Reuters - Borders Group Inc plans to cut its expenses by $120 million in 2009, as it expects weak sales to persist through the year, the company said on Wednesday in a regulatory filing. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:58 pm
AP - Over the last few decades, a veteran music act's best shot at platinum magic usually consisted of pairing up with younger hitmakers (a la Santana) or covering treasured classics (like Rod Stewart). These days, another kind of vehicle has become a path to best-selling success teaming up with box store chains.
Reuters - Privately-held QuickPlay Media Inc plans to deliver full length popular television shows to BlackBerry smartphone screens via Research In Motion's applications store after forging agreements with TV networks, including NBC, CBS Corp and MTV. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:34 pm
Reuters - Privately-held QuickPlay Media Inc plans to deliver full length popular television shows to BlackBerry smartphone screens via Research In Motion's applications store after forging agreements with TV networks, including NBC, CBS Corp and MTV. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:34 pm
Increase will enable TiVo to generate ratings for dozens of additional networks not currently measured by the industry currency Sample Size Now 75 Times Larger... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:30 pm
NEW YORK, April 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Iconix Brand Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICON) announced today that its junior brand, Candie's, which is exclusively sold at Kohl's Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:30 pm
Reuters - Chinese tourists eager to see art treasures heisted from China decades ago have swamped a famed Taiwan museum, forcing it to deploy crowd-control measures and fuelling a huge expansion. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:27 pm
Twenty years ago, when the New Kids on The Block were wearing their hair almost as high as their fame, the music business was a vastly different animal. There was no "American Idol." No such thing as a download, legal or otherwise. People collected posters, not ringtones.
LOS ANGELES, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures has attached Josh Schwartz to write and direct a feature based on Jay McInerney's novel "BRIGHT... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:00 pm
Mastronardi Produce, UPS to be honored for outstanding service and support. DETROIT, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- WHAT: Hunger is never a laughing... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:00 pm
Generate Insight to Provide Proprietary Research About Millennials for Brands and Marketers LOS ANGELES, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Generate ( Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:00 pm
TAMPA BAY, Fla., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Superstar shortstop Derek Jeter has thrown the ceremonial first ball to kickoff America's youth baseball season on behalf of Weplay... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:00 pm
BROOKLYN, N.Y., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The recent release of Watchmen has ensured that a brand new audience is introduced to the characters and story, but for thousands of fans, Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 11:50 am
The musical jokes that had the whole world crying, in Bigger Than the Sound.By James Montgomery Our April Fools’ Album Picks Photo: MTV News April Fools' Day is possibly the most hilarious... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 11:50 am
AP - The "ER" that exits television with its final episode Thursday on NBC is a shadow of its former self, stripped of the star power and buzz and a majority of viewers from its heyday.
Reuters - Any doubts that the revival of "Hair" that appeared last year in Central Park would lose something in the rarefied indoor confines of a Broadway theater can be put to rest. If anything, the production has even more of a visceral impact at the Al Hirschfeld, where its youthful ensemble puts out so much blazing energy it's no wonder that half the audience feels compelled to join them onstage for the joyous bacchanalian finale. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 1 Apr 2009 | 6:10 am
Reuters - Screenwriter Liz Garcia ("The Necklace") has been hired to adapt the first book in the series "The Au Pairs," written by Melissa de la Cruz, for Warner Bros. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 1 Apr 2009 | 5:53 am
Front Page: Negotiators stay at the table past deadline -- Negotiations between Madison Avenue and actors have gone into overtime.
Bargaining has continued early Wednesday morning at the Crowne Plaza in New York, several hours past the midnight expiration of the commercials contract.
Both sides have continued to observe a news blackout as negotiators opted to stay at the table past the deadline.
The joint SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee still has not asked members for a strike authorization. Taking such a step would take about three weeks and require 75% approval.
Bargaining began Feb. 23 and -- except for a break of a week in March -- has continued since then. The ad industry has been pushing for a revamp of compensation that would be tied to ratings that each network receives rather than current pay-per-play quarterly system on networks and a buyout payment for each quarter an ad runs on cable.
The negotiations have included discussion of a pilot study to test pay models. As part of the expired deal, the two sides agreed to commission a study from Booz Allen Hamilton on new compensation models to reflect the shifting economics of the ad biz.
Actors currently receive about $900 million annually in compensation under the contract. The ad industry is also seeking $20 million annual in reductions on its contributions to SAG and AFTRA's pension and health plans, including caps for work by individual performers.
With two celebrity heads on the chopping block Tuesday, there wasn't much wiggle room for the stars who didn't cut it last night.
A familiar set of names failed to impress the...
Aspiring Idols were asked to sing the the hits tonight—a prospect that usually results in a few slams.
Sure enough, Top Downloads night worked for some, while others went spiraling...
Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood gestures as she gives a press conference in Oviedo on October 22, 2008. Atwood has been awarded the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters. AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL RIOPA Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 1 Apr 2009 | 4:21 am
Want to know Adam Lambert's little secret? You speak. He listens.
Let us explain. You see, Adam, the funky-haired rocker from San Diego, has a penchant for Googling himself. He told...
Front Page: Novel was also basis for '88 Michael J. Fox film -- MGM has set Josh Schwartz to write and make his feature directorial debut with a fresh take on the 1984 Jay McInerney novel "Bright Lights, Big City."
