Category Archives: entertainment news

entertainment news

Suicide takes another celebrity

Kate Spade. Now it’s Anthony Bourdain.

Both of these individuals were huge in their respective spheres: Spade as a fashionista; Bourdain as a TV personality/storyteller/food critic.

They took their own lives. The entertainment world is in shock.

We are likely to hear expressions of profound grief and shock that Bourdain is now gone. He was working on a CNN special in France when a friend found him in his hotel room.

What are we to make of this?

After Spade’s tragic death, word came out about an increase in suicide in recent years. The response has been to stoke awareness among friends and loved ones of those who might harbor thoughts of suicide.

By all means we must maintain vigilance. We must be cognizant of those we know who are troubled by whatever pressures they are feeling in the moment.

I was not dialed in too intently to the work of either Spade or Bourdain. However, as a human being who knew someone who took his own life, my heart aches for the pain inflicted on the loved ones who are suffering today.

The advice we are receiving, to be alert to the pain of those closest to us, should serve as a serious wake-up call.

entertainment news, national news

Trump makes uneven demand over use of foul slur

I don’t want there to be a hint of acceptance for what has been said recently about Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the president of the United States.

Comic Samantha Bee used a hideous, profane slur regarding Ivanka Trump. She should be condemned for using that kind of language against her. Bee has apologized for calling her the “c-word.” No word on whether Trump accepts the apology.

That said, Daddy Trump’s demand that Bee should be punished by the TV network that hired her is hideously hypocritical. Then again, hypocrisy is part of the president’s modus operandi.

Ted Nugent, the guitarist/NRA activist/Trump supporter used the same word when referring to former first lady/secretary of state/U.S. senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Trump’s reaction to the Motor City Madman’s foul mouth? He invited him to the White House to pose for pictures with him, along with Sarah Palin and Kid Rock.

My point is that Trump’s selective outrage is so very transparent — while being so astonishingly phony at the same time.

Samantha Bee said something she clearly should not have said about Ivanka Trump. To be honest, I know little about Bee — far less about her than most of us know, or think we know, about the president’s daughter. I’m not likely to take a single thing Bee says in the future with any degree of seriousness.

However, Ivanka’s father needs to calm down and reflect — although I doubt he is capable of serious self-reflection — about how he has treated other public figures’ use of that identical derogatory term.

Furthermore, the president himself has exhibited his own brand of rhetorical callousness.

Oh, I almost forgot: Donald Trump is “telling it like it is.”

entertainment news, political news

POTUS keeps this story burning

A two-day story has been given more life by none other than the president of the United States.

Yep, Donald J. Trump has weighed in on ABC-TV’s decision to cancel “Roseanne” because of a stupid and blatantly racist tweet by the star of the show, Roseanne Barr.

She compared former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an “ape.” Oh, yes. Jarrett is African-American. Barr’s tweet also had a touch of Islamophobia, too, referring to the “Muslim Brotherhood.”

ABC canceled “Roseanne” on the spot.

Trump’s response was to fire off a tweet of his own wondering why ABC didn’t react to all the negative things that have been said about him on the network.

Good grief, Mr. President.

Your plate should be overflowing with important matters. You know, things like that on-off-again summit with Kim Jong Un, trade wars with China, keeping the Middle East from exploding in flames.

Instead, this tweet tyrant in chief brings more attention to Roseanne Barr, a noted fan of the president.

Should this story be on millions of Americans’ minds right now? No. It should be set aside. The head of state has bigger fish to fry. If only the president of the United States would butt the hell out.

entertainment news

‘Roseanne’ not too big to … cancel

Roseanne Barr now has managed to offend both ends of the wide political spectrum.

Years ago, she took the field at the start of an athletic event to offer a horrendous rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Many of us have heard her “singing” of the anthem. We weren’t pleased. It wasn’t funny. Conservatives were outraged.

Ahh, but the comic wasn’t done. Today she posted a tweet in which she offered a racist reference to Valerie Jarrett, a former senior policy adviser to President Barack Obama.

