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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
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memo menos 2.9.04 Something is terribly wrong in the music business. You could see it this week, juxtaposed between the SUPER BOWL fiasco and the supposed biggest night of the musical year, THE GRAMMYS. It started with AEROSMITH and JANET JACKSON in Houston.. First of all, DREAM ON, ALL FOR YOU and RYTHYM NATION are not exactly fresh new offerings. With 30 million, or 90 million or the entire world watching, what were JANET and her record label thinking by putting her out there to do her tired song and dance routine? We’ve seen the group dance thing-wow; and we’ve done the sexpot JANET thing-please-boring even with a pierced nipple. It would have been more exciting, and a whole lot more contemporary to see MICHAEL’S pierced nipple or LIV TYLER doing anything on stage. The whole “wardrobe malfunction” was the height of silliness indeed. I’m just amazed the media played along. If the news, and the morning shows and the talk shows and the gossip shows and the late night shows and the talking heads shows, and everyone else with a microphone hadn’t mentioned it more than the DEAN SCREAM I don’t think anyone would have known it happened. Really. I was in a room of 30 people watching the halftime show and none of us even realized a breast was exposed. I think we were all happier for it, by the way Which leads me to believe the whole thing must have been hatched and conspired by the record industry itself. I mean, it was the topic on everyone’s mind at the GRAMMYS for goodness sake. What a great way to spice up viewer ship-create a scandal. Invite JUSTIN, but dis JANET. There were some on the red carpet playing the race card. Come on people, we’re talking about the music business. Which leads me to the problem. Again, with a stage of 20 million, 30 million, 90 million people-take your pick-what does the show feature? How about a song from 20 years ago, PURPLE RAIN? Is PRINCE even relevant anymore? Do we call him PRINCE or just grunt when referring to him? Is BEYONCE his new bitch? Isn’t he gay? Who cares about any of it? The powers that be followed that gem up with a BEATLES song from 40 years ago. YOKO ONO and OZZIE OSBOURNE were highlights of this production. What are we, in a 60’s time warp? The evening featured a LUTHER VANDROSS number from 1981, and STING resurrecting ROXANNE from 1979. Nice touch adding SEAN PAUL, but who arranged that song? It was like being at a frat party with the stereo and a live band both drowning each other out. The show got better from there with tributes to THE FUNK BROTHERS, the sound of MOTOWN from the 60’s and a mini-concert from EARTH WIND & FIRE-vintage 70’s. Where was KISS? Isn’t there any new music worth a crap in this music industry? Most of the performances were live, and I salute that. So many times the performances are pumped up with dance ridiculous steps at the expense of live vocals. I for one am thankful the MTV camera operators were told to stay home. We actually got to see the lips move on some of the singers, instead of the wiring on the ceiling of Staples in a flurry of wild camera flybys. And, the ACADEMY even scheduled a frighteningly nasty sound glitch right smack in the middle of CELINE DION’S number. There is a God. KYLIE MINOGUE won for BEST DANCE RECORDING. AL FRANKEN won for BEST SPOKEN WORD, and in a surreal collaboration, BILL CLINTON, MIKHAIL GORBACHEV and SOPHIA LOREN won GRAMMYS for BEST SPOKEN WORD ALBUM FOR CHILDREN. Those would have been showstoppers, no? But seriously-the music industry has so much more to showcase, both at the SUPER BOWL and at THE GRAMMYS than music older than BRITNEY SPEARS and CHRISTINA AGUILERAS’ combined ages. What the hell is everybody downloading on the internet, anyway? I can tell you it’s not what was on display last night. That music is safely immortalized and best resurrected on 8-track tapes we all have stashed away in boxes somewhere way in the back of closets we may never again open. Bring on the new stuff, please.