Front Page: Vic Levin to adapt Andrew Gottlieb novel -- Warner Bros. has acquired "Dumped," a comedy Vic Levin will adapt as a star vehicle for Steve Carell based on a novel by Andrew Gottlieb.
Front Page: Network sets Western-themed reality show -- AMC is developing what it hopes will be its first nonscripted primetime series, a Western-themed, docu-style skein from producer Brett Morgen.
Before Twilight and New Moon, our fave movie vampire made the indie comedy How to...
• Mandatory Twilight stuff: Look—pictures from the New Moon set! (They look exactly...
In December, New School president Bob Kerrey received a no-confidence vote from 94 percent of the school’s full-time faculty. Now there’s turmoil brewing among the part-timers.
On March 10, twelve adjunct faculty members of the Parsons fine arts department received notification from department chair Coco Fusco that they would “not be reappointed to teach” during the 2009-2010 academic year. Fusco’s letter provided no specific basis for the dismissals, other than to say that “appointment decisions are based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, curricular changes, student enrollments, and instructor’s performance history, the need for departmental flexibility in hiring, and work load agreements with full-time and senior part-time faculty.”
The twelve dismissed professors constitute nearly one-third of the total fine-arts faculty, and the department’s staff is now up in arms. On March 18, 22 faculty members who hadn’t received letters of dismissal sent a petition to Kerrey, Sven Travis (dean of the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons), recently appointed New School provost Tim Marshall, and Fusco, among other senior administrators, objecting to the cuts, which they called the “summary firing” of their colleagues. “They, like all adjunct faculty at Parsons, have worked many hours beyond their contractual commitments and have provided scholarship, skill and guidance to countless students,” the petition stated. “To not rehire faculty in this economic climate is both cruel and socially irresponsible,” the signatories added. “We therefore insist upon an immediate reversal of aforementioned summary firings.”
But the school’s administration disputes the characterization of the action as firings. “No cuts are being made to the number of faculty in the Fine Arts programs at Parsons; in fact, the faculty body is growing,” Travis said in a statement. “Due to curricular changes under way in the programs, a handful of part-time faculty with probationary status under their union contract and who teach semester to semester have not been assigned for the fall, but may be assigned in the future subject to need.”
Faculty members, however, aren’t buying it. “They’re just trying to control the rhetoric,” argues Peter Drake, one of the petition’s signatories who is helping organize faculty resistance to the cuts. “They’re trying to make it seem like being non-rehired is less painful than being fired,” he says. “I believe when you lose your job and there’s no justification for it, it’s 'being fired.'”
We're Twittering the festivities and madness leading up to this Thursday's grand opening of Topshop, so don't forget to check our feed. This just in: "Just finished Topshop walkthrough ... a lot of action. Spotted Mark Ronson on escalator, overheard he was filming for MTV." [Cutblog/Twitter]
The other day Stereogum posted this Killers-ized “Four Winds,” but the sheer insanity of it ruptured the space-time continuum and we only discovered it now. We would be lying if we told you this wasn’t kinda awful. Still, you gotta give Brandon Flowers credit, like you would for, say, someone who just burped the alphabet: That he’d even think this was a good idea speaks to his special genius, his inspired disregard for the bounds of form and logic. Which places him, of course, in diametric opposition to Mr. Bright Eyes himself, Conor Oberst. This cover, in short, is a paradox. And you know, it just might be growing on us.
Finally! Someone's getting this party started. Earlier today a judge ruled that the assets of Bernie Madoff's brother Peter should remain frozen despite his inability to pay even subway fare. Now a Connecticut judge has frozen the assets of Madoff's two sons, Andrew and Mark, along with those of Fairfield Greenwich founder Walter Noel and his flamboyant son-in-law Andrés Piedrahita; as well as Noel's co-founder Jeffrey Tucker and two other major feeders to Madoff, Sandra Manzke's Maxam Capital and Robert Schulman's Tremont Group Holdings. It appears that Ruth Madoff has escaped this round, probably because she didn't technically work for her husband. Maybe she'll take pity on the others and invite them over for Jarlsberg sandwiches?
AP - "Long Lost" (Dutton, 372 pages, $27.95), by Harlan Coben: Myron Bolitar, sports agent and accidental detective, has returned in what is perhaps Harlan Coben's best-written and most suspenseful thriller yet. The story begins when Myron gets a call from Terese Collins, a long-lost love. "Come to Paris," she says. She needs him, but she won't say why.
Front Page: Glickman talks surge in moviegoing at ShoWest -- While other American industries look for cover during the economic crisis, Motion Picture Assn. of America chair-CEO Dan Glickman believes the thriving worldwide box office makes the U.S. film biz a powerful growth engine.
Michael Moore was in the audience at today's Senate Finance Committee hearing on TARP, "wearing his trademark baseball cap" and taking notes, presumably for his new project. [Washwire/WSJ via DealBreaker]
Richard Chai is reportedly interviewing to take the top design position at Bill Blass, Fashion Week Daily reports. A spokesperson for Chai wouldn't comment, and neither would a representative of Peacock Holdings LLC, which bought Bill Blass from NexCen at the end of last year. However, Peacock said a new creative director would be announced in about a month. Whether or not Chai is appointed, Bill Blass should return to the runways in September. After the months-long drama with Peter Som leaving and NexCen laying off the Blass staff, we can scarcely believe that the label is back on its feet so quickly.
Chai would be a good fit for Blass, aesthetically. Known for his classic American sportswear, Chai's career took off when he launched the Marc by Marc Jacobs line. After that he designed for TSE, then launched his namesake collection in 2004. His awards include the Ecco Domani prize in 2005. He was also a top-ten finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund last year. He's also a favorite of retailers, like Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart, and the be all end all of editors, Anna Wintour. We wonder if she had anything to do with helping get him in the door.
Papers go bankrupt, magazines make staff cuts, publishers retire, and journalists have begun laying themselves off for the sake of their comrades. Bad news for the news!
• Sun Times Media Group, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company plans to restructure itself to better befit a buyer, among other new aims. [Sun-Times]
• Forbes is laying off more than 50 people on its editorial and business teams. [MediaMemo/All Things D]
• Nicole Wong laid herself off from the Boston Globe "to save the job of a reporter who has less seniority than [she] and who has greater needs to stay in the Boston area due to family commitments and other obligations." So she basically quit, which, given the state of newspapers, is apparently now martyrdom. [Talking Biz News]
• Life magazine has been resurrected as Life.com, a comprehensive photography site in partnership with Time Inc. Taking from Life magazine archives and a growing Getty collection, the website will be "the single largest online cache of professional photography." And it all begins with Ellen DeGeneres guest-editing a slideshow of puppies. [Life.com, Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA Today, has laid himself off, too. Well, he's retiring in April. [Yahoo]
Good ol' Raisin Bran scored another scoop! Michael Ausiello is reporting that the husky-voiced former screen siren Kathleen Turner has agreed to join the cast of Californication next season. Nicely played, Tea Leoni, nicely played. (On a marginally related note, if you've never heard Sarah Paulson's impression of K.T., stop what you're doing now, click here, and fast forward to 4:38.) [Ausiello Files/EW]
"I don't even know if I qualify [Nick Stefanov] as lover. How about a jilted moron?" —Ed Hayes, lawyer for Kelly Killoren Bensimon, on the ex-boyfriend she allegedly punched in the face [People]
Comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert has warned NASA to name a new wing of the international space station after him or he would "seize power as space's evil tyrant overlord."
The gorgeous Private Practice star and Wicked Tony-winner will have their first child later this year, a rep reports. Which Rent song do you suppose they'll pick as a lullaby? [Us]
Sure, stage adaptations of unlikely source material are announced practicallyeveryday, and almost none of them will ever happen, never in a million years — but it's really not often we hear about one we'd actually like to see! Harold Ramis tells MTV today that Danny Rubin, with whom he wrote the 1993 movie, is hard at work on the book for a Groundhog Day musical. Rubin was purportedly inspired by an interview with Stephen Sondheim in which the legendary composer said it was the film he'd most like to see become a show. And we agree with Sondheim — couldn't this actually be great? And wouldn't Nathan Lane be a perfect Ned Ryerson?
News flash: Michelle and Barack Obama have landed in London and, contrary to what we had guessed, Michelle changed outfits on the plane. She boarded the plane wearing an ivory custom-made tulle-tweed Thakoon coat. She deplaned wearing Jason Wu's chartreuse silk-crepe short-sleeve sheath dress with a shawl collar. The dress could be a modified version of a look from Wu's fall collection. Or it could be entirely custom. Either way, Wu used the same fabric for a coupleof fall pieces. She's cinched the black coat with her signature Alaïa belt. When we know who the coat is by, we'll let you know.
We know a fewCEOs who could take a cue from Paul McCartney, who (despite being a billionaire) has never been "that excessive," the former Beatle told your starstruck Daily Intel correspondent at the NRDC Forces for Nature benefit last night, where his daughter Stella was honored for her environmental activism. "Generally speaking, I would probably be quite a reasonable example of modest living," he added.
His frugality, he explained, has stemmed from being environmentally conscious. McCartney was a very early adopter of the green movement: His late wife, Linda, was a vegetarian and animal-rights activist, and his daughter's fashion empire does not work with leather or fur. "We're big animal people," he said, noting that he hasn't worn leather for 30 years. McCartney watches his energy consumption, too: Rather than a megayacht, for instance, he has a Sunfish. "All my friends have got the big yachts, and I sail up to them on my little tiny boat," he laughed. "To tell you the truth, it's because I'm not comfortable doing it the other way ... I don't live in a real big house; I get a bit uncomfortable, you know, when I'm rattling around." Of course, even Sir Paul admits to the occasional splurge, like hiring a private plane. "You've still got to live, you know — you've got to do what you need to do."
Miley Cyrus isn't the only one saying we probably won't be seeing a sequel to the not-even-released yet Hannah Montana movie.
The musical movie's director, Peter Chelsom,...
What do Vanessa Hudgens and Meryl Streep have in common? Why should Octomom Nadya Suleman be worried? And why might cold-as-ice figure skating be poised for a prime-time comeback? (Brace...
