May 12, 2008
Older Than Springtime
A site devoted to things younger than John McCain, some of which are:
Alaska
plutonium
Mount Rushmore
the ballpoint pen
Scientology
Israel
(t/y Beau)
Banner Head
The best headlines, like this one from the Daily Mail, synopsize the story with all the facts and render further reading unnecessary:
Owen Wilson to wed Kate Hudson - a year after he 'tried to kill himself' when she dumped him.
Mark Twain Slept Here
The one-of-a-kind moviemaker Abel Ferrara (Ms .45, King of New York, Bad Lieutenant) checked into the one-of-a-kind Chelsea Hotel in New York inspired to make a documentary about the legendary rough-edged West 23rd Street building that Mark Twain, Bob Dylan, Tennessee Williams, Lance Loud, Edward Hopper, Leonard Cohen, Robert Crumb, etc, etc, called home over the decades. And the transient traffic is effing storied. It's where Sid stabbed Nancy, Warhol shot Chelsea Girls, and Arthur C Clarke wrote 2001. Now Ferrara joins the list. He checked in with no plan or storyboard. "I didn't come in with a point to it," he says, "so I just lived there and began filming. The result was the hotel from soup to nuts. It's about the people that lived there, the ghosts, and the people that live there now." The movie, Chelsea on the Rocks, premieres this month at Cannes. (Page Six)
Update: WOW Report blogger has just learned that Langdon F Page, who edited WOW's Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal, also edited Ferrara's documentary Chelsea on the Rocks – on location in room 315. No word on what room the Heidi editing took place.
Retouch Remodel
Jackie Beat, the female Weird Al, covers Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" with a few changes – like the title and all the lyrics. Video by Austin Young of The Worm fame.
Quote Unquote
"That's fine with me. If I'm going to be linked with someone, I could do an affair with Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba, or Charlize Theron. And Kate Beckinsale is gorgeous. There are so many beautiful girls." – Hayden Panettiere on rumors that she's a lesbian. (The Sun)
Mills Reneges on Legs
After posing for publicity shots with double amputee Maria Rybkina and promising to spend $20,000 to buy her artificial legs like the one she has, Heather Mills has simply, some might say cruelly, walked away from the 28-year-old train-accident victim, reneging on her promise. You'll remember that she claimed in her divorce from Paul McCartney that about $1.25 of her $50 million settlement would go to "charitable work." And speaking of that divorce, a London High Court has just granted Mills and McCartney a preliminary divorce, which becomes final in 45 days.
Packing
Former Chicago cop and Law & Order star, Dennis Farina, currently appearing in What Happens in Vegas, was taken into custody yesterday when screeners at LAX found a loaded handgun in his carry-on as he was about to board a plane. The 64-year-old told airport police and FBI agents that he'd forgotten he put the .22-caliber semi-automatic weapon in the briefcase, then spent most of the day in a Van Nuys jail until he was released on $35,000 bail. "He was apologetic and very cooperative," said an airport cop, "and he said he understood what was going to happen." (LA Times; photo: Richard Perry/NYT)
May 11, 2008
May 10, 2008
Cher Is a Deva
By some miracle we were in the front row for the opening night of Cher's Vegas show, and it was beyond-words wonderful. We were thisclose and could see the veins on her tiny hands. She made a spectacular entrance, of course, lowered to the stage in a cage.
And then there was this micro-moment when she looked down at something on the floor and smiled to herself. It was tiny, fleeting, and then the show went on. What was she looking at? Closer inspection revealed a decal of Ganesh, the elephant god, who Wikipedia tells us "is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and the god of success, patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom... He is honored at the start of rituals and ceremonies... Dancers and musicians, particularly in southern India, begin performances with a prayer to Ganesha."
Ganesh is hot.
– Fenton Bailey
May 9, 2008
This Just In: Booty Call from Barbara Walters!
Breaking News! World of Wonder has unearthed an answering machine message Barbara Walters left for Senator Edward Brooke, dating back to 1972. Who knew this acclaimed journalist had such a potty mouth?
