Heather Ledger: A death to ponder

There obviously has been a healthy love of pop culture among some of my fellow bloggers, and I'm honestly surprised I'm the first one to touch on the death of Heath Ledger.

Sadly a New York City medical examiner report confirmed some suspcions this week: He died from an overdose of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.

I happen to occasionally tune in to "The View" with my grandmother. Shortly after Ledger's Jan. 22 death the co-hosts were speculating on whether or not drugs contributed. Even though it was not clear then, I think Elisabeth Hasselbeck made a great point. She said the media seem to focus on female stars who appear to be in trouble with drugs or otherwise. Among those are Louisiana's own Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, the Olsen twins, etc...

But either the Heath Ledgers and Colin Farrells of stardom aren't partying enough to make photographers notice, or we only care when it looks like a formerly good girl is being unladylike. That to me reeks of a double standard.

And I hate that the very industry I work for seems to keep it going. Giving media consumers what they need versus what they want can mean finding a difficult balance. I'd be a tough one to convince that anyone needs as much star power as some of us put out there. But since we do, I feel like there should be some sense of responsibility to portray the state of things accurately.

So you consumers of all things paparazzi, do you think coverage of the partiers is fair? And what do media practitioners owe you?

(Photo courtesy of The Associated Press.)

Til death do they part...

As much of a pop cult junkie as I am, even I’m really getting tired of all these dizzy, self-destructive Hollywood starlets hogging the spotlight and headlines in the midst of real news going on in the world, like, I don’t know, the upcoming presidential elections.

I mean, the way Britney Spears’ life has played out over the past couple of months, better yet, weeks, it’s pretty obvious that she’s on the Anna Nicole plan…

Well, it’s obvious enough to some folks so much so that I was shocked to hear about a web site that’s actually asking folks to bet on when her date with death would be. And it turns out there’s a prize if you guess the right date – a free PS3 player! They even let you leave "early condolences" for her.

I tried to browse the site a little bit, just to see if this was for real or some kinda sick joke, but the whole thing just creeped me out. Come to find out they also have such a site for Amy Winehouse who’s better known these days as half of the British version of Bobby and Whitney instead of the awesome songstress that she is (Ok, yes, I’m a fan…)

I mean that’s GOTTA be a wake up call when folks are counting down the days to your death.
Am I the only one who thinks this is sick, or are you placing your bets?

Someone had to post this on here sometime

OK, if you haven't seen the original, here's a speeded up version of this guy's rant. The name is Chris Crocker. Google it. There's lots out there.

Enjoy.

Final rant on MTV VMA's...I promise!

Since I feel like most of the world has already talked ad nauseum or at least heard something about last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, especially Britney’s awful performance, I’ll try to keep my thoughts brief.

Several of my friends have referred to it as the MTV ADD Awards show. Waaay too many flashing graphics, almost incoherent computerized voiceovers and dizzying cut-ins without any rhyme or reason. If I weren’t such an entertainment/pop cult junkie, I coulda found a thousand other better ways to spend those two hours of my life.

Hits and misses:

-Some of the live concerts going on elsewhere in the hotel during the awards show were cool, but I couldn’t figure out a) Why they were going on during the show and b) Why in the world we couldn’t at least see complete performances.

-For me, when Chris Brown is the highlight of a music awards show, that says a lot, especially considering he doesn't even really sing.

-And while the pairing of 50 Cent and Kanye West to present an award was clever, (considering their upcoming Billboard chart showdown when both of their albums drop tomorrow) even that, like most of the show, appeared awkward and nonsensical.

There were funny parts, like Jamie Foxx’s plea to stop the "white-on-white crime," referring to the apparently offscreen fight between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee. And then there’s comedienne Sarah’s Silverman edgy monologue that was funny, but way too mean and colorful to even mention on here.

There’s so much more I could say, but a quick Google search tells me that, chances are, everyone’s already said it. So my MTV VMA rant ends here. If you missed the show and feel you must know what everyone's talking about, check it out here.

The comeback that wasn't...

OK, I think I’m finally ready to admit it – I’ve outgrown the MTV Video Music Awards.
And judging from tonight’s show, so far, so have some of the actual performers, namely, Britney Spears.

I’m not a big Britney Spears fan at all. I’ve never counted her as much of a singer, but the one thing the girl could always do is dance.
Even as her personal life spiraled out of control, the one thing I figured she could always do was dance.
I mean, despite all of the craziness her life has been, the girl is only like 26 or something, right? So youth should be on her side, right?

But her highly anticipated opening performance at the MTV Awards was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
I’ve watched many MTV Awards shows through the years and one of the most memorable things about the otherwise bland show in the last 10 years were Britney’s performances.
I can still see her dancing with that python, popping, gyrating, working that stage like a dancing machine.
She always commanded the stage back during those days. Unbelievably, her performance earlier tonight was just a completely different Britney.

She actually looked lifeless… scared… lost… confused… high? I’m still not sure, but she was definitely not all the way there. Her eyes looked vacant. As though somebody woke her up five minutes before the show’s start, dolled her all up and just threw her on the stage and said “Dance!”
I swear I actually saw her legs shake nervously at some points during her performance. And my heart went out to her.
I mean, it wasn’t until I saw her then that I realized I kinda wish she woulda been able to make her big comeback.
But sadly, based on last night’s performance alone, I don't think she's quite ready yet.

I’ll have more to say about the rest of the show later, like how it was one of the most visually annoying productions I’ve ever seen. Like how there was waaaay too much going on. Like how I think I need to pop an Advil after all of those wild and crazy graphics, mixed in with cut-ins to concerts going on during the awards show. But like I said, I’ll talk about all that later…