All posts by annaz

East End Girl Done Good

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LnOymL2s_4] 

British actress Michelle Ryan, formerly Zoe Slater in Eastenders, starred in the premiere of the new version of 1970s classic, Bionic Woman, on US TV this week. And, by all accounts, the series is off to a flyer. The programme, shown on Wednesday, drew in 13.9 million viewers, the largest number of viewers for that timeslot.

Ryan is also drawing in favourable reviews from the US press. Yay for her! And, AND she can do quite a convincing American accent! (Check out the promo above.) Makes a change from Hugh Laurie in House, who always sounds like he’s got a mouth full of marbles whilst speaking with his accent.

I always think it’s nice to see these young soap stars do good. And, let’s face it, it’s a long way from “You cahn’t tell me wot to do…you’re not my muvva!” “YES I AMM!!!!!”

National Movie Awards – Only Harry Potter Fans Care

Daniel Radcliffe 

The first National Movie Awards were held in London last night. Methinks it’ll be the first and last time they’re held. They’re somehow associated with ITV, and pretty much every single awards show ITV ever do is a complete farce. (Remember that “Sports Awards” held a few years back? Presented by Ulrika Johnsson – why? And a previous attempt at a film awards show, broadcast live, in which the highlight was Robin Williams accepting his award by satellite: “This award makes me feel so…so….cheap!”)

Well, Daniel Radcliffe won Best Male Actor, and Emma Watson won the Best Female award. Daniel beat out Daniel Craig and Johnny Depp, whilst Emma won over Judi Dench, Eva Green (Bond girl in the last Bond outing) and Keira Knightley. Who votes for this stuff, the public? Oh, wait, they do. The Sun also reports that acting royalty such as Christian Slater and Misha Barton attended the ceremony. Wow. Oh, and the paper also helpfully adds that the Awards are “Britain’s answers to the Oscars”. No. They’re. Not.

P.S. Why are they called the “Movie Awards”?? We’re not American!

Simon Cowell Rolling In It

Simon Cowell 
Simon Cowell: Smug

Simon Cowell has been named the third highest paid television personality in the US by business magazine Forbes, with earnings of £22.5 million between June 2006 and June 2007 – due to the hugely popular American Idol, as well as America’s Got Talent. He is listed behind chat-show queen Oprah Winfrey, who earned £128 million, and comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld who managed to earn £30 million from repeats of Seinfeld. (Wow! Although I can tell you, they really DO repeat Seinfeld A LOT on American TV.)

Great. This will just set the ball rolling for EVEN MORE of those useless shows like X Factor and American Idol, and Simon Cowell will only get richer and richer. When will people ever tire of programmes like that? THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE! If he gets richer and richer…he’ll take over the world. And then one day, we’ll only have one channel broadcasting around the planet. The “World Idol Channel”, with back to back shows of the contest.

The full list of earners:

1. Oprah Winfrey (£130m)
2. Jerry Seinfeld (£30m)
3. Simon Cowell (£22.5m)
4. David Letterman (£20m)
5. Donald Trump (£16m)
6. Jay Leno (£16m)
7. Dr Phil McGraw (£15m)
8. ‘Judge’ Judy Sheindlin (£15m)
9. George Lopez (£13m)
10. Kiefer Sutherland (£11m)

A list TV actors with the highest earnings per episode was also revealed. They are:

1. William Petersen (CSI): £250,000
2. Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men): £175,000
3. Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SUV): £175,000
4. Chris Meloni (Law & Order: SUV): £175,000
5. Hugh Laurie (House): £150,000
6. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (New Adventures of Old Christine): £112,000
7. Ellen Pompeo (Grey’s Anatomy): £100,000
8. Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives): £100,000

Hugh LaurieHugh Laurie 

Poor Hugh Laurie! I’d give him more money that Simon Cowell. And Charlie Sheen gets £175k for that sh…ow?

Ashley Cole and Mariah Carey – Distant Cousins (or something)

Ashley Cole & Mariah Carey 

Mariah Carey has revealed that she is distantly related to Chelsea football star, Ashley Cole. Upon researching a possible link to American jazz crooner, Nat King Cole, Mariah discovered the family connection to our very own Ashley. Mariah says:

“It’s fascinating. My grandmother was a Cole before she married and it turns out she comes from the same area of Alabama as Ashley’s ancestors – the Deep South.”

