And the award for Backward Compliment of the Year goes to… With Jimmy Kimmel Live shifting to 11:35 p.m. next week, and therefore taking on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , the former’s host comes down hard on the latter’s in a new interview with Rolling Stone , telling the magazine of Leno: “As a comedian, you can’t not have disdain for what he’s done: He totally sold out. He was a master chef who opened a Burger King.” SLAM… and also props, as Kimmel is saying what many have said for years: Leno was a terrific stand-up who dumbed down his schtick for his late-night gig. Do you agree? Sound off now: Which of these men is funnier? And the Winner is? Jimmy Kimmel Click Here To Vote for Jimmy Jay Leno Click Here To Vote for Jay Jimmy Kimmel will soon be squaring off against Jay Leno. Which of these two do you find funnier? View Poll »
Move over, Zuckerberg. Florida resident Zachary Marks, 11, began his own social network, called Grom Social, after his parents banned him from using Facebook. Grom Social is designed specifically for children. Marks had a Facebook account for roughly a week despite being two years too young to join the site, having lied about his age to create an account. When his parents discovered that he may have been engaging in risky online activities, they pulled the plug. At that point, he came up with a plan. “I spent all my time on the computer chatting with friends. Then, I made mistakes,” Marks says on the Grom Social About page. “I had to deactivate my account.” “One of my adult friends cursed and posted something inappropriate, and I cursed back. Also, I friend-requested grownups who I did not know.” “About a day later, my dad found out. He was really mad.” Marks said he wasn’t interested in any existing, kid-friendly, social networks – “They were all childish,” he said – so he set out to create one for “Groms.” That’s slang term for young surfers that he re-purposed to mean something close to “precocious kid.” Soon enough, Grom Social was conceived. In order to keep members safe, only parents and parent-approved adults can join. Parents of kid members are kept up to date on youngsters’ online activities via email. The site also has a built-in language filter to keep the expletives in check. Grom Social is also compliant with COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a controversial law aimed at keeping kids safe online. Some argue this is ineffective and unconstitutionally limits 1st Amendment rights. Under COPPA, websites, apps and plug-ins are not allowed to collect information from children less than 13 years old without their parent’s express consent. The burden of verification, however, simply isn’t worth it to most networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare, so they ban members under 13. To date, Grom Social has almost 7,000 members and is open to users under 15 in the U.S. and Canada. If it really explodes, could it hurt Facebook’s growth potential?
Westboro Baptist Church and specifically spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper have been besieged by trolls from the notorious hacktivist group Anonymous. As soon as WBC announced plans to picket a vigil for the victims of Friday’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Anonymous retaliated hardcore. Shirley Phelps-Roper so far is bearing the brunt of the group’s efforts. In a video posted to Vimeo by Anonymous, the group vowed: “We will not allow you to corrupt the minds of America with your seeds of hatred. We will not allow you to inspire aggression to the social factions which you deem inferior.” “We will render you obsolete. We will destroy you. We are coming.” Phelps-Roper, a relative of WBC founder Fred Phelps, announced the group’s plan “to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.” Monday, Phelps-Roper’s handle @DearShirley was taken over by hacker @cosmothegod, who Tweeted a petition calling for the White House to recognize WBC as a hate group. Anonymous also claims to have successfully filed for a death certificate for Phelps-Roper, blocked her social security number and changed her desktop background to gay porn. Via its its @YourAnonNews account, Anonomyous also claimed responsibility for the fact that Westboro Baptist Church’s website was taken down. After people from Anonymous hacked Westboro Baptist Church this weekend, they claimed to have found a trove of information about its members. So far, there has also been no news of Westboro carrying through on its threat to picket the funerals of Newtown shooting victims … but watch out if they do.