At 5:30am January 27th the Academy announced who they believed was deserving of a nomination for their performances in 2003. Apparently, according to the Academy the best films of the year really don’t require a cast. Out of the nominees in the Best Picture category only two films, MYSTIC RIVER & LOST IN TRANSLATION, have best (supporting) actor/actress nominations. But at least the Academy is recognizing 4 of the 5 Directors. Recall last year ROB MARSHALL, director of CHICAGO, which walked away with
February 29th to see who walks away with Hollywood’s most coveted award. Does anyone really care who wins? There are just too many award shows nowadays. And does it really help your career? Why don’t we ask OSCAR most recent winners how their careers are going…hmmm JULIA ROBERTS, HALLE BERRY, & ADRIEN BRODY? Right, as I was saying, it really doesn’t matter.
memo menos 1.26.04 The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat, and a whole lot of celebrities in between such was the Beverly Hilton Sunday night as Hollywood and the Foreign Press celebrated the best of television and film for 2003. It is billed as one of the biggest parties in the entertainment industry; as stars from all walks of show business convene on one location for drinks, dinner and designation in the form of a statuette known as “the globe”. After running a gauntlet of media from all parts of the planet, and then having a casual dinner with some 1,000 of their best friends(the ballroom consisted of 116 tables of 12), the stars, winners and losers, scatter throughout the hotel for any number of post award celebrations. Getting into the hotel was a challenge. If you didn’t have a room, or a GOLDEN GLOBE credential, or an after party invitation, none of which was easy to come by, you were not getting into the Hilton. Detectors scanned those who passed, giving off spectrograph readings on super high tech flat panel displays. These were not the typical airport metal detectors. I suspect they were screening for bad cologne, or tap water drinkers. Neither was welcome in this crowd. Once inside security was everywhere. Hundreds of suited men with earpieces lined every step of the hotel. A particularly revved up group inhabited the lobby bar. Apparently these were the people without tickets to the show, but somehow with access inside. They had some vantage to peer through the windows out to the arrival area, and as the stars went to the bathrooms they could beg for a snapshot or an autograph. They seemed to be having a grand time, despite being left out of the numerous parties in various nooks and crannies of the hotel. ACCESS HOLLYWOOD and TARGET, a fittingly tacky marriage, hosted a soiree on the 8th floor, where NICK LACHEY and JESSICA SIMPSON helped to add to the ambiance with song and other newlywed conviviality. On the rooftop of the garage, UNIVERSAL hosted a gathering along with FOCUS FEATURES to celebrate LOST IN TRANSLATION. BILL MURRAY and SOPHIA COPPOLA held court at a table in the corner. NICHOLAS CAGE and FRANCIS FORD were there, as was QUENTIN TARANTINO.
Downstairs by the pool HBO celebrated a very good night. ANGELS IN AMERICA took the most “globes” with 5, and MERYL STREEP, AL PACINO, MARY LOUISE PARKER and JEFFREY WRIGHT, all winners, paraded down the red carpet on their way into GRIFF’S by the pool carrying “globes” as they obliged the press that gathered there. STREEP and PACINO, both Oscar winners, mugged for paparazzi inside the party, in a classic, candid moment, as did MARY LOUISE PARKER and SARAH JESSICA PARKER, no relation. ELLEN DEGENERES hung out for a while with her date, ALEXANDRA HEDISON.
The cast of SIX FEET UNDER was there-MICHAEL ST. PATRICK, LAUREN AMBROSE, MICHAEL C. HALL, FREDDY RODRIGUEZ and winner FRANCES CONROY. They stayed together, mostly, at the party, like one big happy family.
SARAH JESSICA PARKER, who took home her 4th award, sat poolside, with KIM CATRALL, CYNTHIA NIXON and KRISTIN DAVIS in a scene right out of every SEX AND THE CITY episode. Fans at the party interrupted them for photos, but the 4 got back to each other’s company as fast as you can say cosmopolitan. It was like watching a museum exhibit of the wonderful team, live, up close, and oh so personal. The girls had a Monday gig on the OPRAH SHOW in Chicago, so it was off to bed early for SARAH and her posse.
The woman of the night, CHARLIZE THEREON hung out in an inside booth with her main squeeze, STUART TOWNSEND, globe perched in the middle of the table for all to see. What a difference from her AILEEN WOURNOS role! Look for her to repeat the glory at the Oscar ceremony.
Even the stars of the superb HBO drama NORMAL, JESSICA LANGE and TOM WILKINSON made an appearance. It must have been difficult to see their fantastic work trumped by ANGELS IN AMERICA, but there they were, helping to honor their colleagues.
