Liz Smith: Everyone — Tucker Carlson, too — is talking about O and O

Iguess she doesn’t hate men that much. He’s a man.”So said MSNBC’s talking (screaming?) head Tucker Carlson, wrapping up his conversation last week about Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Barack Obama.Carlson is MSNBC’s uber conservative, and much given to this sort of snarky remark. (To be fair, so is that same network’s liberal ranter, Keith Olbermann. These guys are demagogues in the sandbox. Calling names is their game. That is today’s political climate.) One wonders where Tucker gets his information about Oprah hating men?

Hmmm … well, I’ve always found Tucker to be faintly condescending toward women. He has a sort of smirky, frat-boy attitude. And he doesn’t really seem to like women. (Not that he isn’t 1,000 percent straight and happily married, as he is always quick to mention!)So, what about Winfrey on the campaign trail for Obama? Many believe she won’t affect the vote, but is merely providing a PR bonanza. Others say she has over-reached and will find herself savaged and unprotected in the ugly land of politics – casual, careless remarks flying all over YouTube and nightly pundits bloviating on her every move.I say Oprah really wants Obama to win, and she’s putting her iconic charisma on the line for that goal. This woman will be fine. She knows how to handle herself.But … how often have we heard it said that Oprah is so powerful, so popular, that if she ran for president she might well win? Oprah’s plunge into campaign madness might not help Obama in the end, but perhaps it will serve Ms. Winfrey down the road, after her show finally ends.Just when we thought it was safe to discard the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana, up pops the pathologist who examined her body. She wasn’t pregnant. No, wait, she didn’t show any signs of pregnancy. She might have been, you know, three weeks along, if she was pregnant. But she wasn’t. But she might have been.Well, this back and forth will keep Mohammed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Diana in that Paris tunnel, weaving his tales of royal family plotting for decades to come.Remember when Larry Birkhead, onetime lover of the late Anna Nicole Smith, was fighting for custody of his daughter Dannielynn? Larry vowed if he won the battle, he’d take the infant away from Los Angeles and raise her quietly in Kentucky, with his family.Well, that hasn’t happened. In fact, Larry has posed for photo layouts with the child, now 18 months old, and just the other day went on a shopping spree in Hollywood. He had Dannielynn in tow, paparazzi snapping madly.Too bad. The little girl is certainly better off with Larry than she would have been with Anna Nicole’s “husband,” Howard K. Stern, or with Anna herself, had she lived. Anna was a prime example of Unfit Parenting 101. But Hollywood is no place to raise a child already made infamous by the sordid life and death of her mother.

Anna Nicole Would Have Been 40 Today

Today would have been Anna Nicole Smith’s 40th birthday. The former Playmate was born in Houston, Tex. on November 28, 1967, and died February 8, 2007 in Hollywood, Fla.The inquest into the tragic death of her son Daniel continues in the Bahamas. Daniel died of an accidental overdose on September 10 of last year, several days after the birth of his half-sister, Dannielynn. A Royal Bahamian police investigation concluded that there was no evidence of foul play in Daniel’s death, but spawned a subsequent to explore any additional evidence. The hearings will resume December 10.

Anna Nicole's 40th Memorial

“My only wish is that Anna is celebrating her 40th birthday with Daniel and Howard (Marshall) in heaven and that they are able to experience the beautiful development of Dannielynn from above. Then I know that she would truly be at peace. She was more extraordinary than words can describe. I will never stop loving her.”"We will have a private family celebration to remember Anna. Time still hasn’t healed the wound of her untimely passing, as she truly was one of a kind.”

anna nicole smith's estates sued for unpaid legal bills

The estate of the late Anna Nicole Smith has been hit with a new lawsuit by a Texas law firm over unpaid legal bills.

Cunningham Darlow LLP filed a creditor’s claim against the former model/actress’ estate in Los Angeles Superior Court on November 16, claiming they had not received payment for representing Smith in her battle over the estate of her late husband, E. Pierce Marshall.

The Houston-based company says a deal had been made with Smith in July 1996 and was revised in September 1999 regarding the court wrangle over the oil billionaire’s fortune.

Cunningham Darlow is seeking unspecified “fees and expenses”, according to CelebTV.com.

Smith, who died from an accidental drug overdose in February, married Marshall in 1994. He died, aged 90, in August 1995.

