What's so great about her?

I cannot seem to understand what is so fabulous about Lindsay Lohan. I watched Mean Girls, I thought it was a good movie, but why is she still famous?

Lohan hasn't had any real film success since her breakout role in Mean Girls and it seems that every other day blogs are commenting on how she was dropped from yet another job. Costars cite her immaturity, "diva" like behavior, and her unprofessional work ethic as reasons why they dislike working with her. You cannot call yourself an actress if you never really act.

Her personal life seems to be one disaster after another. She's been to rehab three or four times, yet continues to drink and use drugs (I can think of no other way someone gets that skinny that fast). One can hardly call her a fashion maven becuase she seems to wear the same clothes day-in and day-out.

I think our society places so much emphasis on Lohan because she's such a charater and people want to see her fail. It is an extremely sad commentary on our society because we have come to place such an excitement and a personal satisfaction on the failure of others. Surely there are still avid Lohan fans out there, but most of us just watch to see what she's going to do next. Is she going to go to rehab again? Date men again? Is there more drama with her father?

Everyone has trials and tribulations in their life. However, Lohan magnifies these problems and takes them to a level a non-celebrity cannot. No one else can afford to go to $40,000 a month rehab programs three times. No one can spend that much money when they're not working. Society idolizes her becuase we wish in some way to be like her and to be able to fail as glamourously as Lohan has. No average person can get away with these actions and still be somewhat well-liked.

Popular culture keeps Lohan relevant becuase we always need someone to keep us entertained. Whether its in a movie or in her own turbulent personal life, Lohan keeps us entertained.

The Tragedy of Love

It seems that you cannot turn on the television these days without seeing a "dating show". Rock of Love is in its third season, contestents from previous shows are getting their own 15 minutes of fame, and yet no one seems to be able to find "love". Well, I shouldn't even call it love. These shows make a complete mockery of the entire institution known as "love".

How is it possible to find love with these random strangers. And since when did the dating process include embarassing "challenges" desinged to get rid of the weakest links. For example, on one of the latest episodes of Rock of Love Bus, the ladies were told that to win a date with Brett Michaels they would have to make over these plain-jane looking women into "rock stars". Since when does someone's ability to make-over a complete stranger mean that they are worthy of being Brett Michaels' girlfriend?

As a society we have really dumbed love down. There is no romance anymore, only ridiculous antics to get ratings. And, what happens to these women when they "win"? Do they ever actually date these men? I know that they must be separated until the reunion show, so, can you really call that a relationship?

From I Love New York to a Double Shot at Love, it seems that we aren't creating these shows as a way to find love for someone, but rather as a way to launch a whole group of otherwise undeserving people into their 15 minutes of fame. Why else would these men and women make complete fools of themselves on television?

Enough Already

It seems that I cannot turn on my television without seeing Michael Phelps try to explain (again) how sorry he is for smoking marijuana. I'm not sure when this party actually happened or when he was captured smoking pot, however, I do know that I am sick of hearing about it now.

To me, at least, what he did was completely idiotic. After all the fanfare and recognition he won in Beijing and after having his fact plastered all over billboards and in commercials, he would actually be stupid enough to do something illegal at a party with virtual strangers. Sure it's sad that a person his age cannot trust the people he hangs out with, but if you don't want to get caught doing something like this, don't do it--especially if you're one of the most recognized athletes in the world.

I will give him some credit, he's only 23 and is still growing up. We've all heard and told ourselves even that people make mistakes when they're still young. However, it does not take much to learn from other celebrities and athletes who have been exploited by people who they consider friends or confidants (Remember the Italian man who gave intimate details of Lindsay Lohan's sex life or Oprah's ex-boyfriend who is selling stories about her former crack cocaine usage).

I get it, Michael, you're sorry. Maybe you're not so much sorry for actually doing drugs, but more sorry for the millions you could potentially lose. Maybe you're caught in that awkward place between being a celebrity or a "normal" person. You need to pick a side and stop playing the victim when you know that, while most 23 year-old men could get away with this, you cannot.

Finally, it seems to be the best way to tackle this situation is to stay out of the public eye for a little bit...not be on every news station seemingly every minute.

Why Do Parents Do This?

I was recently reading my favorite blog, dlisted.com, and the blogger had posted a video of a young boy named David who had just returned from the dentist. Little David is clearly still under the influence of the medicine he was given at the dentist and is saying some pretty interesting stuff. His father decided to video David's antics and post this video on YouTube for the world to see.

Admittedly funny, it seems almost cruel to me that in our day and age, especially with the internet and online video capabilities, that a parent would do this to their child. Yeah, its okay to have a laugh at your child, but is it okay for strangers to laugh, comment and make judgements about your child?

Sadly this is not the first time I have seen a video like this. I do not know if most of you recall, but a couple years ago there was the infamous "Sparkling Wiggles" video on YouTube. This is a video in which a young girl's parents are asking her to say phrases and follow them with the words "Sparking Wiggles". Sounds harmless. However, given that she is just a young child, her diction is not that great and "Sparkling Wiggles" sounds a lot like a racially derogatory term. Her parents ask her to repeat certain things like, "Get a job you 'Sparkling Wiggles'" and other racist comments.

It is almost a natural reaction to laugh the fist time considering you're hearing this from a young gril who probably can't even read yet, let alone understand the concept of racism. To me, however, it is just sad that a parent would put this on the internet, esepcially given the fact that this video garnered a lot of negative attention. Why in the world would a parent want their child to be associated with that sort of behavior?

It seems to me that some parents need to do a little more growing up...