Pop Culture Corner: Does Anybody Really Care About Racy Leaked Pics?

Ho hum, another day, another set of leaked photos of underage poptart Miley Cyrus letting her freak flag fly.



Fox News (of course) just can't get enough jailbait



Whether it's compromising photos of Cyrus, other-Disney princess Vanessa Hugens, or the indiscretions of over-21's like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, or whoever, the media and by association the public never seem to get tired of making dramatic *gasps* and then saying in a stage whisper "Can you believe it?" All the while running the images over, and over and over. Hypocrisy used to be the tribute that vice pays to virtue, now it's a way to chase ratings by running underage nudie pics on Network TV.



The media always acts so shocked when celebrities prove that they're as capable of being drunk, horny, or just plain thoughtless as anyone else.



There was a time when it was easier for celebs to stay on their pedestals. I have to wonder: if the apex of their careers had been in a time of 24-hour gossip news channels, the Internet, tabloid bloggers, and (most importantly) camera phones, would Doris Day have been able to maintain her squeaky clean image, or would Rock Hudson have managed to stay in the closet? I have my doubts.

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Pop Culture Moment: Steroid Witchhunt Accuses Mary J Blige

Let me tell you, it's shocking, shocking to see someone in the music business accused of using drugs of any kind.

Yahoo!: Spokeswoman for R&B superstar Mary J. Blige denies singer took steroids

Blige was one of a number of entertainers named by The Times Union of Albany on the weekend in connection with a steroid investigation. The newspaper cited unidentified law enforcement officials in reporting Sunday that Blige, rap musicians 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and award-winning author and producer Tyler Perry may have received or used performance-enhancing drugs.
The newspaper said that Blige received the human growth hormone Jentropin and Oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid, in orders sent to her at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

So what happens now? Are her Grammys going to have an * put next to them?

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BBC set to prove that it can compete with Americans for crap television

This just in from the "let's put something incredibly asinine on TV and see what happens" department:

BBC Three: Fat Men Can't Hunt

If you can't kill it and cook it, you'll be going hungry...
Most of us love our convenient Western lifestyles - supermarket shelves groaning with every possible type of food known to man, takeaway deliveries only a phone call away, and handy fridges to keep everything fresh.
...
Fat Men Can't Hunt is a four-part series that follows a group of eight men and women to see if they can live among the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. The men will have to join hunts, spending days at a time foraging for food. Meanwhile the women will have to stay in the camp, living their lives according to the strict social rules that govern local women.

Oh, the irony! A show about fat slobs suffering and starving in the desert being watched by fat slobs sitting on their sofas (or chesterfields, as they say in the U.K.) back home.

What next?

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Yahoo! News having an aneurism over TSX declines

I love Chicken Little stories like this.

Yahoo!: TSX plummets 585 points on credit fears, biggest drop seen in six years

The Toronto stock market fell as much as 585 points or about
4.5 per cent in Thursday trading, the main index's biggest drop since the
telecom-stock bubble burst six years ago.
The TSX and stock markets around
the world have been decimated over the past two weeks as fears have slowly
spread over credit problems. Resource stocks led declines, with investors
worried that the global credit squeeze could damage slash demand for
commodities.
The drops in recent weeks have wiped out the Toronto market's
gains year-to-date.
The TSX had been up almost 14 per cent for the year as
of July 19, when it hit its most recent record high.
But an increase in the
rate of defaults on subprime mortgages in the U.S. - loans given to customers
with poor credit history - sparked the massive selloff.

They always make it sound so dire. Oooh, largest dropoff since the DOTCOM era! That sounds so dramatic!

Better yet is how these stories always have to have a single, easily explained reason, whether or not it's accurate. It seems that subprime losses are now the boogeyman of the moment. I expect that the next time I'm at a restaurant and the waiter screws up my order, she'll blame it on the subprime crisis instead of the kitchen staff.

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The Mandatory Blog Post About Paris Hilton

*sigh*

What does this have to do with business? How about the lesson that if you are audacious enough, absolutely convinced that you are awesome, and completely and totally don't give a shit what anybody thinks, you can rise to the top?

Now that I've got the sarcasm over with, the frenzy amongst media and blogosphere alike is embarrassing to watch. What are we to make of headlines like this:

Yahoo!: News of Paris Hilton's jail sentence greeted with almost universal glee

Both star-watchers agree that the 26-year-old Hilton, in fact, might be one of the most despised celebrities ever. Lui argues that Hilton may have eclipsed even O.J. Simpson in the hatred sweepstakes.
"When O.J. was driving down that highway in the white Bronco, there were still people with signs up saying: 'Go Juice! We're behind you! We love you!' There were also lots of people who cheered his acquittal. But Paris is detested universally, by everyone, everywhere. It's quite democratic, actually. Everyone can agree on Paris Hilton."

