Blog Posts For: April 2009

There is another horseback riding story to share this morning and this time the incident is between singer Leona Lewis and her horse, which she received as a birthday present from some of her friends. Leona was out riding in Los Angeles, when all of a sudden the horse head butted her in the face and the force of the hit knocked her right to the ground. Luckily she is fine and there is no major damage to her face but she does need to stay home and take it easy for awhile, and she has postponed the recording of her newest album. She was in a lot of pain but doesn’t blame the horse; something just must have spooked him. She has been riding for years and loves horses but this incident has shaken her up quite a bit.

Happy news for Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick – the couple is expecting twin girls this summer via a surrogate. The “Sex and the City” star has a 6 year old son James and the entire family is very excited! After hearing some gossip last year about Matthew cheating with a 21 year old I am very happy to hear some good news about one of my favorite actresses. Sarah Jessica is 44 and Matthew is 47 and it is said that the surrogate is a 26 year old divorcee. Other good news about a couple that has been dealing with bad news and bad publicity about an alleged affair are Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti Scailfa. The 2 however seem very happy and Patti joined her husband on stage Monday night during an event honoring Tom Hanks. The Boss called up his wife and then in front of everyone gave her a big kiss. Everyone cheered. Not only were people happy to see the couple together but that Patti was doing just fine after having fallen off her horse earlier in the month.

Bad news for “Dancing with the Stars” Fans – the latest injury victim is favorite Melissa Rycroft. Due to the injury that she sustained to one of her ribs she was not able to participate on Monday nights show. She has a hairline fracture to one of her ribs and hopefully with some rest should be able to continue in the competition. The judges did score her and her partner, Tony Dovolani, based on their rehearsal footage from what they were able to do from early on Monday. Steve O was also judged on his rehearsal performance when he hurt his back. Feel better soon Melissa we miss you and want you back soon.

Wedding bells were ringing again for 2 couples this weekend. Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag from “The Hills” said their” I do’s” this weekend in front of 200 family and friends in California on Saturday afternoon. That is quite a change from the private ceremony they had together when they eloped to Mexico 5 months ago.  In attendance were Lauren Conrad, Brody Jenner, Audrina Partridge and Kristin Cavallari to name a few. Now you might be thinking that Lauren Conrad said she would never be at their wedding and here she was. IT seems that everyone was a bit shocked. And then there was Brody Jenner and his ex Kristin Cavallari while Brody was there with his new girlfriend.awkward! The wedding was filmed so you will be able to see it for yourself on MTV sometime in the future. Should be interesting to see it all unfold. The other couple to celebrate with family and friends this weekend was Salma Hayek and her hubby Francois – Henri Pinault. The two got married Valentine’s Day at city hall but this time did it Hollywood style. They were married at the famous Venice Teatro La  Fenice Opera and were joined by many of their famous friends including, Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ed Norton and Ashley Judd. Bono from U2 was there and even did a little singing for the bride and groom. They had 150 guests join them for the event and the party lasted until after 3:00 a.m.

Woe is the Greeks. They have a mythology seemingly based on the gods’ series of one night stands (all those father-less children destined to perish in misguided quests just to get their father’s attention), they have had their greatest ruler defiled by Oliver Stone in the movie Alexander (a movie with Angelina Jolie and Rosario Dawson clad in revealing robes, yet the most intimate moments are between Colin Farrell and Jared Leto), they have endured an unwarranted attempt to turn My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which resurrected Joey Fatone’s career) into a television series, My Big Fat Greek Life, (and Fatone’s career began its downward spiral once again), and, frankly, have been nothing but bad for the beautiful game of baseball.

I have not talked about her for weeks but this cannot go without mention. It is absurd and shocking and I will try to just tell you the story without my soap box. Nadya Suleman is contemplating a new pet…possibly a small PIG!!! Really…does she really need one more mouth do feed or excuse me…but more poop to clean up??? She says that if she did indeed decide on a pig is would live outside and wear a diaper. A pig????  Another possibility is a teacup Pomeranian or some other little dog. Like taking care of 8 newborns plus 6 other children is not enough…but the kids have been asking for a pet for awhile she says.  Have you heard the saying…Just Say NO!!!! Nadya has been busy looking for someone to give her a reality show as well as trying to trademark the name, Octo – mom. Nuff said!
 