The New York Topshop is basically all constructed and set up. The scaffolding is gone, the merchandise is hung, press are filtering in and out for previews (look for our video tour of the store shortly!). All Sir Philip and his minions need to do is throw the requisite 40 or so celebrity-stocked parties to honor the occasion, throw up a big fat ribbon and thrust awkwardly large scissors into someone's hands to cut it, and then let all the 14-year-olds lined up outside trample and beat each other on the way in (we will be among them, but the shoes we buy will be so worth it). So who's the lucky person who gets to awkwardly wield the giant scissors? Kate Moss! Yes, it's confirmed. According to WWD, she'll be awake on Thursday morning to cut the ribbon. We hope she gets a good night's sleep the night before so she can get there on time. Because the wrath of that mob is the last thing we'd ever want to descend upon us.
Front Page: Disney shows off 'Up,' 'Beauty' re-issue -- Warner Bros. and Disney whetted the appetites of exhibitors at ShoWest on Tuesday with footage of Buzz Lightyear, Scrooge, Harry Potter and a slew of 3-D extravaganzas, as both studios unveiled extended clips of their upcoming titles.
Front Page: Negotiations may be headed into overtime -- Negotiations between Madison Avenue and actors may be headed into overtime, with bargaining continuing a few hours before the commercials contract expires.
Liam Neeson knew the show had to go on, so he got it over with.
Less than two weeks after losing wife Natasha Richardson, the Irish actor quietly finished shooting his scenes for the...
BENNY JR: Original Rent cast members Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel are expecting their first child after 13 years together. Do you think the kid already comes out of the womb sick of "Seasons of Love," or does he have to get to high school first? (Us Weekly)
PREMATURE SEQUELATION: Paramount is already planning a sequel to its Star Trek reboot, based on the overwhelming box office success of...the trailer, I guess? People literally watched the trailer and mailed it money. (EW.com)
NO 'DERBURGER?': A compilation of the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes in 200 Seconds. And God willing, if we finally stand up to the oil companies, I think we can get that number to 200 quotes in 100 seconds by the year 2018. (Liquid Generation, via Gorillamask)
NEXT STEP - UNFILTERED NEWS: Google China is giving away music for free to combat China's increasing piracy problem. I'm not sure how giving away the new U2 album will stop cargo ships from constantly being boarded and captured, but I guess it couldn't hurt. (Variety)
MAN'S BEST FRIEND WITH BENEFITS: Mickey Rourke and his chihuahua were just hanging out outside LAX, French kissing, being impossible to dislike -- same ol'. (Popbytes)
So how many billions will Governor Paterson's proposed additional taxes, surcharges, assessments, and fees net the state government? Several different figures have been reported and released, so here's the tally: The state revenue actions add up to $6.9 billion, which does not include the additional $1.5 billion earned from canceled property-tax rebates. If you're paying attention, that's about $1.7 billion more than the figure put out by the governor's office — which, in anticipation of this morning's onslaught, obviously had an interest in downplaying the numbers. A spokesman for Mr. Paterson said their number is lower, in part, because they did not count tighter tax-compliance regulations, bottle-deposit revenue taken away from the beverage industry, and the removal of certain tax breaks to businesses.
This week only, iTunes is offering “4'33"” — John Cage's famous recording of a pianist not playing — as a free download. The customer reviews are not particularly kind. [iTunes via Alex Ross]
Reuters - On the surface, it always has seemed like a natural pairing: two of the rock era's most successful acts -- piano-based or otherwise -- dispensing hit after hit after hit. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 31 Mar 2009 | 9:56 pm
While we're getting kind of geeked to hop onboard the Nostalgia Train this weekend to check out what the Fast & Furious gang has been up to since 2001, we can't say the same fuzzy feelings are washing over us as we prepare to watch Osbournes: Reloaded on Fox tonight. There's no use denying the seismic impact that the first two seasons of The Osbournes had on the pop-culture universe when they aired in those halcyon days that were the early aughts, but over the last four or five years, the appeal of their brand has waned considerably. It's impossible to pinpoint this precipitous falloff to any one single event, but it's fair to say that none of the following things helped: the multiple rehab stops for Jack and Kelly, Ozzy's willingness to exploit his own physical and mental deficiencies to land commercial work, Sharon's ubiquity and annoying drive to become the female Simon Cowell. Oh, and last night's painfully unfunny bit on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon didn't help matters much, either. There's only one question at this point: Can it possibly be as awful as Rosie Live?
HAIR
• Miss Virginia beauty queen Tara Wheeler promises to shave her head if she raises the $500,000 she wants to donate to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a nonprofit for children's cancer research. With twelve days left, she's only raised 3 percent. Something tells us she might not be trying that hard. [BellaSugar]
MAKEUP
• Queen Latifah's makeup artist is suing her. Roxanna Floyd alleges that she never got paid for the work she did on Latifah's Cover Girl campaign or Curvations fashion line. [NYDN]
FRAGRANCE
• Gap creative director Patrick Robinson is excited about his first fragrance, called Close. Of the fresh, salty citrus scent, he says "The salty part — that's human nature, that's how you get people close to you. The citrus part makes them stay." We're going to go spread salt and orange juice all over us now. [FWD]
• You know how Twilight has a fragrance? So does Star Trek. [Kiss and Makeup]
SKIN
• If you're laid off and can't afford Botox on your forehead anymore, get bangs. And this marks the five hundred millionth blog post with that meme. [Beauty Counter/Style.com]
Sometime New Yorker Peaches Geldof talked to Grazia about Gossip Girl–mania and, in particular, an interaction she had with Ed Westwick, the British actor who plays cult-favorite character Chuck Bass:
"He acts up to this personification of some sort of Pete Doherty character — some really wasted English guy with a poet soul and it doesn't really work. It is a bit like, 'Mate, you're on Gossip Girl and you're in a shitty band.' We spoke for a bit and he was quite lecherous. But he was lecherous to all the girls. He's very small, too. Smaller than me. I'm 5'7" and I think he must be 5'6". He's ripped. But when you're small and ripped you get into Tom Cruise territory, like a little overgrown gorilla."
