Saturday, December 02, 2006

I was not going to post today, but then I remembered about the A-D list proposals and links I had promised to share that so many of you contributed. In addition, another e-mailer sent me some links to some British tabloids, and so not much effort was required on my part.

A-D List

Alison who is almost as fast as Jeeze Louise when it comes to response times, was the first to come up with this link to Wikipedia and their discussion of the Ulmer Scale which is used a great deal in Hollywood, but to me is still way to subjective because of things which are left up to someone's perception such as a willingness to promote films, their versatility and professional demeanor. In my experience, the subjective items scored really high when the money brought in is really high. Someone could do everything in the world to promote a film and be the nicest person and the most incredibly gifted actor, but not bring home the money and they will be low on the scale. Meanwhile, the biggest prick or bitch on the planet who refuses to do anything for the movie but has a high box office can be at the top of the list. The subjective items just give people an excuse to say no.

The most innovative award goes to Sara who also contributes some of the links from the British tabs below. Sara's really good idea deals with the word "stars." She compares stars to the astrological signs and is incredibly clever. Here it is almost word for word.

A List Stars--- Shine brightly, consistently, and even folks that live in the middle of nowhere have heard of them. They can carry a film on their name and earn maga-bucks.My ideas would be Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney. You probably won't see these stars getting trashed at the local nightclub in your tabloids.

B List Stars--- Again consistent, usually working, star maybe in the ascendant/descendant; recognizable but maybe not as big as an A lister. Maybe TV rather than film? Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz, Selma Blair, etc etc

C List Stars--- May have once been A/B; Can put in excellent performances, but lack the consistency; either due to performance or poor choice of project. May court tabloid coverage, may need to put some clothes on!!! Matthew McConaughey, Denise Richards, Pam Anderson, need I go on?

D List *cough* "stars" (using finger indications!!)--- Probably famous for being famous, will do anything to get publicity (other than what their job title is e.g. Act, Sing, etc). Usually look like they could do with a good wash, and use cheap publicity stunts (yes, like "forgetting" to put their underwear on - I don't feel the need to name names here; other than to say that anyone from a reality TV show or some other cheap 15 minute of fame show is probably going to fall into this category too!

It is possible for performers to fluctuate quickly between the B, C & D categories depending on their circumstances and current behavior. A list stars tend to remain there (hence the consistence comment).

Really, really good. Thank you so much for your effort, and it really does make a great deal of sense. I am not sure if I agree with some of the classifications of all the celebrities named, but it is a great starting point.

Sticking with Sara. My favorite link she sent involves Ms. Beckham, guns, and some Japanese tourists all at Posh's house. Click here.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Four For Friday

So these are quick, shorter blind items for your appetite. As is becoming the norm, I may over the next week expand on them or some may be guessed, or as was the case with one from last week, no longer be relevant.

I can vouch for two, and we will all have to trust the other two. They come from good sources, but you know, there was drinking, etc. so you never know.

The reason I put in the other things from other countries is because it interests me and also I would run out of things to say if I did not comment on other items or gossip from other places. If the last week is any indication, then I may start to get more things in I can share with you without having to use up all my stories.

Now, here they are---

1. What actor and actress on a hit NBC show are having a little thing with each other that their respective significant others do not know about AND one of the pair also has a little something more going on with another person as well?

2. What recent network reality/celebrity couple has been spotted enjoying themselves and others several times at the 13th Floor? FYI, the 13th Floor is an exclusive Las Vegas swingers club.

3. This A list actress thought her television show would go on forever. She was wrong and the show ended within the last year. She spent all her money and cannot get work (maybe not so A list now then huh?) so she has agreed to take it ALL off. People will be standing in line for this issue.

4. What British actress/model has gone back to her old flame of many years because she cannot stand her husband to be? The only problem...she has not told her husband to be, and the old flame also has someone as well...

Thanks for all the suggestions and links pertaining to categorizing A-D list people. I will be posting some links and some of the great original suggestions as well this weekend.


So now that I have said my piece we can move on to the LINKS of the day as well as my commentary which I am sure you all hate, but I still do. The reason is that I like to think of this blog as something we would be talking about if we were having a one on one conversation.

Because of the way I found the links today, there may be some interplay between countries and will not all be in order.

From Australia we find Robbie Williams on his 2nd or third retirement tour, but he still sells ticket everywhere in the world he goes, except the US. Millennium is the only song that really did well here, but he still got to be on MTV Cribs. He sold 45,000 tickets last night for a concert and that is probably the total amount he has sold in all of his US stops. He really is good, but just has not caught on here.

