Time Magazine has a new interview with prolific horror author Stephen King, in which he bemoans how celebrity-obsessed the media is at the expense of actual news. He says that Time should declare Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan the people of the year so that we’ll have a discussion about why we’re elevating these do-nothing trainwrecks by paying so much attention to them. This is similar to Liz Smith’s suggestion that Internet Celebrity Gossip should be person of the year, since we never get a break from it anymore.

STEPHEN KING: So who’s going to be TIME Person of the Year?
TIME: I really don’t know, there’s a very small group of people who make that decision.

I was thinking, I think it should be Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.
Really?
Yeah. You know, I just filmed a segment for Nightline, about [the movie version of his novella] The Mist, and one of the things I said to them was, you know, “You guys are just covering — what do they call it — the scream of the peacock, and you’re missing the whole fox hunt.” Like waterboarding [or] where all the money went that we poured into Iraq. It just seems to disappear. And yet you get this coverage of who’s gonna get custody of Britney’s kids? Whether or not Lindsay drank at her twenty-first birthday party, and all this other shit…

Do you actually think Britney and Lindsay should be on our cover?
Yeah, I do.

Sort of a, ‘This is what the media’s actually interested it, so let’s just put it out there’ thing?
I think there ought to be some serious discussion by smart people, really smart people, about whether or not proliferation of things like The Smoking Gun and TMZ and YouTube and the whole celebrity culture is healthy. We’ve switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics — trying to play a serious part in the world — to a culture that’s really entertainment-based. I mean, I know people who can tell you who won the last four seasons on American Idol and they don’t know who their f—— Representatives are….

But you’ve been well in the public eye for decades now. Is it pretty blatant how much worse it’s gotten?
It’s worse every year. And the guy says to me — the Nightline guy — I didn’t get the guy’s name. Granted, I haven’t been feeling real well and it was a long day of interviews. But he said to me, “If we didn’t cover cultural things, we wouldn’t be covering you and The Mist, and promoting the movie.” And I’m like, “Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan aren’t cultural.” They aren’t political. They’re economic only in the mildest sense of the word. In fact, if I had to pick somebody, some celebrity who has had some impact this year, some sort of echo in the larger American life, I would say Hannah Montana. That whole issue of online ticket sales and scalping fascinates me. There are [legitimate] issues there about the Internet, so that actually does seem to have some cultural significance. But Britney? Britney Spears is just trailer trash. That’s all. I mean, I don’t mean to be pejorative. But you observe her behavior for the past five years and you say, “Here’s a lady who can’t take care of her kids, she can’t take care of herself, she has no retirement fund, everything that she gets runs right through her hands.” And yet, you know and I know that if you go to those sites that tell you what the most blogged-about things on the Internet are, it’s Britney, it’s Lindsay. So I think it would be terrific [to have them as TIME Persons of the Year]. There would be such a scream from the American reading public, sure. But at the same time, it’s time for somebody to discuss the difference between real news and fake news.

[From Time.com via Fark]

That’s great how he just lays it out there and says she’s trash, and that it’s ridiculous that we pay so much attention to her when she contributes so little to society. We’re a gossip blog and Lindsay and Britney have received so much undeserved press that we’ve decided to stop covering them for stretches at a time. I know in King’s estimation we’re part of the problem, and that’s true, but hopefully our gossip is just part of your balanced news diet. When they’re aren’t a lot of other options of what to pay attention to, that’s just sad. Kind of like Britney’s life, which consists mainly of the pursuit of mindless entertainment like shopping, eating, and staying at hotels.

Stephen King is promoting his new horror film, The Mist, which was out in the US on November 21 and stars Thomas Jane, and Marcia Gay Harden. It is getting mixed but mostly positive reviews.

Stephen King is shown with Marcia Gay Harden at the NY after party for the premiere of The Mist on 11/12/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

The announcement of the writer’s strike today will have some immediate repercussions for movie and TV fans alike, as well as some long-term effects on movies in pre-production.

With emerging markets and new ways to deliver content, the writers justifiably don’t want to be screwed out of royalties. The movie companies counter by saying that since internet delivery, for example, is still a developing trend, negotiating profits for new media is premature. A prolonged strike could have big consequences for the entertainment industry.

The daily talk shows such as, well- The Daily Show for one, will likely go into re-runs. Unconfirmed rumors say that The Tonight show will continue production, but consist of only Hometown News and Kevin Eubanks doing guitar solos. With all the major fiction writers on strike, the continued operation of Fox News is also in question.

Among the wonderful movies in pre-production that might suffer in quality are the sequels Saw 6, Rush Hour 5, and Chuck and Larry get a Divorce. Experts predict that because of the writer’s strike, these movies will rely on nonsensical plots, stereotypical cliché, scatological humor, and graphic but implausible action and violence in the place of quality scriptwriting.

Also without the creative minds of Hollywood writers, entertainment executives will not know which toys from the 80’s, video games, or 70’s movies to rip off for next summer’s blockbusters. Rumors are floating that among the projects being shelved are My Little Pony- The Movie, a film based on Madden 08, and a Farrelly brothers adaptation of The Goodbye Girl.