Need something to help you get over the taste left by last weeks revelation that Charles Schulz was really bad at sending adulterous love letters to women half his age? Why not watch proof that the future for the neurotic, preternaturally mature children of Peanuts is as utterly bleak as you always pictured it would be! Charlie is A Charlie Brown Christmas re-imagined as an episode of Louie , and just like Louis C.K.’s weekly ode to mediocrity, it features a middle-aged Charlie Brown returning to the old neighborhood for Christmas amid constant reminders of age and lack of accomplishment. Well that was brill. I approve of Linus as a reclusive hoarder and Lucy as a bitter divorcee. Yeah, making Peppermint Patty and Marcie a lesbian couple is an old joke, but envisioning Schroeder as a Jake Shears-style house musician in a gay club more than makes up for it. Best of all, Charlie Brown finally tells Lucy off for her years of football-related bullying by taking the damn ball from her and kicking it, like a real bitter, middle-aged man would. Go team Chuck! Now of course, you know what this means: all other Peanuts parodies are now moot. Please update your schedule accordingly. [via ADHD ] Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow him on twitter (@rossalincoln). Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Popular culture may suffer from youth obsession and the movies may be front and central in perpetuating it all, but older folks have made strides this year in capturing the box office dollar with titles like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Hope Springs . So, why not have the nation’s most prominent organization for people hitting their Golden Years weigh in on the year’s best movies? AARP — less popularly known as the American Association of Retired Persons — gave its Top Ten films of the year, joining a chorus of other groups this time of the year giving their lists. The interest group noted that 2012 was “hot for both older movie-goers and movie-makers,” citing Golden Globe nominations for Helen Mirren, Richard Gere, Denzel Washington, Bill Murray and Judi Dench. AARP’s picks include titles by directors such as Ben Affleck, David O. Russell and Kathryn Bigelow which feature stars that aren’t exactly on the cusp of receiving Social Security benefits, but their picks seem to indicate themes of maturity over age. AARP dubbed their 2012 best films list as a “Year-end Top Ten Movies for Grownups.” Their picks follow: Argo Amour Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Hitchcock Les Miserables Lincoln Quartet The Sessions Silver Linings Playbook Zero Dark Thirty Movies made for older audiences became an issue earlier this year after comments by an actress perfectly comfortable embracing senior citizenry in roles such as the Dowager Countess of Grantham on Downton Abbey and as Muriel Donnelly in box office hit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel . Maggie Smith made waves criticizing Hollywood’s youth obsession, pointing out that films that portray older people have historically performed well. “It seems to me there is a change in what audiences want to see,” she said. “I can only hope that’s correct, because there’s an awful lot of people of my age around now and we outnumber the others. I don’t think films about elderly people have been made very much. But I think of [films like] Cocoon and Driving Miss Daisy and they always seem to be fairly successful, so it’s a bit baffling as to why everybody has to be treated as if they were five years old.”
Jill Kelley, the woman who inadvertently blew the whistle on the Gen. David Petraeus scandal, claims she’s been wrongly accused … of trashing the Kardashians. Kelley, who got to know Petraeus and Gen. John Allen as the social liaison of the Tampa base where they were stationed, is rich, hot and famous for sort of no reason. For that reason, she’s been compared to Kim Kardashian and her ilk after her role in the Petraeus- Paula Broadwell scandal made her an overnight celebrity of sorts. Jill Kelley was said to have resented this comparison, deeming it “the worst thing to come out of” the scandal. But sources close to Jill are now denying that statement. Kelley views Kim Kardashian as a “beautiful and successful business woman” whom she highly respects. Insert one of many possible rebuttals right here, right now. And tell us: Who’d you rather … y’know? Jill Kim View Poll »
Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp. and owner of Fox News, said that the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut this week made it clear that it is time to ban automatic weapons in the United States. The News Corp chairman used the social media platform Twitter to express frustration at the easy availability of automatic and semi-automatic guns in his adopted country. “Terrible news today,” he tweeted. “When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons? As in Oz after similar tr
