Was he nervous? A bit unimpressive? Or a master of ceremonies god? All of the above, according to random blog commentaries today on comedian Hon Stewart's first-ever hosting of the Academy Awards. Stewart's today's No. 2 most-cited blog personality, and one MySpacer hopes he's back next year. Life is a Tri had harsher words for the audience than for the MC ("cataonic...prissy, over-dressed twits"), and CatfishandCollards blogger liked the added effect of the Oscar-tilted attack campaign ads. When Billy Crystal sets the standard, it's a hig hurdle regardless...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:19 PM

British Historian David Irving had a few things to say a few years ago about the validity of the Holocaust, and now he knows a thing or two about being held by authorities as well. He's today's bursiest person for pleading guilty and being sentenced to three years in prison by a court in Austria, where he'd been charged with denying that the Holocaust happened. "History is a constantly growing tree - the more you know, the more documents become available, the more you learn, and I have learned a lot since 1989." And he's now willing to concede that, yes, in fact, million of Jews died during World War II at the hands of the Nazis. The Big Pharoah lists the countries that have laws making it a crime to deny the existence of the Holocaust, and feels such laws are an infringement to freedom of speech. Denial, notes The Cafeteria is Closed, can land you in prison.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:54 AM

Anyone who's ever jumped into a lake or the ocean knows the soundtrack: that ominous "doo-do....doo-do....doo-do" cadence that signaled the approach of the world's biggest, baddest shark in the movie "Jaws." Credit goes to author Peter Benchley, today's bursiest BlogPulse person. Benchley died this week at age 65, and he wrote the book that led to one of the scariest movies of its time. The year "Jaws" was released, in fact, I had the pleasure of working as a waterfront camp counselor at a girls' camp in Maine, and my colleagues and I spent the first few weeks convincing the kids it was OK to jump in the landlocked, spring-fed lake...REALLY. No sharks. HONEST. The Cinematical blog offers condolences and a bit of Benchley family history. The blogger at NewMexiKen offers a bit of personal history about Benchley's career as a speechwriter for President Lyndon Johnson.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:47 AM

Everybody remembers Stephanie from "Full House," the snaggle-toothed young scamp who always was trying to hang out with older sister DJ and doing her best to be a good big sister to baby Michelle (both of them). Well, when she finally could escape that cloying, sacharine facade, actress Jodi Sweetin grew up fast -- two years ago she got hooked on methamphetamine, or as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan calls it, "speed," "crank," "chalk," "crystal," "ice," "glass," "shabu," "zip," "pep-pills," and "go-fast." Our no. 25 top link today details Sweetin's battle with shabu, a habit she ultimately kicked, thank goodness. It just goes to show you that methamphetamine doesn't care how rich and famous you are -- it will come to your house, smash itself into little rocks, break open a lightbulb for you to use as a makeshift pipe, and force you to smoke it to achieve a fleeting euphoria. Oh, and do you think bloggers are talking about this? Naw, wouldn't interest them at all...

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:45 AM

Stephen Colbert does so many things these days -- in addition to his eponymous Report on Comedy Central, he's the voice of a couple of Cartoon Network cartoon characters, and the author of Stephen Colbert's Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure -- we're always glad when he can step out of his news-jerk persona for a good interview. Such an interview, with the famous Onion A.V. Club, is BlogPulse's no. 24 top link today. In it Colbert says fascinating things about the media, his show, and the mystic arts of comedy. Also, that he considers his former home, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, as a mere 30-minute prelude to his own new program, a remark that we hope will precipitate a huge throwdown between those two comedy-media titans. Bloggers' responses to the interview have been positive, it's fair to say. SRWU enjoyed Colbert's comparison of his comedic stylings with those of George Carlin, and whereas this blogger just lazy-linked to the piece, the parody logo on the post is worth a look.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:00 PM

