Chris Brown’s good boy image

By Rachel Carlson

The image of R&B singer Chris Brown is just like the boy next door. He has little to no visible tattoos, a bright white smile and boyish good looks that drive the girls crazy. His heartfelt ballads of love equate losing someone to not breathing and wanting to stay together forever. He has your classic good boy image.

Well, more like had your classic good boy image. The fact he may have been involved in a physical altercation with his girlfriend, Rihanna, does not really coincide with that squeaky-clean picture.

If the accusations of assault turn out to be true, Brown can pretty much kiss his career, sponsors and love life goodbye. That clean image he has acquired will be gone forever.

The Monday after news of the assault broke, Brown’s sponsor, Wrigley’s gum temporarily suspended him as if someone would see their affiliation with Brown as condoning domestic violence. Like with any other big celebrity, when trouble brews sponsors hightail it out of there and leave their clients to deal with their mistakes alone. Losing this big sponsor, and the big paycheck, will be a major blow to his career.

Not to mention he also missed a primetime Grammys performance Sunday night and has cancelled an NBA All-Star game appearance set for this weekend. While dropping out of public appearances helps him avoid questions and more controversy, Brown is giving up free press and great career opportunities.

The icing on the cake is that the female involved in the dispute could quite possibly be Rihanna. This makes the situation an even bigger deal because they are both usually in the limelight to begin with. If the woman involved had been a non-celebrity the allegations would still be all over the news, but when you add two stars to the mix it causes huge headlines.

The biggest issue though is that Brown has managed to trash his own image. Teenage girls love him for his tender heartthrob ways. He seemed like the guy you would take home to mom. Now, because of a scandal like this, Brown’s image seems like one you would hide from mom instead. Tender heartthrobs usually do not have that effect.

As an artist, Brown is his own product that he has to market in order to be successful. These allegations definitely make for bad PR and it will show in his sales.

As unfair as it seems, the public will not go by the rule innocent until proven guilty in this case. Brown is a celebrity and celebrities are always judged harshly.

Extension of “Jackass”?

By Sydney Elliot

So I was sitting in the living room last night watching TV with my parents. The commercials ended and the show came back on, “One Way Out.” In this particular episode the main guy was being buried by his friends. They built three walls around him, one with a whole in  it for his head, and then two on the sides. They kept piling the dirt on top of him and when they got to a certain height they would have him breathe into a tube above his head and see how high he could blow a ball up into the tube. 

Their experiment ended at 3 ft. of dirt whenever he could hardly breathe anymore. His breaths were short and he could only get the ball up a short way. 

I don’t understand why this show is on television. Is it supposed to be a more “scientific” version of “Jackass”? It was on the Discovery channel so it is supposed to be educational, right? These types of shows don’t provide anything educational. The argument would be that they are entertaining, but the age of the sitcom was much more entertaining than the strings and strings of reality television taking over the airwaves. Sitting around watching some guy on TV being buried and cutting off his air supply on purpose is moronic, not entertaining. 

Christian Bale . . . Take it down a notch

By Kyle Weise

I certainly do not know everything that goes into making a movie, and I will never claim to be a movie making genius. That being said, I would say Christian Bale’s profanity laced tirade may have come from his inability to control his emotions.

Apparently, the assistant director of photography on the set of “Terminator Salvation” walked back and forth behind Bale’s co-star Bryce Dallas Howard and in his (Bale’s) line of sight. Bale decided he could not let this pass and ripped into this poor soul like Bobby Knight screaming at officials during his prime at Indiana. Not only did Bale scream and yell at this man, but he continued the outlandish blasting for more than three minutes. He even threatened to kick this man’s you know what as well as threaten to tear down the lights this fellow had set up for the shot.

When it comes to any type of a pattern, I would always say the first time an incident happens, it’s an anomaly, the second time it happens, a coincidence, but the third time makes a pattern. This is the second incident of Bale’s within the past year, the first right before the release of “The Dark Knight” which involved him barely escaping assault charges against his family. Perhaps he is under an extraordinary amount of pressure, because this past year has easily been the biggest year of his career, but whatever the case hopefully it will not turn into a pattern.

