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Freida Pinto Tara Conner Zhang Ziyi Camilla Belle Ana Paula Lemes
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Vida Guerra -- The BRAWL that Spawned a Lawsuit
Model Vida Guerra is being sued over a savage fight that occurred outside of a Hollywood nightclub last year -- and now TMZ has footage of the melee.
We broke the story -- three guys filed a lawsuit against Vida after they got their asses kicked last March outside of Vanguard nightclub ... while she was inside celebrating her birthday.
In the video -- you can see the three guys (in white) taking a pounding from the boys in black.
The guys' lawyer, Fred Hanassab, tells TMZ Vida was included in the lawsuit because her bodyguard was allegedly one of the attackers. Fred claims the fight started when a security guard made an obscene comment to one of his client's girlfriends.
We're told the three amigos suffered severe injuries -- including blurred vision, hearing loss, headaches, a shoulder fracture, scrapes, bruises, and sprains.
Shakara Ledard Nicole Scherzinger Coco Lee Alicia Witt Chandra West
Justin Bieber Rumored for Comedic Movie Role
Mar
31
He can make us swoon, but can Justin Bieber make us laugh?
As first reported by The Los Angeles Times, the singer in negotiations to star opposite Ashton Kutcher in a comedy titled What Would Kenny Do?. It would focus on a high school student who receives guidance from a grown-up version of himself.
For Bieber, who guest-starred earlier this season on CSI, the role would make his first foray into fiction on the big screen.
With Never Say Never, of course, the 17-year old broke records and proved he has major box office power. Would you go see a comedy that featured him and Kutcher?
Cat Power Izabella Miko Xenia Seeberg Melissa Howard Alicia Keys
Cee Lo singing 'Thank You' to firefighters in P&G promotion
Grammy-winning performer Cee Lo Green will again redo the hit known in its PG version as "Forget You" as a tribute to firefighters across the nation. "Thank you" will help power up a batteries donation program for Procter & Gamble Co.'s Duracell brand. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, file)
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter will record "Thank You," another rewrite of his hit song that's known in its PG-rated version as "Forget You." Procter & Gamble Co.'s Duracell brand is counting on Green's help to publicize battery donation campaign for volunteer fire departments.
The departments use the batteries for flashlights and other equipment. P&G will donate one battery for every specially marked pack of AA and AAA batteries customers buy.
Duracell Marketing Director Bob Jacobs says departments have been hurt by economy-spurred budget cuts. P&G, the consumer products company that also makes Pampers diapers and Tide detergent, hopes to give 20 million batteries, worth $8 million retail.
Green has a personal interest -- his Atlanta area family credits volunteer firefighters with pulling his mother from a serious car wreck, and she had served as a firefighter herself.
"I always wanted to be a fireman, like a lot of kids," he said, but added that he didn't want to narrow the focus to just his personal tie. He called the Duracell project an effort to benefit "a noble cause."
"There are quite a few heroes out there," he said.
While his songs, including the original version of "Forget You," have featured expletives and sexual references, Jacobs said image-sensitive P&G isn't worried about any negative feedback
over Green's role."He's a hugely popular entertainer right now, and it really helps us extend the awareness of the campaign," Jacobs said. "There's nothing about what he's doing for us that I think is controversial."
Free downloads of the song will be available in the next week or so on Duracell's Facebook page, followed by a music video with Green.
Green has been involved in a number of other charitable efforts, including plans to donate proceeds from his song "It's OK" to Japan earthquake relief.
"I believe I can contribute a great deal more than mere entertainment," he said by telephone from Los Angeles.
After flying from Europe on Wednesday to record "Thank You" this week, he will fly back to Europe to resume a tour there.
Samaire Armstrong Daniella Alonso Jennifer Morrison Jodi Lyn OKeefe Deanna Russo
Couple donates $750,000 for USC's Global Equity Fund
LOS ANGELES - USC Marshall MBA alumnus David Iben and his wife donated $750,000 in initial funding for a graduate student-managed Global Equity Fund that launched today, the university's business school announced.
"This is obviously a very significant and transformative gift and allows our Student Investment Funds program to be very relevant in the international aspirations of USC and the Marshall School," said finance professor Randolph Westerfield, interim director for the Center for Investment Studies.
The CIS, which originated in 2001 with a gift from Larry and Karen Tashjian, is a forum "for students to acquire experiential learning, faculty to conduct research and industry practitioners to share valuable insights," according to the university.
The Student Investment Funds are administered entirely by student managers within a year-long seminar on applied portfolio management. The funds are a part of USC's endowment and the investment gains are used to support the SIF.
The original SIF was established in 1986 when Provident Investment Counsel provided initial funding for the Trojan Equity Fund for MBA students. Since then, the Provident Growth Fund, California Small Cap Fund and Marshall Fixed Income Fund have been added.
USC Marshall also has an Undergraduate Student Investment Fund.
"USC Marshall is committed to exposing students to an array of enduring global experiences. Thanks to the generosity and support of David and Nancy Iben, the Global Equity
Fund will provide the perfect complement to existing funds by affording students a strong understanding of global investing," said USC Marshall Dean James G. Ellis.David Iben, an investor in the global capital market, is currently co- president of Tradewinds Global Investors, which manages more than $35 billion for a diverse set of clients.
"Global markets continue to evolve and require in-depth research to find investment opportunities," he said. "We utilize global sector research, independent thought and valuation expertise to invest in what we believe are high-quality and undervalued companies for our clients'portfolios."
Iben received his bachelor's degree in economics from the UC Davis and his MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business at USC.
Xenia Seeberg Melissa Howard Alicia Keys Janet Jackson Elena Lyons
Nude Photo Scandals: A Celebrity's Best Nightmare
We see London, we see France, we see so much more than a star's underpants! Nothing brings on a bigger gasp than when news breaks that there's another celebrity caught in a nude photo scandal. As the initial shock wears off and the countless questions start rolling in (Why would any celebrity pose nude? How big is it? Are those real?), the situation becomes a celebrity's worst nightmare.But at the same time, when a body part is inexplicably exposed for the world to see, it can be the biggest career boost a star doesn't need to hire a publicist for. (Other than for damage control, of course.) Here's why.
Scandalous Photos Change the Subject
It seems like every week there's a new celebrity photo scandal just waiting to jump out of the vaults. This week, Christina Aguilera fell victim as rumors started circulating that hundreds of raunchy photos of the singer, with celeb friends like Nicole Richie and boyfriend Matt Rutler, were found on a memory card at an upscale hotel Xtina stayed at in France.
Although the photos have yet to be revealed, this was exactly the kind of press Christina needed. She's had a less-than-stellar few months -- she botched the national anthem at the Super Bowl, fell on stage at the Grammys and got arrested for public intoxication. As a result, Christina was getting attention for everything but her amazing vocals. When knowledge of these photos surfaced, yes, it did bring more focus to her negative actions, but until the evidence is out there for the world to see, it's all hearsay. The proof is already in the pudding for her past wrongdoings, and it's time for the public to start talking about something new.
Chris Brown is also a great example of nude photos leaking at the perfect time. Ever since he got in a domestic dispute with Rihanna in February 2009, the only attention the press was giving him, whether it was good or bad, had to do with that fateful night. As Brown geared up to promote his new album 'F.A.M.E.,' the last thing he wanted to deal with was more questions about his situation with Rihanna. "It's pointless," he tweeted.
Coincidentally, just two weeks before his CD dropped, nude photos of him also dropped. Instantly, all attention was diverted from Rihanna -- the photos were the perfect distraction to get people talking about something else. (Well, that was until he smashed a window at 'Good Morning America'...)
