Dunder Mifflin Plans a Playdate in Scranton
People of Scranton, make room for beets. The Office is coming to town.
Pressman Toy and NBC Universal will be hosting a day of Office-themed festivities in the real-life version of the Pennsylvania burg where the Dunder Mifflinites push paper for a living to mark the release of a DVD board game and a trivia game revolving around the hit NBC sitcom, which is shot in Los Angeles but has become an important vein of tourism in Scranton.
Writer and executive producer Mindy Kaling, who also plays reliably obnoxious customer-service rep Kelly Kapoor, will preside over The Office Games July 19 (a Saturday, so people won’t have to call in sick to their actual offices) at the Mall at Steamtown.
“Scranton is honored to have been selected as the first city in America whose retailers will stock The Office Trivia Game and DVD Board Game,” Scranton Mayor Christopher Doherty said Monday. “We’ll be rolling out the beet red carpet for Ms. Kaling.”
The event will kick off at 9 a.m. ET with a 2K Fun Run (that promises to actually be fun this time), to be followed by an Office trivia challenge, a Dwight-inspired beet-eating contest and an autograph session for the first 125 fans who purchase one of the two new games.
Part of The Office Games proceeds will go toward United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which provides community-building opportunities and services throughout northeastern Pennsylvania.
“I have been to Scranton before and am really excited to return for this fun event!” Kaling said.
The proud city also hosted The Office Convention in October 2007 and worked with NBC to secure episodes for free public screenings, sold official merchandise and lined up a series of writers, actors and producers to participate in Q&As and other activities.
In other Office news, NBC also confirmed today that Oscar nominee Amy Ryan will be back for at least five episodes next season as Holly, the Scranton branch’s new HR rep who actually finds Michael endearing. For more on what’s happening round the water cooler, check out Watch With Kristin.
Uma Ready for New Groom-a
It looks like the Bride will be giving the altar another shot.
Uma Thurman has gotten engaged to her Swiss financier beau, Arpad “Arki” Busson, her rep confirmed to the New York Daily News.
The newspaper, which was the first to break the news of the betrothal, quoted a friend of the Kill Bill star saying Busson popped the question in London this week while they were in town for Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday bash, surprising Thurman with a diamond ring so big “she can’t fit it through the sleeve of her coat.”
Thurman reportedly flashed the rock for the first time at Elton John’s British manor house for his 10th Annual White Tie and Tiara benefit.
No word yet on when Thurman and Busson plan to swap vows.
This will be the 38-year-old Oscar nominee’s third stab at holy matrimony. She was briefly married to Gary Oldman from 1990 to 1992 and then to her Gattaca costar Ethan Hawke from 1998 to 2004, a union that produced two children, Levon and Maya, and plenty of tabloid fodder.
Thurman had a three-year relationship with hotel magnate André Balazs before hooking up with Busson last year. The multimillionaire moneyman from Switzerland swept Thurman off her feet at a dinner in Milan and has been by her side ever since, including during last month’s courtroom showdown between the actress and her stalker.
Busson is no stranger to the sirens’ call, having previously been engaged to Aussie supermodel Elle “The Body” Macpherson, a relationship that produced two kids. They split in 2005 before tying the knot.
Let’s hope things work out better this time around.
Judge OKs Bill Murray Divorce
Bill Murray got a quickie.
A judge in Charleston, S.C., has signed off on a divorce settlement between the comic actor and his wife of more than 10 years, less than a month and a half after she filed her petition.
According to court papers filed June 13, Jennifer Butler Murray was given custody of the estranged couple’s four children. Additionally, she was awarded the family residence on South Carolina’s Sullivan’s Island and a home in Hemet, Calif.
The Ghostbusters star was granted visitation rights and agreed to foot child support. He’ll also have to pony up a onetime sum of $7 million per their prenup.
Attorneys for the two parties couldn’t be reached for comment.
Murray’s former missus filed for divorce on May 12 in a bombshell petition accusing the onetime Oscar nominee of “frequent abandonment” and numerous infidelities, physical abuse (including one incident of striking her in the face) and addictions to marijuana, alcohol and sex.
But what looked like a potentially tawdry court battle was quickly swept under the rug after the judge ordered court documents sealed at the pair’s request.
Burning Q’s: When to Boo & the Walk of Fame Game
What happens at a movie premiere if the movie just totally sucks? Is there awkward silence and booing? Thunder Wolf
People booed at the Berlin premiere of J.Lo’s bomb Bordertown. There was also cackling, but that was by me, when I read about it way back here in my office. Now, onward with your blistering Burning Q’s!
Why did Randy Quaid get a Walk of Fame star in 2003, but three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer didn’t get hers until 2007? More importantly, why did Randy Quaid get a star at all?Jen
The Walk of Fame is a publicity game. A movie studio or, sometimes, a fan club, applies for those plaques on the celebrity’s behalf. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce then meets in secret once a year to consider applications, and much of the selection process is also never disclosed.
Once the honorees are picked, the celebrities or, more likely, their studios or fan clubs, must pay a $25,000 “sponsorship fee” to the chamber before the star can be installed on the Walk of Fame. In other words, a celebrity’s level of achievement can easily be trumped by an ambitiousand richpublicity campaign.
Oh, and Randy Quaid? Got his first Oscar nom 16 years before Pfeiffer.
Do contestants on reality shows (specifically American Idol) receive any payment for, say, the Idol Tour?Jason
Yep.
Are Eric Stein and Jessica Hughbanks, who met last summer on Big Brother 8, still together and maintaining their long-distance relationship? Please update me about this cute couple. Kent
A Big Brother spokeswoman tells me this: “Some people tell me they’re not together, other people tell me they’re together.” That work for you? Yeah, me neither.
Would love to hear your remarkable insight about one of the most fabulous celebrities of all time, Elizabeth Taylor. Your thoughts?Tyra, Montgomeryville, Pa.
Wait, she’s that older version of Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie, right? The one in the muumuus? Why do you ask? Has she adopted a Zimbabwean refugee child and tattooed its name on one of her million-dollar ankles as she poses in her cream-and-gold-leafed baby nursery for People while her man performs his feverishly rehearsed adoring gaze, terrified that he might get another shock stick to his eardrum if he fails? No? Then I have nothing to add.
Oh, and be my fan on Facebook, ’kay?