Rose's Blog

An Ozark native makes it to the big time as she gains some national attention. Ozark High grad Emily Hobbs is cooking her way to the top and she hasn't even been to culinary school yet.

In this small kitchen, a big dream was born. "I was one of four finalists chosen out of 12,000 people," says Emily Hobbs, a contestant in the Ultimate Recipe Showdown. Emily Hobbs loves cooking and baking. So much so, she recently made it to a popular show on The Food Network.

"Ultimate Recipe Showdown is a competition of home cooks, and we compete against each other cooking different dishes," says Hobbs. She cooked a dish to tempt your taste-buds. "My signature dish is a baked butternut 4-cheese farfalle with sage, and my speed-round it's called a pumpernickel pastrami panini with rosemary eljue," says Hobbs.

This one-day chef started her training at a young age. "And started coming up with her own recipes when she was 12 years old, where she made a crust using tortilla chips," says Linda Hobbs, Emily's mother.

The creativity flowed as she got older. She would check out cookbooks from the library. Now, she thrives on using that creativity to make new recipes. "I'm inventing a recipe for chai snickerdoodle cookies," says Emily Hobbs.

"She just has this creative mind where she can pick out different things and put it together," says Linda Hobbs.

However, it does take practice. "I don't always get it right the first time," says Emily Hobbs.

"For someone this age to have made it on The Food Network is pretty amazing," says Linda Hobbs.

This 23 year-old is not stopping, and will continue pursuing her cooking dreams. "I'll get to New York it soon, to culinary school and then work for the Food Network, eventually," says Emily Hobbs.

If you want to catch up with her recipes and cooking, you can check out her website at http://www.visionsofsugarplum.com/http://www.vision
sofsugarplum.com/ p://www.visionsofsugarplum.com/

(BRANSON, Mo.) -- Hundreds of people are visiting a popular amusement park for the last time this weekend.

Owners of Celebration City in Branson are permanently closing the facility today.

Many workers who depend on Celebration City for work are now forced to look for new employment as the amusement park closes its door forever.

It's a move that has left many people in shock.

"Oh, forever? I didn't know that. Well, it's kind of sad. I didn't know it was closing forever.  That's not good," said visitor, Tara Escobar.

But its a plan property owners at Herschend Family Entertainment planned for quite some time.

"The strategic decision for the company and looking at the economic uncertainty that's going on in the world right now, we are going to look at the re-strategizing of the property and the best utilization of 110 acres we have on the property," said John Fitzgibbons, general manager.

Celebration city opened in may of 2003.  It has attracted 350-thousand people every year since it opened.

"It's a very sad day. It's tough.  With Herschend, I do know that I will be okay.  I'm losing a great family here and it's hard to explain it. I'm losing a really wonderful family," said James Roach, ride supervisor.
 
Property owners manage three other facilities including Silver Dollar City," which brings in about two million people a season.  They say Celebration City, wasn't meeting its financial expectations.

"I'm really disappointed.  We thought we'd got to come more. We were expecting to bring the kids next year as they grew.  We thought it would be fun to go on some more roller coasters and do some more family events here," said visitor, Alissa Gallinger.

"It just ruins my plans as far as being able to bring my daughter over here when there's nothing for us to do.  This was always nice," said Escobar.

Owners say the park's closure will affect 18 of Celebration City's full time employees including Patricia Hooper who's been with the park since the very beginning.

"Saying good-bye, you know because it's not going to be the same.  It's going to be different and we're going to miss everybody.  This morning we took a group picture of us over at the photo shop so, we'll have that and we'll see each other off and on," said Hooper.

The park's general manager says the company has already found new roles for most of their full time employees.  They will be working at the company's other amusement park.

Owners say they are exploring new development concepts for the site that may include an aquarium, other family attractions and retail and dinning.

(Springfield, MO) -- They made their faces known on Fox, and Sunday, the winners from "Hell's Kitchen" showed off their skills in Springfield.  

The Springfield Grocer Company brought in the winners from seasons three and four of the Fox show.

Chef Rock Harper won season three, while Chef Christina Machamer won season four, and Sunday both competed against each other.

The Springfield Grocer Company brought the two in as part of its annual trade show.

2008 Hell's Kitchen winner Christina Machamer says, "The show was extremely, extremely hard and stressful, and emotional. And if somebody said, hey Christina, you want to go back to Hell's Kitchen? I'd say, yeah, I'm packing my bags, let's go."

