"A celebrity's stock is raised or lowered by the news they make," said Jo Piazza, columnist for the Daily News. Michael Musto of the Village Voice said he actually prefers B-List celebrity news because it makes for 'good copy.' Hosted by the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society, the panel was brought together to discuss PR's place in celebrity culture, explaining who gets media coverage and why.

Publicists are key to the advancement of celebrities, the group said. A surprising amount of celebrity news is generated by behind-the-scenes agents, and it's even common for publicists to leak information most would typically view as "scandalous" in order to raise awareness. "We do get a lot of publicity plants about things – and that's fine – that's our dirty little secret," Piazza said. "Look at Paris Hilton. It's no secret that her famous sex tape came out around the same time as the debut of 'The Simple Life.' We get a lot of our leads from stars' friends. We get a lot from their enemies as well. A lot of them have agendas."

David Caplan, deputy NY bureau chief for Star Magazine, said the need for celebrity news works on a hierarchy of popularity. While A-list celebrities needn't do much to make headlines, B or C-list stars need to pique interest in the press. Reality TV show appearances or an affiliation with someone higher on the celebrity "food chain" always helps, Caplan said, but scandal is a sure way for a lesser-known to get print.

*****

"The best copy is gossip - we need someone to go on the record and say something scandalous. It doesn't have to be mean spirited, but it needs to go outside the box," Musto said. "And that's why I love the B, C and D-list celebrities," Musto continued. "They make great copy. They'll say and do outrageous things because they want to become more famous." Caplan agreed, adding that celebrities aren't always guaranteed print simply because they boast an A-list status.

"The celebrities that get written about are the ones that behave in a way that's out of the norm. Look at Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Matt acts more like an ordinary kind of guy, while Ben Affleck dates celebrities and as a result, generally does more to get attention," Caplan said. According to New York Magazine's Jada Yuan, cultural barriers often drive a wedge between celebrity publicists and columnists, resulting in shaky relationships and miscommunication.

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Texas Authorities Start Arresting Drunks in Bars

Unhappy with having the nation's highest DWI rate, Texas authorities are now going into bars and arresting anyone who's drunk. That's right -- you're sitting at a bar, throwing down a few cold ones and if you go over your limit, you're liable to be arrested for public drunkeness.

Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday. The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission’s Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said. The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car. "We feel that the only way we’re going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.

"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they’re intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss." She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.

Spring Break in Texas just got a whole lot less appealing.

Posted on March 24, 2006
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Joining The Compact and Opting Out of Consumerism

USA Today reports on a growing trend where people join The Compact. Despite its name, The Compact does not involve pagan rituals or anything like that. People who sign up pledge to live simpler lives and to opt out of consumerism. The goal is only to buy food, toiletries and prescription drugs. No Manolos, no iPods, no Frappucinos. Nothing frivolous.

It began as a simple, or simply terrifying, pledge taken by a small group of friends feeling overwhelmed by all the things in their lives. Over a potluck dinner two years ago, they made a pact: Buy nothing new except food, medicine and toiletries for six months. The effort lasted a year before falling victim to the demands of modern life. But the commercial craziness of the Christmas season brought the group back together a few months ago.

Only now they're not toiling in relative anonymity. A whiff of media interest over the past month has turned their tool-sharing, library-going, thrift-store-shopping band into a full-fledged cultural phenomenon with more than 700 members joining through their Yahoo website. Groups are meeting in Maine, Alabama, Texas, Oregon and Wisconsin, and satiated consumers in Japan and Brazil are making inquiries.

The original group named itself the Compact after the Mayflower Compact, a civil agreement that bound the Pilgrims to a life of higher purpose when they landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The goal of the members wasn't so much to save money, or even the environment, as much as it was to simplify their lives, says Rob Picciotto, a high school French teacher who attended that first potluck. "It saved us time because there was less time spent shopping. We still buy groceries and go to the drugstore, but we don't go to Target on a Saturday, which was a ritual before just to see what the sales were," he says.

