Saturday, May 24, 2008

People Magazine isn't worth it's reputation...

What started off as a new concept in journalism in 1974, People magazine has now become little more that a publicist site. In the early days, the magazine while doing articles on celebrities, also did some interesting articles on regular people and regular events. In the last 34 years, People has evolved to being something that involves a lot of money and little facts. Oh, and stories about how much better off we are after we lose weight and get surgery.

Take the Kidmans for example. This week’s People has a picture of Keith playing at the ACM's. The caption is “Keith serenades Nicole”. What crap! Kidman was nowhere near him when he played. In fact he said she was on the bus and he made a face while he did it. That is probably why Kidman's wonks rewrote the entire event as being Kidman centered and not about Keith at all.

The entire relationship, wedding, honeymoon, rehab, post rehab and pregnancy has all been about what NICOLE KIDMAN and her hired help want you to believe, not about the truth. And People is guilty of not being journalistic. Yep, that’s right. People magazine is no more of a magazine than is a press release for a star.

Why did this happen? Because People is expensive to maintain. They are part of the Time/Life empire and so there is an expectation that they must be high quality; add to that the power of the celebrity. It’s like a cancer if you think about it. A star is created; they are made a star because we are told they are worthy of attention then because they are given power they play that power with People. If People had real journalists you might not see the first picture of the wedding or the baby or the new mansion. Because the celebrity knows that People won't challenge the status quo; they then give People access and in turn the public turns to People.

So what can you do? Don't buy People. Ignore it. I sound a little like Keith Urban ordering all his fans not to read the tabloids, but I don't have that power. I have an opinion, and I can see how damaging the entire star making machinery can be. You can see it too if you have followed this nightmare that is known as the Kidmans for any time now. Put People magazine in its place. Because while People has power and the stars have power the consumer also has power. Use a little of it.

22 comments:

maclen said...

Certainly People mag sold what little bit of soul it once may have had for the simple pleasure of access. Just as all the infotainment shows bend to whatever the celebs demand to get the "exclusives" for the shows means they have no integrity whatso ever. They are all part of the shallow hollywood industry that only cares about one thing, money, and if that means the purveying trend is to give talentless, personalityless, and thoughtless bimbos like kidman the royal treatment they will. But then, thankfully those trends turn stale and the attention turns to other talentless, personalityless and thoughtless bimbos... and the old bimbos simply look ridiculous with there highly bloated botoxed faces and swollen lips and shifting eyebrows. But of course, theres always an idiot who is stupid enough to marry these washed up and pathetic cosmetic refugees only to see their careers grow stale and overlooked in no time at all... we have a perfect case here in the orb, who is reduced to re releasing a rehashed single, because what's left of his audience demands it! Yes, even whats left of his fans would prefer his warmed over left overs rather than his brand new stale life of blandness.

ZOE said...

It is very evident that a lot of people in Nashville are so over NK by the ughs & negative comments I heard last night when the Australia trailer was played at the Indiana Jones movie with KUNK both there to hear it. I think there are a lot more people out there that realize most of what you are reading and seeing in the magazines are just a bunch of bs or should I say monkey poo, than there are people who actually believe the spewed PR.

Can you imagine being the lead actress with your face up on the big screen introducing a movie, being in the theatre & have people boo, ughs, etc, etc. How embarassing!!

maclen said...

Well, obviously kidman is so desperate for attention, it doesnt matter if they threw tomatos and cabbage at the screen..just as long as her botoxed and bloated lips are on it, that's all that matters...she certainly not in it for successful movies. And certainly, jsut because kidman has her connections to leak and plant stories doesnt mean it is going to help those movies at the box office...because as is the norm for her films, once they get played to audiences and critics, the bad buzz begins. Which is why I hope Australia does get shown at Venice... the Italians do not like the kidman... nor does Toronto, for that matter.

doublewide said...

People lost all credibility with me when they got married. diane sawyer was interviewing the priest that married them, and i believe she quoted the magazine and the priest refuted it.....i saw it with my own eyes. i thought, well now, ain't the NE more reliable and truthful than People.

doublewide said...

meant to add that keith has indeed hitched his wagon to a "falling star". just like maclen said.

maclen said...

So, doublewide, have you heard that over at monkeyland, the monkeys are all in a lather because it seems the orbs refried single may be coming out as early as next week? So some fun will come earlier than expected, huh? Another good indication of how far hes fallen no doubt.

Imahick said...

He isn't releasing YLGIMS because his monkeys asked for it. It's because he NEEDS a single on the radio and he has nothing else to offer right now. He had to go back and offer a song that had single potential in 2002/03, because I think he desperately wants something that will get to #1 and nothing on LP&TWCT has that potential. This song may do well, and get his new fans to buy GR (which for me, was his best album so far). It IS a great song live.

But this is not because he fans were asking for that particular song. (they may have been in 2003) This is because it is the only thing he / his peeps can see can get him some radio coverage until he can manage to get a new song out later in the year. Without YLGIMS, Keith would have been off the radio (as far as new singles) for close to a year....ouch. He couldn't afford that.

doublewide said...

