April 30, 2008
Of Interest
Clay Aiken and Hannah Waddingham, or vice versa, leaving an AIDS benefit at the Minskoff Theatre in New York yesterday. (Photo: WENN)
Sex & Drugs
What's this? First, a tape surfaces showing rock god Jimi Hendrix getting blowjobs and whatnot from a couple of groupies in '69. Hard as that is to believe, a rock star getting laid, now there's a tape allegedly showing outsider actress Angelina Jolie snorting heroin and "chasing the dragon" in the '90s. It's being offered for sale to the National Enquirer for $70,000. Says a source familiar with the Jolie tape: "She says, 'Wow, this is really good smack – not that cheap crap that's been stepped on.' " Gotta love that she was getting the good stuff even back then. (Starpulse via Defamer)
Ben Le Vine, Accepting the Award for Homer, Would Like to Thank the Academy
Homer and I would like to thank the amazing James St James for getting our sense of humor. We would also like to thank World of Wonder and Randy, Fenton, Tom, Stephen and the Wow Report team for providing these opportunities for four-legged young filmmakers like Homer Wolfchop DuKlau. Lastly, we'd like to thank the big guy who made all of this possible, David Hasselhoff, for being "The Hoff."
Miami Heat
Are John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston Johnnifer already? Seems he flew down to Miami where she's shooting Marley & Me with Owen Wilson, checked into the Four Seasons Hotel but never used his room, and spent all his time in Aniston's $3,000-a-night presidential suite at the Mandarin Oriental. Johnnifer was said to be inseparable over the weekend, lifting its collective head only to feed. (InTouch; photo: Bauer-Griffin)
The Critics Rave
WOW guy Eduardo Magaña and intermittent WOW gal Alicia Gargaro went to see The Forbidden Kingdom at the ArcLight the other night and afterward were waylaid into discussing it with the wacky Fan on the Street. Turns out those sidewalk movie endorsements you see on TV might be real. (Click here)
The Daily Freak Show
Now that Hard Candy dropped, we can move on to part 2 of James St James and some of the unsuspecting attendees at WOW's "depARTed" art show, like pop-culture genius Allee Willis, a variety of boys, and, later, a couple of gentlemen who send your Freak Show host into a sexual dither. Augmented with James's thoughts, delivered in an intimate contralto voiceover.
Awesome Pong Tricks
So this is what the kids down at the youth center are up to these days. We've watched this clip five times already. We can't stop. (Click here: UniquePeek)
Pup Culture Short Film Contest Winners
You didn't know about the contest, so don't fret that you forgot to enter; it was for WOW staff only. WOWers competed for a first prize of a whopping $1,000 and a little-whopper second prize of $500, with the winners selected by celebrity judge James St James. St James chose Ben Le Vine's simple but hilarious "Homerhoff" (above) to receive the grand prize, and joint runners-up Jason Bryan and Michael Weinreich to each receive $500 big ones for their opuses "If My Doggie Could Shit Money" and "Puzzle Lady," respectively (both after the jump). – Steven Corfe
More...Americon Icon?
Call me a snob, but I normally don't watch all those competition programs such as Dancing with the Stars or American Idol. But ohhhh boy, I watched American Idol last night. For those old enough to remember, on occasion an ancient I-don't-give-a-shit Bette Davis, with a face contorted from strokes, would put on a big flowery hat and motor over to Burbank to appear on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to say whatever the fuck came into her head. It was like this delicious train wreck and I was in my teens and after every appearance I just thought: "Now THAT is how I want to be in my autumn years." But I've changed my mind. Now I want to be Paula Abdul. Wasn't she glorious? I'd give anything to have all that hair piled on top of my head, sleep-deprived and drunk on live national television and just be sassy and say shit that had no relationship to reality.
– Ray Cochran
Genes Will Out
Billy Bob Thornton's 14-year-old son, Willie (age 10 in the photo), has been dating a 22-year-old woman, whose ex-boyfriend reported the relationship to the police, who are investigating. Developing. (TMZ)
Hollywood's New Hot Spot
Aftermath's a good name for a Stones album but not a particularly good scene for a news story. But there are still ashes strewn across the intersection of Hollywood & Vine, where the LAFD arrived at 5:30 this morning to spend hours fighting a blaze at the Basque nightclub, where no one we know has ever gone. Reports say the fire was spectacular. We dispatched our techie assist Steve Sims to take some shots when he was finished with the more important business of unfreezing helpless WOW staffers' keyboards and such.
