The Blog

Margaret Cho: It Gets Better: How I Overcame Childhood Bullying

2012-02-22T18:17:00Z

I was bullied pretty badly when I was a kid, the worst period falling between the ages of 10 and 14, I think. People tell me to get over it, and that I am an adult now, privileged and famous and constantly applauded not only in my primary field, stand-up comedy, but also in practically every endeavor I have chosen to devote myself to, from acting to burlesque bump-and-grind to songwriting. I am told I have no right to complain, and that may be true to some extent, the good in my life flowing in from all directions, satisfaction pulsing through me every second of the day, but I will never stop complaining until I am dead in the ground or even afterward, probably, if I can find a way back out of the light to complain about the afterlife. I will never stop complaining. It's kind of fun to me now, and looking back, I was treated so terribly that I don't feel I have the capacity to forgive. F*ck forgiveness and all that. I think that even Jesus would say, "Yeah I guess you do have a point..."

I was hurt because I was different, and so sharing my experience of being beaten and hated and called ugly and fat and queer and foreign and perverse and gluttonous and lazy and filthy and dishonest and yet all the while remaining invisible heals me, and heals others when they hear it -- those who are suffering right now. If you are going through this kind of sh*t today, try to remember that I lived through it and now thrive. I f*cking thrive.

My former bullies pay extra to come backstage and meet me after shows, and I pretend not to know them in front of their friends. It is the most divine pleasure to exact the revenge of the brutalized child that resides within. Don't consider suicide. Consider revenge. Consider what I get to do now. Know that this could be your life, too. Grow up and let anyone try to contend with the adult you. The grown-up you will be fearsome and tremendous, not only for all the pain you have endured but also because you have survived it. I cannot wait to meet you, tall and mighty in your grown glory. Stay here so we can eventually come together and be friends. Stay so you can tell me your story. I need to hear it.

I love the It Gets Better campaign, and I want to tell you that it not only gets better; it gets amazing, and don't leave before you can witness it firsthand. Stick around for awhile. The best stuff comes later in life. It just does. You'll see. You just have to trust me on this one, but you will be glad that you did.

There were a few things that saved me, like the young gay men my father employed at his bookstore, who would ride me on the back of their café racers, motorbikes that were butch yet classy as hell, built for speed first and beauty next. They'd tell my father that if I got tattoos, maybe then I would have friends, and this is true today, as if they had been telling me my fortune. I have tattoos, and I have many, many friends.

Music was like a hot bath I could escape into, steamy and warming me to the bone. I still am comforted greatly by sounds. Chord progressions and lyrics were my cliques and confidants. Songs sustained me more than I can say here, more than I can explain in words.

Comedy was the key to everything. I grew up fast and controlled my future by bringing it on faster than it naturally unfolded. I cheated myself out of a childhood but then got a running headstart into adulthood that no one else could keep up with.

All these things help me still, revive me when I feel weak, and remind me how far I have come and where I am going.

This post also appears at MargaretCho.com.

Jennifer Hamady: Honoring Whitney Houston

2012-02-22T17:29:54Z

There is no doubt that Whitney Houston was a tremendous talent that shaped music in the '80s and into the 90s... a rare voice who forever raised the bar of what it means to be a singer.

There's no doubt that her death -- and certain aspects of her life -- were tragic.

And there's no doubt that the outpouring of love, tributes, and praise have been wonderful. The same is true for the playing of her songs and the posting of her videos all over the internet, even by young people who are just now hearing her for the first time.

It's just a shame that it has all happened after she died.

Especially given that what she would be experiencing today is a type of love and celebration that she never received when she was here. No one does while they're alive. It is only after they're gone that we put jealously, spite, and negativity aside and really celebrate the greatness of people and their lives. We don't dismiss or sugarcoat the truth. But we require and demand a level of respect that we simply don't while they're walking the earth.

What would it have been like for Whitney Houston to feel and experience this type of love? This worldwide celebration? What would it have been like for Kurt Cobain? For Michael Jackson? For Amy Winehouse? What difference might it have made in their lives? What difference might it have made in their choices to actively take or passively surrender them?

For me, the passing of Whitney Houston is certainly an opportunity to remember and say farewell to a true musical icon. Yet it is also -- and more importantly -- a reminder to cherish and love the people in our lives while they are alive. To celebrate them and let them know how much they mean. To put aside whatever stands between us -- whether distance, grudges, circumstances, or pride -- and show them how much we care.

Don't wait until it is too late. Call your mother and father. Call that teacher who made a difference in your or your child's life. Call your siblings, call your friends.

Call that person you haven't forgiven. Call that person you can't forget.

Reach out and let them know all that you might otherwise wait until it's too late to say.

Joan E. Dowlin: Whitney Houston Was a Hero Too

2012-02-22T17:03:33Z

I have been encountering a few Facebook posts recently that I find very disturbing. One says "Whitney Who? When Celebs Get More Credit Than Real Heroes" and shows a picture of our troops. Another shows a split screen with Houston on one side with the caption: "Whitney Houston, pop star famous for going into rehab, died in her bath, Worldwide News." The other side shows a soldier and reads: "Lt. Michael Murphy, Navy Seal, Medal of Honor, gave his life for his squad, forgotten."

A third post had a picture of a soldier walking the red carpet with the caption of: "Isn't It About Time We Recognized Our True Celebrities?" While not specifically mentioning Houston, the comments were loaded with Whitney bashing.

Firstly, Whitney Houston is not famous for rehab but for her incredible, transformational soaring voice. Secondly, should not one be commended for doing rehab and trying to get her life back?

I don't get it. Sure, our military servicemen and women are heroes who risk their lives. My dad, who just passed away at 91, was a Marine in Iwo Jima and I couldn't be prouder of him. As a nation we do need to honor our soldiers -- the ones who lost their lives and those that made it back. We need to offer them the GI Bill, better health care, and jobs. We need to repay them for the sacrifices they have made for us.

But what does that have to do with Whitney Houston? Maybe whoever came up with this ridiculous premise does not know Ms. Houston and the contributions she made to this country. She entertained the troops and in 1991 at the Super Bowl sang a stirring rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" that inspired a nation just entering the Persian Gulf War. They recorded the performance and it became a No. 1 record and she donated her share of the proceeds to the American Red Cross Crisis Fund. I agree with Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey that she deserves to have the flags lowered to half staff to honor her passing.

Whitney Houston has been called "The Voice" and the "Queen of Pop" and had seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard hits, a record. Her pure, lilting, soulful, and powerful voice defined her era and inspired a whole new generation of singers.

All I can think of is that whoever is making these baseless comparisons is upset about her traumatic personal life and struggles with addictions. To that, I say the old adage: "You'll never understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes."

And it seems that superstars that have walked in her shoes have shared the same fate. Yet, I never heard anyone complain about the outpouring of love after the death of Judy Garland or Elvis or Michael Jackson and relate it to neglecting our troops.

Entertainers that receive a lot of attention when they die are usually stars that have earned it. They have touched the souls of many with their talents. This is definitely true of Whitney Houston. Having watched her funeral service today, I feel I began to capture some of the essence of who this woman was, growing up as a gospel singer in the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ.

The moving testimonies of those that knew her and worked with her define her as a very kind, giving person and a loving parent. How can anyone be so heartless as to disrespect Whitney by making these unfair, idiotic comparisons to how we view our military soldiers? If you really want to honor our fallen heroes, treat everyone with respect, especially one who gave so much of herself to the world through her art.

Lydia Hughes: Cutting Off Adele for Bleugh... I Mean, Blur

2012-02-22T17:03:04Z

There has been uproar since last night. Adele had just been awarded what can be considered the most notable award of the evening: Mastercard British Album of the Year, for her album 21. However, during her gracious acceptance speech, whilst thanking her country and fans and stating the pride she held for being part of the British nation, she was cut off by presenter James Corden, in order to cue headliners of the evening, Blur.

The cut-off in itself caused the country to cringe, and it pained Corden as he uttered the words, "I'm so sorry, and I can't believe I'm about to cut-off, I'm so sorry." Her response, which no one can rebuke, was to stick her middle finger up at the broadcasting "suits," clarifying later that it was not directed towards Blur fans. An awards ceremony held to recognize those making the greatest contributions to music in Britain first and foremost, instead gave the impression that Blur's performance superseded all else. This was of course a huge discredit to Adele.

