Well, there goes my only reason for watching this show…

Julianne Hough may have donned her last sequin.

The two-time Dancing With the Stars champ has apparently given up any hope for a threepeat, telling E! News’ Ryan Seacrest this morning that she will not be returning to the reality hit this spring.
“I’m not going to be back next season,” she said on Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show. “That’s final. I’m definitely not going back next season.”

The 20-year-old was quick to add that her bowing out was not a reaction to her recent medical emergency but rather an attempt to further her country music career.

“It’s because I really, really want to focus on the music and kind of be taken seriously a little bit,” she said. “I think it’s hard to be on Dancing With the Stars and be singing and kind of get that confusion, and so I’m really going to focus on the music.

“Music is where I want to be.”

Hough will be returning for next week’s season finale, however, and promised that she won’t forget the show that launched her. Just this week, Hough performed her new single, “My Hallelujah Song,” on the show.

She wrote in a posting on her Fancast blog last night that while she won’t be back for the foreseeable future, she hasn’t completely ruled out a return to the show.

“I won’t be on Dancing this spring season,” she wrote. “I don’t know about the fall. Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see.”

As it is, Hough’s departure ends the show’s element of sibling rivalry, with producers no longer able to play up her competition with brother Derek. However, it’s possible the show is already fashioning a remedy, having introduced the pairing of new pro Lacey Schwimmer and her dancing brother Benji on last week’s results show.

Back in February, SI’s Chris Ballard wrote a story about a post-Wizards era Michael Jordan that received a bit of attention. As the story went, some mutual fund CEO named John Rogers Jr. had beaten Jordan in a game of one-on-one at the legend’s high-end “Flight School” camp in Las Vegas. According to Ballard, there were one-handed runners and flip-shots and even Damon Wayans. It was quite the tale. And today, thanks to The Wall Street Journal, we finally have video footage.

Warner Bros. Pictures has released six new character posters for Watchmen! Included in the line-up are The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman and Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson). The Zack Snyder-directed adaptation opens in conventional theaters and IMAX on March 6th.

Oh Lindsay. You class act you.

While talking to “Access Hollywood,” Lindsay Lohan referred to Barack Obama as our first “colored” President. She must be taking queues from my dead grandmother. She used to African-Americans “colored” too. Only after she stopped calling them “negros.”

I used to say “Grandma, they like to be called “black” these days, not “colored.”
And she would say: “I know dear, but I just don’t like the term “black.” “Colored” just sounds better.

Maybe Lindsay & my Grandmother are right. From now on, I’m just gonna call Lindsay “Ginger Kid.”

Ever since her breakout role in “Transformers,” 22-year-old brunette beauty Megan Fox has gained an enormous fanbase online. So it was big news this week when Wonder-Who.com revealed that she would be portraying DC Comics superhero Wonder Woman in an upcoming big screen adaptation. There’s only one problem: it’s a fake.

In the “Holy Trinity” of DC Comics superheroes, one iconic character has been conspicuously missing from movie screens. Superman had his heyday in the 70s, Batman in the 90s, and both have been revived in the past three years. But Wonder Woman, the Amazonian princess with the magic lasso and invisible plane, has not had a live-action portrayal since the last episode of the TV series aired in 1979. There have been attempts in recent years to put together a film version at Warner Bros. Pictures shepherded by Joel Silver, veteran producer of the “Lethal Weapon” and “Matrix” franchises. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon was attached to write and direct, but he left the project for “creative differences” last year.

Then out of nowhere the Wonder-Who.com site appeared with an image of the Wonder Woman logo over an American flag with the words “The Truth Will Be Revealed!” below. As the days progressed, bits of the background were torn away to reveal the figure underneath. Finally, the image of Fox in full costume was unveiled, with DC Comics, Silver Pictures, and Warner Bros. logos in the lower right-hand corner.

Many movie websites ran with the news that Fox had indeed been cast in the role. It was believed that Warner Bros. was attempting to leak the information virally like they did for the first photo of the Joker last year for “The Dark Knight.” But soon some other intrepid bloggers began investigating the site’s origins. JoBlo.com did reach a representative from Warner Bros. who confirmed that the Wonder-Who.com site was “complete B.S.”

It’s still unclear as to who was behind the hoax. The site is very well done, with obvious but accomplished Photoshop work on the Fox photo. It’s also up in the air as to when the “Wonder Woman” film will happen. The studio had indicated that the character would be a part of the “Justice League” movie that was in development earlier this year, but that film has been put on hold as well.

by KRISTIN DOS SANTOS

Our prayers have been answered! ABC has just confirmed to me that Lost has received an official premiere date for season five, and even better, it’s a smidgen earlier than expected.