Nude Pictures Help Shed an Innocent Image
The transition from sweet teen star to edgy adult star is not easy. (Just ask Mischa Barton.) But take it from celebs like Vanessa Hudgens -- the process becomes a lot quicker when nude photos of you are revealed. The 'High School Musical' star just had another set of photos leak -- the first set being in 2007 -- and it sealed the deal that she isn't the same sweet girl Zac Efron courted for five years. Hudgens has left the halls of East High and hasn't looked back.
The "Hey! Remember Me?!" Factor
You don't need to be an A-list celebrity for people to buzz about your leaked photos because let's face it, a scandal, no matter how big, is a scandal -- there will always be interest. Case in point? 'Twilight' star Ashley Greene. In August 2009, a year before she broke teenage hearts by dating Joe Jonas, full-frontal photos of her surfaced on the web. Suddenly, she went from "that girl from 'Twilight' with the short hair that's not Kristen Stewart" to "'Twilight' star Ashley Greene."
Same goes for model Amber Rose. Before her birthday suit photos surfaced online, Amber was solely known as Kanye West's arm candy. Now, people actually know her name -- and what her badonkadonk looks like.
If All Else Fails, Just Say "Oops"
Does the phrase "pulling a Paris" ring a bell? Posed private photos aren't the only kind of naked pics that will keep a star's name alive. Simply going commando, accidentally wearing a see-through shirt or donning a low-cut dress that has potential for a nip slip are sure-fire ways to get people chatting. One false step out of a limo or a quick breeze, and a star's fun night out turns into next day's headlines. Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus have all had "oops" moments that were splashed all over the news.
More: Why Celebs Romance Their Agents, And Why It Works
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Celebrity Sex Tapes
When she first moved to Hollywood, Chelsea Handler made a tape that featured her standup routine and a few more intimate acts. The old video shows Chelsea telling jokes, then cuts to a bedroom scene where she appears to have sex with a British man. Her rep claims it was an old demo tape she made as a joke.
Jason Merritt, Getty Images
Jason Merritt, Getty Images
Georgianna Robertson Christina Milian Amber Valletta Ashley Scott Kim Kardashian
Charlie Sheen Sued For 20m Over Reality Show
31 March 2011
Charlie Sheen is being sued for $20 million by a television producer working with his estranged uncle, Joe Estevez, over claims he destroyed a planned reality project about him and his family.
Charlie Sheen is being sued for $20 million.
The former 'Two and a Half Men' star has been accused of destroying a planned reality TV project about himself and his family by a television producer working with his estranged uncle, Joe Estevez.
Ed Meyer claims the 45-year-old star conspired to intentionally interfere with contractual relations and alleges his parents, 'West Wing' star Martin Sheen and his wife Janet, acted as "co-conspirators" in killing the programme.
Ed is seeking at least $20 million in damages "for the outrageous tortuous conduct" of Charlie.
However, they were not named as co-defendants.
The suit - which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday (29.03.11) and used Charlie's birth name Carlos Irwin Estevez - claims: "Starting on January 4, 2010, Defendant Carlos Irwin Estevez, along with co-conspirators Martin Sheen and Janet Sheen, all non-parties to the Reality Show deal, did internationally and tortuously: threaten, interfere with and restrain, and also conspire to: threaten, interfere with and restrain the Plaintiff's reality television project starring their relative Joe Estevez, titled: 'About The Sheens' aka 'Being Sheen' aka 'Sheen Reality,' thus destroying the contractual relationships and damaging the Plaintiff Ed Meyer."
Ed is seeking at least $20 million in damages "for the outrageous tortuous conduct" of Charlie.
Earlier this month, it was revealed Charlie is suing 'Two and a Half Men' producer Chuck Lorre for $100 million, claiming he was unfairly dismissed from the show.
Joe is the younger brother of Charlie's father.
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Cindy Crawford Missi Pyle Jennifer Gareis Kirsten Dunst Bridget Moynahan
New Charlie Sheen Copycat -- 'Balloon Boy' Dad!
Charlie Sheen is getting ripped by the one guy who still might be crazier than him -- Richard Heene, aka Balloon Boy's dad -- and TMZ has the bizarre music video where Heene morphs into Sheen.
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Heene teamed up with comic musician Smokey Miles -- a.k.a. Count Smokula -- to film the parody video for a song about Sheen mania ... featuring multiple references to cocaine, goddesses and yes ... the "W" word.
Also, Richard's eerie transformation into the warlock shows off a special effects budget of about $1.14.
Still, you gotta see it.
Hey ... at least he's not exploiting his kid this time.
Georgianna Robertson Christina Milian Amber Valletta Ashley Scott Kim Kardashian
Officials saying little as options are dwindling
STALEMATE: Tax initiative in jeopardy as Brown, GOP remain tight-lipped.
SACRAMENTO - The end of budget talks between Gov. Jerry Brown and Republican lawmakers has shrouded California's fiscal future even more, leaving officials cautious about publicly saying what options remain.
Lawmakers and Brown's office on Wednesday would say only that they are discussing their next steps.
"We're evaluating all our options now, but at the end of the day it's still going to be about getting legislators and voters to own up to the choices and consequences of balancing the budget," Brown political adviser Steven Glazer said.
By giving up on talks with Republican legislators on Tuesday, Brown effectively abandoned his push for a June special election to renew temporary sales, vehicle and income taxes the state Legislature approved two years ago.
The Democratic governor had wanted to close the state's $26.6 billion budget gap with a near equal amount of cuts and taxes. Last week, he signed bills that reduced California's deficit to about $15.4 billion through a mix of spending cuts and fund shifts.
California's leading unions were still holding out hope that state lawmakers would put a tax initiative before voters.
"We haven't abandoned that approach," said Mike Myslinski, a spokesman for the California Teachers Association.
He said lawmakers and the governor need to get back to the negotiating table.
Republicans believe more money could be saved through pension reform and a state spending
cap.In addition, they said streamlining business regulations would stimulate job growth, and schools can save money by contracting out non-academic services and increasing course loads of professors.
In the absence of a June election, the governor could pursue a November ballot initiative to ask Californians to pay higher taxes.
'Everyone is looking for the next Stieg Larsson'
By Deirdre Donahue, USA TODAY
This spring, American publishers are plucking crime writers out of chilly Scandinavia and dispatching them all over the USA on book tours.
1998 AP photo
He started it: Swedish author Stieg Larsson made Nordic noir popular with his Millennium trilogy.
1998 AP photo
He started it: Swedish author Stieg Larsson made Nordic noir popular with his Millennium trilogy.
Their goal: sating readers' appetite for Nordic noir, the genre the late Stieg Larsson made wildly popular with his Millennium trilogy.
Is there an author who can fill that void?
"Everyone is looking for the next Stieg Larsson," says Paul Bogaards of Knopf, Larsson's U.S. publisher. "Like J.K. Rowling, Larsson was a once-in-a-lifetime publishing event. But for a book to be a success, you don't have to sell 15 million copies."
Free Press publisher Martha Levin agrees.
"The mind-blowing success of Larsson has brought interest up to a new level among publishers," says Levin, who believes the "most interesting way to learn about different cultures is through compelling fiction."
At the moment, no culture seems to fascinate Americans more than modern Scandinavia in all its coffee-saturated, IKEA-furnished moodiness.
Three authors with big international followings are about to try the personal touch with Americans:
? Swedish sensation Camilla L�ckberg is touring the USA now to publicize the paperback release of The Ice Princess(Free Press, $15), out this week.
? Norwegian Jo Nesb? arrives in early May for a two-week, nine-city tour to promote The Snowman (Knopf, $25.95, out May 10).
