Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Christina Aguilera Arrested
TMZ has become the credible and reliable news source for celebrity news, and TMZ reports that Christina Aguilera and her new boyfriend, Matt Rutler. were arrested.
Before the two were arrested her boyfriend drank two bottles of expensive wine.
It is reported that her boyfriend was drunk driving and she was too intoxicated to take care of it. They were arrested at 2:45 this morning.
The Oscars, Michael Lohan At The Polo Lounge, Gary Busey, Dennis Haysbert
But first, a great deal of thanks (again) to my team of friends: Marla Schulman of Life After Kids, Jen Friel of Talk Nerdy To Me Lover and Milena Merrill, Ama Jo Budge, and Suniil Sadarangani. Their combined talents gave us more media content than ever for the Oscars, and spread out over their blogs, too. That's the way it's supposed to be done!
Now, back to Michael Lohan and The Polo Lounge.
After our coverage of The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party at The Beverly Hills Hotel - where Dennis Haysbert talked about setting the tone for America electing the first black president before Barack Obama, and told Jen Friel that he's a nerd:
And Gary Busey of The Celebrity Apprentice and Ed Asner, best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, held court on the Wisconsin Protests issue, and Asner told Frances Fisher from The Titanic that her kids were "artificially inseminated:"
And where Richard Dreyfuss talked with Marla, who's sons were best friends when both were two years old, and for whom I put in a plug for The Alley in Oakland:
And Taylor Cole ("Vicky Roberts") talked about her show The Event on NBC (after he friend talked about how she stays in shape by pole dancing):
We walked over to the bustling Polo Lounge, located just off the hotel's main lobby, and where I was for last year's "Night" Party, after the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. That was the time Alec Baldwin, last year's Oscars host, walked in to great applause. And while I'm sure this year's hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway would have gotten the same treatment, they didn't walk in - at least while we were there.
We - Marla, Milena, and I - wound up cocktailing with a fun-loving, dirty-talking guy who shall remain nameless, his totally lovely and outgoing friend in the flowing green dress, Tamara Connolly who plays "Phyllis" on As The World Turns and her friend, who's a wealth of information about Beverly Hills life, and Michael Lohan.
Now, I had no idea the guy chatting-up my friend Marla was Michael Lohan. I was talking with Ms. Connolly, as Ms. Schulman was next to me (it was crowded), when I noticed this man exchanging business cards with this man dressed in black. No, not in a tux; he had on a black turtle-neck sweater, black coat, and black pants. He looked trim and tanned, but not overly so. What's more, he was nice, and fit right in to the overall vibe. That is festive and friendly.
Marla introduced the man and I, talking about my blog in general terms and about our Oscar coverage. So I followed up with a very brief explanation of what I'm doing in forming Zennie62Media.com and my game company SBS, but then said "So what do you do?"
No, I had no idea the man I was talking to was that guy.
It's just not me to get that into being able to recognize someone who's famous, but it's necessary to be able to do. My need to do this for obvious business purposes is countered by the fact that I just don't get caught up in it. "I'm an investment banker," he said. And pretty much left it at that. He and Marla were talking about the South Hamptons, where he just came from, and that he's from Long Island, as is she. Between all of us, it was a series of conversations that flowed between people, so I went back to talking about prayer with Ms. Lewis (I'm not kidding), and Lohan continued talking with Marla.
Then, Marla and "the man" started talking about kids, as both have them, and Mara made a comment that drew my attention. She said "I don't want to be famous," or words to that effect, and I chimed in that it's actually something you need to be in the Internet business. (Heck, it helps with traffic and revenue, you know?)
So, I turned and said to "the man," So what areas of investment banking are you in." He said "Well, for the last six year's my daughter was the number one actress in Hollywood." But rather than say "number one in what?" I waited for the punch line name. There was silence. Then, it clicked in my stupid brain that I was talking to Michael Lohan.
So, I said "You're Michael Lohan." He said "Yes." I said "So you know something about being famous," and we laughed.
Michael Lohan is much trimmer in person that in the photos and videos I've seen. So I didn't feel bad about not knowing who he was; just the opposite. It made for some great conversation.
I told Mr. Lohan that I felt sorry for what he was going through - which he appreciated, saying it was "tough" - in essentially watching his daughter Actress Lindsay Lohan rack up a criminal rap sheet before the public's eye. I asked him how he was doing. "Fine," he said. Lohan was in the middle of setting up a new effort back East involving teens that he's not ready to fully talk about as of this writing.
After that, we talked about the Internet and how it works from a news standpoint. No, we didn't talk much about his daughter, Lindsay Lohan, and he seemed happy to be with people who weren't peppering him with questions.
Lohan then left, saying he was headed to The Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
For the record, I had one cocktail and two glasses of water. Having not had a full meal all say, I didn't want to play with my sensitive system; after the second glass of water, I was ready for bed.
Marla and Milena wanted to go over to The Elton John Party. So, even though I told them the best place to be is The Polo Lounge. Nothing against Elton John, but his party's a pressure-cooker place to be, with people looking, craning necks, and not much real talking; at the Polo Lounge you talk with people and make friends. It's a great reminder that, in many different ways, and regardless of who you are, we're all just trying to get through this thing called life.
More To Come
There's a lot more video content from The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party to come between today and Wednesday, so stay tuned.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Charlie Sheen And Tiger Woods Dissed By Gloria Allred At Oscars Party
The Night Of 100 Stars, one of the "Big Three" Academy Awards Oscar parties held after the 83rd Academy Awards, never fails to draw colorful characters. One of them is famed lawyer Gloria Allred, who came to the giant Oscar Party with a sign in the shape of an octagon that read "Charlie Sheen Is A Disgrace."
She then used the press platform to go on a planned rant about Charlie Sheen, but I couldn't resist asking her about Tiger Woods. As you may know, she represented several women who were mistresses of Woods, including Rachel Uchitel. So, she went off on Woods first, before really going off about Sheen.
Allred's obviously trying to capitalize on the current buzz around his legal issues and the cancellation of the final episodes of Two And A Half Men by making appearances like this one. But she knows what she's doing. Gloria Allred says that Sheen should apologize to the 200 workers impacted by his absence, which eventually led to the show's problems.
Today, Sheen continued his series of media rants, this time appearing on Good Morning America to announce he's on a new drug: himself.
More Oscar-Related Videos Coming
There's much more from The Night Of 100 Stars Party - about 10 more videos to be uploaded and blogged including talks with Ed Asner and Gary Busey on the Wisconsin Protests, Richard Dreyfuss on, it seems, everything, Dennis Haysbert, Phil Morris, and many others.
Overall, it was a great and wacky time. I've spent the morning compressing and uploading videos. Now I have to head to the airport. Don't forget to check out Zennie62.com for more blog posts not seen here!
Academy Award Winners
The 83rd Academy Award always seems to be a classy gathering, and there are expectations that the movies that truly deserve to win will receive the Oscar, but this year it didn't seem like the right winners were acknowledged.
The best movie of the year, Best Picture, was "The King's Speech." That is a movie that I had not even gone out and seen, and of course that makes me bias, but in my own opinion any movie that I haven't seen doesn't deserve to win the "Best Picture" award, because I usually see the movies that win movie of the year. I personally thought Inception would win, and many others seem to be singing the same tune.
Last year "The Hurt Locker" won the award for Best Picture - and rightfully so.
At least Black Swan didn't win - it was too overrated and too many people had said that Black Swan was going to win.
Oscars 2011 Shaken Up
Last night at the Academy Awards there were many thanks to other actors, to directors, etc. but there was someone who was neglected in these thanks - God.
The 83rd Academy Award Ceremony seemed like it was more like a reality television show - it didn't seem to flow or to be as planned as the ones that took place before it. It all seemed to be a bit shaky.
