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Posted by Jess McGuire at 3:42 PM on August 15, 2008
Oh god. Reader AliCakes sent in this gem of a video featuring Obama grooving along to Rick Astley. My head is exploding.
(Not technically a YouTube clip, but we've never been the types to be tied down by "rules")
Posted by Jess McGuire at 2:34 PM on August 15, 2008
I can't work out if I find this article hilarious or sad. I think I find it hilarious. After all, there's nothing more pleasant to learn on a Friday than a politician has been put in his place by a feisty young slip of a lass standing up for the rights of her daddy in front of a bunch of burly Wollongong firefighters.
When Mr Costa insisted that NSW firefighters were the highest paid in the country, Mr Sullivan's daughter, Cate, stepped forward. "Excuse me, sir," she said. "I'm only 10 years old and even I know that is a lie."
Mr Sullivan said Mr Costa then told his daughter: "That was a good line your daddy taught you."
Zing! Nice move, Costa.
But wait, he was misheard!
Posted by Jess McGuire at 1:18 PM on August 15, 2008
You could do worse than attending this soiree, I suppose.
Great bands, it's all very "rock", and oh look! Your Editor will be "spinning" the "mad tunes" in between bands! As the line up is full of incredibly relevant and hip musical ensembles, and I am best known for choosing to blare Rip Rip Wood Chip or the Baywatch theme during DJ sets at The Retreat, there is a very good chance you'll see me get glassed tonight if you come along. That will be pleasant, won't it?
Posted by Clem Bastow at 11:28 AM on August 15, 2008
After everyone enjoyed our first Australian Idol 2008 missive yesterday, I couldn't stop watching the Idol promo - and, like many of you, became fascinated by the winning chap at the 0:27 mark, whose performance of the line "loving each other wholeheartedly" is sure to go down in the annals of Australian music as one of its greatest moments. Well, another Idol promo/teaser has surfaced that gives us a little more of an insight into this champion (as well as 23 of his fellow entrants; whatever). Ladies and gentlemen, at the 0:27 mark (again!) and 0:54, I give you James Spargo:
Posted by Clem Bastow at 10:50 AM on August 15, 2008
Anyone who has read the Herald Sun and its interstate stablemates over the past three months or so will likely have been amused by Sydney Swans player Barry Hall's turbulent love life, which until now involved two separate girls, and was aired as a possible reason for his predilection for punching players out on the field. However not content with two squeezes, Bazza's seemingly decided to make it an uneven three and go for a lady hat trick.
Hall was spotted enjoying a night off with a mystery blonde at a Sydney cinema on Monday night.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 10:30 AM on August 15, 2008
After surprising everyone including her own father by getting hitched in Vegas' Little White Wedding Chapel, Peaches Geldof has arrived back in Old Blighty without her new husband. Which is probably, when you think of it, even less surprising than the marriage itself! I put $5 on the marriage being over by October 14th - anyone want to raise me? However, I was particularly taken aback by this disturbing little bit of information that the Tele quietly slipped into their coverage:
Warner Bros. sent surprising word today that it has bumped Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from a release this November all the way back to July 17, 2009 — a savvy numerological strategy landing Potter exactly one year's worth of Fridays from its opening day for The Dark Knight. Studio boss Alan Horn officially attributed the move to more practical considerations, however, namely the fact that Warners' vibrant content chain is missing a few links next summer thanks to the writer's strike. But don't get any ideas about Jonze-esque hold-ups or other snags, added Jeff Robinov:
The Daily Telegraph has been particularly fond of keeping us abreast, so to speak, of the movements of lesbian MTV VJ Ruby Rose and her is-she-or-isn't-she gal pal, Jess Origliasso from The Veronicas. So it's perhaps unsurprising that their drooling coverage would now extend to the new clip by said sister-to-sister girl group, which features a bit of artfully sexless smooching between a gaggle of models (not to mention the sisters Origliasso suggestively rubbing some fluorescent tubes, which isn't very lezzy at all). Here's the Tele trying desperately to keep it in its collective pants (the vid is over the jump):
In a case of art imitating life, steamy footage of two girls kissing in the clip for current single Take Me On The Floor is an obvious echo of the apparent romance between pop twin Jess and gay MTV presenter Ruby Rose.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 9:29 AM on August 15, 2008
In our Winegums' checkered past over the last twelve months or so, I've lost track of the numerous people who have offered to "save" her; some notables have included Mick Jagger, who apparently ended up too busy pouting in front of a mirror to actually make good on his offer of salvation. Perhaps the latest offerers will have a little more luck: a group of Austrian monks has extended a hand to the troubled soul superstar:
The Cistercian Monks Of Stift Heiligenkreuz are based in Vienna, Austria, and they are a little worried about poor Amy. She certainly has a nice voice, but she doesn't seem to be doing too well. So the brothers would like to bring her over for some solemn, pious R&R.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 9:19 AM on August 15, 2008
If there were to be a bunch of words that would be inextricably linked for all time, there's a good bet they would be "motorsport", "the Gold Coast" and "boobs". Everyone knows that Indy time is nungas time, but if Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has anything to do with it, this year's Gold Coast Indy carnival will be positively G-rated (and all the better for it). In a move bound to disappoint rubbernecking racing fans who travel north as much to gawp at wet t-shirt comps as derring do on the track, Bligh has cracked down on "sleaze" at Indy time:
Ms Bligh was offended by "lewd" behaviour, including women flashing their breasts on highrise balconies, during her first visit to Indy as Premier last year and has told organisers to clean up their act.
