Well girls it’s that time again.

Tomorrow night you’ll pop your popcorn and plop down on the couch to see yet another award show. The Oscars. The Academy Awards. The best of the best in award shows. (Or at least they seem to think so.) But with all the hype surrounding award shows lately I can’t help but think a regular night at the Oscars might not hold up that well against some of the drama we’ve had surrounding our award shows lately.

Embarrassed celebrities?
Outraged actors?

How can the Oscars compete with that? Well, I have a few ideas…

1. Get Ricky Gervais to host. I know James Franco and Anne Hathaway already have this gig covered but I think it would be great if Ricky Gervais at least got the chance to speak. I mean the man’s been a social pariah since the Golden Globes and I think it’s time he and Hollywood bury the hatchet. Sure, the celebs may not be ready for another round of Ricky’s hard hitting humor but I most definitely am. These celebs need to learn to take a joke and the only way they’re going to get a thicker skin is if they’re exposed to the abuse over and over again. What…too harsh?

2. Someone needs to pull a Kanye. I think it would work best if this were to take place during the winner of Best Picture’s acceptance speech. Let’s say The Social Network wins. Someone should step up just as Scott Rudin is thanking the academy and declare that they’re going to let him finish but Inception is the best film of all time, and could Christopher Nolan please tell him if the whole thing was a dream or not now? Because it’s been driving him crazy for months and he needs answers! And so do I. Read More »

This week, the Golden Globes happened along with a lot of other fun stuff! Celebs got pissed, celebs got engaged, celebs broke up, and some celebs even had secret babies! All in all, a well-rounded week, I’d say.

Back To The Semester Parties

1. You’ll probably never see Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes again. Despite the fact that he did a hilarious job of hosting the Golden Globes, which would have been utterly dull without him, Ricky Gervais’s jokes are being slammed by the majority of Hollywood. Why? I guess because he made fun of both Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp within the first five minutes (I guess Hollywood royalty isn’t used to being picked on…), he trashed the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, and according to some people, he just went ‘too far’ with the jokes he made about Robert Downey Jr., Bruce Willis, and Tom Cruise. There were tons of rumors that he was asked to never return – but apparently, Ricky has made that decision on his own. Can we pull the stick out of Hollywood’s Botox-injected butt, please?

2. Halle Berry is having baby daddy drama. She’s going into a custody battle with her ex, Gabriel Aubry, over their daughter Nahla. He wants to be officially declared the father, and wants joint custody of his daughter. Can’t really blame the guy, can you? Their break-up seemed pretty friendly, but let’s see what happens when the court gets involved.

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Does this look like a mean man? No!

Dear Stars and Starlets of Hollywood,

I understand that many of you are feeling a little hurt from Ricky Gervais’ monologue. And I have three little words for your GET OVER IT!

(Take a deep breath now before you read the rest. Good? Good.)

It’s a joke.  The whole world loves to see comedians (such as Rickey Gervais or Kathy Griffin) poke fun at other celebrities. It’s like seeing the popular girls in school get taken down, but better because it’s on national television….and you have to keep smiling.

The audience (the people spending their money watching your movies) loves it; why else would celebrity gossip magazines be flying off the shelf every week? Oh and Ms. Jolie – how many movies have you had succeed at the box office? Who are you practically married to again? Oh right, Brad Pitt.  I think you can handle a little joke about The Tourist. I’d let anyone make fun of me so long as I could come home to those arms of steel.

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Can I get some Red Bull up in here? I’m majorly struggling right now. It’s like the crash that comes after eating a bag of Sour Patch Kids, only instead of sugar I was hopped up on sequins and cleavage and Brad Pitt’s sunglasses.

Yes, you know I’m talking about the glamour that was the Golden Globe’s Red Carpet.

Of course there are always lots of entertaining moments in the award show itself (Ricky Gervais was hosting, after all), but like most ladies with an eye for fashion, the true highlight of the show comes before it even starts. And last night’s show before the show did not disappoint. From the stunning shoes (I’m looking at your hidden feet, Olivia Wilde!) to the bright hues (word to your mother, Angelina) to the style doo doos (how else do you describe Christina Aguilera’s ‘fit?), the 2011 Golden Globes red carpet had me on the edge of my futon.

So after 3 hours of acceptance speeches during which I did some careful consideration (and drank a few glasses of Franzia), I bring you the best dressed, worst dressed, most WTF dressed and, just for fun, the sexiest men of the 2011 Golden Globes.

Enjoy. Read More »

While the Golden Globes were pretty entertaining last night (what’s funnier than watching celebs make fun of each other and take serious jabs at NBC), the true magic of the show began a few hours before Ricky Gervais (be still my heart) took the stage. And that magic is better known as the Red Carpet.

