April 25, 2006

TODAY We Get The JOHNson

Did anyone else notice that the only obstructed view of the stage was in FRONT OF THE PHOTO PIT?!

All the fans and everyone else on the plaza had a good view... except us. A big speaker in the foreground, a PA monitor pointed directly towards the press pit, a banner on the stage caused a partial obstruction, a light stand, and some dopey nut in a white hat with a big sign in the way.

Oh yea... and that really big piano he was playing didn't help either.

Sheesh....

I heard that Elton responds well to bird calls. Just make the sound of a cockatoo... or three even. Who said that?

April 21, 2006

Glover In Paparazzi Punch-up

Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover has lashed out a paparazzi photographer, allegedly calling him a "motherfu*ker" and throwing punches.

The Hollywood star, who is in London to promote and star in death penalty play The Exonerated, was leaving West End restaurant Cipriani with a female companion when he launched the attack on a waiting snapper.

Punching wildly, Glover ranted, "No, no, not tonight.

"If you take another shot, you motherfu*ker..."

The paparazzo escaped uninjured after Glover fled to nearby hotel Claridges.

The actor, one of a list of celebrities including Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Alanis Morissette to star in The Exonerated, is due on stage tonight.

WENN

April 20, 2006

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie Bodyguard Beats Photographer

The guards surrounding Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Africa have threatened to become physical if needed to keep the Jolie-Pitt's privacy. It appears they have followed through on that threat with at least one member of the paparazzi.

Did the bodyguards beat down a snapper?
Did the bodyguards beat down a snapper?

The story - according to TMZ - details that a security guard at the Namibian compound may have shown that the paparazzi have more to fear than just the animals in the African outback Sunday.

A source tells TMZ that a daring snapper - who had snuck onto the property and was taking photos of Brad and Maddox, was seriously manhandled by a guard.

***

Here are the details:

The source tells TMZ that although the paparazzi have been lurking all around the compound, peeking out from bushes and perching in trees, the snappers had, for the most part, respected the compound's boundaries.

Sunday, however, a photographer literally tunneled his way in by digging a ditch to get on to the grounds and was taking pictures of Brad and Maddox, who were at play in the yard.

***

"The bodyguard literally beat the crap out of this guy," a source tells TMZ, adding, "Brad and Maddox were right there watching."

Front row seats for an alleged paparazzi beat down for little Maddox?

It will be interesting to see if any of the other paparazzi were in a position to get photos and if those will actually be released.

TMZ has more

April 18, 2006

Katie Holmes Gives Birth; The Hunt Begins

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Tomkitten has arrived. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the public lovebirds dubbed TomKat by the media, had a baby girl Tuesday, said Cruise spokesman Arnold Robinson. The baby, named Suri, weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 20 inches long, he said.

Suri means "princess" in Hebrew and "my parents are freaks" in English.
Godspeed to those space cadets...

Jolie's security boss gets tough with paparazzi


Angelina Jolie’s long-time bodyguard Mickey Brett has sent a chilling message to the paparazzi that are stalking the actress at her Namibian hideaway.

Hardman Brett is overseeing a huge tarpaulin structure, which will give the pregnant move star the ultimate privacy as she holidays with boyfriend Brad Pitt and their kids, and he has issued a statement explaining he'll personally discipline any snapper who gets too close.

He says: "If I find anyone getting a picture of Jolie I will f**king smash someone to pieces.

"I'm not joking. I'll f**king put someone in the hospital. Tell your friends."

Meanwhile, one photographer who captured shots of Pitt playing with his adopted son Maddox was reportedly doused with pepper spray.
Irish Examiner



April 17, 2006

Variety Is The Spice Of Life at LETTERMAN


Eva Longoria... wears a winter jacket for arrivals, heads into the street to sign for fans during exits.

Jerry Lee Lewis... classic Rock -n- Roll man yells, "We're gonna get 'em tonight!" as the photographers yell "Killer!".

Keri Russell... looking very Felicity-like

Barry Sonnenfeld... cowboy in a suit.

...and a man shot out of a cannon.

Just another day in New York, I guess.

Brangelina and TomKat Face Off with Paparazzi


It's Brangelina vs. the paparazzi -- and both sides mean business.


Even in the idyllic setting of Namibia, Africa, where Brad and Angelina have rented a luxury lodge as they prepare for the birth of their baby, photographers are busy hunting down the perfect shot of the pregnant Jolie, the newly Mohawked Pitt and their adopted kids.

