DiCaprio, who is often sighted at Lakers games (hey at least he has good tastes in basketball – unlike Billy Crystal), was sitting courtside when a couple of well crafted behinds entered the frame.

What ensued was a great shot any cinematogether can appreciate…

The Leo snapshot reminds us all of the times we’ve been caught checking out a beautiful woman. Which reminded TPH, why not share some of the most popular shots from Google Images?

What the movie Vantage Point was actually based on…

ReynsGems every night…

And, our personal favorite…

On Saturday, President Obama bowed—at nearly a 90-degree angle—while shaking hands with Japanese Emperor Akihito.

While not violating any “official” protocol, the elected leader of the United States of America bowed to a foreign head-of-state.

Many have called the bow obsequious and an act of fealty.

One blogger said the act was “treasonous.” Another blogger asked, “How Low Will He Go?” And a third blogger exclaimed, “She’s barely 18!” (I got bored researching this story and click on an old bookmark).

Protocol dictates that leaders not bow to one another. Pamela Eyring, president of The Protocol School of Washington, says there are no written rules against bows, but they are not appropriate when national leaders meet.

“They’re peers,” explained Eyring. “Unfortunately, it isn’t correct for a chief of state to bow to another chief of state. It’s not appropriate. He should not be bowing to other chiefs of state.”

She went on to say that the Emperor and his wife seemed a “bit uncomfortable” by Obama’s bow (so did the Founding Fathers, Uncle Sam, and all the brave men and women who ever served in a branch of the U.S. armed forces).

“When you’re representing the United States of America, everything speaks … on behalf of our country,” noted Eyring. “It’s a visual. It shows more of a subservient look.”

There’s an old State Department saying that goes, “thou need not bow.” There’s also one about a “dead hooker” and a “live boy” but the exact wording eludes us.

Furthermore, even average Americans don’t have to bow to heads of state (average Americans only have to bow to Oprah).

Twenty years ago, Miss Manners wrote, “One does not bow or curtsy to a foreign monarch because the gesture symbolizes recognition of her power over her subjects.”

And Americans aren’t subjects.

Remember all the Americans that died and fought in world wars last century? Remember all the Americans fighting and dying in wars this century? They aren’t making the ultimate sacrifice so we can bow to foreigners. They are making the ultimate sacrifice so we’ll never have to bow to anyone.

This isn’t the first time Obama has dipped-at-the hip for a foreign leader. He bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in April (the White House claimed it was not a bow but the President reacting to a bad burrito).

This time the White House isn’t even bothering with the spin. An official from the Obama administration explained that the bow was protocol and it “enhanced both the position and the status of the U.S. relative to Japan.”

Maybe it did. Maybe a bow is just a bow. Certainly a lot of Americans will see the President bending over as nothing more than culture sensitivity.

However, actions have meanings. And for some Americans, the President’s bow didn’t show respect to his Japanese hosts, but showed disrespect to his country and constituents.

NBC’s prime time is going green. Next week, five of its prime-time shows will incorporate “pro environmental messages.”

The shows scheduled to indoctrinate television viewers are “30 Rock” (no surprise there), “The Office,” “Community,” “Heroes,” and “The Biggest Loser” (which is apparently the title of a reality show and not a nickname for NBC).

Also getting in on the brainwashing is “The Today Show,” “The Nightly News,” and “Meet The Press.”

A pro-environmental message is fine and dandy. “Give a hoot don’t pollute” and all that. But after a long day of work, after a long day of “fighting the man,” most of us want to turn on the television and turn off our brains.

We don’t want, or need, NBC preaching to us about the contrived ills of global warming.

What we want is “more funny,” or in the case of “Heroes” more Hayden Panettiere.

According to the Peacock Network, the inclusion of the green messages was left solely to the whims of the producers and intended to be integrated as organically as possible. If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you.

Here’s how the various shows will be celebrating “Green-Mas“:

Leslie Gore will make an appearance on 30 Rock (or is it Al Gore, I really didn’t read the article very closely).

“Community” will rename the college “Environdale.”

On “The Office” Dwight becomes the “Recyclops.”

The cast of “Heroes” fills a truck with recyclables while discussing the importance of giving back to the Earth (that’s not a joke).

In “The Biggest Loser” contestants save energy by using their own body fat as heating oil.

Sadly, NBC’s going green crusade has little to do with saving the environment or decreasing our carbon footprint (whatever that means). It’s strictly about money.

NBC is owned by General Electric. G.E. is like this with the Obama Administration (right now I’m crossing my fingers) when it comes to receiving earmarks for green technologies. In fact, G.E. stands to make billions if Obama’s Cap and Trade swindle gets passed by congress.

This is why NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC are always so favorable in their coverage of President Obama and his administration.

To put it in Liberal-ese, General Electric is President Obama’s Haliburton.

General Electric is the largest company in the world and in 2010 they expect to make $25 billion from their Ecomagination initiative. An initiative the company enacted back in 2005.

There is one saving grace with NBC forcing its agenda down our throats. No one will see it. NBC is in last place in the ratings. Minus Sunday Night Football, they have nary a show in the top 25.

So on top of its unwatchable programming, NBC finds it necessary to tell us how to live. They just don’t get it. We want entertainment not lectures.

While reflecting over the major events of the past summer three things come to our minds: an inordinate number of celebrity deaths, the heated town hall meetings over healthcare and the bad movies that made a lot of money at the box office.

TPH takes a look back at the summer of 2009. Despite the first section being labeled the “the summer of death,” we stayed away from tragic and horrible events like H1N1, Iranian election protests, deadly earthquakes and Al Franken being sworn in as a U.S. Senator. We decided to stick with more cheery subjects.

The summer of 2009 stretched from June 21 to Sept. 22.

The Summer Of Death
What most people will remember about the summer of ’09 is the death of Michael Jackson on June 25. Despite being a world class freak, Jackson was one of the greatest performers of all-time. His sudden death and the myriad of memorials that followed reminded us all just how good, and just how exploited, he really was.

The coroner ruled his death a homicide—he died from a combination of drugs in his system—and law enforcement officials are currently investigating.

The summer of 2009 will always associated with Jackson even though the questions surrounding his death may not be answered for years to come.

Besides the King of Pop, there were several over celebrity deaths this past summer: Ed McMahon (June 23), Farrah Fawcett (June 25), Billy Mays (June 28), Steve McNair (July 5), Walter Cronkite (July 18), The Taco Bell Chihuahua (July 23), John Hughes (Aug. 6), Eunice Kennedy Shriver (Aug. 11), Ted Kennedy (Aug. 5), and Adam Goldstein “DJ AM” (Aug. 28).

Cash For Clunkers
Officially known as Car Allowance Rebate System, Cash for Clunkers offered American citizens economic incentives to turn in their old jalopy for a new fuel efficient car. The program started on July 1 and ended Aug. 24.

Was it a success? If you judge it by the 690,114 dealer transactions then yes it was a success. If you judge it by the fact that taxpayers will have to pay for the $3 billion the government spent on the program then no.

Teachable Moment
On July 16, Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested at his home by police investigating a 9-1-1 call about men trying to break into a house.

As the cop was doing his job, Gates broke out the “Why, because I’m a black man In America?” routine. Eventually Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct.

When President Obama heard of the incident he called it a “teachable moment.” The officer and the cop were invited to the White House for a beer with the President and Vice-President.

Town Hall Meetings and Tea Parties
When concerned Americans gathered at the various town hall meetings held around the country to question lawmakers on the proposed government takeover of healthcare, the media branded them as racist, crazy and on the fringe.

When Americans gathered at Tea Parties organized around the country to protest high taxes and big government, the media branded them as racist, crazy and on the fringe.

What we learned from these events is there are many Americans fed up with high taxes and big government. Sure, a few were a bit whacky, but for the most part they were honest Americans with honest gripes.

We also learned that if there’s one sign comparing President Obama to Hitler, the mainstream media will find it.

Track Gets A Bolt
He’s doing the impossible. He’s making us care about track and field in an off-Olympic year. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt shattered the 200m and 100m sprint records at the Berlin World Championships in August. Second-for-second, he’s the most exciting athlete in the world.

Oregon Rolls A Blount
The college football season opened Sept. 6 with a sloppy game between Boise State and the University of Oregon. After the game, Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, who said earlier in the week the Ducks owed the Broncos an ass kicking, punched Boise State defensive end Byron Hout. ESPN’s cameras perfectly captured the moment. Blount was rightly suspended for the rest of the season but his throw-down gave college football fans something to talk about.