Like a record-setting swimmer surging forward towards the goal, you, the Defamer readership, have flooded us with suggestions for which actor could best play the role of gold medal Olympian Michael Phelps. Swimming prowess was secondary (that's what they have CG for) and so were bankable names; after all, no A-list actor worth mentioning could hope to fill the speedo of these perfectly cast finalists.
Now that Britney's sister Jamie Lynn Spears has just "had the damn Caesarian already," you might think the 17-year-old would be free to raise her new baby in relative peace. Sadly, the newest issue of InTouch arrives bearing the gift of postpartum depression; the magazine has alleged that babydaddy Casey Aldridge has been cheating on Jamie Lynn with an older woman, 28-year-old Kelli Dawson. They even have proof: incriminating pictures of the two touching tongues as though they were eight-year-olds who wanted to try out the exotic concept known as "french kissing." Says the mag:
If you think you've had about all you can stand of whatever controversy Tropic Thunder is shoveling today, try notching down the dosage a bit with Robert Downey Jr.'s appearance today on Good Morning America. Eschewing a straight discussion of his ostensibly incendiary portrayal of an Australian Method actor in blackface, RDJ brought his over-lit facial hair to bear on Chris Cuomo and the rest of the studio crew, whose early laughter fades into a riveted 'stache trance unseen since then-UN Ambassador John Bolton made a news round-up way back in 2005. Try for yourself, but only if you're insured and have a friend nearby to spot you. We can't have that many lost work hours on our conscience, at least not in this economy. [ABC]
Has it been only three weeks since the Momzo the Clown incident? It seems longer. In any case, now that the dust has settled from that regrettable, inter-familial kerfuffle heard 'round the world, it turns out The Dark Knight star Christian Bale will not be charged for assaulting nudging up brusquely against his mother at a London hotel:
We're sorry to learn today of the troubles afflicting George Lazenby and Pam Shriver, the one-time James Bond and tennis champion (er, respectively) whose six-year marriage has dissolved into a mess of abuse, dental and toddler drunkenness. At least that's the account handed down in papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, which also granted Shriver temporary custody of their three young children and a restraining order based on threats Lazenby allegedly made against his estranged wife.
91-year-old actor Ernest Borgnine doesn't look a day over 86, and so it was that when the Golden Globe-brandisher stopped by Fox & Friends to chat about his new book, the hosts demanded to know how he could still look so darned good. Botox? Volumizing? A deal with the devil (or ICM)? None of the above, replied the actor, instead leaning in to whisper, "I masturbate a lot." Sadly, Borgie didn't appear to realise that his mic would still pick up those whispers and beam the Oscar winner's chicken-jerking secret across the globe. Still, we can't wait for the day that masturbation becomes an age-defying staple of salons everywhere (though we've heard there's some "health spas" in West Hollywood where it's already common practice). [Fox News]
· Leah Remini is in talks to join the daytime TV circuit with a new series "not necessarily thinking along the lines of a traditional talk show." Details are tight, but rumours of a home-shopping/variety hour—in which you can call in your orders for Pea-Org Vitamin-Enriched Pureed Baby Delight™ while delighting to the musical comedy stylings of Martin Short—sound promising. [THR]
· The Slate's Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter will star in Comedy Central's Michael and Michael Have Issues, a comedy sketch show. [THR]
· Savor that LAT hard-edition. Tribune reports a...*spittake*...$4.5 billion dollar loss. [Variety]
· E! has hired former New Line TV exec Beth Greenwald as their VP of original programming and series development, where she'll oversee a whole new slate of reality shows about the lives of fame-hungry hydras, including the exciting Living Jackie Stallone. [Variety]
· Sid Ganis has been re-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, ensuring you a lengthy and satisfying pee-break at this year's Oscars. [Variety]
Evidently unhappy with the zero-percent residuals trickling in from successful film adaptations of their properties, publishers in recent years have sought a variety of ways to nudge their shares of adaptation profits higher. But where Random House took the initiative in 2005 to offload Reservation Road and other forthcoming titles to the screen in a deal with Focus Features, today we're learning of an even more progressive strategy by Simon & Schuster: The publishing giant has a new packaging deal that will kick back 25% of revenues on adaptations of young-adult titles like its successful Spiderwick Chronicles.
