Wavii on Friday confirmed earlier rumors that it has been acquired by Google.

On its website Wavii acknowledged the buyout and revealed that it would be shutting down its own natural-language processing projects in order to focus on the same type of technology with the team at Google.

Wavii uses reports to develop newsfeed summaries via natural language processing. The company’s technology is able to use summary technology to determine the important parts of a story to display.

The tech firm technology in many ways mimics what Yahoo acquisition Summly accomplishes. Last month Yahoo paid $30 million to acquire Summly. It is believed that Google paid about the same price for its acquisition of Wavii. According to one report Google engaged in a bidding war with Apple when attempting to purchase the natural language processor.

The Wavii team is expected to help its technology integrate with Google News, Google Now, and various other applications.

Google was attempting to use Facebook social graph results for its news stories. This new acquisition could allow the company to focus on the same type of social graph output while potentially shifting towards Google+ integration.

It is believed  that the staff from Wavii will make the move from Seattle to the Bay Area where they will work with Google’s Knowledge Graph division.

Do you think Wavii will help Google further its efforts towards perfecting its own natural language processing algorithms?

Google Acquires Wavii, Shuts Down Natural Language Processing Platform is a post from: The Inquisitr

Gainesville, FL – A young man was arrested Saturday after he allegedly assaulted a police officer after asking to have his penis cut off. In case you haven’t figured it out, drug use is a factor in this story.

Michael Silecchia, a 19-year-old student at the University of Florida, claimed to be on LSD when he stripped nude and asked cops not to cut his penis off. He then apparently changed his mind, demanding that police cut his penis off after all.

Law enforcement officials showed up to Silecchia’s apartment complex in the middle of the night after hearing reports of a suspicious person. They found Silecchia wandering around, and he started stripping when they approached him.

Silecchia also reportedly told police on the scene that he was God. He cried ”Don’t cut my penis off” but then said, “Cut my penis off.” Officers were certain to note the difference in the police report.

He also apparently admitted to taking LSD, and refused to get dressed when commanded by officers. He threw a punch at one of the police, striking an officer in the head. They used a stun gun on him six times before giving up because it had no apparent effect.

Police were ultimately able to subdue Silecchia, and took him to a local hospital for medical evaluation. When he arrived, he also reportedly spit on one of the employees. He was treated for three days and then booked into jail on Monday for resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.

Curiously, there was no mention as to what police decided to do about his penis.

[Image via: nito, Shutterstock.com]

Man Drops Acid, Demands Cops Cut Off His Penis is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Walking Dead has gone back to The Wire in adding new cast member Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.

The Wrap broke the news on Friday, citing “an individual with knowledge of the casting.” According to said individual, the former D’Angelo Barksdale from HBO’s critically acclaimed hit show will play Bob.

If you’re familiar with the comic book, then you know Bob Stookey is a former Army medic suffering from alcoholism, who joins the Woodbury settlement.

Gilliard has stayed busy since leaving The Wire behind in 2003.

His post-Barksdale career has resulted in six feature films and 14 television series. Work on the small screen includes Army Wives, Southland, Lie to Me, Detroit 1-8-7, The Boondocks, Friday Night Lights, Trauma, The Beast, Fear Itself, Numb3rs, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: NY, and The Jury.

Gilliard has also appeared in The Machinist with Christian Bale and has Walk of Shame and St. Sebastian due in theaters some time in 2013.

The Walking Dead could be a good move for Gilliard as it plays to his familiarities with television that is cinematic in scope.

As an ongoing TV drama, the series has been a high profile ratings juggernaut in spite of its recent troubles in the showrunner department.

Hit-maker Glen Mazzara announced his exit in December 2012, agreeing to stay on through the end of the third run of shows. AMC issued a statement citing creative differences but insisted the split was amicable.

Kurt Sutter, creator of Sons of Anarchy, and Shawn Ryan, The Shield producer, weren’t won over, blasting the network for its treatment of Mazzara in separate statements.

