Maher and Panel answer your questions.

Ask Bill.

After watching brain-dead, cable news programs fight over the same scraps of news stories that they regurgitate exhaustively with their own political spin, it’s very refreshing to see (on a Friday night – relaxation time) questions from viewers on the internet being answered and debated thoughtfully by Maher and his panel (usually an eclectic mix of professionals from politics, entertainment and sports).  Overtime should be extended.  Better yet, it should be completely pimped out and turned into its own series.  Last night

This week’s panel includes Amy Holmes (America Morning News), Gary Johnson (sporting bangs) (Chairman, Our America Initiative), Hill Harper (actor, author The Conversation) and John Heileman (co-author Game Change).

Questions from you inquisitive, web-surfing Americans that was submitted to Real Time via Twitter include:

• From Steven:  “Why do we allow the Texas State Board of Education to push their agenda on an entire nation of school children?“

(In case you haven’t heard, Texas (the dominant creator of text books that educate tens of millions of school children every year) made a decision this week that a commentor Gawker.com summed up in four, easy-to-remember words:  “Your kids are doomed!“  Yes, but that was the case even before Texas put the nail in the evolution-education coffin)

• From Ryan: “Is Obama being held to higher standards than previous presidents?“

An awkward silence falls over the panel and the audience after Maher reads this question.  Let’s call it the silence before the storm.  This question causes a bit of riff on the panel between Hill and Holmes with the audience throwing in cheers and jeers before Maher settles the score by underscoring the partisan undercurrent of Holme’s response.  Pow!

• From D. Donovan:  “What do you think about Walmart selling Black Barbie at a reduced price while White Barbie is slightly more expensive?  Is it a conspiracy or just regular inventor?“

Yes, someone really submitted that question.  And I love Bill Maher and his panel for taking it on (not because I think it is a profound question – it isn’t – but because it is precisely these kinds of questions from ordinary people on the internet that is asked and debated every day in comments sections).  Though the answers are full of jokes, the panel’s comments on the matter are also revealing and stirring (Amy Holmes gets booed again by the audience — poor Amy – she holds her own though – tough and smart).

Watch the video below to see how Maher and his panel answered these burning questions “from the internets” this week?  What do you think of their answers?

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Leave it to Jon Stewart to be an incessant thorn in the buttocks of Fox News.  He does it like nobody else. The fact that he does this and manages to make a few folks laugh is all the more reason to dig him.

Stewart lets the FOX News sorority secret out of the bag.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that FOX News (President Obama’s arch nemesis) is campaigning against healthcare with anti-healthcare ads.  What may be surprising, however, is the vitriol with which they are doing it.  You would think they were his political opponent during an election campaign.

Of course, this is not lost on Jon Stewart (not even for a second) who proceeded last night to supply a thorough verbal smackdown of the ultra-conservative, tea party-loving network.  Stewart picks apart FOX footage practically frame by frame and, after proving that the footage was highly doctored, comes to the conclusion that FOX News is :

“I think Fox News might be the meanest sorority in the world.”

If given the choice between being approached by a gang member or being approached by a member of Fox News in a back alley, I’d go with the gang member.

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Conan and Richter - the Dynamic Duo coming to a theater near you!

In case anyone doubted the red-haired, sad-faced man’s popularity, Conan O’Brien (@ConanObrien) is unleashing the fullness of his fierceness.  After making a triumphant entrance into social media where he, within a couple of hours, accumulated hundreds of thousands of followers and following up his grand social media stand by following ONE lucky woman (whom he promptly made an instant web-celeb), Team CoCo announced yesterday that tickets were officially on sale for his 30-city, cross-country, live talk show.  And then there were none.  Sold out in less than 24 hours.

Although NBC tied Conan’s hands in keeping him from being able to perform on tv for the next six months in a bloody contract negotiation, nothing is prohibiting him from bringing his brand of humor to his audiences in a live show.

