Results tagged “celebrity”

Although the mystique and innovation of New York City has dimmed over the last few years -- what was once, as countless New Yorkers have described it to us, a mecca for richly-textured thought and poeples has now revealed itself as simply a large museum city brimming with tell-it-like-it-is-esque reality show contestant types -- the food culture there is as popular as ever. Even the chefs there still think of themselves as rock stars. Which is adorable.

Oh geez. That woman who was in that episode of Friends where Pheobe uses Ross' kid to try to get Sting tickets has "personally" invited 6,000 Bay Area Chevron employees to Crude, some sort of documentary about Ecuadorian rainforests, or oil, or eco-whatever.

According to Associated Press, "a publicist for Patrick Swayze says the Dirty Dancing actor has died." He succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

Hollywood producer and Vanity Fair scribe Dominick Dunne died today at 83. Self-described as a "a high-class Zelig," Dunne is best known for writing about the "courtroom travails of the rich and famous." He is also also known as the father of the Dominique Dunne, the actress who played the older daughter in Poltergeist, who was murdered by her boyfriend. Dunne "vented his anger at the legal system in Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer, following the murder trial of John Sweeney, the estranged boyfriend who strangled 22-year-old Dominique Dunne, in 1982. Sweeney spent fewer than three years in prison." Dunne died after battling cancer.

Sadly, we failed to catch this morning's episode of LIVE with Regis and Kelly!. We're sad because View from the Bay's Janelle Wang helped Regis with hosting duties. Wang was a guest host on the morning chatfest "after winning an online contest where viewers, nationwide, voted for her." At the start of the show, reports to KGO, Philbin asked Wang about her plans post-Regis/Kelly appearance. "You're doing very well with your career, what is your next step? When do you dump Spencer Christian?" asked Regis. "Spencer and I are partner and crimes," Janelle replied. Taking another stab at busting her chops, Regis poked, "Oh now, your network bound, big thing. Diane Sawyer can't hold on forever." To which Wang responded, "Thank you, but San Francisco is my home." (Aw!) Anyway, we've heard from several View from the Bay guests that Janelle is "super smart," "surprisingly funny," and "totally sweet," so she's aces in our book. To catch her in action, be sure to watch View From the Bay every weekday at 3 p.m. on ABC 7 or streamed live on viewfromthebay.com. To watch a clip of Janelle from this morning's Regis/Kelly, go here.

The drama never ends with these two. Once again, all is not well in the Wright-Penn house. According to People, Robin Wright Penn filed for divorce from her husband Sean Penn last week. While the Marin-based celebrity couple have an off-again/on-again marriage, this latest development seems somewhat definite. "The papers, filed in Marin County, Calif., on Aug. 12, state that 'both parties have already agreed to [shared] custody' over their minor son, Hopper Jack, 16, and that 'the estranged couple have already agreed to division of all property.'" (Just who gets to call Tosca home away from home is still up in the air.) Irreconcilable differences is listed as the reason for the divorce. The two, married in 1989, have filed for divorce twice, as recently as May of this year. This also puts an end to rumors that Sean Penn might, in fact, be gay. He's not. With this kind of chronic drama, he is officially a lesbian.

Creator of Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink, and The Breakfast Club, director/writer John Hughes, died today. According to TMZ, "Hughes suffered [a] heart attack while taking a morning walk during a trip to NYC to visit family." He was only 59.

Karl Malden, star of stage, screen and TV commercials, died yesterday. He was 97.

Billy Mays, 50, famously loud and bearded informmercial spokesman, died this morning. (Egads! First Ed, Farrah, Jackson, now this. Too much to bear, folks.) According to reports, Mays finished wrapping up an Oxiclean commercial in Philadelphia the other day, and returned home to Florida. He was found dead early this morning in his Tampa, Florida home by his wife. No word yet on his exact cause of death. But Deborah, Mays' wife, released the following statement, "Although Billy lived a public life, we don't anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times."

Two-time Academy Award winner and Marin resident Sean Penn filed for divorce from his wife, actress Robin Wright-Penn. Penn filed the papers on Friday. If you recall, Sean and Robin had planned on calling it quits back in December 2007, but reconciled. The thespianic couple, who have two children, starred in several movies together, including Hurlyburly (1998) and She’s So Lovely (1997). But the question remains, why are they breaking up? Who's to say. Maybe Penn and James Franco can finally be together? We can only hope.

Inexplicably managing not to spray the room with gunfire or hurl himself out of the nearest open window, TMZ's Harvey Levin spoke to students enrolled at the "elite" Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. TMZ, for the few of you not in the know, is a fantastic celebrity news site where you can find images of a beaten Rhianna or a postmortem Anna Nicole Smith; and Levin, a former lawyer and television producer, runs the joint. A few revelations Levin unveiled at Wednesday's talk? He doesn't hire writers, prefers to employs reporters who look like this; was asked by a J-schooler if he would be doing "more serious stories" at TMZ (answer: no); and declared "local news is dying, newspapers are dying."

