Saturday, August 6, 2016
Tweet of the Day 8/6/16
Went for a walk with my daughter this afternoon... Next thing you know... pic.twitter.com/QtSVZuEZ8x— Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell) August 4, 2016
Renee Zellweger Wrote an Essay About Her Face
Renee Zellweger recently penned an essay for The Huffington Post titled "We Can Do Better." Here is an excerpt:
"I am lucky. Choosing a creative life and having the opportunity to do satisfying work that is sometimes meaningful is a blessed existence and worth the price paid in the subsequent challenges of public life.
Sometimes it means resigning to humiliation, and other times, understanding when silence perpetuates a bigger problem.
In October 2014, a tabloid newspaper article reported that I’d likely had surgery to alter my eyes.
It didn’t matter; just one more story in the massive smut pile generated every day by the tabloid press and fueled by exploitative headlines and folks who practice cowardly cruelty from their anonymous internet pulpits.
In the interest of tabloid journalism, which profits from the chaos and scandal it conjures and injects into people’s lives and their subsequent humiliation, the truth is reduced to representing just one side of the fictional argument. I can’t imagine there’s dignity in explaining yourself to those who trade in contrived scandal, or in seeking the approval of those who make fun of others for sport. It’s silly entertainment, it’s of no import, and I don’t see the point in commenting.
However, in our current culture of unsolicited transparency, televised dirty laundry, and folks bartering their most intimate details in exchange for attention and notoriety, it seems that the choice to value privacy renders one a suspicious character. Disingenuous. A liar with nefarious behavior to conceal. “She denies,” implies an attempt to cover up the supposed tabloid “exposed truth.”
...Ubiquitous online and news source repetition of humiliating tabloid stories, mean-spirited judgments and false information is not harmless.
It increasingly takes air time away from the countless significant unprecedented current events affecting our world. It saturates our culture, perpetuates unkind and unwise double standards, lowers the level of social and political discourse, standardizes cruelty as a cultural norm, and inundates people with information that does not matter.
What if immaterial tabloid stories, judgments and misconceptions remained confined to the candy jar of low-brow entertainment and were replaced in mainstream media by far more important, necessary conversations? What if we were more careful and more conscientious about the choices we make for ourselves, where we choose to channel our energy and what we buy into; remembering that information — both factual and fictitious — is frequently commodified as a product, and the contents and how we use it are of significant personal, social and public consequence?
Maybe we could talk more about why we seem to collectively share an appetite for witnessing people diminished and humiliated with attacks on appearance and character and how it impacts younger generations and struggles for equality, and about how legitimate news media have become vulnerable to news/entertainment ambiguity, which dangerously paves the way for worse fictions to flood the public consciousness to much greater consequence. Maybe we could talk more about our many true societal challenges and how we can do better."
Read the full essay at The Huffington Post.
Angela Kinsey Is Engaged
E! News reports that The Office star Angela Kinsey, 45, is engaged to her longtime boyfriend, whose name has not been released. This will be the second marriage for Kinsey; she was married to Warren Lieberstein until 2010; they share daughter Isabel, 8.
Jenna Jameson Is Pregnant
People reports that Jenna Jameson, 42, is expecting a child with fiancé Lior Bitton. In case you watched VH1's Couples Therapy, this is not the guy from the show; that was John Wood. This will be Jenna's third child; she shares twin boys Jesse Jameson and Journey Jette, 7, with ex Tito Ortiz.
Friday, August 5, 2016
Tweet of the Day 8/5/16
Happy birthday to Mr. Louis Armstrong, the first genius of jazz and one of the most important musicians of all time. pic.twitter.com/kuYxzmB4C2— Amoeba Music (@amoebamusic) August 4, 2016
Blind Gossip Blind Item - Rio Bound
This famous athlete from one of the big three sports wants to go to Rio de Janeiro. Not to participate in the Olympics. Just to watch.
His wife has said, “Absolutely not!” Why?
"She’s afraid of everything! She hears that Rio is a dangerous place with lots of crime. She thinks that there will be poop in the water. She’s worried about terrorist attacks. She wants to get pregnant in the next year, and is worried about the Zika virus."
She doesn’t want to go… but she doesn’t want him going without her, either!
