So while doing my morning gossip-scouring rounds, I noticed some pap snapped pictures of Lisa Kudrow in a bikini on vacation, and it just didn't seem right. I mean, she's never really been pitched as that sort of celebrity. But I guess with everyone either in D.C. or Utah, they're looking for anything. Anyway, I just thought that I mention that. And here's my interview with Lisa Kudrow.



There’s that old adage about showbiz, often attributed to W.C. Fields: “Never work with children or animals.” Sage advice, it would seem. But Lisa Kudrow begs to differ. And it’s a good thing, too, as her new film, “Hotel for Dogs,” features both children and animals quite heavily.

“I don’t agree with that adage at all,” Kudrow says. “The kids are more professional than me, that’s for sure. They just don’t have a minute off. If there’s a break, it’s, ‘OK, you guys, back to the classroom.’”

In the movie, Kudrow stars as the less-than-desirable foster mother to siblings played by Emma Roberts (Julia’s neice) and Jake T. Austin (of Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place”). In a more serious film, Kudrow’s washed-up, failed musician character would be a monster, but in this, her meanness is comic relief. “To me, it’s funny mean,” Kudrow says. “If they were dead serious, then that would be harsh. I had to redo a couple of lines to soften it because I got too mean.”

Best known for her work as airhead Phoebe on “Friends,” Kudrow has spent most of her time since the show ended five years ago doing “independent films that a lot of people don’t see,” such as “The Opposite of Sex” and “Happy Endings,” both directed by her friend, Don Roos, with whom she is also producing a Web series. “We have a similar sense of humor,” she says of their frequent collaborations. “The same things crack us up — not that everything he does is funny.”

She also produced, wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed HBO series “The Comeback.” And while she’s most famous for her work on the small screen, Kudrow doesn’t see herself returning to television anytime soon. “Fans of ‘Friends’ like me as Phoebe,” she explains. “So unless I’m going to do that character on TV, then I think it’s an adjustment they have to make, and I don’t know that any network has time for an audience to make that kind of adjustment.”

So instead, Kudrow will stay on the big screen, even though movies weren’t a part of her life growing up. “I never went to the movies when I was little,” she says. “I never saw ‘Bambi.’ No one took me.” She hasn’t even seen that other big dog movie out now starring that other former “Friend” — Jennifer Aniston’s “Marley and Me.” “I hear it’s really sad,” Kudrow admits. “I’m afraid to take my son to see it.”

NOTE: Sometimes in my quest to make a living off the written word, I am tasked with the truly amazing, like pitting the editors of "Cat Fancy" and "Dog Fancy" against each other. Enjoy.

First “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” stunned critics by taking in almost $30 million in its opening weekend. Then “Marley and Me” took the holidays by storm, earning more than $125 million since its Christmas Day opening. And this weekend, “Hotel for Dogs” joins the fray, hoping to cash in on the latest canine craze. Hollywood has gone to the dogs, as it were.

“Dogs are hot right now,” says Susan Chaney, editor of Dog Fancy magazine. “Even people who don’t like dogs aren’t likely to say so for fear of being uncool or something.”

But what about the cats? “There are many heartwarming stories about cats and how they touch people’s lives, too,” says Susan Logan, the editor of Cat Fancy magazine. Logan points to the film adaptation of the book “Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World,” currently in development and set to star Meryl Streep, as evidence that cats will have their cinematic day in the sun as well.

And it’s no accident that “Dewey” was a book first. “Reading and books lend themselves to having a cat on your lap,” Logan says. “Book-lovers and cat-lovers tend to go together.”

As for the rivalry? Logan says there is none. “I loved ‘Marley and Me,’” she says. “Whether dog people or cat people, we both appreciate how important pets are to us.”

The Sad Klaus Christmas Special

"Sad Klaus" episode 2

More Klaus! More sadness! Enjoy.




We'll see how long I can keep this up, and how long Xtra Normal let's me make them for free. Until either of those factors change, enjoy Klaus' pain.

Introducing "Sad Klaus"

While I work up what big changes are coming to the written content of this site in the new year (yay! changes!), I thought I might entertain you with my latest procrastination: The first episode of "Sad Klaus," my very simple animated series about a very depressed bear. Enjoy!





I'll be doing more episodes on a hopefully regular basis. Feel free to let me know what you think!

And more writing coming in January. Promise!