This is the second lawsuit filed against Smith’s estate for outstanding lawyers’ fees this month. Britney Spears’ attorney Sorrel Trope sued for unpaid bills for his work in the paternity battle of Smith’s baby daughter, Dannielynn, earlier this year. A DNA test proved photographer Larry Birkhead was the father of Smith’s baby.

 

Baldwin, Thoms etc Join 'A Question of Impeachment' Series

Culture Project has announced new participants for their
ambitious and unique new series, "A Question of Impeachment," which explores
and debates the case for the impeachment of President George Bush and Vice
President Richard Cheney.  Joining the
esteemed list of thinkers, scholars and activists are: actors / activists Alec
Baldwin, Tracie Thoms (Rent), and
Callie Thorne ("Rescue Me"), along with former Harper’s editor Lewis Lapham and
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman.

"A Question of Impeachment," gathers today’s most brilliant
and visionary minds to investigate crucial issues affecting all Americans,
particularly as they prepare to elect a new leader, including expansion of
executive powers, war, surveillance, torture and extraordinary rendition and
government response to disaster.

The 5 week series launched on November 18, 2007 (in
concordance with Howard Zinn’s Rebel
Voices, also at Culture Project) with a special opening celebration
featuring, among others, singer Phoebe Snow and actress Annabella Sciorra.  The series continues Sundays and Mondays
through December 16.  Sundays focus on
addressing the issues through film, theater and other art forms.  This Sunday (December 2), Culture Project
will screen a special cut of Jonathan Demme’s documentary Right to Return: New
Movies from the Lower 9th Ward. Mondays tackle five articles of impeachment
directly, through depositions modeled on actual impeachment hearings; next up:
Article III: Criminal Negligence in the Gulf Coast.

For a complete list
of programs and the series schedule, plus updates and select video footage from
the series visit www.cultureproject.org.

Tickets range from $7 to $50 and are available by calling
212-352-3101 or visiting www.cultureproject.org.

Advertisers Have "30 Rock" The Way A Puppeteer Holds A Puppet?

Awww Jeez. I love "30 Rock." Love Tina Fey, who created, co-writes and stars in this NBC comedy show about life behind the scenes at a fictional NBC comedy show called "The Girlie Show." (For the uninitiated, Fey used to work at "Saturday Night Live.") Love Alec Baldwin as her fake NBC boss. I even love – OK, like – Fey’s Amex commercial, in which she gamely copes with the chaos backstage at a comedy show that could be any one of the three – "SNL," "30 Rock" or "The Girlie Show."

But my admiration for this meta-comic hall of mirrors shrank perceptibly when I learned today that a bit of comic shilling for Verizon Wireless during a recent "30 Rock" episode was indeed a real-life paid product placement. I was afraid of that, on some level, but I decided to hope that it was just more biting of the hand that feeds by Fey and co.

I learned the truth, ironically enough, from a Hollywood Reporter story written by one Gail Schiller.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I can take a deep breath and accept that the once-reviled practice of product placements has become an industry profit center. Hell, I didn’t even mind when some turned up on my other favorite Thursday night show, "The Office," a while back. And maybe I should accept this as yet another brilliant turn in that hall of mirrors Fey and co. have constructed. But somehow when they’re doing the exact thing they’re satirizing, it’s not better, it’s worse. I just don’t like it. Please stop. Thank you.

bahamas holds daniel smith death inquest

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Medical personnel frantically tried to revive Anna Nicole Smith’s son after he collapsed in September 2006 in the former Playboy playmate’s hospital room, a doctor testified Monday at the start of a coroner’s inquest.

After a “Code Blue” alert was sounded, doctors, nurses and security guards crowded into the room and found Daniel Smith unconscious, not breathing and with no pulse, said Dr. James Iferenta, the emergency room doctor on duty at the time. Iferenta said a woman, whom he later learned was Anna Nicole, was distraught and would not let go of her 20-year-old son.

“There was difficulty getting her out of the room,” Iferenta said of Anna Nicole. “She clung to Smith during my time in the room.”

Her attorney and partner, Howard K. Stern, who was present when Daniel Smith died, discussed the relationship between son and mother.

“She was very close to Danny and I saw it,” he testified. “Almost every time I saw Anna Nicole, she had Danny with her.”

Iferenta and Stern were among the first of about 35 witnesses expected to testify before a seven-member jury at an inquest to formally determine the cause death. Daniel Smith died about five months before Anna Nicole herself collapsed and died in Florida.

