free counter with statistics Pajiba Love 01/03/07 | Pajiba - Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People

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Pajiba Love

To combat AIDS, Oprah is plunking down €30 million to start a luxury school for 150 South African girls, each of whom will get a 2-BR suite. Why not just spend it on anti-HIV drugs? (Agent Bedhead)

Alice Walker meets Roy G. Biv. (McSweeney’s)

Evangeline Lilly gets all Eddie Vedder on us. Go ahead, lady. Be anonymous — I’m not sure anyone would notice. (IDLYITW)

The Times is all like, It’s OK to watch “King of Queens.” It’s lowbrow comedy for highbrow idiots. Or something like that. (NYTimes)

The year in feminism includes “The Best Reasons Not to Fuck Republicans.” All true, too. (Feministing)

Whitney is having an online yard sale. (CityRag)

Angelina Jolie is Lord of the Supermarket. (DListed)

How the hell does the girlfriend of a has-been reality/boy-band star become prime gossip fodder? I’m going to blame Paul Haggis, just ‘cause. (Yeeeah!)

Not funny. (Kissing Suzy Kolber)

Pajiba Love | January 3, 2007 | Comments (15)


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Comments

Oprah is scum. I read elsewhere that around 3500 children applied to be in her school. So $30 million/3500 = a little over $8500. Now I'm no expert on the South African economy but I'm guessing that giving that giving a $8500 scholarship or investing that amount so it could accrue interest for each student would make a much bigger difference than creating what will probably end up being 150 elitist, spoiled brats.

Posted by: jbrader at January 3, 2007 3:51 PM

jbrader, I'm no expert on the South African economy either, but I am South African. And my father works for the government. And yes, this is a classic example of western egotism. Do a little fucking research before you throw your goddamn money around. Because this sort of thing frustrates me to no end, and because I had some time, I did a little research.

$8500 = ~60,000 Rand (SA currency)
Cost of one year of undergraduate study at University of Cape Town, one of the premier universities in SA - 11,000 Rand.

So, she could theoretically send 3500 students to a perfectly good university for FOUR YEARS EACH, and probably pay for books and lodging, instead of funding her self-indulgent fucking vanity project. Oh, I am SO fucking furious now. I hate you Oprah.

And the KSK link is fucking hysterical. I hate the Colts too. But I hate Oprah more.

Posted by: TK at January 3, 2007 4:07 PM

Ok, it's actually worse than I thought. It's 30 million EUROS, not dollars. Which is more like 78000 Rand.

Posted by: TK at January 3, 2007 4:09 PM

You know... I do agree that Oprah could have made more of a positive impact spending her money somewhere else. But it's her money. Spending her own money to help 150 people instead of 3500 people hardly makes her scum. I wonder how many of those calling her scum spend a significant amount of their money or time trying to help people.

Posted by: roses at January 3, 2007 6:40 PM

thank you for directing me to feministing, I can't believe I hadn't found it yet, but it's certainly going to join pajiba in my must read list (alone with IDLYITW, gofug and molly...) gosh you guys keep my productivity low, the way I like it.

Posted by: Theresa at January 3, 2007 8:49 PM

Re: King of Queens


"Unable to say it's not funny..."


I never had a problem saying King of Queens isn't funny. Watch, watch, I'll do it right now: King of Queens is not funny. See? Easy.


Kevin James' stand-up warrants a far more entertaining program than the one he was given.

Posted by: Mitch Clem at January 4, 2007 12:13 AM

While I can't say that I share the aforementioned hate for Oprah, color me confused when, after reading the school would have 28 buildings, I read that there would be 150 students. Even I, who appreciates that Oprah can be generous even in light of her self-righteousness about it, was wondering WTF? I mean, looking at it circumspectly, I can appreciate that it's 150 more students receiving an education who may not have otherwise. OTOH, I can't help but wonder, given the limited number, how were the students chosen? Obviously, there was some subjective criteria, but I guess I assume the goal should be to try and educate as many children who were willing as possible. I don't expect her to save every South African child, but it does seem like a, dare I day, lost opportunity. And while I don't begrudge Oprah focusing on young girls, I do agree that young boys need some love as well. But, hey, it's not my money.

Dustin, DUDE, you've got to move beyond the Paul Haggis hate. Baby steps - perhaps downgrade the hate to mild annoyance? I don't care about the man one way or the other, but it's getting a tad annoying. I don't think I've ever read the hate on another writer or director in this way. I prefer when the scathing bitchiness is evenly distributed.

Posted by: Daphne at January 4, 2007 12:46 AM

Roses, sure, at least she's helping those 150 kids. But she's doing it in a way that basically suits her own needs. Instead of helping to improve what's already there, she builds her own school, imports her own teachers, and basically does nothing to help the existing infrastructure. It's self-indulgent, is what it is.

And by the way, I help homeless people find housing for a living. So there.

