Archive for October 27th, 2008
A Halloween List of Hollywood’s Creepiest Celebrities
Just in time for Halloween, NowPublic has compiled a list of Hollywood’s creepiest celebrities which, come to think of it, could provide perfect last minute costume ideas!
NowPublic’s Definitive List of Hollywood’s Creepies:
• Tom Cruise and/or Katie Holmes
• Christopher Walken
• John Malkovich
• Gary Busey
• Dov Charney
• Crispin Glover
• Nicole Richie and/or Paris Hilton
• Jeremy Sisto
• Gilbert Gottfried
• Bob Saget and/or the Olsen twins
• Jerry Springer
• Mickey Rourke
• Richard Simmons
• Michael Chiklis
• Anthony Robbins and/or Eckhart Tolle
• Jimmy Swaggart
• Anne Heche and/or Anne Coulter
• Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding, anyone?)
• David Hasselhoff and/or Mel Gibson
• Pauly Shore
• Danny Trejo
Did we forget anyone? Add your creeps below!
Of course, this isn’t the only list of creeps available. Reuters also released a list of “Hollywood’s creepiest celebrities“. Although their stats are somewhat amusing (the left % is the star’s overall “creep factor”, while the right % is their overall “appeal”), I’m more than a little disappointed with their creepy celebrity selections.
Marilyn Manson, Michael Jackson, and O.J. Simpson are the top 3? What is this, 1995?
What’s creepy is that Andy Dick isn’t #1 on this list — and that so many legitimately creepy stars are nowhere to be found.
1 Marilyn Manson 76% 9%
2 Michael Jackson 67% 14%
3 O.J. Simpson 59% 3%
4 Stephen King 51% 61%
5 Howard Stern 45% 13%
6 Andy Dick 44% 17%
7 Ozzy Osbourne 43% 29%
8 Criss Angel 43% 45%
9 Flavor Flav 41% 17%
10 Paul Reubens 41% 22%
Tags: Culture | hollywood | Los Angeles | Halloween | hollywood creepiest celebrities | creepy celebrities | hollywood creeps
Police Confirm Body Is Jennifer Hudson’s Nephew
Chicago police have confirmed that the body recovered from the missing SUV associated with murder of Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother is that of her 7-year-old nephew Julian King.
As NowPublic member ojt previously reported, police had discovered the body Monday morning.
Additional reports indicated that Jennifer Hudson and several family members traveled to Chicago and identified the body with the Medical Examiner.
At this point, William Balfour is not an official suspect in the murder, however, police have confirmed that he is “a person of interest”. Mr. Balfour has a history of criminal activity and previous convictions and is known to police.
No cause of death has yet been released.
Chicago police have confirmed the body they found earlier in the day was in fact Julian King, Jennifer Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew.
Cops they are reviewing surveillance tapes in the neighborhood where the SUV was found.
Police also say they are zooming in on the timeline — it’s still unclear when the SUV showed up in the neighborhood with Julian’s body.
Cops have not named anyone as an official suspect. They have called William Balfour “a person of interest.” Our law enforcement sources, however, have said Balfour is indeed the prime suspect.
Cops would not confirm the cause of death.
Tags: Culture | Celebrity | World | Jennifer Hudson | William Balfour | Julian King | jennifer hudson nephew | hudson nephew | hudson body julian king
Diwali ‘Festival of Lights’ Celebrations on October 28th
One of India’s major holidays, the ‘Festival of Lights’ known as Diwali (or Deepavali) is being celebrated on October 28, 2008.
The festival is an important symbolic ‘renewal of life’ that is celebrated by Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain communities around the world.
In India, Diwali is a national holiday whose “aesthetic aspect…is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith”.
What are you doing to celebrate Diwali in your community? Please share your comments, photos, and videos by posting them to this story.
Diwali is perhaps the most well-known of the Indian festivals. It is a five day celebration which occurs on the fifteenth day of the Hindu month of Kartika (during October/November in the Gregorian calendar). The word Diwali means “rows of lighted lamps” and the celebration is often referred to as the Festival of Lights because of the common practice of lighting small oil lamps (called diyas) and placing them around the home, in courtyards and in gardens, as well as on roof-tops and outer walls.
Everywhere that it is celebrated, Diwali signifies the renewal of life, and accordingly it is common to wear new clothes on the day of the festival. It also heralds the approach of winter and the beginning of the sowing season.
Diwali is also a Sikh festival. It particular it celebrates the release from prison of the sixth guru, Hargobind, in 1619. Sikhs had celebrated Diwali for many years before that and the foundation stone of the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the holiest place in the Sikh world, was laid on Diwali in 1577. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of Moksha (Nirvana, or eternal bliss) by the founder of Jainism, Lord Mahavira.
NowPublic member Rumana Husain has shared her experience of Diwali in Karachi:
The place resounded with the sound of devotional songs, temple bells and loud firecrackers. All around, there was illumination. I attended the Diwali celebrations at the Swaminarayan temple a short while ago. It is located in the heart of Karachi’s old city area, on M. A. Jinnah Road, across the imposing colonial Municipal Corporation building.
Read the rest of her article here: Diwali in Karachi.
Tags: Culture | festival | Sikh | Diwali | Jainism | hindu | festival of lights | deepavali | diwali festival of lights | Diwali 2008 | diwali holiday
‘Navajo Tribal Police’ Author Tony Hillerman Dies at 83
Author Tony Hillerman, who wrote the Navajo Tribal Police mystery series, has died at the age of 83.
Tony Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels and creator of two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes — Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee — died Sunday of pulmonary failure. He was 83.
Hillerman’s breakthrough book was the 1987 novel Skinwalkers and he went on to write 18 books in the Navajo series.