Well! We have to say, we're impressed. Peaches pretty much nailed it. The Battle of the Brits is on! Your move, Bass.
First it was Stringer Bell being Stringer Bell on The Office ... and now it’s Bunny Colvin being Bunny Colvin on How I Met Your Mother! Robert Wisdom — who played Colvin, the cop turned warmhearted school administrator on The Wire — popped up in last night's episode as the tough-but-caring manager of the laser-tag place where Barney goes to wreck shop. How long before Slim Charles shows up on Two and a Half Men? [CBS]
At least one Florida town is unloading the Osbournes: Reloaded.
After watching a six-minute preview, the Fox affiliate in Panama City has decided the variety show featuring Ozzy...
An elderly man is pleasantly surprised that he's not being murdered.
Despite fears that, with people losing their jobs and savings, and with budget woes forcing police officers off the streets, our city would devolve into a seventies-era cesspool of rampant killing, theft, and cannibalism, the opposite actually seems to be happening. In the year to date, overall crime is down 13 percent, with the murder rate alone down 23 percent. Is it possible that people actually feel a heightened sense of kinship in this time of crisis? Perhaps! Or maybe there's just not as much to steal. [NY1]
It’s Will Swenson's third time playing Berger, the charismatic ringleader of the musical Hair (he started when the revival, opening tonight, was just a one-time concert in Central Park), so at this point, he’s pretty comfortable letting it all hang out in public. Swenson is no Broadway newbie: He left another transferring success, Rock of Ages (in which he played hilarious eighties rocker Stacee Jaxx), to return to Hair. He spoke to Vulture about onstage nudity, hippie thinking, and his illustrious Mormon film career.
Both Jaxx, your Rock of Ages character, and Berger are half-naked for most of their respective shows.
Yeah, that’s a prerequisite in my contract now. No shirts, and lots of girls around I can be completely mean to. [Laughs.] The first time we did it for Hair, it was obviously a bizarre sensation. It was in the park, and it was kind of amazing to do it outside. It’s a different feel indoors. I do walk offstage sometimes like, "Really? I just walked around onstage with my pants off for twenty minutes?"
You have a very lengthy, audience-interactive monologue right at the beginning of the show. What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to an audience member so far?
One night, there was this person who wouldn’t talk to me when I asked him for change. I was like, “Do you speak English?” and I’m still not sure if he did. I just said, “Cause I’ll stand here with my balls in your face all night long … ” and sort of jerked my pelvis in his direction. But I usually play things by ear. If all else fails, I just hug them or say something slightly off-color.
It seems like being in this show is a pretty life-altering experience. Has hippie thinking infiltrated your real life?
Yeah, I guess so. The first day of the concert rehearsal, Jim Rado, the writer of the show, had this list of things like, “What Is a Hippie?” I remember being sort of blown away by them. There were things on the list like, “Is not afraid to hug a stranger” or “Will talk to anyone.” It makes you kind of reevaluate yourself like, “Oh, I guess I’m really not cool with talking with strangers on the street or hugging strangers.” And through the course of the show, I’ve probably hugged 40 people a night, and that certainly bleeds into your life.
Have you experienced Hair groupies yet?
Yeah, I get groped every night; I go out onstage at the end and someone will pinch my butt. Berger’s so approachable and full of love, I think everyone kind of feels like, “We just spent two hours with this guy who loves everybody, I think he’d be fine if I grabbed his ass.”
I visited your website, and it’s sort of random. You list “works well with gays” as a special skill.
Yes! I used to have “Makes Jell-O” as a special skill, because it seemed like such an odd thing to have on a résumé. I’ve also said my audition song is "Freakum Dress" by Beyoncé. Which, sadly, it is not.
You made an appearance on a show called Sons of Provo. Please explain.
I don’t practice Mormonism at all anymore, but I grew up in a Mormon family, and my cousin still is, and he made this comedy and asked if I’d star in it. So my friends and I wrote a screenplay for Sons of Provo, about a Mormon boy band.
And you also starred in films for the Mormon church at some point, right?
Yeah, they do these faith-promoting films of stories from the Book of Mormon, testimony-building dramatizations. I’ve played prophets from the Book of Mormon, I’ve played Jesus. Matter of fact, if you go to Salt Lake to the big Mormon visitors’ center, they play a big movie and I’m the voice of Jesus in that. Of course, they’ll probably shut it down knowing I’m doing Hair on Broadway.
Are you a big celebrity in Utah?
Yeah, actually, it’s bizarre. I’m nobody in New York, and I get off the plane in Salt Lake and can get recognized immediately. Not as much with my long hair, though, which is lovely.
