You learn something new every day!

In his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore made the decision to not use actual footage of collapsing ice shelves in Antartica, but instead to use special-effects shots created for the movie The Day After Tomorrow:

Al Gore’s “traveling global warming show,” the award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” includes a long flyover shot of majestic Antarctic ice shelves. But this shot was first seen in the 2004 blockbuster “The Day After Tomorrow.” Sculpted from Styrofoam and later scanned into a computer, the ice shelf “flyover” looks real.

Karen Goulekas, the special effects supervisor for “The Day After Tomorrow” said the shot is a digital image. She was glad Al Gore used it in the documentary since “It is one hell of a shot.” Both movies use the shot to convincingly portray global warming, but it is left to the audience to decide if this created image can both entertain and educate us about our changing planet.

Wait, what was that again?  Styrofoam?

Well, it’s fake but accurate, you might say. “Just because Big Al manipulated my emotions with spectacular Hollywood fakery doesn’t mean we’re not ALL GONNA DIE FROM GLOBAL WARMING!!!” If you really believe that, there’s no point in arguing with you. But you’ll have to forgive me for laughing at the look on your face when you find out what the effects guys used to make all those “glaciers”:

Sculpted from Styrofoam and later scanned into a computer, the ice shelf “flyover” looks real.

That’s right, Styrofoam! You know, the evil, evil stuff that’s being banned all over the place because it’s destroying the environment. Wonder what the studio did with it when they were done with their dumb movie? Five hundred years from now, will the last few survivors of the human race stumble upon those beautifully sculpted glaciers, completely intact, in some forgotten landfill?

Uhm…mmmmkay.  I ain’t sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

hattip Deceiver

Jay-Z and Beyonce have been dating for six years. They are essentially scandal free, relatively uninteresting (except Beyonce’s deplorable taste in fashion) and have been threatening to get married for the last two years. At some point, the media says “Ehh, quite crying wolf.”

What am I talking about you ask? Good question. I stumbled upon an article on Ben Widdecombe’s Gatecrasher (NYDN) where he asks: Were mags biased against Beyonce and Jay-Z?

As someone who covers celeb gossip (well, sometimes anyways) my first reaction was: no. When it comes to celebrities at the levels of Jay-Z and Beyonce (A-Listers for sure) race isn’t the issue. When all things are essentially equal, the only difference in any moderately educated and cultured person’s view is socio-economic, not race. From my perspective, race plays no part in my judgment of an individual, but a person’s values and how this effects their world view absolutely does, and sadly this is often predicated on their socio-economic standings. But this isn’t the point of the story.

Ben Widdiecomb’s article:

Are the celebrity media racist?

A top tabloid editor tells me that Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s wedding was played down by the weeklies because “African-Americans don’t sell covers.”

Of the big five celebrity glossies out midweek, only Us Weekly gave Beyoncé the top spot on the cover. Other magazines gave her second billing to the likes of Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Aniston.

“None of the magazines landed an exclusive on wedding pictures, which would have made the story bigger,” said one tabloid insider, justifying why Beyoncé was relegated to a small cover box on his magazine.

But even wedding photos make less money for black stars, says another source. “Eva Longoria can get $1 million for wedding photos, but without the expectation of cover sales, Beyoncé might have gotten as little as $250,000 if she had sold hers,” says a top editor.

Magazine publisher and black gossip pioneer Flo Anthony responds: “That sounds to me a very racist statement. Beyoncé is one of the biggest stars in the world, much bigger than Eva Longoria.”

Anthony publishes Black Noir for women, as well as Toy Box, a black parenting magazine with a celebrity focus. She said: “It is hard for African-Americans in magazines. Only a few people, like Will Smith and Halle Berry, are mainstream. Editors really still think that only blond hair and blue eyes sell magazines.”

As another tabloid source says: “We have a saying, ‘Only Oprah.’ Oprah is the only black celebrity big enough to put on our cover.”

But Us Weekly editor in chief Janice Min tells me: “Janet Jackson has been on our cover twice, for two of our best-selling issues we’ve ever had.”