This year’s NBA Playoffs is turning out to be as predictable as I expect the summer blockbusters to be this summer. The Eastern Conference has only one possibility for the NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics and Magic are an injury or a year or two of experience away from cancelling the coronation of LeBron James. Despite the abundance of quality teams in the Western Conference(the first six seeds had a winning percentage of at least 60 percent), the Los Angeles Lakers appear to be playing on another level, with a deep bench, a penchant for smooth interior passing, and a superstar. Still, there or more storylines than simply the finals this spring, there are 14 other teams in the postseason and yesterday I discussed the Eastern Conference seven, now I get to take a look at why exactly the rest of the Western Conference is playing.

Do not mess with Billy Bob Thornton, which is exactly what a Canadian DJ found out when trying to interview Billy Bob and his band, the Boxmasters. Billy Bob pulled a Joaquin Phoenix and was just weird and rude. Actually he was mad because the DJ mentioned ever so briefly Billy Bob’s movie career during the introduction, and that was apparently a big no no. Billy Bob did not want it mentioned at all – he was there as a musician only. So when it came time to answer the DJ’s questions it was all, I don’t know, or answering with some unrelated comment. The other guys in the band seemed ok and luckily led the interview but you just have to check out the video because it is amazing. Then the band, which is on tour with Willie Nelson, went to perform a song, but they did it without Billy Bob, who is the drummer. He said he just doesn’t lug the drums around. Ok, then. It was wild and did not shine any positive light on Billy Bob. The poor DJ did mange the situation as well as could be expected. Billy Bob Thornton was on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last night and talked about how shocked he was that people were so interested with the interview gone wrong in Canada. Then with the attitude that got him in trouble in the first place Billy Bob said, “It gave humpback geeks all over the world something to do for a couple of days.” Although Thornton was a good boy with Jimmy Kimmel he does say that if he is not happy with the line of questioning of an interviewer his behavior does tend to go in the same direction as the Canadian interview, so really it was not all that remarkable. Mr. Personality right!?
 

The NBA Finals has been set since it became evident Kevin Garnett was not coming back to Boston this postseason. It is all but a foregone conclusion that it will be the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers - the deadly assassin versus the newly anointed king, the perennial champions from the land of the sun and stars versus the have-nots from America’s rust belt. Still there are 14 other teams in the playoffs, and there must be some meaning in their postseason participation besides avoiding a lottery pick in one of the worst drafts in the last decade. So, this begs the question, what are they really playing for?

“American Idol” just keeps on giving. Here is a great story about Chris Sligh who was a finalist from season six. He wrote the new number one country song, “Here Comes Goodbye” for the group Rascal Flatts. So here was the guy who joked about “bringing chubby back” when he was on Idol and he himself claimed not to have the look of a rock star but the guy has found his calling. After “American Idol” he moved to Nashville in 2007 and look at him now. I am sure this is not the last we will hear from him.  What is so ironic though about this story and his writing abilities is that he was brought up a strict fundamentalist Baptist and was not even allowed to listen to pop or rock music. He has not ventured that far from his roots though and has a Christian music album out called “Run to You” which has been successful and in the top 10 on the Christian music charts. He hopes to release his second album soon. He says “we’re trying to make a record that transcends the genre of Christian music and can stand up to U2 or Coldplay or something like that I think it could blow a lot of people away.” And in other Idol news…Condoleezza Rice is a huge Randy Jackson fan and when she was recently in Los Angeles to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” she had a meeting with Randy Jackson where they hung out and talked for 90 minutes. No love connection however since Randy has been married since 1995. She is totally into music and Randy, and has always wanted to meet him and she got her chance and had a lovely time.

Perez Hilton is back in the news and smack dab in the middle of more controversy. This time his victim was Miss California, Carrie Prejan who was hoping to become the next Miss USA. However after answering a gay marriage question asked straight from Perez himself, basically all hell broke loose for the contestant and she ended up first runner up in the competition. Here is what happened. Perez asked her the question, “Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?” Her answer was, “Well I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose same sex marriage or opposite marriage and , you know what, in my country and in my family, I think that I believe a marriage should be between a man and a woman.” Well Hilton literally blew a gasket over her answer and she was even booed while on stage. Perez went on his blog and called her a “dumb bitch”, although later he did rescind his comment.  The two have been very busy, Perez landed himself a spot on “Larry King Live” and Miss California spoke with FOXNews.com and Billy Bush on the “Billy Bush Show.” She definitely feels the question and controversy cost her the crown but despite that would not have changed her answer. She stands by the fact that she answered her question honestly and that is what’s important.  I have to side with her on this one. It is also not like she said she does not believe in gay marriage or believe it should not be an option for people, she what she believes for herself. So give the poor girl a break!
 