And had Blur's performance been earth-shatteringly spectacular, it might have made up for interrupting the UK's most loved music artist. But, sadly, it wasn't. It can't be denied that in the 90s Blur were at the top of their game -- which was rewarded last night as they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award. They have since left a legacy, and have hoards of fans who, two decades later, are still playing their music. But last night's performance, which quite literally stopped the show, was jaw-dropping -- but for being anything but awe-inspiring. Out of tune, worried momentarily that Albarn might topple over and, at times, short of being shambolic it was difficult to watch.

Let's just hope that the finale to the Olympics goes better.

Danielle Berrin: Whitney Houston's Daughter Is Not the Story

2012-02-22T16:52:09Z

Media coverage surrounding the death of the pop star and singing sensation Whitney Houston could be described, at best, as schizophrenic. One moment a nation weeps for a lost and beloved singing legend; the next they decry her drug abuse, poor choice of marital partner and public misbehavior. If there were a trend, it seems to be: first comes emotion, then moralizing and judgment; as if the narrative of her life and death could fit neatly into a headline, as if anyone who is adding to the fray -- myself included, knows diddly-squat about the real Whitney Houston.

Nevertheless, the insatiable hunger for a full account of the events leading to and following her apparent submersion in a bathtub has been fed and exploited by the media, day by day, detail by detail, as a country obsessed with the inner lives of celebrities -- the sordid "reality" of their daily living -- has feasted upon a salacious spread of rumor and fact as a way, perhaps, of coping with their grief. In the week since Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hilton hotel room, the attention has been so consistent and relentless, even my mother, a self-described CNN junkie, wondered, "Is this getting more attention than Michael Jackson's death?"

Google "Whitney Houston funeral" and no fewer than ten thousand articles turn up, from amateur blogs to the New York Times, reporting, repeating and commenting on how this all happened, what it all means and the finer points of her legacy. But in the vacuum left by her snuffed out star, the media has lost its grip on itself. In our desperation to get out the "news" and, before anyone else does -- a melee of civilian and professional journalists have poured forth unsolicited material that proves there are no boundaries whatsoever when it comes to celebrity reporting. And while this boundlessness has included much legitimate reporting, it has also highlighted a complete absence of ethics where the welfare of its subjects are concerned.

The most egregious example of bottom feeding on the reporting boon came the day after Houston's funeral courtesy of Newsweek's online sister site, The Daily Beast: "Was Whitney's Daughter Found Getting High?" went the subject line of their Feb. 19 email blast. The news "exclusive" described in suspenseful narrative style how Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina apparently disappeared after her mother's funeral and according to "two sources close to the family" (read: anonymous and therefore, unverifiable) that equals a drug problem the public should know about.

Heaven forbid Newsweek and Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown's children find themselves subjected to such unfair and inappropriate scrutiny the day after her funeral.

Read the rest at Hollywood Jew

Bonnie Fuller: Rihanna & Chris Brown Are Telling Their Fans, 'We're Back Together' With Their Music

2012-02-22T16:40:52Z

Rihanna and Chris Brown gave what they saw as a birthday present to their fans yesterday -- the release of remixes of two of their songs, which tell us why they are so in love again.

It was Rihanna's birthday Monday, Feb. 20, and the birthday girl couldn't wait to make it a special day in a way that no one would ever have foreseen three years ago, after then-boyfriend Chris Brown subjected her to brutal beating. But first, Chris Brown tweeted a birthday message to the woman he clearly still loves, "Happy Birthday ROBYN!" to which she replied: "Thanks!"

Then came the big gift -- first Rihanna tweeted her remix of "Birthday Cake" with Chris on vocals and then tweeted the remix of Chris Brown's new single "Turn Up the Music," to which she had lent her vocals, too.

The message couldn't have been clearer to the world: we're a couple again and we're saying it in the strongest way that we know how -- through our music.

"They are both powerful artists and music is what they are passionate about so using music to communicate with their fans is the most passionate statement they can make," believes celebrity relationship expert, Cooper Lawrence, author of the new novel, The Yoga Club.

I absolutely agree. This pair lives, breathes and eats music. It's second nature for them to express their feelings through their songs. And in this case, the lyrics that Chris Brown wrote to sing on Rihanna's "Birthday Cake" couldn't have been clearer. "Girl, I wanna f*** you right now. Been a long time. I been missin your body ... give it to her in the worst way. Can't wait to her blow her candles off."

Rihanna returns the hot favor on the couple's remix of "Turn Up the Music."

"Turn up the music, cause I feel a little turned on. Turn up the music, don't you try to turn me down. Turn up the music, can I feel it just a little more. Turn up the music, turn me up and take me down," Rihanna sings.

Listen, this isn't a couple that is comfortable issuing press releases about their relationship. They aren't going to release a "statement" about their love. This is what they've done instead.

"It's absolutely a public statement that they're together and that Rihanna thinks it's time for her fans to forgive Chris," believes Cooper Lawrence.

She thinks that if we, her fans, can accept the songs they did together, then it will be easier to accept them as a couple.

Chris Brown's mother/manager Joyce Hawkins is absolutely echoing that message.

"Leave those young people alone!!! Let them live their lives and go live yours!!!" she tweeted Feb. 20, on Rihanna's birthday.

Well forgiving and moving on is just fine, but let's sure pray that this pair has both had enough counseling -- individually and together -- to truly move on and not end up back in an abusive relationship.

Let's hope lust hasn't displaced every shred of common sense.

"They're both hot for each other. Sexually attracted and it's obvious that they want to be together again," agrees relationship expert to the stars, Dr. Gilda Carle. "And make-up sex is the hottest you can get. But let's hope that he's learned in therapy how to control his temper and that she's learned not to push his hot buttons."

Dr. Jeff Gardere, a contributor to HealthGuru.com, also worries that the pair hasn't invested in the therapy they need.

"They could shut people up if they announced they were together, but said they would be getting couples counseling," he points out.

Totally agree. This pair is clearly just so caught up in the heat they are feeling for each other. They had a real connection, a real relationship that was meaningful to them before it ended in horror. Now they are singing "let's do it tonight and do whatever is takes to make it right," in the remix of "Turn Up the Music."

Justin Huang: Asian Men With Balls: The Sociosexual Implications Of Linsanity

2012-02-22T16:36:00Z

I didn't pay much attention to Jeremy Lin until I realized he was getting me laid.

Story of my life: my insecurities take the form of mild to moderate narcissism and I ignore a cultural sensation -- the Asian Obama, if you think about it -- until it directly becomes pertinent to my sex life.

But there this pretty boy, whom I considered far out of my league, stood in front of me, offering to buy me a drink at Akbar, a trendy gay dive in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The boy, whom I'll call Tim, was, I think, mixed-race, and generally too attractive for me. (I tend to like gruff guys, anyway, the type who look like they can take a punch.) But it's always pleasant when an Adonis turns out to be good conversation, and after a few drinks, I asked him what he was looking for.

"To be honest," Tim replied, taking a swig of Anchor Steam, "I've been on an Asian kick ever since Linsanity. I think he's so hot, and I'm surprised I've never been with an Asian guy before."

Normally I don't like it when guys bring up my race when they're hitting on me. Without question, race is usually a major component of sexual chemistry (and I certainly have my own preferences), but there's no easier way to feel like a piece of meat than when you're being compared to an anime character. But this was different. And it was entirely new to me.

I was being likened to an all-American mainstream superstar, not a niche fetish.

Since then, I've gotten wing-manned by Linsanity on several more occasions. On my Adam4Adam account, I have a picture posted that features me clutching a strategically placed basketball. (I took this picture as one of the subjects of a photography project called Sexy Geeks.) The photo shoot was taken months before Jeremy's Shakespearean rise to meteoric stardom, when the image of an Asian man clutching a basketball was meant to be a critique on societal stereotypes. How quickly things change.

Now, I'd gotten no fewer than 30 messages on Adam4Adam that directly comment on the basketball picture, gushing about Jeremy Lin.

