Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via fashionafrica)

"WELL, it's official - Kimora Lee Simmons is knocked up. Russell Simmons' ex-child bride is pregnant with her first baby from boyfriend Djimon Hounsou, friends said. The Baby Phat designer had been trying for over a year, but had difficulties. A rep for Kimora, who has two children with Russell - Ming Lee and Aoki - declined to comment. The family will presumably live in Los Angeles." (PageSix)

"Jerry Mendoza says he’s willing to go to an extreme he wouldn’t have before the real estate slump. It hit Southern California hard, with the median home price in a six-county region falling a record 34 percent in November to $285,000, according to research company MDA DataQuick. His four-bedroom house in suburban Burbank, which Mendoza built in 2006, didn’t sell for the $1.3 million he asked, and when renters left in November he began leasing it for filming. The most he received for a day was $1,300, he said. So he posted an Internet notice that the property, which has an eight-person hot tub, was available to the adult-film industry, which he had heard pays as much as $5,000 a day. A few months ago, 'I probably would’ve said, You want to do what in here?' he said. 'That’s reserved for me and the missus.'" (Bloomberg)

"After breaking the first news that Lionsgate and brilliant Mad Men creator and showrunner Matthew Weiner were at a negotiations impasse, I'm thrilled to be able to confirm tonight that they've reached an agreement to continue with the show for a 3rd and 4th season. As an insider told me, 'The deal is done. It closed today, it's seven figures, and he is going back to work.'" (DeadlineHollywooddaily)



"Morgan Freeman was disappointed to learn that his local high school in Charleston, Miss., still held separate proms, one for black students, one for white. So he offered to pay for a single prom that both could attend. That was 1997. It took 11 years for the school to take Freeman up on his offer. Director Paul Saltzman's 'Prom Night in Mississippi,' premiering Saturday as part of the world documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, chronicles the growing pains Charleston went through last year as the community prepared for its first racially integrated senior prom. The move came 54 years after the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education case that struck down school segregation and more than 30 years after black students began attending Charleston High School, which previously had been all-white." (AP)

"It's day 1 at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the EW Photo studio started its day off with a bang, with comedian/director Robert Townsend mugging heartily for the camera. Townsend is visiting snowy Park City, Utah, for his documentary Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy. This historic look at black comedy, from the minstrels in black face to Dave Chappelle -- the comedian Townsend admires most right now -- is a sort of culmination of Townsend's decades of work, from Hollywood Shuffle to Eddie Murphy's concert video Raw. "It's a celebration and a love letter to all the comedians I love: Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Bill Cosby, and Eddie Murphy,' Townsend says. Townsend is looking for a buyer like so many other filmmakers at Sundance this year, but that didn't mean he didn't take the time to kick back, have a sandwich and share some laughs with fellow festival-goer Matthew Lillard (Scooby-Doo), who is here promoting his Slamdance film Spooner." (EW)

"Just had a giant helping of mediocre all-you-can-eat Chinese with @DrewAtHitFix - stomach full, though, which is rare during Sundance." (Erik Davis/Tweet)

"Looking to make certain that curious TV viewers are aware of its new series about a woman with multiple personalities, United States of Tara, Showtime has taken over multiple ad space on TVGuide.com. It bought up all the site’s ad inventory for the special promotion. The cable net has also bought all the inventory on TVGuide.com’s Online Video Guide, which has been streaming Tara since last week. The show debuts this Sunday." (David Kaplan/Paidcontent)

"'Mall Cop' commandeers box office. Friday box office, grossing an estimated $9.9 million from 3,144 runs as the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend got underway. It was another boom day for theater traffic. Twentieth Century Fox's rapper biopic 'Notorious,' from Fox Searchlight, opened to No. 2, grossing an estimated $8.3 million from only 1,638 runs. Lionsgate's horror title 'My Bloody Valentine 3-D' wasn’t far behind in its debut, grossing an estimated $8.1 million from 2,534 playdates. 'Valentine' is the widest 3-D release to date, playing in 1,033 3-D locations and 1,501 conventional theaters." (Variety)

"Probably the least important aspect of Lee Daniels' fantastic new drama 'Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire' was still the biggest elephant in the room at the Racquet Club theater in Park City, Utah last night: Can Mariah Carey show any acting skills whatsoever? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. In a movie filled with unconventional casting, Carey goes plain jane (i.e, absolutely no makeup) as a social worker and has to participate in a number of intense scenes where her fans will be happy to learn she clearly does not embarrass herself. The bigger surprises, however, were provided by Mo'Nique and the film's star, newcomer Gabourey Sidibe." (HitFix)