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Jess Smith

Jess Smith is a journalist who's passion for writing spans all the way to when she was only 7-years-old and was making up news stories for her neighbors. Fast forward to age 22 and she has written for many publications including the EDM based, Elektro Magazine.

Willow Smith is rushing too fast to be in her 20's

Coachella partying and hanging with 20-year-olds can lead to bigger issues

13-year-old Willow Smith has gotten herself into some controversy when a picture surfaced of her lying on the bed with 20-year-old actor Moises Arias surfaced. The photo, which first appeared on Arias’ Tumblr page, shows a fully clothed Willow Smith lying in bed, while a shirtless Arias is sitting up and laughing.

The photo appears to have absolutely no sexual connotations to it, which just highlights how our society hyper-sexualizes everything in the media. However, it is understandable why people would be concerned that a 13-year-old is hanging out with much older people, especially in a Hollywood setting.

Just this month, Willow Smith was seen at Coachella Music Festival with Kendall and Kylie Jenner.  I love music festivals just as much as the next person, but anyone who has been to a music festival knows that they are rampant with drug use and drunk antics at every corner.  And that is just with the regular attendees. There is no telling what kind of drug use is going on in the VIP section of the festival. So why is there a 13 year old running around like she thinks she is 21?

Privileged kids of Hollywood celebrities don’t always have to suffer the unfortunate fate of the late Peaches Geldof, but if celebrity parents don’t nip it in the bud early than they may have a problem on their hands. I am not saying because Willow went to a music festival with a bunch of 18-20 year olds that she is going to be sticking a needle in her arm anytime soon, but exposure to the party life at a young age isn’t healthy.

Hollywood spawn are exposed to a much different lifestyle than normal kids. People seem to forget that actress Drew Barrymore was a regular at the disco drug haven Studio 54, by the age of eight. The starlet was smoking cigarettes by age nine, drinking by 11, smoking marijuana by 12 and was doing lines of cocaine by 12. With a rehab stint by 13 and later a suicide attempt, she proved that the dangers of Hollywood are real.

If you are a 13-year-old girl, you are at that age where fitting in is a life or death situation. If all of the older kids are doing it, why shouldn’t I? It just seems like the peer pressures with the children of celebrity is exponentially increased because of the constant exposure to partying.

Between the picture and the Coachella partying, little Willow should slow it down a little bit and enjoy being a kid because when you are older those are some of the best memories that you will have.

In a twist of irony Donald Sterling is banned from the NBA

Commissioner Adam Silver also fined him $2,500,000

 

Well now it looks like Donald Sterling won’t have to worry about black people at his games anymore, since he himself will NEVER be attending another game again.

After TMZ released audio of the LA Clippers owner telling his mistress that he did not want her to bring black people to his games amongst some other off color remarks, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has decided to ban Donald Sterling from the team for life, as well as fine him $2.5 million, which is the highest allowed in the NBA.  The money that Sterling is fined will be donated to charities and anti-discrimination and tolerance campaigns.

Silver also noted that he is going to do everything in his power to have The Clippers taken from Donald Sterling in light of the distasteful comments he made. “The views expressed by Donald Sterling are extremely offensive and harmful,” Silver said. “We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling’s views. They simply have no place in the N.B.A.”

Magic Johnson was one of the first ones to react to the Commissioner’s decision. He tweeted “Commissioner Silver showed great leadership in banning LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life.” He added, “ Former and current NBA players are very happy and satisfied with Commissioner Silver’s ruling.” Magic Johnson’s quick reaction is expected since he was personally mentioned in the recordings where Donald Sterling specifically mentioned that he was upset because V. Stiviano had posted a picture with him on her Instagram and was therefore “promoting” being associated with black people.

Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, also tweeted his support saying “I agree 100% with Commissioner Silvers findings and the actions taken against Donald Sterling.”

Probably one of the only supporters of Sterling is Donald Trump who said Sterling’s girlfriend was “the girlfriend from hell” and said on Fox & Friends “It’s terrible he got set up by a very bad girlfriend,” he said. “She was baiting him and she’s a terrible human being.”

Anyone who can defend a man who tells a woman that she is suppose to ignore her black heritage and be a “delicate or white Latina” really shouldn’t be allowed to go on TV, but that is what the FOX network is for.

Commissioner Adam Silver also confirmed that he had talked to Sterling and that he admitted that the voice on the recordings obtained by TMZ were him. TMZ also says that there are hundreds of hours of tapes that his mistress, V. Stiviano has that could have buried Donald Sterling into an even deeper hole.

One of the many questions that this controversy brings up is should what Sterling said in private be used against him in public? Is this a violation of freedom of speech? Adam Silver thinks that whether it was made in private or not is irrelevant and he should still be punished. “Whether or not these remarks were shared in private,” he said, “they are now public and they represent his views.

