Defamer

Farewells

Ringo Starr Officially Hates You

You know how you've been writing, editing and rewriting your fan letter to Ringo Starr for the last decade, only to stand at the mailbox time and again, reeling at the note's inadequate expression of how deeply his work and spirit have sustained you all these years, thus pushing you back to your desk for another few months of wistful, Proustian polishing? Believe us, we relate. As such, Starr's disclosure Tuesday that he will neither accept nor return fan mail after Oct. 20 has lit an epistolary fire under our ass to finally put this thing to bed. It's exactly what we needed — especially in the stern, slightly schizophrenic terms Starr bellows in his videotaped warning after the jump. More »

Short Ends

Peter Cook Just Wants To Be Loved. Is That So Wrong?

· For the record: Peter Cook did NOT have a $3000-a-week internet porn habit. He had a massive hole in his self-esteem that needed to be plugged with $3000-a-week's worth of life-affirming online flirtation. [ABC News]
· Marcia Brady always seemed like she had it all, but it turns out she battled a cocaine addiction and was severely depressed. Yeah, yeah—get in line, Marcia. [CNN]
· Alan Cumming would like to know why America is so content with mediocrity, to which we reply, why is he so content with Son of the Mask and Tin Man? [HuffPo]
· Well we finally have a comedy one-sheet motif to replace the guy's-head-on-color-background popularized by The 40-Year-Old Virgin: It's now all about male/female stick figures and bathroom door symbols. [Cinematical]
· We hope those rims weren't Hamburgled. [Plan9]

the end of ideas

Mel Gibson, Richard Donner Pool Resources to Euthanize 'Lethal Weapon'

In these rapey-sequel times, it takes a real man to stand up against the bloated revivals of franchise whose glories are long past. And while we'll assume that there is more to the implosion of Lethal Weapon 5 than just one jilted director's story, we'll take Richard Donner's perspective for now as some of the most reassuring news we've heard since doctors disclosed that Indiana Jones would recover from his violent auteurist tag-teaming last week. Saving it from Joel Silver's own heat-seeker makes it all the better. More »

Blergh: The New York Times is as fed up with the lack of 30 Rock as we are, noting that Tina Fey "is about the hottest star in show business at the moment" thanks to those Emmy wins, American Express commercials, and Sarah Palin guest spots, and yet the third season of the rating-challenged sitcom still hasn't yet premiered to take advantage of Fey's heat. Embattled NBC head Ben Silverman takes the blame: "If we knew then what we know today about how hot Tina was going to be, would we do it differently? Maybe." The "business juice"-quaffing Silverman then announced plans to incorporate Fey into several of his struggling new series; expect a new, Palin-like voice for KITT on Knight Rider and a Kath & Kim & Liz Lemon crossover to thrill audiences before 30 Rock's season premiere sometime in the year 2011. [NY Times]

Most Popular Stories

Sacked

Why Does Kendra From 'Girls Next Door' Have a Hate-On For Tom Brady?

Though it's been reported that Kendra Wilkinson is on her way out of Hugh Hefner's harem, there's one person that isn't getting into the Playboy Mansion under her watch, and that's footballer Tom Brady. One last night's episode of The Girls Next Door, Wilkinson was told that she'd have to wear the New England Patriot's jersey for a special charity flag football game, and the look of utter revulsion that passed across her face was impressive for a woman regularly tasked with resuscitating the 82-year-old Hefner's nether regions. More »

To Do

Molls Breaks It Down For Tara Reid, Queen Of Denial

So Molly isn't quite convinced by Tara Reid's recent claims that the weak economy and Hollywood labor disputes were responsible for the career drought that forced her to take gigs as a shot girl Down Under. (She recently said, "I totally plan to go back into acting once the strike stops. The economy is so bad right now that people are afraid to put money back into acting. Even the shows that seem new, they really shot six months ago. So when it's all back up again, I will go back into it. That's my heart.") Honestly, though, we're not entirely convinced this girl doesn't have one Rourkeian comeback in her. We're pulling for you, Tara! What's to do is after the jump: More »

