Daily Headlines: November 1, 2010

* Caribbean: Haiti and the Dominican Republic are bracing for a Tropical Storm Tomas that swept through eastern parts of the Caribbean over the weekend.

* Peru: Some Peruvians are not too happy with Sofia Vergara's "offensive and discriminatory" joke poking fun at the Andean country during a recent episode of "Modern Family."

* Honduras: Soccer may be nicknamed as "the beautiful game" but it was quite the opposite on Saturday when gunmen killed fourteen people at a San Pedro Sula field.

* Latin America: Venezuela and Paraguay are the most corrupt countries in Latin America while Chile and Uruguay were rated the least corrupt in the region according to Transparency International.

Image - CBC ("A woman walks by damaged power lines and infrastructure after the storm hit St. James Parish, Barbados, on Saturday. (Chris Brandis/Associated Press).")
Online Sources - Transparency International, CBC, Xinhua, Voice of America

Sofia Vergara linked to “Smurfs” film

It’s hard to believe that there may be a worse movie in the works than the planned Speedy Gonzales live-action/CG hybrid. But believe it or not principal photography on a “Smurfs” movie began last week. “Audiences everywhere are in for a Smurfy good time,” boasts the film’s press release in what is set to be yet another 3D animated nightmare. The cast that has signed on to this likely debacle includes several names you may be familiar with:

Sofia Vergara, one of the stars of ABC's Modern Family, is joining the cast of the Smurfs movie. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Vergara "will portray Odile, a powerful executive at a high-end French cosmetics company who is married to the live-action character played by Neil Patrick Harris"…

In addition to NPH and Vergara, the live-action cast includes...Hank Azaria as Gargamel. The voice cast includes Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, singer Katy Perry as Smurfette, George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf, and Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf.

Vergara has also been linked to “Happy Feet 2 in 3D” along with the voices of Robin Williams and Brad Pitt.

In a stunning coincidence, the voice of George Lopez will be in both the upcoming Smurfs and Speedy Gonzales films.

Perhaps those films won’t turn out as terribly as I believe they will. Then again I have a hunch that some agents’ careers will be on the line after the aforementioned films come out.

Image- boston.com (“Rico Rodriguez, Sofia Vergara, and Ed O’Neill in ‘Modern Family’.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, PR Newswire, IGN, Paste Magazine