goodbye, but not really

the legendary jay leno finished his 17-year reign on late-night this past friday. jay wrapped up his tenure by welcoming conan o’brien, who is slated to take his coveted spot. but if you ask me, it was all kind of a weird situation. because jay’s still gonna be on your tube! just a bit earlier. so we couldn’t really feel the goodbye sadness.

in any case, the show was everything we’ve come to expect from jay. great banter, funny jaywalking montages & a great musical guest – james taylor. at the end of the hour, with jay about to say his goodbyes, he spoke a bit about the legacy he & his show will leave behind. it was pretty neat, actually. gave me goosebumps! watch the clip above to see jay talk about the 68 kids that were born to the staff of the tonight show over the course of the show’s run.

typecast much?

lifeinruins21

my big fat greek wedding… loved it. such a feel-good movie, funny & definitely different than anything we had seen. nia vardalos was a perfect fit for the role. but i couldn’t help but think that she would be a one-hit wonder. she is so characteristically greek that it’s tough to see her being a mainstream actress.

and boy was i right! her very next movie, my life in ruins, didn’t exactly allow vardalos to extend her acting wings. she plays a tour guide who leads a tour around greece with a group of misfits (the comic relief, of course). nia is encouraged to loosen up, & look for love in unexpected places.

yeah, not exactly reinventing the movie wheel or anything. go greek or not, i’m sure this fox searchlight-backed film will do just fine. looks pretty cute, actually. check out the trailer below. 

 

 

her bizarre world

ladygagarollingstone1

okay, we get it. you want to be edgy. you want to be different. but COME ON, lady gaga, now you are just getting annoying. it’s as if every morning she wakes up & actually spends time thinking about how she can act even weirder than the day before. her fashion? i don’t consider a clear PVC bubble suit to be really that fashionable. honestly!

this issue of rolling stone boasts an article on ‘the rise of lady gaga.’ i can only hope that we see the demise of lady gaga soon after. okay, i’m being harsh. it would be different if she didn’t take her “art” so seriously. watch this wacked-out interview she did that i happened to stumble across. can you say crazy?

jon & kate plus the d-word

The Gosselin Crew

there are simply no words. i used to watch TLC’s ‘jon & kate plus 8′ to get away from it all. ridiculously adorable kids and funny moments made for the perfect tv relief. but then, it happened. it’s no secret that this family has fallen into the media frenzy of fame & gossip. and oh how the people love it – the premiere of season 5 was the most-watched show ever on TLC, with 9.8 million viewers.

let it be said: just like anyone in the limelight, we cannot truly speculate what is going on in their life, what they’re thinking, what they’re going through, etc. but what i can do is comment on what i’ve seen as a viewer of their show.

through the past 4 seasons, let’s be honest, kate has changed so much. even from just the last season, it seems almost eerie how different she acts. in the season premiere alone, kate talked more about her personal endeavors than ever before. it’s a no-brainer that she loves her children & has worked hard to make a great life for them. BUT it simply doesn’t add up. she spent probably half the episode talking about the paparazzi & her “career.” she started to tear up and immediately stopped as she “didn’t want to ruin her makeup”. and jon… where the heck was he? despite issues between he and his wife, you can’t just take off for a weekend. my heart broke when little alexis said “daddy i don’t want you to leave anymore…”

i’m not the expert, but i do know that it takes 2 to make a marriage work. not a magazine, not a tv show. the worst thing you can do is publicly bash each other (kate: “well, i’m doing it on my own. by myself. jon decided he needed a weekend off,” then rolls her eyes). and then it hits rock-bottom. kate introduced the dreaded d-word. once you admit that divorce is a possibility, it becomes an inevitability. they say that their family is their number one priority, and if it really is, then get rid of the tv show. get rid of the rumored $75,000 per episode. and get back your LIFE.

3rd runner-up

ABCs New Bachelorette

ABC's New Bachelorette

she says she “fell in love” with jason, the latest Bachelor to headline ABC’s hit reality show. but as we all saw, jason left her to come in 3rd. (and lucky her, right?) jillian harris, a 29-year-old singleton from vancouver, will now try her hand at love. we’ll watch as 25 guys – deemed the best of the best by ABC – run through hoops for their lady in waiting.

DUUUUMMMMB. did anyone watch the premiere this past Monday? i almost gagged in the first ten minutes. why oh why do men feel the need to take their darn shirts off? what a way to introduce yourself to the world. news flash, you look like a total idiot. we’ve got guys ranging from olympic cyclists and big-shot lawyers to break dance instructors and business developers. so that should be a blastie to watch. i’m not quite sure i can get into this season. we’ll see, shall we?

craving originality

since when did the brains behind the entertainment industry stop thinking of new ideas? i cannot say how annoying it is that the big studios are simply remaking old classics. LAZY! 

while i couldn’t care less about most of these, a couple (my fair lady, mary poppins, footloose) really get my blood boiling. they’re messin’ with our faves! here’s just a couple that are in the works:

  • ghostbusters
  • footloose
  • total recall
  • the neverending story
  • flashdance
  • robocop
  • nightmare on elm street
  • barbarella
  • the birds
  • the taking of pelham 123
  • the jetsons
  • rocky horror picture show
  • my fair lady
  • the six million dollar man
  • mary poppins
  • top gun
  • the dirty dozen
  • poltergeist
  • the karate kid

and we can’t forget the horrendous remakes of TV shows melrose place & 90210. come on, execs! bring us some creativity. for pete’s sake, make our $12 movie ticket worth it

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there’s money in dancing

dancing with the stars. or as one comedien put it, dancing with the vaguely familiar. yeah, that’s more like it! one of those vaguely familiar contestants this season was olympic gold-medalist shawn johnson. the 17-year-old gymnast was a natural, and definitely helped draw a wider audience. i’m pretty sure abc knew that, judging by shawn’s tv contract. here’s the breakdown:

- $125,000 for signing on
- $10,000 for weeks 3 & 4
- $20,000 for weeks 5, 6 & 7
- $30,000 for weeks 8 & 9
- $50,000 for weeks 10 & 11


……… and, since shawn won the whole she-bang, she gets a bonus of $325,000. that means this little lady pocketed a cool $730,000 for simply dancing her heart out. wowzers.

a time & a place

  

last week, i was tuning in to some good ole american idol when BAM. we were all treated to a monstrous opinion over-share. performer katy perry likely went against the wishes of producers to show her affection for finalist adam lambert by fashioning his sequined name on her costume.

while i’m sure adam lambert’s fans – or “glamberts” – were thrilled, FOX wasn’t quite as enthused. each performance on AI is edited after the fact and featured for purchase on iTunes. this little number, however, was edited so as not to show perry’s shout-out. TMZ has put together a split-screen of the live performance & the edited iTunes bit so you can see the diff. i guess they thought we wouldn’t notice?! keep your opinions to yoself on the stage, katy!

100 calorie pack crazy

let’s have a little chitty chat about this commersh i just saw. it literally made my mouth hang open. the ad features a horde of completely insane women, screaming with excitement as a truck carrying ’100 calorie packs’ of oreo cakesters rolls down a city street.

we’re obviously supposed to find this hilarious, but the commercial is just plain annoying. mainly because if, as the ad claims, these packs are “goodies for grown-ups,” then why are women the only ones going crazy over the cookies in this ad? because let’s be honest… i think there are a LOT more overweight men that need these little 100 calorie packs than women.