Welcome to the Mantastic Project Challenge #2: Pop Culture! In his etiquette challenge, it sounds like Jason did very well. Brad is a good and fair judge, and I trust him (and I know that if there had been any mis-steps the fellas didn’t recognize, Brad’s girlfriend Melissa would have passed along the information to me!). And, Jason’s manners around the office are even improving! This morning, for instance, he let me off the elevator first. Very gentlemanly.
Now, for something that doesn’t come quite so easily to Jason. He knows a lot about…a lot; he’s into really interesting music, he reads books from every genre, he’s traveled and knows a lot about different cultures, but if there’s one thing Jason doesn’t know very much about, it’s pop culture!
Last summer there was a moment that shocked us all. We discovered that Jason Pratt had no idea who Lindsey Lohan was. Don’t get me wrong, we all don’t need to know everything about every celebrity there ever was in the history of the world, but Lindsey has been in the actual news. On Twitter. In newspapers and 6 o’clock news pieces. In the news in the elevator. On the radio. Everywhere. So much so that you basically couldn’t get away from Lindsey, her rehab stints, and her road to recovery if you wanted to. It’s one thing to be able to recite each movie she starred in from Parent Trap to I Know Who Killed Me, but it’s an entirely different thing to have no clue who she is. After all, even my dad knows about Aloha. And moments like this keep happening. From Jersey Shore to The Golden Girls, Jason is a bit clueless.
Now, let me say, before you throw your hands up in the air in protest of this post, knowledge of pop culture does not a boyfriend make. And frankly, if my boyfriend spent his days on Perez Hilton, I wouldn’t be impressed. But I do like that he knows what I’m talking about and indulges me in my useless information. Not that that’s all I talk about—nor do I want Jason’s potential gal to be obsessed with US Weekly solely—but I also don’t want her to get a blank stare from Jason when she asks about the new Kelly Cutrone book and how amazing her show, Kell on Earth, was. After all, sometimes pop culture is work related!
Enter Alicia Edwards, this week’s coach. Alicia can blow you away with the amount of information she knows. From Oprah to The Real Housewives of any city, to the Ottawa Senators to Andre Leon Talley, Alicia is the go to fountain of information. And she’s just the gal to give Jason a crash course in everything that he doesn’t know when it comes to the land of gossip, reality TV, fashion and all things interesting.
So let’s begin. This week’s tutorial will focus on but won’t be limited to:
JWOWW and Jersey Shore
Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port, their fashion lines, The Hills and The City
Susan Lucci
Isabella Blow
Christian Lacroix
Tabatha Coffey
Nina Garcia and Project Runway
Coco Chanel
Steven Tyler, Kara DioGuardi and American Idol
Diana Vreeland
Steve Harvey
Kelly Cutrone
Tatum O’Neil
Linda Hogan
The Kardashian sisters
So sit back, catch up on your blogs, weekly magazines, reality TV and watch as Jason learns from the best.
Until next week,
–Jessica
Follow me on Twitter @jofftheshelf