History

Visit some of the world’s most remote and exotic locations with comfort and ease during this India and Asia private jet tour. We cover vast distances quickly and effortlessly, visiting kingdoms and domains lost to history and long closed to Western travelers. All told, your Asia and India private jet adventure travels take you to eight far-flung countries. You will view such architectural treasures as the rose-red city of Petra, the visual harmony of the Taj Mahal, the graceful temples of Yangon and Bagan, the impressive Potala Palace of Lhasa, and the elaborately decorated madrassas (Islamic seminaries) of Uzbekistan. Discover Nepal’s royal cities and breathtaking scenery; search for pandas in Chengdu, China; and savor the laid back charm of Vientiane, the capital of Laos—a private jet expedition is certainly a rare and memorable travel adventure.

Asia and India private jet expedition highlights:

• Visit the vibrant bazaars of Samarkand and the sparkling turquoise burial vaults of Shahi Zinda as your Asia private jet tour follows the Silk Road to Uzbekistan.
• Join countless Tibetan Buddhists on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Lhasa or see giant pandas at the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center.
• Behold the glittering Shwedagon Pagoda; explore serene Inle Lake; and discover the temples of Bagan in Myanmar.
• Your India private jet expedition comes in for a landing at the Taj Mahal; from here, continue on to the marvelous lakeside palaces of Udaipur.
• Marvel at the lunar-like landscapes of Jordan’s Wadi Rum or venture into the Lost City of the Nabataeans at Petra.

About your India and Asia Private Jet experience:

The best way to reach so many far-flung destinations in one itinerary is to fly by private jet. We set our own schedules, fly direct, and avoid layovers. We land in airports that are closer to hard-to-reach destinations. We have the flexibility and freedom to adjust the routing, if necessary—even while an expedition is in progress. We arrange for expedited boarding, luggage handling, and customs and immigration formalities where possible.

 

Our Boeing 757 generously accommodates 78 travelers in 2-by-2 VIP-style leather seats with ecomfort™ foam support, instead of the standard 233 seats. Our travelers enjoy an unsurpassed educational experience onboard the jet with our experts, who will share their expertise during flights as well as on land.

 

Our expedition staff and flight crew, including a chef and a catering assistant, are the most experienced in the world when it comes to managing multi-destination, educational expeditions by private jet. A physician accompanies each expedition, ready to provide and coordinate healthcare services whenever and wherever they may be needed. Travel worry-free with a talented team of professionals who are recognized for their keen attention to detail, dedication to safety and security, and top-notch hospitality. And enjoy one of the highest crew-to-traveler ratios in the business: 1 to 5.

ALEC BALDWIN'S WIFE HILARIA SUED FOR YOGA ACCIDENT

Aligning your chakras can be dangerous business, you guys. Just askSpencer Wolff, the man currently suing Alec Baldwin's wife-slash-mother of his future child, Hilaria Baldwin (formally Thomas). Hilaria has been teaching the art of yoga to Manhattanites downtown since 2005 at Yoga Vida, but it turns out that sometimes, a little downward dog might be bad for your health.

RELATED: Alec Baldwin and Wife Hilaria: Baby On Board!

At least when you're in an overcrowded yoga studio, as Wolff learned. In a suit submitted to the Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, Wolff recounts that several factors resulted in his sustaining a serious foot injury. Namely the overcrowded state of the class, Hilaria's general "negligence" and her request that students "perform a dangerous activity at a wall." It is reported that upon attempting a handstand against a wall, Wolff's foot went through the studio's glass window, where he sustained "serious" and "severe" injuries, as well as "emotional upset" from the proceedings. Sounds like someone definitely did not reach their Samadhi (also known as bliss for us non-yogis) that day. All he wanted was a little namaste, and instead, he had a very bad day.

Hollywood.com has reached out for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication.

RELATED: Alec Baldwin's New Wife: 5 Things To Know About Hilaria Thomas

What do you think of the suit? Is if foolish or are his claims founded? Let us know in the comments!

