Bitterness is our birthright, people
By Scott Feschuk - Friday, June 12, 2009 - 18 Comments
Psychiatry now calls it an illness, but if being bitter is wrong why did God create blogs?
The world’s authoritative text on mental health is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Updated by psychiatrists since the 1950s, it lists all the ways in which humans can be nuts, and therefore features many big words and several photographs of Gary Busey.
The book—known among mental health professionals as the DSM, because that’s quicker to say than Big Book of Crazy—is currently being revised and expanded by the American Psychiatric Association. Eight new mental illnesses are being considered for inclusion in the next edition. This is very controversial, and not just because marrying Sean Penn isn’t one of them.
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These fiscally prudent celebs are killing us!
By Scott Feschuk - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 9:40 AM - 4 Comments
What’s next for Diddy? Using a low-flow faucet when showering in champagne?
We knew this recession thing was bad, but we didn’t know how bad until news came in from the forests of Bavaria that Nicolas Cage had been forced for financial reasons to sell his 28-room German castle, Neidstein. Et tu, economy?While it’s true that Cage still owns several other homes and could, in a pinch, build a spacious bungalow from remaindered DVDs of Bangkok Dangerous, the fact remains that this big-time celebrity is now in possession of only one (1) ornate castle—Midford, an 18th-century fortress in England.
This is tragic news and I’m sure you’re tempted to feel sorry for Cage. We all know what it feels like to be down to our last castle.
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The Secret of Variety
By Jaime Weinman - Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 1:47 PM - 3 Comments
Rosie O’Donnell’s variety special last week was a major disappointment even by current NBC standards. Especially since, according to ever-reliable gossip items, Ben Silverman was so certain of the show’s success that he’d already signed her for five more years of variety fun. As every review has already pointed out, the special will be forever associated with the words “dancing food.” Though for me, the defining moment was Alec Baldwin hitting Conan O’Brien in the face with a pie, because it summed up everything that characterizes an unsuccessful variety show: stars from other shows on the network, forced at gunpoint to be there (and looking like they would rather spend their free time doing something else), engaging in very old, very lame jokes.
Does variety have to be lame? I guess that’s the question l keep asking here. Obviously not all variety shows turn out as bad as this one — though it looks like the show was more fun to make than it was to watch, which frequently happens — but even the ones that aren’t bad have traditionally been very corny and middle-of-the-road. That’s part of the variety tradition that networks are trying to bring back, and it’s what makes variety so hard to revive: there’s something inherently… not-so-good about it. This was brought Continue…
