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Lindsey Lohan used to be such a cute, fresh-faced young actress who looked like she was going places. Now, it just looks like she's headed for the slammer.

From the New York Daily News:

"Lindsay Lohan hijacked an SUV from a near-stranger, took it on a 100-mph chase with three men inside, and then had the nerve to tell cops, "The black kid was driving."

"That's the shocking account given by the SUV's passengers, who are surprised they survived the white-knuckle ride from Malibu to Santa Monica that ended with the star's arrest on drunken-driving and drug possession charges.

...

"The young men say the fresh-from-rehab Lohan was crazed with rage and drunk on fame -- not to mention the cocktails and shots they say she downed before the wild episode.

"I can't get in trouble -- I'm a celebrity," Lohan allegedly bragged as the young men pleaded with her to stop the car. "I can do whatever the f*** I want."

I'm strangely ambivalent about Britney Spears, her new single and her upcoming performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The new single, "Gimme More" begins with Britney announcing "It's Britney, b**ch!" -- and then giggling girlishly.

She then moans/sings lines like "You've got me in a strange position/if you're on a mission/you've got my permission."

Which might have been intriguing five years ago. But we've now seen her pregnant, bald, swinging at photographers, marrying backup dancers and walking barefoot through gas station bathrooms. Any mystique that once existed is gone forever and the new single seems almost like a parody of a Britney Spears song.

As I've written about before, part of Britney's incredible success was the way in which she so successfully straddled that ever-thinner line between innocent bubble gum pop princess and wanton, hardcore pop whore. The whole wet hot virgin thing was not new -- but she did it so transcendently well that even the most savvy of us had to wonder, as Chuck Klosterman did in a classic piece for Esquire -- was she the least self-aware person on the planet, or the most self-aware?

The Video Music Awards could be a triumphant return for Britney -- someone I know has a theory that she's been so successful because so many people are, deep down within themselves, pulling for her to succeed despite her own ridiculousness. The further she falls -- marrying K-Fed, having two of his children and then leaving them at home to go panty-less clubbing with Paris Hilton -- the more we want her to, like Hulk Hogan, come back from the depths and be our hero once again.

But as a fellow reporter said to me today -- this could also be just an awful embarrassment. She's been through a lot since her last album and tour -- a marriage, two children, rehab -- and those who care on more than a voyeuristic, will-she-make-a-fool-of-herself level, may be expecting the young, hot dancing machine sexpot of a half-decade ago. We may instead get the modern version of Elvis' Live from Hawaii special -- a pop icon past whose pop moment has past, well beyond the peak of their powers, begging for people to care again but clearly consigned to a sort of post-stardom that can only ever bottom out in a sort of cut-rate cult fame that will never really compare to the heady thrill of new, young fame.

Her new publicity shots do have her looking a bit like a drag queen...

Which brings me to an interesting point.

I've noticed that gay men have become the latter-day bread and butter of many a faded female pop star (Cher, Madonna, Cindy Lauper, Debbie Harry). Some of the young women who grew up with the music will always have a soft spot for these pop divas -- but for whatever reason (pop stars' flamboyance, the fact that some drag queens like to dress like them, take your pick) gay guys seem to be the retirement plan. None of these women are gay themselves -- but they've all become "gay icons."

Not a bad deal, really.

So maybe the question is -- will Britney use this upcoming performance and upcoming album to keep herself in the mainstream pop spotlight a while longer (as her idol Madonna has managed to do) -- or is she headlining the next Gay Games?

Well...not here, of course.

But the pictures are out there.

It seems Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron's brainy love interest in the popular High School Musical franchise (and demonstrably less brainy love interest in real life) took some nude photos of herself. And, of course, they leaked onto the Internet.

Where I found them in about three minutes.

Would get fired (and possibly sued) for linking to them from here but I will note a few things:

1) There are a series of photos of her in progressively less clothing, in provocative poses, until she's posing naked and smirking for what seems to be a camera with a self timer.

2) She's doing so in what is clearly a bedroom and not (as has been reported) a bathroom. The curtain behind her just looks like a shower curtain. There's a bed and dressers in plain view.

