Recently in Hollywood Category

Also known as what I did at the beginning of Chris' vacation while helping fill in for him and the news desk computer system was crashing down around our ears: Read about my Monday night (we're talking till midnight) at the Academy screening here at Pajamas Media. The tidbits offered by Tarantino and company afterward were, as I write, juicier than a Big Kahuna Burger!!

Could one love L.A. any more???

My column from a few weeks' back about Ben Stein's "Expelled" -- which posited that the movie should be taken as satire -- has been affirmed by none other than its screenwriter, Kevin Miller, who calls my review "brilliant."

This is, I think, a remarkable endorsement, considering that I called the movie's tactics "nasty" and "unfair," and described some of its main arguments "a stretch" and "a cheap shot."

That Miller doesn't take offense to these descriptions suggest that I was right in my understanding of the movie:

Stein's film is part parody of, part rebuttal to, the crusading atheists who have risen to prominence in recent years - such as Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. And it employs the same nasty tactics they have perfected.

By the way, some have asked where they can find the video I wrote about in my column's lead. Here ya go:

Well, technically I'm an Inglewood girl, but I am a fan of "No Country for Old Men," so I'm not disappointed at Sunday night's Oscar results. It was an edge-of-your-seat film, Javier Bardem was amazing, and all in all the film was truly great.

But hopefully soon, soon, soon it will be native Valley son Paul Thomas Anderson's chance up on that Oscar stage. I was really hoping that "There Will Be Blood," which is no less than a work of art, would get more Oscars than for Daniel Day-Lewis and cinematography. Goodness, the mining and drilling scenes should have garnered the sound statue as well, but I thought the direction on "Blood" topped "Country." Then again, I'm a PTA fan since "Boogie Nights" (aka the Valley's biopic), so I might be a tad biased...

That's Michael Moore and his junior prom date... er, wife going into the Governors Ball on Sunday night. That's also officially the worst Oscar dress of the evening. The pink taffeta frock I had to wear in my best friend's quinceanera was more fashion-forward. Somebody get a dress doctor, stat!

As Bridget observes, Mike Huckabee has the endorsement of Chuck Norris, and now John McCain has picked up the backing of Sylvester Stallone. All of which has me wondering -- what candidates are the other action heroes of yore supporting? Some guesses:

• Jean Claude Van Damme -- John Kerry (he's French, you know)
  
• Arnold Schwarzenegger -- Mitt Romney (human who played a robot admires robot who can play a human)
• Steven Seagal -- John Edwards (it's the hair)
• Jackie Chan --- Hillary Clinton (it's the Norman Hsu connection)
• Sigourney Weaver -- Anyone but Kucinich (Sigourney hates aliens)
• Keanu Reeves -- Barack Obama (sympathy for people with un-spellable first names)
• Will Smith -- Al Gore (both stars of scary movies in which they pretend to save the earth)
• Lou Ferrigno -- also Al Gore (because big, angry green dudes gotta stick together)
• Harrison Ford -- Rudy Giuliani (both made a fortune through Patriot Games)
• Tom Cruise -- Ron Paul (both are creepy, yet have an inexplicably devoted fan base)

The hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church -- you know, that scruple-less group that stands outside soldiers' funerals with signs declaring that the deceased is in hell because America tolerates gays (I think that's the seven degrees of separation excuse, anyway) -- plans to protest Heath Ledger's funeral:

"Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., are trying to find out where the 28-year-old actor's funeral will be held and have already made signs to hold outside the Oscars that read 'God Hates Fags and Fag Enablers,' 'Heath in Hell' and 'Mourn for Your Sins,' Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of the church's controversial founder Pastor Fred Phelps, told ABCNEWS.com.

Though Ledger was not gay, the church believes he 'misused the giant megaphone given to him by God Almighty to speak the truth about fags,' Phelps-Roper said, and instead 'used his position of prominence to say God is a liar and that homosexuality is not an abomination.'"

Rumor has it the funeral will be held in Ledger's native Australia, so if the Westboros can figure out where that is in relation to Topeka, I hope they meet with a few well-aimed boomerangs.

More on Heath's death from our entertainment guru Greg Hernandez at Out in Hollywood...

In the latest episode in the sordid, public spectacle that is Britney Spears' life, do we have the latest instance of celebrity justice -- Los Angeles style?

According to the Daily News' Greg Hernandez, the Friday-night standoff began when Spears "refused to turn over one of her sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline's bodyguards when her court-monitored visitation was over." The result was a three-hour standoff, which ended with Spears being taken away in ambulance to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

Now, do most Angelenos -- when refusing to honor a court order and entering into a hold-off with cops -- end up in Cedars Sinai? Or county jail?

Meanwhile, the biggest victims in all this, of course, are Spears' kids, whose lives know no semblance of normalcy. Imagine being picked up by dad's "bodyguards," while mom gets dragged away by the fire department, with paparazzi surrounding you -- and you're two years old.

Somehow I can't imagine these boys' fame or wealth provides much consolation. These poor children have a mother and a father, but -- best as I can tell -- not one parent. How incredibly sad.

Oprah can’t help Barack Obama nail Hillary Clinton in Iowa, New Hampshire, or even South Carolina. The throng of Oprah groupies that pitched camp in front of the Obama campaign headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina to get free tickets to her and Obama’s appearance at the Colonial Center in that city were there to ogle, and if they are lucky, touch the garments of America’s favorite TV earth mother at the auditorium.

But after the ogling and touching Oprah, it doesn’t mean they’ll vote for Obama. A Pew Research Center poll after a big Oprah fundraising bash in September found that by a crushing margin respondents said that Oprah’s tout of Obama won’t sway them the least bit. And it shouldn’t, at least not because, Oprah says so. Despite all the talk about Oprah being a transcendental force that supersedes mere celebrity mortals she’s still just that, a celebrity. The thousands that clawed for tickets to rub shoulders with her at her Obama pep rally in Columbia, South Carolina were there precisely because of her star power and the insatiable celebrity mania that grips far too many star struck Americans.

Yet, celebrities fail miserably every time to do much for their political picks. Willie Nelson, Madonna, Jon Bovi, Martin Sheen, and in reverse, George Clooney are big money celebrities and virtual household names. They all endorsed Democratic presidential candidates in 2004. Nelson endorsed Dennis Kucinich. Bon Jovi endorsed John Kerry. Sheen endorsed Howard Dean. Madonna backed Wesley Clark. One of their picks went down to flaming defeat. The other three never came close to getting the Democratic presidential nomination.

As for Clooney, he publicly declared that he hoped that his non-endorsement of Kerry probably helped him at the polls. It didn't. Though Clooney now backs Obama he’s still very mindful of the potential liability of celebrity hood and has publicly said that he thinks campaigning for a candidate hurts a candidate. Clooney recognized a political truism that's etched in stone. That's that a celebrity pump of a presidential candidate does little to boost the candidate.

Selling Obama is not like selling one of Oprah’s handpicked authors that the mere mention of on her show will send their book hurtling to the top of the charts. Voters make their decisions about politicians on a combination of factors, party affiliation, their stance on the issues, their political beliefs, and their experience at getting the job done. Few will rely on Oprah’s word that Obama is the best to handle global warming, tax policy, the Iraq war, terrorism, job creation and inflation, failing public schools, criminal justice issues and judicial appointments.

A candidate, and only the candidate, has to sell his or herself that they have a sound grasp of the issues, and can forcefully and clearly articulate them, and most importantly, are the most experienced. That’s the glaring Achilles Heel for Obama. In every poll, even the most rabid Clinton loathers, rank Hillary at the top of the pile in experience in dealing with foreign and domestic issues. Voters got burned badly with Bush. His gross inexperience in statecraft before grabbing the White House cost Americans dearly in eight years of his disastrous bumbles and fumbles on everything from the Iraq war to domestic policy. Many voters won’t make that mistake again.

The O and O show has caused the tongues to wag, eyebrows to rise and they will draw legions to their campaign stops. But that won’t be the knock out wallop Obama counts on to floor Hillary. Celebrities simply don’t and shouldn’t pack that kind of political punch. And neither does Oprah.

What good does it serve society or Lindsay Lohan to spend 84 minutes in county jail? The resources spent processing her entry into the women's detention center in Lynwood were wasted for a sentence that is meaningless.That's what happened Thursday when the 21-year-old starlet showed up for her one-day sentence, was booked, held and then almost immediately released. According to the Associated Press account:

She was searched, fingerprinted and placed in a holding cell in the inmate reception area but got to keep her street clothes, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

She was cooperative," he said.

Lohan was released at 11:54 a.m. Her original daylong sentence was reduced because she met criteria that took into account overcrowding at the lockup and the fact that her crime was nonviolent, Whitmore said.

The Washington Times has a story about Hollywood's closeted Republicans, and their quiet efforts to help GOP presidential candidates without exposing themselves before their "tolerant" Tinsel Town friends as -- gasp! -- right of center:

... not a single one of the dozen actors contacted for this story who have been identified as conservative leaning would comment publicly.

"Bo isn't available ... sorry," said Bo Derek's handler. "Mr. Costner is not available to be interviewed," said Kevin Costner's publicists. "I'm sorry, but unfortunately Mel is unavailable to contribute," said Mel Gibson's people.

While Democrats enjoy very public support from Hollywood's top actors and musicians, who often hold lavish events for their favorite candidates, Republican supporters in Hollywood try hard to keep their political views quiet.

"They learn very quickly, if they know what's good for them, to donate to the Democratic Party," said Andrew Breitbart, co-author of "Hollywood, Interrupted." "If they were to donate to the Republican Party, they would be exposed to career-ending ridicule, period."

Teri Hatcher, an actress on the television show "Desperate Housewives," even forwarded an interview request to her attorneys....

"Please be advised that Ms. Hatcher is not a Republican, but more importantly does not choose to have her political affiliation or viewpoints on any particular candidate or issue in the current presidential campaign included in your proposed article," lawyer Barry W. Tyerman said in an e-mail.

My oh my. What does it say that, in Hollywood, supporting John McCain can be a career-ending offense, while supporting Hugo Chavez is routine practice?