?Sweden's Henning Mankell will be here promoting The Troubled Man (Knopf, $26.95) Tuesday through April 12. Despite 30 million copies in print worldwide, Mankell has never really conquered the USA. (The Man From Beijing hit No. 65 last year, his highest ranking on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list. Neither Nesb? nor L�ckberg have made the list.)
Levin is publishing not one but two Swedish authors named Camilla. L�ckberg's The Ice Princess is the first book in a series set in Fjallbacka, the small coastal town where she grew up. The next book, The Preacher (Pegasus, $25.95), will be released April 27.
Levin's other Camilla is Camilla Grebe. She and psychologist sister �sa Tr�ff write a series starring a female Stockholm psychologist. Their Some Kind of Peace will be published in May 2012.
Bogaards has high hopes for Nesb?, whose series centers on troubled Oslo detective Harry Hole. "Nesb?'s appeal isn't just Harry," Bogaards says. "He has very dynamic criminals ... more like Silence of the Lambs."
Bogaards sees parallels between Larsson's and Nesb?'s trajectories: "Cult status in Scandinavia, major best-sellerdom in Europe, and a long run on the U.K. best-seller lists."
Nordic noir is not a new genre: Names such as Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo and Hakan Nesser are familiar to American crime buffs. And long before Larsson dreamed up the girl with the dragon tattoo, Mankell in 1991 created tormented Swedish detective Kurt Wallander, the character played by Kenneth Branagh in the BBC adaptation.
Alas, Mankell's just-released Wallander title, The Troubled Man? the 11th book in the series ? is also the final one.
On the last page, Mankell writes, "The story of Kurt Wallander is finished, once and for all."
How can the writer face heartbroken fans this April?
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Christina Milian Amber Valletta Ashley Scott Kim Kardashian Grace Park
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
NEW MUSIC: SWIZZ BEATZ FEAT. EVE ? ?EVERYDAY (COOLIN?)?
[See post to listen to audio]? Swizz Beatz feat. Eve – Everyday (Coolin’) ? ALTERNATE LINK ? Check out the brand new single from Swizz Beatz, featuring Eve, “Everyday (Coolin’).” The track will be the lead single from his upcoming … Continue
Tamala Jones Anna Kournikova Katie Cassidy Diora Baird Dania Ramirez
Vanessa Hudgens: "Sucker Punch" UK Premiere
Stepping out for one of the biggest night?s surrounding their film's release, the ladies of ?Sucker Punch? were all on-hand at the UK film premiere in London, England on Wednesday (March 30).
Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Emily Browning all posed for pictures on the red carpet before heading inside Vue Cinema at Leicester Square for the big event.
As for the plotline, the film revolves around institutionalized Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who retreats into her imagination to survive, fighting video game-style battles in places ranging from temples to Notre Dame cathedral.
While director Zack Snyder?s 2006 film ?300? relied on male six-packs for visual interest, Sucker Punch majors on cleavage with Baby Doll?s fellow asylum inmates Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) all duly obliging their director?s eye for a curve.
Mia Kirshner Leila Arcieri Shannyn Sossamon Julie Benz Talisa Soto
Katie Price's planned Argentina trip with Leandro Penna leads to 'terrifying kidnap threat'
Experts say Katie Price and Leandro Penna will be an easy target for criminal gangs in Argentina
Katie Price is reported to have received a terrifying kidnap threat after new boyfriend Leandro Penna announced he'd invited her to meet his family in Argentina.
Because of the risk, the glamour girl has decided she'll need a high security team for her visit to the South American country, and is said to have decided against taking kids Harvey, 8, Junior, 5, and Princess, 3, along.
'She is pretty sure that the children won't be going, even though she plans to travel during the Easter holidays,' a close source tells the Daily Star.�
'She would never put them in danger and it also may be inappropriate for them to go.'
Katie, 32, and Leandro, 25, hit it off at Elton John's post-Oscars awards bash in LA last month.
The hunky model - who speaks little English - is keen to show Katie off in his home country.
'I'll take her to Argentina and introduce her to my family,' Leandro, 25, told Argentinian magazine Caras.
'She introduced me to her family and I want Katie to know where I come from.
'I want her to know my roots, my world. I'll take her home to my family - my parents, my brothers and sister.'
TWITPIC Katie Price and friends at dinner with Leandro Penna>>
TWITPIC - Katie Price with Leandro Penna after the Oscars>>
SEE PICTURES The changing face of Katie Price>>
SEE PICTURES Katie Price's hen night>>
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SEE PICTURES Alex Reid and Katie Price's love story in photos>>
SEE PICTURES Peter Andre's night on the town with Nicola McLean and Chantelle Houghton>>
SEE PICTURES Jordan and Peter Andre: A love story in
photos>>
Esme Riley
Rachel Perry Samaire Armstrong Daniella Alonso Jennifer Morrison Jodi Lyn OKeefe
Miley Cyrus Bashes Rebecca Black, Teases New Boyfriend
Rebecca Black may have a number of supporters - Simon Cowell and Lady Gaga have both expressed a certain admiration for the YouTube sensation - but Miley Cyrus us NOT one of them.
Asked about the 13-year old, Miley told Australia's Daily Telegraph: "It should be harder to be an artist. You shouldn't just be able to put a song on YouTube and go on tour."
Snaps, yo!
TGIF? Not to Miley Cyrus.
Cyrus claims she isn't a fan of how people use the Web in general, saying: "I do not Tweet, I do not social network, I try to stay out of it. I complain enough about people knowing too much about my private life, so to go out there and exploit myself would be silly and hypocritical."
Miley did just return to Twitter, however.
She's also heading Down Under for a tour this summer, and she's made it clear she won't be available to any potentual Australian suitors, telling the newspaper: "I'm definitely not coming to Australia single!"
Wow. Guess Miley wasn't kidding about doing a better job keeping her private life private.
You've Got ... a Balloon Purse With 'The Unpoppables'
When you're as talented as balloon artist Katie Laibstain, there's no limit to what you can create.Wedding dresses, cakes and life-sized fire trucks are just some of the pieces Laibstain and her team have dreamed up on TLC's new show 'The Unpoppables.'
Laibstain visited the PopEater offices to teach us how to turn a few balloons into a purse and that you don't need to be an expert to start having fun with balloon art!
RANDOM PICS: CHRISETTE MICHELE SHOWS OFF NEW HAIRSTYLE ? ARE YOU FEELING IT?
Singer Chrisette Michele pictured at a friend’s birthday party at Butter on Friday (March 25) in New York City. The last time we saw Chrisette she was rocking a short blonde look, so this is a major difference. More photos … Continue
Serena Williams Shows It All for New TopSpin 4 Commercial
Whoever said tennis video games were boring…probably never seen the commercial to Serena’s new video game….bet! Serena Williams and Rileah Vanderbilt go at it!
Simone Mütherthies Mila Kunis Willa Ford Shakara Ledard Nicole Scherzinger
Sammy Hagar Q&A: On 'Inevitable' Reunion, Alien Downloads and 'Saint' Valerie
If you're a Van Halen fan, then there's a 50 percent chance you want the rock legends to reunite with Sammy Hagar, the band's second lead singer. (We love ya, Gary Cherone!) You can tentatively count the Red Rocker among that bunch, though he tells PopEater that Eddie Van Halen will have to fire the opening salvo in their reconciliation. "No apologies are necessary but if [Eddie came up to me and] said, 'Hey dude I love you man, let's get together and do it right,' I'd be there in a second."
Sammy calls a reunion "inevitable" but "just not possible right now," as he's busy being an extremely busy, fabulously rich tequila mogul with a searing new memoir, 'Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock,' on his hands. In our free-wheeling chat, Hagar dishes on Eddie's much-appreciated sobriety, why he stays faithful to his second wife, the "not fun" David Lee Roth and his love of "saint" Valerie Bertinelli. And there's that time when aliens "downloaded" information from his brain. Read on.