One thing that should be noted on is Christian Bale's beard - why would one grow his beard to that length and not shave it for an occasion such as the Academy Awards. Is Bale keeping that beard for other reasons perhaps, a role that he is preparing for or in the middle of shooting, because if not - why else would he have that atrocious beard?
Reese Witherspoon when reading Supporting Male category seemed to be wincing a bit too much - this year at the Academy Awards it was just a bit of a hot mess in every direction.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
2011 Oscars, Night of 100 Stars, Andrea Marcovicci
Academy Awards: Melissa Leo Wins; Richard Dreyfuss On Spielberg At Oscar Party
I'm also tired.
It was a day of talking with Richard Dreyfuss about why Steven Speilberg's work endures. It was Gary Busey being, well, Gary Busey, and intense, brilliant, wild man who I'm supposed to buy drinks for after I blog this. It was Shirley Jones and her husband Marty Ingels, who brought Ms. Jones, was his wacky self, waving the Oscar from 1960 that Jones won for Elmer Gantry. I could go on, and there's a lot more..
But here's the backstage interview transcript for Melissa Leo:
Q. Hey, Melissa. Congratulations, I'm right down here in front.
A. Thank you.
Q. I wanted you to win for FROZEN WINTER so it's awesome to see you back here. And I applaud you for taking your character from the movie on stage, dropping what I think is the first ever F bomb in the Oscars. How does that feel?
A. I had no idea. Those words, I apologize to anyone that they offend. There's a great deal of the English language that is in my vernacular.
Q. I thought it was wonderful.
A. I really don't mean to offend, and probably a very inappropriate place to use that particular word in particular.
Q. Congratulations.
A. Oh, hi, 157.
Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.
Q. Well, I just wanted to ask you if you were in touch with the real life Alice Ward, and I know your character had a very extensive wardrobe. Did you take anything with you fashion wise from that character?
A. Well, the dress I'm wearing tonight I'd like to think that Alice would have liked it, and that was part of the choosing for it. She is a manager of her sons, was caught on camera quite a lot at the edges of the boxing ring, and I noticed a lot of the footage of Alice at the fights had her in white. Might not be so true anymore, but I think back in the days of black and white, it showed up well on camera. So that was some of the thought into it and into being here tonight. Alice, I did have the opportunity to meet. I could not have played her without having met her. I wouldn't have even know where to begin in many ways. The external part of Alice was Mark Bridges, the costume designer, and David O'Russell encouraging the hair department to cut my hair shorter and shorter and dye it and all of that. But no, I don't know that Alice's sense of style and my sense of style are too similar in too many ways.
Q. Melissa, over here. To your right.
A. You say over here...okay, I got it. There you go, okay, good.
Q. What was it like for you when Kirk Douglas kept stretching and stretching and stretching?
A. You know, it's really funny, you know, because he's an old actor. If anybody is an actor, he's an actor, right? And actually, he was doing us all this huge favor, because the longer he strung it out, the calmer I got to be. I got to take more than one glance over at Amy, who was sitting just in front of me away from where he was, I wanted to watch him because he was delightful to watch and I wanted to peek at Amy, so he strung it out in a rather delightful way for me and actually allowed a heart rate that had gotten fairly high as the category was announced to settle a little bit and wait and see what the envelope said.
Q. Hi, right in front. From WEBN in Boston. I was wondering about your experiences working in Lowell and with the Massachusetts people?
A. I've worked in the Massachusetts area on a number of films, and it's a great place to shoot, and I don't know if that's what you're asking about. If you're asking particularly about being in Lowell, because THE FIGHTER, it's not just a story based on the lives of real people, but it's their story. It most definitely is, and we were shooting it with the Wards around us at all times, I would have to say one or another of them. And it was an extraordinarily wonderful experience and I think a lot of what makes THE FIGHTER such an incredible film is that we were there in Lowell with the actual people, and cross referencing, you know, when somebody might say something about somebody and somebody else might say something else about that same somebody. And we were right there in the town hearing the gossip and hearing the language and the dialect and all, and it was very, very helpful to the process.