On Wednesday, Jan. 21, Lost returns with a three-hour (you heard me, three-hour!) premiere. “Because You Left” and “The Lie” will air back-to-back, following a recap of the first four seasons (for the very few people who aren’t already addicted and/or obsessed).

So what does this mean for ABC’s Wednesday-night lineup?

After the Lost extravaganza premiere, the series will continue on Wednesday nights at 9. Reps at ABC have told me that a decision on new time slots for Private Practice and possibly Pushing Daisies (pleeease?) will be announced next week.

Episodes three through six are as follows: “Jughead,” “The Little Prince,” “The Place Is Death” and “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.”

This news comes on the heels of the casting scoop from earlier today about the part of a Lost man’s lover.

By chance, anyone excited to find out where the Island went?

Tween & Teen girls are going NUTS right now.

Got this from my sis today. Thought it was funny.

Last week in was “Terrorist” and this week it’s “Socialist.” Next week, I’m sure that the Republicans will jump to “Communist” to describe Barack Obama.

“Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

“State or collective ownership.” Ya know what? I thought for sure that the American people just got the bill, and part ownership, of failed mortgage companies and banks just a few weeks ago. Remember that bail out bill? The bill that BOTH Republicans & Democrats BOTH voted on. That “my friends” is socialism. And our government has already forced us into it.

Here’s another fact for you. John McCain wants the American government to buy out $300 billion dollars worth of bad mortgages from banks so that total morons that got bad loans can keep the house that they will NEVER be able to afford. More socialism.

Who’s the closest to socialism? John McCain or Barack Obama? The answer is simple. Obama. Barack Obama is the most liberal Senator in Washington and by definition, Democrats are closer to “Socialism” than Republicans.

I’m not a socialist, and I disagree with Obama on his plans to help out the less fortunate. Obama says that Republicans want people to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps, even when they don’t have any boots.” Clever line, but I still disagree with it.

I was taught that if you work hard & get an education, anyone in American can accomplish ANYTHING. Obama is an example of this. I’m not against taking away welfare, unemployment or food stamps, but I AM for reform of these programs. Something Obama is NOT for. Obama wants to expand these programs. Socialism? Hardly. Liberal? Hell yes.

I disagree with Obama on these issues. But to call the man a SOCIALIST, just a week after saying he “hangs around with TERRORISTS” is really playing dirty politics. I believe that President Bush pushed himself over the top four years ago with the commercial featuring the “wolves.” Remember that one? SCARING people into believing that without Bush to protect us, and under Kerry’s watch, the “wolves” would get us. It is nothing but a message of fear.

In John McCains latest radio address on Saturday, he said:

“In other words, Barack Obama’s tax plan would convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington.”

Welfare? Welfare? I’m not a conspiracy theorist, nor do I believe in “code words” but this is getting ridiculous. It is clear that John McCain wants you to believe that Barack Obama will take your hard earned money away from you and give it to poor black people. McCain and Palin are now calling a tax break for middle America “a little close to Socialism.”

Obama wants health care for for all Americans. He wants American off foreign oil in ten years, and he wants better education so that America can compete in the new world. It’s as simple as that. THAT is where your “redistribution of wealth is going to go.

Now you may not agree with this. But I want affordable health care, and I CERTAINLY want us off foreign oil. But you may not be for more social programs. You, like me, may want more people to get educated, not get a hand-out. But did you like life under Bill Clinton? Ask yourself why the African American community calls him the “First Black President.” The Clintons are Democrats. Democrats LOVE helping out the poor folk, black or white. But did you care back then? Did it hurt you? Did you feel it in the pocketbook? Hell no.

America was built on the notion that the more money you make, the more you pay in taxes. The great country that enabled you to make all that money needs help. We need tax money to pay for Fireman, Policemen, our roads and our museums, our schools and our soldiers. It’s called a “tax bracket.” The more money you make, you may jump into a higher tax bracket. This is our system. THIS is the system that is in place right now. You may not think this is fair. Perhaps you, like “Joe the Plumber,” are counting your millions before you actually make them, protecting your gold before you even have it. Fantasizing about the riches you will most likely never make. And that’s fine. I’m serious. It really is.

