By Terri MacLeod

I cannot believe it's been 10 years since John F. Kennedy Jr. died. I remember the morning vividly when I woke up to the news he was missing. I can still see the image of the boats circling in the water looking for his downed plane. I can recall the chills and utter disbelief I felt at that moment!
 
I had the great fortune to meet and interview John over the years as a producer at Access Hollywood. In fact, I was the last person to interview John. I remember him hobbling over to me in crutches and telling me about his paragliding accident - just a few days later he was gone.

By Darius Pirnazar

 

Since the tragic news of the sudden passing of Michael Jackson broke, there have been millions of reasons given, merely attempting to describe his greatness. 

 

But for me, he represented way more than what he was in real life as an entertainer -- he was my family's "safe place" to go during a time in which survival, in its literal sense, was our number one priority. 

Now I know people will read this and say this is cliche and they've heard it all before, but let me explain:

I was born in 1979 in Tehran, Iran and if you know anything about history, you know that the events that took place in Iran shaped the next 30 years in U.S. Middle East relations, and we have somehow experienced the trickling effects of the Iranian revolution, whether its war or high gas prices. But, this isn't a political-based blog, so I'm just giving this background information so you, the reader, can understand why I claim that MJ was bigger than life.   

By Terri MacLeod


The King of Pop will live on forever. The gravity-defying moonwalk, the sequined glove, the cropped pants, and black loafers - Michael defined my generation. I can document my life by his music. When the news broke of his sudden death, I (like the rest of the world) was stunned, shocked and saddened - now a week later, I still can't believe Michael Jackson is gone!

When I returned home from work on June 25, I told my 14-year-old daughter about his death. ...To which she replied, "Why are you upset about him? Isn't he the creepy guy who slept with young boys?"  

My daughter's reaction shocked me! She had no appreciation or understanding of Michael's musical legacy. Obviously, this generation isn't growing-up on Michael. Most tweens today are familiar with his dance moves and mega-hits like "Billie Jean" or "Thriller," but for the most part Michael's 'Wacko Jacko' reputation eclipsed his immense talent, or, seemingly so to my daughter.  

While, I am not here to debate Michael's addiction to painkillers, his questionable relationship with children, or his gasp-worthy plastic surgery, I do believe there are many life lessons we as parents can pass on to our children about Michael's complicated and seemingly very lonely life.

For starters, let's try and get our kids to stop and listen to the music. Michael is, in my opinion, the greatest entertainer our generation has ever seen! He set off a global phenomenon that is rarely seen and quite possibly will never be seen again. His music, his dancing, and his outright sheer genius as a performer, is something to celebrate and be inspired by. For a moment, try and forget all the craziness in his later years and let his music get passed on to the next generation, and hopefully, set into motion a new crop of young artists. As Michael once said, "I always wanted to do music that influences and inspires each generation."    

By Darius Pirnazar

As a member of the production team here at Access Hollywood, I was a part of our "Farrah Week" last week, in which we celebrated and dug deep into Farrah Fawcett's personal life and career. But even though this "special" is meant for celebration of all that is Farrah, I can't stop myself from feeling incredibly guilty.
 
I'm not sad just because of the fact that she's going through a bitter fight with cancer, because let's face it... she's had a wonderful life as a sex symbol and as a successful actress in Hollywood (and I'm saying this even though it might be a little harsh). I have lost three members of my immediate family to cancer and none lived a very glamorous life when they were healthy, so having cancer and losing the battle is not something new to me (or to anyone to that matter). I can guarantee that almost every person that reads this blog will definitely know at least one person that has had cancer or is currently battling it.
 
What bothers me is that I wasn't born when she was at the height of her career and I don't remember much about her when she was "it."  What I do remember is growing up seeing tabloid headlines taking swings at her and her family. And late night comedy shows and stand-up comics using her as the butt of their jokes.
 

By Darius Pirnazar
 
I'm so tired of people who voice their opinions without the full knowledge of the topic they're speaking about. 

Take Miss California for example; I don't have any issues with her voicing her opinion in regards to gay marriage. What bugs me so much is that she has now become the flag bearer for all of those who champion mindless rhetoric and oppose "CHANGE" in our society, without really knowing anything about the subject. 

I know... I know... we've heard the word "CHANGE" many a time during this past election season. But let's face it, "CHANGE" is what was needed in this country from The President on down.

