A Britney comeback?
December 1st, 2008 by CatBritney Spears is back.
Spears, in better form. AP Photo
She's got a new album — "Circus," which the Los Angeles Times called a "perfectly viable album that telegraphs self-awareness, sexual confidence and her most sought-after commodity, control" — and a new, more polished look. (Meaning, she's not bald, she's not driving with her son in her lap, and she's wearing undies. We think.)
And, unless you've avoided MTV this entire month, she's even got a new documentary, "Britney Spears: For the Record," which premiered last night on the network that made her uber-famous.
The doc chronicled her 10 years in the biz and, more importantly, discussed the past few years of craziness that has come to define this chapter of her career.
And if you watched it last night — which I did; that's an hour I can't get back! — you likely didn't learn much.
Well, except that she's had a rough life, she's imprisoned by the paparazzi, she was taken advantage of by "bad people." And, of course, there's ex-husband Kevin Federline.
See? It's not her fault!
Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant nailed it when he described the documentary as "an infomercial about rehabilitating the image of Britney Spears."
It's sad, it really is. I used to actually admire Spears. I thought she emerged on the scene at the right time, with the right marketing strategy. She offered tween listeners that goodie gumball pop music they so desperately wanted.
Now I'm just tired of watching people who have — and this is debatable, I realize — talent and opportunity squander it away.
Any thoughts on Spears? Think she'll make a comeback? Or do you think it's too late?
***
It's already December!
And unless you're my friend June, you probably didn't start your Christmas shopping this summer. Meaning, you've got 24 days left to find those perfect gifts for your friends and family.
And that's no easy task!
So, as I've done for the past two years now, I've put together a list of gift suggestions that will hopefully make your Christmas (shopping) merry and bright.
Here's gift No. 1:
SHOPPING DAYS LEFT: 24
TODAY'S GIFT IDEA: Apple iPhone 3G (of course!)
PRICE: $199 (8 GB) with a two-year AT&T contract, in black; $299 (16 GB) in black and white
THE GIST: This summer Apple unveiled its zippier — and cheaper — iPhone 3G that comes with GPS mapping, support for Microsoft Exchange, rich HTML e-mail and a Web browser that catches wireless better than my laptop.
THE ADDED BONUS: There are dozens of new applications for the iPhone, including grocery list helpers, surf and snow reports, Facebook and MySpace interfaces, and a way to swing around a lightsaber — sound effects included. And many of them are free.
BEST FOR: Multi-taskers, Apple fans and people who need to check their e-mail at least, oh, once an hour.
Tags: " MTV, Apple, Britney Spears, celebrity, Christmas, documentary, gift, iPhone, music
December 1st, 2008 at 2:35 am
just lucky i guess,but i never heard any britney spears songs and am pretty oblivious to all her shananigans.if it werent for the media force feeding her every move down the viewers throat i wouldnt even know she existed!yipee! So who are the gifts in the list for? $200 is a lot to spend on a co-worker or distant relative. i think music cd's are always a good gift. a real good one is that new pink floyd box set.hint hint.
December 1st, 2008 at 2:43 am
does head to head mean nothing anymore?how can oklahoma be ahead of texas? texas beat oklahoma head-to-head.nuff said,case closed.but not so fast...so just because oklahoma is running up the score on opponents they get the better ranking?i dont get it.its supposed to be that you DONT run up the score.when you have a good lead the starters go out,the 2nd and third string comes in and you play ball control and run the clock out.what is this saying? that the rankings and bcs condone lopsided scores..playing cupcakes..rubbing it in?? thats not what its all about.so now we gonna have football scores in the hundreds?the starters play the whole game in blowouts? what about risk of injury?this is disgusting.mr.obama needs to step in and stop this madness. thats why college basketball is still the best.
December 1st, 2008 at 6:10 am
Cat,
Britney who? Old news. Yawn. Come to think of it MTV is also old news. Now Bravo and the housewives, hmm yeah. But TV is pretty void sometimes, so understandable if you watched Britney.
December 1st, 2008 at 6:26 am
Yea, it's a little late for a Britney comeback. It's great that she seems to have her life back on track, but I'd rather listen to Mariah as the comeback queen.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:07 am
Good Morning Cat!!!
How was your Thanksgiving weekend? Lots of shopping?
I don't follow Brintney or listen to her music.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:29 am
I watched it. For about 15 seconds. We ignore anything with Spears at the end of it. Britney's music, Jamie Lynn's TV show, Lynn's book. Total trash. The whole family is a mess.