But Brangelina is fighting back by erecting a green barrier to block their property from a public beach. They've also stepped up their security force led by Mickey Brett, Jolie's longtime bodyguard, who has issued this threat peppered with expletives: "If I find anyone getting a picture of Jolie, I will (expletive) smash someone to pieces. I'm not joking, I'll (expletive) put someone in the hospital. Tell your friends."

Despite the threats, resourceful photographers have seemingly managed to sneak onto the heavily guarded property, and trouble has ensued.

Members of Jolie and Pitt's security team pepper-sprayed one photographer who was getting too close to Brad and Maddox. But even after being sprayed, the aggressive shutterbug took a photograph. Sources close to "Extra" say that Pitt reprimanded the security guard for the incident, considering it was right in front of young Maddox.

Sources also tell "Extra" that in order to get a shot of a glowing Angelina holding her daughter Zahara, the paparazzo rented a farmer's field adjacent to the airstrip where the shot was taken, dug a six foot hole and camped out all night. And with a price tag of $1 million for a photo of Brad and Angelina's newborn, things could only get worse.

Brad and Angelina certainly aren't the only super couple dealing with the paparazzi. Katie Holmes faced a flock of photographers at Maxfield, an ultra-exclusive Hollywood store.

So what will the first baby picture worth? And will a photo of Baby TomKat be worth more than a photo of Baby Brangelina?

Us Weekly's Katrina Szish is delivering all the pre-partum particulars. While Brangelina is set to give birth in Africa, Szish told us, "TomKat is much more of a nesting couple. They're most likely giving birth at home, and they really keep to themselves."

Tom's Beverly Hills mansion is now officially Camp Cruise. On the ground and in the air, paparazzi are coming complete with their own lunch truck, forcing Tom's security detail to guard the trash from snoops. So how much could the first baby snapshots fetch?

"I expect it could reach about a million dollars," Szish said. "Brangelina definitely outsells TomKat."

Gary Morgan runs celebrity photo agency Splash News, and he thinks the first pictures of both babies will command that figure. "Two million easy," he said. "There's going to be a lot of photographers doing everything they can to get this one picture."

April 12, 2006

Paparazzi Aggression At Eva Mendes Event

Jeep Launch- NY Auto Show
Javits Center, 1:30pm


The event was a Jeep launch featuring Eva Mendes christening the new Jeep Patriot with a bottle of champagne.

She came out, did her thing and left (a quick and easy check for her). The photo op was her talking with the Jeep VIP's followed by her throwing a water ballon at the jeep (part of the show).

But afterwards we didn't even get a solo of her in front of the Jeep. We then noticed she was heading towards a mini-van, leaving the Javits center. A few people made a break for the van to get a photo. By the time everyone got to the van, the door was closed.

I made it to the van, got a quick shot and then heard a loud THUD! I turned around to find Ronald on the floor, camera gear all over the ground. He banged up his hand and knee.

The report is that Ronald and Steve were both running to the mini-van, and as they tried to round one of the large concrete planters, the bumped, pushed and Ronald wound up on the floor.

He cracked a filter, broke a lens, dinged up two bodies, and broke his flash and cord.


I think the aggression is getting out of hand...
For a shot of Eva Mendes in a mini-van?

C'mon now....

Famous, Photogenic and Unborn

PDNonline.com

These are strange times. You're reading a news story about a magazine cover showing a photograph that hasn't been taken of a child who hasn't been born.

As Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie prepare for the birth of their first child, buzz is building in the celebrity media around who will publish the first picture of the baby.

The current cover of New York magazine comments on the hype with a fake paparazzi photo of the couple and their child leaving a hospital.

"EXCLUSIVE: BABY BRANGELINA! FIRST PHOTOS" screams the headline, set in big yellow type that evokes People and other star-obsessed publications.

Below, in little white letters that you must be close to the magazine to read, the cover adds, "COULD FETCH AS MUCH AS $5 MILLION."

A caption in itsy bitsy print explains that the picture is a fantasy: "Brad is an imposter; Angelina is a computer clone. The baby has not yet been born. If the blessed event occurs by the time of publication, let's just pretend this cover never happened."

The cover picture is one of a series shot for the magazine by photographer Alison Jackson. Based in the tabloid epicenter of London, Jackson specializes in working with look-alike models. Her work has appeared in gallery exhibitions and books, and she works with TV shows including NBC's Saturday Night Live.

"We only know celebrities through photography. They wouldn't exist if not for this medium," Jackson says. "I'm showing how that can be manipulated in such an easy fashion."

