Would You Survive the Hunger Games?

It's a very interesting premise. To appease the peace, after a war that nearly collapsed civilization, the nation of Panem sacrifices two of its citizens - a young male and female from each of the 12 districts is chosen to compete in the most watched televised competition. The fight to the death – for unfound celebrity. All in a false effort to maintain order and prevent civil unrest.

The dystopian future of Suzanne Collins best-selling book The Hunger Games when realized to film didn't appear as far-fetched and one would imagine. In a valiant effort to protect her younger sister, the story's heroine Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her place when she is called to participate in the battle. Although considered an honor to represent one's district, it is a hopeless endeavor – and one that only guarantees a single victor fame and riches beyond their imagination.

Sound familiar? Little more than a decade ago American audiences were introduced to the dueling "real life" personalities assembled to compete on the television show "Survivor". Back then it was taken as a novelty, tuning in every week to watch regular folk behaving badly in tasks created to test their strength and weaknesses. But truly everyone tuned in to watch each player sell the other one out for the winning pot of $1,000,000.

Cut to the present and one of those "survivors" sits on a panel with Barbara Walters and is the conservative voice of her generation. Elizabeth Hasselbeck was given a platform and she took it and ran with it. Soon every talentless socialite on every coast was having the cameras snap up their antics, and like gravy we watched the brainless Paris Hilton become one of the country's most profitable personalities. When her contemporaries including Nicole Ritchie and Kim Kardashian sought out their piece of the pie, we rewarded them also in kind.

It only took a sex tape to turn Kim Kardishian into a star. And talk about hungry? The ravenous pop-culture has hardly yet satisfied its taste for Kim K and has since kept begging for me. It's only cost her a soul, but considering was it really at much of a loss to begin with?

In a culture that promotes the privileged and celebrates the mundane, marketeers profit from the apparent apathy that is created when all anyone has to aspire to in life is achieving a role as the latest member of the cast of "The Real World". Do you think that you'll really find true love among 32 desperate for attention singles who are only excited to nab their 15 minutes on "The Bachelor" and turn it into a media empire all of their own? Yet every year countless of wanna-bee-somethings line up to find their soulmate or (preferably) have their heart broken on national television. It's a sure way that you'll get to sit in the center seat for the following season.

And while "Dancing With the Stars" rescues some from obscurity, it comes at a cost of somewhat some public humiliation. Just think...the first man on the moon was booted off the show for not being able to keep up on the fox trot. Note: Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. He's got nothing to prove to anyone.

Like The Hunger Games everyone is seeking to set themselves up comfortably for the slaughter. It's just what's become of our culture, but does it have its limits especially when it doesn't seem to come at any compromise. We made multi-millionaires of the casts of MTV's "The Jersey Shore" – and we know that they can't do much of anything. We bought into the Kardashian wedding and are now drinking the Kanye Kool-Aid. It's like we're never gonna get enough. Olympic swimmer and gold-medalist Ryan Lochte won the highest honor of any athlete on the planet in his respective sport.

What's Lochte doing next? He moved to Hollywood with the hopes of landing a gig on any reality-television series that will take him...so long as he takes his shirt off.

How far are we from establishing our own real-life Hunger Games? Or have we already begun to go down that road? Can I suggest that as the well begins to run dry and the names and faces of everyone that is seeking stardom reaches its fever pitch, why not set those supposed celebrities up in an arena and have them fight it out – to the death. To the winner...we'll make them a star. At least long enough to feed them to the next round of lions.

How do you think you'd fare in the arena?

JC Alvarez is the Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net and a pop-culture columnist. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet Radio Show "Out Loud & Live!" broadcasting on www.modernworldradio.com. 

What Is Love?

With spring time in the air and the birds a fluttering, the flowers blooming – the euphoria of infatuation is rampant. The senses are constantly stimulated and the heartstrings can be easily played. It's a wonderful space to be in...especially when you're in love. So I hear.

