Just a few of my favorite things..

oh Ford

2010-01-18T05:42:00.000-08:00

Watch ONE LIFE TO LIVE

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T20:13:00.000-08:00

After nearly a year break from this blog I am back! Whole new look coming soon.

mac chick

2008-12-26T20:50:00.001-08:00

amazing...

2008-12-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

HORSE SHIT..

2008-12-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

• Second big disaster: not a single nomination for Mariah Carey or anything from her "E=MC2" album. Not even a throwaway nod in R&B. Just an outright, across the board snub. What's worse: they put Carey through the agony of participating in the Grammy live telecast last night and then giving her nothing! [...] Of course, there may be more to the snubs than meet the eye. In the cases of Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey, it could be a punishment for appearing on the American Music Awards last month, and accepting awards from them. There has long been an unwritten rule that if an artist did anything with the AMAs, owned by Dick Clark Productions and considered a minor rival, the Grammys wouldn't allow you on their show. What happened on the AMA's: Keys won two "favorite album" awards there, and performed the show ending blockbuster, her "Superwoman," with Queen Latifah and opera diva Kathleen Battle. Carey took home an honorary lifetime award and sang the hell out of "I Stay in Love." (Fox News)

• It's Grammy time again, and each year there are a few nominations (or lack thereof) bound to leave music fans baffled. No mentions of Mariah Carey or Taylor Swift during Wednesday night's concert event, though both appeared on the show. And although Alicia Keys got three nods, including one for her duet with John Mayer, "Lessons Learned," her album didn't make the cut in the major categories! (People)

• In the past, Mariah Carey has won such prestigious awards as best new artist and best contemporary R&B album. She even opened the Grammy nomination special Wednesday night. This year, her "E=MC2" was shut out of major categories. But she wasn't the only R&B star to go unrecognized in top categories by Grammy voters. (Los Angeles Times)

• Mariah Carey and her backup dancers refused to be disheartened by the current economic climate. Carey's Christmas-themed opener featured all the trappings of excess, including fur-trimmed-mini-dresses to shiny red shopping bags. Proving that nothing comes between a diva and her diamond-studded microphone. (The Envelope)

• Mariah Carey, looking very Nancy Sinatra-ish, sang "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" in red jumper and white boots. Great song and Carey sang the heck out of it. But where's Darlene Love, who sang the spectacular, Phil Spector-produced original? Love is alive, well and still performing. How about a duet, at least? How cool would that've been? (Chicago Tribune)

• Mariah Carey, who received no noms for her "E=MC2" album, opened the evening a bit stiffly, singing the Phil Spector-produced Darlene Love classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." (Variety)

• Mariah Carey, who can be thankful that the Best Gospel Performance category--she's up for a group sing-along--saved her from getting zip. (E! Online)

a new day

2008-12-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

CHICAGO – Barack Obama promised "a new dawn of American leadership" in a troubled world Monday, announcing a strong-willed national security team headed by Hillary Rodham Clinton, who fought him long and bitterly for the presidency, and Robert Gates, the man who has been running two wars for George W. Bush.

The president-elect said he hadn't changed his mind about bringing most U.S. combat troops home from Iraq within 16 months but added a cautionary note — he'll consult with his military commanders first.

While his new team may be a bit more centrist — some war opponents might even say hawkish — than many Obama supporters might prefer, he said the withdrawal timetable he emphasized in the presidential campaign is still "the right time frame."

Clinton, as secretary of state, and Gates, remaining as defense secretary, will be the most prominent faces — besides Obama's own — of the new administration's effort to revamp U.S. policy abroad.

At a Chicago news conference, Obama also tapped top advisers Eric Holder as attorney general and Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations. He named Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be homeland security secretary and retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser.

The choices had been telegraphed days earlier but were remarkable all the same — still another major turn in Clinton's extraordinary career, a show of faith in Gates and action to support Obama's frequent talk of desiring robust debate among seasoned, opinionated people in his inner circle.

Denouncing White House "group think," Obama signaled a break from President Bush's tendency toward an insular management style and go-with-the-gut diplomacy.

"The time has come for a new beginning," said Obama, flanked by flags on a stage with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his six newest appointees. While Gates will stay at the Pentagon, Obama said the military's new mission will be "responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control."

He said a newly completed agreement between Iraq and the Bush administration covering U.S. troops signals "a transition period in which our mission is changing." He added: "It indicates we are now on a glide path to reduce our forces in Iraq."

Obama has now selected half his Cabinet, including the high-profile jobs at State, Defense, Justice and Treasury. A week ago, he named his economic team, led by Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary. And soon he plans to announce New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as commerce secretary and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle as health and human services secretary.

Obama's picks suggest he is mindful of his own relative inexperience; most of the appointees have decades more experience in government than he does as a former one-term Illinois senator. The selections also reflect his long-voiced desire to invite divergent viewpoints to chart the best course for the country.

"I assembled this team because I'm a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions," he said. "I think that's how the best decisions are made. ... So I'm going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House."

"But understand I will be setting policy as president," he added. He said he will be responsible for "the vision that this team carries out, and I expect them to implement that vision once decisions are made."

Quoting Harry S. Truman, Obama said: "The buck will stop with me."

"The time has come for a new beginning, a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century," Obama said.

Without naming Bush or directly referring to what administration critics see as America's tarnished world image over the past eight years, Obama called for a new strategy for dealing with global issues.

"We're going to have to bring the full force of our power, not only military but also diplomatic, economic, and political, to deal with those threats not only to keep America safe but also to ensure that peace and prosperity will exist around the world," he said.

Referring to his security team, Obama said: "They share my pragmatism about the use of power and my sense of purpose about America's role as a leader in the world."

Asked by reporters about his choice of Clinton, who traded barbs with him and questioned his readiness for the presidency during the campaign, he praised her and shrugged off any suggestions of future problems.

He said of the New York senator, "She possesses an extraordinary intelligence and toughness, and a remarkable work ethic. ... She is an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence, who knows many of the world's leaders, who will command respect in every capital and who will clearly have the ability to advance our interests around the world."

The former first lady repaid the compliment: "I am proud to join you ... and may God bless you and our great country."

Likewise, Gates said he was "honored to serve President-elect Obama."

He said he was "mindful that we are engaged in two wars and face other serious challenges at home and around the world."

"I must do my duty as they do theirs," he said of the men and women in uniform in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. "How could I do otherwise?"

At the news conference, Obama expressed sympathy for the victims of the terror attacks in Mumbai but twice declined to say whether the Indian government would be justified in pursuing terrorists in next-door Pakistan.

"This is one of those times when I have to reiterate there is one president at a time," he said. "We're going to be engaged in some very delicate diplomacy in the next days and weeks, and I think it would be very inappropriate of me to comment."

Obama had drawn criticism during the campaign — including from Clinton — when he said the United States would be justified in pursuing al-Qaida terrorists in Pakistan if it had "actionable intelligence."

Clinton will give up her seat as a senator from New York to join the Cabinet. Her appointment was preceded by lengthy negotiations involving her husband, the former president, whose international business connections posed potential conflicts of interests.

Napolitano, too, must resign her current job as a border state governor. She was among the earliest Obama supporters, when Clinton seemed the likely Democratic nominee.

Gates' appointment fulfilled a campaign promise by Obama, the naming of a Republican to his Cabinet.

Holder, a former Justice Department official in the Clinton administration, led Obama's vice presidential search, while Rice was his top foreign policy adviser. Jones, meanwhile, advised both Obama and Republican presidential nominee John McCain during the campaign on national security issues. Last year he led a commission that advised Congress on progress in training Iraqi security forces.

Clinton, Holder, Napolitano and Rice require Senate confirmation. Jones, as a White House official, does not. Nor does Gates, already confirmed to his post.

world aids day

2008-12-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

wow!

2008-11-25T13:19:00.001-08:00

coming soon

2008-11-25T13:16:00.000-08:00

a new day

2008-11-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

get out and VOTE

2008-11-04T10:00:00.001-08:00

more halloween goodness

2008-11-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

yummy

2008-11-01T10:02:00.001-07:00

twice as nice

2008-10-31T19:33:00.000-07:00

they are everywhere...

