Hollywood Week: Bezos and Blue Origin, Menendez Resentencing Delayed, Wink Martindale

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 19 April 2025 11:18

Written by Janet Walker

Amazon founder and commercial space entrepreneur Jeff Bezos's launched an all-female team including his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, singer Katy Perry, and CBS "Good Morning" co-host Gayle King, for a ten minute ride to the edge of outer space.

Bezos' Blue Origin Blowback

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos launched a team of ladies, including his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, singer Katy Perry, and CBS Good Morning co-host, Gayle King, into space this week, for a ten minute trip into the Karman Line, the recognized boundary between Earth and outer space essentially 62 miles above sea level.

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While the team, which included film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and research scientist Amanda Nguyen, all returned safe, and extremely glad to be on solid ground again, the blowback from the reported $150,000 to $250,000 singer Katy Perry and Gayle King reportedly paid to participate has been blowing up on the internet.

"After the capsule and the rocket separated and the astronauts unbuckled to experience weightlessness in space for a couple minutes, the six women and their capsule returned to earth and landed under parachutes in the Texas desert at 9:42 am. "Congratulations and welcome back to Earth," the Blue Origin mission control told the crew," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

The warm congratulations the team received from the Blue Origin control team was short lived as the internet blew up with social media blasting Ms. Perry over the cost, and as many explained, other social issues could have been better served for the receipt of the commercial space ride cost, such as healthcare or charitable donations.

The symbolism of an all-female team should serve to encourage all women of all ages, from young children to adults, to dream the big dream and set the plan in motion to accomplish it. Even the boundaries of earth are not strong enough to stop a dedicated woman.

And while all applaud the continual perfecting of Blue Origin's commercializing space business, eventually, there will be, as it is inevitable, a problem that will set the space ride industry back. Unfortunately, lives will be lost as happens even in NASA. Commercializing space travel seems to dimmish the accomplishments of the brave men and women of NASA who paid with their lives so this day could be realized.

"The crew who flew to space this week on an automated flight by Blue Origin were brave and glam, but you cannot identify as an astronaut. They do not meet the FAA astronaut criteria." So there it was: The leading US official on transportation declaring that Perry et al. were not astronauts," reported ARS Technica.com.

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Menendez Brother Sentencing Delayed

For the majority of the millions of Los Angeles residents the resentencing hearing of Eric and Lyle Menendez is nothing more than the off shoot of the influence of true crime show television and the vast reach of streaming platforms.

The hearing which was scheduled to begin this week, had seemed like it was the beginning of possibility for the two who were accused of murdering their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home, in 1989. Prosecutors were able to convince a second jury, the pair which were represented by Leslie Abrahamson, that they did it for the money, and simple and easy to understand motive for the jury.

The first trial, for both had resulted in hung juries, the citizen chosen to serve was unable to render a verdict when the element of lengthy abuse was a variable in the defense. So, to make it easier for the juries, and for what many decided was justice, to stop the evidence of abuse from being entered.

This week, Thursday, April 18, was supposed to pivot a long held belief that justice had been served, and allow the pair, who have been supported by family relatives, friends, and trial lawyer Mark Geragos, to seek a resentencing hearing.

However, it was not to be, as an unexpected turn of events resulted in another delay. Hope is a dangerous thing. California Governor Gavin Newsom, fully aware resentencing could land the decision for release on his desk, ask for a risk assessment. Prosecutors became aware of it, as it a new document submitted, it will be argued on if it should be admitted.

"The move on Thursday by the judge, Michael V. Jesic, to push back the resentencing hearing was a momentary victory for the county's top prosecutor, Nathan J. Hochman, who filed a motion late Wednesday night asking for the delay. Prosecutors had argued that the court should wait until it had secured the report, known as a risk assessment, before going forward with the resentencing hearing," The New York Times reported.

For the new Los Angeles county D.A. Nathan Hochman has made his position clear: The Menendez Brothers acted with malice aforethought and viciously murdered their parents. They went on a spending spree, without thought or concern, and continued their daily lives as planned.

Justice, however, is a fickle thing, for some it has been served for others, and for other the mitigating circumstances should be considered allowing them to be resentenced.

Mr. Habib Balian, the lead prosecutor, explained "Sometimes justice requires time."

Janet Walker, Screenwriter, Novelist, and Publisher of Haute-Lifestyle.com, Featured in ELLE Magazine

Wink Martindale, The King of the Game Show Hosting, Dies (provided)

Wink Martindale, the legendary radio and television icon, died in Rancho Mirage, California on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at the age of 91. The king of game show, who was perhaps best known for hosting the beloved "Tic-Tac-Dough" and "Gambit," had a remarkable 74-year career. He was surrounded by family and his beloved wife of 49 years, Sandra Martindale.

Winston Conrad "Wink" Martindale was born in Jackson, Tennessee on December 4, 1933. From a very early age Wink was fascinated by the voices coming from his family's radio and despite having no connections in the entertainment industry persevered with his talent, booming voice and all-American good looks. He started his career as a disc jockey in Jackson at the age of 17.

He quickly ascended to the powerhouse of the south, WHBQ in Memphis, where on the evening of July 10, 1954, a fellow DJ Dewey Phillips played Elvis Presley's very first record, "That's All Right," on the radio for the very first time. Due to overwhelming demand, Dewey played the song again and again while Wink phoned Elvis's mother and asked if Elvis could come down to the radio station. Elvis soon arrived at WHBQ for his first interview, and music was changed forever. Wink was the last living witness to "Presleymania" and the birth of Rock & Roll. 

His first break into television was at WHBQ-TV in Memphis, as the host of "Mars Patrol," a science-fiction themed children's television series, and then as host of "Teenage Dance Party," where his friend Elvis made an appearance on June 16, 1956. His first game-show hosting job was on NBC's "What's This Song?" (1964-1965), followed by NBC's "Words and Music," CBS' Gambit, and his biggest success, Tic-Tac-Dough. Wink also went on to host such popular game shows as "Headline Chasers," "High Rollers," "The Last Word," "The Great Getaway Game," "Trivial Pursuit," "Debt," "Instant Recall," and many more. 

An avid philanthropist, Wink supported numerous causes and produced and hosted annual telethons for Cerebral Palsy and St. Jude Children's Hospital, among countless other charities. 

In 2006, Wink received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2024, he was honored with a Beale Street Note on Memphis, Tennessee's Beale Street Walk of Fame – not far from where in 2015, he was presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award by his alma mater, the University of Memphis. He was also one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame.  

Wink is survived by his wife Sandra, sister Geraldine, his daughters Lisa, Lyn and Laura and a large extended family full of grandchildren and great grandchildren, his honorary son Eric and his beloved Chihuahua Dude!

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Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.