I haven't been in love in some time. And that's OK. I don't tend to fall so easily, and find that remarkably agreeable to me, especially as a gay man living in the urban jungle of New York City. The temptation is there...on every corner of our mighty metropolis, but in this post-marriage equality world that we live in, my decision appears vague and clouded. Is it true that now every time I consider handing out my phone number – I could be handing my digits over to "the one"?

Does anyone else feel that way? Is it just me? Did the game just get harder to play?

Henry kisses...they are the best!

Dating hasn't ever really been easy for me. There's always been some unforeseeable obstacles that's been in the way – some of my own designs. I've also found myself in particularly challenging predicaments when it's come to the men that I've chosen to date. They've other been unavailable, or out of the country, or in other relationships – not the most ideal situations. I've learned from them all. I think that's the most important lesson.

I've been open to learning something about myself, about them, every time. Some were mistakes I was destined to make – so that I wouldn't repeat myself – others were experiences greater and beyond measure. Love stories for the ages...and all part of my history. I'm grateful for that.

Earlier this week I posed the question on my facebook page asking if there was such a thing as unconditional love. I got several very interesting responses (not all the revealing stories I was expecting) and I may have mislead some folks into thinking that I was asking out of some sorrowful woe I had experienced. It was a question that I felt needed to be answered...after all does anyone know what is unconditional love?


I realized that unconditional love begins at home. But I didn't have the best role models to begin with. My parents were divorced when I was very young, and (yes) that colored the way I look at matrimony, at love and trust between the two people that were supposed to set the example. My parents never reconciled and although they became friends, I watched my mother (God bless her soul) go from one bad situation and into another. My father never remarried.

I've had only a few relationships. All have been very different from one another. I'm grateful for that, because they've each had their own personality. Each one redesigned my perception of what love is. Each one pushed my out of my box and extended my boundaries...some exceeded my expectations. I don't know if I've ever loved anyone so completely except for once in my life. It was the first time that I realized that love is about relenting – giving in and being in the moment. Maybe that's what it is all about.

When you are prepared to love unconditionally, that's when you know...that's when you realize that you're ready to let love in...and for better or worse, for richer or poorer, you're in it – till death do you part.

Hmmm...here's to spring time and in the immortal words of Kylie Minogue "All the Lovers".

JC Alvarez is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).

Madonna Version 20.12

A friend of mine the other day expressed to me his vehement distaste of the new album MDNA. "I absolutely loathe it," he said.

I always find myself in the odd predicament of defending the twists and turns that Madonna, the undisputed Queen of Pop, makes along the path of her career. It's amazing that 3 decades later this entertainer is still polarizing her audience, pushing boundaries and is able to stir up controversy in an almost decisively contrived manner...but many of us are still eating it all up. Did we expect that as she approached middle-age Madonna was going to start toning things down? And that as a swarm of wanna-bees appeared on the scene, she would get the message that the time had time to hang up the Gaultier cone-bra and dress herself more appropriately? I think not.

In fact as Madonna has coasted into her 50's she seems to have turned up the volume and is defying the public with the notion of what an aging rockstar is supposed to be.

Madonna...still a girl gone wild!

2012 is off to miraculous leap for the once Material Girl - or should we more appropriately now be calling her the "Mercurial Girl" especially as she has demonstrated a desire to fluidly move through media and repaint the canvas of the expectations that are saddled upon her (often) by an unforgiving audience. After all...what sort of skills as a filmmaker should this woman have that have conditioned her to assume the mantle of writer and director of a full-length feature film? Who does this pop star think she is?

If W.E. had been written and directed by someone else say Martin Scorsese the reception to the film could well have been very different. Scorsese recently directed a big-budget 3D fantasy film that got nominated for Academy Awards. In the same year that Madonna directed the movie W.E., released a new album, played the half-time show at the Super Bowl, and readied a multi-city world tour. Scorsese's Hugo won 5 Academy Awards. Madonna's W.E. only won a single Golden Globe for Original Song...incurring the wrath of Sir Elton John in the process.

