Recently in Out in Books Category

Self-described "70s gay geek author" Mike Pingel has taken his passion for 70s TV with his current release "The Q Guide to Wonder Woman" out in stores this month. Mike also recently authored "The Q Guide to Charlie's Angels," a series I know a lot more about but there are plenty of devotees of this Lynda Carter series from the 70s.

Mike tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the show's history and costume design. The book also features new interviews with producer Douglas S. Cramer and actors S. Pearl Sharp, Stella Stevens, Joan Van Ark, Clark Brandon and Charlene Tilton. This Q guide also includes the very first-ever complete Wonder Woman episode guide looking at all 60 episodes.

Mike is doing a coupla book signings in the coming days:

Golden Apple Comic Store
Saturday, November 22 @ 2:00pm

Different Light Bookstore
Saturday, November 29 @ 7:30pm

Doug Savant is such a raging hetersexual on ABC's "Desperate Housewives" that it's hard to believe there was a time when people wondered about the actor's sexuality. The reason was because Doug spent six seasons on "Melrose Place" playing the gay character of Matt. During the early part of the show's run, he didn't want viewers to know anything about his personal life.

I have an advance copy of publicist Howard Bragman's upcoming book, "Where's My Fifteen Minutes?" and in it, he shares this story: "As Doug's publicist, people were always asking about his personal sexual orientation. He is in fact heterosexual, married, and has numerous children. But Doug thought it would be insulting to the gay community if he went out of his way to say he was straight, so we kept his embarrassing heterosexuality in the closet for a long time."

Earlier posts:
-- Doug Savant proud of his gay Melrose Place role...
-- Melrose Place comes out...of the vaults!

Spent Sunday afternoon at the West Hollywood Book Festival meeting some authors and buying their books. I look forward to reading all of them and I hope I get to them sometime soon! One of them I'm half-finished with: "Robert Wagner: Pieces of My Heart." The handsome star was at the festival and participated in a one-hour Q&A before signing books - including mine. We chatted a bit about Elizabeth Taylor and I mentioned Holland Taylor who told me she wants his "Two and a Half Men" character to be brought back from the dead. "Ah, Holland Taylor," he said. "Now there's a woman."

I left the festival and headed over to Java Detour (next door to The Abbey) and ended up reading about half of the book! It was very candid and he pulled no punches. He decided he didn't want to work with his "Hart to Hart" co-star Stefanie Powers anymore after she bailed on continuing their wildly successful "Hart" TV movies after the series ended; he bluntly shares that he did not believe Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright were a love match and that she was not caring enough to him in his later years; and the ghastly behavior of Natalie's sister, Lana Wood, after her sister's death. Also, there were the ugly money battles with producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg.

He goes into detail about his life with Natalie Wood and their two marriages then her tragic death. There had been much speculation over what really happened the night of her drowning death off Catalina and R.J. gives his account here for the first time. He stayed in bed for eight days after her funeral and shares in detail the pain of her losing her.

The book details his many close friendships with the likes of David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis Elizabeth Taylor, and many, many more.

I can't wait to read the rest!

I hate to judge but I don't understand how anyone can write a tell-all book about another family member - even if that family member is Madonna. I only give a pass to Christina Crawford who deserved to let Joan Crawford have it after the hell "Mommie Dearest" put her through (I believe every word of Christina's book).

Anyway, The Advocate has just released an excerpt from Christopher Ciccone's book "Life With My Sister Madonna" and discusses the interview Madonna gave with The Advocate in 1991 in which he says she outed him to the entire world. I guess he started taking notes for his book then.

Payback is a bitch!

The interview was in the May 7, 1991 issue, just as her movie "Truth or Dare" was about to be released and she says in part: "My brother Christopher's gay, and he and I have always been the closest members of our family."

He writes:
I was incensed. From my point of view, my sister evidently decided that outing me to the readers of the Advocate is the perfect promotional tool for the movie. Let's face it, Truth or Dare deals directly or indirectly--with sadomasochism, lesbianism, rape, a hint of incest, a dead mother, so why not a gay brother as well?