Also joining Conan on tour will be Andy Richter and the former “Tonight Show” band.  What can audiences expect?  According to the press release:

“a night of music, comedy, hugging and the occasional awkward silence.”

The tour kicks off in the U.S. and Canadian April 12th in Eugene, Ore.

As for his brutal battle with NBC and Leno clearly wore him down at the time, it looks like Conan may have gotten the last laugh after all.

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Corey Haim and lifelong friend Corey Feldman

It’s hard to try to connect the 14-year old, baby-faced, child actor  Corey Haim with the tortured soul he would become — the victim of a crippling drug addiction that may have taken his life at the young age of 38.  But watching the childhood star Haim talk to Maria Shriver (with his bright-eyed co-star Kerri Green, only 18 years old at the time herself) about life as a teenager on a film that was very adult compared to teen films at the time (Lucas – 1986) actually hints at many of the pressures and special problems child actors in Hollywood experience that ultimately rob them of their innocence and childhood.

Shriver asks thought-provoking questions of the the film with the young stars about love and life.  Their answers are both empty (how much can a kid know about love and life) and revealing (kids can know quite a bit about love and life at times).  In discssing his on-screen romance with Green, Haim to Shriver with a mildly embarrassed Green by his side:

Haim:  “I had a first love…”

Shriver:  “Already?!!”

Haim:  “Yeah!”

Haim and Green in Lucas (1986)

He goes on to confess to having fallen in love with his co-star, Green, during the making of their film — a moment that is somewhat sad.  Isn’t that a moment for himself — something to cherish?  Not for Maria Shriver and all of America.  In Hollywood, nothing is sacred (least of all innocent pre-teen love).

After mentioning the fact that both actors, though very young at the time, had already starred in several feature films, Shriver asks a tough question of the young stars that even many adults would have trouble answering:

“What have you learned about yourself through this profession that you wouldn’t have learned had you not become an actor?”

An incredibly adult question.  Haim and Green, still in high school at the time, would have no real life’s experience on which to base their answer.  Haim is stumped by the question (furrowing his eyebrows a couple of times as he tries, no doubt, to come up with an answer that will satisfy the audience, his agent and his parents).  Again, he unwittingly shares with us the pressures of being a child actor in Hollywood:

“[Acting] is a job.  You have to do your job correctly.  People spend millions of dollars on this one production and you can’t blow it.”

That’s a lot of pressure to put on a 14-year old’s shoulders — more pressure than people twice his age experience.  That message (”don’t blow it – millions of dollars…”) was likely drilled into his brain incessantly on film sets until it was a part of the fabric of his being.  Is it so hard to understand how such pressure on a young mind can create demons where there ordinarily would be none (or at least manageable ones)?

We’ll never know Corey Haim’s entire story, nor should we.  But in these interviews, these talks, that celebrities give so frequently that they ramble through them as if reciting lines from a rehearsed script, there are glimpses of reality and perhaps a foreshadowing of their life to come.  It’s fascinating but sometimes sad.

Shriver asks one final question of the child start that, again, no child could ever answer or fully understand from their perspective:

“Do you think your missing out on what could be a traditional childhood?”

Of course, he did.

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I was fortunate to cover the official Oscar Night Party for Academy Award Members at GILT at the Palace Hotel!! The place itself is known for it’s elegance and the ambiance created for this special evening was in keeping with that theme! A HUGE thanks to ELISA S.!!!

OSCAR COVERAGE DONE NEW YORK CITY STYLE!

Some some of the star-studded interviews I snagged include Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace, The Twilight Saga), Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk, Big Love), Tina Louise (Ginger” on Gilligan’s Island, The Stepford Wives with Nicole Kidman) and Celeste Holm, 92 year old Oscar winner (Gentleman’s Agreement, All About Eve)!

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Oprah with half-brother Jeffrey Lee (early 80's?)

