She’s sold over 80 million records. She’s been the soundtrack to many a pregaming session for the past 10 years. We’ve seen her catapult to the highest levels of fame and success, crash in a humiliating series of personal and professional failures, and re-emerge to reclaim her place as one of pop music’s premiere superstars. She was, and remains, a touchstone of popular culture. Love her or hate her, Britney Spears is an icon. Today, she celebrates her 30th birthday, and while we at CollegeCandy eagerly await our invite to her birthday party, we’re going to pass the time by telling you 30 reasons we love Britney!

initiating the gallery...

For times like those, magazines are the way to go (plus, who doesn’t like perfume samples and grocery coupons?). But you don’t want to waste your money on just any magazine; you want the one that will give you the most (gossip) bang for your buck.

So which ones are best? I scoured the grocery store check-out aisles for candy bars the top dogs in gossip magazines and here are my rankings:

People

This is definitely the cream of the crop, in terms of the amount of coverage, story quality, and reliability. It seems to actually like the people it talks about, showing amazing weight loss stories more than gains, and cute bikini pictures more than cellulite. Since it’s the most popular one and the most sympathetic towards its subjects, the stars are more willing to give interviews and send exclusive baby pictures that aren’t found elsewhere. The writers only print what they can back up with hard facts and legitimate sources, and always have a few pages of deeper articles, like “Real Heroes Among Us.” Sometimes, though, the articles are a bit too long for relaxed beach-reading material, and sometimes are a little depressing compared to the more fun and trashy mags.
Overall Score: 9

Us Weekly

If People is king, then Us Weekly is his lovely queen. I love the features like, “Stars- They’re Just Like Us!” or the snarky comments in the “Fashion Police.” Even though the articles are pretty shallow and not particularly well-written, they’re always fun and entertaining (meaning no deaths or disasters). And just like People, they’re pretty high in reliability and have the latest photos in the business.
Overall Score: 8

Star

This ugly duckling has transformed from a dirt-grubbing tabloid (National Enquirer, anyone?) to a certified glossy. Although it lacks the reliability of the top performers, Star is always a fun read that’s filled with attention-grabbing headliners, always accentuated with exclamation points. Titles like “Scariest Hollywood Makeovers!” and varying back-page features like “Public Displays of Consumption” (huh?) offer a wide breadth of topics, but don’t exactly have the most flattering pictures or correct information. Details…
Overall Score: 6

In Touch

Basically the poor man’s version of Us Weekly, and not even close in terms of credence and quality. The stories are kind of bland, tend to be more inaccurate, and the picture quality isn’t even very good. The only time you would want to buy this is if you only had $2 to spend, or if all the other magazines were sold out and you were about to get on a really long plane ride and had absolutely nothing else to do. Even then, though, I’d rather spend my money on Sour Patch Kids and read the back of the box.
Overall Score: 3

Do you have any favorites on the shelves? Or do you prefer to read juicy celebrity gossip online? Lemme know!

Allow me to refine this status: Americanization is not to be confused with Westernization, nor is it a put-down.

International Students take up a demographic in most US colleges and universities. They are usually easily spotted on campus. No, not because that of clothing choices or accents, but because they maintain a certain wide eyed fascination and solemn intelligence. International students seem refined and sophisticated. Hard working and goal oriented. They worked hard to get to this prestigious American university and they keep that in mind as they work even harder to graduate.

Most International Students stick together, seeking the comfort of the familiar. They tend to sit back in class and take notes as the more abrasive and comfortable students take over answering the questions, debating the topics and joking with classmates. As soon as class ends, they head to the library or the comforts of their dorm room to get started on the reading assigned. They never join the rest of campus at the weekend parties.

But then something starts to change. As the semester rolls on and these students find themselves more at ease in their new environment, they begin to engage in common American customs. They become The Americanized International.

The Americanized International has parted ways with his/her frequent dialect for slang, exchanging pleasant “hellos” for degraded “what ups.” Their freshly acquired iPods are now filled with the rhymes of Lil Wayne and the Billboard Top 100. Whereas studying used to take up most of their time, it has now been reduced due to their newfound love of Thirsty Thursdays and football pre-games.