Scott Gimple was tapped to take over for Mazzara, but with writing credits like Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance on his resume, the series’ latest cast member could be walking in to trouble.

(Still — so far, so good, so let’s stay optimistic, shall we?)

With Lawrence Gilliard, Jr., now aboard, the series also has a second alum from The Wire. Its first was Chad Coleman, who joined up for the zombie drama’s third season as fan favorite Tyreese.

Given the show’s penchant for killing main characters — The Hollywood Reporter has a pretty spoiler-heavy rundown of the third season carnage — who knows how long these two Wire gentlemen will be around? But it should be fun.

What do you think of this casting addition to The Walking Dead? Do you think Lawrence Gilliard, Jr., will make a good Bob Stookey?

‘The Walking Dead’ Adds Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. is a post from: The Inquisitr

Queensbury, NY — A Walmart employee allegedly engaged in prostitution in the store bathroom while he was on his break.

This form of alleged “moonlighting” occurred during the overnight shift in an upstate New York store.

The suspect, 22, reportedly made arrangements with his male clients via (where else?) Craigslist, but eventually Walmart store management got wise to to what allegedly was going on. According to authorities, managers at the store “received an anonymous complaint of a male subject performing sexual acts in a secluded location” which turned out to be the bathroom.

They notified the cops who in turn set up a sting operation for the alleged multi-tasking Walmart worker. “State Police said store officials became suspicious of his activity and notified State Police, and an undercover officer arranged for a meeting with him at the store and arrested Bills when he agreed to perform a sex act for money, officials said.”

The worker, since suspended from his Walmart third-shift job pending an investigation by the discount retailing giant, faces a Class B misdemeanor prostitution count and is due back in court on April 29. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to three months.

A Walmart spokeswoman said that “We’re appalled that something like this could be happening in one of our stores.” Walmart of course is fully cooperating with law enforcement in this matter.

Authorities also contend that the same man may have posted an ad on Craigslist soliciting men to meet him at a local library for casual encounters. The ad alluded to the fact that he was looking for some extra spending money.

The family-owned Walmart  is the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees and is the largest retailer in the world.

Walmart Employee Charged With Prostitution In Store Bathroom is a post from: The Inquisitr

Meet dog seal, the most awesomest dog mammal ever.

Meet Dog Seal, He Hates His Owners is a post from: The Inquisitr

Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction car has been recovered nearly two decades after the vehicle was stolen.

Authorities explained that the director’s classic ’65 Chevy was found after police arrested a classic car thief in Southern California.

Although the Pulp Fiction car was recovered from the suspect, it’s currently believed he wasn’t the individual who stole the vehicle. However, he has been accused of stealing quite a few other cars that were found in the same area.

Sources explained to TMZ that the Chevy’s VIN number had been changed. Despite the alteration, police are sure the car belongs to the Django Unchained director.

While attempts have been made to contact Quentin Tarantino about the recovered car, authorities have been unable to make contact with the filmmaker as of this writing.

The suspect who was in possession of the red ’65 Chevy will not be charged with stealing the famous Pulp Fiction car. Even if police managed to locate the person responsible for the crime, the statue of limitations has basically run out.

For those who don’t remember the vehicle in question, the car was driven by John Travolta in the filmmaker’s iconic crime drama. One scene in particular finds Travolta driving to a drug dealer’s house after Uma Thurman’s character overdoses on heroin.

This isn’t the first time something Tarantino-related has popped up in the news this week. The filmmaker’s bloody western Django Unchained was recently cleared for release in China after being unceremoniously yanked from theaters earlier this month.

Although Quentin Tarantino made changes to the movie in order to get past Chinese censors, apparently somebody forgot to remove scenes featuring full-frontal nudity. Once these offending moments were cut, the flick was added back to the release schedule.

Are you a fan of Quentin Taraninto’s Pulp Fiction? What do you think about the movie’s iconic car being recovered nearly 20 years after it was stolen?

