Images and words

Gwen Stefani Covers 'Elle' May 2011

2011-04-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Gwen Stefani graces the cover of Elle’s May issue, on newsstands April 12.

Here’s what the 41-year-old singer and fashion designer had to share with the mag’s Women in Music issue:

On her appearance: “I mean, I’m very vain. That would be my middle name. Of course I am, you know what I mean? I love the visual.”

On her marriage to Gavin Rosdale: “The first time we ever kissed was right around Valentine’s Day. We were in New Orleans on tour. So, yeah, I always think about that because it’s unbelievable that we’ve been able to stay together. I feel so proud of us. It’s one of my biggest achievements.”

On whether Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Katy Perry have taken a page out of her playbook when it comes to style: “Really? I don’t see myself in those girls. I usually put pants on. I see these girls as more going for the sex-symbol thing. I was more, in the band, like a tomboy. Of course, I think every girl is sexy, so there’s going to be a little of that. But I see a lot of younger artists going more toward the sexy thing.”

FYI: Gwen is wearing a stretch wool dress with leather trim from Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci with her own earrings.

For more of Gwen’s interview, check out Elle.com!

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Man with multi-talented penis uses condom

2011-04-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

TBWA Paris put together this amusing PSA for AIDES, the French AIDS awareness group, featuring probably the most gifted and accomplished penis depicted on film since John Holmes. The whole thing leads up to the tagline/punch line at the end. Possibly NFSW, I suppose. TBWA Paris has a history of doing fun AIDES spots. Previous efforts have included last year's freaky bathroom-graffiti spot and the truly epic "Baby Baby" cartoon from 2005.

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Two More Arrests in News Corp. Hacking Scandal British police stepping up their investigation

2011-04-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Neville Thurlbeck, the chief reporter at News Corporation’s News of the World, and Ian Edmondson, the paper’s former news editor, were arrested Tuesday morning in connection with the ongoing phone hacking scandal that has engulfed the British tabloid.

The investigation into the scandal, which involves hacking into the phones and messages of people the paper covers, has been going on since 2005. Until now, though, only three people had been arrested. Two of them—former royal editor Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who’d been employed by the paper—pled guilty to conspiracy charges in 2006.

Neither Thurlbeck nor Edmondson have been officially charged. They’re likely to be released soon, according to The Guardian.

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William Mortensen (1897 - 1965)

2011-04-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

William Mortensen, self-portrait (as a kind of "Mad Hatter magician")

L'Amour

Jean Harlow

Warlock

The Kiss

Freida Pinto is finally happy with her looks after finding love with Dev Patel

2011-04-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

SHE'S been hailed as one of the world's most beautiful women but Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto has only recently become comfortable in her own skin.

Mumbai-born Freida admits she used to think of her latte-coloured skin as a drawback. She said: "There's one disturbing notion throughout India that light skin is more attractive than dark."

And it's a belief even Freida once shared. She admitted: "When you doubt one thing about yourself, you start thinking there's also something wrong with your hair, your body, your clothes, your accent."

In her modelling days, she even auditioned for jobs advertising Indian "fairness creams", supposed to lighten darker skins.

"I knew those products were wrong, so I'd show up with a heavy heart," said the 25-year-old.

Freida is now grateful that she didn't advertise any of those creams - and a chance encounter with a stranger in a Hollywood hotel made her appreciate true beauty.

She explained: "A woman came up to me and said, 'I'd love to have your skin because it's so beautiful.' She was as pale as could be, and my first thought was - where I come from, people want to be your colour."

"It was then that I realised people always want what they don't have. And I decided to be happy with the way I'm made."

Now Freida is a face for L'Oreal make-up and works hard to keep her skin looking good with exercise, a regular cleansing routine and plenty of water.

She added: "I make loads of fresh vegetable juices with coriander or pepper so that it's tastier. The concoction makes my skin glow and is good for the digestive system too."

Of course, there may be another reason for her happy glow - boyfriend Dev Patel, her co-star in Slumdog Millionaire.

Since starring in the Oscar-winning hit, Freida has worked all over the world.

For You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, which opened last month, she worked in London and New York with Woody Allen.

Then she travelled to Tunisia to play an Arab princess opposite Antonio Banderas in Black Gold, and in Hollywood she worked on a prequel to Planet of the Apes.

It's been hard for her to find time for former Skins actor Dev, last seen in the blockbuster The Last Airbender.

"Dev's so understanding," she said. "That's what really matters and that's how we make it work."

Despite being brought up in Mumbai, acting in Slumdog Millionaire opened her eyes to the poverty in the city.

"I've lived all my life there but I never really bothered about life at a slum," she confessed.

"But the movie, made by a foreigner in my own backyard made me more sensitive. It made me realise that people are so poor not out of laziness, but because of the lack of an opportunity to succeed."

In India, Freida and Dev, 21, are seen as the equivalent of Posh and Becks.

And when they went back to Mumbai to visit the city slums, they were mobbed. Or at least Dev was.

"Nobody recognised me at all," she laughed। "They all followed Dev, calling him crorepati - which means millionaire."

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Meat-child ad wows Wrath of Cannes judges

2009-06-29T01:51:00.001-07:00

At Cannes, you win awards by surviving round after round of rigorous judging and proving your unparalleled skill in the persuasive arts. At Wrath of Cannes, you win by inserting a giant piece of steak into an elementary school photo. (Click the image to enlarge.) The anti-Cannes festival was held Thursday night in Brooklyn. The winning work, for Lea & Perrins steak sauce ("Every steak has potential"), was done by Alan Kwon, an associate art director at RTC Relationship Marketing in New York. There he is below, holding (and possibly sucking on) the Grand Coney trophy—a statue of a man with his head up his own ass. He also won a bike. UPDATE: We were misled. Kwon won because of this tearaway print ad for Crunch gyms. The steak ad is still groundbreaking.

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BK kitchen becomes a giant killing machine

2009-06-29T01:49:00.000-07:00

Robots and obits are two of my regular beats hear at AdFreak. They go hand in hand, as robots are dedicated to the destruction of mankind. Which brings us none too smoothly to Burger King's tie-in with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. My colleague Rebecca Cullers has noted the "conspiracy" aspects of the campaign and warned us of "a series of worldwide robot sightings." Oh, it's far worse than that, people. As our flesh-and-blood world reels from the loss of the King of Pop, the metallic monsters have found their king: the Burger King! He's been robotized to massive proportions—transformed, if you will, into a digitized death-dealing demon! Someone would probably die if a giant King smashed through a BK like he does in the spot above. There’s be chaos and confusion, at any rate. And then my chance of getting no pickles, already abysmally low, would decline even more. Robots. They'll spoil your meal every time.

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Iconic TV pitchman Billy Mays is dead at 50

2009-06-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

He was the man with no inside voice, the man who seemed to be on every late-night cable channel at once, the man who comprehensively convinced us we don't need a cabinet full of cleaners. And now, sadly, infomercial icon Billy Mays is dead. Details were scarce Sunday, though there were apparently no signs of foul play, so that probably rules out the Yakuza gangsters who were stalking Mays in the hilarious self-parody above. It's always been hard to pin down what made Mays so good at selling cleaning products, dubiously necessary inventions and just about anything else. Was it the beard? The wildly gesticulating hands? The tone that straddled the line between evangelism and straight-out screaming? Obviously it was all of the above that catapulted Mays from hawking wares at local garden shows to reality TV stardom on the Discovery Channel's PitchMen. So here's to Billy Mays, a one-man sales juggernaut who, like fellow commercial legend Ed McMahon, was never afraid to laugh at his own public persona.

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Ana Ortiz gives birth

2009-06-29T01:47:00.000-07:00

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Ugly Betty star Ana Oritz and her husband, musician Noah Lebenzon, have welcomed their first child, a daughter, on Saturday, PEOPLE has learned exclusively.

"She is elated and completely glowing," said Ortiz's rep. "She is surrounded by her friends and family and so happy to be a mom. She is just really enjoying the moment. The baby is absolutely beautiful."

The baby girl – Paloma Louise Lebenzon – was born at 4:25 p.m. in New York City and weighed 7 lbs., 10 oz.

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Lady Gaga Cancels Show, Makes Fans Unhappy

2009-06-29T01:45:00.001-07:00

US pop star Lady Gaga is to miss performing at a second Take That concert in Manchester due to illness.

Angry fans complained after the star failed to appear as one of the support acts at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Saturday, with no explanation given.

A spokesman for Lady Gaga told the BBC the star pulled out at the last-minute as she was "feeling unwell" and would not be performing on Sunday either.

He added she was "currently resting on doctor's orders".

"Lady Gaga was feeling unwell on Saturday and, after consulting her doctor, the decision was reluctantly taken that she was unable to perform with Take That at Old Trafford last night and tonight.

"Lady Gaga is currently resting on doctor's orders, but is looking forward to rejoining Take That at Wembley next weekend.

"She would like to thank Take That for supporting her decision, and apologise to the band and her fans for being unable to perform," he added.
Take That will finish their tour at Wembley on 5 July

The 50,000-strong crowd booed after a big screen notice announced on Saturday the singer would not be performing.

According to fans, first support act Gary Go entertained the audience instead, but began an hour later than originally scheduled.

A 31-year-old fan from Stockport said: "It was a bit disappointing because there was nothing to get you going. You were stood there like a sardine."

Margaret Graves, 58, of Hoylake, Wirral, said: "Gary Barlow said 'thanks to Gary Go whose got us out of a real spot'."

She added he apologised to fans for Lady Gaga's non-appearance and said: "'Don't get me started, you should have heard me backstage'."

Fans have been posting their disappointment on Take That's website with one writing: "How dare Lady Gaga not turn up? She lost herself 50,000 fans last night!"

The star performed a one-hour set at Glastonbury on Friday night.

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Will Michael Jacksons funeral be the biggest since Princess Diana's?

2009-06-29T01:42:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson's funeral is likely to be the biggest in entertainment history, drawing tens of thousands of mourners and hundreds of millions of TV viewers.

It is expected to eclipse that of Elvis Presley in 1977, at which 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis, and could rival Princess Diana's 12 years ago when 250,000 gathered in Hyde Park alone.

Even the funeral of silent film star Rudolph Valentino in New York in 1926 drew 40,000 fans.
Enlarge Overwhelmed: Nadege Barnes prays outside the Jackson family home in Encino, California, where fans have laid flowers

Overwhelmed: Nadege Barnes prays outside the Jackson family home in Encino, California, where fans have laid flowers

Celebrity mourners at Jackson's service could include showbiz legends such as Paul McCartney, who sang with him, and Elizabeth Taylor. Even if his family insist on a private ceremony, it will be almost impossible to keep fans away.

Jackson was raised a Jehovah's Witness, who are forbidden from following funeral customs that are not mentioned in the Bible.

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Emma Watson in ELLE: First Look

2009-06-29T01:41:00.001-07:00

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Emma Watson for Marie Claire Mexico

2009-06-29T01:39:00.001-07:00

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Coolio pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine

2009-06-29T01:38:00.001-07:00

The Grammy-winning rapper Coolio, below, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine on Friday, and will enter a drug rehabilitation program for 18 months, thus avoiding jail time, Reuters reported.

Coolio, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr., was arrested on March 6 at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of felony narcotics possession. He resisted arrest at the time, but in exchange for his guilty plea on Friday in a Los Angeles courtroom the authorities agreed to drop charges of battery and possession of a smoking device.

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said Coolio faced three years in prison if convicted on all charges. His 1995 single, “Gangsta’s Paradise,” earned him a Grammy Award for best rap solo performance, but in recent years he has spent most of his time on reality television shows like “Celebrity Fear Factor” and “Coolio’s Rules.”

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Shakira's new single "Loba"

2009-06-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

Loba - Shakira

Shakira's new single "Loba" premiered today on imeem. It's in spanish and the english version "She-Wolf" will be released in mid-July.

Rise of the Cobra

2009-06-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

The gossip story of the day so far is that Paramount's upcoming "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra" is so bad that the director may have been fired.

It all began when a posting on Don Murphy's message board, now removed, claimed that a test screening of the upcoming action film scored the worst marks in the studio's history. As a result Paramount exec Brad Weston had the film's director Stephen Sommers ("The Mummy," "Van Helsing") fired and locked out of the editing room.

Stuart Baird, a renowned "fixer" editor was brought it to try to see if it could be made releasable, while producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was told "his services were no longer needed on the film either". When word of the firing started to get around, Sommers "was summoned back to the editing room but only to save appearances, Baird is still editing the movie with studio input."

Latino Review then followed that post up with a few checks of their own. While columnists have been quick to slam the film, it apparently is tracking quite well, and so the site got in contact with di Bonaventura himself to ask if the report had any truth?

"It's completely untrue he was never asked to leave or been fired or any of that. That’s ridiculous. The movie tested very well. Everybody was happy, the studio was happy, the filmmakers were happy, the audience was happy with the movie. We had three test screenings, three different times and tested it and each time it just got better and better. We started off in a good place and we ended up in even in a better place, which is what you hope on a film from testing it."

So what happened in the editing room? "Nothing that doesn’t happen on every other movie, which is that you constantly work and work and work and you make it better and better. We had a delay on visual effects so we waited a long time to finish the movie but that’s the only thing. I don’t really know why that would be interpreting it negatively but I guess it was".

Still, many remain dubious. There's been blood in the water on this film for a while and many online critics seem to have already made their minds up on the film. Sommers has generally provoked dislike amongst critics, and the word is with 'Joe' he essentially got total creative freedom to do what he wanted. Has that resulted in a workable film? We'll find out in two months.

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Wondergirl's Debut in America Update

2009-06-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

WonderGirls will move on with the plans of their American debut.

The girls who had been confirmed to be the performing guests to Jonas Brothers‘ World Tour 2009, will be releasing a digital single on 27th June. And from 27th June all the way till mid August, they will be performing for the opening show to Jonas Brothers‘ World Tour concert. They will be performing the songs ‘Nobody’ and ‘Tell Me’ for the concert. And they will be performing the English versions to the songs.

One of the American staff said, ‘The song ‘Nobody’ is a great charming song for listeners of all ages from whatever nationality. Not only is the song perfect, the choreography is perfect.”

“The girls will debut with their own charms and not having to transform into the other American artistes.” Park Jin Young will be the producer to the girls’ American debut, and unlike the other artistes trying to hit into the American market, he did not work with other American artistes for the girls’ debut.

And it is said that the WonderGirls will release their American official debut album in September-October. The album will have songs written and composed by Jonas Brothers. The girls will also work with the Jonas Brothers to come up with a electronic house number.

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Bo Bice and wife expecting third child

2009-06-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

There will be two American Idol debuts to look forward to in January – the premiere of Season 9 and a new arrival from alum Bo Bice!

The season four contestant announced wife Caroline's pregnancy on Friday evening at a fan club gathering in Nashville.

"American Idol has a new winner each year – seems things are the same in our house," Bice, 33, tells PEOPLE. "Can't wait to introduce our new little 'Idol' to the world January 31st!"

The latest addition will be the third child for Bice and his wife, who are also parents to sons Caleb James, 9 months, and Aidan Michael, 3 ½. The couple have been married four years.

On tour throughout the summer, the rocker will open for Lynyrd Skynyrd in August.

• Reporting by ANNE MARIE CRUZ and RANDI RADCLIFF
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Thirteen does Maxim July09

2009-06-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

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David Cross talks about dating a lovely YOUNG lady (and other stuff)

2009-06-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

The actor, who has the comedy 'Year One' coming out Friday, says he has been working without a break for a year and a half now -- not that he's complaining.

By Choire Sicha
June 14, 2009
Reporting from New York -- David Cross appears in "Year One," which opens Friday, with Jack Black and Michael Cera. He is dating Amber Tamblyn, late of ABC's recently canceled "The Unusuals." We met at his East Village apartment, where he keeps his truly awesome dog.

Is the publicist yours? Or the film's?

It's mine! I've never had a publicist before but my girlfriend, who's in the business, as they say, she's with them, and I said, wow, you know, I've got so much happening right now, in the space of a few months. I've got this movie, the London show, a book coming out ["I Drink for a Reason," due Aug. 31], and it just seemed to make sense. The whole idea of seeking out publicity was anathema to me and how I like to live, but I was also very ignorant and naive about what they do and she kind of explained it to me: No, they keep you out of those things you don't like. I'm still on the fence but then I discovered I might be able to get discounted or even free baseball tickets and I was like, let's do it. So it's a three-month trial basis. And, so far, I've gotten a free jacket and a free tie.

They help you with outfits!

