Pet Rock: The Pop Culture Blog

(Warner Bros. photo)

When I first saw the trailer for "The Hangover" in March, I thought to myself "Oh look, a buddy comedy set in Las Vegas? I'm sure the makers of this movie had their Vegas stereotype checklist handy when they made this." Give or take a word.

Then I actually saw the movie. Genius. Pure and unadulterated genius. I'll even go so far as to say this: It was better than "Old School."

Ten minutes into the movie, I knew "The Hangover" would receive Pet Rock's coveted "See in Theaters" status.

It's laugh-out-loud funny, and not in that "I'm on Facebook chat and I don't know what to write so I just write 'LOL'" type of way. Let's put it this way: If you were alone in a room, with nothing but a couch and a screen to see the movie on, you'd be laughing. Think about it. When you watch something alone, how many times do you really laugh out loud? Answer that one honestly.

"The Hangover" -- starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and still smokin' hot Heather Graham -- moves quickly through its 96 minutes. No lulls. Just when you think it's about to take a dip, an outrageous scene arrives on cue. It's the best comedy in terms of movement I've seen since "My Cousin Vinny." Trust me, when "The Hangover" arrives on cable television in the next year, no matter what point you pick it up at, you will have to keep watching.

Does it touch on quite a few Las Vegas stereotypes? Yes. Do you see them played out on screen? For the most part, no. That's the beauty of this movie. Plus, it proves to Hollywood that people other than Judd Apatow can make funny movies. So, thank you director Todd Phillips and writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. And when you meet Mr. Chow on screen, you'll be thanking them, too.

So, stop reading this, find showtimes and tickets near you, turn off your computer, tell your boss you're going to see "The Hangover" and then go see it.

Watch the trailer below if you wish. I promise those scenes aren't even close to being the funniest ones.

- La Monica

(Getty Images, left; Bret Michaels Entertainment, right)

Brother what a night it really was.

By now, we all know what happened to Bret Michaels at the Tony Awards. And we all heard that he's got a broken nose and a busted lip.

On Friday afternoon, just in time for weekend conversating and Googling at the bar and beach, Bret Michaels Entertainment released post-accident photos. They look like insurance claim photos, but whatever. We're guessing it wasn't all that enjoyable of an evening for the "Rock of Love" star.

“In hindsight, there is no doubt I got my bell rung,” Michaels wrote on his Web site. “Unfortunately it has been posted and perhaps funny to watch, but I can assure you it has been painful to experience.”

He added that, in his dazed state, he recalled “staring at what seemed to be Shrek, a talking goat head and several monkey-like creatures.”

Continue reading "Bret Michaels post-Tony Awards photos" »

Poor Bret Michaels. First, he can't find love on "Rock of Love." Then he does a second season and still can't find the right girl. Now he's on a tour bus looking for that elusive love.

Then, this past weekend at the Tony Awards, he broke his nose when he turned around and got nailed in the face by the stage equipment that was closing behind him.

As if that wasn't enough humiliation, along comes Bret Michaels getting played off by Keyboard Cat. Oh the humanity!

One-hour episodes of "Entourage." Justin Timberlake as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live." Julia Roberts as a weekly guest on "The Late Show with David Letterman."

These are three things in television that we want, or at least think we want.

We want them because they never disappoint us. It's just good, old-fashioned comedic television. Roberts was on Letterman last night for three segments, and they were all enjoyable. Every time Roberts is on Letterman, they swoon over each other, and every time, we're enticed by their relationship on the show.

(AP Photo)

According to TMZ.com, Britney Spears gave us all a little more on the set of her July 2007 video for "Gimme More."

It appears one of those skimpy outfits was just a bit too skimpy, and oopsies, baby hit us two more times.

Surely, this will be discussed on all the entertainment tabloid shows. Surely, much of that coverage will have a negative slant to it. Honestly, what's the big deal? They're breasts. All women have them. But in the interests of all men, everywhere, we figured we'd at least bring it to your attention.

Here's some AP video discussing it . . .

Continue reading "Britney Spears caught topless on 'Gimme More' video set" »

Bret Michaels got lit up after performing at the Tony Awards. Just watch the video below and pay close attention at the end. Every rose does indeed have its thorn.

Michaels and his band Poison performed during the opening number, singing "Nothin' But a Good Time" with the cast of "Rock of Ages." Could this be setting the stage for Poison to become part of the '80s hair band Broadway show?

>> Bret Michaels photos

Continue reading "Oops! Bret Michaels Tony Awards video" »

Tired of kicking Rick James around a hotel room and slapping him in the face at the China Club, Charlie Murphy is back!

