The Most Popular Guy at School

SPIDERED-MAN THE THIRD opens in select (all) theaters today!

Everybody ready for disappointment? I sure am!

Hey, it's hard to get these Hollywood scripts perfect... What are you gonna do? BLOG about it...? (Ooh, I'm so scared!)

Speaking of the Hollywood...

I'm no fan of Ashton Kutcher -- he comes across as loud, abrasive, and about half as funny as he thinks he is. That said, I've got to say that PUNK'D is a brilliant show.

No, he didn't invent the "hidden-camera" prank show...

Allen Funt started it on radio in the 1940s, with "Candid Microphone". That, of course, became the long-running television show "Candid Camera". (They mostly pranked regular citizens, occasionally going after the odd celebrity -- take that, Ann Jillian!) TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes fluffed up their blooper recycling with a few celebrity pranks in the 80s. Thereafter, the hidden camera show is a veritable tv genre...

[My other modern hidden camera show favorite is "Scare Tactics", which employs practical effects to scare the living shit out of ordinary people.]

But what makes PUNK'D such potent zeitgeist pop-corn is that it focuses on the celebrities. Not just any old celebrities, but Ashton Kutcher's FRIENDSTER network. To watch the show is to watch friends pull pranks on friends. It invites the audience to be a young Hollywood insider. All hidden camera shows cash in on a certain level of audience voyeurism, but PUNK'D incorporates celebrity into the allure. A home-movie aesthetic completes the effect. "You'll never be friends with this person in real life, but this is what it would be like if you were."

The reason paparazzi can earn a living is that the public has an insatiable appetite for candid tabloid photos. Why? Because tabloids humanize celebrities. They strip away the glamor. Expose them in unflattering lights. Without makeup. With extra pounds. Nip-slipped. (My favorite!) Cheating on their spouse or just shopping for canned peaches at the local Cluck'n'Fuck. You see these pictures and it allows you to say, "Hey lookit, Martha -- they's like regular people!"

And that's the bigger appeal of PUNK'D. You can watch someone like Justin Timberlake or Elijah Wood get completely humbled. You get to see how they react in a crisis. In a situation that they may never have to deal with in their uniquely charmed world. And their gut reaction isn't always so flattering. (Which explains why some celebs, like ALIAS's Michael Vartan, choose not to sign the waivers after they get pranked.)

The world's obsession with celebrity is nothing new, of course. In the end, it's high school economics: supply and demand. There's an endless demand. PUNK'D was a fascinating response to it. R to the I to the P.

Oh, and here's an article about email addiction that I won't bother transitioning to. It's Friday. Go see "Spider-Man 3" before all the assholes at the office spoil it for you. Yes, I am talking to you.

"Thank God It's Friday!" said the Gay Horse.

Spider-Man 3, Shuffled 5:
1. "Soul Love", David Bowie
2. "Rape Me", Nirvana
3. "Tear", Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. "Lyric", Zwan
5. "Nobody Does it Better", Radiohead
GWEN STACY BONUS:
"When Doves Cry", Prince & the Revolution