areyouserious

n a recent clip posted on YouTube, Diddy makes a trip to Burger King, proclaiming himself "the king of music and fashion" while he orders a Whopper "my way," complete with onions, cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, and salt and pepper.

On the surface, it was a strangely appealing video diary of ego and one man's unrequited love for condiments. But as is the case with everything Diddy does, the video also served a much grander purpose: It heralded the launch of Diddy TV, a YouTube channel he started with the fast-food giant.

And to a nation of loyal YouTube users — already reeling from what they see as the increased commercialization of the site — the spot's about as welcome as, well, a Whopper at a PETA convention.


Within hours of the clip being added to the site, more than 1,700 YouTubers left comments, the overwhelming majority of which were negative (samples include "I won't eat there now, I'll go to Wendy's" and "The end is very f----in' nigh"). And soon after, in a lightning-quick show of solidarity, a host of parody videos — of varying degrees of quality and humor — began to crop up too.

One of the first so-called "response" clips to be posted was a spot-on parody by a YouTube user named LisaNova, which details her visit to a neighborhood fruit stand. In the clip, she orders a fruit bowl "with everything on it" and announces that she's joining forces with the stand to buy a channel on YouTube, "even though they're free — just 'cause we're that smart." In his spot, Diddy announces that he and Burger King are "buying" a channel on YouTube, even though, as a spokesperson for the site told MTV News, "Anyone can set up a channel — even if it's for commercial profit. They're free."

And for Nova — who's also made clips parodying now-debunked YouTube phenom lonelygirl15 (see "Internet Phenom Lonelygirl15 Reveals Secrets, Says Bree Is Someone 'Everybody Can Relate To' ") — the purpose of making the clip was twofold. For one, she wanted to express her displeasure over what she sees as "an outsider trying to use the [YouTube] community." But secondly — and, most importantly — she saw it as a way to poke fun at the walking ego that is Diddy.

"Really, I just thought his video was hysterical — he was a bit, shall we say, overconfident about people's excitement to his news," she told MTV News in an e-mail. "I think that was the joke for me, that people would actually be thrilled that he and Burger King had formed some sort of an alliance. It was meant to be funny. ... If there is a joke to be made, then make it."

But not all YouTube users were as kind to Diddy as LisaNova. Take, for example, David Dorn, who heads up Reno, Nevada's Lost in the Fog Productions. One day after the Diddy/BK clip hit the site, he had posted an animated response video featuring a surly-looking creature that rips Combs for attempting to "take over YouTube" and calls him "a virus."

"How dare you?" the creature asks. "How 'bout, on October 17, I just push 'stop'?" (Combs' new album, Press Play, hits stores on that same date.) It's a sentiment Dorn echoes in real life too.

"I don't want him to be popular on YouTube," Dorn wrote in an e-mail. "I don't want the reason that so many people come to YouTube be because of him, but that is the way it looks like it's going to be. [And] I know that many of the YouTube users would agree with me on that. He's pretty full of himself to think that by just 'buying' a channel and talking about his 'everyday life,' it makes him 'normal.' I think he should leave YouTube alone."

And there are plenty of users like Dorn, expressing their frustration in manners both increasingly bizarre (the U.K.'s BlackAdderExtras, who took Diddy's spot and turned it into a rather tedious house track) and disturbing (one rant, by a wide-eyed blond kid, borders on racist psycho-babble). But will the rising negative sentiments be enough to pull the plug on Diddy TV?

Well, according to Burger King, which on Monday announced a multiyear, multiplatform campaign showcasing Combs, the answer is "no."

"We can't speak for Diddy, but we're thrilled that so many people have tuned in and taken notice, and we've found some of the parodies extremely creative and entertaining," a spokesperson for Burger King (who asked not to be identified) told MTV News. "YouTube is all about free expression, and Burger King wants consumers to continue to 'have it your way.' "

Combs himself could not be reached for comment on the matter, but in the meantime, it doesn't seem like the tide of negative reactions to Diddy TV will subside anytime soon. And with the news of YouTube's $1.6 billion sale to Google (see "May We Suggest GooTube? Google Buys YouTube In $1.6 Billion Deal") still fresh in their minds, many users see this campaign as their last stand in the formerly wild frontier of the site.

"Parody videos ... just come with the territory, but the bad comments are another thing, and he had more negative feedback than I had ever seen," Nova added. "It was actually kinda shocking how pissed everyone was. So I guess only time will tell what will happen."

"If celebrities such as Diddy continue to emerge on YouTube, that will be the end [of the site]," Dorn wrote. "So my suggestion is, continue your negative comments and video replies, but if it seems he doesn't care and he just keeps putting videos out, then tell everyone you know to simply stop watching them."

Source
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That's right, Diddy, you better back up off viral video.

