I first saw Ellen in Emmys 2005(?). I was never a fan of American Awards Shows but seeing how funny the host was kept me tuned in. I didn’t know her name then and how big a celebrity she was. Years later I just found myself becoming a Big Big fan. One thing is her humor , it’s Fantastic! Genius! In fact whenever I’m gloomy, I just look up for any video of her in  Youtube and I’m all fine. And I guess another thing is that in all the videos I’ve seen, I see a truly happy person. I can see how much she loves her job. I can see her sincerity in trying to make people laugh/happy. I can really feel she has a very good heart.

This morning I came across a video that made me Admire and Respect her even  more. Its a (sort of) documentary–Ellen DeGeneres E! True Hollywood Story. It was produced 2004 or 2006, I’m not sure (?). It tells how she started her career, her personal life, etc. I was teary-eyed while viewing it. I can’t believe someone as funny and happy as her had such difficult stories. But I guess she wouldn’t be the Ellen DeGeneres that people Love now if she didn’t go through all that.

If you guys have time, you can check the videos. Let me remind you, it’s a bit long–9 parts, about 10 minutes each video. It’s all here. These videos were posted by ForLifeIsTooShort on Youtube. Thanks.

Click Here.

Why “reinvent” anyway?

On one hand, wanting to reinvent myself could mean a couple of things:

1. I’m dissatisfied with my life.

2. I’ve watched the E! True Hollywood Story: Madonna episode too many times (like, eight times)

In either case though, you would have assumed wrong.. And everyone knows that when you “assume” you make an ASS out of U and ME.

..Anyways, that’s not what this post is about.

One day at Starbucks (you know, I effing mention them a lot and they don’t like, pay me or anything, but they totally should.. I’m awesome at drinking coffee) my sister and I were chatting about the next big thing in my life. For the last little bit I’ve just, I don’t know, felt ’stuck’.. you know?

I mean, things were going right for me: Great job, bad-ass husband, hot friends, a solid sister, good skin, and a fairly decent cup size for my small frame. But yet the spice in my life had gotten a bit stale. It’s like when you leave cumin in the jar for a year and half, then bust it out to make your kick-ass turkey chili but then realize that you might as well have just dusted the whole pot in saw dust because that’s pretty much what your turkey chili tastes like now that it has that ancient spice all over it.

Sometimes, life just gets bland.

So my sister and I (let’s call her..um.. “Ashley”) are talking about the next thing I can do in my life to shake things up a bit and get fancy with my days again. It had been a few months since my last ‘big thing’ and I was craving a fresh something ‘er other to keep my juices flowing..

Because I’m nothing if not juicy.

Ashley: “I think you need to, um, I don’t know… change yourself up a bit.. new hair?”

Me: “Ah, no. That’s balls. Something better. This is the last year before 30 and I just really want to exit this mo-fo with a bang..”

Ashley: “I feel you. You need to reinvent yourself as someone…”

Me: “Better?”

Ashley: “No..”

Me: “Funner.. funner? Is that a word?”

Ashley: “No.”

Me: “..else?”

Ashley: “Yes.. you need to reinvent yourself someone else.. that’s what you need to do.”

Me: “But I do that every year.. you know the List. Make goals, check them off and poof, reinvented.”

Ashley: “That’s good shit, what you do there. Right there. You should tell others about reinventing themselves. There are A LOT of people feeling like you do right now.”

Me: “Word.”

And so, reinventing sandyb was born.

How I went from that conversation to the other end of this blog is still an effing mystery. But it’s here, so whatever. I’m going with it.

When I was in the first grade, there were two Sandy’s in the class: Sandy J and me, Sandy B. One of us became a stripper. And the other one is telling you about the other girl who became a stripper. And that’s the end of that sentence.

Since then, the name “Sandy B” stuck with me through most of grade school, and even in to high school. It annoyed me to have my name attached to a single letter like that at first, but then it became what set my name apart from everyone else. And isn’t that what we all want to be sometimes – set apart from the rest?

Today, even my coworkers call me sandyb.. and I’m almost sure my mom said it once, which was actually a little creepy, although I’m not sure why.

So when someone asks me, ‘why reinvent?’ I tell them two things:

1. I’d rather be boring, have bad breath, snort when I laugh, go to church, put cream in my coffee, not shave my armpits everyday, kiss an ugly girl with a moustache and have perma-pit stains than be complacent. Complacency is the root of all evil (and Nickle Back songs).