Pamela Anderson and ex-Heatherette-designer Richie Rich are collaborating on an ecofriendly line of leather-free shoes and casual clothes called Muse. The line will include skirts, bathing suits, and hooded tops. Pam walked in Rich's fall 2009 fashion show at New York Fashion Week (and was sensational, might we add). The new line marks the first time we have felt genuinely excited about an ecofriendly line. It's about time someone gave that clothing category a massive infusion of sex and glitter. [Hollyscoop]
Front Page: Lionsgate, After Dark to produce 'Anita Blake' -- IFC has greenlit its first telepic, a project based on Laurell K. Hamilton's vampire novels.
When the series "ER" airs its finale on Thursday, the event will not only mark the completion of one of NBC's most successful shows, but it can also be viewed as the end of an era for the network.
With regards to the following post: Josh Groban Haterz to the Left. We love the Grobes. Not only is he adorable and charming, he has a fantastic sense of humor about his God-given ability to turn any song into an epic ballad. Perhaps no better example of this exists than the following clip from Adult Swim'sTim and Eric Awesome Show, where Groban sings the hits from Uncle Muscle's Hour, including classics such as "(I Want To Ride) In a Choo-Choo Train", "Hamburgers and Hot Dogs", and who can forget our favorite tune "Cops and Robbers".
Yup, all of comedy can be summed up with this here video:
(Thanks to Emmaline H. for the tip!) Source: Best Week Ever | 31 Mar 2009 | 8:32 pm
Year One won't be 2009's only blasphemous adaptation of the Bible! After four years, pervy cartoonist R. Crumb has completed work on Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis, which will be out October 19. "It's very visual. It's lurid. Full of all kinds of crazy, weird things that will really surprise people," he tells the Guardian. [Guardian UK via ArtsBeat/NYT]
Even though they're currently awaiting a verdict in Sweden on charges of "promoting other people's infringements of copyright laws," BitTorrent tracker the Pirate Bay is adding a hilarious array of new features that would certainly seem to promote other people's infringements of copyright laws!
Last week, the site announced a subscription-based anonymity service designed to hide the IP addresses of file-sharers from content owners and Internet providers. And now, they've added a button on all torrent pages allowing people to share them with friends via their Facebook profiles (the recording industry is apparently upset, and Facebook hasn't yet commented).
Since the international courts have thus far failed to find a legal way to shut down the six-year-old TPB, we have no idea if this sort of thing is actually illegal. But, at the very least, it definitely seems pretty egregious, possibly in a way that might get them enough attention for authorities to finally crack down on file-sharing, thereby ruining it for everybody. Come on, guys — use a little discretion!
For when you want to let your prom date know you're a sure thing... why not don this classy and yet affordable vagina gown?
Because nothing says "I want to lose my virginity again" like giant hot pink satin labia hangin' off the front of your dress. Am I right, fellas?
(Thanks to Scott for the tip!) Source: Best Week Ever | 31 Mar 2009 | 8:13 pm
MObama's going to London today with Barack on their first trip overseas since taking office. But never mind what he's doing at the G20 conference, because MObama's going to wear clothes. She's bringing with her a week's worth of day and evening outfits. For the most part her schedule will be planned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife, Sarah, and she'll probably wear things by her favorite American labels, like J.Crew and Narciso Rodriguez. The Telegraph reports that it's unknown whether MObama will bring her hairstylist Johnny Wright with her. But when Carla Bruni-Sarkozy took her first official trip to London as the First Lady of France, she appeared to have done her own hair and makeup the whole time, so maybe MObama can wing it, too.
The big question is what MObama will wear Wednesday to meet the Queen. When Carla met the queen she wore a charming pillbox hat and later told David Letterman "you have to wear a hat." (The Obamas were thoroughly trained in proper Queen etiquette before departing.) So will Michelle wear a hat? We'd be tickled if she got one from Aretha Franklin's milliner Luke Song, who designed the famous gray-bow hat for the inauguration. Hell, we'd be tickled to see her in any kind of hat. One thing's for sure — she'll arrive wearing a Thakoon coat and Jimmy Choo shoes, as you see here, unless she changes on the plane, but we'd be surprised if she were that high maintenance. Carla's not going to any of the festivities, so we unfortunately won't witness a grand international-fashion-icon face-off. But tomorrow, get ready for MObama-outfit mayhem à la Inauguration Day. We're already obsessed.
(And for the record, I really like Stathe, and I'm planning a Transporter 3 / Crank 2 double feature as soon as I have a free night and a blanket thick enough to cover up my action-boner. See? The post was just a joke, Statham, haha... no need to creatively sweep-kick me with a pole vault then drop a crate of Tabasco-covered ball bearings on my face to a techno-metal beat.) Source: Best Week Ever | 31 Mar 2009 | 7:50 pm
Twins Kathryn and Elizabeth Fortunato. (Kathryn is on the left.)
Lizzie Fortunato Jewels' mantra is that high-end jewelry should not be limited to precious materials. Designer Elizabeth Fortunato uses ecofriendly found and reclaimed objects from around the world, while her twin sister, Kathryn, handles the business end of the company. The young women have grown from winning over their peers during their days at Duke to becoming favorites of Condé Nast editors, and they recently designed jewelry for VPL's runway show. With their notably statement pieces taking New York by storm, we sat down with the dynamic duo to talk about old-school Betsey Johnson, Obama, and the open road.
