Guilty Verdict!

Craig / / 2008
The private detective accused of bugging the phones of several Hollywood celebrities including Sylvester Stallone, seen here, was found guilty here Thursday after a two-month trial on racketeering and conspiracy charges. (AFP/File/Toshifumi Kitamura)

Sly & Other Stars Offer Help to Myanmar

Craig / / 2008, Celebs

Erik Pedersen
Thu May 15, 2:05 AM ET

In the wake of the horrifying cyclone that hit Myanmar, which is estimated to have killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people and displaced as many as 1.5 million more, celebrities have responded in different ways.

Ben Stiller, Téa Leoni, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden have recorded PSAs for UNICEF, while Not on Our Watch, the nonprofit cofounded by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and others, has already pledged half a million dollars to Save the Children.

Even Sylvester Stallone used a Japanese press conference for the DVD release of the latest Rambo installment, which features the character battling it out in Myanmar, to speak out. “I think what’s going to come out of this devastating cyclone—and the fact that our film has made it much more apparent of the violence that these people live under—I think there’s going to be great social change in that country, because they can’t hide anymore,” said the actor, who also showed off his bow-hunting technique.

For more information about how to help, go to UNICEF, the Red Cross, Save the Children, Oxfam or other aid agencies.

SZ Exclusive: Backstage Photos from Japan!

Craig / / 2008, Rambo, Sly Fan
Hi, Craig! Thanx for your sending me back! Finally, I met SLY for real at Japanese RAMBO premiere yesterday!! Wow!! Thease are Sly’s jpegs I shot. Because people aronund me were so crazy, I could not shoot photos well enough! This is a Japanese premiere mpeg. I hope you will enjoy these. Thank you!
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Congratulations on meeting Sly! And thanks for sending in the photos and link! – Craig

Sly in Japan

Craig / / 2008, Rambo
Hi, Craig! It’s me, Japanese SZoner, Hideo again! This time, SLY came to Japan as RAMBO! Here is the video clip of interview with SLY. Please look. I believe you will like it!!

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Hey Hideo! Thanks for the link. Very cool. – Craig

Rocky Statue Becomes Target

Craig / / 2008

Hey Craig,
Check out the homepage on Yahoo.com. The fans Flyer fans in Philly are pretty ticked that some Montreal fans put a hockey jersey on Rocky! I just hope it doesn’t go too far and someone doesn’t actually damage the statue!!! Here is the short cut to the actual article…

Stacy
Huge Fan in North Dakota! Great job on the Zone site!!! Thank you!
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Thanks Stacy! – Craig

Sly Slams Myanmar Junta

Craig / / 2008, Rambo

Wed May 7, 8:54 AM ET

Fresh from a movie about saving Christian missionaries from a sadistic Myanmar army major, ‘Rambo’ actor Sylvester Stallone on Wednesday accused the former Burma’s junta of indifference to their citizen’s cyclone misery.

Nearly 22,500 people have been killed and 41,000 are still missing after Cyclone Nargis ripped through Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta, washing away entire villages and rendering at least one million people homeless.

Stallone, speaking in Tokyo where he was promoting his latest Rambo movie, said the Myanmar government was clearly unprepared.

“Just recently, with this horrible cyclone, we see how these people were unprepared and are being treated terribly, suffering because of the indifference of the government,” he told a news conference.

But he sounded an optimistic note on the potential for change in the country because of the global spotlight on the disaster.

“I think what’s going to come out of this devastating cyclone, and the fact that our film has made it much more apparent of the violence that these people live under, I think there’s going to be great social change in that country because they can’t hide any more.”

In his latest film , 61-year-old Stallone again plays the machinegun-toting Vietnam War veteran John Rambo, this time coming out of retirement in Thailand to save a group of Christian missionaries from the clutches of a Myanmar army major.

Entitled simply “Rambo,” the movie is banned in Myanmar, but it has been become hot property in the country’s underground DVD scene.

Stallone said he had wanted to highlight the impoverished country’s problems when he set out, well ahead of protests there last September, to make the fourth movie in the Rambo series.

“It … is a film that’s opening up people’s eyes to the sufferings of these poor people in another part of the world, which I think is very important for America to understand that there’s a lot going on outside of our borders.”

Hollywood actors, including Stallone and Will Ferrell, have recently joined a video campaign to win support for jailed Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

(Reporting by Hiroyuki Muramoto; Writing by Chika Osaka; Editing by John Chalmers)