Carla
Gugino
A native of Sarasota,
Florida, Carla Gugino spent most of her youth being shuttled by her
mother to various locations in California. At age 15, she and her
mom were living in San Diego when Gugino was convinced to try a modeling
career in New York City. She succeeded, but soon found the fast pace
of high fashion modeling too much for her and so moved to Los Angeles
where she took advice from her aunt and enrolled in acting classes
to study under drama coach Gene Bua. Gugino quickly found her calling
as an actress and she threw herself into her studies. As she was so
young, her mother insisted that Gugino study only six months in Los
Angeles and then return to San Diego.
She made guest
appearances on such mid-'80s shows as 'Alf', 'Falcon Crest', 'Who's
the Boss?' and 'Webster' before making her film debut as one of the
more spoiled members of 'Troop Beverly Hills' (1989). She played Winona
Ryder as a teen in 'Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael' (1990) before returning
to TV work.
Gugino had small
parts in made-for-TV movies before making her first big impression
as Nan St. George, one of the bumptious 19th century debutantes in
'The Buccaneers' (PBS, 1995), based on the Edith Wharton novel. It
was shortly after this that Gugino was cast as Michael J. Fox's live-in
girlfriend, a sexy but serious City Hall reporter, in Spin City (ABC,
1996). Despite earning good notices, Gugino left the show after 12
episodes as the series format was changed slightly to emphasize the
working life of Fox's character.
By this time,
Gugino was slowly gaining experience in feature films. After a supporting
role in the well-received coming-of-age drama 'This Boy's Life' (1993),
she had her first lead as Pauly Shore's farm-bred girlfriend, in the
less felicitous 'Son-in-Law' (1993). More small roles followed, such
as Sarah Jessica Parker's sister in the comedy 'Miami Rhapsody' (1995).
In the animal tale 'Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco' (1996),
she and sitcom co-star Fox provided the voices for two dogs engaged
in a romance. In 1996, she also had small supporting roles in Emilio
Estevez's Vietnam-era drama 'The War at Home', the marital comedy
'Wedding Bell Blues' and Nora Ephron's angelic fantasy Michael. In
1998 she played opposite Nicolas Cage in the conspiracy thriller,
'Snake Eyes', and then took on the role of co-producer in 'Judas Kiss',
which she also stars. She was a series regular on the critically acclaimed
CBS medical drama, Chicago Hope from 1999 to 2000.
Since then, she
has played a lead role in Wayne Wang's The Center of the World and
joined Antonio Banderas in the highly popular Spy Kids trilogy. In
2003, she landed the title role in the new ABC TV drama 'Karen Sisco'.
Did
You Know?
* Carla "starred" in Bon Jovi's rock video 'Always' in 1994.
* Carla and her mother lived in a teepee outside of Chicago at one
time. Carla said she lived off of the land and took baths in streams.
* Her popularity took to the rise in 1996 when she landed a spot on
the television series "Spin City."
* She was the model for L'Oreal hair products in 1999. She did a commercial.
Karen
Sisco
The
last few months on Star World have seen one annoying trailer after
another about this new show called Karen Sisco. After the first couple
of episodes aired on Wednesdays, maybe there is something to all that
fuss that can be forgivable.
It's
a sleek crime drama relying on intelligence rather than gunfights.
Gathering information to capture wanted criminals is the main theme
of the show. Karen Sisco is a character created by Steven Soderbergh
and was created into the movie 'Out of Sight' starring Jennifer Lopez.
It became a sort of cult classic even though it did not fare very
strongly at the box office. It was made into a series starring Carla
Gugino.
The
synopsis: Federal Marshal Karen Sisco (Carla Gugino) has been around
law enforcement all her life. Her father, Marshall Sisco (Robert Forster),
is a semi-retired private investigator who spends a lot of time playing
poker with ex-cons (who occasionally give Karen some valuable information.).
She always turns to her father for comfort and advice who worries
about her hunting dangerous criminals and dating strange men. She's
her daddy's girl as the trailers keep telling you. He has long accepted
it though, and helps her out in anyway he can. It is her relationship
with her father that is at the heart of these tales. Any other child
might consider him a meddler, since he's always on the phone quizzing
her with some dumb criminal-of-the-day story, or giving her advice
on how to handle cases, office politics and her love life. Plus, he's
usually right. It helps, too, that Marshall was a formidable law enforcement
agent in his own time, which led him to cross paths with any number
of criminals and convicts who sometimes become his and Karen's poker
buddies.
