December 2007 Archives

MTV's announcement of its latest fan-generated music video contest initially piqued my interest. Britney Spears' "Piece of Me" has such potential -- all that popwreck footage drifting through space and time courtesy of TMZ and others. But one glance at the newly posted contest site shows that, while Britney's song seems to be a complaint about too much publicity, what she really is up in arms about is too much bad publicity.
The collection of clips and images with which users may build their own music videos set to her single include the now-celebrated snake dance from a few years ago as well as some very polished (and airbrushed and probably PhotoShopped) publicity stills and red-carpet appearances in which she looked pretty put together.
What?! No 2007 VMAs opening number footage? You know, the "Gimme More" performance that no doubt drove traffic on MTV.com through the roof for weeks. And no realistic shots of Britney almost dropping a baby, Britney shaving her head, Britney wearing more eye makeup on her cheeks and chin than her eyelids, Britney looking trashy in the parking lot of a Valley Starbucks.
OK, MTV fans. Step right up and do your part for the Rebuild Britney's Career effort. If this doesn't do at least a little something toward detoxifying her image, the next step surely will be intervention by a crisis PR firm. The sort that handles corporate scandals and major oil spills.

Yahoo!, that arbiter of all things e-important, has just released its "Top Trends in Search" for 2007. There are but a couple of surprises to the category the search engine calls "Celebrity Downslides: Top 10 Troubled Stars." It's Britney in a landslide (we suspect -- no numbers given) for the top spot, of course. Paris Hilton's tear-soaked stay in L.A. County Jail, where she dragged a cocktail glass across her cell bars for attention, warranted the No. 2 spot. But I couldn't help but feel a little melancholy about the No. 10 name. Owen Wilson. A pretty funny star of the comedy big screen and a nice guy by most accounts. Attempts to take his own life and still ranks only 10th. What's a guy gotta do, Yahoo! users?