After all, Madonna used my mother's grave as a movie location, so why not use my sexuality as a publicity opportunity? I realize another reason. The gay community had been her original fan base in the eighties. Now, though, some gay fans were starting to feel that she had become too mainstream, too hetero. Her answer? Her way of winning them back? "My brother Christopher is gay."

Go to Advocate.com to read the entire excerpt.

It's been 32 years since Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson made their debut as TV's "Charlie's Angels."

And we can't stop talking about them! Or writing about them! I think they, and their show, remind us so much of our youth. Or maybe it's just the hair. These ladies had - and have - terrific hair. Jaclyn's hair is still so lovely that she was picked to host the Bravo reality show "Shear Genius" and Kate will be making a guest appearance this season.

Jaclyn - queen of TV movies and of a hugely successful line of Kmart clothing and other goods - said in a recent interview that the reason she was offered the hosting gig was probably because of the Emmy night appearance the three ladies made in 2007 during a tribute to Aaron Spelling. It was a surprise reunion that was, by far, the highlight of the entire show and overshadowed the fact that Tori Spelling and her mother were feuding and seated far away from each other at the Shrine Auditorium.

And all three still look sensational.

Anyway, today marks the release of a new book that looks like a lotta fun: "The Q Guide to Charlie's Angels." Author Mike Pingel (pictured with the three original Angels plus Cheryl Ladd) takes a fun "gay" look at the series which ran on ABC from 1976-81 and has forever lived on through reruns, DVDs and feature film remakes.

The female detective show was an absolute 70s phenomenon with the leads making the cover of countless magazines, including the cover of Time! Farrah was at the center of most the attention initially but she left after the first season and was replaced by Cheryl Ladd who was immediately accepted by the show's fans.

Cheryl, Kate and Jaclyn made a nice trio for two seasons before Kate - no doubt annoyed at not being allowed to accept the part that won Meryl Streep an Oscar in "Kramer vs. Kramer" - left the show.
Kate was replaced by Shelly Hack at the start of season four and the show just never recovered. Shelly, who until then was best known for her "Charlie" perfume commercials, went over so badly that she was given the boot after just one season and replaced by Tanya Roberts who was an improvement because she had some of Kate's spunk and humor.

The the show was cancelled after five seasons. In the end, Jaclyn was the only Angel to last all five years, Cheryl did four and Farrah - after being sued by producers for quitting - returned for six guest spots during seasons three and four. She, of course, went on to give Emmy nominated performances in "The Burning Bed" and "Small Sacrifices" and won acclaim for her performances in the stage and film versions of "Extremities" and in the feature "The Apostle."

OK, back to the book. I have so much "Charlie's Angels" trivia inside of me that it just spilled onto the screen before I could stop myself. So Mike Pingel, the author who you see in all these pictures, landed new interviews for the book with Farrah, Jaclyn, Kate, Cheryl and Tanya. Tanya even wrote the forward to the book!

I really don't blame Shelly for not wanting to talk about it.

"The Q Guide to Charlie's Angels" includes the history of the show, highlighted episode breakdowns hundreds of other facts on the series and interviews with guest stars. Mike will have a book signing at The Different Light Bookstore in West Hollywood, CA on July 11 at 7:30pm.

He is writing two more Q Guides for Alyson Publication, The Q Guide to: TVs Wonder Woman and The Q Guide to The Brady Bunch.

Johnny's Diaz's second book, "Miami Manhunt" is now out!

He is a terrific storyteller which he showed in his debut novel "Boston Boys Club." I like this second book even better and I think it's because Johnny changes the locale from his to his hometown of Miami Beach (He was a writer for the Miami Herald).

This book is set specifically in South Beach on the ever-hot Lincoln Road at a club called Score (anyone who's been to Lincoln Road knows about Score).