Stealing Beauty
Eduardo Magaña's 1-minute tribute to celebrity shoplifters.Ed Magaña's Friday Vid Bits
Ed had this notion today that you'd like to see Tom Waits at a press conference for his "Glitter and Doom" tour, Anderson Cooper color announcing a visit with a couple of bears, a guy back-flipping into his jeans, and the trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Was he right?
Either You're In the Club or Urine Outside the Club
Seasons-ago It boy, Fabian Basabe, was arrested Wednesday night for urinating outside a Los Angeles club we've never heard of, the Crown Room (sounds like an airport lounge). When police approached, "he pulled up his pants [they were down? to pee?] and became verbally abusive, really nasty. You know how he can get," said a witness. Cops can be nasty too, so they ran a background check on Basabe and found two license suspensions due to an outstanding Beverly Hills DUI warrant. He was arraigned yesterday and released on $85,000 bail. His lawyer explained to Page Six that the the club was congested (and by "congested" he meant "not letting him in") and "he needed to go to the men's room very badly – he suffers from a bladder problem – and so he went around back to an alley to relieve himself. He was arrested but the only indecent exposure here is his overexposure in the media." Not so much, Shark, those days have sailed.
Eye On Butterfly
Everyone watched honeymoon-fresh couple Maria and Nick at the Time 100 celebrity blowout last night at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where Mimi performed. Afterward, the newlyweds dutifully hung out with couple Gayle and Oprah before heading off to dinner at the Waverly Inn. It had been Mr and Mrs Cannon's first public appearance since the marriage. "I’ve been smiling for days," said the Mr. (Just Jared; photos: WireImage, Splash)
Quote Unquote
"You can pretty much bet all you own that I would never leave another voicemail message for my daughter that wasn't just like something out of a Rodgers and Hammerstein score." – Alec Baldwin, to 60 Minutes, about leaving his daughter that phone message last year, calling her "a thoughtless little pig." (Us)
May 8, 2008
Don't You Wish Your Office Was Hot Like Ours?
Yeah, that's right – RuPaul and Charo totally hanging on the fourth floor at World of Wonder. (Photo by Chris McKim)
The Christian Right
Never in a million years would we have thought we'd like this guy, but we totally adore him. Here's the haphazardly hilarious Project Runway winner and probable red-carpet host at the next MTV Movie Awards, Christian Siriano, talking to MTV's Control Freak about the clothing lines of The Hills' Heidi and Lauren. We think he doesn't like them. (Watch here)
Man oh Manilow
I'm a Fanilow!
It all happened last night. At the Las Vegas Hilton. The lady who sat next to me had just got off the plane from London. She had seen him over a hundred times. This was my first. As soon as he hit the stage he sashayed over towards us. As he got closer he looked like ET... taller and thinner, yes, but with that same inner glow. As his eyes bored into me, I involuntarily rose to my feet, arms outstretched. "I think you're going to be going home with someone," my fanilow companion said with a nudge and a wink. I was prepared; I had stocked up at the gift shop on Manilow water, Manilow breath mints, and even Manilow hand-sanitizer. In the end, though, he picked some girl in front of me to dance onstage with him.
But I still got to nuzzle Barry, thanks to the Manilow pillow case I had also bought.
– Fenton Bailey
Dial M for Madonna
Toward the end of May the "depARTed" show will have departed from the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery and been replaced by Madonna (as most things are). "Dial M for Madonna," curated by James St James and Steven Corfe and opening with a gala reception on May 23, is a 40-artist-strong group show of all things Madge, from a conical bra made entirely of chocolate to a photograph of the Village Voice’s Michael Musto spoofing Madonna’s Sex book, “standing naked in a Jersey street with nothing but a wig and a cig to distract from my painfully tucked penis.” Opening night will also feature a video tribute to the late great 400lb Madonna impersonator, Queerdonna. You'll want to mark the date on your calendar or iCal and be there, because the Storefront receptions usually are the shizznit. It's already getting press.
The opening reception party takes place on Friday, May 23, from 8PM to midnight, with unveilings, performances, and an open champagne/vodka bar. The show continues through June 23 with daytime hours, during which co-curator St James will host events and gatherings in the gallery, many of which will be filmed and available for viewing on WOW TV, such as the ever popular online phone-in series Ring My Bell. The artworks are available for purchase during these daytime hours.
(Image: Albert Crudo's McDonna: Over a Billion Serviced)
Quote Unquote
"Are you kidding! Top celebrity mom? Look at her off-screen antics, her lack of morals, and how she conducts herself. I guess they forgot to mention how this top super-mom leaves her kids alone at night and even parties in their presence. Just wait until we go back to court. She comes stumbling out of Butter at 3:15AM with bloodshot eyes and a red runny nose, yelling 'Oh, shit,' when she saw the paparazzi." – Michael Lohan, to Page Six, on his ex-wife Dina receiving the Top Mom award from the Mingling Moms Organization.
Canoodling Canucks
Calgary-born actress Elisha Cuthbert and Calgary Flames hockey star Dion Phaneuf were recently caught frolicking and canoodling on the beach in Hawaii, making a unisexual eyeful of a couple. (Calgary Herald; photo: Bauer-Griffin via Socialite's Life)
Polanski's Baby
Samantha Gelmer, the 13-year-old on whom Roman Polanski committed statutory rape back in 1978, is now 43 and has since forgiven the director. She walked the red carpet outside New York's Paris Theatre on Tuesday for the celebrity premiere of Marina Zenovich's documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. She and her mother participated in the film. Was the Paris Theatre a wink-wink choice of venue or a coincidence? Paris is where Polanski hightailed it to 30 years ago to avoid retribution. The doc will air on HBO June 6 before its theatrical release. (Bauer-Griffin)
Skanky Panky
After a talking-to by police down at the station about that recent video showing her smoking crack, a stylin', bandanna'd Amy Winehouse was seen wandering the streets of London at 4AM, buying snacks and supplies at the gas station, chatting with paparazzi, and comparing arm tats with strangers. Oh, yes, she'd also been arrested and released at the station. Second arrest in two weeks. We're sorry Winehouse doesn't live in LA; we sure could use her here now that Britney's back on the meds. (Daily Mail; photos: Xposure)
Pretrial Trials
So what's delayed the child-pornography trial of rapper R Kelly since his indictment six years ago? In case you were wondering, it's been, among other distractions, the more than 30 pretrial motions, the multiple fractures suffered by Judge Vincent Gaughan in a fall from a ladder at home, and Kelly’s emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix. Finally, the trial will begin tomorrow, in Chicago. (NY Times)
May 7, 2008
Celebrities at Large: Spring Two-fer Edition
I had a New York City celebrity two-fer yesterday: First, I spotted Vincent D'Onofrio and his two young consorts looking for an open table at Level, a trashy commuter bar across from Penn Station. The only good thing about this place is the giant outdoor balcony that's perfect for watching celebrities as they wander around in search of a quiet spot to get their mid-afternoon drink on. Vinnie D should've told a hostess that he's a big star (Law & Order! Full Metal Jacket! Mystic Pizza!) because the poor guy and his pals ended up at a crappy table downstairs where they usually seat the foreign tourists who can't speak enough English to complain.
Later that afternoon, I was nearly run over by Peter Dinklage and his enormous dog as they barreled down a street in the Village. I don't want to be insensitive, but with the right saddle and some stirrups, he really could ride that thing. Hey, it's New York City – who cares about a midget riding a dog! Most importantly, both Petey D and his dog were dressed entirely in black on a beautiful sunny day, so you know they're cool.
– Chris May
Quote Unquote
“It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair, and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character.” – Star Jones to Us magazine, in regard to the frank confessions in Barbara Walters' memoir.