How the hell did you survive Van Halen?
It was wonderful for nine years. I'm a romantic and optimist, so I thought, oh it's just a little thing my boy's going through and everything will be good, but it never changed. But we had nine years of the greatest fun ever, so that carries a long way.
Any chance of a reunion?
I'm sure that it's inevitable, but not right now. Right now it's probably on a scale of one to hundred, minus seven. Of course no one's going to like somebody putting their stuff in the street, but I didn't make up anything. It's all true, and it's exactly what happened and that story has never been told. I'm walking down the street and fans are coming up into me going, "Hey man, when are you and Eddie going to get back together? What's the problem over there?" And I gotta tell them that it's just not possible right now.
He was clean in 1995 supposedly, but he wasn't. Seeing pictures of him now he certainly looks clean. He looks better, so I'll hand him that, but until I sit in a room with him. I can tell in a second. No apologies are necessary, but if he said, "Hey dude I love you man, let's get together and do it right," I'd be there in a second. But I'm not going to make that call because between you and me, I'm extremely busy and extremely happy and probably if I was to instigate it, it'd be like, oh now we've got him, he wants something, and if they were in that frame of mind it would bite me in the butt. When they're in the right frame of mind, whenever they want to do it, if I could fit it into my life, it would be a top priority.
Is David Lee Roth a, how do you say this nicely, douche bag?
Don't be silly! I've got nothing in common with the person. What I expected from him was a good time, but he ain't that guy. He's not fun. I'm not interested in hanging around with someone who's not fun.
So, there's a story in the book where you explain how you were with so many groupies you actually couldn't ejaculate.
It's not funny! I'd heard of it before, I met a girl, and she told me it happened to Rod Stewart. It's not like you can't function. I heard it and I thought, get out of here, if anything it's premature ejaculation. That was a strange thing to happen. It went on for a while. Hey, I'm into the art and the act, not the finished product, which is kind of like a bummer. It's like, oh no, it's over!
Most number of women in one day?
How about this? In one night at one time I had five girls at once. It was awesome. But usually you hooked up with one girl while you were in town, just occasionally they'd be a girl who'd say, "Mind if my friends come?" and I'd be like, "I don't mind at all!"
You're faithful now to your second wife Kari. How do you do that?
First of all, I don't put myself in that vulnerable situation anymore. In the old days if I saw a gang of girls I'd head straight for them. I was married to my childhood sweetheart for 23 years, and the last five years of that marriage I was extremely unfaithful, but it was really over. I was planning on getting a divorce, but she got pregnant, and we had a baby boy. When Andrew was born, I stuck it out for five more years, but I felt like I was no longer married. I'll be here for the family, but I'm not going to be married. So I was a free man, and I did anything and everything you could possibly do. It was awesome, but when I met Kari, she was different. Once we spent a few days together 24/7; I fell in love. The truth of the matter is when you're in love, you're not interested in anything else. I'm still in love, and she's still the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen, and I'm still physically attracted to her. I still chase her around the room day and night. When you're completely satisfied you do not need anymore than that.
Absolutely. I sold 80 percent for 80 million dollars. I really hate bragging like this, but I'm really proud of it. It's a success story of all times, that's one of the reasons I wanted to write this book and put that in context with my childhood. If you just go around saying, "Yeah, I built this company," it's like, "Oh yeah, he's a good businessman, big deal." But no, no, no, you've got to understand I didn't have an education, I came from zero, and I worked my way to that.
You write of being abducted by aliens?
Not abducted. I had a dream that was so realistic and fishy because I started waking up. These guys were going, "Uh oh, he's waking up," and they pulled the plug on me. Back in those days there was no such thing as wireless and downloading, and now in today's technology, I can see that's exactly what happened. It was a wireless situation; they were downloading what I knew. It put me on a quest to find out what the hell was going on, what is out there. I became a UFO nut, an astrology nut. I bought a telescope and combed the heavens looking for a sign of something. I feel like there was some kind of a download, maybe some information leaked into my brain by accident.
Do you think Valerie was a saint for sticking with Eddie for so long?
Not just for that, she's a saint, period. She's such a sweet lady. For a child star who grew up in Hollywood and all that fame her whole life, she's the most down to earth person. She's a real sweetheart, and she really kept that marriage together, she kept Eddie on the good foot. I have all the respect in the world for her, especially now when she got so heavy and got herself looking so good. She's a great woman. I think that's part of the reason what happened to Ed. Once Val left him, he had no leash on, and I think his new wife has probably got him a little more under control. We all need that. We're self-indulgent rock stars.
What's the deal with you and St. Louis?
Since 1979 it's been the biggest city in the world for me. I had a hit song called 'Red' in 1977, and it became a huge hit there. They took to me in St. Louis. It's a great town, I love it. I have a restaurant there called Sammy's Beach Bar and Grill, and I give every penny that it makes to a charity called Blessings and a Backpack. It gives lunches to kids whose parents can't afford food.
You seem like a nice guy.
I am a nice guy. I just want to make people happy and treat people the way I want to be treated.
'Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock' Is Out Now.
More of Nicki Gostin's Q&As: Ralph Macchio, Debbie Reynolds, Matthew McConaughey
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Omid Safi: Is Islamic Mysticism Really Islam?
There is a lovely story from the life of the Prophet Muhammad, remembering that a mysterious visitor came upon him and his companions. The visitor, later revealed to be the archangel Gabriel, proceeded to sit intimately next to Muhammad and quiz the Prophet. He asked Muhammad about three increasingly higher and deeper levels of religiosity, which the Prophet answered sequentially as Islam (wholehearted submission to God), Faith and, lastly, Loveliness (ihsan). This third quality the Prophet identified as worshipping God as if we could see the Divine, and if we cannot, to always remember that God nevertheless sees us.
The sequence is fascinating, as it reveals that what we think of as Islam (the attestation to Divine Unity, the performance of the prayers, the pilgrimage to Mecca, the paying of the alms tax, the fast of Ramadan) mark only the very first layer -- though the foundational layer -- of religiosity. Above that is faith, and above faith is the spiritual and mystical layer of spiritual beauty, for ihsan is literally the realm of actualizing and realizing beauty and loveliness (husn), of bringing beauty into this world and connecting it to God, who is the All-Beautiful.
Throughout Islamic history, this realm of ihsan was most emphatically pursued by the mystics of Islam, the Sufis. Historically, this mystical realm of Islam formed a powerful companion to the legal dimension of Islam (sharia). Indeed, many of the mystics of Islam were also masters of legal and theological realms. The cultivation of inward beauty and outward righteous action were linked in many of important Islamic institutions. In comparing Islam with Judaism, the mystical dimension of Islam was much more prominently widespread than Kabbalah. And unlike the Christian tradition, the mysticism of Islam was not cloistered in monasteries. Sufis were -- and remain -- social and political agents who went about seeking the Divine in the very midst of humanity.
After the Prophet Muhammad, many of the most influential of all Muslims were and remain mystics. Mawlana Jalal al-Din Balkhi, known to Turks as Mevlana and to Americans as Rumi, remains the most beloved of all Sufi poets, whose Masnavi was perhaps the only work ever compared directly with the Quran. Ibn 'Arabi, the Spanish Muslim sage, remains the most widely read metaphysician, and his school of "Unity of Being" (Wahdat al-wujud) has been both influential and controversial from Spain to Indonesia. The most important Muslim theologian, al-Ghazali, identified the realm of Sufism as the highest Islamic quest for knowledge, one that dealt most directly with other-worldly matters.