This is clearly untrue, as evidenced by this online petition I just recieved in my email from a soon-to-be-ex-friend who just earned a prime spot on my blocked sender list:

To: The Honorable Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Paris Whitney Hilton is an American celebrity and socialite. She is an heiress to a share of the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as to the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton. She provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives. Hilton is notable for her leading roles on the FOX reality series The Simple Life and in the remake of the Vincent Price horror classic "House of Wax". In addition to her work as an actress, she has achieved some recognition as a model, celebrity spokesperson, singer, and writer. As most of America now knows, Ms. Hilton was just charged in a Los Angeles court with DUI and sentenced to 45 days in Century Regional Detention Facility in California beginning on or before June 5, 2007. We, the American public who support Paris, are shocked, dismayed and appalled by how Paris has been the person to be used as an example that Drunk Driving is wrong. We do not support drunk driving or DUI charges. Paris should have been sober. But she shouldn't go to jail, either. As depicted on Friday night's episode "Nancy Grace" on Headline News (May 4, 2007), countless celebrities have been "slapped on the wrist" for similar incidents recently. Nick Nolte, Mel Gibson, Tracy Morgan, Wynonna Judd, to name a few, were arrested and never did a day in jail after their initial arrests for drunk driving /DUI /DWI charges. Rappers Busta Rhymes and Eve still walk free after both being arrested for the same charges as Ms. Hilton just this past week. Brandy's California Highway accident, although no proof of DUI was evidenced in her accident, resulting in the death of a young wife and mother in California, yet Brandy walks free as of today, never doing any time and A WOMAN HAS BEEN KILLED most likely due to her reckless driving! Yet, Paris Hilton did not hurt, injure, or kill anyone or anything, and yet she must do jail time. This petition is to ask Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon Paris Hilton for her mistake. Please allow her to her return to her career and life. Everyone makes mistakes. She didn't hurt or kill anyone, and she has learned her lesson. She is sincere, apologetic, and full of regret for her actions as she explained tearfully to the Judge handling her case in court yesterday.She is distraught and understandably afraid. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT to save our Paris from ending up at the Century Regional Detention Facility! Please sign to tell The Honorable Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of the State of California, to think about the welfare of this young woman who has made a mortal error and deserves a second chance like so many others in our great nation have been served with after a mistake they have made . If the late Former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late Former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well, and we hope and expect The Governor will understand and grant this unusual but important request in good faith to Ms. Paris Whitney Hilton

You'll see me in dirty camo fatigues and a hemp necklace rioting in the streets at the next G8 Summit before you see me beseech Ah-nold to spare poor little Paris. Oh, by the way, she's not going to do time for DUI, she's going to do time for breaching her conditions. There's a difference.

The dichotomy of the public's love/hate relationship with the Cult of Celebrity continues to baffle me. I am ashamed of how much celebrity gossip I actually know. I don't watch tv, so I blame daily trips to the supermarket, but this is indicative of how pervasively we are spoonfed other people's lives, and are expected to care about them.

I need to gargle. That's enough for this blog.

*UPDATE*

Am I the only person with a sneaking suspicion that this is all an elaborate marketing stunt to promote her next reality show "The Felonious Life: Paris Behind Bars" ?

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If the Conrad Black trial is a three-ring circus, Barbara Amiel-Black must be the sideshow

Yahoo!: Barbara Amiel Black calls media 'vermin' at husband's trial
CHICAGO (CP) - Barbara Amiel Black lashed out at the media Monday, reportedly calling reporters "vermin" as the high-stakes fraud trial of her husband Conrad Black hit a snag when a juror failed to appear in court and forced a delay in opening arguments.
The constant media spotlight on Black and his family - and the clambering of reporters and photographers trying to get to him - sparked a confrontation between Amiel Black and journalists in an elevator when the Blacks left for a late morning break in the trial.
The former newspaper columnist was waiting to go down in the elevator with Black and his daughter when a television producer approached them and asked if they were leaving the building.
Black, who recognized her from earlier coverage of the trial, asked if she was going to ride down with him and "breathlessly" relay word of his approach to the cameramen waiting outside the building.
British journalist Joanna Walters said that as the doors closed, Amiel Black called the TV producer "You slut!"
Producer Melanie Glanz of CBC was outside the elevator and said afterward she didn't hear such a remark. But reporters Stefani Langenegger of CBC and Walters of the London-based Daily Express were in the elevator.
According to Walters, Amiel Black then turned and told them: "You're all vermin. I'm sick of this. I used to be a journalist and I never door-stepped people."
Langenegger reported comments in a similar vein.

I've got no real reason for posting this, except to note that if Conrad Black is so determined to put on a Louis XVI attitude in front of the jurors (and everybody else), he did well to select his Marie Antoinette.

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