Star Sighting: "The Hills"

Last night, Lauren and Whitney of "The Hills" were eating at Da Silvano, the restaurant below my apartment, with two boys. Double date perhaps? Is it just me or does one of the guys look like Trey (the fashion designer) from "Laguna Beach"? They look so bored - is that what normal people look like when they go out to dinner? The above picture is the only one I could get before they stopped letting me use flash. I took some video with my camera, as well. I think I have discovered my calling as a paparazzo! Please to enjoy... My directorial debut!

Pop Guru's Cool Crap to Check Out

Since I'm usually obsessed with some TV show, movie, etc., I figured I should start a segment where I share some recommendations for all of you fellow pop culture fans. Pop Guru's Cool Crap to Check Out, if you will.

TV Shows: I'm a fan of all things reality (read: trash) and usually have a lot of shows I need to catch up on. I've only seen the pilot episode of "The Fashionista Diaries" (Wednesdays @ 9PM, SOAPnet), but I'm already hooked. Six young New Yorkers interning at Jane magazine (now kaput), Flirt! Cosmetics, and Showroom Seven are desperately trying to make a name for themselves in the cutthroat fashion industry. Ok, so maybe the fact that I can identify with some of the situations has something to do with my liking the show, but regardless, it's like "Laguna Beach" with careers. Hookups, jealousy, clawing your way to the top, and stabbing someone in the back with your Jimmy Choo stiletto heel... It doesn't get any better than that.

Other stuff I'm watching: I'm trying to get into "John from Cincinnati", but it doesn't really grab my attention just yet. DVR is calling my name right now to catch up on this week's "Big Love" and "Rescue Me". I'm also (shamefully) intrigued by "Fat March" and will watch that on DVR at some point, as well.

Movies: The only movie I've seen in the theater lately is The Simpsons Movie. It was funny, but very Al Gore influenced. Perhaps if I was still watching "The Simpsons" regularly, I would have enjoyed it more.

Movies out now that I want to see: Hairspray, No Reservations, 2 Days in Paris, The Ten, Once.

DVDs: My Netflix Queue is quite large (I'm at 470 movies on my list... You're only allowed 500) and I can never decide what I want to watch. But I've just finished the second disc of "Freaks and Geeks" and I'm so pissed that I have to wait three days for disc three! The show was created by Judd Apatow, director of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up and stars many faces you are familiar with from those movies. Seth Rogen and James Franco got their start in show business as two of the "Freaks". In the second episode of the show, the kids get "wasted" off of non-alcoholic beer and hilarity ensues. "Freaks and Geeks" only lasted one season before NBC pulled it (the bastards!). I must caution you before you pop it in your DVD player though... "Freaks and Geeks" may force you to remember some of your terribly awkward high school moments you have tried so desperately to forget.

What else I have at home: Avenue Montaigne and Shooter (I can't resist Mark Wahlberg!).

Books: I'm currently reading several books, but the one I've been trying to finish since Christmas is What Jackie Taught Us about life lessons on style and grace from Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (lessons I clearly need).

Also reading: Blink and Think and Grow Rich.

Now you have plenty of crap to check out. Get on it!

Inappropriate Pictures of Teens and, of course, Britney Spears

Uhhh... Does anyone else feel like they might be arrested for looking at this photo? I mean, really! I think of Zac Efron, star of Hairspray and Disney movie High School Musical, as a minor... A minor whose six-pack I should not be staring at. I know he is 19, but it still feels very inappropriate since he usually plays adolescents. I can't believe Disney ever let this go to press. Walt is rolling over in his grave at this very moment.


- Kevin Federline filed for primary physical custody of Sean Preston and Jayden James Federline today. I'm guessing with the latest Us Weekly cover submitted as evidence, he'll take home those kids for good, as well as any kids within a fifteen mile radius of Britney. The latest scandal for ol' Britney is getting wasted and swimming in a hot tub topless while making out with 21-year-old college student Matt Encinias. Britney just gets classier every second. To see some pictures of this sacred moment, click here. Oh, yeah... She crashed into a parked car this week, too.

- Scary Spice Melanie Brown wed boyfriend Stephen Belafonte in Las Vegas on June 6. She kept that relatively secret, unlike her recent love affair with the media regarding baby daddy Eddie Murphy.

- Amy Winehouse is being treated for exhaustion. Because canceling show after show after show can really take a lot of a performer.

- The new Bachelor is "Southern gentleman" Brad Womack from Texas. And I'm absolutely certain ABC will portray him as a smart, well-educated person. That's how every Southerner is portrayed on reality shows. We have so much to be proud of.

- The MTV Video Music Awards nominees have been announced.

- Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton are expecting their second child together.

- Sara Gilbert, better known as Darlene on "Roseanne", gave birth to a baby girl named Sawyer this week. She and partner Allison Adler also have a son, Levi Hank.

- TMZ is counting down the days until Hayden Panettiere turns 18. Time as of this posting: 12 days, 1 hour, 47 minutes, and 29 seconds.

- I totally get what Kate Hudson sees in Dax Shepherd. Guys who wear headbands are such hot commodities...


Photos: Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, Edward Herrera / ABC, INFdaily.com

New Managers, Losing Kids, and Snake Venom

With all of my newfound fame, I guess I have to update more often now, huh?


- Britney Spears got herself a new manager, y'all! Not that anything will help her at this point, but Brit Brit has hired Jeff Kwatinez to manage her career... A man Kelly Clarkson once fired. I wonder what he will propose to save her from entertainment extinction?

- Oops, she did it again. I can't believe I just said that. Britney Spears actually made a smart move for once. Instead of a repeat performance of her now infamous greasy fingers OK! magazine feature, Britney canceled her interview with Allure four times. She did participate in the photo shoot for the mag and will be the September cover girl but since she never took the time to actually speak to the magazine, they are running a cover article with the title “Britney Spears: Tells Us Nothing and Everything.” I guess my mom was right... Silence is golden.

- Paris Hilton got a rash in jail? Are you sure she didn't have that before she turned herself in?

- There have been reports that Madonna may not be able to adopt little Malawian David, who I totally forgot existed. But Madge says not to worry about her expanding brood. “The information regarding the adoption that was reported on Reuters is simply not accurate,” Madonna’s rep Liz Rosenberg tells 24Sizzler.com.

- Turns out Jack Nicholson might have a couple of illegitimate children. Is anyone surprised? This man is known for sleeping with a different woman every day of the week, so I'm sure there's been a couple of accidents here or there. A new unauthorized biography is claiming that Jack has fathered a handicapped son and refuses to accept paternity. In Five Easy Decades, author Dennis McDougal writes that Nicholson is "known 'by most counts' to have one legitimate daughter and five love children". He also says, "There are two other possibles whom those closest to Jack whisper about, including one young man who lives with handicaps brought on by his actress mother's drug abuse... These are among the closely held secrets he has generally succeeded in keeping from his fans." Abe Somer, Jack's lawyer, tells Page Six, "The allegations of the handicapped son are false and inaccurate. There is no handicapped son of Mr. Nicholson."

- Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards are about to duke it out in court again. Charlie wants to get rid of those pesky supervisors required during his time with his children, Lola and Sam. Page Six reports that Denise wants another baby so bad, that she even asked Charlie to father a new child. Charlie, however, is engaged to Brooke Mueller. Denise reportedly sent flowers to congratulate the newly engaged couple, but a source claims that Brooke never received any flowers but did receive an emergency call from Denise. When Brooke arrived to meet Denise and the kids, there was no emergency, but there was paparazzi conveniently at the scene. Denise denies this stating, "I did ask both Charlie and Brooke to lunch to see the kids - he hadn't seen them in two weeks - but only Brooke took me up on it. The paparazzi were already following me, as they do every day, and took a picture - and I have the bill for the flowers I sent from Mark's Garden. Brooke even showed my nanny the flowers." I wonder if those flowers stunk of shit like Denise's story?

- In other child custody news, Anne Heche and ex Coley Laffoon have been ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluations to determine who should get custody of their son, Homer. Forget all the legal stuff anymore. Is there a way to just start taking kids from celebrities? Someone should look into that. (Ahem, Los Angeles Child Services - this means you.)

- Justin Timberlake is collaborating with Madonna and... Reba?!

- Gwyneth Paltrow uses snake venom as a cure for wrinkles? That's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard, but I'd probably try it as an alternative to the needles that come along with Botox.

- Maddox Jolie-Pitt turned six this weekend.

- Ah, election time. Rock the Vote, but remember it's your choice to keep your vote private. Or you can just be like celebrities and make your donations very well known. Below is a list of the political candidates and who is supporting them (and what some donated).

Team Obama: Jennifer Aniston ($2300), Halle Berry ($2300), Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, George Clooney, Tyra Banks
Team Clinton: Martha Stewart ($4600), Donald Trump Jr. ($4000)
Team Giuliani: Kelsey Grammar ($2300), Ben Stein ($750)

- If you've got some time to kill, I recommend watching several episodes of "Clark and Michael". It follows the adventures of Michael Cera (who those of you who are awesome know as George-Michael Bluth from "Arrested Development" and the upcoming Superbad) and BFF Clark Duke as they try to sell their script to the big-wigs in LA, to no avail. The interaction between the two is awkward but lovable and the rejection is hilarious, with one exec telling Michael he lacks appeal to audiences because of his lack of a jaw. The episodes are online though, so be prepared to spend some time in front of your computer. The opening credits themselves are pretty hysterical and so 80's, making that alone worth the first few minutes.

