Soap Stuff

Back in April, we ran an interview with some of the best and brightest soap bloggers around and we asked them about the current state of soaps. You can read it all here. Meanwhile, something I stumbled upon caught my eye today. It seems the recession has hit the soap world. Yes, Susan Lucci is being forced to take a pay cut. And Deidre Hall has been let go from Days of Our Lives. Even legendary soap scribe Agnes Nixon has had her salary cut (twice!). Check it out here.

Meanwhile, I checked out the witty and wonderful Snark Weighs In column written by Snark himself, which always has consistently hard-hitting and humorous commentary on the world of daytime. Trust me, its not easy to balance hard hitting and humor. Tried it. Failed. Tried it again. Gave up. Anyway, Snark's column led me to yet another blog, and this one is a doozy. A former soap fan who gave up on soaps years ago is doing the unheard of: he's going to watch every soap, one week at a time, until he has watched an entire week of every soap on the air -- just to see if any of them can bring him back as a fan. He's blogging about it here. I have a concern about this: There are eight soaps on the air, people. What happens if he likes them all? He'll never leave his house! We'll be sending him pizzas and takeout Chinese to keep him alive. I'll be keeping tabs on his blog to see if he gets hungry.

Grammy Award Nominees

Album of the Year
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Ne-Yo - Year Of The Gentleman
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Record of the Year
Adele - “Chasing Pavements”
Coldplay - “Viva La Vida”
Leona Lewis - “Bleeding Love”
M.I.A. - “Paper Planes”
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - “Please Read The Letter”

Best New Artist
Adele
Duffy
Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

Song of the Year
“American Boy” - William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West)
“Chasing Pavements” - Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele)
“I’m Yours” - Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz)
“Love Song” - Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles)
“Viva La Vida” - Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay)

Best Rock Album
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Metallica - Death Magnetic
The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely

Best Rock Song
Bruce Springsteen - “Girls In Their Summer Clothes”
Radiohead - “House Of Cards”
Death Cab for Cutie - “I Will Possess Your Heart ”
Kings of Leon - “Sex On Fire”
Coldplay - “Violet Hill”

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
AC/DC - “Rock ‘N Roll Train”
Coldplay - “Violet Hill”
Eagles - “Long Road Out Of Eden”
Kings of Leon - “Sex On Fire”
Radiohead - “House Of Cards”

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
John Mayer - “Gravity” from Where The Light Is — Live In Los Angeles
Paul McCartney - “I Saw Her Standing There” from Amoeba’s Secret
Bruce Springsteen - “Girls In Their Summer Clothes” from Magic
Eddie Vedder - “Rise”
Neil Young - “No Hidden Path” from Chrome Dreams II

Best Pop Vocal Album
Sheryl Crow - Detours
Duffy - Rockferry
Eagles - Long Road Out Of Eden
Leona Lewis - Spirit
James Taylor - Covers

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
Alicia Keys & John Mayer - “Lesson Learned” ”
Madonna, Justin Timberlake & Timbaland - “4 Minutes”
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - “Rich Woman”
Rihanna & Maroon 5 - “If I Never See Your Face Again”
Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown - “No Air”

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Coldplay - “Viva La Vida”
Eagles - “Waiting In The Weeds”
Gnarls Barkley - “Going On”
Maroon 5 - “Won’t Go Home Without You”
OneRepublic - “Apologize”

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Adele - “Chasing Pavements”
Sara Bareilles - “Love Song”
Duffy - “Mercy”
Leona Lewis - “Bleeding Love”
Katy Perry- “I Kissed A Girl”
Pink - “So What”

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Kid Rock - “All Summer Long”
John Mayer - “Say”
Paul McCartney - “That Was Me”
Jason Mraz - “I’m Yours”
Ne-Yo “Closer”
James Taylor - “Wichita Lineman”

Best Rap Album
Jay-z - American Gangster
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Nas - Nas
T.I. - Paper Trail

