Well, Jackson did nickname the kid Blanket. But yes, calling him by his given name would be more appropriate under the circumstances.
Of course, that may not be the only thing that's making people cringe by the end of tomorrow's marathon media coverage of the anniversary of his death.
Yes she is only 24 and made the announcement via twitter, but I say give the girl some credit: she has the guts to walk away which so many starlets don't. What would people have preferred to see her get extreme plastic surgery? Go on celebrity rehab? Shave her head? Have a quickie Vegas marriage? Get an eating disorder?
If she's genuinely walking away because she has other interests or has genuinely decided that acting just isn't for her, then I absolutely give her credit. People may be a bit snarky about this because -- as I noted in a post earlier this week -- stars have a tendency to imply they are retiring without really meaning it, especially if they might be seeking publicity. And in fact, Bynes's own publicist later said Bynes had never said anything about retirement prior to that Twitter announcement, which seems odd if it was something she had seriously considered.
The caliber of the Tweets that came immediately before her retirement announcement -- "I like black men I'm very attracted to them just fyi" -- also don't suggest that she's been taking time to really, um, think things through before she says them. But if it's what she really wants then, hey, that's cool.
Of course we wouldn't do it without you!
Yeah, things got too busy. Celebrities keep doing silly things, big summer movies keep coming out -- it's hard to make the time for a frosted treat. Sad, really.
If people got in trouble for calling celebrities names, clearly Liz and I would have been called out by the President long ago. Thank God occasional snarkiness is part of our job description.
I'll pass on your good luck wishes to Liz, if she doesn't see them herself when she reads the chat transcript.
So his family thinks his story is fishy (see: People), and presumes he is back on drugs, his child is being raised by the wife's parents, and today a report came in about him sleeping in is car after a domestic disturbance (see: Radar). Normally this would be enough to make me think think the kidnapping story is a ruse, yet the Palm Springs Police did arrest someone and seem to be standing by London. What do you guys think?
Honestly, I don't know what to think. It's a curious case indeed. It's always possible that both sides are right. London's family may be right to be concerned about his addiction issues, but he also may be telling the truth about the kidnapping.
In any case, I hope he gets things straightened out. I always liked those London boys.
The chain of tweets on the subject began at 2:58 a.m. Saturday, culminating with the official announcement at 3:50 a.m. So again, not exactly the timing one would choose to make a major announcement about a career change.
Finally, one of you figured it out!
Did she also suddenly decide to retire at a very young age? And was her name Amanda?
Because if so, that is one freaky coincidence.
Famous is all relative these days, I guess. Some people know who she is because she became a mini-YouTube sensation for her performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," and wound up on Ellen and (I think) Oprah because of it.
She's viral-video famous, not People magazine cover famous.
Sure, you guys can throw out ideas in the chat. Whoever winds up being right wins ... uh ... the satisfaction of knowing he/she was right?
Also, to another question that was raised: yes, I can help the person who wanted to coordinate a little something for the baby. Just e-mail me offline.
I don't know. We got some good feedback but I expected more.
In the poll, currently the prosecution (Liz) is easily winning with 50 percent of the vote. Defense (me) has 30 percent, and the rest fell in the hung jury or declare a mistrial camps.
Let me guess: another one of you is going to say his name will be Sawyer.
I still haven't seen "Dragon" but I've heard great things. So I'll be catching up with that one myself.
As for others, I know I've said this multiple times, but do see "Kick-Ass," which comes out on DVD later this summer. Unless you're very sensitive to excessive comic book violence. In which case, don't see it.
Poor fella! He has always been a class act. Let's hope he gets a gold medal in recovery.
Absolutely. He's had the tumor for a while, and he battled testicular cancer, as the article says. Seems like he's had his share of cancer scares at this point and deserves a smooth recovery.
Weird, random aside: Scott Hamilton was the first celebrity I ever interviewed when I started in the newspaper business years ago. I am 99.7 percent certain I sounded very nervous and asked him more than a couple of stupid question, but he was very nice. Definitely a class act.
I meant offline from the chat, not offline from the Internet! You all take me so literally.
(Actually, that is kind of funny.)