ACORN Falls & Takes The Mainstream Media With It
On Sept. 8 Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe released the first of five videos revealing employees of ACORN were more than willing to help a prostitute and a pimp get their business going. If that wasn’t bad enough, the ACORN employees also counseled the couple on trafficking underage girls from El Salvador.

Giles posed as the prostitute and O’Keefe played the part of the pimp.

Despite the undeniable evidence, the mainstream media ignored the story. There was a time when they would have jumped on a scandal like this and reported on it incessantly. Apparently those days have passed and so have the days of the MSM being relevant.

Rude Interruptions
First it was Joe Wilson shouting “You Lie” at President Obama during a joint session of congress (Sept. 9).

That weekend, Serena Williams threatened to shove a ball down a line judge’s throat at the U.S. Open (Sept. 12).

The following night, Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards (Sept. 13).

These incidents got the media and the blogosphere all lathered up and ready to extract a pound of flesh. Not to defend their churlish behavior, but the aforementioned outbursts were by far the most exciting moments of their respective events.

Beatles Infestation
For the umpteenth time in history, the Beatles dominated the summer. On Sept. 9, the band re-released its re-mastered catalog as well as video game, “The Beatles: Rock Band.” Both will introduce the Fab Four to a whole new audience.

While the Beatles were on everyone’s mind they weren’t the only thing that happened in the world of music this summer:

On Aug. 5, Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler fell off a stage during a concert in Sturgis. Tyler was hurt bad enough that the band had to cancel the rest of their tour.

On August 29, Noel Gallagher quit Oasis.

On Sept. 10, Phil Collins announced that due to a spinal injury he will never play drums again.

Good Box Office, Bad Movies
Hollywood may have set box office records this summer but their movies set back cinema hundreds of years.

Transformer 2: Revenge of the Fallen (released June 19) and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (released Aug. 5) took in pant loads of money but both were downright awful and insulting to our intelligence.

We left the theater asking who watches this stuff and then we realized we just did. No wonder Hollywood keeps churning out crap.

Conclusion
Did TPH miss something? Did TPH include something we shouldn’t have included? What will you remember about the summer of 2009?

Obama knows more about sports than you do – he’s black after all.

Sunday could have had any number of news stories on the main page of MSN.com. ‘Heck it’s even football season and an article that read, “President Makes MLB Predictions,” was above “Live NFL Scores.”

What’s sad is that since Barack Obama was introduced as the 44th President of the United States of America, the media appears more fascinated with his March Madness bracket than they do with his health care plan (okay, maybe not health care).

First, the media published a copy of Obama’s college basketball tournament bracket. Then they had to do another story because Obama looked like a genius, since he successfully picked every one’s second favorite team (North Carolina) to win it all.

Since that time the media blessed us with “Barack Obama does NBA predictions” and “Barack Obama does the MLB…Hard!”

George Bush once owned a portion of the Texas Rangers and his sports input wasn’t even noted.

What’s next, “Barack Obama picks UFC 90 Champion?”

I’m not blaming Obama on this one. If the guy likes sports and likes to talk about sports (like we all do), then so be it.

But if the media is actually going to stoop this low on its coverage…and bias, than I might just shove a foot in my mouth and attempt to choke.

43 Presidents came before Barack Obama and not one was asked to become a sports analyst. But now that we have a black president, he must know who’s going to win the World Series, right?

Get real people! The only thing more stereotypical than assuming a black man is good and knows a lot about sports is asking him to publicly announce chicken is his favorite main course and that he doesn’t like camping.

For those of you who actually care what Obama thought about the MLB postseason - Obama announced that since he is such a big Chicago White Sox fan, he’s not making any predictions as long as his beloved home team has a mathematical shot at the playoffs.

But he’s tipping his hand a bit with mentions of the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees.

He tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Cardinals are coming on strong. And he says slugging first baseman Albert Pujols is “unbelievable.” Pujols leads the big leagues in home runs, is tied for first in runs batted in, and is second in batting average in the National League.

As for the American League, Obama says the Yankees are doing well. And he singles out New York shortstop Derek Jeter for breaking Lou Gehrig’s team record for career hits. Obama calls Jeter “a classic.”

I’m sure it will be big news once Barack makes his selection again.

No word yet if you can run off to Vegas, put $400 on Obama’s pick, and write it off later as “tax-exempt, because Barack said it was the smart choice.”

President Barack Obama recently called Kanye a “jackass.” The Presidential remark was in reference to West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at MTV’s Video Music Awards show Sunday night.

