Blake Griffin begins internship at Funny Or Die (AP)

NEW YORK – Stymied by the NBA lockout, Blake Griffin is going to work for Will Ferrell instead.

This week, the Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward is interning at Funny Or Die, the comedy website co-founded by Ferrell and Adam McKay. Griffin arrived at the site's LA offices Tuesday to begin three days of work in video production.

He will help write, shoot, edit and act in several videos for the site. Funny Or Die quickly creates digital comedy videos, often with celebrity guest appearances.

Griffin said he's a big comedy fan and an avid viewer of Funny Or Die. As an intern, he hopes to learn more about film production.

"Just to get an inside look at how things are run here is exciting to me," Griffin said by phone Tuesday. "I don't know what interns at Funny Or Die are like, but I'm about to find out, I guess."

Mike Farah, president of production at Funny Or Die, pledged that Griffin will be treated like other interns. He noted that the 22-year-old Griffin is, after all, about the same age as most of the site's college interns. (The others, of course, may not be able to dunk over midsize sedans.)

"We're going to put him to work," said Farah. "He's shooting a series of videos, and he's also coming to meetings. He's basically doing everything that an intern does."

Griffin counts "Old School," "Wedding Crashers" and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" among his favorite movies. On Funny Or Die, he likes Zach Galifianakis' mock interview series "Between Two Ferns."

"I'll go see a bad comedy over a good action movie any day," Griffin said.

Griffin, who was last season's NBA Rookie of the Year and won the Slam Dunk Contest (in which he leaped over a Kia Optima), has been keeping busy during the NBA lockout. He's done a lot of sponsorship work, been active on Twitter and launched a basketball camp for kids in Oklahoma City.

Though Griffin averaged 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game last season, he says he's not above fetching coffee in his week as an intern.

"I don't mind doing stuff like that," said the forward. "It's not a problem for me."

___

Online:

http://www.funnyordie.com

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Review: "Red River Blue" finds Blake Shelton less rowdy (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) – Everybody knows winners on TV music competitions have their albums rushed through production to capitalize on instant notoriety. But Blake Shelton may be the first judge on such a show to require his own rush job.

He wasn't scheduled to record his new album, "Red River Blue," until July, after the first season of "The Voice" wrapped. But the success of the NBC series -- or, more accurately, his success on the series -- meant pushing the release date to Tuesday, when he'd originally planned on entering the studio.

The process couldn't have been more hurried if he were your new American Idol. Which maybe he is.

Judge or no, Shelton might be the worthiest beneficiary of a TV talent show since...well, since his bride, Miranda Lambert, finished third on Nashville Star eight years back.

He's already been a borderline-superstar in the country community -- that is, most everywhere between San Bernardino and Hackensack -- but this, his eighth studio recording, might as well be his debut in country-resistant climes like Brentwood and midtown Manhattan.

It's a pretty decent starter course, and/or career summation, depending where you're coming from.

Newcomers may be slightly confused. Is he the lovable rogue who delights in the most politically incorrect gags and bawdy postings any mainstream star dares type on Twitter? Or the gentleman groom recently seen looking courtly on wedding-themed magazine covers? Both, of course, at least on record, where Shelton enjoys playing country music's Goofus and its Gallant.

His rascal side -- let's call it "Rake" Shelton -- gets a workout on "Get Some," the album's pickin'-est and grinnin'-est nod to irresponsibility. (Sample lyrics: "You get gas/You get beer/You get weird/You get drove home/You get up-thrown.") But some songs that threaten rambunctiousness disguise a morally conservative core.

"Drink On It" is not one of Shelton's rowdy odes to getting plastered, but a reasonably polite suggestion to a girl that they get to know each other over libations. (It contains one of the album's more memorable rhymes: "We can talk rocket science, Jesus, or politics/Hey, your boyfriend cheated on you?/Man, he sounds like such a prick.") "Good Ole Boys," a musical homage to Waylon Jennings, doesn't champion outlaw behavior but rather good manners, knocking baggy pants-wearing kids who "don't say ma'am or sir no more."

The ballads abandon these regional tropes. (The best, "Addicted," is only available on the iTunes/Walmart deluxe edition.) Lambert adds guest harmonies to the pleasingly rueful title track; apparently these two aren't afraid to jinx their honeymoon with a breakup lament.

Less successfully, Shelton indulges in a rare flirtation with goop on "God Gave Me You," a cover of a Christian rock power ballad that renders divine providence particularly bland. Naturally, it's the album's next single, but you have to wonder what Shelton's shadow Twitter side really makes of the song.

Is his sweeter persona taking over to cater to newfound TV viewers who might not care to kiss his country behind (to paraphrase a recent Shelton anthem)? Or is it a natural continuation of his late success with romantic ballads like "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking"? Has wedded bliss had a settling musical effect, too -- or did he just have too abbreviated a song-picking window to find any new rowdy classics?

If he's mellowing, it's hardly a fatal shift: Even a slightly tamed Shelton is still gratifyingly Goofus-y by other country hitmakers' standards.

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Blake Lively "nude" pictures fake, publicist says (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A series of widely circulated photographs purporting to show "Gossip Girl" actress Blake Lively posing naked are "100 percent fake," her spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The Internet was abuzz late in the day as the five photos of a naked busty blond taking snapshots of herself with an iPhone in front of a bathroom mirror spread among major gossip websites.

"Blake Lively won't be happy about this," said celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, noting that the 23-year-old starlet has just reportedly started dating Leonardo DiCaprio.

Rival site Zap2It, noting the early-generation iPhone and different shaped nose, suggested the pictures were several years old.

In four of the pictures, the woman's face was partially concealed by her phone. The fifth was too blurry to make a definitive call. But a spokeswoman for the squeaky-clean actress was in doubt.

"The photos of Blake Lively which have just surfaced on various websites ... are 100 percent FAKE," the spokeswoman said. "Blake has never taken nude photos of herself."

Moreover, Lively will take legal action against any outlets that publish the photos, the spokeswoman added.

Lively rose to fame in the teen television soap "Gossip Girl," and had a sex scene in the 2010 crime thriller "The Town." Earlier this year she signed on as the new face of French fashion house Chanel's Mademoiselle handbag ad campaign.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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Blake Lively "nude" pictures fake, publicist says (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A series of widely circulated photographs purporting to show "Gossip Girl" actress Blake Lively posing naked are "100 percent fake," her spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The Internet was abuzz late in the day as the five photos of a naked busty blond taking snapshots of herself with an iPhone in front of a bathroom mirror spread among major gossip websites.

"Blake Lively won't be happy about this," said celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, noting that the 23-year-old starlet has just reportedly started dating Leonardo DiCaprio.

Rival site Zap2It, noting the early-generation iPhone and different shaped nose, suggested the pictures were several years old.

In four of the pictures, the woman's face was partially concealed by her phone. The fifth was too blurry to make a definitive call. But a spokeswoman for the squeaky-clean actress was in doubt.

"The photos of Blake Lively which have just surfaced on various websites ... are 100 percent FAKE," the spokeswoman said. "Blake has never taken nude photos of herself."

Moreover, Lively will take legal action against any outlets that publish the photos, the spokeswoman added.

Lively rose to fame in the teen television soap "Gossip Girl," and had a sex scene in the 2010 crime thriller "The Town." Earlier this year she signed on as the new face of French fashion house Chanel's Mademoiselle handbag ad campaign.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.