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Snoop Dogg and his posse are banned in the UK. Well, at least the UK’s airline.
Rapper Snoop Dogg has been banned for life from British Airways flights. The infamous hip-hop star will never fly on the respected airline again after members of his 30-strong entourage sparked a mini riot at London’s Heathrow airport on Wednesday.
The trouble started when economy ticket holders in the group tried to force their way into British Airway’s exclusive first class lounge. An airline spokesman ranted: “This kind of behaviour is not tolerated. We are making sure none of this group will be allowed to travel with BA ever again. They are banned from now on.” Special riot police were called to the incident and had to use pepper spray to calm down the violent and rowdy crew - seven officers were left hurt and one suffered a broken wrist.
Impressive.
Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros, who were both arrested for drunk driving separately on a single night, will see their “Lost” characters killed off in a single episode, reports the National Enquirer.
Troubled Lost beauties Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros will go from DUI to DOA as their TV characters are sensationally killed off in a bombshell episode just before the hit show’s season finale.
The futures of Rodriguez and Watros have been in doubt since the pair attracted a storm of publicity with their drunk-driving arrests in December. Now The ENQUIRER can exclusively reveal that ex-cop Ana Lucia (Rodriguez) and therapist Libby (Watros) will wind up goners on the series. A graveside scene in which the pair is laid to rest, with the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 gathered around to pay their respects, has already been filmed. “It’s a done deal — Michelle and Cynthia’s characters will die by the season’s end,” a set insider admitted.
I’m not sure whether to believe this, although it wouldn’t surprise me. Frankly, the only “Tailie” that’s the least bit interesting is the big black guy (Mr. Eko, portrayed by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). And, of course, Watros is already cast in a pilot for another show.
CNN reported last evening that Rush Limbaugh turned himself in on prescription drug charges and was released on bail. A much different spin appears in the AP version this morning.
A three-year investigation into drug use by Rush Limbaugh ended abruptly when the conservative commentator was booked on a single charge of prescription fraud in a deal his attorney says spares him a trial. The charge will be dropped if Limbaugh continues treatment, attorney Roy Black said Friday. “He feels that a great burden has been lifted from his shoulders,” he said. “What he told me is that this is the first day of the rest of his life.”
Limbaugh surrendered at the Palm Beach County Jail and was booked on a warrant charging him with “doctor shopping,” when a patient illegally deceives multiple physicians to receive overlapping prescriptions. The 55-year-old commentator left an hour later, after he was photographed and fingerprinted and he posted $3,000 bail, said Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office. Under the terms of the deal with prosecutors called a pretrial diversion, to be filed Monday, Limbaugh will be cleared of the charge if he stays clean for 18 months and doesn’t violate any laws, Black said. Limbaugh has publicly acknowledged being addicted to pain medication.
[…]
As a formality, Limbaugh entered a not guilty plea to the charge, spokesman Tony Knight said. The radio giant has maintained his innocence throughout the investigation. “He was in high spirits,” Knight said. “It was all a formality. It’s a concluded deal.”
I’m not sure I’d have used the phrase “high spirits” in this content. But, yes, I’m sure he’s quite relieved to have this behind him.
Under the deal, Limbaugh also agreed to pay the state $30,000 to defray the public cost of the investigation and must pay $30 per month for the cost of supervision, during which time he will continue regular drug tests.
This is an interesting provision and certainly not one available to most of us.
Black said Limbaugh has been drug free for 2 1/2 years. After 18 months, “he will not have any criminal record,” he said.
Interesting.
Prosecutors began investigating Limbaugh in 2003 after The National Enquirer reported his housekeeper’s allegations that he had abused OxyContin and other painkillers. He soon took a five-week leave from his radio show to enter a rehabilitation program and acknowledged he had become addicted to pain medication. He blamed it on severe back pain.
“The agreement that we entered into makes good common sense,” Black said. “The idea is to help the person overcome the addiction … There should be a recognition that people like Rush really should not be prosecuted.”