I needed an outfit for the White House Correspondents' Dinner and they made a singular phone call to GQ and I went to their offices and got fitted with a suit for the dinner and they sent someone to pick it up the next day.

What's going on in London?

I shot a pilot for Channel 4. And it'll air, I believe, in December. When we picture-lock on Friday, it will be almost two years to the day that I was first approached by those guys. The cast is a crazy dream team. ["The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret" costars Will Arnett and Spike Jonze.]

Is it worth getting paid in Euros?

You mean pound sterling? The time that I was going over there and working on this back and forth, the dollar was really in decline -- and prices are comparable to New York. I'd walk out of a pharmacy with toothpaste and soap, some Q-Tips, a thing of water, and I was like whoa, I just spent $39. Now that I'm getting paid, the dollar has risen up and I'm getting less. I did the math: man, 30,000 pounds, that's $60,000! Now it's only $42,000.

What is the subject of this book of yours?

It's a collection of humor tidbits. Some of it's fictional, some nonfiction, some essays, some really silly [stuff]. The font is quite nice!

So you're diverging. You're an octopus. You're going eight ways.

Are you saying I'm like Tad -- "8-Way Santa"? No one's going to get that reference except old punkers. I've always done a lot of [stuff]. I'm making another TV show -- my friend Jon Benjamin and I are shooting a pilot for Adult Swim.

What are they like? Are they insane?

Yes! . . . 'Wait, I thought you said do this, now you're saying do this?' That's my brief experience with them. It's been interesting. But we're making the pilot and I'm looking forward to it

There comes a point in a man's life where he wants to take it easier. And you're not doing that.

But you know why: because of the nature of this business and how work rolls in. Fairly recently, three years ago, I didn't work for six months. I got really depressed, I was angry, I was a [cruddy] person to be around. I didn't understand why or what was happening.

And now you're in "Year One."

I worked pretty nonstop from January of last year to now. I literally finished shooting the sequel to "Alvin and the Chipmunks" for three days, headed to London. It's been pretty nonstop but really great. Outside of the "Alvin" thing, which I could give a [brass farthing] about.

But that stuff pays!

Absolutely. "Alvin and the Chipmunks" paid me more than all my other projects combined: book, TV show, the two pilots, "Year One," yeah. And I'm contractually obligated to do it.

Good for you.

It was a sequel and the first one did insane business. Anything I've been a part of creating, "Alvin" paid me twice as much as those things combined -- for very little work.

It's the Laura Dern model.

That's your best example? Laura Dern? Your reference is 15 years old. Steve Buscemi, who was in "Con Air," who wrote and directed his own movie? I'm talking about not even acting in stuff but when you write and create something and produce it and you're not getting much money, you're adding 75% of your time.

What is up with Amber? I always feel bad when people get their shows canned.

She worked her . . . off on that thing. . . . She'd be gone 17 hours a day.

She's OK, right?

She'll be fine, yes! She's in L.A., her book comes out soon. It comes out basically the same week mine does. ["Bang Ditto," another collection of Tamblyn's poetry, is due out Sept. 1.] She's pretty amazing. I don't know what I did to luck out. I'm glad she pursued me.

Is work changing for people this year?

Oh, absolutely. I'm not complaining because I have plenty of money, more money than I certainly need, and for most of my life have been used to. As you can see, I don't have a lot of luxuries.

Just Rock Band.

And I got some art. And a dog. I don't live a lavish lifestyle. And so I'm not complaining at all. It's one of those things where, OK, you've got this offer for this movie, and it sounds great. But to tell you ahead of time, they're crying poverty, they don't have as much money as they used to, and everyone's getting less and there's nothing they can do. All the studios are going, "We just don't have it in our budget, you know." I'm sure it's down the line -- wardrobe, editing, everyone's getting less money. Except for the studios.

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Hulk defends Brooke, denies smoking pot

2009-06-03T02:15:00.000-07:00

Hulk Hogan is jumping to the defense of his daughter, Brooke, 21, after her mother, Linda, accused her of everything from lying about having a breast augmentation to hanging out with a guy who smokes marijuana with her father. "I can't believe Linda would do this," the former wrestling champ tells Life & Style exclusively. "She's lost and needs help."

Hulk vehemently denies Linda's claim that he was "rolling and smoking joints" with Brooke's boyfriend, Stack, during one of Brooke's recording sessions. "Absolutely not!" he shoots back. "Brooke is a clean-cut girl. She's very open and honest." In fact, Hulk suggests that Linda, who filed for divorce in 2007 after 24 years of marriage, is the one using drugs. Linda has said she'd happily submit to a drug test to prove otherwise. Hulk's response? "If Linda says she'll take a drug test, I say bring it, brother! It needs to be done, and she'll fail it."

In the meantime, he just wants Linda to stop attacking their little girl. "Brooke can't have a relationship with her mother like this," he tells Life & Style. "I hope one day Linda will grow up and be an adult like Brooke is. Linda has to reach to her level. One day, maybe."

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Oven Pride ad not sexist so much as idiotic

2009-06-03T02:12:00.000-07:00

This Oven Pride spot has caused an uproar in the U.K. Set to nursery-school music, it features a husband learning a lesson in the kitchen as the announcer keeps repeating, "Oven Pride. So easy, even a man can do it!" Hey, sweet, I didn't realize we were bringing the '80s role-reversal thing back! In 1979, Kramer vs. Kramer showed that a father could learn how to make breakfast. Advertisers picked up on the trend big time, for two reasons: 1) They had finally sniffed out this thing called feminism; and 2) Somebody had to look stupid in order to learn a lesson in a commercial, so now it was the man. Hee hee! The trend is still happening, to some degree, as advertisers pander to women, but not with the aesthetic sledgehammer of this particular spot. I guess it's meant to be taken straight—it's too dumb to be ironic. But the bigger takeaway for me is how hard it is to use the product—and how little it helps. This big lug has to place heavy, greasy oven racks in big plastic bags, shake them, then remove them and wash them off. The main problem with washing oven racks is getting the things in and out of the oven. If you're going to have to rinse them off in the sink anyway, how much good does pre-rinsing them in giant bags do? Stupid product, stupid commercial. Now, honey, get me my breakfast, and make it snappy! You think these caribou slippers put themselves on?
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The Veronicas to do MTV reality show

2009-06-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

The Veronicas are in discussions to appear in their own reality series on MTV, Sydney Confidential has learned.

The proposed series, described as a “documentary-style” program, would offer fans of Australian-born rocker siblings Lisa and Jess Origliasso a behind-the-scenes look at their attempt to crack the international music market.

The Veronicas are no strangers to an American audience. In 2008, the girls appeared in ten webisodes of Yahoo!’s Pepsi Smash with The Jonas Brothers. They have also performed on The CW’s Beverly Hills, 90210 and the 2009 Miss USA pageant.

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Katy Perry does Company Magazine - June '09

2009-06-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

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Before They Were Stars: 50 Celebrity First Jobs

2009-06-03T01:49:00.000-07:00

1. Nicolas Cage - Sold popcorn at a movie theater
2. Charles Bronson - Coal Miner
3. David Lee Roth - Hospital orderly
4. Paula Abdul - Laker Girl
5. Clint Eastwood - Pool Boy
6. Sean Connery - Lifeguard
7. Mick Jagger - Hospital Porter
8. Cyndi Lauper - Emptied dog kennels
9. Steve Buscemi - Firefighter
10. Ozzy Osbourne - Slaughterhouse Worker
11. Gwen Stefani - Worked at Dairy Queen
12. Rod Stewart - Grave Digger
13. Queen Latifah -Worked at Burger King
14. Warren Beatty - Rat Catcher
15. Alec Baldwin - Bouncer
16. Kanye West - Worked at the Gap
17. Jason Lee - Worked behind the counter at a Taco Bell
18. Whoopi Goldberg - Bricklayer
19. Mickey Rourke - Movie Theater Usher
20. Claiy Aiken - A counselor at the YMCA
21. Marlon Brando - Ditch Digger
22. Matthew McConaughey - Cleaned out chicken coops
23. Donald Trump - Rent Collector
24. Gene Simmons - Newspaper Delivery Boy
25. Jon Bon Jovi - Made Christmas decorations
26. Keith Richards - Tennis Ball Boy
27. Russell Simmons - Worked at Orange Julius
28. Nancy Grace - Worked the candy counter at Sears
29. Henry Fonda - Worked for a credit agency
30. Pamela Anderson - Fitness Instructor
31. Jennifer Aniston - Telemarketer
32. Lucille Ball - Sold ice cream
33. Michael Douglas - Gas Station Attendant
34. Robin Williams - Street Mime
35. Danny DeVito - Hair stylist
36. Garth Brooks - Boot Store Salesman
37. Drew Carey - in the Marine Corps.
38. Kurt Cobain - Janitor
39. Evangeline Lilly - Flight Attendant
40. Jerry Seinfeld - Sold lightbulbs
41. Sting - Teacher
42. Vin Diesel - Bouncer
43. Eddie Vedder - Gas Station Attendant
44. Christopher Walken - Lion Tamer in the circus
45. Julia Roberts - Worked behind the counter in an ice cream shop
46. James Dean - Tested stunts for the game show “Beat the Clock”
47. Walt Disney - Ambulance driver
48. Carmen Elektra - Danced at a theme park in Ohio
49. Tom Cruise - Bell Hop
50. Faith Hill - Receptionist

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A Sims 3 Mega Post

2009-06-03T01:35:00.000-07:00

Wired: 4 Ways to Make the Most of Sims 3’s Massive Upgrades

The Sims 3 arrives Tuesday, and fans of Electronic Arts’ mind-bogglingly successful franchise are going to want to set aside some time to take in all the upgrades.

Quite a bit of time, actually: The Sims 3 is a sprawling mass of a game, building upon the success of its predecessors and taking the virtual-life simulation series to entirely new heights.

The title has received a graphical face-lift and more new features than you can shake a stick at, including an open world, personalities for your characters and enough customization options to make the hardiest of creative types light-headed. And if you never saw much point to carrying out mundane tasks virtually, a new goal-oriented structure means there’s likely to be something here for you, too.

Here are four tips to mull over while you’re installing the game on your PC or Mac.

1. Roll Your Own Life, Then Brace for Impact

When it comes to designing your virtual citizens, Sims 3 offers an unprecedented amount of freedom. A dizzying array of sliders and color wheels lets you customize just about every aspect of your Sim, from the roots of their hair to the socks on their feet. For the first time, you’re also able to design your Sim’s personality.

There are 63 different traits to choose from that will determine how your characters behave. But choose wisely: A neat Sim will wander about the house performing menial chores, but an absent-minded one will probably forget all about those cookies in the oven.

If you’re not very creative, or can’t be bothered with tweaking so many options, you can have a random family of Sims generated for you. There are also quite a few premade families packaged with the game. If you’d like to avail yourself of the hyperactive Sims fan base, you can also download characters made and shared by other players.

2. Let Your Little Ones Roam

What better way to explore the new, seamless world than going out for a jog? Sims 3 gets rid of all those pesky loading screens, allowing players to explore every nook and cranny of their towns.

Feel free to call a cab if you’re in a hurry, but Sims who wander will meet new friends, find the occasional seed to plant in their gardens or stumble upon a quiet spot to do a bit of fishing.

Your Sims are a also bit more independent than in previous versions of the game. Icons called Moodlets will help you keep track of which needs aren’t being met, and your characters will address these problems when possible. That means you can spend less time shepherding them and more time playing the game. While you’re still free to lead Sims around, it’s often far more interesting to see what the ones you haven’t been watching have done with their time — whether it’s buying a few groceries or stealing all the light fixtures and potted plants from their neighbors’ houses.

3. The Happy Sim Gets the Goods

While most Sims fans have been content designing elaborate homes and lives for their virtual personas, the Sims 3 has something in store for the goal-oriented gamer, too. As you play, your Sims will earn Happiness points by staying in a good mood and completing the occasional mini-objective, determined by their traits.

Take a Sim who is granted the Evil and a Bookworm traits, for example. This Sim might earn a few points by heading to the library and swiping candy from an infant along the way. Sims also have a Lifetime Wish.

Completing these will net you thousands of Happiness points, but they require enormous amounts of effort — becoming Leader of the Free World isn’t for the faint of heart. Happiness points can be cashed in for prizes that can make life a bit easier, from a steel bladder that cuts down on bathroom visits to a Teleportation Pad that (usually) gets your Sims where they need to go.

4. So Much to Do, So Little Time

The life of a Sim isn’t all about telling jokes and throwing parties — unless you want it to be. For Sims who like to stay occupied, there are a number of careers to choose from, with success determined by your ability to work hard, stay in a good mood and make friends. You’ll need the simoleons you earn to shop for groceries, buy furniture or keep the bill collectors at bay.

A work and no play makes a depressed, unproductive Sim, though, so when the weekend won’t come soon enough, don’t be afraid to skip work and play videogames. But remember: The clock is always ticking. Sims will eventually grow old and die. The game will track the progress of all households. After a few weeks of play, your town will likely be unrecognizable. So be sure that your Sim goes out and makes its mark on the world: You don’t want to have spent your entire virtual life wasting away in front of a computer screen, right?

CNET: 'Sims 3' ready for prime time

OS ANGELES--Start saving simoleans, everyone: "The Sims 3" has finally launched.

The latest full iteration of the famous "Sims" franchise--"The Sims" launched in 2000 and became the best-selling PC game of all time, and "The Sims 2" released in 2004--the new game presents a chance for its publisher, Electronic Arts, to bolster its bottom line, even while trying to push the boundaries of what game players are used to.

The original "Sims," from the hit-making game designer, Will Wright, was a game in which players could control a household of, yes, "sims," little people whose daily lives depended on players' attention. The innovations in the game, plus its non-goal-oriented nature, its unique graphics, its ahead-of-its-time game play and a number of other factors quickly made it into a success far beyond what anyone could have imagined. It also spawned a series of expansions that were also successes.

Then came "Sims 2," which improved upon the original title's graphics, incorporated more user-generated content--players could now use a movie feature that allowed players to script and make films starring their sims, while players of the original version figured out a way to do so themselves using the game's "family album" feature--and also spawned a series of hit expansions.

As a result, EA spun "The Sims" off its original studio, Maxis, and turned it into one of the company's main labels. And now, with the release of "Sims 3," EA has both a chance to prove it can continue to maintain its most popular and lucrative franchises, and to win over a new generation of players unfamiliar with the little green diamond that floats over players' characters' heads.

But EA has had a series of layoffs, its much-anticipated "Spore" franchise, which moderately successful, has not been the mega-hit the company likely hoped it would be and it is facing an environment in which the games industry, while still stronger than most, is finally starting to show some cracks.

So how important is "Sims 3" to EA? Well, it's not bet-the-house important--no game could be to such a large company--but it's certainly got to be up there.

And now, as the latest iteration incorporates even more social media, and more user-generated content--players can now not only make films starring their sims, but can also have full editing control over the footage--EA has to deliver with bottom line figures. Will it? Only time will tell. But there's certainly a lot of excitement around the game. And given the franchise's history, it would be tough to bet against them.

MTV: The Sims 3: Final Look

Five years and eight expansion packs after “The Sims 2,” Maxis has finally stepped away from the drawing board to deliver a new approach to their popular life simulation franchise in “The Sims 3.” The changes range from subtle to dramatic, though ultimately it all still boils down to running partially AI-controlled rats through a maze. In the case of “The Sims” of course, those rats are actually human beings and the maze, a small-town community.

The Basics

There is no story in “The Sims 3” except for the one that you create yourself. The first step is to create a Sim or a family of Sims to be your own, a process that now results in a much more realistic approximation of real people. This is largely thanks to five assignable Traits slots (ie evil, slob, party animal, lucky, loves the outdoors, never nude) which in turn informs the created Sim’s Lifetime Wishes, long-term goals that earn you points which can be spent on a variety of tedium-killing perks.

As for the game side, play is no longer explicitly focused on managing Needs meters such as hunger, bladder and so on. The needs are still there, submerged behind several menus, but they all inform a new, constantly visible meter that indicates your chosen Sim’s Mood. Performing different activities opens up Moodlets, which function as time-based buffs or penalties to your Mood. Lifetime Wishes provide definable goals for each Sim to work towards while randomly occurring daily Wishes offer smaller, easily achievable goals, acts as minor as giving your significant other an amorous hug.

The Highs

Endlessly Replayable: Like every other “Sims” game, “The Sims 3” is designed to deliver radically different experiences on repeat visits. New elements such as randomly occurring Opportunities ensure that even identical Sims will experience different life stories.