[Photo Credit: WENN]

Vin Diesel, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's goatee, cars blasting out of the front end of airplanes — yeah, yeah, yeah, the Super Bowl trailer for Fast & Furious 6 reminded us of the Fast franchise's bizarre evolution and consistence badassery, but it wasn't until the release of the below three-and-a-half-minute "extended trailer" that seeing the sixth installment became imperative. Why, you ask?

Because Gina Carano fights Michelle Rodriguez.

In an arena dominated by men, Rodriguez has proven herself time and time again to be as brutal and charismatic an action performer as any of her XY-chromosomed counterparts. After last year's Haywire, MMA fighter-turned-actress Carano did the same.

RELATED: Super Bowl XLVII Trailers: Which Movie Are We Most Excited For? — POLL

Now, courtesy of the most ridiculous, adrenaline-infused series of all time, the two get to share the screen and duke it out. The new trailer packs in the automative stunts the Fast films are known for, but when the movie skids into theaters on May 24, 2013, it's the Carano/Rodriguez face-off we'll be anticipating:

True Story' Casts Felicity Jones to Date Jonah Hill While James Franco Kills People

Felicity Jones seems to be vying for the auspicious title of Most British Young Actress in the industry. The 29-year-old starlet has made colleagues of Daniel Craig and Helen Mirren, and has headlined titles like Chalet Girl, Albatross, and Hysteria (that last one is French, but to many Americans, French is just "extra British"). But the latest news on the Like Crazy star has teaming with two young men who pride themselves as mainstays in our country's lexicon: Deadlinereports that Jones will be uniting with Jonah Hill and James Franco for the developing drama True Story.

RELATED: 'Spring Breakers' Trailer: James Franco for Best Supporting Actor 2014?

Appropriately titled as it is, in fact, the actual account of disgraced New York Times Magazine journalist Michael Finkel (based on the writer's autobiographical True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa), the film will star Hill in the lead role with Jones playing his longtime girlfriend. In 2002, Finkel was the victim of identity theft. The culprit: a Mexico-based murderer, Christian Longo (Franco in this film). The adventure to follow: Finkel's harried pursuit of Longo in an effort to clear his damaged reputation. Think the new Jason Bateman/Melissa McCarthy movie Identity Thief, except with... actually, no, it sounds pretty much exactly the same. 

Jonah Hill Slams CNN Anchor in Bizarre Twitter Catfight

In addition to this drama, Jones will appear in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, earning her a bit of common ground with Franco, Peter Parker's pal-turned-foe Harry Osborne in Sam Raimi's trilogy. Rupert Goold is set to make his feature debut as the director of True Story.

[Photo Credit: WENN]

Fast and Furious 6' Super Bowl Trailer: So... Many... Things... Explode...

With five Fast and Furious movies already under our belts, we should really know what to expect by now. But somehow, we can't keep from our awed "Ooh!"s and shocked "Holy crap!"s when one of the franchise's new additions shows off its latest vehicular display. Super Bowl XLVII premieres a new trailer for the next chapter,Fast and Furious 6, which proves that a film series nearing 12 years of age can still widen our eyes with its visual spectacles. In the new video, we see the usual fancy cars, swanky setups, and high-flying stunts, but the minds behind Fast and Furious still have a few tricks up their sleeves. The trailer opens with a truck flipping mountainside, advances to some impressive (if not heart-rattling) highway driving, and peaks at a scene wherein a car actually speeds through the nose of an ignited airplane. All this and the revelation of a presumed dead character add up for something fans can look forward to with vigor.

Check out the trailer below, and catch Fast and Furious 6, starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, andMichelle Rodriguez, in theaters May 24.


[Photo Credit: Universal Pictures]

'Star Trek Into Darkness' Super Bowl Trailer: Benedict Cumberbatch Is Pure Evil

Up until now, you might have worried that Benedict Cumberbatch wouldn’t be able to capture the menace you want in your Star Trek Into Darkness villain. Perhaps you were hung up by the actor’s nice guy demure — the wholesome nature borne from his War Horse role, his The Hobbit whimsy, or the fact that his name makes him sound like a Charles Dickens haberdasher. But as proven by the new trailer for the J.J. Abrams feature, premiering during Super Bowl XLVII, Cumberbatch knows his way around a chill.