Police have said there is no evidence of homicide in the death of Daniel Smith. An autopsy found the likely cause was a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants. The jury can recommend authorities pursue criminal charges if it finds evidence of wrongdoing.

Daniel Smith had come to the Bahamas to visit his mother after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn. His death was the start of a celebrity soap opera that would soon engulf the island chain, where Anna Nicole Smith lived with Stern.

Anna Nicole’s death on Feb. 8 set off a fight over where to bury the former model and who would get custody of Dannielynn. She was eventually buried in the Bahamas, next to Daniel, and custody of her daughter went to former boyfriend Larry Birkhead.

On Monday, Stern described identifying Daniel Smith’s body at the morgue but did not discuss in detail the events that led up to his death. The attorney general’s office said Stern may be recalled as a witness for further questioning.

Stern is the executor of Anna Nicole Smith’s estate and has filed papers to make Dannielynn the sole beneficiary of the estate, which has made a legal claim for millions from the oil fortune of the model’s late husband, J. Howard Marshall II.

Testimony in the inquest is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

Associated Press writer Artesia Davis contributed to this report.

Bahamas Court Probes Daniel Smith Death

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — In the hours before his death, the 20-year-old son of Anna Nicole Smith appeared fine to medical personnel in the Bahamas, who said Tuesday they saw him walking in his celebrity mother’s room, talking and sleeping in the same bed with her.

On the second day of an inquest into the Sept. 10, 2006, death of Daniel Smith, nursing assistant Francis Woodside said the young man was sleeping in the same bed as his mother, while her attorney and partner Howard K. Stern slept in the other, about 3 hours and 40 minutes before a hospital-wide alarm that he had been found unconscious.

Woodside noted nothing unusual in the room except the sleeping arrangements. “We don’t usually have that happen, patients sleeping in the bed with relatives,” she told a jury that will decide the official cause of death and whether authorities should pursue any criminal charges.

Nurse-midwife Janice Knowles and phlebotomist Mavis Davis also testified that they did not notice anything wrong with Smith before medical personnel found him not breathing and with no pulse at about 9:40 a.m.

Police have said there is no evidence of homicide in Daniel Smith’s death and an autopsy found the likely cause was a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants.

Nurse Nadine Carey testified Tuesday that she found two round tablets on the bed that hospital employees previously said was occupied by Stern. She did not say what kind of pills they were, only that they were turned over to senior nursing staff.

Another nurse, Catriona McTaggart, said Anna Nicole Smith was “crying hysterically” as medical personnel frantically tried to revive her son after his collapse.

medical personnel frantically tried to revive her son after his collapse.

Smith was visiting his mother after the reality TV star gave birth three days earlier to daughter Dannielynn, who became the subject of a bitter custody battle after the former Playboy playmate herself collapsed and died Feb. 8 in Florida.

Testimony is scheduled to resume Dec. 10. Authorities at the coroner’s inquest did not announce a reason for the adjournment.

Associated Press writer Artesia Davis contributed to this report.

Nicole lawyer libel against author

Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer and companion Howard K Stern has filed a ??30 million libel action against author Rita Cosby and her publisher.

The action follows publication of a book that claims Stern and Smith’s ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, had a sexual encounter.

The writ, filed in federal court in New York, seeks ??5 million in compensatory damages and ??25 million in punitive damages from Cosby – who wrote Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death – and Hachette Book Group USA.

The book, which hit stores in September, claims that besides the alleged sexual encounter, Birkhead and Stern worked together after former Playboy Playmate Smith’s death to manipulate the media and maximise profits.

The lawsuit says that the book falsely accuses Stern of, among other things, criminal lewd acts, homosexual acts, illegal possession and use of cocaine, conspiring to commit murder and kidnapping for ransom.

“Defendants have exploited Ms Smith’s life and death by publishing false and defamatory factual accusations against” Stern, according to the 65-page lawsuit filed by Atlanta, Georgia, lawyer Lin Wood.

Wood said in a statement that Cosby and her publisher “made a conscious decision to smear the personal and professional reputation” of Stern for financial gain.

A spokesman for Cosby referred calls to Evan Boorstyn, a spokesman for the book’s publisher. He did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Both Birkhead, the father of Smith’s infant daughter, and Stern, Smith’s long-time lawyer and companion, had threatened to sue soon after the book was published. The lawsuit lists only Stern as a plaintiff.

