Latest news with #ArroyoGrande
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
SLO County home was being fumigated. That's when burglars struck
At least $6,000 worth of items were stolen from an Arroyo Grande home while it was being fumigated, and while one arrest has been made, other suspects may still be at large. On March 28, it was reported that multiple items including several firearms, jewelry and cash were stolen from a home in the 1300 block of Sierra Drive in Arroyo Grande while the home was unoccupied and tented for fumigation, Arroyo Grande Police Officer Dave Culver told The Tribune on Friday. According to a Facebook post by a neighbor in the Arroyo Grande Current Affairs group, 'part of a respirator' was found in the back yard, indicating the burglars had 'carefully prepared to enter the toxic environment' of the fumigated home. Officers were able to determine through surveillance footage that a burglary occurred on March 28 in the early morning hours, Culver said. Later, while conducting a traffic stop on on April 9, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office contacted two individuals in possession of two of the stolen firearms, Culver said. One of the individuals, a prior felon from Oceano, was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property but could not yet be tied to the burglary, Culver said. The man was also in violation of possessing ammunition and additional drug charges, Culver said. The Arroyo Grande Police Department learned of the arrest from the Sheriff's Office on April 10, Culver said. While the man has not yet been charged in relation to the burglary, the Police Department's investigative unit was then able to obtain a search warrant for his vehicle and phone, which they are currently examining as a part of their ongoing investigation, he said. So far, the vehicle has been searched and the cell phone is awaiting a forensic search, Culver said. 'We are investigating to see if that individual was the person who committed the burglary in our city, or if they are somehow connected to the individuals that committed the burglary in our city,' Culver said. 'We are still investigating to determine our suspects in the burglary case. The individual that's been arrested was arrested because he was found to be in possession of stolen firearms.' Culver noted there are still potentially additional suspects and encouraged anyone with information to come forward. 'As far as it is still an active and ongoing investigation, and as always, we would encourage anyone with any information (to) please contact the Police Department detective unit, and we will be following up on any leads that come in,' Culver said. 'We're investigating all individuals who we think might be associated with this.' Anyone with information can contact the Arroyo Grande Police Department at 805-473-5110.
Fox News
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Oscars' new AI rule could lead to ‘diminishing return' in nominated films: expert
The Oscars announced several changes and updates to their rules for next year's 98th ceremony, including permission for generative artificial intelligence to be included in consideration for nominations. "With regard to Generative Artificial Intelligence and other digital tools used in the making of the film, the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination. The Academy and each branch will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award," the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) shared in a statement. "You're putting your finger on the scale when you're using this type of technology and, yes, humans are involved, but not in the outcome. What's involved here is the AI is doing the heavy lifting," Raymond Arroyo, Fox News contributor and host of the "Arroyo Grande" podcast, told Fox News Digital. He continued, "This is fine for some parts of filmmaking: production design and even script[s] [making] alterations and plot lines, but there's a human element that you're going to want to rely on. Because humans are imperfect, and that's what makes art, and that's what makes the human experience. In many ways, it's our striving for perfection and missing that fascinates." AI was already used in an Oscar-winning film this year, "The Brutalist." The film's editor, Dávid Jancsó, told tech magazine Red Shark News in January that AI tools from Respeecher, a Ukrainian software company, were used to improve the Hungarian dialogue spoken by stars Adrien Brody, who won for best actor at this year's Oscars, and Felicity Jones. "I am a native Hungarian speaker, and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce," Jancsó told Red Shark. "It's an extremely unique language. We coached [Brody and Jones] and they did a fabulous job, but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference." According to Jancsó, Brody and Jones recorded their voices into the AI software, and he used his own voice for some of the dialect. That kind of perfection isn't necessary, in Arroyo's opinion. "Every great story is about the hero trying to achieve something that's really out of his grasp, beyond him," he said. "But for AI, everything is within its grasp. And I do worry that some of the craftsmanship and the artistic choices will be delegated to a computer rather than to another level of human interaction and collaboration." Arroyo doesn't see AI completely replacing creatives entirely, a common fear across Hollywood, but he does believe it could negatively impact the artistic process. "You're always going to have a director, but if your set designs are being done by AI, and your costume design's being done by AI, your background music is being done by AI … you see the diminishing return. That human interaction where art is made is cut off, because you have one prime mover and a computer." The Oscars also announced another rule change that surprised many. Beginning with the upcoming ceremony, Academy members will be required to watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round. Over the years, anonymous