Gugino's
Karen is the most ladylike femme fatale on TV considering the likes
of Gennifer Garners in 'Alias' and everybody in 'Law & Order'
and 'Charmed'. She doesn't raise her voice if she doesn't have to,
and when chauvinism raises its ugly head on the job, she beats it
back with action instead of anger.
Her
quirks include that she loves sipping bourbon. Yes, 'drinking' sounds
like too much of an alcoholic personality. Her weapon of choice is
a slim Sig Sauer .38 strapped to her leg and she is an ace tracker
because she has everything about men figured out -- except how to
successfully have a relationship with one. It could have something
to do with her line of work. Her unusual job also plays havoc on her
love life. She almost always finds something sinister about her men
or they are turned off by the dangerous elements of her job. Once
her dates find out she's killed a few guys, one in "a hand-to-hand
type situation," they get a little squirrelly.
Karen
may always get her man, but she has a soft spot for every kind of
Mr. Wrong available: married men, sexist co-workers, con artists,
crooks of every shape and size who find themselves drawn to her and
quite often underestimate how tough she can be.
In
the premiere, Karen and her partner become involved in a botched attempt
to arrest a fugitive. The arrest ends with the suspect dead and Sisco
wounded by a bullet to her chest. Her memory of the event is limited,
and prevents her making a satisfactory report to her superiors.
The
show is very stylishly edited. It's made more so by the loving father-daughter
relationship that gels the different aspects of each episode. The
character is a bit more believable than your usual triple somersaulting
heroines. It's a series that you do not want to miss.
Compiled
by Gokhra
Maria
Bello
Birth Name: Maria Elana Bello
Height: 5' 5"
Nationality: American
Birth Date: April 18, 1967
Birth Place: Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA
Profession: actress
Education: Villanova University, Philadelphia (majored in Political
Science)
Relationship: Dan McDermott (DreamWorks executive)
Father: construction worker
Grand Mother: teacher
Son: Jackson Blue McDermott (born on March 5, 2001)
Fan mail:
Kim Kaplin C/O The Gersh Agency
PO Box 5617
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
USA
Maria
Elana Bello was born April 18, 1967 in Norristown ,PA. One of 4 children,
she has two brothers and a sister. Her father was employed in construction
and her mother, a teacher who was a former school nurse. Her heritage
is Polish/ Italian.
She attended Villanova University
in Philadelphia: majoring in Political Science. In her senior year
she took an acting class as an elective and fell in love with acting.
She moved to New York City with $300.00 in her pocket and worked as
a bartender, dog walker and cleaned houses.
Her extensive New York theatre credits
include "The Killer Inside Me", "Small town Gals With",
"Urban Planning", "Big Problems", "After
The Fact", "Young Frankenstein", "A Lie Of The
Mind", "His Pillow", "Out Of Gas On Lover's Leap",
"Big Talk", and "Talked Away".
Off
the stage, Maria is just as remarkable as she is on. Eager to share
the artistic experience with children, she co-founded the Dream Yard
Drama Project for Kids, a non-profit arts and education program for
children in Harlem. She also recently travelled to Africa, where she
spoke to children and gathered material for a book that will examine
the values of children from different cultures.
Maria currently resides in Los Angeles.
She practices mo Thai lethal kick-boxing, a Taiwanese form of street
fighting. The skill came in handy for her stint on "Mr. and Mrs.
Smith" where she performed her own stunts. She says she has become
completely hooked on karaoke after starring in Bruce Paltrow's karaoke
film DUETS (2000). She was also a bridesmaid at Andrea Bendewald's
wedding. The same wedding in which Jennifer Anniston was the maid
of honour.
Movie Review
Big Fish
Review by Gokhra
Starring:
Young Ed Bloom - Ewan McGregor. Old Ed Bloom - Albert Finney. Will
Bloom - Billy Crudup. Old Sandra Bloom - Jessica Lange. Young Sandra
Bloom - Alison Lohman. Jenny and the Witch - Helena Bonham Carter.