3) The sort of creepy part about this (I mean -- besides her being the star of Disney films) is that, though she's 18 years old, the bedroom looks very much like the bedroom of a very girly high school girl. Christmas lights are strung along the ceiling of the room. Stuffed animals are visible on the fluffy bed on which she poses on all fours in what appears to be her sports bra.

4) Though she's turned out the big lights, turned on the string of Christmas ones and lit a series of tea candles on the dresser to "set the mood" she's left a half-finished plastic bottle of Dannon water (exactly like the one I'm drinking out of right now, eerily) on the dresser right beside her. This sort of kills the teenage girl faux romanticism of the scene and gives it a creepy, "I'm going to need to stay hydrated" porno shoot vibe. While the photo is undeniably aesthetically pleasing (in the strictest anatomy-drawing class sense, of course) the room and the way she's set it up sort of torpedoes any potential sexiness and just sort of makes my skin crawl. Mostly.

5) Female friends of mine who are hostile to the idea that every woman needs a Brazilian wax to be sexy have a new hero in Vanessa Hudgens. She makes their argument forcefully.

The number of news stories on these photos this morning is sort of staggering -- and many suggest that this is going to ruin her career with Disney, maybe even take down the entire High School Musical franchise. But as I look at them I wonder -- can that be right? It's not like she's doing anything really awful in them. They don't even rise to the level of misbehavior of some recent beauty pageant contestants. She just did what some (maybe an increasing number, and we can talk about and be disturbed by that if we're so inclined) 18 year old girls do when they're young and beautiful -- she privately documented her nudity for her boyfriend. I don't think it was for mass consumption -- though with Paris and Lindsay as warnings along the path of young fame she probably should have known better.

Let's hope this mistake doesn't doom her.

In this week's posts you can:

* Read my musings on Britney Spears looking like a drag queen (and the possibility that she'll spend the rest of her life performing for them).

* Find out whether Disney Channel's High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens (and new star of inadvertent teen amateur Internet pornography) is into the Brazilian wax!

* Check out pictures of Maggie Gyllenhaal in the new Agent Provocateur lingerie ad campaign!

* Consider "The N Word" with comedians Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle -- all of whom used it to greater effect than Eddie Griffin, who was bounced from a Black Enterprise event for dropping it this weekend.

* Tell me whether you got screwed when Apple dropped the price of the iPhone just two months after its release (and whether the $100 store credit they're giving customers makes up for it).

* Check out clips from shows coming out on DVD -- including 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and, of course, Flight of the Conchords.

If you missed any of it, it's all archived. Enjoy.

Also -- talk back, you lurking bastards!

Here's what I mean about Britney Spears, whose disgraceful VMA performance this year has been the subject of much discussion since she sleep-walked her way through it on Sunday:

This clip, from her infamous VMA performance (and kiss) with Madonna and Christina Aguilera, demonstrates that she can perform without lip-synching:

(Dig how excited the guys from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" are -- it's like their heads are about to explode. I'm telling you -- Germans love David Hasselhoff and gay dudes love Madonna.)

Come to that, this performance of "Satisfaction/Oops, I Did It Again" from 2000 demonstrates that -- at least for the first bit.

And this clip, the much talked about VMA performance with the snake, shows that even when she feels she has to lip sync (and it seems clear she's doing it here) she can do it better than she did it this time.

All three clips show that she can (or could -- I suppose it's been a while) dance better than she did this time around.

You don't have to enjoy this type of music to understand from these clips that she was once a commanding, dynamic performer who help audiences in the palm of her hand.

"Was" being the operative word, I suppose.

I don't know why -- but this makes me sad.

Sort of like watching an old Michael Jackson performance and then seeing what's become of him.

Just seems a waste.

The universe has apparently decided to answer the question of whether I could possibly love Target any more by having the store offer a line of David Bowie inspired clothing.

My first thought was, of course, that trying to sell some of David Bowie's looks could be difficult...

But the stuff they've gone with is largely from his Berlin period, "The Man Who Fell to Earth" and his later period, "I dress this way because I'm married to an International Supermodel" look.

Pitchfork media jokes that this is "a far better idea than a Low/Heroes/Lodger inspired line of coke-straws."

On the whole, the clothes really look good. This trench coat may have to come home with me...

Bowie won't be the first artist of his generation to sell clothes at a department store -- some years ago Brian Ferry of Roxy Music was the spokesperson for Marks & Spencer's "Autograph" line of clothing (a job that seems to have been disappointingly taken up by Take That). But he was savvy enough to get his music marketed alongside the clothes in Target stores.

You freaky old bastard, you...

And you thought right wing Christian groups hated Harry Potter because of the evil, ungodly magic.

Foolish muggles.

According to Reuters:

"Speaking at Carnegie Hall on Friday night in her first U.S. tour in seven years, Rowling confirmed what some fans had always suspected -- that she "always thought Dumbledore was gay," reported entertainment Web site E! Online."

Further, she said Dumbledore had once been in love with the evil wizard Grindlevald.

How are Potter fans reacting? Well...

"The audience reportedly fell silent after the admission -- then erupted into applause.

"This is even more awesome because it adds another layer to Dumbledore's character, which is already so rich and complicated. I hope he got over Grindlevald (sic) and fell in love again," wrote Amanda."

As a writer, I love this part:

"Rowling said she had read through a script for the movie adaptation of the sixth book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and corrected a passage in which Dumbledore was reminiscing about past loves by crossing it out and scrawling "Dumbledore is gay" over it."

Last week J.K. Rowling outed top wizard Albus Dumbledore (of Harry Potter fame) as gay -- well after the last book of the series had gone to press.

There are some who are claiming they knew all along, or at least that the signs were there for those who were looking. Ed Cone pointed to a Metafilter comment thread in which someone said:

"He was a stylish 150-year-old-ish bachelor. You do the math."

If we're going to accept that a character's creator can out a character after all of the canonical work dealing with that character has been produced then I think there are some characters out there who are at least as likely as Dumbledore for a little homosexual retroactive continuity...

(WARNING: Comedic homosexual stereotypes ahead. Satirical. Not to be confused with actual homophobia.)

In the latest issue of Rolling Stone, which hit my mailbox this weekend:

- Great interview with Bruce Springsteen, who's on the cover, but no big surprise there. I think it would take some real skill to write a bad Bruce interview. Some great early pictures of Bruce with the story, including one of him rail thin and shaggy in a pair of jeans, size-small tank top and beat-up black Chuck Taylor All-Stars. He looks like every pseudo-hippie kid I went to high school with.

- More of their kind of crap election coverage by Matt Taibbi, whose continuing assignment to write nasty, sort of obvious things about all of the Republican presidential hopefuls brings him to Mitt Romney this issue. Taibbi shocks and appalls us by revealing that Romney is...a politician! He says things people want to hear (No!)! He uses (gasp!) stock public speaking techniques. He speaks in (for shame!) glittering generalities! Somebody stick a wooden stake in this guy's heart, quick!

- A pretty good piece on Internet gossip-monger Perez Hilton (AKA Mario Lavendeira), who makes his living by posting other peoples' celebrity photography for free and making catty comments about its subjects (as I'll do now, following his shining example).

His ability to post other peoples' work and be snarky about the rich and famous is apparently making him $250,000 a year and he's just landed a television show.

This piece would make me hate this guy even more than I already do...but somehow I can't bring myself to bother. What I do like: the piece reveals Hilton's Bond-villainesque origin as a cranky, chubby, misanthropic little kid whose parents let him lay in bed watching TV 12 hours a day and would bring him meals on trays so he didn't have to get up and go to the kitchen. People were mean to him in high school, so his being mean to famous people who commit the mortal sin of occasionally going outside without makeup really makes perfect sense.

"I think what I do is noble," Hilton says.

Get this guy a Pulitzer! And a swift kick in the nobility!

- A weird "Wheels 07" feature wherein musicians pose with cars, test drive them and offer their opinions. This makes me love The Dropkick Murphys more than I already do, as they test drive an Infiniti G37S. The Boston punks break all sorts of traffic laws in it, squeal into a Dunkin Donuts parking lot excitedly screaming "Dunkies!" and ultimately break the windshield while posing with the car with "props" like a sledgehammer and chainsaw.