We Got To Live Together: The neighborhoods of old are gone. Sims now dwell in one contiguous space as part of a whole town. Your home, place of business, shopping centers, recreational & learning facilities and more are all visible and accessible on the same map.

Streamlined Tedium: Each Sim still has Needs, but the Mood meter and associated Moodlets make keeping track of it all a snap. Rather than watching for one need or another to dip, you instead respond to negative Moodlets as they appear; if you get slapped with a penalty because your Sim has to pee, then send him to the bathroom. The expectation is that you’re eventually performing routine, lifelike actions to preemptively eliminate negative Moodlets.

If Wishes Were Fishes: Daily and Lifetime Wishes, and the Lifetime Wish Points you earn for completing them, add an almost RPG level of carrot-dangling and long-term customization to the game. Earned points are spent on Lifetime Rewards, each of which functions to make your Sim’s progress through life easier. You’ll make friends quicker, spend less cash in stores, have an easier time picking up new traits; it all depends on what you choose to “purchase.”

The Lows

Great Power, Great Responsibility: Like its predecessors, “The Sims 3” still boils down to lots and lots of micromanagement. As more people enter your family circle, managing them all becomes quite a chore, especially since every Sim has an annoying tendency to do what he or she wants if left unattended. There are a lot of wheels to keep spinning in your typical Sim’s life and managing them all for even a single person can be a daunting experience.

User Unfriendly: “The Sims 3” is certainly bright and colorful, filled with whimsical imagery and sly pop culture in-jokes, but the non-stop stream of tutorials which pop up to confront newcomers is daunting. Even longtime fans are going to experience a learning curve as they adjust to new gameplay systems. Series noobs are in for a slow learning process as they come to grips not only with the complex underlying meter juggling but also the series’ unique pacing.

Microtransactions: The Exchange, where user cans freely trade created items, is now joined by an official Sims Store. Here you can spend real money on points, which can then be used to purchase a variety of household items, pre-made Sims, even (eventually) whole neighborhoods. The new feature isn’t terribly surprising, but it also leaves players with an extremely limited collection of household stuff to choose from. A robust pattern creator allows players to put in the time to make each object distinct, but those coming off of “The Sims 2” and its many expansions will quickly want for more crap to choose from.

Final Word

“The Sims 3” remains the unique experience it has always been, albeit with some welcome streamlining. The changes aren’t enough to make the game completely accessible to all, but mass appeal really isn’t what a proper “Sims” game has ever been about. Fans will certainly appreciate the more focused approach on simulated living, but newcomers will similarly be just as mystified as they’ve always been. Although it remains a “Sims” game through and through, “The Sims 3” is without question the best in the series so far.

Wired, CNET, MTV

Britney Spears: ‘I’m Learning to Relax’

2009-06-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears is learning to relax more and not take things so seriously.

The singer — who suffered a highly-publicized breakdown in 2008 — says in an interview with Britain’s More! magazine that she’s finally getting her life back on track.

“I feel positive, I feel much happier, and things are looking good again,” she said. “I’m learing to relax more and take everything in my stride, and to not place so much pressure on myself.”

“I’m learning to take better care of myself,” she added, “and not get stress or down about things for nothing. I’m taking my time these days and not letting myself feel any pressure other than to just feel happy and to work on my music.”

Asked how she currently feels about her life, the 27-year-old said, “There are so many things that I am grateful for. I just want to make the most of this time in my life and build from there. It’s a good feeling.”

Spears is currently in London for the UK leg of her Circus world tour.

source

Very Bad Drawings Of Celebrities: A Photo Gallery

2009-06-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

People like drawing celebrities. But it seems like the people who really like drawing celebrities are the ones who can't draw. Here are some of the worst on the Internet.

Brad Pitt

Billy Mays

David Beckham

Taylor Hanson of Hanson

Chris Farley

Sylvester Stallone as Rambo

Eddie Van Halen

Marilyn Monroe

Kenny Rogers

Jennifer Aniston

The Jonas Brothers (I Live 4 Jonas)

Martin Luther King Jr.

Matt Damon

Michael Jackson In The Wiz

Nick Carter

Pierce Brosnan

This One Was Called Sarah Michelle Gellar

Whoopi Goldberg In Sister Act

BONUS AWESOME DRAWING:

Sarah Palin With Pancakes On Her Head (Your Argument Is Invalid)

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Megan Fox: ‘I’m a Role Model For Strong Women’

2009-06-03T01:25:00.000-07:00

Megan Fox thinks she’s a role model for strong, young women.

The Transformers star — who recently likened herself to a prostitute — wants to help teenage girls “feel strong and intelligent and be outspoken”.

“It depends on what your idea of a role model is,” Fox told the Times of London in a new interview. “If your idea of a role model is somebody who’s gonna preach to your kids that sex before marriage is wrong and cursing is wrong and women should be this and be that, then I’m not a role model.

“But if you want your girls to feel strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right, then I want to be that type of role model, yeah.”

Fox, 23, admits she’s afraid of typecasting. “Getting typecast as what? Attractive? How bad is that?” she explains. “That’s not really a bad thing. If people want to look at me like that I find it flattering. And it gives me an advantage because people don’t expect anything from me.

“If I show up and give any sort of performance at all, even a mediocre one, everyone will walk away going, ‘Holy shit! Megan did a great job in that movie!’ So I’m an overachiever just by default because of the category I’ve been put in.”

Source

Little Gracie Sheffield will be on Heroes

2009-06-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

Madeline Zima to Star in Heroes
Source:The Hollywood Reporter
June 3, 2009

The Hollywood Reporter says that "Heroes'" Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) is off to college in the fourth season of the show.

She will cross paths on the college campus with a quirky student played by Madeline Zima. "Californication" co-star Zima has been hired to recur on the NBC drama.

In a multi-episode arc she will play Gretchen, an edgy outsider and college roommate to Claire.

source

Sizemore hopes to avoid surgery

2009-06-02T05:45:00.001-07:00

The Indians said an MRI of All-Star center fielder Grady Sizemore's inflamed left elbow revealed no structural damage. But that doesn't mean Sizemore isn't a candidate for surgical intervention.
Sizemore, placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday, will rest the injury and receive treatment for the next two weeks. If the inflammation in the elbow doesn't calm down by that point, Sizemore will probably have arthroscopic surgery performed on the elbow, according to head athletic trainer Lonnie Soloff.
The arthroscopy would essentially clean out the inflamed joint.
"In essence," Soloff said, "it would suck out all the inflamed joint lining."
If the procedure is performed, Soloff said Sizemore would miss an additional four to six weeks.
"Probably closer to six," Soloff said.
So that would be two months total spent on the DL for Sizemore, who has never been on the DL previously in his career.

Obviously, it's a scenario the Indians hope to avoid. Thus far, Sizemore's elbow hasn't responded favorably to treatment. He spent two weeks getting treatment on the elbow while spending most of his time at designated hitter and only three games in the field. This past week, his only activity was swinging the bat, as the Indians held him out of pregame shagging duties.

"We hope parlaying that [week off from throwing] with two weeks off [from all baseball activity] will help Grady overcome the symptoms," Soloff said.
Soloff said Sizemore, who is one of eight Tribe players on the DL, injured his elbow on a swing and miss earlier this season, though he did not reveal when that exact instance occurred.
"At the elbow, the thing that causes [inflammation] symptoms is extension," Soloff said. "This is clearly the result of baseball activities."
Soloff said the injury is similar to that suffered by Victor Martinez last year only in that it involves inflammation. But Martinez, who missed two and a half months of action, also had loose bodies and a bone spur that had to be addressed surgically. Sizemore does not have such structural damage, according to the Tribe.
"Grady's condition is more similar to Aaron Laffey's at the end of last season," Soloff said.
Laffey was shut down in the Minors in early September because of elbow inflammation. He rested and rehabbed the injury before beginning throwing activities in October. Laffey avoided surgery, and the Indians hope Sizemore can do the same.
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Source

Muse announce European tour dates

2009-06-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

Muse are pleased to announce the European leg of The Resistance Tour! The band will be playing 30 dates this autumn starting in Finland on Thursday 22nd October and winding up in Italy on Friday 4th December taking in 7 arenas in the UK and Ireland on the way including two nights at the O2 in London! Tickets go on general sale in the UK, Sweden and France on 5th June.

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Jimi Hendrix Murdered By His Manager

2009-06-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

The rock legend Jimi Hendrix was murdered by his manager, who stood to collect millions of dollars on the star's life insurance policy, a former roadie has claimed in a new book.

James "Tappy" Wright says that Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffrey, drunkenly confessed to killing him by stuffing pills into his mouth and washing them down with several bottles of red wine because he feared Hendrix intended to dump him for a new manager, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.

In his book, Rock Roadie, Mr Wright says Jeffrey told him in 1971 that Hendrix had been "worth more to him dead than alive" as he had taken out a life insurance policy on the musician worth $2m (about £1.2m at the time), with himself as the beneficiary. Two years later, Jeffrey was killed in a plane crash.

Hendrix died in September 1970, aged 27. An ambulance crew found his body in the Samarkand Hotel, west London, in the room of a woman called Monika Dannemann, whom he had known for only a few days.

Hendrix was alone in the room, lying on his back, with the gas fire on and the door open. There was no record of who had called the ambulance. His inquest recorded the cause of his death as barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit, and recorded an open verdict.

Describing the night of Jeffrey's confession, Mr Wright wrote: "I can still hear that conversation, see the man I'd known for so much of my life, his face pale, hand clutching at his glass in sudden rage."

Wright claims Jeffrey told him: "I had to do it, Tappy. You understand, don't you? I had to do it. You know damn well what I'm talking about.

"I was in London the night of Jimi's death and together with some old friends... we went round to Monika's hotel room, got a handful of pills and stuffed them into his mouth... then poured a few bottles of red wine deep into his windpipe.

"I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more to me dead than alive. That son of a bitch was going to leave me. If I lost him, I'd lose everything."

John Bannister, the surgeon who dealt with Hendrix at hospital, has said he was convinced the star had drowned in red wine, despite having very little alcohol in his bloodstream.

"I recall vividly the very large amounts of red wine that oozed from his stomach and his lungs and in my opinion there was no question that Jimi Hendrix had drowned, if not at home then on the way to the hospital," he wrote in 1992.

source

Winona Ryder has no ill-will toward Angelina Jolie

2009-06-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

Winona Ryder says she has no ill-will toward Angelina Jolie, who received most of the praise for their 1999 mental hospital drama "Girl, Interrupted."

Although Ryder was the film's lead (and executive producer), Jolie's performance garnered more buzz and landed her a 1999 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

"I knew from the outset that whoever played Lisa was going to get all the attention," Ryder tells the July issue of Empire magazine. "At one point they asked if I wanted to play Lisa and I said, 'No, I want to be Susanna.'"

"But there was no resentment," Ryder goes on. "When it came out, people almost felt bad for me. But I expected it all along. I was really happy with the film, and really proud of it."

If anything, Ryder said, she feels bad for Jolie.

"At the time I worked with her, she was battling her looks because she's so beautiful," she says. "She wanted very much to be taken seriously and not just judged on her looks. And she conquered that."
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Lady Gaga: Making of "Paparazzi"

2009-06-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

13 Celebrities in Need of a Career Overhaul

2009-06-02T05:26:00.000-07:00

Jessica Simpson talks about her life, career, weight, father dad, boyfriend Tony Romo, and other (yawn) fascinating things in a wordy cover story profile -- The Jessica Simpson Question -- in this month's Vanity Fair.

She talked to the writer -- Rich Cohen -- over two glasses of wine, never a good idea. But unfortunately, nothing she says is particularly boozy, revealing or vaguely interesting.

Which other celebs are stalled, sputtering, switching gears or just plain out of gas?

SCARLETT JOHANSSON

Scarlett Johansson now knows that being Woody Allen's muse is not the key to big Hollywood success. Especially since Penelope Cruz got all the darn kudos for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Watch Scarlett wise up and flex her Angelina Jolie movie-making muscles in "Ironman." Hey, she's already got the boobs and the lips.

BRITNEY SPEARS

Sure she's got perfume lines and other stuff. But seriously, how long can Britney Spears stay on tour? For the rest of her life? When will her "Circus" land permanently in Las Vegas?

LISA RINNA

Rumor is that Lisa Rinna may lose her $3 million gig hosting TV Guide's red carpet shows. And she didn't get a return role in the new "Melrose Place," despite her desperate traffic-jam publicity stunt ...

What's next, a line of Lisa Rinna lip plumpers? She can always keep shooting Playboy spreads to help sell her exercise videos.

LINDSAY LOHAN

Lindsay Lohan's film career is kaput. She didn't last long on "Ugly Betty." That comeback album she's been working on with Samantha Ronson is still MIA. Now she's launched a line of self-tanners. Can Infomercials be far behind? We'd like to suggest a line of rehabs.

AVRIL LAVIGNE

Avril Lavigne's music career seems to be cooling off on the back burner. Isn't time for our little Punkette to grow up and start giving her fans more than just the finger?

BRITTANY MURPHY

Brittany Murphy was once Hollywood's fresh-faced romantic comedy cutie pie. For about a week. Then she quit the biz, then she came back. So what's she done lately? Other than getting her lips plumped up and false eyelashes applied, we mean.

DENISE RICHARDS

Denise Richard's career is well, "It's Complicated." She never really had a big time film or TV career. She was a Bond Girl, for what's worth. Then she got married to Charlie Sheen and we all know how that ended. The new season of her reality show is starting up again on June 7. We can hardly wait to hear that lyrical hyena laugh.

HEIDI & SPENCER

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, two of the most annoying people on the planet, have over-marketed themselves to the point that no glossy mags wanted to buy exclusive photos of their recent MTV "The Hills" publicity stunt, er, wedding. What's next, Heidi's birth videos? Anyone?

SARAH JESSICA PARKER

Sarah Jessica Parker should ride the SATC horse as long as she can. But do us a favor, SJP. No more big-screen kissing scenes. This face in High Def close up is truly frightening. Even without that MIA mole.

JENNIFER ANISTON

Jennifer Aniston is still milking the romantic comedy teat with her new film, "The Baster" (with Jason Bateman and Juliette Lewis) about a woman who becomes a single mom via artificial insemination. Let's be blunt. We don't see Aniston ever being nominated for an Oscar. Make the Rom Com money while you can, honey.

ANGELINA JOLIE

Angelina Jolie's last two serious films, "A Mighty Heart" and "Changeling," didn't fare well at the box office or get any big prestigious awards. So she's back to her action suspense "Lara Croft" drill in "Salt. Are we tired of this act yet? Kinda.

CAMERON DIAZ

Cameron Diaz is getting up there and can't keep relying on shaking her booty. Even though it's still pretty darn perky. Her next film, "My Sister's Keeper," -– about a dying child -- may be her dramatic breakthrough role. Or it may just suck. Hey, there's always "Shrek 7: Assisted Living."

I'm disturbed by the lack of men on this list, but otherwise agree with most. However, Heidi & Spencer don't need a career overhaul, they just need to GTFO. They have no career to overhaul.

To everyone asking, the gif is from Jessica Simpson's "I Belong to Me" video, which can be viewed for lulz here.

Source

David Fincher interview

2009-06-02T05:24:00.001-07:00

The first album David Fincher bought was Burt Bacharach’s soundtrack to Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. The film itself made the eight-year old boy decide he had to be a director. His first gig was working at FX house Industrial Light & Magic, before he started making music videos for everyone from Madonna to The Rolling Stones and made his feature debut with Alien. He recovered from that experience to become one of the most visionary filmmakers working today. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, his seventh feature, garnered three Oscars. “It’ll take me five years to process the maelstrom of nonsense that was part and parcel of that experience,” he says, laughing. “But I’m happy with the movie...”

Empire: What did your mum make of The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button?

David Fincher: My mom really liked it, which is probably not good news! Although I live for her opinion. You know, mom said all the right things: “Your father would have loved it!” She’s a little sentimental.

E: Who did you watch your first R-rated movie with?

D: I’m trying to think. I’m sure The Godfather was an R, right? They shoot a man’s eye out! So I’m going to say it was that. I was ten! There was a theatre in San Anselmo [in California]. My friend Scott Urquart, his older sister was the manager of it. It was awesome! We’d go in the side door and watch whatever the hell we wanted.

E: And be scarred for life!

D: Exactly. My parents wouldn’t let me see Taxi Driver. I had to sneak off and see that. Saw The Exorcist and my parents found out when I couldn’t sleep for three weeks. “Why won’t you sleep?” “I don’t know, I just... I just feel like... everything’s a little weird tonight. Don’t you think we should turn the lights on?”