2. Because if Madonna did it, so can I.

So if you’re feeling ’stuck’, ’stank’, ’stale’ or ‘bland’ like year-old cumin, I’d recommend doing the following within the next 24-hours for some shamless, instant reinvention gratification..

-Change your mind about one thing you know you’re ’stuck’ on. For example: That guy who won’t commit already; that girl who doesn’t even know you exist; that friend who won’t return your phone calls; that boss who doesn’t even know you’re alive; those last five pounds. Get unstuck.

-Part your hair the other way. It might not seem like much, but I promise you, it will do wonders.

-Tomorrow, say hello to the people at work you never talk to. You never know, but you could be the one person they’ve been dying to talk to. I mean, you’re awesome, aren’t you? (p.s. only awesome people can read my blog..fyi)

-When you wake up tomorrow morning, tell yourself that you aren’t just going to some bullshit job. Instead, tell youself that those eight hours will be about practicing for the next big thing in YOUR life. Think of every experience as free education.

-And for God’s sake, make yourself a LIST.

So, do you have a reinvention List? Drop some of that gold in the comments area or hit me back: originalsandyb@gmail.com.

Você deve estar achando que isso é uma piada né?  Uhmmm, quase. 

O Charlie Sheen merece a indicação de Melhor Ator pelo conjunto da obra. Que outro homem começou a atuar na década de 70, coleciona papéis idiotas e é muito bom nisso??

Canastrão ou não, ele é M-U-I-T-O  B-O-M  nisso!!

Convenhamos, minha gente, ele é o drogado que convence a irmã do Ferris Bueller a ser menos chata. 

E não pense você que foi fácil. Mesmo já tendo outros filmes no currículo, ele se sacrificou por esse personagem - ficou 48 horas sem dormir.

Embora tenha papéis mais sérios (veja aqui), nada se compara a Top Gang – Ases Muito Loucos, de Jim Abrahams, mesmo diretor de “Apertem os Cintos! O Piloto Sumiu“ e “Corra que a Polícia Vem Aí“.

A paródia ao filme de Tom Cruise arrasa até nas cenas quentes (sic) de amor:

Não satisfeito, ele também tirou um sarro do Rambo no segundo filme:

Como a vida já é muito dura, sou 100% a favor de premiar alguém que deixa as coisas um pouco mais leve.

E se esse argumento não te convenceu, eu peço licença para uma cena do Two and a Half Men.

Ok, duas:

PS1: Filho de Martin Sheen (o melhor presidente dos EUA em uma série?) e irmão de Emilio ‘Billy The Kid’ Estevez, Charlie começou a atuar em 1974, com 9 anos.

PS2: Segundo a Wikipedia, a Denise Richards quis se separar dele, entre outros motivos, pela obsessão que ele tinha pela morte da mulher do ex-jogador de futebol americano O. J. Simpson. Ele colecionava fotos da autópsia (!!!).

PS3: Como toda celebridade top, ele já teve o seu perfil traçado e exposto no E! True Hollywood Story.   

PS4: A (vagabunda) Denise continuou ganhando às custas desse casamento. Ela protagonizou um reality show para mostrar que a vida de uma celebridade B mãe solteira também é difícil. Quem disse que uma boa pensão cobre tudo?

PS5: Charlie Sheen coleciona várias indicações, na vida real, e já levou um Globo de Ouro para casa.

The ProShares Ultra Short Financial ETF, otherwise called SKF, has had one of the most spectacular flame-outs in market history.  One minute, SKF was a superstar, raking in millions of dollars on a daily basis and dominating the most actives list.  Then suddenly, the party was over.

This is the E! True Hollywood Story of SKF, Star of the Credit Crisis.

February 2007

Baby SKF is born on a wintry day at the ProShares HQ in Bethesda, MD.  Just like his inverse twin, UYG, SKF was born at $70 per share on the American Stock Exchange.

SKF: I started shorting banks like, immediately.  In fact, I was ultra shorting them, predominantly through the use of swaps contracts as opposed to outright short sales.  Bank of America, Citi, Goldman…you name ‘em, I was short ‘em.

July 2007

SKF was in the right place at the right time from day one.  In the midst of an overheating stock market, Bear Stearns came out in the middle of July with the admission that two of it’s internal sub prime hedge funds were in trouble.

SKF: This was my first big break.  Even though I wasn’t short a lot of Bear stock, I knew I was onto something big.  Every morning, my agents would email me clippings of mortgage-backed securities stories from the media.  The rest of the bank and broker stocks started getting jittery and I was getting hooked on the volatility, big time!

February 2008

SKF celebrated it’s first birthday amidst a Dow Jones that had already lost 2000 points from it’s peak.  SKF was flirting with $100 per share and the momentum traders had just started showing up at it’s party.

SKF: The scene was intense, man.  The StockTwits guys started tweeting about me like crazy and I was all they could talk about on the Yahoo Finance message boards.  People all over the market started to hear my name.  I ain’t gonna lie, it felt good.  Felt like I was important.  So what that Bear Stearns was about to be shuttered and that the foreclosures were starting to get rolling.  I was gonna be famous!

September 2008

The drizzle of financial distress has now become a tsunami as Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt and Merrill Lynch is rescued by BAC.  SKF breaks above $100 per share and looks like he’s finally bound for the big time.

SKF: “This is it,” I thought, “I’m the biggest star on Wall Street”.  Everyone wanted a piece of me!  Traders, hedge fund guys, brokers, Ameritrade cats…I was the most widely-followed, most in-demand vehicle out there, and man was I livin’ it up.  Courtside seats at the Garden, happy hour at the Gansevoort Hotel.  I remember being offered a table at Rao’s with Woody Allen  that Saturday night after dining at Elaine’s with the cast of Wicked the night before.  I had finally arrived.

SRS: I gotta admit, I was a little jealous.  I mean, real estate investments were melting down way faster than banks…where was my invite to Rao’s?

November 2008

As the credit crisis extends beyond US banks and into the rest of the world’s industries, SKF ultimately takes out $300 per share, a quadruple from it’s initial price.  Drugs, booze and loose women are everywhere as the party feels like it will never end.

SKF: Dude, it’s all a blur.  I mean, Citigroup goes under a dollar…CITIGROUP!  Under a buck!  AIG to 40 cents?  WaMu spits the bit?  Oh my gosh!  There are chicks and money everywhere, limos picking me up at the close of trading.  I would get VIP tables at The Box with my friends SRS (UltraShort Real Estate) and QID (UltraShort NASDAQ) and we would just pimp!  We thought we were unstoppable all winter.

March 2009

And that’s when it all came crashing down.  After months of relentless shorting and selling, Goldman and Morgan were able to become bank holding companies and access the TARP.  This combined with the Treasury and Fed backstopping Citi and orchestrating mergers put a floor under the banks that would ultimately hold.  The S&P 500 would run 20% from the March low, take a break and then run another 20% through the summer.

SRS: SKF became a total mess.  He kept on partying, but less and less people started showing up.  His name was off every guestlist and people wouldn’t even look at us when we walked into a room.

SKF: All the traders that I thought were my friends disappeared to hang out with FAS (3x banks) and TNA (3x small caps).  There were Triple Longs out there now and I was dropped like a hot potato.  The party was truly over, I guess.

August 2009

In the end, SKF lost about 90% from it’s highest point, now worth only $30 per share.  There’s been talk of a reverse split as the ravages of compounding eat away at his NAV each day.  After a brief stint in rehab, SKF came home to Bethesda to be reconciled with his long-lost brother UYG.  Many other leveraged former ETF stars have found themselves out of the limelight as brokerage firms across the country have banned them from client accounts and the VIX has dropped to the low 20’s.

SKF’s story was one of incredible rallies and horrific plunges, of wild success and soul-crushing failure.  It was the rise and fall of an ETF superstar.

Have you ever wondered where Keyboard Cat was before he burst onto the internet meme scene? This is long, but worth it. It’s Keyboard Cat: The True Internet Story.

I can’t decide if my favorite part is the “Play Him Off” album cover or when his little paws are using the credit card to cut up the cocaine. Genius!

This is so funny. Its a fake E true hollywood story of a real hero of mine Zack Morris. Enjoy!

-Geoffrey M. Gottlieb

R.I.P. Big Pun

Was watching the E! True Hollywood Story on Rapper Wives. Needless to say it wasn’t the best of looks for the rapping hubbies.