Best Rap Song
“Lollipop” - D. Carter, S. Garrett, D.Harrison, J. Scheffer & R. Zamor, songwriters (Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major) “Low” - T. Dillard, M. Humphrey & T-Pain, songwriters (Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain)
“Sexual Eruption” - Calvin Broadus, S. Lovejoy & D. Stewart, songwriters (Snoop Dogg)
“Superstar” - Lupe Fiasco & Soundtrakk, songwriter (Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos)
“Swagga Like Us” - D. Carter, S. Carter, Clifford Harris, & Kanye West, songwriters (M. Arulpragasam, N. Headon, M. Jones, J. Mellor, T. Pentz, P. Simonon, songwriters) (Jay-Z & T.I. Featuring Kanye West & Lil Wayne)

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Estelle Featuring Kanye West - “American Boy”
Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain - “Low”
John Legend & Andre 3000 - “Green Light”
Lil Wayne Featuring T-Pain - “Got Money”
Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos - “Superstar”

Best Alternative Music Album
Beck - Modern Guilt
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Best R&B Album
Eric Benet - Love & Life
Boyz II Men - Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA
Al Green - Lay It Down
Jennifer Hudson - Jennifer Hudson
Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It

Best Electronic/Dance Album
Brazilian Girls - New York City
Daft Punk - Alive 2007
Cyndi Lauper - Bring Ya To The Brink
Kylie Minogue - X
Moby - Last Night
Robyn - Robyn

Best Hard Rock Performance
Disturbed - “Inside The Fire”
Judas Priest - “Visions”
The Mars Volta - “Wax Simulacra”
Mötley Crüe - “Saints Of Los Angeles”
Rob Zombie - “Lords Of Salem”

Best Metal Performance
DragonForce - “Heroes Of Our Time”
Judas Priest - “Nostradamus”
Metallica - “My Apocalypse”
Ministry - “Under My Thumb”
Slipknot - “Psychosocial”

The Grammy Awards will be televised on CBS on February 8.

Pain, Agony, and Rosie O'Donnell

Twas the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house, Rosie Live was on TV and I realized I'd made a horrific mistake by not renting a movie.

There was a time I actually liked Rosie O'Donnell. She was funny and harmless, and she never bothered me. I enjoyed seeing her on talk shows and then she got her very own talk show. For years, Rosie was the "Queen of Nice" and enjoyed huge ratings success and several Emmys for her talk show. Then, she started to become a bit too opinionated and made her guests feel a bit... awkward.



Rosie's ratings were still great and when she decided to fold her talk show, fans waited for her to make some sort of return to television. Next up for O'Donnell was The View. No longer the sole host of a celebrity gab-fest, O'Donnell let loose her opinions on panel of The View, and often clashed with guests and her own co-hosts. Her feud with Donald Trump was embarrassing for both of them, but her final blow out with Elisabeth Hasselbeck was ultimately her undoing. Whether or not O'Donnell left the show on her own terms or was asked to leave early doesn't really matter. The truth of the matter is that I'm sure I'm not the only person who agreed with most of her opinions, but was repelled by her loud and arrogant way of getting her point across.



Flash forward a couple of years and NBC decides to give Rosie her own prime time variety show. What. A. Nighmare. Did anyone really think Liza Minelli would draw in the desired 18-49 viewer demographic? Maybe Clay Aiken would bring in the young viewers? The show brought in a whopping 1.9 rating in the desired 18-49 demo. The show tied with the already canceled Pushing Daisies for the lowest rated show of the night. I'm quite certain this "test pilot" will never be seen or heard again from NBC. The network should have remembered that their cable sister, MSNBC was set to give Rosie a prime time talk show last year - and quickly decided against it.

We're On Our Way Back...

Thank you to everyone who emailed and asked us to bring The Chronicles of von Klapp back from hiatus. No one ever expected that kind of outpouring. And so...

Yes, we're coming back! You'll find us in a slightly new form - instead of daily posts, you'll find two to three posts per week, but the articles will be larger and more in-depth. We hope you enjoy our new format. Thanks again for reading!

Thank You

This is the last post of The Chronicles of von Klapp.
For all of those who took the time to read our ramblings for the past year, we thank you.

Scary Face

Vivica A. Fox's face may be mostly covered by her stunner shades, however we are still scared. Very, very scared. What? Is? That? On? Her? Head?

