Halloween, That's Hot!

This Halloween, when my friend and I were trying to decide who to be, we thought who better than two of the most famous friends in history; Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. They both have made influences on our lives in ways no one could imagine...they entertain us like crazy! So when it came time to choose our costumes, we jumped at the opportunity on the only day we could dress like a complete mess and get away with it.

You probably know the dynamic duo best from "The Simple Life", which was the inspiration for our idea. What was supposed to be an experiment in learning how to adapt to doing chores and getting their hands dirty turned out to be a hit show. The show began back in 2003 on the farms and now is airing it's fifth season with a new challenge; surviving camp. Now, how does this relate to us right? Well only in every way possible. They show us how two simple people can live two very different lives, giving the message that everyone can do anything. In the lives of the rich and famous, nobody is used to seeing celebrities work in the real world, maybe not even the celebrities. This gives us the idea that they just have everything handed to them. This show really knows how to put a funny twist on that concept. If you've followed the series you'd know that the last episode of season four ended with Paris and Nicole beginning their fight, which left viewers wanting to know all of the details. Luckily she and Paris made up and they both returned for season five. However, throughout this season there have been a few complications. Nicole struggled with weight issues and they both spent time in jail. 

Now it seems Nicole has her life back on track with her boyfriend Joel Madden and her baby girl. I guess Paris must be feeling somewhat left out because now she has her own reality show entitled "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" which is a search for a friend who won't use her fame to become famous themselves. Talk about desperate, making a reality show just to find a new friend. I'll be your friend Paris! I guess Nicole is too busy with her new family to fill that role. On a side note, one of the cast members was a trans-gender, meaning that you would swear he was a she but it totally wasn't. This seems to be a new theme in the TV world because many reality shows this season introduced this type of person. Unfortunately this new idea doesn't mean you'll be safe from elimination, and "Onch", my personal favourite, was asked to leave a few episodes ago. I guess I'll just have to find a new BFF and hope they make it all the way to the finale. It seems like Paris has done everything from her own friend finder, to making her own sex tape, but we can't forget about the stuff in between. She has also made a living as a model, actress, recording artist, author, the starting of a clothing, perfume, and nightclub line, and even her newest accomplishment in a parody campaign to be the President of the United States. Oh, and we can't forget she is the heiress of the Hilton hotel franchise, which is one of the biggest names in hotels around the world. When you look at it, we can name more of the things Paris Hilton has done in her life than we could the Queen. She's practically royalty, who wouldn't want to be Paris Hilton?

S.O.S Please Someone Help Her !

Clearly Rihanna needed help coming up with a few ideas when she released her hit entitled S.O.S. At least be creative when choosing the title because the number one way to make plagiarism obvious is by naming the song after a ditress call. If you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about then maybe you should look back to 1981 when a little hit was released by Soft Cell, called "Tainted Love". Then a few years back, Rihanna stepped out to the microphone and decided to make it original with an upgraded version complete with her very own lyrics. People pretended not to notice, but there's no ignoring your senses. Right from the moment you press play, the music sounds almost identical in each song. I know sometimes it might be difficult to think up a new beat for a song, especially with the 59458594576497865 songs out there, but when you can practically sing a different song to the music of another it kind of speaks for itself. However she got lucky and no one did anything, but believe it or not, she was not the first human being out there to steal and some people aren't so fortunate. I guess you could say she just pulled an Avril. 

According to the news, Miss Lavigne has been doing this for a while and when almost your whole album has all been heard before it becomes...oh what's the word, obvious. To give you a tiny taste: Avril's song, "Girlfriend" copied The Rubinos' song, "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" as well as Avril's song, "Runaway" which was a knockoff of The Veronicas' song, "Forever" but she didn't stop there. Her song, "Hot" sounds a little cold after hearing The Beatles song, "8 Days A Week" and even the song, "I'm The Kinda" by Peaches was copied by Avril's song, "I Don't Have To Try". Not to be picky, but when the list of songs that you robbed looks more like a new album, it might mean you Do have to try Avril. 

This might truly mean artists are running out of things to sing about. This is especially true when you turn on the radio and hear songs about how somebody's lipgloss is poppin', or instructions on licking someone's lollipop, yet we listen to these words more than we watch the news. What has the music industry come to?

Maybe artists are beginning to think it's alright to plagiarize as long as people keep singing about their body parts or things they like to play with. In our world today, it seems that anyone can get away with anything as long as it entertains us. This is one thing stars never fail at, so why blame them for their silly choices? We asked for it. 

Gossip Boy Here...

Your weekly scoop on New York's Upper East Side. It's a little known fact that wealth and glamour are a must to the people of this neighbourhood, but there's always room for chaos. For those of you who spend most of your time in a box, it's time to listen up. Gossip Girl is all about love, sex, secrets, deceit, and revenge so what's not to like? It all revolves around a group of teenagers, their love obsessions for one another, and the things they say to tear each other apart. When you think about it, that's pretty much high school in a nutshell, except in a more fabulous sort of way. 

We all know that when you look up high school in the dictionary, there might as well just be the word drama in mega sized letters, and that's exactly what the show has to offer. Although some might watch the show and think it is totally unrealistic, it actually has everything to do with the lives of teenagers. They walk around spreading rumors whether they like to or not, that's a fact. Gossip Girl is just more upfront and in your face about it, but what do you expect? These shows are made to excite us and Gossip Girl is no exception. Not only is it a way to catch up on all the juicy details, it also is a first look to see the latest fashions, trends, music, and fun new stuff that will be stocking the shelves. 