It's sad, yet interesting that even basking in that singular win which was snatched to a degree – no one thought to celebrate the measure of an artist who stepped outside of her comfort zone and fearlessly pushed beyond her own threshold and suggest to the rest of us: Why aren't any of you doing as much in your day as I am? I often ask myself...What would Madonna do?

One thing that I do know...perhaps I wouldn't bare my heart on my sleeve as opening as she does. MDNA her 12th studio album, is not unlike her film W.E. – the similarities are quite clear. Both are visceral in their depictions of love and its potential for betrayal. There's an unmistakable anger in each work of art, and violence is evident in both. How one informed the other is something only Madonna herself can know, but the apparent exorcism of recent misgivings in her own life are as deep and permanent as any tattoo.


Although MDNA begins with Madonna begging on the alter for forgiveness, the verse gets immediately drowned out by the electro-sonics of the lead track "Girl Gone Wild". Should we assume that this is Madonna's proclamation that she cannot be contained, at any cost. It swiftly becomes clear that her rampage has only begun and she has a score to settle. "Gang Bang" has the singer pistol-whipping an assailant, someone who has done her wrong, but the song can easily be interpreted as an ironic attack on the Queen of Pop's own ego. Certainly her recent divorce to ex-husband Guy Ritchie could easily have stained her expectations of ever falling in love. "I'm Addicted" reveals her unhealthy dependency on a man that gets under her skin like a drug.


Madonna's MDNA goes on like that for a while – it's one of her angriest works to date; a roller coaster grinding on tracks that might well be perpetual chainsaws with no measure for precaution or consequence. It's not a mistake that it's also a pure contemporary dance album from an artist that emerged from the grudge of club life. If MDNA sounds dirty at times...it should. It's Madonna reclaiming the street credibility that Lady Gaga has been wearing since her debut like a faux fur coat. MDNA screams "Fuck you!" – it's got that coming out of it's pores, even the debut single "Give Me All Your Luvin'" comes across like a thumbing up the nose of anyone who had been expecting her to sit 2012 out.

And even when MDNA gets whimsy like on the next hit single "Turn Up the Radio" the irreplaceable irony in its tone is still there. After all...who even listens to the radio anymore? Maybe that's exactly how Madonna as an artist is willing to share with the public her feelings on the notion that retirement is catching up to her. No, she says: "Turn up the radio until the speakers blow!"

Should a woman entered into her 50's be asked to behave a certain way; curtail her ambition, or deliver content in a manner that is deemed more appropriately digestible, because a woman of a certain age shouldn't be "certain" things. Madonna is not a woman, so much as she is a force of nature. And I don't mean that to be rhetorical...no other pop star in history, Michael Jackson aside has been able to accomplish what she has within the span of her career.

There has never been an artist (alive) who has been able to maintain this relevancy of momentum. Madonna admits that she's not the greatest singer; she's a performer who continues even today to encourage the emerging set of new pop acts to push the envelope further and harder – testing and questioning the existing status quo. Opening further social dialogues through art and the "installations" (her tours) she is so profound to stage.

So, it's not that I have a personal investment in Madonna's successes, her highs and her lows, but like only a handful of artists, Madonna's career is what is interesting to watch – the expression of all that naked ambition is the real star. That's the most fascinating aspect of Madonna. It's not the music, the movies, the image, the videos or the live stage act – it's the ability to just keep on keeping on. Like a seamless bit of software that integrates into a hard-drive and super-responds the operating system, Madonna similarly infuses the response of popular culture.


Here's to the new OS. Version MDNA.

JC Alvarez is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).

Assembling this Summer's Biggest Hit!

It's that time of year again...perhaps my favorite – when the summer movie blockbuster season is in full effect. One this summer's most anticipated movies is the much-hyped and star packed The Avengers. The film is based on the popular Marvel comic book created by Stan Lee and Jack "The King" Kirby back in 1963. The comic was Stan Lee's answer to giving his readers more bang for their buck – by assembling a team book of his top-selling characters...kind of exactly like what Hollywood has done with the movie.