Tina Fey is shown picketing outside of NBC Headquarters in the header image.

Ellen Pompeo, the star of Grey’s Anatomy, is ripping on the media for giving so much attention to idiots like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. She points out that the extreme amount of publicity given for such bad behavior teaches young girls that that’s how they should act, because that’s the behavior that will get them positive attention.

“’I just think the media should take this country in a different direction,’ the 37-year-old actress tells the new issue of Los Angeles Confidential Magazine, on newsstands Aug. 15.

“’We’re so focused on the wrong things. We’re teaching young girls that this is what they should be focusing on: rich and famous girls who are rich and famous for nothing.’

“In an apparent reference to coverage of Paris Hilton and her ilk, Pompeo says: ‘What are we doing to this younger generation? It’s not very responsible.’”

[From the Washington Post]

She also chides the media for its speculation about her weight. Not to do exactly what she’s complaining about, but she does seem unnaturally small. Apparently it’s hard to tell if you look at pictures of just her, but it’s pretty obvious when you see her photographed next to normal-sized people.

“Pompeo, who plays Dr. Meredith Grey on ABC’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ also calls the media ‘irresponsible’ for ongoing speculation that she has an eating disorder.

“’I just worry about the girls who look up to me - I don’t want them to think I starve myself or don’t eat, and that to be like me that’s what they have to do,’ explains the actress, who says she is naturally slender.”

[From the AP]

I really don’t buy the “naturally slender” line. But that’s probably because, if that’s the case, I am insanely jealous, so I’d rather believe she does really bad things to be so thin. In other news, Pompeo says that she and her fiancé, Chris Ivery, will set a wedding date at some point, but haven’t yet. They’ve been together almost four years.

“’I swear we’re going to get married at sometime,’ she says. ‘We’re just trying to fit it all in. It won’t be a big ceremony - we want one thing to ourselves.’

“Does she see children in her future?

“’I do,’ she says. ‘With the show, I just don’t know if it’s entirely fair to myself and to everybody else right now. We’ll see what happens.’”

[From the AP]

While her thoughts on the empty socialites aren’t exactly unique, she’s right. Giving them too much attention encourages a negative cycle. They’re just like little kids. If you give them praise for doing something bad, they’ll keep doing it. Any attention we give them for their crotch-flashing, nipping-baring ways will just encourage them to continue acting like morons. Though I’m pretty sure Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Britney Spears will act like morons no matter what, the rest of us can at least do something better with our time. Like steam about how unnaturally thin Ellen Pompeo is.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Ellen at the 2006 ABC Upfront Presentation and at the Garden State Premiere. Header image is at the Bourne Ultimatum Los Angeles Premiere on 7/25/2007. Images thanks to PR Photos.

I know that women are the primary consumers of gossip magazines, but why do they have to try and make us feel like shit all the time? We don’t have the right hair, the right shoes, the right bodies, and our clothes certainly look lame when compared to the gorgeous gowns that designers beg celebrities to wear.

We probably don’t have the right men, either, and those of us who are single aren’t using the right hair products to catch a man. Now even the single girls reading the glossies over pints of Haagan Daz can feel slightly better about themselves, because there are single famous women too, and experts who are paid to go on about their plight:

If Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston can’t find a guy, is there any hope for the rest of us?

Actually, it turns out that being a beautiful, successful, rich woman in Hollywood can make it even harder to make a love connection.

Sure, there are plenty of men out there who would want to date A-listers like Reese Witherspoon, but not many measure up both physically and professionally ­– after all, there is only one George Clooney, and every knows he’s not settling down anytime soon.

And Notting Hill-style romantic comedies aside, on the very rare occasions when regular guys come into contact with ladies who live on the right side of the velvet ropes, “they are made very anxious [by mega stars],” psychiatrist Dr. Arnold Gilberg of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine tells Us.

“They feel there is too much to fulfill.”

When a woman is successful and famous at a young age, there simply aren’t that many men who can adapt to her lifestyle and, at the same time, make her feel like she’s No. 1.

“Megastars are in a unique position because they are protected from so many people,” says Gilberg. “They are limited in the people they meet more than the average woman.”

[From US Weekly]

These same magazines run “sexiest bachelor” articles and pieces that glorify single celebrity guys, so why do they act like it’s some kind of failure for a beautiful famous woman to be single? I’m trying to figure out how it helps them sell products to hapless readers. Maybe after any of these women inevitably land a man her success can be attributed to whatever body cream she was comped in the gift bag at the last event she attended.

Heather Mills told Ryan Seacrest “’If I was a gold digger I would be a very wealthy woman now, and I’m not,’” on his radio show. That’s classic. Mills recently won her assault trial against British photographer Jay Kaycappa, who grabbed Mills and spun her around in order to get a better picture of her. Mills had been bicycling with a group of people to her seaside home. The paparazzi had been following them, and Mills got separated from her group in a pedestrian passageway that was underground. Photographers surrounded her on either side of the tunnel.

I felt concerned…because I had one there and one there and I felt like a trapped animal,” testified Mills, who was not in court Wednesday to hear the verdict.

