‘Fast & Furious’ Director: Production Will Go On After Paul Walker’s Death

The making of ‘Fast & Furious 7′ has hit a standstill as the cast and crew struggle to cope with Paul’s death, but in an interview on Dec. 6, the movie’s director assured fans that the project was NOT being abandoned.

It’s completely understandable that the making of Fast & Furious 7 was shut down in the wake of Paul Walker‘s sudden death. But if the entire movie were scrapped, it’d just add more negativity to Paul’s already tragic end. Thankfully, the movie’s director James Wan put on a strong face on Dec. 6 and affirmed that production will go on.

James Wan: ‘Fast & Furious 7′ Will Go On

James first reiterated that everyone involved with the Fast movies is just heartbroken by Paul’s passing. “They’re pretty sad and very somber, but we are dealing with it,” the director told TMZ.


Then, when James was asked if production on the upcoming movie would continue, he resolutely stated, “Yes,” multiple times.
He didn’t give any indication on how he and the producers and writers plan on dealing with Paul’s death in the movie, but it’s clear that their options are limited. Paul was in the middle of filming scenes when his life was tragically taken, so the makers of Fast could either write his death into the existing plot, or scrap the entire story and start fresh. Personally, we just hope they find a way to truly honor Paul in the movie.

‘Fast & Furious 7′ Production Halted

James’ positive show of solidarity comes just two days after Universal Pictures announced that production on Fast & Furious 7 was being put on hold. They made the announcement in a somber statement:

Right now, all of us at Universal are dedicated to providing support to Paul’s immediate family and our extended Fast & Furious family of cast, crew and filmmakers. At this time we feel it is our responsibility to shut down production on Fast & Furious 7 for a period of time so we can assess all options available to move forward with the franchise.

We can’t imagine the Fast movies without Paul, but scrapping the seventh installment wouldn’t be the right decision — it wouldn’t be keeping with Paul’s spirit and passion. If production does go on, at least the filmmakers will be able to make sure the franchise’s fans remember Paul in the right light.
What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Is it good that Fast & Furious 7 is still going to be made?

Bitcoin Prices Plunge After China Cracks Down on Currency

The price of bitcoin surged to $1,000 last month, but it dipped far below that mark just as quickly.
Baidu, China's largest search engine, announced this week that it would no longer accept the digital currency as a form of payment, triggering a steep drop in the price of bitcoin. The announcement, which was posted on the Baidu website, followed a decision from China's central bank to prohibit financial institutions in the country from processing or insuring bitcoin transactions.

Baidu’s website-acceleration platform decided to suspend Bitcoin payment acceptance from Friday, as recent large fluctuations in Bitcoin’s value makes it unable to safeguard users’ interests,” Baidu said in a statement on its website, translated via Bloomberg.
The price of bitcoin, which hit $1,000 for the first time at the end of November and peaked at $1,200 on some exchanges shortly after, has since plummeted to the low $700-range. Its fluctuations can be seen in the chart, below, from Blockchain.info, which aggregates prices across exchanges:
On BTC China, the country's largest bitcoin exchange that previously helped drive up the currency's price worldwide, the price of bitcoins dropped below $700 at one point, and is currently valued at around $775. The chart, below, from Bitcoincharts.com, shows the drop as measured in Chinese yuan.

9 Clever Comic Artists to Follow on Tumblr

Most casual Tumblr users view the site as a veritable goldmine of funny GIFs, memes and pictures of the Supernatural cast. What many don't realize is that Tumblr is also home to an extremely talented community of comic artists.
Tumblr's hassle-free sharing buttons and customizable templates make it a perfect place to start building a website for creative content like comics, and tons of cartoonists and illustrators have taken note.
"At first, I decided to post my comics on Tumblr simply because it was free," Safely Endangered artist Chris McCoy told Mashable. "But the kind messages and words of encouragement from users, and even other artists, are why I still post there."
If you're looking to browse through some great comics, or start one of your own, look no further than our list of great Tumblrs to follow. From the hilariously absurd to the thoughtfully resonating, these comics are some of the best the web has to offer. The images you see below are just a sampling of each comic — we strongly encourage that you view the blogs individually for more laughs.