The Avengers has done the impossible! It's placed the characters and by default the actors of some of the biggest superhero franchise films into one action-packed movie. The film version of The Avengers like the book its based on is bringing together a line-up of Hollywood heavy hitters that each all of their own have carried their films to big box office success. But as impressive as this is, because of my pop-culture pedigree (it never fails) whenever a franchise film like this is set to launch and is based on a popular comic book I get bombarded by questions...

The Avengers come alive on the big screen!

Exactly who are The Avengers?


Well now everyone knows who The Avengers are. They're plastered all over every major city, on every billboard and on the side of every bus. But everyone knows them as Robert Downey Jr. who has played the armored avenger Iron Man in two successful blockbuster flicks, Chris Evans who is the star-spangled super-soldier Captain America (and before that he was part of Marvel's first family as the Fantastic Four's Human Torch) and Chris Hemsworth who is the mighty God of Norse myth Thor. Yes...this is the perception of the modernized team of heroes that the world is calling The Avengers, but with all due respect before Downey's man of steel (or iron, or fiberglass for that matter) there were more than four decades of Avengers history.

So...who are The Avengers?


Well, they're comic book characters – you know that, but when the original team of heroes came together similarly to what you're gonna see in the film, they were manipulated by the Thunder God Thor's trickster brother Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston once again) into coming together to battle a common threat...that threat was The Hulk (realized in CGI but modeled after Mark Ruffalo in the film). The original team line-up did include Thor, Iron Man and an unwilling Hulk, but to round-up the roster The Avengers were also joined by the diminutive duo Ant-Man and The Wasp.

Realizing they'd been duped by Loki, the group pooled their resources and fought their common foe...and on that day The Avengers were assembled! Moving into a midtown Manhattan mansion, the roster has since changed and evolved to largely include almost every single character in the Marvel Universe including The Black Widow brought slinkily to life by Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 and who now is joining the team, alongside another veteran member of the team Hawkeye is played by Jeremy Renner recruited for the role after introducing the archer in last summer's Thor.

The cover to the first issue of The Avengers.

The Avengers are called Earth's Mightiest Heroes and soon they'll be Hollywood's Biggest Box-Office Draws and if the history of the comics is any indication, the film franchise could have a significantly long life. The Avengers have fought off alien invaders, would-be world dominators, evil dictators and megalomaniacs...they've even faced-off (and most recently again) against The Uncanny X-Men. Can you imagine that movie deal? It's probably already in the making, but let's stick to what the well of Avengers history has to offer.

Rumors are already spinning that for the sequel the team will be filled out and will introduce Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne – the real names of Avengers original team members Ant-Man and The Wasp. And one of the more winning rumors is that Desperate Housewives Eva Longoria is being courted for the coveted role of the whimsy Wasp. Note to Hollywood: That would be brilliant casting! But still there are decades of stories to choose from!

The X-Men films haven't introduced two of Marvel's most popular mutants and it has been theorized that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver the twin children of Magneto were kept out of last summer's hit X-Men: First Class in order to be more appropriately be introduced alongside The Avengers line-up. That would open the door to revealing new Marvel characters including The Vision and the one of the team's most menacing adversaries – the evil Ultron. That has summer blockbuster all over it!

So who are The Avengers? That is now one of the most loaded questions in popular culture, because if the film does as big at the box office as is anticipated, it'll be something that Hollywood will claim ownership over, while legions of comic book fans will thumb through hundreds-upon-thousands of pages of Avengers comics attempting to cast the more than 60 members of the roster, which have come to include Spider-Man and even The X-Men Wolverine and most recently Storm. One thing is for sure now that the formula is proving its worth, it won't be long before the competitive DC Comics Justice League movie is set in motion.

Avengers Assemble! Blockbuster battle is on!

JC Alvarez is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).

