Poprah Is Back And Badder Than Ever

By Jerry Kurl

Poprah, left and below right, has a recurring role on Vh1's "I Want to Work For Diddy" Season 2, working for Diddy as a spy and deliberating eliminations, per Diddy's request. In Season 1 Poprah was the most popular contestant and has subsequently been nominated as "the favorite villain" on the network's 4th Annual Favorite Reality Villian Award Show.

From the start of the series, it was quite obvious that Poprah, who calls herself a hybrid of Puffy (now known as Diddy) and Oprah Winfrey, was the breakout star. She made it very clear to her competitors, who were all vying for the same position as Diddy's new personal assistant, that she was not there to make friends, but to win, and to leave a lasting impression on Mr. Combs and the entertainment world as a whole.

The New York Post reported that Poprah was the show's standout contestant. OK Magazine says, that the name that will remain on everyone's lips is definitely Poprah. And many other national media outlets including the New York Daily News, Insider Magazine, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, obviously came to the same conclusion, given their many feature stories on this budding new star.

For more information, bookings, and/or interviews, please contact: Mari Ronquillo, Senior Publicist, Lyme Lite Media, Direct: 626.392.5248 Office: 818.271.0824

Jerry Seinfeld: "Did She Comment That Her Doll Is Not Black?"

By Holly Wood

I understand the dialogue at the end of the "finale" of the 7th season of the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" faux/real "Seinfeld" reunion now about the black doll comment from Jerry. Elaine used Jerry’s donated sperm to impregnate herself but Jerry evidently does not know and thinks some black dude is the daddy.

Jerry to Kramer: "Hey thanks for getting that doll for Isabelle.

Jerry to Elaine: "She happy with it?"

Elaine to Jerry: "Yeah, she liked it."

Jerry to Elaine: "Did she comment on the fact that her doll is not black?"

Elaine to Jerry: "She didn't say a word except: 'tell Daddy thank you.' "

Then Kramer laughs and says "Daddy."

AAEA President Challenges President Obama To Golf Match

By Gerry Kurl

The Wall Street Journal has been dogging President Barack Obama's golf game. The president's political opponents are trying to say he is playing too much (compared to former President Bush). Glenn Beck is saying the president shouldn't play because we are at war. Get a life Glenn. One has nothing to do with the other. Our president NEEDS to get away from the pressures of the office on a peaceful golf course for a few hours.

Regardless, our fearless leader is calling out the president. In fact, he's talking big smack about President Obama's lack of real golfing skills. And he is not alone. Here's what The Wall Street Journal said:

This love of the links can't be for keeps, they moan, for he who plays secretly must surely play badly. How badly? His score is a matter of "national security," deflects David Axelrod, political adviser to the First Duffer...but declined to comment further on why he appears to be favoring golf over hoops, or why members of the press haven't been allowed to watch him tee off. Postings by golf observers on the Web site Baller-in-Chief, which is primarily devoted to the president's basketball game, posit a brutal answer: Mr. Obama has a golf handicap in the mid-20s, considered weak to average, and a cramped swing that's not so pretty.

And our fearless leader does not want to play on the Commander in Chief's 'home' courses near Washington. President Obama most often plays on one of two military courses, Fort Belvoir in Virginia and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Although our leader has played at Andrews Air Force Base many times, and feels that he could 'take the president' there, he wants to take the president to Langston Golf Course in the heart of our nation's capital.

The challenge has been sent President Obama. Although our fearless leader's handicap is around the north end of 20 too, he feels, from seeing the president's golf swing on television, that he can take him. And President Obama is a south paw. A lefty. Just look at the smooth swing of our leader, upper left, and the strained swing of President Obama, upper right. Note the AAEA president's straight lead arm and the bent lead arm of President Obama. The lead arm should be straight.

American Music Awards Rocked Cyborg Style in 2009

By Jerry Kurl

Laser Beam Costumes:

Art or Danger?

The 2009 American Music Awards rocked last night at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. It was a particularly good show this year with one great performance after another. I can't remember an AMA with a line up of this quality and the performers produced. Although I disagree with the L.A. Times Music Blog review of the Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert performances [incredible performances], it provides a good synopsis of the performances otherwise.

Since we're an environmental group and have to find something to complain about, I'm going to take on the lasers being emitted from the outfits of some of the performers and the stage. Are these beams safe? Can they damage the eyes of the performers or members of the audience? Should an entertainment environmental statement be conducted on the use of laser beams in concert performances when they are aimed at the audience?

Three performers using the lasers in their outfits were Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert. Rihanna's outfit, top right, had the most lasers and the biggest effect. Hey. I'm just asking.

Environment Man Sings Elvis "Burning Love" Barefooted

While wearing a Mao Red Army hat. Now that's entertainment.