Nor was the practice of Islamic mysticism limited to intellectuals and poets. At the level of popular practice, some of the Sufi shrines received as many (if not more) annual visitors that the Mecca does for the Hajj pilgrimage. Entire Muslim-majority regions (Iran, Turkey, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, etc.) came to develop understandings of Islam that are and remain inseparable from mystical understandings of Islam. Much of the higher dimensions of Islamic aesthetics (calligraphy and poetry) have been inseparable from Sufism.
And yet, today, the word "Sufi" is a highly suspect one for many modern Muslims, and even thinkers and preachers whose frameworks and anecdotes are permeated with those of the mystical dimension of Islam eschew the mere mention of the word Sufi, either not wanting to alienate their suspicious audience or not wishing to "erode" their authority by connecting their teachings to anything other than the Quran and the example of the Prophet.
So how did such a powerful and beautiful dimension of Islam come to be viewed with such suspicion by so many Muslims?
The marginalization of Sufism came about through an initially unlikely perfect storm, an alliance of European Orientalists and conservative/modernist Muslims, whose agenda in demarcating Islam from Sufism ironically supports that of certain New-Agey Universalists who sought to extract Sufism out of Islam. Let's explore this somewhat odd association a bit more closely.
The Orientalist scholars (whose approach began in Europe and dominated much of the American scholarly engagement with Islam) based their approach on a study of Islam that privileged "classical" legal and theological Arabic texts from 800-1100 C.E. Of all those texts, the most important ones were held to be the ones closest historically to the "foundational" period. The Orientalists became interested in Sufism very early on, almost as early as their translations of the Quran. They found themselves attracted to the deep beauty and wisdom of Sufi poetry, particularly from Persian. Quite inconveniently for them, they were also committed to a bifurcated view that divided the world into Semitic (Arabs and Jews, characterized primarily by law, monotheism, and dry deserts) and Indo-Europeans (Hindus, Europeans and Iranians, who lived through philosophy, art, mysticism and logic). The Orientalists had no problem thinking that entire blocks of humanity share certain "mentalities" and "temperaments" connected to their languages. Even though they admired the poetry of mystics like Sa'di, Hafez and Rumi, they could not admit that Muslims (who were "Semitic" after all) could come up with such beauty, mysticism and poetry. Therefore, the Orientalists decreed that Sufism must be "un-Islamic" and due to Christian, Persian, Hindu or Neoplatonic "influences" -- anything but Islam, anything but the experience of Prophet Muhammad in encountering God, which is what the Sufis have always claimed as the primary source of their inspiration!
The Muslim conservative/modernists (what we broadly refer to as the Salafi tradtion) came to have a profound distrust of what might be termed "the tradition(s) of Islam," believing that the historical tradition of Islamic scholarship -- and the scholars who had been the authoritative interpreters of Islam -- were increasingly irrelevant to the historical trials and tribulations through which 19th and 20th century Muslims were suffering. They wanted to remain pious and observant Muslims, but believed that the way to return to the "glory days" of Islam was to "return" to the original spirit of vitality and authenticity of Islam, before the influence of "foreign ideas" crept into Islam, sapping its authenticity. These foreign ideas they equated both culturally (the contribution of Persians, Indians, Turks, etc.) and intellectually (the traditions of philosophy, mysticism and all non-scriptural sciences).
The idea for the Muslim modernists was that the remedy for Islam consisted of a textual return "away from the blemishes ... of the later phases" back to "yearning for truth" of the founders of Islam. In this, they found themselves oddly in full-agreement with the orientalists. They came to be suspicious of many traditions of Islamic thought and practice that developed through time, including that of Sufism. Perhaps most polemically, they identified Sufism as having contributed to a corrupt and inward-looking mentality that allowed the colonial powers to dominate Muslims. Throughout Islamic history, particular Sufi ideas and practices (such as the "Unity of Being," certain meditation techniques and commemoration of the Prophet's birthday) had always been contested by other Muslims. It was in this modern and modernist context that the whole of Islamic mysticism came to be viewed with great suspicion as being un-Islamic if not outright anti-Islamic.
So where do the New Agers come into play? It was only in the 20th century that human beings became capable of uttering a sentence like "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual." Historically all religious traditions have had mystical dimensions, and their mystical traditions have arisen within the very depth of each tradition, partaking of its key symbols and emulating the spiritual experiences of its main exemplars. It was in this modern context that a deep and new suspicion of the outward forms and institutions of religion was cultivated, with people who believed that they were on the edge (or already inside) a "New Age" of human consciousness. It was these new Agers who, dissatisfied with their own experiences of Judaism and Christianity, turned "East" to the mystical traditions of Buddhism, Hindu traditions and Islam to obtain the mystical truth that they so yearned for -- without necessarily wanting to adopt the legal and institutional aspects of those traditions. In many cases, the engagements were complicated by colonial politics, as the "eastern" traditions of wisdom were connected to colonized countries that many of the same Westerners looked down upon, even as they were fascinated by them.
So what we have had for the last few decades is a situation of Orientalists and Salafi Muslims seeking to construct a "real Islam" that is untainted by Sufi dimensions, and many new agers seek to extract a mysticism that stands above and disconnected from wider, broader and deeper aspects of Islam.
Yes we have learned that the human yearning for the Divine, for beauty, for love and for loveliness is too deeply engrained in the human spirit to be partitioned off or exiled. Today, many Muslims world-wide are increasingly dissatisfied with what they see as dry as stale bread interpretations and practices of Islam, and want -- and demand -- something more spiritual and more beautiful. They know about the deep spiritual experience of the Prophet Muhammad, who came face to face with God, and they too yearn for their own spiritual experiences.
All Muslims seek to emulate the Prophet Muhammad. The Quran reminds them that if you love God, follow Muhammad. The mystically oriented among Muslims take the emulation a bit more literally: If Muhammad arose to have his own face-to-face encounter with the Divine, they too aspire to rise in the footsteps of the Prophet, to have their own meeting with God. As it was said of the great Rumi, they too want to be "off-springs of the soul of Muhammad."
Omid Safi is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina. He is the Co-Chair of the Islamic Mysticism Group at the American Academy of Religion, and the author of 'Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters' (HarperOne, 2009).
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Reese Witherspoon: Robert Pattison is Dirty!
Reese Witherspoon is definitely fond of her "Water for Elephants" co-star Robert Pattinson , but that?s not to say she didn?t find his on-set grooming habits, well, questionable.
The newlywed actress said this while chatting with Entertainment Weekly: ?It?s a boy thing, right? To have dirty fingernails and hair. And his clothes were dirty all the time.?
However, Reese can?t quite blame the "Twilight" star ? after all, the movie takes place in a circus - a far cry from the damp, overcast Pacific Northwest setting of the supernatural series. ?It was a nice escape for him to be tan and in the sun all the time instead of the vampire gear," Witherspoon said.
In the film, out in theaters April 22, the stars? characters, Jacob and Marlena, become entwined in a tragic love triangle.
Rozonda Thomas Audrina Patridge Autumn Reeser Jamie Gunns Gina Gershon
SXSW 2011 ? Gaming, Causes And The Lean Startup
This is a guest post by Jude Ower, founder of the Play Mob, our guest�correspondent out at SXSW, Austin, Texas. Jude is an expert in social games for social good and a serial entrepreneur, based in London, UK.
I ran a session with Zao Yang who is the original creator of Farmville before his company was acquired. By Zynga. Our panel covered the theme of games for change ? how we use games to engage an audience to make changes in the real world. A lively discussion was moderated between myself and Zao by Brynn Evans. As part of our session we wanted to show how we use current digital tools to do good in the world. During our session we had the audience tweet as much as possible using the hashtags for our session and the person with the most tweets won 100 trees. Not 100 trees delivered to their door, but they got to pick 1 of 4 projects to plant their trees.