“I felt him pull me round and then run back to get my picture. He yanked me round. I was facing the wall and he was pulling me round because I was not letting him take my picture. He then pulled me round and took my pictures.”

[From E News]

I’m no Heather Mills fan, but that is a completely jerky thing to do to someone. No matter what everyone deserves their personal space, and you don’t get to touch someone, let alone move them around as though they’re there only for your benefit. The photographer gave conflicting accounts to the police.

Prosecutors presented two conflicting statements given by Kaycappa to the police, one saying, “So I spun her around, I must have spun the bike around as well,” and the other saying, “I wish to clarify—what I actually said was, I would find it hard to spin her around when she was on the bike.”

Kaycappa, who denied the charges, was also convicted of assaulting Mills’ friend, Mark Payne, the following evening when he showed up to take more pictures of Mills.”

[From E News]

He sounds like a relentless jerk. As terrible and aggressive as the paparazzi can be here, I can’t believe the way they behave in England. As much as I’m not a fan of Heather Mills, I’m glad she pressed charges against the guy and that she won. No one deserves to be manhandled like that. My favorite part of the trial is when Mills said that they should just send a pack of journalists after Saddam Hussein, noting “They find everything.” It’s a funny point, made funnier still by the fact that they found and executed Saddam quite a long time ago. Clearly she’s had other things on her mind. Like not being a gold digger.

Ubiquitous news wire service The Associated Press distributed an internal memo on February 13th encouraging journalists not to cover ubiquitous celebrity do-nothing Paris Hilton for a week.

“Next week,” entertainment editor Jesse Washington wrote in an e-mail memo obtained by The Transom, “the print team is planning an unconventional experiment: We are NOT going to cover Paris Hilton.

“Barring any major, major news, we are not going to put a single word about Paris on the wire,” the memo continued. “If something does come up, big or small, we encourage discussions on whether we should write about it.”

[via Gawker]

They said the decision was hard and took a lot of discussion. They were able to hold out covering Paris for a little over a week, and forced themselves not to cover Brandon Davis’ drunken outburst at her birthday dinner. After Paris got arrested for driving with a suspended license, though, they gave up and ran the story, savoring every word.

Then Hilton was arrested on Feb. 27 for driving with a suspended license — an offense that could conceivably lead to jail time because she may have violated conditions of a previous sentence. By that time, our blackout was over anyway, so reporting the development was an easy call. (On the flip side, we never got to see what repercussions there would have been if we hadn’t.)

[Lloyd] Grove [formerly of the NY Daily News] thinks the so-called “celebutante” achieved her unique brand of fame because she boasts an irresistible set of traits: wealth, a big name, beauty with a “downmarket” appeal, and a tendency to seem … oversexed. “This is what mainstream society celebrates,” he says. “She is, in the worst sense, the best expression of the maxim that no bad deed goes unrewarded in our pop culture.”

One measure of Hilton’s fame: She was No. 5 last year on the Yahoo Buzz Index, a list of overall top searches on the Web site (her ever-so-brief buddy Spears is a perennial No. 1).

Another is that US Weekly has at least a mention or a photo in just about every issue. “People now come to expect to see pictures of her,” says Caroline Schaefer, deputy editor of the celebrity magazine. “They’re intrigued by her unshakable self-esteem. People are fascinated by that.”

Jeff Jarvis, who teaches journalism at the City University of New York, decries the “one-size-fits-all disease” afflicting media outlets, who feel that “everybody’s covering it, so we must, too.” Even The New York Times, he noted, had substantial coverage of a hearing concerning where Anna Nicole Smith — perhaps the one person who rivaled Hilton in terms of fame for fame’s sake — would be buried.

“That disease leads to the Paris Hilton virus spreading through the news industry,” says Jarvis, who puts out the BuzzMachine blog.

So what have we learned from the ban? “It’s hard to tell what this really changes, since we didn’t have to make any hard decisions,” says Jesse Washington, AP’s entertainment editor. “So we’ll continue to use our news judgment on each item, individually.”

Which means that for the immediate future, if not always, we’ll still have Paris.

Lloyd Grove of the NY Daily News’ Lowdown column, which was cancelled in October, said he deliberately didn’t mention Hilton for two years because he wanted to get publicity. I know I don’t always cover stories about the milktoast heiress, but it’s hard not to mention her as Jeff Jarvis discussed because she’s freaking everywhere. There’s also something fascinating how she keeps on going no matter what happens. She’s was overheard bragging about how much money her sex tape made, and she was out working right after all her private medical records and drug-use videos came out on Paris Exposed. Apart from refusing to speak to photographers for one day she showed no outward reaction to the Paris Exposed scandal.

I know all about that phenomenon that Jeff Jarvis mentioned about how you have to cover the stories that are popular no matter how much they bug you. I’ll be reporting on Anna Nicole’s pink tasseled funeral shortly.

Here she is outside of a medical building on 2/28. What’s going on with her stomach in that last picture? Do you think she’s pregnant with Stavros’ baby? We’ll never stop hearing about her then. She really has perfected that Barbie look. I mean I dislike her outfit but she accessories it perfectly.