Tina Fey is now the youngest person to have been awarded the Kennedy Center for the Performing Art’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The chairman of the Kennedy Center sang her praises:

Like Mark Twain, Tina Fey offers her brilliance unconditionally,” said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein “Throughout her career, she’s earned legions of fans for her quick, unapologetic wit and social commentary.”

The co-executive producer explains a little more about why they chose Tina as the recipient for 2010:

“She’s politically conscious, she’s a writer, she’s a filmmaker, she’s a producer, she’s a performer,” Mark Krantz, co-executive producer of the Twain salute, said. “Her body of work is as inclusive and far-reaching as anyone else’s, and she’s just funny.”

“kind of broke the ceiling for many, many women in comedy”

Cool! Tina Fey has certainly contributed a LOT to entertainment over the last decade or so and most of her stuff is truly great. Keep it up Tina!

(Story pretty much taken directly from I’m Not Obsessed, photo: ChicagoNow.com)

How’s this for awesome:

After investing 15 years and millions of his own money in new oil-separation technology, Costner hopes to help clean the oil from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico at a faster and more successful rate than ever before.

Moved by the catastrophic Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, the Oscar winner and ardent fisherman bought new centrifugal oil separators from the government in 1995, investing $24 million to develop the vacuum-like machines for the private sector.

Fifteen years later, BP has approved six of the machines for testing in the gulf, where they will extract the spilled oil, send it back to a tanker and pump 99 percent purified water back into the ocean.

Kevin Costner (Septner), you rock. Thanks for taking the initiative on this one when so many people are just sitting around pointing fingers.

Stacey: My mom will love this story.  Kevin Costner is her Hollywood boyfriend.

(Source: AOL News, pic: Socialite Life)

(Pic: images.dailyradar.com)

I am not sure if you guys remember this but in July of 2009 Adam Yauch (aka MCA) of the Beastie Boys announced that he had cancer.  Haven’t heard much from him since then but my hubby is on the boys mailing list and received this awesome email yesterday:

hello,

wanted to send this out to you guys in case you were into  it, or wanted to give it to anyone who you think might be.

a few friends and i are meditating at the same time twice a day. 9:30am and 6:30pm eastern standard time, for about an hour and half.

we are picturing smashing apart all of the cancer cells in the world.

we are visualizing taking the energy away from the cancer, and then sending it back at the cancer as lightening bolts that will break apart the DNA and RNA of the cells. if you have the time, please join us in whipping up this lightening storm.  mind over matter……

if you prefer to sit then sit, but if you are not used to meditating, or sitting quietly doesn’t sound like fun, put on some music and dance while you do the visualization, and if you want to do it at some other time, or picture curing some other illness that’s fine too. yoko will be joining the meditation by visualizing all of us dancing with joy to celebrate the world without cancer. all variations are welcome. this is really just being done with a wish for all beings to be cured of all illnesses and to find true lasting happiness.

i’ll also be saying prayers for the earthquake victims in tibet, so join in on that if you can too.

please feel free to pass this onto anyone who you think may find it interesting.

with all my love,

adam yauch

Love it.  Thought I would share.

Tanya: Very cool. I’m usually sitting at a desk zoned out and staring at a wall at both of those times anyway (7:30am & 4:30pm MST) so why not visualize the destruction of cancer while I’m at it?

Here’s Eva Longoria at the Noble Gift Gala where she received the Humanitarian Noble Gift Award for her work raising money for the Make a Wish Foundation UK and Eva’s Heroes.

Stacey: Awesome for her humanitarian work.  However, is it a fashion faux pas to wear a red dress on a red carpet?

(pic: JustJared)

Ryan Gosling is taking it up with McDonalds over their treatment of chickens.

“Dear Mr. Skinner, I was shocked to learn from my friends at PETA that McDonald’s, a company that claims to be an industry leader in animal welfare, still allows its suppliers to use an outdated chicken slaughter method that results in broken wings and legs and causes birds to be scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

“Many of McDonald’s suppliers in Europe already use a much more humane slaughter method that eliminates the worst cruelty. What’s your excuse?

“Because no federal laws govern the treatment of chickens during slaughter, the responsibility lies in your company’s hands to create and maintain a high standard of animal welfare. I hope you will agree that the time has come for McDonald’s to truly take action to reduce the suffering of chickens killed for its restaurants. I look forward to hearing your decision. Thank you. Sincerely, Ryan Gosling.”

Ryan wrote a similar letter to KFC in Canada 2 years ago and according to JustJared“just days later, the company that coordinates the purchase of chicken for all Canadian KFCs agreed to phase in the purchase of 100 percent of chicken from suppliers that use these methods”.

