Super Bowl Halftime Show: Time For Baby Boomers to Release Their Cultural Death Grip

As I am a foreigner, the first I ever heard about the Super Bowl’s tradition of mid-show entertainment was the now notorious Janet Jackson nipple incident whereby Justin Timberlake ‘accidentally’ unleashed Ms. Jackson’s breast upon millions of unsuspecting Americans. I was living in Moscow at the time and even the Russians were quite obsessed by the role of Ms. Jackson’s mammary glands in a sport none of them played or cared about. 

Six years later and it is clear that the Super Bowl’s organizers are still terrified of Janet Jackson’s nipple, that it comes to them at night and haunts them in their sleep, threatening to embroil them in scandal and to lose them millions in sponsorship deals. For what else can explain the entertainment decisions made by the Masters of the Bowl ever since that fateful Sunday afternoon in February 2004? 

Let’s take a look at who has played in the years since:  (more…)

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Tags: bruce springsteen, King Crimson, Paul McCartney, Prince, Super Bowl
Posted Feb 8th 2010 at 3:48 pm in Culture, Featured Story, Music | 306402313 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dkalder/2010/02/08/super-bowl-halftime-time-for-baby-boomers-to-release-their-cultural-death-grip/Super+Bowl+Halftime+Show%3A+Time+For+Baby+Boomers+to+Release+Their+Cultural+Death+Grip2010-02-08+23%3A48%3A49Daniel+Kalder

Heroic Hollywood: Charlie, the Kid and the Cop

Charlie, the Kid and the Cop
Best Lesson Ever in Hollywood Screenwriting

If you want to write for Hollywood, study this picture.

This faded lobby card from Charles Chaplin’s The Kid is the best lesson you’ll ever have in how to write for the movies. Despite its age, it illustrates many of the essential elements you’ll need to keep in mind today as your write your Hollywood screenplay. It’s a visual reminder of the kind of movie that producers, studios and – most importantly – audiences are looking for.

And that’s no accident. This lobby card had a specific purpose: to bring people into the theater. Chaplin chose this particular image because it effectively answers the first three questions that are always on the mind of the audience when the lights go down on a Hollywood movie. (more…)

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Tags: character arc, Charlie Chaplin, ffolkes, Heroic Hollywood, Hollywood Formula
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 3:09 pm in Classic Hollywood, Culture | 23001844 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rdvonch/2009/10/03/heroic-hollywood-charlie-the-kid-and-the-cop/Heroic+Hollywood%3A+Charlie%2C+the+Kid+and+the+Cop2009-10-03+22%3A09%3A20Russ+Dvonch

Honoring September 11th: You Can Stand Me Up at the Gates of Hell

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Tags: 9/11, Heartbreakers, September 11th, Tom Petty
Posted Sep 11th 2009 at 7:59 pm in Art, Politics, Video | 22348226 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/11/honoring-september-11th-you-can-stand-me-up-at-the-gates-of-hell/Honoring+September+11th%3A+You+Can+Stand+Me+Up+at+the+Gates+of+Hell2009-09-12+02%3A59%3A08Big+Hollywood

‘American Idol’ and Dumbing Down the Definition of Homophobe

Over at Huffington Post, Jim David is positive Adam Lambert’s “American Idol” loss was due to widespread homophobia in America. He pins this charge squarely on the fact that, in his opinion, Lambert is the better singer and therefore should’ve beaten Kris Allen, but didn’t because of…

Yes, homophobia is alive and well, which is why Lambert lost the ultimate title. Go ahead — give me another reason.

What’s so amusing about David’s challenge is that he gives all the reason you could ever want in his very next sentence:

Yes, Lambert is over the top and screams a lot and is campier than Liberace at Radio City.

Let’s brush aside the fact that taste is relative when it comes to who has a better voice or who’s a better performer and remember that the show isn’t called “Best American Singer,” it’s called “American Idol,” and being an idol involves more than voice and performance. How about poise, which by David’s own description Lambert seems to lack? (more…)

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Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Elton JOhn, Huffington Post, Jim David
Posted May 21st 2009 at 9:33 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 140946161 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/21/american-idol-and-dumbing-down-the-definition-of-homophobe/%27American+Idol%27+and+Dumbing+Down+the+Definition+of+Homophobe2009-05-22+04%3A33%3A44John+Nolte

Ugly Pop World Drives Beauty Underground

The disconnect between beauty and popularity in music has never been greater.  Where once America sang the Beatles or Motown (”The Sound of Young America”), today the music industry is severely fragmented.  Gangsta rap.  Speed metal.  Trip-hop.  The major recording companies whine about declining profits even as they pay Mariah Carey $18 million not to record.

Unanimity of public opinion over popular song has passed.  Music, which used to unite, now divides.  Eminem and Ludacris would have been unthinkable thirty years ago.  We live in an antinomian age where it’s hip to defy conventional wisdom long after every vestige of conventional wisdom lies in tatters.  Where Keats’ Grecian Urn once proclaimed, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” today’s antinomian consumer proclaims, “Whatever,” in a voice oozing ennui. (more…)

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Tags: "American People", "Burden", "Evil White Men", "I Got a Life", "McLife"
Posted Feb 27th 2009 at 2:05 pm in Entertainment, Reviews, Video | 6857889 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mbaron/2009/02/27/68578/Ugly+Pop+World+Drives+Beauty+Underground2009-02-27+22%3A05%3A03Mike+Baron