Do you think that this decision was too harsh, just right or not enough?

Peaches Geldof dies tragically at the age of 25

The british socialite leaves behind 2 young children

 

Peaches Geldof, daughter of Irish singer-songwriter Bob Geldof, was found dead on Monday, April 7 in Wrotham, Kent. Famous in her own right from her work in fashion and journalism, Peaches Geldof, was the young age of 25 at the time of this tragic event.

As the blogosphere lights up with accusations of a drug overdose due to Peaches’ young age and past, Kent police released a statement saying, “Police were called at 1:35 p.m. on 7 April 2014 to an address near Wrotham following reports of concern for the welfare of a woman,” they told Hollywoodlife.com. “A woman aged 25 was pronounced dead by South East Coast Ambulance Service. At this stage, the death is being treated as an unexplained and sudden death. Officers are working to establish the circumstances around the death.”

Her father, Bob Geldof, released a statement highlighting his hurt for the horrible situation. “Peaches has died. We are beyond pain,” her father said in a statement. “She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us. Writing ‘was’ destroys me afresh. What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again? How is this bearable?”

Unfortunately, tragedy is not a stranger within the world of the Geldofs. Geldof’s mother was British television presenter Paula Yates, who also passed tragically from a heroin overdose when Peaches was just 11 years old. Peaches younger sister, Tiger Lily was four years old and was found in the same room as her mother’s body on that fateful day.

Tiger Lily’s father, Michael Hutchence, also suffered an untimely death when he committed suicide by hanging three years before Yates’ overdose.  As years passed after these tragedies, the other sisters seemed to descend from the forefront of the industry, while peaches embraced the limelight with open arms.

Peaches was no stranger to the UK tabloids, becoming the UK’s Paris Hilton, with accusations of drugs and sex romps. In 2008, talks of a video featuring Peaches Geldof buying drugs began to brew when police caught her on tape buying drugs from Amy Winehouse’s dealer.  In the video she handed the man $280 and was told that the price of the deal was actually cost $380. Peaches responded by saying “I’m going to need Valium tomorrow after this.” She was then questioned by police, but never got arrested.

Peaches admitted to doing drugs in the past, but insisted that she had stopped.  She wrote in her column in Elle UK “I did experiment with drugs,” she wrote. “I did

Get drunk and go to parties, but I was never that wild. I could have been, I could have let myself spiral but all the time I remembered what happened to my mum.”

Peaches death will probably come hardest two her husband and two young sons who are just 11 months and 23 months old.  

American Horror Story 4th season theme revealed

Co-executive producer spilled the beans on a podcast

 

First it was a haunted house, then an asylum, then a coven and now a carnival? It looks like hit TV show, “American Horror Story” will explore the horror of a carnival for its fourth season. Rumors of a circus or carnival theme were brewing amongst fan forums, but there is finally some validity to that rumor after AHS writer and co-executive producer, Douglas Petrie appeared on the Nerdist Writers Panel Podcast and may have spilled the beans about the fourth season theme.

While on the podcast, Douglas Petrie was keeping his lips sealed about the subject until another guest on the podcast, Moira Kirkland, said, “Well, I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard carnival.”

A flustered Petrie responded, “Yes…that…was the…it does not have a title.” Ben Blacker, the podcast moderator asked “But, that’s the setting?” Petrie responded with “That’s the idea. That’s very roughly the idea.”

New additions to the cast have not been revealed, but we know that regulars Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson will be starring again. Ryan Murphy previously told the Hollywood Reporter that Jessica Lange has always wanted to play a “Marlene Dietrich” character and this season will explore that.

American Horror Story will be returning to FX for it’s fourth season in October. 

Comedic wunderkind Harold Ramis dies at age 69

Famous Chicagoan died from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis complications

 

Harold Ramis, who has proven to be a comedic wunderkind throughout decades of his classic work, died on Monday in Chicago. Harold Ramis wore multiple hats in the comedy industry, excelling in acting, directing and writing for cult comedies like Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Animal House and   CaddyShack.

The 69-year-old actor died from complications from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. Autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis is a very painful disease that causes the immune system to create inflamed blood vessels and sometimes cutting off blood flow entirely. 

Harold Ramis got his first big comedy gig when he was hired as Playboy’s reviewer and joke editor and was ultimately promoted as associate editor. Simultaneously, Ramis was also enrolled at Chicago’s famous Second City improvisational comedy group, which was the starting place of most Saturday Night Live’s cast throughout the year.

 It was at Second City that Ramis met John Belushi, who went on to work together on The National Lampoon’s Radio Hour.  It was this work with National Lampoon that would lead him to write the script for National Lampoon’s Animal House, which would send his career into the comedic stratosphere and also be the inspiration for every toga-themed frat party that any college student has ever attended.