Sure is fascinating, Mariah. Ashley’s not saying anything as yet, but his spokesperson said:

“I don’t know if he’s heard the Mariah’s story or not but I know Ashley was born and raised in East London.”

Which is clearly THE least helpful quote ever. It’s like saying “I don’t know if he’s heard Mariah’s story or not but I do know Ashley has hair” or “…but I do know he is eating dinner tonight”.

Sex and the City – Carrie’s Interesting Plot Twist

More pictures from the set of the Sex and the City movie, due to be released in May 2008, have emerged. And the reveal something VERY interesting – a brunette Carrie! (Played, of course, by Sarah Jessica Parker.)

Carrie Bradshaw - Sex and the City

Goodness, what do you think might have happened??! Did Carrie, like, go to the local drugstore and get a bottle of really dark brown hair dye after a massive bust-up with Big? Did her hair stylist convince her it was apt to change her hair colour as often as she changes her Manolos? Maybe this will be some kind of flash-forward where Carrie will have forsaken being fashionable and stylish and instead will sit at home with her nine cats, watching Jeremy Kyle. (After a quick relocation to the UK, of course.)

Ahh, who cares? 🙂

“Scary” Debuts on Dancing with the Stars

Scary Spice, aka Mel B,  made her debut on Dancing with the Stars last night – that’s the US version of Strictly Come Dancing. (Thankfully, they still have Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli as judges, but have done without Arlene and Craig…yeah, who needs those two LOSERS?! I joke, I joke. They’re not losers, they’re…alright…)

Best bit of this video is her explanation of her previous dancing days in the Spice Girls: “It was all just step dig, step dig.” What kind of a move is that?? Are you trying to say you girls didn’t have much dancing talent? And interesting to see she’s still working the leopard print outfits, I wonder if she’s just reusing one of her costumes from 1997. But fair play to her, she looked good both dance-wise and looks/body-wise.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/v/rw3r-wT9yk8]

Sex and the City Film…Filming!

Shooting the Sex and the City movie finally got going last week in New York, after several years of squabbling and difficulties in getting the popular TV series to the big screen. All major characters will apparently return and the storyline seems to continue from where it left off.

In one recently filmed scene, the four ladies strut down the street only to be stopped in their tracks upon spying four girls who are younger versions of themselves:

Sex and the City film

Wow, what are Ashlee Simpson and Lily Allen doing there? Lily’s looking good. But why is the younger version of Samantha, on the right, looking so short and stumpy??

Here’s the “comical” moment when the real girls see their other selves:

Sex and the City movie

Professional athletes do it too

There’s a tonne of stories circulating about how employers check up on their workers by looking up their MySpace or Facebook pages to see all sorts of incriminating photos and written profiles…and then sacking the people with very dubious photos or who boast about their rather dodgy nightime interests. But generally they’re 20-something office workers…not teenage tennis players!

Naomi Broady and David Rice, promising British junior players, have both had their funding withdrawn by the Lawn Tennis Association for, essentially, breaching their contracts by behaving unprofessionally. They had posted up pictures and written about partying and drinking on their pages on the social networking site Bebo.

On Broady’s Bebo page, she wrote that she hated:

“hangovers after a good nite owt”

whilst Rice wrote that:

“you can’t beat Watford 4 a nyt out”

Shocking. Truly shocking. I mean, Watford? REALLY?!? Furthermore, I think they should be fined extra for this awful text speak, hahahaha LOL!!!11!

Best quote of all comes from Andy Murray, Britain’s number one tennis player, on the situation:

“I made some mistakes when I was 16 or 17 in Barcelona but now I don’t go out, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and none of the top players do.”

Blimey Andy, what happened in Barcelona?? Inquiring minds want to know!

UPDATE: The Sun has a little more, including one of the “offending” pics – Naomi Broadby posing with a condom machine…classy. It also says that her Bebo page stated she had “broken the law”. Wow! What could that be? Not paying the congestion charge? Ducking through customs after a shopping mini-break? Admitting to actually liking Pete Doherty? Oh wait, that last one’s not illegal…yet…