Alex Dieterle

Steve Casino, the peanut artist.

Steve Casino found a peanut, found a peanut. Then he cracked it open (gently). But he didn't eat it. Instead, the 46-year-old toy inventor decided to paint a face on the peanut shell ... and thus a hobby, and a lucrative second profession, were born.

"I was looking for something unique to work on," Casino says. So he dug into a whole bunch of peanuts at work (snack foods fuel toymaking brains, it seems), and found one that looked like himself. ("I have a shaved head and glasses, so I look like a peanut," he said.) "There are 10 billion people painting on canvases, and it's hard to stand out from the crowd."

So after experimenting with the self-portrait, Casino turned to one of his favorite bands, the Ramones, for inspiration. Soon enough, he had the whole band ("I nearly ran out of steam on Joey"), with instruments, created on peanuts.

And it all went to shell from there.

In just the past five months, Casino has made approximately 30 creations on nuts, ranging from TV favorite ("Star Trek") to Spider-Man fighting Doc Ock. One guy he knew growing up by the name of Trent Reznor contacted him around Christmas -- "I hadn't talked to him in 20 years" -- and he got a commission to paint the Oscar-winning Nine Inch Nails singer and his family on nut shells. "He encouraged me a lot," says Casino (and yes, that is his real name). "It was just a hobby, and after that it was like, 'This great artist likes my art, I must be an artist!'"

Courtesy Steve Casino

Steve Casino's The Ramones.

As he's gone on, the creation of the nut-works has gotten more elaborate; he lays on hair (embroidery floss) strand by strand, and he crafts appropriate accessories like guitars and microphones (plus arms and legs) to go with the miniature sculptures. Each takes from 5 to 10 hours to create, "mostly because I make mistakes," he says. "If you screw up one millimeter it doesn't look like the person any more." 

Casino may not have known he could paint until recently, but he's not a complete creative newbie: He's a "failed caricature artist" who used to provide drawings to The Village Voice newspaper, and once had a regular job doing caricatures on Long Island, N.Y., but he hadn't done those in 15 years. He eventually ended up with toy company Bang Zoom Design, where he's worked on toys like racing puppies for Barbie dolls.

And for those racing to his website now to get their own favorites (or loved ones) done up in peanut shells (which, by the way, are opened, legumes removed, re-sealed and coated in polyurethane to prevent decay), there's something of a waiting list on commissions for the artworks, which run from $300-$1000 each, depending on complexity. 

Courtesy Steve Casino

Doc Ock and Spider-Man.

Courtesy Steve Casino

"Star Trek's" Spock and Kirk.

Casino doesn't use a magnifying glass, so this hobby-turned-adventure may have an expiry date if his eyes don't hold up. For now at least, he says he's having a grand time with the good old fashioned peanut. And he's better able to focus on the art now that he has some extra hands to sort out the best nuts from the bunch. "Half of the caricature I do is finding the right peanut," he says. "So I have my daughters -- they're 7 and 11 -- helping me in the basement."

And how does he reimburse them? "I pay in peanuts."

Naturally.

Slideshow: Quirks of art: Creators who work in madcap media

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Efrem Lukatsky / AP

Adam Lambert.

So, did Adam Lambert really want to play Jean Valjean or something? The " American Idol" alum was pretty harsh about the "Les Miserables" cast's vocal skills, tweeting Sunday that the music "suffered massively (because of) great actors PRETENDING to be singers."

"It's an opera," he clarified. "Hollywood movie musicals treat the singing as the last priority. (Dreamgirls was good)"

Anne Hathaway rates her 'Les Mis' performance as 'eh'

"And I do think it was cool they were singing live- but with that cast, they should have studio recorded and sweetened the vocals," he wrote, adding, "I felt like I should ignore the vocals and focus on the emotional subtext- but the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out."

Lambert was impressed with Anne Hathaway's vocals, describing her performance as "breathtaking."

He also mused that "the industry will say 'these actors were so brave to attempt singing this score live' but why not cast actors who could actually sound good?"

Check out more pics from 'Les Mis'

"Sorry for being so harsh," he wrote. "but it's so True!"

Hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

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• 'Les Miserables' dreams a dream, and dreams big

Universal Pictures

Mark Wahlberg didn't realize one his lines in "Ted" would upset some moviegoers.

Mark Wahlberg stars opposite a cute teddy bear in "Ted," but there’s nothing kid-friendly about the movie itself. The comedy's wisecracking humor is strictly for grownup audiences. But some say one of the movie’s zingers isn’t really appropriate for anyone.

In a romance rivalry scene, Wahlberg’s character tells his competition, "From one man to another, I hope you get Lou Gehrig's Disease." 

Lou Gehrig’s Disease, otherwise known as ALS, is a serious, often fatal motor neuron disease with no cure, and The ALS Therapy Alliance wants everyone to know it’s no laughing matter.

"The punch line in the movie 'Ted' comes at the expense of people afflicted with ALS,” spokesperson Traci Bisson said in a statement.

Wahlberg responded to the controversy during a radio interview with 94.7 Fresh FM’s "The Tommy Show" on Thursday.

“I had no idea,” the actor said of backlash about the joke. “It wasn’t our intention to really offend anybody. (Writer, director and co-star) Seth (MacFarlane) wrote the material, so you got to take it up with him, first of all. And second of all, I didn’t know anything about it.”

Do you think the joke was inappropriate? Should Wahlberg or MacFarlane apologize for the line? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Columbia Pictures

Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) share a tender moment in "The Amazing Spider-Man."

REVIEW: "The Amazing Spider-Man" is a reboot of the classic comic-book franchise, and this summer, it risks getting lost in a deluge of superhero movies. But Spidey’s story of a parentless teen endowed with great strength and responsibility will always have significant drawing power -- it just needs a team that can mine its remaining gold.

Thankfully, director Marc Webb (“(500) Days of Summer”) knows how to do just that. Casting Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone was a superpowered decision. Their witty dialogue and bantering romance brings pleasure to a film that's otherwise a rehashing of superhero clichés. Webb also adds in a greater sense of mystery about Peter's vanished parents, opening the film with a fast-paced sequence that shows their frantic, curious departure.

You know the basics: High-school science prodigy and photographer Peter Parker (Garfield) is bitten by a genetically altered spider, affording him great strength and web-slinging abilities. (In a slight departure from the 2002 "Spider-Man," he must invent his own web technology; it's not organically produced). Then, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a friend of Peter's missing father, mutates into The Lizard, wreaking havoc in Manhattan after Peter gives him an algorithim he found in his father's files that he believes will allow the doctor to regrow his amputated arm.

The plot, while it contains a few diversions and interesting turns, is mainly a device for moving the film along to explore the characters of Peter and pre-Mary Jane Watson girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Stone). 

Garfield and Stone's real-life romance clearly shines through, especially when Peter can’t find the words to ask Gwen on a date. She helps him through it, nodding her head and leaning forward as if to coax the question from his mouth. Their relationship is an exercise in clever nonverbal gestures, and, likewise, the film’s success lies not in the excited cries of Peter as he web-slings through the city during his cartoony chases, but in the understated stakes and tension that are set between Peter and Gwen.

It’s never a question that Peter will prevail in the action sequences or that he’ll win Gwen (a sequel is already slated for 2014). It’s Garfield’s ability to don an American accent and embody a character who’s earnest and humble yet overconfident and extremely able that’s most pleasing and surprising. Like Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark in “Iron Man,” the layers of carelessness, seriousness, light romance and sense of duty make Peter magnetic.  

While the requisite bad guy chases and a subsequent death of an important character carry a certain weight, Webb generally keeps the film breezy. Peter quietly takes photos of Gwen from afar, exclaims “Mother Hubbard!” when flustered, and gets smashed against a locker by his school nemesis before humorously humiliating him. It's not so much an in-depth look into the meaning of responsibility and manhood as Sam Raimi's 2002 forerunner seemed to be. Rather, it’s a tale of young love, fun and impossible adventure framed by a good-versus-evil story that’s grown increasingly dull.

What we love about superheroes now is how their peculiar personalities shine brighter than their super abilities. It's empowering and enjoyable to watch Tony Stark/Iron Man sip whiskey and crack jokes before facing Loki in "The Avengers," or to see Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow take care of Russian thugs while chatting on the phone and tied to a chair. "Amazing Spider-Man" falls right in line. 

A perfect couple if there ever were one, Peter and Gwen's witty, smart and charming chemistry outdoes the tired mad-scientist plot, rendering the routine action sequences more superfluous than super.  

How do you feel about Hollywood's reboot of the Spider-Man franchise? Planning to see it? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in "Django Unchained."

Quentin Tarantino’s latest shoot 'em up, revenge spectacle “Django Unchained,” doesn’t come out until Christmas, but Tarantino and the Weinstein Co. have whet our palette with Wednesday's release of the punchy trailer.

Ever since 2007, when Tarantino told The Daily Telegraph that he was looking to shoot a spaghetti Western, expectations have been high for the famous pop-culture-obsessed auteur’s newest film. Will Smith, who Tarantino had initially written the lead role of Django for, declined the part while Sacha Baron Cohen, Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner dropped out just before production. Yet none of this derailed the powerhouse film, which borrowed half its name from Sergio Corbucci’s hyper-violent 1966 Western “Django.”

In the trailer for the new film, Tarantino showcases his usual blend of shockingly gruesome violence, quick wit and charmingly sadistic characters as dentist-turned-bounty-hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) buys the freedom of a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) to help him capture the murderous Brittle brothers. After reaping their bounty, the duo chooses to stay together and head off to rescue Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), who's enslaved by Calvin Candie, a wry plantation owner played by a drawling Leonardo DiCaprio.

As Django transitions from sad man on the chain gang to gun-toting bounty hunter hell-bent on finding his wife, the music changes and the excitement kicks in.

Check it out:

“Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention,” Candie tells Dr. Schultz and Django in the trailer.

The Francophile slave-owner might as well have been talking to those of us who watched the teaser. “Django Unchained,” you have our attention. See you Christmas day.

What do you think of the trailer? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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LOS ANGELES -- Movie studio 20th Century Fox on Friday changed the title of upcoming summer comedy "Neighborhood Watch" starring Ben Stiller to distance the film from the racially-charged shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

Fox said the title was changed to "The Watch," and the studio also launched a new promotional trailer for the film about suburban dads hunting beings from another world.

20th Century Fox

The stars of "The Watch," from left, Richard Ayoade, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill.

"As the subject matter of this alien invasion comedy bears no relation whatsoever to the recent tragic events in Florida, the studio altered the title to avoid any accidental or unintended impression that it might," the movie studio said in a statement.

Fox in March removed from theaters posters showing a shadowy figure and a teaser trailer for "Neighborhood Watch" following the national uproar over Martin's death in Florida at the hands of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was not initially charged because of a Florida law that allows people to use deadly force if they feel their life is in danger. However, he was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder and is now awaiting trial.

Along with Stiller, "The Watch" stars Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill and will be released in U.S. movie theaters on July 27.

Dave Kettering / Debuque Telegraph Herald file via AP

People enjoy the "Field of Dreams" baseball field in rural Dyersville, Iowa.

“Field of Dreams” is one of the few movies that actually moved me to tears when I saw it in the theater. I know it’s corny, but it still does. I can’t stop myself from watching whenever I run across it while channel surfing late-night television. Who can resist ghosts, baseball and believing in the impossible?

It appears that the town where the movie was shot continues to wrestle with one of the central questions of the movie. Dyersville, Iowa is considering a $38 million plan to turn the farmland around the famous cornfield diamond into a marquee destination for traveling youth baseball teams. While the plan could provide an economic lift to the region, it also has unleashed an emotional battle as the town of 4,000 tries to decide if they should build it.

From the City of Dyersville website:

In 1982, screenwriter Phil Robinson became interested in the novel "Shoeless Joe."  He recognized the potential for this heartwarming story and looked for a setting for the film.  In the early months of 1988, Robinson came upon the Lansing farm near Dyersville and said, "That's it!  That's my farm!"  The movie produced was called "The Field of Dreams," starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones.  Today the site is well maintained and visited by many baseball enthusiasts.

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