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Buzz News Roundup, 11/5

BuzzSugar — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:37:47 PST

Nikki Blonsky will guest star on Ugly Betty as an assistant at Elle who bonds with Betty. - Zap2it
Charlize Theron is negotiating to star with Tom Cruise in The Tourist, a remake of the French thriller Anthony Zimmer. - ComingSoon
True Beauty, a reality show from Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher, will premiere Jan. 5. - The Futon Critic
Paramount has acquired the graphic novel Battling Boy for Brad Pitt to produce through his company, Plan B. - Zap2It
Ray Winstone and Ray Liotta have joined Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Sam Riley and 50 Cent to star in 13, a remake of the French film 13 Tzameti. - Variety
Tina Fey is officially retiring her Sarah Palin impression. - Entertainment Weekly
Jenna Fischer has nabbed the lead role in an indie dramedy titled A Little Help. - ComingSoon

Game of Thrones "The Prince of Winterfell": What We're Still Talking About

Becky Kirsch — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:39:38 PDT

It's hard to believe that there are only two episodes of Game of Thrones left, and this week feels like the calm before the storm. As Robb, Theon, Tyrion, and Stannis prepare for some serious battles, the ladies in all of their lives start making some moves of their own.

Catelyn takes family matters into her own hands, Talisa finally seals the deal with Robb, and Osha's keeping a secret. As the tease for next week's episode reminds us, war is on the horizon, but let's get into this week's biggest moments when you

Catelyn sets Jaime free. Catelyn makes a decision of the heart and sends Jaime back to King's Landing under Brienne's watch. Naturally, Robb is none too pleased to hear about this, and calls his mom a traitor for negotiating with the Lannisters. So even if Jaime makes it all the way home (which I'm doubtful of, since he's weaseled his way out of the Starks' grip before), what's going to happen when Arya is nowhere to be found?
Robb and Talisa sitting in a tree. Robb's got a lot on his plate right now, what with Theon leading Occupy Winterfell and his mother freeing Jaime and all, but he's still got his flirtation with Talisa to keep him going. Their relationship gets taken to the next level after a deep conversation about life and death, and Robb adorably admits that he doesn't want to marry the Frey girl he's betrothed to. Talisa returns the sentiment and - after what feels like many minutes of trying to unlace Robb's shirt - they get busy on the floor tent. I love seeing Robb as the vulnerable teenager he really is under his kingly demeanor, but I have a bad feeling that his relationship with Talisa is not long for this world.
Bran and Rickon live (of course)! I wasn't really expecting Bran and Rickon to be the poor charred bodies that Theon proudly displays in the center of Winterfell, but I still breathed a sigh of relief when we see that they're safe. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the local farm boys who ultimately suffered Theon's wrath. Theon gets an earful from Yara, who essentially calls him a moron for killing the Stark boys, and he doesn't fight back - so does this mean he doesn't know who he actually ordered to death?
Arya and Jaqen go full alliance. With only one death order left under her belt, Arya starts getting clever with her pact with Jaqen. To get even more help from him, she asks that he help her escape - if not, she'll order his suicide. Since Jaqen knows that he's beat, he agrees and takes down the guards so that Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie can flee Harrenhal. But where will they go from here? And is this the last we'll see of Jaqen?
Cersei gets the upper hand (and then immediately loses it). During a standard round of sibling banter with Cersei and Tyrion, Cersei starts acting obviously smug about something. Tyrion bites and she tells him that she's learned about the whore he's been hiding, and she threatens to kill her if anything should happen to Joffrey in battle. Tyrion starts to sweat, but then - twist! - Cersei's apprehended the wrong woman, and Shae is still safe.

What'd you think of the episode? And with war brewing, who do you think will make it through the rest of the season?

Photo courtesy of HBO

Jessica Alba Adds Some Glamour to the Business World in a Photo Shoot Celebrating The Honest Company

Rebecca M Gruber — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:51:57 PDT

She's much more than just a pretty face! Jessica Alba knew she was on to something when she couldn't find a cute, affordable, and eco-friendly diaper after Honor Marie, 3½, was born. And it looks like other people are on to her now too. Jessica, through her founding of The Honest Company, was just recognized as one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company magazine. The actress, activist, and mom of two (lil Haven is 9 months old) posed in a beautiful photo shoot for the magazine, both with and without her daughters, and spoke about the inspiration for her latest venture. Among the parts of the interview that didn't make it into the magazine were her desire to shake up kiddie design and the obstacles she's overcome to get this far.