"She’ll tie him to a chair if she needs to. No way in hell she’s letting him go and put their whole family in jeopardy!"
Athlete:
Source: Blind Gossip
Popbitch Blind Item - Pop Hottie
Which boyband megastar is a surprising find on Grindr? One Popbitch reader matched his unassuming profile and turned up only to find the pop hottie welcoming him in to make a few midnight memories.
Source: Popbitch
Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys Talk Sex
Keri Russell and her significant other/Americans co-star Matthew Rhys recently sat down for a joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Here's what they had to say:
Matthew, in what way is Keri most and least like her character?
RHYS "Height and hair. No, she doesn't have the ice of Elizabeth — though sometimes she does."
RUSSELL "How dare you! (Laughs.)"
RHYS "No, for the most part, you're not as calculating and icy as she is. But I think it has to live somewhere inside you in order to play it with conviction."
So was that the most or the least?
RHYS "Pick one. That's all I'm saying. I'm already drowning in hot water. (Laughs.)"
And Keri, how about Matthew?
RUSSELL "He's incredibly good with people. And with women. He's a good listener, he's incredibly emotional."
RHYS "This is going fucking south. Next question!"
RUSSELL "He's dying. (Laughs.)"
These parts not only are quite physical but also require you, as KGB spies, to take on multiple characters. What are the most challenging scenes to play?
RHYS "The hardest to land are in those moments where great stretches of the imagination have to merge with reality. Like telling [our daughter] Paige that we're spies."
RUSSELL "Yeah, that was difficult."
RHYS "When you read it, you go, "This sounds like a Monty Python sketch. It's absurd: We work for Mother Russia." So the challenge is landing in a real place where the audience believes, "Oh my God, that's so moving," and not, "That's so ludicrous.""
The series is heavy on graphic sex scenes, too, something you've said you hadn't done a lot of prior to this role, Keri.
RUSSELL "I know you might find it surprising, but people don't cast me for my voluptuous body all the time. "We're looking for a woman with a 13-year-old boy's body. Who can we get? Yes, you!""
RHYS "Don't say that because what does that say about me? (Laughter.)"
Did you have any hesitation?
RUSSELL "Definitely. No one wakes up on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. and is [excited to be] like, "Hey! Nice to meet ya! OK, here we go, whoooo!" with 50 of our friends watching. But I will say I sort of love the use of it on our show because, at least in my experience being a woman, you usually have to do the most sexy, the most in love, the most romantic version. In our show, I'm in a place of power: it's to get information from that person or to make that person feel a certain way. And that can be empowering."
Is it any less comfortable because you two are a couple offscreen, or does that make having a crew and cameras there that much more awkward?
RHYS "There's that immediate thing where, like, physically you're comfortable together, and so that's fine, and you're not all …"
RUSSELL "'Can I touch your arm here?'"
RHYS "'I'm sorry if I do this. … Oh God … Oh, can someone get her a robe, please?'" (Laughter.)
You're not doing that with Keri?
RHYS "I am, actually. I get a little protective. I'm like, 'Can someone get her a f—in' robe, please?! She's standing there naked, we've cut for five seconds, Jesus Christ.' (Laughter.) And they're like, 'Dude, this is the fourth season.'"
RUSSELL "'We've seen it.'"
Read the full interview at The Hollywood Reporter.
The Gossip Life Blind Item - Turmoil at the Morning Show
Turmoil at the morning show. The EP wanted to relieve the cast of several members, but the network put their foot down and adamantly denied it. "How many times are we going to do thing?" a source tells me were the words bandied about. "No more revamps. No more reboots. No more. No more. No more."
The EP and the network reached an agreement on a select few firings and hirings, but not nearly as many as the EP initially would have liked. It's due to this fortuity that several people still have their jobs.
What is the show?
Source: The Gossip Life
The EP and the network reached an agreement on a select few firings and hirings, but not nearly as many as the EP initially would have liked. It's due to this fortuity that several people still have their jobs.
What is the show?
Source: The Gossip Life
Catching Up with Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is on the cover of this month's Marie Claire magazine. Here's what she had to say:
On marriage and divorce: "For me, it's really the investment in the other person. And it's the expectations you have. They change and you get smarter, and maybe you think those expectations aren't worth striving for with this person, and that's when people bail."
