Huzzah!

Awesome updates on the Haiti podathon:

Some of the prize donations I was not at liberty to reveal yesterday:

@leaky: JK Rowling has donated a set of signed books for the Haiti drive...details to come!

@melissaanelli: Also... signed Neil Gaiman book!!!

The latter is a signed copy of A Harlequin Valentine, which I don't think has been mentioned anywhere else, so: EXCLUSIVE. This in addition to the five copies of a signed/personalized Unseen Academicals that Sir Terry Pratchett is donating, as mentioned yesterday, and some prizes from The Guild folks, although I have no idea yet what they are. Oh, and at least one signed copy of the Movies in Fifteen Minutes paperback, which is wayyyyyyyy down there on the squee! scale, but it's there nonetheless. And, as I will mention again: a lightsaber. You can totally win a lightsaber.

(This came together really fast, so a few things haven't quite shaken out, and not all the prize donors are listed yet; they're in the process of updating the scrolly widget. But, I mean, I personally managed not to have a panic attack and die contacted some of them, so I know for a fact that we have some really great people chipping in. You'll love it, I promise.)

ETA: This isn't up yet, but Peter David is also donating "Tigerheart, which is a Peter Pan pastiche, and a GN of the Sir Apropos of Nothing comic series." Yay and thanks!

And on USA Weekend: Harry Potter fans unite to help Haiti. 
 
I do want to give people credit, though--it's not just Harry Potter fandom doing this, although it's hosted on a Harry Potter fansite; and this isn't THE fandom fundraiser. A fandom donation war between ontd_startrek and ontd_ai  raised $17,002 and $20,863, respectively. Misha Collins from Supernatural rounded up his Twitter minions and raised $26,251. And then on top of that, there's the help_haiti fanwork auction community. So fandom as a whole has been really, really great through this whole thing, and the LiveJournal fan comms have done themselves proud.

Meanwhile, tonight: Who You Might Get on the Phone if You Donate to "Hope for Haiti Now." Short answer: Everyone in Hollywood. Long answer: ( Read more... )

I also have some regular linkspam--really good linkspam--but I think it should wait for its own entry.



 

Liveblog for Haiti, y/n?

Well, it shouldn't be too hard, I figure, because you wouldn't exactly transcribe musical performances. And, let's be honest: we're all really going to be watching it for some pop-culture successor to "George Bush doesn't care about black people." And I don't know about you, but I want to be here for that.

So, I'll do it the way I do regular liveblogs... wait. No, I can't, can I? No commercials, I bet. Well, maybe I'll hit post every now and then when musical performances give us a breather, how about that. So hold on, that'll start in five minutes.

And tomorrow! The SAG Awards liveblog! After the Help Haiti Heal podathon! Because I am insane.

Hope for Haiti #1

So basically, George Clooney went to MTV and said, "I'm George Clooney, give me a telethon," and thus: it was so. And pretty much 83% of Hollywood will be manning and womanning the phone bank. The other 17% will be presenting. Like, seriously. He got Jack Nicholson to chat with the plebes. And then all the other channels agreed to run it, because they might as well, because it's not like anyone will be watching anything else.

The show begins with a sad montage. Yeah... I... I may have to adjust my snarkblogger autopilot here. As a side note, you'll be able to buy any live performance on iTunes as of tomorrow night, so if I mention something you're interested in, you can get hold of it. You know, like all of this won't be on YouTube tomorrow.

( Read more... )

Hope for Haiti #2

Ladies and gentlemen! Leonardo di Caprio! (I'm sorry! The liveblog habits die hard.) He quotes from a doctor's online journal entry. It is kind of harrowing. I am starting to reconsider this whole liveblog thing. The donation link is hopeforhaitinow.org, by the way. And then he says something about "help Haiti heal," which I am going to take as a psychic shoutout to the podathon tomorrow. ( Read more... )

Hope for Haiti #3

I'm getting behind on my typing, as I always do, but they just had a very emotional, wrenching earthquake survivor from Haiti itself and I kind of don't know how to summarize that, except that it ended with "Help my family" on the verge of tears.

So... here's Taylor Swift. ( Read more... )

Hope for Haiti #4

Sheryl Crow, I have never been so glad to see you. Kid Rock, I have never been glad to... you know what, I'll restrain myself. It's for the kids, y'all. Also: Keith Urban. An acoustic "Lean on Me," and it's surprisingly nice.

Back to Anderson, who starts introducing himself, then stops for about twenty seconds, and starts over. Live TV, y'all. He has a young girl here who got rescued after eighteen hours under the rubble; she only seems to speak French, and Anderson... does not. He manages to get out "très jolie" and "très brave." "She is strong, and she looks beautiful."

"Ever since Hillary and I took a delayed honeymoon to Haiti years ago..." Well. Unexpected Bill Clinton is unexpected. I  mean, I know he's the Special Envoy and all, but... wow. I just went back in time to 1992.

Hey, this kinda sounds like the first couple of notes of "Like a Prayer," that's kind of awkward due to that video back in the day but it's a really great song in its original non-video context, it was always one of my favorites, they've got a choir and everything, I wonder who's gonna HOLY SHIT IT'S ACTUAL MADONNA? FOR REAL? THE CAMERA ACTUALLY STAGGERS AND NEARLY FALLS OVER. I KNOW, RIGHT? WE SHOULD JUST TOTALLY END THE SHOW NOW.

@txvoodoo: Anything you put a choir behind automatically is 1000x better.

And now... Ben Stiller. Yeah. Well, no one could follow Madonna.

I missed a bit in there due to a phone call. No, I mean a phone call to me, not to the Celebrity Phone Bank. Now: "Hallelujah," as sung by a bunch of guys in beards and damn incognito hats. I mean, I can tell that Justin Timberlake's on piano, but WHO ELSE IS PERFORMING? DAMMIT, CLOONEY! I'll PAY FOR THE CHYRONS!

@wonderella: How cold is it in this studio that everyone is dressing like Eminem?#187799HAITI

Okay, I'm hearing that the other guy is Matt Morris, and he's on JT's label. There you go. I want to see more of that guy.

Chris Rock with Muhammad Ali (seated), who wrote down a few words and asked Rock to read them. And then I got another phone call. what I heard was very touching, so... go find it on YouTube or something.

Here's Jennifer Hudson with "Let It Be." I'm proud that I recognized her, although the super-short hair gave me a moment of pause. She looks fantastic, by the way.

Anderson Cooper's back with an update on the story Halle Berry was telling us at the beginning of the show; he is here tonight and "seemingly healthy," and he's here with Gabriella, the nurse who helped to save him. I'm going to hit post and get right back to you. 

Hope for Haiti #5

My sweet God almighty, what is that on Brad Pitt's face. It's like he took Robert Pattinson's beard as a personal challenge or something. "Sparkles ain't got BEADS!" ( Read more... )