Mos Def’s ex-stripper wifey, Alana Wyatt, filed for divorce a few months after they got married in 2005, but he hasn’t signed the papers—so they’re still married. DMX is…pretty much in a bad spot (to put it nicely). And the late, great Big Pun, according to his widow Liza Rios and damning video, was unfortunately a wife beater. [sigh]

The only rappers that came out unscathed were Uncle Luke and neglected white rapper Paul Wall (he just dropped an album, ya know). Guess Jay-Z and Beyoncé weren’t available. Shout out to former spouses KRS-One and Ms. Melody too.

Can a rapper have a healthy marriage in the Hip-Hop game? Surely; if he or she wants to. But that applies to any marriage, rapper or not. Respect those vows.

I asked her to leave the chain at home.

(Whispering) Hello.  I would like to share with you a few of my absurd Conspiracy theories that I may or may not actually believe.  This is the first.  On the 3rd of November in the year 19 hundred and 78 A.D. the world was exposed to a seemingly harmless sitcom.  Or was it?  From the moment it hit the air on NBC, I submit to you that it was with an insidious hidden agenda.  What was that agenda?  Was it promoting racial harmony within an interracial non-traditional family unit?  Was it to launch the careers of such child stars as Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato (have you seen the E! True Hollywood story on them, yikes)? OR WAS IT TO SECRETLY USHER IN THE RISE OF THE POSTMODERN ERA WITH THE  SEDITIOUS LYRICS TO THE THEME SONG??!?!?!?!?  I submit to you that was EXACTLY their plan….

Read the Lyrics for yourself…

Now, the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
A man is born, he’s a man of means.
Then along come two, they got nothing but their jeans.

But they got, Diff’rent Strokes.
It takes, Diff’rent Strokes.
It takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.

Everybody’s got a special kind of story
Everybody finds a way to shine,
It don’t matter that you got not alot
So what,
They’ll have theirs, and you’ll have yours, and I’ll have mine.
And together we’ll be fine….

Because it takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.
Yes it does.
It takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.

hear for yourself…catchy but SUBVERSIVE

Hmmmmm…. Now I can’t speak to this with as much certainty as I would like due to the fact that I wasn’t born yet, but hindsight is 20/20, or in my case 20/15 (hiyo).  After some intense research using the finest tools I’ve available at my disposal, wikipedia and google both confirmed my suspicions that the beginning of postmodernism has been dated by some theorists to almost this exact time!  Read the lyrics, it’s all there.  No absolute truth (“what might be right for you, may not be right for some”), moral relativism, corruption of traditional authority, total disillusionment with modernism/globalization of said era (“it takes Diff’rent Strokes to MOVE THE WORLD, (emphasis mine)).  It’s all there.  All you have to do is open your eyes to and ears to see and hear it.  Who is behind all this?  The NBC execs?

notice the jowliness

The ever-increasingly jowly Conrad Bain (Mr.Drummond)?  The world may never know, but we must continue to seek the truth behind all this.  It will forever beg the question, “What ARE you talking about, Willis?”

How is this possible? A) that I didn’t know True Hollywood Story covered A.C. Slater and B) that anyone could fill an entire hour with Mario Lopez information. The career highlights of Mario Lopez should take no longer than 15 minutes to watch–five minutes of chair spinning, wrestling outfit wearing, jericurl sporting, homoerotic dancing Saved by the Bell footage, a mention of his Hollywood break on Kids Incorporated, some sad music playing over his stint as an Animal Planet dog and pony show host and that about covers it. . . 

But waaaaaait, E! isn’t going to let us off that easy. We’ve got to bring Ms. Eva Longoria in to discuss the REAL Mario. Seriously? What did you two meet once at the ALMA Awards? Eva, but why in the hell are you following the career of Mario Lopez so closely? Go back to Wisteria Lane and keep your mouth shut. 

The best quote in the show however, comes from a no-name entertainment journalist:

“Is he a church going Momma’s boy or is he this thrill seeking womanizer who can’t get enough? And its this sort of mystery and juxtaposition that keeps us profoundly interested in him.” 

Seriously? Who the fuck would ever describe themselves as “profoundly interested” in Mario fucking Lopez? Oh and Mario could you go ahead and tell Gwenyth and Madonna I said hi. I assume you guys are friends from fake half-assed, I seem more exotic if I talk this way school of terrible accents. Thanks.