So here's a synopsis of the book and the characters Johnny has created: Ray Martinez, the resident movie critic at the Miami Chronicle, is tired of hooking up with sculpted, shallow hunks. He would give the Miami dating scene a one-star review. Ted Williams, host of a popular Miami version of Entertainment Tonight, enjoys the perks of his celebrity status but a reckless move could cost him everything. While Brian Andrews lives the life of leisure with his fabulously wealthy older boyfriend, but can't seem to shake his attraction to a Puerto Rican love god named Eros.

The book, on sale now, follows these three friends over the course of one wild year when love gets crazy, hearts get broken and mended, and the only thing to count on is the fact that life will never be the same again.

Johnny is a writer for The Boston Globe and has become a friend of mine and he, Kenneth Walsh (Kennethinthe212) became so inseparable at last year's National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Assn. convention that Johnny nicknamed us "Los tres Blogeros."

He's the only gay Latino writer in the US currently writing contemporary gay Hispanic fiction, is a Living/Arts writer for The Boston Globe, where he writes about pop culture, style trends and Hispanic-related stories. Previously, Diaz was a reporter for The Miami Herald where he shared in the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the federal seizure of Elian Gonzales and its aftermath. MTV Real World fans will remember him as the "gay guy's boyfriend" from the Miami season. Readers can visit his website at www.beantowncuban.com.

The chapter on her being cruelly passed over for the Broadway production of "Sunset Boulevard" after originating the role in London will be worth the price of the book alone! Glenn Close, who starred in the LA production, got the Broadway gig and Patti LuPone - who was contracted to do it in New York - was said to have been devastated - and completely furious. I think things from her dressing room were thrown out a window. She got back on her feet though, like any true diva, and used to $1 million-plus settlement from Andrew Lloyd Webber to build a swimming pool I seem to recall.

Patti, fresh off winning her second Tony Award Sunday for "Gypsy" (her first was for "Evita"), is working on a memoir, tentatively scheduled to be released in 2010 by Harmony Books, an imprint of Random House Inc. The book is currently untitled. I've got some ideas: "Don't Cry for Patti LuPone" or "Patti's Turn" or how 'bout "Life Went On."

The AP reports that according to the publisher, the actress will write about her whole life, "From her beginnings in Northport, Long Island, where she discovered that being onstage was the one place she couldn't get into trouble, she takes us on the roller-coaster of professional highs ... and emotional lows (her humiliating firing from 'Sunset Boulevard,' nightclub work in the Catskills to pay the bills)."

Patti;s other stage credits include the original London company of "Les Miserables" and Broadway revivals of "Sweeney Todd" and "Anything Goes." She has also appeared in such films as "Witness," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Summer of Sam," as well as four seasons as Libby on the ABC series "Life Goes On."

Here is Patti's bring down the house performance pf "Everything's Coming Up Roses" on Sunday night's Tony Awards. Gives you a good indication of why she won!

He was television's "Perry Mason" and "Ironside" and told the world he was too busy working to get married again. Raymond Burr had long maintained that he had been married and had a wife and son who died. Unlike Rock Hudson, who actually did get married briefly to try and cover his homosexuality, Burr made the whole thing up!

In the new book, "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr", the actor once lectured a reporter during an interview when he was asked why he had not remarried: "I am an unmarried man, as opposed to a single man. A bachelor, according to the dictionary, is a man who has never been married. An unmarried man is not married at the moment. Many of these terms have fallen into disuse."

It's true, he was an unmarried man. But he was also a man who had a partner named Robert Benevides for 35 years that was secret to most of the world except for a handful of close friends.

The author of the book, Michael Starr, was on "Good Morning America" this week and interviewed by the extremely hot Chris Cuomo. The show's site has an excerpt from the book posted.

It is sad that he felt forced to lie about his private life. As the star of a top-rated show, there was scrutiny and being gay would have been a career killer. You gotta figure there are plenty of actors still hiding for cover today but let's hope that such out actors as Ian McKellen, John Barrowman, Neil Patrick Harris, Robert Gant, Chad Allen, T.R. Knight, Luke MacFarlane, Alec Mapa, Wilson Cruz, Charlie David and others are showing that you can be out and proud and still have a successful career.

