R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens

What to say about an incredibly courageous man with one of the most wickedly brilliant minds in all of journalism? This is the guy that toured the country espousing his anti-theist views and was surprised that, instead of a lynching, he was heaped with praise from fellow non-believers. This is the guy that had no problem turning his back on a movement, like socialism, when it lost it's moral compass. This is the guy that willfully got waterboarded to prove that it was torture when none of the defenders of waterboarding had the guts to do it, and he was 59!

He wrote for The Nation and Vanity Fair. No topic was taboo for him and he even allowed Graydon Carter to assign him a series of de-stressing spa visits when the truth is, he would rather be anywhere else. After all, Hitchens has been eating stress for breakfast since the Vietnam War, along with Johnny Walker Black by his side. He thrived on it.

Another great Lion is gone. He succombed to esophageal cancer at the age of 62, and I will miss his articles terribly.

Link to Vanity Fair which has a ton of tributes to him today-

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/christopher-hitchens

RIP Patrice O'Neal

One of the truly great comics of our time is gone. He died of complications following the stroke he suffered in October. He will be missed.


Here's his best bit. If you know of any others, please share the links.

Haunted House Hilarity

My neighbour died. I need a good laugh. R.I.P. John, you old coot. He was a hilarious letch and he will be missed. Somewhere in heaven he is watching hockey and staring down Mary Magdelene's dress.

Wozniak Remembers Steve Jobs

The big guy is pretty awesome too. It must be hard to lose such a close friend.

9/11, Ten Years Later

When I was little, my parent's friends' big social/political question was, 'what were you doing when JFK was shot?' I got a bit older and it became, 'Did you know anyone who was there for the Kent State shootings?' Today the big topic is, 'What were you doing when the towers fell?' 


. I was at home in Medina, Ohio getting ready for work when they were hit. I would turn The Today Show on at 8 a.m. as I ran around the condo, showering, grabbing sips of coffee and getting ready to drive up to Brunswick and my job as the bar manager at Johnny's, a nice family-style restaurant that catered to the more careerist residents of the town, as opposed to the farmer hilljack assholes that seemed to produce 75% of the offspring up there. Your average people populated the place, cops, teachers, computer programmers and alkie real estate agents. The cream of the Brunswick crop.


As soon as I saw the footage of the first plane hit the North tower, I called my brother who is an architect. He said that the structure would survive as long as none of the support beams were hit, clearly harking back to the first bombing attack which happened in the 90s when I was still living in New York. That was when terrorists placed a bomb in the parking garage but miscalculated on where to put it. Thank God for stupid terrorists! Too bad they weren't as bad the second time around.


Then the second tower was hit as I watched live on TV. I called my Dad. First words out of his mouth were, 'terrorists.' I was aghast. Terrorists weren't on my radar then. It had been almost a decade since the first attack, clearly we had learned something from that. Why would anyone do this? We Americans were happy then. We were flush. Life was good. War was the last thing on anyone's mind. This was the beginning of the end of that blind happiness. This was the beginning of a lot of scary shit. Things I thought I would never see, because we all move forward and do better than our ancestors, right? Did I really believe this? That younger generations improve upon the past? Such is the short sighted stupidity of the young.   


Odd off-topic fact. My father died on 9/11 three years later. That was a weird day too. Story for another time.


At work, I was readying the restaurant for the 11 a.m. opening, rushing around, cell phone attached to my ear, trying to contact my friends in New York. Zero luck, total freak out. In my mind, there was a reason I couldn't reach them, and it was a bad one. I didn't know that everyone across the country was having problems, not until I got home at 6.


Later, after I found out that my friends were safe, I found out that one went through a particularly harrowing experience at Ground Zero. He was working in a building right off The World Trade Center's plaza. He and his co-workers were told not to evacuate, it was too dangerous with all the debris, fuselage and human. After dealing with the agonizing sight and sound of those that jumped to their deaths, he and his co-workers got the hell out of there. The towers fell shortly thereafter. He arrived home covered in dust. I cannot even imagine the nightmares he must have. It makes me tear up to this day.


I can't claim much trauma beyond what any American felt that day. Sure, I lived in New York for almost a decade. Sure, I would meet my brother for lunch by the bronze globe in the World Trade Plaza when he worked a few blocks away and we would glance up and talk about how cool it was that we lived in such an amazing place. 


