Archive for the &;American-Idol&; Category
Gambling on AmericanIdol
April 22, 2009
When I interviewed Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, he took several important cell phone calls in his office&;from his bookie. His wife told me, &;If two cockroaches were racing across the floor, he&;d bet on one of them.&;
But now I&;ve found even more degenerate gamblers&;people who bet on American Idol.
Anything to get straight guys to watch the show.
Tags:American-Idol, gambling, Oscar-Goodman Posted in American-Idol, Journalism | Leave a Comment &;
Loving ParisHilton
June 28, 2007
At my age, I take a paternal interest in Paris. Not. And certainly not a maternal interest, like snarky Nora Ephron.
Yes, Paris is hot, but she&;s easy to make fun of. I admit I love her because you, the reader, loves her&;the top search terms on this blog include paris hilton, Paris Hilton, PARIS HILTON, Paris-Hilton, Paris in jail, etc. But you only come here because I write about her.
So why do I write about her? Isn&;t she stupid? Vapid? A no-talent? Racist and possibly anti-Semitic? A pothead? (To many, another reason to love her.) A Bible-banger? A Buddhist?
I write about her because she is a phenomenon. People care not only about what she wears and where she goes, but about her. To her fans, Paris has fashion sense, sass, looks, attitude&;in short, all the elements of style. Put it all together and she&;s a real attention-getter.
Is it all about being rich and a socialite? Partly&;but being rich doesn&;t make you a generation&;s &;It Girl&;. Whatever &;it&; is, she&;s got it&;and her fans want it. She started as a model&;so why does everyone expect her to be a role model?
It&;s easy to understand why people (over) focus on Paris Hilton or Jordin from American Idol, when the real news is this grim. The news business is an entertainment business; give the people what they want. And Paris, friendly to photographers and starring on TV, has become this generation&;s people&;s princess.
Paris may be a millionaire many times over, but she&;s got the common touch. Who can&;t relate to her claustrophobia, her not wanting to be alone, her making a mistake by drinking and driving? Who doesn’t take medication? Who doesn’t like to go out dancing? Who doesn&;t think they&;ve been unjustly punished? Who doesn&;t see herself as a dutiful daughter, a good girl who &;confessed&; to Larry King that she&;ll go to Mass?
And who doesn’t think like Paris does that “the right guy is out there”, and when she finds him, she’ll have a big family because she “loves children?”
Paris has been a girl who just wants to have fun&;just like her fans. And maybe now, after her sobering experience, those fans will watch her growing up.
Posted in American-Idol, Jordin, Paris-Hilton, paris-in-jail, paris-in-prison | Leave a Comment &;