Agreed, although “people like Rush” is a rather vague concept. I would argue that we should not treat addiction, to any substance, as a criminal matter. Even if one opposes legalization of recreational drugs, the emphasis should be on those who distribute them.
Related posts below the fold.
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Belated crosspost from OTB, rewritten to deal with my enhanced understanding of the facts.
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“The View” managed to replace Meredith Vieira with someone with much higher name recognition: Rosie O’Donnell.
With Rosie O’Donnell as its newest co-host, “The View” brings a six-time Daytime Emmy winner onto a cast that has made a joke out of its inability to win an Emmy. “The View” creator Barbara Walters confirmed Friday that O’Donnell will join her show in September, replacing the “Today” show-bound Meredith Vieira. Walters made the announcement from the stage of the Daytime Emmy awards. “We were amazed when she said yes and we’re thrilled to have her,” Walters said.
It wasn’t quite the secret that Walters wanted, since word of O’Donnell’s selection leaked out on Thursday. O’Donnell made a joking reference to that, noting she had read about her and Walters on the Internet. About her new job, she joked, “it was either that or the celebrity fit club.”
The move marks a plunge back into daytime television for O’Donnell. With a large resume that includes stage, film and TV work, it’s the place where she found the greatest success. She won six Daytime Emmys in six years as best talk show host before shutting down her show because she wanted to spend more time raising a family.
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“The View” got a bigger star than it imagined to replace Vieira, who often serves as the emotional center of an ensemble that also includes Joy Behar, Star Jones Reynolds and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. “They went in a different way,” said Bill Carroll, an expert on the syndication market for Katz Television. “There was a lot of speculation focused on them finding someone who fit in the Meredith Vieira mold and they obviously didn’t go that way.” With two comics in Behar and O’Donnell, “The View” will likely turn into a funnier show, he said. The danger is, between Behar, O’Donnell and Reynolds, “the three of them will want to talk at the same time.”
Well, they needed another fat person now that Jones Reynolds has had her stomach stapled. I will nonetheless continue my streak of not watching the show.
Fox, known for its conservative news channel, continues to go incredibly lowbrow on the entertainment side.
A new television reality show invites porn stars to test their serious acting abilities in London’s theater district, raising the question: Debbie can do Dallas, but can she take on Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”?
“My Bare Lady” will cast four leading ladies from porn studios in a classic piece of drama to be performed in London’s West End. Their experiences undergoing a crash course in acting and appearing before a discerning British audience will air in three episodes on the Fox Reality cable and satellite channels this fall. “It’s a wonderful tale of redemption,” said David Lyle, general manager of Fox Reality. “Do they want lines that are a little more challenging than ‘Oh, here’s the pool guy…’?”
Not only has Howard Stern already done this to death, one wonders if anyone actually cares whether porn stars can act. And, indeed, aside from a few who have made minor cross-overs into R-rated soft porn, how many folks even know who these people are?
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Multiple Mentality linked with Only A Matter Of Time redux...
Elvis has been dead for 29 years but that hasn’t stopped advertisers from exploiting him.
Dolly Parton is to co-star in an advert with Elvis Presley. The country singer has been paired up with the late music legend for a commercial promoting their home state of Tennessee, in the US.
The chart topping music icons - who have notched up 43 number ones between them - will be shown riding together in a red convertible car through the wizardry of computer technology. The scene, which is taken from Presley’s 1967 movie ‘Clambake’, sees original actress Shelly Fabares replaced by the busty star.
In the advert, Parton says: “I’ve played a lot of stages over the years, but there’s one I never get tired of that’s set for a great time day or night - Tennessee.”
And, while she’s undeniably well endowed, Parton is 60 years old. She looks great for her age, to be sure, but its well past time to retire the boob jokes. Indeed, Johnny Carson did precisely that years ago.
Are you ready for an MTV reality show about Jennifer Lopez? One is apparently in the offing.
