Well that's one way to spin it.

Another day, another batch of gossip. What amazes me the most about Hollywood is the P.R. people. They have an amazing sense of spin control that lets them get away with practically anything. If their client really messes up, just ship'em off to rehab for a month or so and claim it was for depression. If they can come back married and pregnant, all the better, right? Three particular stories have really impressed me this week. The use of spin is actually making me a bit dizzy!
The biggest news that broke today was the acquittal of R. Kelly. I've been trying to avoid this trial as much as I possibly can, because it grosses me out, but with this final verdict I just have to say something. But first, the details:
It took more than six years for the case to go to trial, but after less than a day of deliberations, a Chicago jury has found R&B superstar R. Kelly not guilty of all 14 counts of videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. Kelly's acquittal essentially came down to whether or not his legal eagles instilled enough reasonable doubt in the panel of nine men and three women as they debated the kiddie-porn charges over seven hours. Obviously, Kelly's camp succeeded. Helping the jurors in their decision to acquit was skepticism about a mole on his back that prosecutors claimed was proof that Kelly was indeed the man in the video who participated in the three-way with another woman and the minor in question and was seen urinating on the latter after engaging in various sex acts. The alleged victim, now 23, refused to cooperate with the Cook County District Attorney's Office, did not testify against Kelly and neither did her parents. (source E Online)
Now I'm not sure whether I believe that it was R. Kelly on that tape or not, but whoever it was should go to jail for it. You know, I started out not believing that the guy who sings I Believe I Can Fly could do such a stupid thing, but then I remembered Bump and Grind and I started to think maybe it could be him. If you go by his music catalog alone, things tend to get a little confusing. But you've got to admit, it takes a lot of spin to convince, not just a jury, but the whole public that he was not the guy on that tape. And convince the public to listen to his music again. The world waits with baited breath for the next Trapped in a Closet chapters. Bring it on!
The next story that I found particularly interesting, in regards to spin control, actually broke Wednesday night and really picked up steam on Thursday. I'm talking about the whole Katherine Heigl refusing to be nominated for an Emmy. Here's the story:

It's very strange that Katherine Heigl's name is not on the TV academy's list of Emmy contenders after she won best supporting actress last year for "Grey's Anatomy." Over the past few months, as Emmy campaign season began, Katherine Heigl didn't announce that she'd be bowing out. Her omission from the official ballot just happened to be noticed yesterday by one of our forum posters. So we asked Heigl: Whazzup?
"I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention," she tells Gold Derby. "In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials." (source goldenderby.latimes.com)

Now this story, taken face value, paints Katherine in a very good light. She doesn't feel like her work this year on Grey's Anatomy was up to her standards and wants to give other people a shot. She's got integrity. That's a good thing.

Until other people start talking about it. Of course, once the media get a hold of these comments, they start asking for comments from her co-workers. And they're not too happy with her.

One day after Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigl announced that she would drop out of this year's Emmy race, because "I do not feel I was given the material this season to warrant a nomination," a key show insider contacted EW.com to express regret that the actress publicly complained about the drama. “The show bent over backwards to accommodate her film schedule, and then she criticizes the show for lack of material?" the insider said. "It's an ungrateful slap in the face to the very writers responsible for her Emmy win in the first place.” (Source EW.com)

Looking at it in this light , Katherine's not looking so rosy anymore. And thinking back on the amount of films she's done over the past year, you have to wonder if there might be something to the writer's complaints. I don't actually watch Grey's Anatomy, but I loved Knocked Up and I enjoyed 27 Dresses way more than I thought I would when I watched it last night, but those are just two of the movies she's done in the past year. According to her IMDB page, she currently filming one movie and she's already signed on to film another one after that. IF she's filming all of these movies, how is going to have time to film next season of Grey's Anatomy? Will next season lack material worthy of Katherine too? Or is she just trying to get out of her contract by annoying the show's creators? See, its all about spin!

And finally, one of the best uses of spin that I think I've ever seen comes from a press release sent to the Entertainment Weekly blog Popwatch. It has to be seen to be believed:

It's The Parent Trap Meets Saw — See Lindsay Lohan in I Know Who Killed Me on Starz This Saturday Night

Starz Invites You to Experience the Exclusive Pay TV Premiere

Lindsay Lohan
In
I KNOW WHO KILLED ME
Saturday, June 14 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) on Starz

Winner of EIGHT RAZZIE AWARDS (2008) including:
Worst Picture
Worst Actress (Lindsay Lohan) - twice
Worst Director

What the critics had to say:
"Gruesomely tawdry and inept." Entertainment Weekly
"A disaster that exerts a perverse fascination." Variety
"Bad is easy: this level of awful approaches the genius." Flick Filosopher
"It is the kind of strangely fascinating terrible that can make for an entertaining time at the movies under the right circumstances." eFilmCritic.com
"No review could really do justice to the monumental trashiness of this mess; it really has to be seen to be believed." New York Daily News
"Exquisite in its awfulness.." Quad City Times
"The film is so cheap, lurid and overwrought, it could be made up of lost reels from Grindhouse, except it lacks the knowing, self-referential humor of that B-movie parody." Minneapolis Star Tribune

(source EW.com)

Kudos to Starz for not only making me laugh my butt off, but also coming up with a pretty ingenious way to get people to watch what could be the worst movie ever. I've never seen it, but this press release makes me kind of want to. Though I think that lots of cocktails will need to be imbibed before I can follow through on that particular whim. Well, it is Friday after all. That whim may just become a reality!:)

So that's my spin on this particular post. Its almost the weekend and I've got more work to do before I can start mine off right, so I am outta here! Happy Father's Day to all of you fathers out there. Especially mine!

Later!