What is going on here??? Calm down Conde Naste / Time Warner drones! Obama is awesome but he's not a movie star. And he's only been in office 14 days. Can we let him work at the job for awhile?
This kind of spoils what I had planned for my long running "Vanity Fair Hollywood" series (click the label to see the old ones) unless Barack Obama has a movie career somewhere that I don't know about. If he does, send me screeners so I may review.
But on a more frustrating note this overselling and pedestal raising of President Obama in the usually semi apolitical entertainment arenas is not helpful. It just gives more ammunition to all the wingnuts out there who love to sell those stupid "liberal media" conspiracies that make it easy for people to play scapegoating games and to excuse their avoidance of any contact with actual reality. In short, I hate it when the far right gets to seem semi lucid instead of batshit crazy.
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Sad!! I was SO looking forward to another Hollywood cover, and of course your breakdown. Perhaps there is a big spread inside? (hopeful smile) I want my glamorous Movie Stars, dammit!
And yes, the media does need to take a Xanax or something. He got into office, we are happy happy happy. Let the man do his job, and THEN put him on all the covers to celebrate what he has done since being elected.
I agree with you 100% !!!! I was expecting a beautiful cover with a bunch of leading ladies. I love Obama too, but not on the Hollywood issue!!! All VF is showing is a bunch of old random pictures of this years nominees, most of whom I don't care for. Where the heck is Cate!!!!
Nathaniel, I wouldn't get too alarmed if I were you. My friend just told me that on ET he saw a Vanity Fair Oscar Shoot with Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman. Also in the shoot were Kate Winslet, Sam Mendes, Mickey Rourke, Tom Hanks and Dev Patel.
I'm with you on the EW cover. I was like "WHAT?" I don't know; I've just always been irritated when entertainment mags or shows try to stay current with news or figures that aren't real entertainment (to me, that encompasses movies, TV, music, books, games). That's why I stopped watching Entertainment Tonight a long time ago when all they focused on was JonBenet Ramsey. EW is just part of the Hollywood group that favors anyone Democrat (trust me, McCain wouldn't have been on there had he lost).
NoNo... i believe that's who is in the inside portfolio. It is the hollywood issue (notice the Big "PLUS: HOLLYWOOD 2009")
These days, Obama sells more magazines than any movie star. So, once again, what this really boils down: the evils of capitalism.
The worst part is that the VF cover uses THE SAME PHOTO they carried on a previous cover:
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/02/just_how_bad_is_it_that_vanity.html
I mean, a repeat cover? Really? If you're going to displace the Hollywood issue, at least do so for the sake of a fresh picture.
VF should have published a special Obama issue instead.
Darn. I look so forward the Hollywood issue.
Who cares about the EW cover, but I was also looking forward to the VF cover couldn't they have done that for February Issue ( It is Black History Month).
Keyshia
median age: 47
noticeably absent: every actor and actress big in 2008/2009
collective Oscar noms before this cover: 0
collective Oscar noms after this cover: err.. 0
fame levels in 2009, according to famousr, from most to least: Barrack Obama
what an easy cover to analyse.
It's so stupid and I'm sick and tried of it already. I LOVE the President but please give up a break!
joel HA! i love it. you've done the post for me.
Sorry Nat, but this is for some of those awful comments in that Jennifer Hudson post.
Wow, I'm really going to miss seeing a bunch of White women on the cover of yet, another magazine. booo hooo. I love my Winslet btw.
Had to say it.
Here are the names for the mural MARCH 2008: “FRESH FACES” Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Alice Braga, Ellen Page, Zoë Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin, and America Ferrera. pic...
sry my bad...that was LAST year!!!
I'm over the moon about that last paragraph, and couldn't possibly say it any better myself, so I'll just chime in about the less political aspects of this magazine cover mania.
