MamaPop™

R.I.P. Andy Hallett

After a few weeks of posting increasingly geeky items on MamaPop about Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica and whatnot, I was set to restore my standing in non-nerdity with a post about Madonna's ridiculously expensive track suit or something.  But then Andy Hallett died. And my last dream of a Broadway musical revival version of Angel died along with it.

Hallett, who played the karaoke-singing demon Lorne on the WB series Angel, died last Sunday of heart failure, apparently after a five-year struggle with heart disease.  According to the infallible word of Wikipedia, his heart troubles stemmed from an infected tooth that led to a case of cardiomyopathy.  He died at the ridiculously young age of 33. No one should die at 33.

Born in Cape Cod, Hallett came to Los Angeles to pursue a singing and performance career, and was discovered by Joss Whedon singing in a Universal City blues revue.

Angel ranks as one of my favourite shows, despite its myriad dips in quality and its occasionally preposterous storylines.  Hallett's character - a demon with a karaoke bar, a gorgeous voice and a wardrobe of gold-lamé suits - was probably one of Whedon's cleverest inventions.  Hallett brought a humanity and wit to the show that the other characters - even the human ones - could never match.  The world is poorer without him.

Having a Bad Hair Day? Here, This Will Help.

Kellie Pickler says, "You're welcome!"

More...interesting-ish photos from yesterday's Dressed to Kilt fashion show in NYC after the jump.

Heroes Recap: Into the Asylum

Hello, and welcome to Mexico.  Claire and her father, the biological one, are on vacation/hiding.  Don't they watch the news?  It's dangerous down there. 

Claire goes for a taco and Nathan goes to Happy Hour.  Man, I need a vacation. 

Meanwhile, Peter and his mother, the crazy one, are on the run, er, fly, and they wind up in front of a church. What? It happens. WWVHD?  SANCTUARY!

We now rejoin our previously scheduled program, "CSI:Heroes."  Danko and Noah are investigating a murder.  Three of their own.  They argue.  It rains.  It always rains.

Online Media, Social Networking Changing How We Watch TV

Today, I return to the establishment of higher learning where I work and study after a full week of sloth. I would like to say I did only things that engaged my mind, body and spirit — read classic literature, did Iyengar yoga or learned to rock climb. But those would be lies.

No, poppets. I watched RuPaul's Drag Race with Miss Banshee. And we LAUGHED and LAUGHED and made snarky comments about Shannel's big ego and Jade's big cock. What's so special about watching TV and wise-crackin' with your best girlfriend? Well, it's kinda different if one of you resides in New Jersey, whilst the other represents Washington State. Yet watch together we do, and it's all thanks to the magic of the internets and Logo Online, which has the entire season of Drag Race available online.

Monsters vs. Aliens 3D Review

The rise of 3D movies is quickly becoming the new "thing" for movies, particularly those aimed at kids and tween audiences. There are at least 10 more 3D movies set to be released this year, and I've already seen three of them: My Bloody Valentine 3D (it was free), Coraline, and now Monsters vs. Aliens.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno Is Too Gay?

 The MPAA has struck again, and questions are being asked as to whether the NC-17 rating of Bruno, the latest mockumentary from Sacha Baron Cohen is due to sexuality in general, or blatant homophobia. I've never seen anyone who begs for an NC-17 rating more than Cohen, much to my delight, but is this the cover up of something more insidious going on within the motion picture industry?

Well hide the kiddies' eyes, cause let's dig deep...I mean take a hard look...I mean check out the goods...Oh hell, let's go to the videotape and see what the hullabaloo is about.

Madonna's Adoption Ruling Delayed Until Friday

Madonna arrived in Malawi over the weekend planning to adopt a three year old girl.  A judge deferred a ruling on the adoption until Friday after a closed door hearing yesterday.  Child advocacy groups are objecting to the adoption saying that Madonna is acting like a rich "bully."  They say she is wielding her wealth and influence to circumvent a Malawian law requiring an 18- to 24-month assessment period before adoption.

The fact that Madonna is divorced is not the problem, unlike some states in this country.  "Malawi laws do not say single parents cannot adopt," Court registrar James Chigona said. "The courts assesses cases as they come."   

Madonna spent about an hour in court Monday in the Malawi capital of Lilongwe. Court official Thomson Ligowe confirmed that Madonna's adoption application was adjourned until Friday but said he could not reveal any more details. 

Taming Your Topiary

Every once in a while, a commercial comes along that renders me speechless and unable to think and I find myself going through a diagnostic, troubleshooting procedure with my brain. Am I offended? I don't think so. Am I amused? Kind of (?). Am I going to buy this product? No, but there was never any danger of that. What exactly do I think of this commercial? I may never be sure.

ShamWow Guy Slap Chops Hooker

In addition to wiping up spills, polishing your car, folding your fitted sheets, ShamWow is also fantastic at soaking up the blood after you smack a hooker from chewing your tongue off. WOW!

Vince Shlomi, otherwise known as the ShamWow guy, was arrested for battery, along with a Miami prostitute, Sasha Harris in February and prosecutors this week declined to press charges. According to police reports, Shlomi took Harris back to his swanky hotel room after she propositioned him. He paid her $1,000 cash; afterwards he began kissing her at which point he alleges that she bit his tongue and would not let go. Just, ew.

Yangalicious! And 9 More Reasons I Still Love Grey's Anatomy

(Have you noticed that MamaPop now has five (5) men on the staff? Make some room for the macho because there's some testosterone up in here!)

Every Thursday night I position myself on the couch in such a way that my face is angled away from my wife so she can't see me stifle gags and wipe away tears.

This week I paused to ask myself: Why is Grey's Anatomy the greatest show on television? What is the source of my deep Grey's love? Don't get me wrong. I was worried there for a few weeks and I even threatened to quit the show because Denny was proving to be the biggest pussy of a ghost in haunting history. But just like a flatlining patient getting (CLEAR!) electrocuted back to life with those awesome zap paddles, Grey's Anatomy is back from the dead. I love this television program! Let me count the ways.

1). Just look at Yang. I want to kiss her hard on the mouth. Dear Cristina Yang. I love you and I want your stealthy hands all over me. Izzie's pretty hot too, but her insides are riddled with cancer and that just isn't sexy. And get away from me with Meredith and her whiny voice. She's got wonky skin and good God she's wishy-washy. Now, if I were speaking from the perspective of my latent female unconsciousness, I would be so down with Mark Sloan. Derek doesn't usually do anything for me but he's totally rocking the depressed beard. And Owen's a freak and freaky's mad sexy. So reason number One is the show's sex appeal. You can moan all you want about viewing people like sex objects but I love fucking people.

Padma Lakshmi Should Be Better than Hardee's

I will admit it right here and now. I have a girl crush on Padma Lakshmi. She is beautiful, she is well-spoken, she knows a lot about food, she is on my favorite TV show - Top Chef.

I would have thought that she was above peddling a Hardee's Western Bacon Thickburger.

I would have been wrong.

(food porn video after the jump)

Knowing Less and Less

I have the great fortune of living in a town where we still have a cinema. Not a multiplex with all the trappings of modern movie-going like "sound" or "working projectors" or "popcorn all the time", but that romantic relic from days long past, where the floors are sticky and there are too many unaccompanied minors, and everyone in the back is pretty much frenching the whole time instead of watching the movie because the owners are too broke to afford any kind of security personnel and every time you go there you're afraid of either getting mugged by a band of street toughs or sprayed with errant bodily fluids. It's the kind of experience I'll be nostalgic for when I'm too senile to remember it, is my point.

So why go? You would be right to ask. I live a mere 20-minutes from a gigaplex, multi-theater, ultramovie-townorama. They always have popcorn even. (but to be fair, there will always be some degree of frenching going on, because that's a principle our founding fathers were all down with, and it's in the Bill of Rights or something. No really. Look it up.) I don't know why...It was a nice night for a walk? I wanted to embrace the inherent Americana of sitting in a theater with a balcony and curtains and the soft house lights that are thrown up onto the ceiling from the appropriately appointed faux-Victorian sconces? I hate enjoying myself?

Mostly it was because I was testing Nicolas Cage.

"The Cougar" Further Proves The End of the World Is Nigh

Oh, TV. Yet another show about women seeking men, women portrayed as desperate, clueless, dependent on labels and stereotypes regarding their age, their social status, their career choices and taste in men? Really? Really.

The latest show to join this fray premieres on April 15th on TV Land, of all places and is called The Cougar. I'll give you eleventy million imaginary dollars if you can guess what this one is about.

Dancing With The Stars Winner Helio Castroneves Owes the IRS $2.3 Million in Taxes

What is it with reality show winners?  First it was that moron on survivor and now this?  Brazilian race car driver and "Dancing With The Stars" winner Helio Castroneves owes more than $2.3 million in U.S. taxes because of unreported income and improper deductions over a five-year period, an Internal Revenue Service agent testified Friday at his tax evasion trial.  The total, IRS agent Joann Levitt said, "is everything that should have been on the tax returns but wasn't."

I've actually never seen an episode of Dancing With the Stars.  I call it Dancing With Vaguely Famous People.  Or, Dancing With People I've Never Heard Of.  But isn't Lil' Kim on it this year?  Perhaps they should change the name to Dancing with Criminals.

The Fat Fiction

The public is obsessed with whatever stage Oprah is at with her weight gain or weight loss.  Kirstie Alley has had her fair share of bad press over her ample size.  Tyra Banks, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls, and Lisa Marie Presley have also been criticized for being more than willowy.  Television and film personalities are under tremendous pressure to maintain their phyical appearance to a standard that, frankly, few of us have the will to actively maintain ourselves, and this obsession of ours with other people's fat has started to really get on my nerves, nerves that were then severely chaffed by the following, and might I add, completely idiotic quote:

How does celebs' weight get so out of control? Rich people like Oprah have more than enough money to hire personal chefs and trainers. What's their problem?

What annoys me so much about it is that the harsh judgement meted out by tabloids, magazines, and the general public is based upon a patently false presumption that all fat people are in the process of becoming fatter.

Robert Pattinson Doesn't Wash His Hair

It is said that Robert Pattinson is a card-carrying member of the "Heartthrobs Who May Not Wash Often" group, an exclusive group with current and former members such as Brad Pitt and Matthew McConaughey (who once admitted to not having worn deodorant for 20 years). 

Crew members on the set of "New Moon" were quoted as saying "He stinks. I mean, it's awful. He never showers, and it drives people on the set crazy. He completely reeks."

In his recent GQ article the odor of his clothes was described as smelling "like he has recently purchased them off the back of someone less fortunate than he." Pattinson also confessed to not washing his hair all that often, if at all sometimes.

"It took us a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak"

This made me so happy:

Barack Obama shows Ed Henry who's President. You can actually hear the press corps “oooh”ing after Obama delivers the money line. Step back, CNN.

You got OBAMAED! heh.

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