Celebrity Chatters

The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards are coming our way once again, and as I skimmed the nominees for this year, I started to feel perplexed. Some of the nominees are totally appropriate, but others make me scratch my head, and I could think of other videos from this year that are far more deserving.

Maybe it's a sign of the times, but did you know that there used to be categories for awards like Best Post-Modern Video and Best Concept Video? I feel like they used to at least acknowledge groundbreaking work in music videos, but because of the decreasing airtime for videos on MTV, maybe there just isn't a need anymore? I'm not sure, but I do know that there are some videos I would add to the mix on Sept. 7 if I could.

To see who I'd add and to chime in your own favorite videos for each category,

read more

First off, this strange little trailer thing with subtitles is freakishly long (over four minutes!) and feels longer. This does not bode well for the comedy from My Big Fat Greek Wedding's Nia Vardalos.

When last we heard about My Life in Ruins, it was because Vardalos became the first filmmaker to be allowed to shoot inside the Acropolis. I was totally excited for this movie at that time. Now? Not so much.

From the trailer I'm guessing that — not unlike My Big Fat Greek Wedding — our protagonist learns how to love herself, loosen up and be confident, and from there everything falls into place for her. But the getting-there part looks ridiculously boring. When the majority of laughs come from Rachel Dratch's supporting character, we're in trouble.

Frankly, I am so disappointed! I really wanted Vardalos to have a big hit with this movie but she just isn't very engaging in the preview. Maybe there will be a better, official trailer before (if?) My Life in Ruins opens in theaters (the date of which is unknown). To check it out for yourself,

read more

The 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards are fast approaching! Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be taking a closer look at the nominees in several major categories and offering my guesses for who's most likely to win in these Emmy Breakdowns. Today's category is Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy; click "Start" to see my thoughts, and don't forget to vote at the end!

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! What does "LL Cool J" stand for?
Source

• Fox has repeats of House and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
• NBC has 2008 Olympics coverage
• CBS has repeats of NCIS and Without a Trace and is new with Big Brother
• ABC has repeats of Wipeout and Wanna Bet and is new with Primetime: Medical Mysteries
• The CW has repeats of Beauty and the Geek and Reaper
• MTV has Making the Band and From Gs to Gents
• VH1 has Brooke Knows Best
• Lifetime is new with How to Look Good Naked
• Bravo is new with Million Dollar Listing
• ABC Family is new with The Secret Life of the American Teenager
• Comedy Central has repeats of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report
• Sci Fi is new with Eureka
• Late-night highlights include Shia LaBeouf on a repeat of Late Show With David Letterman on CBS, and Rainn Wilson on a repeat of Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on CBS

As most of you know, I've got my head buried in entertainment news all day and so — I'm not going to lie — sometimes when I turn on Comedy Central at night at watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report I'm definitely looking to learn about the news of the day from comedians.

I felt a little less guilty about this when I read a recent New York Times profile of Jon Stewart that calls his show "a genuine cultural and political force," and notes that in a study about the most admired journalists in America, Jon Stewart came in fourth place.

I find this kinda funny considering neither Stewart nor Colbert is an actual journalist. Do you get your news from Comedy Central's fake news shows?

Source

Do You Get Your News From The Daily Show/Colbert Report?

Yes. I prefer these guys to the more traditional news sources.

No. They're entertaining but not my main source.

Some of it. Using comedy, they actually get at the truth a lot of the time!

Other (I'll tell you below)

It's not every day that the film adaptation of a well-loved book appears to capture the same atmosphere and sentiments that the book does, but in my opinion, the trailer for The Secret Life of Bees looks like it might do just that. I loved the novel by Sue Monk Kidd; it was one of those books that left me feeling sad at the end because I had to part with characters I'd come to care about deeply.

The story follows 14-year-old Lily (Dakota Fanning) whose mother died, leaving Lily with an abusive father. Together with her caregiver Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), Lily runs away from her father, and the two wind up at a pink house and under the protection of four smart, strong, beekeeping sisters.

The trailer does seem to veer into sappiness a few times, but is just grounded enough to avoid looking like a Lifetime TV movie. Queen Latifah has a solid, maternal way about her in this role, which is refreshing, and it's really great to see Dakota Fanning playing an older character. Alicia Keys has a good presence onscreen, and I may be most excited to see Sophie Okonedo (who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Hotel Rwanda), whom I find absolutely mesmerizing every time I see her in another movie.

The Secret Life of Bees opens October 17. To see what I'm talking about,

read more

"You might incur some wrath from the powers that be, but so what?" — Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas has had the unique experience of covering every president since JFK from the front row of the Beltway press corps. She began the tradition of ending each presidential press conferences with a signature "Thank you, Mr. President." Fittingly, this is the title of a documentary about her career that will premiere on HBO tonight.

Thomas first came to my attention as that feisty lady asking President Bush some seriously tough questions about the war in Iraq. I also fondly remember her participation in the controversial Stephen Colbert bit at the 2006 White House Correspondence dinner in which he jokingly referred to her as "Doubting Thomas."

When I heard HBO and Rory Kennedy (daughter of Bobby Kennedy) were doing a documentary on her life, I pried the screener DVD from my friend Citizen's hands and hunkered down to learn about being a woman in a male-dominated field, how the heck she earned that position in the first place, the toughest questions she ever asked a president, her perspective on journalism today, etc. To see what I thought of the doc and to view a trailer,

read more