Gawker: defamer, milestones

Happy 21st Birthday To A Rehabbing Lindsay Lohan!

Mark — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:25:41 EDT

Today, as you may or may not realize, is Lindsay Lohan's 21st birthday, an occasion which, under normal circumstances, would likely have been celebrated in Las Vegas, where the actress's passage into legal-drinking womanhood would have been commemorated by the filling of the Mandalay Bay's lazy river with hundreds of thousands of gallons of top-shelf vodka provided by a loyal corporate sponsor.

Unfortunately, the troubled starlet's ongoing, extended stay at Promises has scuttled any such plans, a blow to both tabloids eager for photos of Lohan floating placidly in an 80-proof pool, leisurely dipping a martini glass into its intoxicating "waters" for a refill, and to Vegas's local stomach-pumping industry, which is likely to suffer dozens of layoffs as a result of the aborted bacchanalia. On this special day, we turn once again to this image from the NY Daily News' slideshow of great moments in Lohan history, noting that if the progress reports indicating that the relapsed Wonderland alumna is really, really committed to sobriety this time are to be believed, tonight she'll truly be partying like it's 1999.

Encouraging step for Lohan (second item) [Gatecrasher]
Previously: Lindsay Lohan: The Heartbreaking Slideshow [Defamer]

NBC Chief Silverman Wins Goldenseal Of Approval

Mark — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:16:01 EDT

Let the networkwide party begin: today's Page Six reports that allegedly 420-friendly NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman has jumped over the last mellow-harshing hurdle erected by the killjoy suits of his parent corporation, finally taking- his company drug test:

Sources assure us the network's new entertainment co-chairman has finally taken - and passed - a drug test.
A report last week on Deadline Hollywood Daily claimed Ben Silverman, who has political ambitions and refers to himself as a "Kennedy type," had yet to take a mandatory drug test after being hired. But now Silverman, a well-known figure on the Hollywood party circuit, "did take a drug test, and he started on Monday," said an NBC source. A rep added, "He followed the same procedures as every employee."

Unfortunately, Silverman will have to settle for the relatively quiet vindication provided by Page Six. As much as he'd have loved to have been greeted on his first official day of work with a framed copy of a full-page Variety ad boss Jeff Zucker took out to congratulate the programming protegé on his important career milestone ("Ben, I knew when I hired you that you'd have the resourcefulness and vision to beat this thing. Best, Jeff. p.s.—Feel free to expense that Whizzinator!), such a gift probably would have been frowned upon as inappropriate.

CLEAN AND HIRED [Page Six]
Previously: Getting To Know Ben Silverman III: Is He The 420-Friendliest Exec In Town? [Defamer]

The Olsen Twins Turn 21, World Yawns, Wonders How Lindsay's Holding Up In Rehab

Mark — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:54:37 EDT

While the Olsen Twins' passage into civically recognized womanhood three years ago was a cultural event so significant that countdown clocks ticking down the seconds until their shared 18th birthday were erected in every corner of the internet and Barely Legal magazine famously sponsored a three-week party in a handful of major American cities commemorating the occasion, today's ascent to drinking age is passing with little, if any, fanfare.

Perhaps it was their tabloid ubiquity between their 18th and 21st years, a period during which they allegedly struggled with addiction, eating disorders, and experimental bag-lady fashions that has dampened the public's enthusiasm for this largely meaningless milestone, or that more spectacularly self-destructive peers have stolen the spotlight, but who can know for sure? We speak only for ourselves when we say that much of their intoxicating mystique was diminished back on January 28, 2005, when the still-conjoined pair seized control of their DualStar Corporation from longtime Svengali Robert Thorne, a move that allowed them to finally go through with the controversial surgical separation procedure the sage manager had long counseled against, freeing them to pursue a far less interesting range of solo pursuits.

Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen [IMDb]
Olsen Twins [Defamer]