2008-10-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

and yes i LOVE it! even with Nick.... ;-(

much better

2008-10-16T07:34:00.001-07:00

how do you spell gorgeous?

2008-10-15T19:29:00.001-07:00

LO!

welcome back man...

2008-10-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

happy birthday

2008-10-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

to the most beautiful girl in the world!

at least the hair is nice....

2008-10-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

def not pregant

2008-10-05T09:53:00.001-07:00

new hot man? go girl

2008-10-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

WOW!!

2008-10-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

lucky bastard

2008-09-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

beautiful

2008-09-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

loves it!

2008-09-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

fashion rocks tonight!

2008-09-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

horse shit

2008-09-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

MSNBC says Olbermann, Matthews won't anchor

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer Mon Sep 8, 2:22 PM ET

NEW YORK - MSNBC is replacing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as co-anchors of political night coverage with David Gregory, and will use the two newsmen as commentators.

The change reflects tensions between the freewheeling, opinionated MSNBC and the impartial newsgatherers at NBC News. Throughout the primaries and summer, MSNBC argued that Olbermann and Matthews could serve as dispassionate anchors on political news nights and that viewers would accept them in that role, but things fell apart during the conventions.

Gregory, the veteran Washington hand, will anchor MSNBC's coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates and election night, network spokesman Jeremy Gaines said Sunday. The change was first reported by The New York Times.

The tipping point appears to have come during the GOP convention when Olbermann criticized MSNBC for showing a Sept. 11-themed video prepared by the Republicans.

MSNBC executives, who had publicly defended their anchors' roles while privately monitoring them throughout the political season, made the change over the weekend after discussions with Olbermann. Despite the controversy around him, Olbermann has been a hero with left-leaning viewers and keyed MSNBC's growth among coveted young viewers.

During her acceptance speech last week, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin talked about the "Washington elite" not accepting her qualifications for the job. Some delegates on the convention floor began chanting, "N-B-C, N-B-C."

Olbermann began to have difficulty keeping his opinions in check, or simply stopped trying.

He sarcastically dismissed GOP pundit Pat Buchanan on the air after Buchanan said the Republicans had been enlivened by the entrance of a conservative Republican.

"Those reading US Weekly with the picture of her and her youngest daughter with the word `scandal' written across it won't be so happy," Olbermann said.

He expressed little sympathy at another point when GOP anger at rumors over the Internet about Palin were being discussed.

"We'll see if people feel sorry for unfounded rumors on the Internet," he said. "If that's the case, Senator Obama's probably standing up and cheering and waiting for people to feel sorry for him."

Perhaps most embarrassing, Joe Scarborough was discussing positive developments in John McCain's campaign at one point when Olbermann was heard on an offstage microphone saying: "Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?"

Scarborough, a former Republican congressman and host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," got in another nasty on-air exchange with MSNBC reporter David Shuster, and Matthews snapped at Olbermann on-air when it appeared Olbermann was criticizing him for talking too much.

All the drama made MSNBC a punch line when top NBC anchor Brian Williams appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last week. "Is there no control?" host Jon Stewart asked him. "`Is it `Lord of the Flies?'"

A sheepish Williams said that every family has a dynamic of its own.

"But does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?" Stewart said.

Olbermann was in Denver during the Democratic national convention, but performed his co-hosting duties for the GOP convention in a New York studio. NBC President Steve Capus said the decision was not political, that Olbermann had been sent back to anchor coverage of Hurricane Gustav.

MSNBC's decision comes just before Olbermann's "Countdown" show is set to air, on Monday, his interview with Barack Obama. That will put Olbermann in direct competition with his nemesis, Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, who interviewed Obama last week and is airing a portion of it Monday in the same 8 p.m. EDT time slot.

stand up for cancer

2008-09-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

no question who did it better

2008-09-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

so it sucked

2008-09-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

B/c there wasnt enough Shannen D!

its tonight

2008-09-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

90210

please keep it coming

2008-08-27T18:27:00.002-07:00

SD!

amazing!!!

2008-08-27T18:27:00.001-07:00

I love rich @ fourfour

2008-08-26T20:47:00.001-07:00

Mariah Carey is...

bullshit

2008-08-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

My Lo deserves a whole hell of a lot more than that..

crazy eh?

2008-08-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

The 1.52 million students who took the test is a slight increase from last year but a jump of nearly 30 percent over the past decade. Minority students accounted for 40 percent of test-takers, and 36 percent were the first in their families to attend college. Nearly one in seven had a low enough family income to take the test for free.

"More than ever, the SAT reflects the face of education in this country," said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, which owns the test and released the results Tuesday.

The class of 2008 scored an average of 515 out of a possible 800 points on the math section of the college entrance exam, a performance identical to graduating seniors in the previous year.

Scores in the critical reading component among last spring's high school seniors also held steady at 502, but the decline over time has been more dramatic: the past two years represent the lowest reading average since 1994, when graduating seniors scored 499.

By comparison, the highest average reading score in recent decades was 530 by the class of 1972, although that score dropped dramatically within five years to near present levels. The latest math average is just five points below the 35-year high of 520, reached three years ago.

Those historical highs are tempered by the test's more selective reach a generation ago, said Jim Hull, a policy analyst for the Center for Public Education, which is affiliated with the National School Boards Association.

"You only had the best of the best taking the test," he said. "The SAT has become far more inclusive."

Average scores also remained constant on the writing portion of the SAT, which was added to the entrance exam in 2006. For the second year in a row, the average score was 494 — a three-point drop from its debut year.

The writing test is still a work in progress, with many colleges waiting for several years of data before factoring that portion into admissions decisions.

But the College Board released data Tuesday suggesting that scores on the newest portion of the exam are the most accurate gauge of first-year success in college. Studies by the University of Georgia and the University of California support the group's findings, it reported.

Males on average scored four points higher than females on the reading section (504 vs. 500) and 33 points higher on the math test (533 vs. 500), but females on average outscored their counterparts on the writing test, 501 to 488.

Average ACT scores released earlier this month showed a slight decrease, for the class of 2008 — 21.1 compared to 21.2 a year ago, on a scale of 1 to 36. With 1.42 million test-takers, the rival exam still lags behind the more-entrenched SAT, but is growing at a faster rate.

That trend is only likely to continue, said SAT critic Bob Schaeffer of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, who called the new three-part SAT a "flop." Nearly 800 colleges now consider the SAT an optional test for admissions, according to the group.

comeback kid of the year

2008-08-25T18:26:00.002-07:00

looks fun right?

2008-08-25T18:26:00.001-07:00

really??

2008-08-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Biden is Democratic favorite for Obama's No. 2
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
44 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Sen. Joe Biden has emerged as the favorite among Democrats to be Barack Obama's running mate for his understanding of foreign policy in grave global times and his fighting spirit against the rival Republican ticket.

Obama is keeping his decision quiet, but his staff in Chicago and party activists who await a decision are buzzing about Biden in large part because he can address two of Obama's biggest weaknesses — his lack of experience, especially on world affairs, and his reluctance to go on the attack. The speculation is less of an indicator of whether Biden will ultimately be Obama's pick, and more of a recognition of the challenges their candidate faces at this pivotal moment in the race.

Obama plans to appear with his newly selected running mate Saturday, with the pick announced via text message to supporters. Obama also is widely thought to be considering Govs. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.

Biden, 65, was first elected to represent Delaware in 1972, when Obama was 11 years old and half the people living in the United States today weren't born yet. He is a curious front-runner for running mate for a candidate who won the primary by arguing he would be a fresh outsider who could bring change to Washington.

Biden is a charismatic and hard-charging campaigner with a compelling personal story — his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident a few weeks after he was first elected, but two sons survived serious injuries in the same crash. Biden commuted home to Wilmington from each day in the Senate to care for them, a practice he still continues to this day. The oldest son, Beau, is now Delaware's attorney general and a National Guard member whose unit is being deployed to Iraq in October.