What the hell was he thinking??? This story has us wondering when public officials will learn their lesson about spittin’ racially charged comments online and in the media?? According to The Huffington Post , John Sims publicly apologized after other lawmakers and residents complained: “To those of you who were genuinely offended, I offer my deepest apology,” said Sims at Tuesday’s workshop meeting. “Rest assured that I will continue to serve our city well and continue to work equally for all people in Cooper City regardless of religion, ethnicity or social status.” The comment Sims posted Nov. 30 read: “Just wanted to let you know … today I received my 2013 Social Security Stimulus Package. It contained two tomato seeds, cornbread mix, two discount coupons to KFC, an ‘Obama Hope & Change’ bumper sticker, a prayer rug, a machine to blow smoke up my ass and a ‘Blame it on Bush’ poster for the front yard. The directions were in Spanish. Yours should arrive soon.” Newly elected Mayor Greg Ross made a last-minute decision to add the item to the city’s workshop meeting after he received an outpouring of email from outraged residents. “The residents’ phone calls asked me to please ask him to resign or to fire him,” said Ross. “I don’t have the right to do that. It’s the citizens who vote him in and the citizens’ right to vote him out.” Ross added that Sims would benefit from “sensitivity training.” Resident Gabriel De Gedeon shared with the commission his family’s distaste with Sims’ comment. “Those comments are 100 percent bitter and ignorant,” he said. “I’m shocked that those offensive comments were written by a Cooper City commissioner.” Sims said he did not come up with the post on his own; rather, he reposted it from another site. “The post was done as a humorous commentary,” he said. “I deeply regret that I failed to consider that some might find it offensive.” Resident Jimmy Jones, who is the Hollywood assistant police chief, originally brought the comment to the city’s attention and requested Sims’ resignation last week. Jones said he was open to an apology from the commissioner Tuesday night. “As a resident in this community since 1999, I want my community served by people who care about everybody in the community,” said Jones, who is white. Another resident, Christine Timmons, defended Sims, saying he should not be humiliated for exercising his right to free speech. “Every time a white person opens his mouth, people say, ‘Oh, he’s a racist,’” said Timmons, who is black. “He can say what he wants to say. He’s got a right to free speech like anyone else.” The mayor and commissioners said they do not condone Sims’ comment and apologized to the city’s residents. “The comment was vile, offensive — it reminds me of a Neanderthal comment because it’s very backward. It was not in good taste,” said Commissioner Lisa Mallozzi. “But I accept his apology and we’re going to move forward.” This story’s got people talkin’ about the double-standard like this guy wasn’t out of line?!?! Images via facebook
It’s hard to envision Pope Benedict XVI cranking out musings on his iPhone 5 every 20 minutes, but the pontiff has officially joined Twitter , according to reports. At the age of 85, the Pope himself is about to be launched into the brave new world of social networking, complete with the official handle of “@pontifex”. @pontifex already has 360,000+ followers and has yet to Tweet once. Badass. It’s easy to see why the Catholic Church, which has struggled to connect with teenagers and young adults (as have all religions) launched this initiative. Archbishop Claudio Celli, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, pointed out that some 140 million people currently use Twitter. Of those, nearly 40 percent are in the 16-24 age group. “This is a new market for ideas and the church should be there … This is not the only way [to spread the Catholic Church’s message] but it is a very useful one,” he said. “It’s cost-effective and not labour-intensive.” Do not expect a new tweet from the Pope every half hour – more like once a week, if that – but the Vatican insists any tweets from the Pope will be genuine. While the Pope will not be typing out his thoughts in 140 characters or less, he will oversee and ensure Tweets have “his engagement and approval.” Archbishop Celli said the 140 character limit will prove something of a “challenge” but that Twitter offers a “wonderful opportunity to share his nuggets of wisdom.” The Pope will begin tweeting December 12, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, when he will answer some of the questions sent to #askpontifex about faith and belief. The Pope (with the help of staff members) will also be tweeting in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish and Arabic.
Sun-kissed blonde Ashley Hinshaw holds the number one spot on Mr. Skin ’s Top Ten Nude Scenes of 2012 , and now she has graciously acknowledged it on the wonderful world of Twitter . Earlier this afternoon Ashley took to the social media sphere to announce she was flattered at her inclusion. A short and sweet message, but still more than enough to get Skin Central all a-titter. The All-American knockout certainly deserved the paramount position for her incomparable nude debut as a fresh-faced porn star in About Cherry (2012). Thanks for the mention, Ashley, and the pleasure was all ours! Catch up with the best of beachy blonde Ashley Hinshaw right here at MrSkin.com, and be sure to friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter !
