“So strange a knife got on board. Can’t wait to get to Maui.” The very concerned Paris Hilton on her flight to Hawaii being disrupted when a knife was found on board her plane.
Category: General
Does Waiving Your Celebrity Fee Really Count as Charity?
Celebrities are constantly signing up for gigs, and waiving their fee as a “charitable” gesture. But does it really count as charity when you waive your payment? Why not give your money out of your personal bank account instead — or perhaps match the fee? Darren Criss, the new Gleek I often pick-on, performed at The Roxy over the weekend and donated the proceeds from the gig to charity. He also signed autographs in exchange for audience members bringing toys-for-tots gifts. And let’s not forget Idol Gives Back, which is perhaps the best example of all time. American Idol hosts a charity show, and the huge ratings allow FOX to pocket a tremendous amount of money from the ad revenue. But FOX doesn’t donate their ad revenue, and they instead air an entire show about how every American, except the FOX executives, should “give back.” Americans wouldn’t need to “give back” if FOX, donated half their profit. So am I a heartless prick that doesn’t appreciate a decent gesture, or am I correct? As an aside, I didn’t think of this brilliant theory on my own. The great Howard Stern said it during his famous Bill O’Reilly interview. I’ve posted the very funny video below, and he begins to talk about Bill’s “chachkies” on minute 3:10. And if you’re wondering why I chose Katy Perry as the picture for this post, I figured nothing says “charitable giving” like Katy Perry in a skimpy American flag outfit.
Sean Puffy Combs Late for Chelsea Lately — She’s Pissed
If I didn’t know better, I’d think Sean Combs was as dumb as a box of rocks, and if you watch his interview on Chelsea Lately, you might be under the same misconception. The truth is Sean has established an empire, including his very successful clothing line, Sean John, which is said to gross $100 million annually. It’s also been nominated five consecutive years by the Council of Fashion Designers for excellence in design, winning once in 2004. On top of that, many fashionistas in my coffee-talk circle claim he’s one of the only celebrities to launch a quality clothing line. I like to think I surround myself with an accurate case sample of geniuses. Anyways, watch the interview below to see a very unimpressed Chelsea Handler, give Puffy shit for showing up an hour late to their interview.
Spiderman Tragedy Blamed on Human Error — No Sh*T Sherlock
The Actors Equity Association investigated the recent Spiderman injury and determined that it was due to an error on the stage crew’s part. Is this supposed to make anyone feel better? The outrage surrounding the highly dangerous show, is that it’s open to human error. That’s the point. It should be safe enough to where a crew member’s mistake won’t result in someone’s death. Broadway previews are supposed to be about tweaking the small stuff — not figuring out how to keep your actors alive. To quote the very elequent Rent star, Adam Pascal, “I hope whoever was hurt is ok and sues the shit out of Julie Taymor, Bono, Edge and every other asshole who invested in that steaming pile of actor crippling shit!”
Ciara’s Video Banned from BET — Has Sex With Her Clothes On?
Alright, this is certainly old news, but when Ciara reminded Chelsea Lately of the controversy surrounding her ‘Ride’ video, I had no choice but to watch it. Remember that girl at high school dances that basically had sex with the floor, and you thought — wow, that girl is NOT a virgin. Yeah — I think we can all agree that Ciara’s had plenty of sex. Call me a prude, but who knew these moves even existed? As an aside, I find it interesting that videos can get banned based on dancing alone and not nudity. She’s wearing some kind of unitard that completely covers her body — yet she’s — well — just watch it.
Why Can The CW Pick Actors But Not Shows?
Leighton Meester is getting a lot of attention for her new film with Gwenyth Paltrow, Country Strong, and I can’t help but wonder if the people at The CW are happy. Gossip Girl is Meester’s career launching role, and it gets a lot of media buzz, but no ratings. That’s always baffled me, especially considering that I religiously watch Gossip Girl, despite falling outside their target tweenie demographic. But Meester isn’t the only actress from The CW to become extremely successful. What about Blake Lively? She also began on Gossip Girl, and she’s now had three major movie roles (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Town, and The Green Hornet). And let’s not forget Kristen Bell. Bell’s career began on Veronica Mars, which also got press attention but failed in the ratings. Like Meester and Lively, Bell has now moved on to major movie roles. So what’s the problem? Is it a CW marketing problem? Perhaps. When ratings don’t correspond with the quality of your show, you have to question marketing and promotion. Plus, you’d think if your that good at picking talent, you’d be equally as good at running your network as a whole.