Their love of food from “back home” (Moussaka, Wat, Masala) has been trumped by a new addiction to late night Mickey D’s or the Midnight Special at the campus pizza place.

The Americanized International has become fascinated by the media and pop culture and may know more than you about current events in Celebrityland. TMZ and Perez Hilton have become a fixture in their life.

Before you know it, the refreshing style of the International Student is been overcome by Uggs (no offense, Aussies), Crocs, North Face jackets and other over-rated trends. Their hair gets a little shorter/gel-ier/lighter, their jeans more expensive.

They begin drifting from their International friends who don’t embrace the new culture and immersing themselves more and more into their new world. They don’t deny their culture completely, but don’t embrace it readily. They are Americans now and do everything in their power to fit in.  Pretty soon you can’t tell where the Americanized International came from.

Gossip and rumors are main staples on college campuses across the nation, and the website Juicy Campus (which was recently shut down), shows just how far people are willing to go to spread gossip. At some point in everyone’s life, gossip comes up – good or bad. Gossip, in moderation, can be just another thing, but in a culture that obsesses about pop culture and dishing dirt (think of websites like Perez Hilton), the fixation of dishing dirt about someone else isn’t going away any time soon.

Although many of us love to gather on Monday nights to watch Gossip Girl and watch the scandals of the Upper East Side unfold, no one likes it when their own personal life is exposed in the cafeteria over wilted lettuce or when private information rolls off the lips of classmates before the professor starts the class. While gossip may seem like something that comes and goes, it can leave its dirty scars behind all too often.

Maybe because it’s an all-women’s college and women often use each other to bring others down, or maybe it is the size of the university, but the Hollins rumor mill never seems to cease on campus. It constantly peeks its nasty little head around the corner for students that least expect it. Whether it hurts friendships, ruins reputations, or isolates students from campus events — gossip can cause tremendous damage.

Remember when my mom and I met with the President to discuss the bullying that happened my first year? Well, upon arrival at Hollins for my sophomore year, the student body buzzed (never to my face, though) with the rumor that Hollins implemented a bullying policy because of me… being a bully. No one knew that my mom and I brought forth the issues that happened with me because of a bully on campus, demanding the President to come up with a bullying policy. No one knew what happened to me as a first year. However, everyone seemed to accuse me of things that I did not do.

Time after time, I have met girls on campus who tell me how “mean” I sounded from other students’ tales of meetings with me. One of my friends was even warned by another student to not be my friend. Whenever I hear these stories, the people who spoke out against me are always peers I have never met myself. They are usually students who I have never had contact with. How can anyone pass judgment before they have met someone else, especially in the context of putting someone else down? I don’t know how anyone could go around talking so negatively about someone else, when they have never personally had an experience with that person.

I have seen gossip make people unable to maintain decent friendships on campus, as well. For example, this girl named Emma (name changed) was known around campus to have a “private jet,” an extensive collection of designer apparel in her closet, and people even talked of her having major connections to the sports industry. Girls on campus thought they would take advantage of Emma by befriending her, only to go into her closet and steal her designer clothes. Not only would they go and steal her stuff, but they would talk about taking from her because she deserved it as a “rich kid.”

Truth is, Emma does not have a private jet (although her dad is a pilot), she doesn’t have immediate connections to the sports industry, and the only designer clothes she owns come from outlet malls. Now, whenever students meet Emma for the first time, they can’t get past her “rich kid” reputation. How can Emma expect to make friends on campus when everyone seems to focus on what they heard about her, instead of actually getting to know her?

Talk spreads like wildfire. I see it all the time. Just walk into the cafeteria on Monday morning and other people know where you were over the weekend. How? My first reaction to this, when it happened to me, was that those who were asking found out from Facebook. Since then I have had to make my Facebook entirely private, along with many other students on campus, in order to have any privacy. Though the gossip has not ceased.