–BEAL

So rumor has it that a headline of mine may appear in an upcoming “E! True Hollywood Story.”

Credit VH1

I’m totally psyched about it, although honestly, I’m not sure it will make the final cut. The episode – featuring VH1 “Rock of Love’s” Bret Michaels – debuts Friday, March 6. I guess I’ll find out for sure then!

While I’m certainly no expert on Bret, I did interview him once – just before “Rock of Love 2″ debuted. My full interview with him can be found by going here.

Te levantas una mañana y recuerdas lo que querías hacer al despertar. Emocionado, te diriges a la computadora de tu casa, la enciendes y esperas a que se cargue tu copia de XP -sí, todavía utilizas XP, nunca te gustó Vista – e introduces tu nombre de usuario y tu contraseña de 12 dígitos. Empieza a cargar, esperar impaciente a que el relojito se quite para poder abrir Firefox y checar lo que quieres saber. Esperas a que iGoogle termine de cargar y colocas la dirección en la barra de navegación: va a ser el primero. Buscas el modelo que quieres: 80 Gigabytes, color negro.

Dos semanas después:

Tu tía que viaja por el cumpleaños de tu hermana te entrega una pequeña caja negra dentro de una bolsa blanca con una manzanita mordida a un lado.

Un par de días después:

Llegas a la escuela escuchando tu colección de todos los discos de Radiohead. Es extraño tener toda tu librería musical en un solo reproductor, puesto que estabas acostumbrado a cargar varios MiniDiscs, para tu anticuado NetMD. Te sientas y esperas a que tus compañeros empiezen a llegar. Uno a uno van apareciendo, y por primera vez te das cuenta de los audífonos blancos que traen, ya sea en las orejas o colgados a un lado del cuello. Nunca te habías fijado, los habías visto, pero nunca llegaste a observarlos atentamente. Ahora, mientras sostienes tu nuevo gadget entre tus frias manos, entiendes por fin que caíste en la tendencia, en una moda, en una parte de la cultura popular que tanto detestas, sin embargo no te molesta tanto como imaginaste. De hecho, los disfrutas.

2 años y medio después:

Te detienes, exhausto y le pones pausa a Electric Feel, de MGMT. no había sido tu intención seleccionar dicha canción para correr, pero sacudiste accidentalmente el dispositivo y te agradó. Al principio te pareció un gran contraste, comparado con Through the Fire and Flames, pero siempre te ha gustado experimentar.

El accesorio que está conectado en la parte inferior de tu gadget favorito, negro también, pero ahora más ligero y delgado – aprendiste tu lección con el último – hace juego con el que está en tu tennis con una palomita muy peculiar, y marca casi exactamente lo que esperabas ver.

Han pasado más de dos años desde que te uniste a la Legión, una tendencia que comienza a disgustarte, pero es difícil de superar. Hasta ahora, no habías visto un reproductor tan confiable y cómodo como el que sostienes en tus sudorosas manos mientras los últimos rayos del Sol desaparecen tras una de las casas de 2 pisos que se encuentran al otro extremo de la calle.

Getting my shit together right now,

                                           okay, maybe later.

As I lay here in my bed, the sunlight streaming through my curtains and “Star Jones: The E True Hollywood Story” blaring from my tv, I can’t help but wonder: will I ever get a job and get my shit together?

Last week I busted out of grad school, bright eyed and fresh faced, ready to take on the world.  I even checked J.Crew.com to see if they had any cute winter-ish suit-skirt sets on sale–then on to the Spanx website–for any potential interviews I might set up (they didn’t; also, no interviews scheduled).  Due to a lack of winter-ish skirt-suits being on sale, I ordered some new skinny cords and planned how I would eat only Lean Cuisines and egg white omeletes until I dropped the ten pounds necessary to fit into them; felt much better.  

Graduated?  Ou, non.

Truthfully, I’m starting to wonder if I’ve actually even graduated from grad school at all.   It’s possible that I’ve once again been duped by the trolls that work the in the registrar dungeon (for the second time).  I would really appreciate an email or something, registrar trolls!  I’ve checked my school email religiously since I turned in my finals last week and so far, nothing.  Not one grade posted.

