celebrity

An interview with actor and solar advocate Edward Norton

Edward Norton. Photo: WGBH. The world has known Edward Norton as a neo-Nazi skinhead, a lusty priest, a warbling romantic, Larry Flynt’s attorney, and Nelson Rockefeller. There is also a far less publicized role that Norton plays every day: a dyed-in-the-wool eco-devotee on the front lines of the renewable-energy movement. In 2003, Norton teamed up […]

Two articles on Slate, one substantive, one funny — read the funny one.

Slate is running a piece by Paul Sabin on the Death Stuff. There's not much new there, but it links to us, so I'm linkin' back.

Much juicier is their hilarious article up about the celeb/green/media stuff we covered here, particularly Cameron Diaz's Trippin'. I must say, mocking celebrities is cheap and easy and kind of pointless.

But it's still pretty fun:

Hollywood infuses green movement with star power

All signs on Capitol Hill point to a royally depressing Earth Day 2005 (that would be next Friday): inertia on global warming, revival of the industry-friendly energy bill, a widely reviled plan to address mercury pollution, the looming prospect of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And though it’s the 35th anniversary of the […]

Semi? He thought they said Demi

Two months ago, we mocked Ashton Kutcher for buying a behemoth, 10-mile-per-gallon (on a good day) International CXT, or commercial extreme truck.

Now, Kutcher's mocking himself. "My semi? It's the most idiotic thing I've ever purchased," he's quoted as saying in, ahem, In Touch Weekly. (I was flipping through it in line at the co-op, OK?)

ContactMusic.com reports that he may auction the beast off.

"It's a weird boy's dream," he said by way of explaining his stupidity. "Growing up in Iowa, all these kids in my school who had money would go out and buy these Toyota pickup trucks and put these huge wheels on them, and I would go, 'Oh man, I've got to have one of those.'

"So when I saw this truck in the newspaper, I knew I had to have it ... Then I got it, and I was like, 'Son of a bitch, I should have looked at it first.' I didn't realize it was that big."

Be Cool — eventually

I saw Be Cool last night. It's the sequel to Get Shorty, and as you would expect, it's not nearly as good. But there are enough spirited, funny moments -- mainly involving bit characters played by The Rock and Andre 3000 -- to make it worth the price of admission. Barely.

One of the running jokes in Get Shorty was that Chili Palmer (apparently the only character John Travolta plays well) got stuck with a minivan. After he becomes a successful movie producer, and thus an arbiter of cool, everyone in Hollywood starts driving minivans.

The jokes is basically repeated in Be Cool, except this time he gets stuck with a Honda Insight (guess Honda outbid Toyota for product placement).

It's obvious why the minivan is funny -- it's associated with soccer moms and suburban squares. But it's worth pondering why the hybrid is funny.

Lights, camera, activism

Here's some greenish "news" filtering through all the Million-Dollar Oscar hype: buncha stars are going to show up in Priuses instead of limos. And since they'll be using chauffeurs, it probably even counts as carpooling!

For the third year running, hybrid-minded actors -- including Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio, and, of course, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins -- are taking part in "Red Carpet, Green Cars" to raise funds for Global Green U.S.A. As a token of thanks, Greenfeet will provide them with eco-goodies including hemp napkins, organic wine, and ... disposable bamboo plates. Which sound super sustainable.

Anyway. The whole event, says Greenfeet founder and president Valerie Reddemann, will "show that leaving softer, greener footprints on the earth is hip and downright cool." O, how I wish she were downright right.

Ain’t it funny how time slips away

We are late on this one -- later than J Lo's apology for sucking, later than the U.S. signing on to Kyoto -- but just in case you missed it: Willie Nelson is getting into the biodiesel business! The iconic singer and three partners have formed "Willie Nelson's Biodiesel," and they're marketing "BioWillie" (a name that somehow conjures former President Clinton, but never mind) to truck stops across the country.

Lots of bloggers have gushed about this already. But here's my favorite part: "I got on the computer and punched in biodiesel and found out this could be the future," Nelson told MSNBC. Willie Googles!

That doesn't make me think of President Clinton at all.

A review of the distorted plot and politics in Michael Crichton’s State of Fear

Michael Crichton's State of Fear is an attempt to meld serious politico-scientific critique with a modern techno-thriller. It's an ambitious undertaking, but to paraphrase Thomas Edison, success is 1 percent ambition and 99 percent not writing an awful book. Crichton's novel, alas, is unilluminating as a critique and unsatisfying as a thriller.

Free Winona! (From enviro prejudice!)

It's not like the woman hasn't paid her dues. Winona Ryder did 480 hours of community service to atone for that little shoplifting mishap (the $7,600 worth of Saks duds she lifted in 2001 -- oopsy!), and still the actress endures discrimination -- now from enviros, of all people.

Ryder says she wanted to sign a petition calling on Bush to get behind the Kyoto Protocol but was turned away because of her criminal record. No word on which green group did the spurning -- last we heard, enviros weren't rebuffing any would-be signers from their go-nowhere petitions, let alone celebs, even of the has-been variety.  

Come make your voice heard on the virtual pages of Gristmill, Winona. We won't turn you away!