Worst of all, it doesn’t help when the administration plays into the whole “Guess what I heard about you” game. On more than one occasion I have heard of students going to speak with the Dean of Students or head of Residence Life, only to come out with gossip from other students told to them by the authority figure who uses the gossip against them. If the administration lends an ear to gossip, of course the student body is going to keep it up.

I have heard many rumors about myself here at Hollins, and 99% of them never happened, resemble nothing from the truth, and have no merit. At first, I am not going to lie, the rumors really bothered me. A lot of them were hurtful, and a lot of them have stuck (despite not being true), but there comes a point when you have to displace yourself from that, even when it seems like everyone is talking about you. There have been so many times when I have seen my fellow peers break down about something that was said about them, and even though you want to stand up and say “No – that’s not true! That didn’t happen!” you can’t, and it doesn’t seem right or fair.

If sisterhood exists at Hollins, then why does gossip own the souls of most students? Whenever someone hears something that is obviously not true, no one speaks up – they just go along with it, and that is unacceptable. I am sick of hearing gossip about people and myself, especially at a school that talks about the loyalty and respectfulness of its students. If Hollins continues to let rumors take hold of the student body, I believe there will be no way to return to a clean, respectful state in the student body. No one will be able to avoid it, and that just seems entirely too extreme.

I know Hollins isn’t alone in this gossip battle – tell me about your school and how big of an impact gossip has on the student body? What is the worst rumor you have ever heard about yourself or someone else? Do you think gossip, in moderation, is healthy or just vicious in any degree? Time to share your story!

Remember Michael Jackson? Yeah, the guy behind Thriller, the Free Willy Song and all those weird molestation charges. What ever happened to him?

He went broke, that’s what. And now the bank will be auctioning off over 2,000 of his belongings at his famous estate, Neverland Ranch. Auction items range from his jeweled white glove to the elaborate front gates of the ranch. Since his little amusement park of a house went into foreclosure, the entire property will be auctioned as well as all of Jackson’s belongings inside the house.

This is great news for everyone who has every wanted a piece of super creepy pop culture history! Just imagine what is hidden behind those gates. (Editor’s Note: Besides all the young children.) Here’s a list of things we think will be a part of the MJ auction.

1.)   An Adult Sized Rocking Horse:  It’s like the little one you used to play on as a kid, only with chains and whips and handcuffs attached. You know M.J. had a things for all thing childlike…with an adult twist. But that’s not all! We are pretty sure this lovely rocking horse will come with Michael’s  “toy” chest, too. What a steal!

2.)   His Nose:  His REAL nose. The one that wasn’t triangular…or white. This purchase will come in its very own airtight carrying case, as any exposure to the elements will cause this fragile antique to disintegrate.

3.)   The Infamous Facemask: Why did he wear that thing in the first place? Rumor was he used it to protect himself from other people’s germs, but I don’t know about that. I think it had more to do with covering up his drooling mouth in the presense of little children. Or just trying to be even creepier.

4.)   An Extravagant Collection of Juvenile Artwork: By this I mean both work done by and of juveniles. Red choo choo train? Check. Elaborate painting of MJ and the lost boys on a bear skin rug by the fire? Check!

5.)   Bubbles the Monkey: Michael really loved Bubbles and I don’t blame him; that chimp was adorable! I’m sure Michael was heartbroken when the little guy went to monkey heaven and I’m pretty confident Bubbles is stuffed and sitting in MJ’s bed right about now, spooning him as he says goodbye to all his favorite things.

And I can have him for my very own!

We’ll start the bidding at $100.

So much happened I don’t even know where to start. Heads were shaved, breakdowns were had, there were babies- lots and lots and lots of babies. There were weight gains and anorexics, awesome music collaborations, lesbians coming out of the closet, my new best friend got millions of hits on you tube, Project Runway left Bravo for good. We lived without TV for far. too. long. Kanye declared himself the next Elvis (uhh okay), and Jessica Simpson’s career – well actually strike that – 2008 wasn’t really that exciting of a year for Jessica Simpsons career.

