Last night’s “South Park” episode, which was hyped as being bold and brilliant in its exploration of Tiger Woods and sex addiction, didn’t yield many laughs. It isn’t enough for a series to be merely topical and potty-mouthed for it to be funny. This show, which has long been one of my favorites, is slipping lately.
A group of celebrities — including Lily Tomlin, Phyllis Diller, and Tommy Tune — have started a campaign to secure Kennedy Center Honors for Carol Channing (pictured), who’s still breathing (and more!) at age 89. A Facebook fan page titled “Carol Channing Should Be a Kennedy Center Honoree” is also up and running. C’mon, people: if a Facebook campaign could help another Living National Treasure, Betty White, secure a spot hosting SNL, it can certainly be a force in getting Carol Channing recognized in Washington!
The boom times are well and truly back for the top end of the art market, only a year after the traditional centers of the auction world — New York and London — suffered their worst slump in a generation. Christie’s in London announced yesterday that it is to sell a rare blue-period Picasso (pictured) portrait with a “conservative” estimate of between $45 million and $60 million, the highest for a work of art offered at auction in Europe.
Ralph Fiennes (pictured) began shooting Shakespeare’s Coriolanus in Belgrade on Wednesday, making his directorial debut as well as starring alongside Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave. Fiennes starred in a stage production of the play several years back with Linus Roache (now in “Law and Order”).
The musical version of Almodovar’s 1988 classic film “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” had another reading this past week at Lincoln Center Theater in New York. The production has been announced by LCT for Broadway (the renovated Belasco Theatre) in the fall; Bartlett Sher is the director. At the reading’s presentation, Almodovar himself was in attendance, and, by all reports, happy with the results. Here’s the story, for those of you who’ve forgotten. As for the musical’s cast, it’s still up in the air. At this most recent reading (the one before included “Glee”s Matthew Morrison in the lineup), the buzz was especially strong for the women, including Sherie Rene Scott (upper left) as Pepa (the Carmen Maura role in the movie), Jessica Biel (upper right), and Patti LuPone (lower left). Response was also strong for the book and lyrics of Jeffrey Lane and the Spanish-flavored music of David Yazbek. This production is shaping up to be something sophisticated and special; if you’re smart, you’ll get tickets as soon as they go on sale.
“My Dad prepared a speech for me with a bunch of funny stuff in it, but I’m 11 and I’m nervous.” That’s Jaden Smith, referring to his father Will Smith, and the family’s presentation of their “Karate Kid” remake at Showest. The movie will be inflicted on the public in June.
50 Cent is over the gangster, hip-hop genre and has decided to take his music into a new direction. Sources say that Fiddy is already in the studio, laying down tracks for a dance album. I don’t think that Lady Gaga is worried.