We've tried to stay away from snarky rejoinders with respect to the recent Oprah-memoir-"no such thing as definitive truth" imbroglio, and today feel vindicated for doing so after seeing BlogPulse's no. 13 link. We're not really... ah... down... with the Oprah experience, which we kind of think is, y'know... kind of cynically exploitative... and so we don't watch her program. But we learned a lot from this live-blog Gawker coverage of Thursday's program, which shows how, just as The Maven of Michigan Avenue giveth, so too may she taketh away. To wit: The Chicago Tribune's banner headline this morning was: "Oprah Shreds Frey In A Million Pieces," which we feel is almost blog-worthy. Oprah brought on author James Frey, whose book "A Million Little Pieces" she boosted and now is deploring, and basically killed the guy. For the rest of his life he'll be known as the guy who humiliated the most powerful force in American book publishing, and, in response, was pilloried. For Oprah, this was personal.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:28 AM

We just took a cursory spin through today's no. 30 top link, which we think you'll agree is an impressively exhaustive catalog of American wretchedness. And it's not just Bernie Goldberg deciding that Michael Moore is "ruining America;" this stuff is detailed. Some of our favorite listings include George Lucas, of whom the list says this: "Lucas has grown so accustomed to massive commercial success that he has no idea he’s putting out the worst work of his career, and no one dares to tell him." It's true, devastatingly true. Our other favorite loathesome personage is listed as no. 4, but you'll have to check it out yourself to see who it is. Reactions are all over the map. At least one blogger is praising the list for its cathartic properties: "It is quite a good read especially if you are feeling generally annoyed and want to channel it. Some of the top 50 must make it into the top most loathsome people in the world list." Agreed.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:56 AM

Today's no. 40 top link reminds us of those grim post-disaster stories that Time and Newsweek often do in the weeks after a plane crash -- they have drawings of the plane, photos of the mountain it crashed into, snapshots of some of the poor souls on board, etc. Link no. 40 is like that: it's the cover of the most recent Us Weekly with a headline that reads: " Angelina Was Pregnant Before The Divorce Was Final." It's been awhile since Brad and Jen's relocation to splitsville, but surely nobody thought this story was so full of deception. Bloggers are all over this, and Gawker reports the additional tidbit that Brad and Angelina's children's last names now will all have "Pitt" attached. Defamer speculates that Brad and Angelina's "real" child — yeah, the one she was carrying before Brad had really left Jen — will be some kind of super-baby, too attractive for mortal eyes to gaze upon. All this is well and good, but we wonder how Jen is holding up.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 09:44 AM

Actor Chuck Norris is a towering figure in the American cultural landscape — when audiences saw him ride a missile-equipped assault motorcycle in 1986's " The Delta Force," which he used to kill bad guys and then race after an airliner as it took off down a runway, climbing on board at just the last minute, his place in the pantheon of film stars was secured. Veneration has followed him ever since, and the Internet especially has been a repository of admiration, as evidenced by our no. 8 top link today, which has some helpful facts about Norris. Were you aware, for example, that Norris' birthday is March 10? He campaigned for George Bush's presidential campaign in 1988? That Norris drives an ice cream truck covered in human skulls? It's all "true," as much as anything else is anymore... and bloggers are really responding. Our favorite tidbit about the man? His chief export is pain.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:25 AM

Yeah, she has a great navel and consistenly appears among BlogPulse's list of most-blogged-about people. But Britney Spears is all the rage today because, well, the girl just doesn't know how to go to the closet in the morning and throw on something that looks good. Or fashionable. Or sometimes even normal. That's in the opinion of Mr Blackwell, (today's 11th burstiest person) who each year issues his list of the year's best- and worst-dressed people, usually celebs. Britney's No. 1. "Was there any doubt?" asks the blogger at A Socialite's Life. The headline at Modern Fabulosity blog? "When Beating Paris Hilton Isn't a Good Thing."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:31 PM

