Entertainment Roundup

Celebrities -- those people who go beyond a 15-minute time slot of fame -- tend to offer us non-celebrities with entertainment on regular basis for one reason and one reason only: nobody's cool all the time and lucky for us, celebrities are constantly being recorded during their most un-cool of moments.

"Kramer" -- A.K.A. Michael Richards

First up today is the latest embodiment of pure unadulterated bigwig racism. Michael Richards, the actor who played "Kramer" on Seinfeld was videotaped (and the tape, as always is available on YouTube, though you'll have to register to watch it because it's considered inappropriate for some users) during a stand-up comedy routine at the Laugh Factory this past weekend in L.A. where he lost his temper at a couple of Black hecklers and responded with such atavistic racism that I don't think many of the audience members were old enough to understand his intital statement until he repeatedly used the N-word and thereby shocked and alienated the audience who shortly thereafter began to leave one by one, prompting Richards to just walk off the set.

His initial statement was a reference to the prevalent (and still ongoing, I might add, though less frequently) lynching of Black Americans (link warning: very graphic images -- very similar to the types of images the Western press abounds in these days from Afghanistan and other countries) a couple generations ago in the U.S.: "Shut up! 50 years ago we'd have you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass!"

The video of Richards apologizing on the David Letterman show is very real and very disturbing. Unlike the apology that Mel Gibson issued during his anti-semitic rant recently, Richards truly seemed apologetic -- the viewer basically witnesses him crumble apart as he openly questions his own motivations and behavior and offers a warning to everyone out there to not let prejudice get the best of them. Everybody has prejudices, it's just that when prejudice starts to affect your judgment and behavior it's time to take a close look at the problem and resolve it so it doesn't cause any more pain.

Dubya Takes on Asia

"Ah hate wearin' a dress!" -- looks like ol' pigeon-toed Dubya will go to any length to convince East Asians that he's their friend. Too bad nobody seems to be believing him.

Tom "I'm not Gay" Cruise gets married to Kate "I am still a virgin" Holmes

Yep, they just got married this weekend. It's only a matter of time before even they get tired of this charade. But this post is not about lambasting people's joy, it's more about analysing the wedding photo these two have released to the public. Two things scream out right away: Katie Holmes is 5'10" and Tom Cruise is 5'7" (though it's probably more like 5'5") so how come she looks shorter than him here? Well, take a close look at her bended knee under the gown and you might figure out why. Why can't they just be normal? Which brings me to the next observation: that creepy fake grin on Katie's face is priceless. At least Tom's face is genuine.

Eva Longoria is Cool

The hottest lady from Desperate Housewives is the whole package, definitely. This beautiful and successful young woman is doing something very few celebrities and even fewer Hollywood ones do: she is being genuinely politically vocal. Referring to her character on this tv show, Longoria takes a jab at the re-elected Gah-vah-nah of California: "I'm here today to announce my candidacy for president. ... Oh, wrong speech! In the last two years, I've had an affair with the gardener and a teenager, I've faked a paternity test, my husband went to prison, and I threw him out of a window. I would probably win in California."