Biden got another scare 10 years ago, when two brain aneurysms kept him out of the Senate for several months.

Biden returned Monday from a trip to Georgia at the invitation of the embattled country's president, a well-timed reminder of the value he could bring to Obama's ticket.

Fighting between Georgia and Russia has only increased the sense that Americans will turn to a leader who will be a strong international leader. McCain brings a military background and leadership on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Obama only has served three years in Washington, but Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he has served on for 33 years.

Also, polls show the race between Obama and GOP rival John McCain tightening, and Obama is responding by stepping up his attacks in speeches and commercials targeted to key states. Obama has never been entirely comfortable going negative, a move that threatens his call for civility in politics, but Biden has never shied from a fight.

"He's passionate, he's articulate and he's persuasive," said Democratic consultant Steve McMahon, among those who consider Biden Obama's smartest pick. "I think he would do for Senator Obama what Lyndon Johnson did for John Kennedy. He's got serious foreign policy experience, a long and distinguished Senate resume and he is one of the most effective surrogates that Senator Obama has right now who can go toe-to-toe with any Republican on any issue at any time."

Obama could have been describing Biden when he said in a speech Tuesday that he wants his running mate to be "somebody who is mad right now" about the state of the economy, an independent who will speak out when he's wrong and help him through major issues.

During the Democratic primary when he also ran for the presidential nomination, Biden often made the most memorable impression in debates even though he was barely registering in the polls. He got big laughs for accusing Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani for mentioning three things in every sentence — "a noun, a verb, and 9/11" — and also leveled barbs at Obama.

He said he didn't think Obama was ready to be president yet, saying it's "not something that lends itself to on-the-job training." He offended some blacks when on the first day as an official presidential candidate he tried to compliment Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean." He dropped out of the race after a poor showing in Iowa.

Republicans would be sure to revive Biden's criticisms of Obama and already envision a line of attack that says Obama is so inexperienced he needs a running mate who has been in Washington longer than McCain.

Biden is famous for being able to talk at length — sometimes a mind-numbing length — on any topic, but he has enhanced his standing in the vice presidential race by avoiding discussion of it.

Obama's running mate contenders have been instructed to be mum — a trait that is not considered Biden's strong suit. But he has played by Obama's rules, denying that he was being vetted when he most likely was. He bluntly acknowledged he'd take the job if asked, while jokingly warning Obama might not want him.

"I made it clear to him and everybody else, I never worked for anybody in my life," he told reporters last month. "I got here when I was 29. I never had a boss. I don't know how I'd handle it."

He gave nothing away Wednesday, as reporters staked out his home in anticipation of the pick. The senator took a load of brush in the bed of a white Ford pickup truck to the dump. He returned about 2 1/2 hours later, saying he was going to be working on his property throughout the day and would have no further comment.

the man

2008-08-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

thank u tv gods

2008-08-15T21:20:00.001-07:00

shocked and sadden

2008-08-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

By F.N. D'ALESSIO, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 47 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show," died Saturday at age 50. "Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama's campaign.

But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer.

"Wherever I am, I have to play," he said in 2002. "I have to put on a good show."

Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. He began doing standup as a child, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy "Mo' Money" in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama "Get on the Bus."

He was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience.

"The majority of his core fan base will remember that when they paid their money to see Bernie Mac ... he gave them their money's worth," Steve Harvey, one of his co-stars in "Original Kings," told CNN on Saturday.

Mac went on to star in the hugely popular "Ocean's Eleven" franchise with Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

Comedian Carl Reiner, who also appeared in "Ocean's Eleven" and its two sequels, said Saturday he was "in utter shock" because he thought Mac was improving. "He was just so alive. I can't believe he's gone," he said.

Reiner told KNX-AM in Los Angeles that other comics had talked to the audience as Mac did on "The Bernie Mac Show," but "he took it to a new level."

"It was such a popular show because of his bigger-than-life persona," Reiner said.

His turn with Ashton Kutcher in 2005's "Guess Who" topped the box office. It was a comedy remake of the classic Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn drama "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" — with Mac as the black dad who's shocked that his daughter is marrying a white man.

Mac also had starring roles in "Bad Santa," "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Transformers."

The comedian drew critical and popular acclaim with his Fox television series "The Bernie Mac Show," which aired more than 100 episodes from 2001 to 2006.

The series about a man's adventures raising his sister's three children, won a Peabody Award in 2002. At the time, judges wrote they chose the sitcom for transcending "race and class while lifting viewers with laughter, compassion — and cool."

In real life, he was very much like his character on that series, his daughter, Je'niece Childress, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

"He was the king of his household," Childress said in Chicago, describing Mac as "a loving grandfather" to her daughter, his only grandchild.

"The Bernie Mac Show" garnered Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for Mac.

"But television handcuffs you, man," he said in a 2001 Associated Press interview. "Now everyone telling me what I CAN'T do, what I CAN say, what I SHOULD do, and asking, `Are blacks gonna be mad at you? Are whites gonna accept you?'"

He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his "The Original Kings of Comedy" co-stars, Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.

Chicago music producer Carolyn Albritton said she was Bernie Mac's first manager, having met him in 1991 at Chicago's Cotton Club where she hosted an open-mike night.

"From very early on I thought he was destined for success," Albritton said Saturday. "He never lost track of where he came from, and he'd often use real life experiences, his family, his friends, in his routine. After he made it, he stayed a very humble man. His family was the most important thing in the world to him."

In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS' "Late Show" that he planned to retire soon.

"I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit," Mac told Letterman. "I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977."

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city's South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was the deacon of a Baptist church.

In his 2004 memoir, "Maybe You Never Cry Again," Mac wrote about having a poor childhood — eating bologna for dinner — and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing.

"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."

Mac's mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.

"Woman believed in me," he wrote. "She believed in me long before I believed."

i knew he was a douchebag

2008-08-08T12:34:00.001-07:00

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ABC NEW IS REPORTING

WASHINGTON - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday admitted to an extramarital affair while his wife was battling cancer. He denied fathering the woman's daughter.

Edwards told ABC News that he lied repeatedly about the affair with a 42-year-old woman but said that he didn't love her. He said he has not taken a paternity test but knows he isn't the father because of the timing of the affair and the birth.

ABC said a former Edwards campaign staffer claims he is the father, not Edwards.

Edwards was a top contender for the Democratic nomination for president, pursuing his party's nod even after announcing that his wife, Elizabeth, had a deadly form of cancer.

He placed second in the Iowa caucuses last January but dropped out of the race a few weeks later. He has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential choice for Barack Obama. The former North Carolina senator was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004.

In 2006, Edwards' political action committee paid $100,000 in a four-month span to a newly formed firm run by Rielle Hunter, who directed the production of just four Web videos, one a mere 2 1/2 minutes long.

Hunter's daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, was born on Feb. 27, 2008, and no father's name is given on the birth certificate filed in California.

The payments from Edwards' One America Committee to Midline Groove Productions LLC started on July 5, 2006, five days after Hunter incorporated the firm in Delaware.

Midline provided "Website/Internet services," according to reports that Edwards' PAC filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Midline's work product consists of four YouTube videos showing Edwards in informal settings as he prepares to make speeches in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Pittsburgh, Pa., prepares for an appearance on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and travels in Uganda in 2006.

Edwards' PAC paid Midline $100,000 in a four-month span in 2006, and followed that up with two smaller payments totaling $14,461, the last on April 1, 2007.

thoughts and prayers go out

2008-08-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES - Actress Christina Applegate reportedly is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Ame Van Iden, publicist for the 36-year-old actress, released the following statement late Saturday:

"Christina Applegate was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer. Benefiting from early detection through a doctor ordered MRI, the cancer is not life threatening. Christina is following the recommended treatment of her doctors and will have a full recovery."

Applegate has earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her starring role in ABC's comedy "Samantha Who?" Applegate plays the title character, a young career woman who awakens from an eight-day coma remembering nothing about her past.