That'll Do, Pig
Roger Waters' floating Floyd pig, missing since the weekend, has been found in tatters, shredded like meat for a giant pork sandwich. The pieces landed in the driveways of two La Quinta, California, families, who will split the $10,000 reward and the four lifetime passes to Coachella. (Video at BBC News; photo: Getty)
UnTru
Tru Blend? Really? I love Drew Barrymore, but isn't there something strange about the color of her face here?
– Randy Barbato
Peace Is So Chancy; Cash However...
John Lennon wrote "Give Peace a Chance" in 1969 while engaged in a weeklong so-called bed-in protest with Yoko Ono in a suite at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. A 16-year-old fan named Gail Renard managed to elude security, got into the room, and stayed for the week. Ahem. She received some lovely parting gifts at check-out, including Lennon's hand-written lyrics to the song. He told her to hang on to them. She did. For almost 40 years she gave peace a chance; now it's time to cash in. She's putting the lyric sheet up for auction at Christie's. It's estimated to fetch upwards of $400,000.
Snap!
They're boobs, not boo-boos. Amy Smart on the set of the Jason Statham-starrer, Crank 2: High Voltage. (Photo: JFX Images via TMZ)
Quote Unquote
"He actually wrote me a beautiful song, and actually recorded it in the studio. He surprised me with it. It's called, 'Shine Your Light.' It's this really beautiful love song about me. It was the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me." – Paris Hilton talking about her Good Charlotte boyfriend Benji Madden. (Peeps)
Take Another Little Pizza My Heart
Louis Cannizzaro, one of the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's stable of artists, recently completed a giant mural at Purgatory Pizza on 1st Street in downtown LA and shot a video to prove document it.
April 29, 2008
Religious Fervor
Hundreds of Christian teens in a British Columbia church fell through the floor and into the basement while rocking out to the Christian band Starfield. (News Junkie)
Snap!
We love this photo. Guy, Rocco, and Lourdes attend the red-carpet premiere of Speed Racer at London's Empire Leicester Square. In the rain. (via Faded Youth)
The Daily Freak Show
Last night, James St James joined the queens who were waiting outside the Virgin Megastore to be the first to buy Madonna's Hard Candy CD this morning. Shockingly, there were a couple of heteros in the crowd! Insightful and inciteful reporting at its most shrill.
Merge Miami 1.2
The first day of Merge Miami ended with a fashion show by designer and winner of Project Runway Season One, Jay McCarroll, on the rooftop of the Catalina Hotel.
Click and Drag
On her blog today, Lady Bunny posts her very first attempt at video editing. In 2004, a panel consisting of Bunny, Boy George, John Cameron Mitchell, Murray Hill, Michael Musto and moderator David Hershkovitz convened at the W Hotel in New York to discuss drag. It's kind of hilarious, as you might expect. Bunny explains its provenance.
The Camera Lies
Artist Rodney Ascher, a beloved World of Wonder alumnus, has curated a show called "Photo-Fictions," which just opened on Saturday. It's all narrative photography, fake movie stills, apocalyptic tableaux, imaginary '70s-era Italian erotic thrillers and the like. It's at the SHOWCAVE Night Gallery, at 1218 1/2 Temple Street in Los Angeles and will be open for another 2 1/2 weeks.
Car Trouble
Yesterday at 5AM, Palm Springs police found CSI's Gary Dourdan asleep in his car, which was parked on the wrong side of the road. Police searched the car and discovered cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy, prescription drugs, and drug paraphernalia. The "disoriented and possibly [high]" actor was arrested, booked on possession of narcotics and dangerous drugs, and released on $5,000 bail five hours later. Dourdan will not be returning to CSI after his contract expires in May.
