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Posted by Jess McGuire at 6:29 PM on August 26, 2008
My friend Gen put me onto this - it's Russell Brand and Noel Fielding discussing the removal of someone called Redrum from Russell's anus.
Surreal.
Posted by Jess McGuire at 4:21 PM on August 26, 2008
Dear readers,
Literally AS I TYPE the beautiful Clem Bastow, our wonderful Associate Editor, is on the airwaves giving the wireless-loving public a serving of Radiothon fuelled delight as presenter of the RRR drive program 'Transference'. She'll be joined this afternoon by Little Red, Guy Blackman AND the handsome (and recently returned from overseas) minstrel/PathWords freak Dan Kelly.
Listen now on 102.7FM if you're in Melbourne, or stream from rrr.org.au.
And most importantly, SUBSCRIBE!
Tomorrow night I'll be hosting my own Radiothon show at the very glamorous time of midnight, where I'll be joined by Clem and a host of music gods, but more details about that later.
Posted by Jess McGuire at 2:52 PM on August 26, 2008
This is quite old - actually, in internet terms, it's positively ancient as it's from late May - but last night I was taking a stroll down (Google paved) memory lane and re-reading all the leaked emails from when Lindsay Lohan's secret MySpazz account was hacked back in 2007, and I came across something rather interesting.
On May 12th of 2008, Perez Hilton wrote a blog post stating that Lindsay's career was down the toilet, she was being dropped from projects, and she'd just been spotted bawling her eyes out after a massive fight with her girlfriend Samantha Ronson (who, by the way, I think is a rather cute little tomboy type - and Perez's constant need to refer to her as SaMAN is getting increasingly annoying).
"Blogger/famewhore Jonathan Jackson", as the fabulous EvilBeet describes him, contacted Lindsay Lohan on her personal MySpazz account to ask her about what Perez had written, and her reply is actually ten kinds of awesome and I can't believe I've only just stumbled upon it. What's wrong with me? Am I drinking too much during the day?
She says -
Posted by Jess McGuire at 1:47 PM on August 26, 2008
The Melbourne Writers Festival means that currently there are a lot of literary types wandering around the city, and if you're an ornithologist (who is bored of checking out red breasted blue jays or whatever the hell kind of birds make ornithologists soil themselves with glee, and instead now spend your waking hours keeping an eye out for book lovin' folk) you're in absolute heaven.
I had a rather wonderful Celeb Spot myself on Sunday, and I would like to tell you about it.
Picture it... I'm walking up Brunswick Street with my friend Lee and we're chatting about incredibly deep issues, when I glance behind us and notice Germaine Greer powering along with a friend.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 1:00 PM on August 26, 2008
We're a caring bunch here at Defamer Australia, so when I was perusing the British trash rags newspapers this morning, I knew you'd be dying to hear all about this particular bit of celebrity news: Kerry Katona is having her bazoongas reduced! Not only that, but she's going to film the operation for her celebreality show. Yes, I know, I know - it should have been the first news item of the day but, you know, sometimes these major stories just trickle down slowly. Hell, it took me five months to find out that Kevin Rudd won the election!
She says: 'After four kids I need it. I'm a GG at the moment, and when I take my bra off my nipples are by my feet. I want to be a DD instead.'
