One thing I noticed while watching the tribute to Don Lane last night was how REAL the stars looked way back when.

They actually had crooked, discoloured teeth, wrinkles, pores, frizzy hair. You couldn't possibly let a person like that on television these days, they'd scare people.

Alan Alda's teeth were positively yellow, shock horror!

The bits of interviews they showed were so entertaining. People used to be able to say and talk about anything. They were able to let "themselves" through and actually interact with their interviewer in a real way.

Imagine that. Twenty, thirty, forty years ago people had to have some ability, some semblence of talent to be called entertainers. They had to have some personality (as opposed to being a personality, which these days is often an oxymoron).

They were able to take part in a television interview without having every question wrangled and edited by their 23 media coaches and image consultants.

Watching the show last night made me realise how different the media is these days, how homogonised and diluted and controlled. The stars are trotted around to promote their films, tv shows, books with well rehearsed and pre-prepared amusing quips which show nothing of themselves. They are botoxed and blow dried within an inch of their lives, so that we see a glossy, airbrushed version of a human being.

I'm definitely one for progress (you can't stop it you know) but I really wonder if we're going in the right direction (like NSW, side joke for JB, sorry) with all this bs. What do you think?

P.S. Rest in peace Don Lane, you really seemed like a top bloke.

P.P.S Rest in peace Pop (Big Jay's grandad). He passed away yesterday, exactly two weeks after Nan.

In celebrity news:

Did you see Toni Collette on the Emmy's last night? Talk about when good fake tan goes bad. She looked horrific, seriously. She was so gold, head to toe, she actually looked like an Oscar statuette. I love Toni (she'll always be Muriel to me) but she really looked awful.

Did you see Hugh Jackman pontificating about climate change on the news this morning. I love you Hugh; you're gorgeous and talented. But seriously shut the fuck up on this shit. You're just shovelling shit onto a pile which is very deep already.

I'll just sit back now and wait for Entertainment Tonight to call me about that job offer....

You know I had a soft spot for Mel Gibson about a gazillion years ago. I remember him as the sweet young man/boy in Tim (an Aussie film which doesn't even seem to warrant a mention on IMDB.com). He went on to play the lovable crazy rogue bent on revenge in the Mad Max films and the lovable crazy rogue bent on revenge in the Lethal Weapon films... a theme developing?

Then I lost interest all together. Until The Passion of the Christ when I started to realise he was actually a real crazy but not so lovable nutter. Of course the rant against Jews and the drink driving incident followed.

Despite my growing dislike in the back of my mind there was still a little voice which said "at least he's a decent family man, no matter what his external behaviour is". WRONG AGAIN!

I hate to gloat when an overtly religious person (such as Mel, who built a church for his super strict Catholic congregation) finally shows himself for the moral fraud that he is but gloating I am. What a morally corrupt slimebag has Mel turned out to be? Seriously!

Some people don't surprise you when their mortal sins are laid bare to the world. But pious shits like Mel make me sick. All these years he's been seen as the righteous family man, happily married with 8 children, living a moral life under the Catholic faith. WHAT A LOAD OF BULLSHIT!

This morning I see him parading himself and his slaggy little (most probably pregnant) girlfriend less than 3 weeks after splitting from his wife. Gee, I'm no biblical scholar but where is this sort of behaviour condoned in the Bible?

Arsehole.