If you’re reading this, you’re about to view a more than likely insignificant piece of history, the very first blog for the Buzz. If you’re still reading this it also means that for whatever reason, my boss thought it might be a good idea to let this be viewed by the public. This newspaper may not be read by the masses, but it is still the first blog I’ve ever written, so I’d ask that you all bear with me.

Blogs seem to be all the rage now so I figured I might as well give it a shot. Now I in no way feel that my thoughts or ideas are in any way important, or that I somehow deserve to be read by as many people as possible. I just hope that maybe you’ll get some entertainment about what has been on my mind, or even that you have similar thoughts. Maybe you’ll think this is a giant waste of time, but you’re still reading it at this point, so you might as well finish it out.

I figured I’d jump right into to it and talk about Hollywood. A lot has been going on in the L.A. area, with the Oscars taking place and the big end to the Writer’s Strike, so I thought I’d share my ideas.

It’s definitely a good thing that the strike is over. A lot of people have been complaining for years how there is nothing on T.V., nothing worth sitting down and watching. A lot of people had no idea how good we actually had it. Since the strike began on November 5, 2007, we as a country have been the victim of some awful, vile television. The strike was probably a rude awakening to how “television dependent” we are as Americans, sickened and bored out of our minds just because we couldn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy or CSI, but that’s an issue for another time. The issue for now is how good we had it, and what terrible television truly looks like.

The temporary solution to the Writer’s Guild of America Strike appeared to be airing the show Deal or No Deal whenever possible, as much as possible. If you’ve never seen the show, then you obviously do not watch T.V. It is always on. Being a game show, no writers were necessary. They could keep tossing out new episodes whenever they wanted, at a time when few other shows had new episodes to broadcast. I’m pretty sure that as the strike continued, the show was open to be aired on any station wanting to pick it up, and not just NBC. In fact, this is not exactly an overstatement, because NBC would continually air it on its sister stations (Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, and whatever else the company could dip their pen in). Now if you have seen the show (much more likely than the contrary) you have probably watched it all the way through and probably numerous times – there’s no use lying to yourself, so go ahead and admit it. It is one of the most annoying shows ever aired, and that includes any ridiculous show that has ever been put on MTV. Deal or No Deal is a cross between The Price Is Right and Whammy; it’s the “loser brother” of all game shows. It managed to have all the annoying contestants, but somehow forgot to add the interesting games and ample sums of money. But we all still watched, forcing ourselves to be interested. Nothing else was on. We had no choice.

One show that survived the strike was Lost. New episodes of Lost have been aired the past five or six weeks in the primetime Thursday night slot. ABC was fortunate enough to have new episodes of this show, thanks to the fact that Lost producers waited until February to air their first new episode of the season. The long lay-off after Season 3 accomplished numerous things, as excitement for the show entering Season 4 continued to build and build as time went on. “Losties” everywhere were also able to catch up on anything they missed on the show’s website and spend hours of time re-watching the show in syndication, attempting to figure out the ridiculous amount of questions and theories the show offers. And just when you believed you finally had the show figured out, they brought in the new season, spoiling anything you thought you knew. The title Lost has nothing to do with being stranded on a desert island; it’s just a description of how you feel after each show ends. There is no way the writers have any clue what’s going on – I’m sure they’re making it up as they go. But it’s extremely addictive, and I could never miss an episode. As lame as it sounds, I find myself actually caring what happens to these fictional characters, itching to know more and more about their lives. The writer’s better figure out an ending though, because if this show ends as a dream or in a snow-globe or something, I am going to riot in the streets.



The 80th annual Oscars just passed, leaving us with another example of something that lasted three hours when it easily could have lasted one (this includes you, American Gangster). No offense to the winners, but few people really care which animated movie had the best sound-editing. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. In the last 20-30 minutes of the show, they announced Best Actor and Actress, Best Director, and Best Film. Anyone able to stay up for the last 20-30 minutes was obviously outraged by the fact that they had watched the previous two and half hours of awards, many of which they had no idea existed.

Jon Stewart hosted, and I thought he did well. But does anyone think we are encouraging this guy a little too much?

Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor for his role in There Will Be Blood. I have yet to see it (so I can’t say for sure), but word is he made a grotesquely intolerable movie into only a slightly intolerable movie (I’ve heard there is no dialogue for the first 40 minutes, and the movie lasts about 160 minutes – bad combination). Personally, I think it makes more sense for Best Actor to go to someone in a movie people actually enjoyed, but that’s neither he nor there. But does anyone else think that Lewis could play in a made-for-T.V.-movie on Nickelodeon and they’d still give him an Oscar? I think we should test this theory; cast Lewis in a terrible movie (Saw 5, Scary Movie 6, Rocky 16) and just see how tempted they are to give him one. I mean he was nominated in ’93 and ’02 as well, and won in ’89 for My Left Foot. My Left Foot? Really? The entire movie is just about a guy that can only move his left foot. You’re welcome, by the way, because I just saved you from watching the whole thing.

I’m also pretty sure that Hollywood is purposefully messing with our heads. I believe we are all becoming victims of a Jennifer Garner-Hillary Swank “switcharoo.” I recently saw both The Kingdom and P.S. I Love You (I know, I know, don’t judge me), starring Garner and Swank, respectively. Now it is pretty obvious that the two actresses look fairly similar; they could easily be passed off as sisters. However, their differing characters and personalities always made it pretty easy to distinguish between the two. Garner was always the more girly and feminine of the two, starring in more chick flick type roles. Even as a spy in Alias, she used her seductive female charm to deter weak and feeble men from discovering her true identity. But in the Kingdom, Garner played a tough, witty, shoot-em-up FBI agent; a far cry from her usual characters.

Swank’s casting in P.S. I Love You only added to the confusion. Usually playing in more masculine or effeminate roles (Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don’t Cry), Swank starred as a sappy, mawkish, and overly-emotional girl in her chick flick. What’s going on here? Are the two just trying to branch out and widen their acting spectrum, or are film directors trying to create another “same actor” situation, a la Owen and Luke Wilson, where if one isn’t available for a movie they will gladly settle for the other. Either way, it is becoming more and more difficult to tell these two apart, and I believe it’s no accident.

Is this a serious problem, or am I just putting way too much thought into this?

But anyways, the strike is over and the Oscars have passed, and for now Hollywood can go back to being as normal as it possibly can. Focus can finally shift back to the usual celebrity arrests and short-lived marriages. And for now, we can go back to watching Deal or No Deal only once a week.

Ok, maybe twice.

Thanks for reading.