The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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Everyone's favourite alcoholic cartoon dog is back from the dead.

Family Guy fans, relax and rejoice – Brian Griffin the dog is back from the dead.

The pooch is back where he belongs, drinking and womanising among his friends and family in Quahog. The Fox animated comedy revived Brian last weekend, and in turn, said goodbye to the new family hound, Vinny (Tony Sirico).

To bring back one of the show's most popular characters, baby Stewie and Vinny stole a time machine return pad from a different version of the diabolical infant that they encountered by happenstance in a toy store. Time-traveling Stewie was on hand to buy the hot Christmas toy of the season, but was distracted by Vinny's suggestion he try modelling.

Stewie Griffin bids farewell to Vinny the replacement dog in Family Guy.

Real-time Stewie was able to nab the device and save his friend. It all makes (slightly) more sense in context.

Last month, Brian was hit by a car while playing street hockey with Stewie, ultimately dying. In altering the timeline last weekend, Stewie tackled his best friend out of harm's way, preventing the tragedy and saving the Griffin family Christmas. So going forward, Brian never died, and the Griffins never adopted Vinny.

The twist was predicted – and possibly even expected – given the nature of the show and Brian's popularity, but that did not curb fans from panicking in the interim. — Reuters

Precious Celina Jade

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From Hong Kong to Hollywood, Celina Jade hits the mark.

AN e-mail popped up in Celina Jade's inbox after she landed the role of Shado in Arrow warning her about bears. The actress, who was in Kuala Lumpur last month to promote the hit TV series, shares the highlight of the e-mail. "Don't run. Because if you run, the bear will follow you. But, I don't know if I cannot not run if I see a bear," she says with a laugh.

On Arrow, her character is trapped on an island alongside the series' protagonist, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). Most of the external shots of the island are actually filmed on the top of a mountain at a national park in Vancouver, Canada. You know, where bears roam free.

"It's beautiful, but am I able to tell a bear from a dog? I am not sure," the 28-year-old Hong Kong-born actress deadpans.

In the series, Shado is a recurring character who appears in flashbacks to the time Oliver was stranded on the tropical island of Lian Yu after his father's yacht sank in a storm.

She was introduced in the second half of the first season as a lawyer who'd come to the island in search of her own father. At the end of the first season, we discover that Shado is no damsel in distress and – shocker! – the person who taught the hooded vigilante the art of archery. Now, in the second season, romance starts to bloom between Shado and Oliver even as more strangers arrive on the island with murderous intent.

"It's funny because I am kissing the lead actor within the three episodes (I get there), and my Asian fans are like, 'How can you give in to him so early? You have to make him work for it a little bit', " Jade says.

It's obvious that unlike her ever-serious character, Jade is witty and has a pleasant disposition, even when this interview takes place in the same hour she checks into the hotel after arrival from Hong Kong. The actress-model-singer even skips lunch to keep the appointed time.

The Pan-Asian actress is of mixed parentage – an American dad, who is also a kung fu star (Roy Horan shared scenes with the likes of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan) and a Hong Kong mum. Thanks to her dad, she and her sister have been practising martial arts since they were young. "Ours is the only family where getting beat up is OK."

Even now, whenever she is back in Hong Kong, her 63-year-old father still trains and teaches her how to take punches and fall the correct way for the camera so that the action scene looks cinematically good and Jade won't get hurt in the process.

She also credits her start in kung fu films (2008's Legendary Assassins being her most popular feature) as a good training ground for martial arts. It also taught her to do her own fight stunts.

According to Jade, in an American production, the crew is more careful with the kind of stunts the cast does. "I remember the second episode (of Arrow) I was in, Stephen said to me, 'Oh be careful when you are on the apple box.' And I am like 'Really?'

"I think they were surprised with how much I was willing to do. I get bruised a lot, I get punched in the face in the second episode. I was like, 'It's fine'. I go home, roll an egg on it and I am OK. It's part of my job, to fall and take a punch."

Besides constantly improving her skills in martial arts, Jade made sure she does her character Shado proud – so she picked up archery, even setting up a shooting range at her home in Hong Kong.

She then says with a twinkle in her eye: "You know, now that I have a bow and arrow, sometimes I wonder if someone burgles my house will I use it and shoot him in the leg? I will be really tempted, right?"

* Catch Celina Jade in Arrow every Monday at 9pm on WarnerTV (HyppTV Ch 613).

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 17 Disember 2013