Just grin and Colbert it
Stephen Colbert, who couldn’t get his mock presidential campaign off the ground, is aiming higher: He’s convinced his many fans to write in his name in NASA’s online public vote to name a new room to be added to the international space station.
So instead of NASA’s suggested choices – Serenity, Legacy, Earthrise or Venture – the space station’s new addition may wind up with the name “Colbert.”
The count earlier this week had votes for the “Colbert Report” host just shy of 115,000 and Serenity trailing at 98,641. More than 451,000 people have cast ballots; voting continues until March 20.
The name Colbert doesn’t quite fit with NASA’s theme, an agency spokesman said. Other U.S. rooms in the international orbiting outpost are named Unity, Harmony and Destiny.
But contest rules say voting results “are not binding on NASA and NASA reserves the right to ultimately select a name.”
Colbert already has managed to get his name attached to an ice cream flavor, a Hungarian bridge, an eagle and a spider, to name a few.
Walk the line? He crossed it
Joaquin Phoenix, who’s making a curious transition from acting to a hip-hop music career, jumped off the stage at a Miami Beach nightclub and confronted an audience member who was heckling him before being escorted away by security guards.
It’s unknown whether the confrontation – like Phoenix’s bizarre behavior on David Letterman’s “Late Show” – was real or a put-on. His brother-in-law, actor Casey Affleck, again recorded the event on video.
Come, and they will follow
U2 shook a small city Wednesday with a private concert in a venue a fraction of the size of the stadiums it plans to fill later this year.
Bono and company played the 1,000-seat Somerville (Mass.) Theater as fans swarmed the area, looking for a way into the show or for just a glimpse of the musicians.
Tickets were long gone by showtime, many through local radio stations.
They’re growing on trees
It’s a boy, again, for Anne Heche.
The 39-year-old actress and former “Men in Trees” co-star James Tupper welcomed son Atlas Heche Tupper over the weekend.
Heche also has a 7-year-old son, Homer, from her marriage to cameraman Coleman Laffoon. Their divorce was finalized this week.
A hole left in her Will
Britain’s Prince William recalled the death of his mother, Princess Diana, on Thursday as he became a royal patron of a charity she once was associated with.
“Never being able to say the word ‘mummy’ again in your life sounds like a small thing,” he said at event organized by the Child Bereavement Charity. “However, for many, including me, it’s now really just a word – hollow and evoking memories.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Neil Sedaka is 70. Actor William H. Macy is 59. Actress Dana Delaney is 53. Bassist Adam Clayton (U2) is 49. Actress Tracy Wells (“Mr. Belvedere”) is 38. Actress Annabeth Gish is 38. Rapper Common is 37. Actor Danny Masterson (“That ’70s Show”) is 33.