Click On Oprah’s Do To See All Her Do’s And Don’ts From The Past 25 Years

"Has anyone ever told you, Daniel, that you look just like Matt Damon?"

Wednesday night, thanks  to Johnnie Walker Black Label turning 100, we got to meet Carlos Ponce and ask him wtf he was thinking putting on that mullet wig for Couples Retreat.

Guanabee: Carlos, thank you for speaking with us!

Carlos Ponce: Has anyone ever told you you look like Matt Damon? Hey, I’m being interviewed by Matt Damon, everybody.

GB: Ha ha. You kill me. So, for your latest movie, Couples Retreat, can you tell us a little about your character? Would you say he represents the stereotypical Latin Lover?

CP: (Chuckles) Well, technically, we don’t know if the guy is Latino. We aimed to give him a neutral accent and no specific origin. As an actor, I had to give him a place of birth for my own development, but he was intended to be a man of the world. He is a guy who truly believes in what he’s doing and everything he’s teaching. No filth. No harm. Innocent.

GB: It seems like you come across these kind of people every once in a while…

CP: Definitely. I’ve met those people! And there is always someone like this who comes to mind when developing a character. There are little pieces, traits you pick up from someone else. Not 100 percent, but there are always little pieces you pick up from someone else.

GB: So, how did you prepare for this?

Carlos Ponce as a swarthy yoga instructor in Couples Retreat

CP: (Laughs.) There was really no way to prepare for this. This guy was sensual and sexual but very naïve about it. In a sense, he is the same way with women as he is with men. You know, “please come embrace this, I love this… etc”, the character was open but not intending to be sexual. He just was that way.

GB: And the girls can’t control themselves… (nervous laughter)…anyhow… so tell us now about your new project, the telenovela Pero Amor.

CP: In 1998, I was in Colombia promoting an album, and it was on the air. I was intrigued by it and then subsequently became friendly with the writer, but logistically it just couldn’t come together. Then a month and a half ago, this project fell in my lap. Everything happened fast, and I ran with it.

GB: So your character, Antonio, he falls in love with a cousin.

CP: Yes, but she is not the one he loves. She is the one he is adventurous with….

GB: Kissing cousins! So, just jumping back to the topic of crossover.

CP: Were we on that topic?

GB: Well, some artists don’t handle it so gracefully. What are your feelings about how to retain your identity as a Latino, while also being approachable to a more “general” audience?

CP: Personally, I have never liked the word crossover when referring to someone who is American Latino, which is my case. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico,  but lived in the U.S. for 28 years, so I’m an American. This is where I live and work. If we use that word, lets use it, but to not to pigeonhole people. We need to teach about culture and the individual. Also, Latinoamericanos need to come together because that is still an uphill battle, and we are still separated by our own cultures.

GB: Do you have any political aspirations?

CP: I have zero!

GB: Do you have advice for young Latinos who want to break into entertainment industry?

CP: You have to want it more than anything in the world because there is a lot of rejection. You cannot just wing it, you have to train to respect your public.

GB: Well, I just want to thank you. Guanabee and its readers are huge fans.

CP: Thank you! Encantado.

Christina Ambers and Angel Rotger at their wedding.

She was a high-priced foot and hand model. He was a lowly, upper east side doorman–at her building–when they met and fell in love. Though his boss strictly forbade him from dating any of the tenants and his boss’ wife hit him in the nuts with her purse so hard he suffered a contusion of the testicle, doorman Angel Rotger “couldn’t stay away from his sole-mate.” (Bwa ha ha.) The couple carried on in secret and, two months later, they were married. When they were discovered, Angel was fired and now, Christina Ambers, his bride, says the co-op board is trying to run them out. What to do? Sue them for $10 million in Manhattan state Supreme Court. (This woman ain’t a high-priced hand and foot model for nothing.)

“[T]his wealthy Upper East Side cooperative objects to a Hispanic former porter residing side by side with the other” tenants, the lawsuit against 340 E. 74th St. Owners Corp. says.

We’d object to living next door to the woman who did this for a living:

A lawyer for the building, Joe Colbert, said “their claims have no merit.” Meanwhile, the couple has a pretty long laundry list of things the building staff won’t do for them since Angel moved in from his old place in the Bronx. (The Bronx? We feel ill.)

They aren’t told when messengers and packages arrive, and staffers refuse to get cabs for them, as they do other residents, the suit says.

When a water leak buckled the floorboards in Amber’s apartment, the building managers refused to make repairs, the suit says. Now the couple can’t move out, because the damage made the pad unsellable. In the meantime, the building held a meeting last night to discuss the possibility of terminating their lease.

UES gal: I face boot for marrying the help [NY Post]
Christina Ambers’ photostream [flickr]

The guest list included the likes of Gawker’s Nick Denton and PR guru Kelly Cutrone mixing it up with Guanabee readers and “it” kids from across the media universe, (The Fire And Reason somehow ended up there), all munching on pulled pork quesadillas. You shoulda been there. Well, at least you can check out the photos.

Click On The Doorman To Get Past The Velvet Rope And See The Guanabee Party At Le Poisson Rouge

A Brazilian transsexual prostitute named Brenda who was involved in a scandal last month that led to the resignation of Piero Marrazzo, the senior figure in the leftist opposition party of Italy and the regional president of Rome, was found dead this morning in her apartment. She was charred to death in a fire put out by firefighters. She was found semi-naked, with half a bottle of whisky by her side and two suitcases by the door - as if she had been ready to leave.