*****

Not that the idea is embraced by everyone. In Chilliwack, British Columbia, Tira Brandon-Evans says that when she and her husband told friends they weren't going to exchange Christmas and birthday presents, they acted as if she'd suddenly developed a mental illness. She jokes that from her friends' reactions, you would have thought she had announced plans to have a sex change or join a satanic cult.

We were going to join The Compact and take a pledge to opt out of our materialistic, hedonistic lifestyle, but fortunately we were distracted by this amazing shoe sale at Nordstrom's before we could do something we might regret a few minutes later.

Posted on March 23, 2006
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Kevin Federline's Moving New Song

Kevin Federline has released a charming new single which is available for free on his MySpace page. This one is dedicated only "to all the Haters." "F*** the media!!" is the theme of the song, which also boasts of him selling a million records, how all the girls rush over when he snaps his fingers and other soul-searching, insightful lyrics. He also says that we all fell for the "PopoZao" song -- it was just a red herring, that this is the real deal, what he's all about.

The K-Fed/US Weekly feud is clearly still on. K-Fed's lastest salvo: "And you magazine motherf***rs can kiss a di**. Us Weekly, I'll shout everyone of you bitches out."

He never updates his blog though, which leads one to wonder: can he type? Can he write? Can he speak an entire sentence unencumbered by profanity? Somehow we doubt it. But at least he has a positive attitude.

Posted on March 22, 2006
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Prince Sued For Painting Leased House Purple

According to The Smoking Gun, Prince is being sued by his landlord for breach of contract. The landlord (NBA star Carlos Boozer) is unhappy that PRince painted the house with purple stripes, the Prince symbol and the number "3121."

Claiming that his $70,000-a-month tenant Prince undertook an extremely tacky makeover of his Los Angeles mansion, an NBA star recently sued the mercurial singer over the purple-hued alterations. In a January complaint, Carlos Boozer, a forward with the Utah Jazz, sued Prince/MPG Music over unauthorized work done on the 10-bedroom, 11-bath West Hollywood property, which is owned by the C Booz Multifamily I LLC. According to the lawsuit, Prince/MPG Music violated its eight-month lease by "painting the exterior of the [house] with purple striping, 'prince' symbol, and numbers 3121."

Prince's new album, "3121," is scheduled for release tomorrow. Inside the home, among other renovations, a purple monogrammed carpet was installed in the master bedroom and plumbing and piping was added in the downstairs bedroom "for water transfer for beauty salon chairs." As part of a promotion, Prince is expected to hold a private concert at the Hollywood property--which recently was listed for sale at $11.9 million--for album purchasers who find a Wonkaesque "purple ticket" inside their CD cases. The Boozer corporation filed its lawsuit two months after hand-delivering a "three-day notice to cure or quit" to the Sierra Alta Way property.... Responding to the lawsuit, Prince's counsel denied the owner's allegations....

Some landlords just have no sense of humor.

Posted on March 21, 2006
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No Brangelina Wedding at Lake Como

Wedding hysteria reigned over the Lake Como area of northern Italy this weekend. Reporters cruised the lake in motorboats keeping watch on George Clooney's villa in the hopes of photographing the rumored wedding of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Reuters reported on the incredibly important news story as it unfolded.

A janitor at the villa said Clooney was not there and that he didn’t know of any wedding.

*****

But three elderly men having an early glass of wine in a bar down the road were convinced there was more to [the rumors].

*****

"They are cleaning the village and tidying up everything, something is going to happen," said Andrea, who declined to give his surname.

The Associated Press, not to be left out, also had its top reporters on the scene:

Monica Mantero, the wife of Laglio Mayor Giuseppe Mantero, said Thursday her husband could marry the couple on an hour's notice. "There's a lot of movement at the villa, a lot of people there. We were expecting Clooney today but he didn't show up," Monica Mantero told the AP. She said Pitt and Jolie hadn't fixed a date with her husband, but that "even if they contacted him an hour before he could still marry them."

