Pop Shots - Proving Grounds

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from J.Lo proving her MetroCard is probably way out of date, to Lady Gaga proving you’ll invite just about anyone over for Thanksgiving, to Lily Allen proving the third time really is the charm, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* You know those Fiat commercials where J.Lo is driving through her old neighborhood? Yeah, about those... that’s not Jennifer Lopez, that’s a body double. The Smoking Gun broke the story that she wanted nothing to do with a return trip to The Bronx, instead preferring to do a voiceover about her love of the streets she wants to have no part of. To be fair, J.Lo only said she was Jenny from the block, she never claimed to have any intention of returning there.

* The Black Eyed Peas have announced they are taking a break, but not breaking up. This seems like odd timing since they just released a video game based completely around people dancing to their music. I guess they plan to promote it by staying off the airwaves and not performing. I’ve seen bands try that publicity route and it’s never worked before, but maybe Fergie will just run around the entire country all hopped up on Diet Dr. Pepper, or perhaps there’s an altruistic angle to all of this and they’re really taking a break so they can stage an intervention for Fergie’s husband, Josh Duhamel, to make sure he doesn’t make another terrible Transformers movie. If the latter is the case, God bless the Black Eyed Peas.

* Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are normally on the invite list for Thanksgiving, but how many people would have wanted Lady Gaga at their dinner table? The answer is apparently quite a few as Gaga’s TV special, A Very Gaga Thanksgiving, was a huge ratings win for ABC. Part of this could be blamed on people who had their TVs on when they fell into their tryptophan induced comas, but did the rest of you really feel “Bad Romance” was the appropriate soundtrack for your family get together? You people are sick!

* In much cooler Thanksgiving related news, Tim Burton is now a part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with his B. Boy balloon having made its debut this year! According to The Hollywood Reporter, “the character's backstory is that he was cobbled together from rejects of birthday party balloons left over from children's parties at a hospital. B. Boy was not allowed to play with other kids so he withdrew to his basement home and into the world of his favorite film, The Red Balloon. He hoped that one day he too would be able to fly above the city and bring joy to one small child.” And that, my friends, is how you make a parade awesome!

* American Idol alum Lauren Alaina flubbed the national anthem before the Lions - Packers Thanksgiving Day game. She’s certainly not the first singer to mess it up, although the irony that someone from American Idol screwed up America’s national anthem is almost as delicious as Thanksgiving leftovers.

* Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame is following in the footsteps of fellow musical visionaries the Insane Clown Posse and starting his own pro wrestling company. Corgan joined with two wrestling promoter brothers to create what they’re calling Resistance Pro and they had their first show on Friday at a downtown Chicago dance club. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the first "despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage" match.

* On December 10th Katy Perry will be returning to Saturday Night live to host the show. I like Katy Perry, so I will make every attempt to remember when SNL is on, but will undoubtedly forget and end up doing something else because at this point SNL is really only funny when Justin Timberlake makes an appearance.

* Lily Allen, who now goes by Lily Cooper, has reportedly welcomed her first child into the world with her husband Sam Cooper. Friends have given word that the singer gave birth to a baby girl on November 25th. This was her third attempt to have a child, the first two ending in miscarriages, so it goes without saying she has quite the reason to “Smile.”


And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.