ABC's The Women of Brewster's Place

Oprah poses with her half-brother Jeffrey Lee in the early 80’s.  Lee eventually died of AIDS in 1989 (just prior to Winfrey producing and starring in the ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster’s Place).  They are only half-siblings, but do we see any family resemblance?

The video clip below is of an ABC’s promo spot for Oprah’s syndicated talk show.  My how we’ve changed.

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Neal and Eliza pre-Oscar makeover

I was fortunate to cover the official Oscar Night Party for Academy Award Members at GILT at the Palace Hotel!!  Since I don’t have a billion dollars to throw around to look pretty, Elisa S. and I did the next best thing… shopping at Macys!!! Below, you can see our spectacular transformations!  Let us know what you think!

Remember, check out our East Coast Oscar 2010 coverage here at ArtofTalk.tv from the city that never sleeps!

Oscar Coverage done New York City Style!

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Hey guys!

I just wanted to introduce myself real quick.  Looking at the site, I saw a few people wondering who I am so I’ll take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about me.  I am so proud to be a member of the ArtofTalk.tv family!

I have been seen on television and radio here in the states and also around the globe!  I consider myself very blessed:  adopted from Colombia, South America when I was a baby and been immersed in the New York City culture ever since!  The appearance most people seem to remember me by is The Wendy Williams Show from September 2009.   I have been featured on comedienne Kathy Griffin’s website, as well as style guru to the star (and Emmy award winner) Patricia Field’s website.

Along with my partner in crime , Elisa S. (camerawoman and editor extraordinaire),  we try to cover stories not only I have a passion for but stories I think you guys will like as well!  We want to give you something to talk about!

There is no other city like New York City and we plan to show you what’s hot around town!  Stay tuned for more New York City events, red carpets, filmings and behind the scenes looks!

You can also visit us at: www.NealB.tv and WillingToBeLucky.net

And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter: @NealBintheCity and Elisa S.:  @Willing2BeLucky

Neal B. with Kathy Griffin

A day in the life at YouTube - cupcakes and puppies.

Considering its game-changing impact on culture and society (allowing us to see and share ourselves with the world as never before), it’s pretty astounding that there hasn’t been more “behind the scenes” at YouTube videos.  Or, maybe there have been.  But I’ve certainly never seen any.  Which is why I felt compelled to post this.

NBC’s TODAY show not only shows us footage in the belly of the beast at YouTube (more like a playground for adults), but they interview YouTube employees who proudly champion their employer’s cause.  While they speak to several employees who drone on about the company’s greatness, I’m sure this woman (in summing up YouTube’s entire perception (of itself and that others have of it)) will get a nice raise.  Her one profound line:

“We’re the moneymakers here at YouTube.”

Yes… you are.

Giving us a glimpse into the YouTube culture proves insightful.  But the only part of this behind-the-scenes look at the corporate giant is the revelation that, every Thursday, their pastry chef raffles off a three-pound cupcake.  Where can I apply for a job?

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Vierra, Gifford and Kotb - feel the love.

In a backstage scene you couldn’t pay me to be in, NBC TODAY talk show co-hosts Meredith Vierra, Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb hold a production meeting in the hair and makeup room for a new segment being hosted by Vierra.

Can we say cranky?  Good.  Can we say hysterical?

Kathy Lee and Hoda (with hair and makeup undone and looking a bit deranged) clearly aren’t in the mood.  When Vierra asks the name of the segment they’re producing, Gifford (clutching her coffee cup for dear life) responds:

“Who knows?”

Zoinks.  And the production meeting is over (in 20 seconds) but not before Al Roker gets a zinger in:

“Hey, Meredith!  If I were you, I’d get a whip, a chair and a pistol!”

Meredith, no slouch in the sarcasm department, zings right back:

“I’ll get it out of your office.”

The frightening things is, I bet Roker really does have a whip, a chair and a pistol.  Team Roker!

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