E: Were you a big reader, growing up?

D: No. I know — it’s sad! You tend to feel differently about reading things when your dad’s a writer. It wasn’t as fun, for some reason. I guess it was easier to go to the movies — and remember, at the time, there were a lot of really great movies. And that was something my father and I loved to do together.

E: What do you remember watching together?

D: I loved the Monty Python movies. Loved. I made my dad drive us 45 minutes to see And Now For Something Completely Different. He was like, “All these skits are in the TV show!”
But he loved Holy Grail.

E: Who would you say has been the biggest influence on your career?

D: I’d probably say [manager] Josh Donen. He gave me the book for Fight Club and found me Panic Room. Actually it was sort of, “I’ve read this script and you won’t want to do it, because it all takes place in one house” and — of course — as soon as somebody says you won’t want to do it because of some limitation I’m like, “Why? That could be kinda cool; maybe someone could really do something with that!” And then, you know, he put together Zodiac. So Josh and Ceán [Chaffin, Fincher’s partner]. Both those.

E: Do you remember the first album you bought?

D: The first album I bought? You know what, I’m going to bet you it was the soundtrack to Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Burt Bacharach’s. I know it was. I was eight. That was probably the first.

E: That’s something to listen to whenever you’re feeling down…

D: It’s amazing and it’s so weird that it works! [starts humming ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’] Oh my God! I can’t believe they’re going to have ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’! That’s the one thing Bob Wagner [Fincher’s regular assistant director] and I always argue about. It’s like, “Yeah, it’s a great movie but can you get past ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’?” And I, of course, can, and I don’t know why that is…

E: George Lucas lived near you when you were growing up and you went on to work at Industrial Light + Magic, but did you ever have any dealings with him?

D: Never. He was, you know, he was just a thing that we all aspired to be: a guy in charge of his own world.

E: You made a music video with The Rolling Stones. Were you nervous about working with them?

D: This is a true story. The Rolling Stones was, I think, the first concert I ever went to, when I was about 10 years old. I liked this song I was going to do the video for, ‘Love Is Strong’. I thought it was a kind of cool, nasty little Stones [number]. You know, you could imagine it coming out of a jukebox. Like, “Yeah! /That’s a Stones song!” So that’s why I agreed to do it and I ended up having one, five-minute, conversation with Mick and a couple of conversations with managers and I trundled off to Vancouver.

E: Where they were touring?

D: Yeah. Then it was about a week of being tortured by third-hand hearsay about, “Well, they don’t like this and they don’t like that and can you come up with something for this?” And I was like, “Hey man, I don’t tell you how to make your records, let me make the video that I know how to make…” There were so many hierarchical levels to get through. I remember kind of being fed up and I got this call to say, “Hey you should come down to the rehearsal and meet with them and walk them through it one last time.” I said, “All right.” I was kinda pissed off. And I’m about ready to just go, “You know what? Fuck this! You guys have such clear ideas about what it is you want to do, you go ahead!” I was pretty fed up. And I remember pulling into this arena and all of a sudden I hear [hums opening bars of ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’] And it just sends shivers! All of a sudden you go, “That’s why I’m here! I’d totally forgotten why I’m here, I’d totally forgotten why I’m putting up with all this bullshit: because of /that/!” And all of my wanting to tell everybody off just kind of melted [laughs]. How great, how fortunate am I?

E: What other director would you love to watch work?

D: Um, oh, I don’t know. You know, I’ve seen Steven Spielberg work. That’s pretty impressive. I’ve seen Martin Scorsese work – that was interesting. It’s like he’s feeding the editing room. He’s not leaving it there on the floor, he’s collecting… I haven’t been on that many sets. I’ve been on my friend’s sets. Which of course is always agonising because you sit there and you go, you know, “Give me a B camera, let me help you out”, because you see them pulling their hair out, going, “I don’t have the time, I can’t shoot this or that!”

E: People like Spike Jonze or Steven Soderbergh…

D: Yeah or Mark [Romanek, director of One Hour Photo]. Steven not so much, because it’s all so quiet. He runs an amazing set. His world that he’s made for himself and the way that it works is very impressive.

E: What was the most important thing you learned from making The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button?

D: Oh, I don’t know! I don’t know what I learned. But I’m happy with the movie. It’s nice to be happy with your movies. It’s painful when you want to be in the line of people with socks filled with horse manure, who want to just beat that movie. You don’t want to be the person who wants to be in that line, to tear your own movie apart!

E: What sort of music inspires you?

D: I’m back into a little bit of a Beatles kick, I don’t know why. The weird thing is when you’re growing up and you’re four years old, you’re like, “Oh, that’s a good song and I like that...” Then next year comes another and the next year and every six months there’s a new album. You know, now I’m middle-aged and I look back on the stuff I was doing when I was 27, which sucked ass, and then you look at The Beatles and you go, “Their whole career lasted seven years!”

E: Hang on, didn’t you make Seven when you were 25 or something?

D: No, no, I was at least 30! That’s still depressing. (Laughs) A friend of mine likes to say, “Remember, when Mozart was your age he’d been dead for 12 years!”

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is out on DVD and Blu-ray on 8 June.

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Katie Couric scratches at her cougar label

2009-06-02T05:22:00.001-07:00

The annual Class Day address at Princeton University requires a speaker with a flair for comedy. But before she even began on Monday, Katie Couric feared the joke was on her, courtesy of Mother Nature.

"It was quite an honor, although slightly daunting to follow in the footsteps of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Jerry Seinfield," Couric, 52, says. "At the precise moment I got up to walk to the podium ... a hawk dropped its half-eaten lunch – a dead bird – in front of me. It landed with a thud."

But then the CBS Evening News anchor jumped right into her irreverent speech that offered a not-so-subtle dig at Sarah Palin "I've been called a cougar lately ... but today ... I'm very happy to be an honorary Tiger instead!" she said, referring to the school's mascot. "Coming here was a real no brainer! After all, I can see New Jersey from my house!"

On a more serious note, she offered some words of wisdom. "Don't be a hater," she said. "Princeton has taught you to think critically, to approach things with a healthy dose of skepticism ... and that's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say. ... Rise above the collegial nastiness and instead celebrate excellence."
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The Beatles: Rock Band

2009-06-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

The world’s leading music game meets the greatest band in history! The Beatles™: Rock Band™ gives fans what they’ve been waiting for: a chance to experience the Beatles’ legendary story from the inside. You won’t just watch and listen as the Beatles make rock history, create landmark records and conquer the world—for the first time, you’ll be part of the band.
Join John, Paul, George and Ringo onstage at legendary shows, behind closed doors in the recording studio, and in dreamscapes that bring their psychedelic imagery to life. The acclaimed Rock Band elements of interactive play and full-band capacity are here, but with brand-new additions. This will be the first music game to offer harmonies, challenging you to recreate The Beatles’ vocal blend. There are custom-built models of the instruments the band itself played; audio straight from the masters; and graphics that take you on a magical tour through the key moments in Beatle history.
Produced with the full cooperation of The Beatles and Apple Corps, the game is packed with fab extras. Master the songs to hear rare audio and view unseen photos from the archives!

The Beatles: Rock Band First Official Trailer

©2009 Harmonix Music Systems, Inc.

Songs in the video:
I Saw Her Standing There
I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Feel Fine
Day Tripper
Taxman
I Am The Walrus
Back In The U.S.S.R.
Octopuss Garden
Here Comes
The Sun Get Back
©John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr

source: http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/

& http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/press.php

Jocelyn Lee

2009-06-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

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Kings of Leon rehearses for Tonight's MTV Movie Awards

2009-05-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

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Blake Lively Takes Flight — Of The Conchords

2009-05-31T13:44:00.001-07:00

Blake Lively celebrates the lighting of the Burberry sign across the Manhattan skyline with costar/boyfriend Penn Badgley at The New York Palace Hotel on Thursday. The event coincided with the day being declared Burberry Day by the NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg.

At the event, I asked the 21-year-old Gossip Girl actress what she thought of her date night out with Penn at Fuerza Bruta: Look Up.

“It was incredible,” Blake shared. “It was wonderful to see. It’s such an interesting art form you don’t generally see. [The indoor rain] was the highlight!”

I also asked her which TV show she would want to guest star on. “Flight of the Conchords!” Blake told JustJared.com with no hesitation. “I love it so much. It’s my favorite show. I’m obsessed with it.”

You hear that HBO? Get crackin’!

More pictures @ the SOURCE

Halle accepting her award from Jamie Foxx at “Guys Choice” Awards

2009-05-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Halle Berry is honored with the Decade of Hotness award at Spike TV’s 2009 “Guys Choice” Awards held at the Sony Studios on Saturday (May 30) in Los Angeles.

The 42-year-old actress had a very special moment with Jamie Foxx, who was on hand to present the award to Halle.

Jamie thanked Halle by kissing her on the lips and giving her a nice squeeze on her tush. Looks like they both really enjoyed it!

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Miranda Kerr is naked with koalas

2009-05-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

IT'S a bold move but Miranda Kerr pulls it off with style.

The home-grown model has posed for her first nude photo shoot, appearing on the cover of the latest edition of Australian Rolling Stone.

She joins an exclusive club who have stripped off for the mag, including Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston and Lady GaGa.

Another famous face to have graced its cover while keeping his clothes on was former Prime Minister Paul Keating, pictured in cool Ray-Ban sunglasses.

In the US Kerr, 26, is best known as a Victoria's Secret lingerie model and Orlando Bloom's squeeze, but back home she is also the wholesome face of David Jones.

She says she decided to go "au naturel" to raise awareness of the environment, specifically koalas.

"I feel strongly about the need to protect our natural environment because it supports our life - it really is that simple,'' Kerr tells the magazine, in stores on Wednesday.

Kerr shot the cover for Rolling Stone's first "green issue'' in Sydney in January, with photographer Carlotta Moye behind the lens.

The day-long shoot also included a real koala named Koral, as Kerr is the face of the Australian Koala Foundation's No Tree, No Me campaign.

The campaign aims to protect koalas' natural habitat, hence Kerr's only prop for the shoot is a chain locking her to a tree.

"It's a sad thing - there are only about 100,000 koalas left in Australia,'' Kerr said.

"Something like 80 per cent of the koalas' habitat has been destroyed since Europeans arrived in Australia.''

Kerr is also set to appear in American designer Marc Jacob's new Protect The Skin You're In T-shirt campaign, joining the likes of Eva Mendes, Heidi Klum, Dita Von Teese, Naomi Campbell and Victoria Beckham to raise awareness of skin cancer.

"I'm fully covered - at least, they've covered my bits with the words,'' she laughed.

Other celebrities to have ditched their clothes for a cause include Nicollette Sheridan, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Donovan and Leona Lewis. Given Kerr's high profile, these latest striking images are likely to be picked up by America's Rolling Stone magazine.

"The great thing about having people recognise you is you can try to make a positive difference - that's what I'm trying to do, especially for young women,'' Kerr said.

Rolling Stone's inaugural green issue includes other well-known Australian faces - John Butler, Ruby Rose and Xavier Rudd - talking about environmental issues close to their hearts.

"I believe every effort we make now has a reaction - if we're making positive changes, if we're all doing the simple, small things we can do to help the environment, it makes a big difference,'' said Kerr, who tries to eat only organic food.

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koala fyt

Rumer Willis guest-starring on 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'

2009-05-31T10:23:00.001-07:00

Rumer Willis has landed a guest role playing a pregnant teenager on the ABC Family drama The Secret Life Of The American Teenager.

The oldest of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s three daughters has signed on to appear in an episode airing in mid-August, according to a report from Entertainment Weekly.

The budding 19-year-old actress has previously guest starred on Lifetime’s Army Wives and the CBS forensic crime drama CSI: NY.

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Paris Hilton recording new album

2009-05-31T10:22:00.001-07:00

This year will be remembered as an important year in history: President Obama’s inauguration, the economic crisis and Paris Hilton’s comeback.

The Paris Hilton franchise is expanding with sophomore efforts from both her TV career and music career. Fresh off of her announcement of a second season of her MTV reality series, “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,” the heiress discussed her forthcoming album and the inspiration behind the material: herself.

“I just talk about, you know … about things that have happened in my life — about friendship, it’s about love, you know, about certain instances in my life, and I think that people will get a really good insight on me and how I think.”

So if you can’t get enough about her life from the TV series, perhaps think of her album as the audio companion to it. So we know what it’s about — but what does it sound like?

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Jennifer's Body Tie-In Comic

2009-05-31T10:20:00.001-07:00

Boom Studios, a comic book outfit, has gotten mighty cozy with 20th Century Fox. They're teaming for an upcoming 28 Days Later series and today they've announced not just a Die Hard comic book (entitled "Year One") but a graphic novel spun off from the upcoming September release Jennifer's Body which stars Megan Fox Boom has attracted some great talent here including ShockTillYouDrop.com friend Tim Seeley (congrats, bud).

The movie event of the Fall is the comic book event of this Summer! JUNO's award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody brings you JENNIFER'S BODY starring Megan Fox as a demonically-possessed cheerleader with a taste for killing teenage boys! In this original graphic novel that ties into the movie and expands on its universe, BLACK METAL's Rick Spears brings you even more hellish Jennifer stories with art by HACK/SLASH's Tim Seely, KICK DRUM COMIX' Jim Mahfood, DMZ's Nikki Cook, and POPGUN’s Ming Doyle.

Jennifer's Body hits theaters on September 18th; the graphic novel, published under the Fox Atomic label, will set you back about $24.99 and hit shelves later this summer

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Mary-Kate Olsen Doing New Movie

2009-05-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

"With the plethora of cool projects in the works, Aliquot Films had much to celebrate at last night's investors party hosted by Founder Jay Kubassek at the IMI Club. The independent film fund and production company will begin shooting "Meskada" on June 8th - the film will be the second feature in production for the NYC-based Aliquot Films.

"Meskada" tells the story of small-town detective Noah Cordin, as he attempts to solve a junvenile homicde that occured during a home burglary in his affluent town of Hilliard. "Meskada" will star Penn Badgley, Kellan Lutz, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cynthia Nixon, and Mary-Kate Olsen."

- Olsen Files

Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana, Blur for 'Guitar Hero 5'

2009-05-31T10:18:00.001-07:00

Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana and Blur all feature on the forthcoming new edition of the 'Guitar Hero' computer game, NME.COM can reveal.

'Guitar Hero 5' is expected to be released worldwide this autumn, and with the latest upgrade of the smash hit game comes a raft of new artists to play along with, including Gorillaz, Bob Dylan, The White Stripes and Coldplay.

Developers Activision are also working on a DJ Hero spin-off game to launch later this year.

In the meantime, NME.COM can exclusively reveal the list of bands set to feature in 'Guitar Hero 5':

Band Of Horses
Bush
Darkest Hour
Blur
Kiss
Blink-182
Iron Maiden
Wild Cherry
Muse
The White Stripes
Jimmy Eat World
Bob Dylan
Gorillaz
Beastie Boys
The Raconteurs
Coldplay
Duran Duran
Tom Petty
Nirvana
Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde
Queens Of The Stone Age
The Sword
AFI
Rush
Doors Down
Smashing Pumpkins
David Bowie
Mötley Crüe
Attack! Attack!
Dire Straits
Johnny Cash
The Derek Trucks Band
Sublime
Wolfmother
Rammstein
Beck
Garbage
Billy Squier
My Morning Jacket
Kaiser Chiefs
Brand New
Santana
Bon Jovi
Weezer
Billy Idol
Elliott Smith
A Perfect Circle
Sonic Youth
Kings Of Leon
The Bronx
Queen & David Bowie
Screaming Trees
The Killers
Vampire Weekend
TV On The Radio
John Mellencamp
Scars On Broadway
The Rolling Stones
Stevie Wonder
Face to Face
Peter Frampton
No Doubt
Iggy Pop
Spacehog
Thin Lizzy
The Police
Children of Bodom
Elton John
Arctic Monkeys
Thrice
Rose Hill Drive
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Deep Purple
Darker My Love
Jeff Beck
Love and Rockets
The Duke Spirit
Sunny Day Real Estate
King Crimson
T. Rex
Gov’t Mule
Eagles Of Death Metal
Grand Funk Railroad
Megadeth

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Candy Spelling Blames Tori for Aaron's Death

2009-05-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows Candy and Tori Spelling had a beef, but now moms is taking the family feud to a whole new level of nasty.

Appearing on a Massachusetts radio station Thursday to pimp her new book, Stories from Candyland, Candy Spelling not just bad-mouthed her 90210-starring spawn, but went so far as to blame husband Aaron Spelling's demise on her estranged daughter.

