Wellywood

You know when you watch movies such as Lord of the Rings and see beautiful hillsides and what not and later find out it was shot in New Zealand. A lot of movies have been shot in New Zealand because it’s so freaking gorgeous. I want to go just because of what I see in the movies. Well, the city of Wellington wants to create a sign just like the Hollywood sign on the hillside next to their international airport. They want it to read “Wellywood” to represent all the contribution they’ve made to Hollywood. Well, needless to say, Hollywood doesn’t find this funny and they’re seeking legal action.

We are not without a sense of humor, nor without legal rights. We hope that if the Wellington airport wants to mimic our Sign in this fashion, it will proceed in cooperation with us and will recognize that the holder of the rights to the Sign and the party responsible for its continued existence is a nonprofit entity that works hard to raise funds so that the Sign even exists to be mimicked.

Wellington hopes that this sign will be the new photo opp. Looks like New Zealand Facebook users aren’t happy about it either.

I don't think that copying another [country's] cultural sign is really doing much for our own culture. We have become so americanised lately, and it’s sad.... what happened to Kiwiana?

I don’t like the fact that they want to copy the Hollywood sign either. Sure, New Zealand has been in a lot of movies, but I don’t think that gives them the right to create a replica sign. The Hollywood sign is iconic and legendary and there’s so much history there. I feel like replicating it like this would be more of a mockery than anything else.

This Girl Needs Rehab

I can’t believe it. I never ever thought something like this would happen in a million years. A celebrity has been sent to jail for drugs and alcohol. Lindsay Lohan has been sentenced to 3 months in jail for violating her probation. She missed her rehab classes and the judge wasn’t having it and finally sentenced her. She had to wear an alcohol monitor after the Cannes debacle and had to attend rehab and I guess she thought she was too good for rehab and never went. Of course, Lindsay broke down and cried at her sentencing and now has to keep her ankle monitor until July 20 when she will finally be taken into custody. I watched Larry King last night at the gym and he was talking to Lindsay's father who was crying and putting on a show about how his daughter needs rehab and she refuses to listen to him. Dr. Drew was there as well talking about how much help she needs and he would be willing to give it to her. It was all kind of gross to watch these people. Stop talking about it and do something for her.

I know my victory song for a celebrity going to jail makes me sound like a horrible person, but I feel I have 2 reasons for singing it. First, all celebrities seem to find a way around the system. If Lindsay Lohan was any random person, they would have been sentenced her immediately without any thought to what her day job was. Why should celebrities be treated any differently for committing bad deeds? Second I think Lindsay has a lot of potential to be something great and really needs some rehab. She was so good in the remake of The Parent Trap and even in Freaky Friday and Mean Girls and now look at her. I think she could have broken out of the teen movies and gone on to do what Rachel McAdams was able to do if it weren't for drugs and alcohol. I think she needs to get her shit together and get away from her parents and realize all the mistakes she’s making and get better. She has had such an awful upbringing and her parents keep using her for their own fame and I think the only way to make her better at this point would be to get her away and in a facility where she will get the help she needs. Asking her to get the help herself has obviously not worked so force seems to be the only way. I really hope she can turn it around.

I Fear For America

I find it really weird when people go out and buy something for a million dollars that came from a celebrity or something shaped like Jesus. Remember when someone saw Jesus in a potato chip and it sold on eBay for like a million dollars? So weird. It’s going to disintegrate eventually right? Or remember the time a member of N*Sync bit into a waffle and that sold on eBay for a million dollars? That’s going to mold fast.

Well, recently someone bought x-rays of Marilyn Monroe’s chest for $45,000. Why? What are you going to do with those? I could replicate that and no one would be the wiser. Some people go nuts for things celebrities have touched. I can understand going gaga over an autographed picture because you know the celebrity touched it or the pen they used to sign the picture, but a waffle they chewed on and an x-ray? Come on people.

A glove Michael Jackson wore just sold for $190,00 as well. This one may be a little more understandable because it’s lined in jewels and what not, but I’m sure that it would have sold for that amount even if there weren’t any jewels. The thing that bothers me is that these people did nothing. Yes, entertainment is huge and I have my favorites celebrities as well, but they didn’t bring peace to the world or stop hunger. They sang a song and recited some lines. Why don’t people want to buy a pen from Abraham Lincoln for $50,000? The state of our world worries me sometimes.

Hef The Great

You learn something new everyday. My favorite thing to look at in all of Los Angeles is the Hollywood sign. I don’t know what it is about that sign, but when I see it, I get kind of gaga and I just want to stare at it. Not too long ago, one of my friends and I found a route to get pretty close to the sign. It was kind of amazing to be sitting below this larger than life sign. It just means so many things to so many people. What a lot of people don’t know is that the sign used to read Hollywoodland and “land” slid off a while back and Hollywood stayed. This isn’t what I learned. The thing that I learned about this is that the Hollywoodland sign was put on the hillside as an ad for a real estate development called Hollywoodland created in 1923. I had no freaking idea. I never really asked why or how the sign got there I was just fascinated by its presence. Well, it looks like the real estate companies never stopped wanting that land on the hillside.

In February the sign was covered with new letters to read Save the Peak because real estate companies wanted to demolish the sign and build super expensive homes. Can you imagine Hollywood if that sign went away after being there since 1923? Luckily, Hugh Hefner stepped in and donated $900,000 to keep the sign after Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks donated quite a bit of money themselves. It cost about $2 million to keep the sign in tact. Out of all the people, I guess Hef is the best candidate to finalize this deal. I mean who has that kind of money just lying around? Either way, I could buy Playboy for the rest of my life just to support him for saving that damn sign. The hillside and sign now belong to Griffith Park. Yay for Hollywood!