"This is the car of a Yankee fan!" bassist/songwriter Ken Casey says after the "accident."

The writer theorizes that he should never have told them the car was fully insured.

Well, the Hollywood writer's strike is in full effect.

Sure, Jay and Dave's late night shows are now in reruns -- but I didn't watch them anyway, and this is all fascinating to me. I'm very interested to see how everyone's reacting to it.

According to the AP Jay Leno rode up to a line of writers picketing outside NBC to deliver them donuts and show his support.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the cast of her show, The New Adventures of Old Christine, were picketing alongside striking writers outside Warner Bros. on Monday. Dreyfus is married to a writer.

30 Rock's Tina Fey has been picketing in New York in November -- the L.A. Times caught up with her on the line.

Brian K. Vaughan, one of my favorite comics writers and now a writer and producer on Lost, talks about the strike on his MySpace blog, saying:

A few months ago, I was thrilled to start my second season as a writer and now a co-producer over at LOST, and have been unbelievably fortunate enough to help write a few scripts for what I think could end up being the show's best season.

And much as it breaks my heart for my colleagues and I to have to walk away from a job we love, we all think it's vitally important to the future of our industry.

Judd Apatow, director of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, agrees, explaining the grievance over writers not being paid for residuals aired in new media formats:

"Here's how I would explain it: If you're a teamster, you get paid to drive a truck. But if someone invents a new kind of truck, and you're still driving it, you should still get paid."

The Smoking Gun is reporting that Transformers (and upcoming Indiana Jones movie) star Shai LeBeouf was arrested in Chicago after drunkenly refusing to leave a Walgreens pharmacy at 2:30 a.m.

As mug shots go, his is not a bad one:

You've got to worry about this kid, though. Directors like Stephen Spielberg think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread and he's still acting like an idiot. I was sort of annoyed when he leaked the name of the new Indiana Jones flick at the MTV awards, saying he did it because: "I'm 21 and we're in Vegas, baby!"

Not as annoyed as Spielberg was, but annoyed.

Now he's getting busted for being drunk in a pharmacy? Talk about amateur -- at least be found drunk in your neighbor's bed, wander into an airport completely naked, something good.

Well, new Bond Daniel Craig has signed on for four more Bond movies. That would make him Bond for one more movie than his predecessor, Pierce Brosnan (who made four Bond flicks) but wouldn't equal Sean Connery (six) or Roger Moore (seven).

I'm a die-hard Bond fan, love the books and the movies. I was very skeptical about Craig -- but he won me over with the excellent Casino Royale.

If I'm forced to choose I have to go with Connery as the best Bond -- but because the first Brosnan was the first Bond I ever saw on the big screen I feel like he'll always be my generation's Bond. Timothy Dalton was the first Bond I ever saw (on video, in License to Kill) -- and I thought he was good, but he didn't have the scripts and his second (and last) Bond movie was no good.

Roger Moore -- I really consider his entire tenure a sort of embarrassment and find it hard to believe that anyone was ever coked up enough to buy him as Bond.

Confession: I was a pretty big Morrissey fan in high school. Not nearly as big as my friend Brian LaRue, who introduced me to Moz. But pretty big. Still, I never saw this video for "November Spawned a Monster" -- in which Morrissey, decked out in a mesh shirt and dancing like a gay club kid who's had maybe one more interpretive dance class than he has cosmos, rolls around and gyrates and generally looks sad out in the middle of a desert. As we're coming into November's homestretch, I thought I might present this to you guys before taking a few days off:

Man, that's monstrously strange.

But I do still love the line: "Jesus made me/so Jesus save me/from pity, sympathy/and people discussing me.'

