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Archive for December, 2009

30
Dec

James Cameron is Lovin’ the Environment (sort of)

By The Oversneer 27 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Businesses, Environmentalists and Writers

Avatar-ArchesWhen Simon made James Cameron’s epic hypocrisy our most discussed subject in December, I admit I didn’t give it much thought.

I mean, really: Hollywood gasbag, more money than God, a movie that South Park managed to lampoon more than a month before it even hit theaters — who cares?

But then I saw the movie this week. And I bought my daughter a Happy Meal today. It had a “Hammerhead Titanothere” toy inside.

Is it just me, or is something completely messed up about James Cameron becoming ScroogeMcDuckified by licensing his blue environmentalist Jar-Jar-Binks ripoffs to Big Burger?

The whole premise of Avatar is that militaristic evil earthlings (read: Americans) are strip-mining an alien planet, and robbing the indigenous shamans of their magic trees. Or something.

In 1995, around the time James Cameron started planning the whole Avatar thing, the National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education reported this:

[E]ach of McDonald’s 8,600 U.S. restaurants [produces] 238 pounds of waste per day and each of its 34 U.S. regional distribution centers disposes of another 900 pounds of waste per day.

Holy French fries. That’s 2,077,400 pounds — more than a thousand tons — of daily trash pushed through the “thank you” slot. And you know that doesn’t include all the ketchup packets in my car, or the soda lids that end up in the river.

And that was in 1995.

Continue reading ‘James Cameron is Lovin’ the Environment (sort of)’

29
Dec

Charlie Sheen Is Not Such A Nice Guy, It Turns Out

By Holly Won't 25 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Bad Boys & Girls, Crazy People, Legal Messes, Movie Stars and Television Stars

Charlie-Sheen-mug-shotSo with Charlie Sheen charged with raising a knife against his third wife Brooke Mueller on Christmas Eve in front of their twin sons, I’m feeling a little sheepish for cutting him so much slack during his divorce from Denise Richards last year.

Specifically, I’m remembering writing this with some chagrin:

I have to say, [therapy] is the best parenting decision Denise has made in years, although I guarantee she’s revealing this only to make it look like Charlie Sheen is the bad guy.

Between witnessing their mom’s unbridled hatred of their dad (who, trust me, definitely returns the sentiment) and the time bomb of a reality show that she forced them to go on, her two daughters — Lola and Sam, ages 3 and 4 — are going to need a lot of professional help to resist their inevitable Britney Spearsification.

Charlie Sheen really is a bad guy, though. It’s not the first time he’s attempted to kill a woman, but it does appear to be the first time he’s done so in front of his kids. So all his protests that Denise Richards was not acting in the best interests of their daughters ring more than a bit hollow now.

Mea culpa for falling for it.

28
Dec

Tyra Pulls an Oprah, Announces End to Talk Show

By Holly Won't 15 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Activists, Businesses, Fashionistas, Movie Stars and Television Stars

tyra-banks-smizeI hate to be the bearer of devastating news, but Tyra Banks has tearfully announced the end of her talk show, effective at the end of this season.

Tyra skeptics might wonder “why wait?” but more devoted fans can find comfort in the fact that she’s not going away anytime soon. The new cycle of America’s Next Top Model premieres in February and on top of that, Tyra confides to People that she is starting her own production company:

Banks will focus on the launch of Bankable Studios, a N.Y.-based film production company currently reviewing possible projects. Sticking to her mission, Banks aims to bring “positive images of women to the big screen,” says an industry insider.

“My next huge steps will allow me to reach more women and young girls to help us all feel as fierce as we truly are,” Banks says.

Because if there’s one thing the chief judge of a modeling competition is good at, it’s making young and impressionable girls feel good about themselves.

26
Dec

This just in from the Associated Press …

By The Oversneer 19 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Politicos and Writers

… because the best way to guarantee the privacy of the two First Daughters is to, um — Wait a minute, Alex. I know this one!

“What is: Make their vacation news a front-page item, and publish a picture of one of them getting off a plane?”

“Ooooh. No. I’m sorry. We were looking for ‘Shut yer damn pie-hole and stop the presses.’ You won’t be around to play Final Jeopardy.”

Obama-privacy

24
Dec

Domestic-Violence Crusader Mary J. Blige Slugs Husband

By Holly Won't 45 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Activists, Bad Boys & Girls, Legal Messes and Musicians

mary-j-bligeMary J. Blige has cranked out another hit, but this time it seems like a slight overreaction:

Mary J. Blige punched husband Kendu Isaacs in the face at her record release party at club M2 Tuesday night. The singer slugged Isaacs, drawing blood, after she thought he was flirting with a waitress. “She turned to him and was screaming, ‘You’re not going to ruin my night,’ ” our witness says. “They got up in each other’s faces before someone tried to separate them, at which point she shoved the guy aside, pulled back and popped [Isaacs] in the face.” The source said Blige, Isaacs and their entourage were whisked through a door to the attached club Pink, which was closed. Our witness relates, “She was yelling at him, ‘What are you gonna do, Chris Brown me?’ Four of her bodyguards and two of the club’s kept them apart.” Isaacs was kicked out. Blige went to the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup, but soon fled, creating an uncomfortable scene for partygoers Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Busta Rhymes.

