Farrah Fawcett Barbie Becomes Instant Collectors' Item

I love this story, at Daily Mail, "Mattel's Angel: Bikini-clad Farrah Fawcett Barbie doll becomes an instant collectors' item."



Some of the proceeds go to the Farrah Fawcett Foundation for the benefit of cancer research.

That's Creepy? ABC's Lara Spencer Runs Her Hand Through Jon Bon Jovi's Hair During On-Air Interview

It's not that creepy, but check NYDN, "Lara Spencer and other reporters getting too close for comfortm creepy in on-air segments." Looks like Bon Jovi doesn't mind either. See, "The Hair Is Shorter, but the Career Goes On and On: Jon Bon Jovi on Longevity, Jersey and Outselling Justin Bieber."

30 Years of MTV

At Independent UK, "It's 30 years since MTV launched and in its three decades, it’s changed the way we think about – as well as watch – music."

I just miss JJ Jackson and Martha Quinn. See, "MTV at 30: Original Veejays, Where Are They Now?"

Shaun White Interview After Winning Vert Competition at X-Games 17

I snapped this shot of Shaun White's interview from the big screens inside the Nokia Center:

And here's the clip from the X-Games channel:

And a roundup of yesterday's results, at LAT, "Shaun White saves his best for last in Skateboard Vert."

Heading to X-Games

Okay, I'm heading out with my boys to Staples Center. I watched the big air finals last night on ESPN. And at LAT, "Bob Burnquist knows how to win gold at X Games."

Check back for a report late tonight, or probably in the morning ...

Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies

I caught True Lies on AMC early yesterday morning. Jamie Lee Curtis is hilarious.

Mitchie Brusco at X-Games

I posted a Mitchie Brusco video last night. He executes a 900 (2 and 1/2 spin big air) at the clip.

And here's this, from this morning's front-page at Los Angeles Times, "Mitchie Brusco joins skateboarding's big boys at X Games":

The 900, a 21/2 -revolution airborne spin, is skateboarding's most elusive trick, its Holy Grail.

Few have conquered it, but Brusco became the youngest when he nailed it during the MegaRamp Championship series this month in Brazil after only a few hours of practice.

"Honestly, I didn't think it would be as big of deal as it was," Brusco said.

Oh, it was.

Tony Hawk, who landed the first 900 in 1999 at the X Games after several failed tries on the vertical ramp, promptly sent out a tweet to his nearly 2.5 million followers:

"Congratulations to @Mitchiebrusco84 with the cleanest 900 to date …on a mega ramp."

I'm watching ESPN right now. These guys are unreal.

X Games 17: Shaun White

The vertical skateboarding competition is set inside the Nokia Theatre.

Shaun White was on Leno's last night: "Shaun White Interviewed on ‘The Tonight Show’ July 26 (Video)."

Bill O'Reilly Rejects Media's 'Christian Extremist' Description of Norway Killer

At The Blog Prof and Nice Deb, "Video: Someone In The MSM Finally Gets The Oslo Killer Story Right."

RELATED: At Eye Crazy, "Why are socialist moral relativists silent in the wake of the Norwegian terrorist attack?." Well, they're not silent, actually. They're cheering the attacks as a hammer against conservatives. See also Blazing Cat Fur, "Khaled Mouammar, Darling of the Canadian Left, Blames The JOOOS for Norway."

'Twilight Saga' on Showtime

I'm watching movies. My oldest son was watching "Twilight" when I came downstairs earlier. We have it on DVD, but Showtime's playing the full saga and I kept watching. A nice break from reading and watching cable news all afternoon. (My youngest son's working on his Legos. More about that later. He's got some new ones.)

Who'd You Rather? Bill Maher Sexualizes Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin as 'MILFs' on 'Piers Morgan Tonight'

After being called a "teabagger" for 2 and a half years, I'm kinda inured to this stuff, but this is pretty crude.

At NewsBusters, "Bill Maher Calls Palin and Bachmann MILFs on CNN."

