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super deluxe
Super Deluxe Becomes The Internet's Arrested Development
It's over! The most consistently funny comedy site on the Internet is getting folded into AdultSwim.com. Turner is shutting down Super Deluxe and laying off most of its staff, according to paidContent.org. Now the original web content will get stuck with clips from Family Guy and Adult Swim's increasingly weird-without-payoff lineup. The good news: The guy below gets a TV deal. More »
anger
Harvey Weinstein Threatens to Destroy Democratic Party Unless His Gal Hil Wins
Hollywood strongman Harvey Weinstein is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton, because they share a similar megalomania. Weinstein, who throws a great deal of showbiz money at Democrats and who is known for his Hulk-esque temper, reportedly called up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month to threaten her unless the Dems handed his gal Hillary the nomination. Weinstein said he'd cut of all money to Dem congressional campaigns unless Pelosi backed the Clinton campaign's unfeasible plan to get the Dems to pay for brand new elections in Florida and Michigan. Weinsein has denied it all. Or at least he denied that it was a "threat." He owns up to calling Pelosi and "offering" "to put together a team of people to help finance a revote in Florida and Michigan." Then he threatened to eat the officials who leaked details of the call. Weinsein's owned up to a bad temper before, once telling Ken Auletta that it's the thing he dislikes most about himself. In fact, Weinstein's temper makes Weinstein so angry he feels like he's going to explode. An Entourage clip exploring this famous bad mood in a comedic style may be found after the jump. More »
judgment
John Travolta: Biggest Environmental Hypocrite
According to the results of our poll yesterday, you, our angry readers, believe John Travolta is a worse environmental hypocrite than any other celebrity! This one was a runaway. Travolta got 48% of the vote, crushing second-place hypocrite(s) Brangelina, who only got 18%. Barbra Streisand (17%) was a close third, followed by Madonna (11%), Chris Martin (5%), and Leonardo Dicaprio, who you guys must really have a crush on, at just 2%. From the comments, it appears that Travolta's whole "owning five personal planes and having a runway in my yard" thing really pushed him over the top. A wise choice. [Previously. Results rounded to nearest percentage point.]
television
How Blogs Helped New York TV
There are rumors afoot that Ugly Betty, the ABC dramedy set inside a gay person's head, will shoot its next season on location in New York. This makes perfect sense. An insider at the show says it's cheaper to shoot on location (really?), but here's our theory: these days, what with the internet at all, it's also a great marketing strategy. Look at a show like Gossip Girl, which is constantly showing up in tabloids and on, um, gossip blogs when they're filming around town. Free publicity! A cigar-chomping network executive's dream! Even a show like 30 Rock, which isn't exactly tabloid fodder, surely benefits from a few sightings once in a while. Shooting on location also offers a sense of immediacy just that isn't there on a studio backdrop (or green screen) or in a script written in a faraway writer's room. More »
gossip girl
OMFG: Serena's Big Secret
It's amazing to watch a show wildly redeem and practically reinvent itself in one night. The episode, written brilliantly by Paul Sciarrotta (seems to be his first episode!), was funny and suspenseful and, um, downright shocking at the end. (Well, as shocking as a network television show about dopey teenagers can get). The jokes! The Waverly Inn! Page Six! Tinsley Mortimer! Sciarrotta, a Georgetown alum, seems to know his pop-ish topical New York stuff, something the show was sorely missing. And what else? Gays! Bitchiness! And, um, murder? More »
celebrity-industrial complex
Heath Ledger Dolls Selling Like Mad
So not only has Mattel released the world's most awkward figurine, depicting Heath Ledger's Joker in the forthcoming Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, but the creepy action figures are actually selling. Really, really well. Reports the Post: "Toy peddlers are laughing all the way to the bank with Heath Ledger's Joker doll selling out at New York stores. Droves of people lined up early at the Toys 'R' Us store in Times Square... 'There are none left in the warehouse, either.'" The $10 dolls are being re-sold on eBay. Get one for $55 with a Batman figurine! Put it in your morbid Heath Ledger apartment! [Post] (Joker image via Post)
gawker book club
Here's the Part of James Frey's New Novel That's Based on Perez Hilton
James Frey's upcoming novel, Bright Shiny Morning, features interwoven narratives from the city of Los Angeles. One of his characters, a gay Cuban internet-based gossip, is based on—you guessed it, Perez Hilton! Aww. (Although, Frey does write that "between six and eight million people a day come to his website," which seems a little high.) Read the excerpt for trajectory of a young Perez Hilton. More »
television
Three Reasons Why No One's Watching TV Dramas
Since the strike ended (feels like three years ago) shows like Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and House have seen ratings dip. Television people—who are always scratching their heads, every day, it is their whole job—are running around, desperately trying to come up with ANSWERS. Bill Carter ventures to help them in the New York Times today, saying it's serialized story lines that are keeping people away, while The TV Addict wonders if it has anything to do with videogames. What's happening here? Why is everyone tuning out? Find out after the jump. More »
