Bonnaroo It Is

After totally being underwhelmed by what Coachella is offering this year, I kept hoping that Bonnaroo would be able to pick up the slack and give us something in the US to look forward to festival wise. Until yesterday, I thought I would have to just skip the whole damn thing and head off to the UK for some lineups that actually have an impact.

Bonnaroo came through though. Besides having almost every act from Coachella on their lineup, Bonnaroo also added some impact names and some names that will sell tickets. I will be shocked if Coachella sells out this year. Oh, they might call it a sell out, but if it is, it will be because they reduced the number of tickets to where it could sell out. I can't even talk about it because I am so disappointed. They didn't even try at all this year. All of the people they normally ask to help them, never received a call. It was like they thought that because of their reputation, they could just gets acts to beat down their door and play. It doesn't work that way and hopefully next year they will go back to the way it was. Yes, they have some good acts that I want to see, but very, very few. To give you an example. I love Tegan and Sara. Love them, love them, love them. As much as I love them, I realize that most people have not heard of them. At Coachella they are billed 15th. At Bonnaroo which they are also playing they are billed 35th.

To provide a fair comparison I have provided lineups to both festivals. If you had to choose one festival, which would you choose?

Angelina Jolie Is Pretty Incredible Sometimes

I give Angelina Jolie a lot of crap and rightly so, I think for some of what goes on with Angelina and Brad Pitt and whatever happened with Jennifer Aniston. I am actually much more of a Team Angelina person than I let on but Brad Pitt kind of brings me down on them. I understand why he and Jen divorced. I mean Jen is and was whiny. Lets face facts that she i probably VERY high maintenance. Brad, not so much. I also think that when Angelina sets her eyes on you, that you are done. You belong to her at that point. I still don;t see the Brad and Angelina as a couple thing, but it obviously works for them.

My respect for Angelina comes from the work she does for the UN. There are lots of celebrities who talk the talk. When exactly is that Rwanda trip going to happen Paris? There are even some celebrities who take a jaunt through Iraq and Afghanistan to bases to perform for the troops. They are great and I love them and admire them for doing that. What Angelina does is one or two or even three steps further. She goes out away from the green zones and meets with real people in real streets and real homes and talks to people actually on the ground in Iraq from their government and other NGO's.

She is the one celebrity with the exception of perhaps Paul Newman who does the most for a cause. Her thing is refugees and she will travel to any country in any condition to use her celebrity and get something done. The fact that she is intelligent and knows what she is talking about, rather than just spouting some 3rd hand talking point about some political candidate who would be great for the environment, Angelina is respected on both sides of the aisle.

You know that she could be making another bad film somewhere and earning her $20M, but instead she is doing something that is much more important to her. There are reports that she gives away up to 75% of her income to charitable organizations, and the only reason it isn't more is because she keeps having kids and wants to leave them something.

Another positive aspect of her philanthropy is that she has pushed Brad Pitt to do something besides sit at home and smoke pot and remodel his house. Do you think Brad would be involved in Darfur issues or the rebuilding of New Orleans and some other things if it were not for Angelina? Nope, he would be sitting there glassy eyed with Jen just letting the world pass him by.

If you want to read the transcript of Angelina Jolie's interview with CNN which never talks about anything celebrity, click here.

Daily Mirror Blind Item

Which premiership player's girlfriend has been stoking up some WAG-envy?

The brave girl deliberately rolls up her sleeve - even in sub-zero temperatures - to show off her £20,000 Rolex to all and sundry.

George Clooney Tells It Like It Is

Whether you like or dislike George Clooney, he does have an opinion about everything and is not shy about expressing his opinion an issue if you ask. Actually he will tell you his opinion whether you ask or not, or if you are interested or not. He likes sharing, but only what he wants to share, which seems like everything but in fact really isn't. Want to know about Nicole Kidman's pregnancy or Darfur? Ask away. Want to know if he takes Viagra for threesomes, he probably isn;t going to let you know. I think that if a celebrity tells us a bunch of crap opinions that he or she has about issues we really care nothing about, then we as the public should be entitled to ask a few freebie questions that the celebrity would rather not answer. You made us listen to what you had to say, now listen to what we really want to know.

Anyway, in a recent interview, George confirmed out loud what has always been known without speaking and that is actors hate reality stars. Actually his quote was "There is a strange pecking order among actors. Theatre actors look down on film actors, who look down on TV actors. Thank God for reality shows, or we wouldn't have anybody to look down on."

When asked why he looked down on them, he said no one respects celebrities who have no discernible talent. Now I don't know how that applies to some of the actors he has actually worked with in the past. If you get on a television show or film and have no discernible talent does that still give you beat down rights towards a reality star? What if the reality star ends up being nominated for an Academy Award? Still get to look down on them?

I agree with George by the way, and think we become way too enamored of people who just happen to be on a television show whether they have talent or not. I actually have more respect for someone who has won a reality competition like Survivor or Amazing Race because they probably demonstrated some sort of skill that you can respect rather than just being famous for where you happened to be raised or being photogenic enough that someone is willing to give you 20 people to choose from.

