The Beyonce Concert or: You Made HOW Much?

Stevie Nicks Called. She Wants Her Song Back

Like many folks, I honestly couldn't care less about professional sports if you paid me. Personally I think it's criminal that professional athletes, musicians and movie actors make millions, while teachers; cops; cancer researchers; nurses; EMTs and any number of people working in fields which actually add to the quality of our lives often live paycheck-to-paycheck. Not that I would deny anyone the right to make money but it seems our values are rather screwed up when it comes to professional salaries.  Think about this - Adam Sandler makes $20M for every awful, unfunny movie he makes. A high school English teacher who has been working for 20 years; dealing with uninterested, bored and even drug-addled students; is lucky to make $50K a year. 

I don't even want to know what Beyonce Knowles was paid for her 13-minute half-time appearance* at tonight's Superbowl. 13 Minutes. Surgeons can spend hours on end saving lives and are paid a very small fraction of what Ms. Knowles made for singing and dancing  in a leather and lace bathing suit for 13 minutes during the break in a game.

"But Uncle P, you're an actor/director/designer/writer. Shouldn't you be paid for your work?" 

Of course. As should everyone, no matter what they do for a living. And as much as Sports and the Arts contribute to the quality of life, it just seems insane to me that people who play games, sing songs and pretend to be people they're not should make so much more money than someone who teaches children to read; removes a life-threatening tumor; comforts the dying or protects us from those who would do us harm. There's a strange disconnect here, don't you think? Why does a guy who can kick a football earn more than a person who can literally save your life? Why does a woman who can sing and dance earn more than a woman who can make us understand the squiggles and symbols that make up the written word? 

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for Capitalism and the right to earn as much money as one can. I just think that our value system is a little more than askew. Beyonce is indeed a talented woman who deserves to be paid for what she does. But ask yourselves this: Does she deserve to be paid more for singing and dancing for 13 minutes than the surgeon who spends six or more hours removing a complicated tumor from someone's brain or the cop who puts his/her life on line to protect you from criminals? I think not.

*Some are reporting that Knowles actually lost money by performing at Superbowl 47. I can only imagine that such an appearance just added to her future revenues.

And I'm so glad that so many Superbowl winners are going to Disney. Like they need more money...

More, anon.
Prospero

You have read this article Fame / Football / Inequity / Money / Nonsense / Outrageous / Ramblings / Ridiculous / Salaries / Sports / Superbowl with the title Fame. You can bookmark this page URL https://tammycross.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-beyonce-concert-or-you-made-how-much.html. Thanks!

Redefining "Train Wreck"

LiLo as Elizabeth Taylor

I don't honestly don't understand the fascination with the downward spiral that is Lindsay Lohan's career. The Disney princess who fell from grace, Lohan showed promise as an adorable moppet in the remake of The Parent Trap and actual talent in Tina Fey's Mean Girls. Then, something awful happened. 

The product of two completely dysfunctional parents and a group of toadying sycophants who don't know how to say "No," Lohan has been reduced to a sad pop culture joke, which even she doesn't get.

Multiple arrests for drug and alcohol offenses; several traffic accidents; a failed lesbian relationship; a shoplifting scandal; a very public fight with her mother; a father who behaves like a child and her most recent arrest for a brawl in a New York nightclub are all signs of someone in desperate need of an intervention.

This past Sunday, Lifetime aired Liz and Dick, starring Lohan as the iconic Elizabeth Taylor. Universally panned and reduced to a drinking game, the TV movie may well be the nadir of Lohan's film career (though I Know Who Killed Me comes in at a close second). Not that anyone really expected a Lifetime movie to be good... 

Of course, Lindsay has yet another film on the horizon, The Canyons. Written by hack novelist Bret Easton Ellis; directed by Paul Schrader (Cat People) and co-starring porn star James Deen, The Canyons is supposedly a thriller set among life in modern L.A. The trailers have been nothing short of ridiculous, much like Lohan's life of late.

It seems to me, what Lohan really needs is someone to hold her hand and guide her away from all the negative influences in her life, including her ne'er-do-well parents. Fame is as dangerous and addictive a drug as meth or heroine and despite the many slaps in the face Lohan has had of late, I must admit that I won't be surprised when her premature death is announced in the next few months. What a sad waste of a life which showed so much early promise. A truly beautiful young woman with so much potential shouldn't end up as a comical footnote in Hollywood history.

More, anon.
Prospero

You have read this article Addiction / Bad Movies / Bad TV Movies / Crap / Elizabeth Taylor / Fame / Grave Spinning / Lifetime TV / Lindsay Lohan / Young Hollywood with the title Fame. You can bookmark this page URL https://tammycross.blogspot.com/2012/11/redefining-wreck.html. Thanks!

The Trashiest Thing You'll See This Week

Hot Mess, Lorna Bliss

With the exception of "America's Got Talent," in which anyone of any age with any type of act can audition, I usually hate 'reality' talent shows like "Amerivan Idol;" "The X-Factor" and "The Voice." Sure, talent shows have been around for a very long time and occasionally they discover truly talented performers (Rosie O'Donnell; Kelly Clarkson; Jennifer Hudson; Adam Lambert) but usually they exploit completely untalented folks who are desperate for fame, at any cost.

Such is the subject of tonight's post, Britney Spears 'impersonator' Lorna Bliss. Bliss has previously appeared on "Britain's Got Talent" and (according to her) TV shows all over the world. Like so many other 'celebrities' who are famous for no particular reason (Paris Hilton; Kim Kardashian; Bethany What's-Her-Name), Bliss seems to think that fame will solve all her problems. Truly tragic.

Now, you may be asking why I'm writing about her, if I think she's so awful. And you're right. I do think she's awful. But I am posting about her because I want people to realize that this kind of fame is completely empty. 

Twenty years from now, no one will know her name. But 100 years from now, people will still be talking about Marie Curie; Rosa Parks and Michelle Obama. And that's because those women actually made a real difference in the world. 

Bliss' contribution? An embarrassing YouTube moment in which she not only humiliates herself but supports the continued objectification of women and will be around as long as the Internet exists, but also encourages other untalented fame whores to attempt equally or even more degrading acts of self-exploitation. How sad is that?

Below (via) is Bliss' humiliating "X-Factor" audition. Judge for yourselves:

Ugh! While I may want to leave my mark on the world, I hope that I would never stoop to this level.

More, anon.
Prospero

You have read this article Bad / Britney Spears / Exploitation. Fame Whores / Fame / Nonsense / Reality TV / The X-Fcator / Trashy / TV / YouTube with the title Fame. You can bookmark this page URL https://tammycross.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-trashiest-thing-you-see-this-week.html. Thanks!

A Star is Gone

Stunning

I usually don't go online on the weekend until later in the evening, so you can imagine my shock when just about everyone I know on Facebook was posting about the death of Whitney Houston. Much like the death of Michael Jackson, I said to myself "What? No, that can't be right." I immediately went to CNN.com where the site's headline confirmed what I'd read on Facebook: "Whitney Houston Dead at 48."

There is nothing sadder to me than seeing a star fall. In the 80's and 90's, the beautiful Ms Houston had it all. She was a 'star' in every sense of the word. Her voice was nothing less than amazing and while she would never win an Oscar, she could act, too. Her cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" from the movie The Bodyguard was inescapable in 1992. Her marriage to Bobby Brown that same year would lead to her addiction to drugs and eventual downfall.

She played the Fairy Godmother is Disney's 1997 remake of Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" and appeared on "Gimme a Break," "Silver Spoons" and "Boston Public." Lately the subject of ridicule on "SNL" and "The Soup," as late as yesterday she was criticized on Joan River's "Fashion Police" for wearing outdated clothing while out with her most recent boyfriend, rapper Ray-J. With seven albums; four films (Sparkle is scheduled for release this coming August) and a record total of 415 career awards, Houston's sad decline seemed about to take a turn for the better, despite an apparently disastrous European tour last year.

Houston was a talent unlike any who came before and will probably remain unlike any who come after. Her performance of the National Anthem at the 1991 Superbowl is undoubtedly the best performance of the infamously difficult-to-sing song, ever. 

Goodbye, Whitney. You will be missed.

More, anon.
Prospero

You have read this article Celebrity / Dead Celebs / Death / Drugs / Fame / Movies / Music / TV / Whitney Houston with the title Fame. You can bookmark this page URL https://tammycross.blogspot.com/2012/02/a-star-is-gone.html. Thanks!