Baby Down for a Long Nap
Larry Birkhead put little Dannielynn to bed early the night he squired his new girlfriend Jenna Burnstein around the InTouch Kentucky Derby party, "running around, introducing her to everyone...like a firecracker." It's said that he and his Anna Nicole Smith lookalike stole the attention from Adrian Grenier and his regular-looking girlfriend Isabel Lucas. So it looks like we won't be seeing Birkhead carrying Dannielynn around like a murse as much now that he doesn't need her as a paparazzi tool anymore. (Page Six)
Turndown Service
The Miami Herald reports that Owen Wilson approached a girl at Miami's Purdy Lounge last weekend, and proposed a threesome with her, him, and a "friend" (most likely Vince Vaughn, who was in town – although we hear Richie Sambora was also around). A source told the Herald that the girl "was disgusted with the offer and declined." Did she make the right decision? (Celebrity Fix)
Soap Oprah
Did anyone watch Barbara try to cry on Oprah? It was pathetic. OMG, I couldn't stop re-winding. Yes, yes, I know all the chatter is about how she dissed about Star Jones and Rosie and her black lover...blah balh blah. The truly revealing moment was Barbara trying to pump some tears out of her totally snatched eyes. Oprah cued her perfectly, and she tried so hard. Really she did. OMG, it's fabulous TV, watching Barbara try to cry! Sell the product sweetie! The best she could do is get misty-eyed recounting her sister's death (and the bad speech that day). Hmmmm. (ABC News)
– Randy Barbato
Giving It to Barbara
Seems Barbara Walters' affair with Senator Edward Brooke is old news – or at least her lying about the rumors is. Not only was the coupling mentioned in Jerry Oppenheimer's unauthorized Walters bio in 1990, but it came up on live TV in 1975 when Walters was interviewing Pulitzer Prize-winning White House photographer David Kennerly. After she confronted him with the rumor that he'd dated Gerald Ford's daughter Susan, "I waited until she finished the anticipated question," Kennerly told New York magazine, "then said, 'Well, Barbara, I put those stories in the same category as those about you and Ed Brooke, they are rumors and gossip." That shut her up. (Page Six)
Ugly Lohan
One of the first shots of Lindsay Lohan's guest spot on the May 22 season finale of Ugly Betty. Lohan plays a mean high-school classmate of Betty's who reappears and makes her life hell. Sounds like "...and Lindsay Lohan as herself." Lohan will continue her guest arc in the first five episodes of Betty when the show returns for a third season. Re Lohan's on-set onset: "Lindsay was on time and actually arrived on set early," said a source. "She did a good job." But it was also said that another of the show's guest stars, Naomi Campbell, "displayed very un-diva-like behavior on set." (ABC; Metro)
Like Father, Like Son
James Caan, who walked off the set and out of David O Russell's Nailed after arguing over a scene in which the director wanted him to cough while choking to death on a cookie, which Caan insisted was implausible, has been replaced by James Brolin. A good choice. Brolin, you'll remember, was the Coen brothers' original and only choice to play Llewelyn Moss in No Country for Old Men, but due to a mixup the casting director sent his son Josh Brolin to read instead, and the age difference forced the brothers to change the story's timeline to 1980. Incidentally, the younger Brolin will be portraying George W Bush choking on a pretzel in a scene from Oliver Stone's upcoming W. But not fatally. (THR)
May 6, 2008
Chris Crocker Found Love
...with Jeffree Star. And will be shooting a video with Weezer tomorrow. (t/y Chris M)
Prattle
In Radar's "Yo Spencer!" online column, The Hills dude Spencer Pratt keeps it real (ahem) answering your burning (sensation) questions, like this one:
How long do you have to date someone before it's appropriate to bring up the possibility of anal sex?
If you're dating a guy, right away. If you're dating girl, I think you'll know pretty quick if she's into that. If they're not bringing it up, it's not something on their agenda. That's just realistic. My boxing coach Dirty Phi says, "If you stick your pinkie in there, and then another finger, and then another, and she responds happily, then it's cool."
