Celebrity Schadenfreude

Oogieloves cost $60 million to make and market! It's from the person who brought Thomas the Tank Engine and The Teletubbies to America so I guess that's how he got so much money for Oogieloves. I had never heard of it until it flopped but this is epic fail is really enjoyable to follow. Kenn Viselman, the creator, seems well-intentioned but a wee bit delusional:

To skeptics, Viselman points out that many people didn't believe in the Teletubbies at first either. "There are always going to be naysayers," he said. "It's just one of those things you deal with as a pioneer."

In the span of 15 minutes at lunch, he boasted that he was responsible for $750 million in revenue for the makers of Thomas the Tank Engine and seemed to imply that the filmmakers behind the hit Hollywood movie "The Bucket List" stole the idea from him.

Viselman added that the production of a sequel was moving ahead next month and that he still had high hopes for home-video and merchandising revenue.

He maintained that there is a genuine need for entertainment that is joyful and simple, and that he still felt proud of the "Oogieloves."

"We did something that had never been done before," he said. "We took on the studios at their own game."

He's the first to take on a movie studio in the 100+ year history of Hollywood! He's a pioneer! Hollywood steals ideas from him! And you thought Michael Bay had an ego...

This could just as easily go in Celebrities And The Law, but let's face it, we can all take some pleasure in this one.

So Girls Gone Wild founder/alleged rapist/douchebag of the universe Joe Francis loudly proclaimed that casino mogul Steve Wynn was attempting to kill him over a $2 million gambling debt. Wynn, insulted by the idea that someone would claim that he'd kill someone over what amounts to caddy tips over the course of a month for him, immediately sued for slander.

Yesterday, the verdict came in. Wynn, who was asking for $12 million in damages, was instead awarded $20 million.

And today the jury came in with another $20 million.

I haven't been this happy since he was caught trying to bribe guards to smuggle drugs to him in jail.

Hah hah! I do believe that is what happens when the bad karma catches up.

It isn't a conviction for rape, but bankrupting him is better than nothing.

Yeah, I was going to say, the only thing that could possibly make this sweeter is if Wynn donated the money to RAINN.

Oh, this is beautiful! Couldn't have happened to a better person.

Assuming he actually get the settlement, I'd hope Wynn would donate it ANYWHERE.

I saw this morning that Wynn is planning to donate anything that surpasses his lawyer's fees to a domestic violence charity.

Yay!!! This really made my day. I do hope that he donates it all, after the fees.

If I ever make it to Vegas or Atlanctic City I will gamble at Wynn's casino out of gratitude.

I think my favorite thing of this whole situation (aside from the DV charity donation, which is extremely worthy and also wonderfully pointed) was when Joe Francis tried to wrangle Quincy Jones into it by claiming that he was in on the plot to murder him. I was like, yes, keep this going so you alienate all of the entertainment industry.

katesti wrote:I saw this morning that Wynn is planning to donate anything that surpasses his lawyer's fees to a domestic violence charity.

If he does this, I'll have a favorite living casino mogul for the first time ever.

New one: Dane Cook's sitcom "Next Caller" canceled before it even airs.

The pilot starred Dane Cook as a misogynistic satellite radio DJ, with Collette Wolfe playing his co-host, a feminist NPR commentator.

And it sounded like such a winner, too.

This should not make me as happy as it does!

biakbiak wrote:This should not make me as happy as it does!

Oh yes it should.

I feel a little bad about that because the show was co-created by Stephen Falk - stee from TWoP - and I like seeing people I've followed on the internet have success. That said: the premise sounded sketchy and Dane Cook is the WORST, so better luck next time, stee.

I feel bad for the writers because a lot of them are very talented, but a Dane Cook vehicle probably wasn't going to be the best showcase for their work.

ActonBell wrote:I feel bad for the writers because a lot of them are very talented, but a Dane Cook vehicle probably wasn't going to be the best showcase for their work.

Too bad, since they'll likely be seeing it in his standup act without permission or attribution.

Girls Gone Wild files for bankruptcy.

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, not moral bankruptcy.

They filed for moral bankruptcy a long, long time ago.

Hard to make a cent off of selling DVDs of women too drunk to make an informed decision in the age of the webcam, when there are so many women too drunk to make an informed decision willing to do so from the privacy of their own homes without even a t-shirt in exchange.

Eris Rising wrote:Hard to make a cent off of selling DVDs of women too drunk to make an informed decision in the age of the webcam, when there are so many women too drunk to make an informed decision willing to do so from the privacy of their own homes without even a t-shirt in exchange.

Well, at least if they're at home there's less chance of Joe Francis raping them.

Miss Moneypenny wrote:

Eris Rising wrote:Hard to make a cent off of selling DVDs of women too drunk to make an informed decision in the age of the webcam, when there are so many women too drunk to make an informed decision willing to do so from the privacy of their own homes without even a t-shirt in exchange.

Well, at least if they're at home there's less chance of Joe Francis raping them.

I don't know. This is Joe Francis, after all. He'll find a way.

I'm pretty sure GGW has a party bus that would work as a rape van.

We've been waiting for this day through several incarnations of this forum.

.Joe Francis convicted of assault and false imprisonment.

Sounds like the friends of the girl were the heroes, and took their "No second location" shit seriously.

I'm just so honored to have had the opportunity to bring this to all of you.