Sticking with the music theme we find Tito Jackson desperate for something to do. In this UK article (yes UK. new country, new sucking up) Tito hints at a reunion tour of the Jackson 5 and they will share billing with Janet Jackson and 3T. Of course all this is always dependent on Michael, and someday when Tito actually talks to Michael (see the end) maybe they can discuss it.

Staying on the Continent and sucking up to both the UK and Germany in this story. It seems as if Victoria Beckham is really a control freak. I will not spoil the article for you, but when you read it, imagine if you will a red carpet event and each actress going up to the photographers saying, "You need to sign this before you take any pictures of me, and send me all the copies first before you publish them."








Back to the other side of the world, and honestly New Zealand you are killing me here. I spend minutes and minutes looking for entertainment or gossip from your country and there really is not much, but NOW I know why. Everyone is using hemp and they are using it to build cars. This group is going to race the car in Australia. (See two countries happy now. I should be a diplomat)


Now, some Canadian readers yesterday said I should use the Star for my gossip instead of the Sun. I read the Star today, and I think the tabloidness of the Sun wins out. With that being said, there is a GREAT article in the Sun about the F word in the movies and how Robert Altman was the first to put the F word into a movie. This article is VERY long, but much more well written than this blog. It also pays off at the end when the author replaces dialogue from movies such as Gone With The Wind and inserts the F word.

Does this Sun reviewer just dislike the new movie Turistas or despise it with every ounce of her being? You decide.


December 1 is World Aids Day and I really hope that today, if you do nothing else that you at least take a moment to reflect on the number of people who have died of AIDS and those living with AIDS and who are HIV positive. Because people are living longer with AIDS, the disease seems to have been kind of glossed over in the more developed countries and is not in the forefront of our consciousness now as it was.

For some reason in the 90's I found myself in London on World Aids Day for four or five years consecutively and there was always something going on to make people aware of the perils of the disease and at the same time to make sure people had some fun in return for their time or money. The Virgin Records Megastore in Piccadilly Circus was the scene for some incredible concerts inside the store from some of the best UK musicians and it was all free. People would wander in and out of the concert all day while at the same time signing petitions, donating money, and just becoming more aware of the world around us.

I also had the honor of seeing the entire AIDS quilt in Washington DC when it was displayed in its entirety for the final time. For those of you who have been to DC, the quilt stretched from the US Capitol all the way to the Washington Monument and it was just truly breathtaking.

It used to be trendy to wear an AIDS ribbon and so people wore them. Now, people just look at them and all the colored, rubber bracelets that are out there with indifference. I am not asking you to do anything, but just reflect and realize that it is still a devastating disease for much of the planet and is the 3rd biggest cause of death in the world.

http://www.joinred.com/

I promise the rest of the day will be more uplifting and I will be back later with LINKS. I just had to say what was on my mind.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Perez Hilton Lawsuit Commentary - Because you asked JeezeLouise


Copyright infringement is very tricky because the US Constitution protects both copyright and freedom of speech. Therefore, when the two collide it can be complicated.

The balance is such that the Constitution wants to protect the artist (X17) but at the same time wants to limit their copyright because the works (photos) themselves may be useful to the public.

Perez's defense will be "fair use."

Once X17 has proved they own the copyright, the burden will shift to Perez to prove fair use which involves four factors the court looks at.

1. The first factor is the purpose and character of the use. If the use is commercial in nature, then you are less likely to prevail than if it is for non-profit. If you are using the pics to try and get profit, you may be in trouble, but if profit is incidental, then you may be ok. Further, if you just use a thumbnail rather than the entire photo, you are likely to be ok. Perez will have a tough time with this factor.

2. The second factor is the nature of the work - Is the work unique or is it fact? In this case, I would argue it is more fact than artistic and so would be in Perez's favor.

3. The third factor is the portion of the copyright used. So, if for example it was a group photo and you cropped all but one, you are more likely to prevail. This factor is a tossup

4. The fourth and most important factor is how the posting affected X17. If x17 can prove they were damaged by a reduction in sales or a the number of visitors to their site, then they would prevail. The numbers need to be real and verifiable and not just guesswork.

If the facts are true as reported in the press release, and they may not be, then X17 has a strong case.

I do not usually comment directly on legal matters so the following disclaimer is needed.

DISCLAIMER - The Information is not intended to constitute, and does not constitute, legal advice. Moreover, the Information is not intended to constitute, and does not constitute, a solicitation for the formation of an attorney-client relationship; no attorney-client relationship is created through your use or viewing of the Blog. Anyone reading the Information should not act on it without first seeking legal counsel. Further, the Information is general in nature, and may not apply to particular factual or legal circumstances.