"My daughter one day decided that she wasn't speaking to my husband, myself and my son and that's how it's continued for the last, oh gosh, four or five years," Candy said to 94.7 WMAS-FM's Kellogg Krew.

"And it was sad, that's what killed my husband actually. He just didn't want to live after that. He has just done everything he could possibly do for his daughter and she wanted no part of him once he couldn't do anything for her."

The über-producer died June 23, 2006, following a stroke; angst was not listed as the official cause of death.

Candy says that while both women have paid lip service in interviews about reconnecting, there has been no such luck thus far. "I've always been trying to work on the relationship. I don't know what the anger is."

Call it a hunch, but maybe it has something to do with the accusations of patricide.

We've been trying to get reps for Tori and Candy on the horn, but so far nada.

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Toy Story 3 Teaser Trailer

2009-05-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

"Entertainment Tonight has a preview of the teaser trailer for Toy Story 3. Someone video taped it (literally, with a video camera) and uploaded the 45-second clip onto YouTube. The quality isn’t great, and that Entertainment Tonight voiceover guy is annoying (sorry for stating the obvious) but those of you who are interested can watch it after the jump. I love how they managed to involve most of the main characters. I’ve heard that the teaser trailer is only playing on digital and digital 3D screenings of Up."

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Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski on Chuck's Renewal

2009-05-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

After all those Subway five-dollar footlongs and tireless online campaigns from Chuck fans, the NBC show was saved with a 13-episode pickup. Stars Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski sent TV Guide Magazine a special thank you message to fans to share their gratitude:

"To sit back and observe the way in which Chuck was renewed was simply remarkable. I am so blessed to be a part of producing something that, when it appears to be at risk of disappearing, those loyal to it join in solidarity and literally speak, march, work, buy, share and will it back into existence. To know that such a huge part of our saving grace was comprised of the media and circle of critics, allows me to appreciate it even further. I'm proud of our crew, and I'm proud of what we're a part of bringing to all of you. But most importantly, I'm proud of you, those that fought. Because not only did you resist the apathy that befalls anyone faced by such adversity, you did so by believing your words and actions mean something. That you mean something. And I hope you know that, to us, you always do. Love & Blessings. -Zac (Viva la Nerdalution)"

"Yay, Chuck! I am absolutely amazed at how much support we have received from our fans and without it, we may not have been around for a third season. A big three cheers to all the people who saved Chuck! - Yvonne"

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Katie wants more sex

2009-05-29T01:47:00.001-07:00

Katie Holmes wants to have more sex with husband Tom Cruise.

The actress – who has a three-year-old daughter, Suri, with the Hollywood
superstar – is reportedly growing increasingly frustrated with the couple’s
hectic schedule and is keen to spend more intimate time with Tom.

A source told Britain’s Closer magazine: “Katie has become noticeably more
miserable in the last few months. She finds it incredibly taxing to lead a
life that revolves around Tom but that doesn’t include enough intimate time
with him to be genuinely fulfilling.”

“She doesn’t just want to go to red-carpet events with him. She always feels
like she’s competing for Tom’s attention.”

Friends are reportedly worried about the former ‘Dawson’s Creek’ star, who
is said to be becoming isolated from her Los Angeles social circle.

The source added: “Everyone is worried that she’s close to breaking point.
Katie spends most days alone looking after Suri. She’s a devoted mother, but
it’s a lonely job. She and Tom have such separate lives.”

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AmEx sues rocker Courtney Love for unpaid bill

2009-05-28T01:47:00.000-07:00

American Express Co wants Courtney Love to leave home without it.

The financial services firm sued the musician in Los Angeles on Wednesday, alleging she owes more than $350,000 in unpaid charges and other fees on her AmEx Gold card.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks $352,059.67 for the unpaid balance, damages, attorney's fees and late charges, and says Love's charging privileges were suspended after she "failed and refused" to make payments.

Love's publicist said he had no immediate information on the suit, and had left a message with her attorney.

Love, the 44-year-old widow of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, is a litigation magnet. She was sued for libel in February by a fashion designer upset by comments Love had reportedly made about her on the micro-blogging Web site Twitter.

Last year, Love was sued for $1 million by an advisory firm seeking its share of proceeds from Love's partial sale of Nirvana's publishing catalog. The deal, covering such Nirvana tunes as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium," was reportedly worth $19.5 million. Cobain killed himself in 1994.

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Danica signs man boobs in Boost Mobile ad

2009-05-28T01:42:00.000-07:00

Danica Patrick has joined 180LA's "Unwrong'd" campaign for Boost Mobile, following in the proud hoofsteps of those cannibalistic pigs from a few months ago. The setup is the same as the earlier spots: The viewer is subjected to some unpleasant visuals—in this case, Patrick signing man boobs and being tended to by a pit team in drag—and is then told that's not as "wrong" as getting screwed over by your mobile carrier. Go Daddy's Bob Parsons is going to be livid when he finds out that Danica signed any kind of boobs in someone else's ad. UPDATE: Also check out the third video below for a peek behind the scenes of the spots. It includes some choice quotes from 180LA's William Gelner, who says that channeling the insanity of his creative team into a Boost ad is like herding cats.

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Potbelly subs cannot contain their own girth

2009-05-28T01:41:00.000-07:00

Palm+Havas's new campaign for Potbelly Sandwich Works promotes the "Bigs," which is apparently an offer of 30 percent bigger sandwiches for an extra $1. The work takes a straightforward approach, grafting "er" onto words to make their point. Some of the executions invade the space of neighboring (fake) ads, ostensibly because the sandwiches are so big. This visual idea works OK, but tongue-tying headlines like "bigger-er," "hungrier-er," "fulfilling-er" and "satisfying-er" just look wrong. And the "Bigs" itself sounds like a malady of the gastrointestinal variety. (Example: That sandwich gave me the Bigs something awful.) Thanks a lot, Potbelly, but Denny's sounds like a safer bet for lunch. Yes, I could've said "safer-er." But that would've been predictable, and in the case of Denny's food, woefully inaccurate.
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Bar Rafaeli Heats Up the May Cover of Marie Claire France

2009-05-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

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Jon & Kate: $10 Million Divorce?

2009-05-28T01:33:00.001-07:00

Scandal-plagued pair Jon and Kate Gosselin’s may be headed for a nasty $10 million divorce, reports National Enqurier.

“Jon said their goal is to be legally separated by July 15 because Kate wants to move on quickly,” an insider reveals. “Jon is going to push for half of their money, but Kate is determined to hang on to as much as she can — and they’re worth more than you think… Needless to say, there’s a small fortune at stake here — easily $10 million. And Jon and Kate will be fighting over it like cats and dogs!”

TLC says it has plans to renew Jon & Kate Plus 8, which kicked off its fifth season on Monday to a record 9.8 million viewers - more than double the show’s previous series high.

“The show’s ratings have grown consistently, as there has been interest in these real-life issues of this real-life family,” TLC said in a statement to E! News. “We will continue to air as the interest continues, and the family wants to do it.”
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Taylor Swift: I Don't Look for Boyfriends

2009-05-28T01:32:00.001-07:00

Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift doesn't follow a rulebook when it comes to dating.

"I don't look for boyfriends. I don't really scour the awards shows for who I'm going to date," the 19-year-old CMT Music Awards nominee tells the Associated Press. "But I think love happens when you're not looking for it, and when it happens, I'm not going to be the one to over think it."

Swift, who once dated Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, says it doesn't matter what her love interest does or how he affects her career.

"When you strategize a relationship too much, like, 'we're not gonna be public about it, and we're gonna say this in interviews,' when you think it all out, I think that complicates the relationship," she says, "I think that's unfair for the relationship."

The award-winning country artist is currently on her first headlining tour for her sophomore album, "Fearless," which already sold more than 3 million copies.

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Jennie Garth Opens Up About Health Problem

2009-05-28T01:29:00.001-07:00

Jennie Garth has been hiding a health secret from her fans - she was diagnosed with a "leaky" heart valve seven years ago.

The former Beverly Hills, 90210 star has spoken out about her medical issues after mourning her father, who passed away last year after battling heart disease for years.

She tells news show Access Hollywood, "I have a leaky valve and it’s a common thing. A lot of people have it and they don’t know they have it… (It) leaks blood.

"It’s your connection to your heart... your artery, the main artery that goes to your heart. It sort of flutters open and shut... It’s weird because sometimes when I’m resting I can feel a little weird fluttering."

But she insists it's nothing to worry about for now: "Down the road it’s something that could get more complicated or it could not. People have had valve replacements and that kind of thing."

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Tori Amos Talks Sex, Jesus, and Swine Flu

2009-05-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

Right then. Tori Amos has got a new album out. It's called 'Abnormally Attracted To Sin'. We went to have a talk with her about it but instead she told us about 80s sex, Jesus and marriage. Although some of that could have been an analogy. We're not sure. Anyway, she was lovely and pretended to like our topical joke. Here's the interview...

HM: Hello Tori, we heard you were ill recently and cancelled a show. We hope it wasn't swine flu.

Tori: No, it was just food poisoning.

HM: Because if you did have swine flu, everyone would know how you got it...

Tori: How is that?! How did I get it?

HM: Suckling pigs! (boom tish!)

Tori: Oh aren't you cute! It took a long time to gestate, didn't it? More than a baby elephant.

HM: Right, here's a proper question. The sticker on the back of your promo CD quotes you as saying you wanted to make a "treasure, something people will value." Do people not value their albums anymore?

Tori: I'm not just talking about the music. We all recognise that, sonically ether is like sex in the 80s.

HM: Er...

Tori: It just gets traded: 'Hi, nice to meet you. Let's just trade...' In LA in the 80s there was a lot of 'trading' going on. And the guys had long hair and they were cute and it was just a good time to be in your twenties.
But moving on... Trading ether is what happens these days. So you think, well just because you can doesn't mean that you don't want to support something that you value. So sometimes as the artist you have to get people to step up and say, 'God, I do wanna hold this. I do really wanna have this magical little treasure.' So I've always put a lot of effort into the packaging and the visual side.

HM: Is all this filthy trading of music the fault of the record companies?

Tori: Absolutely. It's because they didn't recognise what digital does. They didn't recognise what copying meant. And they could have, in the beginning, protected ether – in an appropriate way, but they didn't. And so because of that, it is where it is now. We can't rewrite that story. But what you can do is create something that people say, 'Wow, a lot of magical things come with this and I want to have it.'

HM: You're clearly proud of the packaging and accompanying videos but what about the music? Are you one of those artists who always thinks your new album is the best one you've ever made?

Tori: It's early yet. You can't ask me that. It's getting some good buzz in the States, and that's a good thing for all kinds of reasons. So that's nice. But I can't be objective about it yet.

HM: You must have some perception of whether it's a stinker or not?

Tori: There's no way. That's like trying to be objective about a marriage. Somebody says, 'Is this really gonna work?' And they're asking you right before we're getting married. And the wedding is May 18th, that's the release date. So how can they ask me if it's gonna work? You don't know that. You think you're in love. And you are in love. Are you gonna look back and think, I'm glad I had that relationship – even if you have other ones? 'Cause we have to assume I've had nine other husbands, if this analogy's gonna work. I can look at different relationships/records and say, 'These are the strengths of it. These are not the strengths.' But only with a little bit of time.

HM: Wait, are we married now? Let's say we are.
Changing the subject, do ghosts exist or is it just your pipes expanding?

Tori: Well... I think there's some disgruntled spirits that are trapped. I think the world is so complex that when I look out at night, especially when I'm out in the desert – hundreds of miles away from anything – and you look up and you see what's out there. And you think of all the exploding suns and stars and everything else and yet nobody knows where we go. There's not a little place, a destination. So I think, if the possibilities with galaxies are endless then I don't see why there would just be a destination: either/or for souls. I don't know where all the souls go.

HM: I think you'll find they go to Yates' Wine Lodge on a Friday.
Tori, imagine that you've angered a wizard and he intends to transform you into someone else as a punishment. He gives you a choice of Britney or Lindsay Lohan. Who do you choose?

Tori: You can't be serious! I'd be a mixture. I'd take Britney's heart and Lindsay's brain. And maybe through the two, you find healing.

HM: Or, at the very least, a great new sandwich filling.
What's your favourite smell?

Tori: My husband, right after he's gotten off his motorbike. He's a guy. My husband is a guy.

HM: That's reassuring. Now that capitalism is over, what will we do for fun?

Tori: This sounds terrible...oh god. Well, 'naked bankers nightly entertainment!'

HM: We'd pay good money to see a hedge fund.
Like you, one of our parents is a Methodist preacher. Is that why we weren't like the other children?

Tori: Yes. Yes. Yes. Had to be, right? You either buy into it completely or you have just the right information to start asking the right questions; seeing how it worked.
There were good people in the church, you know it and I know it, and sometimes I don't think people hear that enough from me. They all hear me blast it. But there are some ladies who really made that lemon poppy seed cake with the right intentions. But then there are so many people who would go to church and be so demeaning and mean and destroy others – so I just didn't see a lot of compassionate Christ-like people. Then I started to look into the gnostic gospels and other cultures and mythology and try and understand how Jesus' message got hijacked...absorbed is a better word. How did it get absorbed by the patriarchy out of Rome? And a couple of hundred years in, the church was split into the liberals and the conservatives and the conservatives won.

HM: It's our favourite of the Star Wars movies...

Tori: My parents run my publishing. And my father put my anthology together, and my song 'Crucify' wasn't in it. He'd edited out 'Father Lucifer,' 'Crucify,' 'God'...all these songs. And I've tried to tell people that the guys who put the gospels together are like my dad. They just edited out the books they didn't like. I've lived this in my tiny little Tori-world; I've seen this happen. So you've got to check out the gnostic gospels because they talk about a whole other kind of Jesus.

HM: We'll read them the minute we finish the latest Sophie Kinsella. Thank you for speaking to us, Tori.

Tori: I've loved our little chat. I know I've talked your ear off.

HM: We'd rather spend an hour with you than another five minutes with Flo Rida. That's our motto.
'Abnormally Attracted To Sin' is out now.

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Interview June/July 2009 : Björk by Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

2009-05-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

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Real Time: The Web's New Prime Time

2009-05-25T01:13:00.000-07:00

The Internet was always fast. Google made a point during its rise to prominence to detail -- to the millisecond -- just how quickly it delivered a search result. And, as we all know, the Web has gotten even faster.

Real-time communications channels like Twitter are pushing the Internet into "real time," where communication and information flow nonstop. This presents advertisers with a dizzying array of opportunities -- and a daunting number of challenges.

Marketers "are built like battleships for long, sustained warfare, [but] this is guerrilla warfare," said Lisa Bradner, a senior analyst at Forrester Research.

One of the most intense challenges is the new speed with which messages need to be crafted. Think of display advertising, which is in the doldrums thanks to a nearly limitless supply of space outstripping ad demand. With a large chunk of the market transitioning to a marketplace-driven dynamic where advertisers, networks and agencies bid on ad placements based on people, not pages, a message -- and its permutations -- increasingly needs to be made on the fly. And this, in turn, means extra work up front.

HP, for instance, using tools from Yahoo and Tumri, recently ran a campaign with more than 20,000 ad permutations. To do this, said Catherine Paschkewitz, director of demand generation, HP Direct, "you need to take the time to think of your testing framework and the different things you want to test. It's having an up-front process as you're launching and refreshing campaigns."

Another way to make display ads more real time is to use live video. Visa, for instance, ran live video in banner ads earlier this year that showed scenes from cities worldwide. Last month, Intel embedded live chat in its banners. Earlier this month, GE CEO Jeff Immelt delivered a Webcast address on healthcare issues live in a banner ad on top sites. And Volvo and Intuit have piped Twitter into ad units.

Another challenge for brands is that consumers now expect instant gratification when it comes to customer service, which is why marketers like Apple, Bank of America and Overstock.com now provide live customer service on their sites. Kevin Kohn, evp of marketing at LivePerson, which worked with BoA and Overstock, said this is nearly a requirement in a real-time world.

To help rein in potential customers, Verizon uses data to inform it when a live chat is needed. For instance, it knows users typically drop off if they spend more than two minutes per step when signing up for DSL and can ping them an offer to chat live with a service rep after a minute expires. "If you can intercept them, not only can you save their problem in seconds, but you've kept them from disrupting how they're interacting with you," Kohn said.

Consumers also expect marketers to respond quickly no matter the issue. Take the now infamous Domino's saga. In April, Consumerist pointed to a video of two employees doing gross things to the food. Within a day, Twitter was alive with demands that Domino's address the matter.