Our winner picked Madagascar and very shortly there will be 100 trees planted for this person, all because they tweeted.
This mix of media was prevalent in talks, and also how we engage an audience. Guy Kawasaki gave a brilliant talk on how to make your product ?enchanting?. Jane McGonigal spoke of how we an use games to ?level up? in our lives and how we repair reality, as it?s currently broken. Jane is the Director at the Institute of the Future and gave brilliant stats around how replay around 3 billion hours of game play per week, but we need 12 billion hours of game play if we a to even scratch the surface of solving some of the worlds most pressing issues! Eric Ries and Steve Blank gave a brilliant and packed talk about running a lean start up using agile product development techniques and getting in front of investors fast. If you have not read these guys blogs, I highly recommend them! Within this talk, the founder of Meet Up said by reading Steve Blanks blogs and books, this changed their business to be what it is today.
The keynotes were mixed and all thought provoking. Felicia Day, actress/director/producer and creator of online show The Guild, spoke of how she made the show a success on a shoestring and favours. Now it has millions of viewers and networks not only wanting the show (which she is not going to give up) but also seeding ideas on how we leverage other platforms and think outside the box to get in front of a massive audience and build a fan base.
Blake Macowskie, creator of TOMS shoes, one for one (for every pair of TOMS shoes bought, a child in a developing country also receives a pair of shoes. He spoke of his journey and how it began, from his apartment and how he begun receiving orders of much bigger than the stock he was holding.
He has now sold over 1 million pairs of shoes, and has his next product, which is a secret, launching on June 7th 2011.
The fascinating thing about the other 2 keynotes, Christopher Poole and Seth Priebatsch is that they are both very early 20s. Yet have products and backed by VC funding, in a similar way to the Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook effect. Both barely out of high school, they came onto the stage with confidence, previous track records of speaking at other events such as TED, and were like, well, Rockstars. This is something I noticed as another theme, not just at the show, but in the US as a whole.
Being clever and technical, sometimes known as a geek, is truly admired. Geeks are cool. Geeks are Rockstars!
This got me thinking about the whole entrepreneurial landscape in the US. It is encouraged, not just by schools but also by peers. Maybe this is why we are seeing the US as a hot bed of start ups, a boom of VC support and a place where failure is praised and not discouraged. I think the world has alot to learn about this behaviour. Wouldn?t it be great if next year at SXSW the main stage also had Rockstars from outwith the UK?
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PHOTOSHOP 7 TUTORIAL ? HOW TO ERASE or REMOVE BACKGROUND
Posted by ILookFlyChick�-�Monday March 28, 2011 15:48
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Meet Robert Pattinson's New Costar: Should Kristen Be Worried?
How many times has this happened before? First, of course, there was Nikki Reed in the first Twilight movie. Then, later on and much more seriously, there was concern of Emilie de Ravin, Robert Pattinson's Remember Me costar. It never really got that intense about Reese Witherspoon, Rob's Water For Elephants costar, and, well, Reese did just get married this past weekend.
But the female point is?and always is?whichever pretty young thing stars opposite Kristen Stewart's real-life BF also gets to star in a second movie, a sort of unofficial director's bonus.
Although you might want to call it a "devil's advocate" bonus, as newcomer Sarah Gadon is about to find out:
MORE: Rob and Kristen's Romance Diary
Because Rob is getting all wifed up in David Cronenberg's upcoming flick, Cosmopolis. And guess which lucky lady get's that job?
Yep. Gadon. (But this casting happened only after Cronenberg's first choice, Keira Knightley, didn't work out.)
Oh, and Sarah and Robert just might be locking some lips, too! Yum! Not even K.Stew gets to do it with Rob that much, considering their travel schedules?not to mention a major shyness prob they've both got.
So is K.Stew jealous?
"Hardly," says someone close to Ms. K.
Now, we've confirmed directly with Gadon that she is indeed getting this lip-locking jump in her career. The director wouldn't confirm. But Gadon sure as hell did.
And why not? Who'd ever heard of Gadon before?
Well, Cronenberg had. He worked with her on his flick A Dangerous Method. But this time around, the sometimes bizarro director will be directing Rob and Sarah in a story where a financial wunderkind (Pattinson) risks everything in the stock-trading world and is estranged from his wife in the personal one. Hmmm. Think K.Stew had that last part of the plot worked in?
Oh, there's also another Kristen connection to note here: Gadon also tested for Snow White. She tried for the role that eventually went to Kristen.
Let's hope this Gadon gal doesn't want to get revenge for that disappointment with our boy Rob!
VIDEO:� RPattz Spills Breaking Dawn Secrets!
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Little People Sue 'The Soup' -- They Defamed Us!
A� dwarf couple is suing E! Entertainment and "The Soup" host Joel McHale, claiming they made scurrilous, false, defamatory and hurtful comments about them.
Cara and Gibson Reynolds are dwarfs who struggled for years to have children. One child died a day after birth, but they were finally able to conceive a healthy baby.�
The Reynolds' did an interview with the Associated Press about dwarf couples who want to screen their embryos for genetic defects in an effort to intentionally have healthy, dwarf children.� They say the article and photo of them was limited to the AP article (reprinted on MSNBC.com).
Fast forward to 2009, when McHale and company did a spoof on "The Soup" titled, "Fertile Little Tattooed Pageant Parents Who Enjoy Baking."� McHale said it was the newest reality show, and then proceeded to show the AP photo of the Reynolds, saying they are "happy dwarfs ... that can't stop procreating."�
And it got worse.� "The Soup" then allegedly showed a woman purported to be Cara in labor, in the process of giving birth in a bathroom.
Cara claims the piece was so upsetting, she suffered, "depression, insomnia, upset stomach, sleep interference and experiencing feelings of shame and degradation."
The Reynolds are suing for defamation and invasion of privacy.
We could not immediately reach E! for comment.
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MUSIC VIDEO: MINDLESS BEHAVIOR ? ?MY GIRL (REMIX)? FT. CIARA, TYGA & LIL TWIST
You may remember our post on the boy group Mindless Behavior last year, back in September. Ray Ray, Princeton, Prodigy and Roc Royal have made a remix video to their single, “My Girl”. The Ryan Pallota-directed video features singer/dancer Ciara … Continue
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Japan On 'Maximum Alert' Over Nuclear Crisis: Kan
TOKYO ? Japan's prime minister insisted Tuesday that the country was on "maximum alert" to bring its nuclear crisis under control, but the spread of radiation raised concerns about the ability of experts to stabilize the crippled reactor complex.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan told parliament that Japan was grappling with its worst problems since World War II.
"This quake, tsunami and the nuclear accident are the biggest crises for Japan" in decades, said the wan but resolute Kan, dressed in one of the blue work jackets that have become ubiquitous among bureaucrats since the tsunami. He said the crises remained unpredictable, but added: "We will continue to handle it in a state of maximum alert."
The magnitude-9.0 offshore earthquake on March 11 triggered a tsunami that slammed minutes later into Japan's northeast, wiping out towns and knocking out power and backup systems at the coastal Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Police said more than 11,000 bodies have been recovered, but the final death toll is expected to exceed 18,000. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, their homes and livelihoods destroyed. Damage could amount to $310 billion ? the most expensive natural disaster on record, the government said.
Against the backdrop of the humanitarian disaster, the drama at the power plant has unfolded, with workers fighting fires, explosions, radiation scares and miscalculations in the frantic bid to prevent a complete meltdown.
The plant has been leaking radiation that has made its way into vegetables, raw milk and tap water as far away as Tokyo. Residents within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant were ordered to leave and some nations banned the imports of food products from the Fukushima region.