Rants

The Continuing Adventures of Ben Lyons, Starfucker

We (and you) were none too pleased when Ben Lyons joined Ben Mankiewicz as the host for At the Movies earlier this year, particularly when we considered Lyons' track record as something of a half-wit Richard Roeper to Mankiewicz's low-rent Roger Ebert. And while Mankiewicz has settled in relatively well in the last six weeks, we continue to cringe at the sight and sound of Lyons fluffing away at Hollywood loins in his blurb-fertile reviews. Still, we knew he was a hack; what we didn't know (at least to the extent we do today) was the garish, staggering extent of his starfucking. More »

Fish Dances

Olivia Munn Does Filthy Things With Raw Seafood

Defamer's enduring fascination with Attack of the Show host Olivia Munn, and her ongoing explorations of the strange worlds lying towards the far reaches of her personal shame-threshold, continues: In her latest escapade, Munn communes suggestively with a variety of aquatic wildlife. Surely you require no more explanation that that, but we'll offer some anyway: More »

Bonding rituals

Angelina Jolie Ready to Introduce Maddox To Exciting New World of Knife Play

When Angelina Jolie first came to national attention, it was as a brother-kissing hellion married to Billy Bob Thornton, making her current transformation into near-holy do-gooder all the more unlikely. However, fans of old Angelina need not worry — though the actress has recently made headlines for acts as mundane as scarfing Hot Pocket calzones, she now tells W that she's passed on one of her craziest habits to seven-year-old son Maddox: buying knives! More »


Defamer Decides 2008

Still Undecided? Maybe Joseph Gordon-Levitt Can Help!

Not only is Joseph Gordon-Levitt a gifted young actor, he's also a budding filmmaker in his own right: Perhaps you recall his fine work in Pictures of Assholes, a short documentary in which he attempted to delve into the unknowable psyche of the paparazzi. His latest project, currently screening in YouTube-directed browsers everywhere, is a political memoir, tracing his roots back to his years as an impressionable young MTV watcher, through the last eight rancorous years, to his present-day love affair with a man from Honolulu. Say what you will about this Obama rhapsody: it's a gritty affair, more likely to feature repeated shots of a cow relieving itself than the flossy celebrity dance-offs favored by some of his peers. The choice is yours.

It's after the jump:

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Overdue proclamations

Star Jones Finally Ready to Unload On Those 'Hateful' Women of 'The View'

Perhaps upset that Elisabeth Hasselbeck has usurped her crown as the most reviled woman ever to spout off on The View, Star Jones has warned the upcoming issue of Essence, "Star is back!" Batten down your hatches accordingly, then head into the mind of Star for her thoughts on everything from her gastric bypass ("If I had just been honest, there would not have been a backlash") to her pining, gay ex-husband ("I'm not in love with him") to...oh hell, we're just delaying the good stuff: Star slinging shit at the ladies of The View, who she deems "hateful"! More »

Virgin Records: If you thought inflation at the gas pump was bad, try entering the market for deflowering virgins; Natalie Dylan, who put her first time up for auction last month, has reportedly received bids ranging from $1 million to $3.8 million. Her pimp manager said more offers were expected, and that the highest bidder won't necessarily be the winner; charm, looks and someone who "seems intelligent" are among the criteria required from potential suitors. Assuming she'll take bids via text message and doesn't object to layaway, we might have just the guy for her. [Scandalist]

Celeb Divorce

Everything You Thought You Knew About The Grazers' Divorce Settlement May Be Wrong!

A highly placed Defamer operative tells us TMZ has gotten the details of the Brian and Gigi Grazer divorce (he gets the freedom to personally pinch-test whomever he pleases, they say, she gets $1,000,042 a month)—wrong. For starters, they don't even own a home in New York. Read the details after the jump:

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Sad News: 37-year-old actor Guillaume Depardieu (son of Gerard) has died from complications linked to a sudden case of pneumonia. The younger Depardieu was a French movie star in his own right (though he may be best-known to U.S. audiences for his unsimulated sex scenes in the controversial import Pola X); he snagged the Cesar award for "most promising young actor" in 1996. Condolences all around. [AP]

Soulmates

It's Official: DreamWorks, Universal Hitched

The Dept. of Forgone Conclusions forwarded a memo this morning confirming that DreamWorks has settled with Universal as its new distribution partner for the next five years, officially ending months of speculation and finally slicing the last thread connecting the 'Works to its exes at Paramount. The partnership reinstates Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider's working relationship with their old friends at the studio, but far more more importantly, it sets up a potential blood feud with a nemesis no one dares face when push comes to shove. More »