Chances are, everything the characters are wearing, using, or listening to are the things the people will be looking for at the mall the next day. That's just the way entertainment is and apparently it's working. Otherwise, every Monday night when the theme song for Gossip Girl blasts through my room, I might not run to the television like a person on crack. 

The influence these shows have on teenagers is kind of nutty. To them, it's just another topic to talk about at school, but do they realize the true effect it has on them? When you watch the show that's one thing, but when you walk out of your house with the name of your favourite character stamped across your forehead, that's a different story. We all, at times in our lives have been known for our own little drama acts with the people we know. We sometimes even stir up our own twisted stories that quite honestly are also unbelievable. In reality, if we opened our eyes everyday to see a camera crew standing in front of us, the outcome would be another drama show we rush to the screen to stare at. In the past sitcoms and reality shows used to rule the homes of viewers, now dramas have pushed all other genres out of the way and pulled us in. 

Soon all the characters we gossip about will become us because people fail to notice that as t.v. shows change, we change to match. Our lives are the show.

xoxo gossip boy

Extra! Extra! This Just In!..

 

When you're famous, you're photographed, it's just how Hollywood works. Why make such a big deal? Well for one, being stalked isn't anyone's idea of what they want to be when they grow up, but it just comes with the territory. Like any job, there's benefits and downfalls, it just so happens that having pictures of your "derriere" on the front cover of  "In Touch" magazine becomes reality when you step out into stardom. That's the way it is when you have personal photographers following your every move because once you're in the lime light, if you fall one day, you fall harder the next. To the paparazzi, a smile for the public means so much more than the tears of the one on the magazine. Even though we find it entertaining, we need to look at these pictures through the eyes of a celebrity. These photographs usually end up damaging their image because from the first time they walk down the red carpet, the pictures tell their story and the words become them. 

 

Paparazzi will go to any extreme no matter what the risk, because the only cost to them is their paycheck. The future of these celebrities is literally resting in the hands of the person holding the camera, but who is this person really? Let's not jump to conclusions on who's taking the pictures because even though the photographers physically capture the shot, the public make the headlines. They gossip about how embarrassing the photos are when it's exactly what they asked to see. It's weird that the more X-rated the picture, the more copies that are

sold. If it wasn't for our fascination with the failure of our idols, the pictures wouldn't be in almost every news stand in the world. If photographers get the feedback they were looking for then they will obviously go back for more. So when we really break it down, we are the guilty ones, because paparazzi feed off of what we want, they are working for us. To the public, a star only shines bright when a photographer has the flash on. We are the paparazzi. 

We need to begin to protect celebrities against ourselves. Imagine how boring the tabloids would become if suddenly all the paparazzi decided to start taking pictures of our personal lives instead. Every day we would start to see pictures of ourselves at a club, getting out of our cars, or walking down the street. Then almost instantly we would label the photos as violating and we would accuse the photographers of being stalkers, but when it's someone we hear through the speakers or see on the big screen, we pay to see them live their lives. That's why the law was thought up known as "Britney's Law". This law, still under debate, might license certain celebrities, who tend to be targets of the paparazzi, for protection against their cameras because sometimes it's just plain creepy. For some, these actions can become almost a sickness, known as "celebrity worship syndrome" or better know as "fan gone psycho". This occurs when a person gets obsessively involved in the details of a celebrities personal life and will stop at nothing to get a little bit closer to their "dream" person. We all, at one point in our lives, show signs of this disorder but pretend like we just take an interest in their fame. It's not okay when we follow someone everywhere they go snapping pictures along the way, but we don't even think twice when we rush to grab the first copy of these published pictures the next day. To us, it's fine to see these pictures and get excited over them as long as we weren't the ones looking through the lens. Truthfully, everyone goes a little nutty over their favourite star, some just hide it better than others.

Britney Spears is a prime example of the price of fame and has experienced what really happens when the world becomes obsessed with a person. She started out as an innocent little girl and grew up into a divorced fat bald woman addicted to sex and alcohol. Does that really make sense to us or is it just something that the media tricked us into believing? Remember we're the ones who pass the story on, changing it from person to person like a game. This is when the truth becomes gossip, a silly story made by us, that is not true. We all witnessed her "mental breakdown" but was it really what was happening at the time, or was it just a headline that the tabloids printed on all their magazines to make a lot of money from the people who fell for it?

 

You can criticize a person as much as you like, but the truth is when you look at yourself, you're not any better. We all have our bad days, but maybe Britney was just trying to make a point, which is the media can drive a person crazy, and the message clearly got across, or maybe that was what was really happening in her life and we exploited it to the world for our fun and enjoyment. We do all this to one person without even feeling guilty for a moment, when really every action that was taken by Britney was all in effect to the things we said. We take the picture and make it reality even if the story is a complete lie, so who knows what to believe? One thing is for sure, words can hurt, pictures can kill, and that's something that everyone

ignores but Britney really did fight through  it all. Then she came back with instant smash hits that shocked the world and smacked all the doubters across the face for pissing her off.

Even though we look at celebrity's glamorous lifestyles and wish we could be them, we forget to look at all the things we say to tear them down. As only Miss Spears could say it best, "It's Britney, bitch, you want a piece of me?"