Oscar voters have shared their ballots in trade publications, often admitting that they haven't watched some films or finished longer nominees. Arroyo speculated that that may lead to fewer members voting. "I know a number of members of the Academy who don't vote at all, and they don't because they hate most of the films being offered and don't want to sit through them," he said. "So, it's kind of their own personal defection in place." "But I mean, on the whole, it's a good idea people at least consider the nominees in total that they're voting on. But I think they're nominating too many people. You can't have 10 movies nominated for best movie. It's too much. And so it can't also become a second career for members of the Academy to vote with knowledge on your nominees. And so they may have to readjust the sheer volume [of] the awards." According to AMPAS, most categories are voted on by eligible members of their respective branch (costuming votes for costuming, editors for editors, etc.) while certain categories "may be open to members across all voting branches." For the final round, all eligible members may vote in all categories. AMPAS has not yet laid out any methodology on how to enforce this new system, leaving a gray area for how well it will work. "I don't know how professionals are going to have that much time," Arroyo said. "If they're directors and producers and, actors, designers, and they're working constantly, that's a big time suck. So how the Academy patrols it, I don't know." He suggested sending screener links that can indicate whether someone has watched it, or possibly a questionnaire about what happens in the film, but, "there's so much busy work that I think it defeats its own purpose, so they may have to walk that back." "It's a good idea, but the answer is: Nominate less, curtail your categories so you have 10 rather than 30," Arroyo added. As of 2024, there are 23 categories, with two new ones added for upcoming ceremonies. In 2026, members will be able to vote on achievements in casting, and in 2028, a long-awaited stunt category will be available.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mel Gibson warned Jesus actor in ‘Passion of the Christ' role could cost him Hollywood career
Mel Gibson warned Jim Caviezel when they first discussed "The Passion of the Christ" that if he took the role of Jesus it could ruin his career, the 56-year-old actor said this week. Caviezel said he originally met with Gibson's producer about doing a surfer movie, but "the script wasn't there yet." About 40 minutes into the meeting with Steve McEveety, Gibson showed up. "We were talking about surfing movies and everything, and then it pivots into Christ movies, you know, Jesus movies. Well, that's not a surfing movie. It's not Jesus on a surfboard. How's that going to work?" Caviezel told Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo on his "Arroyo Grande" podcast on Wednesday. Caviezel said he remembered back to when he was 19 years old, and he believed the voice of God spoke to him and told him to be an actor. "I went, 'Oh my God,' I mean, I'm not blaspheming God, I'm not taking his name in vain," he said about the meeting with Gibson. "I literally said, 'Oh my God, this is it,' and I said, 'You want me to play Jesus, don't you?" He said Gibson almost swallowed the cigarette he was smoking, and he choked out, "Yeah." "And I said, 'OK, I'm in,' and because of the movie theater [incident], I said, 'I'm supposed to do this. I don't need anybody to tell me to do this.'" Gibson called him two days later to warn him. "He goes, 'You really want to do this?' He goes, 'If you do this movie, you may never work in this town again,' and I went, 'What?'" Caviezel said, "What I wanted to make was what really happened, so I was OK with that." While making the film, Caviezel said he went to confession every day to "keep my temple as pure as I can so that he could come through me." He also went through severe physical anguish while working on the movie, which included contracting double pneumonia, hypothermia, separating his shoulder and being struck by lightning while on the cross. "The pain was excruciating," he said of his time on the cross, adding that in the last shot in the movie, "I got ripped right in half from that lightning bolt." He said he also had atrial fibrillation while he was on the cross and that a set doctor turned to Gibson after listening to his heart through a stethoscope and said, "He could die." After the shoot, Caviezel underwent two heart surgeries that he said stemmed from all that he went through in the movie. The cross was rigged with a bike seat that he could sit on during the shoot, and Caviezel said he was so exhausted that he would sleep while up there. "I couldn't stay awake," he said of the exhausting shoot. He even slept in his makeup that took around eight hours to put on. "It was constant torment," he said, adding that he felt that brought him closer to the suffering of Jesus. By the time they got to the crucifixion scenes, he said he wasn't sure he could pull it off because of his shoulder separation. "It forced me into the arms of my God because I had nowhere else to go," he told Arroyo. But he said once he realized how much God "loves me, I wanted to do it for him." "It was OK though, because it was part of the purpose of why I was born," he added. He added, "The films that we make are controlling the world's narrative, and the world didn't like this film, and that's a good thing, so we did a good job." Caviezel is preparing to play Jesus once again in "The Resurrection of the Christ," and while he's "scared" to take on the role again, he said he knows he wouldn't be ready if there wasn't some fear. Gibson invested tens of millions of his own money into 2004's "The Passion of the Christ," and the film was a huge success, grossing more than $600 million worldwide. It is the highest-grossing religious film at the global box office, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. "The Resurrection of the Christ" is expected to be released in 2026.
