I confess that I’m an avid fan of competition television. I love Project Runway, and I’ve always looked forward to The Apprentice. When The Apprentice started to cast celebrities, I was first opposed to the idea, and then I started to watch it and immediately got hooked. I love seeing whether celebrities are actually capable of executing intelligent business decisions. The greatest surprise in the history of the show was Bret Michaels. Had you asked me what I thought of him prior to The Apprentice, I would have said he is “dumb as rocks” (Rock of Love pun intended). Then I saw him on Celebrity Apprentice, and he blew me out of the water (no Rock of Love pun intended). So when Trump announced that they would return to the original format of the show, and cast “regular people,” I was very disappointed. Last night, I tried to watch this season, and I turned it off twenty minutes in. I will attempt to explain my reason by using an analogy. Say you love ordering lasagna at Italian restaurants. Then, after years of ordering lasagna, you come to my house for dinner, eat my mother’s lasagna, and realize that you’ve been eating terrible lasagna your whole life. Once you’ve tasted gourmet, it’s over. Make sense? Why do I want to watch a bunch of nobodies taking themselves so damn seriously? At least when it’s ridiculous Hollywood types, I can justify it by saying they’ve been pampered for the last 15 years and can’t adjust to being bossed around. Alright, please feel free to use that genius analogy elsewhere — I won’t copyright it.
Category: General
Why NPR Should Not Have Fired Juan Williams
NPR commentator Juan Williams was fired for telling Bill O’Reilly that he gets nervous when Muslims get on an airplane in “full garb.” Many are outraged over his firing, accusing NPR of being “too politically correct.” Here’s my feeling on this issue. It’s not okay for people to group all Muslims in the same category as terrorists. That being said, people do. Many people would have the same reaction as Juan Williams, but just don’t want to say it out loud. I don’t think he’s a bigot for having those feelings, but I do think that we need to find a way to have an open discussion without firing people. When you squash those conversations, you move this from being an overt issue to being a covert issue, and that certainly doesn’t help us find a solution. Furthermore, as Barbara Walters (also known as the Queen of my world) pointed out on The View, Williams is a commentator and not a journalist, which means he’s paid to express his opinion, liked or not.
Dianna Agron on Glee GQ Photo-Shoot: “Everyone Else Does it”
Dianna Agron wrote a ridiculous apology on her blog, and it clearly proves that she still doesn’t understand the problem with the GQ photo-shoot. She apologizes and then says, “in the land of Madonna, Britney, Miley, ‘Gossip Girl,’ other public figures and shows that have pushed the envelope and challenged the levels of comfort in their viewers and fans… we are not the first.” I’m going to break this down for both Dianna, and for GQ Magazine, who defended their uncreative photographer by saying, “these ‘kids’ are in their twenties and should be able to “do what they want.” Here goes. The problem is not that Glee is a family show, and young children will be exposed to the magazine. The problem is that women in the entertainment industry are consistently sexualized by men, and yet they continue to pose nearly naked. Do you ever see Reese Witherspoon on the cover of a magazine in her underwear? She’s the only celebrity that has spoken out about her deliberate choice to keep her clothes on in photo-shoots. It isn’t necessary, and the next time the photographer comes up with the unoriginal idea, perhaps Lea Michele and Dianna Agron should stand up for themselves.
Dear Celebrities, Stop Asking Us To Focus on “More Important” Things
In response to the outrage over the Glee GQ cover, bad-boy Mark Salling said he thinks it’s “not a big deal,” because “people are starving,” and “there’s more important things to worry about in the world.” Can celebrities stop making this argument when trying to circumvent tabloid criticism? I’m fully capable of focusing on world peace and a slutty GQ cover at the same time. Isn’t it funny how much information my pea-sized-brain can actually handle? How about I focus on those things and stop watching Glee altogether (since that other stuff is so much more important)? The cover was gross and unnecessary. Accept responsibility and move on.
Mel Gibson’s Hangover 2 Cameo Cancelled — Is Zach Galifianakis to Blame?
I knew the blogosphere was against Mel Gibson’s appearance in Hangover 2, but I wasn’t aware that the entire cast disapproved as well. According to director Todd Phillips, Gibson’s appearance was canceled because, “the cast and crew was not on board.” I assume that Zach Galifianakis is amongst the objectors, because in a recent interview he said, “[A] movie you’re acting in, you don’t have a lot of control — you just show up and vomit your lines out. I’m not the boss. I’m in a deep protest right now with a movie I’m working on, up in arms about something. But I can’t get the guys to [listen] … I’m not making any leeway.” First of all, I’m assuming that Galifianakis meant “headway” and not “leeway,” but I’ll give him some leeway (pun intended), because he was so angry when he discussed the issue. Second, I almost considered not writing this post because Galifianakis’ name is so hard to spell, but then I thought: you’re The Dishmaster, just use copy and paste!” Anyways, I’m glad to see that Hollywood has at least some semblance of morality left.