The trailer depicts a brief faceoff between Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Cumberbatch’s ambiguous (Khan?) baddie. In addition to kindling a new fear for the British thesp, the trailer gets us hyped for Abrams’ next turn with the Enterprise. Check out the trailer below, and catch Star Trek Into Darkness in theaters May 17.


[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]

'Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters' Casts Main Trio: Did They Get It Right?

We have our Rose, Lissa, and Dimitri!

Fans of the Vampire Academy series and theupcoming film adaptation of the first novelwere anxiously awaiting a mystery announcement teased after the official Facebook page for the movie hit over 250,000 fans. And as promised, the casting announcement for the three leads was released Friday afternoon, as well as a name change. The first movie will now be called Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters, which is the title of the German version of the series.

Zoey Deutch will portray main character Rose Hathaway, Lucy Fry will play Lissa Dragomir, and Danila Kozlovsky will take on Dimitri Belikov. All three are relative newcomers: Deutch had a role on the CW show Ringer asSarah Michelle Gellar's stepdaughter Juliette, Fry was on H20: Just Add Water, and Kozlovsky is a Russian superstar but unknown in the US.

As a big fan of Richelle Mead's series myself, I was torn between these choices for the leads. While I appreciate the relative unknown status of the three (this is going to be a large franchise with six books, and it's better to start with a clean slate than go the route of casting Cedric Diggory as Edward Cullen...), I'm still unsure on the casting of Deutch as Rose for a couple reasons. First, she's isn't that unknown. Before her role on Ringer, she was also a big part of Disney Channel's Suite Life On Deck's final season, as well as in the upcoming movie Beautiful Creatures. But the major issue I have with Deutch is that she is too delicately pretty. Rose Hathaway is an infamous dhampir (half human, half vampire bodyguard-in-training), fierce, tough, and deadly with a fiery personality to boot. She is described as a curvy, exotic Turkish/Irish mixture. This gives her long, dark hair and tan olive skin. Rose can take down any opponent in a physical fight, whether it's another dhampir, a human male twice her size, or a Strigoi (an undead evil vampire with inhuman strength). Deutch does not exude that same strength that makes Rose who she is. You can't fake that kind of inherent toughness. Rose can intimidate anyone with just a threat of violence because her reputation is so well-known. I'm not confident that Deutch portray that.

As for Princess Lissa, Rose's best friend and the last remaining Dragomir alive, I don't have any problems with Fry. She has the exact look for Lissa, pale skin for a Moroi (the good, living vampires), light blonde hair, and a kind, gentle demeanor. Lissa is elegant and polite, the sweet to balance Rose's spicy. Let's just hope she can hide her Australian accent well, as Lissa is of Romanian descent.

The last of the main three is Dimitri, Rose's mentor. In the books, he is described as a god, the best of all the dhampirs. Deadly, yet with a gentle side that hardly ever comes out, Dimitri is supposed to be an enormous 6 foot 7, made of muscles, with shoulder-length hair and never without a long, black, leather jacket/duster. And the most important aspect is his Russian descent, as he speaks with a slight accent. And this is why I'm torn on the casting of Kozlovsky. As a native Russian, he will bring authenticity to the role, but physically he just doesn't strike an imposing figure. He doesn't have the kind of presence that you immediately notice and fear. Back when I was dreamcasting VA, I thought perhapsSupernatural's Jared Padalecki could fit the bill. He's enormously tall and muscular, he's already got the hairstyle down pat, and we know he can play both the badass good guy and the evil, deadly villain (I won't explain why the latter is necessary to play Dimitri, no spoilers here!). All he needed was a little coaching on the accent.

But despite all the fans' complaints, celebrations, groans, and squeals, Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters has been cast, and for better or worse we have our main characters.Daniel Waters, who wrote the iconic Sundance comedy Heathers, has written the script and his brother, Mean Girls helmer Mark Waters, will direct the film. Casting is in full swing for a summer shoot.