That Touch of Mink
In January, Lindsay Lohan stole this $11,000 blond mink coat from a 22-year-old Columbia student at a birthday party for a friend of Stavros Niarchos in New York's Meatpacking District.. The student, Masha Markova, remembers sitting next to Lohan and putting her fur in a bin with other outerwear (stupid), and it was gone an hour later when she went to leave (duh). Two weeks later, she saw a photo in OK! magazine of Lohan wearing the coat. Club owners were contacted, lawyers were put into play, the coat was returned anonymously. Markova is asking for $10,000 from Lohan for the three-week unauthorized rental. We're thinking, anthropomorphically, it could have been the coat's fault, mistaking Lohan for Markova that fateful night. Developing. (NY Post)
Things We Tossed in the Fire
It's a shame Halle Berry can't take her new baby outside the house until someone pays a lot of money to make it worth her while. That poor infant's been saddled with the impossible name of Nahla Ariela Aubry, the middle name destined to be twisted into "areola," if we know our cruel playground kids – and bitchy bloggers. (Photo: FamePictures via Gossip Girls)
I Saw Eyesore, We All Saw Eyesore
Guests at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala last night might have taken the word "costume" a tad too seriously and the gala's theme, "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy," too specifically. And those guests might have been a little too everybody. A sampling:
From left: Vogue editor Anna Wintour, trophy wife Kimora Lee Simmons, tiny mogul Mary-Kate OIsen, designer Zac Posen and Kate Mara. (t/y Popsugar)
Clipology
In honor of the 25th anniversary of his breakout role in Risky Business, Tom Cruise is paying tribute to himself at the Scientology-free TomCruise.com, where he's assembled a lengthy clip reel of all his popular movies in an obvious attempt to cleanse our palates and clear our memories of all his recent deranged behavior and manic laughter. It almost works. Only 24 more years until we get the same thing from Jonah Hill.
Quote Unquote
"Well, I knew it was going to be a bit rough to start with, with the overcrowding and the medical facilities, [but] although they do their best – they are good – they can't really cater for the average junkie...." – Pete Doherty to journalists when asked if he did junk while he was in prison. (Source)
Free and Clean
Meanwhile, Britain's sweetheart, persistent drug offender Pete Doherty, is out of prison, having served only 29 days (one day for every year he's lived) of his 14-week sentence for breaking probation. He walked out of Wormwood Scrubs today wearing a suit and carrying his kit and a certificate showing that he was clean and sober. And counting. "I feel great," he told the waiting press. "I've walked out and I don't feel like I want to score. I want to go for a nice walk in the park instead.” And by "walk," he may have meant "wank." Developing. (Digital Spy; photos: James Emmett)
Oh, Beehive!
While husband Blake Fielder-Civil was planning a romantic assignation with his mystery blonde mistress and drooling over the millions he could get in a divorce, Amy Winehouse was eschewing professional salon work on her signature rat's nest and doing a home dyejob on her bangs, sans beehive, looking like a rotting corpse as she hung seminude with pals in the yard in Oxfordshire. (Daily Mail; photos: WENN)
May 5, 2008
Spears Reappears
On May 12, Britney Spears reprises her role as Abby on How I Met Your Mother, but instead of crushing on Josh, she flips for Barney. "Everyone was so nice," says Spears of her previous Mother experience. (Us)
The Viva Four
Silvia, Jenn, Jainmy, and Berto from Vh1's ¡Viva Hollywood! got together for a recent Reality Cares charity event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. Seeing these four contestants doing the red carpet after their reality show has wrapped, but while the show is still airing every week is kind of like experiencing a flash-forward on Lost.
Quote Unquote
"I can tell you that, basically, when you look at Two-Face, you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid. I can't talk about it beyond that because I don't want to give away too much.... There are fans on the Internet who have done artist's versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small." – actor Aaron Eckhart, the other, currently second-billed villain in The Dark Knight, talking to the LA Times.
Sad News for All Kinds of Men Everywhere
Like men anywhere had a chance. Seems ScarJo, 23, and RyRey, 31, after dating for about a year and recently denying, through their reps, that they were engaged, are in fact engaged, it's been confirmed to