If the Oscar organizers thought Chris Rock was a little too political as host of the 2005 Oscar show, they've certainly calmed nerves inside the Beltway by choosing that harbinger of understated (ahem) political commentary and muted (cough! cough!) personal commentary: Comedy Central's Jon Stewart. His choice ranks among BlogPulse's top news stories today (No. 2) and puts Stewart himself ("who? moi????" you can hear him asking) at No. 4 among the most-blogged-about people of the day. "One very good reason to watch the Oscars," nods Twitchfilm.net, calling Stewart perhaps the best MC choice since comedian Steve Martin filled in. In a play on The Daily Show's own award-winning "Indecision 2004" political coverage, Metafilter calls it like it sees it: Decision 2006. Of course, Stewart himself ("star" of many bombs) had the choicest reaction: "As an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 05:35 PM

Heavens no! TomKat, the celebrity megacouple that took us all by storm last year, could be foundering on the shallow rocks before it even reaches the sheltered harbor of marital bliss! Our no. 35 top link today quotes the MSNBC gossip authorities as wondering aloud if the wedding has been called off — Tom's in the doghouse, it seems, and Kat's in tears. Did he tell her he needed some space? Did he tell her it wasn't her, it was him? Did he tell her about Xenu? (Our money's on Xenu.) Bloggers' responses seem to be adhering to the blog-party line, of taking pleasure in other peoples' misfortune. To wit: "All I can say to Katie is run girl, run! And take the little one with you...no one needs an egomaniacal brainwasher for a "father"! Life is tough enough without added drama and issues that don't have to be there to start with. You can do so much better than this loser!" Defamer's got some additional dirt, but we're not reveling in a potential TomKat split — these days, if you can't believe in love, what can you believe in?

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:11 AM

You no doubt read BlogPulse's no. 3 top link today, about how the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority's employees are striking, but did you realize the strike not only affects millions of irate New Yorkers — it also affects famous people? That's right, attractive people whose pictures you'd recognize. The msm reports that famous show-biz types in New York are " scrambling" to keep working after the transportation stoppages. Not only that, Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen are trapped in Queens, where they've been shooting a movie, and have been required to stay at a Comfort Inn — Darth Vader! Mrs. Fantastic! at a Comfort Inn! You'd better mop up that coffee you just spilled on your keyboard; the boss is going to be irate. But admid these crises, the celebriblogs we look to for wisenheimer remarks in these times haven't failed us. Here's one of Defamer's quips: "The strike is not without its hidden benefits, however. For example, for Christensen, it will make it that much harder for Star Wars fans to travel to the set to personally berate him for ruining their treasured mythology." A considerable boon, considering how badly he screwed up our beloved Star Wars. Cinematical's thoughts were along the same lines, meaning maybe, just maybe, Hayden can use this respite from geekoid fanboys to learn the true meaning of Christmas.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:39 PM

Quick — who is the richest fictional character in the general English-language arts/cultural canon? Did you say Frank Cowperwood, from Theodore Dreiser's "The Titan?" Or maybe Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitgerald's beloved gangland tough with a heart of gold from "The Great Gatsby?" Both wrong! At least according to a piece in our top links today from Forbes, which has released its Fictional Fifteen and listed none other than Jolly Old St. Nick as the richest fictional character. (He's been buying up a lot of unused broadband connectivity and plans to set up his own networks in various American cities.) And what, boys and girls, always happen when somebody on the Web puts up an annotated list? That's right, bloggers start a-quibblin'. This one's glad Lex Luthor is richer than Bruce Wayne, but of course doesn't mention the reason is because Wayne gives so much away in charitable contributions. Typical bleeding heart.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 10:46 AM

Let's just say you can find him in da country club. New York's hardest, whose flow is bonkers (all the other hard rappers, they come from Yonkers) is quoted in our no. 32 link today bestowing high praise to President Bush — 50 Cent says Bush is like "a gangsta." The quote comes as opposition to remarks by the Chicago South Side enfant terrible Kanye West, who threw one of his trademark fits not long ago and said the federal government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina was proof that Bush "hates black people." Normally, when rappers feud, they argue over which one has rocked the most rhymes, cocked the most nines, etc., but these days you almost expect to see 50 Cent on Scarborough Country shouting down West, who because he's on a delayed satellite link, can't shout back. For his part, West writes — in an excerpt quoted here — that it was NBC's fault because they took his comments out of context, wah wah wah. The California Conservative was pleased with 50 throwing his support behindn the president: "Does this mean Republicans will finally get a good rap?" Well, no, probably not. And we ain't sayin' they're gold diggers...

