The Daily Gist: With Ben Istiphan

It is unfortunate that pop culture is still fixated with the overrated and untalented. The first person that comes to mind is Miley Cyrus, with her antics at this year’s Grammy Awards. That night, Cyrus was looking forward to meeting the members of Radiohead, a band that she claims inspired her music career. Even before confronting Radiohead’s manager to set up a meet and greet, Cyrus was all gitty as she text messaged her friends to tell them she was going to meet the band. As it turns out, Radiohead declined.

Poor Miley was so disappointed that she left the award show early, and days later, she appeared on a radio talk show, in which she vowed revenge against the band.  I’m sure there are millions of Radiohead fans who could only dream of meeting the likes of Thom Yorke. However, why is she worthy of special treatment? First of all, if she was really a genuine Radiohead Fan, she would discovered that her music is the antithesis of what the band is, and what they stand for. There is nothing better to elevate the popularity of a 16 year old pop princess than a photo op with the legendary Radiohead.

I promised myself that I would never dedicate an entire blog to this woman, but I’m making an exception. The woman I’m referring to is Britney Spears, who performed in Vancouver last week in front of a sold out and very stoned audience. In fact, the arena was so congested in smoke that a few members of Brintney’s dance team were too nauseous to perform. As a result, the concert was put to a halt, while an announcement was made in which the audience was asked to stop smoking. Thirty minutes later, the concert commenced once again.

I realize that we are talking about B.C., but nonetheless, it’s hard to fathom that Britney has such a large stoner following. As Brintey parted and waved farewell to her beloved fans, she gave the Vancouver crowd some advice. “Stop smoking weed,” she said,  which is quite ironic coming from from a pill-popping, hit and run single mother. However, maybe we should take her advice seriously, because come on now, a few years ago her words of wisdom dramatically gave hope to the entire world when she said, ” I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that.”

Don’t expect Bill O’Reilly to watch a Sean Penn film any time soon. O’Reilly has criticized Penn on many occasions for his political views, and especially took offense to his comments during his acceptance speech at the Oscars, when the actor chastised those who support the ban on gay marriage in California.

O’Reilly has previously questioned Penn’s patriotism, with accusations of befriending American’s enemies, such as Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro. Hollywood is not as outspoken as it once was, and it’s no wonder why when a small number of actors and actresses are constantly ridiculed for their opinion. As a counter strategy, I would boycott the O’Reilly Factor, but I can’t seem to resist the rediculousness that comes out of the neo-con’s mouth

Yesterday, President Obama made a guest appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Obama is the first U.S President to appear on a late night show while serving in office. It was rather unique to see the President in a more informal environment where he was a little more open and relaxed than usual, though maybe a little too open and relaxed.

While discussing his horrendous bowling skills, Obama made a remark that sounded rather offensive. He admitted to bowling a 129 and immediately proceeded to compare those number to the Special Olympics. The audience, nor Leno, did not initially react in a peculiar manner to the President’s comments, but nonetheless, Obama phoned the Chairman of the Special Olympics shortly afterwards to apologize.

Just to give the former President some credit, I am quite confident that George W. Bush had the prudence and foresight to prevent such a derogatory statement As a special President, he feels their pain.

Almost everyone seems to be very excited about the up coming inauguration, including the numerous celebrities who either attended or preformed during the free concert held at the National Mall in Washington. Shortly after his brief speech, the cameras followed Obama as he made his way across the line of Celebrities for a meet and greet. Some faces you would expect and others you wouldn’t. Take for instance, Kal Penn, or should I say Kumar from the Harold and Kumar flicks. Now before all you pot heads get excited, I would like to add that Kumar does not indulge in real life, so it is unlikely he posed the same question to Obama that you all seem to constantly ask other politicians. Besides, if he really was your kind, why wasn’t he spotted at a Ron Paul rally baked out of his mind?

The spotlight continues to shine down on Anne Coulter. The syndicated writer was recently a guest on The View, and as expected, she was up to her usual antics. I’m surprised that Barbra Walters was able to maintain her composer as she was bombarded with obnoxious and rude responses. Coulter is definitely an eccentric character, which may explain why some television programs continue to ask her to come back, but enough is enough.

One can only take so much of her disrespectful and intolerant ideology. This is a woman who suggested invading the entire Muslim world in order to Christianize the population. Regardless, I am optimistic that her demise is quickly approaching. Coulter was arguably born out of the Bush Administration, but a new era without Bush may also be a new era without neo-conservative radicals. 

I recently watched House of Saddam, a BBC four part series film on Saddam Hussein’s reign in Iraq. For those who are looking for a precise historical and political account of Iraq during Saddam’s rule, i wouldn’t necessarily recommend this film to them. Instead, the film is more predicated on Saddam’s personality and his interaction with his inner circle. In fact, I might recommend this film to those who know little of Iraq’s history, making the plot a little less predictable, while maintaining a fair level of suspense.

At times, you can’t help but be attached to the characters, even feeling a sense of remorse towards those who committed despicable atrocities. Saddam Hussein had a Michael Corleone quality to him, while Uday’s persona resembled that of Tony Montana. However, in each case the realism and validity of the former gives the audience more to think about. Let’s hope Hollywood’s version doesn’t spoil the story.