Kate Hudson turned 30 this weekend and in true celebrity fashion had a party filled with celebrities. Some of the A – listers at the party included the Kutchers (Ashton and Demi), Jessica Alba and hubby Cash Warren, Gwyneth Paltrow and hubby Chris Martin from Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, Evan Mendes, Adam Sandler, Zach Braff, Gwen Stefani and Cher. The party was at mom, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s home and it was a night of dancing and drinking and fun. If you were wondering, Owen Wilson was not at the party…hmmm…are the couple on again or off again? Speaking of parties, Andy Roddick and his model girlfriend tied the knot this weekend with 250 of their closest friends sharing in the event. The couple had an outdoor wedding ceremony and then dinner at the country club on Friday. Elton John entertained the guests while they dined. Saturday the couple and their friends partied at Stubb’s which specializes in BBQ. The guests were requested to wear “denim only” and rocked the night away with the Spazmatics.

It was a very close race but in the end Ashton Kutcher beat out CNN in the race to 1 million Twitter followers. It was so close that only 30 minutes separated the two. Congratulations Ashton that is a pretty amazing feat. Now I wouldn’t want to be the one to say that perhaps Ashton is getting a big head but here is what he had to say about the win. “This is David versus Goliath. This just shows how people want to get information. It is about us. It means that one man can have a voice as loud as a media network.” Well the good news is that not only did Twitter and Ashton break the first 1 million follower goal; Ashton is sticking to his word and will be donating 10,000 mosquito nettings for beds for World Malaria Day. Next up on Twitter is Oprah. She actually started tweeting on Friday.  When Oprah speaks people listen…literally. In her first 15 minutes she had 76,000 followers and within her first hour over 125,000 followers. How long until she passes 1 million?

Could it finally be love for Ryan Seacrest? It seems that the busiest guy in Hollywood is actually in a relationship and has been for several months. Seacrest has been dating Jasmine Waltz, who is a bartender in Los Angeles. The two are currently in Paris now that Ryan is done with his hosting duties on “American Idol”. Not only is there love in Ryan’s life, it also seems that he is going to get even busier come May 4th when  his radio show will expand an extra hour to 4 hours, “On Air with Ryan Seacrest”. We just can’t get enough of him can we? And speaking of ” American Idol”, history was made last night when the judges decided to use their one time power of saving someone from elimination, and they did just that with 23 year old Matt Giraud. He had been voted off by the fans call in votes when he sang “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” by Bryan Adams. He may have been saved this week, however that means that next week 2 people will voted off.  Needless to say it was an emotional and exciting show.

Disney’s new “it girl”, Demi Lovato is heading out on tour this summer, starting June 21st in Hartford Connecticut. If you don’t have kids you might not know who I am talking about but this 16 year old girl is the next Miley Cyrus. She currently stars in the new Disney channel show, “Sonny with a Chance” or you may know her from the show “Camp Rock” which she was in with fellow co – stars the Jonas Brothers. Demi is going to be quite a busy kid doing 47 shows this summer which is basically a different city every night. David Archuleta from the 7th season of “American Idol” will be her opening act and Jordan Pruitt and well as KSM will also be helping her out during the tour for special dates. Not bad summer plans for a 16 year old kid.

Today I am just writing about crazy stuff that we seem to be interested in. First off if you haven’t already heard Mel Gibson and his wife of 28 years are getting divorced. But are you ready for this…she is entitled to half of his $1 billion fortune. After all the trouble he has been in over the years, no wonder she stuck around. This will probably be the biggest divorce settlement to date in Hollywood. And there have been some big ones over the years. Michael Jordan’s wife, Juanita, received $168 million for her divorce settlement, while Neil Diamond’s wife got herself a whooping $150 million. Steven Spielberg’s ex – Amy Irving received $100 million. I just think those numbers are staggering! And while we are talking about crazy things the world is talking about…what comes to mind when I say the name Bo? If you said the new first dog living in the White House with the Obama’s you would be correct. Bo is the new Portuguese Water Dog that will now live the sweet life in the White House. But that is not the crazy part...the crazy part is that people can not just be happy for the family, there has to be plenty of contrversy to go along with something so simple as a new puppy. The controversy that has some people outraged is the question of, is this really a rescue dog (like the President said they would do) since the dog was from a breeder who had the dog returned to her. So technically not really a rescued dog. Anyway really people…let them have the dog they want. Does everything have to be politically correct? To make up for the perceived misunderstanding the Obama’s did make a donation to the humane society in the District of Columbia.