I’m not a vegetarian, but knowing what I do about animal processing facilities makes me want to be one. Just the thought of what we feed the animals we’re about to eat, the filth they live in and the things we do to them really disgusts me. I’m hoping McDonalds listens to him so I can eat my Nuggets and no longer feel shame and repulsion.

Fact: McDonald’s is the USA’s second largest purchaser of chicken (next to KFC).

Stacey: I am a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to this.  I was a vegetarian for like 9 years because I have a hard time with the idea of eating an animal.  However, I also think that animals are delicious. 

And I am 100% for the ethical treatment of animals.  Even if they are just being produced to be eaten, I think they should be treated humanely.  But I loves me some McChicken sammiches.  So, iff they could come to me with out the chickens being tortured, that would be great.  Thanks for spear heading this mission Ryan

(Pic: Celebitchy)

Happy story of the day!

About a month ago Jesse James, from West Coast Choppers (and Sandra Bullocks hubby) put out  fliers for his dog, Cinnabun, after the pit bull had gone missing.  Which is horrible, because more often than not, when dogs go missing, like Jessica Simpson’s dog Daisy, they are never found again.

But lucky for Jesse a lady contacted him earlier this week to say she had found Cinnabun and recognized him from the fliers!  Hooray!  How often do we get a happy end to a potentially sad story. Pretty much never!

And I am so happy for Jesse.  I mean, look at this picture!  Isn’t that the best picture?  Look how happy they are!

I know what it is like when one of your fury friends goes missing.  Its pretty much the worst feeling in the world; just not knowing if you are ever going to find them.  My one dog, Anni, is an escape artist.  Plus she is part Australian Shepard so I think she likes to go on walkabouts.  Anyways, she has gotten out of our yard 3 times.  Once we found her, the second time we had to go rescue her from doggy jail (the pound) and the third time, she was hit by a car.  Don’t worry though!  A police officer saw her get hit and took her to the vet hospital (the person who hit her just drove away) where they were able to ID her by her tattoo and took excellent care of her.  She is great now and I think has learned her lesson about running away because she hasn’t done it since.

Thank goodness there are people in this world who stop to care for lost animals.  I always do it, because what goes around comes around and I always hope someone would help one of my guys if they were away from home.  I mean, who wouldn’t help these guys.  Look at those faces! Anni is on the right and Stan is on the left.  Stan is a little camera shy and hates having his picture taken.

[View with PicLens]

Tanya: Awwwww. I love your dogs. Even though I’m not much of a dog person Stan & Anni totally won me over And I’m so glad that Cinnabun found her way home!! Yay!!

Update: Today Sandra Bullock tried to help out a dog that was loose running around town. What goes around comes around

Stacey: Awww, this story gives me warm fuzzies.

Radiohead is my fave so it makes me extra happy to see them put on a concert for a good cause. All $572,754 of the proceeds from their concert went to the OXFAM Haiti Relief Fund.

Lots of celebs checked it out. You can see more photos over at Socialite Life. I chose this one for the story cover because the dude holding it is using some tissues so as to not get fingerprints on it. What, is it a collectors item? If that person sells it on eBay they better donate the money or else they’re taking a charitable cause and totally exploiting it for their own gain. Not cool.

(Thank you Celebitchy for this story and picture)

So ya.  Reason # 1042 that I love Colin Farrell…he visits sick children in the hospital on Christmas day. And brought them presents. So sweet.  And totally swoon worthy.  Apparently, this is something he does quite often.  Colin’s first son, James, was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome, which is a rare neuro genetic condition, and ever since then Colin has been active in philanthropy related to support of children’s hospitals or special needs organizations.

Doing good.  Doesn’t that decrease Colin’s sleaze score a little bit, Tanya?

Tanya: Yes. Visiting sick children & bringing them presents on Christmas Day decreases the sleaze score. A lot. In fact I find it a bit attractive. If Colin Farrell is on next years list this will help him out big time.

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie donated $100,000 as a Christmas gift to the American SOS Children’s Villages.

Angie: “We have seen first-hand the remarkable job SOS does to raise orphaned and abandoned children and keep families together. No one ‘ages out’ of an SOS Village: vocational training, advanced education, living assistance and moral support are there forever.”

Brad: “In this holiday season, many of us take for granted that we are surrounded by loving family members. The poor outcomes for foster children indicate that we must do a much better job of supporting them.”

Stacey: This photo cracks me up.  It looks like someone is peering out from behind Brad.

Instead of spending money at the bar on cocaine for her 20th birthday, Taylor Swift donated $250K to public schools around the US that she has been associated with over the years. The money will pay for books, teachers’ salaries and programs.

Props to Taylor Swift for giving back!

Photo is of her last week with some super straight hair. I gotta say I prefer the curls. Maybe because my hair is super straight and I’m jealous of her curly hair. The grass is always greener.

(Source: People)