Jackson Family Horror Show

The stuff that's going on with this story over the last few days is just sad. These siblings trying to get control of Michael Jackson's estate away from his mother, trying to make a grab for money at the expense of Michael's children, clearly have no shame. These poor kids are going to have enough trouble living a relatively normal life as it is, let alone having these "adults" fighting over their future.

And what really bothers me is that Janet is involved. I can see losers like Jermaine and Randy being involved, but Janet? She used to be the one who, in her days when she sang about being in "Control," seemed to be almost normal. I wonder what her financial situation is like now? She hasn't had much of a career in quite a few years. Has she squandered her fortune? Or is she just plain greedy?

Elizabeth Taylor

Almost non-stop since I heard the news that Elizabeth Taylor passed away, Michael Jackson's song "Leave Me Alone" has been stuck in my head. Of course, that's because of the music video...



In the midst of the surreal carnival ride, there's Michael's "shrine to Liz," and there she is in all her ageless beauty.

Her most iconic movie roles took place before I really began to watch a lot of movies, so I can't really speak about her acting career. For me, she's defined by her powerful advocacy in the fight against AIDS, dating back to the days when the stigma and prejudice was so extreme.

On a less important level, she's defined by a lot of the pop culture buzz that sprang forth from her life. Her many marriages. (Richard Burton, okay, but Larry Fortensky? Really?) Her illnesses. Her treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic. Her weight. Her appearances on "The Simpsons." And, of course, her friendship with Michael Jackson.

Rest in peace, Liz.

Dear Charlie Sheen: GO AWAY.

Whatever Charlie Sheen is trying to prove, appearing on at least four different TV shows as well as TMZ.com today and tomorrow, it's not doing anything except pissing me off. Between mentions on Twitter and Facebook and about a hundred blog posts on EW.com -- for once, Entertainment Weekly's abbreviation is apt, and would be even more on target if the magazine were renamed Entertainment World Weekly -- I'm completely sick of him and his story. Apparently he's passed a drug test, which would seem to discount my theory that he didn't spend nearly enough time in rehab. If he is clean, though, then I can't help but wonder if he may have some mental health-related issues. In either case, someone who truly cares about him (in other words, someone besides the porn stars and others clearly latching onto him for money or fame) needs to get him help.

And if he doesn't have those issues, then he's just acting like a complete jackass, and should be ashamed -- as should the TV "news" shows giving him their time. Charlie, take your porn stars/hookers/whatever and GO AWAY.

These Two Need To Have Hate Sex, STAT!

From Entertainment Weekly's Music Mix blog:

"Chris Brown launched into a profanity-laced Twitter feud for several hours today with former B2K member De’Mario Thornton — a.k.a. Raz-B — in which both Brown and Thornton employed homophobic slurs and taunts."

So, it's a battle between one practically-a-has-been and one never-really-was. Sigh. The article goes on:

"The exchange began after Thornton tweeted, using the Twitter handles for, respectively, Eric Benet, Brown, Halle Berry, and Rihanna, “I’m just sittin here Thinking how can n—-s like @ebenet & @ChrisBrown disrespect women as Intelligent as @HalleBerry11 [and] @Rihanna.” Brown quickly tweeted in response, “@razb2k, n—- you want attention! Grow up n—-!!! D— in da booty a– lil boy,” and followed up with several tweets taunting Thornton over his accusations that he was molested by his ex-manager and one of his former group mates. Thornton replied by accusing Brown of being on the down-low (i.e. in the closet)."

It finishes with: "By the end, both Brown and Thornton had apologized for using homophobic slurs and appeared to have moved on to tweet another day. It was all a masterful display of debate at its finest." These are what the EW.com writer linked to as their apologies:

Of course, one of these isn't really an apology, is it? Also, as you can see below, after these apologies the "war" actually continues, so the EW.com writer is even more mistaken...

Stupid people behaving stupidly. That's life. But really, shouldn't they get rid of all that sexual tension once and for all? I think it might go somewhat like this...feel free to skip to the last two minutes of this...

The Elephant Project

Back in September I wrote about the Gumpathon, the British and U.S. Marines running across the country to raise money for wounded veterans. They completed their run on Veterans Day, but you can still make a donation. Meanwhile, I thought I'd highlight another worthy effort with a post.

The Elephant Project is raising money and awareness for the fight against Alzheimer's disease. I learned of this through Twitter, although I don't remember how I started following them (which, I guess, is ironic -- once again, paging Alanis Morissette). The elephant is their symbol because of the old saying that elephants never forget. So they have celebrities pose for photos while holding an elephant beanie baby. A package including an 8x10 photo, an autographed card and an elephant beanie baby is then auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Alzheimer's Association. (This is National Alzheimer's Awareness Month, by the way.)

I refer to the Elephant Project as "they" and "them" in the paragraph above, but that's sort of misleading. One of the main reasons I wanted to write this was because of this tweet from last month:

  

From what I can tell from the About page at the website, this kid is doing much of the work on this by himself, while going to school and working at his job. He totally puts me (and perhaps some of you) to shame. So, if your financial situation allows, help this guy out, either with a donation or a $10 purchase of a 5x7 photo of one of the famous people.

Links to the Elephant Project: website, Twitter and Facebook.

California Math = Lindsay Is Free

Answer the following question:

90 is equivalent to:

a. 13 (as in, Lindsay Lohan was released from jail after serving 13 days of a 90-day sentence)
b. 23 (as in, Lindsay Lohan was released from court-ordered rehab after 23 days of a scheduled 90-day treatment)
c. All of the above

The correct answer is, of course, c.

Thanks, California! My kids will never be able to give the correct change at McDonald's! (Except when the register tells them the amount to give, which is all the time unless the computer system's down. Plus, my kids don't go to school in California. Or anywhere else.)