Mantero, who lives across from Clooney's villa, said preparations taking place on the grounds were the ones routinely done ahead of the actor's arrival and that a reception in the garden didn't seem to be in the works.

"I can tell you Clooney isn’t here (in Laglio), because whenever he’s here a motorboat is tied up to his dock and there’s no motorboat. I’m looking right now from my window," said Mariuccia Riva, whose husband’s boatyard often rents boats to Clooney’s guests.

As of Sunday evening, no wedding had occurred -- as far as anyone could tell. Clooney's villa appears to be undergoing some kind of renovation and looks "muddy," according to some reports. And the mayor finally went home.

So what does it all mean? Will they ever get married? Are they already married? It's time to send in the big guns to get to the bottom of it. Bob Woodward should forget writing books about George W. Bush: this is where the real story is.

Posted on March 20, 2006
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Jessica Does Washington

Jessica Simpson headed for Washington, D.C. to lobby for donations to her favorite charity, Operation Smile, which offers free plastic surgery for disadvantaged children overseas with facial deformities.

Jessica -- like actress Angelina Jolie -- knows how to dress for Washington. She looked great in a tailored black pansuit, with her hair in a loose bun and conservative makeup. She looked interested in what the speakers at the event were saying and generally made a good impression.

She was invited to come to a Republican National Committee fundraising dinner and meet President Bush, but she declined. That led to headlines that Jessica snubbed the president, but the Associated Press reports that once it became clear that the invitation was not to a state dinner but to a political fundraising event she had to decline because her charity is not political.

But when reporters started shouting questions about reports that she wouldn't go to the White House, Simpson's handlers whisked her away. Her father and manager, Joe Simpson, tried to offer some sort of explanation for what was going on. He said that when it "became obvious that it was not just a state dinner" and "more of a fundraising event," it went against the purpose of why they were there.

Joe Simpson also insisted that he and his family are "huge fans" of Bush and that "Jessica loves the heck out of him." He added that they were still trying to squeeze in a meeting with Bush.

If Jessica is really such a fan of Dubya, why didn't she just say so instead of ducking out of the press conference? We're just asking...

Posted on March 17, 2006
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Britney Puts K-Fed on a Budget

Page Six reports that Britney Spears is finally sick of her husband Kevin's spendthrift ways and that she's putting him on a budget.

Britney Spears has had it with the spend-happy ways of her hubby, Kevin Federline - nicknamed Kevin "Spenderline." Insiders said Spears has put Federline, a wannabe rap star, on a budget. "Each month, he will be allotted a certain amount of money for personal use - i.e., clothing, nightclubs, booze and day-to-day activities. Any big items - cars, or trips that go over allowance - need to be approved by Brit herself," said one source. "She acknowledges she has made a great deal of money. However, she is trying to show Kevin that he needs to be responsible and curb his out-of-control spending habits."

Meanwhile, a source at the Four Seasons Hotel in Maui told us the two are still not getting along: "I was in the elevator with Britney, and she was screaming at K-Fed on her cellphone that she had waited in the suite all day for him to call and had been trying to reach him and couldn't sit in there any longer." A rep for Spears didn't return calls.

Here's an idea: cut Spenderline's ATM card into teeny, tiny pieces and demand he get a real job.

Posted on March 14, 2006
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Mormons Have No Love for Big Love

HBO just loves to get a rise out of people. The same people that brought you The Sopranos and Sex and the City aired the first episode of Big Love, a drama about the difficulties of being a polygamist. The show stars Bill Paxton. His three wives are played by Ginnifer Goodwin, Chloe Sevigny and Jeanne Tripplehorn. The stresses of three wives cause Paxton's character to turn to Viagra to fulfill his husbandly responsibilities. Needless to say, the Mormons aren't too happy about the show.

Big Love, the latest series from the cable channel HBO, aims to inject prime time territory with human drama, conflict and plenty of sex, incurring the wrath of the Mormon Church in the process. The series features Bill Paxton, who played a scientist in the 1996 film Twister, as a businessman with seven children by three wives who live in adjoining houses in suburban Salt Lake City. The consenting "sister wives" share a garden and devise a rota for who gets to sleep with their husband on which night. But tensions build when the husband spends the night with the wrong wife.

