3 MARCH 2005.-GIBSON AND THE TREASURE ISLAND
Mago and Gibson´s grandchildren in 2026
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Gibson and his family visited Mago (South Pacific) , last December and they thought that they would be happy as a lark in this wonderful island for ever and ever., so Mel decided to buy it.
A japanese company is the actual proprietor of this beautiful exotic place but its legitimate owners are the Yavusa Vuaniivi, who have been trying to recover their ancestors´ land since 1900. They have been collecting money for the purchase of the island to the japanese company so they think that Mel Gibson is an intruder.
If the famous actor doesn´t change his mind, the two 'contenders' (Gibson´s lawyers versus Yavusa Vuaniivi) will be soon engaged in a legal battle over the ownership of the land.
If you´re interested to know whether: (question-1) Mago will be renamed 'Gibsonland', (question-2) whether Gibson´s grandchildren will be happy for ever and ever in Mago beaches, WAIT AND SEE……
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2 MARCH 2005.- ZACK SINCLAIR, CHIQUIHUNDREDTHOUSAND CHAPTER
A drifter accused of stalking Mel Gibson plans to serve as his own lawyer in his upcoming trial. Zack Sinclair, who was arrested for allegedly violating an order to stay away from Gibson, announced that he will be representing himself as jury selection began on Monday in what is expected to be a six-day trial. Gibson is listed as one of 15 prosecution witnesses who could be called to testify. Sinclair was arrested in September for stalking the actor-director.
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The jury, one of the witnesses and Zack´s hand
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4 MARCH 2005.- SINCLAIR, AGAIN
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson spent his day in court yesterday suggesting his 34-year-old alleged stalker seek psychiatric help - and the homeless man's parents agree with the movie mogul. The actor/director went head-to-head with Zack Sinclair in his ongoing battle to keep the Idaho man away from himself and his family. Arriving at the Van Nuys, California, courthouse surrounded by security, Gibson took the stand, where he was quizzed by Sinclair, who is representing himself in the trial. Gibson told the court, "I think he needs some help," while answering his accused's questions. Outside the courthouse, Sinclair's mother, Connie Sinclair-Swope, agreed with Gibson. She said, "We all hope and pray for his recovery and that he gets some professional help." Jurors also heard extracts from letters Sinclair had written to Gibson before showing up at his family's Malibu, California, compound insisting the movie-maker pray with him. In one letter, Sinclair insisted he was sent to track down Gibson by God, claiming, "God could have chosen someone else to send to you but he chose me." The trial continues
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9 MARCH 2005.- THE VERDICT:
Zack Sinclair was found guilty Friday of felony stalking. It took the six-woman, six-man jury less than three hours to convict 34-year-old Zack Sinclair.
Sinclair, who represented himself in the four-day trial but didn't mount a defense, now faces between 16 months and three years in a state prison. Superior Court Judge John S. Fisher said Sinclair would likely be examined by a psychiatrist to determine whether he is fit for prison. Sinclair is due back in court Mar. 10.
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Gibson himself took the stand Thursday to recount Sinclair's repeated attempts to contact the celebrity at his Malibu home and his church, the Holy Family Chapel.
"He showed unusual persistence...This young man doesn't appear to know his boundaries," said Gibson. "I think he needs some help.
"He worries my wife and other people around me and my family."
Sinclair, who once spent a stint in an Idaho state psychiatric facility, rarely spoke during the trial He refused to cross-examine Gibson or present a closing argument. He made just a brief statement during his opening remarks Wednesday, telling jurors, "I would just admonish you to vote your conscience."
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9 MARCH 2005.- YAVUSA VUANIIVI
The Yavusa Vuaniivi tribe in Fiji are raising funds for a legal challenge to the sale of Mago.
"Our island was sold for 2,000 coconut plants," said Timoci Waqalevu, head of an island development committee. "Stories told by our forefathers are that they were forced to leave at gunpoint."
The island is being sold by a Japanese hotel chain through Colliers International.
There are three islands with an area of eight square miles. The largest has a population of 40.
Colliers claims that a cotton planter bought Mago and, after islanders adopted Christianity, removed them in the mid-19th century. But Mr Waqalevu said that those who stayed were murdered.
"There is still evidence of those who refused to leave and were killed," he told the Fiji Times. "There is a dug-out hole where their skeletons remain."
Fijian leaders assured the original Magoans that the island was being leased, not sold. "But no one was educated then or bothered to check the records," he said.
Their descendants now live on neighbouring Namalata. But tensions are rising as limited fishing resources are shared by a growing population with no room for more housing. "We are sharing the fishing grounds and soon it will not be able to cater for the demand from the two villages," Mr Waqalevu said.
"Our village is overcrowded because there is only a small space where we can build homes as 90 per cent of the island is rocky. We cannot move up to higher places as that is where we farm. It is sad, we are Fijians with no land."
The Fijian Government helps dispossessed islanders to buy back ancestral land. Since 2003, 128 properties have been bought back for $1.67 million (£867,400). But that sum is eclipsed by Mago's $15 million (£7.8million) asking price.
Laisenia Qarase, the Prime Minister of Fiji, said the sale was a matter for the owner "who has found a willing buyer". He said: "The Government cannot do anything because it is a freehold property."
Mr Gibson has made no public comment.