The series debuted last October and marked the return to television of Applegate, who helped establish the upstart Fox network in 1987 as ditzy teenager Kelly Bundy on "Married ... with Children." The raunchy comedy ran 11 seasons and has been airing in syndication ever since.

She won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2003 for her portrayal of Amy Green, the younger sister of Jennifer Aniston's character on "Friends."

Applegate earned a 2005 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway role in "Sweet Charity."

"I'm really grateful that acting is the job that was chosen for me," Applegate told The Associated Press in April. "I get really lost when I'm not working. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself. Thank God for dance class and The New York Times crossword puzzle and `American Idol.' But acting is what I really have to do."

Applegate is among the celebrities scheduled to appear on the "Stand Up To Cancer" one-hour television special to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sept. 5 to raise funds for cancer research.

hmmm...

2008-08-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Is it me? or does MC and Dan Abrams look like they would make a good looking couple?

awwwe

2008-08-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

It's Kassius! oh and Megan Fox

back2work

2008-08-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

MC performing at the Samsung AT&T "Summer Krush" series at Hollywood and Highland last night for Jimmy Kimmel Live.

90210 promo

2008-08-01T10:36:00.001-07:00

fucktastic

2008-07-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

cam gigandet

c.r.u.s.h

2008-07-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

cover says it all

2008-07-25T08:12:00.001-07:00

it's pink

2008-07-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

sad news

2008-07-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose classes talk about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book (Last Lecture), has died. He was 47.

University spokeswoman Anne Watzman says Pausch died early this morning at his home in Virginia.

In his honour, here are some tips from Randy’s book that he would want you to remember today:

1. Earnest Is Better Than Hip
2. Don’t Complain, Just Work Harder
3. Get People’s Attention
4. Show Gratitude
5. A Bad Apology is Worse Than No Apology
5. Tell The Truth
6. Get in Touch With Your Crayon Box
7. Look for the Best in Everybody

welcome back

2008-07-22T20:20:00.001-07:00

MC Out at TRL Today...

it's vinci!

2008-07-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

From the best model show ever! 8th And Ocean

getting her hustle on...

2008-07-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

Someone in Camp MC must have read my open letter to Ms. MC.. Because FINALLY she is getting out and promoting promoting promoting..

"Fashion Rocks," the star-studded annual music event that showcases singers against a backdrop of the hottest fashions will kick-off New York's Fashion Week, September 5-12, 2008.

This year's line-up of performers includes Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, the Black Eyed Peas, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and Rihanna. The two-hour blowout pairs superstar performers with models stomping down the catwalks in clothes by some of the industry's hottest designers.

Sponsored by the Conde Nast Media Group, "Fashion Rocks" will take place at New York's Radio City Music Hall on September 5th, and air on CBS at 9pm on Tuesday, September 9th.

Mariah will be stopping by MTV's TRL, July 22nd! Tune in to MTV at 3pm ET/PT to watch. Mariah continues her appearances this week by stopping by BET's 106 & Park on Wednesday, July 23rd. Tune in to BET at 6pm ET/PT to watch.

On both shows Mariah will talk about the "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time" video and letting her fans in on the latest scoop.

Mariah is coming to Hollywood, California on Thursday, July 31 to perform several songs from her new hit album, E=MC², including "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time"!

Samsung AT&T Summer Krush presents
MARIAH CAREY LIVE IN CONCERT

Date: Thursday, July 31, 2008

Time: Line up begins at 5:30 pm (first-come, first-served basis). Concert begins at 8:00 pm.

Location: Babylon Court at Hollywood & Highland, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028 (at the Northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave.)

Parking: Available at the Hollywood & Highland Center

POP ICON MARIAH CAREY TO PERFORM AT "TEEN CHOICE 2008" MONDAY, AUGUST 4, ON FOX

Multi-platinum artist Mariah Carey is set to perform her new single "I'll Be Lovin' You Long Time" at TEEN CHOICE 2008. Hosted by Miley Cyrus, TEEN CHOICE celebrates the hottest teen icons in film, television, music, sports and fashion. The coolest stars will receive coveted Teen Choice surfboard awards in categories such as Choice Male Hottie and Choice Hook-Up when TEEN CHOICE 2008 airs Monday, Aug. 4 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Fans ages 13-19 can vote once each day for their favorite TEEN CHOICE 2008 nominees at www.TeenChoiceAwards.com.

walker's sexiest soap stars

2008-07-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

25. Bobbie Eakes - All My Children

24. Julie Pinson - As The World Turns

23. Maura West - As The World Turns

22. Bree Williamson - One Life To Live

21. Vail Bloom - The Young And The Restless

20. Terri Colombino - As The World Turns

19. Eileen Davidson - The Bold And The Beautiful

18. Rebecca Budig - All My Children

17. Jessica Lecca - Guiding Light

16. Ewa Da Cruz - As The World Turns

15. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood - The Bold And The Beautiful

14. Jennifer Gareis - The Bold And The Beautiful

13. Hunter Tylo - The Bold And The Beautiful

12. Ashley Jones - The Bold And The Beautiful

11. Heidi Muller - Passions

10. Tammin Sursok - The Young And The Restless

9. Michelle Stafford - The Young And The Restless

8. Elizabeth Henderickson - The Young And The Restless

7. Heather Tom - The Bold And The Beautiful

6. Kirsten Storms - General Hospital

5. Noelle Beck - As The World Turns

4. Farah Fath - One Life To Live

3. Tamara Braun - Days Of Our Lives

2. Sarah Brown - General Hospital

1. Kelly Monaco - General Hospital

morning in america part 3

2008-07-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Now, stripped of suit, tie, and specific mandate to behave like a prick, Scarborough is a host transformed. His manner is so genial and evenhanded that TV Guide, in comparing him (favorably) to Chris Matthews, referred to Morning Joe as “Softball.” And ratings have steadily increased: The show saw its best numbers to date in May, averaging 356,000 viewers, which is up 91 percent from the previous year and better than Imus’s last month on the air. NBC president Jeff Zucker recently called the show the “most underestimated” on MSNBC.

Part of the success of Morning Joe has been serendipity. This year’s endless, and atypically compelling, election has played to the strengths of the show. But a lot of it has to do with Scarborough’s likability.

“I was totally skeptical, and now I’m totally won over,” says Time editor-at-large Mark Halperin, a political analyst at ABC News. “I was a huge fan of Imus, but Joe has taken that real estate and turned it into something—and I say this without hyperbole—revolutionary. There’s no other show that does what they do. They’ve really found a new form.”

Scarborough came up with the format himself, convinced that it played to his strengths. The show’s leisurely, conversational tone has a drive-time-radio feel. The bookers balance out the usual suspects—MSNBC stalwarts like Matthews and Pat Buchanan—with quirkier choices not seen as often on cable: Frank Rich, Hendrik Hertzberg, John Ridley. Interviews run twice as long as similar segments on competitors’ shows, allowing room for both depth and digression.

And his co-hosts provide him with the opportunity for banter and improvisation that was missing from Scarborough Country. Willie Geist (son of longtime CBS News correspondent Bill Geist) sits in front of an open laptop, of late the de rigueur prop for cable election coverage, and fills the Jimmy Olsen slot. Mika Brzezinski (daughter of former national-security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski) reads the news and acts as a gentle liberal foil to Scarborough. There’s a flirtatious, Sam-and-Diane sort of chemistry to their sparrings. The two first worked together when Brzezinski did news breaks from New Jersey during Scarborough Country. “Whenever she tossed it back to me, she’d always say, ‘Now back to Scarrrrborough Country,’ ” he remembers. “I started to think, Damn it, she’s making fun of me.”

“It’s true,” Brzezinski admits. “I’d always sort of put the title in quotes.”

