Cat Burglar

Willy, a one-year old NY cat, has been stealing neighbors gloves for a while now. This is a great story. Read it at Yahoo news.

New Sex in the City, er, Sex in the Car

Kim Cattrall was a bit too convincing in her recent sexy tv ad for Nissan which aired in New Zealand. The company had to pull the ad after a number of complaints. Watch the ad here.

Middle East on Bush's Mind? Nope, Taylor Hicks!

You're President Bush. Your poll numbers are low. The world is swirling around you in turmoil. Insurgencies in Iraq are out of control. Diplomacy is necessary in North Korea, in Iran, in Israel and Lebanon. So what do you do?

If you're President Bush, you invite the finalists from American Idol to the White House oval office for some good ol' karaoke fun. He'll be taking time out of his "busy" schedule on July 28. Sounds to me a lot like when Bush decided to play the guitar for a photo op during Hurricane Katrina.

Two Crazy Ladies

• Crazy lady #1: Naomi Campbell. Evidently she made quite a ruckus outside an ex's house today in London and was arrested.
• Crazy lady #2: Dessarae Bradford. The former sex-line operator suprised everyone by walking onto the Tonight Show stage while Colin Farrell was talking to Jay Leno. She left a copy of her book Colin Farrell: A Dark Twisted Puppy, then was escourted off stage. Farrell called her "insane," to which she retorted, "I'll see you in court!"

Lost and Grey's Anatomy Dirt!

A few interesting reports from TV Guide today:

• There's gonna be some lovin' going on during the 3rd season of Lost. A new female character is coming in as a complication in Jack's relationship with Kate (which, er, Michelle Rodriguez might have done if she hadn't boozed it up in Hawaii). And some info that we might be having Other-centric flashbacks and lovin' too!
• Diahann Carroll is joining Grey's Anatomy in the fall. Hmmmm. Will she relive her diva Dynasty days?

Some Friday TV Goodness

• The new show Eureka, which I mentioned earlier in the week, pulled in the highest ratings for an original series on SciFi ever!
• Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from the X-Men movies) will be joining Smallville this fall as...Jimmy Olson!
• Kristin at E! has some scoop of the Gilmore Girls. Turns out that at least one person in Stars Hollow has a baby this year! Rory? Lorelai? My guess is Lane.
• Michael Ausiello has some interesting spoilers on upcoming episodes of Lost. And he got one of the showrunners to confirm that the monster will be coming back and admit: "The smoke creature and the monster are one and the same."

Clerks II or A Scanner Darkly

I've been slacking on seeing movies lately, but it looks like this weekend I'll be able to catch one or two. I'm thinking mostly about seeing Clerks II or A Scanner Darkly, though I still haven't seen The Devil Wears Prada, so who knows? But has anyone else noticed the dearth of good summer movies this year? Other than Superman Returns there hasn't been anything I've really liked. X-men 3 was okaaaay, but Pirates of the Caribbean II was terrible.

This weekend also brings The Lady in the Water which looks like another big M. Night Shyamalan piece of crap. Since The Sixth Sense I haven't liked any of his movies. Signs had potential, but went no where. 15 mins into The Village my mother looked over and said, "Oh, they're not it the past. It's present day." And Rotten Tomatoes has an awful rating for the movie. Another new movie, My Super Ex-Girlfriend looks even worse. It hasn't even been shown to reviewers, though it opens this weekend. That, my friend, spells STINKER.

Is Your iMAC G5 a Ticking Bomb?

That might be a tad bit dramatic, but about 2 weeks ago my iMAC just turned off and wouldn't turn back on. Turns out that the first generation of the iMACs that came out in 2004 have a power supply problem. I was lucky because it was just the power, but if your computer completely overheats it can fry the motherboard. Apple has a iMAC G5 Repair and Extension Program, and the day after my computer fuzzed out I went to the Apple store near me and had the computer fixed (in 30 mins) for free. I paid not one red cent--which made me happy.

What I wasn't happy about is that Apple hasn't made this repair program known. I actually searched their site and couldn't find anything about it. The only reason I found the Program was I spent a half-hour googling around. I love my MAC and I'm glad it's fixed, but Apple's reluctance to do a recall or to contact purchasers to alert them to the problem is pretty shady if you ask me. The Apple Store guy said he had fixed a great number of the machines so far, and said, "Dude, when I opened your power supply ash fell out."

