Pop Cultural District

Man who tried to extort money from Cruise found dead

Tom Cruise is in the news for all the wrong reasons this morning:

1) He's building a $10 million bunker to prepare for the end of the world, according to several gossip columns. There's room for 10 people. Wonder who he'll invite to spend eternity with him?

2) And a man who pleaded guilty to trying to extort money from Tommy Boy turned up dead on Friday. Police suspect suicide, and besides, Cruise was stuck in the bunker.

Insert your own Tomkat joke here: ____________________________________.

-- Rick Press

Oprah owns everything

We suppose this isn't really news to you, but Oprah Winfrey is the richest celebrity in all of the land.

And guess what? She deserves it. Call me, O.

The rest of the list is probably more surprising, like Jerry Seinfeld still at No. 2. Gotta love those syndication royalties ($225 million). Check out the whole list here.

-- Rick Press

More things scarier than spongemonkeys

Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the guys who made The Eyes of Tammy Faye, are opening an art show called "Just Britney" (warning: adult content), featuring 50 artworks inspired by Ms. Spears. And with that, I leave you for the weekend. -- Robert Philpot

P.S. For those of you who don't know what "Spongemonkeys" are (don't blame me -- you asked):

And you thought spongemonkeys were scary

The things I find when I clean out my e-mail inbox ...

--Robert Philpot

Green Day meets Kelly Clarkson

It doesn't all work, but when it does, it's pretty cool.

--Robert Philpot

More fun 'Top Chef' blogging

Not from me. From The Onion's A.V. Club. Love the line about being from Texas.

--Robert Philpot

The sun always shines on TV

Forbes has issued its lists of TV's top-20 money-making personalities. No. 1 isn't a surprise; No. 2 is, until you think about it. Rather than link to the dry text, I'll start you with the pictures.

--Robert Philpot

Bravo, Anthony Bourdain

It's more than a day old, but Anthony Bourdain's blog entry on Wednesday's Top Chef episode is a must-read for the show's fans, even at eight "pages." Now if he'd only lay into non-cooking shows such as Dancing With the Stars.

--Robert Philpot

The following took place between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m....

Kiefer Sutherland charged with DUI. Emphasis on "charged" -- many on this link are acting like he's already been convicted.

--Robert Philpot

Lone Star Emmy nominations

One of the nice things about blogging is that when a TV station sends me a news release boasting that is has 77 Lone Star Emmy nominations, I can just link to this insanely lengthy list of nominations so that you can see what they are. The station with the 77 nods is WFAA/Channel 8, by the way. I haven't counted the other nominations yet. Need to replenish my aspirin supply.

--Robert Philpot