Fox News
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Mel Gibson warned Jesus actor in ‘Passion of the Christ' role could cost him Hollywood career
Mel Gibson warned Jim Caviezel when they first discussed "The Passion of the Christ" that if he took the role of Jesus it could ruin his career, the 56-year-old actor said this week. Caviezel said he originally met with Gibson's producer about doing a surfer movie, but "the script wasn't there yet." About 40 minutes into the meeting with Steve McEveety, Gibson showed up. "We were talking about surfing movies and everything, and then it pivots into Christ movies, you know, Jesus movies. Well, that's not a surfing movie. It's not Jesus on a surfboard. How's that going to work?" Caviezel told Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo on his "Arroyo Grande" podcast on Wednesday. Caviezel said he remembered back to when he was 19 years old, and he believed the voice of God spoke to him and told him to be an actor. "I went, 'Oh my God,' I mean, I'm not blaspheming God, I'm not taking his name in vain," he said about the meeting with Gibson. "I literally said, 'Oh my God, this is it,' and I said, 'You want me to play Jesus, don't you?" He said Gibson almost swallowed the cigarette he was smoking, and he choked out, "Yeah." "And I said, 'OK, I'm in,' and because of the movie theater [incident], I said, 'I'm supposed to do this. I don't need anybody to tell me to do this.'" Gibson called him two days later to warn him. "He goes, 'You really want to do this?' He goes, 'If you do this movie, you may never work in this town again,' and I went, 'What?'" "He goes, 'You really want to do this?' He goes, 'If you do this movie, you may never work in this town again,' and I went, 'What?'" Caviezel said, "What I wanted to make was what really happened, so I was OK with that." While making the film, Caviezel said he went to confession every day to "keep my temple as pure as I can so that he could come through me." He also went through severe physical anguish while working on the movie, which included contracting double pneumonia, hypothermia, separating his shoulder and being struck by lightning while on the cross. "The pain was excruciating," he said of his time on the cross, adding that in the last shot in the movie, "I got ripped right in half from that lightning bolt." He said he also had atrial fibrillation while he was on the cross and that a set doctor turned to Gibson after listening to his heart through a stethoscope and said, "He could die." After the shoot, Caviezel underwent two heart surgeries that he said stemmed from all that he went through in the movie. The cross was rigged with a bike seat that he could sit on during the shoot, and Caviezel said he was so exhausted that he would sleep while up there. "I couldn't stay awake," he said of the exhausting shoot. He even slept in his makeup that took around eight hours to put on. "It was constant torment," he said, adding that he felt that brought him closer to the suffering of Jesus. By the time they got to the crucifixion scenes, he said he wasn't sure he could pull it off because of his shoulder separation. "It forced me into the arms of my God because I had nowhere else to go," he told Arroyo. But he said once he realized how much God "loves me, I wanted to do it for him." "It was OK though, because it was part of the purpose of why I was born," he added. He added, "The films that we make are controlling the world's narrative, and the world didn't like this film, and that's a good thing, so we did a good job." Caviezel is preparing to play Jesus once again in "The Resurrection of the Christ," and while he's "scared" to take on the role again, he said he knows he wouldn't be ready if there wasn't some fear. Gibson invested tens of millions of his own money into 2004's "The Passion of the Christ," and the film was a huge success, grossing more than $600 million worldwide. It is the highest-grossing religious film at the global box office, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. "The Resurrection of the Christ" is expected to be released in 2026.
Fox News
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'The King of Kings' proves there's 'clearly an audience' for faith-based movies: expert
"The Kings of Kings," a faith-based film that retells the story of Jesus, has set a record for the biggest biblical animated movie opening ever — beating out 1998's "The Prince of Egypt" — even before it officially opened this weekend. By Thursday, the film had taken in more than $14.6 million in domestic pre-sales, showing that there's "clearly an audience and a market for faith-based entertainment," Fox News contributor and host of the "Arroyo Grande" podcast Raymond Arroyo told Fox News Digital. The movie is based on a Charles Dickens book called "The Life of Our Lord," which Dickens actually read to his children, as the character Dickens does in the movie. "I know there is an enormous yearning in the audience for this kind of content that is both faith-inflected — doesn't mean that it has to be evangelical, or it has be, you know, beating you over the head with a religious message — but just that it acknowledges that faith is an element in human life and history," Arroyo, who noted he has produced faith-based content in the past, added. The movie also has an A-list voice cast, including Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Hamill, Ben Kingsley, Forest Whitaker and Oscar Isaac. "It's an incredible cast they've assembled," Arroyo said, adding that it's also an accessible framework "for families in that it's a father telling a story to a child." He said that the movie educates children "on two levels: You're teaching them not only about the faith that you adhere to, but you're weaving in this incredible, iconic novelist that you're introducing them to on some level, and it just becomes a frame of reference for families." "They've smartly identified and understood that there is a massive underserved audience there of not only faithful people looking for depictions of faith on the screen and in their entertainment, but you also have families with very few options of places they can take their family to be entertained," he explained. Arroyo said that, given the combination of the "yearning for religious content" and a movie that's "that's fun and engaging for a family and their timing before Easter," "The Kings of Kings" has got "winner written all over." "When your audience wants something, you have to find a way to give it to them," he added. "There's clearly an audience and a market for this." "When your audience wants something, you have to find a way to give it to them. There's clearly an audience and a market for this." Public relations expert Matt Wolf agreed, telling Fox News Digital, "You can make the argument that Americans are definitely looking for more faith in their entertainment, especially content that reflects their values and beliefs. Data also shows that this market is consistently growing. And what makes 'The King of Kings' particularly unique is that it's animated." Doug Eldridge, another PR expert, said the film's buzz is "reflective both of its timing (a week before Easter) and the seeming shift in national sentiment, towards a more open-armed embrace of traditional Christian values and creative content." "For context, in 2004, 'The Passion of the Christ' generated $612 million at the global box office," he said. "In 2014, 'Heaven Is for Real' generated $101 million at the global box office, on a $2 million budget. Now, in 2025, an animated retelling of the story of Jesus — especially one featuring the voice talent of notable Hollywood names — is arriving at the right time, for the right audience." Mel Gibson proved 20 years ago that faith-based movies can be successful "when Hollywood kind of turned its back on this audience and Gibson put his own money" towards "The Passion of the Christ," and "took a chance on a narrative that was, you know, set in a foreign tongue, you know, 2,000-year-old stories set in foreign tongue and broke box office records," Arroyo said. "These works will rise or fall on their own merits," Arroyo said of faith-based entertainment. "If the narrative is tight, if the story is well imparted, you are dealing with an individual, Jesus Christ, who, for more than two millennia now, shaped all of human history in an incredible way. And I think that no matter whether you believe it or not, or whether you're an adherent of Christianity or not, there is something to be examined here in this person." Arroyo continued: "There's a reason that he continues to arrest the imagination of artists through time, through history. And I think this is just another iteration. And I think it's kind of cool that they've decided to frame it within the very accessible Charles Dickens box. … It's a neat on-ramp for children into a story that is so profound and filled with such complexity." Arroyo said that people don't want to be "lectured to" in a religious film. "They just want to be acknowledged and have their sensibilities respected. And that's what I think the best of these, what are called 'faith-based projects,' end up doing. They are high art in the case of, you know, 'Passion of the Christ,' and they can also be entertaining," he said. "The King of Kings" bowed Friday.