I haven't really paid attention to the NBA since the end of the Golden Age of the Lakers in 2004. And the only reason I paid attention to that was because of the diva bitch fight that was the Kobe/Shaq rivalry. ("Just make out already!" I'd yell at the screen.) But this Jeremy Lin figure was ramping up my sex life, and I was curious as to why. So I Googled him.

On paper, Jeremy Lin and I have a lot in common. We are both American-born. We're both from good Christian families; we both were stellar students in school; we both grew up in California. Like my mom and dad, his parents came from Taiwan with hopes of a better future for their kids. Like my maternal grandparents, his maternal grandparents fled China to Taiwan during Mao Zedong's takeover.

But the similarities end there. I was confused. Was it really just skin deep, this sudden spike in interest? Or is something greater at work here?

You see, I grew up completely devoid of any role models that I could physically identify with. I am a thoroughly Americanized Asian man, but I've always felt that when it comes to my identity, I am an army of one. I feel marginalized by the stereotypes thrust upon me, even defensive. The image I present -- one that I believe makes me a serious contender in my social surroundings -- I've carefully cultivated myself, without a face to base it on.

But now we have Jeremy. He's two years younger than me, and while I'm a bit past the age of having role models, I'm quite happy that the younger generation has him to look up to.

It helps that Jeremy Lin is indeed quite handsome, with a megawatt smile and a killer body, and, even better, in interviews he seems to be a humble and grounded guy. He's also openly Christian, so middle America will eat him right up with extra gravy.

And while the rumors of a fling with Kim Kardashian seem at first to just be eye-roll-worthy tabloid fodder, you've got to realize that she has been linked to a whole roster of male sex icons, from Nick Lachey to Gabriel Aubry to Reggie Bush. In a social context, Jeremy Lin's sexuality is acknowledged in a titillating manner. Whereas before him the sexuality of Asian men had long been ignored or even ridiculed by American pop culture, Jeremy Lin could very well be the first true Asian-American stud.

And what are the implications of this cultural messiah? Yes, first we're going to get all the bad puns, ranging from corny to hilariously offensive. But beyond that, Linsanity could very well redefine the Asian-American man as a sexually acknowledged being. Frankly put, our basketball whiz kid has given the rest of us balls. (Hey, who said I couldn't join the bad pun train?)

Because sex is an aspirational sport. We're hardwired to desire the likeness of success; it's a remnant of our primordial survival skills mixed with pop culture. It's why I have a huge crush on my neighbor who looks just like Ewan McGregor, because I associate his face with that of my favorite movie star. And it's why Tim (the aforementioned pretty boy) suddenly was made aware of my sexual potential as a mate. He's now been given context in the muscled form of an NBA superstar.

In this sense, Linsanity applies not just to me, but to all Asian men, regardless of where they fall on the sexual orientation spectrum. You see, blond twinks have David Beckham, and we have Jeremy Lin.

Linsanity is a welcome phenomenon; I don't think any athlete has gotten this much love since pre-zombie-Ambien-sex Tiger Woods, and I think it foretells a future where the Asian influence on the world extends beyond, "Oh, they're good at math, aren't they?" I'm sure there are many Jeremy Lins out there, and in due time they will emerge, as well.

And the result of these monumental shifts in the tectonic plates of global pop culture? I'll get laid. Progress!

This blog originally appeared on Justin Huang's personal site, I Am Yellow Peril.

Nico Lang: One for the Controversy: What the Failure of Katherine Heigl's Career Says About Women in Hollywood

2012-02-22T16:09:28Z

Hollywood is not a nice place for actresses, something even a passing glimpse into the career trajectories of Thora Birch, Jessica Alba or Janeane Garofalo will indicate. If you're a woman in Tinseltown, the industry is not a space that's run by you or for you -- and any success you have is seen as ancillary, a tie-over to summer tentpole season. When a movie you're in does well, like Oscar nominees The Help or Bridesmaids, people won't stop talking about what a huge surprise it was, and if your movie tanks, studio heads will threaten not to cast women as leads anymore. Unless you are Meryl Streep, Judi Dench or Helen Mirren -- women known more for being "thespians" than "entertainers" -- this treatment intensifies as you get older. Even one time box-office darlings Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon can't open a movie these days; Witherspoon's new film, This Means War, counts her third disappointment in a row, and Roberts' highest-grossing recent film as a lead, Eat Pray Love, failed to come even close to the $100 million success mark -- starkly underperforming especially when considering its star power and mega best-selling source material.

However, some actresses and performers are their own worst enemies, women who use their fame and success to do almost everything in their power to derail their own careers. The best examples of this are Whitney Houston, Lindsay Lohan and Sean Young -- known more for their unreliability, tabloid dramas, drug problems and outlandish public appearances than their talent. Although many of their problems can be blamed on their fraught personal histories, Young and Lohan must, at the end of the day, blame themselves for the mess they made of their enormous potential. With Houston, little more can be said about the incredible tragedy that became her career, a woman who built her acting and singing careers on empowering women of all colors and became a harrowing cautionary tale on the perils of fame and fortune.

This brings us to Katherine Heigl, a woman who went from being the great white hope of women at the box office to not being able to outgross $50 million or even make back her budget. Much has been said, including by me, about how Heigl herself has created the fiasco that has become her career -- her alleged difficult behavior on set, her unpopular public statements about the projects she's involved in, her perceived irritability -- but this has more to do with media gender bias than Heigl herself. For instance, Daniel Craig and Matt Damon have recently taken to making increasingly brash public statements about projects they've worked on, their personal politics and views on modern society -- and no one has criticized them, questioned their box-office viability or used their gender to explain their remarks. Like Sean Penn, they're men in an industry dominated by men -- and unless they're saying something overtly racist, they can say just about whatever they like, and in the case of Charlie Sheen, they might even be applauded for it.

In fact, I would argue that the male-dominated public backlash about Katherine Heigl's statements on Knocked Up -- in which she called the film "a little sexist" -- proved her own point on the film's sexism. I like most of Judd Apatow's films, but I don't think even Apatow would call himself a writer who understands women -- as the women in films like Knocked Up are generally mothering figures or unsympathetic -- brittle, shallow or unstable. If women are seen as being "cool," it's because they're like "one of the guys." In Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Funny People, which were, respectively, produced and directed by Apatow, it's the laid-back, dude-like qualities of the female leads, Mila Kunis and Aubrey Plaza, that attract their male counterparts. When he does create sympathetic women, it's because he's leaving the writing of women up to women, as in the case of Bridesmaids, or because he's writing for a man -- but with boobs.

Although I think that Hollywood needs more tomboys in film -- more women who subvert the gender binary -- that doesn't make what Apatow is specifically doing much better, as his films don't exactly problematize traditional gender roles, nor does it make Heigl wrong for criticizing it.

However, the problem with Heigl herself is that she's good at talking the talk -- speaking out about the inherent sexism in the movie industry -- but terrible stepping out and doing anything about it, and she seems almost willfully against challenging the norms of gender in cinema that she criticizes. In an interview conducted shortly after Knocked Up made her a star, Heigl criticized the fact that every up-and-coming actress is touted to be the "next Julia Roberts" but mentioned, "There's not another woman I look at and think, 'That's it. That's whose career I want to have.'" Similar statements on the subject and her subsequent career choices show Heigl doesn't care about awards; she wants to be a rom-com queen, a genre not exactly known for empowering women. However, what Heigl doesn't get is that rom-com stars like Roberts got to their A-list positions by taking chances within those genres and pushing the boundaries of what women are allowed to be. Although Pretty Woman wasn't doing much for equality, Julia Roberts' best vehicles, My Best Friend's Wedding and Erin Brockovich, show the lead achieving happiness by not ending up with the guy. Roberts finds herself through her career, getting involved with her community, helping others and becoming a better friend to those around her. She does not need to find a man or become more male to be powerful, and in Erin Brockovich, her femininity is the source of her strength.

In the case of Heigl, it's her less-than-progressive scripts that present the problem -- ones that, as a producer, she has a strong hand in picking for herself. Her best post-Grey's Anatomy film, 27 Dresses, was penned by The Devil Wears Prada scribe Aline Brosh McKenna and revels in the exact kind of light-hearted fun that Heigl should be having. 27 Dresses doesn't push boundaries, but it's a great role to showcase her talents, allowing her to be the magnetic mixture of sassy and sweet that made her Grey's character so likeable and relatable; however, vehicles like The Ugly Truth, Killers, New Years' Eve, and One for the Money don't portray her as spunky and fun; they make her, well, ugly.

All of these films have been some of the bigger critical and commercial flops of their respective years, movies that almost everyone stayed away from. Although each is each horrendous in its own special way, One for the Money and The Ugly Truth, in particular, share an interesting vision of a woman's place in the world and means of achieving happiness, an image that -- as someone who cares about sexism in cinema -- Heigl should be trying to subvert. In The Ugly Truth, Heigl's character is a TV morning show producer forced to work, against her will, with a cynical, narcissistic chauvinist, played by Gerard Butler, one that the script calls for her to fall in love with. He's a relationship counselor with unorthodox recommendations, advice that Heigl uses to help her court a man she's interested in. Throughout a makeover process that alters her into a hyper-sexualized fembot, Butler mostly insults and degrades her, telling her that her identity is not what a man wants in a woman and not what her date will desire, and during her date, Butler tells her what to do through a receiver implanted in her ear. Thus, she is not only transformed by the male gaze; she is controlled by it and, eventually, falls in love with it.

Interestingly, what this does is actually uphold the Apatowian view of the world, of women achieving happiness by embracing masculinity, and promotes the very sexism that Heigl made her image in speaking out against. Her newest film, One for the Money, shows her doing more of the exact same thing. Her character -- the luckless, loud-mouthed Stephanie Plum -- finds herself out of her lingerie store job and weasels her way into being a bounty hunter for a bail bond agency. Because her background is in work that is stereotypically female, Plum is initially pathologically unfit for the job; however, she improves in her work by letting her male co-workers show her the ropes, teach her to fire a gun and help her chase down bad guys. As the other women in the film are nagging housewives, airhead secretaries or uncouth prostitutes, the film shows that Plum's femininity is not what empowers her, as femininity is undesirable. Only by embracing hegemonic masculinity can she become whole, and at the end, she winds up with a near-carbon copy of the Gerard Butler's Ugly Truth character.

What's equally interesting about the movie is not how bad it is or how bad Heigl is in it, but how poorly it's doing in the theatres and why. At the end of it's run, One for the Money, based off the popularly beloved Janet Evanovich series and intended to be a franchise for Heigl, will finish with around $25 million in theatres, a sum not much more than the hefty $15 million she earned for the film, one far lower than any of her other major releases. Although the law of diminishing returns affects many name actresses in Hollywood, this one is a more pointed specific backlash against Heigl, her public persona and what her films say about women. As a producer on her own films, Heigl has a great deal of input about what films she makes and what they do for women in Hollywood. Heigl is a terrific actress, when given a role worthy of her and a director who knows how to use her talents. It would be a shame to see her become as "washed up" as industry analysts project her to be, used up and discarded in the way that far too many actresses are, because the ladies of Hollywood and America deserve better. Women, LGBT persons and people of color deserve representation that better speaks to the diversity of their identities, to enjoy a cinema that challenges the limiting ways in which women and minorities are constructed, and in Heigl's case, that change needs to start with her. As an executive, she has the ability to affect change; all she has to do is put her money where her mouth is.

Kevin Sessums: Happy Birthday, Sidney Poitier!

2012-02-22T15:54:40Z

Sidney Poitier turned 85 this past Monday. For those of you who have read my memoir Mississippi Sissy you know he becomes a kind of motif in it, his very name the incantation that our family's maid would say to herself whenever she heard the n-word in her presence, a word she even heard from me the morning after Poitier won the Oscar. He was the first African American to win the award for Best Actor and I asked Matty May, as she was making my bed the next morning before I went to second grade, if she could "believe a n----r won Best Actor." It was a pivotal moment in my life and it is a pivotal scene in the book -- as is my seeing Matty May a few years later as we both picked cotton on my uncle's farm and I overheard her quietly saying his name, "PoitierPoitierPoitier," over and over to calm herself with each boll that she reached for and belligerently wrenched forth to put into her sack.

Indeed, when Oprah Winfrey called me one Sunday to talk about Mississippi Sissy after having read it she told me that she was seeing Mr. Poitier that coming Thursday and was going to take the book with her and read to him the passages she had marked, especially the post-Oscar and cotton field ones. The thought of Oprah reading to Mr. Poitier my words moved me beyond measure -- not just for me, but for sweet dear brave proud Matty May, who changed my life by being a part of it.

I've linked to Mr. Poitier's 1963 Oscar win here in celebration of it as well as the upcoming Oscar ceremony this Sunday. I also recall an Oscar weekend a few years ago when I was out in LA to attend the Vanity Fair Oscar party and a friend's Friday night star-filled shindig at his home and the Saturday afternoon picnic that two other friends gave at their home that was the epitome of low-key easy glamour, many stars lolling about on rugs having been strewn about their Beverly Hills lawn and others sitting at picnic tables. I've seen Oprah a few times at those same parties in the past and at that picnic. When she told me she was going to read to Mr. Poitier from my book I told her about that one picnic afternoon when I spotted him sitting at one of the picnic tables. I gathered up my courage and went and knelt at his side and began to tell him about Matty May and my book and how much he had meant to her. In the middle of my telling him all this, Penny Marshall came up to say hello to him and I rose to leave them but he grabbed my hand and asked me to stay. Penny said her helloes and went to sit with some other friends at a neighboring table.

I continued to kneel by Mr. Poitier's side and he continued to hold my hand. "Please finish telling me all about Matty May," he said softly, her name now coming from him as his had so often come from hers. In that moment I not only felt Matty's presence in my life once more but I felt God's. It truly was a moment of grace to have arrived at that moment from that earlier moment back in Mississippi when as a little southern boy I had broken Matty May's heart with my use of the n-word to describe this dignified man who now held my hand and before whom I was kneeling.

I can still hear her old soft throaty voice now whispering to me even as I type this birthday wish to one of our country's greatest actors: "... PoitierPoitierPoitier... " And I can hear him, too, whisper her name: "... Matty May..."

Check out Kevin's book, Mississippi Sissy, over at Amazon.

Reyne Haines: Celebrity Collector: Richard Grieco

2012-02-22T15:41:16Z

(Photo Credit: Laura Grieco)

Turn the clock back to 1987 and recall one of your favorite television shows, 21 Jump Street. This was a show that launched the careers of several Hollywood stars. The two actors gaining the most attention by the female viewers was certainly Johnny Depp and Richard Grieco. Depp stayed on the show for 80 episodes while Grieco stayed on for a few years then left for a spinoff show based on his character "Booker."

Since that time his television and film credits have multiplied, along with his interest in music and creating works of art. Talk about a diverse celebrity!

As if good looks and the creative gene weren't enough to peek my curiosity -- his love of Harley Davidson's and Corvettes were the icing on the cake. I caught up with Grieco recently to talk about his passion for painting, and to ask "When do I get a ride on one of those bikes!"

RH: Seems like a silly question to ask because well, who doesn't love a Harley but tell me how your passion for Harley Davidson started?

Richard: I was born in Watertown, N.Y. Around 11 years old, my dad's friend had a Harley. I used to sit on it. I thought it was really cool. I liked the chrome! The funny thing is, the first bike I drove was a 1966 Tiger Triumph. I was driving at the age 14. By age 15 and a half, I was driving it to school!

(Photo Credit: Laura Grieco)

RH: Hah, I see the rebellious side started early. What is your favorite Harley in your collection?

Richard: My favorite Harley in my collection now is a 1990 Softtail Springer, made to look like a 1948 Knucklehead. The 1948 Knucklehead you could ride but it was a pain in the ass. This rides nice. They only made 13-14 of this model.

I also have the 1982 Shovelhead I rode on Booker. I got it in Canada, and rebuilt it down here after the show ended. I kept the original odometer on it. It had 49,000 miles. It was the mileage I had on it the last day of the show. There was a time when I had 9-10 bikes. I used to buy older bikes, put $1500-2000 into and then take them to the Barratt Jackson auction and sell them.

I also used to have a 1969 Boss Mustang. I sold it about 15 yrs ago. I hate that I sold it.

RH: Ouch! I'd be crying. Those are great! Are you strictly a Harley guy, or do you collect any other brands?

Richard: I have a 1987 Heritage. It looks like a '59 Duo Glide.

RH: I read you also have a passion for race cars. Most of my readers know I've got it bad for Corvettes. My favorite is a 1963 Split Window. What Corvette do you have?

(Photo Credit: Laura Grieco)

Richard: The first ZR1.

RH: Nice choice! I read you are also an artist. Your work is similar to that of Jackson Pollock. Was he the inspiration for your work?

Richard: I've actually been told it looks like Pollock, DeKooning and others. I paint from above, I guess similar to what Pollock did. I have a 360-degree view. One of my works titled "Christmas Angel" -- I painted it in the dark. It came out in greens, reds, whites, yellows, black. I did that for nine hours and saw it the next day, and completed it four days later.

(Photo Credit: Laura Grieco)

I've painted for 25 years. I like working with big canvases -- you know, 8-by-10-foot, 12-by-10-foot. I had all these paintings that I had completed that were just stacking up. Dennis Hopper told me I should sell them. I had never thought about it. I put photos of one up on Facebook. Someone was interested in buying it. I put a number on it, and she bought it. It's in a museum in Switzerland. My stuff has sold privately for the past three years. The first painting I sold went for $10,600.

The price has gone up from there, depending on size, time, etc.

RH: I think it's cool you are creating something for others to collect. How can our readers learn more about your work?

Richard: You can see some of them on my Facebook page. My art broker said I should not make my art available just anywhere. I need to be selective in how I sell it. I have turned down galleries, etc. But now, I have so much stuff, I want to see it in a gallery. I have a gallery showing in June of this year. I'll tell you more about it soon.

Thanks Richard! I look forward to hearing more about your art endeavors, and if you stumble across a '63 split window for me....

Facebook: Richard Grieco
Grieco is also the Executive Producer of Gigalos on Showtime
http://www.sho.com/site/gigolos/home.sho

Photos courtesy of Laura Grieco

Marcus Samuelsson: Savoring Harlem: Watching the New Harlem Renaissance Come Alive

2012-02-22T15:11:18Z

As the famous Langston Hughes poem entitled "Harlem" starts, "What happens to a dream deferred?" many often think that the line refers to Harlem itself. That somehow some grandiose dream of what Harlem was or could be has withered or in this case "dried up like a raisin in the sun." Well, I'm here to testify that that's not the case! The Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem is alive and thriving, more so now than ever before, and in many cases food is at the center of Harlem's new economic growth. Within the midst of great history and cultural diversity lies a food side of Harlem just waiting to be discovered by those foodies who seek it. My goal is to show you just that, and that's why I invite you to join me this Friday at 8pm ET/PT for a Food Network special where I show you my neighborhood, Harlem as we cover its current food revolution.

Harlem's rich culture and impressive ethnic diversity inspired me to move to Harlem eight years ago. I knew when I moved here that one day I would want to open a restaurant in Harlem that would represent Harlem's diverse community and be a place people from around the world would want to visit. What makes Harlem special is that at any given time, food seekers can not only find food deeply rooted in Southern, Latin and African traditions, but also can taste the newer Senegalese, Chinese, and Italian influences as well. Virtually every type of cuisine now has a place in Harlem.

For decades, Harlem has also been the birthplace and safe haven for the arts and social movements like jazz, American poetry, and many other ideals that still resonate in our country today. In one of its most flourishing times, known as the Harlem Renaissance, great poets, musicians, actors, athletes and intellectuals roamed its streets finding inspiration in its people, buildings, and living institutions of thought and culture. It was home to dozens of theaters, restaurants, and even speakeasies -- and all shared the purpose of housing creativity, entertainment, and brotherhood. Even at Rooster, we take inspiration from an original Harlem speakeasy.

While many thought opening a restaurant in Harlem was a lost cause because of its economic decline in the past couple decades, I knew through its deep artistic and cultural history there could be a resurgence of the types of restaurants that made the original Red Rooster a prime destination for everyone from politicians to musicians. With a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the city (18% as compared to 4-5%), Harlem has been hit hard by the recession, yet in recent years, Harlem has seen an influx of new shops, restaurants, and businesses that are starting to bring it back to how it once was in its glory days. These businesses are not only bringing commerce to the neighborhood but are also hiring within the neighborhood as well. When I opened Red Rooster in 2010, I quickly learned that you can't help improve a neighborhood unless you bring everyone along with you. We made it a priority to hire the majority of our staff from Harlem. I constantly think about affordability when planning out my menus, since inclusion of the community is what drives my interest for Red Rooster.

Slowly, we're starting to see great improvements in Harlem and city dwellers are starting to see plenty of reasons to come uptown, not just to be entertainment but as a new place to live and create new business opportunities. Harlem currently has a higher percentage of growth in new housing units, population growth, and growing median household income than the rest of Manhattan, according to the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. With a cheaper rent base and available vacant spaces, Harlem is starting to see an influx of diverse city dwellers that are moving uptown. When new businesses like Harlem Shambles butcher shop meet classic Harlem institutions like Sylvia's, the hope to revitalize Harlem starts to shine.

Join me on Friday, February 24 at 8pm ET/PT for my Food Network special, Savoring Harlem, as I share with you what all the excitement in Harlem is about! You'll not only get to see the new food revolution happening in this great neighborhood but you'll also get to witness what truly makes Harlem so great.

Maer Roshan: Whitney Houston and the Media Celebrity Death Watch

2012-02-22T14:54:35Z

Every few months, the death of a celebrity sparks a new media maelstrom about drugs. But more concerned with spectacle than substance, much of the press ignores the real issues behind America's deadliest epidemic, as well as its last famous victims.

Just minutes after Whitney Houston was found dead in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton last Saturday at the age of 48, a caravan of network trucks began slowly encircling the plush hotel, morbidly eager to document her untimely demise. Since then, it's been nearly impossible to turn on the TV or log on to the Web without witnessing a tribute to the singer, often including depressing video footage of her long, painful decline. Her memorial on Saturday had the pomp and pageantry of a state event -- complete with dignitaries, crying onlookers and flags at half-mast.

But while speakers talked movingly about her battles, mention of the word 'addiction' was curiously scrubbed from the event.

It's no surprise that the singer's death has struck such a chord in the country. Incredibly talented, beautiful and ambitious, Whitney Houston was a rare kind of legend who changed the face of American pop music. In her later life she also became an addict whose cruel struggle with the disease unfolded in full public view. That she lay dying for hours in a luxe bathroom suite while her bodyguards cooled their heels outside is a sad commentary on the state of modern celebrity. That it took less than 10 minutes for the press to begin broadcasting her death is an even more searing indictment of contemporary media culture.

Houston, of course, is not the only celebrity whose problems have received rapt press attention. Last month it was Demi Moore. The week before that it was Disney's Demi Lavato. Meanwhile, the weekly travails of Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan have been breathless fodder for fleets of paparazzi. And for over a year before her death last year, fans of Amy Winehouse received daily updates of her ups and downs. One British tabloid even went so far as to embed a pack of paparazzi at her favorite pubs.

As someone who has suffered through my own experiences with through alcoholism, I've found myself growing increasingly frustrated by the failure of my colleagues to get beyond the superficial details of addiction. Indeed, much of the mainstream media has been lazy -- even downright derelict -- when it comes to covering what has become the nation's most deadly health crisis.

As a longtime editor at several magazines over the past two decades, I've admittedly been an active participant in this game -- keenly aware that for ordinary readers grappling with the mundanities of daily life, stars offer a few rare moments of transcendence. But their intoxicating effect on the American public also gives them outsized power to shape public perception. In the 1980s, Rock Hudson and Magic Johnson forced the media to finally pay attention to AIDS only after it had already killed an army of Americans. Michael J. Fox's battle with Parkinson's helped bring invaluable attention and funding to the disease, while prompting a debate on stem cell research that promises to have profound effects on the treatment of other illnesses.