Upstairs and past the bar the IN STYLE party seemed a bit out of the way. So we headed for the MIRAMAX party at TRADER VICS. There, JUDE LAW, ALICIA SILVERSTONE, ALISON JANEY, TOM CRUISE, RENEE ZELLWEGGER, a bald JIM CARREY, QUEEN LATIFAH, STING, LEO DICAPRIO, EVA MENDES(who had the hottest dress of the evening), GWEN STEFANI, RICHARD GERE with CAREY LOWELL, JAMIE LEE CURTIS, NEVE CAMPBELL, PATRICIA ARQUETTE, PATRICA CLARKSON, BONNIE HUNT, WILLIAM H. MACY, JIM BELUSHI, RACHEL WEISZ were among the guests of studio chairman HARVEY WEINSTEIN. COLD MOUNTAIN nearly got shut out, but that didn’t dampen the spirits here. Cigarette girls plied partygoers with cosmetics and breath mints, while champagne flowed freely. Clearly this was the party the stars wanted to be at, and they were here in droves. As I left the MIRAMAX gathering, all pandemonium broke loose in the Beverly Hilton lobby. With all the stars on property, who could be causing this kind of commotion? There was gridlock, flashbulbs went off like the 4th of July, and security was panicked. Was it BARBRA STREISAND trying to get to her car, or maybe JENNIFER ANISTON, who endured the night without BRAD PITT? TOM CRUISE wouldn’t cause that kind of stir, would he? No, no. It was somebody bigger than all of those 3 combined. There, in the middle of the action, dressed in a very feminine powder blue on baby blue dress was, none other than the simple girl herself, PARIS HILTON. With her father watching proudly, she was moving with an entourage from the MIRAMAX party to parts unknown. And along the way, nearly everyone with a camera wanted his or her picture taken with her. And right there, in the lobby of the flagship hotel that bears her name, she was happily complying, looking anything but a girl that enjoys the simple life, and looking larger than the galaxy of stars that had earlier inhabited the very spot where she stood. Overall, however, it was not as wild a night as I had expected. By 11pm most of the stars had left the building. No wonder, as the party really began at 5pm when the show started. Drinks were flowing through dinner, which consisted of bib lettuce and shrimp salad, tornadoes of beef, sea bass, asparagus, mashed potatoes, eggplant, zucchini and baby carrots, topped off with a chocolate dome filled with chocolate mousse with raspberry and mango sauces. After 3 hours of that, who wanted to eat and drink some more? Which left plenty of food for the rest of us. For instance, at the HBO party, few of the stars got in the way of the seafood buffet which consisted of king crab claws, jumbo shrimp and medallions of lobster tails, by the dozens. There was a hot buffet with tornadoes of beef again, sea bass again, and all the salad and vegetables and pasta you could imagine. Not to mention the sushi and the roving crab cakes and pot stickers. Several fully stocked bars and dessert tables more than made up for the lack of celebrities partying hardy. It wasn’t the craziest soiree I’ve ever attended, but boy was it special. |
two acting statues and the overall Best Picture Award., was slighted in lieu of, despite each of the winners singing all their praises to his direction.
So will it be another year of gimme’s? You know how it is with the Academy. It’s like they are always a year behind. NICOLE probably should have gotten the OSCAR for MOULIN ROUGE but they gave it HALLE BERRY for taking off her makeup & having sex with BILLY BOB. So last year we gave it to NICOLE for putting on a fake nose…wait I see a connection here….CHARLIZE THERON winner? Because I guess beautiful actresses can’t act until they take off their make up or add prosthetics to distort their faces. And look for RENNE ZELLWEGER
who should have won for CHICAGO last year, collect OSCAR this year for COLD MOUNTAIN.
So my guess will be LORD OF THE RINGS for Best Picture and probably Best Director. Lets give it to them they did an amazing job with the Trilogy. Not only are you taking a novel that everyone has grow up with using their imagination of what middle earth looks like but more importantly it’s only won 6 statues for things like Best Makeup, Best Cinematography, & Best Visual Effects. So it’s due to win.
The Academy decided to move the award show up so remember to tune in on
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