On incorporating modern design elements: Your baby is so cute, and you have to put a diaper on, and all of a sudden, it's like, wait, there's a paper bag on my baby's bottom! So once we got the effectiveness of our diapers down, I was like, "Why not make it cool?" I have tattoos, I have piercings, I grew up on MTV, I am a global citizen, I've been connected to the Internet pretty much my whole life; I feel like there's no company that speaks to me as a modern mom. I wanted to appeal to different types of aesthetics out there. So for boys' diapers - my partners thought I was completely cuckoo bananas - but we have skulls on a diaper, because I'm obsessed with Alexander McQueen and he makes skulls beautiful. And they were like, "Skulls on babies? No way!" And it's been one of our number one sellers, because people even like them on their girls, believe it or not. So we had anchors, as well, for the more traditional mom, and gingham.

On the whirlwind of creating a new company: I've been through lots of trials and tribulations, and I've learned a lot, and I now appreciate the uphill battle and struggle, because it forced me to be more tenacious and more focused and more passionate than I ever imagined that I could have been. I think that was probably the biggest lesson that I've learned.

Keep reading to see the entire photo shoot!

Photo courtesy of: Fast Company

The Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch Dies at 47

Lauren Turner — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:37:47 PDT

Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys passes away at 47 after a battle with cancer - HuffPost Entertainment
Mira Sorvino welcomes a fourth child - People
Why isn't Blake Lively promoting Hick? - Lainey Gossip
Linda Evangelista's battle with Salma Hayek's husband continues - D-Listed
Check out hot Liam Hemsworth in a bow tie - JustJared
Halle Berry might have to pay up to Gabriel Aubry - The Superficial
All the celebs who've owned Derby horses - The Daily Beast
Why are people down on Whitney Cummings? - The Frisky
Find out which TV star is teaching a spin class for charity - Zap2it
Stars who have bulked up for big roles - TooFab
Rihanna has a seriously NSFW night out - popbytes
Stars who love to DJ - BuzzFeed
Jessica Alba's latest cute workday outfit - Hollywood Tuna
Scarlett Johansson spotted on the set of Hitchcock - Pink Is the New Blog

The Vampire Diaries "Before Sunset": The Good, The Bad, and The Bloody

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:56:52 PDT

I didn't really expect things to get that crazy on The Vampire Diaries until next week's season finale, but wow, this week is full of intensity. There are a few big fights, a little bit of vampire torture, and though Alaric is the villain of the episode, the group is victorious in taking down another of their foes amid the chaos. Bonnie gets to use her witchy skills, but she's not the only lady who's channeling her girl power this week; Elena gets pretty tough, not just relying on a Salvatore brother to save her this time.

We're gearing up for next week's finale, and though there's some obvious setup for the next episode, there's a pretty big event that happens this week. And as usual, there's also an ample amount of great moments and funny lines. So, to get to the good, the bad, and the bloody, just keep reading.

4 Tribeca Docs With Sex Appeal

Tara Block — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:00:54 PDT

This week is the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC, and while there are plenty of indie rom-coms to catch our eye, it's the documentaries we're really dying to see. One film contrasts the women of the Miss India beauty pageant with the girls of a fundamentalist Hindu camp, another looks at our culture's obsession with beauty, and there's even one on the manscaping trend (with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett). Get a preview of four Tribeca intriguing documentaries now, and tell us which one you're most interested in seeing below.

Sexy Baby
Today's kids live in a world of social media, sexting, and porn at their fingertips. How will these young girls and boys who've grown up in such a sex-immersed culture fare as adults? This documentary follows a former porn star, a woman undergoing a scandalous surgery, and a 12-year-old girl to explore America's obsession with sex and its effect on the next generation.

Check out three more intriguing Tribeca docs after the jump!

Meeting My Sperm Donor

The Good Men Project — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:00:50 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Ben Sommer, conceived through alternative insemination, is a young man now and tells the story of deciding to meet his donor.

I grew up in a middle-class home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with two loving parents, both of whom are women. My conception was perhaps the most organized and scientific miracle of the modern American family - my architecture, the dream of dozens of individuals conducting their work across thousands of miles.

