Conan O'Brien called liar by NBC after CBS 60 Minutes interview

Wow. NBC's hopping mad at Conan O'Brien for what he said during his CBS News 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday.

While Conan's joking about the 60 Minutes interview on Twitter...

Hey kids, check me out on '60 Minutes' tonight. Watch for the part of the interview where I start crying and admit to mail fraud.
8:02 AM May 2nd via web

And CBS enjoyed a ratings bounce from Conan's interview, drawing enough viewers to come close to competitor Celebrity Apprentice according to Deadline.com..

NBC is not laughing at all.

According to TMZ, which broke the story at 1 AM Tuesday, this is what went down:

Network sources tell TMZ Conan was flat out wrong when he said NBC gave him the axe rather than Leno because Jay's buyout would have been bigger. Sources say the buyouts for Conan and Jay were roughly the same. TMZ broke the story Conan took home $32.5 million from his severance package with NBC.

And our network sources say Coco was just plain lying in response to Steve Kroft's question:

Kroft: "They said that the -- for the first time in history, 'The Tonight Show' was losing money."

Conan: "I don't see how that's, I honestly don't see how that's possible. It's really not possible. It isn't possible."

Then one TMZ source claimed Conan O'Brien knew that was the case, so NBC's calling Conan a liar!

If you missed the Conan O'Brien CBS 60 Minutes interview, here it is in full (the statement in question appears in Part II):



Part II video:



In hindsight, while Conan O'Brien may think his interview was cathartic, an angry NBC may take another look at his contract clause about defamation and cry foul. Still, it would be a scare tactic. The Insider showed how such agreements can be thwarted without sound legal recourse.

Stay tuned.

Shahzad Faisal: Times Square car bomb suspect a Facebook problem

In the "Well, that was fast" department we have the arrest of alleged Times Square car bomb suspect Shahzad Faisal, who's causing a lot of problems for all of the guys nameed "Shahzad Faisal" on Facebook and his 115 friends.

When one Googles "Shahzad Faisal," there's one Facebook profile page that pops up, but if you search for the name a lot of Shahzad Faisal's come up. You've got to feel story for all of the other Shahzad's out there who have the burden of saying "It's not me."

We know. It's one guy. A man who reportedly lives in Connecticut and who NY Police claim purchased the Nissan Pathfinder with cash and filled out no paperwork.

That SUV was armed with a kind of make shift bomb that failed to work. Interestingly it led an Islamic Terrorist group to claim responsibility for ..it's failure.

Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, if you're Shahzad Faisal and on Facebook, put a disclaimer somewhere on your profile. One that reads "It's not me!"

Yeardley Love on Facebook: UVA Lacrosse death shocking

Yeardley Love

Yeardley Love is an unusual name, even on Facebook where she had over 1,000 friends. But now the name Yeardley Love is known for the UVA Lacrosse player death allegedly by George Huguely. The shocking news has the Virginia college student community facing yet more national attention for another student crime. The last time America focused on Virginia in this way was during the The Virginia Tech massacre of 2007.

But this crime is between two people: Yeardley Love and George Huguely, both 22 years old.

George Huguely on paper would seem to be the perfect young man to be a woman's boyfriend or a star of a college athletic program: All-American and starting quaterback at Landon School and an honor roll student before he came to The University of Virginia. But according to Charlottesville Police Yeardley Love and George Huguely at one point has a romantic relationship and something led them to believe George killed Yeardley Love.

Mainstream media articles all tell the same story as above and Virginia blogs are largely unhelpful in providing more clues as of this writing. Morever, the accounts - like the one in the Washington Post - are largely obits on the accomplishments of Huguely and Love, who was a star student at Notre Dame Prep in Baltimore.

But the bottom line is someone killed Yeardley Love is her home; maybe it was George and maybe not. Someone knows.

There's more...

Stay tuned.

Vanessa Redgrave mourns passing of Lynn Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave, mourns the passing of her sister Lynn Redgrave, who died reportedly of a battle with Breast Cancer, although the official cause of death has not been finalized as of this writing.

"Our beloved mother Lynn Rachel passed away peacefully after a seven-year journey with breast cancer," Lynn Redgrave's children explained in a statement released by her publicist, according to The Telegraph UK.

Vanessa Redgrave has lost two siblings: Corin Redgrave who died April 6 after a fight with Prostate Cancer, and now Lynn Redgrave and again to cancer.

In March 2009, Vanessa Redgrave's daughter Natasha Richardson, the wife of actor Liam Neeson, passed away after complications caused by a head injury from a skiing accident.

Lynn Redgrave dies after seven year battle with Breast Cancer

See: lynn redgrave cancer, vanessa redgrave, natasha richardson, associated press, joely richardson

Sadly, actress Lynn Redgrave, the star of Georgy Girl, died after a seven-year-long battle with Breast Cancer. Redgrave was 67 years old. Reportedly Lynn Redgrave passed away at her Connecticut home and with her kids Ben, Pema and Annabel present.