The President was apparently talking “off the record” but his comments were nonetheless tweeted by ABC News employees.

The folks in the ABC News room were listening to an interview between the President and CNBC’s John Hardwick (the two news organizations share the same fiber optics line), and didn’t know the comment was “off the record.”

One employee, Terry Moran, a former White House correspondent, tweeted: “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.”

Maybe “jackass” is a little crass coming from the leader of the free world but it was highly appropriate. Heck, it was appropriate had the President said it a week ago. It’s a comment just about everyone in America can relate too regardless of their political views or even their musical tastes.

So what did ABC News do? They apologized for releasing the President’s remarks and had the tweets deleted.

What else would expect from the All Barack Channel?

To think that the President can speak off the record is absurd and to do so when wearing a microphone is flat out ridiculous. ABC News is supposed to be a critic of the President not his censor.

There is a tradition amongst news hounds that pre-interview chatter is off limits but it’s doubtful they would have adhered to such an unwritten rule for other presidents.

It’s inexcusable that ABC is kowtowing to the President. How can anyone take them seriously now?

Besides, calling West a “jackass” makes it pretty clear that “President Obama doesn’t care about black people.”

You never want to say the media is biased, but that’s like saying strippers actually care about their clients welfare and don’t just want their money. 

Obama’s vacation was quite the headline last week, including one report that Obama was leaving enormous tips behind.

But could the media be lying? Just this once?

Reports say Obama tipped a clerk at a general store $15 on $5 of ice cream and candy. But according to the clerk TMZ.com spoke to, Barack took his change with him: “What tip? He didn’t leave a tip. We don’t have a tip jar, he took his change.”

However, at the second store he visited, Barack did let the clerk keep the change — a whopping $1.99.

What a gracious tip indeed.

It’s sort of ironic that Obama is labeled an everyday average-Joe, vacation and all, yet Bush must not be human because he also wanted to take vacations here and there.

Refresh me again; What exactly has Obama done yet, aside from raising the national deficit and wanting universal health care?

The poster is starting to appear in odd places like Los Angeles (imagine that liberals), that depicts Barack Obama as nutcase The Joker posed as how Heath Ledger looked in the film “Batman: The Dark Knight.” Under the mimic photo is the phrase “Socialism.”

The posters do not appear to be in the same category as the many benign take-offs of the Shepard Fairey “Hope” poster.

One may ask what in the world Barack Obama would have in common with the Joker and Socialism?

I truly have no idea.

It doesn’t make any sense to me. Obama a socialist?

The only thing creepier (and whiter) than these photos was Michael Jackson after his sixth plastic surgery.

Lefty?

Say what you want about former President George Bush, but the dude could pitch.

Barack Obama?

The athletic specimen with serious hoop skills has serious dirt skills – at least when it comes to playing baseball.

It had been four years since Obama last threw a pitch, but with a little bit of practice in the Rose Garden and some last-minute advice from baseball legend Willie Mays, Obama lofted the first pitch at Tuesday’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis.

The pitch didn’t even quite make it to the plate, although the catcher made a life-saving play by scooping it up just in time.

Wait, so you’re telling me he practiced the night before with personal aide Reggie Love (Love the name by the way) and still couldn’t get the ball over home plate?

That is disgraceful. Everyone knows black people in America are suppose to excell in sports!

(Someone whispers something in my ear)

I don’t care if the percentage of American born black players in the MLB is minute. This is a tragedy and way worse when compared to that sneaky check-out he pulled at the Summit last week.

“I’m a White Sox fan,” Obama remarked about the jacket he wore while tossing the first pitch. ”My wife thinks I look cute in this jacket. So, why not?” 

Oh now he’s just trying to butter her up after he got caught last week!

Homie you are so busted.

Barack Obama actually took some heat this week in the media for a photo that appears to show Obama taking a sneak peak at a woman walking by with a rather large behind.

While some may argue whether or not that is what Obama had his scope on, it’s a definate that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is going ga-ga over the women.

You know what they say about the French? They’re horrible at hiding the famous turn your head-over-the-shoulder for one last glance.

At least Obama knows how to somewhat disguise it. Now he can at least claim he was doing/looking at something else.

Who was the chick you may ask? The woman is apparently a 16-year old Brazilian named Mayora Tavares.

You know what they say about Brazilian girls?

No word yet on what Michelle had to say about the photo.

Obama may have to sleep on the couch this week.