Truth be told I still love most of Moz's Smiths and solo stuff in a completely unironic way -- even the bits I know are ridiculous. But his videos have always been pretty awful. Check out this one for the terrific "Last of the Famous International Playboys":

His new stuff's pretty great -- I somehow feel he's grown into himself and makes a great cranky old guy. He's gotten rid of the mesh shirts and bought some great suits, for one thing. He's still not making great videos, though. Check out this pretty average clip for the pretty great song "Irish Blood/English Heart":

Still terrific live, though. Check out this concert montage built around one of my favorites,"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out":

Bruce may be down one keyboardist for now, but he's on the cover of the current issue of Spin with Win Butler, lead singer of Arcade Fire.

Here's some YouTube footage of The Boss doing Arcade Fire's "Keep The Car Running" with Win and his wife, Regine, and a duet on his own "State Trooper" as well.

Empire Magazine has an exclusive interview with Heath Ledger about playing The Joker.

According to the magazine the role involved Ledger "marinading himself in nothing but Joker before shooting."

Ewww...

Slight spoilers if you know absolutely nothing about Sweeney Todd. I don't think there's anything here that isn't in the trailer.

Quick note: For those who don't know, Sweeney Todd, coming to theatres Dec. 21, is a movie version of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning Broadway musical. Sweeney is the Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- a man wronged who wants revenge on those who wronged him.

So I was playing around on the Sweeney Todd Web site. I've been waiting for the movie for a long time now, really looking forward to it. But it's also been tinged with nervous anticipation -- will they be able to pull it off? I love Johnny Depp, and I didn't want him to screw this up.

Well, thank goodness, he hasn't. At least not from what I've heard. If you go to this link and click "Enter site", another window will open. In the top right corner is something called Audio -- click on it, and you can listen to parts of some of the different songs. I'm pleasantly surprised with Depp -- he's not bad. It's a hard role to sing, and what little I've heard impresses me.

However. Helena Bonham-Carter.

It's unfortunate that her and Burton are a thing because she's going to be hearing a lot of director's couch comments. She's awful -- she can't sing -- it's more of a fast talking, and there's no power at all behind it. Not to mention she sounds like she is trying to hurry through the lyrics as fast as she can so she can stop singing -- she doesn't seem to believe she should be singing, either.

She just annoyed me in "Bit of Priest" and "Worst Pies in London". And I'm even trying to cut her a break -- Angela Lansbury defined that role, and she's who I hear in my head when I listen, but I was willing to give someone else a chance. When I first heard Carter's name, I thought it could be a bit of inspired casting -- provided she could sing. Yeah, well, I will now be going to the movie dreading her moments.

All I can hope is that she can bring something to the role besides her singing. Except that I really feel like Mrs. Lovett is almost a sweet woman who's a bit demented -- she clearly loves the boy and has a thing for Sweeney, and thinks they can all be a happy family of sorts, with a few murders thrown in here and there -- not a demented woman who's scary, which is how I think Carter will play it -- Bellatrix does Mrs. Lovett.

On the other hand, listening to Alan Rickman in "Pretty Woman" didn't upset me. Does he sound like an actor singing? Yes. But it doesn't annoy me. He sounds like Snape singing, which turns me into a giddy fan girl inside.

Of course, you can listen to "Green Finch" if you wish to torture yourself. I hated it in the production I saw, and I hate it here, too. And I have no idea who the girl is who sings it, only that she is slightly better than the soprano who sang it on my soundtrack.

So now I'll still see it opening weekend, but some of the air has been let out of the balloon for me. What do you guys think? Am I being too hard on her? Anyone agree with me?

From Reason.tv:

In his latest video for Reason.tv, Drew Carey goes all in to report how Dallas cops carried out a paramilitary-style raid on a poker game at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1837, which has now been forced to close its doors.

Britney Spears' sister Jamie-Lynn, the 16-year-old star of a popular Nickelodeon TV show, is pregnant.

More proof that the universe is a strange place. When I was in high school almost everyone I knew was having sex -- but I didn't know anyone who got pregnant. Because between condoms and birth control pills, they cannily avoided it. And they were none of them millionaires.

This could be the beginnings of a good argument that money does actually make you stupid. When you have as much money as Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan but you drive drunk rather than have a driver take you around town in one of any number of luxury cars or limousines at your disposal, when you're crafty enough to be an essential cog in an adolescent television and marketing juggernaut but can't summon the sexual intelligence of the average small town teen who says to her doctor: "Is procreation right for me...?" --- then I think there are serious cash/IQ questions to be asked.

