Celebs Out & About
Convicted woman beater Chris Brown, center, yukked it up with producer Polow Da Don, left, and Lakers player Ron Artest yesterday during the Celtics vs. Lakers game at the Staples Center.
Then he shared a laugh with struggling R&B singer Usher at the LA Lakers game. Brown appeared before a judge in L.A. yesterday for a progress report hearing. The judge praised Brown for keeping his nose clean and attending domestic violence classes as part of his probation agreement. The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers by the final score of 87-86 at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, CA.
MORE pics after the break!
Morning Wood: Joel (Bird’s Brother)
Today’s Morning Wood hunk is Joel, the brother of Bird, one of my longtime readers. According to Bird, her brother Joel is most recently known for his television and modeling work. In February, he debuted on VH1’s newest hit reality series, Let’s Talk About Pep, as the love interest of celebrity broadcast journalist Jacque Reid.
The show, which stars Sandy “Pepa” Denton of Salt-N-Pepa fame, holds a weekly audience of 2 million viewers and is currently one of VH1’s most popular programs. As a model, Joel was recently featured on the website of Essence magazine as the “Eye Candy of the Week” in a 10-photo spread.
MORE pics of Joel after the break!
Lil Wayne Had 8 Root Canals, Implants Done In One Sitting
According to gossip bible TMZ.com, convicted rapper Lil Wayne underwent extreme dental surgery yesterday in Florida. The rapper had 8 root canals, several implants and his prized platinum and bejeweled grill removed in preparation for his 12-month bid in Riker’s Island prison next month.
Wayne had his grill worked on, several tooth implants redone, more implants added and had the few real teeth he had left repaired.
This is the critical dental surgery that kept Wayne from being shipped off to the big house last week.
The judge allowed the rapper to put his sentence for felony attempted gun possession on hold until March 2 — enough time for Wayne to get his mouth prison-ready.
If that’s even possible.
Wow. And here I am scared to get two implants done in one day. Lil Weezy is better than me.
Medical Minute: MRSA
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) is a contagious skin infection that can be fatal.
MRSA is caused by the common bacteria staphylococcus — or “staph” for short. Most of us carry staph bacteria on our skin and in our noses without being infected. It is spread easily by skin to skin contact even by people who don’t show any signs of infection.
In the 70s and 80s, MRSA was commonly referred to as a hospital acquired infection (HA-MRSA). The infections spread rapidly within hospital settings and nursing homes where patients with weakened immune systems lived in close quarters.
The centers For Disease Control (CDC) and public health experts went to great measures to educate health care workers about the importance of hand washing between patient care to contain the bacteria within hospitals and nursing homes.
Over time the bacteria colonized patients (and health care workers) and mutated to become super resistant to most antibiotics that normally kept it in check. In the late 80s and early 90s, MRSA bacteria leaped from the hospital setting and into the surrounding communities where cases began to arise among the healthy population. Those cases are referred to as community acquired infections (CA-MRSA).
MRSA made headline news recently when healthy young people began dying from simple skin infections.
Staph becomes a problem when it enters the body through a break in the skin such as a cut or scratch. Once in the bloodstream, it is very difficult to treat because MRSA is resistant to most antibiotics. For that reason, it is sometimes referred to as a “super bug.”
It’s now resistant to methicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, oxacillin, and many other antibiotics. While a few antibiotics still work, MRSA is constantly adapting and researchers are having a tough time developing new antibiotics to keep up with the new strains.
The biggest factor in the proliferation of MRSA is the practice of prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily over the decades as well as antibiotics given to livestock that leached into the municipal city water.
The most at risk for MRSA infections are young children whose immune systems aren’t fully developed yet, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, such as HIV/AIDS patients.
MRSA causes soft tissue infections (such as the example in the pic above), but it can also spread to the lungs (leading to pneumonia) or to the bones and heart valves. Most MRSA skin infections are harmless and resolve within days. The infection generally starts out as small red bumps or tiny blisters, boils or spider bites.
Signs and Symptoms of MRSA include:
- Swelling, redness and tenderness of the skin around the wound
- Foul smelly, pus or drainage
- Fever
More Info On The Web
Skin Problems and Treatments: Understanding MRSA – WebMD
MRSA – Mayo Clinic
Las Vegas Mayor Declines Obama’s Invitation
Remember the Las Vegas mayor who called U.S. president Barack Obama a “slow learner” after he singled out Las Vegas during one of his classic do as I say, not as I do moments?
Well, according to online reports, Mayor Oscar Goodman refused an invitation to meet with President Obama who was is in Vegas yesterday.
“I’ve got other things to do quite frankly for my constituents here in Las Vegas who rely on me to do the right thing as a mayor,” explained Mayor Goodman. Ouch.
When asked if he was surprised that the White House extended an invitation to him in the first place, Mayor Goodman said, “A little bit in the sense I would think they would know that I would say I’m not coming,” said Mayor Goodman.
“We are hurting, we have people in foreclosures, we have people having a hard time feeding their families and we can’t stand to have a flippant statement made,” said Mayor Goodman.
So far there’s been no comment from the White House.
Celebs Out & About
Convicted woman beater Chris Brown tried to look studious and bookish when he entered a L.A. courtroom today for a progress hearing. The hearing took place before the same judge who sentenced Brown to hard labor in his native Virginia for assaulting ex-girlfriend Rihanna.
The judge wasn’t buying Brown’s choirboy appearance. She grilled Brown’s attorneys and requested proof that Brown was in compliance with the terms of his probation.
According to TMZ:
Brown and his lawyer, Mark Geragos, presented proof to the judge that Chris had performed 32 days of hard labor in Virginia. He’s also attended 17 out of the required 52 domestic violence classes.
The Chief of Richmond, VA wrote a letter to the judge saying Brown is doing a good job.The judge said Chris can now travel out of the country, provided he gets permission from her in advance.
Brown already has the judge’s permission to leave the country to perform in concerts from May 18 to June 27.
More after the break
Celebrity Seed
Music mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs had his hands full with his adorable 3-year-old twins Jessie James and D’Lilah Star. Sean wrote on his Twitter page: “It is possible to love 2 girls at the same time!” Well, he should know.
NBA star Kevin Garnett showed off his beautiful daughter and his typical NBA wife at the All Star game last weekend.
More pics after the break!