But substantive stories about alcoholism and drug addiction remain largely outside the media purview -- focused on the tribulations of A and C-list celebrities, they're often ghettoized in gossip sites and channels like VH1. For all the daily hand wringing about celebrity overdoses and DUIs, there is precious little real reporting on the growing scientific understanding of the disease, the tragic lack of access to treatment or insurance coverage, or even the growing number of promising drugs that have begun to make real progress against this condition.

For a long time, I regarded this kind of journalism as business as usual. But my own perspective began to change as I was forced to confront the fact of my own addiction. For most of my early thirties I fancied myself a young version of the late Christopher Hitchens, a literary legend rarely spotted without a drink who once bragged that he couldn't write without a hangover. Alas, I soon learned that I possessed neither his talent nor his hardy constitution. As a result, I spent two years in a series of rehabs and sober living facilities, witnessing firsthand the ravenous toll taken by addiction and the abject failure of our medical and political system.

My first roommate was a 23-year-old violinist from Iowa who had cycled through five detoxes and five rehabs in just 11 months. At the same rehab, I befriended an ad executive whose proclivity for Absolut eventually landed her in a homeless shelter. I met an investment banker whose weekend crystal meth binges led to a lifelong HIV infection. At one sober living facility I played poker with a rum-loving Catholic priest who led one of the largest congregations in Nigeria. I met countless others who maintain publicly productive lives while suffering though their own private hell. You can be certain that none of them will ever show up on CNN. But neither will the pernicious behavior of the insurance companies and Big Pharma, who have often illegally profited off the scourge while accumulating blockbuster profits.

As someone whose seen the effects of alcoholism close-up, I've grown increasingly frustrated by the failure of my colleagues to get beyond the superficial details of addiction, or to empathize with the lives of people who aren't regulars on Perez or Page Six. Much of the mainstream media has been lazy -- even downright derelict -- when it comes to addressing the nation's most pressing health crisis.

When I ask my journalist friends about their failure to take on the larger issues behind these stories, they usually reply that reporting on struggling stars is a teachable moment for many Americans. But that's not much of an answer. It's not really breaking news that drugs can be harmful and sometimes deadly. The real questions are: What can we do about it? And how exactly did we get here?

Ultimately, the torrent of coverage of the Whitneys and Winehouses of the world is little more than a distraction, a game of mirrors that deflects attention from millions of farmers, bankers and college kids who are also suffering and dying of drug-related causes at a record rate. It's easier not to have to confront the reality of our drug-slammed towns, or jails full of untreated addicts, or high-school kids who swallow up to 50 Oxys a day. Entire regions of middle America have been decimated by poverty and crystal meth. America's seemingly ravenous appetite for drugs raises questions that demand deeper explanations.

The fact is, while most major causes of preventable death in the U.S. are in decline, drugs -- especially pharmaceutical drugs -- remain a dramatic exception. A 2010 national survey by the Department of Health and Human Services found that over 22 million Americans suffer from alcohol or drug dependency. Drug overdose rates have more than tripled since 1999, claiming a life every 14 minutes. In fact, it's hard to imagine a single person in the whole country who hasn't been directly or indirectly affected. Rehabs and sober livings around the country have become a vast $20 billion business, many of them operating under woefully inadequate oversight. Many Americans under the age of 30 have become hooked on opiate painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin, buying them on the street for prices as high as $80 a pill. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the abuse of these painkillers was responsible for close to half a million emergency room visits in 2009, a number that has nearly doubled in just the past five years.

Our nation's seemingly ravenous appetite for drugs also raises problematic questions about the larger culture the media has helped create. Why is it that a nation that enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world also suffers one of the highest rates of drug abuse? Why are so many of us driven to substances to obliterate reality? What does this continuing scourge say about the values and morals that underlie our society?

Given the expensive impact of drugs and alcohol on our medical and prison system and addiction's massive impact on workplace productivity, the continued lack of serious discourse on the issue remains surprising. Certainly it's not just reporters who are to blame. Though the Obama administration recently doled out extra funding for drug prevention programs, it still spends several billion more on a drug war than seems as unwinnable as Vietnam. To its credit, starting in 2014, Obama's historic new health plan will mandate insurers for the first time ever to treat addicts the way they treat victims of other diseases, putting an end to decades in which desperately ill addicts were denied life-and-death treatment.

For their part, however, the Republicans have been uncharacteristically more restrained on the subject. Not long ago they could dismiss the drug epidemic as symptoms of urban permissiveness and decaying inner-city neighborhoods. But as drugs intrude deeper and deeper into the leafy middle class suburbs and the wide-open ranges of America's heartland, the law and order types at the GOP have become tongue-tied. During the season's endless series of GOP debates, not a single candidate was quizzed about their policies on drugs or treatment. While Ron Paul has been an articulate advocate of drug legalization, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum's websites devote not a word to their drug policies, even though Bain Capital, once run by Mitt Romney, is one of the leading owners of the nation's 20,000 rehabs and sober living facilities. Newt Gingrich, a one-time pot smoker who has lately taken to extolling the virtues of AA's Big Book, has maintained a hardline anti-drug stance, even though he's backed down on his former pledge to put drug dealers to death. Last year, in Florida, newly-elected Tea Party Gov. Rick Scott mounted a crazy and ultimately doomed campaign against an effort to regulate the state's pill mills, which produce the vast majority of the country's illegal prescription painkillers. Not to be outdone, the Tallahassee Republicans recently voted for a bill that would dramatically slash funding for drug prevention in a state that has one of the highest percentages of drug abusers in the country.

In short, there's no lack of important, compelling stories out there that could benefit from a little media attention. And while some enterprising reporters and bloggers have risen to the challenge, they're the exception rather than the rule. What's responsible for their continued reluctance? The continuing stigma around addiction undoubtedly has something to do with it. Even though decades of research proves addiction is a condition with complicated genetic and chemical roots, far too many journalists continue to see it as a sort of moral weakness. Their failure to actively report on the issue represents both a lack of initiative and funding. After all, covering Whitney's last moments is a lot easier (and less expensive) than going up against the wrath of formidable lawyers and lobbyists employed by corrupt pharmaceutical behemoths. It's also a lot more comfortable than venturing into the ravaged small towns of Iowa and Montana to witness first-hand the devastation wrought by poverty and crystal meth.

The senseless death of one of America's most outsized talents is undoubtedly a cause for mourning. But tragic as her death may be, Houston is just another person lost to an epidemic that has also killed thousands more in just the path month. It would be a fitting coda to her impressive legacy if her death ended up provide a genuine 'teaching moment' for America: one that would encourage the media and public to look beyond the scandals and personalities to the complicated causes and consequences of this miserable disease. But that's probably wishful thinking. More likely, in a couple of weeks the hysterical pundits and satellite trucks will roll on to the scene of the next tragedy. As Truman Capote famously noted, "The dogs bark and the caravan moves on." Meanwhile the 22 million people affected by this disease will stay exactly where they are.

Originally featured on The Fix.

Diana Nyad: The 5th World Conference on Women and Sport

2012-02-22T14:18:27Z

The 5th World Conference on Women and Sport took place in Los Angeles over the past few days. Dignitaries from the International Olympic Committee, the London Olympic Games, and sports organizing bodies from all over the world were here, with the focus on women athletes and their issues on today's world stage. I was asked to give the final keynote of the conference, in conjunction with actress Geena Davis, who has not only been an advocate for women athletes for many years now but who impressively made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Olympic Trials in archery just a few years ago.

image via Around The Rings

I used my 20 or so minutes to recount the personal drama of what sports have done for my entire person, my entire life. Confidence, long-term belief, discipline, grace in defeat -- all qualities that help us make a good life -- were constructed as my personal foundation directly through my participation in sports.