She wrote: “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

Funny, huh? Nope. It isn’t. ABC Television promptly canceled the return of “Roseanne.”

Barr apologized. She took her tweet down. She deleted her Twitter account. Too late, Roseanne. The damage is done.

As for ABC’s decision to cancel the show, well, I don’t much care one way or the other. I didn’t watch the show 30 years ago; I didn’t watch its return. I had heard about Roseanne Barr’s pro-Donald Trump tilt and about her TV character’s similar leanings. Honest to goodness, that didn’t bother me in the least.

Racist rants from public figures? They bother me. A lot.

Good riddance, Roseanne.

entertainment news

MTV no longer is ‘MTV’

This item just recently came across my grid. I won’t comment at all on the subject of it, but it does bring to mind a question I’ve been pondering for years.

Someone named “Nev” Schulman has been accused of making sexual remarks to women on his show “Catfish,” an MTV series.

OK. I’m done with that.

Here’s the question: Why did MTV do away with its original mission, which was to televise “music videos”? Doesn’t MTV stand for “Music Video Television”? Yes, I believe it does.

I haven’t watched anything that MTV shows since it abandoned its signature premise. I used to watch it all the time. I don’t know “Catfish” from “Blowfish.”

I understand MTV went to a “reality television” format, which is laughable on its face, given that no “reality” situation on TV bears any resemblance to actual reality.

MTV won’t return to showing music videos. I guess the network has hit a home run with the audience it has sought. I’m too old to get into the young’ns’ “reality TV” fetish.

It’s just that MTV had a good thing when it debuted in August 1981. Then it tossed it aside.

They had me … then they lost me.

entertainment news

Margot Kidder finally finds her peace

Leave it to a most unusual source to provide poignancy to the death of a one-time film star who turned into a symbol for those who struggled as she did.

Margot Kidder has died at the age of 69. Film fans remember as Lois Lane in the “Superman” series of movies.

This is what David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s former political guru said about Kidder, via Twitter:

Margot Kidder should be remembered as much for courageously, candidly discussing her battles with mental illness as for any screen role. There are no Supermen— or women. It is not a character deficiency to acknowledge such struggles and get the help and treatment you need! RIP.

Indeed, Kidder’s life hit the skids after her film career ended. But she didn’t go into hiding entirely. She was open about her troubles. Kidder spoke of her mental illness and of her homelessness. She was destitute.

I suppose you could say she was a broken woman.

But she recovered, managing to get her bipolar disorder under control. Kidder became a political activist, supporting progressive causes and candidates. She turned her interest to environmental issues.

Now, though, the pain she suffered has been relieved for eternity. As David Axelrod noted, Margot Kidder demonstrated a strength of character by acknowledging the struggles she endured.

entertainment news

Now the Trumpsters are angry? At Wolf’s insults?

I have stated my piece about comedian Michelle Wolf’s hideous performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Her comments were not funny; they were tasteless; they were vulgar. I switched the channel after watching it for about 10 minutes the other evening.

OK, now for the critics of Wolf’s monologue.

Most of them are conservatives and archconservatives who for whatever reason seem all too willing to give Donald John Trump a pass for his own version of humorless tastelessness and vulgarity.

Yes, these folks need to look inward as well as at their guy, the president of the United States. They need to understand that what’s unacceptable for one individual should be equally unacceptable for a critic of that individual.

Wolf’s comments were in reality no worse than many of the things that have poured forth from the president’s mouth.

High Plains Blogger was critical of Trump when he:

  • Made fun of a reporter with a serious physical disability.
  • Referred to certain female celebrities as “fat pigs.”
  • Denigrated the sacrifice of a Gold Star Family because of their Muslim faith.
  • Suggested that Sen. John McCain was a Vietnam War hero “only because he was captured” by the North Vietnamese. “I like those who aren’t captured. OK?” Trump said.
  • Poked fun at the physical appearance of several of his Republican primary opponents in 2016.