A report released today reveals that Julia Child was one of a long list of American spies in the service of the government during WWII, stealing top secret sauerbraten and wienerschnitzel recipes from the Nazis in a courageous effort to defend our shores against encroaching evils. From Fox News:
Perhaps cognisant of the fact that this is their last season to milk Project Runway for all it's worth, Bravo parent company NBC Universal has been cramming the show with so much obvious corporate synergy that you can practically hear Tim Gunn muttering, "This concerns me." Still, last week's challenge to create an outfit for the Olympics (currently being broadcast on NBC and NBC-owned channels!) was just a drop in the fierce, organza-draped bucket compared to the corporate chutzpah on display during last night's episode. With guest judge Brooke Shields in the house, the designers were challenged to create a look for her character on season two of the barely-renewed NBC drama Lipstick Jungle. Thanks to Molly McAleer, we've assembled a video of all the times the show's title was uttered last night — even when it sounded suspiciously ADR'd in! Who could have known that "Lipstick Jungle" would surpass "licious" and "Holla at your boy!" to become this season's biggest catchphrase? [Bravo]
Yesterday brought the not-entirely-shocking bombshell that Paula Wagner would abandon her vanity-mini-major Eden—not to mention her decade-and-a-half long producing partnership with Tom Cruise—by resigning from her position as CEO of United Artists, reportedly to strike out on her own. This came after a disastrous 21 months on the job that produced a single stinker release, in what, to our knowledge, is the first studio scandal based entirely upon underspending: The reckless frugality! The gluttonous discretion! How dare she not greenlight a $75 million Will Ferrell-as-loutish-badminton-pro comedy in this depressed economic environment?
Now that Michael Phelps has finally won more gold medals than Geena Davis, we can get down to the real business at hand: the swimmer's showbiz future. Sure, there's bound to be an awkward SNL-hosting stint yet to come, but as the boys at THR note today, most Olympians have to reconcile themselves to appearing in Duracell commercials or baring their midriffs opposite the Village People. Thus, let's focus on more positive matters, like casting the Michael Phelps Movie of the Week:
It was the rumour that rocked the 1990s: was Alanis Morissette's angry, fellatio-referencing "You Oughta Know" actually about sweet ol' Uncle Joey from Full House? It was a story that seemed just bizarre enough to be plausible. After all, Joey-essayer Dave Coulier loved ice hockey, and Morissette was Canadian! Now, prompted by the impending Comedy Central roast of Bob Saget, Coulier had a sit-down with the Calgary News where he revealed that yes, every time Alanis scratches her nails down someone else's back, he feels it:
Attribute it to whatever phenomena you want — the potheads stayed away, the groupies weren't interested, RetardGate '08 — but Tropic Thunder opened softer than planned on Wednesday. Ben Stiller's Hollywood satire pulled in around $7.5 million, prompting observers to downgrade their weekend estimates that should nevertheless keep the film in first place above Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Dark Knight this weekend. The turnout looked that much worse when compared to that of Pineapple Express, which drew more than $12 million last Wednesday — the best midweek, R-rated comedy opening in ages.
If you think you've had about all you can stand of whatever controversy Tropic Thunder is shoveling today, try notching down the dosage a bit with Robert Downey Jr.'s appearance today on Good Morning America. Eschewing a straight discussion of his ostensibly incendiary portrayal of an Australian Method actor in blackface, RDJ brought his over-lit facial hair to bear on Chris Cuomo and the rest of the studio crew, whose early laughter fades into a riveted 'stache trance unseen since then-UN Ambassador John Bolton made a news round-up way back in 2005. Try for yourself, but only if you're insured and have a friend nearby to spot you. We can't have that many lost work hours on our conscience, at least not in this economy. [
91-year-old actor Ernest Borgnine doesn't look a day over 86, and so it was that when the 
Perhaps cognisant of the fact that this is their 