This marks the second year in a row I was robbed of my beloved EW Oscar cover. Now, before everyone starts throwing digital tomatoes, I know that last year's season was interrupted by Heath Ledger's death, and I fully support EW's classy decision to give the tragedy of his passing precedence over the awards, but I still missed it. Now, 365 days later, Oscar has again been relegated to the corner, this time snubbed by EW's not-so-classy decision to confirm all those republican "celebrity" ads that ran during the campaign (oh, crap! I said no politics!).
Anyway, that was disappointing enough. This is the first I'm hearing about the VF cover (which I look forward to just as much as Mr. Rogers), and it's rather devastating. When this issue hits the shelves, Barack Obama's face will have officially monopolized every major magazine in the country, regardless of its target audience or content. I have the pull-out, tri-fold VF Hollywood covers from 2004, 2006, and 2008 framed, poster-style on my wall. I had every intention of adding to that pretty assemblage when the '09 issue arrived. Unfortunately, Barack Obama - dream prez that he may be - doesn't quite fit with the screen goddess thing I've got going.
I subscribe to EW, so you can imagine my dismay when I received that Obama issue. I mean, he's cool and all, but he isn't Jesus -- who, by the way, I wouldn't want to see on the cover either.
And the award goes to....(envelope opening)...Barack Obama!!!
Nat, you should write Vanity Fair about this. i think you bring up a good point.
Oscar season officially sucks now
Your Monday 3-part series "[Name] is Ready for a Fight" is so repetitive. You'd think it was Groundhog Day...
This is so annoying! What plans did you have for the VF series Nathaniel? You should fufil are need to see a proper cover by analysing a couple more of the past covers, he he.
Neel - you'd think so! it's like i was just looping
john -- i will finish the series yes and maybe i'll try pretend that they had a Hollywood cover this year.
he's letting Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reed push him around. he'd better be careful. she's a total snake.
Could we invent a cover instead Nathaniel? I'm thinking another "Great Ladies of Hollywood" and it could be:
Front third: Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Penelope Cruz
Second third: Viola Davis, Amy Adams, Marisa Tomei
Third third: Taraji P. Henson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sally Hawkins
Hey, you guys!!! The world will NOT come to an end because of this. There must be better things to discuss.
Nathaniel, you took the words right... out... of... my... mouth...
:)
Nathaniel, I couldn't agree more. But EW problem is more wide. Why did they gave 5 to twilight? And why do they wrote two weeks ago about Heath Ledger like some story of People Magazine? This time, they didn't give any cover to the Oscars so far.
I wrote this about EW and Heath Ledger :
http://countdownoscar.blogspot.com/2009/01/whats-happening-with-ew.html
Nathaniel, dear... post and comment the photos of the actors/actress and directors in VF issue... such a beautiful pictures... don1t you think? Love, Daniel. My favorites? Nicole and Baz... Meryl and Patrick... God Bless then... and You, Nat. Daniel
To be fair, though - Obama's election/inauguration is probably the most important (positive) cultural event in America in at least a generation, and perhaps for another generation after.
Alison Lohman and Selma Blair can be on the cover again next year!
Stephen... well, sure.
but for specifically famous Oscar/Hollywood issues? I just don't see how it relates really.
I don't think Kate Winslet should be on the cover of Sports Illustrated either. ;)
Truth.
On the other hand, who's (probably) the biggest celebrity on the planet right now? Hint: He's also (probably) the most powerful person on the planet.
Obama's in that unique position at the intersection of politics, social culture, and popular culture.
I may be in the minority, but I'm totally cool with all this. I like that these magazines, which focus on narrow pieces of our culture, seem to acknowledge that this is a cultural phenomenon that handily trumps anything Meryl Streep or Dev Patel. have got goin' on. Obama is a rock star (Disclaimer: I'm just calling the general perception as I see it. I'm liking this guy more and more, but I'm not one of the "true believers" - I vote Green, anyway. And I love Meryl Streep.)
Anyway, once either of those two attract 2.5 million people to their speeches, I'll reconsider. Until then, in the words of Tracy Morgan, "Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!"
;)
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