1. Three Word Phrase

Image: Ryan Pequin Ryan Pequin, a storyboard artist for Cartoon Network's Regular Show, created and maintains this hilarious, offbeat Tumblr comic. His site features Tumblr celebrities like President Bird, and will lead new users to other great artists.

2. Twitter: The Comic

Image: Mike Rosenthal Twitter: The Comic is the artistic brainchild of comedian Mike Rosenthal. Rosenthal takes his content from the weird side of the Twitter tracks, creating hilarious, panelled illustrations from the tweets.

3. For Lack of a Better Comic

Image: Jacob Andrews In describing his creative process, creator Jacob Andrews says that he "haphazardly combines words and pictures until something remotely funny happens." Follow his comic and see that he's doing something right.

4. Zen Pencils

Image: Gavin Aung Than Taking famous, inspirational and thought provoking quotes from both history and present day, Zen Pencils creator Gavin Aung Than brings the words to life with extraordinary illustrations. The above image is only a small section of one of his comics, click the link to view Than's work in full.

5. Poorly Drawn Lines

Image: Reza Farazmand Often featuring the antics of cute animals, naive robots and French conservationist Jacques Cousteau, this comic by Reza Farazmand will hold you captive in front of your laptop for hours.

6. Safely Endangered

Image: Chris McCoy Pun-filled, simply illustrated and geniously written, Chris McCoy's Safely Endangered is a must follow for all Tumblr users with a sense of humor.

7. Time Trabble

Image: Michael Heller Parodying the outer edges of pop culture — think the Cheese Nips/ Cheez-Its war — you'll always be able to count on Michael Heller's comic, Time Trabble to deliver darkly hysterical comics to your dashboard.

8. Eat More Bikes

Image: Nathan Bulmer This art blog by Nathan Bulmer, who works on Nickelodeon's cartoon Sanjay and Craig, updates three times a week with irreverent, inventful comics.

9. UP and OUT

Jeremy Kaye, creator of UP and OUT, describes his comic as being "about how weird everything is." His mixture of cute illustrations with dry, dark humor is perfect for the Tumblr community.

NY's lead lawyer in case against Maurice Greenberg took free ride on his plane

Assistant Attorney General David Ellenhorn accepted a free ride from the Wall Street titan’s lawyer on Greenberg’s private plane in 2009, a source told the Daily News.The source said Ellenhorn did not report the gift or repay Greenberg, which could violate state ethics law.

NewYork State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who inherited the case against Wall Street tital Maurice Greenberg, said he is now seeking to ban the 88-year-old from working in the securities industry and serving as a director or officer of a public company.

Cliff Richard breaks a thousand hearts and calls time on 35 year calendar career

He says 2014 will be his last as there are only so many shapes you can pull with his body - but was quick to point out that he’s not giving up singing

Their cries of anguish were heard from living rooms all around the land.
Cliff Richard’s army of loyal fans have been buying his annual calendar for 35 years now.
So he shocked them to the core by revealing that the 2014 edition will be his last. Well, those of them still up to watch the Graham Norton Show, that is.
“I am not going to do any more,” said the 73-year-old star.
“How many shapes can I pull with this body? It’s a pressure.”
He was quick to point out that he’s not giving up singing and when told that his calendar was only beaten by One Direction in this year’s sales charts he mused: “I wonder what they think that a 73-year-old is at No 2?”
Since 1979, the Cliff calendar has been a faithful record of Cliff’s changing hairstyles and fashions through the decades.
The man with 14 No?1s and 100 albums has stayed near the top of the calendar charts while less enduring stars came and went – it’s just a pity there were no such celebrity keepsakes when he had his very first hit in 1958.
Today we pay tribute to the best of Cliff’s calendars including the final 2014 edition.

Cast Your Vote on 2014 World Cup Group Winners

The World Cup draw is officially set.
Earlier today, the 32 teams who will travel to Brazil in July to compete in the 2014 World Cup were split into eight groups of four teams each. The teams will start the tournament by playing each team in their respective group once, and the top two teams from each group advance to the Round of 16, when single-elimination play begins.
There has been plenty of buzz in the world football community surrounding the group draw, as the initial grouping can often play a pivotal role in determining who advances in the tournament. Each country's fans dread being placed in a "group of death," a term used to describe a group with three of more of the world's strongest teams heading into the tournament.