MamaPop™

The Royal Fall or Some Such Catchy Title

Did you know there's a recession going on?  I read about it on Twitter.  Apparently people have fallen on the collective hard times including the handsome devil that lives in my mirror- Fairest. Of. Them. All.  I vote that we all fall on the collective High Times should this happen again, the one with Willie Nelson on the cover.  I think Studs Terkel would back me on this.  Also, Snoop Dogg.

Perhaps it would make you feel better to see someone else suffering.  I know that I always enjoy it.  Well, you're in luck.  It seems that some others have slipped from their pedestals and landed in a little thing the kids call life.  Not the cereal.  The slippers?  Princesses. 

Eminem and Sacha Baron Cohen Were "Acting"

What? We've been duped! Cheated! Swindled!

It turns out that the now famous little "mishap" at the MTV Movie Awards was, in fact, staged. It was a fake!

Seriously, if you can't trust Hollywood to keep it real... I just don't know anymore.

Apparently Eminem was sitting in his seat, minding his own, watching Forest Whitaker sing "Dick in a Box" when Sacha Baron Cohen, in the role of Bruno, fell from the heavens teabag first and proceeded to make a cuppa Earl Grey in Slim's mug.  Hilarity ensued.

These PSAs Are SO Gay

Do you do that?  Do you say things are gay when you mean bad?  Well, don't.  It's freaking retarded.

See what I did there?  I took the good and I took the bad, hell, I took them both and there you have the opinions of life, namely the lives of Wanda Sykes and Lizzie McGuire.  Their opinion?  You shouldn't hate.

I'll give them that one.

That's why the "gay" in my title means "bad" - not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good.  I know, sometimes bad is bad, but not in this post.  In this post I fight fire with fire.  In this post I turn the world on its ear.  Or something like that.

It's Just Yoko Being Yoko

Aside from the late Bob Denver, few people have staked their claim on the gold of the past like Yoko Ono.

Whereas Denver played the bumbling and lovable Gilligan the majority of his adult life (where's the love, Maynard G. Krebs?) Yoko has portrayed the role of Yoko the grieving widow for some 29 years.

That's a lot of peace signs and plastic.

Factory Farming Partially to Blame for Swine Flu?

I am already so sick of hearing about swine flu. On the off-chance that this really is the pandemic that wipes us all out, I will gladly accept many I-told-you-sos. For now, I'm leaning toward believing that it's a "glamorous" story that the media can beat to death.

It is a serious issue, though, particularly for people living and working in Mexico, who have been the hardest hit by the illness. As of today, 152 deaths and 1,600 illnesses are believed to be swine flu.

Residents and workers near a Smithfield Foods plant in Perote, Mexico, think that the factory-farming giant may be at least partially to blame for the outbreak.

Mia Farrow Fasting "In Solidarity" with Darfur: Brave Activism or Fame Whoring?

Actress and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow issued a statement yesterday announcing that starting Monday, April 27, she will begin a water-only fast, "in solidarity with the people of Darfur and as a personal expression of outrage at a world that is somehow able to stand by and watch innocent men, women and children needlessly die of starvation, thirst and disease." Farrow, a very slight woman, is expected to be able to safely endure the fast for a maximum of three weeks, according to her doctors. The fact that she's consulted doctors leads me to believe this is not intended to be an indefinite hunger strike of the Irish Republican ilk, but for a predetermined period, as a symbolic gesture. With that in mind, is this really anything more than a publicity stunt?

Breaking News: More Broke People Screwed Over by Effed-Up Economy

Not surprisingly, arts organizations have felt the hit of the recession particularly hard. Many have closed their doors and those who remain standing have had to make heartbreaking cuts to their budgets. Case in point: the Music Advancement Program at the prestigious Juilliard School.