“Finally we met in New York,” Scarborough continues, “and I said, ‘Hey, I’m onto you. I know you’re mocking the show.’ And she said, ‘How can I mock a show I’ve never seen?’ I said, ‘But you’re here every night. You’re paid to watch this network.’ She said, ‘When you’re on, I use the time to call my friends.’ ”

Scarborough and I meet for lunch at Blue Smoke, Danny Meyer’s barbecue restaurant. It’s one of Scarborough’s favorite spots, and the host greets him warmly. Sliding into a booth, Scarborough says he’d normally get the ribs but is worried such a heavy lunch might put him to sleep. Instead, he orders the chicken wings, the vegetable plate, and the chocolate cake.

Scarborough is talking about what he calls his post-nineties “ideological fatigue” and how it is that he became the mellow, fleece-wearing Republican that Democrats love to like. “I think I was painted one way in Congress. That 1994 class was the most conservative class in ages, and I got put in that box. And now, here, I’m painted another way. Republicans don’t understand. They expect me to be loyal. I hear about it from my parents whenever I go after Bush. I keep trying to give them a sporting analogy. I’ll say, ‘If I was a ref for a football game, you wouldn’t expect me to cheat for my team, would you?’ But I think they do expect me to cheat.”

Scarborough points to Hurricane Katrina as a turning point in his thinking about Bush. The day after the storm hit, he and his wife drove to Biloxi, Mississippi, where he broadcast for the next two weeks. “More than the war, that’s where Bush really started losing people,” he says. “It wasn’t just the general sense of incompetency. It was the idea that maybe he doesn’t care. Maybe all of those things people say about Republicans—maybe that’s the case.”

All of the glowing post-Katrina Anderson Cooper profiles notwithstanding, Scarborough rather proudly insists that “Scarborough Country was the first show to go after Bush at the time. I thought I could do it especially because I was a Republican. And I just went after him with a vengeance. I think that was the first time people who’d seen my show once in 2003 and said ‘God, I hate him’ might have flipped the channel back.”

One can’t help but wonder to what extent Scarborough’s non-wagging finger has been testing the wind, but Scarborough insists his conversion isn’t one of convenience and that, anyway, he hasn’t really converted. “Every time someone calls me a traitor, I tell them, ‘Name an issue where I’ve changed from ten years ago when I was a right-wing nut.’ The difference now is, I just never, ever believe that I’m necessarily right anymore, that I’m the only one with the answers.”

Scarborough’s energy is flagging a bit, and he’s staring down at one of the wings he’s absently dunked into a cup of ranch dressing. He still calls himself a Republican, though he says he’s not sure how he’ll vote in November. “What’s McCain’s bumper sticker: MORE WAR, LESS JOBS?” he asks, perking up at his own joke. “I don’t see how a Republican fights it. This is a tidal wave coming in. And you just don’t swim against the tide.”

tvguide's sexiest soap stars

2008-07-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

TVGuide recently released its list of the sexiest Soap Stars.. here's there list and I will come up a list of my own as well..

25. Rebecca Herbst - General Hospital

24. Maura West - As the World Turns

23. Ashley Jones - Bold and the Beautiful

22. Michelle Rae Smith - Guiding Light

21. Shelly Hennig - Days of Our Lives

20. Marnie Schlenburg - As the World Turns

19. Eva Marcille - The Young and the Restless

18. Marie Wilson - As the World Turns

17. Leslie Kay - The Bold and the Beautiful

16. Kristin Storms - General Hospital

15. Christal Kahlil - The Young and the Restless

14. Alicia Minshew - All My Children

13. Bree Williamson - One Life to Live

12. Julie Pinson - As the World Turns

11. Kristian Alfonso - Days of Our Lives

10. Terry Columbino - As the World Turns

9. Sharon Case - The Young and the Restless

8. Arianne Zucker - Days of Our Lives

7. Sarah Brown - General Hospital

6. Gina Tognoni - Guiding Light

5. Rebecca Budig - All My Children

4. Katherine Kelly Lang - The Bold and the Beautiful

3. Nadia Bjorlin - The Days of Our Lives

2. Michelle Stafford - The Young and the Restless

1. Kelly Monaco - General Hospital

gearing up

2008-07-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

it's offical..

2008-07-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

90210: Shannen Doherty to Direct Musical
By Kristin Dos Santos Sat Jul 19, 11:44 AM PDT

It's official. Shannen Doherty is coming to the CW's 90210 spinoff for multiple episodes this fall, and according to Executive Producer Gabe Sachs, "She's going to direct our musical."

But wait, before you 90-diehards start planning your trip to Broadway to see Steve Sanders in spandex with jazz hands, you should know he meant Shannen's character Brenda, will play the director of West Beverly High's musical--on the show within the show.

Still, pretty awesome, no?

Not to mention, this could mean that Katie Holmes won't be the only TV guest star this season displaying her musical talents. I asked exec producer Jeff Judah if Shannen will be singing or dancing and he said, "It's possible. It's possible."

So where has Brenda been since we last saw her heading off to London to study acting?

According to the See-Dub, "Brenda became a successful theater actress, splitting her time between London and New York....West Beverly Hills High School has approached Walsh to return as a guest director for the school's musical production."

According to producers, Shannen, Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth are the only ones who've been approached so far to return. "Those are the three," says Sachs. "We'd welcome the others if there was something appropriate that organically fit in with our stories, but we haven't spoken to them yet."

And Juday says they do still have a deal with Tori. "She is exhausted from having the baby and when she's up for it, she'll be on the show."

Also:

• The Peach Pit has transitioned into a "hip coffee house" like the Urth Café, and there is a club upstairs. As exec producer Jeff Judah joked, "It's not going to be like [in the old show], 'Hey it's Color Me Badd!' " • Per Judah, many of the show's real-world lavish lifestyle locations (shopping on Robertson Blvd., etc.) will already be familiar to viewers by way of The Hills and the pages of Us Weekly. He told us, "The audience has become more sophisticated...from following celebrity gossip." • Quote of the Moment: "The difference between Lucille Bluth and Tabitha is that Lucille likes vodka and Tabitha likes Scotch." — Jessica Walter, formerly of Arrested Development and now of 90210, on what distinguishes her two recent TV characters

Stand by for more 90 dish closer to the big Sept. 2 premiere. In the meantime, what do you think of Brenda's latest turn and the possibility of others returning?

new favorite

2008-07-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

N.E.R.D.

how sweet?

2008-07-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

fucktastic

2008-07-16T22:06:00.001-07:00

did u know it was back

2008-07-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

TONIGHT???? DAMN You Bravo for Hating and not doing promos for the new season..

morning in america part 2

2008-07-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been volatile at MSNBC. The network managed to boost its profile during the unusually dramatic primary season but also became a target of both the right (as the home of Keith Olbermann) and the left (when Chris Matthews was accused of sexism). Then came the sudden death last month of Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief, host of Meet the Press, and a regular presence on Morning Joe and other MSNBC shows. “Andrea Mitchell, myself, all of us in the Washington bureau—Morning Joe has become a staple for us,” Russert told me two weeks before he died.

“It’s like a bomb’s gone off, and everyone’s just doing their best to recover,” Scarborough says of Russert’s death. He seems reluctant to make much of their friendship, mocking the “long line of carnival barkers trying to associate themselves with Tim.” But eventually he says, “It’s been much more staggering personally than professionally. At the memorial service, when Springsteen appeared, I thought, God, please don’t play ‘Thunder Road.’ He did. That’s the first time I put my head in my arms and lost it. I’d never seen him more like a kid than when I heard him talking about seeing Springsteen play that song.”

Russert had chuckled when I brought up the recent partisan critiques of NBC News. “That’s nothing new,” he said. Besides, with someone like Scarborough, “it’s not as if people are trying to present him as a news anchor. He’s not. But even though he’s a conservative Republican, he’s not afraid to criticize his own party. And I think people find that refreshing.”

Scarborough’s slippery partisan loyalty has proved useful to the network. Despite his criticisms of the Bush administration, he is often cited as MSNBC’s house Republican, his Morning Joe a counterpoint to Olbermann’s Countdown. And indeed, Scarborough’s nineties résumé is that of a true conservative.