What do you think of the casting? Are you happy with our Rose, Lissa, and Dimitri? What do you think of the name change? Hit the comments below and let us know how you feel!

[Photo Credit: Penguin Publishing; WENN; Getty Images; IMDB]

Why Zombies Eat Brains (And Other Undead Origin Stories)

Fandom is a funny thing. Often, if the fervor toward a given subject — or in our case genre — is strong enough, fans become advocates, and advocates can become crusaders. That is not meant as a slight — furious debates in which film fans engage is often a reflection of thoughtful theoretical analyses. Horror fans are not immune to fierce defenses of dogma; indeed they are arguably the most stalwart.

Take Warm Bodies. In the film, a zombie falls in love with the girlfriend of one of his victims, and slowly regains his humanity through their relationship. Zombie purists have been decrying the film from trailer one, citing it as an affront to canon.

The ugly, shambling, worm-ridden truth however is that there is no zombie canon anymore. The mythos has been rehashed and reinvented so many times that even the zombie model to which we steadfastly cling is a reconfiguration. Perhaps it would be best to look at the benchmarks in the evolution of this classic cinematic monster to illustrate that there has never been a solid rulebook.

The Voodoo Zombie

The origins of the walking dead go back to ancient voodoo beliefs centering on the ability to resurrect the dead. Most commonly associated with Haiti, the roots go back as far as tribal Africa. This historical mythology is the basis for some of the very first zombie films. Bela Lugosi’s 1932 classic White Zombieplays upon this origin, as does Jacques Tourneur’s unsettling I Walked with a Zombie. These zombies did not consume their victims, they were the victims; reanimated in a stupor in order to engage in manual labor. At a time when the censorship was oppressive, the idea of anyone coming back from the dead was enough of a shock for audiences without the added cannibalism. The voodoo connection has not been entirely lost in subsequent decades, 1974’s Sugar Hill and 1988’s The Serpent and the Rainbow, but for the most part, this cultural derivation of zombie lore is dead and buried.

The Zombie We Know and Love

When there is no more room for convention, Night of the Living Dead will be unleashed upon the Earth. The conceptualization of the modern zombie is owed almost entirely to George Romero. In 1968, he took the undead out of the tropics and shoved them up through the soil of the Pennsylvania farmlands. There is actually a cultural context to Night of the Living Dead as well. America continued to lose ground in Vietnam, and as the horror of the war spread across the heartland, the standards for zombies reflected the pessimism of the era. Suddenly there was no witchcraft prompting the rising of the dead, no reason at all in fact. It was shot in bleak black-and-white, and now the zombies were full-blown flesh-eaters. Interestingly, despite the establishment all these formative characteristics, the word “zombie” is not used once.

Brain Dead

And now we reach the monumental irony of zombie dogma. By now, Zombies are an indelible part of pop culture as much a horror cinema mainstay. Even people who have never seen a single zombie film will at least make the association between the undead and brains. Zombies have always subsisted on the brains of the living, right? That’s just a fundamental component of the living dead. Well, it is now, but the advent of zombies munching on human noggins didn’t come about until 1985. ?Alien screenwriter Dan O’Bannondirected Return of the Living Dead, which was originally conceived as a Night of the Living Dead sequel until O’Bannon rewrote it. This strange punk rock horror comedy was the first time that zombies, which had previously dined on flesh indiscriminately, went directly for the brain. O’Bannon even offers a loose explanation that the devouring of brains eases the pain of being dead.

The Sprinting Dead?

Many people like to credit Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later as ushering in the age of the running zombie. Traditional doctrine mandates that zombies shamble rather slowly, but Boyle’s incarnations sprint at dizzying and terrifying speed. The undercutting semantic argument of course is that Boyle’s zombies are not zombies at all; they are “infected.” The confusion inherent here stems from the fact that by the time 28 Days Later was released, the term zombie became a catchall for any threatening ravenous horde. So actually Boyle’s film incited two separate debates about zombie tenets.

