Archive: January 2009 (321-330 of 354)

Jan 5 2009 09:44 PM ET

Remember Nitro? He's writing a book about his shriveled junk

by
Tagged: , , ,

Nitro_ellen

Former American Gladiator Nitro, who likes to use the decoy name "Dan Clark" as he wanders the lowly earth, will publish a book next month, Gladiator: A True Story of ‘Roids, Rage, and Redemption. You can read all about his struggles with man-boobs and shrinkage at Page Six (or just buy the book, although, yeah right), but to me this is less a reason to mock the guy’s genital deterioration than it is an EXCELLENT excuse to point you to this clip of Nitro guest-starring on season 2, episode 19 of Ellen! They made such a wacky, chemically imbalanced romantic pair. I’m shocked it didn’t work out.

Just me, or does anyone else always hear ‘rrhoid, as in hemmorrhoid, instead of ‘roid?

Huh.

Jan 5 2009 08:30 PM ET

Site of the day: Jason Hawkes' aerial photography

by
Tagged:

London9Photographer Jason Hawkes has spent years taking gorgeous aerial photographs of Britain. From sweeping cityscapes at night to train yards and marinas during the day, each one captures a unique perspective of British life. Scan them all and admire their beauty. The night shots of London, pictured here and collected in this Boston.com gallery, are my faves.

Jan 5 2009 08:00 PM ET

'SNL' + NPH = OMG

by
Filed under: Television and tagged: , , ,

Here’s a sparkling reason to go on living until Saturday, PopWatchers: Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting his first Saturday Night Live Jan. 10! I can think of no one better. Aside from being up for a Golden Globe this weekend for his work on How I Met Your Mother, Harris is consistently one of the most entertaining fellows on TV — we don’t just hand out those EOTY awards to chimps, people — and he is a trained theater professional, which means he should be right at home in the live format. I expect magic, both literal and metaphorical. Seriously. Like, doves and bunnies and stuff. You hear me, Harris? DOVES AND BUNNIES.

Also: Musical guest Taylor Swift! She’s so good live! Yaaaaay…

(Did that seem forced? Dammit, I’m trying.)

Anyway, check out my recent video chat with Harris below, and then use the comments to talk about how awesome NPH is and/or suggest other people you’d like to see make their SNL hosting debut in 2009.

Jan 5 2009 07:30 PM ET

'Brothers & Sisters' recap: Justin cuts the cord. (Kevin, too.)

by
Filed under: About Last Night, Television and tagged: , ,

Brothersandsisters_lThere was a time when I wasn’t a fan of Scotty. (That would be when I had a crush on Kevin’s ex, Rev. Boyfriend.) But Kevin’s husband officially won me over last night when he helped nurse my favorite Walker back to health after the liver-transplant surgery that saved Kevin’s niece/biological daughter: "You look great," Scotty told Kevin, as the latter sweated through a mound of Nora’s linens. "All shiny and mussy. Like a wounded World War II soldier in a bombed-out French cathedral. Male nurse-wounded soldier, it’s always kinda been a fantasy of mine." (Scotty later showing up in a WWII uniform, in one Kevin’s dream sequences, was the only thing that made that trite device tolerable.)

Personally, I find it difficult to believe that Kevin would have agreed to recuperate at Nora’s house — even under the influence of pain meds — but it set up the theme of this (and every) episode: Is Nora suffocating her children? After she and Scotty fought over who was better qualified to remove Kevin’s pants for a shower — and Kevin had a dream about making love to Julia, Tommy’s wife — he bolted Casa Nora for a fancy beachside hotel with the help of Justin, who had some thinking of his own to do. (More on that later.) Justin calling Kevin’s ill-conceived escape "amateur hour" (he forgot to let the shower run, lock the door, and bring his meds) was classic, as was Justin’s attempt to distract Nora by promising gossip on Saul (he’s got a boyfriend). How cute was Sally Field when she ran back into the kitchen to hear it? Nothing makes a Walker run like family gossip (except maybe for an open bar).

READ FULL STORY »

Jan 5 2009 06:50 PM ET

'Superstars of Dance' premiere: Just, WHY?

by
Filed under: Television and tagged: , , , ,

Pashaanyasuperstars_lLast night’s premiere of NBC’s Superstars of Dance, hosted by Lord of the Dance and Caricature of Self Michael Flatley (DANCLRD for short), provided an excellent second-rate substitute for anyone who missed the Olympics and needed a two-hour recap. There was a parade! Lots of color! Rhythmic gymnastics! A lady straddling a chair! Okay, fine, this actually played out nothing like the Olympics but a lot like a forced SNL sketch — specifically, the painstaking introduction of the mind-blowingly useless international judging panel. I do recommend viewing the show as if it’s an intentionally arranged nightmare…which is pretty much the definition of what it is ANYWAY…aggghh, mind melt!