Stern’s lawsuit says Stern’s lawyer advised Cosby and her publisher before the book was published not to include any defamatory statements about Stern. The suit says that Cosby and her publisher never contacted Stern to verify the truth of allegations against Stern in the book.

Suits of a different type flying on the red carpet

IT WAS a case of red-carpet outrage in Manhattan last week when author Rita Cosby showed up for the book party to fete her new bestseller (Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death,) only to be hit with a $60 million libel suit from Smith’s faux-baby-daddy Howard Stern.

The stunt of serving the suit — which was actually filed in court the previous day, Tuesday — on the red carpet infuriated Cosby, who in her book claims Stern used cocaine, conspired to commit kidnapping and murder and — ironically, her most headline-grabbing allegation — had a gay affair with Dannielynn’s biological baby-daddy, former photographer Larry Birkhead.

“He used this as a publicity opportunity for himself,” Cosby fumed about Stern.

“It just shows me that with all these guys, it was always smoke and mirrors . . . It stuns me that someone like Howard K Stern would accuse me of cashing in.”

As if scripted, the next morning news broke that Birkhead is now in talks to star in his own reality TV show (which he describes as “basically the ‘day in the life of daddy duties’,”) which will also feature daughter Dannielynn who, he reports is “teething. She’s got about eight teeth . . . All she has to worry about is her Barney video.” As if.

Here comes the bride . . . alone

The glam Sex and the City wedding scene shot in Manhattan last week was missing just one little thing — the groom.

Despite gushing reports that Carrie (SJP) and Big (Chris Noth) waltzed down the big-screen aisle last Wednesday, on-set spies report what was actually filmed was a scene in which Miranda, Charlotte, Samantha and Stanford escorted a Vivienne Westwood-frocked Carrie from an 81St Park Avenue apartment building to a nearby church (yes, while the paparazzi stood around outside St Patrick’s Cathedral waiting in vain for the wedding party).

At the church, guests (including Charlotte’s adopted four-year-old daughter who is a flower girl) waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . . for the groom to make an appearance.

He never showed.

While some (optimistic?) insiders believe the highly anticipated exchange of vows scene will be shot with the other ‘interior’ scenes scheduled for later next month, others are predicting that Big bolts. But, they add, don’t be surprised if Big and Carrie slip away and quietly elope.

Everyone, after all, wants a happy ending.

Girl-next-door beats bad babes

She may not be in/coming out of rehab; be in/out of love and she has never been as naughty as to run a red light, but Jennifer Aniston proved her enduring appeal (on magazines covers, if not at the box office) when she was named as the “top-selling celebrity face” of the year by Forbes magazine last week.

Jennifer Aniston, one of the few single Hollywood women of a certain age who has not talked about/or gone ahead and adopted a baby from a poverty-stricken country of late, scored a high-appeal ranking of 36, making her the second-most-liked female cover subject behind Sandra Bullock).

Forbes also calculated that Aniston was the most powerful celebrity at the news stand (followed by Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, Katie Holmes, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson) and responsible for selling more than five million magazines over a six-month period last year.

Contrary to the belief that any publicity is good publicity, it turns out that readers were turned off buying magazines featuring Hollywood’s current crop of bad babes: train-wreck Britney Spears landed 18 glossy covers during the time-frame, all of which sold half a million copies under par, making her the least popular “celebrity face”.

Britney’s sad low-appeal score of three was ‘topped’ only by the two rating achieved by (who else?) celebutante Paris Hilton.

J-Lo mum on baby-doll look

Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony kick off their first “ensemble” court tour tonight at Madison Square Garden.

But nobody expects tomorrow’s headlines to be about their joint musical debut.

Even though the couple has persistently shot down swelling rumours that Lopez is pregnant, audience members who attended Wednesday night’s Atlantic City out-of-town warm-up of the concert report they couldn’t take their eyes off the bump Lopez tried to conceal with a variety of loose-fitting baby-doll tops.

Insiders suggest Lopez has a deal to announce her good news to People magazine next week, but the latest edition of the National Enquirer might have put a spanner in those works. The celebrity tabloid is reporting that Lopez is nearing her second trimester — with twins.

“She has wanted to start a family since she first married Marc,” a friend tells the tabloid. “It wasn’t easy for her to get pregnant. She was afraid she was unable to.”

Marc Anthony, who married Lopez in 2004 after her dramatic bust-up with Ben Affleck, teased his audience last week by saying: “This is such a special evening on so many levels . . . You are the first people to witness this new part of our lives.”

Sweet.