Ramis went on to write scripts for some of the most famous comedic films in history like the blockbuster hit Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2, which he also starred in as the straight-laced Egon Spengler.

Ramis’ film Groundhog Day was noted by Ramis as his “masterpiece” and has been the subject of many religious discussions, even becoming a talking point in many Buddhist studies due to it’s apparent themes of rebirth. However, Ramis’ mentioned to The New York Times that he wasn’t a part of any organized religion. 

“Although I am wearing meditation beads on my wrist,” he explained. “But that’s because I’m on a Buddhist diet. They’re supposed to remind me not to eat, but actually get in the way when I am cutting my steak.”

Ramis leaves behind wife, Erica Mann Ramis, three children and two grandchildren.

Bonnaroo 2014 lineup includes Kanye West, Jack White and Phoenix

Kanye West went on a tirade against the festival six years ago

Bonnaroo 2014 is set to touchdown in Manchester, Tennessee from June 12-15. The full lineup was just announced and Kanye West, Elton John and Jack White are leading the pack as headliners. Note that this is the same Kanye West whose headlining set at Bonnaroo six years ago, left disappointed fans waiting for West to show up for an 8:45 p.m. set. West ended up hitting the stage at 4:45 a.m., which was a full 8 hours after his previously scheduled time.

This caused Kanye West to go on a full out caps lock tirade against Bonnaroo on his blog, which included the likes of, “WE WERE OBVIOUSLY DEALING WITH FUCKING IDIOTS WHO DIDN’T REALLY HAVE THE CAPACITY TO PUT ON THE SHOW PROPERLY,” Kanye passionately typed. “THEY TRIED TO GIVE ME A TIME SLOT WHERE IT WAS STILL LIGHT OUTSIDE…I HAVE A FUCKING LIGHT SHOW DUMB ASS, IT’S NOT CALLED GLOW IN THE DARK TOUR FOR NO REASON SQUID BRAINS!”

Well, said squid brains have since booked Kanye again, and fans can also expect to see the legendary Elton John performing a set. Wiz Khalifa, Skrillex, phoenix, Disclosure, Chromeo, The Glitch Mob, Washed Out and The Flaming Lips are also going to play to hundreds of thousands of excited music fans during those spectacular three days.

Check out the full lineup HERE and let us know who you are excited to see at Bonnaroo 2014!

Beetlejuice 2 is gaining more speed at becoming a sequel

Michael Keaton confirmed that Tim Burton is interested

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice..” It looks like the world uttered the last Beetlejuice because Beetlejuice 2 will definitely be in the works according to Michael Keaton.  The 62-year-old actor first starred as the undead, abrasive Bio-Exorcist ghost in 1988 when he paired up with director Tim Burton.

Talks of the twosome getting back together began earlier in the year, but now Keaton is adding even more fuel to the fire, by saying that Tim Burton is definitely interested in the idea. While sitting down with MTV News he delved into the blossoming sequel.

“I’ve emailed Tim a couple of times, talked to the writer a couple of times, but all really really preliminary stuff,” Keaton explained. “I always said that’s the one thing I’d like to do again, if I ever did anything again. But it kind of involved Tim to be involved some way or the another.”

It looks like Keaton got his wish.  “Now it looks like he is involved,” Keaton continued. “And without giving too much away we’ve talked to each other, and e-mailed each other, and if he’s in, it’s going to be hard not to be in.

Winona Ryder, who played the goth-angsty teen Lydia, had also hinted earlier in the year that she would return for the sequel if it happened.  “It’s not a remake,” Ryder said. “It’s 27 years later. And I have to say, I love Lydia so much.  She was such a huge part for me. I would be really interested in what she is doing 27 years later.”

With Beetlejuice’s undisputed cult following, fans are probably extremely excited that Burton is on board.  However, with so many sequels that failed to impress, it comes as no surprise that fans are reluctant. “This is a very precious movie to people. So there are a lot of people like ‘Don’t,” Ryder said.

Back in October, rumors of David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith (Dark Shadows, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire hunter) generating a script for Beetlejuice 2 began to come to light.

Now, we will have to wait and see if this truly going to happen.
 

"Gravity" and "American Hustle" lead 2014 Oscar nominations

Ellen Degeneres will host this year’s ceremony

The Oscar nominations are in! And they are just as predictable as expected, considering the Golden Globes is usually a dead giveaway on what the outcome of the Academy Awards will be. This year will be the 86th annual Academy Awards and hopefully it can refrain being a snooze fest with the charismatic Ellen Degeneres hosting this year’s festivities. On Thursday, the breathtakingly handsome, Chris Hemsworth and Cheryl Boone, the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences took to the podium to announce the nominees.