I write a "Whatever Happened To..." column each week for my newspaper and thought Cindy Birdsong, the singer who joined Diana Ross and Mary Wilson in 1967 (replacing Florence Ballard) would be an ideal subject since she has mostly kept a low-profile in recent decades.

I sent a note to her via her MySpace page and received this prompt reply:
Dear Greg,
My name is Jim (Alias Motown Jim) here on MySoace and am managing Cindy's page for her. I spoke with her last night and she told me she wants to hold back for a while with anymore interviews, as she is still busy writing her final chapters to her book."

Jim said she would get in touch when the time is right. While I was disappointed to not snag an interview with this Motown legend, I'm so intrigued about her writing a book! What a story she could tell from being a member of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells then being plucked from that group to become a member of the most successful female singing group of all time.

Cindy, Mary and Diana performed and recorded together for three years before Diana left for a solo career. The group went on with replacement singers and Cindy, I believe, ended up being a Supreme longer than anyone other than Mary who stayed with the group in its various incarnations for close to 20 years.
I hope she will dish although I don't expect her to settle scores the way Mary did in her 1986 best seller "Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme." But, you never know! Cindy was on the stage 25 years ago at the group's first reunion in 14 years and Diana ended up shoving Mary and their medly of songs was cut short halfway into "Someday We'll Be Together."

The drama!

Then in 2000, there was the scintillating possibility of Diana, Mary and Cindy reuniting again for a concert tour but negotiations fell apart over money. Diana and Mary gave dueling interviews to Barbara Walters while Cindy stayed above the fray it seemed. Diana went on tour with two later Supremes who she had never performed with and her "Return to Love" tour was such a disaster that it had to be cancelled midway through leaving ticketholders (like me!) majorly disappointed.

Anyway. good luck with the book Miss Birdsong!

Here are a few clips of Cindy performing as one of the Supremes. The first is Diana's final TV appearance with the Supremes in 1970 on Ed Sullivan singing "Someday We'll Be Together" and the second clip is a post-Ross hit "Stoned Love" with her replacement, Jean Terrell, in the lead. It's terrific!

Don't you just love sitting by the pool reading a good, dishy book. I'm reading Julie Andrews' "Home" right now, am looking forward to Barbara Walters' "Audition" out next week and most of all, John Barrowman's new book: "Anything Goes." Love, love , love John Barrowman whose book has been excerpted on Out.com.

Here is part of a story John tells about being invited by The Royal Air Force to be part of the Tattoo launch partly because Captain Jack is in the RAF:

I eventually emerged from the Hawk as if I'd been doing this all my life, which in Captain Jack's world, of course, I had. In my world, though, this was the experience of a lifetime. In fact, I was so high from the adrenalin rush and so in awe of the Hawk itself, I was almost speechless.4

This is what it means to be alive.

Monica Seles showed on Tuesday night's "Dancing With the Stars" that she's a far better tennis player than she is a dancer.

But one thing Monica has in spades is courage and heart. On Wednesday, the former top-ranked female player in the world announced that she is working on a memoir.

Monica officially retired from the sport this year but has not played for several years due to a bad foot. She had won three French Opens titles in a row, three Australian Opens and two U.S. Opens by the age of 19 when a madman stabbed her in the back with a knife during a match in Germany.

It took Monica more than two years to recover physically and emotionally and she returned to win many more titles. In a statement, she said that in her book, she wants "to share how I found balance, strength and happiness in my life after a rollercoaster ride of exhilarating accomplishment and sometimes overwhelming tragedy."

Whatever happens on "Dancing," this woman is a winner.