I have valid reason to think that those dicks at my grad school are tricking me into thinking that I’ve graduated when I really haven’t.  I’m convinced that they’d do anything just to get my ass off that campus.  Let me explain.

Dicks.

I started grad school in 2oo6 in the wake of a massive, gut-wrenching breakup (which resulted in the awesomeness that was loss of 25 pounds) and going postal at my job at U.S. Airways.  The U.S. Air job filled my days with screaming from angry stranded travelers and travel agents and ended with my screaming at the supervisor that NO, I could NOT give them two weeks notice due to the fact that my job totally sucked and I would make more money dancing in the entrance of a Metro station.  

I limped into grad school weak and broken down but looking forward to my exciting future in the world of Art History.  What I pictured was: me sporting a hot pair of Gucci reading glasses taking notes in perfect handwriting all while wearing sexy-but-sophisticated tops with high-waisted skirts.  Traipsing around the marble halls of National Gallery in 5 inch stilettos and fishnets just peeking out from the back slit in my knee length pencil skirt and effortlessly chatting it up with curators at gala events for up-and-coming new artists.  

Besides the fact that I don’t own any sexy-but-sophisticated tops or high-wasted skirts AND that I can’t even wear heels because my ankles break due to my the excess weight I am currently storing in my lovehandle area, this all seemed totally feasible.

What I got was: sitting in a small, sweaty classroom the size of my car with a musty old professor still using notes typed from a typewriter back in the 70’s and wearing equally old sweaters, shoulders covered in dandruff.  

If I’d only had my straightener with me.

I’m a social person.  On the first day of class I realized that there was another grad student, a girl, who was in all three of my classes.  The next class day I arrived early and found her, let’s call her Margaret, sat down and introduced myself.

“Hi!  I think we’re in all of the same classes.”

     I introduced myself.

“Margaret.”

“Cool.  Nice to meet you.  So… where are you from?”

     Noticed at this point that Margaret is definitely not wearing makeup.

“Up north.”

     Noticed that Margaret is NOT wearing a cute outfit.  Looked around and noticed that NO ONE in the room has even brushed their hair that day!  

Continued strained and awkward conversation until gross old professor began lecturing from his crusty 40-year-old yellowed notes and faded slides; dandruff flying.

It’s ’cause I’m cuter.

I am not the most sophisticated person in the world.  But I am hella girly.  I do love my Britney Spears, Chanel bags, skinny jeans and shopping.  I sleep with my straightener under my pillow, as all us naturally curly girls do, and swear by Diorshow mascara.  Lord I could have gone crazy on Margaret if I’d just had my straightener and some mascara but honestly most of those people could have even benefited from a shower and brushing.

After much persistence Margaret eventually let me into her sad little world of going to class and then racing home to immediately do her reading for next week.  Once she even came with me to walk around Georgetown and ventured into Mac, and immediately back out.

And this is how it went for the rest of the semester.  Me: chasing Margaret around the room just to have someone to sit next to, them: discussing the finer points of the 1,000 page painfully boring and dense reading from the night before.  Me: asking if anyone saw the Britney Spears documentary on MTv last night?  Them: blank (annoyed?  angry?) stares.

TERMINATED!

Then in the middle of finals during my second year I came home to find, a letter.  A letter from my school.  A letter that more or less said, “you’ve been terminated from the program”.  I proceeded to throw my cell phone, push all the books and papers off my desk onto the floor (which was already covered wall-to-wall with dirty clothes), and cry in said books, papers and dirty clothes pile.  For days.

I am now convinced was ostracized from the Art History community at my school because, let’s face it, I’m cuter.

Don’t worry.  I met with the dean and was completely reinstated.

Cue Cher, “purely based on my powers of persuasion!”

And also probably because the dean was a guy and let’s face it, I’m cuter.

So until the registrar trolls decide to post my grades, until I’ve got my Master’s degree hung in the sparkling, glitter-covered frame I’ve designed just for the occasion, I’ll sit here wondering if I’ll ever get my shit together.  And if those skirt-suits on J.Crew will ever go on sale.

…if you totally leave out their music, that is.

Our favorite Brothers were profiled on the infamous E! True Hollywood Story as a part of an episode titled “Young Hollywood A to Zac.” The episode first aired on December 19.