Chihuahua Remains Box Office Gold

Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua took the top spot at the box office this weekend, for the second straight week. Chihuahua earned $17.5 million, coming in ahead of Quarantine at $14.2 million. Third place went to Body of Lies, the Russell Crowe/Leonardo DiCaprio feature, which only brought in $13.1 million. Fourth place belonged to Eagle Eye, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist came in fifth.

McCain Returns to Letterman

After weeks of one sided on-air feud, John McCain will appear on CBS's Late Show starring David Letterman. McCain was scheduled to appear on September 24th, when he suddenly suspended his campaign to return to Washington and work on the economic crisis. He bowed out of the Late Show appearance, but instead of returning immediately to Washington, he was interviewed by Katie Couric. Letterman saw it as a snub, and began to poke fun of McCain. However, all is now fine between the two, as McCain will appear on the show Thursday.

More Joe Zaso News

Joe Zaso will begin shooting his new production, Braincell in Liverpool this January with Barricade star Raine Brown and UK actress Eileen Daly. It will be written and directed by Alex Birrell (Darkness Surrounds Roberta's director of photography). It tells the tale of bizarre experiments conducted at a creepy university in Liverpool. Zaso will play an off-kilter doctor along with Raine Brown who will play his estranged niece.

In February, Zaso and Daly will both appear in a new horror film to be shot in Maine. Beauty is Only Skin Deep from writer Christopher Osgood and produced by North Bay Productions. Imagine Sunset Boulevard and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane by way of David Cronenberg.

We can't wait!

Click here for a special Halloween horror DVD sale.

Hey Sarah Palin

Hilarious.

The Most Important Thing You Will Do This Year...

The Presidential Election is 25 days away. This may very well be the most important election of our lifetime. Please, please, please vote. If you have not registered to vote, please click here and do so today.

Nick Nolte Escape Burning Home

Actor Nick Nolte escaped a fire that damaged his house in Malibu yesterday. Notle, 67, suffered minor injuries but was not hospitalized. Reports estimate the damage to the house at $1.5 million due to the electrical fire, which was believed to have started in the living room.

Scary Face: Male Edition

You may ask yourself, "What's so scary about this relatively good looking man?"

The scary fact is that he is Kenny Rogers. Yes. Kenny Rogers. The same Kenny Rogers who always looked like this. But now he looks like that. Why? Hmmmm.

Weekend Box Office Goes to the Dogs

Beverly Hills Chihuahua topped the weekend box office, coming in with an estimated $29 million in ticket sales. The second place film was Eagle Eye, down from the top spot last week. Third place belonged to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Nights in Rodanthe came in fourth place. Rounding out the top five was Appaloosa.

Dancing with the Stars Loses Misty May-Treanor

Misty May-Treanor, who quickly became a favorite on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, will exit the competition due to an injury, according to reps for the show. May-Treanor, an Olympic gold medalist, will require surgery and therefore will be unable to continue with the hit show.

OJ SIMPSON GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS

OJ Simpson has been found guilty on all twelve counts of armed robbery and kidnapping in a sports memorabilia robbery in a Las Vegas hotel in September 2007.

The verdict came on the 13th anniversary of the date Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck to Stay on The View

Rumors have been circulating that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is leaving The View and jumping to Fox News Channel as an anchor.

A representative for Hasselbeck denies the rumor, telling Access Hollywood, "While Elisabeth has a great relationship with Fox News, there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that she is leaving The View."

Hasselbeck is noted for her conservative viewpoint on the show, and often butts heads with her co-hosts.

Rosie O'Donnell Returns to TV

Rosie O'Donnell is coming back to television as the host of NBC's Rosie's Variety Show. The show will air on November 26th - the night before Thanksgiving - and if ratings are good the show will be added to NBC's regular primetime line up.

O'Donnell hosted her own daytime show from 1996-2001, and was a co-host of The View from 2006-07. It was at The View where Rosie turned from TV's "Queen of Nice" to a more controversial figure, first with her public battle with Donald Trump and with an on-air meltdown between her and View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Take a stroll down memory lane and check out the battle between Rosie and Elisabeth: