Entertainmentoday

It was announced yesterday that Kris Allen was awarded the coveted prize as this year’s American Idol winner:  His very own record deal.  Let’s hope the producers steer him in the right direction (think Chris Daughtry) and not in the wrong (Taylor Hicks, anyone?).

But when he shocked the world with his win, fans questioned the voting.  When he sang the national anthem for the first game of the NBA Finals, fans went on a Twitter frenzy stating that ‘Adam would’ve done it better’.  This kid just can’t win! True, Adam was the more talented of the two, but he just wasn’t what America had in mind this time. 

Sure everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but I don’t get why people continue to hate on this poor kid.  I mean, look at that face -he’s adorable and harmless!  He’s a small town kid, who’s married to a girl who could pass as Reese Witherspoon’s cutesy little sister.  America voted for him, because he’s the All –American Kid that everyone roots for from the sidelines.  He’s wholesome.  He’s sweet.  He’s the kid next door, who probably helps old ladies cross the street.  And he’s got the talent to back it up.  Kris held his own (and seized my attention) this season, because he was such a joy to watch.  And just when you thought he was a Jason Mraz wannabe, he went out of his zone performing numbers like Glen Hansard’s “Falling Slowly” and a cover of Kanye West’s “Heartless”, to prove that he was a risk taker too. 

To quote Jamie Foxx (when he mentored the Idol contestants), “Kris made me swoon”! :-0

(The Cannons/US Magazine)     

Can’t believe I’m actually making the time to talk about two people I could give a sh*t about, but today, something peaked my interest in the whole Eminem/Nick Cannon side show.  To bring you up to speed:  Shady insulted Mariah, thereby insulting Mariah’s new hubby, Nick Cannon. Nick blog bashes on Shady, and now everyone says Nick fell right into Shady’s trap by creating drama and drawing attention to Shady’s new album that’s about to drop. Whew!      

That being said, I can’t help but side with Nick.  What was he supposed to do?  NOT defend his new wife?  True, guys are going to call him a p***y either way, but it takes a real man to take a stand in my book.  It’s obvious Slim Shady has shown he can push a button or two when it comes to celebrities (see past and recent music videos!).  But whether anything ever happened between Shady and Mariah in the past (which she denies) is irrelevant.  She’s a married woman now and her husband is doing what any married man would do — he’s defending his wife.  Nick shouldn’t be criticized for being a good husband.  Instead he should be commended for that, so kudos to you, Nick! .  Good for you for not being a punk, and showing you’ve got all the respect in the world for your wife - something Mr. Slim Shady knows nothing about. 

 (Twilight’s First Couple/Beverly Wilshire Photo Shoot) 

Rob and Kristen.  Robsten.  TwiLovers.  I swear, it’s enough to make me slit my wrist with my Twilight bookmark.  Enough already!!  As much as I would LOVE to sit here and talk about Rob 24/7, I’ve officially become nauseated by all the Rob/Kristen romance crap.  In the end, do I even care?  Nope.  Better yet, do the Twilighters give a rat’s ass?  Hell. No.  

I totally get why people root for them to be together.  They had awesome on-screen chemistry.  They’re adorable.  They make a great couple.  And let’s face it… we are talking about THE Edward and Bella here.  Heck, I’m still reeling over the fact that the ‘Slumdog’ couple are a real life item.  When you’re rooting for them in the movie, it’s only natural to root for them on off-screen.  It just bugs me how the media has become so fascinated with even the slightest prospect of them being romantically involved.   It’s like ‘ooh look, they’re sitting with their legs touching… it must be SERIOUS?’.   Yeah, right.  

And where is Michael Angarano in all of this?  Is it so hard to imagine that Kristen’s long term relationship with him could truly be genuine or (gasp!) happy?  Poor kid. Part of me can’t help but wonder whether this is part of Summit’s plan to add to the “New Moon” hype?  Maybe.  But it’s silly.  Better yet, it’s downright insulting if they think that a romance between the lead stars will play a part in whether we see the next movie.  Trust me when I say that female fans line up to see Twilight movies for one reason only:  EDWARD CULLEN.  And as long as that role is being played by Rob Pattinson, I doubt there’s anything the media or studio can do to change anyone’s minds.   

Okay, so I was actually bummed to see Allison leave Idol last night.  And then she cried during the painful exit video montage.  I feel bad whenever contestants start crying.  I mostly feel bad ‘cause even though I wasn’t rooting for her, Allison is such a great talent.  I just feel she didn’t have the public’s vote over the rest of the guys.  I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for Adam Lambert and  Kris Allen (even though he’s the weakest vocalist of the bunch, which he happily admitted to a week ago!).  Allison’s young and still needs to work on her maturity level as far as readying herself for the cutthroat music biz.  In the end, I have no reason to worry about this girl — she’s gonna be just fine. But let’s move on to the other two female performers – Gwen Stefani as the guest and Paula Abdul as the guest/judge.  WTF?