Well I am happy to say that Pink and her ex Carey Hart seem to be working on putting their marriage back together. The couple was married back in January 2006 but split up two year later. They have been spending time together and are trying to work on their marriage. The two are a very busy pair, Pink is currently on tour and Hart, who is a motocross racer, is also involved in several business ventures. He is keeping himself busy in Las Vegas with his Hart & Huntington Tattoo Co. that he has in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino as well as the Wasted Space concert venue and bar, which is also there and he co owns with the Madden brothers, Benji and Joel. So hopefully there will be a happy ending for this couple. Bruce Springsteen on the other hand is defending his 18 year marriage to Patti Scialfa.  A woman, Ann C. Kelly, has made various allegations that she had an affair with Bruce on several occasions throughout the years. These allegations have been around since 2006 and have come up again since the woman is in the middle of a divorce. Bruce denies the affair and says he and his wife have “been together for 18 years and the best 18 years of my life.”  Good for you Bruce, keep it that way! And while I am on the subject of marriage I will switch right into baby mode and share the happy news for Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. They have announced they she is pregnant and expecting their first baby in the fall. The couple has been married for 6 years already. That is going to be one cute baby!

One of the most exciting things about the beginning of the baseball season is the first few weeks. I think they are kind of like he first few rounds of the NCAA Tournament. You get some real surprises at first before reality sets in and brings those hopeful teams and players crashing down to Earth. Here are some of my favorite trends that will come burning through the stratosphere over the next couple of weeks.

It’s time for another “comeback”, this time Eminem is hoping it is his turn. He has a new album coming out called “Relapse” and a new video that is not only funny but I have to admit pretty good and I am not the biggest Eminem fan around. The video, “We Made You” pretty much takes a shot at a lot of the celebs out there. Look alikes are used to spoof today’s hottest celebs like Kim Kardashian and her famous rear end,  Lindsay Lohan, Samantha Ronson, Amy Winehouse, Jessica Simpson and even a Sarah Palin look alike manages to make it into the video, and trust me she will be wishing she hadn’t. Kim Kardashian on the other hand thought the video was funny and was flattered to be a part of it. Dr. Dre produced the new album and even has a cameo in the video as Captain Kirk from Star Trek. It is definitely out there but worth the watch.

After a few months of wondering what was going to happen in this new season of MLB, opening day finally commenced yesterday. Of course this was simply game one for many teams (apart from the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves who officially opened the season on Sunday night) in a long schedule that will give the winners 161 more chances to end their perfect season and losers 161 more games to find redemption. Still, to say that a few things did not surprise me would be a liar.

I have to tell you, this isn’t exactly the hot gossip scoop but it is something I am personally so excited about…. one of my all time favorite shows is back on Broadway. “West Side Story”...who doesn’t just want to start snapping their fingers and dancing the night away with The Jets and The Sharks? The modern day Romeo and Juliet is just a fun show that you won’t want to miss. Who can forget Riff, Bernardo, Anita, Tony and girl named Maria? “The Step It Up and Dance” winner from the Bravo reality TV show, Cody Green, plays Riff and Karen Olivio takes on the role made famous by Chita Rivera, Anita. You might now Olivio from the Broadway show “In the Heights”. IT is just a fun evening with great music and issues that after all this time are still prevalent. And while I am in the theatre mode, I just have to let you know about another oldie but goodie that is back on Broadway – “Hair”. Moving from the 50’s to the 60’s the songs are some of the best, and will make you want to get up and sing. Who can forget “Let the Sun Shine In” and “Aquarius”. If you need a pick me up with all that is going on these days I guarantee great music, hippies, free love, and peace - should help for a little while anyway.

