BARKER RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL "Travis Barker has been released from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, Usmagazine.com has confirmed. 'Travis Barker was discharged from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital this morning,' spokesperson Beth Frits told Us Monday afternoon. 'He left in good condition.'"
DJ AM RELEASED "A week after surviving a plane crash that took the lives of four people, DJ AM has been released from Doctors Hospital in August, Georgia, his rep said Friday. 'While he is deeply saddened by the events he is thankful for all of the love and support he has been receiving from fans and friends world wide,' the rep said. 'We ask that you continue respect his privacy as he rests and heals and mourns the loss of his friends.'"
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It would be unrealistic to say the end is near for TMZ.com, the gossip website founded by Harvey Levin that Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade put on the map. But all signs are pointing to trouble for the AOL-Telepictures celebrity venture. Readership is down. So is revenue. Top staffers are leaving. The spin-off show TMZ has lost its buzz. And TMZ.com just saw People.com overtake it for the No. 2 spot of most-visited celebrity websites (Yahoo's OMG is No. 1, thanks to all of the search giant's traffic dumping).
Oh, and that's on top of growing backlash within the gossip industry, as competing mainstream tabloid outlets, bloggers, and (we suspect, if traffic levels are any indication) readers are growing increasingly disgusted for what qualifies as "content" on the site.
Has TMZ already hit its peak — and started snowballing toward implosion? From numerous conversations with TMZ insiders, Levin confidantes, industry players, and fellow bloggers, the answer is a resounding "yes."
Travis Barker and DJ AM survived a Learjet crash late Friday night that killed the other four people on board the plane. The two men were admitted to burn units and listed in critical condition.
Travis and DJ AM had performed at a concert Friday with Gavin DeGraw and former Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell, but Gavin and Perry were not on the plane. Of the four who died, two were pilots, one was a security guard and one was Travis' 26-year-old assistant, who was recently married and had a baby.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was taking off when air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks; the plane then went off the runway and crashed on a nearby road, where it burst into flames. Travis was burned from the waist down; DJ AM's face suffered severe burns. Both men are expected to survive.
Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased.
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Maxim held its Hot 100 party last night in LA, which played host to many horny males hoping to score with desperate women. This event would have been the perfect time to lock everyone in and save the rest of the world from STDs.
After the jump: More pictures of "hot" people than you could ever ask for. CONTINUED »
On an airplane today, we heard a woman tell her child that tonight was a holiday. She quickly qualified the statement with "but not a meaningful one." We've never heard it put more succinctly.
We're going to a party tonight. There, we will post up in a corner with a tall glass of bourbon and ginger ale and hopefully, against all odds, by midnight, run into some meaning .
We hope you'll join us on our mission to meet 2008 bleary-eyed, tired and drunkenly courageous.
If you're in Hollywood, ring in the New Year at the parties detailed after the jump. Or not. (For a New York guide, check out Jossip.)
CONTINUED »
Holy cluster fuck, Pap Man!
I haven't seen such a hodge podge of celebrities since May of 1988: the last Battle of The Network Stars. Last night's post-VMA party at TAO wasn't a battle, but there may have been some casualties.
See what happens when Jermaine Dupri, Nelly and Travis Barker are picked to host an MTV party and celebrities stop being polite - and start getting drunk.
CONTINUED »
Besides being a gallows for Britney Spears to hang herself – for now, just figuratively – last night's MTV Video Music Awards also proved to be a boring, insipid and massive forum for rewarding mediocrity. In short, Miss Teen South Carolina was there. Bravo, MTV!
After the jump, many, many more.
CONTINUED »
Travis Barker, shown here with on-again, off-again (on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again) girlfriend (wife?) Shanna Moakler, hosted a party last night to celebrate the opening of his store The Fast Life. One must imagine that when he's not spending 30 minutes on his hair—or sitting around for hours getting tattooed—is when Travis lives his "fast life."
Several more after the jump.
CONTINUED »
It's already kind of weird that this guy's whole body (and head) looks like a bathroom at a seedy bar, but that's not terrible. What needs to die forever are his damn SoCal "shants."
If the shorts are touching the socks they're not shorts; they're pants that don't fit properly, and they're part of the reason people go, "Yeah, I love California for vacation, but I could never live there."
Some amazing egghead hacked into Lindsay Lohan's MySpace, and he's unleashed his findings on the world. Among some bland minutia like party invites from Shanna Barker (nee Moakler), there are unintentionally hilarious message wars in which Lohan attacks Paris Hilton, calling her a "cunt" and dubbing her friend Perez Hilton a "fat fuck." Another great moment comes when ex-Paris bf Stavros Niarchos asks of Lindsay, essentially, "Why you gotta play me like that?" Her response: "fu." Oh the wit!
