T-Time Weekly News Update for the Week of July 22nd-28th 2008

Do you work all day and have no time or energy to find out what's going on in the world? Do you get bored and impatient watching TV anchors tell you over and over what's going on? Do you sometimes care more about what Britney Spears is doing than what President Bush said during his State of the Union address? If you answered yes to even one of these questions this is what you've been waiting for! Every week I'm going to give you a quick rundown of the past week's biggest headlines. I won't bore you with minute details and shove tons of information down your throats. These are just the facts with a little humor for measure! And if you want to know more you can always just Google it or ask me.

Celebs Gone Wild:

Batman’s The Dark Knight has been tearing up the headlines this past week. After grossing over $155.3M in its opening weekend, the smash blockbuster is set to take in over $300M after only 10 days in release breaking the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest record and possibly soon surpassing one of T-Time’s all-time favorites Titanic for biggest box office gross. Batman’s star, Christian Bale, seems to have taken his roles as the caped crusader and Patrick Bateman from American Psycho a little too close to heart. He was arrested (but only after being allowed to go to his movie premiere) in his native London for allegedly assaulting his mom and sister. But there’s more to this story…it seems that you can get arrested in England for Class 4 or Class 5 verbal assault, the family has a shady relationship and the mom trash-talked his wife. I think it’s much ado about nothing. And not to be forgotten Heath Ledger’s dad ok’d the release of some funds to finish opening a bar called “Five Leaves” in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that Heath was a partner in before his death.

Celebs love to be bad…they’re rich and bored so breaking the law is the next best thing! Shia LaBeouf, of Transformers and Indiana Jones fame, has been busted by the cops several times for pretty misdemeanor things. But this past Sunday he went a little too far when he drove drunk, hit another car and flipped his pickup truck. The woman in the other car and the passenger riding with LaBeouf suffered minor injuries, but Shia is getting serious hand surgery and is out of commission for 1 month (Transformers 2 now has to halt or reorganize production). Just when Anne Hathaway thought she was done with her shady ex-boyfriend the FBI confiscated her personal diary to get more incriminating evidence against the Italian con artist. I bet she’ll have to testify against him in court.

Celeb Grab ‘n’ Go: Rumor has it that Rosie O’Donnell may be getting her own show on NBC. Oh the horror! How many shows does she have to leave in ruins before execs stop giving her all these opportunities?!? On a more positive note Pam Anderson’s new “reality” show begins Sunday, August 3rd on E!. I would love to see what goes on in that crazy world of hers. Halle Berry is suing a photo agency over photos taken of her baby girl in a private backyard. She refuses to sell her child’s pictures, how un-Hollywood of her, and is furious that the pics were taken. Model turned actress Rebecca Romijn and child actor turned adult actor Jerry O’Connell are expecting twin girls (this will be the 1st and 2nd child for both of them). Lindsay Lohan was apparently side-swept by a motorcycle while leaving a NYC club. But after a quick hospital visit all seems to be a-ok. The prognosis doesn’t seem to be as good for our favorite rehab hater, Amy Winehouse, who just landed herself back in the hospital due to a bad reaction to her medication…cough cough, yeah right!

100 Days and Counting:

Senator John McCain is continuing to gather support across the country. There was rumor that McCain would announce his VP pick…but so far no such luck. McCain did meet with the Dalai Lama to discuss the Beijing Olympics and to show his support for the release of Tibetan prisoners. And to clear up any medical drama…the small bit of skin removed from his right cheek is not a death sentence. After getting diagnosed with malignant melanoma back in 2000, the presidential hopeful gets routine checkups and biopsies.

Obama continued his international tour through Jordan and Israel. He even went to the Wailing Wall and left a prayer which was subsequently taken and reprinted in an Israeli newspaper…being a presidential candidate really has its perks :p Although I think that’s wrong and totally unholy here’s a copy of the note: http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2008/07/25/image4293447.jpg. He also gave a speech in Berlin, Germany to a small crowd of about 200,000 (McCain’s camp did criticize Obama for not visiting the wounded troops), met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and English Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

New York Mayor, Democrat turned Republican turned Independent, Michael Bloomberg announced that his endorsement is still up in the air. He likes both candidates on different issues and has yet to put his name and billions behind either of them. But he is putting his money behind another great cause. He’s joining fellow billionaire Bill Gates in dedicating $500M to help stop people around the world from smoking cigarettes.

What you didn’t register/re-register to vote yet? Must have slipped your mind…I’m sure. www.rockthevote.com. T-Time did it and so should you!

Calisthenics:

In honor of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, sports/athletes are getting their own section this week. The Olympics are starting Friday, August 8th and the U.S. has some top athletes to lookout for. A few athletes you won’t be seeing are swimmer Jessica Hardy. She tested positive for some banned substance. Male gymnast Paul Hamm had to pull out of the games due to some serious injuries to his hands. And Shamed track star Marion Jones who is still in jail for lying to feds about taking performance enhancing drugs and a check-fraud scam is now asking President Bush to commute her sentence. Too bad for her there are about 2,300 pending pardon requests so I don’t know how high her chances are. Some other athletes you won’t be seeing at the games? The entire Iraqi team. The International Olympic Committee banned Iraq from the games after the country’s government disbanded its own Olympics committee. The IOC considered the Iraqi government’s actions a severe interference with sports. Unfortunately for the Iraqi athletes their country’s internal drama got in the way of their Olympic gold dreams.

The Tour de France, plagued with several doping scandals, crowned a new winner, and no it wasn’t Lance Armstrong for the 100th time (he’s too busy fondling Kate Hudson). Spain’s Carlos Sastre won the 23-day bike race that runs through France and other neighboring countries.

News Potpourri:

I'll leave you with some quick news tidbits that couldn't fit either here or there so they're getting their own paragraph! First there was killer spinach, then the tainted tomatoes but now it looks like jalapenos from Mexico are to blame for the latest salmonella outbreak. I’m all for getting your daily dose of veggies but all these food crises prove yet again that a diet should consist solely of Swedish Fish…you never here about the red, jelly fish killing people! R.I.P…everyone’s favorite Golden Girl, Estelle Getty, passed away at the age of 84 (http://l.yimg.com/img.tv.yahoo.com/tv/us/img/site/42/86/0000004286_20060919221138.jpg). But while some were passing in old age the FBI celebrated its 100th Birthday. My 2 obsessions, Google and Wikipedia, are about to battle. Google announced ‘Knol’ a new reference site where people can write about particular subjects they know, but unlike Wikipedia the authors will not be anonymous. But Google also has to fight a new competitor. A few former Google employees have just started their own search engine, Cuil, that they claim is more comprehensive than its predecessor. Blasphemy…I won’t hear of this! Obsessed with your cell phone? Only know how to communicated via text? Here’s your video of the week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX3ws6OnGuE.

I hope this gives you an idea of what's going on in the world. Buck up…it's not so bad! Christian Bale doesn’t only play a badass in movies…he is one in real life, and Google is continuing its world domination! All is right with the world!

Now go and have an intellectually stimulating conversation with your neighbor about what you've just learned.

~t

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