Gawker: defamer, crossovers

Presence Of Iron Man Meant To Reassure A Restless Fanboy Nation That 'Hulk' Will Get It Right

Seth — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:25:00 EDT

While it's tracking nicely and all set to smash Friday the 13th's other green menace—The Happening—into M. Night Smithereens, Universal is still not taking any chances on getting The Incredible Hulk word out. Besides the new one-sheet featuring a Herb Rittsian, rear-view shot of the verdant one filling out a pair of Levis HulkFit™ jeans (one must never underestimate the power of the all-mighty gay dollar!), a new TV spot puts what was supposed to be a surprise cameo—Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Starke, aka Iron Man, aka the new Marvel-Universal Quality Assurance Seal of Approval mascot—at the very top, there to ease the concerns of a traumatized fanboy nation who still wake up in cold nightsweats screaming, "ANG LEE'S TAKE ON THE MATERIAL WAS ENTIRELY TOO CLINICAL AND ROBBED OF ALL HULK-SMASH PASSION!" The two may eventually go on to fight alongside one another in The Avengers movie, something hinted at by Iron Man's own super-secret-surprise cameo—which revealed itself only to moviegoers who sat through the credits. If you missed it, it's after the jump:

Ellen DeGeneres To Put 'Deal' Models In Sensible Lesbianwear

Seth — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:13:19 EDT

Ellen DeGeneres promises to liven up the Deal or No Deal proceedings when she makes a guest appearance on the hit NBC game show. But unlike past guests, like Donald "The Banker" Trump and Celine "Open Da Case!" Dion, the canine-regifter will join the show's Pyramid of Hot Briefcasemodels. TVGuide.com reports:

That's right: DeGeneres will be one of the 26 briefcase-toting, elegant, sparkly dress-wearing women who may or may not be holding the million-dollar bag.

Will DeGeneres really wear a dress? "Ellen knows our show and knows the kind of sparkly, sequined dresses our spokesmodels wear, and she's agreed to be [one of them]," Hansen says a bit cryptically. "Ellen won't do anything she's not comfortable with." Then again, Hansen says, "Who doesn't want to see Ellen in a dress?"

We doubt the staunch anti-frockist will conform to the show's thigh-length hem standards; instead, expect a platform adorned with some of the shapeliest velvet tuxedos gameshowdom has ever seen, followed by a torrential waterworks session, as Ellen and her model friends learn the $1 million cash prize awarded the contestant will go towards realizing a lifelong dream of opening a kill-free chicken sanctuary.

Exclusive: Ellen, Office Accountants Make a Deal [TVGuide.com]

Even The Phil Spector Trial Has Paris Fever!

Seth — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:21:54 EDT

The prosecution in the Phil Spector trial spent the better part of the day aggressively trying to discredit defense witness Dr. Vincent DiMaio (pictured), a forensics expert and author of a book on gunshot wounds, who insists the only way Barbarian Queen star Lana Clarkson could have died the night she followed an insistent Spector to his castle-like manse was by placing the gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger herself. DiMaio cited both physical and circumstantial evidence, including the fact that the aging actress seemed depressed over her dwindling career prospects—at which point the world's most ubiquitous ex-con socialite made an unexpected cameo:

[Deputy District Attorney Alan] Jackson projected on a huge courtroom screen dazzling professional photos of Clarkson showing her in numerous glamorous poses, head shots intended to promote her career.

"She's a very beautiful girl," the witness conceded. "And she's 40 years old and there a lot of people after the same jobs she was. It's a hard life for an actress. That's Hollywood. ... She's competing against younger girls. She's competing against Paris Hilton and things like that."

In our current media cycle of Hilton overload, that statement might easily be framed by an unscrupulous tabloid editor incapable of resisting the circulation bump that might accompany any headline screaming, "SPECTOR TRIAL SHOCKER: PARIS DID IT!" No, it seems not even a perfectly good, sensationalist celebrity murder trial can unfold without being tainted by Hilton's ever-looming presence, regardless of how plausible or not DiMaio's assertions are that Clarkson was driven to suicide by the threat posed by another "actress" whose total body of work consists of Screaming Blonde Girl # 2 in House of Wax and some fancy golf-cart stunt driving in Bottom's Up.

Defense expert, prosecutor spar in Phil Spector murder trial [AP]