We all have differences of opinions. But I think that John McCain and Sarah Palin are smart enough folks to voice their opinions without trashing those that don’t agree. So the code word for Republicans this week is “Socialism.” With a little bit of “welfare” thrown in. Just to scare the white folk. Something tells me I’ll be hearing Elizabeth Hasselbeck saying those words tomorrow on “The View” seeing as I heard Sean Hannity use those terms about a dozen times on his show tonight. That’s a good little parrot Elizabeth.

You don’t have to agree with EVERYTHING someone says or believes in to vote for them. Just EDUCATE yourself. The last thing anyone needs is for someone to vote on FEAR or HATE. That’s not America. Here’s hoping McCain & Palin will start taking about the ISSUES and leaving all the hate talk to the racists and bigots. Cause God knows, America has plenty of them.

I’m sorry, but I could have sworn that I said Sarah Palin was a parrot first on ZFL (that’s ZipperFish Live, Friday nights at 9pm right here at ZipperFish.com.) Looks like John and I share a brain.

In a surprise move, Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as Robert Downey Jr’s best friend in “Iron Man 2,” the sequel to the superhero saga.

In the Marvel Studios summer smash, Howard played Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark/Iron Man’s future armor-clad hero War Machine. One scene featured Howard looking at a silver suit of armor and saying “Next time,” a line that caused great delight for fans.

But there will be no next time for Howard.

Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons. Marvel, which had wanted to work with Cheadle, then decided to take the role in another direction and approached the actor, who is shooting Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke.

The Rhodes character is expected to play a larger part in the sequel, which is rumored to go beyond high-tech villains. Justin Theroux is writing the screenplay.

Jon Favreau is returning as director, and Downey is expected back as billionaire industrialist Stark/Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow also is expected to be back as Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts. “Iron Man 2″ is scheduled for release on May 7, 2010;

Cheadle most recently starred in “Traitor,” a thriller on which he was also a producer. He will next be seen in DreamWorks’ “Hotel for Dogs.”

I really like Don Cheadle, but I thought Terrence Howard was an awesome Jim Rhodes. He just has that demeanor that would make him perfect to don the suit as War machine. Cheadle seems to… short? Maybe too much like Downey? I say bad move Marvel. Shoulda paid Howard what he deserves.

SNN is once again a staff favorite over on iTunes. That rocks.

Sure there are no BJs with it, but at least we don’t have to hear her talk. Or sing!

Geez… I love how I never hear from a lot of you until you actually WANT something from me. In case you are new, or never cared to actually WATCH ZFL or READ any of the forums… yes… the games are gone. Here’s why:

Well, the party is really over now. I’m posting this HERE, because only the REAL fans read this.

Without donations this month, I will net $70. Not really enough to keep the site going. For those that don’t understand this, I will explain. THIS IS NOT ME WHINING OR COMPLAINING, just explaining.

1. The internet has changed in the 5 years that I have been doing ZF. There are now MILLIONS more sites that do the same thing I do. Maybe these sites are successful, maybe not. DoubleViking.com comes to mind. Now ZF is better than that site, but somehow they got some sort of push and they kick my ass. But even their traffic is now dropping like a rock.

2. Low CTR.
CTR stands for Click Thru Ratio. The more clicks you have on ads, the more money you make. No clicks, no money. The biggest section on ZF is GAMES. This section gets an average of .50% CTR. This means that out of every 1000 visits to a page, I get 5 clicks. 5 PEOPLE OUT OF ONE THOUSAND! Or… half a person out of 100. I make more money off of 1000 views on MySpaceSuperBabes.com than 100,000 in the GAMES section. Now I’m not bitching about this, I don’t click ads either. My point is, GOOGLE ADS suck, and they know it. Ads don’t work. Fine. If you could come up with another way to make revenue, let me know.

3. Sometime in the last 2 years, ZF has become like MySpace. What I mean by that is, MySpace is Okay, but it got taken over by kids, and now people want an alternative like FaceBook. Well, I think ZF is now considered kids stuff. I want to get back to adult stuff. (and kids don’t click ads or buy stuff or donate.)

4. Original Content.
ZipperFish got away from original content for one reason: Daily Updates. I talked to one of my old co-workers from LiquidGeneration last week. He still can’t believe that I can do what I do being just ONE person. They have a team of 30. Am I doing the job of 30 people? No… but maybe 5.

So I wanted daily updates. When I started ZF I was competing with BIG websites, and daily updates seemed the way to go. So videos were put up, then games, then movies, then celebs. It got out of control. Every time I took something down, someone would write and say it was their favorite section. I would feel guilty and put it back up. It takes about 30 hours a week to maintain ZF. And that does not include original content. That’s about FOUR ShoBizNewsyNews’s.