‘Pulp Fiction’ Car Recovered 20 Years After It Was Stolen is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was moved to Fort Devens prison hospital from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston on Thursday night. The move was acknowledged by the US Marshals Service on Friday.

The facility is based on the decommissioned Fort Devens US Army base. It treats federal prisoners and detainees who require special medical or mental health care.

The location will be helpful for the Boston bombing suspect, who sustained a gunshot wound to the throat, as well as injuries to his legs and arms. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s transfer to Fort Devens was done in the early morning to avoid any security issues that could present themselves if it were done in the daylight.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller added that transferring Tsarnaev helped the hospital out as well. He explained:

“There was some tension there. There were many victims of the Boston bombing win Beth Israel hospital who didn’t want to be in the same hospital with one of the people allegedly responsible.”

The facility where Dzhokhar will stay for the foreseeable future is home to many different kinds of prisoners, from heavy hitters to tax evaders. For example, former Wall Street trader Raj Rajaratnam is housed at Devens, because they have a dialysis machine — a requirement for him, because of his bad kidney.

Rajaratnam was sentenced to Devens for 11 years because of an insider trading conviction. But several inmates at the facility are also sex offenders. Cheri Nolan, a former deputy assistant attorney general who is managing director of Federal Prison Consultants, stated, “As far as federal prison facilities, it’s not a bad place.”

Fort Devens has 1,200 inmates — 1,055 in its medical facility and 127 in a camp for minimum-security inmates. The prison hosts a basketball court. Popular crafts include woodworking and leather working. But it’s unlikely Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will enjoy any of the crafts or other extras the former Army base has to offer.

Instead, it’s likely that Tsarnaev will be placed in the Segregated Housing Unit, which is home to troublemaking inmates and those who need special protection. Inmates in that unit are under supervision for 23 hours per day. Food is passed through a slot in the door and they are allowed to walk around in a secure yard for recreation time.

Lee Siegfried, a former DJ best known as the “Crazy Cabbie” character on Howard Stern’s radio show, who spent five months at the facility in 2006, added:

“He won’t see anybody. He’ll be given his one hour when no one else is given theirs … I call them puppy kennels because it’s literally what you would keep dogs outside in. It’s an 8-by-10-foot cage with a chain-link fence that’s high and tall, and they let you walk around and get some fresh air.”

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will spend time recovering from his injuries at Fort Devens. He is scheduled to appear in court at the end of May.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Moved To Fort Devens Prison Hospital is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sitcom Two and a Half Men will be returning for its 11th season on the CBS television network.

Stars Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer are on board to continue their roles as series regulars (for a staggering $700,000 per episode) on the hit show, but Angus T. Jones will only show up for an occasional guest appearance as his character “Jake Harper” is in the Army.

Jones got into hot water last year when he denounced the show as filth and told people to stop watching. He had a change of heart, apologized, and appeared on the show this past season on a sporadic basis explained by his military service. So, the “half man” will only appear half of the time, or less.

The series is also in heavy rotation in syndication.

Kutcher and Cryer are returning on one-year contracts — thereby leaving the future of the show beyond the upcoming season up in the air — and are said to be the highest-paid actors currently on television. After Charlie Sheen’s well-publicized meltdown and feud with executive producer Chuck Lorre, Kutcher replaced Sheen in season nine of Two and a Half Men.

The sitcom has continued to do well in the ratings despite a change in schedule, which is often a death knell for TV programs. “Two And A Half Men, which was moved away from Mondays for the first time last fall, has helped rejuvenate CBS’ Thursday lineup, proving a very compatible companion to blockbuster The Big Bang Theory and providing a strong lead-in for Person Of Interest.”

The show has been nominated for numerous industry awards over the years; in 2011, Jon Cryer won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series.

Are you a fan of Two and a Half Men? Is the show better or worse with Ashton Kutcher in the cast or has there been no discernible change?

‘Two and a Half Men’ Renewed For 11th Season is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Office finale synopsis was released Friday by NBC, E! Online reported. According to the network, this is what you can expect:

“Months after the airing of the documentary, the workers of Dunder Mifflin, past and present, gather for a wedding and a final round of interviews. Mysteries are solved, hatchets are buried, pranks are prunked.”

