Lost One

I know I'm cool. My shoes usually match my gear and I'm usually up to date on the latest trends and what's hot at any particular time. As an 80s baby (1982 to be exact), I'm unofficially required to know such things. I need to be able to hold a decent conversation on anything pop culture related. If I can't, my cool meter will descend at an alarming rate and my hood pass will be under the threat of being revoked.

In this day and age of MTV, VH1 and other cable channels, pop culture news has equaled, if not passed, hard news in terms of coverage and interest. I understand this, really I do. There will be times where some celebrity news will garner national attention, even though sometimes people who aren't "down" won't think it's important.

Consider the last couple of weeks one of those times for me. The coverage of Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears just didn't do it for me. I'm lost. Forgive me if I'm missing something here. I know Smith was a modern day Marilyn Monroe, so to speak, but you can't convince me that she was that much of a star that her untimley death warranted wall-to-wall converage and analysis on every news station. Now, I know her life was a train wreck and, for whatever reason, our society loves that sort of thing, but give me a break. I just don't get it.

And Britney, she enters rehab, shaves her head and it makes front page news. If anything, someone should do a story about how no other pop "star" in the part 5-10 years has a fallen as far as she has. There is so much that the media needs to be focusing on. The war, presidential campaigns, what's going on in the hood, etc. So, when all I see on CNN and FoxNews is the garbage, it gets frustrating.