“It a choice, Wesley, that each of us must face: to remain ordinary, pathetic, beat-down, coasting through a miserable existence, like sheep herded by fate - or you can take control of your own destiny and join us, releasing the caged wolf you have inside,” – Morgan Freeman, “Wanted”
It’s terrible dialogue like this along with a mean-spirited tone that turned “Wanted” into a waste of time – at least for me. Personally, I have no zero time to waste today since I plan to be gone from the office by mid-afternoon and will be somewhere with air conditioning since the temperature is once again more than 100 degrees in Austin.
But before I find ways to cool off, let’s look at the hard stories of the week such as:
Much like the previous week, this one was dominated by Michael Jackson headlines and some of the major ones were:
• A public memorial was held Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles where entertainers and family performed and spoke of Jackson for more than two hours. Some of the famous attendees were Mariah Carey, Magic Johnson, John Mayer, Brooke Shields, and others.
• Michael Jackson's music sales keep soaring as fans purchased more than 800000 of his albums last week, Billboard magazine said.
• Jackson’s longtime attorney and a family friend should take over the pop singer's estate, a judge said Monday, denying the request of his mother, Katherine Jackson, who had applied to oversee her son's estate
I’m sure there other stories that I simply tuned out or missed, and I only hope that Jackson (and the rest of us) can find some peace and quiet soon enough.
Lindsay Lohan was the subject of a lawsuit filed this week which claimed that Lohan and another woman stole the recipe for a spray tan.
Chemist Jennifer Sunday filed the lawsuit in federal court in Tampa claiming that Lohan took the goods for the product called Sevin Nyne. Lohan and Lorit Simon, a Vegas businesswoman, launched their line in May. Sunday is suing Lohan, Simon, and Simon's company for breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, civil conspiracy, intentional interference with contractual relations and deceptive and unfair trade practices.
It won’t help Lohan’s case if she shows up to court looking as orange as an Oompa Lumpa, which was her color the last time I checked.
In other Lohan “news” this week, the actress reportedly turned down the stripper role eventually taken by Heather Graham in the summer movie hit "The Hangover," UsMagazine.com reported.
According to Us, Lohan thought the script "had no potential." 
Lohan obviously confused the script with her current career – must be all the spray tan leaking into the brain waves.
Paula Abdul, whose contract with "American Idol" expired at the end of last season, confirmed to the Associated Press this week that she’ll be back on the show for a 9th season.
"I've been invited to stay the duration of the show, however long it lasts," she said, adding that she thought details of her contract would be negotiated before the start of the next season. She added "I'm the nurturing mom, Simon's the disapproving dad, and Randy's the cool brother," she explained. "It's been an interesting journey. It's something that I'll always want to be a part of." 
She concluded with: “Besides, those prescription pills aren’t going to pay for themselves,” then giggled incoherently and passed out on the floor.
Sharon Stone's rep denied reports this week that the police recently detained the actress at Salt Lake City airport.
Stone, 51, was allegedly met by law enforcement officers after getting into an argument with a flight attendant about her bag before a Salt Lake City-bound Delta flight from Montana after the attendant told Stone to check one of her bags.
Airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann had a different story, however, and stated: ``The airport police were requested by Stone. She was traveling alone and had requested in advance if we could give her special assistance because she was traveling alone and didn't want to cause disruption or congestion from autograph seekers.''
It’s been my experience that 3 or 4 people does NOT equate to a “disruption” or “congestion.”
Three's Company star Joyce DeWitt was arrested on suspicion of DUI on July 4th, TMZ reports.
El Segundo, Calif., cops told the website the dinner-theater regular drove past a barricade Saturday. When she was pulled over, an officer smelled booze, and DeWitt was arrested, then posted $5,000 bail.
Reports that DeWitt was out drinking with that sleazy guy Larry from the complex were unconfirmed at press time.
As always, let’s end with a gold image or two:
This is certainly a slumber party I’d desperately try to wrangle an invitation to, and only confirms what I knew to be true since middle school about what happens when females get together. So, have your pillow and blindfold ready today, feel free to confirm long-held beliefs and . . . Happy Friday!
-BDS
Heff must be sleeping in today. ha
I heard about that Joyce Dewitt story and I'm cracking up at the Larry reference. I had forgotten about that guy. Stay cool and have a good weekend!
Jlee - I probably threw him off by commenting on his yesterday instead of today. Still not back in the groove from the 4th yet. Ha. That's a pretty funny mugshot of Dewitt, eh? Impossible to stay cool (105 yesterday), but have a good weekend yourself.
(Not So) Quick Heff Friday !!!
Re : Jacko's Memorial - "Some of the attention-whore attendees were Mariah Carey, Magic Johnson, John Mayer, and Brooke Shields." Were they actually there to morn, or simply to be in the spotlight ?!? John Mayer...REALLY ?
If you didn't see a pic of Corey Feldman at the memorial, I suggest you google it - it's CLASSIC, lol !
Didn't Lohan JUST rip off some jewelry a few weeks ago ? Damn, she's busy !
As far as "The Hangover" role, I'd rather look at Heather Graham, anyway.
More sad than the fact that Paula Abdul will return to A.I. is the fact that the show ITSELF will return for the NINTH F'-IN SEASON !!!
Who's Sharon Stone ? Was she popular once ?
Joyce DeWitt DUI ? NO !!! All I know is, she use to have one hell of an ass !! Now, I guess she IS one.
And in closing, "LET THE PILLOW-BITING BEGIN !!!!"
Half a day, huh ? You sorry bastard !
Have a great one !