Whose wedding will it be? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

What is known at this point, however, is that B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, Dakota Johnson, Rachael Harris, Joan Cusack, Malcolm Barrett, Ed Begley, Jr., Matt Jones, Andy Buckley, Mike Schur, and Bobby Ray Shafer, will guest star.

No mention of Steve Carell, and we don’t expect it since the actor has flat denied a return, but the team is promising big things for their final hour, so we’re sure whatever airs will be at the very least filled with surprises.

The finale will also be one of two hours devoted to the hit comedy that ran nine seasons, according to a Friday report from The Wrap.

Before Jim, Pam, Dwight, Nard Dog, Creed, and the rest, say goodbye in one final episode, NBC News will produce and air a one-hour tribute that will be jam-packed with DVD special edition-worthy bonus materials.

According to the website, some of those features include interviews with cast members, writers, and producers, as well as actor auditions for the show that made it cool to live in or visit Scranton, Pennsylvania.

In fact, Scranton will even be featured via Office Fan Day, which will take place on May 4 and be included as part of the retrospective.

Furthermore, Novak and Kaling, writers/co-executive producers/sometimes stars, will join Paul Lieberstein, whom you probably know as Toby the H.R. Guy for a behind-the-scenes look at The Office writers’ room. Lieberstein is also an executive producer on the series.

All of this goes down on May 16 starting at 8 p.m., and it will go immediately into The Office finale.

Now, if any of this is a surprise to you, then you haven’t seen TV in the last 15 years.

Seinfeld used this method prior to its finale in 1998. Like The Office, the “Show About Nothing” ran for nine seasons before crash landing in what is largely considered one of the most disappointing endings in TV sitcom history.

Hopefully, The Office finale will fare better, but unlike Seinfeld, it’s not exactly at the top of its game.

Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George, were still churning out top-tier television prior to their final hour, which was essentially a clip show that immediately followed a clip show.

To The Office‘s credit, they’ve gone into full story mode after losing Steve Carell (and some of their punch), so the final episode should be an eventful one.

What do you think will happen in The Office finale? Give us your character predictions.

‘The Office’ Finale Synopsis Revealed, Will Get One-Hour Tribute Before Airdate is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’re just four episodes into the third season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, but things have picked up really quickly compared to previous seasons. If you saw episode three, you will recall that it left Jaime Lannister “in need of a hand,” so to speak. Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, the actor who plays Jaime, talked to TV Guide about the scene and about what to expect from his character moving forward.

SPOILER ALERT: We’ll be discussing recent episodes and talking about the upcoming “Kissed By Fire,” so, you know, you’ve been warned.

In his interview with TV Guide, Coster-Waldau admitted that much of the horror we see on Jaime Lannister’s face when his hand gets lopped off is genuine.

“We shot it over two nights and almost didn’t finish it because the second night I got really sick. I had a really high fever. So, when I look sick on that stump, it kind of worked out perfectly. It was a very brutal because there’s the stuff when [Locke] puts the knife point into my eye. I held that knife myself when I did the close-up, so I could feel how far I could take it. I wanted it to be as nasty as it could possibly get without stabbing out my eye. I think that worked pretty well. It was disturbing enough that you actually think it’s over when he gets free from that. So when the whole hand chop happens, it’s like, ‘Holy sh–!’ ”

In last week’s episode, there was a scene where we saw Jaime proficiency (or lack thereof) using his left hand to fight. That was as real as it gets for Coster-Waldau, as well.

“I am right-handed. It came naturally, but of course I’m not as good with my left as I am with my right. There’s a scene in the fourth episode where they fight me, and it was great because I just couldn’t do it. My head knew how to do it, but you can’t get it into your body. My arm wouldn’t do what it was supposed to do.”