Min is also the only non-Caucasian to helm a top celebrity magazine. She acknowledges there is a perception in her industry that black stars don’t sell covers, but adds: “Typically, you will hear that discussion among a group of all-white editors.”

Well, unless celebrity magazine editors represent an entirely different demographic than mainstream America, this sounds like a tempest in a teapot. Real racism exists, there is no doubt, and it is UGLY and reprehensible, but when you get to the level of celebritydom of Jay-Z and Beyonce, it’s just not applicable.

Admittedly, what may have been a factor in the lack of value for putting Jay-Z and Beyonce’s wedding on magazine covers, may have more to do with the celeb magazine consumer demographics as a whole. Flyover country (middle-America) who make up the majority of celeb magazine’s market share, are not your average listeners of rap or even R&B, which is the music Jay-Z and Beyonce predominately make. Especially Jay-Z, white kids may be buying this music, but they don’t much care about who Jay-Z does or doesn’t marry. Again, no one who buys celeb magazines care much about this “non” story.

And again, it’s not like they invited the media. They made several efforts to keep the media out.

When mainstream media starts making racist accusations where they don’t exist, it takes away from the real dangers of racism, which directly effect the poorest segments of society, not the rich A-Listers. When you boil it down, it just wasn’t breaking news - merely a foregone conclusion minus the pretty pictures.

Us Magazine is quoting a source as saying that Angelina Jolie gave her one-time co-star and reported former flame, Oliver Martinez a lapdance while the two were out together for an afterparty to celebrate her directorial debut in the documentary, A Place In Time.

Martinez participated in the film with Jolie and previously on the movie Taking Lives - when the two are said to have had a fling before Jolie hooked up with current partner of two years Brad Pitt.

From the Us Magazine story titled, Angelina Gives Ex Lapdance While Brad Babysits:

After an official bash at Hotel Gansevoort – where the star drank wine and, a source tells Us, was “really outgoing and very chatty” – Jolie headed to a small VIP afterparty at nearby eatery Gin Lane. Encouraged by a group of drummers, the actress eventually began waving her arms around. But it wasn’t until Jolie started dancing for Martinez that things got really wild.

“She turned to him on the banquette and was shaking it in front of him. She was giving him a lap dance, ” another reveler tells Us. “She was looking over her shoulder, tossing a glance his way.” As another partygoer describes it, “It was very, very flirty.” “When she is with someone she knows, she might appear to be flirtatious, but it’s just affection.”

Where was boyfriend Brad Pitt? Should he be worried about the couple’s recent outing? When are Brad and Angie going to see each other next? For more details on Angelina’s recent flirtation and how it will affect her relationship with Brad, check out the current issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands this week.

I would LOVE to believe this story. Why? Because I have made it no secret that I think Angelina is some kind of man-eating she-devil with the moral fiber of an ethnic-cleansing third-world-leader. This story is like low-hanging fruit, ripe for my brutal picking.

But after dealing with Us Magazine recently and unraveling a blatant fabrication that they refused to acknowledge, their mode of operation hast has become abundantly clear to me. Us Magazine, like some mainstream media sources, have ZERO interest in the facts and are in the business of selling magazines even if it destroys lives.

Do I suffer from some sort of crippling naivete? Is it so wrong for me to want to find safe harbor in the MSM — the last vestige of credibility — in a field that lives and breathe untruths and misrepresentations. I have genuinely formed opinions about people I don’t know based on news items I have taken at face value. Some people will brush off my incredulity as silly. Many times I have heard “Well, those are tabloid rags, you don’t really believe what they write do you?” Yes, in fact I do. I don’t read the OBVIOUS sources full of outrageous claims. I assume(d) that a magazine like Us is believable. I assume they fact-check. I assume they know what libel is.

Yes, I know I am screaming into a vacuum of non-interest. Whatever, I hope this one’s true, because I would love to believe that Angie Jolie is a dirty two-timing whore. But really, who gives a crap. It’s a headline worth repeating whether it’s true or not.

Janet Gabriel knows this story was false. Why? Because she was there on stage with Paris when she declined. Not because she can’t sing, but because she didn’t know the song. No shame in that is there?

