1.) Wanda Sykes' Sarah Palin pop-up book

2.) Tyra's "big" holiday give-away show
First of all, she doesn't even give the presents to everyone in the audience, just one audience member per gift. Secondly, she sounds more like she's on the street corner trying to sell us shit that fell off the back of a truck.

3.) These shirts:

4.) Tuna

5.) Same shit, different drunks
I missed the first two episodes of the new season of Bad Girls Club while away on vacation, but I caught the new one that aired this week, and it seems like I didn't miss much.

6.) Extreme Bathrooms
There was actually an hour-long show all about "extreme" bathrooms. I watched the whole thing, because it seemed like a Homer Simpson-y thing to do, but it was basically all like this:

7.) Babs
I don't know if it's all the years on television and all the awards she's received, or the onset of dementia, but it seems like every time she speaks now—about anything—she expects everyone to be fascinated, or at least impressed, with what she's saying.

8.) That's my Mariah!

9.) Mom who grows weed
A woman sold her hair salon and asked her son how she should invest her money, and he bought her a piece of land and turned her into a medical marijuana farmer. She's enjoying it.

10.) Last-minute Christmas gift idea
The Shady Lady brothel has just added male prostitutes to its roster. The madam there is offering coupons.

• "Moviegoers Stingy With Scrooge" is how boxofficemojo described a lower than hoped for $31 million opening for ' CG-animated 3D adaptation of the Dickens classic. Both Mojo and the LA Times point out that Zemickis last film, the similarly animated Polar Express opened in the same range but went on to gross $160 million domestic, with audiences continuing to chug in throughout the long holiday season. The LA Times however, recalls that "audiences embraced that movie like few others", which they strongly hint, will not be the case for the blah Carol. Mojo meanwhile, recalls that while Polar's opening was week, it was up against Pixar's The Incredibles, while Carol is up against...The Fourth Kind. [Box Office Mojo]

• Elsewhere at the box office, This is It, held on to the #2 slot, raking in another $14 million. The Men Who Stared at Goats did a decent $13.3 million. The big story however was early Oscar favorite Precious which grossed $1.8 million on only 18 screens, a mind-blowing $100,000 per screen. [Variety]

• The Prophet, the French thriller with tells "the story of an illiterate young Arab-Corsican man condemned to six years in prison" led the European film award nominations with six nods. [Variety]

• David Poland attempts to do the math on a NY Times piece and can't make it add up. A story this weekend contended that James Cameron's 3D goliath Avatar will cost half a billion dollars. Only problem, as Poland points out, adding up all the numbers mentioned in the piece still leaves one a hundred billion or so shy of that gargantuan figure. [The Hot Blog]

• Kenny Chesney will be the next victim of 3D concert film conversion. Sony plans to release Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D in April. [Hollywood Reporter]

• The GE/Comcast deal is now just inches away, just this close, with the two sides agreeing on a valuation on the NBC/Universal — Comcast joint venture. $30 billion is said to be the price tag. Vivendi, by the way, which still owns 20 percent of NBC/Universal still hasn't signed off. [Hollywood Reporter]

• The Wanda Sykes Show got off to a solid start for Fox, averaging a 2.2 rating, which is a 16 percent improvement over Mad TV which held the slot last year. [The Wrap]

Since losing their brand, life hasn't been right for the Brothers Weinstein. Could a name change though really bring back that magical English Patient era?

• Their company may be ailing, but Weinsteins are ready to make a play to get their name back. The Wrap reports that Harvey and Bob are preparing a pitch to Robert Iger to buy back their old Miramax brand now that Disney has all but shuttered the division. When they left Disney, The Wrap reports, Michael Eisner refused out of spite to let them take the name — which is a hybrid of the Weinsteins' parent's names - with them. But with Disney now under less vengeance driven management the Weinsteins hope is that the time be be ripe for an historic reunion . [The Wrap]

• George Clooney is reportedly "circling the lead" role in the long awaited new film by Sideways and Election director Alexander Payne, a family drama/comedy entitled The Descendents. [Variety]

• Suggesting that Oscar's new producers may be taking a step away from from the Hugh Jackman mold, Nikki Finke reports that the hosting job has been offered to and turned down by both Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. Which means there is only one Tropic Thunder star left to host...Jack Black, your day of destiny has arrived. [Deadline]

• Hollywood is saved! In earnings season, Viacom reported "better-than-expected third-quarter profit gains thanks to improved theatrical film and TV advertising trends, as well as cost controls." Marvel however, ruined the party by reporting lower profits in Q3, as they had no theatrical releases last quarter. Thanks for nothing Marvel. [Hollywood Reporter]