Objectifying Ryan Gosling

I was conceived through alternative insemination. A donor submitted his sperm to the Sperm Bank of California in Oakland (TSBC). Later, it was sent to the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston. Since opening its doors in 1982, TSBC has helped families without the ability to conceive on their own to birth over 2,000 children. Two thirds of those have ended up, like me, being raised in a lesbian household. TSBC is also the first sperm bank to offer a donor-identity-release program, which allows children of alternative insemination access to their donors' information when they turn 18.

I am not as much an oddity as you might think. As of 2005, some 270,000 children in the United States had same sex-parents. We are a generation that is just now beginning to come of age and able to share our stories. This is mine.

Growing up in a lesbian household was much like growing up in any other family unit, I imagine: vacations to Cape Cod, parents working late and sometimes not, play dates with a diverse group of friends.

I never gave much thought to that mysterious figure across the country. I never questioned the fact that I didn't have a father. As far as I was concerned I didn't need one. Is having two moms really all that different than having a mom and a dad? Parents are parents, right? I didn't see a difference at the time. My parents didn't either - at least at first.

They decided to conceive through a donor, in part, to avoid the complications that a third parent would bring. Asking a close male friend to donate, like some couples have done, can create unforeseen consequences. In the past, there have been custody battles between the donor and the parents raising the child. This was the case with a friend of mine, whose parents arranged donation from a male family friend. With a semi-anonymous donor like the man my parents chose, it would be clear who my parents were. And it was.

That's not to say that it was smooth sailing. "When we first learned you were going to be a boy, we really panicked," my mother told me recently. "Who's going to teach him to throw a ball? We didn't have many male friends. There was even basic stuff, like who's going to teach him to pee standing up. That doesn't come naturally."

Read the rest of the story below.

There Is No Gender War

The Good Men Project — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:00:59 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Noah Brand makes the case for a non-adversarial model of gender.

I get asked, from time to time, what I think about the “war between feminists and MRAs (Men's Rights Activists).”

I’ll be frank - I don’t think there’s any such thing. It’s like asking me what I think of the demolition of Toontown.

The Manichaean Fallacy is a very common trap in human cognition. It’s the constant temptation to reduce any situation of perceived conflict down to an absolute battle between two pure opposing forces, equal in strength and power, which can only end in absolute victory for one side and defeat for the other.

Why Do Married Men Watch Porn?

For whatever reason, our brains really, really like to frame things this way, to where we’ll hammer situations that don’t fit until we can make ‘em fit. There aren’t really two sides? We’ll mentally assign people to teams. The sides aren’t purely homogenous? We’ll just pretend they are. The two sides aren’t remotely equal? We’ll just talk as though they were. There, that only took three steps, and now we have a nice, comfortable model that doesn’t resemble reality at all.

There’s a secondary fallacy, where some folks like to tell themselves that ultimate truth is always at a midway point between the two perfectly opposed sides that they imagine. You’ve heard these guys, “Well, there are extremists on both sides, but I find the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. If only people were willing to compromise . . . ” In other words, they pick two imaginary points, derive a third imaginary point from them, and call the result objectivity. These folks are fun because you don’t have to torture them with rats to get them to truly believe that 2+2=5. You just have to get some of the pundits on TV saying that 2+2=6.

The “war” between feminists and MRAs is a creation of this fallacy, including the “well, maybe there’s a middle ground” corollary. It makes some folks feel like they’re in an intense, exciting struggle with the whole world at stake, which is a fun thing to pretend to believe.

Thing is, it just isn’t so. Feminists and MRAs are not pure and not equivalent, victory for one does not equal defeat for the other, and it certainly doesn’t map accurately to people’s real-life experiences of gender. I reject the entire silly model as a useless framing of gender roles in our society. It’s a lousy model with no predictive value and I’ll have no truck with it. A better model lies not in the middle, but outside the manichaean conflict entirely.

There’s a principle we discovered over at No Seriously, What About The Menz?, that we named Ozy’s Law. It is simply this: you cannot form a stereotype about either of the two major genders without simultaneously forming a concurrent stereotype about the other. Or, more simply: misandry mirrors misogyny.

Pick out whatever sexist stereotypes offend you, and you’ll find that every one of them has a corollary stereotype. Men always want sex; women never want sex. Men are slobs; women should do housework. Men are shallow and looks-obsessed; women are only valuable for their looks. Men are only valuable for their success and money; women are shallow gold-diggers. There is no end to these, no offensively wrong stereotype that doesn’t carry its offensively wrong twin.

