Butt of the Joke
Eminem has always been known for his sly (read as nasty) comments about other people and other stars, but this time it wasn’t him dishing out the insults, he was on the receiving end. Or more aptly, receiving the end, Sacha Baron Cohen’s end (read as REALLY NASTY).
Wearing a pair of wings, feathers and all, a white “angelic” toga and a nice pair of thongs (not the slippers), Cohen flew over the audience as his newest character, a fashion reporter named “Bruno”. It was supposed to be an advertising stunt, but it turned out to be more than just.
Apparently, “Bruno” flew into some obstacles and was lowered down to the audience, right on to the rapper’s lap. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, but Cohen was upside down, and his thonged underside was directly on Eminem’s face.
This wasn’t the first time that Eminem blew his top at the MTV awards. He also lost it when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog interviewed him in 2002. This time, though, the sharp tongued-rapper’s outrage was evident, and undeniable as he stormed out of the studio, along with his posse, and a couple of cameras.
The rumors are that Eminem may have known about the “stunt”, or maybe he is just trying to save face. After all, Cohen is famous for pulling pranks that put people, especially celebrities, in very embarrassing situations (to his credit, it may be in bad taste, but not because he just wanted to be mean) when they least expect it.
Passing up the Catsup
We have seen the charismatic Barack Obama in his trunks, in a burger joint, on a romantic date with his wife Michelle (making all the guys out there look SO bad), but we won’t be seeing him dining with the French President any time soon.
While visiting for D-Day celebrations in France recently, the French president had asked the US President to have dinner with him and his wife. President Obama begged off saying that his schedule was too packed, and that he could not find the time.
Some say it was because the French did not invite Queen Elizabeth to the ceremonies, something that irked President Obama. Others say it maybe the US President’s payback for Sarkozy’s comment on the former’s inexperience, to which Obama had retorted that Sarozky should do his research, or even that Michelle did not want a picture taken of her and the French first lady, Carla Sarozky. But it may also just be the general pattern that President Obama has kept all European leaders mostly at arm’s length. Whatever the reason is, it’s not like President Obama gave an unequivocal “no”, he did sort of imply that when the time comes and he is no longer too busy with matters of state, he’ll take the time to enjoy all the luxuries that France has to offer.
Need it be mentioned that he had a dinner-date with Mrs. Obama (and the kids) at a cozy little French café near the Eiffel Tower when they were there?
Don’t say cheese
One of the happiest moments in a teenager’s life is finally being given the government go signal to drive a car, getting one’s license. Only these days, at least in four states, namely Arkansas, Indiana, Virginia and Nevada, they can’t smile about it.
The DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) in these states are advocating “neutral facial expressions” when people get their license pictures taken. They’re not doing it to be spoilsports, it’s to prevent driver’s license fraud.
Newly taken pictures are compared by a highly sophisticated software to existing pictures, and when the face and the details fail to match, an alarm is sent. That means someone may be trying to steal someone else’s identity along with their money, or other benefits.
The software has one little glitch, it doesn’t read big smiles or grins. So if a person has two pictures on file, in one picture the person has a big smile, and not in the other, the computer wouldn’t be able to tell that it is the same person. Three of these four states allow small smiles (no teeth), and these are Indiana, Arkansas and Nevada.
There are other states expected to follow, but some states, like Pennsylvania, are adamant that their software can recognize a face, regardless of the expressions.
There is no debate, however, that the face-recognition software DOES stop driver’s license fraud, and THAT is something to smile about.
Just not in front of the camera.
A Gag on Gordon
It’s a good thing that Gordon Ramsay’s food doesn’t taste as foul as the things that come out from his mouth. Then again, if it did, he would not have been as famous as he is now, reflecting on that, we may have all been better off for it.
Watching his TV shows, Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, the most one hears are bleeps, peppered by insults, flavored by more insults, and a few more bleeps. His record so far in using the four-letter word (and it’s not “love”) is 80 times in 40 minutes. That episode had prompted the Australian Parliament to ask the television networks to review their policies on program ratings.
This time though, he may have gone too far when he insulted a well known (and probably better liked) female television reporter, Tracy Grimshaw. The insult was very well planned, too. To a food fair audience, Ramsay showed a picture of a naked woman on all fours.
The woman had more than the usual number of breasts, and a pig’s face. Then he said that the woman was Grimshaw. This happened right after Ramsay gave Grimshaw an interview on the latter’s current affairs program.
Grimshaw got back at Ramsay by saying that he is an “arrogant narcissist”, and was backed up by no less than the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who described Ramsay as “a new form of low life,” and praising Tracy for giving him a verbal “left upper cut.”
The End of the War on Iraq and a Bald Head
Stephen Colbert, star of the Comedy Central satire-show “The Colbert Report” (where he plays a conservative TV show host) has “officially” declared that the 6-year war on Iraq is over, simply because nobody is paying any more attention to it.
Taping at the marble halls of Al Faw Palace, Saddam Hussein’s former palace, Colbert is seeking to renew the people’s interest and attention to the very real war that has been eclipsed by the news of economic woes back home in America.
In between glib lines about the returning troops earning frequent flyer miles that would bring them to Afghanistan, and how nice Iraq must be for the soldiers to keep coming back, Colbert manages to put out the message that the war is still very real, and it’s not about to go away if the public ignores it long enough.
Although the message is somber, Colbert managed to lighten the mood, at the cost of his hair. All of it. His first guest was General Ray Odierno, a big man, with a bald head to boot, ostensibly accepted a videotaped order from President Barack Obama.
The order was to shave to Colbert’s head, and General Odierno gamely complied by starting the defoliating process with an electric razor. A stylist had to finish the job, though. Afterwards, Colbert, sitting on a desk made of sandbags painted like the American flag, asked Odierno if he can bring long-term stability to the US.