We’ll definitely be treated to more of Jaime’s adventure with this week’s “Kissed By Fire,” which will see the eldest Lannister (alongside Brienne) facing Lord Bolton, who will decide their fates.

You can read more spoilers for “Kissed By Fire” here, or Nicolaj Coster-Waldau’s full interview with TV Guide here.

Otherwise, here’s a promo clip for this week’s Game of Thrones:

Nicolaj Coster-Waldau Talks THAT ‘Game Of Thrones’ Scene is a post from: The Inquisitr

You broke him.

What Dogs Look Like When You Drop 20 Tennis Balls At Once is a post from: The Inquisitr

Google on Friday began to restrict auto-updates from outside of its own Google Play store. Before the restriction was put into place popular apps such as Facebook Home could roll out updates to users without Google Play access required.

Google claims the move will help improve overall security for Android Apps by placing the upgrade path back into the Play Stores control.

In response to its decision Google released an updated terms of service (TOS) which added new wording to its “Dangerous Products” section. In that section the company’s policy now reads:

“An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism.”

The new restriction is placed in the same section reserved for malware, virus’, and other harmful software and hardware issues.

While the idea behind the restriction is sound the move does block many legitimate apps that use automatic updates for testing and other purposes. For example, Facebook Home pushes out small updates to a small subset of users. If the Facebook Home updates go over well Facebook rolls them out to users on a large scale.

Some legitimate apps that allow for updates outside of the Google Play Store did so to quickly fix security issues and other problems with their apps.

Facebook must now remove the functions that allow for automatic updates outside of the Google Play Store. We are not sure at this time how long Google is giving developers to remove the restricted updating.

Google Bans Auto-Updates Outside Of Google Play Store is a post from: The Inquisitr

Cyber bullies would be much more intimidating if they were literate.

Cyber Bully Meets Grammar Nazi is a post from: The Inquisitr

Authorities have launched an investigation after 38 people died in a mental hospital fire outside of Moscow.

The blaze is the latest fire-related tragedy in the country. It’s estimated that around 12,000 people died last year as a result of poor safety regulations.

President Vladimir Putin called for a thorough investigation into the fire that claimed the lives of 38 people at the mental hospital in the village of Ramensky. Regional authorities are urged to pay more attention to regulations in the wake of the tragedy.

It’s currently being reported that firefighters took nearly an hour to reach the hospital after the call was placed. Since the ferry that would take them across the canal was closed, rescuers had to find an alternate route to the scene of the blaze.

By the time firefighters arrived at the facility, there was little they could do to save the people who were trapped inside the building.

Many of the patients who died in the fire are believed to have been under heavy sedation. Investigators said that 36 patients and two nurses died in their rooms. No bodies were found in the hallways after the blaze had been contained.

“The rooms where the patients were found had no doors through which they could have left the building under their own power,” spokeswoman Irina Gumennaya. However, some officials have stated that none of the doors were locked.

It’s being reported that 41 people were housed at the facility outside of Moscow. A nurse and two patients are the only people who survived the fire.

Although some sources are stating that an electrical short may have started the fire, others have stated that the blaze may have been caused by a lit cigarette. An investigation into tragedy is currently underway.

Authorities are expected reevaluate their safety regulations after 38 people died in a mental hospital in Ramensky.

[Image via Shutterstock]

38 People Die In Mental Hospital Blaze, Investigation Launched is a post from: The Inquisitr

Who needs swag when you got badass moves like this?

Tearing Up The Dance Floor [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Video games have had some famous cameos, though there were a few that the celebrities wished they had just said “no” to.

Most of the time, celebrities can make the game they appear in. Beyond: Two Souls actually benefitted from the appearances of Ellen Page and Willem DaFoe. Prototype featured the voice acting of former Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen. Bruce Willis actually helped keep the shooter Apocalypse from fading into obscurity. However, once in a while, a celebrity accepts a cameo in a game that ends up haunting them.

