Griff Jenkins announced Friday that he’ll be LiveBlogging the Emmys from this very site!  And the good news is, he and I are teaming up to provide the best Emmy coverage on the web!  I’ll give my take on the winners and especially the fashions!!!  Griff will give his always hilarious-yet-insightful scoop on all the losers, the wacky speeches, the hosts and any surprise Diddy appearances!

Ryan Seacrest, 59th Emmy Awards (Corbis)

 I have a few early predictions:

–Ryan Seacrest SHOULD win for best reality competition host.  His show is LIVE and he’s perfectly polished every episode.  Tom Bergeron also hosts a LIVE show and does a great job, so I’d also be happy for him if he gets the statuette.

–”Mad Men” will clean up, winning several statuettes, including a possible Best Actor in a Drama Series award for Jon Hamm.

–”Damages” is a strong contender in several categories, and I’d like to see Glenn Close win Best Actress in a Drama Series.

Much more scoop to come, as the red carpet gets underway…

When news breaks, it becomes a huge team effort to get the facts to our audience.  This morning, we learned that a plane crashed, and that it was carrying former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and celebrity DJ Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM.  The two are in critical condition; the AP reports that 4 others died.  Full story at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,425671,00.html 

I heard the news while Fox and Friends was on-air, so I emailed Clayton Morris, to share some details in case he and Dave and Alisyn needed some quick background on the two celebrities.  

FOX News anchor Ainsley Earhardt is from Columbia, SC, the site of the crash.  She emailed me to make sure I’d heard the news and to give me some additional information that she had for me. 

AP: The wreckage of a Learjet that was carrying former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein, also known as DJ AM.

I emailed my supervisors and the FOX assignment desk to let them know I was working the story and to ask what else I could do to help.

FOX Entertainment Producer Extraordinaire Ashley Dvorkin gave me the contact info for singer Gavin DeGraw, who also performed in Columbia last night.  I contacted his publicist, who quickly confirmed for me that DeGraw was NOT on the plane.  Dvorkin and I discussed how sad this story is, and then planned how best to cover it.

And producer Alicia Rancilio forwarded the latest wire reports to me and offered to help me research this story.

A real team effort, to make sure we get out the information as quickly and accurately as possible.

AP

Thursday night, the New York Public library was the site of The Party That Never Was.

For those who have seen “Sex and the City: The Movie,” you might remember a certain scene – where Carrie had a bird on her head. Remember? The party that was supposed to happen that night, finally rocked New York last night. And I have scoop you won’t hear anywhere else!

Of course, I was there in my highest heels. And Sarah Jessica Parker was there in even higher heels – bright pink patent ones, at that! The celebration was held to launch the DVD of the film.

SJP told me that in these difficult financial times, “I’m not going to tell anybody that they need a DVD. But I think we tried to make it worthwhile for them. There’s 3 DVDs. There’s a one-disc that is as it was in the cinema. And there’s a two-disc special which is the extended cut which has conversations, deleted scenes and extra fashion stuff.”

Kristin Davis wasn’t around to walk the pink carpet, but I caught up with the other SATC ladies, who looked lovely and ultra-fashionable, as always.

Cynthia Nixon told me her feelings about her hardcore fans, saying, “I love them a lot of the time. Sometimes if they yell I don’t love them. If you’re walking down the street and they’re very excited and they start yelling, I don’t like that. But, yeah, we tend to like the character that we identify with. So women are always coming up to me and telling me that they’re Miranda. And I do sense a certain simpatico with them when they tell me that.”

AP: Sarah Jessica Parker's pink shoes

And Kim Cattrall explained why watching the DVD will just feel “right” to fans, saying “This was a show that started in people’s living rooms. That’s where this kind of mini-revolution began. This post-feminist movement. And I think that it’s really wonderful to come full-circle with that.”

…I hear that sometimes, but I don’t buy into it.  Sure there are big picture aspects that are the same from story to story. You have to get into the detail, though, and remember that while it’s a story to the editors and publishers, it’s people’s lives- and for that brief moment our lives are entwined.

For me, there is always someone I meet, often more than one someone, whose smile or tears leave an indelible mark on my memory. Sometimes I remember their names, other times its just someone I am only able to watch react to the adversity that has befallen them. My time in Galveston and Houston is no different. I will always remember seeing the dozens upon dozens of volunteers forming “bucket lines” to pass out water and ice to those who were in need. They were in need also, but they put their own needs on hold to aid their neighbors. But there are two individuals I will remember most of all.

For her smile and can’t-get-me-down-attitude, I will remember “Miss Robin.” She has a quaint little bed and breakfast in Houston. Robin’s Nest. After being pelted by driving rains and wind blown debris with correspondent Kris Gutierrez, producer Maggie Lineback, and photographers Guy Hernandez and Spencer for the best part of what Ike had to dish out… tired, wet, exhausted, we weaved our way into her neighborhood through downed power lines and trees. There waiting for us she had as comfortable a bed as I’ve ever slept in. Power was on surprisingly, but a man with a chainsaw took care of that.

