oh, hollywood. i've never imagined myself in celebrity journalism, so i can't say i had fantasies about dishing over lunch at the chateau marmont or elbowing other stringers' kidneys in a press holding pen. an assignment fell in my lap on thursday, though, so i spent the holiday weekend psyching myself up and trolling the web for kicky factoids.* my research was ultimately pretty unnecessary, as the format my assigning editor had in mind was cute rather than - hard-hitting isn't quite it, obviously, but i was aiming for that end of the spectrum. the psyching up, on the other hand, was key: after trading e-mails and calls with a publicist for several hours, i was expecting a call that would firm up an interview sometime later in the week. i'd relaxed into my lunch hour and was halfway through a salon piece on the oscars when she buzzed me back with The Celeb on the line, so i had to spit out my oyster crackers and go for it.

i joke about how i shouldn't open my mouth in front of famous people, but there's good reason for it: my stomach drops out and nonsense swoops in to fill the vacuum. in this case nonsense was 'rushing into questions to avoid potentially awkward silences' rather than 'spouting off creepy non sequiturs,' and thank goodness for that, but i'm still a bit frustrated with myself. the one piece of pro advice i had before the interview was that one has to use silence in order to get extended responses. me, i kept things moving so aggressively that the rep called me back afterward to be sure that the call hadn't gotten cut off accidentally. sigh.

i do think i have what i need to put the piece together, though, and i did get to throw in a few odd questions. most importantly, i soldiered through the dreaded first interview without totally losing my shit. this is something, internets! it will be laughed about someday.

totally unrelated: i don't want to scorch any veronica mars fans who haven't seen tonight's episode (summary) by chatting about it here, but if you have - meet me in the comment box. can you believe - ?!

*incidentally, myspace? is awful. i don't care how useful it is for indie bands and up-and-coming porn stars: it is migraine-inducing and must go.


jacob said...

(apologies in advance to non-"veronica mars" watchers)

well, it was certainly an abrupt, unsentimental end to sheriff lamb. "i smell bread"? to be honest, i felt surprise but not much emotion at the death. this season has been so scattershot with character development (tina majorino's in like, what, one out of every four episodes? similarly, wallace has been totally wasted. don't even get me started on LoVe) that i've lost much of my investment in the show. i heard/read somewhere that they've gone more to a monster-of-the-week format to not confuse viewers/get more younger viewers, but it hasn't worked (for me, at least).

i mean, why not have dispensed with the whole coach murder/suicide subplot and made lamb's death a mystery, rather than this tedious richard greico thing?

finally, not to get all overexcited about a tv show (sorry, other kidchamp commenters), but when "buffy" started sliding downhill (pick a season), due to both writing quality and viewers' increasing inability to identify with the heroine, the other major characters were there to pick up much of the slack. e.g., willow/xander became more popular than the buffy character. but as veronica has, to my mind, become a much less sympathetic character, there hasn't been enough development among the other characters (save perhaps keith) to keep up my emotional investment.

my two cents.

lauren said...

as you undoubtedly know from the television without pity boards, jacob, lamb's offing is being compared quite regularly to joss whedon's abrupt tara-killing on buffy. i think it's somewhat apt, and predictably - since i adore buffy so much - i kind of admire the guts (though i think the M*A*S*H bread reference was a little weird). his death could easily have been a mystery, but this open-and-shut way of doing it makes me feel that the main point is don't get too comfortable, no one's safe! hey hey, it's noir! it's been speculated, on the other hand, that rob thomas is clearing the slate a bit in anticipation of the show's cancellation,* which could be more palatable than leaving everyone in limbo (see also: "endings, worst-ever"; "o.c., the").

then there are the folks who don't think lamb is actually dead, which - that plot line would annoy me quite a bit, though apparently michael muhney is the nicest actor of all time and i certainly want him to continue to earn a living. wabes's friend imelda tells a classic story about meeting him in central park last summer, and the awesomeness that ensued. he does sound like a solid guy.

*last time i checked around, rob thomas put the odds of that at 50/50. come on, TV gods: there's only so much i can lose.

valya said...

maybe i was expecting too much -- i read your blog before watching the episode -- but lamb's death didn't affect me enough. it was a blip that was hardly heartstopping in an episode where a pointless scavenger hunt (what was up with that?) generated more anticipation. i feel like they were just shoving lamb out of the way so that keith could be sheriff again. surely there has to be more to it than that! but i agree, lauren, that a "lamb's not really dead" plotline would be irritating. it would probably signal a premature shark-jumping for the show.

incidentally, one of my coworkers also met and was impressed by michael muhney. muhney himself actually blogs about it here (my coworker is the browncoat mentioned).

jacob said...

sorry, re-read my comments and they seem overly harsh. i think the season has markedly improved since the incredibly lame feminists vs. frat boys plotline (what is this - "p.c.u"?). those evil feminists faked a rape! ugh.

ok, no more dwelling on that. glad to hear muhney's a good guy - this almost (but not quite) counterbalances dohring being a scientologist.