Take Jeff Goldblum, for instance. His awkward range fits just about any role he takes on, and he’s got infamy like Jeff Bridges. However, he can’t play Dracula, and Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland proved it. Watching him struggle with his fake fangs and attempt to be seductive with someone who was basically 13 years old was just embarrassing. Even he prefers The Lost World: Jurassic Park to that mess.

Chuck Norris Superkicks was horrible. Even Chuck Norris wasn’t tough enough to make it good, though it’s been said that he took one look at the game and the title changed to Kung Fu Superkicks. That or Xonox lost the rights to his name.

Gwen Stefani never should have agreed to lend her voice to Malice. Everything looked good on paper as Argonaut Games tried to save it from a quick trip to the bargain bins by having Gwen Stefani play the role. But then we saw it and how awkward her character looked. She looked like one of those grey aliens with hair straight out of a children’s anime cartoon.

Gary Coleman‘s appearance in Postal 2 was something that should have gone to an early grave instead of the actor. Instead of getting a book signed by the diminutive actor, you end up getting in a gun fight with him.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 was chock full of bad choices. The cutscenes done by George Takei, Tim Curry, and J.K. Simmons were not convincing at all. Great actors, terrible role choices.

Dana Plato of Diff’rent Strokes starred in one of the worst games ever made, back in the days when FMV (full-motion video) was something developers actually thought would go over well. Night Trap only made us feel sorry for her.

And let’s not forget pretty much every video game ever made with a major rap star. Then again, go ahead and forget them.

What celebrity cameos have you noticed in video games that never should have happened?

Video Games Celebrities Wished They’d Turned Down is a post from: The Inquisitr

Queensbury, NY - Foster Bills, a 22-year-old Wal-Mart employee, has been arrested in a sting operation for selling sex in his store’s bathroom. According to the police report, Bills was brought in for “soliciting sexual encounters” at the upstate New York location he was employed at.

Wal-Mart managers seemingly caught on to Bills’ “other” job and contacted state troopers after receiving “an anonymous complaint of a male subject performing sexual acts in a secluded location” in the Queensbury location.

The “secluded location” alluded to in the anonymous tip was the Wal-Mart bathroom, where stalls were rented out through a Craigslist “casual encounters” ad.

Authorities followed-up by launching an undercover sting investigation which resulted in Bills’ arrest on Wednesday “after he accepted cash for sex from an undercover State Police Investigator,” according to a press release obtained by The Smoking Gun.

Bills was charged with a misdemeanor prostitution count and is set to appear on April 29 in court.

It’s not currently known how long Bills was up to his Wal-Mart prostitution antics before he got caught, but police have tied him to this Craigslist ad that sought similar hook-ups at a public library. The “m4m” ad read: ”Young guy looking for a little spending money,” and some other unmentionables we won’t print here.

This isn’t the first time a Wal-Mart location has played host to a couple’s explicit sex acts. Last August, a Kansas couple was arrested at a Wal-Mart after they allegedly stole some K-Y jelly and started engaging in sex in the store.

Yes, right there in the middle of the Wal-Mart store. At least that’s what I take “engaging in sexual intercourse or sodomy with any person or animal with knowledge or reasonable anticipation that the participants are being viewed by another” to mean.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen at Wal-Mart?

[Image via: Northfoto / Shutterstock.com]

Wal-Mart Employee Arrested For Prostituting Himself At Work is a post from: The Inquisitr

Would probably ask grumpy cat to lose some weight…

Work It Kitty [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just monkeying around like every other student on campus.

The Life Of A Gorilla Enrolled At Salford Business School [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Justin Bieber’s at times totally unbelievable Believe tour, has been chronicled as a movie — previously reported as 3D — and is in the cutting stage.

The news, which has been bubbling for a while, should excite many who have been avidly following the adventures of the Biebs from the start of his tour in September last year to the present. The tour wraps in Atlanta on August 10.

Jon M. Chu, G.I. Joe: Retaliation director and force behind the close to $100 million grossing 2011 concert-biopic Never Say Never, is the man at the wheel of the upcoming Believe movie.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in an exclusive new interview, Chu opened up on what people can expect to see in the film, its process to fruition and the artist at its heart.

