Defamer

When Olympic Endorsements Go Bad

· Nothing makes Olympic champion gymnast Shawn Johnson's taco pop like the zingy taste of Ortega salsa. Beat that, bro! [YouTube]
· We'd like to introduce you now to Pixie Leah and Darth Wicket, who are both on the losing end of an intergalactic battle to retain their dignity. [YouTube]
· We're concerned. Not only does Sarah Palin have limited governing experience, but she used to have come dribbles running down the side of her mouth! Just a heartbeat from the presidency, folks. [Perez Hilton]
· The Peach Pit lives! [Eater LA]
· And finally, some bittersweet news. Vulture editor Dan Kois is heading off into the sunset, and we'll no longer have regular and easy access to awesomeness like this. Farewell, Dan! You'll be missed. [Vulture]

David Duchovny Ain't The Only One Who Loves Some In-N-Out

Defamer Advertisers Are Hotter Than Alaskan Hockey Moms

If there's one thing we love about Defamer advertisers, it's how amenable they are to being obvious political tokens in our desperate bid to get control of the White House. Thanks guys! (Did we mention you're pretty smoking, too?) Want to be added to the ticket? Everything you need to know is right here.

Special thanks to: Choke (Fox Searchlight), Cringe (Crown Publishing), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (Paramount), Sobieski, Starwood Hotels, and Unscrew America

Deep Inside The Celebrity-Filled Sex Club To The Stars

Rollin' Sushi With The Stars!

Vogue's "Model.Live": Castings Can Really Be A Grind

· 2008's summer box office has exceeded all expectations. Go get drunk! It's on Hollywood! [THR]
· Fox has pushed up the release of Australia two weeks to November 26 to give Baz Luhrmann the time required to finish the film. What say you, Nicole Kidman in a jaunty hat and polka dot kerchief? She approves! [Variety]
· After the Burn After Reading boys packed up and sailed off, this year's smaller-scale Venice Film Festival feels kind of...meh? [Variety]
· A Nielsen study reveals TV audiences are growing older, with the "55-plus age bracket" by far the fastest-expanding demo. You know what that means: A Big Brother: All Old Farts Edition is on its way! [Variety]
· A John Lennon early-life biopic called Nowhere Man, directed by visual artist Sam Taylor-Wood and written by the same screenwriter as Control, is currently casting and in pre-production. [THR]

Sarah Palin vs. Liz Lemon: Who'd Make the Better Veep?

Sam Rockwell's Dance Party!

George W. Bush's Pick-Up Lines Exposed in Romantic New Clip From 'W.'

Ricky Schroder, 'Hellhounds' Set For Unlikely Eastern European Tryst

Orlando Bloom: Tough Yet Adorable

'Guitar Hero: The Movie' Rich In Ratnerian Themes Of Artistic Fakery

Art-eschewing, mainstream-tentpole- project-maker Brett Ratner's love for the video game sensation known as the Guitar Hero knows no bounds. His obsession with the instrument sim and its groupie-nailing expansion packs stems back to his formative years at NYU film school, when he'd busk in Washington Square Park, playing as many Police songs as he could using the four notes he was capable of eliciting from a harmonica. The first time he picked up Hero, it gave him the same quaternary musical thrill ("Smoke on the Water," for example, became a four-color kaleidoscopic "red red blue/green green blue blue/red red green/ yelllooowww"), and he since has gone about incorporating the game into many of his smaller projects—everything from Miley Cyrus videos to Mariah Carey videos. But an actual Guitar Hero movie? He'd love a crack, he told MTV Multiplayer:

“I love ‘Guitar Hero’ and I think it’s a part of pop culture. I would love to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie, if Activision would ever let me. I’m trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie. ”

'My Name Is David Duchovny, And I'm Imagining You Without Panties Right Now'

Welcome to a special Labor Day edition of Defamer Attractions, your regular guide to what's new, noteworthy and potentially nausea-inducing this week at the movies. We're as shocked as anyone to see another bottleneck for wide releases, with five films vying for scarce holiday dollars before studios roll out their fall collections. Alas, there they are — only one dumpee can finish on top, and our overeducated guess follows below. We've also got a hunch over who stands to lose big, our regular underdog pick for your consideration, and the best of the best new DVD releases for you three-day-weekend homebodies. As always, our choices are our own but positively elegant in their accuracy. You're welcome!

WHAT'S NEW: For the second consecutive week, what isn't new? But more to the point, what's new that you actually want to see? The Summer of the R-rated Comedy tapers off with College, which will battle Disaster Movie in the lowest-common-denominator category. Hamlet 2 expands to 1,500 screens, hoping to find some traction in the mudslide that was its lackluster limited opening last Friday. Among smaller films, look for Brian Cox to avenge his murdered dog in the haunting Red, while Czech Oscar-winner Jiri Menzel returns after 20 years with I Served the King of England and the '90s art-scene aftermath gets a once-over in the doc Beautiful Losers. Finally — and somewhat amazingly — a franchise is born with Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild!.