If Celebrities Have Pop Culture Triggers, We Probably Do Too
Demi Lovato has suffered through some high-profile battles with addiction. Because of that, the singer and actress knows herself well enough to recognize what she’s got to stay away from if she wants to maintain her sobriety. Talking to Glamour magazine, Lovato recently said that she hasn’t seen a particular film because she knows it’s […]
When Madea Scared Jack
Projections can be scary things. Just ask Jack Reacher. You see, many prognosticators had forecast Tom Cruise’s latest, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, as the prohibitive favorite to win the weekend’s box office battle. But they underestimated the magnetic appeal of a certain moo moo-wearing movie matriarch: Madea. Tyler Perry’s no-nonsense, wisdom-and-vulgarity spouting alter ego startled […]
God Loves You, and Me and … Kim Kardashian
Sometimes conviction shows up in strange moments. Like, say, the moment you’re tempted judge a reality TV star too harshly. That happened to me earlier this week. I had just heard the news about Kim Kardashian being robbed in Paris. While staying at a rented room in a private mansion, she was reportedly bound, gagged […]
Down the ‘Portable Rabbit Hole’
There’s a lot of stuff on the internet. But every now and then, I’ll come across something that just flat stops me in my tracks. That happened to me recently with Andrew Sullivan’s New York Magazine article “I Used to Be a Human Being.” The piece’s subtitle spells out Sullivan’s subject matter: “An endless bombardment […]
Death, Disney and Dion
It’s a grim truism that it doesn’t pay to be a parent in an animated Disney movie. I mean, two words: Bambi’s mom. Right? And that poor deer is just (perhaps) the most well-known character on a long, long list of parents who don’t make it out alive (or are never around in the first […]
MTV’s 2016 VMAs: Nothing to See Here
The Monday morning after MTV’s Video Music Awards has often been a cultural watercooler moment in a culture that has fewer and fewer of those moments these days. Whether it’s Miley twerking on Robin Thicke (2013), Madonna and Britney kissing (2003) or Madonna’s risqué performance of “Like a Virgin” at the very first VMAs back […]
When Celebs Seize the Bully Pulpit
How do you respond when a celebrity accepting an award uses that opportunity to preach a mini-sermon? I don’t know about you, but I immediately reach for the remote so I can mute the TV. I’m exposed to enough marketing elsewhere in my life—like, well, everywhere—that I generally don’t respond very patiently to famous people […]
Of Pokémon Go and … Homeless People?
Much has been made of the potential dangers of Pokémon Go since the wildly successful mobile app’s release earlier this month. We’ve heard stories about two guys walking off a cliff in California (they survived … but they’re likely never going to live that one down), as well as others who’ve had accidents because they […]
Engaging Wisely With Real-World Violence
I had been planning on writing this blog even before the horrific events in Dallas, Texas, last night. As people gathered there to protest the shootings of two black men by police officers earlier this week, snipers opened fire on Dallas police working the event, killing five and wounding seven others. What I want to […]
Why I Don’t Look Like Dwayne Johnson
I just ate two Life Savers. And why does this matter to anyone, you ask? Well, I’m going to tell you. It matters because I want to talk about someone who hasn’t had two Life Savers today—or yesterday, or last year. Not since the last millennium, actually. And then I’m going to connect the dots […]