Monthly Archives: January 2008

by | January 31, 2008

Britney Spears committed to psychiatric ward

Britney Spears no panties trailer trash

Thursday, January 31st 2008, 9:09 AM

Britney Spears was forced into a psychiatric ward early Thursday after “driving around her neighborhood like a mad woman” – and refusing to take her meds, it was reported.

The erratic pop star is on a “mental health evaluation hold” in the UCLA Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The drama went down around 4 a.m. New York time when cops on motorbikes and a fire department ambulance rushed onto the grounds of Spears’ gated Studio City mansion.

Once inside, Britney is said to have gone easily, without a struggle.

“The package is on the way,” cops radioed once Spears was in hand, the Times reported.

People.com reported that Spears’ mom, Lynne, friend Alli Sims, manager Osama Lufti were all there and The Times said that cops were called in by Spears’ psychiatrist.

What followed was a made-for-paparazzi spectacle: the international superstar was escorted down Coldwater Canyon Boulevard by a dozen motorcycle cops, two squad cars – and two police helicopters!

The Times reported that the line of emergency vehicles “stretched longer than a football field.”

There have been several reports that Britney’s family was looking to get her intensive psychological help, perhaps by holding an intervention. It seems as her family pulled the trigger on the plan to get her help after her latest bizarre behavior.

“She was driving around her neighborhood like a mad-woman,” says a Spears family source. “Britney has been prescribed medication which she refuses to take. This is just another sad, sad evening.”

Initially, several tabloid news websites widely reported Spears, 26, had killed herself – something that was later denied by Lutfi and Sims, People.com reported.

The singer was committed by her family and Lutfi on what is known as a 5150 in California – a law that allows someone to be held against their will if they’re found to be a danger to themselves or others because of a mental illness. That was the same reason used to get Spears committed to the mental ward at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center earlier this month after her standoff with cops over her two kids.

Lutfi told ABC’s Barbara Walters that Spears has been unable to sleep and is distraught because she can’tsee her tots – Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2. A judge has granted ex-husband Kevin Federline temporary full custody of the two and demanded Britney get psychological help.

“There is no question she is bipolar… she’s had manic episodes for years,” a source told People.

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by | January 29, 2008

Heath Ledger’s ‘Death’ Video a Collectible

The eerie elements surrounding Heath Ledger’s terrible death last week have a new twist.

It turns out that Ledger made a video last year for a song by Nick Drake, the legendary British rocker who died of an antidepressant overdose in 1974.

The video, as it’s been described to me, is bleak. Ledger plays the main character in the song “Black Eyed Dog.” At the end of the video, Ledger directed himself dead in a bathtub from drowning. Drake titled the song after a description Winston Churchill coined about depression.

Ledger can be seen in a video from a 2007 Venice Film Festival press conference talking about his obsession with Drake, who died “in 1975 at age 25.” Ledger pauses, takes a deep breath and then adds: “Suicide.”
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“I was obsessed with his story and his music and I pursued it for a while and still have hopes to kind of tell his story one day.” He said he gave up the idea for fear of “taking too many liberties” with Drake’s story. Of course, that’s what will happen to Ledger’s story now.

Where is the video? Good question. Although several dozen blogs have picked up on the story, no one has a copy of it. It was shown exactly twice. Last fall, it was included in an anthology of short films about Drake titled “Their Place: Reflections On Nick Drake,” which received its world premiere at the Mods & Rockers Film Festival held at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on Oct. 5, 2007. It was also shown on a small screen in a video festival in Seattle.

Mods & Rockers director Martin Lewis tells me, “We were delighted to have the film. It was excellent.”

But how strange is all this? More importantly: it stokes the fires of Hollywood lore. Already, fans have been making their own Nick Drake/Heath Ledger videos and putting them on YouTube.

In other Ledger news: Kudos to Daniel Day-Lewis, who dedicated his SAG Award for Best Actor in “There Will Be Blood” to Ledger. DDL didn’t even know the “Brokeback Mountain” star, but was moved by his work. That’s class.