Posted by Clem Bastow at 12:30 PM on August 26, 2008
It is now approximately five million years (let's see if the Dido fans correct me on that one) since the latest Christopher Nolan Batman installment, The Dark Knight, opened at #1 on the Australian box office charts. But just when you thought it was going to stay perched atop the charts like Christian Bale brooding on top of a skyscraper for the rest of our natural lives, along comes the little satire that could - Tropic Thunder - to ruin the party. The question that remains begging to be answered through all this, is: does this mean that The Dark Whopper will be reduced in price?The film, which also stars Robert Downey Jr and Jack Black, grossed $3.05 million on its opening weekend to take the number one position.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 11:00 AM on August 26, 2008
So we're now two days into 2008's edition of Australian Idol and already I'm reaching saturation point. Is slamming us with six solid nights of auditions a good way to begin a season? Jump over the, er, jump and we can discuss last night's effort.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 10:30 AM on August 26, 2008
When Kate Moss was busted allegedly doing coke, it was sort of shocking, right? And when Peaches Geldof was filmed apparently making - ahem - a transaction, it was also sort of out of left field, yeah? But when Amy Winehouse is shot doing what looks to be a nose-load of coke, it sort of ranks - in the "surprising" stakes - alongside Miriam revealing to the Big Brother housemates that she was, in fact, born a man, or the fact that (spoiler alert you guys!) the East Compton Clovers beat the Rancho Carne Toros in Bring It On. So, here's the rub:
The troubled Back to Black star was secretly filmed hoovering up the Class A drug in a packed London pub.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 9:51 AM on August 26, 2008
You'll recall back in April that an average Joe piped up and reckoned he'd written Alex Lloyd's megabucks-earning hit Amazing on the back of a coaster in a pub's front bar. Well, Mark O'Keefe seems to have cooled his heels somewhat (you know, after waiting roughly 16 years to even take the matter to court in the first place), changing his story just prior to the matter hitting the courts. That's the spirit, Mark! Keep up the legal cats!
Mark O'Keefe, who originally said he wrote the song Amazing with Lloyd at the Bridge Hotel in Rozelle in November 1989, now says he got it wrong and it was up to two years later.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 9:32 AM on August 26, 2008
Indiana Evans - aka Matilda from Home & Away - is one of my favourite young soap stars. Unlike many soapie starlets, she can actually act - so it's a shame to hear she's leaving Summer Bay (incidentally, did anyone watch the "after the Olympics" return last night? Intense!), although where she's going is possibly even more amazingly camp: she's joining the cast of H2O: Just Add Water. Yes, the afternoon tweeny mermaid show! Splashtastic!
While it doesn't command huge ratings in Australia, H2O: Just Add Water is a mammoth hit around the world, seen in more than 100 countries with a worldwide audience of more than 200 million viewers.
Posted by Jess McGuire at 9:03 AM on August 26, 2008
To our incredibly switched on readers, and also, Dido fans.
As Editor of Defamer Australia, it is my duty to not only keep you informed of pointless rubbish from the world of entertainment and shove pop cultural nuggets down your virtual throats, but also to ensure I deliver nothing but the facts to you, our beloved audience.
After all, if you can't trust Defamer Australia to give you hard hitting news and current affairs in a timely and meticulously researched manner, then who can you trust?
Therefore, I would like to apologise for yesterday's "piece" regarding Dido's latest album release. In my post, I made a grievous error and in doing so did untold damage to our relationship.
I wrote:
· It sure is nice to see Vin, Paul, and Michelle back where they belong: Safely penned away in a trailer for some movie we'll never see that doesn't come out for a very long time. [/Film]
· Optical illusion time: Do you see Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor nuzzling noses, or a beautiful vase? It all depends upon where you focus! [My New Plaid Pants]
· We knew there was a reason we were compelled to play Connect 4 with our four best friends while eating a Kit Kat bar on a four-seat couch whenever we watch The Tonight Show! [iBored]
· $800,000-per-ep man Charlie Sheen has a fourth [Ed. note: Gasp! The Tonight Show Curse again!] child on the way, which, amazingly, has already appeared in utero on an episode of Denise Richards: It's Complicated. [USA Today]
·Everything about Love 'n Licks makes us uncomfortable. [YouTube]
Posted by Clem Bastow at 8:57 AM on August 26, 2008
Remember when Jonathan "Arse-Tronaut" Pease was dating pretty young thing April Rose Pengilly? No? Well, there's something you have in common with the Confidential co-host and Australia's Next Top Model mentor, who was quick to pour cold water on rumours he is now dating an 18-year-old, model Hilary Hannigan - seemingly before the dust had even settled from his tussle with Pengilly - and did so in his inimitable played out laid back style."I don't know how old Hilary is or if she's still in school but she's too young for me - I'm an old man and she's a baby."