He's put down the True Hollywood Stories, and even his MC Gusto persona, and become Leroy Smith, the guy who beat out Michael Jordan for the last spot on the varsity basketball team in 10th grade. This site is hilarious. Charlie Murphy, er, Leroy Smith will teach you how to get your basketball on.

And you need to play his online video game at getyourbasketballon.com. The first quarter is Shirts vs. Blouses easy, but once Leroy gets "motivized," be somewhere else. He's unstoppable, and he doesn't need to run Darling Pikky or Computer Blue plays. I'd rather play Prince than Leroy Smith in basketball. At least then I'd get some pancakes at the end. Leroy just gives you impressive stats after he smokes you at two-on-two.

Heidi Montag, one half of everyone's favorite celebreality couple to loathe, was hospitalized Saturday in Costa Rica after she and husband Spencer Pratt were put in "isolation" - aka, sent to timeout -- on "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" for trying to leave the show.

None of that sounds like much fun. Whether you're in a Costa Rica hospital, sent to timeout once you're over 21 years old or Spencer is your husband. That's pretty much a trifecta of pain right there.

Still, we hope Heidi will be OK and be nursed back to health soon. Why? Because it will be loads of fun (if only for a few fleeting minutes) to watch the opportunistic Speidi tag team capitalize on this apparent faux pas by NBC and turn it into a potential lawsuit.

She-Pratt, er, Spencer's little sister Stephanie, "broke the news" on her twitter page, if you believe it's her actual page:

Rushed to the hospital and has an IV in her arm after being locked in a dark room for 3 days w no food or water. Pls pray she will be ok

(NBC Photo)

>>
Read more from Pet Rock about Heidi Montag

OK, it looks like the Jonas Brothers have taken a ride on the crazy train! Joe Jonas, the cute one with the straight hair, is seen in a YouTube clip wearing a black catsuit, high heels and dancing to Beyonce's hit song 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)."

He joins other men who can't help but move to the beat of Jay-Z's wifey. Why would Joe do it? It's all in the name of self promotion. The Jonas Brothers have a new album titled "Lines, Vines, and Trying Times" due out on June 16th!

Check out the video and tell us what you think! Genius? Lame?

Vote: Who is your favorite Jonas Brother?

(AP Photo)

NBC News begins its special "Inside the Obama White House" on Tuesday night. In it, anchor Brian Williams gets to interview their dog, Bo.

Sure, it's not exactly Walter Cronkite stuff, but if you can't laugh at the revelation of Michelle Obama's puppy talk voice and Barack Obama's bark, then renew your passport and move elsewhere. Bo Obama is non-partisan humor, people.

Our favorite part is Williams not being able to hold back his laugh at Barack's bark.

Continue reading "Inside the White House with Bo Obama" »

Sure, everyone spent Monday morning at work talking about the Eminem-Bruno altercation at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night.

Slightly lost amid the scuttlebutt was Andy Samberg's digital short with Will Ferrell. Samberg demonstrated his comedic music video talents once again, this time a quarter of the way through the the MTV Movie Awards with "Cool Guys Don't Look Back at Explosions."

The trailer for "New Moon," the next movie in the "Twilight" series, premiered on Sunday night's live telecast of the MTV Movie Awards.

A smart move by the "Twilight" franchise people, albeit an interesting one. They capitalized on their market by dropping it while everyone in their demographic was fixed to their televisions. MTV also wins here, with presumably higher ratings. The only loser here is whichever "Meet Joe Black" movie the studio would have hooked this trailer onto.

So, here we go with the "New Moon" trailer. The movie hits theaters in November (here's the "New Moon" movie poster).

>> Kristen Stewart photos
>> Robert Pattinson photos
>> MTV Movie Awards photos

(By the way, "Meet Joe Black" grossed more than $15 million in its opening weekend because it was the first movie to show the trailer for "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace." The Brad Pitt movie only made $44 million total at the domestic box office.)

I quit watching "The Hills" early in Season 4 when it really became the same show every week. Heidi misses Lauren, Lauren hates Heidi, Heidi hates that Lauren hates her. And at all points in between, Spencer is a jerko.

But I love a good TV event, especially when it's the final episode featuring the girl with the greatest smile in television history: Lauren Conrad.

So here we go with some of the great, terrible, awkward and remarkably strange moments from the Season 5 finale of "The Hills."

