Troubled Hollywood

No, I’m not talking about Gumby and Pokey babies; I’m talking about a Clay Aiken baby, as soon as this August.

Just in case people didn’t speculate enough about his sexuality, TMZ and People are reporting that Clay Aiken has fathered a baby, but not in the usual way. He has inseminated his good friend, music producer Jaymes Foster, and the baby is due in August. Jaymes is the sister to better known producer David Foster, and she has been friends with Clay since his American Idol days. Supposedly Clay isn’t acting as just a sperm donor, as he plans to have an active role in the child’s life. He also stays at Jaymes’ house whenever he’s in the Los Angeles area.

Go ahead and keep speculating, but it still doesn’t prove anything, just because he chose to produce a child without having sex. David Crosby did the same thing for Melissa Etheridge. He was just helping out a friend. While it’s true she was gay, he wasn’t. However, he wasn’t seeking an active role as father in the child’s life, although the little girl does know that he is her father in some capacity.

I really don’t think this news makes us any closer to discovering the truth than we were before. We know that Clay likes children; he wanted to be a special education teacher, and his charity, the Bubel/Aiken Foundation helps out children with disabilities. Jaymes is older at 50, so she could be seeing this as her last ditch option to have a child.

All we know at this point, is he’s either simply helping out a friend, a la David Crosby, or he’s doing what he can now to further his own family legacy, a la Michael Jackson. I suspect it’s somewhere comfortably in the middle.

Photo courtesy of ramblestrip.com

Read Still the Purest Male Voice for a review of Clay’s latest CD, On My Way Here. Read more Clay Aiken news at SirLinksalot: Clay Aiken.

The film world is abuzz this weekend with the release of the newest Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull It’s been 26 years since Raiders of the Lost Ark was first released. Read Indiana Jones: Then and Now to find out what has changed in all this time, including Harrison Ford’s love life and the price of a movie ticket. Here’s a hint: Costar Shia LaBeouf wasn’t even born yet!

Photo Courtesy of indianajones.com

After a few days of testing, the results are finally in for Senator Ted Kennedy.

Saturday morning, after suffering an apparent seizure in Hyannisport, the senator was rushed to the hospital, then flown by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital. President Kennedy’s only surviving brother, at 76, was found to have a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Treatment hasn’t been decided on yet, but it will most likely involve chemotherapy and radiation. His doctors say he is in good spirits.

Photo courtesy of people.com

Apparently it doesn’t pay to makes promises to your audience, then have machinations behind the scenes to make sure it carries out as promised.

American Idol makes a habit of having one big elimination a season, from Chris Daughtry to Jennifer Hudson. But this season, they just couldn’t seem to hold on to the talent that had the bigger personalities. They promised us more personalities this season, but then gave these personalities tough themes to work with, ending in early dismissals of many that were thought to be serious final four, if not final two contenders.

Chikezie was pegged to go home early in the semi-finals, but then came on strong, especially during the Beatles weeks. Just when we were all falling in love with his style, he left. Michael Johns was an extremely handsome and personable transplanted Aussie, and while he struggled in the early weeks as well, he really came on strong. Just at the point we were making final two whispers, he got voted out. Despite Carly Smithson being repeatedly told she was the best female voice there, she was voted out before two of the weaker ones.

Then last week happened. Jason Castro, after continually being beaten down by the show, seemed to quit trying and just phoned his performance in. No one could blame him after being forced to sing Memory from Cats and receiving a critique from Paula Abdul before he even sang the song. Voters didn’t have a choice but to vote him out after that.

For whatever reason it all happened, it doesn’t seem to matter. The fans are speaking up … in the only way Fox will listen, by not tuning in. While American Idol is still number one and number two in the Nielsens, the Tuesday final three performance show, without Jason Castro, Carly Smithson, Michael Johns, or Chikezie, posted its lost audience in five years. They can say all they want that we’re the ones that voted these people out, but if people are getting upset enough to not watch, then the public isn’t being represented.

Fox is noticing, but I’m not sure they realize it’s in the way that Nigel Lythgoe and his judges wanted to feed the two Davids down our throat. They’re already promising changes for next season, finally agreeing to go back to a thirty minute format for the results show. Apparently we can only take so many “creatively chosen” viewer questions and only so much of cheesy group numbers that force a rocker to do hideous disco dancing.

You’re on the right track, Fox. Keep going. You have many more things to change before you put the show back to the way we like it, back to the way it was when we, the viewers, made it number one.

Photos Courtesy of americanidol.com

For more information on American Idol, see SirLinksalot: American Idol.

33-year-old Drew Barrymore was rear-ended in a hit and run accident Monday in West Hollywood. Uninjured, the ex-Charlies Angel star took off in pursuit of the other vehicle, and took down the license plate number, later handing it into the authorities.

There was no information available about damage to Barrymore’s car, but she was uninjured. The police admit it can be dangerous to follow someone in this type of situation, but they probably don’t realize she used to be an angel. That’s what she gets, I assume, for NOT riding in cars with boys.

