The Remote Island : charity

Keith Olbermann vs. Sean Hannity On Waterboarding - It's Heating Up [VIDEO]

Jake Kalish — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:35:00 GMT

Fox's Sean Hannity does not believe waterboarding is torture, saying it's a necessary interrogation technique. Last week Hannity, responding to challenges from Charles Grodin on waterboarding, out of nowhere said he'd consent to be waterboarded for charity. That was just what Keith Olbermann wanted to hear.

The debate over torture is getting personal for two of cable TV's prime-time hosts. After Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity made a seemingly impromptu offer last week to undergo waterboarding as a benefit for charity, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann leapt at it. He offered $1,000 to the families of U.S. troops for every second Hannity withstood the technique.

Olbermann repeated the offer on Monday's show and said in an interview Tuesday that he's heard no response. He said he'll continue to pursue it.

"I don't think he has the courage to even respond to this _ let alone do it," Olbermann said.

Olbermann concedes this is one-upsmanship among TV rivals, but says the challenge is meaningful nonetheless:

If you expose people to reality, even with someone who is denying reality, that can have a powerful and important impact.

Check out Olbermann's challenge to Hannity:

PREVIOUSLY:

GLAAD Honors Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann Gets Misty -- And Awesome -- Over "Horrible" Prop 8 Marriage Ban

"Role Model" Kim Kardashian Should Reach Out To Lindsay Lohan, So Sayeth Sean Hannity

Why Is Sean Hannity At Nevada's Bunny Ranch Brothel?

Sean Hannity Is One Sore Loser

MTV Cares

Jake Kalish — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:33:00 GMT

Great piece by Tim Arango in the New York Times Saturday about what MTV's new reality show The Buried Life - in which 4 buddies travel around the country fulfilling the wishes of the less fortunate -means about MTV and youth culture in the Age of Obama.

After years of The Hills and My Super Sweet Sixteen, is having a social conscience the hip new thing?

Four buddies set off across the country in an R.V., video camera in tow, to knock items off their “100 things to do before I die” list: kiss the Stanley Cup, get a tattoo, grow a mustache. With plenty of high jinks and adolescent humor, “The Buried Life” seems like the perfect MTV reality show, except for one unexpected twist. At each stop the group helps deserving locals with their own wishes. In Idaho, for example, they took eight children with brain cancer on a shopping spree at Toys “R” Us.

Meet MTV for the era of Obama. After years of celebrating wealth, celebrity and the vapid excesses of youth, MTV is trying to gloss its escapist entertainment with a veneer of positive social messages...

Executives looked at in-house research and the work of William Strauss, a generational expert who gave a presentation to MTV executives last fall, and saw that the country’s young were deeply engaged in the election and becoming more civic-minded.

One point of discussion at the meetings was whether shows about rich young girls were still relevant.

“It was very clear we were at one of those transformational moments, when this new generation of millennials were demanding a new MTV,” said Stephen Friedman, MTV’s general manager, using the term for those born between 1980 and 2000.

In the era that was passing, Mr. Friedman said, “the humor was more cynical, the idea of community seemed earnest and not cool. It’s the opposite now.”

Community is cool? Cool. We know MTV, the network of A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila, would never air a show about guys going around the country doing charity work unless they thought they could make money off it. Here's hoping they do.

PREVIOUSLY:

Stay Classyfied: MTV Dating Show Pilot

Nick Lachey Is "Taking The Stage"

MTV Makes "Ground Breaking" Foray Into Scripted Shows With "HSM" Parody

"The Real World: Pedro" TV Movie To Air On MTV April 1st

Kathy Cox Of "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader": A Really Good Person In A Really Bad Economy

James Gandolfini Makes A Killing Auctioning Off Tony Soprano's Clothes

Bryan Christian — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:31:00 GMT

The top earner of last night's auction of Sopranos wardrobe in New York City was an outfit Tony got shot in -- bringing in "$43,750, nearly 12 times Christie's pre-sale estimate" -- but even if all you wanted was a little something to piddle around the house in, well, fuggetaboutit.

[James] Gandolfini was at the auction to see Soprano's signature white tank top, light blue striped boxer shorts, striped short robe and leather scuffs went [sic] under the hammer for $21,250, again soaring above the pre-sale estimate of $1,500.
Another robe -- forecast to go for $1,500 -- fetched $13,750...

Proceeds of the sale -- largely organized by Gandolfini -- went to charity, benefitting viewers still traumatized by The Sopranos' season finale. (Ha, we kid; the money went to Wounded Warriors.)

[Thanks Scanner Em!]