The Emerald City...It Can Be Yours!

The sun sets on the mighty metropolis.

There's no way to over-sell how remarkable this city is...New York City is not only my home, it does just on the basis of its luster feel like the center of the universe. Today the temperature rose to almost 85 degrees, which is pretty remarkable for this early into the spring. Not that I'm complaining. This is when the city starts to look its most beautiful and when you start to realize how miraculous being alive really is.

Yes...New York City in the spring time can do that to you. Make you feel like you're in the center of everything!

Pride season is about to begin and across the country every major metropolis will be waving the rainbow flag...this year NYC will have a great deal to celebrate, especially its first year of "marital bliss". Last year Marriage Equality was passed in our state and joined the handful of other principalities that support equality for all its citizens...and not just a handful of the privileged few. That's right – equality is a right, guaranteed under our Constitution – don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's not something that you can buy. It's not something on a shelf. Freedom and equality is something that people everywhere are fighting for.

Don't think we have to fight for that equality every day and cherish that freedom that is afforded to everyone -- one nation under God.

And as the weather begins to warm up and gives us a glimpse into what the season has in store for us, you can't help but be grateful for every opportunity that you are given. It's a reminder that we all have a lot of living left to do and that everyday is a gift. I learned this from my friend Daved Beck.

It's easy to take for granted how different life is for those of us not living in an urban center. There are young people across the country living in small townships that have challenges of their own...and yes regardless of where you live in this country, it's important to be yourself. Embrace your home - that's where the heart is, but don't allow yourself to be motivated by fear to turn down a dark path or away from the people that love you.

I'm reminded of The Wizard of OZ - I know...how gay is that - but really when you think about, here was this girl - Dorothy - from Kansas who was dropped in the middle of the strangest kind of circumstance, in a world that she really didn't understand. She was told to "follow the yellow brick road" to the Emerald City and along the way she met a colorful and imperfectly perfect cast of characters. Together they had the adventure of a lifetime. When Dorothy returned home to Kansas from the spectacle of it all through the magic of her ruby slippers to the chant of "There's no place like home" her life may have been irrevocably changed, but at the core she was still the same small-town girl, but every possibility was open to her.

Everyone can't travel somewhere over the rainbow, but OZ is only a click of your heels away...and remember that wherever you are that is your Emerald City. Where you will always have the wisdom, the heart and the courage to be who you are and be loved the most.

Spring does this to me - it makes me an optimist to the wonder of it all; it opens up all of the possibilities. It makes me appreciate that anything can happen...and it makes me believe that somewhere someone is cheering you on. That you don't have to be afraid. It's worth the risk. Here's to spring! Let the sun shine in.

JC Alvarez is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).

My Red Carpet Walk Down (TV) Memory Lane...

Tonight New York City hosted the 10th Anniversary of the TV Land Awards. One has to wonder if we need another award show - there would seem to be a new one every week...or any number of reasons to uncomfortably cram like a sardine on a receiving line and ask celebrities questions about "what they're doing here?". Fortunately with this particular awards gathering, it's more of the industry (and fan's) way of showing legendary sitcom acts that before reality television took over the fabric of popular culture, we actually remembered and loved tuning-in to well-scripted situation comedies.

The event taped live for an upcoming televised broadcast for TV Land which will air later this month and was hosted by none other than morning TV's new reigning queen Kelly Ripa - who didn't stop to say "hi" to me (whatever)...that's OK - because I would have had to reach down from the perch I was on to talk to the diminutive celeb-personality. I'll always still love me my Ripa...and I'm confident that one day I'll sit as a guest co-host on her show. It was a treat to see her in all her summery bronze goodness, but before I could bat an eye the cast of some of my favorite shows ever on television were all making their way down the maroon carpet - I suppose it had to be a shade darker than a regular red carpet - for legal reason or something. It certainly wasn't a different color because any of these talented folks had lost their luster...they all shined just as brightly as any contemporary star in Hollywood.