He has said his “visceral dislike” of the newly elected Bill Clinton inspired him to run for the House of Representatives in 1994. At the time, he was living in Pensacola with his first wife and two sons, putting his law degree to use litigating local insurance cases. Despite having no political background, he launched a quixotic campaign and was elected as part of the class of freshman Republicans who swept Newt Gingrich to power. He supported impeaching Clinton, abolishing the Department of Education, and cutting off AIDS funding for the so-called Ryan White Act. (He lost all of those battles, the last by a vote of 402 to 4.)

But Scarborough bristles at being called one of Gingrich’s “lieutenants.” “We never really clicked,” he says now. Still, he concedes that the militancy-by-association “helped me get reelected in a district Jerry Falwell called one of the most conservative in America.” He was certainly one of the hardest-line freshmen when it came to government spending—part of the group who would come to be known as “the New Federalists”—and says he’s still “almost libertarian” on economic issues. “But I was always quirky on human rights, China, the environment,” he says. “I say ‘quirky’: Republicans couldn’t figure out which way I was going to break on votes. They finally just gave up whipping me.”

“Republicans don’t understand. They expect me to be loyal. I hear about it from my parents whenever I go after Bush.”

“Joe was a partisan, but he wasn’t a crazy,” says liberal Massachusetts congressman Bill Delahunt, one of Scarborough’s closest friends in the House. “I think if Joe had stayed in Congress, he’d definitely be in leadership now, and his voice would have been good for the Republican Party.”

By the late nineties, Scarborough was losing interest in Washington. He began flying back to his district every weekend to play gigs with his band, Regular Joe. The chorus to one of his songs went, “We can’t change the world, we can’t change the world / Life’s a bitch and they can’t make me care.” He drank onstage “with regularity,” and his marriage broke up in 1997. (He married his current wife, Susan Waren, a former fund-raiser for Jeb Bush, in 2001.) A profile of Scarborough in the St. Petersburg Times from 2000 opens with a description of his Florida office, including the “empty Absolut vodka bottles” cluttering his “desk,” which was really a door atop a pair of sawhorses.

Scarborough retired from Congress in 2001, to spend more time with his then-13-year-old son. But he continued to make appearances on shows like Hardball and Hannity & Colmes, and Phil Griffin took notice. MSNBC, then floundering in third place among cable news networks, had decided to emulate top-rated Fox News with an O’Reilly Factor of its own. Scarborough was telegenic, quick on his feet, and came off as a sort of populist Everyman.

But Scarborough never quite mastered the voice of perpetual outrage. “There are very few things in politics that make me feel like wagging my finger,” he says. “It wasn’t me.” Scarborough has two major modes on television. Either he holds his face unnaturally still, maintaining a somewhat stagy deadpan, or he appears to be on the verge of laughing. “I remember my first six months in Congress, doing all the cable shows,” he says. “I saw myself on TV once, and I looked so angry it scared me. So I sort of made a rule that every time I started to get upset, I’d laugh and tell a joke.”

just because

2008-07-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

i just may go..

2008-07-15T17:11:00.001-07:00

Besides obsessing over the lineup of prime time speakers, national convention planners in both parties are frenetically orchestrating the behind-the-scenes fun -- the real reason why people go to these events: to party.

More than just coronating their respective presidential nominees, the Republican and Democratic national conventions have long been bastions of booze-and-schmooze infused celebrations, where influence peddlers wine and dine the masses and rub elbows with the folks they hope will become the government's power brokers for the next four years. And even though a new lobby disclosure law is putting a bit of a damper on the logistics and degree of largess bestowed by corporations looking to cozy up to the next potential administration, never fear, partygoers. There'll still be plenty of entertainment and late-night partying in both Denver and Minneapolis.

First up, the Democratic National Convention in Denver, which begins, Monday, Aug. 25. Among the big-name performers likely to make a splash in the Mile High City are hip-hop king Kanye West, reggae/hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean and the rap/rock fusion band N.E.R.D.

A host of silver-screen and TV actors are also expected to be in Denver, according to convention sources, including: the ubiquitous Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson, Warren Beatty and wife Annette Bening, Forrest Whitaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal (who stars with the late Heath Ledger and Sen. Patrick Leahy in the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight"), Cheryl Hines (of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," a Sleuth fave) and Ed Norton Jr.

The slew of corporate sponsors of the Democratic National Convention include United Airlines, Google, Coors Brewing Company, Anheuser-Busch, Xcel Energy and telecom giants Motorola, Qwest and -- a brand you'll see plastered all over the place in Denver -- AT&T.

As the "official wireless provider" of the Democratic National Convention, AT&T will be helping to sponsor a number of parties over the four days, including a bash for Bono's One Campaign. We hear that the One Campaign, in conjunction with the Recording Industry Association of America, is close to sealing a deal with Kanye West to perform at the event. (Something tells us Kanye won't be performing at the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Remember his "George Bush doesn't care about black people" riff after Hurricane Katrina?)

Of course AT&T can now focus on the fun side of the convention, thanks to congressional passage last week of the domestic spying bill. With its key telecom immunity provision -- supported by the flip-flopping presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama -- the company no longer has to worry about all those pesky lawsuits it faced for helping the Bush administration snoop on its unsuspecting customers.

MTV and Rock the Vote are also expected to host a party headlining N.E.R.D. and Wyclef Jean.

While he won't give specifics on entertainers and celebrities who will be attending, Chris Lopez, a spokesman for the Democratic convention's host committee, tells the Sleuth, "We are expecting both the A-List of Hollywood as well as citizens from across the country to show up in Denver and enjoy the convention ... There will be something for everyone to enjoy and participate in. It will be an amazing week that will culminate with the historical nomination of Barack Obama at Invesco Field on Thursday evening, Aug. 28."

The challenge for party throwers, given the constraints of the tough new ethics rules, is in hosting events that aren't just primarily concerts but that meet the "reception exception" under the law. In other words, a hot entertainer who ordinarily charges beaucoup bucks at any other venue can't just give away his or her concerts for free at a lobbyist-sponsored convention party where members of Congress and Hill staffers abound.

Rob Walker, a former chief counsel of both the House and Senate ethics committees, says the concert can't masquerade as a reception. "It can't be a concert calling itself a reception," he says.

Walker, now a lawyer with the firm Wiley Rein, notes that corporations and other entities that retain or employ lobbyists are skittish about sponsoring parties now that they face potential criminal and civil penalties if they knowingly give a gift that may not be acceptable under the gift rule. "This certainly accounts for the reluctance to donate to some of these things," he says.

lo. zac. and the hills gang

2008-07-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

morning in america part 1

2008-07-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

Where else could a red-meat, right-wing congressman like Joe Scarborough reinvent himself as the liberal’s favorite talk-show host? * By Mark Binelli
* Published Jul 13, 2008

Joe Scarborough was walking in his neighborhood, near 66th and Broadway, one afternoon this spring when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Harry Smith, the avuncular co-host of CBS’ The Early Show.

“How ya doin’?” Scarborough asked.

“You never get used to it,” Smith said. “I’ve been doing this for twenty years. And you never get used to it.” Then he walked away.

“We’d never even met before,” Scarborough tells me. “He was like the Angel of Death!”

Scarborough loves this story, which he tells to illustrate how much he despises waking up early. On this particular morning, he’s been up since four, surfing the Internet at his apartment and maintaining BlackBerry contact with his producer and co-hosts. He arrives for work at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at a quarter to six—fifteen minutes before his show, Morning Joe, airs live—and takes a seat at a bar stool behind a long silver table. He’s a big man: six foot four, with handsome, blocky features. His deep-set eyes are small relative to the size of his head and can look unflatteringly beady when he’s tired, like raisins sinking into dough. An assistant brings him a Starbucks Venti iced latte.

Despite his complaints about the hours, Scarborough lobbied hard for this job, which opened up in April 2007 when Don Imus made his ill-advised foray into color commentary of women’s college basketball. “Not to dance on anyone’s grave,” says Scarborough, “but the second I heard about Imus, I told my wife, ‘Honey, it’s gonna be a busy weekend.’ ” For the previous four years, he had been unmemorably hosting Scarborough Country, an evening show on MSNBC in which he came off as a B-team O’Reilly impersonator. But he’d always been convinced the format was the problem. “All of my executive producers had always told me the same thing: ‘We’ve got to get you off the prompter more—you’re best when you’re just talking off the top of your head,’ ” he says. Imus’s morning slot seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately, no one else thought of Scarborough as the kind of guy people would want to wake up to. “I didn’t see it at all,” admits Chris Licht, Scarborough’s longtime producer. “He was so enthusiastic, I thought, Okay, I’ll pretend to go along with him. But it was really just me hoping he’d change his mind in a couple of days.”

Scarborough spent a weekend at his Florida home and designed his own morning-show poster using Photoshop. He e-mailed the file to the Kinko’s on Columbus Circle and had a printed version delivered to MSNBC head Phil Griffin that Monday. It took the network six weeks to fill the slot, and it auditioned everyone (David Gregory, Tucker Carlson, Jim Cramer … Michael Smerconish?) short of Carson Daly’s cue-card guy. But Scarborough finally got the gig, and Morning Joe debuted last July.

Tom Brokaw summed up the consensus opinion when, a week or so later, he poked his head into Griffin’s office and said, “Scarborough. Who knew?”

The prenoon Scarborough bears little resemblance to his prime-time self: the blustery former congressman from Florida’s “Redneck Riviera” who seemed a likely inspiration, along with O’Reilly, for Stephen Colbert’s conservative-blowhard character. On Morning Joe, shouting is discouraged, the teleprompter has been largely banished, and the overarching mood, despite an almost exclusive focus on the day’s political fisticuffs, is a chatty bonhomie. Scarborough has turned out to be more Katie Couric than Sean Hannity.

He seems to delight in confounding expectations. One of this morning’s guests, by remote, is McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, who receives a cheerful if critical welcome, with Scarborough noting that the latest polling numbers “don’t look good for your guy.” When Davis attempts a rebuttal, bringing up McCain’s proposed gas-tax holiday, Scarborough placidly notes that “almost every economist disagrees with that.” In the same show, Scarborough—who formerly campaigned for Bush, even serving as a point man in Florida during the 2000 recount—says the McCain campaign’s problem is “they’re strapped to the Bush administration.”

In fact, the only time Scarborough musters a defense of the current Republican nominee comes when another guest mocks McCain’s alleged love of Abba.

“‘Waterloo,’” he says. “Great song.”

Scarborough admits that he is courting a new constituency. “Once we started Morning Joe, Phil Griffin said to me, ‘You can cut out this regular-Joe crap. Our audience is from Boston to Washington, D.C.’” In fact, he seems to be right at home on the Upper West Side. “The thing I hear all the time,” he says, “when people come up to me on the street, is ‘I love your show,’ and then there’s a hesitancy, and I’ll finish their sentence: ‘And I’m a liberal?’” Scarborough beams, pleased with his own apostasy, before adding, “Republicans aren’t as gracious.”

its offically summer

2008-07-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

B/c Big Brother 10 premiered last night... my thoughts is it def looks more interesting than that lame winter shit they did during the Writer's strike.

boy put a damn shirt on

2008-07-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

outtakes

2008-07-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

lookie lookie

2008-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

I wish my letter had something to do with it..regardless get more press.

the LOdown

2008-07-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

yikes

2008-07-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

this is post 666..

happy 4th of july

2008-07-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

a cry for help

2008-07-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Dear MC,

I know you are probably still busy in your marital bliss, but that doesn't mean you should let your career suffer. A few weeks ago you premiered the video for "Bye Bye". You were suppose to be on 106 & Park and TRL to promote the single. But I believe that was around the time you were running off and getting married. OK I let that one slide. But now "Ill Be Loving You Long Time" is premiering today online and later today on 106 & Park.

The issue for me is, What made Mimi an explosive hit was the fact you promoted the hell out of that album. With every single/video, you made the rounds to TRL, and 106 and Park. This time around we have hardly seen you. Damn that Nick Cannon, just because he doesn't have a career doesn't mean you should fuck yours up.

In conclusion I hope Benny Medina or LA Reid steps in, and make E=MC2 the hit it really could be.

Your dearest fan,

GW

p.s. I still love you.. just drop the dead weight

please make it work..

2008-07-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

BREAKING NEWS FROM E! NEWS

Exclusive: Tori Is Out, Shannen Is In for 90210Remake!
By Kristin Dos Santos Wed Jul 2, 12:53 PM PDT

If you're a fan of the O.G. Peach Pit posse, you might want to sit down, 'cause sources connected to the CW's new 90210 are spilling exclusive dish of OMG proportions.

In a nutshell: Shannen Doherty is in, Tori Spelling is out and Jennie Garth may be—wait for it—reuniting with Shannen on the screen.

(We'll pause while you find a paper sack to breathe into. Especially if your name happens to be Jennie Garth.)

A very reliable and very inside source who works on 90210 tells me exclusively that, "It is happening with Shannen. It's just a question of how long she'll shoot, whether it will be one day or ten, and what the storyline will be, but we are working on it and it is a very real thing."

Inside sources also confirm exclusively that Tori will not be able to appear in the season premiere for personal reasons. The new mom (she gave birth to a baby girl June 9) had been signed on to do "a few" episodes at the beginning of the season, but now that won't be happening.

As for Shannen's storyline, I'm told the details are still in the initial-concept stages, but the writers are hoping to get Shannen and Jennie together, onscreen, for a scene. Can you imagine?

Of course, the real question is, will they do it? "I don't think there's any love lost between Shannen and Jennie," says one rock-solid inside source. "But they are both adults now and professionals, and I don't see it being an issue. Everyone has their take on what happened back in the day, and I think the feeling is that it's time to move on. They were 19 and 20 when all of that happened and a lot has changed. And, you know, they're not moving in together, just shooting together for an hour and a half."

Another insider close to the negotiations points out: "I want to stress that Shannen has been very, very cool through this whole process. We have seen nothing like the behavior for which she was once famous for."

Awww...Who doesn't love a redemption story, right? As long as there are two red dresses in the dressing room, all should be right with the world, the ratings should go through the roof, and we 9-0 fans can start freaking out about how lip-smackingly juicy this remake just might turn out to be.

i love my girls

2008-07-01T18:39:00.001-07:00

VF loves gossip too!

2008-06-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

sexy?

2008-06-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

I cant quite decide...

british do it better

2008-06-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

PDA, we just dont care

2008-06-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

congrats gorgeous..

2008-06-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

The lovely Lo, hosted her graduation party @ Prive... and DAMN her bf is HOT!

united we stand?

2008-06-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., takes the stage with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., at a campaign event in Unity, N.H., Friday, June 27, 2008, their first joint public appearance since the divisive Democratic primary race ended. 'Well, Unity is not only a beautiful place as we can see, it's a wonderful feeling isn't it? And I know when we start here in this field in unity, we'll end on the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president,' said Clinton

i love RB

2008-06-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

do u have pride?

2008-06-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently I don't. But who gives a shit... Pride kicks off here in Seattle this weekend, I hope the gays enjoy..

now this is daytime

2008-06-27T06:59:00.001-07:00

WOW Bree Williamson knocked it out of the PARK!

damn i get it.. you people love him

2008-06-26T15:33:00.001-07:00

Barack Obama is on the cover of Rolling Stone again! So soon after the last one. And just one week after he showed up on the front of publisher Jann Wenner's UsWeekly! In fact, if you have a magazine, you have probably put Barack Obama on the cover. It's summer, so nothing is really going on besides Batman and this Barack Obama character. Does anyone without a pair of breasts sell so many magazines? Did our prettiest president even get this much ink until he tragically died? Attached, a composite of the media maelstrom.

lesser of 2 evils

2008-06-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Obama winning over former Clinton supporters
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama has won over more than half of Hillary Rodham Clinton's former supporters, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll that finds party loyalty trumping hard feelings less than three weeks after their bruising Democratic presidential contest ended.

