I am so looking forward to The National’s new album, out in May, called “High Violet”. They previewed one of the songs from it on US TV last week, and I love this song, “Terrible Love”. Looks very promising that the new CD will be every bit as good as “Alligator” and “Boxer”.
Also in May, The New Pornographers release their new album, “Together” … judging from the one song off that has been released, “Your Hands (Together)” that sounds promising too.
According to her agent, Max Markson:
"Lara Bingle will not be commenting on her personal life,"
Thank fuck for that is all I have to say about that. Please, please stick to this promise Lara.
How stupid is it that the lead story on the news the last couple of days has been the apparent breaking off of the engagement between Lara Bingle and Australian cricketer Michael Clarke. Media has even camped outside their Bondi apartment doing live crosses during news programs.
However, I’ve got a feeling that she will eventually talk, once the price offered by one of the media outlets is right. She’s just too much of a famewhore to resist another moment in the spotlight.
It would seem that Bingle’s career and life had become just too much of a circus for Clarke to tolerate. The straw that broke the camel’s back looks to have been her decision to sell her story in response to the publication of a nude photo taken of her allegedly by former lover, AFL player Brendan Fevola, in the Womans Day magazine. While the wise decision would have been for her to lay low, and say very little about it, her decision was to give an exclusive tell all interview about what she felt, how she planned to sue Fevola etc. She would have enjoyed privacy, come across as the victim of a dickhead like Fevola having taken a nude photo of her and then circulated it around his mates. End of story – Bingle comes out of it sympathetically, Fevola pathetically. But being a famewhore desperate to remain in the public eye she had to sell her story to the highest bidder. Stupid woman!
Actually, I’m suspicious that the nude photos being made available to the magazine and the subsequent interview with the same magazine were all orchestrated by Bingle and her management to gain publicity and hopefully open up some commercial/career opportunities for her. Hopefully its backfired badly, and she fades quickly into obscurity. But I don’t hold out much hope of that … someone will figure that they can make money out of her.
Speaking of careers, what actually is she famous for? Modelling, well yes marginally, but more so isn’t it just for the people she’s been screwing – she seems to have a taste for prominent sportsmen – Michael Clarke, Brendan Fevola, supposedly also footballers Craig Wing, Benji Marshall and Greg Bird (although she denies at least some of them). She also is said to be friends with some interesting characters – colourful Kings Cross identities (usually code for criminal) and the sons of a deceased alleged Sydney major crime figure.
Wouldn’t surprise also if Clarke’s decision came about because Cricket Australia dropped a few hints about his circus sideshow of a girlfriend not being the sort of image that an Australian captain would want to be presenting (and by inference, ditch her or forget being the next captain).
I used to think Lindsay Lohan was pretty good in some of her earlier movies, like “Mean Girls” - the ones she did before she decided her mission in life was to outskank the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Seems she’s gone through a rough patch, and according to someone associated with her, looking to clean up her act in 2010.
However her efforts look to be about to be undone by the release onto the internet of a sex video featuring her. According to the source:
“The video film is dynamite. It is pretty seedy and shows Lindsay engaged in a particular sex act which, obviously, should remain behind closed doors.
“Lindsay was desperate to start 2010 off on a good footing and this is the very last thing she needs.”
The video, for which Hustler magazine is said to be willing to pay $175k for, is only 47 seconds long, and was filmed by a waiter from a chain restaurant.
Maybe there’s a couple of valuable life lessons she should take from the experience:
Apparently some people are so taken by the planet Pandora in the movie “Avatar” that they are getting depressed and having suicidal feelings about not being able to go there. All I can say to them is “get a life”!
…. at the thought of the possibility of Michael Jackson winning the Nobel Peace Prize. More than 15,000 people have signed an Internet petition calling for the recently deceased singer to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. The petitioners’ target is 1,000,000 signatures. According to the petition:
"Michael Jackson has undoubtedly earned the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize,"
and:
"We the Undersigned, believe Michael Jackson has given of himself completely and selflessly in a lifelong effort to help better global conditions for children, and all of humankind,"
As to the first point, I’d ask how and why? By dropping dead?
As to the second point, fair enough, I’d agree he did some worthy things, but I think they are vastly overstating his contributions. Never mind that he also did some things that did not exactly better conditions for some children he knew – unless you count millions of dollars in hush money as bettering a child’s conditions (then again that’s an interesting equation – millions as the price for keeping quiet about being molested – does it represent a net benefit to that child or not?)
However, old Alfred will be pleased to know its not going to happen. Firstly, Nobel Prize rules stipulate that prizes cannot be awarded posthumously (great news for Elvis fans – he may still be eligible … if only they could figure out where he’s been hiding all these years?). Second, nominations are only able to be made by certain eligible people, including members of parliament and government worldwide, university professors, previous laureates and members of several international institutes. (damn those elitists in their ivory towers!!!)