Q. Melissa, AFP. I was wondering if you felt vindicated about the campaign now that you've won?
A. There's nothing to vindicate, and there was no campaign. It was a photograph in a magazine; I wanted a pretty photograph in a magazine, that's all it was.
I am so sorry, I heard that was the last one, but I have a lot of other people in the films that are up for nominations as well, and I want to run back and see them. I thank you so much, right? Thank you.
Stay tuned for more...
Academy Awards: Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party Update
At this time, there's a ton of media people setting up on The Red Carpet for The Academy Awards, and while it's fun to hang out and grab the buzz, the simple fact is that 1) one has to wade through a ton of traffic to get there, 2) the street closures make getting to Hollywood and Highland a mess, then 3) one, in this case me, has to get out of their and go to The Beverly Hills Hotel for The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party.
And since the Night Of 100 Stars party, my second, is expected to draw 187 celebrities and be the largest ever, it makes more sense to go over there, and do so without being rushed.
Plus, I'm already in Beverly Hills, so I might as well stay here and push up more content before I put on my tux and head out.
Oh. What am I wearing? A black single-breated tux by The Men's Warehouse On Market Street in San Francisco, and with a black tie and black shoes.
As for The Night Of 100 Stars Party, I will be joined by my friends Milena Merrill, Marla Schulman, and Jennifer Friel. That's what I'm excited about; this is the first year all credentials and passes were obtained under Zennie62Media.com, Inc. The first year it was just "me;" the second year it was The San Francisco Chronicle, and this year, while I'm still posting for Hearst Corporation, I am working to build my own media brand. So far, so good.
Now, back to the "Night" Update. I mentioned the producers sent an update, announcing they expect 187 stars. Here's the updated list of celebs:
Laura Dern, Amy Brenneman, Jena Elfman, Tom Sizemore, Billy Bob Thornton, Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Ron Perlman, Tom Arnold, Billie Burke(Twilight), Peter Facinelli(Twilight), Kevin McKidd (Grey's Anatomy), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire)Jennie Garth, Michael Nouri, Michael Madsen, Traci Lords, Armand Assante, Dwight Yoakam, Dolph Lundgren, Bo Derek, John Corbett, Michael Clark Duncan, Joey Pantoliano, Tia Carrere, Robert Carradine, Annie Wersching(star of "24"), Gloria Allred with client Veronica Siwik-Daniels aka Joslyn James-(Tiger Woods girlfriend) Eric Roberts, Noah Wyle, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA.) Chairman Entertainment Committee, Ben Vereen. ..Also expected - Sean Astin, Krista Allen, Ed Asner, Jason Alexander, Powers Boothe, Daniel Baldwin, Jermaine Jackson, Timothy Busfield, Joe Bologna, Susan Blakely, John Corbet, Keith Carradine, David Hasselhoff, James Cromwell, Stephen Collins, Michael Chiklis, David Carradine, Joanna Cassidy, Richard Dreyfuss, Kevin Dillon, Lolita Davidovich, Robert Davi, Bruce Davison, Lou & Carla Ferrigno, Frances Fisher, Dave Foley, Peter Fonda, Jon Favreau, Joley Fisher, Robert Forster, Jeff Garlin, James Darren, Carla Gugino, Dominick Dunne(in memorium), Lou Gossett Jr., Dennis Haysbert, Dule Hill, Cheryl Hines, Monty Hall, Harry Hamlin, Marilu Henner, Ken Howard, Jack Klugman, Richard Karn, Martin Landau, Ron Livingston, Hal Linden, Richard Lewis, Sharon Lawrence, Michael Lerner, Matthew Modine, Chris McDonald, Camryn Manheim, Dylan McDermott, Jesse Metcalfe, Ming-Na, Judd Nelson, Kevin Nealon, Danielle Panabaker, Kevin Pollak, Stephanie Powers, Michelle Phillips, Lou Diamond Phillips, Freddie Rodriguez, Jason Ritter, Brande Roderick, Adam Rodriguez, Pat Richardson, George Segal, Fred Savage, John Schneider, Tony Shaloub, Kevin Sorbo, Rob Schneider, Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Tilly, the GEICO Caveman, and over 100 more are expected. In an ongoing tribute to our friend Anna Nicole Smith, who attended our party regularly, Norby Walters has invited over 75 Playboy Playmates and Playboy models . Last year over 30 of the Playmates and 20 Playboy models attended.