Then, because of his father's illness, he has to return to the breakaway polygamist sect he abandoned as a teenager. The series of hour-long episodes, produced by Tom Hanks, contains references to the Mormons - officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church no longer condones polygamy, although an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 Americans in Utah and Arizona still engage in plural marriage. HBO has sought to make clear that its drama is not intended to depict reality, prefacing the first episode with a disclaimer saying the Mormon Church outlawed polygamy in 1890.

Its creators say that although the show has humour, it is designed to be earnest and reflective rather than mocking.

Mocking? That's absurd. This sounds like a very serious, important show that we might have to devote some serious study to. Chloe Sevigny? Why does that name make us think of bunnies? Maybe brown bunnies? Something like that.

Posted on March 13, 2006
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A Failure to Launch?

Bucking the trend, Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post gives the new Matthew McConaughey/Sarah Jessica Parker film Failure to Launch an enthusiastically positive review:

The movie is expertly, professionally calibrated. I loved the way it played the main relationship between Tripp and Paula off against a minor one (Kit and Bartha's Ace), one for laughs with a little poignancy, the other for sheer laughs.

Every character has been given enough quirk to make the movie sublimely enjoyable, but not so much that it becomes precious. It's so relaxed and assured one is stunned to discover that Dey is directing for only the third time...

Sublimely enjoyable, eh? Meanwhile, most of the other critics were not so kind. Based on the trailer, we're thinking it's a rental.

Posted on March 10, 2006
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Daniel Craig Says He Never Wanted to be James Bond

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse on the James Bond front, it does. Daniel Craig now says he never wanted to be Bond any way and that he's just doing the film for the money.

Daniel Craig never wanted to be James Bond. The 38-year-old made the admission after receiving hate mail from hardcore fans of the spy franchise. He revealed: "I never really wanted to do James Bond. "Don't get me wrong, I want to make big movies and I want to make as much money as I possibly can, but there's not a tremendous emotional challenge." The 'Layer Cake' star also revealed that he's worried about being blamed if 'Casino Royale' is a flop. He said: "It's a dodgy place to be walking. I don't really want to get the rap for destroying that franchise.

"I mean, that wouldn't be a good place to be." Craig also admits to being a fan of the least popular 007's - despite them being widely panned. The actor said: "Timothy Dalton was great in the part but I think the film makers tried to take the franchise in the wrong direction and he got the rap for that. "I think George Lazenby got the rap too. I think On Her Majety's Secret Service is one of the best movies."

George Lazenby??? He was awful as Bond. Someone at the production company better put some tape over Craig's mouth, pronto. Everytime he opens his mouth, another million comes off the box office take.

Posted on March 8, 2006
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James Bond to Drive Ford in Casino Royale

The latest news about the Casino Royale film, starring Daniel Craig as 007, is that James Bond will be driving a Ford in the movie. Softpedia says Ford paid $14 million to have 007 drive a Ford Mondeo. We are waiting to see if the Gap will pay money to supply Bond's wardrobe. The more we hear about the new James Bond the less and less he sounds like a sophisticated spy and the more he seems like a weird guy living in the suburbs who likes to strip naked.

Inside Line says James Bond will be driving a Ford in Casino Royale and he will also be driving an Aston Martin. The Inside Line quips, "What this means to you: Bond apparently becomes a two-car man in the upcoming film, with one grocery-getter and one babe magnet." Let's hope the Aston Martin stays in the film (even if Craig can't drive it) because with no Q and no gadgets the film desperately needs something.

Posted on March 7, 2006
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How to Tear Phone Books

Tearing a phone book is a complicated task so it is always important to consult an expert. Fortunately, gripper king Clay Edgin has simplified the process into a few easy-to-follow steps.