Posted by Philip Ewing at 10:24 AM

A post this morning over at Defamer reminds us just how much we owe TomKat for helping the BlogPulse entertainment blog come into its own. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes may not even get married until after their baby is born — at least that's the story — and we thought we'd take today to reflect on just how important their relationship has been to us. It may not look too hard to come up with japes about rich, famous movie stars, but it's a grueling, grueling job: some quips need hours of careful noodling and rewriting before they're snippy or biting enough. But from the earliest days of summer 2005, when Cruise started acting wierd and people wanted to boycot his movies, he and Katie were always there for us. When he brainwashed her, we had the story, and we already were lamenting his frequent lapses from the limelight by August, when grand dame Lauren Bacall dissed him. The list goes on and on. From his F-14 flying in Top Gun to his psychic detective work in Minority Report to his far-reaching personal exploits, Cruise has never let us down. This Thanksgiving, we're thankful for him. What are you thankful for? We'll be back Monday — go eat a turkey.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:12 AM

Tom! How long has it been? We haven't heard from you since it was announced that you had sinned against the Lord by impregnating a woman out of wedlock. (But is that a sin against Xenu? You make the call!) Yes, Tom Cruise has returned to us, thankfully, by making a decision that can only bode well for him: He fired his sister, Lee Anne DeVette, as his publicist and got a new one. Lee is our burstiest person today. Her term was marked by such gaffes as Cruise's ridiculous Oprah couch-jumping episode; Cruise's ridiculous Brooke Shields-criticizing episode; and Cruise's ridiculous brainwashing-his-girlfriend-and-then-letting-her-do-an-interview episode. But all that's behind us now. Showbiz insiders who know, and the blogger outsiders who don't, but act as though they do, are all praising this change for Cruise. Writes The Bosh: "Tom Cruise is finally making some good decisions. He's decided to dump his publicist and is now represented by Paul Bloch." But not everybody is so unqualified in their compliments... after Cruise berated Matt Lauer about prescription drugs, this blogger wonders how effective a change it'll be: "I'm afraid that 43-year-old men who have been in the public eye since they were teenagers and haven't figured out for themselves that doing these things might hurt their image need more than a good publicist." Quite. And Heckler Spray sums up what all of us in the blog game are thinking: "In the future, people will look back and see that Summer 2005 was a golden time - the time when Tom Cruise went completely berserk. It was a fascinating thing to watch." We already miss it.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 10:18 AM

A little-seen item in BlogPulse's blog report today may cause a great shift in the literature on a hot point of controversy: take a look at our no. 35 top blog post, an item from gossipmonger Gawker. Seems some heartless, blood-sucking paparazzi were taking some photographs of Polly Purebred — er — Jessica Simpson, rather, and they spotted an interesting volume left open in her car. Everybody knows the supermarket gossip magazines have been blaring for weeks that Nick & Jessica are as over as snap bracelets, and the presence of How To Deal With People You Can't Stand would seem to provide even more evidence the former Newlyweds are newlysplit. (Or, if you believe some reports, they've been apart for months.) Then again, maybe she just has the book to help her get along with nosey photographers shooting pictures of her getting into her car.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 10:27 AM

As if planned to coincide with the low-pressure cold front that swept over the continental United States today, a definite chill has entered the vast electric lunchroom now that the msm and our no. 38 top link are confirming a split between Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. (Even though, it was widely reported, they had some kind of contract requiring they always stay together. Ah yes, it was called "a marriage.") Look for prodigious mock-surprise and profusions of mock-disappointment, with a heavy lean towards blaming Jessica, whose creepily overbearing puppetmaster father seems generally to blame for the breakup. On the Us Weekly announcement, Gawker writes this: "One of those ubiquitous sources close to the couple says, 'Jessica’s the problem. She’s not the girl America fell in love with anymore.' Oh, young America, were you ever really in love with her? Or were you just lusting? C’mon, be honest." This blogger, however, is mindful that these reports have been issued and debunked before: "Will this story be retracted later, like the last one was? Who knows? In the meantime, let's pretend it's 'Divorce On.'" Done. And, after all those terrible shows they made, let's not pretend this is any great loss.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 10:42 AM