The evening honored the very talented ensemble and writer behind a television show that started perhaps the first dialogues about television series. It was unlike anything that had ever aired before. The cast of the hit CBS series "Murphy Brown" happily made their way over to acknowledge they're receipt of the evening's Impact Award. Faith Ford looked stunning, Charles Kimbrough and Grant Shaud still looked very much the part, and I didn't admit it to him but Joe Regalbuto looked just as bit as handsome as he ever did - in that quirky sort of way (there was something about him) or maybe it was how show creator Diane English put pen to the page and made them all a wonder, but Joe always stood out to me. Perhaps it was the way he always challenged the show's star. Candice Bergen was not on the carpet...but who can blame her - she's currently appearing on Broadway.

Everyone remembers "Laverne & Shirley" - they were America's first girlfriends, even when they appeared on "Happy Days" they had stolen the show. I picked up the habit of drinking milk and Pepsi because of Laverne (played by Penny Marshall) and no one looked better than the raven haired Cindy Williams (Shirley) who admitted that if there was ever a reboot of the duo's escapades she'd want Drew Barrymore to play her part. Before they jumped the shark and moved to California from their native Milwaukee, the show was destination television every week.

Now here comes the embarrassing part: It would have been one of my crowning interviews of the evening, but I took a stumble last week that sprained my ankle and obviously paid for it on the carpet when I was approached by the cast of one of the evening's other big honorees. I was a huge fan of the show "One Day at a Time" mostly because it was one of the few shows on television that showed a single mother played by Bonnie Franklin making it all work - and it reminded me of our own situation comedy at home being raised by a single mother - though less dramatic. At just the precise moment that I was poised to ask Bonnie a question, a sharp pain seized by sprained ankle and I swear my eyes must have bulged out of my head like a classic cartoon character...I was instantly sweating profusely and forgotten what I meant to ask Bonnie almost immediately - my bad...but the recovery was quick! I took it in stride...one minute at a time I guess.

And although all this nostalgia took me back to my childhood, another show that was being honored was a little more present to me as a young person. "In Living Color" changed the way that we looked at sketch comedy and also introduced us to Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lopez. While "Fly Girls" Carrie Ann Inaba and Laurieann Gibson launched all-new careers since those days, to see the comedy troupe reunited including all the Wayans brothers, Tommy Davidson, Kelly Coffield and David Alan Grier - this show was among one of the first to push the envelope and introduce the mainstream world to the dynamic spectrum of life in America, and they are poised for a comeback! The show was daring, poked fun at life in America, but winning always proclaimed - without too much of a cliche...you can do what you want to do - In Living Color!

Paul Reubens the man behind "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" was also present and would accept the appropriate honor of the Pop Culture Award. No one ever wants to give props to the fact that as Pee-Wee Herman, Reubens did more for children's television that any other show of its time. He proved that it can be just as engaging to the kid in all of us, at any age...and provocatively subtle.

Overall the night was a remarkable reminder of what is missing in our home entertainment. There was a time when tuning-in at a specific time to catch-up with your favorite TV family meant something. These are the days of television that can no longer be recaptured - and the ones that perhaps mattered the most. It may seem like an after-thought of sorts but let's be realistic - these were iconic moments in television history and the folks that made it happen. These snapshots of American popular culture are like a time capsule of human evolution, and unless they return for rehab stints with Dr. Drew or are competing on Dancing With the So-Called Stars the skill of talented folks gets largely forgotten. I'm grateful that clearly they are not and are still appreciated for their groundbreaking contributions to entertainment and popular culture. Thank you to TV Land for helping us to tune-in to a time not forgotten. Here's to the re-run and syndication!

JC Alvarez is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).

Mike Ruiz :: Life on the A-List :: EDGE on the Net

Mike Ruiz :: Life on the A-List :: EDGE on the Net

He's an A-Lister for sure but not just for his raw sex appeal...it's because he has a heart of gold. My friend Mike Ruiz sets the example and proves that we can all be on the A-List!