For all my Hermione Granger fans, I can say, yes I have seen her. Took the kids to see “Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince” last weekend – my first time, their second. I thought it was an ok movie, nothing special. My kids rated it one of the better Harry Potter movies – my daughter was especially keen and had prepared for the new movie by watching all the previous ones on DVD in the week leading up to its opening at the cinema.
Anyway, enough about the movie. For the benefit of all the Hermione fans who visit my blog looking for her, here she is.
Bad luck guys – not nude.
Went to the movies today to see “Bruno” the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie. I enjoyed it. Like Ali G and Borat, Baron Cohen’s other characters, you need to be a fan of crude humour (I am).
Best bits:
Not satisfied with seemingly having driven his son Michael into freak show territory, Joe Jackson now seems determined to screw with his grandchildren’s lives.
He has visions of taking his late son’s children on tour as The Jackson Three in 2010. Details of The Jackson Three tour came after Jackson, 79, told Good Morning America that he believed Michael’s three children had talent that could be developed. He says:
"I keep watching Paris, she maybe wants to do something, you know,"
"And Blanket, he can really dance, that’s what they’re saying. He can really dance."
Not only a tour next year, but there are rumours the young Jacksons are preparing to star on stage in London next month for a celebration of what would have been their father’s 51st birthday and that Prince Michael may record a "virtual" duet with his father.
However, the rest of the Jackson family is violently opposed to Joe’s plans. Said one confidant of the family:
"One of the family members is livid. He is saying Joe seems intent to do this no matter what … he wants to exploit the kids the same way he did Michael."
For the sake of Michael Jackson’s children, keep their grandfather away from them, or its likely there’ll be another generation of screwed up freaks in the family. Oh, and get some normal names for them, too. Who calls their kids Prince and Blanket? Paris is OK I suppose.
How’s this for obsessive fandom?
It is claimed that at least a dozen people have committed suicide over the death of Michael Jackson. London man Gary Taylor, who owns the biggest Michael Jackson online fan club, said he was aware of about 12 suicides following the performer’s death. In Australia, Lifeline CEO Dawn O’Neil said that while there has not been "a dramatic increase" in calls to counsellors since Friday, people have spoken about how Jackson’s death has affected them.
In other Jackson news, it is looking exceedingly likely that his death will be just as much a circus as his life.
So I believe from the news yesterday and today. There has just been a little bit of coverage of his death.
Now I will admit to being no fan of Michael Jackson. Indeed I hated his music and mocked him as a freak and a paedophile. (Indeed for years I had my wife convinced that among his various cosmetic surgeries he’d had his balls cut off to enable him to sing higher notes.)
However, even I’ve found the coverage of his death a tad on the morbid side. It started out yesterday when pictures of his dead body on a stretcher being taken to an ambulance were all over the news. Today has topped that with the news on the radio playing the tape of the 911 call from his house. I really fail to see the news value in both of these. Yes we know he died, yes we know there would have been a medical emergency, but do we really need to hear it in detail and see pictures of him dead?
Jackson’s death does not really surprise me. I’ve long thought he would die early and quite likely by his own hand. Whether the latter is the case remains to be seen, but speculation is already that prescription drugs played a part. Accident or deliberate?
I was saying to someone last night that in many ways, Michael Jackson should have died 15 years or so ago, before he turned into a somewhat sad figure of ridicule, and before his troubles with accusations of inappropriate conduct with young boys. I don’t think I’m alone in this view. Consider all the tributes and obituaries in the media about him yesterday and today and you’ll see much more like this:
which is clearly how people would prefer to remember him, rather than this:
the bizarre weirdo he became.
On the subject of the morbid fascination with Jackson’s health I found this amusing. In particular the promise of updates on the state of his health.
Well I’ve got news, his current health status will not be changing any time soon!
Meanwhile, in other, clearly far less important news, 11 people were killed in a bombing in Baghdad yesterday, which follows 78 people being killed on Wednesday and another 73 a few days earlier.
Apparently Michael Jackson lives in fear that his nose will fall off. He has been diagnosed with some skin cancers on his nose, as well as his chest and arm.
I’m more inclined to put it down to the excessive and bad plastic surgery. You be the judge.
Mel Gibson’s new girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva.
Gibson stands to lose half of his estimated $1 billion fortune in the divorce which his wife Robyn has filed for. According to reports, the Gibsons have been secretly separated for a couple of years, but she filed for divorce after reports that Oksana is pregnant by him. I guess that would tend to piss a wife off.
We’ve had the $6m man, Steve Austin, and the bionic woman, Jamie Summers, now the $500m woman … just what amazing powers does she have?
Hope she’s worth it, Mel.