New York photography director Jody Quon says she first noticed Jackson when she won an International Center of Photography Infinity Award in 2004.

"I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use her," Quon says.

Inside the magazine, more phony photos by Jackson show the family at home, reminiscent of Life's documentary photos of the Kennedy family in the 1960s. The lead photo shows "Angelina" breast-feeding the child, while another picture shows the couple changing the baby's diaper on a bed. In every shot, the "stars" are wearing sunglasses, a visual clue that somehow reminds the viewer that these people are supposed to be famous.

"What I love is the reality check," says Jackson. "You think you're looking at something real and it's not."

The article, by Jason Zengerle, deconstructs celebrity coverage while also indulging in it. Zengerle writes that paparazzi photographers have begun to scope out Pitt and Jolie's apartment in Paris, the city where, according to speculation, the birth will take place in the next few weeks. The article's headline is "Not Since Jesus."

The story goes on to describe the cat-and-mouse game of celebrity vs. photographer. Pitt and Jolie may employ decoys, subterfuge and back-door escapes to shield their child from the flashbulbs. Or, the couple might arrange for a friendly photographer to get the first baby shot in exchange for a "donation" to a favorite charity. Worst case scenario for the paparazzi would be if Pitt and Jolie stage a red-carpet-style photo-op so all photographers get essentially the same baby picture, making all of the photographs of little value.

If – and that's a big if – a photographer manages to snap an exclusive of the couple with their infant, the picture could command a price of $1 million or more. Odds are it would sell to a celebrity weekly magazine hoping for bragging rights and extra newsstand sales.

But until the child is actually born and a photo is actually taken, all the meta-coverage is just a prediction, much like Jackson's cover photo.

As for whether the cover will cause too much confusion, Quon says she thinks the magazine's readers will get it.

"For me, it's almost like performance art," she says. "That was the whole exercise: How far could we push it?"

April 11, 2006

Wild Lions Protecting Angelina Jolie From Paparazzi In Nambia..

Pregnant Hollywood siren Angelina Jolie and boyfriend Brad Pitt have taken refuge in a remote Namibian game lodge where wild lions will help protect them from the media, a Namibian newspaper said on Monday.

The celebrity couple and their two adopted children Maddox and Zahara arrived in the southern African country last week, fuelling media speculation the Oscar-winning actress plans to give birth in Namibia away from the spotlight.


April 6, 2006

TAKE THE LEAD and you'll get screwed


Take The Lead Premiere
Lincoln Center Theater, 7pm
April 4, 2006

Arrivals were set up in a tented area in the shape of an "L". The first shooters had the white of the tent or other photographers as a background; the second set has an actual backdrop.

The only problem with the very first spots is that the talent was VERY close to us, a little too close actually. Plus, PR, security and riff-raff cluttered the carpet throughout the event.

There was also a problem with the list. It seems that a few people were allowed to shoot inside, but at the last moment were told to shoot outside, leaving them stuck without a spot. Philippe tried to recall the list, but that didn't bode to well, and in turn, never happened. So Walter, Brian and a few others got screwed. (Isn't this business great?)

By the way Lotsa, sorry for poking you from behind when Antonio and Melanie arrived. It got a little hectic.

April 1, 2006

FLAMING LIPS, Curvy Hips and a Blond Ditz



Flaming Lips Concert Benefit for A.F.D.
Bowery Ballroom


PR set up one barricade outside for us, but their was no backdrop... not to mention that security was letting everyone and their mother walk on the carpet. It wasn't pretty, it was late, and everyone was restless. Not to mention the fact that the PR had no tip sheets for us, and weren't very cooperative when it came to info on who was (or wasn't) coming.

Eventually, with some serious pleading, PR let us stand inside... probably because their were only about 7 of us total.

Somewhere around 10:45pm the first talent arrive. Dita Von Teese, Bai Ling, Samantha Cole, Margot Kidder, Tim McGraw, Tori Spelling, Molly Shannon, Joan Allen, Jay-Z, Ray Romano. Ok... so this was an odd array of people.

After being told about "suprise guests" that were coming, we waited a little longer. After midnight... O.J. Simpson, Bjork, Antonio Banderas, Lucy Lui, Lindsay Lohan and Catherine Zeta-Jones show up. Although OJ tried to rush past us, we got him to pose with Tori Spelling.

I guess in the end it worked out... afterwards PR let us stand in the back of the room and watch some of the show.

By the way, Happy A.F.D. (April Fool's Day, ya silly's)