Heff - You were close . . . Ha. But I appreciate the detail as always, so I was thinking the EXACT same thing about Mayer in particular - ridiculous -, had no idea about Feldman but will definitely look it up now, yes Lohan did & she has been busy doing absolutely nothing to help her career, can't believe AI is still so incredibly popular, Stone uncrossed her legs once upon a time, don't remember that against DeWitt, pillow-biting is a fine weekend activity & Have a good one yourself.
So now Lohan is an orange train wreck? yeesh! And did you see the gossip that Morgan Freeman is trading in his wife for his 27 year old step-daughter? A Woody Allen trainee?? Yucky ... Stay cool and Happy Friday!
I'd rather hear an oompa loompa sing than that Lohan broad.
And I miss Joyce Dewitt. I miss all the Three's Company girls. Sure, my favourite was Terry "the sexy nurse" Aldrin, but Janet Wood was the funniest.
JUST LOOK AT THIS GOOB !
Linda - What????? I completely missed that Freeman story, but it sounds pretty awful on the description. And I like Freeman in movies . . . Wow. Thanks for the knowledge and have a great Friday!
WIGSF - I liked Terry too. I had kind of forgotten about here until you mentioned it though. And nobody should hear Lohan sing (or maybe even act). Happy Friday.
Heff - Thanks a lot - you're right, what a dipshit. Shameless nonesense. Oh well, he is married to a Playmate if I remember correctly. Ha.
I'm back. Sorry to have been gone so long!
Good QHF - I bet it was tough to find material underneath all of the MJ coverage. (by the way, what's with his dad?)
Lindsay is really starting to look old. Who steals spray tan formula? Who even thinks to steal spray tan formula? :::shaking my head:::
I don't even have words for Paula Abdul. And she doesn't have them for herself either.
Happy Weekend.
Dang, I'm surprised you didn't enjoy Wanted. I thought it was a fun B- movie that didn't really follow the graphic novel too closely, but still ended up being a good popcorn flick. In other news, I thought the Michael Jackson memorial was touching. Still cant believe hes gone.
jeez, I'm glad Heff mentioned Corey Feldman - freaky dude. Even freakier because he wasn't much of a friend to MJ during the trial, but used his death to pimp himself out. Nice.
Your Paula comment made me laugh out loud.
Stay cool this weekend. I have no idea how y'all handle that hot weather. Texans are tough.
Kmwthay - Great to see you around & was wondering where you went (but we all need a break now & again). Anyway, the last 2 weeks has been virtually all MJ, no idea about his Dad (wacko), Lohan's whole family looks about 10 years older than they should, Abdul is just banaans & happy Friday to you.
Farzan - I watched in the theater, and again recently on Blu Ray and I turned it off mid-way through that viewing. There's some cool scenes, but I really didn't like McAvoy and I just thought the loom of fate or whatever it was, was just kind of cheesy and underdeveloped. Maybe the graphic novel was better, eh? I didn't see much of the Jackson memorial, but heard it struck a pretty good chord. Strange indeed. Happy Friday.
Boxer - Me too as I totally missed the Feldman thing, and think you summed it up nicely. Seriously, show some class, eh? Abdul makes me laugh. Ha. Finally, it's supposed to be 105 degrees today (23rd 100+ day of summer so far). Ugly. I hate sweating this much. Ha. Regardless, Happy Friday in the cooler NW.
I thought Lou Ferrigno (the incredible hulk turned jackson's fitness trainer) and the other Corey (haim?) gave the best (worst) Jacko interviews.
Ferrigno on what Jackson looked like 3 days before death: " He looked great! He was in fantastic shape!".
Ferrigno on Jackson's drug intake: "Michael didn't take drugs. He was high on life."
Grrrherhahahahhahahhahaha! Gotta wonder what the rest of Big Lou's clients look like!
The other Corey (haim?) was so stoned they ran CAPTIONS underneath what he was mumbling about.
That picture of Joyce DeWitt is going to haunt me. Did someone slap her before that shot? The poor woman did not seem to age well. Maybe its the booze and car crashes.
haha... i was going to make a comment about all the news you talked about throughout the post... but then I got distracted by all the nude women and forgot what I had to say :P
The best Michael Jackson related thing I read this week was from the Sports Guy. He said that he wouldn't have been one bit surprised if Michael Jackson had jumped up out of his coffin and performed Thriller right there in the Staples Center as a way of launching his comeback tour.
Troll Y2k _ I have seen those quotes from Big Lou as the drugs one was especially ridiculous. And I missed the Haim stuff, so thanks for that as I can believe it was virtually incoherent as that guy has been into drugs from awhile now (maybe since the 80s ended).
Getoffmylawn - Yeah, I thought when I saw the shot that her mug will be added to the worst jail pics of all time. She does not look good, but as you noted, lots of drinking and car crashes and a lack of fame for several decades can do that to you. Ha.
Amelie - It's a test, and you failed. Ha. It can be distracting, but after seeing that kind of thing every Friday for years around here, I'm used to it. :)
Native Minnow - I missed that one too as I think I started shutting down on Jacko stuff sometime last week, so a lot has slipped through the cracks. Ha. Now, the real battle will be from his family over his estate, which I bet will drag out FOREVER.
Native Minnow -
I'm a little late on this one however Stone appears to be wearing a carpet she must have bought while on vacation. It's hidden quite well the border patrol will never see it! "Anything to declare" "Nope didn't purchase a thing"
Miss Ash - Better late than never. Ha. And yeah, I was wondering what Stone had going on there as it seemed a bit excessive (and had to laugh at yr. scenario).