Now it's easy to understand what TomKat has been up to since they disappeared after their initial, stratospheric debut in the world of super-celeb gossip: Kat (aka Katie Holmes) is pregnant! The People exclusive is our no. 9 top link today, and deservedly so, it would seem: Bloggers are blogging their brains out about it. It'll take awhile, but work your way through this dialectic, which culminates with this proposition inre the TomKat pregnancy: "A faux-relationship between two seemingly insane actors as a means to boost one’s career and mask the other’s homosexuality does not qualify, I’m happy to report." Devastating! In the looks department Wizbang predicts: "Poor kid's gonna be all shades and chompers." Naturally they're beside themselves over at Gawker — when was the last time they used *Breaking* in a post title? — and readers should be cautioned about the invective contained in the post. The rest of our links are here and we'd encourage everyone to troll through them, because the snarky gossips who trade in this stuff will all be trying to out-zing each other. This is the sort of thing we're talking about.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 10:08 AM

Some people were critical when Gwenneth Paltrow and That British Guy She Married named their child Apple, but we like the name because that's the name of the company that made our computer and our iPod. For some reason, rich and famous people select... ah... "creative" names for their children when they're born, and, like Paltrow and What's-His-Face, find themselves on the recieving end of impolite remarks. This brings us to actor Nicholas Cage's newborn son, Kal-El, who was born Monday. Now, as everybody knows, Kal-El was the name that Superman's parents gave him when he was born on Krypton, before his father Jor-El and his mother Lara sent him to Earth in a rocket ship to escape the explosion that doomed their planet. It's a fine name — everyone knows when Kal-El grew up he became Earth's greatest champion. Still, though, some people can't handle it. "Why not gave your son a name of the strongest man ever? Nicholas cage did," sneers Dark Night Cafe. A post at WizBang makes broad concessions to being a nerd, but: "I'm not so much of a nerd that I am jealous that Cage beat me to it..." Gluetree: "The child is set for life in beatings." Man, these guys are some haters! We'll look for one of their kids to be named Lex.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:14 AM

You have to wonder what it must've been like back in the day when famous people with no qualifications didn't commonly hold political office. In 1935, when Missouri Democratic political boss Tom Pendergast needed somebody to run for the U.S. Senate, did he hope a movie star would move into his state to give him a candidate? No, he asked a Jackson County commissioner by the name of Harry S Truman to run for the seat, and we strongly recommend you take the time to look up what happened after that. Now fast foward to the year 2006 and the coming Senate race in The Old Dominion — Democrats can't count on their party's NASCAR-loving secret weapon, Gov. Mark Warner, to oppose the Republican Sen. George Allen, who's running for reelection. So they need somebody. Who should they pick? Well, gosh, Ben Affleck might buy a home near Charlottesville. How about him? Yeah, picture it: Sen Gigli. All this comes from the WaPo, by the way, which has debuted a new gossip feature that definitely has bloggers talking. What they're saying about the Affleck item, though, is predictably varied. PunditGuy sneers: "Teeth! Sparkly eyes! Box office draw! Yeah baby, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. And Matt Damon can be First Lady! Wow, what a winning ticket!" Naked Villainy would remind everyone that Affleck campaigned for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, whoever that is, and speculates that the political bug might've bitten Affleck. For her part, Wonkette just welcomes the WaPo to the gossip game, which, as we all know, can never have enough participants.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:01 AM

We look back with fondness on our youthful years spent watching "Get Smart," and marvel at how, whereas we envied Don Adams' Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, for the phone he had in his shoe, we now have an even smaller phone, with a camera, that gets the Internet, in our pocket! That was the least cool of Smart's gadgets, though, as we can recall a telescoping pole-vault pole that hilariously telescoped when he was trying to vault over a wall; a gun that had a phone in it; the Cone of Silence, and Smart's other shoe, which had a hollow heel that contained a suicide pill, The Chief explained, that, in case Smart was captured, would "cause painless death in less than 30 seconds." "Just one question, Chief," 86 asked. "How do I get them to take it?" Adams died this weekend and he's our burstiest person today, the subject of many bloggers' encomuims. "I’ve never laughed so much at a joke I did not even get," says this Whig. This blogger's lament is sadder: "Earth just got a little duller, but Heaven is sure gonna be a funnier place."

