Red and green carpet

Handsome -- and environmentally correct! -- from any angle.

Leonardo DiCaprio takes some off-center pictures of himself with fans in Hong Kong over the weekend at the premiere of "The 11th Hour," a documentary he narrated, produced and wrote with the film's two directors. The Warner Independent Pictures release has been on a worldwide tour after getting its intro at last May's Cannes Film Festival and a U.S. run in late summer.

The doc, a sort of "Inconvenient Truth" with more call-to-action and ultimately, more uplift, earned a 67% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, which said, "its message is potent and delivered effectively."

"The 11th Hour" didn't follow the "Inconvenient Truth" Oscar path, but it could end up making a difference in our carbon footprint. Look for it on DVD.

PR and poop jokes

The things we "learn" by having "The View" nattering from a nearby TV. Yesterday's version had Jonathan Rhys Meyers telling us we should turn off the tube and go jump in the sack so that we, collectively, wouldn't be so shocked -- shocked! -- at the hot sex scenes in "The Tudors." Seems that's been an issue with the Emmy-winning show, or so was the consensus from the coffee klatch ladies.

But today was even more sterling when we found out that delicate and gorgeous BAFTA-winning dramatic actress Thandie Newton (pictured) can fashion a mighty mean facsimile of a turd from a giant Mars bar, Marmite and her dad's old drawers. Creative!

The unlucky recipient of her on-set practical joke? "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" creator/star Simon Pegg, who worked with Newton on the upcoming feature "Run Fat Boy Run" and found the edible doodie in his trailer one day.

Newton, on "The View" with director David Schwimmer to hype the March 28-launching comedy, apparently had a lot of extra time on her hands during the shoot, and chose poor Pegg as the object of her mostly toilet-based humor. What a kidder!

Who knows if those were fictional stories made up to pass the excruciating time on the morning chatfest, which has struggled for serious Emmy consideration but remains a must-stop for promotional campaigns (even Obama will hit the couch next week!). Apparently there's some kind of bias against multi-star chat shows, and "The View" has only been named best talk show once out of many nods. On this day, Thandie accomplished her marketing mission, and Barbara and Co. got a giggle.

ADD awards

We're all clear, right, on the pop cultural zeigeist-y importance and earth-shattering nature of the YouTubes? Now, the big winner of the YouTube Video Awards, Tay "Chocolate Rain" Zonday, fills us in, via an Associated Press interview, on its place in the pantheon of industry awards shows:

"It's the new Emmys. It's the next Oscars. The next People's Choice Awards. It'll be interesting to see what happens five years, 10 years [from now]."

Indeed it will.

Though, come on, we can find just as much in the YouTube list of winners to gripe about as we do in typical old school old media awards show results. No Obama Girl? No "Don't Tase Me, Bro" guy? No "Leave Britney Alone" hot mess? Weighty entries took trophies over silly ones. To borrow a movie tagline: why so serious?

Read more about the results and the dozen winners here, and join the herd of 16 million or so views of Zonday's trophy-worthy performance.

For more on the YouTube Video Awards, visit sister blog Reel Pop.

Supermediocre

Don't call it a backlash. Not yet anyway. But the reviews are in for "Drillbit Taylor," the latest comedy populated by one cadre of adolescent boys and created by another, and they're about as adoring as a spitball upside the head.

We warned you, Judd Apatow.

Opening tomorrow, the high school-set flick stars Owen Wilson, who's been not-so-curiously absent from the chat show circuit in advance of the release. He plays a hobo who figures he can make a buck off some wimpy kids looking for private muscle to protect them from the school bullies.

THR's Kirk Honeycutt says it's a "relatively lame exercise that never achieves comic traction," though its imprimatur could still bring in business from youngsters with nothing better to do on their spring breaks. More to the point, though, is what this may mean about the whole movie-making machinery:

"The lesson here is that every factory turns out 'seconds,' including the Apatow one."

Variety damns it with faint praise, calling it "passable," "a junior-league 'Superbad'" with shades of "The Pacifier." Oh, that one hurt.

Is this a bad sign at what's just the beginning of the Year of Apatow? Let's hope not.

Blighty award for Kiwi guys

Incongruity of the morning: The very formal sounding Royal Television Society handed awards to "The Mighty Boosh," something called "TV Burp" and the Brit version of "Crank Yankers."

Apparently the land of Benny Hill and Monty Python still loves it some low-brow comedy.

Across nearly 30 categories, the RTS did give shout outs to more typical awards bait like Jane Austen adaptations and Sir David Attenborough.

The group also recognized one of the best shows on our air here, which we so wrongly left off a list yesterday of HBO essentials, "Flight of the Conchords," which was named best international program. It beat out "Heroes" and "Ugly Betty" to cement what we and No. 1 fan Mel already knew -- the show's a deadpan, slow burn, bona fide hoot. Cheers!

Speed bumps and potholes

A new "Dallas-"like parody, scheduled to become part of HBO's lineup, got axed before it ever aired. Isn't that like getting fired on your day off?

