Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Robert Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind "M-A-S-H," "Nashville" and "The Player" who made a career out of bucking Hollywood management and story conventions, died at a Los Angeles Hospital, his Sandcastle 5 Productions Company said Tuesday. He was 81. The director died Monday night, Joshua Astrachan, a producer at Altman’s Sandcastle 5 Productions in New York City, told The Associated Press. The cause of death wasn’t disclosed. A news release was expected later in the day, Astrachan said.

Access Hollywood 

We just read on Playbill.com that former Avenue Q star Stephanie D’Abruzzo will make an appearance on a musical episode of the NBC series “Scrubs” They’re doing a musical episode? Oh good. Those are always fun. The episode will features songs by Avenue Q composer/lyricists Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. The episode is called “My Musical” and is tentatively scheduled to air on NBC Jan. 18, 2007, at 9 PM ET. "The general plot," supervising producer Debra Fordham told Playbill.com, "is that a woman comes into Sacred Heart, our hospital, complaining that she constantly hears music, yet all her tests come back normal. Is she just crazy? Or is something else going on?" Fordham specifically wrote the part for D’Abruzzo after seeing her in another off-Broadway show this past spring. Good for D’Abruzzo! Good for “Scrubs”! Nobody remembers “Cop Rock”?

Bravo’s The Dish 

I don’t watch this show, but I have to admit I am kind of interested to see what they are going to do!

RD: Have you ever thought about going back to college?
Smith: The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school. Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests — not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life. Jada and I homeschool our children, because the date of the Boston Tea Party does not matter.

RD: But there are some basics in education that need to be taught.
Smith: Of course there are. Reading, writing and arithmetic, because those are the languages of our country.

RD: When you say you homeschool, do you mean you actually teach them?
Smith: No, we have hired teachers who teach what we feel is important. For example, Plato’s Republic — kids need to know that. Why is that not taught in first grade?

RD: You think kids in elementary school should read Plato’s Republic?
Smith: Yeah. You cannot be an American without reading it and Aristotle’s Politics. That is what the forefathers of this country read, and they used them to create what I believe is the finest system of government that has ever existed.

RD: So, you don’t see any reason to go back to a formal education yourself?
Smith: I know how to learn anything I want to learn. I absolutely know that I could learn how to fly the space shuttle because someone else knows how to fly it, and they put it in a book. Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front of the class.

RD: They put physics in a book, but I know I could never be a physicist.
Smith: The first step is you have to say that you can.

Reader’s Digest

Maybe I am old school, but I think a kid needs to know the basics? 

It seems there were two matches made in heaven at Tom Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes. Hollywood diva Jennifer Lopez befriended Victoria Beckham at the ceremony and wants them to join forces on a business venture. Jennifer is keen to launch a range of raunchy underwear, and believes Posh would be the perfect collaborator, according to the Daily Star. The curvaceous star also wants the former Spice Girl’s advice on a movie script she’s penning about two sisters. A source said: "Jennifer thought Victoria was a real character and very much hopes they can stay friends now they have met. "They talked about the film industry and then their shared love – fashion. "Jen is in the process of writing a couple of films, one of which is a real chick flick about two sisters who get separated at birth but are later reunited. "And she hopes that Victoria will lend a hand if needs be and give her opinions on the script. Just to get another female perspective on it all. "But Jennifer is even more excited about wanting to launch her own lingerie range with Mrs Beckham. "She thinks the pair could be capable of developing a seriously sexy range."

The Press Association 

That would last a week because neither one of them would want to share the spotlight.

The private medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Anna Nicole Smith’s son in the Bahamas claims that the reality TV star still hasn’t paid him for his work. Cyril Wecht said he had been in contact with various Bahamian attorneys representing both Anna Nicole Smith and her partner, Howard K Stern. "I do expect it to be resolved in short order. This is not going to be something we’re dealing with years down the road," he said. He added that he submitted invoices for payment shortly after the autopsy was performed on September 17, but has declined to comment on the sum owed. Daniel Smith, 20, died while visiting his mother in hospital on the Bahamian island of Nassau just three days after the 38-year-old former Playboy model gave birth to a daughter. The forensic pathologist from Pittsburgh, who gained fame as a consultant on celebrity cases including Elvis Presley’s death, concluded that Daniel had died from a combination of methadone and antidepressants. Results of an official autopsy and a police investigation have not yet been released.

Daily Snack 

Seriously does she think that money is no good in the Bahamaa? What happened to all the money she got from her second husband?

« Previous entries Next entries »