Anyway, the point is a lot happened in the world de pop culture over the past year so let’s take a look at some of our favorites. Feel free to chime in at the bottom and let us know if any of your favorite 2008 moments were left off the list.

10. Lindsay Lohan switched teams. Despite a floundering career, LiLo managed to stay afloat in the year’s headlines – and not because of her legging line (surprising, I know), but because of her romance with pal/girlfriend Samantha Ronson. I’m still not even sure if she has fully admitted to her relationship, but I can tell you this: I am happy for her and hope she embraces it so that the magazines can finally move on to something a lot more interesting,

9. Michael Phelps breaks a record. As the most unfunny season opener on SNL. Ever. I mean, seriously, the dude can swim – that we know by his crazy world records broken this year in Beijing – but has Loren Michael’s even heard the kid speak? He puts the M in Monotone. I still lie in bed at night trying to find the logic in that move.

8. Tina Fey became the official face of Funny Women Around the Globe. 30 Rock is kicking ass, Fey is all over the place, and even Sarah Palin doesn’t do Sarah Palin as well as our pal Tina.

7. “I die” became a part of every college girl’s vernacular. Thank you, Rachel Zoe. The Fur, the 12 Venti Teas every day – Rachel Zoe sure knew how to “Shut it Down” in 2008 and, frankly, I can’t wait for another season. Thank you Bravo for providing so many amazingly addicting shows giving us all another big year of procrastination.

6. Oh My God They’re Back Again. No not the Backstreet Boys (although they’re still here too!) but bubblegum pop made a mega comeback this year, making me want to say a big fat “I told you so” to every music critic from the late 90s. From the Jo Bros to Miley to Taylor and Selena Gomez, there is no shortage of shrieking 13-year-old girls staring at the posters they ripped out of Tiger Beat magazine like we did with BSB, NSync and New Kids On the Block (who, along with the Spice Girls, let us not forget, made an attempted comeback this year) so many years ago.

5. Facebook got a makeover. Some say for the better, others for the worse. 2008 brought us the choice “is” in the Facebook status, the 9 billion games and of course, the sheer terror of seeing that email proclaiming that your mother, aunt and grandma’s best friend Rose added you as a friend on Facebook. Joy.

Jill IS taking down all of her bar crawl and keg stand pictures as we speak…

4. Teenage pregnancy became acceptable. Cool, in fact! Jamie Lynn, Bristol Palin, and Juno made pregnancy look more fun than getting your makeup done for Prom, even inspiring an entire group of friends at a Boston High School to make a pact with one another to get knocked up. Take that, college applications. And Hollywood was in no shortage of breast milk either – everyone from Jessica Alba to Ashlee Simpson to Gwen Stefani to Jodi Sweetin had babies, adorned the front page of a magazine, and drooped mad pounds in like 4.3 hours.

3. Heath Ledger and Tim Russert both tragically passed away. Nothing snarky to say here. Both men incredibly talented and passionate in their work and in their lives and both will be missed by all.

2. Barack Obama was elected into office. The world stopped hating us (at least for a minute), Elizabeth Hasselback may or may not have spit up all over her cute Marc Jacobs ensemble, and history was made. Whether you’re a democrat, republican, independent , or foreigner, there is no denying the importance and excitement of November 4th 2008. Now on to Prop 8 – let’s hope 2009 is a better year.

1. Britney Spears provides escapism for the masses. Sure you lost your job and the market has gone down, down, down, but if Brit has taught us anything it’s that things can turn around… fast. One day you’re shaving your head, sporting pink wigs, going batsh*it insane with an umbrella and spending some time in the hospital, and the next you are planning your world tour. Britney showed us that the only way from down is up, as the media flipped a switch over her killer body, kick ass catchy album, tear jerker documentary and an Ellen parody to boot.

The Pregnant Man – Thomas Beattie became the sensation of the world in April when he appeared on Oprah to defend his choice to have a child as a transgendered man. Sticking up for your beliefs? Awesome, and definitely commendable. Eventually turning into a fame slut and marketing out your second pregnancy? Not cool. Now pregnant with his second child, Beattie has already cemented a book deal on his experience and been interviewed a second time as a ‘Barbara Walters Exclusive.’ One child is a miracle. A second one immediately afterwards is a marketing scheme.