This seems to be the big day Britney Spears has been waiting for for several months. After her children were taken away from her, and given to her ex, Kevin Federline, Spears has been working towards improving her life to get her little boys back, or at least it seems so.

Britney has started being visible at only the most important times, instead of the most inopportune times. She has been seen getting serious about workouts again, and has been seen working, and getting good reviews in the process, doing a cameo on How I Met Your Mother with Neil Patrick Harris. She did so well, according to the executive producer, that they were thrilled to have her tape another episode that will air May 12. Since their audience grew by a million viewers the last time she was on, though, I’m thinking that has more to do with it than her acting chops.

Today, it all comes to fruition as Spears and Federline are in court discussing their custody issues once again. While she had custody stripped originally after her stint in the psych ward, Federline has been allowing her to see the boys here and there. Perhaps today they’ll either get split custody restored, or she’ll get legal visitation rights.

Somehow this whole thing is ending up to be just as gripping as Meryl Streep wanting her kids back in Kramer vs. Kramer.

Photo courtesy of evilbeetgossip.film.com.

Check out my post about Meryl Streep over on the Movie Zen blog. She’s done everything from heavy dramas like Sophie’s Choice to cartoon voices like The Queen in Ant Bully and now this summer she’ll be starring in the musical, Mamma Mia! I’m kind of interested to see how she’ll do jamming to the ABBA music.

It was being reported earlier that Patrick Swayze was stricken with cancer, but new information directly from Swayze’s doctor tells us it’s not as grave as had been reported. While he indeed does have cancer, he’s responding well to treatment.

Swayze, 55, became a household name after tripping the light fantastic with Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing. He’d started out as a dancer, learning from his mother, and later turned to acting. In Dirty Dancing, he also sang She’s Like the Wind, which went on to become a hit. Roadhouse, Ghost, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julia Newmar are also among his credits.

While Swayze was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and this particular form of cancer usually spreads rapidly because it’s difficult to detect, his doctor assures us the reports of timeframe of prognosis or physical side effects are greatly exaggerated. His rep states he is continuing his work schedule, working on upcoming projects. Pancreatic cancer has a tendency to go undetected, one reason for it normally leading to grave prognoses.

I certainly hope his doctor and rep are speaking the truth here. It would be a shame to lose him.

I’ve had the time of my life.

Photo courtesy of allposters.com.

It was just too good to be true. This season was going along swimmingly for American Idol, with nary a scandal in sight. Until now. An ex-employer of semi-finalist, David Hernandez, has leaked the news that David worked for him as a stripper and lap dancer, fully nude, for his mostly male clientele.

Well, that’s an unexpected twist going into the week when we determine our final 12. Dick’s Cabaret’s club manager, Gordy Bryan, said yesterday that David was an employee of his for three years, but in September, he let his license run out. Common sense would tell us that would happen to coincide with when he was given his golden ticket to Hollywood.

Bryan says that David “had the look and the type that people like, so he made pretty good money here.” The funny thing about that? On his bio on americanidol.com, David says if there were one talent he could have if he couldn’t sing, it would be to dance, as he’s horrible at it. It seems like his customers thought he was quite good. Read more »

With American Idol the number one show, and in it’s current seventh season, Simon Cowell must be thinking he doesn’t have any trouble with staying power, and this is assumably why he turned down a multi-million dollar offer to be the face of Viagra.

Are they kidding me? Why on earth would Simon Cowell take them up on that offer? Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, and as harsh as he is to contestants, he’s usually right. I say usually, as I just got done listening to Daughtry, the guy Cowell didn’t want to put through to Hollywood as he thought he was lacking in confidence. Yet, Cowell has to be one of the most conceited guys out there. Like he wants us to think he has trouble in the sack?

He has a gorgeous girlfriend in Terri Seymour, and something tells me she’s there for more than Simon’s sparkling personality. There are many, many female contestants every single year to tell Simon how gorgeous he is, and it’s usually backed up with a “You’re even more gorgeous in person!” And this guy is going to consent to becoming the face of Viagra … at 48? Not surprisingly, Simon called the offer a f’ing insult.

In this same interview, Simon also admitted to wearing platform shoes, of at least an inch, to appear taller. He’s worried about us thinking he’s not that tall, but he’s going to go out there and hawk a sexual performance-enhancing drug? He also admits to regularly getting Botox treatments. Yet, he contradicts himself somewhat, by saying he has never dyed his hair, even though many think that thick head of dark hair isn’t natural. He says he wouldn’t ever do it anyway, regardless.

This is where he draws the line then, between wanting to appear as something other than who he is and just being Simon. On one side is platform shoes and Botox and on the other is hair dye and Viagra.

I have to admit that the prospect is so interesting to me, when I watch Simon on American Idol all three days this week, I’ll be thinking about him and Viagra, and how he doesn’t want to be associated with it, making us think he doesn’t need it. I think the news will actually help his popularity as women all over the world are now going to look at him and think … hmm, I wonder.

Photo Courtesy of timeinc.net.

For more on Simon, read My Conference Call With Simon.

For more information on American Idol, see SirLinksalot: American Idol.