In honor of the birth of our nation, we'll keep this week's Fray nice and short. Go buy yourself an ice cream cone (with rainbow sprinkles, of course) and look back at the 10 posts that inspired the most comments from PopWatchers this week:
Okay, so it's early in the three-day weekend, but perhaps you're like me and you've already needed to sit your children in a dark theater for close to two hours so you could catch a break. If so, it's probably a good assumption that you spent your time with Manny, Diego, and Sid of the Ice Age series. While the animation looks spectacular -- especially the remarkably realistic snow -- the story is a bit troublesome. I get it already... kids love dinosaurs. But really, a land of dinosaurs living happily beneath the Ice Age sheath? I don't expect a history lesson when I take my kids to the movies, but couldn't we find a less ludicrous way to spice up the sequel? What do you think? Did it bother you that Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs disregards decades of scientific discourse on dinosaur extinction, just to eke out more cash for the series? Or is it enough that your kids were entertained? Share your thoughts...and have a happy 4th of July!
I wish I could rise Phoenix-like from the ashes, but unfortunately, this week I feel more like a lost puppy than a grand mythical beast! We flew straight to Phoenix after last Thursday's show for the season six auditions, en famille. We landed into the desert heat, all 109 degrees of it, slightly dazed and confused. We've all been working so hard on both seasons, each and everyone of us was hoping Phoenix would prove successful and not a thankless task. It didn't disappoint!
We met an amazing deaf girl named Alison, who could feel the bass line of the music. She did a wonderful audition, then moved onto the choreography round with Anya and Pasha. I'm not going to give too much away, you're just going to have to tune in to find out more. But I will tell you that her best friend described one of Alison's finest qualities as being a great listener, and I understand why. She doesn't take it for granted -- Alison was truly magnificent! I also had a SYTYCD first: In Phoenix, one of the contestants puked on my foot. Again, you're going to have to watch to discover more, but I will tell you my entire foot, still encased in a Chanel gladiator sandal, was dunked under the faucet in the sink!!!!
All in all Phoenix was great -- we had some amazing dancers, fantastic characters and we got to ride the private jet home! Nigel has just had back surgery, so he needs to take care of himself...which absolutely lives up to my Mariah Carey fantasies!
The blogosphere is already oscillating between whether Palin's planning a run for president in 2012 or whether she's just written her political epitaph. Me, I'm just wondering whether her next act will be, say, going head-to-head against Rachel Maddow with her talk show Sarah Barracuda on Fox News. Or filling the recent Jon & Kate media blackout vacuum with Sarah & Todd Plus Six on TLC. (For those bothering to count: Track + Willow + Piper + Trig + Bristol + Bristol's son Tripp = six.) While Palin may make for a dubious elected official to some, I think we can all agree the woman makes for -- and inspires -- some ridiculously entertaining TV. (Below, I've embedded just two examples.)
So tell me, PopWatchers, do you hope to see more of Sarah Palin once she moves out of the governor's mansion, or less?
Cleanup in Aisle Creep! The Bachelorette's current final-four contender Wes -- you know, the guy who during his confessionals has waxed poetic about how performing music in front of an audience is more of a turn-on than any woman or drug could ever be -- was apparently "truth"-telling when he insisted he did not have a girlfriend named Laurel while being meekly grilled by Jillian during last Monday's episode. Laurel (last name Kagay) tells People.com that she dated Wes for three years, until she caught him writing a steamy love letter to a major record label their relationship turned to friendship a year ago. For the record, Laurel has also dated Brad Womack (star of The Bachelor's 11th season) as well as Collin Evans, a contestant during The Bachelorette’s third season with Jen Schefft, notes People. (Not that I'm implying a fameosexual trend here or anything.)
