the gossip factory

shirley ann manson

SHIRLEY Manson has admitted her debut solo album has been put on hold after her record label described her music as "noir".

The Scots singer played her new material to bigwigs at Warner Bros records but says she has come to an "impasse" with the label, because she has "no interest in making silly pop music", or wearing "a silly sexy outfit".

It was hoped the former Garbage singer would release her new material this year but she is adamant her new tracks will represent her as an individual and not as a "corporate template".

She said: "I've been working on solo material but I don't actually have anything coming out, although I'm working on it. Unfortunately, I'm at a bit of an impasse with my record label.

"I played some of the stuff to them not long ago and they described it as being very noir. At the time, I took the comment as being a huge compliment. That they liked the intensity of my material. But then I realised it wasn't intended as a compliment.

"But I'm 41 - I'm a woman not a kid. I have no interest in making silly pop music and I don't want to wear a silly sexy outfit and sell myself short.

"I'm sure it will all get sorted out in the end. But I do think record companies, in general, have different ideas about how they promote women.

"In the end, it is down to each and every woman to fight to be treated as an individual. I just want to be who I am."

The Edinburgh-born star is a big fan of the new band of feisty female artists.

"I'm obsessed by Amy Winehouse, as is the entire world," she said.

"She is a bona-fide rock star to me - an incredible iconic figure and I find her exciting. But I do worry that she is going to self-destruct."

Last night, a spokeswoman for Warner Bros Records refused to comment.

Sources: The Daily Record thanks to Ilona from the forum for the information.

• from the jokesters at cnn. new baby nearly the same size as mom. uhhh, no she's not.
• fun fact of the day. hey kids, lets learn about poison! ricin, 'a poison that can be made from waste left over after processing castor beans,' was found in a vial in a 'extended stay' hotel room in vegas with a bunch of castor beans. apparently the next guest that stayed in the room came across it while putting his things away for his extended stay. more fun facts on ricin:
  

"The toxin can come in the form of a mist or pellet and can be dissolved in water or weak acid, according to the CDC. The agency also said the toxin works by getting inside the cells of a person's body and preventing the cells from making the proteins they need. As little as 500 micrograms -- an amount the size of the head of a pin -- can kill an adult. Ricin has limited medical uses -- it can be used to kill cancer cells and bone marrow transplants."

The chemical is linked to extremeists and terrorists. "On September 7, 1978 the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was shot in the leg in public on Waterloo Bridge in the middle of London by a man using a weapon built into an umbrella. The weapon embedded a small pellet in Markov's leg which contained ricin. Markov died four days later." fucking awesome. who the hell wouldn't want an umbrella gun?  Ricin was last used in a terrorist scare in February of 2004 in the mail room of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington by Colonel Mustard. So all you bitches in vegas beware, dont drink the water, inhale anything white or touch anything dirty!

• prince harry had been serving in Afghanistan since december. now that everyone knows, he has to go back home to palace.
  

• jesus was just a hallucination.
• mccain won the republican nomination, hillary won texas and ohio, obama won something, and no one knows who will be the democratic nominee. so in short: nothings changed.
  
• a gay teen was shot to death in florida, a 14 y/o shot a kid in the back of head in class because he was gay. and yet hate crimes legislation has gotten nowhere.
• bruce willis likes pot. surprise surprise, who doesnt?
• patrick swayze had five weeks to live, and the rumor spread like wildfire over the internets, people love them their swayze. thankfully, and truthfully, hes doing well and his pancreas should be dancing dirty again in no time.

have a good weekend!

Anna Nicole Smith

• surprise, surprise: anorexic boys are the new anorexic girls.
• gothamist interviews richard foreman about his new show, Deep Trance. "...I must admit that my spiritual concerns have to do with various authors who pose the question about whether we are essentially dead to the real life that is going on. Are we living a pretend life of surfaces? Are we the living dead and real life is elsewhere, where we think death resides?" interesting.
• britney checks into the loony bin, checks out, and is still crazy.
• eva checks out of rehab, kirsten checks in, amy's moving out of rehab and into the osbournes. that just might be what amy needs, i mean, has she not she met daddy O before? just seeing how retarded he is now should get anyone off of drugs.
  
• Michael Eisner claims the writers strike is over. "A deal has been made, and they'll be back to work very soon," Eisner said, adding, "I know a deal's been made. I know it's over." Its about fucking time, bring me back my SNL and while you're at it ressurect gilmore girls as well.
  
