Heard all the fuss about Vanity Fair and Miley Cyrus? Evidently the magazine’s topless (though covered) portrait of the star of the Hannah Montana franchise suddenly doesn’t sound like such a great idea to both the star and the folks at Disney who care about keeping Hannah the sweet teen she is marketed to be. And I’m sure that being on set with photographer Annie Liebovitz is intimidating to stars way older than Miley Cyrus. Aside from the fact that she’s nearly unrecognizable in this picture, what do you think? Is this portrait really a bad idea … are the tweens who love Hannah going to be led astray by a Vanity Fair story/portrait? I think the Chicago Sun-Times headline is right — is this really a scandal?

I just saw the trailer for the Sex and the City movie. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to see this movie. Don’t get me wrong - I loved the television series. I LOVED the television series. I had the theme song as my ring tone. I had the group photo with my face photoshopped in as my desktop. I quoted Carrie Bradshaw like she was a cult leader. Which she kinda was really, wasn’t she?

 I have a new friend (I didn’t know her when the show was on) who talks about their “SATC Parties.” Every week, she and her girlfriends would get together, drink Cosmos and watch the show. There may or may not have been a drinking game regarding the number of times SHOES were mentioned in the show.

Since the show ended, a lot has changed in my life. Coincidentally, I’m sure. But I’ve come to realize that Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda fed us an awful lot of lies. After the jump: Lies that SATC made us believe.

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I remember years ago a co-worker sent me a link to a story about a new television show that was going to strand people on an island, vote them off weekly and the last one standing would win $1 million. We laughed and joked about how low TV had stooped and debated whether the story was even real.

Within a year we were all poised in front of our televisions watching Survivor. Millions of us were hooked. Reality TV had taken off.

Some people of my generation are quick to claim MTV’s Real Worldas the “original” reality show.  But I remember my father laughing uproariously at Allen Funt’s Candid Camera, which played practical jokes on the unsuspecting public while filming their reactions. On Chuck Barry’s Gong Show, people actually agreed to go on TV and make a fool of themselves in the hopes finding fame and fortune. Wherever it all started, reality TV has gone further than anyone could have suspected. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been watching Dancing With the Stars, you may be wondering, along with millions of other, OMG WTH happened to Priscilla’s FACE???

Now reports are surfacing that P. was scammed by “Dr. Jiffy Lube” - the Argentinian who duped several Hollywood celebs into believing he was injecting them with superior quality Botox when in fact he was shooting them up with LOW-GRADE SILICON! ”The substance used to lubricate car parts.” Yikes!

Public reaction to this news has not been all that compassionate. Some people say: “She has more money than God; couldn’t she find the best plastic surgeon out there?” Others say: “Whatever happened to aging gracefully? Serves her right.”

Her agent says, “An investigation which uncovered his misconduct ultimately led to his imprisonment. Ms. Presley dealt with this matter years ago, and everything is well.” I say, “The hell! They can’t do anything to REPAIR THAT?”

What say you?

The long-awaited movie adaptation of the wildly popular book, “The Kite Runner,” opens Friday, and though the film has been dogged by controversy — read about it here — it’s totally worth seeing. Though not if you want light holiday entertainment; the story is brutal, though the emotions are powerful and pure. The thing that struck me when I saw the movie in preview was how true to the tone of the book the movie is, and how sere and barren the setting was. Does Afghanistan really look like that? Hosseini’s evocation of his homeland made it seem beautiful, despite its troubles.

Did you read the book and are you going to see the movie?