Chu’s flair with dance film storyboards is renowned, and it was his background with films such as Step Up: 2 and Step Up: 3D that led Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun to seek out the USC School of Cinema-Television alumnus.

In Never Say Never, Chu filmed ten days of the then 16-year-old singer’s 2010 “My world Tour” in a determinedly emotive concert-biopic just before Bieber’s August 31 Madison Square Garden concert that same year.

Despite killing it at the box office and being beloved among ‘beliebers,’ the 2011 biopic has been compared — not at all ironically — by more than one reviewer as something akin to the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will.

Not surprisingly, then, Chu is keen to stress that the upcoming Believe movie is totally different content-wise — and tonally.

“It’s almost about a boy becoming an artist rather than a boy’s life,” Chu notes. “Because his artistry is his [Bieber's] life now.”

Revealing that the movie was originally intended as a simple arc of the Believe tour, Chu says it has now evolved beyond that with footage of ”choreographed, non-documentary sequences as well as revealing behind-the-scenes” goings on.

While Bieber’s millions-strong army of ‘Beliebers’ will undoubtedly be content be anything Chu puts together, for the rest, it’s the blood, sweat, tears and guts stuff that will be the draw.

Unfortunately, from the outline Chu describes it doesn’t sound as if the Believe film will cover much of the dramas that occurred on the tour from early March to, well, lets just say they continue.

With the film already at the cutting stage — and, going by Chu’s reveals — shot entirely in Miami, there will be glaring gaps that won’t touch the controversies of recent months.

If true, that’s a shame. The disappointment many popular culture watchers felt watching Beyonce’s much hyped HBO docu Life Is But A Dream, largely griped about the overly-controlled feel and content of the film.

The inevitable trope that the bigger an artist gets the more control they wield is never more clearly seen than in the ‘billed-as-warts-n- all’ product they release post-uberdom, that is anything but.

All may not be completely lost though. Of Bieber’s ongoing musical transition from cutie to adult artist, Chu says the movie will show “footage of him writing the first song for his next album on a piece of paper with a pencil. Blank page, erasing, writing. That’s where it starts.”

This aspect of the movie will indeed be interesting to watch. The 2013 Believe Acoustic album — intelligently nutshelled here — is a musical gleaming and many may be hoping the Canadian follows up that pared down approach.

In addition, earlier this month Grammy nominated Brit singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who was sent some of Bieber’s “music journals,” replied to the teen on Twitter with feedback saying: “very cool direction you’re taking the new stuff.”

According to Chu, the film will show the singer dealing with stresses of putting an album together. “You get to see the creative process of making songs under this kind of pressure,” said the 33-year-old.

The director also refers to the other pressures in Bieber’s life, the paparazzi that have long been a source of frustration for the teen star and will likely continue to be.

The 19-year-old’s brutal run-in with a Brit paparazzo on the fraught London leg  of the Believe tour was an eye-opener to say the least. Emerging from his Park Lane hotel on March 8 to a gauntlet of paps, after he was cursed at Bieber told one of them: “I’ll f***ing beat the f**k out of you!”

It says something about the Believe tour that even that incident has since been superseded by the quarantining of the singer’s pet monkey in Munich, the Anne Frank guestbook firestorm, repeated media slams, a drugs bust in Sweden and battery allegations. This potted list doesn’t even cover everything.

But, lets face it, everyone is going to watch the Believe movie precisely for the thrills, spills, and perhaps, to gain an insight into what has been one of the most publicly turbulent periods in the teen superstar’s life.

As yet without a distributor, it’s a given the giants will be frothing to get their hands on the movie. The core trio — Chu, Braun and Bieber — who co-own the rights, are still figuring out whether to take the pay per view or straight to DVD route. The dream is a theater run. Something tells me they’ll get it.

[Image via Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com]

Justin Bieber’s ‘Believe’ Movie: Jon Chu Opens Up But Will The Film? is a post from: The Inquisitr