Celebrities Category
Celebrity news & gossip from the world’s showbiz and glamour magazines (OK!, Hello, National Enquirer and more). We read them so you don’t have to, picking the best bits from the showbiz world’s maw and spitting it back at them. Expect lots of sarcasm.
1971: The Glastonbury Fayre Where Only The New Pyramid Stage Was Plastic
FLASHBACK to Glastonbury 20–24 June 1971.
Before Glastonbury became a corporate BBC-sponsored event – and how Aunty Beeb kills the cool with her patronage – it was free and fun.
Wikipedia:
The Glastonbury Fayre of 1971 was instigated by Andrew Kerr after being found and introduced to Michael Eavis by David Trippas and organised with help from Arabella Churchill, Thomas Crimble,Bill Harkin, Gilberto Gil, Mark Irons, and Jytte Klamer. The 1971 festival featured the first incarnation of the “Pyramid Stage”. Conceived by Bill Harkin the stage was a one-tenth replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza built from scaffolding and metal sheeting and positioned over a blind spring which was found by dowsing.
Performers included David Bowie, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Quintessence, Hawkwind, Skin Alley, The Worthy Farm Windfuckers and Melanie. It was paid for by its supporters and advocates of its ideal, and embraced a mediaeval tradition of music, dance, poetry, theatre, lights and spontaneous entertainment. The 1971 festival was filmed by Nicolas Roeg and David Puttnam and was released as a film called simply Glastonbury Fayre.
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Glastonbury Is Dead But ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’
FOR people who don’t like hippies, festival-goers, indie music, ridiculous gig flags, wankers in bucket hats, posh girls in bindhis, heritage rock bands and wacky BBC presenters, the blanket coverage of the Glastonbury Festival is worse than a million Royal Weddings.
The bad news for Glastohaters is that the event has just had its license renewed for another decade.
And Glastonbury gaffer Emily Eavis – she took it over from her dad, Michael – has promised that ‘the best is yet to come’.
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The Real Life Barbie Manages To Get Her Racism The Wrong Way Around
OK, so there’s being good looking and stupid, not an unknown combination, and then there’s being freakish looking and being a blind bloody idiot. Which is what seems to have happened to this real life Barbie Doll of ours:
‘Human Barbie’ Valeria Lukyanova has claimed that interracial couples are making the human race uglier and sparking a rise in plastic surgery.
The cosmetically-enhanced model, 28, who is from the Ukraine, told GQ magazine: ‘Ethnicities are mixing now, so there’s degeneration, and it didn’t used to be like that.
‘Remember how many beautiful women there were in the 1950s and 1960s, without any surgery? And now, thanks to degeneration, we have this. A Russian marries an Armenian, they have a kid, a cute girl, but she has her dad’s nose. She goes and files it down a little, and it’s all good.’
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Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment
Wu Tang Clan: Releasing One Copy Too Many Of Their New LP
WU TANG CLAN have never been more popular, mainly because people who don’t really like hip hop really like wearing their t-shirts, throwing up ironic ‘Wu’ handsigns in photographs and smoking weed now and then. For real fans of The Wu, they know how arduous it is trying to follow everything they do.
What that actually means is that, when you factor in all the solo albums, collabs and guest spots, there’s an amazing amount of dreck released under the Wu banner. There’s gold in them thar Wu Hills, but by god, you have to dig deep to find it these days.
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Eegah! 10 Amazingly Bad Movie Titles
WHAT’S the worst movie title of all time? Freddy Got Fingered (2001) and Stop! Or my Mom will Shoot (1992) are often cited as contenders. One that nearly earned a victory for worst is Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters (2007) – an immensely serious film which very nearly is The Master Debaters. Close but no cigar. The unpronounceable film The Rural Juror could have walked away with an easy victory. Alas, it’s a fictitious film from the TV show 30 Rock. Disqualified.
Perhaps, it’s best to look back a few decades. It may not be possible to scientifically lay out the all-time worst, but we can certainly make like Freddy and Finger a few candidates.
10. Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1973)
Sometimes a title is just trying to be get our attention by its ridiculousness [i.e. I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990). For low budget films without a lot of financial resources for promotion, the best way to lure audiences is via a sensational title. So, I understand the rationale, and am sure it served its purpose; however, the title is still horrible. Functional, but horrible.
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Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Film, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment (1)
Peaches Geldof: An Untimely Death Was Her Tabloid Destiny
WHEN police announced that Peaches Geldof had died the newspapers rushed to shout “first”. Her death at 25 is a shocks. To her husband and two young children it is a tragedy. To the media it’s a result.
