Notes on Pop Culture: More Betty White Adoration, Carell & Rudd Mock Lebron, Bristol & Levi Again?

Another Reason to Love Betty White
Add to the many reasons why Ms White is deserving of affection include the answers to this Vanity Fair questionnaire:

Vanity Fair: What is the quality you most like in a man?

Betty White: Sense of romance.

VF: What is the quality you most like in a woman?

White: Sense of humor.

VF: What is your most treasured possession?

White: My golden retriever.

VF: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

White: Big parties.

Carell & Rudd Mock Lebron's 'Decision'

I didn’t watch the ESPN Awards (even though I am a fan of Seth Meyers, who hosted the show) but I got a kick out of watching the video of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd lampooning Lebron James’ big “The Decision” ridiculousness.



Bristol and Levi: Tying the Knot?

“I’m here now and I’m gonna make it right,” Levi Johnston, who last year lampooned the Palin family, said of being with his ex-girlfriend and their son.

After last year’s tabloidesque insanity involving the Palin family and self-made rogue Levi Johnston – including Johnston posing with a photo cut-out/mask of Sarah Palin and dishing on all things intimate about his kid’s grandmother in Vanity Fair -- Levi “Playgirl” Johnston is now going to marry Bristol Palin?

Apparently so. And, to make this story even more unbelievable, the two lovebirds told Us Weekly before telling Sarah Palin.

In a statement, Bristol’s parents, Sarah and Todd Palin said: “"We obviously want what is best for our children, but Bristol is ultimately in charge of determining what is best for her and her beautiful son. Bristol believes in redemption and forgiveness to a degree most of us struggle to put in practice."

The elegantly snarky New York Times columnist Gail Collins said this news brings together all types of people to rally ‘round Sarah Palin:

“Johnston has proven to be the only person in the world who can make me feel sympathy for Sarah Palin. He told Us Weekly that he broached the subject of marrying Bristol at the same family meeting where he apologized to Sarah for telling the national news media that she was money-hungry, insensitive, a bad housekeeper, an indifferent mother and a bad shot.”

Image credits: Vanity Fair and Us Weekly.

What Will the Gosselins Do With Their Free Time Now that ‘Jon and Kate Plus 8’ Has Suspended Filming?

The New York Post reported this week that, in the wake of Jon Gosselin’s demand that his kids no longer be featured in a TLC reality show (the one that made the Gosselin's a household name), it's entirely likely that we've seen the last original episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8. "This is the last episode for which we have completed filming," a TLC spokeswoman told the Post. "We remain suspended."

The Post reporter read between the lines and offered this: "It's believed that, behind the scenes, neither the network nor Kate are pushing Jon to rescind his ban on filming the kids."

That leaves the separating/divorcing Gosselins with some extra times on their hands. What should they do with that time?

While one of Jon’s girlfriends, 22-year-old Hailey Glassman, has told The Insider that Jon already spends a good bit of his time having “mantrums” (man tantrums), taking his temper out on her and lying (“Sometimes he has trouble with the truth and he will dance and dance around his lies,” Glassman said), it’s being rumored that Jon will go out on a date with the Octomom as part of a reality show. (And if they brought all their kids along on the date, they'd have the equivalent of the population of Rhode Island in tow.)

Meanwhile, Kate has told the media that she doesn’t think anyone would want to marry into her situation and is contemplating returning to her nursing career. (Wonder how her bedside manner would compare to Edie Falco's Nurse Jackie?)

In case Jon and Kate are looking for something to help them to fill their days, which were once spent in front of TLC cameras and promoting the show and their "happy" family, I've got some suggestions for them:

Jon could try to improve his reputation as a devoted father of eight young children by writing a book about how challenging it is to be a divorced father while in the glare of media spotlight (at the same time he's courting said spotlight . . . but he doesn't need to mention that.). When he’s done, he can have his publicist arrange to hold his book launch party poolside at a Las Vegas hotel next to svelte bikinied women, seeing as though “hosting” a party at a similar locale earlier this year did so much to boost his loving daddy image.

Or Jon could take a page from the father of Sarah Palin's grandson and give a tell-all, scathing interview about his soon-to-be ex-wife to Vanity Fair, pose for photos while holding a photo of Kate’s head on a stick with the eyes cut out (as Levi Johnston did with a photo of Palin),  then offer to pose naked for Playgirl, continue to give interviews where you taunt the person who you now loathe (in Jon’s case it would be Kate who he’s already trashed on ABC by saying he “despises” her) and say that you’ve got “huge” stories about that person that you've yet to reveal, as Johnston did on CBS' Early Show this week.

Given that Kate has told the media that she feels comfortable in front of the camera, maybe she could consider becoming a third co-host of the 47th hour of the Today Show, accompanying Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. Kate and Kathie Lee can take turns rolling their eyes, cracking wise and making exaggerated arm motions as they discuss the news of the day.

Do you have any suggestions as to the next career moves for Jon and Kate?

Image credit: TLC via the Examiner.

Column in Which I Tell Jon Gosselin and Levi Johnston to "Man Up and Shut Up"

I went a little nutty this week in my Pop Culture & Politics column over on Mommy Track'd.

You see, I was more than a tad annoyed, by Levi Johnston, who dumped all over his kid's family in the October issue of Vanity Fair, and by Jon Gosselin, who has whined to ABC News' Primetime, telling the world that he "despises" the mother of his eight children and that he lost his 20s to childrearing. Cry me a river Jon. None of the pregnancies were accidents. I used to be sympathetic to you, dude. No more.



And as for Levi, the 19-year-old tattletale, what a portrait of class and chivalry, dumping all over his son's grandparents to a national magazine, dishing dirt about Sarah and Todd Palin's sex life and complaining about THEIR parenting, or lack thereof. Yeah you're gonna be a great specimen of parental excellence Levi.