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Gore
imdb.com

Gore Going to the Opera

Al Gore has had no shortage of accolades since his rebirth as front man for the environment, but, true to form, Italy’s La Scala opera house is determined to take “An Inconvenient Truth” over the top. An opera of the award-winning book and movie is set to premiere in 2011, and because it’s hard to make a character out of carbon emissions, it’s very possible the production will center on a certain former vice president.

Posted on May 29, 2008 4 COMMENTS


border patrol
criminal-justice-online.com

Homeland Security Meets Reality TV

If you thought reality TV was only for wannabe warblers, petulant teens and bug-eating fetishists, guess again. The Department of Homeland Security, “as well as several other government agencies,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, is working with ABC on a new “unscripted” show called “Border Security USA,” brought to you, creepily enough, by the executive producer of “Big Brother.”

Posted on May 29, 2008 8 COMMENTS


Sharon Stone
AP photo / Matt Sayles, File

Sharon Stone’s Quake Comment Causes Uproar in China

Chinese moviegoers aren’t going to rush to see any more Sharon Stone flicks (if they ever did), and, as execs at Christian Dior realized, they won’t be in a hurry to buy products she promotes after she speculated at Cannes last week about the possibility that the devastating earthquake in China on May 12 represented a form of karmic retribution for the Chinese government’s treatment of Tibetans.

Posted on May 29, 2008 33 COMMENTS


Weinstein
gawker.com

Movie Mogul Weinstein Reportedly Pressured Pelosi

Studio honcho Harvey Weinstein is a force to be reckoned with—it was no coincidence that Disney subsidiary Miramax became a major player in the film industry under his watch—and recently he reportedly attempted to use his powers of persuasion to convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to follow his plan for a Democratic primary revote in Florida and Michigan ... or else.

Posted on May 9, 2008 27 COMMENTS


W
ew.com

Stone Gears Up for ‘W’

Entertainment Weekly has released first-look photos of actor Josh Brolin in character for his lead role in Oliver Stone’s new movie, “W.” Portraying the current president is no small challenge, but director Stone, who has been accused of courting controversy in his previous big-screen presidential portrayals, has promised to treat his subject fairly.

Posted on May 8, 2008 31 COMMENTS


Clooney
time.com

Rome’s New Mayor Strikes American Celebs From VIP List

Hollywood stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney and Nicole Kidman are now personae non gratae in Rome, according to the Italian capital’s new mayor, Gianni Alemanno, a former fascist who thinks American stars shouldn’t be hyped at Rome’s annual film festival at the expense of Italian actors and directors.

Posted on May 5, 2008 7 COMMENTS


Tom Hanks

Tom’s Take on Decision ‘08

Tom Hanks has a preferred candidate, but what makes his endorsement interesting is not the person he chooses, but how he frames that choice. This video, which appeared on the actor’s MySpace page, seems as much a comment on the celebrity endorsement as it is an endorsement by a celebrity.

Posted on May 4, 2008 21 COMMENTS


Snipes
foxnews.com

Snipes Slapped with 3-Year Prison Sentence

A Florida court sentenced Wesley Snipes to 36 months in prison for tax evasion on Thursday, despite the actor’s plea for mercy and written character testimonials by fellow stars Denzel Washington and Woody Harrelson.

Posted on Apr 24, 2008 39 COMMENTS


moore
johnmurneysblog.blogspot.com

Moore Throws Hat Into Obama’s Ring

For presidential candidates, celebrity endorsements can be a mixed bag—especially when the star in question is a polarizing figure, as is the latest famous figure to give the nod to Barack Obama: audacious auteur Michael Moore.

Posted on Apr 21, 2008 112 COMMENTS


Book cover
usatoday.com

Green Eggs and Glam

Dr. Seuss has some new competition. Dr. Michael Salzhauer is a Florida plastic surgeon who has swapped his scalpel for a typewriter. His debut work, “My Beautiful Mommy,” attempts to educate the children of plastic surgery patients about tummy tucks, breast enhancements and nose jobs.

Posted on Apr 17, 2008 16 COMMENTS


Austrian exhibit
AP photo / Lilli Strauss

Outrage Over Last Supper Orgy Image Rattles Vienna Museum

A Catholic Church-affiliated museum in Vienna was shaken up this week by a controversy that erupted over the display of an unconventional rendering of Jesus and his disciples sharing the Last Supper—and then some—in an exhibit called “Religion, Flesh and Power.”

Posted on Apr 11, 2008 20 COMMENTS


Sean Penn
AP photo / Carolyn Kaster

Penn: ‘End Is Near’ for Fox Pundits

Filming one of his last scenes as Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s first openly gay politician, who was assassinated by City Hall colleague Dan White in 1978, Sean Penn got all Method on the crowd of extras assembled to reenact the scene of an important speech Milk made on Gay Freedom Day 30 years ago.

Posted on Mar 20, 2008 29 COMMENTS


Björk
theplugg.com

Chinese Official:  Björk ‘Hurt Chinese People’s Feelings’

Pixieish provocateur Björk sparked the ire of Chinese officials by voicing her support for an independent Tibet at the close of her concert in Shanghai last Sunday. According to China’s Culture Ministry, the Icelandic chanteuse broke “Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings” by chanting “Tibet, Tibet” at the end of her protest song “Declare Independence.”