• uh, since when does mike albo write about fashion for the nyt? kinda funny, though his britney/paris/whatever conglomerate is, as tricia puts it, genius.
• today is the one year ANNAversary of Miss Smith's death. Super sad, we still totally miss you anna. Your show on E! was just about the best damn reality show EVER! and of course your gay husband is still trying to take advantage of you. WE MISS YOU!

and last but not least here is an amazing video of a rare 16 foot shark, shot off the coast of molokai in hawaii (from towleroad). have a good weekend y'all and stay out of trouble!

I'm just gonna repost this from Modern Art Notes, more or less cause I'm too shocked/angry to have anything original/smart to say on the matter, also cause those two glasses of champagne I had at the Duckie Brown show two hours ago have killed any sort of work ethic that I could possibly have on this totally dreary friday. gotta love fashion week.

theyre gonna drill the jetty for oil yall. sad. please do something.

The Spiral Jetty

Spiral Jetty threatened by energy development

UPDATE: 1/31: Comment period extended.

Nancy Holt, Robert Smithson's widow, recently sent an email out detailing specific threats to Smithson's masterpiece, Spiral Jetty. Click below to read it -- and please take action before 7 pm ET Wednesday. yall have till the 13th of February now.

ding ding ding. the match is over ladies and gentleman... democratic candidate john edwards, is dropping out of the presidential primary race, right now, as i type. guess he figured he'd never win over the potential first woman or first african american president. i dont need to tell you, straight white men are no fun, especially politicians. i guess giuliani figured that out too. so now its down to barack and hillary (or hillbama ® as I will now call them) for the dems. i dont really understand what this competition is about, cause they are just toootally going to just run together anyway. right? hillbama to the rescue!

hillary obama duke it out

heath ledger

i cant believe this. this has to be just about one of the worst weeks ever. heath ledger was found dead this afternoon in his soho apartment on broome street. there were 'pills strewn all about him,' so its apparently another drug overdose / suicide. i cant believe it. someone needs to stop giving all these actors so many drugs. two in one week, man this is so fucked up. heath had just wrapped up filming batman, where he played the joker and is supposed to be awesome in it. this is so sad, he was a great actor and had a whole very promising career ahead of him.  our thoughts go out to his family, michelle and his 2 year old daughter matilda.

heres his bio from wikipedia:

Ledger was born in Perth, Western Australia, the son of Sally Ledger Bell (née Ramshaw),a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a race car driver and mining engineer.Ledger's mother is descended from the Clan Campbell of Scotland and his father comes from a family well-known in Perth. The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust was named after his great-grandfather. Ledger attended Marys Mount Primary School, in Gooseberry Hill, and later Guildford Grammar School and its preparatory school of the same name.

At sixteen, Ledger sat for early graduation exams, and left school to pursue an acting career with girlfriend Jenna Sorrell. With his best friend, Trevor DiCarlo, Ledger made the cross-country drive to Sydney. He returned to Perth for the TV series Sweat (1996), in which he played a gay cyclist.

In 1996, prior to his film debut in the 1997 Australian movie Blackrock, Heath Ledger was involved in the short lived Fox Broadcasting Company fantasy-drama Roar. In 1999, Ledger starred in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You and also had the lead role in the acclaimed Australian movie Two Hands, directed by Gregor Jordan.

He starred in The Patriot, Monster's Ball, A Knight's Tale, Ned Kelly, The Order, and The Brothers Grimm. In 2001, he won a ShoWest Award for the Male Star of Tomorrow based on his performance in The Patriot, and worldwide release of A Knight's Tale. In 2003, he was named one of Australian GQ's Men of the Year for acting.

In 2005, Ledger received a "Best Actor in a Drama" Golden Globe nomination for his acclaimed performance in Brokeback Mountain, in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. In the New York Times review of the film, critic Stephen Holden wrote:

"Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make this anguished love story physically palpable. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn."

Ledger as The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight.

In another review in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers wrote:

"Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost."

Ledger received "Best Actor of 2005" awards for Brokeback Mountain from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. In the same year, Ledger played a fictionalized version of Giacomo Casanova in Casanova. The film, a romantic comedy which co-starred Sienna Miller, drew mixed reviews from critics and failed to find a significant audience among general moviegoers, though it fared better on DVD.

In 2006, Ledger was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2007, he was one of six actors to portray different sides of singer Bob Dylan in the film I'm Not There.

On July 21, 2006, Ledger was officially confirmed to play iconic comic book villain The Joker in The Dark Knight, the sequel to the 2005 film Batman Begins, opposite fellow I'm Not There star Christian Bale. The film is set to debut on July 18, 2008.

He was filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at the time of his death.