Highly toxic plutonium was the latest contaminant found seeping into the soil outside the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
Safety officials said the amounts did not pose a risk to humans, but they said the finding supports suspicions that dangerously radioactive water is leaking from damaged nuclear fuel rods.
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"The situation is very grave," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters Tuesday. "We are doing our utmost to contain the damage."
Kan, meanwhile, faced stinging criticism from opposition lawmakers over the handling of a nuclear disaster stretching into a third week.
"We cannot let you handle the crisis," lawmaker Yosuke Isozaki said in parliament. "We cannot let you be in charge of Japan's crisis management."
Edano admitted Tuesday that Japanese safety standards were not enough to protect the complex against the tsunami's power.
"Our preparedness was not sufficient," Edano told reporters. "When the current crisis is over, we must examine the accident closely and thoroughly review" safety standards.
An AP investigation following the tsunami found that TEPCO officials had dismissed scientific evidence and geological history that indicated that a massive earthquake ? and subsequent tsunami ? was far more likely than they believed.
The plant was pounded by water far higher and stronger than the complex was prepared to endure, the investigation found.
The urgent mission to stabilize the Fukushima plant has been fraught with setbacks.
Workers succeeded last week in reconnecting some parts of the plant to the power grid. But as they pumped water into units to cool the reactors down, they discovered pools of contaminated water in numerous spots, including the basements of several buildings and in tunnels outside them.
The contaminated water has been emitting radiation exposures more than four times the amount the government considers safe for workers and must be pumped out before electricity can be restored to the cooling system.
That has left officials struggling with two crucial but sometimes-contradictory efforts: pumping in water to keep the fuel rods cool and pumping out contaminated water and safely storing it.
Nuclear safety official Hidehiko Nishiyama said cooling the reactors had taken precedence over concerns about leakage.
"The removal of the contaminated water is the most urgent task now, and hopefully we can adjust the amount of cooling water going in," he said, adding that workers were building sandbag dikes to keep contaminated water from seeping into the soil outside.
The discovery of plutonium, released from fuel rods only when temperatures are extremely high, confirms the severity of the damage, Nishiyama said.
Plutonium is a highly toxic substance which breaks down very slowly, remaining dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years.
"If you inhale it, it's there and it stays there forever," said Alan Lockwood, a professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine at the University at Buffalo and a member of the board of directors of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an advocacy group.
___
Associated Press writers Shino Yuasa in Tokyo and Jonathan Fahey in New York contributed to this report.
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Spoiler Chat: Will There Be Another Surprise Pregnancy on Grey's Anatomy?
Is this the season of babies on Grey's Anatomy? Callie (Sara Ramirez), Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) and Mark (Eric Dane) are already knocked up, but could there be a second Seattle Grace kiddo coming soon? Find out what we learned about Anatomy family planning from the cast, along with the scoop about what's keeping Jackson (Jesse Williams) from closing the deal with Lexie (Chyler Leigh).
Plus, is Jeffrey Dean Morgan's John Winchester finally�coming back to Supernatural? Which two Glee gals are getting a big storyline? And what's to come for fan-fave pairing "Mikita" on Nikita? Find out all that and more in this week's spoiler chat:
JDTColorado:�Is OTH good as dead?
One Tree Hill's future is uncertain, it's true, but OTH does remain in contention for another season.
Honeybeat44 in Chicago, Ill.: There are conflicting reports saying that Glee won't be coming until April 19 and not April 12 as we first thought. Help! I'm going through some serious withdrawals.
Sorry, you'll have to suffer one week longer than planned: Fox confirms that Glee won't be back until April 19.
Hector: Eastbound & Down is the best comedy on television, but is it really not going beyond season three?
That's the word, unfortunately. Danny McBride tells us, "When we set up the show, our idea was to keep it tight and small and never give it a chance to get old. So we always imagined it as a three season arc. So we're going to finish out what we planned on doing. But we really love working on the show, and we love doing it, so who knows what's going to happen." Never say never in TV land. Except when it comes to an Eastbound & Down movie. "There's no truth to that, honestly," Danny laughs.
Blair: So who killed Rosie Larsen?
We're dying to know this, too! We've seen the first three episodes of AMC's The Killing, and it's exactly as beautiful and brilliant as network predecessors Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Leading ladies Mirelle Enos (as the detective) and Michelle Forbes (as the dead girl's mom) are luminous in their respective roles; prepare to be mesmerized. (BTW, we talked to Mirelle's husband Alan Ruck a few weeks back, apparently while they were filming The Killing�pilot over a period of three weeks last year, Mirelle was in her second trimester of her pregnancy. Ruck says, "It's a fun game to see which shots she's starting to show in.")
Kitty: Is it true this is Lisa Edelstein's last season on House?!
Don't panic! A source close to the situation confirms that no one in the cast is signed for next season yet, because the studio and the network still need to work out the deal for there to be a next season. Once that's all sorted out, then there will actually be money to pay actors, and then we'll know something for sure either way.
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE: Play the Alpha Male Madness Sweet 16 round!
taylor_b22: Glee scoop! Please tell me Sam & Rachel is not happening!
As of right now, we can tell you Sam and Rachel is not happening, but Glee productions rolls on everyday, so we can't say it'll never happen. If those two do get together, then from what we understand based on other storylines, it'll be a big twist that would cause a lot of problems for others besides Finn. We think it would make more of a mess than what the shock is worth, but Ryan Murphy certainly does love to make things sticky.
LittleMsCutie12: Any hints on what's to come for Rachel/Quinn friendship-wise?
We know of a moment coming up that Rachel and Quinn fans have been wanting, asking about and flat-out begging for since the beginning of the Quinn-Rachel-Finn debacle, and they won't be disappointed in the least. And let's not forget about the surely awesome Rachel and Quinn duet that was recently filmed. Can't wait!
jvento: Is Tina ever going to get a legitimate storyline this season on Glee? She's been grossly underused this year!
Agreed. That whole "Funny Valentine" meltdown was super weird and uncomfortable. Thankfully, Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) will get some good stuff coming up, and not just involving stroking Mike's abs.�
Carly in St. Louis, Mo.: Wondering if you have any new info on the whole Mark/Lexie/Jackson triangle on Grey's Anatomy. As an avid Mark/Lexie fan I am pretty bummed at the way things are currently. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel so I can get through the rest of the season?!
Jesse Williams, who plays Jackson, the newest part of the love triangle, tells us, "I think that the fans know Lexie (Chyler Leigh) better than Jackson does. I think that's kind of an interesting perspective for the audience on how he should approach her, and he's going to try and figure it out for himself, and he may fail or he may succeed." So, if you're a Mark (Eric Dane) and Lexie fan, it could be considered good news that Jackson considers himself romantically clueless about Little Grey, right?
Lee in Atlanta: Will Cristina and Owen on Grey's have a new addition to their family this season?
We just asked Kevin McKidd if there might be a season-ending Cristina-Owen baby surprise, and he told us, "That's an interesting idea; I never thought of that. It's interesting because there have been having a lot of discussions about that, heated discussions about that. So it's possible. But I'm not saying it's definite."
Benjapiriz: Anything from�How I Met Your Mother? The wedding mystery, Barney's dad, anything will do!
The season finale is all about that wedding mystery, and besides finally finding out who in the bleep is getting hitched, it's got some great Barney and Robin stuff. We've been team Barney-Robin from the very beginning, so the idea of ol' Swarley ending up with someone besides her is like a swift kick to our love muscle. We were on set for the shooting of the season finale, and we witnessed a scene between Robin, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Nora (Nazanin Boniadi) that was more than a little disheartening. But you know us, ever hopeful for our favorite TV couples. Still holding out for Brooke and Lucas on�One Tree Hill!