We hope you got a kick out of Sunday's profile of Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, the screenwriters behind last weekend's highest-grossing new release The House Bunny, as well as previous hits 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde and She's the Man. Now the two are moving into producing, adaptations and will soon have an ABC series loosely based on their lives — another long stride in their champagne-soaked march toward world conquest. But what more should viewers at home expect from the personal stories of perhaps the most successful writing duo on Earth without a Y-chromosome between them? After the jump, The NY Times tips off a few more key secrets of Being Lutz and Smith:
And now, another installment of "You Win One, You Lose One" (Andy Dick edition)! Win: The troubled comedian, who was accused of sexual battery for pulling down a 17-year-old girl's top at a chicken joint in July, has now seen his charge downgraded to a mere assault (though he'll still face four other misdemeanor charges related to the incident). Lose: According to TMZ, the arrest report for the incident includes the following unforgettable anecdote:
Another day, another Batman casting rumour! In the wake of murmurs that Philip Seymour Hoffman could be the next Penguin and Johnny Depp (not Brian Austin Green) may play The Riddler, the latest scuttlebutt concerns Batman foe Catwoman — and let's just say this casting choice ain't Angelina. No, according to the British press, 62-year-old Cher is in talks with director Christopher Nolan to add the comic-book role to an acting repertoire that already includes gypsies, tramps, and thieves. Says the Daily Telegraph:
That thrilling rite of reality TV passage—the running of the Z-list celebs down the streets of Pomona and into the Dancing with the Stars studios for an unforgettable season of Mambos and Cha-Chas, marred infrequently by the occasional rogue-sequin blinding—is again underway, friends. Let's get right down to it. Here is your class of 2008-09:
Perhaps you made it to Sunset Junction this weekend—the once quirky and fun Silver Lake leather-daddy-and-Mexican-family street fair turned obnoxious $20-a-head hipster convention. Did you spot Molls? Did you eat a funnel cake? Can we declare Sunset Junction over? Look how far Isaac Hayes went to get out of playing it! (Do we sound bitter? Well, don't cordon off The Eagle, then charge us $20 to piss on our leg and tell us it's raining. We're accustomed to being pissed on for free!) As you can see from the photo above courtesy of Metromix Los Angeles, however, Sunset Junction is alive and well, and was presided over this year by the Mac guy and Kirsten Dunst, who had a pretty good career in the late-'90s/early '00s. More photos after the jump!
How does the slowest industry news week of the year suddenly become a busy one at Defamer? Simple: Just add a Washington bureau! However, since we entered grueling negotiations last week to bring Victoria Jackson aboard as our full-time bureau chief and ideological consultant, we've fallen behind on a list of essential stories coming out of this week's Democratic National Convention. So for the sake of your political edification and our poor, congested inboxes, here's the latest worth knowing from Denver and beyond:
· Fox will stream the premieres of Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on their website while the shows air on TV, but they'll only be accessible from college dorms. As an additional feature of their on-campus marketing efforts, if there's a Fox-branded sock on the doorknob, that means your roommate is getting busy with his girlfriend during an episode of House. [Variety]
· All 1.3 billion in China tuned in to the Olympics closing ceremony, and are now intimately familiar with E! pre-show host Ryan Seacrest, who they refer to as 树猴, or "the kind-eyed Golden Tree Monkey." [THR]
· Barack Obama continues to be underrepresented in the guy-with-a-talk-show sector, as the Committee for Late Night Monologue Political Parity released preliminary findings putting the Democratic nominee at 169 punchlines versus McCain's 322. [Variety]