Sly Stone: "High On You" CROSSWORD PUZZLE

By Jerry Kurl

If Sly had issued the song "Crossword Puzzle" right after "Thank You" or "If You Want Me To Stay," it would have been a monster hit. It is a great song that did not get the play that it deserved. Freddie's background vocals are killer. And just as with other horn riffs that have been lifted from Cynthia and Jerry, so too are the horns killer here as well. And need I say anything about the distinctive bass line. I think that's Rusty Allen though instead of Larry Graham. Wanna hear it? Just click on the album cover picture above.

Oprah Show Ends Where "The Environment Man Show" Begins

By Holly Wood

Oprah Winfrey, left, has announced she will end her talk show on September 9, 2011 and it is rumored that Environmental Man will begin his new show, "The Environment Man Show" on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) on September 9, 2010. It is being reported that Ms. Winfrey will concentrate exclusively on her forthcoming cable channel, while Eman will concentrate exclusively on saving our precious planet, with the show as part of his campaign.

OWN is a joint venture between her production company and Discovery Communications, which produces the Discovery Channel that reaches more than 70 million households. Rumors are running rampant around Hollywood that Harpo Productions is depending on "The Environment Man Show" to be one of its flagship program. Environment Man has been described as the epitome of the post-ironic 21st century American cultural attitude. He's completely taken the entire history of American mass entertainment from country and western to Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars and the quirkiness of anti deep ecology environmentalism and melded it into a character that is completely contemporary. Eman has a hard core cult following and it is expected that he can translate his underground charm to a mass market.

According to some of my underground sources, "The Environment Man Show" will have the following themes: In a time of global climate change, inner city murder and terrorism, a superhero has emerged to mitigate the corrosion. Nuclear powered and photovoltaically tanned, Environment Man is friend to the poor, enemy of the evil doers, and dangerous to those ruining the Earth. Wind propelled and mobile via plug-in hydrogen fuel cell hybrid electric environmentmobile, E-Man wants the public to know this: "It is now, it is always, it will be.....Environment Man." Eman will also perform a musical number much like Mike Huckabee at the end of each show. He is shown above right with members of his Ecology Band. (NYT, 11.19/09)

Grist Magazine Presents Wyclef Jean Riffing on Climate Change

Stupid Forbes List Lists Black Actors 3 of 10 Worst

By Alan Smithee

Blacks make up 13% of the national population but evidently 30% of the Hollwood actors with the worst return on investment according to a very stupid and ignorant Forbes list. How about retitling the poll: "More Stupid Ways To Make Blacks Look Bad in Hollywood." Forbes's 10 most overpaid stars (in order) were: Ferrell ($3.29); Ewan McGregor ($3.75); Billy Bob Thornton ($4); Eddie Murphy ($4.43); Ice Cube ($4.77); Cruise ($7.18); Drew Barrymore ($7.43); Leonardo DiCaprio ($7.52); Samuel Jackson ($8.59); Jim Carrey ($8.62). How in the world do you put Sam Jackson's name on a list like that when his movie grosses are the highest of any actor in the history of Hollywood? Leave it to Forbes. Next they will have Oprah going to the welfare office to get food stamps.

To create their list, they looked at the 100 biggest stars in Hollywood. To qualify, each actor had to have starred over the last five years in at least three movies that opened in more than 500 theaters. Forbes calculated each star's estimated earnings on each film, including up-front pay and any earnings from the film's box office receipts, DVD and TV sales. They then looked at each movie's estimated budget (not including marketing costs, which are susceptible to accounting chicanery) and box office, DVD and television earnings to figure out an operating income for each film. They added up each star's compensation on his or her last three films and the operating income on those films and divided total operating income by the star's total compensation to come up with each return-on-investment number. Yeah. Right. Okay. Uh huh. Sure.

As hard as it is for Blacks to get work in Hollywood, they sure do not need their biggest stars disproportionately included in some stupid list with a cooked formula that somehow manages to include Eddie Murphy, Ice Cube and Samual L. Jackson. Oh you can say it lists top white stars too, but if you look at the list of successful working actors in Hollywood, I think you will see that Blacks are disproportionately underrepresented on that list. How about it Forbes? (Complete List with Pictures)

California Sets Energy Efficiency Standards For Televisions

By Environment Man

The California Energy Commission (CEC) voted 5-0 to approve the nation's first efficiency regulations for TVs of up to 58 inches sold in the state. The regulations will take effect in 2011. The California standard takes aim at energy-hogging LCD and plasma sets, was motivated by a finding that televisions now account for as much as 10% of home electricity use—equivalent to refrigerators. About 30 million televisions are sold each year nationally; between four million and five million are sold in California. Old-fashioned sets with conventional cathode-ray tubes use about 100 watts of power when turned on, while newer plasma sets often use four times as much electricity.

