louise on the left (coast)

During the last episode of "I Can't Believe I'm Still Single" Mark Ebner interviews Donny Ward and pointedly reminds (no, actually, he baits) Ward that Ward did once date a "teen superstar" when Ward was in his thirties. What astonished me was that Ward not only confirmed this fact, but did so by repeating the phrase, "But, she was a legal teen."    And then Ward went on to sort-of brag that he debated this moral issue surrounding dating a younger woman amongst all his other guy friends, who all confirmed that if they'd been in his shoes, they'd have dated her, too.   He even seemed to crow about how similar his situation was to that of the relationship between the Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway characters in the Allen's film, Manhattan . (Okay.  Got that, Donny & Mark.  Whoever she was, she was smoking hot and very, very young.  So, who was she? ) It wasn't too hard to figure out from looking at Ward's bio  l...

I really don't mean to complain, but, honestly, the recapping of this show is really becoming challenging.   However, ONLY ONE MORE SHOW LEFT!  Thursday, January 6th! The thematic structure of it just gets weaker and weaker...And I'm trying like hell to eek out an overall structure for the purposes of finishing this entire show's un-reviews and recaps: So, here goes.  The second-to-last show of the season: Location scouting for the movie which is the sequel to "My Life's In Turnaround." Recap of last week's nastier (don't ask.  Really.) scenes for replay and the boys in the van laugh about it.   Best lines:  Ebner:  "Yeah, they (kids) understand why that bad guy is getting shot in a video game as opposed to why that fat guy's getting wrapped like a sandwich?" They meet an orthodox Jew, sound mixer, "Chen," who offers Eric some of the most useful advice Eric's ever received.  Not that Eric is capable of noticing. H...

Why, is that really Mrs. Almost Eric Schaeffer at People's Choice Awards, tonight? But, who's that dude Liza Powell's slumming with? Oh, just her real husband, Conan O'Brien. And to think she's one and the same woman who's heartbreak ended up inspiring the launch of "hit" cable show "I Can't Believe I'm Still Single."  Ah, well. Guess Powell won't need to worry about running into any former flames at The Nokia Theater tonight. ~ For even more celeb viewing of tonight's red carpet People's Choice Awards: Click here Orange County Register's star-studded slide show!

Very funny music video respectfully poached off Mr. Dine's facebook page.

I'm thinking that if Dickens were around today he would heartily endorse Maher's anti-greed and anti-hypocrisy opinion of our consumption-addicted society. What do you think?

Portrait of the artist: Miriam Margolyes, actor 'I've been very lucky – I've worked consistently and I haven't had to kiss a lot of people on stage Interview by  Laura Barnett guardian.co.uk , Monday 3 January 2011 21.59 GMT Miriam Margolyes. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian What got you started? You're born with the performing gene. I was a show-off at school, so it was inevitable I would become an actress. Who or what have you sacrificed for your art? Nothing at all. I have lived an entirely egotistical life, for myself alone. What's the best advice anyone ever gave you? Max Stafford-Clark once told me to "play the opposite". It's about showing a character's layers: when you're playing a happy person, you show them sad; when you're playing an angry person, you show them contented. I don't like Max very much, but I think he's a very good director. Is it more difficult for women to sustain an acting career...

I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but last month KCET, Los Angeles' former affiliate for PBS, dumped decent educational programming to replay really, really old, campy re-runs of the same crap we laughed at in the 1970s. Amazingly, here's what's on my former PBS station right now: January 2, 2011: Lidsville   (TV Series 1971–1973) A  '70s show about a boy who is trapped inside what appears to be a bad acid trip in Burbank where scary hats yell and jump about and sing loudly at you about nothing remotely sensible. There's Weenie the Genie (aka,  Billie Hayes , who was Witchiepoo on H.R. Pufnstuf) who, I am willing to bet, was an inspiration for Pee Wee Herman's "Jambi."  Just a hunch. The lead boy, "Mark," is played by  Butch Patrick , who formerly played Eddie Munster. But, the show also features a very ugly, green-headed  Charles Nelson Reilly  who mostly chuckles loudly and yells really ...