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9 MARCH 2005.- UNDER AND ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Warner Bros. Pictures is negotiating with Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, King Arthur) to direct Mel Gibson in his next film titled Under and Alone, reports Variety. The project is being prepped by Icon partners Gibson and Bruce Davey.
Written by Ned Zeman and Daniel Barnz, who developed it with Gibson, Under and Alone is based on the true story of Vietnam veteran William Queen. He channeled his Special Forces training into undercover work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and became a full-fledged member of the San Fernando chapter of the Mongols motorcycle gang.
The movie is expected to shoot this summer. It will mark Gibson's first major role since M. Night Shyamalan's Signs in 2002. Though he had a small role in The Singing Detective, Gibson took time off from acting to direct The Passion of The Christ.
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Mel Gibson, thinking
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16 MARCH 2005.-MEL GIBSON SENT $500 CHECKS
Mel Gibson's Icon Productions has sent $500 checks to hundreds of church groups to reimburse them for a "worship price" that it says was charged by the parent company of Regal Theaters for prescreenings of The Passion of the Christ last year, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Monday). The newspaper said that the charge was discovered in the course of a recently settled lawsuit that Icon had filed against Regal last year over profits from the movie. Icon included this message with the checks: "During our dispute with Regal, it came to our attention that your congregation, and others, were charged an additional administrative fee on top of the private screening ticket prices -- that Regal referred to internally as a 'worship price.' ... Icon was shocked and disappointed that this additional fee (which was never reported to us) was being charged to faith-based organizations." Regal said that it commonly charges an administrative fee for private screenings.
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16 MARCH 2005.-MEL GIBSON´S OPINION ABOUT OSCARS
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"My film, The Passion of the Christ, is not right-wing or political, but the academy members made it so. The whole notion of these awards ceremonies is ludicrous. ... It's really a marketing exercise….I knew exactly what was going to happen. I didn't try to market the film. People are spending 15 or 20 million dollars to market their films. That's a lot of money for a little gold statue." Mel Gibson told an interviewer on the Catholic cable channel EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) last week
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16 MARCH 2005.- A LIGHT VERSION OF THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
Mel Gibson has been busy working on a remixed version of The Passion of the Christ titled Passion: Recut, which opened in theaters Friday.
The new version is minus some of the more blood-soaked crucifixion scenes in a play to reach those who were turned off by the gore of the original but still wanted to see it.
"What came up again and again was that a lot of people were turned away because of the brutality in the film and were afraid to watch," Gibson told the Christian Broadcasting Network. "So I thought if I softened it up a bit, I could have a wider audience."
Gibson cut six minutes of graphic violence in hopes of getting a PG-13 rating. But the MPAA decided the film was bloody enough to warrant an R, leading Gibson to release the film sans rating. That means it won't be disseminated as widely as he hoped, since many theaters have policies against screening unrated films.
Nevertheless with Easter just weeks away, the blockbuster will likely still do a fair amount of business
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16 MARC 2005.- ZACK´S FUTURE
A Los Angeles judge has ordered Zack Sinclair, the 34-year-old drifter found guilty last week of stalking the The Passion of the Christ mastermind, to undergo a psychiatric examination before sentencing.
Lead prosecutor Deputy District Attorney Debra Archuleta says that the 90-day diagnostic evaluation given by the state Department of Correction will be used by Judge John S. Fisher as a guide in determining proper punishment.
"Sinclair will be evaluated, diagnosed and treated, and he will be returned to the court for sentencing on June 20," Archuleta said Friday, noting that the mental examination does not take the place of the sentence itself, nor is it a competency test. "It's a tool that's used to help in sentencing."
"We're looking for the maximum period of hospitalization, given his history," said Archuleta.
Gibson, meanwhile, did not have any immediate comment on Sinclair being sent for psychiatric evaluation.
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20 MARZO 2005.- STEALING FROM ANGELS
Mel Gibson has purchased the rights from Brian Dullaghan's book, Stealing From Angels to make a 2006 film, centered on the Fatima story.
The Vatican is in a flap about the upcoming Stealing From Angels with Vatican City posting a website message warning the faithful that all claims made by the book are rubbish.
Stealing From Angels is a work of fiction. The film will not only immortalize on screen the life of the children of Fatima, but that of the beloved ailing Pope John Paul II, who survived a 1981 attempt on his life and openly credits the Fatima Madonna for his survival.
Mel Gibson is a very religious man. He often talked to the media about his beliefs that mankind was created for the purpose of the afterlife. "This life is just a testing ground. It's not a popular view, I know. People will…say that I'm a sort of mindless robot who's using religion as a crutch to get through life. Well, I'm not a mindless robot, but I am using (religion) as a crutch to get through life."
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Gibson also believes "Tougher times make you stronger. It's true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Look at the experiences that some people have been through. Horrendous experiences, and if they come out the other side, they are different. They've changed, and in many ways they've had to adapt in ways that most of us haven't begun to comprehend about the nature of the human spirit and what you're capable of enduring."
The famous actor/director/producer confesses to be a big believer in pre-ordination "I am a big believer in pre-ordination, I don't think there's a lot of happy coincidence. I think it appears to be that way and to us it is.
"But I don't think we are calling the shots. You are going to end up where you're going to end up."
Gibson was reported to have bought the rights to Stealing From Angels only 10 days after the passing of Fatima's Sister Lucia, a death marking the end of an era that began in 1917.
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