Here's a trailer from the 1967 movie Georgy Girl:



Redgrave was found to have Breast Cancer at the age of 60. According to ABC News, Redgrave was secretive about the diagnosis and her treatments at Manhattan's Sloan-Kettering cancer clinic, then issued a statement that she was cancer-free.

What's not explained is when the cancer returned.

Suzannah Troy is a New York video-blogger and contributor at Zennie62. Here's her video take on Redgrave:



That's a sad report. As one who's mother's battled Breast Cancer and was declared cancer-free April 17th 2005, a part of me is with everyone who has to deal with this awful problem for which there must be a cure. Something.

But what's bothersome to this blogger is the void, the question, of when the cancer returned. If Lynn was declared cancer-free, it had to come back at some point in time.

Stay tuned.

Lynn Redgrave dies post by Suzannah B. Troy

I was on the train when I got the text message from 1010 WINS that Lynn Redgrave passed away here in NYC , now reported t her home in Connecticut Sunday night.She was surrounded by her family and past at home which is a peaceful and loving way to go after a 7 year battle with breast cancer. One of my all time favorite films is Georgy Girl which if you have not seen, you must!  James Mason is superb as well as the supporting cast. Lynn Redgrave just shines and this somewhat chubby platinum hearted free spirit that the much olderand very rich Mason lusts for. I don't like watching The Oscars for many reasons and one is the winners often are not the most talented but the most popular. I often find myself saying he was robbed, she was robbed and
Lynn Redgrave was robbed of the Oscar for Georgy Girl.  
Elizabeth Taylor beat her out for a powerful performance that year but I can't watch Elizabeth's performance
over and over and I can watch Lynn's performance over and over appreciated the subtleness and complexness of
her acting. It does upset me that over the years so many have picked
up Oscars and they did not deserve them. Lynn deserved to have an Oscar and
didn't get one.
Lynn Regrave was a great actress of theatre and film. She had just deeply moved audiences here in NYC. I called Ken Geist , a writer and film expert to break the news and he was heartbroken.. He said a great loss for the Redgrave family and praised her speech to the audience remembering her years at the National Theatre with Noel Coward as spoke -- she impersonated Noel Coward, Maggie Smith and Edith Evans. Ken told mshe did this at Carnegie Hall honoring the Noel Coward Centennial and also last year in her powerful performance at The Manhattan Theatre Club. She was also an advocate for the right for women to breast feed in public and took on CBS. Gloria Allred jumped on board to be her lawyer and than backed out which is hard to believe. It is hard to believe the powers that be would not let her  breast feed on the tv set of "House Calls". It was a long drawn out case and she had to part ways with other law firms but the bottom line is breast feeding Mom's in Hollywood are treated with respect now and honored but the battle took years, cost Lynn Redgrave a lot of money and being a courageous outspoken woman rather than a "barbie doll" makes getting worker harder. People aren't always eager to higher woman that rock the boat Lynn Redgrave had lost her niece, Natasha Richardson last year in a shocking accident that took her young life and cut short the career of another much loved actor in the family dynasty including Natasha's Mom, Vanessa and their father Michael. Lynn and Vanessa's brother died only a short time ago as well so the family has had their share of loses. Rest in peace dear Lynn, a great actor, advocate and I imagine a true friend to anyone lucky enough to call her friend.

TechCrunch' Michael Arrington leaves SF Bay Area for Seattle

Michael Arrington with friend

Pointing to a need for a change of scenery, Michael Arrington, the founder and editor of the tech blog TechCrunch, and one who's always made himself available to this blogger, is (sadly) leaving the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley for Seattle.

In his blog post written Monday (today), Arrington reports:

This last weekend I moved my primary residence from Silicon Valley to Seattle. My plan is to roughly split my time between Seattle and Silicon Valley, and spend a lot more time on the road meeting entrepreneurs around the world.

Michael says there are "scores and scores of startups here that are doing innovative and disruptive things" and he wants to be a part of that. But really Michael says he needs the change of view. Too bad.

It will not be the same around the Bay Area. Michael would turn up at places like Amsterdam Bar in San Francisco for a party, or at any of the TechCrunch events held around here. One assumes he will still fly down here, but the bet here is he's going up there for the skiing. It can't be for the social life. I wonder of Michael knows about The Seattle Freeze?

Seahawks Golden Tate loves The Crab Pot

Former Notre Dame and now Seattle Seahawks Wide Receiver Golden Tate seems to be settling into his new hometown Seattle and has discovered The Crab Pot.