videogames
The Media Universe Of Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto IV is not so much the apotheosis of modern console entertainment as the first post-modern video game. While it provides the usual bloody entertainment, the latest installment of Rockstar's hit title is also a fully-imagined alternate world—complete with a witty satire of 21st century media. Serbian hardman Niko Bellic, the game's central character, can browse a self-mocking version of photo sharing site Flickr ("perfect for hopeless losers who like to spend days categorizing, alphabetizing and organizing their online galleries") and scour the missed connections on Liberty City's craplist.net ("sorry for checking out your 13-year-old daughter"). Most absurd of all are the mock cable shows—though they contend with their real-world equivalents. The newscasters of Weasel News are even more rabid than Bill O'Reilly and his colleagues at Fox News. If you have a friend with a Playstation, get them to show you I'm Rich, a celebrity show which in this episode profiles a cocaine heiress called Chloe Parker and as absurd as Paris Hilton. A campy British narrator—resembling that of the Daily Show's John Oliver—provides the voiceover.Chloe Parker went from tycoon tot to tycoon twat... She's got it all. Daddy, money, and one of those tiny little dogs that rich people keep in their vagina... Her penthouse in Algonquin's exclusive Little Barkings district is a palace in the sky complete with a motor drawbridge, torture dungeon, and servants with scurvy. This is real estate we can only watch on television and masturbate over. (After the jump, the clip, and two screenshots from Liberty City's self-mocking version of the web; and here's blow-by-blow coverage of Grand Theft Auto's new release from Kotaku.)More »
the gays
Today In Sad Gays: Blogs and Ballads
It's Wednesday, and the gays are sad. As we stare out the window, pink rain spattering on the glass, and sip our tea with Valium crushed all up in it, we would like you all to know about it. Specifically, suspected (and, um, proven) geigh and American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken would like to sing about furtively masturbating to pictures of Chad Michael Murray while locked in a closet, and some sorta geigh (he dated Lance "On The Line" Bass) named Reichen Lehmkuhl (evidently that's a name) wants to teach us an important lesson. Clay was on QVC recently promoting a new album or haircut or line of products for lonely people. He sang his new song, subtly called "The Real Me," which includes lyrics like "Do I let it show, does anybody know?" (yes, dear) and "Living a charade, always on parade" (charades imply guessing, love). So yeah. That dude is blue. Reichen was apparently dumped by someone who was just into him for his massive, massive fame. He wrote a blog entry on his MySpace account saying things like "Never believe them when they say they're only going to sleep with you, especially when there is a social climbing opportunity in front of them." Oh how terrible. That must be a constant cross to bear for someone who was on
sail away
Scientology's Party Boat Docked Due to Asbestos
Hey, remember where Tom Cruise held his birthday party? Jog your memory with Gawker's EXCLUSIVE VIDEO of the embarrassing 2004 celebration. That's right: on the MV Freewinds, the massive "cruise ship" training center for the highest level members of the Church of Scientology. Bad news for aspiring OT VIIIs: the ship's been sealed and docked in Curacao due to the discovery of "significant amounts of blue asbestos" all over her. Blue asbestos is the insulating material that's been banned in the US for years because of all the lung cancer it causes. And, obviously, the 40-year-old cruise ship has been contaminated with it since day one—putting the lives of nearly all OT VIII Scientologists at risk! According to a CNN I-Report: "An affidavit filed in 2001 by Lawrence Woodcraft, a former Scientologist and trained architect, claims that Woodcraft encountered the fibrous minerals while working on the ship in 1987, and promptly informed Scientology leaders." And they didn't do anything about it for 20 years. So where does a Scientologist go when he dies of mesothelioma? More »
scientology
Why The Church Of Scientology Won't Let Me Show You Their Propaganda Videos
Why did the Church of Scientology buy a channel on YouTube? Well, remember how a video of Tom Cruise babbling about Scientology cropped up on YouTube? And how the Church got the video taken down so we put it on Gawker and then another copy stayed on YouTube? Well the Church tried to fight its critics with a regular user account, but that didn't work; the organization had no more visible cred than the anonymous people accusing it of suppressing free speech. So now the Church bought themselves this fancy channel stocked with 82 videos about their religion. Most are just bland, and some are delightfully creepy, even if they lack the star power of Tom Cruise. But I'm not allowed to show them here. More »
vanity fair
How Vanity Fair "Groomed" Miley Cyrus