And Big Hollywood, "‘MILF’: How the MSM Uses Popular Culture To Do Their Dirty Work."

'Rizzoli & Isles' Second Season Premieres Tonight

Should be starting in a few minutes on the East Coast.

See Atlanta Journal Constitution, "‘Rizzoli & Isles’ Angie Harmon, Sasha Alexander riding high as second season starts." And New York Daily News, "'Rizzoli & Isles' review: Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander have great female friend chemistry."

And a great Angie Harmon interview from last year:

Fox News Fireworks Over Casey Anthony Verdict

Some excellet television last night on Fox News.

See Hollywood Reporter, "Bill O'Reilly Goes Off on Casey Anthony Juror, Praises Judge (Video)." And Mediaite, "Casey Anthony Got Away With Murder!? Hannity Panel Explodes Over Verdict."

Angie Harmon Squelches Rumors That 'Rizzoli & Isles' Characters Are Lesbian

Well, this story gives me a chance to blog Angie Harmon!

At Los Angeles Times, "'Rizzoli & Isles' — are they or aren't they?":

The first season of TNT's crime drama "Rizzoli & Isles" featured an episode with the title "I Kissed a Girl." Its stars, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, played on a softball team, shared some intimate dinners, drank wine over candlelight and hopped into the same bed for girl talk.

But this is not a gay show.

Series creator Janet Tamaro described Harmon's Rizzoli and Alexander's Isles as a "power couple" — the center of a buddy drama, one that broke cable ratings records in its debut run and returns for its second season July 11. But the women are not together, as in together.

Tamaro chalks up the rampant are-they-or-aren't-they discussion to throwing "two gorgeous actresses together who have great, natural chemistry." She contends that Harmon's tomboyish homicide detective and Alexander's stylish medical examiner "are straight women who don't fear the interest in or the speculation about their relationship."

That hasn't stopped gay pop culture blog AfterEllen from dubbing the show, "totally gay, it just doesn't know it yet." Or another lesbian blog, CherryGrrl, from creating a "Rizzoli & Isles" drinking game, advising viewers to take a shot for interaction between the title characters that includes "stares lasting longer than three seconds," "sleeping in the same bed/couch/squad car," "adorable bickering which generally relates to sexual tension," or "complaining to each other about their inability to find a compatible mate, all while being completely compatible mates." The Washington Post even pointed to a hunky visiting FBI agent as a short-lived distraction from the "faintly lesbian undertones that the show keeps trying to establish."

Harmon, a veteran of "Law & Order," said she's familiar with the online chatter and that it's "super fun" to play a role that has some same-sex romantic vibes. She's relishing a character who's gruff and aggressive, the polar opposite of her own girlie personality, she said.

But as close as they are, Rizzoli and Isles are just best friends, she said. Really.

"I hate to disappoint, but these characters are straight," Harmon insisted. "If we lose viewers because of it — sorry!"

And that's amazing, that Harmon would note the possibility of LOSING viewers if the characters weren't gay. Reminds me of my post the other day, on the anti-hetero bigotry of Dan Savage. It's hard out there if you're straight. See: "Gay Sexual Abandon and the Perverse Inversion of Values by Same-Sex Extremists."

The Rizzoli & Isles page is here, on TNT.

Glenn Beck's Last Show on Fox News

Here's part of the show, the introduction:

I'll update with the full clip later. Meanwhile, from Gabby Hoffman, at Washington Times, "Glenn Beck ends popular Fox News show to start GBTV."

Fran Drescher on 'Happily Divorced'

Our television viewing is a little messed up, being at the Pechanga hotel and all. Normally I might watch some Fox News or "Nightline" while skimming the headlines around the web. But I'm holed up in the hotel room with my youngest son while my wife's out playing slots. My oldest boy's at a friends house (the resort's in Temecula). So, I'm watching Nick at Nite with my youngest, and the network's been running "The Nanny" reruns, which are a lot of fun. But they just broke up programming with a half-hour of "Happily Divorced," and it's pretty good. And Drescher looks great --- she's got one of the best smiles on television. No previews on YouTube, but TV Land has some videos. And here's this from "The View":

Fran Drescher is lovely, and that reminds me: It's almost time for weekend Rule 5.

Eye of Polyphemus is due for some linkage, and Zion's Trumpet's got some totties.

RELATED: At Los Angeles Times, "There's real drama behind the comedy 'Happily Divorced'."

Los Angeles Dodgers File for Bankruptcy

Well, the McCourts divorce settlement was only going to work if the Dodgers got a huge Fox Sports television contract, but Selig nixed that, so I guess the bankruptcy was inevitable.

At Los Angeles Times, a huge story, "Dodgers file for bankruptcy — and arrange for $150-million loan."

'Courage, New Hampshire' Premiers Sunday

At Hollywood Reporter, "Tea Partiers Create Their Own TV Show and Production Company (Exclusive)."

Also at Big Government, "‘Courage, New Hampshire’: Tea Party’s Shot Across Liberal Hollywood’s Bow." It's playing at the Krikorian Theater in Monrovia, but tickets are sold out. The program's going to DVD, so something to keep to look forward to.

No doubt. WaPo's Rachel Weiner concurs, "Can liberals start their own tea party?" (via Memeorandum).

So Respectable: Paris Hilton Eager to Shed Party-Girl Image

At LAT, "Paris Hilton's higher aims":

When you're sitting in Paris Hilton's living room, plenty of things catch your attention. The half-dozen dogs, three Munchkin cats (bred to have absurdly miniature legs), and one 150-pound pot-bellied pig sashaying around the backyard pool. The Pepto-Bismol-pink Maserati in the driveway, next to the powder-blue Maserati. The throw pillows emblazoned with pictures of her famous face. The two gigantic nudes of herself on opposing walls, displayed above gold-trimmed couches.

But it's the voice — that's the thing that stands out most when you sit down for a talk with Paris Hilton. It's mature. Deep, even. "Yeah, I have a normal voice," Hilton said. "That's the one thing people say when they meet me. That I don't speak like I do on TV. I don't speak like a baby."

Poised and perfectly coiffed, with long, white-blond extensions tumbling below thin shoulders, the hotel heiress is promoting her latest reality series (her third, for those keeping track). "The World According to Paris" airs Wednesday on Oxygen, a basic-cable channel that targets women and is owned by NBC. It's pitched as being different from anything else she's done because this is, as Hilton puts it, "the real" her.

"I wanted to get at this whole spoiled-heiress perception," said the great-granddaughter of hotelier Conrad Hilton. "There are a lot of heirs out there that don't work because they don't have to. That's not me. I've had success on my own. I bought this house myself, I've bought every car I own. It's all me and my hard work."

More at the link above.

'Law and Order'

Before I started full-time at LBCC, I was fanatical about "Law and Order." Basically, all through the 1990s. I'd watch on NBC and TNT, and some of the other franchises were on USA. But I couldn't stay up until 11:00pm on most Wednesdays in the early 2000s, so I lost my mojo. Anyway, this Los Angeles Times piece argues that the entire Dick Wolf enterprise could be on the way out soon, "Critic's Notebook: A new order in 'Law & Order: L.A.'":

"Law & Order" itself may be running out of juice: the original was axed on the verge of its becoming television's longest-running drama (it tied but did not surpass "Gunsmoke"); "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," which NBC shares with USA to split costs, is in its final season, and though "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" is the fourth-place network's highest-rated drama, that is not saying much these days. (It finished 44th last year.)

Still, looking again over his episodes, it's clear that there are some actors who can live in creator Dick Wolf's universe more comfortably than others — sincere Sam Waterston and wry Jerry Orbach are the prime examples — and that much of what makes for success there is the ability to distract the viewer from the fact that, underneath its veneer of naturalism, the franchise is heavily stylized, with a tendency toward corn and cliché. The short scenes that are its building blocks leave little room for casual talk, and the series runs on speeches, sermons and tough-guy quips. "If the STDs don't get you, the blunt-force trauma will."