Bravo's Work Out Is Pretty Fun

Last night I watched the first episode of the new show Work Out and you know what, it was rather entertaining. Not only does it sound a great deal like one of Bravo's other tv shows, Blow Out, it has the exact same formula: tough as nails business owner whips staff members into shape while searching for love. The main difference is that a) the business is a gym now, not a hair salon; b) the gym trainers are better looking than the hair stylists; and c) the owner is actually a real man. Well, let's say lesbian gym owner Jackie Warner is more of a man than Blow Out's Jonathan Anton will ever be.

Jackie has a great personality and though she's a bit domineering, it's her gym and her rules. I respect that. And when her girlfriend tries to fight with her, she takes the high road because she's got her stuff together and knows who she is. I also admire Jackie because she hired ADOR-able Jesse (see pic) over some perhaps better qualified people with no personality, realizing that relating to clients can't be learned, while perfecting a work out routine can.

Project Runway Quote of the Week

"I'm a little nervous about the fact that this is, in quotes, a pageant dress, only because the word pageant to me has weird connotations, you know, i.e. JonBenet ramsey, and i don't know that world."
--Jeffrey Sebelia, tattoo-necked designer from L.A.

A New Buffy?

Well, sort of. According to Enterainment Weekly, the writer and creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer--Joss Whedon--is starting a new Buffy comic book through Dark Horse comics. While the television still yearns for a Buffyverse spin-off, at least ardent fans can find out what happened with Buffy and her army of new slayers after Sunnydale went kaput. Joss Whedon promises the return of a familiar "big bad" and some interesting developments for Buffy's sister Dawn.

FYI: Ralph Reed Lost

Ralph Reed lost his bid yesterday to become the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Georgia. While it's simply not nice to rub it in someone's face, if I say him today I'd say, "Na na na!" The guy is a hypocrite, plain and simple, using Christianity as a political weapon of opportunity. I'm glad my fellow Georgians saw through it.

Don't Miss Out

Just a reminder that the summer is a fantastic time to watch repeats of shows so you can catch up for next year. Why risk skin problems and getting sunburned, by lying out by the pool? No...you should definitely be watching all the goodness that is Veronica Mars and Battlestar Galactica.

It's a hard sell, I know, which is why I'm mentioning. People seem to think Veronica Mars is some kind of teen Nancy Drew show, which couldn't be farther from the truth. It's more like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Magnum P.I. (I'm not sure that helped.) And Battlestar has the same problem Buffy once had--its name keeps people from watching. But I'll tell you, it's much more a drama than a science fiction show, and I'd go as far as to say that it was the most consistently good drama on tv last year--bar none.

A Few TV Tidbits

• At the TCA press tour yesterday, ABC announced that Lost will only show new episodes next year during the regular tv season so viewers can follow more closely. What that means is that in the fall (starting October), we'll get 6 new episodes, then have to wait until the new year to see more.
  
• Also regarding Lost, J.J. Abrams promises to have a greater presence in writing and directing some episodes, whereas last year he was wholly absent to film Mission Impossible: III.
• ABC executives pretty much admitted that Desperate Housewives sucked last year so they have fired the showrunner and made the original creator, Marc Cherry, step up to the plate. Of course, I will have trouble watching still, knowing that Eva Longoria looks like this without makeup.

CBS and CW Ate My Brain

This week is the Television Critics Association Press Tour, where the tv networks try to hook our favorite critics (such as TV Guide's Michael Ausiello and E!'s Kristin Veitch) on shows by giving them face time with stars and feeding them sugar all day. I've been reading a number of critic blogs lately and they have helped me realize that for the head honchos of tv networks, numbers are the only thing that matter at all.

• When the CBS President was asked about the number of serialized shows that are cancelled before the big mysteries are solved, she said she didn't think viewers minded: "I don't think audiences approach their programming that way."
• The head of the new CW network (UPN and The WB combined) unveiled the new company logo. It's a green "CW." When asked about the new logo she said, "Green is a happy color."

Ugh. Not that I thought network heads were altruistic braniacs who wanted to cultivate creativity, but give me a break. Sure, Lost is on another network, but could you imagine the outcry if it ended suddenly and we never found out anything? And about the CW logo, I'm sure it's not just a coincidence that it looks more than strikingly similar to MTV's "10 Spot" graphics. Anyway...it's not going to keep me from watching, but it sure makes me pickier about what shows I decide to follow.