Almost 60 Academy Award Winners and Nominees who have previously attended and many are expected: Jamie Foxx, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Danny Aiello, Jennifer Tilly, Linda Blair, Michael Lerner, Sally Kirkland, Gary Busey, Bruce Davison, , Richard Dreyfuss, Cathy Moriarty, Kathleen Quinlan, Eric Roberts, Lynn Redgrave, Robert Forster, Diane Ladd, Caroll Baker, Rip Torn, Charles Durning, Dean Stockwell, Robert Stack, Theodore Bikel, Don Murray, Cliff Robertson, William H. Macy, Samantha Eggar, Kevin McCarthy, Glynis Johns, Terry Moore, Burt Young, Karen Black, Eddie Albert, George Chakiris, James Cromwell, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Franciosa, Shirley Jones, Elliott Gould, Tony Curtis, Martin Landau, David Paymer, Robert Loggia, Renee Taylor, Joe Bologna, Rod Steiger, Brenda Vaccaro, Shirley Knight, James Whitmore, Shelley Winters, Pat Morita, Patricia Neal, Stuart Whitman, Carrie Snodgrass, Seymour Cassel, Lesley Ann Warren, Russ Tamblyn, Maximillian Schell, Sally Kellerman and Mickey Rooney.
What we're going to do is use a combination of standard video, Qik.com/Zennie62 live streaming, Twitter updates, Flickr photo posts to Zennie62.com, and live-streaming. So if you want to follow us on Twitter, we're at @zennie62 @DvinMsM @jenfriel @locita1 and using the hashtag #zenOscars and #Oscars, just to make sure, and visit Zennie62.com
99ers Rally to Support Employed Workers - Will Unions Support Tier 5?
Yesterday the 99er Nation stepped up all across the USA yesterday in support of the Wisconsin Unions and against Gov. Walker's Union Busting shenanigans. One can only hope that these unions will finally openly fight for the 99er cause henceforth.
As Kelly Wiedemer (Denver Unemployment Examiner) said in her article last Friday: The Job Party - bringing 99ers & American workers together
“While politicians are once again ignoring the need to create jobs and are instead in their home districts, patting themselves on the back, fighting over huge spending cuts, groups are being formed and coming together to support American workers. The Job Party is an organization looking to unite the unemployed in a very public push to create jobs. They held their kickoff rally on February 19, followed by a second rally on Tuesday outside of FOX News headquarters in NYC.
Who is the Job Party? http://jobparty.us/ They are a growing coalition of support for middle class workers, pushing for domestic job creation and to stop the Corporate takeover of America. Politicians aren't willing to do this; it is up to every individual in America to take a stand.
Supporters of the Jobs Party include;
Organizations / Blogs
Democrats.com - Bob Fertik
Center for Economic and Policy Research - Dean Baker
Democracy For America - Jim Dean
Down With Tyranny - Howie Klein
GRITtv - Laura Flanders
Progressive Democrats of America - Tim Carpenter
Progressive Kick
Radio Or Not - Nicole Sandler
War Is A Crime - David Swanson
Working Life - Jonathan Tasini
Young Progressives University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jason Tabrys had an article last week Can Unions and the 99ers work together?
Read Jason’s Open Letter to USuncut here:
Tomorrow I will post an article with the latest Jobless Talk Rant entitled: GET OUT THERE!!! This fight in WI is far from over and is the golden opportunity for the 99er Nation to focus the light of public opinion upon us at long last. The time is NOW and we need to GET OUT THERE!
