receives birthday cake

"The most important thing is a human relationship and maybe this is his opportunity for Yaya to find that. If City don't respect him, then, easy, Yaya will leave. No problem.

"It is more important he plays for a club that respects him more than having a few thousand pounds added to his salary."

"I have spoken to him about leaving and we will see what happens, but, at the moment, Yaya is really upset."

It is not the first time either Toure - who named his second child after Seluk - or the agent have claimed the player does not get the respect he deserves.

In a recent interview  Toure said he felt he was not regarded as one of the best players in the world because he is from Africa.

"Proper recognition has only come from the fans," he said. "I don't want to be hard and I don't want to be negative, but I want to be honest."

The Tatum Talks: Solange (Beyonce's sister) Was Just Defending Her Big Sister

Guess we all saw this coming!

If this were a court of law, I would be tossed out on my hind parts with all of the speculation I am about to serve up in this post. Alas, this is no court, and I am no Matlock, so my hunches and guesstimations are all being duly noted now.  Please spare me your valid finger wagging until next week.

I have viewed the Knowles v. Carter crime scene footage several times in an attempt to figure out what sparked Solange’s outrage.  I initially thought it was an outburst due to her alleged issues with mental illness, but other factors have swayed me.   I have concluded that she was defending the honor of her sister, and I would like to submit the following evidence for your perusal:

Exhibit A)  Beyonce’s non-existent reaction speaks volumes:  I have seen that body language before.  It is of a woman who agrees with the person defending her, but maintains loyalty to the one that wronged her.  There was very little effort to disengage either one of them on her part, and when she did, it was a docile two-step “to the left, to the left” to keep the flailing limbs of her sister from landing any future blows.  It even seems Solange spends a few moments berating her sister before turning back to her primary focus of fury.  While many are assuming that “Bonnie” wasn’t standing up for her “Clyde,” I think it was the exact opposite.

Exhibit B) Jay Z’s self defense:  Why was Jay defending himself, all by himself?  If this was a  normal mental snap from Solange, I just feel the body language would have read differently.  I find it odd that there was little to no shock in everyone’s behavior, and I have unfortunately seen some physical meltdowns…they aren’t easily ignored, but this one was.  Guilt crosses my mind.  If you watch, he goes out of his way to help pick up her clutch and hand it back to her. (Insert side eye)  C’mon…if someone just came for your throat,  would you be in a rush to retrieve their Judith Leiber for them?  I think not.

Exhibit C)  ”The Walk of Shame”:  Look at that photo above.  ”Solangenator from the Elevator” pulled it back together for the cameras, but was clearly still sizzling over the situation.  Beyonce put on a happy face to keep selling the facade, and Jay Z actually tried to get in the same car with his aggressor which makes no sense to me.  The reactions of all involved parties just don’t add up to “poor lil sis didn’t take her meds.”

Something went awry that night, but without the audio, we will probably never know.   Therefore, it is my civic duty to stop caring the minute I finish this post.

below is a piece of the video footage from the famous elevator fight and Wendy Williams gives her view.

Mo Asumang: Confronting racism face-to-face

Mo Asumang is the daughter of a black Ghanaian father and a white German mother.

As a well-known TV presenter in Germany she became the target of racist extreme right-wingers and neo-Nazis, who based their attacks on Asumang's "non-Aryan" background.

So she decided to look into the racist ideology and to find out more about those who consider themselves "Aryan".

In her new documentary, The Aryans, she confronts racists, both in Germany and among the Ku Klux Klan in America.

Mo Asumang spoke to BBC News about her experiences making the film.

Fox News Sunday Mocks #BringBackOurGirls Hashtag as ‘Useless’ (Watch)

*A panel of Fox News contributors mocked the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag on Sunday, suggesting the Twitter phrase is a useless “exercise in self-esteem.”

The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls has gone viral worldwide sparking global awareness of the 276 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist group. Celebrities, politicians and world leaders have united behind the cause in what is being called “hashtag activism.”

But panelists in a conversation on “Fox News Sunday” questioned its effectiveness. It began with Chris Wallace wondering if the hashtag could actually “make progress” or was rather simply a tool to make people “feel better about themselves.”

“Exactly that,” George Will said. “It’s an exercise in self-esteem. I do not know how adults stand there, facing a camera, and say, ‘Bring back our girls.’ Are these barbarians in the wilds of Nigeria supposed to check their Twitter accounts and say, ‘Uh oh, Michelle Obama is very cross with us, we better change our behavior’?”

“It’s trending! It’s trending on Twitter!” Brit Hume then exclaimed, which garnered a chuckle from the rest of the panel.

Watch below.