Neil Patrick Harris Is Wrong Britney Saved How I Met Your Mother!

A few days ago “How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris was quoted in an interview with the Associated Press that he doesn’t agree with stunt casting.

Here are some quotes Neil said to the Associated Press in an interview earlier this week.

“why does such a gem of a show need Britney to get any attention,”

“I’m in the minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed.”

“We’ve done a good three and three-quarter seasons with guest stars that we feel like are exactly perfect for the characters that (were) written … by the crack writing staff,”

“Well, uh, no. (They’re) totally unfounded rumors.” And Harris insists Spears isn’t ready to become a full-time actress: “She’s not an actress. She played a role for a week, and did a really nice job, but the workload involved with doing memorization and the purging of comedy over and over is really, really hard. I mean, it takes a strong skill set to do that every week. You do it one week, it’s fine, but to do it a lot of weeks is hard. She (Spears) is not going to be a regular on our show.”

“I worry that if they start ‘Will and Gracing’ us too much, that the show will suffer. And we’re all really proud of the content of the show. I mean viewership is not our game. It’s the network and the studio’s game, you know. It’s the promotion department’s game. We wish we weren’t opposite an awkward reality dancing competition. But we have no say about that. I just am a real fan of our content. I think we have a great show going and I hope it’s not screwed up by the desire for 700,000 more viewers.”

Actually Britney’s star power attracted an additional 1 million viewers to watch “How I Met Your Mother”. Neil shouldn’t be so petulant. I wonder if Britney was hurt when she read Neil’s comments? Neil should be thanking Britney Spears for bringing a lot of media attention to his show. I think it is totally unprofessional for Neil to slam Britney in the press like this.

Everyone knows “How I Met Your Mother” isn’t a hit the show generally has between 8 to 9 million viewers a week that’s simply not good enough. When pop superstar Britney Spears appeared on “How I Met Your Mother” a few weeks ago the show had its highest ratings ever over 10 million viewers. It is obvious to me Neil Patrick Harris is the star of his show and maybe he doesn’t like being upstaged by Britney Spears? :”How I Met Your Mother” has a cult following but CBS wants higher ratings for the show. It costs a lot of money to air sitcoms and CBS needs high ratings to attract more advertisers and generate more revenue this is show business. Neil knows the game he should just go with the flow.

Now Neil Patrick Harris is claiming the associated press “misquoted” his comments about Britney Spears. It is a classic PR move by CBS because Neil’s comments can be interpreted as arrogant and deleterious. If “How I Met Your Mother” is such a great show why the need for the stunt casting? Britney Spears has been bashed by the media forever and now Neil’s remarks are mean spirited and cruel. I have to admit I did watch the episode when Britney guess starred on the program and I was impressed.

Britney’s acting was flawless she looked so so cute, adorable, sexy, sweet, and innocent. Britney’s character Abby is a mild mannered receptionist looking for love. I thought Britney did a great job she has good comic timing. I don’t understand why Neil spoke out in the media he should of just kept his mouth shut. Britney Spears is a pop superstar and NPH needs to give her some respect she basically saved his show from the chopping block. Britney Spears got over 1 million people to tune into “How I Met Your Mother” I think producers of the program would be wise to bring Britney back. Britney makes the show so much more interesting.

Is South Africa’s Reticence The Real Problem For Zimbabwe?

Thabo Mbeki the current president of South Africa claims there is no political crisis in Zimbabwe. Mr. Mbeki says he has spoken face to face to the Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe. How can Mr. Mbeki say there is no crisis? Zimbabwe is in a complete downward spiral.  I wish Mr. Mbeki would speak out against the dictator Robert Mugabe but he chooses not to. I just don’t believe the international community can really make a difference here. I firmly believe African leaders can make change in Zimbabwe not the Occident. For instance, Mugabe doesn’t care about economic sanctions its not going to change his life. The masses will suffer in Zimbabwe but not Mugabe.

Is this just a waiting game? Mugabe is eighty three years old perhaps the Occident is just waiting for Mr. Mugabe to expire?  But what will happen to Zimbabwe after Mugabe dies? Will another dictator emerge? It is so sad because over a decade ago Zimbabwe was  known as the “bread basket” of Southern Africa the nation was thriving and doing so well. Now there it appears Zimbabwe is a dystopian nightmare. I think the African leaders such as President Mbeki could of been the difference since South Africa and Zimbabwe are trading partners and are tied to each other in terms of politics and economics. I wonder, if South Africa had a stronger leader could Mugabe been removed by now? Mugabe is desperate to cling on to power while the masses become more desperate, hungry, depressed, and frustrated. Doesn’t anyone care? Why is the world apathetic to the current crisis in Zimbabwe?

PJ Harvey CD Reviews: To Bring You My Love, Stories From The City Stories From The Sea

When I was in high school a friend of mine decided I needed to start listening to PJ Harvey so he stole a copy of “To Bring You My Love” from the record store. Of course, I didn’t know my friend was going to do this but he told me that’s how he obtained a copy of the CD. I initially was shocked at the cover of the album it appeared as though PJ Harvey was dead the smoke rising from her body.

I placed the CD in the CD player and almost like a trance the music possessed me. “To Bring You Love” is considered PJ Harvey’s first international breakthrough the album sold over 1 million copies worldwide. I love the title track “To Bring You My Love” the power of PJ Harvey’s voice is incredible. I never listened to a rock album before until I heard this CD. I started to branch out after listening to this album I soon became a fan of Hole I love their second CD “Live Through This”. I know a lot of people hate Courtney Love but I just hate it when people say Courtney doesn’t have talent this is not true. Courtney can sing and play the guitar just like PJ Harvey.

The big hit is the song “Down By The Water”. Some other songs I love are “Meet Ze Monsta”, “Long Snake Moan”, and “The Dancer”. I remember so many times walking through malls and listening to the song “Down By The Water” I wonder if people really understand what the song is about? The song is interesting it is about a mother murdering her daughter but even PJ Harvey has said people shouldn’t take the lyrical content of the song too seriously. I love PJ Harvey because she’s a woman that makes her own decisions she is a multi instrumentalist. PJ Harvey can play the piano, guitar, organ, sax, and numerous other instruments. PJ Harvey also writes all the lyrics to her own songs. I kind of wish there were more women in rock music as successful as PJ Harvey. The only other women I can think of in rock at PJ’s level of success are Courtney Love and Shirley Manson from the group Garbage.

The second PJ Harvey CD I love is “Stories Of The City Stories From The Sea”. I bought the CD myself this time around PJ won the Mercury Prize in the UK for this stunning album every single song is wonderful. I love “Is This Love?” the lyrics are great and PJ Harvey’s voice is incredible. I notice a trend in the music industry there aren’t any female rock musicians hitting it big these days I wonder why? The 1990s was so amazing for women in music. I remember listening to Liz Phair, PJ Harvey, Hole, Garbage, and now I can’t think of any ladies in rock exploding on the music scene. I still have fond memories of the ladies that made rock so much more interesting and exciting over a decade ago. PJ Harvey is still here and Shirley Manson is still with Garbage but I wonder if they can recapture their form and set the album charts on fire again?