But getting back to Wes, here's the thing that's been bugging me all season long. If Smarmy McEvasionpants' endgame is country-music stardom, and not a relationship with our reality-dating heroine, why is he so open about it when the cameras are rolling? Wes' admission a couple weeks back to his fellow love gladiators that he'd reached his goal of making it through six "shows" is a pretty clear indicator that the relationship he's seeking is with the music-buying public, not a Canadian cutie with self-esteem issues and terrible judgment in character. Like it's not obvious to even the least cynical Bachelorette viewer that he's dreaming of iTunes downloads, not steamy hottub encounters and scenic Vancouver tourism, whenever Jillian is around? If dude really wants to make fans and climb to the top of the charts, wouldn't he have been smarter to pretend he's really into Jillian, rather than reveal his willingness to treat her heart like a cat with a ball of yarn? I mean, is there a Bachelorette fan alive who has any interest whatsoever in buying a Wes debut album, especially if it contains that droopy ballad, "Love Don't Come Easy," that he trots out more frequently than Jillian says "aboot"?
Then again, maybe I'm the one who's got it all wrong. We live in a world where infamous gutter-snipe Paris Hilton landed a major-label record deal (and a top 20 hit) despite overwhelming evidence that she has no singing/songwriting/anything talent, and the fact that the average American finds her abhorrent. So is it possible this Bachelorette stint will get Wes exactly what he wants? Or are we the viewing public too smart and too outraged for that? Reveal all in the comments section below, and if you need a palette-cleanser, catch up on episodes of The Doll Bachelorette, after the jump, then read Kristen Baldwin's latest hilarious Bachelorette episode recap and Chris Harrison's behind-the-scenes blog
Alyssa Rosenberg wrote that ''the problem of keeping the Harry Potter movies fresh as filmmakers tackle the later books and deal with their characters' development into sexually mature adults'' is because ''J.K. Rowling, for all that she's created a compelling universe, is really awful at writing about adult sexual and romantic relationships.''
Uh...wha? Last time I checked, the Harry Potter books were a children's series. Sure, the audience grew up as the characters aged, but this is not adult fiction. And I mean that in both respects of the term: The books aren't targeted toward adults, and they're not supposed to contain graphic descriptions of a sexual nature.
Take your seats, class: We're finishing up our weeklong look at the role of music in seminal coming-of-age films. Check out yesterday's class, featuring Pretty in Pink and Footloose, or skip ahead and see how you score on our final exam. Stick around all summer long for future EW University courses on Lost, Harry Potter and more.
The 90s: Rocking out in the Irony Age As
we know, the show-business circle of life (hakuna matata, Hollywood!)
tends to travel in the same recent-history cycles – the ‘70s and early
‘80s brought us looks back to the ‘50s (Grease, Stand By Me, Diner,
etc.); the '80s took us back to the ‘60s (Dirty Dancing, cult-favorite
Shag); and the ‘90s celebrated the ‘70s (Dazed and Confused, Crooklyn).
Essentially, they’re all films for and by people nostalgic for a time
they were too young to truly experience, but old enough to remember.
The 1994
slacker comedy-drama Reality Bites expertly captured Generation X’s
obsession with the Me Decade’s pop-culture touchstones: Thrifted action
slacks and poly-print dresses, Charlie’s Angels lunchboxes, All in the
Family reruns — and, of course, Me Decade music. In Bites, Winona Ryder
and co. escape their uncertain post-college present by embracing both
the artists of their childhood (Squeeze, Pete Frampton) and
then-current alt-scene favorites (Dinosaur Jr, Juliana Hatfield, the
Posies), while also creating a few new icons of their own (Lisa Loeb,
and the less enduring Ethan Hawke-as-greasy-balladeer).
Empire Records— 1995's episodic day-in-the-life of a ragtag crew of young
record-store employees, including Robin Tunney and a pre-Jerry Maguire
Renée Zellweger — focused firmly on the present. The movie may have
tanked at the box office, but its soundtrack prevailed (remember the
irresistible thump and jangle of Edwyn Collin’s “A Girl Like You”?)
with its intensely mid-‘90s collection of acts like the Cranberries,
the Gin Blossoms, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Did it hurt to have
Aerosmith icon Steven Tyler’s daughter Liv, just beginning her acting
career, dancing on a rooftop to The The’s “This Is the Day?” It did not!