The Tragic Jinx of ‘Dawson’s Creek’

My favorite headline 20 years ago in The New York Post was “The Tragic Jinx of ‘Hart to Hart.’”

That came after famed and beloved actor William Holden, the lover of Stefanie Powers, died. A little earlier, Natalie Wood, wife of Robert Wagner, met her watery fate. I’m not sure but I bet it was Vinnie Musetto, the great bard of Post headline writing, who came up with that.

So now, I give you in tribute: “The Tragic Jinx of ‘Dawson’s Creek.’” Heath Ledger, former fiancé of Michelle Williams, is dead. At the same time, Katie Holmes has been swallowed up into Tom Cruise’s bizarre world of Scientology and control. Her promising movie career is almost over. The one movie she made in two years, “Mad Money,” is a bust.

And to think: Katie nearly co-starred with Ledger in “The Dark Knight.” But the conventional wisdom is that Cruise nixed that plan, sending Katie into acting oblivion. Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose brother Jake co-starred with Heath in “Brokeback Mountain,” took her place.

That leaves, of course, the two male leads from “Dawson’s Creek.” James Van Der Beek, from his credits, looks like he’s headed into TV oblivion. Joshua Jackson hasn’t shown all his cards, and it’s still within the realm of possibility that he’ll make a go of his career on a bigger scale. If they don’t make it, “The Tragic Jinx of ‘Dawson’s Creek’” will be all the more relevant.

SAG Gives Oscar Indications

More than the idiotic Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards are the real indicators of the Academy Awards.

Sunday night’s biggest surprise? Veteran actress Ruby Dee over both Cate Blanchett and Amy Ryan for Best Supporting Actress. Ruby Dee made a lovely speech and recalled her beloved husband, Ossie Davis. But I still think the Oscar will go to Blanchett. Interesting, isn’t it?

The three other winners were easy to predict: Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem and the amazing Julie Christie. The ensemble award for acting went to “No Country for Old Men.” I also think that the Academy will somehow negate “No Country” with “There Will Be Blood.” The winner should be “Juno,” although “Michael Clayton” has a chance.

But what do these prognostications really mean? I recently read a two-week-old issue of Entertainment Weekly that used the predictions of a half dozen of those professional Oscar bloggers. No one got anything right! It was very funny. If all that energy was used to solve the Earth’s real problems …

The Grammys Are a Go

I’m very happy to report that the 50th annual Grammy Awards are on for Feb. 10. There was a question of the Writers Guild picketing the Grammys. I wrote in this space on Jan. 17: “Really, the Grammys have nothing to do with the WGA; Patrick Verrone et al would be wise to issue a waiver and let the show go on without pickets. Music artists and writers have a lot in common on the issue of the Internet. The writers should appreciate that, and let what’s left of the music biz proceed unimpeded …”

Indeed, this argument seems to have worked. It’s very true, too. The writers and the musicians, as well as the directors and actors in Hollywood, all have the same issues with the Internet. If they don’t figure out a way to get paid from it now, they never will.

Meantime, Grammy week is shaping up as one of the best in many years. Included in actual Grammy night are a NARAS tribute to Berry Gordy and a party for L.A. Reid. Each is connected to Universal Music Group, the last of the two successful music/record congloms.

BMG-Sony is the other, and they get their hit from Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday night the 9th. Once Davis is finished trotting out Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood and maybe even Whitney Houston, what else will be left? Oh yeah, he’s also got the Foo Fighters on RCA. Niiice.

Tom Cruise Toughs It Out

You have to give Tom Cruise credit. You may not agree with his religion or lifestyle or anything else, but he’s not going away.

Most people who had the double attack of a nasty biography on the best-seller lists and a slew of videos showing them in not the best light might just retreat.

Not Cruise. He appeared on Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards TV show, presenting the final award and looking every bit confident of his stature in Hollywood. It couldn’t have been easy, no matter how much positive thinking or science fiction went into that decision.