Sure, I was freaked out when I woke up Wednesday, September 12th, and walked out to get the paper in the cool dawn, stepping on the concrete driveway in the slowly warming quiet. I looked up and there were no planes in that clear, sill dark star freckled sky. It was eerie, it was like a bad horror movie from the 50s. It wasn't entirely real, even as it was all TOO real, and it was bad for all of us, whether we had been to New York or not. I can't even imagine how bad it was for those that lost someone in those towers, in The Pentagon, or in that field in Pennsylvania. My heart goes out to them. My heart also bleeds for those that in the military that died in the wars that followed, not out of some bandwagon jumping SUPPORT OUR TROOPS bullshit, but because it is all so completely and utterly STUPID, and religion and jingoism and the military-industrial greed machine are at the heart of it. It needs to end, and I wish we were a little more advanced so that we could see it, at least in my lifetime. 

Jimmy Kimmel's Tribute To His Uncle Frank

So sweet. So sad. So hard to lose someone that you love so much.

Progress At Ground Zero

The tenth anniversary is less than a month away and here is a video showing you how much has been built since the area was cleared. Slow progress, to be sure, what with all the politics involved and the fear of enraging or disappointing the families of those who died. 


Some of my friends fear that anything that is built will be a target. Others believe that the design is flawed and should have been smaller. I just wish they would get it done. I still remember everything about that day. It was the beginning of quite a negative time in my life and I can still see the blue sky on September 12th, eerily devoid of planes. I don't like using a vacuum as a metaphor, but this is one that needs filling, STILL.

Russell Armstrong, Why?

Yesterday, I asked what to do with Ashley Holmes. Today, I am asking the same question about The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Stretch Armstrong. When someone kills themselves like Russell did, should the show go on? I remember almost exactly 2 years ago, I was recapping Megan Wants A Millionaire when one of the contestants killed his wife and then offed himself when the manhunt got to close to him in Canada. Should Bravo do what VH1 did and cancel the show? Should they cut most of Stretch's scenes down? I don't know how they could, she's always at the center of drama. What do you guys think? 

Oh, and a very heartfelt and huge amount of sympathy goes out to that little girl with the unfortunate name, Kennedy. that poor child always seemed happiest with her Dad. How unimaginably awful that she will grow up with the knowledge that her Father would rather die than face the mess of his life, and that her mother would drive him to it by airing every last bit of his dirty laundry in an effort to exonerate herself. Stretch is an AWFUL person. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

R.I.P. Clarence Clemons

He died of complications from a stroke in Palm Beach last night. So sad. He was an amazing talent and made Bruce Springsteen shows bearable. (sorry, not a fan)


This may be the best Star Spangled Banner performance ever. 

Lest We Forget

Japan, three months after the tsunami and earthquake. 
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/06/japan_three_months_after_the_q.html

Smudge!

Gee, I wonder what they were up to that night. It's so weird. Christina Aguilera used to always look so perfect, especially the lipstick. I fear she's headed for her own little post-divorce, apres Disney tween stardom breakdown, and she needs to lose that boyfriend. What does this Mathew Rutler person DO anyway? Does anyone know?

With Heavy heart, I Regret To Inform You

That Russy and Stretch have split up. And I had such high hopes for their sexy love, sigh. Thanks to tnbelle for the head's up!
US Weekly linkypoo.

Elizabeth Taylor Dies and What A Dame She Was

I was busy writing this morning when out of the blue I hear from Chemgal that Elizabeth Taylor has died from congestive heart failure at the age of 79. I'm really sad about it, mostly because I discovered her great movies during my formative late teens and early twenties. The rent girl in Butterfield 8, the master of campy costume changes in Cleopatra, the sheer genius of a barely hinged woman in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. All great roles to which she brought great strength and creativity. It says a lot about an actress's talents when you can't even imagine another person playing the parts they so vigorously mastered. Angelina Jolie playing Cleopatra? I'm not sure I can get excited about that, even with David Fincher directing. They better cast Brad Pitt and get them both naked, am I right?

Regardless, she will be missed for many reasons. When you start out as a child star you either learn to adapt and develop a strong personality or exposure to that world will chew you up and spit you out. Taylor had her excesses to be sure, but she was a gutsy broad, in the best sense of the word. She love freely, married often and never gave a good Gaddamn what any of the tabloids said about it, and for that I salute her. I hope she's in heaven right now whooping it up over an endless bottle of Champagne with Richard and Roddy. Salut!

p.s. I know what you can do with all that joorey that's sitting in your home all lonely and unused. I'll pay for postage.

Galliano and Fascism

John Galliano got fired from his head designing position at Dior for making racist comments in a Parisian bistro. Shocking.


Quite frankly, fashion is fascist, so why are we surprised? It's an industry that goes unchecked and unmonitored by anyone, save the garment worker's union and even that can be a slippery slope. Kathy Lee sweat shops, anyone? 
It treats it's most creative minds, and make no mistake, John Galliano is at the very top in terms of talent, like dictators that are above the fray in terms of conduct and opinion. It values one's looks above all else and encourages eating disorders and a perpetual state of adolescence. Honestly, though I could give a rat's ass what the guy thinks, this is just an example of the thinking that permeates that world.


Here's the video in case you haven't seen it:


Some people are saying that he should be able to say whatever he wants on his own time. I don't buy it. It simply does not hold water in an industry that uses branding as a way of life. You must have the suit, the scarf, the earrings, the purse. 'The look' for lack of a better word, and that look is almost always one of wealth and priveledge, above the common hoard. You need look no further than Coco Chanel herself who was a Nazi sympathizer and used her Aryan roots to gain sole control of her empire since pre-war it was partially owned by Jews.


Models represent the brand. Some are 'Ambassadors of Wool,' even. Designers turn their entire lives into one giant product placement. Look at Ralph Lauren, for goodness sakes. He practically reinvented the WASP! 


I guess the question now becomes, will he go to rehab, the image cure-all of our times? One thing is for certain, the racist memes are already up.

Here's some of his menswear. Hitler or Chaplin? You decide.

Update: That didn't take long! http://jezebel.com/#!5774394/galliano-heads-to-rehab-while-his-friends-play-dumb

Housewives Bankruptcy Index

Someone needs to make a board game already.

Article: http://jezebel.com/5716220/the-real-housewives-bankruptcy-index

Sonja Morgan's Bankruptcy

Well, isn't this depressing. A week ago Gawker reported that silly sunny Sonja had to file bankruptcy, claiming 19 million in debt against 13 million in assets. The reason for this is not a Giudice spending spree with no intention of paying what she knew she didn't have, this one is due to a film deal gone bad when the big star, John Travolta, pulled out. If only it was to take place in a bath house, none of this would have happened. 

So, my question is, do you think that she is simply protecting her remaining assets from being seized because of the court's $7 million judgement against her? Or is she another devil may care chick who didn't surround herself with the right financial advisors after her divorce? She always seemed a trifle flighty to me, not in a calculated con artist manner, not like the Forehead-less wonder. More like someone who shouldn't have tried to produce a movie without doing her homework. Actually, it's probably both. 

She needs to put her thinking cap on, slide into those fuck-me heels and get back on the prowl again, this time for a fat cat and not a Eurotrash rent boy. Perhaps she could be a restaurant hostess in Dubai? Or she can downsize, like LuLu had to.Whatever she does, we'll be watching and judging. I'm just sad that it's one of my favorites instead of old Poopy Pants. sigh

Tony Curtis Dies

So sad. Before you know it, all of old Hollywood will be pushing up daisies. Who's left, Kirk Douglas?

The good news is that the star of Some Like It Hot died in his sleep lying in bed next to his wife. I feel terrible for her, but there really isn't a better way to go. He was 85.

Segway Owner Dies in Segway Crash

I kid you not. They found the Segway and the owner of the company face down in a pond. No foul play is suspected. I blame those awful runners and bicyclists that take over our parks. One of them probably wouldn't make way, and he lost control. Or maybe he killed himself for creating one of the goofiest modes of transport EVER.

Anyhoo, it's like dying while running after writing a book on running or getting a fatal heart attack after estolling the merits of eating mostly meat and fatty food. Would never happen, right?

The cosmos has a sense of humor. Clearly.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/09/27/uk.segway.death/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

R.I.P. Eddie Fisher

He was 82. It was complications from hip surgery that did him in. It sucks to get old. It sucks even more to be regarded as a footnote to one of the biggest scandals in Hollywood- the Liz & Dick home wrecker-ism of 1963. There's a fabulous book out called Furious Love, and it dishes all the details of the romance that began on the set of Cleopatra and was too tempestuous to last. Eddie will always be remembered for his music, though. He was quite the crooner in his day, along with Frankie and Adrian and, oh shit. I don't know. I hate that music. I just feel bad for Carrie. On the bright side, maybe we'll get another fabulous book about dear old dad because of it. I know, I'm heartless.

And who's next, Zsa Zsa? Heaven forbid, but these things come in threes, right?

For Fans Of Me And Fans Of TVgasm

I have left TVgasm. It was a long time coming for many reasons, none of which I will go into here. I appreciate everything that Flipit has done for me and the chance he gave me to get back to writing again. I will continue to blog and recap, but from this website. I encourage everyone to keep reading TVgasm since it is a wonderful place to get your TV news and snark, and I hope that you continue to get some from me here as well.

I'm going to concentrate on my family and my golf game and then get back to the housewife bitches on my own schedule. Love you guys and thanks so much for all your support. I love all the friends I have made from the website and hope to continue them here.

Love and Kisses,

Twunty McSlore