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:47 AM

We dismiss out of hand the cynical predictions that Saturday's marriage of Demi Moore and Ashton "Dude, Where's My Pre-Nuptial Agreement?" Kutcher will last less than a year. After all, Ashton has been in tons of movies about this sort of thing, learning, with Brittany Murphy, that relationships take a lot of work, that if your father-in-law will be Bernie Mac, not to piss him off, and that, if worst comes to worse, you can travel backwards in time and change the future to rescue your fiance. (Maybe he should use his Butterfly Powers to go back and save Demi from making " Charlie's Angels: Full Throtle" Ohh, zing! Yess!) Ah, but the professional gossipers are all over this story — Defamer's recap is here — and Splendora got out of bed Sunday morning to do a post, which culminates with this quip: "Though details about the ceremony have yet to be released, it is not unlikely that Kutcher yelped out 'SWEET!' promptly after exchanging 'I Do's.'" Man, when you're a celebrity blogger and these two get hitched, the bons practically mot themselves.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:03 PM

So we were taking our routine swing through BlogPulse this morning, sipping the overpriced, overcaffinated, oversweetened "coffee" we bloggers all drink (aka blog juice) when we noticed this name in our Key People database: Preston Michael Spears Federline. Intrigued, we clicked on it and almost shot blog juice through our nose. So it has finally arrived — the legal child of one Britney X. Spears and her shady, goop-covered backup dancer husband. Or, as Gawker calls it: "the Federletus." They're disappointed Brit & Kev aren't naming the boy that, but think they understand the logic: "Because names like Preston help to gloss over the hard reality of a baby born wearing a wifebeater." Not to be outdone by its East Coast cousin, Defamer laments the FederSpearses didn't try to option the kid's naming rights: "Too bad, Johnnie Walker Black presents Baby Boy Spears Federline would’ve been too precious!" Quite. But lost in all this catty sniping is a more basic question about the once-ubiquitous blonde entertainer: Does this finally make her a woman?

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:36 AM

Well. This sort of thing typically isn't our beat, so to speak — our eminent senior partner usually handles the affairs of state — but what celeb other than Catty Condi Rice made headlines this week? The gold-standard gossip blog Gawker reports in BlogPulse's no. 31 link today that the skelecatary of state was in the Big Apple shoppin' for shoes and takin' in a show while, down in the bayou, thousands of refugees grappled with floodwaters and utter devastation. We're certainly not in the business of visiting moralistic rage on our elected officials' penchant for leisure, but gosh, this is the blogosphere, after all: "I'm not sure if the word "insensitive" quite covers it, huh folks?" the Blog of 8 asks mordantly. "I swear, she's going to start screaming "Let them eat cake" in the streets of Manhattan at any moment," quips The Middle Earther. Sure, it was something of a P.R. gaffe for the Bush Administration, but how honored do you think these goofy rulers were that a real-life one showed up to watch their show?

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:59 AM

Sean Combs has had a comparatively long life in the public eye, from signing Notorious B.I.G. to his Bad Boy Records label to being criticized by Tupac and his rival clique of West Coast rappers, to being crucified in a Nas video, to making a whole bunch of boring songs by ripping off old standards by The Police and Led Zeppelin. (He somehow enlisted Jimmy Page to help him with "Come with me" from the Godzilla soundtrack. Sample lyric: "Left me blinded/I co-signed it.") In that time he's been known as Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and now, just Diddy. Does this rebranding change anything? No, say bloggers. "I've had enough of this. If I ever have occasion to refer to this man by name, it will be by Sean Combs and nothing else," writes this fed-up non-fan. Another noticed something funny about the story. "I also find it interesting he’s going to start talking in the third person. I guess he’s getting as sick of him as we are?" How could he not?