So, doublewide, have you heard that over at monkeyland, the monkeys are all in a lather because it seems the orbs refried single may be coming out as early as next week? So some fun will come earlier than expected, huh? Another good indication of how far hes fallen no doubt.

oh lord, happy memorial day to us.....as early as next week??? i hadn't been to monkeyland in a while....

realitycheck said...

So UMyths if People is nothing better than a tab, how will that affect your "Tabloid Hound" collection? Telling us not to buy junk but then collecting a large amount of junk yourself just doesnt seem fair.

We actually agree People doesnt do their homework but thats across the board with all the celebs they cover. They try and make the most interesting, dramatic captions to get people to keep reading their mag, whether its the truth or not. Kind of like this blog!

Oh and you need to watch the ACM video again. There was no face made. He didnt have a strong expression one way or the other on his face at least 10 seconds pre the improvised bus line and carrying through it. It didnt change until after with a smile when he got to the "do do dos".

maclen said...

doublewide said...
"oh lord, happy memorial day to us.....as early as next week??? i hadn't been to monkeyland in a while...."

yes, doublewide, you should go take a peak. It's hilarious... the monkeylanders are gearing themselves up to use all their power and influence to take the regurgitated single all the way to the top of the charts! Just as all their hyperventilating and huffing got the orb voted entertainer of the year just last week, what with all the cries of "just empty your cookies and voting a quadtrillion times, y'all"... oh yeah, wait, he didnt win it...nice play there, shakespeares...or how they all didnt buy the g hits cd or the whole painful cd... yeah i dont blame them, the vintage orb is looking alot better to them all the time.

maclen said...

So, Ok, what is the actual sentiment about kidman's latest endeavers out on the nets news beyond the fruitless leaks and obvious plants by the inept team kidman about how she's really trying to gain weight... (at supposedly 7 and a half months along... seems pretty late to be just starting) or that she may or may not be posing nude for a magazine cover or that reliable sources proclaim kidman and the orb are going to make "perfect parents... Well I liked this one independent opinion on her posing nude from thefrisky.com:
http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-star-couplings-paris-hilton-is-ready-for-a-baby/

...quote, "Nicole Kidman is doing a pregnant nudie shoot for an unknown magazine. This isn’t even edgy anymore now that Britney and Christina have done it."
Yes, kidman will definately be bringing up the rear on this one if its true.

maclen said...

...ps...
and lets not forget the booing that occured at a midnight showing of Indy in New York of the Australia trailer...and of zoe's account of "ugh..and various such sounds all over the theatre" at the trailer in Nashville, two very independent, but similar reactions. Dont be too surprised if convienent news plants appear pretty soon of how audiences somewhere, someplace, are "standing and cheering the trailer!"

Urban Myths said...

So UMyths if People is nothing better than a tab, how will that affect your "Tabloid Hound" collection? Telling us not to buy junk but then collecting a large amount of junk yourself just doesnt seem fair.

But you see, by having the Tabloid Report, think of all the people, including you yourself, RC, that don't have to buy them... you can read all the PR crap right here!

getaholdofurself said...

Imahick said...
"...This song may do well, and get his new fans to buy GR (which for me, was his best album so far). It IS a great song live...."

i agree that shirt's a great song live and i'm looking forward to hearing what keith's come up with. here's hoping it isn't overproduced in an effort to make it translate to radio.

doublewide said...

Yes, kidman will definately be bringing up the rear on this one if its true

LOL, maclen

personally i don't like ANY of the preggo pics on the front of mags. just my personal opinion, but i think it's poor taste. but esp. if you are 41 freakin years old and already have 2 children. (i know, i use that loosely)

but since when has NK had anything but poor taste? (not including her marriage to keith, and i am beginning to question this one ALOT)

realitycheck said...

"But you see, by having the Tabloid Report, think of all the people, including you yourself, RC, that don't have to buy them... you can read all the PR crap right here!"


Oh but I dont read it here. Youve given me enough crap to read when the blogs get posted.

hoho said...

I do agree that People has really become a trash mag. Keith and Nicole are all over the place with vomit inducing shots of their love and undying devotion. I can't stomach it and I also can't stomach that damn Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt either ! They are just as if not equally annoying as Nicole.

cricket said...

Heidi Montag has alot in common with Baldy.They are both no talent famewhores. They are both half of a couple for PR only.I guess Heidi will have a fake pregnancy next to keep up with Nikkers,

notachance said...

Talk about something that's CRAPTASTIC!!! This place takes the award, pants down. I thought for sure that after being away on a 3 day holiday weekend that the rest of you would've done the same, but to my surprise this morn I found even more postings than normal. Geez, didn't any one of you have a bar-b-que to go to this weekend or anything?

That said - People mag is no different than US, In Style, all those rags. I wouldn't buy it if it were the last piece of reading material on earth.

Anonymous said...

So what's worse?

Those that make no bones about their opinions and post them publicly (OR) those that constantly bitch and moan about those same opinions, claim them to be baseless, yet simply cannot keep from reading them?

I think one is much more addicted to this place than the other.

doublewide said...

That said - People mag is no different than US, In Style, all those rags. I wouldn't buy it if it were the last piece of reading material on earth.

me neither....my daughter subscribes to People much to my dismay....and i had 7 people over for dinner last night, but that doesn't mean you can't pop on and off the puter

doublewide said...

p.s.

good point settledown