Good Golly Miss Miley

Oh, Miley.

I wake up this morning and THE breaking story is about RACY PICTURES OF MILEY CYRUS and how there's OUTRAGE and parents have NO IDEA what to tell their children. Turns out Annie Leibowitz, during a photo shoot of the Cyrus clan, took a picture of Miley-slash-Hannah Cyrus-Hyphen-Montana, only for Disney to get their panties in a bunch because the photo was too racy. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the ultra-scandalous photo in question:Yeah. That's it. Homegirl needs to wash her face and eat a sandwich, but as far as outrage...

Be outraged about something else. How about genocide in the Sudan? That's an outrage-worthy situation. If you reeeeeally want to be outraged about the life of a 15-year-old girl, pick on something like Jessica-Simpson's-Dad-in-Training Billy Ray Cyrus' creepy comment on Oprah that he "just wants to be Miley's best friend". Or the fact that Miss Miley is on the most annoying show this planet has ever produced. But outrage over THAT photograph? Oh jeez.

One of the most comical things about this whole much-ado-about-nothing is Disney's reaction to the photographs, which probably prompted Miley's mea culpa, er, disclaimer regarding the photo shoot and resulting work. I love Disney and all, but really - does anyone else remember that Disney is where Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan started their careers? If I were a gambler, I'd go for the Under on the time it would take for photographs to surface of Miley Cyrus face down in the cocaine-covered lap of a Jonas Brother. Hell, if I were in the pharmaceutical business, I'd be running a cocaine pipeline directly into Disney studios, it'd be way more efficient than keeping dealers on retainer. They may pride themselves on family entertainment, but let's be honest - it ain't the man and the mouse anymore.

When I got my tattoo touched up, there was a guy in the parlor getting a pretty bad-ass tattoo - across his chest was the lettering "THE BEST-LAID PLANS"....man, if that doesn't speak volumes about parents pushing their kids into entertainment, nothing does. I'd love to think that these kids could come out all peachy and rosy and drug-free, but hey, that's not even possible in suburbia these days. Dad quits his job to move the fam to L.A. and help Susie McCuteAsAButton further her "career", becomes her manager, then when the family cash cow figures out that she's the primary breadwinner and blows it all on drugs and thousand-dollar purses, no one is more shocked than her parents. Seems like a good plan at the time, but when you're shelling out $25,000 a day for rehab for a 14-year-old, it ain't worth it.

I don't think this stupid picture is anything to write home about - if you don't believe me, go check out the pictures that 15-year-olds are posting of themselves on myspace. But here's a piece of advice - if Annie Leibowitz, Jeffrey Katzenberg or anyone else comes knocking at your door to make your kid a star, do yourself a favor and SHUT THE DOOR.

Your kid's cute, but it ain't THAT cute.

Quote of the Day #4

"Anybody involved in whatever business they're involved in - they're there for a reason. You can't tell me that proctologists don't have a genuine interest in assholes. Because they do."

-Jay McCarroll, Eleven Minutes - playing Monday at the Independent Film Festival of Boston

I've laid grout, tile and mirror with this guy, he gets a plug

I took a class last fall with the amazingly talented Isaiah Zagar. I'm no mosaic-ist, but I live next door to the Philadelphia Magic Garden and decided it might be a good idea to stimulate creativity, meet people, create some new veins of artwork, all of the above...who knew, I had money burning a hole in my pocket, and it seemed a good way to spend it. It was an experience I can't even explain...but I'll try in a later post. I met some great people in all kinds of creative mindsets. A graphic designer, a couple who owned some sort of paint-your-own-pottery place, one was trying to integrate murals into her work in the Camden County Community Gardens, and - my favorite - a fashion designer based out of Philly. If you're like me - and by "like me" I mean "watches reality television like it's her job" - you may know him...

Jay McCarroll, the enormously talented winner of Season One of Project Runway.

Jay and I spent two days with about 15 others making a big old mosaic mural in a warehouse space in South Philly (Sidebar: part of Zagar's genius must lay in the fact that he somehow has people pay him to do his work...how can I swing that?), and while working, Jay, his sister and I had a grand old time eating Italian deli sandwiches, chatting, gossiping about the state of Britney Spears, and generally creating and contributing toward our collective artistic madness.

Anyway, I ran into him the other night on Walnut Street. Of course, it was right after my roommate and I had cried over a few glasses of wine and conversations about boys, so I got a nice little "Molly, are you okay?". Yes, Jay, I'm fine.

But since I love supporting Philly artists, great design and nice people who cure a hangover by singing "Me Against the Music" to me on rainy, cold October mornings while watching cement mix, Jay gets a free plug.

Jay just launched a new website with cute stuff for sale, has a new film in the Philadelphia Film Festival and has a blog to update you on the hystericalness of it all.

Go check it out...

PS - The picture really has nothing to do with Jay other than the fact that it was taken during Isaiah's workshop. Seriously, that's the guy's HOUSE. Every square INCH of that place is covered in his work.