Yet, as much as the Title IX law and the evolution of acceptance of women playing sports in this country has seen huge growth in girls' athletic scholarships, more professional prize money, more sponsorship dollars for women athletes, women in all sports will tell you the battle for coaching, financial support, media coverage and all other measures of respect still rages on.

image via Around The Rings

Then when we hear from the women of many African and Middle Eastern countries, where playing sports is a luxury far beyond simple rights such as voting and basic education, the conference turns to programs and ideas that include a vision of one day allowing all women to garner the wealth of joy and character that come with pursuing our athlete selve -- a pursuit that our brothers seem to earn as a birth right.

Evan Shapiro: TV > Film: For Curing a Case of the Cubas, There's Nothing Better Than TV

2012-02-22T13:15:30Z

In case you hadn't heard, the Academy Awards are on ABC this Sunday. Regardless of what you think of the nominees, it is clear that the film business is at a crossroads. Fewer people went to the movies in 2011 than any year since Al Gore invented the internet; our nation's multiplexes are in the throes of an epidemic called sequelitis; and the Academy could barely settle on a host for Sunday's Oscars.

But this week, my focus is on the most vulnerable members of the Academy: The Actors. Actors have more at stake than anyone at this annual bacchanalia -- their faces are the most recognizable and their personas are most associated with the success or failure of a film. And, even more perplexing and daunting: winning an Oscar may actually be more hazardous to an acting career than losing. Winning an Oscar puts more of a microscope on an actor than dating Leonardo DiCaprio. The choices one makes in the years immediately following an Oscar victory can either enhance your status, or destroy whatever credibility that comes with an Academy nod.

While winning an Academy Award is probably a huge honor (I wouldn't know), an analysis of past winners shows a more complicated, even precarious set of consequences for the chosen few. Last year, on Grantland, Lane Brown brilliantly analyzed the damage certain actors have done to their Oscar standing, explicitly quantifying just how much their subsequent performances either burnished or tarnished their Academy Award. He, of course, measured this metric in units called 'cubas' (named for the epitome of the post-Oscar slump, Cuba Gooding, Jr.).

This was indeed a useful breakdown. But Brown (now culture editor at New York Magazine), missed an opportunity to do even more good with his analysis. First, he failed to provide these actors much needed advice on how to avoid the career lapses of those he analyzed. What good is pointing out the pitfalls, without offering counsel for better choices in the future? More importantly, he neglected to show how a good television role could actually be an antidote for cubas -- sustaining the health of a post-Oscar career.

The 'small screen' has become a refuge for many Oscar winners -- a rehab for cubas if you will. On TV an Oscar-winner can do good work, pick up some additional awards -- and get paid extremely well. What's more, TV offers a wider array of good roles for actors who win an Oscar but then find it difficult to find meaningful parts in a film industry increasingly dedicated to sequels, comic books and CGI.

I am not suggesting that these actors completely ignore their movie careers, but rather that this year's class of nominees; and the long list of past winners; consider what is now reality -- television is an important way to expand your talents, extend your career and rid yourself of cubas. For proof, just ask Anna Paquin (True Blood), Linda Hunt (NCIS LA), Anjelica Huston (Smash), Jessica Lange (American Horror Story), Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), Richard Dreyfuss (Weeds and Parenthood), Kathy Bates (The Office, Harry's Law), Dianne Weist (Law & Order, In Treatment), Melissa Leo (Treme and Mildred Pierce), Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce), Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) and, yes, even Dustin Hoffman (Luck). Look even further at past nominees, Gary Sinise (CSI: NY), Laura Linney (The Big C), Laura Dern (Enlightened, Recount, Citizen Ruth), William H. Macy and Joan Cusack (Shameless), Don Cheadle (House of Lies) and, yes, even Nick Nolte (Luck).

It's interesting that more women seem to take advantage of this television cross over -- perhaps because film offers fewer good parts for women over 45 than it does for men over 50, while TV is experiencing a golden age for "actresses of a certain age." Considering this, it's curious that MORE Best Supporting Actress Oscar winners have yet to cross over, given the propensity for winners in that category to all but disappear from film after winning. The Best Supporting Actress Oscar can be like the Bermuda Triangle of the film business.

There are a number of reasons that TV is a safer place for Oscar winners than film: there is more TV than film; TV development takes far less time than for movies; and TV does not live or die over the first weekend. Whatever the reason, right now, if you are an Oscar winner looking to avoid cubas, it's time to get over the 'it's not film' thing, and start looking at TV projects that enhance your statue and stature.

With that in mind, here is my list of 11 Oscar Winners Who Need a TV Show, STAT:

Adrien Brody (Best Actor, The Pianist). Brody took everyone by surprise with his performance in The Pianist. He became the youngest guy to ever win Best Actor and even had an awesome acceptance speech -- that Halle Berry kiss was just so smooth. And then after Oscar night... not so much. While he's done some good work since winning, it's arguable that his best performance recently, was in a Heineken commercial. I think it's clear that the movies just don't know what to do with this smart, unconventional looking guy. And, with so much career still ahead, a few years on a really good show could help ensure he hasn't already peaked. Suggested Role: Brody would make a classic cable anti-hero, maybe a card shark in a TV version of Rounders or a drug addicted doctor opposite Eddie Falco in Nurse Jackie.

Cher (Best Actress, Moonstruck). For god's sake just put her in Smash already.

Reese Witherspoon (Best Actress, Walk The Line). It's a shame really -- Witherspoon had a good career ahead of her, and then she had to go and win the Oscar. Yes, she was terrific in Walk The Line, but since, it's clearly been tough to find good scripts that don't accumulate cubas. (Water For Elephants was a cuba machine.) The secret to her future success is not in Legally Blonde or Walk The Line, and it is certainly not in This Means War -- it's in Election. She was flat out great in that film (and in Cruel Intentions and in American Psycho). That type of dark dramedy caters to her mischievous (non-rom-com) side and it's a specialty that sets her apart from her peers. It's also a core competency of cable series right now (see Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie, Shameless, Enlightened, Damages, etc). Hey Reese, find a script where you can be bad. Suggested Role: A fictional version of Heidi Fleiss or Christina Aguilera.

Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor, Inglourious Basterds). In yet another Tarantino, plucked-from-obscurity piece of casting, Waltz emerged from German television to play the role of a lifetime. Unfortunately, no one has known what to do with him since. (He too caught a lot of cubas in Water For Elephants.) If he continues to concentrate on American film, he is likely doomed to playing cartoon villains for the rest of his career. But what has been lost since Basterds is just how funny Waltz is. Suggested Role: Hey, Dan Harmon, do us all a favor cast him as a European Lit Professor in Community!

Jennifer Connelly (Best Actress, A Beautiful Mind). One of the many awesome things to come out of the movie Labyrinth, Connelly has had the unfortunate distinction throughout her career of being the best thing in mediocre films. A Beautiful Mind gave her the chance to be in a generally all-around good film, with a number of other great performances. But those type of opportunities have not been plentiful since, and now Connelly is at that awkward tweener age for film actresses; over forty. In films, I fear she'll be relegated to playing the beleaguered wives and girlfriends of shallow main characters (The Dilemma, The Day The Earth Stood Still); but on TV, actresses of her talent, age and beauty are not forgotten, they are fêted. On television, she'd not only be a leading lady, but just by showing up, she'd be an Emmy contender. Suggested Role: Since American Horror Story is killing off everyone each season, I cannot help but hope that Ryan Murphy considers her for a juicy part -- that show just won Jessica Lange a Golden Globe to go alongside her two Oscars.

Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, Good Will Hunting). He got his start on TV, but Williams seemed destined to win an Oscar, nominated three times in five years for Dead Poets Society, Fisher King (still his best performance) and Good Morning Vietnam. But it wasn't until he chilled out and took a back seat, a decade later, that he finally won for Good Will Hunting. Since then, he's made some really, really bad films (Death To Smoochy is the textbook example of how to earn cubas), yet still managed to turn in some very good performances in films no one saw (One Hour Photo, Insomnia). Despite a tendency to chew the scenery, the guy can act. Robin, stop making RV and Night At The Museum (please!) and come back to TV -- I promise, we won't make you wear the suspenders. Suggested Role: Williams needs a supporting role where his specific talents can thrive. Hey HBO, want a guaranteed Emmy win? How about Williams in Boardwalk Empire as a washed-up gangster; in Game Of Thrones as a undecipherable mystic (I do not watch the show nor have I read the books, so I apologize in advance for offending GoT nerds with the word 'mystic'); in Luck as a drug-addled gambler; or in Veep as a bipolar political mastermind?