- This t-shirt is at the top of my birthday list...



Photos: Thesuperficial.com; shop.hasselhoff.com.

It's Showtime!

This is it, people! I've hit the big time! Well, big for me. Pop Guru is featured on the "Blog Buzz" page on the official Showtime "Weeds" website!!! I'm ecstatic about the mention! And if you loyal Guru fans continue to tell friends and family, who knows what can happen? First Showtime, next... Internet domination!

Check it out here.

Where art thou, La Lohan?

Nicole Richie will serve her four days, if that, at the same Lynwood jail Paris Hilton stayed at. And she's finally claiming her baby, telling Diane Sawyer that she is four months along and daddy is Joel Madden. And in totally unrelated news, the ladies on "The View" discussed today how to tell your child they were an accident. No, I am not kidding. Why do you ask?

- Speaking of "The View", the new bland panelist is Whoopi Goldberg. Fun fact of the day: Did you know Whoopi had her own talk show back in the '90s? It only lasted one season, so I don't think Whoopi related to the masses. Don’t you know you have to be a lesbian to make a solo talk show soar, Whoopi? Rosie did it, Ellen did it, Oprah did it. Otherwise, you end up with a cancelled chatfest and a broken heart like Tempestt Bledsoe.

- Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are officially divorced. Who would have thought that Kevin's reputation would be the one getting a boost from divorcing Brit? It's rumored that Britney, ever the example, constantly feeds her kids Doritos and soft drinks. So much that poor Sean Preston's teeth are decaying and yellowing, prompting Britney to ask a dentist about teeth whitener for the child. Even worse, when Brit misplaces her pack of cigarettes, “she’ll actually turn to Sean and say, ‘Baby, where are Mama’s lollipops?’ Sean runs, gets her cigarettes and brings them back to her." She's also been making death threats to the paparazzi. I think the only thing that will save her career at this point is to fake her death. Hey... It worked for Tupac.

- Lindsay Lohan is lucky this week, what with all the insane antics of Britney and the pregnant inmate Nicole. She has been able to hide her car chase from last week quite nicely amongst all the other starlets' news. She is supposedly getting help and her mother Dina is finally by her side. But they are not free from trouble just yet... Dina is being sued for not refunding $400,000 that was lent to her to help her jumpstart lil' LiLo's career all those years ago.

- Maybe Faith Hill and Tim McGraw should get some security at their concerts. At one show last weekend, one fan stole Tim's ring off his hand and another grabbed his, uh, area. Faith was having none of it, and I don't blame her! She told the crotch grabber, "Somebody should teach you some class, my friend."

- Usher's wedding to pregnant Tameka Foster was canceled last weekend. He wanted Jean Georges to cater the affair. She wanted barbecue. With an argument as important as that, naturally the nuptials were called off.

- One wedding that did end in "I do", Steve Martin married writer Anne Stringfield.

- According to Kanye West, "Only white people and older black people say 'bling' now." Well, what the hell am I supposed to call my 20 pound gold and diamond chain hanging around my neck?

- "Prison Break" star Lane Garrison may not have to serve time for his DUI that killed a young man.

- Tension is running high on MTV's "The Hills". Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag "hate each other so much" that they refuse to even promote the show together. They had to shoot promotional photos of Heidi separately and Photoshop her in. I can't wait to see how it all plays out when the third season premieres on MTV August 13 at 10pm.

- Bullocks! I just realized that the season premiere of "The Hills" conflicts with the season premiere of "Weeds"! Sorry, LC, but I have to know what happens to Nancy and Conrad - and all of that pot. "Weeds" also premieres at 10pm August 13 on Showtime, but you can watch the season premiere here. The password is MONDAYS if you don't want to register.

- Those of us who long for our days in frats and sorats can rejoice! abcfamily's "Greek" has been renewed for ten more episodes.

- Dolly Parton has started her own record label, Dolly Records.

- Gary Coleman was arrested for disorderly conduct in Utah this past weekend. Insert "Whachoo talking 'bout, Willis?" reference here.

- I have just one question for you: Why can’t a heterosexual guy tell a heterosexual guy that he thinks his booty is fly?


Can you tell I like "Flight of the Conchords"? Have a fabulous weekend, people!!!


Photo by: Ida Mae Astute/ABC; Us Weekly/Perez Hilton.