The segment covers the Jonas Brothers from birth to Grammy nomination in just over 20 minutes. Nothing new. You can tell that this is (more or less) an unauthorized biography as it is constructed out of a hodge-podge of photographs and footage liberally treated with the “Ken Burns Effect,” a cadre of pseudo experts who seem to be regurgitating items read in People magazine, and a total absence of their music with the exception of an excerpt of “SOS” via an 2007 American Music Awards clip. The exception to this is an interview with Mandy and her mom, along with some other Jonas family friends and acquaintances which make the first part of the segment quite sweet.

It s all very benign for a THS, with the edgiest moment being when they discuss that they sometimes get teased about their purity rings, but at the same time equally respected for it. It is not dismissive, but it does not give them any credit for having a wider appeal than tweens and teens. They also get JONAS totally wrong. Oops!

But, as always, there were some some good moments like “the swing compromise,” “the tale of Nick Jonas and the puffs of dust,” and “Mandy and the 9 smelly guys.”

Check it out for yourself after the jump.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

[Via: E! True Hollywood Story, thenameisKIERA (YouTube)]

E! recently aired their Young Hollywood edition of True Hollywood story featuring stars like Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Mitchel Musso and more! Part one above and parts 2 and 3 below.

The Game is on tonight and it looks like it should be a good one:

Although Rick (guest star Fox as himself) is crazy about Tasha and more than ready to go public with their new romance, Tasha (Wendy Raquel Robinson) borderlines on obsessive in her attempt to keep their relationship a secret from their co-workers.

Malik (Hosea Chanchez) begins to realize that his marriage may never have a happy-ever-after when Robin (guest star Givens playing herself) seems more intent on getting publicity for their celebrity marriage than on spending time together as newlyweds.

Melanie (Tia Mowry) and Derwin (Pooch Hall) try to resume their sex life, but Derwin’s stress about becoming a father may prove to be too big of a hurdle for the couple to overcome.

Source

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Also tomorrow night Living Proof will premiere synopsis below:

“Living Proof” is the true story of oncologist and researcher Dr. Dennis Slamon, the UCLA doctor who helped develop the breast cancer drug Herceptin, and his effort to keep the drug trials afloat. His inspiring journey shows the sacrifices he makes in his personal life and the obstacles that he faces to get the drug approved. Thousands of lives have been saved because of his dedication. (Based on Robert Bazell’s book “Her-2.”) Renée Zellweger, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, and screenwriter Vivienne Radkoff are the executive producers.

My girl Regina King is in the movie she plays a cancer patient.

Click here to go to the official website.

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Army Wives 2 part finale begins this Sunday Oct. 19. Love that show, I grew up in the military so that show is near and dear to my heart. I will go into detail about the finale next week.

*****

Last but not least tonight the E! True Hollywood story for Oprah comes on, now I know we have heard her story a thousand times but very seldom do they have specials like this about her so I hit record on it so I can check it out. Click here to read more about it.

Alright so I’m out for the weekend, see you Monday!

¿Quien no adora Friends?
Es esa serie que siempre te saca una sonrisa y te hace tener la nostalgia de que no la sigan haciendo.
Bueno, el día de hoy, Domingo 14/9,  E!  le da el espacio del Dia D, a Friends. Empezando a las 20:00 hs
con la E! True Hollywood Story: Friends. Y a las 22:00 hs el E! Special: Jennifer Aniston, America’s Sweetheart. No se lo pueden perder!

Atte, E! TV Magazine

Pagamento de atores é um dos maiores obstáculos nas negociações de contrato com grandes estúdios

LOS ANGELES - Obter pagamento para os atores de Hollywood por alguns de seus menores papéis -os videoclipes de filmes que são exibidos na Internet- está se provando um dos maiores obstáculos nas negociações de contrato com os grandes estúdios, que chegaram a um impasse.

Determinar se os atores precisam aprovar a execução online, na forma de videoclipes, de trechos de filmes e programas de TV em que eles trabalhem, e que pagamento eles deveriam receber por isso, foi a principal questão para a suspensão das negociações, na terça-feira passada, de acordo com o Screen Actors Guild, o sindicato dos atores.

Os estúdios desejam distribuir gratuitamente videoclipes de filmes e programas de TV antigos, em formato adaptado ao YouTube, sem obter autorização prévia dos atores e pagando a eles uma taxa fixa, em lugar de negociar preços com os atores em base de caso a caso. O sindicato dos atores se opõe firmemente a isso.