Consumers usually are unaware of sets' energy demands because there is no required disclosure. The state agency will require television makers to include energy data on product packaging beginning in 2011 so consumer can make comparisons before they buy.

Under the standard, no television with a screen size less than 58 inches can be sold in California after 2011 unless it meets certain "energy factors," or limits on energy consumption. The standard tightens further in 2013. It replaces a rule that only considered energy use when sets were in standby mode. Sets sold in California under the standard would consume 33% less electricity in 2011 and 49% less in 2013 than the average set sold today, according to the CEC.

The California standard uses a formula to compute acceptable energy use. For example, a 36-inch screen would be limited to 148 watts in 2011 and 95 watts in 2013, whether it is a CRT, plasma or LCD. For a 42-inch screen, the limit would be 183 watts or less in 2011, and 115 watts or less by 2013. The commission estimates that switching to more efficient TVs would save an average of $30 per set per year and $8.1 billion in electricity bills statewide over the first decade. Moving to more efficient televisions would eliminate the need to build at least one large, gas-fired electric power plant, according to the CEC. (WSJ, 11/18/09, LA Times, 11/18/09)

Teodoro Nguema Obiang? Donate Use of Malibu Estate To Us

By Holly Wood

Teodoro Nguema Obiang, left, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, has a $35 million estate in Malibu, California overlooking the Malibu Pier (pictured below). He also has a fleet of luxury cars, speedboats and a private jet.

Hey Ted? Please allow AAEA-Hollywood to use your estate as an office/residence when you are not there. We are environmentalists and we promise to be good stewards. Ummmm. Could we also have access to the speedboats and private jet? It appears that the cars are not fuel efficient, so we will pass on a request to utilize them.

Mr. Teodoro Nguema Obiang is the forest and agriculture minister of Equatorial Guinea. Young Mr. Obiang has made a fortune off of timber in Equatorial Guinea.

Extensive offshore oil and gas reserves were discovered more than a decade and a half ago in this West African country. Equatorial Guinea produces nearly 400,000 barrels by American companies like ExxonMobil, Hess and Marathon. Since oil was discovered there in 1996, Equatorial Guinea has become the third-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria and Angola, with estimated revenues of $4.8 billion in 2007.

(NYT, 11/16/09)

Kramer Reformed on "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

By Holly Wood

We called it way before the episode aired: that Larry David would use the ad hoc "Seinfeld" reunion to reform the Kramer character [or Michael Richards]. Our verdict: BRILLIANT. Larry David successfully exorcised Richard's racist rant by mocking Kramer. If Richards handles things right, he could still have a career. In fact he could rule. Just be thankful that, for the most part, African Americans are forgiving people.

The next to last episode of this season was going along okay. Some funny spots but nothing special. Then the arc started towards putting Kramer and Leon Black together and we knew our prediction was about to come true: Leon Black would be used to reform Kramer. The skit was billiant. Over the top. A synopsis for those who did not see it:

Kramer has some disease. Larry David tells him an acquaintance had it and is fine except Larry did not know the guy had died a tortured death two months earlier. Leon Black [the real black guy] volunteers to play Larry's dead acquaintance to make Kramer feel better. So Leon ends up trying to explain that he is an Ethiopian Jew and that if Kramer wears Leon's goofy hat he will not die. Leon shows up at Kramer's door looking like a bow tied member of Louis Farrakhan's Black Muslim Fruit of Islam security force and Kramer says "don't kill me, its been three years." A great line and visual. Of course the dead guys wife ends up on set and blows the whole scheme. So Kramer ends up screaming at Leon as onlookers all pull out their cell phone cameras. Kramer ends up saying "I could use some word to describe how angry I am right now." Definitely pushing the envelope, but great theater.

This part of the episode put it in the 'classic' category. Larry and Leon always light up the screen just as when Larry would spar with Wanda Sykes. It put the episode into hyper drive.

Okay Kramer. Okay Michael Richards. Thank Larry David and Leon Black for their help. As far as we are concerned, it is over. And you are back. Don't blow your second chance. Addressing this issue this way, we think, showed a sensitivity, in Larry's nutty world kind of way, that lets us know that you deserve a chance to move on. Now show us what you have.