According to Golden Tate's Twitter account called @ShowtimeTate, he's working to learn the playbook and earn playing time:

Another day at the office! Trying to learn this play book! And missing keenan hall!
7:41 AM May 1st via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Golden Tate, who's college humber was 23, is now #81, a clear sign that he's ready to be an NFL wide receiver. Reportedly he's playing well in Seattle's minicamp. But Tate's also taking to Seattle, as this tweet shows:

I for sure just devoured snow and king crab from Crab Pot!
about 6 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

The Crab Pot is a Seattle institution at The Bay Pavilion at Pier 57 on the Waterfront. It's known for "The Seafest," or as the website describes:

We take a variety of crab, clams, mussels, shrimp in the shell, salmon, halibut, oysters, potatoes, corn on the cob and andouille sausage steamed with mouth watering spices and pour it right on your table! No need for silverware, we give you a bib and a mallet and let you go at it!

Since Golden Tate didn't do "The Seafest", here's a video preview of what he's in store for:



Hopefully Golden Tate sends a tweet while he's devouring The Seafest" the nest time he goes to The Crab Pot.

Ted Ginn Jr. with 49ers - Niners should run the receiver screen

Now that the 2010 NFL Draft is history and the San Francisco 49ers traded for former Ohio State and Miami Dolphins Receiver Ted Ginn Jr., yet failed to add more speed in the form of Clemson Running Back C.J. Spiller, it's obvious Ginn's going to be the speed guy. According to various reports, Ginn's going to be more than the return man - he's going to be a receiver.

The reason is Ginn's coming in and surprising people with his determination to be a good receiver. He's got a lot of work to do, if Niner Nation's blog is considered. "Smiley" wrote a full account of all of Ted Ginn's games in 2009 including his best (11 for 108 against the Colts) and his worst (the 2 for 8 performance against the New Orleans Saints).

Considering Ted's amazing speed as shown in this record setting performance where he returned two kicks for over 100 yards in one game and in one quarter...



The 49ers should use Ginn in flanker screen plays and reverses, as the Dolphins did. The Niners may want to place Ginn at Split End and just have him, but Flanker's actually a more efficient place for Ted Ginn to be.

Washington Redskins Fans at 2010 NFL Draft Red Carpet

This NFL Draft installment (thanks to the Inn at Irving Place, part of the Small Luxury Hotels of The World brand) comes from New York, Radio City Music Hall - The NFL's known for some of the craziest fans in sports, but The Washington Redskins Fans have to take the cake as the most rabid and dedicated.

This group came up dressed in Redskins colors and mostly as hogs to make one point: they wanted Washington Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen to select an offensive lineman. They wanted a hog.



YouTube, Yahoo, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos and Viddler

And in Oklahoma Offensive Tackle Trent Williams, The Washington Redskins Fans got their wish. They got a hog as the Redskins 1st round pick. Now, the Redskins hope they can get Williams signed in time for training camp.

When Williams was introduced to the organization and the media last Friday, Bruce Allen played media member and asked him if he planned to sign and be in camp on time. Williams said he would.

Fot the long suffering Redskins fans, let's hope he does.

Nashville, Memphis Tennessee flooding impacts millions

The news of Nashville and Memphis Tennessee flooding hits this blogger in a personal way. All of my aunts and cousins are in cities and towns between Nashville and Memphis Tennessee. My mother called today (Sunday) to explain my aunts' kitchen is flooded, but didn't explain why because of our bad phone connection; now I know why.

This video explains it all:



Reportedly, thunderstorms dropped a foot of rain on Nashville, Memphis, and the Mid South, forcing the evaculation of 1,500 people according to The Commercial Appeal.

Memphis, Tenn

One river, called the Loosahatchie River at Arlington, Tennessee, rose a whopping 23 feet in 24 hours, and reached a record of 25.31 feet Sunday. Joe Ford, the Interim Mayor of Shelby County, called a State of Emergency on Saturday. Millington was the hardest hit of all of the cities, with two subdivisions flooded.

The weather today? 77 degrees and partly cloudy as of this writing.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Museum Party a ton of fun, but what about the future?

The Oakland Museum on 10th Street next to Laney College in Oakland, California had a great all-night block party that was a ton of fun. You know it was a perfect Oakland event when you run into people you know from all over the town, as was the case for this blogger.

Before I install the video from that fun event, this post was necessary if only to gush about how nice it was to see a free Oakland event that reflected the true sprit of the City. Yes, the Museum looked great, but the people looked even better. The drinks flowed, the food was good considering much of it was either free to cheap, and the artwork was excellent.

I didn't stay all night because my dear friend insists on getting up early to do her endurance training. Were it not for that, I'd have stayed until 3 AM; the party closed at 6 AM.

We spent time with Susan Mernit and Amy Gahran, and Editor and Publisher and Senior Editor of Oakland Local (who had staff all over the Museum) as well as a number of friends and associates, some that may want to be kept out of a blog, so be it. It was a fantastic time.

The one thought which kept rolling through my head was how will the Museum top the event? The problem as I see it, is the event was more about the event at the Museum than the Museum itself. I'm not taking anything away from the Oakland Museum, but my friend's first question was when were they going to do it again?

That's the point. It was so great, the Museum could suffer if it doesn't do one again and make it some kind of annual thing.

I hope it does.