Was at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove this morning doing a post-breakfast browse and spotted on the bookshelf "The Q Guide to Designing Women" by Allen Crowe. Regular readers of this blog know that this is one of my favbrite shows of all time . I had written a series of newspaper articles and blog posts about a "Designing Women" reunion that took place in the fall of 2006. It gave me the opportunity to interview star Dixie Carter and creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason before the event. At the event, I got a second-row seat directly behind Delta Burke and met all four of the main leads: Burke, Carter, Jean Smart and Annie Potts. It was heaven.
A short time later, the author had called me to interview me for the book. I didn't give it another thought until I saw the book this morning. I saw my name in the acknowledgments and as I leafed through it, found myself quoted in Chapter 12 ("The Cast's Favorite Episodes") on pages 124 and 135).

The episode he writes about is "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?" Here's the excerpt: In addition to "Dash Goff, the Writer," the episode when Delta first met Gerald McRaney, her favorite show was the one dealing with her weight issues. Los Angeles Daily News entertainment journalist Greg Hernandez also picked this as his favorite episode. He was very moved by a conversation between Julia and Suzanne the morning after Suzanne's high school reuniin: "Julia told Suzanne, 'In the end all that matters is what was true and truly felt.' As a closeted gay man (at the time), it really resonated with me. It was something to go on and try to live by."

A few pages later, the author provides the entirety of what Julia said to Suzanne - words that have stuck with me forever: "In the end it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about you. You have to be exactly who and what you want to be. Most everyone is floating along on phony public relations. People who say being beautiful or rich or thin makes them happy. People who are trying to make their marriages and their children seem better than they actually are. And for what?! Appearances. Appearances don't count for diddly! In the end, all the really matter is what was true and truly felt and how we treated one another."

THE EMMY THAT GOT AWAY: Delta Burke was nominated for her first Emmy Award for her performance in the episode but had the misfortune of going up against Candice Bergen who won her second (of five overall) Emmy that year for "Murphy Brown."

Related posts:
- A Night with the Designing Women: Part One
- A Night with the Designing Women: Part Two
- The Dazzling Designing Women

Rosie's book, "Celebrity Detox," hasn't even come out yet but little tidbits are being "leaked." According to "The Insider," Rosie reveals a painful childhood secret that is much worse than the time Oprah smashed her glasses then made it look like her house had been broken into to cover up her deed.
She writes that as a child, she used to break her own limbs with "a baseball bat" or a "wooden hanger." "My hands and fingers usually. No one knew. My secret." Why? "Proof," she writes, "that I had some value, enough to be fixed." And later, Rosie cryptically adds, "There were many benefits to having a cast. In the middle of the night, it was a weapon."
OK, I have no idea why she needed a weapon in the middle of the night but it can't be good. Anyway, Rosie's book comes out on Oct. 9.

Who needs her on "Hot Topics" when we have Rosie O'Donnell's memoir "Celebrity Dextox."
Yesterday, I posted about her and Trump with much glee but I'm disappointed in some of the things Rosie wrote about Barbara Walters.
“At some point, a person gets tired. It’s inevitable,” O’Donnell writes, "Barbara Walters is almost twice my age ... at some point it becomes necessary to step back....Everyone has to go. Going is part of the gig.”
Walters may be 77, but she is a pro. She looks terrific, she shows up and she has much to contribute not just to "The View" but as part of ABC News where she has worked for 30 years. Walters report on transgendered children earlier this year was one of the most important pieces of journalism on the topic - ever.
So Rosie, I don't agree and think what you wrote was off-the-mark. I'm still a fan, but maybe a little less.
Walters, who has read the book, expressed her reaction to it in a statement to “Access Hollywood”:
“Rosie has written a sad book, but I choose to focus on the happier times that we had and the happy times that we hope to have in the future.”