When it came to the fashion choices last night, the celebs pulled out all the stops…and hairspray, as they had to brave the showers to make an appearance on the red carpet.  Of course, despite the rain, they all (well, almost all) looked amazing (I’m looking at you Mariah Carey!). And the fact that they could look so beautiful while showing support for Haiti just made the couture dresses all the more fabulous in my little eyes.

There was a whole lot of awesome on the Red Carpet. From Jane Krakowski’s gorgeous purple frock to Courtney Cox workin’ it in basic black, it really was hard to find a dress I didn’t like. But, as always, the beauty is really in the details, and there were some really breathtaking details on display. Below are a few of my favorite bits and pieces from the Golden Globes Red Carpet. Click on the picture to see the deets at work in the overall look! Read More »

Let the Amy Winehouse downward spiral continue!

Need answers to your tricky love questions?

Chris Brown gets sentimental.

This takes the vampire obsession a bit too far.

Who will host the Golden Globes?

Bradley Cooper is single once again!

For the former Daily Show “correspondent” and talented star, Steve Carell (who’s acting abilities, incidentally, shine the most when he takes on more subdued roles, as in the case when he played a gay, Proust scholar in Little Miss Sunshine), the opportunity to star in the American Office, assuming the same role that Gervais had perfected even before the show’s inception on BBC, must have been, I can only presume, a bit daunting.

Indeed, those are big shoes to fill, as my previous piece, which introduces the mastermind(s) behind the Office indicates. (Despite my focus on Gervais, he shouldn’t be given all the credit, as Stephen Merchant was also the co-creator of the Office and their hit series on HBO, Extras).

THE VERDICT: FIRST IMPRESSIONS AREN’T ALWAYS CORRECT

I’ll be the first to admit, when I watched the first few episodes of the American Office, my leeriness was confirmed. Jim (played by the now famous John Krasiniski, a native – like the writer/actor of the show B.J. Novak – of Newton, MA) just parroted Tim (Martin Freeman), and as a mere mimicker of the British actor, I wasn’t impressed. It was worse for Carell, however, as he was taking on Gervais’s role. All eyes were on him. While Gervais received gushing praise (one critic, as I mentioned previously, lauded, “the show is perfect.”), American TV critics, not surprisingly, reviewed Carell’s initial performance with either tepid (ahem) approval or outright despair, the latter bemoaning the fact that he was channeling Gervais and in a decidedly not-so-subtle manner. Read More »

Over the course of the summer, I’ll be writing about several TV shows, and my blogs will include discussions about the Office(s). Having been a huge fan of the original Office as well as an enthusiastic watcher of the “Carrell version,” I have decided to run two separate entries, retracing the British version, while recapping the American one.

The similarities are clear – both shows are hinged upon making their viewer simultaneously cringe and laugh. This comedic form is not for the faint of heart, and that applies to the creators and their viewers. Incidentally, this type of laugh-out-loud-cringe-inducing tenor is remarkably similar to the HBO hit series, Curb your Enthusiasm, by none other than the Seinfeld master, Larry David (set in L.A., David plays himself, and the show is a much dirtier version of the sorts of shenanigans and meaningless of everyday life moments that was so artfully and humorously portrayed in Seinfeld).

Such parodic artistry takes a special, if not mentally twisted, type of creator. Ricky Gervais and David are equal contenders when it comes to shocking their viewers’ sensibilities. Steve Carrell has also proven that he’s is in that same elite comedic ring. But long before Carrell was able to shine as the idiotic Michael Scott in Scranton, PA’s office, there was Gervais’s David Brent in Slough, England. Read More »

Thankfully, for the humorous and humorless alike, there’s a new show – the Flight of the Conchords, which is funny, smart, and entertaining. And hopefully it will serve as a remedy to all of you sourpusses out there. Of course, for those of you who do have a sense of humor and appreciate, as well as understand, your fellow slap-happy, slyly funny comrades, this show is just one extra treat that can be added to your endless and ever-growing collection of humorous things.

What’s the show about?

Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, a quirky musical duo, have brought their parodic folk band from New Zealand to the U.S. The two musicians have turned their previous stage show into a television series, which is available on DVD and also airs on HBO. Set in NYC, the show follows the two folk artists, Bret and Jemaine, as they struggle to succeed in the music industry.

Given the subject matter, NYC is the perfect location, a city that brutally demystifies the dreams and aspirations of most artists (much like L.A. crushes teems of hopeful, fresh, young actors). After hiring an incompetent manager (Rhys Darby), whose “real job” is with the New Zealand Consulate, Bret and Jemaine fumble to get “gigs,” buy food, and so on.

Although it’s a parodic take about two struggling musicians, FOC’s satire functions more broadly. Borrowing from wide-ranging and thematic concepts from their original songs, the duo cleverly undermines commonly held assumptions and inverts concerns related to broad ranging social problems, all the while seamlessly incorporating peculiar, goofy, one-of-a-kind topics. Read More »