First up…Gwen Stefani.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE HER!  She is easily one of the coolest chicks in the industry, but her look bothered me.  Neon green bra under white tank top?  Totally acceptable L.A. wear, but that had to be the most unbecoming bra in the world.  Not only did it make her boobs look unusually pointy, but they looked SAGGY.  Not grandma saggy, but droopy sad saggy, if you will.  Aye Carumba, we know you just had a baby, but geez!  Her movements were so awkward and uncomfortable, as if she were struggling to find some sort comfort zone on the Idol stage.  Her entire performance seemed winded and heavy footed, like she was out shape, yet trying very hard to play it off.  I guess that’s why she decided to throw in 5 push ups in the middle of her routine.  BAD IDEA.  It made her move even slower and took away from her already weakened voice.  I know motherhood’s kept her busy, but WOW.  Expected so much more from her, but even Gwen’s entitled to an off night!

Second up…Paula Abdul.  Don’t get me wrong, Paula looks FABULOUS and she can still move.  But that song was HORRIBLE.  It was sad to see that her music hasn’t improved much since the ‘80’s, but even her ‘80’s stuff sounded better than that!  She does look happy and healthier, so I’m not about to rain on her parade.  Thought the whole routine was a bit cheesy, but you know what – Paula still did her thing. 

Questlove posted a tweet on his Twitter the other day saying “Aniston: I get it now”.  His headline merely confirmed what I’ve already known:  Jennifer Aniston is the SHIT!  

 The public’s image of Jennifer Aniston is limited to the tabloid tidbits commonly seen at grocery store checkouts:  Married and (happily) divorced from Hollywood Hunk, Brad Pitt.  Former on/off again girlfriend of Twitter Celeb/Whore, John Mayer.  Love Lost Jennifer Adopts a Baby.  Who CARES?  Underneath it all, Jennifer is the coolest chick on the planet -  in my eyes, at least.  To me, the girl is FLAWLESS -  both in physical and natural beauty.  During her ‘early Friends’ years, I saw her waiting for a table at a restaurant one year during Cinco de Mayo.  And she was doing just that — waiting for a table like the rest of us.  No prima donna bullshit.  And when she was seated at her table, her focus was 100% on the conversation with her dinner guest.  She could care less of her surroundings, nor was she preoccupied with being seen.  In other words, she reminded me of yours truly! It’s true! And that’s what made her seem that much more ‘normal’ to me.  She was the epitome of the un-Hollywood actress -  the down to earth girl who hadn’t been swayed by fame.  I think it’s ridiculous for people to feel sorry for her and label her with cheesy headlines like “unlucky in love”.  In reality, Jennifer is far from it.  She lives a happy and privileged life that most people only dream about.  She’s a talented actress, who’s had success on both the small and big screen. Plus add the fact that she’s beautiful, ageless, and completely uninhibited.  She has remained unscathed throughout all the Brangelina drama, while still maintaining her privacy.  She has put Angelina in check (only when necessary!) and has seemed to keep all Brad-related comments to an absolute minimum.  That’s ’cause Jennifer’s a woman of class, who has weathered the storm with humor and grace.  She’s an inspiration to women everywhere.  As far as I’m concerned, Brad can kiss Jennifer’s yoga-toned ass up and down the street.  Take that, Benjamin Button! 

(THE MAN, THE MYTH: Edward Cullen - VF Italy)

1. You’ve never been much of a reader, but suddenly, you’ve devoted countless hours to reading this book.
2. You’ve fabricated some sort of excuse, or faked some sort of illness, just to get out of doing something that would prevent you from staying home and burying your face in your book.
3. You wonder why you’ve become so obsessed with this book and its characters, but before you consider yourself crazy, you decide to blame the person who got you hooked on the book in the first place!
4. You carry the book EVERYWHERE you go — just in case you get a free moment to squeeze in some reading time.
5. You fly through the entire saga like you’re in some sort of book marathon, which is mind boggling since let’s face it — you didn’t read this much even when you WERE in school!
6. You’ve shut out the entire world and everyone that matters around you.  Basically, some member of your family or friends was neglected in some way while you were busy reading.
7. You sit and wonder why every guy can’t be Edward, or dream of wanting your own Edward.  You’ve basically fallen in love with Edward and are extremely envious of Bella.
8. The minute you finished Twilight, you rushed out (literally) to buy New Moon and repeated that process for the other two books.
9. The minute you finished reading the entire saga, you went into a sort of ‘Twilight Depression’ where you sat around wondering ‘what now…. back to my OWN life?’  (sigh)
10. You decide to re-read the entire saga once you’re done, because as much as you hate to admit, you hate living outside of the Twilight World!

Wow, time flies when you discover Twilight and allow it to consume your life, eh?!  Now that I’ve read the entire saga and gotten over the addiction of having to google Robert Pattinson on a daily basis, I’m now ready to re-enter my short lived blogging career, only this time I’m coming with a bit of Twilight flavor.  Actually, LOTS of flavor.  In other words, if there is nothing that excites or interests me at any given time, you can expect to get some sort of Twilight tidbit on my end.  Not that there isn’t enough Twilight (and soon to be New Moon) madness in the world today, but there are times when I need to do things strictly for my own entertainment.  So beware…. and ENJOY! 

