Segacs's World I Know

Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

The biggest attraction at the Olympics? Stephen Colbert, who’s been on site all week.

He and Michael Bublé sang their unique take on the national anthem. He’s done mock tryouts for events. He cheered on Shani Davis of the US speedskating team (which he sponsored) when he won his gold medal. He’s getting more press coverage than some of the top athletes. AP has called him “his own Olympic event“.

I’m not sure which is funnier: Stephen Colbert on his game, or the legions of people who don’t seem to understand that it’s satire.

Peter Funt makes the case in the Washington Post that the current US Presidential Campaign has a plot straight out of Season 7 of The West Wing.

Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, and police said drugs may have been a factor. The Australian-born actor was 28. Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the residence in the tony SoHo neighborhood, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

He was one of my favourite actors, and not only because of the great accent and the fact that he was, erm, easy on the eyes. Performances like Brokeback Mountain proved that he had real talent and his career was only getting started.

He was just about my age. He had a young daughter. What a waste.

• So this whole thing is about what cut of the profits should be directed to the writers – both generally from sales, and specifically from online sales. Does that strike anyone else as odd? What ever happened to the idea that the entrepreneur takes the risk and therefore reaps the rewards? What other union has that same sense of entitlement to a share of the proceeds? The writers get their fees, right? What’s with this contingency-based profit sharing, anyway? If a show flops, do the writers have to give back their paycheques? Didn’t think so.
• What’s more, where does this stop? Does every single person who works on a TV show or a movie get a piece of the profits? Will the set designers and the casting agents start working on salary-plus-percentage arrangements? How about the caterer? The dolly grip? The guy who stands in for Tom Hanks while the lighting crew works?
• And what’s with some shows making side deals in order to get back on the air? Why can Letterman have writers but Leno can’t? And how does the WGA give a free pass to the shows it likes? That’s not a strike. That’s a kid refusing to come out of his room… except for pizza.
• If a WGA member writes his own material on a paper napkin, and nobody’s around to see it… did it really happen?

Alanis parodies one of the most ridiculously awful songs of all time. Hilarious!

The Comedy Network is looking for Colbert lookalikes:

Finalists will compete in Oshawa, Ontario on March 20, which has been declared “Stephen Colbert Day” by Mayor John Gray. The winner will get a trip to New York City to attend a taping of The Colbert Report.

“There are two kinds of people in this world; those that are Stephen Colbert and those that wannabe Stephen Colbert. Most people fall into the second category. So here’s a chance for all the wannabe Colbert’s to step up,” said Brent Haynes of the Comedy Network, in a release.

March 20th is the mayor of Oshawa’s birthday; it was declared Stephen Colbert Day thanks to Colbert winning a hockey bet.

So Simon Cowell thinks he’s bigger than Springsteen.

But the real question is, is Springsteen bigger than Jesus?

Most of the time, when the sordid details of celebs’ brushes with the law hit the media, I find myself none too sympathetic. But if this is true, then I can’t help but think that the paparazzi member in question got pretty much what he deserved:

Police are investigating reports that James Blunt ran over someone’s foot as he was leaving a party, then drove off, authorities said Tuesday.

The alleged victim told police his foot was injured at a party Saturday around 1:50 a.m., police spokeswoman Martha Garcia said.

“Some of the witnesses also reported that it was Mr. Blunt who was driving the car,” she said.

“James was leaving a party and his car was swarmed by paparazzi,” Blunt’s publicist Sheila Richman said.

In a statement, she said the singer was driving “2 mph” and that he was “trying to navigate his car through all of the people.”

So what’s the new line of wisdom here? People who swarm cars shouldn’t complain when their feet get run over?

(Incidentally, James Blunt is one of those guilty pleasures that I’d love to claim I hate but actually has a much heavier rotation in my CD player than I’d care to admit… shhhhh….)

Sascha Baron Cohen is finally giving interviews as himself after months of only appearing in character as Borat.

The day after Borat: The Movie was awarded a Golden Globe award, Cohen has decided to close the chapter on this character and move on:

Sacha Baron Cohen has killed off his controversial character Borat.

The British-born comic star insists the offensive fictional Kazakhstani reporter is now too famous to fool anyone again, but has revealed he is already working on new ideas.

One might think Cohen would be sad to let go of such a long-running (and cash-generating) character. But if anything, he sounds relieved:

He explained: “It was tiring having to stay in character, usually for about eight hours at a time, so as not to raise suspicion. There is a lot of physical preparation. I never washed the suit – when I come in the room there’s this terrible smell. And Borat doesn’t wear any deodorant.”

Now that’s commitment. Or insanity. Or both.

A decade later, hundreds are still celebrating the Seinfeld-coined holiday, complete with metal poles.