Actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild, Alan Rosenberg, poses for a portrait in this March 17, 2003, file photo taken in Los Angeles. The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday Nov. 22, 2008 that contract talks with Hollywood studios has failed despite the help of a federal mediator and it will now ask its members to authorize a strike. (AP Photo/Ric Francis, File)
In what seems an inauspicious time, what with a down economy, the Screen Actors Guild is threatening a strike.
“We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement,” the statement said. “Now it’s time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.”
The statement did not specify what led to the impasse, saying only that “management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept.” A SAG spokeswoman said she would not comment further. A call to the movie producers group, known as the AMPTP, was not immediately returned.
It’s difficult to imagine a less sympathetic labor class — or one less in need of collective bargaining — than Hollywood actors. The horrible working conditions that could lead to the strike?
SAG is seeking union coverage for all Internet-only productions regardless of budget and residual payments for Internet productions replayed online, as well as continued actor protections during work stoppages. But the AMPTP said it was untenable for SAG to demand a better deal than what writers, directors and another actors union accepted earlier in the year, especially now that the economy has worsened.
Lance Bass is reportedly set to join the cast of Dancing With The Stars and plans to have a male partner.
With legalized same-sex unions already labeled passé, Hollywood discovered its newest craze, boy-on-boy fox-trotting mayhem.
The pop singer is reportedly in talks with network executives to appear on the hit talent contest, where he would use his boyband experience to develop his skills as a ballroom dancer.
Bass isn’t the first ‘N Sync alumni to take a turn on the series - his former bandmate Joey Fatone placed second in the competition just last year in the shows fourth season.
source: N SYNC - BASS TO JOIN BALLROOM DANCING SHOW? [contact music]
Matthew McConaughey has sold the rights to his son, Levi Alves McConaughey’s first photos to OK! Magazine, who outbid People.
OK! will reportedly pay 3 million for the set of photographs, which is to include Levi’s first Christmas. I wonder if McConaughey will buy a bigger motor home now?
What others said [mickael k never disappoints]:
Dlisted says, “He Would’ve Settled For Half A Joint And A Bag Of Funions.”
source: McConaughspawn — Three Million Dollar Baby [tmz]
George Clooney might have a gazillion bucks in the bank but he’s apparently a union man through and through.
In a two-page letter released Thursday, Clooney adopted a neutral stance in the dispute between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild.
“What we can’t do is pit artist against artist,” he wrote.
AFTRA has already reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios. SAG wants AFTRA members to vote against the deal, saying its approval will handcuff SAG at the bargaining table. Both unions’ current contracts are set to expire Monday, leaving Hollywood on edge about a possible replay of the 100-day writers strike that ended in February. Results of the AFTRA vote are expected July 8.
Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin and others have joined hundreds of actors in signing an online petition urging actors to ratify the AFTRA pact. Meanwhile, Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen and Holly Hunter have endorsed a SAG ad calling for AFTRA to return to the negotiating table to get a better deal.
Clooney called the fight counterproductive. “Because the one thing you can be sure of is that stories about Jack Nicholson vs. Tom Hanks only strengthens the negotiating power” of the studios, he said.
Clooney also called on higher-paid actors to chip in a greater share of union dues and for 10 A-listers — “people that the studio heads don’t often say ‘no’ to,” he suggested, listing only Nicholson and Hanks by name — to sit down with studio heads once a year to “adjust the pay for actors.”
The idea of millionaire actors unionizing, let alone going on strike, has always struck me as ludicrous. But Clooney’s instinct here is right: if they’re going to organize, the big money stars ought to take care of the little guys. It makes sense to have a system in place for the folks struggling for scale jobs trying to get regular employment. Not so much one that has the likes of Clooney and Hanks walking a picket line.
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin fell in love at a time when lesbians risked being arrested, fired from their jobs and sent to electroshock treatment.
On Monday, more than a half-century after they became a couple, Lyon and Martin plan to become one of the first same-sex couples to legally exchange marriage vows in California.
“It was something you wanted to know, ‘Is it really going to happen?’ And now it’s happened, and maybe it can continue to happen,” Lyon said.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to officiate at the private ceremony in his City Hall office before 50 invited guests. He picked Martin, 87, and Lyon, 84, for the front of the line in recognition of their long relationship and their status as pioneers of the gay rights movement.
Along with six other women, they founded a San Francisco social club for lesbians in 1955 called the Daughters of Bilitis. Under their leadership, it evolved into the nation’s first lesbian advocacy organization. They have the FBI files to prove it.
Their ceremony Monday will, in fact, be a marriage do-over.
In February 2004, San Francisco’s new mayor decided to challenge California’s marriage laws by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. His advisers and gay rights activists knew right away which couple would put the most compelling human face on the issue: Martin and Lyon.
Back then, the couple planned to celebrate their 51st anniversary as live-in lovers on Valentine’s Day. Because of their work with the Daughters, they also were icons in the gay community.