Posted by: TK at January 4, 2007 9:19 AM

Daphne,

I believe that Dustin speaks for all of us here at Pajiba (in fact, I'd consider it a significant aspect of the site's editorial stance) when he vents his spleen at the abominable Mr. Haggis, a man who has done more to dishonor and discredit the art of cinema in the past several years than Michael Bay, Renny Harlin, and Uwe Boll combined, for the simple fact that, unlike your usual Hollywood hack, the man seriously thinks of himself as an auteur and has somehow convinced an ungodly number of people to take him seriously. Did anyone else here notice that he was the genius tapped by Entertainment Weekly to memorialize Robert Altman in their year-end issue? It's like Jessica Alba eulogizing Dame Judi Dench.

Swing away, Dustin. I've got your back.

Posted by: Jeremy at January 4, 2007 9:32 AM

The KSK link is damn funny. And I don't even know who half of the people they are talking about even ARE.

In relation to the Lilly link: Is it wrong of me to be sick of the instant bashing any celebrity gets whenever they mention they don't like the actual celebrity part? As soon as the words form in their mouths, there are people just ripping into their flesh becasue they dare poo-poo the great intstitution of stardom that everyone should want to be in. Maybe she would just like to do her job, and not worry about some a-hole in the bushes ready to strip away whatever dignity she has. It may sound extreme, but the bile spewed out on that site reminds me of how a rape victim is treated if she happened to be sexually-active, or even dressed provocatively. That same "she was asking for it" mentality.

I was rolling on the floor from that King Of Queens article. And that was about the only laughs I ever got from that show really. The author, Ms. Heffernan, either was really desperate to find something deep in that show, or has a hatrad for Carrie that, well, ALMOST equals the hatred of Haggis here. She makes a big deal about how they bring the professional woman down a peg or two so it wouldn't look too ridiculous for her to be married to this guy. Maybe the author has a similar relationship, and is venting her personal frustations into the piece? Nah.

And you have every right to hate Haggis. And how fitting is it that his last name is a dish made of sheep intestine stuffed with it's own organs?

By the way, Pajiba ladies, I am single and pro-choice. Just putting that out there.

Posted by: Vermillion at January 4, 2007 10:13 AM

Sorry Vermillion, but I think I may be falling in love with TK.

Wait, TK, you're a guy, right?

Posted by: Cheryl at January 4, 2007 12:58 PM

Vermillion--you crack me up!! If I didn't have a boyfriend I'd be all over that like white on rice. I will say that it's damn hard to find a guy out there with good taste and a great sense of humor, so I find it hard to believe that you are single. (OK, flirting over).

I see what you're saying about Evangeline Lilly too--all the woman wants is a little privacy and the freedom to, you know, take a piss without having someone follow her into the stall. I think the reason people get so worked up about comments like that from celebrities/actors, though, is because they think that the people who are "whining" about it are complaining about the difficulty of their jobs. I don't really think that's what they are doing. It's just that there is a time and a place where you can approach someone and ask for a picture or an autograph.

Roll on with the Haggis hate. I didn't even want to read the piece in EW because it was Haggis-penned. Blech. However, I'll bet that haggis is better than Paul Haggis any day. At least the dish has a fun Robert Burns poem dedicated in its honor.

Posted by: em at January 4, 2007 2:26 PM

Cheryl: Yes. Last time I checked, anyway.

And I confess that while there is some validity to celebrities just wanting to be left alone, as not all of them are attention-loving mug-whores like Oprah and her ilk, it's hard for me to afford them too much sympathy. Are they justified in their concerns about being hounded by the paparazzi? Sure. Do I give a fuck? Absolutely not.

I'm sorry, but if the kid with leukemia whose parents can't afford treatment doesn't get an article in the paper about how hard his life is, than neither should you. You're popular, wealthy, healthy, beautiful, and talented. Suck it up.

Or in the words of Rachel McAdams in Mean Girls, "Oh, boo, you whore."

Posted by: TK at January 4, 2007 2:40 PM

I read in the Washington Post that the 150 girls at Oprah's school are only the first class, eventually there will be almost 500 girls there as she recruits new students each year. She's not the only one with the idea to educate women to improve the country overall either, it's a standard economic principle for poverty stricken countries.

I don't want to be accused of "defending" Oprah, but all of us could do more to improve the world around us, so I don't see that accusation as valid. Frankly, if I'd point a finger at anyone who's abusing her wealth with no thought or consideration for others while reveling in her own undeserved fame, it'd be that black hole of decency, Paris Hilton.

Posted by: Genny at January 4, 2007 3:39 PM

If I may weigh in on the E. Lily topic - perhaps it's just me, but I didn't think Evangeline was even famous enough to complain about privacy? I mean, something like that seems to be more meaningful from someone who really does have every daily step monitored seemingly - i.e. Britney Spears, Julia Roberts, Katie Holmes, Brad and/or Angelina, etc. I think perhaps she's overestimating her celebrity? To be fair, though, I don't know what her experience has been with the 'razzi. But if she's annoyed by someone taking a picture while she's walking out of a shop or something, she needs to suck it up. All that said, I do agree that the backlash on the linked site was harsh.

Thanks, Jeremy, for elaborating on the Haggis hate. I had no idea that he was "chosen" to memorialize Altman! I'm not to the "gnashing of teeth" level of hate, but it is sacrilege nonetheless.

Posted by: Daphne at January 4, 2007 9:03 PM