Paris Hilton vs. Healthcare + Superbad

Andy Warhol was possibly the first person in America to realize that celebrities had become the new royalty, while advertising had become the new art and celebrity gossip had become the new history. We've since seen Warhol's vision realized tenfold with the onslaught of gossip magazines, websites and blogs, the lives of celebrities have taken on an importance of biblical proportions. I'm not necessarily critical of this. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about celebrities, and our fascination with them is certainly not misguided. I can't speak for Noam Chomsky in this matter, but he might argue that news coverage devoted to these "stars" is simply a means to distract from the "real" issues affecting our daily lives. Which leads us to healthcare - a serious issue in this country, and one documented in Michael Moore's latest film, Sicko...

Moore was scheduled to discuss the film and the healthcare issue with CNN's Larry King, but found himself bumped when King landed the fist post-incarceration interview with Paris Hilton. So ... what would Chomsky say now? Amanda at Think Progress writes, "CNN, the 'most trusted name in Paris news,' continues to sink to new lows in its 'assault on reason.' Hilton is the latest 'serial obsession,' though the network recently hired a reporter devoted to 'covering things like Britney, as well as the Michael Jackson memorabilia.' Now CNN has ditched coverage of America’s broken health care system in favor of an hour-long interview of an incarcerated socialite."

Frankly, both matters are interesting to me, but it's fascinating to see so-called "news" outlets focus so much on celebrities. Then again, why not. Celebrities are a defining element of our culture - just not the only defining element. Celebrity news at the expense of political dialog isn't necessarily the healthiest thing - finding a balance between political awareness and celebrity obsession will be the true step towards progress in this country. Oh, and we should probably get that healthcare system fixed.

Superbad
On a completely different note, you may have noticed that Evan Almighty starring Steve Carell totally flopped this past weekend. It's $32 million opening might not have been so bad if it weren't the most expensive comedy in history (somewhere around $200 million?). Meanwhile, the far cheaper Knocked Up just passed the $100 million mark, without any serious star power. On August 17, the low budget Superbad hits theaters featuring much of Knocked Up's cast (including Seth Rogen, who also co-wrote the script), as well as Arrest Development's Michael Cera and SNL's Bill Hader. Despite its humble budget, the film has been garnering a ridiculous amount of buzz and could possibly be the summer's biggest hit...

Of course, I'll have to see Ocean's 13

Every few years, Steven Soderbergh takes a break from his cinematic experiments (which seem to receive equal amounts of love and hate) to convince a major Hollywood studio to send him and his friends on an all-expenses vacation. During that time, they kind of make a fun movie. For Ocean's 12, Soderbergh and his posse of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and the rest, jetted off to Europe. The resulting film featured some lovely cinematography, as well as some subtle and not so subtle avant garde experimentation, proving it wasn't your typical Hollywood schtick. Is an Ocean's 13 really necessary? Probably not. But I'm not going to stop Soderbergh from having a good time and subverting Hollywood formats by any means necessary. Check out the trailer and decide for yourself. All original 11 crew members are back, along with Andy Garcia. No Julia Roberts or Catherine Zeta-Jones this time, but you do have Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino.