Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Does it work? Test team returns to try out new products advertised on television
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Sunday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns sick after sick loss in Detroit
Akron Zips:
Zips advance to Sweet Sixteen
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Post-game defensive quotes
Kent State Sports:
Kent State defeats Rochester College, 63-44
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Sunday Sanity Challenge
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – You are All Wrong About Jobs, or the Lack of Jobs, Being the Reason People Do Not Live in NEO
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 04:02 p.m. EDT, Jun 16, 2009
Baldwin Talking. 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin (you know, the Baldwin brother with a good enough career not to go on I'm a Celebrity) opened up to Playboy magazine about his admiration for the skills of Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise. He was less kind to NBC, which airs 30 Rock.
The anger sprang from his feelings about Harvey Levin, the man behind gossip site TMZ.com. In the July/August issue of Playboy, Baldwin calls Levin ''a human tumor, a graceless character who lives in that weird netherworld'' of gossip.
And when NBC's Today reported on an angry voice mail Baldwin had left for his daughter, Baldwin said, ''Matt Lauer interviewed Levin before he even called me. Lauer put Levin on Today, and they never phoned me. When it's in their interest to reach me, they know how. I saw that and said, 'My relationship with the Today show is over.' I'll never do Today again, ever. Life's too short.''
Saying he was so distraught over the leaking of the voice mail that he considered suicide, Baldwin thought he got a better deal from The View on ABC.
''Whoopi Goldberg is a friend,'' he said. ''I trusted Whoopi and Barbara Walters. Whoopi is an impeccably decent person, and I am grateful she gave me a forum.''
More Baldwin. He did not limit his ire to Levin and Today. He's no fan of Twitter: ''This society is very wired together, and it's the most neurotic a society has ever been. Twitter, all this stuff, I don't view as anything good. Everyone is so hyperaware of what everybody else is doing. Everybody has been convinced their opinion should count.''
On shows about ''celebrities'': ''I would be so happy if those shows went off the air. It is a huge problem in our business — this microcosmic analysis and elevation of people who are just witless and talentless, or people with talent, like Lindsay Lohan, who struggle. Who gives a s- - - about their personal trivialities? It hurts the business.''
And how does he think you become famous these days?
''Don't pay your federal income taxes, get drunk and try to bolt through airport security with a gun in your suitcase, and last but not least, get a DUI and be arrested in Malibu.''
The magazine hits stands and online on Friday.
Mark Your Calendar. In Pencil. Fox has announced premiere dates for shows in the fall, starting with Cops and America's Most Wanted on Sept. 12.
So You Think You Can Dance begins a new season, and Glee premieres, on Sept. 16, followed by Bones and Fringe, Sept. 17; Brothers, 'Til Death and Dollhouse, Sept. 18; House, Sept. 21; the Sunday animated shows (including newbie The Cleveland Show) on Sept. 27; Lie to Me on Sept. 28; and Hell's Kitchen on Sept. 29.
Everything's subject to change, of course.
The Insult Stands. Regrettheerror.com had this item from The Guardian: ''Wallpaper* is not Conde Nast's trendier-than-thou lifestyle mag, as we said in a Media Monkey item. . . .It is IPC's trendier-than-thou lifestyle mag.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Baldwin Talking. 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin (you know, the Baldwin brother with a good enough career not to go on I'm a Celebrity) opened up to Playboy magazine about his admiration for the skills of Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise. He was less kind to NBC, which airs 30 Rock.
The anger sprang from his feelings about Harvey Levin, the man behind gossip site TMZ.com. In the July/August issue of Playboy, Baldwin calls Levin ''a human tumor, a graceless character who lives in that weird netherworld'' of gossip.
And when NBC's Today reported on an angry voice mail Baldwin had left for his daughter, Baldwin said, ''Matt Lauer interviewed Levin before he even called me. Lauer put Levin on Today, and they never phoned me. When it's in their interest to reach me, they know how. I saw that and said, 'My relationship with the Today show is over.' I'll never do Today again, ever. Life's too short.''
Saying he was so distraught over the leaking of the voice mail that he considered suicide, Baldwin thought he got a better deal from The View on ABC.
''Whoopi Goldberg is a friend,'' he said. ''I trusted Whoopi and Barbara Walters. Whoopi is an impeccably decent person, and I am grateful she gave me a forum.''
More Baldwin. He did not limit his ire to Levin and Today. He's no fan of Twitter: ''This society is very wired together, and it's the most neurotic a society has ever been. Twitter, all this stuff, I don't view as anything good. Everyone is so hyperaware of what everybody else is doing. Everybody has been convinced their opinion should count.''
On shows about ''celebrities'': ''I would be so happy if those shows went off the air. It is a huge problem in our business — this microcosmic analysis and elevation of people who are just witless and talentless, or people with talent, like Lindsay Lohan, who struggle. Who gives a s- - - about their personal trivialities? It hurts the business.''
And how does he think you become famous these days?
''Don't pay your federal income taxes, get drunk and try to bolt through airport security with a gun in your suitcase, and last but not least, get a DUI and be arrested in Malibu.''
The magazine hits stands and online on Friday.
Mark Your Calendar. In Pencil. Fox has announced premiere dates for shows in the fall, starting with Cops and America's Most Wanted on Sept. 12.
So You Think You Can Dance begins a new season, and Glee premieres, on Sept. 16, followed by Bones and Fringe, Sept. 17; Brothers, 'Til Death and Dollhouse, Sept. 18; House, Sept. 21; the Sunday animated shows (including newbie The Cleveland Show) on Sept. 27; Lie to Me on Sept. 28; and Hell's Kitchen on Sept. 29.
Everything's subject to change, of course.
The Insult Stands. Regrettheerror.com had this item from The Guardian: ''Wallpaper* is not Conde Nast's trendier-than-thou lifestyle mag, as we said in a Media Monkey item. . . .It is IPC's trendier-than-thou lifestyle mag.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