If you subscribe to the idea that “the infected” are indeed zombies, 28 Days Later is not the first to introduce the quickly-moving horde. In David Cronenberg’s 1977 film Rabid, a strain of rabies turns normal people into violent bloodthirsty monsters that routinely pursue their victims with lightning speed. Here again, the argument can be made that since we’re dealing with a virus in Rabid, that precludes the notion that the antagonists are zombies. However, by that logic, Boyle did not create the first running zombies either.

As you can see, arguing the exact parameters of zombie canon is as productive as trying chew threw the concrete walls of a fallout shelter.

[Photo Credit: Summit Entertainment]

Captain American 2' Recruits 'Revenge' star Emily VanCamp

Marvel lovers: meet your newest addition to the Captain American 2: The Winter Soldier team! From a double-crossing Hamptonite to a big-screen leading lady, actress Emily VanCamp is definitely one to watch.

According to Deadline, VanCamp — star of ABC's hit drama Revenge — is in talks with the Marvel Studios to join the newest superhero sequel. Once the deal has closed, VanCamp will star opposite super-hunkChris Evans. The buzz around the blogosphere is that the Revenge actress is set to join the blockbuster as Sharon Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and potential love interest for Captain America (Evans). Carter is the niece of the original film’s Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).

Although many of the movie's details are being kept hush-hush, it appears that unlike the first flick, which took place during World War II, the sequel will be set in the modern world. Captain America 2 does not have a set start date just yet, but the film is scheduled to hit theaters April 14, 2014.

Do you think VanCamp will be a good addition to the team? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Charlize Theron in Seth MacFarlane's Western: Is the Genre Really Making a Comeback?

How do you follow up your improbably successful hit about a foul-mouthed teddy bear? Make a movie in the genre that, of late, has been improbably successful: the Western. Yep, Family Guy mastermind, upcoming Oscar host, and Ted director Seth MacFarlane is next helming a Western comedy in the mode of Blazing Saddles called A Million Ways to Die in the West. And Hollywood.com has confirmed that its comedic pedigree just got a major boost, in that Charlize Theron is in final talks to star. She'll play an outlaw's wife who teaches an easily spooked farmer (MacFarlane) to shoot in order to win back his wife, who left him after a gunfight.

The Western lay fallow in Hollywood for so long that fans of sagebrush and saguaros have been particularly excited by the blockbuster success of a couple recent oaters: 2010's Coen Brothers remake of True Grit, which grossed $171 million domestically (off a $38 million budget!), and Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, which has scored $147 million since it's Dec. 25 release. That's a lot of money for your saddlebag. Not to mention that Disney looked to the Old West when they pinned their hopes on what could be their next big franchise-starter, The Lone Ranger (out July 3). Still two hit Westerns, and one hoped-for hit that's far from a sure thing, aren't enough for us to declare that Hollywood cinema's greatest, and most uniquely American, genre is ready for a full-fledged revival.

And make no mistake, the Western is Hollywood's greatest genre. It's the summing up of American mythmaking, a dusty canvas on which filmmakers have interrogated the ideals and values, compromises and crimes that make up the American character and have defined this country's history. Far from being some retrograde idealization of a violent, even genocidal time, the best Westerns like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,The Searchers, Ride Lonesome, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Unforgiven don't seek to escape into the past but use history to explain the present. They also just tell damn good stories. So are cowboys and outlaws really set for a comeback? Well, excuse the pun, but we'll have to hold our horses. Here are four reasons why the recent crop of Western hits may not signal a lasting revival.

1. The Lone Ranger
Yes, Disney has invested a lot of faith in this project. A reported $250 million worth of faith. That's a production budget that's going to be extremely difficult to recoup. It has likable stars — Armie Hammer as the titular masked avenger and Johnny Depp as his Native American sidekick Tonto — and a classic premise time-tested on radio and TV. But Disney recently spent $200+ million on another film with a classic premise, John Carter, a bomb so big the company ended up cleaning house at its movie division. Not to mention that Lone Ranger director Gore Verbinski's last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies were pretty much the definition of bloated, CGI-larded excess. If The Lone Ranger fails — reports of shooting delays aren't promising — it'll stop the Western's revival right in its tracks. And even if it's a hit, what success it achieves will be difficult to duplicate. It's not like there are many other instantly recognizable Western franchises like Lone Ranger just waiting to be resurrected. You also have to recognize that the best Westerns of recent years have come from directors with a vision. And we all know...