You think Liz would name a baby, even if it was a girl, Kate? Don't you know her at all?
I can say, without hesitation, that that is incorrect.
Well, we know Pitt and Jolie have plenty of love for New Orleans given their involvement post-Katrina. I don't know why they aren't more involved. It's a much dicier political issue in some ways because this wasn't a natural disaster, this was a massive screw-up by a corporation.
Of course, one could easily argue that Katrina was a government screw-up given the issue with the levees, but at least on the surface, it fell in the disaster category.
In any case, the fact that it's, arguably, a dicier political issue shouldn't matter. Maybe -- as Liz and I posited before -- they are waiting to see how things play out with BP containing the problem before they get involved.
Oh, I plan to say that to Liz regardless!
Well, let's see ... she's got that rom-com she did with Justin Long, "Going the Distance," coming out in August. She's also reportedly involved in one of the many "Wizard of Oz"-related projects ("Surrender Dorothy") swirling around in Hollywood these days.
Don't you worry about Drew, I am sure she's got plenty of things to occupy her time.
Hi ladies. Liz, I am going to miss you but have fun with your new baby. Jen, having read in your defense of Tom Cruise that you were a big fan of Andrew McCarthy back in the day I remembered this old celebrity sighting of him from years ago. I loved him too even though he is more my age than yours and saw St. Elmo's Fire like five times because of him. Fast forward a few years (1995) and I was on vacation in Nantucket and went to a toy store there to buy a birthday present for my older kid who was turning 6 while we were there. I had my 2 year old daughter with me and asked the store to wrap the present because I thought it would be easier. Well, the store was taking forever to wrap it and the two year old was getting restless as any toddler would be in a toy store. Then, in walks Andrew McCarthy. I didn't recognize him right away because he was older and little heavier but when he spoke it became obvious who he was. I tried to play it cool and at one point told my toddler to put something down that she had picked up and he said to me, "You are a serious mom-I even listened to you and put down what I was holding." I just laughed and it was about at that point that my toddler seriously messed her pants and it smelled just awful in that tiny store so I took her out on the porch to wait. He then came out on the porch too because he had a cellphone call and I remember being really impressed because his cellphone had call waiting, which was unheard of way back then. He was so cute and down to earth and now my toddler is 17 and a big fan of "Pretty in Pink" and she is mortified that she had a pants-load in front of Andrew McCarthy, whom she now loves. Well, long story but I wanted to share how nice Andrew McCarthy was to us, even though we (well my daughter anyways) smelled real bad. See what you have to look forward to, Liz?
Wow, that story was epic. Thanks for sharing.
If Andrew McCarthy walked into a store where I was shopping, I would not be able to resist telling him that whatever he was planning to purchase was "Hot. White hot."
BTW, I am sure your daughter will love the fact that we're all enjoying this story in a live discussion.
Har har.
Ken was very amusing, but I thought the whole movie was great. "Wall-E" may have had more artistic merit, but I think "Toy Story 3" is a more accessible movie for a mass audience. I laughed out loud numerous times. Those Pixar people are so unceasingly clever.
Could HM look any more uncomfortable?? I bet she washed her hands right afterward--I know I would.
Oh my gosh, I know. That photo is horrifying. I wonder if it's now the saved wallpaper on Bai Ling's cell.
Liz is anti-pleats, but I am not a fan either. So count us both in. I used to wear them regularly in the '80s and early '90s until I realized they made me look like I was in a pool and a whole bunch of chlorinated water had inflated my crotch area.
That said, if you can pull them off, far be it from me to judge. I'm hardly a fashionista. I'm not even a Maxxinista.
I'll do my best to make the summer and early fall tolerable in Liz's absence. As you all know, my interests tend to learn more toward pop culture than the ultra-gossipy stuff. But as God is my witness, if Lindsay Lohan does something publicly distressing, I will cover it to the best of my ability.
As a red-blooded American, I am not a huge soccer fan. But I happened to catch that huge goal yesterday and was actually excited, excited enough to even watch on Saturday.
That said, if forced to make a choice, I'd go Wimbledon over World Cup, especially if Nadal is playing.
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