• Sony Classics has picked up the US rights to Mother and Child a drama about three women and their children, which received gushing reviews when it debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in September. [Variety]

• Diversity is at last coming to late night TV. Fifteen years after Arsenio Hall went off the air, the next few weeks will see the debuts of talk shows built around George Lopez (TBS), Wanda Sykes (Fox) and Mo'Nique (BET). [The Wrap]

• The Atrios are in! The casting society of America handed out their annual awards at a banquet last night, giving top honors to Star Trek, Mad Men, Up and Milk. Kath and Kim's John Michael Higgins hosted the fete. [Hollywood Reporter]

• Most brilliantly understated headline of the morning: "Paranormal Activity sequel a possibility. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman reveals Tuesday." Yes, well there is always that chance that Viacom has decided they've made enough money this decade. [Hollywood Reporter]

• The unsinkable Jim Belushi juggernaut rolls on. The According to Jim vet has signed up with Diane English and Barry Levinson to create a courtroom TV drama based on famed defense attorney Mickey Sherman. [Variety]

Sykes has always been a reliable talk show staple, but this was her first stint on a couch since announcing her gay marriage last month. Demonstrating her commitment to education and outreach, she chose the often gay-stymied Leno for the honor, who promptly speculated that it must have been his long-ago clumsy flirtation that turned the comedienne gay. If that's the case, then forgive us for asking: Ryan Reynolds, it's almost 11am PST. Do you know who your wife is with? [The Tonight Show]

"When comedian Wanda Sykes disclosed during a rally in Las Vegas this week that she has been in a same-sex marriage since October, no one cheered louder than those who face the double indemnity of being black and gay."

"Double indemnity?" Yes, growing up black and gay is a lot like a life insurance clause payable upon accidental death. Thanks for your keen, not-at-all-exploitative insights into this sensitive issue, Susan Donaldson James. Why aren't we surprised you also happen to be the writer of "Stars' Gay Marriage Possible Career Suicide?"

Bonus STFU Link: D.L. Hughley explains to Dan Savage how he isn't "particularly homophobic, but when I read the bill, I found it confusing." Kind of like how we find his fame confusing, and the fact that CNN has given him a show confusing.

• Prop 8 Sparks Gay-Black Divide [ABCNews.com]

• Wanda Sykes @ LV Gay Rally: "I’m Proud To Be Gay" [Vegas Happens Here]

At the rally, we spotted Wanda Sykes (!), gaylebrities like Noah's Arc star Darryl Stephens, as well as the Defamer-investigated Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (who, as a former Mormon, must have found the anti-LDS rhetoric a leeetle interesting). The crowd skewed decidedly young, and celebrities whose marriages might actually be nullified — like George Takei and Ellen DeGeneres — were nowhere to be found. Sad as we were to rally without Takei's basso profundo, at least the massive standstill traffic generated by the ensuing march trapped two more gay-appropriate celebs in the maelstrom.

Yup, that's Dancing with the Stars entrant Lance Bass, whose car was caught in the traffic as protesters marched down Sunset Blvd. He didn't get out to join the protest, and somehow, we think Cloris would've. Eventually, the crowd made its way to Hollywood and Highland, where cops made arrests and rebuffed any further progress. On the way back, however, one last gift was still to be unwrapped: a convertible bearing Tila Tequila, whose Stoli-infused reality show prostitution no doubt made the entire night possible. Good show, gays.

[Photo Credits: LAT, Towleroad, Indiewire]

• Police, demonstrators clash at prop. 8 protest [LAT]

• 
  Report from West Hollywood: November 5 Anti-Prop 8 Rally [Towleroad]

• No on Prop 8 Rally [Indiewire]

• Sykes', Duff's "So Gay" Fight: The Videos! [Queerty]
• [thinkb4youspeak.com]

"She was onstage talking about duct-taping her uncle to a chair and she started imitating him, shaking a lot," a witness at the Waldorf-Astoria told Lowdown. "Everyone kind of hesitated and looked around before they laughed." Sykes' PR rep insisted: "She did tell an offbeat joke about him, but she didn't imitate him or act it out." The spy claims that Fox himself was laughing, but the actor's rep claimed ignorance.

Despite the arguably insensitive nature of the routine, we imagine it was Sykes and the Michael J. Fox Foundation who got the ultimate laugh, when guests added a guilt-reparative zero to their donation checks. Still, we cannot condone this sort of behavior. The last thing the next Alzheimer's Foundation of America fundraiser needs is Andy Dick's classic "Grandpa Pooped His Diaper" routine.

• FUNNY HA-HA, OR FUNNY STRANGE? (Third Item) [NY Daily News]