That must have been especially awkward for Jay-Z, considering the way he handled Chris Brown after he attacked Rihanna last winter. No word yet whether MJB will receive the same treatment.

But didn’t Mary J. Blige just open a domestic-violence shelter in New York last month? Why yes, yes she did:

MJB’s organization recently teamed up with Gucci creative director Frida Giannini and several New York-based organizations to fund the opening of the Mary J. Blige Center for Women, based in Yonkers.

The singer was on hand to open the facility on Thursday.

She tells CNN: “All age ranges will be able to come to this center. Women from all walks of life, not just women from poverty-stricken areas. Whatever it is, they’ll be able to come here. There are gonna be psychologists here, doctors here, day care centers here. Anything that you need or they need to be able to better themselves is here for them.”

The Grammy Award winner says she is delighted to use her fame for a good cause: “That’s why I think as celebrities we’re given this job. We’re not given this job to just hold onto this stuff and die with it. We’re given this job to be able to touch someone and say, ‘me, too,’ because they look up to us and look to us for help and guidance and want to be able to relate to us.”

I don’t think “we’re given this job to be able to touch someone” means punching them in the face during a jealous rage. Keep your fists in your pockets, woman.

23
Dec

Can-eh?-dian Olympics Ignite Snowball Fight?

By Audrey Skepburn 18 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Businesses, Non-U.S. Politicos, Politicos and Sports Figures

CANADA/North of the border from here, things are different, from A to Zed.

In the great, cold land of Canadia, the political parties are “different” (read: confusing to me), and they talk funny (eh?), and “garage” rhymes with “marriage”, but a few things are the same.

They have hypocrites too, although in typical Canuck fashion, the compromising of one’s promises is all for the love of winter sports. According to The Canadian Press:

Nova Scotia’s NDP premier is going to the Vancouver Olympics and will accept a pass to all locations from organizers, even though his party sharply criticized his Conservative predecessor for his plan to receive VIP passes at the Games.

Premier Darrell Dexter said Tuesday he’s decided to go to the Games for four days to attend a Nova Scotia Day ceremony, and to participate in receptions that will showcase his province. He said he will have an “access pass” for himself and two officials from his office, but he couldn’t explain what the pass entitled him to. No other politicians will go, Dexter said, and he won’t sit and watch sports events.

So despite his National New Democratic Party attacking the games a year ago, and him basically getting elected because he was going to be budget-friendly instead of five-ring-circus-ey, grabbing power (and free tickets) changes a man. Either that, or “opposite day” is one of those Canadian holidays that Americans just don’t celebrate.

Dexter says he has no free Olympic tickets, but he does have “access passes.” And receptions to attend.  Potato, potahto. So it’s free booze and moose fajitas, is it?  How does he justify the expense?

Continue reading ‘Can-eh?-dian Olympics Ignite Snowball Fight?’

23
Dec

Sex and the City 2: Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

By Holly Won't 19 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Businesses, Fashionistas, Movie Stars and Television Stars
YouTube Preview Image

The Sex and the City 2 trailer has just hit the web with the force of a Manolo-clad atomic bomb, and I’d like to take a minute to remind everyone that Sarah Jessica Parker is just so dismayed at how commercial New York has become:

“You know, when I arrived in the city in 1976, New York was financially a wreck,” she remembers. “But to me it’s the New York that Matthew [Broderick] and I literally try to find every day of our lives. It was the best place in the world. It was literature. It promised everything. And for someone who loved food and smells and stimulation, who was rocked to sleep by the sound of taxis—well, there’s just so much money now, and the city is so affluent, and all the colors, all the shops, the look of a street from block to block is just terribly absent of distinguishing coffee shops, bodegas. All of that stuff that made it possible to live in New York is gone.”

Not that you’d know it from the hit television series, the first movie (which grossed $153 million in ticket sales alone, by the by), and now the second movie, with its opening shot of Carrie Bradshaw exiting her Fifth Avenue penthouse without even having to break a stride, thanks to the uniformed doormen who assist her without thanks. As the executive producer of the series and both movies, do you think she had any control over how her beloved city was represented?

