We are being told, yet again, that Brit-trash singer (?) Amy Winehouse (that stunning beauty pictured over there) may be on the final spiral of her life-defying existence of drugs and denial.
Well, pardon me if, frankly, I don’t give a damn.
I am tired of being continually assaulted by TV, radio, blogs, fan mags — even daily newspapers that should know better — peddling stories about self-indulgent, self-destructive show biz and sports celebrities who have:
• Lived the wild life and lived to tell all about it. Endlessly.
• Found themselves in need of intervention to get out of their death spiral.
• Found themselves in need of a liver transplant because of alcoholism and drugs.
• Turned their lives around and apparently think they’re now supposed to be regarded by the media as role models.
The people I admire are the ones who succeed in their chosen field while maintaining some self-respect, some sense of responsibility to others, some … well, you get my point.
Queen Margrethe’s well-publicized nicotine habit nearly spelled the end of her son Prince Joachim’s wedding reception last weekend, according to the tabloid magazine Se og Hør.
One of the kitchen employees working on the newlywed royal pair’s reception dinner told the magazine that the queen and a few of her friends wanted to take a cigarette break in the confines of Schackenborg Palace. But the waitstaff refused to serve as long as there were smokers in the vicinity.
Prince Joachim allegedly spoke to his mother, who finally agreed that she and the others would, like the rest of her subjects, light up in the great outdoors.
New York magazine has one of its patented — well, copyrighted, anyway — inside-stories, this one on the man seen here who masterminded a ghoulish cadaver snatching ring that included the remains of such luminaries as Alistair Cooke.
How detailed and fascinatingly creepy is the story? Consider this excerpt:
“They were just going to come and collect him and return the ashes in due course,” (Cooke’s daughter Susan) Kittredge recalls. But instead, there was a man waiting for Alistair Cooke, with a knife.
“He cared nothing for Cooke’s mind or manners. He had actually come for the body — that pale, wizened, cancer-ridden cadaver of a 95-year-old Englishman, stretched out now beneath the light in the embalming room.”
With a week to go until the Texas and Ohio primaries, stressed Clinton staffers circulated a photo over the weekend of a “dressed” Barack Obama.
The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat frontrunner fitted as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya. The senator was on a five-country tour of Africa.
“Wouldn’t we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?” questioned one campaign staffer, in an e-mail obtained by The Drudge Report.
In December, the campaign asked one of its volunteer county coordinators in Iowa to step down after the person forwarded an e-mail falsely stating that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe quickly accused the Clinton campaign Monday of “shameful offensive fear-mongering” for circulating the snap.
Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams responds: “If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed.”
While I have no positive feelings about either candidate, I do find it interesting that this photo …
would be perceived as something that potential voters could construe as scary any more than I would find the same thing to be true of these photos taken while “going native” on tour.
What I would be afraid of if I were on the Clinton team is if anyone started sending around candid photos of her everyday antics on the campaign trail, say like these.
Craig Ferguson is the best standup comic among late night TV talk show hosts, bar none.
His delivery, ad libs, funny faces and the like make audiences think everything he is about to utter is going to be hilarious.
Usually that’s the case. But he does draw the line at making too much fun of celebrities who are undergoing ridiculous situations. In case you didn’t have the opportunity to watch his declaration during one of his monologues, here it is. If this isn’t a reason to respect the guy, I don’t know what would be.
Since GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney delivered his speech in Texas on values and religion the other day, talking heads and pundits on both sides of the political aisle have been having a field day. To wit:
“He didn’t include everyone — not a word about atheists or agnostics.”
“He only said ‘Mormon’ one time.”
“He was right on, but we’re different than we were in JFK’s day when he had to make a speech on his Catholicism.”
They didn’t mention he also failed to mention Wiccans, Zoroastrians, WWF followers and other groups.
For my money, the best public oration on religion in general was made a few years back by English actor/comic Eddie Izzard who, turned out in his best “executive transvestite” clothes and makeup, took America by storm in a concert performance called “Dressed to Kill.”
Here are a couple of scenes from that very event that may make you look at religion in a different light:
The Brit pop singer Morrissey is suing the magazine New Musical Express (NME) for purportedly mischaracterizing his comments about immigration.
Morrissey, 48, who has lived abroad for a decade, was asked about his views on British immigration. He allegedly told an NME reporter:
“Although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. So the price is enormous. If you travel to Germany, it’s still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to England and you have no idea where you are.”
Morrissey’s lawyers claim the comments were misconstrued to mean he wouldn’t return to England to live because of high immigration.
Hmmm. Interesting stance, that his comments would have caused any confusion as to meaning.
By the way, here are some lyrics from some of Morrissey’s songs:
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
“England for the English!
“England for the English! (“The National Front Disco”)
“Brakes slammed, and
“His gun jammed, and
“As far as I could tell
“Brave Asian boy
“Was dealt a blow and fell
“I’m just passing through here
“On my way to somewhere civilised
“And maybe I’ll even arrive” (“Asian Rut”)
How could anyone be confused by what he says? If there are further questions, here’s a sample from a little Morrissey ditty called “Life Is a Pigsty.” Note the clarity of meaning.
“Life is a pigsty
“Life is a pigsty
“Life is a pigsty
“Life is a pigsty
“Life, life is a pigsty
“Life, life is a pigsty
“Life, life is a pigsty
“Life is a pigsty
Oh dear. 
New York magazine has one of its patented — well, copyrighted, anyway — inside-stories, 