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:39 AM

We have been watching the past couple days to see if the site that's become our no. 8 link was just a blip or if it had staying power -- now we know it's on its way to Hamsterdancedom. Bloggers have been amusing themselves over this campaign website for Christopher Walken's 2008 presidential bid, coming up with hilarious ideas for his State of the Union speeches, potential running mates (Walken/Shatner is the best ticket we've seen) and the other attendant concerns of high office. T-Money marvels at how adroitly the hoaxers have aped the empty politispeak of our modern leaders, and how viable an alternative Walken seems to the current administration: "New polls indicate that the hoax website for Walken currently has a more cogent exit strategy in Iraq and higher overall approval ratings than Bush." And these guys seem all set to vote for Walken. (Their reasons will amuse you.) With Walken in the White House, we'd have a president who, perhaps for the first time, could literally dance around the issues.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:52 PM

To be perfectly honest, we've missed Tom Cruise. He's been in BlogPulse's 20 most talked-about people all summer (today no. 7) but since his and his fiance's movies came out, he hasn't offered up much more of his unique brand of offensive, Scientology-based antics. We assume, of course, his betrothal to Toledo sweetheart Katie Holmes is still on, because she has dropped altogether from among the people most bloggers are talking about. But Cruise controversy resurfaced again earlier this week when Tinseltown grand dame Lauren Bacall, who is BlogPulse's no. 21 person, told Time she thought Cruise was "vulgar." This is the sort of thing bloggers live for: "We always knew we loved Lauren Bacall," wrote the Socialite. "Everything about Bacall speaks to dignity and talent," says Dick Mac. But not everybody is smitten all over again with the Key Largo star. She criticizes Cruise for using his love life to advertise for movies, but: "I wonder, though, if a young girl who marries an older, established actor, and stars in several movies with him would count as using her private life for commercial gain?" asks The Dead Pool. Maybe they're talking about when Bacall got hitched to this guy.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:20 PM

Michael Jackson has consistently been in BlogPulse's top 20 key people (today he's no. 8) since his child molestation trial in California, but it's what bloggers haven't been talking about that's interesting -- his new CD. About 8,000 people have bought The Essential Michael Jackson since it dropped this week, reports the UK's Sun, a disheartening tally for an artist whose 1982 record Thriller sold 40 million copies. We gauged a fair measure of support for the guy last time he did something prominent, but the dearth of buzz about this new record does not portend well for the expatriate kaiser (calif?) of pop. After a spike in buzz after his trial, Jacko has been more or less flatlining, as seen here:

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:49 PM

Eagle-eyed BlogPulse watchers doubtless went straight to link no. 39 today to see the details of actress Tiffani Thiessen's marriage to Brady Smith, who, as far as our research indicates, did not graduate with her from Bayside High. It was Thiessen's pretend high school days for which many remember her; she played the American Everygirl named Kelly and was more than a match for Mark-Paul Gosselaar's slacker Zack on "Saved By the Bell." (Though once, in a hilarious phone mix-up, Zack accidentally told Kelly's little sister he loved her, and boy, did things get confusing...Zack had set up some kind of "teen line"... ah, but we digress.) Not surprisingly, the mood among male bloggers of a certain age range is bleak: "NO!," writes liberaleric. "She was supposed to marry me!" Yeah, right. Get in line.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:40 AM

We would be remiss if we did not bring to your attention recent developments in the romance between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (who, together, are known by the blog shorthand TomKat). Cruise is BlogPulse's no. 5 key name today -- pushed downward by other newsmakers involved in a slightly juicier story -- and his fiance is no. 21. What many bloggers are talking about is this disturbing report from W magazine, in which Holmes appears to robotically answer questions about Cruise as if she's been... you know. (Brainwashed!) She apparently has had a Scientology minder with her for all her recent public appearances, who, in the W piece, reminds Holmes she "adores" Cruise when she struggles for words. And her future spouse turned icy not too long ago in an interview with Australian TV, apparently having seen or heard some of the recent talk about him. Tense times. What does it all mean? Perhaps L. Ron or Xenu can offer some clues.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:20 PM