This desire to have answers in real time, wherever consumers are, is unlikely to change, said Andy Jacobs, chief technology officer at MRM Worldwide. "Our clients find themselves in a very reactive world," he said. "They're forced to respond to things. They need methods by which they can confidently and quickly publish info through the right channels."

For corporations, this requires new strategies. It means, for instance, bypassing the normal layers of sign-off to get information out to quell customer revolts, Jacobs said.

As a result, several marketers have established presences on Twitter to stay on top of customer problems. This early-warning system can pay off. Back in December, buzz gathered on Twitter that Ford sent a legal notice demanding a Ford Ranger blogger surrender his URL. Scott Monty, a well-known Twitterer and Ford's social-media leader, quickly nipped it in the bud.

"There's the opportunity to enhance your brand relevance in real time and respond to problems before they're intractable," Bradner said.
-By Brian Morrissey
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Madi Ju & Patrick Tsai

2009-05-25T01:09:00.000-07:00

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'Weeds' promo looks at history of marijuana

2009-05-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

Weeds returns to Showtime for its fifth season on June 8, and as usual, they've got an entertaining hodgepodge of advertising to promote it. After launching the spider-web-themed print campaign back on April 20 (which was, not coincidentally, National Weed Day), the network has now released a pair of new videos: an animated history lesson about marijuana (above) and a "Yes We Cannabis!" faux political spot below. We're still waiting for the more offbeat stuff like the marijuana-scented strips in magazines and the giant bags of pot stapled to billboards. Via @dabitch.

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Scaring Burglars Away One Pic of Chuck Norris

2009-05-25T00:47:00.000-07:00

A POSH bakery in Split, Croatia, has been broken into almost every week. But not since the shop owners posted a life-sized photo of the toughest man in Hollywood Chuck Norris in the window. The sign says: “This shop is under the protection of Chuck Norris.” Now the bakery hasn't had a single burglary for more than a month.

Sales assistant Mirna Kovac said: "To be honest we just started it as a joke but it really has worked. Thieves haven't been anywhere near us for ages. People seem to respect him. "Everyone around here has seen his films and he's quite a popular character, perhaps even among criminals, so they've decided to leave us alone." She added though: "We have had a few customers come in and ask us whether they can get Chuck's autograph. “They really believe he is sitting in our storeroom out the back ready to pounce on any burglars."
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Ketel One targets manly men in first TV ads

2009-05-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

Ketel One vodka, best known for its annoying, long-running "Dear Ketel One Drinker" print ads, has moved onto TV. Grey created these two spots, which are indicative of "a distinctive set of values in the vodka category," to hear Ketel One tell it. Really, what we're working with here is a dressier version of Coors' "Guys' Night Out" series. The ad above shows a bunch of guys in suits being all manly, with their vodka and no women, with a voiceover noting that there was a time when men didn't drink vodka from "delicately painted perfume bottles." Pretty sure they don't do that now, either. The ad below is better. The gentlemen in this rainy spot are actually chivalrous and let a couple of women take their cab home. If it's class they want, that's what will get them there, so they should can the "When men were men" shtick and double up on the social graces. Or dueling. Either way.

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Mandy Moore Continues To Grow On 'Amanda Leigh'

2009-05-25T00:23:00.002-07:00

Mandy Moore is hoping her forthcoming sixth studio album, "Amanda Leigh," continues the gradual process of transitioning from teen hitmaker ("Candy") to greater acceptance as a bona fide musical artist.

"I find it silly that there would be any sort of apprehension, as if it's really hard to believe that people grow up and evolve and change," Moore, who married singer-songwriter Ryan Adams in March, tells Billboard.com. "I mean, it was 10 years ago; I don't think anyone wants what they did when they were 14 or 15 to follow them around.

"I was proud of the work I was doing back then, but I was really just a kid. I'm going to continue to grow, and my musical tastes will change and hopefully I'll only get better and better and work harder and harder and study more. I'm not desperately seeking out credibility as an artist. I just love music. This is what I'm most passionate about."

Unlike 2007's "Wild Hope," which Moore calls "a big kind of studio album," "Amanda Leigh" -- which comes out May 26 -- was recorded with producer and co-writer Mike Viola, mostly at engineer Ducky Carlisle's basement studio near Boston. "I enjoyed breaking it down even more from 'Wild Hope,' where we were in a beautiful, huge state-of-the-art studio and you had a bunch of people there for, like six weeks," says Moore, who also co-wrote songs for "Amanda Leigh" with Inara George and Lori McKenna.

"This was the more acoustic form of that, I guess. This was ideal and, like, the ultimate learning experience for me. I felt like I was the kid sister and the assistant in terms of learning about the production and engineering side of things, just being present for absolutely everything. That's a lot different from being 14 and 15 yeas old and just being brought into the studio song by song with a different songwriting team or production team."

Moore has "no solidified plans as of yet" to tour in support of "Amanda Leigh," but she predicts that "we'll be doing our fair share of little things here and there." And while her acting career has taken second-fiddle to music the past couple of years, Moore says that she plans to put some focus on that during the second half of 2009.

"I'm ready. I'm excited," she notes. "I want to be challenged in the way that I've been challenged with music. I felt like for awhile there so much of my energy was put on...the acting and film stuff that the music had to sort of match. Now the film stuff has to make sense, too, and match up to the music."

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11 People Killed in Stampede at Moroccan Music Festival featuring Kylie Minogue & Alicia Keys

2009-05-25T00:23:00.001-07:00

A stampede at a world music festival featuring Kylie Minogue and Alicia Keys has left at least 11 people dead, most of them women and children, in the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Some 70,000 spectators were at the Hay Nahda stadium in Rabat last night to hear homegrown pop phenomenon Abdelaziz Stati when the accident occurred, shortly after midnight on the final night of the Mawazine (Rhythms) festival.

Police said that a wire fence had apparently collapsed as the crowd surged towards one of the exits as the concert ended, setting off the stampede.

Five women, four men and two children were later found dead, apparently having suffocated in the crush. A source close to the case said that all those who died were Moroccan. The interior ministry has announced an investigation.

Rescuers pulled out survivors and transported about 20 injured to Rabat’s main hospital, Ibn Sina, where a source said that all but seven had left by this morning.

"Most of the injured are young," said Abdelatif Benchekroun, the hospital’s head of emergency care.

The festival organisers could not be reached immediately for comment.

Hassan Amrani, the prefect of the Rabat region, travelled to the hospital to oversee the efforts of the emergency services.

A source close to the city council said that the concert venue, originally scheduled to be Moulay el Hassan Square in central Rabat, had been switched to accommodate the large number of fans.

The Mawazine festival, created in 2001 to boost tourism and promote Rabat as a city open to the world, is one of the most important cultural gatherings in Morocco, with street shows, an exhibition by Arab artists and children’s events in addition to the concerts.

Some 1,700 foreign and local performers had converged on Rabat for the eighth edition of the Mawazine festival, which was opened on May 15 by Kylie Minogue. Performers this year included Stevie Wonder, the Algerian rai singer Khaled, the South African singer Johnny Clegg, the Brazilian bossa nova artist Sergio Mendes and the Italian composer and conductor Ennio Moricone.

Last year's festival attracted 1.2 million people to nine venues across Rabat.

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Jay Bennett dead at 45

2009-05-25T00:19:00.001-07:00

Jay Bennett, a rock musician with deep ties to Chicago best known as a former member of Wilco, died early Sunday morning in downstate Urbana, where he had been running a recording studio, according to a spokesman for his family.

The singer and multi-instrumentalist was 45 years old.

"Early this morning, Jay died in his sleep and an autopsy is being performed," said Edward Burch, a friend and musician who collaborated with Bennett on the 2005 album "The Palace at 4 a.m." "The family is in mourning and is unavailable for comment at this time."

Born in the Chicago suburb of Rolling Meadows, Bennett began playing in bands as a teenager. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned multiple degrees in secondary education, math and political science. In between, he co-founded the Replacements-like power-pop band Titanic Love Affair, which released three albums during the alternative-rock heyday between 1991 and 1996, when it was dropped from its label.

Bennett was working at a VCR repair shop in Champaign when he was tapped to join Wilco as it toured in support of its first album, "A.M." A talented arranger and versatile musician who could play virtually any instrument he picked up, from mandolin to Mellotron, Bennett formed a fruitful partnership with Wilco bandleader Jeff Tweedy. His contributions over a seven-year period were key to the albums that resulted in the band's national breakthrough, including "Being There" (1996), "Summerteeth" (1999) and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (2002).

Relations between Bennett and Tweedy, both painstaking perfectionists, soured during the latter recording, as documented in the film "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," and Bennett left the band. Earlier this month, Bennett filed a lawsuit against Tweedy for breach of contract and unpaid artist's royalties, stemming in part from his role in the film.

In late April, Bennett wrote on his MySpace blog about dealing with intense pain from a hip injury suffered during a dive from the stage while playing with Titanic Love Affair. He was preparing to have surgery, but was concerned about his lack of health insurance. However, he also was looking forward to finishing his fifth solo album, "Kicking at the Perfumed Air," at his studio, Pieholden Suites, named after the song on "Summerteeth" that best encapsulates his talents as an arranger.

"This whole experience [with the hip pain] has really taught me to look both inward and outward for support, and I've learned things about myself that I thought I had completely figured out years ago," Bennett wrote. "Family and friends have helped me to keep faith in a future that will actually be much more carefree than my constricted present state. I encourage you all to tell me stories of recovery, as they really do help... All in all, I'm 'in a really good place' right now; I'm just waiting until I can make it all happen."

Bennett's former bandmates in Wilco are touring in Spain and could not be reached for comment. But Burch said he had spoken to bassist John Stirratt, and the band was "broken up" about the news.

"He was an extremely talented musician and a great person, and I'll miss him terribly," Burch added.
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Simon Cowell comments on his ex-boo's attack

2009-05-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

He may have been all smiles and standing O's at last night's Kris Allen-crowning American Idol finale, but this morning, Simon Cowell was speaking out on this week's other big showdown: ex-girlfriend Terri Seymour versus a female attacker.

Cowell said on Ryan Seacrest's radio show today that his initial reaction to hearing about the incident, in which Idol fan Janice Thibodeaux allegedly approached and attempted to choke Seymour, was that it must be a joke.

Unfortunately, he soon learned it wasn't.

"She called me and, yeah, she was attacked outside," he said of Seymour.

"Literally, a frenzied attack. Nearly strangled."

While the 33-year-old, 200-pound Thibodeaux, who is currently being held on $52,703 bail after being booked for felony battery, claimed yesterday that her attack came in retaliation for Cowell's behavior toward fellow judge Paula Abdul, Cowell offered up a different theory on her motivation.

"Naturally I assumed it was somebody who was jealous," he said, adding that he himself had never met Thibodeaux.

"I don't know, it was just some crazy girl. She's locked up."

As for his ex, with whom he is still exceedingly friendly, Cowell said, "It was bad. I really, really felt sorry for her."

Still, for once, Cowell said he has been able to find a bright spot in the ordeal, albeit one that has to do with his own chivalry.

"You know what? I was there for her, Ryan. That's the important thing."

Source.

Two new Courtney Love demos leaked

2009-05-22T01:33:00.000-07:00

Two tracks from what I assume are more recent Courtney Love studio sessions have leaked. An entire album worth of songs leaked in late 2007 from sessions done with Linda Perry but these latest leaks have a different sound are could be from her rumored sessions with Celebrity Skin producer Michael Bienhorn. The two trakcs are Samantha and Sunset Marquis. No release date has been set for Nobody's Daughter which Love has been working on since leaving rehab in late 2005.

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Clay Aiken Hates American Idol. And Adam Lambert.

2009-05-22T01:25:00.000-07:00

Last night millions of American Idol fans tuned in to watch the show's season finale. But you know who didn't?—-Clay Aiken, who basically trashed everything about Idol today on the subscription-only message board of his website, going so far as to say Adam Lambert made his ears bleed!

Aiken, America's favorite gay father who was also the runner-up to Ruben Studdard in Idol's second season, charges his fans $29.95 annually for the "Ultimate Membership" at ClayOnline.com, which is the only way to view his blog posts and cruise around in his chat room or on his message board, but a tipster with access to the site passed this along. Here's how Aiken responded today to a generic "what did you think about the show?" question posed by a fan on the site:

Now that it's all over, and for the record.... I couldn't be happier about the way AI ended this year. I only turn the show on once a season, and only to see what the set looks like each year. This year, I happened to turn it during the minute that Adam Lambert was singing "Ring of Fire" and, at that moment, thought my ears would bleed. Contrived, awful, and slightly frightening! I wasn't really a fan and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him. Granted, I never saw another performance (and many folks who I trust said that he was great) but I can't imagine I would have enjoyed it. Just not my cup of tea at all. To each his own. I never saw Kris sing on the show, but whether he was good or not is really relative. It's usually a matter of taste, right? But Idol is not always a matter of musical taste only. It's about the person you like. From what little I saw, Kris seemed likable. (That's not to say that Adam isn't just as likable as anyone.. maybe more so... I don't know) When Ruben and I were standing next to each other every night (many years ago) you had two equally talented, equally unlikely, equally unpolished contestants.... so it really was a matter of taste as to who was voted for. While some may argue that one of us was hyped more than the other, I don't feel that was the case. However, this year, there was an obvious bias. Not even having watched the show, I can tell you that I was WELL aware of the bias from the judges as to who should win. In my opinion, that is awfully unattractive. I don't think I am alone

In my opinion, it all often comes down to that last night of voting. Until the finale, folks are voting for the contestant that they want to see continue. But, I believe that on that last night, the dynamic changes. No longer forced to choose one person that they want to see win, the audience can effectively vote AGAINST the person that they don't want to see win. In the case of season two this might have happened. There may have been some folks who voted for myself or Ruben because they didn't like the other of us. I was the nerdy little girly boy who some didn't want to see win, so they may have voted for Ruben. I don't know. .. But again, I feel that Ruben and I were fairly matched. We both had our detractors and negatives, but I feel we were both very worthy of being on that stage in that moment, and either of us would have been worthy of winning. The show was different then, and folks made it in seasons 1-3 because they were "real" people who happened to sing/entertain well. But, somewhere along the way, AI stopped being about real people.
Aiken also elaborated on why he thought Kris Allen won this year's competition:

In a battle between David and Goliath, my money is on David!

I think many voters got sick of being "told who to vote for". I think many were turned off by the blatant favoritism shown towards one contestant. Therefore, on that last night, they used their votes against a contestant that they were tired of hearing about and for the contestant who had been written off. And, at the same time, I think they voted AGAINST an American Idol that has, for four years now, been more about the slick productions and polished contestants than it has been about finding the raw talent that it did in its first three seasons.

Those votes for Kris were also votes to return the show to its roots of finding "real" contestants with undiscovered talent and giving them the chance to grow and shine. They were votes that said "we're tired of seeing contestants who already seem to know it all".

Will American Idol choose to listen to the resounding and clarion call that those voters gave them?.... "Enough with the pretention. More Rubens, more Clays, more Fantasias and Tamyras and Kellys please." My faith has always been in the voters. I think they have gotten it right every year (mine included). It's now up to American Idol to decide if it will finally REALLY listen to the folks that keep it on the air.
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Zac Efron encourages Vanessa Hudgens to do on-screen nudity

2009-05-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

Zac Efron has encouraged girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens to do nudity on camera, reports say.

Hudgens recently said that she would have no problem doing a nude film scene, if it was necessary for the role.

The 21-year-old actor believes that his High School Musical co-star should strip down for the big screen in an effort to shed her "goody-goody image," according to the The National Ledger.

"Zac believes it is a good way for her to get beyond the teeny-bopper stigma," a source said. "He is making the leap to A-list actor and he wants Vanessa to go along with him."

The insider added: "He told a pal if she has to bare more of her body, then she shouldn't be afraid of doing that."

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Sarah Jessica Parker Blasts Media Coverage Of Surrogate

2009-05-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

Sarah Jessica Parker has taken aim at journalists and photographers working to unearth personal information about the woman carrying the actress’ surrogate twins.

“(It’s) an extraordinary and unprecedented invasion of her privacy,” the actress said in an exclusive TV interview with Access Hollywood on Tuesday. “The most unsavoury things have been done. She’s had her phone hacked, her personal computer information hacked, she’s had threats against her and true harassment… She’s had friends threatened and family threatened and she’s had family of friends threatened.”

Sarah feels torn that she is not able to be of more assistance to the woman helping her bring her daughters into the world.

“It’s really incredibly upsetting to think of her so far away and me not being able to do something, beyond what I’m legally allowed to do,” she says. “She’s had a friend, who was thought to be her, chased down a highway… This friend is nine months pregnant.”

“It’s crossed lines… Pretty much all the lines have been crossed… There’s simply no excuse for doing this to somebody. It’s not acceptable.”

Sarah insists that despite recent tabloid reports that her surrogate is a “bisexual rocker” she and husband Matthew Broderick have made the right choice: “I’m beyond comfortable with who she is. We haven’t been reckless, we haven’t been cavalier. She hasn’t been reckless.”

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Brigitte Sire

2009-05-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

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Bear simply astounded by Coke Zero's taste

2009-05-22T01:19:00.000-07:00

This Coke Zero spot from Wieden + Kennedy is described as an "epic rock opera ... featuring such memorable cast members as a singing bear, candy-pooping birds [and] an elk with sausage antlers." There are also sheep with honeycomb wool, which I don't understand, but if that bear likes his sheep full of angry bees, more power to him. This is America, after all. (Actually, the spot only aired in Brazil, and broke just recently, even though it was completed some 15 months ago.) Anyway, the gist of this ad is that the bear is taken aback by the robust flavor of Coke Zero. Was he expecting it to taste awful? If so, he might not be the brand's ideal spokesbear. He could open for Meat Loaf on his next tour, perhaps.
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Got serious speech problems? Try Huggies

2009-05-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

Over at Adweek.com, Eleftheria Parpis is less than enamored by this Huggies spot from JWT featuring an expecting couple who can only say "me" (the wife) and "you" (the husband). If this scenario were taking place in my life, I'd be sobbing "Why me?" and my wife would be screaming "Damn you!" But that's a story for couples' therapy. I've drifted from my point, and so does this 60-second ad. Still, it makes a potent statement with the birthing scene at the end, reminding me of one big reason I don't want kids. There's also not a diaper to be seen, either. Just like at my house. Oh, and those of you with little ones at home trying to make plans for this holiday weekend: Good luck getting a sitter, suckers!
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Admen gussied up for AmEx fashion photos

2009-05-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

The middle of a tough recession is an iffy time to model $1,500 Burberry trenchcoats. But ad guys don't get the call from from fashion photographers often, so they have to throw caution to the wind when it happens. Jeff Goodby, above, is one of nine ad guys featured in a fashion spread devoted to "Today's Real Mad Men" in the current issue of the American Express lux magazine Departures (published for Platinum Card and Centurion members only). He joins David Droga, Duncan Marshall, Andrew Essex and Ted Royer of Droga5; Gerry Graf of Saatchi & Saatchi; Brad Kay and Marty Cooke of SS+K; and Benson Hausman of Kraftworks NYC. They're all trying their best to look pensive, intelligent and/or stylish, except for Graf, who's just chuckling, maybe because the watch he's wearing is worth more than entry-level Saatchi staff probably make in a year.
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Olivia Wilde says she'd make-out with Megan Fox

2009-05-22T01:15:00.001-07:00

Olivia Wilde is not only one of television's hottest break-out stars, but she is also the woman Megan Fox has described as “so sexy, she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox.”

While it has to be quite an honor, Wilde, 25, says she is a little skeptical of the recent girl-crush fad, but is passionate about animal rights and willing to do what it takes to keep them safe.

In the June 2009 issue of GQ magazine, on newsstands May 26, she jokes, “of course, anything I can do to save the mountain ox, I’m happy to do,” in response to the suggestion she make out with Fox to save the poor little ox.

But being sexy and crusading for animal rights isn’t all this rising star can do – she has also worked on presidential campaigns, has been a public advocate for increasing international aid and gay rights and she has raised money for Doctors Without Borders.

To top all that off, she is also a real-life princess. Really, we’re serious. She tells GQ at the age of 18, she eloped with an Italian prince.

It wasn’t enough to be rich, beautiful and sexy. Had to go and be a princess too.

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Wolfram Hahn

2009-05-20T00:58:00.000-07:00

kids watching tv

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FirstBank gives giant ads to tiny businesses

2009-05-20T00:43:00.001-07:00

The indefatigable Colorado team of FirstBank and TDA Advertising & Design change marketing tactics as often as Microsoft and Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The latter make headlines worldwide. FirstBank and TDA, well, they'll always have a home here on AdFreak! No ski masks or light planes this time—instead, the bank has launched an outdoor and online pitch that includes promotions for various local small businesses. "We care about small business," the ads explain. Now, wags might ask why FirstBank would start making ads for other people when its own ads haven't been so hot. Still, Abbey the babysitter, Rod the wedding singer, Joan the math tutor and Mrs. Bennett the piano teacher will appreciate it (and they've probably never heard of Cannes or the Clios anyway). FirstBank swears they're real customers. Who knows, the way the economy's going, GM, Chrysler or Bank of America could be requesting some of this free-ad action.
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House That Nicholson Lived in Rents for $400k

2009-05-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

Jack may not have built this house, but he rented it a few years back while filming scenes in the Hamptons for the movie “Something’s Gotta Give.”

Jack is Jack Nicholson and the house is a 5,800-square-foot, five bedroom, 7 ½ bath oceanfront contemporary in Southampton. The property is available for Memorial Day through Labor Day for $400,000, but listing agent Gary DePersia of the The Corcoran Group says that the owners would also rent the home for various periods throughout the summer, including weekly or monthly.

The 4.5-acre spread includes a heated pool with an outdoor fireplace and a private walkway to the beach. Amenities include a great room with a fireplace, a sitting room with views of Shinnecock Bay, and a master suite with two fireplaces and his-and-hers baths with ocean views.
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TV Scoop Interview: Rachel Zoe, The Rachel Zoe Project

2009-05-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Rachel's life is a whirl of social events, glamour, expensive clothes and stress. Lots of stress. She's starring in a fly-on-the-wall documentary series. Equal parts annoying, intentionally and unintentionally hilarious and addictive viewing, The Rachel Zoe Project starts on recently rebranded UKTV channel Really tonight (Tuesday 19 May) at 11pm.

TV Scoop: When did you first realise you wanted to get into the fashion industry?
Rachel Zoe: I think I had I known what actually existed in the fashion world before I actually graduated from college, I probably would have done it very differently... and gone to fashion school, maybe gone to St Martins. So I didn't really map it out. But I think when I figured out what was out there I became obsessed by it. It was all I ever wanted to do and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. It has been like that ever since.

TVS: Now, you're well known for your vintage look, right? When did that first emerge as the style for you?
RZ: For as long as I can remember! As soon as I was old enough to shop I fell in love with vintage. When I was younger, as a teenager, I used to ask myself how I could get this glamour for, like, not thousands and thousands of dollars. Ultimately, that answer kept coming back up as vintage. How could I get those vintage fur coats, that peasant dress or kaftan or whatever... that's when I fell in love with vintage. I think, for me, it became the way that I could get that unique piece that no one else could have.

TVS: Who were your first style icons when you first started out?
RZ: I think it has always been the icons from the 60s and 70s. You know... Twiggy, Edie Sedgwick, Penelope Tree. And then you go into the Marianne Faithfuls, and Ali McGraws and Bianca Jaggers. They were all so glamorous in such an effortless way. With all the tassled hair and sequins and Yves Saint Laurent. I just became obsessed.

TVS: OK, so onto the show. With everything you experienced in the past - all the cameras, the showbiz events etc - was the idea of doing a fly-on-the-wall documentary series a daunting prospect?
RZ: It was something I said would never do in my whole life. And then you have your parents in your ear and saying never say never. I also said I'd never write a book and I've done that... so it was the last thing I thought I'd ever do but it turned out to be the best thing I ever did. Life lesson learned there. It's hard though, I'm not going to lie. It wasn't done as effort to become a celebrity, it was done in an effort to educate people about what we do in the fashion industry and how we go about it. What the designers do and what the process of styling is. We go into it. I was getting kind of tired about the misconceptions that stylists live this glamorous life, just go to shows and parties and put dresses on people. That's not what it is.

TVS: So what would you say to those people who say that your job - and the fashion industry as a whole - is money for old rope and a doss? It's not a real job, surely...
RZ: I think that was one of the biggest outcomes of the show - from across the board, from people I meet on the street who are construction workers to people who my dad does business with, tell me that they're obsessed with the show and that they had absolutely no idea what the process was and all of the management. They're surprised it's a proper business and run as one. I think it's one of those things... we work so hard. It's not just dressing people for the red carpet. I collaborate with various designers, contribute to magazines and websites, I'm very often pulling clothes for people in their real lives as well as for them in their public life. So it's a lot and it's a constant fight and a constant marathon.

TVS: Which is why you need a rock solid team around you. I was actually pretty impressed by the team you have assembled, especially Taylor, your assistant. I wouldn't like to muck about with her... she's hardcore!
RZ: She is so hardcore. That's why she has been with me for three years.

TVS: And that's why you need her, right? How does your team, including your husband and Taylor and all of your closest associates, react to having a camera pointed at them 24-7?
RZ: Well... I think that Taylor's bottom-of-the-list priority is to be famous She has zero interest in it. For her it's about getting the job done in the most efficient way possible. If you compare it to a proper company, one would say that she's the COO (Chief Operating Officer). She keeps things moving. I couldn't do it without her. I couldn't develop my brand if she wasn't on the inside making sure everything is running properly.

TVS: Sure, and that's another thing I noticed in the show... you want to build on your success as a stylist and branch out into a Rachel Zoe brand of accessories. We see you in the show very daunted... why? There were moments where you openly admitted that you were very afraid...
RZ: You mean in the sense of developing my own brand? I still am scared! It's hard. Every. Single. Day. I find it a constant struggle to balance building the brand to where I want it to be and maintaining my clients to keep styling. I still love styling. It's never ending. It just means a lack of sleep and lots of insecurity, and just trying to keep everything at the level it needs to be at. I'm shattered a lot of the time, an my husband... well, he's amazing.

TVS: How are Taylor and Brad (Rachel's new assistant) at the moment? They really do not like each other...
RZ: I can't tell you. I'd have to kill you.

TVS: Not kill me as in.. 'You totally killed it!' That's one of your catchphrases isn't it?
RZ: Oh my God!

TVS: There you go there's another one... so there's 'she totally killed it'... 'I die'...
RZ: Oh my God, when I listen to myself... it's really quite amazing when you have to watch yourself on TV. I'm like, do I really speak like that?! And then be haunted by these things forever. My clients very often laugh at me when they hear these things come out of my mouth in fits of excitement. And they'll just be like "did you really say that?" and then it's there forever.

TVS: That's another thing that comes across from the show. Whatever anybody thinks of you or thinks of the fashion industry, your passion for fashion is really intense.
RZ: Even the producers on the show are just so shocked... however big a meltdown I'm having or if I'm having the toughest day ever, as soon as we get some beautiful clothes in the studio or if I go into a vintage shop I completely transform into a seven-year-old girl in a candy store. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. I just get so excited. The minute I stop doing that (and I don't think I ever will) I'll know it's time to move on.

TVS: So, post-show, how's life for you?
RZ: Life is good! My only complaint is that I'm tired. So tired. Apart from that I'm very, very lucky and fortunate. Listen, nothing in life comes for free so I just want to keep working and getting better. Just to do more and hitting different areas of the business. Once I tackle one thing, I'm like, what's next?

TVS: I'd be a fool if I didn't ask you about British fashion while I had this time with you. So, erm, what do you think of British fashion?
RZ: Are you kidding me? The style in the UK is a huge, huge inspiration for me. I love... even walking along the streets of London, I'm like, aaaurgh [makes sighing noise]. You just get that great aristocratic style that I love so much. Like that classic English... Savile Row and all that. And... I love the whole Portobello/Notting Hill vibe too. I love it. I think London street style is one of the best in the world. And because I'm so influenced by the 60s and 70s, a huge part of that comes from the UK. My God, forget about it. My favourite English designers, there are quite a few... Stella McCartney, I love Jonathan Saunders, I love Temperley, Matthew Williamson of course... Christopher Kane. There are so many!

TVS: What's next for your fashion wise? What's the hot new Rachel Zoe look?
RZ: Fashion is moving into the 80s. Me? I'm staying in the 60s! I'll do a few splashes of 80s vintage Saint Laurent with the shoulder pads and things like that. But, yu know, Marc Jacobs is a huge influence. Luis Vuitton? I can't even breathe. Chanel, just makes me cry.

TVS: Me too. What about at home... after all the parties and designer clobber, what do you wear? Are you a jogging bottoms girl?
RZ: I'm not. When I'm, like, not in 'my look' I'm in a bathrobe if truth be told. My casual uniform is some sort of wide-leg jean and some great Chanel or Saint Laurent jacket.

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Jessica Biel Allure Cover

2009-05-20T00:22:00.000-07:00

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Voice Lesson With Aretha Going for $5,000

2009-05-19T01:20:00.001-07:00

Soul legend ARETHA FRANKLIN is giving fans the chance to win private singing lessons with the star in a new charity auction. Franklin's one-on-one vocal session is just one of a number of exclusive prizes available online at charitybuzz.com, with profits benefitting the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Stevie Wonder has donated his harmonica for the sale, while bidders can also make offers on dinner with comedian Bill Cosby, a visit to the Desperate Housewives set, swimming lessons from Olympic champion Michael Phelps and a meet and greet with Oprah Winfrey and win VIP tickets to her daily talk show.

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Robyn Cumming

2009-05-19T01:13:00.001-07:00

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Penélope Cruz Food Poisoning in Cannes

2009-05-19T01:08:00.001-07:00

Even the biggest stars aren't immune to getting hit by stomach bugs it seems. Penelope Cruz had to miss out on promoting her upcoming musical Nine in Cannes Monday, sidelined by "some sort of food poisoning."

In France to premiere her movie Broken Embraces, which is directed by Pedro Almodóvar, she was slated to join movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in presenting a trailer and a teaser for Nine, but fell ill.

Weinstein passed on the bad news to a select group of journalists: "Tomorrow night is her premiere for her movie. She is getting better and is seeing a doctor right now."

He then introduced Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard, another star of the ensemble piece, which also sees appearances from Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Judi Dench, Fergie, Daniel Day-Lewis and Sophia Loren.

"It was an amazing adventure, it was my dream to be in an American musical," Cotillard said. "I really hope you are going to love what you are going to see."

Weinstein added, "When you see [Cotillard] sing, when you see her dance, we bring back a tradition that we need to do more of."

The trailer is already out in the U.S., and the movie will be released in theaters in November.

Cruz recovered enough to attend the Hollywood Dominos event later Monday. She walked in without talking to the media and, after chatting with the hosts, spent about 45 minutes at the party before leaving.

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Zachary Levi blogs from USO tour in Djibouti

2009-05-19T01:06:00.000-07:00

17 May 2009
Djibouti

From oppressive heat to malaria, BLACK HAWK DOWN to the Somali Pirates, the Horn of Africa is a dangerous place. Put another way, it is the perfect place for the United States Military. After a great time in the middle east, and an interminable layover in Ethiopia, our team landed in Djibouti to check in on the soldiers, sailors, pilots, and marines of AfriCom.
The first thing a person notices when they arrive, other than the fact that the soldiers at the gate are wearing 80lbs of armor and ammo and seem to be sweating less than you, is the level of security. A virtual maze of concrete walls and barriers, check-points and wire guard the entrance to this facility, and the sentries at the gate and in the towers overhead are all business. Once inside, though, the folks we met were nothing short of welcoming. We grabbed a quick meal at the sandwich bar and got settled into our CLUs (Containerized Living Units), literally large shipping containers partitioned off into two bedroom, air-conditioned apartments, and got some much needed rest before starting our tour of the base.