- Stephanie asks Heidi who her maid of honor will be and she tells her that she picked Holly. Stephanie gets a little snooty with her body language and facial expression. Then Heidi supports her decision with this gem: "Just because she's been, you know, my sister my whole life." Interesting analysis by Ms. Montag.

- Lauren Conrad to Brody Jenner about the Heidi wedding: "While everyone else is attending a wedding, I'd be attending a funeral." Ouch.

- Why does Spencer's mustache for the meal scene with Brody hang down below his upper lip?

- Holly's rehearsal dinner speech: (Turn on high-pitch voice now) Awwwwwwwwkward! (turn off high-pitch voice now).

- Who has the better mustache, Heidi's dad, or Spencer's friend Charlie? Such a tough call. Daddy Montag has some serious cowboy handlebars. Charlie's 'stache has an enviable 1955 Frenchman sleezy quality to it. This could take a few weeks to determine.

- A food-throwing, wine-drinking, crying and hysterical Holly is borderline terrible to watch on television. But I couldn't change the channel. Sort of like when a movie is so bad, it becomes good.

- Heidi to Holly: "I would never un-maid of honor you." Um???

- It's a wedding in a church, Brent Bolthouse. Put a tie on. Seriously.

- Was that Justin Bobby in a jacket, no tie, scruffy hair and extra thick beard sitting with Kristin Cavallari, or was it Joaquin Phoenix?

- I watched an episode of "Days of Our Lives" this past week because a friend of mine played a reporter on it. This Cavallari-Conrad-Montag triangle feels even more daytime soap opera than "Days." It's almost unbearable to fight through the final 10 minutes of this show. OK, in the time it took me to write that previous sentence, it became completely unbearable.

- Lo Bosworth, typically the parsley of "The Hills" (you know, she's always there on the plate but doesn't contribute much to the overall meal), dropped a pair of bombs during the wedding: "You match" she said to a L.C. when telling her that Cavallari was there; "Third time's a charm, right?" she added to L.C. after the priest presented the happily married couple.

- What a bunch of scripted yang that Cavallari caught the Montag bouquet. I mean, really. Every chance this show gets to insult our intelligence, it does. I, like L.C., am officially done with "The Hills." (Of course, I won't be getting royalties checks, but whatever.)

- We'll miss you greatly, L.C. Although, I have a feeling we'll see you again somewhere soon.

Kavya Shivashankar is your 2009 spelling bee champion, the new Akeelah if you will.

She won it by spelling her last name. Just kidding!

Laodicean was the decisive word.

Yes, yes, we're thinking what you're thinking: what the heck does laodicean mean? Here's the definition: lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics.

You can object to the early rounds of the spelling bee being televised on ESPN since it's not a sporting event, but the finals were in primetime on ABC this year. If you want to object to anything, object to that. Little kids in primetime being asked to do extraordinary things.

But seriously, why object? It's awesome television.

Get a look at some of the words in the final round these kids were asked to attempt to spell:

phoresy
menhir
Maecenas
sophrosyne
isagoge
guayabera
ophelimity
oriflamme
bouquiniste
antonomasia
diacoele
reredos

Seriously, these are words? These aren't words. These are those security captcha code words that make you turn your head in nine different directions trying to figure out if that's an "r" or an "f" or an "a" or an "n."

Shivashankar, a 13-year-old girl from Kansas, wrote out every word on her palm as she outlasted the other 11 finalists for 16 rounds. She even gets to bring more than $40,000 in cash and prizes and one huge champion's trophy back home. NIce payday for a 13-year-old.

It appears she won't be able to spell "recession" any time soon. But here are three letters Shivashankar should get real familiar with: I-N-G. Put that money in an account ASAP at let it help pay for college.

The 2009 tournament was Shivashankar's fourth appearance at the bee, having finished 10th, eighth and fourth over the last three years.

>> 2009 Spelling Bee photos

I have gone on the record many a time with friends by saying the only reason men like cats is because very often they come attached to the women they like. So it's closer to "tolerate" than "like" when it comes to feline friendliness.

However, "Whack-a-Kitty" is fantastic! Certainly my favorite YouTube video of the week. Can "Whack-a-Kitty" compete with Keyboard Cat for top cat honors at the YouTube Awards this year? Doubtful, but it's quite amusing nonetheless.

Surely, somewhere in this land of ours, people were spark outrage over the harming of these innocent kittens. That's just the way life is these days. Everyone has some cause, (or is it that every cause has someone?).

However, the owners of these kittens needed someone to adopt them and they found plenty of takers. It's also a testament to how much a soundtrack matters to a video. Plus, it's just plain hilarious to watch. Enjoy.