 First the VMA’s and now….. the worst-rated Emmy Awards show?   Yes, just when you thought the VMA’s weren’t painful enough.  Let’s just say I’d rather watch an hour of Russell Brand host the VMA’s than be subjected to five minutes of the Emmys.   Here’s the lineup of hosts:  Ryan Seacrest, Tom Bergeron (DWTS), Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, and Jeff Probts (Survivor).  Whomever thought that a lame collection of reality show hosts would be ‘entertaining’ needs to be fired.  The 12-minute monologue was spent with Howie, Jeff and Ryan mostly going back and forth about how they had NOTHING planned.  (”No, really…. we seriously have NOTHING planned!”) This drawn out joke was the basis for their monologue.  And then for CBS to think that all would be forgiven if they got Heidi Klum to reveal a skimpy outfit under her tuxedo?  Give me a break.  As a woman, I couldn’t help but cringe at their obvious yet desperate attempt at ’spicing’ things up.  I know that the Emmys in general were affected by the Writer’s Strike earlier in the year, but does that count for Sunday night’s show too?  Either way, it got worse as the evening went on.   Although they tried to do to the retro theme in between award presentations, it still didn’t help my boredom.  Thank goodness for Tivo, because there’s no way I would’ve sat through the entire 3 HOURS!   Here’s a tip for next year:  Hire Tina Fey.  She’s extremely talented, funny, entertaining, and when you add up all her stage time throughout the evening, she may as well have been hosting the damn thing!  

No one gives a damn about this show anymore.   Instead of putting the style and music like back in the day, they choose to over commercialize the show beyond belief.  No budget, maybe?  No creativity?  No insight?  I have no idea what’s going on at the MTV offices these days, but I’m still speechless after watching the 2008 VMA’s.  The once “it” show of the year has now become nothing short of an over-hyped Hollywood wannabe hipster prom.  Let’s start with the choice of host.  Russell Brand?  He had a few jokes that got a chuckle out of me, but he’s not funny enough to ad lib his way out of a bad joke.   There are better things to poke fun at other than the Jonas Brothers’ celibacy promise rings, and the fact that he didn’t have much else to go on, just proves his material is not worthy of hosting such an event. Now the Britney factor.  Shame, shame, shame on MTV for continuing to exploit this poor child for their benefit.  They threw her out into the pack of wolves last year as the opening act that resulted in complete humiliation.  Mind you, she has cleaned up and looked fantastic that night, but I’m still bitter at MTV for exploiting her image as the “opener” for the show when ANYONE could’ve done the job.  Do they honestly think we tuned in to see her in a boring skit with Jonah Hill and to say ‘welcome to the show’?  Hell no!  Now on to the music…. or better yet, the lack thereof.  Rihanna is the opening act?  Really?  I know she’s hot right now and is at the top of the charts, but what happened to the kick ass opener that rocks the house and gets the party started?  Nothing against Rihanna, but she wasn’t it.  Not that she’s not worthy of being a fantastic opening act — if you tuned in to Fashion Rocks, you would’ve seen what could be done when an artist is put into a well thought out musical and theatrical production.  Aside from Rihanna, I guess MTV felt that if we threw Lil’ Weezy in as much as we can throughout the night, then the show would be totally HOT!  Wrong.  What a headache!  Yes, Lil’ Wayne gave me a headache!  If it wasn’t from his sagging jeans, then it was from his lackluster performances.  He had no business being on the stage with Kid Rock.  And his own set was a complete bore.  This coming from the #1 selling artist for the past month?  Very scary.  Paramore rocked it.  Pink did her thing.  Kanye closed it.  But these small acts can’t make up for the two-hours of torture.   I would’ve been happy just watching Travis & DJ AM go at it all night.  My advice to MTV — just go old school next year.  Forget all the over-the-top venues (Vegas, Paramount Studios lot, etc.) and just take it back to the Barker Hangar and just throw one big garage party.  Invite more rock bands and consider doing those surprise collaborations that only get seen on award shows and the occasional live show.  You mean to tell me you invited Slash to the VMA’s just to sit in the crowd?  For crying out loud, see if he’s up for a GNR reunion or see if he wants to jam with the Foo Fighters or Linkin Park?  My point is make use of the talent pool that’s out there.  Nothing fancy, just keep it real and keep it SIMPLE.  Let the rockers jam and let the rappers flow.  Take note, you stuffy MTV suits….. and maybe you can spare the fans from the misery that lies ahead for next year.

The movie world lost an iconic movie figure recently when Julius Carry III passed away from pancreatic cancer.   He was 56.  Anyone who’s a fan of the cult martial arts flick “The Last Dragon” is familiar with his infamous character “Sho-Nuff”.  Although he had much success later in his career for doing bit parts on several TV shows and movies, it is his role as Sho-Nuff that he is the most recognizable.   If you’re not familiar with the movie, the role of the Sho-Nuff was a cross between  ghetto Harlem kingpin and Bruce Lee.  Throw in a crazy shogun styled afro, pair it with his jive lingo (”I am Da Master!”) and you’ve got a master sensei for the ‘hood.   There will never be another martial arts villain quite like Sho-Nuff.   You will be missed!