Media Convergence Initiative

For 17 seasons, the reality show “Dancing With the Stars” has always gone for the shock factor. Each season usually sees a surprising elimination of a well-liked, talented celebrity, meant to keep audiences interested. The dancing couples are supposedly eliminated based on their scores from the judges and votes from their fans. However, there has always been controversy surrounding the elimination process.

Since there is almost always a startling elimination on the show, some people believe the shows producers do it on purpose, regardless of the dancing couples’ score and fan votes. This season, those doubters seem to be right on track: the past four couples to be eliminated have been excellent dancers and performers, and seem to be well-liked by the fans. Even more suspicious is that Bill Engvall is still a contestant, even though he has been consistently receiving the lowest scores.

This season, Christina Milian was the first strong contender who was surprisingly sent home. Snooki Polizzi and Brant Daugherty were eliminated in the weeks following. Tonight, Elizabeth Berkley was sent home, despite doing consistently well throughout the season and having the second highest score of the night tonight. The shock was apparent throughout the ballroom: you could clearly see one of the judges, Len Goodman, looking astonished and mouthing “What??” to his fellow judges.

I do believe there is a chance that the producers could be intervening, for the sake of keeping the show interesting and dramatic. However, continually sending home contestants who are truly talented and deserve to be there doesn’t necessarily make sense. Viewers will lose interest in the show if the final three contestants are all awful dancers.

Eminem new album is not a sequel from his previous The Marshall Mathers Album which came out in 2000.The 41 year old rapper has done his best in 15 years at the center of the maelstrom that is pop culture.

In contrast to Eminem’s, 2010 album Recovery in which it talked about his struggle with drugs and depression and reclaimed his dominance back in the music industry, The Marshall Mathers Part 2 album is a return to a more confident Marshall Mathers that we are used to hearing.  The Marshall Mathers Part 2 has the great humor, anger, fear, self- reflection and verbal virtuosity that we have been accustomed to hearing from Eminem. In Eminem memorable songs from his new album he reveals what he has learned from his past whether through a metaphor or open letter. One of Eminem most meaningful songs on the Marshall Mathers Part 2 is Bad Guys in which he revisits his protagonist Stan who is plotting revenge on the rapper.

The songs Bad Guys lyrics says “ I’m the nightmare you fell asleep in and woke up still in/ I’m your karma closing in with each stroke of a pen/Perfect time to have some remorse to show for your sin/ No, it’s hopeless, I’m in denial that you’re hopelessly in”.

To the end of the Marshall Mathers Part 2 album, Eminem pens another apology song to his mother Debbie who he had so much anger over his music career. This album might be one of Eminem best works to date because it brings back the old Eminem that we are used to hearing.

This past weekend, Selena Gomez made the headlines in entertainment news on the web. Why? Because of a dress. Last Thursday, Selena Gomez celebrated her Flaunt magazine cover at Hakkasan Beverly Hills and her dress was the talk of the town. The black number, a revealing cut out by Cushnie et Ochs, is probably the most grown up piece she has worn yet. This being said, how does a dress stir up so much commotion? It is because the dress was on a Disney star.

Female Disney stars probably have it the hardest as far as their careers and image is concerned. They begin their careers on Disney channel where they become the role model for millions of kids. Because of this, it’s like people don’t expect them to ever grow up. And when they do begin to act like the young adults that they are becoming, it makes headlines. There are so many examples of this: Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens, Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera, and Brittany Spears. All of the stars came to fame through Disney. Once they left Disney, it’s like they were expected to stay teens and not move on to more mature things in their lives.  It is sad to think that their lives is under so much scrutiny and they are so easily judged when all they’re doing is growing up. I feel that if people really sat down and looked at their own lives and the things they’ve gone through, they’d become a bit more understanding of the things they these young women have to go through. The only difference being, that they are in the public eye.

Yesterday, Sunday November 10th, was the 2013 MTV European Music Awards, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. All of the celebrities went with the “out of this world” theme, trying to surprise the crowd and entertain their peers. This was the EMA’s 20th anniversary and everyone wanted to impress. As always, Miley Cyrus was grabbing all the attention she could.

The singer won the award for best music video for her song “Wrecking Ball”. She was wearing a little white leotard and a furry, white boa around her neck. As Cyrus was accepting her award, she tried to fit her EMA in her Chanel clutch. When it didn’t, she pulled out what seemed to be a joint and smoked marijuana on stage. The actual puff was not shown on MTV, but there were many videos and pictures taken.

It was expected for Miley to be just as wild as she was during her infamous VMA performance when she went on for “We Can’t Stop” at the EMA’s. She went in a little bit of a different direction, with black alien figures and a little person dressed in a latex suit as she wore a tight silver dress. As always, there was “twerking” during the performance, but not during her second set when she sang “Wrecking Ball”.

Katy Perry performed her song “Unconditionally” in a shining, silver body suit and was suspended in mid-air. She won the award for best female artist and seemed to have a great night. I always applaud celebrities like Katy Perry, that can have an outstanding performance, without having to be half naked or pull a stupid stunt.