There's a technique called "grooming" that pedophiles use on their victims (yes, we just learned about it today, thank you). One definition says "Grooming behavior is intended to make the victim or potential victim or victim's guardians feel comfortable with the molester and even interested in interacting with him." And here's a characteristic of a regressed child molester: "They place pseudo-adult status on their victims and then view them as they would their peers." Now take a look at the following behind-the-scenes pictures from Vanity Fair's controversial new Miley Cyrus photo shoot by 58-year-old lesbian photographer Annie Leibovitz and ask yourself if any of that rings a bell. We're not accusing these stylists of being pedophiles, we're just saying... ugh: More »
movies
Movie Rights to Godless Ayn Rand Novel Acquired From Catholics
Vice chairman of Lionsgate Michael Burns' mission to grab the screen rights of me-first philosopher Ayn Rand's libertarian soap opera of a novel Atlas Shrugged ended at a strange place: his Catholic Church. As Burns tells it in an interview this week, he was leaving mass one Sunday when he ran into Ray producers Howard and Karen Baldwin, telling them, "I heard you have the rights to Atlas Shrugged and I'd like to talk to you about that because that is truly one of my favorite books." As all good Rand acolytes know, the stern founder of the philosophy of Objectivism wasn't a huge fan of God or the Catholic Church, once informing the late devout editor of National Review William F. Buckley, "But you are too smart to believe in God!" Burns, who says he attended Rand's funeral in 1982, is all too aware of his heresy, adding, "Ayn Rand's probably rolling over in her grave to think that happened in a Catholic church." Forget about rolling over, Michael. She might be assembling an army of the undead to take care of yo' ass. More »
party crasher
The Insider's Guide To The Tribeca Film Festival
Forget the movies. As any veteran festival goer knows, all the work is done at the parties, where film industry players swap their views on movies nobody has seen. Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival—a recent and upscale addition to the movie maker's annual peregrination which starts this week—is no different. The party timetable is usually a closely guarded document, passed around in email with a strict injunction against sharing with the hoi polloi. Here's what we think of that. First, the grid; then, below, the list of publicists you need to bully or cajole.More »
lost
'Lost' Claims More Victims
Lost executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof struck a note of reassurance for the actors they have so callously murdered this season in a conference call yesterday. Their message to their cast: death could be the best thing that ever happened to you. As show honcho Carlton Cuse put it, "The good thing about Lost is that, a lot of the time, being dead leads to more work on the show. Actually, you can kind of improve your standing in the cast by being killed." Having crammed an eight episode story arc into four hours and a two-hour season finale on May 29, the show's writers will ferret six castaways off the island, and you can bet there will be blood. Promo photos for the series return already show an ailing Jack (Matthew Fox) being tended to by his new boo Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Fox has admitted he thinks he might be next. While it's more likely a bait and switch, he'll want to flip to the end of his script with trepidation, as past casualties haven't fared well on or off the show. More »
exclusive
Our favorite cocaine-dappled redhead, actress Lindsay Lohan, has a Facebook profile! But it's undercover... She goes by the name "Lindsay Ronson," using the last name of her friend (girlfriend perhaps??), DJ Samantha Ronson. She's friends with Marc Jacobs, his ex-fiancé (and former hooker) Jason Preston, The Hills' Lauren Conrad, model Jessica Stam, random internet socialite Cory Kennedy, and a whole host of other notable idiots. It's funny to see that all these loathsome people are connected, though I guess it makes some perfect cosmic sense in a way. Though maybe they don't all get along. She's friends with a "Hiilary Duff" (a notorious enemy) and, judging by her "Wall," she and model Lauren Hastings seem to be in some sort of fight. Also, as you can see from her "Status," she's totes serious about her new sober living ("It was 430 am!!!" she offers as cryptic explanation for something), even though she's been seen hard partying all over the place. Radar has two theories about the possibly "glassy-eyed" Long Islander). Find her "Wall" after the jump, plus, a profile picture of French toast and Parliament Lights (yum!), from Radar
More »
Lindsay Lohan's Facebook Page
Our favorite cocaine-dappled redhead, actress Lindsay Lohan, has a Facebook profile! But it's undercover... She goes by the name "Lindsay Ronson," using the last name of her friend (girlfriend perhaps??), DJ Samantha Ronson. She's friends with Marc Jacobs, his ex-fiancé (and former hooker) Jason Preston, The Hills' Lauren Conrad, model Jessica Stam, random internet socialite Cory Kennedy, and a whole host of other notable idiots. It's funny to see that all these loathsome people are connected, though I guess it makes some perfect cosmic sense in a way. Though maybe they don't all get along. She's friends with a "Hiilary Duff" (a notorious enemy) and, judging by her "Wall," she and model Lauren Hastings seem to be in some sort of fight. Also, as you can see from her "Status," she's totes serious about her new sober living ("It was 430 am!!!" she offers as cryptic explanation for something), even though she's been seen hard partying all over the place. Radar has two theories about the possibly "glassy-eyed" Long Islander). Find her "Wall" after the jump, plus, a profile picture of French toast and Parliament Lights (yum!), from Radar
More »