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by | January 22, 2008

Heath Ledger Found Dead in NYC at Age 28

Heath Ledger brokeback mountain autopsy photo found dead in apartment gay homosexual pictures jpg Now this really sucks. I liked Heath Ledger as an actor because of his strange decision making in the parts he took as an actor. Some not so popular ones like “Brokeback Mountain” but other more risky projects like “Monsters Ball.” In the words of The Dude, Bummer man. JD

NEW YORK — Heath Ledger, the talented 28-year-old actor who gravitated toward dark, brooding roles that defied his leading-man looks, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment, face-down and naked at the foot of his bed with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said.

There was no obvious indication that the Australian-born Ledger had committed suicide, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the SoHo apartment that is believed to be the home of the “Brokeback Mountain” actor, Browne said. The massage therapist and a housekeeper found his naked body in the bed at about 3:30 p.m. They tried to revive him, but he was already dead.

“We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident,” Ledger’s publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement Tuesday night. “This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family’s privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known.”

Outside the building on an upscale street, paparazzi and gawkers gathered, and several police officers put up barricades to control the crowd of about 300. Onlookers craned their necks as officers brought out a black body bag on a gurney, took it across the sidewalk and put it into a white medical examiner’s office van.

As the door opened, bystanders snapped pictures with camera phones, rolled video, and said, “He’s coming out!”

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was an award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on big-money parts. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in “Brokeback Mountain,” where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, now 2-year-old Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

It was a shocking and unforeseen conclusion for one of Hollywood’s bright young stars. Though his leading man looks propelled him to early stardom in films like “10 Things I Hate About You” and “A Knight’s Tale,” his career took a notable turn toward dramatic and brooding roles with 2001′s “Monster’s Ball.”

“I had such great hope for him,” said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger’s vengeful father in “The Patriot,” in a statement. “He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss.”

Ledger eschewed Hollywood glitz in favor of a bohemian life in Brooklyn, where he was one of the borough’s most famous residents. “Brokeback” would be his breakthrough role, establishing him as one of his generation’s finest talents and an actor willing to take risks.

Ledger began to gravitate more toward independent fare, including Lasse Hallstrom’s “Casanova” and Terry Gilliam’s “The Brothers Grimm,” both released in 2005. His 2006 film “Candy” now seems destined to have an especially haunting quality: In a particularly realistic performance, Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish.

But Ledger’s most recent choices were arguably the boldest yet: He costarred in “I’m Not There,” in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan _ as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn’t be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Ledger’s version of the “Batman” villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be more depraved and dark.

Curiosity about Ledger’s final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger’s Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson’s.

“It was a very great challenge for Heath,” Nolan said. “He’s extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic.”

Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he “stressed out a little too much” during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.”

“Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,” Ledger told the newspaper. “I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.” He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour, the paper said.

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he used to shop at a home and children’s store. Michelle Vella, an employee there, said she had frequently seen Ledger with his daughter _ carrying the toddler on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

“It’s so sad. They were really close,” said Vella. “He’s a very down-to-earth guy and an amazing father.”

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on “The Lords of Dogtown,” a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, “Seat.”

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and costarred opposite Julia Stiles in “10 Things I Hate About You.” Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn’t like.

“It wasn’t a hard decision for me,” Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. “It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You’re crazy,’ my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat.’”

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by | January 21, 2008

Black leader to Bill Clinton: ‘Chill’ on Obama

“Chill” on Obama? What the hell does that mean? Let me tell you idiots in the so called “African American” community something. Your man Barack Obama is running for President of the United States of America! He is as open to scrutiny as any other candidate when it comes to mud slinging regardless of the color of his skin.

You see, politics is the real world. Its not some panacea created to make black people feel good about being black. Welcome to Reality Barack! The way Hillary Clinton was lambasted by the national media for pulling the “poor helpless woman” card, Obama should also be taken to task for pulling the “African American” card.

Black leaders? If you were real leaders you would stop trying to point out the societal inequities of blacks Americans and spend more time pointing out that if there was any semblance of normalcy in the black communities of America the blacks in America would not be where they are today. Stop trying to blame everyone else for your own problems.

God bless the national media! In yet another attempt to placate and appease the politically correct few and throw the “offensive” masses under the bus, they print and reprint this pabulum over and over again to show the fucking crybabies of the world that if you piss and moan loud enough you get what you want.

Sticks and stones! Remember that Obama? Probably not because like a lot of blacks in America you have been conditioned by your parents and the media that “whitey” is out to get you. Addlebrained idiots. I have plenty of black friends that came from shit in life and made something of themselves. And contrary to popular belief, there are people from all walks of life that come from a world of shit and make something of themselves. I happen to be one of them.

Obama and his so called “black leaders” should shut the fuck up and man up to the situation. “Adversity builds character” is what Martin Luther King used to say. If I were a black man today I would be embarrassed to even mention those words or any other words used by such an incredibly inspirational man like Martin Luther King. Dr. King had a dream that has essentially been wiped out by the politically correct crowd and it is slowly but surely killing America. Crying foul to Bill Clinton for stumping for his wife and pointing out the weaknesses in her opponent and basing it solely on the color of her opponents skin is nothing more than cowardice. JD

(CNN) — The bitter back-and-forth between former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama has led a prominent black lawmaker to tell the former president Monday to “chill a little bit.”
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The two Democratic front-runners, Illinois’ Sen. Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, are locked in a battle for the key South Carolina primary this Saturday.

Barack Obama Martin Luther King day
As their campaign sparring continues, the Illinois senator seems to be spending almost as much time responding to Hillary Clinton’s husband as he does to the candidate herself.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, one of the most powerful African-Americans in Congress, weighed in on the feud Monday, saying it was time for Bill Clinton to watch his words.

Bill Clinton has delivered full-throated attacks on Obama in recent days, accusing him of overstating his opposition to the war in Iraq, complaining about Obama’s union supporters in the Nevada caucuses last weekend and blasting his relatively mild praise for Republican icon Ronald Reagan during a Las Vegas newspaper interview.

Obama adviser David Axelrod said the Clintons have been playing “good cop, bad cop,” with him wielding the club while she stays positive.

And Obama said Monday that Bill Clinton “continues to make statements that aren’t supported by the facts.”

Bill Clinton’s attacks on Obama, Clyburn said in a CNN interview, were unfair because a former president’s viewpoint “carries with it extra weight.” Video Watch Clyburn tell Clinton to ‘chill’ »

“I think they would say in ‘Gullah Geechee’ country he needs to chill a little bit. I hope he understands what that means,” Clyburn told CNN.

“I can understand him wanting to defend his wife’s honor and his own record, and that is to be expected. But you can’t do that in a way that won’t engender the kind of feelings that seem to be bubbling up as a result of this.”

“Gullah Geechee” refers to African-Americans who live in South Carolina’s Low Country region near the Atlantic coast.

“He is revered in many sections of the African- American community, and I think he can afford to tone it down,” Clyburn added.

Black voters make up roughly half of the Democratic electorate in the state, and Obama seems to have reversed Clinton’s early lead in that demographic, posting a huge edge over the New York senator in most recent polls of African-American primary voters.

It’s a delicate situation for the Clintons, who have spent the month dealing with verbal missteps that have made waves in the African-American community.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Clyburn said he was disappointed with comments from Hillary Clinton that some took to suggest President Lyndon Johnson had more to do with passing the Civil Rights Act than Martin Luther King Jr.

“We have to be very, very careful about how we speak about that era in American politics,” the South Carolina congressman said at the time. “It is one thing to run a campaign and be respectful of everyone’s motives and actions, and it is something else to denigrate those. That bothered me a great deal.”

He also expressed frustration over Bill Clinton’s recent remark that the characterization of Obama’s record on Iraq as consistently antiwar is a “fairy tale.”

Last week, Clyburn said it was time for both Hillary Clinton and Obama to move on.

Clyburn insists he will not endorse any presidential candidate, upholding a pledge to the candidates and to the Democratic Party that he would stay out of the race ahead of his state’s key January vote.