2. ...Directors With a Vision Can Be Hard To Come By.
True Grit had the Coens. Django Unchained had Tarantino. But for every hit like either of those, there are multiple non-auteur duds like Appaloosa, The Missing, or The Alamo. The Coens and Tarantino already have fans who will come out to see anything they do. And no wonder. Because they're able to tap into the inherent flexibility of the genre and make it completely their own, not just homages or nostalgia trips. How many other directors are there waiting to contribute something really new and valuable to the Western? Maybe MacFarlane can be that director if he can actually make a comedy that deconstructs the Western without merely replicating what Blazing Saddles did 40 years ago.

Warm Bodies' Is Funny?! 10 Misleading Movie Trailers — VIDEO

If you've caught any of the promotion material for the upcoming movie,Warm Bodies, there's a chance you might have offered one heck of an eyeroll. The new film seems to hearken back to another Summit Entertainment franchise — a completely separate story about a mortal girl's forbidden love for a member of an undead race. Among the likes of upcoming properties more deserving of the connotation (such asBeautiful Creatures and The Host), Warm Bodies has earned the branding of "the new Twilight Saga." But the truth is far from it.

Delivered by writer/director Jonathan Levine (who helmed the stellar dramatic comedy 50/50), Warm Bodies is far more of a send-up of the YA interspecies romance, approaching the genre with a tongue-in-cheek, sometimes wacky attitude. With comedy coming from stars Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmerand supporting players Rob Corddry and Analeigh Tipton, Warm Bodies looks to please not only fans of the Twilight Saga, but probably a lot of those who wouldn't touch those movies with a ten foot pole.


And you can blame all your misconceptions on the trailer, the posters, all the material so far released. ButWarm Bodies is hardly a unique case. There are plenty of other films guilty of misleading marketing. 

End of Watch
Trailer: Fast-paced, shakycam crime thriller.
Movie: Pensive look into the comical and dramatic lives of two police officers.


The Family Stone
Trailer: Wacky holiday comedy where the whole family embarks upon their usual high jinx!
Movie: Slow and serious (too slow and too serious, actually) drama about clashing cultures in a moreover bland family unit. Also, a secret cancer movie. 


Drive
Trailer: High intensity crime epic.
Movie: Sweet, patient, melancholy romantic drama that happens to have some brutal killings peppered throughout.


The Fifth Element
Trailer: Nonstop thrill-ride of serious action and science fiction.
Movie: Kooky, goofy imaginarium of sci-fi half-ideas, delivered with a hearty sense of humor by cartoonish characters.


I Love You, Phillip Morris
Trailer: Another screwball comedy for Jim Carrey, this time where he's a convict who falls for a fellow male inmate (isn't that crazy?!)
Movie: A touching, often heartbreaking (but yes, still funny) love story about a tragically broken man and the love of his life.


Flight
Trailer: Supercharged, edge-of-your-seat, sky-high-octane thriller about a plane crash.
Movie: Drama about a dude with a drug problem.


Burn After Reading
Trailer: Slapstick galore in this Coen Brothers comedy — another Hudsucker? This time with Brad Pitt in a track suit?
Movie: A weird, dark, cerebral, terribly imposing (but wholly interesting) take on the government, greed, and gym memberships.


Catfish
Trailer: A found footage horror movie about a first date gone horribly wrong.
Movie: A documentary about the dishonest afforded by Internet relationships. You might say that the trailer for this film catfished us! (But don't say that. It's silly.)


Les Miserables
Trailer: A film about Anne Hathaway
Movie: A film that has Anne Hathaway in it for like, 5 minutes


[Photo Credit: Summit Entertainment]