Burning Q's: When to Boo & the Walk of Fame Game

Knowledge dropped on the Walk of Fame and etiquette for sucky movie premieres

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 ambitious—and rich—publicity 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.

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