“O que eles pedem é que abandonemos 50 anos de nossos costumes e práticas”, disse Alan Rosenberg, o presidente do sindicato, em entrevista recente.

O debate vem sendo o mais recente exemplo de como a ordem econômica da mídia tradicional vem sendo perturbada pela crescente popularidade de sites de distribuição de vídeo como o YouTube, e a que ponto os hábitos e o gosto da audiência estão sendo modificados como parte do processo.

De acordo com o grupo de pesquisa de Internet comScore, 134 milhões de norte-americanos assistem a vídeos na Web a cada mês, e o YouTube atrai 80 milhões de unique visitors mensais.

A maior parte do material que eles assistem são vídeos produzidos por outros usuários e clipes não autorizados de filmes e programas de TV, alguns deles combinados na forma de “mash-ups”, como o popular “Brokeback of the Future”, um trailer paródico que satiriza os filmes “De Volta para o Futuro” e “Brokeback Mountain”, uma história de amor entre caubóis gays.

Os estúdios e as redes de TV aberta há muito têm o direito de usar vídeos para fins promocionais -como nos trailers de cinema e nos comerciais de promoção de TV- sem pagar cachês adicionais aos atores que apareçam neles.

Mas quando empregam esses vídeos para entretenimento -por exemplo, ao exibir trechos de um programa de TV como parte de outro-, os produtores precisam obter o consentimento de todos os atores envolvidos, e negociar a remuneração deles.

Posts anteriores:

Massa assume vice-liderança pela 1ª vez em seis anos na F-1

Jornal afirma que há laços profundos entre Venezuela e Farc

Mais de 22 mil mortos com Ciclone

Inquérito do caso Isabella pede prisão preventiva de casal; Promotoria analisa relatório

Gilberto Kassab e Serra comemoram resultado da quarta edição da Virada Cultural

Pagamento de atores é um dos maiores obstáculos nas negociações de contrato com grandes estúdios

Determinar se os atores precisam aprovar a execução online, na forma de videoclipes, de trechos de filmes e programas de TV em que eles trabalhem, e que pagamento eles deveriam receber por isso, foi a principal questão para a suspensão das negociações, na terça-feira passada, de acordo com o Screen Actors Guild, o sindicato dos atores.

Os estúdios desejam distribuir gratuitamente videoclipes de filmes e programas de TV antigos, em formato adaptado ao YouTube, sem obter autorização prévia dos atores e pagando a eles uma taxa fixa, em lugar de negociar preços com os atores em base de caso a caso. O sindicato dos atores se opõe firmemente a isso.

“O que eles pedem é que abandonemos 50 anos de nossos costumes e práticas”, disse Alan Rosenberg, o presidente do sindicato, em entrevista recente.

O debate vem sendo o mais recente exemplo de como a ordem econômica da mídia tradicional vem sendo perturbada pela crescente popularidade de sites de distribuição de vídeo como o YouTube, e a que ponto os hábitos e o gosto da audiência estão sendo modificados como parte do processo.

De acordo com o grupo de pesquisa de Internet comScore, 134 milhões de norte-americanos assistem a vídeos na Web a cada mês, e o YouTube atrai 80 milhões de unique visitors mensais.

A maior parte do material que eles assistem são vídeos produzidos por outros usuários e clipes não autorizados de filmes e programas de TV, alguns deles combinados na forma de “mash-ups”, como o popular “Brokeback of the Future”, um trailer paródico que satiriza os filmes “De Volta para o Futuro” e “Brokeback Mountain”, uma história de amor entre caubóis gays.

Os estúdios e as redes de TV aberta há muito têm o direito de usar vídeos para fins promocionais -como nos trailers de cinema e nos comerciais de promoção de TV- sem pagar cachês adicionais aos atores que apareçam neles.

Mas quando empregam esses vídeos para entretenimento -por exemplo, ao exibir trechos de um programa de TV como parte de outro-, os produtores precisam obter o consentimento de todos os atores envolvidos, e negociar a remuneração deles.

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Posts anteriores:

Ex-VJ cria sua própria MTV na web

Speed Racer – Versão “carne e osso”

Silent Disco, as cápsulas dançantes

Pai e madrasta serão indiciados no caso Isabella

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