Friday, December 11, 2009

Victoria Beckham Leaves London, In The Trenches

Yesterday we saw photos of a celebratory and a mournful Victoria Beckham as she surfaced in various parts of London, England (after arriving in the UK the day before) and today we get to see photos of Vicki B. making her way out of London bound for Paris, France. VB stepped out earlier today rockin’ a very stylish leather trenchcoat and a fetching fedora … lookin’ very much like a spy trying to slip out of the country:


LOL! Yes, she really does look like a fiercely stylish Carmen Sandiego in this outfit, don’t she? As I mentioned above, VB has already made her way to Paris (via Eurostar train) where she will presumably be handling some of her fashion line biz. No word on when she will be returning home to her children in SoCal but I imagine she won’t remain in Europe for long.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

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Angelina Jolie Publicly Criticizes President Obama

Go-go Angelina!!! In an OpEd piece that was published at Newsweek.com Angelina Jolie slams President Obama and the way he has handled the ongoing situation in the Darfur region of Sudan. (Government supported militia have left 300,000 dead and 2.7 million people displaced)…sorry kids it can’t always be about who is screwing who, new haircuts and Robert Pattinson. Sometimes we need to pull our heads out of the sand and pay attention to the rest of the world.

Angelina is calling out the Obama administration for not yet announcing any serious moves to bring corrupt Sudanese leaders to justice.

“I believe President Obama … will do [his] best to bring peace to the region,” Jolie writes, but she seriously questions his policy. “How is the Obama administration’s approach to Sudan an evolution of justice?” she writes. “In addition, when the administration says it intends to work to ‘improve the lives of the people of Darfur,’ I would like to know what that means, besides the obvious point that their lives could hardly get worse.”

She also worries that if the administration doesn’t deal more forcefully with Sudanese officials, future leaders could continue to “pocket financial assistance and aid relief” and “act with impunity.”

She also recommends a new report “funded by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation” that the administration and the U.N. should use to the prevent future atrocities worldwide.  Jolie adds: “On this Human Rights Day–the same day President Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize–we must also remember those who have been deprived of their rights.”

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Alec Baldwin Admits To Failing As An Actor - Plans Retirement in 2012

Alec Baldwin in a rare moment for a Hollywood star admitted that his entire career on the big screen has been a failure - no surprise there since he can’t act. In fact all that Baldwin does is bring to the screen the same neurotic, over controlling, rude and nasty man that he is in real life. The reason he is a success on ‘30 Rock’ is that he gets to play himself - a creep - and that is easy for anyone.

One expects to see Baldwin run for government in the future – his intent and his hubris are both on display in this excerpt from a NY Times article: "If I ever ran for anything, the thing I would like to be is governor of New York." When asked if he was qualified, Baldwin answered: "That’s what I hate about Arnold Schwarzenegger. His only credentials are that he ran a fitness program under some bygone president…I’m de Tocqueville compared to Schwarzenegger." Well there you go Alec, you are all set except you lack something that Schwarzenegger has in abundance - charisma. Photo: Fame Pictures

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John Mellencamp’s 14 year-old son using Facebook to get dad to quit smoking


I came away with so much respect for John Mellencamp after hearing his interview on NPR’s Fresh Air earlier this year. (You can listen to the interview on NPR.com or read the transcript.) When NPR replayed the interview, I actually listened to it a second time it was so good. Mellencamp talked to host Teri Gross about some of the changes in his life, and particularly how he’d changed as a person by facing his own mortality. His perspective was really thought-provoking and more than a little deep. The line in his song “Longest Days,” “life is short in it’s longest days,” came from his grandmother, who said it to him when she was 100 years old and he was just 45.

In an interesting side note, Mellencamp dropped the “Cougar” middle name in the early 90s. He explained that the “Cougar” moniker was made up by a music manager he was working with in the late 70s and that he’ll never really be able to shake it. “I still walk down the street and people would say, hey John Cougar, you know, I hear it all [the] time. Or John Cougar Mellencamp…. that’s what it was, you know… that’s just the fate… that’s the way God handed it out to me and that’s the cards I’m dealt and so I deal with it.”