Batsh** Insane Celebrities Across The Media - Britney, Lindsey, and others: we’re talking to you. 2008 was the year of the mental millionaire, with the world playing a captive audience to the tragic, bizarre, and sometimes just eerie behavior of celebrities. We watched Britney Spears struggle to put her life back together after divorce, Lindsey Lohan battling various addictions, and Scarlett Johansson crossing the borderline into stalker-ish about Barack Obama. Here’s the real scoop: an estimated 57.7 million adults are suffering from a diagnosable mental illness in the United States alone. What makes these celebrities any different from these people who are suffering in private besides their income and the paparazzi that shadow them? Watching people suffer is definitely a trend that shouldn’t cross over into ’09.

“Reality” Dating Shows - Now that Flavor Flav has finally hung up his clock and gone off the air, there are about thirty shows taking his place, and they’re spreading like cockroaches. Tila Tequila, the ‘Ikki Twins,’ and others are taking over Vh1 and MTV mercilessly, swamping our televisions with drunken fights (actually funny to watch), and pointless drama. Who makes their boyfriends/girlfriends eat nasty pig parts and do bizarre things in the name of love? These loveless actors do. Some dating shows range from the creepy (Date My Mom) to the outright postmortem (The Bachelor), but either way, they all need to go.

Political Ignorance/Apathy – In the year of the historical election, political action was awesome and political apathy was absolutely the anti-cool. The worst of the worse were the nonpartisans who were both apathetic and uneducated about the election. Their “why should I bother to vote” statements were both inhibiting to the democratic tradition and simply irritating. Guaranteed to piss off people who were voting, the ‘Not Voting’ demographic drew on fallacies and the platforms that they didn’t really understand to prove why they weren’t going to vote. The election was basically a two horse race, but there were still other entries available as an alternate, so not voting at all was just not cool.

Guys in Girl Jeans – It’s creepy. It’s weird. It’s a guy shopping in the same section as you in PacSun. As you put down the pair of sunglasses you were looking at and openly stare, you realize he’s not just shopping for a shirt to give to his girlfriend. He’s holding three pairs of jeans in his hand, and there’s no girlfriend in sight. As you watch, he takes the jeans and starts walking to the dressing rooms. You are not witnessing a confused shopper. You’re witnessing the Girl Jean Phenomenon, a plague of 2008 pop culture, and a trend that needs to die on December 31st. Guys wearing our jeans is not cool or edgy. It’s just lame and, now, overplayed.

Saturday Night Live – Is it still going? It’s been in the process of becoming painfully unfunny in the years since Will Ferrell left, and now with the exit of Amy Poehler, we just need to euthanize it. A classic sketch show that began in 1975 with genuinely funny people, SNL has run over six hundred episodes of pure comedic bliss continuously for thirty-three years. As with all great series, though, the time has come to put SNL out of its misery before it becomes the kind of joke it used to make.

Churning Out Tween Pop Stars By The Dozen – If child enslavement was defined as being manufactured on a kids’ show and being shoved on the masses, Disney and Nickelodeon would be doing massive amounts of time in jail. The list of sugary sweet music artists includes, but definitely is not limited to The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, Demi What’s-Her-Name, That Miranda Kid, and a host of others, few if any of whom have actual talent. But you wouldn’t know, because should you approach any method of media that is playing a song by them, you’ll be deafened instantly and hopelessly by the cacophony of shrieking that erupts. The Original Disney Channel Star, Hilary Duff, unfortunately started it all when she split from Disney in 2004 to pursue a solo career (which caused a big fuss, if I remember right). She was an original, at least for the Disney Channel. These cookie cutter kids? About as generic as it gets.

Agree or disagree? Think something else should have made the list? Voice your opinions below, and tell us what you think about the worst pop culture in 2008!

