Vogue's Delightful But Rapid Interview With Sarah Jessica Parker

A delightfully fun interview with Hollywood superstar Sarah Jessica Parker. Through a series of questions, Ms. Parker says that she'd love to sing a duet with Doris Day and that she admires the author and activist Jane Jacobs.

This Heartwarming Mobile Phone Commercial From Thailand Will Make You Cry

A new YouTube video, said to be for Thailand‘s mobile phone operator TrueMove H, of a TV commercial, is intensely moving, and it is being shared all over Facebook. It "will probably make you cry, so make sure you get your tissues ready," wrote the Web site Daily Picks and Flicks.

People are trying to identify the commercial's director, because many Facebook comments suggest that this TV commercial has greater sensibilities than many Hollywood movies made nowadays.

Charles Pierce as Bette Davis (Part One)

An enthusiastic audience stamped their feet and clapped the moment they saw the wisps of cigarette smoke coming from off-stage at the 3,190-seat Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Many of them already knew most of the lines to Charles Pierces irreverent impression of Bette Davis. He had already regaled the mostly gay audience with Mae West (Warden, show me a hardened criminal.), Katharine Hepburn (You old poop) and the rhinestone-throwing Carol Channing (Im so cutesy-pie I could puke!). Pierce always saved the irreverent Davis impression for last. His devoted audiences would not let him off stage until he smoked at least one cigarette in the nervous and distinctive style of the temperamental star of All About Eve and Now, Voyager. There had to be at least three or four cutthroat remarks made about legendary rival Joan Crawford. Then there was the moment when he asked the audience to recite along with one of the campiest lines in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane. The musical director is Michael Biagi. Pierces life story, From Drags to Riches: The Untold Story of Charles Pierce was written by a former collaborator and friend, John Walraff. Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies published it in 2002. Before his death, Pierce donated his papers to the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. For more tributes, go to http://www.bochynski.com/charlespierce

Scientology Katie Holmes Memos

The Church of Scientology is Trying to Discredit Katie Holmes, reports Radar Online

Now that Katie Holmes has separated from Tom Cruise, the big bad Church of Scientology is going to schmear her, so says Radar Online.

When a member goes bad in the eyes of Scientology, the typical punishment is excommunication. But if the person is deemed to be threatening to the reputation of Scientology, that result can be more than "disconnection."

Something along these lines, Samantha Domingo, the ex-wife of Placido Domingo, Jr., said that she suffered after she left the Church of Scientology after 24 years of membership. “Disconnection is the main weapon of Scientology,” Ms. Domingo told The Hollywood Reporter.

After Ms. Domingo left Scientology, she said that she was labelled a "suppressive person" by the church, which means that the church regarded her as a troublemaker, in layman's terms. Because of ex-members fears' of retribution, other ex-church members fear for poor Katie. Radar Online reported that there are already internal church memos being circulated about Katie.

Former Scientology spokesperson Mike Rinder was quoted by Radar Online as having said, "Katie Holmes is probably the biggest suppressive person out there right now."

Is Katie Holmes Being Stalked By Scientology Spies ?

Is Katie Holmes Being Followed By Scientology Private Investigators ?

Ever since Katie Holmes filed for divorce last week, she has been afraid that she is being followed by private investigators connected with the Church of Scientology, according to press reports.

Katie's fears stem from reports that a white SUV has been parked outside of her new apartment building with "suspicious-looking" men inside. (Katie ran away from the apartment she shared with her husband on the day she filed for divorce, and she and Suri have moved into a new apartment building.) NYPD have been called to check on the men in the mysterious SUV, but not charges have been filed.

The New York Daily News has reported that Katie Holmes is no longer wearing her wedding ring.

Stephanie Block Becomes Reno Sweeney

Stephanie J. Block, Quite Becoming as Reno Sweeney in "Anything Goes"

Broadway veteran Stephanie J. Block ("9 to 5," "Wicked"), who recently took over as Reno Sweeney in Broadway's Tony-winning revival of "Anything Goes," recently gave Playbill an exclusive peek at her transformation from "Stephanie" to the brassy nightclub singer of the S.S. American. Sutton Foster, who previously played the role of Reno, has gone Hollywood.

Memory Lane : Lila Leeds

Her name is Lila Leeds. I knew her when I was in my teens growing up. She was MGM's bright young star on the horizon. She was caught smoking pot with Robert Mitchum and they both spent 60 days in jail. Mitchum became more popular than ever. Lila Leeds was never heard from again and forced to leave the state. She did, and went to Chicago. That what it was like for women in the 1950's. -- Mamie Van Doren, via Facebook

Chloë Sevigny Transphobia ?

Chloë Sevigny Cries Over Wearing Prosthetic Penis

Chloë Sevigny has made some culturally incompetent remarks that border on transphobia about her current acting role : she plays a pre-op transgender hitman named Mia in her TV series, Hit & Miss, and had to wear a prosthetic penis, which she described as very upsetting, because "she was worried men would no longer find her attractive," The Daily Telegraph has reported.

"I cried every day when they put it on. You know, I’m ample-chested and I have this on," Sevigny said. "I felt very exposed, and it was hard, very hard, having people so close to your personal parts anyway - who you’re not sleeping with - for an hour-and-a-half each day, to put it on."

"Then looking in the mirror... it was weird. I was lonely and I felt really unattractive," the 37-year-old actress added. "I was confused about my desirability - was I desirable? - in having put that on, and having men see me with that on."

Ms. Sevigny's comments are more than just insensitive to transgenders, what you are dealing with here is ignorance -- deep ignorance on a personal level, when then rises to something worse : spreading hate, because our culture wrongly puts actors and other entertainment people up on pedestals. The right thing to do is to challenge Ms. Sevigny on it, so that she can examine what she is doing. Something similar to this (but not exactly) happened to the author Aphrodite Jones, who once said some very insensitive remarks. What happened to Ms. Jones was that she was challenged, and she came out of that having a new personal understanding that she now carries with her and talks about, having learned new sensibilities. The way I look at it, is as painful as Ms. Sivigny's words are, the key is to challenge Ms. Sivigny and engage her, so that she can learn from her own ignorance and selfishness. That's how you can hear Ms. Sivigny apologise, and then she can go on to speak about this experience to share her new sensibilities with other people.

To change the word, we need to be engaged in a conversation.

A Conversation with David Kaufman, Author of Doris Day Biography

Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door
by David Kaufman

Today, I had lunch with the artist and blogger Suzannah B. Troy, who introduced me to David Kaufman. Mr. Kaufman wrote a biography of Doris Day, which was published by Virgin Books in 2008. (Read a great review of the book, which has made me feel eager to read the biography.)

I got to ask Mr. Kaufman a question about how it came about that Ms. Day became good friends with the author Jacqueline Susann.

Watch the video, then buy the book. I'm reading it now. I love Doris Day !