SHOOP!

I'll admit, I was shocked to hear about the death of Whitney Houston. I can't say I was ever a big fan of her music, (just way too adult contemporary for my tastes), but there was no disputing she had an amazing voice that just puts other so-called divas to shame.

I was more a fan of Whitney Houston herself, in all her crazy glory. Of course, it was pretty obvious a lot of her kookiness came from her drug use, so it's probably in poor taste to find any of that funny now.

Except, I still do, and there's really no way I can curb that. So, I choose to remember her in the many ways she, and her influence, made me laugh.

Like this moment, where she's with Bobby B., and decides to try on some sunglasses.



Or here, where she's telling him, or maybe the cameraman, or maybe just the world, to kiss her ass.



I've also found myself mourning the (probable) loss of Maya Rudolph's Whitney impersonation, which never failed to crack me up. In a weird coincidence, Rudolph is set to host "Saturday Night Live" next week, and I am hoping they find a way to keep her impersonation alive.

Here are a few of the best of Rudolph's Whitney moments, collected so I can have a localized place to watch them over and over and over again, which I plan to do. A lot.


maya rudolph aka Whitney Houston by jenniesslave







Finally, I knew Rich Juzwiak would have something great to say about her, and I wasn't wrong. Check it out.

'Cause I Can Thrill You More Than Any Ghost Would Ever Dare Try

Am I the only one who thinks the LA Times front page image choice is a little...ghoulish? (Click on the image for a larger view.)


I mean, I guess we should just be thankful they didn't run a picture of him in the zombie make-up.

And Givin', and Gettin', and Givin', and Gettin' It On...

As some of you know, I'm a big Neko Case fan, so you can imagine when I found out she was on an episode of "Aqua Teen Hungerforce" my first thought was "WTF?!" followed by a need to see the episode immediately. Well, immediately didn't happen, but they did finally re-run the episode last night, and I suppose it helps to be a fan of the show, but I thought it was pretty funny. She and her frequent back-up singer Kelly Hogan play Sirens who move in next door to Carl, so there's singing, of course, and the song they sing is called "69," which Case and Hogan wrote. Sample lyrics: "Sixty-nine/when you get your junk done/at the same time." It's quite catchy.

Can't find the whole episode online, but Adult Swim has several clips, which I've embedded below. Enjoy.

Girl, You Got It Right

I was sad to hear about the passing of Cyd Charisse. I'm not much for musicals, but anything that Cyd Charisse danced in was instantly captivating. She was only 5' 6", but those legs seemed to go on for miles....check it...

I Wish George Clooney Would Dig Around in My Crawlspace

If you know what I mean (and I think you do).

There's a cover story about George Clooney in Time Magazine, and the interview is by Joel Stein (who I kind of hate, but also kind of like). The article is pretty good, but the best part is when an alarm goes off during dinner (the interview was conducted at Stein's house) and Clooney decides to investigate. You can see video of that here.

Seriously, could the guy BE any more perfect?

You can also see Clooney's Oscar picks in them major categories here. I'd say his picks seem to be pretty much on the money, but that would just be stating the obvious. He's George Clooney. Of course he's gonna them all right.

Uh-Oh. Jin's In Trouble!

What is up with "Lost" cast members and their uncontrollable need to drink and drive?

Suck It, E! Entertainment Television!

So, Kathy Griffin won an Emmy at that "Creative Emmys" last weekend, and her speech won't be televised on E! this weekend. Here's what she said:

I guess hell froze over. A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this. He had nothing to do with this... suck it Jesus! This award is my God now.

People are calling it hate speech. All I know is I love her a little bit more now.

Of course the women on "The View" had something to say about it this morning, and of course Elizabeth Hasssssellllbleck thinks that's something that should never be said. And the new idiot Sherri Shepherd (she'll remain an idiot in my book because she admitted she does not believe in evolution and does not want it taught to her kids, and she took her husband back after he had an affair, and a CHILD, with another woman. They have since separated, but still!), thought the same thing. Apparently there's a line one should never cross and it involves making fun of Jesus.

Duly noted.

In other news, I would totally buy this t-shirt.

No More, Please. I'm Full.

Wow. That Britney performance on the MTV VMA Awards tonight sure was awful, wasn't it? She looked like she was half-asleep, or like she thought it was a dress rehearsal or something. Just no energy at all. And if you're gonna lip sync the whole thing, why wear a microphone pack at all? Who do you think you're fooling? Also, nice weave, Brit. Didn't you learn anything from past weave horrors?

Check it out for yourself here.

Immamameh

This is the funniest thing you will read all day.

Suicide Mondays

I've got a brief post about the movie "The Bridge" up on SFist now. That coupled with the news that, apparently, Owen Wilson tried to kill himself this weekend, makes for a rather bleak Monday, doesn't it?

One...Two...Three?

As you've probably heard by now, Ingmar Bergman died yesterday, (here's Roger Ebert's tribute). Now I wake up to find Michelangelo Antonioni has died, too. That's kind of weird, isn't it?