Sports psychologist says even Owens can't buy happiness
By Paul Domowitch

PHILADELPHIA - Terrell Owens hires the damnedest people to work for him. First, an agent who gets him a pink slip instead of a new contract. Now, a publicist who manages to make a nationally televised fool of herself and get her client's name on the Dallas Police Department's enemies list.

Kim Etheredge, come on down.

What could this woman possibly have been thinking Wednesday when she basically called the Dallas cops big, fat liars? And what was running through that little mind of hers when she made that tasteless "Terrell has 25 million reasons why he should be alive" comment?

We probably never will really know what was behind Owens' trip to the emergency room Tuesday night. Maybe it was, as he and Etheredge claim, just an allergic reaction to a mix of painkillers and supplements. Or maybe it was indeed a suicide attempt.

Etheredge's absurd "25 million reasons" comment suggests that an athlete as rich and famous as Owens couldn't possibly suffer dark enough thoughts to consider ending his life. Even though we have since learned from his longtime trainer that T.O. was indeed distraught that night over his breakup with his fiancee and his inability to be with his son, who lives in California, for his 7th birthday.

"That kind of comment reinforces the way we sometimes simplistically look at athletes and what their emotional life can be like," said Dr. Joel Fish, a local sports psychologist and director of the Center for Sport Psychology. "Howard Hughes was one of the richest men in the world and was depressed. I think it's pretty clear that money doesn't necessarily buy happiness, and money doesn't necessarily buy contentment."

Fish said athletes are human, just like the rest of us. They have the same ups and downs. The same emotional issues.

"Just because an athlete is big and strong physically doesn't means he's big and strong emotionally," he said. "There's zero relationship between NFL-level talent and NFL-level personality. If 10 or 15 percent of the general population experience clinically significant feelings relating to anxiety, depression and interpersonal-relationship problems, then 10 or 15 percent of pro athletes do, too.

"The fact that T.O. has interpersonal issues going on is not unusual. In fact, it's pretty normal. I'm not surprised to hear that he might have some things in his personal life that could be affecting him. It's easy to look at him as just No. 81. But he's flesh and blood, just like me or you. He just happens to be extraordinarily skilled in this one aspect of his life.

"His challenge is the same as every pro athlete, which is to manage all of the emotions that are going on in both his personal ad professional life and be able to perform."

Fish doesn't know how Owens will come out of this emotionally. But he has a pretty good idea how he thinks he'll come out of it professionally. And it doesn't bode well for the Eagles.

"Elite athletes respond to pressure and they respond to challenges," he said. "That's what intrigued me about the way he responded physically to the challenge of recovering from his (ankle) injury two years ago and playing in the Super Bowl and the way he performed in it.

"Well, now he's got an amazing emotional challenge here. No matter what happened, there's going to be some more pressure on him and all eyes watching him, particularly when he comes to Philadelphia next week.

"This guy's track record is when the pressure's on, he rises to the occasion."

Source

In a world exclusive that must have led to plenty of hushed, solemn high-fiving and low-key fist-pumping around the People magazine editorial offices, the celebrity weekly is claiming dibs on the results of the toxicology report from a private autopsy performed on Anna Nicole Smith's son. The results indicated the boy had a fatal cocktail of methadone and anti-depressants coursing through his veins:

 The death of Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son Daniel was caused by a lethal combination of methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro, pathologist Cyril Wecht has revealed to PEOPLE exclusively.

Wecht said the drugs caused the cardiac dysrhythmia that led to Daniel's death. Wecht got the toxicology results from National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pa., today.

Source: Defamer

This is the text of the statement released Wednesday by Anna Nicole Smith’s Bahamian attorney, Michael Scott:

Anna Nicole recently moved to the Bahamas to avoid the intent media scrutiny in the United States that she has received throughout her career. She wanted to give birth to her new baby girl in a peaceful environment. Shortly after Anna Nicole gave birth, her son Daniel flew to the Bahamas to share in the joy of his sister’s arrival.

Howard K. Stern picked up Daniel from the airport at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, 9th Sept 2006. They drove straight from the airport to Doctors Hospital. With one exception, Anna Nicole, Daniel and Howard spent the entire evening together in Anna Nicole’s hospital room. The one exception was when Howard left to get food because everybody was hungry.

When Daniel arrived in the hospital room he went straight to his baby sister. He embraced his mother and sister and told them both that he loved them. Daniel was very helpful to his mother and baby sister. On several occasions throughout the night, Daniel assisted his mother to the bathroom, as she was still in a lot of pain from her C-section.

Anna Nicole, Daniel and Howard spent the entire night together and had a wonderful time together with Ann Nicole’s newborn baby. At all times, the hospital staff knew that Howard was in the room with Anna Nicole and Daniel.

The chronology prepared by Doctors Hospital states that Daniel was observed by hospital personnel helping his mother at approximately 6:20 a.m.