Dangerous thing, a man with a chainsaw. I’m just glad he didn’t know where the water lines were. I got a nice hot shower. Robin has a German Shepherd. Rudy. He was brought to Houston after Katrina and left behind. Now he watches over Robin and all the guests who nest with her. Robin has the kind of face that that just says “everything’s gonna be alright.”

But then there are tears. Tears of a woman in my sat truck using my phone to call her son. Three days of no contact. Stranded on Galveston Island. I know the emotion she felt talking to her son. I feel it when I talk to my daughters after being away from home.

Galveston is much like a ghost town now in many areas. Downtown in particular. Streets empty with the exception of a power company crew in the distant block. The story is fading from national headlines now. A daily update or two on new death toll numbers or how many homes still remain without power.

There’s a new storm. Wall Street is a mess, remnants of another hurricane having swept through littering the streets with worthless financials. I can’t muster any sympathy for those swallowed by the greed that has flooded “the street.” Some politician says I need to pay more tax so I can feel more patriotic. How idiotic.

I’m headed home now. Back to Atlanta and my family. Won’t see them until tomorrow. I’ll cry when I see my girls. I’ve just been through a hurricane.

By Steve Brown

This workman’s sandwich is served at Coney Island in Johnstown PA. For the bargain price of $2.50 you get a burger that comes with the following toppings: a fried egg … a slice of American cheese … a thick layer of chili sauce (which is quite good) and onions.

The blue-collar types who hit Coney Island for lunch often have TWO of these babies…and head right back to work!

Me? Just one.

Today was my first day to really tour the storm ravaged neighborhoods of Galveston. Ike played with peoples belongings like a big, mean old bully. Bending metal, breaking 6 by 6 lumber, and strewing boats about parking lots as if to cast them from his sandbox.

Public works crews are scurrying through sand covered roads like ants. They are literally bulldozing tunnels and pathways where roads once welcomed residents and tourists to the Texas coast. It will be sometime before residents get back into their homes and neighborhoods, much less any resemblance to any kind of tourism industry. But not to worry, Galvestonians, the tourists will come back. Mostly gawkers at first, coming in to see for themselves the damage to once familiar hang outs. We were set up for lives along the sea wall early this morning but were asked to move because engineers just aren’t sure how strong the sea wall still is after Ike’s tantrum.

Buried in the sand I saw two safes that hopefully had been emptied by the owners before the storm hit. There really was no way to tell where they came from. In many areas Galveston looks more a like a construction and demolition landfill than a once thriving beach community of 60,000 plus residents. As if there weren’t enough for rescue and EMS personnel to deal with just in search duties alone, late today comes word that and island habitat for exotic animals had “lost track” of a TIGER!! I know where all mine are.

Seems like Ike left the cage open when he pulled out. And the cattle are walking about beachfront roads as if they were back home on the range. Amazing. Oh… the President was here today. Ceremonial. Nice day for a helicopter ride I guess. Seems like a waste of fuel… that immensely sought after commodity that residents would sell their last striped tiger for. Maybe that’s where he got off too. Tomorrow is a new day and residents will start being allowed to trickle in for their first look at the task ahead of them. Look only. No touch. No collecting.

Officials have said those who attempt to stay may face fines of up to $2000 dollars. There are reports that martial law might be declared. A jail cell and three hot meals a day promised to those who disobey. A jail cell and three hot meals a day….hmmm. For some who’ve lost everything that might not be a day at the beach, but here these days, a day at the beach means hard labor. How ’bout those COWBOYS!

The “Can’t keep me down” spirit I see in the faces of Houstonians is in a word- astonishing.

As I watch bag after bag of ice along with water and other supplies being loaded into cars it suddenly dawns on me. This is no federal hand-out, no FEMA pick-me-up, in fact it has nothing to do with the government at all. All of these people are volunteers, working to unload what eventually be four tractor trailers of much needed relief. I know Texans are proud, but I see it in every disaster I go to.

Private business and citizens coming together, working to help those who are in the same horrible conditions. They’re not whining about helping and they’re not waiting for the government to ride in on a white horse and save them. But this time it is Texas. And Texans are working with hearts as big as the Lone Star state itself. You’ve seen the pictures on Fox News Channel by now, I’m sure. Long lines of people waiting, wanting essentials that right now are i short supply. There are other lines. Volunteers. While those lines may not e as long as the ones of those who are in need, they are equally impressive of themselves. Men, women, sisters, brothers. Texans. Americans.

No, there is no Federal Government at this distribution point, just people. Hopefully there’s a lesson here for all of us. We don’t need government getting so big that we forget how we started this country— Individuals banding together to fight a government that would dictate how we would live our lives. A government so big that we forget how to take care of ourselves and our neighbors.

A government that wants I absolutely hate that bad things happen. But they will. Maybe that’s part of the good that comes out of the bad- we are reminded that we can come together putting aside our differences and work together to get ourselves out of a tight spot without “big brother”. Be proud, Texans!