Rubicon

World Premiere

Director: Steve Rousseau
United States, 2009, 20min
Category: Short
Showtime: 9:15 PM Sat Nov 14 Frank Sinatra School of the Arts - Room 133
Cast: Kristen Pate, Randa Walker, Chris Brezina, Jae Henson, Jason Trevits (photo above)

Crew: Producers: Jae Henson, Steve Rousseau - Cinematography: Michael Parry - Film Editing: Jonathan D. Lee

Email: jae@917films.com
Web: http://www.917films.com/

Synopsis
A well-to-do WASPy Los Angeles man drives through the downtown night, seemingly on the run from someone or something, while refusing to answer his constantly buzzing cell phone. He eventually ends up in a familiar place - the upscale 'Rubicon' hotel bar. There, a stunning African American woman catches, then matches his gaze. A quick 'business' conversation leads them back to a room and starts off an awkward cat and mouse that neither of them will ever forget. As the night progresses, into the wee hours, the discovery of who is on the other end of the man's phone, his haplessness and hesitations and finally the woman's own frustrations and self-loathing build to a brutally honest climax that speaks to who they (and just maybe who we) really are - whether either of them will ever admit to themselves or anyone else. Do they ever cross their individual 'Rubicons' or is it all just business as usual?

EPA Teams with NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon in Clean Air Race

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a training DVD to help auto body shops comply with a rule reducing air pollution from vehicle painting. This type of pollution, called toxic air emissions, can cause smog, cancer or other serious health effects. The DVD, hosted by NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, includes steps body shops can take to comply with the rule, while improving worker protection and saving the shops money.

EPA produced the DVD in both English and Spanishas a supplement to the EPA paint rule training workshops being held for shop owners and employees in many parts of the country. In December 2007, EPA issued a rule requiring reductions in air toxic emissions from auto body shops that use spray application to paint cars or that use paint strippers containing a toxic substance called methylene chloride. The rule applies to auto painting operations that are smaller emitters, as well as those that emit larger amounts of air toxics. Existing shops must comply with the rule by January 2011; new shops have to comply by 180 days after startup.

More Information

One Of The Greatest Bands of All Time - 'Live'

U2 Live From The Rose Bowl October 25, 2009

Michael Jackson's "This Is It" Addresses Global Climate

By Holly Wood

I saw MJ's posthumous documentary film, "This Is It" this past weekend and it truly captures the 50-year old megastar at his peak. That's right. His peak. Michael Jackson showed in the film that not only does he still 'have it,' but he also showed that he was better than ever in voice and dance. His band was ready to conquer the world with Michael and the insights shown in this tribute film are the best second to the real thing. The world was waiting to see the spectacle MJ had constructed for them. It would have been the best live shows of all time. No wonder the O2 sold out 50 shows in advance. The fans in London had faith that MJ would deliver. And was he about to deliver. If you haven't seen the film, it is definitely worth the time, effort and money.

Interestingly, MJ addressed climate chanage and destruction of the Rainforest. He had an environmental video prepared to show in concert and the film included it. It is a powerful statement about how MJ would have been instrumental in influencing the global warming debate. Copenhagen would be going on during his concerts. The environmental film clip ended with a bulldozer on stage.

Putting the film out on the Halloween weekend was very smart. MJ would have appreciated that. He had retooled "Thriller" and definitely 'jacked it up' a notch or two. The ghouls were ghoulier and the stage spider would have been a very big hit. The Humphrey Bogart machine gun video clip with MJ was cute too in the "Smooth Criminal" segment.

MJ we love you. The world is reduced without you, but you left us enough material to enjoy you for decades to come.

UPDATE [1/23/10): They will be picking at the bones of MJ forever. Now from TMZ:

An entertainment company wants a piece of Michael Jackson's estate -- $285,000.The Machine Management claims Jackson hired the company to develop commercial relationships in the animation world. And MJ wanted help in creating a Michael Jackson film label that would package original film projects.The claim also says Jackson wanted help in creating a "Michael Jackson Global Warning Awareness Initiative."

AAEA President Spends Halloween in The Hamptons

By Environment Man

Our fearless leader visited with friends in The Hamptons over the Halloween weekend. He communicated to us that Southhampton has a great tradition of letting the kids 'trick or treat' all day at the stores in town. He said the sidewalks were full of kids and parents going from business to business. I'll bet the businesses loved that. The kids too because they were getting plenty of candy.

The boss said those Southhampton estates are awesome and the hedge fences are well manicured and trimmed. He told us his entourage also visited Bridgehampton. They were all over the place. His entourage included Danny Newman, Samara Swanston and Cathy Taylor (pictured above left). Danny and Samara live in the historic black community of Sag Harbor in East Hampton.

Saw VI Goes After The Insurance Companies

By Alan Smithee

The Jigsaw Killer's successor, police lieutenant Mark Hoffman, goes after insurance compnay executives and staff that cancel policies by eligible people. If the film had opened bigger, it might have helped President in reforming health care legislation. Predatory lenders are targeted too.

The movie is gruesome, as usual, but the insurance theme is timely. I almost felt sorry for the insurance executive because he went through so much. A black woman had to cut her left arm off to win her freedom. She was luckier than the black guy, who didn't make it. Good Halloween movie though.