Saturday, October 17, 2009

Hello, everybody.

Like the rest of you on Thursday, I sat glued to my TV during the drama that was "Balloon Boy." For those not yet in the know, a homemade balloon with what we thought to be a six-year-old boy inside apparently set loose high into the skies of Colorado with the entire world holding their breaths every moment for two hours. After the balloon -- which was in the shape of a Jiffy Pop -- descended to the ground, we would learn all along that nobody was even inside it.

So, what's the story behind all this? Well, it was all brought to us by the Heene family from Fort Collins outside Denver. Falcon, the six-year-old at the epicenter, went inside the balloon for a short while before he untethered it and then flew out of the house. After that, Falcon rushed into the attic and hid in a cardboard box the whole time. Everybody thought he was inside the balloon, but it wasn't the case as home video and later a 911 call were released.

Now this is not new to them; the Heenes recently appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap" and the father, Richard, was a retired weatherman himself. But in the last couple of days now, we've learned new details as well as asking the burning question: Was this whole thing staged for the cameras on what was a slow news day?

Authorities and the Heenes are denying any claims about Balloon Boy being a hoax, as the family wasted no time hitting "Larry King" and the morning shows after the unexpected incident. Whether or not we're buying what Richard Heene's saying, one thing's for certain: it sure knocked Jon & Kate off the headlines!

In other news...Rush Limbaugh's bid to own the St. Louis Rams was thankfully declined by the NFL players' union as the controversial radio personality in the past lashed out against the team making some racial remarks.

But perhaps some better news coming out of this is that Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas may be considering part ownership of the Miami Dolphins. Does this mean we could be hearing "My Humps" being blared whenever they score a touchdown?

And last but not least...A few weeks ago, Sarah Michelle (Gellar) Prinze gave birth to baby girl Charlotte Grace. Months prior, she was in New York shooting the pilot for "The Wonderful Maladys" in the hopes HBO would greenlight it. Well, according to sources though not yet confirmed, HBO has said no to Sarah Michelle's return to television.

That's the bad news. The good news: The pilot's already been in the can for a while and there's a good chance it may be shopped to Showtime and AMC to see which one will pick it up. Both channels have been after HBO's blood (even if they have the hot "True Blood") in the last couple of years; Showtime with "Weeds", "Dexter", "Californication", and of course "Inside The NFL"; AMC has the Emmy-winning "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad."

And if not Showtime or AMC, maybe they could try FX, TNT, maybe ABC Family, maybe USA Network! Which one do you think will try their luck? Vote in my QuikPoll or comment on my Twitter page; I'll have your opinions next time.

Besides, even with her new baby, we'd still rather see Sarah Michelle Gellar back on our screens instead of boring ourselves with Sarah Palin's upcoming book! So long and stay strong.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Hello, everybody.

Well, President Obama may have failed in bringing the Olympics back to America and in Chicago, but at least he got an unexpected consolation prize: The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. He is the third sitting U.S. President after Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and fourth in general after Jimmy Carter to be awarded humanitarian's highest honor.

According to the Norweigan Nobel Committee, Obama was honored for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" (maybe they were referring to that beer summit at the White House the other month); they also stated that "only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future." Obama himself said that he was "surprised and deeply humbled" by the committee's unanimous decision.

But of course, not everybody is taking this with a grain of salt...especially the right-wingers like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who have never done enough homework about what the Nobel Peace Prize is all about. I do not want to go into detail into what they were spewing about, because it's not my thing and I want to move on with the rest of this blog.

Obama will be donating his $1.4 million prize to charity and he'll be invited to the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway next month. Whether you agree with me or not, it is something well worth deserving.

Now I want to bypass all the David Letterman and Jon and Kate gobbledygook (because I don't feel like bringing those up) and zoom forward to shocking news in the Twitterverse, as Miley Cyrus for reasons unbeknownst to us, has bailed out (she explained it all in rap form). Also following her lead are Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore, but thankfully their fellow "Charlie's Angels" co-star Lucy Liu is still there; they all have home on MySpace as well.

A few blogs ago, I brought up the fact that thanks to Ashton Kutcher, a slew of celebrities have been getting on the Twitter bandwagon, tweeting their latest happenings from not just their computers, but mobile phones, Blackberrys, and iPhones as well. And it's all without the aid of any publicists.

But of course, those celebs have lives away from Twitter as well, and they don't tweet often...that is, unless if you're Ashton or Lucy, who won't alienate their growing number of followers.

And last but not least...if you haven't been watching "WWE Raw" in the last few months, then congratulations. In a desperate attempt to boost their slumping ratings, they've been relying on Hollywood power as celebrities such as Shaquille O'Neal, Bob Barker, Jeremy Piven, and Rev. Al Sharpton have been invited to guest host the show. This Monday, it'll be Nancy O'Dell and Maria Menounos from "Access Hollywood." Why them, I don't know; maybe Mary Hart didn't return their calls.

I don't watch it anymore, but please: Make this gimmick stop! So long and stay strong.