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Men in Black 3 Rescues Coney Island’s Oldest Building We’re singing “Hooray for Hollywood, that phony super Coney Hollywood”! Not only is Men in Black 3 filming in Coney from May 2 through 6, they’ve leased Coney Island’s oldest building, the Grashorn, from Thor Equities and rescued it from oblivion. A construction crew is already fixing up the gutted interior of the building located at Surf and Jones Walk to use as their location headquarters. Men In Black 3 stars Will Smith as Agent J traveling back in time to 1969 to stop a villain from killing a young Agent K played by Josh Brolin. According to the storyline, if the killing were carried out in the past, it would result in the destruction of Earth in the present. The production company is giving some of the buildings on Surf Avenue, Jones Walk and the Bowery a 1960′s look, including retro signage. At least one concessionaire on the Walk has plans to keep the look through the summer. Filming will also take place on the Boardwalk and in Wonder Wheel Park. Jimmy, the Balloon Dart operator on the Bowery, is among the Coney Islanders who have been cast as extras. No word yet on whether Target the World-Famous Coney Arcade Cat has been hired for a walk-on. There was a casting call last week for “1969 New Yorkers (hippies, beatnik poets, ’60s celebrity look-a-likes, bikers, models, etc…), people who are less than 4′10 or more than 6′5, plus-sized people, and men and women with character faces.” Last year, the website joblo reported that ’60s era celebrities like Yoko Ono, Jimi Hendrix and Andy Warhol would appear in the film as aliens. The script has gone through a lot of changes. Filmed in 3-D, Men in Black 3 is set to be released on May 25, 2012. As for the Grashorn, the fact that it’s getting rehabbed by the movie company has the Coney Island Rumor Mill saying it will be rented out afterward to game concessionaires. In Coney Island: Lost and Found, historian Charles Denson writes that the building at 1104 Surf dates back to the 1880’s and the Grashorn hardware store served Coney Island’s amusement businesses for more than 60 years: “The clapboard façade, dormers, cast iron resting, chimneys and fish-scale shingles were removed when the building was renovated in the 1980s but the mansard roof retains its shape.” Here’s a photo of the way the building looked in 1969. Will it look like this again when Men in Black 3 travels back in time next month? Over the past two years, the Grashorn Building has fallen victim to squatters, blight and burst water pipes. Sideshow operator John Strong as well as two different arcade owners tried but failed to lease the space from Thor. The building remained shuttered and vacant during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. In January, one of Thor Equities’ omnipresent “Stores for Lease” banners went up on the Grashorn Building. http://amusingthezillion.com/2011/04/10/men-in-black-3-rescues-coney-islands-oldest-building/

A video recorded by some Spanish fans. Lucky people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujP_0MefUY8

Will Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit It (Acapella) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ntyO9SM9g

Great to see you there, Tim!

http://theybf.com/2011/04/07/candids-nene-leakes-son-brent-have-miami-vacay-time-will-smith-gets-to-work?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YoungBlackAndFabulous+%28Young%2C+Black%2C+and+Fabulous%29

http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Will+Smith http://www.accidentalsexiness.com/2011/04/07/smith-reaches-fans-shooting-men-black-iii/ http://celebrity-gossip.net/will-smith/will-smith-back-action-men-black-iii-495720

More pics here! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1374593/Men-In-Black-3-Will-Smith-suit-shoot-installment.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Willow Smith: 'Elle' Women in Music! On her full length album: “It’s going to be a party beat. I think you’re gonna like it!” Clothes and shoes, custom-made for Smith. http://www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Movies-TV-Music-Books/Gold-Dust-Women/%28imageIndex%29/4/%28play%29/false

Actor Will Smith is seen working on the set of the movie 'Men In Black 3' on location in midtown Manhattan on April 7, 2011 in New York City. http://www.gettyimages.es/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=es&assetType=image&ebd=2011-04-06&p=will+smith

'Black' for more as third installment of sci-fi blockbuster will film again in Queens Here come the Men in Black - to film in Queens. The popular franchise starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as galaxy-defending secret agents is shooting its third installment at Kaufman Astoria Studios. Sony, which is making "Men in Black III," chose the 36th St. complex because of its "tremendously talented New York-based crews and the first-rate facility," said movie publicist Frances Fiore. Studio spokeswoman Vanessa Morin hailed the "terrific project" for creating production jobs. It's a homecoming of sorts for the sci-fi action comedy brand, which has embraced the borough. The original 1997 flick famously re-created two local landmarks, the New York State Pavilion and Unisphere, for the setting of its climactic scene. The main characters, Agent J (Smith) and Agent K (Jones), also drove upside down on the ceiling of the Midtown Tunnel. That blockbuster grossed $587 million worldwide and won rave reviews. But public interest since seems to have waned. A 2002 sequel on the alien-regulating group earned far less than the original at about $442 million worldwide, and most critics panned the plot. "Men in Black III" isn't off to a great start, either. Haggling over the movie script delayed filming for a month in the fall, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Then Sony began shooting in November with only one act completed. Rumors are swirling that Smith doesn't like the writing, and director Barry Sonnenfeld keeps clashing with producer Walter Parkes. Despite those reports, Fiore insisted that work on the threequel is "proceeding smoothly." "The director and the actors are friends who have made many movies together," she said. "The production has been going great." It's unknown whether "Men in Black III" will include as many cameos by prominent New York sites as the original. But the new story line appears to bode well for another Queens appearance. In the 1997 flick, a spaceship flies over a Mets game at Shea Stadium. The new film calls for Agent J to go back in time to 1969 - the year the Mets won their first World Series. Preservationists who slam the city for neglecting the New York State Pavilion hope the film will revisit the site and increase appreciation of the 1964 World's Fair. "I would love it," said John Piro, 62, of Westbury, L.I. "The more exposure we get, the better it is." http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2011/04/07/2011-04-07_black_for_more_sequel_to_scifi_blockbuster_will_film_in_borough.html?r=entertainment