“Four years ago, when they agreed to be married, it was in equal parts to support the mayor and to support the idea that lesbians and gay people formed committed relationships and should have those relationships respected,” says Kate Kendell, a close friend and executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Lyon and Martin vividly recall the excitement of being secretly swept into the clerk’s office, saying “I do” in front of a tiny group of city staff members and friends, and then being rushed out of the building. There were no corsages, no bottles of champagne. Afterward they went to lunch, just the two of them, at a restaurant run as a job training program for participants in a substance abuse program.
“Of course, nobody down there knew, so we were left to be by ourselves like we wanted to be,” said Martin, the less gregarious of the two. “Then we came home.”
“And watched TV,” adds Lyon.
The privacy was short-lived. Their wedding portrait, showing the couple cradling each other in pastel-colored pantsuits with their foreheads tenderly touching, drew worldwide attention.
Same-sex marriage would become legal in Massachusetts in another three months, but San Francisco’s calculated act of civil disobedience drove the debate.
In the month that followed, more than 4,000 other couples followed Martin and Lyon down the aisle before a judge acting on petitions brought by gay marriage opponents halted the city’s spree.
The state Supreme Court ultimately voided the unions, but the women were among the two dozen couples who served as plaintiffs in the lawsuits that led the same court last month to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage.
They were having their morning coffee when Lyon heard the news on the radio. She rushed across the house to embrace Martin. Not long after, Newsom called to offer congratulations and to ask if they would be willing to be at the forefront yet again.
The Commodores are getting back together. Probably. If they don’t all die first.
Grammy award-winning pop singer Lionel Richie said Saturday that he and the Commodores will reunite soon for a tour. Richie said a reunion could happen in the next two years.
“We better do it now, or in the next 10 years nobody would care,” he told reporters before singing at Antigua’s Romantic Rhythms festival. Richie, 58, said it was important for the group to get together before it loses more band members. Lead guitarist Milan Williams died two years ago.
Richie was confident that synergy still existed between band members. He said Commodores’ bass player Ronald La Pread joined him on stage during his last tour and played some of the group’s old hits. The Commodores were known for hits like “Three Times a Lady” and “Brick House.”
Richie broke away from the Commodores in the late 1970s and topped the charts in the 1980s with songs like “Endless Love” and “Say You, Say Me.”
The Commodores made their reputation as a funky R&B band but “Three Times a Lady” and similar ballads had more mainstream appeal, much to the chagrin of Richie’s band mates, who were more interested in music than commercial success. For a decade or so, Richie was the king of the romantic ballad, cranking out top ten hit after hit.
Ironically, Richie is probably best known to the younger generation as “Nicole Richie’s dad.”
Kelly Brook turned green with jealousy, after discovering Billy Zane had fallen for another stunning British brunette, just weeks after she ended their four-year relationship.
Pals say she couldn’t stand it when she found out he was seeing someone else, even though she was the one who broke off their engagement.
One said: “She was madly jealous and realised she wanted him back.”
Kelly split with the Titanic star, 42, in February and he moved out of their £1million farmhouse in Maidstone, Kent.
They kept the break-up secret for two months and remained friends, with Billy even telling her about his new love.
Gradually, she realised she wanted him back and set about wooing him over a series of long-distance phone calls to South Africa, where Billy has been filming new movie Surviving Evil.
Pals are shocked by her decision though. The source added: “Kelly could have any man in the world. She’s panicked but we feel she should have moved on. It’s clear he had.”
You never realize what you have until it’s gone.
What others said:
The Superficial says, “Okay, first, yes, I incorrectly reported that Billy dumped Kelly. Why I would think a man of that baldness would dump a girl of such boobness is beyond me. I blame the drink. Anyway, can you imagine being wooed by Kelly Brook? The girl thinks sex is an aerobic activity. What does she do for wooing? I bet it’s something really awesome. Like baking cookies or taking pictures of herself playing Mario Kart naked. Holy shit, hottest sentence I’ve ever written! This one’s going on the fridge.”
source: Truth behind love-split star Kelly Brook’s reunion [news of the world]
Relax. The Jill Scott and Gabrielle Union are naked for Allure magazine. Sorry for the muse, but they are genuinely naked. You dirty pervs are just out of luck when it comes to seeing their goodies.
The two ladies are just a few of several celebs that will go without clothing for the upcoming May issue. Singer Cassie is also nude for the feature. Amongst the smaller built ladies, Jill is a curvy gal that is proud of her bod. She told Cara Litke:
“Nobody ever celebrates women whose bodies are bigger than a size 8. But here I am, naked in a magazine at size 16. I hope that I can be an inspiration to all women. We’re all beautiful, each and every one of us.”
In effort to be in her best shape for her nude pose Union hit the gym.
“I worked my ass off for this shoot,” says Union. “I’ve always been athletic, but I stepped it up for this. I ran up and down stadium stars and went hiking. I’m cool with being naked, but I wanted to push myself.” When the big day came, Union felt good about her toned body -especially her arms. At the shoot, however, the star of the comedy “Starship Dave” wasn’t thinking about any of her body parts: “My iPOD was hooked up to the studio speakers, and I was paranoid that someone was going to think my playlist was weird - it has everything from show tunes to rap. But that’s typical Gaby. I’m naked up there, and I’m worrying about my music.”