After losing the caucus tally in Nevada this weekend, the Obama campaign took aim at the former president. In an interview that aired on ABC Monday morning, Obama himself took on the former president, saying that he feels as if he’s running against both Clintons.

In the interview, Obama said that the former president has been misrepresenting both “my record of opposition to the war in Iraq” and “our approach to organizing in Las Vegas,” as the dispute over Saturday’s Nevada caucus vote continues to grow. Video Watch Bill Clinton accuse the Obama campaign of strong-arm tactics »

“It’s very clear that Bill Clinton is playing fast and loose with the facts,” adviser Axelrod said. “It’s been a little crass, as someone who supported him and respects him, I think it’s disappointing.”

The Clinton campaign attributed the Obama camp’s anger to sour grapes over the Saturday caucus vote results.

“We understand Sen. Obama is frustrated by his loss in Nevada, but the facts are the facts,” said campaign spokesman Phil Singer. “President Clinton is a huge asset to our campaign and will continue talking to the American people.”

And Bill Clinton himself showed no sign of backing down. During an campaign stop in Buffalo, New York, Sunday night, the former president went after Obama for his comments to a Reno, Nevada, editorial board last week that said President Reagan had been a transformational president.
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Obama “said President Reagan was the engine of innovation and did more, had a more lasting impact on America than I did,” Bill Clinton said.

“And then the next day he said, ‘In the ’90s the good ideas came out from the Republicans,’ which will be costly, maybe, down the road for him because it’s factually not accurate.”

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by | January 18, 2008

Taunting YouTube Video Leads to Arrest of Suspected Gang Member

Rudy Villanueva Bird road Rudy Youtube video of criminals daring police to come get them Florida Dade County Sheriff
Today in society we are hit with a daily barrage of lunacy and here is yet another example of absolute stupidity. This lummox was stupid enough to dare police to come get him in a home made video he posted on Youtube. Well the local law enforcement abliged these two idiots and went and got them. I was wondering if they had jails where they supply cone shaped hats that say “Dunce” on them and make these retards sit in the corner for all to see. JD

MIAMI — A reputed gang member showed off his guns and taunted police on an Internet video to come and get him — and they did just that.

“Last night, we granted his wish,” said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta on Wednesday.

“King Bird Road” Rudy Villanueva, 31, and another alleged gang member were arrested early Wednesday on federal weapons charges after the video appeared on several Internet sites in recent weeks. Investigators said they were incensed when they saw the video and heard the threats.

“We were offended, obviously,” said Lt. Israel McKee, head of the street gang unit at the Miami-Dade County Police Department. “They were threatening our lives.”

In the video titled “Bird Road Getting In Trouble” posted on the popular YouTube site and elsewhere, Villanueva and 22-year-old Anthony Logan are shown brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle, a shotgun and various handguns. Villanueva pulls the triggers of the unloaded weapons.
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The two are heard making threats against the Miami-Dade gang unit. Villanueva talks about being “out here fighting a cold war” and that “they come at us if they want to.”

“Here I am, baby,” he says at one point.

Villanueva, who has a long criminal history and three prior felony convictions, is the alleged leader of the Bird Road Boys and Logan is a purported member of the gang in an area southwest of Miami.

Investigators seized on the video, first posted Jan. 3, to arrest Villanueva on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and Logan on a charge of providing firearms to a felon. The charges carry potential maximum prison sentences of 10 years and five years, respectively.

The weapons in the video were found in Logan’s apartment, where the footage was shot, according to court documents. Investigators also discovered 780 rounds of AK-47 ammunition and a number of other weapons and bullets.

Both suspects made brief initial appearances Wednesday in federal court to have lawyers appointed for them and set future court dates. Prosecutors said they would ask that both men be held without bail until trial because they are dangerous and a risk to flee.

Villanueva acknowledged to investigators that he was in the video and that he made it to “instill fear in people who will roll up on me,” according to an affidavit by Brian Eustice, an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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