"Hell's Kitchen" will return again on Fox, later this season.

Rediculous religion.  Those two words make up the basis for comedian Bill Maher's new film "Religulous".

It parodies organized religion and will soon debut in Springfield, one of the country's most concentrated places for Evangelical Christianity.

While the final message from the film is met with mixed reviews locally, there's still a lot of interest.

"Religulous" is said to target well educated young people, many of whom have asked for months that the film be shown locally.

"It's easily the most requested movie we've had in well over a year," says Moxie cinema co-owner Dan Chilton.

The large concentration of Christian colleges and congregations in the Springfield area often welcome these chances to discuss opposing viewpoints.

"People have to figure out for themselves, I don't think they're just going to take what the movie says and run with that," says Missouri State University graudate student Sara Noyes. "But again it will spur on dialogue and maybe make people search out what they do believe by posing those questions in the movie."

"I'm actually really excited that it's come here you know," says Baptist Bible College senior Bryan Franco. "Because it's going to force people to really examine what they believe and what why they believe it."

The Moxie received the same sort of response to the religously-critical film "Jesus Camp" last year. "And that really got a lot of people out and that sparked a lot of conversation and discussions as well which is always what we like to see in any film," he says.

So far the owners of the moxie say there hasn't been any organized opposition to the film here locally. The film distributor actually asked them to show the film because it's received so much attention.

The Associated Press reports film legend Paul Newman has died.  Newman, 83, died at his home in Connecticut, Friday night. 

Newman won an Oscar in 1987 for "The Color of Money," and was nominated for an Academy Award a total of 10 times.
Paul Leonard Newman was born in January of 1925, in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

He acted in grade school and high school plays and after being discharged from the navy in 1946.

After graduating from Kenyon College, he attended the famed New York Actors Studio. His first Broadway appearance was in "Picnic" (1953), and soon after was offered a movie contract by Warner Brothers. His first film, The Silver Chalice (1954).

But it was roles in movies like Hud, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cool Hand Luke, The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that made him one of the most popular film stars of all time.

Newman married actress Joann Woodward in Las Vegas in January of 1958.  Theirs was one of the most enduring of the Hollywood marriages, lasting more than 50 years.

Newman was also well known for his philanthropy.  Owns The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, a summer camp for children with cancer and other blood-related diseases in Ashford, Connecticut.

He also launched his own line of food products, "Newman's Own", featuring mainly spaghetti sauces and salad dressings.
The company has made more than $100 million in profits over the years, all of which he has donated to various charities.

The AP quotes Newman spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic as saying Newman died Friday of cancer.  In August, he finished chemotherapy and told his family he wanted to die at home. He was given only weeks to live.

(Hamburg, AR)  

   Stevi Lauren Perry, 18,  from Hamburg, Arkansas, was crowned Miss Teen USA 2008 on Saturday during ceremonies at an island resort in the Bahamas.

   Perry will receive a two-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy and other prizes.

   Contestants were judged in the categories of swimsuit, evening gown, and interview.

This Frank Sinatra isn't the "Chairman of the Board" _ but he is running for a spot on the board of supervisors in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon Township.

Frank W. Sinatra Jr., 38, realizes he has the kind of name recognition that most political candidates would die for.

Residents of this township about 10 miles west of Pittsburgh are sometimes BLEEP-hum when he knocks on their door to campaign for votes _ until they hear his name, Sinatra said.

"I had a person offer to buy me some color contacts because I have brown eyes," Sinatra said, referring to the late singer's nickname Ol' Blue Eyes.

"It's always, 'Chairman of the Board.' 'I'll vote for you if ya sing me a song,'" Sinatra told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for Thursday's editions. "People are pretty receptive to the name."

Sinatra said he's a third-generation Frank Sinatra. His grandfather, who lived in nearby Stowe Township, changed his last name when he immigrated, taking the name from his hometown in Sicily.

Sinatra is a Democrat and small business owner. He and three other candidates are running for spots on township's three-member board of supervisors.

Cavemen premiers October 2nd on abc. I sure hope this is not another dumb series. It is about three cavemen who have successfully made the move to San Diego and are just trying to fit in. Joel (Bill English) is a sophisticated and intelligent man who has a beautiful girlfriend, a decent job and shares an apartment with his younger brother, Andy (Sam Huntington, Superman Returns), and his best friend, Nick (Nick Kroll, VH1's Best Week Ever). Nick is wary of the Homo sapien world and feels like he's running away from his heritage. Andy, on the other hand, looks at this new world with his eyes wide open and is willing to take risks in order to learn and to live life to the fullest.