Among the numerous accolades he received over the years, the most dear to Hillerman’s heart was the honour bestowed upon him by the Navajo Naton in 1987 as Special Friend of the Dineh “for his honest, accurate portrayal of Navajo people and their culture”.
“Skinwalkers,” which is generally considered his breakthrough book, won the Western Writers of America’s Golden Spur Award in 1987. In 1991, after solidifying the Navajo Tribal Police series with “A Thief of Time” (his own favorite novel), “Talking God” and “Coyote Waits,” he received the Mystery Writers of America’s highest honor, its Grandmaster Award.
The recognition that gladdened him most, however, was the status of Special Friend of the Dineh conferred on him in 1987 by the Navajo Nation for his honest, accurate portrayal of Navajo people and their culture. It was also a special source of pride to him that his books are taught on reservation high schools and colleges.
“Good reviews delight me when I get them,” he once said. “But I am far more delighted by being voted the most popular author by the students of St. Catherine Indian school, and even more by middle-aged Navajos who tell me that reading my mysteries revived their children’s interest in the Navajo Way.”
Tags: Culture | Literature | books | mystery novels | Tony Hillerman dies | tony hillerman | Navajo Tribal Police | Navajo Tribal Police books
‘The Wire’ Cast Campaigns for Obama
Having just completed viewing the incredible fifth and final season of The Wire (which is, in my humble estimation, the best television show ever made), I’m feeling well-attuned to any and all news about the show.
So it was with particular interest that I noted that seven of the show’s cast memberssupport of Barack Obama will be campaigning in this weekend.
Marlo, Kima, Freamon, Carver, Cutty, Rhonda Pearlman, and Chris Partlow will all attend a Backyard Brunch for Barack in Raleigh on Sunday.
And Obama is sure to be pleased — he’s got the support of cast members from his favourite show on television.
Tomorrow, members of the cast of the Peabody Award-winning drama series The Wire will attend a Backyard Brunch for Barack in Raleigh. Seven of the show’s cast members will visit the Tarheel State in support of the change Barack Obama will bring across the country and in North Carolina.
Chad Coleman (who plays Dennis “Cutty” Wise), Deidre Lovejoy (who plays Rhonda Pearlman), Jamie Hector (Marlo Stanfield), Clarke Peters (Detective Lester Freamon), Sonja Sohn (Detective Shakima “Kima” Greggs), Seth Gilliam (Sergeant Ellis Carver), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow) will all appear at the backyard brunch on Sunday.
On Monday, Chad Coleman, Deidre Lovejoy, and Jamie Hector will visit UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University to encourage students to vote early. Early voting in North Carolina started October 16 and November 1 is the last day voters may take advantage of early voting.
Tags: Culture | TV | North Carolina | Barack Obama | television | campaign | Obama | RALEIGH | The Wire | david simon | the wire obama
EMI Reports $1.2 Billion Loss
Are the remaining four major record labels having a tough time right now? How does losing $1.2 billion in a year sound?
That’s the sad, sorry state of EMI.
But not only did they lose more than a billion dollars, they’ve also seen their highest-profile artists, like Radiohead, Paul McCartney, and the Rolling Stones, leave the label to go it alone, to go it with Starbucks, or (possibly) to go it with LiveNation.
Where else can the label go from here? The day of the major label is officially done.
According to Variety, EMI’s after-tax loss in the year to March ballooned to $1.2 billion, a major increase over the comparatively paltry $456 million the year before.
That’s not restructuring. That’s getting paid to suck.
Tags: Music | Business | Rolling Stones | Paul McCartney | industry | Radiohead | record label | Tech & Biz | emi billion | emi music | emi loses billion | emi records
Amy Poehler Gives Birth to Baby Boy
Comic Amy Poehler was expected to appear on SNL this weekend, but she had a slightly more important prior engagement: bringing a baby into the world.
Poehler gave birth to her first child on Saturday, an 8 lb. 1 oz. baby boy, Archie Arnett.
“I can confirm that Amy gave birth to Archie Arnett on Saturday,” Amy’s flack Lewis Kay told a waiting world.
Archie is the first child for Amy and hubby Will (Arrested Development) Arnett.
Tags: Culture | TV | Entertainment | Celebrity | United States | comedy | comic | snl | Comedienne | Amy Poehler | amy poehler baby | archie arnett | will arnett | amy poehler baby boy
Eminem’s Tell-All New Memoir: ‘The Way I Am’
Rapper Eminem is making waves again with the release of “I’m Having a Relapse” a leaked track from his forthcoming album, Relapse, which is expected to be released before the end of the year.
But before his first album in more than four years sees the light of day, Eminem is telling his own tale, in a newly published memoir, The Way I Am.
The book documents the “painful childhood and adolescence” of one Marshall Mathers as he rises from Detroit “factory floor sweeper” to rap sensation.
Sound familiar? Of course it does.
It’s called 8 Mile.
In “The Way I Am,” the man born Marshall Bruce Mathers III takes readers into his painful childhood and adolescence and inside the studio and beyond as the former Detroit factory floor sweeper and short-order cook enters the rap game and becomes a worldwide hip-hop sensation.
The book is 200-plus pages worth of text, behind-the-scenes photographs and reproductions of Eminem’s original lyric sheets — hotel stationery and other scraps of paper he used to scratch out partial verses of the songs that would make him famous: From “My Name Is” and “Stan” to “Lose Yourself” and “Without Me.”
Tags: Culture | Music | Detroit | hip-hop | Eminem | eminem relapse | marshall mathers | eminem i'm having a relapse | the way i am | eminem memoir | eminem new album