I am a fan of Bale and of his work, he was probably the best actor to portray Batman, his performance in “3:10 to Yuma” was excellent, and I am very much looking forward to the upcoming “Public Enemies.” However, there are countless stories of the rise and fall of actors in Hollywood, and if Bale is not careful we could see the fall of arguably today’s hottest star. Bale is a tremendous acting talent and despite this tirade has been called a “consummate professional.”

Let us hope he does not have any type of problem because as of right now, Christian Bale has put Hollywood on his back and carried the industry this past year.

Top 10 ways to rocket yourself to reality stardum

By Ken Long

If you thought winning “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in Mumbai was hard, winning a reality dating show in America can be even worse. Will you end up possibly dating some D-List celebrity in the future?

Chances are, yes, because these shows have exploded since “Flavor of Love.” Now, people from all over the country are being handpicked to tussle with other fame-seekers to claim the ultimate prize: reality show stardom.

How can you possibly come out on top though when the other contestants are fighting just as hard?

Don’t fret. Just take heed to my Top 10 Reality Dating Show Secrets to Success

1. Sex Everything
-Everybody loves a lover! While you may not be great at building catapults, working at a diner or whatever the challenge is that week, a well-placed lay can save you from elimination time and time again.

2. Build an Alliance
-The only way to get dirtier on TV’s dirtiest shows is to affiliate you with other filth-seekers. If you’re backed into a corner, it’s better to have a small group of “friends” to help fend off the rest of the show’s independent losers.

3. Backstab Your Allies
-After you’ve gotten what you want from them, throw them aside like a used condom! Most of the time, they’ll be gone from your life for good (unless there’s a reunion show or a sequel.) Better to get them while they’re back is turned, so jam the knife in good and hard while they still trust you.

4. Go Naked
-Time after time, the person that strips down and struts their stuff for all of America ends up staying around. There’s no real reason for this; it’s as much a mystery as how Flavor Flav can convince that many women to procreate with him. The world may never know.

5. Just for Women: Plastic Surgery
-Your body needs to be just as fake as reality TV. Wherever you can inject yourself with toxic bacteria, shove a silicone implant or make your body bigger (or smaller) is fair game. Don’t worry; there can’t be any possible repercussions to your health, dignity or reputation!

6. Just for Men: Gel that Hair!
-My personal observations show that over half of the men on reality dating shows have hair that freezes faster than Rod Blagojevich on Letterman. Even if half the budget is spent on hair care products, make it stiff, straight and sharp enough to impale a castmate.

7. Start a Fight and Don’t Throw a Punch
-Most shows have a Zero Tolerance rule about violence. The easiest way to get other people off the show is to get them to throw the first stone. So get annoying, whiney, in-their-face and arrogant enough for someone to lay into you hard enough to fake a minor injury. Make sure you whimper at the elimination for dramatic effect.

8. Don’t Be a Leader
-If there’s one way to get off the show quickly, it’s to take initiative early on in the show. Producers look for a storyline that starts quickly and ends in a train wreck. Hang back for the first few episodes, but don’t be completely silent. Try Tip #1 to get friendly enough with everyone that they won’t get rid of you.

9. Don’t Do Porn
-For some reason, everyone loves when you’re a whore on the show, but if you’d done an erotic photo shoot in the past, then game over. This might disqualify you automatically, but just keep it in your pants until you can secure a spot on the show. After the show, go crazy, because you’ll be in high demand for nude pictures for at least a month.

And finally…

10. Lose
-That’s right. It seems extremely counter-productive, but the losers of reality TV are the real winners. New York (Tiffany Pollard) lost twice and has had three reality shows based on her. Same goes for Real (Ahamad Givens) and Chance (Kamal Givens,) who have been featured on subsequent shows. These people are as reusable as a Shamwow, plus they work wet or dry. Almost all winners of reality dating shows end up breaking up with their respective lover and are never heard from again. The only way to cement your name in reality dating show history is to be as rude, obnoxious, slutty, arrogant and ignorant as possible. All these losers are the real winners at a losing game.

So remember, don’t be afraid to show the world how truly inhumane you can be when you’re competing on whichever reality dating show you appear on. Because true love can only be as real as the way you found it.