Let's say, for example, Carrie Prejean (Miss California) was in this same pageant 60 years ago and she was asked if she believes that inter-racial marriages should be allowed.  Now, if she took the same approach as when she answered the question on gay marriage, how would we view her and her comments?

By Matt Smith, Access staffer

 

This has absolutely nothing to do with entertainment news whatsoever.

It has nothing to do with Lindsay Lohan. It's not about Britney Spears. Nor is it the latest on Chris Brown & Rihanna. Instead, it's a little something about life and death and love.

There are a lot of heavy hearts out there today. Particularly in the world of baseball, where a 22-year-old kid lost his life.

Last night, Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and two other people were killed early Thursday morning in a hit and run accident when a minivan ran a red light, striking the car they were traveling in. According to the police, the driver of the minivan was driving on a suspended license, under the influence of alcohol, and had a prior drunk driving conviction. Senseless and tragic; words so often used that I wonder if they begin to lose meaning. 

SMoore, 9:07 PM -- Mad rush to leave...

Jen Aniston and John Mayer are lost... arm-in-arm looking for exit from the Kodak.

MJ Farhan (at the Elton John party), 8:03 PM --
Standing in the line outside the event and Kiefer Sutherland and Kate Beckinsale are in line to use the private port-a-potties... didn't even ask...

Later Kiefer and I are outside talking about one of my favorite movies ever, "Young Guns." He was very pleased and told me that he was 20 when they made that movie and they were all kids when they filmed it! He wishes he could have enjoyed that time more cause they all took it for granted! He also said that Emilio Estevez is the nicest and funniest person you will ever meet and if I ever do please tell him Kiefer said so.

MovieMantz, 8 PM -- I haven't eaten since 1:30, but I'm so excited to be here that I didn't think about my stomach! My hunger finally got the best of me, so I decided to wait in line for a turkey sandwich.

It took forever to get to the front of the line, but when I got there, I turned around to see Oscar nominee Michael Shannon standing in the very back.

So I went back, asked what he was drinking and bought him a Champaign and a gin-and-tonic, so he didn't have to wait!

He was very nice and said, "thank you," and what do I get for my good deed? They were all out of turkey sandwiches!

Damn. I'm hungry!

Tony Potts (at the "Slumdog" party), 7:58 PM -- Place erupts... going crazy for A.R. Rahman... and another "Slumdog" win.

SMoore, 7:45 PM -- Angie and Brad hold hands to 1st Floor Bar... they cut, but it's OK... we all forgive...

SMoore, 7:32 PM -- Anne Hathaway beelines it to Powder Room. Moms are awesome... helps with gown... complicated, very complicated and they chat about how lovely Viola Davis is...

MovieMantz, 7:10 PM -- Marisa Tomei getting cozy with her date (boyfriend?) in the corner of the exclusive bar. She doesn't care who's looking at her, but then she stops to answer her cell phone.

After the call, she goes back to being cozy again.

Everyone stops everything and gets really quiet to watch Heath Ledger win Supporting Actor - and see/hear who will accept on his behalf.

Even Marisa Tomei walked to the front of the TV to watch this momentous moment. But she's laughing at Christopher Walken's weird hairdo!

By AJ

Billy Joel was the very first concert I ever saw as a teen. All these years later it is still cool to go to a concert where you know and love almost every song - and added bonus; you can understand the musician (and sing along). You can also look around at the concert and see how many fans also know every word. BJ is also the concert I have seen most. The act doesn't change all that much over the years - and it doesn't matter either.

Before tonight, I saw him most recently at Madison Square Garden when they were recording for his next CD. So, of course, I then added "Live from MSG" to my Billy Joel CD collection. Actually, I had that CD in my car radio last month when it had an electrical issue and the mechanic replaced the radio and my CD was gone - but that is a whole other blog.
Luckily I have at least 35 of BJ's greatest safe on multiple iPods. Thanks Steve Jobs.

Back to BJ on tour - up until tonight my most intimate and unique concert of his that I also shared with my wife and fellow Billy fan was the total and complete opposite of a box at Madison Square Garden. It was in Hawaii at an outdoor casual venue.

I was with my fam on annual vacation and I see a little sign by the concierge desk that said "Tuesday night Billy Joel Live in concert." So odd for us as we think of him with such a NY state of mind (Had to. Too easy. I know).