When Rosie O'Donnell goofed on Donald Trump last year on "The View," he went on a rampage, going on various shows to call her fat and to say Barbara Walters wants her off the show etc. In my opinion, he made a big jackass of himself.
Rosie writes about it some in her forthcoming memoir "Celebrity Detox" ...
"It is Trump's falseness that angers me more than anything . . . I spoke my mind. People found it funny. I honestly did not anticipate the malice of his response...I assumed Donald believed he had money. I did not assume Donald believed he was money. But apparently he does...The stuffing of his self spilled out - think of a torn scarecrow, only instead of hay, it's crisp $100 bills blowing through the cornfields."
Rosie also said Trump reminds her of "garden slugs. I could write one small comment on my blog, and Donald would predictably distend, flowing forth with a torrent of insults...Then he'd appear on some talk show looking wrinkled, old and empty, with a Jell-O orange combover. I did not anticipate that he would be cruel enough to do what he did to Barbara [Walters - whom he called a liar]. She should have been left alone."

Well put.

I found this blog entry on Rosie.com amusing:

so i just got my first hard copy of my new book
CELEBRITY DETOX
there on the front flap
in print
“when rosie odonnells mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1968, ten year old rosie thought fame could cure her”

i was born in 1962
my mother got sick in 1973

WTF !!!!!!!!!!

i feel like jeff lewis right now
i want to scream
NO ONIONS at every one

Rosie later reported that the book flap issue had been resolved. Can't wait to read it!

This is the cover of Lance Bass' forthcoming book which he posted for fans on his MySpace page (would Elton approve?) I love how Lance continues to grow as an out gay man and come so far from a year ago when he was a self-proclaimed S.A.G. (Straight Acting Gay) and didn't think he'd become some kind of gay spokesman. He is evolving and it only seems to be making him happier (well, that and the hot Brazillian boyfriend).
He writes: "... I just want to say I do not want my book to flop! One funny night I decided to "jokingly" say "oh it will probably flop" to a TMZ "reporter". (like all my quotes?) Again it was a joke. Im not an idiot-- I wrote this book so that it might help those out there interested in the music industry, space, and/or coming out story. "
He also shares this: "Rehearsal is going great for Hairspray and I am having the best time ever!! I hope you all get to see it, because it really is an amazing show and the cast is incredible!"
He starts his Broadway run August 14 and will be with the show through Jan. 6, 2008. "But, remember I am taking 2 weeks off to do book tour mid October. Made a photo album just for the book tour-- so every city I can post all the pics of you all!"
Lance also throws out some props to his great pal and fellow NSYNC bandmate Joey Fatone: "How great is Joey doing on NBC's The Singing Bee?!! Such a great show!!"

On Wednesday night, after the Outfest party at The Abbey, I decided to head over to A Different Light Bookstore on Santa Monica Boulevard. I could barely get in the door!
No, NOT because I had drank two vodkas with pink grapefruit juice at The Abbey, it was hard to get in because there was this huge crowd listening to readings from a intriguing new book "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys: True Tales of Love, Lust, and Friendship Between Straight Women and Gay Men." I quickly made my way to the front (pushy reporters just know how to do that I guess) and settled in. Glad I did. These essays look beyond the Will & Grace cliches these gay man-straight female relationships that have also been prominent in such shows as "Sex and the City" and the books and miniseries from "Tales of the City." Through 28 personal essays, the book delves deeper look into the complexity and varieties of straight woman/gay man relationships in the real world.
After the readings had ended and the book signings began, I gabbed with Melissa de la Cruz (pictured, right) who is one of the editors (along with Tom Dolby) of the just-published anthology. She was very excited by the turnout and the response from the crowd. You could hear a pin drop during the readings by several of the authors who showed up to share their stories. She herself is a contributor to the anthology with "A Manhattan Love Story" which details the intensely intimate relationship she had during and post-college with her gay friend, Morgan. She has commented that straight women and gay men seek each other out because they are natural allies since both have both been marginalized. They can be honest with each other without the sexual tension.
Of course, the experiences shared in the book vary. Theater director Philip Himberg wrote moving story of his high school girlfriend, who is now the mother of his child, and read it Wednesday night for the crowd. (That picture is Himberg and his daughter at the reading) His essay alone is worth the price of the book it is so good, so well told, and so real. It took me back to high school and to a time when gay boys like me really could hurt the girls who loved us and didn't understand why we didn't love them back...at least romantically.