100 Years Ago Today
Actually, it was only 22 years ago that Cher was 39 and Tom Cruise was 23 and the two had an affair lasting several months, until Cruise met and eventually married Mimi Rogers. Cher tells Oprah on a show airing next month that back then Cruise was an awkward young man who was struggling to adjust to his new life after Risky Business had made him a star. "It could have been a great big romance because I was crazy for him," she said. And we're thinking he might never have become the maniac Scientologist he is today; it was Rogers who brought him into the cult. (Daily Mail; photo: Alpha)
Velvet Devolver
Former Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland has been sentenced to eight days in jail after his second DUI conviction in November last year. In addition to jail time, Weiland was ordered to complete an 18-month alcohol-education class and pay about $2,000 in fines. Previously, he was convicted of DUI in 2003, arrested on domestic-violence charges in 2001, and jailed for drug offenses in the '90s. Weiland had been fronting Velvet Revolver until earlier this month, when the other members of the band voted him out due to his "increasingly erractic" behavior. How erratic does your behavior have to be to get you kicked out of a rock band? (Peeps; photo: Dan Steinberg/AP)
In Arm's Way
Handsome Chilean soap star Cristian de la Fuente, who recently served jury duty on World of Wonder's ¡Viva Hollywood! star-search show, suffered a severe muscle cramp in his arm, oddly, while dancing the samba with partner Cheryl Burke and had to end the routine abruptly. Burke said she "heard something crack." (gaywired)
Horton Hears a Homo
A tanned and turned-out Jim Carrey with costar Rodrigo Santoro shooting scenes for I Love You Phillip Morris. In the jail-break comedy, Carrey is a prisoner who falls in love with his cellmate, played by Ewan McGregor. We shudder to imagine how Carrey, who never gives less that 120%, might hike up the gay mannerisms, like an Ace Ventura at a circuit party. (Photos by SplashNews via Daily Mail)
Bite Me
In this week's episode of Channel 4's bite, the girls go back in time and look into the future. Watch it here.
Why So Similar, Batman?
If it worked for the first one, it should work for the remake. The trailers for Tim Burton's Batman and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, side by similar side. (College Humor)
'Scuse Me While I Diss This Guy
A 40-year-old tape allegedly showing Jimi Hendrix getting his funk on with two brunettes in a dimly lighted room is being released by Vivid Entertainment for $39.95. The 45-minute DVD contains only 11 minutes of sex; the remaining 34 minutes are a music-free retrospective of Hendrix’s career. The tape's authenticity has been hotly disputed, but former groupie Cynthia Albritton aka Cynthia Plaster Caster, who cast the musician's purple head in plaster back in 1968, said, "I’m 100 percent sure it’s him. The facial bone structure is the same. The eyebrows and the mustache are true to the style he was wearing in 1970." But she's mum on the subject's similarity to Jimi's other, more pertinent, bone structure. (NY Times)
And This Little Piggie Went Missing
The inflated pig the size of a city bus that floated above the crowd during Roger Waters' two-set show on the third night of Coachella has gone missing, just like that Brazilian priest with the party balloons. Festival producers are offering $10,000 and four lifetime passes to Coachella for the return of the porker. Even deflated, it's tough to hide in a dorm room. (Wired; photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com)
Quote Unquote
"I pee outside, outside my house, in my yard. I usually start off my day by taking my dogs out. While they go, I go. That's probably my least appealing habit. I just feel like I'm connecting with nature, I bond and feel like caveman. Man, tents, cave, pee, bush." – Ashton Kutcher on his morning ritual. (Contact Music)
April 28, 2008
The Daily Freak Show
James St James, debuting a sultry voice-over narration, insinuates his inimitable self on guests at the reopening of the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery Friday night, shoving the mike and a few loaded questions into the faces of, for example, How I Met Your Mother's Josh Radnor and Double-D Avenger's Kitten Natividad. Part 2 tomorrow.
Word of Wonder
Fragible n. (fraj' / e / bl) Flimsy or easily broken item. Before we move that bookcase, we should take the fragibles off the shelves. (t/y Jason)
Snap!
Josh Radnor and Selene Luna at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's "depARTed" show Friday night. (Photo by Meesh Mills)
Deleted Romance
America's sweethearts D-lister Kathy Griffin and Apple billionaire Steve Wozniak have split. "He is an awesome guy, but I have to say he is in the friends category now," says Griffin generously. "As a matter of fact, I got an email last week from him, and he is going to marry someone else. I think he might be married. I don’t really know that for sure, though." (Us mag; AP photo)
Virtual World of Wonder Storefront Gallery
Here are some, but not all, of the "depARTed" works now hanging in the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery. Click the images to see them larger. For information on artists, prices, and gallery hours go to gallery@worldofwonder.net. More art after the jump.