question for the fan club: from where is the evil/fun snark going to emanate now that lamb's dead? there's still dick casablancas, of course (thank god). madison's kind of meh for me, weevil is probably trapped somewhere in the steam tunnels, and logan's been mopin' around for 15 episodes or so. veronica needs a strong counterpoint, or else she comes off somewhat entitled and superhero-ish.

valya said...

that, jacob, is an excellent question. it's getting tough to justify the chip on veronica's shoulder. but aside from the characters in the dean odell murder mystery (and dick), there aren't any bad guys left. she can't just start hating on sweet innocent parker, can she?

and now that you bring it up, i do wish that weevil had more interesting stuff to do.

jen said...

having just averted my eyes so as not to accidently see a veronica mars spoiler (sweet sweet tivo, patiently waiting for me and my busy life), this comment is in response to celeb interviews:

i feel your pain. the one and only celeb interview i've done was back when i was office manager/occasional contributing writer for the Boise Weekly. dar william's publicist called to see if we wanted to do a piece on her in advance of a concert. since i failed to discourage the overeager publicist (i wanted the advanced copy of her new CD), my editor assigned me the interview, i think as punishment. to her credit, dar williams is incredibly warm, friendly, and personable on the phone. i, on the other hand, was a robot, racing through my list of inane interview questions in half the time allotted me, and completely unable to start or hold a conversation.

any blip of quiet i took as a sign that one of our cell signals had dropped, so it was necessary to make sure one of us was talking at all times. silence, alas, not a weapon in my arsenal. i do find it is very effective, tho - i crack in a matter of seconds. hell, lmo, even when your cellphone drops our call i perceive your silence at the other end of the phone as disapproval and start babbeling like an idiot.

hmm, famous people, not for me.

jacob said...

jen, i wouldn't be too hard on yourself. phone interviews are really, really difficult - you don't have access to the other person's physical cues, body language, and it's hard to build rapport. for my dissertation, i did nearly all my interviews face-to-face, and they ranged in quality, but i was generally happy with them. when i had to later interview another teacher over the phone, it was awful. i think it lasted 10 minutes, tops.

i really admire anyone who can manage interviews or conduct business largely over the phone.

lauren said...

jen, my boss was trying to gird me for my interview by saying "hey, at least your first one is with someone you're not personally crazy about - you'd be much more nervous then!"

so i think it must have been even worse for you with dar williams, since i know you're a fan (i'm not saying i'm NOT a fan of my guy - i watch his show regularly, and i've liked the few movies i've seen him in - but you know what i mean). the half-the-time thing happened to me, too, and i kicked myself all night for it afterward: i should have been able to freestyle with confidence. i could have asked all the stuff i'd originally proposed!

jacob, on conducting business over the phone, it goes both ways. most of what i do is via calls, and sometimes i'm very grateful for it: a month ago, for instance, i had to reinterview a male doctor about the significance of various vaginal secretions (complete with extended descriptions of texture). if i'd had to do that in person, i'd have perished on the spot. ironically, my regular (ie for your average business call / expert interview / "real woman" interview) phone voice is pretty okay - in fact i sound more confident that way than i do in person. so what's the deal with personal calls (i babble right back at jen) and celebs? beats me.

to return to the veronica mars snark discussion, my pipe dream is for logan to re-take the crown. it's way too late for him to be evil, obviously, but exes can banter like nobody's business. maybe if Pagan gets going (i was trying to call it LogPark, but Pagan is much better), the V and L barbs could fly again? that friend friction/jealousy would rehumanize V like nobody's business.

i also fantasize about dark piz. he gets some of the show's meatier quips lately anyway: what if he became so lovelorn that he became a...supervillain? hell, what if he killed the dean and has been secretly evil all this time? shaggy hair hides many a dark past (john mayer, i'm looking at you).

finally, i kind of think landry's already an ass based on the classist shit he's said to keith. he's smart enough that he could sustain a pretty solid back-and-forth with the marses. so those are my snark candidates.

jacob said...

ok - since this has become the cult-tv thread on kidchamp, i must ask: how was "the oc" finale?

lauren said...

it wasn't as bad as it could have been, i'll admit, but it was in no danger of being good. i was heavily distracted by the plot line of moving back to the cohens' old house in berkeley - it's gorgeous (probably worth more than the newport mcmansion they had for the rest of the show), so i spent most of the episode just drooling over the real estate.

i like that we get to see what happens to each character in the far future (okay, 6-years-ahead future), and the wee girl cohen is cute, but ye gods! julie cooper's lovebaby with ryan's dad is a disturbing little thing. a lot of people liked the fact that ryan turns into sandy in the final scene (ducking out of his architecture job to talk to some forlorn boy), but the fact that the boy couldn't act his way out of a paper bag kind of spoiled the moment. then again, is that a nod to mischa?

also, it's deeply gross that pancakes got knocked up and had babies under summer's bed without her knowledge. how did the other rabbit get in? what the hell was everyone eating under there? so many questions, jake.

jacob said...

this does not reassure me, given our household's ongoing bunny obsession.

i'd like to think that pancakes n' kin were munching on that klosterman book from a couple seasons ago.