Jennifer Lopez is being lined up to star in her own TV show. The Latin beauty is reportedly in talks with MTV to appear in a fly-on-the-wall series which will follow her everyday life.
It is rumoured the show will also track the exploits of a group of dancers who, under J.Lo’s tutorage, will be seen trying to make it in the fiercely competitive industry. The multi-talented star started off as a dancer before hitting the big time on the big screen and in the music business.
A source said: “It is very early in the development of the show and anything could happen at this point.”
As more celebrity reality shows come out, they get less interesting. And, frankly, they weren’t all that interesting to begin with, unless you wanted to watch Ozzie Osbourne swear incoherently or watch Anna Nicole Smith struggle with her weight.
Instead of a show where she teaches people to dance, it should be called “Jennifer Lopez’ Ass” and just have the camera on her famous posterior for the entire episode.
The Sci Fi Channel planning a “Battlestar Galactica” prequel as part of the launch of an online network called Pulse.
Pulse will premiere next month with a mix of recycled original series and movies, as well as behind-the-scenes footage and other video extras. Exclusive original content including “webisode” spinoffs of primetime series and a weekly news show will be added in the summer. Sci Fi will go as far as testing potential series pilots online for viewer feedback.
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“Galactica” executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick are working on “Caprica,” which traces the evolution of the Cylon species featured in the mothership show.
While I have watched television shows on a notebook computer on DVD and even digital download, I’m not sure I’m ready for direct-to-download television. When I’m not traveling, I far prefer the big screen, surround sound, and comfort of my den.
Update: More on “Caprica” from SciFi Wire:
Caprica would take place more than half a century before the events that play out in Battlestar Galactica. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high-technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better.
But a startling breakthrough in robotics is about to occur, one that will bring to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot: a Cylon. Following the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family of William Adama, who will one day become the commander of the Battlestar Galactica), Caprica will weave together corporate intrigue, techno-action and sexual politics into television’s first science fiction family saga, the channel announced.
I’m not a big fan of prequels but it sounds interesting.
Crosspost OTB
This summer at the movies should be quite a change from 2005’s lackluster showing, according to an extensive AP preview.
This year’s summer lead-ins: “Mission: Impossible III,” pitting Tom Cruise against supervillain Philip Seymour Hoffman; “Poseidon,” a remake of “The Poseidon Adventure” directed by Hollywood’s king of the sea, Wolfgang Petersen (”The Perfect Storm,” “Das Boot”); the animated “Over the Hedge,” an animals-against-humans comedy from the makers of “Shrek”; and “The Da Vinci Code,” reuniting Tom Hanks with director Ron Howard.
In addition to the usual sequels and remakes, there are all sorts of genre films to suit every taste. Most of them are sequels and remakes, too.
Tom Cruise’s first two “Mission: Impossible” capers were heavy on action and style. “Mission: Impossible III” director J.J. Abrams, creator of TV’s “Lost” and “Alias,” said he aimed to balance action with character interplay in the spirit of the television show on which the movies are based. “The thing I loved about the show is watching these incredibly accomplished operatives seamlessly working together to pull off a very specific goal,” Abrams said. “I honestly felt that as entertained as I was by the first two ‘Mission’ films, they didn’t embrace that aspect, which to me was the fundamental thing of the series.”
Wolfgang Petersen is back on the water with “Poseidon,” starring Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss and Josh Lucas in a remake of the 1970s disaster flick about a luxury liner overturned by a tidal wave. “It was a chance to do a film reflecting our phobias today, our fear of terrorism or disaster, like 9/11 or whatever nature can do to us,” Petersen said. “A natural disaster like this is sort of a metaphor for the impossible and most disastrous thing you can imagine, and what would we do when it hits?”
Also returning to the water: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and director Gore Verbinski with “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” the follow-up to their 2003 blockbuster. “Dead Man’s Chest” has Depp’s woozy pirate Jack Sparrow trying to weasel out of an old debt — his soul, which he owes to the sea devil Davy Jones.
Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell star in “Miami Vice,” written and directed by Michael Mann, creator of the 1980s cop show and Foxx’s director on “Collateral” and “Ali.” Farrell and Foxx take on the roles originated by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, playing undercover cops who infiltrate a South Florida drug ring. The TV show was known for glitzy fashion and hip music, but Mann’s new take is a grittier glimpse of cops on the street, Foxx said.
I didn’t care for “Pirates” so will likely skip the sequel. And I’m certainly not nostalgic for “Miami Vice,” which I thought was lame in the 1980s. And that’s lame.
Brandon Routh is the new Man of Steel in “Superman Returns.” Fighters for truth, justice and the rights of Mutant-Americans are back, led by “X-Men: The Last Stand,” the third installment in the franchise about the gang of super freaks, and “Superman Returns,” with the Man of Steel suiting up for his first big-screen adventure in almost 20 years.
Bryan Singer, who made the first two “X-Men” movies, directed “Superman Returns,” which introduces Brandon Routh as Krypton’s favorite flyboy. Co-starring Kevin Spacey as villain Lex Luthor and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, the movie has Superman back on Earth after a prolonged absence. Though not a sequel to the Christopher Reeve “Superman” flicks, the film borrows from the look and mythology created in that series. Routh said he fashioned his performance to match, injecting his own personality into the character while trying to stay true to Reeve’s Superman. “Chris did such an amazing job. You can change things, but if you do it could be horrible,” Routh said. “When somebody does something so great, there’s certain things you can tweak, but to change it just to change it sometimes is dangerous.”
The “X-Men” sequel, directed by Brett Ratner (the “Rush Hour” movies), reunites all key cast members, including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen. Driving the action this time is the discovery of a “cure” for mutancy. Jackman said the movie will wrap up the “X-Men” trilogy, though another film is in the works centered on his Wolverine character — the bushy-haired mystery man with metal claws and rapid healing powers. “He’s that reluctant hero, and he’s a fairly classic version of it,” Jackman said. “He reminds me of characters I always liked, Mad Max, Dirty Harry, Han Solo, where there’s more going on than what they’re letting on.”
Summer also offers superhero comedies. Ivan Reitman’s “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” stars Uma Thurman as the ultimate woman scorned, a superhero who uses her powers to exact revenge on the boyfriend (Luke Wilson) who dumped her.
“Zoom” stars Tim Allen and Courteney Cox in an “Incredibles”-like tale of a former hero gone soft. “Tim plays a retired superhero, and I play a kind of comic-book-obsessed, nerdy scientist. We’re trying to find people to train kids to become the next round of superheroes,” Cox said of her first big-screen leading role since she and her “Friends” gang called it quits.
The “X-Men” movies have been excellent, so I’ll certainly see the next installment. Frankly, the television versions of the Superman mythos, both “Lois and Clark” and the current “Smallville,” have been better than the Christopher Reeves movie version. As to the others, I’ll likely wait for the DVD.
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early five years after September 11 comes the first major wave of big-screen films dealing with the terrorist attacks.
“United 93″ mostly features a cast of unknowns in a gut-wrenching docudrama about the passengers who fought back and lost their lives during one of the September 11 hijackings.
Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” stars Nicolas Cage in the story of two policemen trapped in the rubble of the collapsed towers.
On a smaller scale, “The Great New Wonderful” features Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tony Shalhoub and Olympia Dukakis in a sketch of five New Yorkers a year after the September 11 attacks.
I just have no interest in exploiting 9/11 for entertainment purposes quite yet. Granted, we had WWII and Vietnam movies while those wars were still ongoing but this just seems different somehow. Wars are massive societal undertakings whereas terrorists attacks are personalized.
There are also plenty of comedies, cartoons, and family flicks. I’ll likely see some of those but never find it necessary to see them on the big screen, which I reserve for big budget, special effects movies.
Sharon Stone has been paid off by a London tabloid that printed an untrue story about her leaving her kid in the car while she had dinner.
