Pop Shots
Bored Games
By: Adam Bernard
Last updated September 29th , 2010

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 what Bruno Mars does when he's bored (hint, it's not legal), to what one bored NYC Firefighter was looking to do with Madonna, to the latest artist autobiography that will probably leave me bored, and since it's Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Bruno Mars just had a bit of an up and down week. He scored has his first number one hit as a solo artist with "Just The Way You Are," but was also arrested on a cocaine charge in Las Vegas. This is a guy with a very limited window for fame, so perhaps he should be a little more careful about where he sniffs his coke. Then again, who isn't sniffing coke in Vegas nightclub bathrooms (don't worry mom, I didn't!)?  Getting arrested for it takes a special kind of stupid. Is it the cocaine making you that way, Bruno, or is it "Just The Way You Are?"

* The new lineup of American Idol judges is set. Randy Jackson keeps his seat, and along side him this upcoming season will be Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. This begs the question: what parent would willingly hand their kid over to Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler? I'm sure it's better than hiring Dina Lohan as a babysitter, but have you seen Jennifer Lopez's work? And have you seen Steven Tyler? The show might want to consider renaming itself American Trainwreck, because there's a good possibility that's exactly what this next season is going to produce.

* You know when it's time to take a break from touring? When your lead singer starts announcing to fans that he's back on the sauce. Scott Weiland's ramblings about just that at a Houston show on Sunday has caused Stone Temple Pilots to take a little time off from the road. According to Reuters, Weiland said "The 8th of December will be the time when I stopped doing dope," and when the crowd began to cheer, he hushed them saying ""No, no, no, no. I started drinking again. My brother died, I got divorced (from) my wife, and my whole world basically spun around. So you know what? I'm going to take care of myself because that's what I need to take care of. Instead of just having a few shows, I want to have a whole hell of a lot of shows." Here at Pop Shots we're sure he will, but those shows are twelve very long steps away.

* Shania Twain is writing her autobiography. Yes, she became country music's biggest star for a while and even crossed over into the pop world. Yes, she had a terrible divorce from a man the world has only seen one picture of. All that being said, didn't the ship sail on this a long time ago? Sorry Shania, but when it comes to a book on your life, that don't impress me much.

* Madonna has a stalker. An NYC firefighter who has been accused of scrawling messages of adoration on the sidewalk outside of the material girl's apartment building, and possessing a 7 1/2-inch ice pick, was arrested outside of said apartment over the weekend on several charges including criminal weapons possession, disorderly conduct, graffiti, and resisting arrest. At this point in Madonna's life she probably should give the guy a chance. He IS her core fan base now and I don't see anyone else lining up to date her.

* American Idiot, the Broadway musical Green Day helped to create, is getting even more Green, and we're not talking environmentally conscious. Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day's frontman, has briefly joined the cast for an eight performance stint that started yesterday and will run through October 3rd. Broadway fans are already buzzing with the news, saying "Billie who?"

* Under pressure from internet commenters, Sesame Street decided to pull a totally awesome Katy Perry clip that featured the singer playing with Elmo. Apparently a bunch of knuckleheads thought she was showing too much cleavage, even though her cleavage is totally covered and in no danger of falling out. I love Sesame Street, but this is one case where they got it all wrong. People who post negative comments on the internet do so because it's easy. I think there would have been very little backlash had they just ran the clip as part of an episode. I'm so confident in that, in fact, that I'm going to run it right here in Pop Shots and we'll see how many letters we get.


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

[Tags] POP, Country

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