· Paul McCartney has announced he'd play Tel Aviv on September 25. The performance comes 40 years after The Beatles were banned from Israel "over concerns the group's lyrics could corrupt Israeli youth." Translation: "What—you couldn't have said you were bigger than Moses? Get lost for 40 years, we'll be in touch." [Variety]
· Let's play One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong: Demoted Casting Edition! [THR]
Here at Defamer HQ, we hope we've made our feelings clear on the new 90210 redo: you can give us all the Shannens and Jennies (but not Toris) you want, but the real reason we'll be watching is because of actress Jessica Walter. Cast as the alcohol-addled 90210 matriarch Tabitha, Walter is practically reprising her role as Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development — and until the big-screen AD movie comes, we'll take whatever we can get. Our ongoing crusade for more Walter footage (hereby known as Bluthwatch '08) has thus far fallen on deaf CW ears, and when we saw the network's new Shannen Doherty promo last week, we knew it was time to take matters into our own hands. With the help of Molly McAleer (and Hulu), we've cut together our own 90210 promo touting the show's real icon. Won't you join us in a chicken dance of anticipation after the jump? [The CW]
After a flurry of weekend headlines further detailing the closely guarded plot to offload MGM, studio reps are firing back today with public denials that the anemic, mute, tired old Lion could soon have another new cage to laze around. And now we don't know who to believe! Is it BusinessWeek, which followed up last week's rumoured Kirk Kerkorian 4.0 lowball offer with the news that Goldman Sachs is back on the scene to engineer a sale? Or is it the big, happy, skittish family at MGM HQ itself, which would require an official clarification to be issued these days even if someone said its coffee maker was broken:
A press release from Lifetime touts a new slate of unscripted entertainments from the cable network. While we're certain the kitchen island therapy of Mom's Cooking and the ladies-only seances going down over at clairvoyant Lisa Williams's show are sure to connect with their audience, it's their third announced series—what some might call a calculated attempt at jumping on the "Plus-Size Sideshow" bandwagon, as the NY Times dubs it—that most stood out:
What happens when you take World's Fastest Man Usain Bolt, a selection of beloved movies that involve running or chasing, and modern imaging software? You get EW.com's 12 Movies Made Better by World's Fastest Man. While it's easy to fantasize about what the chest-thumping Puma-endorser would do for Chariots of Fire and Apocalypto, it's Run, Usain, Run—in which the super-athlete runs around the streets of Berlin to techno music in a red fright wig—that would really capitalise on his talents, making for another promising addition to our Gallery of Failed Olympian Crossovers. [EW]
We've learned a lot about MTV over the past week, and now, thanks to In Touch, we've discovered just how big a paycheck the network will write for spouting banal words of wisdom and emotionally abusing your TV girlfriend. Yes, someone has leaked the per-episode salaries for each personality on The Hills, and never have so many earned so much for doing so little. Star Lauren Conrad is the biggest grosser (pulling down $75,000 each time a curious Whitney asks, "So what went down last weekend?") but the rest of the cast earns a pretty penny, too. Salaries and analysis after the jump:
Newsflash! The producers of Karaoke Borg American Idol have done the unthinkable: They have decided to tinker with the magical Idol judging formula America has come to rely on. In addition to the Really Bitchy One, the Inarticulate Gang-Sign-Delivering One, and the Alternately Effusive, Incoherent, and Flat-Out-Unconscious One, we can now look forward to the Non-Jaded Songwriter Who Doesn't Spend Most of the Auditions Fantasizing About Traceless Ways To Snuff Ryan Seacrest Out of Existence One. Let's let the Fox press release explain!