Morning comes and we realize we had only thought it was hot the night before. By 11AM, it is 115 degrees with something like 90 percent humidity. Since confessions seem to be the theme of these blogs, I will admit that Joel overslept. Fine, I did too, but I blame him! When we finally did wake up (it was only like ten minutes…), we jumped onto a bus packed with troops who were all being rewarded for various reasons and left the camp for a nearby Cheetah Reserve. The drive was heartbreaking. The sheer magnitude of the poverty around us… I honestly wasn’t prepared for it. The men and women of Camp Lemonier weren’t either, which is why they are doing so much about it, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

After an incredible morning at the reserve, where we actually got to pet a living cheetah and surprisingly weren’t eaten, it was back to camp to grab some lunch in what we had heard as far away as Bahrain was the best galley in the military. They weren’t kidding. Much of the day-to-day chores of running the base, like cooking, fall to a civilian firm called PAE, and they do great work. After lunch, we got to meet the CO and the Command Master Chief, who warmly welcomed us to their little oasis, and then were given a proper tour of the base. Amazing. Almost 2000 people call Camp Lemonier home, all living in CLUs. What do they do? Well, a lot of that is top-secret. In fact, there are parts of the base we weren’t even allowed to see, but given its proximity to so many important places, including the trade routes through the Red Sea, it seems clear that these troops are busily engaged in making the world a better place. They didn’t come to Djibouti for the weather…

But there are things we do know, because we saw them first hand. First, we made a trip off base, guarded by an Army Force Protection team, to meet a local Djiboutian chief and the villagers that live around him. Through an interpreter, he informed us that he has been a chief for over 30 years, and that the last seven (since the Americans landed at Lemonier) have been unsurpassed. He pointed to a gymnasium that the Marines had built for the children of his camp out of materials they found just laying around. He pointed to a school, which we later visited, built by Americans, where the Army shows movies for the kids once a week, play soccer with them, and spend time helping to teach. They even raised money to purchase hundreds of books for the students at the school, all of this voluntary, humanitarian effort by the most fierce fighting force the world has ever seen. But that’s not all. The following day, we took a trip to a Catholic Mission in Djibouti City where five nuns care for over 65 abandoned Djiboutian babies. Part of how they are able to succeed in feeding, clothing, and changing the diapers of so many kids is that the amazing troops also volunteer daily at the orphanage. And at the boys orphanage, and at the girls orphanage… In fact, according to one of the camp chaplains we spoke to, so many of America’s best volunteer to help daily that they can’t send them all, not because the camp can’t spare them, but because the orphanages simply can’t use them all.

The rest of our time in Djibouti was spent on the base, meeting and getting to know as many of the fantastic troops stationed there as we could. We did two autograph and photo sessions. We toured everything from a C130 to the Medical Center, the Chapel to the Fire station. Christian actually got to fire the water cannon on one of the fire trucks, which was a lot more fun for him than it was for the six guys in the CLU he bullseyed! They came running out like the place was actually on fire. Pretty funny. Joel tried on the 100lbs worth of fire equipment, and our buddy Dave even volunteered to be attacked by one of the K9s. Awesome. We drank a few beers at 11 Degrees North, played some basketball with guys who are actually used to working hard in the blazing African heat (note to self: never do that again…), and had great conversations over great food for two days. When the time came to leave, it was actually hard. One thing is for sure, none of us will ever forget our time, or the amazing men and women at Camp Lemonier.

We leave tomorrow to head back from this experience that all of us will never forget. It would not have been possible were it not for the wonderful USO. We thank them sincerely for the valuable work that they do. We also want to thank Subway for their support now and always. Additionally, we want to thank to the great people at Flip Video for making it possible for us to document our experiences and to Carson Daly for giving us an outlet to share them.
Zac, Joel, and crew

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21 yr old Rapper "Dolla" killed in LA

2009-05-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

A 21-year-old up-and-coming rapper was fatally shot Monday afternoon at a popular mall in Los Angeles.

Dolla, whose real name is Roderick Anthony Burton II, was shot in the head about 3:10 p.m. at the Beverly Center, his publicist said.

Police later detained a person at the Los Angeles International Airport, said city police spokeswoman Karen Raynar.

Further details were not immediately available about the shooting.

Dolla, who was based in Atlanta, Georgia, was in Los Angeles recording his debut album.

He caught the attention of multiplatinium R&B singer Akon when the then-12-year-old Dolla was performing with friends at showcases around Atlanta.

The two collaborated on Dolla's first single, "Who the F--- Is That?" which also featured another high-profile singer, T-Pain.

Another Dolla song, "Feelin' Myself," appeared on the soundtrack to the 2006 movie "Step Up."

According to his MySpace page, Dolla was born in Chicago, Illinois. His twin sister died at birth because of complications from an enlarged heart.

The family moved to Atlanta after Dolla's father committed suicide while he, then 5, and another sister watched from their parents' bed, the Web page said.

Dolla began composing rhymes in elementary school and decided to pursue a career in music.

Funeral services, which will be held in Atlanta, will be announced later, publicist Sue Vannasing said.

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Elias Tahan

2009-05-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

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Ben Stiller doesn't find himself funny

2009-05-18T00:43:00.001-07:00

The Tropic Thunder star says he doesn’t know any jokes.

“I don’t see myself as funny. I am definitely low-key, not the kind of person who is always ‘on’, especially with strangers,” the actor tells Britain’s Sunday Mirror newspaper in a new interview. “I think people approach me with certain expectations that I don’t always live up to. I have never been a stand-up comedian. I can’t tell a joke. Actually, I don’t know any jokes.”

Stiller also revealed what makes his two kids — daughter, Ella, seven, and son, Quinlin, three — laugh. “I try to make my wife and my kids laugh,” he said. “Anything you can do to get a laugh out of your kids is the best and it’s infectious.

“I make the kids laugh when I become ‘Nappy Head’. It started out by me putting a nappy on my head. Nappy Head talks a lot, and he always has a toothache and there’s a dentist who shoots fireballs at him.

“My kids are not in nappies any more, but the character has endured. Christine [wife] doesn’t actually love Nappy Head at all, she finds him annoying! I wish every audience was as easily impressed with my comedy as my kids are. All I have to do is chase them.”

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What's the best fake brand from film or TV?

2009-05-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing I love about product placement, it's the lengths to which TV shows and movies go when they don't want to pay up for an actual brand. A new blog called Product Displacement is dedicated to tracking two kinds of Hollywood workarounds: fake brands (like Buy More, the Best Buy clone in NBC's Chuck) and unbranded products (like the logo-less Jeep from Fox's The Sarah Connor Chronicles). The blog isn't very well populated yet (and in fact, one of the supposedly bogus brands listed, the Slanket, is actually real), but there are plenty of places where it can get inspiration, like Mental Floss's list of 10 fake brands used by the entertainment industry. So, what's your favorite fake brand? Let us know in the comments, while I go crack open a frosty can of LöBrau. Via Murketing.

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Geico cavemen feeling the catharsis of rock

2009-05-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

In a sure sign that civilized man has begun to devolve back to the hirsute, rock 'n' roll party animals from whence we sprang (that's some lede!), Geico's cavemen rock out with the band 3 Doors Down in commercials and a video for the song "Let Me Be Myself." That caveman really does capture the Fender Strat-fueled angst of the tune, which, let's face it, is all the cro-magnon has ever asked of the world in Geico's iconic ads from The Martin Agency. Are we 100 percent sure that's not Charlie Daniels in that clip above? There is a resemblance. Or maybe a long-lost Allman Brother. Or Jim Morrison? That's how he'd look if he were still alive. In fact, that's pretty much how he looked in '69. Jim was the Lizard King, though. He'd jam with the gecko.

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James McAvoy and Elizabeth Banks join The Details

2009-05-18T00:37:00.000-07:00

James McAvoy, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney and Anna Friel will star in “The Details.”

The movie is a black comedy written and directed by Jacob Estes. It is the first for Estes since his 2004 thriller “Mean Creek.”

Synopsis: A suburban husband finds his life spiraling out of control due to extramarital temptation, a crazy cat lady, a wannabe gangster, and a band of raccoons hellbent on destroying the only thing that matters in his life: the perfect backyard lawn.

“The Details” will shoot this summer in Seattle.

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Mars Volta call US swine flu treatment 'an act of terrorism'

2009-05-18T00:36:00.001-07:00

The Mars Volta's Omar Rodríguez-López has hit out at the western media's coverage of swine flu, comparing it to "an act of terrorism" against the band's adopted home of Mexico.

Speaking to NME.COM from Guadalajara city in Mexico, the guitarist denied that the country is struggling to cope with the outbreak of swine flu.

"It's not the hysteria that the right-wing media are making you think it is. It's less dangerous than a common cold," he declared.

He added: "This has been a perfect moment for right-wing republican media to say "You see! You see these filthy people? You see what they're doing? This is very scary!" It's another act of terrorism, it's another terrorist tactic."

The guitarist went on to say that he believed that the biggest effect swine flu has had on Mexico is on the economy - again due to the negative fallout from foreign press coverage.

"When you get your facts straight, there's more infected people in the United States - in New York - than in all of Mexico City where there's a concentration of people," he said. "And New York has not issued an emergency. They have not shut down. They have not taken any kind of ruined economy, which is what's happened in Mexico.

"We had to shut down because of the way it was being shown in the media and the way that the world was paying attention. But the fact of the matter is that it's [swine flu] completely treatable and more people have died from the common flu."

Rodríguez-López went on to say that he's currently more concerned with preparing for the release of The Mars Volta's new album 'Octahedron'], which is out on June 22.

"I had the spirit of Syd Barret's solo records and people like Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake," he explained about the record, which is largely acoustic.

"It was an interesting exercise for me to make all the songs acoustic based," he added. "In fact, now I'm finding that it’s a limitation that I have - I don't know how to write in major keys! That's why a lot of my songs end up sounding dark, and sad, and melancholy.

"I tried various experiments to try and write something uplifting [on 'Octahedron'. It's difficult for me, but that's where I'm going now. My weaknesses are always what interest me."

The Mars Volta visit the UK twice this summer, playing London's ICA on June 18, and the capital's Somerset House on July 13. They also play T In The Park (July 10) and Oxygen (July 11).

Well, this is awkward. I agree completely with what he's saying about the ridiculous hype and instilled fear aspect though. Waiting on that album!

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Zoë Saldaña's Latina Cover

2009-05-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

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Christopher Gorham talks up Henry's return to 'Ugly Betty'

2009-05-18T00:32:00.000-07:00

Christopher Gorham, who currently stars in CBS' horror anthology "Harper's Island," spoke with us about why Henry was written off the show in the first place, why's he back and why -- heaven help us -- the actor thinks Henry might not be the guy Betty should end up with. Let's just agree to disagree:

Well I’m only coming back for one episode. One is all that I know about. I certainly could go back and do more, but for now it’s just that.

I'm still hopeful. How did Henry's return come together?
I got a call from creator Silvio Horta [who also worked with Gorham on "Jake 2.0"] When I left the show the first time, he made it clear to me that he was hoping that I would be able to come back at some point. So it wasn’t a totally unexpected phone call. He wanted me to come back and do an episode near the end of the season and, of course, I was happy to do it.

Whose decision was it to have Henry exit the show?
It was the writers. It was a story problem. I always felt that Henry was kind of accidentally written off the show.

How did it happen?
Everybody got so excited about America Ferrera and I together, so the writers immediately tried to save that relationship for the long term on the show, and their way of doing that was to start throwing obstacles in the way to keep us apart. I think what they underestimated was deciding to give him a baby. I don’t think that they realized what that really meant.

What did it mean?
At first, there was a lot of talk that they wouldn’t make the baby Henry’s. That they’d make it Dr. Farkas' or something. But they didn’t want to cop out and not make it his. So we had long conversations about how Henry could come back with the baby having left his girlfriend Charlie and be a very sympathetic single dad in New York and how that could be really interesting because Betty’s dad is a single dad, too. But as Season 2 was winding down and they started breaking stories for Season 3, I think they realized the show isn’t called "Ugly Betty and Henry." It’s "Ugly Betty" and there’s a lot of other characters and to really service that single dad storyline you’d really have to spend a lot of time on it. It just wasn’t going to work.

How did you take the news?
I had always had the same opinion, actually. I had said from the beginning, 'Listen guys, no one wants Betty to have somebody else’s baby.' You just don’t want that for her. You want her to have kids, you want her to have her own children. You don’t want Betty to be a mom to someone else’s kid, especially not this crazy bitch Charlie. As much as people love Henry, sorry, but it’s not his show.

Henry also got flakier toward the end of last season, as they tried to build up Gio.
Yeah, at the same time they’re giving me this baby to keep me and Betty apart they also brought in Gio, to do that as well. So they had to make me a little dumber and make him great. It was very much to make people like Gio, to make this triangle work and make it believable. It just was not good for my job security.

What did you think of her winding up with neither of you?
As a viewer, taking my life out of it, I was actually relieved. Because as an audience member and as a fan of the show I was bored of me. Me and Gio and all of her romantic stuff. Like seriously? I never dated that much. Who does that?

What do you think of the beaus Betty has had since?
Ha, that was interesting. I was in Vancouver working on 'Harper’s Island' and thinking back to the conversation with Silvio and how they really wanted to get away from Betty’s romantic life in Season 3 and just have her focus on work. Then I'd keep running across articles screaming, 'New boyfriend! New boyfriend!' and I’m thinking, 'What the hell?' What was wrong with her old boyfriend if you were going to keep doing that?' Really, it was fine.

What do you think of Matt so far?
Early on, he reminded me a lot of Henry. In that, he's a really nice guy. I don’t mind him. And Daniel Eric Gold, who plays him, is really talented and I think really charming on the show.

Yeah, but do you think he stands a chance?
It's funny. I think Henry comes back and is revealed at the end of a rainbow. For Daniel, it’s gotta be like, ‘Are you kidding me? I’ve been working so hard and now you bring this jackass and he’s at the end of a rainbow in front of the Brooklyn bridge?! Give me a break!’ At one point while we were shooting I had a conversation with him and I said, ‘Listen, you’re doing great. I’m going to be out of here in two days.’

Can you set up how Henry comes back?
Henry has a new girlfriend, who remarkably looks like his old girlfriend. She’s an aerobics instructor so he’s going with her to New York for an aerobics convention, but he really wants to run into Betty, so he’s updating his Facebook page every five minutes, saying where he is at all times.

Why doesn't he just call her?
He doesn’t want to intrude on her life, but at the same time he really really wants to see her and still has feelings for her. So of course they wind up bumping into each other and reconnecting a little bit and they end up going on a double date to a Mets game. That's all I should say.

What do you think -- Is there a possibility Henry will be back next season?
Honestly, I don’t know what they have planned story-wise. No one’s talked to me about coming back on any kind of regular basis. Silvio mentioned he’d like to have me. Ideally, he’d like to be able to use me occasionally.

Are you up for it?
Of course, it would just depend on a lot of things. But yeah, I love them. Everybody there is great and America is a very good friend and we have a blast working together.

What’s up with Charlie and the baby? You didn’t mention either.
We talk about the baby. Charlie we don’t talk about. They’ve broken up. In my head, they’re not together. They were never going to be together. The whole point of going to Tucson was not to be together with her, it was to be there with his kid. It’s very Dr. Laura. I think Dr. Laura would like Henry.

Do you think Henry’s good for Betty ultimately?
It’s a good question. I think they’re good for each other. Whether they’re good long term? I don’t know. It just depends. People change, and their lives change. It depends on what Betty wants. Again, even for me as an audience member, I don’t know that I want Betty to be the mom of Charlie’s kid for life. She’d be great at it, and her and Henry could be very happy together. That’s not really what I want for that character.

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Emma Watson photographed by Karl Lagerfeld

2009-05-18T00:28:00.000-07:00

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Danger Mouse to release blank CD

2009-05-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

Music producer Danger Mouse is to release a blank CD, after record label EMI reportedly cancelled his new album.

Dark Night Of The Soul, a collaboration with rock group Sparklehorse, also features Iggy Pop and The Flaming Lips, along with artwork by David Lynch.

It has already been streamed online, but Billboard magazine said a "legal dispute" with EMI derailed the project.

Danger Mouse, who is half of pop group Gnarls Barkley, said he hoped people would still get to hear the record.

A spokesperson for the producer said: "Danger Mouse remains hugely proud of Dark Night of the Soul and hopes that people lucky enough to hear the music, by whatever means, are as excited by it as he is."

He added that the album, which comes with a limited edition, "100+ page book" of David Lynch photographs inspired by the music "will now come with a blank, recordable CD-R".

"All copies will be clearly labelled: 'For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'"

It is unclear at this stage whether the record has been postponed or scrapped altogether. EMI could not be reached for comment.

'Excited'

At the time of writing, the entire 13-track album can be heard on the website of US public radio station NPR.

The free, legal stream has been the site's most popular page for more than 24 hours - but it is unclear how long the audio will remain available.

"We don't have a definite take down date," NPR Music producer Robin Hilton told Billboard. "It's up in the air."

Other guest stars on the record include The Strokes' Julian Casablancas, The Pixies' Frank Black, Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, and Nina Persson of The Cardigans.

Danger Mouse first came to attention with a bootleg CD that mixed a capella tracks from Jay-Z's Black Album with music from The Beatles' White Album.

He has since gone on to produce cartoon band Gorillaz and alt-rock icon Beck.

Source

Listen to the album legally over here.