Perez Hilton lawsuit -- Thanks to JeezeLouise for being on top of this situation. Here is the link.

http://jossip.com/gossip/perez-hilton/breaking-x17-sues-perez-hilton-for-real-this-time-20061130.php


So, I met her. I finally met Ms. Lindsay Lohan if only for just an introduction. Sunset Tower Hotel. GQ Awards. I will not go into all the names she has been called and may or may not deserve. I will say this though. She came up to the people I was speaking with because one of the group was a friend of LL and so introductions were made all around. She seemed normal, and after a phone conversation I had with someone shortly before meeting LL, I would have thought otherwise. Honestly, and this kills me, she looked really good. Movie star good. I so much wanted her to look bad, but she really was dressed really well and her hair and makeup were flawless. I hate myself.

So, I was told there will be no more pantyless shots of Ms. Spears. I think you know who told me, but we should try to be vague as that is what makes it more fun. Besides, the reasons offered up for all the shots were also vague.

1. It had been a LONG time since she got to just wear a short skirt and go out and have fun, and the pap did not used to go for those shots. She has done it before with no problems.

2. It was going to be used as a joke when Britney and Paris hosted the Billboard Music Awards, which obviously is off for the moment.

3. There was a third reason, but I cannot go into that one and really, it was said as a joke. I think.

For my Australian LINK of the day I was going to talk about the Wiggles since they are Australian and because my nieces and nephews love them, but I really only found US coverage of them, and it did not seem appropriate to be a smart ass when talking about them anyway, so I let it go.

So on to the others instead. I LOVE this headline. You are going to have to click to see it. I will not give it away.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20847967-5006023,00.html

Nicole Kidman is the highest paid actress in Hollywood and it took me by surprise because I actually thought Reese made more $ last year. The two other interesting items in the article, are (1) I think an Australian newspaper could have found a better pic of Nicole, so I put one here which is much nicer, and (2) one of the 2nd place names does not belong on the list, but a mistake was made, and it remained on at press time.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20850637-2902,00.html

On most days it is tough to find a New Zealand link of the day and I end up having to mish mash something. But today, NZ really came through. It basically says Rachel Hunter got nothing in her divorce with Rod Stewart but that Rachel refused to be like Heather Mills. uh huh, right..

http://www.xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-6638657,00.html

With our newfound ban on all things ctv, it was much easier to find gossip from Canada.

I know everyone has seen the new-do that Gwen Stefani has been sporting lately, but this interview with Much Music in Toronto is actually really good. One minor note about which I am sure the writer has received about a thousand calls and e-mails is that he basically said women who are breastfeeding cannot be glamorous.

http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Music/2006/11/30/2560812-sun.html

Now, I wanted to give equal time to Vancouver, but you have no entertainment or gossip news in your paper. How do you live?

So instead, we head back to Toronto and to Vegas and to Montreal all in one article. How is that much sucking up possible? Celine Dion of course and her horrible infection.

http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Music/2006/11/30/2560814-sun.html


I will be back later with a blind item and of course tomorrow will be the Friday Four or Five where you get four or five brief blind items on Friday. Makes sense huh?

I have a really busy day, but will find the time to squeeze in a post or two. One thing I wanted to clarify about Vixen and Surfer Boy. I said as far as I know Vixen has never been married, but even I can be wrong. nuff said.

Plenty of links to Australia and Canada and maybe even New Zealand, and I promise to all my Canadian readers, no more CTV.

Also, from what I understand, there will be no more private parts photos from Ms. Britney Spears. I will explain in detail later.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

DEVELOPING -- BLIND ITEM OF THE YEAR -- I keep trying to type this and I just cannot believe what the caller said. They definitely would know, but it is still unbelievable. When this female celebrity (#1) is arguing with another female celebrity or two it has always been assumed that the argument pertained to boyfriends or some trivial matter. As one of the female celebrities (#2) continues to go through personal problems, she is reaching out to friends with the story that she is involved in an on again and off again relationship with the other female celebrity (#1) and that what started out as a laugh became love for celeb #2 while celeb #1 preys on those emotions and treats #2 as a plaything when she needs someone which is causing #2 to spiral out of control. -- STAY TUNED --

Lets move onto something more calm


Australia has given the world not only Nicole Kidman and Elle McPherson and the famed group the punisherz, but also Vegemite and I am afraid Ms. Fanning does not enjoy it. She also prattles on about spiders and the movie she filmed in Australia and wanting to follow in the footsteps of Jodie Foster. So she wants to grow up and raise babies on her own and find a good woman to love, but the real controversy is her loathing of the Australian national dish/spread.