What up, ladies? It’s Tuesday, which means 2 things:

1. You got a lot to do before the weekend.

2. It’s College Blogger Shout Out day!

Yay! Just what you need to get you through those long days at the library. You can’t write 3 papers back to back with no breaks, can you? These sites are perfect for the time between the papers when you have to stop or your brain is going to melt/you are going to go crazy.

We found some great ones for you this week, so check em out and enjoy. Just don’t enjoy them too much; you still have a class or two to pass before break.

That’s So Fetch: Addicting, hilarious and the best way to avoid the stacks of notes on your desk.

Driving on the Sidewalk: A pop culture blog written by a hilarious and fabulous college coed. If we knew who she was, we’d make her be our friend on Facebook (and in real life).

Where Is Wall Street: Finance is boring, but not on this site. Money and all that jazz is all broken down for you in an interesting, entertaining and relateable way. Who knew economics would be so fun?

Avoid the holiday weight gain this year.

2009 is all about the bun.

Kate and Leo reunited at last.

DIY gifts for guys. So cool.

Need a cocktail ring for New Year’s? These are fabulous.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta are comin’ back. Thank you, Santa!

Dartmouth professor discovers the dangers of Facebook.

Gossip is good for ya!

In case you care, Joe Biden got a new puppy.

Need a vacation read? Try one of these great pop culture books.

The trailers of these films look promising, and then the movies crash and burn. Big time. And they become the laughingstock of twelve year old kids everywhere who thought they were being daring by watching that movie that mommy and daddy told them not to.

But, wait. That movie was a joke.

In the spirit of Halloween, my friends and I were recently trying to list the best scary movies of all time, but in doing so, we ended up creating a list of the 5 worst. It seems like those were easier to come up with because usually there’s no argument; they are unanimously bad. These movies don’t send chills down your spine or make you jump when someone comes up behind you. These not-so-scary movies make you laugh. Hard.

In no particular order:

5. IT - I know, I know. Many will argue this movie was actually creepy. It’s Stephen King. It’s about clowns. I mean, everybody is afraid of clowns. Or at least, a good two-thirds of the population. And still it makes my worst movie list because of the 180 turn in the middle of the movie. The first half isn’t bad – it kinda creeped me out a bit – but the second half? It negated the entire first part of the movie. I mean, the first half you have this clown terrorizing these poor defenseless kids. And in the second half, you have this clown terrorizing these poor defenseless adults, including John Ritter. But wait! It isn’t a clown at all! It’s an alien from outer space that looks like a giant spider? And you can kill it with an inhaler used by asthmatics everywhere? Wait, what?

4. The Blair Witch Project – This movie had such promise, and it did manage to frighten some people. (And kudos to them for using a viral campaign before anyone even knew what a viral campaign was.) But come. on. people. The actors were good, but that’s just it: they were actors. It wasn’t real!!

3. Cry Wolf – This movie also had major potential! College students involved in a great game (or at least a game with a great premise). Students start getting picked off and there’s this great mystery and then… it falls. Flat. And hard. By the time the credits started rolling, a guy two rows in front of me stood up and loudly proclaimed “I want my ten dollars back!” That was probably the highlight of the entir night.

2. Freddy Vs. Jason – Ah crossovers. Two villains for the price of one? Hell yes! The great thing about this movie is that by the time it came along, I think people knew that both franchises had gotten a little campy. So the masterminds behind it tried to make it a little campy. And they succeeded. I don’t know if this movie was ever actually supposed to be scary. I mean, one girl in the movie was looking into a nose job and had dreams of having her nose sliced off by Freddy. That is not scary; that is pathetic.

1. Jason X - As long as we’re talking about horror movie legends gone wrong, I thought I’d include this one. This movie is basically Jason past his prime and trying to redeem himself from his battle with Freddy. Oh and it’s in space. Yup, on a ship. Set in the future.

So there you have it. Five great movies that won’t make you jump out of your seat, but are definitely good for a laugh (without actually intending to).

Which ones do you think I missed? Let me know!

(Photo courtesy of _Villains’ via flickr)