Kerri: So excited to hear that Michael Trucco is going to be on How I Met Your Mother! I love him. Do you know anything about his role?
Michael is a big part of Robin's storyline for the rest of the season. And maybe even beyond that! "We shot an episode last week where Robin sees her crush," Cobie Smulders tells us. "She's had this long-term crush, who's played by Michael Trucco. They see each other again but they don't get the chance to connect. And so there's a moment, a possibility that they might be seeing each other next season. Because she needs to get some action. It's been a very slow year for Robin."
Simone Snow: I'm begging for some�Mikita�scoop!
Nikita show runner Craig Silverstein tells us, "It's a little hard for them. Michael and Nikita will make it work for a second?and then there is the next second." We then asked Craig what a world with a semi-functional Mikita relationship would look like and he teased (squee), "God willing, that world is called season two." Whoo! Meanwhile, Craig tells us, "When we come back on April 7, we will see why he wasn't able to make it work with Nikita, when they were both working at Division, and we will get another reveal about his past that kind of ripples through and changes his presence." Te gusta, amigas?
Misty: Any scoop on White Collar? I miss that show!
As promised, Diana (Marsha Thomason) is getting a love interest! Apparently she'll be?worthy of a lot of adjectives? Producers are looking for someone who credibly play a surgeon and a wild child, as well as display all of the following attributes: stylish, quick, witty, strong, sophisticated, confident and sexy. Heck, now we want to date this chick!
Marion: I love Justified. What about some Mags Bennett scoop?
This week's episode puts us back in the world of coal, moonshine and good ol' fashioned intimidation. Deliciously evil matriarch Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale) can give a good speech?make that a great speech. And we'll see why she is the undisputed boss-lady of Harlan County. These next two episodes are not to be missed. It's truly the show at its finest and so much stuff goes down, good, bad and devastatingly sad!
Cheryl in Hudson, N.Y.: Emily isn't really moving to Texas on�Pretty Little Liars, is she?
First Caleb hops a bus for Arizona, now Emily's family's relocating to the Lone Star State...are the folks in Rosewood that desperate for fresh salsa? Anyway, while Caleb is roadtripping back home with Lucas, Mrs. Fields proves she's serious about getting out of (going to?) Dodge by putting the house on the market and getting a realtor. Suggestion for Emily: Melissa might be looking for a roommate in the guesthouse. Just sayin'.
ElderPoptart: Any post finale #PLL scoop would be amazing! Please and thank you!
When�Pretty Little Liars�returns for its second season June 14 (Cannot. Wait.), someone else besides A will be privy to the girls' secrets: a posh therapist. Because no one believes their allegations about Ian and what happened to him�in the church, their parents send their Little Liars (who happen to be telling the truth this time) to group counseling. Too bad their Jenna isn't the one having her head examined instead.�
Miss_Autonomy:�Gossip Girl�news?
Could Serena's (Blake Lively) next move be winning an Academy Award? It's all about who you know in Hollywood, and in an upcoming episode,�The Fighter�director�David O. Russell�(pictured right, with Lively) drops by the CW drama to play himself. Actually a big L.A. move for Serena might not be far off, since sunny Santa Monica was the backdrop for this run-in, and she really has the California vibe anyway, right?
Peter: Thanks for the�Nurse Jackie�scoop! What else can we expect this season?
Jackie (Edie Falco) gets sneakier and sneakier, of course. Whenever you think she won't get out of a pickle, repeat to yourself: "Never underestimate the skills of Jackie Peyton." And she will find herself in some enormous pickles this time around. One particular awesome moment near the beginning of the season involves a complete manipulation of Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) using only?wait for it?an internet search engine.
DannyPKC:�United States�of Tara�is back! What can we expect this season?
You can expect a new student, new jobs, a new love interest, a new baby and new alters! Phew. It's jam-packed but something we especially adore about this season is Tara's (Toni Collette) new psychology professor, played by�Eddie Izzard. Interestingly enough, he doesn't believe in dissociative identity disorder. We have a feeling after he spends some time with Alice, T, Buck and Shoshana he might see things a little differently.
Megan: I think Jennifer Aniston should come back on�Cougar�Town. Don't you?
Of course, we do! Do you think we hate good cast chemistry or something? Alas,�Courteney Cox�ruined our dreams of�Jen�returning toCougar�Town. "I don't think she will come back on the show. That is the busiest woman ever. I would love it if she wanted to," she tells us. Bummer city, and we are the mayors.
Luanne:�Cougar�Town. What ya got?
Lots! According to Courteney, at least. "The characters get richer and richer and maybe someone is going to want to have a kid, and maybe someone's not," she says. "Maybe someone runs away and starts to act more like their father, maybe not." Awww, sounds like our boy Travis (Dan Byrd) is growing up and going bad!
Delancy: Any scoop about�CSI? I'm loving it this season!
Episode 22 will delve into the aftermath of Langston versus super-duper serial killer Nate Haskell. (Hint: Langston wins!) As Langston's ex Gloria (Tracee Ellis Ross) recovers from her ordeal at Haskell's hands (eek!), Willows will do her level best to keep Gloria's mom from kicking Langston's butt for allowing her daughter to be in such danger.
John: Is�Law & Order: LA�really killing off Skeet Ulrich?
Yep. You might have noticed the death-spoiling promos, but if you were expecting a lot of fanfare, maybe a parade, lots of tears and a memorial service, don't hold your breath. On the upside, maybe this'll free up Skeet for a�Jericho�reboot.�
MrsMiniver: I love me some Vincent D'Onofrio. Any scoop on the final season of�CI?
Law & Order: Criminal Intent�is the first procedural to enter the Tiger Mom ripped-from-the-headlines sweepstakes! Producers are looking to cast someone to play a middle-aged Asian woman named Joanne Chen who is "fixated at all costs on the professional success of her children, she has driven them relentlessly from a very young age. It drove away her husband and eldest daughter, but her younger daughter has achieved great success as a doctor?and continues to live under her thumb, even as an adult." If Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother author Amy Chua herself is not available, might we suggest�Twin Peaks�alum�Joan Chen�to play this Joanne Chen? She's a little young, but hey, that never stopped Hollywood before!
Quentin:�Breakout Kings�is amazing! Tell me I'm not the only one feeling the heat between Lloyd and Julianne!
You are definitely not the only one. And you're in luck, because�Brooke Nevin�tells us there will be more Lloyd (Jimmi Simpson) and Julianne sparks coming up. "The writers are definitely going to let this one play out," she says. "I don't know that anything is necessarily resolved by the first season but certainly if you caught on to some sort of chemistry between Julianne and Lloyd you wouldn't be far off. That is really something that's meant to be there."
Robin: So the Supernatural fandom is all a-twitter about IMDB listing Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a castmember on the season finale, any truth to that? I would think that if he was really going to make a guest appearance they would do everything possible to keep it a secret.
Sources close to the show tell us that there is no truth to that rumor, despite what IMDB says. Now, tell us how you're feeling about JDM being a no-go. We're here to listen.
Amber in Wisconsin: Love reading your spoilers! Any scoop on�Boardwalk Empire?
Boardwalk Empire�is adding some more mafia flavor. They're casting for someone to play Joe Masseria, an early 20th-century mobster who helped establish the Genovese crime family.
numbnuts666: Got any scoop on�Blue Bloods?
Linda (Amy Carlson) and the boys could be in big danger when Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) has to testify against a drug kingpin. OK, let's make that clear: In Friday's episode Linda is in big danger. Really big.�
?Reporting by Jenna Mullins, Jennifer Arrow, Christina Dowling & Dru Moorhouse
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VIDEO: Hold on now,�The Soup can't make fun of E! News?they're on the same network!
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