Archives for the 'Pop Culture' Category
I know that it’s a bit clichéd, but I have to pay respect to the man that still inspires a nation to this day.
Ode To Joy from Beaker on Vimeo.
Muppets rule.
I know that Bernard Madoff is likely guilty.
He cheated investors out of not millions but billions of dollars. He is the essence of greed in a world that is in an increasing struggle. His clients were rich folks, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be stolen from.
But this isn’t a story about Bernie Madoff, but rather a complaint about the unruly paparazzi. I saw a video clip of the scene when this picture was taken on the Today Show this morning. I saw a man trying to walk down the street in Manhattan accosted by a swarm of hungry paparazzi so desperate to get “the shot” that one of them even committed light assault by pushing Madoff back far enough for him to get a better picture.
If we can provide oversight to the Big Three, why can’t we rein in these paparazzi who are completely out of control? I know that most of these folks probably should understand that it is part of what comes with being a celebrity, but everyone has a right to privacy that is just not afforded to folks when they are considered a part of the “public domain”.
All for a good shot? It’s a good thing I’m not a celebrity because I’d regularly be appearing before the courts for knocking fools with cameras out.
Jennie O is running some commercials spoofing the difficulties with preparing a regular fresh or frozen turkey on Thanksgiving to sell their Oven Ready turkeys. They are both unbearably hilarious and yet really disgusting at the same time. Enjoy:
Today, People Magazine posted a story online (I got the link from CNN, I swear) in which Vanessa Hudgens (she of High School Musical fame) shares the “secret to her great relationship with co-star Zac Efron.”
There are so many things wrong with this story, but I’d like to tackle her “secret.”
“If you really love someone, you shouldn’t have to work at it,” the actress tells Cosmo Girl! for its July/August issue, reports Entertainment Tonight. “You finish each others’ sentences and have the same sense of humor.”
First of all, it should be assumed that we all know this is a 19-year-old talking about the secret of her great relationship with her 20-year-old co-star. It’s beyond ridiculousness. Hudgens and Efron have been dating since October of 2007. For those of you that are bad with math, that’s less than 12 months.
While a great relationship should not feel like work, you still have to work at it. If I’m going to take a celebrity’s sage advice about relationships, I’ll stick with my boy Will Smith who said:
“Counseling, individual learning, books, conflict resolution,” Smith confided. “It is a full time job to try and be happy. People tend to think that they can go to work for 50 or 60 hours a week and then come home and their relationship is just supposed to work.”
That’s the truth. Why would you spend less time working at your relationship than you do on your career? I know that People’s business is selling magazines and driving traffic to their site, but it’s really irresponsible for them to prop up this lackadaisical attitude toward relationships, especially from a teenage pop star who has been in her supposed “serious” relationship less than a year.
Over the past several months, Alli and I have been doing some pre-marital counseling for a couple that I will be marrying in late July. It’s been a terrific experience because out of all the things I’m good at, I think I’m probably best at being married. It’s not a skill that will necessarily lead to a long, illustrious career, but it sure makes my life a lot more enjoyable.
One of the things that I’ve found is a constant in the couples that I look to as relationship mentors in my life is that if you want to make a relationship or a marriage work, you should work harder at your relationship than you would in your career. When you do, it won’t feel like work. You’ll be happier, your significant other will be happier, and you’ll find that working at a relationship can be the most rewarding thing that you’ll ever do. If I had but one piece of advice to give to couples, that would be it.
That, and don’t get relationship advice from 19-year-olds in People Magazine.
When I was in college, I loved my magazines. I got all the typical “dude” magazines — Maxim, Stuff…I think I even got FHM for a while. I read every Maxim cover-to-cover. At that time, it was a great magazine. It sounds corny, but I really did read it for the articles. I still remember an article on Saddam Hussein’s two sons that was particularly harrowing and fascinating.
Over time, I grew out of that mentality. I got married and began my search for a better magazine, one that was relevant to what I liked and what interested me. I tried GQ for a while. I thought that GQ was a sensible step forward from Maxim, something a little more mature. Except that it was too mature. I was still in my 20’s and GQ seemed so late-30’s to me. Plus, it took itself a lot more seriously than it should, especially when they were running articles about how Jessica Simpson was the “All-American Girl”.
For the last couple years, I’ve been subscribing to Wired. I figured as a technology professional, it made sense. It’s an interesting enough magazine, filled with fascinating articles and nerdy things. There tend to be very interesting nuggets, but they are not nearly as frequent as I’d like.
Then, last summer before we left for Italy, I picked up Best Life, a magazine put out by the editors of Men’s Health. I steered clear of picking it up at first, focusing on the books I had brought to read. But on the train one day, I pulled out my Best Life, an oversized magazine that looked promising.
I ended up reading the magazine cover-to-cover. Each section was well-written and extremely interesting and had insight into things that mattered like how to improve your finances and your relationships, your health and your career.
Finally, a magazine that that I looked forward to getting every month!
One problem. It only comes out 10 times per year. That is not acceptable. At least give me my other two issues for my subscription fees. And keep the great issues coming.
CNN is reporting that Heath Ledger is dead.
This sucks. First and foremost for his daughter with Michelle Williams, Matilda.
They have not said what the cause of death was yet. I hope for his daughter’s sake it wasn’t suicide or drugs. I imagine that would mess a kid up pretty good. I never saw him as the suicidal/druggie type. He seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders despite the whirlwind romance/marriage/divorce he had with Williams.
He was also a really good actor. More details available in the main news outlets.
I’m not sure where these reality shows manage to find the losers they put in front of the camera in between events. Jeff Probst’s previous gig before Survivor was Rock N Roll Jeopardy. Ryan Seacrest had a radio show in Los Angeles before American Idol. Chris Harrison hosted Designer’s Challenge on HGTV before The Bachelor. And these are all people who I would consider more qualified to host reality shows than Samantha Harris.
I’m not proud to admit that I watch Dancing with the Stars, but one thing I do is that I mute the TV whenever Samantha Harris is on the screen. Andy Denhart of reality blurred recently published an article on MSNBC giving several instances of Harris’ awfulness as a host.
Harris is just absolutely and completely lost half the time, constantly referring to her handy-dandy postcard to be saved from herself. Is it really that hard to ask interesting questions? I seriously don’t think she pays attention at all to the show and has a monkey behind the camera telling her what to say. Although a monkey might make more sense…
ABC, I beg of you to get rid of her from this show. Having Tom Bergeron’s cheesiness is plenty to stomach during the show. We really don’t need Samantha’s babbling on a show where the host’s other gig is America’s Funniest Home Videos and the top prize is a mirror ball trophy.
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