Evidence, anecdotal and otherwise, would seem to indicate that few bloggers were as good as their word in calling for a Tom Cruise boycott. After all, how could they resist a summertime blockbuster helmed by Steven Spielberg? But even though 77.6 million bucks' worth of people saw the War of the Worlds, at BlogPulse our instruments tell us of a lingering disatisfaction with one Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. To wit: "Tom Cruise is nuts" is our no. 8 bursty phrase today. Not coincidentally, that also is the name of a website to which a lot of bloggers have been linking lately. So the sentiment out there is clear. Blogger darksidhe sums it up: "You know, he's not that bad of an actor, I do enjoy most of his movies, but him? Like, him as a person, turns me right off his movies." But not enough, apparantly, to skip them.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:15 PM

Man oh man the celebs are out in force today. Brooke Shields isn't taking lightly all those things that Tom Cruise has been saying about her lately; Steven Spielberg is starting what might be his most controversial movie; Brad, Angelina and Jen are all over the place; Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are not only married, but reports are that their union has been blessed with issue! Yowza! Can the blogosphere handle such a glut of sensational star-filled stories? Well, sure. Defamer is right on top of Bennifer Deux; Lawren Mills says she's not convinced by the Brad + Angelina fambly pix. And it's not only carbon-based celebs who're making news today -- Engadget reports that the world's most advanced humanoid robot has a new gig. Still, not everybody's excited. JimmyAkin asks: "Why is this country so shallow that we must entertain ourselves through voyeuristic peeks into the private lives of people who are paid outrageous sums of money to pretend to be other people for a living?" Oh. Because they're so much prettier than the rest of us?

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:16 AM

Michael Jackson was as good as his word after his aquittal on child molestation charges in California -- he left the the country. BlogPulse's no. 7 man is taking a vacation with the royal family of of Bahrain, the Associated Press reports, where (he hopes) draconian gag laws will keep away the tabloid photogs. But what's next after he's rested? Jacko plans to make a documentary that will salvage his image, but since his lawsuit against Sony, in which he said the label didn't do enough to promote his last new record, "Invincible," nobody has seriously mentioned him doing another album. Stilll, for all the notoriety of his trial, he still has millions of fans around the world. Writes BastardZero: "I feel sorry for people who refuse to admit to themselves how great Michael Jackson's disco songs were."

Posted by Philip Ewing at 12:24 PM

Paul Winchell is BlogPulse's no. 2 bursty person today, for the sad reason that the 82 year-old voice actor and ventriloquist -- who was the voice of Winnie the Pooh's friend Tigger for more than 30 years -- died Friday. Blogger Susan Shelley, who calls him "a genius," remembers Winchell for his old children's TV show and laments that nobody can see it anymore. Winchell's life was especially meaningful for Joe Gandelman of themoderatevoice, who speaks highly of Winchell's skills as a ventriloquist. Now comes word that John Fiedler, the voice of Pooh pal Piglet, died Saturday. The blogosphere still seems to be processing all the news, but, to be sure, these are sad days for the bear.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:30 AM

Fem-talk potentate Oprah Winfrey already had one traumatic experience this week when Tom Cruise, channeling Emporer Palpatine, electrocuted her as she sat right in front of her studio audience. That was the story going around the web, anyway. Now comes word from Paris that a Hermes store turned her away when she showed up 15 minutes after closing time and asked to dash in to buy a watch for Tina Turner. Some people say Oprah is a victim of racism; others say she shouldn't have expected to get in after closing time. Either way, Chicago's most famous billionaire says she will never shop Hermes again. She's not getting a lot of sympathy in the blogosphere: "Boo-freaking-hoo, Oprah," writes denl42. Matt's World resents Oprah's penchant for inconveniencing employees when she wants to make an extravagant after-hours purchase -- this isn't the first time. Hermes, for its part, says it's sorry. C'est la vie.

Posted by Philip Ewing at 10:50 AM