Your spring line has a summer-camp feel. What's your inspiration for fall? Elizabeth: The collection is called “Long May You Run” and is inspired by the open road, particularly the American West. I was influenced by my own travels through the West and was thinking about this modern girl ditching the city in favor of a Harley and adventures in the desert. There’s lots of leather, studs, coral, and turquoise. It’s a little rougher.
Two other twin designers, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, have spoken of their special, psychic twin connection. Do you two share that as well? Kathryn: We like to think we do. As kids, we used to pretend we could read each other’s minds.
Any advice for young, aspiring jewelry designers? E: Work tirelessly; there is always another young jewelry designer in the wings ready to replace you. And oversee everything yourself in the early stages. No one can implement your vision like you can. K: Even the best product will never sell if no one knows about it. Go out and push your product.
Their Memories of Red Rock necklace.Courtesy of Lizzie Fortunato Jewels
Which other jewelry designers do you love? E: Alyssa Norton, Ligia Dias, Natalia Brilli, Philip Crangi, Irene Neuwirth, Scott Wilson … the list goes on. K: Arielle de Pinto’s work is amazing as well.
In an ideal world, who would you love to see wearing Lizzie Fortunato Jewels? E: Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Chanel Iman — she’s stunning. K: Michelle Obama!
What was the first designer item you ever bought? E: I got a pair of black leather and wood platform Betsey Johnson heels on a field trip to NYC in junior high. I was supposed to be in a museum. K: I scored an amazing Miu Miu doctor bag from my mom’s closet. After that, a pair of Valentino spectator pumps.
What current trends do you like? E: Saving. 'Tis the season for spending only on investment pieces. K: TOMS. I got my first pair years ago and now they’re everywhere. It’s great to give back fashionably.
Any item you're lusting over right now? E: I love Richard Nicoll’s color-block shirts for spring, Dieppa Restrepo’s loafers, blazers from Jeffrey Monteiro and the Row, and Golden Goose boots with brass hardware. My fall/winter Western-bound girl would definitely rock those. But I’m buying a plane ticket to India instead. K: A Wayne Thiebaud cake painting for my bedroom.
What do you think every woman should have in her wardrobe? E: The perfect, properly fitting blazer. And statement jewelry. K: Well-tailored black pants.
What's something you never leave the house without? E: Chains, needles, threads, and wire in my bag. I always need something to do on the subway. K: My Billykirk satchel. It fits look books, my BlackBerry, Moleskine, heels, my current reading. My life is in there.
Last night at the NRDC Forces for Nature benefit, Stella McCartney told us she would "absolutely" consider showing her collection in New York. We asked Stella — who usually shows in Paris — if she had any plans in the works to move her show. “Not yet, but one day. I’d love to; I’m half New Yorker, so I’d love to.” After seeing those orgasmically amazing thigh-high boots-that-were-almost-leggings she showed for fall, we'd love that too. Related: See who mingled with Stella in our Party Lines slideshow.
Last season, newcomer Charlotte Hoyer scored a spot on New York's most exclusive runway: Calvin Klein. Not long thereafter, she booked Marni and Chloé, and it soon became obvious that a new runway star was born. Before hitting a single catwalk, the Danish beauty booked her first cover, for Cover magazine's August issue. And she's off to a roaring start this year. The 19-year-old walked the spring Armani Privé couture show and snagged a spread in 10 magazine's spring issue alongside Karmen Pedaru. And we hear that’s just the beginning.
Mexican-born film star Salma Hayek, seen here in February 2009, could take a lead role in an upcoming adaptation of the book "News of a Kidnapping" by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the movie's... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Mar 2009 | 5:51 pm
AP - On the surface, "Adventureland," director Greg Mottola's follow-up to his hit "Superbad," looks like another good-time, raunchy romp. And it certainly has healthy amounts of partying and pranks to go along with its gross-out gags.
US actress Drew Barrymore, seen here in February 2009, and ex-boyfriend Justin Long are to star as a couple trying to maintain a long-distance relationship in a new romantic comedy, entertainment industry... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Mar 2009 | 5:39 pm
After watching the debacle that was the hippie-folk cover of the Fresh Prince theme last week, I made it my mission to defend the internet by finding some homemade covers of tv theme songs that actually weren't total crap. We sorted through countless unworthy cracks at the Fraggle Rock theme, a thousand mediocre a cappella versions of Doug, and a startling lack of decent Office renditions, and ultimately compiled the following list of 13 TV Theme Song Covers That Are Actually Pretty Awesome. Turns out the internet isn't completely worthless (just, mostly):
13. Family Matters - Piano
12. Ren & Stimpy (Closing Credits) - Electric Guitar
11. MacGyver - Ruler
10. Blossom - Ukulele
9. Power Rangers - Mario Paint
8. The Muppet Show - Tamburitza Orchestra
7. Baywatch - Acoustic Guitar and Vocals*
(* Bonus points for the elaborate music video)
6. Love Boat - Theremin
5. Pokemon - Violin (aka, "The Automatic BJ")
4. Seinfeld - Hands
3. The Simpsons - Two Guitars
2. The Andy Griffith Show - Parrot*
(* Might've thought this clip was fake, but after watching the Puppy Bowl, I will never again underestimate parrots)
1. Sesame Street - Beat Box with Flute
Bonus Celebrity Covers:Bonanza - Johnny Cash
Gladys Knight & The Pips - Sesame Street
Brady Bunch - Jamie Foxx
Others we're missing? Leave 'em in the comments! Source: Best Week Ever | 31 Mar 2009 | 5:15 pm
A porcelain bust of Josef Haydn by Anton Grassi (1802) is displayed in the Maison Haydn in Eisenstadt on March 30, 2009. Celebrations marking 200 years since Haydn's death began Tuesday in the Austrian... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Mar 2009 | 4:23 pm
Josef Haydn's organ on which he composed and played many of his works is displayed on March 30, 2009 in the Landesmuseum of Eisenstadt. Celebrations marking 200 years since Haydn's death began Tuesday... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Mar 2009 | 4:23 pm
A visitor looks at the death mask of Joseph Haydn during the opening of an exhibition "Haydn's last Years" in his former house on January 28, 2009 in Vienna. Celebrations marking 200 years since Haydn's... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Mar 2009 | 4:23 pm
Hamish Dodds, president and chief executive officer of the US-based Hard Rock International is interviewed in Hong Kong. Dodd said the leisure firm was looking to expand its rock-and-roll themed hotel... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 31 Mar 2009 | 4:04 pm
I suppose it's little surprise that the type of person who would build a mechanized bar stool on wheels would also be the type of person to drive said bar stool while intoxicated, crash, and call 9-1-1:
According to cops, Kile Wygle, 28, crashed his bar stool near his Newark home earlier this month and called 911 due to his injuries. When an officer arrived and asked Wygle what happened, he answered, "I wrecked my bar stool." [Ed Note - This man is many things, but he's not a liar]
A plastered Wygle, who failed a series of field sobriety tests, was charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license, both misdemeanors. His bar stool was not impounded.
Hopefully no headline writers died from excitement upon hearing this story -- Smoking Gun went with "Cops Bust Stool Fool," but I would've gone with something more like...
"Stool Time!"
"Won't Get Stooled Again"
"More Stool To The Fire"
"Stule Driver"
"Stool Intentions"
"Stool Of Hard Crashes"
I'll end it there. Source: Best Week Ever | 31 Mar 2009 | 4:00 pm
After gathering for a one-off reunion last August, the surviving members of the original Bad Company -- vocalist Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke -- will play a 10-show tour this summer.
Sadly for us, MTV/Viacom has gone ahead and blocked our phones from dialing any and all 1-900 numbers. (We found this out the hard way a few months back, when all we wanted to do was jut get our horoscope from a friendly Jamaican woman and ask if we should or shouldn't send a few hundie-thouzies over to the King of Mozambique. Side note: We did. And now we our millionaires.)
This phone blockage is a real shame, because nothing would please us more than giving 1-900-OK-FACE a call, the sex hotline 30 Rock's Liz Lemon shilled for back before becoming the head writer of The Tracey Jordan Show. Not only because we still think Tina Fey has a certain something in her early-90s get-up, but moreso because it would give us a chance to say the one thing we know in Polish... "Where can we buy a new transmission?"
Here is the ad in its entirety:
Pop star Madonna and her adopted son met with the young boy's biological father in Malawi as the singer awaited a court decision on whether she could adopt a girl from the same country, her publicist said Tuesday.
AP - Now that we're in the third year of the Age of Wii, Nintendo's popular console is pretty easy to find. Which means that a lot more people are learning its unpleasant secret: There are a lot of terrible games for this system.
"Early bird" $175 three-day passes for this summer's Lollapalooza festival go on sale today (March 31). The annual festival will happen August 7-9 in Chicago's Grant Park.
With opening night on Wednesday in San Jose, the E Street Band is ready to rock with Bruce Springsteen. And Little Steven Van Zandt anticipates giving the crowds a healthy dose of the new "Working on a Dream" album.
Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon have been confirmed as the headline acts at the U.K.'s twinned Reading and Leeds Festivals. The festivals will held at Little Johns Farm, Reading and Bramham Park, Leeds, over England's August Bank Holiday weekend (Aug. 28-Aug. 30).
With two celebrity heads on the chopping block Tuesday, there wasn't much wiggle room for the stars who didn't cut it last night.
A familiar set of names failed to impress the...
Aspiring Idols were asked to sing the the hits tonight—a prospect that usually results in a few slams.
Sure enough, Top Downloads night worked for some, while others went spiraling...
Want to know Adam Lambert's little secret? You speak. He listens.
Let us explain. You see, Adam, the funky-haired rocker from San Diego, has a penchant for Googling himself. He told...
Miley Cyrus isn't the only one saying we probably won't be seeing a sequel to the not-even-released yet Hannah Montana movie.
The musical movie's director, Peter Chelsom,...
What do Vanessa Hudgens and Meryl Streep have in common? Why should Octomom Nadya Suleman be worried? And why might cold-as-ice figure skating be poised for a prime-time comeback? (Brace...
Liam Neeson knew the show had to go on, so he got it over with.
Less than two weeks after losing wife Natasha Richardson, the Irish actor quietly finished shooting his scenes for the...
At least one Florida town is unloading the Osbournes: Reloaded.
After watching a six-minute preview, the Fox affiliate in Panama City has decided the variety show featuring Ozzy...
After watching the debacle that was the 
I suppose it's little surprise that the type of person who would build a mechanized bar stool on wheels would also be the type of person to drive said bar stool while intoxicated, crash, and 
