AltWeeklies Wire
Jerry Springer, American Dreamernew

Profiles of Springer tend to follow a similar pattern; they contrast the raucous TV show full of bleeped-out curses and sexual betrayals with the intelligent adult who talks knowledgeably about politics with a passion that would be incendiary in the debate room. But there's nothing so unthinkable about the two going together.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Sarah Feldberg |
11-13-2009 |
Culture
Kathy Griffin Wins Big as a Hollywood Losernew
Many comedians have made a living by finding funny eccentricities in everyday life. But Griffin's show is less about what you did or saw yesterday and more about what you read on TMZ.
Charleston City Paper |
Greg Hambrick |
10-14-2009 |
Performance
Vivian Girls' Struggle With Celebrity Makes for Irresistible Musicnew

The most recent Vivian Girls release is considerably more aggressive than the band's self-titled debut. Not that the Phil Spector-by-way-of-Psychocandy vibe has totally disappeared, but this time out, the very obvious pop influence is tinged with a fair amount of urgency.
Washington City Paper |
Mike Kanin |
09-17-2009 |
Reviews
Vanila Ice: Keepin' It Surrealnew
Vanilla Ice talks about reality TV, his new record and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Las Vegas Weekly |
April Corbin |
09-04-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Michael Jackson Death Circusnew
Despite his immense talent, Michael Jackson is not a man who should be revered.
Tucson Weekly |
Catherine O'Sullivan |
07-08-2009 |
Performance
Reaction Jackson: How to Mourn a Messnew
Mourning Michael Jackson felt oddly overdue, as if the sudden death he'd suffered 24 hours earlier were nothing compared to the slow one he'd been undergoing for the previous 24 years.
Boston Phoenix |
Michael Brodeur |
07-01-2009 |
Music
Michael Jackson: A Eulogynew

Why and how Jackson became the most famous person the century ever knew is a matter for the anthropologists. For us, here and now, Jackson was elemental and impossible to ever fully understand; fearsome and heartbreakingly beautiful; at once mortal and deathless.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
David Hansen |
07-01-2009 |
Music
Rap Superstar T.I. Revamps His Imagenew
Faced with a stiff sentence or turning his life around, T.I. chose well.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Rodney Carmichael |
04-01-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Poet Grace Cavalieri Projects Herself Into Her Latest Famous Womannew
In her latest book of poems, Anna Nicole, the poems are delivered from the imagined perspective of Anna Nicole Smith, the tabloid celebrity known for her Playboy spreads, her marriage to a millionaire 63 years her senior, and for her own TV reality show. So it's appropriate that the book's cover is a deliberately garish painting that gives the pin-up model magenta hair and green eyes.
Baltimore City Paper |
Geoffrey Himes |
12-09-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Geek Glasses Transform Sexy Superstars into Really Sexy Superstarsnew
Through a thoroughly scientific study of entirely anecdotal evidence, I am here to prove that oversized, plastic–frame glasses have the power to transform the lamest of losers into the coolest, smartest, funniest, prettiest, best–smelling people who ever did exist.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Caralyn Green |
12-08-2008 |
Commentary
The New Wild West: Talking with Guy Ritchienew
Timing, as you may have heard, is everything. While I would never imply that a married couple would get divorced simply to publicize a movie, it can't hurt the box office potential of Guy Ritchie's new RocknRolla to be mentioned in every one of the far too numerous tabloid stories about his recently announced breakup with his unimonikered wife.
Artvoice |
M. Faust |
11-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Sexbama for Prez: Will Fetishization Hurt the Barack Star?new

As we move into the final days until the election, it's become more apparent that people are not making rational decisions based on voting records or even debating skills. They are voting with their emotions, their passions, even their fantasies about who they would rather kiss, fondle or fuck.
New York Press |
Nicole Caldwell |
10-30-2008 |
Commentary
What I Learned While Covering the O.J. Trialnew
The Simpson trial was a cauldron of important life lessons waiting to be learned.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Nick Divito |
10-17-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Forget Palin's Shortcomings as a VP Pick ... Who's Going to Play Her in the Movie?new
Barack Obama exudes the cool glamour of a movie star, but all he's promising the masses is hope and change. Palin, on other hand, is promising drama. Wacky, quirky, fish-out-of-water drama. And right now, America's Got Talent and CSI reruns aren't cutting it.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Greg Beato |
09-11-2008 |
Commentary
Heath Ledger's Final Days Among the Massesnew

Birthed in a big loft in midtown Manhattan by one Los Angeleno, Amato, and one New Yorker, Jon Ramos, in 2002, the collective was transformed in the fall of 2006, when the members set up shop in Hollywood, and Amato's longtime friend, Heath Ledger, started channeling some of his creative energy, and eventually, money, into the company. It was at the Masses that Ledger and his peers converged around a notion; taught each other how to shoot, light and edit; plotted out music and record labels; and sought to develop a little engine of creativity.
L.A. Weekly |
Randall Roberts |
07-11-2008 |
Movies