Amos Calloway - Danny DeVito
The story is based on a novel by Daniel
Wallace. It's built around the outrageous tales told by the main character
Ed whose journey from a small-town in Alabama takes him around the
world and back again. His tall tales are unbelievably delightfully
unbelievable. He talks about giants, a witch and conjoined twin singers
who have two heads sharing one body.
Albert
Finney plays Edward Bloom, an adventurous salesman, who charms almost
everyone he encounters except for his estranged son Will (Billy Crudup)
who is pretty much sick of his fathers fabricated stories. The blurred
lines between truth and tall tales have left Will doubting everything
about his pop. Ed's tall tales are silly at times but become more
heart-stirring as they're told for the last time. You see, Ed is dying
and his wife Sandra (Jessica Lange) is trying to reunite father and
son.
The
movie takes you through Ed's life as a young man through almost dreamlike
sequences. Young Ed played by Ewan McGregor, starts off from the little
town of Ashton. He takes off with the local giant for a circus run
by Danny DeVito. It takes into account the sweet courtship of Sandra
the younger persona played out by (Alison Lohman). There is a stint
with a woman who happens to be something of a great love and also
a witch. He also hooks up with bank robber Steve Buscemi and also
serves in army duty in Asia where he encounters two headed, single-bodied
Siamese twin entertainers Ping and Jing.
The
movie jumps back and forth a lot between the past and the present.
As the movie progresses the son starts to find that the stories are
forgivable and even enjoyable.
The main theme of the movie is the reunion between father and son.
It is a definite tear jerker in the likes of Forrest Gump. Beautifully
told, it's a great movie to immerse yourself in.
Strange
Martian Rock
This
color image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic
camera shows a flaky rock called Mimi, center, in this image released
by NASA Friday, Feb. 13, 2004. Mimi's flaky appearance leads scientists
to a number of hypotheses. Mimi could have been subjected to pressure
either through burial or impact, or may have once been a dune that
was cemented into flaky layers, a process that sometimes involves
the action of water, according to NASA officials.
--(NASA)
Robot
Scientist as Effective as Humns at Lab Work
Grad
students often feel like drones, doing grunt laboratory work for a
pittance. Findings published today in the journal Nature probably
won't make them feel much better about their jobs. Scientists report
that they have developed a robot that can formulate hypotheses, design
experiments to test them and analyze the results. What is more, it
performs just as well as real grad students and spends less money.
Ross D. King from
the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and his colleagues designed
their Robot Scientist using existing technology and two new software
programs that they wrote. The team then assigned the robot the task
of determining the function of specific genes in the well-understood
yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (commonly known as brewer's yeast).
Robot Scientist, armed with preloaded information about yeast biochemistry
and biological pathways, first generated hypotheses regarding possible
functions and then ran a variety of experiments. When the real scientists
compared the results obtained by their robot student to those achieved
by actual graduate students, they didn't see any significant differences.
Most importantly, because Robot Scientist ran fewer experiments, its
overall costs were lower than those of its human counterparts.
"This
research is very exciting as we have given the robot--under our supervision--the
ability to design the experiments and interpret the data for us,"
King says. "There is increasing need for automation in the biological
sciences, and although the problems we set for the robot were relatively
simple, we have shown that it could be used to help solve real-world
problems." Of course, the team notes that Robot Scientists will
never fully replace grad studentsor their professorsbut they could
provide human scientists with ample time to "make the high-level
creative leaps at which they excel.”
Air
Flo Mouse (Nyko)
Nyko
named the Air Flo for the
way it cools your hand; a built-in
fan blows through vents on the
mouse's surface. You can't blame
sweaty palms anymore when you
miss that victorious kill shot in
Counter-Strike.
Comet
Chase: Not a Fiction
Computer
generated image shows Rosetta, the billion-dollar comet-chasing-spacecraft.
Rosette is due to be launched on February 26 2004 from the European
Space Agency's space base in Kourou, French Guiana, on a 10-year mission
to chase the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and land a laboratory probe
on its surface.
AFP
PHOTO / CNES/ESA