What's on Tonight

Put the TiVO to work this evening because tonight's tv picks both start at 9 p.m. It's the 2-hour premiere of the new SciFi tv series Eureka and it looks pretty promising--sort of like Northern Exposure meets The Jetsons. Per the network, "Nestled in the Pacific Northwest, Eureka is a seemingly ordinary town whose residents lead ordinary lives…at least to the naked eye. Shrouded in secrecy, the picturesque hamlet is actually a community of scientific geniuses assembled by the government to conduct top-secret research." With cutie Colin Ferguson playing a US Marshal, I'm going to check out this science fiction "fish-out-of-water" drama/comedy. Also at 9 p.m. Bravo is offering up the final episode of season 2's Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Last week Kathy dressed up in a rat suit and jumped out of the bushes to scare her dog. What does this week hold in store for us?

We're Not Gonna Take It

Coworker Kirsten (via coworker MDV) showed me this link and it's nothing short of fantastic--"an interactive public art project that allows you to record your own protest songs using the telephone." Our favorite so far is protest song about "a cat named Purrbella who wakes its owner up too early in the morning." And, of course, all the protests are sung to Twisted Sister.

http://werenotgonnatakeit.org/

Anderson Cooper War Correspondent Doll

A few days ago after calling Anderson Cooper a hottie, I followed up by poking a little fun at how stiff and unfunny he was when we met. Now I feel a wee bit shallow because lookie look there he is in the Middle East reporting on the crisis by putting himself in harm's way.

So okay, in all sincerity it's pretty admirable that we have reporters out there risking their lives to bring us our tv news while we sit all comfy on our sofas. But...if you've been watching AC 360 the past few days, you have to admit there's something sexy about Coop in that bullet proof vest, donning that G.I. Joe helmet when the sirens go off. (I'll be sure to post a recent Anderson as war reporter pic when I get one.) Hopefully this crisis will come to a good conclusion as soon as possible. But when it does end, we need to plead with CNN (or Hasbro) to issue the Anderson Cooper War Correspondent Doll, complete with fatigues, bullet proof vest, helmet, and gay action kung-fu grip.

50% Cop, 50% Lifeguard, 100% Action

That's the tagline for CourtTV's new show Miami Beach Patrol--no kidding. Every single frame of the previews I've seen features lots and lots of golden, sun-kissed skin. I know I'll be watching tonight at 8 and 8:30 p.m.

Great Link: See Bush jump. Jump, Bush! Jump!

I found this absurd link on Andrew Sullivan today. You have to see it for yourself:

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/bush-bubble-p1.php

News Flash: OPRAH NOT GAY!!!

Just read the craziest story ever (okay, of the day) on Yahoo. The upcoming August issue of O will reveal...wait for it...wait for it...that Oprah is not gay and not partnered with her friend Gayle King! In the article Oprah says, "I understand why people think that we're gay...there isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women.

So yes, I love Oprah, but girlfriend is officially crazy. Is there a single person on the planet who honestly thought (before this revelation!) that Oprah was gay? Crazy. Bags of crazy, I tell you.

Ralph Reed Just Isn't Feeling the Love

Think back to the 1990's and you'll remember Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition. What's he up to now, you ask? Eh, that's not fair, you've all probably read about how he's running for lieutenant governor of Georgia, but poor thing, he's embroiled in the Abramoff scandal (something about gambling and indian reservations). Huffington Post led me to a fascinating feature article about Reed that's about to be published in GQ. The investigative article The Sins of Ralph Reed is so very very wickedly scathing--the exact kind of thing Reed has been dodging for the past 6 months by not giving a single interview to reporters.

J.J. Abrams to Rule the World

J.J. Abrams (creator of Lost, Alias, and Felicity and writer/director of the recent Mission Impossible III) recently signed two huge deals: a 5-year movie contract with Paramount and a 6-year tv deal with Warner Brothers. Combined, it totals upwards of $60 million. I'd rather J.J. stick to one or two great projects. If you're a longtime fan of Alias, you remember how the show took a creative nosedive when he left for better things, and my bet is that the same thing happens with Lost. If J.J. feels compelled to begin a new project, well, a sultry color calendar wouldn't be all that time-consuming.

Entourage Quote of the Week

"Anyway, people, staff meeting has been cancelled. You all have one goal today--to get Vincent Chase's brother--Johnny Chase--a job. Any job. I don't care if it's a porn shoot in which he is being gangraped by a gaggle of siverback apes. If there are cameras rolling, everybody wins."

Jeremy Piven as Hollywood agent Ari Gold

on HBO's Entourage