This brings me back to the time when Miley Cyrus had that half naked photo shoot. I was so irritated at the flack she received when during that same time, Jamie Lynn was pregnant and had that show Zoey 101 on Disney Channel. I have an easier time explaining to my 8 year old daughter about a half naked teen than a pregnant one.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:40 am
Oh, and about that shopping list, I stood in line for 2 hours to get that $199 xbox 360 (with guitar hero + 5 games) from Walmart last Friday.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:49 am
is it that time of the year again? Gifts, human traffic, no parking, aggravated salespeople .... *sigh* I wish I could curl up and have Thanksgiving again where everyone is laid back, eating and napping.
Cat,
With the bad economy, maybe you can start a "making your own gifts". I'm planning on giving photographs I took of friends or places, add a little quote on them and framing them (bought frames at Ross). For my engineering friends, I have three scenes of UHM (the engineering building, Bilger and the UHM Mall) - prettied it up on my editing software, added a little quote of my own (inspirational - somewhat) and will frame it. It's a little sentimental for both of these friends since they did attend UHM School of Engineering...just a thought.
December 1st, 2008 at 8:22 am
hold on with the gift giving. i thought the point of that video i watched last week was so that i dont have to buy gifts anymore. i thought consumerism was bad and that by buying into it we are killing and rapeing the 3rd world?????? joke la
December 1st, 2008 at 9:05 am
Although my hubby loves his iPhone, it's not the type of "gift" we'd exchange for the holidays ($$). We actually discussed it for a bit before he purchased it a few months ago.
This season, I'd love to see some frugal holiday suggestions. I was surprised by the hefty price tags on many items in the "Let's Shop" section of yesterday's Advertiser, particularly on toys ($25-160), and I'm hoping we can find some relief with more practical suggestions here! Believe it or not, most of our gifts ran under $10 for kids and under $20 for adults thanks to shopping the non-seasonal bargains at sites such as Amazon. It CAN be done!
Thanks!
December 1st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Cat -
I like all types of music, and yes "pop" too, and I must admit I enjoyed a lot of her earlier stuff. Seeing her spiral out of control was interesting to say the least. And like rubberneckers eyes drawn to the scene of an accident, many of us took interest in her downfall. I got to the point of feeling sorry for her, even if it was mostly her own doing.
But it would be good to see her bounce back. I'm not really a fan of her new music, but she seems to be on better ground now.
As for your gift choice ... I'm sure anyone would love to RECEIVE that. The giving part ... not so much. Too pricey, unless it's your significant other or someone like that. I think.
December 1st, 2008 at 9:23 am
would love to get an iPhone....but i'm chained by the shackles of t-mobile. i think i have another 13 months under contract with them. had nothing but problems over the past year with that company.
in regards to spears.......it reminds me of something a wise old man once said.........."no matter how hard you try.....you just can't polish a turd."
December 1st, 2008 at 10:44 am
I wish Britney the best. She made a lot of mistakes along the way, but then again, who hasn't.
I think oldshoes in his 2nd comment was posting on the wrong blog site about the BCS? But to reply to his comment, I think that there are many more problems that America has to deal with than controversy in crowning a national champion in college football. I don't want our president taking time away from the economy and the war on terrorism to concentrate on football. If we eliminate the current bowl system and install a playoff system, dozens of schools, including UH, will not reap the benefits of being in bowl games. It also makes things more exciting. Last year the entire state was into UH's team because of the possibility that we may get shut out of the BCS. The weekly games would lose their significance and there will still be many teams getting locked out of the playoff, unless you're planning on having a 65 team playoff like NCAA basketball.
December 1st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
My daughter loved all things Britney when she was 8 or 9 and Britney was in her heydey - still young and (fairly) innocent. I think she was still dating Justin Timberlake and claimed celibacy. Glad my daughter grew up and out of all that before all the weird stuff!!
Haven't thought too much about gifts yet. Hope tommorrow's gift idea is alot cheaper.
December 1st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I watch this last night also. I really wanted to see what the hell she was thinking. BUT this documentary didn't really shed any light on anything I had questions on like *ahem her two adorable sons. I did feel for her when she started talking about the paparazzi's and how horrible it is to encounter that every day of your life (but der! you knew what was going to happen when you became famous) and what broke my heart was when she started breaking down and said that she's sad I became teary eyed because it's like she's all alone and there's no one she can talk to. And also when she said nobody hears what she's saying but in reality what she's saying is serious she's not joking (that's when she broke down) I was like OMG people can you see she's asking for help and none of you is taking her seriously! WTF! I think she has post partum depression. Did anyone ever stop to think that she has that? Being because she's a super star, got her kids young and I think at the wrong time. And last she got married to a numb nut! I think she's depress but dealing with it alone. As for her making a come back. Mmmmmmm maybe IDK. I do love her new single Womanizer the beat is awesome.