Archive for the ‘Schmoozing’ Category

Thanks to maru1221, I (and everyone else) can now see my wife Teresa at the Bon Jovi concert at the TD BankNorth Garden arena, July 10. She keeps a camera in front of her face during her screentime, but if you look closely, starting around 1:46,  you can see her trying to focus past Richie Sambora (12 feet away from her) to get a better picture of Jon (way the hell across the stage). She does have her preferences, my Teresa. Also, that piercing fangirl scream? That's her.

I was fortunate enough to do a phone interview with Joss Whedon for my newspaper last Friday on his new Internet musical miniseries "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog."

Click here to hear it!

This is Chris Bridges with the Daytona Beach News-Journal, and I’m talking with Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” the show “Firefly,” the movie “Serenity,” the upcoming FOX show “Dollhouse,” and now an original online musical mini-series, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” Thank you for talking to me.

Thanks for having me.

Go ahead and give me the elevator pitch for “Dr. Horrible.”

There’s an elevator pitch?

I hope so.

I’ve never heard that phrase. Basically it’s your typical Internet musical about a super villain who’s trying to make his bones in the super villain community and get some respect, and maybe even work up the nerve to talk to the girl at the Laundromat.

So, like every other Internet serial musical.

Yeah, you know, I mean it’s a tired genre but I thought I could wring a few bucks out of it before it dies.

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Teresa has decided to become a full-time groupie.

Not just the type who gushes about her band online, pins posters around her room and writes "Mrs. Bon Jovi" on her notebooks, although she does that too (not the Mrs. part, she said she has no interest in leaving our marriage or breaking his; I believe she has in mind more of a sophisticated arrangement, like a time-share). No, she plans to be the one who follows her band, concert to concert, city to city, country to country, becoming friends and confidant to the road crew. The fact that we're broke has no bearing on this. You can't deny your calling. She has already begun looking into which countries allow you to sell your children.

Yesterday, on an extended and carefully planned last minute whim, she flew to Boston to see Bon Jovi in concert. She's even now in the air on her way back, possibly without waiting for the plane. With her are the well-wishes, advice, and (in some cases) open envy of the other ladies on the Bon Jovi forum she frequents. They have kept up on her doings from other forum members at the concert who are calling in song-by-song updates, and from me, as I've been hearing from Teresa and posting on her behalf with her account. (I am, apparently, "Mr. Teresa.")

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The event we’ve been waiting for all year has finally arrived! This weekend will be filled with partying, thousands of large people in similar T-shirts, autograph hunting, the purchasing of many collectibles, a certain amount of beer, and the eager fascination in seeing celebrities up close.

What? No, not the Rolex 24. I’ll be over at FX Show 2008, the science fiction/horror convention in Orlando, where my inner geek can breathe freely. (My inner geek looks exactly like my outer geek, but with more movie tie-in buttons.)

Science-fiction conventions or "cons" are not just for social outcasts or dangerously introverted 37-year-old bachelors, of course. That's just a cliche perpetuated by people who have gone to a convention. It’s very much like a trade show when the trade in question is imagination, and scantily clad alien girls. It’s a place where fans of TV, movies, books, and comics can gather together with the people who create them, along with a massive roomful of fellow fans who share their interests and are ready to violently argue about them in an entertaining manner.

If you've never been to a con, here's a quick rundown of what you can expect.

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Wild horses carrying bags of money could not possibly force me to watch the new reality show debuting on CBS January 10, "Armed and Famous," where C-list celebrities undergo police training and go on patrol in a small, soon-to-be-overrun-by-giggling-criminals Indiana town. However, CBS has thoughtfully posted the only portion of it that could possibly have appealed to me: LaToya Jackson getting tasered.

