Superstar of the Week: Luke Bryan
Congratulations are in order for country music superstar Luke Bryan on the success of his fourth studio album as Crash My Party debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 and Billboard Country charts after selling 528,000 copies in its debut week. This marked for the third best opening week in 2013 and the best sales week for a male country artist in nine years.
2013 has been a huge year for Bryan as his star has reached a new level on the music landscape. Earlier in the year, he topped the Billboard Top 200 and Billboard Country charts with his compilation album Spring Break… Here to Party. The Academy of Country Music named Bryan the Entertainer of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April. Now, Bryan’s latest album clearly shows no signs of his star’s ascension ending anytime soon.
Jerk of the Week: Rex Ryan
I love watching disasters in the world of sports. That said, it is painful watching the New York Jets this preseason. The quarterback controversy in New York is not one of particular excitement for Jets fans as they are guaranteed a disaster with either outcome. Mark Sanchez or Geno Smith is the new Douche Bag or Turd Sandwich debate. I have not witnessed a debate with worse selections since Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney. Of course, I think this entire debacle has gone worse than it should have because of the mismanagement and ineptitude of one man – head coach Rex Ryan.
During this past weekend’s preseason game between the New York Jets and New York Giants, the entertaining disaster became uncomfortable and downright awkward. Ryan, wanting to bench four-year starting QB Mark Sanchez justifiably in favor of rookie Geno Smith, started Smith against the Giants. Smith went 16 of 30 for 199 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions, and a safety when he ran out of the back of the end zone. Sanchez, initially not expecting to play, entered the game in the fourth quarter with a squad of players who will not make it to the final preseason game this week. While playing with these scrubs, Sanchez injured his throwing shoulder after taking a vicious hit.
Then, Ryan had an epic meltdown during his post game press conference as he refused to answer questions, take responsibility for his coaching blunders, and rambled incoherently. Rex Ryan did everything in that press conference alone to show he does not deserve to see the regular season opener this season. The New York Jets should fire him and fire him now. Ryan has lost control of the ship and, more importantly, knows he lost control and does not care one bit about it. Rex Ryan is an embarrassment right now – not only to the New York Jets but also to the game of football as a whole. End the misery and fire him now.
Babe of the Week: Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson – the Fox Sports One Barbies
A Melancholy Happy Trails to…
- Julie Harris, 87 – American actress best known for East of Eden and The Haunting (August 24th)
- Elmore Leonard, 87 – American author and screenwriter best known for Justified, Get Shorty, and 3:10 to Yuma (August 20th)
- Lee Thompson Young, 29 – American actor best known for The Famous Jett Jackson and Friday Night Lights (August 19th)
- August Schellenberg, 77 – Canadian-born actor best known for Free Willy (August 15th)
- Gia Allemand, 29 – American model and reality star best known for The Bachelor (August 14th)
- Lisa Robin Kelly, 43 – American actress best known as Laurie Forman on That 70’s Show (August 14th)
- Karen Black, 74 – American actress best known for Five Easy Pieces, Trilogy of Terror, and Nashville (August 8th)
- Margaret Pellgrini, 89 – American actress best known for being a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz (August 7th)
- Art Donovan, 89 – NFL Hall of Famer and memorable for his commentating at the 1994 King of the Ring (August 4th)
- Dutch Savage, 78 – American professional wrestler and promoter (August 3rd)
- Corey Maclin, 43 – American wrestling promoter and sportscaster (July 30th)
- Eileen Brennan, 80 – American actress best known for Private Benjamin and The Sting (July 28th)
A Very Special Finger Wag of Shame to… the youth of America
Last night, MTV held the MTV Video Music Awards. Yeah, the channel called Music Television that no longer shows music programming still has a music awards show. I did not watch any of this show because I could care less about anything MTV does. However, thanks to keeping a finger on the pulse of pop culture, it was not easy to ignore the telecast. What I saw in the aftermath of this show made me sick... not sick because of the artists as much as I got sick from the reactions from America’s youth towards this show.
Taylor Swift tried to bring some class and dignity to the show. Nominated for two awards, Swift won Female Video of the Year for “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Kanye West kept away from the stage and Swift accepted her award without incident. Later in the show, Swift was caught on-camera saying, “Shut the f*ck up,” to her friend Selena Gomez regarding her ex-boyfriend Harry Styles when his group, One Direction, won an award. This candid incident led to a major backlash from One Direction fans jumping on the “I hate Taylor Swift” bandwagon because it is fashionable to hate on Swift. They are slandering Swift about saying that, in a private moment with a friend, when these same men and women have said similar things about ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends of their own. Of course, they fail to recognize the hypocrisy in this and therefore hate on Swift simply to be a part of the “in crowd.”
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| When Rihanna is looking at you with admiration while others are not, you're not doing anything right. |
Meanwhile, many members of the youth of America are celebrating Miley Cyrus for a performance filled with vulgarity, trashiness, and sleaze. The girl who once was Hannah Montana and later showed both a promising movie and music career has devolved into a train wreck looking well on her way to being the next Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Amanda Bynes.
What in the hell is wrong with the youth of this country? I am not even going to bitch about the music because the MTV VMAs are never going to feature music I enjoy as a whole. The show is for pop, hip-hop, R&B, rap, and rock. Therefore, I guess Taylor Swift appearing at all is a blessing. However, the audience vilifies Swift for showing a genuine reaction towards an immature punk who cheated on her as he is celebrated. The audience looked at Miley Cyrus in 2010 with apathy for being clean cut and showing a sense of decency while glorifying Miley Cyrus from last night as cool, hip, edgy, and everything we should all hope to be. This show and the aftermath of it are another in a long list of examples showing how America is going to hell in a hand basket.
Decency, morality, and common sense are either under-appreciated or non-existence. Standards are gone. At some point, I cannot blame MTV anymore for their role in abortions like last night’s MTV VMAs. The blame is on the audience who ate it up like ice cream and only showed rage in the most misplaced of places. My finger wag of shame goes to the youth of America. Shame on you. Shame on you for being complete, blithering idiots and damn you for the next generation who will be even worse than you are.