23
Dec

Build-a-Boycott? (Now Comes with Birth Certificate AND Carbon Offsets)

By The Oversneer 22 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Businesses and Environmentalists

The  buzz is that a woman who called Glenn Beck’s radio show yesterday started quite a brush fire by claiming that the Build-a-Bear Workshop company was telling kids Christmas might be canceled on account of global warming. The “Big Government” blog serves up the evidence: a little cartoon video that was available on a Build-a-Bear kids’ website. (It was available until a few hours ago, anyway, when the company’s Bear-knuckled founder yanked it.)

Apparently, the Build-a-BarBearians think we evil carbon emitters are threatening Santa’s liftoff with our unBearable polar-ice-cap-melting insanity. Or something like that.

YouTube Preview Image

(That’s Part II. Here are Part I and Part III.)

Now, my daughter is the enthusiastic owner of a rainbow Bear with red sunglasses, a blonde wig, and a stars-and-stripes shirt. The creature’s name, I’m told, is “Fugala America.” (I hope she’s that creative someday on her college entrance essays.) So I object when the little stuffed creature’s creators serve my kid an overBearing wheelBearrow of B.S.

Continue reading ‘Build-a-Boycott? (Now Comes with Birth Certificate AND Carbon Offsets)’

22
Dec

Demi Moore and Photoshop of Horrors: It’s Getting Ugly

By Holly Won't 21 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Businesses, Fashionistas, Legal Messes and Movie Stars

demi-moore-w-coverShiz just got real. Demi Moore has authorized her attorneys to go after any and all journalists who made “defamatory statements and implications that the photo was manipulated” for the December 2009 cover of W magazine, pictured at right.

Jezebel.com laughed it off:

As those who actually read our posts know, at no point did we say or imply that Demi Moore demanded, “desired” or “required” that she be “slenderized.” Nor did we accuse her of lying about it. Instead, we quoted her Tweeted denials and a skeptical, professional photographer’s challenge of them. That said, we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize if we cast aspersions on, or in any way hurt the feelings of Ms. Moore’s left hip, waist, or legs.

And fashion photographer Anthony Citrano pointed out the total lack of merit of such litigious scaremongering:

I did not insinuate that your client was untruthful or hypocritical. I did not imply or infer that the photo was manipulated at her behest. I simply said that the photo had very obvious signs of clumsy retouching, most particularly what appeared to me (and thousands of others) to be a missing chunk of hip.

And I absolutely stand by my statements.

I also have a very hard time understanding what is “defamatory” about describing an image as retouched. Digital retouching is an important part of modern publishing and photography workflow. I doubt a single image has graced a major magazine cover in the past decade without being altered in some way. Ms. Moore’s implication that her image went straight from camera to cover is incredible, whether she believes it or not. Simply put, this never happens.

Citrano also notes that W creative director Dennis Freedman, who has been staunchly defending the purity of the Demi photo for the past month, once voiced contempt for the retouching duo that handled this very cover.

Jezebel and Citrano seem to be handling this frivolous legal menace perfectly well on their own, but we thought it wouldn’t hurt to link them to this post from last week. Demi Moore can’t threaten to sue everyone just because her pride about her agelessness has started to crack.

21
Dec

Tiger Woods Cut a Deal With the National Enquirer in 2007

By Holly Won't 23 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Bad Boys & Girls, Sports Figures, The Naughty Bits, The Washed Up and Writers

tiger-woods-finger-pointingA month ago it would have been unthinkable, but Tiger Woods and Michael Vick now have two things in common: problems with bitches who won’t stay quiet, and too much pride to admit to their mistakes in time to save their public images.

In 2007, Woods had some PR advice for Vick as the dogfighting scandal broke:

“If you made that big a mistake, you’ve got to come out and just be contrite, be honest and just tell the public that ‘I was wrong.’

“Waiting a long time got a lot of people polarized. … If he would have come out earlier, he would’ve diffused a little more of it.”

In case you missed it, The Wall Street Journal this weekend ran an explosive story that pretty much torpedoes Tiger’s whole stance on why you should cop to your failures quickly to save your image. Adultery supersleuths The National Enquirer knew about Tiger Woods’ unending line-up of blonde starf-ckers two years ago, but the tabloid quashed the story when he agreed to an exclusive interview with its sister publication, Men’s Fitness:

Mr. Woods had cut an unusual deal with American Media Inc., the owner of both Men’s Fitness magazine and the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper. Mr. Woods agreed to the cover shot and photo spread in Men’s Fitness, whose circulation of about 700,000 per issue is less than half of Golf Digest’s nearly 1.7 million, in return for the National Enquirer squelching a story and photographs purportedly showing Mr. Woods in a liaison with a woman who wasn’t his wife, according to people directly involved in the arrangement.

Pardon the pun, but Tiger got off easy in 2007.

H/T: The Superficial

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