For more information about the book and to buy it, here is a link to AMAZON.com.

Far from keeping a low departure since her expolsive departure from "The View" a few weeks ago, Rosie O'Donnell spoke Sunday at BookExpo America. At the annual publishing industry convention, Rosie talked up her forthcomijng memoir "Celebrity Detox" due out this fall. She says the book will focus on the highs and lows of fame, including her thoughts on what she calls "an interesting year." But don't look for TV's one-time Queen of Nice to rake former co-host and friend Elisabeth Hasselbeck over the coals because Rosie insists the book will be neither "vindictive" nor "mean-spirited," according to the Associated Press. It will be an open and honest look at life in the spotlight, including her eight-month run on "The View."
"[Fame] is, in fact, a drug," she told those in attendance at the convention.
Rosie often xpresses her feelings by way of her Rosie.com Internet blog and she said that her book will be "half-blog," half-"straight" writing.

Meanwhile, "The View" continues without Rosie and I tuned in today to see how things are going. Of course Rosie leaves a void but Joy Behar is once again the funniest person on the panel and she was on fire today. Barbara Walters does a solid job as moderator while with Rosie gone, Elisabeth comes off as a lot less defensive and shrill even though her conservative politics are at odds with the rest of the panel. Today's guest host, Kathy Griffin, is a lot of fun and I've been impressed by her. There are clearly some auditions going on here.
At one point, Griffin and Hasselbeck started to clash on terrorism (what else?) and Walters said pointedly that "This show is called 'The View'" and that it was possible to express those views without getting into a fistfight, or something to that effect.
Griffin told the other gals how she wanted to do a show for the gay inmates in the LA County Jail (apparently there's a gay wing?) but she says Sheriff Lee Baca put the kibosh on the idea which, obviously, was a stunt for her "Life on the D List" show. The topic of Baca came up when the panel discussed Paris Hilton and Kathy and Joy stood up and re-inacted Paris taking her glam mug shot. Said Joy: "She needs to wash a few toilet bowls." Added Griffin: "She represents entitlement in America and she's famous for notjing...young people looking up to me is very depressing to me."

Just days before she joins Cyndi Lauper on the "True Colors" tour, Rosie O'Donnell will be among the nearly 1,000 authors to make an appearance this weekend at BookExpo America in New York. She will be speaking at a breakfast panel Sunday with novelists Alice Sebold and Ian McEwan. If she says something provocative )imagine that) I'll try and post about it over the weekend.
Her upcoming memoir, "Celebrity Detox," will provide an insider's perspective on her experiences on the show, as well as on the circumstances that led her to abandon her wildly successful talk show five years ago.
"celeb detox/is about leaving my show 4 yrs ago/and doing the view this year/its all in there," she wrote on her Rosie.com site this week.
According to EOnline.com, Rosie originally planned her book as a chronicle of how she became a fame junkie, then kicked the habit when she walked away from her Emmy-winning talk show to focus on her family. But when she decided to join "The View" last year, it became necessary to rework the book to reflect her return to entertainment.
Sheesh, the chapters about "The View" should be the most interesting!
The memoir's promotional materials describe it as "the admirably forthright story of O'Donnell's 1,098-day celebrity detox, brimming with the stuff of life—family, friends, and her soul-expanding journey from feeling lost to feeling found."
"Celebrity Detox" is due to hit shelves on Sept. 18.

Mary Cheney, the pregnant lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney (I'm sure Mitt Romney would so disapprove of her!) had a chance to really be her own person and say something when she received a nearly $1 million advance to write a book last year. But since she is such an apologist for the bumbling Bush-Cheney) administration (which has no problem retaining Gen. Peter Pace who thinks people like Mary Cheney are immoral) her book, "Now It's My Turn," certainly wasn't embraced in gay circles or by the conservative GOP base. can now be purchased for SEVEN CENTS on Amazon.com under the used section. If you really want to splurge, a brand-new hardcover goes for a whopping $1.89.
If ya ask me, the thing is still over-priced!