The celebrity death is heralded by people on social media shouting “FIRSTS!” and the “ker-ching” of big media’s cash register. Who can be first to dash out a few hundred words of speculation veering between the mawkish an the insulting about the dead person they never knew?
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Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Modern Job Ad Of The Year: Beyonce Pays Her Interns In Selfies
WANT to wok for Beyonce Knowles, the minter pop goddess? Well, here’s is your big chance to live the dream – to get paid in selfies:
Spotter: @carrozo, Daniel Storey @danielstorey85
Posted: 7th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Money | Comment
Peaches Geldof: Death Inspires Metro To Produce The Most Horrendous Front Page Of All Time
PEACHES Geldof has died. The vivacious, fun, entertaining and smart daughter of the late Paul Yates and Bob Geldof has died aged 25. She leaves behind a husband and two young sons.
So. How does the Metro newspaper report on the death of a young woman and her bereft family?
What mind thought that was a good front page?
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Posted: 7th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comments (2)
The Goonies Are To Return… Which No-One Really Wants
The house shown in this photo taken May 24, 2001, in Astoria, Ore., was used in the Steven Spielberg film “The Goonies.” Nearly 17 years after the 1985 release, the home where the main characters live in Astoria still draws dozens of Goonie fans every week, and hundreds of people per month during the summer from around the world. (AP Photo/Stepanie Firth)
NOSTALGIA is a wonderful thing, provided you keep it where it is. 30somethings who have gone back to watch old cartoons they loved as kids are often found sobbing, depressed lumps sat in waterless baths, feeling cheated and hurt, like they’d summoned up a repressed abuse at the hands of school bullies.
Of course, some things stand the test of time, if you don’t pick at it. The Mysterious Cities of Gold is still oddly deep and perfect, but a redux of it would be like taking a great shit on the one meal that reminds you of the glory of your childhood.
And now, the director of The Goonies, Richard Donner, has said a sequel to The Goonies is in the works.
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Posted: 7th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Film | Comment
Peaches Geldof Has Died. Now That Is Tragic
PEACHES Geldof has died aged 25. Peaches Geldof, the daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, has died at the age of 25.
That is tragic.
She was vivacious, funny and a good journalist.
Peaches Geldof
Speaking to Elle Magazine in 2013, Peaches said:
“I remember the day my mother died, and it’s still hard to talk about it. I just blocked it out. I went to school the next day because my father’s mentality was ‘keep calm and carry on. So we all went to school and tried to act as if nothing had happened. But it had happened. I didn’t grieve. I didn’t cry at her funeral. I couldn’t express anything because I was just numb to it all. I didn’t start grieving for my mother properly until I was maybe 16.”
She was married to musician Thomas Cohen, with whom she had two sons, Astala, one, and Phaedra, who will turn one on 24 April.
Tragic.
Posted: 7th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment
1978: Spiderman’s Celebrity Party (Can You Name All The Guests?)
FLASHBACK to 1978: Spiderman’s Celebrity Party
January 1978 cover of Marvel’s Pizzazz magazine. The magazine only lasted 16 issues.
Can you name them all?
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Posted: 5th, April 2014 | In: Books, Celebrities, Flashback | Comment
Courtney Love Reads Kurt Cobain’s Handwritten Suicide Note (1994)
KURT Cobain left a long hand-written suicide note. It included the words of Neil Young from the song “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue): “Better to burn out / than to fade away,” Neil Young is 68 years old. Cobain was just 27 when he ended his life 20 years ago this weekend.
Neil Young referenced Cobain’s death in his autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace.
“I, coincidentally, had been trying to reach him. I wanted to talk to him. Tell him only to play when he felt like it.”
On 8 April 1994, the heroin-addicted, shy Nirvana front man was found dead in his Seattle home – three day after he’d died.
He left behind a wife Courtney Love and his one-year-old daughter, Frances Bean.
Many worshipped Cobain, leader of the death cult. Even in death, his celebrity was all.
But not for everyone. In my house, my mother said one thing: “He took the coward’s way out.” I can’t but feel that’s more like the kind of thing he needed in his life. Forget the adulation and the fans who want a piece of you. Get someone you love to tell you to refocus, mature and see the bigger picture.
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Posted: 5th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Music | Comment
Watch Jon Ham Strike Out On 1990s Love Show The Big Date
JON Ham aged well. In the mid 1990s, Ham appeared on the TV dating show The Big Date, hosted by Mark Walberg.The man who would knock them bandy as Mad Men’s Don Draper strikes out.