Posted on Mar 7, 2008 31 COMMENTS



Truth or Consequences

We got snookered. Motoko Rich of The New York Times reports in her article posted March 4 that the just-published “memoir” by Margaret B. Jones, called “Love and Consequences,” about Jones’ “life as a half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers, running drugs for the Bloods,” is a fabrication.

Posted on Mar 3, 2008 19 COMMENTS


Jolie in Iraq
AP photo / U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lorie Jewell

Angelina Jolie: Now’s the Time to Help Iraqis

For those inclined to ask “who cares?” every time a celebrity-and-politics news item makes the rounds, consider it asked already. For everyone else, The Washington Post published an opinion piece by actress Angelina Jolie on Thursday about the problem of Iraqi refugees fleeing to Syria, Jordan and “a vast and very dangerous no-man’s land” within their own borders. Now, Jolie says, is the time for Americans to “do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.”

Posted on Feb 28, 2008 37 COMMENTS


Anne Frank musical
AP photo / Victor R. Caivano

Anne Frank: The Musical

There’s an adage that cautions against making jokes about such categorically unfunny topics as the Holocaust ... but how about making musicals? This just in: The BBC brings word from Spain of the staging of a new musical, “Anne Frank: A Song to Life,” which at times features “Kitty,” a perhaps unwisely (and too literally) conceived character.

Posted on Feb 22, 2008 18 COMMENTS


striking writers
evilbeetgossipfilm.com

Hollywood Writers Back in Action

After weeks of striking, the Writers Guild of America has struck a deal with Hollywood honchos, ending the protracted impasse between scribes and studios and allowing the stalled wheels of the entertainment industry to creak back into motion on Wednesday.

Posted on Feb 13, 2008 8 COMMENTS


Van Gogh
time.com

Art Thieves Pull Off Major Heist in Zurich

The private collection of famous artworks at Zurich’s E.G. Buehrle Collection suddenly became smaller over the weekend, and not at the proprietors’ behest. On Sunday, three disguised and armed robbers stole over $160 million worth of artwork by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and other masters from the Swiss museum.

Posted on Feb 11, 2008 12 COMMENTS


Michael Eisner
AP photo / Paul Hawthorne

Eisner: Strike Is Over

He’s not the head honcho at the Mouse House (aka Walt Disney Co.) anymore, but Michael Eisner claims firsthand and reliable knowledge that the writers’ strike is over. He says a deal was struck between the WGA and studio execs late last week and will take effect within days.

Posted on Feb 7, 2008 10 COMMENTS


A&F ad
hamptonroads.com

Abercrombie Ad Rankles Va. Beach Cops

Teen-targeting retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has long pushed the erotic envelope when it comes to its saucy ads, usually depicting proto-Adonises stripped to the waist and gamboling together, with a scantily clad female or two thrown in for good measure. The company’s latest campaign, though, was clearly too much for the (fashion) police of Virginia Beach, Va.

Posted on Feb 3, 2008 28 COMMENTS


Oprah and the Obamas
AP photo / Elise Amendola

Oprah Zeroes In on California Women

This weekend, Sen. Barack Obama is unleashing a secret weapon in the final push to win Tuesday’s California primary: Oprah Winfrey. Team Obama partly attributes his successes in Iowa and South Carolina to her influence, which he’s hoping will help convince California women to choose him over Hillary Clinton.

Posted on Feb 1, 2008 18 COMMENTS


Bush
AP photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Stone’s Next Subject: G.W. Bush

Director Oliver Stone has already demonstrated his penchant for making movies about controversial figures and critical moments in world history, so it should come as no surprise that Stone is turning his lens on George W. Bush for his next film, simply and succinctly called “Bush.”

Posted on Jan 21, 2008 58 COMMENTS


Oprah Winfrey
AP photo / Kevork Djansezian

Oprah’s Very OWN Television Network

It’s surprising this didn’t happen earlier:  Multimedia mogul Oprah Winfrey is launching a television network, simply and logically called the Oprah Winfrey Network, in conjunction with Discovery Communications.  Oprahphiles can look forward to a 2009 launching for OWN, which Winfrey calls “a natural extension of my show.”

Posted on Jan 15, 2008 29 COMMENTS



goldenglobes.org

Strike Derails Golden Globes Show

With top-tier talent unwilling to cross picket lines for the sake of a gala awards ceremony, the folks who put together the Golden Globes (the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, NBC and Dick Clark Productions) scrambled to work around the whole no-actors-showing-up issue but had to settle for a newscast announcing the winners. 

Posted on Jan 7, 2008 9 COMMENTS


Colbert
givememyremote.com

Colbert and Stewart on the Comeback Track

If Comedy Central headliners Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert indeed return to television Jan. 7—the eve of the New Hampshire primary, as fate (or whatever capricious force controls networks’ holiday scheduling practices) would have it—they’ll probably have to stage their comebacks without their trusty and witty writing teams.

Posted on Dec 21, 2007 42 COMMENTS


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