Later in the morning, Anna Nicole awoke and noticed that her son appeared not to be breathing. Anna Nicole frantically awakened Howard with the alarm that Daniel was not breathing. Howard immediately checked Daniel’s neck for a pulse and the nurses were immediately summoned. According to the Doctors Hospital chronology, this occurred at approximately 9:38 a.m.

Hospital personnel came immediately to administer emergency aid and assistance. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the medical staff was not able to revive Daniel. Even after Daniel had been pronounced dead, Anna Nicole and Howard frantically continued resuscitation efforts.

Anna Nicole was so distraught at the loss of Daniel that she refused to leave his side and it was necessary to sedate her in order to check her out of the hospital. This step was taken upon the recommendation of Anna Nicole’s attending physicians and because of the realization that as soon as Daniel’s death became public, worldwide media would descend upon the hospital.

The devastation and grief over Daniel’s sudden death, coupled with the sedation, has been so extreme that Anna Nicole experienced memory loss of the event. It was necessary for Howard to tell Anna again that Daniel had passed away.

Anna Nicole, Howard and their close friends are obviously shocked and appalled after experiencing such devastation that they have not been allowed to privately grieve, as they ought to have been able to under these circumstances. They have been relentlessly besieged by cameras at Anna Nicole’s home and unfair and intrusive media scrutiny.

Anna Nicole has been informed that a coroner’s inquest will be convened to inquire into the circumstances surrounding Daniel’s death and she now asks the media and the public to await the outcome of this proceeding before leaping to sensational speculative and unfounded conclusions as to how Daniel died. It is Anna Nicole’s wish that this sensational and irresponsible journalism cease immediately out of respect for her privacy

Source: Ohnotheydidnt

TMZ reports:

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown may finally be moving on with their lives after a tumultuous 14-year marriage, but sources familiar with the family from their time in New Jersey tell TMZ say that the real victim in the divorce battle will no doubt be daughter Bobbi Kristina, and that she might actually be better off living apart from her parents altogether.

In court filings obtained yesterday by TMZ, it is not clear what Whitney's intentions are concerning the 13-year-old Bobbi Kristina, pictured here with her parents at a film premiere in 2004. But even though the teen's parents have always showered their only daughter together with love and affection, the New Jersey sources tell TMZ that the child may now be in particular danger of losing the guidance she needs through these difficult and crucial years, especially given Whitney's past struggles with substance abuse and Bobbi's focus on reviving his career – and his "tenderonis" – not to mention his two other children from previous relationships.
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They have a CHILD?! Was the child living in the CRACK DEN?

Damn straight she'd be better off without either of them.

Click here to see the court document that TMZ obtained.

Failed Pranks
* In December 2003, Kutcher attempted to "punk" WWE wrestler Bill Goldberg by having him think a truck had run over his prized motorcycle, when really it was a replica, but the stunt went wrong when the truck clearly missed the bike. Goldberg quickly realized what was going on, and asked "Who do I have to kill?". Kutcher then revealed himself, as the joke had failed.

* In June 2005, Kutcher failed to punk self-proclaimed King of Crunk Lil Jon. He was boarding a plane headed for Las Vegas, but Kutcher had actors playing customs agents tell him that he was actually headed for Ecuador. Lil Jon quickly identified members of the "customs agents" from previous episodes of the program, and asked for Kutcher to reveal himself.

* According to Kutcher himself, he failed to punk Neve Campbell twice until he finally succeeded on his third try in season 6.

* According to Nick Cannon in the March 3, 2006 People magazine, Ashton grew frustrated because he failed to fool Cannon about 4 times, with last attempt involving a man pretending to be trapped in a gas station. Cannon saw through the joke because he noticed the cameras and was not convinced by the actor's performance.



Not Yet Aired on MTV/Stars Denied Broadcasting Rights
Black Eyed Peas - Claimed in an interview that they were punk'd, noticed the 'cops' weren't real and got into a fight because they suspected them of being out to rob them
Finch - They noticed that Ashton Kutcher was behind this harassment
JoJo - Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights. JoJo did not sign the release form to air her episode because she didn't want her young fans to see her swearing
Kristin Kreuk - Some people said that she was punk'd by Kutcher or his crew members
Juliette Lewis - MTV forgot to air her on Season 4
Constantine Maroulis - Claimed he was punk'd by Ryan Cabrera, who staged a national public radio show offering him 100 million dollars to pose nude in Playgirl
Edward Norton - Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights
Grazielle Oganna - Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights. According to Norton, she will sue Kutcher if the prank is aired
Ryan Phillips - Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights
Pitbull - MTV forgot to air him on season 6
Simple Plan - They noticed the cameras
Alex Rodriguez - Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights, although he thought it was a good idea
David Spade
Tré Cool
Michael Vartan - Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights. Vartan's lawyers threatened to file suit against Kutcher if the prank was aired

Source... as well as the ever-faithful ohnoteydidnt LJ community.