On and on it goes. I just want to make the point that I am proud to exempt High Plains Blogger from the List of Hypocrites who are newly offended by the joke spewage of a comedian while looking the other way when such nastiness comes from the president of the United States.

There. I’m out.

entertainment news

She’s not funny, man!

Maybe I had a longer day than I thought. I might be more tired than I imagined.

I tried to watch a comedian yuk it up at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Then I turned to another channel on my TV.

Michelle Wolf was touted as a “hilarious” comic. She was going to bring the house down at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., as the headline act at the annual event.

Donald Trump wasn’t there. That’s fine. He likely won’t attend an event meant to honor the media. Or, as Trump has called them: The enemy of the American people.

This idiot, Michelle Wolf, rang hollow, cheap, tawdry and decidedly not funny to my ears.

Hey, there’s no accounting for taste. I’ll just say that I have no problem with off-color jokes. I like them as much as the next red-blooded American male.

But this clown, um, is not funny.

With that, you don’t have to take my word for it.

You can see Wolf’s monologue for yourself, probably as early as Sunday, on YouTube. You can look it up.

If you think Wolf is a hoot, well … good for you.

entertainment news

Yes, I did see the greatest of the great bands

Perhaps you have seen the bumper sticker that reads: I may be old, but at least I saw all the great bands.

I am old. I have seen a lot of them. Their music is timeless. It holds up now and likely will do so … forever and ever!

This afternoon, I visited a store to take care of some business. A young man, maybe about 23 years of age, helped me with my issue. To get the issue resolved, I needed to set up an online billing account.

The outlet asked me for the usual stuff: user name, password, email address … etc.

Then it presented a list of “security questions” to ensure that only I could access this account. One of them was this: What was your first concert?

I looked the young man in the eye and said, “Now, watch me type this. You’ll be amazed.” I typed “The Beatles.”

He was amazed. Then it dawned on me. He likely was born more than a quarter of a century after The Beatles broke up. But, boy howdy, he knew of their music.

“That must have been a great concert,” he said. “Well, it was … but then again it was quite short,” I said of the August 1965 show. They played for about 30 minutes; blasted through 10 songs. No encore. Then they were gone. The screaming crowd was spent. I told the youngster my wife and I attended a Paul McCartney concert in 1993 at the Houston Astrodome; Sir Paul lit the place up for three hours. “Now that was a great concert,” I said.

I went with my sister to that first concert. I was 15; she was 14. “My sister really loved George,” I told the young man. “How cool,” he said.

Yes, it was. And it is. The music of our generation will play in people’s hearts and minds for as long as there are people around to appreciate it.

It really is great being old.

entertainment news

Sexual misconduct charges: deal breaker for sure

One of those online “polls” showed up on MSN.com that asked the following: “Do sexual misconduct charges against celebrities affect your entertainment choices.”

Umm. Yep. By all means!

The roster of entertainment casualties keeps growing. What’s interesting, though, about the “poll” question is that the allegations — even those that aren’t yet proven — have doomed many celebrities’ careers.

Kevin Spacey is a goner. Bill Cosby is now a convicted felon. Harvey Weinstein isn’t likely to produce another film ever again. Dustin Hoffman is toast. The list is a lengthy one.

Check it out here.

Indeed, if I know that an actor is involved with a sexual harassment/abuse/assault allegation I am most likely never to spend a dime to watch his work ever again.

The same is true for assorted other controversies. Tom Cruise has made a spectacle of himself over the Scientology controversy that erupted around him years ago. I haven’t paid to see a Cruise film ever since.

Do politics factor in my entertainment decisions? Not in the least. One of my favorite actors is Clint Eastwood, a serious Republican. I do love the man’s art. Same for the late John Wayne, whose films I always enjoyed watching, even though I didn’t care for his political leanings.

But in this era of “Me Too” and “Time’s Up,” I find myself making entertainment choices based on whether the star of the show is caught up in allegations of sexual misconduct.

I also will presume that millions of others are making the same decisions based on the same criteria. That, I will suggest, will hit these low-lifes where it hurts the most.