Dancing with the Stars has the luxury of hand-picking it's celebrity and near-celebrity contestants for every season, and with 12 seasons already under its belt, DWTS knows what it's doing. The show has mastered the art of sprinkling in just enough eye candy, just enough train wreck, just enough controversy and just enough nearly-legitimate celebrity, to appeal to a wide swath of the American viewing public.
This year's cast is certainly no exception and may be one of the more exaggerated groups of contestants that DWTS has managed to produce. Chaz Bono and Nancy Grace are probably the two most provocative contestants - and both are sure to draw fire and scrutiny from the far right and far left among the viewing public. Kristin Cavallari fills the eye candy role vacated by last season's surprise contender, Audrina Patridge. Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers is there representing professional athletes and David Arquette assumes the David Hasselhoff role as the contestant who most closely resembles a legitimate Hollywood celebrity.
Of course, Arquette's appearance on the show may be the most interesting of all, given his ongoing struggles with addiction and his deteriorating marriage to Courtney Cox. Given Cox's still-secure A-list status, it's hard to imagine that Arquette feels like a stint on DWTS is going to offer him any sort of career boost. Assuming that he is still sober, it's a puzzling choice.
But once the dancing and the judging start, celebrity status really just fades away. That's really the brilliance of the show. Viewers get to see the "celebrities" simply as contestants who are trying to compete in a skill that is foreign to many of them.
It’s been a long time since the Red Hot Chili Peppers have released an album, so one could be forgiven for calling their latest release, "I’m With You," a comeback of sorts. It is, after all, the first album that they’ve released since guitarist John Frusciante left the band. But Rolling Stone’s David Fricke had the gall to call the album a comeback effort and it did not site too well with Anthony Kiedis, the band’s lead singer, or the rest of the band. Noted Keidis, "What did we come back from? Malaria?"
Hollywood has had its fair share of dramatic instances where tragic death seems to be a normal occurrence and not so much otherwise. In recent weeks, the death of Amy Winehouse caused quite a stir among the music and film industry, with people not surprised about how and why it happened. I for one presumed that it had something to do with either drugs or alcohol, and not a common case like an accident. There are deaths in the fraternity that have famous actors and actresses usually being victims of drug abuse and a life that drives them to take the worst of decisions to end their lives, which we cannot speculate given the haziness of the situation.
Executives for MTV’s Music Video Awards were gushing after seeing how well Lady Gaga did in her role as "Jo Calderone" at the awards show recently. They’ve said she was so in character that it’s as though Gaga wasn’t there at all – that she actually "became" Calderone for the show rather than merely playing a part. Whether you buy that or not, what is clear is that Lady Gaga has more than just pop singing chops. Turns out she can act as well. The consummate entertainer interacted with Britney Spears an wowed both the crowd and the show’s producers.
All the famous people that I am going to mention in this article have died in the most surprising and shocking way, while performing. The way in which these artists have died is very dramatic and sounds more like a movie script more than a real life story. The famous personalities I have mentioned come from different genres like actors, magicians, musicians, show anchors, singers, comedians, and wrestlers. Their death was sudden and unexpected. One of them died because of a heart attack and one accidentally ended up shooting himself. None of them in their wildest dreams would have imagined that their life would end like this.
When next year's Oscars take place on February 26, 2012, there is a good chance that the host for the evening will be none other than Eddie Murphy. You remember Eddie Murphy, right? Murphy, of course, was perhaps the most celebrated comedian of the 1980s and early 1990s, after soaring to fame as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Murphy starred in such 1980s classics as Beverly Hills Copy, 48 Hours and Trading Places, along with some others that didn't quite reach "classic" status. But even as Murphy transitioned into more family-friendly roles like the Nutty Professor, Dr. Doolittle, and eventually the Shrek series, he's remained relevant because of his influence on the leading comedians of today.
Netflix is growing up fast and is already learning some painful lessons about operating in an increasingly competitive marketplace. For years, Netflix was the only game in town in terms of mail-order DVD rental and it was the first to truly succeed with streaming content directly to its subscribers. But now that the market is flooding with competition, the costs of doing business have increased dramatically for Netflix.
The Toronto Film Festival will see 268 feature films screened, with a strong lineup and those attending and swinging deals in the charged atmosphere in an excellent mood after Cannes and Sundance proceeded so well. A variety of big names will also be in attendance, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Madonna, U2 and Pearl Jam. With last year’s "The King’s Speech" having won at the Toronto Film Festival last year and having gone on to do well at the Oscars, the expectation is that this year’s screenings will also be a prelude to some big wins at the Academy Awards.
When Cool Herc spun his first parties in the Bronx, people knew that they were witnessing the start of something that could define generations. They were right, because DJ Cool Herc is regarded as the father of hip-hop, the one who used the turntable to accomplish impossibilities that others thought ridiculous. Now, when he started out, being a DJ wasn't really a job. There were no auditions, no schedule, no crowd control. But today, it has all fallen into place. Being a good DJ means being entrusted with a lot of power and responsibility. Abuse it once and you may never stand behind a turntable again. You won't be as constant as an RJ or as visible as a VJ, but you will sure as anything make people dance to your beats. To do that, you will need to understand a few important things that come under the disc jockey job description.
Andy Whitfield used his well-muscled physique to bring excitement to Starz Entertainment's "Spartacus" series. The actor who battled foes onscreen was also battling cancer, and on Sunday the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma he'd been battling since being diagnosed in March, 2010 took his life. While Whitfield was born in Wales, he lived in Australia and began his acting career by working in television. Among the shows he acted in early in his career were "All Saints" and "Packed to the Rafters." Whitfield also engaged in modeling.
Jane Lynch was a relative unknown just a decade ago, and she's been through some very hard times in her life. But the Glee star has many more positives to discuss than ever before, and has done so in the form of a memoir, "Happy Accidents," which was released yesterday. And though she's been acting for quite some time, it hasn't been until more recently that the world is truly taking notice. She addresses just that in an interview about the new book.
It is daunting, not meant for those who doubt themselves. If you thought you can sing alone in a bar, get seen by a record manager and become famous overnight, you got yourself a nice little fiction piece that can be made into a movie. But even that won't be original, there's already a million movies that go just like this one. What I'm trying to say is that the music industry is harsh; you may not find your way in and if you do, every turn you take can lead to a wrong place. Something like getting noticed by a record label is a very important job to do. It is life-changing and thus needs that much attention and grit. What I write below are just words that don't really mean much if you don't have the brain, the attitude and the personality to get big.
Contrary to the popular belief, media is not responsible for the increase in the rate of crime! There is no doubt that, media has the power to inspire, persuade, and provoke the masses, but criticizing it for the rise in crime, is a sign of ignorance. The critics who disparage the media on the basis of research conducted by a few researchers on samples, ignore the demerits of the methodology of such researchers, and highlight the excerpts which support their prejudice.