CELEBRITY BUZZ – With falling ratings for her show and declining circulation numbers for her magazine, is the Oprah Empire entering its sunset phase? The New York Times reports on the fissures starting to show in the Queen of All Media’s façade.

The Best Links:

1. The Pope of Media No More
2. OMG Oprah LOL!!!
3. Tremors of Discontent in the Oprah Empire
4. Not Many Emmy Noms, Either

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CULTURE BUZZ – Enough with the brass tubes already! There’s a rising backlash against the sci-fi inspired, Victorian-flavored subculture and its love of all things Jules Verne.

The Best Links:

1. The Times Style Section: Once Again, Totally, Totally Wrong
2. Bulky, Ugly, Steampunky Watch
3. “Basically, it’s Goth with goggles and leather hats instead of eye makeup and black dresses.”
4. Dumb Steampunk Mouse
5. Steampunk Chicken-Walker Mech Costume
6. Steampunk Flat-Panel LCD Mod
7. Merlin Mann’s Steampunk Penis Pump
8. Worst of All, It’s Inconvenient

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CELEBRITY BUZZ – Everybody loves Tina Fey. Or do they? Yes, they do, mostly. Despite the delicious Schadenfreude a Tina Fey backlash might produce, one just doesn’t appear to be materializing, even though her new movie, Baby Mama, has been getting tepid early reviews. She’s still got that one funny show

The Best Links:

1. The “Stop Tina Fey” Petition Has a Stunning 38 Signatures
2. “Baby Mama” Is Boring, But Then Fey Didn’t Write It, So
3. Tina Feytigue
4. Guesses On When the Inevitable Backlash Will Commence?
5. Review: Coulda Been Funnier, But Fey is Good
6. There Can Never Be Enough Tina
7. Review: “It looks cheap, shiny, and bereft of depth”
8. “Why is this photo so ugly, Tina Fey?”
9. Mixed Reviews on Metacritic
10. “Baby Mama” Is No. 1 at the Weekend Box Office

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POLITICS BUZZ – Angry journalists are circulating a petition calling out ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson for the crappy job they did at the last debate. Stephanopoulos was “somewhat taken aback” at first by the sustained furor sent his way. We can understand: We take a lot of email heat any time we post anything having to do with animals being harmed. We just report the facts, people!

The Best Links:

1. An Open Letter to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson
2. Mainstream Journos Are Pissed Off
3. ABC Deluged With Angry Comments
4. In the Last Debate, Everybody Lost
5. Amen!

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TECH BUZZ – The introduction of Flickr video has unintended consequences: Angry Flickrites. Citing site slowdowns and a fear of an YouTuber influx, many long-time Flickr users are up in arms about the addition of Flickr Video. By up in arms, we mean they’ve started petitions and angry-sounding Flickr groups.

The Best Links:

1. The Popular New Flickr Group Are About Being Mad at Flickr
2. Flickr Users Are Up to Their Old Tricks
3. NO VIDEO ON FLICKR!!!
4. We Say NO to Videos on Flickr
5. Sign the Petition Below
6. The Predictable Backlash Has Arrived

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MOVIE BUZZ – Much disliked horror auteur Uwe Boll throws down the gauntlet: If 1 million people sign the petition against him, maybe he’ll quit. The director behind such stinkers as Bloodrayne and House of the Dead has dared the internet to end his career. Anti-Boll Blogs are trying to grow the cause: As of now, the signatures have jumped to over 53,000.

The Best Links:

1. Uwe Boll’s Petition-Baiting Interview
2. Stop Dr. Uwe Boll Petition
3. One Million Signatures to End Uwe Boll’s Directing Career!
4. Boll Can Still Be Stopped!
5. “If this isn’t a worthy cause, I really don’t know what is”
6. Uwe Boll’s Storied Career
7. Boll’s Films Are “Nearly Impossible to Sit Through”

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CULTURE BUZZ – Maxim gets flack for placing Sarah Jessica Parker at the top of the “unsexiest women” list, also for having an “unsexiest women” list in the first place, and also for generally being lame and shallow. Even the dudes we know who are the totally dudest of dudes don’t read this magazine. So why do we care?

The Best Links:

1. Hustler Is More Enlightening than Maxim
2. 10 Women Unsexier Than Sarah Jessica Parker
3. Maxim, Entertainment Weekly Agree: Jews, Blacks, Asians Not So “Sexy”
4. SJP Unfazed by “Unsexiest Woman” Title
5. Faux Reviews Land Maxim in Hot Water
6. Weirdly Timed with the SATC Movie?

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MOVIE BUZZ – Daniel Day-Lewis may have just won his second Oscar for There Will Be Blood, but some have already begun challenging the praise he’s received for his scenery-chewing performance. They say that Day-Lewis’ motivations are unclear, that his acting is gimmicky, and that his histrionics take the viewer out of the action. In other words, they think he’s a ham. Of course, hamming it up has always been a pretty good way to win yourself a gold statue.

The Best Links:

1. There Will Be Backlash
2. Daniel Day-Lewis, Too Great to Be Good
3. The Great(ness) Debate: Flesh, Blood, Day-Lewis (and Oscar)
4. Acting You Can See
5. Biggest Acting, Best and Worst: Over the Top, Ma!
6. There Will Be Ham: Over the Top with Daniel Day-Lewis

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MOVIE BUZZ – New York sketch group Olde English pairs with comedienne Jackie Clarke to take us “behind the scenes” of surprise hit Juno with its attention-grabbing screenwriter. Hey, did you know Diablo Cody used to be a stripper? Seriously, she was a real, live stripper - naked and everything!

The Best Links:

1. Behind The Scenes With Diablo Cody (Official Video)
2. Diablo Cody’s Secrets To The Screen Trade
3. “Diablo Cody” Didn’t Even See Juno!
4. “We Always Assumed [she’d] Become a Punchline About Five Minutes After She Wins an Oscar, Butit Looks Like We Don’t Have to Wait That Long!”
5. Enemies of The Year, #10: The Stripper Who Wrote Juno

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CULTURE BUZZ – “Eat, Pray, Love” is now tops on everybody’s list of books to bash. What’s with all the hate? Are people upset about the book’s self-absorbed cultural appropriation? Or are they mad because a female author is so successful? We’ll let the blogosphere attempt to figure it out.

The Best Links:

1. The Expected Backlash Arrives on Cue
2. The New York Post’s Typically Perfect Headline: “Eat Pray Loathe”
3. Gilbert Responds to the Backlash
4. What if She Were a He? A Thought Experiement, Sorta
5. Annonying or Enlightening? Now You Can Vote!

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