We were always suspicious of "12 Miles of Bad Road," and not because of its lead Lily Tomlin, who's ripe for a TV rebirth in the right starring role. It's the creator, the Clintons' former BFF Linda Bloodworth Thomason, whose biggest hit was already dying when Bill and Hil were moving into the White House (term one).

Maybe killing the show, which had six of a dozen episodes already shot, saved it a "John From Cincinnati"-style fate. Or it could be the purge of all things Carolyn Strauss, who announced this week that she's leaving HBO after a fallow period where the only things worth watching on the pay cable channel have been "The Wire" (now ended) and "In Treatment," which we hope continues its nightly dysfunction for a very long time.

Strauss' departure, for an undefined production deal, marks the second top creative thinker to leave the network after HBO mastermind Chris Albrecht was forced out last summer.

There could still be hope for "12 Miles," with other nets reportedly circling. Not so clear what's in store for HBO.

C'mon, get happy

We like to keep up with major cultural happs around the world, especially when doing so results in priceless photos of giant frolicking anime characters standing next to clearly miserable government officials.

Take a look at this image from Tokyo, and we dare you to not feel sorry for the Japanese Foreign Minister (he'd be the one on the far left). If you didn't just deflate a little for that poor guy, who, at some point fed the giant robotic cat some of its favorite "pancakes," you have no heart.

Not just a knee-slapping photo opp, this event had real meaning. The cat, named Doraemon, just snagged a huge national honor: anime ambassador. (It must be ambassador day -- check out Stephen Colbert's new job!)
Doraemon and his/her sidekick Nobita-kun will be promoting Japanese culture abroad.

If we had our own stateside version, we'd like to nominate "Family Guy's" diabolical baby Stewie. And then get him to pose with some U.S. Congressmen. Of course, this is all just for our own amusement. Any other suggestions on animated ambassador/heads of state pairing? Let us know.

Ambassador Colbert

Even if he can't be president, he can sure be a brand ambassador.

Not since Will Ferrell as "Semi-Pro" white-boy-fro-wearing basketball "great" Jackie Moon shilled for Old Spice has a celeb done so much to mess with a brand. And the brand says, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Stephen Colbert, whose short-lived presidential bid was "sponsored" by Doritos, gave the salty snack a lot of face time some months back with his "Hail to the Cheese" tags. The two -- fake campaign and real brand -- were fully intertwined.

Now Colbert's going for another round as the brand's over-the-top evangelist. He's helping launch a new flavor (a brand extension, if you will) with his Dorito-themed coverage of the primary in Philadelphia, the first time the show's ever left its New York studio.

It's, appropriately, product placement on 'roids: "The Colbert Report: Dorito's Spicy Sweet Pennsylvania Primary Coverage from Chili-Delphia -- The City of Brotherly Crunch!" Check out his new role as an endorser who's so on-message that he can link presidential lingo with Dorito's after-effects with lines like, "four more years, in my intestinal tract!" while attacking a bag of chips.

Problems through a Prism

So, Britney's SWAT-escorted ride to a 5150 lockdown didn't make the cut for this year's Prism Awards, which gives out honors for media and performances that shine a light on mental illness and substance abuse. Didn't that qualify for all of the above?

That's one oversight. While we think dysfunction poster girl Brit deserves some kind of official pat on the back for that cry (heard round the world) for help, we're even more nonplussed by the exclusion of "Celebrity Rehab" from this year's awards nominees.

As we sit with the reunion special playing on a continuous loop in the background, we're willing to admit we have a problem. We're addicted to the VH1 show, and we're not being flip, especially since we expected a freakfest and got something much more, do we dare, substantive. We know we're not alone in saying that we followed every nonproblem of Chyna to the life-threatening illness of Jeff Conaway. Well, there's always next year's awards?

Among the list of nods, announced yesterday: the hard-core drug world and its consequences as seen in "Gone Baby Gone," ditto for A&E's "Intervention," along with the breakdown portrayed by Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton" and Ryan Gosling's emotionally frozen character in "Lars and the Real Girl." The crackhead from "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" battles it out with Christina Applegate from "Samantha Who?"

The extensive list -- really, there was no room on there for Dr. Drew? -- is in THR here.

Hat in hand

It took nearly a month, but Oscar red carpet marauder Gary Busey has issued a sane-sounding apology for his unprovoked attack on Jennifer Garner's neck, saying he was sorry if he made her uncomfortable.

If? Even watching it from a safe distance was uncomfortable, with both Laura Linney and Ryan Seacrest (not to mention the entire E! viewing audience) recoiling in horror, but Busey's trying to make amends:

"I simply greeted both actresses with joy and open arms, which is the way I would greet anyone I'm happy to meet. Everyone has experienced a handshake or hug which has turned awkward, and this was no different."

Oh, this was way different. But he's trying. Now, what about that kid reporter he terrorized? No word on that.