Hold Your Applause

Up All Night On Summer Vacation

A little reminder that my other blog is coming out of hibernation. House Happenings is a blog all about the Big Brother season as it unfolds. It was around this time last year that we were finding out which former houseguests were under consideration for All-Star spots, but with just 2 weeks to go before the debut of Season 8, we're still totally in the dark, save for the traditional promise that this will be the wildest season yet. Which no doubt means the typical gaggle of twentysomething bubbleheads half comatose on slop and chatting endlessly about favorite places they threw up. (Gee, I usually don't get cynical like this until mid-August at the earliest.)

Another Day, Another Blog

Those of you who know me primarily or exclusively because of the blogging I did for Big Brother: All Stars over the summer (did it really end 3 months ago already?) may or may not be interested to know that I have just launched a similar project, also under the auspices of my friends at real.com.

The blog is called Vanessa Watch, and no, it's not about my secret life as a peeping tom. (Just e-mail me for the url of that blog.) Vanessa Watch covers the online reality show On Set, On Edge, which deals with an independent filmmaker and her attempt to get her movie finished in time for acceptance to the Sundance Film Festival. Those of you who have the Real Superpass can watch new episodes every day. Which is convenient, because if the making of this film, which is called Jack and Jill vs. the World, is like most film sets I've heard about (even film sets where time and money are not major issues), there's going to be a disaster averted pretty much every day.

Anyway, Vanessa seems interesting, and if you read Vanessa Watch frequently an angel will earn his wings...or something like that. So thank you for indulging me.

Curtain Going Up...

Among the reasons posting has been a bit slow here lately (other than my chronic time-management issues) is that I have a new project coming up, which I hope to be able to announce tomorrow. Yeah, it's another blog. And no, it's not about Big Brother Cambodia.

A followup on this post, in which I questioned whether Beyonce had already hit a career peak given what I perceived as a lukewarm reaction to her latest album: no sooner did I write that than the newest single from B' Day, "Irreplaceable", took off in a major way and now seems poised to hit #1 as soon as next week. The song's success is well-deserved, in my opinion; it's not overproduced and busy as is so much of her recent output, and her almost jazzy phrasing marks it as different than anything else on the air right now. I'm not sure why Beyonce saved it for the third single, but better late than never. (See, you all are getting a preview of my American Idol posting style now. Only 7 more weeks!)

Self-Promotion Alert

When I'm not doing this, I'm doing something else. And one of those things is freelance journalism in my home base of Anytown, USA. An example of that is here, an interview I conducted a couple of weeks ago with Chuck Klosterman, midwestern kid made good. (The link is good for another day and a half, after which it will point to something else. Which I'm sure will also be great, just not written by me. Unless it is. Sorry for letting this parenthetical remark run on so.)

I have to say that while I gave his 2005 book Killing Yourself To Live a mixed-to-negative review, and I have often consumed snark about Klosterman with glee, he was perfectly friendly over the phone, meaning I guess I now have to like him. The great thing about interviewing an ex-journalist turned famous guy is that they remember what it's like to be in my spot as supplicant.