Oy

Ken AshfordPopular Culture1 Comment

Anna Nicole Smith’s life continues to be a train wreck, even after death.

Short Takes: Pop Culture Edition

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(1)  TIVO and Amazon to offer video downloads This is quite different from Blockbuster or your local video store, where you have to get the video (and return it) yourself.  It’s also every different from Netflix, where the DVD comes to you (and you return it) by mail.  It’s even different from online video download services, where the video is … Read More

Prince’s Super Bowl Guitar Malfunction

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Cue the outrage of the religious right — 3,2,1…. Personally, I don’t think the performance was obscene.  Yes, at certain moments Prince’s guitar looked phallic, but only at certain very brief moments.  One clever thing about this Superbowl stunt by Prince is that it illuminates the fact that claims of "obscenity" say as much about the mind of the receiver … Read More

I Don’t Think I Can Take Much More Of “Grease: You’re The One That I Want”

Ken AshfordPopular Culture2 Comments

They’re all talented — but so Donny-and-Marie-Osmond bland, just like the musical itself.  I think even the biggest "Grease" fans won’t come to the Broadway show, because by the time this series is over, everyone will be sick of "Grease" (if they’re not already). And hello?  Are we just going to watch these people sing?  Is there going to be … Read More

Blogging Miss America

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Oh, my — that sounds dirty. Anyway, my friend Heather is blogging her experiences at the Miss America pageant here and here (same thing, but with pictures).  No, she’s not competing (a glorious oversight on somebody’s part), but she’s an afficianado of that whole scene.  She’s so into it, it’s contageous.

Academy Award Nominees Announced

Ken AshfordPopular Culture1 Comment

My predicted winners are in red: 1. Best Picture: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Queen." Comments:  The surprise here is, of course, the failure of "Dreamgirls" to be nominated.  It was a movie that many expected to not only be nominated, but to win.  With "Dreamgirls" out of the mix, it is an open … Read More

On “Spring Awakening”

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There was a good mainstream media write-up yesterday about Spring Awakening, for those (like me) into that sort of thing: Teenage sex scenes showing a naked breast, masturbation and sadomasochism aren’t the usual Broadway fare, but "Spring Awakening" has become the surprise hit musical of the season while being hailed as tastefully erotic. Adapted from German playwright Frank Wedekind’s then-scandalous … Read More

Sorry, New England. My Bad.

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I have this superstition: if I watch an important football game, the team I’m rooting for loses.  So I usually try not to pay attention to important football games. However, today I watched — really watched — the Patriots-Colts game.  Especially the second half. Oops. SUBSEQUENT THOUGHT:  On the plus side, the Patriots’ loss means I can forego the silliness … Read More

Found

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Found is a website (and magazine and book) devoted to, well, found things: notes, photos, whatever.  For example, people buy a used book and find some cryptic note or picture wedged in the pages.  The "object", if there is one, is to think about those small things we leave behind.  Each found object is a story, although (of course) we … Read More