In
1997’s Good Will Hunting, filmmaker Gus Van Sant brought a much subtler
sort of songcraft to the masses with acts like the Dandy Warhols, Al
Green, and the Waterboys, though the biggest impact by far came from
the hushed, haunting compositions of his then-fellow Portland resident,
the revered singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. To see the late Smith (he
killed himself in 2003) performing onstage at the Oscars alongside
fellow Best Song nominees Trisha Yearwood and Celine Dion was as
surreal as his rendition of the film’s “Miss Misery” was stunning.
Hip
hop received far fewer mainstream cinematic tributes than rock in the
‘90s, but some of the best artists of the era finally got their due in
last year’s indie dramedy The Wackness, set in NYC circa 1994. In it,
enterprising high schooler (Josh Peck) sells pot out of a Popsicle cart
and reveres the sounds of the city’s rap royalty: the Notorious B.I.G.,
Craig Mack, KRS One. Still, some rockers of past generations eek their
way in too: Mott the Hoople (“All the Young Dudes”), Donovan (“Season
of the Witch”), and the Velvet Underground (“Sister Ray”). But no
cultural moment exists in a vacuum, right? Rappers like the late
Notorious B.I.G. happily sampled from artists of the past, from Minnie
Ripperton to the Isley Brothers; no doubt they would appreciate the
presence of a few golden oldsters.
For Reference: Lisa Loeb,
“Stay”; Me Phi Me, “Revival”; Elliott Smith, “Between the Bars”; The
Wu-Tang Clan, “Tears”; Big Mountain, “Baby I You’re your Way”; Nas,
“The World Is Yours”; Edwyn Collins, “A Girl Like You”; Evan Dando,
“The Ballad of El Goodo”; The Gin Blossoms, “Til I Hear It From You.”
Extra
credit viewing:Rushmore, Kids (specifically for Folk Implosion’s
“Natural One”), Cruel Intentions (best use of the Verve’s “Bittersweet
Symphony” to incite a coke-y Sara Michelle Gellar character), Can’t
Hardly Wait, and the not-strictly-coming-of-agey but still crucial
Swingers, Trainspotting, and Singles.
For discussion: When
we look back at this decade, say, 50 years from now, and the artists
that defined it -- from Nirvana and Pearl Jam to Mariah Carey and R
Kelly -- which ones will ultimately stand the test of time?
Class is dismissed. Your homework? Check out some of the tracks
listed above. And see how you fare on our final exam.
I do not care if it's Aniston, Jen Or a plastic doll whose name is Ken Or that actress who plays Bridget Jones Or if he's dining all alone He starred in Alias, so I don't hate But as for who's sharing his dinner plate? Check the box marked "TMI" Or the one that's labeled "Le frown, le sigh"
I do not care who dines with Bradley But suspect I'll keep on hearing, sadly
Seth Green and Matt Senreich will promote the July 21 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II DVD release (and the continuation of their Adult Swim show's fourth season -- nine new eps starting July 26) with a nine-city roller rink tour. The parties, which kick off July 25 in San Diego at Comic-Con, will feature performances by Gym Class Heroes, as well as appearances by the creators (who will travel from city-to-city on a tour bus), the show's writers (including Breckin Meyer), and famous fans. Also apparently, there will, in fact, be roller skating.
So, are you ready to return to the roller rink? My memories of the one I frequented growing up in Central Pennsylvania are mostly blocked. But I remember the joy of realizing that my shirt glowed and the fear that made me afraid to do whatever it is you have to do with your skate to stop (so I would just run into the wall). Okay, I need to stop before I remember that humiliation that happened by the Pac-Man machine. It's close to surfacing... Abort! ABORT!
Your turn. What's your favorite roller rink memory? Dates and details on the parties after the jump.