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Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, TV & Radio | Comment
James Franco On Cloud 17: Conspiracy Theories And 1970s-Style Honest-To-Goodness Perviness For Teenage Girl
AS you’re probably aware, arch-hipster James Franco has been rumbled online, trying to tap off with a 17 year old Scottish girl. A variety of messages were batted back and forth, with Franco being a little persistent in trying to get his end away.
Now, there’s something of a conspiracy theory, which sees some people saying that this is a sly publicity stunt for his new film – Palo Alto – where plays a football coach who seduces his 14-year-old baby sitter.
Either way, something very interesting and troubling happened in the immediate fallout – the press, initially, were rather amused by it. The tone was “Whoopsie! Caught with your pants down! Arf!”
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Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities | Comment
Tom Daley Is Gay, Not Bisexual, Okay?
IMAGINE this: everyone in the world announces that they’re bisexual. Seems trite, but if everyone was bi, then it would stop the need for people to ‘come out’ and indeed, newspapers wouldn’t need to write stories about people ‘switching sides’ or indeed, as we’re seeing with Tom Daley, clarifying exactly which set of genitals he’s most interested in.
The 19-year-old told the world that he was bi on YouTube in December, saying: “Of course I still fancy girls, but right now, I’m dating a guy and I couldn’t be happier.”
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Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Darren ‘Sumbarine’ Gough and ex-TOWIE ‘Star’ Amy Childs Are In A ‘Plutonic’ Relationship
HOT, steamy celebrity gossip is the lifeblood of the tabloid press, and never more so than in the Daily Mail’s report of the fallout following the revelation of an alleged affair between ex-cricketer Darren ‘Sumbarine’ Gough and ex-TOWIE ‘star’ Amy Childs.
Both parties deny that any funny business occurred, and insist that they are just friends.
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Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment
Chicks Dig Accordions! Vintage Vinyl and Squeezebox Groupies
TO HELL with the electric guitar. That may attract a flock of dirty groupies, but the real chick magnet is the accordion. Sure, it has a reputation as being even less sexy than a French horn, but don’t believe the hype. A look at this stack of old accordion LPs, and you’ll quickly see that the instrument of desire isn’t the guitar, drums or microphone, it’s the mad love machine called The Accordion.
(Lots more vintage gold on Flashbak.com)
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Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Key Posts, Music | Comments (3)
Now Look What Their Doing To Kurt Cobain: He’s A Musical
Kurt Cobain’s stash box
WHEN Kurt Cobain died, a whole generation lost one of their favourite icons. While he wasn’t necessarily a spokesperson for everyone through his songs, there was something very pleasing about his stance against business, phoney or otherwise. He was just about the only superstar who actively championed bands who needed the publicity as well.
Can you imagine any band now hailing the virtues of Teenage Fanclub and The Vaselines on international TV?
However, Cobain died and we didn’t see his like again. So what became of his legacy? Well, it didn’t take too long for unreleased music to get hastily stuck on some compilations and Nirvana t-shirts to get reissued by the buttload. And then Cobain appeared in a video game, which was fun but weird.
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Dear Christians: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Complain About Noah
Russell Crowe arriving for the premiere of the film Noah held at the Odeon Leicester Square, central London.
THE new film about Noah, starring Russell Crowe, has been causing a lot of grief among certain religious types. Of course, most religious people have a faith strong enough to brush off some poxy film, but we’re looking at those shrieking mentals who can’t stay calm or, it seems, apply logic to a situation.
The film tells the famous story about Noah and his ark. God gets wrathful and sends a flood which is destined to wipe everything out. Destroying everything in a flood seems a bit snide, but as we all know, God is a vengeful so-and-so. And presumably, floating and water-breathing creatures weren’t at all bothered by this, to which we glean that God has no problem with ducks or fish. They’re the most saintly animals, obviously.
However, there’s a few Christians that are not at all happy with a Biblical tale being shown on the big screen. Instead of being happy that the word of God is being distributed worldwide, coupled with a very famous actor, they are furious.
Why?
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Before They Went Solo: Early Bands Of Bowie, Elton And Others
Billy Joel’s hard rock duo – Attila
MUSICIANS like Billy Joel and Elton John didn’t start out as solo acts. Like nearly all solo pop stars, they began as just another member of a band. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at musicians who we primarily identify as being solo acts and see what bands they were in before venturing out on their own and making it big.
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Posted: 3rd, April 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comments (2)