P-Dubs, I gave this spectacle a chance, but I could barely keep my head above sea-of-liquid-cheese level a few routines after So You Think You Can Dance alums Anya and Pasha (pictured) slithered through a seriously hot number set to a pounding Russian song featuring dial tones. That really did rule. At 10 p.m., exhausted and gurgling, I was honestly shocked that the premiere would last another hour — not to mention the two-hour extension of the premiere that’ll air tonight.

So many questions. Are you still alive? Will you tune in again? Was I the only one confused by that one judge’s repeated shouts of "NO!" when he pretty much meant yes, a.k.a. 9? How on earth should Irish stepping be judged alongside South African gumboot dance and the little Chinese girl with her sad ribbon? As EW.com’s DWTS "expert" and superfan, who exactly do I think I’m kidding? To sum it all up…WHY?

Jan 5 2009 06:45 PM ET

Pat Hingle remembered

by
Filed under: Movies and tagged: ,

Pathingle_lBorn Martin Patterson Hingle on July 19, 1924, the actor known to audiences as Pat Hingle died of myelodysplasia, a form of blood cancer on Saturday,Jan. 3 at his home in Carolina Beach, N.C. Perhaps best known for his role as Commissioner Gordon in the first four Batman films, Hingle actually had a 55-year careerspanning theater, film, and television.

Though he once said he started acting simply because all the pretty girls seemed to gravitate toward the stage, theater soon became his true love, and Hingle was eventually accepted into the prestigious Actors Studio in New York. If any one person helped him get his break it was Elia Kazan, the hard-hitting director of A Streetcar Named Desire, who cast Hingle as an uncredited bartender in On the Waterfront and, more importantly, as the conniving Goober in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Later, Hingle would play Warren Beatty’s soul-killing father in Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass.

His stern, yet slightly forlorn face lent itself well to conservative authority figures, whether as the crime lord menacing Anjelica Huston in The Grifters, as Sally Field’s father in Norma Rae, and most notably as Commissioner James Gordon in the four Batman films of the movie franchise Tim Burton first started in 1989.

Hingle never quite became a star, but that didn’t diminish his love of of acting. A few years ago Hingle told the Washington Post, "There were the Gary Coopers and the Clark Gables, but they didn’t really appeal to me. But I saw Walter Huston and Hume Cronyn in about 10 movies and I saw that it was possible to play a wide variety of roles where there [were] no connections between one or the other; they weren’t put into a slot….I saw what was possible."

Hingle is survived by Julia, his wife of 29 years, his five children, 11 grandchildren, and two sisters.

Jan 5 2009 06:30 PM ET

The Snuggie: Comfy blankety thing or Garment of Satan?

by
Tagged: , , , , ,

I don’t know about you, but there are certain things that I try and dodge every Holiday break — Family Matters marathons, my wife’s morbidly morbid cousin (who I like to call "the Angel of Death"), fruitcake — but this year, something kept creeping up on me and no matter where I turned, I couldn’t escape it. Gaze upon the horror of…the Snuggie.

Everywhere I looked, every channel I changed to, I saw that ad. And it tasks me. I can’t decide if those people are all members of some crazy-happy death cult and this is their last day before Ascension or if this spot was filmed at the winter residence of the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and they’ve got a whole host of super-comfy hate-robes on hand for family retreats.

Or if there are really people in this world who can’t navigate their way around a friggin’ blanket.

Oh, the horror…the snuggly, Snuggie horror.

Anyone else creeped out by this garment? Is there any chance that you would ever actually pay good money to wear one?

Jan 5 2009 06:13 PM ET

'Rock of Love Bus' Premiere

by
Filed under: About Last Night and tagged: , , ,

Nikki_lHi-yooooo! The third (and reportedly final) season of Rock of Love is finally here! This time around the girls have ditched the palatial pad for a seat on one of two buses following Poison frontman Bret Michaels on his cross-country Rock My World solo tour. Though they’re no longer sunning around a Hollywood pool, last night’s premiere was chock-full of the requisite moments we’ve come to expect from this classy series: Cliques were formed, cat fights were had, topless backstage pass photos were taken, and you better believe there was at least one chick who drank too much tequila, barfed, then immediately made out with Bret.

After the initial backstage pass photo shoot with the rocker, the girls were split between two buses: the pink bus whose occupants are all blonde (save for one spicy Brazilian brunette) and nicknamed the "Blondourage," while the brunettes (who are, admittedly, a little boring) congregated in the blue bus. Perhaps a redhead should be introduced into the mix as a sort of neutral-party ambassador to help unite the two fighting factions. Sadly, there was no challenge last night, unless you count dancing topless onstage during Bret’s supposedly family-friendly concert or choking your fellow competitor, but the Rock of Love Web site assures me there’s mud football, ice hockey, and a "sexy dance off" to come. Following the concert and a raucous few hours in the hotel, Bret sent five girls — Gia, Heather, Marci, Nikki (pictured), Stephanie — to the curb along with their bubblegum pink luggage, leaving 15 to continue rocking Bret’s world. Here’s how the competition is shaping up:

Rocked hard: As much as Bret "likies" the crazies, in the end, he always seems to pick the most level-headed of the bunch (second season winner Ambre has a master’s degree for goodness’ sake!), so I’m picking Beverly as my first-week favorite. Though the Blondourage heckled her butch boots (chunky heels really are so 1995), the 29-year-old seems to have a good head on her shoulders, admitting right away that she was divorced and making a joke at second season’s Kristy Jo’s expense. (Though I am a little concerned that in addition to Bret, she and her ex agreed that she could have a "free pass" for Ed Norton. Ed Norton? Really?)