NY Daily News Blind Item

Which famous fashion photographer and admirer of the male physique insists on "relaxation exercises" when casting his models? He tells them he likes to put his hands on the parts of their bodies where he senses the most stress ... and the ones who respond get to stand in the front of his trademark group shots.

Chat Room

For those of you who are on tonight, you have probably noticed I am testing out a chat room. If everyone likes it, then it will stay. If you hate it, all you have to do is click on the green dot in the upper right hand corner and it will disable. It allows you to create any nickname you want without signing up, so, if for example you see enty or entlawyer or some variation of my name, it ain't me. This will also allow everyone who doesn't have a Google account to participate. I think it is kind of cool because there are no ads, no registrations, you can upload any video you want to see and share it with everyone, and if someone gets out of hand, anyone has the power to ban. The videos appear to work like a jukebox so it is first come first serve. If someone posts a bunch of porn, just click the red flag on the video screen and the video will go bye bye.

If you have your own blog or something, you can click that embed button on the chat room and it will magically transport the entire chat room to your own site so you can keep track of what is going on.

Anyway, just wanted to provide another way for everyone to communicate with each other.

Today's Blind Items -- Kindness

Wow a kindness at Fashion Week. B list actress who does television most of the time. She might actually be C list but she has a fairly unique look and had one show which gives her staying power for a little longer. Plus one very memorable episode on a great show. Didn't actually happen at a show so I will save you the time of wading through all the actual shows. This was a party. Happened in the restroom. Our actress was standing at the sink with another woman and chatting with her. The woman said she was leaving on an international flight and was already running late. The woman left. A minute or two went by and as our actress was leaving she saw a purse on the sink. She knew from her chatting that it belonged to the woman she had been chatting with. She grabbed the purse and made her way back into the party. The place was packed and she couldn't see the woman. She remembered that the woman was leaving to go catch a plane and so went outside to look. All of the cabs were about a block away all lined up and she saw the woman about two people back from getting into a taxi. Our actress took off down the street. After about three steps one of her heels broke and she went tumbling down onto the pavement in her designer dress. She took off the other heel and went running down the street yelling the entire time. If this were a movie she would have only caught the woman at the airport or something, but the reality is that everyone waiting for a taxi looked up including the owner and she actually realized at that moment she had forgotten her purse and headed back to the actress. Our actress had a ripped dress, no shoes, and a scraped hand but delivered the purse to the woman. The woman was extremely grateful and said the flight could wait, and that she wanted to make sure our actress was ok. They took a cab back to the party where the woman made sure our actress got her hand looked at by someone and made sure she got back with her friends okay as well. The woman offered to pay for new heels or dress, but our actress declined.

Random Photos Part One

Jamie Foxx on the set of his new film. The premise is he is a homeless musical genius.
Homeless until Robert Downey Jr. finds him and begins to help.
You know that I love Heather Graham, but this outfit just says whoever gives me the best offer goes home with me tonight. And is that pose her version of sexy?
Practicing for later. I know I know. The ban. But come on. I didn't say her name and how can you possibly just ignore this photo? You can't. It's priceless.
I think Amy Winehouse looks great, BUT I also think she needs to go spend the next month in that rehab and not leave all the time. No one actually stays in rehab anymore. It is distressing and I think results in more return visits which of course could be the reason rehab places do it this way.
Joe Cocker - Sydney
I am going to take a shot in the dark and guess that Christina Aguilera might be breastfeeding her child. Just a guess. Nothing to base it on. Just a supposition if you will.
The dress is too long. I can't see the knee pads.
I was going to make Counting Crows another music photo, but the thing is I have a rule. No snarkiness on the music photos. Even if you hate them or what they are wearing you just leave it alone and find the very best possible photo of the performance. I just couldn't do it with this photo. Adam Duritz is a guy who slept with Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox in the same week at the height of their fame. He is the poster child for what is wrong with pot brownies and late night snacking.
So, pretend you don't know who the Hitler Youth are in this photo. If you just saw this photo and didn't know anything about either one of them you would think the guy on the left is the gay friend to the girl. Or the gay brother. Sure, I could see that. Gay cousin. Maybe. Stretching it a little now.
I mean sure the old guy is digging dating Salma Hayek, but she doesn't look too thrilled. She also looks like she wants to wear those tight clothes too soon. I feel like my clothes are too tight when I look at her.
Can you make money selling umbrellas? Seriously, it sounds kind of like a big no to me. Living in LA, I never carry an umbrella. When it rains I get wet. When I am in NY, I don't carry an umbrella. When it rains there is a guy on the street every block selling umbrellas for $5. I haven't checked, but I'm guessing Rihanna's umbrellas are going for over $100 at least. That just seems like a big waste. I think Macy's made a really bad decision. Some guy heard the song and thought it would be great, but who the hell wants to spend hundreds of dollars on an umbrella?
In case you were wondering what happened to the former Mr. Jimmy Choo. Actually I think Mr. Mellon has started a line of clothes with his new girlfriend here Noel Reno.
Jordin Sparks should be grateful the Super Bowl was on Fox or she would have completely left the public eye. Now if she can just hang on until American Idol brings her on to sing than maybe she can make it to 16 or 17 minutes.