Therefore, the entire asinine notion of gender liberation as a zero-sum game in which one gender must lose for the other to gain . . . simply doesn’t make sense. It cannot make sense. Men and women can only be liberated together, or not at all.
We cannot liberate men from the trap of the success myth without liberating women from the beauty myth. We cannot liberate women from being nothing but housewives without liberating men from being nothing but breadwinners. We cannot liberate everyone from repressive and outdated sexual roles if we’re only going to pick at the edges of the problem, trying to free this person’s penis or that person’s vagina. At this point in the game, we are either freeing everyone from repressive gender roles or we’re just fucking around.

That in mind, I think we should get to work, because the hour is late and we’ve left a lot undone.

More stories from The Good Men Project:

Down but Not Out: Tori Spelling Shares Her Friend's Perspective on Raising a Child With Down Syndrome

Tori Spelling — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:02:22 PST

We're excited to bring you a new post from mother and actress Tori Spelling! Every other week, we're bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle advice from ediTORIal by Tori Spelling, which is Tori's daily blog about everything from food and fashion to parenting and relationships. This week, Tori shares a letter from her friend about her baby who was diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Today, I’m sharing a guest blog by my friend Lisa, owner of Evolution Vintage. Her son was born with Down syndrome, and in honor of World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st, she has offered to share her story. When I read this, I had tears streaming down my face - not because I felt sorry for Lisa’s son Blake, but because she inspires me as a mom. I hope you are as touched by her story as I was:

Down But Not Out
By Lisa Graystone

Friday the 13th turned out to be the luckiest day of my life . . . in hindsight. I gave birth for the second time to my son Blake under very traumatic circumstances. He was born blue, lifeless and his first sounds resembled a watery gurgle, not a cry. His birth was fast and as a result he had lungs full of water and had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice. I was unable to hold him before they rushed him to the special care nursery for respiratory therapy and monitoring. We spent six days in the hospital. During this time, due to the shape of his eyes, the doctors suspected Blake had Trisomy 21; also known as Down Syndrome (DS). He fought to live and to be here, only now to be faced with a prospective hurdle he would continue to jump for the rest of his life. The postpartum hormones were swirling as I sat down the hall from my new son who was fighting for his life; quietly smelling the receiving blanket from his NICU nest and pumping my breasts alone in tears. Nine agonizing days later, the test results confirmed the doctor’s suspicions. The joy and relief that my son was alive was immediately shrouded in darkness, sadness, despair and shock. I am under 35 and was not given the option of amniocenteses (the test that can conclusively tell you if your baby has DS). The blood test that was available I opted not to do because of the high false positive rate and the fact that there were no "risk factors" - my first child was healthy and my ultrasounds were normal and we were reassured that everything was "fine." I was surrounded by fear and unknowns, questions with no answers and a baby boy to care for.

Related: Children With Swag

I have no time to be on the "why me" program being the ambitious mompreneur that I am. I had to force myself to say: "WHY NOT" and bring it on to my already full plate. There seemed to be no other alternative than to take it head on and realize that the only thing I can control is my attitude, approach and perspective. I feel very lucky to have been given this boy and with him the opportunity for personal growth, education and evolution.

I introduced Blake to my family and friends (many who live 3,000 miles away in Canada) via this letter written from his perspective:

Keep reading to see Blake's letter and for more facts about Down Syndrome.

Tops Are Making a Resurgence, But You Won't Recognize Them!

Rebecca M Gruber — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:34:57 PST

Everything old is new again - just with a different spin on them. Tops, the classic toys that have occupied tots for hundreds of years received a 21st century makeover with the introduction of Beyblades. Using a "launcher," or a rip cord, the tops then spin on the floor or in an arena where they battle to see which can spin the longest. The sleeper-hit holiday toy of the season, Beyblades were one of the most requested toys among kindergarten to fifth-grade boys last month.

Now Hasbro is set to put a decidedly girlie spin (pun intended) on the age-old toy. In March, the company (which also distributes Beyblades) will expand the FurReal Friends line with the introduction of Dizzy Dancers ($9) - a collection of "twirling, dancing pets." Using the familiar rip cord (now called a Dizzy Cord), the stuffed animal-topped toys can be launched to spin their way around the home. The cute characters are interchangeable, so they can be mixed and matched to create custom pets. Each package will also come with a "Twistin' Tricks Card" to teach lil ones new ways to spin.

Similar to Lego's recent launch of girl-friendly Lego Friends, how do you feel about female versions of popular toys?