Tonight is Country music’s big night and all the stars are headed to Las Vegas for the 44th Academy of Country Music Awards. The show will air live tonight on CBS at 8:00 so tune in to see all the big winners (and losers.) IT should be a great show with scheduled performances by Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Toby Keith and Taylor Swift, and as I mentioned earlier this week Miley Cyrus will be on stage singing “The Climb” from her new Hannah Montana movie. Reba McEntire will be hosting the event for her 11th time.  There is big competition tonight for the Entertainer of the Year award. Carrie Underwood is the sole woman up against 4 men in this category. She is competing against George Strait, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban.  I am personally hoping she can do it and beat those 4 men...good luck Carrie; you have had an amazing year!
 

Twitter and Demi Moore save a life. Demi Moore and her husband, Ashton Kutcher love Twitter and have over 380,000 followers.  The other day a woman sent Demi a message that said “Getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn’t waste time.” Interesting use of Twitter. Anyway, Demi felt she needed to respond to the woman and just couldn’t let her comments go. So she put the message on her page and added a comment, “Hope you are joking.” Several of her followers called the police to notify them of this suicidal woman and the police were able to track her down before she did any harm to herself. Both Ashton and Demi as you can imagine were grateful that this woman was ok. Kutcher then tweeted “Wifey reported a suicide attempt based on a reply tweet she got and saved someone’s life. The woman is in the hospital now.” Demi herself tweeted back as well saying “I am inspired by the enormous response of humanity here and thank you.” She also wrote “Today was a prime example of the power of collective consciousness and our incredible ability to create change when we come together.” Go tweeters!!!!

Twitter and Demi Moore save a life. Demi Moore and her husband, Ashton Kutcher love Twitter and have over 380,000 followers.  The other day a woman sent Demi a message that said “Getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn’t waste time.” Interesting use of Twitter. Anyway, Demi felt she needed to respond to the woman and just couldn’t let her comments go. So she put the message on her page and added a comment, “Hope you are joking.” Several of her followers called the police to notify them of this suicidal woman and the police were able to track her down before she did any harm to herself. Both Ashton and Demi as you can imagine were grateful that this woman was ok. Kutcher then tweeted “Wifey reported a suicide attempt based on a reply tweet she got and saved someone’s life. The woman is in the hospital now.” Demi herself tweeted back as well saying “I am inspired by the enormous response of humanity here and thank you.” She also wrote “Today was a prime example of the power of collective consciousness and our incredible ability to create change when we come together.” Go tweeters!!!!

I have been one of the many baseball fans outraged by the Alex Rodriguez saga this summer, but sometimes it helps to back up and take a look at the allegations I have simply accepted as fact in the last few months. I have to really look at facts, our at least first hand encounters, and decide does A-Rod really deserve all the flak he has been getting.

Good news “Project Runway” fans…..the legal battles are been resolved and the show will finally return and will air this summer on Lifetime. I don’t really care about the details of the legal battle, I am just glad they have resolved their issues and Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and Tim Gunn will all be back together again. This season the show has moved from New York to Los Angeles to have more of a Hollywood feel. Some celebrities that will appear on the show this year include, Rebecca Romijn, Christina Aguilera and Evan Longoria Parker. I wonder if she will bring husband Tony Parker, of the San Antonio Spurs, to meet the designers. At this point that is about all we know. There is no information out about the new cast members or even an air date, but at least we know it is coming. Bravo though is fighting back. Having lost “Project Runway” to Lifetime, they are launching a new design competition called “The Fashion Show” that will be hosted by Kelly Rowland (formerly of Destiny’s Child) and designer, Isaac Mizrahi. They have already announced the cast and the show will air May 7th.

Love is still in the air for Nick Cannon and his wife Mariah Carey. Nick is quite the romantic and pulled out a lavish yet intimate 40 birthday party celebration in Barbados for Mariah and 11 of their close friends. The couple flew to Barbados in a private jet, and then had the party at the swanky Whispers on the Bay restaurant. Nick had the restaurant filled with hundreds of balloons and there was plenty of Dom Perignon to go around. People from the restaurant said that the couple were very lovey dovey with one another and were also very nice and down to earth to the restaurant employees. The couple was seen playing together on the beach and talking a romantic walk together. How sweet. Mariah has been working really hard on a new album and Nick just wanted her to have fun and relax.  Nice job Nick sounds like mission accomplished!