These are the worst kind of people in the world, all together in one class. You will want to put your face through a window after watching this video. And then chew your thumbs off. And then bathe in a tub of Clorox. For six hours. Really, this is the Internet at its worst, when people see fame as an end, rather than a means to create and spread good and/or interesting content.

Sea Cliff's most famous ADHD comedian and Oscar winner, Robin Williams, has been hospitalized. According to his publicist, Mork "needs heart surgery and must cancel the remainder of his one-man comedy show, 'Weapons of Self-Destruction.'" Otherwise, the furry funnyman might literally self-destruct. Heh. Anyway, get well, Robin!

laid out the accomplishments of newly middle-aged "PR pro" Lori Puccinelli Stern, she left off our favorite: defender and fellow bee-savior of Holy Mother of San Francisco.

Following on the heels of other YouTube stars such as Chris Crocker and the Chocolate Rain guy, Mayor Gavin Newsom continues to harness the awesome power of the world wide web via a nifty new YouTube page. (New-ish, anyway. It says he joined in October.)

Unless it involves children assaulting their own mothers, having mimicking young punks removed from the set, or nubile teens hooked on heroin, we wouldn't recommend an episode of Dr. Phil. Until today. See, Mayor Gavin Newsom, on the road to the state capitol, will make an appearance on Phil McGraw's show. Sadly, the topic of discussion won't be Robin McGraw's jarring attempts at cosmetic surgery. Instead, Newsom will be talking about Prop. 8, the same-sex marriage ban. It starts at 5 p.m. on KRON 4, which, yes, is surprisingly still on the air.

Known as one of the only places in SF where you can get Cheese on a Stick, SFPD couldn't control the scene San Francisco's Stonestown Galleria this morning. It seems 22-year-old British actor Robert Pattinson -- who played Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies, and most notably stars in the "Twilight" -- caused a mini-riot.

            

Scores of Hollywood folk came to Davies Symphony Hall last night to remember Paul Newman, who passed away recently, by performing a staged reading of "The World of Nick Adams," an adaptation by A. E. Hotchner of some of Ernest Hemingway's early autobiographical stories.

Hey, is that Craig Newmark? Riding Muni?

Well, it was a stellar weekend for actress/Standford grad/former SFist commenter Jennifer Siebel. First, she became San Francisco's reigning queen. Siebel, 34, and the Gav, 40, were hitched on Saturday in Stevensville, Montana. The ceremony was officiated by Carol Simone, a "close friend."

No, no, thank you for being a friend, Sophia Petrillo. Sniff, sob. Getty died at her home on Hollywood Boulevard in LA. She was 84.

(By Joe Kukura)

Inspiration to many left-leaning political activists, writers, and observational humorists, comedian/social satirist/pottymouth George Carlin died of heart failure today at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. He was 71.

An SFist reader spotted comedian Dave Chappelle walking on Market Street the other day, interrupted his privacy, and snapped up the photo at left. (Thanks, Flickr user 3dollarbilly!) What he also caught was the now dead CompUSA store haunting and taunting us in the background.

              

David Beckham's gargantuan Armani underwear poster splattered against the side of the Macy's building to much acclaim yesterday. "Just in time for gay-wedding gift shopping," declares Gawker, here are some shots of the man's monstrous, 100% cotton-sheathed unit as it's being unleashed to the hungry masses below.

Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief, citizen of the Bay Area. Tempestuous celebrity couple Sean Penn and Robin Wright-Penn have withdrawn their petition for a divorce. Apparently, the Oscar winning method actor took to the stage this past Monday night at some sort of Eddie Vedder cabaret revue and "reportedly dedicating a song to his wife."

Noted Marin resident/incendiary actor, Sean Penn, and noted tsunami survivor/Russian Czech model, Petra Nemcova, noticeably attended last night's Academy Awards show together. It is presumed that the two of them have had sexual intercourse with each other.

We were a tad disappointed when our only celebrity pregnant buddy turned out to be boring old Jessica Alba. Perhaps we were a bit too capricious in our disappointment, since news broke earlier today that 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, sister to Britney Spears, is 12-weeks pregnant. There are so many snarky things we could say about the Zoey 101 star, but we didn't want to ruin the fun for all our clever readers.

-- Doug Benson: How he didn't win the last season of Last Comic Standing is above and beyond all logic. Then again, competitive reality TV makes little sense at times. (See: Banks, Tyra) Benson managed to make it on LCS not once, but twice. And with good reason: he's downright hilarious. Nikki Glaser and Mo Mandel open for the Benson. Show starts at 8 p.m. (and continues until Saturday) at the Punch Line; $15.

-- The Gold Rush (1925): The Tramp makes his stamp here (via playing with his food) as one of America's most beloved comedic characters of the silent era. Screens tonight at 8:45 p.m. at the Castro Theatre; $6-9.