I wrote about this over the weekend and didn’t want to go too far with the story until I heard back from Janet Gabriel, the woman who stated she was on stage with Paris Hilton at the Club 3121 for the Prince concert in Las Vegas, April 20.

I have heard back from her and she has offered verifiable proof that not only was she there, but the story that made headlines last week about Prince inviting Paris Hilton on stage just to humiliate her were false. According to Ms. Gabriel, members of the audience were invited on stage which included Paris Hilton and Ms. Gabriel. The chosen song was “Play That Funky Music” (Wild Cherry had the hit btw) and the reason Paris didn’t sing was she didn’t know the words. A perfectly reasonable reason to decline. This doesn’t mean that Paris Hilton can sing live, but it doesn’t mean she can’t either.

I contacted Us Magazine for a comment on this story and was referred to a Mark Neschis. After asking for my credentials he stated he would call me back. I waited for about an hour and a half. I then called him back asking if Us wanted to give their side of the story. His response, “I don’t know who are,” “You haven’t give me enough time,” and “Why are you being belligerent?” To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t belligerent, but I was persistent. I tried to offer him more time, but he cut me off with, “You want a statement from Us, the statement is “No comment.”

No word on whether they plan to print a retraction of their story.

I have contacted Paris Hilton’s representation at her company Paris Hilton Entertainment, and Endeavor Agency (her talent agency) in an effort to get in contact with Elliot Mintz, Paris’ spokesperson. I was given her PR assistant email - I am waiting to hear back from them.

The story — though hardly a matter of national security — was picked up and covered by just about every celeb site out there, as well as mainstream media, including MSNBC, Blender and The Boston Globe. By the time I gave up counting the links, it was well over 100.

As I stated in my previous post, most of us found this story too good to pass up. Clearly, so did Us Magazine who originally printed it, both in their May 7th issue and on their website. The story, in their “HOT STUFF!” section is aptly titled: Paris Hilton, DISSED BY PRINCE!

Surely they new that would be a great story to cover - Paris is the celeb we love to trash. She often makes it easy with her flamboyant and unabashed nature. I am no angel in that regard, I have posted many nasty and unpleasant things with great relish on this site about Paris Hilton. But I, like most online sites, get my celeb news from the mainstream media. Their tone and their coverage set the stage for who we love and who we love to hate.

The story in Us just says “A source tells Hot Stuff that Hilton, 26, was in the audience at the Purple One’s April 20 Club 3121 gig at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas when he invited her to join him.” And that’s where the truth ends.

Here’s what soul singer Janet Gabriel, had to say about that night at the club:

“Unfortunately, I did not meet Paris Hilton anywhere apart from on Princes stage. We were mere inches apart, facing each other for a few seconds with Prince[’s] backing singer between us while I sung the first bar of the song with the mic in Shelby’s hand. She [Paris] actually appeared relieved that I got her off the hook of singing a song she didn’t know the words to and she smiled shyly, yet appreciatively at me then I turned towards Prince, then the audience to finish the song. She did not storm off in anger at all and all that stuff about Prince attempting to humiliate her was not true at all. His shows in Vegas are all about audience participation and he was only trying to recognize her presence. I heard he did the same when Gnarls Barkley singer CeLo attended a previous gig in Vegas.

Given, Paris has made a few mistakes in the past, and I do admire her ability to keep going on despite all the negative publicity for which she may be partially responsible, but it really doesn’t give anybody any excuse to keep using every opportunity to pull the poor lady down and keep her her a laughing stock. Hence I appreciate your efforts to get US Magazine to admit their mistake.”

Ms. Gabriel, a software developer, has invested all her money and efforts into a music career as a soul/jazz singer with her backing band the Neophonics. Despite being in the midst of getting ready to leave her native UK to go on tour in Nigeria, she said she couldn’t let the story stand unchallenged. She left comments on Us’ website, Glosslip and here.

As someone at the beginning of their journey into building a name for themselves as an artist, she understands all too well how the media can make or break you. I thank her for setting the record straight. Maybe Paris will too.