On her new show being compared to Sex and the City: "I love the way the pilot episode opens because everyone's asking, "Oh, is this a spin-off of Sex and the City?" And the moment that the opening scene ends, and you see her give him the finger, you know it's very different."
On being a feminist: "I am not a feminist. I don't think I qualify. I believe in women and I believe in equality, but I think there is so much that needs to be done that I don't even want to separate it anymore. I'm so tired of separation. I just want people to be treated equally."
On the gender pay gap: "I would like all of that nonsense to end. I would like women to get paid for the value of their contributions, not by old-fashioned ideas about gender."
On other actresses speaking out in Hollywood: "Listen, Jennifer Lawrence deserves every bit as much as her male counterpart. It's indisputable. Emma Watson is an amazing young woman, and it's important for her to talk about women's issues. She isn't concerned about herself. Women are paying the bills, getting it done, getting the kids here and there. The more we address that, we are all going to be better."
On her children: "I'm so desperate for my children to be curious people. I just want them to be happy and curious."
Celebrity Real Estate - AMC Director Edition
Craig Zisk, who has directed Fear the Walking Dead and Preacher on AMC, has listed his Hollywood Hills home for sale for $2.775 million. The 3,520 square foot home, built in 1928, features four bedrooms, four full bathrooms plus one additional shitter, and city views. See pictures of the property at The Hollywood Reporter.
Tamara Tattles Blind Item - She's Been Around the Block
On every reality show that has continued for a few seasons, the cast members tend to form alliances. These alliances can change drastically during the off season and friends can become enemies and enemies can become frenemies as they all jockey for position and screen time in the next season. If you are in a minority alliance with just two people, it might be wise to attempt to befriend someone in the majority alliance.
Wisdom is not a particularly strong suit when it comes to most reality show participants. The focus of this blind is more lacking than most in that regard. That is why she seemed to think nothing of sleeping with the father of one of her cast mate's child. He is just another on a long street of "dates" that always seem to supply some sort of financial gain. Last I checked he lived with his latest "baby momma" and three children.
One would think she would keep this on the low down. However, the cast mate was made aware of the situation and it will likely be a storyline. When confronted, the guilty party will once again deny the relationship as being nothing more than good friends. For someone with only one friend on the cast and one in production, she sure has a whole string of good friends that she only sees long enough to acquire some good shoes.
Source: Tamara Tattles
Wisdom is not a particularly strong suit when it comes to most reality show participants. The focus of this blind is more lacking than most in that regard. That is why she seemed to think nothing of sleeping with the father of one of her cast mate's child. He is just another on a long street of "dates" that always seem to supply some sort of financial gain. Last I checked he lived with his latest "baby momma" and three children.
One would think she would keep this on the low down. However, the cast mate was made aware of the situation and it will likely be a storyline. When confronted, the guilty party will once again deny the relationship as being nothing more than good friends. For someone with only one friend on the cast and one in production, she sure has a whole string of good friends that she only sees long enough to acquire some good shoes.
Source: Tamara Tattles
TV Show Roundup 8/5/16
Casting News:
UnREAL alum B.J. Britt is joining the cast of Fox's Pitch in a recurring role, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Kelli O'Hara is joining Showtime's Masters of Sex for its fourth season, reports TV Line.
Renewals:
The Hollywood Reporter announces that ABC has renewed Match Game, Celebrity Family Feud, and $100,000 Pyramid.
Trailers:
Jessica Simpson Talks Big Boobs
Speaking of Jessica Simpson, she's on the cover of this month's Women's Health. Inside the magazine, she talks about her boobs. Here's what she had to say:
"My boobs just have their own life, they have a way of making themselves present. I thought I was going to get a breast reduction. After having kids, I look at myself and I'm like, you know what, my boobs are actually really big, but I like how they are. They're an asset, and Eric loves them still."
On media scrutiny:
"Media scrutiny sucks. I can't sit here and say I don't notice it. I will never understand why people take someone down for what you look like. If I had a character flaw, take me down. But a body flaw? That's not important...I'm hard on myself, I believe everything is a work in progress. But that's okay. I do love my legs, but my favorite physical attribute is my nose, because it's not perfect. But recently, since I've worked out so hard, I'm also loving my stomach—knowing I grew babies in it, and then having to go through a transformation and just owning it."
WTF Remake of the Day - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Hollywood Reporter announces that MGM has decided to shit on the classic 80s comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine. Guess who they got to star in the remake? Rebel Wilson. They have yet to cast the other lead, I've got $5 on Melissa McCarthy. Do people really see these movies? Oh, and if this news wasn't already depressing enough, in the same article they revealed that Rebel Wilson is starring in the remake of Private Benjamin, in the role made famous by Goldie Hawn. Um, that remake was bad enough when it starred Jessica Simpson, it doesn't need to be done again. That idea has suffered enough.
David Huddleston, The Big Lebowski, Has Died
Actor David Huddleston, who played the title role in the movie The Big Lebowski, has passed away from heart and kidney disease at the age of 85. Huddleston served in the Air Force, and went to New York to study acting on the G.I. Bill. He considered his crowning achievement to be portraying the role of Benjamin Franklin in the Broadway production of "1776" in 1997. He is survived by his wife Sarah Koeppe. Read his full obituary at the Los Angeles Times.
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Blind Gossip Blind Item - Those Innocuous Texts
This is about a celebrity couple that broke up in the past few months.
They used the usual “work and travel and scheduling conflicts” excuse when they announced their split.
We knew that wasn’t true, but we did not know the real reason why they split. Until now!
It turns out that he had developed a relationship with an actress. They started out as just friends, but somehow got closer in the past year.
His Now-Ex didn’t suspect a thing. In fact, he used to let his Now-Ex see all the texts from the Actress (which were usually about work and fairly boring). Since the texts were innocuous and the Actress was in a relationship herself, the Now-Ex assumed that the relationship was platonic.
Guess not.
His Now-Ex has an awful lot of fans. It would be dumb to make them mad, so the Actor and the Actress are going to have to be careful about how they go public. Perhaps they could work together in a way where they play lovers? At least that way they can pretend that their personal relationship started on the set… AFTER he broke up with Now-Ex!
Actor:
His Now-Ex:
Actress:
Source: Blind Gossip
Deep Thoughts 8/4/16
If you could invent any holiday, what would you call it and how would it be celebrated?
The Gossip Life Blind Item - Reconciliation More Than Likely
Although a divorce looked inevitable for an A-list couple several months ago, many sources in LA are now claiming that a reconciliation is more than likely. It isn't quite Thunderbirds are go just yet, but watch. It'll be a very interesting year and you just know that we here at The Gossip Life will be on the forefront of any developments.
Who are they?
Source: The Gossip Life
Who are they?
Source: The Gossip Life
Eva Mendes Talks Motherhood and Loss
Eva Mendes recently sat down for an interview with Latina Magazine, where she opened up about motherhood and the loss of her brother Carlos earlier this year (he died of cancer at the age of 53 in April). Here's what she had to say:
On motherhood:
"Well, I have two girls. That’s a lot. It’s early for me to make any big statement about having children. My older little girl is not yet 2 years old. My little one is still an infant, and right now it’s really about surviving those nights and trying to enjoy this time as much as possible with them, and start the bond between Esmeralda and Amada. It’s a really, really special time. I’m loving it. "
On taking a break from acting:
"I’m not sure, but it would definitely take something really special. I don’t like saying “take me away,” but essentially that’s what work does. I think it can be very, very healthy if it’s something that feels worthwhile. Right now I feel very fortunate to be home with my kids. I feel so lucky, and I’m just taking advantage of that."
On losing her brother:
"Losing my brother brought our family closer, and we were already close to begin with. So to just see everybody be there for one another and show up, I feel so lucky to have them. And then they were there for me when Amada was born. We had a funeral service for him and that same week I had the baby. So it was really, really intense and obviously beyond heart-breaking, but also kind of beautiful."
On using the name Amada twice:
"My grandmother’s name is Amada, and Esmeralda Amada is the name of our oldest. We had a few names picked out for our new baby, and when she was born, we didn’t feel like those names were her. We came up with a few more, even that morning, and tried them out. We were like, “What about Viviana?” But we just kept going back to Amada. In true Latin fashion, we reuse names all the time. I used to know five sisters that were all Maria del Carmen, Maria Elena, Maria Liliana…. [Laughs] I actually told Ryan, “This is com-mon in Latin culture, so it wouldn’t be crazy.” So we went with Amada because it was something we kept going back to. And it was an emotional time with the passing of my brother. We thought how beautiful to go with what made us emotional and with what felt like her. When we looked at her, we thought, “Aww, Amadita.”
James Corden Talks Carpool Karaoke
James Corden is on the cover of this month's British GQ. Inside the magazine, he talked about Carpool Karaoke. Here's what he had to say:
"Kanye has been booked to do Carpool Karaoke now twice and both times something came up. He’ll do it eventually. He wants to do it. [When he cancelled he sent] about three dozen white roses, of course. Arranged in the shape of a cube. What could be more Kanye than that?... [The dream would be] Beyonce. It would break the internet. She’s on tour right now. We’re working on it.”
Cara Delevingne Opens Up About Her Girlfriend
Cara Delevingne is on the cover of this month's British Vogue. Inside the magazine, she opens up about girlfriend St. Vincent. Here's what she had to say:
On St Vincent:
"I'm completely in love… Before, I didn't know what love was - real love. I didn't understand the depth of it. I always used to think it was you against the world. Now I know the meaning of life is love. Whether that's for yourself or for the world or your partner...As a child, I used gay as a bad world, as in, 'that's so gay.' All my friends did. [Her parents] have been so, so supportive. I'm obviously in love, so if people want to say I'm gay, that's great. But we're all liquid - we change, we grow."
On equal pay:
"I'm still learning. I act for love. I give it my all. I would probably still do it even if I wasn't paid at all. But in terms of equal pay I need to be paid the same as the guy who has equal billing with me. Otherwise I won't do it. Because if you accept less, you're just letting everyone else down and continuing the cycle."
Celebrity Real Estate - Eva Longoria Edition
Newlywed Eva Longoria is selling her Hollywood Hills bachelorette pad for $1.395 million. The 2,011 square foot home, built in 1924, features three bedrooms, two full bathrooms plus one additional shitter, and a sleeping porch. See pictures of the property at Curbed.
Britney Spears Talks Boys
Britney Spears' handlers let her out long enough to make an appearance on the Rove & Sam radio show, where she talked about relationships. Here's what she had to say, as reprinted by Us Weekly:
“Unfortunately, I am [a hopeless romantic]. I’ve been through horrible relationships, but unfortunately I still believe in love. And you know, I think you should protect your heart and stuff like that. But yeah, I’m a hopeless romantic and I believe in love...At the end of the day, I mean, I love my father, but I was always a mama’s girl growing up. I’m from the South, so there’s always something about me when I’m just with my girls or even my mother. There’s just a strong connection there. No offense, men!”
TV Show Roundup 8/4/16
Casting News:
The Hollywood Reporter announces that Sara Haines is joining ABC's The View as their latest sacrificial lamb, er, I mean cohost.
JoAnna Garcia Swisher is joining the cast of Fox's upcoming baseball drama Pitch, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Renewals:
E! News reports that USA has renewed Suits for a seventh season.
Mandy Moore Talks Life Post-Divorce
Mandy Moore spoke publicly for the first time since her divorce from husband Ryan Adams was finalized at the TCA's This Is Us panel. Here's what she had to say, as reprinted by E! News: "It's tough. Life is not easy. I think it's been great to be able to take all of the chapters in my life and be able to pour it into a job like this because it all helps. It's all fuel. I think everything happens for a reason. I think I spent a good portion of the last years of my life really pouring all of my energy into my life and relationship, and now that that's sort of not part of my life any more. It's just not a coincidence to me that things sort of opened back up, and I'm able to focus back on myself again."
On her music career:
"I'm not working on anything at the moment, but once this gets up and running, I want to go back to music. I think life sort of put it on the backburner. Acting and being in film, trying to do television, has always been a huge priority and it was the thing that—the ball was rolling the most. Even though I started in music, I feel like it continued to give me way more opportunities than music did. Now that I feel like this part of my life is percolating and up and running again, it'll allow me creatively to focus back on the music...I've been writing for the last seven years since I put out a record, so I have a trough of music to choose from. I also feel like a lot has happened in the last two years of my life that I want to be able to put into music and it'll be cathartic."
Drew Barrymore Officially Divorced
That was fast! Page Six reports that Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman have finalized their divorce less than three weeks after filing for divorce in Manhattan. A source states, "Drew and Will both wanted the divorce done expeditiously. They didn't want a messy divorce. They are still friends -- in fact they are all together in Nantucket right now." The couple were married four months after meeting in 2012.
Ozzy Osbourne Is a Sex Addict
Here are some words that you never want to hear from a 67-year-old man: "I am a sex addict." Ozzy Osbourne released the following statement to Us Weekly: “Over the last six years, I have been dealing with a sex addiction. I am mortified at what my behavior has done to my family. I thank God that my incredible wife is at my side to support me. I’m sorry if Ms. Pugh took our sexual relationship out of context. I’d also like to apologize to the other women I have been having sexual relationships with. Out of bad comes good.”
In related news, Ozzy's mistress Michelle Pugh is suing Kelly Osbourne for slut shaming and defamation. TMZ reports that in the lawsuit, Pugh reveals that she was Ozzy's mistress for three years. Vom.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Blind Gossip Blind Item - Celebrity Versus Celebrity
In this silly game of choosing up sides of Celebrity versus Celebrity, we have some insight as to why this Male Singer is now coming out against this popular Female Singer.
There are actually three reasons.
First of all, despite Female Singer’s friendship with Male Singer’s Ex, she has made it painfully clear that Ex could not bring Male Singer to any private event (like a birthday party) for which she had any control of the guest list.
Why?
His drug use.
Yes, it seems a little hypocritical given that there were other people at those gatherings who do drugs, or have done drugs, or have dealt drugs. She just had a particular dislike of HIS messy history with drugs.
She didn’t want that messy factor anywhere near her reputation… and he didn’t like that she had the power to blackball him.
Male Singer:
His Ex:
Female Singer:
Source: Blind Gossip
Deep Thoughts 8/3/16
Name your best or worst fantasy movie remake, and who you would cast as the lead(s).
The Gossip Life Blind Item - Fearing Another Flop
This A-list movie had good testing reviews with some criticism several months ago. The studio took it insanely personally, fearing another flop and ordered several reshoots and rewrites. This has resulted in a butchered movie that's receiving piss poor reviews.
What is the movie?
Source: The Gossip Life
What is the movie?
Source: The Gossip Life
Alicia Vikander Talks Michael Fassbender
Get ready, we're going to be reading this shit all the way up until the Oscars, which is a good six months away. Alicia Vikander sat down for an interview with Vanity Fair to talk about "boyfriend" Michael Fassbender while simultaneously pimping out their movie The Light Between Oceans. Here's what she had to say:
On being blindfolded before she saw the movie's real life lighthouse for the first time:
“They put me in a woodshed. There were no windows. They put me in my clothes and my hair. I’m going to open this door in 16 minutes now, and then you are going to see a small film crew somewhere. . . . Derek just wants you to do whatever you want to do...I saw the lighthouse and this amazing sea, and I was crawling up onto this hill where the lighthouse was because I saw the camera crew there. And then when I got up, it was the ocean on the other side of the hill and the sun came up. And I had never seen such nature in my entire life. So it’s a bit silly when I see that take in the film. And I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s just not acting. That’s just me being like, ‘Oh my God!’ ”
On Michael Fassbender:
“He was very sweet at letting me in. . . . He was like, ‘Can you please give me a note? What do you think I should do?’ It was such a sweet thing to kind of let me in.”
Their director Derek Cianfrance on their romance:
“It wasn’t hard for me to see that the chemistry could be there, just knowing them as individuals. What I saw was two great people who were so supportive of each other, who were really picking each other up, and pushing each other. . . . They were an undeniably good match and they pushed each other. . . . Michael and Alicia, they were like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. They were going to make one another better. And they were better together.”
Patton Oswalt's Essay on Grief
Patton Oswalt lost his wife Michelle McNamara in April. He posted the following essay on his Facebook page on Monday night:
"Thanks, grief.
Thanks for making depression look like the buzzing little bully it always was. Depression is the tallest kid in the 4th grade, dinging rubber bands off the back of your head and feeling safe on the playground, knowing that no teacher is coming to help you.
But grief? Grief is Jason Statham holding that 4th grade bully's head in a toilet and then fucking the teacher you've got a crush on in front of the class. Grief makes depression cower behind you and apologize for being such a dick.
If you spend 102 days completely focused on ONE thing you can achieve miracles. Make a film, write a novel, get MMA ripped, kick heroin, learn a language, travel around the world. Fall in love with someone. Get 'em to love you back.
But 102 days at the mercy of grief and loss feels like 102 years and you have shit to show for it. You will not be physically healthier. You will not feel "wiser." You will not have "closure." You will not have "perspective" or "resilience" or "a new sense of self." You WILL have solid knowledge of fear, exhaustion and a new appreciation for the randomness and horror of the universe. And you'll also realize that 102 days is nothing but a warm-up for things to come.
And...
You will have been shown new levels of humanity and grace and intelligence by your family and friends. They will show up for you, physically and emotionally, in ways which make you take careful note, and say to yourself, "Make sure to try to do that for someone else someday." Complete strangers will send you genuinely touching messages on Facebook and Twitter, or will somehow figure out your address to send you letters which you'll keep and re-read 'cause you can't believe how helpful they are. And, if you're a parent? You'll wish you were your kid's age, because the way they embrace despair and joy are at a purer level that you're going to have to reconnect with, to reach backwards through years of calcified cynicism and ironic detachment.
Lose your cool, and you're saved.
Michelle McNamara got yanked off the planet and out of life 102 days ago. She left behind an amazing unfinished book, about a horrific series of murders that everyone -- including the retired homicide detectives she worked with -- was sure she'd solve. The Golden State Killer. She gave him that name, in an article for Los Angeles Magazine. She was going to figure out the real name behind it.
She left Alice, her 7 year-old daughter. But not before putting the best parts of her into Alice, like beautiful music burned onto a CD and sent out into the void on a spaceship.
And she left me. 102 days into this.
I was face-down and frozen for weeks. It's 102 days later and I can confidently say I have reached a point where I'm crawling. Which, objectively, is an improvement. Maybe 102 days later I'll be walking.
Any spare energy I've managed to summon since April 21st I've put toward finishing Michelle's book. With a lot of help from some very amazing people. It will come out. I will let you know. It's all her. We're just taking what's there and letting it tell us how to shape it. It's amazing.
And I'm going to start telling jokes again soon. And writing. And acting in stuff and making things I like and working with friends on projects and do all the stuff I was always so privileged to get to do before the air caught fire around me and the sun died. It's all I knew how to do before I met Michelle. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do now without her.
And not because, "It's what Michelle would have wanted me to do." For me to even presume to know what Michelle would have wanted me to do is the height of arrogance on my part. That was one of the many reasons I so looked forward to growing old with her. Because she was always surprising me. Because I never knew what she'd think or what direction she'd go.
Okay, I'll start being funny again soon. What other choice do I have? Reality is in a death spiral and we seem to be living in a cackling, looming nightmare-swamp. We're all being dragged into a shadow-realm of doom by hateful lunatics who are determined to send our planet careening into oblivion.
Hey, there's that smile I was missing!"
Lea Michele Goes Nude
Lea Michele recently posed "tastefully nude" in Women's Health UK. Here's what she had to say in the accompanying interview:
On SoulCycle:
‘When I left Glee [the hit musical-comedy drama that was made for teens but became the secret guilty pleasure for adults too], I needed something to replace all the dancing about I was doing. Right now, I feel physically in my best shape and emotionally in my best place.’
On food:
‘I keep my home almost completely gluten free and vegan, which I think is important because when you reach for a snack at home, then you’re getting something healthy. When I say I splurge – that’s pizza, mac and cheese, pasta; it’s not McDonald’s. Look everyone can do whatever they want, this is just what I do.’
Non-Celebrity Real Estate - Tacky Edition
Normally this space is for celebrity homes, but this one was too good not to write about. This home is on the market for $55 million, and is just down the street from the Hearst Castle near San Simeon, California. The 35,700 square foot home features 12 bathrooms, 17 bathrooms, 80 acres of land, a vineyard to make pinot noir, and a helipad. See pictures of the over-the-top abode at Curbed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)