THE WORD: Misty, water-colored memories...

As the dust settles on the devastating breakup of Paris Hilton and chubby Good Charlotte twin Benji Madden, we as a grieving nation need to take a break from the rampant recriminations — he cheated! Allegedly! — and speculation — Prince William stole her heart! OK, not likely! — and try to remember the good times, the glorious highs of this nine-month storybook romance that took an emotionally scarred America and taught it that it was OK to love again. So, in the interest of healing, we bring you the Word’s mixtape of Paris/Benji lovin’. Try and get some sleep, America.


• Back in April, the press was in a tizzy over the couple making it to their second mensiversary — or two-month anniversary to the philistines at People magazine. And no one was more surprised than Paris herself: “He makes me feel really happy, comfortable and really in love,” she told People.com.

• By September, the couple was still going strong, even with the press trying to pull them apart with rumors of Paris canoodling with MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. But would it work? Of course not. “We’re really, really happy. In fact, we just celebrated our six-month anniversary,” Paris told E! News. And while she obviously hadn’t been studying her Latin, she had been dabbling in arts & crafts projects, making “a card plastered with pictures of us in happy, gushy couple poses.” Aw, just like any other middle school couple going steady.

• Last month, Paris celebrated her and Benji’s eighth mensiversary in the traditional way: phoning in to Ryan Seacrest’s radio show from London to denounce rumors she’d been getting flirty with Prince William and Prince Harry and to — wait for it — talk about how much she loves Benji. Benji celebrated the same occasion in L.A. by telling Fame News: “I am madly in love with the most beautiful woman in the world.” So really, that should’ve been Paris’ first sign that there might be someone else in the picture.

• Not ones to miss out on the love train, Paris’ parents, Kathy and Rick Hilton, even got in on the action. “He’s changed her life, and I really think she’s genuinely in love for the first time,” Kathy said, while Rick praised Benji’s gluten-free ways: “We love him like family already. Benji doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke and is a healthy vegan!” And even though the gabby ’rents gave those gushing quotes back in April, that last bit got the folks at Ecorazzi.com so excited, they just had to post it — this past Wednesday, the day the breakup was announced. Bummer, man.

The Word: Step into Lindsay's Wayback Machine

Oh, that Lindsay Lohan, always boldly stepping out with new trends. This time, the former “Ugly Betty” guest star and Samantha Ronson arm candy is trotting out some expired terminology while showing her support for Barack Obama.

While doing a post-election wrap-up over at the “Access Hollywood” election center, Lindsay said, “It’s an amazing feeling. It’s our first colored president.”

Hold up, “colored”? For serious? Lindsay, is that how good Long Island girls are raised to talk? I didn’t think so. Stop trying to make outmoded racist terms happen. Dina would be so ashamed if she were capable of shame.

Lindsay finished up her chat with “Access Hollywood” by expressing her hope that “Ugly Betty” co-star America Ferrera would some day achieve U.S. citizenship, then asked a staffer why there was only one water fountain in the hallway.


What is wrong with you people?
Jennifer Aniston has some choice words for the — ahem — gossip-reading public in the new issue of Vogue: “People need to mind their own business.”

So true, girlfriend. She’s speaking, of course, about her on-again off-again relationship with John Mayer. It’s just so unfair that people won’t stop asking her about it. Can’t they all find something more productive to do? It’s not that important.

And Aniston backs this point up by... going on and on and on about the relationship. We mean it, serious overshare alert. First there’s the brief breakup earlier this year: “He had to put that out there that he broke up with me. And especially because it’s me. It’s not just some girl he’s dating.”

Then there’s the state of the relationship as a whole: “It’s funny when you hit a place in a relationship and you both realize that we maybe need to do something else, but you still really, really love each other.” Sheesh. What is wrong with Jennifer Aniston? Can’t she just mind her own business and leave Jennifer Aniston alone?

Something’s different about you
Lance Bass claims that his cosmonaut training for this aborted space vacation a few years back left him two inches shorter. He told Jay Leno: “I got shorter. I did! I don’t know what happened. Everyone said, ‘You’re much shorter,’ so I measured myself and ... yeah.”

Are you sure, Lance? Or is it just that the *NSYNC management team was lying to everyone about their height to make Justin Timberlake believe he was taller? Either way, thanks for all the easy “measured myself” and “lost two inches” jokes. You’re the best!