The purpose of this article is to de-mystify the tearing of a phone book and show you just how easy it can be. Tearing a phone book in half is something I have wanted to do since before I ever got into grip training but how do you go about ripping a 2" thick hunk of paper? It wasn't until I started talking with Michael Wayne, a good friend of mine and strong 'gripster' in his own regard, that the technique clicked in my head.

Once you know how to tear a phone book Clay tells you some places you can find more phone books to tear up.

Aside from stealing your neighbor's phonebooks before they wake up, there are several reliable sources for phone books that you should check out. Some recycling centers have literally tons of the books and most will tell you that having the books torn in half actually helps them make it easier to recycle. Be sure to recycle the books when you are finished tearing them though. Motels are another great place to get phonebooks. When the new books are delivered, call the local motels and ask them if you can have their old phonebooks.

The first idea may not be such a good one -- ripping your neighbor's phone book is not a very neighborly thing to do. (via J-Walk Blog)

Posted on March 6, 2006
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Brokeback PEZ Dispensers are Going Fast

In honor of the Oscars this Sunday, some crazed crafter with way too much time on his hands is now selling his orignal Brokeback PEZ dispensers on Ebay.

Here's what the Seller has to say:

That's right, cowboys: Pitch your tents and get ready for the fireworks! Now you have the opportunity to own the only pair of Brokeback Mountain PEZ Dispensers in the world!

It's the movie that's moving mountains... breaking boundaries... and now... the most unbelievable: it's spawned it's own PEZ Dispensers! These custom made PEZ dispensers of Jake Gyllenhaal (Jack Twist) and Heath Ledger (Ennis Del Mar) have been sculpted from Sculpey Clay and meticulously hand painted with care. The dispensers have "PEZ" outlined in fabulous rhinestones.

A great collector's item for fans of the movie, PEZ-heads (collectors), or eBayaholics with maxed out credit cards! This pair of PEZ Lovers is sure to make heads turn! You might even see them on the red carpet!

As of today, the bidding is at $96.00 -- and there are still 6 days left to bid. And no, we're not even a little bit tempted. (Hat tip to Dlisted).

Posted on March 3, 2006
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U.S. Training Sharks to Be Underwater Spies

The BBC reports that the U.S. is planning on training sharks to conduct underwater surveillance. The scientists plan on controlling the sharks by implanting electrodes in their brains.

It says the aim is "to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails". The unusual project was unveiled last week in Hawaii, it says. The research is being funded by the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), according to the magazine.

Remote-controlled sharks do have advantages that robotic underwater surveillance vehicles just cannot match: they are silent, and they power themselves. It aims to build on latest developments in brain implant technology which has already seen scientists controlling the movements of fish, rats and monkeys. "Neural implants consists of a series of electrodes that are embedded into the animal's brain, which can then be used to stimulate various functional areas," the magazine says.

It says such devices are already being used by scientists at Boston University to "steer" a spiny dogfish in a fish tank. The next step for the Pentagon scientists will be the release of blue sharks with similar devices into the ocean off the coast of Florida. As radio signals will not penetrate the sea, communications with the animals will be made by sonar. The US navy has acoustic signalling towers capable of sending sonar signals to a shark up to 300km (187 miles) away, the magazine says. It says the scientists will be particularly interested in the animals' health during the tests. "As wild predators, it is very easy to exhaust them, and this will place strict limits on how long the researchers can control their movements in any one session without harming them. "Despite this limitation, though, remote-controlled sharks do have advantages that robotic underwater surveillance vehicles just cannot match: they are silent, and they power themselves," the magazine says.

This reminds us of that movie called Deep Blue Sea, in which a bunch of stupid scientists put electrodes into some sharks' brains and did some other things to them. They thought they could control the sharks. They were wrong.

Posted on March 2, 2006
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Technorati's New Favorites Feature

Technorati has launched a favorites feature which allows you to keep track of up to fifty of your favorite blogs. You can add this blog to your favorites list by clicking here. More about Technorati's favorites feature can be found here on BloggersBlog.com.

Posted on March 1, 2006
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