[Click the Thumbnails for a Larger Image]
Source: Jill Scott and Gabrielle Union Nude for Allure Mag [Concreteloop]
Miley Cyrus is like a machine that out-fames the Olsen twins when they were less about the anorexia and more about straight to video movies.
After the above Miley Cyrus near boob flash at the CMT awards I fear that she is on the same path as the twins. She is currently a millionaire raking in over $18 million last year. Cyrus is planning on outdoing that number with a tell all book that Disney is behind. Her autobiography will have a multi-million dollar paycheck. Even better. She won’t be the one writing it. Disney is in search of a ghostwriter to comprise an account of the tween mogul’s life.
This help her to buy her way into heaven. Miley forks over $1,000 each week to Montrose Church in California. Sometimes when she is feeling extra high on some Jesus, she gives even more. Maybe this will help guide her on the path of Hannah Montana. She is currently considering ditching her alter ego after the Hannah Montana movie release in May 2009.
I would like to send her a pamphlet on a new religious movement. It is called the Worship House of Cara. Any donations are welcome and guarantee admittance to the Saturday night communion. (Beer bong required. Also chimichangas will replace the tiny bits of stale bread.)
Source: Miley Cyrus Writes Her Auto Autobiography For Millions [Anything Hollywood]
Paris Hilton’s foot is a size 11, but she obviously shoves them into a size 9 shoe.
The heiress revealed a rather unsightly throbbing bunion as she kicked off her vertiginous heels after attending the Miss Turkey 2008 beauty contest in Istanbul.
Left untreated, it became infected and ate a hole down to the bone. Just wait, it’s happening.
source: Ouch! Paris Hilton reveals an icky bunion on her terrifying size 11s [daily mail]
This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, and…
Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt’s girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.
Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.
Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother’s side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.
Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.
“It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn’t necessarily expect,” Child said.
Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
“His kinships are across the political spectrum,” Child said.
Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates’ genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, “Ancestors of American Presidents.”
Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769.
Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.
I’m fairly certain that I am a distant cousin of Brad Pitt’s. Give me a call when you have a chance, Brad — Let’s get caught up!
What others said:
Dlisted says, “I think I’ll spend my weekend trying to figure out how the hell I’m related to Bill Gates. This way I’ll have a good reason to knock on his door and hit him up for some real cash.”
source: Obama related to Pitt, Clinton to Jolie [yahoo news]
Dayanara Torres plans to spill the beans on her short and tumultuous marriage to Marc Anthony, reports The Post’s Sandra Guzman.
The former Miss Universe is writing “Married to Me: How Committing to Myself Led to Triumph After Divorce,” which will chronicle how she got over her painful union with the Skeletor - who left her for Jennifer Lopez - to find true happiness.
But let’s hope Torres has good lawyers. When Ojani Noa, J.Lo’s first hubby, tried doing the same, he was shut down in court by Lopez’s lawyers. Torres’ tome will be published by Penguin Book’s new Latin author line, Celebra.
I’m truly surprised that she hasn’t done this sooner. I’m fairly certain that Marc Anthony is a snake.
The attempt at an intervention isn’t going so well. The family arrived to find her up to her the same old ‘lost and barefoot crying with her dog’ antics. Monday was a bit of bust as she and momma Spears were more focused on shopping rather than getting some help.
After the world learned she is finally seeking help for her mental issues, thanks Babs, Spears got into a fight with manager Sam Lutfi on Monday. Then she must have had a craving for some fruit roll ups and headed to Ralph’s Supermarket via a ride from a friendly photog. As her family arrived to try and wrangle the troubled singer, Adnan was trying to get into Brit’s pad. After being denied entry, then let in after some begging, the two took a drive around L.A. Then Tuesday she, Lutfi and Lynne went to the Beverly Hills Mercedes-Benz dealership and bought a car. She followed that up with a trip to J. Crew were she wigged out when Sam didn’t have any gum.
Britney’s mom took the PC road and told press hungry probes that she wants to protect her and that she is always on her mind. (Kinda hard to escape that when she on every media outlet known to man.) If you recall she and Lynne had a “falling out” last year. The family has been estranged, in one form or another, since. The fight is still rolling. They fought and argued as they drove around in Brit’s Escalade. After the adventure at the Benz dealership they pulled over to continue their rumble.
Sure she bred herself a couple of money machines, but the crazy making has to be getting old. With poor Britney Spears wandering around and up to her zany shenanigans, it wouldn’t surprise me if the next story involving her involved a miniature pony, a hairdryer and a backpack full of astroglide.
Source: Britney’s Rocky Reunion with Her Mother [People]
In a two-page letter released Thursday, Clooney adopted a neutral stance in the dispute between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild.
Pals say she couldn’t stand it when she found out he was seeing someone else, even though she was the one who broke off their engagement.
Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.
Dayanara Torres plans to spill the beans on her short and tumultuous marriage to Marc Anthony, reports The Post’s Sandra Guzman. 