A little back story: Brenda figured prominently in the case of a compromising video used by four cops to blackmail Marrazzo, who it turned out frequented the company of transsexuals. Marrazzo, a married man with children, initially paid them off in tens of thousands of euros, but eventually resigned following the arrest of the four cops.

Marrazzo originally claimed the controversial tape was fake.

Days ago, Brenda, (no last name was given), reported to police that she was mugged and beaten by thugs and, according to another transsexual friend, had expressed suicidal inclinations.

‘There were no signs of violence on her body,” a police spokesman told the press, “but the death is still being treated as suspicious - it would not be the first time a murder has been made to look like suicide.”

For now, police are treating her apartment as a crime scene. As for motive, it’s come to light that another “sex and drugs” tape featuring Brenda and Marrazzo exists and one theory is that there may be other VIP’s on the tape, which was shot at a party, who want her silenced.

1. Haiti (ranked 168th)

2. Venezuela (162nd)

3. Paraguay (154th)

4. Ecuador (146th)

5. Nicaragua and Honduras (130th)

6. Guyana (126th)

7. Bolivia (120th)

8. Argentina (106th)

9. Jamaica and the Dominican Republic (99th)

10. Mexico (89th)

To give you some perspective, the country perceived as most corrupt is Somalia with a corruption transparency score of 1.1 (the lower the score, the lower the transparency.) Afghanistan ranked second with a score of 1.3. Meanwhile, the United States earned a score of 7.3 and Canada 8.7. Mexico scored 3.3 by comparison. New Zealand scored highest in the world with a transparency score of 9.7.

The news that Oprah Winfrey will stop production of The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011 to start her own cable network has us feeling all nostalgic. Let’s take a look back at some of the show’s more memorable episodes.

Tom Cruise On The Couch

The day Tom Cruise appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, in 2005, to hop on the couch over Katie Holmes. Who is a woman. Because he’s not gay. Obviously tops everyone’s list.

Audience Giveaway…Psyche!

Oprah’s “My Favorite Things” became an audience favorite after she began giving away cars and $1000 credit cards, but this audience was so greedy, they misheard Oprah when she announced that she wouldn’t be doing the segment anymore. And they freaked the fuck out. Hilarious.

The Hip Hop Town Hall

After Don Imus was fired for calling the Rutgers University women’s basketball team a bunch of “nappy headed hos,” Oprah was the only one to confront the black, male hip hop community for making the word hos a part of the American, white vernacular. To which they sort of just stammered.

Elizabeth Edwards Interview

When Elizabeth Edwards appeared on Oprah to discuss her cheating husband John, the pain was frikkin palpable. And we wondered why she did it.

Randy Pausch Reprising His “Last Lecture”

Oprah introduced America to Randy Pausch, an amazing scientist who used his fatal battle with pancreatic cancer to teach the world about positivity. He died shortly after this episode.

Dispelling The Tommy Hilfiger Rumor

Who knew the rumor about Tommy Hilfiger being a racist included an Oprah Winfrey Show episode? We heard that one in like 1992. In 2007, Tommy appeared on the show–for the first time–to set the record straight.

Confronting James Frey

In 2006, when Oprah was made to look a fool for promoting the hell out of James Frey’s ultimately fictional memoir A Million Little Pieces, she took him to task on national television. The entire nation was glued to their seat. She apologized later.

Yesterday we pointed you to an image of Eliane Cavalleiro, Danny Glover’s Brazilian professor girlfriend cum fiancée. But just who is this smarty pants that has her man so tired out he can’t keep his eyes open? Eliane is 43, an educator and author. One of her books is called Racism And Anti-Racism In Education: Rethinking Our Schools, so obviously the issues of race and education are important to her. (Which doesn’t exactly bode well that Glover couldn’t keep awake at that Black Cinema symposium the other day.) Her bio, from a speaking engagement at the International Adult Learners Week in 2004, had this to say:

Eliane Cavalleiro (Brazil) has been trained in literature and pedagogic, and holds a doctorate in education from the University of Sao Paulo. Her field of specialization is the socialization processes of the Afro-Brazilian population. She used to be the coordinator of the NGO Geledés – Institute of Black Women, which is undertaking education projects for youth, adolescents and adults in the outskirts of Sao Paulo. Ms Cavalleiro has also given teacher training, particularly for the public sector. She has published two books on racism and discrimination in the education of children, among them “Racism and Anti-Racism in Education: Rethinking our Schools”. Currently Ms Cavalleiro is coordinating the Unit on Diversity and Educational Inclusion of the Secretariat of Continuing Education, Literacy and Diversity at the Ministry of Education.

Also? Her fiancé misspelled her name on Twitter. Not that it means anything. Probably he was just translating. The couple met in 2003 at the World Social Forum in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. Glover told the press that the two will marry in December and possibly live in the States. Or not. You know, because he’s rich as sin and probably has a few homes in a few places. Congratulations to the happy couple.

Click On Johnny Depp To See A Gallery Of The Sexiest Men Alive 2009

Vicar: ‘We Forgive Our Daughter’s Killers’ [Sky]