Joe Pesci (Best Supporting Actor, Goodfellas). What's up with this guy? Over the course of his career, he's done drama, he's done comedy (no, you are not a clown!); he's even done music. But for the past decade he's done almost nothing -- nada. Hey Joe, it's time to get back in the game. Don't leave Gone Fishin' and Lethal Weapon 4 as the last two things on your resume! Come over to TV -- it's a good gig and the catering is excellent. Suggested Role: A tough guy investigator on a nice CBS procedural drama, something where he can bring the Jersey but also play the humor. Just imagine what Pesci would have done with Cracker.

Hilary Swank (Best Actress, Boys Don't Cry & Million Dollar Baby). Swank clearly has acting chops. However, someone needs to give her more to do than visiting Chechen Birthday Parties and staring in films like New Year's Eve (I'm still not sure which of these offenses was worse). Despite two Oscars, Swank's been enormously under-utilized since her last win. Again, she's in that odd tweener age where film actresses seemingly fall through the feature cracks, but where TV gives them great roles and wins them Globes and Emmys. Hillary, grab a TV show and show your stuff. Suggested Role: She could definitely command her own show, but Showtime should scoop her up for three of their series -- an alcoholic love interest for Frank on Shameless; a mysterious CIA agent on Homeland; and a sexy rival consultant for Don Cheadle on House of Lies.

Frances McDormand (Best Actress, Fargo). I could watch McDormand do anything -- sing the national anthem, read a phone book, even darn socks. And, frankly, she doesn't necessarily need the work (she was just on Broadway, her husband will always give her good film roles), but on TV, we'd get to see here perform weekly, and she would all but be guaranteed an Emmy nomination (and maybe we can keep her out of Transformers 4). Most importantly, someone has to convince her and the Coens to turn Fargo into a TV show!!! How awesome would THAT be? "Oh sure I'll investigate that murder, as soon as I scrape off my windshield... you bet'cha!"

Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Best Supporting Actor, Jerry Maguire). The very person for whom cubas were named, Gooding took what was perhaps one of the best Oscar moments in modern history... and squandered it. However, if TV can resurrect his tarnished Oscar cred, it could do anything. I'm not sure how good an actual actor he is (hard to tell from Snow Dogs and Radio), but I am 100% convinced in the curative powers of television. C'mon Hollywood, let's make his career the poster child for the TV comeback! We can do it! Suggested Role: Give him an NCIS spin-off and call it a day -- NCIS Seattle; they have the Navy there, don't they?

Marisa Tomei (Best Supporting Actress, My Cousin Vinny). Ever since Jack Palance announced her win, Tomei has had a hard time finding roles that match her talents and can help overcome the rumor that Palance misread the envelope. And although, she's recently given great performances in The Wrestler, Crazy Stupid Love and especially Cyrus (see it!), she's mostly been wasted in secondary roles, in small movies, that not many people see. She was awesome in Rescue Me a few years back, and she deserves a chance to prove that she really did deserve that Oscar. Suggested Role: Tomei won for a comedy and Cyrus proves she can still play funny. What if Larry and Marisa hooked up on Curbed?

There are many, many more talented Oscar winners whose careers could use a good dose of TV. Get F. Murray Abraham (doing tons of guest spots these days) a recurring role on Sons of Anarchy! Gwyneth Paltrow already did Glee, how about a recurring character on Portlandia? Shirley MacLaine is joining Downton Abbey, now let's get Kim Basinger (embodiment of the Supporting Actress curse) or Jodie Foster in that castle! And even though Bill Murray didn't win his Oscar, he should have, and he should be back on TV, where we will finally get him a trophy. How about a series about a washed-up golfer?

So, 2012 Oscar Nominees, as you're walking the Red Carpet this Sunday, contemplating your next move, remember this: TV is The Cure For cubas!

Ann Brenoff: Was Whitney Houston Doing What A Lot of Post 50s Do?

2012-02-22T13:09:00Z

While it will be weeks before the definitive cause of Whitney Houston's death is determined, the news of the 48-year-old singer's passing has spawned a new discussion topic around the virtual water coolers where baby boomers congregate. It goes something like this: Who among us hasn't, at least on occasion (if not with some regularity), washed down an anti-anxiety pill with a glass of wine? And is it really a potentially lethal thing to do?

Despite the warning labels on the prescription pill bottle against mixing our drugs with alcohol, the fact is, people regularly do it, said Dr. David Sack, CEO of Promises Treatment Centers. Having wine with dinner, followed by a prescription sleeping pill as a nightcap is all too common, especially among those 50 and older -- a demographic whose overall use of illicit drugs has been increasing.

"Most people don't perceive alcohol as a drug," Sack said. He notes that many women who don't consider themselves alcoholics are binge drinkers -- downing three or more drinks in a two-hour period. "They don't think of alcohol as a drug, even though they are getting a buzz from it."

Add the fact that people have a false sense of security about prescription drugs. "Because they come from a pharmacy, are ordered by a doctor," said Sack, "people think 'this must be safe.'" The combination of minimizing the impact of alcohol and underestimating the risk of prescription drugs is what causes the problem, he said.

Mixing anti-anxiety medicines and alcohol is especially dangerous, said Sack, because they both work on the same receptors in the brain, and both increase sedation. Sack offers this typical pattern: A person feels distraught and drinks first, then takes anti-anxiety medicine because they want to fall asleep, but then drinks some more because the anti-anxiety pill isn't absorbed quickly enough. "Now they are at toxic levels," said Sack. Benzodiazepines are hard to overdose on if that's all you are taking, but when mixed with alcohol, trouble can ensue, said Sack.

Downing this potentially lethal mixture was a trap that ensnared 53-year-old Michelle McGuire of Malibu, Calif. She said that before she gained sobriety eight months ago, she would down six or seven bottles of champagne in a 24-hour period, mixed with about eight valium, five or six Oxycontin or four or five Vicodin. She said she slipped into this pattern of abuse following the death of several loved ones and a divorce.

McGuire said her days were spent in her room, venturing out only when her alcohol or pill supplies were running low. Her moment of reckoning came when her two daughters said they were abandoning her because they couldn't bear to witness her self-destruction any longer.

"My daughters would come into my room and put their hand over my nose and mouth to see if I was still breathing," she relates. "When you are mixing drugs and alcohol, you forget how much you have taken. I would never remember, did I just take a Valium or was that the second one?"

McGuire spent four months at a Promises Treatment Center and now lives in a SobaLiving facility.
Her relations with her daughters have been restored. One of them responded to the news of Whitney Houston's 18-year-old daughter being hospitalized twice over her mother's death and commented, "That would have been us, Mom."

The use of illicit drugs has been increasing among boomers: 5.8 percent of people age 50 to 59 used illicit drugs in 2010, up from 2.7 percent in 2002, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The drugs involved included marijuana, heroin and stimulants including cocaine. Sack added that he has seen post 50s who didn't smoke pot for decades pick it up again in retirement.

Boomers also seem to approach the mixing of alcohol with prescriptions meds with a certain blasé, he said. While we all seem to know we're not supposed to do it, there is an attitude of disbelief that actual harm will come. But one man's moderation is another's lethal dose and as we age, our inclination toward sleep aids and anti-anxiety meds pushes us in a direction where we could get in trouble, Sack said.

Perhaps it just takes a few more celebrity and high-profile deaths to teach us the lesson that the wrong mix of prescription drugs alone can be lethal. Actor Heath Ledger's death in 2008 was ruled by the New York City medical examiner's office as an accidental overdose of prescription medications including painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills. He suffered an "acute intoxication," the report said, by combining oxycodone and hydrocodone (both painkillers), diazepam, alprazolam and temazepam (all anti-anxiety drugs), and doxylamine (an over-the-counter antihistamine used as a sleep aid).

Midlife can be stressful, and not being able to either get to sleep or stay asleep is a problem that plagues post 50s. Here are some natural ways to reduce anxiety and get a good night's rest.