Movie Review — Love and Other Drugs
After seeing Anne Hathaway naked for most of this movie, I have two things to say. First, she needs to stop doing interviews about how she’s unnattractive. Second, if you’re wondering how to properly execute nudity in a movie without it feeling forced and gratuitous, then go see Love And Other Drugs — because Edward Zwick (the director) pulls it off masterfully. The movie is about Maggie (Anne Hathaway) and Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), who accidentally fall into a relationship after fighting very hard against it. Maggie has early onset Parkinson’s, and she’s afraid Jamie will eventually realize he can’t handle it and dump her. Her solution is to dump him first. Sounds like most women I know (minus the Parkinson’s). Jamie is a womanizer whose affection for Maggie starts with sex and ends with love. This movie survives solely on the insane chemistry between Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. This is their second movie together, and I recommend they become a new, romantic team, much like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Good chemistry is hard to come-by, and so are good love stories. So go see the film.
Vintage Celebrity Feud: Roger Ebert v. Vincent Gallo
Chloe Sevigny’s recent Playboy interview drew my attention to a very old feud, which was just juicy enough to recount. In 2003, Sevigny starred in The Brown Bunny, a movie written and directed by Vincent Gallo. The film gained a lot of negative attention because Sevigny performed “unsimulated fellatio” on Gallo. Translation? She actually blew him — it wasn’t movie magic. When the film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, Roger Ebert said it was “the worst film in the history of Cannes.” Gallo didn’t take his comment lightly, and began a very funny war of the words with the greatest wordsmith that ever lived. Gallo called Ebert “a fat pig with the physique of a slave trader.” Ebert then retorted with a play on Winston Churchill’s famous quote, saying, “It is true that I am fat, but one day I shall be thin, and he will still be the director of The Brown Bunny.” Gallo, who still hadn’t learned his lesson, said he put a hex on Roger Ebert’s colon. Ebert was unphased, saying, “a colonoscopy is more entertaining to watch than The Brown Bunny.” The irony of this feud is that Gallo later re-edited the entire film, and Ebert ultimately gave it a thumbs up, claiming that he rescued it. There’s still a lesson to be learned here, though — don’t mess with Roger Ebert.
Kate Nash — Music Recommendation
I’m always searching for new, non-mainstream music — and it’s no easy task. While listening to Florence + The Machine on Pandora, I discovered the very gifted Kate Nash. Nash’s lyrics are so literal, I find myself amazed that she gets away with it in such an effortless way. Alright — I just vomited at my music review. Clearly I wasn’t born to write for Rolling Stone. How about this — she’s fucking brilliant (and yes mother, sometimes I curse). Nash was born in Ireland and grew up in London. Her incredible album, Made of Bricks, was number one in the UK and went platinum. I’ve posted two songs below. Foundations was a huge hit, and if you’ve ever been in a failed relationship, I would encourage you to listen to it. It’s a post-breakup-anthem. The second song I posted, Merry Happy, didn’t chart well, though I think it’s one of the strongest songs on the album. Enjoy!
What is Defamation & Why Didn’t Ashton Kutcher Sue?
At the time Star Magazine published their story about how Ashton Kutcher cheated on Demi Moore, Kutcher tweeted that Star Magazine defamed his character and he threatened to sue. This isn’t the first time celebrities have sued or threatened to sue tabloids for defamation of character. So what is defamation, and why doesn’t every celebrity sue?
The first thing to understand about defamation is that celebrities can’t sue anyone who airs their dirty laundry if it’s true. When celebrities and other public figures sue for defamation, they can only win if they prove that the defamatory statement is false.
Oh what’s that you say? What is a defamatory statement? Great question. It is a statement about the celebrity which hurts his reputation. The statement must also be communicated to a person other than the celebrity himself. (So if Star Magazine called Ashton at his house and accused him of cheating, they’d be in the clear — because no one else heard it).
Given the above explanation, it doesn’t seem like it should be so hard for Ashton to prove his case against Star Magazine, right? They published the story — “Ashton Kutcher Caught Cheating…” — to the world and it makes Ashton sound like an unfaithful jerk. And of course it’s false – that Jamie Madrox look-alike would never cheat on G.I. Jane, right?
But there’s one more catch — as a public figure, Ashton must prove that Star Magazine published the statement with full knowledge that the statement was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was true or false. Sure, they probably knew they were lying and they probably do it all the time. But how is Ashton going to prove it in court?
It is hard for him to come up with photos of him NOT kissing girls. He would have to get someone from Star to blow up their own journalistic spot and say, “yeah, I knew it wasn’t true and I wrote it anyway.”
If you’ve been following my analysis, you might have come to one of two conclusions to the title of this post. Either the case is just too hard to win, or Ashton really did cheat and can’t sue a tabloid for reporting the truth. So which one is it? I have no idea, but you’re free to draw your own conclusions.
In closing, I’d like to proclaim that everything I didn’t already know, I learned from The Dishmaster.