Karate Kid Producer Jerry Weintraub Jerry Weintraub talks about the remake of his classic movie Karate Kid with Valder and his discuss with Will Smith to remake the movie. ----- I enjoyed this interview.

Q&A: Jada Pinkett Smith chats 'HawthoRNe'! Monday, April 4 2011, 15:05 BST By Catriona Wightman, TV Reporter Jada Pinkett Smith is a very busy woman. The actress doesn't just star in the medical drama HawthoRNe, but she executive produces it as well. And of course she spends a lot of time with her rather famous family - Will, Jaden and Willow. HawthoRNe's premiering in the UK on brand new channel Sony Entertainment Television this week, so we popped along to the launch where Jada told reporters about the show, her character Christina, working with Will and looking after her children... What attracted you to HawthoRNe? "One of the reasons why I decided to participate in HawthoRNe was I really wanted the opportunity to show how ordinary people do extraordinary things. Even when they come into institutions like [the show's hospital] Trinity and have their own problems, their own obstacles to deal with, at the end of the day when we see people in need we all come together and do our best." Christina's quite strict with her daughter - are you a strict mother? "No! I really don't have that type of relationship with my children. The mother-daughter dynamic in HawthoRNe has pieces that I've taken from the dynamic that my mother and I had. She was a nurse as well and she was a single parent. I must say, I was a pretty difficult teenager - more so than the daughter in HawthoRNe! So a lot of the situations and circumstances are based on real life with my mother and I, and she was very much like that - 'do as I say'." So what is your relationship with your children like? "I really look at children as being little people and not necessarily things or people to control. I think it's important that proper parenting is helping kids develop to become individuals, because it's not our job to make them think how we think or do the things that we would do. It's about finding out who they are and enhancing their individuality but at the same token creating boundaries that keep them safe." Willow was getting style tips from Lady GaGa recently - how do you feel about that? And do you get any tips from Willow? "She is blazing. It's funny, I love that she has her affinity for Lady GaGa. Lady GaGa has a lot of affinity for Willow, and so she has her relationships that I think are very good for her development. She goes in my closet and steals all my clothes. It's to the point now where she can wear my pants and my jackets and then she tells me what things I need to get rid of that are old so I pretty much listen to that. She says, 'You should let me take this and then I can cut it up and do something with it'. So she pretty much takes my stuff and recreates for her. She doesn't really do anything for me!" Do you worry that she's growing up too quickly? "It's very interesting because I don't think of it as being an adult mentality. I think that's one of the things we have to start being careful of - what is childlike thinking and what adult thinking is, especially when it comes to being creative. She's just simply being creative." Are you similar to Christina? "When I believe in something, I'm very passionate. I don't take no for an answer. And when it comes to the team that I work with, I fight very hard for my group. I try to help people win. I hope I'm not as controlling as Christina! I have worked on that a lot." Can you relate to Christina, who struggles to balance work and family? "I think with Christina her biggest issue is that she's afraid of intimacy, so you have a woman who tries to connect to her patients in a more intimate manner than she's comfortable with connecting to people actually very close to her, like her daughter. She's had a lot of trauma in her life, which will be revealed much later and is why Christina has a very difficult time creating substantial relationships with the people who are closest to her. The difference with me and Christina is I'm very clear what my priorities are. Cristina's priorities are pretty much out of balance. My priority is my family and when you're very clear about what your priorities are, when the hard times come you already know the answer - there's no struggle." How do you manage being both the star and the executive producer of the show? "It's really difficult. I don't know that I'd ever do it again! I think I'd like to be just one or the other. As an executive producer you have to deal with a lot of the admin of the show... As an actor you really just get to focus on your role. So it's very difficult in balancing it, juggling those two hats and staying creative. At the same time, sometimes you have to put the suit on and figure out what's best for the show... I actually love them both... It's just difficult doing them both at the same time." HawthoRNe's been handed a third season, hasn't it? "What a blessing. It truly is a blessing, especially being an African American woman, because there aren't really any African american women on television with their own shows." Do you feel a responsibility to present ethnic minorities on TV? "In our second season we went really strong with it. I just want to have a television show that represents the world... That you could watch this show and no matter who you are - male, female, whatever nationality, whatever economic background - you feel like you're in the mix of this world somewhere. A lot of times when you watch TV it's one world of some kind. And hospitals are that way - it's a mishmash of everyone and everything - so I wanted this to represent that." You've described your husband Will as a 'ghost producer' before, haven't you? "Yes, my husband is a big time ghost producer! I had our head writer here just getting the first three episodes of HawthoRNe tight and [Will] just called me yesterday and he was like, 'OK, I need the head writer to fly to New York by Thursday because I have some more notes on the upcoming episodes, I've got the outlines'. He is a master structuralist as far as story is concerned - there's no-one better in the business than him in my opinion. He understands the pulse of what people want to see, how to create the maximum emotional impact. Starting last year he was very, very involved in HawthoRNe, so he's been my knight in shining armour." Are you good at working together? "Oh, it gets sticky! It's not easy working with your husband, I'll be straight up about that. But when we work together we always get great product. It's not easy in the process and as we go along it gets easier, but yeah, it gets a little sticky." How have nurses reacted to the show? "My mother's a nurse and she wrote me a five-page email on all the things that she felt needed to be adjusted in the first year! So I actually got new medical advisers for the second year, so I knew we had at least done our job as far as all the details of being a nurse. I went to visit a few hospitals and we had a lot of nurses that were very happy because they felt like they were sexualised a lot in television programmes and they weren't taken seriously and they felt like HawthoRNe represents them in a different way, so I was happy about that." Did you want to include the politics of healthcare in the show? "We're taking it a little further in the third season because that is one of the primary issues in the States right now. I felt like it didn't make sense to have a medical programme and not deal with those issues and have audience members who are watching it relating to what is happening with people in the medical industry every day. It's really sad and this year we're diving into it a bit more heavily." So will Cristina be coming under more pressure in the third season? "Cristina in the third season is going to be a heck of a ride! She's got a lot on her plate personally and professionally. We pull a lot of true life stories this year that we've actually heard that we found really represented the message that we were trying to get across this year. We've got some very, very strong issues to deal with." HawthoRne begins on Thursday at 8pm on Sony Entertainment Television. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/tubetalk/a312297/qa-jada-pinkett-smith-chats-hawthorne.html