Hollywood star Sharon Stone accepted an apology and “substantial” libel damages at London’s High Court on Thursday over a newspaper story saying she left her 4-year-old son in a car while dining in a restaurant. A Daily Mail story last June said Stone had enjoyed a late night dinner date at The Ivy restaurant in central London with what it called a “mystery male companion” while her son was left sleeping in a car with her driver for more than two hours.
Stone’s solicitor Rupert Grey told the court the article said the boy was likely to be uncomfortable in the heat and traumatized by paparazzi flash photography and had included remarks critical of Stone. “The article conveyed the clear allegation that Sharon Stone had neglected her son in a shameful and selfish way,” he said.
Grey said the allegations in the article, which were repeated in a later article by the newspaper and echoed by other media in the UK and worldwide, were completely untrue. Far from leaving her son outside in the car, they had had dinner together inside the restaurant before her son flew back to the United States the following day, Grey said. Neither was there a shred of truth in the allegation that Stone was dining with a “mystery male companion”, he said.
I don’t know what’s more amazing, that such a minor story would net “substantial” damages–after all, letting a kid sleep in a car with a driver who presumably would monitor the climate for his own comfort if not the kid’s isn’t that big a deal–or that Stone has managed to get paid for something she did with her clothes on.
Daniel McKenna, a former guitarist for a 1970s one hit wonder band committed suicide yesterday.
Daniel McKenna, a former guitarist for the band Toby Beau, was found dead in his home, apparently a victim of suicide, police said. McKenna, 54, died Wednesday. He was one of the original members of the band, which had a hit in 1978 with “My Angel Baby.”
“He was a phenomenal guitarist,” Art Mendoza, a former Toby Beau band member, said in a story in Thursday’s editions of The (McAllen) Monitor.
Sadly, I had never heard of the man or his band. I might recognize the song “My Angel Baby” if I heard it, although it doesn’t ring a bell.
Time for another OTB Gone Hollywood Caption ContestTM
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Gone Hollywood Caption Contest Winners will be announced next Tuesday
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The Gone Rick Motel linked with What the.....Caption Contest...
UPDATE 11/1: Here are seven nude photos from the Cindy Margolis Playboy spread, released today.
UPDATE 11/3: Playboy has claimed copyright infringement and has asked that we take down the nude Cindy Margolis photos. We have complied.
Cindy Margolis has agreed to get naked for Playboy, reports WaPo’s Kathy Hanrahan.
Cindy Margolis, known as the “Most Downloaded Woman” on the Internet, is following up her win on “Celebrity Cooking Showdown” with a career first — posing nude for Playboy. The mother of three told The Associated Press that she finally agreed to pose for the magazine when they called on her 40th birthday.
“Thank goodness for ‘Desperate Housewives.’ You’re not dead just because you are married and have children,” the actress and model said Monday, on the phone from her Los Angeles home. After turning down offers to pose for the magazine in the past, Margolis said she accepted this time because she felt posing nude at the age of 40 is empowering. “In the past it would have been for gratuitous reasons,” she said. Now, Margolis said, she is enjoying being the ultimate desperate housewife. “It will be fun to go up against the 20-year-olds and show them that they don’t have anything on me,” she said.
The story notes that Margolis is a former “Price is Right” model, which I had not known. She’ll join Dian Parkinson, who did several stints in Playboy, also relatively late in her career.
Egotastic’s Phil, displaying the agism so common in the Gossiposphere, is not impressed.
This is the problem with Playboy magazine. They always have people posing well after anyone ever cared to see them naked. They should save the cash they would have paid for all these nobodies so that they can pile it all together, and finally have an offer that Jessica Alba will say yes to.
While that may indeed be a good business plan, I’m sure there are plenty of folks out there who have been waiting for years to see Cindy Margolis nude.
 Phil partially make ups for his comments by posting several enormous photos of Margolis’ famous cleavage, such as the one on the right. I’m resized them so they’ll fit onto my page. He has several originals that are so large that you’ll have to scroll to see them. They are simply enormous.