UPDATE: Mel Gibson’s camp called the Hangover cast a bunch of hypocrites, seeing as how they had no problem employing Mike Tyson, who is a convicted rapist. Good point.
Kristen Stewart — The Worst Talk Show Guest Ever
There’s something very funny about Kristen Stewart — and it’s unintentional. She often appears on talk shows to promote new projects, and she can barely put two sentences together during the interview. I imagine that she’s insanely nervous, because I can’t think of any other explanation. I doubt she sits at home and thinks, “I’m going to make Regis and Kelly squirm by only giving them one-word-answers to every question. Regis and Kelly probably come up with a list of 500 questions for the six minute segment, given that each answer is just two seconds long. I’ve also seen her on Letterman, and Letterman almost always holds up pictures of various things during her segment to fill the time. These hosts would be better off booking a Z-lister, who likely would make a better interview. Watch below — it’s very funny.
Tony Danza’s ‘Teach’ — The Best New Show on Television
I became interested in Tony Danza’s new show, Teach, after reading a great review on Reality Blurred. Last night, I finally took the time to watch the show, and it’s fantastic. Teach follows Tony Danza during his first year as an English teacher at Philadelphia’s Northeast High School. It’s less of a reality show and more of a documentary, and I think it accurately portrays the struggles of teaching. Danza has an instructor monitoring his class to give him teaching tips, and he’s always willing to learn. Because it’s Tony Danza I was particularly surprised at his investment in the job. That’s likely because I’m an egomaniac, and I imagine that if I was in the same position, and the students were talking back to me, I might yell out something like, “I don’t have to be here! I’m a Hollywood actor!” Not Danza though. He’s endlessly endearing and would not dream of taking his job for granted. Plus, these kids never watched Who’s The Boss, and even if they did, I’m not sure it would make much difference to them. I’ve attached the trailer below. If you want to watch more, click the link before the video.
TONY DANZA — TEACH
Today’s Question: Will a Movie Ever Get a NC-17 Rating Because of Violence?
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams’ new film, The Blue Valentine, was slapped with the much dreaded NC-17 rating by the MPAA, because of its graphic sex scenes. If the movie manages to get an Oscar nomination (which is likely), it will be in the company of only two movies — Henry and June and Midnight Cowboy. Midnight Cowboy was actually rated X, which has now been turned into an NC-17 rating, because the porn industry has a stronghold on the letter “X.” Here’s what I will never understand about this rating. The puritanical folks over at the MPAA can give an NC-17 rating based on sex, but never on violence? Remember Passion of the Christ? Which movie do you guess is more disturbing for a young child — Passion of the Christ or Showgirls? I’m guessing a young teen might loose sleep over Showgirls, but not for the same reasons that he might loose sleep after watching Jesus get tortured for hours on end.
Howard Stern Interviews Billy Joel — Ask For His Favorite Song
Billy Joel appeared on Howard Stern’s show today to promote his new documentary, The Last Play at Shea. The documentary chronicles his 2008 performance at Shea Stadium, just before it closed down. Stern went easy on Joel and stuck mostly to music questions. That’s likely because Stern and Joel are good friends, and Stern therefore felt uncomfortable asking about the breakdown of his marriages. I know this because I avidly listen to Stern, who is pretty consistent in badgering his guests about their personal lives (which is usually my favorite part of his interviews). Though I was disappointed that those questions weren’t asked, I did enjoy the part where Stern asked Joel for his favorite song. Joel picked quite a few, and I’ve posted one below — it’s Summer Highland Falls. Summer, Highland Falls by bradenbost
Glee Cast Strips for GQ Photo-Shoot — Is this Necessary?
What do you do when your show is successful? Take pictures of the female cast members in their underwear, of course. Dianna Agron and Lea Michele took some very racy pictures for GQ Magazine, presumably because the photographer is an unoriginal pervert who could only think of taking sexual photos. I’m curious how the conversation went. Here’s what I imagine: “Hey Lea and Dianna, you know what would be really great? If you just stripped down to your underwear and posed with a come-fu*k-me face.” This isn’t the first time Lea Michele has posed in her underwear, so I’m guessing she’s comfortable with it. For the life of me I’ll never understand why actresses feel the need to sexualize themselves in the entertainment industry. Reese Witherspoon might be the only celebrity that refuses to do it, and I’m sure she’s endlessly propositioned. By the way, isn’t Glee a family show? To see the pictures in question, click the link below.
GLEE LADIES IN THEIR UNDERWEAR