See for yourself.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20831907-5006023,00.html



It also looks like a US woman is stealing an Australian actor as Heath Ledger is getting married, or doing a very good job of faking.

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity/Heath+Ledger+to+marry-12628.html





Yesterday the Canadians tried to convince us all that Pam Anderson was more powerful than Jim Carrey and Sandra Oh (ok, so maybe Sandra Oh, but Sandra Oh is on a top rated tv show and has me for a friend, so--coin flip there hey?)

Today, the fine folks at ctv are all over the show "Degrassi," which they call an international hit drama. Maybe, but it is no "Stacked."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061127/degrassi_061127/20061127?hub=Entertainment


I have a trial today, but will try and get some more details on the top story.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

This item is extremely juicy, but also very long. I was going to make it two separate small, blind items, but decided to combine them and just make one big one. Also, I think someone needs to come up with some definitions for A List - D List celebrities.

To set the stage here, this all takes place in Malibu so look up which celebs live there and that will give you a head start. We have a vixen who is mid to late 30's who might have been A list for about five minutes.Faded teen starlet who hit it big on tv, but now is strictly movies (when she can get them) who tries to stay in the mix but really lives well beyond her means, especially considering her lack of work and lack of marriages. As far as I know she has not been married.

Along comes her neighbor, a nice 16 year old boy with a typical surfer look (my client), but a dad who made it very big in the music business as a producer and has been married and lived with multiple women many of whom are very well known actresses.

16 year old boy gets arrested for possession of cocaine and dad wonders where kid got it as dad has been clean for a very long time. It turns out it was given to him by Vixen the neighbor lady who has introduced Surfer Boy to the wonders of the white powder and has also introduced him to other intimate activities. Surfer Boy thinks he is in love of course and dad is pissed to say the least. Surfer Boy starts discussing things he has seen at the house which explain how Vixen has managed such a nice place to live on a little amount of film and tv work and no live in or former husbands around. It seems that everyone in this little neighborhood knew to come to Vixen for all their pharmaceutical needs and Surfer Boy has not only seen who was coming in and out each day, but also how often and how much they were buying.

Surfer Boy originally told the police he got the coke from a friend and would not give up the name. It was not until he and dad came to my office that the whole story comes out. This is a no brainer and we call the DA and Vixen is arrested. If you look hard enough you will find the arrest in the newspaper. Surfer Boy makes a deal and is shipped off to New York to be with his mom and away from Vixen. Meanwhile Vixen is so far up the pipeline that she cuts her own deal of which I am not familiar with the details. I do know that within 48 hours of her deal the Mexican police acting with DEA officers made a sweep in the LA area and on the California/Mexico border.

The VERY interesting thing about this is that Vixen kept very good records and also paid taxes on her earnings. The records have some very interesting names and it is those names that helped her stay out of the public eye during this, EXCEPT for the actual arrest. The people Vixen was supplying were not only celebrities who often paid with funds from their employers, but also maids, drivers, bodyguards, etc. and Vixen knew who each was buying for.

Surfer Boy escaped from New York (wasn't that a movie?) and actually was found the next day at Vixen's house (next door to dad--well I never said he was smart) Vixen's corruption sexually of the boy was never made an issue, but dad made it an issue at that time so Vixen found a new toy and Surfer Boy went back to NY with a broken heart where he has subsequently (within the past couple of months) been photographed with a VERY A list female but with no idea of how it came to be. They should have read it here first.

Jessica Simpson Sex Tape Update - Last night I spoke to two people, both of whom would ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY know if such a tape existed and they both stated it does not exist. Their guess was that someone thought Britney was getting just a little too much publicity and that Miss Simpson's camp wanted her to have some as well.

HYPOTHETICAL discussion in the Simpson camp -

Publicist - "Well we could have Jessica go out and help serve the homeless for Thanksgiving or hand out early Christmas presents or do one of those Kathy Griffin type holiday/charity parties.

Joe- "Nope. What we are going to do is to have them think Jessica made a sex tape. If a sex tape is good enough for Britney, it is definitely good enough for Jess, and hell she hasn't even had any babies. And if that doesn't work we will just have her flash the world a few times. That should do it."

Australian LINK of the Day from a NZ website- I was going to show a photo of someone who got kicked off their reality show that is going on now, but since no one watches it over there, and we have no idea who the celebrity is over here, we will just go with this

http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11965-6623631,00.html

and be thankful you did not have to actually witness it. So after you read about chundering, then you might want to check this out and guess whether or not the writer actually did. I love Australia, but honestly I have never heard of a person not being able to eat an entire Krispy Kreme donut.

http://www.evilpleasures.com.au/krispy-kreme-donuts/


And now for the first time we present the Canada LINK of the day. It could very well be the last unless someone can explain to me how Pam Anderson until recently was the most powerful Canadian celebrity. See here for yourself.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060815/jim_carrey_060815?s_name=&no_ads=

Expanded Blind Item - The couple who the police caught having sex in public was discovered by me, when the man came to my office and asked if he needed to register as a sex offender here in California because of this. I see that he also made another appointment for next week to see me, so I am guessing maybe his wife found out.