Also hilarious are all the liberties with the English language the messages take. Though the one most worth noting has to be Paris' use of the fake word "broughten" (that's not a typo, babe).
Whoever this hacker is, he should know that while what he has done is funny, it's also illegal. I hope he expects to be broughten up on charges.
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FOX has already offered the Beckhams a one-way ticket to Divorceizona. They want to give the couple a reality show, scrutinizing their every movement and invading their most personal moments. The reality show route has worked out very well for Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Britney Spears and Kevin Federline and Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler, so why not?
That's right, it appears Beckham-mania is about to reach a whole new level. As part of the "commercial opportunities" used to pay out David Beckham part of the estimated $250 million he will earn during his five year stint with the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Beckhams look set to make their foray into the great American past-time: reality television.
The Sun and People report Fox has offered David and Victoria Beckham their own cinéma vérité style television show once the couple touches down for good in California.
“At the moment neither David nor Victoria are majorly famous in the States, but starring in their own show on one of America’s biggest channels would catapult them to instant stardom,” a source told People.
Fox already houses the most popular American reality television show: American Idol. That show is produced by Simon Fuller, who also manages the David Beckham commercial circus. Fox, meantime, also has a MLS link: Fox Soccer Channel is under a $20 million contract to televise MLS and U.S. Soccer games.
It's begun. Prepare yourself for a full scale takeover by 2010. I estimate that, by then, we'll all be having high tea, using long As in words like "path" and "class" and worshiping royal figureheads. God save the Beckhams!
PS How creepy and metaphorical are these pictures of the couple draped in the American flag being welcomed by Bush? The answer: very.
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• Just as a warning: this is how Paris Hilton says hello. [Egotastic]
• Scarlett Johansson's life and Flavor of Love 2 find an unlikely similarity: controversial blow job sounds. [BWE]
• Ashlee Simpson has a gift. [I'm Not Obsessed]
• Eva Longoria hopes David Beckham is gulible. [DListed]
• Sometimes you gotta feel a little bit sorry for Kevin Federline. [CityRag]
• Lindsay Lohan wants to visit Iraq to give what she can to the troops. [A Socialite's Life]
• Romeo Beckham is epileptic. Thankfully his momma is there to lay the smack down on any photogs who won't leave him alone. [PopSugar]
Shanna Moakler (ex-wife of Travis Barker) really hammed it up with her un-wedding cake at her divorce party in Vegas last night. Because nothing says lets keep this civil for the kids' sake at least like a wielding a giant knife.
P.S. It was pretty funny in her latest MySpace rant against Travis when she called Paris Hilton a "drug obsessed clown."
• I may have to reinstate my Brad Pitt Wall. [CityRag]
• Allllbaaaa, touching faux-Alllllbaaaaaa. Reaching out, touching herself, touch yourself. [Egotastic]
• Shanna Moakler throws herself a Happy Divorce party. Travis Barker responds by yelling on MySpace. Middle School is awesome. [DListed]
• Justin has some suggestions on how to bring middle-aged sexyback: sexy vacations. [PopSugar]
• Someone fire her. [BWE]
• Katharine McPhee is totally there for Nicole Richie, and it in no way is an attempt to become more famous. [I'm Not Obsessed]
• Ben Affleck knows it's best to leave the tights to his wife. [Junkiness]
• Rihanna auditions for a job at Spearmint Rhino. [Hollywood Tuna]
Paris isn't scared off by a little tussle. Last night Paris and posse, including none other than Travis Barker himself, hit up both Tangerine and Social House in Vegas. Brandon Davis looked to be in excellent form, sporting his trademark oil sheen and groping the Hiltons on the dance floor. DJ AM was in tow as well, so perhaps Shanna can get a Nicole Richie back-up next time? Do I smell an impending girl gang rivalry? Well, a girl can dream.
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Secret Agent Hilton tried to pull a fast one on photographers while in Amsterdam by leaving the house in a red dress and her signature blonde hair and sneaking back in with a leopard print hoodie, a brown wig, and Travis Barker. Lucky for us, she's an idiot at being sneaky. She might as well just be rocking a fake moustache. Or a potted plant costume.
[Source]
Despite Paris Hilton's denial of her new found love for playing tonsil hockey with Blink 182's recently separated Travis Barker, TMZ has some footage of the two going at it like horny high school freshmen at Marquee in New York last night. The video shows some mild groping and face smashing, before Paris Hilton gets bored and walks away. God Damn ADD generation.
The pictures here show a busted looking Paris entering the club with a slightly bedraggled Travis close behind. Although it appears that Paris may break into tears (or pass the f out she looks so out-of-it), this should be a happy occasion for her–she's being let into a club without hassle. Seeing how things have been going for young Paris these days anything beyond the velvet rope is a step up. Even if it involves tongue knots with a scrawny, pierced older man on the other side.
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