Mellencamp, 58, had a mild heart attack in 1994. He admitted on Fresh Air that he was warned ahead of time by doctors to quit smoking and go on cholesterol medication. He said “I had a mild heart attack because I smoke and because I have high cholesterol, and for 10 years before that, doctors were telling me, John, you need to get on cholesterol medicine, and my answer was always the same. Am I all right now? And they go yeah, you’re all right now, but you’re heading for disaster. Okay, well, I’ll deal with disaster when it gets here. Well, it got here.”

15 years later and Mellencamp is still smoking. His 14 year-old son, Speck, is trying to get him to stop. Speck made a deal with his dad that if he got a million people to join a Facebook group dedicated to the cause that Mellencamp would kick the habit. According to Mellencamp’s rep, the group is legitimate.

There are over 47,000 members as of the time I’m writing this, and theSource: Cele|bitchy RSS Feed

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The 7 most inexplicable character additions to TV shows

Every popular TV show comes to a crossroads in which they have to think of ways to keep the audience’s imagination with new and exciting ideas. Or you can just bring in a new character to do the same old crap. So embrace your inner Poochie D with the 7 most inexplicable character additions to TV shows.

Luke – Growing Pains

Growing Pains was one of the most successful family sitcoms to emerge from the mid 1980s. However, as the show lagged on, ratings began to plummet. In a desperate attempt to spice things up, the Seaver family takes a cue from Punky Brewster and invites a homeless kid into their home.

Enter Luke Brower (yep, played by Leonardo DiCaprio). Now, on paper the idea of Luke makes perfect sense: a scrappy kid from the wrong side of the tracks who is street smart, but still good at heart needs a new home. I mean, with a character bio like that, what show WOULDN’T want to bring Luke into the home. Unfortunately, the lame attempt to bring a new kid into the Seaver home proved ineffective. Just like two years before when precocious 6-year-old Chrissy was introduced, Growing Pains just couldn’t farm in enough cute, young kids to save the show.


Oliver – The Brady Bunch

Oliver is the grandfather of modern-day “new kid” TV cast additions. As tends to happen with family sitcoms that are on TV long enough, the child actors of the show all grow up. Deemed “not cute enough” by the network, TV shows then scramble to find some excuse to bring a younger, more adorable kid into the plot.


This fan-made video of Oliver as a secret agent would have been a far more interesting plotline.

For the Brady Bunch, this little show ruiner was Oliver (though, to be fair, the Brady Bunch was never any good). Immediately hated by fans of the show, little Cousin Oliver was the final nail in the coffin of this classic TV sitcom. After just six episodes of Oliver infestation, the Brady Bunch was canceled. Today, the term “Cousin Oliver Syndrome” refers to anytime a younger character is brought in to replace kid characters who have grown up. From Olivia on The Cosby Show to Sam McKinney on Diff’rent Strokes, the ploy has been used again and again.


Scrappy Doo – The Scooby Doo Show

Unlike those pesky real actors, cartoon characters never age. Despite this fact, the powers that be behind the Scooby Doo Show decided to try and boost ratings with the exact same concept. Scrappy Doo was introduced to the show in 1979 as Scooby’s cousin. Why was Scooby’s sister (Ruby Doo) not looking after the young pup anymore? Who cares!


Scrappy Doo has become such a hated character through history’s eyes that he’s been openly mocked in commercials and the Scooby Doo films.

Unlike most of the little devils that are added to TV shows, Scrappy was embraced by viewers and was credited for helping make the show popular again. But I don’t care what my TV watching ancestors thought, the idea of a hyperactive little punk just gets my gag reflex going. Throw in lame catchphrases like “Lemme at ‘em” and “Puppy Power,” and this is by far one of the worst TV cast additions of all time (though, I will say that he is 100 times better than the short-lived recurring cast member, Scooby Dum).