Not at all: Even though Nikki (a.k.a. D.J. Lady Tribe) was denied a backstage pass last night, we can’t let her hop off the pink bus without a thorough examination (hazmat suit not optional). This season’s Frenchy (over-inflated boobs and lips, bleach-blond locks, incomprehensible speech), Nikki tried to get noticed by performing a rap for the aging rocker — problem was, the lyrics were penned on the back of informational printouts about gonorrhea and genital warts. Also in need of some rock rehab: Brittaney. During the photo shoot, Bret recognized her immediately — as an adult movie "actress"! Bret seemed less concerned that she was a porn star (probably because, as my roommate surmises, most of these girls must be porn stars), and more concerned that she was needy. I agree that offering Bret a threesome during one of her first conversations with him does reek a wee bit of needy. And gross.

Were you just as grossed out by Nikki and Brittaney as I was, PopWatchers? Who is your favorite to rock Bret’s world? Place your predictions now, and tell us what your favorite moment from last night’s premiere was.

More ‘Rock of Love’:
‘Rock of Love’ update: The spin-offs
Let ‘Rock of Love’ ‘star’ Daisy de la Hoya ‘entertain’ you!
Who wants a ‘Rock of Love 3′?

Jan 5 2009 04:00 PM ET

Clip du jour: Beaker singing "Ode to Joy"

by
Tagged:

Beaker, my favorite Muppet for reasons unknown (Maybe because he resembles my friend Ben? Because he is a man of few words?) performs Beethoven’s ”Ode to Joy.” Check out the cameo from Statler and Waldorf at the end.
Ode To Joy from Beaker on Vimeo

Jan 5 2009 03:39 PM ET

Hugh Jackman on 'DWTS'? (Um, no.) Who else should they cast?

by
Tagged: , ,

Hughwandabebe_lI’m not gonna lie to you: I stopped watching Dancing With the Stars somewhere around the start of season 4, mainly because the viewing experience started reminding me of those mornings where you’re in the shower, and for the love of all that’s holy, you can’t remember if you’ve shampooed your hair or not. I’d sit there on my couch and think to myself, "Have I or have I not already seen Edyta Sliwinska wrapping her legwarmer-clad gams around this middle-aged C-lister to the tune of En Vogue’s ‘Free Your Mind?’" In other words, it’s my firm belief that DWTS has a casting problem; its former boy-bander + vaguely recognizable "supermodel" + former pro athlete + former teen star formula is as stale as the six remaining Christmas cookies on your kitchen counter this morning. (You know, the ones that are trying to tempt you away from your recommitment to diet excellence in 2009?)

Anyhow, this isn’t to say that I don’t sometimes miss the cheesy charms of DWTS, and so this morning’s MSNBC headline — Is Hugh Jackman ready to go ‘Dancing’? — gave me the briefest of heart flutters, followed almost immediately by the realization that the man tapped to host the 2009 Oscars is about as likely to join the next installment of ABC’s reality competition as Cloris Leachman is to get outfitted with adamantium claws and headline one of the year’s most hotly anticipated action vehicles.

That said, the preposterous Jackman rumor — promptedby DWTS hostbot Samantha Harris’s claim that she approached Wolverine to lace up his ballroom shoes — got me thinking: Who would DWTS have to cast for its upcoming eighth season to get me watching again?I’d start with Wanda Sykes, who’s funnier than any previous DWTS "comic relief" provider, but might actually be fit enough to contend for the crown. I’d also scrap the traditional casting of a former 90210/Melrose Place actor, and instead offer a spot to any member of the cast of the late, great Thirtysomething. (Corey Parker or Mel Harris would get my vote.) And since previous dancing experience didn’t prohibit Lance Bass or Joey Fatone from cracking the top 3, I’m also going to nominate the indomitable Bebe Neuwirth. Throw in celebrity pitchman BILLY MAYS (all caps because the man is always turned up to 11), NYPD Blue star Henry Simmons, any member of defunct girl groups such as 702, 3LW, SWV, or Jade, and Olympic skier Picabo Street (just because her name is superfun to say), and I am totally in. Who would it take to get you excited for another go-’round of DWTS? All must be revealed!

Advertisement

TV Recaps

Powered by WordPress.com VIP