Category — movies

The Internet has its collective panties in a twist over the news that there will be a new Buffy movie without *gasp!* Joss Whedon.

A fellow Gamers With Jobs junkie pointed out that if Buffy were to dust Edward Cullen in the film, he’d go see it. My only response was “Would Edward explode in a shower of sparkles?”

I think he would:

And I mean no offense with this – I actually quite enjoyed the Twilight series.

I just finished reading a great post on Pannonica’s site called A World Without Celebrities? and I had a few things still to say (I posted in the comments – but I can’t write a five-hundred word reply in there; it’d be rude).

Pannonica questions whether we, as a society, are capable of going without celebrities and all the attendant coverage and media madness that surrounds them.

Ultimately, she believes the answer is no – and I agree.

I understand why we’re obsessed: they’re beautiful, rich, they get to hang out with other beautiful and rich people. They wear designer clothes, drive expensive cars, live in palatial mansions and receive favours and gifts from people simply by virtue of being in the public eye.

I think we figure it like this: Some celebrities start out just like us – living a normal life, doing normal stuff, wearing clothes from Walmart or Target and then Something Magical happens and they are suddenly living like gods – the world at their feet, everyone wanting to know them, see them, and if at all possible, to BE them. They have everything.

We want some of the Magic too – we want to know how to get there and failing that, watching them do stupid things like get arrested for drunk driving, shaving their heads in a fit of madness and depression, or seeing a photo of them looking frumpy, tired and badly dressed is fair compensation. If we can’t have what they have, we want to see them lose it. Watching famous people mess up or look bad makes us feel better about ourselves. It makes them more human and brings them back down to our level.

What if we simply stopped being interested? What if, as Pan envisioned, we turned on the news and saw coverage of actual news instead of the latest shenanigans on Big Brother or American Idol?

What if we went one step further and deep-sixed our cable TV and picked up a book, or decided to spend more time with the kids instead of the idiot box? What if, at the grocery store we didn’t buy entertainment magazines because we simply didn’t care all that much about Brad and Angelina’s new babies? What if we stopped squeeing over their love lives and screw-ups?

What happens if we stop watching – and thus, supporting -  crap like Big Brother, Blind Date, American Idol, America’s Top Model and all the other tripe that passes as “quality programming”?

It won’t happen of course. It’s far easier to be entertained than to entertain yourself. Simpler to veg out in front of YouTube or the TV and just let the voices and pretty colours wash over you.

Joe and I got rid of our cable over a year ago and it was weird at first. We had so much more time in the evenings. I spend more of it reading now, writing, playing video games and going out with friends, talking to Joe and generally being engaged with the world. We do buy a couple of shows on DVD (House M.D. and Heroes) but if I didn’t get to watch them anymore, I’d be OK with it.

After all, no one on their death-bed says, “I wish I’d watched more TV when I had the chance.” or “Please, God, just one more YouTube video of dancing hamsters and I’ll come quietly.”

A world without celebrities? I want that world, but I think I’m in the minority.

No, I haven’t discovered some sort of disco bra; I’ve discovered the movie 27 Dresses.

There is a great scene where Jane and Kevin are dancing on the bar in some dive singing along to Benny and the Jets by Elton John.

I nearly peed my pants when Jane sings the line “…she’s got electric boobs…”. I was thrilled to discover that someone else had misheard that line in exactly the way I had misheard that line.

Never mind the worn out “…excuse me, while I kiss this guy…” stuff – electric boobs are WAY funnier.

I’ve misheard lots of song lyrics – but this one is my favourite. What song lyrics have you misheard?

Bonus points to those of you who have sung the wrong lyrics in public!