In the spirit of reader participation, we'll leave it to you to determine the good and bad news among this year's crop of Viggo Mortensen films. For starters: Can the 2007 Oscar nominee climb his way back into Academy hearts with nary a nude, bloody bathhouse throwdown in three movies? Sure, suggests one observer, who points out that beyond roles in the Western Appaloosa and the Cormac McCarthy adaptation The Road, Viggo has a fail-safe ace in the hole to unveil this December. Sort of, anyway; assuming it can overcome its distributor's ongoing cash woes, Good is apparently just the kind of Holocaust film for which Oscar voters swoon. Still, disadvantages persist:
Now that he's dallied with Sharon Stone, won multiple Razzies, and given the world the immortal line, "It must be weird not having anybody cum on you," what's left for screenwriter Joe Eszterhas? According to the Toledo Blade, the multi-hyphenate has turned to God (and not the sort of "God!" you might moan while having explosive sex with Kyle MacLachlan in a Vegas pool). Having departed Hollywood for the more "wholesome" Cleveland, Eszterhas was taking a walk one day when he became out of breath and had a surprising realization:
Actually, that's not the case at all. (Besides, everyone knows her event is javelin.) No, this was a photograph taken from the opening night of her Sticky & Sweet Tour in Cardiff, Wales. While there existed in it no single sacred-cow-buggering money shot like her last tour's disco ball crucifixion sequence—and the tour before that when she was lowered via loop-and-pulley system onto an engorged Dalai Lama—there was an eyebrow-elevating video installation in which images of John McCain were juxtaposed alongside "photos of Hitler and brutal Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe," while later in the show a similar montage featured Barack Obama spliced with pictures of John Lennon, Mahatma Ghandi, and Ron Popeil Al Gore. Needless to say, the McCain camp was outraged, as much over her heavy-metal bastardization of "Borderline" as they were the ugly comparisons to the Third Reich:
It was the eye-roll heard around the world (yes, you can hear an eye-roll — it sounds like a faint, wet "oh snap"): while doing a Good Day LA interview to promote Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2, America Ferrera looked alternately bored and incredulous as costar Blake Lively nattered on about upcoming plotlines on Gossip Girl. The open mocking of the CW drama (without a single, hasty addendum of, "But it's a guilty pleasure!") sent New York's media world reeling, desperate to protect the scrappy little show that it had clutched to its bosom for so long. To that end, EW dispatched Michael Ausiello to corner Lively in an attempt to determine whether the actress now harbored anti-America sentiment:
It's probably asking a lot for a Monday, but pretend for just a second that you're Focus Features, Universal's mini-major offshoot and the folks who last January made the single biggest buy in the history of the Sundance Film Festival: Hamlet 2, which sneaked into Park City at the last minute and left 10 days later with lukewarm (at best) reviews and a check for $11 million. So imagine your signature was on that check, and imagine how much weight you'll lose this week as your appetite plunges with Hamlet 2's box-office prospects: $435,000 on 103 screens, averaging $4,223 per for one of the most profound festival flops of the decade — not to mention the film that bumps Steve Coogan back to ensemble/supporting-class in American movies.
Having been nudged awake this morning by a shirtless man in a fedora and pink Chuck Taylors as you snoozed peacefully beneath a table outside Intelligentsia Cafe, another Sunset Junction appears to have come and gone—as has any memory of the last seven hours you spent there. We'll give you a moment to gather your belongings before inundating you with the weekend's box office receipts:
· It sure is nice to see Vin, Paul, and Michelle back where they belong: Safely penned away in a trailer for some movie we'll never see that doesn't come out for a very long time. [
Here at Defamer HQ, we hope we've made our feelings clear on the new 90210 redo: you can give us all the 
It was the eye-roll heard around the world (yes, you can hear an eye-roll — it sounds like a faint, wet "oh snap"): while doing a Good Day LA interview to promote Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2, America Ferrera looked alternately bored and incredulous as costar Blake Lively nattered on about upcoming plotlines on Gossip Girl. The open mocking of the CW drama (without a single, hasty addendum of, "But it's a guilty pleasure!") sent New York's media world reeling, desperate to protect the scrappy little show that it had clutched to its bosom for so long. To that end, EW dispatched 