Kicker: Jamie and her babydaddy met...wait for it...at church.

Call everybody in the non-abstinence-only sex ed class I had godless heathens, but we all learned how to use a condom.

UPDATE:
"It was a shock for both of us, so unexpected," Jamie Lynn told OK!, according to the Associated Press. "I was in complete and total shock and so was he."

Somebody sit these kids down for a birds and bees talk...

Comedian David Cross (Arrested Development, Mr. Show) has been taking some flak for his appearance in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.

So, he decided to answer the "Why? God, Why?" question via this funny and brutally honest blog post.

Short answer: It's an effing kids movie, you're taking it too seriously and of course he did it for the money.

Next.

I saw this anti-drug commercial starring Clint Eastwood (in character as Dirty Harry?) for the first time in a TV documentary tonight.

Comedian Zach Galifianakis (The Comedians of Comedy) interviews Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Juno) in this clip from Cinematical.

Wizard!

Our new intern in the office today suggested there was "not enough Michael Cera" in Juno.

I agreed that he didn't get enough screen time, but given the size of those shorts, I think it's impossible to say there wasn't enough of him.

North Carolina's own Clay Aiken, who has somehow turned being runner-up on American Idol into a career selling Christmas albums to your lonely aunt with all the cats, is set to take one of the lead roles in the Tony Award winning Broadway show "Monty Python's Spamalot."

The show is based on "Monty Python and The Holy Grail," which Aiken said he thought was "the stupidest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life," upon first viewing.

Which was apparently a recent thing.

In an AP story Aiken says, "I thought Monty Python was a person until three months ago."

Clay Aiken's only a few years older than me -- and I thought my generation was issued a copy of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in high school, as a required thing. When I made it to my sophomore year of high school without seeing any Monty Python all my arty, band-geek friends (of whom Aiken had to have had plenty) nearly called an ambulance to rush me to the nearest VCR.

TMZ scooped everyone, as they seem to be doing a lot more lately in entertainment, with the news that Brad Renfro has died at 25.

From TMZ:

"The 25-year-old actor was found dead at his Los Angeles home this morning. The cause of death has not been determined, however, Renfro had a history of drug abuse."

I'm willing to go out on a limb here and agree with what TMZ is implying -- I'm betting we find out he overdosed on something. Which is a shame because Renfro was a pretty decent actor. I've followed him ever since I saw him in "The Client." Since then, he's turned out some good performances in movies such as "Sleepers," "Apt Pupil," "Bully" and "Ghost World."

In this video, apparently a few years old, Tom Cruise talks about Scientology:

(The longer, uncut video has been removed from YouTube and various other sites due to nastygrams from the Church of Scientology.)

Among the gems:

"We are the authorities on getting people off drugs, we are the authorities on the mind, we are the authorities on improving conditions... we can rehabilitate criminals... we can bring peace and unite communities."

"Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident it's not like anyone else. As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it because you know you're the only one that can really help."

The craziest thing about these statements is that I think many mainstream Christians would make them about their church -- and some sects of Islam and Judaism, for that matter.

The most interesting thing about Scientology to me -- beyond the secrecy and how many celebrities they seem to have recruited -- is the way it seems to hold up a dark mirror to all other religions.

Guys who are half man/half god and rise from the dead after three days, wine that turns to blood, the Rapture and Judgement Day -- that's just, you know, religion. We have to respect that.

But space aliens and body thetans? That's CRAZY...

Local son Chris Daughtry is taking a swipe at the show that made him famous.

About 'American Idol,' from Rolling Stone:

"I feel like it's definitely lacking some credibility at this point," says Daughtry, who came in fourth place on the 2006 season but went on to sell 3.6 million copies of his debut record and be named one of Nielsen's top ten selling artists of 2007. "It's in a state of decline and if they don't do something about it, it's probably not gonna last too much longer. I'm sure that'll be used against me, but that's the truth, you know?"

