The 168 Turnaround: Less Is More…Right?

A&E NEWS: July 24 – July 30, 2011

CGI NIPPLES: In the past twenty years, CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) has been a dominant presence in the movie business. From Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park to Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Green Lantern, there’s been no escaping the rampant use of computer trickery. But aliens, dinosaurs, and killer robots aren’t the only ones getting the CGI treatment. You can now add Olivia Wilde’s nipples to the list. That’s right—her nipples. Apparently, Wilde (Tron Legacy, Cowboys and Aliens) was wearing pasties while filming a love scene with Ryan Reynolds for the upcoming film The Change-Up. The filmmakers thought the pasties would be hidden by Reynolds’ body, but realized in post-production that they were, in fact, quite visible. And so Wilde’s pasties have been replaced by CGI nipples. According to the actress, she was given a choice of seven possible nipple designs, of which she chose one that was “most like the original.” And that, my friends, is Hollywood for you.

BATTLESHIP: Growing up, I didn’t play many board games. As much as my parents would try, I refused to play Monopoly, The Game of Life, Risk, and so on. There were exceptions, of course, chief among them being Battleship, Hasbro’s naval combat game. For whatever reason, that particular game was a lot of fun for me—maybe it was the implied violence. Now, however, the classic game is hitting the big screen, thanks to director Peter Berg (Hancock). No, you didn’t read wrong: Hasbro’s Battleship has been turned into a big budget movie starring Liam Neeson and Taylor Kitsch…oh, and Rihanna. And did I mention it’s an alien movie? Yeah—life is hilarious. The film’s first trailer hit the net this week. You can view it below:

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MEAT MURDER: Sometimes it’s best to just keep your mouth shut. Take, for example, Smiths frontman and animal activist Morrissey (a.k.a. Steven Patrick Morrissey) who, while on stage in Poland, compared the recent shootings in Norway to the killing of animals for fast food consumption. Morrissey later expanded on the comment, saying, “If you quite rightly feel horrified at the Norway killings, then it surely naturally follows that you feel horror at the murder of any innocent being. You cannot ignore animal suffering simply because animals ‘are not us.’”  (For more info, click here.) Granted, he has a point…but it’s a stupid one, and poorly conveyed. I don’t doubt that animals suffer and are mistreated on a regular basis in the meat industry; that does not, however, justify using recent tragedy as a soapbox to stand upon and pontificate from.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Kid Goes Insane At Karate Competition
It is because of this kind of kid that I left teaching—there’s just no escaping his fury.

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The 168 Turnaround is a week-in-review column, a place for me to reflect on the week’s most interesting pop culture news items.  If it mattered to me or I think it might matter to you, then it will be here.  If I’ve overlooked an important news item, or if you have a comment or question, please leave a response below.  Thank you for reading.