 

The nominations are headed by the space-defying “Gravity” and the cheeky “American Hustle”, which both are going in with 10 nominations each. “12 Years A Slave” comes in as a runner-up with 9 nominations.

 

Below is the list of the nominees in some of the major categories:

 

Best Picture:

“12 Years A Slave”

“The Wolf of Wall Street”

“Captain Phillips”

“Her”

“American Hustle”

“Gravity”

“Dallas Buyers Club”

“Nebraska”

“Philomena”

Best actor:
Bruce Dern — “Nebraska”
Chiwetel Ejiofor — “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey — “Dallas Buyers Club”
Leonardo DiCaprio — “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Christian Bale — “American Hustle”

Best actress :
Amy Adams — “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett — “Blue Jasmine”
Judi Dench — “Philomena”
Sandra Bullock — “Gravity”
Meryl Streep — “August: Osage County”

Best supporting actress
Jennifer Lawrence — “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o — “12 Years a Slave”
June Squibb — “Nebraska”
Julia Roberts — “August: Osage County”
Sally Hawkins — “Blue Jasmine”

Best original screenplay
“American Hustle” — David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer
“Blue Jasmine” — Woody Allen
“Her” — Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” — Bob Nelson
“Dallas Buyers Club” — Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack

Best animated feature
“The Wind Rises”
“Frozen”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Ernest & Celestine”
“The Croods”

Best foreign feature
“The Hunt” (Denmark)
“The Broken Circle Breakdown” (Belgium)
“The Great Beauty” (Italy)
“Omar” (Palestinian territories)
“The Missing Picture” (Cambodia)

The Academy Awards will air on ABC on March 2, starting at 7 p.m. ET. For a full list of nominees go to www.oscars.org.

Harvard evacuated during the peak of exam week because of bomb threats

Harvard University evacuated three buildings after an email warning of a bomb threat this morning

Three buildings at Harvard University have been evacuated after an e-mail received at the university this morning warned that explosives have been placed inside of four buildings on the campus. This comes during week of final exams for the Harvard undergraduate students.

Students were alerted by text messages at around 9 a.m. that advised everyone in the four effected buildings to evacuate the premises immediately.

After thorough investigation and no explosions reported or explosives found, law enforcement officials said that the threat seemed to be a hoax. On Harvard’s emergency website they said “ Out of an abundance of caution, the buildings have been evacuated while the report is being investigated. Harvard’s focus is on the safety of our students, faculty and staff.”

Harvard University then proceeded to evacuate three buildings, which were the Harvard Science Center, Sever Hall, Emerson Hall and a freshmen hall. Some of the week’s final exams that were held in some of these buildings were delayed or canceled. College officials say that they are working to reschedule the canceled exams.

At around 11 a.m., Cambridge Police notified the public saying that they reopened the roads around Harvard Square, which had been closed due to the threats.

At approximately 12:54 EST, Harvard’s emergency website updated saying “Thayer and Emerson Hall are cleared and students may return. Sever and Science Center are still closed.”

Then at 1:48 EST, the website said “Sever Hall and Harvard Yard are cleared and students may return. Science Center still closed.”

No other updates have been reported.

Disney childstar Dylan Sprouse tweets out nude photos in a sexting mistake

Star of the Suite Life of Zach and Cody has tweeted out own NSFW photos

Dylan Sprouse- one of those adorably mischievous twins from Disney show The Suite Life of Zach and Cody– has just had everyone’s number one sexting nightmare come true. It looks like he confused his Twitter app with his Snapchat app because some very revealing pictures of the former child star was posted to Twitter and quickly erased, but unlike most people who have committed this embarrassing offense, he owned up to the fiasco and even managed to laugh it off.

“Whoops, guess I’m not 14 and fat anymore,” Dylan Sprouse tweeted from his @dylansprouse Twitter handle. “I messed up…but I’d be a fool not to own up to it. Got to move past it I suppose.”

In a series of pictures that quickly went viral, the 21-year-old is seen in a pair of white underwear, trying to flex his “pecs” and eventually ditching the underwear and cupping his man bits in his hand. His twin brother Cole took the opportunity to joke with Dylan when he tweeted out “@dylansprouse cold in that bathroom, huh?”

Dylan Sprouse also went on his Tumblr to address his NSFW selfies by saying “Thanks for making me laugh through all of this…Now would probably be a bad time to add a “face” page.”

Dylan isn’t the only who has made this major mistake and tweeted sexts that weren’t meant for the entire internet to see. Alison Pill, Shiri Appleby, Hayley Williams and Ashley Greene are just some celebrities that have done this. Check out the pictures here.