I was never a huge Bergman fan, but I appreciated him. Antonioni, however, I loved. I cannot argue with anyone who says his movies are boring--I'll even admit to taking a nap during "Red Desert," (it was a lot easier to stay focused through the rest of it after that ten minute nap, believe me). But his movies always seemed to hypnotize me and leave an impression. I still can't walk through a park and hear the wind blowing through the trees and not immediately think of "Blow-Up." Here's an awesome tribute that includes links to YouTube clips from some of his best cinematic scenes.

As you know, these things happen in threes. How's Jean-Luc Goddard been feeling these days?

Head Cases

A friend forwarded me this NY Times article written by Mike Nelson, in which he talks about his chronic headache. Man! If I'd known about this before, my interview with him might have been more interesting.

If you know me, you probably know that for the past three years, I've had headache issues of my own. You might not know, however, that it is indeed a constant thing. Some days it turns into a full-fledged migraine (I am supposing it's migraine since a certain type of migraine medication does help it, but it doesn't include a lot of the symptoms many migraine sufferers complain of) in which I can't really function until I take something for it, and sometimes that doesn't even work. But on a day-to-day basis, I am constantly aware of some level of pain in my head. Like Mike Nelson writes, it's not like I've gotten used to it, it's just that I have no choice but to live my life with the pain.

When I read his article I immediately contemplated emailing him and sharing headache horror stories, but I haven't done that yet. Don't know if I will; I'm afraid to bug him and make his headache worse.

TGIF!

I haven't commented on the whole Paris Goes To Jail thing because I want to help stop the public fascination with these idiotic celebs, and the best way to do that is to ignore them. But I just have to express my glee that she's being hauled back to prison (well, a medical facility connected to a prison, because of her "problem"). I have little sympathy for people who drive drunk, and absolutely no sympathy for stupid heiresses who are rich enough to just HIRE A DAMN DRIVER to haul their drunk asses around. And then to just ignore the whole suspended license thing, and offer up a defense of "I'm a dumb-ass and didn't know my license was suspended"? Uh-uh. You get your butt to jail and deal with it.

And then just disappear, OK?

This Just In!

I can't stand Robin Thicke.

Any time I see him singing in his stupid high-pitched voice, I get acid reflux. I think he looks like a guy you'd meet in a Marina bar, who's too drunk and too full of himself to notice he pissed all over his own shoes. I don't know why, but that's what I think when I see him. The fact that he's Alan Thicke's son just makes him all the grosser. I cannot understand his popularity, and it fills me with rage.

There. *Phew* Glad I got that off my chest.

Dork

That's what I am.

I went to the RiffTrax show in Marin tonight, and it was fun and funny (review coming soon on SFist. I hope.). But at the end of the show, after the Q&A, when fellow dorks had cornered the guys at the front of the theater, I managed to muscle my way in and attack introduce myself to Mike Nelson just before he was about to extradite himself from the throngs. I said who I was, reminded him about the interview, thanked him again for that, complimented him on the show, and made some stupid remark about waiting in line to meet him. He was very gracious and he thanked me for taking the time to introduce myself, and that was that. But man. I am a nervous wreck around famous people. My face gets all red and twitchy and my voice cracks, and I don't know what to say; it's embarrassing for everyone involved. I should really have just introduced myself, and then instantly apologized for my awkwardness.

Then again, who am I kidding? Compared to the rest of his stereotypical fans, I probably came off like friggin' Grace Kelly.

A Dream Fulfilled

Hey now, check this out! I got to interview Michael J. Nelson. You know, Mike Nelson from MST3K! Go read the interview on SFist now!

It was done over email, so I didn't actually meet the guy, but I am hoping to at least introduce myself when I go to the RiffTrax Live show this Sunday. If my nerves can take it!

Ruff

[via Freakgirl]

This Is Garry Shandling's Face, Garry Shandling's Scary Face

Quick! If you didn't watch the Letterman show last night, go over to their Web site and click on the show highlight featuring Garry Shandling. He has had some of the worst plastic surgery I've ever seen. It even looks like he has trouble opening his mouth wide enough to speak.

What is wrong with these people?!

Charades

Larry Birkhead is a baby daddy.

OK. They've proven who the father is and how Anna Nicole died. Now if only her psycho mother would crawl back into her cave so we can finally put an end to this sad and ridiculous drama.

P.S. OF COURSE Larry Birkhead is that kid's father. Look at him. He looks just like her! Then again, he has that unformed look of any infant, so I guess we couldn't base it all on that.

R.I.P. Larry "Bud" Melman

He hasn't been on the Letterman show in years, but Calvert DeForest will still be missed.

Rumor has it, since the remainder of Letterman's shows this week have previously been taped, there won't be any mention of this on the show until next week. And I didn't even know he was the guy who introduced the world to David Letterman on his first ever NBC "Late Night" show.