Annoying “Lost” hottie Michelle Rodriguez is going to jail, albeit briefly, for driving under the influence.
“Lost” star Michelle Rodriguez has surrendered to begin a five-day jail sentence for drunken driving. Rodriguez, who portrays police officer Ana Lucia, opted for jail time and a $500 fine rather than 240 hours of community service.
“I kind of have to get back to my life, go back to making some money,” Rodriguez said outside the courtroom after pleading guilty to driving under the influence. “It kind of gave me a hard hit. … I’m human.”
The 27-year-old Rodriguez and cast member Cynthia Watros were both charged with drunken driving after they were pulled over Dec. 1 in separate cars within 15 minutes of each other. On Tuesday, the judge gave Rodriguez the option of jail time or community service. Carrying three books and dressed casually in a tank top and sweats, she surrendered to authorities at the Kaneohe District Court later in the day.
Choosing jail over community service was a “personal choice,” said her attorney, Steve Barta. “I would suspect that because she has a hard time even going out for a meal without being intruded upon for an autograph or photograph, it’s really difficult for her to do community service,” he said.
Watros, who plays Libby on the ABC castaway drama, pleaded guilty to drunken driving in January and was fined $312, ordered to undergo an alcohol assessment and 14 hours of counseling. She also had her license suspended for 90 days.
Both Rodriguez and Watros were spotted weaving on a road in Kailua, on the island of Oahu, where “Lost” is filmed. Both failed field sobriety tests. Rodriguez recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.145 percent, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08. Watros had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10. Soon after, Rodriguez spent two weeks in a rehab clinic, her lawyer said. “She did recognize there was an issue to be dealt with. She, on her own, took care of it,” he said. In 2004, Rodriguez pleaded no contest in Los Angeles to three traffic violations, including drunken driving. She completed a three-month alcohol program and is serving a three-year probation term.
ABC spokesman Jeff Fordis said there would be no disruptions for “Lost.” The season finale is being filmed this week and production is scheduled to be completed by May 5.
Well, at least it won’t affect her television career! And how sad is it when jail is preferable to community service as a punishment? Perhaps they should throw her into a pit and have her beaten by other prisoners? Or lock her in a hatch and have some crazy Iraqi torture her?
Not surprisingly, this story has captured the attention of the Gossip Blogs.
Egotastic’s Phil says her decision to go to jail proves she’s “hard.” Then again, “Of course, with prison comes the image of lonelywomen, locked up behind bars, and the mind wonders… Those showers can be a dangerous place.” He provides several interesting photos of Rodriguez, of which the one below with her cell phone is representative. He also links to some interesting photos of her in a bikini from his archives wherein she is “hot but scary.” In the one I borrow below in the spirit of fair use, she is pouring water on Evangeline Lilly, similarly bikinied.
  
The Superficial agrees, “It makes sense she would choose jail over community service since she always looks like she just got ouf of prison anyway. You can’t look the way she looks and not enjoy the lesbian prison sex. Science won’t allow it.”
Todd of IDontLikeYouinThatWay wishes to disabuse readers of prison sex fantasies, however.
[I]f any of you guys have already pulled your pants down with fantasies of a 6 foot tall redhead with D-cups in a cutoff prison shirt and high heels, staring approvingly as other inmates strip and oil up the new meat for their “initiation,” please remember that Rodriguez might be the sexiest thing in there. And if that sounded like a compliment, maybe I wrote it wrong.
He also has some Rodriguez photos, none of which are steal-worthy.
Mac Stansbury quips, “I can kind of respect a person for choosing to get it over quick, in jail, rather than have to spend what would amount to a month in Hawaii. Nobody deserves that kind cruel and unusual punishment.” He also links to video footage from Rodriguez’ arrest.
Miu von Furstenberg is being silent about lesbian prison sex in honor of, oddly enough, lesbians.
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