Be back later with a much more uplifting blind item than yesterday. Not all of the items I post are going to be happy and uplifiting. I wish they were, but I do not control the people or the situations that come into my office and my life and make possible these stories.

Monday, November 27, 2006

I am sorry this post took so long, but I needed to make sure it did not reveal too much because it is so sensitive. There are always allegations flying back and forth about what some celebrity has given to another celebrity, i.e Hepatitis (see Pam Anderson from Tommy Lee), or an STD, etc., but it something altogether different when it is HIV. When it is HIV, almost no one wants to come forward as this posting will show.

I have a client ( B list - a few television shows, never top billed and some made for tv movies where she was top billed) -- who came to me when she wanted to file for divorce. For some reason, I rarely get the husbands who come to me, just generally the wives. Anyway, she came to me and she wanted to get a divorce because her husband had been cheating on her. It was not the first time, but she was just tired of all the lies and she felt he was not honest with her about anything from the time they began dating. Of course, this self-realization about truthfulness did not hit it her until after they were married. They had a pre-nup and it was airtight and so she was only going to get what the pre-nup allowed which was not much, but I figured we might be able to argue for a little more support or an additional piece of property and he might give in, just to have us go away and to keep the legal bills to a minimum.

She ( "W") thought his cheating was confined to just a fling here and there. There is no way to describe him without some sort of revelation so lets just call him a businessman. ("B") It turns out that B enjoyed swingers clubs, and other hedonistic pursuits as much as he could and was not really selective in either his partners or their gender. As these revelations came out, W went to her doctor because she had not been feeling well and was dealing with incredible levels of stress. While there she decided to get a full bloodwork done as well to find out if she had contracted anything. Well there is a saying when you are getting bloodwork done, that no news is good news. The trouble was she got lots of news and it was not pretty. She had not only contracted HIV from the soon to be ex, but found out she was pregnant as well by the soon to be ex.

At first B denied he was either the father of the child or the person who had infected W, but soon caved. He admitted he had known he was HIV positive, but did not tell W because he did not think he would ever give it to her because they had not had sex in so long. One night, they both got drunk at a party and when they got home had sex for the first time in almost a year and it was at that time W became pregnant and HIV positive.

In order to keep all of this out of the press, not only for his sake and for W's, there was a very large settlement that at least somewhat made up for the tragedy that he caused W. W continues to work although she is probably more of a C lister now because she would rather not be in the public eye as much and she thinks that just enjoying life is probably the best thing for her.

I know you have questions about the child and if W gave birth or had an abortion, but that is just going to have to remain a mystery.

As of the time of this post, there is nothing to add on the MV situation. I will keep you updated. MV is the only person who can come forward without any repercussions. Myself, S, and Guy do not have that option available to us.

Australian LINK of the Day-Is Nicole Kidman pregnant? This article seems to indicate she is.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20832225-2902,00.html

I am hoping that the fabulous Mel will tell us all about the Kylie Minogue concert she attended the other night in lieu of attending the Australian Idol finale which she also had tickets for. Some photos would be nice too Mel otherwise I will have to post pics from her November 11 show which everyone has already seen.

A little update on the blind item from last Friday regarding the A list producer and his boy toy/slave tendencies. I represented his now ex-wife and during the divorce proceedings we discovered these weekly payments of $2000 each and every week. The producer spent over $100K in one year to be abused and treated like a slave for two hours each week. I did subsequently learn that said Dominatrix is very good at what she does and very attractive, but $100K in one year?

I will expand on the other blind items throughout the week and have four or five ready for this Friday as well.

The New Zealand link of the day is not exactly celebrity news or gossip, but is entertaining.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/061117/oddities/nzealand_crime_police

There are now a great deal of German readers of the blog and as is my custom, I will attempt to suck up, but it may be a few days before that starts.

I am working on a really long blind item right now, but I am having trouble making it totally blind so it will be a few hours before it is posted.

MV UPDATE

DEVELOPING-----

Someone who knows MV, but does not know about the S situation told me this morning that MV was contemplating an in depth interview to address some issues in her personal and professional life. Could this be one of the issues?

If there are any further updates I will address them in my 11am PST post.

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