Well, Trey "usually" doesn't go to these events, so it's not strange he wasn't there. And Jada.. I think she wasn't there either since there's no trace of her in these videos and pictures. Wonder where she was.

Some vids from the premiere.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qua3E4d6oo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTwNxSTY5w

MSN Exclusive Interview - Willow Smith Watch MSN's Lucy Mapstone chat to rising pop sensation Willow Smith. http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/msn-exclusive-interview-willow-smith/2tyrprw5?from=truveo

Don't think this interview has been posted before.. Willow Smith Dishes on Shooting '21st Century Girl' Willow Smith is a "21st Century Girl" and she explains what it was like to film her new music video for the song. Willow's video for "21st Century Girl," her follow-up to her 2010 hit "Whip My Hair," is out today, and she's explaining what the title means: "To be a 21st century girl means that you're practicing at what you want to do, and that you're being adventurous, and you're being confident, and you're being yourself." She says of the video, "I want people to feel the emotions that I did when I was recording the songs," adding that she hopes people pick up her music's positive message. And that positivity spreads to her recollection of shooting the video. Her favorite part? "Being around friends and family," she tells ET, explaining, "I'm 10 years old and I can't do it alone." VIDEO! http://www.etonline.com/music/108503_Willow_Smith_Dishes_on_Shooting_21st_Century_Girl/index.html

Jaden Smith accepting his award! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FtZ5EIep-s

Willow Smith: KCA 2011 Performance! http://globalgrind.com/hip-hop-culture/willow-jaden-smith-rock-out-kids-choice-awards-photos-video

Some pics of Will at the KCA's: http://www.gettyimages.es/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=es&assetType=image&ebd=2011-04-02&p=will+smith Aww.. http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8059/111471223.jpg

Singer Willow Smith and actor Jaden Smith arrive at Nickelodeon's 24th Annual Kids' Choice Awards at Galen Center on April 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, Pics! http://www.gettyimages.es/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=es&assetType=image&ebd=2011-04-02&p=willow+smith

I don't think 'Bad Boys 3' could be a risk since many people liked the second part (including myself). Michael Bay might not be the greatest director ever, but he sure knows how to make a good action movie. I can't say the same for Barry Sonnenfeld. This can be a flop just like 'Wild Wild West' or 'Men In Black II'. Let's hope not.

Funny guy Chris Rock talks about meeting Justin Bieber and wages a complaint against Will Smith on 'The Late Show':

More pix! http://www.fadedyouthblog.com/225046/will-smith-gets-some-fan-love-on-the-set-of-men-in-black-3