If Only It Were That Easy
Chris Crocker, still in the dress he wore to the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery reopening on Friday night, reminds his Crocker wannabe fans how to make a name in showbiz these days. (WENN photo via Socialite's Life; t/y Blake)
Podcast 4-24-08
Due to unavoidable delays and technical detours of this latest World of Wonder podcast, the management regrets we can offer no assist for you in the form of a lengthy synopsis. The discourse is as lively and controversial as ever, of course, but the curious will have to brave the uncharted territory alone and without a map this week.
LaBeouf in the Buff
Shia LaBeouf in and out of a Warhol tee in a VIP section at Coachella. (Photos via JustJared)
Baby Mama
Baby Mama on screen, baby mama off. Amy Poehler and husband Will Arnett are expecting a baby in the late fall, their first. No word on whether it was by in vitro fertilization or Will's own willy. (Reuters)
Merge Miami 1
Part 1 of Merge Miami's panel and events. Panelists Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey screened their When I Knew documentary at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
Latina Loves ¡Viva Hollywood!
"Finally, a chunk of English-language programming that you and Abuela can enjoy together," says Latina magazine about ¡Viva Hollywood! "It's more than enough to blow your bicultural mind."
Porn Free
Award-winning pornographer Phil ST John, known for his unique-for-the-genre film-noir style, now has a NSFW website and blog at philstjohnxxx.com. The site's loaded with free content and features all of ST John's recent films, with "lick-by-lick" synopses, reviews, screen grabs, trailers, and more. Some of ST John's mainstream works are in the collections of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the New York Public Library, and UCLA's Legacy Collection. ST John is the only American Film Institute Fellow working in the gay adult industry. Full of cool-boy art, filthy Phil's website is a "gourmand's purveyor of hot homo smut," he says. (See also)
Radio & TV Correspondents Roast
Bush does self-depracating standup at the annual Radio & TV Correspondents Dinner and kills without anyone dying.
Diff'rent Folks
Gary Coleman and Shannon Price on Divorce Court, where Price says of the 40-year-old virgin, "If he doesn't get his way, he throws a temper tantrum like a 5-year-old does. He, like, stomps the floor and yells, 'Meehhhh,' and starts throwing stuff around. He bashes his head in the wall, too." The two-parter airs this Thursday and Friday. (AP photo)
Found
Lost veteran Ian Somerhalder at Coachella's Live Party on Saturday. (Photos via Beauty and the Bum)
Festival Fashion
Dita Von Teese, Kelly Osbourne, Sienna Miller, and Melanie Griffith looked hot at Coachella. But only literally. (Photos: Splash via dlisted)
Get an Eiffel of RuPaul
RuPaul loves Paris in the springtime. He performed in the City of Lights Saturday night at Le Bataclan for the 10th anniversary of The Night of the Crazyvores. (Photo via RuPaul)
A Disney Star's Rite of Passage
In apologizing for the recent spate of inappropriate photos of her that got posted on the internet as well as those seductive Annie Leibovitz pinup shots in Vanity Fair, 15-year-old Miley Cyrus explained, "My goal in my music and my acting is always to make people happy. For Vanity Fair, I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie. I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed." Smile, Miley, you achieved your goal; looking at photos of topless 15-year-old girls makes a lot of people happy. (NY Times; photos: Annie Leibovitz; Michael Anthony/INF)
Quote Unquote
"He was my gardener. He was my carpenter. He rerouted the electricity in my house. He looked after the children. And he started making home movies of my children. And they were amazing." – Madonna at the Tribeca Film Festival talking about Nathan Rissman, the man who directed I Am Because We Are, her documentary about HIV/AIDS orphans in Malawi. (Peeps)
April 27, 2008
Recently Dead
Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson, the only child of Florenz Ziegfeld (you've heard of the Ziegfeld Follies?) and Billie Burke (Glinda the Good Witch anyone?), died at home in LA earlier this month of congestive heart failure. She was 91. Pampered, she grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida, and had a menagerie that included an elephant. The title of her autobiography says it all – The Ziegfelds' Girl: Confessions of an Abnormally Happy Childhood. (LA Times; photo of Stephenson, at right, with parents: Pacific & Atlantic Photos)
¡Viva Hollywood!
Episode 3 of ¡Viva Hollywood!, airing tonight at 10 on Vh1, is jam-packed with all the crazy drama that makes telenovela such novel television. The contestants learn to strut like runway models in next to nothing, then things turn extremely ugly – literally. Check out Buddy TV.