I'm Back!

Between people going on vacations and the fires that are going on all around California, I've been a bit busy lately. Which means I haven't had a chance to write in a while. Many apologies. But so much has happened between now and the last time I wrote that I'm not sure I'll be able to comment on it all. So I'll just start with the worst and move on from there.

First off, I was very sad when I heard that George Carlin had died. You probably all know the details of that one, I just wanted to mention it because he was a very talented man. He will be missed.

Moving on. I'm trying to decide who's crazier Amy Winehouse or her father. Because she's got the beginnings of emphysema, which no one should have at age 24, and he can't stop talking to the press about it. Here's the latest (which is actually from this morning, but whatever):

Amy Winehouse's rep is saying that the 24-year-old Brit does not have emphysema, as her father told Britain's Sunday Mirror over the weekend. Rather, she has "early signs of what could lead to emphysema," rep Tracey Miller said Monday. Mitch Winehouse was only speaking "out of his concern for her" when he told the press that his little girl was suffering through the early stages of the chronic respiratory disease. Winehouse was hospitalized last Monday after fainting outside her London home and remained on bed rest throughout the week while doctors performed various tests to identify the cause of her collapse. "With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes her lungs are all gunked up," the Grammy winner's dad told the Mirror. "There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She's got 70 percent lung capacity. "To think this could be my beautiful 24-year-old daughter's life is preposterous. But if drugs mean more to her than breathing properly, then so be it. But the doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her. It's been a tough week." But apparently there's hope—and Mitch Winehouse seems to be looking on the bright side now. "Amy really hasn't got emphysema, there's traces of emphysema," he told BBC Radio 1 today, downgrading his earlier remarks. "Obviously, if she doesn't quit smoking, it's going to get worse, like everyone else...with patience, her lungs will recover completely." "With no more inhalation of smoke of any kind, she's going to be absolutely fine." (source E Online)

He goes on to talk about how, just because she's been in the hospital doesn't mean that she can't perform at the Glastonbury Festival this weekend. And asking crack dealers not to sell her crack anymore so her lungs don't collapse or something (because, you know, crack dealers are upstanding moral people who would never endanger some one's health or anything). But he seems pretty sure that Amy's going to quit smoking. Of course, she has since been photographed at least once smoking a cigarette, but that's neither here nor there really. This whole thing has been going on for over a week now, starting with her being hospitalized and going through her diagnoses and her father has been there every step of the way, talking to the press. I never thought of Mitch Winehouse as a stage dad, but maybe he's worse the Lindsay Lohan's mother. I mean, he obviously has no problem going to the press every time something is going on with Amy and is always talking about how her problems either will or won't affect her career. That seems pretty stage parenty to me.

Speaking of stage parents and their spawn and their spawn's spawn, its been a pretty good week fro the Spears clan. First came the birth of Maddie Briann to 17-year-old Jamie Lynne (the first pictures of the child have been sold exclusively to OK Magazine around the time the child was conceived by her grandmother Lynne Spears) and now its seems that Britney has managed to keep it together enough to be allowed to see her children over night.
Britney Spears was awarded overnight privileges with her sons, PEOPLE confirms. The pop star hasn't had her children overnight since January following her forced hospitalization at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A closed-door hearing Tuesday, attended by Spears and her ex, Kevin Federline, also saw the return of Spears's first divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, who has officially replaced Stacy Phillips. L.A. Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini confirmed that Spears's parenting coach attended the hearing and made statements to the court, and that Spears's demeanor before the commissioner was "businesslike." "I think any judge is pleased to see progress being made by parties in a case," Parachini added. Details of the hearing's outcome were not announced. But a source confirms for PEOPLE that Spears will now be allowed to have her sons Preston, 2 1/2, and Jayden, 1 1/2, with her overnight. (PEOPLE)
Congrats to Britney and whichever doctor prescribed her the pills to keep her craziness under control. Its always sad when a person's life has spun so out of control that they are no longer capable of looking after their children. But Britney's gotten it together enough to get some of her visitation back. Who knows, maybe there will come a time when her daddy doesn't have to live with her but her children can. The Spears family must be pretty excited for the way things are going. Hope they don't mess it up.
And finally, this whole thing with Anne Hathaway's ex boyfriend is just getting too weird. First he bounces a check for $215,000 back in April, for which he was arrested for, but eventually paid off. Then the news comes today that he was arrested again for just being an over all phony.

Just one week after E! News confirmed that he and Anne Hathaway parted ways after four years together—in the nick of time, as it turns out for her—Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri has been arrested in Manhattan on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering. Follieri allegedly padded his résumé a bit too liberally. He's accused of telling an investor that no less an institution than the Vatican had appointed him its chief financial officer. It hadn't. Hathaway's ex is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court later today to face the charges. According to prosecutors, the newly single businessman claimed the holy connection in order to purchase U.S. properties owned by the Catholic church at a discounted rate. Unfortunately for him, it's not the first time the 29-year-old has had a run-in with the law. Last week, E! News learned that a default judgment had been filed against the businessman after he failed to pay American Express Bank $499,100.21, with interest dating back to last September. Earlier this month it was also revealed the entrepreneur was under investigation by the New York State Attorney General after it was discovered he failed to file the requisite IRS tax disclosure forms for his charitable Follieri Foundation. (Source: E Online)

Its a good thing she got out when she did, because this guy seems pretty slimy. How could she not know about all of this when they've been together for four years? Seriously, either the guy is a master of deception, she's a total air head or there' s something shady going on in their relationship. I'm sure we'll all find out eventually because this doesn't look like its going away any time soon.

Oh, there's one more thing I wanted to write about. I've actually managed to stay away from writing a lot about Paris Hilton because I've been totally burnt out on her ever since her whole jail time thing. But this latest little blurb just makes me giggle a little inside, so I have to share. I reported on my show last week that a pet store in Melrose refused to sell her a Yorkie puppy after she requested one for a photo shoot. But Paris swears this is not true.

Paris Hilton is now barking back at recent reports claiming she was prevented from purchasing a pooch. "I was catching up on news last week, only to read a story about me walking by some puppies for sale and demanding that I be given a Yorkie puppy to be an accessory for a photo shoot," Paris wrote Monday on her MySpace blog. "I wasn't looking for a new pet. I wasn't even at a photo shoot that day," she clarifies, before quickly pointing out: "Puppies are not accessories or toys." (Source: E Online)

This is coming from a woman who frequently graces the red carpet with a monkey or puppy in her arms and single handedly made it fashionable to carry a dog around in your purse. Yet "puppies are not accessories". Well that's good to know, I was a bit confused on that one. While I didn't quite believe the story when it was first reported, I could still see it happening. Her defensive blog post really doesn't do much to convince me either way, especially because she managed to promote her new reality show at least three times during it.

So that's all I've got to say today. The smoke from the wild fires is killing my allergies, so I've been a little out of it today anyway. Plus I've got to get back to work on my other job here at the station. Those commercials won't schedule themselves after all.

Later