Nick questions Joel on many of his choices, including his girlfriend, Kate (Kaitlin Doubleday, The TV Set), a beautiful Homo sapien woman and high society southern belle. The fact that Kate's eccentric mother, Leslie (Julie White, Tony Award winner for The Little Dog Laughed), owns Joel's condominium complex makes things even more complicated for the three roommates. Meanwhile, Kate's best friend, Thorne (Stephanie Lemelin), is intent on discovering the cavemen's wilder side.

Joel, Nick and Andy have to overcome prejudice from most of the Homo sapien world and the misconceptions that modern society has of its earliest ancestors. In order for these cavemen to survive in the 21st century, they must work together to render those misconceptions extinct.

Cavemen stars Bill English as Joel, Nick Kroll as Nick, Sam Huntington as Andy, Kaitlin Doubleday as Kate, Stephanie Lemelin as Thorne and Julie White as Leslie.

The series is based in part on characters from the GEICO commercials created by The Martin Agency. Cavemen was developed by Josh Gordon & Will Speck (directors of Blades of Glory) and Joe Lawson. Bill Martin & Mike Schiff (Grounded for Life, 3rd Rock from the Sun), Gordon & Speck, Daniel Rappaport (Office Space) & Guymon Casady serve as executive producers. Cavemen is from ABC Studios. What are your thoughts on this new series? Are you waiting on the edge of your seats to view it? My thoughts.....NOT.. I sure hope I'm wrong.

Aug. 12, 2007

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Merv Griffin seen during the taping of his final show on Aug. 20, 1986. A spokesperson for Griffin said Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007 the entertainer and entrepreneur has died at age 82. (AP)
(AP) Merv Griffin, the entertainer turned impresario who parlayed his "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" game shows into a multimillion-dollar empire, has died. He was 82.

Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his the family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment.

From his beginning as a $100-a-week San Francisco radio singer, Griffin moved on as vocalist for Freddy Martin's band, sometime film actor in films and TV game and talk show host. His "The Merv Griffin Show" lasted more than 20 years, and Griffin's said his capacity to listen contributed to his success.

"If the host is sitting there thinking about his next joke, he isn't listening," Griffin reasoned in a recent interview.

But his biggest break financially came from inventing and producing "Jeopardy" in the 1960s and "Wheel of Fortune" in the 1970s. After they had become the hottest game shows in television, Griffin sold the rights to Coca-Cola for $250 million in 1986, retaining a share of the profits.

After they became the hottest game shows in television, Griffin sold the rights to them to the Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million, retaining a share of the profits. He started spreading the sale money around in treasury bonds, stocks and other investments.

He made Forbes' list of richest Americans several times and started putting money in treasury bonds, stocks and other investments. But he went into real estate and other ventures because "I was never so bored in my life."

"I said, `I'm not going to sit around and clip coupons for the rest of my life,' " he recalled in 1989. "That's when Barron Hilton said, `Merv, do you want to buy the Beverly Hilton?' I couldn't believe it."

Griffin bought the slightly passe hotel for $100.2 million and completely refurbished it for $25 million. Then he made a move for control of Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos from Atlantic City to the Caribbean.

That touched off a feud with real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Griffin eventually acquired Resorts for $240 million, netting a reported paper profit of $100 million.

"I love the gamesmanship," he told Life magazine in 1988. "This may sound strange, but it parallels the game shows I've been involved in."

It was in 1948 that Martin hired Griffin to join his band at Los Angeles' Coconut Grove at $150 a week. With Griffin doing the singing, the band had a smash hit with "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts," a 1949 novelty song sung in a cockney accent.

The band was playing in Las Vegas when Doris Day and her producer husband, Marty Melcher, were in the audience. They recommended him to Warner Bros., which offered a contract. After a bit in "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," starring Day and Gordon MacRae, he had a bigger role with Kathryn Grayson in "So This Is Love." A few more trivial roles followed, then he asked out of his contract.

In 1954, Griffin went to New York where he appeared in a summer replacement musical show on CBS-TV, a revival of "Finian's Rainbow," and a music show on CBS radio. He followed with a few game show hosting jobs on TV, notably "Play Your Hunch," which premiered in 1958 and ran through the early 1960s. His glibness led to stints as substitute for Jack Paar on "Tonight."

When Paar retired in 1962, Griffin was considered a prime candidate to replace him. Johnny Carson was chosen instead. NBC gave Griffin a daytime version of "Tonight," but he was canceled for being "too sophisticated" for the housewife audience.

In 1965, the Westinghouse Broadcasting introduced "The Merv Griffin Show" in syndicated TV. At last Griffin had found the forum for his talents. He never underestimated the intelligence of his audience, offering such figures as philosopher Bertrand Russell, Pablo Casals and Will and Ariel Durant as well as movie stars and entertainers.

With Carson ruling the late-night roost on NBC in the late 1960s, the two other networks challenged him with competing shows, Griffin on CBS, Joey Bishop (later Dick Cavett) on ABC. Nothing stopped Carson, and Griffin returned to Westinghouse.

Meanwhile, Griffin sought new enterprises for his production company. A lifelong crossword puzzle fan, he devised a game show "Word for Word," in 1963. It faded after one season, then his wife, Julann, suggested another show.

"Julann's idea was a twist on the usual question-answer format of the quiz shows of the Fifties," he wrote in his autobiography "Merv." "Her idea was to give the contestants the answer, and they had to come up with the appropriate question."

"Jeopardy," begun in 1964, became a huge moneymaker for Griffin, as did a more conventional game show, "Wheel of Fortune," starting in 1975.

Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. was born in San Mateo, south of San Francisco on July 6, 1925, the son of a stockbroker. His aunt, Claudia Robinson, taught him to play piano at age 4, and soon the boy was staging shows on the back porch of the family home.

"Every Saturday I had a show, recruiting all the kids in the block as either stagehands, actors and audience, or sometimes all three," he wrote in his 1980 autobiography. "I was the producer, always the producer."

After studying at San Mateo Junior College and the University of San Francisco, Griffin quit school to apply for a job as pianist at radio station KFRC in San Francisco. The station needed a vocalist instead. He auditioned and was hired.

Griffin was billed as "the young romantic voice of radio." He attracted the interest of RKO studio boss William Dozier, who was visiting San Francisco with his wife, Joan Fontaine.

"As soon as I walked in their hotel room, I could see their faces fall," the singer recalled. He weighed 235 pounds. Shortly afterward, singer Joan Edwards told him: "Your voice is terrific, but the blubber has got to go." Griffin slimmed down, and he would spend the rest of his life adding and taking off weight.

Griffin and Julann Elizabeth Wright were married in 1958, and a son, Anthony, was born the following year. The couple divorced in 1973 because of "irreconcilable differences."

"It was a pivotal time in my career, one of uncertainty and constant doubt," he wrote in the autobiography. "So much attention was being focused on me that my marriage felt the strain." He never remarried.

Florida's Living, Breathing Harry Potter Weathers Pottermania, And The Endless Phone Calls

BRADENTON, Fla., Aug. 1, 2007

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(AP) Sometimes it's a hassle being Harry Potter.

Especially when you're a 78-year-old man who happens to share the name of a certain fictional boy wizard who is famous the world over.

Each time a new Harry Potter book or movie comes out, Bradenton resident Harry Potter starts getting phone calls from children, interview requests from the TV networks and autograph requests.

"The kids want to know if I'm Harry Potter," he said with a chuckle. "I tell them I've been Harry Potter for darn near 80 years!"

The real Harry Potter said he hasn't had time to read any of the J.K. Rowling books or see the five hit movies. But late night crank calls aside, the retired Defense Department employee from Zaleski, Ohio, gets his mileage out of Pottermania.

"When Harry talks to the kids, they'll ask about the owl and he'll say, 'Oh, he came by and brought the mail,'" said his wife, Jan. "Then, when they're done, the mothers come on and say thank you for talking to the kids. He gets a big kick out of it."

But meeting a real Harry Potter can be a little puzzling for the kids.

"They look at you, give you the once-over," he said, laughing. "They can't relate the one in the book to the one they see here. I guess I could buy me a pair of Harry Potter glasses."

The thrill these children get to think they know the real Harry Potter. (-8

BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) -- The producers of ABC's new "Cavemen" said Wednesday the comedy is much more than the insurance company commercials that inspired it, but isn't designed to be an ambitious allegory about race.

ABC's "Cavemen" is based on the characters in the Geico ads.

Geico's TV spots show highly evolved but shaggy-looking cavemen chafing at misconceptions about their sophistication and intelligence. The series, debuting October 2, follows another trio of Cro-Magnons facing prejudice as they try to fit in contemporary society.

"If the show works, it will work because people care about these three guys under a lot of makeup and ... can relate to their problems and find them charming," producer Mike Schiff told the Television Critics Association's summer meeting.

The pilot is being re-shot, ABC said. The network and producers said they decided it jumped ahead too far in the characters' lives and failed to establish them properly.

Schiff and fellow producers responded to reporters' questions about the series, many of them focusing on parallels between the cavemen and black stereotypes and the pitfalls of turning an ad into a series.

The producers said the characters' creative potential and their "fish-out-of-water experience" was only touched on in the commercial spots. ABC obtained rights to the characters from Geico, which is not involved in the show.

It's unusual for characters from an advertising campaign to move into shows of their own, but not unprecedented. The CBS comedy "Baby Bob" featured a talking baby that had been used in several ads.

"We knew we'd be under a lot of scrutiny" adapting the Geico concept to a series, producer Will Speck said. "But I think it just makes our job a little harder."

There was no intention to have the Cro-Magnons represent any minority group, said his colleague, Josh Gordon.

"We're aware that the pilot (episode) seems to lean a little bit more in that direction. But in the episodes that we're coming up with now, we never saw them as, again, a stand-in for one group," Gordon said.

"I think it's really a show about acclimation more than anything, and that's something that everybody deals with, doesn't matter whether you are a minority or not," producer Joe Lawson said.

Lawson wrote the Geico commercials, which were directed by Gordon and Speck. The three co-developed the series starring Bill English, Nick Kroll and Sam Huntington.

Two of actors featured in the ads were unavailable for the series, the producers said, but another, Jeff Phillips, will be joining it.

One reporter asked why the cavemen don't ease their way by getting a shave and a haircut.

"There's a name for those kind of people, and they're called 'shavers,' and the cavemen community looks down on them," Gordon said.

Empty Can Of Gourmet Dog Food Taken From Paris Hilton's Trash 'Fetches' $305 On EBay

 

LOS ANGELES, Jul. 3, 2007

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 (AP)

(AP) An empty can of gourmet dog food taken from Paris Hilton's trash fetched $305 in an eBay auction. The sellers were from the Web site HollywoodStarTrash.com, which also listed several other Hilton items for sale on eBay.

A used toothbrush sold for $305; two envelopes sent to her while she was in jail sold for $510; and a Coke can pulled from her trash went for $51.

Saturday, Jun 9, 2007

It's a Missouri urban legend that is taking on a new life on the big screen. Area film makers are taking the tale of the albino farm to Hollywood, but not before doing some filming here in the Ozarks.

Missouri State University graduate Sean McEwen has been developing this feature film for the last three years and now that shooting has begun -- he's also helping to boost the local economy.

"I first heard about the legends when I was in college here at Missouri State University," he said.

Film crews have been busy shooting scenes for the upcoming feature film at the Fantastic Caverns just three miles north of Springfield.

"This is a project that is based out of Los Angeles that we're able to, through the Missouri Film Commission and a lot of helpful Missouri people, bring to this area and shoot here," said McEwen.

The crew has also been shooting in other locations around the Ozarks including scenes in Marionville.

"I'm playing a guy named Sanjay. Me and my three friends are in a class project from the University Central Missouri. We're out exploring rural America and investigate local legends and run into some trouble when we hit a small town in the Ozarks," said actor Sunkrish Bala.

The albino farm urban legends say the abandoned property is believed to have been a camp where people with physical deformities and genetic disorders were forced to live and when the public found out about it, the farm was shut down.

"There are variations on the legend. We took one of them and decided to tell like a unique thrilling story that will hopefully entice audiences and quite entertaining," said McEwen.

Producers of the film are using a handful of companies from the state to supply much of the equipment needed to bring this movie to life.

"It's an ambitious project. The story is actually a really fun story, but a lot of the elements in the story are typically not in the film of this scope. So, we're trying to pull off a lot of action sequences and a lot of stunts and pyrotechnics and things that make a movie fun," said producer, Jason Stewart.

Stewart is also employing several area workers to help with the film's visual effects.

Even the crew and some of the talent are also all from right here in Missouri.