The poll suggests time is beginning to heal some rifts from the primary campaign and that the New York senator's endorsement of Obama carried weight. The poll was taken in the days after Clinton suspended her campaign and said she was supporting her rival.

Obama's progress with Clinton supporters is marked, yet far from complete. More than one in five who had backed the New York senator now plan to support Republican John McCain in the fall, a boost for McCain if those opinions hold.

"We still have work to do," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters in a strategy briefing. "Democrats are consolidating behind the nominee as the choice in the election is more clear and as the contest fades. Time is our friend here."

Obama's outreach to Clinton supporters picks up this week. Clinton planned to introduce Obama to her financial backers Thursday night in Washington, and the two will campaign together for the first time Friday in New Hampshire.

"I want her campaigning as much as she can," Obama told reporters Wednesday. "She was a terrific campaigner. She, I think, inspired millions of people, and so she can be an extraordinarily effective surrogate for me and the values and ideals we share as Democrats."

The Obama campaign also has encouraged supporters to host "United for Change" house meetings with supporters of Clinton and other candidates on Saturday. The campaign says over 3,000 are being planned across all 50 states.

The AP-Yahoo! News poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks, is part of an ongoing study that tracks the attitudes and opinions of a scientifically selected group of more than 2,000 Americans to see how their political views evolve over the course of the campaign.

The poll found 53 percent of the Democrats who favored Clinton for the nomination two months ago now back Obama for president. That's an improvement from April, when only 40 percent of Clinton supporters said they would back Obama over McCain.

"It wasn't a difficult decision � I was a lifelong Democrat," said 55-year-old Susan Gates of Massachusetts, a former Clinton backer now firmly in Obama's camp.

Gregory Scheetz, 56, of Barstow, Calif., said he wanted Clinton to win because of her experience, her intelligence and because it's time to have a woman in the White House. But he said he moved to Obama after Clinton endorsed him on June 7, even though he's a registered Republican.

"I feel that he can bring change," he said. "There's people in our country that I see need help. They're slow about getting it, and it just seems that Republicans are taking a different direction."

Twenty-three percent of Clinton's backers picked Republican John McCain over Obama. Of the rest, 16 percent were undecided, 5 percent were for independent candidate Ralph Nader and 3 percent said someone else.

The poll suggests the Clinton supporters are wary that he has enough experience to be president. Just 25 percent describe him as experienced, and that drops to 5 percent among those former Clinton backers who are not supporting Obama.

The poll responses also show Obama has more work to do to quell fears among voters like Kirstie Hartle of Rome, N.Y., a registered Democrat who has never supported a Republican presidential candidate. With Clinton out of the race, Hartle said, "I'm Republican all the way now."

She said she doesn't like Obama's name and thinks he has a questionable background. She also said she thought Obama was deceitful when he broke from his church after it hurt his campaign, and she doesn't trust him to handle the Iraq war.

"It sounds to me like a Middle Eastern type of name and whether or not he's born here in the United States, he doesn't seem like, to me, somebody who is trustworthy," Hartle said in a telephone interview. "You can't trust anybody these days, so who's to say he's not a terrorist and we just don't realize it yet?"

When asked an open-ended question about the first words that come to mind about Obama, some former Clinton supporters used words like Muslim or terrorist. Those misconceptions have been fueled by Internet rumors that point out his name is Barack Hussein Obama but otherwise lie about his background.

"I refuse to vote for an Arab to be in my White House," said retired salesman Dean Johnson of Lanett, Ala. "That is the only factor. Otherwise, you couldn't break both my legs and make me vote for a Republican."

The Obama campaign has been addressing the rumors with fliers distributed at churches, a fact-checking Web site and a television ad about his American roots. Obama is a Christian who was born and raised in the United States. His father was from Kenya, but left when Obama was a toddler and he was brought up by his American mother and grandparents in Hawaii.

Sixty-year-old Ann Burkes of Broken Arrow, Okla., said she has a "gut feeling" that she doesn't trust Obama and is leaning toward McCain because he is more experienced. But she said all that would change if Obama picked Clinton as a running mate.

"If he chose her, I would be back in a heartbeat," Burkes said.

The poll found that choosing Clinton as No. 2 would appear to be a wash for Obama's candidacy. Overall, 28 percent said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic ticket if Clinton were the nominee, 25 percent said they would be more likely to vote for the Republican ticket if Clinton were the nominee, and 47 percent said it wouldn't make much difference.

It would help more among former Clinton Democrats, with 68 percent saying they would be more likely to vote for the ticket if Clinton were on it.

Former Clinton supporter Jeannie Azzopardi of Ashland, Ore., said she would love for Obama to pick Clinton but she doesn't expect him to and will support him either way.

"I seriously doubt that everyone who supported Hillary Clinton would vote for McCain," she said. McCain is "in direct, direct opposition to everything she stands for."

An analysis of Clinton supporters who are backing McCain shows they are more liberal than the Arizona senator on the issues. The majority favor removing troops from Iraq as soon as possible, a single-payer health care system funded by taxpayers and repeal of Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.

The AP-Yahoo! News survey of 1,759 adults had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Included were interviews with 844 Democrats, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.4 points, and 637 Republicans, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 points.

The poll was conducted over the Internet after pollsters initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods, following up with online interviews. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free.

— Associated Press Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson and writers Christine Simmons and Ann Sanner contributed to this report.

would u buy?

2008-06-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

eh. good job?

2008-06-25T19:45:00.001-07:00

Coldplay lands its second straight #1 album as Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends opens at #1. The album sold 721,000 copies in its first week, just a shade less than the group's first-week tally with its previous album, X&Y, which bowed with sales of 737,000 in June 2005. Coldplay is the first act with back-to-back albums that topped the 700,000 mark in sales the first week out since Kanye West did it with Late Registration in 2005 and Graduation in 2007.

In just one week, Viva La Vida has become the #10 best-seller so far in 2008. If it holds up through the rest of the year-and it probably will-it will become Coldplay's third straight studio album to finish among the year's top 10 sellers. A Rush Of Blood To The Head, released in late summer 2002, was the #10 album of 2003. X&Y was #6 for 2005.

my new obession

2008-06-24T21:22:00.001-07:00

Uncle Ruckus and BOONDOCKS

blame that bitch denise

2008-06-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Heather Locklear is seeking treatment for psychological issues at an Arizona facility, her publicist has confirmed to People.

"Heather has been dealing with anxiety and depression. She requested an in-depth evaluation of her medication and entered into a medical facility for proper diagnosis and treatment," Locklear's rep, Cece Yorke, told the mag. "This is a confidential medical matter and no further statement will be released."

Heather, who is divorced from her rocker husband, Richie Sambora, had begun dating Jack Wagner, her former "Melrose Place" costar. Didn't they make a cute couple?

Frankly, I think poor Heather probably watched too many episodes of her husband-stealing former BFF Denise Richards' reality TV show, "It's Complicated."

Like maybe one. Which is enough to plunge anyone of us into the void.

Our condolences go out to Heather. Take your time and get the help you need.

c.r.u.s.h

2008-06-24T08:45:00.001-07:00

Sean Avery

headphones

2008-06-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Top 5 favorite songs at the moment.

5)Viva La Vida - Coldplay

4)4 Real 4 Real- MC

3)Let Go - Dewayne Woods

2)I'll Be Loving You Long Time/Remix - MC/feat. T.I.

1. Moving Mountains - Usher

I am def in a random phase as far as music goes right now, I have rock.pop.gospel.r&b included in my top five. Of course I'm still riding E=MC2 pretty hard but Usher,(which I'm surprised) myself I'm loving.

Honorable Mention..

Take You Down - Chris Brown
Something Special - Usher

emmy's 08 and my girls

2008-06-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

yes PLEASE...

2008-06-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

Thank you OhLALAMAG.. the best MAN site ever!