He's right, though. Last season pretty much sucked, if you want my honest opinion. I didn't care who won, and I'm having a hard time even remembering many of the contestants. I watched the first episode or two of the season, but then I tuned out until they whittled it down to the top 24 or so -- there's only so many times you can watch someone screech Celine or Whitney, know what I mean? The occasional awful person is fine, but they just went overboard with the people who were clueless at auditions and the ones who were clearly there just to get on TV. Guess what, auditioners? It's no longer edgy to flip off the camera when you get the boot -- everyone does it.

I watched last night's 'Idol' this afternoon. (I never watch them live -- I have to be able to fast-forward through the recrap and pointless pauses for effect.) Maybe it's just me, but it was perceptibly better -- there were still some attention whores, but the guy who sang "No Sex Allowed" made up for that. As did the blond horse trainer at the end (I can't recall her name) who had a great voice.

But I agree with Daughtry -- I think it's on the way out. As soon as it veers back to people in Big Bird costumes and mocking people who are clearly handicapped (despite the pleas that they've changed), I'll tune out until the finals.

From the New York Times story:

The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment building at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, according to the New York City police. Mr. Ledger was 28.

At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived at Apartment 5A in the building for an appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of Mr. Ledger’s bedroom. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger unconscious. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities. The police said they did not suspect foul play and said they found pills near body.

---

Incredibly, horribly sad.

A very gifted young actor -- on the rise after a star making turn in Brokeback Mountain and having just portrayed The Joker in The Dark Knight. He's also the child of a lovely two year old daughter.

So sad. Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment today, and PerezHilton is already calling it an overdose. Such a brilliant actor, even sadder when you think that he has a young kid. Wonder how they'll market Batman now?

Also, does this put a young celebrity OD trifecta in play, in the wake of Brad Renfro's death? AP already has an obit ready for Britney ...

ETA: I see Joe beat me to the punch ...

ETA2: The story is getting more interesting. From AFP:

"According to the newspaper, the apartment was inhabited by actor Mary-Kate Olsen."

NYT is backing off that, apparently:

ETA3: NYT just backed off that:

Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information, initially said that the apartment was owned by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, but later reversed himself and said that was not the case.

Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing points out that one of the songs Hillary Clinton is using on the campaign trail is "When the Lady Smiles" by Dutch rock group Golden Earring.

In the video clip for the song (which, incidentally, has not aged well -- I can't imagine how they choose these songs. Ronald Reagan famously wanted to use "Born in the U.S.A." -- an anthem about how screwed up the country was -- because he thought it sounded patriotic) a nun is raped and a dog eats the attacker's brain. The video was banned from MTV in 1984.

The chances that Clinton knows this -- or is paying much attention at all to what's being played at her rallies and why -- are pretty slim. But it is none-the-less hilarious that Clinton, proud mommy of legislation such as the Family Entertainment Protection Act and constant cultural hall monitor of the "for our children" crusade, is blaring a song by a band whose video MTV thought was too much. In 1984. The same year they broadcast Madonna writhing on the floor in a wedding dress, moaning "Like A Virgin."

I've been meaning to get hold of Steve Martin's memoir Born Standing Up for a few weeks now.

A recent excerpt in Smithsonian magazine has made me resolve to go get it this weekend. From the excerpt, in which Martin begins to craft his own style of comedy by abandoning convention:

"What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation. This type of laugh seemed stronger to me, as they would be laughing at something they chose, rather than being told exactly when to laugh.

Now that I had assigned myself to an act without jokes, I gave myself a rule. Never let them know I was bombing: this is funny, you just haven't gotten it yet. If I wasn't offering punch lines, I'd never be standing there with egg on my face. It was essential that I never show doubt about what I was doing. I would move through my act without pausing for the laugh, as though everything were an aside. Eventually, I thought, the laughs would be playing catch-up to what I was doing. Everything would be either delivered in passing, or the opposite, an elaborate presentation that climaxed in pointlessness. Another rule was to make the audience believe that I thought I was fantastic, that my confidence could not be shattered. They had to believe that I didn't care if they laughed at all and that this act was going on with or without them."