"Entertainment is entertainment. You kind of want people to go on a roller coaster ride. It's a horror, but kind of horror adventure and you just want people to enjoy it, but you want people to get scared obviously," said co-director Joe Anderson.

Since most of the movie takes place at night, film crews worked between 7 P.M. and 7 A.M.

Filming at Fantastic Caverns wraps up this week. The crew will finish up the movie within the next six months.

Audiences should expect to see "Albino Farm," out in movie theatres early next year.

Nicole Richie Keeping Her Fingers Crossed

Hope She Won't Follow Paris Hilton's Footsteps To Jail

 

NEW YORK, June 6, 2007

(CBS) While her best friend Paris Hilton cools her heels in the joint, Nicole Richie is hoping to stay on the outside.

"I'm just keeping my fingers crossed, of course," she said on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" Wednesday. "I'm scared also but I'm willing to face whatever consequences come my way and I take responsibility for what I've done."

The star of "The Simple Life" was charged with DUI in February. Police say she was under the influence of booze and an unspecified drug when they stopped her last year.

When asked if prison was a likelihood, Richie told Letterman, "Um, yeah."

Richie has a philosophy for facing up to her missteps.

"I really try and take everything that I go through as a life lesson," she said, "and I try not to make the same mistake twice."

Dressed in a strapless white mini dress, her long blonde hair in a pony-tail, Richie managed to dodge Letterman's many questions about her incarcerated best friend.

Richie said she had not spoken to the heiress since she began her jail term Sunday, but did talk to Hilton in the days leading up to her sentence.

Letterman pressed on, asking if Hilton expressed how she was feeling at the time.

"Just like anyone would feel before they were going to go to jail," said Richie, drawing a laugh from the audience.

Hilton and Richie have been friends since they were little, then had a very public falling out a few years ago. They made up last fall.

"It was actually our first fight. I've been friends with her since I was two years old," she said. "We just kind of grew apart and then we found our way back into each other's lives."

Some Celebrity Watchers Say Jail May Make the Socialite Even More Popular Paris Hilton and her mother, Kathy, shopped in Malibu Saturday, the day after the socialite was sentenced to serve 45 days in jail. May 7, 2007

Life will drastically change for socialite Paris Hilton beginning June 5, when her 45-day jail sentence begins for two probation violations on an alcohol-related reckless driving charge.

In court Friday, Paris claimed that it was her publicist Elliott Mintz who had mistakenly assured her she was able to drive, even though she had a suspended license. The judge, however, didn't buy her claim.

On Sunday night, Mintz, Hilton's longtime publicist, announced he is no longer representing her.

"To the extent that I have miscommunicated information I received from her attorneys… I am deeply and profoundly sorry. I told her that I assume personal responsibility for my part in this matter," the statement read.

"Due to this misunderstanding, I am no longer representing Paris. For the record, I have nothing but love and respect for Paris and her family. Paris is a wonderful person and does not deserve the punishment that was handed down by the court. I only wish her my best."

Now Hilton will have to learn to play by the rules -- a lesson Hilton and her attorney say she doesn't deserve.

"It's clear she's been selectively targeted because she is who she is," Howard Weitzman said.

Hilton called the sentence "cruel and unwarranted."

But prosecutors say the sentence shows that no one in Los Angeles is above the law.

 

'An Awful, Hellish Place'

Jail will be an unusually unsettling experience for someone who leads a life of unbridled excess. Hilton will live in a 12-by-8-foot cell with tight limitations.

Instead of designer duds, Hilton will wear an orange jumpsuit and will only be able to wear a minimum of makeup.

"She will have an hour outside every day, where she can watch TV, but she won't have any cell phones or any of the frivolous, perhaps the luxuries, that many people have become accustomed to," said sheriff's department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

But not being able to text and talk with her celebrity friends will be the least of Hilton's worries.

"Forty-five days in L.A. County jail is really rough. That's an awful, hellish place," said criminal defense attorney Dana Cole. "Conditions are miserable -- people take showers under cold dripping water, the food is completely inedible."

Hilton joins a list of prominent wealthy women who have been ordered to serve time in recent years, including Martha Stewart, hotel queen Leona Helmsley and New York publicist Lizzie Grubman. Celebrity insiders predict that like them, Hilton will be able to exploit her time in jail.

"Here's certainly an opportunity for Paris to join the ranks of other celebrities who have been at the top of their game who then have gone to rock bottom only to come back," said Us Weekly editor Dina Sansing. "America loves a comeback."