So if people are not going to talk about ZF, or send stuff to friends, because it’s all retread content that you “can get on other sites,” then fuck you. Go to the other sites and get that content. Why should I work so hard to bring it to you if you are gonna bitch about it? You think it’s easy to find all this great content and display it for you without SPAM links, viruses, spyware and crap? It’s not. I provide a service, but no one wants to acknowledge that.

5. What I want to do.
ZipperFish isn’t making me any money. I need to move to a smaller server and pay less bandwidth per month. It pains me that I have to take everything away that I have worked so hard to put together after the last five years. I have worked harder on this website than anything else in my life. At one point I was on the heels of the “big boys” on the internet, but I have fallen too far behind and the writing is on the wall.

So what do I want to do now? I want my voice heard. ZipperFish as a shell was always a way to bring people in to hear & see me. Whether that was a podcast, an internet radio show, or UStream. Maybe it’s just because of the political season, or maybe it’s because I am getting old, but I think this world is going to hell in a hand basket, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit around and watch it happen. I’ve got jokers to the left of me, clowns to the right, and here I am… stuck in the middle with you.

What does this mean? It means that if I can’t make any money “retreading” content, then it’s time I made my own. Animation was never really my passion, and to tell the truth, I’m not very good at it. Don’t get me wrong, I think I can come up with compelling characters and voices, but the actual animation sucks ass. Not like I ever went to school for it. I still want to continue ShoBizNewsyNews and a YAAFM on McCain is due for an “October surprise” but I want to throw myself into providing original content in the form of UStream. I’d love to do stuff like… a daily one hour show, or continue reading Harry Potter, or get models involved, and guest hosts, and interviews, and… well a lot of things.

6. Bottom Line
Sometime in the next couple weeks ZipperFish will go through a major change. Almost everything will change. No more movies, or games or videos. No more Zlog or Celebs. Just Ustream, toons and quizzes. I’m stripping it down and dumbing it down. If you don’t like that, then I bid you a fond farewell and maybe we will meet again on the interwebs. For those that want to stay, I hope to involve you more in the future. I want to hear your voice, and I want to listen to your opinions. I want to make ZipperFish a destination were you can open your mind, interact and laugh. A place to get angry, educated and smile all at the same time. I have something to offer to the world, and I intend to bring it.

you can join the discussion here: http://forum.zipperfish.com/showthread.php?t=183

Based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate of the current population of about 305 million people, each person would have to pay $2,300 to fund the $700,000,000,000. If each American (including children) paid a dollar a day, it would take more than six years to pay the money in full. One might argue, however, that this $700 billion would be a modest splash in the bucket of national debt, which already stands at well over $9 trillion (which means you already owe $31,642 each).

So why are we bailing out the same people that made these mistakes? President Bush gave all of us $600 bucks last year to “stimulate” the economy. Why not do that again? Why give the money to Wall Street fat cats that got greedy?

If I decided to expand ZipperFish.com, and hire 20 employees and open up a big office in L.A., that would be a risk. And it probably to pay off. I would need to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars… and if I failed at this risky venture, I wouldn’t ask YOU to bail me out. Now what if the government FORCED you to bail me out? I don’t think you would feel to good about that.

I’m trying to understand why this bail-out needs to happen. If really smart people tell me it needs to happen, I don’t have much choice than to believe them. But it seems to me that if we need to inject more money into the marketplace, then why don’t we bail-out the American people intead of people that have annual salaries that range from $350,000-43 million dollars a year?

Here’s a simple plan that would bail-out banks, mortgage companies AND the American people, all while stimulating the economy and putting confidence back in Wall Street:

Every American gets $2,300. But there are RULES.

1. If you own a house, that $2,300 automatically goes to your mortgage. The banks must then work with home owners to get everyone a FIXED rate. If this means your mortgage goes from 20 years to 50, so be it.

2. If you have a student loan, that $2,300 goes to pay off your student loan.

3. If you have neither, you get the $2,300 dollars. You also get an extra $2,300 for every child you have under 18. Period.

Now you may be thinking to yourself… that means a lot of poor, uneducated people with no home & lots of kids get lots of money. You would be right. And why? Because these people would SPEND this money. Injecting that money directly back into the economy, thus stimulating it.

Congrats. We just saved millions of people from foreclosing, thus saving houses and the banks that loaned the money. We just rewarded those that pursue a higher education, and we just helped out those less fortunate all while stimulating the economy. Problem solved. Now was that so difficult?