I'm thinking they should just drop the rest of the show and stick with this, maybe bring on some more gossip mag denizens every week to get tasered. I'd tune in to see Donald Trump and Rosie both go down twitching, wouldn't you? And who hasn't wanted to run voltage through K-Fed? They could hold contests to see who gets to zap Lindsay Lohan (one zap per winner, sorry). Who knows, maybe celebs will cut back on their public drunkenness, public sex life, and public belligerence if they know they'll get tasered because of it.

Nah. "Shock and Woo!" coming soon, to FOX!

Soon after Christina Ricci appeared on the cover of W wrapped in reindeer fur (just in time to squeak onto PETA's Worst Dressed List for 2006), the webmaster of her most popular fan site www.christinaricci.info took the whole thing offline to protest her animal-stomping ways.

"Well, that's it," he posted where previously there had been over 900 Ricci photos. "I've had this Christina Ricci fan page for almost 8 years (since januari 1999), but I recently found out Christina doesn't appear to have a problem wearing fur. Well, I do. I also have a problem with people who wear fur. Conclusion: I have a problem with Christina. And now that problem is solved, because I don't have a website about her anymore, so I no longer have anything to do with her."

Initially her rep dismissed this — those whacky fans! — but the popularity of that page (second in most searches for "Christina Ricci") made have had something to do with Ricci's subsequent reversal. Ricci e-mailed PETA with an apology and a promise to do better, and they took her off the list.

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Robert Altman is gone.

And before you chastise me over the title, understand that I may be the only living person who liked his Popeye. Sure, Gosford Park was a huge success and Prairie Home Companion got plenty of accolades. And M*A*S*H was groundbreaking, of course, but you almost have to like that one or the other film students look at you funny. Altman had one of the most all-over-the-map careers of any director, he was known for sticking to his principles, and big name stars would fight to get in his movies. To me, he was the guy who stuck Robin Williams on the big screen with huge forearms and who knew at a glance that Shelly Duvall was born to play Olive Oyl, or possible a pipe cleaner.

But then, at least other people saw Popeye. If you want to get into really obscure, underappreciated Altman movies you'll need to go get O.C. and Stigg…

Last night, while watching John Laroquette delightedly rip into House, I got up during the break to restock my goodies and so I didn't quite catch the actual commercial, which sounded like a Family Guy clip making fun of O.J. Simpson. That Seth, what won't he make fun of? Ha ha!

Imagine my surprise when I found out the person making fun of the horrific events in O.J.'s life was, in fact, O.J.. I'm guessing country club memberships aren't cheap because he's come out with a new book and two-part TV interview called, and this is the actual title, "O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened." Please note that this is not Tim Meadows doing his O.J. impersonation. It's not a tasteless fan parody from YouTube. It's a real, tasteless exhibition by a man declared not guilty of a crime who is now going to explain… what? How he didn't do it, but here's exactly how he didn't do it? Is this the confession we only get after he can't be punished? Was he overcome with the need to brag? Did he lose a bar bet?

The interview, you'll be shocked, shocked to hear, will be on FOX.

I'm sure the families of the deceased and all those people who stood by him during the long trial will appreciate his new and profitable candor. But if he needed money, couldn't he have done something less tacky, like release a Nicole Simpson sex tape? Something with some dignity?

There's a certain shameful pleasure in watching a celebrity publicly debasing him- or herself, and Kevin Federline is currently making many people very happy indeed. I won't go into explanations here — if you don't know who K-Fed is or what's going on with him and his soon-to-be-exwife Britney, count yourself fortunate and head back into your cave, quick.

But last night, as some friends and family gathered around to watch "Entourage" DVDs and talk about celebrity hangers-on, it was wondered aloud how K-Fed would continue to thrive after being dumped by his meal ticket. I said, only half-joking, that the sex tape sales alone would keep him going. We laughed, and I came into work this morning to see the news.

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Britney is divorcing K-Fed. I'm embarassed to even admit I understand that sentence.

She filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court citing "irreconcible differences" which, coindentally enough, is the reason I myself give for why I have don't follow her personal or professional life.