To view an excellent Slide Show of various marches from yesterday Feb. 26, 2011 - PLEASE click here.
LA
Denver
Ohio
Slideshow
San Diego
99ers in RI
Saturday, February 26, 2011
2011 Oscars: The Oscar Envelope By Marc Friedland (Oprah Approved!)
In all of the 83-year-history of the Academy Awards, would you believe there's never been a specially designed Oscars awards envelope until this year? The plumb job of designing the many different envelopes, 24 in all, and one for each category, in three sets (one for each Price WaterhouseCooper vote-counter) plus "emergency envelopes," fell to Marc Friedland of Marc Friedland Couture Communications, who counts among his many clients Oprah Winfrey. So, one can say that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences went with a designer who's "Oprah Approved."
Marc says Winfrey is a "Good client and a great friend. We've worked together on many events." But even beyond Opray, Friedland explains he's been able to work "for some of the most celebrated individuals doing the most legendary events." For Oprah, it was the Legend's Ball. For Steve Wynn, it was the Wynn Las Vegas Grand Opening. And for Atlantis, it was the Atlantis Dubai Grand Opening. And that's just a few of the many projects he's added his name and talent to over 25-years.
But the Academy Awards is the top of all of these assignments. A plum job.
For it, Marc says he looked at the Academy Awards as 'Hollywood glamour.' "We wanted something that was going to be timeless, but contemporary and modern," he said. "We really help mark the moment of life's most celebrated events. So when you really think about the anticipation that all of the audience and the people at home have, when the winner is about to be announced, the opening of that envelope - we wanted something that captures that moment in the most luxurious way possible."
To achieve that look, Marc uses what he calls an "iridescent gold material," and silhouettes of Oscar, set in the envelope in a style not unlike that of an expensive suit vest. The overall effect does capture The Oscars Lifestyle and the grand history of this 83-year-old event.
Marc's well-received work means that one doesn't just get a job like the one he did by being a friend of Oprah Winfrey, they get it by being just plain good.
Watch Marc's envelopes on the Oscars telecast Sunday night.
2011 Oscars: Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas Of Price WaterHouseCoopers
The real keys to the 2011 Oscars are actually "held" by these two men: Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas of Price WaterHouseCoopers. They represent a continuation of the 77-year-relationship between The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the giant account firm trusted to count each ballot for each awards category of the most important film awards event of the year.
How do they do it? In the video interview, Brad explained that "Price WaterHouseCoopers mails out the ballots, directly to the voting members of the academy. They're returned in the mail directly to us, And we then go through basically a three-day process of counting every ballot, by hand, each and every ballot, in all 24 categories. We have a small team of PWC professionals who help us. And at the end of the count, Rick and I are the only ones who actually know the results of each of the 24 categories."
If you think about it, that's powerfully valuable amount of information for one to carry around in their heads, considering its on the minds of million. But Brad and Rick don't act as if they're nervous about it. Indeed, they carry themselves with the cool of CIA agents. Brad has done it for seven years; Rick for 10 years. They keep the information for themselves; not even their wives know. "No one knows until it's announced on stage," Rick said.
On Voting Complexities
The Academy uses a preferential voting system, where one can pick more than one film in a category - and in ranking of first choice, second choice, and so on - a system used for Best Picture. But with that, according to Oltmanns, the process used for the awards voting is really not new; it's the same one used for the nominations process. Still, Brad, Rick and PWC take care to make sure Academy members are well-informed of how the process works, and it's well-understood by many.
What They Will Wear On Sunday
Marla Schulman asked what Brad and Rick planned to wear on Oscars Sunday. "Pretty standard: Black tux. White shirt. Black tie. Same as everyone else," Brad said with a chuckle.
A Firm Relationship
In an ever changing Oscars environment, with new media and increased pressure to have better ratings, The Academy is leaning on Price WaterHouseCoopers to be its gatekeeper of voting integrity, and from all reports, the firm's doing an excellent job.
I still think it's incredible that Brad and Rick can keep that info to themselves without busting open, though!