Nikki & Paulo – Lost

To be fair, Lost has introduced a number of intriguing new characters (Desmond, Ben, etc.). However, the show faltered considerably when the writers tried to introduce Nikki and Paulo. Their introduction to the show was jarring, with two immediately being thrust into the spotlight after being “hidden” in the background of the plane wreckage with the other “unimportant” castaways for all that time.

Add in the fact that the characters were completely worthless and added absolutely nothing to the show, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for terrible-ness. Thankfully, the backlash from fans was so overwhelming, that the writers quickly killed off these two boring character additions.


Pam – The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show followed a similar story arc as Growing Pains. Show opens to great ratings. Kids start to grow up. Show begins to go stale. Introduce little kid (Olivia, which actually worked, to a degree). Little kid starts to grow up. Introduce kid from wrong side of tracks to stir things up.

Now, it’s likely that you don’t even remember Pam (I forgot all about her until I saw a rerun of the Cosby Show a few months back). Essentially, she’s Claire’s distant cousin who comes to live with the Huxtables in Season 7. No matter how many episodes the girl appeared in, she always seemed out of place. The last two seasons of the Cosby Show are clearly the worst, a fact that can be wholly contributed to cousin Pam.


The Great Gazoo – The Flintstones

The character of the Great Gazoo can be summed up in three simple words: What. The. F*ck!? Despite the fact that The Flintstones is set in prehistoric times, the writers some how thought it made perfect sense to introduce a futuristic floating green alien into the town of Bedrock. Add in the fact that only Barney, Fred, Pebbles and Bam-Bam can see or hear the alien, and the Great Gazoo essentially amounts to an imaginary friend.


Gazoo’s love of calling people “Dum dum” hid his own shame in his unwavering illiteracy. Presumably.

The Great Gazoo was introduced during the Flintstones last season. Clearly, the writers were clamoring for some way to keep the show fresh. Unfortunately, a mischief-causing alien was not the right direction to go. In all other spin-offs of the show, The Great Gazoo was thankfully left absent from the cast of characters.


Seven – Married With Children

Married With Children was the antithesis of the family sitcom. The Bundy family was brash, imperfect, and in many ways much more realistic than the picture-perfect TV families that preceded them. It is for this reason that such a stereotypical pratfall such as introducing a new kid to the show seemed especially out of place. And apparently the role was so unmemorable and unremarkable that amidst tens of thousands Married with Children videos on YouTube, no one thought, “Hey, that scene with Seven is worth uploading!” Not a good sign.

Seven is the son of Peggy’s cousins (big surprise). After these cousins drop Seven off at the Bundy’s, the family quickly accepts him into the home. Viewers did not. The character was universally hated, and eventually dropped from the cast. While it seems clear that the writers were completely aware of Seven’s dubious introduction into the family (he even appears as an intentional re-characterization of Oliver from the Brady Bunch), this does not excuse the serious miscue.

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The Weekly Geek: Cyber Monday Shopping

We’re rapidly approaching the fine holiday that our friends in retail like to call Cyber Monday. The day after Americans chow down on turkey (or whatever sensible protein substitute) on Thanksgiving weekend, stores open at ungodly hours offering deals on every kind of merchandise imaginable.

Being a gadget geek, I’m no stranger to this bizarre phenomenon. I’ve done the “wake up at 3 a.m. and head to the nearest retailer offering cheap videogames” thing on Black Friday so many times that it’s become its own little holiday ritual. Naturally, tech-minded geeks benefit a great deal from discounted goodies — ours is an expensive habit to feed.

I’ve compiled a quick list of the better ads and links for the upcoming shopper’s holiday, to help you get the most of your gadget/gaming dollars. If you happen to have a wife or girlfriend nearby who may be shopping for you, now’s the time to leave your browser “conveniently” open on the page.

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